event. there are people saying this is the 1,000 year flood. >> all right. congressman blake farenthold, thank you very much. still a lot of work to be done down there in texas. people waiting for their lives to be saved at this hour. thank you for joining us. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news -- welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you foresharing your day with us. a difficult day it is. historic wrath of tropical storm harvey pummeling texas challenges louisiana as well. the houston area hodest hit by flooding and still a scene of frantic search and rescue efforts. >> the evacuation issue is something that can't be second guessed at this time because we have to focus our priority on saving lives, and texans are taking out boats and bringing people to safety. that's what texas is all about. >> the images continue to come in and they are stunning.

neighborhoods under water. roads turned into rivers. tens of thousands displaced. many of them shocked by how fast things moved from a big challenge to a life or death crisis. >> toilet started overflowing. >> oye. >> that was the first indication something was going wrong and then -- water started coming in through the door and my mother said within 10 to 15 minutes, waist deep. they had 10 to 15 minutes before entry and waist-beep water. >> rain continues to fall and some areas could reach a record 50 inches. the response now and for years to come, a major test for the trump administration and its new disaster response team. >> help in texas overcome this disaster is going to be far greater than fema coordinating the mission of the entire federal government. we need citizens to be involved. texas, this is a landmark event. we have not seen an event like this. you could not draw this forecast up. you could not dream this forecast up.

>> at the fema director, brock long there. you can't draw this up. that, his ominous statement this morning underlining just how bad the situation is in the nation's fourth largest city and how much worse it may get as the week wears on. 62 counties across texas under disaster deck clax. the governor activated all 12,000 members of the state's national guard. houston at this moment under siege. drowning in some of the 11 trillion gal, of water dumped by texas, by hurricane and now tropical storm harvey. the storm shattered the scale literally how 23r569ers measure catastrophe. the weather service literally had to re-do how it does mapping. you see the different color scale to show the devastation. right now authorities say two are dead from the landmark floods trigrd by the storm but sadly expect that number to rise in the hours and days ahead. mandatory evac way,s across houston and neighboring counties have turned the sprawling metropolis into a collection of

eerie, watery ghost towns. more than 30,000 could spend the week in shelters, too many to count, forced to flee. the priority on the ground, finding those still stranded in the tomorrow. 2,000-plus water rescues played out on submerged streets in just the last 12 hours. emergency responders and help by ordinary citizens using a hodgepodge of boats, rafts, seaplanes to save whoever they can. there may be more people too need help and need it soon. forecasters warn 20 more inches do deluge the same in the days ahead. those still out there, clear number one concern for the mayor of houston. >> and the goal is rescue and that's the major focus for the day. that's my directive, that we want to focus on getting people where they are and getting them out of their homes or whatever their stressful situation may be.

>> cnn has a great team of reporters covering the devastation in texas. start in houston. the devastation there is enormous. our brian todd is there. brian, in an air boat in a completely flooded neighborhood. just helped rescue four people from the top of their cars. tell us about that and what conditions are like right now. >> reporter: john, this is the lakewood neighborhood of northeast houston. conditions are hoar risk. i'll have our photojournalist eddie gross before i go to these people pan beyond me. way road going down there. you can see the devastation of flooding. it's not receded, only risen in the last 24 to 48 hours, rain still pounding and getting more in the next few days. we pulled up or these four people waiting on cars. water rising as we got to them. fortunate timing. this is marilyn rice. just got you out of your home. marilyn, how do you feel right now? >> wonderful. i thank god for coming to rescue us and concerned to see about us. we've been crying, calling news

