going up now we will all feel that. it is a direct result not of what you are seeing on screens, that is the rescue of animals, what you see -- i can't quite tell. >> a beautiful bunny rabbit. >> a guinea pig. stuart: it is yours. charles: the all good. there you go. that is fine. that is fine. stuart: give me the guinea pig back. neil: just wonderful. we have a couple updates on the chemical plant and the possibility of a couple more explosions later on, not many encouraging words on what could be in danger. a lot of stuff that generally would be deemed dangerous enough for the epa to say you have to keep registering with us and let us know your risk management level because some items include sulfur dioxide, a very flammable

gas, the other a toxic chemical. how much of that leaks our get into the air is anyone's guess. authorities are saying it does not appear to be a major worry for the time being but once buried, twice shy in prior crises when they got reassurances tend to be skittish. how difference -- no way of knowing. it is something we are watching closely. the energy department has tapped into those reserves to the tune of 500,000 barrels. millions in there and this is meant to mitigate whatever price fallout we would have from here. but it is oil we're talking about, not exactly some refined product whose prices have been soaring of late. oil actually going the other way, but for the potential and ahead of any potential supply disruptions going on longer, they're taking precaution tapping that reserve right now. hillary vaughn in crosby, by the way near where this arkema plant is located.

a lot of questions about how safe it is there. hillary, what are you hearing? reporter: neil, the plant doesn't have anyone on the ground because they say it's dangerous and not safe. so they have been deploying aircraft, choppers in the sky, to monitor where the smoke is going. i've seen a few land in the parking lot just the last hour, but we do know two blasts happened overnight and more are on the way but the chemical plant spokesperson for arkema wouldn't tell us when he thinks the next blast will happen. >> not precisely. we're mile 1/2 away. we don't have eyes on the ground. this isn't an exact science. reporter: the arkema plant was forced to shut down after massive flooding from hurricane harvey. the plant makes pharmaceuticals and construction materials. it sits 25 miles outside of houston. part of country's largest concentration of chemical plants, refineries, pipelines.

residents close to the plan within a mile 1/2 radius evacuated days ago, as officials waited for the plant to blow. the blast sent 15 sheriff's deputies to the hospital after they inhaled smoke from the fire. all are release and okay. here is what caused explosion of the man's power got knocks out they needed to keep the climate controls stable. the organic compound inside have become more volatile and they can explode. they said that they should see more of these chemical reactions, we heard them call number of things. ceo called it explosion. we heard it called a chemical reaction. now they're saying it's a fire. the best they can do, sit and wait, get as many people out of there as possible. neil. neil: hillary, do they have generators for this sort of thing when power goes out? they knew that could cause a lot of complications, make these

chemicals more dangerous and prone to heating and exploding? didn't their, didn't they think that part through? what are you hearing? reporter: yes. so they did have backup generators. the problem is the generators and the plant are currently under six feet of water. so their backup plan actually failed as well. we did ask, should you have a back up plan for your backup plan? they said they're assessing the situation, and they will see what they could have done specifically and precautions they could put in place moving forward. the generators did fail. this is the situation. they have to wait for the chemicals to disintegrate, pop, explode and burn off. neil: very good point about that. i'm not second-guessing anyone, gas-powered generators, natural gas powered generators protecting from flooding, that was not the case there. hillary vaughn, thank you very much. bring you up to speed what is happening right now, 32,000 in

shelters as we speak. we have two major pipelines into and out of that area. talking about the colonial pipeline, the explorer pipeline. together they account for four million barrels of oil a day, a lost jet fuel and a lot of refined gas and that will be stymied for a while, slowed for a while, even if part of the colonial pipeline is put back up. that is a big one. it goes up to the 12 gulf states and up to new jersey. it is almost entirely oil centric. if those are both out of operation, the fact they have been out of operation for the better part of five days now, that gives you an idea the delay getting back up to speed. what happens now? points of light board of directors chairman neil bush. he is at the houston convention center, dealing with crowds. so far, so good. neil, good to have you. what is it like there, what are you hearing about containing

crowds, because other cities like san antonio volunteered to take those folks? >> neil, i'm amazed. i'm at the george r. brown convention center and i'm amazed how well-coordinated things seem to be. if you look behind me, people are walking by representing different stakeholders. we have local city government officials who deployed their agencies to help these people. fema, red cross is here in great numbers. volunteers from houston and around the country are helping in so many ways. if you look into these rooms off to the side, there are supplies provided by the community to fill the vital needs of the folks that have been displaced. and let me just say, the bush family calls houston home, and on behalf of my parents, and all bush family members, want to extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to those that have been devastated by the floodwaters

here in houston. and also give our greatest thanks to those that coordinated this massive life-saving first recovery work. and neil, the main point here is, we'll need thousands and thousands and thousands of volunteers over time. of the as chairman of points of light, the largest organizations focused on volunteer service, i want to encourage people to start planning especially corporate leaders. you speak to a lot of corporations. but corporate leaders who want to deploy work place volunteers to come to houston, give us time to organize. the volunteer reception areas, give us time to organize with the local non-profit organizations on the ground. we want to use volunteers effectively. don't send them now of the do not put stress on our infrastructure in houston. there will be a time and a place that's appropriate for that but our gratitude for the thousands of points of light helping

neighbor to neighbor in this city and the flotilla of people that are helping, it has been a remarkable thing to witness personally. neil: i've seen it myself, neil, and you're quite right. you mentioned your father of course president george bush and barbara bush, your mom, they're up in kennebunkport but sent best wishes and thoughts and prayers for people in houston and surrounding areas but what have they told you and expressed to you about what is going on? >> well they have been kind of unfortunately glued to the tube and not here on the ground. they're just watching with great interests and with their hearts open for the best possible outcome. neil: what, did they share, neil, i'm sorry, my friend, it did they talk about you hot coordination between federal, state, local officials going, how president trump is doing? >> they have not shared any of that with me. i'm not sure they're plugged in enough be able to talk about

that but if you're living in houston and turn on the tv and watch the mayor and the county judge, fema personnel, red cross, all these folks working tireless to coordinate best recovery outcome for those stranded in harm's way, it has been remarkable. i'm pretty sure i can speak on their behalf to say it has been a remarkable sign of collaboration and impact on this community. neil: i'm sure. that is probably an understatement, neil. you have two brothers who dealt, you have dealt of course in business basis with natural disasters. of course your brother jeb bush handling multiple hurricanes in florida. your other brother, president of the united states, george bush, had had to deal with number of hurricanes, natural disasters, 9/11 come to mind, but katrina comes up whether he got there too late and back and forth over that and what is a president to

do? how do you think president trump has handled it with his visit this week, planning to come back, we're told on saturday, what do you think? >> yeah. i think he has done fine. what is really more important frankly is what is happening on the ground. it appears to me that fema is very well-organized at convention center, helping with needs of people whose needs are at a high level right now. so really, presidential leadership it is important. what is really important to see frankly, you're not trying to ease this into political waterway but, this transcends politics. to see republicans, democrats, people that are of different economic, people that have had religious differences and economic disparities are all coming together, uniteing in service locking arms, they don't care whether a democrat picking

up a republican or vice versa. neil: that is good point. the dust-up over that with sandy aide on part of many with the texas delegation, other delegations felt that was overkill, too much funding, no one is getting into the back and forth what is right of a figure outside. this will be a very expensive storm. has that been put to bed now? funding an help from the federal government is coming, this shut-down talk in washington notwithstanding? >> right. you know, it is way above my expertise to talk about federal funding and those kinds of things. what i believe passionately in the government alone can't solve this problem. while it is playing a critical role in helping with the i am moo i can't think needs of these people that have been dislocated. over the long haul it will take an army of people that have a light shining brightly for service to others and i'm sorry

to keep bridging away from political talk but there is going to be a great need for an army of volunteers. neil: you're absolutely right. >> i'm encouraging the corporate leaders watching your show to put on hold, but to start planning, deploy people into this region where they will be put to great use once the infrastructure is set up to handle it. neil: neil, you should put me down for that. you were just as free to answer the way you did and way you should have. neil bush, thank you very much. >> thank you. neil: houston right now with a rescue convoy to a community got mandatory evacuation. this is not like a volunteer thing. they're saying get out now. what is the latest, jeff? reporter: interesting to listen to you talk to neil bush, talk about this coordination going on. i'm going to answer the question. we are in a convoy of volunteers boats that is being coordinated by dea agents that got

transferred over to address the flood response. they have gotten a convoy of these guys that have come from all over, alabama, all over texas, louisiana, to bring their boats, some of them bass boats, all sorts of things. that is a pontoon boat we were riding on earlier today. they have a convoy of boats going to the next location where they just gotten a mandatory evacuation order as this thing continues to unfold. i've never seen, i've been in a lot of disasters, coordination, usually government alone is doing this. part of that is driven by this is so big because the government alone and first-responders could not possibly do it alone, instead of government saying no, we can do it, listen, volunteer, we need your help and we'll help coordinate it and here we go and i have never seen anything quite like it. you can say what you want about president trump, people don't like him whatever, but, on his watch, on this, this is going

remarkably well in terms of everybody getting together to make this happen. i have never seen it go quite like this. so that is my two cents in this little sliver of the disaster that i'm seeing. that is the way this is working. pretty cool to see, too, all these guys coming from so many places. neil: sorry, jeff, to jump on that. i wonder if you've been in so many different parts and areas affected to varying degrees. when people hear, especially those evacuated they might not get back to their homes for weeks if not months before they're even habitable, how is that sinking in? reporter: well, we were just in a line of people that were, we were in a neighborhood. out in this boat that you're looking at here right now and we got back to shore. there is a line of people that are trying to get back because they had to emergency evacuation trying to get out. they're trying to get back into their home to get medication

they may have left. one woman left eight cats. i don't know what she is doing with eight cats. so they're trying to get back in to do that. these volunteers are taking them back. but they got pulled out of that, to do what i would say maybe was second-tier stuff, to go and get people that need to get out right now that are still in their homes trapped. so, that's where we're going. we hope to get to later in your broadcast, and show you what this comes to. neil: look forward to it, jeff. your reports, you're a modest guy. your team similarly modest. what makes me stand out in the coverage, not covering it as not just a reporter but covering it as human being as someone can relate what they're going through. you're list renning to them. might seem like common sense. reporter: i appreciate it. neil: it is rare. explains why jeff's reports are so incredibly special. reporter: when you get old,

you've had spence. what can i tell you. that is one of the benefits of age. neil: hear you on that, my friend, we're aging differently. couldn't do it the way you're doing it. jeff flock, we'll hear more from him. he hits you in a gut level the way this brings you home. what is bringing it home, all the comparison to katrina. what used to be the considered the most expensive storm in american history. this one is already going to beat that, by a country mile. the head of the red cross, on what they need, what they're doing, and what's happening right now. ♪ ♪ you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor recommended gaviscon. it quickly neutralizes stomach acid and helps keep acid down for hours.

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neil: the colonial pipeline is shut down in major fuel areas in and around houston, i want to be clear on that. there are technically 26 refineries connect to the colonial system. i don't know if i was clear that 13 are located between houston and lake charles, these areas directly affected by the storms, destablizing the pipeline or at least making some items come through the pipeline, jet fuel, gas, half of it would, would be stymied. and that is the big issue here. that on top of the explorer

pipeline, accountable for 660,000 barrels a day. colonial pipeline, three million barrels of fuel a day. not all is stopped and slowed and delayed. why refinery related products, finished oil if you will have been moving up. oil itself has been relatively flat if not declining. american red cross president, ceo, gail mcgovern with us right now. gail, i'm reading, you have to set up, evacuation centers throughout the area, and they keep filling up. i mean do you have enough places, enough room for all the folks who are now being evacuated? >> well that is an excellent question, you're absolutely right. the need is so dire and we have 34,000 people stayed in shelters last night, if you can believe that number. neil: wow. >> it is so incredible. 243 different shelters around

the state and we have swarmed in with 2000 volunteers. we still have hundreds march -- more on the way. amazing when our volunteers give the gift of time. i've seen it over and over again last nine years of the red cross. you see behind me, a hubbub of activity. these are volunteers in the command center figuring out logistics you just described. how do we get people and supplies to all the shelters. so far so good but we definitely had our challenges. neil: you're up to meeting them, that's for sure, but i'm wondering given the fact some businesses are opening up their own stores, schools their gyms, whatever they can to provide for these evacuees, the fact we're getting more evacuations, some ordered in areas particularly dangerous in the neck of the woods where the chemical plant had the explosion, for example, how do you prepare for that and who decide where you put up an

an evacuation center, who gets the meals? i know it is boring logistical question but how do you that because you're doing it on the run so to speak? >> it's a great question. not a boring logistical question. we have warehouses prepositioned with supplies all around the country. we have one in arlington texas. it is filled with cots, blankets, ready-to-eat meals. diaper, baby formula, things you would i this you need in a disaster and we have a disaster operations center in washington, d.c. that figures out how to move supplies and this is the local command center that is doing likewise. we coordinate really closely with fema, with state emergency managers, with local officials. they help figure out where they can set up these shelters and we have a shelter plan that we do with each state well in advance

of any disaster and of course this is larger than anybody could have anticipated but, they are getting us the space that we need and, there's a period of time in houston where every road was a river. and they have also helped us getting our supplies in. the department of defense actually loaned us 20 high water vehicles that we could drive our volunteers and cots and the like into these shelters. and i have to tell you, beforehand, we were sending people in city dump trucks. so, the coordination has just been marvlous. we could not do it without our wonderful government partners. neil: yeah. one thing i noticed even neil bush was saying to me, i'm sure you're witnessing first-hand, leading the charge, people don't know your political affiliation, whether you're republican, democrat, rich or poor, you're just there to help. my hats all to them.

