Tropical Storm Francine: Gov. Abbott on Texas' preparations for "life-threatening" storm surge

thank everybody for being with us here today uh obviously we're we're focused on Francine that's making its way across the Gulf Coast our top priority is safety for our fellow Texans especially those along the Gulf Coast there is a danger of lifethreatening storm surge in various regions especially in the upper Texas coastline residents in those areas should follow advice from local officials including possible evacuation orders Francine is is expected to bring heavy rain and a risk of flash flooding along the coast from South Texas all the way up to the Bowmont region we are prepared for Francine to turn into a hurricane later on today in the lower Texas coast power outages are expected and uh difficult driving conditions may occur mainly across coastal areas today Texans in those areas need to be careful about Low Land flooding and roadways along the coast in the upper Texas Coast Area power outages are possible in coastal areas High ties and potential flooding and high winds could pose threats to both property and to life expect heavy rain and flash flooding in coastal regions from Houston to Bowmont also expanding all the way up into Northeast Texas be prepared for storm surge of about 1 to 3 feet watch out in particular for rip currents those are the kinds of things that people people typically cannot see but they can turn deadly very swiftly as well as uh one thing that a storm like this uh can spawn uh would be potential tornadoes now we all know that the current predicted pathway of the storm continues to Edge more toward Louisiana even though that's the case uh these heavy rains as well as the tornadoes that could come from the Storm still are a possibility especially in the uh North and Northeast part of the Texas Gulf Coast probable tropical tour uh tropical force winds uh in Southeast Texas especially along the coast a possibility of winds as much as 30 to 35 miles hour tropical storm Francine is expected uh to continue to get more predictable uh as we go through the course of this day and as I mentioned it looks like the most likely area of landfall uh will be in Louisiana and when it makes landfall it is expected to be at least a category 1 hurricane that said 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 we need to be prepared for the possibility uh that conditions could change that could cause the storm to move a little bit further to the West uh with uh increased danger to parts of Texas as we all remember Barrel took an unexpected pathway we must be prepared for Francine to also lead to unpredictable Pathways as it gets closer to the shore everyone along the Texas coast should remain Vigilant and tuned into this uh until the storm passes their particular area along those lines what people should to do is to listen carefully uh to their their local news as well as their local officials who will know best about what is happening in their particular area the most important thing that we are focused on is protecting the life of every Texan to do that again listen to your local officials and take action to avoid high water on roads and be aware of storm surge one thing that it seems that we see every time a storm passes through Texas is that some Texans will drive through a roadway unaware of the depth of the water in that region they get stuck because the water is higher and moving more swiftly than the driver expects it leads to emergency rescue operations or at worst can lead to a possible death there's a simple slogan that people need to remember and that is turn around don't drown you don't need to get through that particular roadway if there's heavy or high water in that area be safe with your own life knowing that you can control your own safety by making a decision about where you do and where you do not drive uh Power I know is a concern of Texans especially those along the coastline we expect power providers to be prepared for this storm storms like this occur every year on the Texas Coastline there is absolutely no reason for power providers to be fully prepared to meet demands of this storm we know that even with the greatest preparation winds can sometime cause power lines to uh fall to the ground when that happens we fully expect power companies to be prepared in advance to restore those power lines in a matter of of hours not in a matter of days the Texas response has already been robust we have pre-stage response resources in advance all the way from Brownsville over to bont we've coordinated with local officials across the Gulf Coast we have water rescue teams uh deployed as well as uh water and food deployed to affected areas the National Guard is on standby with teams uh ready across the state with that I will pass it over to Chief Nim kid uh with the Texas division of Emergency Management thank you Governor I think it's important that we remember that the National Hurricane Center forecast one-third of the time the eyewall of the storm will make landfall outside of that cone of uncertainty so while we all want this storm not to impact Texas Texas has got to be prepared state agencies are doing that we've have 24 state agencies here in the emergency office Operation Center all of their people are out in the field ready to support Texans we've been in constant contact with our local elected officials two of them have issued voluntary evacuation orders already we are ready to support them if they ask for more as the governor mentioned no matter where this storm makes landfall the East part of Texas is susceptible to tornadoes and severe rain and we want to make sure that our boat squads and our search and rescue teams are ready to support but I need our citizens to be ready to respond to this as well uh have a communic ation plan with your family know where your family is and where they're going to be we are in constant contact with our