MUSCATINE, Iowa - Iowa state officials are not sure how many displaced residents from the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast could eventually be brought to the Hawkeye State.

However, local city and county government officials, as well as Sister Irma Ries and the Muscatine Center for Social Action, are planning to welcome hurricane evacuees to Muscatine with open arms if any are relocated here.

"We do have room for 10 to 12 people," Ries said Tuesday. "We're more than happy to help out, if called upon."

Ries said her organization received a call last week from Chicago-area officials asking about possible space at the center for hurricane evacuees. MCSA is located at 312 Iowa Ave.

Ries then got together on Friday with several other officials who could be involved in helping evacuees: Mike Johannsen, director of Muscatine County Community Services; Jeff Carter, Muscatine County emergency management director; Cheri Snyder, local chapter director of the American Red Cross; John Beckey, president of the Muscatine Welfare Association; and David Shepard, director of Muscatine's housing department.

Together, they compiled an inventory of available housing and apartments, in Muscatine and the county to submit to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for hurricane housing relief.

"We also worked with the Iowa Coalition for Housing and the Homeless with this," Johannsen said.

Ries said her organization was working cooperatively with the Iowa Finance Authority, a self-supporting state agency established in 1975 that helps provide affordable housing and business development for low- and moderate-income Iowans.

Now it's a "wait and see" process on if any Katrina-displaced residents are brought to Muscatine, Ries and Johannsen said.

"We could get a phone call

at any moment," he said. "From what I understand, everyone

will be processed at Des Moines first before being sent to

different cities."

Medical care and educational needs for the evacuees' children will also be determined at the initial processing, he said.

"This was such a large disaster that we're basically putting together a plan as it goes along," said Johannsen. "But the good news is that we are a relatively small county with a good standby plan.

"Everyone worked together."

Johannsen and Ries believe that many of the evacuees are depressed and emotionally exhausted after surviving a natural disaster, being so far away from their homes and not knowing what the future holds.

"I think that we, as a community, want to share in their grief and devastation," Johannsen said. "This community has a very good cooperative spirit and will do everything in its power to help them."

Contact Stephen Byrd at: 563-263-2331 Ext. 320 or stephen.byrd@muscatinejournal.com