the corps of engineers that the addicks dam will have what we call uncontrolled release rates starting this morning. basically the ponding levels in the dam have exceeded the elevation at the tail, which is the north end between clay road and tanner. that uncontrolled release rate will continue through probably september 20th to some level, degree of level, peaking out at some point during august 31st. in about two days. e are in close contact with the corps of engineers as well as the flood control district to see where it will meander through, what neighborhoods. we anticipate it will be confined within the areas just west of beltway west between the reservoir and beltway 8 and the north side tanner, the south side i-10. so we'll have a better handle moving forward and want to put the communities on notice to be mindful what's going on in that area, and so, again, we're in

close contact with flood control, and the also been advised barker reservoir will have some overflow as well to a much lesser degree, but both reminding everybody, that both reservoirs flow into buffalo bayou and what flood control has said to us, if you're looking at a flood plain map of buffalo bayou, the flooding other kurring is around the 500-year flood plain level and 'tanticipe the depth even with overflows in the future. if you have in questions i'd be happy to answer them later on. >> and speak to the water level in the kingwood areas. >> yes. another discussion with flood control about what's going on at the river and were advise the by the river authority they've started to decrease discharges out of the lake that have 4re678ed off. flooding on the west fork of, the south part of kingwood, has not yet peaked and is about a

half a foot above the 500-year flood plain. we're trying to make sure that we monitor that as we move forward. flood control is again monitoring those and we anticipate getting additional information moving forward in the next couple days. >> okay. we're monitoring carefully those two areas from kingwood into the areas that will be impacted by the release of water from the addicks and barker dam, and as a precaution, we are looking at setting up an additional shelter in the west, on the west side of houston, and i'll make that announcement sometime today as well, as a necessary precaution. what i will say to people throughout the city of houston is that, please, please, be alert. please be on notice. situation still remains dynamic and will be dynamic throughout the next 24 hours. but we are monitoring the situation carefully. if, based on the models of things we see, we think there's

going to be additional flooding, for example, in these areas, we will quickly advise you and then i'll recommend a course of action. so just be on notice things are dynamic. we're trying to get more specific detailed information as for example, what the release coming from these, from addicks and barker but we want to stay on top of that and will advise you accordingly. i think those are all the things i intended to cover. outages remain? >> yes, sir. >> you want to just cover that? >> thank you, mayor. center point energy continues to have about 100,000 customers without electric service. the flood is a challenge in terms of getting crews to where repairs are needed. over the last 24 hours our crews restored service to 240,000 customers, yet we still have 100,000 customers without service. as fast as we can get them on we're losing additional customers. since harvey hit on friday,

580,000 customers have been restored. at this point, 96% of customers in electric service. those who don't, you're a priority for us, we want you to know, and as conditions allow we will be getting that service back on. one final point -- families help families and neighbors help neighbors. if you've been without service and know people who have electric service and need access to that, please, help each other. thank you. >> i want to underarunderscore,s a storm of historic proportions not just to the city of houston and not just to harris county but the entire region. the city of houston is serving as a hub center, if i can use that. not just for the people of houston. but the people that are in the area. and so, for example, not turning anyone away. and george r. brown coming from our city side of houston.

the point in a point of need and we will be there for them nap is also one of the reasons why we are opening two, possibly three, additional shelters to accommodate the need, because of certain areas, for example, being ordered to evacuate outside of city of houston. they have to go somewhere. okay? so we're making ourselves available to address those concerns. we want to make sure that we're not overlooking or missing anybody in the city. okay? especially people who are seniors, people who are disabled, people who are in low-income communities. if you know of individuals, if you know of individuals, or if you think individuals may especially when it comes to seniors and other disabled, that may be living in neighborhoods that have flooded and are there by themselves or are needing to be rescued, please, continue to let us know. any life-threatening situations,

please, let us know and continue to use 911. i'll ask you again for this day to stay off the roads, because there are many roads still not passable. my hope once we get passed the next, let's say, 24 hours, that the situation in the city of houston weatherwise will start to, significantly improve. but, you know, until then, let's just continue to be, to be very careful in terms of our mobility in the city of houston and let's continue to meet the needs of houstonians that find themselves in a very stressful crisis situation. any questions? >> i have a question about reports of a houston police officer succumbing -- drowning, at the vehicles in high water? >> i've heard those reports and we are taking a look at it and i don't have anything to tell you at this time. >> and [ inaudible ]. >> i don't have anything to add. >> chief, can you expound on

your -- [ inaudible ] -- is there a chance, that the water supplies for -- sent out a tweet, destruction of water supplies on -- >> like we said, the water's in good shape and don't anticipate that going down, but always hope for the best and prepare for any disruptions is all that is. >> and implementation of curfews at this point? >> not at this time. soon as we go into recovery phase or we see a need for that, we will assess it at that time. >> and -- [ inaudible ] some of the things we have are hearing from families at the george r. brown, haven't turned anyone away. thousands at this point, hearing homeless and other sorts of members mixed in with family members and some are concerned with safety. dealing with mass amounts of people at these shelters. mayor, which you speak how you're keeping everyone safe? >> the job is to keep everyone safe. every human being safe.

