Hundreds Of Harvey Evacuees Arrive At Shelters In Dallas

<p>Bus after bus arrived in Dallas Thursday morning. The first handful of thousands of evacuees coming to rest in the city's newly created mega shelter.&nbsp;</p>

Thursday, August 31st 2017, 8:14 pm

By: Grant Hermes


Bus after bus arrived in Dallas Thursday morning. The first handful of thousands of evacuees coming to rest in the city's newly created mega shelter.

News 9 was the only station in the country to capture their first moments back on dry land.

According to the Red Cross, the shelter has 108 people currently staying overnight, but 558 are officially registered. The shelter itself can hold up to 5,000 people.

“There's a lot of uncertainty. They don't know how long they're going to be here. They don't know what the conditions are back home. But many of them literally ran for their lives,” said Michele Maki with Red Cross.

Dallas Office of Emergency Management says it's taking lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana were no where near ready to house and care for thousands of storm victims.

Emergency officials in Dallas say they’re not going to make that mistake. Ready to open their doors to thousands within a few hours notice.

City officials say they haven't started talking about what a long-term strategy might be, but say they plan to keep the mega-shelter open as long as a large number of people need it.

The city still hasn't received word about when a larger number of buses is expected to arrive major highways are still underwater. So, for right now, they're taking it all in one day at a time. 

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