Several thousand AFT members and their families are among those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday. While reports are still coming in, thousands of homes and businesses have been ruined or damaged by flooding, wind or tornadoes. In addition, essential services, including clean water and sanitation, have been disrupted, and power companies report that nearly 3 million customers are without power.

Schools are closed in many districts of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, as well as the Florida panhandle and some parts of South Florida, where the hurricane passed through three days earlier.

AFT secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour and his family were in Baton Rouge, La., at the time the hurricane hit, and because access to the city is virtually impossible, he is still unable to assess possible damage to his home in New Orleans or to get reports on how AFT affiliates, members and staff have been affected.

The AFT has also heard from Joe DeRose, communications director of the United Teachers of New Orleans, and Carla Rollins, a staffer of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, both now in Baton Rouge. "It is total devastation in Orleans and Jefferson parishes and all points south and east of Baton Rouge," reports Rollins in an Aug. 30 e-mail. "It will be at least weeks if not months before [residents] will be able to return and we are not sure of the condition of their homes, schools and communities. We have heard nothing from St. Tammany parish yet—considered to be totally destroyed as well."

In addition to the immediate concerns for the safety of AFT members and their families, there are payroll issues in the affected parishes, schools completely destroyed and teachers and education support personnel who have been displaced.

Baton Rouge is safe but without power in most areas, reports Rollins. Cell phone towers were knocked down and land lines are overwhelmed. LFT president Steve Monaghan was able to get through to UTNO president Brenda Mitchell, who has taken refuge in Texas, as well some other UTNO staffers who are okay but unable to return to their homes. (See UTNO's Web site for more details.)

DeRose noted that "almost everyone on my block evacuated" before the hurricane hit, although "I'm pretty sure I was the last to leave on my block." Given the devastation now being reported out of New Orleans, he notes, it could be weeks or months before schools reopen and things return to normal.

Efforts to reach the Mississippi AFT affiliate based in Gulfport, as well as other locals in the state, were unsuccessful due to disruptions in both land lines and cell phone communications.

AFT regional director Al Squire has been in touch with some affiliates in Alabama and said that although most AFT offices there did not sustain serious damage, electricity is still out in a number of places and communications are difficult. The president of the Mobile chapter, Joe Brantley, reports that the union office is without power or water because of downed trees. Mobile schools are not expected to open until the Tuesday after Labor Day, if then, he says.

AFT affiliates and members can help by making contributions to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, which provides small grants to AFT members who are victims of natural disasters. Contributions should be made payable to the AFT with "disaster relief" written in the memo portion of the check and sent to:

AFT Disaster Relief Fund
Attn: Connie Cordovilla
555 New Jersey Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

Updated Aug. 31, 2005