hurricane harvey. there's the door that we expect the governor to walk out of. continuing coverage throughout the day and crews all around texas as well as on fox news.com. >> we begin with the fox news alert. as we await a major update from texas governor greg cap it on harvey, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm dumping 20 inches of rain. >> hello and welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's news headquarters. >> and i'm michael. harvey is making landfall at that point harvey was a category for monster. the fiercest hurricane to strike texas since 1961.

they destroyed homes and buildings i left 300,000 people without power. the worst could be yet to come. expected to last for days. thus go live to casey. >> we had to shame the people in the background here but this is what we you should not do if you are in this region. look at those people out there right now thinking it's fun to hang out right there in the middle of all of those crashing waves on that rock formation that goes out, taking selfie's and funny videos of themselves. but you see the white caps all around, all we been getting has been about how dangerous the rip currents are, messages from the national weather service and the like. all it takes is for one wave to come up and crash over, sweet

those people off and then you have emergency rescuers that have to put their lives at risks to try to go out and save them. if you live in this area, this stuff is not fun, you're not supposed to play in it. it is extremely dangerous. we've been talking about flooding. we'll get brand-new video coming in which was shot on the island of galveston that shows some water, up to stop signs, the levels are increasingly going up. getting such heavy rainfall at times that it is pooling on the roads and in the ground is saturated, another band comes to dropping rain and that is how were seen this extreme flash flooding. this is happening all over. in galveston, even in parts of houston metro area, about an hour up and north of where we are, flooding will remain the primary concern, the national

hurricane center saying it could rain for days as the system sits on top of south texas and his asker bates a dire situation. >> i remember my years covering texas and doing a piece on the 100 year anniversary of the massive hurricane that was the deadliest hurricane. the good news is that galveston has held up so far right? >> it has weathered the storm, no pun intended. the people here are very prepared, a lot of buildings are built on stilts and higher in elevation. you have this giant seawall that was built, nine or 10 feet tall. for reference and hurricane ike in 2008, kelly the water was lapping up against the small and their white caps on the edge of

where i'm standing. you can see on the beach that there is a good amount of sand between us and the gulf of mexico. the storm surge is not what it is expected. however, we talk about the flooding threats and there is also a tornado threat here as well, right here in galveston. we've had a lot of watches and warnings. a lot of condition that folks need to be aware of. >> michael: let's go to the capital in texas and listen to their governor. >> thank you for being with us here today. what is happened in the past 24 hours since last briefing i want to bring you up to speed on what i know and then take questions. when we start with generalities and get down to details. first, now that the hurricane

has, sure our primary concern remains dramatic flooding. according to information was provided, there's been about 20 inches of rain in the corpus christi area and 16 inches of rain in the houston area. the biggest concern is the possibility of between 20 and 3s ranging from corpus christi over to houston. because of the flooding, one of the top focal points we are concerned about his ongoing rescue and recovery. we want to do what we can to keep people out of rising water. part of that is by constant wanted to the public about being vigilant and observing rising water around you is your traveling if you're traveling on the road, always watch for

water, remembering when you come across water could be far deeper than what you're i observes the swiftness of the current can be far stronger than what you perceive. you know the well-known phrase and that is turn around, don't drown. don't risk your life. the most important thing that all texas can do is to put your life and the protection of your life first and foremost. in addition to that, the state of various agencies remain active in the search and rescue process. they'll be one of the foremost tasks we undertake in the coming days. we have focused on working with and supporting evacuees, especially from around the corpus christi area and expanding to larger areas.

