Houston Police officer drowns in Harvey floodwaters
A Houston police officer drowned in his patrol car in Harvey floodwaters, according to three department officials.
The officer, an HPD veteran who has been with the department for more than 30 years, was in his patrol car driving to work downtown Sunday morning when he got trapped in high water at I-45 and the Hardy Toll Road.
Search and rescue crews are currently recovering his body. The department has not yet formally notified the officer’s family.
“He was trying different routes, and took a wrong turn,” one high-ranking official said, asking not to be identified.
After getting trapped in high water, the officer tried to get out but was unable to.
The officer’s death is the 15th fatality in Texas claimed by Hurricane Harvey or the rains it spawned after making landfall, as the storm has pushed the city’s first response abilities to their limit and as Houston police officers and fire fighters and other first responders have rescued thousands of Houstonians over the past four days.
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Harvey May Be Among the World’s
Costliest Recent Catastrophes
With Hurricane Harvey continuing to wreak havoc in Texas, its full economic impact is still unclear. Current estimates range from $30 billion to $100 billion, either of which would make the hurricane among the world’s most costly catastrophes since at least 1970. And this is happening in what was considered a few short weeks ago as a fairly tame weather year. According to Swiss Re, total economic losses from disasters were $44 billion in the first half of 2017, down 62 percent from the first half in 2016. The biggest losses were from thunderstorms, and more than half of the $44 billion was insured. Although forecasters are reluctant to estimate how much of Harvey’s damage insurers might pay, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research, puts the figure at about 27 percent, far less than the 47 percent paid out for Hurricane Katrina. Go here for the financial charts.
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Eyes on Louisiana
Louisiana begins evacuations for Harvey on 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
The catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey is not limited to Texas, it’s also affecting parts of Louisiana where preparations are underway to evacuate some areas.
As the heavy band of rain stretches over southwest Louisiana, residents in the Lake Charles region are once again bracing for impact like they did for Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago.
On Monday night, water rose to chest-high in some areas, flooding homes and forcing hundreds of evacuations in one neighborhood according to Lake Charles Fire Department Division Chief Lennie LaFleur.
Among the nearly 500 rescued, one family displaced by the rising water said they were forced to move quickly in the middle of the night to flee their flooded home.
When the water rose to four feet high, a single father’s four children began to blow up inflatable boats using their own breath to help their dad and grandma. The father pulled his family atop the inflatables for nearly half a mile from their home to an evacuation center.
Local authorities are concerned that the flood water surrounding the shelter could continue to rise as the rain picks back up later Tuesday evening.
As storm forecasts show further movement into the state, Louisiana’s governor is warning that “the worst is likely to come for us here.”
Louisiana governor on Harvey: ‘The worst is likely to come for us here’
Harvey “does remain a named tropical storm and it’s going to drop an awful lot of rain,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at a news conference Monday. “We do have a long way to go with this particular storm.”
Flash flood warnings and watches are in effect as the outer bands that have done the most damage in Houston are expected to move further inland into Louisiana by Wednesday, ABC News meteorologists said. Officials are monitoring storm surge and high tides, which could increase flooding.
