Montgomery County officials came together Thursday to offer emergency preparedness tips and announce the launch of a new app, ReadyMCTX, in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey.

Tropical Storm Harvey, which has been forming in the Gulf of Mexico for the past week, is expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi on Friday and travel northeast up the coast of Texas toward Louisiana. According to the National Weather Service, the tropical storm is quickly intensifying and expected to become a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Texas.

Although Montgomery County is not expected to be in the direct path of Tropical Storm Harvey, county officials said they do expect to see anywhere from 6-15 inches of rainfall within county lines.

“We are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst,” County Judge Craig Doyal said. “I’ve talked to all of the commissioners across the county and they are all making preparations in each precinct. As the storm approaches, just be safe, be careful and if you don’t have to be out on the roads, try to stay off the roads as much as possible.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said the precinct is coordinating efforts with Montgomery County fire departments, the constable’s office and the sheriff’s department in preparation for a heavy rainfall event. Noack also said the precinct is working to inform residents in flood-prone areas to take extra precaution and is also working to clear ditches of debris to enhance water flow.

“The precinct does stand ready in the event of a storm that brings flooding and/or wind,” Noack said. “We will be staffed throughout the entirety of the storm and we will have crews not only on standby but also roaming throughout the precinct to make sure that we are proactively addressing issues as they arise. We want to take this event very seriously.”

Darren Hess, director of the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, urged residents to download the county’s new emergency preparedness app, ReadyMCTX, which will offer precaution tips for residents and allow them to keep track of road closures as they occur.

The app, which was launched Monday, also allows residents to report high-water areas to county officials. The app is free and available in the iTunes App store and GooglePlay.

“We’ll continue to work with emergency responders across the county—the whole county will be impacted so they’re all making staffing arrangements now," Hess said. "They’re ramping up their rescue operations and everybody is moving towards the same concerted front which is to take care of our citizens."

Doyal said the county has also made arrangements with The Red Cross and local churches in the event that emergency shelters and transportation are needed.

“Even though we’re not gong to see a direct impact with hurricane force winds, we will still see heavy rainfall,” Hess said. “For us, that means street flooding, it means flooding in our low-lying areas. In May of last year, we saw 16 inches of rain, so it’s not much less than what we saw in 2016 during those major flooding events.”

To report flooding or a non-emergency event in Precinct 3, call the Precinct 3 office at 281-367-3977. To report a non-emergency elsewhere in Montgomery County, call the non-emergency Sherriff’s Office at 936-539-7840.

To keep track of Tropical Storm Harvey and its effects on Montgomery County, visit www.mctx.org, www.mctxoem.org or www.precinct3.org. Each entity will also be updating its respective social media accounts throughout the duration of the storm.