Harvey Smashes homes and businesses in Texas

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP)--- Hurricane Harvey rolled over the Texas Gulf Coast yesterday, smashing homes and businesses and lashing the shore with wind and rain so intense that drivers were forced off the road because they could not see in front of them.

The fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade spun across hundreds of miles of coastline where communities had prepared for life-threatening storm surges -- walls of water rushing inland.

The mammoth system made landfall late Friday as a Category four storm and gradually weakened over several hours to Category one, but remained destructive.

While no deaths were immediately reported, high winds kept emergency crews out of many places, and authorities said it could be hours before emergency teams are able to fully assess damage.