The Red Cross is already on the ground with resources from around the entire country. Trained staff and shelter trailers were pre-positioned according to the administrator for the Red Cross in Texas.
The lingering storm will be difficult to cope with because even with massive resources ready to help the roads will be damaged or destroyed in many areas and ground soaked with days of rain will continue to make the disaster areas difficult even to reach.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
“Seventy-two on you” is a mantra repeated by FEMA in disasters of this nature.
It means that people should be prepared to take care of themselves for 72 hours or more because it could easily take that long for help to reach them.
Even when the first emergency management resources reach a damaged area, triage will mean that people who are seriously injured get the first attention, those who merely have poor shelter will have to wait their turn, especially in a location such as southern Texas in the summer when cold weather is not a major threat.
During an update at noon, east coast time officials from various utility companies report that more than one million people are now without power in Texas.
Galveston, Texas cruise ship port
Three cruise ships carrying 20 thousand passengers were scheduled to be in the Galveston harbor waiting to disembark
Carnival cruise ships Carnival Freedom and Carnival Valor were redirected to New Orleans when the port of Galveston was declared closed.
Liner officials warned passengers that it could be very dangerous to try and get to Galveston Island via land and suggested they remain on board until the ships can make dock at Galveston, as scheduled but late.
Three Carnival and one Royal Caribbean ship were scheduled to dock at Galveston but were diverted to the port of New Orleans.
A cruise ship is probably, second only to a navy ship, the safest place to be during a hurricane because they not only can avoid the storm itself but they have vast stores of food and also make their own water. A flood generally won't bother them because they are designed to float. Also, a large ship won’t be endangered by even a few feet of rain.
Another Carnival cruise liner the Breeze was in Cozumel, Mexico when the storm hit and remained docked there temporarily. The Royal Caribbean ship Liberty of the Seas remained out at sea well behind the storm winds.
Houston Texas
Officials report there are currently 50 rivers in Texas nearing flood stage even as the predicted heavy rains are just beginning to fall and these rivers will remain dangerous for a full month after the rains stop. Because of the runoff from millions of acres of land, it takes up to a week for rivers in heavy rainfall areas (or downstream of them) to even peak and several more weeks for them to return to normal.
The outer rain and wind bands of Hurricane Harvey will bring an additional 22 inches of rain to the Houston area according to the prediction of the National Weather Service. There were 50 tornado warnings issued by the NWS in Houston and there is currently a tornado watch in effect, that is more warnings for the region than were issued in the past 30 years combined.
