>> thank you for joining us. >> a harrowing and heart wrenching situation unfolding in houston as catastrophic flooding there. over 30,000 people are now in shelters. officials warning the situation will only get worse. as support pours in from across the nation with a message to the lone star state, you are not alone. good morning, everyone. i'm sandra smith live in america's newsroom. >> i'm shawn. bill and shannon are off this morning. officials say their focus is simple, that is saving lives. here is what the dire situation in houston stands at this hour. at least five people have reportedly been killed. that number sadly is likely to rise.

multiple hospitals have been evacuated including houston's largest level one trauma center and many homes have flooded, collapsed or both. >> rescue crews are trying to reach thousands of people who are stranded and officials are urging anyone in the area with boats to assist. acting homeland security secretary elaine duke says it's too soon to talk about recovery. >> we're concerned of those stranded and in need of immediate assistance. people need help and we're working to provide it. while the hurricane-force winds have diminished i want to stress we aren't out of the woods yet. >> we're in downtown houston in a massive shelter. caroline, tens of thousands are expected to seek shelter there. >> they are. the numbers are growing every

hour, eric. 2500 people have found shelter in the convention center so far. the max capacity is 5,000. they could meet that soon. they have meetings planned today. how do they get here? many of the roads are swamped. they're covered. you can't get through. plenty of folks got here by dump truck. the city ran out of tall trucks plucking people off roofs and putting them in boats and carrying them by dump truck and coming to the convention center. back here live you can see when you arrive you were patted down by police. no weapons allowed. you come in, a quick registration and go inside and get a quick meal, a hot meal, hug, handshake and blanket. it's cold and wet out there. here is lloyd zeal with the red cross. what can people expect at the shelter? >> they can expect to get some rest and start to put things back together. this is a tough time and we still don't know what's happening with the storm. a lot of people, all of us are curious what's going to happen. so we're just getting together

and making sure people have a place to rest, get a meal and start to figure out what we'll do for recovery. >> a lot of hurricanes are bump and runs. they are in, dump and go. this one is hanging out. you may have this going for weeks. >> typically we're into a recovery period. we're still in a disaster and we don't know where it could go. it could go side wise any time. we need to make sure people have a place to go, the shelters around town and texas, making sure that people just prepare themselves to hunker down and we'll get through this together. >> thank you very much. wonderful work you guys are doing here. the challenge today is to get more people to this shelter, plenty of people still stuck in their homes unable to get out. now that they're opening up some of the reservoirs we'll see more flooding today. back to you. >> that's the challenge.

caroline, thank you. >> all right, breaking news out of the white house with president trump declaring a state of emergency in the state of louisiana. meanwhile as tropical storm harvey unleashes catastrophic floodwaters in houston president trump faces the first natural disaster of his presidency. he plans to visit texas tomorrow to survey the damage and assess the recovery efforts. white house correspondent kevin corke is live on the north lawn where it's still the plan, the president planning to be on the ground in texas tomorrow? >> right on the money. this is important, sandra. we're talking about timing and tone in the case of the president. timing because keep in mind the white house doesn't want to interfere with the effort that's ongoing as they try to save thousands or millions of lives potentially in the flood area. the president and white house want to make sure he gets there without bringing the security apparatus that might be too disruptive and why he is going tomorrow. tone is also important as well. the president wants to show

empathy while emphasizing the fight continues to save lives. let me share a couple of tweets we've been watching. twitter this morning trying to figure out if the president might say something else. a pair of the 10 he has already had related to the storm. this one saying historic rainfall in houston and all over texas, floods are unprecedented and more rain coming. spirit of the people is incredible thanks. he said this. great coordination between agencies and all levels of government. more on that in a second. continuing rains and flash floods are being dealt with. thousands rescued. the coordination i was mentioning that will scrutinized given it's the president's first emergency disaster. it all starts at the local and county and state level before the feds move in. but he also added president trump was quick to act. >> once the state's capacity was exceeded over several days ago they asked for a presidential disaster declaration. the president moved in an

expedited and swift, one of the quickest time frames i've ever seen to approve the disaster declaration to mobilize our resources to help. >> just about everyone watching fox news knows someone or maybe even has family in the state of texas and you just see these numbers. they really make you shake your head. 12 million people affected by the storm. up to 30 inches of rain so far in parts of texas, as it moves into the neighboring states like louisiana. more than 300,000 power outages. as you pointed out earlier 30,000 people in need of shelter. the white house also telling fox news this morning the president continues to be updated on the circumstance and we do believe he will be asked about it later today during the press event with the finnish president. >> as with floodwaters rise we saw in caroline's report how houston is turning its convention center into a shelter. in the process evoking memories

