and has a blog, a big trump supporter. he said that he sees this as a clear signal president trump will pardon people who might be prosecuted in the mueller probe. he wrote, quote, the message of his pardon is donald trump has your back. no one will roll over on trump to avoid mueller's charges because people know trump can and will pardon them if they remain loyal. i heard democrats say that. but hearing a trump supporter say that seems even more significant. >> i actually disagree with that. i think this is -- arpaio is a publicity seeking birther who gets himself into trouble and blames other people. i can't imagine why he is standing behind him. it's a personal affinity. it ticks off the right people. he has the power to pardon him. but there's a pile of ige know minutous -- i think manning goes on that pile. perhaps this does. particularly because he is an avatar of toughness and law enforcement to some.

but he also is an avatar for abuses of power in law enforcement and some of the worst excesses there. there's an argument that some of this was politically motivated, the timing going after him. >> by the obama administration. >> right. but this is a guy who i think has gone too far in many cases. by the way, was voted out in a trump county in arizona 56/44 which highlights some of the divisions we're seeing on this stage. that's exactly what trump likes to do. that's what he is a natural at. >> to your question about whether this signals something -- first of all, anybody who thinks donald trump is loyal to anybody but himself, only needs to talk to steve bannon, rudy giuliani and chris christie. he is not going to be loyal to people. but second, there are a slew of state attorneys general out there who would be only too happy to pick up the thread if for some reason donald trump thinks it's a wise idea to pardon flynn or manafort. this will not be over. by the way, if he did pardon others like those guys, there's

a congressional investigation that's happening where right now they have taken the fifth, those particular witnesses. if they are pardoned, they won't be able to take the fifth. and you better believe congress will get them to testify. >> adam schiff, a ranking democrat, he tweeted a sim already analysis. arpaio action was appalling and political. it sends message to witnesses to keep quiet, stay loyal and get pardon. do you agree? >> no. of course, as somebody in that jackpot, if i had done something wrong, i wouldn't expect the president it pardon me. i don't expect him to pardon anybody else involved in this. representative schiff is on top of nothing. the russia investigation is going nowhere. now they're focusing on financial crimes that allegedly happened long before paul manafort ever worked for donald trump. >> how do you know? >> i'm looking at the same leaks you are, illegal leaks that are breaking the law every time they come out. the fact of the matter is, this arpaio pardon doesn't send a message to me. it doesn't send a message to paul manafort. this is all chatter.

this is all designed to distract people from the fact that the democrats have got a big problem here. you guys have to come together and sell your progressive doctrine to the middle, to the independents, the republicans. we have to expand our base, too. instead of doing that, we're sitting around talking about russia, russia, russia, which is absolutely nothing. he's not going to pardon anybody involved in russia because nothing happened. >> anna? >> bob mueller is sending out subpoenas to paul manafort's pr. what is chatter -- >> which has nothing to do with trump. >> what is chatter is everything we're doing. what is happening is that robert mueller while we are talking about it is focusing a serious -- is expanding his investigation. has hired a very professional team, specializing in things like financial crimes, like turning witnesses. all of this noise around it, you saying there's nothing, me saying there might be something, doesn't matter. the guy is focused. >> the truth is, we don't know.

we also know that there was at least willingness by don trump junior and manafort and kushner to attend a meeting that was billed as a russian government attorney with dirt on hillary clinton. that's not who she was. but there was willingness and we're told mueller is looking into that. the truth is, you know more than me because you've been interviewed. but we don't know what he's going to find. >> we're also seeing leaks that come out that there was apparently a member of the campaign who was trying to make meetings with russia. >> rick dearborn. >> no. this was someone else, and he was rebuffed every time. paul manafort said these are not the meetings we need to be having. we get the story this week on cnn that rick dearborn, the deputy chief of staff, said somebody is looking to set up a meeting with russians in an e-mail. rick has been on the hill for 30 years. when everybody else was getting off the hill, to cash in and make a million dollars, he

became a man of the senate, one of the leaders, one of the top experts on legislative process in the united states. if he is not safe in this investigation, if the leaks are coming out and embarrassing him and trying to smear him when he has done nothing -- nobody is safe in this situation. the fact of the matter is, inside those e-mails that all the committees have and the fbi has right now are also e-mails that exonerate the trump campaign and people like paul manafort and others within the campaign on stories that came out last year that were completely false. >> governor, let me ask you a question, are you concerned that your party, the democratic party, has invested so much in talking about the russia investigation that if actually it comes forward and let's say it's some minor financial crimes that happened long before the person involved was hooked up with president trump, that ultimately your party is writing checks that the facts aren't going to cash? >> well, i do think that we cannot just focus on an anti-trump message. although it's tempting because every day provides huge amounts of material to work with.

