this likely is going to be an historic rain fall if not an all time record. >> unprecedented. catastrophic and unfortunately not over. houston and parts of texas devastated. after record amounts of main and this storm not finished yet. we have live coverage and

rescues and what lies in store for those in houston. and 6 million in that metro area. >> it is 3:00 a.m. in the east. 2:00 a.m. in houston. this morning the fourth largest city in the united states is mostly under water. and it is only going to get worse, folks. national weather service calls this flooding unprecedented and quote beyond anything experienced before. catastrophic flooding from now tropical storm harvey stretching government resources in some cases past the breaking point. >> authorities in and around houston scrambling to save those trapped by high waters after 24 inches of rain fell there in 24 hours. officials say at least two people were killed by the storm. and the death toll likely to rise. houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered as operators give priority to calls where lives are at stake. >> officials say so far there is been about 2,000 -- 2,000 water

rescues. houston independent school district cancelled classes for the week. dallas announced plans to open a mega shelter to accommodate 5,000 evacuees. officials and charities ever working to get it open by tomorrow afternoon. >> the airport is back open. six others remain closed. governor gr governor greg abbot calling in the national guard. several states and u.s. military sending emergency workers and equipment to texas where the work is just beginning. >> fema will be there for years, sir. this disaster will be a landmark event. and we're already in the stages while focused on response right now and help in texas respond we're already pushing forward recovery housing teams. we're already pushing forward forces to be on the ground. to implement national flood

insurance program. we're setting up and gearing up for the next couple of years. >> wow next couple of years. >> this is not going away any time soon. cnn's derek van dam joining us live from the flood zone in houston. derek, good morning to you. what are you seeing in the way of devastation? >> well, dave, good morning to you. first of all we joined the first precinct constables earlier this evening. and what we saw was emotionally draining and quite agonizing. we had to, on this boat, this search and rescue mission, literally going door to door, we were floating across some of these major neighborhoods just to the south and west of the city of houston and in the braze bioarea, the braze bayou area

hit particularly hard with this flooding. what we saw there was incredible. we dodged fully submerged suvs. water almost up to the roofs of people's homes. what they were trying to achieve is the search and rescue of one particular woman who was short on oxygen. medical concerns with this. unfortunately we couldn't cross the bayou because the water was so strong. a torrent of raging water was, just too intense for their boats. we had to turn around and search and rescue a different stranded family which we ultimately never got to because we ended up having boat failure. you can just see the technical and intricate details that they have today navigate all night. when they finally did rescue people the emotion, raw emotion coming from the resc rescueys. we saw children crying in parents' arms as they were brought to dry land. we saw parents reunited with

pets, which was quite touching as well. amazing as search and rescue missions continue as heavy rain continues. obviously we have to break now but it has been very, very wet here. >> derek, how much more rain are we expecting? what you see there is so much water with nowhere to go. more water is coming. >> yeah, we have reports of 30 to 35 inches of rain. we heard as well that some computer models are talking about double is those totals which would be quite astounding. eclipsing 2001 tropical storm allison, of course. but the real concern here is that the reservoirs that are meant to protect downtown houston from the major catastrophic flooding have reached their capacity. they have today do a never performed dual release of these reservoirs just to the west of this city to prevent any more

catastrophic flooding in the city than they have already seen. so additional rain fall stresses the city here. easy to see how prone houston is to flooding and really the video and images you have seen now prove just that. >> you see the water covering roadways and you know what happens is when that water does finally eventually come down and that's not happening for the next few days for sure, sometimes the water isn't there -- >> derek van dam, thank you. we could be looking at some 50 inches of rain in some parts of houston. >> the wofrd epic is sometimes overused when you try to talk about a new story. this is epic. incredible 62 counties under disaster declaration. city of rockport especially hard hit. emergency officials saying that area is totally void of any

