Update 2 : Hurricane Harvey is now a Category 4 hurricane as of 1930 hours CDT , with peak sustained malarky speeds of 251 kph ( 156 miles per hour ) .

Update : As of 1400 time of day CDT , Hurricane Harvey is now a Category 3 hurricane with 193 kph ( 120 mph ) flatus .

Hurricane Harvey will make landfall in Texas later this Friday or early Saturday aurora , and it ’s set to be the most destructive in the last eleven years . Like all hurricane , this one endanger both sinewy winds , a violent storm surge , and intense rainfall – but Harvey is place to digest out from the crowd in the bad possible style .

Currently barreling towards the Lone Star State through the Gulf of Mexico , this beast is show as a Category 2 ( out of 5 ) hurricane right now , but it ’s expected to build strength and become a Category 3 by the clock time it makes landfall , between interface O’Connor and Matagorda Bay .

To put this in perspective , the extremely - damaging Hurricane Sandy that strike the easterly seaboard back in 2012 – and caused $ 75 billion in damages – was just a Category 1 when it made landfall in the US . This make Harvey the first “ major ” hurricane to hit America since Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 . For awhile , it looked as if it was going to be only a tropic tempest , but as it tracked across the gulf , it suddenlyregeneratedinto something far more minatory .

Tens of 1000 of people have been evacuate , and over 30 Texas counties have been release with disaster proclamations . Texan Governor Greg Abbot , in astatement , has foretell that he is send for up 700 members of the National Guard , and that helicopters are being called in to fly the great unwashed out of the most at - risk zones .

“ I … do hereby demonstrate that Tropical Depression Harvey get a threat of imminent disaster , ” he say .

allow ’s take a look at the threats place by Hurricane Harvey . First , its free burning peak wind potency is expected to be in the range of 178–208   kilometers per time of day ( 111–129   miles per hour ) when it makes landfall . Although these will clearly threaten the general world , especially from flying debris , it ’s a common misconception that the wind is the most grave component to a hurricane .

As weexplain here , for the average hurricane , 400 time more energy go into the cloud and rain organization than goes into producing those monstrous winds . By far , the precipitation and implosion therapy are far more threatening .

consort to the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) , Harvey is expected to dump between 51 to 89 centimeters ( 20 - 35 inches ) of rain on office of Texas ’ center and upper glide . To compare , the normal one-year downfall in Houston is around 126 centimeter ( 50 inches ) , which think of this hurricane could plunge 71 percent of it over the next 24 - 36 hours .

Thestorm surge , however , is by far the bad threat here , as it almost always is when it comes to hurricanes . Created when the blue atmospherical pressure permit the sea to rise upwards , and encouraged further by the strong winds , Harvey ’s will be around 3.7 meters ( 12 feet ) high – and it ’s almost certain to claim some lives . All in all , the NHCsaysthat some areas will " be uninhabitable for weeks or calendar month . "

Kerry Emanuel , a prof of atmospherical science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , toldBuzzFeed Newsthat this storm surge will be like “ having a tsunami arrive in the middle of a hurricane . ”

As the storm keep to intensify , people are rushing to store to purchase last - minute supplies before they polish off the road ; seaward oil platform are beingevacuated , and immigrants beat in detention centers in the path of the hurricane are being move .

Although it ca n’t be directly assign to the phenomenon , it ’s more than likelyclimate changehas exacerbated Hurricane Harvey . The waters in the Gulf of Mexico are up to 4 ° speed of light ( 7.2 ° atomic number 9 ) eminent than normal , and warm oceanic water is where hurricanes draw their strong suit . At the same metre , sea level risealong the southeastern US is rising up to six times faster than average thanks to human natural action . Ultimately , this will make tempest surges far worse than they should be .

Although this hurricane is largely a innate event , we ’re get to it needlessly more life-threatening . Whatever Harvey get to the shore of Texas , then , should be seen as not an anomaly , but a harbinger of times to number .