locals our resources are ready to support those local requests Governor uh there is a high likelihood of trees falling with this wind or cars hitting a power pole and I I urge Texans to make sure that they are ready for minor power outages right now make sure they have food and water make sure they have a communication plan and know that we've been in contact with the CEOs of all of the Power compan along the coast they assure us that they have the right saw Crews and the right restoration Crews ready to respond right now we know that uh high water as as well as other aspects of the storm uh can cause problems with regard to travel could be trees that fall down across a road it could be other damages to roadways and uh Texans will want information uh about any serious road conditions that may cause them to take alternative paths and so we have with us here uh representative from the Texas Department of Transportation to tell you more about what they are doing and what they are prepared to do thank you Governor Mark Williams with the Texas Department of Transportation we're already seeing some impacts uh to some of our state highways in the uh lower real grand area uh of South Texas that area has already experienced some significant rainfall and uh even some uh level of storm surge and so we have some State highways that are impacted with some water over the road as we always remind everybody the best source to go to get information on specific roadway conditions is drivetexas.org that is a the website that we continuously maintain in real time to keep Texans posted on the status of roadway conditions uh throughout the state as far as the uh work that the Texas Department of Transportation is doing our crews are mobilized throughout our Coastal districts as well as throughout East Texas where we could expect some even some residual effect should the storm impact uh Louisiana uh we're working on our own preparation and our message to the public is the same as our message to our own Personnel first and foremost to be prepared to work and understand the things that you can do in advance uh for the public that may be fueling your car that may be having a plan for what you might do in the instance that conditions do change and you might be impacted secondly is to be aware of conditions know what is going on know the conditions of the roadway that you may be going on to the governor spoke about the importance of not driving into FL onto flooded roadways turn around and don't drown also be aware of potential for down power lines having that awareness is critical especially especially if you're going to potentially be being out on the road and then thirdly uh and and really most importantly is to always have safety at the front of mind and that means to drive to conditions uh if you do have to get on out on the road uh and continue to watch for uh instances of high water or down power lines thank you Governor thank you very much I will be traveling to bont in a few hours and we'll be uh working with local officials there and provide an update later on today uh based upon what happens between now and then uh we be happy to take any questions you all have you CH kid also or barl was perhaps the ear in hurricane ever we should see a change in Hurricane Seasons we should we be expecting more perhaps more intense experts well I mean here's the reality and and that is uh Barrel was a category one hurricane it looks like this will be a category one hurricane uh we have many times had uh more hurricanes than that more severe than that and so this is not particularly aberrational Governor um seems like we have our hands full right now are there any plans to send resources Texas resources to California for the wildfires that they ask for any help so Texas has already sent u a lot of resources to California to help them fight wildf fires we sent uh it was 25 uh trucks and 125 firefighters uh to California California has thanked us for what you provided saying that they have never received something of that magnitude before so Texas always stands up uh and helps out those uh in our neighboring states including in the wildfires in New Mexico I've got a lot of family in Houston and I think one month this summer my dad was without power for 18 days out of the month spent the night in his office you know for people along the coast who have been going through seems like a lot this this summer um what would you say to them who may be very anxious to hear that something is coming once again listen we understand that the people of Houston in particular uh those who are in uh the the center point service area are for one very angry about what happened and also very anxious uh when when another storm comes through the status of center point today is different than it was at the time the barrel hit uh they have uh dramatically increased their vegetation removal which they said was deleting calls of power outages uh they have put up an extraordinary number uh of new uh far better weather resistant poles uh that will be able to withstand especially the wind speeds that we are expecting here uh and they've taken other actions uh to make sure they are better prepared that said Centerpoint knows that it is under a microscope Centerpoint knows from me from State leaders from their customers uh that what happened in Barrel is unacceptable they better be prepared uh this is their time to perform this is their time to show that they're living up to the promises they have made and that is they will be a far more resistant uh and resilient company as it concerns storms like this especially with the current pathway of this storm uh there's little reason uh why there should be any power outages or just a few power outages and there's the full expectation if there are power outages by Centerpoint uh they will be corrected and be back on power within hours we have time for two more questions great thanks everyone