Bay City Tribune

Matagorda County officials escalated response measures to Hurricane Ike, ordering a mandatory evacuation Thursday that not all citizens have followed.

Unfortunately some people have chosen to stay and that makes things very difficult for county officials, said Lurinda Barton, Matagorda County Public Information Office staff member.

A curfew has been implemented for anyone staying in the county beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

That is a 24-hour curfew and it will last until the evacuation order is lifted, Barton explained.

Residents needs to understand that there will be no law enforcement services, no emergency medical services and no city or county services available to them for the duration of the storm.

The current projected path of the eye of Ike is on the border of Matagorda and Brazoria Counties.

As it moves they are thinking it may move more toward the East but it is still projected on the border of Matagorda and Brazoria Counties, Barton said.

The onset of tropical storm force winds is still projected for noon on Friday, Sept. 12 with the center of the storm making landfall in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 13.

Large passenger buses began loading all citizens needing evacuation assistance at 9 a.m. at the Service Center in Bay City and at the KC Hall in Palacios.

The bus evacuations have gone very smoothly so far, said Barton.

We had a lot of people this morning loading on the buses and we will continue to load buses until 3 oclock this afternoon.

The large passenger buses were provided by state emergency operations.

The state was very diligent in getting us every need requested, Barton said.

The fuel situation in the county is currently stable but Wal-Mart in Bay City is closed and HEB plans to close at 3 p.m. due to the mandatory evacuation order.

Also, profile vehicles including travel trailers, livestock trailers, boat trailers or RVs are no longer allowed on the roadways.