07/06/2024
Visitors to Port Aransas may be under a mandatory evacuation order sometime this afternoon, Mayor Wendy Moore said during briefing this morning on what is now Tropical Storm Beryl.
City officials gathered for the briefing with the National Weather Service this morning at City Hall.
Beryl, now in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to reorganize and strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane and make landfall between Corpus Christi and Matagorda Bay but could move closer to the Corpus Christi-Port Aransas area sometime Monday, perhaps earlier, according to Cory Mottice, warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS in Corpus Christi.
If the storm “intensifies a little more than expected, that could shift it up the coast a little bit,” Mottice said.
Port Aransas remains under a hurricane and storm surge warning, he said.
A three-to-four-foot storm surge is projected. Rainfall projections are five to 10 inches, with isolated areas getting 15 inches, Mottice said. Heavy rain could lead to flash flooding and river flooding, he added.
Tropical storm force winds are expected here Sunday afternoon into Sunday night. Tides will continue to rise throughout the weekend.
Mottice said effects of Beryl should be short-lived, about 24 hours, after landfall.
City staff is in preparation mode, taking most trashcans and portable toilets off the beach, and packing up equipment and important documents preparing for an evacuation, if necessary. City vehicles will be stored in the Civic Center, with fire and emergency services vehicles going in last to make a hasty exit if needed.
Residents may pick up bags to fill with sand at City Hall which has about 400. It is illegal to fill the bags with sand off the beach, however.
Gates to the Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture will close at dusk today, and the Bill Ellis Memorial Library closed at noon today.
People on boats at the Dennis Dreyer Municipal Harbor were advised that facilities will be closed, and that no shelter is provided in Port Aransas.
Surf and rescue crews will remain on duty until the beach is empty of people.
Contrary to rumors, the city will not be shutting off the gas supply, City Manager David Parsons noted.
“It’s time for visitors to go,” Moore said after the NWS briefing.
As far as the permanent population is concerned, Moore said “I don’t think at this point I want to issue mandatory evacuation order.”
She said Beryl is only a tropical storm now and may become a Category 1 hurricane, but that she does not want to put people at risk.”
Moore said she would confer with Nueces County Judge Connie Scott and likely issue a mandatory evacuation order for visitors, which could be in place by this afternoon. They likely will have a deadline to be off the island by Sunday afternoon.
Having visitors leave now will help clear evacuation routes later if residents are told to evacuate.
“You just hope that 85 percent of the people (visitors) comply,” Parsons said.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody’s business. I don’t want to anybody’s dollar. But I also want people to be safe. And more than anything, I want those people that are here visiting to get home safely,” Moore said. “So, the more people we can kind of get moving, the better.”
Hopefully visitors who must leave now will come back next week for the Deep Sea Roundup, Moore added.
Meanwhile, the ferries will continue to run for as long as possible. Typically, they stop running when tides get too high for landing gear to lock in. Some “bad messaging” regarding the Aransas Pass sea gates closing and therefore blocking ferry traffic was just that, Parsons said.
Another briefing will be held at 5 p.m. today.