of another heartbreaking tragedy, hurricane katrina. you recall in that 2005 storm the same convention center in houston gave refuge to tens of thousands of people from new orleans forced to flee from their homes. our next guest knows how this storm can compare with those tragic circumstances of katrina 10 years ago. he was the commander of the hurricane katrina joint task force and joins us by skype now. we're experiencing a massive overwhelming catastrophic issue of damage almost beyond comprehension. how would you rate the response so far? >> well, by definition disaster means you've lost your ability to control the situation and you are responding to the effects of weather in this particular case. and as opposed to a one and done like your normal hurricane come in and within a few hours

you have helicopters up, this hurricane is coming and staying. as predicted. this prediction came out last thursday from your meteorologists and others reporting this storm was going to come and stay. and they've been correct so far and they were pretty close on the amount of water it was would put in. that being said, my hat goes off to the first responders who are doing their best. but as far as the state and federal response they have to scale the effort up. they do not have enough assets on the ground. i do think we could have bumped that up but we still, i think, less than 5,000 national guard. there is over 10,000 in the state of texas. with the presidential declaration the federal government will pick up most of that tab. they need more troops. katrina, mississippi and louisiana we had 40,000 national guard.

20,000 national troops and 20 ships and 240 helicopters. they have to scale up and scale up quickly. as soon as this rain stops, they have to go into every home that was evacuated and see if anybody is there. and you have to provide gasoline. you'll have to provide food and water. all the infrastructure is down. you have to provide emergency power to try to get people to come in and see their homes. you have the provide traffic control. the grid is broke. they don't nearly have enough troops there now or on the way to be able to deal with this. it should be in excess of 100 helicopters operating and there is still around 50. >> what you're saying is even though fema said they positioned a lot of assets around the area the government wasn't prepared enough for this? >> the storm is overmatched what they've prepared for. that happened in katrina. that's why it's a disaster. what i'm saying is by friday we should have been looking at what we were going to move in.

the weather got progressively worse on saturday and on sunday. there was -- we have to be able to assert more -- if you tell six million people to stay in place, you need to have the first responder team pre-positioned, the backup teams. most of those -- i'm not trying to criticize but they went with their plan and in this case hopefully the lesson learned they have to adjust the plan and if you tell people stay in place then you have to have the capacity to go rescue them. right now they don't have that capacity. >> thank you for joining us. that certainly is the challenge. we've seen the courageous and self-ish actions by private citizens. >> the american brigades. they always rescue more people than the government, always. >> they've been fantastic. we'll see how it plays out. it is a disaster that's still unfolding sadly.

>> the federal government's response to the disaster in texas winning praise so far from texas's governor. >> i give fema a grade of a plus all the way from the president down. from the white house to the federal administration to fema. they've been very helpful. >> fema says resources are ready to pour into houston as soon as the recovery and rebuild phase begins. the texas governor rick abbott joins us next. plus concerns already mounting about the damage the storm will leave behind. 450,000 already expected to need disaster aid. how many will be without power, without water even? we'll put these questions to texas general land office commissioner george p. bush. >> the call is out for help as you just heard. resources, money, volunteer and donations. that's how you can help. our fellow american citizens are undergoing that. donate to the red cross.

we'll speak with the regional director of the red cross about what they're doing, how you can help and how we can come together. >> just trying to save people stuck in their homes. just have to look out for everybody. it's overwhelming the amount of rain. there is too much for the first responders. they need help.

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>> helping texas overcome this disaster will be far greater than fema coordinating the mission of the entire federal government. we need citizens to be involved. texas, this is a landmark event. we have not seen an event like this. you could not draw this forecast up. you could not dream this forecast up. >> sandra: harvey creating a path of destruction being felt across 50 counties in texas. texas governor greg abbott activating 3,000 national guard members. joining us now is governor abbott. what is the situation right now? people are waking up after a summer weekend wondering how bad is this >> of course, it is very bad. you've seen the images on tv. it will continue to be a challenge for a few more days because there will be more rain come down in houston area as well as these swollen bayous. we'll continue to have water

flow down. as a result the flooding won't end any time soon. as a result our first and foremost task is to continue and expand our search and rescue mission so that we can get everybody to safe ground. >> sandra: how do you prepare for what may be coming next, governor? waking up this morning i know you said you got a few short hours of sleep last night but now learning that other areas of your state could see upwards of 20 to 25 inches more rain? how do you prepare for the unknown as this point? >> right. one thing that we do is to address the known, which is the high water in houston. and overnight what we did was to assemble another 150 boats as well as 300 high water vehicles to help the evacuation of the flood victims in houston. as you point out there is worsening weather to the east of houston over to the beaumont

