热带风暴给休斯敦带来“灾难性”洪水

Houston, the capital of the US oil and gas industry, was hit by “catastrophic” flooding over the weekend as Tropical Storm Harvey caused torrential rains across southern Texas.

热带风暴哈维(Harvey)周末给德克萨斯州南部带来强降雨，由此导致的“灾难性”洪水侵袭美国油气行业重镇休斯敦。

Harvey weakened from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 1 tropical storm after making landfall near the port of Corpus Christi on Friday night, but brought heavy rain to Houston 150 miles away to the north-east.

“哈维”于上周五夜间在科珀斯克里斯蒂港(Port of Corpus Christi)附近登陆后，已从4级飓风减弱至1级热带风暴，但给东北方向上150英里外的休斯敦带来强降雨。

The US National Hurricane Center warned that 50 inches of rain could fall in some areas, which would be “unprecedented”.

美国国家飓风中心(US National Hurricane Center)警告称，一些地区的降雨量可能高达50英寸，这将是“空前”的。

It said record flooding was expected in many parts of south-east Texas, creating a “life-threatening situation”, with heavy rain expected to continue until at least Wednesday.

该中心表示，预计德州东南部很多地区将爆发创纪录的洪水，造成“危及生命的情况”，预计强降雨将至少持续到周三。

More than 27 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in some areas, with 35 inches expected by Sunday evening, the weather service said.

该中心表示，一些地区的24小时降雨量超过了27英寸，预计到周日夜间将达到35英寸。

Southeast Texas holds one of the highest concentrations of energy infrastructure in the US, with refineries, chemicals plants, pipelines and terminals. Houston is also one of the country’s busiest ports.

德州东南部是美国能源基础设施最集中的地区之一，建有很多炼油厂、化工厂、管道和码头。休斯敦也是美国最繁忙的港口之一。

ExxonMobil, the oil and gas group, said on Sunday morning that the flooding had led to “operational issues” at its Baytown refinery complex, adding that it was “in the process of a safe and systematic shutdown of operations”, while “taking all precautions to minimise the impact to the community and employees”.

石油和天然气集团埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)周日早上表示，洪水导致其位于Baytown的炼油厂出现了“运营问题”，该公司补充称，炼油厂正在“安全而系统化地关闭运营”，同时“采取所有预防措施来尽可能减少对社区和员工的影响”。

Royal Dutch Shell also said it was starting “a controlled shut down” of its Deer Park refinery and chemical plant as a result of the rainfall and “nearby flooding”. It said only essential personnel would stay on the site until the end of the week.

荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)也表示，由于暴雨和“附近洪水”问题，其位于Deer Park的炼油厂和化工厂开始“受控关闭”。该公司表示，只有关键员工将留守至本周结束。

The volume of rainfall had already reached the level of Tropical Storm Allison, which devastated Houston in 2001, the National Weather Service said, and it was still raining.

美国国家气象局(National Weather Service)表示，降雨量已经达到2001年肆虐休斯顿的热带风暴“埃利森”(Tropical Storm Allison)的水平，而且现在仍在下雨。

The Houston Chronicle reported that five people had died as a result of the flooding overnight, and police said at least 1,000 people had been rescued from the rising waters.

《休斯顿纪事报》(Houston Chronicle)报道称，夜间的洪水已经导致5人死亡，而警方表示，在水位不断上涨之际，已营救至少1000人。