Time running out in Texas to find survivors
HARVEY MAKES LANDFALL AGAIN IN LOUISIANA, EVOKING PAINFUL MEMORIES OF KATRINA
Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for, though officials stress they may simply have no access to phones or power.
Monster storm Harvey made landfall again yesterday in Louisiana, evoking painful memories of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly strike 12 years ago, as time was running out in Texas to find survivors in the raging floodwaters.
The fresh hit comes five days after the monster storm slammed onshore as a Category Four hurricane, pummelling the US Gulf Coast with torrential rain that turned neighbourhoods into lakes in America’s fourth largest city, Houston.
While Harvey is technically packing less of a wallop as a tropical storm, heavy rains are still drenching parts of southeastern Texas and neighbouring southwestern Louisiana, complicating rescue missions and compounding the misery for millions of Americans.
So far, only a handful of deaths have been formally confirmed, but when combined with suspected deaths, US media reported that the toll could be 30 so far — and still rising — as floodwaters recede in some areas and bodies are found.
Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for, though officials stress they may simply have no access to phones or power. More than 30,000 people found refuge in shelters across the Lone Star State, from the giant Houston convention centre to small churches, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), Brock Long.
“We are in this for the long haul,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke told reporters in a briefing on emergency operations, yesterday. “We’ll continue to support the people of Texas as long as necessary.”
In Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a nighttime curfew aimed at aiding search efforts and thwarting potential looting in the flood-ravaged city. At least a quarter of Harris County, which includes Houston and the immediate surrounding area, is now under water, affecting tens of thousands of homes, local officials have said.
Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall again yesterday near the Texas-Louisiana border, adding more rain after a record downpour that has caused catastrophic flooding and paralysed the city of Houston.
The storm that first came ashore on Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years has killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands to leave their deluged homes.
Damage has been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest US natural disasters.
There was some relief in sight for Houston, the fourth most populous US city, with forecasters saying five days of torrential rain would come to an end as the storm picks up speed and leaves the Gulf of Mexico region later in the day.
Harvey, which made landfall west of Cameron, Louisiana yesterday, was expected to produce an additional 7.5cm to 15.24cm of rain to an area about 130 kilometres east of Houston as well as southwestern Louisiana, where some areas have already seen more than 44 centimetres of rain.
It is projected to weaken as it moves inland to the northeast, the National Hurricane Centre said.
“We aren’t going to be dealing with it for too much longer. It’s going to pick up the pace and get out of here,” said Donald Jones, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Curfew announced
But nearly a third of Harris County, home to Houston, was under water, an area 15 times the size of Manhattan, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper.
It may take days for all flood waters, which have spilt over dams and pushed levees to their limits, to recede, local officials said. City officials were preparing to temporarily house some 19,000 people, with thousands more expected to flee. As of Tuesday morning, nearly 50,000 homes had suffered flood damage, Texas officials said, and the tally is certain to rise.