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| Harvey lashes Texas and Louisiana as officials warn 30,000 people will need shelter | Harvey lashes Texas and Louisiana as officials warn 30,000 people will need shelter |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The full scale of the disaster unfolding in Houston and across large parts of Texas and Louisiana was emerging on Monday as emergency authorities warned that 30,000 people would be forced to seek shelter from an epic deluge of historic proportions. | The full scale of the disaster unfolding in Houston and across large parts of Texas and Louisiana was emerging on Monday as emergency authorities warned that 30,000 people would be forced to seek shelter from an epic deluge of historic proportions. |
| Art Acevedo, the Houston police chief, told reporters that 2,000 people has been rescued from flooding in the city, and that 185 requests for help were pending. The goal was to rescue those people by the end of the day, he said. | Art Acevedo, the Houston police chief, told reporters that 2,000 people has been rescued from flooding in the city, and that 185 requests for help were pending. The goal was to rescue those people by the end of the day, he said. |
| Donald Trump on Monday issued a federal state of emergency for Louisiana, as heavy rain increased fears of destructive flooding there. Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards requested the declaration in a letter to the White House on Sunday. | Donald Trump on Monday issued a federal state of emergency for Louisiana, as heavy rain increased fears of destructive flooding there. Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards requested the declaration in a letter to the White House on Sunday. |
| The combination of a tropical storm dumping more rain than any previous event on record and its location over Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city and one particularly vulnerable to flooding, left rescue services overwhelmed. By Monday morning more than 30in of rain had fallen in parts of the city, while the region overall had been pummeled by up to 9tn gallons – as much in two days as it normally receives in a year. | |
| The flooding sent thousands of people onto rooftops, with rescue efforts still under way by helicopter, boat and improvised raft on Monday. | |
| “There’s water everywhere. Please help. I’m scared,” one resident of downtown Houston, Aisha Nelson, told ABC News. | |
| Dawn broke on Monday with the city heaving a sigh of relief amid a pause in the punishing rain. But the lull was brief as the rain returned around lunchtime. A renewed downfall was likely on Monday evening, and emergency services cautioned local people against the delusion that the worst was behind them. | Dawn broke on Monday with the city heaving a sigh of relief amid a pause in the punishing rain. But the lull was brief as the rain returned around lunchtime. A renewed downfall was likely on Monday evening, and emergency services cautioned local people against the delusion that the worst was behind them. |
| “We are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” said Elaine Duke, the acting US homeland security secretary. | “We are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” said Elaine Duke, the acting US homeland security secretary. |
| With up to 20in predicted yet to fall, the total deluge could reach up to 50in within five days, breaking all records in Texas. Such quantities had officials reaching for hyperbole: Brock Long, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), called the disaster “landmark” while Robert Herbert, a judge in Fort Bend, said the flood on this scale was an “800-year event”. | With up to 20in predicted yet to fall, the total deluge could reach up to 50in within five days, breaking all records in Texas. Such quantities had officials reaching for hyperbole: Brock Long, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), called the disaster “landmark” while Robert Herbert, a judge in Fort Bend, said the flood on this scale was an “800-year event”. |
| The Brazos river that runs through Fort Bend could reach 59ft by Thursday, 4ft above the previous record set last year, forcing thousands more local people to flee under mandatory evacuation order. Further misery was added to the picture by the conscious design of the US army corps of engineers, which began releasing water from two major reservoirs, Addicks and Barker, in a move certain to flood thousands more homes in surrounding communities but deemed necessary to prevent their dams being entirely destroyed. | The Brazos river that runs through Fort Bend could reach 59ft by Thursday, 4ft above the previous record set last year, forcing thousands more local people to flee under mandatory evacuation order. Further misery was added to the picture by the conscious design of the US army corps of engineers, which began releasing water from two major reservoirs, Addicks and Barker, in a move certain to flood thousands more homes in surrounding communities but deemed necessary to prevent their dams being entirely destroyed. |
| Amid all the visible signs of distress, one overriding element remained unknown: the death toll. Unofficial tallies put the number of dead at six, but that figure could rise substantially. | Amid all the visible signs of distress, one overriding element remained unknown: the death toll. Unofficial tallies put the number of dead at six, but that figure could rise substantially. |
