From the Trenches World Report
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While the Gulf Coast continues to deal with the devastating impacts of Harvey, emergency managers in the United States have another tropical threat to monitor by the name of Irma.
Far across the Atlantic, just west of the Cabo Verde Islands, Irma has strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane as of Thursday afternoon. Irma became a tropical storm at midday on Wednesday. Continue reading “Irma may become Category 4 hurricane while tracking across Atlantic; Will it affect the US?”
WASHINGTON – While Congress readies a multi-billion dollar aid package to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump will donate $1 million of his own money to disaster relief.
“He would like to join in the effort that a lot of the people that we’ve seen across the country do, and he’s pledging one million dollars of personal money to the fund,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Continue reading “Trump to ‘personally’ donate $1 million for Hurricane Harvey relief”
Business Insider – by Dave Mosher
Over the past week, Hurricane Harvey and its stormy remnants have dumped more than four feet of rain on parts of Texas, breaking US rainfall records.
Thousands of people escaped to their rooftops to avoid drowning in the deadly floodwaters. Many were rescued in the days that followed, in some cases by journalists or good samaritanswith fishing boats. Tens of thousands of Texas residents, left with nowhere to go, have retreated to temporary shelters. Continue reading “The crucial reason Houston officials didn’t order evacuations before Harvey made landfall”
Tropical Storm Harvey may be on the move — but its after-effects are just beginning to be realized.
In addition to slamming homes and hospitals, the storm struck the heart of Texas’ refining industry, where roughly a third of America’s oil is processed. In its wake, more than two million pounds of hazardous chemicals have been released into the air, according to filings reported with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and first reported by Politico. Continue reading “Oil refineries have released 2 million pounds of chemicals in Harvey’s wake, and scientists are worried”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Arkema SA expects chemicals to catch fire or explode at its heavily flooded plant in Crosby, Texas in the coming days, and has no way to prevent that from happening, the chief executive officer of the company’s North America unit said on Wednesday.
The company evacuated remaining workers on Tuesday and Harris County ordered the evacuation of residents in a 1.5-mile(2.4-km) radius of the plant that makes organic chemicals. Continue reading “Potential chemical explosion at flooded Texas plant prompts evacuation”
While Houston officials didn’t establish a mandatory evacuation for the entire metropolis, some residents fled to neighboring cities like Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio before the rains, tornadoes, and floods came to the city.
Now, many of those residents are wondering if it’s safe for them to head back into the city with reports of major roadways still being closed due to high water and damaged roads.
Chron.com reached out to DriveTexas, an organization run by the Texas Department of Transportation, to report on which routes Houstonians and others can take to get into the city safely. Continue reading “Is it safe to drive to Houston after Hurricane Harvey? Here are the routes that are still closed”
On Wednesday evening, the sun is finally shining in Houston. But the city is still underwater, and Harvey has turned its destructive eye toward Louisiana.
The monster storm made a second landfall on the Texas border near Cameron, Louisiana, around 4:30 a.m. CT.
An additional 4 to 8 inches of rain were expected in eastern Texas, southwestern Louisiana, and parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, with some areas receiving up to 12 inches. Continue reading “Harvey makes 2nd landfall on Louisiana border after pummeling Texas with ‘catastrophic’ flooding — here’s the latest”
Pastor Joel Osteen can’t seem to get his story straight about why he didn’t offer his 16,800-seat megachurch in Houston as a shelter sooner for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
During an appearance on NBC’s “TODAY” show Wednesday, the head of Lakewood Church said its doors have “always been open.” Minutes later, he appeared to reverse course and admit that the church hadn’t initially encouraged victims to seek shelter there.
Continue reading “Joel Osteen Says Megachurch Didn’t Open Earlier Because Houston ‘Didn’t Ask’”
More water rescues are underway now in Port Arthur, Texas, where Harvey evacuees thought they had escaped the storm’s worst.
Two senior care facilities in Port Arthur – Cypress Glen and Lake Arthur Place – took in water overnight, and residents are trapped as the buildings are inaccessible. Senior Care Centers said in a statement, “We will evacuate if rescue teams can make it to the buildings. We are notifying families this morning.” Continue reading “‘No One Can Get In and No One Can Get Out’: 2 Port Arthur Nursing Homes Taking on Water”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is urging illegal immigrants to seek flood-related assistance in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, reports the Washington Examiner.
His message comes amid rumors that those reporting to shelters would be asked about their immigration status and asked to produce documentation.
The City of Houston noted in a duo Monday night tweets, one in Spanish and one in English, “We will not ask for immigration status or papers from anyone at any shelter. This rumor is FALSE!” Continue reading “Houston mayor works to dispel deportation rumors, urges illegal immigrants to seek flood assistance”
ABC News reporter Tom Llamas is facing backlash for tweeting about “looting” at a Houston supermarket.
