Power to be cut, evacuations ordered in west Houston

Reservoir release to bring new rush of water

Electric company workers started going door-to-door Sunday in a still-flooded area of west Houston under a mandatory evacuation order, warning that service would be shut off nine days after Tropical Storm Harvey ravaged the city.

Crews with Center Point Energy checked homes in the zone that Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered evacuated where about 300 residents still remain. People in houses that have taken no water will not have their electricity cut off.

Water releases from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs need to flush through the area after several feet of rain from Harvey filled them to capacity.

“If you have water in your homes, I have issued a mandatory evacuation for them because it’s dangerous for those who are choosing to live there,” Mayor Sylvester Turner told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“But also, it’s very, very dangerous for our public responders, first responders, who are needing to be out there, trying to provide protection to them,” he added.

Sunday morning, exhausted Houstonians poured into churches throughout the region.

At Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Houston, the Rev. Barkley Thompson rallied his congregation to action from the pulpit by likening the city’s tribulations with those of Moses.

“Forty-two thousand are presently housed in shelters across this city and state. Forty people have died. Rockport was devastated. Beaumont drowned. One runs out of superlative adjectives to describe things — and then one simply runs out of the energy to speak at all,” Thompson said during his homily.

The Episcopal church enlisted attendees to sign up and volunteer to feed the homeless, provide temporary housing, help with home cleanups, and host neighborhood potluck dinners.

When President Donald Trump toured the area Saturday, Turner asked him for quick aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for first responders as well as financial help for debris removal, home repairs and transitional housing for displaced storm victims. Trump sent an emergency relief request for $7.9 billion to Congress on Friday.

In Beaumont, emergency workers continued trying to restore drinking water service, while in Crosby, outside of Houston, officials tried to stabilize a crippled chemical plant.

Beaumont’s water treatment plant failed after the swollen Neches River inundated the main intake system and backup pumps failed.

Volunteer organizations planned to provide boxed meals, bottled water and bags of ice and military-style MREs until supplies ran out Sunday, according to the Beaumont Enterprise.

In Port Arthur, school superintendent Mark Porterie said the district “is looking at about three weeks before the school year begins, if not sooner,” he told the Enterprise. Some schools still had several inches of standing water inside — while a middle school was still being used a Red Cross shelter.

The death toll tied to the storm is at least 44 and pushed the Harris County morgue to near capacity.