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Texas cities brace for 'catastrophic flooding' under Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey: at least one dead in Texas as storm moves inland
(about 5 hours later)
Hurricane Harvey smashed into Texas near the coastal town of Rockport overnight, leveling buildings and lashing low-lying areas with intense rain and winds up to 130mph. The strongest hurricane to hit the US in 13 years smashed into the Texas coast then moved inland on Saturday, deluging Houston, killing at least one person, and bringing fears of disastrous sustained flooding in the country’s fourth-largest city.
The category 4 storm weakened as it made landfall, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, and by 5am on Saturday morning Harvey had dropped to category 1 with sustaining winds of 90mph. But it had already deposited more than 9in (22.8cm) of rain and experts said its heaviest rainfall was yet to come. More than 300,000 customers across Texas were without electricity as Harvey threatened to stall, setting up for several days of rainfall that could tally 50in (127cm), more than 4ft (1.2m), by Wednesday in some spots. Texas governor Greg Abbott said about 20in (50.8cm) of rain had fallen in the Corpus Christi area and 16in (40.6cm) in the Houston region.
The hurricane was expected to produce total rainfall of 15in (38.1cm) to 35in (88.9cm), with isolated pockets of 40in (101.6cm) through Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center said “rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding”. One expert said Harvey’s flooding could reach “depths of which we’ve never seen”. “There is the potential for very dramatic flooding,” he said in an afternoon media conference in Austin. “Our biggest concern is the possibility of between 20 and 30 more inches of rain in areas ranging from Corpus Christi over to Houston.”
Damage could not immediately be assessed, though no deaths were immediately reported. A local energy provider said more than 200,000 customers were without electricity at 6.30am local time. Melissa Munguia, emergency management coordinator in Nueces County, which includes the city of Corpus Christi, said it could be hours before crews could fully assess the damage. Abbott expanded his declaration of a state of disaster by 20 counties, to 50. Numbers of injuries and fatalities were not yet clear, he said.
In Rockport, city manager Kevin Carruth said a number of people had been taken to the county jail for assessment and treatment after the roof of a senior housing complex collapsed. In the small seaside town of Rockport, which was directly in Harvey’s path when it came ashore and was particularly badly hit. One person was killed in a house fire, the mayor said. The Coast Guard reported that helicopters rescued 18 people from boats and barges in distress.
“People are trapped inside at least one collapsed building,” Carruth told KIII-TV. “We can’t get rescue teams to them right now.” Dozens of Houston-area roads were reported flooded. As of midday, 704 flight cancellations had been announced at George Bush Intercontinental airport and 123 at Hobby, though a break in bad weather allowed departures to resume at Bush.
Tens of thousands of residents fled inland, some under mandatory evacuation orders. As Harvey’s first force diminished, those who stayed behind braced for what forecasters predicted would be a life-threatening storm surge. Authorities told residents who decided to stay they should write their social security numbers on their forearms, to aide identification of their bodies. Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), said on Twitter that the storm was transitioning into a “deadly inland event”.
Rockport mayor Charles Wax told the Weather Channel Harvey hit the town “right on the nose” and left “widespread devastation”. Homes and businesses were heavily damaged or completely destroyed, he said, and schools were also hit. Wax said the emergency response system for the city of about 10,000 people had been hampered by the loss of cellphone service and other communications. In a Saturday morning update, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that though winds had slowed to a maximum 80mph, Harvey was “moving slowly over Texas producing torrential rains … catastrophic flooding expected over the next few days”.
State government concerns also focused on potential damage to more than 800 oil platforms and more than 100 refineries and terminals in the path of the storm. Houston, about 200 miles north-east of where Harvey made landfall, began seeing wind and rain on Friday. It is notoriously flood-prone and more than 6.5m people live in the metropolitan area. Though officials decided against ordering a mass evacuation from central Houston, voluntary and mandatory evacuations were issued on Saturday for parts to the south west, near two rivers in Fort Bend County.
In Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, tornado and flash flood warnings were issued, deepening fears that sustained heavy rainfall could bring widespread flooding to a place nicknamed the “Bayou City”, after the number of rivers that run through it. One tornado was spotted south of the city. Levels in Houston’s bayous were increasing, giving rise to the prospect that they will burst their banks if the rain continues as predicted.
We are not having a hurricane. We are having a rain event “This is just day one,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner told Good Morning America. “We anticipate a lot of rain over the next four or five days.”
Despite a suggestion at a Friday press conference from governor Greg Abbott that residents should consider leaving, officials had not called for an evacuation. Traffic was light in the city and many stores were closed, though an exception was a doughnut shop in the suburb of Katy, where Don Mach and his Keeshond dog, Bo, were having breakfast.
