(CNN) The toll that Harvey is taking is staggering.

It dumped an estimated 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas and Louisiana during a 6-day period, says Ryan Maue of WeatherBell, a weather analytics company.

The rainfall has set a record for the most ever from a landfalling tropical cyclone in the continental US. Estimates put eventual total losses at as much as $75 billion . And the death toll continues to climb everyday.

"The word catastrophic does not appropriately describe what we're facing," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents much of Houston. "We just don't know when it's going to end." </s> Tropical storm Harvey lashed Houston over the weekend, leading to heavy flooding across the city. Several people are reported to have died during the storm and subsequent flooding with many more people needing urgent care and shelter. Texas governor Greg Abbott said the response to the disaster was just beginning in the city </s> HOUSTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, which has already killed at least seven people in Texas and was expected to drive tens of thousands from their homes, will likely rise in the coming days, officials warned on Monday as heavy rains continued to pound the U.S. Gulf Coast.

National Guard troops, police officers, rescue workers and civilians raced in helicopters, boats and special high-water trucks to rescue the hundreds of people still stranded in and around Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city.

The storm was the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years when it came ashore on Friday near Corpus Christi, 220 miles (354 km) south of Houston, and the worst was far from over as the National Weather Service issued numerous flood warnings across the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to go to Texas on Tuesday to survey the damage and may in the future visit Louisiana where the storm is now dumping rain.

Trump, facing the biggest U.S. natural disaster since he took office in January, has signed disaster proclamations for Texas and Louisiana, triggering federal relief efforts.

Harvey has killed at least six people in Harris County, where Houston is located, said Tricia Bentley, a spokeswoman for the county coroner's office, including a man who died in a house fire on Friday night and an elderly woman driving through flooded streets on the city's west side the next day.

A 60-year-old woman died in neighboring Montgomery County when a tree fell on her trailer home while she slept, the local medical examiner said on Twitter. With other people missing, the death toll could rise.

Both of Houston's major airports were shut down, along with most major highways, rail lines and a hospital, where patients were evacuated over the weekend. As of Monday evening 267,000 Texans were left without power in the southeast corner of the state.

One of three main rivers crossing Houston, the Brazos, was expected to crest sometime on Tuesday at 59 feet (18 meters), the National Weather Service said. The San Jacinto River was expected to crest over Interstate 10, the major east-west artery through Houston.

The Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management issued a "shelter in place" warning to residents of La Porte and Shoreacres, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Houston, after a chemical leak was caused by a ruptured pipeline.

As stunned families surveyed the wreckage of 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.

Harvey was expected to linger over Texas' Gulf Coast for the next few days, dropping another 10 to 20 inches (25 to 51 cm) of rain, with threats of flooding extending into Louisiana.

In scenes evoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, police and Coast Guard teams have rescued at least 2,000 people so far, 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.

Harvey's center was about 100 miles (160 km) south of Houston and forecast to arc slowly toward the city through Wednesday, with the worst floods expected later that day and on Thursday.

Schools and office buildings were closed throughout the metropolitan area, home to 6.8 million people, as chest-high water filled some neighborhoods in the low-lying city.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday that it was releasing water from the nearby Addicks and Barker reservoirs into Buffalo Bayou, the primary body of water running through Houston.

"The more they release it could go up and it could create even additional problems," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner warned. But the release was said to be necessary to prevent an uncontrolled surge of water, which Turner said "would be exponentially worse."

Torrential rain also hit areas more than 150 miles (240 km) away, swelling rivers and causing a surge that was heading toward the Houston area, where numerous rivers and streams already have been breached. About 5,500 people were in shelters as of Monday morning, city officials said, with Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long forecasting that 30,000 would eventually be housed temporarily in shelters.

Regina Costilla, 48, said she and her 16-year-old son had been rescued from their home by a good Samaritan with a boat. She worried until she was reunited with her husband and large dog, who had been left behind because they did not fit into the boat.

"I'm not complaining; we're alive," said Costilla. "When I saw the forecast of the storm I said I'll be happy if we get out with our lives."

In Rockport, National Guard troops passed out water to residents as utility crews worked to restore power in the city, amid reports of sporadic looting.

Houston did not order an evacuation due to concerns about people being stranded on city highways now consumed by floods, Turner said.

Abbott, who had suggested on Friday that people leave the area, declined to second-guess the mayor on Monday, telling reporters, "Decisions about evacuations are something that are behind us."

Gasoline futures hit their highest in two years as Harvey shut down multiple refiners, knocking out about 13 percent of total U.S. refining capacity, based on company reports and Reuters estimates.

Almost half of the U.S. refining capacity is in the Gulf region.

The nation's second-largest refinery was shutdown in Baytown, and the nation's largest refinery in Port Arthur was weighing shutting down with a final decision expected Tuesday, sources told Reuters.

The floods' path of destruction could destroy as much as $20 billion in insured property, making it one of the costliest storms in history for U.S. insurers, according to Wall Street analysts. </s> HOUSTON – There are at least nine deaths in the Houston area resulting from Tropical Storm Harvey.

A family of six is believed to have died after drowning in a white van Sunday afternoon while trying to escape the floods of Hurricane Harvey, relatives tell KHOU 11 News. It is thus far the single deadliest incident resulting from the storm. It happened while crossing a bridge on Green River Road in Greens Bayou.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the Houston emergency operations center said a woman appeared to have gotten out of her vehicle in high water on Werrington near S. Gaston in southwest Houston. She was found by neighbors about 30 yards away from her vehicle. Norman says she was pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor who was in the area, according to the Associated Press.

The sheriff’s office confirmed Monday afternoon a 60-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her home as she slept. The incident happened in the 17400 block of Louis Lane in Porter. The victim's husband told authorities he went to get help after the tree crashed into the home because he could not get to her. When authorities got into the home, they found the woman was already dead.

A man between the ages of 60 and 70 reportedly drowned around 11:30 p.m. Monday night. Montgomery County officials said the man was seen trying to swim across the flood waters located at Spring Park Ridge and SH 99. Witnesses tried to help the man after he went into distress. They were however unsuccessful.

Outside of Houston, the first death from Harvey was confirmed in a coastal community in Aransas County. That person died in a fire at a home during the hurricane. Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane, but it has since been downgraded to a tropical storm as it weakens while inland.

WATER RESCUES: HPD says more than 2,000 rescued from flood waters </s> HOUSTON — A pair of 70-year-old reservoir dams that protect downtown Houston from flooding began overflowing Tuesday, adding to the rising floodwaters from Harvey that have crippled the city after five consecutive days of rain.

