Hurricane Harvey, which has cut a path of devastation through parts of coastal Texas, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon.
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Despite the downgrade, the storm is being called a "deadly inland event," according to a tweet by Brock Long, the administration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.)
One fatality has been confirmed since the hurricane hit landfall at around 10 p.m. on Friday night. Harvey first struck southeast Texas between the cities of Port O'Connor and Port Aransas, near Corpus Christi as a Category 4, with winds up to 130 mph.
Harvey is the most powerful hurricane to hit U.S. soil since Hurricane Charley struck Florida in 2004. Although it has occasionally been compared to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated parts of Louisiana in 2005, Katrina was classified as a Category 3 hurricane when struck land.
Hardest hit has been the city of Rockport, where the fatality occurred during a house fire. Although residents of Rockport were warned to evacuate in advance of the storm, some 5,000 people opted not to do so. On Friday, Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios urged those staying behind to use a Sharpie pen to mark their names and social security numbers on their arms.
By late Saturday morning, the storm had been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane with a further downgrade to a tropical storm by late Saturday afternoon.
Coastal areas are now hunkering down in anticipation of severe flooding as a result of overflowing rivers and bayous. The National Weather Service office in Houston has noted that a flash flood watch warning is in effect through Tuesday evening in parts of southeastern Texas.
Waters won't recede quickly predicted CNN meteorologist Michael Guy. "[This] is going to be a long, ongoing flood event," he said.
The 210-mile stretch that connects Corpus Christi and Houston has already been hit with 20 inches of rain and can expect to get as many as 30 inches more in the coming days, said Texas governor Greg Abbot.
On late Friday, Governor Abbot suspended the collection of the transient occupancy hotel tax throughout the state for any evacuees fleeing the storm as well as for relief workers entering the affected region. The suspension will stay in effect until September 6, 2017.
Travelers with plans to fly to affected areas should check with their airlines as to updated flight schedules. Numerous airlines are waiving change fees for passengers who prefer to re-book their travels.
Meanwhile, some 20,000 cruise passengers have been stranded as several Galveston-bound ships have been forced to wait out the storm in the Gulf of Mexico. None of the ships are permitted to enter the port until Tuesday at the earliest.
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