Houston has received more rain in one week than Vancouver gets in an entire year

Aug 30 2017, 3:08 am

It’s been almost a week since Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a proclamation declaring a “Local State of Disaster” and requested that the Governor of Texas declare a State of Emergency.

At the time, the City of Houston prepared for significant impacts from Hurricane Harvey, which was then a Category 3 storm. The National Weather Service forecast said that 20 inches (50 cm) of rain would fall over Houston, and the area was under a Tropical Storm Warning, Storm Surge Watch, Flash Flood Watch, and Tornado Watch.

And then it rained.

All the watches remained in the region for days, and while Hurricane Harvey has since been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, it still left a huge impact on the region, which usually sees an average of 50 inches of rain annually.

By Monday, parts of Texas saw that annual amount in roughly a single week.

To put that into context, that’s more rain than Vancouver gets in an entire year! Indeed, in comparison, Vancouver ‘only’ averages 45.4 inches of rain over the course of 12 months.

As for Houston, the City established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund that will accept tax deductible flood relief donations for victims that have been affected by the floods.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada is ready to offer any assistance Texas might need. And that support will probably continue over the next few weeks, as the city begins to slowly recover from the storm.

– With files from Yasmin Aboelsaud.

DH Vancouver StaffDH Vancouver Staff

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