HOUSTON FLOODWATERS EXPECTED TO RISE

Harvey dumps more rain in past few days than some areas see in a year

HOUSTON

FLOODWATERS from Tropical Storm Harvey are likely to rise as more torrential rain pounds the United States Gulf Coast, where at least eight people have died in Texas and tens of thousands driven from their homes, officials said on Monday.

Thousands of National Guard troops, police officers, rescue workers and civilians raced in helicopters, boats and special highwater trucks to rescue the hundreds stranded in the catastrophic storm that has crippled Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

Harvey has already dumped more rain in the past few days than some affected areas normally see in a year.

The storm was the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years when it hit land on Friday near Corpus Christi, 354km southwest of here.

The worst is far from over because the slow-moving storm will continue to dump rain over the next few days in an area hit by “unprecedented” flooding, the National Weather Service said.

“Additional heavy rainfall overnight is expected to worsen the flood situation in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana,” the National Hurricane Center said.

Forecasts show that some spots in and around the city could see an additional 30cm of rain today, bringing the total rainfall from Harvey to about 127cm in parts of the metro area.

President Donald Trump plans to go to Texas today to survey the damage and may visit Louisiana, where the storm is dumping rain.

Trump, facing the biggest US natural disaster since he took office, has signed disaster proclamations for Texas and Louisiana, triggering federal relief efforts.

Among the recent fatalities from the storm was a family that included two adults and four children, who were believed to have drowned after the van they were in was swept away by floodwaters here, authorities said on Monday.

In scenes evoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, police and Coast Guard teams have each rescued more than 3,000 people, plucking many from rooftops by helicopter, as they urged the hundreds more believed to be marooned in flooded houses to hang towels or sheets outside to alert rescuers.

Schools and office buildings were closed in the metropolitan area, home to 6.8 million people, as chest-high water filled some neighbourhoods A woman holding a girl as her family arrives to high ground by boat in Houston, Texas, on Monday. (Inset) People making their way out of a flooded neighbourhood in Houston, Texas, on Monday.

in the low-lying city.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long estimated that 30,000 people would eventually be housed temporarily in shelters.

Both of the city’s major airports were shut, along with most major highways, rail lines and a hospital, where patients were evacuated over the weekend. More than a quarter of a million customers in the region were without power by Monday evening, utilities said.

The Brazos River was forecast to crest at a record high in the next two days about 50km southwest of here, forcing the mandatory evacuation of about 50,000 people in Fort Bend County, where officials described the predicted deluge as the worst in at least eight centuries.

As stunned families surveyed destroyed homes and roads flooded or clogged with debris, Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned Houstonians to brace for a long recovery.

“We need to recognise this is going to be a new and different normal for this entire region.”

Harvey’s centre was in the Gulf of Mexico about 170km south of here and forecast to arc slowly toward the city through tomorrow, adding more rain to areas already inundated.

The storm was expected to linger over Texas’ Gulf Coast for the next few days, dropping another 25cm to 50cm of rain, with threats of flooding extending into Louisiana.

The US Army Corps of Engineers on Monday said it was releasing water from the nearby Addicks and Barker reservoirs into Buffalo Bayou, the city’s primary body of water, to prevent dangerous buildups.

In Rockport, National Guard troops distributed water to residents as utility crews worked to restore power, amid reports of sporadic looting.

Houston did not order an evacuation due to concerns about putting its 2.3 million residents on the street, causing chaos on the roads that could be more deadly than the storm, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Gasoline futures hit their highest in two years as Harvey knocked out about 13 per cent of total US refining capacity, based on company reports and Reuters estimates.

The US’ second-largest refinery, in Baytown, was shut down, and the largest refinery, in Port Arthur, was expected to make a final decision on shutdown today.

The floods could destroy as much as US$20 billion (RM85 billion) in insured property, making the storm one of the costliest in history for US insurers, Wall Street analysts said. Reuters