Beaumont, Texas • A week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas as a Category 4 monster, millions of people across the Gulf Coast struggled Friday with the unfathomable misery left behind as tens of thousands were left without drinking water, forced from homes or trapped in cities transformed into islands.
Federal officials kept up a tense watch at a storm-ravaged chemical plant east of Houston, where some of the volatile organic peroxides stored there had ignited a day earlier. Officials with Arkema, the France-based company operating the plant, said Friday that neighbors had reported hearing additional blasts at the plant, though those reports remained unconfirmed.