Rescue crews early yesterday raced against rising floodwaters to pull hundreds of stranded residents from their homes and cars in southeast Texas as Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful storm to hit the state in more than 50 years, roared inland.
The storm has killed at least two people and the death toll could rise, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter early yesterday, with his deputies responding to reports of a deceased woman and child inside a submerged vehicle on Interstate 10 near Houston.
The second confirmed fatality came on Saturday evening as an elderly woman attempted to drive through flooded streets on Houston’s west side, Sergeant Colin Howard of the Houston Police Department said.
Photo: AP
“It appeared that her vehicle went into high water and she drowned as a result,” he said.
Authorities have urged residents to stay off the streets in southeastern Texas as rain falling at up to 12.7cm per hour flooded roads and major intersections.
On Friday night, a man died in a house fire in the town of Rockport, while another dozen people in the area suffered injuries such as broken bones, another official said.
First responders were conducting hundreds of rescues, the Harris County Joint Information Center said.
Harvey late on Friday slammed into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 209kph, making it the strongest storm to hit the state since 1961.
It has since lingered over Houston, dumping amounts of rain that threaten to break the record established nearly 40 years ago when Alvin, Texas, was deluged by 109cm of rain in 24 hours from July 24 to July 25, 1979.
Harvey on Saturday night ripped off roofs, snapped trees, triggered tornadoes and flash floods and cut off power to nearly 230,000 people.
Oil and gas production was largely halted in the state, prompting price hikes at the pumps.
“There are a number of stranded people on our streets, calling 911, exhausting needed resources. You can help by staying off the streets,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said on Twitter.
Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, but is expected to lash Texas for days as it lumbers inland, the US National Hurricane Center said, describing the forecast for the state as potentially “catastrophic.”
Rockport, which took a direct hit, was left with streets flooded and strewn with power lines and debris.
Before the storm hit, Rockport’s mayor told anyone staying behind to write their names on their arms for identification in case of death or injury.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was activating 1,800 members of the military to help with the statewide cleanup, while 1,000 people would conduct search-and-rescue operations.
The US Coast Guard said it had rescued 20 people from distressed vessels on Saturday and was monitoring two Carnival Corp cruise ships carrying thousands of people stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
Authorities warned of the potentially life-threatening impact of heavy rains between Houston and Corpus Christi over the next several days, with the latest forecast storm track forecasting that Harvey could loop back toward the Gulf of Mexico coast before turning north again tomorrow.
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