While Tropical Storm Harvey has left Houston, he has not stopped doing damage to Texas. He made another landfall in Louisiana, and is hammering Jefferson County overnight.
“We have been hammered. Drainage systems have not been able to cup up. We have hundreds and maybe thousands of homes have been inundated with water,” Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick told KTRH early Wednesday morning.
“We were expecting 10-15 inches of rain over a seven day period. We got that in the first day or two. It’s been piling on since then,” Branick stated.
The death toll from Harvey is more than 20 according to officials. One of the victims was a 30-year veteran of the Houston Police Department. Sgt. Steven Perez was just trying to go to work on Sunday morning when he made a wrong turn and drove into high water. HPD Chief Art Acevedo says Perez’ family begged him not to try and go to work that morning.
“His response was ‘We’ve got work to do.’ He spent close to two and a half hours trying to get to work,” Acevedo said, tearing up during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Acevedo and other city officials have put in a curfew that will run from Midnight until 5am to prevent some of the looting that has been going on.
Trump visits Texas
President Trump was in Texas on Tuesday, first stopping in Corpus Christi and then moving to Austin where he met with cabinet officials, Governor Greg Abbott, and other lawmakers. Trump wants Congress to act fast to help a state devastated by Mother Nature, and Woodlands Congressman Kevin Brady says that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
“We’ve already begun work on it,” Brady told KTRH’s Michael Berry. “We won’t know yet how much damage there is. When the waters recede that will tell us more. But we will work together as a delegation on recovery.”
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Other notes:
- The NRG Center has opened as an emergency center and is prepared to take in 10,000 people and their pets.
- J.J. Watt of the Texans has now raised $5m for relief efforts and has a new goal of $6m