HOUSTON (AP) — The mayor of Houston is telling residents whose homes are still flooded in the western part of the city to evacuate, because reservoir releases will keep water flowing into their homes for 10 to 15 days.
Mayor Sylvester Turner made the voluntary evacuation announcement Friday, almost a week after Harvey started dumping up to 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain and flooding most of the city. Officials have released water from reservoirs in an attempt to control flooding.
Houston estimates between 15,000 and 20,000 homes are in the area that will continue to flood. It’s unclear how many are flooded now. Officials said that if homes aren’t currently inundated, they likely won’t be.
Turner received a mix of praise and criticism for not ordering people to evacuate the fourth largest city in the U.S. prior to Harvey making landfall.
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