DALLAS — Dozens of buses transporting hurricane evacuees arrived in Dallas County early Wednesday morning. Luckily, while Texas was mostly spared from Laura’s destruction, plenty of people still remain without power and can’t head back home.
What You Need To Know
- One family received vouchers to stay at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Farmers Branch
- City of Dallas acquired contracts for hotels because COVID-19 does not allow for traditional shelter evacuation sites
- Hotel is providing about 1,200 meals each day for the evacuees
- Vouchers are still available for sites in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas
One of those evacuees is Marcus Kittling, a Beaumont resident who has been through his fair share of hurricanes.
“Yeah, I stayed for Ike, for Rita. I left before Katrina, so I advised everybody to leave,” Kittling said. "A lot of people stay because they worrying about they TVs and they clothes, and they just don't realize they always get that again. If you have your faith in the Lord."
He and his girlfriend and child received vouchers to stay at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Farmers Branch, one of the hotels under a contract with the City of Dallas to house evacuees. Because of the pandemic, traditional evacuation shelters can’t happen right now. Kittling is grateful to have a safe place to stay and hot meals three times a day for his family. The hotel is providing about 1,200 meals each day for the evacuees.
"They serve and they give us food, breakfast. They’re doing what they can do for us,” Kittling said. "Whenever it’s time to go, they’ll let us know.”
Kitting said that initially, the buses were planning on taking them into San Antonio, but detoured up north where there was capacity.
“At first they was gonna send us to San Antonio, and then we went to a shelter. They had no more room for us, so they sent us over here,” he said.
Despite the runaround, Kittling said all that matters is that he and his family are safe.
"I put God first and everything that happens is all on him. Because he’s the high man and he’s the one that does everything. So I’m good,” Kittling said. “I’m not worried about the house. I got my family, that's what I was worrying about. That’s better for me and to me.”
When Spectrum News spoke to Wyndham Garden Hotel manager Zachery Warren Thursday afternoon, he said all 350 rooms were occupied. In order to cater to every guest, he had to call in his staff that was laid off back in March due to COVID-19.
“When it really hit hotels, we laid off approximately 75 percent of our workforce. Now, since then, we have brought back about 25 percent but we still were not to pre-COVID. With the contract we got from the city, we went from about 50 percent occupancy to 100 percent occupancy overnight,” Warren said. "When these people are able to go home back down to South Texas, we’re going to be kind of back in our same boat where occupancy levels are going to go back down. The hotel business has just taken a very big hit from COVID-19.”
Evacuees still needing a hotel voucher are encouraged to head to one of the four reception centers in San Antonio, Austin and the Dallas area.
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