welcome back. tropical storm harvey is pummelling southern texas, 70-mile-per-hour winds and torrential rain are giving officials reason to believe the worst is yet to come. despite harvey being downgraded from a hurricane, life threatening floods are still expected in the coming days. i want to bring in robert rocha, he's the fire chief of corpus christi, a city which is also seen and experienced some damage. so, chief, what are you seeing right now? >> good afternoon, everybody. the city of corpus christi was hit last night by hurricane harvey. we had a lot of downed power lines. we had some water, we had some high winds. we do have debris in the streets. and some lights are out. what we are seeing is wide areas of the community are without electrical power. it's impacting us greatly

because it gets pretty warm down here during the summer. so we expect power to be off for days, maybe even weeks. >> oh, my goodness. and then what about any rescue or recovery efforts? how does that power outage issue impact that? and what are you finding as you look for people? >> well, during the night when the storm was the greatest, we had to make sure that we only went on calls that were very necessary for first responders to be out there during the storm. however, corpus christi did not have very many rescues at all within our city limits. most of the storm, the most powerful part of the storm was actually north of us. and we prayed very much for those from rockport, victoria, and all those cities that are -- had a little bit more damage than corpus christi did. >> and do you have any idea how

many people are, you know, left the area, how many people are, you know, still unaccounted for? >> we didn't have that problem here in corpus christi. we did have people evacuate certain low levels of the city in particular padre island, mustang island and areas that historically have flooding in the past. we did ship a lot of people up to san antonio. fortunately though we did not get the torrential rain that we expected. we probably got less than five inches of rain last night and early this morning. >> very good. all right. corpus christi fire chief robert rocha wishing you the best in your recovery efforts. all right. let's go now to rockport, texas, and where we find our nick valencia. it was a hard hit area. you're still getting some of the rain. what's taking place there? >> reporter: fredricka, this is

just about as bad as we have seen it all day long and this is just how hurricanes go. we just pulled up here to the public safety center, we're standing by for a 2:00 p.m. eastern news conference, but what i can tell you here the rain is just hovering over us. this storm system is just sitting on top of us right now continuing to pour down rain on top of us. that wind is still as aggressive as ever. there's been some developments here in the last time we were here earlier this morning if you remember the first shot we had from here was just in this intersection behind me. in that time we've seen so many local agencies from surrounding counties show up here. i just want to step out of the way. you want to show the ambulances as well that have pulled up here. those ambulances were not here this morning. there's at least three, maybe four of them that i can count from my vantage point. a lot of the assistance has come from these neighboring counties at the request of the local sheriff. rockport, we have been talking about it all day long here, it is one of the hardest hit if not the hardest hit community in

south texas. and we've been talking to residents. and what we've learned is it's just a wonderful community made up of people here who've been here for generations. it was last hour that we spoke to reuben, the owner of a jewelry store, didn't have insurance, he's been here about 15 years and lost his business. he says it's the same for the business next door to him, that jewelry store, that arts and crafts store that we showed you as well that was just leveled. all around this community it's building after building. we understand the local high school also took what we assume is a direct hit partially tearing off a portion of that building. we know homes that have been boarded up have had their roofs ripped off. we've even seen, you know, some parts of the devastation, animals here that have hurt, we saw at least two injured birds in the area. it was really a sad sight to see. unfortunately, the priority right now is not the animals, it's the people trying to make sure that everyone here is accounted for. those local officials from what we understand have been going door to door for the last

several hours trying to make sure that everyone is accounted for. we're hoping to get an update on any injuries or possible fatalities here at this news conference coming up in just about 30 minutes from now. fredricka. >> all right. keep us posted. thanks so much, nick valencia there in rockport, texas. so when the eye wall hit last night -- before i give you that perspective, i want you to hear from the mayor of rockport, charles max. >> there's widespread devastation. the description you had of the hotel wall that had fallen in, that is true. we had a description of damage at our high school and any other number of businesses and homes that are completely destroyed have catastrophic damage. as of right now i do not have any confirmed deaths mostly because the teams have not been able to fully assess the damage. they left the public works center about an hour ago, have

