Hurricane Harvey was an intense Category 4 hurricane that brought heavy flooding to the Fort Bend and Brazoria counties of Texas. Hurricane Harvey was the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane Ike hit Houston in 2008, and was the first Category 3 or higher storm to hit since Hurricane Brett in 1999.

Hurricane Harvey formed by a tropical wave off of the African coast on August 13, 2017, and by the 23rd, had strengthened into a tropical depression. The next forty eight hours saw Harvey rapidly strengthen into a Category 4 before making landfall near Port Aransas on August 25.

Rain bands were the most significant force of flooding, and by the time the storm had passed, only 10% of southeast Texas rivers had not seen substantial flooding. Around 46% of rivers reached historic levels of flooding. A total of 56 inches fell across the area. Nationally, 107 people died as a result of the storm, 103 of those being in Texas.

More information on Hurricane Harvey can be found in the National Hurricane’s full report.