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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Paul Owen in New York, and Nadia Khomami and Graham Russell

Hurricane Harvey: fatality confirmed as Texas battered by 'marathon' storm – rolling report

We’re going to bring the blog to a close there, but we’ll continue to follow the damage caused by the storm throughout the night and over the next few days here.

Here is Tom Dart’s latest news report from Houston:

And here is a video report:

Goodnight and thanks for reading.

One person died in a house fire as Hurricane Harvey roared across Rockport, Texas, overnight, mayor Charles J Wax said in a news conference on Saturday.

The victim was found after the storm passed inland, Wax said. He did not provide additional information about the victim.

Reporter Brett Buffington of Houston’s KHOU 11 News tweets more pictures of the destruction in Rockport.

Summary

Here’s a summary of where things stand following that press conference from Texas governor Greg Abbott.

  • Abbott said it was too early to say whether there had been any fatalities following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in Texas on Friday night, after which it began pummelling the Gulf Coast with strong winds and heavy rain. Experts fear it could stay in place for days, causing extensive damage.
  • 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 20 inches that has already fallen. “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.
Harvey map
  • 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 southwest 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.
  • There were reports of significant damage are emerging in Rockport, which was directly in Harvey’s path when it came ashore. 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.
  • Corpus Christi police said that 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.
  • 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 1.25 million people in Texas, with Corpus Christi and San Antonio hardest hit.
  • 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 was concern about the environmental impact should any flooding cause toxic products to leak into Galveston Bay.
  • More than 960 flights were cancelled as of midday, according to FlightAware, nearly 800 of them scheduled to either depart from or land at Houston’s two airports.
  • 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. 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, but Trump has also been criticised for the proposed cuts to Fema in his 2018 budget.

With that, the press conference is brought to a close.

Abbott talks about meeting the evacuees - “they were what I call typical Texans” - strong and resilient.

The governor, a Republican, says he is “so pleased” with Trump’s disaster declaration, which will help Texas deal with the financial consequences of the storm.

Questions. Will homes be swept away across riverbanks?

Abbott repeats that 20-30 more inches of rain may fall on top of what has already fallen in the area between Corpus Christi and Houston. He tells Texans their top priority is to save their lives.

He says he has no information about any fatalities as yet.

Abbott says more than 1,300 service members have been “activated” to help deal with the storm and 500 more are going to be added to that total.

There are more than 338,000 power outages and it will take several days to resolve that, the Texas governor says, because the wind speed has to decrease below a certain level beforehand.

Abbott says he has waived hotel occupancy taxes for evacuees and first responders.

A voluntary evacuation ordered has been issued for Brazos river region and a mandatory one for San Bernard.

As he is speaking, AP reports that the National Hurricane Center has downgraded Harvey from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm.

No sign of sun in Rockport.
No sign of sun in Rockport. Photograph: Nick Wagner/AP

Updated

He warns the public to be observant of rising water and notes that it could be far deeper than it seems or the current far stronger.

He talks about meeting evacuees from Corpus Christi. “They were happy to be alive ... but also concerned about what they had left behind, about the possibility that they had lost or would be losing the place they lived, or their property.”

He says he has increased the number of counties covered by the state disaster declaration and says the federal declaration issued by Donald Trump was extremely fast and important.

Texas governor Greg Abbott has begun his press conference on the hurricane.

He says his primary concern remains “dramatic flooding”.

Our biggest concern is the possibility of 20-30 more inches of rain on top of what has already fallen in the area between Corpus Christi and Houston.

Rain is still falling in Rockport, Texas.
Rain is still falling in Rockport, Texas. Photograph: Nick Wagner/AP

Updated

Texas governor Greg Abbott will be giving a press conference on the hurricane shortly in Austin, the state capital. You can watch it live here.

Trump's proposed cuts to Fema

Donald Trump proposed a 2018 budget in May that included severe cuts to social safety net programmes – and a $667m cut in funding for Fema, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of disaster response.

