Rescue intensified as Harvey moves inland
• Storm lashes Louisiana with search for survivors and victims in Houston picking up speed
The remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey drenched northern Louisiana on Thursday as it moved inland, leaving rescuers to search homes around Houston and along the hard-hit southeastern Texas coast for more survivors or victims.
The storm killed at least 35 people and the death toll is rising as bodies are found in receding waters. Some 32,000 people were forced into shelters around the US energy hub of Houston since Harvey came ashore on Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in half-a-century.
Power outages prompted two explosions at a flood-hit Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, about 50km northeast of Houston, with one sheriff’s deputy sent to the hospital after inhaling toxic chemicals.
“The plume is incredibly dangerous,” Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long said.
A 2.4km radius around the plant had been evacuated and the company urged people to stay away from the area, warning further blasts were likely.
By Thursday, Harvey was downgraded to a tropical depression, located about 25km south of Monroe, Louisiana. The storm’s rains wrought the most damage along the Gulf Coast, and the National Weather Service warned that as much as 25.4cm could fall in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Rivers and reservoirs in Texas remained at or near flood levels, with officials warning that high water would remain a danger for the next few days.
Federal officials had already rescued 10,000 people from flooded homes and would continue to search, Brock said.
The Houston fire department began a block-by-block effort to rescue stranded survivors and recover bodies, said assistant fire chief Richard Mann.
Nine members of the ad hoc “Cajun Navy”, towing boats behind pick-up trucks, gathered in Lake Charles early on Thursday, deliberating whether they could safely get into badly flooded parts of coastal southeastern Texas including Orange, Port Arthur and Beaumont.
“You can’t get anywhere by vehicle,” said Troy Payne, who had driven in from Atlanta.
“To me, this is a helicopter function from here on out unless the water level falls.”
Payne said he planned to drive north to try to find another way into Texas.
Nearly 76.2cm of rain hit the Port Arthur area.
Beaumont said it had lost its water supply due to flood damage to its main pumping station.
Fort Bend County ordered an evacuation on Thursday for areas near the Barker Reservoir, which was threatening to flood. The reservoir is about 32km west of Houston.