AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas unemployment rate has fallen for the fifth straight month, dropping to 4 percent in September despite jobs that were washed away by Hurricane Harvey.

The Texas Workforce Commission said September's unemployment rate was a drop from the 4.2 percent recorded in August.

The national rate for September was 4.2 percent. Amarillo had the lowest unemployment rate in Texas last month at 2.7 percent, followed by Midland at 2.8 percent.

The highest rate was in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area at 8.1 percent. Harvey brought widespread flooding to the area after first making landfall Aug. 25 along the Texas Gulf Coast.

About 7,300 jobs were lost statewide in September, largely due to Harvey, but those losses were offset by the more than 256,000 positions that were gained.