Trump’s budget stands no chance of becoming law in its current form and is in some senses an opening bid – the final federal budget for 2018 will be passed by Congress.

And $667m may be a relatively small cut to a Fema budget for 2017 of $16.2bn.

Nevertheless the programmes Trump wants to cut – such as the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program which is supposed to help states and local communities prepare for future disasters – will be missed by the states that use them.

“These cuts would cost the district close to $30m,” Brian Baker, director of Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for Washington DC, told the New York Times in July. The office of the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, also lamented the millions that would be lost, including in grants for counter-terrorism.

But there was more enthusiasm for Brock Long, former Emergency Management Agency director for Alabama chosen by Trump to be Fema director.

Kristy Dahl, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Guardian: “[Long] is certainly well qualified for the job and he was one of the rare appointments by the Trump administration that was widely hailed as reasonable and appointing someone with appropriate experience to the job.”

“Brock has relationships with state emergency managers across the country. He can put himself in their shoes,” Art Faulkner, the current director of the Alabama agency, told the New York Times. “He knows what we go through in dealing with these issues.”

Here are the full details of the Fema cuts proposed by Trump in his “budget blueprint”:

Eliminates or reduces State and local grant funding by $667 million for programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that are either unauthorized by the Congress, such as FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, or that must provide more measurable results and ensure the Federal Government is not supplanting other stakeholders’ responsibilities, such as the Homeland Security Grant Program. For that reason, the Budget also proposes establishing a 25 percent non-Federal cost match for FEMA preparedness grant awards that currently require no cost match. This is the same cost-sharing approach as FEMA’s disaster recovery grants. The activities and acquisitions funded through these grant programs are primarily State and local functions.

Updated

Texas officials say they are evacuating about 4,500 inmates from three state prisons in Brazoria County south of Houston because the nearby Brazos river is rising from Hurricane Harvey’s heavy rain, the Associated Press reports.

The Department of Criminal Justice says inmates from the Ramsey, Terrell, and Stringfellow units in Rosharon are being taken by bus to other prisons in east Texas.

Additional food and water has been delivered to the prisons receiving the displaced inmates.

Updated

Tom Dart is reporting from Houston, where there are fears of disastrous sustained flooding in the country’s fourth-largest city.

More than 300,000 people across Texas were without electricity early on Saturday as Hurricane Harvey trundled inland and threatened to stall, setting up for several days of heavy rainfall that could tally 40 inches by Wednesday in some spots.

Dozens of Houston-area roads were reported flooded on Saturday. At 10am, Houston’s airports announced 380 flight cancellations at George Bush Intercontinental and 114 at Hobby, though a break in bad weather allowed departures to resume at Bush.

Brock Long, the recently appointed administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), said on Twitter that the storm was transitioning into a “deadly inland event”.

In a Saturday morning update, the National Hurricane Center said that though winds had slowed to a maximum of 80mph, Harvey was “moving slowly over Texas producing torrential rains … catastrophic flooding expected over the next few days”.

Houston, about 200 miles northeast of where Harvey made landfall, began seeing wind and rain from the storm on Friday. It is notoriously flood-prone and more than 6.5 million people live in its metropolitan area, though officials decided against ordering a mass evacuation. Levels in the city’s bayous were on the increase, giving rise to the prospect that they would burst their banks and water would inundate surrounding streets if the rain continued as predicted.

Traffic was light in Houston on Saturday and many stores were closed, though an exception was a doughnut shop in the suburb of Katy, where Don Mach and his Keeshond dog, Bo, were having breakfast. Mach said he was “very concerned” about Harvey. “We got five-and-a-half inches of rain last night. That came down probably in about four hours,” the 70-year-old said. “That water can only go so many places.”

Oil companies began shutting down operations in and along the Gulf in anticipation of the storm, and gas prices rose.

