MILLIONS of Americans awoke to fires and flooding of biblical proportions yesterday, on what had been designated as a National Day of Prayer for victims of Storm Harvey.

In California, a massive wildfire affected 6000 acres of land near Los Angeles. Homes burned down and thousands of residents were evacuated as 1000 firefighters in 206 engines and nine helicopters struggled to contain the blaze, which followed a prolonged heatwave.

The suburbs of Burbank and Glendale were facing mandatory evacuation unless the fire, which started in La Tuna Canyon, could be halted. The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, has declared a state of emergency and called for help from California State Governor Jerry Brown.

Only 10 per cent of the fire had been contained, while an investigation into the cause of the blaze had not given any indication as to what started it, although temperatures in the area have been soaring above 30C for many days.

The fire has already burnt 5000 acres of land and Garcetti said it was “probably the largest fire in LA city history”.

He added: “The La Tuna Canyon fire is an emergency that requires all available resources to protect our residents and keep our homes and other structures out of harm’s way,

“We are grateful for the men and women of Los Angeles Fire Department, and all our partner agencies, for their heroic efforts to attempt to bring the fire under control.

“I have signed a declaration of local emergency that directs relevant departments in the City of Los Angeles to take all necessary steps to protect life and property in the area affected by the fire. This declaration also requests that the Governor declare an emergency, so that state and federal assistance can be provided to the city as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, in Houston, Texas, where there have been more warnings that floods caused by Storm Harvey will worsen this week.

The death toll, which stood at 45 yesterday, is expected to grow as the bodies of missing people start to be found when the flood waters eventually recede.

Across southern Texas, thousands of residents of flood-hit communities have returned to start cleaning up their homes, only to find that they have no insurance against floods.

Estimates by analysts of the insurance industry said as many as 80 per cent of those affected are not insured against flooding. The American insurance industry has long specified that floods are not covered — bit often it is only by checking the small print that people find that out.

The national flood insurance programme is supposed to cater for those who want such insurance, but in some areas less than 20 per cent of residents are signed up to it. It was also revealed last week that the programme is $25 billion in debt to the US Treasury following a long series of floods and is set to expire later this month in any case.

The National can reveal that more than 6000 residents of the greater Houston area have already applied for cash assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with a total of $38m already approved — an average of more than $6000 per application.

There have been calls across the USA for a new federal scheme of flood insurance, perhaps with the involvement of the insurance industry.

However, President Donald Trump was concentrating on the National Day of Prayer for the victims yesterday and waiting for Congress to answer his call for $7.9 billion in disaster relief.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said estimates for the damage could reach between $150bn (£115bn) and $180bn (£139bn).

Yesterday, Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, encouraged anyone living on the east side of the city’s flood control reservoirs with water still inside their homes to evacuate. as the US Army Corps of Engineers will be releasing reservoir water. in order to avoid a larger catastrophe if the city should receive more heavy rainfall.

The Mayor said: “Second storey housing and above will not be safe. Apartments, therefore, are covered by evacuation request. But only residences with water on [the] first floor. Water may stay there for two weeks.”