Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport Friday evening as a catastrophic Category 4 storm with winds around 130 mph.

Harvey made its second landfall along the northeastern shore of Copano Bay, Texas just after midnight. As of 3 a.m., the National Hurricane Center says Harvey is a Category 2 Hurricane.

There have been reports of damage in the area, including the collapse of a building where several people were trapped.

Reporters in the Omni Hotel in nearby Corpus Christi reported they could feel the building swaying.

The impacts of a Category 4 hurricane (130-156 mph) can include: Catastrophic damage to homes and buildings; mobile homes are destroyed; most large trees are snapped or uprooted; some roads impassable; large areas without power and communication outages.

It's also shaping up as just about a worst-case scenario storm with possible flooding from two different directions.

Harvey is moving slowly and will be stuck over the Texas coast through the middle of next week, which means rainfall measured in feet, not inches.

"This is going to be a very major disaster," said Gov. Greg Abbott, who declared a State of Disaster for 30 counties and requested 700 National Guard members to be activated.

FEMA granted Governor Abbott's request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration Friday night as Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast.

We're already feeling the effects of Harvey in the Greater Houston Area with a flurry of tornado warnings. There are reports of damage in some areas, including Galveston and the Matagorda County town of Sargent. There have been no reports of injuries.

In Houston, we could see rainfall of 15 to 20 inches with isolated areas getting up to 30 inches of rainfall by next Wednesday.

"It's possible that some spots could get up to 30 inches of rain -- it won't be everywhere -- but it will be in spots and so those spots that get that much rain, clearly, they will have a very significant flood threat," said KHOU 11 Chief Meteorologist David Paul.

Except for our coastal communities, Harvey's winds and storm surge will not be an issue for Houston. The main concern inland will be rain. Houston is on the "dirty side" of the storm, which means Harvey's outer bands will bring heavy downpours and storms to southeast Texas while Corpus gets hit by the hurricane force winds.

Get an inside look at Harvey from the Hurricane Hunters

Tornado touches down in Matagorda County, curfew in place

LIST: Evacuation orders in some coastal cities due to Harvey

NICU babies flown out of storm zone to North Texas

There is also concern about the forecast track. Currently Harvey is forecast to slowly make its way north along the Texas coast and arrive in Houston as a tropical storm early next week. This means Houston could get even more heavy rain Tuesday into Wednesday, especially if Harvey continues to move slowly. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect.

As many as 1.25 million Texans could lose power from the storm, according to forecast models at Texas A&M University.

Several counties have already called for mandatory and voluntary evacuations. Locally, Galveston County Judge Mark Henry has issued a voluntary evacuation for residents on Bolivar Peninsula effective Friday, Aug. 25 at 8 a.m. This order includes the unincorporated areas of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, High Island and Gilchrist. Residents who rely on medical assistance or those who cannot go without power for an extended period of time are encouraged to leave.

The Brazoria County judge has issued a mandatory evacuation for coastal communities along the Gulf side of the Intracoastal canal. The evacuation is due to an expected 6-10 foot storm surge. There is a voluntary evacuation for low-lying coastal areas inland of the Intracoastal Waterway.

LIST: Tap here for the list of current evacuation orders

WHEN TO EVACUATE: Should I stay or should I go?

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Matagorda and Jackson Counties.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Brazoria County.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Brazoria County, Chambers, Fort Bend County, Galveston County, Harris County, Waller County, Wharton County.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Austin County, Colorado County.

A Tornado Watch is in effect until 2 a.m. Saturday for Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Matagorda & Wharton counties.

A Flash Flood Warning is in effect until 6:30 a.m. for Austin, Brazoria, Colorado, Fort Bend, Jackson, Matagorda, Waller, Washington and Wharton counties.

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until until 7 p.m. Tuesday for Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Jackson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Waller, Washington & Wharton counties.

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect until until 7 a.m. Sunday for Colorado, Jackson, Matagorda & Wharton counties.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a State of Disaster for 30 counties in anticipation of Tropical Storm Harvey making landfall. County Judge Hebert declared a local state of disaster for Fort Bend County.

