HOUSTON — From a motel room in South Houston, Jake Johnson reflected on the past week. The disabled resident of Port Arthur, Texas, has slept four of the last five nights in a different bed. He’s one of thousands of refugees displaced by Hurricane Laura, with many more on the way from Louisiana, where the category 4 storm hit land late on Wednesday evening.

What You Need To Know

  • Houston shelters are moving refugees to motels to make room for more people

  • The number of people displaced by Laura could exceed 200,000

  • Jake Johnson of Port Arthur was evacuated early this week and moved to motel yesterday

  • Officials expect many displaced Louisiana residents will come to Houston

For the most part, Laura spared the Texas coast and The Golden Triangle. Late on Wednesday night, the storm veered west. Southwest Louisiana was hit hard, with fallen tree limbs and power lines creating impassable highways and major thoroughfares. A streaming mass of humanity has already begun to fill shelters in and around Houston. A spokesperson for the Salvation Army predicted the number of people who will be displaced by the storm could “exceed 200,000.” She speculated the Houston area would see the lion’s share of refugees.

Johnson was among the first wave of people to inundate local shelters. On Tuesday, he was evacuated from his home and headed for Houston. Amid the high winds and ever-intensifying rain, his car broke down on Highway 10. In his panic to beat the storm, he called his cousins to come pick him up and ferry him to the Forge for Families Community Center, which was converted into a shelter.

“I slept in a car that night because they didn’t have any room available when we got here,” he said.

Johnson said he was overcome by anxiety, worrying about myriad stressors. His mind was juggling concerns over what the storm would do to the house he owns, his car sitting on the side of the road, his safety at the shelter, his dog, Tiny, which he had to leave behind, and the looming menace of the pandemic.

“I was very scared,” he said. “Coming to a place where you don’t know anyone. And just worrying about being caught in the storm. Then you go into the shelter where you have people coughing. What might be [at home] when you get back? Do you have what you need while you’re here?

“Thinking about all of that was a journey,” he continued.

Johnson’s two nights at Forge for Families, he said, assuaged a lot of his fears. He was complimentary of the staff and facilities.

“It was beautiful,” he said. “It was laid back. Everyone was hospitable. They treated us really well. There wasn’t any problems. We had cots. We were comfortable. They kept it clean.”

Yesterday, to make room for incoming refugees, the city moved him and 60 people to a motel, where he will stay until Sunday – though that arrangement didn’t start out smoothly.

“They sent us here to the motel, and they didn’t have a reservation for 60 people,” he said. “They didn’t have one reservation. We didn’t get to bed until 1 a.m. last night.”

As of Friday morning, the electricity and water were still out at Johnson’s home in Port Arthur. He said he hasn’t heard about any serious property damage caused by the Laura – just the usual fallen branches and scattered debris.

Now he’s worried about scraping together enough money to fix his car and return home to Tiny, a chihuahua-dachshund mix.

“He doesn’t leave that house,” Johnson said. “He’ll be on my front porch when I get back.”