>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. thanks for joining us, everyone. welcome to the "cnn newsroom" from atlanta. i'm cyril vanier. >> and i'm natalie allen. a major storm, hurricane harvey bearing down on the texas gulf coast. >> it made land fall as a category 4 storm, now downgraded to 3. officials warn it could be the worst storm to hit the area since hurricane katrina. >> we all remember that. president trump has declared

disaster relief for the area. but not before pardoning arizona sheriff joe arpaio. arpaio refused to obey a court order to stop routine ly detaining people on suspension. >> and on top of that another white house official is out the door. counterterrorism adviser sebastian gorka has left his position. but there have been mixed messages on whether he was fired or whether he resigned. >> so, we'll continue to look at those stories, the next hour. but we'll turn to the storm. our reporters are on the ground in the thick of it. and tracking the storm is martin savidge in corpus christi. martin, a category three, but

quite dangerous. >> reporter: absolutely, a category 3 considered to be a major hurricane. remember, harvey was predicted to come ashore as a category 3 but it actually jumped up to a category 4 which is a monster of a storm. the wind speeds were projected to get as high possibly as 145 miles an hour. did not reach that, we don't believe. but still, you had some intense gusts, and we are still feeling the brunt of those winds. that's the thing, the storm has so slow to move. it is pushing away from here, but that only mean, it's pushing somewhere else. and it's remained remarkably organized. if it's still a category 3 that tells you about its size and about its power. and as the power of the next 24, 36 and 72 hours because it will transition from being a major hurricane to being one huge rainmaker. and that is the real serious problem, they see with this storm.

it blossomed out of the gulf of mexico about 72 hours ago. originally, this was not a storm considered to be too severe. but it exploded with intensity. that didn't give people a lot of warning. they were able to evacuate large numbers of people, say, to san antonio, but tonight, it's going to be daylight that reveals what has really happened here in south texas. the damage. and then on top of that, what will the floodwaters bring. so, we're not really getting out of any storm. we're just transitioning into a different phase of what could still be a great catastrophe here, natalie. >> as to the extent of the damage, it's still nighttime for the moment. very difficult to depart from the shots that we're getting. let's go to san antonio, that's where martin was just telling us that's where some people have left parts of texas to go to. and our eric van dam is there. what's the situation right there

now. >> good morning, cyril and natalie. we are the largest city, just outside of the mandatory and voluntary evacuations along the southeast coast of texas. now, winds have been blustery all evening, from the strongest gusts here, just under tropical storm force. but still enough to take down a few tree limbs that we've seen walking along that riverway which is that quintessential backdrop that you'd expect to see in san an antonio. san antonio has been rec sized as the federal and state governments as an area of refuge for people during a natural disaster like this. they actually can vum here to seek shelter. in fact, fema has done tremendous work trying to set up shelters. in fact, they said they've had the ability to house up to 26,000 people. they've had 96,000 liters of water shipped into the area. as you can imagine, this is

ground zero for all of the operation, once we get that first glimmer of light early on the morning. once that storm begins to slowly turn inland. it's about the movement of the storm. it's moving slow, natalie, cyril, the rainfall, the flooding and the winds still a threat for the days ahead something we'll be monitoring very closely. >> derrek, thank you, martin, thank you. we've just been told in the fast five seconds this is now a category 2 storm. so, hopefully, that means these winds will continue to slowly, slowly settle down. but as you say, this is going to be a major rain event. and it's going to be with the state of texas for quite some time. thank you. you're looking at video here near pock ort, rock ft. texas, somebody in rockport right now, carl hackman. he joins us with his thoughts on the storm and what's it's been

like for you. carl, i know you just moved recently to texas. and this is the first time you've been in something like this? >> yeah, yeah, we moved to texas, two years ago, from minnesota. and it's our family's first time dealing with one of these. we saw like a tropical storm or small hurricane. and it pretty rapidly evolved into this. so, definitely, been some sleepless nights. >> and where are you staying in your home? how are you able to make sure you're protected? >> well, we're in a home that -- we're actually staying with my folks who live off about five minutes from our house. hopefully, our house is okay. and the home is can able to withstand. we're able to hunker down. we do have power because we have a backup generator.

