美国有线新闻 CNN 飓风哈维重创美得克萨斯州 休斯敦内涝严重

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The U.S. state of Texas is reeling from Hurricane Harvey. Late last week, the storm strengthened much more and much faster than meteorologists originally expected. And it made landfall Friday night just north of the city of Corpus Christi.

Harvey was a category four storm when it came ashore¹. With maximum sustained winds of at least 130 miles per hour, it spawned² off tornadoes³ and soaked parts of the state with rain.

Though Harvey lost strength once it was over land and was expected to be downgraded to a tropical depression last night, the drenching⁴ storm was moving slowly and the National Hurricane Center said catastrophic and life threatening floods were possible.

At least two deaths have been blamed on the storm. Entire neighborhoods have been flooded. Police told people who are trapped in their homes to take axes with them if they planned to climb up to their attics⁵, so they could chop through their roofs to flag down rescue workers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency expects the recovery effort in Houston to take years. The city is the fourth largest in the U.S. and it's been flooded repeatedly in the past. And though it's located around 170 miles from where Harvey made landfall, the storm's rain and wind are expected to last the city throughout much of the week.

Every freeway in and out of Houston was underwater yesterday. Three thousand members of the Texas National Guard had been activated⁶. Help, rescuers and equipment are coming in from across the country.