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Houston floods: Night curfew bid to stop robbery and looting

| Updated: October 18, 2017 04:10:43


A helicopter hovers above the Houston skyline as sunlight breaks through storm clouds from Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, US on Tuesday. - Reuters photo A helicopter hovers above the Houston skyline as sunlight breaks through storm clouds from Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, US on Tuesday. - Reuters photo

The US city of Houston has declared a night-time curfew as it battles the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

 

The storm has dumped record rainfall, leaving large parts of the city underwater, homes destroyed and over 20 people reported dead, the BBC reports on Wednesday.

 

Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said the curfew was needed to head off looting in America's fourth most populous city.

 

President Donald Trump visited Texas on Tuesday to survey the damage brought by Harvey, calling the storm "epic".

 

The curfew will run from 00:00-05:00 local time (05:00-10:00 GMT) for an indefinite period. Relief volunteers, first responders, and those going to and from work are exempt.

 

Turner said the curfew would help prevent "property crimes" against evacuated homes, and was in force "only to prevent potential criminal acts".

 

City officials have reported instances of looting, armed robberies and of people impersonating police officers.

 

Thousands of people have fled their homes in search of emergency shelter amid severe flooding.

 

President Trump earlier arrived in Corpus Christi, where Hurricane Harvey first made landfall on Friday, with First Lady Melania Trump.

 

After landing in Texas, Trump said he wanted the relief effort to stand as an example of how to respond to a storm. "We want to do it better than ever before," he said.

 

"This storm, it's epic what happened. But you know what, it happened in Texas and Texas can handle anything."

 

He will not be visiting Houston. The White House said he did not want his visit to disrupt the emergency response.

 

The rainfall in Texas set a new record for the continental US, the National Weather Service said on Tuesday. A rain gauge in Cedar Bayou recorded 51.88 inches (132 cm) of rain since Friday.

 

More than 13,000 people have now been rescued in the affected areas.

 

Harvey was the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years when it made landfall on Friday near Corpus Christi, 220 miles (354km) south-west of Houston.

 

It was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, but is expected to continue dumping huge amounts of rain in the coming days over already flood-hit areas.

 

Residents of the Louisiana city of New Orleans, which marked the 12th anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, are bracing for heavy rain and flash floods over the next two days.

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