With Irma's eye on Forida, this is what the Coast Guard expended on Harvey

NEW ORLEANS -- The Coast Guard has completed search and rescue operations in response to Hurricane Harvey but continues to work alongside the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal, state and local partners to address pollution concerns as a result of the storm.

During their response to Hurricane Harvey, Coast Guard men and women rescued 11,022 people and 1,384 pets.

Involved in the Coast Guard response were:

• 2,060 active duty, Reserve, civil servant and Auxiliary personnel from as far away as Guam, Alaska and Hawaii
• 50 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft
• 75 shallow-water boats
• 29 cutters

Of the 2,519 Coast Guard members who live in the impacted areas in Texas, 51 suffered catastrophic property loss and 124 others reported property damage. Most of the members who experienced these losses were heavily involved in response efforts despite the personal challenges they faced.

“The Coast Guard’s response to Hurricane Harvey is one of the largest our organization has seen in decades, and men and women from the furthest reaches of our service answered the call to assist others in their time of need,” said Rear Adm. Paul Thomas, commander of the Coast Guard 8th District.

“I’m incredibly proud and humbled by the resiliency of our first responders who were deeply impacted but continued to work around the clock to save more than 11,000 people in a matter of days.”

All commercial ports in Texas have reopened, and Coast Guard captains of the port for the Corpus Christi and Houston-Galveston captain of the port zones are continuing to evaluate and reassess port restrictions.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net