we have the kids and the dogs and the cats. and everyone in an office room that's kind of an inside room that only has one window that was pretty well protected. and, you know, we've just been kind of eating snacks and telling stories and trying to ride the storm out. keeping the kids entertained so they don't listen to the noise. >> yeah. i was going to ask you. there's really nothing like the noise of a hurricane. what has is that been like for you? >> it has been real intense. living in minnesota, you know, we definitely dealt with some extreme weather. and big thunderstorms. but it doesn't compare to this. this storm -- but going on from, i guess, somewhere around 6:00 this evening, until still going on now, i mean, there's still

winds coming and pelting the windows. that's why i'm operating on kind of keeping watch while everyone else gets some rest. >> i understand that. karl. stay safe. we're glad your family's safe. hurricane is never anything to take likely, that's for sure. moving from minnesota, that's a rude awakening, karl hattman from rockport, texas. >> just trying to figure out where the storm is headed and if it's going to get much worse. we have karen maginnis, karen, where is harvey right now? we know people have flocked from the coast inland. where is the storm right now? >> it's trekking along from the northwest at 6 miles an hour. 6 miles an hour, that's slower than what it had been moving yesterday. it was moving about 9, 10 miles an hour to the northwest. yes, it's now a category 2, oh, we can breathe a sigh of relief. no we can't. not for days.

we cannot underestimate this. because the computer models no matter which one you look at, the american one, the european one, it is all significantly off. where they talk about it being catastrophic, historic, life threatening, they don't use those words lightly at all. all right. it is moving northwest. i want to point out a couple things. interstate 35 it moves from san antonio to austin. and it whips thup this great base. that is going to fill up. you will see hurricane harvey category 2, had been category 4. the fourth category 4 to make landfall since 1970s. 47 years. so, now we have a category 4 hurricane making landfall.

and this is what it's going to do. it's going to trek towards the northwest. and impurity models are now sort of in agreement that this is going to make a loop. not a goldplate agreement, because there's no scary current here. knowledge in the atmosphere to sweep it through. not a cold front to sweep it through. nothing else. it is over land. we may even see it weaken to tropical storm intensity. all of these curlicues that you're seeing moving around here. there are some outliers, north to the north and west. in this basic, cyril and natalie, some computer models are saying 20 inches of rain, maybe 30 inches of rain, outliers, 30 to 40 inches of rain. >> those curlicues aren't happy

curlicues are they? not at all. thank you. >> it's important to remind the viewers even though the hurricane has been downgraded from 4 to 3 now to 2, it still remains very dangerous. we'll have more on that later on in the show. also another shake-up at the trump white house with a controversial adviser out of a job be and a strong trump supporter convicted of criminal contempt who won't be punished. heavy rain and winds beating down as the hurricanes continue to sweep across the state. we'll continue to stay on top of it for you. you're watching cnn breaking news. ♪

new band-aid® brand skin-flex™, bandages. our best bandage yet! it moves like a second skin. better? yeah. good thing because stopping never crosses your mind. band-aid® brand. stick with it™

we continue to take you through this hurricane moving in along the tblgts exas coast. it is a powerful one. it made landfall with wind speeds up to 125 miles an hour. just about four or five hours ago. it's 200 kilometers per hour. if you're joining us from another place outside of the u.s. it has been downgraded in the past two minutes to a category 2. but people have lost power. hundreds of thousands have lost power. extensive damage has been reported so this storm is very powerful and continues to move very slowly. >> and rain is a major factor where officials say the continued storm could drop as much as 40 inches.

that's a little more than one meter of rain. president trump issued a disaster declaration. and the national weather service in houston say the combination of wind and weather could leave parts of the state unhabitable for weeks even months. it was a busy friday night for the trump administration, even discounting the storm. for starters, the president issued a pardon to one of its bigger supporters. he broke the news on twitter. he said this. i am pleased to inform you that i've just granted a full pardon to 85-year-old american patriot sheriff joe arpaio he kept arizona safe. >> and then ignoring a court order to stop racial profiling. mr. trump strongly hinted he would pardon arpaio at a rally earlier in the weeks. but arpaio wasn't the only head line from this day.

