FLOOD FEARS RISING
Harvey dumps massive rains on Texas
Tropical Storm Harvey could dump more than three feet of rain on southern Texas in coming days, after the downgraded hurricane stalled over the Lone Star State, raising fears of torrential downpours and “life-threatening flooding” that could devastate the region and hamper search-andrescue efforts.
Harvey weakened slightly into a tropical storm yesterday and slowed to a halt over land, delivering 65 mph sustained winds and expectations of 15 to 25 inches of rain through Thursday — with as much as 40 inches possible in some areas, forecasters said.
As of last night, only one person had been reported dead and 14 injured, but officials stress they did not know the storm’s full toll.
“This is a life-threatening situation,” warned the National Hurricane Center. “Rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding.”
“This is a monster storm,” disaster expert Irwin Redlener of Columbia University told the Herald. “The problem is not going to be the wind, it’s the phenomenal amount of unprecedented rainfall, epic amounts of water across the coastline into Houston.”
Redlener, who took part in rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, fears the flooding and a lack of urgency in ordering evacuations could lead to a repeat of some of the challenges that Louisiana disaster presented to first responders.
“There is going to be a long period of time where people are isolated,” Redlener said. “If they survive the flooding, they could be trapped for an extended period of time. It’ll be complex from a first responder and search-and-rescue point of view. I worry about individuals in these isolated communities they might be cut off communication they will lose road access to go ahead and find people.”
From Corpus Christi to Houston, many dreaded the destruction yet to come from a storm that could linger for days.
Long after the system came ashore, weather conditions prevented emergency crews from getting into many of the hardest-hit places.
In Port Aransas, population 3,800, police were unable to fully survey the town because of “massive” damage, making it only into the northernmost street. Mayor Charles Bujan said, “I can tell you I have a very bad feeling and that’s about it.”
The fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade came ashore late Friday about 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi as a mammoth Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds. The last Category 4 storm to hit the U.S. was Hurricane Charley in August 2004 in Florida. By dawn yesterday, nearly 300,000 households were without power in the coastal region, and nearly 20 inches of rain had fallen in some places.
In Houston, rain fell at nearly 3 inches an hour yesterday, leaving some streets and underpasses underwater. The many drainage channels known as bayous that carry excess water to the Gulf were flowing freely but rising.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker said he texted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “before the storm hit and told him whatever we could do to help we’d be in with both feet on.”
“Let’s face it,” Baker said, “we had a lot of people who came and helped us out during the snowstorms in 2015, and if we can help the folks in Texas, we’ll do what we can to help them.”
Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, has also reached out and Massachusetts Task Force 1, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, is on standby to respond. The elite crew responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the World Trade Center in New York City after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.