While flood waters are slowly receding in some parts of Houston, the search and recovery efforts continue. 

  • Houston-area floodwaters begin to recede 
  • Confirmed death toll climbed to at least 31
  • How you can help Texas
  • Our sister stations in Austin and San Antonio are providing continuous coverage of Harvey throughout the event. For more details on the impacts in those areas, visit the Spectrum News Austin and Spectrum News San Antonio websites.

In fact, Coast Guard crews from across the nation, including the Bay area, are responding to help. Crews are using all available resources to answer the hundreds of calls for help dispatchers are receiving every hour. 

Harvey's five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.

Some Florida Coast Guard crews are already on the ground in Texas. Others are preparing to leave Clearwater on Thursday for Texas.   

The Coast Guard Cutter Joshua Appleby departing Clearwater for Mobile, Alabama and Harvey recovery efforts. Crew will be clearing shipping channels in and out of Houston and/or providing supplies for humanitarian relief.

The Coast Guard is working with federal, state and local agencies for rescue response operations in affected areas. As of late Wednesday, the Coast Guard said its flood boats alone have rescued more than 2,800 people. 

And some of those rescues are happening in difficult conditions because the boat operators don't know what kind of debris and obstacles may be under the waters. 

Beaumont and Port Arthur worked to evacuate residents after Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore early Wednesday for the second time in six days. It hit southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rain and winds of 45 mph.

When Harvey paid its return visit to land, it hit near Cameron, Louisiana, about 45 miles from Port Arthur.

Port Arthur found itself increasingly isolated as floodwaters swamped most major roads out of the city.

At the same time, many thousands of Houston-area homes are under water and could stay that way for days or weeks. And Lindner cautioned that homes near at least one swollen bayou could still get flooded.

Officials said 911 centers in the Houston area are getting more than 1,000 calls an hour from people seeking help.

Altogether, more than 1,000 homes in Texas were destroyed and close to 50,000 damaged, and over 32,000 people were in shelters across the state, emergency officials reported. About 10,000 more National Guard troops are being deployed to Texas, bringing the total to 24,000, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

What exactly are the spaghetti plots?
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Remember that the spaghetti model plot does not indicate the strength of a system or even development at all. It only predicts where this broad area of low pressure is expected to go.

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