Texas braces for massive flooding and WALLS OF WATER as Hurricane Harvey barrels over the state after 130mph winds slam the coast causing at least 10 injuries and buildings to collapse with more than 250,000 left without power
Texas residents woke up to massive damage caused by Hurricane Harvey as hit the state’s coast
The storm sustained winds of 130mph and a storm surge of up to 13 feet when it crashed onto land
Buildings have collapsed, 250,000 have been left without power in the area, and 10 have been injured
Those who weren’t evacuated were asked to write their names on their arms so bodies could be identified
On Saturday morning, the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 1 storm with winds of 80mph
By storm’s end, 40 inches of rain is expected to fall and an estimated $40billion worth of damage left behind
Harvey is the strongest storm to hit the US in 12 years and is expected to trigger ‘catastrophic’ floods
The National Weather Service warned that this was the ‘start of many difficult days to come’
By Cheyenne Roundtree and Mary Kekatos
DailyMail.com
26 August 2017
Texas residents woke up Saturday morning to the monstrous damage caused by Hurricane Harvey as the then-Category 4 storm slammed into the coast with winds of 130mph and a storm surge of 13 feet causing buildings to collapse, several to be injured and leaving more than 250,000 without power.
The hurricane made landfall around 10pm local time between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor, as waves flooded onto roads, roofs were sent flying into the air and residents in the storm’s path were told to label themselves in case they died.
Residents were told to head north to cities such as San Antonio, which is a federally and state-designated evacuation center. Texas state parks are open to hurricane evacuees to camp for free and 12 campgrounds and RV parks were made available for Hurricane Harvey evacuees. Some have even headed east to evacuation centers in Louisiana.
As of Saturday morning, Harvey was downgraded to a Category 1 storm with winds of up to 80mph and is expected to weaken into a tropical storm later in the day. At least 10 people have been injured after the roof of a single story senior housing complex collapsed – but the extent of the injuries are unknown.
And although Harvey may be weakening as it slows down over Texas, the threat of ‘catastrophic’ flooding will persist into next week. Almost 10 inches have fallen thus far and, by storm’s end, more than 40 inches of rain is expected to fall.
President Donald Trump signed a disaster proclamation from the Camp David retreat and tweeted on Saturday morning that the government was ‘closely monitoring’ the storm.
‘We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!’ he wrote
To Texas Senator Chuck Grassley he tweeted: ‘[G]ot your message loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!’
State Governor Greg Abbott warned that Hurricane Harvey would be ‘a major disaster’ before the storm barreled into the state with violent winds and massive rainfall, all on top of storm surges up to 13 feet.
Harvey is the strongest storm to hit the US in 12 years and the National Weather Service warned that this was the ‘start of many difficult days to come’.
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