Harvey sets preliminary US rain record with 51.88 inches: National Weather Service

— -- Tropical Storm Harvey, which first made landfall Friday as a Category 4 hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm that has circled over southeastern Texas for days, has broken the contiguous-U.S. rainfall record for a tropical storm, preliminary data shows, according to the National Weather Service.

Breaking the previous mark of 48 inches, Harvey recorded a preliminary 51.88 inches at Cedar Bayou, Texas, about 30 miles from Houston, the NWS reported.

The storm, which dropped a foot of rainfall from Galveston, Texas to Beaumont, Texas, overnight, according to ABC News' meteorologists, is not expected to relent just yet.

Gulf Coast residents struggle to recover after Hurricane Harvey

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Members of First Baptist Church of Loeb chain saw pews and clean up the church on U.S. 69 that had eight feet of water in it due to Hurricane Harvey flooding in Lumberton, Texas, Sept. 7, 2017.

Bob Daemmrich/Polaris

Heavy rain is forecast to continue in the eastern part of the state, where an additional 6 to 12 inches of rain are possible in spots over the next 24 hours.

Rain could be heavy at times in Houston, where rescuers are already battling severe flooding, over that same span. An additional 6 inches of rain is possible there.

Houston will possibly see an end to the rain by Wednesday afternoon, ABC News meteorologists suggest.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told ABC News' "Good Morning America" Monday that he expects the aftermath of Harvey to be "horrific," leaving a mess that will "take years" to rebuild.

ABC News' Daniel Peck and Max Golembo contributed to this report.