Houston Texas: Hurricane Harvey on track to become a “landmark” national disaster for the United States

Captain Rick: Harvey made landfall on Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and stalled out as a tropical storm over the coastal areas of Texas, just southwest of Houston.
It unleashed dangerously high winds and dumped catastrophic amounts of rain with a total of up to 50″ projected before it moves out of Texas on Wednesday.
Tropical Storm Harvey sent massive floods through the Houston area Sunday, chasing thousands to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelming rescuers. FEMA estimates 30,000 will seek safe haven in shelters.
Federal disaster declarations indicate the storm has so far affected about 6.8 million people.
About 50 Texas counties and parts of Louisiana will face serious repercussions from the “landmark event.”

A look at Harvey by the numbers so far:

Track _____
Harvey, now spinning near Port O’Connor, Texas, was forecast to move back into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
As it spins offshore, the storm is expected to dump an additional 15 to 25 inches of rain through Friday over the upper Texas coast and into southwestern Louisiana, exacerbating the life-threatening, catastrophic flooding in the Houston area.
It will meander over the Gulf for a couple of day, accumulating more moisture, before making a second landfall somewhere near the Texas/Louisiana border, likely on Wednesday, dumping record amounts of rain on the region during the almost week long catastrophic visit.

Rainfall _____
This month has officially been deemed the wettest on record for Houston, Texas. On Sunday, Houston established a new daily rainfall record with just over 16 inches. That’s twice the rainfall that Phoenix Arizona receives in a year.
Between Friday and Sunday, some areas along the Texas gulf coast received as much as 30 inches of rain. But the dangers are not over just yet. Weather services warn that before the storm clears out, some areas could cumulatively receive as many as 50 inches of rain. Continuing rainfall will worsen already grave flooding conditions.

Fatalities _____
At least 5 people have died as a result of Harvey. Rescue efforts are still ongoing and that number could increase over the coming days.

Rescue efforts _____
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers had rescued more than 2,000 people trapped by the overwhelming waters; another 185 rescue requests were still pending. The city also has grappled with 75,000 911 calls, and the system has backed up but never went down.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday activated the entire state National Guard, raising to 12,000 the number of guardsmen deployed to assist the search and rescue effort.
The Coast Guard, which said it already had conducted 300 air and 1,200 boat rescues, had 20 helicopters and more than 20 boat teams in the Houston area.
Rising water levels have made rescue efforts challenging. As many as 346 roads are closed due to high water.
More than 5,500 weary refugees of Tropical Storm Harvey’s fury sought refuge in the city’s George R. Brown Convention Center. More than a dozen smaller shelters have been opened across Harris County.
Local, state and federal officials warned that the human crisis in southeast Texas was just beginning. Harvey will drive 30,000 to shelters in Texas, FEMA says.

Rescue effort costs _____
While wind damage insurance claims alone could reach as high as $6 billion, flooding costs could be even larger.
FEMA already owes the U.S. Treasury more than $24 billion, which was provided for previous disaster relief efforts.

Disaster assistance _____
On Monday morning, FEMA Administrator Brock Long said more than 450,000 Texans will need disaster assistance relief in the wake of the storm.
President Donald Trump has approved a federal emergency disaster declaration, directing government aid toward the relief and recovery efforts. Under this declaration, the U.S. government will cover about 75% of some of the relief costs.
At least 15 states are sending first response teams to Texas.

Small business fate _____
The longer the recovery effort takes, the less likely it is the area’s small businesses will survive the economic damage. About 40% of small businesses won’t survive this type of natural disaster.

Gas prices _____
Because many of the United States’ oil refineries are located in Texas, outages have already caused gas prices to hit a 2-year high. Texas boasts a refining capacity of more than 5.6 million barrels per day, according to the EIA.
About 16% of that capacity has been taken out due to the storm. Some experts predict gas prices could rise by as much as 25 cents.

BREAKING UPDATES _____
For breaking updates on Harvey, view the comments for this post. Your comments are welcome.