>> absolutely. neil: thank you very much. be safe. >> thank you. neil: meantime ken langone says because of everything going on down there, the hell about tax cuts. now is not the time. i think somebody that says now is exactly the time. after this. ♪ my experience with usaa has been excellent. they always refer to me as master sergeant. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life. usaa, get your insurance quote today.

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>> think about the tragedy in texas right now. maybe something as calamitous as this brings us together as nation. we forget we're democrats and republicans. we get the job done as always. neil: you say on the record now is not the time to consider tax cuts, right? >> absolutely not. get it done! get people help they need. if there is anything left over for tax cuts we get them but first things first. neil: home depot cofounder ken langone saying now not the time pushing to taxes relief when

these people in texas need relief. you could make the argument that this is ideal time for americans in texas by increasing net pay. president trump meading with congressional leaders and nancy pelosi doing just that. charlie gasparino, what he makes on that. where are you on this argument? >> ken langone is great financeer. created a lot of jobs. neil: billionaire. >> billionaire. he has the political acumen of a rock. this is guy supported more losers than on political side than i can count on. neil: very well-connected. >> not saying he isn't. not saying he is bad guy and good guy, great american. i don't trust his political instincts. i don't trust it on this one. tell you why. it is not just politics here. what allow as rich country like us to bailout texas if we have to? you know, i'm saying -- there is a reason why wealth is created in this country and part of it is because there is entrepreneurial spirit.

we have a strong economy. that needs to get stronger. one way to make it stronger, everybody knows this, including ken langone is take the ridiculous corporate tax rate which is at 35%, one of the highest in the world, to bring it down, bring it down to a level where it has impact, businesses hire again, tax receipts come into the government, that is where we pay for disaster relief. neil: his view, he extend it to the rich getting tax breaks, he doesn't need one, doesn't want one, this environment, likened it to world war two, war bonds and everything else, americans faced hike in taxes this is akin to that. >> that is fantasy world that he doesn't need a tax cut. i got it, ken, you made your money, you don't need a tax cut but other people -- neil: he said the country shouldn't pushing for this because we'll have more disasters. we should be at ready to deal with them.

>> the way you get ready to deal with these things with a vibrant economy allows more ken lange against. ken made his money. i'm not saying he is being selfish here. i think he is wrong-headed. warren buffett, they made their money. that when i hear warren buffett, who is a great investor and ken langone a great american themselves, when they talk about we don't need tax cuts, you guys made your money. let other people make their money. neil: valid point. one of the points i raised with him, what about these texans being dislocated, they could use fatter paycheck. they could use a little more net. but again his bigger picture was that you know, we waste a lot of money. we're going, if we can't get this tax cut thing right, we've got to tend to those that really need help right now. i think you can do both. >> you can do both and one way to help people, have a vibrant economy where businesses are making money. where money going back into the economy. by the way, there will be a lot of disaster relief in texas.

one reason why there will be for texas, texas has a vibrant economy. it will pull out of this just fine. the federal government will help. neil: what do you make of the political back and forth on it? you saw ted cruz and chris christie dust up, on the show, i find it odd same texans urging relief right now were not urging relief for sandy, would not play politics even though mentioned. the issue with sandy there were attaching a lot of other spending not to do -- >> there were riders. neil: that will happen again. >> i'm talking it people in the house talking about a christmas tree budget resolution. neil: feeling won't get a government shutdown because now is not the time to even consider it? >> and it will be, here is where it will get interesting, will they attach every single spending effort to whatever bill. that is where ted cruz is right and chris christie is wrong. we should point out texas is a very strong, economically strong

state. neil: big draw. >> they have a lot more resources than new jersey. neil: all right. vice president pence, as charlie was speaking, is going to be visiting in texas. he will take a look how things are going. president of the united states expected to follow suit. rockport texas among the locales where the mayor said, if you not leaving your homes, write your social security numbers and name on your arm in case i have to collect your body. i don't know if the vice president will see the mayor, but the mayor was making that brunch point to warn people don't take this storm lightly. i think in retrospect a lost texans would agree it would be a mistake to. meantime, colonial pipeline, a lot of those elements that connect to the northeast, a lot of them are down and a lot of stuff is not getting through. the question, how long that lasts. to connell mcshane on that. reporter: neil, they hope to

have much of it on sunday. as gas prices spike, you wonder why they are, pipelines the way to put it, colonial pipeline, the company has a number of pipelines. they had to shut down a couple main ones to transport fuel as far as we are, new york harbor. i want to bring up a map what we're dealing with here, the look at the pipeline we're talking about, two lines, one for diesel and jet fuel that was shut off last night and the one for gasoline at least partially shut off today, those are big ones. combined. 100 million gallons of fuel. the company put out a statement, i will read part of that. we estimate we will return to service from houston sunday following an valuation of our infrastructure and successful execution of our startup plan. now the issue colonial as a company, half of 26 refineries that supply their pipelines are

somewhere between houston, texas, and lake charles, louisiana. so 13 of the 26. they did tell us in the statement, number one and two lines operating east of lake charles are still operational even though there are intermittent delays with delivery. this adds up to have impact certainly on prices. we're watching gasoline futures all week long as we cover harvey. two-year high, or two bucks a gallon. this percentagewise, that is big gain. that all gets passed along either already in coming days and weeks to consumers in terms of pump prices. other thing today today we saw energy department release 500,000 barrels from the reserves, crude oil reserves in response. first emergency release we've had in five years. add it up. this is the wider impact of this storm as we follow it, neil, heading into the weekend. colonial hopes to get important pipelines back in business by sunday. for now they're dealing with shutdowns or partial shut downs.

you see impact on the price. neil: drags on and on. connell, thank you very much. as connell is speaking we want to alert you in beaumont, texas. this is a hospital in beaumont having evacuation. the hospital power has been on or off. flooding is a continuing concern in the region. the better part of valor to get patients out in pretty dicey conditions. but more dangerous for them to stay there. we're on top of that, the market fallout. this is the last day of trading for august. a month punctuated by dramatic news developments on the political front and now of course on the mother nature front. but an update just the same. confidence that texans and authorities on federal, local levels are all in coordination handling this very well, regardless of party. indications on top of that, that this is expected to remain the case, even though this is already looking at, like the most expensive natural disaster in american history. ya.

