Evacuees No Longer Headed To El Paso
As Hurricane Gustav made its way toward Louisiana and Southeast Texas on Saturday, officials in El Paso continued to watch the storm’s path and prepare for the possibility of evacuees needing shelter in the region.
Emergency workers — including the El Paso Fire Department, Salvation Army and city of El Paso — on Saturday expected to receive the first group of mandatory evacuees: people with medical needs. But as the path of the storm was still unknown, when and from where the evacuees would arrive was unknown, said Juli Lozano, spokeswoman for the city of El Paso.
Officials at first believed evacuees would be coming from the Houston area. Late Saturday afternoon, notices of evacuations came from Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, Lozano said.
“At this point, we just don’t know” where the evacuees will come from, Lozano said Saturday.
Mandatory and voluntary evacuations are ocurring in parts of Southeast Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Lozano said El Paso was prepared for whenever evacuees arrive.
About 200 medical-needs evacuees are expected to arrive Sunday. An additional 500 evacuees destined for El Paso are anticipated to arrive by the end of the week, Lozano said. This would be the largest group of evacuees to take refuge in El Paso since hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Service Web site estimated Saturday that Hurricane Gustav would reach land by 2 p.m. Monday. All coastal areas along Southeast Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi were under a hurricane watch, the Web site said.
On Saturday, 550 beds with sheets and blankets were arrayed evenly at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center in Downtown El Paso. More than 100 volunteers from the Salvation Army in El Paso, American Red Cross-El Paso Area, El Paso Police Department, El Paso Fire Department and other agencies and organizations helped set up food, drinks, showers and other resources for the evacuees.
“Today (Saturday) we set up, just in case those people (with medical needs) come in with a family member that doesn’t have the means to rent a hotel or something. They’ll have a place to stay,” Lozano said. “We’re ready. If there’s a need tonight, if there’s a need tomorrow, we’ll be ready.”
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita helped pave the way for the city of El Paso to be better prepared to receive people fleeing from future hurricanes, such as Hurricane Gustav, Lozano said.
Credits: El Paso Times