HOUSTON: Tropical Storm Harvey was set to dump more rain on Houston on Monday, worsening flooding that has paralyzed the country’s fourth biggest city, forced thousands to flee and swollen rivers to levels not seen in centuries.
Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, first hit land late on Friday and has killed at least two people. It has since stayed around Texas’ Gulf of Mexico Coast where it is forecast to remain for several more days, drenching parts with a year’s worth of rain in the span of a week.
Schools, airports and office buildings in Houston, home to about 2.3 million people, were ordered shut on Monday as scores of roads turned into rivers and chest-high water filled neighborhoods in the low-lying city.
Torrential rain also hit areas more than 150 miles (240 km) away, swelling rivers upstream and causing a surge that was heading toward the Houston area.
Authorities ordered more than 50,000 people to leave parts of Fort Bend County, about 35 miles (55 km) southwest of Houston as the Brazos River was set to crest at a record high of 59 feet (18 m) this week, 14 feet above its flood stage.
Brazos County Judge Robert Hebert told reporters the forecast crest represents a high not seen in at least 800 years.
“What we’re seeing is the most devastating flood event in Houston’s recorded history,” said Steve Bowen, chief meteorologist at reinsurance firm Aon Benfield.
Total precipitation could reach 50 inches (127 cm) in some coastal areas of Texas by the end of the week, or the average rainfall for an entire year, forecasters said. Nearly 24 inches fell in a span of 24 hours in Baytown, a city home to major refineries about 30 miles east of Houston, the National Weather Service said early on Monday.
“Water started flooding our house and by last night we were unable to leave,” said Maria Davila, one of about 1,000 people in a makeshift shelter at Houston’s sprawling convention center.
US President Donald Trump plans to go to Texas on Tuesday to survey damage from the storm, a White House spokeswoman said on Sunday.
Trump, facing the first big US natural disaster since he took office in January, signed a disaster proclamation on Friday, triggering federal relief efforts. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday 54 counties had been declared state disaster areas and he plans to add 1,000 more National Guard personnel to the flood battle.
MASSIVE DAMAGE
Harvey is expected to produce an additional 15 inches to 25 inches of rain through Friday in the upper Texas coast and into southwestern Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said.
“The storm isn’t moving much. If it doesn’t move much, it keeps throwing rain into the same area,” Steve Wistar, a senior meteorologist with AcuWeather, said in a telephone interview.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office used motorboats, airboats, Humvees and other vehicles to rescue more than 2,000 people in the greater Houston area on Sunday, a spokesman said.
The US Coast Guard and Houston police rescued hundreds more as residents brought boats to staging centers to help and helicopters were deployed to save others stranded by the floods.
The National Weather Service has issued flood watches and warnings from near San Antonio to New Orleans, an area home to more than 13 million people.
Federal authorities predicted it would take years to repair the damage caused by Harvey.
Forecasters could only draw on a few comparisons to the storm, recalling Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and killed 1,800 people in 2005.
Katrina resulted in more than $15 billion in flood insurance losses in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Flood damage in Texas from Hurricane Harvey may equal that from Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in US history, an insurance research group said on Sunday.
The Gulf is home to almost half of the nation’s refining capacity, and the reduced supply could affect gasoline supplies across the US Southeast and other parts of the country. Shutdowns extended across the coast, including Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery, the second largest US refinery.
The outages will limit the availability of US crude, gasoline and other refined products for global consumers and further push up prices, analysts said.
All Houston port facilities will be closed on Monday because of the weather threat, a port spokeswoman said.
More than 224,000 customers in the Houston area were without power on Monday morning, utilities CenterPoint Energy and AEP Texas said.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, one of the nation’s busiest, and William P. Hobby airport halted all commercial flights on Sunday. The airports remained closed to commercial traffic on Monday.
Jose Rengel, a 47-year-old construction worker who lives in Galveston, helped rescue efforts in Dickinson, southeast of Houston, where he saw water cresting the tops of cars.
“I am blessed that not much has happened to me, but these people lost everything. And it keeps raining,” he said.
“The water has nowhere to go.”
Houston crippled by catastrophic flood, mass evacuations ordered
Houston crippled by catastrophic flood, mass evacuations ordered
94 million need cataract surgery, but access lacking: WHO
- Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision
GENEVA: More than 94 million people suffer from cataracts, but half of them do not have access to the surgery needed to fix it, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Cataracts — the clouding of the eye’s lens that causes blurred vision and can lead to blindness — are on the rise as populations get older, with age being the main risk factor.
“Cataract surgery — a simple, 15-minute procedure — is one of the most cost-effective medical procedures, providing immediate and lasting restoration of sight,” the WHO said.
It is one of the most frequently performed surgeries undertaken in high-income countries.
However, “half of the world’s population in need of cataract surgery don’t have access to it,” said Stuart Keel, the UN health agency’s technical lead for eye care.
The situation is worst in the WHO’s Africa region, where three in four people needing cataract surgery remain untreated.
In Kenya, at the current rate, 77 percent of people needing cataract surgery are likely to die with their cataract blindness or vision impairment, said Keel.
Across all regions, women consistently experience lower access to care than men.
Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision.
- 2030 vision -
The WHO said that over the past two decades, global cataract surgery coverage had increased by 15 percent.
In 2021, WHO member states set a target of a 30-percent increase by 2030.
However, current modelling predicts that cataract surgery coverage will rise by only about 8.4 percent this decade.
To close the gap, the WHO urged countries to integrate eye examinations into primary health care and invest in the required surgical equipment.
States should also expand the eye-care workforce, training surgeons in a standardised manner and then distributing them throughout the country, notably outside major cities.
The WHO was on Wednesday launching new guidance for countries on how to provide quality cataract surgery services.
It will also issue guidance to help support workforce development.
Keel said the main issue was capacity and financing.
“We do need money invested to get rid of this backlog, which is nearly 100 million people,” he told a press conference.
While age is the primary risk factor for cataracts, others include prolonged UV-B light exposure, tobacco use, prolonged corticosteroid use and diabetes.
Keel urged people to keep up regular eye checks as they get older, with most problems able to be either prevented or diagnosed and treated.
The cost of the new lens that goes inside the eye can be under $100.
However, out-of-pocket costs can be higher when not covered by health insurance.
“Cataract surgery is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore vision and transform lives,” said Devora Kestel, head of the WHO’s noncommunicable diseases and mental health department.
“When people regain their sight, they regain independence, dignity, and opportunity.”