Economic impact aside, there is anxiety that an unfavourable storm track could result in an environmental tragedy should Harvey provoke flooding that impacts the region’s vast refining and petrochemical facilities and unleashes toxic discharges that spill into adjacent communities or Galveston Bay.

Juan Parras, an environmental campaigner in east Houston, said he was worried that severe flooding or a storm surge could cause leaks or dislodge chemical tanks. “When they move off their concrete base all that oil, whatever’s in those tanks, just goes out into the community and we have a lot of tanks here. We have almost a 52-mile stretch of nothing but refineries and oil tanks,” he said.

The neighbourhoods closest to the plants are some of the least-affluent and most-polluted in the region. “The worst off will be hit the hardest,” Parras said.

Numbers of injuries and fatalities in the wider area were not clear on Saturday.

Corpus Christi police said that road debris and downed power lines were widespread and that an alleged intruder was taken to hospital after being shot by a homeowner. Hundreds of people headed to shelters set up away from the coast. The city of Victoria, 30 miles inland, was also badly hit.

Harvey is the first major natural disaster of Donald Trump’s administration. Trump’s proposed federal budget calls for cuts of $667m to Fema’s funding, but the president was eager to give the impression that he was ready for the challenge. He issued a slew of tweets about the storm. “Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David. We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!” he wrote on Saturday. A day earlier Trump said he signed a disaster declaration to speed Texas’ access to federal help.

Coastal areas remained vulnerable to storm surge on Saturday while the storm risked spawning isolated tornadoes. One was reported to have struck the Houston suburb of Missouri City early on Saturday, ripping the roofs off dozens of homes.

In Louisiana, preparations were underway in New Orleans as a precaution. Despite billions of dollars spent on rebuilding and protecting the city since it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, heavy rain earlier this month caused flooding that exposed problems with its drainage system.

Updated

Accuweather meterologist Reed Timmer posts these clips of serious flooding south of Rockport:

Here’s an image of Hurricane Harvey over Texas from the National Weather Service:

The National Hurricane Center, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is warning of “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” across the middle and upper Texas coast from now until Thursday.

The area could see rainfall of 15 to 30 inches, with isolated maximums of 40 inches, the agency warns.

In addition, the flooding will be slow to recede “due to the slow motion of Harvey and a prolonged period of onshore flow”.

'A marathon, not a sprint'

The National Weather Service is warning Texans not to assume the worst is now over. “This is a multi-day event ... marathon not a sprint,” the agency tweeted.

More photos and videos are being posted of damage to buildings in Rockport, Texas:

Updated

Here are some of the key locations affected by the storm, or in Houston’s case expected to be affected:

Hurricane Harvey map

Updated

Here’s Tom Dart and Edward Helmore’s latest news report. Tom is in Houston:

Hurricane Harvey smashed into Texas near the coastal town of Rockport overnight, leveling buildings and lashing low-lying areas with intense rain and winds up to 130mph.

The category 4 storm weakened as it made landfall, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, and by 5am Harvey had dropped to category 1 with sustaining winds of 90mph. But it had already deposited more than 9in (22.8cm) of rain and experts said its heaviest rainfall was yet to come.

The hurricane was expected to produce total rainfall of 15in (38.1cm) to 35in (88.9cm), with isolated pockets of 40in (101.6cm) through Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center said “rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding”. One expert said Harvey’s flooding could reach “depths of which we’ve never seen”.

Damage could not immediately be assessed, though no deaths were immediately reported. A local energy provider said more than 200,000 customers were without electricity at 6.30am local time. Melissa Munguia, emergency management coordinator in Nueces County, which includes the city of Corpus Christi, said it could be hours before crews could fully assess the damage.

Read the full story here:



Updated

Texans are venturing outside to examine the damage caused by the hurricane so far.

In Corpus Christi, the major city closest to the storm’s centre, wind whipped the palm trees, horizontal rain hit offices and hotels along the seawall, lamp posts and tree limbs were downed and roof tiles torn off buildings.

