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Houston is a "1-in-1,000 year event"

Wilford Martinez grabs the median as he's rescued from his flooded car along I-610 in Houston yesterday, in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey (David J. Phillip / AP)

That's how CNN meteorologist Tom Sater described the hell Harvey has unleashed on Houston. Catch up quick:

  • FEMA says recovery will take "years."
  • Tragedy of epic proportions: "Rain may last days with some areas seeing as much as 50 inches ... Storm disrupts flights, ports, railways and oil refineries." (Bloomberg)
  • "Harvey [is] the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years." (Reuters)
  • "Nearly a quarter of Texas' population lives in areas covered by a federal disaster declaration ... Gov. Greg Abbott says 18 counties are now covered by the disaster declaration approved by President Donald Trump. There are nearly 7 million people in those counties, including the nation's fourth-largest city of Houston. Texas has a population of 27.8 million."
  • "[H]undreds of people ... [w]eary and carrying little more than what was in their pockets ... arrived ... by boat, by bus, and by foot [at] Houston's showcase convention center downtown, transformed by volunteers with few hours' notice into a shelter." (AP)
  • "[V]olunteers served food, handed out towels and set up tables with donated clothes for a long line of evacuees. Some people huddled around a projection screen showing television coverage of the storm. Others collected bowls of pasta with parmesan cheese and cups of black coffee." (AP)
  • Houstonian goes fishing inside his house. (Video)
  • Houston Chronicle banner: "SWAMPED BY HARVEY." (Read the digital paper free.)

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