i do think that for us, as a party, we have to unite and lift people's souls and tell people that we are better than this as a nation. that means that we have to focus on a lot of the things that they care about, yes. but, you know, donald trump and the russia thing is one small slice. he also wants to do the wall. we don't want to do the wall because we want to unite. he wants to -- he says he wants to do infrastructure. he is attacking his own party. he's not going to get that done. we want to do that because we want to create jobs. we have to be for something. we have to call people to something higher. we have to have them be proud of america but not be divisive. he is utterly divisive. and that is an important contrast. >> i think there is danger in going just exclusively down the russia path. one of trump's talents is when he says something about the confederate statues and where does this end, he can count on the other side popping up and liberal activists saying i will take a

pass on columbus and washington. people feel like this is going too far. so i think to your point about people reaching out to the middle, both parties are doing a magnificent of driving the middle away from both of them. to ignore the left's part in that i think it gives -- this is what gives trump power. people will run the other direction super hard. that's what i'm saying. >> i don't think donald trump does from the perspective of why is he trying to distract us? we have been now in a steady stream of two weeks of distraction between charlottesville, which went on for days and days because of his ridiculous ham handed respond. then the transgender ban. now arpaio. one thing after the other, which has been distracting us from russia. doesn't matter. the guy not distracted is bob mueller. and he's the one that's going to make the decision. >> we have more to discussion. this conversation is going so well. our dear leader has allowed us to keep going and bleed into the next show. stick around.

we have gone over already. so stick around. coming up, we will talk more about president trump including his escalating attacks against his fellow republicans. that story next. stay with us. too many children in this neighborhood do not graduate from high school. the kids after school, they are alone and they have nowhere to go and we tried to solve that problem by having this wonderful place where they can be children. wtef is the washington tennis and education foundation. we help the kids with their academics, and we teach them tennis. we have retired teachers doing the tutoring and they're here every day. wtef is the sole beneficiary of the citi open® tournament. since citi® has become the sponsor of this tournament, citi® has helped us raise more funds. that means we are able to serve more children. i'm so proud of the fact that 100% of the students in wtef graduate from high school. these kids are keeping the ball inside the lines.

inside the lines. no splashing! wait so you got rid of verizon, just like that? uh-huh. i switched to t-mobile, kept my phone-everything on it- -oh, they even paid it off! wow! yeah. it's nice that every bad decision doesn't have to be permenant! ditch verizon. keep your phone. we'll even pay it off when you switch to america's best unlimited network. peobut they're different.ind it's nice to remove artificial ingredients. kind never had to. we choose real ingredients like almonds, peanuts and a drizzle of dark chocolate. give kind a try. ♪

this inot this john smith.smith. or this john smith. or any of the other hundreds of john smiths that are humana medicare advantage members. no, it's this john smith. who we paired with a humana team member to help address his own specific health needs. at humana, we take a personal approach to your health, to provide care that's just as unique as you are.

no matter what your name is.

that's why at comcast we're continuing to make4/7. our services more reliable than ever. like technology that can update itself. an advanced fiber-network infrustructure. new, more reliable equipment for your home. and a new culture built around customer service. it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. welcome back to "state of the union." i'm jack tapper. this morning, as floodwaters were rising in southeast texas, this was president trump's first tweet of the day, plugging a book by david clarke, the

controversial sheriff of walk, wisconsin. a great book by a great guy, highly recommended along with the amazon link. to be sure, president trump has also addressed the storm. moments ago he tweeted, wow, experts are calling harvey a once in 500 year flood. we have an all out effort going and going well. president trump now says he will travel to texas, as soon as it can be done without a disruption. this is a big test for -- obviously, the most important thing is the safety and security of people in the path of the storm. this is a big political test for the president. >> it is. the great thing is the president put in place strong emergency brock long, who comes from alabama, has one of the strongest resumes for emergency response ever in the position. we have eric hyberger, his chief of staff, who was in new york on 9/11 and in 2004, was at the terrible hurricane season in miami, he was on site. this has all the markings of something that can be a good showing for the president.

all bets are off because storms are tough. the real problem here is, fema is a wreck. it's is a mess. what the people are facing today, they're going to look back and see it as the high point of the situation. they have years ahead of them trying to get their money back from their flood insurance. we have people from hurricane sandy who have been looking for their money for five years and fema is still screwing them today. not only do they have to respond strongly, the president can take strong steps to reform fema, this is a great test for administration. >> i think it's -- with all respect -- a little soon to say this is the high point or something when people are still on their roofs and unfound. i know this. the president in his budget put over $300 million of cuts in there for fema. there's a lot of people -- a lot of republicans in congress who voted against helping communities like after hurricane sandy. i just think that we have to be

