From the Office of District 37 U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela
The Aransas Pass Police confirmed that six people were killed during the landfall of Hurricane Harvey when they were crushed by the collapse of the building where they had been taking shelter.
That raised to seven the number of known fatalities attributed to the Category 4 storm.
Aransas Pass residents had been urged to evacuate after it became clear that Harvey was headed directly toward Rockford and neighboring Aransas Pass.
Federal Emergency Management Administration officials had warned against taking the slow-moving storm lightly and said that the elements working on the storm had not been seen before.
"I's a very dynamic storm," said FEMA administrator Brock Long. "I've been doing for decades and have never seen hurricane develop so rapidly. (The forecast is for) a torrential rain event for next 72 hours and it will be difficult for state and federal resources to get into some of affected areas. This will be very long and frustrating event."
Long said that all the time that responders have been preparing for the current threat, they have to prepare for the even larger mission than was necessary with Ike. FEMA has already deployed people to begin working on providing manufactured housing, etc.
Mike Coyne of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also expressed concern about the aftermath of the hurricane having made landfall.
"I don't have good news to pass along," he said. "Harvey weakened to a tropical storm located 45 miles north of Victoria. It will weaken over the next two days. But heavy and persistent rainfall makes this storm extra dangerous in central and mid Texas coast. It's just sticking around and not moving too much. Short term risk is in Houston and Beaumont, and we continue watching for isolated tornadoes."
Chief Nim Kidd, of the Texas Division of Emergency Management said the situation remains serious.
"We're facing another week or two weeks of inclement weather," Kidd said. "We have lots of state and federal assets on ground and right now our focus is on life safety and our personnel is just starting to go in to rescue. It's hard to say what unmet needs are."
Like Long, Kidd thinks that housing will be a longg term housing issue.
Meanwhile, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz updated search and rescue coordinators reporting that his crews had effected 27 rescues by helicopter in last 24 hours. Schultz said it had been difficult for helicopter pilots s to navigate by air as the storm is moving very slowly.