
Texas has been left reeling by 'catastrophic' flooding and 'widespread devastation' on Saturday in the wake of Hurricane Harvey after the monstrous storm slammed into the state leaving at least one person dead and another 14 injured.

Eight million residents have been warned the worst is yet to come, as hundreds of thousands of shell-shocked Texans on the Gulf Coast began to pick up the pieces after Harvey destroyed homes and businesses, left several injured and the state facing a clean-up bill of $40billion.

Texas utility companies said more than 338,000 were without power and the coastal town of Rockport, 30 miles north of Corpus Christi was hardest hit as the storm - which has weakened to a tropical storm with winds of 70mph - settled over southeast Texas.

It will sit over the Lone Star State well into next week pounding hundreds of miles of coastline with life-threatening storm surges, causing deadly walls of water to move inland.

Governor Greg Abbot warned Texans to stay away from rising water, noting that currents can be swifter than they appear.

'Turn around, don’t drown. Don’t risk your life,' he said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. 'The most important thing all Texans can do is to put your life and the protection of your life first and foremost.'

With streets flooded and strewn with power lines and debris, authorities warned the storm's most destructive powers were just beginning. Rainfall that will continue for days could dump more than five feet of water and inundate many communities, including dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

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A mobile park is destroyed after Hurricane Harvey landed in the Coast Bend area on Saturday in Port Aransas, Texas

Texas has been left reeling by Harvey after the monstrous storm slammed into the state Friday evening as a Category Four hurricane. Pictured: Jacque McKay walks through the apartment complex where she lives after she remained behind when Hurricane Harvey swept through Rockport

More than 20 inches of rain fell and another 30 more could be expected. Pctured: Jennifer Bryant looks over the debris from her family business, Bryant's Auto Sales, destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Katy, Texas

Texas utility companies said more than 300,000 were without power and the seaside town of Rockport, 30 miles north of Corpus Christi was hardest hit as the storm. Pictured: A contractor walks over fallen debris from Hurricane Harvey on Saturday in Missouri City, Texas

Eight million residents have been warned the worst is yet to come as the state faces a clean-up bill of $40billion. Pictured: Terry Smith stands in the kitchen as Henry McKay sleeps in the apartment where the ceiling collapse when Hurricane Harvey hit on August 26, 2017 in Rockport, Texas

The storm will sit over the Lone Star State well into next week pounding hundreds of miles of coastline with life-threatening storm surges, causing deadly walls of water to move inland. Pictured: A destroyed apartment complex is seen after Hurricane Harvey passed through on August 26, 2017 in Rockport

Authorities have warned that the storm's most destructive powers are just beginning. Pictured: Donna Raney is helped out of the window by Lee Guerrero and Daisy Graham after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her apartment in Rockport

Billy and Donna Raney climb over the wreckage of whats left of their apartment after Hurricane Harvey destroyed it in Rockport

Dogs are left tied up and abandoned (left and right) on properties off US Route 77 in the eye of the storm on Saturday in Victoria, Texas. The dogs were untied and taken to safety by the DailyMail.com photographer

The latest satellite images from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (above) showed Hurricane Harvey moving into the Texas mainland at two mph

By dawn, more than 20 inches of rain had fallen in Corpus Christi and 16 inches of rain had fallen in Houston. In a press conferences, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said another 20 to 30 more inches of rain could fall and that 'dramatic flooding' remained the biggest concern. A disaster declaration has been made for 50 counties.

The hurricane made landfall around 10pm local time between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor, as waves flooded onto roads, roofs were sent flying into the air and residents in the storm's path were told to label themselves in case they died.

As of Saturday morning at least 14 people have been injured after the roof of a single story senior housing complex collapsed - but the extent of the injuries are unknown.

The mayor of Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 that was directly in the storm's path, said his community took a blow 'right on the nose' that left 'widespread devastation,' including homes, businesses and schools that were heavily damaged. Some structures were destroyed.

One person in Rockport was confirmed dead Saturday afternoon as a result of a house fire in the storm's first fatality. Officials say there are likely more victims as an estimated 5,000 residents remained during the hurricane.

Mayor Charles 'CJ' Wax told The Weather Channel that the city's emergency response system had been hampered by the loss of cellphone service and other forms of communication.

Ahead of the storm, residents were told to head north to cities such as San Antonio, which is a federally and state-designated evacuation center.

Texas state parks are open to hurricane evacuees to camp for free and 12 campgrounds and RV parks were made available for Hurricane Harvey evacuees. Some have even headed east to evacuation centers in Louisiana.

