Centers in Texas Shelter Evacuees

On Sept. 12, the day before Hurricane Ike slammed into southeastern Texas, 150 special needs evacuees were taken to the Austin Convention Center.

Early the following morning, the Category 2 storm came ashore, and the wind, rain and storm surge caused substantial damage to coastal communities, including Galveston Island, and power outages throughout the Houston area.

By 10 a.m. the next day, Mark Tester, director of the Austin Convention Center, said his facility got the call from city management that the center would need to get ready for 1,200 more evacuees.

Similar plans were made at the Dallas Convention Center and Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center to mobilize for an influx of people who needed shelter and food after the storm. And, while previously scheduled events went ahead in Austin and Dallas, the storm caused the cancellation and postponement of a number of events in Houston.

Austin had to ramp up operations fast in advance of the arrival of the people in need. “Our food provider (Aramark) had to be prepared to make a lot more food,” Tester said. “We had to set up 1,200 cots and set up showers. All of it was brought in working with the city.”

Not only that, the center also had two shows moving in the next week: the Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters' The NAB Radio Show, Sept. 17-19, and Think Services' The Austin Game Developers' Conference, Sept. 15-18.

“Things are going exceptionally well,” Tester said at the time. “Every effort is being made to make the evacuees as comfortable as possible while they're here. We have been able to keep the groups cordoned off from one another, giving the evacuees as much privacy as possible. At the same time, the show organizers for both NAB and The Austin Game Developers have responded to the plight of the residents from the Houston-Galveston area.”

NAB's 3,000 attendees were in Hall 1, while the evacuees were in Halls 2, 3 and 4, and 3,000 GDC attendees were in Hall 5.

NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said, even though the other groups were nearby, “it wasn't like we (were) trampling all over each other.”

On the first day of NAB's show, the association passed out toys to children housed at the center. “We decided it would be a nice gesture to spend a little money to keep the kids occupied this week,” Wharton said. “We're the guests in this town.”

Similar acts of kindness were displayed at the George R. Brown CC when American Red Cross volunteers pitched in to help serve meals and organizations, such as the Federal Emergency Management Assn., worked with evacuees to find housing and food.

Greg Ortale, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the George R. Brown CC initially was supposed to be used only as a staging area for first responders and medical evacuees, but with the extent of the damage and the more than 1 million people in the area without power, the city asked that it be opened up to residents. “It was not meant to be an evacuee site,” Ortale said. “I think it was just a matter of need. When you have people with medical conditions, you don't equivocate.”

The center made it through the hurricane with minor flooding and just one broken window, according to General Manager Luther Villagomez. It was deemed safe, and residents started arriving the same day the hurricane blew through. Upwards of 1,500 were staying on site by the middle of the week.

“A lot of residents have come in and stayed for a meal and left,” Villagomez said. “Maybe 3,000 total people have been registered.”

Art Zehnder, George R. Brown's director of sales, said the center was working with the Red Cross and FEMA to move people to other shelters and hotels in the area. “(The center's) really been a port after the storm,” Zehnder added. “It's fully functional for events.”

Some of the events that were canceled include the 2008 Theta Charity Antiques Show, Sept. 17-21; the Houston Antique Dealers Assn. Fall Antique Show, Sept. 18-21; and Pri-Med Updates Houston 2008, Sept. 19-20.

“We had (mainly) regional and local events at this time,” Zehnder added. The center does have a citywide meeting of six geology groups coming in Oct. 4, and, he said, “we're going ahead as planned.”

The Dallas Convention Center also juggled events and 1,000-plus Hurricane Ike evacuees in the building at the same time. Frank Poe, director of the center's convention and event services, said the evacuees were housed on Lower Level 1, which has a 200,000 sq. ft. exhibit hall.

The Texas Recreational Vehicle Assn.'s Southwest RV Supershow moved into the building Sept. 18-21, but, Poe added, “the show and the center's evacuees (were) in totally separate areas.”

Kenny Shaw, director of the office of emergency management for the city of Dallas, said FEMA was supposed to provide funds to the evacuees in the center to move to area hotels.

Shaw said he hoped the evacuees would be relocated soon, but the plan hit a snag early on. “FEMA gave them money for a hotel room, but no money for food or transportation,” he added. “They can't expect them to sit in a hotel room with no food.”

As of press time, there were still evacuees in all three centers, though Peter Radowick, George R. Brown's spokesman, said they were in the process of being moved out of that center. Officials in Austin and Dallas said they also were working toward the same goal.