August 31, 2017 - 22:12 updated September 1 - 06:28
Sputnik
Residents in Beaumont, Texas, were handed yet another short straw on Wednesday after the city lost both its main and secondary water pumps due to high flood waters that were brought on by Hurricane Harvey.
Though Harvey has moved out of eastern Texas, the rainfall the city was hit with on Tuesday and Wednesday caused the Neches River to overflow and damage Beaumont's main pump, which is located along the swollen river.
According to Kyle Hayes, Beaumont's city manager, the main pump provided the community with 70 percent of its water supply. The secondary source, at Loeb Wells in Hardin County, Texas, only provided about 30 percent.
"We will get through this like we did with hurricanes Rita and Ike," Hayes said at a news conference Thursday. "We are going to do everything we can to restore water to our citizens."
Hayes later indicated at the conference that officials have to wait for floodwaters to recede before they are able to determine the extent of the damage.
With a population of over 100,000 people left without a drinkable water source, city officials said three water stations would be created for residents. Their locations have not yet been announced.
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Supermarkets and convenience stores weren't the only ones forced to pick up and move: hospitals were also hit hard by the water pump failure.
"Due to the failure of the city's water pump, it is in the best interest of our current patients to transfer to other acute facilities," Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas said in a statement Thursday. "Due to the city-wide lack of services, we have no other alternative but to discontinue all services which will include emergency services."
"This is being done immediately," the notice concluded.
According to the National Weather Service, Beaumont has been hit with 45.73 inches of rain since the storm began.
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