WASHINGTON - The combined economic cost of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma could reach $290 billion, equivalent to 1.5 percent of the US gross domestic product, US forecaster AccuWeather said in a report Sunday.
"We believe the damage estimate from Irma to be about $100 billion, among the costliest hurricanes of all time," said the firm's CEO and founder Joel Myers.
Harvey, which battered Texas and parts of Louisiana in late August, will be "the costliest weather disaster in US history at $190 billion or one full percentage point of GDP" which stands at $19 trillion.
The report said it arrived at the figure by calculating disruptions to business, increased unemployment rates for significant periods of time, damage to transport and infrastructure, crop loss including a 25 percent drop of orange crop, increased costs of fuels including gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel, household damages and loss of valuable documentation.
Only a fraction of the losses would be covered by insurance, said Myers.
Irma struck the Florida Keys archipelago earlier Sunday and headed north towards the city of Tampa on the west coast of the Florida peninsula.
Harvey made landfall in Texas in late August, causing severe damage to property and paralyzing the country's fourth-largest city, Houston, with major flooding.
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HOUSTON, Texas - When Jad and Bell Destajo bought their first home 5 months ago, it was a dream come true for their young family. That was before Hurricane Harvey.
While their area was not directly hit by the storm, floodwaters from overflowed waterways inundated their home, slowly destroying it.
They waited too long to evacuate the neighborhood. All they could think about is how they can get out alive. The couple said they held their children as they waited for rescue.
"Grabe, iba talaga ang feeling na yon, iba talaga pag buhay at kamatayan, survival o kamatayan mo ang nakasalalay... You try to do everything,” said Jed.
(It's a different feeling, when it's a matter of life and death... You try to do everything.)
The floodwater s rose up to chest deep. When they got into the rescue boat, Bell saw that she was bleeding heavily, a complication from the recent caesarian birth of her youngest child.
"Kailangan kong mabuhay dahil ang baby ko. Kailangan kong lumangoy,” she said.
(I have to stay alive for my baby. I have to swim.)
The Destajos have since returned to their home and taken out the flood-damaged furniture. Like 80 percent of Houston’s flood victims, they didn’t have flood insurance.
“2016 and 2017 is the toughest year for us. Hindi po naming alam kung saan kami kukuha ng pang survive namin pang araw-araw. Pero malaki po ang pasasalamat namin sa lahat ng tumulong,“ Bell said.
(We don't know where to get money to survive from day to day. But we are thankful to everyone who helped.)
The Destajos have a Facebook fundraiser page and a GoFundMe where they are accepting donations.
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PORT ARTHUR, Texas - Soldiers and police in helicopters and high-water trucks rescued thousands of Texans stranded by floodwater from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday, which has killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million others as it drenches the Gulf Coast.
Some 779,000 Texans have been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 fled voluntarily amid concerns that swollen reservoirs and rivers could bring new flooding, according to Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Elaine Duke.
Harvey roared ashore late Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in a half-century. It has since been downgraded to a tropical depression as it heads inland, leaving devastation across the southeast corner of the state.
Jessica Richard, 24, said she waited out the storm in her home in Port Arthur, about 85 miles (137 km) east of Houston, until Thursday morning when water on her street rose to waist-depth. She was picked up by a passing truck.
"All my family is safe even though there were a few close calls," said Richard, adding that her nephew had been trapped overnight in a flooded apartment with several family members. "He said there were snakes in the water and spiders crawling up the walls. But they got out."
At least 38 people were dead or feared dead in six counties including and around Houston, according to local officials.
In the US energy hub of Houston, which was paralyzed by the storm earlier in the week, firefighters conducted a block-by-block search of homes to rescue stranded survivors and recover bodies.
ORANGE COUNTY EVACUATION
In Beaumont, Texas, about 80 miles (129 km) east of Houston, doctors and nurses evacuated some 190 people from a hospital that halted operations after the storm knocked out water service in the city of almost 120,000 people.
Orange County, which borders Beaumont, on Thursday ordered remaining residents to evacuate the area amid a forecast that the Neches River would crest on Friday, threatening homes.
Just east of Rose City, Texas, a line of cars and trucks were pushing through water flowing over the Interstate highway.
A convoy of civilian volunteers from the ad-hoc "Cajun Navy," who have been carrying out rescues all week, waited as their leader, Phil Drager, negotiated with police to stop traffic and launch an airboat for a scouting mission.
"Now I can add shutting a major Interstate highway to my resume," Drager said.
US Vice President Mike Pence visited Texas on Thursday, touring the coastal city of Rockport, where Harvey slammed ashore onto the mainland late Friday.
"The American people are with you. We are here today, we will be here tomorrow and we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before," Pence told a crowd outside a Rockport church damaged by the storm.
POWER STILL OUT
Gasoline futures soared more than 13 percent on Thursday, as almost a quarter of US refining capacity had been knocked offline by the storm, raising fears of fuel shortages.
About 189,000 homes and businesses remained without power.
Moody's Analytics estimated the economic cost from Harvey for southeastern Texas at $51 billion to $75 billion, ranking it among the costliest storms in American history.
The event has drawn comparisons to 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people in New Orleans. Then-President George W. Bush's administration was widely criticized for the haphazard initial response to that storm, and the Trump administration was taking care to be seen as responding quickly to the first major natural disaster it has faced.
President Donald Trump was to return to the region on Saturday.
Early Thursday, explosions could be heard at a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, owned by Arkema SA. Refrigeration systems failed in a truck storing volatile chemicals, which ignited as they warmed, sending smoke plumes 40-feet (12-meters) into the air, according to company and public safety officials.
After the blasts, local and federal public safety officials, and company representatives insisted there was no risk to the public outside the 1.5-mile (2.4-km) safety perimeter, even though they said eight more trucks storing the same chemicals would eventually catch fire.
HOUSTON SURVEYS DAMAGE
Some signs of normal life returned to Houston, the nation's fourth most populous city.
Residents began a massive cleanup, dragging water-logged furniture to the curb, hunting for supplies and repair estimates. The city began limited trash pickup and bus services. Hospitals that had struggled to stay open earlier in the week were phasing in clinical operations.
Most of Houston’s larger companies said they would remain closed through the Labor Day holiday on Monday, but employees of smaller businesses and offices were trekking back to work.
Both of the city’s major airports were operating on Thursday and traffic returned to its notoriously clogged highways. The start of public school was delayed until September 11.
Anita Williams, 52, was lined up at a shelter at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center to register for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Williams had returned home on Wednesday to survey the damage to her one-story house.
"It's not my house anymore," Williams said. "My deep freezer was in my living room."
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Floodwaters have breached a levee south of the city of Houston, officials said Tuesday, urging residents to leave the area immediately.
"The levee at Columbia Lakes has been breached!!" the Brazoria County government tweeted on its official feed. "GET OUT NOW!!"
The Columbia Lakes area lies south of Houston, large parts of which remain underwater four days after monster storm Harvey made landfall on the US Gulf Coast, triggering widespread flooding.
A statement on the official Brazoria County website said that County Judge Matt Sebesta "has issued a MANDATORY EVACUATION for all residents living WEST of State Highway 288 and SOUTH of State Highway 6."
The statement said there was only one way out of the area.
"THERE ARE NO OTHER EVACUATION ROUTES OUT OF BRAZORIA COUNTY," the statement said, adding that one state highway "WILL NOT be open indefinitely and will be unpassable with additional rains and river flooding.
"LEAVE NOW!"
The statement directed evacuees to a shelter at the Expo Center in Bell County -- about 230 miles (370 kilometers) to the northwest -- adding: "Pets are welcome!"
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kim Kardashian and her family on Tuesday donated a collective $500,000 to storm Harvey relief efforts, joining celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Dwayne Johnson, NFL player J.J. Watt and comedian Kevin Hart who have pledged funds to help the tens of thousands affected by the devastation in Texas.
Kardashian, her sisters Khloe and Kourtney and mom Kris Jenner made the pledges on Twitter, directing their funds to the Red Cross and Salvation Army.
“Houston we are praying for you! My mom, sisters & I will be donating $500,000,” the TV reality star tweeted.
Tropical Storm Harvey, which hit land as a hurricane over the weekend, has brought catastrophic flooding to Texas, killing at least 11 people and paralyzing Houston. City officials on Tuesday prepared to shelter up to 19,000 people, with thousands more expected to flee the area. [L2N1LF09J]
“Ride Along” star Hart set the celebrity ball rolling on Monday with a $50,000 donation and social media challenge that called on stars to match him. Johnson, Lopez and rapper DJ Khaled each have pledged $25,000.
Houston Texans NFL player Watt launched his own online effort on Sunday with a $100,000 donation and a video plea. The fund quickly reached $1 million, and Watt tweeted on Tuesday his goal was now $4 million.
Houston’s most famous export, Beyonce, who has recently moved from New York to Los Angeles, has said she is working on a plan to help her hometown recover
“Texas You are in my prayers,” the singer posted on her Instagram page.
In statement to the Houston Chronicle on Monday, Beyonce added that she was working closely with her team and her Houston pastor “to implement a plan to help as many as we can.”
British band Coldplay, who canceled a planned show in Houston on Friday because of the impending hurricane, wrote a new song for the city called “Houston #1,” which they performed at a concert in Miami on Monday.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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HOUSTON - Police warned looters Monday to stay away from flood-hit Houston, after four would-be thieves were arrested since the city was hit by Hurricane Harvey.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, in announcing the arrests, said his officers were on the lookout for people who "move in from around other states and even other cities in other regions to loot and create problems."
"If you try to commit a criminal offense or especially try to take advantage of our citizens that have already been victimized enough by Mother Nature, you can be assured you'll be arrested," Acevedo said.
The fourth largest US metropolis was deluged by a powerful hurricane Friday and Saturday.
