Evacuation centers nearing capacity as Orange County chemical leak crisis reaches fourth day

Nearly all of the overnight shelters for the nearly 50,000 Orange County residents under mandatory evacuation orders have reached capacity as the ongoing chemical crisis continued into its fourth day. 

The incident began on Thursday, when firefighters were alerted to a chemical leak at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove. A day later, authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people in Garden Grove, Stanton, Buena Park, Cypress, Westminster and Anaheim. 

A number of evacuation shelters were opened up in the immediate aftermath of the evacuation orders, but since then, they have hit or neared capacity as Red Cross volunteers work to accommodate what they can and help ease the stress of those waiting in limbo to know when, or if, they can return home. 

"We're just waiting until something happens," said Israel Morales Jr., a Westminster resident who left his home with family after the orders were issued. "It was very stressful."

With shelters now open across Orange County, including in the communities of Garden Grove, Anaheim, Fountain Valley, La Palma, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Los Alamitos, officials say that nearly all have filled up extremely quickly and are nearing their limit. 

County officials say that they've been working around the clock to make sure that shelters have what evacuees need, including showers, food and basic supplies. On Sunday, an evacuation center for people in RVs was opened at the Orange County Fairgrounds, and later in the evening, another shelter was opened for overnight stays at Los Alamitos High School. 

Some other Orange County residents not placed under evacuation sprang into action, stopping to grab supplies to drop off at shelters. 

"We just decided to get the kids in the car and go straight to Walmart and start getting dog food, bowls, toiletries for people, wipes, feminine products," said Pamela Mann, from Huntington Beach. "When you are on the go, you need those things."

Small businesses in Orange County have also gathered their resources to help where they can. Adriana Montaya, who owns La Pawanderia, a dog bakery in Downey, has rallied the community to drop of donations for both people and pets. 

"It is very difficult for us not to do anything about it, considering that there's a lot of families and a lot of those families have pets and it's difficult to find locations where you can take your pets with you," Montaya said. "We have had a lot of families let us know they did get evacuated abruptly and they weren't able to get anything evacuated in the middle of the night and being told to leave."

Montaya has also set up an Amazon wishlist for families with pets, so if they're unable to make it to the store, they can have their supplies delivered directly to her business. 

In addition to helping residents evacuate their homes safely, Garden Grove Police Department officers said they were working to ease looting and safety concerns in the now-empty neighborhoods by actively patrolling streets and businesses inside the evacuation zone. 

Some of the evacuees hit the road to camp out at state parks like Bolsa Chica State Beach. Despite staying there for the last two nights, some people said that park officials told them they had to leave. Officials later posted on X to ask evacuees not to stay overnight. 

"State beach parking lots are not approved evacuation centers and do not have the facilities or resources to accommodate overnight guests," the post said. 

CBS LA spoke with several people who were upset with the news, which is added stress on top of having to leave their homes.

What is the reason for us to leave? I mean, if they're gonna lose money on parking spots, we're all spending extra money to stay," said one man. "Whatever it takes."

Another man, who pointed at the long line of RVs and cars still parked at the beach early Sunday evening, said that they had teamed up to support each other during the ongoing crisis and that they couldn't wait to go home.

California State Parks officials also shared a statement with CBS LA, which said, in part: "Thanks for reaching out. We recommend evacuees to go to designated evacuation shelters, including the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa which today began providing temporary RV parking support for evacuees. This facility in particular has sufficient spaces with hookups, restrooms and on-site security to accommodate evacuees."