AUSTIN – Sunshine in Houston on Wednesday finally put an end to that city’s monster deluge from Tropical Storm Harvey, but even as the rain stopped, authorities said it may take a week or more for all the water to recede.

A state report said the storm affected nearly 49,000 homes in Texas, destroying at least 1,000 of them. More than one-fourth of Harris County – home to 4.5 million people in Houston and its suburbs – felt the crippling effects of Harvey.

Authorities said more than 32,000 people sought refuge in 230 Texas shelters during the storm, which began as a category 4 hurricane on the state’s Gulf Coast over the weekend, then morphed into a tropical storm, dumping a historic 4-feet of rain on Houston in four days.

That doesn’t include people who fled the area early to find a dry bed in hotel rooms and with family and friends, which is more difficult to track.

Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking at a Wednesday press conference held at the state operations center, said the state is still working to make room for more evacuees, as flash floods swamped Beaumont and Port Arthur on the storm’s second landfall during its eastern exit pathway from Texas.

“Importantly, we have approximately 30,000 beds that are available for sheltering as needed,” Abbott said. “And we continue to work on additional back plans in the event that more than that is needed.”

Many of these displaced Texans will be bussed to the Dallas region, he said.

Abbott also announced that 14 more counties had been added to the federal disaster declaration, with residents in all but three counties – counties such as Dallas that are assisting but were not directly affected – eligible for individual assistance.

More than 210,000 people have so far registered for the federal aid, with FEMA approving more than $37 million in individual assistance, the governor reported. Abbott urged others to register at www.disasterassistance.gov.

Abbott said he expected the federal aid for Texas to surpass of the more than $100 billion Congress appropriated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents central Houston, estimated the federal response will total around $150 billion.

“When you look at comparisons, the population size and square mile size of the area impacted both by the hurricane swath and the flooding – it’s far larger than Katrina, far larger than (Superstorm) Sandy,” Abbott said.

Abbott said President Donald Trump, who visited Corpus Christi and Austin on Tuesday, had given him a “firm, strong and unequivocal” commitment to restore Texas as quickly and effectively as possible.

Abbott said 24,000 national guardsmen, 10,000 of them from other states, would be deployed throughout Southeast Texas.

“As the water recedes, it is essential that we have as many people as possible to continue to go door to door for the rescue and recovery mission and the restoration of order mission,” he said.

Already, the guard had made more than 8,500 rescues and assisted with more than 26,000 evacuations, Abbott said.

The toll of storm-related deaths rose to 24 late Wednesday, including a mother who drowned in Beaumont with her 18-month-old daughter clinging to her floating body before the toddler was rescued. Another 17 deaths were being investigated in the Houston area.

Abbott deferred to local officials on fatalities, but he did leave people with this warming:

“Many of the lives, if not most of the lives, that have been lost in this devastating storm so far are lives that have been lost because of people who were driving vehicles into flooded waters,” he said. “Do not drive your vehicle into flooded waters.”

Authorities said the staggering cleanup task will become monumental as the receding waters leave behind all manner of wreckage. In some areas, agricultural chemicals and human and animal wastes will be mixed with the debris. There will also be tons and tons of mud laminating homes and buildings.

“We expect a many year recovery in Texas and the federal government is in this for the long haul,” said Elaine Duke, acting Homeland Security secretary, at a briefing Wednesday.

Jill Nolin is a state reporter out of Atlanta for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.