Texas Closures, Evacuations

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

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS (with approximate population totals, where available):

Brazoria County (288,000 people)

Jefferson County (244,000)

Orange County (84,000)

Galveston Island (58,000)

The city of La Porte (34,200)

Eastern portion of San Patricio County

Low-lying areas of Harris County (“tens of thousands,” according to county officials)

Low-lying areas of Chambers County

Areas south of Texas 35 and the Blessing area in Matagorda County

Goose Island and Mustang Island state parks

VOLUNTARY EVACUATIONS:

Hardin County

Areas north of Texas 35 in Matagorda County, as well as for residents of low-lying areas of Bay City and Van Vleck.

The city of Kingsville.

About 5,000 prison inmates were relocated from areas threatened by the storm to facilities farther inland, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

CLOSURES AND CANCELLATIONS:

NASA’s Johnson Space Center shut down until on Thursday. The International Space Station Flight Control Room at Mission Control in Houston was shut down Thursday. Station flight control continued through backup teams located near Austin, Texas and Huntsville, Ala.

Southwest Airlines suspended flights beginning Friday morning to and from Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Houston.

Several universities and colleges, including Sam Houston State University, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, all campuses in the Lone Star College system and Brazosport College.

Lake Texana and Galveston Island state parks.

Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry system, as of 11 p.m. Thursday.

Corpus Christi, Danbury, Hitchcock, Wharton, Bay City, El Campo and Boling-Iago school districts.

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

All Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston closing at noon Thursday. All events in the archdiocese are canceled for this Thursday evening, and all parishes and schools will be closed Friday.

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.

Houston meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Texas Democratic Party Convention/Caucus System will be rescheduled.

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

Thursday’s Texas Supreme Court hearing on the state of legal aid services for the poor has been canceled.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has canceled visitation at its Hamilton Unit in Bryan and the Travis County State Jail in Austin.

MHMRA of Harris County will be closed Friday, except for 24-hour and essential services. The NPC Emergency clinic located at 1502 Taub Loop will remain open.

SPORTS SCHEDULE CHANGES:

Saturday’s football game between Arkansas and Texas in Austin has been postponed until Sept. 27.

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.

The football game between Air Force and Houston moved from Houston to Dallas to be played at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Texas MedClinic Regional Crossover women’s volleyball tournament will now be played on Thursday and Friday at St. Mary’s and Incarnate Word University to expedite completion.

The football game between Mary Hardin-Baylor and Southern Nazarene University will now be played at 6 p.m. on Friday at Tiger Field in Belton.

The Sam Houston State-Prairie View A&M football game will not be played Saturday at 6 p.m. Officials are exploring the option of playing the game Sept. 14 at Bowers Stadium.

Abiline Christian University’s football home-opener has been changed to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Stephen F. Austin University, Texas Southern University and Houston Baptist University canceled or postponed all weekend athletic activities.

The Hardin-Simmons-Linfield football game has changed from 6 p.m. to 2 p.m. The men’s soccer team will play at St. Mary’s at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Hardin-Simmons soccer teams have canceled all games slated for the weekend.

All Prairie View A&M University campuses are closed. There will be no classes or business operations after 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The university plans to reopen on Monday.