In Texas, tens of thousands of residents began evacuating coastal communities Thursday, as forecasters predicted Hurricane Harvey could make landfall late Friday as a major Category 3 storm, delivering a life-threatening 35 inches of rain to some parts of the Gulf Coast. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called out 700 members of the National Guard as several coastal counties ordered mandatory evacuations. Hurricane trackers expect the storm’s eye to come ashore near the city of Corpus Christi, where Mayor Joe McComb called for a voluntary evacuation.

Mayor Joe McComb: “So we are recommending, in the strongest terms, that if you live in those low-lying areas, that you get out and you begin to get out now. Go to a resident—I mean, a family member, a friend, somewhere. Just get to higher ground. And so, we are requesting that you do that. Again, this is on a voluntary basis.”

Some computer models predict Harvey could stall over Texas, delivering catastrophic flooding before drifting back over the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana. In New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu admitted Thursday that turbines and pumps needed to drain low-lying parts of the city remain below capacity, after torrential downpours flooded parts of New Orleans earlier this month. Climate scientists say human-driven global warming is leading to more intense storms and increasing the maximum intensity of rainfall.