Hurricane Harvey: Update 8/25/2017

Dan Zukowski
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read
NASA GOES-16 visible imagery as of 8/25/2017 6:37 pm CDT

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s report.

Source: The Weather Channel

Hurricane Latest Info

Hurricane Harvey is now a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds approaching the Texas coast near Corpus Christi.

Energy Infrastructure

  • The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement now shows 21.5 percent of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico to be shut in. Gas production is 23.2 percent shut in.
  • A total of 86 production platforms have been evacuated, up from 39 yesterday.
  • Four drilling rigs have been evacuated and one has been moved out of the way of the storm.
  • S&P Global reports that Citgo, Valero Energy, Flint Hills Resources and Magellan have shut down refineries in the Corpus Christi area.
  • BHP Billiton and Murphy Oil have shut down some operations in the Eagle Ford Shale, which lies in the projected path of Harvey.
  • Kinder Morgan is shutting select pipelines, but the critical Colonial Pipeline, which carries gasoline to the Northeast, is expected to remain open.

Transportation

  • The U.S. Coast Guard has closed four major ports in the Houston/Galveston area to all traffic, including crude oil tankers.
  • The 52-mile long Houston Ship Channel has suspended ship movements.
  • BNSF said it was halting all rail traffic in and out of Galveston.
  • Kansas City Southern has embargoed all cross-border rail traffic via Laredo, Texas and traffic for connections through Brownsville/Matamoros. This is a common practice among freight railroads during natural disasters.
  • Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, from Los Angeles to New Orleans, will terminate at El Paso. Service on the Texas Eagle will operate only from San Antonio to Chicago.

Is Texas Prepared?

Is Texas ready for Hurricane Harvey? See these reports from The Texas Tribune and ProPublica:

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Dan Zukowski

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Environmental journalist and photographer.

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