WHAT’S HAPPENING: Harvey makes landfall, again

AP Photo/Gregory Bull

HOUSTON (AP) — Five days after Harvey first made landfall as the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years, the now-tropical storm is still pounding parts of Texas and Louisiana with rain. Here are some things happening on the ground:

THE FORECAST

The National Weather Service says the clouds that have loomed over the Houston area since Harvey made its initial landfall will at last give way to sunshine. Harvey made landfall – again – early Wednesday, this time in southwestern Louisiana . Communities along the Texas-Louisiana border, including Port Arthur, Texas, are getting soaked. The storm is expected to move inland , bringing continued heavy rain to Louisiana, before heading north to Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri.

So far, the highest rains recorded are just shy of the United States record for a tropical system. The rains in Cedar Bayou, near Mont Belvieu, Texas, topped the 50-inch mark with 51.88 inches (132 centimeters) as of 3:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday. That’s a record for the continental U.S., but it doesn’t quite pass the 52 inches (133 centimeters) from tropical cyclone Hiki in Kauai, Hawaii, in 1950 (before Hawaii became a state).

THE DEAD

At least 18 deaths have been recorded, and authorities fear many more bodies may be found when the floodwaters start receding.

Among the dead was a woman whose shivering toddler was founding clinging to her body in a rain-swollen canal in Southeast Texas. A witness said the woman was trying to take her child to safety when the swift current of a flooded drainage canal swept them away, according to Capt. Brad Penisson of the fire-rescue department in Beaumont.

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo also laid out the details of how one of his officers his life trying to get to work.

THE MISSING

Desperate family members looking for loved ones amid the flooding and destruction of Harvey have turned to social media in their search. Photos with pleas for help in finding the missing are being posted and retweeted by the thousands. No official number of the unaccounted-for has been released. Pictures and pleas for dozens of toddlers, brothers and grandfathers are circulating on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Among those whose pleas for help led to good news is Bajauh Henix, whose 8-month-old daughter ended up with another family amid the chaos of an evacuation.

LIFE IN LIMBO

For many in Texas, fear and anxiety inspired by Harvey have given way to fatigue and restlessness . Retired police officer Michael Bedner said the inability to get back to his flooded home to assess the damage has left him feeling helpless. He said he’s seen all kinds of disasters during his career but never one like Harvey.

“We have been trying to get back to the house every day, and we can’t,” he said Tuesday. “Not even the house, just our street. We just want to feel like we’re home. But we can’t,” Bedner said.

FIRST LANDFALL

Residents of tiny Rockport, Texas, were the first in the U.S. hit by Hurricane Harvey and don’t begrudge attention being paid to life-threatening weather in much-larger Houston. One person died in Rockport, in a mobile home fire.

Rockport resident Felix Tijerina said he understands why the attention has shifted to Houston, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) away. “The hurricane moved off quickly from here,” he said. “Over there, lives are in danger.”

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