METAIRIE, La. — More than a dozen seniors were found at a Lake Charles housing complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura with no food, water or electricity.
Residents at the Golden Arms Public Housing Complex were reportedly told by the complex's management that a bus was coming for them.
The bus came, but only picked up half the residents in the complex. Then it left.
"The bus did come...picked up half of the people and said they would be back and they never came back," said James Lea, a volunteer with the relief group Aerobridge.
Aerobridge volunteers made their way to the facility after the storm, and found residents -- including a double amputee -- sitting in 100-degree weather without basic needs.
"He was in his apartment..had been there sitting in his motorized wheelchair that didnt have any battery power," Lea said.
He and other volunteers worked to get the residents food and water, and was eventually told that they should evacuate the seniors to the Lake Charles airport, where a bus would take them to safety.
"When we got to the airport, the security contingent that was there told us that the busing contingent wasn't there," Lea said.
Fearful that some of the seniors wouldn't make it through the night, Lea and volunteers with Crowdsource Rescue -- another group helping after the hurricane -- offered to drive the residents across the state to Metairie.
Three joined the thousands of evacuees taking up shelter in New Orleans hotels. The rest were hospitalized or sent to the medical special needs shelter in Gonzales.
Lea said he was thankful everybody is alive, but wondered how the seniors could have been left behind.
"I do question -- highly question -- the decision of the management of that place to leave before knowing that all of their residents were taken care of," he said.
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