really careful. when it comes to this issue of our nation being safe from natural disasters, this is an area we cannot skimp on. i hope that members of congress who are presented with this budget request will deny it and say, we have to fully fund it. >> i think it's important as a floridan, who lives with hurricane season every year, i think it's very important. it's a lesson we learned through katrina. we don't put political appointees to run emergency services, to run fema. we need the best of professionals. president obama, president bush after katrina named craig. who was terrific. i hope that this new person is just as good. what's really important at this point is for state government, local government, federal government to be in complete coordination. we need to be concentrated on this. i mean, obviously the people of houston are hurting so much. so it would help if the president of the united states, instead of tweeting out about sheriff clark and pardoning arpaio in the

midst of this would focus on this big state with big problems right now. >> to your point, it's important to be careful. one of the things that these bills when they ask for funding are not is careful. they're larded up with everything under the sun that everyone wants because they know everyone has to vote for this thing. that's a failure of leadership to pick priorities when we have a certain number of -- certain amount of money here. the pool is not infinite. i breathed a sigh of relief when i was learning about brock long. i think there are good people in place. abbott has gone through ike in 2008 in galveston in an administration with rick perry. there's some signs that point to good. what we're seeing now with this flooding coming up a day or two after is how bad these can get several days after the actual storm hitting. they're really on watch right now. >> another tweet that the president sent out this morning, with mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world, we must have the wall, that's in all caps.

mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other. >> i think he did that just for you. >> just for me? >> that's so ridiculous. >> he does this to communicate with the people. but also he enjoys seeing the reaction on television. i know he does. i would, too. i mean, the fact that it triggers the media so much. >> it's not just the media. >> others will pay for it. >> do you still have a fax in your office? >> do you not find it at all questionable, if you had been standing there and he was saying, should i send this, when people are literally worried for their lives in houston and he is sending out tweets about the wall or even more egregiously about david clark's book? that doesn't bother you? >> it doesn't bother me. we spent most of the show talking about things other than the storm. we're hopeful about it. we're relived there's only a couple of deaths. and i think that things are

moving forward resolutely. i think the state and federal and local governments are working well together. the president is doing what he should do. he is standing by and getting involved when he needs to. if that means he can't talk or think about anything else, i'm sorry, you will be disappointed. >> our first piece in the show was an interview with a reporter with fema and with the governor abbott. >> well, i think the president actually -- it was a rare moment today when the president tweet ed something good about how -- whether he was going to travel there and he didn't want to disrupt anybody. i liked a donald trump tweet which doesn't happen very often. >> you actually clicked like? >> i did. i will commend him for at times doing that. sheriff clark's book could wait. >> it's a new day. >> this is trump being trump. this is the consistency. when he should be focused at the issue at hand, he throws out shiny objects. when he's got chances to unite, he chooses to divide. when he has chances to heal, he chooses to hurt.

we have seen him do it this week, the last two weeks with the jewish community, with the african-american community, with the transgender community, with the latino community. we don't know what's going to happen with the dream act kids. he is obviously on a rampage now, arpaio, the wall, the dream act kids. god help those kids. i hope the people in congress finally get off their duffs and pass legislation to help those kids. those children are the best of america, those young people are the best of america. they are americans in all ways but one. it's up to congress not to allow this to be at the whim of their very -- >> when he was a democrat, he was doing photo ops with dream kids. >> is that right? >> yes, at his office. >> i want to change the subject, which is about president trump's fighting with fellow republicans, with mitch mcconnell, with paul ryan, with jeff flake, with bob corker. is this strategy here, do you think, if there is a strategy, to distance himself from an

unpopular republican congress? or is it more just they -- these people are not my friends so i'm going to attack them? >> it's a little bit of both. there are few -- the media regarded lower than the presidency, the congress is regarded lower than the presidency by the public. i think he sees that and understands that, but also, there are a lot of republicans like myself. i've been in the party working in elections for 30 years. i think it's time for donald trump to take a senator out. i really do. i think it's time -- look he has corey lewandowski at the head of his pack. i've had run-ins with corey. if i were john mccain, i wouldn't want him on my back side. it's time for the president to make sure people -- senators understand that there's something -- there's a price to pay when you go against him. >> so you want him to take out jeff flake? >> john mccain has faced tougher foes than corey lewandowski. >> jeff flake is the one? >> i'm not sure who is it. i know corry and the fact are thinking about this. the white house is thinking about this. there is no price to pay if you

are against the president. we expected him to get respect and command respect from congress. it hasn't happened. it's time to make someone pay a price. >> this is the strategy here. this is what roger stone has been calling for, have a scalp. >> i didn't expect it to blow you away. >> what does this mean? it means that if he doesn't get the wall, then he's going to blame someone else. if he doesn't get infrastructure, he will blame someone else. if he doesn't get tax reform, he will blame someone else. he can blame it on congress because of all things he can't be seen as a failure. so he is going to shift the blame. but what happens if mueller does decide to recommend impeachment or some kind of charges to congress? what happens then? he will have alienated this entire body. it's a terrible strategy. >> frankly, i hope he continues doing it. because i hope it give it is republicans in congress the ability to grow up and to stand up for what they believe, not for what donald trump believes. you have spoken a lot.

