Riverside Fire Crews To Aid Hurricane Harvey Victims

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – Members of the Riverside Fire Department's Urban Search & Rescue Team deployed to Texas Friday to provide assistance during and after Hurricane Harvey.

Six members of the USAR task force departed California in the predawn hours and arrived in Dallas, then headed to College Station for operations, according fire Capt. Dave McClellan.

At least one person was confirmed dead and about a dozen others injured as Hurricane Harvey pummeled Texas before being downgraded to a tropical storm by this afternoon, though rain from the event is expected to last well into next week, creating life-threatening conditions.

Rockport, Texas, Mayor C. J. Wax said a man was trapped inside his burning home at the climax of the Category 4 storm, according to a local news report.

"It's poised to clobber the Texas Gulf Coast with catastrophic rainfall, dangerous storm surge flooding and destructive winds," McClellan said. "This could leave parts of the area uninhabitable for an extended period."

Rainfall amounts are likely to exceed 20 inches in the Houston metropolitan area, meteorologists said.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in some locations and multiple school districts canceled classes Friday, notifying residents that campuses will likely be closed Monday as well.

Flights into Houston were being canceled in anticipation of severe storm activity.

According to McClellan, the rescue team will provide logistical and communications support.

The storm made landfall near Rockport with wind speeds greater than 130 miles per hour, leaving a path of destruction in the small seaport towns between Corpus Christi and Port O’Connor. The storm spread overnight and now sits meandering as a category 1 storm from Houston to Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

"Unfortunately, the citizens of Texas are about to endure a very long and deadly inland event," FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. "This system is, this is just the beginning. We're going to see over the next 72 to 48 hours devastating rainfall; we recognize that."

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--City News Service and Scott McDonald (Patch Staff) contributed to this report/Image: Jennifer Bryant looks over the debris from her family business destroyed by Hurricane Harvey Saturday, Aug. 26 in Katy, Texas. Photo by David J. Phillip/Associated Press