Hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said 200 Indian students at the University of Houston were affected by the floods triggered by Hurricane Harvey, Consul General of India in Houston Anupam Ray informed the ministry that the students were safe.
“They are surrounded by neck-deep water,” Swaraj had said on Twitter.
The Minister added that two Indian students, Shalini and Nikhil Bhatia, were hospitalised after being stranded in the floods.
Swaraj said she was in touch with the Consul General of India in Houston, who was overseeing the arrangements for rescue operations.
While India made efforts to deliver food, she said the US Coast Guard did not allow the boats as they were required for rescue operations.
Hurricane Harvey slammed the Texas coast on 25 August as a Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 209 km per hour, the most powerful storm in over a decade to hit the mainland United States.
It was the first Category 4 hurricane to wallop the United States since Charley in 2004, and the first to hit Texas since Carla in 1961.
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