Communities Across Southeast Facing Harvey’s Aftermath

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 AS OF 10:00 AM CDT

This will be the final situational awareness post for Harvey. Hagerty Consulting’s preparedness and recovery subject matter experts will continue to monitor the remnants of this storm as well as the developing situation with Hurricane Irma in the coming days.

The NOAA National Hurricane Center reported on Friday that Harvey is now a post tropical cyclone “with heavy rain moving into the Ohio Valley.” Although the rains have moved on and flood waters are slowly beginning to recede in Southeast Texas, communities continue emergency rescue and response efforts.  Floods continue to persist in communities throughout the Gulf Region, posing many life-threatening hazards as some residents begin to return home.

On Thursday, White House administration officials reported that President Trump is considering requesting approximately $6 billion dollars to be appropriated for Harvey emergency assistance. Bloomberg News reported, “The White House request, which could come as soon as Friday, would include $5.5 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the remainder to the Small Business Administration.” While this figure is very preliminary, federal, state, and local administrators are also in early stages of trying to understand the scale of Harvey recovery. At this point in time, when response and emergency efforts are still underway, the daunting cost of recovery is nearly impossible to tie to a certain dollar figure. NBC New explains, “The early figures are fluid and likely to change, probably increasing as the extent of the damage becomes more clear. And early estimates of aggregate losses already vary widely, depending on whether the figure includes insured and uninsured property damage, or indirect impacts like lost worker productivity and economic output.”

PUBLIC ADVISORIES

• Here’s the breakdown of public advisories from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) 10:00 AM CDT, September 1, 2017 Update:
  • Flash flood watches and warnings are in effect from parts of Northern Mississippi across Western Tennessee, Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Southwest Ohio.
  • Flood warnings remain in effect for parts of Eastern Texas including the Houston Metropolitan Area and into Western Louisiana

  For all current updates, please refer to products from your local weather service.

EMERGENCY RESOURCES

Texas: we’re experiencing a high-call volume to our 800#. We encourage you to use https://t.co/mSsI4eEQev to apply for assistance. #Harvey pic.twitter.com/4b3V5btoRK

— FEMA (@fema) August 31, 2017

• FEMA Assistance: Link
• If entering a flooded area or returning to a flooded property, consult the Red Cross Returning Home Checklist
• Texas Sheltering Information: Link
• Louisiana Sheltering Information: here and here
• Remember, Ready.gov provides information on how to prepare for a storm and how to keep you and your family safe: link

Hagerty Consulting is an emergency management consulting firm that helps our clients prepare for and recover from disasters. Established in 2001, Hagerty Consulting’s work includes some of the nation’s largest recovery and preparedness projects in more than 30 states, including 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Sandy.

You can learn more about our disaster recovery practice here.