Hurricane Harvey: Donald Trump says protecting lives is his top priority as death toll rises to eight and Houston braces for more flooding - latest updates

• Death toll rises to eight
• Flooding expected to peak on Wednesday or Thursday
• 'We are just hoping it doesn't get worse'
• Hurricane Harvey in pictures
• Donald Trump due to visit on Tuesday
• The President's biggest test so far

The historic flooding that Tropical Storm Harvey unleashed on Houston will likely worsen as federal engineers release water from overflowing reservoirs to keep it from jumping dams and surging uncontrollably into the homes they protect, officials said on Monday.

Some 30,000 residents of the nation's fourth-largest city were expected to be left temporarily homeless by Harvey, which became the most powerful hurricane to strike Texas in more than 50 years when it came ashore on Friday near Corpus Christi, about 220 miles south of Houston.

Stunned families surveyed the wreckage of destroyed homes along the nearby coast and roads that were not flooded were clogged with debris. Death estimates vary, but officials in Texas said at least eight people had died.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday afternoon, Donald Trump confirmed that he will travel to the impact zone on Tuesday.

He said protecting lives was his top priority and promised that his threats to shut down the federal government would not slow the arrival of recovery funds.

He added that  Americans' core characteristics of "strength, charity and resilience" were showing through in the disaster response.

"We will get through this," he said. "We will come out stronger and believe me we will be bigger, better, stronger than ever before."

Harvey was expected to remain over the state's Gulf Coast for the next few days, dropping a year's worth of rain in about a week, with threats of flooding extending into neighboring Louisiana.

In scenes evoking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 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 believed to be marooned in flooded houses to hang towels or sheets outside to alert rescuers.

6:35AM

Family feared drowned after car engulfed by water

As a van full of family members tried to escape Harvey, violent floodwaters engulfed the vehicle and six people are presumed dead, including four siblings aged 6 to 16, a relative said.

Virginia Saldivar told The Associated Press that when her in-laws' northeast Houston home began to flood early Sunday, her brother-in-law Samuel Saldivar borrowed her husband's van and drove to pick up the relatives. She said at some point on their way to safety, a strong current lifted the van and pitched it forward into Greens Bayou.

Samuel Saldivar climbed out of the driver-side window but the van's sliding door was partially submerged and would not open, Virginia Saldivar said. He yelled at the children to try to escape out the back, but they were unable. Virginia Saldivar said her brother-in-law could only watch as the van disappeared under water.

"Sam calls my husband and tells him, 'they're gone,'" Saldivar told AP. "That's when my husband dropped the phone and started screaming."

Virginia Saldivar believes her husband's parents, 84-year-old Manuel Saldivar and Belia Saldivar, 81, drowned along with their grandchildren Daisy, Xavier, Dominic and Devy.

5:53AM

Flood damage predicted to cost at least $35 billion

Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms - a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighbourhoods along the Gulf Coast.

Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey's path of destruction have flood insurance. That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes. Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.

"All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance," Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America, told AP.

Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance.

With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.

Homeowners insurance typically covers just damage from winds, not floods. For that, you need separate coverage from the federally run National Flood Insurance Program. The insurance must be bought by homeowners with federally-backed mortgages living in the most vulnerable areas, called Special Flood Hazard Zones.

3:35AM

Exhaustion sets in

This photo of an exhausted Harris County deputy sheriff has gone viral and shows how the rescue efforts have started t take their toll on emergency responders. 

"My son is a deputy constable with Harris County Precinct 5. He just got off a 26-hour shift and was told to go home and rest but he is on call," one Redditor said in the thread.

"It is mayhem out there. Those guys work so hard. It is not an easy area to work especially under these circumstances but they do a great job."

"Please know that everyone knows how hard you guys are working to mitigate this mess, and we're extremely thankful for it," said another commenter on the thread.

1:32AM

'Once in 1,000 years'

The storm is generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1,000 years, Edmond Russo, a deputy district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, tells AP. 

The agency is concerned that floodwater will 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 either equaled or surpassed those of Tropical Storm Allison from 2001, and no major highway has been spared some overflow.

12:52AM

Chemical alert

Residents of two small coastal towns have been told to stay indoors, close windows and turn off air conditioning systems after a possible chemical leak. 

A local TV station reported a chemicals spill in LaPorte, where residents have also been told to shelter in place.

No further details were immediately available. The town are to the east of Houston and home to chemical and petrochemical plants.

12:29AM

More counties declared disaster areas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is adding four East Texas counties to the 54 Southeast Texas counties already covered by his Hurricane Harvey disaster declaration.

The Republican added Angelina, Trinity, Sabine and Orange counties to the counties already declared disaster areas. The declaration makes it easier for the state to manage resources essential for search, rescue and relief.

11:56PM

White sheet means rescue

11:54PM

Rescued pensioners are safe and dry

Last night we reported how 15 elderly people were rescued from a nursing home in Texas after a photo of them sitting in floodwaters spread on social media. Well here's a much happier picture of them today, post rescue.