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neil: vice president is headed for rockport, is that correct? rockport sustained serious damage. that city famous for the mayor advised people to leave, offering this terse advice, leave your social security number and name on your arm so i can collect you afterwards for not listening to me? the governor, former indiana governor, talking to governor abbott, getting high praise from democrats and republicans how he is handling this. tomorrow, the president, saturday, president, first lady, come back to texas houston outskirts, if not houston itself. louisiana republican lieutenant governor billy nungesser, latest from louisiana.

louisiana is dealing with a lot of this itself, 12 years to the week of course after katrina. governor very good to have you, sir, how are things looking there? >> we're out of woods pretty much. we still have to keep our eyes open as water flows southwest side of the state and water starts to flow south, we could see additional flooding. most of the rain bands yesterday seemed to fall in texas. really impacted those folks. so, we're moving a lot of assets. of the governor sent the national guard, state police, wildlife fisheries agents to hit in texas. they really need the help. neil: remarkable not only in your case working, you know, with democrats and democratic governor and relationship and, the being above party, between helping texans and louisianaians, a lot of texans helping you guys after katrina. you're returning the favor in spades with this, what is

remarkable, governor, you get sick of hearing this, politics is being kept out. help is all people are concerned about, dealing with it, is all that seems to dominate the headlines. i find that very uplifting. >> it does. gives you new hope in america. you know some people criticized the president's for not hugging people. i took then candidate, trump, and pence around during the flooding in louisiana last year. and i watched him go in and out of homes hugging homeowners when the cameras wasn't around. as they wanted to go back to the vehicle, no, let's go in a few more homes. i saw two men that really cared about people. and politics aside, texas and louisiana will be in good hands with this administration, because they saw the devastation here last year. and now texas and little bit of louisiana. they truly care about people, that puts politics aside in times like this. neil: you never know what will

happen with a storm of this type. this one had a lot more rain originally than forecast, and everything is underwater as you know, and made me think about katrina, governor, whether you come back from the levees not up, to the challenge of all those rains. what if the same thing were to happen again, would those levees hold? >> we hope they will. we have a lot of work to do on coastal restoration. we're hoping that after sandy, we changed some things with fema to do a better job. there are still a lot of changes needed to be done. one is, the president and hopefully fema will offer these people some kind of assistance as opposed to waiting months for a fema trailer at over $100,000 to show up in their driveway. if we get them a voucher to get a camper trailer so they could get back in the driveway very quickly and start gutting their home. we've got to change some of these things. the way we've been doing it, the people will never see, they

won't live long enough to get a fema trailer with some homes devastated. we've got to change those fema laws to make it work a hill better for the people. neil: you think also we should change how we support people who live in these so-called flood zones, in these areas prone to floods? >> i think what we've got to do, with these rains this is could have happened anywhere. last year in louisiana, people 14-foot above sea level had six foot water in their house, unprecedented. they didn't have flood insurance. we have to evaluate how we manage water. you can't move it out of areas quick enough. maybe divert the water to ballfields and vacant land until rape passes. we have to take a whole new look how we manage water in heavily populated areas. neil: governor, thank you for the time. we do appreciate it. >> thank you. neil: meantime, here is something encouraging, they say this generation of kids, forget

about them, they will never get their act together. i want you to meet a houston teen, who might, might, give you a different impression. he and his pals were concerned about people stuck in their homes. they didn't wait for the federal government. they took a boat themselves and started doing the rescuing. it doesn't stop there. that is where we'll start, in two minutes. you know who likes to be

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on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. neil: you know i read about this young man and i couldn't believe it. mainly because, one inspiring story after another, this really hit me because he is teenager, he is in houston. he and a few of his buddies took out a fishing boat to rescue those in need. no one told them to do it. he thought it was something he had to do. he did it. thomas edwards on the phone with me right now. thomas, very good to have you. >> thanks for having me. neil: thank you for all you have done. i guess continue to do but explain what happened. how did you get the inspiration to go out on your boat and do this? >> so, actually a few days prior to the storm we had taken my friend's fishing boat back from

galveston because we figured it would get swept away by the storm. so we took it back. we sort of knew his whole neighborhood would get flooded and peoples houses would be totally ruined. we entertained notion we would help people. neil: so just upon yourself? there was no talk of people marks nothing like this? you had a boat, you were ready to go. did you check with anyone, your family, your folks, anyone else? >> i actually sent a text to my mother. is it okay if i get on the boat to go help people? i can't remember if i got a response or anything. but once we started hearing people screaming for help, we had to go. neil: it has a global reaction and people responding when you and your friends did this. it spawned more rescues. there is that old line, no good deed goes unpunished. in this case quite rewarding.

it had to be tiring up to 40 or 50 rescues, right? >> yes, sir. that was a rough estimate. we were, i would say at least 50 people and we were the only boat out there until about 2:00. then another citizen came with his duck boat. that kind of gave us a feeling of relief. we weren't only ones out there. but from about 9:00 to 2:00, we were only people out there with a boat. neil: how did you know where to go, tom? >> so, we would basically just troll down the streets, people would direct us. all the firefighters, all they had like, all they had was kay yaks. they -- kayaks. point us in direction where to go. without failure, every single street we went down, there was always somebody needing help. neil: this could go on for a while, for the waters to recede. i don't know who is right, maybe weeks. are you prepared to do this. there is school.

i don't know where you're going to have it but how are you going to keep doing this. >> actually the other day we followed the coast guard for a while trying to find somewhere to launch our boat. we really couldn't. i guess it is, sort of disconcerting because, i mean we've been trying to take our trucks and tow the boats places to help people but, a lot of the water is really patchy. neil: is it a texas thing, thomas? you know, so many people who watch this and see this and hear about all of this stuff and your efforts as well, they're just amazed. or no one questions it. you didn't question the potential danger in doing this? you just did it? >> well, i mean i guess just kind of how my parents raised me. and i guess all of our parents raised us. sort of, i guess they taught us to be there for others.

neil: you come from good stock, thomas, that's obvious and your buddies as well. was anyone's parent upset you didn't clear this with me, young man, don't ever do this again? >> well, i mean, i guess, i guess they're happy that we didn't really get in trouble. a lot of the parents were worried. i mean i really, i couldn't have done it without them. i couldn't have not done it with richard and declan. we would be stuck in the house. neil: maybe a flooded house. thomas, very inspirational. >> thank you for having me. neil: thank you to your friends. it gets hokey we get when we talk about the greatest generation. i always felt the greatest generation is in our dna. maybe the great grandkids. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it.

times like this, reminds you, the greatest generation thing, it is in all of our dna. that young man just proved it. more after this. poor mouth breather. allergies? stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. breathe right.

