AUG. 29, 2017 — The scale of flooding in the Houston area as a result of Hurricane Harvey is hard to imagine, and the images of suffering are horrifying to behold. In central and south Texas, an area the size of Michigan is now a storm-tossed lake. What Brad Kieserman, vice president of Red Cross, described as “the most catastrophic event” he has ever seen has killed several people, displaced tens of thousands and wrecked untold numbers of homes, commercial and industrial buildings, highways, bridges and harbors. It has also created human misery on a vast scale.