The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Dams begin to spill over amid record downpours
Authorities open more mega-shelters for residents seeking refuge
A pair of reservoir dams that protect central Houston and a suburban levee have started overflowing, adding to the rising floodwaters from Storm Harvey that have crippled the city after five days of rain.
Engineers began releasing water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs on Monday to ease the strain on the 70-year-old dams, but the releases were not enough to relieve the pressure after one of the heaviest downpours in US history, the Army Corps of Engineers said.
Both reservoirs are at record levels and the release of water means more homes and streets will flood, with some homes inundated for up to a month, said Jeff Lindner of Harris County Flood Control District.
The county is trying to determine where the water will go, Mr Lindner added.
Meanwhile, Brazoria County authorities posted a message on Twitter warning that the levee at Columbia Lakes, south of Houston, had been breached and telling people to leave the area.
Authorities said residents had been warned that the levee would overflow at some point and a mandatory evacuation order was given on Sunday.
More than 17,000 people are seeking refuge in Texas shelters, the American Red Cross said, and the number looks certain to grow.
Houston officials said they will open two or three more mega-shelters to accommodate people who continue to arrive at the overflowing George R Brown Convention Centre seeking refuge from the flooding.
The centre already held more than 9,000 people, almost twice the number officials originally planned to house there, said mayor Sylvester Turner.
“We are not turning anyone away. But it does mean we need to expand our capabilities and our capacity,” Mr Turner said. “Relief is coming.” City officials have made a formal request with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for more supplies for an additional 10,000 people, which it is hoped will arrive no later than today, the mayor said.
Calls for rescue have so overwhelmed emergency teams that they have had little time to search for bodies, and officials acknowledge that fatalities could soar once the floodwaters start to recede from one of America’s most sprawling metropolitan centres.
More than four days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a category four hurricane, authorities had confirmed only three deaths – including a woman killed when heavy rains dislodged a large tree on to her trailer home in the small town of Porter.
“We know in these kinds of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up, historically,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
“I’m really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”
One Houston woman said she presumes six members of a family, including four of her grandchildren, died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston.
Virginia Saldivar said her brother-inlaw was driving the van when a strong current took the vehicle off a bridge and into the bayou.
The driver got out and urged the children to escape through the back door, Ms Saldivar said, but they could not.
“I’m just hoping we find the bodies,” she added.
“We know in these kinds of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up historically. ART ACEVEDO HOUSTON POLICE CHIEF