Harvey strengthened and reached category 4 today after increasing its maximum sustained winds to 130 mph (215 km / h), when it is closer to the Texas coast, the National Hurricane Center (EE) .
The CNH said in a special bulletin that Harvey is 45 miles east of Corpus Christi and 50 miles south-west of Port O’Connor, both in Texas.
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 8 miles per hour (13 km / h) .
“Hurricane-force sustained winds extend over the central Texas coast,” the Miami-based weather center said.
The hurricane turned hours earlier into a “powerful” category 3 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, a maximum of five, and CNH experts predict that it will land on the central Texas coast the night of this Friday, where it is already “putting pressure,” 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 this evening, 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 .
