Most of Houston 'now dry,' as recovery begins

ROCKPORT, Sept 2 (AFP) - Houston was limping back to life one week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into America's fourth-largest city and left a trail of devastation across other parts of Texas.

“Most of the city is now d r y,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “And so we're turning to recovery and housing, especially for individuals whose homes were greatly damaged.”

As flood waters receded in Houston and residents began slowly returning home other nearby towns such as Rockport, Beaumont and Port Arthur were struggling to get back on their feet.

Rescue workers were still scouring storm- ravaged southeast Texas by air and by boat looking for victims trapped in their flooded homes. Harvey has been blamed thus far for at least 42 deaths and tens of billions of dollars of damage.

Turner estimated that around 40,000 to 50,000 homes in the Houston area had suffered damage after Harvey made landfall last Friday as a Category Four hurricane, and said federal assistance was needed urgently.

An estimated 30,000 residents of the Houston area sought refuge from the storm in public shelters and many will be returning to homes that are now uninhabitable because of flood damage. Besides their homes, tens of thousands of residents also lost their vehicles in a state where having a car is considered a must. Removing debris was also essential, the Houston mayor said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said his state was facing a “massive, massive clean- up process.” “People need to understand this is not going to be a short-term project,” he said. “This is going to be a multi-year project for Texas to be able to dig out of this catastrophe.”

The authorities in Crosby, Texas, were monitoring a chemical plant meanwhile where fires broke out Wednesday night.

Officials ordered residents living within 1.5 miles of the facility to evacuate amid concerns about the fumes ema- nating from the plant, which produces organic peroxides - compounds that can combust if not cooled to the right temperature.

Rachel Moreno of the Fire Marshal's Office said there had been no further fires or smoke overnight at the chemical plant in Crosby.

Old Habits, a monster truck, helps residents carry a generator through floods in Port Arthur, Texas. Storm-weary residents began returning home to assess flood damage from Hurricane Harvey but officials warned the danger was far from over in parts of...