for when you need a little extra. boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. be up for it arthel: a fox news alert, houston under siege from the torrential rains of tropical storm harvey as catastrophic flooding swamps the city, forcing residents to scramble to higher ground, even their roofs. now officials warning that with at least 24 more hours of rain ahead, the worst may be yet to come. welcome to a brand new hour inside ""america's newsroom,"" i'm arthel neville. eric: thank you for staying with us with our continuing coverage on the fox news channel. so far reports say there have been five deaths, but that seems like a low number. the national weather service is describing the situation as, quote, unprecedented and beyond anything experienced. more than 2,000 desperate calls

for help have gone out as emergency crews have raced to try and save those trapped by the rising flood waters. the extent of devastation so vast, authorities are having trouble pinpointing hardest hit areas. 3,000ing members of the national guard have been deployed, the coast guard says it's plucked hundreds of people stranded by the flood waters as the emergency response will continue throughout this evening. earlier today on fox news sunday texas governor greg abbott described those rescue efforts in the starkest and bluntest terms of life and death. >> all we can do is the provide as many resources to achieve goal number one, and that is to save as many lives as we can. eric: and that is exactly what authorities are trying to do at this hour. caroline shively is on top of all of this, she is live, as you can see, in houston. hello, caroline. >> reporter: hello to you, eric. these heavy rains they've been predicting started coming down hard and fast just about ten minutes ago.

this is what it's doing to 610 north, one of the main thoroughfares throughout the city. we've been seeing white caps as trucks and cars and wreckers have been plowing through there. police and fire departments have been begging people to stay home. you can see by the traffic here people just aren't listening. if you go a little farther down there, people are actually walking along the interstates, along the jersey wall in the middle. they say they have to get home even though police are saying, please, stay home. even the feeder roads, you pan over to the left here, that semi truck is up to its wheel wells, not going anywhere. a little farther to the left, there's a truck stuck right by the buffalo bayou. it's not going anywhere either. a bmw also here, windows cracked. we poked our head in, river water up above the seats. they are asking folks, they are asking people to get in your boats -- i think we have a helicopter? coast guard. eric, you were talking about the coast guard. those are the folks going in,

getting to the places we can't get with our cars, dropping in, getting folks who need to be medically evacuated, folks who are running out of insulin, running out of oxygen, those are doing the heroes' work to do, for sure. other heroes are these young men. they got out their boat. talking to you guys today, not officials? you just jumped on your boat, you wanted to help. what have you been doing? >> that's pretty much it. we decided to go help people because, you know, staying home was too boring and eating all that food was getting us fat. so we pretty much decided, hey, let's go help some people, see if we can find any at least. we haven't had luck but, you know, that's a good thing, you know? everybody's safe out here. we're going to keep going on our journey and see what else we find. >> reporter: good luck. and you also going car to car. what have you found, anything? >> yes. well, actually, you know, we were wondering, you know, because there's a car that is just all the way to the top, the only thing you can see is just the roof, and it had us

concerned because we don't know if somebody's in there, how long the car's been there. i think this is what we're called for, to at least try to help somebody, you know? we're here for grace, so we're going to give by grace as well. >> reporter: good luck to you guys. they have their flat-bottomed boat, they're doing what police have been asking, they're jumping in their boat, they're going car to car. they are trying to help the fellow people here in houston just survive this night which is going to get much worse -- [audio difficulty] eric: those guys here by grace, as he said -- had a little trouble with caroline's shot. that is an inspiring example of american helping american. good luck and thank god for those two young gentlemen, an example of what many people are doing facing trying to help, save and help their fellow victim persons during this, right, arthel? arthel: absolutely. this is when everybody just -- we wear our hearts on our sleeves, and we're looking at live pictures coming in from our fox news crew out on a rescue boat in dickenson, texas.

casey steegal was out there earlier with this very crew. as you can see the flooding there in the middle of the streets there, those homes are definitely going to have a lot of -- going to need a lot of time to dry out. you see people wading in the water up to the waist, waist-high water. this is going to be a very long cleanup. not only will these people have to get their homes drieded out, they're looking at rebuilding. some of them will have to gut their homes and start from scratch. perhaps the only thing that might remain will be the outside structure. and more rain is on the way. so, again, this is live pictures here coming from our fox news crew who is out in a rescue boat in dickenson, texas. this person here trying to do the best with this, under the worst conditions there in dickenson. and this is not just happening there, of course. people in corpus christi, texas, which took a big hit from a

