Rescue boats fill a flooded street at flood victims are evacuated as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday in Houston.
HOUSTON >> 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 remained 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 (61 centimeters) of rain expected on top of the 30-plus inches (76 centimeters) in some places, authorities worried that the worst might be yet to come.
A Houston woman also said she presumes six members of a family, including four of her grandchildren, died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston.
Houston emergency officials couldn't confirm the deaths. But Police Chief Art Acevedo said he's "really worried about how many bodies we're going to find" amid the disaster, which 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 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.
Rescuers continued plucking people from the floodwaters. 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 her hour.
The Red Cross quickly set up the George R. Brown Convention Center and other venues as shelters.
By Monday night, 7,000 people have arrived at the shelter set up inside the George R. Brown Convention Center — which originally had an estimated capacity of 5,000.
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, including two people who were on the ground, unresponsive, near the exit.
Houston's emergency operations center said Monday night it still was gathering information about what had happened.
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.