4 Shreveport shelters not yet open but ready when needed

BATON ROUGE, LA (KSLA) - As thousands of people prepare to evacuate from Harvey's relentless rains, Shreveport stands ready for evacuees.

On Monday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said: "We are prepared to accept people from Texas in our shelters."

However, he noted that request has not yet been made.

Edwards also said that any such shelters likely would be in in the Shreveport area.

Those shelters are on standby and have not yet been activated.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services has contracts with four facilities in Shreveport that are kept ready with cots, blankets, pillows," DCFS Secretary Marketa Walters said. "We're ready to always shelter in North Louisiana.

"Everybody likes to shelter close to home. And so the closer to Texas people can be to their own homes, that's where they want to be," Walters continued.

"If they need to come to Louisiana, we think the I-20 corridor is the easiest way to get them to the state, which would make those Shreveport shelters that are already set and ready the most efficient and effective to fill."

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