Ark-La-Tex gets ready

MARSHALL, TEXAS -- Southwest Louisiana evacuees are hunkering down for the Hurricane Rita throughout the Ark-La-Tex region.

Heavy rains have forced some Louisiana residents to seek shelter father north, but they are being hindered by lack of hotel and motel space in Arkansas.

Power is out in different locations off Interstate 20.

Many are upset that they can't get visual pictures of southwest Louisiana from network broadcasts.

An unspecified number of Lake area evacuees were supposed to be taken to a FEMA operated shelter west of Minden. All shelters are full in the northwest portions of Louisiana and northeastern portions of Texas.

American Press staffer Erin Kelly's nephews were involved in a two-vehicle accident Wednesday in Opelousas. The boys and their are doing fine, but their father's truck was totalled and their dog was killed after they were struck by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver.
The driver was clocked at 60 miles per hour.

The boys and their father are in Marshall, Texas.

Eric Cormier
American Press
Staff writer