Houston, Texas, the fourth biggest American city, braced for more tropical storm rains Monday with rescue workers struggling to reach thousands of people already stranded by raging flood waters.
Forecasters expected the storm that came ashore as Hurricane Harvey on Friday night to drop as much as 25 centimeters of new rainfall around Houston and that another 40 to 60 centimeters could fall through Wednesday. The region has already seen more than 60 centimeters of rain in some places.
“While the hurricane force winds have diminished—I want to stress that we are not out of the woods yet,” said acting U.S. Homeland Security chief Elaine Duke. “Not by a long shot. Harvey is still a dangerous and historic storm.” She said rivers in south Texas “won’t crest until later this week.”
WATCH: Duke on possible danger ahead
Duke added, “Right now we are focused on rescue operations and will move into recovery operations later in the week. But today we are deeply concerned with those in Houston and surrounding areas who are stranded and in need of immediate assistance. People need help and we are working to provide it.”
Federal Emergency Management Administrator Brock Long, said, “We’re anticipating over 30,000 people being placed in shelters temporarily—to basically stabilize the situation and provide for their care. Next—we are ready—and already deploying life essential commodities.
“I’m asking all citizens to get involved,” Long said.
WATCH : FEMA official on current operations
Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft said rescue workers are checking Google maps “to see where calls (from those stranded) are coming from. We want to save lives.”
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President Donald Trump, set to visit Texas on Tuesday, already had declared the state a disaster area, making it eligible for assistance from the national government, and on Monday designated parts of the neighboring state of Louisiana as well.
U.S. Weather Prediction Center lead forecaster Patrick Burke told VOA, “The message we’ve been getting out today is that we’ve never seen a storm like this. We’ve never seen these rainfall amounts over such a large area, and so the damage is already catastrophic and unfortunately is going to continue to be catastrophic for days to come.”
The National Weather Service said the center of the storm was drifting slowly to the southeast early Monday on a path that would take it back out into the Gulf of Mexico sometime Monday and allow for it to possibly strengthen slightly before making landfall again Tuesday.
With the storm bringing band after band of heavy rain over the region, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced early Monday it was beginning the controlled release of water from two reservoirs in order to help prevent them from failing and to reduce the risk of further flooding. The releases will continue for weeks.
Hundreds of rescue operations have taken place throughout the area with crews in helicopters, boats and wading through floodwaters on foot. Volunteers have joined police, fire and medical crews, as well as 3,000 National Guard members.
In Photos: Houston rescue effort
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would order 1,000 more National Guard troops to Houston Monday. He has declared a state of disaster in about one-quarter of the state’s counties, allowing the government to speed aid to those areas.
Every major highway into and out of Houston has become a river, and the city’s two airports are closed. So far two deaths have been blamed on the storm.
Since the storm’s path was plotted and predicted in great detail well before it hit Texas, questions are beginning to be raised about why no mass evacuation was ordered.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said it was not possible to overcome logistical obstacles to a large-scale evacuation. He defended his actions at a news conference late Sunday, saying it would have been “crazy” to attempt a mass movement of millions of people on such short notice.
Advice from emergency officials
Turner asked where the 6 million residents of Houston and its suburbs could have gone, since the city is by far the biggest population center in that part of Texas, the second largest U.S. state. The mayor said his decision not to order an evacuation was smart and in the best interest of Houstonians.
For those stranded in flooded parts of the city, emergency officials said no one should seek refuge in the attics of their homes, due to a risk that water rising to record levels would trap them in an enclosed area. The advice to all was simple: climb onto the roof and try to attract attention by waving a white cloth.
Twenty-two aircraft were in the skies over Houston and its surroundings Sunday, trying to keep up with constant calls for help and searching for people marooned atop their homes. Helicopter rescues were common, and authorities had hundreds of boats out searching for flood victims. Some people managed to escape the flooded areas by kayak, canoe or inflatable rafts.
People who thought they might be able to walk to safety through water only waist- or chest-deep in their neighborhoods were warned to resist the urge to test strong currents.
“It’s impossible not to feel overwhelmed,” VOA’s Celia Mendoza said Sunday from Houston. She and other reporters trying to chronicle the tragedy wound up needing rescue themselves as the floods spread.
WATCH: VOA Spanish service reporter on current situation
Several Houston-area oil refineries shut down on Sunday as the storm continued. The closures take roughly 12 percent of U.S. fuel-making capacity offline, compounding concerns about fuel shortages and higher gasoline prices.
Harvey was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States mainland in more than a decade.
Celia Mendoza in Houston and Victor Beattie in Washington contributed to this story
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