The first large round of evacuees from Southeast Texas has arrived in Dallas.
A steady rain met a U.S. Air Force C-130 transport plane as it landed at Dallas Love Field about 6:30 p.m. Monday with 77 evacuees and a dozen dogs. Many of the evacuees carried trash bags and backpacks containing their belongings.
They then boarded buses to the Lively Point Youth Center in Irving, where they will stay in a temporary shelter.
John Devereaux said he waited about 36 hours to be rescued from his Dickinson apartment.
He suffers from Lupus and arthritis and said the help he is receiving is very much appreciated.
"I didn't know they helped people that much but apparently they do. They jumped right on it," he said.
Richard Martin was also rescued from his home in Dickinson. He said his house was on higher ground but still had several inches of water inside when he was rescued.
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He and a police officer carried a crate with his dog to the temporary shelter in Irving.
"Here I am in a city where I don't know anyone, got no money, got not car. I have the clothes I'm wearing and my dog," Martin said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the planeload Monday evening was the first of a possible eight planeloads of evacuees expected to be flown into Dallas.
The evacuees will be housed at smaller emergency shelters around the Dallas-Fort Worth area while city workers, partner organizations and volunteers finish preparing the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas.
Jason Carriere, Irving Police Department emergency management coordinator, said in a Monday email that Irving's makeshift emergency shelter was prepared to take in about 200 people.
Basic medical care and grief counselors will be offered for those in need.
The city of Irving and the American Red Cross urge the public not to try and drop off any kind of donations at the shelter. They are not needed and the public will be turned away.
Officials, instead, urge the public to make a monetary donation to charitable organizations like the American Red Cross or Salvation Army.
As many as 5,000 additional evacuees may begin arriving in North Texas some time Tuesday.
