The city of Dallas will open a third shelter Sunday for the untold number of evacuees seeking dry ground away from the flooded Texas Gulf Coast.
The third shelter will be at the Samuell Grand Recreation Center and, like the previous shelters, run by the American Red Cross.
Shelters at the Tommie Allen and Walnut Hill recreation centers have reached capacity
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins previously voiced concern that there were not enough shelters for storm victims.
"We have approximately 740,000 people who live in this hurricane watch area of 30 counties, we have a maximum capacity, if we open all shelters — both private and public — in Texas of about 41,000 shelter spaces. So that's right at 700,000 people who we don't have shelter space for," Jenkins said. "So what I'm asking is that if your cousin who is a pain in the neck to you asks to sleep on your couch for a few days, let the cousin sleep on the couch."
Jenkins also voiced concern for evacuees coming up Interstate 45 from Houston who might not have enough money to fill up their tank running out of gas while on sitting in traffic turning the highway into a parking lot.
"Fill up that tank completely," he said. "It may take a lot more gas to make this trip, you may have a seven hour journey because of traffic."
Jenkins said most evacuees from Houston will come to Dallas, while Corpus Christi evacuees will go to San Antonio.
Texas Department of Transportation signs along the highway in Ellis County will instruct evacuees to call 211 to find out which Dallas shelters that are open.
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