Bangladesh has barred thousands of members of the stateless Muslim minority from entering the country since Friday, when fresh fighting broke out between Myanmar’s security forces and Rohingya militants in neighbouring Rakhine state leaving at least 110 people dead.

The UN refugee agency has said some 5,200 people have managed to cross into Bangladesh in the past three days.

But the majority have been stopped at the border despite heavy fighting in nearby villages, even coming under fire on Saturday as they huddled along the “zero line” which marks the northernmost part of the border.

“Around 6,000 Myanmar nationals have gathered on the border and are trying to enter Bangladesh,” a senior Border Guard Bangladesh official told AFP, referring to the Rohingya.

The official said the situation across the border, which is demarcated in parts by narrow stretches of the Naf River, was “still volatile”.

“Last night we heard heavy gunfire by automatic weapons in phases and saw smoke billowing from burnt villages across the border,” he said.

Another border guard official estimated the number of Rohingya in limbo could exceed 10,000, as many were believed to be hiding in hills and forests to escape nearby violence.

But border guards have been ordered not to let them cross.

“How can I deny shelter to (a) newborn who is dying from cold?” said the border guard, who asked to remain anonymous.

With around 400,000 Rohingya already living in squalid camps in Bangladesh, the government has instructed its border guards to prevent another influx at all costs.

– ‘Very grave risk’ –

=====================

The UN rights chief said decades of “systematic” abuses against the Rohingya, who are reviled in Myanmar with most refused citizenship, were largely to blame for the spiralling violence and insisted authorities could have prevented the bloodshed.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement the “deplorable” violence “was predicted and could have been prevented”.

“Decades of persistent and systematic human rights violations… have almost certainly contributed to the nurturing of violent extremism, with everyone ultimately losing,” Zeid said.

In a separate statement the UN’s refugee agency said barring entry to the fleeing Rohingya posed a “very grave risk” to their lives, reinforcing a message from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who called on Bangladesh to step up assistance to escaping civilians, in particular the wounded.

Instead nearly 500 Rohingya have been detained and returned trying to cross the border since Monday, according to Shariful Islam Jamaddar, a deputy border guard commander.

Border guards have been driving Rohingya who have managed to cross into Bangladesh back across the border several times a day, an AFP correspondent said.

Some Rohingya have made it just inside Bangladeshi territory, momentarily safe from violence but unable to move onwards to shelter.

Mohammad Ismail had taken shelter from the rain under a plastic sheet erected by border guards, but the shelter has since been torn down.

“The border guards let us take shelter here but I don’t know now what I will do with my son,” he told AFP, gesturing to the shivering boy.

Amid the turbulence and monsoon downpours, an 11-year-old Rohingya girl named Marium was separated from her parents.

“I went to the toilet when the (border) guards drove away my parents. Where shall I find them now?” the young girl told AFP in tears.

On Monday Bangladeshi authorities proposed joint military operations with Myanmar against Rohingya militants fighting in Rakhine, hoping to stem the flow of  displaced.

The militants say they are fighting to protect the persecuted roughly one million-strong Rohingya and accuse the state and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists of trying to force them from Myanmar.

The Rohingya are not recognised as an ethnic group, which would be protected by law, but are instead branded ‘Bengalis’ — code for illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Their ability to move, work and receive basic services is tightly controlled.

Speaking to ambassadors in Yangon, Myanmar’s Home Affairs Minister Kyaw Swe, repeated the official line: “There are no Rohingya.”

The recent attacks by militants are because “Bengali people… tried to occupy lands” in Rakhine.

Last week a commission headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan called for Myanmar to find a pathway to citizenship for the Rohingya and ease suffocating controls, or risk inflaming religious hatreds.//AFP

“She was this ray of light in a fairly grey world,” Prince William said of his mother Diana, princess of Wales, whose death two decades ago on Thursday shocked the world.

“I still feel that love, I still feel that warmth 20 years on,” her eldest son said in a new documentary marking the anniversary.

“If I can be even a fraction of what she was, I’ll be proud.”

 Tributes are left on the gates of Kensington Palace for Princess Diana in London, Britain, 29 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

The life of Diana — a shy, teenage aristocrat who suddenly became the world’s most famous woman — and her tragic death at 36 still captivates millions across the globe.

Two decades on, her sons William and Prince Harry only now feel able to talk publicly about her death, a seismic event which continues to resonate in the monarchy and British society.

