» Rescuers fan out to search for survivors — or victims,
Door-to-door search underway for those left in floodwaters.
Rescuers began HOUSTON — a block-by-block search of tens of thousa n ds of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone alive or dead — who might have been left — behind in Harvey’s fetid floodwaters, which have now heavily damaged more than 37,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide.
More than 200 firefighters, police officers and members of an urban search-and-rescue team fanned out across the Meyerland neighborhood looking for survivors or bodies. They yelled “Fire department!” as they pounded with closed fists on doors, peered through windows and checked with neighbors. The streets were dry but heaped with soggy furniture, carpet and wood.
“We don’t think we’re going to find any humans, but we’re prepared if we do,” said Houston District Fire Chief James Pennington.
The confirmed death toll stood at 32, though it is expected to rise. But by midday, the temporary com- mand center in a J.C. Penney parking lot had received no reports of more bodies from the searches, which are expected to take up to two weeks.
Elsewhere, the loss of power at a chemical plant set off explosions that prompted a public health warning. The blasts at the Arkema Inc. plant northeast of Houston also ignited a 30- to 40-foot flame and sent up a plume of acrid smoke that Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long ini- tially described as “incredibly dangerous.”
FEMA later backed away from that statement, saying that Long spoke out of an abundance of caution. An Environmental Protec
tion Agency analysis of the smoke showed that it posed no immediate threat to public health, the agency said. The French operator of the plant warned that up to eight more chemical containers could burn and explode as chemicals stored there degraded without refriger- ation.
The latest statewide dam- age surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruc- tion. The figures from the Texas Department of Public Safety did not include the tens of thousands of homes with minor damage.
Rescues continued apace, as did the search for shelter by people left homeless by the storm. Emergency offi- cials reported 32,000 peo-
ple in shelters across Texas. Harris County FEMA Direc- tor Tom Fargione said the priority is to get victims into some form of temporary housing, with hotels being one option, he said.
“Right now nothing is off the table,” Fargione said. “This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope. I want to get thinking beyond traditional methodologies you’ve seen in the past.”
As the water receded in the nation’s fourth-largest city, the threat of major damage from the storm shifted to a region near the Texas-Lou- isiana state line.
Beaumont, Texas, with a population of nearly 120,000, lost water service after its main pump station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River. That forced Baptist Beaumont Hospital to move patients to other facilities.
A steady stream of ambulances and helicopters arrived at the hospital to pick up the patients, some of whom already had been removed from flooded nurs- ing homes. Hospital spokes- woman Mary Poole said other patients were able to be discharged.
The city’s second hospital, Christus St. Elizabeth, said it was using stored water and accepting only critical and emergency patients.
Some people who had not gotten the word were still arriving Thursday seeking medical attention, including J.D. Clark, who said he had a heart condition. He wanted medicine and water but was turned away. Clark said his landlord had turned off the power at his apartment complex.
“We’re trying to get up out of here,” said his wife, Regina Blackburn. “I’m trying to call for a hotel, but they won’t answer. We’re leaving. We’re getting out of Beaumont.”
That’s a challenge, though, because most of the highways out of the city were flooded.
In nearby Port Arthur, the Coast Guard used baskets and harnesses to pull people out of a neighborhood with chest-deep water. Many residents of second-floor apartments decided to stay.
Economists said the storm shut down everything from plastics plants to oil refineries to the Houston port — the second-busiest in the nation — which could affect the nation’s economy.
With widespread reports of gas shortages, the head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry urged drivers to wait three or four days to fill up their tanks. Panic buying was causing a run on gas and empty fuel pumps, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said.
Also Thursday, Houston public schools pushed back the start of classes by two weeks. The nation’s seventh-largest district had been scheduled to reopen Monday but will now begin school on Sept. 11.
Health experts warned that sewage in the floodwater could make people sick and that mosquito populations could explode in the coming weeks because stagnant water offers abundant breeding grounds.