republicans in congress need to figure out, you know, that this guy doesn't have their back. their duty is to this country, to the voters. it's not to this president who will throw them under a train, campaign against them, advertise against them, who will tweet against them, do everything he has to against them, which is a heck of an attitude to have when you have a two seat majority in the senate. >> the governor has a good point. the president now has a unique opportunity that doesn't exist in the legal world. that is to work as jury. i believe he has to enforce his views and put somebody under the microscope who has been opposed to him over and over again. but at the same time, these people in house and the senate are his jury, if, in fact, this moves toward some kind of crazy, ridiculous impeachment. they need to go on a charm offensive. the president, if you know him, if you know him for years, you understand that when he sits down with you in his office, he can be very charming. it's time for him to start looking at the people and talking to them in the congress just in case this thing gets too crazy.

this is a unique opportunity. you can't work the jury in this world. >> that's interesting. >> it's self-defeating for the president and for the party that he is supposed to be part of. it illustrates a pattern of his, which is to not understand what the person on the other side of the table might need. he just comes to the table -- i know he's supposed to be the great deal maker. this is what i need, so take a hike or give me what i want. there are republican senators who have different needs from their constituents and different things they're dealing with than his mere demands. >> that's not true. >> he doesn't care about them. he doesn't care about people. he cares about one thing, that's himself. he doesn't care about the forgotten american. he cares about himself. >> that's not true. every time you say something like that, every time you ridicule the president or popular culture, you move trump supporters closer and closer. you are not doing yourself or the party any favors. >> trump supporters move closer to him, they would become him. >> he has not produced for them. he has not gotten congress to do

nafta reform. >> i understand. but we also have -- >> he doesn't produce for them is what i'm saying. >> why did the senate not go out and sign so the president couldn't get through appointments to important positions? who was in charge of the senate? the republicans. why did that happen? they're not working with donald trump. why should he work with them? >> that didn't happen because they were afraid he was going to somehow get rid of bob mueller. they knew they were going to have a disaster. and republicans -- you know, here is the thing. you are either with trump or you are not a republican if you are in the party. >> that's not true. >> people think that john mccain is not fit to be a republican. the guy who was our nominee and a national hero. lindsay graham, susan collins, lisa murkowski, you can go on and on. it would be nice if one day maybe he attacked putin instead of attacking a republican. >> earlier today, secretary of state tillerson was asked if president trump's behavior and comments make it tougher to sell american values around the world.

tillerson's response was the president speaks for himself, which is an interesting comment for a secretary of state to make about a u.s. president. >> he makes it tough to ally with him, if you are not a supporter. he does the charm offensive for his core supporters. he does not do it for the guys on the hill. >> it's time he does. >> i think it would actually help. i don't know he is willing to do that. >> great panel. thank you one and all for being here. we appreciate it. a lot of heavy news this morning on a lighter note, do you want to live like a president? now you can. we'll have the details in this week's state of the cartoonion coming up next. where are we? about to see progressive's new home quote explorer. where you can compare multiple quote options online and choose what's right for you. woah. flo and jamie here to see hqx. flo and jamie request entry. slovakia. triceratops. tapioca. racquetball. staccato. me llamo jamie. pumpernickel. pudding. employee: hey, guys!

home quote explorer. it's home insurance made easy. password was "hey guys." it's home insurance made easy. no splashing! wait so you got rid of verizon, just like that? uh-huh. i switched to t-mobile, kept my phone-everything on it- -oh, they even paid it off! wow! yeah. it's nice that every bad decision doesn't have to be permenant! ditch verizon. keep your phone. we'll even pay it off when you switch to america's best unlimited network. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.

we see their hunger. their courage. we see their dreams. we see the things that built our nation. and we wonder, what would happen if everyone had equal access to education? what would they discover? what new worlds would they build? that's why we built a university for everyone. southern new hampshire university pcountries thatk mewe traveled,t what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm everything. i'm from all nations. i would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark? because i'm everything. and i marked other. discover the story only your dna can tell.

order your kit now at ancestrydna.com. tempur-pedic helps there ayou get the most day... out of every one of them. only proprietary tempur material precisely conforms to your body. you get up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you won't toss and turn. and tempur-pedic is the best at minimizing motion transfer from your partner. you'll sleep deeply... and wake up, feeling powerful. now through september 17th, save up to $500 on select adjustable sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com 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®. a little breather for you.

it might not be as prestigious as the white house or trump tower, but now you can have the unique opportunity to live like president trump. it's a subject of this week's state of the cartoonion. >> looking for a summer getaway. >> i don't go too much with vacations because i'm bored. >> how about renting his childhood home in queens? >> i love queens. i grew up in queens. >> for a cool $725 per night, you can stay in the house where the president was born. >> i hate to admit it. 1946, oh, wow. that's when i was born. >> according to the listing on air b & b, the property has opulent furnishings to represent the style and affluence of the trumps. >> great taste. >> they added a sign at the bedroom in which the president was, quote, likely conceived. the house fits 20 people and has a simple decor. pictures of the trump family throughout. >> by the way, i love the pictures.

