The Houston Patch - August 25, 2017

Hurricane Harvey is slowly churning in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall late Friday evening as a major hurricane.

The National Weather Service is predicting that Harvey, the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since 2008, could strike the coastline as a Category 3 hurricane with winds as high as 130 miles per hour, which could damage trees, power lines and homes.

By comparison, Hurricane Ike was a Category 2 storm when it struck Galveston Island in September 2008, causing $38 billion in damages and killing dozens of people.

The National Weather Services has issued Hurricane Warning from Port Mansfield north of South Padre Island, to Matagorda Island, and a Tropical Storm Warning from north of Matagorda, to High Island and Crystal Beach, KTRK reported.

The constable’s office plans to deploy several 5-ton trucks for potential high-water rescues in the Greater Houston area.