GALVESTON — As Louisianans fled Sunday to Texas ahead of the anticipated wrath of Hurricane Gustav, Galveston County officials assured residents here there would be no evacuation call.

Gustav, a Category 3 storm, maintained its steady trek toward landfall this afternoon near Morgan City, La., prompting the New Orleans mayor to call a mandatory evacuation.

Mary Jo Naschke, a spokeswoman for Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, said the mayor decided Saturday and reiterated Sunday that the storm’s path would mean no evacuation for island residents.

The island’s Emergency Operations Center remained open, however, which is standard procedure when a storm enters the Gulf.

“The staff will continue to monitor the hurricane as it makes its direct track,” Naschke said. “We may be experiencing winds on Tuesday, but we don’t even have voluntary evacuations called on the West End for tides.”

Paul Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in League City, said that if Gustav maintained its course, the island could see some rain bands but likely no tropical-force winds.

Bruce Clawson, emergency management coordinator for Texas City, said the last of 128 coach-style buses stationed at the high school left Sunday afternoon for Houston.

The buses would have been used to evacuate roughly 5,000 Galveston County residents if Gustav tracked farther west.

“We can call them back if we need them,” Clawson said. “But we don’t anticipate that.”

Clawson said the state would likely send the buses to evacuation centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Huntsville areas to return residents who fled Beaumont and Port Arthur.

Gustav also interrupted the schedules of Carnival Cruise Lines’ ships stationed in Galveston.

According to the company’s Web site, the Carnival Ecstasy, which departed Galveston on Thursday, would return Wednesday because the Port of Galveston was closed from the hurricane.

The ship’s status could not be confirmed Sunday night.

Galveston hotels weren’t booked solid this holiday weekend.

Paul Schultz, president of the Galveston Hotel and Lodging Association, said room bookings were lighter than usual for Labor Day.

“I’ve spoken to some of my colleagues, and they’re saying the same thing,” Schultz said. “People are being somewhat cautious, keeping an eye on the storm. It’s unfortunate. The ones that are here are enjoying their time.”

Louisiana Evacuee

Houston resident Danielle McKinnon, a Louisiana native, was among the evacuees avoiding an Interstate 10 deadlock by passing through Galveston via the Galveston-Bolivar ferry.

McKinnon flew Friday to New Orleans and went to Kenner, La., where she boarded windows on her family’s home, set up sandbags and packed her late mother’s car with irreplaceable family photos, china and other heirlooms.

Only a few island residents boarded windows.

McKinnon said she had to travel to Louisiana to help save her family’s most precious belongings. Her mother died July 28, and her father, a Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputy, couldn’t leave, she said.

“Anything replaceable, I left,” McKinnon said. “Anything that wasn’t, I packed up and drove here.”

McKinnon had eight hours of sleep during the weekend, including five hours Saturday night in preparation for Sunday’s drive.

“I left New Orleans at 5 a.m. and did well to right past Beaumont,” McKinnon said. “It was about 10:30 a.m., and I-10 was a parking lot. It took an hour-and-a-half to go nine miles near Winnie.”

McKinnon was among many motorists with Louisiana license plates who decided to take the Galveston-Bolivar ferry.

Pat Trube, a ferry employee working the tower, said Sunday morning’s wait to cross Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston Island was about four hours.

“About noon, we put a fourth boat in service,” Trube said. “That helped alleviate the traffic, because we were seeing some evacuees coming this way.”

By 3 p.m., McKinnon’s 75-minute wait to board the ferry ended. While aboard the ferry Gibb Gilchrist, she crossed the Houston Ship Channel, which had 17 vessels, some inscribed with the words “New Orleans,” anchoring in 2-foot seas.

McKinnon said she hopped to return her pictures, mother’s wedding dress and other heirlooms wrapped in towels, to her family’s Kenner home, which was damaged three years ago by Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s east of where it will make landfall,” McKinnon said. “I’m going to leave everything packed until hurricane season is over.”