(Courtesy Sky News.)

The mayor of Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 that was directly in the storm’s path, said his community took a blow “right on the nose” that left “widespread devastation.” The roof of a high school had partially caved in, about 10 people were taken to the county jail for treatment after the roof of a senior housing complex collapsed, and the historic downtown sustained extensive damage, AP reported.

In Houston, the US’s fourth biggest city, the primary concern was flooding. “We are not having a hurricane,” said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the top elected official for the county, which encompasses Houston. “We are having a rain event.”

Updated

In Keegans Bayou, northwest of Missouri City, Texas, water levels have risen to approximately an inch above the banks of the river and is spreading on to the surrounding roads.

Here’s a map of the flood risk from Hurricane Harvey, across Texas, showing 20+ inches of rainfall forecast for Houston and the surrounding area. Austin is almost as bad.

Hurricane Harvey flood risk

Updated

The Guardian’s Tom Dart reports from Houston:

Tornado and flash-flood warnings and watches were issued for the Houston area as rains intensified overnight. As Harvey made landfall some 200 miles southwest on Friday night, bands of rain and wind arrived in the Houston region, bringing wildly varying amounts of rain: from under an inch in some places to five inches and more elsewhere, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System.

At least one tornado was reported to have damaged homes.

Despite a suggestion at a Friday press conference, from the governor, Greg Abbott, that residents should consider leaving, officials have not called for an evacuation, though there are fears of sustained heavy rainfall that could bring widespread flooding to a place dubbed the Bayou City for the number of rivers that run through it. Forecasts indicated Harvey could bring as much as 25-35 inches of rain over a period of several days to one of the country’s most flood-prone cities. On Saturday the National Weather Service warned of “record-setting rainfall” throughout Wednesday.

An area from the coast to the far northern reaches of Houston’s suburbs, 125 miles away, was under a flash-flood warning early on Saturday. A local energy provider reported nearly 62,000 customers were without electricity at 6.30am.

Updated

Trump: ‘So far, so good’

Donald Trump has been tweeting non-stop about the storm this morning, even reacting calmly and constructively to a warning from a Republican senator.

“Keep on top of hurricane Harvey dont mke same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina,” Iowa’s Chuck Grassley tweeted to the president yesterday, prompting this reply this morning:

Trump also praised his Fema chief, Brock Long, telling him “you are doing a great job”, an unfortunate choice of words that recalls George W Bush’s remark to his own emergency management director, Michael Brown, during Hurriane Katrina: “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.”

Although Long was only appointed in June, he is a former Fema regional hurricane programme manager and ran Alabama’s emergency management agency from 2008 to 2011, when the Gulf coast was hit by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Kristy Dahl, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Guardian’s Tom Dart: “I think we have to be hopeful that they’ll handle it properly. [Long] is certainly well qualified for the job and he was one of the rare appointments by the Trump administration that was widely hailed as reasonable and appointing someone with appropriate experience to the job.”

Updated

Summary

If you’re just joining us, here’s a summary of where things stand:

  • Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night, and has now 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.
  • Forecasters predict life-threatening storm surges and “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” for the state, with up to three feet of rain forecast.
  • It hit the coast as a category 4 storm – the fiercest to hit the US in more than a decade with 130mph winds. But it has since been downgraded to category 1 and the winds have dropped to 90mph.
  • Tens of thousands of residents have fled inland. No deaths had been confirmed by Saturday morning local time, but emergency crews could not get to many places due to the high winds.
  • More than 100,000 people are without power, and people in the city of Corpus Christie – the major city closest to the storm’s center – have been urged to boil their water. Reports of significant damage are emerging in Rockport, which was directly in Harvey’s path when it came ashore. 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.
  • 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.
  • There was some confusion in Houston, after Texas governor, Greg Abbott, urged people to flee, but the city authorities told people to remain in their homes, saying there might be a greater danger in having people who don’t need to be evacuated on roads that could flood. 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.
  • 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 has been tweeting about the storm on Saturday morning. The president will remember the damage caused to George W Bush’s reputation by his slow response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in Louisiana. His Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) chief, Brock Long, was only confirmed on 20 June, three weeks into the Atlantic hurricane season, and the president has not yet nominated a permanent head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which plays a key role in weather forecasting.
  • Swells generated by Harvey are affecting the Texas, Louisiana, and north-east Mexico coasts. Multiple tornado warnings have been issued and one has been spotted at Sienna Plantation just south of Houston. Tornadoes are possible throughout Saturday in middle and upper Texas and far south-west Louisiana.