>> including a life-sized cutout of the president in the living room which the listing says is, quote, a great companion for watching the news late into the night. >> the largest audience in the history of cable television. >> yes, of course, cable is included. thanks for spending sunday morning with us. i'm jake tapper in washington. cnn's coverage of the affects of harvey continues next. thanks for watching. this is cnn "breaking news." >> grateful to have your company >> we begin with this breaking news, tropical storm has donald trumped 24 inches of rain in 24 hours on houston, texas, thousands of people remain trapped by floodwaters. there have been two confirmed deaths but other reports say five days. the flash flood warning has been

extended, some are desperately fleeing their homes by boats and by foot, some narrowly escaping in chest-high water. >> reporter: can i help you carry this? >> we're about under maybe 5 feet of water in our home. so we called for rescue about 3:30. they just now was able to get here. >> reporter: they're telling us they need help. they need people experienced with boats. they need boats out here. how fast did the water come up? tell us what happened at your house. >> it came up quick. we didn't have a chance to react, by the time you knew it the cars were underwater. >> as you can tell, the rain is coming back down. it's starting to rain more here in east houston. you can imagine what is going through these familis' minds. all of their belongings are already destroyed.

>> extraordinary images there and then from this location, austin texas, we expect to hear from governor abbott to give the latest update to what was once hurricane harvey now tropical storm harvey, still wreaking hask on many parts of texas. fema is bracing to be there for many years. >> this is going to be a historic event. while we're focussed on responses and helping texas respond we're pushing forward, recovery houses teams, forces to be on the ground to implement national flood insurance program policies as well, doing inspections that we need. so we're setting up and gearing up for the next couple years. >> the administrator there.

let's begin in houston, where catastrophic flooding has paralyzed the fifth largest me trop lus area in the country. what are you seeing there? >> the story here in houston, are rescued, submerged vehicles and streets and bayous that have turned into streams and rivers. i'm walking in downtown houston, you can see i'm surrounded by water. i want to start on this street here because you can see there's a submerged vehicle. we talked to the police, they said they rescued individual in that track. take a look at the harris county courthouse. within the hour there were five to ten people rescued inside that building.

one of the gentlemen i spoke to said the water began to rise quickly. one of the gentlemen had a sick toe so he wrapped his toe in as ago and one of the rescuers carried him so they could get him to safety. we have more submerged vehicles as we see these rising waters continue to go. a manhole over there that looks like it's still erupting with waters. you see first responders beyond there. moments ago, and i believe we have the video, a high water vehicle. it's surreal to see high water vehicles here. these are resources that were sent to houston to make sure they rescue people wherever that is needed. you know, many people thought it wasn't going to get to this. it wasn't going to be this flooded in downtown houston, but indeed it is. you can see that police vehicles

over here have barricaded certain streets. it feels like we're on an island here in downtown houston there are areas we can't go to because the streets are shut down. from talking to the fire department, they said they received 2,600 calls overnight. they have been working around the clock as we saw daybreak today, we began to see the flooding that houston is experiencing and as you mentioned it's still not over. you can see it's still sprink sprinkling and we're expecting more rain. >> downtown houston used to be business, but there are a lot of renovations that occurred downtown so it will be interesting to see how people living downtown will get rescued

or get out and about to get food and other essentials. >> we're southwest of houston where evacuations are underway right now. ed give us an idea how the conditions deteriorated overnight as a result of tropical storm harvey. >> we're about 20 miles north of galveston. we're trying to make our way to houston. we're standing on interstate 45. this is the interstate, if you look up this way, that takes you straight into downtown houston. it is completely shut down at this point and we've been here for several hours this morning and it is just an endless calvary of people showing up with boats, deploying their own boats into the floodwaters to help rescue people. give you a sense of how quickly the floodwaters have come up throughout the night.

just beyond the tree line there's a bayou that is the source of a lot of the problems for this area. this is an easy little snapshot here of how many boats we've seen, buses pulling out, people deploying their own boats into the neighbors to try to rescue as many people as they can. we spoke a little bit ago to the a gentleman who had just come out with his mother or mother-in-law from a mo bile home park. they walked through chest-high water to get out of the neighborhood a little while ago. let's listen to him. >> it's really bad back there. it's really flooded. thank god there are nice people out there helping. they're bringing people to the front because you can't drive back there. >> are there a lot of people still trapped that need help. >> yes. a lot of people. >> can you say how many.

