After Texas, Harvey threatens to wreak havoc in Louisiana

AFP
New Orleans, Louisiana.

AFP

Wednesday, 30 August, 2017 08:47

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Wednesday, 30 August, 2017 10:46

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NEW ORLEANS | After you have plunged in the desolation of entire regions of Texas, thehas devastating storm Harvey has begun to strike on Wednesday in Louisiana, where his squalls of rain threatened also to sow the chaos.

Thousands of miles of these vast tracts of South America, the rescuers were engaged in a race against the clock to find survivors.

Sign of the nervousness of the authorities, the largest metropolis in texas in the heart of the disaster, Houston, has been subject to a night-time curfew to prevent looting in the thousands of homes abandoned.

Houston, “it is likely that catastrophic flooding will continue for days after the rain stop,” warned the minister of internal Security by acting, Elaine Duke.

In Louisiana, a State still deeply scarred by the passage of hurricane Katrina in 2005, “torrential rains” began to fall in the south-west, has announced the national hurricane Center.

Harvey, a category 4 hurricane now classified as a tropical storm, made landfall around 05: 00 in the morning to the west of the city of Cameron and is expected to close during the day in New Orleans.

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For the moment, only a few deaths directly related to the disaster were able to be confirmed, but the us media reported that the balance sheet could be up to 30 people dead, while hundreds of others remained unreachable.

Five days after I started to hit Houston, Harvey turned it into lakes and rivers, the streets of the fourth metropolis of the United States, with 2.3 million inhabitants.

According to the authorities, approximately 30% of Harris county, which includes Houston, would be flooded. 30,000 to 40,000 homes would be damaged, according to a provisional report.

Curfew

“We have more than 230 shelters open in Texas, serving more than 30,000 people”, has detailed Wednesday, Brock Long, director of the federal Agency on emergency situations (FEMA).

During the night the areas of Beaumont and Port Arthur, east of Houston, have received 50 cm of rainfall, he continued.

“While we focus much of our efforts on Houston, it is important to understand that there are many (other) counties affected, more than 50”, he insisted.

Rescuers improvised are coming from all over Texas and beyond to help the people.

Sylvester Turner, the mayor of Houston, in which the agglomeration has more than six million souls, has decreed a curfew from midnight to 05: 00am, to avoid looting.

“We have had to deal with robbers armed who were on the tour yesterday for robbing our community”, explained the chief of police, Art Acevedo.

In New Orleans, was preparing for the rain, in an emotion palpable, collecting food for the victims, most to the West.

“I broke the heart. We suffer for all these people”, told AFP Debra Werner, a restaurant waitress.

The 65 year-old female, who has survived Katrina, 12 years ago, came to bring food to emergency workers / volunteers.

Risk of fire chemical

In the county of Harris an evacuation has been ordered for people living within a radius of 2.4 km around a chemical plant of the French group Arkema, a “precautionary measure” because of the chemicals on the site.

“It is only a precautionary measure”, has tempered the fire chief of the county, even if Arkema has warned against “the possible reaction of some of the chemicals present on the site.”

“Potentially, the chemical reaction could cause a fire on the site, which could produce a large amount of black smoke,” said the group in a press release.

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Many petrochemical industries are located in this part of Texas, where the refineries are located on the portion of Harvey were shut down.

According to a study by Barclays bank plc, 40% of the refining capacity in u.s. was arrested or about to be, on Tuesday.

In addition to the obvious risk of pollution, analysts fear the damage that the storm may cause to the u.s. economy.

Texas represents about 9% of the gross domestic Product u.s., and investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated on Monday that Harvey could take 0.2 percentage point to the growth rate of the u.s. economy in the 3rd quarter.

Oil prices have opened lower Wednesday morning in New York city (-44 cents compared to the close of the day before 46,00$) but the gallon (3.8 litres) of gasoline jumped from his side of a 6.26% and 1.89 dollar.

It has taken almost 14% since the end of Friday.

The damage caused by the storm could reach $ 42 billion, according to modelling, putting Harvey on the list of the five storms, the most expensive ever recorded in the United States.

Trump in gatherer

President Donald Trump visited Tuesday in areas of Texas affected where, flag of the State in hand, he landed in a unifier in the face of this catastrophe of historic proportions, and highlighted the cooperation between federal and local authorities.

“All my thoughts and more to accompany the great people of Texas!”, still tweeted on Wednesday, Mr. Trump.

He should return Saturday and could also make it in Louisiana, on the occasion of his next move in the South on Saturday, has announced that Sarah Sanders, a spokesperson for the White House.

Donald Trump is expected to meet the evacuees, what he has not done Tuesday.