Know your hurricane evacuation route before storm season in Hardin County

Being inland does not always keep Hardin County out of hurricane planning. Upper Gulf Coast storms can send traffic north through Lumberton, Silsbee, and Kountze, and TxDOT tells people to know their route ahead of time.

US 69 is the big road to know. TxDOT says it runs from Port Arthur to Denison and is a hurricane evacuation route. The planned Lumberton-Kountze relief route is meant to give Hardin and nearby counties another south-to-north evacuation path.

In a major evacuation, some lanes may switch to contraflow. That means traffic moves inland in lanes that normally go the other way. Save TxDOT's Beaumont-area evacuation map before storm season. It is calmer to learn the road while the sky is blue.