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and ark ema plant had the explosion, there could be another explosion. sulfur dioxide in there, flammable gas, a toxic chemical, and when the power went down keeping them cool which is something vital also went down, so things heating up in there and that could explode and a mess, and 1 1/2 million folks within radius are told to get out. we don't know how many have, we'll keep you posted on that. the colonial pipeline, 13 of the various lines that are all but shut down is affecting prices nationwide here on the fear it's going to lead to supply disruptions. rick perry, former texas governor says gas prices will indeed go up as a result of this. hillary vaughn on the ground in crosby, texas with the latest on all of that. >> reporter: we are expecting

more explosions from the chemical plant from crosby, texas, officials don't know when the blasts will happen. residents are band from homes, this is on top of thousand of people who had to flee homes because of flooding, the rain for the most part subsided so the waiting game begins. home owners have to wait until the water recedes before companies move in, assess the damage and rebuild from there. but the texas department of public safety reports more than 37,000 homes sustained major damage and nearly 7,000 completely destroyed by harvey. the report estimates harvey has done $180 million in damage to public property across the gulf coast region. i got off the phone with disaster restoration company already on the ground here in houston, colin trudeau of black monmooring and bms cat started to rebuild where they can. they are prioritizing medical

facilities, schools, grocery stores, city infrastructure first, unless they have that up and running, they can focus on homes and begin to rebuild those homes from there, but again, this is a several week, if not months long situation for many home owners, you have to wait for the water to dissipate before you can move in and begin to rebuild. neil? neil: hillary vaughn, thank you very much, hillary. i mentioned governor rick perry praising the cajun navy. you heard a lot about them, listen to this. >> what the cajun navy did, private citizens on jet skis and flat bottom boats and ski boats is absolutely critical to the rescue effort. so i think that the president was as impressed with that as anything they saw. neil: all right, to cajun

relief co-founder melissa adair, very good to have you. you heard this from many, many people, melissa, i'll chime in, it's dunn kirkian what you are doing, the movie made famous the rescue on the part of average british citizens, a weekend fishermen to get your british soldiers out of dunnkirk, back to britain to fight another day. what you are doing is no less brave, no less remarkable. why do you do it? >> well, you know. i think everybody feels compelled to help their neighbor. if you saw somebody in need, if you saw your next-door neighbor struggling and all it would take is you to walk next door and give a hand to pull them out of struggle, you would do it. i've been really moved by the passion that people are showing to help neighbors. we've had people, three, four and five states away that are firefighters, police officers

and medical personnel by profession and coming to lend a hand. they left their jobs to do that. we have tech heads, businessmen, digital markers working together that put together a dispatching system, and they are taking the calls for help and dispatching them out in a really professional manner, and it's working like a well-oiled machine, and we're saving hundreds of thousands of people and we're not spending a dime to do it, and it's really, really amazing to watch, it's very heart warming to see people care so much about each other. i think everybody knows, they feel that it's their duty to help. neil: and i love how it crosses party line and a lot of louisianans are telling me we remember what texas did for us when we needed it a dozen years ago from katrina. forget about if you are from louisiana and texas, it's what human beings do. i hope this kind of thing lasts. oftentimes it doesn't.

do you think the goodwill and the lessons learned about people taking initiatives before the government can get in there, no rap against the government but big institutional bureaucratic mess and takes a while. this is moving ahead of that. >> right. you know, through citizen-led relief, you're going to forge pretty major relationships, by work together to overcome the obstacle of the storm and saving this many people, you are going to be stronger after the recovery. it's going to work in everyone's best interest to keep a system like this in place. the cajun relief foundation is working to build a platform called crowd relief using all of the lessons that we've learned through the past two floods. the one last year in louisiana and texas to incorporate all the different technologies. you know, in the past, technology hasn't been used or available to citizens the way it is now and time to update the system.

it's time to make rescue from disasters more efficient, and so by putting together a platform that utilizes all the technologies available today and putting the information into the hands of the citizens, we can replicate this in any disaster. neil: how did you do that, melissa? excuse my gnorance, it was remark aubl had your folks in place before the storm hit or you were ready to go, so the rescues were darn near immediate, but how did you do that? >> well, last year's flood in louisiana, we banned together quickly a group of people with backgrounds in digital technology, digital marketing, realized people were calling for help on facebook. and as digital marcs got together and made it more efficient and taught people how to make it more efficient and we showed people the different kinds of apps can you use to communicate with each other and

able to put together a dispatching system. we had people sitting in coffee shops and at kitchen table across the country chiming in and working shifts to help. it was truly amazing. staffing the dispatching system for 24-hour period over a whole week. it was truly, truly humbling to watch that much compassion from all around the world. neil: so are you saying that this volunteer army helping out people that there's an app for that? >> well, we're hoping to build one. we're hoping to call it crowd relief and incorporate all these technologies and add some that aren't currently in place where we could track and log hours of volunteers. it will be very useful. neil: it's logistical undertaking to put it mildly and you pulled it off. melissa, thank you very much, very good having you. >> thank you for having me. neil: while we're on the inspirational theme. a sports retailer becoming a

home base for a lot of these responders. academy sports and outdoor ceo j.c. simiankick. you can refresh my memory with you staying in the store because of the approaching storages and then it spread, right? >> well, actually, thanks neil for having me. no, that's partially right. we actually have lots of stores that have relationships with local law enforcement and regulatory agencies. really the way it started was kind of one neighborhood at a time. houston police department asking for boats. webster police department asking for boats, and as it continued to grow, we recognized the opportunity to really do something to help coordinate these efforts. we opened our doors, our

priority was team members first and how can we turn our attention to helping the first responders get out and do the work they're doing to rescue our team members, our customers, neighbors and the community, and it really grew from there. neil: i'd say so, how did you handle when it hit restaurants, grocery stores were closed or not operating so even things like food. >> so what ends up happening is good people come together in the community to make a difference. the thing they think not everyone can understand about the first responder groups, they all show up, there is not always a master plan, so you connect with the leader of one organization who then shares with the captains or commanders of the other groups and as you begin to consolidate, in our case, we have hosted and continued it host more than 1100 first responders on our site, then have you other

organizations that show up and say how can we help? the retailers like walmart offering food on a stopgap basis, and then you have restaurants that show up. neil: walmart did? walmart competes with you, right? >> they do. but we compete and we also love our neighbors together, and i think when things like this happen, the coordination between folks like walmart, kroger, heb, to make sure that we're serving the greater needs of the community and the best interests of our collective neighbors is something retailers have been good about doing in times of natural disaster and harvey is no different. neil: certainly was borne out here, someone like you doing so much as a businessman as well, just being more to the point, it must irk you when you hear the stories, price gouging or

taking advantage of customers or charging a lot for something all of a sudden. what goes through your mind? >> well, it's disappointing. i think when you have situations like this, there are people that are, i guess, in some cases thankfully it's rare, likely to take advantage of the situation, whether it's price gouging or in the rebuild efforts, folks that are swindlers and even in some instances of looting. but for the most part, what you see are people that are committed to doing the right thing for the community and going above and beyond to figure out how to deliver the goods and services that people need most and provide more value at a time like this. that's certainly our focus at academy, and i'm proud to say a lot of the folks that we compete with and part of the retail community are doing some of that came work, it's in all

our best interest to do that together. neil: amazing, thank you very much, be safe, be well, thank you, again. >> thank you. neil: in the meantime, you know, a lot of the people who are staying at j.k.'s facilities might thereby for a while. we're getting word that houston reservoirs are long past capacity and spilling over into areas not prepared for it. what are we looking at? after this. ♪ you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor recommended gaviscon. it quickly neutralizes stomach acid and helps keep acid down for hours. relieve heartburn with fast- acting, long-lasting gaviscon.

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. . neil: all right, the rescues are still under way in texas, don't think because the skies are clear that the flooding is any less of an issue. more of one right now. jeff flock with a rescue convoy in houston where a lot of them are going under way right now. jeff? >> reporter: and i think, neil, we're starting to get a handle on this. get ourselves together here. these guys, as we said earlier, just to repeat it, and i know ad nauseum we repeat it, but the outpouring of folks that have come in, these guys launched, go around the neighborhood, get anybody they can. what they do is go with the jet skis, and if they find somebody they run with the jet ski out to a boat and say listen, this guy needs to go out and so they go. those are the boats that are going through.

i think most of the people that are needing to get out at this point in this neighborhood, and keep in mind, i'm seeing a sliver of this. neil, you're seeing this much clearer than i am. steeg on the ground in the places i am. you're seeing the big picture. my sense of it, though, is we're starting to get to the point where we've gotten. we don't have the dramatic rescues that we had before where people are trapped and in trouble, it's people that said hey, i wanted to stay and now i've had enough, it's been a couple days without power or ac and time to go. so that kind of thing. we saw somebody too, going back in where they left medication, they may have left pets, going back in to get them out. they realize the floodwater is going to be here for a while. it continues, people trying all different ways to get around. there's a guy who's got a case he's trying to get in, and going with the paddleboard

because that's the way it goes in houston. now. neil: whatever works, my friend, whatever works. thank you very much. jeff flock. in the middle of all of this, would you contemplate a government shut down or fighting over debt ceiling increase or attaching something to it. probably unlikely, maya mac ginnis on that. the appetite for a government shutdown has shrunk to near zero. i could be wrong, what do you think? >> you are right on that, too. before this hit, shutting down the government was part of the negotiating tactic and people were stamping their feet and saying if i don't get what i want, i'm willing to shut down the government over it. this changes the equation that is a massive reminder to us, when tragedies happen, when national disasters happen, that's what you need to be prepared both fiscally and

government functioning so you can address them as quickly and ably as possible. you are right the chance of a government shutdown shrunk to near zero as it should, talking about shutting down the government as a way to negotiate to figure out budgets is completely irresponsible and sort of a sign of a government that's not functioning. neil: i can certainly understand the amount of frustration, i don't think it is happening either. i do wonder, sometimes in times like these when you want to provide aid for a region that needs it. the sandy example comes out. chris christie was on with me a couple days ago saying his fear with this thing is that the texas delegation is saying, hey, we need funding here and no one should stop it, that's the opposite tack they took with sandy because they were trying stop. that back then, a lot of them trying to stop it because the 60 billion in aid that was on the table. a lot of it for other things

that had nothing to do with sandy. and the fear is out of just a collective sense of guilt and wanting to do something, we're going to repeat that. >> throw money at the sink. neil: how do you balance hardened heads here? >> that's right, we know there will be emergencies and handle them correctly, just we don't always. the first thing, is it a real emergency? this obviously is, sandy obviously was. it does qualify as emergency we didn't continue was happening. it needs a big spovenlts the second thing is, is the money or response targeted directly to the emergency? don't load it up with a bunch of unrelated costly things that you stick into a must pass piece of legislation. neil: you know they will. >> they have in the past and those are good reasons to push back against it. neil: they won't, my fear is, that they go ahead and no one is going to reject the aid with the christmas add-ons and that's what worries me. you want to get aid to the people that need it here, under

that guise, they shove in the stuff you don't want, right? >> seen that certainly in the past. and seen more people making a real resistance against loading it up with unrelated items. i hope that happens this time. third, you should pay for emergency spending. we act as though someone is important, we shouldn't pay for it. our debt's at near-record levels. shouldn't be borrowing more money than we already are. do the emergency spending without question, but we should offset the costs, and we probably won't do that also. all of this is a reminder why it's important to have a healthy fiscal balance sheet which we do not in this country. when legitimate problems come along, we stuff them with gifts that are unrelated, not willing to pay for it, that's not a way to budget, and there are important things the government needs it be doing, like helping people through this absolutely massive tragedy they're enduring. neil: there is a divide, i had

the billionaire, co-founder of home depot saying forget the tax cuts, he's a billionaire, he doesn't need them. he is richer than god. now is not the time to entertain it, there is another camp that says exact time to consider a tax cut especially for the people in that nesc the woods. higher net pay would go a long way for them. >> i'm in the third camp, we are massively indebted as a country, it is the time for tax reform that would reorient in a way that is more productive and help the economy but doing that in a way that adds to the debt will slow economic growth. neil: even if it doesn't, short-term it might add to that but get bang for the buck later, you are not in that camp? >> we're in the wrong part of the business psych toll talk about the need for stimulus. anybody who says tax cuts pay for themselves is unfamiliar

with the work that shows that's not remotely true. we're not in a downturn do people who went through the tragedy in texas need tax relief? that makes sense. that is emergency part of the bill, people need to relocate. tax reform is about how we raise money in the country which is incredibly outdated and overly complex, clean the code up in a way that grows the economy and doesn't add to the debt instead of taking the easy way out. people want the fiscal free lunch right now and not going to help the economy. neil: you are bumming me out here. >> i always do, i'm sorry, neil. >> you are good stuff. maya, all the time. the committee for responsible federal budget. she's their president. we're getting a confirmation from the energy department, they've done it again, 500,000 barrels released from the strategic petroleum reserve. you tap that when you need it. right now the government seems to be saying we need it. one million barrels total here. it has not affected the price

of oil. oil itself has not really moved, if anything declined. it's the refined product, having to do with gasoline, that is moving up at 20% clip since all this began. oil itself even with today's gain relatively unchanged. all the other products not so much. so you're seeing them soar, certainly since harvey first hit. the vice president getting a tour of rockport, texas. his boss will revisit the area this weekend along with melania trump. this is their view, it's important enough to keep visiting, to keep sending the message, the federal government is on it and regardless of party affiliation everyone is here to help. we'll have more after this.

