Casualties rise to 10 as Harvey continues to flood southeastern US
Water levels have risen to the level of single-storey houses in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, with more rain forecast in coming days. President Trump plans to visit hard-hit Texas on Tuesday.
A car is submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, near downtown Houston, Texas. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston on Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
Tropical Storm Harvey is thought to have killed at least ten people in Texas and was expected to drive 30,000 from their homes as it churns through the southern United States.
Officials on Monday warned that floodwaters may rise in the coming days as the storm continues to hover over the US Gulf Coast.
Among the most recent fatalities from the storm was a family that included two adults and four children who were believed to have drowned after the van they were in was swept away by floodwaters in Houston, authorities said on Monday.
In scenes evoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 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.
TRT World 's Jon Brain reports from Texas.
Trump promises protection
US President Donald Trump promised that the federal government would be on hand to help Texas along the "long and difficult road to recovery" from the historic storm.
"Right now the single most important thing is the safety and security of those still in harm's way, including the first responders who have been so terrific and brave," Trump said at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.
"Protecting the lives of our people is my highest priority. Every asset at my command is at the disposal of local officials."
Trump plans to go to Texas on Tuesday to survey the damage, a White House spokeswoman said on Sunday. On Monday he approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana.
Trump, facing the biggest US natural disaster since he took office in January, signed a disaster proclamation for Texas on Friday, triggering federal relief efforts.
Volunteers head into a flooded subdivision to rescue stranded residents as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise on Monday, August 28, 2017, in Spring, north of Houston, Texas, US.
More to come
The storm was the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years when it made landfall on Friday near Corpus Christi, 354 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Houston.
The worst is far from over because the slow-moving storm will continue to dump rain over the next few days in an area hit by "unprecedented" flooding, the National Weather Service said.
"Additional heavy rainfall overnight is expected to worsen the flood situation in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana," the National Hurricane Center said.
Forecasts show that some spots in and around Houston could see an additional 30 centimetres (12 inches) of rain on Tuesday, bringing the total rainfall from Harvey to about 127cm (50 inches) in parts of the city's metro area.
Flood victims at a shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas.
A new normal
Both of Houston's major airports were shut, along with most major highways, rail lines and a hospital, where patients were evacuated over the weekend. More than a quarter of a million customers in the region were without power by Monday evening, utilities said.
The Brazos River was forecast to crest at a record high in the next two days about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Houston, forcing the mandatory evacuation of about 50,000 people in Fort Bend County, where officials described the predicted deluge as the worst in at least eight centuries.
Rising river and reservoir levels also forced evacuations in the counties of Brazoria and Galveston, near Houston.
As stunned families surveyed destroyed homes and roads flooded or clogged with debris, Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned Houstonians to brace for a long recovery.
"We need to recognize this is going to be a new and different normal for this entire region," Abbott said.
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