HURRICANE HARVEY HAVOC

Harvey started out as a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea on August 17 and strengthened into a tropical depression. As the system moved across the Gulf of Mexico it rapidly strengthened from a depression to a tropical storm, then to a hurricane making landfall between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor in Texas with wind speeds as high as 209km/h nine days later.

The flooding in south-eastern Texas has been catastrophic and the rainfall unprecedented. Authorities expect the death toll to continue to rise as a result of the battering the state has received. Thousands have been stranded and property loss and damage to infrastructure is expected to be in the billions.

Harvey was the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961 which killed 43 people, destroyed 2000 homes and forced the evacuation of half a million people.

Flooded street in Houston. Richard Garner(right) and friend Mark Richard (left) look through the remains of their property. Belinda Penn with her dogs after being rescued from her home. Woman being evacuated. An official climbs through a window as he searches damaged home for stranded people. inflated using an Couple evacuate. to mattress Cemetery during the aftermath of hurricane Harvey. Photograph taken by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik from the International Space Station 400km above the Earth. Mike Vasquez, right, and Evelyn Perkins, left, inspect what is left of their home. Homes inundated with flooding.