As Hurricane Isabel approaches the Eastern shore, evacuated residents from Virginia Beach and other coastal areas are packing Charlottesville hotels.
Virginia Beach residents Herb and Alice Horst arrived Tuesday at the Red Roof Inn on Main Street with their St. Charles Spaniel, Heather.
Herb Horst said he and his wife left before most of their neighbors, who waited to see what plans the public schools and city government would make before deciding to evacuate.
The Horsts chose to leave early to avoid traffic and packed hotels.
"We didn't want to sit in the parking lot of I-64," Horst said.
Before leaving, the couple put all of their porch and patio furniture, as well as indoor plants, in their garage.
Heather is staying with them in their hotel, but many other fleeing coastal residents have had to board their pets in Charlottesville.
"We've been inundated by 50 to 100 calls per day this week at both of our locations," said Barton Dofflemyer, an employee of The Dog House kennel. "We've accommodated everyone who has called."
While the Horsts had no trouble finding a place to stay in Charlottesville, other evacuees struggled to locate vacancies.
Virginia Beach resident Sarah Glendon, 15, checked into the Marriot Courtyard on Main Street with her mother Tuesday afternoon after an extensive online search over the weekend. The family settled on Charlottesville because Glendon's sister, Ivey, is a first year at the University.
Glendon's Virginia Beach high school held classes for half the day yesterday and cancelled classes for today.
Before leaving home, Glendon said her family boarded windows up and moved everything to higher ground.
"All of our stuff is piled on the sofa in the living room," she said.
Glendon reported that many of her neighbors had made no preparation for the hurricane. In fact, her father remained in Virginia Beach because of obligations with work.
Early preparation seems to have paid off for the Horsts and the Glendons. Traffic out of Virginia Beach is expected to intensify as the hurricane approaches and hotel rooms are filling up quickly.
The Red Roof Inn only had 20 available rooms as of yesterday morning, and the Courtyard Marriot had no vacancies.
Still, occasional cancellations have allowed some walk-ins to find rooms.
"Since the storm is weakening a lot of people called and cancelled their reservations," said Red Roof Inn manager Mahlet Teshome.
Hotels like the Red Roof Inn and Marriot are taking standard precautions for their guests as inclement weather also may hit Charlottesville. The Marriot has a back-up emergency generator.
The Albemarle County School Board plans to open up Monticello High School, with occupancy of 1050, for evacuees in the event that the area's primary shelter, the East Rivanna Fire Department, becomes too full. In the case that another shelter is needed, Western Albemarle High School, with occupancy of 1400, also will be open to evacuees. The University has made no plans for accommodating evacuees.
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