i had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to visit with evacuees as they were getting off of buses that had come in from the corpus christi area. you could sense a sense of relief on their part that they are out of the way of danger of an increasingly dangerous storm. they're happy to be alive and were a piece in that regard. but obviously concerned about what they had left behind. about the possibility they had lost her would be losing the place they lived as well as some of their property. most importantly, they were happy to be alive. i have issued a disaster declaration that originally included 30 counties, and this is a state disaster declaration. we have added 20 more counties

for a total of six counties. as you probably know, i requested a federal disaster declaration that the president granted last night, this is incredibly important and extremely fast. what the presidential proclamation about our disaster declaration does is it immediately triggers the implementation of fema, and fema's assistance for individuals in cities and counties for all of us to begin the rebuilding process as quickly as possible. something else i did yesterday is a issued a proclamation waving hotel occupancy taxes for all evacuees and first responders. so any place in the state of texas where there is an evacuee

first responder who is affected by the storm, they will be able to say have the hotel taxes waived. i just got word from the fort bend county judge who has issued a voluntary evacuation for the brasses river area and a mandatory evacuation along the san bernard. this is one of the foremost regions in the state of texas that are ready has flooding and we anticipate that flooding to grow worse in that area. this morning i have the opportunity to make phone calls to several mayors who are affected by the hurricane. i spoke with the mayor of victoria and port ibaka.

i made phone calls to the mayor of corpus christi and rockport. i did not have the ability to connect but i left messages for the mayors of victoria and port ibaka they preside over cities who suffer meaningful damage that they are working aggressively to help their citizens respond to their challenges and offer them and we offered any and all help that the state of texas can provide. for more detail as a result of the briefing i just had, looking at the texas military division, there are more than 1300 service members currently activated and we anticipate increasing that amount by 500 more giving us

1800 service members who will be activated to assist in responding to the hurricane aftermath. as part far as the texas department of transportation, they are already undertaking cleanup operations around the corpus christi and yocum areas, working to clear pathways and roadways which is impressive they were able to get in that quickly and begin that process. with the tea you see, they say they're more than 338,000 outages and it will still be several days, perhaps before those outages will be addressed. the reason is because the wind speed in the area. of where they're going to take care of those outages has to decrease below certain level before they can respond. sores emergency services which

includes the texas military and texas parks and wildlife and texas task force wanted to, one of their primary focal points is search and rescue. they have already made several search and rescue operations, primarily hoisting through the helicopter process and we have about a thousand personnel in the state of texas who were assigned to search and rescue. the texas parks and wildlife has about 1500 evacuees at state parks and again, any costs that would normally be occurred at a state park has been waived for evacuees. for the texas department of public safety, they have

assigned about 80 troopers to the corpus christi area to assist in law enforcement needs in that region. for the red cross, they had 21 shelters open with a population of about 1450. they have 42 more shelters on standby to be ready. those are red cross shelters, there are many other red cross shelters whether they be churches or other local facilities. we are appreciative of everyone in the state of texas is providing shelter, food, and other supplies. i want to express my gratitude at the shelter is that yesterday, there is a need for towels and blanketing and betting for the people who were there. we made a public plea and that

plea was answered swiftly. so thank you to the people of san antonio for responding to the needs of the people of corpus christi who are sheltering in san antonio. on transportation, we have 228 buses available to continue to move evacuees, and more than 100 bus trips for evacuees have been undertaken. across multiple agencies we are in the process of getting water, ice, food, and supplies to needed areas. were in the process of working to set up staging areas where those supplies will be able to be delivered to those who need them. with that. i will take some questions. >> how bad is the flooding in flash flooding, are we expecting

to see home swept away like we have seen in past years? would you say to those people who are in their homes? >> the best information we have our predictions about the rainfall that will come on top of the rainfall that has already occurred. that is, and various key regions ranging from corpus christi to the houston area. perhaps as much as 20 or 30 more inches will be coming down. that is coming down on saturated ground and are ready filled up waterways weather creeks, by user rivers. there is a potential for very dramatic flooding. it's essential for people who are near those flood zones to do several things. one is obviously be aware of your surroundings. to is to listen to warnings

given out by local officials and he those warnings. three, whenever you venture out by car or any other way, be cautious. not only is it rising water that it will be swift moving water that can carry you away. for everyone in the state your top responsibility in your status to protect your life. when you are near water make sure you're doing everything to stay safe. >> we do not have information right now that we can confirm any fatalities. that is information will be working with local officials, seeking confirmation that we can report later. >> do you expect to report later? >> whenever we receive confirmation of fatalities and confirmation it was a result of

