TEXAS CITY — City employees are lending a hand to roughly 6,500 residents of Buna, at the junction of U.S. Highway 96 and state Highway 62, 36 miles north of Beaumont in south central Jasper County.
“They have pretty severe damage from Hurricane Rita — a lot of damage to houses,” said George Fuller, the emergency management director for Texas City.
Fuller visited with Texas City Mayor Matthew Doyle and developed the idea to adopt Buna.
“We hope the Adopt-a-Firehouse program can help those responders impacted by this tragedy get back on their feet,” he said.
Texas City employees filled two 18-wheelers with food, water and nonperishable canned foods that were delivered to the Buna Volunteer Fire Department Friday.
Buna, best known for its annual Rosebud Festival, was hit hard by Rita, a Category 3 hurricane that made landfall early Sept. 24 at Sabine Pass.
Buna officials said the town’s new elementary school, activity building and high school are in good shape. They are advising that if residents have a safe place to stay, “it is best not to come back to Buna yet.”
“A number of houses will be without power for months,” Fuller said. “There are no stores.”
Karli McQuerry, junior firefighter with the Buna Volunteer Fire Department, said it’s great that all communities can come together at a time like this. The biggest problem is still no electricity and limited gas to run generators.
“The next problem is just the massive amounts of trees, limbs and brush that are everywhere,” McQuerry said, but added that roads have been cleared enough to allow vehicles to pass.
While most gas station awnings are gone, gasoline is periodically available in town, but as soon as it’s known, people line up and buy it all, McQuerry said.
The junior firefighter said Higginbotham Drug Store on Main Street is still standing and is filling prescriptions but has serious roof damage. Stimits Feed Store was badly damaged, and the Buna Dairy Queen had its windows blown out. FEMA set up a food and water distribution point at the high school.
“Residents are managing,” said McQuerry. “There are a lot of people who can’t get out of their houses.”
“It is hot in Buna and people are on edge, but with the cold front, it’s getting better,” she said. “People are dehydrating and we have to ration our supplies. We’re trying to help the whole community.”
There will not be an accurate official count of the death toll in Texas for several weeks said Ted Royer, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. He said roughly about 100 have died either directly or indirectly from the hurricane.
