Authorities have lifted an evacuation order for the area surrounding a once-burning chemical plant and a major fuel pipeline reopened in signs that Texas was edging toward recovery from the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey.

The storm dumped some 125 cm of rain on the low-lying Gulf coastal region after coming ashore on August 25, killing about 50 people and causing what the Texas governor said could be up to $US180 billion in damage.

Flooding led to a series of fires at the Arkema SA chemical plant in Crosby, a town of about 2,300 people some 25 miles northeast of Houston. Containers of the chemicals, which are unstable if not kept refrigerated, started igniting on Thursday after power outages cut off cooling systems.

Local firefighters under the watch of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality performed a controlled burn of the organic peroxides on Sunday in order to eliminate any vestiges and reduce the danger.

On Monday, the company said the Crosby Fire Department had lifted a 2.4-km evacuation zone around the plant, allowing neighbors to return to their homes, and that the company had opened an assistance center to help those affected find temporary housing.

The lifting of the order may help residents like Paul Mincey, a 31-year-old tugboat engineer who has been kept out the ranch home he shares with his girlfriend, return to normal.

A man disposes of drywall while salvaging through belongings from his family home in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, Texas, U.S. September 2, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

“It could be full of snakes for all we know. We have no idea what’s in there,” Mincey said from aboard a tugboat in the Houston Ship Channel, which he said was polluted by floating railroad ties, trees and trash strewn by the storm.

Like others forced from the evacuation zone, Mincey said he was eager to assess water damage from the storm and begin repairs while hoping for financial aid to deal with property damage.

The question of how to pay for hurricane recovery was also consuming Washington after Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday increased his damage estimate to between $US150 billion and $US180 billion.

Some 190,000 homes were damaged and another 13,500 were destroyed, the Texas Department of Public Safety said on Monday.

At least 33,000 people sought refuge in Texas shelters overnight, with another 1,300 doing so in Louisiana, the American Red Cross said.

Republicans and Democrats returning to Washington after a month-long break will need to put political differences aside in order to approve an aid package. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday challenged Congress to raise the government’s debt limit in order to free up relief spending.

In one indication of funding needs, the Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday estimated damage to public property at $US382.3 million.

US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet residents in a neighborhood during a visit with flood survivors and volunteers during recovery efforts of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, U.S., September 2, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

ANOTHER HURRICANE BREWING

The assessments took place as Hurricane Irma loomed in the Atlantic, still 905 km east of the Leeward Islands but a potential threat to the Caribbean and US mainland, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“There is an increasing chance of seeing some impacts from Irma in the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Keys later this week and this weekend,” the hurricane center said.

Current models do not show Irma entering the Gulf of Mexico, where Harvey dealt a major blow to the most important energy hub in the United States, taking up to one-fourth of the country’s oil refining capacity offline and driving up fuel prices.

But Colonial Pipeline, the largest American fuel system, said on Monday it would restart a segment of its pipeline in Texas that had been cut off, enabling it to restore the flow distillates such as diesel fuel from Texas to New Jersey.

The gasoline pipeline was due to resume operations on Tuesday (local time), the company said.

Most ports in Texas were open on Monday, some with restrictions on traffic and vessel size, said Colonel Lars Zetterstrom, head of the Army Corps of Engineers’ regional office in Galveston.

Reuters