President Trump ordered federal aid Friday to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The governor has also activated 700 members of the Texas Army and Air National Guards and Texas State Guard to areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. </s> UPDATE: Harvey weakens into Tropical Storm with sustained winds of 70 mph

ROCKPORT, Texas - Harvey rolled onto shore overnight as a powerful Category 4 storm. It has now been downgraded to a Tropical Storm.

> WATCH: New video; overnight video shows first images of damage from Harvey; watch HERE

As of Saturday morning, as many as ten people had been injured and taken to a makeshift hospital at an area jail. Damaged was reported to numerous buildings. Roofs collapsed at a local nursing home and high school.

Rockport is just up the shoreline from Corpus Christi, Texas. The storm packed 130 mph winds as it blasted the region.

As the sun rose Saturday, crews were just able to safely survey the damage. Damage reports will likely be coming in all day.

The storm was downgraded by Saturday morning to a Category 1 but still posed a significant threat to the Texas coast because of large amounts of rainfall expected. People as far north as Houston could feel the impacts of significant rain and possible flooding later Saturday. Some areas could receive more than 35 inches of rain.

The storm quickly grew Thursday from a tropical depression into a Category 1 hurricane, and then developed into a Category 2 storm early Friday. By Friday afternoon, it had become a Category 3 storm and strengthened again around 6 o'clock Friday to become a Category 4.

While Texas will most likely bear the brunt of the approaching Hurricane Harvey, bands of rain from the storm have been sweeping over parts of Louisiana. Flood warnings have been issued along some southwest Louisiana rivers with forecasters saying some low-lying roads and recreational areas are threatened. And officials worry that rain could last for several days, raising worries of more serious flooding.

The slow-moving storm's unpredictable long-term path had the attention of both state and local officials.

Official calls for evacuations were issued Friday in parts of Cameron and Vermilion parishes where forecasters say rainfall totals could approach 15 to 20 inches over the next seven days.

Rainfall projections for New Orleans are lower. But officials urged vigilance there, noting that a change in the storm's track could increase flood dangers.

This Weekend: The weather should be fairly typical of August with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Due to the tropical air mass in place, any thunderstorms will be efficient at producing rain and downpours could leave behind a quick inch or two in isolated locations. Keep in mind though, nothing widespread is expected and some areas will actually stay dry. There certainly does not appear to be any need to cancel plans through Sunday. High temperatures will be just a few degrees shy of normal--in the upper 80s--due to increased cloud cover and pockets of rain. Nighttime lows will be in the mid 70s as usual.

Next Week: While the evolution of the storm system remains uncertain, it is becoming a bit more clear than last week. By Monday, whatever remains of Harvey is expected to stay over southeastern Texas. However, at the same time, two upper level ridges east and west of the area, are expected to weaken and "unclog" the stalled pattern. As a result, there will be increased development of showers and thunderstorms across southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi. Meanwhile, moisture content in the atmosphere will remain very high and some pockets of heavy rain could become established--especially Monday and Tuesday. It is worth pointing out that areas on the eastern side of an inland tropical system often see isolated tornadoes as well. Be on alert for any warnings issued. The remnants of Harvey could continue to bring unsettled weather to the western and central Gulf Coast straight through the week.

With regard to the rainfall forecast, persistence remains the name of the game. The WBRZ Weather Team still expects the Baton Rouge area to receive 4-7 inches of rain through Friday. Certainly, there could be isolated amounts twice as high bringing the potential for flash flooding and river flooding. The National Weather Service is planning to issue a Flash Flood Watch for the area later this weekend to highlight that possibility. The highest rainfall totals will likely occur closer to the stalled front which is expected to remain along the Louisiana coast. Areas from Morgan City to Houma to Grand Isle could see nearly 10 inches of rain.