>> maybe like a thousand. if you go back there you have to have a boat or big truck. >> are you worried about the people. >> yes, i live in a trailer park, and the whole park is flooded. >> just to be clear, this isn't a small little road, a back road of some small, little town. this is interstate 45 headed northbound into houston. the rain has been torrentially falling here. we're underneath an underpass watching people deploy. this has become a beachhead where people are deploying their boats. you can see these two gentlemen putting the boat into the water just off the shoulder of the road. those two guys are going out to help some friends in an apartment complex, they told us, where the water level is reaching the second level of that apartment complex. so they're trying to get in there to help their friends out.

just a little bit ago we saw a coast guard chopper flying over the scene. there's a series of communities around here that are devastated. many quickly flooding under water. we've had a chance to speak with several people. some people who evacuated a low-lying area, then the area they evacuated to was under 3 or 4 feet of water already. the fear is this water is going to keep going up. you can see how intensely it is raining this afternoon as the visibility is really cut down by the rain showers along the interstate. we're on the south edge of houston, the south edge of harris county in houston. we have seen school buses moving people out to shelters. people doing what they can to help out. people showing up with cars, big pickup trucks to help move as many people as possible out of

these areas. an incredibly captivating scene here as many people jumping into action and help out where they can. >> just as the gentleman just described to you, he said as far as he knew there were about 1,000 people in the area he lived who were still in high water. the only way to get to them is by way of boat. the weather is horrible and we know that local authorities are trying to get to people by boat, by chopper, et cetera. but because of the conditions, how much more complicated does it make it-to-for first responders to get to people like the man just described? >> i would imagine at this point, first responders have been overwhelmed. there probably isn't enough first responders to meet all the demand and all the people that need help. this is a little bit of a staging area here on the other side of -- on the service road of the interstate. you can see the different trailers people with the pontoon

boats showing up that have low clearance through some of these floodwaters. these are good boats to navigate. the problem is you're loading these boats with a lot of people so they sink into the water rather quickly, and that can be dangerous because some of the current in these floodwaters starts getting strong. as we look here north on interstate 45, you can see the emergency lights there at the top of the next overpass, and after that we're told that the water just completely takes over the interstate. that's why we can't go any further north from where we are. so they're busy trying to get people out of the various communities that extend beyond the tree lines over here on the west side of the interstate. if you look back toward the east side of the interstate, every once in a while another fleet of boats coming pours out and they go back in and start bringing more people back out. that is the scene here this afternoon.

and it's a little bit of everything. you see a number of first responders hire on the ground but by and large what you see mostly are people in their own private boats showing up to offer whatever help they can at this point. >> it is potentially dangerous on so many levels because we're talking about good samaritans first responders working together to use their boats, et cetera, they're going through water ways that are not water ways. so there are fences sometimes, posts, that may be protruding underneath that new high water. so it makes it very delicate and very potentially dangerous. we'll check back with you. extraordinary images as you see the airboats and pontoons ed was describing to help lift people from the areas where water has gotten so high so fast with upwards of 20 inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours.

and good samaritans are helping out first respond ers to try to get people in need. you're seeing young people, elderly people, people who have their pets there, like in this case right here. let's check in with nick valencia in rockport where yesterday, nick, officials have been saying this was, you know, one of the hardest hit areas. and now we're hearing officials say, this, quote, area is void of any functioning infrastructure. what does that mean for people that did ride out the snorm rockport? is there no safe place for them to be here? >> there's talk of shutting down this town. we came from a press conference moments ago. they received help from all across the united states, places as far away as missouri and ohio. it was earlier this morning we came across the texas state task

force who were doing search and rescue here in city center. they were making their second pass and told us the majority of the rescue were family pets that were left behind during evacuation. people that tried to get out of the town before the storm hit. the good news is that there are no reports of people missing. i mention ds the press conference earlier. that local official told me there were no reports of people missing and they're optimistic that there's so far only one casualty. and they think that's how it will stay. there's a tremendous amount of optimism here among the people of rockport. we've had the pleasure of meeting so many residents in our days here, we talked to the own er of this jewry store that says he plans on rising from the rubble like a phoenix. he talked to another business owner who just started leezing a business that was ruined he said

they're going to be okay. and one of the most tender moments we've seen of our coverage was a family that came back to see their business levelled by this 120, 130 mile per hour winds as they came through here. their first order of business, beside removing the sandbags was to put up the texas flag. we talked to the owner he said i want to give hope to the community here. we are here, strong, and we're going to come back from this. there's a lot of cleanup left. you can see how much cleanup there is to do. i mentioned there is talk of shutting down this town entirely, revak waiting the people who are still in a shelter and moving them somewhere else. the national guard has shown up, as have neighboring counties and across the state. >> folks hit really hard there. i remember talking to the mayor yesterday who described what a

