The US city of Houston is in the grip of the biggest storm in the history of the state of Texas, officials say.
A record 30in of rain (75cm) has fallen on the city in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, turning roads into rivers.
The area is expected to have received a year’s rainfall within a week. Five people are reported dead. Helicopters have plucked victims from rooftops.
With rescue services overstretched as the rain continues, many people are having to fend for themselves.
Harvey made landfall as a category-four hurricane late on Friday. It was later downgraded to a tropical storm.
Up to 2,000 people have been rescued in and around Houston, the fourth-largest city in the US, where about 6.6m people live in the metropolitan area.
In Washington, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) said it was committed to assisting in the rescue effort.
Fema administrator Brock Long said providing shelter to 30,000 people in need was “going to be a very heavy lift”. He added that the agency was also working to restore power and critical infrastructure.
Thousands of homes are without electricity. Many schools are closed – as are the two main airports, with runways completely flooded.
An inundated care home in Dickinson, about 30 miles (50 km) south east of the city, has now been evacuated by helicopter after an image of several elderly women sitting in a lounge in waist-deep water went viral on social media.
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Source: BBC