Nearly 52 inches of rain have been recorded in Cedar Bayou, Texas, the National Weather Service reported …
Rain record broken in Texas as Harvey dumps nearly 52 inches
In this aerial photo, a neighborhood
near Addicks Reservoir are flooded by rain from Tropical Storm Harvey
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Nearly 52 inches of rain have been
recorded in Cedar Bayou, Texas, the National Weather Service reported on
Tuesday – a figure that broke the continental U.S. record.
Rains in the region, near Mont
Belvieu, Texas, reached 51.88 inches as of 3:30 p.m. CDT. That's a
record for both Texas and the continental United States but it doesn't
surpass the 52 inches from tropical cyclone Hiki in Kauai, Hawaii, in
1950 -- before Hawaii became a state.
But the National Hurricane Center says that the
reading on Tuesday afternoon may be unusual because it was from a low
flying hurricane hunter airplane.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday imposed a
curfew beginning at 10 p.m. to ensure public safety. Police Chief Art
Acevedo said violators would be stopped, questioned, searched and
arrested.
Harvey has gained strength but has remained a tropical storm. Its winds increased from 45 mph to 50 mph.
Forecasters say heavy rains are continuing to spread over southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards offered to take in Harvey victims from Texas, and
televangelist Joel Osteen has opened his Houston megachurch, a 16,000-seat former arena, after critics hit him on social media for not acting to help families displaced by the storm.
The city's largest shelter, the George R. Brown
Convention Center, held more than 9,000 people, almost twice the number
officials originally planned to house there, Mayor Sylvester Turner
said. The crowds included many from areas outside Houston.
"We are not turning anyone away. But it does mean we
need to expand our capabilities and our capacity," Turner said. "Relief
is coming."
Edwards said he expects Texas officials to decide
within 48 hours whether to accept his offer, which comes as Louisiana
deals with its own flooding. About 500 people were evacuated from
flooded neighborhoods in southwest Louisiana, Edwards said.
In all, more than 17,000 people have sought refuge in
Texas shelters and that number seemed certain to increase, the American
Red Cross said.
Turner said the city has asked the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) for more supplies, including cots and food, for
additional 10,000 people, which he hopes to get no later than
Wednesday.
Federal regulators say dozens of offshore oil-and-gas
platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have been evacuated as the
storm continues to dump heavy rain.
The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement said in a statement Tuesday that workers were evacuated from
102 production platforms -- nearly 14 percent of the 737 manned
platforms in the Gulf.
Five of the 10 drilling rigs currently operating in the Gulf also had been evacuated as of noon Tuesday.
The bureau estimated that approximately 19 percent of
the Gulf's oil and natural gas production was "shut-in," or temporarily
halted, as of midday Tuesday. Offshore facilities will be inspected
once the storm has passed.
The Texas Gulf is a key area for U.S. oil refineries and oil and gas production.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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