It is still just a little early to tell how local rivers could be affected. Only the next 48 hours of forecast rainfall is factored into predicted river levels. Since the heaviest rain is expected next week, it may not be until Sunday that we know what kind of rises may occur. The National Weather Service has issued a special hydrologic outlook to highlight the potential for rises on area rivers. As usual, the Amite, Comite, Tickfaw and Tangipahoa will be most vulnerable some residents nearby should take the necessary precautions, just in case river flooding occurs.

Keep in mind, flooding is not imminent, simply a possibility which is why the WBRZ Weather Team encourages the Baton Rouge area, counties in Southwest Mississippi and especially parishes along the southeast Louisiana coast to monitor the forecast as it evolves. Plan to get frequent forecast updates from the WBRZ Weather Team on News 2, wbrz.com, Facebook, Twitter and the WBRZ WX App. on Apple and Android devices. As always during hurricane season, stay prepared and review plans. </s> Hurricane Harvey reserved its full ferocity for small towns along the Texas coast north of Corpus Christi, including Rockport, Texas, where storm chasers captured the scene.

Josh Morgerman, who chases tropical cyclones like Harvey around the world, described the storm as "One of the worst hurricanes I've ever been in." The hotel he was staying in for shelter was nearly blown apart by the storm's 130-mile-per-hour sustained winds, along with higher gusts.

On Saturday morning, Morgerman posted that Rockport has been "smashed, stripped, and scrubbed" by the winds and storm surge from Harvey. Hurricane Harvey was the most intense storm to strike the U.S. since 2005 — before Twitter existed.

During the storm, chaser Jeff Piotrowski livestreamed the strongest part of the storm as the eyewall came ashore in Rockport. The video was viewed 1.2 million times as of Saturday morning, and caused many people to fear for his life as the building he was taking shelter under gave way to the wind Friday night.

According to reports on Twitter early Saturday, he and his chase partners survived the ordeal.

Reed Timmer, a storm chaser for AccuWeather, recorded this video of the eye wall — which contains the storm's strongest winds — moving onshore in Rockport.

On Friday night, the big story was Hurricane Harvey's Category 4 intensity winds and storm surge flood. But as of Saturday morning, forecasters have shifted their attention to tracking the storm's potentially epic deluge.

Up to 40 inches of rain could fall on Southeast Texas by the time the storm winds down next week, which would cause a flood disaster of historic proportions. Perhaps these storm chasers are going to be sticking around to film the rains and slower-moving floods, which are likely to be more destructive and life-threatening than what they experienced on Friday night into early Saturday morning. </s> The powerful eye wall of Harvey reached land by 11 p.m. ET between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor, Texas, with winds of 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

It is the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Charley in 2004.

Millions of residents along the south Texas coast saw hurricane-force winds that knocked down trees, power poles and signs.

First responders are yet to assess the impact that the extremely powerful hurricane has caused over Texas in the first hours since landfall but forecasters have said it will be devastating and leave areas "uninhabitable for weeks or months."

#Harvey made landfall at 10 PM CDT as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas, with max winds of 130 mph and min pressure of 938 mb. pic.twitter.com/98y5wpKmBw — NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) August 26, 2017 Harvey has the "highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the most amount of damage," said Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As Harvey deluges Texas, coastal cities could see 13 feet of storm surge and as much as 40 inches of rain by Wednesday. Rain is blown past palm trees as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall Friday in Corpus Christi, Texas. -- There have been reports of structural and building problems in Rockport, Aransas Pass, and Port Aransas, Texas, said Tom Beal, a meteorologist with National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi. He anticipated that the hurricane would clear that area sometime about 4 a.m. ET Saturday. -- The hurricane center said a tide gauge in Port Lavaca, Texas reported storm surge of 5.6 feet. -- At least 104,000 customers of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) electric system lost power just at Harvey made landfall Friday, the corporation said on Twitter. -- Rockport, Texas, officials are advising residents who refuse to evacuate to write their names and Social Security number on their forearm, Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios told CNN. Rios said it will "help out first responders should they find a body." -- President Donald Trump, who will visit the area next week, has signed a disaster declaration for the state. A tree blocks a street as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday. In Rockport, firefighters were "hunkered down" in the fire station as the eye of the storm was over them. Roy Laird, assistant chief with the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department, told CNN they were anxious to get out and check the city for damage but it could be hours before they will be able to safely leave the station. "We had probably 140 mph winds earlier. It was howling," Laird added. Joey Walker, 25, works with the Galveston Island Beach Patrol and is riding out the storm from a house on Galveston Island. He posted video of near-white out conditions overlooking Stewart Beach. Hurricane Harvey isn't playing around, can't even see the beach! 🌀👀 #storm #hurricane #wind #rain #powerful #hurricaneharvey #windy Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said anyone not leaving should plan to stay off the roads once the storm starts. "People need to know, this is not a one-, two-day event and done," Turner said. The storm will stall and dump rain on South Texas and parts of Louisiana into the middle of next week, forecasters predicted. </s> As the sun rose Saturday, Texans who rode out the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade ventured out to witness the full scale of damage as Hurricane Harvey lumbered on in what was “now turning into a deadly inland event.”