Engineers began releasing water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs Monday to ease the strain on the dams. But the releases were not enough to relive the pressure after one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history, Army Corps of Engineers officials said. Both reservoirs are at record highs.

The release of the water means that more homes and streets will flood, and some homes will be inundated for up to a month, said Jeff Lindner of the Harris County Flood Control District.

The county is trying to determine where the water will go, Lindner said.

Meanwhile, more than 17,000 people are seeking refuge in Texas shelters, the American Red Cross said. With rescues continuing, that number seemed certain to grow.

Calls for rescue have so overwhelmed emergency teams that they have had little time to search for bodies. And officials acknowledge that fatalities from Harvey could soar once the floodwaters start to recede from one of America’s most sprawling metropolitan centers.

More than four days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities had confirmed only three deaths — including a woman killed Monday when heavy rains dislodged a large oak tree onto her trailer home in the small town of Porter. But unconfirmed reports of others missing or presumed dead were growing.

“We know in these kinds of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up historically,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press. “I’m really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”

One Houston woman said Monday that she presumes six members of a family, including four of her grandchildren, died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston.

Virginia Saldivar told The Associated Press her brother-in-law was driving the van Sunday when a strong current took the vehicle over a bridge and into the bayou. The driver was able to get out and urged the children to escape through the back door, Saldivar said, but they could not.

“I’m just hoping we find the bodies,” Saldivar said.

Houston emergency officials could not confirm the deaths.

A spokeswoman for a Houston hotel said one of its employees disappeared while helping about 100 guests and workers evacuate the building.

The disaster is unfolding on an epic scale, with the nation’s fourth-largest city mostly paralyzed by the storm that parked itself over the Gulf Coast. With nearly 2 more feet (61 centimeters) of rain expected on top of the 30-plus inches (76 centimeters) in some places, authorities worried the worst might be yet to come.

Early Tuesday, Harvey continued to drench Houston and the surrounding area. Rain fell at about half an inch (1 centimeter) per hour over Harris County — home to Houston — and up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) per hour to the east.

The Houston metro area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers), an area slightly bigger than New Jersey. It’s crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the southeast from downtown.

President Donald Trump was expected Tuesday in Corpus Christi and Austin for briefings on the first major natural disaster of his administration. Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with Corpus Christi radio station KKTX that he will visit southeast Texas later this week.

Forecasters expect the storm to linger over the Gulf before heading back inland east of Houston sometime Wednesday. The system will then head north and lose its tropical strength.

It could creep as far east as Mississippi by Thursday, meaning New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina unleashed its full wrath in 2005, is in Harvey’s path. Foreboding images of Harvey were lighting up weather radar screens early Tuesday, the 12th anniversary of the day Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish.

Rescuers meanwhile continued plucking people from inundated Houston neighborhoods. Mayor Sylvester Turner put the number by police at more than 3,000. The Coast Guard said it also had rescued more than 3,000 by boat and air and was taking more than 1,000 calls per hour.

Chris Thorn was among the many volunteers still helping with the mass evacuation that began Sunday. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to pull strangers out of the water.

“I couldn’t sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help,” he said.

Nearly 6,000 inmates displaced by flooding have been moved from prisons in the Houston area to other facilities in South and East Texas, according to the state Department of Criminal Justice.

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the low-lying Houston suburb of Dickinson, home to 20,000. Police cited the city’s fragile infrastructure in the floods, limited working utilities and concern about the weather forecast.

In Houston, questions continued to swirl about why the mayor did not issue a similar evacuation order.

Turner has repeatedly defended the decision and did so again Monday, insisting that a mass evacuation of millions of people by car was a greater risk than enduring the storm.

“Both the county judge and I sat down together and decided that we were not in direct path of the storm, of the hurricane, and the safest thing to do was for people to stay put, make the necessary preparations. I have no doubt that the decision we made was the right decision.”

He added, “Can you imagine if millions of people had left the city of Houston and then tried to come back in right now?”

By Tuesday morning, more than 9,000 people were at the city’s largest shelter set up inside the George R. Brown Convention Center — which originally had an estimated capacity of 5,000.

Red Cross spokesman Lloyd Ziel said that volunteers made more space inside the center, which also was used to house Hurricane Katrina refugees from New Orleans in 2005, in part by pushing some cots closer together. A shortage of cots means some people will have to sleep on chairs or the floor.

The center settled down at night, after an occasionally chaotic day that saw thousands of evacuees arrive in the pouring rain. Officers and volunteers at times rushed to attend to those with medical needs.

Before the storm is gone, up to 20 more inches (51 centimeters) of rain could fall, National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said Monday.

That means the flooding will get worse in the days ahead and the floodwaters will be slow to recede once Harvey finally moves on, the weather service said.

Sometime Tuesday or early Wednesday, parts of the Houston region will probably break the nearly 40-year-old U.S. record for the biggest rainfall from a tropical system — 48 inches (120 centimeters) — set by Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978 in Texas, meteorologists said.

Associated Press writers Juan Lozano and Nomaan Merchant in Houston and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report. </s> Tropical Storm Harvey bore down on Louisiana on Wednesday, pouring down more water after setting rainfall records in Texas that caused catastrophic flooding and paralyzed the U.S. energy hub of Houston.

The storm that first came ashore on Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years has killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands to leave their deluged homes.

Damage has been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest U.S. natural disasters.

For subscribers: Why Harvey could spell the end of U.S.'s flood insurance program

Opinion: Why the U.S. wasn't prepared for Hurricane Harvey

There is some relief in sight for Houston, the fourth most populous U.S. city, with forecasters saying five days of torrential rain may come to an end as the storm picks up speed and leaves the Gulf of Mexico region later in the day.

Harvey made landfall early Wednesday and was about 32 miles (52 km) south of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was expected to bring an additional 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15.24 cms) of rain to an area about 80 miles east of Houston as well as southwestern Louisiana, where some areas have already seen more than 18 inches of rain.

Several hundred people had already been rescued from their homes in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where floodwaters were knee-deep in places, Mayor Nic Hunter told CNN.

"We are a very resilient people down here. We will survive. We will take care of each other down here in Texas and Louisiana," Hunter said. "But we do need some help from the federal government, these homeowners and these people who have been displaced. That's going to be our biggest need."

Harvey is projected to weaken as it moves inland to the northeast, the National Hurricane Center said.

"We aren't going to be dealing with it for too much longer. It's going to pick up the pace and get out of here," said Donald Jones, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.

