Last week Bernada Espinosa watched the stopped cars on U.S. Highway 71 from her fruit stand as people fled their homes in fear of Hurricane Rita, a storm expected to destroy a chunk of the coast. While Espinosa operated her Elgin business Saturday, she saw the same traffic build up on the other side of the highway as people started going home.
The congestion last week had evacuees in gridlock traffic for hours, worrying about running out of gas in the middle of the massive evacuation. Trips between Houston and Austin, which usually take about three hours, lasted almost half a day.
Because evacuees were eager to reach safe ground, expecting a Category 5 hurricane to crash into their homes, state highways were packed bumper-to-bumper with cars, each one trying to get as far away as possible.
"Certainly we wished things flowed smoother," said Randall Dillard, TxDOT's spokesman.
In order to prevent the same situation, the Texas Department of Transportation, under the state's emergency management department, asked that the thousands of evacuees participate in a staggered return trip home. Officials designated Sunday for residents from the Northwest Houston area, today for the Southwest area and Tuesday for those from the east Houston.
Dillard said the department understands that people are ready to leave, which is why the state asked for a "phased return."
TxDOT has sent about 1,500 employees south to clear fallen trees and debris that could add to an increase in traffic congestion, in addition to repairing traffic signals that went out during the storms, Dillard said. The state's Department of Emergency Management is in the second and third stages of relief efforts, he said. The first was evacuation, which led 2.5 million people out of the area, and the others focus on cleanup and getting people home.
On their way to Austin, evacuees loaded up on fuel in expectation of traffic, as well as a shortage of resources in Houston and surrounding towns. The gas shortages that still plague the area have become less of a problem in Austin.
Amir Karovaliya, who manages the Del Valle Grocery Store on U.S. Highway 71 near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, said his store only ran out of gas for a couple of hours Friday.
In the two hours without fuel, Karovaliya said he saw a handful of people who were desperate to keep their cars going. On their way into Austin, evacuees stopped along U.S. Highway 71 to fill up in case Austin was facing the same shortages as the cities they all left.
While evacuees saw brighter skies and no signs of a hurricane the farther north they traveled, some did not turn around and go home, even after the storm weakened to a Category 2 hurricane.
As of Sunday morning, Austin still had 33 shelters open and housing about 4,000 evacuees, said Central Texas Red Cross spokeswoman, Claudia McWhorter. Red Cross volunteers coordinated operations at local high schools, middle schools and other facilities.
McWhorter said the state's existing hurricane emergency plan designated schools for shelters. City Manager Toby Futrell said at a briefing Friday that students and evacuees were clearly separated from one another, so school could function as usual.
Red Cross is closing shelters as people start leaving, emptying the makeshift areas they called home for a couple days. They will also be consolidating certain groups who were bused into the city in order to get everyone home safely, McWhorter said.
"People are anxious to get home and see the damage," she said. "But they are grateful to Austin for opening its doors for even a few days."
Though Karovaliya temporarily ran out of gas, the convenience store owner said he's focused on doing whatever he can to help evacuees, even with unexpected consequences. His store's restroom toilets continued to overflow Saturday because he kept them open for any and all people to use as they sat in traffic.
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