CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Tropical Storm Harvey intensified Thursday into a hurricane that forecasters said could be the first major hurricane to hit the middle Texas coastline in nearly 15 years.
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Our Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologists will be tracking the hurricane throughout the week as it makes landfall on WSB-TV and on WSBTV.com.
Sustained winds reached 80 mph more than a day before landfall was expected late Friday between Port O'Connor and Matagorda Bay, a 30-mile stretch of coastline about 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.
Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brad Nitz said the storm could dump up to 30 inches of rain in some areas. Evacuations have begun for some areas.
“Much of east Texas will get 12-20 inches of rain, but some spots could see significantly more. Thirty inches or higher rainfall totals are a possibility as heavy rain from Harvey will fall for several days in Texas. Serious to catastrophic flooding is possible," Nitz said.
Serious flooding is expected in TX as Harvey will dump heavy rain for days. Widespread 16-20" rainfall, isolated 30" pic.twitter.com/WkOdzEdyg8
— Brad Nitz (@BradNitzWSB) August 24, 2017
Cox Media Group