Southeast Texas residents can look forward to a stormy weekend beginning Friday as Tropical Storm Harvey slams into the Texas coast.

Harvey had reformed into a depression after leaving Mexico and was predicted to strengthen into a storm later Wednesday while out in the Gulf. As a result, watches were posted along the Texas coast.

“A hurricane watch is in effect from San Luis Pass to north of Port Mansfield,” Lance Escude, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Wednesday afternoon.

“A tropical storm watch is in effect from San Luis Pass to High Island.”

A watch means tropical storm (or hurricane) conditions are possible within the next 48 hours for the watch area. However, that does not mean Southeast Texas will be able to avoid the full brunt of the storm.

“The current forecast brings the center (of Harvey) between Galveston and Corpus Christi sometime on Friday evening, maybe Saturday morning,” Escude said.

“This storm has been forecasted to slow down and make a slight turn back to the east, which would bring the center of circulation above Southeast Texas Monday morning.”

And Harvey’s eastward turn, as well as its slow pace, almost guarantees a prodigious amount of rainfall for the area.

Escude predicted a widespread 10 to 15 inches of rainfall for Southeast Texas, with local possibilities looking in excess of 20 inches.

“We advise people to keep advised on the latest details of the latest system,” he said.

The National Hurricane Center issued its first-ever operational storm surge watch for parts of the Texas coast, which include coastline from Port Mansfield to High Island.

Escude said a storm surge watch is a way in which to alert the public of the possibility or danger of a storm surge.

“It’s when conditions are possible for storm-surge flooding — basically to life-threatening levels of inundation,” Escude said.

For affected areas, especially those closest to the center of the storm according to Escude, three to six feet of flooding is possible.

Escude said this year’s hurricane season has been “in a kind of normal-to-below-normal cycle in the past couple of years.”

“With this (Harvey), now we’re back to a more seasonal normal.”

In preparation of the coming storm, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the State Operations Center (SOC) to raise its readiness level.

On Wednesday, the SOC raised its level from IV (normal conditions) to level III (increased readiness). It will be further elevated to level II (escalated response conditions) Thursday.

“The state’s emergency personnel are well prepared for the potential impact… and stand ready to assist in the event of any severe weather emergencies,” Abbott said in a press release.

“I also encourage Texans in the storm’s path to make their own emergency preparations, heed warnings from local officials and avoid high water areas.”

Residents can keep updated by tuning into local weather, as well as heeding information from city officials and the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management.

Beginning Thursday at 8 a.m., the City of Nederland will have sandbags available for Nederland residents in anticipation of the heavy rain.

Residents can pick them up free at the Nederland Service Center with their driver’s license or utility bill at 515 Hardy Ave. Limit of eight per household. For more information, call the city manager’s office at 409-723-1503.