Texas is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Harvey, a storm that meteorologists say could turn into a slow-moving "monster" that batters the state for several days. Harvey is expected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane late Friday or early Saturday, and AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski says it "may be nothing short of a flooding disaster" for Texas, USA Today reports. Forecasters say that after it moves ashore, Harvey is likely to end up trapped between two areas of high pressure, keeping it stalled over Texas for up to five days, dumping as much as 35 inches of rain on parts of the state.
The latest developments:
- The National Weather Service says ingredients including warm water and calm air high up have made Harvey a potentially life-threatening storm, with a possible storm surge 12 feet high and winds up to 125mph. "It's a very dangerous storm," National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini tells the AP. "It does have all the ingredients it needs to intensify. And we're seeing that intensification occur quite rapidly." The service's safety resources can be found here. The latest from the National Hurricane Center is here.
- Harvey strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane early Friday, CNN reports. Several counties along the coast had already issued evacuation orders. If it does become a Category 3 by the time it is expected to make landfall around 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, it will be the first storm that size to hit the US since Hurricane Wilma in Oct. 2005
- The Corpus Christi Caller-Times looks at what people can expect from a Category 3 hurricane—and at what people who choose to ride it out instead of following recommendations to evacuate should do.
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