Harvey Death Toll Slowly Rises While Waters Slowly Recede, Evacuations Ordered And Houston Reopens For Business

HOUSTON, TX — Hurricane Harvey made landfall a week ago today and downright messed with Texas. The Category 4 storm dropped about 27 trillion gallons of rain, completely flooded Houston, turned the Golden Triangle into island cities, leveled buildings on the Coastal Bend and has taken at least 47 lives. Elected leaders at all levels of government vow that the Lone Star State will rise again. And for Houston, it means getting back to normalcy.

The ports in Corpus Christi and Galveston have reopened. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the Houston Zoo and BARC animal shelter were to reopen at 1 p.m. Friday. Admission to the zoo is the reduced cost of $5. The Houston Astros returned home and will play a home series against the New York Mets, with a double header on Saturday and one game Sunday. Some city bus routes are back in swing and the shelter population is starting to dwindle.

Donations have poured in by the tens of millions of dollars, FEMA is working with individual families, local businesses have reopened shop, people are on the street jogging and folks are moving forward with their lives.

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“Don’t bet against Houston and don’t bet against Harris County,” Turner said Thursday. “We’ll rebuild, and we’ll rebuild quickly.”

Houston isn’t out of the water just yet, though. Many neighborhoods close to rivers and bayous remain flooded while officials decide how to release water from the overflowing Addicks-Barker Reservoir. Turner said residents in the Addicks Reservoir area of West Houston should leave their homes as flooding in those areas would likely not subside for 10 to 15 days and people who remained in homes with water inside their homes were posing a safety risk to themselves and first responders.

"If you have water currently in your home, I am going to encourage you in the strongest of terms to leave your homes," Turner said. "To remain in your home for the next 10 to 15 days in not in your best interest, and it’s not in the best interest of our first responders."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Friday that the Brazos River in the Richmond area will crest at an all-time high in the next week or so, and that those residents could be ordered to evacuate.

"Just observe what happened in the surrounding area, and please heed all warnings and maintain safety," Abbott said at his daily news conference.

The water is starting to recede around Houston, but many officials have begun to worry about the amount of dead bodies will be found. Harris County Forensics reported Thursday they are running out of room for the bodies. They’re considering leasing a refrigerated 18-wheeler to house the bodies they expect to find.

Meanwhile over in Southeast Texas, cities have become separate islands with no way of moving from one to the other unless you have a boat or helicopter. Several water rescues have been made, and some residents of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange have been transported by C-130 aircraft to Dallas and some to San Antonio.

The storm dropped 50 inches of rain in some places, so much that the National Weather Service needed to add colors and come up with new ways to chart such rain events.

Photo by Shawn Sayers with permission for Patch.