Llamas, who has been reporting on the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, tweeted Tuesday, “We’re witnessing looting right now at a large supermarket in the NE part of Houston & police have just discovered a body nearby.”
In a follow-up tweet (since deleted) he wrote, “We informed police of the looting and Coast Guard is flying overhead. Multiple officers now on the scene.” Continue reading “ABC News reporter faces backlash for tweeting about ‘looting’ at Houston supermarket”
Aug 29 (Reuters) – Houston has imposed an overnight curfew beginning on Tuesday night for an indefinite period amid incidents of looting, armed robberies and people impersonating police officers, city officials said.
The curfew will run from 12 a.m. until 5 a.m., Mayor Sylvester Turner told a news conference on Tuesday evening. The city is also bringing additional police from other regions.
“You cannot drive, nor be in any public place. We have had problems with armed robberies, with people with guns and firearms,” said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. Continue reading “Houston imposes night curfew to prevent looting”
After inundating Texas and Louisiana for days, Harvey will race across the Ohio Valley and northeastern United States with rain during part of the Labor Day weekend.
While Harvey is not expected to bring widespread flooding, or flooding anywhere close to the disaster in Texas, enough rain is likely to fall to bring urban and isolated flash flooding to some states farther north. Continue reading “Harvey to unload drenching rain in Ohio Valley, northeastern US during Labor Day weekend”
On Monday, Adam Schrader was set to start a new job as the managing editor of the Colorado County Citizen in Columbus, Texas. But then Hurricane Harvey struck, and Schrader is out of a job.
The paper’s offices sit in a town at the mouth of the Colorado River in a town that’s currently being evacuated. Schrader, who moved from New York to Columbus, Texas this year, had traveled the 77 miles to Houston to do a freelance assignment for the New York Daily News this weekend before he started his new job. Continue reading “Man fired by text message from his new job for getting stranded in Hurricane Harvey”
Potential Tropical Cyclone 10 may slowly evolve into Tropical Storm Irma near the southern Atlantic coast while surf, drenching showers and gusty coastal winds increase through midweek.
The main impacts will be locally dangerous surf and rain that slows travel for a while or ruins a day at the beach.
A period of rain is forecast from Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilmington, North Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; Ocean City, Maryland; Philadelphia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; New York City and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Continue reading “Slowly brewing Tropical Storm Irma to raise surf, downpours on US East Coast”
As residents and businesses throughout Texas face devastating damage from Hurricane Harvey, many will be relying on their insurance providers to compensate them for their losses — but in a few days, it may be harder to get reimbursed if the insurance company doesn’t follow through.
On Sept. 1, a new law will take effect in Texas that aims to cut down on a recent rise in insurance lawsuits regarding weather-related damages. HB 1774, as the bill was known prior to becoming law, imposes a series of new regulations on lawsuits filed against insurance providers for nature-related events, including the flood, hurricane and tornado damage residents are facing in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Continue reading “Texas set to impose new insurance restrictions as residents face damage from Hurricane Harvey”
Tropical Storm Harvey’s multi-day siege on Texas and the Gulf Coast has killed at least five, prompted thousands of rescues and triggered catastrophic flooding across the Houston metro. Now, swollen waterways are prompting evacuations in surrounding areas.
New mandatory and voluntary evacuations were ordered in Fort Bend County, Texas, southwest of downtown Houston, over fears and expectations that water levels in the Brazos River will reach record levels, threatening to overtop local levees and inundate homes and businesses. Continue reading “Harvey Forces New Evacuations in Texas as Waterways Burst Banks in Houston-Area Flood”
At least one person is dead after Tropical Storm Harvey roared into the south Texas Coast Friday as a Category 4 hurricane.
According to media reports, a man was killed when his house caught fire at the height of the storm.
Officials in several coastal Texas towns asked residents to stay away until they could get a better scope of the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey, now a tropical storm, during its Friday night landfall.
A curfew was in place in Port Lavaca because all power, water and sewer services were down, the city’s police department said in a Facebook post. Continue reading “Tropical Storm Harvey Shreds Texas Coast, Leaving At Least 1 Dead; Residents Ordered to Stay Out of Port Lavaca, Port Aransas”
Hurricane Harvey has rapidly intensified and is now a Category 4 hurricane, with landfall just a couple hours away along the Texas Gulf Coast. However, the eyewall – the location of the strongest winds – is about to move onshore along the Texas Coastal Bend, and a wind gust of 101 mph has already been reported.
Harvey will be the nation’s first major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane landfall in almost 12 years tonight, poised to clobber the Texas Gulf Coast with catastrophic rainfall flooding, dangerous storm-surge flooding and destructive winds this weekend that could leave parts of the area uninhabitable for an extended period of time. Continue reading “Category 4 Hurricane Harvey’s Landfall Imminent; Catastrophic Rainfall Flood Threat; Strongest Texas Coastal Bend Landfall in at Least 47 Years”