Door-to-door search begins to reveal Houston’s true death toll
AFTER days of hurricane winds, torrential rain and catastrophic floods, the city of Houston is gradually giving up its dead.
Firefighters, wearied by long days of rescues, yesterday began the grim process of going through the streets searching for stranded survivors and the bodies of those less fortunate.
While Harvey – now downgraded to a tropical depression – moved on to the Louisiana border, a new hurricane, Irma, formed in the central Atlantic, bearing out predictions of a busy storm season.
Combined with chemical fires, shortages of drinking water and fresh flood alerts elsewhere in Texas, no one knows when normality will return. The death toll reached 35 yesterday, a number that is expected to swell as receding floodwaters allow searchers to reach previously inaccessible homes and cars.
Richard Mann, the fire department’s assistant chief, told reporters: “We’ll be doing a block-by-block, door-by-door search of streets we believe have had three feet or more [of water] to make sure there are no people we’ve left behind. This will be a one to two-week-long process to make sure we address all those areas that have been hit hardest.”
The number of homes damaged has risen to about 100,000, according to Tom Bossert, Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser. He said the administration would soon ask Congress for an initial round of emergency fund- ing. A total of 32,000 people have been forced into shelters in and around America’s fourth most populous city.
Houston and the south-east Texas coastline are key players in the country’s energy industry, which means the flooding brings an economic impact that will be felt across the nation.
Storm-related power cuts were blamed for explosions at a chemical plant 30 miles north-east of the city. Officials said the Arkema chemical plant backup generators flooded, which meant volatile compounds could no longer be refrigerated. They said eight more containers were expected to catch fire and release fumes, and residents within a one-and-a-half mile radius were urged to leave their homes.
At the same time the storm and flooding have disabled about a quarter of US refining capacity, pushing petrol prices to a two-year high. “There’s nothing being sold, nothing being manufactured and nothing being shipped in a city with a $500 billion (£387 billion) economy,” said Patrick Jankowski, an economist with the Greater Houston Partnership.
“Nothing is happening in Houston except rescues and people watching people get rescued.”
The White House said last night Mr Trump was pledging $1million in personal
funds to Hurricane Harvey storm relief efforts. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, said the president wanted reporters to help decide which organisations to give to.
It came three days after the president was criticised for meeting only rescue workers. Mike Pence, the vice-president, arrived in Texas yesterday to survey the damage in Rockport, and toured a church whose side was blown out.