HOUSTON – Tropical Storm Harvey unloaded extraordinary amounts of rain into Texas after the once-fearsome hurricane crashed into vulnerable homes and businesses along the coastline, killing at least two people, injuring up to 14 and trapping hundreds more in rising floodwaters.
Major interstate highways became rivers where residents walked up to their chests in water or canoed and kayaked their way to safety. Numerous motorboats trolled the flooded roadways to rescue stranded motorists and pedestrians.
Harvey slammed into the Texas coast late Friday northeast of Corpus Christi as a mammoth Category 4 storm with 130 mph (209 kph) winds.
It weakened Saturday to a tropical storm. On Sunday, The U.S. Hurricane Center said Harvey was virtually stationary about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Victoria, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph (70 kph).
The system was the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961's Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record.
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