Hurricane Harvey has made landfall, stalling over the Texas coast and expected to cause "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding".
The National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center also predicted up to 40 inches (102 cm) of rainfall in some areas on the southeast coast.
The hurricane hit Corpus Christi as a Category 4 with winds of up to 130 mph (209 kmh), but it has been downgraded to a Category 1 with sustained winds of 90 mph (145 kmh).
Despite the downgrade, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Brock Long called it a "deadly inland event" as the storm progressed through the night.
The major damage to schools, public building, and several homes seems to be in and around Rockport, Texas, a community of about 10,000 people just northeast of Corpus Christi.
Emergency personnel - which includes local and state authorities - in the coastal community say there’s broad damage to buildings.
Rockport Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims told ABC News that early on 26 August that firefighters were hunkered down at the city’s fire station, but force to wait for conditions to improve to respond to 25 to 30 emergency calls.
"As soon as the weather permits us, the winds get anywhere reasonable. We have been working on lists trying to prioritize the calls that we have waiting."
Residents of coastal cities and seven counties were urged to evacuate, but Rockport Mayor pro tem Patrick Rios warned: "if people are going to stay here, [they should] mark their arm with a Sharpie pen with their name and Social Security number."
"We hate to talk about things like that...It's not something we like to do but it’s the reality, people don’t listen," he said to ABC News.
