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Hurricane Harvey: Storm continues to rattle Texas as officials issue mandatory evacuation

Dunya News

The weather forecasts have predicted that the rains are not going to halt but the Tropical Storm Harvey will force 30,000 people to seek place in shelters and spur 450,000 victims to look for some kind of disaster assistance. Photo: Reuters

(Web Desk) – U.S. state of Texas has seen a disastrous flood this year. On Monday night the emergency officials in Texas continued retrieving calls from the residents, rescuing thousands from Harvey’s floodwaters.

According to CNN, the rescue began when the residents started calling since midnight Sunday. More than 2,300 calls were received by the Houston Fire Department including 400 calls for rescue on Monday afternoon, stated by the Houston officials.

People used small boats to escape the rising water caused by the flood. Photo: Getty

"The Coast Guard is continuing to receive upwards of 1,000 calls per hour," US Coast Guard Lt. Mike Hart said Monday.

"Today alone, the Coast Guard has rescued over 3,000 people. That includes both air rescues and rescues using boats."

Clyde Cain, of the Cajun Navy, a Louisiana- based rescue force that gained fame during Hurricane Katrina said that people are panicking they are stealing and were trying to sought shelter in a delivery truck.

"They re making it difficult for us to rescue them," he said. "You have people rushing the boat. Everyone wants to get in at the same time. They re panicking. Water is rising."

"We have boats being shot at if we re not picking everybody up. We re having to pull out for a minute. We re dropping an airboat right now to go rescue a couple of our boats that broke, and they re kind of under attack," he said.

 Woman carrying her dog on her shoulders and leaving her home behind after her location was flooded by the Tropical Storm Harvey. Photo: Getty Images

The weather forecasts have predicted that the rains are not going to halt but the Tropical Storm Harvey will force 30,000 people to seek place in shelters and spur 450,000 victims to look for some kind of disaster assistance.

President Trump said Monday the recovery from Hurricane Harvey will be "a long and difficult road," but predicted the country would emerge "bigger, better, stronger than ever before." Trump is scheduled to visit Texas on Tuesday.

Calling the storm a catastrophe in Southeast Texas, the President said, "We see neighbor helping neighbor, friend helping friend and stranger helping stranger. We are one American family. We hurt together, we struggle together and believe me, and we endure together."

The President also said he believes Congress will act fast to provide disaster relief funding to the areas affected by Harvey.
"You re going to see very rapid action from Congress -- certainly from the President," Trump said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Administrator Brock Long stated, "This is a landmark event for Texas,"

"Texas has never seen an event like this."

"The word catastrophic does not appropriately describe what we re facing," said US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

"We just don t know when it s going to end."

 Satellite view of the Tropical Storm Harvey building up around the state of Texas. Photo: AP

Tyler County, north of Beaumont, also issued a mandatory evacuation order for all "low-lying and flood-prone areas."

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