Before Harvey, economy expanded

But weakness in energy sector noted by Fed heightened by storm.

A rebound in retail sales and broad-based demand for a wide range of products and services helped sustain a growing regional economy prior to Hurricane Harvey’s arrival, according to a report Wednesday from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

However, some of the report’s weakest notes emerged from areas later hammered by the storm, which shut down key supply and transportation channels for most industries in the region.

In its chapter of the Beige Book, an anecdotal survey of the economy compiled every six weeks by the Federal Reserve banks, the Dallas Fed said economic activity in its district “continued to expand at a moderate pace.”

However, it noted, the surveys and responses used in the report were compiled before Harvey struck the coast, flooded much of Houston and shut down the heart of the Texas economy.

The Dallas Fed’s district includes all of Texas and parts of New Mexico and Northern Louisiana. Texas accounts for more than 95 percent of the region’s economic activity.

How the Texas economy fares in the near-term aftermath of the hurricane remains to be seen. However, some uncertainty already had emerged in Houston and with some of the industries with a large presence there — oil and gas, especially.

While employment levels continued to rise throughout the dis-