“We are not having a hurricane,” said Judge Ed Emmett, the most senior elected official in Harris County, which encompasses Houston. “We are having a rain event.” Mach said he was “very concerned” about Harvey. “We got 5.5in of rain last night. That came down probably in about four hours,” the 70-year-old said. “That water can only go so many places.”
As Harvey made landfall some 200 miles south-west of the city, the region saw wildly varying amounts of rain: from under 1in (2.5cm) in some places to 5in (12.7cm) and more elsewhere, according to the Harris County flood warning system. Oil companies began shutting down operations in and along the Gulf in anticipation of the storm, and gas prices rose. There was anxiety that Harvey could provoke flooding to hit the region’s vast refining and petrochemical facilities and unleash toxic discharges into adjacent communities or Galveston Bay.
Harvey’s looming threat to south-west Texas prompted an elaborate political response, with Donald Trump tweeting his support. On Saturday morning, the president tweeted that he was “closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David. We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs working great together!” Juan Parras, an environmental campaigner in east Houston, said he was worried severe flooding or a storm surge could cause leaks or dislodge chemical tanks.
Trump also praised his federal emergency management chief, Brock Long, telling him “you are doing a great job” – a choice of words that for some recalled George W Bush’s infamous remark to his emergency management director, Michael Brown, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005: “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.” “When they move off their concrete base all that oil, whatever’s in those tanks, just goes out into the community and we have a lot of tanks here,” he said. “We have almost a 52-mile stretch of nothing but refineries and oil tanks.”
Climate scientist Kristy Dahl told the Guardian that Long was a rare Trump appointment “widely hailed as reasonable and with appropriate experience to the job”. Neighbourhoods closest to the plants are some of the least-affluent and most-polluted in the region. “The worst off will be hit the hardest,” Parras said.
The president’s attentiveness came after Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, warned him on Friday not to repeat Bush’s mistakes. Trump should “keep on top of hurricane Harvey”, Grassley tweeted, adding: “Dont mke same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina.” Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi late on Friday as a category 4 hurricane with maximum winds of 130mph. It was the first category 4 storm in the US since 2004 when Charley menaced Florida; Texas had not endured such a powerful hurricane since Carla in 1961.
Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm after battering Rockport and another seaside town, Port Aransas. Reports indicated severe damage to infrastructure and buildings including a high school, a hotel and a senior living complex where a roof collapsed.
Rockport’s mayor pro tem had urged locals to evacuate and told a reporter that those who remained should write their name and social security number in felt pen on their arms, implying this would make it easier for emergency responders to identify their bodies.
Corpus Christi police said road debris and downed power lines were widespread and that an alleged intruder was taken to hospital after being shot by a homeowner. City officials advised residents to boil water. The city of Victoria, 30 miles inland, was also badly hit. Shelters were set up as far north as Dallas.
Harvey is the first major natural disaster of the Trump administration. Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget calls for a $667m cut to Fema funding, but the president was eager to give the impression he was ready for the challenge.
“Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David. We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!” he tweeted on Saturday. A day earlier, Trump said he signed a disaster declaration to speed access to federal help.
The president’s attentiveness came after Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, warned him not to repeat the mistakes of George W Bush, whose inept response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 came to define his presidency. Trump should “keep on top of hurricane Harvey”, Grassley tweeted, adding: “Dont mke same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina.”
Trump responded that he had received Grassley’s message “loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!”Trump responded that he had received Grassley’s message “loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!”
Harvey is the fiercest hurricane to hit the US since 2005 and the strongest to strike Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961, the most powerful in state records. Unlike most hurricanes, which tend to track swiftly up the seaboard before spinning out into the Atlantic, Harvey is expected to stall over Texas. Coastal areas remained vulnerable to storm surge, while the storm also risked spawning isolated tornadoes. One appeared to strike the Houston suburb of Sienna Plantation early on Saturday, ripping roofs at dozens of homes.
Forecasters have said it could also backtrack, returning to warm Gulf of Mexico waters which provide fuel, then returning for a potential second drenching on Wednesday of what could be an already flooded Houston-Galveston area. One conservation group, meanwhile, warned residents to leave some displaced residents alone.
Swells generated by Harvey were affecting the Texas, Louisiana and north-eastern Mexican coasts. In the Gulf of Mexico, cruise ships scheduled to arrive in Galveston, carrying 20,000 passengers, were delayed or directed to New Orleans.
In Houston, meanwhile, a conservation group warned residents to leave some displaced residents alone.
“Alligators can not stay in fast moving floodwaters for long and seek slow water to ride out the storm,” The Gator Squad said in a statement. “If you see a gator during the storm, as long as its not in a road or knocking on your door leave it be until the storm passes.”“Alligators can not stay in fast moving floodwaters for long and seek slow water to ride out the storm,” The Gator Squad said in a statement. “If you see a gator during the storm, as long as its not in a road or knocking on your door leave it be until the storm passes.”