not yet returned. are trying to begin to assess the damage and start the recovery process. but the wind is still blowing at tropical storm values. and there's still blinding rain. we've already taken a severe blow from the storm. but we're anticipating another one when the flooding comes down from the interior of the state as the storm stalls and then all the rain heads back down our way toward the coast. >> rockport mayor charles wax there. so, when that eye wall hit last night, the images were truly remarkable. here are some of those dramatic moments of when harvey made landfall. >> we're being hit by a pretty significant ban from harvey as it is making landfall here, about 50 miles as you mentioned south of where we are. we're here in port lavaca. there's lavaca bay just in front of me here. and that storm surge from harvey is pushing water from the bay

this way. that rain is coming through and it is stinging as the wind is blowing it sideways right now. >> storm surge has been a big issue further up the texas coast. but here in corpus we've been dealing with mainly this strong wind. and it's been going for about three or four hours now. this is a slow moving storm, which means that these winds are going to stay strong at least for a little while longer. and so there's going to be issues here in corpus for a while longer. >> these are about some of the worst conditions i have ever been in during this type of a hurricane here. look at that wind right there. not only is the water parting, the wind is whipping it into a froth. there is no power anywhere in the city of rockport. we are starting to see trees go down everywhere. we're starting to see a lot of debris. in fact, when we were sitting in our live truck earlier trying to get our story together, at one point we thought the truck was going to tip over. and that's with two full grown men sitting inside. >> some people getting kicked out of this hotel.

the owner's a little nervous, because apparently half the building is missing. this is only from the front half of the hurricane. this is incredible. this is kind of our first look, guys, at the first half of hurricane harvey's damage in the parking lot. the eye is here, a second ago these were 140, 150-mile-per-hour gusts, now it's a calm evening. >> the white house released its own torrent of headlines overnight. details on trump's pardon of a controversial sheriff and yet another departure of a top aide. that's next. day 13. if only this were as easy as saving $600 when you switch to progressive. winds stirring. too treacherous for a selfie. [ camera shutter clicks ] sure, i've taken discounts to new heights with safe driver and paperless billing. but the prize at the top is worth every last breath. here we go. [ grunts ] got 'em. ahh.

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as tropical storm harvey continues to batter texas, president trump tweeted this morning that he's got an eye on the storm. the president tweeting this, closely monitoring hurricane harvey from camp david. we are leaving nothing to chance. city, state and federal governments working great together. with much of america focused on the monster storm, president trump now getting a lot of criticism for a series of headline moves made at the height of the hurricane's

landfall last night. first, the president pardoned former arizona sheriff joe arpaio, the controversial lawman was convicted of criminal contempt related to targeting undocumented immigrants and was facing an october sentencing. then word came that trump's controversial white house advisor sebastian gorka was no longer working there. and that was followed up by another major headline, as the president signed a directive banning transgender military recruits. cnn white house correspondent athena jones joins us now to walk through all of these developments and the storm of controversy that these moves seem to be causing. athena. >> reporter: hi, fred. well, when it comes to pardoning sheriff joe arpaio, this is something that the president hinted or suggested he would do in an interview, an exclusive interview with fox news earlier this month from his bedminster golf course. at that point he said arpaio had done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. we heard him on tuesday night hint at that rally in phoenix

that sheriff arpaio is going to be just fine but kind of joking with the crowd saying he didn't want to make this announcement that night to sort of avoid controversy. well, now last night we got the official statement from the white house at 8:00 p.m. on this pardoning, this decision to pardon sheriff arpaio. we saw the president tweeting out about it a couple of hours later. in the white house statement they cite the sheriff's more than 50 years of admirable service to our nation. but this move is getting a lot of blowback precisely what you'd expect from folks who are not part of trump's base, many of whom are immigration hardliners. remember what arpaio was convicted of. he was convicted of contempt for ignoring a court order to stop discriminating against latinos. this is a racial profiling case dating back a decade in which he was -- he and his sheriff's department were targeting latino motorists on the mere suspicion they might be undocumented immigrants.