>> controversial presidential adviser sebastian gorka, that's him right there, is out of the white house. and the president also keeping transgender people out of the military. we get the latest from cnn's alexander m alexand alexander marquardt. >> white houses have long been known for dumping stories negative for them on friday night. but the trump administration has become notorious for it in the past few weeks. first, a presidential pardon to the highly controversial sheriff joe arpaio, convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to stop racially profiling latinos. now, the justice department making clear they had no role. and a source telling cnn this is the president's pardon. arpaio thanked trump on twitter. trump called him a worthy candidate for a pardon after,

quote, a life's work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration. then another bombshell, senior white house advice sebastian gorka out. he was a high profile spokesperson, they predicted would be time that gorka since steve of staff john kelly took the job. and a signed memorandum by president trump blocking transgenders from joining the military. it's a reversal from an order from president obama. president trump ordered a six-month study of transgenders in the military to be carried out by secretary of defense james mattis. in the meantime, it is unclear what it means for troops currently serving. so, while many questions still

loom, it is little mystery why these three stories broke tonight. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. and joe arpaio is known for taking a hard line against undocumented immigrants. >> our sara sidner has a look. >> reporter: the case against arpaio and the department's behavior began in 2007. a class action suit accused of implementing a history of racial profiling. and unlawful traffic stops of latinos. arpaio was sued if for no other reason that they were suspected of being in the country illegally. known for his tough speech and his rage and the intense cities for inmates to be housed and pink underwear he made inmates mare, arpaio argued he was simply enforcing the law. >> i'm the elected sheriff.

i represent directly to the people. i'm not going to be subservant to the federal government when they come up with month proof. >> reporter: but arpaio lost his argument in a suit. ordering the department to halt unconstitutional policing practices. according to federal prosecutors and a federal judge, arpaio and his deputies defied the order. arpaio declared that the order wasn't clear. his critics cheered the decision. >> racism in any form is wrong. and joe or pie yo, again, has been the center of racist policies and racist attitudes. and he has been criminally convicted. >> reporter: from the start in 1999, when sheriff joe arpaio was elected to office he began a crusade against undocumented immigrants. his deputies' actions terrified not only the undocumented but anyone who looked like they could be. >> donald trump will build the

wall. >> reporter: arpaio's fiery speech in immigration gave him a kind of celebrity status in circles and a kinship with the man who would become president. cnn, sara sidner, los angeles. >> and the man who calls himself the toughest sheriff in america, arpaio was also the prominent voice in the so-called birther movement. it sought to delegitimize barack obama's presidency by claiming falsely that mr. obama was not born in the u.s. joining us now to discuss this is david swerlik, a cnn commentator and "washington post" assistant editor. first off, david. let's talk about the sheriff. sheriff arpaio. what is the message that the white house is sending here. when the white house decides to pardon someone, who has been voted out of offices not that

that's a crime, but who is extremely controversial around the country. what's the message when you pardon him? >> first, they've announced this on what you would call this typically a friday news dump, even on a night without a hurricane. and on a night that has a hurricane, suggests for part of the american public they want this message to get buried in the news cycle with everything else going on. >> hold on, do you really believe that? does anything that this administration does get buried? it's always front page news? >> well, clearly, it's not buried. we're talking about it. there are lots of folks talking about it throughout the media right now. i guess what i'm saying, cyril, is that they had a choice to announce this. it seemed like they hinted at on president trump's speech in phoenix on tuesday night. but he hesitated. they could have waited until after the weekend to announce it next week. there's certainly no rush.

sheriff arpaio was not going to jail or something like that. so, they chose a friday night, late in the day, even though we know from an interview earlier, that sheriff arpaio and his lawyer knew about this order earlier in the day. and then you have the fact that there is this major weather event going on. but die take your point, we're clearly covering it. i think what else it's signaling, for president trump's base, he wants people to know he still is going to be an immigration hawk. even though he's gotten some pushback on his immigration policy. before that, he also is signaling that he's willing to use the pardon power. not at the end of a term, or end of a presidency as is traditional or not. as president obama did to do more clemency, for felons. this is a pardon albeit a minor crime, contempgts of court,

