Evacuee dies at Oklahoma City hospital

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A Port Arthur, Texas, man who was evacuated from a care center in advance of Hurricane Rita has died, authorities said. <br/><br/>Ora Manuel, 83, was pronounced dead Sunday at Integris

Tuesday, September 27th 2005, 6:50 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A Port Arthur, Texas, man who was evacuated from a care center in advance of Hurricane Rita has died, authorities said.

Ora Manuel, 83, was pronounced dead Sunday at Integris Southwest Medical Center after being removed from life support under the direction of his relatives.

Manuel was one of 102 hurricane evacuees airlifted to Oklahoma City and taken to area hospitals Thursday and Friday, said Tina Wells, a spokeswoman for Emergency Medical Services Authority.

According to McNeil's Funeral home employees, Manuel suffered a heart attack at some point after leaving Port Arthur.

``During a hurricane, people often think the only emergencies that are going to happen are related to the hurricane,'' Wells said.

``There are people that are going to drown or people that are going to be killed by the winds, but there are people who are going to have the same conditions they had before the hurricane.

``Things going wrong in our bodies are not just going to stop because there is a hurricane.''

Several evacuees were in critical or serious condition when they arrived on Air National Guard transport planes at Will Rogers World Airport, she said.

A funeral couldn't be arranged for Manuel because the local funeral home was damaged in the storm, workers for the Mustang funeral home said.