so this is getting a lot of blowback, not least from one of the state's gop senators, john mccain. i'll read to you from his statement. he said the president has the authority to make this 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. and so, fred, what this does here is it seems -- we seem to have the president endorsing racial discrimination at precisely the time that he is getting a whole lot of criticism for his seeming to give comfort and cover to white supremacists in the wake of the violence we saw in charlottesville earlier this month. so it sends a message that if you're an ally of the president, the constitution, courts, the law, civil rights, constitutional rights just may not matter, fred. >> all right. athena jones at the white house. thank you so much. so let's get some more perspective on all of these big changes inside and outside the white house. we're joined now by doug hi, cnn political commentator and former

rnc communications director, alice stewart, former ted cruz communications director. good to see both of you. >> hi, fred. >> doug, you first. was it appropriate for the president to do this friday night at the height of a storm? >> i think when you see something happens on a friday night, you know it's not a popular decision. in this case i don't think it was a wise one either. for me what i worry about not just the decision but the ramifications for republicans running for office up and down the ballot next year. after the debacle we saw in charlottesville with trump's response just over the past couple weeks, i found it really hard to tell my african-american friends, hispanic friends that the republican party was a place to go to for policies that are going to improve america, help improve their lives. i think that argument just got a lot harder. it's something we're going to see over the next year, year and a half as republicans are trying to win votes. this makes it harder for them to do so. >> so, alice, the sheriff was very supportive of trump on the campaign trail. so is this kind of loyalty returned, or is there another

message here? >> this is clearly a political move. it's not about what's legal and what is right with the law. it's a political move. and as athena mentioned, it is repaying loyalty. the sheriff was one of the early ones to jump onboard with the president, also keep in mind this comes before the presidency. they were both hand in glove with regard to calling out president obama and accusing him of not being an american citizen and the whole birther argument. the two of them worked together on pushing that narrative. and pardoning the sheriff here was a way for the president to pay him back. and also to give some red meat to his base. this is something that they support and certainly wanted to see happen. the president looks at this as a way to say, look, the sheriff did nothing wrong, he was just doing his job and he went about as many say profiling individuals in the state of arizona, he was doing his job. and with all of his public service he should be recipient of a presidential pardon.

look, i view this as he's looking at protecting his base. the transgender and military ban, he views that as helping out conservatives who had been more opposed to the medical procedures for transgenders in the military, not a total ban on them, but he's looking at helping out his base with regard to transgenders in the military and the sheriff with regard to sebastian gorka, the nationalist part of his base going to be a little miffed about that but hoping the other two issues will make up for that. he needs to look at much more than satisfying the base. politics is a game of addition and needs to add to his support and not keep it the same. >> but that doesn't seem a concern -- >> fredricka, if i could say real quickly? >> go ahead, doug. >> i would say intentionally or unintentionally this pardon sends a signal to folks who may be caught up in the russia investigation that whether they did something wrong or not, at the end of the day there may be a pot of gold for them coming from the president. >> oh, that's interesting. okay. well, on the issue of the

transgender ban though, to alice's point, if he is catering to appealing to his base, at what point, doug, does this president think beyond broadening beyond his base and broadening support? >> well, i don't think he has at all. and unfortunately, i think for republicans, at least a lot of the ones i talk to in the house of representatives, in the senate, you can focus on red meat as we call it on the conservative side all you want, but we had a whole month where we could talk about tax reform, a whole month to taub about repealing and replacing obamacare, those things as we move into a very difficult september that look harder and harder to happen. we're asking questions about whether or not we're going to be able to keep the government open, focusing on those things might be a better priority for the president and this administration than just throwing red meat at conservatives who haven't gotten some of the accomplishments that they'd like to see so far. >> and on this kind of trifecta of news, you know, with the resignation of sebastian gorka, so, alice, is gorka considered

to be, you know, a big threat to the president outside of the white house, or will he be advocating for this president outside of the white house? >> well, it remains to be seen. look, there's still the controversy over what came first, the chicken or the egg. did he quit or was he let go? the white house says he did not resign, he is no longer with the white house. so it looks as though he was clearly forced out. but, look, i'm going to look at this through rose colored glasses. look, we had steve bannon and now sebastian gorka who were really strong solid with the populist nationalist movement. they tried their best to try and continue their narrative in the white house and were not successful. bannon left saying he will go to war for the president on his behalf from the outside. i'm hoping gorka is the same, but i'm not really certain that's going to happen. he clearly appears to be angry, has been doing a lot of media since this happened to get his