Updated

Fema chief: Harvey turning into 'deadly inland event'

Fema chief, Brock Long, has said Hurricane Harvey is turning into a “deadly inland event”.

Updated

The destruction that heavy rain and floods from Hurricane Harvey could inflict on Texas would add to the pile of debt owed by a federal flood insurance programme due to expire in September, advocacy groups have said.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) owes $24.6bn to the Treasury, Reuters reports.

Most of it covered claims from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and floods in 2016, the programme’s third most severe loss-year on record with losses exceeding $4bn, according to Fema, which manages it.

The NFIP was extended 17 times between 2008 and 2012 and lapsed four times in that period. A 2012 law extended the programme to September.

The only source of flood insurance for most Americans, it will be in place for homeowners and businesses in Harvey’s path along the central Texas coast.

But Harvey-related claims covered under the programme could push it deeper into the red and possibly toward its borrowing limit of just over $30bn, said Steve Ellis, vice-president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog in Washington DC.

Updated

Hurricane Harvey downgraded to category 1 storm

Harvey has now been downgraded to a category 1 storm. But flooding fears remain.

The National Hurricane Center is expecting “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” across the middle and upper Texas coast.

Here is advice on what to do if a flash flood warning is in effect.

Cameras outside the International Space Station captured views of hurricane Harvey during a flyover on Friday.

Updated

This piece on ProPublica about why Houston was unprepared for a major hurricane is an interesting read.

While Harvey has weakened, flooding remains the big concern.

Humans aren’t the only ones displaced by hurricane Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey downgraded to Category 2

Five hours after it made landfall, hurricane Harvey has been downgraded to a category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 110mph - down from 130mph.

It is feared the storm will create catastrophic damage from wind, storm surge and flooding caused by torrential rainfall.

Tropical storm warnings have been issued for Hays, Bastrop, Caldwell and Fayette counties. A flash flood watch is also in effect for Travis, Williamson, Hays, Blanco, Bastrop, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays and Lee counties. And flood warnings have been issued for Bastrop, Caldwell, Fayette and Hays Counties.

Updated

Many people have pointed out on social media that Donald Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio came as hurricane Harvey made landfall.

The American Red Cross has opened a second shelter in Dallas.

Here’s another Facebook post from the Aransas Pass police department.

KIII-TV reports that 10 people have been treated in Rockport since Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast city on Friday night.

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 that the school has “disappeared” are inaccurate.

Rockport city manager Kevin Carruth said multiple people have been taken to the county’s jail for assessment and treatment after the roof of a senior housing complex collapsed. He said the courthouse in the city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi has sustained major damage, and a cargo trailer is halfway in the building. Rockport’s historic downtown area also has seen heavy damage, Carruth said, and there are also reports of damage to vehicles and roofs.

Officials about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in Aransas Pass said 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.

Updated

Power network corporation Ercot now says Hurricane Harvey has knocked out power to more than 211,000 customers.