Diana died in a car crash in Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997, along with Dodi Fayed, her wealthy Egyptian film producer boyfriend of two months, and a drink-impaired, speeding driver Henri Paul, who was trying to evade paparazzi.

The 10th anniversary of her death was marked with a memorial service and a charity concert at Wembley Stadium in London.

The passing of another decade has allowed for greater perspective, and this anniversary has been more reflective, marked by William, 35, and Harry, 32, opening up about their mother’s life, and death.

No public events are planned for Thursday, but on Wednesday, the brothers will walk around the garden which has been especially created in her memory at Kensington Palace, her London home.

They will meet with representatives from charities she supported.

 – Flowers at the gates –

Candles, bouquets of flowers and pictures from well-wishers are already building up at the palace gates, while hardcore Diana fans have turned up with a cake bearing her picture.

Royal fans John Loughrey (R) and Maria Scott (L) arrive with a cake adorned with a picture of Diana, Princess of Wales outside one of the entrances at Kensington Palace. // AFP PHOTO

But the scene is nothing like the sea of flowers laid in the week between her death and her funeral: an outpouring of national grief that commentators are still grappling with.

 Tributes are left on the gates of Kensington Palace for Princess Diana in London, Britain, 29 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

William and Harry have spoken of struggling to comprehend the “alien” tide of public mourning from people who did not know their mother, at a time when they, aged 15 and 12, could not process their loss.

Britain, the nation of the stiff upper lip, was now wailing and hurling flowers at a hearse.

A public that had lapped up every twist and turn in the life of their fairytale princess was crying for their lost icon, killed in the chase for the next day’s pictures.

Diana married Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, in 1981, but their marriage collapsed under the strains of public duty and their incompatibility.

The monarchy’s shining star, now a fashion icon, humanitarian and self-styled “queen of hearts”, found herself cast out of the royal family in the 1996 divorce she did not want but had made inevitable with an unprecedented and explosive television interview.

With all her mistakes and frailties played out in public, Britons felt wrapped up in Diana’s life.

A testament to her enduring impact, British newspapers have been filled this month with special pull-outs and magazine articles covering all facets of Diana’s life.

The complexity in Diana’s character still fascinates.

Her strange combination of fragility and steel, her need for loving attention and an ability to make those she met feel loved.

She also had a caring nature mixed with a brutal vengeful streak and the air of being an ordinary girl but was actually a blue-blood aristocrat.

   – Granny Diana –

William has said he tells his children, Prince George, four, and Princess Charlotte, two, about the Granny Diana they will never meet.

Perhaps her greatest legacy is her two sons.

Tributes are left on the gates of Kensington Palace for Princess Diana in London, Britain, 29 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

“When you have something so traumatic as the death of your mother when you’re 15, it will either make or break you,” William said in the “Diana, 7 Days” BBC documentary.

“And I wouldn’t let it break me. I wanted it to make me. I wanted her to be proud of the person I would become.”

Harry added: “We will miss our mother and I wonder every single day what it would be like having her around.”

There are two major groups of whales — toothed creatures such as killer whales, and baleen, which filter plankton and small fish from the ocean for food with special bristle-like structures in their mouths.

Using 3D scanners, Museums Victoria and Monash University palaeontologists made digital teeth models of fossil baleen whales and today’s mammals from specimen collections around the world.

This handout illustration obtained on August 29, 2017 courtesy of Museums Victoria in Melbourne shows an image of a Janjucetus. // AFP PHOTO

They found that teeth in ancient baleen whales — the ancestors of the Southern Right and Blue whale — were different to the present-day and were instead much sharper.

“These results are the first to show that ancient baleen whales had extremely sharp teeth with one function — cutting the flesh of their prey,” Museums Victoria’s senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology Erich Fitzgerald said.

“Contrary to what many people thought, whales never used their teeth as a sieve, and instead evolved their signature filter feeding technique later — maybe after their teeth had already been lost.”

This undated handout photograph from Museums Victoria in Melbourne released on August 29, 2017 shows a fossil of a Janjucetus skull. // AFP PHOTO

A previous theory about ancient whales suggested they filtered feed using teeth that when closed formed a zigzag-like sieve, in a similar manner to some living Antarctica seals.

The sieve trapped food in the mouth and also allowed water to flow between the teeth. They were eventually replaced by baleen, the theory added.