But nearly a third of Harris County, home to Houston, was under water, an area 15 times the size of Manhattan, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper. It may take days for all flood waters, which have spilled over dams and pushed levees to their limits, to recede, local officials said.

City officials were preparing to temporarily house some 19,000 people, with thousands more expected to flee. As of Wednesday morning, state officials said close to 49,000 homes had suffered flood damage, with more than 1,000 destroyed.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner imposed a curfew from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. amid reports of looting, armed robberies and people impersonating police officers.

U.S. President Donald Trump visited Texas on Tuesday to survey damage from the first major natural disaster to test his crisis leadership. The president said he was pleased with the response, but too soon for a victory lap.

"We won't say congratulations," he said. "We don't want to do that ... We'll congratulate each other when it's all finished."

Moody's Analytics is estimating the economic cost from Harvey for southeast Texas at $51 billion to $75 billion.

The storm has affected nearly one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity, sparking concerns about gasoline supply. The national average gasoline price rose to $2.404 a gallon, up six cents from a week ago, with higher spikes in Texas.

The unprecedented flooding has left scores of neighborhoods in chest-deep water and badly strained the dams and drainage systems that protect the low-lying Houston metropolitan area whose economy is about as large as Argentina's.

The National Weather Service has issued flood watches and warnings that stretch from the Houston area into Tennessee.

Harvey has drawn comparisons with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 12 years ago, killing more than 1,800 people and causing an estimated $108 billion in damage.

Among the confirmed fatalities was Houston Police Sergeant Steve Perez, a 34-year veteran of the force who drowned while attempting to drive to work on Sunday.

In Beaumont, northeast of Houston, a woman clutching her baby daughter was swept away in raging flooding. The baby was saved but the mother died, Beaumont police said.

Ruben Jordan, a retired high school football coach died when he was helping rescue people trapped in high water, the Clear Creek Independent School District said.

In all, 17 people have perished, according to government officials and the Houston Chronicle. Four volunteer rescuers also went missing after their boat was swept in a fast-moving current, local media reported.

U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and boats have rescued more than 4,000 people. Thousands of others have been taken to safety by police, rescue workers and citizen volunteers who brought their boats to help, local officials said.

The National Hurricane Center on Tuesday afternoon said a record 51.88 inches (131.78 cm) of rain had fallen in Texas due to Harvey, a record for any storm in the continental United States.

This breaks the previous record of 48 inches set during tropical storm Amelia in 1978 in Medina, Texas, the NHC said. Medina is west of San Antonio. The island of Kauai was hit with 52 inches of rain from tropical cyclone Hiki in 1950, before Hawaii became a U.S. state. </s> Tropical Storm Harvey continued to deluge southeast Texas with rain and surging floodwater Tuesday, breaking the record for the most extreme rainfall on the U.S. mainland.

Since Harvey made landfall Friday night as a hurricane, some areas of Houston have seen up to 50 inches of rain — more than they usually receive in a year.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Mont Belvieu industrial suburb east of Houston recorded 51.12 inches of water, breaking the highest previous record of 48 inches from 1978's tropical storm Amelia in Medina, Texas.

"It's the heaviest storm on record anywhere in the U.S. outside Hawaii," said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist and professor at Texas A&M University. "And it's still raining."

With muddy brown water engulfing huge swaths of the nation's fourth-largest city and much of the Gulf Coast, at least 10 people are dead and thousands are in shelters.

Federal officials have estimated as many as 30,000 displaced residents may seek temporary shelter and more than 450,000 people likely are to seek federal aid.

"In four days, we've seen a trillion gallons of water in Harris County — enough water to run Niagara Falls for 15 days," said Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District, who estimated as many as 100,000 homes in the 1,777-square-mile area had flooded. "It's beyond anything we've ever seen and will probably ever see."

As a light rain continued to drizzle, a reservoir west of downtown Houston spilled over for the first time in its history, leaving yet more residents desperately scrambling to safety.

In a Tuesday morning press briefing, Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers had rescued 3,500 people across the city and were launching more boats in the water every hour. They also arrested a crew of armed robbers who were hijacking vehicles.

"We're still trying to get to folks," Acevedo said. "Don't give up on us. Seek the higher ground. We will get to you."

Overnight, the number of people sheltering at the George R. Brown convention center swelled to 9,000 people. Its capacity is supposed to be 5,000. Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for cots and food for an additional 10,000 people, and officials are planning to open other mega shelters.

"We are not turning anyone away," Turner said.

Houston highways remained mostly empty and blocked by police early Tuesday. A few cars and trucks navigated wet streets downtown.

Families still were arriving at the massive convention center, some with sleeping pads and rain boots, others with their belongings in garbage bags. Some feared for relatives left behind, and others worried they might soon face shortages of food and other supplies.

By Tuesday, the death toll had risen to at least 10 after a man in Montgomery County, north of Houston, drowned Monday night while trying to swim across a flooded road.

Officials in Harris County, which includes Houston, have reported at least six "potentially storm-related" fatalities. A 60-year-old woman died Monday in Porter, a small community north of Houston, when a large oak tree fell on her mobile home. Another person died in the small coastal town of Rockport, near where Harvey made landfall. A 52-year-old homeless man was found dead in La Marque, a small city near Galveston.

Early Tuesday, a major dam outside Houston began to overflow, threatening some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods to the west of the city. Engineers had tried to prevent Addicks Reservoir from overspilling by releasing some of its water Monday, but flood control officials reported Tuesday morning that water was beginning to seep over the top of a spillway, the first time water had breached the dam.

In some areas, the water in the Houston area was so deep that rain sensors no longer were working. The Harris County Flood Control District, a government agency that works to reduce the effects of flooding in the area that includes Houston, announced multiple water level and rain sensors were out of service due to flooding.

In Brazoria County, south of Houston, the Brazos River was beginning to overflow its banks. On Tuesday morning, a levee breached in the Columbia Lakes neighborhood.

"We are asking residents to please get out," said Sharon Trower, a spokeswoman for the county, which already has rescued hundreds of residents after severe flooding from heavy rainfall. "The additional river flooding is just going to be catastrophic."

Major roads throughout the county already were closed because of flooding.

While catastrophic flooding continues across southeast Texas, flash flood watches dropped for western portions of the Houston area as light to moderate rain fell Monday night. The National Weather Service said the threat of flooding is gradually shifting east.

"Expect improving conditions this afternoon and evening across the area as Harvey pushes northeast," the National Weather Service's Houston/Galveston office said in an update.

After assuring Texas on Monday that Congress would deliver swift federal aid, President Donald Trump visited the storm-ravaged state Tuesday.

