The residents of Houston have slowly begun to return home after Texas’ storm and flooding. Among them are a couple from Rogaland.
‘The water is almost back to the normal levels, so we have moved home again! We are quite well, and returned home on Wednesday afternoon. We are very lucky to have got off so lightly’, said Marie Christin Amith on the phone from Houston to Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper.
‘The water is almost back to the normal levels, so we have moved home again! We are quite well, and returned home on Wednesday afternoon. We are very lucky to have got off so lightly’, said Marie Christin Amith on the phone from Houston to Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper.
She is from Sandnes, but moved to Houston in January with her husband, Osman, who is from Stavanger.‘It’s those with underground garages, and cellars, that struggle the most. We have a little flooding, but have minimal damage compared to others who’ve lost their homes’, she said.
When they went volunteering on Sunday, the water was 2 meters up the garage wall of the residential complex where they lived.
‘Approximately 300 car alarms went off, and gasoline stank in the hallways. Everyone had been told to fill up their tanks. Since there was water to our chests in the streets, we climbed over the fence and walked through the garden to the neighbours. There, we had to swim’, said Amith.
‘The garage is full of mud and garbage. Cars have moved about. There’s a lot of chaos, but the insurance company will pull the cars out,’ she said.
Facts about Hurricane Harvey
* Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday, August the 25th as a Category 4 hurricane, the strongest that’s hit the state for more than 50 years.
* At least 32 people are believed to have died directly or indirectly as a result of the storm. Of the 55 reported missing, 38 had been found by Wednesday afternoon.
* The authorities in Texas have put in a 4,000 crew of the National Guard to carry out rescue work. Over 13,000 people were rescued in and around Houston up until Tuesday night.
* 230 shelters have been created to accommodate more than 30,000 people. An additional 1,800 are accommodated in hotels.
* According to local authorities, the amount of rainfall was of an extent that takes place only once every 1,000 years. There is a new US rainfall record set of 132 centimetres of rain on parts of the Texas coastline.
* In the Houston area, it is estimated that 136,000 buildings, or 10% of all buildings in the region, were flooded.
* According to US authorities, Harvey has caused material damage to more than 87,000 homes, and completely destroyed nearly 7,000 in the state of Texas.
* Around 325,000 people have already applied for financial assistance. So far, more than 57 million dollars has been paid. The authorities estimate that as many as 500,000 people will eventually apply for financial assistance.
* Damage is estimated to amount to between $48 billion and $75 billion, which places Harvey among the five most expensive storms in North American history.
* Several hundred thousand have been without electrical power due to the storm.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
