Pray for the people in the path of Hurricane Harvey. This is a storm of immense proportions not so much by size but by stationary duration. The storm is affecting areas from San Antonio to Corpus Christi but the amount of rainfall is particularly heavy in the Houston area and some have characterized it as unprecedented and even biblical in it's amount of rainfall and effect.
Houston, the capital of the US oil and gas industry, was struggling on Monday to assess the damage
caused by “catastrophic and life-threatening” flooding as Tropical Storm Harvey brought torrential
rains to much of the Texas coast and into Louisiana.
Harvey weakened from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 1 tropical storm after making landfall
near the port of Corpus Christi on Friday night, but over the weekend brought heavy rain to
Houston 150 miles away to the north-east.
Further downpours brought the total rainfall levels close to 40 inches in Dayton, to the northeast of
Houston, by Monday morning.
Brock Long, the recently appointed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on
Monday morning said he expected more than 30,000 people to be placed in temporary shelters as a
result of the flooding and more than 450,000 people to seek disaster assistance due to flooding.
FEMA deployed 1,800 staff, as security forces in the area were bolstered by the Department of
Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.
Army engineers began releasing water from reservoirs in the west of the city early on Monday
morning in an effort to slow the flooding of Houston’s city centre. Schools, airports and offices were
ordered to shut, while mandatory evacuations began late on Sunday night in some areas.
An emergency has also been declared in the neighbouring state of Louisiana, the White House
confirmed on Monday, authorising federal assistance to local relief efforts.
The US National Hurricane Center has warned that an “unprecedented” 50 inches of rain could fall
in some areas by Friday. It said record flooding was expected in many parts of south-east Texas,
creating a “life-threatening situation”, with heavy rain expected to continue until at least
Wednesday.
More than 27 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in some areas, with 35 inches expected by Sunday
evening, the National Weather Service said. “This event is unprecedented & all impacts are
unknown & beyond anything experienced,” it said in a tweet.
“What we’re seeing is the most devastating flood event in Houston’s recorded history,” Steve
Bowen, chief meteorologist at reinsurance company Aon Benfield, told Reuters.
Many residents of the fourth-biggest city in the US were obliged to flee their homes in boats or
rescue helicopters as the floodwaters rose. The Insurance Information Institute said flood damage
could match that caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the National Flood Insurance
Program paid out more than $15bn, Reuters reported.
The storm is the first big natural disaster to hit the US since Donald Trump became president, and
will be a test of the federal government’s ability to respond to complex challenges under the new
administration.
Mr Trump tweeted his appreciation for the “wonderful co-ordination” between federal, state and
local government agencies. The White House said he would go to Texas on Tuesday. - Ed Crooks
In case you haven't got the breadth and depth of the catastrophe in Houston take a look at some of these pics. This is happening right now and more heavy rain is forecast as Hurricane Harvey restrengthens off shore and comes back.
Pray for these people there and pray that any hidden or trapped people will be found. Pray the Holy Spirit will guide all these rescue workers to the right places and pray rain will let up so rescue workers can get in and save any and all from drowning. Pray for the salvation of as many as possible through this disaster. Such storms and devastation are the result of man's sin and the resulting fallen world but God loves and has compassion on these people and seeks to deliver them from this and from this falling world.
And pray for President Donald Trump. We may not like his behavior or his policies but he is under the power of this world like so many. Satan has convinced him he is "the man"and that the real stock is in material things and accomplishment but such a mental and spiritual bondage can be the strongest of ball and chains. Because you would also have it this way for yourself pray those chains will be broken and pray that dark spirit will be broken as easily as possible. Pray that Donald Trump will relent and repent to the Lord God our Father in heaven and receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. I think when he realizes that's where it's at he will go for it quickly as so many have and will. For every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
No comments :
Post a Comment