A contractor walks over debris from Hurricane Harvey Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, in Missouri City, Texas. Harvey rolled over the Texas Gulf Coast on Saturday, smashing homes and businesses and lashing the... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Harvey (all times local): 
 
 2:15 p.m. 
 
 A Coast Guard official says helicopters rescued 18 people from boats and barges that were in distress because of Harvey. 
 
 Capt. Tony Hahn, commander of the Corpus Christi sector, said Saturday that the two helicopters managed to rescue the people when it became safe enough to do so. He says they retrieved three people from a fishing boat, four from a barge and 11 from two tugboats. 
 
 He says several boats sank in the Port of Corpus Christi and there will be a lot of work to do before it can reopen. 
 
 Hahn also says that since Corpus Christi is the third largest petrochemical port in the nation, there is the potential for chemical and crude oil spills, so they'll be watching for that. 
 
 He says the Port of Brownsville reopened Saturday morning and they haven't yet been able to assess the Port of Victoria. 
 
 Harvey came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane Friday night but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. 
 
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 2:12 p.m. 
 
 The White House says President Donald Trump has met with his Cabinet and other senior administration officials to discuss the federal response to the flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. 
 
 It issued a statement Saturday saying that Trump held a video conference from Camp David in which he instructed the relevant departments and agencies to "stay fully engaged and positioned to support his number one priority of saving lives." 
 
 It says Trump also reminded his department heads that the full impact of the storm won't be apparent for days, as residents of Texas and Louisiana recover from the heavy flooding and wind damage. 
 
 Harvey came ashore in Texas on Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm as it weakens while moving inland. Forecasters warn of the possibility of catastrophic flooding, including in Houston, the nation's fourth largest city. 
 
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 1:45 p.m. 
 
 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says there have been no confirmed deaths linked to Tropical Storm Harvey. 
 
 Abbott said at a news conference Saturday in Austin that he's working with local officials and seeking information about the storm, but that there's nothing yet confirming that it killed anyone. 
 
 Abbott says it's too early to speculate as to how much property damage the storm has caused, but he has expanded his disaster declaration to cover more counties. 
 
 Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane, but it has since been downgraded to a tropical storm as it weakens while moving inland. 
 
 Forecasters warn that the storm could cause catastrophic flooding as it lingers in the area for several days. 
 
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 1 p.m. 
 
 The National Hurricane Center has downgraded Harvey from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm. 
 
 But officials say they are still worried about potentially catastrophic rainfall that will continue for days, with more than 40 inches and flash flooding possible even well inland. 
 
 Harvey came ashore Friday along the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds, the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. 
 
 Experts say hurricanes almost always lose strength quickly after making landfall and moving away from the warm waters that fuel their winds. But the danger doesn't end there. 
 
 Harvey is expected to keep slowing and dumping rain through the middle of next week. 
 
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 12:45 p.m. 
 
 Hurricane Harvey has been dumping nearly 3 inches (76.2 millimeters) of rain per hour at times and has left some streets in flood-prone Houston submerged in water. 
 
 Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the chief administrator of the county that includes Houston, says flooding so far is a "minor issue." He says most of the watersheds are well within their banks "but we're not out of this." 
 
 Forecasters are predicting major flooding in the area by Tuesday. Houston has about 1,700 miles (2735.76 kilometers) of channels that drain to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 A handful of freeway service roads and streets and some scattered neighborhoods that normally experience high water in heavy rain have been flooded. 
 
 Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner cautions that although major flooding hasn't happened yet, "that can change." 
 
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 11:30 a.m. 
 
 Families who escaped Rockport before Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coastal city are worried about neighbors and whether their homes are still standing. 
 
 Johanna Cochran says she's panicking over whether her house or the McDonald's where she works survived the storm, which dealt Rockport a direct blow. She and her boyfriend evacuated to a San Antonio shelter along with dozens of other coastal residents. 
 
 Another Rockport resident, Pamela Montes, says she's also worried about her friends and her home. She says she knows many people who stayed behind because "no one felt like it was going to hit." 
 
 Harvey made landfall Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a Category 1, which is the least powerful classification. Forecasters warn that it could cause catastrophic flooding over the coming days. 
 
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 11 a.m. 
 
 Texas officials say they are evacuating about 4,500 inmates from three state prisons in Brazoria County south of Houston because the nearby Brazos River is rising from Hurricane Harvey's heavy rain. 
 
