 Bracing for Barrel in Texas. The tropical storm has caused hurricane and storm surge warnings along the Texas coast, and it is expected to make landfall Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane. Disaster declarations now for 121 Texas counties expected to be impacted by Barrel. A hurricane watch covers the entire Texas Gulf Coast. National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan. We're still expecting Barrel to reach hurricane strength by the time it gets to the coast, and we could see some pretty quick strengthening here as the environment gets really favorable.