people and different ones to rescue us. we thank you god for you having the mind and heart to rescue us. >> is wasn't us. the team driving the boat and everything. your name? >> beverly young. >> beverly. >> reporter: she and her son donell johnson on their car. we pulled them off their car. beverly, what do you feel about what's happened to your home? almost completely under water? >> completely gone. and i thank god for y'all. sitting there waiting on somebody to come by and help us. >> reporter: how long awere you waiting on the car? >> about two days. i think. >> reporter: two days? >> uh-huh. yeah. >> reporter: how do you feel about being out here? >> we're just grateful. great follow god and for you guys coming out to see about us, because we have been calling these numbers given to us and no one ever came. kept getting excuses or should i say pass-one s, and finally rese

through y'all and we thank you y'all so much. >> reporter: thanks to talking to us, guys. good luck. thank s us, buts thomas newmyer the driver of the boat and two others working on the rescue boat. these are private citizens. this guy came from three hours away, tyler, texas. dropped their jobs, dropped everything, pulling people out of houses, doing it since sense. we'll be bab inck into the neighborhood to pull more people out of their houses. >> how deep is the water where you are, brian? >> reporter: this is not deep. this is only about -- to my shins. but it gets a lot deeper back there, and where these people's house was was about waist-high, at least. >> brian todd on the scene. keep up the good work and extend our thanks to the folks operating that air boat assisting the people. keep in touch throughout the day

and keep safe. those people in our thoughts and the prayers. and by the buffalo bayou now a shelter for flood victims, rosa flores what are numbers where you are? >> reporter: about 2,500 people taking shelter in downtown houston at the convention center. i'm just on the other side of town by buffalo bayou, john. you heard first responders and city leaders talking about how water from that reservoir just west of us is getting released. well, that water is going to be coming down buffalo bayou, what you see behind me. now, here is the incredible, amazing thing about how water flows and how water rises and recedes and how quickly here in the city of houston. just yesterday i would have been completely submerged underwater if i were standing at this exact location, because this entire area, all the way to the street,

was completely submerged in water, and right now you can see, this buffalo bayou is a raging river. it's way over its banks. but it is flowing in the right direction, john. in the way it's supposed to flow, towards the gulf of mexico. of course, the flow of this bayou, hope for people, the rain that's falling, not so much. because like you mentioned. we're expecting another 15 to 20 inches of rain. the ground is completely saturated. and, of course, bayous like these, even though i'm in downtown houston, they meander through the entire town. so people, families, are seeing this, this same water flow close to their homes, and that's what has become extremely dangerous, and extremely scary for a lot of the fellow families who are here in the metro area, and leak you mentioned. there's a lot of them in shelters already. the mayor saying about 5,500

across the city of houston. 2,500 of those are here in the downtown area. john? >> rosa flores, appreciate the update. stay safe. we'll be in touch. joining us on the phone the league city texas police officer matt mogialino in the thick of rescues in dickinson. where are you now what you're seeing and what activities you're up to? >> currently, john, in lake city and dickinson area at the neighborhood that we share with the city next to us, and we're coordinating efforts with some shallow water boats, and taking a priority list of folks who are either elderly or without power, that are high risk, and we're getting to them, getting them in our mrap, protected vehicle, what mrap is, and relocating them to a fire station, a

collection point and then betaken to shelter tr there. >> and, matt, you're out doing this work. as we started the conversation, i believe reshow it again. a picture of you hugging and embracing your son. you were rescued from your own hope yesterday, right? and now out helping conduct rescues. tell us about that, and your decision. a pretty emotional picture there. i have two sons. give your son a hug and kiss and go about this critical work you're doing? >> yes, sir. it's tough to leave your family behind but it's what i do. what we all do. and i was -- i did have the rest of my team rescue me from my house and we went straight to work. >> and give us your sense? we just heard from one of our correspondents brian todd in a different part near eastern houston itself picking people up who say they've been calling and calling and can't get a response. obviously, a overwhelming time and all the police departments

