Hurricane Harvey turns roads into rivers in Houston, Texas as 75cm of rain has fallen on the city. That means a year´s rainfall came down within a week. It is the biggest storm in the history of the state of Texas. Up to 2.000 people have already been rescued, many were picked up by a helicopter from their rooftops. As the rain continues the rescue services are overstretched and many people have to fend for themselves. Five people have been reported dead so far and an estimated 30.000 people are in need of shelter.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) say they will support the rescue effort and they will also help restore power and critical infrastructure. At the moment the two airports are closed as are most schools. Thousands of homes are without electricity and the motorway around the city is closed making travel almost impossible. The hurricane might result in fuel shortage and higher prices at the pump and could equal the damages Hurricane Katrina brought with her.
To make matters worse, so far the flood does not show any signs of easing. However, a mass evacuation order has not yet been given. The mayor gave the “crazy” logistics to evacuate 2.3 million people as an argument. He also cited the chaos experienced when residents were evacuated ahead of Hurricane Rita in 2005. Harvey is the most expensive natural disaster in US history.
to turn (tɜ:n) – etw umwandeln, verwandeln
already (ɔ:lˈredi) – schon, bereits
to rescue (ˈreskju:) – jdn retten
to be overstretched (ˈəʊvəʳstretʃ) – überfordert sein
so far (səʊ fɑ:ʳ) – bislang, bisher
to estimate (ˈestɪmeɪt) – schätzen
shelter (ˈʃəltəʳ) – der Schutz, Unterstand
to restore (rɪˈstɔ:ʳ) – etw wiederherstellen, zurückbringen
critical (ˈkrɪtɪkəl) – entscheidend, wichtig
motorway (ˈməʊtəʳweɪ) – die Autobahn
to result (rɪˈzʌlt) – zu etw führen, etw zur Folge haben
fuel shortage (ˈfju:əl ˈʃɔ:tɪʤ) – die Benzinknappheit
to equal (ˈi:kwəl) – etw gleichkommen, an etw heranreichen
to ease (i:z) – nachlassen, nachgeben
mass evacuation (mæs ɪˌvækjuˈeɪʃən) – die Massenevakuation
mayor (ˈmeəʳ) – der/die Bürgermeister/in
to cite (saɪt) – etw anführen, jdn/etw zitieren
resident (ˈrezɪdənt) – der/die Bewohner/in
ahead (əˈhed) – vor, vorausschauend
expensive (ɪkˈspen(t)sɪv) – teuer, kostspielig