Summary

  • Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday night in Rockport, Texas, after swiftly gathering strength over the Gulf of Mexico.
  • It hit the coast as a category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 130mph (210km/h). It began moving north-west at 7mph.
  • More than 100,000 people are without power, and people in the city of Corpus Christie – the nearest big city – have been urged to boil their water. Reports of significant damage are emerging in Rockport.
  • The National Hurricane Center says “catastrophic flooding” is expected due to heavy rainfall and a storm surge. The storm is forecast to head towards Houston, the state’s largest city, which is prone to flooding.
  • 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 deployment of state resources.
  • The mayor of Rockport has urged residents who chose to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms to make it easier for rescuers to identify them.
  • Harvey is expected to slow down and linger over south-eastern Texas for the next few days, dumping up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, with 40 inches in isolated areas of middle and upper Texas. The danger is forecast to last through to Wednesday.
  • Storm surges of up to 13ft (4 metres) plus destructive waves are expected between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, a stretch of coast either side of where Harvey made landfall.
  • Swells generated by Harvey are affecting the Texas, Louisiana, and north-east Mexico coasts.
  • Multiple tornado warnings have been issued and one has been spotted at Sienna Plantation just south of Houston. Tornadoes are possible through Saturday in middle and upper Texas and far south-west Louisiana.

Updated

Police have spotted a tornado at Sienna Plantation, just a few miles south of Houston.

It is 1.30am in Rockport at the moment, where the storm made landfall. Accurate information about the scale of the damage in that town is still some hours away but some reports are emerging.

Hurricane Harvey weakens slightly to category 3 storm

Several hours after making landfall, the storm has weakened ever so slightly but this is very much a technical difference – its maximum sustained winds have eased from 130mph to 125mph. It is still moving north-west, at the slightly slower pace of 6mph. This is the big problem: the slower it moves, the more rain falls in a single area, increasing the chance of catastrophic flooding.

National Hurricane Center issues Harvey summary

The National Hurricane Center has sent out a detailed bulletin on Hurricane Harvey so far. Here are the main points:

  • Harvey made landfall at Rockport as a category 4 storm and “catastrophic flooding” is expected due to heavy rainfall and a storm surge.
  • It has maximum sustained winds of 130mph (215km/h) and is moving north-west at 7mph. It is expected to slow down and linger over south-eastern Texas for the next few days.
  • It is expected to dump up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, with 40 inches in isolated areas of middle and upper Texas through to Wednesday. This would cause “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding”.
  • Storm surges of up to 13ft (4 metres) plus destructive waves are expected between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor if it combines with high tide.
  • Swells generated by Harvey are affecting the Texas, Louisiana, and north-east Mexico coasts. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip currents.
  • Tornadoes are possible through Saturday near the middle and upper Texas coast into far south-west Louisiana.

The roof of a seniors housing complex has collapsed in Rockport, say authorities, with an unknown number of people taken to a nearby jail for medical assessment. The courthouse and high school there have also suffered significant damage. The injury tally for the area so far has been reported as 10.

A tornado warning has been issued (in Spanish and English) for the area just directly south of Houston.

Hurricane Harvey could have significant economic as well as humanitarian impact. Already, gas stations across southern Texas have started to run out of fuel and gas prices have spiked. This is down to a combination of panic buying and the closure of a fifth of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 45% of the country’s refining capacity is along the US Gulf coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation’s crude oil is produced offshore. The Associated Press reports that ports across a 200-mile stretch running from Corpus Christi north to Texas City were closed to incoming vessels and that Shell, Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Exxon Mobil and others have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms.

The US government has said it would make emergency stockpiles of crude available if needed to ease disruption. It has regularly used them to dampen the impact of previous storms on energy supplies.

In Victoria, about 85 miles (137km) north of where the storm hit the coast, mayor Paul Polasek told CNN he estimated that 60 to 65% of the town’s 65,000 residents defied the mandatory evacuation order.

Reports of damage are starting to filter in, though we are unable to confirm them at this stage. Rockport high school has reportedly suffered significant damage, large fishing boats have been pushed inland at Port Aransas and the waterfront there has been devastated.

Rockport, where Hurricane Harvey made landfall, has enjoyed relative piece in the eye of the storm but it appears the back end of the storm is about to hit.

