Showers and a place to sleep: Portland Convention Center shelters wildfire evacuees
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
August 10, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022
Showers and a place to sleep: Portland Convention Center shelters wildfire evacuees

World+Biz

Reuters
12 September, 2020, 05:50 pm
Last modified: 12 September, 2020, 05:51 pm

Related News

  • What legal woes does Trump face?
  • Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community
  • Biden 'concerned' as China extends military drills around Taiwan
  • FBI searches Trump's Florida home as part of presidential records probe
  • US committed to cooperating Bangladesh for SDGs implementation: Assistant secy Sison

Showers and a place to sleep: Portland Convention Center shelters wildfire evacuees

On Friday, Molalla was an ash-covered ghost town after its more than 9,000 residents were told to evacuate

Reuters
12 September, 2020, 05:50 pm
Last modified: 12 September, 2020, 05:51 pm
Showers and a place to sleep: Portland Convention Center shelters wildfire evacuees

Joey Slate was getting kidney dialysis treatment at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, which has been transformed into a major evacuation center for people fleeing unprecedented wildfires in the lushly forested state.

Slate, who is blind, and his fiance who was also getting dialysis, were among the last to be evacuated from the town of Molalla, a community about 25 miles (40 km) south of downtown Portland.

On Friday, Molalla was an ash-covered ghost town after its more than 9,000 residents were told to evacuate, a Reuters photographer there said.

Red Cross volunteers came and brought Slate and his fiance to the convention center.

"We don't drive. I'm blind. So we abandoned our cars there. But we couldn't leave our dogs," said Slate. Their dogs are being housed at a volunteer-run shelter for evacuated pets.

The fires that this week have scorched over 900,000 acres in Oregon - more than twice the average annual acreage burned over the last decade - have crept closer to Portland and its suburbs. Around half a million people in Oregon were under evacuation alerts on Friday, with Portland residents told even they had to pay attention to surrounding counties' evacuation orders.

Search teams on Friday entered areas where fires burned through small communities, the head of the state's office of emergency management said, adding that authorities were prepared for possible "mass casualty incidents."

The Oregon Convention Center has created emergency shelter space, including parking, showers and a place to sleep, with some 400 cots socially-distanced apart for people displaced by fires.

Hastily arranged shelters

Other shelters have been hastily arranged at high schools, county fair grounds, and shopping centers. At the Clackamas Town Center mall in Happy Valley south of Portland, hundreds of cars, campers and trailers filled the parking lot and the Salvation Army was handing out boxed meals.

Several aid stations were dispensing water bottles, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, packaged foods, toiletries, dog food, diapers, and Gatorade.

"You always read about it and hear about it, but you don't realize until you're here," said one evacuee, Dan Oukrop.

"You never want to find out about it," his wife, Chere, said.

"But it's nice to know that it's there," Dan said.

Oregon / Wild Fire / USA

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • This won’t last forever.Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images via Bloomberg
    Minimum wages are going up. Jobs may disappear
  •  A Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, November 16, 2018. Photo: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
    Two Rohingya leaders shot dead in Ukhiya
  • Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower the day after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach home, in New York City, U.S., August 9, 2022. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado
    Trump uses FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home to solicit campaign donations

MOST VIEWED

  • Militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic take part in shooting drills at a range on the outskirts of Donetsk, Ukraine, December 14, 2021. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo
    Latvia seeks to join Kyiv in ECHR case against Russia
  • U.S. Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Dollar edges higher as traders await US inflation report
  • Photo :CNN
    Salt substitutes may reduce early death from cardiovascular: Study
  • A Tesla logo on a Model S is photographed inside of a Tesla dealership in New York, U.S., April 29, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson//File Photo
    Tesla discloses lobbying effort to set up factory in Canada
  • The Cotopaxi volcano is seen near Quito, Ecuador, August 10, 2015. REUTERS/Guillermo Granja/File Photo
    Ecuador says debt payments not affected by Luxembourg asset freeze
  • FILE PHOTO: Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa presents his national statement as a part of the World Leaders' Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain November 1, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
    Sri Lanka's ousted president expected to fly to Thailand, sources say

Related News

  • What legal woes does Trump face?
  • Afghan Muslim arrested for killings that shook New Mexico's Islamic community
  • Biden 'concerned' as China extends military drills around Taiwan
  • FBI searches Trump's Florida home as part of presidential records probe
  • US committed to cooperating Bangladesh for SDGs implementation: Assistant secy Sison

Features

The elevated ground is made out of soil on which grass and trees have grown. This grass-covered elevated ground extends to the perimeter of the establishment. Photo: Maruf Raihan

Aman Mosque: Where form and function complement each other

1d | Habitat
Photo: BSS

Begum Fazilatunnessa Mujib . . . woman of moral power

1d | Thoughts
Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

2d | Brands
Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

2d | Brands

More Videos from TBS

Why Donald Trump buried ex-wife Ivana at a golf course

Why Donald Trump buried ex-wife Ivana at a golf course

14h | Videos
In absence of groom, his brother stands by the bride

In absence of groom, his brother stands by the bride

17h | Videos
Tajia procession of Muharram

Tajia procession of Muharram

18h | Videos
Importance of Ashura in Islam

Importance of Ashura in Islam

19h | Videos

Most Read

1
Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 
Banking

Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

2
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

3
Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway
Real Estate

Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway

4
Infographic: TBS
Banking

Dollar rate will be left to market after two months: Governor

5
Photo: Collected
Transport

Will Tokyo’s traffic model solve Dhaka’s gridlocks?

6
Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import
Economy

Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]