category four hurricane harvey now able to the return home and assess the damage, but they are still bracing for days of heavy rain and flooding there as well. steve harrigan is live there for us. and it just looks like, it looks like you are in a war zone, steve. >> reporter: it really feels like a ghost zone too. you don't see a lot of people around especially in places like rockport. officials have actually told people where we were today to stay out. we don't have any infrastructure, we don't have cell phones, we don't have electricity, we don't have running water so, please, just stay out. we've seen rescue workers go door to door, basically, on foot with axes, kicking in doors, trying to see if people are dead or alive. so a very primitive level of existence. very few people around, just people wandering around picking through the ruins trying to see what they can recover, arthel. arthel: yeah, steve heir gain, we were just -- steve harrigan, we were just talking here in newsroom about how long people

there will have to try to rebuild and recover from this. i mean, the question is where do they go from here? with the rescue and the rebuilding efforts. >> reporter: you've got tens of thousands of people already now without electric power, and you've got roads really in many places impassable. power lines are down all over the place. the wind has finally died down, so we can get some real rescue operations underway along the coast. we saw our first convoy of military vehicles coming in, certainly a welcome sight. it has been mainly volunteers and amateurs going door to door before now. but now the professionals are coming in to get much-needed help. one of the first things they're going to need to do is try to get electricity back up and clear those roads so help can arrive. arthel? arthel: yeah. we definitely need professional help, but we definitely need the personal help as well, so we thank those citizen volunteers down there giving, lending a helping hand to their fellow neighbors. steve harrigan live in corpus christi, thanks, steve.

eric: still the deluge overwhelming, the damage beyond comprehension, and more wet weather is expected. the flooding likely only to get worse overnight. meteorologist adam klotz is live in the fox extreme weather center. 50 inches of rain, that's four feet, but that's like four feet standing. you get a little incline under a highway overpass, and you've got, what, 16 feet of water, and you've got a house, you know, people going up to the roof because they can't get anywhere. >> reporter: it doesn't take a lot because of that. yeah, you get just the lowest of areas, obviously, the ground's saturated, nowhere for it to go. at this point we're talking about a real dangerous situation. that rain continues to to fall here at this hour. these are all bands of thunderstorms that continue to roll off the gulf of mexico throughout the houston area, and this has been a bit of a bull's eye at this point. it's a large area well around it, but all around that area you're seeing some powerful thunderstorms that are dropping that very heavy rainfall that

has absolutely nowhere to go. s this is our estimated rainfall so far, and anytime you're looking at these very light colors, we're getting on end. so 16-20 to 25 inches of total precipitation, that is going to leave some big standing water, which you're seeing. bringing it in a little bit tighter in the houston area, yeah, getting up to 20 to 25 inches so far. and as we were saying, it's not done yet. this is our satellite and radar loop, it's just grabbing this moisture. the problem is the circulation isn't about to leave, so we're going to continue to watch spin off towards the west, grab this moisture, run it up onshore, and that rain is going to continue to fall. this is the future forecast. you can pay attention to the time stamp in the corner. i'm running you from your sunday, eventually into your monday and before long tuesday. but just pay attention to this, we see very little change. so if you're along the coast here even stretching over to portions of central louisiana, this moisture's going to keep

pumping on up. we're going to see round after round of thunderstorm. yeah, perhaps you get a break from time to time, but it's never going to be enough to totally wrap it up. so more rain is going to be on the way. a lot of cases we've seen as much as 25 inches of rain so far. well, guess what? maybe another 25 inches. here's a look at our forecasted rainfall potential, and this is additionally. not what we've seen but still yet to come. we're looking, again, spots getting to 20 to 25 inches which is running closer to 50 inches of total precipitation. it's hard to imagine because what we've seen has caused such an issue, well, it's only going to continue. why is that happening? those circles is where the storm is. most of the heavy rain on the right side of it, there's just not a lot of movement. i'm moving through several days, and that hurricane just spins and spins, or what was a hurricane, that tropical storm just has nowhere to go. eric: adam, it's really astounding. and usually with hurricanes or tropical storm, you know, they hit and then they move out.

can you explain meteorologically why this one is staying put, two miles per hour? what are the conditions, scientific conditions that have hemmed this thing in to stay there and not go anywhere? >> i can. a lot of times you need some upper-level winds that'll drive something like this. we saw where this storm came onshore, a big cutoff high pressure system. so it bumped into that high pressure system, and it's been forced back down to the coast. nowhere to go. you see two high pressure systems, it's trapped there. nowhere to go, it's going to bounce back and forth until it runs itself out. eric: wow. really an unfortunate situation. >> reporter: yes, it is. eric: adam, thank you so much. arthel: i want to go back to the live pictures that we had there in dickinson, texas. here you are, you've got about three feet of water just sitting there in a neighborhood, home after home after home after home completely flooded out.

