Hurricane Harvey flooding affects at least $23 billion of properties in Galveston, Harris counties

Getty Images

Robert Grant and Rocky from the Texas Task Force 2 search and rescue team work through a destroyed apartment complex trying to find anyone that still may be in the apartment complex after Hurricane Harvey passed through on August 27, 2017 in Rockport, Texas.

At least $23 billion worth of property has been affected by flooding from Hurricane Harvey just in parts of Texas’ Harris and Galveston counties, a Reuters analysis of satellite imagery and property data shows.

The number represents market value, not storm damage, and is but a small fraction of the storm’s reach, as satellite images of the flooding are incomplete. Satellite imagery compiled by
researchers at the University of Colorado shows flooding across 234 square miles of Harris County and 51 square miles of Galveston County, about one-eighth of each county’s land area.