beautiful community rockport is there on the coast. it's a fishing community, an art community. and i think the people are still inspired by the gentleman you spoke to yesterday, who was still with a smile on his face, even though he lost his entire business but is determined to rebuild. we're going to check back with you nick, and good news, thus far no reports of any people missing. live images out of houston. the fifth largest metropolitan area in the united states. and roads and small streets have been turned into lakes, creeks, like rivers. you see people with boats, first responders and good samaritans getting out, any kind of flotation devices that they have to help get to people who are trapped in their buildings. in fact, houston authorities telling people, if they were able to receive, you know,

reports, that if they believe there is high water coming their way not to go to their attics, instead go to roof tops. more rescues are expected throughout the day because more rain is expected for a period of days. despite the reports from meteorologists, it did catch a lot of people by surprise nonetheless. and despite the devastation, many are trying to help their neighbors. here are some of the stories. >> are you all going back inside? >> yes, there's still elderly people out there. >> do you know them? are you just neighbors? >> we're neighbors. i lost everything. my whole building is -- i lost everything. the whole building is completely submerged in water and there's still elderly people so we're about to go get the rest of the people. >> what's your name, sir? >> daniel. >> what makes you go in and help

people even in this dangerous situation? >> i like to help out. if i was in danger, i would want somebody to help me, so i'm going to go help people. >> thank you for your time and thank you for your efforts. thank you so much. >> reporter: i do want to note that more people are going into this neighborhood. i just talked to daniel, he's one with one of the floatties there. he's headed back in the direction he said to help neighbors. junior told us a few minutes ago he went to sleep and then woke up and he realized there was water in his apartment. tell us, what was going on when you went to sleep? what time did you go to sleep? >> like 9:00, 9:30. i have my back problem. so i took my medication, fell asleep -- you know, medication put you to sleep heavy. had to use the bathroom, woke up i thought i was dreaming, i really wasn't. it's real life. >> reporter: so when you went to sleep was it raining hard out

there? >> it was raining. i heard it raining, but i didn't look out the window because i was tired and everything. >> reporter: so it was just raining. had it been raining all day? >> on and off, yeah. when i woke up, it was like this. man. i lost everything. my vehicle, my apartment, furniture and everything. i don't know what i'm going to do. >> reporter: junior, i'm so sorry. >> heart breaking losses many times over there in houston. people losing their homes, they're losing their lively hoods, their vehicles. some are able to escape their homes because of rising water with nothing but the clothes on their back. some clutching their pets, others clutching each other. we're seeing good samaritans, first responders trying to get

to so many trapped because of the rising waters. you see that shot there and you see helicopters trying to pluck people off roof tops. people using their boats, jet skis, just like right here you're seeing people walking in knee deep, waist and chest-high water. >> >> let's check in with rosa flores. we're seeing images of people in and around houston trapped in vehicles and rescued in that manner. for folks who are downtown what has been the experience for many who either live or work downtown? >> reporter: here downtown, the downtown area, has just been pummeled with water, fred. the latest we're getting right now actually from first

responders and harris county judge emmitt is that the ben taub hospital is being evacuated, because of these rising waters in to the basement. it disrupted the power source and they're moving patients right now, and, of course, they always move the patients that are the most, in the most critical conditions first, and so that's what they're doing right now. they're evacuating the ben taub hospital here in downtown houston, and sending those patients to other areas. of course, starting with the most critical patients and then moving on to all of the patients. take a look around me. you'll see exactly why that is happening. the water continues to rise here. you can see a car is submerged on this street. the woman in that car was rescued by police, and you see some curious onlookers still walking aaron, taking pictures. we've seen many of them. of course, first responders recommending that people not do

that. that people stay home. we've also seen people go through the rising water in their vehicles, which is not recommended, but we're still seeing it today. we've also seen first responders in high-water rescue vehicles through downtown houston which is a surreal image, presidenfre you think about the fourth largest city in this country and you see high-water vehicles, because those are the vehiclie ivehicles needed in these conditions. that water, a ragingiver emptying towards the gulf of mexico. and these bayous are supposed to work to drain the city. it's supposed to drain. we're getting pummeled here one more time and have seen these bands, fred, over and over. they just come and go. that's the big worry, that -- you see how the streets are already saturated.

