Flooding cripples Houston with more rain on the way

Houston, August 28 

Around 13 million people were battling “catastrophic” flooding and torrential rains in the storm-ravaged Texas where Hurricane Harvey has wreaked havoc, turning streets into raging rivers and claiming at least five lives.

Meteorologists have forecast that the historic rainfall will dump up to 50 inches by Wednesday.

Heavy rain bands were expected to move in over the Houston area overnight, which will continue the catastrophic and life-threatening flash-flood emergency in the area. “A flood of this magnitude is an 800-year event, and it exceeds the design specification of our levees,” Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert said in a statement today.

The flooding comes after Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit the US mainland in 13 years, left at least five people dead after it bashed the Texas Gulf coast. Rescuers received more than 1,000 distress calls from people forced on their rooftops in the submerged Houston area.

Officials warned the danger was far from over. They said the flooding in Texas was unlikely to recede quickly and that the storm will force more than 30,000 people from their homes.

Federal officials have widened the emergency zone to Louisiana, the southeastern US state on the Gulf of Mexico. US President Donald Trump will travel to Texas tomorrow to get a first-hand information on the flooding.

Harvey has left a trail of destruction as it swept through Texas, pummelling the region with heavy rains and flash floods. The hurricane has now turned into a tropical storm and is dumping rain on southern Texas.

The National Weather Service sais: “We are seeing catastrophic flooding, and this will likely expand and it will likely persist as it's slow to recede.” — PTI

450,000 likely to seek disaster aid

US emergency management officials said they were expediting federal resources to Texas after Hurricane Harvey swamped coastal areas of the state and forced 30,000 people to seek refuge in temporary shelters

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said more than 450,000 people were expected to seek disaster assistance due to flooding after Harvey made landfall during the weekend before weakening to tropical storm status 

“We are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said on Monday. “Harvey is still a dangerous and historic storm”