defying a federal judge, but president trump said, look, he's not going to hesitate to use his power that he clearly has. >> this looks political. several quells here, is there a precedent on this? you started touching on this. and what does that tell us about donald trump's relation to and respect for the rule of law? >> well, again, he does have this constitutional power to pardon. that being said, you know, this was a situation where the justice department had signaled to sheriff arpaio that what his departmental policy was racial profiling. and they, you know, issued him an order to stop the policy. sheriff arpaio continued to do that. and eventually, a united states district court judge held him in contempt for not following the directive of the justice department. and the contempt is the underlying crime here. it doesn't carry jail time typically. it usually carries, you know, just -- it's more of a slap on

the wrist. but the point is, is that president trump is saying especially that sheriff arpaio does not have to follow the rule of law. or the rule of a judge at least in this case. >> david, you look at this, do you wonder whether there are more pardons to come, whether this is a sign of things to come in the trump administration? >> i think, it at least again sends the message that president trump wants to sort of take the wrap off the power that he has, and take it out for a spin, pardon the analogy. and he didn't hesitate. it's not unusual for presidents to pardon. it is more unusual for someone to pardon someone for a crime where they're certainly not going to experience any jail time. >> cnn political commentator david swerdlick, thank you very much. the mayor of phoenix, greg stanton said it's not a proud

day for the city. he wrote this, pardoning joe arpaio is a slap in the face of the people of maricopa county, especially the latino community and those victimized. and donald trump can ignore the rule of law but it's our voters who removed joe arpaio from power. and the new sheriff said the court made its decision. the president had his. but the people had their final say in november. we're dedicated to earning trut and confidence from the community, while ensuring that the maricopa county sheriff's office delivers exceptional law enforcement services. >> and jake flake tweeted regarding the arpaio pardon, i would have preferred that the president honor the judicial process and let it take its course. >> and john mccain saying no one is above the law and the individuals entrusted with the

privilege of being sworn officers should always seek to be beyond reproach in their commitment to fairly support the laws they swore to uphold. and the president has the authority to make the pardon but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as mr. arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions." continuing on here, we're following the storm in parts of texas as hurricane harvey hammers the coast. we'll have the latest for you, coming up here. not if you want your phone to work. let me guess, you can't livestream your lobster roll. and my mobile pay isn't connecting and i just got an unlimited plan. right plan, wrong network. you see verizon has america's largest most reliable 4g lte network and now unlimited plans start at $40 per line, you know what i am saying? (laughs.) oh this is your seat. definitely. yep. just tucking it in. nah, i wasn't going to pull it out. when it really, really matters you need the best network and the best unlimited. now plans start at $40 per line for four lines.

hi, i'm and i'm johnny bench. and we've spent our whole lives around professional sports taking hits and catching our fair share of aches and pains. which is why we use blue-emu's pain relief products. blue-emu products; non-greasy, deep-penetrating formula that works down into your muscles and joints and works its magic. it's comfort that won't leave you smelling like a football gym bag or an old catcher's mitt or a shower mat in the locker room. how about an old pair of socks after an extra inning game. blue-emu, it works fast and you won't stink.

have you any wool?eep, no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. visit geico.com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance.

so it only made sense to create a network that keeps up. introducing xfinity mobile. it combines america's largest, most reliable 4g lte with the most wifi hotspots nationwide. saving you money wherever you check your phone. yeah, even there. see how much you can save when you choose by the gig or unlimited. call, or go to xfinitymobile.com. xfinity mobile. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money.

welcome back. we continue our breaking news coverage here at cnn. i'm cyril vanier. >> and i'm natalie allen. plenty of breaking news this hour. we want to start with the hurricane. >> yeah, we'll go back to that top story. hurricane harvey made landfall in texas at a category 4, packing winds of 130 miles per hour. that's a little more than 200 kilometers per hour. it's been downgraded since then to category 2, with top winds at 110 miles per hour or 180 kilometers per hour. even so, it's one of the most powerful storms to hit the u.s. since hurricane charlie back in 2004. martin savidge is right in the middle of this corpus christi, texas.

