Southeast Texas keeps getting slammed with heavy rain from Tropical Storm Harvey. National Weather Service chief Greg Carbin says Houston will be getting more rain, probably up to 50 inches of rainfall by the weekend. Carbin says Harvey is leaving places like Houston nearly paralyzed as it continues to dump massive amounts of rain on areas already hit hard with floods. More than 30-thousand people are expected to move into temporary shelters in the Houston area. Carbin says Harvey should move back over the Gulf of Mexico today. He says Harvey will hang over the Gulf until Wednesday, when it will make its second landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. The storm will then track northeast across Louisiana and Arkansas as a tropical depression Thursday through Saturday.
About a hundred Red Cross volunteers from the Baltimore area are heading to Texas to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. Among their expected takes--- going to Rockport, Texas, a small town that was among the hardest hit by the storm. Other volunteers from the Greater Chesapeake Region say they're headed to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to help clean up.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is justifying his decision not to evacuate the city as Harvey drops heavy rain in the area. Turner says Houston wasn't in the direct path of the storm, and also points out it's hard to evacuate over six-million people from the area. The mayor also says over 100 died the last time the city evacuated due to a hurricane. That happened in 2005 when Hurricane Rita hit the region. Between 25 and 30 inches of rain has fallen on Houston since Harvey made landfall last Friday.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Harvey is not through yet. Harvey is making its way back over the Gulf of Mexico today. Forecasters are predicting the storm will stall over the Gulf until Wednesday. It is expected to make its second landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. Harvey will then track northeast across Louisiana and Arkansas as a tropical depression Thursday through Saturday. The storm is expected to dump 15 to 25 additional inches of rain through Friday on the upper Texas coast and southwestern Louisiana, intensifying the catastrophic flooding in the Houston area. Southwestern Louisiana can also expect severe flooding.
President Trump will visit Texas tomorrow and is not expected to visit the Houston area. Trump will likely focus on Corpus Christi. Houston is experiencing record flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey. The White House is sensitive to concerns about disrupting emergency responses with a presidential visit, which comes with enormous security