With suitcases in hand and pets in tow, thousands of residents fled northern Orange County as a massive evacuation zone swallowed entire neighborhoods surrounding a contaminated industrial site in Garden Grove.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after the danger zone ballooned into a nearly 10-square-mile exclusion area stretching across Garden Grove, Anaheim, Stanton, Cypress, Buena Park and Westminster — uprooting as many as 79,000 people.

Inside the sprawling perimeter, the normally packed suburban streets looked more like a ghost town.

Rows of homes sat dark and silent behind police tape, cars abandoned in driveways as residents scrambled to get out.

Some of those displaced from Garden Grove, one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Orange County, were able to make their way to temporary shelter sites, supported by Red Cross volunteers, in surrounding communities.

They told The California Post about some of what they’ve had to endure and the dread they’ve felt over having a dangerous chemical plant on their doorstep — and how they hoped their homes wouldn’t be destroyed by a potential blast.

At one of the shelters located at Freedom Hall at Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley, Trina Nguyen, 26, who lives two blocks from the chemical plant, told The Post she had been desperately searching for hotel accommodation but there was limited room due to huge demand caused by the emergency.

“The evacuation has been absolutely terrible because when trying to get a hotel it’s extremely hard,” she said.

“Half the time, none of the hotels will pick up the phone or will leave you on hold for hours on end. A lot of hotels aren’t in the area and so aren’t aware of the situation.”

After scores of phone calls, she managed to locate an available room at a distant Motel 6.

The sudden emergency, she added, had alerted her to the real dangers of chemical plants situated in residential areas.

This situation “raises more awareness for me of industrial complexes in such high dense areas, especially with a mix of homes and families and schools,” she said.

“There’s three schools in that area and retirement homes too. That’s a terrible place to put anything especially with that type of chemical.”

Nguyen disclosed that the emergency has also impacted her financially.

“I haven’t been able to go to work today,” she told The Post. “I’m fully commissioned based so in the last two days I’ve gone home with nothing.”

“But we’re alive and that’s all that matters.”

Ricardo Munoz, 23, who works for a sports memorabilia company, also evacuated the danger zone and was at Freedom Hall hoping to locate a relative — his 27-year-old cousin — who lives nearby but was missing amid the evacuation.

Events over the last few days have left him “shaking.”

“It’s in your backyard, it’s in your neighborhood,” he said of the chemical plant. “I don’t understand why they would allow it.”

“It’s part of the industrialization of California that has been going on for years.”

Munoz, who was able to stay with a friend, left Freedom Hall after ten minutes to continue the search for his relative.

Businesses shut their doors, while officers blocked off intersections near the heart of the emergency with patrol cruisers and barricades.

“I live right behind the factory. For years, we complained to the city regarding the fumes and the smell at night. They never did anything to it,” Alberto Chavez, 51, told The California Post. “Look what happened now … and who is paying the consequences? The people who live there.”

Some residents have been allowed brief returns to retrieve medication or rescue pets, but most are now scattered across shelters, hotels, and the homes of friends or relatives, waiting for answers about when, or if, they can go back.

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The Cypress Community Center has become a gathering point for evacuees, 79-year-old Yoshi Nakashini sat outside with his girlfriend and her son, alongside two cats resting in carriers at their feet.

The family had spent the previous night in a hotel near Disneyland after struggling to find pet-friendly accommodations, paying roughly $350 for two rooms and additional parking fees.

They had only just checked out when they stopped by the community center to look for updates.

“We don’t know yet what we’ll do,” Nakashini told the Los Angeles Times.

Most likely, he added, they would continue searching for another hotel room as the evacuation stretches on.

His girlfriend’s son, Sean Tufts, 28, said the disruption had reshaped daily life in ways that were hard to predict.

The list of available shelters has grown as uncertainty over what happens next continues.

Anaheim

Garden Grove

Los Alamitos

Santa Ana

Stanton

Across the region, that uncertainty has been especially hard for parents trying to explain the situation to children.

“The kids are confused, a little worried,” Tricia Quach, 38, told the Los Angeles Times after taking her daughter to an art class. “Maybe being blown up, that’s a scary situation. But we just assured them it’s for safety reasons.”

Quach, her husband, and their two children are now staying with a family friend, unsure how long they will remain displaced.

Nearby, others lingered at folding tables outside the shelter, passing time together because there was nowhere else to go.

Even in daylight, the evacuation zone itself has taken on a hollowed-out stillness, streets left without movement, neighborhoods paused mid-life, as if the entire area has been temporarily switched off.

“We kind of don’t know what to expect,” Helen Fernandez, 40, told the Los Angeles Times. “We are just winging it.”

Uber is providing Orange County residents displaced by the Garden Grove chemical emergency with two free rides.

These rides, capped at $40 each, are available for travel to and from designated shelters through Monday.

The Los Angeles Angels announced that Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers will proceed as scheduled, confirming they are “closely monitoring the ongoing situation and remain in contact with local officials” regarding the nearby Garden Grove hazardous chemical emergency.