Most of the evacuees wanted to talk. They spoke of those they miss and what they saw and how scared they were. Some are angry that help came slowly, others grateful that it came at all.

"Some of them describe the horror of the water they walked through. Of watching elderly people die. The horror of not knowing where friends and neighbors are. The horror of seeing people fight in shelters and the Superdome," Atkinson said.

They told a reporter of shots fired and threats and waiting for help that seemed to take forever to arrive. Navy medics reported treating everything from knife wounds and gunshots to dehydration and chronic illness like diabetes.

Those being welcomed to Utah stepped off the plane to applause, which first jolted and then warmed them, several said. A medical clinic staffed by local hospitals had been set up in the hangar nearby, and Health Department director Dr. David Sundwall said those who needed medical attention immediately were helped on the spot. About 15 were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

At Camp Williams, those less acutely ill who need medical attention will be able to get it at a clinic manned by Salt Lake Valley Health Department and others.

Still in the hangar, they were fed, and those who arrived to the chill of early Sunday morning were wrapped in blankets. When they got to Camp Williams, they were processed by the American Red Cross, human services and health officials, given clean clothes and toiletries and offered a hot shower. Mostly, everyone simply wanted to go to bed, Sundwall said.

On this strange new day, Patricia Arbo stroked her 35-pound collie-lab mix, Tori, as she recounted how boats bypassed her because she couldn't leave her dog. Her mom and elderly relatives were rescued; she, dog Tori and friend Linda Kingman hunkered down on the roof of their home for five hours before moving across the street to a neighbor's two-story house, where they stayed two more days. Finally the boats started coming, plucking people out of attics. But none would take them because of Tori — and they weren't leaving without her. "She's my child," Arbo said as Tori offered a dog grin.

She was one of perhaps 15 evacuees who arrived in Utah Saturday with pets.

Bluffdale Animal Control is working with other animal agencies to put up a kennel on site at the camp so the animals can be close, but not where people are sleeping 40 to a dorm. For now, until things settle down a little, no one's suggesting that the animals stay anywhere but in the arms of those who fought so hard to save them, said Temma Martin of Salt Lake County Animal Services.