Hurricane Harvey Update: 21,000 Still In Texas Shelters While World Watches Irma

With the nation's eyes on Hurricane Irma, thousands of Texans are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Harvey. Two weeks after the Category 3 storm made landfall in the state, more than 21,000 people remained in shelters.

"We are still in a rescue/recovery," said Maj. Roy Williams, incident commander for the Salvation Army's response team in Texas, according to CNN. "Probably a 25 percent rescue, 75 percent recovery. There's still people who — the water has not come down and they have either not gotten back to their house or they are still in their house.”

Almost 300 miles of the Texas coast were affected by the storm, amounting to an estimated $75 billion in total damages. At last count, there had been 70 fatalities as a result of the hurricane. And while most of Houston was drying up, recovering from the storm was still very much a work in progress.

“I’m encouraging people to get up and let’s get going,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said over the weekend on “Meet the Press.” “There is still tremendous need. Don’t want to downplay that, but most of the city is dry, and I’m saying to people — if you can stay open, let’s open up and let’s get started.”

The Texas Department of Public said as of Friday, 122,331 people had been rescued or evacuated, along with 5,234 pets, CNN reported. Widespread debris remained a problem in the state: around 6.1 cubic meters of such debris polluted Houston alone.

“We want to get it removed as quickly as possible,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters Thursday.

The House cleared a plan Friday to provide $15 billion in recovery funding for Hurricane Harvey. The nation’s five living former presidents, meanwhile, banded together this week to raise money for people affected by the storm.

“People are hurting down here,” said former President George W. Bush in a video announcing the campaign. “But as one Texan put it, we’ve got more love in Texas than water.”

As Texas planned and executed its recovery efforts, Hurricane Irma wrought a path of devastation through the Caribbean, on a warpath toward the United States. The hurricane left decimation behind in the islands of Barbuda, St. Martin and other tropical regions — more than 95 percent of Barbuda’s structures were destroyed as a result. The Category 4 storm was expected to hit Florida by Saturday, bringing winds of at least 150 mph.