Horrors Beyond Horrors Unfolding in "Golden Triangle" of Beaumont- Port Arthur- Orange, Texas

Torrential rains have pounded the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange region for the past 9-12 hours. This will continue for atleast three more hours. Rainfall rates have approached 4-6" per hour in the heavier cells. Radar image: Weather Underground WunderMap

Horrors beyond Horrors-

I will make this a quick post. The worst conditions faced in Harvey unfolded overnight and is still unfolding this morning in the "Golden Triangle" of Beaumont- Port Arthur- Orange.

Harvey made a second landfall near here, and torrential rain has been literally spinning over the same areas for 9-12 hours now. Rainfall rates have reached 4-6 inches an hour at times.

Extreme rainfall knocked out dish-tv and other utilities. Many quickly became cutoff from most information sources.

I set up Facebook group to connect people and 800+ joined within 2 hours. The messages have been horrific.

Messages like, "EXTREME CRISIS! THIS IS AN OLDER COUPLE! Just spoke to [Name]. Says water up to shoulders. Will try to get on roof of house."

I promise I am not exaggerating when I say at least hundreds, if not thousands, of people are fighting for their lives right now.

Any rescue equipment- particularly boats- are desperately needed right now. Worst hit areas over night seem to be Nederland and Port Arthur- but extremely bad in Beaumont and points north now.

Even if you are in Arkansas, Louisiana or Mississippi, if you can get a boat to this area, I guarantee that there will be more people than you could possibly rescue two days from now. Normally a major response would be launched for Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange, but regional resources are strained with Houston under water. Also, it's not possible for help to arrive here from the west because it's impossible to travel from west-to-east across Houston.

The scale of this is incomprehensible. It's as if the entire states of Connecticut and Rhode Island are submerged and two or three counties are fighting for their lives.

We aren't hearing these people crying out because they have no voice. Many have lost power, in the best case have made it to a roof. The eyes of the world are on Houston and these smaller cities in southeast Texas are crying out and nobody can hear them.

-HurricaneHal