Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press Despite the uncertainty about arriving storm survivors, volunteers Lenni Nalls and Steven Tarrant worked on a welcome sign today at the Pittsburgh Project, an inner-city Christian outreach organization on Pittsburgh's North Side. If evacuees arrive, they will be housed in a newly constructed dormitory on the Pittsburgh Project's site. Click photo for larger image. Previous story Pittsburgh may not get Hurricane Katrina evacuees

Beds were ready, hotlines were jammed and donations were pouring in to local agencies ready to assist Gulf Coast hurricane victims expected to relocate to the Pittsburgh area today. But no evacuees showed up, and the one question no officials could answer was whether anyone was coming at all.

County Executive Dan Onorato finally announced at a 4 p.m. press conference that he had spoken with Gov. Ed Rendell and Pennsylvania Emergency Management officials, and the county had been switched to standby status. This hurry-up-and-wait pattern seems to have played out in at least three northern states awaiting flood victims.

Yet Onorato and other local officials insisted this did not mean Allegheny County would not be receiving any Katrina victims.

Emergency officials said the region could be ready in a matter of hours when (and if) they are notified that people are on their way.

Pittsburgh was expecting one planeload of evacuees and Philadelphia expected two. By this afternoon, Rendell said, Philadelphia had received 35 displaced Gulf Coast residents and a dog.

When asked if he was disappointed that the promised flight never arrived with hurricane victims on board, Onorato diplomatically dodged the question, emphasizing the incredible effort of community members to prepare for evacuees' needs.

The word from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Rendell said, was that states would be tapped to receive evacuees on a rotational basis: two states' would receive Gulf Coast victims for a two-day period and then another two states would receive the next migration.