the storm as opposed to some other cause, we will confirm it. we cannot confirm it at this time. >> have there been any unconfirmed reports that you can report on. >> no. >> do know about how many rescues there have been? >> what is happening now is our first responders are putting their lives on the line to get out there and do search and rescue for those in need. what you'll see in the next few hours and days is, as the winter weather conditions allow though do as many rescues as they can. the message to those that might need help is if you put that signal out there that you are still there and still need help. if you still have electricity or phone service send those messages out so we can see them. i need you to keep your first responders in our thoughts and prayers because they are risking their lives to get out there to look for those in need.

>> can you share with us contact that you've had -- >> it was so heartening to shake the hands of these evacuees as they got off of the buses, i walked around the school they were being houston and i got to visit with them. they are what i call, typical texans. they were resilient, they were strong, they were strong spirited, they were happy they were happy to be there and be alive. obviously they were in need. there was a part of them facing a sense of shock that comes with displacement. there is a growing need for supplies, they are receiving three meals a day, but they're

just so warmhearted, so full of spirit, and so pleased to be alive. >> it's way too early to make estimates about that. we are very pleased the federal government and white house have stepped up in the strong way they have, by granting her disaster declaration that will enable texas and texans to be able to better deal with the financial consequences of the storm. >> we've heard that undocumented immigrants may be turned away give information on that? >> i have no information on that. >> you suggested earlier there were people not heeding the

evacuation calls is that still the case? >> i didn't suggest they were not heeding it, what i was suggesting is that if local official has warned people to evacuate, it is very important that citizens heed those warnings by their local officials. >> thank you. >> michael: that was greg abbott given a comprehensive update on the reaction to hurricane harvey there in the state of texas, quite a comprehensive response. a lot of concern about rescuing those who are in harm's way, concern for first responders who are dealing with rescuing people who are victims of the store and sounds like a first-class response on the state level so far.

>> kelly: the governor went on to say the primary concern has been dramatic flooding. 20 inches in the corpus christi area. the biggest concern is more flooding is coming. 20 - 30 more inches could come between corpus christi and houston. he talked about that being the biggest concern. steve is joining us now in rockport, texas. that's a town hardest hit by harvey. what can you tell us? >> there is a category four hurricane with a hundred 34 mile-per-hour winds. this building was a laundromat the day ago. the roof and building completely gone. there picking through the wreckage. were seeing people staggering back getting the change machine. he has no insurance. he doesn't know how he will rebuild. people are walking around stunned as the the rain and

damage has made rescue operations difficult. the people are picking through the rescue and see what they can recover. people are kicking down doors and sena people need help or is there any dead. they have confirmed their no confirm fatalities. moving around is difficult. the condition the roads are in, down power lines, debris in the roads, that will make cleanup and rescue operation difficult. more than a thousand personnel across texas and the weather making that a challenging task. now back to. >> what was it like for you and your crew as we look at the dramatic pictures, we know how heavy that laundromat and the equipment must be.

down the road i have been reading that these rescuers are trying to get to people are having a hard time navigating the landscape. what was it like to get there? >> if you want to show the road or the liquor store across the street, it's a lot of weaving out. the high profile vehicles a lot of treats and power lines down. it's interesting to see the liquor store, the glass has been knocked out but still case after case of liquor sitting there. that might say something about the people of rockport. their volunteers trying to help as well. the young husband-and-wife with a flashlight going through a ruined apartment complex seen if anyone was in need of help. a slow-motion operation now. messing big trucks or heavy

artillery committed to search and rescue at this point. the conditions making it difficult to move around. >> lauren: thank you so much for showing us these incredible images. stay safe. as you look at the images and see the power lines down it is dangerous and so important for people to heat the warnings. new asus county is one of the hardest hit areas. they're coming to shore about 3. we have judge samuel who oversees the response team joining us now on the phone. thank you for bringing with us. >> go ahead. you've had a couple of hours of daylight. we have people without power how do you begin to prioritize.

