Donald Trump pledges $1m to Harvey recovery as death toll rises to 44

Waters in Houston, Texas had begun to recede on Thursday uncovering the vast destruction hurricane Harvey had left in its wake.

Emergency services and volunteers jumped into boats, trucks, and aircraft and combed the city and its surrounding suburbs for people still patiently waiting for evacuation as police rescued 18 people from Harvey's floodwaters in the early hours of Thursday morning, leaving mayor, Sylvester Turner to say, the crisis was "ebbing but far from over."

Downgraded from a category four hurricane to a tropical depression as it moved over Louisiana towards Mississippi, Harvey claimed 44 lives in east Texas, with the death toll expected to rise as recovery crews remove debris from the drier areas of Houston.

Donald Trump pledged $1m towards the cleanup as a plant in Crosby to the northeast of Texas that produced organic peroxides lost refrigeration as a result of the storm and exploded early on Thursday, with executives from Arkema, the operators of the plant, warning that a further eight tanks at the plant could burn and then blow.

Texas' department of public safety said 48,700 homes suffered flood damage, 17,000 of which were considered major with a further 1,000 completely swept away.

Stagnant waters were scorched by the sun and rising temperatures on Friday, leading the city's health department to caution residents to be mindful of contamination and diseases like cholera or typhoid.

It had not been clarified if the president's $1m donation would be coming from him directly or his controversial private foundation, but he was said to be travelling to Texas on Saturday with the first lady in order to assess the levels of supplementary spending required to ease the recovery process.