Houston Police SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son Aiden after rescuing them from their home surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston.
Conception Casa, center, and his friend Jose Martinez, right, check on Rhonda Worthington after her car become stuck in rising floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Monday, Aug. 28, 2017. The two men were evacuating their home that had become flooded when they encountered Worthington’s car floating off the road. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Residents are rescued from their homes surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Boats that sunk in the wake of Hurricane Harvey are surrounded by floating debris Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Rockport, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Residents pick through needed items at a make-shift aid station, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Rockport, Texas. A group from the Texas Rio Grande Valley created station for those in need following Hurricane Harvey. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
People push a stalled pickup through a flooded street in Houston, after Tropical Storm Harvey dumped heavy rains, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. The remnants of Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston on Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Moses Juarez, left, and Anselmo Padilla wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017.
Flooded downtown is seen from a high rise along Buffalo Bayou after Hurricane Harvey inundated the Texas Gulf coast with rain causing widespread flooding, in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017, in this picture obtained from social media.
Two people walk down a flooded section of Interstate 610 in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
Interstate highway 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey seen during widespread flooding in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017.
Residents wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
Interstate highway 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey seen during widespread flooding in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017.
A rescue worker carries two dogs to safety after evacuating their family from floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
A driver works his way through a maze of fallen utility poles damaged in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Aug. 26, 2017, in Taft, Texas.
A car is surrounded by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey in Point Comfort, Texas, Aug. 26, 2017.
A condominium complex is reduced to rubble after Hurricane Harvey struck in Rockport, Texas, Aug. 26, 2017.
A plane lies upside down at the airport after Hurricane Harvey struck near Fulton, Texas, Aug. 26, 2017.
A home damaged by Hurricane Harvey remains surrounded by flood waters, Aug. 26, 2017, in Rockport, Texas.
Cars sit abandoned at a flooded gas station after Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas Gulf coast and brought heavy rain to the region, in Houston, Aug. 26, 2017.
Lisa Rehr holds her four-year-old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated from Rockport, Texas, Aug. 26, 2017.
Houston, a city in the American state of Texas, will face worsening flooding conditions as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to rain on the city.
On Friday, Harvey, the strongest storm to strike Texas in 50 years, came ashore near Corpus Christi, about 354 km south of Houston. It has since remained around Texas’ Gulf Coast.
The storm’s rains submerged cars and flooded highways. Schools, airports and office buildings in the fourth largest city in the United States were closed as high waters filled some neighborhoods.
More flooding is expected to come as the storm moves back in the direction of Houston. Weather reports say some areas in Texas could have as much as 1.27 meters of rain from the storm.
Brock Long is the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At a news conference on Monday, he said that more than 30,000 people are expected to be placed temporarily in shelters.
The area immediately surrounding Houston, called the metropolitan area, is home to 6.8 million people. It is also home to many oil refineries in the U.S.
Many have stopped operations, likely for weeks, due to the storm, including Exxon Mobil’s facility in Baytown. It is the United States’ second largest refinery.
As of Monday morning, the shut down reduced about 2.4 million barrels of oil, or 13 percent of daily U.S. production.
The outages will limit the availability of U.S. gasoline and other refined products and push prices higher, experts said.
Federal authorities predicted it would take years to repair the damage from Harvey. The rains brought back memories of Tropical Storm Allison, which struck Texas in 2001. It flooded 70,000 homes and caused $9 billion in damage.
Damages are not likely to be as extensive as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed 1,800 people in and around New Orleans. Nor will damages likely be as high as Sandy, which hit New York in 2012. Those storms caused $80 billion and $36 billion in insured losses, respectively, according to Hannover Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies.
I’m Alice Bryant
Ruthy Munoz and Marianna Parraga reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
Words in This Story
worsen - v. to make (something) worse or to become worse
administrator - n. a person whose job is to manage a company, school, or other organization
refinery - n. a place where something, like oil, is refined
reinsurance - n. insuring (something) again so that the insurance is shared by more than one company