the doors have been opened to anybody that has been out into the elements. but what i will say to you is that we are opening the doors, and opening these shelters, to get people out of inclement conditions, but we expect everyone to be orderly and well-behaved. we do not -- and we are not going to tolerate any activity that's criminal in nature or that is disruptive. okay? so the shelters are there to assist people in coming out of the elements, coming out of a crisis state, stabilizing their situation, but if there's anybody that's engaging in any activity that works against that, then those individuals will be ejected. so recognize the importance and the reason they're there, but if there's anything that makes it even uncomfortable in terms of any sort of criminal activity or bad behavior, those people will not be welcome at the shelters. >> and the [ inaudible ]. >> sure.

>> and [ inaudible ]able -- at what point would you have to [ inaudible ]. >> put it this way. we are not going to turn anybody away from shelters. we are going to make alternative -- going to make, provide, additional options available. >> and how close are you at the convention center to saying, no more room in the inn? >> well, put it this way -- everybody that -- the doors are the george r. brown will not close. okay? but we will provide additional mega shelters today, within -- a matter of hours, for other people to go to. >> and [ inaudible ] we've talked to -- >> relief is coming. >> relief is coming. >> right. >> and [ inaudible ]. >> right. >> [ inaudible ] -- welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us.

you've been listening to mayor sylvester turner. describing the toll on the first responders dealing with hurricane harvey not a tropical storm. firefighters needing desperately to get rest as reinforcements come from around the country. talking about the logistical, emotional, the physical challenge of this right now still search and rescue effort moving on then to recovery effort. as we speak, the mayor speaks this hour, president trump also on his way to texas staying clear of the worst flooding but the president there for a show of support promising washington will be a quick and full partner in the recovery from the wet wrath of harvey. that main shelter in houston packed beyond capacity are and, sadly, harvey is coming back with more rain adding more urgency, more difficult to the overwhelmed search and rescue teams. >> just unbelievable that the rain continues to come down. the flooding continues, and even after the rain stops, perhaps

later on today or tomorrow, the flooding will continue. we simply need more people in these boats, in these vehicles going door-to-door. this is a door-by-door process to make sure we get every home evacuated. >> the scope of this is staggering by any measure. we should make clear, we are nowhere near understanding the full impact because the storm continues. take a look at some of what we know. 58 counties in the state of texas. look at that giant land mass there under disaster declaration. 450,000 people, still an estimate, trying to get ahold of the scope here. people asking for disaster assistance. that's just one way to look at it. 13 million people under flood watch or warnings at the peak of this, more than the population of state of pennsylvania. consider the numbers and challenge for officials, for weeks and months to come. the situation better in houston at the moment, just told. at the peak, ballpark of 265,000 homes without power.

30,000 people, at least, will need some form of temporary shelter. 3,500 water rescues in houston alone. that the mayor updated that number moments ago. also take a look at these dramatic images this morning. emergency responders continuing to pull people from homes and from cars. anyplace in between, taken shelter. look at this. pictures out of houston, a tapestry of loss, of hope and nervous waiting. and happy to escape on a fan boat with her 3 week old baby. this houston family standing arms folded in their garage waiting on rescuers to find them. other families dealing with the emotional toll of losing everything. >> -- trying to save children. womens first. we had to be separated and that's where, really, that's what, the stressful part on my heart, because to see my kids and my wife going, and -- not be

sure what, they were going to be safe, but after that, we have to wait eight more hours to get rescued. my heart broken, because -- ah -- you know, well, when your love is far away from you, it's pretty hard, to think that you cannot do anything for them. it's hard. it's hard. >> that's just one of the hundreds and hundreds of stories our reporters on the ground are getting. you saw the crowd, behind that gentleman, scott mclean dealing with elements joins us from houston. scott, the latest? >> reporter: hey, john. the rain thankfully startsed to taper off a little. at least for the moment here in houston. as you can see, there's still a whole heck of a lot of water to deal with. you can see behind me, some people are trying to walk out of this neighborhood in the northeast part of the city. other folks are here with boats trying to get the boats in so

they can take people out. you can see a constant stream. amazing here, john, most of these boats belong to private citizens. a couple belong to the coast guard or other first responders. the vast majority, average joe who wanted to do something to help. a lot of people are walking out from this area. the problem with this neighborhood is that it's far from the main road. there's really only one or two points of entry and exit and we're about a mile and a half from that right now. you've got to traverse through a mile and a half of water in order to get out of here. the other problem is that the boats, its often too shallow for the boats or too deep for some of these high-water vehicles presenting other challenges. introduce you to marlene robinson, left her home early. what does it look like at your house right now? >> everything's under water. the water looks nasty. it's horrible. >> reporter: when did it first come in? >> it started coming in what?

