Hurricane Harvey has dissipated, but the road to recovery has just begun. U.S. President Donald Trump has visited some of the areas hit hardest: Houston, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Recovery is expected to take years  and require billions of dollars-worth of support.

CGTN’s Nitza Soledad Perez reports.

The town of Humble, Texas, is beginning the recovery process by cleaning up and gutting homes. The sense of loss is overwhelming for many.

Zahid Qayum and his wife Meg said they will rebuild. Repairing townhouses like theirs is expected to cost more than $50,000 per unit.

“We do not have that money. So it will be a slow process for us, if we don’t get assistance,” Meg said.

U.S. President Trump, who visited Texas for a second time on Saturday, is asking Congress for nearly eight billion dollars in immediate aid for storm victims.

The people’s outpouring for the embattled city helps ease some of the pain. Volunteers are in shelters and evacuation centers, giving water to those who are out in the sun clearing homes.

Floodwaters are receding in most parts of southeast Texas, but the situation remains grim in the town of Beaumont. Flooding on the Niches River led officials to order more evacuations on Wednesday and prompted a water crisis, with the city’s water utility system knocked out.

Back in Humble, Zahid is also coping with no water, no electricity and no money in sight to repair his home, but he said he finds strength in his faith and community.

“It is a blessing in disguise because what it does, it brings everybody together and tighter and you realize that the things you were hung up are immaterial,” Zahid said. “Your life can change just like that.”

CGTN’s Sean Callebs reports on Facebook Live from the Brazos River in Texas

CGTN’s Sean Callebs reports from the Brazos River, 30 miles outside of Houston, where danger and peril from the intense flooding continues.