04:33 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 20, 2005

By Reggie Aqui / 11 News

The City of Galveston put its voluntary evacuation in effect a few hours earlier than expected Tuesday and the mayor expects to declare a mandatory evacuation on Wednesday.

The Galveston Daily News

Galveston's Home Depot has been packed with people readying for Rita.

Officials learned that Rita is moving faster than expected and tropical storm force winds could reach the island by 10 a.m. Friday.

The eye of the storm is expected to make landfall sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.

“You’d better believe we’re concerned,” said Bill Read, chief meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Galveston County office.

He emphasized, they'll have a better idea where the storm is headed by early Wednesday.

“It’ll be Wednesday morning before we start to narrow the range of possibilities,” he said.

Nevertheless, it’s not too early to be getting ready.

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“People should be checking their storm plans, boarding up windows and just generally getting ready,” Read said.

County Judge Jim Yarbrough agreed.

“Government can’t do better than you can do for yourselves,” he said

Officials made the decision to speed up plans for the voluntary evacuation after a conference call with the State Emergency Management Team.

The range for this storm to make landfall is somewhere between Corpus and Beamont/Port Arthur area," said City Manager Steve LeBlanc. "They do expect large amounts of flooding in association with Hurricane Rita."

LaBlanc said state officials are moving quickly to get ready for Rita.

"They are currently at Level 1 readiness. That's the highest level of readiness that this state emergency management group can be in," said LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said Governor Rick Perry has ordered a pre-declaration of disaster.

Rescue teams and other state groups and resources are being positioned in key areas to be able to move quickly if needed.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas reminded owners of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other social service organizations that they must have an evacuation plan.

"You are responsible for your clients. The city needs to be assured that you are taking care of those clients -- children, elderly, whoever are members of your organization," the mayor said.

She urged them to submit their evacuation plan to the city by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Citizens who don't have transportation will be bused from the community center in the 4700 block of Broadway and head to shelters in Huntsville.

Evacuees will be allowed to carry one suitcase and their pets on the buses, but the pets must be in carriers or crates. Pet owners should call 409-763-8477 if they need a cage or crate.

The number to call for more information on the evacuation is 409-797-3710. Anyone who needs to ride a bus, should call that number to alert the city. By late Tuesday morning, about 800 people had signed up. The Huntsville shelter is set up to hold about a thousand people.