he joins us live. martin i'd like to address that with you. the fact that it's downgraded people might be waking up, tuning in, saying it's now a 2, how significant is that? does that actually change how dangerous that is on the ground? >> reporter: it's still considered to be a dangerous storm, there's no doubt about that, cyril. we've said that category 4 is a monster of a storm. category 3 is a major storm. so, 2 takes it out of the major category as far as measurement. but it's a storm you have to respect at this point. and the thing is, it's still blasting, even here in corpus christi, and it's been doing that now for almost, i would say, about ten hours. it may be a bit deceptive if you look at me here, but that's because we have a very large building in front of me and that's acting as a giants wind block. but on either side it's still howling and still very dangerous

to be on the streets. the storm is moving away from corpus christi, but that only means it's moving towards other high-population areas. and that's going to be the story not only for the next few hours, but for the next few days. and it's the next phase that we run into the rain. and the rain is continuing to fall from the sky here pretty heavily. and at least in the forecast, the numbers or the amount of rain is almost hard to believe. more rain than san antonio usually gets in a year could fall in the next six or seven days. that's the kind of outlook that they're talking about here. then you move into houston which is one of the largest in the state. in fact, it had devastating consequences for flooding. that's what may play out over the next couple of days. because in the next few hours we're waiting for sunlight. that will bring out the emergency response teams as they try to assess the damage. corpus christi, hopefully, not that bad. we know rockport, that's 60 kilometers to the north here. they're already talking about extensive damage.

the police here already out on the streets. you can tell they're trying to assess what damage has been done. but daylight is going to be the real teller on this one, cyril and natalie. and that, unfortunately, is not going to be good news. it may not be that bad here, but elsewhere, we're hearing it is really. >> and martin, you've been updating us throughout the night. of course, we'll want your assessment when daylight breaks. and you're reminding us that the rain and the flooding could be the biggest danger in this particular situation. martin savidge, thank you. let's talk more about that, with the american red cross, on the phone with us from houston, texas. and stephanie, this storm has gone from category 4 from 3 to 2. but what are you hearing, as far as the damage that's been done and what are you prepared for? >> you know, the red cross has been on the ground preparing for this storm over the last several couple of days. we're going to continue to be here. we have shelters in place. as the storm moves on, we have

shelters on standby ready to open. our number one priority is making sure that the people have a safe place to stay. >> and what are you hearing as far as anything about anything about power outages, where tens of thousands could be out of power. and the fact that this is a slow moving storm and it's the flooding that could really have an impact? >> as you said, it's a slow-moving storm. and the flooding that could be a huge impact. so, that's why the red cross is prepared with shelters all across texas to make sure we have safe dry places for people to stay. we're staying in contact with local management officials who are prepared to open shelters as needed. again, that number one priority is making sure people have a safe place to stay and something to eat. >> go ahead. >> yes, stephanie, just to be clear, people in the area, coastal area of texas or even farther inland and listening to

this, listening to you, in what way can they use your help? >> we have the shelters open. the best thing to do is heed the warnings if you're told tole evacuate, you should evacuate, mandatory or voluntary. they can visit redcross.org to get up-to-date information and emergency app, we'll have all of this preparedsness information that people need, as well as a list of shelters that are open. >> you're in houston. what do we know about what houston could be in store for, as far as the rain situation goes? >> yeah, the rain situation, it's looking as though we're going to get a lot of rain here in houston. and we know from past experience that flooding is again a major issue. all we can do is prepare. we can hunker down. and we just want to make sure that everyone is safe. so, we have it in place. and we're watching everything. and we'll be able to open more shelters as we did. and then when the flooding

clears and the storm clears, we'll have more people come in from across the country to help everyone recover from his disaster.stefanie, you're talki about people coming to you to help and shelter. are you at all in a position to reach people who can't reach you? >> the red cross considers themselves in advance the storm, we have shelters as far out as san antonio, texas, out that way, we move our resources to help us. we work with community volunteers and community partners to help set up the shelters that we have and get everybody ready to go. and again, be flexible for conditions to change. flooding can be very unpredictable. and that's why evacuation warnings are important that people seek those early and go to a safe place to stay. >> thank you very much. as you heard, they're preparing to provide assistance not just

over the coming hours but over the coming days. because that's how long it might take and that's how long people might be needing help for. stay with us, after the break, much more on hurricane harvey. the eye of the storm is inland right now over the gulf coast of texas right now. and we're tracking its path. ...so build a better website in under an hour with... ...gocentral from godaddy. the internet is waiting. start for free today at godaddy.

