Harvey will make landfall a 3rd time as catastrophic storm shatters records



Around Houston and southeast Texas, Harvey, will transition from being an extreme flash flooding event to a longer lived record-level river and bayou flooding episode.

Three to four day rainfall totals, greater than 40 inches (closer to 50 inches in areas surrounding Santa Fe and Dickinson) have made the largest flood in Houston-Galveston history.

A wave in the atmosphere last week went through rapid intensification, from a wave to a Category 4 landfall in less than 60 hours. It created the most extreme tropical storm flooding the Houston area has ever experienced.

This savage, undying, storm will make landfall a third time, as a tropical storm, Wednesday afternoon on the southwest Louisiana coast.

Elevated water levels will continue on the coast and in the bays, 2 to 4 feet above normal.

Harvey, an historic flooding event that has taken lives, will very likely be the largest economic U.S. natural disaster.


Latest developments


-- Houston police have rescued at least 3,400 people in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey -- and that number is expected to rise, Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted Tuesday morning.

-- President Donald Trump will head to Texas Tuesday to visit parts of the state battered by Hurricane Harvey over the weekend and to survey relief efforts. "To the people of Texas and Louisiana, we are 100% with you," Trump said Monday, adding that he believes Congress will act quickly to provide disaster-relief funding.

-- Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center hosted 9,021 evacuees on Monday night, said Bob Mayer, Red Cross disaster program manager. Those who couldn't get a cot were given pillows and blankets to sleep on the floor, Red Cross spokeswoman Betsy Robertson said. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said city officials were looking for more shelter space.

-- Houston officials will not ask for immigration status or documentation from anyone at any shelter, according to tweets in English and Spanish from the city's verified account.

-- Dallas is preparing to open a mega-shelter at its downtown convention center. Authorities aim to open the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Tuesday morning.