functioning infrastructure. pictures just amazing. sewer system issues. no running water. cnn's martin savidge is there for us with more. >> morning dave. mo morning christie. people are absolutely devastated. over two days since this category 4 storm rolled ashore here. they are still trying to wrap their heads around what has happened to their community. just look at the level of destruction you see here on the storefront. magnify that across the entire community and even then you probably can't get a full sense of just how many homes, how many businesses, and how much damage has been done. there is debris still everywhere. there is no election trisity. no running water. either clean water to drink or sewage. then on top of that communications limited. they are struggling trying to bring cell phone service jn line. then there is search that still goes on. you can see all of this debris

and that's part of the problem, makes it difficult for search and rescue teams to go door to door. they continue to do that. another problem, natural gas. extreme damage caused gas leaks and has its own problems in this community. so trying to shut that off. no wonder that city officials are saying that if you're in town you should probably leave. this is not livable. if you evacuate it out of town don't come back just yet. there is nothing really for to you come back to. and here is the long-term problem. if it is going to be a long time before electricity is turned on. it may be a matter of weeks. right now they are simply concerned about making sure everyone is okay. dave and christine? >> martin savidge there for us. mothers very hard-hit area is the city of dickinson, that's southeast of houston where galveston county say 20 to 25

people were rescued from the nursing home. the nursing home's daughters says they told her mother to shelter people in place. but she tweeted out this photo as a plea for help, which finally came. >> also if dickinson, cnn's ed lavendera, who drove up with jason morris and joel dell a rosa. they heard a family crying out as they were about to leave a neighborhood. ed spoke to them. everyone was out safely. >> how long have you guys been trapped in there? >> all night. >> you've been with your parents? >> uh-huh. >> how are they holding up? >> pretty good. pretty good. i think pretty good for the circumstances. it's bad. everything is floating and it's bad. >> once ed made it back it land, we can't call it dry land, but

when he made it back it land he was able to send us this report. >> dave and christine, we are standing on not just some small country road that has been flooded out, we are on interstate 45. it connects galveston island south to the city of houston. this interstate has been shut down because of the floodwaters. we were able to get on a bet and make our way into some of the subdivisions back behind the tree line where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated throughout the day. mainly rescued bay fleet of volunteers who showed up on the interstate and turned this roadway into a boat launch sending their own private boats out into the neighborhoods pulling off two, three, four people at a time to rescue them from their homes. it's been an unbelievable sight to see that kind of rescue effort unfolding. essentially all of this happening because the calls and demand simply just outdoing what

first responders were capable of handling. so they called in essentially a fleet of volunteers to help with these boat rescues. and here you see interstate 45 here are some of the boats people showing up in wave runners, boats on their own, trucks, cars, as many people out as possible. as we went through the neighborhood, a few hours ago, and saw inside that neighborhood, dramatic to see the number of people who had clearly made their way to their rooftops to be able to get away from the floodwaters. several of them had cut holes and chopped their way through the attic to get on to the rooftop. dramatic scenes as we've been able to capture first dramatic images and intensity and devastation of flooding that happened here across city of houston and southeast texas area. dave and christine? >> ed lavendera, thanks, ed. >> let's look at the forecast. and bring in meteorologist karen maginis, what can we expect?

>> national hurricane center say 15 to 25 additional inches of rain. possibly 50 additional inches of rain fall in that upper coast of texas. can you see part of the big problem here. it is tapping the moisture from the gulf of mexico. it is still just tropical storm intensity. but it is still very moisture ladened. i saw this tweet just earlier. please rescue us. the water is swallowing us up. you see that over and over again. there are many people pulling their resources to try to get help for this very metropolitan city, some of those surrounding cities like katy. we have images. look at this video. it is in black and white. this coming out of katy, texas. right in the upper top of your screen, you see the roof of the suv, a man behind that. and these floot wadders. if he went either side of that vehicle he would be swept by the

current. but there comes a dinghy, several people in that dinghy. they managed to get this man on board that dinghy. you probably won't see this entire piece of video but they do take him to land. as christine said earlier. it is not dry land. it is land. a safer place. but they are saying all over harris county and surrounding counties that this is just the scene after scene after scene. so where's tropical storm harvey going to go? well it looks like it will start it make its way toward the east and southeast and this is just going to put fuel in the gas tank. it is going to pick up that moisture from the gulf of mexico and is just going to wrap around that area of low pressure and move right over houston. christine and dave, there's that second round of moisture that will push on in.

