August 26, 2017

Hundreds of Thousands Without Power as Hurricane Harvey Drenches Texas

“Catastrophic flooding expected.”

    Mother Jones Staff

Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey at 6 am local time SaturdayNASA/NOAA

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas’ Gulf Coast late Friday, damaging buildings and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. While Harvey’s winds weakened substantially after the storm made landfall, the danger is only just beginning. As the Houston Chronicle explains, the region now faces extreme rainfall and potentially life-threatening floods:

The storm has now weakened to a Category 1 storm with 80 mph winds and is expected to continue to weaken, becoming a tropical storm later on Saturday. 

Overnight, a reported tornado ripped through Missouri City causing damage to homes inside Sienna Plantation. Although the storm continues to weaken, rain threats remain and the entire Houston area remains under a flash-flood watch until Tuesday evening. High water areas began cropping up Saturday morning across the region as rain moved in.

[…]

Harvey is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 15 to 35 inches, with isolated pockets of 40 inches through Wednesday. The weather service said “rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding.”

The top elected official in Harris County says the main threat to the area is not Hurricane Harvey’s winds but rain and flooding.

As of Saturday morning, the National Weather Services was predicting that “torrential rainfall” would continue through Monday, causing “catastrophic flooding.”

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate