tv New Day CNN August 29, 2017 4:00am-5:00am PDT
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>> 30,000 people into shelters. >> i have no regrets at all in having people to shelter in place. >> president trump headed to texas today to survey the damage and assess relief efforts. >> we've pledged our full support, every asset at my command is the at the disposal of local officials. >> the u.n. security council meeting today in response to north korea launching a missile over japan. >> this is a pretty significant escalation from north korea. >> the big question moving forward, what will north korea do next? this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day." tropical storm harvey regaining strength, threatening to make landfall again. this is the scene inside the houston convention center, more than 9,000 victims are there. the shelter is at nearly double its capacity. they are still taking people in. >> thousands of people have been rescued from the rising floodwaters in houston and many more are still stranded in their
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homes. rainfall totals are now near four feet in the hardest-hit areas with more days of rain ahead and the death toll is rising as well. in a little more than an hour president trump heads to texas to survey the damage. the president says he'll avoid houston because he does not want to get in the way of first responders' efforts. let's begin our coverage with rosa flores, live inside the houston convention center. what's the scene in there, rosa? >> reporter: you know, alisyn, we have seen hundreds, thousands of people walk into this convention center. i want to set the scene for you pause this is the entrance where people are coming in from. you can see security officers there. there is a security check as soon as people come in, for the safety and security of everyone in this facility. there's also you can see here donations. people not only opening their wallets but literally dropping off clothing, towels, socks, because again, the people in this facility have lost
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everything. as we keep on showing you here, this is the registration desk. this is where people are registering and then beyond this wall, that's where the evacuees are staying. now, the american red cross put it this way. now this is their home. that's the reason why we can't go in there and show you around and show you close-ups because this is their home. we are respecting their privacy and not going inside. as you mentioned, 9,000 people waking up this morning here at the houston convention center, grappling with the fact that they have lost everything, processing the fact that they were rescued. lot of them children air lifted, plucked from their homes, chris, so there's a lot of trauma here, not just the scenes that you're seeing of people, whether it's getting some clothing or some supplies, but the trauma that they're dealing with this morning tremendous, as they figure out what's next for them,
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and their families. >> always significant mental health issues, that's why the red cross and other service providers deal with counseling as well as getting all those hard supplies that people need. you have to get both to make it through something like this. rosa, thank you very much. we'll check back with her in a moment. joining us is anthony turnetta, spokesperson for the american red cross. we know you're very busy. thank you for joining us. we also know the demand is great. it will probably continue to grow. what is your ability to meet it in and around the houston area with shelters and places that people can take cover? >> we did an excellent job repositioning resources ahead of the storm and the great thing is the community partners are working really, really well to ensure that we're meeting all the needs of those who have been impacted. we're going to continue to push forward. this is a disaster, and so it's not going to be an easy recovery process but we'll work with our community partners and ensure that the people that have been
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affected have everything they need as they go forward. >> what does community partners mean and how it you deal with the fact that you're at double capacity in the convention center? >> we're going to find safe transportation to move people to another shelter locations. we have over 30 shelters set up across the gulf coast region so we'll make sure that we find just as they may have been brought into the convention center shelter we'll find safe transportation to get people to a safe location for them. >> and what are are your thoughts about what the demand is going to be and whether or not you can meet it? >> the great thing about the red cross, about our volunteers, about the community of houston and texas is that we're very resilient and together we'll make sure that we meet the needs of these people that have an affected. this is a very chaotic time for them, and what we want to do is in the red cross organization we want to try to put a little bit of normalcy to a rather unnormal
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situation and help them just at least when they're with us and in our shelters know that they're in a safe place and that somebody is there to put an arm around them and start talking through this process with them. >> how do you deal with the range of need? you have shelter, you have clothes, food, medical, mental health, anxiety planning for the future, getting their insurance claims. how broad is the red cross scope of service? >> all of what you just touched on we have mental health workers, we have spiritual care volunteers so we have people that will talk with people that need to sit down and take five minutes of their time just to talk about their thoughts and experiences. each of the people that are with us have a different experience of how they got to them. some may just need something to eat, some might need a place to lay down for a couple of hours. we'll make sure each individual's needs are dressed and try to help them with the recovery process, although the recovery process is a long way away.
