Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast on Friday as a Category 4 storm – bringing life-threatening winds and the likelihood of catastrophic flooding as the most powerful storm in over a decade hit the US mainland. It gradually weakened over the next several hours and by early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said it back to a Category 2 – still sustaining winds of 110 mph (185 kph) as of 3 a.m. While Kaku doesn't believe the damage done by Harvey will be as costly as Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy, he does believe it could be "among the top 10." Reed Timmer, a storm chaser for AccuWeather, recorded this video of the eye wall — which contains the storm's strongest winds — moving onshore in Rockport.
Harvey is now a tropical storm with sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kmh). It made landfall on Texas's eastern coast, the eye striking the town of Rockport, as a Category 4 hurricane. It's the strongest storm to hit the state since 1961. Harvey is expected to maintain tropical storm strength, with heavy rains and flooding, for at least four days.