"We are encouraging residents not to come back," says Port Aransas mayor
The mayor of Port Aransas, located near Hurricane Harvey made landfall, said Saturday that he is anticipating "quite a bit" of damage from the storm.
"We are encouraging residents not to come back," said Mayor Charles Bujan told KIII.
The Port Aransas trailer park, he said, is a "100 percent loss" and search and rescue crews are in the area.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall late Friday night just north Port Aransas as a Category 4 storm, the National Weather Service said. Harvey has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it is expected to bring catastrophic amounts of rain since it is moving at just 1 mph and dumping rain along the coast.
The National Hurricane Center says the storm is drifting over southeastern Texas, with torrential rains expected to continue.
The center says Harvey is likely to weaken from a tropical storm to a tropical depression on Sunday.
Forecasters expect Harvey to produce additional rain accumulations of 15 to 25 inches over the middle and upper Texas coast through Thursday. Isolated storm totals may reach around 40 inches.
"Our biggest concern is the possibility of between 20 and 30 inches of rain in areas ranging from Corpus Christi over to Houston," said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "Because of the flooding, one of the top focal points that we are concerned about is ongoing rescue and recovery."