and 911 services are overwhelmed. do you have a good sense how many are still in your area who need help? >> that's a good question, john. i don't know the answer to that. we rescued at least 100 with the mrap alone yesterday. somewhere in the vicinity of 300-plus with just our boat. when i say, us, ours, meaning the police department. there's multiple agencies out here conducting rescue efforts. we're all working together. seems that right now we're actually doing a little better than we were yesterday. the water is receded quite a bit. the question, i guess, is, how much water will we take on and what is the weather looking like for us tonight and tomorrow? that's more of a concern. so we're really trying to prioritize the elderly and any of the sick or injured and get them out prior to any further damage or rising waters. but to answer your question, i don't know that. that's a good question. >> i assume the power is out in

most of the area you're covering. how much does that raise the challenge of people trying to tell people where they are and can't recharge cell phones, for example. has that been a problem as the hours tick on here? >> absolutely. there's several boats, lots of citizens out here with shallow water boats driving around. and we are also out here as we're doing these rescues stopping and talking to people. taking names, getting names and addresses sent to our communications center. so it is an issue, but i think that, i couldn't give you a number of how many, but we're certainly being productive and the folks that we're getting out of these high-water areas. >> matt, appreciate you taking time to do this as you do the most important work that can be done in the situation. appreciate the time. god bless you as you continue throughout there and good luck. let us know if there's anything we can do to help from a communication standpoint. various parts of southeast texas, you can see from the pictures, a., a crisis, b.,

facing immediate threat. polo sandoval in the eastern suburb, fast-rising rivers putting nearby homes and businesses in great danger. give us the latest. >> reporter: john, this is where the next fage e major flooding supposed to happen. at the base of the trees. today reached flood stage. according to the forecast expected to reach a record level today. shadow a record that was actually, took place last may, when the river reached close to 54 feet. the owner of this home told me the river made it all the way to the top of this barbecue pit. today according to the forecast, expected to reach almost 60 feet. as a result, this is one of many neighborhoods under a mandatory evacuation. i spoke to the homeowner a little while ago who tells me he's been through this before and struggled economically and many of his neighbors have already packed up and left.

somebody he's planning to do, john, and having covered many of these events in the past i can tell you oftentimes those who perhaps have very little stand to lose the most. >> planning on packing up, leaving. running into any people, find them all the time, for whatever reason, afraid to lose their home. have nowhere to go. don't have resources who say they're going to stick it out? >> reporter: yes. he's been through this before. again, this river flooded a few months ago. as a result, these are the kinds of folks you do not have to tell twice to pack up and leave. they are taking this as a serious threat. they've seen what happened to their neighbors in the city of houston. they're taking no chances. this mobile home park, john, it's a ghost town right now. >> polo sandoval on the ground. stay safe yourselves. appreciate all our correspondents trying to give us the latest out in those conditions. this is beyond staggering. words do it no justice. more than 30 inches in many places and not expected to stop

for days. by the time it's said and done, might be 50 inches of rain that might fall. give you an idea what that looks like. look at this. 50 inches equals neck-high water on a five-foot-tall woman or enough water to almost completely flood a volkswagen beetle. meteorologist chad myers is in the cnn weather center. chad, you hear the adjectives, unprecedented, historic, one in 100 years. you've been through a lot of these. how do you describe it? >> in fact, i stood at that exact spot that polo was standing back in june of last year when richmond flooded before. the water will be six feet higher than i even saw it last year and it was a devastating nu nu flood. six feet bigger than devastating? i don't know where you naught in context. it is still raining. talked to league city. it leaves the map at 34 inches of rain that has already fallen since the storm made landfall.