The storm, which blasted ashore as a Category 4 around 11 p.m. ET Friday, between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, was a Category 1 by mid-morning Saturday, packing winds of 80 mph as it plodded northwest at 6 mph. Coastal cities remained in danger of a potentially deadly 13-foot storm surge, with places even far inland predicted to get as much as 40 inches of rain through Wednesday.

Harvey wielded the “highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the most amount of damage,” Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had warned.

— Harvey’s impact will be devastating and leave areas “uninhabitable for weeks or months,” forecasters said.

— Even though Harvey had made landfall and weakened, it was still a dangerous storm and “turning into a deadly inland event,” the FEMA chief tweeted.

— More than 213,000 customers were without power around 7:30 a.m. ET, on the Texas Gulf Coast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said, amid reports of downed power lines and trees.

— Almost 10 inches of rain was reported by 5 a.m. ET at a few locations in southeast Texas, the National Weather Service said.

— A tide gauge in Port Lavaca, Texas, reported storm surge of 6.4 feet, the hurricane center said.

— Structural and building problems were reported in Rockport, Aransas Pass, and Port Aransas, Texas, said Tom Beal, a meteorologist with National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi.

— President Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday that he’s “closely monitoring” Harvey from Camp David. Trump, who plans to visit the storm zone next week, has signed a disaster declaration for Texas.

— Rockport’s mayor had advised residents who refused to evacuate to write their names and Social Security numbers on their forearms to “help out first responders should they find a body.”

Firefighters in Rockport “hunkered down” in their station as the eye of the storm passed over the coastal city of about 9,000 residents.

Firefighters were anxious to get out and survey the damage, though they knew it could be hours before they’d be able to safely venture outdoors, Roy Laird, assistant chief with the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department, told CNN early Saturday.

“We had probably 140-mph winds earlier. It was howling,” Laird added.

For hours, Karl Hattman and his family listened to “what sounded like a freight train” roar outside their Rockport home. When the fury calmed, they headed out into the darkness to find many trees down, debris blocking their driveway and Hattman’s vehicle damaged by flying roof tiles.

“We are very concerned to see what (Harvey) has been done when it lights out in the morning,” Hattman said.

Joey Walker, 25, rode out the storm from a house on Galveston Island. The Galveston Island Beach Patrol employee posted video of near-white out conditions overlooking Stewart Beach.

As Harvey continues to douse Texas with heavy rain, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner urged drivers to stay off the roads.

“People need to know, this is not a one-, two-day event and done,” he said.

The storm is expected to stall and dump rain on South Texas and parts of Louisiana into the middle of next week, forecasters predicted. </s> The fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade came ashore late Friday about 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi as a mammoth Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds. Harvey weakened to a tropical storm by midday Saturday and by 4 a.m. Sunday the National Hurricane Center said Harvey continued to cause “catastrophic flooding in southeastern Texas.”

Tracking Harvey is not easy. There is no exact consensus for what it will do long term, and the most likely scenario is the storm meanders around the region for a couple of days.

