Chest-high waters flood Houston streets as Harvey drenches Texas

At least one person was killed in the city — bringing to death total to two confirmed fatalities from the storm — when she tried to drive through the riding waters.

Television images from the city showed families wading through chest-high waters in order to escape flooding homes. More than 1,000 rescues were reported to have taken place in the overnight hours, according to CNN.

President Trump touted the response, just minutes after his first tweet of the day praising Sheriff David Clarke’s new book.

“Great coordination between agencies at all levels of government. Continuing rains and flash floods are being dealt with. Thousands rescued,” Trump said.

More rain is expected to cover Houston in the coming days as Harvey moves inland. The storm hit southeastern Texas as a Category 4 hurricane, but wind speeds have since slowed down and it is now a tropical storm.

However, that has left the storm mostly stationary over the Houston area. Some areas are projected to receive more than three feet of rain by the time the storm abides on Thursday.

Authorities were warning people not to flee into their attics to escape rising floodwaters unless they had an axe or some other way to get onto the roof of their home.

Towns further south down the Gulf Coast of Texas were blasted by the high winds and tornadoes that came along with the storm, with many buildings being gutted or outright collapsing after the storm made landfall on Friday.

Trump added the storm is one of the worst to ever hit the United States.

“Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground,” Trump said.

He continued to tout the storm’s strength later on Sunday.

“Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!” he said.

Trump said he had an 11 a.m. teleconference with his Cabinet about the response to the storm, and — once again — expressed amazement at the storm’s strength.

“Going to a Cabinet Meeting (tele-conference) at 11:00 A.M. on #Harvey. Even experts have said they’ve never seen one like this!” he tweeted.