GALVESTON, Texas – Not only are people preparing for Hurricane Laura in Texas, law enforcement officials closed the High Island Bridge in Galveston County, Texas, in order to allow ranchers to move cattle to higher ground in preparation for the storm.
Ranchers on horseback and in pickup trucks moved a herd of nearly 1100 livestock to a location near the town of Winnie, Texas, about 52 miles north of Galveston.
Hurricane Laura sets sights on Texas/Louisiana coast
Forecasters say Hurricane Laura is rapidly intensifying and will become a "catastrophic" Category 4 hurricane before landfall. It's churning toward Texas and Louisiana, gathering wind and water that swirls over much of the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center says Laura's top sustained winds are near 115 mph with higher gusts.
Senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart says some people are going to wake up Thursday morning and not believe what happened. He says storm surge heights could top 15 feet in places, and what doesn’t get blown down by the wind could easily get knocked down by water pushing well inland.
Follow KSAT Meteorologist Justin Horne as he reports from the Texas Coast ahead of Hurricane Laura