yesterday? day before yesterday? >> reporter: and why didn't you leave them? >> it wasn't that bad. still had electricity and food and were fine. once the electricity went out we started to worry. >> reporter: things started to get uncomfortable at your house? >> very. >> reporter: at what point were you able to get out? >> we put "help" on the door, someone knocked on the door and we started loaded everything in to the bow, dogs, cats, everything we could carry. >> reporter: how did that feel? >> got to see our neighbors for the further time. it felt good. >> reporter: bonding with the neighborhood? >> yes. totally. >> reporter: you're waiting for a high-water vehicle to take you all the way out. >> correct. >> reporter: at this moment. where are you going from here? >> we don't know. we don't know yet. >> reporter: did you have a place to stay or going to stay in a shelter? >> i don't know. we have some family that lives out of houston. but exactly, i don't know. where we're going to go. >> reporter: marlene, we're

thinking of you and your family and good luck. >> pray for us. >> reporter: marlene everyone should pray for houston. a good message. i heard one man, john, to wrap up, tell one of the guys who took him to this area said, you're an angel. he replies, nope. just a guy. insists, no. you're an angel. a lot of good samaritans out here helping. >> seeing it firsthand, just a guy, a lot of average americans, heroes, helping neighbors on the ground. those words, i don't know, from that woman what comes next tells you everything you need to know about the scope of the storm. this catastrophe in texas, uncharted territory for president trump. moments from now due to land in corpus christi, not far from where hurricane harvey landed on friday. never hesitated before to use the power of your bully pull it, the houston chronicle writes in an open letter to president trump. "now you can harness that passion to fight for houston."

cnn's jeff zeleny in austin. our white house correspondent is there. the president visits there after visiting first the storm-battered texas coast. jeff, from your reporting, do they understand inside the white house, one, the empathy, compassion, support challenge for the president and, two, longer-term questions raised by the houston chronicle and residents asking, where do i go? who's going to help me? we have no idea of scope of this. i'm sure the white house has better information and can't answer many of the questions. do they understand the challenge ahead ask as we speak, showing you pictures of air force one landing in corpus christi. jeff? >> reporter: john, good afternoon. as you said, president trump is landing, starting his trip there in corpus christi. the white house is intent on keeping him out of the worst areas. particularly out of houston. one of the reasons i am here in austin, about 140 miles or so west of where scott was broadcasting from. they're in houston. as the president lands in corpus christi, john that is something his advisers want him to see first hand, up close. the stories of the lost.

the massive devastation. the truth is, the white house does not have a full picture of, a full handle. no one has a full picture and handle on how bad this disaster actually will be. when those waters recede in houston. how many lives will be lost. officials know there will be so many more, but the president wants to, in his words, lay the foundation for this long recovery effort. on his flight here to texas, his, the press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders told reporters he indeed wants to get a firsthand look at this to lay the foundation for this long recovery effort. he has cabinet secretaries onboard with him. john, also has mark short, director of legislative affairs at the white house. you asked, why would he be traveling here? because this is going to be a massive legislative effort as well. the president is going to ask for a, a huge, a multibillion dollar emergency effort from congress. likely to get some of that, but

this is always a big fight as we know. john, so poignant on the 12th anniversary of when hurricane katrina came on the shores of louisiana there. we all remember the recovery of president bush. i remember being in crawford, texas, covering president bush as he was flying back. of course, did not stop, and this is one thing that president trump wants to avoid that he's indifferent to this. why he's coming here today, john, with the first lady as well. he is scheduled to come back, perhaps, at the end of the week to get a firsthand look at this. john, this is the biggest test of his presidency yet. also, a sign that he will need government to help all of these residents of texas. john? >> major test. jeff zeleny in austin where the president visit later today, just hit the ground in corpus christi. keep an eye on this. jeff noted other members of the white house team, keep an eye on them as they deplane in corpus christi. in the houston area meanwhile, authorities have yet another emergency on their hands. meteorologist chad myers with details.