As Harvey moved closer to neighboring Louisiana on the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged residents to stay home and shelter in place.

A few inches of rain could cause serious problems in New Orleans, which still is recovering from flooding after thunderstorms this month overwhelmed the city's drainage system.

More than 5 inches of rain fell in some parts of the city Monday, causing localized floods. Flash flood watches were in effect as meteorologists forecast 4 more inches of rain Tuesday.

"Today, we are a resilient city with greater resolve, but we remain vigilant in the face of another threatening storm," Landrieu said in a statement. "While this is a somber day for New Orleanians, the determination and spirit of our people gives us great hope for the future." </s> Floodwaters reached the rooflines of single-story homes Monday and people could be heard pleading for help from inside as Harvey poured rain on the Houston area for a fourth consecutive day after a chaotic weekend of rising water and rescues.

The nation's fourth-largest city was still mostly paralyzed by one of the largest downpours in U.S. history. And there was no relief in sight from the storm that spun into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane, then parked over the Gulf Coast. With nearly 2 more feet of rain expected on top of the 30-plus inches in some places, authorities worry the worst might be yet to come.

Harvey has been blamed for at least three confirmed deaths, including a woman killed Monday in the town of Porter, northeast of Houston, when a large oak tree dislodged by heavy rains toppled onto her trailer home.

A Houston television station reported Monday that six family members were believed to have drowned when their van was swept away by floodwaters. The KHOU report was attributed to three family members the station did not identify. No bodies have been recovered.

Police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press he had no information about the report but said he's "really worried about how many bodies we're going to find."

According to the station, four children and their grandparents were feared dead after the van hit high water Sunday when crossing a bridge in the Greens Bayou area.

The driver of the vehicle, the children's great-uncle, reportedly escaped before the van sank by grabbing a tree limb. He told the children to try to escape through the back door, but they were unable to get out.

The disaster unfolded on an epic scale in one of America's most sprawling metropolitan centers. The Houston metro area covers about 10,000 square miles, an area slightly bigger than New Jersey. It's crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles to the southeast from downtown.

The storm is generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1,000 years, said Edmond Russo, a deputy district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, which was concerned that floodwater would spill around a pair of 70-year-old reservoir dams that protect downtown Houston.

The flooding was so widespread that the levels of city waterways have equaled or surpassed those of Tropical Storm Allison from 2001, and no major highway has been spared some overflow.

The city's normally bustling business district was virtually deserted Monday, with emergency vehicles making up most of the traffic.

Rescuers continued plucking people from the floodwaters. Mayor Sylvester Turner put the number rescued by police at more than 3,000. The Coast Guard said it also rescued more than 3,000 by boat and air and was taking more than 1,000 calls per hour.

Chris Thorn was among the many volunteers still helping with the mass evacuation that began Sunday. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to pull strangers out of the water.

"I couldn't sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help," he said.

They got to Spring, Texas, where Cypress Creek had breached Interstate 45 and went to work, helping people out of a gated community near the creek.

"It's never flooded here," Lane Cross said from the front of Thorn's boat, holding his brown dog, Max. "I don't even have flood insurance."

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the low-lying Houston suburb of Dickinson, home to 20,000. Police cited the city's fragile infrastructure in the floods, limited working utilities and concern about the weather forecast.

In Houston, questions continued to swirl about why the mayor did not issue a similar evacuation order.

Turner has repeatedly defended the decision and did so again Monday, insisting a mass evacuation of millions of people by car was a greater risk than enduring the storm.

"Both the county judge and I sat down together and decided that we were not in direct path of the storm, of the hurricane, and the safest thing to do was for people to stay put, make the necessary preparations. I have no doubt that the decision we made was the right decision."

He added, "Can you imagine if millions of people had left the city of Houston and then tried to come back in right now?"

The Red Cross quickly set up the George R. Brown Convention Center and other venues as shelters. The center, which was also used to house Hurricane Katrina refugees from New Orleans in 2005, can accommodate roughly 5,000 people. By Monday evening, it was nearly full.

At the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, the Army Corps started releasing water Monday because water levels were climbing at a rate of more than 6 inches per hour, Corps spokesman Jay Townsend said.

The move was supposed to help shield the business district from floodwaters, but it also risked flooding thousands more homes in nearby subdivisions. Built after devastating floods in 1929 and 1935, the reservoirs were designed to hold water until it can be released downstream at a controlled rate.

In the Cypress Forest Estates neighborhood in northern Harris County, people called for help from inside homes as water from a nearby creek rose to their eaves. A steady procession of rescue boats floated into the area.

Harvey increased slightly in strength Monday as it drifted back over the warm Gulf, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Forecasters expect the system to stay over water with 45 mph (72 kph) winds for 36 hours and then head back inland east of Houston sometime Wednesday. The system will then head north and lose its tropical strength.

Before then, up to 20 more inches of rain could fall, National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said Monday.

That means the flooding will get worse in the days ahead and the floodwaters will be slow to recede once Harvey finally moves on, the weather service said.

Sometime Tuesday or early Wednesday, parts of the Houston region will probably break the nearly 40-year-old U.S. record for the biggest rainfall from a tropical system — 48 inches, set by Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978 in Texas, meteorologists said.

The amount of water in Houston was so unprecedented that the weather service on Wednesday had to update the color charts on its official rainfall maps to indicate the heavier totals.

In Louisiana, the images of the devastation in Houston stirred up painful memories for many Hurricane Katrina survivors.

"It really evoked a lot of emotions and heartbreak for the people who are going through that now in Houston," Ray Gratia said as he picked up sandbags for his New Orleans home, which flooded during the 2005 hurricane.

In Washington, President Donald Trump's administration assured Congress that the $3 billion balance in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster fund was enough to handle immediate needs, such as debris removal and temporary shelter for displaced residents. Trump plans to visit Texas today.

Harvey was the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years and the strongest to strike Texas since 1961's Hurricane Carla, the most powerful Texas hurricane on record. </s> HOUSTON — Harvey’s floodwaters started dropping across much of the Houston area and the sun came out Wednesday in a glimmer of hope for the stricken city, even as the storm doubled back toward land and pounded communities farther east, near the Texas-Louisiana line.

The scope of the devastation caused by the hurricane came into sharper focus, meanwhile, and the murky green floodwaters from the record-breaking, 4-foot deluge of rain began yielding up bodies as predicted.

The confirmed death toll climbed to 23, including six family members — four of them children — whose bodies were pulled Wednesday from a van that had been swept off a Houston bridge into a bayou.

Authorities are investigating at least 17 more deaths to determine whether they were storm-related.

