US President Donald Trump hugged children at a shelter for Hurricane Harvey victims before serving food to the temporary residents of a stadium in Houston as he toured areas hit by the storm.
Trump pledged government aid to help residents in the fourth-largest US city as flood waters began to recede on Saturday and the scale of the destruction became more apparent.
The death toll from the storm has surpassed 50 and is likely to climb further as authorities continue to survey flooded homes, the Houston Chronicle newspaper reported Saturday based on information from local officials.
Trump was accompanied by first lady Melania, several cabinet officials and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for his second trip to Texas in a week.
Trump also met with volunteers collecting supplies at a Houston church, toured flood damage and met with Texas lawmakers.
Trump then travelled to the neighbouring state of Louisiana, where Harvey made landfall a second time and dumped heavy rain along the Texas-Louisiana border.
Trump told reporters that government efforts to aid storm victims had been "well received," and that he hoped his request for immediate aid would be quickly approved by Congress.
"They're really happy with what's going on," Trump said of his conversations with victims about the government response.
The White House late on Friday requested Congress approve $US 7.85 billion in emergency funding to deal with the devastation.
The figure would soon be followed by another request for $US6.7 billion, according to a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Trump also signed an amended disaster declaration to help Texas deal with the aftermath of Harvey.
Trump initially visited Texas on Tuesday as the storm was ongoing to be briefed on the disaster response, but did not meet with storm victims or tour devastated areas amid the ongoing rescue efforts.
Trump drew criticism for a tweet about "witnessing first hand the horror & devastation" in the wake of the hurricane, though his first visit to the state kept him at a distance from the actual disaster.
Water levels were dropping in Houston and no rain was expected in the area over the weekend, but authorities were still dealing with massive damage and the need to restore basic services.
In Beaumont, some 160km east of Houston, residents remained without water service and were waiting in long lines to receive cases of bottled water.
Local flood control authorities said nearly 4 trillion litres of water fell on Harris County, where Houston is located, and 136,000 buildings were flooded after Harvey made landfall as a category-4 hurricane one week ago.
Some 70 per cent of the county's 4,500sq/km had been covered in half a metre of water, said Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for local emergency officials.
