How Twitter emerged as a key comms channel during Harvey
Though the Coast Guard asked people to call, not tweet, for help, many turned to the platform seeking aid, spreading information and offering help amid and after the powerful storm.
Desperate times call for desperate—and perhaps non-traditional—measures.
Hurricane Harvey has wreaked havoc in and around Houston as historic flooding continues.
Even as the storm had been blamed for several deaths, the full toll of the storm remained unclear. Officials warned that the danger was far from over, saying that the flooding in Texas is unlikely to recede quickly and that the storm will force more than 30,000 people from their homes. Federal officials, meanwhile, widened the emergency zone to Louisiana.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” Elaine Duke, the acting Homeland Security secretary, said during a Monday morning briefing in Washington. “Harvey is still a dangerous and historic storm.”
The National Weather Service tweeted:
This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced. Follow orders from officials to ensure safety. #Harvey pic.twitter.com/IjpWLey1h8
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