“Unfortunately, it seems that our worst thoughts are being realized,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said after the van that disappeared over the weekend was found in 10 feet of muddy water.

 While conditions in the nation’s fourth-largest city appeared to improve, authorities warned that the crisis in Houston and across the region is far from over. The storm, in fact, took a turn for the worse east of the city, close to the Louisiana line.

Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, struggled with rising floodwaters and worked to evacuate residents after Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore early Wednesday for the second time in six days. It hit southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rain and winds of 45 mph.

Forecasters predicted that a wobbling and weakening Harvey would be downgraded to a tropical depression late Wednesday or early Thursday and completely dissipate within three to four days.

 But it still has lots of rain and potential damage to spread, with 4 to 8 inches forecast from the Louisiana-Texas line into Tennessee and Kentucky through Friday. Some spots may get as much as a foot, raising the risk of more flooding.

For much of the Houston area, forecasters said the rain is pretty much over.

“We have good news,” said Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District. “The water levels are going down.”

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city’s two major airports would be up and running again in the afternoon.

At Hermann Park, south of downtown, children glided by in strollers and wagons, joggers took in midday runs and couples walked beside cascading fountains and beneath a sparkling sun. People pulled into drive-thru restaurants and emerged from a store with groceries.

At the same time, many thousands of Houston-area homes are under water and could stay that way for days or weeks. And Lindner cautioned that homes near at least one swollen bayou could still get flooded.

Officials said 911 centers in the Houston area are getting more than 1,000 calls an hour from people seeking help.

In Houston’s flooded Meyerland neighborhood, hundreds of families emptied their homes of sodden possessions under a baking sun as the temperature climbed into the 90s. They piled up couches, soggy drywall and carpets ripped out of foul-smelling homes where the floodwaters had lingered for more than 24 hours.

The curbs were lined with the pickup trucks of cleanup contractors and friends.

For Harry Duffey, a 48-year-old computer security specialist, this was flood No. 3 in as many years. Just before the flood, he got a notice that his flood insurance premium had nearly doubled to $5,300 a year.

“Everywhere we look this water has cost me money after money after money. It just does not end,” he said. But he said he has no intention of moving: “This is in my blood. This is where I’m from.”

Altogether, more than 1,000 homes in Texas were destroyed and close to 50,000 damaged, and over 32,000 people were in shelters across the state, emergency officials reported. About 10,000 more National Guard troops are being deployed to Texas, bringing the total to 24,000, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

“This is going to be an incredibly large disaster,” Brock Long, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in Washington. “We’re not going to know the true cost for years to come. … But it’s going to be huge.”

Confirmed deaths from the storm include a married couple who drowned after their pickup truck was swept away while they were on the phone with a 911 dispatcher asking for help, officials said.

Others among the dead include a woman whose body was discovered floating in Beaumont, a man who tried to swim across a flooded road, and a woman who died after she and her young daughter were swept into a drainage canal in Beaumont. The child was rescued clinging to her dead mother, authorities said.

When Harvey paid its return visit to land overnight, it hit near Cameron, Louisiana, about 45 miles from Port Arthur.

Port Arthur found itself increasingly isolated as floodwaters swamped most major roads out of the city and spilled into a storm shelter with about 100 people inside. Motiva Enterprises closed its Port Arthur refinery, the largest in the nation, because of flooding.

Port Arthur Mayor Derrick Freeman posted on his Facebook page: “city is underwater right now but we are coming!” He urged residents to move to higher ground and avoid getting trapped in attics.

 More than 500 people — along with dozens of dogs, cats, a lizard and a monkey — took shelter at the Max Bowl bowling alley in Port Arthur after firefighters popped the lock in the middle of the night, said the establishment’s general manager, Jeff Tolliver.

“The monkey was a little surprising, but we’re trying to help,” he said.

In Orange, Texas, about 30 miles east of Beaumont, residents of a retirement home surrounded by thigh-deep water were rescued by National Guardsmen and wildlife officers, who carried them from the second floor and put them aboard an airboat.

Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

 Harvey’s five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak, Matt Sedensky and Michael Graczyk in Houston; Diana Heidgerd and David Warren in Dallas; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas; and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report. </s> Death toll reportedly reaches 5 as Harvey spawns massive flooding in Houston area Here's what you need to know about the storm, damage, forecasts

Coast Guard Air Station Houston responds to search and rescue requests after Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017. The Coast Guard is working closely with all local and state emergency operation centers and has established incident command posts to manage Coast Guard storm operations.

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strickland. less Coast Guard Air Station Houston responds to search and rescue requests after Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, Aug. 27, 2017. The Coast Guard is working closely with all local and state emergency operation ... more Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strickland. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strickland. Image 1 of / 208 Caption Close Death toll reportedly reaches 5 as Harvey spawns massive flooding in Houston area 1 / 208 Back to Gallery

City officials urged people to call 911 only if they are in "imminent danger" as flood water in the Houston area continued to rise.

Tropical Storm Harvey hovered over Houston early Sunday and dumped 20 to 30 inches of rain on already saturated streets, killing at least five people and prompting evacuations of apartment complexes and dramatic rescues, according to the National Weather Service.

"It's catastrophic, unprecedented, epic -- whatever adjective you want to use," said Patrick Blood, a NWS meteorologist. "It's pretty horrible right now."

As of 7 a.m., the weather service said August was the wettest month on record for the Houston area, with an average rainfall of nearly 23 inches, beating June 2011.

Across the region, rising waters pinned some into their homes or on rooftops, as low-lying areas turned into massive lakes and streams. Freeways in some parts were so deluged, water was lapping at overhead freeway signs.

Police were using transit buses to evacuate those unable to get to shelters on their own.

Here is the latest on forecasts, damage, evacuations, closures and more as the storm continues to churn in South Texas.

NOAA radar shows Hurricane Harvey moving over the coast. A hurricane warning is in effect for the counties shaded in red on the map. Created by Data Journalist Rachael Gleason

FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS - 6:10 a.m.

The entire Texas Gulf coast is under a "catastrophic" flash flood emergency until 10:45 a.m.

The 12 counties under a flash flood emergency are the counties of Harris, eastern Wharton, Austin, southeastern Grimes, southeastern Washington, Galveston, southwestern Montgomery, Fort Bend, northern Brazoria, Waller and central Matagorda.

Rainfall totals for the past 12 hours topped 20 inches. And the forecast for the next few days remains dire, with computer models showing continued rounds of thunderstorms spawned by Harvey, which has been downgraded from a hurricane to tropical storm. Blood said the Houston area can expect at least an additional 15 to 25 inches over the next few days.