Thousands of Corpus Christi residents have opted to leave the city. They gathered at the city’s gym, where they were registered and taken by bus to San Antonio. Officials have no idea how many people decided to remain in Corpus Christi after the voluntary evacuation announcement.

Corpus Christi resident Armenia Garcia, 91, gets carried to a waiting bus bound for San Antonio.
Corpus Christi resident Armenia Garcia, 91, gets carried to a waiting bus bound for San Antonio. Photograph: via ZUMA/REX/Shutterstock

A business displays a defiant sign in Port Lavaca.
A business displays a defiant sign in Port Lavaca. Photograph: via Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

As many as 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. The storm’s impact on refineries has already pushed up gasoline prices.

The message from Houston mayor Sylvester Turner is clear: this is just the beginning. On Friday he voiced fears that people would suffer from “storm fatigue” and start to venture out on Sunday, putting themselves in danger, the Houston Chronicle reports.

“That would probably be the worst time to do that,” Turner said. “People are going to have to be very, very patient ... We may get our greatest rainfall on Sunday, Monday or possibly Tuesday.”

The local weather service has now expanded its floodwatch to include three more counties. The alert has been put in place until Tuesday evening, demonstrating just how long Harvey is expected to linger on land, either as a hurricane or tropical storm.

Updated

Harvey is the strongest hurricane to hit the US since the category 3 Wilma battered Florida in 2005.

The previous hurricane to make landfall in Texas was Ike, which caused serious damage and loss of life in the Caribbean. It landed in Galveston in September 2008 as a category 2 hurricane with maximum 110mph winds. In the US it caused over $30bn in damage and killed 112 people.

Coming less than a month after Hurricane Katrina inflicted $108bn of damage and caused roughly 1,500 fatalities in Louisiana alone, Rita is perhaps largely forgotten outside Texas. But it came ashore along the Texas-Louisiana border in September 2005 as a category 3 hurricane with 120mph winds and caused $12bn in damage.

With fears high after Katrina, several million people evacuated from Houston and the Texas coast in intense heat to escape Rita. The storm, traffic accidents and deaths from health problems in gridlocked traffic caused a reported 107 deaths.

Memories of the nightmarish evacuation seem to have influenced current Houston mayor Sylvester Turner’s response to Texas governor Greg Abbott’s recommendation at a Friday press conference that people from Corpus Christi to Houston consider evacuating. Turner tweeted: “Chaotic 2005 traffic with Hurricane Rita lurking was tragic. No official has issued evac order for Houston now. Calm and care!”

Summary

  • Hurricane Harvey has made landfall in Texas between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, after swiftly gathering strength over the Gulf of Mexico.
  • It made landfall as a category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 130mph (210km/h). It is moving north-west at 7mph. It is the strongest hurricane to hit the US since the category 3 Wilma battered Florida in 2005.
  • More than 100,000 people are without power, and people in the city of Corpus Christie – the nearest big city – have been urged to boil their water.
  • Multiple tornado warnings have been issued for the surrounding areas.
  • The key concerns are storm surges and flooding, with the storm expected to linger for days, potentially depositing 25 inches (63cm) or more of rain in some areas. It is expected at some point to head near Houston, the state’s fourth-largest city and one that is flood prone.
  • 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 deployment of state resources.
  • The mayor of the town of Rockport, where the storm hit, has urged residents who chose to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms to make it easier for rescuers to identify them.

Updated

People in the city of Corpus Christi are being urged to boil their water because the storm has made the water system “unstable”. Click here for the latest updates from the city’s authorities, including messages in Spanish.

Already reports of price gouging are emerging. The Houston Chronicle says one store was charging $7 for a bottle of water. The office of attorney general Ken Paxton has already received at least 75 complaints.

In a statement he said: “Unfortunately, in the wake of the damage from storms and flooding, we also see bad actors taking advantage of victims and their circumstances.” He cautioned people to be “extremely cautious with people who may offer to help residents with rebuilding or repairs”.