and what is likely to happen, eric, these people are going to have to go in, and they'll first try to dry out as much as they can. but in many cases, many of them will have to gut the interior of those homes and start from scratch, remaining only the exterior, the hulls of those homes. it's -- these pictures are never quite, gives you the full story as it does in person. so as bad as this looks to us on television, i can tell you and assure you that it's worse in person. and these people are struggling for, they're going to try the salvage all of the mementos, the things they've collected over the course of their lives that represent their families and memories, memories of loved ones who are no longer with us. they're going to try to salvage pictures, all of the things that make them whole as people. first report cards, first dolls, favorite albums from years ago. i'm telling you this firsthand, i know this from hurricane katrina. we lost a collective ten family

homes -- eric: and how did you deal with that as a family? when you had all that water damage in the homes? you know, what do you do? arthel: this is what i'm telling you, i don't want to make this about me, but i'm telling you this firsthand what they're going through in terms of what they're going to have to deal with in the aftermath of this. and i asked the former fema director earlier if they can in any way there in texas make whatever monies that they're going to recover from fema, make that process easy. it was a horrible process, quite frankly, for the folks who went through hurricane katrina. so i hope that they get it together. and it seems like they've been doing a fantastic job there in texas. governor abbott has been very much on top of this, and the president has been doing a fantastic job as well coordinating with local and city officials there. again, live pictures in kickinson, texas. we're -- dick kinison, texas. we're going to continue our coverage of now tropical storm harvey.

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eric: back to harvey's devastationing in houston, we're seeing those amazing pictures. you're looking on the left, fox news there live with a rescue team as you can just see the extent of devastation in neighborhoods of when that water just deluges your whole neighborhood and your house.

at least four feet of water expected, if not more overnight. and you can just think what can happen, and your hearts go out to the people who are suffering through this and hope at least their lives are okay. right now the volunteers in those boats that we've been watching this afternoon, they've been bolstered by reinforcements, more national guard troops being deployed to help the rescue efforts. all this as we have been reporting more rain in the forecast, more water rescues anticipated in the coming days. brock long of fema discussed that earlier today. >> right now we are deep into the life safety mission of helping people be rescued through swift water, swift water rescue, search and rescue, and it's my job to coordinate that. so specifically, what i mean is, is the that under the national response framework we mission assign the coast guard, we mission assign dod assets in support of our state and local efforts. and you're seeing that take place right now. eric: let's talk more about those everetts. the mayor of -- efforts.

the mayor of santorum tore ya joins us. mayor, what is the situation in your city? are you going to have another curfew? >> thank you. yeah, yes, sir, the curfew does extend tonight, 10 to 6 a.m. and tomorrow, and we did have a mandatory evacuation although, of course, the severity of the storm increased so rapidly that that time frame was short and brief. so, you know, the percentage of people that actually evacuated was not very high. eric: about 85,000, is your -- evacuated or so? you have 20,000 or so who are still there? >> no, actually probably the other way around. i do not have hard numbers, but out of that 80 or so thousand, i would say about 60-65% actually stayed. that is a rough estimate. i have not verified that. eric: and it's a tough situation because there's no electricity or very little, there's no water service, so what are you telling people? >> well, you're right.

and electricity and water are the two primary concerns. and aep, which is our local i utility, has debriefed us, and they're working hard, and they are getting it on little by little. a week or so, i don't know. now, the water system, of course, which is the city's, we're closed. it's related to the power issue. and, you know, i'm optimistic that maybe 24, 48 hours we can restore water but that, again, is just a rough estimate. we're working very hard. eric: did you expect this type of damage, this type of destruction from this? >> yes, actually, i did. i think it was thursday morning when we got the 11:00 briefing on this where it escalated so quickly, and that's when we knew we were in trouble. that was when i knew this was very serious, and so we issued the evacuation which was a very quick but very serious discussion, because putting people out on road, that's also

putting them in harm's way. so we made that decision. eric: i'm sorry to interrupt, but that's why the mayor of houston, you've got two and a half million people there, did not issue an evacuation order. and looking at live pictures of folks in dickinson being rescued, family and their dogs. when do you think people can return? >> well, actually there was a window of returning, you know, today. but -- and it may still be open. the problem is we get to be like an island. some of the major entrances get caught off because of river crossing. as we speak, i think you can still get in. but after maybe tonight, tomorrow that may close for a day or two to where people can't get in. some of the smaller communities north of us the river crossing gets swollen, and you can't get through. eric: and, mayor, are you stayed with the state and local response so far? >> yes, yes. we have had excellent cooperation with state, local, and i've spoken with the