chad, a levee breached? >> yes. this morning, levee down river in the river did breach itself. we knew this had no chance, and the authorities knew it had no chance, and put out the evacuation order 48 hours ago. so let's get to a few things that the mayor talked about. we'll go through them. houston right here. galveston right here. the river, right here down to the gulf coast. going to crest at 59 feet in richmond. i was there a year and a half ago. it was 54. that was a devastating flood. this is five feet above what i consider devastating. zoom you in to the area right into here. here is the river coming down. down to the gulf of mexico. kind of a semiretirement area, an area where you have the lake around you, and all of these -- columbia lakes area, the river, levee here, broke earlier today. now get you back out to the big picture. take you to the reservoir.

you've been hearing all about the reservoirs. the mayor went on and on about them and how it was the right thing to let the water out. well, in fact, now we know that it was, because the reservoir called addicks, already to the top of the overspill, anyway, and is just running over the top. had they not let it out anyway, it would be going over without any resistance whatsoever. get you here. this, john, is addicks reservoir. about 20 square miles, 65 billion gallons -- and it's green -- right here. because it's a park. there's never water in here. it's not really a reservoir. it is a catchment for flood. well, all of these rivers have come down and flooded it. so it's coming -- >> chad, i need to interrupt you. sorry the governor, abbott, is speaking now. straight to that. >> -- everybody watching with relatives in houston right now.

i mknow it is one of the most devastating floods of all-time in american history. what do you want to tell them right now to people listening? >> everyone in the state of texas is focused first on saving every life that we can. then we want to help in the evacuation and transition process and typical texas fashion, we will rebuild, and make it better than ever. >> reporter: what about an aid package plan? is it in the works and what's the status of that now? >> the president and his team have been talking to us about providing tremendous aid. one of the things we talk in more detail about today. if will be something that the president is able to provide from his resources, but also part will be an appropriation for the united states congress. >> reporter: else in the way of fema, can fema do? i know they've done a lot so far. >> a whole lot of different tools that fema has available and one of the things we talk about. let me go. >> hope the president takes ay wa from what he sees here today?

>> we want him to see and understand the enormous challenges that texans have faced and the need for the aid that he's providing. he's a champion of texans, and a champion of helping us rebuild, and i think we will hear that commitment. thank you. i have to go. >> thank you, governor. >> listening to governor greg abbott, republican of texas, walking away from reporters going to greet the president of the united states. the president, first lady, members of the white house team right there aboard air force one just landed moments ago in corpus christi, texas. the president is avoiding the deepest areas of concern right now. he won't go to the houston area, for example, where the most major flooding is, but he does want a briefing, a., near where harvey made landfall friday night. he wants to hear from the governor about the challenges and most importantly deliver promises to the people of texas that help will be coming from washington. that will be a big challenge when the president gets back. number one, no one has any idea how big an aid package is needed and two, every time there is

this debate, there are fights whether any emergency spending should be offset by budget guts else wre. the politics that might not seem appropriate but the politics that has when debated back in washington. most importantly, the president on the ground in texas. you see him there pulling in in corpus christi to offer help and assistance to the people of texas. again, the first lady along for the trip, along with other key members of the white house, leading the team here as you watch the president's plane approach. again, tough to bring politics into the conversation at this moment, but his presidency has been em battled. poll numbers down. criticized for handling of other big challenges most recently the white supremacist neo-nazi marches in charlottesville. this an opportunity for the president, one, address this crisis. hurricane now tropical storm harvey. two, perhaps help regain his footing from a national political standpoint there. you're watching air force one pull up here. again, you might be asking, why corpus christi? not houston?

this is a smart call, a welcome call, the right call by the white house. you don't want to go into a place where you take attention, vital resources, vital time, away from the first responders. away from the police, the fire, the other emergency respond personn personnel. their one one priority, help the theme in houston desperate looking for rescue boats. the president going to an area safer on the ground, less of a tax, if you will, on law enforcement and other security resources. the governor an hand to brief him wloon he knows so far but very important, very important, we make clear as the president goes for an initial show of support in texas, nobody can fully understand the scope of this yet, because harvey continues to rain on houston. you see those nice, clear skies in corpus christi. not far from there, though, the storm did make impact. communities there have been devastated by a hurricane. communities in the houston area now dealing not only with the

hurricane andresulting flooding. the president, there to offer words of comfort to the people of texas. with us, abby phillips, and julie davis, and mary catherine hamm of the federalist. the president arriving a few minutes early. again, there will be people who say, why isn't he hugging flooding victims? this is a smart call by the president. you do not want to get in the way and distract from the search and rescue efforts. also a smart call for the president because he is going to texas to say i'm here in the early days to support you. what do we expect on this day when they just simply don't know? don't know how much federal resources this will take. how tough to get those through congress, even though you have a republican president and republican congress. these things tend to turn into fights. >> the main thing about this is that, this visit, a lot is about optics. a lot of the role of the president in a situation like this is about projecting a sense

of security, a sense of competence around the response from the federal government, from the state and local governments, and to just offer support. it's also helpful to the president that the governor of texas is a supporter, a republican, who is backing him up on this. who's not going to create any problems. who's going to try to make this visit as smooth as possible. i think both of those combined will hopefully, things will go well and there won't be any snafus or emergencies at the last minute, but it is a risk to go when things are still very, very active. not that far away. but i think for trump, he's probably in the best position that he can be at this moment. not too many political risks and really all he that to do is just be there, shake hands, offer a couple of words of empathy and support. and this visit ought to be a fairly smooth-sailing success. >> the main thing the president is trying to avoid, obviously, what happened to george w. bush and katrina and the sense that

the white house is not engaged, that the president is not engaged, he's not sort of appreciating the horrible situation that's happening down there, like you said, john, by going now, he really has to be careful where he goes. he criticized barack obama during the campaign for not going early enough to louisiana. so he's obviously made the call he needs to be there as soon as possible. and you heard yesterday, a sense, we'll be there for you, signed, sealed, delivered. aid is coming. he's getting out ahead of where things actually are. it's not necessarily a no-brainer congress will quickly andagree without debate on other matters. >> it's coming naturally to the president. how dangerous and unprecedented this is, he's been tweeting a lot. promising relief. said the right things yesterday about neighbor helping neighbor, friend helping friend. as for congress, it's a

difficult bet to assume congress will do this quickly. they don't do anything quickly and have a lot of deadlines coming up in the next few weeks. plausible this gets tacked on to government funding and have to extend the children's health insurance program. flood insurance expiring end of the month. hell of a time for that to happen and raising the debt limit. probably the toughest stretch for the president. biggest testes faced and has been a little distracted donfor that. and a wall on the southern border reurped a threat for the government shutdown and tweeting about a political ally's book. claire mccaskill in missouri, traveling there wednesday. this is not helpful to him. >> focus -- focus and discipline have been a question about this president. i almost feel like, need to apologize. you see president of the united states waving getting to an suv. other members. white house team with him. i feel i have to apologize to the people of texas we're adding any politics to this

conversation. many of them are trying to figure out, is my family safe? is my home drestroyed? will i see my precious pets and the like. precious documents? it's a fact of life, that the money and help they need will get caught up in these washington conversations. will get caught up in the effectiveness of this president. 0 i don't say it critically. it's just a question. nerve her to deal with emergency funding bill, get it now. more next year, more the year after. look at this flooding and look at the map of the region and understand the area we are talking about here, the number of people we're talking about here and we have no clue yet the total scope of this. this is going to be a challenge for the entire heap of the first trump term and beyond. >> yes. and the president showing up here and doing it in a way that doesn't endanger anyone else or take resources away is part of the process of putting the spotlight on congress, pressure on them. good news is, something that democrats and republicans love to do is throw a lot of things they want into one bill that has

a lot of public pressure and just like, money for everyone. then pass it. i do think there's a better chance for that than other things they have tried to get through congress. i think the biggest risk for him is sort of something he had tends to do, which is boast a little too much and declare success a little too early. a competent governor and fema director in place. it's possible for a historic storm but it's still a disaster and it's still building. >> start the conversation in texas and bring it back to washington. in texas, one thing i haven't heard, correct me if i'm missed it. complaints from democrats as yet. the fema, been on the scene. seems to be doing the right thing. haven't heard complaints, need more shelter space, food, water, that's a challenge. not that fema hasn't delivered in my experience. remember katrina, initial complaints, but a week later, two weeks later, three weeks later the scope of that began to grow. that's the challenge.

will they keep focus? at the moment, from the administration's response to the particulars of this in the past 72 to 100 hours, bipartisan, good grade so far? right? >> people seem to say they have what they need. the biggest of deals at this point. what we saw in previous disasters of this kind maybe a disconnect between washington and the ground. what people really needed and whether requirements can, what they were and what was able to be delivered by state and local authorities and by the feds. not seeing that yet. all indications are the team president trump has in place in the administration a lot of areas of the government haven't hadn't fumy staffed up and don't have the expertise they need. those dealing with this disaster do not appear to be one of them. at this point they don't have any pushback. the challenge is going to be given that the storm is continuing, whether they can sustain that in the days to come. that's the big unknown that as mary katherine said, the president may have a risk of getting out in front of.

being too optimistic when there's still a huge challenge on the ground. >> pictures help you understand. you see the president and first lady wearing baseball caps. you see the sba jacket, housing an urban development secretary with a hud jacket. every agency in the federal government will be challenged not only today, as far as the governor of texas. governor abbott. moving to get a briefing in corpus christi, it's just about every agency in the federal government that will have a role in this. some already responding today. some, their role doesn't kick in until it comes to rebuilding and down the road. talk about, you brought this up. what will happen. washington already had a tough september. they freed to vote to raise the debt ceiling. setting up pressures within the president's republican party. pass spending billssebills. sets up bipartisan issues. yes, of course, texas need emergency funding. in the past, new orlean, in the

past, super storm sandy. yes, need to help but offset cuts elsewhere. one member of congress noting the president's budget director was congressman,mick mulvaney, of course we want to help those people but have to find somewhere else to cut in the federal government. tom cole, i wonder if he'll be demanding this now that he's director? probably not. a playful way setting up a conversation in washington. conservatives saying acting on principle, yes, need to help the people but the federal government is running at a huge deficit. separately. do it separately. conservatives, no, sir. connect it to everyone else because we have to do the bamat >> and ted cruz and others voted against the sandy aid package. didn't like things in it. and doesn't pass muster. attach other provisions to it unrelated to sandy at the time and objected to that.

also in the house, 180 members who voted against sandy aid. 179 were republicans, including many texas republicans. this is going to be a test for them. surely democrats will remind them of that vote, but i don't see democrats right now standing in the way of this. and, you know, making demands to this. so far we've seen -- excuse me -- mine orpty leader nancy pelosi and sheila jackson lee, texas congresswoman, we need ate without any problems. >> and frankly, seems unlikely republicans will be the problem. i think there's been so -- the list of things that folks like mick mulvaney and others in the house totally flipped on in the trump era is very long. i suspect this will be another one of them. i think this era of republicans really insisting on fiscal belt tightening is kind of in question, because there are a lot of things that republicans have on the agenda now they have no intention to pay for. including tax reform, for

example. so hard to see how they could hold disaster funding up to a higher standard than eventually anything else on the docket at the moment. >> i suspect this will pass and suspect playful and not so playful poking. the govern every of new jersey chris christie, hypocrite, called hypocrite to the two republican senators from texas and other lawmakers who voted against the super storm sandy package. listen to ted cruz, he voted no to the sandy package saying full of pork. you're right. maybe a little bit, not at the scope they describe it. listen to ted cruz saying we need help now. >> we can continue the policy debates for months and years to come. at a time of crisis we are standing united with first responders, local and state officials, our federal officials, at a time like this there are no party divisions no lines dividing us. we are texans. >> we are texans, and i think the country should and will come together to help them, but he is one of the more polarizing

members even within his own republican party. i suspect he'll get a few pokes even as colleagues rush to help. >> i'm a person who actually think it's important in emergency not to pretend that money is an unlimited resource, because we really don't have unlimited money. maybe you should make priorities and make them clear and be responsible how you're spending the money you have. also, the head of the republican party basically -- i don't think it's going to be a problem. >> to the point, donald trump is the head of the republican party. may seen crash to people in the affected area but happens to be a reality of his life. jeff zeleny, tell me if we lost jeff in coverage. pew research polling on the president in rough standing with the american people going to deal with this texas challenge. also a national challenge. these are our friends and neighbors even if they live far away. feelings how president trump conducts himself as president. 58% of americans don't like how he conducts himself. 25% say, mixed feelings. 16% say they like him.

feelings how president trump conducts himself as president among republicans. republican-leaning independents. 19% don't like. 46%, nearly half of republicans, and independent leaning, republican leaning independents, mixed feelings. 34% like. jeff zeleny if you're with us, as the president makes this trip, to his aides talk about seeing this as, i don't want to call it an opportunity. i don't want to call it an opportunity, just a chance for the president to maybe learn lessons of past behavior and keep focus and discipline here? >> reporter: no question, john. this is a moment for a reset. of course, it's not a moment that anyone inside the white house or anyone of course would have wanted or hoped for, but the things that test and define presidencies and presidents are external events. and this is the first external event that president trump has had to deal with here. so how he deals with this. this goes from everything from getting a big aid package

through congress to the smaller things. to hugging, shaking hands, listening to stories. that is something that define as president we haven't seen yet this president do. i think if the president were to read the editorial you had on earlier in the show from the "houston chronicle" calling on him to use his bully pulpit, his charisma, his mega phone for good in this case, this could change his presidency. at this point, the early presidencies of barack obama still were not defined. george w. bush, still not defined. didn't come until september 11th, of course. not saying this is along the same lines of those, but presidents are tested by things outside their control, beyond their control. john, that is why the president's advisers want him here in texas, to have a firsthand look at this. of course, it also allows him to change the subject, quite frankly. allows him to move beyond the russia in1re6r79 gatien, still going on. this is allowing him to, you

know, be presidential and test if he can do that. so it is a test for him, john. we'll see how he does. i was struck by texas. it's a red state. the president won it by a huge number. also, though, in houston it is a bipartisan, a lot of democrats there as well. members of congress. that will be a major factor here in approving any piece of legislation. it is impossible for me to imagine that congressional democrats will not come together as well as the governor of this state, the two republican senators of this state. an unusual bipartisan coalition. we talk about red states and blue states. inside states like texas, though it is a mix, of course, urban centers are more blue. rural parts more red here. an interesting dynamic politically speaking to watch as this goes through congress, and this recovery effort happens, john. >> a great point, jeff zeleny. maybe people who forgot how to talk to each other just because they're -- actually have

conversations, build that remarkably missing word in washington "respect" going forward. watchening these pictured you're stunned and can look at still photos, look at them online. these used to be streets. they look like rivers. this is a road through a community. now it looks like a river. what do we know how the president -- an avid television watch are and i'm sure has seen some of these images and we know, meant, experience in real estate. he owns seaside resort properties that have had damage from storms. has lived some of this to a degree. what do we know about how he has asked for information, kept track about this? consumed -- the criticism the health care debate didn't get into the weeds and would say something setting the negotiations off track. how did he do dealing with this? >> clearly, he's been watching, sees all of this. he's been tweeting with some degree of awe about the magnitude of the storm. the amount of rain. the sort of historic nature of the moment.

over the weekend he was in camp david, and was participating in daily teleconferences, phone calls as well, according to his aides. but also yesterday, you know, he sent mike pence to fema to get a briefing on the status of the storm. he was receiving updates through his chief of staff john kelly. so in some ways, that's pretty typical of this president. he tends to get his information through his aides. he likes to be briefed in that way. and it seems that very much so that he's been keeping track of it in that way. it remains to be seen what the empathy factor is going to be here. that's -- i think he understands the magnitude of the storm, the depth of the, the destruction, the gravity of the rescue efforts under way. what we are hoping to see today or what we might see today is where the president is in terms of what jeff was talking about. the hugs, the handshakes, the

compassion effort of this. he hasn't tweeted a lot about, you know, the sort of spirit of perseverance of people who experience a storm like this. it remains to be seen. >> interesting point. every white house makes decisions how to delegate responsibilities, including communication. and the vice president has been all over the radio down in texas saying, know, here's what we've done so far. help is on the way. let us know if you need more. god bless you all. admiring the spirits of the volunteers and we should say that every chance we get. a., first responders, police, firemen, national guard, everybody helping. exhausted, yet keep going at it. neighbors, people in boats showing up to help. that is the great american heroism that comes out of great american challenges and tragedies like this. but the president has been active on twitter, not so active publicly, interesting during a crisis. >> it's interesting, because he -- and in many instances and many events that we've seen unfold during his first few

months in office, he's seemed sort of the ultimate tv spectator. loves to watch a big, dramatic thing unfold on tv. very much the tone of his tweets. wow. the storm. i didn't believe it. not he was actively sounding coldhearted but not a lot of thoughts and prayers for victims or go first responders or any of that. behind the scenes he has been asking a lot of questions, very interested in specifics of what's going on, how much rainfall. how long is it going to last? what are the impacts? my colleague reported he's a real estate businessman himself. he asked about water damage. really tough. tough, tough, tough when water damage. he has gotten a little bit of, sort of appreciation for what people may be going through here, but abby's right. him expressing concern about the on the ground plight of people dealing with this huge mass and maybe dealing with it for weeks to come. >> and we may get that -- sorry to interrupt. may get it moments from now.

a quick break and be right back. you see pictures from the texas area. still devastated by storms. the president is on the ground on his way to fire station in corpus christi he'll get a briefing. we expect to hear from the president as well. we'll be right back. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market.

welcome back. president trump landed moments ago in corpus christi, texas. meeting with federal state and local emergency management teams. getting a briefing what's going on across houston. and cnn's nick valencia is at the airport where air force one touched down. nick is doing great reporting around the devastated area. what are residents telling you as you meet them and they're dealing with this hardship what do they want to hear from the president? >> reporter: we've had a wonderful opportunity to be here even before the storm hit. this community embraced our

crew. i can't begin to express the mutual respect between the residents and this crew. i've spoke ton a lot of them this morning, john. they tell us they are all excited about the president coming here. perfect timing. the way he's showing up, when he's showing up. i spoke earlier to a man named rubin sason saying president trump will bring a ray of sunshine to so many texans. a youth pastor i met hours after the storm hit here said that this is an opportunity for the president to show the public here that he has not forgotten about rockport. not forgotten about this community. this isn't a community of 10 million people. this is a community of 10,000 people, and one of their main concerns, being forgotten. not getting the flooding damage we're seeing. phenomenal pictures of devastation in houston. the flooding and the millions affected there. they know the tragedy that that community is suffering and the hearts go out to them, but also say they hope they're not forgotten here, because they were hit just as hard.

they say the flooding may not be here, but the wind damage certainly is. john? >> appreciate that, nick. appreciate the work of you and your crew, too, as you continue to cover the damage in your area. beginning to shift towards the recovery there. nick valencia on the ground in corpus christi. and these residents are happy. whether your a democrat or republican, name is donald trump or barack obama or bill clinton or george bush, someone is there to understand your challenges. to the point we discussed earlier, today is test one. can the president do -- play a little sound from the president yesterday -- delivering a powerful statement. talked we're all americans. these are our neighbors. we need to come together, pray for them, help them. and said as president he would try to get the wheels of washington to move quickly to help them. >> nobody's ever seen anything like it. i've heard the words "epic." i've heard "historic." that's what it is, but you will have what you want, i think, very, very quickly.

>> very, very quickly part i think become as challenge for the president at a time when, again, my apologies to the people of texas dealing with this, but he has had fights with his own party, unconventional as a republican. has spent much of the summer fighting with a man who's helping very much needs, senator majority leader mitch mcconnell without typical washington sha n nshananigans. spending $50 billion here, can't we cut somewhere else? a perfectly fair conversation. that will happen, but shenanigans. a spending plan, try to latch it on. that's what they do. if the plan makes it to a final destination, try to get your plan latched on to it. we haven't seen the president do something like this. >> speaker ryan's office put out a statement saying there will be a response.

the first request, the president sends a request to congress. as pointed out earlier, first crisis of his presidency not of his own making. the empathy factor, response, making people feel he's engaged and will be a leader throughout. the more important one, can he deliver? made a bold promise yesterday. you're get help and get it quickly. we'll see if that happens. has to get something through congress. estimates ranging from what i've seen, $30 billion to as much as $100 billion to rebuild houston. year's long process and will be judged whether he can deliver that means getting things through congress. building relationships and making sure it doesn't get caught up in politics. >> the advantage for him, who he is, interested in building or rebuilding is sort of a natural fit for him. i think when he is engaged on something, which we haven't seen on a lot of policy, he probably can get pretty into that and make connections with for instance, democrats who will be happy to help on this.

so i think he's probably more likely to be engaged in this than other things. and the other thing that i think is a fairly good fit for him is perhaps it won't be the standard sort of empathy. see speech we see. none of standard. and resilient, people hoop gwho out in their own boats. this is a story he likely to tell and a different kind of empathy you see from others but a very uplifting message. >> also, though, going to require the white house and the president to do something they have not yet done. to actually send a proactive legislative proposal to capitol hill. on health care we saw he -- republicans on the hill wrote it. seems to be going on in large part with the tax reform bill. they will have to say what they need and what they think they anticipate the rebuilding will cost. the disaster assistant portion. that is going to necessitate a lot of talking with democrats, a

lot of talking with local and state officials, and a lot of compromises even before they get to saying, okay. this is our proposal. then haggle with congress over that. that's not something we've seen the white house do yet and something the president will have to get done in very short order. they don't have a lot of time. >> and perhaps arm twisting, if he wants it quickly, an emergency package. not offsets or full offsets and conservatives say, no, mr. president. >> that's an interesting point. we've seen them try variations on the arm twisting before, and it hasn't always been effective. this is an opportunity to re-evaluate that strategy. i'm not sure the stick is, would go well with congress. this might be a chance to try something different. try the carrot. try inspiration. try, you know, the sort of bully pulpit of the president as the moral force of the nation. that's very different from what trump has done before. i think it's going to be necessitated as a time like this. >> the test will come a bit

laterer to hearing the president on the ground in texas. thanks for joining us this our in "inside politics." and jim acosta continues coverage after a quick break. be $50 bucks. .'l you said 30 dollars. yeah, well it was $30 before my fees, like the dog-sitting fee... and the rummage through your closet fee. who is she, verizon? are those my heels? yeah! yeah, we're the same size...in shoes. with t-mobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just $40 bucks each. and now get zero down on the hottest smart phone brands like samsung galaxy. more reasons why t-mobile is america's best unlimited network. not all fish oil supplements provide the same omega-3 power. megared advanced triple absorption is absorbed three times better. so one softgel has more omega-3 power than three standard fish oil pills. megared advanced triple absorption.

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right now president trump and the first lady on the ground in texas. land add short time in corpus christi. updates on rescue and recovery efforts from the massive flooding. you should be seeing live pictures on your screen. the room in corpus christi, texas, we expect the president and governor abbott in texas to receive an update on those relief efforts. you can see in the room right there congressman farenthold is in that room. a few moments ago seeing pictures of senator ted cruz. a number of lawmakers from the texas delegation in room, on hand for this meeting with the president and the first lady. she's also on the ground as well. we saw that getting often of a