More evacuations after storm

TWO RESERVOIRS PROTECTING HOUSTON’S DOWNTOWN BEING RELEASED

Nearly a week after Harvey crashed into the Texas coastline, the storm chased more people out of their homes Friday after dumping heavy rain on Louisiana, and Houston planned a water release that could keep as many as 20,000 homes flooded for up to 15 days.

In another Texas city with no drinking water, people waited in a line that stretched for more than a mile to get bottled water.

Residents of the still-flooded western part of Houston were told Friday to evacuate ahead of the planned release from two reservoirs protecting downtown.

The move was expected to flood homes that were inundated earlier in the week. Homes that are not currently flooded probably will not be affected, officials said.

Mayor Sylvester Turner pleaded for more high-water vehicles and more search-andrescue equipment as the nation’s fourth-largest city continued looking for any survivors or corpses that might have somehow escaped notice in flood-ravaged neighbourhoods.

Turner also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more workers to process applications from thousands of people seeking government help. Harvey victims expect FEMA to work “with the greatest degree of urgency,” he told CBS “This Morning” for a segment broadcast Friday.

The mayor said he will request a preliminary financial aid package of $75 million for debris removal alone.

The remnants of the storm were dying as they pushed deeper inland but remained still powerful enough to raise the risk of flooding as far north as Kentucky.

More than 1,500 people were staying at shelters in Louisiana, and that number was climbing as more people evacuate from flood-ravaged communities in Texas. The state opened a seventh shelter Friday in Shreveport for up to 2,400 people, said Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The city of Beaumont, home to almost 120,000 people near the Texas-Louisiana line, was trying to bring in enough bottled water for people who stayed behind after a water pumping station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River.

In Houston, officials turned their attention to immediate needs such as finding temporary housing for those in shelters, but also to the city’s long-term recovery, which will take years and billions of dollars.

Authorities raised the death toll from the storm to 39 late Thursday, while rescue workers conducted a block-byblock search of tens of thousands of Houston homes that rescuers began Thursday.

The latest statewide damage surveys revealed the staggering extent of the destruction.

An estimated 136,000 structures in Harris County, or 10 per cent of all structures in the county database, were flooded, according to the flood control district for the county, which includes Houston.

Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist for the agency, called that a conservative estimate. It is 36,000 more homes than were flooded by Tropical Storm Allison in 1989, the area’s previous epic flood.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said more than 37,000 homes were heavily damaged and nearly 7,000 were destroyed, figures that did not include the tens of thousands of homes with minor damage. About 325,000 people have already sought federal emergency aid in the wake of Harvey. More than $57 million in individual assistance has already been paid out, FEMA officials said.

Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena said his department had responded to nearly 16,000 calls since the storm hit Saturday, over 7,600 of them for water rescues.

The search for more survivors and bodies began Thursday when more than 200 firefighters, police officers and members of an urban searchand-rescue team fanned out across the Meyerland neighbourhood.

They yelled “Fire department!” as they pounded with closed fists on doors, peered through windows and checked with neighbours.