Family of 6 dies in Hurricane Harvey horror
BRAD HUNTER, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 06:44 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 28, 2017 06:55 PM EDT
Hurricane Harvey’s horror and heartache hammered Houston Monday.
The Texan city — already in a state of emergency — was hit by more rain and flooding.
In the latest tragedy connected to the Lone Star state’s most financially-devastating hurricane, six members of one family died when their van was swept away by flooding.
The family — identified as Manuel Saldivar, 84, his wife Belia, 81, and their great grandchildren Daisy Saldivar, 6, Xavier Saldivar, 8, Dominic Saldivar, 14, Devy Saldivar, 16 — were killed while trying to flee, KHOU reports.
Cops say the six became trapped when the van’s back door wouldn’t open.
The kids’ great uncle managed to escaped before flood waters swept the family to their deaths. While cops would not confirm the tragedy, three members of the family acknowledged the terrible truth.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press: “[I’m] really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”
The latest:
Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf coast as a hurricane but has been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service are calling for about 60 centimetres of rain — meaning the worst may be yet to come
So far, eight people have been killed in the storm.
Houston’s 911 system has received 75,000 calls since Harvey inundated the city, including 20,000 just since late Sunday.
For the fourth consecutive day, Harvey dumped rain on the Houston area following a weekend packed with chaos.
Houston is one of the country’s most sprawling metropolitan areas, about 16,000 square kilometres bigger than the state of New Jersey. As a port built on a floodplain, it’s criss-crossed by more than 3,000 kilometres of canals, creeks, channels and bayous.
On Monday, huge swaths of the city were deserted as most traffic signals no longer work and many businesses shut their doors.
Meanwhile, rescuers continued plucking people from the floodwaters — at least 2,000 so far, cops said.
Rescuers were giving priority to life-and-death situations, leaving many people to fend for themselves.
Chris Thorn was among the many volunteers still helping with the mass evacuation that began Sunday. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to pull strangers out of the water.
“I couldn’t sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help,” he said.
Now, authorities are bracing for more rain, more flooding and more bodies.
The amount of water was so unprecedented that meteorologists had to update the colour charts on the weather service’s official rainfall maps.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration assured Congress that the $3 billion balance in FEMA’s disaster fund was enough to handle immediate needs, such as debris removal and temporary shelter for thousands of displaced residents.
When lawmakers return next week, a multi-billion-dollar aid package is likely to be added to their already packed agenda.
Trump planned to visit Texas on Tuesday, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.
— With files from The Associated Press
Family of 6 dies in Hurricane Harvey horror | World | News | Toronto Sun
Fishing is good!
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Video of Houston man diving for fish in home flooded by Hurricane Harvey goes viral
Postmedia Network
First posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 12:37 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 28, 2017 12:53 PM EDT
A Houston man made sure the intruder swimming in his family's flooded home didn't get very far.
The uninvited guest? A small fish.
Houston resident Viviana Saldana found a humorous way to deal with flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. On Saturday she posted a series of amusing videos to social media showing the bare-chested man flopping into a foot of water to catch the errant fish.
"Why go out looking for food when the food is coming to our living room?" Saldana wrote on Facebook.
The videos have received more than 26 million views as of Monday afternoon.
The man eventually captured the fish by its tail with his bare hands after several unsuccessful attempts.
(Viviana Saldana/Facebook)
http://facebook.com/vivvy.saldana/videos/1536927239700173
http://facebook.com/vivvy.saldana/videos/1536927249700172
http://facebook.com/vivvy.saldana/videos/1536927346366829
http://facebook.com/vivvy.saldana/posts/1536927626366801
Video of Houston man diving for fish in home flooded by Hurricane Harvey goes vi
Hurricane Harvey photo of 13-month-old baby rescued in mother's arms becomes iconic image of storm efforts
Adam Geller, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 04:52 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 28, 2017 05:05 PM EDT
In the photo, tiny Aiden Pham — 13 months old and swaddled in a blanket — nestles asleep in his mother’s arms, even as the floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey surge around them.
Someday, no doubt, Aiden’s mother will tell him about the day Houston police rescued them from their flooded home by boat, and about how one officer lifted them to safety. But thanks to the careful eye of a veteran Associated Press photographer assigned to cover the storm, the world already knows the mother, child and officer as the faces of the struggle to deal with the devastation.
“I was just keeping an eye out and as soon as I saw the SWAT team member carrying her and then seeing the baby, I just couldn’t believe that baby was wrapped up in there and not crying,” photographer David Phillip said of the moment Sunday afternoon when his lens found the trio. “It was just tender. It was very special.”
Phillip’s photo shows officer Daryl Hudeck, in baseball cap and fatigues, carrying Catherine Pham and the son she cradled through knee-deep water covering Interstate 610, in southwest Houston.
Phillip said the woman and child were rescued along with the baby’s father from their home in the city’s Meyerland section, where water reached many roofs.
By Monday, the image had quickly become a symbol of the storm and rescue efforts, featured across the web and many front pages.
The Phams, carried to a police staging point at a high spot in the road, were quickly whisked away Sunday, giving Phillip just a minute or two to get their names and witness their relief.
Soon, Phillip said, he broke away to transmit the photos. It’s a good thing, too. Not long after, the police boat he was on hit an object underwater, probably a submerged car, and the photographer was pitched into the water. His leg was cut by the boat’s outboard motor before fire department rescuers could pull him on board. One of his cameras and all the images it contained were lost.
Phillip, who is 51 and has been a photographer for the AP for 22 years, all based in Houston, has covered many hurricanes. But Katrina, Ike and Rita could not prepare him for the one that has swamped his home city.
During Katrina, “I did see a lot of disturbing things, you know, dogs eating bodies and that sort of thing,” he said. “But having this is your home, it’s just kind of a sickening feeling. I just kind of think it’s a bad dream and we’ll all wake up and it will all be gone. But it isn’t going to be any time soon.”
Still, Phillip said, seeing police rescue people like Catherine and Aiden Pham has been a reminder of his city’s endurance.
“There’s moments that will always stick in your head — that one and something that happened a few hours before them, when a sheriff’s deputy had to go and rescue a guy from a flooded car,” he said. “Just the terror on the gentleman’s face who was being rescued and just how dedicated our law enforcement is, just doing what they can to save people.”
Houston Police SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son Aiden after rescuing them from their home surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Hurricane Harvey photo of 13-month-old baby rescued in mother's arms becomes ico
