Trump Heading to Flood-Ravaged Texas as Tropical Storm Harvey Dumps More Rain

Last Updated: August 29, 2017 11:21 AM

- Ken Bredemeier

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have arrived in Texas for a first-hand look at the flood-ravaged state, even as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to dump heavy rain on the region.

Trump and his wife are stopping first in Corpus Christi, near where Harvey, then a powerful hurricane, first made landfall last Friday. Later, they are headed to the state capital, Austin, to receive briefings from local and state leaders and to tour an emergency operations center.

There were no plans for the Trumps to visit Houston, where massive floodwaters have routed thousands of people from their homes, to avoid hindering the rescue efforts in America's fourth biggest city.

Thousands of people have been rescued in Houston as churning and rising waters have inundated their homes, with government rescue workers and volunteers with boats, rafts and inflatable dinghies going door to door looking for people who want to escape. Rescue helicopter workers plucked people stranded on rooftops.

The perils of the storm mounted, with officials in Brazoria County, south of Houston, reporting that storm waters had breached a levee at Columbia Lakes. In a Twitter message, they told nearby residents, "Get out now!"

On Monday, Trump pledged that the national government would provide whatever rescue assistance and financial help Texas and the neighboring state of Louisiana need to recover from the tens of billions of dollars in damage caused by the storm.

"We are one American family," Trump said as he faced the first large-scale natural disaster of his seven-month presidency. "You're going to have what you need and it's going to go fast."

He pledged that the federal government would be there to help on the "long and difficult road to recovery."

The Red Cross said more than 17,000 people stayed at shelters Monday night, and officials say 30,000 eventually may be moved to an array of government buildings, churches and other facilities to stay safe.

One Coast Guard commander, Vice Admiral Karl Schultz, told CNN he had 18 helicopters in Houston, with a dozen in the air at any one time, alongside those of the National Guard.

"If you can get to your roof, wave a towel," he urged Houston residents. "Leave a marking on the roof so helicopter crews can see you."

The official death toll from the storm stood at three, although three others were possibly linked to the massive storm.

People rest at the George R. Brown Convention Center that has been set up as a shelter for evacuees escaping the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017.

Houston police chief Art Acevedo said he was worried the death toll could climb once the rains stop, waters recede and recovery efforts begin.

"I'm really worried about how many bodies we're going to find," he said.

Rain continued to batter south Texas and Louisiana to the east, with another 60 centimeters expected on top of the 90 centimeters that have already drenched parts of the region.

Weather experts say the amount of rain would normally only be seen once in a thousand years. The storm's center edged off the coast of Texas into the Gulf of Mexico, drawing energy from the warm waters there and pushing band after band of heavy rain onshore.

A woman is helped by rescue personnel while being evacuated as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Houston.

The storm is expected to again cross back onto the mainland on Wednesday before heading north and losing strength.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told reporters he deployed the entire 15,000-member Texas National Guard to help deal with the disaster.

Abbott praised local leaders along the Texas Gulf coast, calling them "humane, courageous, and heroic." He said the way people got through the storm and that so many lives were saved is "remarkable."

Trump has already declared 18 counties in Texas and Louisiana as disaster areas, making them eligible for federal help. Governor Abbott has made a similar designation for 54 counties to speed state aid.

Trump said 8,000 federal workers are on the ground in Texas, including many with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

A FEMA rescue team evacuates people from a neighborhood in west Houston inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Houston, Texas.

FEMA chief Brock Long told a Monday news conference the agency is going to be in Texas "for several years."

"We're anticipating over 30,000 people being placed in shelters temporarily - to basically stabilize the situation and provide for their care. Next - we are ready - and already deploying life-essential commodities."

Long said FEMA is bracing for one of the longest periods of housing recovery ever seen.

"While the hurricane-force winds have diminished - I want to stress that we are not out of the woods yet," said acting U.S. Homeland Security chief Elaine Duke. "Not by a long shot. Harvey is still a dangerous and historic storm."

Duke said rivers in south Texas "won't crest until later this week."