09:45 PM PDT on Saturday, September 10, 2005

By kgw.com and AP Staff

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Saturday the state will cancel its preparations to receive any Hurricane Katrina refugees after federal officials confirmed that none will be sent to Oregon.

AP photo

Sisters Nicole Peltz, right, and Lilian Peltz, who are neighborhood volunteers, move cots at a high school gym in Portland in preparation for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

The Democratic governor said the decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency "brings a great deal of relief and a little disappointment."

Kulongoski said he had mixed emotions because government and relief agencies worked so hard to set up shelters for up to 1,000 refugees — a number that was scaled back to 500 before FEMA canceled any plans to send hurricane victims to Oregon.

"I want to thank the citizens of Oregon for their outpouring of help of all kinds help and resources that we didnt know we had," Kulongoski said.

He also said he plans to name a task force to analyze state response to the disaster.

Meantime, Red Cross volunteers said they were converting a shelter set up at southeast Portland's Washington-Monroe High School into a volunteer training facility and multi-agency family assistance center for disaster victims.

"The Red Cross has assisted more than 55 families who have arrived here to the Portland area by their own means. As disaster survivors, they are eligible for Red Cross assistance," said Red Cross spokeswoman Mary Miller. "And we anticipate more coming."

"We will be moving forward with a massive volunteer training effort to support the affected area," Miller explained. "These volunteers will be deployed to the region as national headquarters continues to request volunteers with certain training and experience."

Miller said roughly 1,000 Portland area volunteers had signed up to receive disaster assistance training.

The governor also noted that more than 1,800 Oregon National Guard troops remain on duty in New Orleans.

"We're very proud of them," Kulongoski said.