Hurricane Harvey developed east of the Lesser Antilles and reached tropical storm status on August 17, 2017 causing destruction in several Caribbean Sea nations over the next few days before weakening. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify over the Bay of Campeche on August 23 where it reached Category 4 hurricane status. Harvey made landfall in the US at San José Island, Texas on August 25, at peak intensity, followed by another landfall at Holiday Beach at Category 3 intensity. Harvey then weakened and was reclassified as a tropical storm as it stalled near the coastline, dropping torrential and unprecedented amounts of rainfall over Texas. On August 28, it moved back over the Gulf of Mexico, strengthened, and made landfall in Louisiana
on August 29. Harvey became extratropical on September 1 and dissipated completely two days later.
Harvey dumped more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain in a 4-day period, causing unprecedented flooding, with peak accumulations of 60.58 in (1,539 mm), in Nederland, Texas, Harvey was the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, which displaced more than 30,000 people and prompted more than 17,000 rescues. Harvey also caused at least 106 confirmed deaths in the United States. Total damage from the hurricane is estimated at $125 billion (2017 USD), making it among the costliest natural disasters in US history, comparable only with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.