Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

DALLAS (AP/CBS 11 NEWS) ― Thousands of evacuees who fled Houston and Galveston ahead of Hurricane Ike's fury faced the prospect of lengthy stays in uncomfortable shelters or returning home to find their residences possibly flooded and without power.

The unusually large Category 2 storm cut power to millions of people as it roared ashore early Saturday, and it was unclear when services would be restored. Though thousands who were under mandatory evacuation orders decided to stay to ride out the storm, more than 1.2 million people fled the Texas coast ahead of Ike.

Multiple shelters in North Texas were holding around 2,500 evacuees.  The largest shelter, the Dallas Convention Center, was full to capacity

In San Antonio, shelters were holding nearly 5,000 evacuees. Officials thought that was likely the peak number the city would receive, but anticipated getting some additional evacuees from Houston whose homes were damaged by the storm or lost power.

"While there is no planned evacuation this way at this time, it's entirely possible, even probable, that people from that area may still come this way to get away from flooded homes," San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger said.

Hardberger said it was unlikely that Houston-area residents would start returning home within the next couple of days.

"This is not a good time to go home even though the hurricane may be down country a ways," he said. "It's not where you want to be. We can't keep anybody from going home if they want to go home, but I don't think it's desirable that they go to the Houston-Galveston area just yet."

Nicole Calderon was at a massive San Antonio shelter where evacuees and volunteers lunched on hot dogs, fruit and canned drinks and huddled around televisions tuned to the latest weather.

Calderon, 23, and 10 members of her family left La Porte and arrived in San Antonio on Friday afternoon. While she had hoped to go home Saturday, she said she'd comply with advice to stay until as late as Tuesday.

"We don't want to be stranded over there and not have a place to stay," Calderon said as she cradled her 22-month old son, Jiovanie, in her arms. "Here we have a place to sleep and eat. We're just going to wait and see what they tell us."

Nim Kidd, San Antonio's emergency manager, said the city will provide shelter to evacuees for as long as it takes. But she said it's likely that shelters will be set up closer to the areas with the most damage in the coming days, and some evacuees may be transported there to be nearer to home.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Saturday that about 4,000 evacuees were staying in 36 state parks.

In Tyler, temporary home to more than 3,400 evacuees, it was quickly becoming clear that at least one shelter there was not a viable long-term solution.

Even as Ike's winds and rains passed over Tyler hours after the storm appeared to have unleashed its worst damage, officials were discussing with the state what to do about a Wal-Mart serving as a shelter to 1,600.

"They're telling them that shelter is not a long-term solution," Tyler spokeswoman Susan Guthrie said. "If this goes on, that's not a place where we want to keep people."

Evacuee Terrance Bryant was staying at a church-turned-shelter in Tyler. After also evacuating from Beaumont two weeks ago ahead of Hurricane Gustav, he said he was frustrated.

"I can't do this for two weeks," said Bryant, 22, who was at the shelter with three siblings and his mother. "I just can't."

Despite the inconvenience, evacuees said they were glad they made the decision to leave.

"I'm worried, but some people made the stupid mistake of staying down there," Bryant said.

Retired nurse Ida Mayfield said that because Gustav hit Louisiana and not Beaumont two weeks ago, many decided not to evacuate ahead of Ike.

"Two o'clock this morning made a believer out of all of them," said Mayfield, 52, adding that she spoke to a friend who was on a roof waiting for help after calling 911. "They're scared now."

Clint Matthews and his wife, Nical, holed up in a Tyler motel as what remained of the hurricane raked the city. Although Ike's winds whipped the motel, the coupled worried about their home, which is near a canal in a low-lying area of Port Arthur.

"We don't know if it's floating through the Sabine Pass right now or not," said Clint Matthews, an ex-Marine who is currently employed as a state correctional officer.

He said he and his wife would stay in Tyler "until our money runs out," but he indicated that time may come sooner than later.

As the couple rode out the storm, Nical Matthews, a nurse, checked the FEMA Web site on her laptop computer to see what assistance would be available.

Holding out a cluster of cash, she said: "Right now, this is all we've got."

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)