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>> quickly, do you have enough local partners? there's a story about the osteens and when they'll open up their church so they can have more people get help, people knocking on the doors. do you have enough partners? >> one of the things i can tell you is that as i watched your program, you see people and this is such an impressive thing about disasters, people are helping people. they are truly helping each other, community partners that probably would never be involved in disaster recovery effort are helping each other, the average person getting in their canoe and helping somebody get out of their house are helping each other. this truly is a community relief effort. >> anthony thank you very much. thanks to the red cross. when mother nature is at her worst often we see human nature at its best. >> you got it, thank you, sir. >> the death toll is rising as rescuers try to bring thousands of people still stranded to safety. cnn's scott mcclain is live in the suburbs of houston where of
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course the rain continues to fall. scott, what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. that death toll now standing at nine deaths that are potentially storm related. there are also estimates that say there may be tens of thousands of people still stranded in their flooded out homes across houston. every single national gadsman or woman across texas, that's about 12,000 of them has been activated to help try to get people out and that is why president trump will visit texas today, but he will not be coming to the hardest hit area here in houston, because he doesn't want to get in the way of what is really a very active situation. this is in northeast houston where i'm standing. they've gotten two feet of rain in the past 24 hours alone. other parts of the city have gotten more than two and a half feet. you can't tell now because it's still dark but there is a whole neighborhood of people just beyond that store there, many of them have been pulled out, police say there's about more
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than 1,000 they've taken out over the last couple of hours. we witnessed the last load of people about two hours ago, being taken out by truckload. i just spoke to a gentleman who had a big box truck and wanted to know if there was anyone to be taken to shelter, box truck fits 30 people. he's taken about 200 to shelters over the past day. this effort is also relying heavily on volunteers with big trucks and with boats as well who are going in there to get people out. i spoke to a gentleman a couple of guys from mississippi who have a boat that they've brought in. they are hurricane katrina surviv survivors. they just wanted to help out as well. they're also coordinating using an app and i've been listening to some of the chatter on there, sounds just like a 911 dispatch and i can tell you even at this hour, they are still very busy. alisyn? >> thanks so much, scott. tropical storm harvey's torrential rain is shattering records in texas. the storm is now regaining strength in the gulf, expected
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to dump a lot more rain over houston, and louisiana. cnn meteorologist chad myers has the latest rainfall totals, and forecast. not the news they wanted on the 12-year anniversary of katrina that more rain could be making its way to the gulf. >> more rain will, not maybe, absolute chris. this is just another devastating part of this story. there is the center of harvey right now, moving into the gulf of mexico. it will eventually get up here somewhere around beaumont port arthur. what is that going to do? that may dry out the west side of the eye or the center of the storm, only 45 miles per hour. it's not really gaining wind strength just gaining moisture but that's going to push an awful lot of rain on this side. you know how we saw when the storm was near san antonio how very wet houston got. same idea. the east side of the storm gets significantly wetter than the west side of the storm. the west side of the storm is dragging down air from oklahoma, the east side of the storm is
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pushing up air from the gulf of mexico. so we will continue to watch the rainfall today. i think beaumont, port arthur, you are in trouble today, eight to ten more inches for you. washington -- houston, texas, about three to four inches and new orleans about three to five inches today. that's it so far. alisyn in. >> chad, thank you very much. we'll check back with you or. our next guess kay beard lost her home to katrina in 2005 and relocated ed td to dickinson, . she had to evacuate her home. she's back to new orleans to stay with her mother and kate joins us now. how are you doing this morning? >> hi good morning. i'm okay. doing better today than i have the last two days. >> yes, we can imagine. what was it like in your home in texas as you saw the floodwaters rise and you had to get out? >> i evacuated before it happened. >> you heard the alerts. >> i did. >> you decided to get out? >> yes, i did, yes, because
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after katrina i realized anything can happen. we were in a very low flood zone. we flooded and i lost my house so i wasn't taking any chances. i have an 18-month-old and i'm six months pregnant so i was ready to leave. >> oh my gosh, kate. how is your 18-month-old doing? >> he's doing okay. we've been staying with family so he's good. has no idea thank goodness. >> and so when you decided to evacuate before things got bad what did your neighbors in dickinson, texas, say to you? >> they've never flooded before in the 30 years they've been there, this is just like any other storm, it's just going to be some rain, nobody's going to flood and then people wound up having to be evacuated off their roofs and rescued through their aticks and taken from boats. it happened so fast, it was so
