Hurricane Harvey: Storm and Recovery Thread

[Afrodroid]

" Slow down on the reps breh!"

 

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The Hill
7 mins ·
CNN's top media reporter Brian Stelter tore into President Trump for accusing media of not covering Hurricane Harvey from the ground, showing footage of multiple reporters helping to rescue victims of the storm and ripping Trump as "wrong and petty."


CNN media reporter: Trump is 'wrong and petty' for attacking reporters who rescued Harvey victims
“Obviously we saw many members of the media out with the Coast Guard, out with other rescuers,” Stelter said.
THEHILL.COM

 

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PBS NewsHour
7 mins ·
At least seven Superfund sites -- areas designated by the EPA as the country’s most contaminated -- have flooded in Houston.


Surveying toxic waste sites flooded by Harvey
The Associated Press this weekend found in the Houston area that seven Superfund sites -- areas designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as the country’s most contaminated -- had flooded.
PBS.ORG

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

Christie: Cruz's excuse for voting against Sandy aid 'an absolute falsehood'

Conway slams CNN anchor for climate change questions during Harvey


Houston is paying the price for public officials’ ignorance

 

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The Hill
37 mins ·
The Associated Press fired back at President Trump's EPA after the agency launched a personal attack on a journalist who reported about flooding at toxic waste sites in Houston, refuting the EPA’s claims that the story was reported from "the comforts of Washington" by citing its on-site reporting.


AP fires back at Trump's EPA: We stand by our on-site reporting on flooded toxic waste zones
"We object to the EPA’s attempts to discredit that reporting by suggesting it was completed solely from 'the comforts of Washington,'" the publication said.
THEHILL.COM

 

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ProPublica
28 mins ·
Alonso Guillen was a DACA recipient.

He trying to rescue people in Harvey

Border agents refused to let his mom into U.S. to bury him.


Missing volunteer pulled from Cypress Creek
Nearly four days after Harvey's record flooding slammed a rescue boat into an Interstate 45 frontage road bridge, family members of the final, missing volunteer pulled his body from Cypress Creek in Spring.
CHRON.COM

 

[ineedsleep212]

Fully expecting Trump and company to tie Harvey and Irma relief once it hits to dumb shyt.

Who knew shyt could get even uglier with this and NK.

 

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Flesh-eating bacteria, cancer-causing chemicals, and mold: Harvey and Irma's lingering health threats

A casket in Texas uprooted by the floods of Hurricane Harvey.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images


In the weeks following Hurricane Irma, parts of Florida have been awash in millions of gallons of sewage. Meanwhile, in Texas, oil refineries and chemical plants have dumped a year’s worth of cancer-causing pollutants into the air following Hurricane Harvey. In both states, doctors are on the lookout for an uptick in respiratory problems, skin infections, and mosquito-borne diseases brought on by the water and mold the storms left behind.

Thanks in part to better emergency planning and response, the immediate death tolls from Harvey and Irma seem to be far lower than those of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, which took some 1,400 and 117 lives in the US respectively. So far, a total of 80 deaths have been reported in Texas after Harvey, and there have been at least 42 deaths in Florida as a result of Irma.

But health officials are warning about the much longer-term health fallout from this year’s hurricane season. America’s Gulf Coast region perennially records some of the worst health outcomes in the US — and they’ll almost surely be aggravated by the storms that recently slammed the southern states. (That’s not to mention the hurricanes’ hefty price tag, whichcould total nearly $200 billion.)

Here are some of the most severe and worrying health problems that may linger in the southern US, long after the 2017 hurricane season.

1) A bacteria could cause an uptick in skin infections and deaths

People walking down a flooded streets as they evacuate their homes after Hurricane Harvey on August 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that lives in the Gulf Coast waters and kills one in seven people it infects. It’s also one of several pathogens that can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, which is commonly referred to as “flesh-eating disease.”

With the flooding from the hurricanes and storm surges, people have been coming into contact with coastal water, and potentially with Vibrio.

“We’re on the lookout for that here [in Texas],” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Health officials in Texas have already announced the death of a 77-year-old Harris countyresident from Vibrio: She came into contact with flood waters when they ripped into her home, and later died as a result of flesh-eating disease. According to Florida Department of Health, as of October 13, 41 cases of vibrio have been reported this year across 20 counties.

The toll may continue to grow. There was an uptick of Vibrio infections across the Southern US following Katrina, including five deadly cases — and Hotez said health officials expect we’ll see much the same following Harvey.

Though infections are rare, Vibrio can sicken people — especially those with weakened immune systems or other chronic health issues — in two disturbing ways: 1) through wound infections, which sometimes require amputation to get rid of; 2) and through septicemia, an infection of the bloodstream. “We’ll be watching for skin infections from people who have had direct contact with floodwaters,” Hotez added, “especially if they’ve had open wounds.”

