Beaumont | featured news

A wastewater facility in Port Arthur operated by one of the largest chemical product producers in North America is responsible for the single biggest wastewater spill during Hurricane Harvey, releasing more than 100 million gallons, state records show.
The release at the Port Arthur facility run by BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals did not harm the environment, company spokesman Bob Nelson said in a written statement.
"Our process water systems were not compromised - no process chemicals in the water," Nelson said in an email. "The release was mostly rainfall, and some flood waters.

Young local artists will have new supplies with which to create their masterpieces after a Nebraska charity on Tuesday delivered barrels filled with crafts to students affected by Harvey.
During the August tropical storm, Kelsey Espinosa-Thibodeaux hosted art workshops at Port Neches and Port Arthur shelters for kids rescued with their families from the floodwaters.
"Parents were stressed out and they had just lost everything," she said. "Everyone was soaking wet.

Sound echoes inside Carolyn Modica's home as she walks. The rooms are empty, except for one bedroom, and the new sheetrock on the walls is bare. Modica and her husband, PJ, exhausted their initial FEMA assistance having their Tram Road house gutted and the walls rebuilt after floodwater rose almost to the ceiling. "We figured we'd rebuild, one room at a time, as we could," she said. Though she usually hosts family at her house for Christmas, she told her granddaughter they couldn't this year, because she didn't expect the place to be finished in time.

Beaumont ISD District 1 trustee Charles Daleo, who was elected to the board in an unopposed race in May, has resigned after moving outside the district due to damage from Harvey.