Hurricane Harvey, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States in over a decade, breached the Texas coastline last night (Aug. 25) around 10pm, according to the Weather Channel. It made landfall as a category 4 hurricane—the first category 3 or higher storm in the US to do so since hurricane Wilma in 2005—with winds reaching 130mph. Since making its way onto land, Harvey has weakened to a category 1.
Nearly 300,000 Texans were already without power as of 7am this morning, according to the state’s Electric Reliability Council.
Images from the storm’s path show uprooted trees, fallen traffic lights, toppled highway signs, and worse. No deaths have been reported so far, but the mayor of Rockport, Texas told residents who haven’t evacuated to write their social security numbers on their arms in case the worst comes to pass and they need to be identified.
Harvey’s devastation is just beginning, despite its downgrade to a category 1 hurricane. In its latest warning released this morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) warns that the storm is expected to produce rain accumulations of anywhere from 15 to 40 inches in coastal Texas between now and next Wednesday. “Rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding,” the NWS adds, not mincing words. The twitter account of the NWS office in Corpus Christi, Texas—a city on the Gulf Coast with a population of over 300,000—is a nonstop stream of bilingual flash flood warnings.
Harvey’s strong winds may also cause tornadoes to form near the Texas coast and into Louisiana, and the NWS is warning of storm surges of up to several feet in coastal areas. The storm may leave parts of Texas uninhabitable for weeks or even months, forecasters have warned. Still, none of that has deterred president Donald Trump’s administration from checking border patrol checkpoints that are both near the border with Mexico and in the hurricane’s path.
Here are some Twitter accounts to follow for the latest Harvey updates:
- National Weather Service
- National Weather Service, Corpus Christi
- Josh Morgerman, storm chaser
- Jeff Gammons, another storm chaser