Hurricane Laura evacuees told to vacate hotel, reassigned to new one

HOUSTON - With less than 36 hours, Hurricane Laura evacuees in Houston were asked to leave their current hotel to be reassigned to a new one. 

The Texas Department of Emergency Management told FOX 26 Wednesday this is being done to consolidate the 40 hotels being used to shelter these evacuees down to eight statewide. 

For many evacuees like Rudy Kirklin, she tells us the process has been rushed and unorganized. 

“We’re getting the runaround on a lot of things,” said Kirklin. “Phone calls kept dropping and we couldn’t get in touch with nobody. This went on the entire morning from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m.”

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The evacuees telling us they were given notice Tuesday morning that they will be forced to relocate and be out of their current hotel by 11 a.m. Wednesday morning. 

The TDEM said they gave notice to evacuees on Monday. 

“The Texas virtual reception center phone number was provided to evacuees on Monday so they could begin to prepare for today’s move, we are also prepared to assist in providing bus transportation as requested.”

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A chance call turned Rudy back around to the Houston area where she bumped into a friend, another evacuee from Louisiana, who was willing to give up her room. 

Many of the evacuees are also concerned that the three relocations cities, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas are taking them further away from home. 

The TDEM says, “these consolidated hotels are further inland due to the fact that we are in the peak of hurricane season, with a very active Atlantic Basin, it is not prudent to shelter individuals in communities along the coast.”