Texas continues Harvey recovery; Irma looms
The Coast Guard began moving helicopters out of Texas and into Puerto Rico, Florida and Georgia, in anticipation of another landfall threat.
CORPUS CRISTI, Texas — For the first time since Aug. 25, when Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the Coast Guard did not have to carry out rescue missions in storm-ravaged southeast Texas on Sunday. Instead, the service began moving a number of helicopters out of Texas and into Puerto Rico, Florida and Georgia, in anticipation of another landfall threat brewing for the U.S. coast: Hurricane Irma.
“As soon as one ends, we need to make sure we are ready for the next event,” Adm. Paul Zukunft, the Coast Guard commandant, said Monday as Irma, which had become a Category 4 hurricane by late in the day, churned in the Atlantic.
It is still too early to determine exactly where and when Irma will hit, but model forecasts indicate it is increasingly likely to affect the United States. The National Hurricane Center warned Monday that Irma could impact the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Cuba. A significant percentage of model forecasts have Irma striking the U.S. East Coast as early as Saturday or Sunday, with tropical storm winds arriving in Florida as soon as Friday.
With an eye on the weather report, southeast Texans also will be waiting for action from Congress.
The House is set to take up legislation Wednesday to provide aid, according to House leaders. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a $7.85 billion aid package that was introduced Sunday night by House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J. He said the bill contains the amount of Hurricane Harvey funding requested by the White House, which includes $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund.
The bill is to be considered as a stand-alone measure; it does not include a provision to raise the federal debt limit, something that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Fox News Sunday interview that the Trump administration supported.
Texas is still assessing the destruction Hurricane Harvey left behind. As of Monday afternoon, officials across the state had confirmed at least 60 deaths related to the storm, a tally expected to increase as floodwaters recede and recovery efforts continue.
Thousands of people remained in shelters in Texas and Louisiana on Monday. One shelter that had been packed with people a week ago — Gallery Furniture in Richmond, Texas — was now packed with customers. An employee said the store had a line out the door on Monday. It was running a Labor Day sale, and thousands of people needed to buy furniture to replace what flooding had destroyed.
Katie Wilkes, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said the organization’s caseworkers are trying to find stable housing for Texans who might not ever be able to return to their homes — a process that could take months or even years.
Safe drinking water remains a concern for thousands across southeast Texas.
FEMA has published a list of rumors and scams online, which include concerns about the spread of certain diseases, such as the Plague — which does not spread through floods.