Hurricane Laura evacuees who have been sheltering in Dallas will have to pick up and move again by Monday afternoon as the Red Cross consolidates its space from five hotels to two.
The move comes as the relief organization tries to concentrate resources and staff.
Hurricane evacuee Patricia Wiley said she and her 11 children have nothing to return to after hurricanes Laura and Delta slammed into their Lake Charles, Louisiana home.
A few days ago, she said she received a notice at the hotel she at which she was staying. It gave her days to pack up and move to another hotel before Monday’s deadline.
She says it would be her fourth hotel in about six weeks.
“We had some anxiety, trying to figure out what’s the next step," Wiley said. "It’s not easy when you don’t have a place to go back to."
She said it wasn't easy when traveling with so many children.
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“I have two in high school, two in middle school, and the rest of them are in elementary. One is not in school,” Wiley said.
She said she enrolled some of the kids in the Dallas Independent School District, but even that has been a challenge.
“It’s hard when you’re going from place to place. Even the WiFi cuts off,” she said.
The family has not decided if they’ll return to Lake Charles. Instead, they’re taking it day by day, and said they are grateful to have a roof over their heads.
“With the size of my family, it’s kind of hard going from here to there, but we have to do what we have to do for them,” Wiley said.
Red Cross said the length of each family’s hotel stay is different. It all depends on their situation and the state of their parish back home.
Red Cross is helping evacuees get transferred before the Monday 3 p.m. deadline.
A spokesperson there were around 2,000 evacuees, mostly from Hurricane Laura, in the Dallas area.
