Houston’s Eastern Suburbs Urged to Evacuate Ahead of Laura

(Bloomberg) -- Houston-area government officials urged resident of the city’s eastern suburbs to evacuate as Hurricane Laura approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued the voluntary evacuation order on Tuesday for low-lying areas close to Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel, including towns such as Deer Park, Seabrook and Baytown. The fourth-largest U.S. city’s eastern suburbs are a warren of chemical plants, oil refineries and heavy industry.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said residents should be off the highways no later than 8 p.m. local time Wednesday and warned them to brace for widespread power outages. Impacts from Laura are forecast to begin reaching the region earlier in the day.

Houstonians should prepare “as if there’s going to be a lot of people without power,” some for extended periods, Turner said during a joint media briefing with Hidalgo.

A storm shelter has been established at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston that will house displaced residents and also serve as a distribution center for moving some people to other facilities, Turner said.

The plan is to use city buses to transport some residents to outlying facilities operated by the Red Cross and others so that social-distancing standards can be maintained, the mayor added.

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