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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVI • Number 35 Justice Reform Push Community Pride ACLU campaigns to redefine role of DAs Memorial tells story of Dr. Unthank See Local News, page 3 See Metro, page 9 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • August 30, 2017 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Thousands jam the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston seeking shelter from the massive flooding and destruction in southeast Texas from Hurricane Harvey which became the heaviest tropical downpour in U.S. history Tuesday. Epic Scale Disaster Thousands seek shelter as water keeps rising (AP) — As the human toll and the strain on flood defenses mounted, the city of Houston moved Tuesday to open two and possibly three more me- ga-shelters, and the rain from Harvey officially became the heaviest tropical downpour in U.S. history. Louisiana’s governor offered to take in Harvey victims from Texas, and televangelist Joel Osteen opened his Houston megachurch, a 16,000-seat former arena, after critics blasted him on social media for not acting to help families displaced by the storm. The city’s largest shelter, the George R. Brown Convention Center, held more than 9,000 people, almost twice the number officials originally planned to house there, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. In all, more than 17,000 people have sought refuge in Texas shelters and that number seemed certain to increase, the American Red Cross said. After the mayor’s announcement, volunteers and donors lined up outside the Toyota Center, the downtown arena that is home to the Houston Rockets, in anticipation that it will be one of the new shelters. The mayor said the city has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for more supplies, including cots and food, for additional 10,000 people, which he hopes to get no later than Wednesday. Almost four days after the storm rav- aged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities had confirmed only four deaths — including a woman killed Monday when heavy rains dis- lodged a large oak tree onto her trailer C ontinued on P age 4