 The Department of Criminal Justice says inmates from the Ramsey, Terrell, and Stringfellow Units in Rosharon are being taken by bus to other prisons in east Texas. 
 
 Additional food and water has been delivered to the prisons receiving the displaced inmates. 
 
 Harvey came ashore in Texas on Friday night as the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. It has since weakened to a Category 1 storm. 
 
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 10:35 a.m. 
 
 The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Harvey's maximum sustained winds have decreased to about 75 mph (120 kph) and that the storm is now centered about 25 miles west of Victoria, Texas. 
 
 The center says in its 10 a.m. update that the storm is expected to weaken over the next 48 hours and to become a tropical storm by Saturday afternoon. The storm is moving north at 2 mph (3 kph). 
 
 The hurricane center says that although the winds are weakening, the storm could cause catastrophic flooding over the coming days. 
 
 Harvey came ashore in Texas on Friday night as the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. 
 
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 10:15 a.m. 
 
 The Coast Guard has sent two helicopters to try to rescue the crews of three tugboats in distress near the Lydia Ann Channel near Port Aransas, Texas. 
 
 The Coast Guard at Corpus Christi says it received a mayday notification Saturday from crew members aboard the Belle Chase, Sandy Point and Sabine Pass. 
 
 Two MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrews have been sent to rescue the crews. 
 
 Texas is being pounded by Hurricane Harvey, which came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane Friday night but has since been downgraded to a Category 1 as it moves inland. Forecasters warn that it could cause catastrophic flooding in the coming days. 
 
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 9:40 a.m. 
 
 Hurricane Harvey has knocked out power to nearly 300,000 customers along the Texas coast and has dumped nearly 20 inches (half a meter) of rain in some places. 
 
 The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages about 90 percent of the state's electric grid, says there were 211,000 outages in the few hours after Harvey made landfall Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane. 
 
 That figure rose to 293,000 on Saturday, when the hurricane was downgraded to Category 1. 
 
 In addition to loss of power, emergency personnel in the communities northeast of Corpus Christi where Harvey made landfall are reporting loss of cellphone service and other forms of communication. 
 
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 9 a.m. 
 
 The rain was so torrential along Interstate 45 coming out of Galveston as Hurricane Harvey settled over southeast Texas that motorists had to stop under bridges to avoid driving in whiteout conditions. 
 
 The downpour on Saturday has also caused minor street flooding along a highway in Dickinson, about 25 miles northwest of Galveston. 
 
 Harvey, the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, made landfall Friday night about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph (209 kph) winds. 
 
 It gradually weakened over the next several hours and the National Hurricane Center said that by 5 a.m. Saturday Harvey was downgraded to a Category 1. 
 
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 8:30 a.m. 
 
 A Texas mayor says Hurricane Harvey hit his coastal community "right on the nose" and left "widespread devastation." 
 
 Rockport Mayor Charles "C.J." Wax told The Weather Channel on Saturday that some homes and businesses were heavily damaged or even completely destroyed. Schools were also damaged. 
 
 He says emergency response system for the city of about 10,000 people has been hampered by the loss of cellphone service and other forms of communication. 
 
 Harvey made landfall Friday evening as a Category 4 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a Category 1. The National Hurricane Center says the threat in coming days is sustained rains that could unleash "catastrophic" flooding. 
 
 The city of Victoria, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Rockport, had received more than 16 inches of rain by Saturday morning. 
 
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 8:15 a.m. 
 
 Daybreak has revealed some of the damage caused when Hurricane Harvey came ashore overnight, including downed lamp posts and tree limbs in Corpus Christi and roof tiles torn off buildings. 
 
 Harvey came ashore along Texas' Gulf Coast on Friday night as the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade. It has since been downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 1 hurricane, but the storm is expected to hover in the region for days and to dump as much as 40 inches (1 meter) of rain in places. 
 
 Corpus Christi's marina has been left nearly unscathed, save an awning ripped from a restaurant entrance and a wooden garbage bin uprooted and thrown. 
 
 An old white sport fishing boat was partially submerged and several boats' sails came unfurled and were ripped and whipping in wind gusts of more than 50 mph. 
 
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 7:45 a.m. 
 
 President Donald Trump has commended the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for his handling of the hurricane now hitting the Texas Gulf Coast. 
 
 In a tweet Saturday morning addressed to FEMA head Brock Long, Trump said: "You are doing a great job - the world is watching! Be safe." 
 
 Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, is posing the first major emergency management test of Trump's administration. 
 
 In a separate tweet, Trump said he is monitoring the hurricane closely from Camp David and "We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!" 
 
 He also tweeted that "We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!" 
 
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 5:45 a.m. 
 
 Harvey has been further downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it churns slowly inland from the Texas Gulf Coast, already depositing more than 9 inches of rain in South Texas. 
 
 Harvey made landfall about 10 p.m. Friday east-northeast of Corpus Christi as a Category 4, with winds in excess of 130 mph (210 kph). 
 
 But wind speeds quickly weakened and by early Saturday Harvey was downgraded. It continues to produce gusts of up to 120 mph (193 kph) and sustained winds of 90 mph (144 kph). The National Hurricane Center warns of "catastrophic flooding" over the next few days. 
 
 Emergency personnel in coastal communities like Rockport, just northeast of Corpus Christi, say there's broad damage to buildings. But Rockport Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims said early Saturday that firefighters were hunkered down at the city's fire station waiting for conditions to improve to assess the damage. 
 
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 4:22 a.m. 
 
 Hurricane Harvey has settled over southeast Texas, dumping rain and lashing the state's Gulf Coast with damaging winds. 
 
 The storm made landfall Friday night as a Category 4 with 130 mph (209 kph) winds. It gradually weakened over the next several hours and by early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said it back to a Category 2 — still sustaining winds of 110 mph (185 kph) as of 3 a.m. 
 
 Early damage reports from Gulf Coast cities included collapsed roofs and walls. One community transported multiple people from a senior living home to the county jail for treatment after a roof caved in. 
 
 But officials remained largely unable to assess the damage before daylight. 
 
 The storm is expected to slow further and flood the area with rain through the middle of next week. The center warned that Harvey could produce life-threatening storm surges along a coastal area of more than 400 miles (643 kilometers). ||||| Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast on Aug. 25 with extreme rain and 130 mph winds, and residents are bracing for more bad weather. (Victoria Walker,Whitney Leaming,Kurt Kuykendall/The Washington Post) 
 
 Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast on Aug. 25 with extreme rain and 130 mph winds, and residents are bracing for more bad weather. (Victoria Walker,Whitney Leaming,Kurt Kuykendall/The Washington Post) 
 
 Harvey pummeled Texas on Saturday, destroying buildings and causing widespread power outages as residents evacuated towns and prepared for historic flooding that could keep them from their homes for days. 
 
 After the storm pounded the Texas coast, it crept inland and then stopped moving, as if mired in mud, and its torrential rains are not expected to abate for many days. Rising rivers have started to trigger evacuations across a broad section of the state, and computer models are forecasting record flooding. 
 
 Officials confirmed one fatality near the small coastal town of Rockport, which took a direct hit from the storm, as search and rescue operations continued in ravaged areas that are still largely inaccessible. Officials said Rockport could receive as much as 60 inches of rain through midweek. 
 
 “We’ve been devastated,” Rockport Mayor C.J. Wax said in a telephone interview. “There are structures that are either significantly disrupted or completely destroyed. I have some buildings that are lying on the street.” 
 
 In the nearby island town of Port Aransas, officers conducted a search and rescue mission for eight people who have been reported missing, an Aransas County sheriff’s deputy said. 
 
 1 of 74 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, slams South Texas View Photos Within hours after landfall as a Category 4 storm, Harvey weakened to Category 1, though “catastrophic” floods were still expected. Caption The hurricane, which has weakened to a tropical storm, is the first Category 4 storm to hit the United States since Charley in 2004. Harvey has destroyed homes, severed power supplies and caused severe flooding. Aug. 27, 2017 Two kayakers try to beat the current of an overflowing Brays Bayou in Houston. Rescuers answered hundreds of calls for help as floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey began to fill second-story homes. Mark Mulligan/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 In the coming days, forecasters expect the storm to meander south and east, and possibly slip back out over the warm gulf waters, allowing it to restrengthen to some extent. All the while, it will dump what could be historic quantities of rain — 15 to 30 inches in many areas, with as much as 40 inches in isolated areas, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 As many as 300,000 people across the state were without power Saturday afternoon, and wastewater and drinking-water treatment plants were offline. 
 
 The National Weather Service predicted “major flood” conditions at some 49 river locations across a vast expanse of coastal Texas. 
 