The discovery, published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, meant “whales completely turned their feeding biology upside down” when they evolved to filter feed, Museums Victoria and Monash University research fellow David Hocking said.

The researchers said there was more work to do to understand the origins of baleen whales, which are Earth’s largest animals, but feed on some of the smallest ocean creatures.

Khon Kaen province, Thailand (Vientiane Times/ANN) — A group of 32 participants from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam are meeting here to participate in a food safety project titled Regional Media Training Programme on Communicating Food Safety.

The programme, which takes place from August 28 to September 1, aims to bolster participants’ knowledge of food safety challenges in Southern Asia, implications for health and the food trade, the status of food safety in Southern Asia, food control management, food inspection, the spread of food safety information, and other benefits.

The programme features many activities to strengthen participants’ awareness and understanding of key food safety concepts, related global and local issues, and existing best practices in the region.

It also aims to raise journalists’ interest in covering food safety issues in their respective countries and to foster collaboration among media personnel.

The opening ceremony was held on Monday at the Mekong Institute in Khon Kaen province, chaired by the institute’s Executive Director, Dr Watcharas Leelawath.

The project was organised by the Mekong Institute and supported by the New Zealand Aid programme.

The programme will hold training workshops on food safety, field visits to Betagro, and media action plans. Lao participants included staff from Vientiane Times, the Food and Drug Division under the Ministry of Health, Lao National Television, Lao National Radio, CLICK I4 DEV private sector working in information sharing in natural resource management, and the Faculty of Agriculture at the National University of Laos.

From artificial intelligence and robots, to big data and clean energy, disruptive technologies are rapidly redefining our daily lives, our businesses and economies. And in our interconnected world, these deepening impacts of “Industry 4.0” should compel countries to prepare for changes.

ASEAN countries are advised to focus, in particular, on new technologies related to the digital economy. However, to do so successfully requires overcoming a few key challenges: Ensuring that necessary regulation and public infrastructure is in place, developing human resources and intensifying cooperation.

Industry 4.0 promises a revolutionary new paradigm for economic production that employs cyber-physical production systems, including online networks of sensors, machines, work pieces and information technology systems that span entire value chains. These sophisticated new systems boost productivity and lead to levels of efficiency that were not imaginable just a couple of years ago.

But these benefits also come at a cost in the form of potential labor market disruption.

These changes are transforming Asia, at least as much as anywhere else. China’s e-commerce leads worldwide and India now has Bangalore as its own Silicon Valley. To survive the global competition, ASEAN countries should prepare an adaptive digital economy ecosystem as the foundation to participate in Industry 4.0.

The increasing levels of internet penetration in ASEAN nations provides a strong basis for this participation. According to a GoogleTemasek survey, by 2016, 260 million individuals in the ASEAN region had regular access to the internet. This is projected to increase to 480 million by 2020.

With the average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate standing at 4.9 percent in 2016, ASEAN has one of the highest regional rates in the world. Of the region’s population of more than 600 million people, more than 65 percent are of productive age, with a rapidly expanding middle class.

These factors have driven a massive increase in demand for online media, travel and e-commerce services. In 2015, the value of these services in the region stood at US$31 billion. This is expected to grow by a factor of 6.5 by 2025.

However, despite this potential, many significant challenges remain, primarily related to government regulation, public infrastructure and human resource development. To address these challenges, the governments of ASEAN nations must individually and collectively develop appropriate legal frameworks. These must prevent the emergence of monopolies resulting from the “winner-takes-most” nature of the digital economy.

The regulations should also protect consumers against fraud, invasion of privacy and intellectual property infringements, among other matters.

These issues have already created significant tensions. For example, traditional transportation services in the region, such as taxi companies, have felt threatened by what they see as unfair competition from new ride sharing services such as Uber, Grab and Go-Jek. Learning from these conflicts, governments, together with relevant stakeholders, should strive to ensure that regulations keep the pace with technological developments.

Governments should also play a role by developing the Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures essential for participation in the new paradigm. At present, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, there is wide variation in the quality of infrastructure available to people in different ASEAN countries corresponding to each nations’ different levels of economic development.

In less developed nations, governments often regard ICT connectivity as tertiary infrastructure, with greater priority being given to the development of primary infrastructure, including roads, basic electricity, clean water and agricultural irrigation facilities.

