Now, Houston is starting down the long road to recovery, anticipating federal and state funding to repair and rebuild. In the immediate aftermath, the city was focused on emergency response вЂ“ clearing the roads, managing safe evacuations, operating shelters for flood victims. The environmental impact of Harvey was also severe вЂ“ the flooding caused hazardous spills and toxic releases that negatively impacted water and air quality and created major public health concerns. Major highways were also flooded and some remained unusable for weeks after the storm passed. Harvey also highlighted the cityвЂ™s challenge of responding to an emergency event when local streets вЂ“ designed to serve as a secondary drainage system in the event of a major storm вЂ“ were impassable during the storm. The Kinder Institute noted that Harvey-related damage to HoustonвЂ™s вЂњnaturally occurring affordable housing stockвЂќ exacerbated the existing affordable housing shortage. City of Houston data estimates that up to 345,000 housing units in the city were damaged by Harvey. Harvey also threw into sharp relief many of the long-term challenges that the Houston region faces, which can be intensified by natural disasters. In addition to the quantifiable damage, Harvey also caused negative health impacts for area residents and left a long-lasting trauma for many survivors. Many also lost jobs or income as a result of the storm. People lost homes, cars, and irreplaceable belongings. Nearly 20 percent of Harris County households experienced structural damage to their homes. HarveyвЂ™s floods left behind thousands of damaged homes and displaced Houstonians. The impact cannot be overstated: Harvey was the largest natural disaster in the State of Texas, and one of the costliest and most destructive in U.S. HarveyвЂ™s rainfall set a new record for the most ever from a tropical cyclone in the continental United States. Thirteen of Harris CountyвЂ™s 22 watersheds reached record levels. Although Harvey had weakened to a tropical storm, the storm dumped record amounts of rain across the entire Houston area вЂ“ 1 trillion gallons over four days in Harris County, with an average rainfall rate of 33.7 inches over four days. The storm moved up the coastline, causing severe damage from its deadly winds and flooding, and made landfall again in Houston on August 26. On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm near the City of Rockport on the Texas coast.

Hurricane aftermath