More: Why Hurricane Harvey's future is so uncertain, hard to predict

The National Weather Service is cautioning that the continued threat of Harvey, which is now pummeling Houston with heavy rainfall, is flash flooding.

Here's more of what we know about Harvey at the moment:

Where is the storm now?

The hurricane center says in its 4 a.m. Sunday update that Harvey remains stationary about 45 miles northwest of Victoria, Texas.

Are there any deaths?

At least two people have died from the storm.

Aransas County Sheriff Bill Mills said Saturday that a man was discovered dead in his home, which was destroyed by a fire. Mills also said 30 to 40 people remained unaccounted for as of Saturday evening.

Late Saturday, a Houston official confirmed a death there due to flooding, when a woman apparently tried to exit her car on a flooded road.

How strong is the storm?

Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon, with sustained winds weakening from 60 mph down to 45 mph, the National Weather Service said.

What is the damage?

Authorities don't know the full scope of damage because weather conditions are preventing emergency crews from getting into the hardest-hit places.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said about 300,000 customers were without power statewide and it would probably be several days before electricity is restored.

Some of the worst damage appeared to be in Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 that was directly in the storm’s path. The mayor said his community took a blow “right on the nose” that left “widespread devastation,” including homes, businesses and schools that were heavily damaged. Some structures were destroyed.

The Corpus Christi port was closed with extensive damage. Because the city is the third-largest petrochemical port in the nation, the agency will be on the lookout for spills, Hahn said.

“It was like being in another world,” said David Cameron, assistant chief of the volunteer fire department in Fulton, a seaside community just north of Rockport. “And there’s still a lot to do.”

More: Hurricane Harvey: Beautiful but terrifying images of a monster storm

Related: Why Hurricane Harvey's future is so uncertain, hard to predict

Update on shooting @ 7100 Ficus Ct. homeowner shot intruder. Victim @ Hosp. with gunshot wound was coherent when medics took him. PIO Pace



 The hurricane also left some 20,000 passengers stranded on four cruise ships that found conditions too dangerous to return to Galveston, KTRK-TV reported. The Carnival Valor and Carnival Freedom, which planned to return to Galveston on Friday, will instead head for New Orleans, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Is the storm still a threat?

The National Weather Service warned Saturday morning that water, not wind, is the biggest threat to life, adding, "Danger from #Harvey still very real."

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAS REQUESTED: IF HIGHEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME BECOMES DANGEROUS...GET ON THE ROOF. #houwx #glswx #txwx #Harvey



 Rainfall totals varied across the region, with Corpus Christi and Galveston receiving around 3 inches (8 centimeters), Houston 7 (18 centimeters) and Aransas 10 (25 centimeters). Tiny Austwell got 15 inches (38 centimeters).

Harvey "may be nothing short of a flooding disaster," for Texas, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, who said some communities could be underwater for days. Forecasters were already measuring 28-foot-high waves near the eye of the storm.

How has the federal government responded?

The hurricane posed the first major emergency management test of President Trump’s administration.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) granted Abbott's request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration in response to the hurricane. Ahead of the storm, Abbott declared a state of disaster for 30 counties.

President Trump said on Twitter Saturday that his office would "remain fully engaged w/ open lines of communication." Trump also tweeted that he was in contact with the governors of Texas and Louisiana. "I have spoken w/ @GovAbbot of Texas and @LouisianaGov Edwards. Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey developments & here to assist as needed," Trump's tweet read.

At the request of the Governor of Texas, I have signed the Disaster Proclamation, which unleashes the full force of government help!



 How does it compare to past hurricanes in the U.S.?

Harvey was the first major hurricane — classified as Category 3 or above — to hit the U.S. in over a decade when it made landfall as a Category 4 storm. It was the strongest to strike Texas since 1961’s Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record.

#Harvey made landfall at 10 PM CDT as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas, with max winds of 130 mph and min pressure of 938 mb.

RELATED | From Dennis to Matthew: All the hurricanes that hit the U.S. since 2005 </s> At least one death was reported Saturday as Texans who rode out the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade ventured out to find “widespread devastation,” with a downgraded Hurricane Harvey lumbering north in what was “now turning into a deadly inland event.”