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. neil: i want to take you to texas right now. governor greg abbott of texas there with the vice president of the united states behind him. let's listen in. >> as the people of texas. >> woo! >> we will rise again and we will rebuild this great town and the affected areas across the entire state of texas. but as we gather today here at this church, it's important that we remember the greatest power that exists is the power of god. >> amen! >> and the way that god can touch and move all of our lives. it was god through the lives of so many texans that came to the rescue of other texans. the power of god that was able to pull people out of water and literally save them. as a result of that, i think

it's very important that i issue and sign a texas governor show of proclamation here today. by the power invested in me as the governor of state of texas, i am declaring this sunday september 3rd as a day of prayer in texas. [applause] this is a day where we will pray for all those who are affected. who will pray for the first responders. for those who have volunteered to help others. who will pray regardless of what faith or church or background you may have. who will pray as one united people, for the future of the state and future of this country. for healing and for hope, for rebuilding and for the next great generation of texas. if you don't mind, i'm going have the first lady of texas hold this microphone as i sign

this official proclamation. [cheers and applause] >> a day of prayer. [cheers and applause] >> there is a man with us here today who is a longtime friend of mine, and a longtime friend of texas. he's a man who understands what it means to govern having been a former governor himself. to the man who has shown genuine lord-empowered leadership, as the vice president of the united states. i want to introduce to you a man who is committed to ensuring, along with the president, that texas will

rebuild. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to texas, the vice president of the united states of america, mike pence. [cheers and applause] >> thank you so much, governor. thank you to the inspiring team here at first baptist church. thank you all for coming out. after difficult days here in rockport and across southeast texas. president trump sent us here to say we are with you, the american people are with you, we are here today, we'll be here tomorrow, and we'll be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before. [cheers and applause]

>> i also want to pay a debt of gratitude to all of those that have stepped forward and shown their work in this dark hour, in the life of this community and the life of this state. as the president said yesterday in missouri, your governor and his team have done an incredible job for the people of texas, and we commend you, mr. governor, we commend the state officials, we commend the extraordinary first responders who at this very hour are pulling citizens out of harm's way. would you join me in thanking this great governor in the state of texas for their local leadership. [cheers and applause] >> we're also grateful, grateful to be joined by many members of the cabinet of this administration. president trump sent us here, sent us here to ensure that the full resources of the national government are being brought to bear in a consistent way. through the course of this rescue operation, which is

still under way, and the recovery that will follow and the rebuilding that we will see through, and i'm grateful to be joined by the great members of the cabinet who are with us here today. and lastly, let me also say thank you. i saw thank you to those of you who have in a difficult hour for you and your family have come alongside neighbors and friends. those that are looking on now maybe for around the state. maybe around the country, who have already given of their resources and of their prayers to support the people of rockport and the people all across southeast texas. as franklin graham just said, it's a long way to go, it's not months but it's years. the challenges will be great, but we know that the generosity and the prayers and the faith of the people of texas and the american people will be greater still.

[cheers and applause] >> i called the president on air force two this morning and i asked him what he wanted me to tell you. and he just said, just tell them we love texas. [cheers and applause] >> you've inspired the nation. you've inspired the nation by your resilience and by your courage, and we just came here to commend and you to encourage and you to assure that you we'll be there. as the president often says, we're one american family. >> amen. >> when one hurts, we all hurt on. behalf president trump obehalf of this good governor obehalf of all of us that have the privilege of public responsibilities, just know we are with you, and we will stay with you until rockport and all of southeast texas come back.

>> thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. with that, i'm joined by my wife karen, the second lady of the united states. >> yeah! [ applause ] >> agreed to offer a quick word of prayer and so those of you that are so inclined, join us, would you. karen? >> heavenly father, we thank you for these amazing people who are an inspiration us to all across the united states and across the world. we pray that you would build them up, give them the strength and the endurance as they go forward. we thank you for the first responders and those who, at this very moment, are saving lives. we pray for their safety and a blessing on them. we thank you for every level of help that's here. it's such an inspiration to see so many who have given so much and so selflessly come

alongside their neighbors. so we thank you for this. we know that your word says where two are more gathered, there you are, we know you are with us lord and pray your blessing on the state of texas and louisiana as they go through hard days going forward. we know that you will lift us up. in your name we pray, amen. >> amen! >> thank you all. >> thank you! >> honor to be with you today, mr. governor. thank you so much. thank you to the ministry that knows that unless the lord builds, we're here today, president trump will be back in texas with the first lady on saturday and we promise you, we're going to stay with you every step until we bring southeast texas back bigger and better than ever before. thank you very much. [applause] . neil: all right, you have been watching the vice president of the united states and governor

abbott of texas right now. this bipartisan cooperation of course, is a republican crowd as you might imagine. this has been playing out throughout the state even in houston, fema officials have been fanning out throughout the region providing in excess of $40 million in immediate texas aid to those who need it. the response has been rapid, and the help from neighbors has been impressive. even neighboring louisiana no stranger to getting help from texans when we had katrina. that was then, this is now. with us now, the louisiana attorney general jeff landrieu who joins us on the phone. mr. attorney general, thank you for taking the time. how are things looking there in louisiana. there were real serious concerns about floods and the rains that were coming that could compromise levees, any of that happen? >> no, we had a number of probably a couple hundred homes

flooded in the western is portion of the state and, of course we had coastal flooding due to the extreme south winds and additional rainfall, but it looks like for the most part, louisiana certainly in comparison to what east texas got has been lucky this time. unfortunately, almost a year ago, today we had the historical flooding that occurred on both sides in the mississippi river which dropped extreme amounts of rain and flooded 65,000+ homes in louisiana. so far it's been good, which is great. it's given us an opportunity to certainly help our neighbor, texas who needs it. i know a lot of the people displaced in southeast texas, we're now going to make available for them to come to louisiana, going to be able to make assets that we have that we may have needed, if we would have gotten extreme flood event available in texas, and do everything we can to help our neighbor in this time of need.

