WORLD NEWS Rescue efforts underway
At least three confirmed dead from storm, six others feared drowned
MICHAEL GRACZYK and DAVID PHILLIP
HOUSTON — Floodwaters reached the roof lines of singlestorey homes Monday and people could be heard pleading for help from inside as Harvey poured rain on the Houston area for a fourth consecutive day after a chaotic weekend of rising water and rescues.
The nation’s fourth-largest city was still largely paralyzed, and there was no relief in sight from the storm that spun into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane, then parked itself over the Gulf Coast. With nearly 600 more millimetres of rain expected, authorities worried whether the worst was yet to come.
The storm has been blamed for at least three confirmed deaths. A Houston TV station reported Monday that six family members were believed to have drowned when their van was swept away by floodwaters. The KHOU report was attributed to three family members the station did not identify. No bodies have been recovered.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said he had no information about the report but said that he’s “really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”
According to the station, four children and their grandparents were feared dead after the van hit high floods Sunday when crossing a bridge in Greens Bayou.
The driver of the vehicle, the children’s great-uncle, reportedly escaped before the van sank by grabbing a tree limb. He told the children inside to try to escape through the back door, but they were unable to get out.
The Houston metro area covers about 25,900 sq. km, an area slightly bigger than New Jersey. It’s crisscrossed by about 2,700 km of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 80 km to the southeast from downtown.
The city’s normally bustling business district was virtually deserted Monday, with emergency vehicles making up most of the traffic. Most traffic signals were out and most businesses closed.
Elsewhere, water gushed from two reservoirs overwhelmed by Harvey as officials sought to release pressure on a pair of dams where floodwaters were at risk of spilling uncontrolled from around the sides of the barriers. The move aimed at protecting the downtown business district risked flooding thousands more homes.
Meanwhile, rescuers continued plucking people from the floodwaters — at least 2,000 so far, according to Acevedo.
At least 185 critical rescue requests were still pending on Monday morning. The goal was to rescue those people by the end of the day, Acevedo said.
The rising water forced a mass evacuation of parts of the city Sunday and rescuers who could not keep up with constant calls for help.
Chris Thorn was among the many volunteers still helping to pull strangers out of the water. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to help with rescues.
“I couldn’t sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help,” he said.
They got to Spring, Texas, where Cypress Creek had breached Interstate 45 and went to work, helping people out of a gated community near the creek.
“It’s never flooded here,” resident Lane Cross said from the front of Thorn’s boat, holding his brown dog, Max. “I don’t even have flood insurance.”
The Red Cross quickly set up Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center and other venues as shelters. By Monday morning, it had already reached half its capacity.
People living near Houston’s Addicks and Barker reservoirs were warned Sunday that a controlled release would cause additional street flooding that could spill into homes. The rising water and ongoing rain put pressure on a pair of dams that were created to prevent flooding in downtown Houston. If the pressure is not relieved, officials said, it could allow water to spill outside the dams.
Harris and Fort Bend county officials advised residents to pack their cars Sunday night and leave in the morning.
The Army Corps of Engineers started the reservoir releases before 2 a.m. Monday — ahead of schedule — because water levels were increasing at a rate of more than 150 mm per hour, Corps spokesman Jay Townsend said.
In the Cypress Forest Estates neighbourhood in northern Harris County, people called for help from inside their homes as water from a nearby creek climbed to the same level as their eaves. A steady procession of rescue boats floated into the area.
One man, Joe Garcia, carried his German shepherd in the chestdeep water before being picked up by a boat. Garcia said he floated out a tub of his belongings, then went back in for the dog.
Up to 510 mm of rain could fall in the coming days, on top of the more than 760 mm some places have already seen, weather service director Louis Uccellini said Monday. That means the flooding will get worse in the days ahead and that the floodwaters will be slow to recede once Harvey finally moves on, the weather service said.
Rescuers were giving priority to life-and-death situations, leaving many affected families to fend for themselves. Several hospitals in the Houston area were evacuated due to the rising waters.