All seven counties on the Texas coast from Corpus Christi to the western end of Galveston Island were under mandatory evacuations from low-lying areas. Four counties ordered full evacuations and warned there was no guarantee of rescue for those choosing to stay behind.

A truck is flipped over after Hurricane Harvey landed in the Coast Bend area on Saturday, in Port Aransas, Texas. It is unclear if the dog lying in the car is dead or injured

Business owner and resident Carlos Lopez assesses damage from Hurricane Harvey after arriving at his electronics repair shop in Rockport, Texas

Children sleep in a hotel lobby waiting out Hurricane Harvey in Victoria, Texas, on Saturday

As of Saturday morning at least 14 people have been injured after the roof of a single story senior housing complex collapsed - but the extent of the injuries are unknown. Pictured: A store sits damaged after Hurricane Harvey ripped through Rockport, Texas, on Saturday

A Rockport firefighter goes door to door on a search and rescue mission as he looks for people that may need help Saturday

Sarah Mamud helps her nephew Noah Mamud, five, cross a flooded bridge over Clear Creek in League City, Texas, on Saturday

Valerie Brown and her dog walk through a flooded area after leaving the apartment that she rode out Hurricane Harvey in in Rockport

People walk through flooded streets as the effects of Hurricane Harvey are seen on Saturday in Galveston, Texas

Happy Newman (background left), Tammy Newman, and their dog wait at a shelter after Hurricane Harvey landed in the Coast Bend area on Saturday in Port Aransas, Texas

A satellite maps warns the areas that need to watch for flash flooding (green), tornados (red), and severe thunderstorms (yellow)

POOR DOG LEFT CHAINED UP TO TELEPHONE POLE DURING HARVEY AS FLOOD WATERS RISE AROUND HIM WITH NO OWNER IN SIGHT By Keith Griffith for DailyMail.com A dog was been spotted chained up and abandoned as flood waters from Hurricane Harvey rose around it. Photographs taken on Saturday show the dog chained to a telephone pole in Victoria, Texas, where as much as 10 inches of rain have inundated the area in the past 24 hours. The county remains under a flash flood warning, and Texas officials have warned repeatedly against leaving pets and livestock tied up in the elements. The dog was freed by the DailyMail.com photographer when it became apparent that the owner had abandoned it and it was in imminent danger of drowning. Nearby in Victoria, another dog was seen chained to a tree outside a mobile home in a puddle of water, also seemingly abandoned. A dog was found tied up and abandoned on a property off US Route 77 in Victoria, Texas on Saturday. A passerby freed the animal when it became apparent that the owner had abandoned it and it was in imminent danger of drowning In Roman Forest, Texas, about 150 miles north of Victoria, the police chief minced no words when it came to animal abusers. 'I promise you, that I will hold anyone accountable that unlawfully restrains their dog in extreme weather conditions,' Chief Stephen Carlisle said in a statement on Friday. 'Dogs are your family members too.' Carlisle pointed out there is a specific state law that prohibits leaving a dog tied up outside in any extreme weather conditions, including under a hurricane or tropical storm warning. 'Please do not keep your family members tied to a rope or chain' the police department in Montgomery County said on Facebook. 'It is against the law to keep a dog on a chain during extreme weather conditions.' Victoria County, where the dogs were spotted abandoned, was directly in the path of Harvey's harshest weather, and has seen six to 10 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. The area is under flood warning and is expected to see continued rain and thunderstorms throughout the night. Advertisement

President Donald Trump signed a disaster proclamation from the Camp David retreat and tweeted on Saturday morning that the government was 'closely monitoring' the storm.

'We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!' he wrote

To Texas Senator Chuck Grassley he tweeted: '[G]ot your message loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!'

Governor Abbott warned that Hurricane Harvey would be 'a major disaster' before the storm barreled into the state with violent winds and massive rainfall, all on top of storm surges up to 13 feet.

Harvey is the strongest storm to hit the US in 12 years and the National Weather Service warned that this was the 'start of many difficult days to come'.

Despite the storm's weekend, forecasters say that Harvey's impact will be devastating and leave areas 'uninhabitable for weeks or months'.

The insured property losses from Hurricane Harvey were estimated to cost between $1billion and $2billion from wind and storm damage, according to CoreLogic.

