Harvey settles in; Texas holds breath

Assessing hurricane’s coastal toll slow-going

Boats tossed by Hurricane Harvey’s powerful winds and storm surge sit in a pile Saturday at a storage facility in Rockport, Texas.
Boats tossed by Hurricane Harvey’s powerful winds and storm surge sit in a pile Saturday at a storage facility in Rockport, Texas.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Harvey spun deeper into Texas on Saturday, injuring 14 people after the former hurricane crashed into homes and businesses along the coastline late Friday. At least one person was killed in a fire that was considered storm-related.

Authorities between Corpus Christi and Houston did not know the full scope of damage Saturday because weather conditions prevented emergency crews from getting into the hardest-hit areas.

They dreaded the destruction that is yet to come from a storm that is forecast to linger for days and unload more than 40 inches of rain on some areas. The rainy forecast raised concern for flood-prone Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

In the island community of Port Aransas, population 3,800, officials were unable to fully survey the town because of the damage. Police and heavy equipment made it only into the northernmost street Saturday.

[HURRICANE TRACKER: Follow Harvey’s projected path]

"I can tell you I have a very bad feeling, and that's about it," said Mayor Charles Bujan, who had called for a mandatory evacuation but did not know how many people heeded the order.

Some of the worst damage appeared to be in Rockport, a coastal city of about 10,000 people that was directly in the storm's path. Rockport Mayor Charles Wax said his community took a blow "right on the nose" that left "widespread devastation," including severe damage to homes, businesses and schools. Some structures were destroyed.

In the adjoining Aransas County towns of Fulton and Aransas Pass, there were scores of damaged or destroyed properties across communities of mobile homes, middle-class houses and vacation retreats.

County Judge Burt Mills of Aransas County said the only fatality confirmed so far was a person caught in a house fire during the storm. He did not identify the victim.

Rockport's roads were a tangle of toppled power poles. A trailer blocked much of one major intersection. Wood framing from ripped-apart houses was strewn along Route 35 on the town's southern end.

Harvey's relentless wind tore the metal sides off the high school gym and twisted the steel door frame of the school auditorium.

"We're still in the very infancy stage of getting this recovery started," said Aransas County spokesman Larry Sinclair.

Wax told The Weather Channel that the city's emergency response system had been hampered by the loss of cellphone service and other forms of communication.

As many as 14 people suffered minor injuries, including slips and falls, scrapes and a broken leg, Mills said.

Harvey weakened to a tropical storm by midday Saturday. At 6 p.m., its maximum sustained winds had fallen to about 60 mph. The storm was centered 70 miles southeast of San Antonio, the National Hurricane Center said.

A FEMA TEST

The hurricane was the first major emergency management test of President Donald Trump's administration.

Trump met with his Cabinet and other senior administration officials to discuss the federal response to the damage and flooding, the White House said Saturday in a statement.

The president held a video conference from Camp David in which he instructed departments and agencies to "stay fully engaged and positioned to support his number one priority of saving lives," the statement said.

Trump, who on Friday signed a federal disaster declaration for coastal counties, also reminded department heads that the full impact of the storm will not be apparent for days. On Twitter, he commended the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for his handling of the disaster.

About 300,000 customers were without power statewide Saturday. Gov. Greg Abbott said it would probably be several days before electricity is restored.

Meanwhile, the storm slowed to a crawl of only 2 mph Saturday. Rainfall totals varied across the region, with Corpus Christi and Galveston receiving around 3 inches, Houston 7 inches and Port Aransas 10 inches. Austwell, a coastal town of about 150 people, got 15 inches.

In the storm's immediate aftermath, Coast Guard helicopters rescued at least 20 people from boats and barges in distress, said Capt. Tony Hahn, commander of the Corpus Christi sector.

Two helicopters managed to rescue 18 people -- three people from a fishing boat, four from a barge and 11 from two tugboats -- when it became safe enough to do so.

The Coast Guard also rescued two people and their dog who were stranded near Rockport when a helicopter crew spotted them just before noon Saturday. They were taken to a hospital, and Coast Guard officials said they were in good condition. It was unclear whether they were in a boat when they were rescued.

The Corpus Christi port was closed with extensive damage. Because the city is the third-largest petrochemical port in the nation, the Coast Guard will be on the lookout for spills, Hahn said.

The fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade reached shore late Friday about 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi as a mammoth Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds.

Daybreak revealed downed lampposts and tree limbs, and roof tiles torn off buildings.

Along Interstate 45 leaving Galveston, the rain was so intense Saturday that drivers stopped under bridges because they could not see in front of them.

Rain fell on Houston at nearly 3 inches an hour, leaving some streets and underpasses underwater. The many drainage channels known as bayous that carry excess water to the Gulf were flowing freely and rising.

"Flooding is a minor issue so far," said Ed Emmett, the county judge of Harris County, which includes Houston. "Most of the watersheds are well within banks, but we're not out of this," he said Saturday.