>> how long could it stick around, karen? >> it looks like it may pick up speed but it is still very slow moving. it is very moisture-laden. there it is. they think it will increase in intensity. maybe bump up a bit before moving on torwards this galvestn bay. that into tuesday morning. through tuesday. into wednesday. and thursday. it affects louisiana. so we've got four more days, five more days of precipitation. >> rain, rain, not going away. thank you, karen maginnis. texas officials not spared the wrath of harvey. next talk to one official who had to leave corpus christi when the storm moved in. we will also think of what he thinks of criticism for houston's mayor who did not order evacuations ahead of that storm. >> we must put the interest of the city of houston and houstonians first. that's what we did.

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texas public officials working on the emergency

response have not been immune to harvey's ravages. state attorney general ken paxton. >> working at department of public safety special operations in corpus christi but was forced to leave after the hurricane. he joins us by phone from dallas. good morning to you, mark. 2:18 there. tell us, what is your message to the people of texas tonight, this morning? >> good morning, dave and christine. thank you for your continuing coverage. the message this morning it simple. it is nightfall in texas. that's good thing and negative thing. good in that our response teams, rescue teams get to sort of rest. regroup a little bit. replan for the new day. it is negative in that water doesn't stop rising and churn willing around this effected region. so we understand that as soon as day fall or day break happens, that you know, there's new opportunities, new challenges. and so we are asking people to

do as we did yesterday is to be patient. be vigilant and be obedient. follow the directions of our local law enforcement and rescue people on the ground. >> i got to tell you, it feels as though these are still the early innings. we were just talking to our meteorologist who said that national hurricane center season another 15 to 25 additional inches of rain. and maybe even more than that. so what are you advising people who might be home and watching water rise at this hour? >> yeah. what we have been told and what we have been telling folks is simple. be patient. there is a plan to get people to safety. while all of us are doing our jobs throughout the normal year, these wonderful law enforcement folks and rescue folks, they are heros. they are working day in and day out during normal year planning and preparing as much as they can. for such a time as this. now that this time happened, we

saw yesterday as people heeded advice, followed directions of these folks. they were led to safety. despite the craziness of the storm, depths of this water, we've had so few reports of fatalities, there may be some that we don't know about. however, when people follow the rules, they get to safety. so despite the depth of water now and the pending rain shower that i saw your forecast say they could be coming even more we continue to urge people do what you're asked to do. and if you're in an area where you're not asked to be moved at the present time, stay put and follow directions. >> mark, you talk about heeding advice of government officials, why was that advice not to evacuate the city of houston? >> dave, i can't answer that question. what i can do is this. as we do in everything, one of your profession and i honor pemt who make those decisions. i dent want monday afternoon

quarterbacking. there is a time and place for that to review aep replan for another event. however at this moment, dave and christine, our job is to focus on rescuing people and getting people to safety. and then at the appropriate time it is to review our plans and policies and procedures that happen during storm so that each time something like this, a natural disaster happens, we he can just do better and better. >> can you tell us more about this mega shelter that looks like they will open in dallas. what do we know? >> yeah. i spoke with someone in the dallas county district attorney's office. just last night. and dallas is poised and ready to do what this city can. i'm here now. to do what we can in dallas. to assist these people. there will be a mega shelter opening up in dallas. and my guess is other churches and civic organizations will step up and did the same thing. i was here during hurricane katrina. i remember thousands upon

thousands of displaced people out of the new orleans area that came it dallas, housed at the time and our old reunion arena. housed in mega churches that are around this reej yop. and then churches began to ask parishioners, members to open up their homes and they did. we have families adopting displaced families. that's the heart of people in dallas. we have seen it time and again. i know the mayor and his team, district attorney johnson, are on top of this and it'll be handled as spectacularly as it was last time. >> you are seeing the very best of what texas is all about. with people saving one another. as for that shelter, do you know wh when it happens? i know he it is at the kay bailey hutchinson center. how do you expect to get people there? >> i don't have details. however i do know this. once it is open, there will be a steady and perfect process.