11:46PM

Volunteer says rising panic levels are making rescues dangerous

With rising water levels come rising fear levels. Some emergency workers say they have had to abandon rescue attempts because people have rushed rescue boats and even shot guns if boats did not stop.

Clyde Cain, of the Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based rescue force that gained fame during Hurricane Katrina, said people tried to steak a boat that had broken down on one occasion.

"They're making it difficult for us to rescue them," he told CNN. "You have people rushing the boat. Everyone wants to get in at the same time. They're panicking. Water is rising."

11:39PM

Flood waters pose disease threat

Catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey increases the risk of ills ranging from skin rashes to bacterial and viral infections and mosquito-borne disease, US public health officials warned on Monday, according to Reuters.

The most immediate health risk is from drowning, especially for people trapped in vehicles, said Renee Funk, associate director for emergency management of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators is another threat. "Unfortunately, we expect there will be people who die from that and people will be poisoned from it," Dr Funk said in a telephone interview.

But simply wading in floodwaters could cause skin rashes because so much of the water is contaminated with toxic chemicals that get washed out of people's garages and tool sheds.e

11:30PM

Televangelist under pressure to open megachurch as shelter

Joel Osteen, a televangelist, is coming under intense pressure to open his megachurch to help shelter people forced out of their homes. He has cancelled services and shut his church because of the flooding.

11:16PM

Insurance Companies bracing themselves for thousands of claims

 The National Flood Insurance Programme is facing the prospect of tens of thousands of claims. With private companies unwilling to carry the risk of unsustainable insurance losses, the programme was created 50 years ago.   According to the Wall Street Journal, the fund only has $5.8 billion it can borrow from the US Treasury.

One option reported to under consideration is renewing the scheme on a temporary basis, another would be a root and branch repair to return the scheme to solvency.   Private companies are also facing mounting claims. State Farm has received 5,000 so far, while Farmers Insurance is already handling around 4,000.

11:14PM

Social media comes to the rescue

Desperate for help and unsure whether traditional rescue efforts will come through, Harvey victims are using social media to share maps of their location and photos of themselves trapped on rooftops and inside buildings, reports the Associated Press.

More than any other natural disaster, Harvey has made it clear that social media has revolutionised the search-and-rescue process, said Karen North, a professor of social media at the University of Southern California. 

"And what's really fascinating is that this is not emergency services experts creating strategic systems to rescue people," Prof North said. "This is evolving organically ... Not only can people reach out to 911 but to friends and family elsewhere who can not only reach out to 911 but directly to rescuers in the location where the person needs help."

11:07PM

No there aren't any sharks on Houston freeways

 A popular hoax for all emergencies is doing the rounds yet again. Not true this time either.

11:05PM

Almost half a million people expected to seek disaster assistance

Brock Long, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, said more than 450,000 people were expected to seek disaster assistance due to flooding after Harvey made landfall, according to Reuters. President Donald Trump approved an emergency request on Monday for Louisiana, where severe flooding also was expected.

10:57PM

Pet rescue

10:18PM

Woman killed by falling tree

Authorities say a woman has been killed in the Houston area when a large tree dislodged by heavy rains from Harvey toppled on to her trailer home, according to the Associated Press.

Captain Bryan Carlisle, of Montgomery County Sheriff's office, said the woman was killed around noon Monday in Porter. Her husband has reported that she was napping when the tree fell.

Porter Fire Department firefighters had to wade through chest-level water to rescue the woman's husband, remove the tree and extract the body. 

10:16PM

Counting the cost

Estimates are just emerging for how much it will cost to repair the damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey to a region of 6.8 million people.  

Chuck Watson, a risk modeller with Enki Research, told the Chicago Tribune that he believes the final bill will hit $30 billion.  

By comparison, Katrina cost the economy  $118 billion, while Superstorm Sandy accounted for $75 billion.  

10:13PM

No end in sight

10:09PM

Trump says he may make two trips

In his news conference, Mr Trump confirmed he would be travelling to the "impact zone" on Tuesday. That sounds like the area where Hurricane Harvey came ashore rather than Houston, which remains in the grip of terrible flooding and where the President's presence may divert resources from where they are needed

But he also said he may go back to Texas and neighbouring Louisiana on Saturday.

10:03PM

Trump quizzed on shutdown threat and Harvey funding

Having confronted Congress repeatedly, the President now needs to work with both houses to secure rapid funding for recovery efforts. How will that work?

10:01PM

Growing fears about drinking water

Rising water levels at Lake Houston have submerged the city's Northeast Water Purification Plant.  

It is one of three key drinking water plants serving the city of just over 2.3 million people.  

Frantic efforts are under way to pump the water out with Sylvester Turner, Houston's mayor,  warning that if they fail then the water supply could be jeopardised.

The Houston Chronicle, quoting "sources with knowledge of the situation", said it expected the plant to go offline on Friday.  

