Tropical Depression Harvey is now a Category 1 hurricane and continues to strengthen as it heads for the Gulf Coast states, particularly Texas.
The storm has gained strength by feeding off the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and is predicted to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday, according to The Weather Channel, which tweeted about Harvey's upgraded status Thursday. Oil companies have already started evacuating off-shore rigs in the gulf and Texas Department of Public Safety has released an evacuation guide with highlighted routes.
Gov. Greg Abbott has already certified disaster proclamations for 30 Texas counties along the Gulf Coast, including Harris County, home to Houston, the fourth largest city in the country.
"Texans believe in taking action and always being prepared in the event of an emergency," Abbott said in a statement Wednesday. "That is why I am taking every precaution prior to Tropical Depression Harvey making landfall. Preemptively declaring a state of disaster will allow Texas to quickly deploy resources for the emergency response effort in anticipation of the storm's hazardous conditions."
Along Galveston Island, KHOU-TV reported that crews are clearing storm drains and bracing infrastructure for possible flooding problems associated with the hurricane.
"We are looking at this as a rain event at this point," Galveston Emergency Management Agency coordinator Niki Bender told KHOU-TV. "We are watching, like everyone else, what the National Weather Service and the hurricane center are putting out."
"[Tidal inundation is] a problem when we have high tide of rain coming in, or any type of storm surge on top of what normal tides are, so, the water doesn't have anywhere to go," Bender added.
According to The Weather Channel, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi closed campus at noon Thursday and ordered all students to leave by 7 a.m. Friday, Central time.
The Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau also announced the closure of the Padre Island National Seashore on Twitter.
KTRK-TV in Houston reported that there were long lines at grocery stores as residents prepared to ride out the storm.