Texas braces for close call as Francine crawls past battered coastal communities

With Tropical Storm Francine ambling along the Texas coast Tuesday, state officials mobilized two dozen agencies in case tropical winds, storm surges and rain caused power outages and other problems along the already battered coastline from Brownsville to Beaumont.
Computer models predicted Francine is on its way to Louisiana, where it’s expected to make landfall Wednesday as a Category 1 hurricane.
Gov. Greg Abbott, briefed Tuesday morning by state emergency response officials, said preparations will continue in Texas.
“One thing that we’ve learned is that the predicted pathway of a storm like this doesn’t always turn out to be true as a result,” Abbott told reporters after his briefing. “We need to be prepared for the possibility that conditions could change.”
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Even if Francine’s path continued without change, the northern stretch of Texas coast could still see tornadoes and high winds, Abbott said. In the southern region, storm surges could reach up to 3 feet, rain could cause flash floods and wind gusts could reach 35 mph, he said.
“Everyone along the Texas coast should remain vigilant and tuned in to this until the storm passes their particular area,” Abbott said.
State emergency officials have been in contact with local political leaders and officials with every power company along the Texas coast, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Boat squads and search-and-rescue teams are in place in case conditions deteriorate or Francine’s path changes, Kidd said.
Floods were already affecting some state highways in the Lower Rio Grande region, said Mark Williams, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Williams advised residents to have a plan ready and make sure their cars were fueled. If driving becomes necessary, he said, stay off flooded roads and pay attention to local warnings.
Brownsville was under flood warnings Tuesday morning as officials across the region prepared for a possible repeat of July, when Hurricane Beryl, marked by its unpredictability throughout its weeklong course, took a late turn north toward Texas and hit Matagorda, about 100 miles southwest of Galveston.
Three people in Texas died and an estimated 2.2 million CenterPoint Energy customers lost power, some for weeks, in the Houston area.
Galveston County issued voluntary evacuation orders on the Bolivar Peninsula early Tuesday in case of another unexpected hit.
“One-third of the time, the eyewall of the storm makes landfall outside that cone of uncertainty,” Kidd said. “So while we all want this storm not to impact Texas, Texas has got to be prepared.”
Kidd said coastal residents should be prepared for minor power outages caused by high winds and downed trees, but that power company officials “assure us that they have the right saw crews and the right restoration crews in place ready to respond.”
Kidd told residents to have a communication plan with family members and “know where your family is and where they’re going to be.”
CenterPoint, which owns and maintains power distribution lines in Harris County, was heavily criticized by Abbott and other state leaders for being ill-prepared to handle the damage caused by a relatively routine hurricane.
CenterPoint officials were instructed to complete a list of updates and new requirements, which Abbott said has left the company better prepared for potential mass outages.
The company has “dramatically increased” its rate of tree and vegetation removal, which officials said was a large part of the problems caused by Beryl, and also built a new network of more weather-proof utility poles that will be able to withstand high winds, Abbott said.
“We understand that the people of Houston, in particular those in the CenterPoint service area, are for one angry about what happened and also very anxious when another storm comes through,” said Abbott, who spent much of his career in Houston before becoming governor. “The status of CenterPoint today is very different than it was at the time that Beryl hit. …. That said, CenterPoint knows that it is under a microscope.”
Staff writer Lana Ferguson contributed to this report.