President Donald Trump will travel to hurricane-ravaged Texas on Tuesday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells reporters the White House is still coordinating logistics with state and local officials.
She adds: “We continue to keep all of those affected in our thoughts and prayers.”
Tropical Storm Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston on Sunday. Rising water chased some people to rooftops or higher ground and overwhelmed rescuers.
Trump has been praising the government’s response to the storm on Twitter.
He tweeted earlier Sunday that he would be traveling to Texas as soon as he could go “without causing disruption.”
He said: “The focus must be life and safety.”
An official says all 22 of Harris County’s watersheds have spilled over their banks due to Tropical Storm Harvey. Watersheds are creeks and bayous that take water away from the Houston area and eventually drain it into Galveston Bay.
Harris County Flood Control District Meteorologist Jeff Lindner says over half of the watersheds are experiencing record flooding.
Lindner said even with the rain starting to decrease a little bit, the sheer volume of water that has fallen is going to take time to run off.
He says it may take until Sunday night or well into Monday or even Tuesday “to get the water out of these areas that have been impacted so hard.”
Both major airports in Houston have been closed amid severe flooding blamed on Tropical Storm Harvey.
A Houston Airport System statement at midday Sunday said George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport are closed to commercial flights until further notice.
Officials say roads in and out of both airports are shut down due to flooding.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall late Friday night along the Texas coast about 230 miles southwest of Houston, but it wasn’t until late Saturday night that what became Tropical Storm Harvey began bringing torrential rains causing flooding to the Houston area.
The airport system’s website says Bush Intercontinental Airport is 23 miles north of downtown Houston and provides service via 29 passenger airlines.
Hobby Airport is 7 miles south of downtown Houston and is served by four passenger airlines.
Many of the people arriving at the George R. Brown Convention Center, which has been opened as a shelter for people fleeing flooding, are from a public housing complex about a mile north.
Clayton Homes public housing complex is bounded on one side by Interstate 45 and the other by Buffalo Bayou, which has flooded heavily along with all of Houston’s major waterways. Police are using boats to evacuate many of the residents and bring them to the convention center in pickup trucks.
D’Ona Spears and Brandon Polson walked with their five children Sunday, bags full of belongings, and their 7-year-old Chihuahua, Missy. They decided to leave once the water in the first story of their home reached their knees.
Spears says that when they made it to the convention center, they sent their children inside to eat, but stayed outside with their Chihuahua because animals were not allowed inside.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced earlier Sunday that the convention center would serve as a shelter for people fleeing the flooding.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett says that Ben Taub Hospital, the county’s public hospital, is being evacuated because flooding problems in the basement are disrupting power service.
Emmett overseas government operations in Harris County where Houston is located. He tells a news conference that evacuated patients are being taken to other area hospitals. It was not immediately known how many patients were being moved.
Coast Guard Capt. Kevin Oditt (OH’-dit) says helicopters have rescued more than 100 people in the Houston area as Tropical Storm Harvey floods numerous neighborhoods.
In a conference call Sunday with reporters, Oditt says Coast Guard personnel and aircraft from around the country have been dispatched to Texas. He says Texas Air National Guard choppers were also assisting with rescues.
Oditt says people facing rising floodwaters should not go into attics, since rescuers in the air cannot see them. The incident commander urged people who head to their rooftops to wave sheets, towels or anything else to attract the attention of helicopter crews.
Coast Guard helicopter crews along the southern portion of the Texas coast are reporting the rescue of almost 40 people, starting from the morning before Hurricane Harvey made landfall. That includes six people rescued from their home Saturday evening in the hard-hit city of Aransas Pass. Among them were three children, their two parents and an elderly woman who was in need of oxygen.