Meanwhile, floodwaters reached the rooflines of single-story homes in Houston and people could be heard pleading for help from inside. The nation’s fourth-largest city remained largely paralyzed by one of the largest downpours in U.S. history. And there was no relief in sight from the storm that spun into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane, then parked itself over the Gulf Coast. Nearly 2 more feet of rain is expected on top of the 30-plus inches in some areas of the state.

Harvey “does remain a tropical storm and it’s going to drop an awful lot of rain” on Louisiana, Edwards said at a news conference Monday. “We do have a long way to go with this particular storm.”

“Harvey’s circulation is crawling eastward and the center of the storm is forecast to track through the state of Louisiana later this week,” said Fox News Meteorologist Janice Dean. “The steady flow of winds over the Gulf will put Louisiana in line for a steady stream of heavy rain, including cities like Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans.”

Southwestern Louisiana could get 15-20 inches of rain from Harvey. Flash floods warnings went into effect through Thursday as areas along the coast faced tropical storm warnings.