The death toll increased to at least five people as Tropical Storm Harvey remained over the Houston area Sunday morning.
Aug. 27 (UPI) — The death toll increased to at least five people as Tropical Storm Harvey remained over the Houston area Sunday morning.
The storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm late Friday night and was downgraded to a tropical storm hours later, had dumped more than 20 inches in the region. And up to 40 inches was forecast to drench the area over the next few days.
The entire Texas Gulf Coast — with a metro population of 6.6 million — was under “life-threatening catastrophic flood warning” by the National Weather Service in Houston-Galveston.
“It’s catastrophic, unprecedented, epic — whatever adjective you want to use, ” Patrick Blood, a NWS meteorologist, said to the Houston Chronicle . “It’s pretty horrible right now.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long it will take years for the region to recover.
“FEMA is going to be there for years, ” administrator Brock Long said on CNN’s State of the Union . “This disaster is going to be a landmark event.”
His agency was “pushing forward” teams for recovery housing and flood insurance programs.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett estimated bout 1,000 water rescues had taken place from homes and cars.
The following dire warning was posted on Twitter at 4: 16 a.n. Sunday:
“EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAS REQUESTED: IF HIGHEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME BECOMES DANGEROUS… GET ON THE ROOF.”
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo warned people on Twitter said there were reports of people getting in to the attic to “not do so unless you have an ax or means to break through onto your roof.”
Acevedo told Fox & Friends Weekend the city’s 911 system has been “overwhelmed” since Harvey struck.
“It breaks your heart, ” Acevedo said via a livestream on Twitter while standing in waist-high water in north Houston. “But, it’s Texas, we’ll get through it.”
The Harris County Sherif’s Office said people should only use 911 in dire emergencies, as dispatchers struggled to keep up with the calls.
Houston TranStar’s updated list had 181 high-water locations on the roads, and Hobby Airport was closed while Metropolitan Transit Authority suspended all service.
“I know for a fact this is the worst flood Houston has ever experienced, ” NWC’s Blood said. “Worse than [tropical storm] Allison. It’s so widespread.”
The Coast Guard rescued at least 32 people from several boats since the storm began.
The heaviest rainfalls in the Houston area over the past 12 hours were around Webster, where 19.3 inches were recorded since 5: 30 p.m. on the Galveston-Harris county line.
Maximum sustained winds decreased to near 45 mph with higher gusts and tropical-storm-force winds up to 115 miles away from the eye of the storm.
Winds and flooding weren’t the only problem.
CenterPoint said more than 65,000 people in their Houston coverage area were without power at 7 a.m., and number that was steadily rising.
For nearly one day the one reported death was a woman who died in a fire in Rockland.
The second death reported was in Houston, where a woman drove her vehicle into high water, city police said. The car had became inoperable or the water was too high to drive through. She got out of her vehicle and drowned.
Aransas County Sheriff Bill Mills said additional fatalities were feared in Rockport. An estimated 5,000 residents didn’t evacuate from the storm, which landed between Port Aransas and Port O’Connor.
Rockport Mayor Charles Wax told CNN emergency workers were going house to house to check on residents and assess damage.
“There’s been widespread devastation, ” Wax said. “We’ve already taken a severe blow from the storm, but we’re anticipating another one when the flooding comes.”
Residents had evacuated in San Antonio — about 200 miles from Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. About 950 people were in shelters in the city, Woody Woodward, a spokesman for the city fire department, told CNN.
Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth took in 10 critically ill babies from a hospital in Corpus Christi.
