Harvey could be costliest disaster in U.S. history

Some 13,000 people have been rescued in the Houston area, and more than 17,000 have sought refuge in Texas shelters. Harvey is expected to move inland Wednesday, slog through Louisiana, then take its downpours north. Arkansas, Tennessee and parts of Missouri are on alert for Harvey flooding in a couple days.

Trump said the recovery effort, which has been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, will probably be one of the most expensive the United States has seen.

Harvey, swirling for the past few days off Texas and Louisiana – at times as a hurricane and at times a tropical storm – has dumped 51.88 inches (132 centimeters) of rain in Cedar Bayou, a salt water channel on the Texas coast, the National Weather Service said.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a preliminary report from one Texas rain gauge has broken the Texas tropical cyclone rainfall record, which reaches 49.32 inches (about 125 cm), higher than the previous record of 48 inches (about 122 cm) set during tropical cyclone Amelia of 1978 at Medina, Texas.

Trump’s spokeswoman dismissed the high heel hubbub, according to multiple reports: “It’s sad that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas, and people are anxious about her shoes”.

WASHINGTON-First lady Melania Trump spoke little during a stop through Harvey-ravaged Texas on Tuesday, but in a statement from the White House, is now praising the people of Texas affected by the storm.

Mr Trump said he wanted the relief effort to stand as an example of how to respond to a storm.

Khan says there are now a dozen mosques in the Greater Houston area providing shelter, as well as food and other supplies to hundreds of people in need.

“We still desperately need licensed/certified social workers at our shelters”, the City of Houston wrote on Twitter.

J.J. Watt, defensive end for the Houston Texans, has raised his disaster relief goal to $5 million as donations continue to pour in for what began as a modest fundraising campaign in the wake of devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.

At least 9,000 to 10,000 people have been rescued in the Houston region by first responders.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu says with the improved forecast, schools and public buildings will re-open Wednesday.

Hurricane Harvey is said to be the most powerful storm to hit Texas in the past 50 years.

“I’m hoping that people at the federal level, at the very top, will understand this was catastrophic”, Turner said at a news conference.