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No mercy: Harvey sets rainfall records, makes landfall again

David J. Phillip / AP

Coming crisis ... Houstonians with no flood insurance: "When Harvey struck Houston there were far fewer homes and other properties in the area with flood insurance than just five years ago ... The sharp drop means many residents fleeing Harvey's floodwaters have no financial backup to fix up their homes." (AP)

  • Gauges have shown 52 inches and 49 inches of rain: "If either of these are confirmed, it would be the heaviest storm-total rainfall from any tropical cyclone in the continental U.S. in records dating to 1950, topping the 48-inch storm total in Medina, Texas, from Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978." (Weather Channel)
  • Harvey made landfall again this morning, this time in Louisiana: "Periods of torrential rain will continue over parts of Texas and Louisiana the next several days, worsening flooding in some areas." (Weather Channel)
  • Latest stats: "The ... most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years has killed at least 17 people, forced tens of thousands of people to leave deluged homes and caused damage estimated at tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest U.S. natural disasters." (Reuters)
  • N.Y. Times Quote of the Day — Miriam Camero, a caseworker in Houston for an immigrant legal-aid group, on the added uncertainty many undocumented people are facing in the Harvey chaos: "Most of our clients have ankle monitors, and we don't know how these devices will withstand being underwater."
  • Houston Chronicle banner: "EPIC FLOODING SHOWS NO MERCY." (Read the digital paper free.)

Go deeper

Axios
37 mins ago - Podcasts

The vaccine race turns toward nationalism

The coronavirus pandemic is worsening, both in the U.S. and abroad, with cases, hospitalizations and deaths all rising.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the state of global vaccine development — including why the U.S. and China seem to going at it alone — with medicinal chemist and biotech blogger Derek Lowe.

Axios
Updated 50 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Large coronavirus outbreaks leading to high death rates — Coronavirus cases are at an all-time high ahead of Election Day.
  2. Politics: Top HHS spokesperson pitched coronavirus ad campaign as "helping the president" — Space Force's No. 2 general tests positive for coronavirus.
  3. World: Taiwan reaches a record 200 days with no local coronavirus cases — Europe faces "stronger and deadlier" wave.
  4. Sports: Boston Marathon delayed — MLB to investigate Dodgers player who joined celebration after positive COVID test.
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Felix Salmon, author of Capital
Updated 2 hours ago - Economy & Business

How central banks can save the world

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The trillion-dollar gap between actual GDP and potential GDP is a gap made up of misery, unemployment, and unfulfilled promise. It's also a gap that can be eradicated — if central banks embrace unconventional monetary policy.

  • That's the message from Eric Lonergan and Megan Greene, two economists who reject the idea that central banks have hit a "lower bound" on interest rates. In fact, they reject the idea that "interest rates" are a singular thing at all, and they fullthroatedly reject the idea — most recently put forward by New York Fed president Bill Dudley — that the Fed is "out of firepower."

Why it matters: If Lonergan and Greene are right, then central banks have effectively unlimited ammunition in their fight to increase inflation and employment. They are limited only by political will.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow