After the small city of Rockport bore the brunt of Hurricane Harvey's 210 km per hour winds Friday night, residents in the southern region of Texas, including Houston, are expecting heavy rain.
More bands of heavy rain are expected to start washing over the Houston area Saturday night, following the storms and at least seven tornadoes touched down through Saturday, which caused damage to buildings and plantations.
Tropical storm and storm surge warnings have been issued for parts of Texas, with the possibility of up to 1 meter of rain over the weekend.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday expanded his state disaster declaration to include 20 additional counties in response to the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.
"The addition of these counties to the state disaster declaration will continue to allow Texas to quickly deploy all available resources to those affected by this devastating storm," said the governor.
"Hurricane Harvey has had a catastrophic impact on Texans and their property, and this declaration will help them rebuild and recover. The state will continue to provide as much aid as possible to these communities that have already lost so much," said Abbott.
Buffalo Bayou, a slow-moving river which flows through the city of Houston, is shown flooded on Saturday.
Officials in the greater Houston area urged coastal residents not to let their guards down. Even though Harvey had diminished Saturday from a Category 4 hurricane to a tropical storm, the Houston area was in for dangerous storm-surge flooding, damaging winds and tornados.
Authorities in Texas confirmed that at least one person was killed and up to 14 were injured in Rockport.
About 4,500 inmates at three prisons in Rosharon were evacuated as heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey caused the Brazos River to rise. The prison facilities are in Brazoria County, located about 60 km south of Houston.
The prisoners from the Ramsey, Stringfellow and Terrell units were loaded onto Texas Department of Criminal Justice buses and relocated to facilities in East Texas.
The U.S. Coast Guard was busy as Hurricane Harvey made landfall, rescuing 18 people near Rockport and Port Aransas.
In Galveston Island, residents took the heavy rains in stride. Several tornados touched down during the storm, damaging a McDonald's restaurant and a condominium complex on Seawall Boulevard along the Gulf of Mexico.
Galveston resident Ernesto Maldonado, 19, said he wasn't about to let Hurricane Harvey keep him from providing for his wife and 1-month-old son. When the rains subsided, he hopped on his bicycle to pick up his paycheck from a restaurant where he works - about 8 km away.
"I was somewhat worried because I have a kid at home," he told Xinhua, adding "but this is my first storm like this, and I need to go get that money."
During a welcome break from the winds and rain in Galveston, resident Paulina Gomez took his dog, Dash, out for a romp in the waters that flooded the street outside his home.
"I was pretty concerned about my house and property, especially what happened in Hurricane Ike," said Gomez, 25. "Everybody was afraid and freaking out. We don't want to lose what little bit we've got."
The Gomez family hunkered down as the high winds pelted their one-story, wood-frame home. "We got a lot of food and water and flashlights, so we were ready for the hurricane and stayed right here."
Hurricane Ike, which came ashore in Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, claimed 113 lives and caused 37.5 billion U.S. dollars damages in Texas.
Downgraded to a tropical storm, Harvey made its way westward in a slow but steady trajectory that made emergency officials uneasy.
Much of the grounds are already saturated, causing concerns the many streams and bayous in southeast Texas would overrun their banks, and flood coastal communities. So, the next 72 hours are paramount, said Galveston resident Greg Samford, a retired information technology specialist.
"We've got a lot of rain coming in the next few days," he said. "I've lived in Galveston all my life and have never seen it rain this much, five days in a row."
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said flooding caused by heavy rains could reach some houses in low-lying areas.
"We are very concerned about fresh rainwater (floods)," he told Xinhua. "There is very little question that if you are in a house that's prone to flooding, there's virtually no way to stop that."
Meanwhile, four cruise ships bound for Galveston with more than 20,000 passengers aboard were forced to remain in the Gulf of Mexico as they awaited Harvey's departure from the Texas Gulf Coast.
Given the uncertainty of Harvey's track in Texas, it could be until Tuesday before the ships will be able to re-enter the Galveston Ship Channel, which has completely closed to traffic, said Roger R. Quiroga, director of economic development and external affairs at the Port of Galveston.
"We're waiting for the first ship to arrive about Tuesday, if we can get the cooperation of the Galveston-Texas City Pilots to allow their personnel to go out and get them in," he explain to Xinhua. The experienced pilots guide vessels safely to their berths or out to sea.
Three are the cruise ships from the Carnival Cruise Line, and the fourth is a Royal Caribbean vessel.