now you begin to see the center of circulation. not far from galveston that's going to emerge, the center of circulation emerges right into the gulf of mexico and the storm has a potential to get stronger tonight and tomorrow as the center is now back over water. i just -- it's hard to imagine. only about 70 miles from where it made landfall right now. still raining in houston. flash flood warning for you there. beaumont, flash flood warnings for you and some southern parishes of louisiana getting very, very heavy rainfall. 10 inches. many can handle that. there's the track. wednesday morning, only here. about 100 miles from where we are now. 48 hours, john, it moves 100 miles. 2 miles an hour. do the math easy is my head. >> chad, before league city, talking to rosa flores. talked about a decision to let water out of the reservoirs. some say why? makes sense. emergency management people

explain. let water out so more can come in. as the storm regains strength, she says right now the water's flowing the way it's supposed to. towards the gulf. might that change as the storm comes back in or can we answer that question? >> likely not. not enough surge to push the water back in the other direction. rivers across parts of texas. down into houston. quickly as i can. buffalo bayou here. zoom in the reservoirs to let water out. not wet on this picture. this is the dry land where the reservoir is just grass when it's not raining. it's now filling up rather quickly. they don't want to breach the levees here and here. they're going to let the water out because they feel they have to. going to get down into the buffalo bayou, yes, run right through houstonthat is downtown houston. hopefully if the rain stops the water will begin to recede in the bayou and then add more water and it will kind of stay steadywon't dough down or up. try to releif lease it to take

the pressure out of these two reservoirs is what they're for. obviously, people don't want the water to go up more, but it's, one thing, one side, one thing on the other side. have to let it out. that's what they were made for. flood control. >> keep in touch with chad throughout the hour. of course, throughout the day. keep an eye on the water. chad, thanks. up next, yes, this flooding is unprecedented but not entirely unexpected. as we go to break, look at these live pictures from houston. stunning. 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.

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stunning. harvey, the first big natural sdamp of the trump presidency and because of that a big test of the young administration's emergency response team. so far the texas governor says he's getting what he needs from washington. >> we're having a white house that's being very responsive, very concerned about the people of texas, and a tremendous help to us. >> president trump is being briefed constantry we're told and plan as trip to texas tomorrow with the first lady and used twitter two times to offer encouragement and make the case his white house is on top of things. his point man, brock long. fema coordinates immediate response its job to be on the scene the long haul helping with federal disaster relief efforts. >> we're not at recovery yet. thinking and planning for recovery. we have recovery teams down. down in texas. right now this mission is, it's very important. this is a life safety, life sustaining mission. this is a landmark event. we have not seen an event like

this. you could not draw this forecast up. you could not dream this forecast up. >> with us to share reporting and insights, cnn's dana bash, michael bender, ryan lizza and cnn sara murray. early hours you hear no complaints. having a political conversation in the middle of a tragedy, some mind find that crass but a big test for the administration and every president has to deal with it at some point. and a member of the trump administration, both democratic and republican congress people in that area affected. especially the counties right around houston. i would say so far so good seems to be the political reaction, if you will, to the federal government's response? >> exactly. look, it's not just political. this is a basic function of the united states government and of state government, of local government. it's protecting citizens in in way, shape or form. obviously, a natural disaster is a big thing. in the short-term, yes, they are all of the same party. but you better be sure that it

would be lard to imagine that if governor abbott was not getting what he needed from the federal government, he would be the first person to say it. we know from past disasters, even when there are people of the same party, and leaders of the same party when they're not getting what they want you hear about it, and -- that's personal true here. but i think it is important to note that this is the first non-man-made crisis of the trump white house. by man-made i mean, the man is president trump. or people around him. because they've had a lot of crises, but have been mostly political and generating from the inside out. this is real. as people who lived through covering george w. bush and katrina, it appears to be very different at least in the short term. >> why this is so important. really. it's going to be any sdamp, any first disaster is a major test for a new administration. but we sat around the table for eight months talking about this

president's credibility problems and what that would mean when it came, when an actual national or international emergency happened. here's his first test. so far, so good. as you say. all of the signs are positive here. it is going to be a long time coming. they sent out mike pence. maybe the administration's best messenger on a series of interview, radio interviews this morning in texas. he was on point. and speaking in specifics. right? for a president who likes to talk in superlatives, this is when specifics matter. how many meals are on the ground? how many volunteers do they have there? how many first responders? and all signs of so far so good. >> all signs so far so good, remember right after you mentioned, go through this in the bush administration, heck of a job, browny. mike brown fema director. early day, initial complaints but took days, into the weeks then the criticism. we're not here to revisit