we watch bus after bus after bus come in to reunion arena and come into the church answers other civic buildings during katrina. my expectation, though i don't know for sure, would be that buses are lining up and on stand by and ready to go to parts of houston and the affected areas, where they can get to, and literally load people up and bring them up safe 45. >> 45 just under water in some parts we just saw. a lot of work to do in early hours here. i guess the take away here is listen to local authorities. they have a plan. mark on the phone for us this morning. thank you, sir. >> okay, coming up, storm posing a big test for president trum. . set it fly to texas tomorrow. no word on exactly what part of texas. what's to make of the federal response thus far? that's next on a special early start.

president trump will travel to texas tomorrow. the final destination hasn't been set but he will avoid the most hard-hit areas and try to keep resewerses dedicated to where they are needed. this is the first big hurricane natural disaster for trump. measured especially since karina. athena jones las the latehas thm the white house. >> good morning, christine and dave. president trump is expected to visit texas on tuesday as a show of support for people affected by this massive and still developing weather's vent. the white house is still working

up details and logistics with state and local officials an they haven't yet said what city or cities the president could visit. sources familiar with his plan say they are leaning on having him visit a city like san antonio. the goal they say is to avoid hard-hit areas. that's in order to make sure the president's own footprint, security and infrastructure and technical support needed to transport him doesn't take away from resources that would otherwise be used for search and rescue and response efforts. this is a major test for the president. his first major test dealing with an ongoing natural disaster. hundreds of thousands, millions of people affected here. we haven't heard the president speak about this storm but he has been on twitter tweeting about it periodically over the course of the weekend focussing on things like the massive

coordination. the president has been eager to show he is engaged. doing so mainly via twitter. but also held two individual kro tell conference meetings over the weekend to talk about the storm and its aftereffects and federal response. christine, dave? >> athena at the white house. thank you. rain and flooding inundating the heart of america's oil industry forcing oil rigs and ten key refineries to shut down. look at the infrastructure if the path of this storm. exxonmobils, baytown refinery, second largest in the country shut down. texas gulf has a third of the oil refineries. this disruption means higher gas prices. u.s. gas future spiking 7% overnight to two-year high. experts say gas prices will raise 5 to 15 cents over the next week. especially in the south. southeast and mid-atlantic u.s. higher gas prices just one of

the potential economic costs from harvey. the storm threatening texas's recoverying economy. just falling after spiking last year when oil prices fell and extended oil closures could hurt texas progress. as could the cost to rebuild which estimates put at $40 billion. that includes 200,000 homes hit by the storm. more than $20 billion of real estate in houston alone. one of the most densely populated areas in the u.s. look at the pictures of all that water. we have seen this again and again with all this flooding. when eventually that water recedes, in some cases, there will be no road left. >> we won't know the true devastation of the storm for several days. the latest on hurricane harvey.

>> this likely is going to be an historic land fall but not an all time record. >> unprecedent etiquette strofic and not over. houston and other parts of texas devastated. we have liver coverage of damage, rescues and what lies ahead. welcome back to early start extra early this morning. >> 3:32 eastern time. 2:32 in tm where this morning the fourth largest city in the united states is mostly under water. a and it is only getting worse. this is unprecedented and beyond anything experienced before. now tropical storm harvey stretching government resources in some cases well past their breaking point. >> authorities in and around houston scrambling to save those trapped by high waters after 24 inches of rain fell there in 24

hours. officials saying least two people killed by the storm and death toll is likely to rise. houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered as priorities go to calls where lives are at stake. >> houston independent school distrib disstrict closed schools for a week. dallas will open a mega shelter. that is the kay bailey hutch inton center. they hope to have it open by tuesday. >> corp us christie airport is closed. several state and u.s. military sending emergency workers and equipment to texas where the work is only beginning. >> fema will be there for years.

