cleveland, ohio, for a huge basketball playoff game tonight, and even lebron james is calling for peace as protesters hit the streets in the wake of a police officer's acquittal. the mayor and police chief scheduled to hold a news conference next hour. want to wish you all a good morning at 8:00 on sunday morning. i am christi paul. >> yeah am so johns in for don lemon. >> record-breaking floods claimed the life of a firefighter in claire moore, oklahoma. people are being told to evacuate to safer ground, and this as major roadways are

closing due to dangerous amounts of water accumulating on the roads. >> what are you seeing there? >> reporter: good morning. yeah, even before we sought overnight rains that we got here, roads like this one were already flooded out, already shut down, and residents here have been on edge. relentless rain pounding parts of the plains. causing severe flash flooding in oklahoma. in wichita falls, texas, truckloads of sand continued arriving on saturday as volunteers worked round the clock to fill up the bags. all in an effort to help residents in low-lying areas that are scrambling to prepare for what could turn out to be a record flood. city leaders on alert. >> we will have to wait and see

how this progresses. >> the water line would be from the edge there, about 12 inches down, and that's about as max as it usually gets. >> tom becker and his wife, carrie, are among the hundreds of people in wichita falls who have been forced to leave their homes. >> it's overwhelming. you don't know where to go or what to do or how bad it's going to be. >> they packed up their valuables and had to get creative with protecting what they are leaving. >> you know, we have got stuff way up high now. >> there is no doubt there is an inconvenience the becker's say, but they welcome the water. the city has been under krout conditions for the past five years, and their prayers for rain, answered. >> we don't have water, and that's a big deal. we are blessed people. it's hard to look at this and say you are blessed, but we are blessed. >> you were praying for rain,

right? >> absolutely. i stopped, i stopped about two days ago. >> this area, the last time it had major flooding was in 2007 when the wichita river reached 24 feet. the latest information we have from the national weather service is now suggesting the wichita river will actually crest later today at about 21.5 feet, and that it will stay above flood stage through wednesday, but it's good news because these people here were expecting floodwaters to be much higher than they are. i want to show you something really quick. this is a good sign. you can see the water seems to be starting to go down at least where we are right now. >> we certainly hope that's the case. thank you so much. >> joining us on the phone, robert copeland, he lives just outside wichita falls, and you

sent us pictures you have taken of the west fork of the trinity river. give us an idea of what you are seeing. >> joe, like you say, it's been a long time since we have seen this much water in this area. two lakes fed by the wichita river and the trinity river runs on to ft. worth, has not seen that much water in a long time, and way out-of-bounds along the highway, and you can see in the pictures i took, it got crazy there for a few days. water across the roads in several places, a lot of detours going around, so it has been kind of crazy, but i am not complaining. i am a farmer, so i will take it. >> you have been seeing a lot of evacuations where you are? >> they have evacuated people in wichita falls, and as far as i know that's the only town that

has been hit really bad, and they evacuated anybody half a mile from the river evening from what i have heard. >> in past floods in that area, how does this compare? >> i think it was '07 or '08 the last time we had this much rain, we got 20 inches over a period of a month, and i have a good sized lake on my farm, which is about five acres when it's full, and it went over the spillway then, and last summer it was completely dry, and then now i am back at about 80%, and i sent urgent photos as well. with all the bad things that come along with it, there is so many farmers in this area, and you are not going to see a lot of complaints. >> a real mixed blessing there for farmers, and pretty good news it looks like, robert copeland, and stay safe.

now let's bring in cnn meteorologist, ivan cabrera. are we expecting this to continue? >> picked up 20 inches in '07, and 18 inches so far in some areas, and the problem is we are not done, we are still talking about more rainfall that is going to be ongoing. what i am showing you here are the flood reports continuing from brownsville and austin, and then oklahoma and parts of kansas as well. i want to zoom in closer and show you what has been happening in parts of austin, and some counties here. you see the san marcos river, is and this is the issue running through hays county, and some officials calling the flooding catastrophic and evacuations underway, and water rescues as

well. also in houston, we did have a tornado warning just to the west of houston, and that has been allowed to expire. it was radar indicated, and what we have now for the metroplex here is a saw srer thunderstorm warning, and heavy winds and heavy rainfall moving through houston, and it looks like the tornadic warning has expired. it could spin up again as it pushes towards the east, and a break later this afternoon, and then redevelopment, that's the issue here. we have been stuck in this pattern and we have more to come, an additional four to six inches in the next 24 to 48 hours, and then the severe weather threat continues today, a little further to the east, and monday more heavy rain and severe weather for the areas hardest hit. it's going to be a while before we are done with the situation as the pattern does not look to break anytime soon.

guys? >> ivan, thank you so much. we appreciate it, as do the folks out there. we are waiting for a news conference with the mayor and police chief in cleveland, and they will address the protests following the acquittal of a police officer. we will talk to the sister of one of the people killed in the case. michelle russell talks about her brother, timothy, coming up next. the technology changes, the design evolves, the engineering advances. but the passion to drive a mercedes-benz is something that is common... to every generation of enthusiast. the 2015 dream machines, from mercedes-benz. today's icons. tomorrow's legends. visit the dream machine event today