katrina whether the mayor, the governor and the federal response at the time, every level of government fell flat on its face and disappointed people there. in the case a president we've seen turmoil inside the white house. people leaving, constant chaos and in-fighting. in the case of brock long, the big test for him. the fema director. a region -- put up who brock long is. you will learn his name. fema director becomes a household name as point man for the administration. fema manager. has experience. former head of alabama emergency agency. and like the florida director widely regarded an a-plus guy, looks like the president made a smart call. >> looks like a good pick early on. you pointed out. this will require keeping it together an extended amount of time. in terms of response on the ground and also in terms of the president's leadership being here in washington and making sure congress does what it needs to do to ensure fema has the funds needed. these areas are getting the

funds they need. we haven't seen whether that fight is going to brew the same way it did, for instance, after hurricane sandy when we saw a number of republicans, standing up to block money for that or at least needed offset. an area where we have to see where the president decides to take leadership or not and later on this afternoon we are expecting the president to be speaking publicly. very interesting to see what his tone is like not on twitter, standing there in front of the cameras and has to address the nation about this tragedy, presumably say something about this before they get into other remarks today. i think that will be something to watch as well. >> i think, you pointed out in the beginning, it's too early for the partisan politics to present itself in the situation. as things go on, though, there's three big policy debates that will happen. that always happen, in the wake of a emergency like that. and they were going to happen anyway? right? getting into the season where

the budget and government shutdown season in washington. you'll have a big debate about funding for some of the response efforts and as sara pointed out in, during sandy, a big partisan fight over that. got to see where trump's priorities are on that. his budget presented to congress cut a lot of programs or wanted to cut a lot of programs helpful in a natural disaster like that and threatened to shut down the government is the border swaul not built. in the wake of a natural disaster, the federal government is lead be the effort, is trump really going to stoic a promise to shut down the government? finally, it's worth pointing out, everyone saying this is the storm of the century. 500 year storm. 12 years ago was katrina. three storms now in 12 years as bad as this and a lot of democrats will say, you know, climate change is actually, this is the kind of flooding you predict based on the climate change model. another debate for the weeks ahead that the two parties will

certainly engage in. >> absolutely. look at houston, last 15 years. why do we keep having the storm of the century? sara and michael, you said the president, the vice president, smart, get into the community. give people, call your local, trust your local people. the president's hands-on on this. but the president is doing his communicating on twitter. every spread different. we know he loves social media. is it a surprise or what to expect from this president we haven't seen more of him front and center? trying to reassure people. trying to reassure people we're on top of it here in washington, your governor, your mayor is on top of it. >> i asked him friday before the president left tore camp david, whether she ho be in front of the cameras telling the american public, listen to your state and local officials telling you to evacuate, whatever you need to do. tom bossert said, look, the president will address the american people when it's time. when you need to hear from him he will be there. so that's -- it's a little surprising, i think, we've only heard from him via twitter, but

on the other hand, i think there are some nerves within this white house about what happens when you put the president in front of a camera. even if you've agreed on what the script is going to be and what you'll say. >> exactly right. >> berned on this before recently. >> and tomorrow. planned. it's unclear if it's actually going to fully go through for the president to go down to texas. not to the flood area, but to corpus christi where the hurricane first touched down. which is always no matter what the party, no matter who's in the white house, a very delicate line. do you send the president? inevitably pulls resources away, to, from the recovery and so forth. even if it isn't in houston. it's still in the state of texas. but at the same time, a president, part of the job, is to be the commander in chief. the consoler in chief. the person who stands up and just gives the rhetoric which is not just rhetoric. it's leadership in a time like this.

