AUSTIN, Texas _ Texans are bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to threaten the state in almost 10 years, with the threat of potentially deadly storm surges forcing communities along the Gulf Coast to close schools and begin evacuations.
Farther inland, major cities like Austin and San Antonio prepared for torrential downpours that would come with Harvey's predicted stall-out _ with areas south and east of Austin forecast to receive 15 inches of rain or more over the next few days.
Parts of the Austin metro area, especially east of Interstate 35, could see rainfall amounts of 10 to 20 inches of rain Friday through Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Travis, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop counties will be under a flash flood watch starting Friday afternoon. Small bands of storms associated with Harvey began drifting across Central Texas late Thursday.
Winds of 40 to 50 mph are expected this weekend in Bastrop, Caldwell and Fayette counties, where a tropical storm warning was issued Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, Harvey was still a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of about 85 mph, about 445 miles away from Austin and heading northwest at 9 mph.
Along the Gulf Coast, Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb issued a voluntary evacuation order for the port city of 326,000.
"We think people will use their good sense that we are emphatic that we want folks to get out of Dodge," McComb said. "We've had a lot of drills and a lot of practices. We've got a plan and we think that plan is doable and that's what we're implementing."
He added, "I think we'll make it through."
Galveston's mayor also announced his city would be under a voluntary evacuation order beginning Friday.
But Calhoun County and at least two cities _ Rockport and Port Aransas _ ordered mandatory evacuations just before news broke that Harvey had become a full-blown hurricane.
A day earlier, meteorologists had projected Harvey would make landfall as a tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane. But the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are fueling a storm that scientists now say could lumber ashore late Friday or early Saturday as a strong Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds of 125 mph that could level houses and uproot trees.
If the forecasts hold, Harvey would the strongest hurricane to strike the Texas coast since 2008's Ike, which reached Category 4 strength over the Atlantic but weakened to a Category 2 before making landfall in Galveston.
Officials across the state rushed to respond to the ever-worsening forecasts, canceling classes, preparing road and utility crews and positioning emergency workers.
Austin city officials said they were preparing emergency shelter sites if residents are displaced by Harvey.
"Given that this went from a tropical storm to a predicted Category 3 (hurricane) fairly quickly, we're just getting everything in order," said Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office spokesman Jake Dirr. "There hasn't been any official request for sheltering yet."
The Austin Fire Department said it was sending 18 firefighters and other staff to Corpus Christi late Thursday to join Texas Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team deployed when heavy flooding strikes. A second crew will work along the I-35 corridor as needed, and the Fire Department will keep a helicopter and swim-rescue team on standby.
Austin officials also are preparing to work with the American Red Cross to help people fleeing from the coast, Fire Department Division Chief Palmer Buck said.
"We haven't had to do that since Ike and Katrina," he said.
State officials announced that Gov. Greg Abbott activated about 700 members of the Texas Army and Air National Guards and State Guards to respond to the storm.
The Texas Department of Transportation posted video of its Austin crews preparing to head to San Antonio. Officials opened a northbound evacuation lane on Interstate 37 from Corpus Christi to San Antonio to help with coastal evacuations. However, transportation officials also warned that the ferry to Port Aransas would likely shut down by Friday morning because of worsening weather.
Meanwhile, public schools, colleges and universities along the Gulf Coast and farther inland began canceling classes and sending staff and students home early in preparation for Harvey's arrival:
_New Braunfels' school district announced it was canceling the first day of class on Monday.
_The state's largest school district, Houston's, also said it was scratching Monday classes.
_The University of Texas' Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas closed at 8 a.m. Thursday and said it didn't anticipate reopening until Monday.
_Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi closed and evacuated its campus.
_Texas A&M-Kingsville officials said their campus would be closed Friday.
_Officials at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, with campuses in Brownsville and Edinburg, were monitoring weather forecasts to decide whether classes would start Monday as scheduled. Operations at some of the university's coastal research sites have been suspended, President Guy Bailey said.
_The UT Medical Branch at Galveston, which was hit hard by Ike in 2008, said on its website that officials "are paying close attention to weather forecasts and putting plans in place to deal with any impacts."