this disaster will be a landmark event. we are already in stages where we are focused on response right now and helping texas respond. we are pushing forward response team answers forces on the ground to help national flood insurance program. we are setting up and gearing up for the next couple years. >> krpcnn's derek van dam live h us. what are you seeing, derek? >> good morning, christine. we visited a search and rescue staging area late last night. and what we saw and witnessed was amazing. people offering boats for search answers rescue operations. we joined one of the constables on search and rescue effort and the emotional part here was actually not being able to reach somebody who was in need of

medical attention. the water was simply too strong for our boat to actually cross over. so we had to go and seek out a different family who was in distress. what we're witnessing now is unprecedented. incredible amount of rain. we've had totals over 35 inches reported across houston. just north and east of the city of course there's more rain coming from a meteorological standpoint this system could potentially slowly reemerge into the gulf of mexico. remember those waters are extremely warm. it is almost like jet fuel for a hurricane. and we could see this redevelop. it is not out of the realm of possibilities to see this strengthen back into a hurricane over the next 24 to 48 hours. all depending o the exact track. one thing for sure, more rain, more flooding, still the tidal surge along the coastline. derek, christine? >> looking at nasa website, they say satellite images are almost

stationary. barely moving. you have covered several storms. how does this differ? it is calm now and in the midst of it at the peak, how did it dif from those have you seen in the past? >> dave we can walk faster than harvey is traveling at the moment. it is extremely slow. but it is moving. that's the crucial part here. ever so slowly. and again if that circulation of the storm reemerges over the warm waters, that is when we start it see redevelopment and that's the last thing we need here in an already hard-hit part of southeast texas. >> yes. so much derek lies ahead here. we he will just showing video of someone driving through very high water. a reminder to people it only takes a few inches of water to sweep your car off the roadway. you ceil accidenwill see accide hurt if you good out on the roads. if you hear on the weekend from officials be very careful about trying to shelter in your attic

if you don't have a way out of that attic. if we're expecting an awful lot more water. what are folks there saying about where to go if there's more water? >> i think it was a misgnomer that people thought that the attic was the safest place in the event after flash flood. but you need to get to the highest point of the building that means the roof. because you don't want to get stuck, of course, in your attic. we have seen pictures of holes punched through the tops of roofs so people could escape from attics. with a flash flood, difference between a flash flood and a flood is that a flash flood can happen in literally seconds. and we witnessed that when some of these strong feeder bands from tropical storm harvey made its way into the raised bayou region where we were doing our search and rescue operation late last night, we saw the water levels rise. and in fact it rained so heavy in houston that it's testing

reservoirs that are west of the city. that are meant to protect houston from the most catastrophic flooding. they today do a dual timed release early because the rate of rain was so intense. >> derek van dam, we appreciate it. live forness houston. incredible to see first responders. citizens of houston out. and the cajun navy now saving p em from their homes and businesses as well. >> hard-hit area. dickinson, where galveston county say 20 it 25 people were rescued from a nursing home. the nursing homeowner's daughter says officials told her daughter it shelter residents in place. but after water he rose, you can see what happened p. she tweeted thought picture as a plea for help. residents were up to their waist in water in their chairs, wheel chairs, in the nursing home. >> gosh, just incredible to see these devastating images. also in dickinson, cnn's ed

lavendera whob drove up with jason morris and joe della rosa. the crew was shooting a search answe and rescue mission when they heard a cryi woman crying out fr help for her family. >> how long were you trapped in there? >> all night. >> you've been with your parent? >> mm-hm. >> how have they been holding up? >> pretty good. pretty good. i think pretty good for the circumstances. it is bad. everything is floating. and it's bad. >> once they made it back to land we certainly can't call it dry land. he was able to file this report. >> dave and christine, we are standing on not just some small country road that has been flooded out. we are standing on interstate 45. major thoroughfare that connects galveston island to the south to the city of houston. this interstate has been shut

down because of the floodwaters. we were able to get on a boat and make our way into some subdivisions back behind the tree line where hundreds if not thousands of people have been evacuated throughout the day. main mainly rescued bay fleet of volunteers who showed up in the interstaet and turned this roadway into a boat launch. sending boats into the neighborhoods. turning off two, three, four people at a time to rescue them from their homes. it is an unbelievable site to see that rescue effort unfolding. essentially all of this happening because the calls and demand simply just outdoing what first responders were capable of handling. they called in essentially a fleet of volunteers to help with these boat rescues. and here you see interstate 45 near some of the boats people showing up in wave runners. boats on their own. trucks, cars, pulling as many

