Monster storm Harvey unleashed catastrophic flooding in Houston Sunday, turning streets in the largest city in Texas into raging rivers as trapped residents climbed to higher floors and the death toll crept up to at least three.
Overwhelmed emergency services warned residents to head for high ground or climb onto rooftops -- not into attics -- so they could be seen by rescue helicopters.
"It is bad and growing worse," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who added that the storm -- a huge hurricane that first crashed ashore on the Gulf Coast late Friday -- had inflicted billions of dollars in damage.
US President Donald Trump, who was spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat, said he would visit the Lone Star State as soon as he could do so "without causing disruption."
"The focus must be on life and safety," he said in a series of tweets about the disaster, his first major domestic challenge since taking office in January.
At least three people have died since Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, spawning tornadoes and lashing east and central Texas with torrential rains.
In Houston, a woman drowned when she left a car which had stalled in high water, city mayor Sylvester Turner said. Another man was found dead in a flooded Wal-Mart parking lot in Galveston, officials confirmed.
Local officials said Saturday that one person was killed when a house caught fire in the Rockport area, where Harvey made landfall with sustained winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour.
"This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced. Follow orders from officials to ensure safety," the National Weather Service said on Twitter.
Houston began opening community centers to shelter people forced out of their homes, but the mayor appealed to residents to stay put and not call the 911 emergency line unless they faced a life-threatening situation.
"Do not get on the road. Even if there's a lull today, don't assume the storm is over," Turner said at a news conference. "The best way to keep from being stranded is to stay off the streets."
The National Weather Service said about two feet (60 centimeters) of rain fell in Houston and nearby Galveston in a 24-hour period.
"If the highest floor of your home becomes dangerous ... get on the roof!" Houston's emergency management agency warned in a bulletin.
Flooding was expected to worsen as the most powerful storm to hit the United States mainland since 2005 lingers over the area.
"This appears to be either the worst or one of the worst floods Houston has ever had. We are measuring it not in inches but in feet,"Abbott told CBS's "Face the Nation" show.
Harvey slowly weakened as it advanced, but it had the power to rip off roofs, flip mobile homes and leave hundreds of thousands of people in the dark on the Gulf Coast, home to some of the country's most important oil refineries.
Tornado warnings were in effect in several parts of the area.
Hobby International, one of Houston's two airports, announced that all flights were canceled "due to standing water on runways," while George Bush International was operating at limited capacity.
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