By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Preliminary figures from the Alabama Department of Tourism and Travel show hotel rooms were rented between 6 to 7 percent more than the year before, as calculated by an increase in the state's 4 percent lodging tax. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jay Eaker says about 25,464 evacuees are still living in the state. He says about 3,000 of those people are occupying 982 hotel rooms and the rest live with relatives or in travel trailers at state parks.