area where people there will be suffering very severe consequences because of rising water there. we're working on ensuring that people in the local areas in east texas subject to flooding will listen to and heed the warnings by their local officials. >> sandra: you heard earlier from the acting dhs secretary elaine duke saying it's still a dangerous and historic storm and we aren't out of the woods yet. are you getting the help and aid you need from the federal level? >> we are. we began working with federal officials including the acting secretary of homeland security before the hurricane even hit. and i visited with her on several occasions as well as brock long as well as the president himself. and all together they are providing the very best response that we can need. they're providing everything we've asked for and brock long articulated early today what he told me yesterday. that is this will be a long

build-out process. once the waters recede we'll be working to build this out in an effort that will take longer than a year. >> sandra: you're deploying an additional 1,000 national guardsmen. naod that, governor, you've announced more vehicles are being sent in, shelters added, aircraft being sent in. should this get much worse, as we continue to watch the forecast and watch this storm make its way through your state, should this get much worse, what are you prepared to do? now 3,000 texas national guardsmen have been sent in. >> right. we continue to add more assets and resources. overnight i ordered another 1,000 national guard to be there. ordered another 250 texas department of public safety officers to be over in houston. and we continue to round up more boats and more rescue

vehicles. and personnel as well as to add more helicopters in the area. our top priority is rescuing people, sheltering process. we're opening up more shelters in dallas, san antonio and austin that can accommodate everybody who is evacuated. >> sandra: the houston mayor is defending himself about not to evacuate. are you looking at it and thought maybe different decisions could have or should have been made? >> we were all looking at various different models for the weather. and i think we simply can't second guess what the local officials' decision was. what we need to do at this time is everybody come together and help our fellow texans get to safety and then begin the rebuilding process. >> sandra: you just heard the report from the ground and the white house, the white house saying president trump still

plans on coming down there tomorrow and assessing the damage. is that a good time for the president to come down? >> right. it's my understanding he won't be coming to the houston area, which is the most still dangerous prone area. instead it will be closer to where the hurricane came across shore which is closer to the corpus christi or san antonio area. in fact, i will be down there with brock long, the fema administrator today in corpus christi surveying the damage where the hurricane came across land. >> sandra: thanks for coming on this morning. our thoughts are with the people of your state. >> eric: we've seen the best of the american spirit. the generous, courageous acts of texans. helping with their boats to help those stranded by the storm. >> 35.7. >> eric: one of the most stunning scenes was this

unfolding at a nursing home as dozens were saved there. >> sandra: another big story this morning. more saber rattling out of north korea, how the u.s. plans to respond to the latest short range missile test by them. what did we do before phones?

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>> clearly they are still messaging us as well that they are not prepared to completely back away from their position. having said that, we're going to continue our peaceful pressure campaign as i have described it working with allies and china as well to see if we can bring the regime in pyongyang to the negotiating table. >> eric: secretary of state rex tillerson saying the u.s. will continue to pursue the peaceful resolution to the north korea crisis. this comes after the regime of kim jong-un test fired three short range missiles on saturday into the sea of japan. this in response to the u.s. and south korea joint military drills that are still ongoing. will there be more provocations? how can he ever be reined in?

gillian, good to see you today. a peaceful attempt campaign to get them to the negotiating table. do you think kim jong-un will get to the negotiating table? >> i don't think that ultimately he will. but that's not to detract from secretary tillerson's mission. at all costs regardless of what is going on in terms of military action, to keep diplomacy center stage, keep it front and foremost in the interactions with north korea. that's his job. >> eric: what would that look like in kim jong-un's regime says they won't talk about denuclearization. what could they negotiate? >> they've said that time and time again. their whole m.o. in dealing with the united states in this round by which i mean since the beginning of the trump

administration at least, has been to continue to needle, continue to publicly press the united states in uncomfortable ways. it hasn't been very successful for them unfortunately. but they'll continue down that path. they don't want to come to the negotiating table and i think the united states will continue its path to pursue its path which is diplomacy as strategy a, option number one. if we have to use military force at some point that option is on the table but we really don't want to do that. >> eric: is it true we've seen successes in president trump the comment about fire and fury. they did not last time during the annual exercises had a nuclear test and fired ballistic missiles. they had three short range missiles. they fired them but not to the extent of last time and they did not carry out the threat to fire missiles toward guam. in that sense has the president given kim jong-un a message that he has heard?

