Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Texas late Friday, US meteorologists said, warning that "catastrophic flooding" was expected due to the heavy rains kicked up by the monster storm.

Harvey, which became a category 4 storm as it churned ashore, hit land at 10:00 pm (0300 GMT Saturday) near the town of Rockport, packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) an hour, the National Hurricane Center said.