"I know for a fact this is the worst flood Houston has ever experienced," Blood said. "Worse than (tropical storm) Allison. It's so widespread."

STORM-RELATED DEATHS - 5:01 a.m.

Five people have died in the Houston area in unconfirmed flood-related deaths, according to the National Weather Service.

The actual toll from Harvey remains unclear as rescue workers are still trying to reach vehicles and people stranded across the region.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted at 2:41 a.m. about an unconfirmed report that a female and child were inside a submerged vehicle along Interstate 10 near Lathrop.

A woman who allegedly tried to exit her flooded car near the Buffalo Bayou became the city's first fatality Saturday night, authorities said.

RESCUES, 7:35 a.m.

Emergency workers are overwhelmed with calls for water rescues early Sunday. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett estimated 1,000 water rescues had taken place.

"We're all under water out here," said Jonell Soto, the wife of South Houston mayor, Joe Soto. The couple was in an 18-wheeler on Sunday morning trying to reach Joe Soto's 87-year-old mother, who lives on Indiana Street in South Houston.

"It's just crazy out here," she said.

Houston police officials also evacuated two apartment complexes in Greenspoint, rescuing more than 50 children from rising flood waters overnight.

"It breaks your heart," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said via a livestream on Twitter, as he stood in waist-high water in north Houston. "But, it's Texas, we'll get through it."

Relief efforts Sunday morning were coming in from across Texas and the nation. Drivers in high-water rescue trucks were aproaching from College Station.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio committed 120 city staff, saying they were headed to Houston.

"After Superstorm Sandy, so many cities stepped up to help our people," he said via Twitter. "We'll do all we can to help those affected by this storm."

Houston TranStar listed 181 high-water locations on the roads, which were lined with stalled and stranded motorists. Hobby Airport closed because of flooding. Metropolitan Transit Authority suspended all service. Harris County Toll Road Authority ceased tolling, so those forced to avoid high water could use the tollways.

Dozens of exits were closed along freeways and tollways, cutting off many neighborhoods, which were dealing with their own isolated, rising waters.

State roads will not reopen until waters recede and any debris can be cleared.

"We have crews ready to head out to do what they can," said Danny Perez, spokesman for TxDOT in Houston, adding "they will do so when it is safe."

As of 7 a.m., CenterPoint said more than 65,000 people in their Houston coverage area were without power, and number that was steadily rising.

In Harris County, the heaviest rainfalls over the past 12 hours were around Webster, where the county flood control gauge on the Galveston County line registered 19.3 inches since 5:30 p.m.

Harris County Sheriff's were responding to numerous rescue requests in the area, stressing people should only use 911 in dire emergencies, as dispatchers were struggling to keep up with the calls.

"Difficult to get to everyone right away," Gonzalez tweeted. "Hang tight."

Panic set in Saturday night as entire neighborhoods were swallowed by feet of rain, forcing some residents to flee to their attics, especially along Interstate 45 between downtown and Clear Lake, including parts of Pasadena, said Jeff Lindner with the Harris County Flood Control District.

About 119 sections of waterways in Harris County had spilled over their banks, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System. One of the rain bands dumped between 5 and 6 inches of rain on parts of the Houston metro area late Saturday, and a second still working its way across the area could bring 6 additional inches.

A third band of torrential rain is moving its way up from along Highway 59 from El Campo and could bring another 3 to 5 inches of rain on top of the 15 inches some areas received.

RAINFALL: See which Houston areas got the most water thus far

SUNDAY MORNING SITUATION: Dozens of high water locations, Thousands without power - 4:45 a.m.

With a few hours to go until dawn and no end to the rain in sight, officials are carefully watching many high water locations and telling residents waking up to another day with Harvey to stay put.

Houston TranStar listed 154 high-water locations on the roads, which were lined with stalled and stranded motorists. Hobby Airport closed because of flooding. Metropolitan Transit Authority suspended all service.

As of 4:30 a.m., CenterPoint said nearly 57,000 people in their Houston coverage area were without power.

SHELTER IN PLACE: Pasadena fatality may not be weather-related - 4 a.m.

Battered by heavy rains overnight, the city of Pasadena remained under orders to shelter in place through Sunday morning with many of the city's roads made impassable from flood waters.

The shelter in place was issued by the city's Office of Emergency Management at approximately 12:45 a.m. after hours of continuous rainfall pounded many of the city's streets, according to Pasadena Police Department spokesperson Jessica Ramirez.

At Richey Street and Highway 225, the roadway, which dips at a certain point, was completely submerged by water.

"You can't even tell it's a freeway right now," Ramirez said.

From what officers could tell, she added, it appeared that no vehicles had been on the road at the time.

According to Ramirez, police responded to a significant number of residents reporting flood waters in their homes.

"We've people hundreds of people call that they had water damage and were trapped in their homes," she said. "It may be a matter of having a few inches in their homes and they can't go anywhere at this point because the streets are flooded."

Impassable roadways also posed challenges to emergency responders, said Ramirez.

"We are responding to emergency situations but the roads are pretty flooded and some of our high-water vehicles can't get to certain places right now," she said.

Police reported one fatality overnight, with police responding to a 911 call from a home on Pauline Street just after midnight, but police say that it was likely unrelated to weather conditions and the death remains under investigation, Ramirez said.

Ramirez said no major weather-related injuries had been reported as of 4 a.m. Sunday.

"It's too soon to tell at this time," she said.

RESCUES: Surge of water rescues in Pasadena, Clear Lake and La Marque - 2 a.m.

Emergency officials said they've seen a spike in the number of people requiring water rescues but were unable to give any specific numbers.

Mario Gomez, a volunteer with the Harris County Joint Information Center, said hundreds of water rescues were ongoing by Sunday morning. He said the majority of rescues are happening in the southeast Houston region, around Pasadena, La Marque and Clear Creek.

Within one hour Saturday night, the Houston Fire Department responded to 17 water rescues along Houston roads, according to its Twitter account. The areas most affected by water rescues include the Southwest Freeway, the Katy Freeway and Westheimer Road.

Emergency officials urged drivers to stay off the roads Saturday night and into early Sunday morning.

The Coast Guard rescued 20 people and a dog left stranded after Harvey Saturday.

FORECAST: Harvey to sit over inland Southeast Texas until Monday - 1:50 a.m.

After nearly making it through two intense bands of rain, the blog Space City Weather reports that a third band of torrential rain is on track to hit the Houston area during the early hours of Monday morning.