| When Hurricane Harvey made landfall late on Friday it represented the most powerful hurricane to strike the US in 13 years. It morphed into a tropical storm and lingered over Houston, bombarding the city with vast quantities of rain. | When Hurricane Harvey made landfall late on Friday it represented the most powerful hurricane to strike the US in 13 years. It morphed into a tropical storm and lingered over Houston, bombarding the city with vast quantities of rain. |
| The local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, summed up the human tragedy with a list of numbers: 18 US coast guard helicopters used for rooftop rescues; 56,000 calls to 911 just in the first 15 hours; more than 2,000 evacuees being accommodated at the city’s George R Brown convention center in a grim echo ofHurricane Katrina in New Orleans exactly 12 years ago. The center can hold 5,000 people; on Monday a Red Cross organiser said it had temporarily run out of cots. | The local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, summed up the human tragedy with a list of numbers: 18 US coast guard helicopters used for rooftop rescues; 56,000 calls to 911 just in the first 15 hours; more than 2,000 evacuees being accommodated at the city’s George R Brown convention center in a grim echo ofHurricane Katrina in New Orleans exactly 12 years ago. The center can hold 5,000 people; on Monday a Red Cross organiser said it had temporarily run out of cots. |
| Images on social media conveyed the human tragedy. Above all, a photograph of a group of six elderly people and their cat sitting in the living room of their La Vita Bella assisted-living home in Dickinson, water risen over their laps. All the residents were rescued by national guard troops. | |
| Amid extreme hardship there were flashes of bizarre levity. A woman in Missouri County filmed two alligators popping their heads up above the flood waters in her backyard. | Amid extreme hardship there were flashes of bizarre levity. A woman in Missouri County filmed two alligators popping their heads up above the flood waters in her backyard. |
| The 24-hour news was also interspersed with moments of exceptional drama. A TV reporter and photographer for the local station KHOU took time out from broadcasting to rescue a truck driver trapped in his vehicle by 10ft of rising water. | |
| Aisha Nelson’s interview with ABC News, transmitted from her mobile phone from a rooftop in downtown Houston, captured the terror of the moment. She explained that she and about 30 neighbours were caught on top of a two-storey building having broken a window to get out of her apartment that was rapidly flooding. | Aisha Nelson’s interview with ABC News, transmitted from her mobile phone from a rooftop in downtown Houston, captured the terror of the moment. She explained that she and about 30 neighbours were caught on top of a two-storey building having broken a window to get out of her apartment that was rapidly flooding. |
| “There’s water everywhere,” she said, swinging her phone to reveal the street below entirely flooded. “I have nothing but the clothes on my back. We’ve been calling [emergency services] but they say they can’t help. The water is moving fast and it’s coming up real, real fast.” | “There’s water everywhere,” she said, swinging her phone to reveal the street below entirely flooded. “I have nothing but the clothes on my back. We’ve been calling [emergency services] but they say they can’t help. The water is moving fast and it’s coming up real, real fast.” |
| Nelson added that she had moved to Houston from Louisiana after 2005 having been caught up in the disaster of Katrina. | Nelson added that she had moved to Houston from Louisiana after 2005 having been caught up in the disaster of Katrina. |
| In the immediate aftermath, the political toll was already being felt at local and national level. In Houston, Sylvester Turner, the city’s mayor, was facing questions about why he did not order an evacuation of the city’s 2.3 million residents in advance of Hurricane Harvey. | In the immediate aftermath, the political toll was already being felt at local and national level. In Houston, Sylvester Turner, the city’s mayor, was facing questions about why he did not order an evacuation of the city’s 2.3 million residents in advance of Hurricane Harvey. |
| Turner said doing so would merely have compounded the crisis. “If you think the situation right now is bad, and you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare,” he said. | Turner said doing so would merely have compounded the crisis. “If you think the situation right now is bad, and you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare,” he said. |
| The repercussions were also starting to reach the White House, where Trump was facing the biggest challenge to his young presidency from a disaster not of his own making. | The repercussions were also starting to reach the White House, where Trump was facing the biggest challenge to his young presidency from a disaster not of his own making. |
| Trump was scheduled to visit Texas on Tuesday, flying with his wife Melania Trump into Corpus Christi, which was hit hard by the hurricane on Friday. Despite Trump’s protestations on Twitter that “we have an all-out effort going, and going well!” it remains to be seen whether Harvey will deliver the punches to his leadership that Katrina inflicted on George W Bush. | Trump was scheduled to visit Texas on Tuesday, flying with his wife Melania Trump into Corpus Christi, which was hit hard by the hurricane on Friday. Despite Trump’s protestations on Twitter that “we have an all-out effort going, and going well!” it remains to be seen whether Harvey will deliver the punches to his leadership that Katrina inflicted on George W Bush. |