Harvey hits Louisiana after driving thousands from Houston homes

Houston, August 30 

Tropical Storm Harvey today made a second landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border, five days after making the first causing widespread destruction in which 30 people have died and tens of thousands rendered homeless.

Harvey, which made its first landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Friday night near Corpus Christi, made the second landfall, slamming into the Louisiana coast near the Texas border.

The coastal cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur got pummelled with 26 inches of rain in 24 hours — and it was still raining. Port Arthur, a city of about 55,000, was in exceptional danger because water from Beaumont is expected to flow towards it, CNN reported.

The National Weather Service  reported that some parts of Louisiana have seen more than a foot of rain, and the flash flood warnings were in effect for much of the Lake Charles region as the rainfall is expected to continue.

New Orleans was put under a tornado and flash flood watch until tomorrow. Houston has received more than 42 inches of rainfall so far.

Authorities in Houston, have imposed a nighttime curfew. The curfew  was announced after police arrested a crew of armed robbers hijacking vehicles, and officials warned residents of people impersonating Homeland Security investigators. There also were fears of looting as thousands of houses lay submerged and abandoned.

Following five days of heavy downpour, a large part of Texas remained submerged, homes flooded and schools and other public offices shut.

At least 30 persons have died in storm-related incidents, officials said, fearing the toll could rise since there were reports of people lost following the torrential downpours.

The Indian-American community has rallied themselves around to help people in distress. Indian businesses and places of worship were providing shelters to the displaced. Sunil Thakkar, a radio jockey by profession, was using his station to provide directions to people to safer places. — PTI

Economic cost: $75 b 

• Moody’s Analytics is estimating the economic cost from Harvey for southeast Texas at $51 billion to $75 billion
• The nation’s largest refinery, Valero Energy Corp’s 335,000 barrel-per-day facility in Port Arthur, Texas, was shut on Wednesday morning as Harvey lashed southeast Texas, said sources familiar with plant operations
• Harvey has drawn comparisons with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 12 years ago, killing more than 1,800 people and causing an estimated $108 billion in damage
• Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner imposed a curfew amid reports of looting, armed robberies and people impersonating police officers