 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he had declared 50 counties disaster areas. With the storm now ashore, he said that “our primary concern remains dramatic flooding.” He urged residents to follow the familiar advice: “Turn around, don’t drown.” 
 
 Many coastal Texans ignored mandatory evacuation orders and hunkered down for Harvey. 
 
 “We’ve always stayed. Daddy taught us well how to ride out a storm,” said Melissa Stewart, 41, of Victoria. “It’s always better to stay than to run.” 
 
 That city was directly in the line of fire of Harvey and emerged Saturday looking trashed, with the streets deserted and trees and power lines down all over the city. The once-stately oaks in the public square by the historic courthouse had lost many of their limbs. On the main drag through town, the Exxon station looked demolished, along with a Valero station nearby. Plywood that had been nailed to storefronts littered the streets. Shingles had been blown off roofs. 
 
 Bryan Simons, spokesman for the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office, warned that more devastation was coming. 
 
 “There will be life-threatening, catastrophic flooding here,” he said. 
 
 The Tres Palacios River has risen more than 20 feet near Midfield, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The San Bernard River near the town of Sweeny is expected to rise more than 10 feet above its 1998 record flood stage. The Brazos River is expected to break a flood record set last year, and officials have ordered mandatory evacuations in low-lying areas of Fort Bend County. 
 
 Among the cities at risk of major flooding is Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest, with a population in excess of 2 million. Saturday evening, the city was buffeted by mammoth rains and nonstop lightning. The National Weather Service was keeping much of the area under tornado watch into the evening. 
 
 In the southwest part of the city, Brays Bayou was swelling with fast-flowing, debris-filled brown water, and a tornado touched down in a suburban neighborhood. 
 
 Montry Ray was staying up late to ride out the storm with his wife and two children when the roaring sound of the tornado sent them running for cover in a bathroom. Just as they bolted from the master bedroom, the storm exploded through its wall, embedding bricks in the drywall across the room. The storm ripped open the roof. 
 
 “You know how they say you hear the train noise?” said 12-year-old Caden Hill, who lives down the street. “I heard it.” 
 
 He, along with about 50 neighbors, turned out Saturday morning to help clean up. Volunteers chopped fallen trees, hauled away crumpled fences and gathered debris while roofers went to work. 
 
 To the west, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg urged residents to continue to stay off the roads as Harvey neared the city and brought wind gusts of op to 60 mph and heavy rain. The city is under a flash flood watch and tropical storm warning. 
 
 “We don’t want anyone in San Antonio to let their guard down,” Nirenberg said. 
 
 The city closed 10 roads because of high water, and officials expect that number to grow. 
 
 The storm made landfall at 10 p.m. Central Time on Friday with 130 mph winds — the first Category 4 storm to hit the United States since Charley in 2004. By late morning Saturday, it had lost some of its punch, but still had hurricane-force winds of 80 mph, having drifted to about 25 miles west of the inland city of Victoria. Shortly after noon, the National Hurricane Center downgraded Harvey to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 70 mph. 
 
 Weather officials took to social media and the airwaves Saturday in an effort to persuade people not to become complacent because of the relatively muted impact so far in places away from the Rockport area. 
 
 In Galveston, a city that lived through the last big Texas hurricane — Ike, in 2008 — residents seemed unconcerned Saturday morning. 
 
 At the packed Waffle House — one of the few businesses open in the area — Galveston residents Dottie and Kevin Bowden ate breakfast with their 16-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Stewart. 
 
 “This ain’t nothing,” Kevin Bowden said. 
 
 All the houses in their neighborhood are built on stilts, so the Bowdens and their neighbors weren’t worried about flooding, and local officials did not issue a mandatory evacuation order. Everyone in the neighborhood stayed to ride out the storm. 
 
 “We’re not crazy,” said Dottie, 63, who runs a business cleaning rental properties. “If they told us to leave, we would have.” 
 
 “And this isn’t our first rodeo,” added her husband, 56, who manages personal investments. He said the biggest problem so far was that “we’re running low on Corona.” 
 
 Farther east, the hurricane has put officials in New Orleans and across Louisiana on alert, and Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Saturday that it could be a week before the state has to cope with flooding. He said the pumping system in New Orleans, which flooded earlier this month after a heavy downpour, is steadily improving. “We’re a long ways from being out of the woods, but we are very thankful it hasn’t been more severe up to now,” he said of the storm. 
 
