A man holding his dog walks in water in great Houston area, Texas, the United States, Aug. 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Song Qiong)

HOUSTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The priority at this moment was to evacuate people stranded in their houses, and the shelters across the Greater Houston have homed about 5,000 people, Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner told a press conference on Monday.

Experts estimated that there would be 30,000 in total evacuated to shelters.

A number of evacuations were carried out Sunday night and on Monday, as hundreds of rescues were conducted across the region.

Hurricane Harvey has slammed Houston and other areas in Texas with heavy rain since the weekend and the losses are expected to amount to billions of U.S. dollars.

After receiving an overwhelming number of inquiries from citizens and corporations who would like to help, Turner has established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund that will accept tax-deductible flood-relief donations.

The fund is administered by the Greater Houston Community Foundation.