Harvey sends gas prices up, ag producers scrambling
By Baton Rouge Business Report Staff
BATON ROUGE -- Hurricane Harvey lifted gas prices and sent southwest Louisiana agriculture producers scrambling to protect their crops today, as the now Category 3 storm beared down on Texas.
U.S. crude rose 37 cents to $47.80 a barrel, while Brent crude increased 31 cents to $52.35. The storm, which is gaining strength, had speeds of 120 miles per hour and is forecast to make landfall on the mid-Texas coast later today or early Saturday.
Louisianans braced for possible days of rain as officials in Cameron Parish, on the coast at the Texas state line, ordered an evacuation south of the Intracoastal Waterway, The Associated Press reports. Livestock also were a big concern.
“We’ve got a high-water situation right now,” Keith Savoie, an LSU AgCenter extension agent in Cameron Parish says. “Anything on top of that will be really bad.”
Savoie tells the AgCenter commercial fishing boats are being moved north to inland waterways. Some cattle are being relocated to higher ground.
“Unusually high tides are forecast for early next week. “It doesn’t look good right now. It could be really bad for us,” he says.