Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
As people waded in chest-high floodwaters in the United States' fourth-largest city, Houston's mayor announced Sunday that the main convention center would be opening as a shelter, evoking memories of Hurricane Katrina, when breached levees in New Orleans stranded tens of thousands of people in squalid conditions at the football stadium and convention center. Elected officials have vowed to heed the lessons from Katrina in 2005, when about 30,000 evacuees spent days packed inside the sweltering Superdome without electricity or running water.
Two kayakers try to beat the current of an overflowing Brays Bayou in Houston. Rescuers answered hundreds of calls for help as floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey began to fill second-story homes.
President Donald Trump monitored Hurricane Harvey from the seclusion of his official mountaintop retreat on Saturday, sending a flurry of tweets before and after the powerful storm made landfall in Texas in an effort to reassure the public that he was fully in control of managing the first natural disaster since he took office. "Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David.
The Trump administration Sunday ramped up its response to deadly Hurricane Harvey amid reports of Texas families trapped in their homes and a Weather Service pronouncement of "unprecedented" impacts - including up to 50 inches of rain predicted, and elevated highways under water. In Washington, President Donald Trump was headed into a late-morning Cabinet tele-conference on the disaster, tweeting "Even experts have said they've never seen one like this!" Going to a Cabinet Meeting at 11:00 A.M. on #Harvey .
Mexican soldiers en route to the U.S. border on Sept. 6, 2005. The convoy was carrying water-treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Harvey made landfall Friday near Corpus Christi, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing 130 mph sustained winds and driving rains. Harvey weakened to a tropical storm Saturday, but fear of flooding that could be brought on by torrential rains remains.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said his agency is already gearing up for a years-long effort to help Texas recover from the damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey. "FEMA is going to be there for years," administrator Brock Long said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
President Trump on Sunday said he is planning a trip to storm-ravaged Texas, and praised the government response to Hurricane Harvey, including the "thousands rescued" by emergency crews, as storm water rises and strands residents across the state. "Great coordination between agencies at all levels of government.
The U.S. Coast Guard has stationed rescue boats and planes at several locations around parts of Southeast Texas affected by Tropical Storm Harvey. The Coast Guard's Houston-Galveston sector protects the coastline near the nation's fourth-largest city, a region home to a critical port and major oil refineries.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday a disaster declaration has been declared for 50 of the state's 254 counties in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, noting that the foremost concern at this time will be heavy rainfall that will result in "catastrophic, life-threatening" flooding. "I have issued a disaster declaration that originally included 30 counties," Abbott said during a press conference in Austin Saturday afternoon.
Late Friday, Hurricane Harvey intensified to a major Category 4 hurricane just before making landfall near Rockport, Texas and remains a dangerous storm. The priorities right now are supporting states with: search and rescue, mass care, disaster medical services, temporary power, and life sustaining commodities " says FEMA Administrator Brock Long.
The rain was so torrential along Interstate 45 coming out of Galveston as Hurricane Harvey settled over southeast Texas that motorists had to stop under bridges to avoid driving in whiteout conditions. The downpour on Saturday has also caused minor street flooding along a highway in Dickinson, about 25 miles northwest of Galveston.
Hurricane Harvey hit South Texas head-on late Friday, with the Category 4 storm unleashing torrential rain and blasing winds, and leaving thousands without power. The powerful eye wall of Harvey reached land by 11 p.m. ET between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor, Texas, with winds of 130 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Residents clear debris in the city of Tacloban, devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, in the Philippines in November 2013. It was reportedly the deadliest storm in recorded history.a Just two or three decades ago, scientists were talking about the consequences of climate change manifesting in 50-100 years.
Hurricane Harvey is the first test of the Trump administration's response to a natural disaster. And much of that responsibility falls on the shoulder of the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, William "Brock" Long.
Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert briefed reporters on the federal government's preparations for Hurricane Harvey, a "serious storm" which, he said, "could remain a dangerous storm for several days." with winds of 120 miles per hour, is expected to bring flooding, flash flooding and other high-wind damage, Bossert said, although he added that this was expected "to be a rain event more so than a wind event."
In Texas, tens of thousands of residents began evacuating coastal communities Thursday, as forecasters predicted Hurricane Harvey could make landfall late Friday as a major category-three storm, delivering a life-threatening 35 inches of rain to some parts of the Gulf Coast. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called out 700 members of the National Guard as several coastal counties ordered mandatory evacuations.
Conditions were deteriorating along Texas's Gulf Coast on Friday as Hurricane Harvey strengthened and slowly moved toward the state, with forecasters warning that evacuations and preparations "should be rushed to completion." Millions of people were bracing for a prolonged battering from the hurricane, which could be the fiercest such storm to hit the U.S. in nearly a dozen years.
Texas facing catastrophic flooding as Harvey intensifies into a major hurricane that will bring life-threatening storm surge and up to 30 INCHES of rain when it makes landfall BREAKING NEWS: Disgruntled employee at a South Carolina restaurant shoots one person and takes hostages after declaring 'I am the new king of Charleston' There's a method to his madness! Lindsey Graham says Trump's fights with Congress are a 'thought-out strategy' and 'there's nothing crazy about it' Rapid exit: Trump's director of 'rapid response' who scoured the Internet for rare positive stories about him leaves the White House 'This isn't a negotiation': Judge Judy tells CBS her salary demands and accepts no counter, saying she could be making $20M more than the $47M she now gets if she produced the show Did Kim Jong-un execute his mentor over coup plot involving China? Korean leader's uncle met with Chinese ... (more)
The largest wildfire ever recorded in Greenland was recently spotted close to the west coast town of Sisimiut, not far from Disko Island where I research retreating glaciers . The fire has captured public and scientific interest not just because its size and location came as a surprise, but also because it is yet another signpost of deep environmental change in the Arctic.