Harvey hits Houston A glimpse of future climate disasters?

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VOL. 35, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2017 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 As we go to press, Hurricane Irma has brought catastrophic damage to Caribbean nations, with wind gusts of 220 miles an hour. Evacuations are taking place in coastal areas of Florida and Georgia, which face being submerged by surging water. In the meantime, the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast is carrying out a grim and costly cleanup from Tropical Storm Harvey. The destruction is staggering— particularly in Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city and its major center for oil and chemical refining. Houston was the victim of two major factors that increased the intensity of the storm and made it especially lethal—climate change and unchecked sprawl. The storm left in its wake air, ground, and water pollution that can have lasting effect on human health. The Houston Chronicle headlined: “Epic flooding shows no mercy,” as the downpour continued for five days. Rain gauges showed that as much as 52 inches had fallen—the heaviest rain total to have fallen in any tropical cyclone in the continental United States since records began in 1950. Colin Kaepernick — 2 Immigration / Korea — 3 UAW at Nissan — 4 As the storm shifted to the east, much of the city was left underwater, with higher sections reduced to soggy islands. Over 200,000 houses were damaged in the region and 13,500 completely destroyed—with much of the damage in poorer and working-class neighborhoods where people lack flood insurance. At our press time, at least 60 have been confirmed dead within the entire area of the storm.

The Rev. James Caldwell, a community advocate who lives and grew up in the Black community of Houston’s Fifth Ward, spoke to The Texas Tribune: “This is the first time that I’m aware of in years that this area actually flooded into homes. It floods—the streets turn into rivers, and all that — but the homes themselves are generally safe. This time, it hit homes.” Brian Gage, an advisor for the Houston Housing Authority, told The Texas Tribune that hundreds of families have been displaced from city-owned public housing complexes that were flooded. “Rebuilding will be a long and painful process for people with so few resources.”

Government first-responders were supplemented by legions of civilian volunteers who carried thouPuerto Rico / Labor — 5 Greemsboro 1979 — 6 Internationalism — 7 See pages 11 & 12 LM Otero / AP sands of people to safety. Three truck drivers gained media attention for driving 200 miles to the Houston area, where they rescued over 1000 people. Several hundred members of the Cajun Navy (Louisiana “bad asses who save lives,” who first got together because of government inaction following Katrina) and many others used boats, canoes, and hand-to-hand human chains to pull victims out of the oil and sewage-laced floodwaters.

Chemical explosion; oil tanks toppled Generally, the region around Houston produces 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products per day—25 percent of the nation’s total. Fracked oil and gas from around the country are piped to the region for processing, and the products are then exported around the world. Oil prices rose worldwide as at least a dozen Texas refineries halted their operations. Well over 3400 oil and chemical storage tanks line the sides of the Houston Ship Channel, presenting a constant danger in heavy storms. But no design standards exist in Texas to protect the tanks from storm (continued on page 8, in “Our internationalism and theirs”)

Workers in ex-USSR — 9 Canada news — 9 Fighting fascism — 11, 12

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