FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - More than one dozen buses hit the road
for Louisiana today hauling hundreds of Hurricane Gustav evacuees
away from North Texas.

About 600 residents who had been in Fort Worth shelters boarded
buses.

Some people, including Felicia Thomas and her son, Freddie, had just picked up their pets that were kept at the city animal shelter.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for many Gulf Coast residents last weekend before Gustav weakened and made landfall Monday in Louisiana.

Governor Rick Perry's office says hundreds of Louisiana residents reached Texas via buses.

Another 45,000 to 50,000 evacuated on their own to Texas.

The governor's office says about 280,000 Southeast Texas residents also left their homes. The state helped with the evacuation of nearly 10,000 special needs residents.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)