Canadian expats hunker down as remnants of hurricane Harvey ravage Texas

HOUSTON — Canadian expats living in Texas say they’ve gone days without sleep as the remnants of hurricane Harvey continue to deluge the southeast coast.

Megan Giffin-scheffers, who moved from Halifax to Houston four years ago, says the Texas city is ``overflowing’’ as rising waters force thousands of people out of their homes. Giffin-scheffers says every time her phone lights up with a tornado alert, her family has to hunker down in their pantry as wind gusts howl through the city like ``freight trains.’’ Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who is training in Houston, tweeted photos of neighbourhood flooded with murky waters that almost fully submerged a car.

Kutryk says he feels like an ``ant’’ in the face of the storm’s wrath.

Isabelle Dion, who is from Quebec, says her home in Houston has been spared in the fearsome storm, but it’s ``scary’’ not knowing what will happen when night falls.

Harvey slammed into Texas as a Category-4 hurricane Friday and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, which is causing torrential rains.