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Texas hit by Hurricane Harvey: what we know so far Texas hit by Hurricane Harvey: what we know so far
(about 5 hours later)
Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, after swiftly gathering strength over the Gulf of Mexico. At least one person has died following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in Texas on Friday night, after which it began pummeling the Gulf Coast with strong winds and heavy rain. Experts fear it could stay in place for days, causing extensive damage.
It made landfall as a category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 130mph (210km/h), making it the strongest hurricane to hit the US since the category 3 Wilma battered Florida in 2005. The victim was killed in a house fire in Rockport, which was directly in Harvey’s path when it came ashore. The mayor there urged residents who chose to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms, to make it easier for rescuers to identify them.
The hurricane has since moved inland and been downgraded to a category 1 storm and the winds have dropped to 90mph. Texas governor Greg Abbott has said it is too early to say whether there have been any further fatalities. The primary concern now that the hurricane – initially the most powerful to hit the US in more than a decade – has been downgraded to a tropical storm is the possibility of 20-30 more inches of rain falling over the next few days in the area between Corpus Christi and Houston along the Gulf of Mexico, on top of the 20in that has already fallen.
It has stalled over the south-east of the state, where it is pummelling the Gulf Coast with strong winds and heavy rain. Experts fear it could stay in place for days, causing extensive damage. “There is the potential for very dramatic flooding,” said Abbott at a press conference in Austin, the state capital. Dozens of Houston-area roads were already reported flooded.
The National Hurricane Center predicts life-threatening storm surges and “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” for the state, with up to 3ft of rain forecast. The storm is expected to head towards Houston, the state’s largest city, which is prone to flooding. Tens of thousands of residents have fled inland. Abbott said a voluntary evacuation ordered had been issued for the Brazos river region and a mandatory one for San Bernard, to the south west of Houston. All seven Texas counties on the coast from Corpus Christi to the western end of Galveston Island ordered mandatory evacuations from low-lying areas. Four counties ordered full evacuations and warned there was no guarantee of rescue for people staying behind. Abbott said the state had expanded its disaster declaration by 20 counties, to 50, and had activated 1,800 members of the military to conduct search-and-rescue operations, including with helicopters.
Up to 5.8 million people are believed to be in the path of Hurricane Harvey, as well as the heart of America’s oil refining operations. Corpus Christi police said road debris and downed power lines were widespread and that an alleged intruder had been taken to hospital after being shot by a homeowner. The city of Victoria, 30 miles inland, was also badly hit. Shelters were set up as far north as Dallas.
Tens of thousands of residents have fled inland. No deaths have been reported, but the high winds are preventing emergency crews reaching many places. The governor said there had been more than 338,000 power outages and it would take several days to resolve them. Researchers at Texas A&M University estimated that the storm would knock out power for at least 1.25m people in Texas, with Corpus Christi and San Antonio hardest hit.
More than 100,000 people are without power, and residents in the city of Corpus Christie have been told to boil their water. Key oil and gas facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast have temporarily shut down, virtually assuring gasoline prices will rise in the storm’s aftermath. Nearly one-third of the nation’s refining capacity sits in low-lying areas along the coast from Corpus Christi to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and there is concern about the environmental impact should any flooding cause toxic products to leak into Galveston Bay.
All seven Texas counties on the coast, from Corpus Christi to the western end of Galveston Island, ordered mandatory evacuations from low-lying areas. Four counties ordered full evacuations and warned there was no guarantee of rescue for people staying behind. More than 960 flights were cancelled as of midday local time, according to FlightAware, nearly 800 of them scheduled to either depart from or land at Houston’s two airports.
Reports of significant damage are emerging from Rockport, which was directly in Harvey’s path when it made landfall. The mayor urged residents who chose to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms to make it easier for rescuers to identify them. The storm poses the first major emergency management test for Donald Trump, who signed a disaster proclamation on Friday night, releasing federal response funds and resources, and met with cabinet and administration figures on Saturday to discuss the response to the storm.
Swells generated by Harvey are affecting the coasts of Texas, Louisiana and north-east Mexico. On Twitter, the president praised his Fema chief, Brock Long, telling him “you are doing a great job”, an unfortunate choice of words that recalled George W Bush’s remark to his own emergency management director, Michael Brown, during Hurricane Katrina: “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.” Long, a former Emergency Management Agency director for Alabama, has been praised as a good choice. Trump has also been criticised for the proposed cuts to Fema in his 2018 budget.
Multiple tornado warnings have been issued and one has been reported at Sienna Plantation, just south of Houston. Tornadoes are possible throughout Saturday in middle and upper Texas and south-west Louisiana.
The key concerns are storm surges and flooding, with the storm expected to linger for days, potentially depositing 63cm (25in) or more of rain in some areas.
Even if the storm retreats to the Gulf of Mexico in a few days, meteorologists fear it could turn back to land for a second assault.
Donald Trump has signed a disaster proclamation at the request of the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. This will release federal disaster response funds and resources. Abbott has already declared a state of disaster in 30 counties to speed up the deployment of state resources.
In Victoria, about 85 miles north of where the storm hit the coast, the mayor, Paul Polasek, told CNN he estimated that 60-65% of the town’s 65,000 residents defied the mandatory evacuation order.
The Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner, said this was just the beginning and things were going to get worse.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, has said the hurricane is turning into a “deadly inland event”.
Donald Trump was tweeting about the storm on Saturday. The Republican senator Chuck Grassley had tweeted to the president: “Keep on top of hurricane Harvey dont mke same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina”. Trump replied:
.@ChuckGrassley - got your message loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!