Preparing for the Storm: Harvey regains strength, expected to hit on Friday

By Pete Banda
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com

As details on Tropical Storm Harvey continue to trickle in, residents of South Texas continue to take steps to ensure their safety. The City of San Benito is set to provide sandbags to citizens on Thursday and Friday and Governor Gregg Abbott preemptively declared a State of disaster for 30 Texas counties, though none from the Valley were included. With heavy rainfall expected throughout the weekend, most in the San Benito area were busy stocking up on supplies in anticipation for the first hurricane to hit Texas in a decade.
“I still remember when Hurricane Dolly hit us and how unprepared our family was for that situation,” said 40-year-old Raul Espinoza of Los Fresnos. “We used to always brush off those warnings, but we learned our lesson. We’re ready for it this time.”
Espinoza said in addition to boarding up his windows and stocking up on sandbags, he spent several hours getting supplies at the local Walmart. Back in San Benito, virtually every store saw a flurry of customers scrambling to get their hands on packages of water and canned foods. According to at least one San Benito native, the situation is more of a “better safe than sorry” moment.
“I think a lot of people are worried because of what happened with Dolly, but from what I see we should be fine down here,” said 29-year-old Tommy Villarreal. “I understand being prepared just in case and all that… It just looks like Harvey is going to be more of a problem for Houston and Corpus than for us.”
According to the National Hurricane Center, the biggest potential problems from Harvey would be the excess flooding the system could cause. While hurricane-force winds are undoubtedly a concern as Harvey continues rebuilding strength in the Gulf of Mexico, reports show anywhere from 10 to 15 inches of rain from the storm with some spots in Texas collecting up to 25 inches.
The system weakened before reaching tropical storm status early Thursday and is expected to make landfall Friday evening as a Category 1 storm in Corpus Christi, then stall over the state, the National Hurricane Center said.
While it has been nine years since Texas last saw a hurricane, the state is no stranger to devastating flooding from tropical systems. In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison was a multibillion-dollar disaster for the state, specifically Houston. Allison became nearly stationary for days, dropping more than 30 inches of rain across portions of the city.