TEXAS HURRICANE | Rockport, Texas, officials hearing reports of damage

12:05 a.m.

HOUSTON (AP)

Rockport, Texas, officials are receiving reports of damage from Hurricane Harvey, but emergency officials are having trouble responding.

Rockport City Manager Kevin Carruth said by phone that he had heard reports of a tree falling into a mobile home and roofs collapsing on houses. The city, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi, had peak wind surges of more than 125 miles per hour, according to National Weather Service reports.

Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims says there are about 15 volunteer firefighters hunkered down at the city’s fire station waiting for conditions to improve enough for their vehicles to safely travel and to assess the damage to the city of about 10,000 people.

“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,” he said.

11 p.m.

The eye of Hurricane Harvey has made landfall between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor in Texas, the National Hurricane Center says.

Catastrophic flooding is expected due to heavy rainfall and storm surge, it added.

9 p.m.

The eye wall of Hurricane Harvey is beginning to move onshore of the middle Texas coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The eye wall borders the eye of a mature hurricane and consists of a ring of tall thunderstorms that produce heavy rains and very strong winds, according to NASA. The most destructive section of the storm is in the eye wall on the side where the wind blows in the same direction as the storm's forward motion, the agency says.

7:30 p.m.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Harvey has strengthened to a Category 4 storm.

The center says Harvey has sustained wind speeds of 130 mph (209 kph) as the powerful storm churns off the Texas coast. Forecasters are labeling it a “life-threatening storm.”

The storm quickly grew Thursday from a tropical depression into a Category 1 hurricane, and then developed into a Category 2 storm early Friday. By Friday afternoon, it had become a Category 3 storm before strengthening to a Category 4. It’s forecast to make landfall in Texas late Friday or early Saturday.

The storm is 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Corpus Christi.

•••

5:40 p.m.

More than 15,000 people aboard three Carnival Cruise Line ships scheduled to return to Galveston, Texas, this weekend face delays or detours due to Hurricane Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico. The Port of Galveston was closed Friday amid the hurricane threat.

A statement Friday from the Miami-based cruise line says the Carnival Freedom and Carnival Valor were at sea and would remain a safe distance from the hurricane. Both ships were originally scheduled to dock in Galveston on Saturday but will instead stop in New Orleans to replenish supplies.

The Carnival Freedom and the Carnival Valor each carry about 4,800 passengers and crew. The statement says they’ll resume their return to Galveston as soon as possible.

The Carnival Breeze was scheduled to return to Galveston on Sunday. It’s spending Friday night in Cozumel, Mexico. That shipt has more than 6,000 on board. The Carnival statement said the ship would depart Saturday for Texas to be in position when the Port of Galveston reopens.

•••

5:30 p.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — With time running out, tens of thousands of people fled from the path of Hurricane Harvey Friday as it picked up strength and took aim at a wide swath of the Texas Gulf Coast that includes oil refineries, chemical plants and dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the monster system would be “a very major disaster,” and the menacing forecasts drew fearful comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, one of the nation’s deadliest.

“We know that we’ve got millions of people who are going to feel the impact of this storm,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman and meteorologist for the National Hurricane Center. “We really pray that people are listening to their emergency managers and get out of harm’s way.”

Aside from savage winds and storm surges, the system was expected to drop prodigious amounts of rain. The resulting flooding, one expert said, could be “the depths of which we’ve never seen.”

Galveston-based storm surge expert Hal Needham of the private firm Marine Weather and Climate said forecasts indicated that it was “becoming more and more likely that something really bad is going to happen.”

At least one researcher predicted heavy damage that would linger for months or longer.

“In terms of economic impact, Harvey will probably be on par with Hurricane Katrina,” said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. “The Houston area and Corpus Christi are going to be a mess for a long time.”

Scientists warned that Harvey could become powerful enough to swamp counties more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) inland and stir up dangerous surf as far away as Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, more than 500 miles from the projected landfall.