side of the story out there. so let's hope that he comes together and furthering his agenda. but that remains to be seen. >> and, doug, can you tell whether he'd be an advocate for the president outside the white house? >> you know, we don't know, but fredricka, let me tell you my last conversation face-to-face with reince priebus about two months ago. he asked me what i was hearing, i said, well, it's not very good. he asked how much of it had to do with staff. i said, reince, there's only one issue here and there's only going to be one issue. if you love donald trump, what this administration does, it's because of donald trump. if you don't love this administration and what it does, it's because of donald trump. that's going to stay that way regardless of who's hired, who's fired, what happens on a friday night with particular staff. it becomes very unimportant theater we all like to talk about, but it means we're taking our eye off the ball. this administration is about donald trump and donald trump only. >> all right, doug, alice, we'll leave it there. thanks so much to both of you. appreciate it. we'll be right back. when i received the diagnosis, i knew at that exact moment, whatever it takes, wherever i have to go...i'm beating this.

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justice is moving more than 4,000 inmates to facilities in east texas. and we're continuing to follow tropical storm harvey as it churns over south texas drenching parts of the state. texas governor abbott -- greg abbott has declared a disaster in 50 counties. and he says as of yet there are no fatalities from that monster storm. and on the ground we're hearing horror stories from the path of harvey. >> this is like 2:30 this morning and i just heard a loud noise. and i had my grandson. whatever he learned in school he was prepared because he ran into the closet and he had his hand above his head like this and he was in a fetal position. i'm so proud of him. and then we ran out and we went under the steps because there's a coat closet. >> it was crazy. it was like -- i was scared when i heard it outside. >> yeah, she was telling me

sounded like who's out driving in this weather. i'm like, baby, ain't nobody driving out there. and then she's saying like maybe it's a train or something, but really it's the wind, a lot of wind. but the tornado was coming through, passing through. >> so we saw the side of your mother-in-law's house, big holes all over the place, parts of the roof are gone. when you came over here were you surprised that this had happened? >> i couldn't believe it. i thought it was just going to be some wran and maybe the hurricane, but not expecting no tornado to happen. >> a lot of people have asked the same sort of question, can this happen again? i mean, we're on day one of maybe four or five days of rain and wind and that sort of stuff. are you worried you go to sleep tonight and you won't even know something like this is going on. >> it's not over yet. >> it's scary. it's the second time something like that's happened and we didn't see a touchdown last time, but just get in the closet or get in the bathtub, get in the center part of your house, get away from windows and all

that. it's a scary eerie feeling. i heard that whistling and that freight train noise first time. and, i mean, i really -- i can't explain it. it's scary. i'm grateful and blessed my house didn't get touched. >> this came from over there from that house, from the roof from that house from all the way damage the side of the wall. >> what do you think about something like this? >> devastating. first time, first experience, devastating. >> all right. living through a hurricane very frightening. to help those affected by the storm visit our website cnn.com/impact. i'm fredricka whitfield. thanks so much for watching our special coverage continues with a ana cabrera after this.

cnn newsroom, i'm ana cabrera. thanks for being with me.

harvey has been downgraded to tropical storm and officials warning the worst is yet to come. the center is hovering around victoria, texas, that is southwest of houston. it is packing strong winds just below hurricane strength. but right now the major concern is torrential rain and flooding. the national hurricane center warns there will be catastrophic and life threatening flooding. the governor says some areas have already seen 20 inches of rain and another 20 to 30 more could be on the way in some places. harvey took down trees, power lines and knocked down buildings. officials say nearly 300,000 people are without power. rockport, texas, a coastal town about 10,000 or so, was among the hardest hit areas overnight. the mayor there ominously warning anyone planning to ride out the storm to write their name and their social security number on their arm just in case of the worst and their bodies need to be identified. today, people woke up to the widespread devastation, but no deaths have been