>> we have about 165,000 people without power will begin our rescue operations as well as our mission and the extent of the damage. porter ranches was in the eye of the storm. i had the mayor here, we are still not able but we do know that we've had extensive damage there we've had no fatalities so everybody was really very fortunate when you talk about the loss of power and you go through today will see images on our screen of people navigating the floodwaters. we know to get worse. twelve years ago we have flown in with our fox news crew to

hurricane katrina, i was in the casey 135 with the national guard. i remember flying in at night and i could feel like we're coming closer to the ground. i came into the cockpit, they let me do that and i said were coming into new orleans, where is it in the captain said, that is it. it was pitch black. it gave me chills. you have thousands of people without power going in tonight. more rain coming. possibly up to 15 inches. how are you can handle getting back up online when more rain is coming in? you have days of this ahead of you. >> we have a resilient population, and people in corpus christi use to being prepared. we are used to having temporary

power outages and were used as surviving for a number of days. i'm not worried about this. we have people in this county and we know we can take care people if we have to but they been preparing for this for years. >> lauren: are you getting what you need right now? >> yes we are, want to thank everybody from the president of the united states down. we just got word that we been declared for individual assistance for the presidential declaration. this is faster will help us. the governor stress that today. our cooperation at the federal and state level has been outstanding. both senators is going to take time and patience and we will be rebuild and move on but we want

to help in any way we can and help those affected by the hurricane,. >> we will be watching and waiting to hear options. >> hurricane harvey is downgraded to a tropical storm. the worst flooding is yes to come. >> we been out here with sandbags preparing for the flood, but we thought it would be a lot worse. >> meteorologist is checking the latest, plus a presidential pardon for former arizona sheriff, joe arpaio getting mixed reaction. alive report is up ahead. boost. it's about moving forward, not back.

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>> winds were in excess of 130 miles per hour. someone guessed right here. 120 - 130 miles per hour. we are still seeing more damage reports in and around landfall. the threat for tornadoes in effect for overnight tonight for 3:00 a.m. local time. tornado watch and then tornado warnings as well just north of beaumont looking at the potential for rotation. we are ready have those spinning

winds, the counterclockwise wins and we see tornadoes out of the houston area, reports of at least 60 tornadoes that the made landfall. that's why you need your weather radio. so far over 14 and 15 inches of rainfall and on top of that reports of 30 or 40 inches are yet to come. flood advisories for a huge chunk of texas for the houston area. we have an outer band right now moving through houston. within those bands we could see several inches per hour. rainfall totals, a staggering, we've never seen this as a meteorologist, 40 or 50 inches from a tropical system. the reason is, this system will sit stall for days.

nothing in the upper levels to pick this up and move it. it's anchor between two areas of high pressure across florida in the southwest. this is moving the storm towards the south and a possibility it may go back into the gulf of mexico. for the next five days will wash the sit and spin. it could potentially be a disaster for rainfall amounts. >> so people get through the high winds and heavy rain and now they have to worry about tornado. >> the worst could be at to come. >> lauren: as a country watch category four hurricane harvey slam into texas, president trump apart controversy sheriff, joe arpaio for a criminal attempt conviction. the announcement comes as a trump eight and abandon allies leaving the white house. doug is more with more.