>> you could make that argument. i'm a little wary about calling anything a success at this point. what has been a success is if you look where we are today versus a month ago, the situation has definitely had some of the air taken out of it. we were almost at a crisis point if you look at the rhetoric a month ago. that has certainly de-escalated. from that perspective yes, i think the administration is handling in a way that's good today. >> eric: what can they do? president clinton 1994 had the oil and food negotiations and look, north korea completely lied. president george w. bush removed north korea from the terrorism list as a carrot and they give us the stick. what do you see the trump administration doing that could get them to the negotiating table? >> the thing they're trying is not just maintaining a credible threat of military force but actually putting that sort of forward in a way previous

administrations have not in a long time through clinton, president bush and president obama. so they are really emphasizing the credible threat of military force. they aren't using it but talking about it a lot more. we'll see if it gets us to where we want to be. >> eric: talking about it but not using it hopefully has gotten their attention in pyongyang. >> sandra: thanks, back to our top story of the day. harvey's aftermath pounding the lone star state. once the rescue are over the questions remain. concerns that gas prices will surge. we'll talk about all this with george p. bush, texas general land office commissioner. >> eric: the worst of times in texas bringing out the best in many fellow citizens. coming up we'll tell you how the red cross is helping people and how you can help the red cross deal with those who are in the path of harvey.

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>> eric: the overwhelming recovery effort in texas is now only just beginning. officials estimate nearly half a million people will eventually qualify for federal disaster assistance. tens of thousands are already seeking shelter in shelters and many more are expected as those rescues are continuing. joining us on the phone is david brady, ceo of the red cross for texas for the gulf coast region. thank you for joining us. first how are you guys coping? >> it's been a long several days and appreciate you checking in with us. our team is strong. i want to say a great big thank you to all the red cross staff and volunteers who have come from all over the country in anticipation of what's going to be not only a long week here in texas, but probably several weeks, if not months of recovery for our fellow americans. >> the red cross brings out the

best of the american spirit and our values. how can people help? >> well, the obvious way right now is financial support. this recovery effort for the red cross alone in terms of sheltering people which we anticipate will take weeks and months of sheltering, feeding, comforting that's the number one way financially they can go to red cross.org and make a financial contribution there. also volunteering. we're still in need of volunteers. unfortunately right now so many of our fellow texans are recovering on their own and trying to survive here so people from around the country, to do that we encourage them to go to our website to volunteer. in some cases we have people showing up to volunteer and don't have clients in shelters just yet because they are still trying to get from their homes. so it's a very fluid situation here and lots of moving parts but we appreciate the support of the american people and their donations and volunteerism are a great

comfort to us. >> eric: we thank you and the red cross volunteers and all the work you do. there is the number on the screen. we also showed the text. you can text 90999. $10 helps the red cross, david brady. our great thanks to you and to the volunteers. >> thank you, eric. >> sandra: joining me for more on this is george p. bush texas general land office commissioner. thanks for jumping on with us this morning. by definition one of the key missions of the texas general land office is helping texans recover from natural disasters. what's the current status of the recovery efforts happening in that state right now? >> well, currently we're still in first response in search and rescue phase of the mission as governor had mentioned earlier on the program. lives are still endangered. the state's resources, federal with our county and local partners throughout the state are rescuing as many lives as

possible. red cross along with cities, counties and the state of texas have set up evacuation shelters throughout the state with more than enough capacity as fema indicated with 30,000 evacuees sheltered. but our agency is more involved with the painstaking process of years of rebuilding that it will take to rebuild many of these communities. we managed the block grant for katrina, for rita and for other affected areas. >> sandra: put this into perspective for us then. we're looking at fema's efforts here and as far as perspective is concerned, looking back at katrina, what are we looking at as far as recovery efforts? you're talking about the months and years ahead. what does that timeline look like? >> well, i mentioned earlier today this will be a generational effort. our agencies involved with the rebuilding efforts after ike and dolly that hit our state in

2009 and we're still in the process of rebuilding many of those communities in galveston. this will be a long effort to help these communities. the infrastructure that will needed to get treatment plants back online. getting basic utilities to many of these stricken communities begins right now. we'll be working with our federal partners as part of that, bust that's why we're asking our county and local partners throughout the state that have been hit to document as much as you can. one of the lessons learned from ike and dolly we didn't document many of our expenses and damage on the front end and why we weren't able to get as many reimbursements from the federal government last time. >> sandra: energy firms. this is a major concern as you've already noted. they have to brace for the continued fallout from this. it will be a lengthy effort and a lengthy process as you are

