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Texas Coast Braces For Claudette
Aired July 14, 2003 - 15:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Texas coast bracing for an unwelcome visitor named Claudette. And the next 24 hours are critical. That's when we should know if Claudette is coming ashore as a hurricane or a tropical storm. Either way, there's going to be trouble.
You're looking at live pictures now from Galveston, where Claudette is already stirring up the surf.
Our Ed Lavandera is farther south. He's in Corpus Christi -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well here forecasters are saying that the Gulf Coast of Texas should prepare itself for what they expect to be a Category 1 hurricane.
We're here in the Corpus Christi marina where you see crews here just making sure everything is tied down properly. These are some small sailboats here as the patrol has been going through this area trying to make sure that everything is tied down properly. Also double-checking some of the work that some of the boat owners have already done to make sure that everything here is tied down properly.
Forecasters saying that Tropical Storm Claudette will probably come ashore here and slightly just up toward Houston from along the Gulf Coast here along Port Aransas although mostly the officials here are worried about flooding at this point, inland flooding in the Corpus Christi area, here, that they're on mostly worried about.
And also not a lot of concern in terms of setting up shelters for people who might want to evacuate. And here in Corpus Christi one shelter will be set up, that is for homeless people. Perhaps another shelter will also be set up and that's for the family of emergency workers that will likely be working through the night here, for very long hours as this storm continues to move towards shore.
The storm moving extremely slow in the Gulf of Mexico. So it's still hard to predict exactly where it's going to come on shore, but most forecasters now saying that it'll come here near the Corpus Christi area or a little bit more toward the Galveston around Port Aransas as I mentioned a second ago. So as this thing continues to move slowly, several hundreds miles off the shore of in the Gulf of Mexico here, still unanswered questions as to exactly where this will come on shore. But residents all along the Texas Gulf Coast between here and Houston definitely preparing. A lot of people buying plywood this morning to protect their homes and windows. So we've seen quite a bit of that as well this morning. And also sandbagging in other areas as well.
But for the most part, not a whole lot of concern that this is going to cause extreme damage. But winds at 65 miles an hour now. Perhaps up to 70 miles per hour if it reaches hurricane status. And that's what most people are worried about is flooding at this point. So, Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 14, 2003 - 15:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Texas coast bracing for an unwelcome visitor named Claudette. And the next 24 hours are critical. That's when we should know if Claudette is coming ashore as a hurricane or a tropical storm. Either way, there's going to be trouble.
You're looking at live pictures now from Galveston, where Claudette is already stirring up the surf.
Our Ed Lavandera is farther south. He's in Corpus Christi -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well here forecasters are saying that the Gulf Coast of Texas should prepare itself for what they expect to be a Category 1 hurricane.
We're here in the Corpus Christi marina where you see crews here just making sure everything is tied down properly. These are some small sailboats here as the patrol has been going through this area trying to make sure that everything is tied down properly. Also double-checking some of the work that some of the boat owners have already done to make sure that everything here is tied down properly.
Forecasters saying that Tropical Storm Claudette will probably come ashore here and slightly just up toward Houston from along the Gulf Coast here along Port Aransas although mostly the officials here are worried about flooding at this point, inland flooding in the Corpus Christi area, here, that they're on mostly worried about.
And also not a lot of concern in terms of setting up shelters for people who might want to evacuate. And here in Corpus Christi one shelter will be set up, that is for homeless people. Perhaps another shelter will also be set up and that's for the family of emergency workers that will likely be working through the night here, for very long hours as this storm continues to move towards shore.
The storm moving extremely slow in the Gulf of Mexico. So it's still hard to predict exactly where it's going to come on shore, but most forecasters now saying that it'll come here near the Corpus Christi area or a little bit more toward the Galveston around Port Aransas as I mentioned a second ago. So as this thing continues to move slowly, several hundreds miles off the shore of in the Gulf of Mexico here, still unanswered questions as to exactly where this will come on shore. But residents all along the Texas Gulf Coast between here and Houston definitely preparing. A lot of people buying plywood this morning to protect their homes and windows. So we've seen quite a bit of that as well this morning. And also sandbagging in other areas as well.
But for the most part, not a whole lot of concern that this is going to cause extreme damage. But winds at 65 miles an hour now. Perhaps up to 70 miles per hour if it reaches hurricane status. And that's what most people are worried about is flooding at this point. So, Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
