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Facebook activates ‘Safety Check’ feature after Harvey hits Texas

Posted at 9:34 AM, Aug 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-27 09:34:47-04

Safety Check map (Photo: Facebook)

Facebook has activated its Safety Check feature after Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade, hit south central Texas on Friday.

People in the area can mark themselves as “safe” on Facebook and then visit the emergency’s Community Help page to see what people need or offer things like housing, food or transportation.

Users can also search for friends in the area to see if they’re safe.

Click here to go to Facebook’s safety check for Hurricane Harvey. 

Shortly after Harvey was downgraded to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of 70 mph, Saturday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters that the state had more than 1,000 workers involved in search and rescue operations.

The slow-moving storm is expected to drop 15 to 25 inches of rain over the middle and upper Texas coast through Thursday. There could be isolated storms that reach 40 inches of rain. “Rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding,” the weather service said.