Boyd: ‘We’ll be prepared’
Executives with five Boyd Gaming Corp. casinos in Louisiana were monitoring Hurricane Harvey on Friday as it approached the Texas coast.
“We’ll be prepared to respond if necessary,” Boyd spokesman David Strow said Friday in Las Vegas. “It’s looking more like a rainfall event for us at this point.”
Las Vegas-based Boyd operates Delta Downs in Vinton, near the Texas-louisiana border, the property closest to Harvey’s predicted landfall.
The company also owns and manages the Amelia Belle in Amelia; Evangeline Downs in Opelousas in St. Landry Parish; the Treasure Chest in Kenner, just outside New Orleans; and Sam’s Town Shreveport. Richard N. Velotta vehicle flow, authorities left traffic patterns unchanged.
Federal health officials called in more than 400 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from around the nation and planned to move two 250-bed medical units to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other federal medical units are available in Dallas.
Houston: ‘Not having a hurricane’
Just hours before the projected landfall, the governor and Houston leaders issued conflicting statements on evacuation.
After Abbott urged more people to flee, Houston authorities told people to remain in their homes and recommended no widespread evacuations.
In a Friday press conference that addressed Houston officials’ decision to not have a voluntary or mandatory evacuation, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said there might be a “greater danger” in having people who don’t need to be evacuated on roads that could flood.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said that because the hurricane was not taking direct aim at Houston, the city’s primary concern was heavy flooding.
“We are not having a hurricane,” said Emmett, the top elected official for the county, which encompasses Houston. “We are having a rain event.”
Scientists warned that Harvey could swamp counties more than 100 miles inland and stir up dangerous surf as far away as Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, 700 miles from the projected landfall.
The White House said Trump was closely monitoring the hurricane and planned to travel to Texas early next week to view recovery efforts. The president was expected to receive briefings during the weekend at Camp David, and signed a federal disaster declaration Friday night.