Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

PORT ARTHUR (AP) ― In the region where Hurricane Rita swamped the flat marshland and homes with several feet of water three years ago, few people waited around for Hurricane Gustav or even the mandatory evacuation that began at 6 a.m. Sunday.

Authorities with the Southeast Texas Emergency Management Office evacuated some 6,000 people from a three-county area surrounding Beaumont and extending to the Louisiana-Texas border. The evacuees included people with medical needs and those who couldn't afford to evacuate, said Crystal Holmes, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Gustav, now a powerful Category 3 hurricane with forecasts of strengthening over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters, turned slightly east overnight and was now expected to barrel into eastern Louisiana Monday afternoon.

Heavy rain and winds are still expected in flood-prone Southeast Texas.

Just about the only travelers on the main road into Sabine Pass by mid-morning were a pair of plodding turtles. The only people allowed south to Sabine Pass through a local police roadblock were emergency officials, residents and refinery personnel.

Between Port Arthur and Sabine Pass, cattails waved in a light breeze and the shrimper Five Queens chugged up the river under a cloudless sky. Two liquid natural gas terminals under construction dominate the skyline.

Workers on those projects outnumber the slimmed Sabine Pass population of fewer than 2,000.

Margie McCray, 69, her husband and two adult children hurriedly packed their cars, stuffing entire wardrobes on hangers into the trunk. But then it wouldn't start and had to be jumped.

They planned to head toward Austin Saturday, but William McCray, 74, had to work all day running a boat for a construction company.

Rita destroyed their home with currents of water that ruined its contents and blew out its windows. Three years later they are still renting a home and waiting to rebuild.

The lesson from Rita: Take more belongings, McCray said.

"We lost everything," she said. "We only took two suits of clothes because we thought we'd be right back."

Those who came back to Sabine Pass after Rita -- and many never did -- say very few people have rebuilt. Grant money remains tied up in red tape.

Port Arthur, a refinery town of about 57,000 also badly damaged during Rita, was virtually abandoned.

"The public heeded the warning," Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton said. "Last time we were still fighting people who didn't heed warnings."

City streets were empty Sunday morning, with just a few stragglers walking around in quiet neighborhoods. Nearly every business, save for a few gas stations, were closed and homes were boarded up. The same was true in nearby Beaumont.

Following the mass exodus Saturday, hundreds of remaining residents in Port Arthur prepared to board chartered tour buses bound for Texarkana, about 270 miles north, Sunday morning.

While loading plywood into his truck at a Port Neches home improvement store, Salvador Vasquez, 34, said he was preparing to stay in Port Arthur. Evacuating his group of 15 family members and friends would be too expensive, he said.

"We didn't have an opportunity to evacuate," Vasquez said in Spanish, adding that he had to work earlier in the week.

Kevin Paul, 30, said he and his family decided to flee because of what they saw after Hurricane Rita.

"You've got to think about how bad Rita messed up Port Arthur," Paul said as he and two women in his group stood outside the city's civil center.

Paul said his family came back to "nothing" after Rita slammed into the region, where some people still live with the now-familiar blue tarps over their roofs.

Wendy May, a 36-year-old day care worker traveling with Paul, said she was kept out of the city for nine weeks after Hurricane Rita. The pair said they haven't been told how long they may be gone this time, but they've packed for a week.

The last of about 20 evacuation buses was set to leave the city by midday, Blanton said. As in other areas preparing for the massive storm, Blanton said anyone who stays behind should be ready to be stranded without city services, including emergency help.

Buses and drivers from as far as Mississippi were brought to Texas this week to help with evacuations.

Charles Moody was one of the last customers Sunday morning at the convenience store that sits at Sabine Pass' four-way stop.

He picked up tamales and a soda and said he was watching Gustav's track and waiting to decide whether to leave.

"If I have to, I'll leave," Moody said. "But it's a lot of time and work and money."

Cindy Davis, working the store's cash register, pointed to a television mounted about seven feet above the floor.

"After Rita, the water got to there," she said.

At 10:30 a.m., Davis scribbled "CLOSED" on a brown paper bag and taped it to the front door.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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