Recovery

In what could prove an ominous precursor in the Gulf Coast’s sprawling petrochemical hub, flames and plumes of smoke soared skyward early Thursday at a chemical plant on the city’s outskirts.

'Oftentimes it’s not very well understood that your area might be prone to these major events.'

So far, Hurricane Harvey has claimed 31 lives in the Houston area, and more statewide as the storm spread to suburbs.

After activating 14,000 members of the Texas National Guard, Gov. Abbott announced he was seeking an additional 10,000 National Guard members from other states.

With emergency call centers overwhelmed, alternative ways to find rescue have become necessary, including social media, and it’s working.

The unofficial five-day total from Harvey in some Texas locations reached 51 inches on Tuesday, That easily tops the previous five-day record for the contiguous U.S.

Hurricane Harvey has highlighted a climate debate that had mostly stayed out of public view — a debate that’s separate from the battle over greenhouse gas emissions, but more consequential to the lives of many Americans.

Since Harvey made landfall Friday night as a hurricane, some areas of Houston have seen up to 50 inches of rain — more than they usually receive in a year.

'It’s going to save the insurance companies a lot of money and cost homeowners a lot of money in denied claims.'

'We learned some lessons and got to higher ground before it hit. We weren’t waiting for any mandatory evacuation orders.'

'We think you’re going to have what you need and it’s going to go fast.'

Many residents turned to social media with desperate calls for help, while the Houston Police Department called on civilians with boats to help with rescues.

As the rain kept pouring, as many as 13 million people, from Houston to New Orleans, were under flood watches and warnings.

As Harvey ripped through the Houston area Saturday night into Sunday, leaving much of the nation’s fourth-most populous city under feet of water, scores of residents who had been told to shelter in place were left stranded.

The Red Cross, Salvation Army and others are taking donations.