However, governments could utilize Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to enable the development of ICT infrastructure without diverting public resources from essential primary infrastructure. For example, Malaysia established a PPP to develop a nationwide high-speed broadband network, while Singapore established one to provide free public Wi-Fi. Thailand utilized a BuildTransfer-Operate model of PPP for a fixed line telephone service expansion, using concession fees to share revenue with a private company.

The ASEAN PPP Models for ICT forms an integral part of the ASEAN ICT Masterplan (AIM) 2015 and can serve as a reference for other ASEAN member states.

The other challenges are related to limited human resources. To address this, governments could encourage private sector participation by supporting domestic digital industries through the provision of public co-working spaces, improved higher education, training, competitions and boot camps. Fiscal incentives could be implemented selectively, but governments could also promote digital start-ups through loans and financial facilities through banks, angel investors, venture capital, peer-to-peer and crowd funding systems.

While technical skills are extremely important to enable the development of digital societies, widespread internet literacy is equally important for its uptake. Governments could implement e-government services to introduce people to the internet, while internet education should be provided for micro-businesses to benefit from access to information and new markets.

These efforts can be optimized by cooperation. Earlier initiatives, such as the ASEAN ICT Masterplan (AIM) 2015, were formulated to foster this cooperation and to develop the digital economy throughout the region by defining general principles.

The current AIM 2020 focuses more on implementation issues, including the adoption of sustainable, environmentally friendly ICT systems, the development of smart cities, ICT investment facilitation, open data systems, cyber security and cloud computing platforms.

It is important to note that Singapore has expressed its commitment to emphasize the digital economy under its chairmanship in 2018.

Through regional integration, ASEAN nations will be able to share experiences and learn from each other to address the challenges that currently constrain development. Global connectivity accelerates the spread of information and knowledge, thus increasing the feasibility of technological adoption.

If the region can further focus on supporting the ecosystem for a digital economy, and at the same time attract talent via regional cooperation, ASEAN nations are on track to fully benefit from Industry 4.0.

(The writer is a research associate at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).)

Since unleashing on Friday night, monster storm Harvey has managed to not only halt normal life in Texas but also silence much of the rancor that has pervaded public discourse since Donald Trump came to power.

While the letup may only be temporary, political rivals that have been at each others’ throats have been suddenly emphasizing what unites Americans, while offers of help — from the east coast to the west — have been gratefully received in the largest state in the south.

“I’m not hearing the vitriol that we’ve heard in the past seven months,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor at the University of Southern California.

“This is an incredibly tragic situation, so it’s not without risk if you get partisan,” she added.

Trump’s relentless attacks on political rivals, the death of an anti-racism protester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and fierce debate over the removal of Confederate-era statues have helped paint a picture of a country riven with division.

Trump’s critics have accused him of exacerbating the divide, particularly by insisting there were “very fine people” on “both sides” of the Charlottesville protest in a free-wheeling press conference on August 15.

But two weeks on, Trump played the role of unifier in chief with a visit to Texas to survey the damage wrought by Harvey.

‘One family’

“Tragic times such as these bring out the best in America’s character, strength, charity and resilience are those characters,” Trump said on the eve of his departure.

“We see neighbor helping neighbor, friend helping friend and stranger helping stranger.

“We are one American family. We hurt together, we struggle together, and believe me, we endure together. We are one family.”

Trump’s words have been echoed by opponents. Nancy Pelosi, leader of Trump’s rival Democrats in the House of Representatives, said the response to Harvey “reminds us our nation’s best qualities: our compassion, our generosity and our unity in the face of national tragedy.”

Some of the earliest offers of help for victims of Harvey came from New York, seen in many ways as the polar opposite of Texas but which shares a common bond as a victim of another deadly hurricane, Sandy, in 2012.

“Just as this nation came together for New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, New York stands ready to provide these states with personnel, equipment and whatever else they might need,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Similar offers of help have come from states across the US, while sports and showbiz stars such as singer Beyonce and the Kardashian family have pledged significant donations. Actress Sandra Bullock has reportedly donated $1 million to the Red Cross.

Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said political unity could well unravel when it comes to the question of finding funds to help Texas bounce back.

“They have all responded well but that is not the real measure. The real measure has to do with implementing relief programs, paying for relief programs and making sure that the right people are in place to handle programs,” he told AFP.

“When these budgetary matters come front and center, as we saw with Sandy, that is usually when bipartisanship quickly breaks down.”

