Hurricane Harvey made landfall off the gulf coast of Texas on Friday morning as a Category 4 storm, the strongest storm to hit the United States in the past ten years.
The center of Hurricane Harvey remained in Texas throughout the weekend. It has begun to move east and has turned into a tropical storm. Once the storm is completely offshore, it won’t strengthen much, but heavy rainfall is expected throughout the next several days in Texas and Louisiana.
So far, areas around Houston experienced almost 50 inches of rain or more. It could take weeks for the water to drain through the rivers around the areas affected by the storm.
As of Monday, there have been 9 confirmed fatalities as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Thousands of people have been rescued from areas that have been heavily affected by the tropical storm. Thousands more people are expected to be rescued and taken to shelters throughout the next several days.
President Donald Trump and the First Lady visited on Tuesday and vowed the federal government will have a full response to the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Due to the storm, colleges in southeastern Texas have delayed the start of classes until at least Monday and cancelled welcome weekend festivities. Universities have been sending emergency alerts and updates to students and insist families of students do not come to campus.
The University of Houston will stay closed through Monday. The Katy, Sugar Land and downtown campuses will also remain closed during the storm.
As of press time, Texas A&M University and Texas Southern University reopened for classes Wednesday. Rice University, Sam Houston State University and South Texas College of Law Houston will be closed through Labor Day and will reopen for classes on Sept. 5.
Across social media, people have been asking for donations through the American Red Cross by visiting their website, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting HARVEY to 90999 to donate $10. Other major groups accepting donations include the Salvation Army and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. There are also a variety of GoFundMe pages.
People are also encouraged to look into donating to local relief groups to provide more immediate help to those affected by Harvey. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has started a tax deductible donation group called the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund where people can donate online and by check, cash or money order. The Houston Food Bank and the Food Bank of Corpus Christi are other local groups asking for donations.
Celebrities such as DJ Khaled, JJ Watt and Kevin Hart have donated money and have started pages where anyone can donate to those affected by Hurricane Harvey.
In another part of the Atlantic, another tropical storm could be forming off the east coast near North Carolina. Tropical Storm Irma is predicted to be a Tropical Cyclone Ten, but its chances of forming have begun to decrease. Tropical storm warnings have been issued to areas that could possibly be affected by this storm.
