Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on preparations for Tropical Storm Francine

We're gonna bring you back up to our top story this midday. Turning to breaking news, Governor Greg Abbott is talking about Texas's preps for tropical storm Francine. Let's listen. In, 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 uh low land flooding and roadways along the coast. In the upper Texas coast area, power outages are possible in coastal areas, high tides 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 Beaumont. Also expanding all the way up into northeast Texas. Be prepared for storm surge of about uh 1 to 3 ft. 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 tours. Uh, tropical force winds, uh, in southeast Texas, especially along the coast. Uh, a possibility of winds as much as 30 to 35 MPH. 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 one 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, Beryl 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 do is to listen carefully uh to their, their local news as well. As the 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 the storm. We know that even with the greatest preparation, winds can sometimes cause power lines to 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 hours. Not in a matter of days, the Texas uh response has already been robust. We have presage response resources in advance all the way from Brownsville over to Beaumont. We've coordinate 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 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 eye wall 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 that we have 24 state agencies here in the emergency Operations 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 squad and that was Governor Greg Abbott with an update on what the state is doing to prepare for tropical storm Francine. He said he and his team are expecting rip current storm surge, high water flooding and the possible threat of tornadoes now is expected to make landfall in Louisiana as a category one hurricane. But the governor warning its path could actually change like hurricane Barrel, which left millions of Texans without power in the hot summer heat for days. He says power crews should be ready for this storm. We'll have more after the break.