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Harvey strengthens to Category 4 storm

Posted at 3:30 PM, Aug 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-25 19:08:19-04

HOUSTON (AP) — The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Harvey has strengthened to a Category 4 storm.

The center says Harvey has maximum wind speeds of 130 mph as the powerful storm churns off the Texas coast. Forecasters are labeling it a “life-threatening storm.”

The storm quickly grew Thursday from a tropical depression into a Category 1 hurricane, and then developed into a Category 2 storm early Friday. By Friday afternoon, it had become a Category 3 storm. It’s forecast to make landfall in Texas late Friday or early Saturday.

The slow-moving storm is fueled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters. Forecasters are labeling it a “life-threatening storm” with landfall predicted late Friday or early Saturday between Port O’Connor and Matagorda Bay, a 30-mile stretch of coastline about 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.