A general population shelter for residents evacuating in advance of Hurricane Ida is scheduled to open tomorrow morning in Shreveport, said Sheriff Steve Prator, Director of Caddo Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

The shelter will be located at 8810 Jewella Avenue in the old Sam's building and should begin accepting evacuees by 6 a.m. It will be operated by the state Department of Children and Family Services. 

The New Orleans area is under a hurricane warning and some areas have been given mandatory evacuation orders. South Louisiana residents traveling north to escape the weather emergency can receive shelter information by dialing the Louisiana 2-1-1 statewide network. Louisiana 2-1-1 serves all Louisiana parishes and connects residents in need to available resources 24 hours a day.

Prator said the Caddo Correctional Center will assist with housing inmate evacuees from the affected area. Caddo sheriff's deputies assigned to the Louisiana Sheriff's Emergency Task Force have also been placed on stand-by should they be needed to render aid in south Louisiana.   

Ida is forecast to make landfall Sunday afternoon or evening.