Canadian expats living in Texas said they鈥檝e gone days without sleep as the remnants of hurricane Harvey continue to deluge the southeast coast Sunday.

Megan Giffin-Scheffers, who moved from Halifax to Houston four years ago, said 鈥渆verything is overflowing鈥� in the Texas city, which is the fourth-largest in the U.S., as rising waters force thousands of people out of their homes.

Giffin-Scheffers, a mother of three, said she hasn鈥檛 slept properly in two days as she and her husband take shifts on the lookout for signs of danger.

Every time her phone lights up with a tornado alert, her family has to hunker down in their pantry as wind gusts howl through the city like 鈥漟reight trains,鈥� she said.

鈥淎s Canadians 鈥� I don鈥檛 think we really understood the impact of a hurricane,鈥� Giffin-Scheffers said in a phone interview. 鈥淚鈥檓 homesick every single day, and when something like this happens, that鈥檚 just when I want to pack up and move back.鈥�

Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who is training in Houston, posted photos to social media of neighbourhoods flooded with murky waters that almost fully submerged a car.

鈥淔eeling like an ant in an anthill today, here by the grace of Mother Nature,鈥� he tweeted. 鈥漇ometimes we get stepped on.鈥�

Isabelle Dion, who is from Saint-C茅saire, Que., says her home in Houston has been spared from damage, but it鈥檚 scary not to know what will happen when night falls.

鈥淚magine a shower that鈥檚 full capacity and it never stops,鈥� said Dion. 鈥淭ornado warnings, and tornado warnings. Every five minutes of the night your cell phone goes on, and it鈥檚 very difficult.鈥�

Canadian engineer Raihan Khondker said his family safely left their home in southeastern Texas, but he returned to the Bay City area as part of a support team at a nuclear power plant.

For three days, Khondker, who is from Toronto, has been working tirelessly to manage 鈥渙ne thing after another,鈥� driving through water-choked streets to help out where he can.

Khondker said houses in his neighbourhood have been turned 鈥渦pside down,鈥� and rising waters in a nearby river threaten to send a potentially catastrophic flood into the area.

鈥淓very single creek in the neighbourhood is full,鈥� he said. 鈥漈here is an imminent flood coming to Bay City, we just don鈥檛 know how much water we are going to see.鈥�

Harvey slammed into Texas as a Category-4 hurricane Friday and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, which is causing torrential rains.

鈥� With files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press