MATAGORDA, Texas – The first tropical system of 2024 is starting to impact the Texas coast.
“It is a little bit nerve wracking,” said Lucy Silva who we ran into on FM 2030 also known as Beach Road which sits between the Colorado River and East Matagorda Bay.
Silva is among many bracing for the surge.
“We’re making sure that chairs, BBQ pits things like that, that can fly away, putting them up,” she said.
Artie Ford is in the same boat.
“Anything that we didn’t want to lose we took it and put it up stairs,” Ford said.
Ford bought his beach house there in 2021 and saw destruction happen to it three months later during Hurricane Nicholas.
“Everything got washed out into the river, except for the washing machine that was hanging on by the water hose,” he said. “You can just see everything getting destroyed. It was a mess.”
Ford is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Not everyone seems to be so concerned.
“Nature is putting up a show for you. Why would you miss it,” said Ashok Moza.
Moza’s beach home sits about 14 feet up, right on Matagorda Beach and he says he’s not going anywhere.
“Well I mean we all have to go,” he said laughing.
Much closer to the ground, in a camper, Claude Masters and his family are still vacationing along the beach.
“Not trying to sound like we’re being arrogant about this but we’re pretty educated on storms and storm paths,” Masters said.
He said they don’t plan to leave unless they feel the conditions are too much to bear.
“What if it changes so quickly? Are you concerned about that with us being here in Texas where the weather is so fickle and things change so fast?” Deven Clarke asked.
“Yea so we’ll watch it well keep our eye on it,” Masters replied.
The best way to do that is to download our KPRC2 Storm Tracker app by searching for it in your app store on your smart phone. You can stay updated with conditions as they change throughout the night.
As far as Matagorda beach is concerned, there’s only one way in and one way out.
If FM 2030 floods, those who are still on the beach would likely be stuck.