A photograph of a Texas sheriff’s deputy sleeping on the floor after working long hours to help flood victims in Houston has gone viral.
The picture was posted on the Texas Sheriff’s Deputies Facebook page.
It shows a deputy from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office asleep with what appears to be rescue equipment and emergency supplies surrounding him.
‘This deputy worked 12+ hours thru the night, doing high water rescues. Worked until he couldn’t stand anymore. This man and hundreds more just like him are out there, saving Texans! Much respect sir!’ Texas Sheriff’s Deputies posted on its Facebook page.
As of Monday evening, the picture generated over 414,000 likes, 39,000 comments, and 496,000 shares.
Historic flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey killed at least seven people in Texas and was expected to drive 30,000 from their homes, as officials on Monday warned that floodwaters would likely rise in the coming days as the storm hovers over the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Thousands of National Guard troops, police, rescue workers and civilians raced in helicopters, boats and special high-water trucks to rescue the hundreds of people still believed trapped in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.
The storm was the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years when it came ashore on Friday near Corpus Christi, about 220 miles south of Houston.
It is believed to have killed at least six people in Harris County, where Houston is located, according to Tricia Bentley, a spokeswoman for the county coroner’s office.
A 60-year-old woman died in neighboring Montgomery County when a tree fell on her trailer home while she slept, the local medical examiner’s letter said on Twitter.
More deaths were suspected in neighboring counties.
As stunned families surveyed the wreckage of destroyed homes along the nearby coast and roads that were not flooded were clogged with debris, Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned Houstonians to brace for a long period of disruption.
‘We need to recognize this is going to be a new and different normal for this entire region,’ Abbott told reporters after touring the damaged coastal city of Corpus Christi.
Harvey was expected to remain over Texas’ Gulf Coast for the next few days, dropping another 10 inches to 20 inches of rain, with threats of flooding extending into neighboring Louisiana.
In scenes evoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, police and Coast Guard teams have rescued at least 2,000 people so far, plucking many from rooftops by helicopter, as they urged the hundreds believed to be marooned in flooded houses to hang towels or sheets outside to alert rescuers.
Harvey’s center was 85 miles south-southwest of Houston on Monday afternoon and forecast to arc slowly toward the city through Wednesday, with the worst floods expected later that day and on Thursday.