MIAMI: Hurricane Harvey has set what forecasters believe is a new rainfall record for the continental United States, officials said Tuesday.
Harvey, swirling for the past few days off Texas and Louisiana — at times as a hurricane and at times a tropical storm — has dumped 51.88 inches (132 centimeters) of rain in Cedar Bayou, a salt water channel on the Texas coast, the National Weather Service said.
“This reading is higher than the previous record of 48 inches set during tropical cyclone Amelia of 1978 at Medina, Texas,” it added.
It was the second record reported in just one day. The first was 49.32 inches measured at a rain gauge southeast of Houston.
NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen said that record is being treated preliminarily as one for the entire continental United States.
He added that confirming the figure “will take a lot of research,” as experts review water gauges and past historical records — a process likely to take several weeks.
Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday as a Category Four hurricane. It has since weakened to a tropical storm but is still unleashing massive amounts of rain over Texas and Louisiana.
Texas storm Harvey breaks historic rainfall record
Texas storm Harvey breaks historic rainfall record
Canada’s Carney arrives in China for state visit
- Carney is the first Canadian leader to visit China in eight years
- China has also been accused of interfering in Canadian elections in recent years
BEIJING: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a state visit, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
Carney, who is expected to meet President Xi Jinping for talks on Friday, is the first Canadian leader to visit China in eight years.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea in October, which Carney described as a “turning point” in the two nations’ strained relationship.
Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau visited China in December 2017.
But ties withered in 2018 after the arrest of a senior executive from Chinese tech giant Huawei on a US warrant in Vancouver and China’s retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges.
China has also been accused of interfering in Canadian elections in recent years.
Aside from Xi, Carney will meet with Premier Li Qiang and business leaders for trade negotiations.
Beijing said this week it “attaches high importance” to the visit.