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scary. >> is it fair to say they were scoffing at you sort of and making you sound like an alarmist and were you trying to tell them about your own personal history and that they should take heed? >> absolutely. i know from experience that once, even a voluntary evacuation is nothing to play around with. it's just serious. everything happens so fast and people go into panic and then thois of people need to be rescued and they wait days as more people need to be rescued. it's just horrible. >> kate, what does this mean for your life? you have a baby on the way. you have a toddler. you've now lost two homes. what do you do next? >> well at 4:00 this morning -- i haven't slept in three days. at 4:00 a.m. this morning i was watching my doorbell camera as the water was coming up to my doorway, so i'm hoping we don't get too much more rain, and
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we'll kind of go from there. i've been through it once and we can do it a second time. i know that the city will come together like they have never been before. people from all over will reach out to everyone in texas who needs help. it's one of its most amazing things that you can actually experience, the community just truly comes together. it's not about race, religion, color, nothing. everyone comes together as one, and it's really an amazing experience. >> that really is a silver lining kate, thank you so much for bringing us that message. >> yes. >> and we pray that you are able to return to your home and certainly stay healthy, get some sleep, and we're wishing you the best. >> thank you. >> chris? there are a lot of people that didn't get out ahead of the storm, and they are still waiting for rescue now. texas governor greg abbott is deploying all 12,000 members of the texas national guard to respond to this need.
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joining us now is lieutenant colonel travis walters, the public affairs officer of the texas military department. it's good to have you with us, sir. we know you'll be very busy so let's get to it. what are you dealing with on the ground? >> on the ground right now, conditions are changing hourly so i just got off the phone with a ground commander who is in south houston saying that roads that were passable an hour ago are not passable now, so our soldiers and airmen that are currently engaged, this is about 3,000, going up to about 12,000, as you said, are working their way through that to save lives and help their fellow texans. >> you are dealing in an area that has close to four feet of rain, so you're in one of the hardest hit areas, and obviously whether the bayou's capacity is up to snuff is a more sensitive issue there. what are you dealing with in terms of need? how many calls? how many potential rescues, how big a grid?
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>> well, we have about 3,000 people deployed for this mission right now, going to add another 1,000 today, of course that number will continue to increase throughout the week. we've seen about 3,500 rescues so far from our forces alone and that does include our interagency partners working with us and responders on the ground. we've done 300 helicopter hoists and c-130 operations flying out of galveston island yesterday bringing 126 people up to dallas to be sheltered there, as well as numerous high profile water vehicles and we've also rescued about 300 animals. >> we are hearing about that need, people and their pets and livestock well, that has to be addressed. have you ever seen anything like this? >> well, of course we are accustomed to having historically hurricanes in texas but this is at an unprecedented
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level which is why governor abbott called up the entire national guard all able-bodied and available folks who aren't in a deployed location or aren't evacuees themselves are mobilizing, so help is on the way, help is already there and we're working around the clock, whether it be night rescues, in our boats, or airplane operations to make sure that we are saving lives and taking care of our fellow texantexans. >> what is your biggest concern with the more rain that may be coming and what is your word for folks waiting for rescue? some had been saying hang a white towel outside the house if you need help. what is your message to them and what is your worry going forward? >> you bring up a great point, hearing the weather, that the weather has not stopped so our concern going forward is we're still operating in an area engaged in an active storm. more rain is coming, more flood something coming. conditions are changing hourly on the ground. that's the concern for folks that are still in need of help
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to stay put and if you can, listen to first responders that are locally on the ground, and we have a tremendous amount of resources pouring into the area to get to you. we will not leave you. we are here to help and we are going to stay there until the job gets done. >> opportunity colonel travis walters thank you very much. we know you're going to be busy. let us know what word we need to get out. see us as somebody who is here to help. thank you, sir. alisyn? >> thank you, sir. another top story we're following, chris, north korea launching a ballistic missile over japan. what happens next? cnn is live inside north korea.
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hey, i've got the trend analysis. hey. hi. hi. you guys going to the company picnic this weekend? picnics are delightful. oh, wish we could. but we're stuck here catching up on claims. but we just compared historical claims to coverages. but we have those new audits. my natural language api can help us score those by noon.
