Harvey, which became a Category 3 hurricane today, increased its maximum sustained winds to 125 mph while it moves toward the Texas coast, where it will arrive in the next few hours, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The NHC said in its 2100 GMT bulletin that Harvey is 60 miles (95 km) east of Corpus Christi and about 60 miles (100 km) south of Port O’Connor.
Harvey, which could be the first major hurricane (category 3, 4 or 5) to reach the US coast in the past 12 years, moves northwest with a speed of 10 miles per hour (17 km / h). .
The hurricane became a “mighty” category 3 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, a maximum of five, and NHC experts predict that it will land on the central Texas coast tonight, where Is already “putting pressure on,” the weather center said.
The system maintains its destructive potential to generate rainfall accumulations of up to three feet in height, hurricane winds of category 3 (between 178 and 208 kilometers per hour) and storm surges up to 12 feet (3.66 meters ), Which could lead to “devastating” floods.
In fact, tide gauges from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned that floods of up to 1 and 2 feet (30 and 61 centimeters) are already occurring on the Texas coast because of the storm surge.
According to a likely trajectory pattern, Harvey will land on the central Texas coast tonight, then “meander” through the interior of the state and the coast over the weekend.
Authorities maintain the hurricane warning (a few hours in this case) from Port Mansfield to the town of Sargent (Texas), while there is tropical storm monitoring from Sargent north to High Island in Texas .
There is also a storm surge warning from Port Mansfield to High Island, both in Texas.
There is also a cyclonic storm warning from Port Mansfield to High Island.
Sea-level rise and consequent flooding in coastal areas from Port Mansfield to High Island are therefore expected to result in life-threatening situations and therefore “all necessary actions to protect life and Properties. ”
Hurricane warnings affect 1.4 million people living on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, while another 12 million are on notice of tropical storm winds, including the sprawling cities of San Antonio and Houston.
Heavy rains, which could extend through midway next week, could affect parts of southern, central and eastern Texas and the Mississippi Valley, and “tornadoes” could hit as far as Saturday on the central and upper Texas coast .
