"People were staying in the ballroom, moving floors to find a safe place to sleep," said Sweeny, who is the disaster officer for the Red Cross' Salt Lake City office, on Saturday morning. "It's been a pretty rough night."

Outside, the waters engulfed cars up to their windows in the parking lot and pitched boats from the bay into the streets.

Sweeny is one of 24 Utahns the American Red Cross has sent to the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Ike pounds the area.

They will set up shelters, pass out food and distribute cleaning supplies to people out of power or flooded by the storm.

Sweeny is based in Clear Lake, Texas, which is located between Galveston and Houston. Other staff and volunteers are distributed in cities away from the direct path of the storm to shelter people driven from their homes, said Red Cross communications director Susan Thomas.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is also contributing to the relief effort, sending truckloads of cleaning kits, hygiene kits, blankets, water and food to six different locations in the region, according to a church press release.

Smaller quantities of supplies like sleeping bags, chain saws, wheelbarrows, cots, tents and tarps were also sent to Texas, and more supplies are at the ready.

Sweeny warned against people trying to ride out the storm in the area.

"There are families with kids and pets . . . They thought they could have a nice night, have a hurricane party," she said. "I think some people regretted the decision."

The American Red Cross is also looking for help in raising $100 million for the disaster fund by the end of the year.