Published: September 13, 2008 11:33 am      

Agencies prepare for Hurricane Ike’s effects

Cleburne to be shelter site after Tarrant, Dallas counties

Cleburne is scheduled to take Hurricane Ike evacuees after shelters in Fort Worth and Dallas are full, but with tens of thousands following evacuation orders in numerous Texas Gulf Coast counties, Annie Thomson, the Johnson County Red Cross branch manager, said today that her office is “preparing as if we’ll be sheltering here in Cleburne.”

Sites for Cleburne shelters are being readied, but Thomson said those locales will be made public only if their services are necessary. On Thursday evacuees were being asked to go to the Information Center in Burleson at 601 S. Hidden Creek, just off Interstate 35W. From there they will be directed to a shelter.

Evacuees can also call 211, a community help number, and follow the hurricane evacuation routes on electronic highway signs, Thomson said.

The Information Center in Burleson has snacks, drinks, bathrooms and is “a place to stop and rest, let the kids play, whatever they need,” she said.

Although the Red Cross office is not set up to take contributions of food or other in-kind donations, the Salvation Army at 111 S. Anglin will accept food items for evacuees

Salvation Army director Nancy Holt and employees Deborah Clark and Mindie Wilson set up at a rest stop on Interstate 35W to provide evacuees with sandwiches, drinks, snacks and directions to register for North Texas shelters.

Donations of lunchmeat and bread, fresh fruit, bottled water, portable drinks and other snacks are welcome, Wilson said. Cash contributions are also welcome.

While fielding continuous phone calls at the headquarters Thursday, Thompson said her office mainly needed money donations and volunteers, who will have to attend a training session in Fort Worth to be ready to assist evacuees at shelters. Those interested in volunteering can also call 817-336-8718.

To donate to the Red Cross, call 817-335-9137 or mail them to 1515 S. Sylvania Avene, Fort Worth, TX, 76111.