what is going on? >> president trump is a washington outsider, he is not above the washington insider game of the late friday afternoon done. he tweeted last night as the ferry of hurricane harvey was slashing the texas quote and i quote. i pleased to inform you that i granted a full pardon to sheriff, joe arpaio. a pile tweeted and said thank you at real donald to trump. for see in my conviction as it is, a political witch hunt. for those asking how they can continue to help, owed a nation to my legal fund goes directly to pain up my legal fees. the more intrigue from the white house with the resignation or firing depend on who you believe of sebastian gorka. he is a hardliner, and the war on islamic terrorism and he was

seen as a close ally of steve bannon. his approach are seen as another sign of the end of the bannon era and pivoting toward the new york, kushner ivanka wing. in a breitbart piece this morning that has steve bannon fingerprints all over, by part trashes an e-mail sent to reporters on background from special systems. it reads quote in the body of the e-mail he writes that media figures covers the resignation from gorka. he did not resign, but i can confirm he no longer works at the right house. that article goes on to say that they claim that she is a senior white house us official is not true. she's not a senior white house official. in a commissioned officer to the officer. in addition her claim that gorka did not resign is also untrue. gorka set the president the detailed resignation letter. this is significant because bannon has said he will continue fighting for the president to make america great again and drain the swan.

it appears he's also fighting for steve bannon and hurling some rhetorical hand grenades over the west wing fence. >> lauren: dug good, a very busy white house morning. thank you. >> michael: let's bring in our political panel, and managing director at mercury, llc. isaac wright is a partner/and strategy group. thank you for being here. so, the departure late last night of gorka it's been reported that president trump told his team he had no idea what gorka did but he loved his appearances on cable tv. what is your read on his departure. >> this is clearly a sign that kelly is getting a hold of the white house. i think sebastian gorka was on tv a lot.

he was one of those people who had access to the president when they need to instill order. for the american people to look at this, anything that lessens chaos in the white house is good for the country. the positive move and i find it encouraging. >> 's been gone, gorka out, is this a sign that kelly is raining and the white house staff? >> it's a sign that were once stuff safer, someone like gorka to be dealing with national security is the chief advisor to the president on those issues is a bad thing. anything that gets him out of the circle and white house makes america a little bit safer. >> i was in phoenix the other night when he the president hinted about pardon daring joe arpaio, his supporters went wild in the arena. >> i don't think anybody questions that, those are matters of public record in public back.

there's a sinister message here that's not getting as much attention which is the fact that this sends a subtle but strong message from our president to those people being interviewed by the special counsel to keep quiet, the president will pardon you. this is a very dangerous stick in the eye to the rule of the law to the president. it puts our country in jeopardy. >> i give you a little bit of a tease. here's what he said the other night. >> but, but, i won't do it tonight, because i don't want to cause any controversy. is that okay? all right. >> the sheriff called into the sean hannity show an offer this reaction. >> i'm not going down without trying to defend myself and all those people who don't like what i have done. after all these years here i am on the defense table because

they wanted to do everything to get rid of me. certain people and i'll discuss that more next week. >> what about the timing of this? >> i think what happened is the president said he's going to have more troops in afghanistan, the base went crazy. this was a bone thrown toward the base to say were looking out for you. the problem for the president as he makes these announcements and put senators in a box. the wall street journal had an editorial saying the congressional republic needs to treat the president like an independent. so you're starting to see this cleavage between republicans and the president. how are we gonna get legislation passed? the congress need some wins before the election. clearly the president is looking at the base in congress is trying to pass things. i don't know where it will end up. it doesn't seem to be us sound legislative strategy. >> thank you for your time.

>> lauren: harvey has been downgraded to a tropical storm now. catastrophic flooding will be a major concern for days to come. more like team coverage from fox news all day and night. once there was a little pig

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for the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you. >> floyd mayweather, theundefeay for war. have you heard about it? as to world of boxing and mixed martial arts clients tonight in las vegas. up to 50 million people are expected to watch in the u.s. alone. mayweather said he's ready to go despite coming out of retirement while the champ says he's ready for the challenge. >> money can play a major role but something different is on. i know the fighter from a different world, come into the fight world. >> it's a motion, it's all the same.

