HARVEY AFTERMATH | Storm sets new US tropical rainfall record

1:07 p.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — Harvey has set a new U.S. record for rainfall from a tropical system.

A weather station southeast of Houston at Mary’s Creek at Winding Road, reported 49.32 inches (125.27 centimeters) of rain as of Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

That breaks the previous record of 48 inches (122 centimeters) set in 1978 in Medina, Texas by Tropical Storm Amelia.

Meteorologist Marc Chenard of the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center says: “It’s a big deal.”

Already 14 spots in Houston have recorded more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain and 36 different locations in Houston have recorded more than 3 feet (90 centimeters) of rain.

•••

12:30 p.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — A spokeswoman says President Donald Trump wants to be "very cautious" about making sure that his activities in Texas don't disrupt Harvey recovery efforts.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump's stops Tuesday in Corpus Christi and Austin are intended to highlight coordination at all levels of government and lay the groundwork for what is expected to be a lengthy recovery after the storm.

Trump traveled with the Cabinet secretaries of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development, and the head of the Small Business Administration. Sanders says the secretaries will meet with their Texas counterparts.

Air Force One flew a path to Corpus Christi that avoided flying over Houston, where much of the downtown area is under water.

•••

11:28

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston megachurch led by televangelist Joel Osteen says it's opened its doors to people seeking shelter as Harvey swamps the city.

Osteen had faced criticism for not using the massive Lakewood Church as a storm shelter. In a statement to ABC News on Monday Osteen said the church "never" closed its doors and was serving as a relief supply distribution center. He said it would "house people once shelters reach capacity."

The church announced on Twitter it was receiving people who need shelter late this morning.

The 16,000-seat former arena was the longtime home of the NBA's Houston Rockets.

Osteen's comment stands in contrast to a church Facebook post and a since-deleted Instagram remark by Lakewood associate pastor John Gray, who said flooded highways had made the church inaccessible.

•••

11:40 a.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — The American Red Cross says there are more than 17,000 people in Texas seeking refuge in shelters.

Red Cross spokesman Don Lauritzen said today there are 45 shelters in the Houston area, along the Gulf Coast and elsewhere. He says more are opening in Louisiana.

The shelter in Texas holding the most people is the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston with upward of 9,000.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Tuesday that the cavernous Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in that city is ready to hold upward of 5,000 people.

But Rawlings says it’s not clear how many people will be housed at the Hutchison center because of the difficulty those in the Houston area are having finding dry roads and highways to travel along.

•••

10:05 a.m.

Vice President Mike Pence is warning the people of Southeast Texas that Harvey is still dangerous and that life-threatening flooding will continue.

Pence is urging residents to continue to listen their state and local officials. He commented during interviews Tuesday with radio stations serving Corpus Christi and San Antonio.

Houston has been paralyzed by a storm that struck on Friday and has been parked over the Gulf Coast ever since. More than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain has fallen in some areas and nearly 2 feet (60 centimeters) more is expected, leading authorities to fear the worst might be yet to come.

Pence says he and his wife, Karen, will visit the region later this week.

President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, were scheduled to visit Corpus Christi and Austin on Tuesday.

•••

9:30 a.m.

Two Houston reservoirs are overflowing, despite a controlled water release that aimed to prevent flooding downtown.

The Addicks and Barker reservoirs are both at record high levels due to days of heavy rain. Army Corps of Engineers officials have been releasing water from both, but the amount of water entering exceeds the amount being released, sending floodwaters over spillways.

Jeff Lindner, with the Harris County Flood Control District, said Tuesday that he’s certain that more homes and streets will flood as a result. Lindner says the county is trying to determine where the water will go, specifically from the north end of the Addicks reservoir.

He says some homes will be inundated “for up to a month.”

The flood gauge at the Barker reservoir is overwhelmed and disabled and officials are worried the Addicks gauge also will fail.

•••

9:10 a.m.

Texas residents can get free replacements for their legal identification if it was lost or left behind when rain and flooding from Harvey forced them from their homes.

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced late Monday that any driver’s license office will provide replacement driver’s licenses or identification cards at no cost.

The offer applies to anyone who previously had such documents and lives in a county that Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a disaster area.

•••

8:45 a.m.

A western Michigan company is sending about 2,000 kayaks to Texas and Louisiana to help with flooding relief and rescue efforts amid Harvey’s onslaught.

On Monday, rain-fed floods reached the rooflines of some single-story homes in Houston and surrounding communities. Officials have received thousands of pleas for rescue. Boats and kayaks are being used to reach people stranded on rooftops.

WOOD-TV reports that retailer Walmart is buying the kayaks from Muskegon-based KL Outdoor.

KL Outdoor Chief Executive Chuck Smith tells the television station that his company is covering the shipping costs. Some kayaks were sent out Monday. The rest are expected to be put on trucks Tuesday.

Harvey made landfall late Friday along the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane and is now a tropical storm.

•••

8:35 a.m.

HOUSTON (AP) — Crews overwhelmed by thousands of rescue calls during one of the heaviest downpours in U.S. history have had little time to search for other potential victims, but officials acknowledge the grim reality that fatalities linked to Harvey could soar once the devastating floodwaters recede from one of America’s most sprawling metropolitan centers.

More than three days after the storm ravaged the Texas coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, authorities had confirmed only three deaths — including a woman killed Monday when heavy rains dislodged a large oak tree onto her trailer home in the small town of Porter. But unconfirmed reports of others missing or presumed dead were growing.

“We know in these kind of events that, sadly, the death toll goes up historically,” Houston police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press. “I’m really worried about how many bodies we’re going to find.”

One Houston woman said Monday that she presumes six members of a family, including four of her grandchildren, died after their van sank into Greens Bayou in East Houston, though Houston emergency officials couldn’t confirm the deaths. Virginia Saldivar told The Associated Press her brother-in-law was driving the van Sunday when a strong current took the vehicle over a bridge and into the bayou. The driver was able to get out and urged the children to escape through the back door, Saldivar said, but they could not.

“I’m just hoping we find the bodies,” Saldivar said.

And a spokeswoman for a Houston hotel says one of its employees disappeared while helping about 100 guests and workers evacuate the building amid rising floodwaters.

The disaster is unfolding on an epic scale, with the nation’s fourth-largest city mostly paralyzed by the storm that has parked itself over the Gulf Coast. With nearly 2 more feet (61 centimeters) of rain expected on top of the 30-plus inches (76 centimeters) in some places, authorities worried the worst might be yet to come.

Early Tuesday, Harvey’s relentless downpour continued to drench Houston and the surrounding area. Rain fell at a pace of about half an inch (1 centimeter) per hour over Harris County — home to Houston — and up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) per hour to the east.

The Houston metro area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 sq. kilometers), an area slightly bigger than New Jersey. It’s crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the southeast from downtown.

The storm is generating an amount of rain that would normally be seen only once in more than 1,000 years, said Edmond Russo, a deputy district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, which was concerned that floodwater would spill around a pair of 70-year-old reservoir dams that protect downtown Houston.

Rescuers meanwhile continued plucking people from inundated neighborhoods. Mayor Sylvester Turner put the number by police at more than 3,000. The Coast Guard said it also had rescued more than 3,000 by boat and air and was taking more than 1,000 calls per hour.

Chris Thorn was among the many volunteers still helping with the mass evacuation that began Sunday. He drove with a buddy from the Dallas area with their flat-bottom hunting boat to pull strangers out of the water.

“I couldn’t sit at home and watch it on TV and do nothing since I have a boat and all the tools to help,” he said.