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Evacuee Crowds Thin at Dallas Convention Center DALLAS, TX (KERA) - The numbers of hurricane evacuees in the Dallas Convention Center are thinning, and officials are assessing the job done this time to accommodate hundreds fleeing a dangerous storm.

The convention center now houses about half of the 1,050 Gustav evacuees it took in. Anita Foster with the Red Cross says there were valuable lessons and action plans put in place after Hurricane Katrina three years ago, as well as a new partnership among aid agencies. She says it worked.

Foster: For the most part the evacuees arrived. They knew what to do. They knew where to go. The Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Volunteer Center, and the Food Bank - everyone has been working together to make sure the evacuees had a place to stay. That they had food on the plate every single day. That they had a safe and comforting environment.

But some evacuees preparing to go home worry they don't have enough money for gasoline and the return trip home. Dallas Emergency Operations Director Kenny Shaw says they've heard those concerns.

Shaw: We've put out a notice to the area Volunteer Organizations and Disasters, which is a coalition of non profit organizations, to see if they can help with it. The city doesn't have a program like that. The Red Cross doesn't do that. So, we just have to find out if there's somebody out there, and just go from there.

Meantime, the volunteers and city police, fire and emergency operations staff in the Command Center got a hand from Mayor Tom Leppert for a job well done during a tour of the Convention Center.

Leppert: They were the ones that stepped up and made this operation so smooth. They addressed the needs of over 1,000 people in this community. They deserve a big hand.

Then it was back to work for the Red Cross' Anita Foster.

Foster: Where we're at now is the process of helping people get back home. And we're going to stand ready to shelter until they just don't need us anymore.
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