But while Harvey has been downgraded to a tropical storm, it continues to dump historic amounts of rainfall on coastal Texas, taxing police and emergency services to the limit.
The city was expanding its resources including law enforcement as it braced for more days of heavy rain, he added.
Rising floodwaters have already prompted tens of thousands of evacuations and at least 2,000 rescues, according to authorities.
Thousands of Texas families and businesses were expected to need disaster assistance in the aftermath of the storm.
Looting became a problem in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated parts of New Orleans, in neighboring Louisiana.
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Interstate highway 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey seen during widespread flooding in Houston, Texas, U.S. on Sunday. The “unprecedented rainfall” brought by Harvey caused massive flooding in the US’ fourth most populous city, forcing residents to evacuate.
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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The eye of Hurricane Harvey began to push onto the Texas coast on Friday bringing with it winds of up to 156 miles per hour and 13-foot ocean surges as the most powerful storm in over a decade bore down on the mainland United States.
Harvey strengthened to a powerful Category 4 hurricane with cities from northern Mexico to Louisiana bracing for flooding, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was expected to hit land near Corpus Christi, Texas, around 9 p.m. CDT (0200 GMT) and then dump over 3 feet (90 cm) of rain on the Texas coast and parts of Louisiana as it lingers for days.
The storm was about 35 miles (56 km) off Corpus Christi and packing winds of 130 miles per hour (215 km per hour), the NHC said.
While thousands fled the expected devastating flooding and destruction, many residents defied mandatory evacuation orders and stocked up on food, fuel and sandbags.
"We’re suggesting if people are going to stay here, mark their arm with a Sharpie pen with their name and Social Security number," Rockport Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Rios told reporters Friday, according to media reports. "We hate to talk about things like that. It's not something we like to do but it’s the reality. People don’t listen."
As many as 5.8 million people were believed to be in the storm's path, as well as the heart of America's oil refining operations. The storm's impact on refineries has already pushed up gasoline prices.
As a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Harvey could uproot trees, destroy homes and disrupt utilities for days. If it maintains its intensity, it would be the first major hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005.
In Corpus Christi, a city of 320,000 under voluntary evacuation, strengthening winds buffeted the few trucks and cars that continued to circulate on the streets. The storm toppled wooden roadwork signs and littered the streets with pieces of palm trees as white caps rocked sailboats in their docks.
About 85 miles (137 km) north in Victoria, Mayor Paul Polasek told CNN he estimated that 60 percent to 65 percent of the town’s 65,000 residents defied the mandatory evacuation order.
Jose Rengel, a 47-year-old who works in construction, said he was one of the few people in Jamaica Beach in Galveston that did not heed a voluntary evacuation order.
“All the shops are empty,” he said as the sky turned black and rain fell. “It’s like a tornado went in and swept everything up.”
With the hurricane bearing down on the Texas coast, at least three cruise ships operated by Carnival Corp with thousands of passengers aboard were forced to change their plans to sail for the Port of Galveston.
Two of them headed New Orleans to pick up fresh supplies, while the third delayed its departure from Cozumel, Mexico.
The NHC's latest tracking model shows the storm sitting southwest of Houston for more than a day, giving the nation's fourth most populous city a double dose of rain and wind.
"Life-threatening and devastating flooding expected near the coast due to heavy rainfall and storm surge," the NHC said.
President Donald Trump, facing the first large-scale natural disaster of his presidency, on Friday tweeted: "I am closely watching the path and doings of Hurricane Harvey ... BE SAFE!" Earlier, a White House official said the president was considering a request to issue an emergency declaration, providing federal disaster relief.
Louisiana and Texas declared states of disaster, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare.
The city of Houston warned residents of flooding from close to 20 inches (60 cm) of rain over several days.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner advised city residents not to leave en masse, saying "no evacuation orders have been issued for the city." Chaotic traffic from a rushed evacuation in 2005 with Hurricane Rita proved tragic. "Calm and care!" he said in a tweet.
GASOLINE PRICES SPIKE
Gasoline stations on the south Texas coast were running out of fuel as thousands of residents fled the region. U.S. gasoline prices spiked as the storm shut down 22 percent of Gulf of Mexico oil production, according to the U.S. government.
At a Willis, Texas, station, about 50 miles (77 km) north of Houston, Corey Martinez, 40, was heading to Dallas from his Corpus Christi home.
"It has been pretty stressful. We're just trying to get ahead of the storm," he said. "We've never been through a hurricane before."
More than 45 percent of the country's refining capacity is along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation's crude oil is produced offshore. Ports from Corpus Christi to Texas City, Texas, were closed to incoming vessels and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and others have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms.
Concern that Harvey could cause shortages in fuel supply drove benchmark gasoline prices to their highest in four months, before profit taking pulled back prices. Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline margins hit their strongest levels in five years for this time of year.
The U.S. government said it would make emergency stockpiles of crude available if needed to plug disruptions. It has regularly used them to dampen the impact of previous storms on energy supplies.
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