Houston is now 'mostly dry' following historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey

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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Thursday that the city is now "mostly dry," after having taken an aerial tour of the city.

The two areas still dealing with flooding issues are Kingwood and West Houston, Turner said.

Six days after Hurricane Harvey roared ashore in southeastern Texas, officials and residents have begun to assess the storm's trail of destruction in Houston as the flood waters slowly started to recede.

First responders, as well as urban search and rescue teams, launched a block-by-block, door-to-door search of badly flooded areas of Houston today to conduct recovery operations now that the weather has cleared and the rain has finally stopped.

On Thursday, the Houston Fire Department had received 800 service calls, but only 22 were water-related, a spokesperson said. Since the operation began, the fire department has received about 16,000 service calls, about 7,600 of which were water-related.

Police had participated in three rescues in high water between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. Thursday, a spokesperson said Thursday. Officers are still searching for 19 people who were reported missing, the spokesperson said.

The number of people in shelters is going down, Turner said. By the end of Friday, the people at the Toyota Center will be transferred to the George R. Brown Convention Center.

The Toyota Center had been opened as a result of overcrowding at the convention center, which housed 10,000 people at its peak. Less than 8,000 people are currently at the convention center, Turner said. There are still 37,000 homes in the area without power

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