A six-month-old baby was swept away in the devastating floods triggered by Hurricane Harvey last weekend, said Texas police.

Rescue workers found a couple clinging to a tree in Walker County, southeast Texas, on 27 August. They had been trying to flee the floods in Houston in their pickup truck when they became trapped in high water on Highway 150 and were forced to seek refuge in a tree.

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The couple's baby was swept from their arms as they waded through the water.

"The current was so fast, it ripped the baby out of their arms, so the baby was lost," Jimmy Williams, a firefighter for the New Waverly Fire Department, told local media.

He said that firefighters spent more than three hours trying to rescue the parents and have been trying to locate the baby ever since, but without any luck so far.

"It's the worst," Williams said. "It's as bad as you can imagine."

At least 47 people are believed to have lost their lives in the storm and the death toll continues to mount as water levels remain high throughout the state. More than 40,000 residents have been displaced and are being housed in shelters and more than 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

President Donald Trump and his wife Melania visited Texas earlier this week, but stayed away from the disaster zone. The president was criticised for not meeting victims of the flooding. When he visited the state this weekend, Trump made a point of spending time with Harvey victims by going to a food distribution centre and handing out packed lunches.

President Trump said: "I think people appreciate what's been done. It's been done very efficiently, very well, and that's what we want. We've very happy with the way things are going. A lot of love. There's a lot of love."

Trump is viewed as handling this crisis efficiency and has given his administration the chance to distance itself from federal investigations, failed legislative efforts and staff shakeups that have so far dogged his presidency.

By hundreds died when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, when George W. Bush was in the White House. Federal authorities didn't know how bad that disaster was until it was too late, leaving the poor without any reliable means of transport to escape.