United Way of California

California 211s Aid Hurricanes Ike and Gustav Evacuees

2-1-1 service providers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco helped thousands of people affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, by connecting them with emergency food, shelter and other critical resources and information needed in the recovery process.  California 2-1-1s pitched in to help 2-1-1s in Louisiana and Texas who received more calls for help than those centers could handle on their own.

Using the latest phone technology 2-1-1 LA County was able to receive all the overflow calls from Louisiana and Texas and route and distribute those calls among the 2-1-1s in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. 2-1-1 San Diego fielded 50% of the overflow calls with 2-1-1 LA County and 2-1-1 San Francisco handling the other 50% between them. 

Here's how California 2-1-1s helped people impacted by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike:

• California 2-1-1s fielded 9,338 calls from Louisiana and Texas evacuees seeking help.
• The types of services and information 2-1-1s in California were able to connect people to include:
  • Shelter/housing
  • Food
  • Information on evacuation and return routes
  • Social services
  • Financial assistance
  • Family reunification status
  • Traffic closures
  • School/work closures
• Additionally, California 211s provided support in maintaining the database of emergency resources that was used to provide callers with information and referrals in the Louisiana, Texas and California 2-1-1 centers.

Helping people in times of greatest need is what 2-1-1s do every day but during disaster, it is critical for 2-1-1s to have the ability to quickly ramp up their capacity to serve impacted populations and support emergency responders.  During disaster events, 2-1-1 service providers kick into high gear gathering and tracking critical resource information from emergency responders, law enforcement and other verifiable sources to provide the public with information and referrals that help keep non-emergency calls from clogging 9-1-1 lines.

2-1-1 has played an increasingly important role in disaster response and recovery as demonstrated most recently during the October 2007 wildfires in Southern California, during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and now during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.