Booming Houston built over land meant for flood projects

In this Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017 photo, Gordon Prendergast poses with the kayak he bought to see how his house in Houston's western neighborhoods fared after Harvey caused flooding in land that not long ago had been open prairie. Tens of thousands of homes were inundated when floodwater roared around the edge of Houston's Addicks Dam for the first time in its 70-year history.

New Houston water release could keep 20K homes flooded

Miguel Moncado, of Oxford Contractors, guts a flood-damaged home in the Meyerland neighborhood in Houston after Hurricane Harvey on Friday Sept, 1, 2017. HOUSTON >> Nearly a week after Harvey crashed into the Texas coastline, the storm chased more people out of their homes Friday after dumping heavy rain on Louisiana, and Houston planned a water release that could keep as many as 20,000 homes flooded for up to 15 days.

White House asks Congress for $7.85 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster relief

A week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast, the Trump Administration is asking Congress for almost $8 billion in disaster relief funds, in what could be the first installment of a recovery effort that may well be the most expensive ever for the federal government in dealing with a domestic natural disaster. "These additional Federal resources would enable the affected States to address disaster response and immediate recovery needs in the areas most affected by Hurricane Harvey, said White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Rescuers comb floodwaters

Rescuers began a block-by-block search of tens of thousands of Houston homes Thursday, pounding on doors and shouting as they looked for anyone - alive or dead - who might have been left behind in Harvey's fetid floodwaters, which have now damaged more than 87,000 homes and destroyed nearly 7,000 statewide. Elsewhere, the loss of power at a flood-crippled chemical plant set off explosions and a fire, and the city of Beaumont, near the Texas-Louisiana line, lost its public water supply.

Hurricane Harvey Brings America Together Like 9/11

In awe at the destruction 50 inches of rain did to East Texas and our fourth-largest city and in admiration as cable television showed countless hours of Texans humanely and heroically rescuing and aiding fellow Texans in the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Yet the destruction will not soon be repaired.

Blasts rock Texas chemical plant as Harvey danger moves east

Fires and two explosions rocked a flooded Houston-area chemical plant early Thursday, sending up a plume that federal authorities described as "incredibly dangerous" and adding a potential new hazard to the aftermath of Harvey. The blasts at the Arkema Inc. plant, about 25 miles northeast of Houston, also ignited a 30- to 40-foot flame.

‘Blasts’ at flooded chemical plant as Texas surveys storm wreckage

Two explosions were reported at a flooded Texas chemical plant near storm-battered Houston Thursday, just as the region began its slow recovery following Harvey's onslaught. Operators at the Arkema Inc facility said the Harris County Emergency Operations Center notified them at approximately 2:00am CDT , of "two explosions and black smoke" rising from the plant in Crosby, a town about 25 miles northeast of Houston.

Authorities brace for wave of hurricane-related fraud

As high water spreads from Houston through Texas and Louisiana, authorities are bracing for an inevitable wave of fraud and other criminal activity set into motion by Harvey's punishing rains. In a warning to those who would seek to defraud the government and people wanting to help or seeking assistance, a dozen federal and state agencies were banding together to investigate and prosecute wrongdoers.

How the Storms of “The Scottish Play” Inform Your Compliance Program

In honor of fellow Houstonians, fellow Texans and now our neighbors to the east in Louisiana, who have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey, I continue my weather themed week by considering how Shakespeare used weather as a metaphor and what the compliance practitioner can learn from this going forward. It occurred to me that if weather is a metaphor in fiction, it is based on some reality which I think can be used to instruct on a best practices compliance program.

Relief package for Texas reignites bitter feud with the north

Republicans from New York and New Jersey have pledged unconditional support for those devastated by Hurricane Harvey , despite lingering resentment. As historic floods wreaked havoc across the Gulf Coast, north-eastern Republicans recalled the days after Superstorm Sandy ravaged their region in 2012.