PORTLAND (AP) – Scores of Mainers have volunteered to provide housing for refugees left homeless from Hurricane Katrina, and Maine Maritime Academy’s training ship has been activated to provide housing for oil refinery repair workers in New Orleans.

Seventy-nine people have signed up through a state agency volunteering to take in people from New Orleans and other storm-ravaged areas along the Gulf of Mexico, according to Lynn Kippax, spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci.

Volunteers can sign up on the Internet through the state of Maine.

State officials say that families in the Gulf coast region have lost virtually everything, and that volunteering to host them is a substantial commitment that could last for an extended period off time.

Maine Maritime Academy President Leonard Tyler announced Sunday that the college’s training ship, the State of Maine, has received emergency activation orders from the U.S. Maritime Administration in response to the crisis brought on by Hurricane Katrina.

The ship, which is a federally owned vessel on permanent loan to Maine Maritime Academy, is expected to set sail Thursday to provide emergency housing for repair staff of an oil refinery located near New Orleans.

The ship is expected to be deployed for about 60 days. The college’s at-sea training program is not expected to be affected by the ship’s deployment.

The ship now provides housing to 69 first-year students, so additional housing has to be found for them, Tyler said.

Once the ship arrives in New Orleans, about 200 oil refinery workers are expected to live on board while making repairs to the damaged infrastructure of an oil refinery.

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