to say we're with you, and there's a lot to be said. >> we'll hear from the president this afternoon. and before we go to break, two of houstons most famous residents have a message for neighbors. former president george w.h. bush and former first lady barbara bush releasing a statement saying we are in maine but our hearts are in houston. praying for all fellow h houstonians and those answering the call to help their neighbors. this we know, houston and texas will come together and rebuild. that from george h.w. and barbara bush a bit earlier today. our continuing coverage of harvey and its impact continues in just a moment. you do all this research

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make a massive understatement more than dire. the crisis produced countless instances of courage and catastrophe. what seems like a near constant string of water rescues and still many are stranded in homes who need help and who need it now. joining us from the phone, javier garcia. his father has diabetes, can't walk, needs treatment. calling 911 but no luck getting help. mr. garcia, thank you for calling us dur a difficult time. in case somebody is watches, where exactly are you and what you most urgently need. >> yes. on the 47 -- just in harris county. i live in, down to the dignity, the cemetery. and i just called yesterday twice. they say they are on their way, and, really, they are really,

really busy, a busy day. after eight hours i call again and say you have to stay, you know -- i don't see any response. until about 2:00. right -- i see the water's coming, you know, inside of my house. and then i put blocks on my father's bed, because -- i was scared. and i see, i told my sister, they tell me to put blocks under the bed and he was a little higher. the problem, we have not had electricity since yesterday about 4:00 p.m. and then he needs some treatment for breathing. >> tell me more about your father, sir, and what specific treatment he needs, and does he have the medications he needs in the house? or is that something you need as much as you need a ride out of there?

>> yes. the most thing we need is for treatment for the breathing. because he can't breathe right, because he got problems before and then we got to put something -- it's a little machine that puts like, a little thing -- from smoking and something. but the like a, a how you call that? bipolar or something? and it helps him to breathe all right. and then he got to take some medicine for -- [ inaudible ] he needs to eat everything we plain. because he can't eat, like, regular people do. you know? and really, our -- i really feel so sad, because i can't understand why the help don't

come in. this is my first time this happened here in america, but i see 911 all the time respond. but now, everybody needs help. >> and, sir, how high is the water in your home? >> well, now it's -- it go out. but it was about 12 inches, in the room of my dad, it was about 12 inches. but he can stay, you know, can't stay under water. now the bed is under water, it's about the living room. the living room it's a little bit lower. so he is -- on that side of the house, but got some water, and then like that, you know, he can walk, and if -- he can walk. i can take him out of here, but -- now he can't. because it's too high outside. probably it's about five feet deep, the water, and then i'm

afraid to come, the water coming inside my house again. >> mr. garcia, we have your address you stated at the top of this conversation and try to get to to harris county officials and hope they were listening as well and try to keep in touch to make sure you get that assistance. our best to you and your father as well and we wish you good luck, sir. >> yes. yes, thank you. i really appreciate it. >> okay. will do. one of the many, many heartbreaking stories as authorities are overwhelmed people waiting for help. after a couple of calls still can't get the help. 2,000 rescues so far. many, many, many more 20 come. more on the life-saving heroic efforts, just ahead. ♪ walter? hmm? is that the rest of our food? what? no. how come you have cheese in your beard?

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go to cnn's ed lavandera, seen one rescue after another from his vantage point. with the national guard headed into league city, south side of houston. tell us more about what you've seen. >> reporter: we are in this convoy with national guards soldiers. a unit deployed oust dallas known at the wolf pack. we're in a convoy of four of these military-style trucks. we are standing along interstate 45 right now. this is in the town of dickinson, that's been, this area, several towns, dickinson, leak city, friendswood, communities and subdivisions devastated by flooding here. this is a unit that is about to deploy. we're going to start making the drive shortly from dickinson into league city in neighborhoods flooded out. talking to soldiers a little while ago, they're not sure if this is a rescue mission on a moving residents already evacuated from their homes to