2) Parts of the Texas Gulf Coast have been bathed in cancer-causing pollutants

An oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, before the arrival of Hurricane Harvey on August 25, 2017.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The hurricanes that hit the US also unleashed a cloud of pollutants that pose health dangers — in both the short and long term.

The Texas Gulf Coast is home to many of the nation’s oil refineries and chemical plants, which routinely use chemicals like benzene that are known carcinogens. Harvey flooded or damaged more than 50 oil refineries and chemical plants, dumping a year’s worth of pollutants into Texas within a matter of weeks.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, “Fifty-five refineries and petrochemical plants in the Houston, Corpus Christi and Beaumont areas collectively emitted 5.8 million pounds of benzene, ammonia and other pollutants to the air in connection with Hurricane Harvey.” Independent environmental advocacy groups have already been warning that benzene levels in some areas of Texas have reached worrying highs, while more than a dozen toxic waste sites were also flooded or destroyed.

“Whether there’s going to be an uptick in cancer rates is something we’re going to have to follow,” said Hotez.

3) Irma caused more than 28 million gallons of sewage to be dumped across Florida

A truck stranded in sand and sewage in Key West, Florida, near the southernmost point of the United States, two days after Hurricane Irma slammed into the state on September 12, 2017.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
South Florida is not the petrochemical capital Texas is. But many of its septic tanks, wastewater treatment plants, and agricultural and industrial areas were flooded or shut off because of Irma, releasing raw sewage and waste across the state in what’s been described as “a literal shytstorm.”

Florida relies on a system of wastewater lift stations with electronic pumps that move sewage through the state. But when Irma knocked out the electricity in many areas, some of the sewage pumps were also cut off, leading to overflows and spills of raw sewage — which harbor dangerous bacteria, viruses, and parasites, such as E. coli, salmonella, and hepatitis A.

There have already been dozens of Irma-related pollution notices describing the streets, homes, and neighborhoods that have been drenched with wastewater. Emily Atkin at the New Republic tallied up the total damage in these filings — and it’s staggering:

Combined, those discharge reports showed more than 28 million gallons of treated and untreated sewage released in 22 counties. The total amount is surely much more; at least 43 of those reports listed either an “unknown” or “ongoing” amount of waste released, and new reports continue to roll in — sometimes as many as a dozen per hour.

That’s why the Florida Department of Health is warning locals to take precautions and avoid the polluted water Irma left behind.


Flesh-eating bacteria, cancer-causing chemicals, and mold: Harvey and Irma's lingering health threats

 

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4) The mold left behind by the hurricanes may lead to respiratory problems

A mold-covered ceiling fan in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area in 2005.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on Texas and Louisiana. Irma drenched Florida in 16 inches of water. When people’s homes and workplaces have been swamped, the moisture that’s left behind — especially in the hot and humid South — becomes a breeding ground for mold. And mold can wreak havoc on the respiratory system.

According to 2009 World Health Organization guidelines on the health impacts of mold, exposure to spores can cause or worsen asthma, lead to respiratory infections, and bring on fits of coughing and wheezing as well as difficulty breathing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised those affected by the storms to quickly clean up the mold in their homes. But that work isn’t always straightforward because mold can be difficult to spot: After Hurricane Katrina, even homes that were only partially flooded had mold lurking within their walls.

5) The storms could exacerbate mosquito-borne diseases

Debris is seen during a storm surge near the Puerto Chico Harbor during the passing of Hurricane Irma on September 6, 2017, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.
Photo by Jose Jimenez/Getty Images
Massive floods, like the ones Harvey and Irma caused, wash away mosquito breeding sites, as well as the insects that transmit diseases like Zika and West Nile. But in the pools of water that are left behind by the storms, mosquito populations can quickly reestablish themselves — and again threaten transmission of those viruses.

“If there’s increased transmission of mosquito-borne diseases [after the hurricanes], it’ll be from West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis,” explained Duane Gubler, an expert on mosquito-borne diseases with Duke-NUS Medical School. Unlike other mosquito-borne diseases, such as chikungunya or Zika, West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis are always present in the US, circulating in birds and mosquitoes, and don’t need to be imported by travelers from abroad to spark outbreaks.

But there’s some good news here: Storms aren’t always followed by increased transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and we’re nearing the end of transmission season in the US, with the weather cooling down in time for winter. (Peak transmission typically occurs in August through early October.)

“If the mosquito transmission cycle gets knocked down by the storms and has to re-amplify, there may not be enough time after October,” said Scott Weaver, director of University of Texas Medical Branch’s Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. What’s more, states have been taking precautions after the hurricanes, with large-scale spraying efforts to control mosquito populations. And we’re also at the tail end of the Zika and chikungunya outbreaks here.