governor and numerous state reps who interceded to help us get what we need. so it's going well, and i'm asking people just to be patient, calm, and we'll get back to normal as soon as possible. eric: inspiration and hope and faith from mayor paul polasek. our thoughts and prayers certainly are with you as we look at live pictures of a rescue in dickinson, texas. a young family, a little boy and their dog plucked from the waters that surrounded and deluged their home. certainly, they're now on their way to be safe and dry, a scene that is being repeated throughout texas and throughout that area on this sun afternoon as the people face this unimaginable consequence of this just overwhelming flood with four feet more of water expected on way. faith and hope and government and the american spirit all together to try and deal with it.

arthel: yeah. and meanwhile, president trump is planning a trip to texas the on tuesday. mr. trump has been praising the response of rescue crews there as he watched the storm from camp david. the president returned to the white house this afternoon after getting an update on the situation in texas during a teleconference with his cabinet. garrett tenney is live from the white house with more and, garrett, what are you hearing from inside the white house there? >> reporter: well, arthel, president trump has been keeping a very close eye on harvey throughout the weekend and, as you mentioned, receiving regular updates from his team. this past hour he returned to the white house from camp david, and we learned he now plans to visit texas on tuesday to survey the damage. press secretary sarah huckabee sanders released a statement on that trip saying in part: we are coordinating logistics with state and local officials, and once details are finalized, we will let you know. we continue to keep all of those affected in our thoughts and prayers. the timing of that trip has been in question over last few days.

remember, anytime the president travels it is a massive undertaking. it takes a lot of planning and resources, and at this point resources are already stretched extremely thin in texas as local a agencies are focused on saving folks' lives and getting them back on their feet as well. arthel: meanwhile, governor abbott of texas, he gave the president and his administration an a+ on federal response. can you give us more details about the federal response, garrett? >> reporter: yeah. leading up to and throughout harvey, the administration's priority has been making sure state and local officials have everything they need, and they've really been stressing the fact that it's those local elected officials who are directing this response. this afternoon though or earlier today the acting dhs secretary, elaine duke, said that every member of the president's cabinet has been playing a role in this response effort. >> they're not only being briefed, they're participating from the small business administration, department of labor, department of treasury, transportation. each one has a pre-assigned

role, and everyone is leaning forward under the president and supporting the governor and the state and local officials with their quest in addressing this disaster. >> reporter: and the top priority right now is, of course, saving lives. this afternoon texas governor greg abbott said that assistance is pouring many from across the country to help in that effort. ten states have sent helicopters to assist in those search and rescue operations and specialized teams from other states as well as fema have been deployed to work on those efforts. fema also has relief supplies ready to go in both texas and louisiana. the problem though is that a long as long as this rain keeps up, that supply is not able to get to those who need it. so a lot of that effort in response is going to on hold. arthel garrett tenney, thank you very much for that update from the white house. eric: you know, people in harvey's path have been taking to social media to call for help and to let authorities know that

they need to be rescued. we haven't really seen this before. others are sharing some stunning images and heartbreaking stories of what they're going through. we'll have more on that straight ahead. plus, the threat from harvey extends beyond texas. coming up, we'll also talk about how drivers could soon be affected at the gas pump. ♪ ♪ affecting my good credit score. i see you've planted an uncertainty tree. chop that thing down. the clarity you seek... lies within the creditwise app from capital one. creditwise helps you protect your credit. and it's completely free for everyone. it's free for everyone? do hawks use the stars to navigate? i don't know. aw, i thought you did. i don't know either. either way it's free for everyone. cool. what's in your wallet?

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more than 1,000 water rescues reported so far amid the overwhelming calls for help. texas governor greg abbott now activating an additional 3,000 members of the state and national guard. grif jenkins is live in houston and, grif, i understand that you've just been out on a rescue boat. tell us what's going on. >> reporter: that's right. first, let me just show you, arthel, you see behind me this is a helicopter. they're bringing them by air, they're bringing hem by boat. that was a basket that just delivered people. this has been going on for hours. if you look back behind me, you see a family getting off, offloading with their dog. and i did go out on a boat with a volunteer, but let me just give some context of what they're pulling out of this neighborhood on the west side. when they call it search and rescue, arthel, they don't have to search very hard because there are literally hundreds of people on every rooftop back in these neighborhoods. we took a look, we rode with

