From Ocean City to Owings Mills: Foreign Evacuees Count Their Blessings

For at least the next 48 hours, the Owings Mills JCC, in conjunction with the Red Cross, has been transformed into . And, for current Ocean City resident and Macedonia native Zlatka Velickovsa, that’s okay.

With Hurricane Irene set to barrel into the beach getaway at some point between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, Velickovsa is one of the hundreds of foreign workers who had to hurriedly pack up  their necessities and board a bus headed anywhere west.

Landing in Owings Mills just a few hours later, the 23-year-old Smoker’s BBQ employee says she doesn’t mind the inconvenience the storm has caused—she’s just glad she’s safe.

“I contacted some of my friends still over there and with the city empty they are starting to get panicked,” Velickovsa said. “So, we are feeling lucky that we are here and thankful that the U.S. government warned us to get out of Ocean City right away.

“The locals said this is the first time in history of Ocean City that it had to evacuate, so that’s kind of scary.”

But, thanks to the Red Cross and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) instead of setting up sand bunkers and boarding up windows, Velickovsa is sitting in the sunny Owings Mills courtyard, playing cards with some of her closest friends.  

Meanwhile, another group of Ocean City transplants relax by a lounge area watching a movie while others take to the soccer fields outdoors.

According to JCC Aquatics Director Bill Kirkland, serving as a spokesperson for the Red Cross, their guests will be treated to an after hours pool party, as well.

“I think the JCC has done its best in this case to try to make it as good a situation as you could possibly imagine,” Kirkland said.

“They clearly left friends and folks that they know back at the jobs they were at. With not a lot of communication, it’s sometimes tough to reach the people that they need to. With that being said, and having worked at a number of shelters in emergency situations, I think this is as good of a situation as we could have hoped for.”

Part of that situation includes rows of cots set up in the JCC’s two basketball gyms, and the impending worry that even though the Owings Mills location offers the foreign evacuees temporary refuge, there is the possibility that their job sites may not be waiting for them when they return.

“Nobody is worried for themselves,” said Catarina Constantine of Romania. “They are worried for the people that are still there that wanted to stay there. They are worried for the city and that they may not find a job when they come back. Some of us still have another month to stay there [before returning home].”

Regardless of the outcome, the foreign transplants will be forced to take everything one day at a time before learning of Ocean City’s—and their own—fate.

“Until now everybody has been great,” Velickovsa said. “We’re hanging out. We have all the support from the Red Cross. It’s been okay, but I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”