Six days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in south Texas, lashing coastal cities with driving wind and rain, the storm has moved on to other states. Now residents and officials begin to assess the damage from the storm that dumped 9 trillion gallons of water on the state and has left at least 38 people dead. Thousands more are unable to return to their homes because, in some parts of the city, the floodwaters have not yet receded. AccuWeather forecasts an economic impact of $190 billion—more than that of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined.
With a population of about 6 million and an size comparable to that of Massachusetts, the Houston metropolitan area weathered days of intense downpours that summed to more than 50 inches of rain in a few places, marking the greatest amount ever recorded in the lower 48 states from a single storm. Faced with months of cleanup and likely years of reconstruction, the city has a long road ahead. Along with the human toll, residential destruction, and infrastructure damage, there are other losses. This week, Houston's art and architectural communities are beginning to take stock of the damage to historic and contemporary structures, as well as cultural projects still under construction.
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