Texas Gulf Coast Braces For Hurricane Harvey's Impact

While Mississippi may not be in the direct path of Hurricane Harvey, Ole Miss has a large number of out-of-state students hailing from the state of Texas and Louisiana and HottyToddy.com sends our thoughts and prayers to those who may be affected by the storm.

Hurricane Harvey is expected to severely impact the Texas Gulf Coast after making landfall either tonight or Saturday morning. According to Fox News, Harvey has been labeled as a “life-threatening storm” by forecasters. The Texas city of Corpus Christi is expected to receive the brute of the storm and Mayor Joe McComb has urged residents to evacuate.
“You’ll be on the Island with no [air-conditioning], no water, no electricity. We recommend in the strongest terms that you need to get out now or get to higher ground.” McComb said.

The storm is currently a category 2 storm but could likely increase to a category 3 before it hits, according to FEMA. If it does, the Weather Channel said that this will be the first of its kind since Hurricane Wilma hit South Florida in 2005, and the first to hit South Texas since 1970. Hurricane Celia damaged 90 percent of the city’s businesses and 70 percent of its residences with wind gusts hitting 160 mph. Harvey’s winds are expected to reach 120 mph.
Rainfall is also going to be a factor from Hurricane Harvey with over 24 inches of rain in portions of the state of Texas.

The state of Louisiana isn’t going to be in the major landing zone, but the storm is constantly shifting, and state officials are watching it closely. A state that unfortunately has experience with deadly storms, knows that these situations need as much preparation as possible
“We are making sure that we have current plans in place in New Orleans and identifying those areas that are particularly vulnerable,” Edwards said. “The planning has been refined, but I don’t want anybody to think that we or the city of New Orleans at this time is close to pulling the trigger on evacuation.”

FEMA’s public affairs director, William Booher told CNBC that they are preparing for the effects of the hurricane. 
“We have pre-positioned staff and supplies in Louisiana and Texas in advance of the storm. The supplies include about 250,000 meals, 77,000 liters of water and 4,000 tarps. These supplies are being moved from FEMA’s warehouse/distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas to an Incident Support Base in Seguin, Texas, should those supplies be needed. FEMA personnel are on the ground at emergency operations centers in Texas and Louisiana to support any requests for federal assistance.”

Steven Gagliano is the managing editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com. 
Graphics courtesy of Weather.com