Military Will Help Beaumont Get Fresh Water; Outage Forces Hospital To Shut Down

Thousands of people are without water in Beaumont, Texas, adding to the misery of extreme flooding that has left large swaths of it and neighboring towns underwater.
The lack of water is also forcing a large hospital to shut down — including its emergency services.
"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 care facilities," Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas said Thursday morning.
"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."
In neighboring Port Arthur, the mayor said Wednesday, "Our whole city is underwater right now."
From Beaumont, NPR’s Debbie Elliott reports for our Newscast unit: "Thousands of people are displaced and living in shelters in Beaumont and Port Arthur, as crews try to rescue others still trapped by floodwater.
Overnight, Beaumont lost both of its water sources.
FEMA Director Brock Long says the military will help get water to the city’s nearly 120,000 residents."
As Harvey moved over Louisiana, the system did not bring the intense devastation it imposed in the past week.

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