US hurricane Harvey: Trump calls for 7.8 billion in Congress

Over one million people have been evacuated, at least 50 have died and more than 40 thousand have been sheltered. These are the first estimates of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey and subsequent floods , which in one week devastated large areas of Texas and Louisiana. US President Donald Trump has asked Congress to allocate $ 7.8 billion for immediate aid, but to obtain these funds, the House and Senate will have to raise the limit of US public debt and thus avoid blocking federal spending.

Today Trump will return to the areas hit by the hurricane after the controversy last Tuesday. The President had been criticized during his first visit for meeting only representatives of local authorities in Austin and Corpus Christi. This time, however, it will stop with the survivors and rescuers of Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The request forwarded to the Congress concerns only the first expenses that the authorities will have to make to secure the territory and give shelter to the displaced .

According to the governor of Texas Republican Greg Abbott, only his state will need more than 120 billion dollars. Hurricane Harvey mainly affected the Houston metropolitan area, with more than 6 million inhabitants, causing flooding up to half a meter in height. In Beaumont, 170 kilometers east of Houston, 120 thousand people remained without drinking water, and in Crosby, halfway between the two cities, there were two explosions in a chemical factory, and others are feared.

02 September 2017