BEVERLY — Yesterday, Cherie Antle found herself in a crowded Louisiana civic center making lunch for 2,000 of her newest best friends.
"You should've been here for lunch today. It was the best chili dog, honest to God, I've ever eaten in my life. Last night, it was barbecued chicken," the Amesbury resident said in a cell phone conversation from Monroe, La.
Antle was sent to cope with Hurricane Gustav through a Beverly office of the Red Cross, which also sent a semi-retired reporter from Salem. A Beverly-based Urban Search and Rescue team, led by Beverly and Salem professionals, has 80 people in Atlanta hoping to help if the powerful storms Hanna and Ike hit. Officials said Gustav wasn't nearly as devastating as Hurricane Katrina, but better preparations had already paid off.
Jack Butterworth, the reporter from Salem, was on the cell phone when he found a road to an American Red Cross shelter blocked by many downed trees.
"My friend Steve from Virginia is the driver, and we're looking at a situation here that is not going to be solved without a chain saw," Butterworth said. He moved away from the cell phone to talk to Steve: "The smaller one I could give a tug, but not that big one. I do not have a red "S" on my chest. I'm not going to tackle that." They would have to find another way to New Roads, La.
Butterworth said he'd spent the night of the storm in the Broadmoor United Methodist Church wondering whether the building's metal roof would peel off in a gust of wind. At a shelter Sunday at an Iberville, La., high school, Butterworth delivered about 150 cots and found the high school had been properly stocked with emergency food supplies. The principal contrasted that with Katrina, when the students' lunch supplies were tapped because no emergency supplies were available, he said.
"People saw this coming, and they knew the potential and they don't make the same mistake twice, fortunately," he said.
The Beverly-based search-and-rescue team had been sent to Atlanta to get ready for Gustav, but didn't need to go, said Gene Doherty, a spokesman for Massachusetts Urban Search and Rescue Taskforce 1. They're now waiting to hear whether they'll be needed for other storms; forecasters yesterday said Hanna had reached and then lost hurricane wind speeds and could hit Florida late tomorrow.
Beverly's emergency management director, Mark Foster, and Salem Deputy fire Chief Gerry Giunta are leading the team.
Giunta said the team could be moved anywhere at any time, covering an area from Louisiana to the East Coast. They have mixed feelings about not needing to help in the wake of Gustav.
"We came down here to work, but we don't want anyone to be suffering because we're working," he said.
Salem fire Capt. Dennis Levasseur, a rescue team leader, said the Massachusetts task force has been training with teams from Virginia, Nebraska and California. While they hear weather updates, they're reviewing how to shore up an unsteady building or mark a building's damage.
"It's a little frustrating, but it's just the way the system works. They have to figure out what's going on before we can go to work. We have to be patient," he said.
Levasseur said other North Shore participants include Swampscott firefighter Ed Seligman for logistics, Salem fire Lt. Richie Arno, Gloucester Deputy fire Chief Miles Schlichte and a Boston fire lieutenant who lives in Salem. Levasseur said they're ready for anything.
The team left Beverly with 21 vehicles, mostly SUVs, and arrived in Atlanta on Monday. They carry heavy rescue equipment to cut through concrete and steel reinforcing bars, air bags that can prop up debris from building collapses, and enough supplies for three days of operations, Doherty said.
