Massive evacuation underway as toxic waste sites are flooded in Texas
3 Sept 2017 10:02 PM IST
Houston: Massive evacuation and rescue operations continue to take place in Texas that has been battered by Hurricane Harvey, one of the most destructive storms in American history that claimed over 50 lives.
More than 185,000 homes were damaged and 9,000 destroyed as 42,000 people remain in shelters amid overflowing rivers and reservoirs, Texas officials said.
Amidst all this, death toll has crossed 50, Houston Chronicle quoted local officials as saying. "We just continue to pray that once the water starts receding and we're able to do secondary searches and complete assessments of the interior of homes and businesses that the body count — that we know will rise — doesn't rise significantly," Houston Police chief Art Acevedo said.
Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25 in Texas, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days. The storm brought five straight days of rain totaling close to 52 inches at one location, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental US.
Meanwhile, at least 13 toxic waste sites in Texas were flooded or damaged by Hurricane Harvey, adding to the challenges as the region begins cleanup efforts following the deadly storm.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Saturday that it had assessed 41 Superfund sites using aerial images, and determined the ones badly affected by the storm.
The impact of flooding on the sites is unknown. The EPA said its workers have not been able to "safely access the sites" but are ready to do so as soon as the floodwaters recede.
A Superfund site is land that is contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment. The 13 affected sites have industrial waste from petrochemical companies, acid compounds, solvents and pesticides. In the Houston area, authorities had said it would take 10-15 days for floodwaters to recede.
The toxic waste sites are not the first environmental threat Texas has faced since Harvey swept through the region.
Fires broke out over two days at a flooded chemical plant near Houston.
People living within 1.5 miles from the Arkema site in Crosby were evacuated days before the explosions and now officials are letting chemical containers catch fire and burn out rather than endanger firefighters, the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said in a joint statement.
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