Arkansas a port in the storm for some Texas evacuees

By Noel E. Oman (Contact)

LITTLE ROCK — Texans fleeing to Arkansas ahead of Hurricane Ike have yet to approach the numbers the state saw from Louisiana fleeing Hurricane Gustav, officials say.

“It’s much lighter this time,” said Montine McNulty, executive director of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, which represents the restaurant and entertainment, hotel and lodging, and travel and tourism industries in Arkansas.

Todd Scholl, marketing director for The Peabody Little Rock hotel, agreed. “Yes, it’s not the same” as Hurricane Gustav. “The way [the Texas] geographic area is set up, there’s more metropolitan areas available than was available in Louisiana.”

Still, some Texans are making Arkansas their shelter in the storm.

Debbie Zunker of Vidor, Texas, which is near Beaumont on the Gulf Coast, expected to arrive in Malvern on Thursday night, along with two children, two grandchildren, her mother, two sisters and their seven children. They have reservations at a Malvern motel.

“What’s bad is we just evacuated last weekend for Gustav,” Zunker said in an interview while stuck in traffic near Jasper, Texas. “Our plans are to stay until Sunday. It depends on the damage and whether the electricity is on.”

Electricity is important. She has a nephew who relies on an electronic device for breathing, Zunker said. The husbands of her three sisters will remainbehind “to protect things,” she said.

Traveling the nearly 300 miles between Vidor and Malvern normally takes about six hours, but Zunker said traffic was slow going in Jasper on Thursday afternoon.

Zunker and her extended family also fled Hurricane Rita in 2005. “We was gone two weeks for that one. We were very thankful our homes were saved.”

She acknowledged that Hurricane Ike feels different.

“I’m a little more worried,” Zunker said. “It’s hitting ... closer to us than Rita.”

Hotels in Texarkana and Hope were filling up with Texas evacuees, officials said Thursday.

“Pretty much all of them[motels] are booked,” said Jessica Hardin with the Hempstead County emergency management office in Hope. “People aren’t here yet, they just have them booked.”

The county has yet to open a shelter, but “we’re looking to open one if the need arises,” she said.

In Texarkana, motels are busy, but many had some rooms available Thursday afternoon, said Micki Wright, tourism director for the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses in Texas and Arkansas in the border town.

The Texas side has opened 15 shelters as part of an arrangement with its sister Texas city, Port Arthur, Wright said. Evacuees from Port Arthur were expected to begin arriving inTexarkana in stages Thursday night.

Troops at Fort Chaffee are preparing to receive Ike evacuees even though they hadn’t received any specific orders as of Thursday.

“We’re still standing at the same posture to accept up to 4,000 if required,” Arkansas National Guard spokesman Capt. Chris Heathscott said Thursday.

Fort Chaffee has received no word on whether it will receive evacuees from Texas, and there is no timetable for the arrival of such orders, Heathscott said. Workers there were ordered to be ready, and soldiers will remain on the Fort Chaffee mission until Monday, he said.

Meanwhile, the Arkansas’ electric utilities kept a wary eye on Ike. While officials at Arkansas Entergy Inc.; Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., an umbrella for 17 rural electric coops; and Southwestern Electric Power Co. said they stand ready to assist in Texas if necessary, they want to make sure they have Arkansas customers taken care of first.

Ike is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds to Arkansas as soon as Saturday night. Gustav brought similar weather to Arkansas, knocking out power to nearly 100,000 Entergy Arkansas Inc. customers.

“Home territory is our first priority,” said Dan Daugherty, a spokesman for Entergy, the state’s largest utility.

Information for this article was contributed by Dave Hughes and Bill Hornaday of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 8 on 09/12/2008