neil: you're doing that in spades, and my absolute thought to you and the governor and everyone in louisiana, the cajun navy as well. you know, i'm reminded of these floods, attorney general, and how massive they were. i suspect there is little you can do leveewise to deal with something like that. it is sort of like saying preparing for an earthquake of severity not measured before. so how do you deal with that, and what do you do to get your people prepared for the possibility of floods, even a fraction of this magnitude. >> well, i think one of the first things we can do to offset some of the impact of these kinds of floods is to improve our drainage. you know, over the last couple of decades we've seen the corps of engineers being restrictive, not just a little but a lot in

a way of restricting from a permanent standpoint how we dig out the bayous and trainages and such as that. we had the last year when there was a huge diversion knowledge from in louisiana held up for 20 years mostly because the corps of engineers can't get their act together or environmental impact study we have to study for 100 years, we have to flood two times before we get the project in place. you are right, the amounts of rainfall that you saw in east texas, even the best prepared state or system would not be able to handle that type of rainfall, but, look, i got to tell you. my hat's off to this administration, to governor abbott and the elected officials, all throughout texas. they're very determined, decision-making-oriented officials that are make the right decisions. you see the administration from fema on down, you see

administrator scott pruitt enact waivers along the conial pipeline to help ease the spike in gasoline because of the refining capacity. that's located on the coast. i got to tell you, it's like night and day when you see a president that's been in business before, knows what it means to have to make decisions on the spot. neil: jeff landry, louisiana attorney general, thank you, sir, be well. >> thank you. neil: all right, he was touching on it here, the flood aftermath here, that is producing for people who are not necessarily in these neck of the woods, much higher gasoline, that's run up at 20% clip. that's the futures price right now and will hit you at the pump. the only question is for how long. much of this hinges is how long refineries are out of commission? some will be coming back online but not all and the ones that will be delayed coming back online are delayed for weeks, not days, weeks. the fallout from that, after this. potsch: you each drive a ford pickup, right?

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. >> upwards, over 30% of the production is off-line. the colonial pipeline is shut down for us, that is major deliverer of refined product to the southeastern united states. gas prices are going to go up. >> that was the energy secretary former texas governor rick perry talking about that colonial pipeline. technically, 13 of the 26 refineries that feed into that particularly from the gulf area are not feeding into it. they're shut down, delayed, what have you. that is prompting this delay in gas, jet fuel oil, getting to other parts north. and that is what has been among the contributing factors for higher energy prices. the question is for gas, jet fuel, that stuff, whether that trend continues for gasoline,

it's been a 20% uptick since harvey first hit. jack girard is the ceo, the big cheese, jack, what is the fallout from this, and how long do you suspect? >> neil, it's difficult to predict at this time as you know, this unprecedented storm we're experiencing things we've never before experienced, if you look at where we are today, the department of energy under secretary perry's leadership this morning just announced of the 15 refineries that were shut down earlier, there is 10 of those shut down now. the other five are in the process and assessment of restarting. that could take several days, but we're back to the laws of supply and demand. how quick can we get back online to supply the marketplace? the colonial pipeline is dependent upon, as you pointed out, about 26 facilities in that gulf coast region. so the quicker we bring those back online, the quicker we'll be able to fill the marketplace, fill the pipeline

to fill the marketplace, and it's right now a question of doing assessments, as you know, some of these facilities are under significant levels of water. neil: that's what makes me talk about the delay, jack. i want to get your thoughts, though, on the timing of all of this? if there's such a thing as a good side to all of this we, after labor day weekend, the demand for gasoline on the part of consumers will subside or normally that's the case. so it's not as if this is hitting in the middle of peak demand, summer driving, and that whatever effects higher price would be short-lived. do you agree with that? >> yeah, a couple other variables that are different than experience with katrina for example, and that is that our stockpiles, our inventories today for crude and refine product or record highs are at five-year highs. the other dynamic is in the post sandy world, we have a gasoline reserve in the

northeast, about 700,000 barrels in place like new jersey, 2,000 boston, 100,000 in portland, maine. some of the areas served by the pipeline truck/barge infrastructure, there is more resource or capability than the past. and that should serve to also mitigate perception on the part of those in the market that that price will go up. we're not in the business of predicting price, of course, and it's very difficult at this time to know exactly what that timeline might be. it's likely to be several days, weeks, but once again, our commitment, and i appreciate the leadership ofgovernor abbott, vice president pence, you can see they've been extraordinary in leadership to bring us altogether and say let's focus on the people, protect our people and then let's bring these industries back in a thoughtful, safe fashion, that's what we in the industry committed to do. neil: thank you very much, the american petroleum institute

ceo joining us out of the nation's capital. people want to put their applications in to see how much they'll be reimbursed. we're on top of that. because that also is potentially a record breaker. after this. ♪

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neil: you know, there are a lot of drones, this coming in over houston. the drone is taking them. there are quite a few drones taking images to take assessment of the damage not only in houston but the gulf region, very, very helpful to insurance expert on how helpful and why they can be so helpful. frank, thank you for coming. obviously, drones provide a remarkable image of the damage, but from a certain vantage point, right? what do you get seeing this? >> neil, first of all, thank you and thank you for having me on the show. you know, our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that have been impacted through this catastrophic event which is truly historic. from many of us here in texas, it's personal, we've got family, friends, associates. we have several hundred people in the houston area and 1600

people have been directly impacted, our clients. the use of a drone approved in 2015 by the faa and several large insurance companies utilizing drones to assess damage in a more quick and efficient way which we support 100%, any technology that could help our clients get claims filed through and money back in the hands is great thing. >> what would you get from that? from these images, i can see where you are in texas, we're seeing a lot of water, we're seeing homes that are obviously flooded across the region, but you wouldn't be able to tell much more than that outside if you have clear proof that if someone is filing a claim there house was indeed underwater. maybe explain. >> yeah, neil, that's right, that's a good beginning to have aerial shots of some of the damage that we can assess. in the case of water damage and flood, which is the prevalent

issue in this case and every catastrophic event is a bit different. it's a good step in the process, they get a sense of the level of damage. neil: a lot of insurance will tell you try to take pictures, even video inside your home, what it looked like before everything hit. what downing of that? >> well, that's a great idea, and i'd encourage everybody to do that. it's difficult to try to file that claim and remember everything you've had in your home, you know, we focus on the commercial side and do the same thing, so it's prudent to do that, clearly. neil: all right, frank, you've been very, very busy, appreciate it. he helps out a lot of folks, sorting out their lives after something like this. and if a drone can help do it, so be it. in the meantime, we are length you know we're going to be expecting a white house briefing in about a half an hour. so we'll get an update what the president plans to do, where he

plans to visit saturday he and the first lady will revisit texas. this still ravages on and the fallout from this and the delays and everything else that's associated with this continue. ♪

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eastern time, on the east coast. telegraph to his boss what he might see, when he comes with his wife melania on saturday. we're not sure. maybe white house briefing in half an hour where mr. and mrs. trump plan to go. but we know they are revisiting. trish regan to take you through all of that. trish: indeed they are. thank you very much, neil cavuto remnants of tropical depression harvey continue to wreak ha -- havoc in the lone star state. the governor warns flooding will continue for at least another week. to make matters worse, weather forecasters fear there may be another storm. yes, another storm brewing in the gulf of mexico. i am trish regan. welcome to "the intelligence report."