Houston looks like you have a problem. Astronaut Randy Bresnik images Tropical Storm Harvey from the ISS. Courtesy: NASA
While Atlantic Hurricane Harvey soon found itself downgraded to “just” a tropical storm, it soon became one of the most violent to visit the shores of Texas. For the storm brought over 50 inches of rainfall – the equivalent of about four years of London rainfall – falling on Houston in just three days. As a result, the streets were flooded and many found themselves isolated in the upper floors of their houses, with their lower floors flooded out.
US national and regional rescue services are now tending to the natural disaster with President Trump anxious not to make the same mistake that President George W Bush did in not acting fast enough to aid those effected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. President Donald Trump gained praise for visiting Texas so quickly. However wife Melania who accompanied the President on his trip had her choice of footwear – high heeled stilettos – made fun of given the soggy conditions.
NASA itself suffered the shut down of its Johnson Manned Spaceflight Center due to the fact that the surrounding roads were flooded. However, the core personnel stayed on station at Mission Control which remained operational to safely monitor the International Space Station (ISS).
Comment by David Todd: Like an ostrich putting its head in the sand…hoping that the danger will go away
This storm is a politically difficult one for climate change sceptics such as President Donald Trump. While President Trump will be careful to make sure that adequate funding reaches the needy people of Houston and its surrounding areas, he will come under fire over its causes and preventative measures. For while most climate change sceptics now accept that a global warming is happening and that it is the probable cause for an increasing frequency in severe storms such as Tropical Storm Harvey, they (including Trump) refuse to believe that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are this warming’s principal cause.
President Trump has already attracted much criticism, not only for withdrawing from the Paris Accord on reducing global warming greenhouse gas emissions, but also for issuing an order to US Government agencies including the NOAA and NASA, that the phrase “climate change” should no longer be used in official government documents and news releases.
Meanwhile, President Trump is also under fire for rolling back legislation made under the Obama administration which prevented homes being built on flood plains.
