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Reuters

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday challenged Congress to raise the government’s debt limit to free up relief spending for Hurricane Harvey, a disaster that the governor of Texas said had caused up to US$180 billion in damage.
Harvey, which came ashore on August 25 as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, has killed an estimated 50 people, displaced more than 1 million and damaged some 200,000 homes in a path of destruction stretching for more than 480km.
As the city of Houston and the region’s critical energy infrastructure began to recover nine days after the storm hit, the debate over how to pay for the disaster played out in Washington.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott estimated damage at US$150 billion to US$180 billion, calling it more costly than Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy, which devastated New Orleans in 2005 and New York in 2012.
The administration of President Donald Trump has asked Congress for an initial US$7.85 billion for recovery efforts, a fraction of what will eventually be needed.
Even that amount could be delayed unless Congress quickly increases the government’s debt ceiling, Mnuchin said, as the US is on track to hit its mandated borrowing limit by the end of the month unless Congress increases it.
“Without raising the debt limit, I am not comfortable that we will get money to Texas this month to rebuild,” Mnuchin told Fox News.

Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of Congress, have traditionally resisted raising the debt ceiling, but linking the issue to Harvey aid could force their hand with people suffering and large areas of the fourth-largest US city under water.
Trump hugs children and serves food in Houston, makes joke about his ‘big hands’
Beyond the immediate funding, any massive aid package faces budget pressures at a time when Trump is advocating for tax reform or tax cuts, leading some on Capitol Hill to suggest aid may be released in a series of appropriations.
Katrina set the record by costing US taxpayers more than US$110 billion. In advocating for funds to help rebuild his state, Abbott said damage from Harvey would exceed that.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city expected most public services and businesses to be restored by Tuesday, the first day after Monday’s Labour Day holiday.
“Over 95 per cent of the city is now dry. And I’m encouraging people to get up and let’s get going,” Turner told NBC News.
Even so, Houston mandated the evacuation of thousands of people on the western side of town on Sunday to accommodate the release of water from two reservoirs that otherwise might sustain damage. The storm stalled over Houston, dumping more than 1.3m of rain on the region.
Houston cut off power to homes on Sunday to encourage evacuations. The area was closed off and military vehicles stationed on the periphery to take people out.

Karen Waltmon, 58, who was returning to her home in one of the neighbourhoods, said she wondered whether parts of the city would have to be razed.
“I feel a lot of Houston is drying out, and I don’t want them to forget about us,” she said.
About 37,000 refugees stayed overnight in 270 shelters in Texas plus another 2,000 in seven Louisiana shelters, the highest number reported by the American Red Cross.
Hurricane Harvey offers US President Donald Trump the opportunity to show empathy – but can he deliver?
Some 84,700 homes and businesses were without power, down from a peak of around 300,000, according to the region’s major electric companies.
In Crosby, Texas, an Arkema chemical plant that ran out of electricity needed to keep volatile organic peroxide refrigerated will burn the remaining containers, company and Harris County fire officials said.

Officials last week evacuated residents and set up a 2.4km perimeter around the area.
Energy disruptions pushed up petrol futures to a two-year high before the holiday weekend, but major refineries started to come back online on Friday.
Colonial Pipeline, the biggest US fuel system, expects to reopen a Texas segment of its network on Monday, when it will resume transporting distillates from Houston to Hebert, Texas, the company said on Sunday, adding that it would be ready to start moving petrol on Tuesday.
Those repairs would restore to normal Colonial’s entire pipeline from Houston to Linden, New Jersey, relieving shortages between Texas and the US Northeast.


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Hurricane Harvey

Fears of funding scramble as Harvey damage in Texas estimated at US$180 billion

Volunteers distribute food, water and pet food to flood victims from the back of a lorry trailer. Photo: AFP

ORANGE, TX - SEPTEMBER 03: Dogs rescued from floodwater wait to be transferred to a shelter after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey causing widespread flooding on September 3, 2017 in Orange, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi August 25, has dumped nearly 50 inches of rain in and around areas Houston. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

ORANGE, TX - SEPTEMBER 03: Flood victims search through donated items after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey causing widespread flooding on September 3, 2017 in Orange, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi August 25, has dumped nearly 50 inches of rain in and around areas Houston. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

ORANGE, TX - SEPTEMBER 03: Floodwater covers the streets in the historic downtown after torrential rains pounded Southeast Texas following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey causing widespread flooding on September 3, 2017 in Orange, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi August 25, has dumped nearly 50 inches of rain in and around areas Houston. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

epaselect epa06182115 A boat load of Texas Rangers (R) helps a man look for his drone after it crashed into flood waters left by rains from Hurricane Harvey in the west Houston, Texas, USA, 03 September 2017. Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the south coast of Texas as a major hurricane category 4. The last time a major hurricane of this size hit the United States was in 2005. EPA/TANNEN MAURY

Vince Ware moves his sofas onto the sidewalk from his house which was left flooded from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, U.S. September 3, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

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