CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Hurricane Harvey began moved into Texas late Friday, bringing the fierce winds and torrential rain whose forecast earlier sent tens of thousands of residents fleeing a wide swath of the state's Gulf Coast in hopes of escaping its wrath.

The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the Category 4 hurricane made landfall about 10 p.m. Central about 30 mph east-northeast of Corpus Christi between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor, Texas, bringing with it 130 mph sustained winds and flooding rains.

Harvey took aim at coastal areas that include oil refineries, chemical plants and dangerously flood-prone Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the monster system would be "a very major disaster," and the forecasts drew fearful comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest ever to strike the U.S.

"We know that we've got millions of people who are going to feel the impact of this storm," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman and meteorologist for the National Hurricane Center. "We really pray that people are listening to their emergency managers and get out of harm's way."

#Harvey made landfall at 10 PM CDT as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas, with max winds of 130 mph and min pressure of 938 mb. pic.twitter.com/98y5wpKmBw — National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 26, 2017

Patrick Rios, the mayor pro tem in Rockport, Texas, told KIII-TV of Corpus Christi earlier Friday that Harvey "is a life-threatening storm."

He said those who stay "should make some type of preparation to mark their arm with a Sharpie pen," implying that they should make it easier for rescuers to identify them.

Rockport City Manager Kevin Carruth said by phone late Friday that he had heard reports of a tree falling into a mobile home and roofs collapsing on houses. The city, about 31 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, had peak wind surges of more than 125 miles per hour, according to National Weather Service reports.

The city manager said multiple people have been taken to the county's jail for assessment and treatment after the roof of a senior housing complex collapsed.

KIII-TV reports that 10 people have been treated in Rockport since Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast city. The Associated Press was unable to reach an operator at the Aransas County Detention Center in Rockport just after midnight.

Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims said there are about 15 volunteer firefighters hunkered down at the city's fire station waiting for conditions to improve enough for their vehicles to safely travel and to assess the damage to the city of about 10,000 people.

"There's nothing we can do at this moment. We are anxious to get out there and make assessments, but we're hunkered down for now," he said.

President Donald Trump said he has signed a disaster declaration for Texas as Hurricane Harvey nears on the middle Texas coast. Trump announced his declaration in a posting on his Twitter account.

At the request of the Governor of Texas, I have signed the Disaster Proclamation, which unleashes the full force of government help! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017

Fueled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, Harvey grew rapidly, accelerating from a Category 1 early in the morning to a Category 4 by evening. Its transformation from an unnamed storm to a life-threatening behemoth took only 56 hours, an incredibly fast intensification.

In addition to devastating winds, Harvey was expected to drop prodigious amounts of rain -- up to 3 feet. The resulting flooding, one expert said, could be "the depths of which we've never seen."

Galveston-based storm surge expert Hal Needham said forecasts indicated that it was "becoming more and more likely that something really bad is going to happen."

At least one researcher predicted heavy damage that would linger for months or longer.

"In terms of economic impact, Harvey will probably be on par with Hurricane Katrina," said University of Miami senior hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. "The Houston area and Corpus Christi are going to be a mess for a long time."

Before the storm arrived, home and business 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.

Federal health officials called in more than 400 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from around the nation and planned to move two 250-bed medical units to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other federal medical units are available in Dallas.

Just hours before the projected landfall, the governor and Houston leaders issued conflicting statements on evacuation.

After Abbott urged more people to flee, Houston authorities told people to remain in their homes and recommended no widespread evacuations. Mayor Sylvester Turner on Friday tweeted "please think twice before trying to leave Houston en masse." The spokesman of emergency operations in Harris County was even more direct, tweeting: "LOCAL LEADERS KNOW BEST."

NEW: #Harvey continues to intensify and is now a category 4 #hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/7CkJkuafTb — National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 25, 2017

At a convenience store in Houston's Meyerland neighborhood, at least 12 cars lined up for fuel. Brent Borgstedte said this was the fourth gas station he had visited to try to fill up his son's car. The 55-year-old insurance agent shrugged off Harvey's risks.

"I don't think anybody is really that worried about it. I've lived here my whole life," he said. "I've been through several hurricanes."

Scientists warned that Harvey could swamp counties more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) inland and stir up dangerous surf as far away as Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) from the projected landfall.

It may also spawn tornadoes. Even after weakening, the system might spin out into the Gulf and regain strength before hitting Houston a second time Wednesday as a tropical storm, forecasters said.

-- By Michael Graczyk and Frank Bajak