BEAUMONT ― Residents of this city in eastern Texas are desperate for clean water after the main municipal water pumps failed due to flooding.

Over 100,000 residents of Beaumont are now without clean water after the city lost both its main and secondary water supplies on Wednesday. City officials say flooding from Hurricane Harvey caused the nearby Neches River to overflow, which resulted in damage to the city’s water pumps. The city’s secondary source of clean water is also offline pending an inspection of the damaged pumps, which they are unable to do until the water recedes.

City officials have confirmed that the loss of Beaumont’s clean water Supply is currently indefinite.

Residents were urged to fill up their bathtubs with water prior to losing their water supply. But many residents still missed the mark and resorted to local stores in the early morning in hopes of purchasing water.

According to HuffPost, around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, a crowd of people outside a Speedy Stop convenience store attempted to take some of the water bottle cases left outside the closed shop. A policeman stopped the crowd from taking all of the water and told reporters,

“I’m not going to let people just take water. I know we’re in a scary situation, but I had to tell them to stop.”

“Several cars pulled off with water and that’s fine, but we can’t just let everyone load up what they want,” said the officer, who identified himself as Joe Marlboro.

“We’re not going to arrest anyone as we’re in a dire situation, but at the end of the day we have to have order and we can’t let them take the water.”

A member of the crowd told reporters that he wasn’t trying to steal the water.

“We’re not trying to take advantage, but when the news tells you to get out of the city because they don’t know when the water will be fixed, what are people to do? I plan to pay the store for the water. I wasn’t just going to take it,” he said. “We’re isolated here. We may not be able to get water anytime soon, so that’s the situation here.”

According to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator, Brock Long, federal officials are very well aware of the “dire situation” in Beaumont, TX and are working with state and local authorities to find a solution.

Source:
http://thehollywoodunlocked.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com