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breaking news for you, north korea firing a ballistic missile over japan. the u.n. security council is convening an emergency meeting today in response as president trump and japan's prime minister speak for 40 minutes last night about these escalating tensions. cnn's will ripley is the only western journalist inside of north korea. he is live in pyongyang with all of the breaking details. what do you have for us, will?
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>> reporter: there are several things about the missile launch that make it quite extraordinary. one is where the missile was launched, about 20 miles from where i'm standing in central pyongyang, from from the same airport that we flew into over the weekend near the commercial airport, north korea perhaps sending a message to the u.s. they can launch missiles from anywhere, even near highly populated areas which would make any u.s. plan for preemptive strike on north korea's missile launchers much more dangerous because of the possibility of catastrophic humanitarian consequences from any bombing run. also the trajectory of the missile alarming certainly for japan, a key u.s. ally. it flew over japan's northern island of hokkaido, about 5 million people many woken up by air raid sirens, gotten messages on their phone to take cover, even though the missile flew over 15 minutes and came harmlessly in the ocean. what north korea was targeting the united states and the trump administration with very strong
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message, a message of defiance because they're furious and officials here on the ground have told me they're furious about ongoing joint military drills now in their second week happening just miles from what where i'm standing in south korea, thousands of troops training alongside american soldiers and also furious about the fiery rhetoric from president trump when he threatened to rain fire and fury like the worlds ahas never seen and said north korea's arsenal is locked and loaded. a week ago he said he thought that talk was working with north korea's leader kim jong-un. >> kim jong-un, i respect the fact that i believe he is starting to respect us. i respect that fact, and maybe, probably not, but maybe something positive can come about. >> instead of something positive coming about, what we're seeing is a rapidly escalating situation here on the korean
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peninsula with south korea conducting its own bombing drills, a direct response to the provocation from the north and also word from south korea that the united states is considering deploying additional military assets to the region in a defensive posture, which north korean officials here say will provoke the situation further and perhaps push them to take this to the next level conducting a more provocative nuclear test. there are signs of activity at the nuclear test site. >> they are having this emergency unsecurity council meeting. what can they do? >> reporter: not much. they just passed a seventh round of sanctions that haven't even started to go into effect yet. china hasn't been buying north korean coal for many months now, and while that is putting a dent in the regime's cash flow, it certainly hasn't stopped their ability to condition launching missiles and in fact they say even if they have to cut in other areas officials here in pyongyang tell me they will continue to launch missiles
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defiantly. they'll accelerate their missile program. however it's noteworthy north korea didn't fire this likely intermediate range missile toward guam. this flight path was never a threat. japan decided not to shoot it down and the united states didn't take any military action but had north korea launched this missile the same distance but south we might be talking about something very different right now. japan's foreign minister indicated that perhaps this is a sign that north korea is backing down, perhaps north korea will be willing to sit down with the united states and talk about negotiations, but the sense i get on the ground here, while they are open to a dialogue, they're not going to come to the table from a position of weakness. they say they want to come from a position of strength which is what happens why we continue to see this defiant provocative behavi behavior. >> will, thank you very much. so helpful to have you on the ground in north korea for us. we bring in cnn political an his karoun demirjian and todd
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gilman. karoun, you remember the president saying at the cabinet meeting north korea best not threaten the u.s. or fire and fury will rain down, so now this missile launch over japan, is that what threatens the u.s.? has that crossed some sort of red line? >> well it certainly is north korea expressing it will not be cowed by the president's warnings basically. trump has been saying that he thinks that north korea's been hearing him loud and clear and respecting the fact the united states will act fiercely and won't back down but we've seen north korea with the missile test launches and with the launches basically saying okay, it may not be one of those missiles, may not be inching close to the united states but it's scaring our allies right now and that is a significant thing, and then in addition to what will was reporting about where they launched this from it's a warning that basically this is not going to be clean and easy for the united states and they're not scared. so it doesn't necessarily change
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the calculus of where we were before but it certainly ups the stakes because it means these sanctions that were very comprehensive passed, the warnings forceful made by the presiden president of the united states is not changing the mind of the nuclear program. >> the president is coming to texas today. >> it projects a national sense of compassion, it projects the president is hands-on and engaged and provides reassurance to the people of texas and the government of texas and really is mostly to the plus side. this is something we expect our presidents to do, to be a consoler-in-chief in times of crisis. it's not something we've seen a lot from donald trump, but it is part of the job description. i think back to a number of other hurricanes that i've covered over the years. i've seen former presidents do this, some are better at it than others. it will be interesting to see
