An Aberdeen native who now lives and works in Texas has been left stranded in his home after Hurricane Harvey tore through the southern state.
Andy Grieve, who was brought up in the north-east but relocated to the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, described the situation as a “mess”.
He said some people around the state were being told to leave behind their beloved belongings in order to escape rising water levels.
And Mr Grieve himself, who runs engineering consultancy Hampco – which also has a base in Aberdeen – woke up yesterday with the water just a foot from his front door.
He said: “Things are a mess here and many folk are subject now to mandatory evacuation but simply can’t get anywhere because of flooded roads and it is even very hard to find fuel.
“We are not in mandatory evacuation and have been dry but the water is already in our garden and we just have another 12 inches before it comes into the house.
“However, we can’t go anywhere as there is 5ft of water at the entrance gate of our estate.”
Fears were also high yesterday in relation to two big reservoirs which are having to be bled of water to reduce the pressure on the levees.
The Brezos river, five miles south of Katy, was also expected to burst its banks having risen around 30ft – with the potential for the subsquent flooding to travel for several miles.
Mr Grieve added: “”On top of all that there have been over 100 tornado warnings and several touching down nearby, devastating homes.
“We have had over 30in of rain and it is predicted we could another 15in more over the next three days – equivalent to the yearly total average all in a few days.
“Harvey has gone back offshore so will pick up more moisture from the gulf and then turn back onshore to dump it all.
“As it has calmed to a tropical storm rather than a Hurricane, we are not getting the damaging winds but the rain is almost non-stop.
“Thankfully we still have power and communications at the moment but again that is a huge additional problem for many.”