hurricane harvey, as it moves along and into the texas coast, up and down that coast. moving very slowly. it made landfall a few hours ago as a category 4 storm. it is now a category 2. still a very potent major storm. its winds now 110 miles an hour or about 180 kilometers per hour. >> and right now, the storm is hitting the coastline with those winds and torrential rains. harvey marks the first category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. since charlie back in 2004. >> our meteorologist karen maginnis is tracking the storm for us. you've been emphasizing, karen, how slow this storm is. category 2, it's still very dangerous? >> you took the words right out of my noutmouth, natalie. this is the big problem. we were all anticipating landfall.

made landfall around 10:00 p.m. local time. north of the airport in corpus christi, the corpus christi airport is closed. the victoria airport is closed. still has a clearly defined eye. still a broad shield of rainfall. but it's just not going to be moving very far or very fast. and i have made this point before, can't emphasize it enough. we go from laredo to san antonio to austin. pretty much that rain shield is going to be to the east of that interstate. not exclusively. but this is where we're looking at the greatest impact. now, this made landfall during the nighttime hours. and there were lots of reports on the internet as to what happened when this made landfall. we're still waiting for the official reports to come out. because somebody might look at something, maybe some -- a roof torn off. or maybe some bricks falling off. and you think that's major damage. well, there are different assessments as to what that is. but even though we have a

category 2, its trekking towards the northwest around 6 miles an hour. this still is deep tropical moisture. we may see this go down to tropical storm force. and already, in that upper right god gra quadrant, that's where we've seen some of the heaviest rainfall totals. oswald, texas over 9 1/2 inches of rainfall. victoria, texas, 9 inches of rainfall. and we've got days and days to go. and then we go into sunday with category 1. but cyril and natalie, this looks to be, according to our computer models, going to into middle of next week. it is still going to pump tremendous amounts of moisture across this region. and severe catastrophic flooding like we've never seen. in a lifetime. could occur across this region.

>> all right. thanks, karen. so much. we'll continue covering events in texas, of course, but for now, we want to turn to north korea. the u.s. says that pyongyang has conducted three more missile tests. one of them exploded after launch, but two were able to fly around 250 kilometers. that's about 150 miles. for more, let's bring in cnn's andrew stevens, he joins us live from tokyo. andrew, for each missile test is an opportunity to gauge where their military technology stands. and what threat pyongyang represents. what are we learning this time? >> well, the real focus of the threat, at least as far as the u.s. is concerned, obviously, is the longer language missiles, cyril. the intercontinental ballistic missile. the icbms. which have the capacity, most experts now agree to reach the mainland of the u.s. as you said, these missiles, they are short-range missiles. and there's also confusion actually to begin with.

first of pacific command, u.s. pacific command is saying two of those three missiles actually failed in flight. the third one blew out very soon after launch. that was later revised to say that two missiles actually traveled about 250 kilometers. now, at this stage, we dent know exactly what type of missiles they were. what north korea was trying to achieve. because they landed so close to the korean peninsula, it was not seen as a major issue for japan, for example, where i am. it was because it's too far away. there will be investigation into what was being launched. and how it was launched. but at the moment, as i say, the focus really is on the icbm, and we know that north korea has launched two icbm missiles back in july. that brought further sanctions from the united nations. and interestingly, this was the first actually seen by north korea since those sanctions were

imposed. ncaa, u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson was saying he was pleased with the restraint that north korea has been showing in response to those sanctions. now, obviously, that restraint has been blown away. >> all right. andrew stevens reporting live from tokyo. thank you very much. appreciate it. london's counterterrorism police are now investigating an incident outside of buckingham palace. two officers were injured when they tried to detain a man friday night local time after spotting a large knife in his car. the suspect has been arrested. he's being held under a uk antiterrorism law. in brussels, belgium, a man who attacked two men with a knife is being treated as a terror steak. authorities say he was known to police for petty crimes but not for having any links to terrorism. the two soldiers were slightly wounded. when we come back here, we'll continue to track hurricane harvey, the storm

hammering the texas coast, right now. plus, the way out using the storm could bury a presidential pardon. we'll have that after the break.

