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Death Toll Rises To 21 In Houston As Harvey Takes A Second Swipe

Harvey’s floodwaters started dropping across much of the Houston area and the sun peeked through thinning clouds Wednesday in the first glimmer of hope in days for the besieged city. But the crisis was far from over, with the storm doubling back toward land and battering communities near the Texas-Louisiana line.

The storm, meanwhile, began to give up some of its dead.

The confirmed death toll from the hurricane climbed to 21 after a woman’s body was discovered afloat in Beaumont. Also, the bodies of six family members, including four children, were pulled from a van that had been swept off a Houston bridge into a bayou, and authorities were investigating 17 more deaths to determine whether they were storm-related.

“Unfortunately, it seems that our worst thoughts are being realized,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said after the van was found in 10 feet of muddy water.

While conditions in Houston appeared to improve, the disaster took a turn for the worse east of the city, close to the Louisiana line.

Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, struggled with rising floodwaters and worked to evacuate residents after Harvey completed a U-turn and rolled ashore early Wednesday for the second time in six days, hitting southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rain and winds of 45 mph.

For much of the rest of the Houston area, forecasters said the rain is pretty much over and the water is already back within its channels in some places. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city’s two major airports would reopen late in the afternoon.

“We have good news,” said Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District. “The water levels are going down.”

Nevertheless, many thousands of homes in and around the nation’s fourth-largest city still were under water from the record-breaking deluge of 4 feet of rain and could stay that way for days or weeks.

Officials said 911 call centers in the Houston area were still getting more than 1,000 calls an hour from people seeking help. The Coast Guard said it was operating 21 helicopters and more than two dozen shallow-draft boats to help in the effort.

About 10,000 more National Guard troops are being deployed to Texas, bringing the total to 24,000, Gov. Greg Abbot said.

Source: Yahoo

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