As deadly Hurricane Gustav makes his way into the Gulf, mandatory evacuations are bringing some families to the Wiregrass area.

This will be the first time Wallace Community College has opened its doors as an evacuation shelter.

"It’s a little scary and exciting, scary cause we've never done this before so we are in the learning curve at this point, but we feel like we are up to the task. We're anxious to get them here since we have been working so hard for so long," says Mark Shope, Dean of Student Development

The campus shelter can take 90 people and in order to accommodate them, FEMA has sent down supplies including blankets, pillows, and food while American Red Cross is present to provide manpower.

"I know it’s going to be a lot of work for the local folks and red cross but when you look at what we are going for the people that are coming and the situation that they are coming from,” says Shope.

Meanwhile, some Louisiana and Mississippi residents are flowing into Dothan hotels.

They're all leaving behind their homes, personal belongings, and their jobs with hopes that they will still be there when they return.

"They are not closed but i think they are going to close because I was working on the shrimp boat." we got 7 boats, tug boats and supply boats," says Shawan Andrews from Biloxi, Mississippi.

New Orleans resident David Morgan wasn't living there during Hurricane Katrina, but he did suffer through hurricane Dennis while living in Florida.

"We lost cars, go carts, everything, just an incredible amount of stuff. Yearbooks, old yearbooks, everything." Says Morgan.

As he and his wife left town to come to Dothan, their neighbors were also hitting the road.

"A lot of them were through Katrina, and they are not going to go through it again so they are stuck in that going on right now."

Management at the Dothan motel 6 says by Monday afternoon, each of their parking spaces should be full because they are booked to maximum capacity.

"I have 101 rooms so you are looking at anywhere between 200 and 300 people. We actually had to call central reservations and tell them to stop them for here, had to put them on freeze." Says Brian Roberson

Several other hotels managers said they are booking up fast with people from Louisiana and Mississippi.

Hotels in Florida- particularly the Panama City area are also filling up, so it goes to show that people are taking these evacuations seriously. Defuniak Springs has also opened a shelter.

Currently, the only shelter in Dothan is Wallace Community College.