Austin could be called to shelter hurricane evacuees this season. Where would they go?
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- We're heading into a hurricane season and Marty McKellips — regional executive for the American Red Cross' Central and South Texas regions — said she's more nervous than any in her last 20 years with the organization.
As storms start to form, some impacting Texas already this season, the city of Austin will not be able to use a space it had previously set aside to shelter Texans evacuating.
The Marshalling Yard once had the ability to shelter evacuees, but Austin has now extended its contract with a nonprofit using the space as an emergency homeless shelter instead. It's the second summer the group will operate inside that city warehouse.
"There was a great need in the city for beds for the unhoused, and so it's currently being used primarily for shelter beds for the unhoused," said Sara Henry, a city of Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesperson.
The cities of Austin and Galveston have an interlocal agreement for "point-to-point evacuation and sheltering during a hurricane," according to HSEM. But since the Marshalling Yard was built in 2022, Galveston has not needed to take the city up on that agreement, the city said.
"We would continue to use other city facilities that are available and leverage our partnerships with the NGO groups that we work with," Henry said.
NGO meaning non-governmental organizations like the American Red Cross.
"We work with the city and county to determine — based on how many people we think we're going to anticipate — to determine exactly where those shelters will be. In the past, we've used convention centers, schools, churches, almost any building that would have space for people to sleep and be safe and take showers and that sort of thing," said McKellips.
But McKellips said her biggest concern this season is not shelter space, instead the need for volunteers to work those shelters.
"We honestly believe it's going to be a very large season and we're going to need people who've maybe never volunteered with the Red Cross before to engage," she said.
Austin crews could be deployed to help
While Austin and the Red Cross are preparing to possibly help people evacuate to the city, they're also preparing to send teams out to help.
Austin Energy has sent crews to hurricanes in years past -- including to Florida to help with Hurricane Ian in 2022, Louisiana for Hurricane Delta in 2020 and Hurricane Hanna in the Rio Grande Valley in 2020.
"We are aware of forecasts that indicate this will be an extremely busy hurricane season and are planning accordingly," said Matt Mitchell, an Austin Energy spokesperson.
The Austin Fire Department has already deployed 10 crew members to parts of Texas that were impacted by a tropical storm last month.
Texas Search and Rescue (TXSAR) crews from the Austin area are also prepared for the busy hurricane season. TXSAR is called out by local, state or federal agencies when crews are overwhelmed and need additional resources.
“Everybody that is certified and trained in that particular discipline, let’s say that it’s a flood event, will get an immediate text, phone call and email that says, ‘here is the mission, here’s the location, here’s what you need to be prepared for,'” said Andrew Tull, volunteer and chairman of the board at TXSAR.