people out as possible. as we went through the neighborhood a few hours ago, and saw inside that neighborhood, dramatic to see people who clearly made their way to rooftops to get away from floodwaters. several of them had cut holes and chopped it away from the at toik get on from the rooftop. dramatic scenes a. >> we've been abas we've been ae the intensity of what is happening across the city of of houston and southeast texas area. >> again that warning from officials there, be really careful about thinking the attic is the safest place to be with rising waters. if you can't get out of the water, it is the end. >> let's look at forecast. bring in karen maginnis from the weather center. this is just sitting there. this rain maker just sitting there and could potentially intensify if conditions are right. >> yes.

we are looking at it. there is no steering current. water temperatures are very warm. two key ingredients. take a look. this is called a her. take a look at this. one strong band as we go into monday, afternoon, into tuesday. into louisiana. they look at potential for flooding. just to back it up. this is the european model. meaning they plug in different parameters. we have a north american model. but they are are all in pretty good agreement. and it brings out tropical storm harvey into the gulf of mexico. keeps it along the coast. moves back in over houston. with the staggering rain fall totals and then just kind of shifting it off towards the north and northeast. it isn't until thursday and friday, dave and christine, that we start to see it even moving

out. so we've got still about four more days and national hurricane center says you might see 15, 25 more inches of rain fall. that certainly is possible. some areas could really be picking up 50 inches of rain fall. we have comparisons of allison in 2001. hopefully at the top of the hour we will show you something comparative. but harvey is doing things that allison did in 2001 for which there are many comparisons. and in allison, some parts of the city of houston saw about 35 inches of rain. just in two days. in houston, two days. we have seen about 26 inches. some areas have seen a whole lot more than that. especially as we make our way down toward that galveston area. we'll be back near the top of the hour. give you another update. one of the worst tweets i saw

was someone who said rescue us. we're being swallowed up by the water. >> unbelievable. >> thank you, karen. that's how people are covering the story. the social media storm. people are tweeting out their stories. people are finding them. rescuing them. twitter and facebook has become the way it gto get the word out. >> a big test for president trump. set to fly it texto texas tomor. what did we make of the federal response so far? that's next. s'cuse me. mind if i sit 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.

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go to priceline. 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 to an early early start. president trump will fly over houston to see hurricane harvey's aftermath. this is the first big hurricane test for trump. a test by which presidents have certainly been measured before, certainly since katrina. athena jones has the latest from the white house.

>> good morning, christine and dave. president trump is set to visit texas on tuesday as show of support for the people affected by this massive and still developing weather event. now the white house is still working out details and logistics with state and local officials and they haven't yet said what city or cities the president could visit. sourc sources familiar with this plan say they are leaning on having him visit a city like san antonio. the goal they say is to avoid hard-hit areas. that's in order to make sure the president's own footprint, security, infrastructure and technical support needed to transport him doesn't take away pr resources otherwise used for search and rescue response efforts. his first major test dealing with ongoing natural disaster, hundreds of thousands, millions of people really affected here. we have been heard the president speak about this storm but he has been on twitter tweeting about it periodically over the

course of the weekend focussing on things like massive rain fall predicted. coordination between agencies saying there's been good coordination between agency eats all levels of government and of course saying the focus should be on life and safety. the president has been eager to show he is engaged. doing so mainly via twitter but also held two video tell conference meetings over the weekend to talk about the storm and aftereffects and federal response. christine, dave? >> atheen why jonna jones at th house. getting attention around the world in global markets. i will tell you how markets are reacting next 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.