As of about 1:45 a.m., the second band was still working its way across west Houston, while the first band had stalled over east Houston, including Baytown. The third band had passed El Campo and was heading northeast along Highway 59.

The National Weather Service predicted the center of Tropical Storm Harvey would remain inland over southeastern Texas through Monday, according to their 1 a.m. update. The storm is expected to drift towards the south or southeast.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 45 miles per hour with higher gusts, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles away from the center.

The National Hurricane Center said a severe thunderstorm capable of spawning a tornado was located over northern Pasadena, moving north at about 15 miles an hour. Those in Pasadena, Deer Park, Galena Park, Cloverleaf, Channelview and other nearby areas should seek shelter.

The thunderstorms are part of a second band of strong rain that will drench the area early Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Officials said the new band is generating 5 to 6 inches of rainfall each hour.

Space City Weather predicted the third band could bring an additional 3 to 5 inches of rain on top of the 5 to 15 inches that had already fallen across the Houston area.

FLOODING: Multiple bayous, Lake Conroe spill over their banks - 1: 25 p.m.

About 119 sections of waterways - including bayous and rivers - had spilled past their banks early Sunday morning, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System. At least six of those areas were within the I-610 Loop, but about 19 were located in southeast Harris County.

Lake Conroe exceeded its normal elevation by early Sunday, and officials planned a series of water releases through the lake's dams throughout the morning.

The cities of Pasadena and Dickinson told residents to shelter in place overnight Sunday as flood waters continued to rise in both areas.

The Dickinson Police Department said all roads in the city are impassable, and that the department had conducted multiple high water rescues.

The National Weather Service has blanketed huge swaths of the Houston area a flash flood warnings, among the most dire alerts the agency can issue. It issued flash flood emergencies for the following areas: from the Hobby Airport to Friendswood and Pearland; from Cloverleaf to Pasadena to near San Luis Pass; and from west central Harris, east Fort Bend and north Brazoria counties.

Acevedo tweeted that as many as 110 city roads were impassable at about 11:45 p.m. due to flooding. That number had jumped to 142 by 1:30 a.m. The high water road closures are listed here.

Friendswood officials issued an alert at 10:57 p.m. Saturday that the city is experiencing street flooding. Residents were urged to to stay in their homes and avoid driving through high water.

Turner tweeted that a rain band appeared to stall over the Braeswood and Meyerland areas, producing as much as 4 inches of rainfall within one hour there. City and emergency officials warned people in those neighborhoods to move valuables and electronics off the floors and to be prepared for water to come into some residences.

Officials in Fort Bend County warned drivers to avoid multiple roads as water crept onto area streets Saturday evening.

US 59 southbound and Northbound lanes from FM 762 to Reading Road were closed due to high water by Saturday evening, as was the State Highway 99 northbound feeder road at Highland Knolls, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. Deputies also urged caution as water levels rose on roadways in the Sunrise Meadow subdivision and on Beechnut Road between Harlem and Mason roads.

Keegans Bayou was so high Saturday afternoon that it lapped at the concrete support struts under the Roark Road bridge at U.S. 59, swelled onto the grassy banks in places, and crept up the walking path there.

"I've never seen it like this," said Mark Cardenas, 24, from Rosenberg, who stopped just to see the whitewater. "It looks pretty bad. That water is flowing."

The meteorologist for the Harris County Flood Control District said the county has yet to see severe flooding. Some streets and a few feeder roads have flooded, but meteorologist Jeff Lindner said it was nothing threatening.

Lindner said, the areas of concern were South Mayde Creek near west Houston's George Bush Park, where the creek rose a foot above its banks by mid-morning near Greenhouse Road. Officials were also watching Keegans Bayou in the southwest part of the county, near Sugar Land.

Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for the county's emergency management team, added that officials are watching high water on freeways, but most has been limited to feeder roads. The highway most affected as of 10 a.m. was Beltway 8 in the Pasadena area.

"Stay home if you can," Sanchez warned drivers.

High rain fall was also reported in Fort Bend County. Nearly 9 inches had already fallen near First Colony around 6:15 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

POWER OUTAGES - More than 40,000 without power in the Houston area - 11:50 p.m.

More than 41,000 CenterPoint Energy customers were without power late Saturday night, according to the utilities company. Earlier in the evening, only about 19,000 were without power.

At one point over the past 48 hours, Centerpoint Energy Spokeswoman Alicia Dixon said as many as 197,000 were without power, but power had been restored to more than 170,000 customers.

"Others continue to lose power as rain bands and tornadoes go through," Dixon said. "Overall we serve 2.4 million customers and haven't had a large percentage impacted. The system has held up really well."

TORNADOES: Multiple tornadoes confirmed - 8:51 p.m.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office and the Stafford Police Department reported tornado sightings at about 8: 30 p.m. The Sheriff's Office also tweeted that a different tornado had been spotted near U.S. 90 and the Texas Parkway minutes earlier.

A tornado warning has been issued for Meadow Place, Addicks and Santsuma through 9 p.m.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Wendy Wong confirmed seven tornadoes touched down in the Houston area between Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

A possible eighth tornado may have formed near FM 359 and McCrary Road in Fort Bend County, according to a Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office Twitter post at 7:15 p.m.

Four of those tornadoes spawned in northwest Harris County within the 4 p.m. hour Saturday, Wong confirmed. Another struck the Sienna Plantation neighborhood in Fort Bend County earlier Saturday.

On Friday, two tornadoes spawned closer to the coast - one near La Marque and Texas City and another on Galveston Island, Wong said.

Among the recent tornadoes in northwest Harris County, the first touched down at 4 p.m. near Cypress Ranch High School and moved toward Hockley, Waller and Todd Mission. Video on social media showed a large but disorganized funnel cloud moving near Barker Cypress Road and West Road near Cypress-Fairbanks.

It was not immediately clear where the other three tornadoes touched down in that area Saturday afternoon.

Gonzales tweeted that some homes had suffered "extensive damage" in the Lone Oak Subdivision, and that other buildings had been impacted near the Barry Center; Black Horse Ranch; Fry Road at Cypress North Houston Road; and between Tuckerton and West roads. Photos tweeted by Gonzales show the roof of one home was almost completely ripped off, while gutters and other hardware hung down the walls of another.

Other twisters caused damage near College Station and Sargent.

Melissa Huffman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Houston, said Harvey's strong winds have set in motion smaller vortexes, resulting in frequent but brief tornadoes. Such conditions are expected to continue through Monday.

"They're not super long-lived," she said. "That's the good thing."

EVACUATIONS: Red Cross opens two emergency shelters in Houston - 8:30 p.m.