volunteer captain joe cochran. take a look at what he said. >> there's a lot of people on the rooftops and single-story houses, those are the people we've been getting the most. a lot of elderly. we've been bringing a lot of people over to the walmart. this is probably my tenth run. probably, and i've been taking anywhere from five to eight or nine people per run. >> reporter: so this is just the scene you're seeing playing out all day long, and the magnitude of people, we've heard from the office of emergency management that over 56,000 calls to 911 have gone out since 10 p.m. saturday and 1 p.m. today. ma'am, are you okay? >> no. >> reporter: hang in there. hang in there. when we went on that rescue mission, we took ten people out of one home, and as we passed, there were people that had an

infant on a second floor balcony. so as you can see, arthel, they say they've got the resources they need, but the situation is absolutely exhausting. the resources that we see in this little area on the west side of houston. arthel: well, it's exhausting, indeed. it's exhausting for the people going through it, you know? you try to get some, a little bit of reaction from that lady there who is struggling to walk through those wears, and she's overcome, clearly. and, you know, it's easy for those of us who are sitting and watching this on television. you're there in it. and we're seeing this gentleman being rescued right here now. and we ask the questions, well, why didn't they leave? here's the deal. a lot of the times the water comes up so fast and so instantaneously almost that you don't realize it's there until it's upon you. >> reporter: that's exactly right. one of the women that i spoke to

that we rescued said that she saw the water start coming in around two a.m. she heard the storm. she got everyone downstairs in her living room, ground floor level, and it was about six inches. that's two a.m. by five a.m. it was up to her chest in the attic of her second floor house, and at that point she realized that even though authorities said please don't call unless you're in life-threatening, she knew she needed to do something fast and began to call everybody she could. interestingly enough, her rescue, she said, which was a volunteer came via facebook, a neighbor who had seen it. that neighbor with a, with one of these john boats. we've heard differing numbers, arthel, that some 600 boats are operating under the harris county authority. but there's much more, and i'd just like to add you see here coming up the national guard has mobilized. we spoke with a major who's here

on site, the pao, and he said, listen, i know a lot of americans have asked where is the national guard, where have they been. but they said we were here from the beginning. many asset were coming down and others coming up from the galveston area. so the national guard is here assisting these guys as well. arthel: absolutely. 3,000 national and state guard service members deployed there. 500 vehicles, six shelters, 14 aircraft, ten states helping out with those aircraft and specialty rescue teams. states, nebraska, tennessee, utah, california, missouri, arizona, ohio, new york. everyone coming to the rescue of the folks there in texas. national guard is always a great sight to see on hand. eric: and, grif, supdown -- go ahead. >> reporter: well, i was just

going to say, exactly. you know, the problem with this storm is that if we're on the front end of three or four days, these folks are working around the clock, at least the ones i've been talking to, and we have a break in the weather as you see now. but another band is coming. and when we had 24 inches in the last 24 hours that broke the rainfall levels of 500 years of historic rainfalls, if they get another one of those tonight, the day after, the houses that i've told you about, the woman who was up to her chest, that's not four or five feet, that is 15, 16 feet of water. when you to go back there, it's just blocks and blocks of houses underwater already from this one cycle. three or four more days of this cycle? i don't know. i just don't know -- eric: i know, grif. do you know in the neighborhood how many people are still at the homes and how many more people need rescuing? look, as i was about to say, you've got sundown in houston in just three hours from now, and you have the prospect or

possibility that there are a lot of people who still are stranded and need to be rescued. >> reporter: eric, there are easily more than a hundred, hundreds of people in just a 12 block radius back there based on what i saw. i just went for a boat ride within the last two hours, and there are so many people back there that it would take 50 of these boats, 100 of these boats to even make an impact on just the one 12-block radius that i got to see. when i went out -- and i didn't go that far. and to complicate the issue just to give you a little more context, on the back side of that neighborhood there on the farther side, more south of this actual location is the buffalo bayou. and that buffalo bayou, according to the volunteer boat drivers that know this area, tell me that the currents are too strong there. there's areas that they haven't even been into. now, clearly, the authorities in

the search and rescue houston guys have seen it from the air, and they've seen it perhaps from their boats. but these little john boats aren't navigating because threat is the hazards underneath. you see beyond this rescue boat a submerged car, right? well, this is near shore. when you get deep out there, you could have a car submerged. there are tons of cars sub memoried, and they're -- submerged, and they're worried that they may hit. in one case one captain said he literally heard something hitting the bottom of his motor, and he realized he was going over the top of a house. arthel: and you have the currents working against them, you've got 316,000 power outages reported, and that's not including the houston area today. rescuers have their hands -- >> reporter: i'll tell you, there has been some, as you see the pets coming, just a quick thing, the pets and the children. you know, people want to bring every pet, every belonging

