Evacuees making few local hotel, campground reservations so far

KOA Campground in Texarkana received a few phone calls Thursday from South Texas residents asking about camping space as a result of Hurricane Harvey.

“People are calling but so far we have only had three reservations,” said David Saxton, who does reservations and check-ins at KOA.

A woman who answered the phone at Sunrise RV Park in Texarkana, Ark., said she had not received any calls yet.

Employees working the front desks at a few local hotels said they had not received any calls as of late Thursday.

As Hurricane Harvey bears down on the Texas Gulf Coast, some communities are under evacuation orders.

Harvey intensified Thursday into a hurricane that would be the first major hurricane to hit Texas in 12 years according to the Associated Press.

Harvey is expected to be a major hurricane at landfall, bringing life-threatening storm surge, rainfall and wind hazards to portions of the Texas coast according to the National Weather Service. Tropicalstorm-force winds are expected to arrive today.

A storm surge warning is in effect for much of the Texas coast. Flooding could reach heights of 6 to 12 feet above ground level at the coast near Padre Island National Seashore.

Aransas Pass, Brazoria County and Calhoun County have all had mandatory evacuations ordered Thursday.

Other areas including Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston’s West End have had voluntary evacuations ordered.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the State Operations Center to elevate its readiness level, making state resources available for possible rescue and recovery actions. Abbott also pre-emptively declared a state of disaster for 30 counties on or near the coast, to speed deployment of state resources to any areas affected.

Nearly all of the state’s 367mile (591 kilometer) coast was under a hurricane or tropical storm warning or watch as of Thursday. Emergency officials have laid out evacuation routes for coastal communities, with storm surge dangers in mind.

Some rain is in the local forecast this weekend and early in the week. But precipitation amounts are not expected to be very high.