The Red Cross has opened two emergency shelters in Houston at the following locations: the Chinese Community Center, located at 9800 Town Park Dr., Houston, Texas, 77036; and the M.O. Campbell Education Center, located at 1865 Aldine Bender Rd., Houston, Texas 77032.

"We want to assure people who live in flood prone areas, as well our most vulnerable residents, that resources will be available if they need them," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "With the experience of the American Red Cross on our side, we will continue to muster every available resource to protect all residents as much as possible from this very unpredictable threat."

Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents of low-lying areas surrounding the San Bernard River earlier on Saturday, warning it could swell to record levels by Monday afternoon.

Hebert also announced a voluntary evacuation order for residents in low-lying areas near the Brazos River, and urged residents in both areas to "quickly gather your loved ones, pets, emergency kit and necessities before leaving the evacuation zones as soon as safely possible."

The National Weather Service forecasts record flooding along both rivers, with a potential crest of 55 feet along the Brazos River and a crest of 34.1 feet for the San Bernard River at Sweeny. Both projections show rivers will rise above the record-setting levels reached in 2016.

Evacuation orders were issued to about 4,000 residents near Surfside Beach, prompted by fears that storm surges could reach up to 8 feet. County officials have opened an emergency shelter in Angleton, about 20 miles inland. In Holiday Lakes, a town of 350 households, local leaders also prepared Saturday to issue a mandatory evacuation order. About 95 percent of Holiday Lakes households were flooded last year.

Oil companies have evacuated personnel from about 15 percent of the manned oil-production platforms and half of the working drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, federal officials said Saturday.

As of 11:30 a.m., Gulf operators reported they have evacuated 112 out of 737 platforms and five of 10 drilling rigs, and one so-called dynamically positioned rig has moved off its drilling site, a precautionary move as the storm swept through the region, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice evacuated about 4,500 inmates in the Ramsey, Terrell and Stringfellow units in Rosharon in Brazoria County by buses to facilities in East Texas.

READ ALSO: Corpus Christi newspaper staff forced to evacuate

PHOTOS: Maps that explain Tropical Storm Harvey's impact on Texas

CLOSURES: Major grocers plan Saturday night closures - 2:20 p.m.

Kroger announced Saturday afternoon that it will close all Houston-area stores at 9 p.m. Saturday night. H-E-B stores, including Joe V's Smart Shop and Mi Tienda, will close at the same time.

Walmart closed some Houston-area stores Saturday, including one on Interstate 45 near Greenspoint and locations in La Marque, Lake Jackson, Humble, Angleton and West Columbia. It also closed eight Sam's Club stores in Houston, Katy, Humble, Conroe and La Marque.

The University of Houston announced that it will not be open on Monday. The campuses in Katy and Sugar Land will also be closed. Texas Southern University announced it would decide Sunday by 3 p.m. on whether classes would be held as scheduled.

More than 20 Houston-area school districts cancelled classes Friday, Monday or both days in light of the storm. In some districts, including Houston ISD, closing school meant cancelling the first day of school on Monday, postponing the start of the school year.

FLIGHTS: More than 300 departures cancelled -- 12:35 p.m.

United Airlines announced Saturday afternoon that it is suspending flights out of Houston to non-hub airports. That represents about 300 departures.

It plans to continue operating flights from Houston to its hub airports and most international destinations, United spokesman Charlie Hobart said in an email Saturday.

As of Friday, United suspended operations at Corpus Christi, McAllen Miller and Valley international airports.



DAMAGE: Reported tornadoes in Missouri City, Katy - 12:15 p.m.

A suspected tornado brought on by Hurricane Harvey tossed trailers and pushed over a billboard early Saturday at a boat and RV storage business in Katy.

Katy Freeway Boat and Storage and Trailer World of Katy along the Katy Freeway near FM 1463 were hit about 5:30 a.m.

"We have two businesses here on the property - or we did," said manager B.J. Prendergast as he was surveying the damages.

Although it could not be officially confirmed by the National Weather Service, Prendergast said he was told a bystander reported seeing the twister moving across a road toward the business.

Another reported tornado caused damage to about 50 homes and left trees down inside the Sienna Plantation neighborhood overnight in Missouri City, according to the Fort Bend Office of Emergency Management. The Red Cross is in route to the area and will evaluate the need for shelter for residents.

The tornado touched down in Missouri City around 12:50 a.m., according to reports from the National Weather Service.

Downed poles and power lines were also reported in Rosenberg by the police department.

Across the Rockport area, there were reports of damaged buildings, including a high school. People were believed to be trapped in multiple buildings and some structures collapsed with people inside, according to preliminary reports.

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Other bayous across Houston area also were quickly gaining water. Brays Bayou at Beltway 8 was already at 52 feet around 7:30 a.m. During Hurricane Ike, the bayou reached 58 feet.

The National Weather Service issued flash-flood watches for the following counties: Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Montgomery, Waller, Liberty, Grimes, Chambers, Brazos, Colorado, Austin, Washington, Jackson, Burleson and Wharton.

Harvey is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 15 to 35 inches, with isolated pockets of 40 inches through Wednesday. The weather service said "rainfall of this magnitude will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding."

GOVERNMENT: What's the latest storm detail from Texas, U.S.

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday night that he signed a disaster proclamation, "which unleashes the full force of government help!"

Gov. Greg Abbott requested a presidential disaster declaration for Hurricane Harvey as it neared the Texas coast.

"I want to continue to encourage Texans to take this threat seriously, heed warnings from local officials, and do all they can to prepare as the state of Texas works to ensure we are in the best position to respond to urgent needs following this storm," Abbott said in a statement Friday afternoon.

READ ALSO: Gov. Abbott, local leaders send conflicting messages on Harvey

READ ALSO: As Hurricane Harvey arrives, here are areas likely to flood

In Freeport, home to about 12,000 residents, city officials issued a mandatory evacuation for low-lying areas and urged all residents to leave. Seven counties from Corpus Christi to the western end of Galveston Island were also evacuated.

PHOTOS: Houstonians share their survival prep kits for Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey location

Brooke A. Lewis, John D. Harden, Y.C. Orozco, Jacob Carpenter, Andrew Kragie, Margaret Kadifa, Ryan Maye Handy, Cindy George, St. John Barned-Smith, Emily Foxhall, Todd Ackerman, Rebecca Elliott, Andrea Rumbaugh, Katherine Blunt and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The death toll from Hurricane Harvey in the American city of Houston, Texas, rises to three with several more days of heavy rain causing "catastrophic" floods to come.