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how warm and how consoling trump is. i remember being in galveston after hurricane ike, president bush holding the mayor's hands and hugging her. hard to imagine donald trump doing that kind of gesture but he has an ability to connect with people, and this could be a very presidential moment for him. >> he is certainly saying things that are comforting texans in terms of making promise they will get the relief that he's talking to congress and congress is like-minded and they'll pass a big relief package. that's what he's saying, who knows what will happen. karoun, he'll leave in an hour from now but how do you think congress is going to respond to those comments? >> it is the president's role at this point to say there will be money there, there will be aid there, and the. the will ask congress for that. that's a routine thing but this has been a sticking point for congress in the past, that everybody has this commitment to do something, but then it gets mired in the traditional
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republican internal debate of do we do emergency funding our offset emergency funding to not upset the budget. this wha might be different this time it's texas and it has a large republican delegation, many voted against emergency funding in the past but may vote for it because it's in their backyard. if we get mired in this headed back into the congressional session which is september, they have to pass a budget f they get stuck and this starts to be a free-for-all it could upset the calendar of other things trump wanted to do. he wanted to talk about tax reform and now we're talking about this and the budget. we're going to be fighting about these money issues which are clearly vital and we see the pictures from houston, they're not going to be going away any time soon as they recover, so it's going to be a constant reminder of this being center stage. >> it's always different when it's you, right? cruz and cornyn and ryan were tough on the sandy financing.
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see how cruz is now when it's his home state that he has to deliver for. todd, let me ask you something while i have you. the president has chosen joe arpaio as a human flag in the sand on the issue of immigration. clearly he wants to send a message. he doubled down on the righteousness of his pardon, here's some sound. >> well a lot of people think it was the right thing to do, john and in the middle of a hurricane even though it was a friday even i assumed the ratings would be far higher than normally, the hark was just starting and i put it out i pardoned as we say sheriff joe. he's done a great job for the people of arizona. >> what do you make of the president's suggestion of the timing here being intentional and the pardon being a rightful one? >> well, i would take him at his word to some degree that his timing was intentional. it's kind of an extraordinary admission by or statement by a
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president but on the other hand he really is quite media savvy compared to most presidents. as far as this being righteous, that's in the eye of the beholder. there are lots of people who as the president says were cheering him on at the phoenix rally last week who clearly believe that arpaio was wrongly convicted of this and was doing the right thing and there are many, many people who find this incredibly offensive that the president would pardon a law man for unconstitutional actions for racial profiling for basically protecting a person using his office as a law man to violate the rights of american citizens using round-ups and detentions to enforce immigration laws that were not within his purview because those are federal responsibilities. many people find it terribly offensive he was pardoned and some people who are clearly very
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firmly in the trump camp are very happy about it. >> karoun we're getting breaking news, the president released a statement on north korea, this is a presidential statement. it says donald j. trump says on north korea the world has received north korea's latest message loud and clear. this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors for all members of the united nations and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the north korean regime's isolation in the nation and among all nations of the world all options are on the table. how do you hear that? >> it's not committing to one option or another. like i said before the fundamental calculus of this is still the same. does the united states try to step up its game further? the u.n. sanctions passed were comprehensive but their efficacy depends how well they're enfo e enforc enforced. the treasury department has
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taken steps to list new entities and apply sanctions to them, but how hard will we go after chinese banks and other institutions that are going around these sanctions? how well will china police its own country and its own institutions? how much further are we planning to go? there is this whole discussion about whether there will be a military operation. clarify what the president said and talk down what things he had said. so the question still remains. yes, we know that this is a move that the president does not support, that he is now saying very distinctly, it is not okay but what does not okay mean in terms what have next steps we take? that's still not clear in how well we're able to undo the threat depends on what the next steps there be. >> karoun and todd thank you for being with here with us. we're marking the 12-year anniversary for hurricane
