​This past week we have been unfortunate enough to hear the news of the flooding in Houston Texas. This past Thursday an official with the Harris county flood control estimated that the impact of the flooding was that 70% of the country was covered with a foot and a half of water.

Casualties totalled 39 people of all ages which lead to Houston police to conduct house to house searches for survivors. At least 34,000 people are currently residing among dozens of shelters, conventions, Mosques, schools and over 11 churches in Texas.

Damaged homes are still being tallied as well as homes destroyed in total over 93,000 homes suffered extensive damages including almost 7000 that were initially destroyed by hurricane Harvey according to public safety records. These figures however do not include the more heavily populated sections of Houston as well as the other neighbouring cities which were hit by the flood such as Beaumont and Port Arthur. The actual number of casualties, injuries and damages are likely to be significantly higher once those unreachable areas are accounted for.

Thousands of residents still do not have access to clean drinking water including in the neighbouring cities previously mentioned where up to 118 000 people have been affected. Currently people are being served by 166 water systems in which boiling water before consumption is a mandatory safety measure.

Usually during similar situations chlorine and other disinfectants into drinking water systems in order to prevent the outbreak of illnesses like cholera and dysentery however doing so brings about it’s own set of risks. Most of the time sewage, plants as well as farm runoff and other organic matter reacts with the chlorine after heavy rains. These in turn form chemicals called Trihalomethanes which have been known to increase the risk of various cancers. 

So what does this mean for survivors and access to clean water during natural disasters? Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with those affected.  Tell us your thoughts below!