Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Prince Khaled bin Salman telephoned Texas Governor Greg Abbott to confirm that Saudi Arabia supports the American people following the disaster of Hurricane Harvey.
Harvey, which flooded many parts of Texas and Louisiana and caused dozens of deaths and billions in damage, was one of the worst storms to affect the U.S. 50 are dead and over 1 million have been displaced.
According to a report by the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Alawsat, Saudi Arabia’s cultural attaché to the US participated in volunteer work and ground support teams in Texas, particularly Houston. He was joined by a group of Saudi students that supported putting some 300,000 food rations donated by Saudi Aramco to families and victims that were distributed by the “Hand by Hand” organization.
Thankful 4 #HurricaneHarveyRelief assistnce from @Handbyhandorg, group of Intl students from #SaudiArabia! U guys R awesome! @WMBCHoustonTX pic.twitter.com/FE7qu4tHiD
— Lisa Sandoz Robinson (@LoveTheLibrary1) September 3, 2017
Flood waters closed oil refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, including the largest refinery in the U.S., the Saudi-owned Motiva plant in Port Arthur, which began what it called “a controlled shutdown” in the face of the storm.
Additionally, an ExxonMobil oil refinery near Houston was damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Harvey. The flooding has interrupted 16% of U.S. refining capacity, or about 785,000 gallons of gas lost each day, according to Goldman Sachs.