But Weaver warned of a longer-term threat. The Caribbean islands, which have been in the crosshairs of Hurricane Irma — and now Hurricane Maria — have suffered a huge amount of damage. “If some of these islands lose their capacity to do mosquito control, and the destruction from the storms creates opportunities for larger mosquito transmission,” Weaver said, we might see an uptick of the mosquito-borne diseases that circulate there, like dengue (which could spread beyond the Caribbean’s borders as people travel to and from the islands, carrying the viruses with them).

6) Mental health problems are expected to linger for years

Artemio Tamez and Franco Tamez sit in front of Franco's house after torrential rains caused widespread flooding during Hurricane Harvey on September 2, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Irma and Harvey damaged property in hundreds of communities, mainly in Texas and Florida but also parts of neighboring states like Louisiana and Georgia. A staggering 40,000 people lost their homes due to Harvey; the flooding also ruined a million cars. The stress and anguish that arises after such devastating losses of property can carry serious mental health consequences — particularly among those who have a history of anxiety or depression.

In the month after Hurricane Katrina, some 17 percent of people in New Orleans reported experiencing mental problems, most commonly post-traumatic stress symptoms including nightmares and flashbacks. Among children, the rates were even higher: 37 percent of kidswho lived through Katrina were diagnosed with a mental condition after the storm.

Charles Benight, who studies trauma at the at the University of Colorado, told Vox, “We all have a threshold that if we watch a loved one swept away in rushing water and drown, that can definitely create post-traumatic stress disorder.” In a situation like Harvey, he expects that between 5 and 15 percent of those affected will end up with “significant mental health challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder.” Up to 50 percent, though, will experience shorter-term stress related to the storm and the recovery.

Brian Resnick contributed reporting.

Update, Sept. 20, 2017: We updated the section of the post on Vibrio to explain that it is one of several bacteria that can lead to flesh-eating disease.

Flesh-eating bacteria, cancer-causing chemicals, and mold: Harvey and Irma's lingering health threats

 

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Hurricane Harvey has directly or indirectly taken the lives of as least 88 Texans, according to preliminary numbers released Friday by the Department of State Health Services.

The majority of deaths – 62 – were caused by wind, rain and floods, which led to drownings or trees falling on people.

Meanwhile, 26 deaths were caused by "unsafe or unhealthy conditions" related to the loss or disruption of services such as utilities, transportation and medical care. The state health agency found deaths caused by medical conditions, electrocution, traffic accidents, flood water-related infections, fires and burns.

State says Harvey's death toll has reached 88

 

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Builders Said Their Homes Were Out of a Flood Zone. Then Harvey Came.

Builders Said Their Homes Were Out of a Flood Zone. Then Harvey Came.

After all, Ms. Martinez recalled, the home builder had assured her that “flooding was not even a possibility” when she and her husband purchased the house in this suburban enclave north of Houston in 2011. They would never have bought here otherwise. Flood insurance, of course, was neither required nor needed.

What they did not know was that their home, and those of many of their flooded-out neighbors in this new section of The Woodlands, had been built on land that not long ago lay squarely, and sometimes soggily, in a flood plain.

A New York Times examination found that in the years leading up to Hurricane Harvey, with a surging local economy fueling demand for new upscale housing, the developers of The Woodlands had used a wrinkle in the federal flood-mapping system — along with many dump trucks’ worth of dirt — to lift dozens of lots out of the area officially deemed prone to flooding. What they had done, in effect, was create gerrymandered maps of risk.

In Ms. Martinez’s case, documents show, the land was raised less than 10 inches above the level that, under federal flood-insurance rules, would have required the family to be notified of their risk and purchase insurance. Other lots in their area were raised as little as 1.2 inches above that height.

No one has suggested that the developers broke any laws, and the company that owns The Woodlands says it followed all applicable regulations and standards. But the experiences of the family of Ms. Martinez and their neighbors show that even when the mapping rules are followed to the letter, the results can be disastrous.

The adjustment process began as a way to correct the wild inaccuracies in the maps that form the basis of the federal flood-insurance program, which was created in the 1960s to protect homeowners from catastrophic loss. Increasingly, though, the changes have also become a way for developers to build on low-lying land.

Across the country, documents show, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the insurance program, has granted more than 150,000 map changes in the last five years. In some cases, lots were raised, and in others, levees, drainage systems, water-detention ponds and other methods changed the calculated flood risk for a swath of land.

Many of these changes were unquestionably appropriate. But in the Houston area, a Times analysis of FEMA documents shows, at least 6,000 properties in redesignated zones were damaged during the flooding caused by Harvey.

“This is all about engineers doing things for developers rather than for the public,” said James B. Blackburn, co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University in Houston. Mr. Blackburn, who was involved in early designs of The Woodlands, added, “It would be nice to know that you were only two inches above the flood plain. You know, that’s not a lot of margin for error on these maps. Yet all the federal protection for flood insurance gets removed.”

What happened in The Woodlands underscored one of the great lessons of Harvey’s assault on Houston: the profound vulnerability of a metropolis with an ethos of untrammeled development built, essentially, on a swamp.