Hurricane Harvey: Austin Prepares To Take In 2,500 Texas Gulf Coast Evacuees

AUSTIN, TX — City officials on Wednesday worked to transform the Austin Convention Center into a mega-shelter for Hurricane Harvey evacuees from the Texas Gulf Coast.

At Tuesday's Austin City Council meeting, Mayor Steve Adler spoke to the city's resolve in receiving evacuees displaced by the ensuing tropical storm with open arms. "We pretty much dodged the bullet here in Austin," the mayor said. "But we will do everything we can to help others."

Preparations at the convention center on Wednesday affirmed that sentiment. The expanse of the place has been converted into a huge shelter-in-waiting, with tape delineating spaces for cots, and tables set up for dining. The sight of such prepared makeshift living quarters — for now sans people but poised to receive them — yielded an eerie sight at a place where conventioneers would normally gather, their name badges affixed to their shirts or blouses.

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But soon it will house a unique gathering not mindful of networking but in search of the more fundamental needs of shelter and food. State officials previously asked if the city might house 7,000 evacuees from the affected region. The convention center will have the capacity for 2,500 guests, complemented by four other city shelters housing more than 560 evacuees.

The city has opened its doors to evacuees in the past, housing some 4,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The current configuration at the normally bustling convention center shows the template of the city's preparations, with tape serving as temporary border where cots were to be placed. Tables have been moved aside to accommodate the arriving cots.

And now, the city waits. The wait is for the masses seeking shelter from the storm, many of whom lost everything they owned in homes now submerged in water during what ended up being the worst flood ever to strike the continental U.S. along the Texas coast.

The Delco Center has already taken in around 200 Texas Gulf Coast evacuees, and the University of Texas at Austin's J.J. Pickle Research Campus in North Austin and LBJ High School's Toney Burger Activity Center are similarly poised to take in those fleeing ground zero of the devastation.

Additional shelters are in the works, including the Travis County Exposition Center at 7311 Decker Lane, recently approved by county commissioners as a backup shelter. Additional shelter space is being sought for 4,000 more evacuees, city officials said.

>>> Photos by Tony Cantú