She was not reassured by the fact that the state is putting people in hotels. I cannot expose my family to be with other people not knowing if they have COVID or not." "What are we going to do? We are in a national pandemic. "I am hysterical," Cádiz, 41 of Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston told NBC News.ĭespite her anxiety, she is staying put for now with her two young children and husband. OK? That’s all I can say.”Īlthough her home appeared to be just outside Hurricane Laura's cone of uncertainty, Antonieta Cádiz, who fled Hurricane Harvey floodwaters in 2017, was expecting the worst. Just know it’s going to be between you and God. “What we cannot do, and as mayor what I will not do, is put any of these people in harm’s way just because of a person deciding they weren’t going to leave and they’re going to ride it out. Standing in front of a line of EMS workers, Bertie said he wouldn’t put any city employees at risk to help those who’ve refused to leave. Unlike those storms, Hurricane Laura is projected to bring devastating winds and storm surge to Port Arthur, conditions that will make it impossible for emergency workers to respond to distress calls before the storm passes. Port Arthur, a city of about 50,000 people along Texas’ Gulf Coast, has been battered by numerous storms in recent years, first by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and then last year by Tropical Storm Imelda. No one’s going to answer,” Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie told reporters. HOUSTON - As Hurricane Laura churned toward his city, the mayor of Port Arthur, Texas, urged residents to evacuate while they still can. We don’t know if we are going to go back to anything or not.” We don’t know if we are going to go back to anything or not. and said they had been waiting in line for four hours. Ronnie Boyd, 28, was in a car with his sister Ashlee Love, 31 and her 12-year-old son. I’m hoping we can get a gas voucher so we can have some transportation,” said Warnell, who said he earns money doing odd jobs and his wife is disabled. They arrived Tuesday night and went to a hotel, but waited in their car in the line while temperatures hit the mid 90s. Gerald Warnell, 59, and his wife Helen, 56, from Orange, Texas, followed buses that were transporting evacuees out of the Gulf Coast to San Antonio. Greg Abbott had said that the large number of evacuees could signifying that people are taking the hurricane warnings seriously. In a news conference Wednesday in Austin, Texas Gov. Tuesday, but Arrington said because “we got way more people than we expected overnight” people were given a one-night stay in a hotel room Tuesday night and told to return Wednesday for what will likely be five- to seven-night stays.Īrrington explained people go through the welcome center for accountability purposes so if someone is looking for a loved one after the storm there is a good record. The help center had been open since 3 p.m. Suzanne Gamboa / NBC Newsīecause of the pandemic, the state had contracted for hotel rooms rather than set up large shelters. Richard Thomas, 30, of Beaumont, with Maya Matthews, age 1, waited in a line of cars in San Antonio to get assigned hotel rooms where he and his family will wait out Hurricane Laura, on Aug. ![]() He said he had stayed in Beaumont during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 due to work, but recently became unemployed because of the coronavirus, he said. "I just wanted to get my family safe," Thomas said. Wednesday, 2,103 had come to the help center to get hotel accommodations assigned to them. San Antonio had expected 300 evacuees Tuesday night but 1,400 arrived by the end of the night, said Joe Arrington, San Antonio Fire Department spokesman. He and six others were in his car including three children and a pregnant woman. He came with several family members packed in two cars whom he had gathered to get away from the storm. “We’re praying we don’t run out of gas,” said Richard Thomas, 30, who said he had been waiting in line more than three hours. The long line in San Antonino, Texas to get in a parking area to get hotel vouchers on Aug. Under the hot sun, people who said they were waiting between two to four hours tried staying cool in their car air conditioning. SAN ANTONIO - A long line of cars stretched through a large parking area and spilled down the street as Hurricane Laura evacuees lined up to get hotel vouchers Wednesday afternoon.
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