RIDING IT OUT

Many coastal Texans ignored mandatory evacuation orders and hunkered down Friday to ride out Harvey.

They included Melissa Stewart of Victoria, who posted on Facebook in the wee hours Saturday morning that "I can literally say my kids can sleep thru a hurricane."

Later Saturday, she explained why her family did not evacuate. "We've always stayed. Daddy taught us well how to ride out a storm." She said "it's always better to stay than to run."

In the southwest part of Houston, Brays Bayou swelled early Saturday with fast-flowing, debris-filled brown water, and a tornado touched down in a suburban neighborhood.

Montry Ray was staying up late Friday to ride out the storm with his wife and two children when the roaring sound of the tornado sent them running for cover in a bathroom. Just as they bolted from the master bedroom, the storm burst through the wall, embedding bricks in the drywall across the room. The storm also ripped open the roof.

"You know how they say you hear the train noise?" said 12-year-old Caden Hill, who lives down the street. "I heard it."

He, along with about 50 neighbors, turned out Saturday morning to help clean up. Volunteers chopped fallen trees, hauled away crumpled fences and gathered debris while roofers worked on homes.

To the west, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg urged residents Saturday to continue to stay off the roads as the city experienced wind gusts of up to 60 mph and heavy rain. The city was under a flash flood watch and tropical storm warning.

"We don't want anyone in San Antonio to let their guard down," Nirenberg said.

The city closed 10 roads because of high water, and officials expect that number to grow.

Weather officials took to social media and the airwaves Saturday to warn people not to become complacent because of the relatively muted impact so far in places away from the Rockport area.

In Galveston, a city hit in the last big Texas hurricane -- Ike in 2008 -- residents seemed unconcerned.

"We thought it was going to be much worse," said Latoya Fulton, 33, who was eating breakfast with her husband and four children at a Waffle House. The Fultons, who live in Galveston, spent Friday night in a hotel in Conroe, north of Houston, as a precaution. But they returned Saturday morning to their undamaged house when news reports made it clear that Galveston had been largely spared from the hurricane's winds.

Also at the packed restaurant -- one of the few businesses open in the area -- Galveston residents Dottie and Kevin Bowden ate breakfast Saturday with their 16-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Stewart. All the houses in their neighborhood are built on stilts, so the Bowdens and their neighbors weren't worried about flooding, and local officials did not issue a mandatory evacuation order. Everyone in the neighborhood stayed to ride out the storm.

"We're not crazy," said Dottie Bowden, 63, who runs a business cleaning rental properties. "If they told us to leave, we would have."

"And this isn't our first rodeo," added her husband, 56, who manages personal investments. He said the biggest problem Saturday was "we're running low on Corona."

LOUISIANA DAMAGE

The turbulent weather extended into southern Louisiana, where people were cautioned about the potential for high water, road hazards, high winds and tornadoes.

A Harvey-spawned tornado hit the Louisiana town of Hackberry on Saturday.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the National Weather Service confirmed that the twister touched down about 12:25 p.m.

"There was significant property damage but thankfully no reports of injuries or fatalities," he said.

Meteorologist Jared Rackley said officials have yet to survey the area, but photos showed at least one overturned camper and other structural damage.

Meanwhile, he said, a tornado watch remained in place for parts of Louisiana until 2 a.m. this morning. He urged residents to remain on guard because a lot of rain is forecast for the state over the next several days.

"This is a large and powerful storm," Edwards said. "We will see rain in Louisiana ... but it's difficult to predict what will happen next."

Forecasters said southwest Louisiana could see between 7 and 13 inches of rain over the next seven days, while south-central Louisiana could get between 6 and 11 inches. Central Louisiana could get from 3 to 8 inches.

Weather service officials do not believe that the storm will re-enter the Gulf of Mexico and hit southern Louisiana, but Edwards said residents should remain vigilant.

"There's great potential for flooding. Don't become complacent," he warned Saturday. "This storm will be around for a long time. We're a long ways from being out of the woods."

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AP/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/GABE HERNANDEZ

A woman sleeps in a shelter Saturday after being evacuated from her home in Port Aransas, Texas.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Map showing a Five-day estimate of Harvey's path

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AP/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/GABE HERNANDEZ

This mobile home park in Port Aransas, Texas, was destroyed as Harvey moved through the Coast Bend area.

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AP/ERIC GAY

Floodwaters surround a damaged home Saturday in Rockport, Texas.

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AP/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/GABE HERNANDEZ

Law enforcement officers gather Saturday in Port Aransas to plan search and rescue efforts.

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AP/Houston Chronicle/MARK MULLIGAN

Houston city buses line up Saturday in the center lanes of Interstate 59 as a precaution in case their garages flood.

Information for this article was contributed by Frank Bajak, Michael Graczyk, Juan Lozano, Nomaan Merchant, Tammy Webber, David Phillip, Jamie Stengle, Chevel Johnson, David Warren and Claudia Lauer of The Associated Press; and by Tim Craig, Kevin Sullivan and Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post.

A Section on 08/27/2017

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