HOUSTON — Officials in Houston sought Friday to safeguard parts of the devastated city by keeping others flooded in the wake of Harvey, which retained enough rain-making power to raise the risk of flooding in the middle of the country a week after it slammed into Texas.
The mayor announced that ongoing releases of water from two reservoirs could keep thousands of homes flooded for up to 15 days and told residents that if they stayed and later needed help, first responders’ resources could be further strained.
In another Texas city with no drinking water, people waited in a line that stretched for more than a mile to get bottled water. And a new fire erupted Friday evening at a crippled Houston-area chemical plant that was the scene of an earlier explosion and fire.
Residents of the still-flooded western part of Houston were asked to evacuate due to the releases from two reservoirs protecting downtown. The ongoing releases were expected to keep homes flooded that had been filled with water earlier in the week.
It could take three months for the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, which are normally dry, to drain. The Harris County Flood Control District said the water releases had to continue to protect the reservoirs’ structural integrity.
Some of the affected houses have several feet of water in them, and the water reaches to the rooftops of others, district meteorologist Jeff Lindner said.
One Houston-area man returned to his flooded house to discover a 9-foot alligator inside, KTRK-TV reported Friday. Emergency crews were called, and it took four men to carry away the reptile, whose mouth was taped shut.
Mayor Sylvester Turner pleaded for more high-water vehicles and more search-and-rescue equipment as search teams looked for any survivors or corpses that might have escaped notice.
Searchers worked their way down streets, sometimes not even knocking on doors if there were obvious signs that all was well — organized debris piles, for instance, or neighbors confirming that the residents had evacuated.
Authorities raised the death toll from the storm to 42 late Friday.
Turner also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more workers to process applications from thousands of people seeking government help. The mayor said he will request a preliminary aid package of $75 million for debris removal alone.
The storm remained a source of heavy rain that threatened to cause flooding as far north as Indiana.
By Friday evening, Harvey had dumped more than 9 inches of rain in parts of Arkansas and Tennessee.
National Weather Service meteorologists expect Harvey to break up and merge with other weather systems over the Ohio Valley late today or Sunday.
More than 1,500 people were staying at shelters in Louisiana, including people from Texas. The state opened a seventh shelter Friday in Shreveport for up to 2,400 people.
Beaumont, Texas, home to almost 120,000 people near the Louisiana state line, was trying to bring in enough bottled water for people who stayed behind after a water pumping station was overwhelmed by the swollen Neches River.
The latest statewide damage surveys show an estimated 156,000 dwellings in Harris County, which includes Houston, or more than 10 percent of all structures in the county database, were damaged by flooding.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that it could take years for Texas to “dig out from this catastrophe.”
