Texas town hit hard by Hurricane Harvey

Texas is reeling in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, particularly one small Texas town that suffered “widespread devastation” according to its mayor.

“We’ve already taken a severe blow from the storm but we’re anticipating another one” from severe flooding and the storm’s aftermath, Mayor Charles Wax of Rockport, Texas, told the Weather Channel.

He said the category 4 storm caused over half of the town’s 9,500 residents to evacuate.

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Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios advised residents on Friday that those remaining in the town should write their names and social security numbers on their arms in permanent marker. 

While Wax said that there are no confirmed deaths in the city from the hurricane, emergency response teams have yet to carry out home checks to verify Rockport residents’ well-being. 

The Texas National Guard announced Saturday that it mobilized to begin a search and rescue mission for citizens potentially lost in the storm. 

In the aftermath of the storm’s impact on the coast, photos and videos of the storm’s destruction of towns and residents’ property have begun to surface. 

“Extensive property damage in Rockport, Texas,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas tweeted on Saturday, with pictures of homes and vehicles destroyed by the storm.

Extensive property damage in Rockport, Texas. #harveyhurricane pic.twitter.com/cfPop2VmH9

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 26, 2017

AccuWeather meteorologist Reed Timmer also tweeted videos of the extensive flooding in Rockport, saying that search and rescue teams were “combing through rubble.”

Buildings torn apart likely from mesovortices in the eye wall of Hurricane #Harvey in Rockport, TX coke machine standing @breakingweather pic.twitter.com/Hbp6ys4fHZ

— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) August 26, 2017

Second floor of home with walls and roof gone just south of Rockport, TX from Hurricane #Harvey @breakingweather pic.twitter.com/RHXxcaGUkI

— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) August 26, 2017

Major flooding is blocking business 35 south of Rockport, TX. Search and rescue teams combing through rubble @breakingweather #Harvey pic.twitter.com/R2Kh95gI0s

— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) August 26, 2017