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katrina and for louisiana. it's being marked by more rain and danger. tropical storm harvey is bearing down on that state. eight expected to make landfall tonight. there's already a lot of water on the ground, and the situation is worse than we even knew. joining us is louisiana governor john bell edwards. governor, thank you for joining us. you were telling -- >> thank you and good morning, chris. >> always a pleasure to speak with you, governor. you were telling the producer you had to rescue people in southwest louisiana. what is the situation? >> at about 6:00 last night, local officials there in calcasieu paris and around lake charles assisted by the national guard, woouildlife fsherries agy and fire marshal rescued about 500 people from flooded homes. that area has been inundated with rain for several days and the storm surge is preventing the rivers from draining the areas it would normally happen and so just the accumulation of
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rain water caused the flooding and caused us to have to start the rescue operations, but that operation is now ceased, but as you know the rain continues, and we are bracing for landfall as harvey is out in the gulf, actually strengthening a bit, reenergizing and drawing that moisture off the gulf. we anticipate this is going to play out over the next couple of days and when it finally starts moving north it will move across a large area of our state and so we're trying to make sure that we're ready. >> -- in terms of need? governor, what do you -- >> sorry, i must have lost you. >> you got me now, governor? >> okay. yes, sir, i got you. >> what are you anticipating in terms of need? >> well first of all, willlet m
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tell you the federal government has been excellent. the president called twice. he signed the declaration we requested within a few hours of our making the request on sunday evening, acting secretary of homeland security duke has been wonderful and fema administrator brock has been great as well. what we need right now is really mother nature to cooperate more than anything else. we believe we're positioned well. we've been staging assets and personnel. we've got about 700 national guardsmen for example that are working. we've got high water vehicles, boats, aircraft staged where we need them. we just need for this storm system to move on through so that question start to dry out. we already had one of the wettest summers on record and so the ground was inundated with water, saturated i should say, and so there's not much more capacity for rainfall without additional flooding. >> i know it's storm season.
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i know it's part of the culture of how to deal with this adversity but the 12-year anniversary of katrina this is the worst kind of situation you would want in terms of how to mark that occasion. what do you tell yourself to kind of steel yourself against this kind of situation and threat? >> well, first of all, the katrina situation is one that ever since then because of the experience that we had, we know how to deal with rain, we know how to deal with floods. we've got a lot of experienced people, we have' got the right equipment. one of the things we're trying to do is be the best neighbor possible to texas because they were gracious and hospitable. they took in an awful lot of people after katrina and remain the center are gravity as it relates to harvey. we're sending over search and rescue teams to texas as we're able to do that. we're offering to shelter folks from texas and louisiana, should
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that become necessary so we're trying to focus on preparing for and responding to the storm here in louisiana, but also trying to help our neighbor in texas, and certainly we continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers as well. >> well, that is some gesture especially with harvey bearing down that louisiana remembers and returns the favor. we know the cajun navy made its way over to texas and they're trying to help and we will keep you in our thoughts and cover your situation and get the word out of what is needed in louisiana. governor, always a pleasure, be well, be safe. >> thank you, chris. >> alisyn? >> let's get the conditions on the ground in louisiana at this hour. cnn's kaylee hartung is live in louisiana with more. >> reporter: i'm in the area where governor edwards was talking about, 500 people were rescued from their homes overnight. i was talking with a group of men from wildlife and fisheries
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who helped rescue the folks in this neighborhood last night and said this is nothing like katrina, nothing like what you're seeing out of texas but this is the first visual example we have of the damage of harvey in lake charles, about 400 to 500 homes flooded behind me as a drainage canal overflowed with all of the rainfall we've seen. the concern is how much more rain will fall? we have a respite from it now but 10 to 15 inches of rain have already fallen in this area in the last two days. we're expecting 6 to 10 inches in other pockets in this area in the next two days. officials are asking for vigilance in this area telling people to stay in their homes if they can, obviously not safe for the folks in the neighborhood behind me to do that but a real recognition of how quickly the situation can become dangerous, as these waters rise. >> kaylee, thank you very much. keep us apprised of the situation. the governor telling us they are
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expected to be okay in louisiana so much so they'll keep helping their friends in texas. another story for you, a furniture store in houston transforms into a shelter for flood victims. why the owner feels compelled to do the right thing, next. (con artists...) they'll try anything to get your medicare card number. so they can steal your identity, commit medicare fraud. what can you do? guard your card? guard your card? just like your credit card. nobody gets my number, unless i know they should have it. to protect your identity, new medicare cards without social security numbers will be mailed next year. visit medicare.gov/fraud stay sharp people!