9:36PM

Trump: Feud with Congress will not affect recovery funding

Mr Trump was asked by a reporter from Texas whether his ongoing trouble with Congress and threats of a federal shutdown would impact on recovery funding.

Mr Trump said both Congress and the White House would treat the matter with urgency.

"You are going to get your funding," he said.

9:32PM

Donald Trump to Texas and Louisiana; "We are 100 percent behind you"

Donald Trump is speaking at a news conference with the president of Finland. He confirmed he will travel to the impact zone on Tuesday to ensure that residents and rescue workers are getting "full support and co-operation" they need.

He also said America would bounce back "better, bigger, stronger" after the crisis.

“Protecting the lives of our people is my highest priority. Every asset at my command is at the disposal of local officials," he said.

"Tragic times such as these bring out the best in America’s character - strength, charity and resilience...

"We see neighbour helping neighbour, friend helping friend, and stranger helping stranger. We see that all over....

“We are one American family. We hurt together, we struggle together and believe me we endure together.

“To the people of Texas and Louisiana.. we are 100 percent behind you."

9:12PM

Shelters fill fast

 Shelters throughout the flood affected area are filling fast.

Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston, says the city is working on opening another "major" shelter for people fleeing flooding from Harvey as the George S Brown Convention Center reaches capacity.

He toured the convention center Monday, hugging evacuees and asking how they were doing.

9:09PM

Governor thanks Trump for help

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott is again praising the federal government's response to Harvey. 

Mr Abbott said at a news conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Monday that he had spoken "on multiple occasions" to President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet. 

He said: "I would have to grade the federal government's response as an A-plus."

He added the storm was "if not the largest, one of the largest disasters America has ever faced," but, "to see the swift response from the federal government is pretty much unparalleled." 

9:00PM

Donald Trump says recovery will be expensive

President Donald Trump said on Monday hurricane recovery efforts will be very expensive and said he would be talking to the US Congress about it as he prepared for a trip to the storm zone

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr Trump lauded the efforts by Texans to extract storm victims from flooded areas of Houston and beyond after record amounts of rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.

"We're dealing with Congress. As you know it's going to be a very expensive situation," said Mr Trump, according to the Associated Press.

8:57PM

Police need help feeding officers and civilian staff

8:51PM

'We're just hoping it doesn't get any worse'

Alex Hannaford has this from the scene:

You can read the rest here

8:47PM

Hospital prepares to move patients

Officials are preparing to evacuate one of the nation's busiest trauma centers as flooding from Harvey threatened to compromise the hospital's supply of medicine and food, reports the Associated Press.

A spokesman at Houston's Office of Emergency Management said Monday that all 350 patients at Ben Taub Hospital would be moved out, hopefully within a day. Floodwater and sewage got into the main hospital building's basement and affected pharmacy, food service and other key operations. Patients will be sent to other area hospitals until repairs are made. 

8:28PM

Fears grow for six family members

A local TV station is reporting that six family members are believed to have drowned in Houston when their van was swept away by floodwaters. 

The KHOU-TV report was attributed to three family members the station didn't identify. No bodies have been recovered. 

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo tells The Associated Press he has no information about the KHOU report but added that he's "really worried about how many bodies we're going to find" from Harvey's devastating flooding. 

According to the station, four children — the youngest, a 6-year-old girl — and their grandparents are feared dead after the van hit high floods Sunday afternoon when crossing a bridge in Greens Bayou. 

The driver of the vehicle, the children's great-uncle, reportedly escaped before the van was submerged and grabbed onto a tree limb as the van sunk. He told the children inside to try to escape through the back door, but they were unable to get out. 

8:25PM

'We're not out of the woods yet,' officials warn

8:22PM

Houston under water

8:15PM

Harvey drifts back towards coast

The National Hurricane Center says Harvey is drifting "erratically" back toward the Gulf Coast after having moved inland since making landfall late Friday. 

An advisory on Monday afternoon from the center says life-threatening flooding continues for Houston and the broader southeastern Texas region. 

8:12PM

Family escape on air mattress

8:10PM

Airports remain closed

Houston's two largest airports will remain closed until passengers can be "safely accommodated," a spokesman for the city's airport system said on Monday.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport and the William P. Hobby Airport were shut down over the weekend due to water on the runways and in surrounding areas from Tropical Storm Harvey.

"We are not putting a deadline on this ... (There is) a whole list of boxes that need to be checked before we open airports again," said Bill Begley, the airport system's spokesman.

8:05PM

The I-10 highway today

8:03PM

Petrol spill

Texas regulators say a 150,000-barrel fuel storage tank spilled an unspecified amount of petrol east of Houston after tilting over due to large volumes of rain from Harvey.

The spill occurred at Kinder Morgan's Pasadena Terminal on Saturday. Ramona Nye with the Texas Railroad Commission says the fuel was captured by a containment dike at the facility and fire-retardant foam was sprayed over it to prevent an ignition. Company representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.