It may also spawn tornadoes. Even after weakening, the system could spin out into the Gulf and regain strength before hitting Houston a second time Wednesday as a tropical storm.

Rain bands from the storm began pelting the coast early Friday. By afternoon, the storm was about 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi, moving 10 mph (17 kph) to the northwest.

•••

1:25 p.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — Forecasters say effects from Hurricane Harvey could be felt at far east as the Alabama coast and the western Florida Panhandle.

Harvey is forecast to make landfall in Texas late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 storm. It’s predicted to slam into the Texas coast and dump torrential rains before moving eastward.

The National Weather Service says rip currents associated with Harvey could be a problem some 650 miles (1,046 kilometers) away in the Florida Panhandle.

Officials say that means there’s an elevated risk for hazardous surf conditions over the weekend in places including the Alabama coast and around Pensacola, Florida.

•••

11:40 a.m.

Forecasters now say there’s a good chance Hurricane Harvey may hit Texas twice, worsening projected flooding.

The National Hurricane Center’s official five-day forecast Friday has Harvey slamming the central Texas coast, stalling and letting loose with lots of rain. Then forecasters project the weakened but still tropical storm is likely to go back into the Gulf of Mexico, gain some strength and hit Houston next week.

Jeff Masters, Weather Underground’s meteorology director, said this could cause a collision of high water with nowhere to go. Harvey is projected to drop up to 3 feet (0.91 meter) of rain in some places over the next several days.

But a second landfall near Houston means more storm surge coming from the Gulf. Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water above the normal tide, generated by a storm.

•••

11:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he’s keeping a close watch on Hurricane Harvey.

On Twitter Friday, Trump said he “Received a (hash)HurricaneHarvey briefing this morning” from top federal officials.

In another statement on Twitter, Trump said he had spoken with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. He added: “Closely monitoring (hash)HurricaneHarvey developments & here to assist as needed.”

Trump tweeted Thursday, encouraging people to be prepared. Harvey is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 storm.

•••

11:15 a.m.

Corpus Christi officials say all flights out of the city’s airport have been canceled as Hurricane Harvey approaches.

The city said in a news release late Friday morning that the airlines had canceled all flights out of Corpus Christi International Airport for the rest of the day.

The city said the airport isn’t closed, but officials don’t anticipate much activity over the weekend. Runways will be closed as conditions warrant. The hurricane is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday morning.

The city says Southwest and United Airlines have no scheduled flights until Monday, while American Airlines hopes to resume service on Saturday.

•••

10:45 a.m.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says there’s still time for coastal residents in the path of Hurricane Harvey to get out of harm’s way. But he says they must leave immediately.

Abbott on Friday didn’t second-guess local officials who have called for voluntary and not mandatory evacuations. He told The Weather Channel that mayors and local leaders “know their terrain very well.”

Abbott has expressed concerns that not as many people are evacuating compared with previous storms as Harvey bears down on the state. Harvey is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 storm.

Abbott has activated about 700 members of the Texas National Guard in preparation for Harvey. The storm is set to be the first hurricane to make landfall on the Texas coast since Hurricane Ike in 2008.

•••

10:20 a.m.

Hurricane Harvey continues to swirl toward the middle Texas coast as it flirts with becoming a major Category 3 storm.

The National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory as of 10 a.m. Friday places the storm about 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of Corpus Christi, moving 10 mph (17 kph) to the northwest. Sustained winds have been holding at 110 mph (177 kph).

Forecasters have said it will intensify and make landfall Friday evening or early Saturday as a likely Category 3 storm, meaning sustained winds topping 115 mph (185.07 kph).

Once the storm makes landfall, gradual weakening is forecast but because so much of the storm remains over the warm Gulf of Mexico, which fuels Harvey, the hurricane center says the weakening could be slower than normal.

That also means the storm is likely to be a huge rainmaker. Predictions for a wide area of Texas from the coast and inland for rainfall measuring up to nearly 3 feet (0.91 meter) as the storm stalls and meanders well into next week.