Donald Trump has thanked his wife Melania for being "so dedicated" to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts as he revealed the first lady has been "very much affected" by the disaster.

The US President will make his second visit to the storm-ravaged region on Saturday, travelling to flood-hit Houston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Local officials have said 46 deaths are so far likely to be related to Harvey's impact, but fear the toll could still rise.

The US Coast Guard said it had rescued at least 3,000 people from floodwaters in the last 48 hours, while more than 150,000 homes have been flooded in one county of Texas alone.

More than 46,000 Texans have seen their properties heavily damaged with 9,000 homes destroyed.


Image: Thousands have been displaced from their homes

Mr Trump, who has pledged to donate $1m (£770,000) of his estimated multi-billion dollar fortune to relief funds, met leaders of disaster relief organisations in the White House on Friday.

Flanked by the leaders of the Salvation Army, American Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief in the Oval Office, the President took the opportunity to thank his wife - who joined him on his Tuesday trip to Texas - for her support.

"I want to thank my wife Melania, the First Lady, she's been so involved in this and helping so much," he said.

Invited by the President to say a few words herself, Mrs Trump said: "It's great to be here with amazing people and I want to thank all the volunteers all across the country that came to help in Texas. A fantastic job.

"We are going tomorrow to visit them and I just want to tell them to be strong and everything will be ok."

Donald Trump pledges $1m of his own cash to help Harvey victims

Mr Trump, who has declared Sunday a national day of prayer for the disaster, remarked: "I didn't tell her I was going to do that. And she did a great job.

"She really has, she's been so dedicated to this, this has very much affected her what's happened in Texas and neighbouring states, frankly.

"So I want to thank you, First Lady."

Harvey was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm after it made landfall a week ago and has since been reduced in scale to a post-tropical cyclone.

But, despite the weakening of the weather system, Harvey caused more people to evacuate their homes on Friday as it dumped heavy rain on Louisiana.

Image: At least 3,000 have been rescued from floodwaters in the last 48 hours

As many as 20,000 homes in western Houston could also continue to be flooded for up to 15 days as authorities told residents to evacuate as they planned a release from two reservoirs to protect the centre of the city.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott reassured residents the state's petrol pumps would not run dry thanks to the reversal of a pipeline that usually supplies Oklahoma, despite widespread reports of fuel shortages caused by panic-buying.

Mr Abbott warned it could take years for Texas to "dig out from this catastrophe" while, despite claiming the state is "healing fast", Mr Trump added there is "still so much to do".

The White House is expected to request $5.9bn (£4.5bn) from Congress in emergency cash to fund initial recovery efforts.

Around 325,000 people have already applied for federal emergency aid.

The White House revealed Mr Trump has not yet finalised which groups he will donate to, but said the President was open to suggestions.

A foundation established by Dell founder Michael Dell and his wife has pledged $36m (£28m) for relief efforts in his hometown of Houston.

Mr Trump was criticised during his trip to Texas on Tuesday for wearing a baseball cap which is on sale on his own website.

Meanwhile, the Queen has sent a message to President Trump saying she is "deeply saddened" by the disaster.

She said: "I was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and the devastation following the recent terrible floods caused by Hurricane Harvey.

"Prince Philip and I send our sincere condolences to the victims of this disaster, to those who have lost loved ones, and to those who have seen their homes and property destroyed. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected."