Louisiana residents in GA. weighing when to return

About five hundred of the evacuees from Hurricane Gustav are waiting out the hurricane in Georgia. Some three hundred of them are being hosted at Villa Rica, not far from the Alabama state line.

Red Cross and local volunteers here are providing cots, hot meals and showers for the displaced families.

The exhausted evacuees, many of with them children and elderly family members, are taking shelter in a gym and meeting rooms at a local recreation center.

One of them is Kenner, Louisiana, resident Nolan Eugene, who arrived in a convoy with friends:

"Everybody runnin' from that hurricane, but it done now passed over now, and I'm ready to get back home (laughs). We could leave out tonight, instead of spending another night here – I don't know… six carloads of us got to make a decision."

Villa Rica is one of five shelters the Red Cross has opened statewide including Columbus, La Grange, Lawrenceville and Tift County.

Click here for more GPB News coverage or Hurricane Gustav.

Evacuees waiting out Gustav in Ga.

About five hundred of the evacuees from Hurricane Gustav have taken refuge in Georgia. Some three hundred of them are being hosted at Villa Rica, west of Atlanta.

Many of the evacuees arrived at the center, not far from the Alabama state line, in convoys after an all-night drive.

Lisa Matheson of the Red Cross says they’re sheltering them in a gym at a local recreation center:

“This is where we have approximately 250 cots set up to take in the evacuees. We were very fortunate in this shelter, that we had several ancillary rooms where we could take the overflow to accommodate the nearly 300 people who are here.”

The evacuees are being given three meals a day, recreation facilities and medical assistance is they need it.

Villa Rica is one of six shelters the Red Cross has opened statewide, including Columbus, Dalton, La Grange, Lawrenceville and Tift County.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Hurricane Gustav, and other severe weather.