Updated: Friday, 1:20 PM ET

Many of the 450,000 residents of the Corpus Christi metro areahave left, though thousands of families have decided to ride outthe expected massive floods and fierce winds from Hurricane Harvey, the Corpus ChristiCaller Times reported Friday.

In Corpus Christi, the largest city along the Coastal Bend whereHurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall Friday night or earlySaturday morning, there are 13 credit unions that collectivelyserve more than 235,000 members and their families.

While many credit unions throughout the Corpus Christi metroarea have closed shop for Friday and Saturday, some cooperatives,that are at a relatively safer distance from the coastline, havedecided to remain open Friday, according to the Cornerstone CreditUnion League.

For example the $102 million TexasGulf FCU in Wharton, about 150miles northeast of Corpus Christi, is open for business Friday, andso is the $39 million Sacred Hearth FCU in Hallettsville, which isabout 130 miles north of Corpus Christi.

The Cornerstone league, its foundation and the CUNA Mutual Grouphave announced the activation of their Customer Disaster ResponseTeams in anticipation of the hurricane that is expected to generatewinds of about 125 mph when it hits the Texas coastline.

Because Hurricane Harvey is a slow-moving storm, its high windsand heavy rains could last for days, which will most likely causewidespread power outages. Weather and government officialsalso have warned some Texas communities could see up to 30 inchesof rain.

These weather conditions may keep some credit unions fromopening on Monday.

However, credit unions should remind their members that theystill have access totheir funds through the shared branching network, said NormaGarza, AVP of remote transaction resources for CU ResourcesInc.

“Shared branching is the second largest in the number of branchoffice locations nationally,” Garza noted. Our sharedbranching website can be linked from your website. Sharedbranching on the go “SBontheGO” website provides atremendous amount of information for you and your members aboutshared branching, how it works, and it uses.”

The Cornerstone league said credit unions that need anyassistance can contact the Disaster Recovery Team at [email protected],by phone, 1-877-429-5839, via Twitter: @cusrecover or on Facebook:@Cornerstone_CUL. Credit unions also can reach out to their leaguerepresentatives for assistance as well.

For additional disaster recovery information, please visitthis Cornerstoneleague site.

In addition, the NCUA said it is monitoring the storm and isprepared to assist credit unions with maintaining or restoringoperations, if necessary. The agency maintains a hurricaneand disaster information page on its website with morematerial on preparedness and staying safe.

Credit union members with questions may contact the NCUA'sConsumer Assistance Center at 800-755-1030 Monday through Fridaybetween 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. eastern time. The NCUA's Office of SmallCredit Union Initiatives can provide urgentneeds grants of up to $7,500 to low-income credit unionsthat experience sudden costs to restore operations interrupted bythe storm.

Update Thursday, 5:46 PM ET

At least six of the 13 credit unions based in Corpus Christi,Texas will be closed Friday and Saturday as the coastal city ofmore than 320,000 is expected to be in the center of HurricaneHarvey when it hits landfall Friday night.

An additional eight credit unions in communities nearby CorpusChristi also announced branch closures for Thursday, Friday andSaturday.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported Thursdayafternoon that Harvey has intensified rapidly and is forecast to bea major hurricane at landfall, bringing a life-threatening stormsurge, rainfall and high winds to portions of the Texas coast.Hurricane Harvey is expected to generate rainfall of 12 to 20inches across much of the coastline with isolated amounts as highas 30 inches from Friday through early next week.

Corpus Christi city officials did not order an evacuation, butthey strongly urged residents and businesses in low-lying areas toleave.

Corpus Christi credit unions that announced branch closings forFriday and Saturday were the $1.26 billion Navy Army Community CU,the $289 million Coastal Community and Teachers CU, the $205million Gulf Coast FCU, the $125 million Members First CU, the $55million Texas Bridge CU, and the $13 million Third Coast CU.

But a few credit unions decided to close up shop on Thursday.The $3 billion Texas Dow Employees CU closed their branches inEdna, Port Lavaca and Seadrift, while the $33 million San PatricioCounty Teachers FCU in Sinton and the $8 million Sherwin FCU inPortland shut their doors on Thursday afternoon.

Officials ordered evacuations of Portland, Rockport, PortAransas, Aransas Pass, Ingleside and Robstown on Thursday,according to local media reports.

Other credit unions that will close up branches on Friday andSaturday are the $16 million Texas Community FCU in Kingsville, the$57 million Baycel FCU in Bay City, the $15 million VictoriaTeachers FCU in Victoria, and the $9 million Victoria FCU alsobased in Victoria.

City officials for Houston, about 200 miles northeast of CorpusChristi, said they are monitoring Hurricane Harvey. The NationalWeather Service said Houston may get eight to 12 inches of rainover the next four to five days and wind gusts of up to 60 mph.