Culture

Hurricane Harvey’s Catastrophic Flooding And Devastating Wind Dig In For A Long Weekend In Texas

Hurricane Harvey grew in intensity throughout Friday before a late-night Texas landfall as an enormous Category 4 storm with sustained winds of over 130 mph. As of Saturday morning, the storm has “weakened” to a Category 1 storm with winds of approximately 85 mph. However and as the above USA Today video shows, this slow-moving storm shall bring continuous rainfall and flooding for days throughout Texas and Louisiana. And although the storm’s wind speeds have diminished, the storm is “holding its energy” and brings continuing potential for great loss of life.

Indeed, CNN reports how FEMA Head Brock Long now calls the storm a “deadly inland event” following the center of the storm’s arrival between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor. The hurricane’s potential led Rockport’s mayor to instruct all holdout residents who didn’t evacuate to use a Sharpie to write their name and Social Security number on their arms, which spoke to the seriousness of the situation. At the local high school where residents took shelter, part of the roof collapsed, trapping people inside. Over 100 people fled a damaged Rockport hotel, and people have been treated for injuries after a senior housing complex collapsed.

This video shows how, last night in nearby Corpus Christi, immediate and severe flooding occurred on city streets upon Harvey’s impact.

Fox News Correspondent Steve Harrigan struggled to stay on his feet while the building behind him began to lose its roof in Corpus Christi.

Through Wednesday, Texas coastal cities could see up to 40 inches of rain and a storm surge of up to 13 feet. Some areas have already seen 10 inches of precipitation with much more to come. At least 200,000 Texas residents have lost power from the storm, and four cruise ships (with a total of 20,000 passengers) remain stranded in the Gulf of Mexico after they became unable to reach port. President Trump has tweet-announced his signing of a disaster proclamation, which allows federal government assistance to flow.

In Rockport, hurricane chaser Josh Morgerman and the Austin-Statesman‘s Jeremy Schwartz are tweeting photos and videos of the devastation and flooding.

This CNN video shows the force of Harvey as it made landfall on Friday.

This is a developing story, and we’ll continue to monitor Harvey’s developments throughout the coming days.

(Via USA Today, CNN & Weather.com)

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