Hurricane Laura evacuees coming to Austin area as storm approaches coast

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The newest forecast models show Laura making landfall along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, possibly as a Category 3 hurricane, late Wednesday into early Thursday.

AUSTIN, Texas — Hurricane Laura evacuees from the Galveston area will come to the Austin area to seek shelter from the storm, city officials confirmed to KVUE on Tuesday. 

The response to taking in evacuees will be coordinated by the Austin-Travis County Emergency Operations Center in addition to the ongoing COVID-19 activation, city officials said in the release.

“The City of Austin Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Travis County Office of Emergency Management have been reviewing and altering the ‘Capital Area Shelter Hub Plan’ to prepare to respond to sheltering needs during a pandemic since earlier this summer,” city officials said in a press release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial changes to the plan to shelter evacuees. These changes include assigning evacuees to hotels instead of a few or single large congregate shelter.”  

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The newest forecast models show Laura making landfall somewhere along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, possibly as a Category 3 hurricane, late Wednesday into early Thursday morning.

The City of Austin is not sharing the planned locations to receive evacuees at this time. Officials said some of that information will be provided in later updates. 

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