Posted by Steve Lettau on Sep 07, 2017

The Rotary Foundation and clubs along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, USA, are collecting emergency relief funds to help flood victims of Hurricane Harvey, which slammed into southeast Texas over the weekend.

Severe rainfall has caused historic flooding along the Texas coast, including in Houston, the fourth largest city by population in the United States. Deluged towns in the region are in desperate need of aid as thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes. About 6.8 million people have been affected by the hurricane, which made landfall on 25 August.

With an estimated damage of $190 billion, Hurricane Harvey could be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

“The power of Rotary is in the foundation's ability to pull help from around the world while local clubs provide immediate relief in their own communities,” says Don Mebus of the Rotary Club of Arlington, Texas.