Two more people have been confirmed dead in Texas in the wake of Storm Harvey, bringing the number of known fatalities to 44, eight days after it made landfall as a hurricane.

A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a huge magnitude-7 earthquake with an epicentre near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist in the US has warned.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf of Mexico coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, flooding low-lying regions, knocking power out to nearly a million customers and sparking fires across the region.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, threatening to flood low-lying regions and knocking power out to half a million people as transformers exploded in the pre-dawn sky.