6 said dead in Texas as Harvey causes ‘catastrophic’ flooding

Six people reportedly died as Tropical Storm Harvey continued to lash central Texas with torrential rains on Sunday, with the death toll expected to rise.

The devastating storm — the most powerful to hit the United States since 2005 — unleashed “catastrophic” floods, leaving a deadly trail of devastation along the Gulf Coast.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that conditions on the storm-ravaged coast are “bad and growing worse,” as torrential rains continued to batter Houston and nearby areas.

Although US media reported at least six deaths, Abbott offered no casualty figures, saying “we will see.” So far, two deaths have been officially confirmed.

But he added that search-and-rescue teams have been going door-to-door through some of the worst-hit neighborhoods. He said National Guard troops were deployed overnight to Houston, with boats, helicopters and high-clearance vehicles to help in rescues.

“There were a lot of warnings to evacuate,” he said, adding that those warnings “likely saved a whole lot of lives.”

Though Harvey has been downgraded from hurricane to tropical-storm status, it is expected to continue dumping up to two feet of rain in the area. It has caused rivers to overflow and necessitated more than 1,000 swift-water rescues.

“Now, of course, we are dealing with the damage around the Houston area because of the flooding,” Abbott said on Fox News Sunday.

“It is large and growing larger — it will be in the billions of dollars but we really will not be able to tell for the next couple of days.”

Houston is the fourth-largest US city, and surrounding Harris County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. The combination of dense population and low-lying elevations leave it particularly vulnerable to Harvey’s ravages.

If there was any silver lining to Abbott’s assessment, it was that the petroleum industry in the area — including half the nation’s oil-refining capacity — was “very well prepared” for the storm.

“They hunkered down and were able to contain the facilities and they have the ability to ratchet up back up there quickly.” he said. “This will be probably a one- or two-week downturn.”

The governor also praised US President Donald Trump’s role, saying his federal emergency declaration was the quickest Abbott had seen.

Trump, aware of the damage to George W. Bush presidency for his tardy response to Hurricane Katrina, said he was closely monitoring relief efforts from Camp David in Maryland.

The president posted several tweets about the storm, thanking the various authorities for their coordination and the professional manner in which they are dealing with the storm.

Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

Trump added that he would visit Texas as soon as as he could.

I will be going to Texas as soon as that trip can be made without causing disruption. The focus must be life and safety.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

“We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!” he tweeted after a teleconference meeting with his cabinet to discuss the emergency operations.

He also tweeted about the scale of the storm, writing, “Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!”

Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2017

The storm made landfall late Friday as a Category Four hurricane, pummeling the town of Rockport outside Corpus Christi with sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

One person was killed when a house caught fire in the Rockport area, local officials said.

And in Houston, a woman drowned when she left her car, which had stalled in high water, local media reported citing police.

“Cannot emphasize enough how much flooding there is on roadways you are endangering yourself and our first responders by being out,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo wrote on Twitter.

Harvey slowly weakened as it advanced, ripping off roofs, flipping mobile homes, and leaving hundreds of thousands of people in the dark on the Gulf Coast.

The National Weather Service issued more than a dozen tornado warnings overnight for southeast Texas, including several in the Houston area.

Forecasts show Harvey hovering over the shore for the next days, dumping dangerous amounts of rain.

In Houston, a city of 2.3 million, the city streets turned into fast moving rivers with officials warning residents to stay home.

Hobby International, one of the city’s two airports, announced that all flights were canceled “due to standing water on runways,” while George Bush International was operating at limited capacity.

“Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flood ongoing!” the NWS said on Twitter. “This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS situation! Do not travel unless told to.”

“CATASTROPHIC LIFE THREATENING FLOODING ONGOING ACROSS SE TEXAS,” it later emphasized.

Houston officials said that their 911 phone system was overwhelmed with emergency calls, mostly from stranded motorists.

Recovery ‘will take years’

Abbott visited a shelter for coastal evacuees in the state capital Austin and handed out food, describing the damage to homes and property as “sheer tragedy.”

“Some of them had their homes mowed down. Some of them will not have a place to return to… It is our job to make sure they will be taken care of,” he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said there should be no illusions about the long-term impact.

“This is going to be an unprecedented long and frustrating event for the state of Texas,” FEMA director Brock Long told MSNBC.

“The recovery from this disaster is going to be years.”

‘Severe blow’

Emergency services were struggling to make headway as the rains continued to pour down, although the Coast Guard managed to airlift at least 20 people and a dog to safety.

In Rockport, a local school and airport were among the places to suffer major damage while homes were also burnt to the ground as power cables caught fire. There were similar scenes in Houston and Corpus Christi.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. We do have strong winds — we’re right next to the bay — but nothing like last night,” Corpus Christi store owner Brandon Gonzalez told AFP.

Static storm

Brian McNoldy, a hurricane expert at the University of Miami, said a strong ridge of high pressure was preventing the storm from dispersing.

“There’s no sign of it really moving in a foreseeable future,” he told AFP.

Coastal Texas is a fast-growing area, with some 1.5 million people moving into the region since 1999. It is also home to a large number of oil refineries and a number of major ports.

US authorities said about 22 percent of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico, accounting for more than 375,000 barrels a day, was shut down as of Friday.

“We recognize that the ports in this region are critical and vital to the nation’s economy,” said Captain Kevin Oditt, incident commander for the Coast Guard’s Houston-Galveston post.

“We are preparing to open ports once the storm has passed or weather conditions permit.”

Fear of flooding

In Victoria, a town just north of Rockport, residents were shocked by the storm’s intensity.

“We didn’t know it was going to be a Category Four storm so we thought we’ll just ride it out,” local resident Robby Villa told AFP.

“If I knew it was going to be what it came to be, I might have left sooner,” he said.

Several locals, including Leslie Warner, worried about flooding.

“You know after the storm is done, from Austin and San Antonio, all that water is gonna come down here,” she told AFP.

Harvey is the most powerful hurricane to hit the mainland since Wilma struck Florida 12 years ago.

2005 was a calamitous year of hurricanes — before Wilma, Hurricane Katrina pummeled New Orleans, leaving more than 1,800 dead.