they've got, and i witnessed firsthand people making very difficult decisions on what they could bring. in one case, someone saying they were possibly not able to bring all of their pets. and in that sort of situation, it really breaks your heart. but certainly one, when you realize it's now or never, get out, it's life before anything. eric: were the people -- i mean, where were they? were they sitting in roofs? were they up in the windows when you saw them? were they standing on top of pickup trucks? >> reporter: the people -- the rescue that we made, the ten people, were able -- they had about six feet of water, and so they could open up their front door, and they kind of, you know, flowed up. they stood on chairs to step into the boat. but as we left that, we turned a corner where it was much worse, and that's where a gentleman stood on the balcony of the second floor of his householding an infant that looked to be just

months old, and he said please come back, please come back. my volunteer captain dumped us off and said he was going right back for that man and the baby. eric: grif, you're talking about these are volunteers. i want our viewers to be aware of that, right? these are volunteers. >> reporter: that's exactly right. eric: where were you exactly? because we're broadcasting the country and to washington that maybe perhaps the authorities could get some resources here to where you are exactly. what neighborhood is that? that have these people who are now stranded and, obviously, need more help? because they're racing the clock for three more hours until it's dark. >> reporter: that's a great point. it's a race against the clock. if you'll just turn, dave, and show this street sign, this is the meyer land neighborhood, the meyer land neighborhood of west houston. it's a suburb in this north brazewood boulevard. we were in the brazewood side of it which is to the right.

and i can tell you there's 100 or more people on rooftops and coming out of second-story windows that still need help as we head into dark. and it's also been a few hours since we've had really heavy bands of rain. and in the case of the volunteers, you know, joe that we rode with, he has a little john boat. i said what to you do in a torrential downpour? he said i've got to get off the water because it's flooding so fast, it'll flood my boat, and i'll go down, and that's not helping anybody. so we're in the meyer land neighborhood, the highway we were on, this is the intersection of breezewood boulevard and 610 -- eric: yep. >> reporter: 610 south, if you will. eric: 6,000-acre community, it's southwest by the 610 loop. have there been coast guard helicopters or everyone's relying on these volunteers that you rode with? >> reporter: no, there have been a lot of houston search and rescue teams, and the helicopters are state troopers

that are work. and there's been a little bit of national forward. and, of course, the -- national guard. the volunteerings. that volunteer, joe, actually lives in meyer land. he's in a part of it that was not flooded, and he has a john boat, obviously, so he jumped in. but i believe what is happening talking to some of the authorities is they're conquering, they're trying to conquer and divide with resources. i haven't seen the coast guard but, of course, we know that they've pulled out all resources. they have at least six helicopters operating as well as nine coast guard flood teams. those coast guard flood teams, obviously, the top in terms of, you know, proficiency and ability to remove people a lot faster. in fact, you see now coming up these little boats, these are the little dinghy boats that the houston search and rescue guys deployed here when we got here many, many hours ago. these little boats can go pretty much anywhere. arthel: grif, it's maybe too

early to tell for the streetlights to come on, but is there any sign that you can see there if, in fact, this area is with or without power. >> >> reporter: this area is absolutely without power, arthel, without. in fact, the woman that i spoke to that was rescued on a boat next to our boat, i talked to her a little bit and i said, you know, were you worried that you didn't have enough notice to get out? and she said, well, we moved into our home last week, my husband and i, and we just didn't think anything like this could happen. but what saved us was he had a second charge battery pack, separate one, you know, that we all carry, these bricks, because the power went out very, very early on in this neighborhood. so there are people that are stranded that maybe or have already lost the ability to try

and keep calling for help. arthel: well, it's a few hours til dark there, and that is going to be, present yet another layer of challenge for the rescue workers there. many of them, as you pointed out, they're not professionals. they're volunteers, you know? they're doing the best they can as citizens. if you can, can you grab maybe some sound with one of the people getting off one of those boats if you can? >> reporter: ma'am, what's your name? my name is grif with fox news, and the whole country's watching. what's your name? >> aidan. >> reporter: aidan and? >> kimberly. >> reporter: kimberly, tell me, if you will, what was your situation? where were you? when did you realize you were in trouble? >> it wasn't that bad. it started maybe about five this morning. we were at home. it could have been worse, but we had lights, power, food. >> reporter: you did? okay. because we've gone back into the meyerland neighborhood on bridgewood, and they had said

