Tarrant added to disaster declaration as Fort Worth takes in Hurricane Laura evacuees
Gov. Greg Abbott added Tarrant County to the state’s disaster declaration for Hurricane Laura on Wednesday as Fort Worth worked to shelter evacuees fleeing the storm.
Abbott warned Texans who have yet to evacuate Southeast Texas that they had only about five hours to do so as Laura barreled toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Abbott said during a press conference that the tropical storm winds are expected to begin around 7 p.m. Wednesday, with Laura making landfall around midnight.
Laura has increased in intensity to a major Category 4 hurricane that is “life-threatening” and expected to travel inland across portions of East Texas and Western Louisiana. Sustained winds grew from 75 mph Tuesday afternoon to 140 mph by Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center.
From about 7 p.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Thursday, rescuers will likely be unable to provide support. Abbott urged residents to use the next few hours to leave affected areas as soon as possible
“Because of the power of this storm, if you are unable or do not get out of harm’s way, the reality is for almost a 24-hour time period there will be no ability for rescuers or aiders to get in and assist you in any way,” Abbott said.
Although officials expect the storm to leave Texas by Thursday night, they warned that strong winds, power outages and flash flooding will likely occur. Abbott urged Texans not to bring power generators inside their homes, as that could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, which can be fatal.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth forecasts that scattered thunderstorms and heavy rainfall will continue overnight through Thursday and possibly early next week for North and Central Texas. Winds may reach up to 40 miles per hour across East Texas as Hurricane Laura moves north, with the greatest possible chances of storm conditions and some flooding east of I-35 on Thursday, according to the NWS in Fort Worth.
In addition to Tarrant, the counties of Camp and Ellis were also added to the 59 counties previously included under the disaster declaration. Abbott has requested that they be added to the federal disaster declaration approved Monday.
Abbott said Tarrant and Ellis were added because they are serving as sheltering locations, and he may add additional counties. The declaration allows Abbott to suspend laws to respond to the disaster, and authorizes the use of all available resources at the state and local levels. Altogether, 62 of Texas’ 254 counties are now included under the state’s disaster declaration.
Texas cities on the Gulf Coast have issued mandatory evacuation orders and official evacuation routes. A full list of evacuation orders can be found at gov.texas.gov/hurricane.
Two evacuation centers have been open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since Tuesday night. The Mesquite Reception Center at 15515 East I-20 and the Knights of Columbus Hall at 850 South I-45 are accepting buses transporting evacuees. From there, residents will be directed to hotels, which officials have stressed will help them better isolate from others to avoid the novel coronavirus.
Kristen O’Hare, an emergency management officer with Fort Worth’s Office of Emergency Management, wrote in email Wednesday that once evacuees arrive by bus at the reception area in Mesquite, they will be sent to either Dallas or Fort Worth. Both cities have secured contracts with hotels. The locations of shelters in Fort Worth will not be disclosed for the safety of evacuees.
People who evacuated in their own vehicles are being asked to go the Knights of Columbus Hall in Ellis County where they will receive a wrist band and then be directed where to go from there, O’Hare wrote.
Tuesday night, Mayor Betsy Price and the Fort Worth City Council issued a local disaster declaration in response to Laura and activated an emergency operational plan, according to a news release.
Mike Drivdahl, spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said the city was working to prepare two hotels for Hurricane Laura evacuees. Both have about 200 rooms and would allow people to isolate and social distance. In the past, the city has placed cots in the Fort Worth Convention Center and at the Will Rogers complex, he said.
“This will look quite a bit different than past evacuations,” he said.
By midnight Dallas-Fort Worth should have at least 800 evacuees, Drivdahl said. Fort Worth expects to host between 200 and 400, depending on how much many hotel rooms are needed.
During a Facebook Live update Wednesday night, Price said evacuees would be tested for COVID-19 as needed.
“We’re a very compassionate, caring community and we’ve done this before for hurricane evacuees,” Price said. “And I hope that Laura is not as bad as we think and we’re all going to pray for these folks.”
O’Hare said residents are asked to refrain from donating supplies until the city has identified needs and a centralized location to accept donations.
More than 5,000 Texans have already been sheltered, Abbott said. The Circuit of the Americas, which is being used as a location for evacuees arriving in Austin, was temporarily closed early Wednesday after it reached capacity, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said the closure was due in part to evacuees arriving in their own cars and checking straight into hotel rooms, rather than the Circuit of the Americas site first.
During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said over 3,000 evacuees have been placed among more than 1,000 hotel rooms, which is “more than we anticipated.” Juan Ortiz, the director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Austin, said the Austin Convention Center would be opening as a more traditional shelter to host approximately 135 evacuees.
Adler urged evacuees to continue north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where they may have a better chance of securing a hotel room.
Kidd said Wednesday afternoon there were still a majority of hotel rooms available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Rocky Vaz, the director of Dallas’ Office of Emergency Management, said in a press conference later in the day that over 185 people had been placed in 92 hotel rooms as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Vaz said the city contracted with a large hotel it has used in the past and has over 285 rooms available in total. It is looking to secure more hotel rooms, with another 16 buses expected to arrive in addition to the eight that already have. People also have arrived in hundreds of cars, Vaz said.
“What we are seeing is, hotels up and down the coast from Austin to San Antonio are full,” Vaz said. “Dallas hotels are filling up extremely fast.”
Personal protective equipment, like face masks, and sanitizing materials, have been placed on buses, which are being filled with 15 to 20 people in order to facilitate social distancing. Kidd said COVID-19 testing would be made available at shelters where people would be gathering in groups.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 3:30 PM.
