Hurricane Ike Closures, Evacuations In Texas

Here’s a look at some of the evacuations and closures ordered by officials in Texas in advance of Hurricane Ike:

– Special needs residents in Freeport, Hideaway Gulf, Turtle Cove, Surfside, Quintana, Treasure Island, Oyster Creek, Jones Creek and River’s End.

– Galveston Island State Park has begun a mandatory evacuation of campers and planned to have the park shut down by Wednesday evening.

– Lake Texana State Park has begun a mandatory evacuation and planned to have the park shut down by Wednesday evening.

– Goose Island and Mustang Island state parks were evacuating visitors and planning to close Wednesday evening.

– The west end of Galveston Island

– Areas in Brazoria County not ordered to evacuate

– Brazos Bend and Stephen F. Austin state parks are on standby for a possible evacuation and have executed their hurricane preparedness plans.

– The city of Kingsville.

– The Texas Department of Criminal Justice evacuated 1,336 offenders from the Stevenson Unit in Cuero to the McConnell Unit in Beeville and Connally Unit in Kenedy, and another 597 offenders from the Glossbrenner Unit in San Diego to the Briscoe Unit in Dilley. Also, the TDCJ moved 12 female dialysis patients from the Carole S. Young Medical Facility Complex in Dickinson to the Estelle Unit in Huntsville.

– Danbury, Hitchcock, Wharton, Bay City and Boling-Iago school districts, Thursday and Friday.

– Houston school district athletic events and field trips scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Trips and events Thursday requiring travel outside Harris County.

– Brazosport College classes canceled through Monday.

– Sea Rim State Park has postponed planned youth alligator hunts until next weekend. The park remains closed to the public due to damage cause by Hurricane Rita.

– The Houston meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Texas Democratic Party Convention/Caucus System will be rescheduled for a later date.

– Amtrak has temporarily suspended service to and from parts of Texas.

– The football game between Trinity University and Texas Lutheran University will now be played at 7 p.m. Thursday.

– The Texas A&M-Kingsville University game against the University of Central Oklahoma will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in Edmond, Okla.

– The kickoff time for Saturday’s TCU football game against Stanford has been changed from 6 p.m. to noon in Fort Worth.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)