and once you get comfort in that and understand what that is you can go relish it and enjoy it and shine. >> lauren: we have spots for caster jim gray here to break it down for us. jim, give us more the background only spiders. both have different backgrounds, but their the top tiers of their sport. what you think? how will it play out tonight? >> i can make a case for either way. let's start with mcgregor. he's a terrific fighter at the top of the heap. he's never lost a fight standing up as floyd mayweather is pointed out. he's 29 and much younger than mayweather who will be coming up on his 41st birthday. floyd mayweather has not fought for 714 days. his boss fight against andre almost two years ago, he hasn't knocked anybody out since 2011

in his hands are what they used to be. by zone is mission he's not the same fighter he was when he started 21 years ago. mcgregor was a tough guy, he's used to getting kicked, poked and joke. it will be a tough out. on the other end, floyd mayweather is the greatest fire of his generation one of the greatest in history of boxing against a guy who is never fought a boxing match. never an official match. >> lauren: let's talk about the money. this could be the top grossing sports card in history. does it have the potential of being a big? where we with a number. >> that's hard, people don't make the decision to make the pay-per-view until this hour, next hour up until the upcoming. it'll be on showtime pay-per-view. it should be close to that record, 4.6 mill, it'll come very close to that.

there's been worldwide attention, you cannot believe everything that has been written and said, television and social media, it's off the chart. there are 20000 people at the way in, people from ireland, i think it has a chance to break 4.6 million pay-per-view. they said they'll be upwards of a billion people watching. >> pay-per-view's could set high standards and mcgregor has to. if this is as successful as people think it will be, with this happen again, or will it be something else like this? if somehow, someway mcgregor can overcome all the odds which i do not expect and he was to win, that would set up a huge rematch. may water has said if he has go the distance he will be that is the the fee. i don't think mayweather thinks mcgregor has a single chance. mcgregor is very confident. if he is a good fight and could

pull off the biggest upset in the history of sports, then i think there will definitely be a rematch. they're gonna split between and probably for $500 million. there be financial incentive to do it again if the fight was good. >> we'll see what happens tonight, will be watching and listening to you. thank you for your expertise. >> it back to tropical storm harvey. residence in texas sharing amazing photos and videos on social media. showing the power of the storm. we'll have more that, next. >> when our country used to flex its muscle like battleships like the uss i what the world would listen hey you've gotta see this. c'mon.

no. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine.

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>> harvey kicked southeast texas with rain. this video shows the storm hitting the city with heavy rain and powerful winds. brian is live with the new york city newsroom with more. >> hi michael. we continue together more and more images for the folks at

texas posting on social media. what we're starting to see his more pictures of flooding. look at this video, this comes from instagram from jennifer lopez, it was taken at 1151 this morning. you can see the water covering the streets. jennifer said employees went to check on the store, another video comes from james, christopher from outside his home on galveston island. you can also see the road is being completely covered with water. this photo posted on instagram is from north padre island, posted at 10:33 a.m. showing a deck destroyed. another photo from josé in corpus christi. this is columbia road. you can see down power lines. people are urge to stay away from those. on twitter we saw post. this video comes from north padre island as well.

this was last night at 6:30 p.m. when harvey was a hurricane. the when lashing them canopy being blown apart, that's covering some of the boats in the search getting closer and closer to the water. this is a facebook video poster from the police and fire department showing their vehicles rest running back into the city. everyone was urged to staff the roads. local emergency services were going in there to make sure everyone was say. will continue to monitor social media as people get connections. stay safe out there. don't put yourself at risk for video. >> michael: some compelling images, will be back in a moment.

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try alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they don't taste chalky and work fast. mmmm. incredible. can i try? she doesn't have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief. >> widespread devastation, that's how one mayor describes his community after hurricane harvey slammed into texas. the most powerful storm to hit the u.s. mainland in more than a decade made landfall as a category four hurricane with winds of 130 miles per hour, and the worst may be yet to come. hello and welcome to a brand new hour inside "america's news headquarters," i'm mike emanuel. laura: and i'm laura ingling. predictions of catastrophic flooding throughout southeast texas over the next few days. this monster storm left at least 300,000 people without electricity as it knocked down power lines and trees and blew the roofs off buildings.