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we're going to hear from cleveland's mayor and police chief in about 50 minutes. they will hold a news conference tonight at 9:00 eastern, and cnn will bring that to you live. this comes after protests that lasted late into the night in what police are calling multiple arrests. demonstrators filling the streets chanting no justice and no peace after a judge acquitted after brelo in the shooting deaths of an unarmed couple. lebron james is calling for calm ahead of the playoffs tonight, and can we talk about the mood and a little of what people are saying? >> reporter: that's right, joe. lebron james, the cavaliers'

star calling for fans to stay calm and remain focused on the game. the playoff game is scheduled for later in the day. there are real fears of violence going forward, and take a look at what he had to say about the importance of sports being able to heal the city. >> i think the sports in general, no matter what city is it, if something is going through something that is dramatic and traumatizing, i think sports is one of the biggest healers in helping the city out. >> this morning things seem calm here in cleveland, and yesterday we saw small protests that continued into the evening, and at least 12 people arrested in the protest. three people were charged after throwing some sort of object at a restaurant, and also hearing from the victim's families, and they are urging nonviolence although they are expressing

outrage in the court's decision, and we heard from the sister of timothy russell, one of the victims as well as melissa williams, saying there is no justice for them. >> thank you so much for that. we will be checking back with you. joining us to discuss this a little more is the sister of timothy russell, and michelle, will you describe your brother for us, for those of us who obviously never got a chance to meet him and have not been able to learn much about him? >> my brother was actually a god-fearing man. he loved the lord. he loved people. he was very sweet-hearted and generous, and my brother was not the type of person that the media -- i am not going to state media, but the police department has tried to paint him out to be, and they are trying to make him out to be that he was nothing but a common criminal

and that is not true. when the verdict came out, i was very upset. we had a chance to speak with the media and i appreciate you all having me on today. >> after all that has happened there in cleveland, if you had one chance to talk to officer brelo or give him a message, what would you say? >> i would hope officer brelo would know the lord personally, like my brother did. i hope if he had malice or intent to harm, that he would ask the lord to forgive him. we are christians and we love the lord, and it's what has gotten us through this horrible time. you know, we have depended on our faith in the lord and god has given us strength. >> five other officers, in fact, are still charged with

dereliction of duty as a result of this case, and was this the most important thing to you or will you be watching that? >> i will be watching. i have been involved, i have read all the depositions and i went through the report, and i have combed through this information. that's what has been so upsetting to me. when the verdict came out, i was just totally shocked about the fact that nothing was done. i had expected that officer brelo would not be charged for manslaughter, but i thought that something would, you know, take place. there was this testimony, and the evidence showed there was a support that coercion existed and the truth was not being told by the officers, yet nothing was done. nothing was done about that. i mean, there was text messages

and texts by police officers that supported a contradiction in the story being told. this blue wall of violence is definitely an issue, and, you know, the police version of what happened on that night, november 29th, 2012, it's not the truth, and it's not exactly -- they are not telling the truth, and i think that's what we need to focus on, and the focus should have been on that, and yet the judge only talked about bullet trajectory, and they only focused on certain things in the case, and they didn't present or talk about all the evidence that should have been looked at about how, you know, there was coverup. i really believe there was a cover-up and i do not believe that the chase happened the way the police officers are stating. i think they know what to say in order of getting off from being charged with any type of crime.

they know that they have to say that they felt their lives were in danger, and they did a good job doing that and presenting a false story about what really happened that night. and that is where i think my family -- we're going to continue to fight for justice and continue to speak out and continue to try and relay to people who my brother really was, because the person that they tried to portray is not -- it is not in character with who he was. >> michelle russell, thank you so much for come into "new day" this morning. >> thank you. most people would agree that hillary clinton, they believe, is the democratic frontrunner for the president in 2016, but who is going to be number two? some say this texan could be her vp choice. (music)

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we have news this morning out of iraq with isis getting closer to baghdad. jim acosta is hosting "state of the union" this morning. what is the administration saying about the gains isis has made in iraq? >> as you heard the president say last week when he was doing the interview with the atlantic magazine, he insists the u.s. is

not losing the fight against isis, but there are a lot of people that disagree with that assessment, including arizona senator, john mccain. we will have a couple iraq war veterans who will weigh in on that, and an alarming interview that barbara starr did with ash carter, and he says the iraqis don't have the will to fight, which i thought was a surprising statement, and we will hear about that as well, and also secretary of housing and urban development is joining us this morning, and he is going to give us his assessment on what is needed to turn around some of the cities that have been experiencing some of the urban unrest in weeks and months like the situation in baltimore and hopefully not the situation in cleveland, and we will get his take on what is happening in cleveland as well, and arlington national cemetery, it has a rich

history. >> castros, a lot of people talking about him as a running mate with hillary clinton. i am sure you will get into that? >> we will get into that. what secretary castro has said and i expect him to say again this morning, he is focussed on his work at hud, and we will try to get him to engage in 2016, and the mess with hillary clinton's e-mails and we have a political panel that will weigh in on that, so lots of 2016 talk as well as this memorial day weekend, joe. >> you are pretty good at getting people off message. i have seen you in the briefing room. "state of the union" starts at the top of the hour, 9:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. we will be right back. making a fist something we do to show resolve. to defend ourselves. to declare victory. so cvs health provides expert

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federal prosecutors are closing in on criminal charges on general motors. it's reported that gm likely

broke the law by making misstatements about the ignition statements for a decade, and a fine for gm could exceed $1 billion. >> and then war games in the nuclear site. according to iranian authorities, the missiles successfully shot down mock enemy drones flying over the nuclear reactor and sir rounding facility. >>. >> it's not uncommon for a baseball manager to be thrown out of a game, and it's uncommon before the first pitch is thrown, that's what happened to reds manager, price. price was reportedly still upset over the strike zone from friday night's game. it's the second time this season he has been ejected. >> apparently not fans. >> i guess not. we are so grateful you start

our morning with. >> inside politics starts right now. in new hampshire, the pitch. >> it's time we make the words middle class mean something. >> but will new e-mails bring questions. >> i will keep talking to my old friends, whoever they are. >> and president obama says we are not losing the war against isis. republican contenders all disagree but are at odds what to do about it. >> the longer isil is allowed to survive in iraq and syria -- >> jeb bush says he has righted the .