Aussies ready to battle Harvey in Texas

Australians in the path of the deadly remains of Hurricane Harvey are maintaining a positive attitude despite forecasts of floods, high winds and tornadoes in southern Texas towns and cities.

Houston, America's energy capital, is home to hundreds of Australian expatriates with major Australian companies including BHP Billiton, Woodside and Macquarie operating in the city.

A region from Houston to Corpus Christi is forecast to receive between 50cm to 76cm of rain in coming days, causing major flooding.

"There was some heavy rain overnight, we've had a bit of a break, but I think we are going to get wet again," Morgan Hughes, a part owner of Houston's popular Platypus Brewing pub, told AAP on Saturday.

"I grew up in north Queensland and my parents just went through (Cyclone) Debbie so I'm used to this."

The category four Hurricane Harvey pummelled the Texas coast on Friday with 209km/h winds, destroyed buildings, caused major power outages and has crept inland.

Harvey has dropped in intensity to become a tropical storm, but has almost become stationary while still dumping large amounts of rain and raising fears of major flooding.

More than 50 counties have been declared a disaster area and one person was killed in the coastal city of Rockport.

David Bryant, originally from Geelong, who's working in Houston for BHP Billiton, said the large contingent of Australian expatriates in Texas were keeping in contact via social media.

"I just found out an hour ago one of my buddies a little west of Houston has lost power," Mr Bryant said.

"Some parts have some pretty heavy tornado warnings and advisories but where I live, south of the city, it is quite calm and barely even raining.

Mr Bryant went to the supermarket on Friday to stock up on supplies and he said it was "mayhem".

"The essentials aisles were nearly completely empty," he said.

"I did grab a couple of beers, but I also grabbed some milk eggs, water."