Hurricane Harvey hammers Texas coast

Hours after it struck land in the US, Hurricane Harvey has weakened to a Category 2 storm, according to reports.

Flash flood warnings have been issued across Texas with areas experiencing up to 30 inches of rain.

Tornado watch is in effect until 1pm local time. The US National Weather Service reports that twisters are possible as Hurricane Harvey moves slowly through the state.

“There have been brief spin-ups seen on radar along some of these tropical bands.”

Category 3 Hurricane Harvey continues to travel up the north-east coast of Texas. Winds have reached a reported max speed of 140mph in areas such as Rockport and Corpus Christi.

By initial indications, Harvey is likely to become worse than Hurricane Katrina, which struck America’s southeastern coast in August 2005. The tropical cyclone, one of the deadliest in US history, left over 1,200 dead.

US President Donald Trump says the federal government is monitoring the situation in Texas, writing on Twitter: “We will remain fully engaged with open lines of communication as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall. America is with you!”

NASA satellites captured a chilling photo of the eye of the storm, clearly visible from Earth’s orbit.

Major destruction is being reported out of Rockport, Texas, where the National Weather Service says “buildings collapsed with people trapped inside.” NWS also reported “numerous structures destroyed” and “debris filling the air” as winds gust at 125mph or over 130mph in some areas. 

Hurricane Harvey is once again a Category 4 hurricane, after being reported as falling back to a Category 3 earlier Friday.

WXChasing, a storm chaser group, is live on Facebook from Rockport, Texas, where some of the most extreme weather from Hurricane Harvey has doused the city and homes.

The Texas city of Rockport is experiencing some of the worst effects of Hurricane Harvey so far. One person recording from inside a hotel there reported structural damage, including stairwells coming apart from the wall.

Earlier in the day, the mayor of Rockport advised those who were disobeying evacuation orders to write their names and Social Security numbers on their arms.