The first fatality was reported in the hard-hit coastal city of Rockport, where the person died in a house fire during the storm, Aransas County Judge Burt Mills said Saturday afternoon. “We didn’t know about it until today,” he said.

At least a dozen people were injured, Mills said.

With dire warnings of tornadoes, torrential downpours and days of flooding to come, broad swaths of southeast Texas were littered with uprooted trees, toppled signs, flagpoles that snapped like toothpicks and clusters of bricks peeled like scabs from walls and rooftops.

Additional fatalities were feared in coastal Rockport, where an estimated 5,000 residents had stayed put for the storm that blasted ashore as a Category 4 around 11 p.m. ET Friday between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, Aransas County Sheriff Bill Mills said.

Callers to the local emergency dispatch line told of walls and roofs collapsing on people across the city, where an official had warned those who opted to stick out the storm to write their Social Security numbers on their arms for body identification.

Shortly after Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 70 mph, Saturday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters that the state had more than 1,000 workers involved in search and rescue operations.

“There’s been widespread devastation,” Rockport Mayor Charles Wax told CNN late Saturday morning. He said emergency workers were going house to house to check on residents and assess damage.

“We’ve already taken a severe blow from the storm, but we’re anticipating another one when the flooding comes,” he said.

The storm was a Category 1 by late Saturday morning, packing winds of 75 mph as it slowed its trek northward to just 2 mph. Some places even far inland were predicted to get as much as 40 inches of rain through Wednesday.

While the worst of the storm surge had ended by midday Saturday, the coastal flooding threat was due to increase as already-swollen rivers and bayous get pounded with heavy rain, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. Sea water pushed onto the shore also won’t recede quickly, he said, meaning “this is going to be a long, ongoing flood event.”

Abbott said the 210-mile-long corridor between Corpus Christi and Houston was expected to receive as much as 30 more inches of rain on top of the double-digit rainfall figures that had already fallen.

Harvey wielded the “highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the most amount of damage,” Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had warned. He echoed forecasters who predicted Harvey would be leave areas “uninhabitable for weeks or months,” echoing language last seen ahead of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

— Even after weakening upon landfall, Harvey was still a dangerous storm and “turning into a deadly inland event,” the FEMA chief tweeted.

— Due to stall over Texas, Harvey could maintain tropical storm strength through early Monday, then weaken into a tropical depression, the National Weather Service predicted.

— Parts of southeastern Texas remained under a flash flood watch through Tuesday evening, the National Weather Service office in Houston said.

— More than 300,000 customers on the Texas Gulf Coast had no power around 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said, amid reports of downed power lines and trees.

— Heavy rain from Harvey’s bands also had reached flood-prone Houston, about 150 miles from the point of landfall.

— A tide gauge in Port Lavaca, Texas, reported a storm surge of 6.4 feet, the National Hurricane Center said early Saturday.

— Structural and building problems were reported in Rockport, Aransas Pass, and Port Aransas, Texas, said Tom Beal, a meteorologist with National Weather Service office in Corpus Christi.

— Corpus Christi officials tweeted Saturday afternoon that evacuees could return “but be advised we are under a water boil advisory & limited wastewater usage due to outages at treatment plants.”

— President Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday that he’s “closely monitoring” Harvey from Camp David, Maryland. Trump, who plans to visit the storm zone next week, has signed a disaster declaration for Texas.

Firefighters who hunkered down in their station in Rockport as Harvey passed over the city of about 10,000 residents recounted a harrowing night.

The wind was “howling,” said Roy Laird, assistant chief of the city’s volunteer fire department. “We had probably 140-mph winds earlier.”

For hours, Karl Hattman and his family listened to “what sounded like a freight train” roar outside their Rockport home. When the fury calmed, they headed out into the darkness to find many trees down, debris blocking their driveway and Hattman’s vehicle damaged by flying roof tiles.

Robert Jackson also likened the force of the storm in Rockport to a passing freight train — one with “square wheels.” He didn’t sleep all night.

