Hurricane Harvey made landfall mid afternoon NZT Saturday on the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane. 

The storm has almost stalled – vastly increasing the chances of catastrophic flooding. 

As of 10:30pm NZT Saturday it was a Category 2 hurricane.

Over a metre of rain is forecast in some areas over the next few days.

A storm surge of over 3.6 metres was initially projected. Homes will be completely destroyed.

President Trump has declared an official disaster zone in the state.

It will take until Sunday afternoon NZT, or more likely Monday and Tuesday before full extent of wind and storm surge damage is understood. It may not be until the end of the coming week before full extent of flooding is known – along with likely death toll.

Harvey is moving slowly – rain is going to last days and there may now be over 1200mm of rain falling in isolated parts of Texas in just a few days. Compare that with Auckland, New Zealand which has 1115mm over 12 months.

**View CNN’s live Storm Tracker here**

– WeatherWatch.co.nz

Earlier Story via CNN Weather…