they didn't have power and that, you know, they were worried about calling for help. how high were you flooded when they came to get you? >> it had just subsided a little bit, but it did make it into the apartment, and -- but no inches, just a lot of soaked carpet. arthel: and who rescued them, grif? >> reporter: now i want to ask you had you known that it was going to be like this, would you have evacuated? >> yes. yes, i would have. we -- >> helicopter. >> reporter: what's that? >> i was scared we were going to have to take the helicopter. >> reporter: all right. i know it's coming down. thoughts and prayers with you guys. all right -- arthel: and there the rain, it's starting up again. >> reporter: a few more people coming in. arthel: go ahead, grif. eric: we'll wait. >> reporter: well, i was just going to say there's more and more people coming in and, you know, this rain as, since we've been talking, it's starting to come down, and these bands, if i kept talking to you another 5 or

10 minutes, you're going to see just epic torrential downpours, and this is the continuous stuff. now, these zodiac little boats with the professional search and rescue team of the houston police, these guys can stay out in this stuff. but this little john boat coming up, that can't stay out in this. it can't sustain a couple hours of this rain, and that's the problem. arthel: it's interesting the lady you just talked to, and she was kind to talk to you, you asked her, hey, if you were told to evacuate, would you have evacuated. she said, yes, we would have. and i think that is going to be some of the lingering questions in the days and weeks following this catastrophe there in houston. it is going to be about the call to evacuate or not to evacuate. >> reporter: i think that's exactly right. i've asked several of the people, you know, do you feel like you weren't notified properly, and, you know, some of them -- veterans that had been

flooded, they said, well, you know, there just wasn't a lot of talk about it. there wasn't enough, you know, urging of the public to get out. in the case of the one woman that moved in last week, they're not from here, they had no idea. they've heard about floods but, you know, they didn't expect this sort of event. another woman said she was born and raised here in houston. she said that, you know, they really could have put more of the public firms on say -- officials saying, you know, if you've got a place to go out of town, go ahead and go because you may come home to nothing. eric: you know, grif, mayor turner has defended the decision not to have a mandatory evacuation order. i mean, dealing with two and a half million people, and that could have been beyond catastrophic in terms of the freeways and trying to have two and a half million people, you know, evacuate versus people trying to judge do you stay in your home, do you go up to the attic. one thing i think is a great lesson is take an axe -- get an

axe and put an axe in your attic in case you, god forbid, have to face any of this. this probably will be an issue ongoing as people debate the result and the response to this. this woman, obviously, very thankful to be back on -- well, it's not dry land, but to be rescued -- arthel: see if this lady will talk to you, grif. please. >> reporter: hi, ma'am. are you okay? >> i'm fine, thank you. >> reporter: what's your name? >> adonna. >> reporter: we're with fox news, could you just tell us what happened? when did you realize you were in trouble and how did you call for help? >> my nephew called for help, and he's waiting for me, so i need to go. >> reporter: all right. thank you, ma'am. thank you. you know, eric and arthel, it's just one of these things where you talk to these folks, and you just want to not pry. it's our job to interview these

people, but she's clearly wanting to get with her nephew, and you just don't want to impede any more than what's happening. this here is a catastrophic flood event. by all definitions. arthel: absolutely. and, of course, we're not trying to pry, we're just trying to bring the human element to this story, because the it is about those people. and as we watch, we are wonder what's going through their minds, what are they thinking, how they got to that point where they are right there with you. who rescued them, how did they call for help. that lady just now told us it was her, i believe she said her nephew calls for help. that's why we're doing that, certainly not to exploit the situation. >> reporter: well, no, no. and i certainly realize that. i was just going to say, you know, the woman we talked to before, i'm stunned at the optimism and the resolve of the people here in houston. you know, i talked to some teenagers that were on the rescue that we went on, and they said, well, it was really quite

exciting. the people here are full of resolve, even given the situation. the elderly woman we just spoke with, obviously, probably more rattled than a teenager. but it is interesting to hear all their stories. but i think there are more that have been positive than were, you know, really in a downtrodden way. however, i must obviously give some context on that. let's talk to folks tomorrow, because since we've been talking, you know, just in this interview time we have seen at least 25, 30 people be rescued. and when i first started talking to you guys about the hundreds of people that are back there, you know, you're right, eric. many people are going to spend the night not rescued and no one having come and gotten them as night paul's not -- nightfall's not far away. eric: it's so inspiring and wonderful an example of the

faith and the concern about our fellow americans when you've got the volunteers going out. if you've got a boat and you have some friends -- if you're teenagers like those two we saw earlier in the hour who were going out to help and rescue people, and as you said, do you shelter in place, you know, hoping for the very best and get a lot of food and get as much water as you can up in your house, or do you, you know, days before drive away when the local government is saying, you know, don't evacuate? although the governor was saying evacuate low-lying and coastal areas but it wasn't given for the city of houston, and you have to wonder -- we don't know how many people will be sitting without electricity. if they do, indeed, have enough food in their homes. in the neighborhood we were at and others around houston who have been so badly affected. >> reporter: yeah. eric, i'm just going to just quickly -- you have -- i got you. are you okay? what's your name? >> okay.

>> reporter: sean. all right, we will make sure you -- did you injure yourself in this process? >> not in this process, no. prior to it. >> reporter: you've got a big smile. i'm guessing you're glad to be out of there. >> it's not a great situation. it's a lot of people left behind p that would like to get rescued -- arthel: ask her where is she? >> complex is over a thousand residents there. >> reporter: can you tell us, over a thousand residents, where exactly are they? >> at bracemont close to -- arthel: ask her to repeat that, please. >> chimney rock. >> reporter: chimney rock, and is it south bridgewood? >> north bridgewood. >> reporter: north bridgewood and chimney rock. >> yes, correct. >> reporter: do you have someone here? would you walk us through, what

happened -- when did you know you were in trouble? >> last night when it wouldn't stop and the waters -- i'm upstairs, but the water was coming up the stairs that led to my apartment door. and then my neighbors from downstairs came upstairs. and then the roof started leaking in the inside. so it was time to go, and it's not getting any better. not getting any better. >> reporter: you know, i think we may hear a little bit of a debate about whether or not people might have wanted to be advised to evacuate. now at this point had you been -- >> prepare for a flood but not like this, of course. >> reporter: and are you from heresome. >> i'm from here. yes, i am. but nothing, never dealt with anything like this before. i've been in a flood, i've been in hurricanes, but nothing like this before. >> reporter: nothing like this. and are you worried? we're not too far from nightfall, and you said there's

thousands of people back there? >> the complex, knob hill complex houses over 1,000 residents. it's a very large complex. they have to come to get to the walgreens parking lot, literally in water up to here with snakes and frogs -- >> and alligators. >> reporter: did you see alligators? >> i thought i saw one. i think i seen a alligator. >> so that was enough for me. >> reporter: all right. >> [inaudible] >> reporter: well, i want to see -- do you see a family member? i just want to make sure you're not walking by yourself, because -- >> [inaudible] they came over before me. so i just saw her. >> reporter: all right. i'm not trying to give you the longest interview in television history so much as i just don't want you to -- >> [inaudible] >> reporter: i tell you what, instead of talking to me, could you just get on this side and help her --

>> oh, no, i'm good. >> reporter: all right. you take care. and just one last time, the name of that complex where the people are and -- >> [inaudible] apartments and what's the other one -- >> village -- [inaudible] >> that's where i live. >> it's flooded. eric: you know, in dealing with the meyerland area -- >> reporter: just one hinge, my anchor back in new york has a quick question. eric: there wasn't an evacuation order but, you know, you've got bayous. these are the low-lying concrete areas in neighborhoods. could you ask perhaps why didn't the city evacuate 20, 30 blocks along the bayous versus someplace else? i mean, we haven't had any indication of that. that's like, you know, the lower ninth ward, for example, officials know you have a low-lying area, should there be an emergency plan to evacuate the low-lying areas?

arthel: you know, grif, let me jump in. i'm going to jump in. let's let these lovely people go. they don't have that answer. i'm sure those are questions that they're going to want to have answers to as well. let this lady get to safety. you and i and eric will continue talking for a little bit more here. and, grif, you know -- eric: but that's an issue. one thing that will be asked, because if you look at the map of houston, you've got these water canals that just overflow, and nose neighborhoods and areas -- those neighborhoods and areas were not evacuated. arthel: right, indeed. >> reporter: it's actually a good point. i'm not sure she had the answer, but it is a good point to bring up because that bayou, as i mentioned, along that road that i was on, parallel to it is the buffalo bayou. and it now has created the most difficult -- according to our volunteer boat captain -- the most difficult area as i described earlier to get into.

so perhaps, you know, knowing that when they crested and just to note -- eric: grif, we're up against the clock. >> reporter: every single bayou and -- back to you. arthel: thank you. we have to take a break. we'll be back. as king midas, i expect a lifetime guarantee. and so should you. on struts, brakes, shocks. does he turn everything to gold? not everything. at midas we're always a touch better. book an appointment at midas.com

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