“It was about the most stressful thing I’ve ever been through,” he said, adding, “It’s my last one to ride out, I’ll tell you that.”

Joey Walker, 25, rode out the storm at a house on Galveston Island. The Galveston Island Beach Patrol employee posted video of near-white out conditions overlooking Stewart Beach.

As rain bands reached Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner urged drivers to stay off the roads.

“This is going to be a major rainmaker,” he told CNN Saturday. “We anticipate four to five days of this.”

“This thing is turning into quite the marathon,” Nick Gignac, of Corpus Christi, told CNN around 2 a.m. ET. “You expect these things to be a quicker flash-and-bang than they are. To be honest, the intensity still hasn’t let up as the storm came in. Things were a little lighter than they are right now, and you expect it to get intense and let up. And things have not let up at all.”

In San Antonio, about 950 people took refuge in shelters, Woody Woodward, a spokesman for the city fire department, told CNN, adding that there was still plenty of space for more people.

Ten critically ill babies in Corpus Christi were taken to a hospital in North Texas ahead of the storm, the Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth said in a statement.

“All our babies made it here safely,” Dawn Lindley, a registered nurse with Children’s Health Transport Team, told CNN. “The majority … were premature and had ongoing issues. They were easily accommodated to the hospitals here to make sure they had continued care and the storm wasn’t going to be a factor in how they recovered from their illnesses.” </s> CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – The Latest on Hurricane Harvey (all times local):

President Donald Trump has commended the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for his handling of the hurricane now hitting the Texas Gulf Coast.

In a tweet Saturday morning addressed to FEMA head Brock Long, Trump said: “You are doing a great job – the world is watching! Be safe.”

Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, is posing the first major emergency management test of Trump’s administration.

In a separate tweet, Trump said he is monitoring the hurricane closely from Camp David and “We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!”

He also tweeted that “We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!”

Harvey has been further downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it churns slowly inland from the Texas Gulf Coast, already depositing more than 9 inches of rain in South Texas.

Harvey made landfall about 10 p.m. Friday east-northeast of Corpus Christi as a Category 4, with winds in excess of 130 mph (210 kph).

But wind speeds quickly weakened and by early Saturday Harvey was downgraded. It continues to produce gusts of up to 120 mph (193 kph) and sustained winds of 90 mph (144 kph). The National Hurricane Center warns of “catastrophic flooding” over the next few days.

Emergency personnel in coastal communities like Rockport, just northeast of Corpus Christi, say there’s broad damage to buildings. But Rockport Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims said early Saturday that firefighters were hunkered down at the city’s fire station waiting for conditions to improve to assess the damage.

Hurricane Harvey has settled over southeast Texas, dumping rain and lashing the state’s Gulf Coast with damaging winds.

The storm made landfall Friday night as a Category 4 with 130 mph (209 kph) winds. It gradually weakened over the next several hours and by early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said it back to a Category 2 – still sustaining winds of 110 mph (185 kph) as of 3 a.m.

Early damage reports from Gulf Coast cities included collapsed roofs and walls. One community transported multiple people from a senior living home to the county jail for treatment after a roof caved in.

But officials remained largely unable to assess the damage before daylight.

The storm is expected to slow further and flood the area with rain through the middle of next week. The center warned that Harvey could produce life-threatening storm surges along a coastal area of more than 400 miles (643 kilometers). </s> Hurricane Harvey settled over southeast Texas early Saturday, lashing the state's Gulf Coast with damaging winds and dumping torrents of rain over hundreds of kilometres of coastline that braced for what forecasters predicted would be life-threatening storm surges — basically walls of water moving inland.

The fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade made landfall the previous night about 48 kilometres northeast of Corpus Christi as a Category 4 storm with 209 km/h winds. It gradually weakened over the next several hours and by 5 a.m. ET forecasters said the maximum sustained winds had slowed to around 155 km/h, with higher gusts.
• Atlantic hurricane season expected to be stormier than normal
• Get the latest updates from the U.S. National Hurricane Center

Harvey's approach sent tens of thousands of residents fleeing inland, hoping to escape the wrath of a menacing storm that threatens not only the coast but a wide swath of Texas that is home to oil refineries, chemical plants and dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

No deaths were immediately confirmed in the hours after Harvey's arrival, but officials noted emergency crews couldn't get out in many places due to high winds. Melissa Munguia, deputy emergency management co-ordinator in Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi, said early Saturday that it could be hours before crews could fully assess the damage in coastal communities.

Fuelled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, Harvey grew rapidly, accelerating from a Category 1 early Friday morning to a Category 4 by evening. Its transformation from an unnamed storm to a life-threatening behemoth took only 56 hours, an incredibly fast intensification.

Harvey came ashore as the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961's Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record. Based on the atmospheric pressure, Harvey ties for the 18th strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since 1851 and the ninth strongest in Texas.

Forecasters said early Saturday morning that Harvey is slowly moving inland over south Texas.

"Catastrophic flooding expected over the next few days due to heavy rainfall," the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a statement. "

The storm is expected to weaken, forecasters said, with Harvey "likely to become a tropical storm later today."

But even if the storm weakens, serious risks remain.

In Corpus Christi, the major city closest to the storm's centre, wind whipped palm trees and stinging sheets of horizontal rain slapped against hotels and office buildings along the city's seawall as the storm made landfall.

Boats bobbed violently in the marina. It was too dark to tell whether any boats had broken their moorings.

Rain and storm surge were among the biggest worries for officials, and the hurricane centre said some areas of southern Texas have already had almost 25 centimetres of rain, with more expected.

Corpus Christi officials worked through the night to deal with the storm, warning the public of the possible risks, including storm surge, high winds and flooding.

More than 211,000 consumers were without power across the Gulf Coast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said early Saturday morning.

The majority of those affected are in Corpus Christi, where the storm had downed power lines.

On Friday, the police chief in the coastal city said staff are ready to respond but will have a reduced presence in areas experiencing high winds, where the situation could be unsafe for officers. The fire chief said they, too, were ready, though some equipment was pre-emptively moved out of a low-lying area.

Emergency personnel in the coastal community Aransas County said Friday that they are assessing damage reports from Hurricane Harvey as they are able.

Officials in Aransas Pass say the Harbor Master Building along its coast has been destroyed. The Aransas Pass Police Department posted a video on its Facebook page of the building folding up from the high-speed winds.
• Click here to see a Facebook video of wind battering the Aransas Pass harbour

Rockport Volunteer Fire Department spokeswoman Gillian Cox told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that the roof of Rockport's high school has partially caved in. But Cox said social media posts indicating the school has "disappeared" are inaccurate.

Rockport City Manager Kevin Carruth told the newspaper that the courthouse in the city, which is about 48 kilometres northeast of Corpus Christi, also has sustained major damage. Carruth says that a cargo trailer is halfway in the building.

Before the storm arrived, home and business owners raced to nail plywood over windows and fill sandbags. Steady traffic filled the highways leaving Corpus Christi, but there were no apparent jams. In Houston, where mass evacuations can include changing major highways to a one-way vehicle flow, authorities left traffic patterns unchanged.

Just hours before the projected landfall, the governor and Houston leaders issued conflicting statements on evacuation.

After Gov. Greg Abbott urged more people to flee, Houston authorities told people to remain in their homes and recommended no widespread evacuations.

In a Friday press conference that addressed Houston officials' decision to not have a voluntary or mandatory evacuation, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said there might be a "greater danger" in having people who don't need to be evacuated on roads that could flood.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said that because the hurricane was not taking direct aim at Houston, the city's primary concern was heavy flooding.

"We are not having a hurricane," said Emmett, the top elected official for the county, which encompasses Houston. "We are having a rain event."
Harvey is now a tropical storm with sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kmh). It made landfall on Texas's eastern coast, the eye striking the town of Rockport, as a Category 4 hurricane. It's the strongest storm to hit the state since 1961. Harvey is expected to maintain tropical storm strength, with heavy rains and flooding, for at least four days.