Harvey in pictures
Ordinary Texans are doing much of the hard rescue and recovery work as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to batter the state.
Volunteers push a boat with evacuees to high ground in Houston, Texas, US, August 28, 2017.
Texans' mythic toughness has been on display as people battle the strongest storm to hit the state in 50 years.
Federal and state authorities have mobilised a massive rescue and clean-up operation. But much of the hard work is also being done by ordinary people who want to help out their neighbours.
"It has been like all of us coming together," said one evacuee taking shelter at a convention centre. "They have been feeding us all day, giving the kids snacks. The volunteers and the Red Cross and the police, they are really doing their job."
Some of the few vehicles that could be seen on the streets were giant trucks, loaded with evacuees who had gratefully clambered on board after hearing offers of help.
Police and Coast Guard teams have each rescued more than 3,000 people, plucking many from rooftops by helicopter, as they urged the hundreds more believed to be marooned in flooded houses to hang towels or sheets outside to alert rescuers.
In Texas, thousands of National Guard troops, police officers, rescue workers and civilians raced in helicopters, boats and high-water trucks to rescue the thousands stranded in the flooding.
More than 2,000 people have been brought to rapidly-filling shelters in Americas fourth largest city. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it expected more than 30,000 people would need temporary shelter.
The floods could destroy as much as $20 billion in insured property, making the storm one of the costliest in history for US insurers, Wall Street analysts say.
Authorities have scrambled to provide help as the storm flooded streets and homes, forced the evacuation of hospitals and closed two major airports.
Almost a years rain fell in days, ravaging rice farms, sinking cars and forcing evacuees to wade to safety, as volunteers joined thinly stretched emergency workers to help where they could.
Harvey was still classified as a tropical storm on Monday, with winds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour) that were grounding some rescue flights.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.