The disaster preparedness effort is in full swing.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Harvey officially made landfall as a category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 130mph (210km/h). It is moving north-west at 7mph.

Federal authorities have put together this public health emergency site with a range of resources for those unsure what to do before during and after this storm.

Harvey is the main event but alongside it is a range of tornado warnings - most recently for the areas of Rosharon, Bonney and Danbury, nearer Houston.

This locator shows where Hurricane Harvey has hit. The key affected areas at the moment are the areas of Rockport and Port Aransas (which has been largely evacuated) plus the city of Corpus Christi, which has a population of 325,000. The storm is expected to move slowly north and linger near Houston, bringing with it days of torrential rain.

Rockport, Texas map

Energy network corporation Ercot says 104,000 customers are already without power. Electricity company AEP Texas says it has 2,000 personnel ready to start restoring power once it is safe to do so. Ercot has urged people to stay away from downed power lines.

The National Weather Service makes the point that the last category 4 storm to hit Texas was Hurricane Carla in 1961. It killed 34 people, destroyed thousands of buildings and led to a repair bill of at least $300m.

Donald Trump has signed a disaster proclamation. This quickly unlocks federal funds and resources to deal with the disaster and was done at the request of Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas.

Abbott on Wednesday preemptively declared a state of disaster for 30 counties to speed up deployment of state resources.

90% of the town of Port Aransas has evacuated ahead of the storm but officials have no idea how many people are still in the city of Corpus Christi just south of where Harvey has hit. The city has a population of 325,000.

Our correspondent Tom Dart is in Houston right now, where the storm is making its presence felt 200 miles away. The storm is expected to head towards the city’s metropolitan area, which is home to 6.8 million people.

Houston receives about 50 inches of rain on average a year. Harris County, which includes Houston, is one of 14 counties under a tornado watch until 2am local time on Saturday, with fears that the arriving storm could spawn ideal conditions for tornado development.

One of the key concerns is flooding because the storm is predicted to now move up the coast towards Houston and stall for days, bringing continual rainfall. Forecasters have warned of rising sea levels and 25 inches (63cm) or more of rain in some areas. Here is how things are going in Port Aransas, about 20 miles from Rockport.

Donald Trump signs disaster proclamation

A very flamboyant message from the US president:

Patrick Rios, the mayor of the town of Rockport, where the storm has hit, has urged residents who chose to stay to write their social security numbers on their arms to make it easier for rescuers to identify them.

He told KIII-TV of Corpus Christi earlier that Harvey “is a life-threatening storm” and that those who stay “should make some type of preparation to mark their arm with a Sharpie pen”.

Local officials along the Texas coast urged residents to take precautions and, if they were in the direct path of the storm, to evacuate. Thousands of people have headed north so far.

An observation post in Port Aransas very close to where the hurricane has made landfall is reporting sustained winds of 102mph (164km/h) and gusts of up to 120mph (193km/h).

This short video gives an idea of the speed at which Harvey’s winds are moving.

Fuelled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, Harvey grew from a category 1 early in the morning to a category 4 by evening. It went from an unnamed storm to in just 56 hours, an incredibly fast intensification.

Hurricanes are rated on a 1-5 scale based on wind speed. Harvey is thus the most powerful storm to hit the US since Wilma pummelled Florida in 2005.

Hurricane Harvey makes landfall

Hurricane Harvey has now hit Texas as a category 4 storm. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated an area of coast that includes oil refineries, chemical plants and the flood-prone city of Houston.

The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, warned that the monster system would be “a very major disaster” and some have compared it to Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest ever to strike the US.

Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist for the National Hurricane Center, said: “We know that we’ve got millions of people who are going to feel the impact of this storm.”

We will endeavour to keep you posted on all the latest developments here. If you see something pertinent, feel free to email me at graham.russell@theguardian.com or find me on Twitter @G_J_Russell

Updated

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