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c cnn money stream. forcing oil rig s and ten key refineries to shut down. including the second largest in the country. housing a third of the oil refineries, taking 2.2 million barrels off oil off line. that kaz causes gas prices to rise. higher gas prices just one of the potential costs from harvey. of the storm also threatens the economy in texas. the state's unemployment rate just started to fall after spiking last year when oil prices fell. extended oil closures could hurt progress there. as could the cost to rebuild which estimates put at $40 billion worth of damage. including repairing 200,000 homes hit by the storm. more than $20 billion worth of real estate in houston alone. it is one of the most

densely-populated areas in the u.s. first damage estimates from tropical storm harvey, especially the oil industry, u.s. gas futures hit a did two-year high. wall street closing with its first weekly gain in three on the promise of tax reform. gary cohen saying the president starts public campaign for reform this week. tax cuts fueling market rally since the election and stocks from janet yellen on friday, saying the u.s. financial system is safer now than during the financial crisis. we will hear from the president on tax reform on wednesday. at an event wednesday. u.s. heads into the second round of nafta talks, president trump is renewing his threat to scrap the deal. president tweeting sunday that mexico and canada are being very difficult. the u.s. may have to terminate nafta.

renegotiating nafta was a core item during his campaign. they aim it rewrite nafta by the end of the year. that's a blinding pace for trade negotiations. uber has a new ceo. expedia head. uber hasn't ahad a ceo since june. that's when the founder resigned after investigation into the company's culture. he has not among those rumored to be in the running. that was hp head, imelt pulled out sunday because of problems with uber's board. watch that space there. >> should be a lot of pr problems there. social media certainly a huge part of the response to this tropical storm. especially from people who have been tweeting out their need for emergency help. brian stelter has more on how we will us a view this storm through the lens of social media.

>> hi there, yes. as rain continues to fall, this is a flood emergency in the aid of social media. that matters because local residents are using their phones, using facebook and twitter to call for help. we have seen hundreds of cases on sunday of people trying to tweet to local authorities or post on facebook to their local lawmakers listing where they are located, what their phone number is and what their condition is. asking for boats or for helicopters to come in and rescue them. i have not seen this on this scale in the united states before. we have certainly seen other countries where social media has played a vital role in rescue efforts. think back 12 years ago, last time a major hurricane made land fall on the united states. facebook was brand-new and twitter didn't really exist yet at all. smart phones were not nearly as widespread or commonly used as they are today. obviously cell phone reception is an issue. electricity is an issue.

but there are some neighborhoods in and around houston where cell phone towers were operating, power grid was operating, but there were homes with many feet of standing water. if women were using their phones not just to call 911 but to text 911 as well. u.s. coast guard put out a message saying please do not accepted your information. please make the phone call in order to request rescuing. but we have seen other local officials, other local authorities go ahead and use twitter and facebook to communicate with citizens and in some cases to coordinate rescues. now traditional media plays a vital role as well. really the combination of social media and tv and radio networks that we have seen try to inform and help locals in and around houston and others around texas. unfortunately this will remain really important in days to come. we see people getting alerts on thi their phones and tune in via radio and listen to radio or tv

stations. it is those kinds of connection answers emergencies that show connection of media in combination with social media tools. >> brian sheltser, thanks. we know the hashtag houston strong just before 3:00 a.m. trending this morning for people offering their condolences and their support to the city of houston. >> all right. this likely is going to be an historic rainfall if not an all-time record. >> unprecedented, catastrophic, and it's not over. houston and other parts of texas devastated after record amounts of rain. and again, this storm isn't finished. the national hurricane center says another 15 to 25 inches are coming. good morning, and welcome to

"early start." i'm christine romans. >> they could see this until thursday morning. i'm dave briggs. monday, august 28th, 4:00 a.m. in the east, 3:00 a.m. in houston, texas. the fourth largest city in the united states mostly under water, only going to get worse there. the national weather service calls the flooding unprecedented and "beyond anything experienced before." the catastrophic flooding from now, tropical storm harvey, stretching government resources in some cases well past their breaking point. >> authorities in and around houston are scrambling to save those trapped by the high waters after 24 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. officials say at least two people were killed by the storm. the death toll, folks, the death toll is likely to rise here. houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered. operators are giving priorities to calls in areas where lives are at stake. >> officials say so far there have been about 2,000 water rescues. th