Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Emergency center shipping supplies from Palmetto

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Things just keep getting worse for residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the basic necessities heading their way are being routed through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) auxiliary holding center in Palmetto.

Louisville, Georgia trucker Carl Pennington pulled into the facility on Tatum Road Tuesday afternoon by way of New York, driving one of the 600 rigs that will be entering Palmetto to pick up bottled water, Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), ice, tarps, cots and roofing material. The trucks will make their way, depending on road conditions, to the mobilization center in Montgomery and a staging area in Meridian, Mississippi. From there the much-needed cargo will be sent to the hurricane ravaged communities of the Gulf Coast.

Though he likely received no complaints from area residents, FEMA Logistics Management Specialist Maury Ransdall was sensitive to the mass of trucks that were occasionally backed up to Roosevelt Highway.

“We know it’s a lot of traffic. We’re trying to be good neighbors,” he said, having gone with little sleep over the past few days as he and the other 14 FEMA staff in Palmetto worked to keep the trucks and cargo flowing. Many of the truck drivers, too, faced tiring conditions in the effort to ensure that their precious cargo arrives in time.

The Palmetto center began stockpiling supplies last year after hurricanes hit Florida. Efforts in the 1.3 million square-foot warehouse swung into action earlier in the week, initially sending 150 tractor-trailers on their way south. Twenty-five of the bays at the huge facility have been a buzz of activity ever since, with the exception of a brief respite on holding mode as officials watched Katrina’s path to determine what areas would need the life-saving supplies.

The mass of supplies at FEMA’s Palmetto holding center serve as an overflow facility for Ft. Gillem, said Ransdall, one of three major logistics centers along with Ft. Worth and California’s Moffett Field.

FEMA crews and hundreds of truckers like Pennington will continue shipping and receiving activities until Palmetto’s mission is complete. The life-saving supplies making their way through that small town in Southwest Fulton County will make a difference in the lives of countless people in New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi and the many small towns that felt Katrina’s wrath.