Residents in standing water at Texas nursing home with limited food, medication

PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- Efforts were underway Wednesday, August 30th to rescue residents in a Texas nursing home -- stuck in standing water with limited food and medication after Harvey.

Lake Arthur Place Nursing and Rehabilitation in Port Arthur, Texas flooded and more than 70 people were stuck inside. Authorities said beds were floating in places and residents were sitting in wheelchairs surrounded by water. Nurses said they had water, but not much food or medication.

Residents said the smell inside the nursing facility was foul.

The extreme and unheard of amounts of rain that the area endured led to all of the available ways out to be cut off Tuesday night, and the state's emergency management crews were not able to get into Port Arthur, where some people were standing on top of vehicles to avoid floodwaters.

"We're coming. It's just the conditions are not favorable and takes us a while to get there. We've done over 500 water rescues since this operation began. That was as of (Wednesday) morning. I'm sure it's grown," Haley Morrow with the Port Authority Police Department said.

Rescue efforts began at daylight Wednesday, with helicopters and boats through government and volunteer resources.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said Wednesday that many of the rescues occurred in the county's unincorporated areas, Port Arthur, Central Gardens and the Hamshire-Fannett area.