Some worshippers sought succor, and others offered compassion and aid, for their devastated communities in displays of solidarity and partnership that highlighted the best of the human spirit in trying times. But we also know that we are stronger than the obstacles in our path. "I think even for the country to watch and for the world to watch".

Trump tweeted Friday, "Texas is healing fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard".

Turner also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more workers to process applications from thousands of people seeking government help.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that a years-long recovery lay ahead, and appealed to Congress to step up and approve huge funding for reconstruction.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the Neches River, which runs along the eastern edge of Beaumont, was now about seven feet (2.1 meters) above the record and was continuing to rise. Arm-in-arm, we will strive, we will endure, and we will emerge stronger than ever before.

US President Donald Trump and wife Melania help load emergency supplies during a visit to Texas.

In a final research note published Thursday, Watson said his median estimate for economic and property damage was $78 billion, which would make Harvey second only to 2005's Hurricane Katrina in terms of cost.

The storm's torrential rain, devastating winds and widespread flooding have so far cost at least 31 lives, forced more than 30,000 people from their homes in Texas and caused extensive destruction that will likely make it one of the costliest storms in US history.

With extensive property damage across the region, local and federal prosecutors formed a task force to investigate reports of home fix fraud and people posing as police to facilitate theft and other crimes, officials said.

Mr Abbott, who is advocating for US government aid to fix his state, said the damage would exceed that of Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas in 2005, and Sandy, which overwhelmed NY city and the US Northeast in 2012.

When Trump visited a middle-class neighborhood in the Houston area, where rotted mattresses, drywall and other debris sat piled up on the lawns of ranch houses, Trump told the residents, "These are people that have done a fantastic job holding it together".

"We were cut off", Freeman said Friday morning,"but slowly but surely as the water went down, people started making it in". He appeared Sunday on CBS and NBC.

"Water continued to be released from reservoirs for next 10 to 15 days".

Police set up roadblocks and were patrolling the area, in part to prevent looting. Ted Cruz, Mr. Trump reminded people that he has declared Sunday a national day of prayer.

Harvey became one of the most powerful storms to hit the mainland in over a decade. "Everything", he told AFP, saying the water ruined his home. At a church, he called on people to pray and loaded care packages into pickup trucks and minivans.

Authorities say the family of an elderly woman found her body partially submerged in water in her flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas.

The Raths had just rebuilt this house, after it was destroyed in a 2015 flood.

"He'll have the chance to meet extensively with quite a few storm survivors, as well as talk with some of the volunteers that are helping administer a lot of the support that these individuals have needed over the last week", Sanders said. Proceeds from tickets, concessions and parking will still go to organizers in Texas, said Stephen Perry, chief executive of New Orleans's Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We see friend helping friend, neighbor helping neighbor, and stranger helping stranger, and together, we will endure and we will overcome", he said, as news reports showed scenes of flooding and devastation.