Two feet of rain have fallen on Houston since Hurricane Harvey hit land on Friday night, with between two and three feet more predicted by Wednesday.

Thousands of homes have been swamped and roads submerged.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long said yesterday that 50 counties across Texas are affected by the flooding and it was likely to burst into Louisiana over the next few days.

At least two people have died and authorities are warning residents to get out of the area.

“Pack up what you need and put it in your vehicle and when the sun comes up, get out,” Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist Jeff Lindner told the public on Sunday night.

Houston is a low-lying city near the Gulf of Mexico coast and residents have long warned that authorities have done little to prepare for floods — establishing campaign group Residents Against Flooding, which filed lawsuits against the city for the way it had approved development projects without proper facilities for water runoff or other protections.

The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has pointed to rising sea levels and increased frequency of tropical storms as a result of carbon dioxide emissions.

But President Donald Trump stands accused of “deliberately destroying safeguards that protect our air and water, all for the sake of allowing corporate polluters to profit at our expense,” according to Tom Steyer of NextGen Climate.

Mr Trump has slashed EPA budgets and rescinded executive orders that instruct state and federal authorities to take climate change into account in planning and approving projects.