Tropical storm Harvey has been busy as it went from being a tropical storm to being a category one hurricane yesterday and is now a category two hurricane expected to reach a category three by the time it reaches the mainland. Texas residents are evacuating in droves, in a typical last minute fashion as the hurricane is expected to hit either tonight Friday the 25th in the evening or on Saturday the 26th.
Harvey is taking its time moving, which is in itself a severe threat because it means it will be raining at one location for a longer duration than experienced during fast moving hurricanes.
That coupled with the fact that damage from hurricanes comes mostly from water rather than the direct wind speeds spells for a destructive weekend. For more details on the exact speeds of the different category hurricanes click here. The hurricanes are classified according to potential damage capabilities derived from among other things the wind speed.
There are five categories in total so right now Hurricane Harvey is in the second stage and is expected to reach the third stage. This in itself is really destructive, as anything higher than that is going to be catastrophic to the Texas residents and U.S in general because of the costs it will take in relief, construction efforts, and lost revenue due to closed businesses among other things that will be affected by the storm.
Mixed reaction on the ground as some Texans prefer to wait out the storm while others evacuate
Granted that this is the first hurricane to be experienced by some Texans, there are others still who have not only experienced it but survived one before by being bunkered down at their home.
This is the issue that is mostly separating the people who are evacuating from the people who are deciding to wait out the storm.
Roads were jammed up by residents who were evacuating and at the same time supermarket shelves were stripped of essential products like water, food, ice, and boards.
People were also filled at gas stations filling up their tanks plus collecting some more for their generators and for storage after the hurricane. On the cooperate side, energy companies shut coastal refineries, pulled workers from offshore oil platforms in the Gulf Of Mexico and halted onshore drilling in south Texas on Thursday.
By midday, just less than 10 percent of offshore US Gulf of Mexico crude output capacity and nearly 15% of natural gas production had been halted according to government data.
Louisiana and Texas have declared states of emergency and require government resources to help them out with this coming disaster.
Severe flooding expected as storm closes in
This could be the first hurricane to reach the U.S mainland since Hurricane Wilma back in 2005 said the U.S National Hurricane Center. Huston is expected to have over 20 inches of rain over a couple of days.
Gov. Greg Abbot on Thursday activated 700 members of the Texas Army Guard plus the Texas Air National Guard.
The last hurricane to hit Texas was Hurricane Ike which killed 21 people in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana plus causing damage to property.
The hurricane is expected to bring between 15 - 25 inches of rain in most places, with expected highs to reach 33 inches of rainfall.
