Houston (CNN) Their plight no longer commands the nation's attention, but the victims of Hurricane Harvey are still out there.

In neighborhoods throughout Houston, residents are working to pick up the pieces after Harvey's winds and rain devastated parts of the city.

Tosha Atibu's family had to flee their home in northeast Houston when the floodwaters came last month. Now Atibu, her husband and their four children are living in their gutted home as they start the long road to recovery.

"I know it's not a safe place to be, but ... I don't know where else I can go," Atibu told CNN.

Like all of their neighbors, the family has pulled everything out of their flooded home and placed the rotting items on the curb for pickup. Debris lines the curbs of all the streets. The area is pretty much deserted at night and in the early morning as residents adjust to their post-Harvey lives. It's the new normal -- people living part-time at home and part-time at a hotel or shelter, a frustrating arrangement that will go on for months.

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About 20,000 people remain in shelters or hotels right now, three weeks after Hurricane Harvey -- which killed 75 people -- rolled in from the Gulf of Mexico and inundated metro Houston with a record-setting 50 inches of rain. There are still several thousand people who don't have electricity. And residents returning to their homes are now dealing with mold issues and disease-carrying mosquitoes.

City officials and others worry about getting money for the recovery from the federal government. Harvey caused an estimated $75 billion worth of damage.

Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Downtown Houston is seen behind the flooded Buffalo Bayou a few days after Hurricane Harvey came ashore in August 2017. The Category 4 storm caused historic flooding. It set a record for the most rainfall from a tropical cyclone in the continental United States, with 51 inches of rain recorded in areas of Texas. An estimated 27 trillion gallons of water fell over Texas and Louisiana during a six-day period. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas NASA astronaut Jack Fischer photographed Hurricane Harvey from the International Space Station. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Steve Culver comforts his dog Otis in the hurricane aftermath. Harvey destroyed most of his home in Rockport while he and his wife were there. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Houston police officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son, Aiden, after rescuing them from floodwaters. Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A damaged home is seen in the Key Allegro neighborhood of Rockport. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A car is submerged by floodwaters on a freeway near downtown Houston. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Melani Zurawski cries while inspecting her home in Port Aransas, Texas. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas A graveyard is flooded in Pearland, Texas. Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Soldiers with the National Guard patrol Rockport, looking for residents trapped in their homes. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Evacuees are loaded onto a truck in Houston. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas People push a stalled pickup through a flooded street in Houston. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Rockport residents return to their destroyed home. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Rescue boats fill Tidwell Road in Houston as they help flood victims evacuate the area. Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas People wait to be rescued from their flooded home in Houston. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Volunteers in Dallas organize items donated for hurricane victims. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas When Harvey slammed the Texas coast and flooded much of Houston, volunteers sprang into action. Some came from as far away as the Florida Everglades, boats in tow, ready to rescue people trapped in their homes. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Larry Koser Jr. and his son Matthew look for important papers and heirlooms inside a flooded home in Houston. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Members of the National Guard rest at a furniture store in Richmond, Texas. Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Volunteer rescue workers help a woman from her flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas This aerial photo shows flooded residential neighborhoods in Houston. Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas Tammy Dominguez and her husband, Christopher, sleep on cots at the George R. Brown Convention Center, where thousands of people were taking shelter in Houston. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: Hurricane Harvey slams Texas An elderly patient waits to be rescued from the Gulf Health Care Center in Port Arthur. The facility was evacuated with the help of first responders and volunteers. Hide Caption 22 of 22

The struggles go on beyond Houston, though. People in the hard-hit towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur are still struggling to find basics like food and water.

Putting it back together

But pretty much everyone in Texas sends their thoughts, their hearts and their prayers to the people of Florida and the Caribbean who were pounded by Hurricane Irma -- because if anybody knows what they're going to face, it's the folks hit hard by Harvey.

There are signs of progress: Children are back in school in Houston, Beaumont's water treatment plant is getting fixed, and Interstate 10, which looked like an ocean during the flooding, is open again.

More than 120,000 people and more than 5,000 pets were rescued or evacuated during and after Harvey tore through, said the Texas Department of Public Safety.

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And people in Texas are relying on one of their strongest natural resources when it comes to times of trouble -- each other.

Harvey survivors like Lathan Oliver admit it's hard putting their lives back together and dealing with all they've lost.

"As you can see, it's a total waste," said Oliver, motioning to his possessions, rotting on the curb in the Texas heat.

But he's most thankful for what he and his neighbors didn't lose.

"We didn't lose a life in here," he said. "Everybody made it out alive."