CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas--Hurricane Harvey was hours away from lashing the Texas coast on Friday with winds of up to 156 miles per hour and 13-foot ocean surges as the most powerful storm in over a decade bore down on the mainland United States.
Harvey strengthened to a powerful Category 4 hurricane with cities from northern Mexico to Louisiana bracing for flooding, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was expected to hit land near Corpus Christi, Texas, around 9 p.m. CDT then stall and dump over 3 feet (90 cm) of rain in areas of the Texas coast and parts of Louisiana as it lingers for days. While thousands fled the expected devastating flooding and destruction, many residents defied mandatory evacuation orders and stocked up on food, fuel and sandbags.
"We’re suggesting if people are going to stay here, mark their arm with a Sharpie pen with their name and Social Security number," Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios told reporters Friday, according to media reports. "We hate to talk about things like that. It's not something we like to do but it’s the reality. People don’t listen."
Victoria Mayor Paul Polasek told CNN he estimated that 60 percent to 65 percent of the town’s 65,000 residents defied the mandatory evacuation order.
Jose Rengel, a 47-year-old who works in construction, said he was one of the few people in Jamaica Beach in Galveston that did not heed a voluntary evacuation order as Harvey threatened more than 5.8 million people.
“All the shops are empty,” he said as the sky turned black and rain fell. “It’s like a tornado went in and swept everything up.”
The storm stranded about 20,000 passengers on three cruise ships in the Gulf of Mexico. Gasoline stations on the south Texas coast were running out of fuel as thousands of residents fled the region. U.S. gasoline prices spiked as the storm shut down 22 percent, or 377,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Gulf of Mexico oil production, according to the U.S. government.
At a Willis, Texas, station, about 50 miles (77 km) north of Houston, Corey Martinez, 40, was heading to Dallas from his Corpus Christi home. "It has been pretty stressful. We're just trying to get ahead of the storm," he said. "We've never been through a hurricane before."
As a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Harvey could uproot trees, destroy homes and disrupt utilities for days. If it maintains its intensity, it would be the first major hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005.
The storm was about 45 miles (70 km) off Corpus Christi and packing winds of 130 mph (215 kph), the NHC said. The NHC's latest tracking model shows the storm sitting southwest of Houston for more than a day, giving the nation's fourth most populous city a double dose of rain and wind.
"Life-threatening and devastating flooding expected near the coast due to heavy rainfall and storm surge," the NHC said.
President Donald Trump on Friday tweeted: "I am closely watching the path and doings of Hurricane Harvey ... BE SAFE!" Earlier, a White House official said the president was considering a request to issue an emergency declaration, providing federal disaster relief.
Louisiana and Texas declared states of disaster, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare. The port of Houston, the nation's busiest petrochemical port, closed its terminals at noon, and earlier halted inbound and outbound ship traffic. The city of Houston warned residents of flooding from close to 20 inches (60 cm) of rain over several days.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner advised city residents not to leave en masse, saying "no evacuation orders have been issued for the city." Chaotic traffic from a rushed evacuation in 2005 with Hurricane Rita proved tragic. "Calm and care!" he said in a tweet.
More than 45 percent of the country's refining capacity is along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation's crude oil is produced offshore. Ports from Corpus Christi to Texas City, Texas, were closed to incoming vessels. The U.S. government said 86 oil and gas production platforms accounting for nearly 22 percent of Gulf of Mexico crude output and 23 percent of natural gas production were shut in.
Three refineries in Corpus Christi and one farther inland at Three Rivers were shutting down ahead of the storm. Two others reduced output as ports were closed.
