More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when Harvey slammed into the Lone Star State last Friday night, and some cities are left without water as the storm continues to dump record-setting amounts of rain.
After touring the devastated Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday more than 300,000 people have applied for disaster aid as the region begins to put the pieces of their lives back together.
Now that flood waters have receded enough for the recovery mission to begin, the death toll is expected to rise past 47 when most of the water is gone from Houston and Harris County by Friday or early Saturday.
Texan fire fighters were going door-to-door in a grim search for survivors and victims of Hurricane Harvey as hospitals and homes that were the last to be hit are evacuated on Thursday.
At least two the dead recovered in the waters were from the areas shown in the striking aerial satellite photos included in this story.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said previously that he feared how many bodies his officers would find. His bleak outlook was echoed by Fire Department Chief Terry Garrison at a press conference late on Tuesday night.
As emergency crews switched their efforts from rescue to recovery mode on Thursday, the military faced harsh criticism for how it has handled the catastrophe which has been described as a 1,000-year-flood.
Residents in some parts of Tyler County, which has a population of around 20,000 which sits to the north of the city, were told to "get out or die" on Wednesday night as rivers overflowed, triggering yet more floods.
Anyone who chose to stay behind was told to write their social security number on their arm so that emergency services would later be able to identify their body.
There was also fresh danger in Harris County in Houston after two explosions at a chemical plant.
Fifteen police officers were taken to hospital for treatment after being exposed to the harmful substances which were released from Arkema Inc. Plant as a result of the blasts.
The fire was put out but officials are monitoring the site for more blazes.
In Houston alone, the fire department has received 15,000 calls for help since Harvey made landfall.
Some areas of the city continue to be at risk as water from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs is released, causing the flood level in areas nearby to rise.
On Thursday, 40 survivors were rescued from flood water in the city. The emergency services have rescued 3,500 in total since Harvey began.
Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms - a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.
Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey's path of destruction have flood insurance.
That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes.
Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.
"All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance," said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America who used to run a federal flood insurance program.
Hunter estimates that total out-of-pocket costs for flooded homeowners could reach $28 billion, the largest in U.S. history.
Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance. With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.
