By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – Five hundred Hurricane Katrina evacuees that were to arrive Monday in St. Louis will not be coming after all.
More than a week ago, volunteers and local emergency management officials converted an old Boeing hangar near Lambert Airport into a shelter with room for 2,000 people.
Sam Simon is the St. Louis Public Safety Director. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency no longer needs temporary shelters.
"There's a national plan," Simon said. "There's a national policy. And they felt at this time they wanted to suspend the flights and enter into phase two, which is long-term housing."
Simon praised the region's quick response in readying the shelter in a short time.
But he said the city will ask FEMA to reimburse the city for the tens of thousands of dollars it spent getting the building ready.
Simon said nine people from the Gulf Coast used the shelter, however they arrived by car.