HOUSTON _ Residents along a vast swath of the Texas coast battened down the hatches and stocked up on emergency supplies as Hurricane Harvey crept closer to shore early Friday, threatening lashing rains and 110 mph winds in what could be the first major hurricane to hit the United States in 12 years.
"This is a life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned residents in low-lying areas. "Catastrophic flooding expected across portions of Southern and Southeastern Texas."
Harvey is projected to make landfall near Corpus Christi late Friday or early Saturday. A hurricane warning is in effect along a wide stretch of the coastline from Port Mansfield to Sargent, spanning a region home to about 4 million people. An additional 12 million, many in the major cities of Houston and San Antonio, are under a tropical storm warning.
By Thursday afternoon, all northbound lanes of Interstate 37 out of Corpus Christi were backed up with cars as residents made their way out of the path of a hurricane that forecasters say will bring devastating flooding along the middle Texas coast over the weekend.
The National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi cautioned that the extreme rainfall could be "devastating to catastrophic," and that the current threat to life and property was "extreme." Rivers and tributaries could overflow their banks, and streets and parking lots become "rivers of raging water with underpasses submerged," the weather service said.
At the Hertz car rental outside Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, arriving customers snapped up trucks and SUVs in preparation for the days of catastrophic rains projected to come.
After learning she was speaking to a journalist, one of the rental workers paused and asked, in a grim voice, "Do you think they're telling the truth about how bad it'll get?" Several other employees also stopped and craned their necks to listen.
Local officials and news outlets have had to bat down a viral social media message that circulated widely among Texans on Thursday warning that the storm would be far worse than officials were already predicting.
"Ignore unfounded, unsourced weather predictions that have needlessly frightened Houstonians," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted. "Get info from trusted outlets."
Harvey intensified in the central Gulf of Mexico on Thursday morning, reaching official hurricane status by early afternoon. By 10 a.m. Friday, the storm was about 115 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, with 110-mph winds, and moving northwest at about 10 mph.
Forecasters expect Harvey to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane, with winds greater than 110 mph, before it reaches the coast. After it makes landfall, Harvey is likely to slow down and meander near the coastline, dropping up to 35 inches of rain across some parts of Texas through Wednesday.
Harvey could be the first hurricane classified as at least Category 3 to hit the U.S. since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005. Last year, thousands of residents along the Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts evacuated as Hurricane Matthew was forecast to hit the East Coast as a Category 4 hurricane. However, the hurricane veered east and weakened to a Category 2 as it skirted along the coast.
Historically, slow-moving tropical storms and hurricanes have caused some of Texas' most severe flooding. In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison hovered above the Houston area for days, bringing up to 30 inches of rain and some of the worst floods in the city's history.
A major hurricane poses the first major test of emergency response for the Trump administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's new administrator, Brock Long, who was confirmed in June. Earlier this year, the new administration proposed slashing the agency's state and local grant funding by $660 million _ a move that many emergency management professionals said would hamper states' abilities to prevent and respond to disasters.
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured reporters that President Donald Trump had been briefed and would continue to be updated as the storm progressed.
After preemptively declaring a state of disaster for 30 Texas counties, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday activated about 700 members of the state National Guard.
"My priority, as we prepare for Hurricane Harvey, is the safety of those on and near the Gulf Coast," Abbott said Friday in a statement. "That is why I am strongly urging all Texans in Harvey's path to heed warnings and evacuation orders from local officials before this storm makes landfall."
Mandatory evacuation orders are already in effect across seven coastal counties. Mayor Joe McComb of Corpus Christi, Texas' eighth largest city with a population of about 325,000, has encouraged residents to leave voluntarily.
With Houston forecast to see up to 20 inches of rainfall, local officials there are readying evacuation boats and highwater rescue vehicles.
On Thursday, Houston's Office of Emergency Management urged residents to stockpile enough water, food and medication for five to seven days, secure anything that could be picked up by strong winds, and park vehicles off the streets. The Houston Independent School District, the largest public school system in Texas, canceled all Monday classes.
In neighboring Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Thursday for the entire state.
"All arms of the state's emergency preparedness and response apparatus are planning for the serious threat posed by Hurricane Harvey, and we are calling on all Louisianans throughout the state to do so as well," Edwards said.
Just a few inches of rain could cause severe challenges in New Orleans, which is still recovering from flooding after thunderstorms earlier this month overwhelmed the city's drainage system. On Thursday, the city's Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged residents to prepare for five to 10 inches of rain.
With 105 out of 120 pumps operating in the city, Landrieu said, officials are "working around the clock" to repair drainage pumps and turbines.
"There is no need to panic, but there is need to be well-prepared," Landrieu said.
