NATCHEZ — As Hurricane Harvey lashes the Texas Gulf Coast, local officials are waiting to see where the storm is headed.

“Right now there is a lot of uncertainty about what it will do,” Adams County Emergency Management Director Robert Bradford said.

Friday morning, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials briefed Bradford and other emergency management officials in the state about the hurricane and its predicted path.

Bradford said the storm is expected to affect the area next week, but officials do not know what exactly will happen.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Bryant said the storm is predicted to stall over the Texas Gulf Coast after making landfall.

“There is nothing in the atmosphere to steer it around,” Bryant said.

Under such conditions the storm can drift and become erratic, Bryant said.

“Where the storm goes when it starts moving is an uncertainty,” he said.

Some forecast models predict the storm could move back into the Gulf of Mexico, but Bryant said it is unlikely that the storm would move back over warm waters where it could strengthen.

“By early next week Harvey will probably start moving northward into (Mississippi) bringing a threat for flash flooding and possible tornadoes,” Bryant said. “The outermost bands of the storm will be moving in over the weekend into Monday.”

The local impact is not anticipated to be a major catastrophe in comparison to what is forecasted for the Texas gulf coast, Bryant said.

Friday night the National Hurricane Center said Harvey had strengthened to a Category 4 storm with sustained wind speeds of 130 mph.

The storm quickly grew Thursday from a tropical depression into a Category 2 storm by early Friday. By Friday afternoon, it had become a Category 3 storm before strengthening to a Category 4.

The hurricane made landfall in Texas overnight bringing life-threatening storm surge, rainfall and wind.

The biggest weather threats for southwest Mississippi, Bryant said, will not be until next week.

Bradford said he will have another briefing with MEMA officials Monday morning and will update city and county officials then.