Hurricane Harvey upgraded to Category 2 storm

UPDATE: Emergency crews are beginning to survey the damage from Hurricane Harvey in Texas towns where the storm slammed ashore. Now a tropical storm, Harvey is spinning in place over south-central Texas, inundating cities such as Austin and San Antonio with rain. The Austin American-Statesman, citing a county judge, reported at least one person died and up to 14 were injured along the coast. In the island community of Port Aransas, population 3,800, officials were unable to fully survey the town because of massive damage. Police and heavy equipment had only made it into the northernmost streets. 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. “We’re still in the very infancy stage of getting this recovery started,” said Larry Sinclair, the Aransas County spokesman. In Corpus Christi, Texas, the port was closed and will need major repairs before it can reopen. Because Corpus Christi is the third-largest petrochemical port in the nation, authorities will also be on the lookout for spills.

UPDATE (12:04 p.m.): As rain from Hurricane Harvey continues to inundate South Texas, initial damage reports are coming in from coastal cities. No deaths were immediately reported. The Coast Guard was working to rescue the crews of three tugboats in distress near Port Aransas, Texas, and a senior living center was evacuated after its roof caved in. “Our focus is shifting to the extreme and potentially historic levels of flooding that we could see,” said Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm is expected to keep slowing and dumping rain through the middle of next week. Creeks and bayous in the Houston area are rising to dangerous levels and threatening to overflow.

UPDATE (10:03 a.m.): Hurricane Harvey, now a Category 1 storm, is churning slowly inland from the Texas Gulf Coast. Coastal towns such as Rockport and Port Aransas, Texas, reported the heaviest damage to buildings after the hurricane made landfall Friday night, and more than 200,000 customers were without power in the area. Rockport Mayor Charles “C.J.” Wax told The Weather Channel the storm hit his community “right on the nose” and left widespread devastation. Harvey already dropped more than 9 inches of rain in South Texas, and as much as 30 inches could fall before the storm is over, the National Weather Service warned. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday morning he was monitoring the situation closely from Camp David, saying, “We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!”

UPDATE (8/25/17, 7:45 p.m.): Hurricane Harvey has strengthened to a Category 4 storm with wind speeds of 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has already begun setting up staging areas for search and rescue teams and relief supply stations in San Antonio, Seguin, and other Texas cities near the hurricane’s projected path along the Gulf Coast. FEMA on Friday urged residents to charge cellphones and to download the agency’s smartphone app, follow them on Twitter at @FEMAregion6, or follow FEMA on Facebook.

UPDATE (8/25/17, 3:45 p.m.): The National Hurricane Center upgraded Hurricane Harvey to a Category 3 storm as officials warned that Texas faces a significant, life-threatening disaster. The storm is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday, delivering a direct hit to Corpus Christi, Texas, and other towns along the Gulf Coast. “The tropical storm force winds have already commenced on the Gulf Coast,” National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said to residents Friday. “You’ve essentially run out of time for outdoors preparations. You need to find a safe place and you need to stay there.” Forecasters warned of expected high winds and power outages but said unprecedented flooding could be the storm’s most debilitating effect. Harvey is expected to move slowly inland and then migrate back out to the Gulf of Mexico, dropping several feet of rainfall. “Let’s set the expectations: Texas is about to have a very significant disaster. And we have to let people know that,” William “Brock” Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told MSNBC Friday.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (8/25/17, 11:55 a.m.): Hurricane Harvey strengthened to a Category 2 storm early Friday morning as it barreled toward the Texas Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center warned that preparations for the storm, which should make landfall late Friday or early Saturday, “should be rushed to completion.” Hurricane experts believe the storm will gather strength and become a Category 3 hurricane by the time it hits Texas, making it a “life-threatening” event with the possibility of extensive damage up to 100 miles inland from a battering of rain and winds hitting 125 mph over the next three days. Authorities in seven Texas counties, from Corpus Christi to the western end of Galveston Island, ordered mandatory evacuations from low-lying areas on Thursday. Officials expressed concern that not as many people were evacuating as previous storms and urged immediate action. The last Category 3 storm to hit the United States was Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

See “Harvey Relief” for information on organizations assisting victims affected by the storm.