Tropical Storm Harvey rapidly intensified into a hurricane on Thursday as it hurtled toward Texas, with meteorologists forecasting the storm could be a “major hurricane” when it makes landfall.
NOAA’s National Hurricane Center said early afternoon that Harvey had become a hurricane with 80 mph sustained winds.
“Things have changed significantly since yesterday — this thing is rapidly intensifying,” said Dale Eck, the Weather Channel’s leader of forecast operations for the Americas.
“I think the urgency of this just went up tenfold this morning,” he said.
Eck said Harvey was forecast to continue picking up strength and to become a major hurricane, meaning it would have a sustained wind speed of at least 110 mph as it makes landfall in Texas sometime Friday night.
He added that winds of 115mph were expected from Harvey, along with a “life-threatening storm surge” as it churns over the central coast of Texas.
As of Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center had issued storm surge warnings from Port Mansfield to San Luis Pass in Texas, with storm surge watches and hurricane warnings in effect from Port Mansfield to Matagorda.
The storm is expected to stall as it hits land, dumping torrential rain over the southeast Texas region through Tuesday of next week and causing potentially historic flooding, according to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins.
Parts of central to southeast Texas could see up to 10 inches of rain, but some of the hardest-hit areas could see up to 2 feet or more, said Eck. Fresh water flooding was expected to threaten the coast and parts of Houston, San Antonio and spread up into parts of southwest Louisiana. New Orleans could see up to five inches of rain, he added.
Eck said the strength of the storm could potentially be a “huge challenge” for emergency management officials and that evacuations could be expected.
“This thing is rapidly increasing in such a way that it could be devastating for anyone along the coast,” he said.
“The challenge is how far do you go if you can go inland? You could go to San Antonio and you could have flooding there from the copious amounts of rain,” he explained.
In anticipation of the storm, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday declared a state of disaster for these counties: Aransas, Austin, Bee, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, Brazoria, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Harris, Jackson, Jefferson, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kleberg, Lavaca, Liberty, Live Oak, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Waller, Wharton and Wilson.
He also ordered the State Operations Center to elevate its readiness level and made available state resources to assist in preparation and any rescue and recovery efforts.
“Texans believe in taking action and always being prepared in the event of an emergency,” Abbott said in a statement. “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.”