Across the nation, people like Rainey are offering up their homes as temporary shelters to the storm's refugees. On the Web site craigslist.org, hundreds of people — some from as far as Oregon and New Hampshire — are eagerly offering free or extremely cheap room and board for victims, even knowing those strangers may stay for months.
"We've got all this room. Why not host a family, a couple, someone who needs help?" asked Linda Donewald, an empty-nester who is offering her Mesa, Ariz., home to refugees along with space for a pet cat or dog. "Even if it's 110 degrees, I'm sitting here on dry land. And these people have nothing."
The problem is that many of the victims can't see the listings. Most don't have computers or Internet access in the hotels, motels and emergency shelters where they've holed up across the South.
In Valdosta, Ga., five volunteers have offered up their homes, but city officials said there is no way — beyond a local media campaign — for victims to know about it. In the meantime, the city's hotel rooms are packed with refugees, and Red Cross volunteers are readying long-term shelters in the area.
Federal officials nonetheless applaud the efforts as a way for the average citizen to help in the wake of a disaster.
"That kind of system, individual to individual, is a great way to go," said David Passey, a spokesman with the Federal Emergency Management Agency . "There are a lot of great Americans out there."