US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in Texas to the storm damage firsthand.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Texas today to survey the damage of Tropical Storm Harvey, the biggest natural disaster of his tenure, as record-setting rainfall lashed Houston and tens of thousands of people fled flooded homes.
The slow-moving storm has brought catastrophic flooding to Texas, killing at least 11 people and paralysing Houston, the fourth most-populous U.S. city.
City officials were preparing to shelter up to 19,000 people, with thousands more expected to flee the area as the flooding entered its fourth day.
A wide swath of Houston and its surrounding suburbs were under water and forecasters warned the rain would continue through Thursday, stressing the dams and drainage systems that protect the low-lying U.S. energy hub.
Officials in Harris County, where Houston is located, warned area residents to evacuate as they released water from overflowing reservoirs to alleviate pressure on two dams, a move that would add to flooding along the Buffalo Bayou waterway that runs through the area.
Mr. Trump, speaking in Corpus Christi near where Harvey first came ashore last week as the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years, said he wanted the relief effort to stand as an example of how to respond to a storm.
Record rainfall
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Harvey has set a rainfall record for tropical cyclones for the continental United States, with 49.3 inches of rain observed at a location southeast of Houston.
A total of 14 observed locales had received more than 40 inches of rain.
The previous record for the lower 48 states was established in 1978 by cyclone Amelia, in Medina, Texas.
A spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the record for a cyclone in what is now the entire United States was set in 1950, when Hurricane Hiki dropped 52 inches of rain on Hawaii.
Hawaii was a U.S. territory then and became a state in 1959.
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