HOUSTON (AP) — Updates on Tropical Storm Harvey (all times local):
Updated 10:10 a.m.: Houston police Chief Art Acevedo says authorities have rescued 2,000 people from flooding in the city.
Acevedo says the city has 185 critical rescue requests still pending as of Monday morning. He says the goal is to rescue those people by the end of the day.
The comments came at a news conference where officials provided updates on Harvey, which is still pouring rain on the Houston area.
Harvey came ashore late Friday about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. The slow-moving storm has caused catastrophic flooding in Texas.
This image made from a video shows a view from U.S. Route 59 of flooding on West Bellfort Avenue in Houston, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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Two kayakers try to beat the current pushing them down an overflowing Brays Bayou from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.
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Residents wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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Residents sit on a fence surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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A man wades through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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Residents wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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Moses Juarez, left, and Anselmo Padilla wade through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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A truck pushes through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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A man wades through floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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Wilford Martinez, bottom, grabs the median as he is rescued from his flooded car along Interstate 610 in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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Two people walk down a flooded section of Interstate 610 in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.
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A man helps a woman in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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In this Aug. 27, 2017 photo, Victoria residents are loaded onto buses to be transported from the emergency shelter dome at St. Joseph High School in Victoria, Texas to Austin. The residents are being moved due to rising waters and the city’s water being shut off. (Nicolas Galindo/The Victoria Advocate via AP)
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This image made from a video shows a view of U.S. Route 59 and flooding along West Bellfort Avenue in Houston, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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A truck is submerged on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, near downtown Houston. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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People look at submerged cars on a freeway flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, near downtown Houston, Texas. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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Residents pick through needed items at a make-shift aid station, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Rockport, Texas. A group from the Texas Rio Grande Valley created station for those in need following Hurricane Harvey.
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Two men check out damage to a boat storage facility caused by the effects of Hurricane Harvey, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Rockport, Texas.
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A road is flooded after Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.
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Royce Albrecht inspects the side of the Landmark Apostolic Pentecostal Church after it was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.
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Debris lies on the ground after a building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Aransas Pass, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.
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Laela Carpenter walks through her home on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Bayside, Texas which was hit by Hurricane Harvey.
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In this Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017 photo, Layton Carpenter walks down an empty driveway in Bayside, Texas, holding a broken American flag that he found in the water after Hurricane Harvey hit Bayside, Texas.
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A dog balances on an appliance of a destroyed mobile home in Tivoli, Texas, on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017 after the area was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.
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H-E-B Grocery Stores set up a Mobile Kitchen in the parking lot of their location in Victoria, Texas to help provide free hot meals to those affected by Hurricane Harvey on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.
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Evacuees wade down a flooded section of Interstate 610 as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. The remnants of Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods pouring into Houston Sunday as rising water chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground.
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Updated 9:40 a.m.: The shelter set up inside the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston has already reached half its capacity.
Ken Sandy, a shelter manager for the American Red Cross, said Monday that more than 2,600 people took shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center. Organizers with the Red Cross estimate the convention center can accommodate roughly 5,000 people.
Sandy says the shelter is currently out of cots and waiting for more to arrive.
With Tropical Storm Harvey still pouring rain on the Houston area, thousands more people are expected to need to evacuate their homes.
The Red Cross has also set up other shelters throughout the area.
Updated 9:20 a.m.: First lady Melania Trump will join President Donald Trump on his trip to storm-battered Texas.
The first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said on Twitter Monday: “@FLOTUS will travel to #Texas w @POTUS this week.”
The White House has said Trump will travel to Texas on Tuesday. More details of the trip have not yet been released.
Harvey is the first major natural disaster of Trump’s presidency and a significant test for a White House that is often chaotic and rife with infighting.
Updated 9:05 a.m.: A major South Texas airport has reopened after being closed due to Harvey.
A city statement said Corpus Christi International Airport resumed commercial air service Monday. Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane late Friday about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from there.
Two other major airports in the region, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport in Houston, remain closed as heavy rain and flooding continue. Both have been shut down since midday Sunday as Harvey-related flooding swamped roads leading to the airports
Updated 8:55 a.m.: A Houston-area official says hundreds of people who’ve been rescued from their homes, vehicles and other places amid catastrophic flooding are being taken to dry land but not straight to shelters.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is the top administrator for the county that’s home to Houston. He said at a news conference Monday that many people are being ferried to a parking lot, school or other dry area as rescue personnel move on to the next rescue that’s needed. Those people then are struggling to find shelter, food and other resources.
Emmett says the focus now is on getting those people to shelters.
Meanwhile, Houston police Chief Art Acevedo on Monday told “Good Morning America” that he knows of 200 to 250 water rescues that still must be done in the city and that he hopes they’ll be completed by the end of the day.
Updated 8:35 a.m.: Vice President Mike Pence is stressing that the federal government will support Harvey recovery efforts going forward.
In an interview with Houston radio station KTRH Monday morning, Pence said the federal government will make the resources available to see Texas through rescue operations and recovery.
Pence noted that given the “magnitude of the flooding” that “it will be years coming back.”
The vice president stressed that President Donald Trump has been “continuously engaged” on Harvey, noting that it is still the “beginning of the effort.” He said details of Trump’s visit to Texas will be “forthcoming.”
Updated 8:30 a.m.: President Donald Trump has issued a federal emergency declaration for Louisiana as a storm that’s flooded Houston dumps heavy bands of rain on that state.
Trump’s emergency declaration on Monday initially covers five parishes in southwest Louisiana: Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Vermillion.
A White House statement says the action authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in those counties related to Harvey. The declaration also authorizes the federal government to cover 75 percent of costs of certain emergency protective measures.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says lifesaving efforts including search and rescue and shelters will be needed, especially in southwest Louisiana where forecasters say 10 to 20 inches (25 to 51 centimeters) of rain could fall.
Harvey came ashore late Friday about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane. The slow-moving storm has caused catastrophic flooding in Texas.
A family evacuates their Meyerland home in Houston, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. Rescuers answered hundreds of calls for help Sunday as floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey rose high enough to begin filling second-story homes, and authorities urged stranded families to seek refuge on their rooftops.
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