higher ground, but they are waiting to start moving this convoy in to the neighborhood here in leak city. you get a sense of -- how all of this will work and some of the trucks that will be used. these covered trucks. we're in an open-air truck but this one here we've seen over the last couple of days the soldiers transporting evacuees putting them in these types of vehicles, getting them to higher ground here along interstate 45. and generally there have been either a number of buses that have been moving evacuees to shelters or ho tto higher ground they keep going back for more. we've seen that process today and also once again that navy of volunteers essentially continuing to flow down into these neighborhoods. launching off the surface road here along interstate 45 once again on another dreadfully rainy day here in houston. john?

>> ed lavandera. thank you. keep in touch. reminder you see national guard troops and ordinary citizens volunteering. and right now rescues people before they drown is the immediate number one priority in texas. the long-term recovery could be just as overwhelming. we'll ask a texas congressman about what he thinks the area needs. that's next. ♪ there's nothing more important than your health.

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albreakthrough withyou back. n-drowsy allegra® for fast 5-in-1 multi-symptom relief. breakthrough allergies with allegra®. welcome back. if you live in harris county, texas and trapped and need help, the harris county sheriff the office issues potentially life-saving advice. it's important if you're awaiting a rescue hang a towel or sheet prominently from your home so we can find you. addresses are hard to spot. that because of the floodwaters and rainy conditions. important advice to follow as we look at the search and rescue efforts underway now and try to

look beyond today the recovery effort. check in with republican congressman pete olsen representing some of houston's suburbs and on the phone from sugarland, texas. congressman, put up advice from the sheriff's office. priority one at this moment, continue to find people. what is your sense from talking to local officials on the ground of how that effort's going and what is the biggest complication or need right now? >> thank you, john, for having me. that effort is going very well. i have some good news to report from houston, texas. for the first time since harvey made landfall friday night, the new track came out taking the most powerful part of harvey away from houston, meaning we can move quickly from rescue to recovery. that's a great progress coming up here, john. >> we certainly hope that remains the case, sir. appreciate that. when you think about it, your job back in washington and keeping in touch with your governor, your county officials and sheriff, any guesstimate how

big this will be in terms of damage to your community. >> no idea, john, about the damage. as you know, this is the third flood we've had, 100-year flood in the last 18 months. my judge bob hebert called it an 800-year flood. it looks like, great news it will leave us pretty quickly and not hurt us as it leaves anymore. >> is it, sir, just a part of life or something that government officials -- i don't want to get into the politics of climate change debate, if you live in these communities, is it something state, local, government need to have a bigger conversation about or is this just a fact of life? >> it's a fact of life. we've had great conversations, john. i called all of my local mayors this week right before in a conference call with fema, and response was great about how d.c. helped out texas and houston. for example, a small town in my district had a real problem as

harvey came ashore. they did not have fuel for their emergency vehicles, because governor abbott, the governor requested federal assistance early and president trump approved that, as harvey hit, came ashore, they got that fuel in time of crisis. that's good news coming ouch d. -- out of d.c. we're very happy the administration has helped us recovery. more is coming. >> congressman, keep in touch as you learn things in the districts and anything we can do from a communication standpoint to hil people get information they need let us know. as we started the conversation, the harris county sheriff's office, if you're in a home and need help, hang a towel or sheet, something in the window, so they can find you, because the harris county sheriff office is saying it's hard to find addresses. some blocked by water. officers trying to reach you dealing with driving rain and the like. do whatever you can to help bring attention to you, if you need help there. thanks for joining us today on "inside politics." our breaking news coverage picks up after a break with jim acosta.

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hello. i'm jim acosta in nfor wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. watching a legendary storm devastating a large swath of texas and threatens to cause more damage and devastation in the region. the rain from harvey the once category 4 hurricane continues to batter southeastern texas, and now threatens louisiana. we've seen more than two feet of water with