Jessica Campbell (left) hugs Jonathan Fitzgerald (right) on Saturday after riding out Hurricane Harvey in an apartment in Rockport, Texas

Daisy Graham reacts to the news that a friend of hers may still be in an apartment that was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Rockport

Lee Guerrero tries to kick open a door of an apartment after hearing his friends say they were hiding in the shower stall and were okay after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the apartment in Rockport

Miguel Debernardis cleans up debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on Saturday in Katy, Texas

By dawn, nearly 20 inches of rain had fallen in some places. By storm's end, more than 40 inches of rain is expected to fall. Pictured: A damaged home is seen after Hurricane Harvey passed through on August 26, 2017 in Rockport

A Shell gas station sits destroyed on Saturday in Refugio, Texas, a city about 43 miles north of Corpus Christi

Mobile homes are destroyed at an RV park after Hurricane Harvey landed in the Coast Bend area on Saturday in Port Aransas, Texas

Several homes, businesses and schools in Rockport were severely damaged. Pictured (left and right): A laundromat's machines sit exposed in the elements after the building collapsed when Hurricane Harvey ripped through Rockport, Texas

Buildings collapsed and more than 300,000 were left without power as the storm made landfall around 10pm local time. Pictured (left and right): A burnt out house and cars that caught fire are seen in Corpus Christi on Saturday

President Donald Trump signed a disaster proclamation from the Camp David retreat and wrote to Texas Senator Chuck Grassley on Saturday morning: 'We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!' (above)

Trump tweeted that the administration was closely monitoring the storm from the Camp David retreat and that federal funds would be allocated to help residents in the storm's aftermath (above)

HARVEY STRANDS 20,000 PASSENGERS IN GULF ON FOUR CRUISE SHIPS AFTER GALVESTON PORT CLOSES By Reuters and Keith Griffith for DailyMail.com Cruise ships carrying an estimated 20,000 passengers were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as Hurricane Harvey left the Port of Galveston closed. Carnival said that three of its ships were unable to return to Galveston as scheduled and that two of them would be forced to divert instead to New Orleans, where they would resupply. The cruise line said passengers could get off the two diverted ships, the Freedom and the Valor, in New Orleans, but advised against that in a statement posted on its Facebook page. 'Given the severity and projected path of the storm along with potential challenges guests may encounter attempting to travel back to Galveston independently, we are strongly encouraging them to remain on board as we intend to return the ships to Galveston as soon as feasible,' Carnival said. The Carnival Breeze (pictured in a file photo) is extending its stay in Cozumel, while two other Carnival ships are diverting to the Port of New Orleans A third ship, the Carnival Breeze, will extend its stay in Cozumel, Mexico, and begin sailing back to Galveston this weekend, the company said. The next scheduled cruises on all three ships will be shortened and customers will receive refunds, the company said. 'We will continue to remain in close contact with port officials regarding their plans to re-open once the storm has passed,' spokeswoman Christine de la Huerta said. Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean International said that its Liberty of the Seas cruise ship had departed Cozumel, Mexico on time on Friday and was still scheduled to return to Galveston on Sunday. 'However, we will return to Galveston only when it is safe to do so,' Royal Caribbean spokesman Owen Torres said. The port's interim director, Peter Simons, told the Houston Chronicle newspaper that officials there were still trying to determine if ships could safely return on Sunday. 'We're working with the cruise lines, the Coast Guard and the pilots to see what can be done to bring the cruise ships in as quickly but as safely as possible,' Simons said. Galveston is a major cruise embarkation port, with an estimated 1.73million passengers annually. Advertisement

Daybreak revealed downed lamp posts and tree limbs and roof tiles torn off buildings. The city's marina was nearly unscathed, save an awning ripped from a restaurant entrance and a wooden garbage bin uprooted and thrown.

Along Interstate 45 leaving Galveston, motorists had to stop under bridges to avoid driving in whiteout conditions.

Fueled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, Harvey grew rapidly, accelerating from a Category One early Friday morning to a Category Four by evening. Its transformation from an ordinary storm to a life-threatening behemoth took only 56 hours, an incredibly fast

Harvey came ashore as the fiercest hurricane to hit the US in 12 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961's Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record.

Before the storm arrived, property owners raced to nail plywood over windows and fill sandbags. Steady traffic filled the highways leaving Corpus Christi, but there were no apparent jams. In Houston, where mass evacuations can include changing major highways to a one-way vehicle flow, authorities left traffic patterns unchanged.



