Congress eyes vote next week on Harvey aid
Congress is gearing up for a vote as early as next week on a multibillion-dollar down payment on relief aid for Harvey.
White House and congressional aides said Thursday an emergency request to replenish rapidly shrinking aid reserves is coming from the Trump administration as early as Friday and that votes in both the House and Senate would quickly follow.
Members of the Texas and Louisiana delegations are pressing for immediate action when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week from their summer recess, and they have pledges from top GOP leaders such as Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., that the House will quickly respond. McCarthy told lawmakers from Texas and Louisiana on a conference call late Wednesday, "We are with you," a GOP aide said Thursday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is spending existing disaster aid reserves - just $2.1 billion as of Thursday - at a high rate.
http://www.wandtv.com/story/36262377/congress-eyes-vote-next-week-on-harvey-aid
Dire warning in East Texas: ‘Get out or die’
With the Neches River threatening to flood, officials in Tyler County agonized over just what to tell residents to get them to heed their advice to evacuate.
They settled on this unmistakable message: “GET OUT OR DIE.”
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has advised the Tyler County office of Emergency Management that the flood gates were opened to 100 feet at 3:00 pm CSDST. River levels will rise to near 79 feet. With additional rainfall accumulations, a potential elevation could reach near 82 feet. All residents living in Mt. Neches, Barlow Lake Estates, Works Bluff on CR 4415, Sheffield Ferry and Bottom Loop-CR 4700 who have not already evacuated must do so immediately.
http://www.statesman.com/news/dire-warning-east-texas-get-out-die/8z09wcsiXtxFyEaBQ0R9qK/
Port Arthur residents remain stranded and homes still flooded, mayor says
Although Harvey’s floodwaters have begun to recede in parts of Port Arthur, Texas, Mayor Derrick Freeman told ABC News that an unknown number of residents remain stranded and some homes, including his own, are still inundated with knee-deep water.
In a Facebook livestream on Wednesday night, the mayor showed the 4 feet of water still inside his own home in the southeast Texas city.
VIDEO: Critical care patients evacuated from Beaumont hospital
Researchers find E. Coli in floodwater samples near Houston
A Texas A&M University analysis of floodwater samples from the Houston area shows E. coli levels that are 125 times higher than is considered safe for swimming.
Terry Gentry, an associate professor in the university's Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, says even walking through floodwater could lead to infections and other problems.
Gentry says tests from a sample in Cypress, a suburb northwest of Houston, showed bacteria levels 15 times higher than acceptable for wading.
http://www.wsmv.com/story/36259043/the-latest-officials-say-no-quick-fix-for-beaumonts-water
Official urges Texans to wait to fill gas tanks
The head of the Texas agency that regulates the oil and gas industry is urging people to wait three or four days to fill their cars and trucks with gasoline if they can.
Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said Thursday that people are panicking and that's causing a run on gas and empty fuel pumps.
http://www.wsmv.com/story/36259043/the-latest-officials-say-no-quick-fix-for-beaumonts-water
Officials say no quick fix for Beaumont’s water
Beaumont, Texas, has lost its water supply because of Harvey.
Officials there say the city has lost service from its main pump station due to rising waters of the Neches River caused by Harvey.
The pump station is along the river and draws water from it as
The officials added in their statement early Thursday that the city has also lost its secondary water source at the Loeb wells in Hardin County. They say there's no water supply for Beaumont's water system at this time.
http://www.wsmv.com/story/36259043/the-latest-officials-say-no-quick-fix-for-beaumonts-water