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more than 9,000 people are sheltering inside houston's convention center this morning. that is almost double its capacity, and more people still need a place to go. enter a local furniture store owner who is taking matters into his own hands, jim mcinvale joins us on the phone. >> hi, how are you? >> do people call you mattress mack? >> i've been called worse. >> well they call you mattress mack because you have this furniture store, we're seeing pictures of what you've turned it into this morning of this shelter. we see kids jumping on mattresses in their pajamas in your store while they're waiting for their fate to turn. how many people do you think you have in your stores today? >> we have two stores, one of them has about 360 people, the other one has 400. so we've got lots of people displaced from the horrible flooding and they're thrilled to have them. >> jim, that is awfully kind of
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you. obviously you are a philanthropist. you're a generous person, but you know, it's hard not to imagine that after people stay there, that your inventory may not be usable or sellable. how long do you think you're going to keep people in your stores? >> some of them will stay two or three days, some will stay as long as a week until they get back on their feet but you know, these are great people. they're not hard on the inventory. they're fine. we've got nothing but good things to say about all these people that have gone through these incredible tragedies. the other morning a young boy came up to me, he was about 7 years old, and he's carrying, stumbled in here and he was crying and he said his parents obviously couldn't speak english. he said can we say here? just breaks your heart. we're thrilled to have these people here and life dealt them a bad hand, trying to help relieve some of the stress and anxiety on them right now and hope to get back to a life of normalcy in the future. >> and how are you feeding
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everybody and taking care of them while they're there? >> well we have two big restaurants, we have a restaurant in each store so that's pretty easy. sunday was difficult because every restaurant and store in houston was closed with the hurricane but we got back in business yesterday. we feed all the folks breakfast, lunch and dinner and try to take care of them like they'd be taken care of at a hotel, if we can make life easier as they try to get something back together maybe we've done something right in our life. >> i think you've done this before. did you help out during interesten? >> yeah we had 200 people from louisiana who evacuated katrina and were here a couple of nights. it made an easier decision on sunday when the rain got worse. unfortunately it's still raining today. it's catastrophic of biblical proportions and we are hanging in there and trying to make life better for a lot of these people. >> you are making life better for a lot of them. this isn't the first time you've
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done dplphilanthropic things ard town, you give away mattresses if the astros win the world series, you donate to local schools and teachers lounges. why do you feel so connected to your community and such a sense of urgency to help people there? >> i'm a social worker with a minor in furniture. my daughter is a social worker, i believe in helping people as well. i was brought up with what my parents taught me to do. i don't know anything else. that's what it's all about. >> what's going to happen to these folks? what is the future for these people who we're seeing in these pictures in your store? are they going to be able to return to homes or have the homes been washed away or ruined? >> a lot of them unfortunately have been washed away and ruined and the other thing is employment. so we still have three people that we hired during katrina
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that still work here that slept here a couple nights and we're trying to recruit four or five of the people here now. there are some great people that are here and the future is a little bit cloudy but we're going to be there to help them and help them get job assistance and help them find some housing. fema and red cross do a good job helping the folks make a bridge back to normal life. the future will be difficult but i think the future also will be bright. >> mattress mack, you are a beacon of light in this storm. thank you very much for opening your store to everyone and for sharing your story with us. great to talk to you. >> thank you, have a good day. bye-bye. >> chris? >> better angels are out and boy the demand is great for them. our thanks to mattress mack. the trump administration moving to end the obama era ban on military gear for police. lot of these rules came out of what we saw in ferguson. is this a good idea? we debate it, next.
