Flooding continues to inundate Gulf Coast as Harvey makes landfall in Louisiana
By
Niles Niemuth
31 August 2017
Nearly one week after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in southeastern Texas, the historic scope of the damage and destruction caused by the storm is coming into sharper focus. Rescue efforts continued Wednesday in Houston and other areas as the storm continued to inundate the Gulf Coast with heavy rains and flooding.
Harvey is expected to far surpass any previous storm as the costliest in American history, with at least $190 billion in damage and destruction, equivalent to one percent of the US gross domestic product, according to an estimate by AccuWeather. The damage from Harvey far exceeds the combined impact of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005, and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the East Coast in 2012.
The official death toll in Texas remained at 30 Wednesday, but it is expected to rise as the true extent of the damage is surveyed, now that the storm has moved east. Many Houston residents stayed in their homes since there was no mandatory evacuation order before the storm. They became trapped as the flood waters rose.
Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, has been devastated by the record rains and flooding. The storm dropped the most rain ever recorded in the lower 48 states with a record 52 inches falling in Mont Belvieu, just east of Houston. Up to 30 percent of Harris County’s 1,800 square miles were flooded by the storm, covering an area larger than New York City and Boston combined.
Flood waters in Houston are not expected to recede for days or even weeks. Even after the city dries out, many parts will be uninhabitable….