UTRGV groundskeepers Rafael Ruiz, Henry Pineda, Rodney Dorsett put away tables and chairs in the Main Courtyard on the Brownsville campus as a precaution for Tropical Storm Harvey.
UPDATED AT 1:25 P.M. AUG. 26:
UTRGV has granted access to all its campuses and locations as Hurricane Harvey is no longer a threat to the area, according to an email sent out earlier today from University Marketing and Communications.
Housing Move-In remains scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at all UTRGV campuses.
Sergio Martinez, director of UTRGV Housing and Residence Life, told The Rider students are being asked to please not attempt to move in today. Housing and Residence Life has limited on-call staff, who are only allowing move in from students who evacuated from the hurricane in impacted regions and international students who flew in from outside the country.
UPDATED AT 3:15 P.M. AUG. 24:
All UTRGV campuses and locations will be closed Friday and Saturday due to the imminent threat of Hurricane Harvey.
Events scheduled for Friday and Saturday have been cancelled and/or postponed. The campus will reopen Monday and all services will resume for the first day of class, according to an email from the Office of the President.
ORIGINAL STORY:
UTRGV has begun to evacuate its Coastal Studies Laboratory, located on South Padre Island in the Isla Blanca Park, the STARGATE construction on Boca Chica Beach and its labs in Port Isabel as a precaution for Hurricane Harvey.
“We’re going to evacuate those buildings and take the necessary precautions as far as using sandbags to make sure there isn’t any damage caused by the rain,” said Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing and Communications.
The National Weather Service in Brownsville reports Harvey is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane before landfall. It is expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi on Friday night or early Saturday.
Gonzales told The Rider UTRGV officials were meeting to discuss any updates on Harvey.
The decision of whether the UTRGV campuses will close has not been made. All scheduled weekend events, such as The Showdown on Sunday, are tentative.
UTRGV campus community members are advised to check their emails for any updates on Harvey.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. announced in a news conference earlier today that sandbags will be distributed at the following locations:
–Precincts 1 and 2, 3243 E. 14th St., Brownsville
–Precinct 3, FM 510 and San Jose Road, San Benito
–Precinct 4, 201 N. T St., Harlingen
All four Hidalgo County precincts will distribute sandbags until 7 tonight. To view the locations, click here.
UTRGV’s Office of Emergency Preparedness will continue to monitor and participate in all storm briefings.
For more information or additional assistance, call the UTRGV Office of Emergency Preparedness at 665-2658.
The Rider will provide developments as it receives them.
