This is the big one
HOUSTON Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast yesterday as a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 209kmh, the most powerful storm in over a decade to hit the mainland United States.
The hurricane made landfall northeast of Corpus Christi, bringing with it a sea surge of up to four metres and over a metre of rain. It is expected to linger along the Texas coast and parts of Louisiana for days.
It is the first Category 4 hurricane to wallop the US since Charley in 2004, and the first to hit Texas since Carla in 1961.
The storm knocked out power to some homes in Corpus Christi and nearby towns.
While thousands fled the expected devastating flooding and destruction, many residents defied mandatory evacuation orders and stocked up on food, fuel and sandbags.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the monster system would be ‘‘a very major disaster’’. Such predictions have drawn fearful comparisons to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, one of the deadliest ever to strike the US.
Early reports of damage began to emerge from Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 people that was directly in the path of Harvey when it came ashore.
City Manager Kevin Carruth said he had heard reports of a tree falling on a mobile home and house roofs collapsing.
Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims said about 15 firefighters at the city’s fire station were waiting for conditions to improve enough for their vehicles to safely respond to pleas for help.
‘‘There’s nothing we can do at this moment. We are anxious to get out there and make assessments, but we’re hunkered down for now.’’
Earlier, Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios offered ominous advice, saying those who chose to stay put should ‘‘mark their arm with a Sharpie pen with their name and Social Security number’’, implying that doing so would make it easier for rescuers to identify their bodies.
‘‘We hate to talk about things like that. It’s not something we like to do, but it’s the reality,’’ he said. ‘‘People don’t listen.’’
As many as 5.8 million people are believed to be in the storm’s path, as well as the heart of America’s oil refining operations. The storm’s impact on refineries has already pushed up petrol prices.
As a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Harvey could uproot trees, destroy homes and disrupt utilities for days. It is the first major hurricane, of Category 3 or more, to hit the mainland US since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005.
In Corpus Christi, where there was voluntary evacuation, strengthening winds buffeted the few trucks and cars that continued to circulate on the streets. The storm toppled signs and littered the streets with pieces of palm trees as whitecaps rocked sailboats in their docks.
About 137km north in Victoria, Mayor Paul Polasek told CNN he estimated that 60 per cent to 65 per cent of the town’s 65,000 residents defied the mandatory evacuation order.
Jose Rengel, a 47-year-old who works in construction, said he was one of the few people in Jamaica Beach in Galveston who did not heed a voluntary evacuation order.
‘‘All the shops are empty,’’ he said as the sky turned black and rain fell. ‘‘It’s like a tornado went in and swept everything up.’’
With the hurricane bearing down on the Texas coast, at least three cruise ships operated by Carnival Corp with thousands of passengers aboard were forced to change their plans to sail for the Port of Galveston. Two of them headed New Orleans to pick up fresh supplies, while the third NASA / REUTERS delayed its departure Cozumel, Mexico.
‘‘Life-threatening and devastating flooding expected near the coast due to heavy rainfall and storm surge,’’ the National Hurricane Centre said.
Louisiana and Texas had already declared states of disaster, authorising the use of state resources to prepare for Harvey’s arrival.
The city of Houston has warned residents of flooding from close to 60 centimetres of rain over several days. Mayor Sylvester Turner advised residents not to leave en masse, saying ‘‘no evacuation orders have been issued for the city’’. Chaotic traffic from a rushed evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita in 2005 proved tragic.
Petrol stations on the south Texas coast said they were running out of fuel as thousands of residents fled the region.
The US government said it would make emergency stockpiles of crude oil available if needed. from Reuters, AP