Several commentators have recalled how prominent Texan politicians such as Senator Ted Cruz tried to block federal funding for victims of Sandy.

Pete King, a congressman from New York, indicated that he would vote to help Texas after Harvey but had not forgotten what happened when it came to finding cash for his constituents and in neighboring New Jersey.

“Ted Cruz & Texas cohorts voted vs NY/NJ aid after Sandy but I’ll vote 4 Harvey aid. NY wont abandon Texas. 1 bad turn doesnt deserve another,” he said on Twitter.

Following the emergency closed-door session called by the United States and Japan, Tokyo’s envoy at the UN suggested that a new sanctions declaration could be issued.

“Next step starting now. We can’t predict the outcome but I certainly hope it would be a strong resolution following this statement,” Koro Bessho said.

The 15-member body maintained its unity after Kim Jong-Un’s latest provocation, with China and Russia agreeing to sign up to a statement condemning his isolated regime’s action.

But the US-drafted statement, while noting that the test contravened several previous Security Council resolutions, will not immediately lead to new or tightened measures against Pyongyang.

Still, diplomatic sources told AFP that the speed with which the members had reacted underlined their determination to remain united.

“The Security Council stresses that these DPRK actions are not just a threat to the region, but to all UN member states,” said the statement, issued after closed-door talks at UN headquarters.

“The Security Council expresses its grave concern that the DPRK is, by conducting such a launch over Japan as well as its recent actions and public statements, deliberately undermining regional peace and stability.”

The Council demanded that North Korea — already the target of seven rounds of UN sanctions that have done little to quell Kim’s nuclear missile ambitions — obey all existing resolutions.

This would mean the North “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and immediately cease all related activities.”

Pyongyang must not “conduct any further nuclear tests or any further provocation; and abandon any other existing weapons of mass destruction in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.”

Finally, the body “welcomes efforts by Council members, as well as other states, to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive solution through dialogue.”

Transport officials are turning to Singapore for help in addressing the country’s perennial traffic problem which is costing the economy at least P2.4 billion (US$47 million) daily.

Tim Orbos, the transport undersecretary for road transport, said on Monday that within the year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would enter into an agreement with the Singaporean government to help the country deal with its traffic woes.

“They will help us properly manage [our transport systems] in Metro Manila and in the entire Philippines, similar to what they did in Singapore,” Orbos said in a TV interview.

Among the key programs the DOTr was eyeing was the use of the automated fare collection system. Also, only a few corporations in Singapore run the country’s transport systems as Orbos said they were urging existing operators to form cooperatives.

The nation’s transportation agency suspended Uber on August 14 for a month, saying the US-based company had ignored its order against accepting new driver applications.

However the agency agreed to lift the order on Tuesday after Uber paid a fine of 190 million pesos ($3.7 million), plus another 300 million pesos ($5.8 million) to its drivers to compensate them for lost income during the duration of the suspension.

Uber resumed its operations soon after the announcement.

“We have complied with the requirements outlined by the (regulators), and are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Philippines again,” Uber Philippines spokeswoman Catherine Avelino told AFP.

The transportation agency last year banned new applications for ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Southeast Asian rival Grab, as it studied how to regulate a growing industry.

Regulators said while Grab eventually followed the directive, Uber “openly defied” it.

Uber’s suspension had prompted a social media firestorm in the Philippines with commuters criticising the government for taking away a trusted and reliable app, particularly in Manila which has notoriously bad traffic and public transportation.

Uber secured a franchise to operate in the Philippines in 2015 and now has about 66,000 drivers.

The transportation agency acknowledged on Tuesday the public backlash it received but insisted it was ensuring commuter safety.

“This is a painful decision. This is not a popular decision but as the regulatory body we will take the brunt. It is part of our job,” transportation agency spokeswoman Aileen Lizada told reporters.

The head of a congressional public services committee called the fine “hefty and mind-boggling”, criticising the transportation agency for failing to adapt to new technology.

“It seems that it flexes its discretion as a whimsical regulator just for the sake of imposing regulations,” Senator Grace Poe said in a statement on Tuesday.

Commuters took to social media to celebrate Uber’s return.

“Uber is back! Yeah! Uber is Life!,” said Twitter user

But the US president and his wife Melania are not expected to visit Houston, America’s fourth largest city where rescuers are scrambling to reach hundreds of stranded people as Harvey appeared poised to strike again.

