Fears of soaring death toll after Storm Harvey batters Texas coast

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Officials fear the death toll from flooding in Texas sparked by Hurricane Harvey could soar once the water recedes from one of America&&num;8217&semi;s most sprawling metropolitan centres&period; Crews have been overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in US history and have had little time to search for potential victims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane&comma; authorities had confirmed only three deaths&comma; including a woman killed when heavy rain dislodged a large tree on to her trailer home in the small town of Porter&comma; but unconfirmed reports of others missing or presumed dead are growing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3150&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3150&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-117850" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We know in these kind of events that&comma; sadly&comma; the death toll goes up&comma; historically&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Houston police chief Art Acevedo said&period; &&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m really worried about how many bodies we&&num;8217&semi;re going to find&period;&&num;8221&semi; One Houston woman said she presumed six members of a family&comma; including four of her grandchildren&comma; died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston&comma; although emergency officials have not confirmed the deaths&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Virginia Saldivar said her brother-in-law was driving the van when a strong current took the vehicle off a bridge and into the bayou&period; The driver managed to get out and urged the children to escape through the back door&comma; Ms Saldivar said&comma; but they could not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;m just hoping we find the bodies&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she added&period; A spokeswoman for a Houston hotel said one of its employees disappeared while helping about 100 guests and workers evacuate the building amid rising floodwaters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The disaster is unfolding on an epic scale&comma; with the nation&&num;8217&semi;s fourth-largest city mostly paralysed by the storm that has parked itself over the Gulf Coast&period; With nearly 2ft more rain expected on top of the 30in that has fallen so far in some places&comma; authorities worry the worst might be yet to come&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Houston metro area covers about 10&comma;000 square miles and is criss-crossed by about 1&comma;700 miles of channels&comma; creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico&comma; about 50 miles to the south east&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3151&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3151&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"626" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-117852" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The storm is generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1&comma;000 years&comma; said Edmond Russo&comma; of the Army Corps of Engineers&comma; which was concerned that floodwater would spill around a pair of 70-year-old reservoir dams that protect central Houston&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rescuers are continuing to pluck people from inundated neighbourhoods&comma; with mayor Sylvester Turner putting the number saved by police at more than 3&comma;000&period; The Coast Guard said it had rescued more than 3&comma;000 by boat and air&comma; and was taking more than 1&comma;000 calls per hour&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the low-lying Houston suburb of Dickinson&comma; home to 20&comma;000 people&comma; and questions continued to swirl about why the mayor did not issue a similar order for Houston itself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3152&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;IMG&lowbar;3152&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-117855" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Turner has insisted that a mass evacuation of millions of people by car was a greater risk than enduring the storm&period; By Monday night&comma; 7&comma;000 people had arrived at the city&&num;8217&semi;s largest shelter set up at the George R Brown Convention Centre &&num;8211&semi; which originally had an estimated capacity of 5&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Red Cross said volunteers made more space inside the centre in part by pushing some cots closer together&period; A shortage of cots means some people are having to sleep on chairs or the floor&period; Harvey increased slightly in strength on Monday as it drifted back over the warm Gulf&comma; according to the National Hurricane Centre&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Forecasters expect the system to stay over water with 45mph winds for 36 hours and then head back inland east of Houston some time on Wednesday&period; The system will then head north and lose its tropical strength&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Before then&comma; up to 20in more rain could fall&comma; National Weather Service director Louis Uccellini said&period; That means the flooding will get worse in the days ahead and the water will be slow to recede once Harvey finally moves on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2c5dccd0e">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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