The latest from aftermath of Hurricane Harvey,
Residents brace for more floods from coming water release
HOUSTON — Authorities went door-to-door Sunday in parts of stormbattered Houston, warning that more flooding was coming, while a nearby city that lost its drinking water system struggled to restore service.
More than a week after Harvey made landfall in Texas, areas of west Houston braced for more water — not from the storm but from controlled releases to relieve swollen reservoirs. Crews were urging residents whose homes had already taken on water to flee and that they were shutting off power in some areas.
At a Houston-area chemical plant that flooded because of Harvey, authorities started a controlled burn Sunday of highly unstable compounds.
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office said in a statement Sunday the decision was made to take “proactive measures” to ignite the remaining trailers at the Arkema plant in Crosby. The office said that it doesn’t pose any additional risk to the public. The 1.5-mile evacuation zone around the plant remained in place.
Six of the trailers had remained after three others ignited in recent days and sent thick black smoke and tall flames into the air. Arkema had said Harvey’s floodwaters engulfed its backup generators at the plant, knocking out the refrigeration necessary to keep the organic peroxides, used in such products as plastics and paints, from degrading and catching fire.
Some people took a break from their cleanup efforts in the sweltering heat Sunday to worship on a declared National Day of Prayer, while others worried about looters and scavengers in storm-ravaged neighborhoods.
Houston officials stressed that the recovery was beginning despite the renewed flood threat, but an official in the town of Liberty, northeast of the city, said some people in outlying areas there had yet to even return to their homes.
“This will last for some people for months, if not years,” said Liberty Chief Brian Hurst.
Residents of nearby Beaumont remained without potable water.
At least 4,700 Houston dwellings were under new, mandatory evacuation orders, though about 300 people were thought to be refusing to leave. The Army Corps of Engineers said the water release is necessary to relieve the Addicks and Barker reservoirs from several feet of rain from Harvey and to create space in case of more.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said anyone staying in already-waterlogged homes would endanger themselves and first responders. Harvey hit Texas on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane but brought the worst flooding to Houston and other communities as a tropical storm. It is blamed for at least 44 deaths.
Still, Turner insisted that much of the nation’s fourthlargest city was hoping to get back on track by Tuesday. “The city of Houston is open for business. Anyone who was planning on a conference or a convention or a sporting event or a concert coming to this city, you can still come,” Turner said on the CBS show “Face Fire the Nation.”
But in the southwest Bellaire neighborhood, police received reports of scavengers picking through waterdamaged possessions and urged those cleaning up to keep anything left outside to dry closer to their homes and separate from what was considered a total loss. In the suburb of Dickinson, one homeowner used orange spray paint on a sheet of dirty plywood to warn: “Looters Will B Shot.”
Repairs continued on the water-treatment plant in Beaumont, about 85 miles from Houston, which failed after the swollen Neches River inundated the main intake system and backup pumps halted.
Floodwaters also have inundated at least five toxic waste Superfund sites near Houston, and some may be damaged, though Environmental Protection Agency officials have yet to assess the full extent of what occurred.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the EPA is “working on some of them already,” but “they have restraints on their ability to check out some of them just simply because of the water.”
Turner said Houston’s drinking water hadn’t been affected by the storm but added on “Face the Nation”: “We would hope that the EPA would be on the ground now to take a look at those Superfund sites, to make sure that contamination is contained and limited.”
Gov. Abbott and President Donald Trump declared Sunday a day of prayer. Trump and the first lady attended services at St. John’s, an Episcopal church in Washington, a day after visiting Harvey evacuees in Houston and Louisiana.
Another storm, Hurricane Irma, was far out over the Atlantic. It could approach the eastern Caribbean Sea early this week, but no coastal watches were issued.