they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again megan's smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. go beyond brushing with act®. welcome back. a category 2 storm is hammering

the u.s. state of texas right now. hurricane harvey made landfall actually as a category 4 initially. it's been downgraded since then. but it still poses a major threat in the coming hours, maybe even days or weeks. we won't know the extent of the damage until the storm passes. and some models are predicting it will stay put until next week. >> in the meantime, the strong rains and heavy rains are hitting and some think the worst since hurricane katrina of 2005. and president trump has already declared a disaster declaration. let's get to derek van dam. derek, you earlier, kind of broke it down to explain in real terms how dangerous this amount of rain could be? >> reporter: yeah, it's an incredible catastrophic amount of rain that's being forecast here. and i hear karen talking about

it all night as well. we're, you know, we're not going to be anywhere shy of 30, 40 inches of rain. 500 to 750 millimeters for our international viewers. that is a substantial amount of rain in a five to seven-day period. you can imagine what that does in terms of flooding. so, right now, just to set the scene a little bit. i'm in san antonio at the river walk, this is kind of the quintessential backdrop to the city the 1.5 million people. and this city is no strangerer to flooding. you talk to some of the locals here, they always talk about 1988, how bad it was, the flooding in the suburbs and even around the city areas. but they have put in extreme measures to combat flooding, including dams, underground tunnels, all kind of can levees to divert from the area. so san antonio has to take a lot

of rain to actually see the catastrophic flooding. it's actually to the west and east that harvey is expected to meander. and you don't want to hear the word "meander" because it will sit for a long period of time. that's what we're expecting and that's why we'll see a lot of rain in a short amount of time. and another message i want to get out to people watching now that we've seen the storm downgraded from category 4 to 2, we're really splitting hairs here. this is significant in terms of the wind field. but don't forget about the rain event we have ongoing. this is really a one-two punch. we're going to wake up and see flooding in the next few days. that's the big story for sure. >> derek, i want to follow up on the rain. i think for people who maybe haven't gone through a major flooding event. they don't know how dangerous

stagnant water can be when you get to the inches that you were mentioning, 30, 40 inches. you can sort of explain that for us? >> reporter: well, cyril, if you have a flash flooding event. let's say the water rises by six inches in a matter of 15 minutes. that can actually knock you or me or a grown adult right off their feet. if you've got a foot of water. 12 inches of water, you can actually lift and float a small vehicle and wash it downstream. the car is actually the most unsafe place you can be in a flooding situation. i definitely want to seek higher ground anytime flash flooding is imminent as in this particular case. the low-lying areas that are susceptible to flooding that we're all too familiar with, cyril. >> derek making it very clear how dangerous it can be. that's important for our viewers to know right now. this is to be taken very seriously. especially in those coastal areas of texas and moving farther inland as dare eck was telling us.

derek van dam in san antonio. thank you for updates throughout the night. and thank you for watching "cnn newsroom" with ongoing coverage. >> and i'm natalie allen, it's just about 4:00 a.m. in texas, where hurricane harvey madelandfall. much more continues with "new day." keep it here on cnn. we danced in a german dance group. i wore lederhosen.man. when i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasn't finding all of these germans in my tree. i decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. the big surprise was we're not german at all. 52% of my dna comes from scotland and ireland.

so, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. get started for free at ancestry.com. ♪ whoa that's amazing... hey, i'm the internet! i know a bunch of people who would love that. the internet loves what you're doing... ...so build a better website in under an hour with... ...gocentral from godaddy.

type in your idea. select from designs tailored just for you and publish your site with just a few clicks-even from your... ...mobile phone. the internet is waiting start for free today at godaddy.

track your pack. set a curfew, or two. make dinner-time device free. [ music stops ] [ music plays again ] a smarter way to wifi is awesome. introducing xfinity xfi.

amazing speed, coverage and control. change the way you wifi. xfinity. the future of awesome. ♪ >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. good morning to you. so grateful to have you with us here. two breaking stories we're working on right now. as you were sleeping, hurricane harvey hilt texas head on. and the white house is making bhach headlines, after a wave of controversial decisions were announced late last night. >> let's begin with the hurricane. harvey has been downgraded to a category 2 storm. it is still dangerous, though, sustained wind it's at 110 miles per hour. the eye of the storm now whipping through the texas g