Families seek shelter at high school

WASILLA -- At Wasilla High School Thursday night Red Cross volunteers were busy setting up cots, grabbing a bite to eat and distributing toys to half a dozen youngsters who played on the floor of the high school's commons area. The food had been brought in by American Legion volunteers -- with ribs and potato salad donated by Fred Meyer -- and toys had been rounded up to keep the littlest people busy. More than 20 people were at the school, which had been closed down to classes for the same reason these people weren't in their homes -- high winds that created havoc across Mat-Su.

Red Cross' Gordon Taylor said the emergency shelter would stay in operation until Friday night, when the Valley wind storm was expected to die down - and hopefully by then power would be up again throughout Mat-Su, and damage to homes could be repaired. At approximately 9 p.m., as the volunteers were placing cots around the track area of the school's gymnasium, Taylor said he was surprised there had been so few people to come to the emergency shelter in light of the damage the winds had created.

"The damage reaped is downright serious … it's not good," Taylor said of the stories most people had by then heard of the recent winds' destruction of homes, toppling of trucks and toppling of power lines. Away from the few families, in another area of the school, were another group of people taking advantage of the generosity of the Red Cross. These were a group of older folks, Taylor said, who lived in an assisted living home that had suffered structural damage from the wind.

For some, there had been less actual destruction but plenty of potential for danger. Downed power lines throughout the Valley had caused extensive blackouts -- meaning no heat, in weather with winds that chill the bones and freeze pipes. For Leroy Ochap, no heat since 8 a.m. was enough reason to take his five children -- ages 2, 7, 11, 15 and 16 -- and head some place warmer. As his little ones amused themselves with donated toys, Ochap said his wife Toni had remained at their Schrock Road home to care for their animals, but, he said, if it got much later and the power did not come back on, he and his wife would switch places and he would go home and drain the water pipes while his wife and kids bedded down for the night on the Red Cross cots.

"Hopefully we'll get power back before too long," Ochap said as the clock edged its way closer to 10 p.m. Despite being temporarily displaced, Ochap said he felt lucky. "We missed all the disasters," he said, "There's no heat and no lights, but not much damage, luckily; just things blowin' around."