Trump, Melania to travel to Texas to monitor effects of Harvey

President Donald Trump will travel to Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday with his wife Melania to supervise emergency aid work in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which has killed at least eight people and displaced tens of thousands.

The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump will travel to the Gulf Coast city near which the powerful storm made landfall last Friday evening, bringing torrential rains and unprecedented flooding to the entire region, Efe reported.

The President, who has praised the work of local and state authorities to deal with the storm and its aftermath, had announced on Sunday that he would travel to Texas on Tuesday, but he did not specify exactly where he would go.

The first lady's communications director, Stephanie Grishman, announced that Melania Trump will accompany her husband on the trip.

Harvey - now downgraded to a tropical storm - has fulfilled the dire predictions of meteorologists, bringing "unprecedented flooding" to southeastern Texas, particularly along the Gulf coast.

The worst situation is playing itself out in the Houston metro area, where 2.3 million people live and more than a meter (3.3 feet) of floodwater had collected.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference that there are about 5,500 people being housed in about 20 shelters established around the city, a figure that he said will rise "exponentially" in the coming hours.

Harvey made landfall on Friday evening in Rockport, Texas, located some 360 kilometers southwest of Houston, as a Category 4 hurricane, one step removed from the maximum level on the 5-point Saffir-Simpson scale.

In recent days, the storm's intensity has diminished and it has been downgraded to a tropical storm, although it has brought "catastrophic flooding" to Houston and other locations, where rescue teams are using dozens of helicopters and boats to assist people who have been trapped by the floodwaters.

--IANS

ahm/