Explosions and Black Smoke Reported at Chemical Plant<br />• The National Guard has conducted 8,500 rescues since the storm began, Mr. Abbott said,<br />and the police and firefighters in the Houston area have done a similar number.<br />As water began to recede in some parts of flood-ravaged Houston and as Harvey, now a tropical depression, shifted its wrath to the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Texas, there were reports early Thursday<br />that a chemical plant at risk of exploding had done just that.<br />Water filled homes and submerged roads, evacuees crowded shelters, local officials urged people who needed rescue to hang sheets or towels from windows, forecasters warned<br />that the storm could spawn tornadoes, and the Louisiana State Police closed Interstate 10 heading toward Beaumont, just a few miles from the state line.<br />“The houses that are under water, it’s unreal.”<br />Homes and shelters were flooded and the largest oil refinery in the U. S. was shut<br />down after heavy rains flooded Port Arthur, east of Houston, overnight Tuesday.<br />The Houston Independent School District remained closed, but announced<br />that when school resumes, all students would receive three meals a day, regardless of a family’s income, for the school year.
