After the hurricane, US city left underwater
AT LEAST five people were killed as Hurricane Harvey tore through the US – bringing unprecedented flooding.
Some parts of the city of Houston were left under 16ft of water in what Donald Trump called a ‘once in 500-year flood’, with damage put at $40billion (£31billion).
The National Weather Service said: ‘This event is unprecedented and all impacts are unknown and beyond anything experienced. Catastrophic flooding in the Houston metropolitan area is expected to worsen and could become historic.’
Locals were told to stand on their roofs rather than hide in attics, as the water could rise high enough to trap them.
The hurricane hit late on Friday with 130mph winds – the most powerful since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In the town of Rockport, trailer homes were tossed through the air and a school collapsed.
By the time it reached Houston on Saturday, Harvey had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but up to 40in of rainfall was still expected. Streets became rivers as 200,000 people lost power and 1,800 were moved into shelters.
Families walked through waist-high water carrying their children and belongings on their backs, while others used boats and canoes to make their way through the streets. On highways, water reached overhead signs that were 16ft high. One local, Luis Castillo, said: ‘We feel like we’re on the Titanic now. We’re surrounded by water. It’s coming up the steps one step every 20 minutes.’
Among the dead was a woman who got out of her car in high water and drowned. Another was killed in a house fire.
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said the city’s 911 system had been overloaded. Dr Greg Postel, a meteorologist and hurricane specialist for The Weather Channel, said the flooding ‘could be the worst flooding disaster in US history’.
Brock Long, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said it was expecting to be helping with the clean-up for years. He said: ‘This disaster is going to be a landmark event. This is a storm that the United States has not seen yet.’