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good idea in bad idea? >> deputy mayor of rochester, new york and author of the new guardians, and jeff ror da. gentlemen, thank you for being with us. jeff, make the case for this move by president trump. we obviously spent a lot of time together in furg son. we,000 the plus and minus of the presence there of police and how they were doing. what do you make of this move. >> well, chris, as you know i'm in nashville for the fraternal order of police. general sessions was here announcing the lift on the ban, and it was very well received. university of law enforcement officers were thrilled to hear this protective defensive equipment is going to be available to us again. that's exactly what it is. it's saved cops' lives in ferguson and other places where
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we had mob violence. we aupgt to put it in the hands of cops to be safe. >> is it as sim p pl as that. >> not quite as sample. i do understand what he's saying. we want to keep our police officers safe, chris. and that is drit icily important. but i think the difference here -- and i too were there on the ground with you in ferguson doing those early days. one of the issue that is occurred is that the optic of mill tar rised weapons being used against american citizens who are exercising their first amendment right became the issue. now certainly there was times when there was gun fire and violence and certainly you want to make sure you have the procedure equipment. if the president is going to go in that direction, and it appears he is, then here's what i would say as a law enforcement official, and as a city leader is that if this equipment is going to be issued to police
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departments across the country, several things have to happen. i think first of all cities need to meet certain criteria. number 2, there needs to be extreme training on that immaterial kw. policies that are written that will determine when and wear that equipment is used and i think it becomes critically important that the community police and legal sections sit down and have a discussion as to how best introduce whatever equipment they choose to desire into the communities. we live in a very dangerous time and if we go back to san bernardino, our police officers are going to need equipment to protect them in order to make the rescues and engage a real threat that we know are out there both domestic and foreign, but it has to be training, pomsy and community involvement to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and understanding the importance
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of keeping everyone safe but at the same time i think it becomes critically important that people understand, considering the history, that we have a better optic than what we had before. >> so this gets a little complicated, right? it becomes about the realities on the ground for police versus the optics and perception of those they are policing. all three of us are very well aware of cases where officers have been outgunned, where they're going against people with weapons that are of military grade. sedrick outlined a different one. saying this sends a bad message, that this is a police state, not just police and that that's not a message that you want to send to the american people. what do you say to people who are afraid that they don't want military style weapons and equipment being used against them? >> well, to sedrick -- >> go ahead. >> to sedrick's point and to senator paul's point, law
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enforcement has evolved and very quickly post furg son and i think they are more aware that it's not just tactics, it's also optics and they've got to balance their response. remember, we call this military equipment, but a lot of it came into the use of the military after law enforcement had already been using it for years when our military in iraq started getting into situations in urban warfare. they were using it defensively not oeffensively. we have to be careful not calling it military equipment when it's very essence is protectative. every one of those armored vehicles were scarred with bullet marks, each one represents a cop that could have been killed. >> sedrick what could you say to
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people that are concerned that this sends a bad message. >> well it sends a bad message merely because of what the perception and optics have been in the past. certainly community have a reason to be concerned with that. the we have seen more mill tarrization. community has continuously telling us that's not what they want to see. but there are going to be -- this is not the type of equipment that would be i tro duced into a community every day. this equipment, if the president is going to use this, or say police departments can use it again, there has to be policy as to when and where and how it will be introduced. we need to be very, very careful when it comes to using this equipment against american citizens who are exercising their first amendment right. and quite frankly, many departments -- and i think he would agree many departments have become desensitized to this
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issue. many departments take that equipment in situations where they feel something is going to become very dangerous. they do keep it out of sight. it cannot become a main frame, a part of what we do in policing every day. that's not going to be accepted by the community or elect the officials because at the end the day, me being a deputy mayor in my city i'm going to determine as to when, where, how and if this equipment will be utilized. that's what it rests on. >> and the balance of message. do you put equal money and resources into community policing and body cameras as you do into the military style equipment. then you wind up sending a different message to the populo populous. thank you very much. appreciate your perspective. following a lot of news let's get after it. good morning everyone. welcome to n day. it is tuesday, and we're
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following two breaking stories for you. first, tropical form harvey regaining strength. this is the scene at the houston convention center where more than 9,000 storm victims are seeking refuge from harvey's torrential rain and flooding. that shelter is way over capacity already. this comes as president trump leaves for texas this hour. >> the president is also facing an international crisis. the white house releasing a statement from the president moments ago all options are on the table after a major excalation from north korea. kim john un launching a ballistic missile over japan. let's begin with rosa flores. we heard from the red cross that yes, they know they're overcapacity but they have a network of shelters and yet we also hear that the need for those shelters could double or maybe even triple over the next few days.
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what are you seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: i just talked to a woman who described the evacuation process as a noah as arc that started by boat and continued by high water vehicle and then by bus. why did she describe it like that? because it included people, pets animals and all coming here. let me show you around. this is the entrance where people are coming in. now this is a mixed population. authorities here have told us. there's a security check to make sure everyone is safe and secure in this facility. then you also see donation drops. people donating socks, pillows, towels, right now they're is asking for plus size clothing. they're in need of a lot of that right now. then they move on to a registration site and beyond this wall, that's where people are are sleeping. you see long lines back there because like you mentioned, 9,000 people. now, initially they had 5,000 cots here. they are
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