they're overflowed. the bayous are running like streams and raging rivers, and we're still getting pummeled. so the big worry here is, when is this going to stop so that the bayous can do their jobs and actually drain this water and empty out into the gulf of mexico. fred? >> my goodness. rosa, you are getting hit again with more bands of, you know, another band of rain, we're going to check in with our meteorologist tom sader, we know rain is in the forecast another few days. here's another big problem. so many roads are so impassable that emergency assets can't even get through to try to get to people, and even that evacuation will be difficult to get many of those people to another health care facility. so how long before there is some relief from all of these bands of rain? >> the picture is not good.

it looks gloomy. the computer models even last thursday hinted at this stalling out. we've looked at the tracks saying how long could this storm stay in the state of texas. even today, three days later, the models indicate it will still be in the state of texas friday. break it down. infrared throwing purple, cold you are cloud tops sliding into louisiana. even last night, chad myers, on the air, residents of houston if you're going to get up in the morning and go to church, be prepared. a feeder band down south of bay city would slide in and drop 13 to 18. seems incomprehensible but it happened. look at the feeder bands. when you think they'll end, the system continues to fire up more rainfall and before it in from the gulf. the center of harvey here has only moved 60 miles in the last 36 hours. if you break it down even more than that, think about the resources. we're going to have to spread

these out across a good chunk of eastern texas. show you toelgtstals in a minut. these are all tornado warnings. they have issued 99 tornado warnings since the storm first moved in. the watch is in effect. this is the forecast. break it down. most precipitation to the northeastern flank, make sense. the flow from the gulf. the reason we still have harvey as a "trading spaces," ittropi tropical rain is using it at energy. as the rain bands move in, they're still moving in to galveston, houston, maybe a little more towards the east nap gets into lake charles, too, but with the spin, it's still making its way slowly towards the coast. the next concern -- the computer models hinted at

this the other day. it moves almost back to where it made landfall and then slides offshore. stays a tropical storm status. many times by now it would have been a tropical depression or remnants of. now that it moves over water, it's like taking an engine starter and spraying in an old lawn mower that won't crank it. ever tried to do that? it feeds on the warm water. sustains strength. where does it go in the next 120 hours? back over the houston area. this is a big concern. by friday, this is where it. we're only on sunday. when you look at the numbers that are over, you know, two feet plus, what's interesting about this is, each one of these areas is from a different county. so the resources now needed are going to have to be really spread. we talked about it last week. emergency services will be hard

pressed to keep up with everything. even last thursday my fear was thousands of 911 calls, and we're not even half way done with this system. this is how much has fallen. just to the east of austin and purple, plus ten inches. you'll see a smattering of 20-plus. now it's even east of houston. what's fallen. add that to the forecast going forward. for the next 48 hours, look at the area of white. another 20-plus inches in houston metro area eastward, and now it shifts more to the east. coastal areas of louisiana, which is 20-plus. that doesn't even take into account all of the area of purple, which is 10 inches plus. it's really hard to fathom they could double the amount of rainfall, possibly come close to what has already fallen. the number of rivers up, 53, in major flood stage. it will take weeks. extremely flat area. doesn't want to flow quickly back into the gulf.

es special withly the wands moving from the south. wants to keep the water inland. because it's flat, fans itself out and an issue with stag innocent water but first we're worried what's coming oun. down. making its way towards the coastline back over water and in the next, well, by tomorrow afternoon. >> boy, so many problems resulting from all of this. already thus far something like up to, what, 20 inches of rain that has fallen and up to another 20 more inches before friday. >> yes. >> and even when waters recede, sometime what's it takes with it are portions of roadways. >> absolutely. >> what you may think -- they're going to be passable once the water dissipates, not always the case. it sometimes takes some of these roadways and pieces of highway along with it. it's a very difficult task for so many there trying to get to those in need and many people just trying to get to another location for safety. tom sader, thank you so much.

we'll check back with you. i want to bring in retired u.s. army lieutenant general russell honora. knows so much about this, particular he response when the problem continues to build, and so general, when you look at these images, can you help but start thinking about katrina? >> absolutely. and this is much larger scale than katrina as far as the amount of population involved, fred. there's a big difference, and the continuous rain. katrina came in, in the night. by the next afternoon it was in another state. this storm is staying around and it's continuing to compound with the amount of rain and the reality of it, most of interstate 10 in the houston area going south is a flood zone, and normally it's not a problem. but when we get a 500-year event like this, we see the down side

of where we live and most of the time it's okay, but this flood is over matching the ability of the, ability to get everybody rescued on time and the going to get worse before it gets better. we need to evacuate tomorrow, fred. >> it is -- eerily it is reminiscent of some images that we recall seeing, what? 12 years ago this month in new orleans with hurricane katrina. general, i want to play part of a news conference that took place with houston's mayor sylvester turner who decided not to issue an evacuation order. so listen. >> this is unprecedented. this is, there is a lot of rain. so which neighborhood would you have to evacuate? quite frankly, every neighborhood, every community received water and flooding. every bayou went over its banks. you cannot put in the