They will instead make stops further west, including hard-hit Corpus Christi, for briefings on relief efforts after catastrophic flooding crippled southeastern parts of the vast state, the country’s second largest by size.

The medical examiner’s office for Harris County, which includes Houston, confirmed six deaths since Sunday “potentially tied to Hurricane Harvey.” The previous toll was three.

Mark Richard (L) and Richard Garner (R) laugh as Richard pulls a pouch for drying wet mobile devices from the wreckage of Garner’s home in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Rockport, Texas, USA, 28 August 2017.// EPA PHOTO

“We are one American family,” Trump said Monday, eager to present himself as a unifying figure as he faced the first natural disaster of his presidency — after seven months of leading a White House plagued by controversy, much of it self-generated.

He promised the federal government would be on hand to help Texas along the “long and difficult road to recovery” from the historic storm.

But officials warned the danger has not yet passed, with more families still stranded or packed into emergency shelters and the tropical storm once more gathering strength on the Gulf coast.

Trump has also declared a state of emergency in neighboring Louisiana, next in line for a downpour.

– Unprecedented rainfall –

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said more than 8,000 people, soaked and desperate, had been brought to shelters in this city of more than six million.

Coast Guard commander Vice Admiral Karl Schultz told CNN he had 18 helicopters in Houston, and — weather permitting — about 12 in the air at any one time, alongside those of the National Guard.

“If you can get to your roof, wave a towel. Leave a marking on the roof so helicopter crews can see you,” he said, describing the volume of emergency calls as “staggering.”

Volunteers sort through donated clothing at a shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. // AFP PHOTO

Harvey hit Texas on Friday as a Category Four hurricane, tearing down homes and businesses on the Gulf Coast before dumping an “unprecedented” nine trillion gallons of rainfall inland.

The Texas bayou and coastal prairie rapidly flooded, but the region’s sprawling cities — where drainage is slower — were worst hit.

Highways were swamped and residential streets were rapidly rendered uninhabitable, with power lines cut and dams overflowing.

The US Army Corps of Engineers began to open the Addicks and Barker dams — under pressure from what the agency has dubbed a “thousand-year flood event” — to prevent a catastrophe on the outskirts of Houston.

– Sailing down the highway –

Latitia Rodriguez was rescued along with her husband, children and grandchildren by the Williamson County police department, negotiating the flooded Route 90 in boats.

“We have to evacuate. We have too many kids. So we had to save our babies,” she told AFP. “There’s a lot of people over there. We would like to help everybody but we can’t. We have our own kids.”

A family walks through water to escape from their homes on highway 90 after Hurricane Harvey caused heavy flooding in Houston, Texas on August 28, 2017. // AFP PHOTO

Meanwhile, the disaster is far from over: Harvey has turned back on itself and is hovering on the Gulf Coast, sucking up more rain and threatening a new landfall on Wednesday.

And only after the storm will come clean-up and recovery.

“We actually anticipate that as many as a half a million people in Texas will be eligible for and applying for financial disaster assistance,” Vice President Mike Pence told KHOU Radio in Houston.

“We know it’s far from over.”

– ‘We’re trapped’ –

The Houston branch of the National Weather Service said Tuesday that August 2017 was the wettest month on record, accumulating a total 36.68 inches.

The city’s average annual rainfall is 49.77 inches.

Rescue efforts on the outskirts of town appeared to be disjointed.

In Williamstown County, a police boat sitting on a flooded highway tried to rescue people but had nowhere to take them because no emergency vehicles could collect them from a dropoff location.

People wait to be checked by police before entering a shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas.  // AFP PHOTO

Roughly 50 people needed rescuing, 12 of whom had non-life-threatening medical conditions. Rescuers had to leave them there despite multiple requests for emergency vehicles that never came.

Many people living in smaller communities by the coast were also driven from their homes.

Robert Frazier, a 54-year-old foreman mechanic, left his home in La Porte, south of Houston, with his wife Judy on Sunday and made it as far as a motel on the road towards Louisiana — which is still in Harvey’s path.

His wife said she could only pray the rain would stop, after leaving home with just two sets of clothes, their medicine and their dog.

“We’re trapped,” Frazier told AFP after trying to return home for some of his abandoned possessions but found that the highway was cut.

“I haven’t been through nothing like this,” he said.

People check in with their pets to a shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. // AFP PHOTO