DEVASTATION
DONALD Trump visited Texas flood victims yesterday as swathes of Houston lay submerged after two major reservoirs overflowed.
The state’s largest city was swamped by waters from the Addicks and Barker dams and as the President flew in, the magnitude of Hurricane Harvey’s ravages across the state became clear.
Mr Trump said of the flooding: “This was of epic proportion, nobody has ever seen anything like this.”
Harvey, the most powerful storm to hit the US in more than a decade, is so far known to have claimed 15 victims.
Among them were six members of a family swept to their deaths as they tried to flee the raging floodwaters.
Police have rescued 3,600 people and 17,000 evacuees are being housed in shelters across the stricken state.
One measuring site south of Houston has recorded 49.32 inches of rain since the storm hit three days ago – more than the region typically sees in a year.
Last night, the two overwhelmed reservoirs west of Houston had flooded more than 3,000 homes. The Addicks’ waters had gone over the top of its 108ft spillway for the first time.
DISASTER
Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said the spillover will cause “serious flooding in immediate areas”, starting as a trickle and becoming an uncontrolled release that will also hit second-story homes.
He added that neighbouring Barker is so high the flood gauges are broken.
The recovery is expected to take years and officials have conceded the scale of the crisis is so vast they cannot even measure it yet, let alone address it.
Governor Greg Abbott said it was “one of the largest disasters America has ever faced”, warning against expecting a speedy fix – or even a return to how things were.
He said: “We need to recognise it will be a new and different normal for this region.”
But Mr Trump has been keen to show he has a handle on the crisis after previous presidents failed to act quickly following natural disasters. The President, wearing a white cap that read USA, and First Lady Melania, wearing a cap reading FLOTUS – First Lady of the United States – were met at Corpus Christi airport by Mr Abbot. He was briefed on efforts and then flew to the emergency operations centre in Austin. Speaking in Corpus Christi, Mr Trump said he wanted the relief