Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 5 sepTember 2017
Houston residents mark Labor Day sorting through storm ruins

By MICHAEL GRACZYK sites, to make sure that
JAY REEVES contamination is con-
Associated Press tained and limited.”
HOUSTON (AP) — Some Other issues across the re-
Gulf Coast residents ripped gion: too much water still
up soggy carpeting, cut in houses, but no water
out sheet rock from walls to drink. Utility crews went
marked by the height door-to-door Sunday shut-
floodwaters had reached ting off power and warning
and sorted through de- those still in some water-
stroyed clothes and other logged homes in western
belongings on Monday, 10 parts of the city that more
days after Harvey swept flooding was possible —
onto land and caused bil- not from rain, but from re-
lions of dollars in damage. leases of water from over-
Houston’s mayor insisted taxed reservoirs. Thousands
that America’s fourth-larg- of Houston dwellings were
est city is “open for busi- under mandatory evacua-
ness,” but with areas under tion orders, though about
water, people not yet in 300 people were thought
their homes and city ser- Julia Lluvia removes damaged clothing from her home which was severely damaged by to be refusing to leave.
vices not yet fully restored, floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Monday, Sept. 4, 2017, in Houston. People briefly returned
the disasters created by (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Sunday to some homes in
Harvey are by no means city, you can still come,” tors. Authorities said Mon- curred. Texas Gov. Greg the area, which included
resolved. he told CBS. “We can do day it is now safe for resi- Abbott told CNN the EPA is brick two-story and ranch
Mayor Sylvester Turner said multiple things at the same dents of a 1.5-mile (2.4 ki- “working on some of them homes bordering Buffalo
much of the city was hop- time.” lometer) evacuation zone already,” but “they have Bayou, to try to salvage
ing to get back on track af- One worry, of further ex- around the Arkema plant restraints on their ability to valuables. More than a
ter Labor Day, a traditional plosions at a damaged to return. They were forced check out some of them week since the storm hit,
day to honor workers that chemical plant, eased af- to leave Tuesday. just simply because of the the 4 feet (1.2 meters) of
took on new meaning in ter officials carried out a Floodwaters also have in- water.” water in her parents’ home
Texas, where people were controlled burn Sunday undated at least five toxic Turner said Houston’s drink- had receded just a foot
cleaning out their former evening of highly unstable waste Superfund sites near ing water hadn’t been af- (3o centimeters), said Kar-
homes. compounds at the Arkema Houston and some may be fected by the storm, but en Mace. She was trying
“Anyone who was planning plant in Crosby. Three trail- damaged, though Environ- told CBS, “We would hope to retrieve family photos
on a conference or a con- ers had previously caught mental Protection Agency that the EPA would be on from the one-story ranch
vention or a sporting event fire after Harvey’s floodwa- officials have yet to assess the ground now to take a her parents built and have
or a concert coming to this ters knocked out genera- the full extent of what oc- look at those Superfund lived in for 56 years, which
backs up to Buffalo Bay-
ou. “It came up fast. They
had to get out by canoe,”
Mace said, adding they
thought the home would
have to be demolished.
Harvey slammed into Texas
on Aug. 25 as a Category
4 hurricane, but brought
the worst flooding to Hous-
ton and other areas as a
tropical storm. The rain to-
taled nearly 52 inches (1.3
meters) in some spots, and
the storm is blamed for at
least 44 deaths. In other
storm-ravaged neighbor-
hoods, people worried
about thefts. Police in the
southwest Bellaire neigh-
borhood received reports
of scavengers picking
through water-damaged
possessions and urged
those cleaning up to keep
anything left outside to
dry closer to their homes
and separate from what
was considered a total
loss. In the suburb of Dick-
inson, one homeowner
used orange spray paint
on a sheet of dirty plywood
to warn: “Looters Will B
Shot.”q