Explosions and Black Smoke Reported at Chemical Plant
• The National Guard has conducted 8,500 rescues since the storm began, Mr. Abbott said,
and the police and firefighters in the Houston area have done a similar number.
As water began to recede in some parts of flood-ravaged Houston and as Harvey, now a tropical depression, shifted its wrath to the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Texas, there were reports early Thursday
that a chemical plant at risk of exploding had done just that.
Water filled homes and submerged roads, evacuees crowded shelters, local officials urged people who needed rescue to hang sheets or towels from windows, forecasters warned
that the storm could spawn tornadoes, and the Louisiana State Police closed Interstate 10 heading toward Beaumont, just a few miles from the state line.
“The houses that are under water, it’s unreal.”
Homes and shelters were flooded and the largest oil refinery in the U. S. was shut
down after heavy rains flooded Port Arthur, east of Houston, overnight Tuesday.
The Houston Independent School District remained closed, but announced
that when school resumes, all students would receive three meals a day, regardless of a family’s income, for the school year.