Located in Harris County, Texas, Houston is the 4th most populous city in the US.  The flooding now unfolding in the Houston area is a human and economic disaster likely to rank with Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy among the worst in US history.  At the present moment, little quantitative information is available about the extent of flooding or economic damages.  The inundation is so widespread that detailed assessment has not yet been possible.  Even measurement of the flooding by visible-light based satellite has been impossible because the remnants of Hurricane Harvey have stalled over the Gulf Coast for the past week, dumping record precipitation and obscuring the skies from satellite view.

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