Terry Smith (left) stands with Barry Skipper (right) as the last winds of Hurricane Harvey pass through on Saturdaday in Rockport

First responder Ty Wilson gets some rest and a meal on Saturday in a building near the Freeman Expo Hall as Hurricane Harvey passes through San Antonio

American Red Cross volunteers assemble beds for a shelter setup at a Holiday Inn after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Corpus Christi

Antonio Barron (left) and his girlfriend, Melissa Rocha (right), walk through the street during a downpour from Hurricane Harvey on Saturday in Palacios, Texas

A trailer overturned and objects strewen about in the wake of Hurricane Harvey on Saturday in Aransas Pass, Texas

The threat of 'catastrophic' flooding in the Lone Star State will persist into next week (Pictured, left,a car lies submerged in Corpus Christi on Saturday, and right, a tractor-trailer is blown over on US Highway 59 in Inez, Texas, just outside the eye of the storm on Saturday)

An apparent tornado ripped through Katy, Texas, causing damage to several buildings. Pictured: A collapsed Denny's restaurant

Scientists warned that Harvey could also spawn tornadoes such as one that appears to have ripped through Katy (above), a city west of Houston

Flash flood warnings continue to be in effect as Hurricane Harvey pounds Port Lavaca, Texas, one of the city's under mandatory evacuations

Powerful winds swept through Port Lavaca,including a six-foot surge that has stayed at that height since 2am Saturday

Destruction continued to spread on Saturday as homes crumpled and were subjected to massive flooding (pictured, Victoria, Texas)

More than 338,000 customers were without power as of 10am ET, on the Texas Gulf Coast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said, amid reports of downed power lines and trees

Governor Abbot said a press conference on Saturday that it would likely be several days before those who lost power got it back because wind speeds have to reduce before power can be restored.

Relief has begun to pour in from other states. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo deployed aircraft, vessels, and Airmen from the 106th Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard to help the Hurricane Harvey response in Texas and Louisiana.

'As Hurricane Harvey continues to devastate the Gulf Coast, I am deploying emergency personnel and equipment to help mitigate damage and aid in the recovery effort,' Governor Cuomo said. ''New Yorkers first-hand know the damage Mother Nature can cause, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with Louisiana and Texas as they brace for Hurricane Harvey.'

The governor's comments reference Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Atlantic coast in October 2012. In New York City, almost all road tunnels entering Manhattan were flooded as was the New York City subway system, Large parts of the city lost electricity for days and hundreds of homes were damaged by flooding or fire.

Economic losses were estimated to be roughly $19billion with an approximate $32.8billion required for restoration across the state.

Already more than nine inches of rain have fallen in south Texas (Pictured, a traffic signal lies at an intersection in Corpus Christi on Saturday)

By storm's end, more than $40billion worth of damage is expected to be left behind (Pictured, a garage's walls collapse by the winds of Hurricane Harvey)

A power generator container tips in front of a hospital on the Corpus Christi shoreline

Trees were knocked over by the massive winds as torrential rains swept Corpus Christi (pictured)

Rain is blown past palm trees as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Corpus Christi. An estimated 40 inches of rain is expected to fall by the storm's end

In this NOAA handout image, a satellite captures Hurricane Harvey making landfall shortly after 8.00pm local time on Friday

Harvey (right) is on course to make landfall as the strongest storm since the devastating Katrina 12 years ago (left)

The storm had sustained winds of 130mph on Friday evening when it made landfall on the Texas coast

Further tragedy struck when police were called to scene of a shooting in Corpus Christi during the middle of the hurricane, with a victim in serious condition

Further tragedy struck when police were called to scene of a shooting in Corpus Christi during the middle of the hurricane.

Corpus Christi police responded to a shooting incident at 7100 Ficus Court around midnight local time when a homeowner shot an intruder.

As the storm hit, people took to social media to capture the force of nature, posting videos of trees being bent by the wind and buildings flying away.

Some were briefly aghast after Jeff Piotrowski, a storm chaser, posted video that abruptly cut off leaving viewers wondering if he was killed by a collapsing building.

Piotrowski live streamed himself on Periscope as he and his partners sat through 130mph wind gusts in Rockport, Texas. As Harvey's eye reached the Texas coast, Piotrowski remained in the area and filmed the effects of the hurricane.

At one point, Piotrowski said that a 'car wash'-like structure collapsed and that the roof of the building in which his car was parked was also in danger of collapsing.

'There's total destruction here outside my window,' Piotrowski said, his voice rising as he dramatically describes the effects of the devastation around him.

'There's zero visibility,' he said in one Periscope video. 'I see walls and debris now flying through the air.'

Piotrowski described 'roofs being ripped off' and 'high beams splitting.'