As Hurricane Harvey continues to pummel Houston and southeastern Texas, the death toll is rising along with floodwaters across the state.So far, there have been reports of at least 11 deaths, eight of which were confirmed by authorities to the Washington Post. That number appears to include a family of six who were presumed drowned in northeast Houston Monday after the van they were traveling in was swept away by floodwaters, local TV news station KHOU reports.Across Texas, experts and government officials anticipate that with another 20 inches of rainfall expected over the next week,things will likely get much worse. And it’s not just Hurricane Harvey — on Monday, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for part of southeastern Texas and most of the coastal region of Louisiana.The Federal Emergency Management Agency expects that at least 450,000 people will file for disaster assistance as a result of Harvey, agency administrator Brock Long said at a Monday news briefing. So far, 30,000 people already have been forced to leave their homes and stay in temporary shelters to wait out the storm.
And though the flood waters will soon recede, the aftermath won’t: “FEMA is going to be there for years,” Long said in a CNN interview on Sunday.