 President Trump signed a disaster proclamation for Texas on Friday night after Abbott, the governor, sent him a written request saying that “Texas is about to experience one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the state.” White House aides said Trump will visit Texas soon. 
 
 Trump said in a series of tweets Saturday morning that he is closely monitoring the situation from Camp David and that federal officials have been on the ground since before the storm hit. He urged residents to “be safe” and pledged a thorough federal response. “We are leaving nothing to chance,” he wrote. “City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!” 
 
 [As Hurricane Harvey slams into state, Texans hunker down] 
 
 Sullivan reported from Houston, Galveston and Victoria. Craig reported from Rockport and Corpus Christi. Achenbach reported from Washington. Dylan Baddour in Houston, Brittney Martin in San Antonio, Ashley Cusick in New Orleans, Mary Lee Grant in Port Aransas, Tex., Sofia Sokolove in Austin, Emily Wax in Katy, Tex., and Sandhya Somashekhar, Angela Fritz and Wesley Lowery contributed to this report. ||||| A small city nestled on the Texas Gulf Coast has been hit hard by Harvey's wrath of torrential rain and high wind, leaving one dead, and the life-threatening weather has prevented emergency crews from responding to calls for help, officials said. 
 
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 Rockport Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Sims told ABC News around 9 a.m. on Saturday that its teams are out doing assessments of the area of about 10,000 residents. Earlier in the morning, about 22 firefighters were still hunkered down at the local fire station. The department had about 25 to 30 pending calls at the time, and firefighters were anxious to help, Sims said, but they weren't able to respond until weather conditions improved and it was safe for them to travel. 
 
 Sims said the firehouse fared well in the storm thus far. 
 
 "It rattled, it shook, but made it through it," he said. 
 
 At least one person died in Rockport as a result of the storm, officials said Saturday afternoon. The individual's identity was not released pending next-of-kin notification. 
 
 The extent of the damage in Rockport became more clear as daylight brightened. ABC News' crew on the ground observed homes and buildings with roofs that had collapsed or were blown off; storefronts on Main Street that were shattered; brick structures that had crumbled; and flooded streets with downed power lines and scattered debris, making some roads completely impassable. 
 
 Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Rockport City Manager Kevin Carruth also confirmed to ABC News that multiple buildings were damaged in the coastal community, including the courthouse and the public high school. 
 
 Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane at around 10 p.m. local time Friday over the northern end of San Jose Island between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor. The storm's eye was 30 miles away from the coastal city of Corpus Christi. By Saturday afternoon, Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm. 
 
 However, Rockport, located about 31 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, experienced peak wind surges of more than 125 mph overnight, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 Joe Raedle/Getty Images 
 
 The city was among a handful of Texas locales that had issued mandatory evacuations prior to Harvey's anticipated arrival Friday night. Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios advised residents who were not evacuating ahead of the massive storm to mark their identities on their bodies. 
 
 "We’re suggesting if people are going to stay here, mark their arm with a Sharpie pen with their name and Social Security number," Rios said at a news conference Friday morning. 
 
 Brian Emfinger/LSM 
 
 He said that grim step is necessary to prepare for the worst in case of deaths among people who remain in the area. 
 
 "We hate to talk about things like that," he added. "It's not something we like to do but it’s the reality, people don’t listen." 
 
 Brian Emfinger/LSM 
 
 ABC News' Janet Weinstein contributed to this report.
– The first death as a result of Hurricane Harvey has been reported in Rockport, Texas. Rockport Mayor CJ Wax confirmed the fatality Saturday, the Washington Post reports. According to ABC News, the identity of the victim has not been released. An Aransas County judge says 12 to 14 people were injured in the area, the AP reports. Officials expect to find more victims as searches continue. When Hurricane Harvey hit Rockport, a city of about 10,000 people, winds were peaking at 125mph. The wind and rain prevented emergency crews from responding to distress calls. At one point Saturday morning, 22 firefighters were stuck sheltering in a fire station, forced to ignore up to 30 requests for help. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says it's too early to make any guesses as to the extent of property damage or casualties. But in Rockport, where residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation were advised to write their identities on their arm, buildings were destroyed. Wax described the situation to the Post in an email: “Widespread devastation unknown loss of life.” The area could still face serious flooding, with up to 60 inches of rain by the middle of next week. Meanwhile, some Texas residents remained unimpressed with Harvey's fury. A 56-year-old man in Galveston described his most-pressing concern: "We're running low on Corona."