CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night as the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. By Saturday morning, it had dumped 18 inches (half a meter) of rain on some areas, and forecasters warned that it could cause catastrophic flooding in the coming days.
Here is a timeline of key moments in the storm’s development:
– Aug. 17, 4 p.m., Tropical Storm Harvey is named, six hours after the National Hurricane Center in Miami issues a potential tropical cyclone for several small Caribbean islands.
– Aug. 19, 4 p.m., Moving westward between the northern coast of South America and the larger Caribbean islands, Harvey is downgraded to a tropical depression, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph). Six hours later, it is further downgraded to a tropical wave.
– Wednesday, 10 a.m., Harvey regenerates into a tropical depression about 535 miles (860 kilometers) southeast of Port O’Connor, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph).