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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  August 29, 2017 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT

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i think most americans would agree with me on that. >> what about the argument that north korea will never strike, that this is all just a bargaining chip? the flaw is it assumes that kim jong-un is rational. this is expensive, but an important insurance policy. thanks very much for watching cnn breaking news coverage continues right now. erin burnett outfront. next, breaking news. houston on the brink. now on edge, all eyes on whether a major dam will hold. six members of one family swept away in the flood waters. and i'm going to speak to a family member who opens up about what has happened. >> and tv preacher joel osteen. let's go out front. >> outfront tonight the breaking news, city on the brink.
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houston is a city on the edge this evening. this stunning "time" magazine video says it all. as you see there. more than 4.5 million people in that area fearful another major dam would overflow making this even worse. less than 20 miles west of downtown, two massive reservoiss at risk. water spills over, overwhelmed by harvey. an alarming message posted for residents, get out now. and now near by reservoir in serious danger of overflowing tonight. houston is staring down a disaster that could well leave homes underwater for weeks, taking years to recover. more than 51 inches of rain have fallen on houston. less than an inch from the all-time american record and it is not over. harvey over the gulgull.
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it is going to strike again towards new orleans. thousands so far rescued. many more stranded. the u.s. customs and border patrol team rescued these two people as you see desperately swimming against the raging flood waters. her reeic scenes like this happening across houston and there have been tragedies. one of those lost, a houston police officer. a 34-year veteran of the department drowning after he drove into a flooded underpass in the dark on his way to work to save others. tonight an emotional police chief remembering his fallen officer. >> once our team got there, it was too treacherous to go under and look for him, so we made a decision to leave officers there waiting until the morning. >> and president trump today thanking officials and first
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responders. he promised a fast response. >> we love you. you are special. we're here to take care. it is going well. and i want to thank you for coming out. we're going to get you back and operating immediately. thank you, everybody. what a crowd. what a turnout. >> what a turnout. our reporters are covering this historic storm. i want to begin with mark. there more flooding on the way. >> reporter: yeah. the only bright spot right now is that it's not raining. however, that is hardly any real good news because there is so much bad news. in fact, we just got this. in harris county, the fire marshal's office is now asking that everybody within 1.5 miles of a per rox side plant, everybody within 1.5 mile radius of that plant is being evacuated because flood waters have apparently made it inside that facility and as a result it's
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become unstable. there is the possibility for fire or even an explosion. so it shows you how this storm is impacting people in so many different ways. but then you come here. you have got three major water ways in this part of the houston metro plex. it is the saint bernard river, the brass sews. all of them are overtopping. this area, like much of houston, is still under the gun and still underwater. by the time the mandatory evacuation was ordered of this subdivision, it was too late. high waters had already cutoff escape, leaving hundreds trapped in their own homes. >> people are starting to scream for help out of their houses. that's when we realized how many people were in here. >> nearly a third is under a mandatory evacuation order. meaning it is already flooded or
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close to. by morning, families were being rescued by the boat load. >> what was it like coming out by boat? >> it was very scary. this is a neighborhood that we walk with our children. we ride bikes. this is a very safe environment and to go through that area on a boat and have it kind of wobbling with the children very cared was unnerving. >> we join a volunteer boat. >> i know these communities because i run back in here and i used to live back in here. >> the team passes by waving at anxious homeowners wanting to get to those deeper in the subdivision who are at greater risk as the waters continue to rise. many people have sent out their s.o.s. on social media. at this house, we load three generations of the same family. they tried to drive out the day before.
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but their car stalled in high water, forcing them to retreat and wait. >> they told us yesterday, yesterday afternoon. and so we tried getting out like right after that. and we got stuck on -- >> you tried to drive. >> we tried driving out. it wasn't this bad. >> back on land at the entrance of their own subdivision, residents find themselves homeless. relieved to be rescued but now worried by something else. what do they do next? >> all of those that were rescued from this housing complex, and it is huge, have either found refuge inside the emergency evacuation centers or are staying with friends and family. the problem is they could be there a long, long time. first for the water to drain and then the rebuilding after that, erin. >> all right. thank you very much, martin. i want to go now to drew because he's in bow month, texas.
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drew, this area now has taken the brunt of the storm and it could get worse. obviously where you are very different from martin. you've got heavy rain. >> reporter: absolutely. and it is getting worse. they expect to get much worse. in fact, the police department here sent out an urgent note, it's imperative for people to stay off the roads. that's because the roads are just nearly impassable in most parts of this county and it is creating rescue problems for the rescuers. they can't get out there in a boat because of the wind and because of the high water. they can't get their trucks to the places where they need to go. any rescue in water is dangerous. take a look at this video we shot about 15 miles north of here earlier this afternoon where rescue workers were trying to bring in this girl and her dog. they dump off of the boat and they jump right into, for the girl, neck deep water. everything is treacherous when you mix water and rescues in boats.
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and just getting back to how the road conditions are here, erin, you can see, this is an onramp to i-10. i-10 is closed getting into houston. this truck is trying to make it east. but even getting on eastbound i-10, he's got to navigate the waters of this onramp where as we can see right here is really getting deeper and deeper as this next wall comes in with the tropical storm, which is very much headed towards this area of southeast texas. erin? >> incredible. and of course so important for people to know the risk, obviously, of being on those flooded waters if your car stalls out. i want to go to the democratic congresswoman. thank you. i just want to look at a street in your district so everyone can understand what you are facing. this is before harvey hit and now we'll show you how underwater that is. that is the same exact location.
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you see the stop sign. so that is what it looks like now. congresswoman, are your residents safe tonight? >> i'm so glad you asked that question because my every waking moment is to make sure that everyone that needs to be rescued should be rescued. obviously we have the most unique historic catastrophic natural disaster incident that i think may be in certainly texas history in the gulf region history and i'd have to recall my national history as it relates to water. so we are underwater. there is no doubt. but we're trying to do everything we can to shore up the safety and security of our neighbors. we know that our friends in sugarland are facing a possible overflow of another water tributary and we are praying for them. i think what you have to
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understand is that this gulf region is 50 feet under sea level. we are used to living, unfortunately, with this flooding. however, in the 21st century, we should be advanced. we should have our projects advanced. we should make sure that every aspect of technology be used. we're not at that point. and so what you are seeing is the actual response to all of this water bayous, rivers, lakes, converging on each other. the word atypical is not appropriate. it is an episodic episode, if you will, that we have never seen before. >> houston obviously you have now the convention center, 9,0 0 people. they will open another shelter. >> yes. >> rivers are rising. and when the rain stops, they will keep rising. is there enough space right now, congresswoman, and this is a crucial question. are these locations safe?
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>> well, that is our chief concern and our chief effort. that is, that the large venues that we are assessing right now and that will be opening in the next 24 to 48 hours they are safe. they're very large venues. they have been used before and they can hold a lot of people that helps us because that means we can keep a lot of people safe because we can put our resources focussed in more safe areas than to have people spread across the community. there will be large venues opening outside of the city of houston. that will be helpful. but the point is that when we converge these areas and they are large areas, we can put our first responders, our firefighters, our medical teams there to help. i think you were asking the question about water. these places are clear now. they have had water around them. they have not had water in them.
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and, so, we would not put people in jeopardy. but again we are 50 feet below sea level. we expect to be hit tonight and tomorrow, but what the national weather service have said is that we will get past that. we're praying we do. >> the president has pledged the storm recovery will be better than ever before. are you getting everything you need? is president trump doing a good job right now? >> let me say this. there are always bumps in the road. i am hoping that the president is sincere. i'm hoping that he will put behind him the shutting down of the government, and i hope that -- we are in a catastrophic emergency. we need him to keep his word. we also need our resources from fema to get here much faster. we need fema at our various shelters, the big ones that we have. we need fema to get their trucks
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in so that we can have feeding stations. we need to have, if you will, the medical teams in. and i'm working with them. i have worked with fema at every disaster that dealt with hurricanes that i have been in and that's what we hope will come about from the president's visit. and i have heard from the bipartisan leadership. i want to congratulate them in the united states congress. they have called me and said there will be no politics in this. tell us what you need and we will get it. hopefully we will get all that we need. >> i appreciate your time. thank you so much. >> thank you, ma'am. also my sympathy to the family of the fallen officer and those who have lost their lives and thank all of the volunteers and first responders, everybody. houston, you're strong and you're resilient. god bless you. >> next, one of those families who lost six lives and one family swept away by flood waters, presumed dead tonight.
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they will tell you the story of this family. plus president trump touches down on texas to witness storm damage. will he back those words with action. and joel osteen opening his mega church. why did it take so long. tonight, he will be speaking out. i take pictures of sunrises,
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their van was swept away while trying to evacuate. the oldest child was 16 years old. dominic was 14 years old. 8 years old and the youngest was 6. their great grandparents 84 and 81. sammy was the driver of the van. he is the sole survivor. he managed to escape clinging to a bran. he was trying to save his parents and his great nieces and great nephews, trying to drive them to safety. and, rick, words can't express what people feel when they hear your story. i am so sorry for your unbearable loss. how is your brother, who survived, doing tonight, rick? >> the last time i talked to him, i mean, he's doing okay all
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things considered. but he's still blaming himself for the accident and everybody keeps telling him it wasn't his fault. he was trying to do the right thing to get them out of the flood and trying to bring them over to my house and it just didn't happen. >> can you tell us what happened? >> yes. well, he was -- as i said, he was staying with my parents. he came down from missouri. he was the only one that wasn't married or anything, so he came down and said i'll take care of mom and dad. so they both had alzheimer's. he called my brother, danny. he was already at his son's house, adam, and trying to get to high ground. he didn't know that the kids were there by themselves. so he told sammy go to my house and get the van because sammy couldn't get his truck out by then. get my van and you can get in the house and, you know, and get
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dry clothes and stuff. so sammy got in there and made breakfast for mom and dad. dried their clothes, everything. and danny told them, get my grandki grandkids. and just take them to rick's. so i said, yeah, just bring them over here. so that's what he was doing. that's what he was doing. he was trying to get around the flood. and he came up to a bridge that it wasn't very wide. i mean very long. but it still has water on it. he was thinking about turning around and dad said you can go. just do it. and we were raised, dad tells you to do something, you do it. even at 84 years old he was very demanding. sammy went across the bridge and he made it across the bridge. but on the other side of the bridge, there was a dip in the road and when the van went down, it just started floating and he had no control after that and he said dad kept telling him to go,
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go. you know, hit it and sammy said it's not doing anything. it is just spinning and making it worse. and then the nose of the van went into the bayou and sammy said him and mom and dad were all underwater and he panicked. he got out of his seat belt without unbuckling it and got out of a half open window off the driver's side and he clinged on what he called a twinge, a little branch or tree, i don't know what, but he said that the tree -- i mean the van was just bopping in the water. that's how deep the water was and he could hear the kids screaming and crying trying to get out of the van and he told them to go to the back of the van. from what he's describing, i'm sure the kids couldn't reach the back door, much less open it. he said it just went under the water. and after that i got -- i talked
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to the sheriffs department since then and they told me that he was hanging on to the branch for like 45 minutes screaming for help. i don't know who heard him, but the sheriffs department went over there in a boat and they literally threw him in a lifeline. and he grabbed on to it and the first shot the sheriffs told me the first shot he grabbed it and they pulled him to the boat and he was very upset, very distraug distraught. he kept saying the van is down there, the van is down there. but by that time, the van had been underwater for 45 minutes. so there was no way, you know, they survived. >> the reality of it is none of us can imagine that loss, the loss that you are feeling and your brother. you know, our prayers are with him. the agony that he must feel. you talked about your parents having alzheimer's and i know they would have been married 60 years this october. you said they were always
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together. how do you feel about i guess they were together. they were together. >> yes. yes. you know, when they started getting up in age, i started accepting the fact that they weren't going to be with me for long, much longer. i was blessed to have them as long as i did. but, yeah, i mean, even to the end they were -- having alzheimer's they would fight like they never did before and then ten minutes later they were hugging and kissing and holding hands all the time. even at 84 mom would walk by and dad would grab her and put her on his lap. and, i mean, just very loving couple. i mean, it's -- and i know, you know, when they went, i mean when they left that they were holding hands. and i hold sammy that. i said i know they went together. they were holding hands when i was driving the van. yeah, they were holding hands
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when he was driving the van and i can already imagine dad holding mom's hand real tight as the water rushed in, you know. but, yeah, they were always like that. and as i said, i mean, when they started getting older, i was already hoping that, you know, they would somehow go together, you know, because i couldn't see one without the other. no matter who was left behind, they were going to -- they weren't going to last much longer without the other one. i know it. so i know they went to heaven holding hands. >> now your great nieces and nephews were young. this is the part of the story that's hard to talk about. daisy only six years old. tell us a little bit about that little girl. >> oh. she was a -- as little girls are, she was just adorable, always laughing. you couldn't help but laugh.
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i mean, the minute she walked in the room -- excuse me. >> that's okay. >> yeah. she was great. i mean, you know, i didn't see her much. i wish i would have seen her more often. before mom and dad really got sick, they used to take care of her and they were always talking about daisy. oh, she did this and she did that. and, you know, just they were always just playing with her. i mean, she was a very good little girl. all of them were. all of them were. >> what do you remember, rick, about them? i mean, they had their whole lives ahead of them, all four of them. >> yes. yeah, i know. that's the tragedy of it. i mean, you don't expect, you know, one kid to go, much less four, you know. so we're trying to help with the funeral arrangements because my brother and his wife, they
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weren't prepared for this. i mean, who would be? you know. so we're just trying to help each other, you know, get through this. >> well, rick, i think the prayers, the thoughts, care from everyone watching goes out to you and your family in this unbearable tragedy. thank you so much for sharing and hopefully in that sharing a little bit of their memory and their life will last. thank you. >> yeah. i want to thank everybody for that and all my coworkers at work. thank you very much. >> and that loss unimaginable. next, harvey with this tragedy poised to strike texas a second time in just hours as president trump visits the storm ravaged state. we'll be right back. it's time fe biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses and automatically
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breaking news, president trump expected to land back in washington, d.c. this hour. the president spent the day in texas talking with officials at the storm zone. he made two stops, corpus christi and austin. he avoided the hardest hit areas to ensure his visit did not interfere with recovery efforts. today the president spoke about the toll of the storm. >> probably there's never been anything so expensive in our country's history. there's never been anything so historic in terms of damage and in terms of pfurosity.
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>> jeff, this was the president's first test on a natural disaster and of course this one a catastrophe. >> it was the first step. at first glance president trump received big praise from texans year on the ground, officials and others. they like the fact he was interested and presented an urgency in his interest in the recovery effort here. but his words did not match the pictures what is unfolding here. that is interesting because president trump is a showman and familiar with how stage crafting and television work. that's what i was struck by today, erin, is that his words simply did not match the devastation of the pictures. he did not offer any hugs. he did not offer much hope. he talked about businesses more than individual people. he did not respond or react to that very emotional response
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from the chief of police in houston about one of the officers dying here. so it was definitely a test of presidential leadership, the first moment here, but there is no sudden gratification from something like this. this challenges of major magnitude here. this is something the president will be graded on for weeks, months, years to come here. but i talked to people with him today and they said he generally showed interest, even though that empathy did not seem there. >> thank you very much. now the host of the ben ferguson radio show and dan pfeiffer. this is affecting your family. your inlaw's house is flooded and of course we know the tragedy we just heard. people have died. people are missing. there are more than 10,000 people in shelters tonight and the waters are still going up. you heard the president talking about how expensive this was.
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he's been getting a lot of compliments on how he's handled it. but yet the empathy seemed to be missing. did she show enough empathy today? >> the people care about the government's response and they feel it right now the president is getting it right. the way he was ahead of time working with the governors, making it clear that the national guard was available, declaring it early before everything had gotten out of control that this was a disaster area, making sure all of the fixed aircrafts they could get down there were available, making sure there was water coming in by the millions of liters. you talk to the people affected by this, they're rooting for the president to do this and do it well because their life depends on it. the local elected officials are not talking politics. the mayor is not talking politics. the congressmen and senators are not talking politics because they realize this is a big job. if he treats it like a business, that's probably a good thing
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because there are a massive amount of logistics here. there are people right now literally being rescued because of the response, not just of the government, but of volunteers out there risking their lives. if you ask them if the government is doing their job, right now they are saying yes they are. i think the president was right in what he said today and i think the federal government, republicans and democrats, are getting it right in texas, working together, not talking politics. >> dan, let me ask you. we have these meetings. he listened to their briefings. obviously when he greeted the crowd, it felt perhaps a little bit more like a rally. let me just show the president. >> thank you, everybody. what a crowd, what a turn out. this is historic, it's epic what happened. but it happened in texas and texas can handle anything. [ applause ]
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>> is he getting the tone right? >> let me say a couple things first. it's good he went. the timing is right. it is important for the presidents to go visit and let the people on the ground know the government cares. i thought his tone was a little off. that's not actually i think that important. people on the ground don't care about the political optics of this. >> it's actions, not words. >> actions. and i was in the white house when hurricane sandy hit, and i got to watch people coordinate the sandy response do this. it is a massive job. this may be the biggest thing that trump ever does. the first step is rescue. >> agree. >> the second step is clearing the homes, so removing debris and the third is finding long-term housing situations and solutions for these people. there is a lot to go here. we'll see what the federal
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government does. this may end up being the biggest thing donald trump ever has to handle in his time as president. >> and everybody roots for him to get it right because this is what matters for this country right now. the president was quick, right, which is something you would say that's a good thing. first day he came out, tweeting. and then today, four days after harvey hit, here he is. >> the world is watching, and the world is very impressed with what you're doing. so i just want to thank you on behalf of myself, the first lady, the governor. you have been incredible working with our men. >> four days after hurricane katrina, george w. bush went on the scene and he said this. >> again, i want to thank you all for -- and you are doing a heck of a job. >> okay, look. we howl know how that ended. he was the fema director, criticized heavily. the agency's response went down as a disaster. but is the president in danger
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of making that same mistake? he's complimenting everybody for what they're doing now. could that backfire? >> look, moral is low. people are dead. look at the sergeant who died last night in houston. the majority of elected officials are democrats. he's giving praise to people that don't care about politics. of course there is is -- i guess you would argue a risk here. but the difference is this president came in and understood, you got to cheer people on that have had no sleep. you have to cheer the citizens on that are risking their lives to help their neighborhoods. my brother-in-law has been out all day in a boat pulling people from their houses. when you have the president come in and say, you guys are doing a great job, this is bigger than one fema director. he was tweeting out about the color of his tie. the guy was out of touch. but the president came in today and cheered the people on that
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are saving people's lives and the police chief who talked about he's got people in helicopter pulling people that are surviving on power bars and up in the air long after they probably should be. god bless them and the president's job is to boost moral. i have always said this, i root for the president of the united states no matter what part he is on national security issues, foreign policy issues and most importantly when you have humanitarian crises like this. what the president was doing was rooting on all the people on the ground who were doing everything they can to literally save lives and i give them credit for that. >> president bush did just speak out. he said, i know you are going through a really tough time and know there are a lot of people that will help you and help the people down there a lot. what do you make of that and his response, dan? >> well, look, george w. bush, former governor of texas, former president of the united states, that's the right thing for all of us to rally together for all
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the people affected by this terrible storm. and to the question about whether the president is going to regret those remarks, that's all going to matter in the response. if the response goes well, people will think those are the right remarks. that's what really is going to matter here is the substance. it is not going to just matter. it is going to matter to people in texas long after the national media leaves and it is no longer the main topic on the news because there will be tens of thousands of people without homes for a long time. how are those going to be addressed? and the thing that gives -- like all americans, we want the trump administration to be seen here, but what worries me some is we have a lot of vacancies in a lot of key agencies and hopefully people can step up and do the right things there. >> thank you both so very much. and next joel osteen speaking out. he's under fire for being slow to open up his church. plus, more breaking news.
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houston officials say there are 10,000 people in shelters this hour and they are watching the dams. one already overflowing. hey. wt your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ooh. sushi. ugh. being in the know is a good thing. sign up online for free. discover social security alerts.
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hours from now harvey expected to make land fall again. catastrophic flooding indating houston and that same area could
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be hit again. an additional 15 inches of rain is possible. still in the middle of it all, even those hit hard by the storm are trying to save their neighbors. alex is out front in houston. >> reporter: these used to be the baseball fields in a west houston neighborhood. now it is a lake. one filled with a growing armada of boats, trying to get their fellow texans to dry land. adam and his cousin brought their powerful fast moving airboats up from rockport. >> when there is people in danger and we're sitting there with boats, it's a bad feeling sitting at home with them. so we packed up and came and doing what we can for now. >> reporter: you had plenty to do at home now. you have to rebuild and get back to your life. >> we have a lot to do. man, i'm -- you know, i'm a big believer in karma and just doing what's right and i think it all comes back to you at the end and pay it forward kind of deal.
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>> reporter: with local firefighter, we made our way to near by homes. many are still riding out the storm, hoping the water doesn't get any higher. >> why don't you guys want to leave? >> we can't leave the house. >> reporter: you are not afraid the water is going to get higher. >> if anything, it's going to go to the second floor. >> the captain is disappointed the people removing aren't trying to get out. >> we can only advise people to do so much. we don't know if we're going to be able to get back to them. if water is rising, the current will get stronger. some of these smaller boats won't be able to power through. >> they were touched by them coming to save them. >> it is super emotional. i don't want to cry, but these guys are from rockport, and i know their homes were hit harder than our home right now at least. and it's emotional they would come out and help us.
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it is total chaos. it is awful. everybody on every part of houston is affected. >> reporter: well, erin, right here on the edge of this flood water, you really get a sense of the scale of this massive operation for the rescues. all afternoon people have been coming in, dropping those they rescued here on dry land. look at all these resources here. you have local police from houston. beyond that firefighters. county officials as well as just off here to the right, these regular folks dropping their boats in the water. we have seen people not just from here in houston but as you saw there in the piece from elsewhere in texas and well beyond. erin? >> thank you very much, alex. also breaking tonight, joel osteen speaking out. tweeting, victoria and i care deeply about our fellow. we are receiving anyone who needs shelter. coming 96 hours after the storm
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first hit. in that time he was blasted by some for possibly turning his back on those seeking shelter. he is the spokesperson from lake wls wood church. i appreciate your taking the time and answering the questions people have. you have said the doors were open today. how many people are there now? >> well, you know, we've had several busses. i don't know the exact count, but i know that george brown, which was the shelter that was closest to us here that they chose to use has now come to capacity or overflown to capacity and they have brought in several busses. so i would say probably a few hundred at this point have entered the building. >> you have been putting pictures out tonight to explain the delay. i will show them to our viewers. they show flooded hallways. obviously the church is more than 600,000 square feet.
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could you tell us how bad was the damage? >> the damage -- there hasn't been as much damage. but this building, before we took this building over, this building had had eight feet of water in the bottom floor. so the fact is this building when it floods, it floods in a torrent. and it floods quickly. and it was -- we installed flood gates, but, you know, you have to have a lot of faith in those if you are going to put a lot of people into the building. >> so are you saying it had eight feet of water or are you concerned it would flood? >> during hurricane alicia, before we took the building over -- excuse me, alison, when alison hit houston in 2001, this building flooded, and there was over eight feet of water in the bottom floor of this building. and, so, that's where we have actually the most room to put people. if we were to have gambled and put people in that area and this building would have flooded, which we have ten-foot storm
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gates, flood gates that we installed when we took over the building. and the water has come to within about a foot, actually maybe less, of spilling over those flood gates. so we had concerns, you know, from the very beginning as far as the safety of people in this building and that was too great a concern for us. >> you thought it would be a gamble. your critics are posting videos and pictures like the ones i am going to show here which suggested the church suffered little damage. you see the cars in the parking lot. when you look at it, did you wait too long to open your doors to those who need shelter? >> the doors were never closed and in fact we did have people come to the church on sunday evening or maybe it was monday morning, but it was some time overnight. we had about ten people here at the church. and they road out the storm here. a few were maintenance people keeping an eye on the building. others were here to receive anyone who came into the church needing help. now, we were not designated and
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still are not designated as a -- >> fema. >> shelter. once you are designated as a shelter by the city or county or by fema then you get all the assistance, the beds, all the things that you and so the fact is, our doors were never, ever locked. in fact, we did receive people into this building over time. so that narrative, which i've seen on social media, and i didn't see it until late, because we were all kind of busy. but it's just very untrue and it's completely false actually. so we did receive people, and so we have -- at this point, you know, the city -- we found out yesterday at 2:00, those photos that you see, the ones that say there's no damage, those were taken at about 2:00 yesterday. and so the -- if you know how the city of houston is set up, the streets are the drainage
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system for much of the city, and they drain pretty quickly, at least they did around the building. >> i know that obviously joel's tweet came out today about the doors being open, and anybody could come. i just wanted to read some of the criticism of your brother-in-law, joel osteen, that came in, in the time between the storm hitting and he sent that tweet. these are from twit iing saying shame on joel osteen, what a disgrace to houston and lakewood church. then this one, when joel osteen has a $10 million home in houston but only offering to prayers to people affected by harvey. what is joel's reaction to this criticism? >> well, you know, i think listen, the criticism comes from anywhere. you could have read a thousand more tweets. there's plenty of people to criticize. but the twitter critics don't determine who we are or what we do. we're going to act as we should accused. they have nothing to do with our
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mission. so we've been working with the city and the county for days and days, even before the storm hit. we knew exactly what they were going to do. they were setting up the george r. brown convention center as a shelter. we were going to be collecting supplies and things needed for the shelters as they ran out of things. the fact is, as of 2:00 yesterday, we made the determination that the flood waters receded enough that we could start the collection process, which we did. and today, we've collected -- it's unimaginable. you see the photos. in addition to that, we became aware -- the city hold us that the capacity at george r. brown was about -- at capacity. so we said we can open up and do this. so we began to take people in and enlarge --
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>> don, thank you very much. i know you said there's a few hundred. so we'll see where this goes from here. i thank you for your time. and next, the breaking noose. we're learning robert mueller has issued to paul manafort's associates. and north korea issuing a direct threat to the united states. it's resourceful. elusive. shrewd. cancer. is. smart. it pushes us. we push back. we even push each other. to challenge conventional thinking. find smarter solutions. that's what makes us one of the leaders in precision cancer treatment. forging ahead with technology that wasn't available to cancer patients just a short time ago. like advanced genomic testing. a diagnostic tool that lets us see cancer at the molecular level. then helps us find different ways to target it. and immunotherapy, a treatment that actually makes your immune system smarter. trains it to attack the cancer in your body. this is what we live for. giving our patients compassionate care by offering them more precise and less invasive
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so stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. tell your doctor your medical history. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. now's the time for a better moment of proof. ask your doctor about victoza®. we have more breaking news at this hour. the russian investigation raching up. robert mueller increasing the pressure on paul manafort, issuing subpoenas now. evan perez has more on this breaking news. what does this say about where mueller is going? >> reporter: the subpoenas went to jason maloney and and lor
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renza. this is something of an aggressive tactic that suggests an effort to add pressure on the former trump campaign chairman. what the subpoena of lorenza raises attorney-client privileges. prosecutors try to avoid these fights as their pursue their case. >> you're learning that donald trump, jr. has agreed on a crucial detail on a meeting with the senate judiciary committee. >> reporter: that's right. our hill team is reporting that donald trump, jr. has now agreed to sit down with a staff in the senate judiciary committee and there's going to be a transcribed interview behind closed doors. hopefully it will answer some of the questions the investigators have about the june 2016 meeting where a russian lawyer was coming with opposition dirt on hillary clinton.
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we don't know the exact date of this, erin. but we've been told by the senators previously to expect it in september. >> evan, thank you. more breaking news. a new threat from kim jong-un saying north korea will launch more missiles into the pacific ocean. president trump warning all options are on the table earlier today. will rainly lripley is in pyon. new threat from kim jong-un. what does it mean that north korea will do? >> reporter: erin, i was just handed this moments ago. this is the newspaper here in north korea. on the front page, you should see kim jong-un all smiles, surrounded by his rocket scientists who oversaw the missile launch yesterday. what this new information from the north korean government says is this missile launch was a prelude they say for future launches into the pacific ocean. and also a prelude for military action to contain guam, that key u.s. territory, home to 160,000
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plus u.s. citizens. andersen air force base, naval base in guam. north korea is saying they will not back down but will push forward. and they're expressing their fury with the united states for those joint military exercises happening right now with south korea, now in their second week. north korea saying within the last couple of hours that those exercises were the motivation for this missile launch, which flew over japan, terror fifying people who woke up there. this missile did go down harmlessly in the pacific. but north korea is indicating they'll launch more missiles of this sbinlkind, unveiled here i pyongyang back in april. this is believed to have a range of at least 2300 miles, which does put all of japan, all of south korea, including the key u.s. military bases there, and guam within its potential striking range.
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so now we have to watch, wait and see how the united states will respond here. erin? >> a crucial decision as the president is dealing with perhaps the greatest natural disaster in u.s. history. thank you very much, will ripley. live from pyongyang. thanks for joining us. you can watch us any time, in where. "ac 360" begins now. countless people waiting to be rescued. tens of thousands more displaced. stories of rescue and survival, and loss. i'm john berman in for anderson. almost every moment of every hour since hurricane harvey came ashore, rescuers have been very busy across the houston area. these are live pictures. a curfew begins at 10:00 local time and will remain in effect every night until no longer needed. the major does the george brown convention center is crowded and the toyota center will be pressein