detailing. but as many of us know, texas is home to a lot of the energy that is produced and used not just in the state but the country and internationally. how are those energy firms bracing for the fallout of this? >> well, a quarter of the nation's petroleum refining process is located on the texas gulf coast. we've probably lost about a million barrels a day of refining in the last few days. a few of the refineries have shut down. shell and exxon announced on the houston ship channel. roughly a quarter of the capacity of the states' refining process is off line now. many of those refineries are now assessing damage as we speak. but many of the thoroughfares that deliver gasoline, diesel and other petroleum to other parts of the country are still online. a little increase in gas and diesel prices but so far so

good. but many of those assessments are still taking place on the gulf coast. >> sandra: what sort of economic hit could we see from that? >> well, if you don't include the property damage that some estimates put as tens of billions of dollars, we are looking right now at a quarter of the offshore oil and gas production being down as well. so we're talking about a loss of several billion dollars. the houston ship channel, one of the most active ports in the entire country if not the world has been shut in and it's billions of dollars of lost economic activity and the corpus port that exports more petroleum than any other part of the country. we're looking at a devastating impact to the nation's economy and life and limb here in texas. >> sandra: as you're talking we continue to show the images of this weather that continues to push upward and many more

inches of rain are expected. great to get your insight george p. bush thanks for the update. >> eric: we've been talking about how people can help. you can donate to the red cross and there are volunteers. nfl star, houston texan defensive end j.j. watt is doing his part in a call for action. he is starting a fundraiser for harvey victims that has already raised over $300,000 including a $100,000 contribution from watt himself. >> houston is a great city. we'll come out of this stronger than ever but we'll need a lot of money to help these people rebuild. if you can donate, please donate. >> eric: that's the call. if you want to continue to his fundraiser go to caring.com and houston fund relief fund. the houston texas were set to host the dallas cowboys this week. now the nfl is considering moving that game to dallas if they do indeed play it at all.

>> sandra: yeah. >> eric: america's fourth largest city paralyzed and under water. the u.s. navy will deploy to houston. we'll tell you how the navy is on its way to help in the desperate search and rescue effort. >> sandra: in the wake of his controversial presidential pardon former sheriff joe arpaio calling on the gop to rally around president trump. will the republicans take his advice and should they? our panel shall debate next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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of president trump. the president, as you know, taking some heat from both sides of the aisle after he pardoned the controversial laumann related to his conviction for criminal contempt for defying a judge's ruling on his immigration sweeps. arpaio is urging republicans to close ranks and rally around the president. he told the "wall street journal" they're trying to go after the president. he is a great guy and i'm with him and will always be with him. i'm sad that they're doing it to him. it's sad. so will republicans heed sheriff joe's call? mary anne marsh joins us and byron york. let me start with you, byron. do you see republicans heeding arpaio's call and closing ranks and supporting this pardon? >> i think a large number of republicans are not particularly upset about this. we've seen high profile republicans who said they don't agree with it. paul ryan, speaker of the house, the two republican

senators from arizona who have had other problems with the president. they both have been against it. so we have seen some high profile ones. i don't think you'll see a lot of other republicans complaining too much. although i'm sure many believe that the president may be jumping the gun on this. this case was headed toward appeal. he could have waited to see how the appeal came out. the court might have overturned the conviction anyway. beyond that i just don't see a lot of republican anger about this. >> eric: mary ann, do you think most republicans don't care? >> seems that way. this pardon had nothing to do with law and order and everything to do with politics. republicans have historically always run as the party of law and order. donald trump famously campaigned throughout the last year and a half in office saying i'm the candidate of law and order. this has nothing to do with law and order. arpaio routinely broke the law and found guilty of doing that. he tortured prisoners and illegally profiled.

>> eric: he had the tent city and gave them baloney sandwiches and 100 or so >> with all do respect when you shackle a woman giving birth, what else do you call that? not much left there. so this is saying to people trump is saying look, you know what? if you were a political supporter of mine you can be above the law just like me. number two, he is trying to tell his base that he supports it and last but not least he is sending a message to everyone who might be cooperating with mueller and telling them don't cooperate or look for a deal with mueller, i'll pardon you. don't do that. he is putting himself above the law and everybody else and that's wrong. >> eric: what about the lack of outrage when you have that situation? what about the message to the russia investigation? some say it says look i'll pardon you if you get -- >> a couple of things. everybody who is pardoned has broken the law. that's part of pardons. pardons are not usually seen as an endorsement of the behavior

of the person. president obama pardoned oscar lopez rivera, a terrorist who was linked to bombings that killed americans. he pardoned chelsea manning. i don't believe president obama was endorsing espionage in that case. i don't think this has anything to do with the russia investigation. i will say on the issue of the president being above the law, you hear this a lot but if having unreviewable power to pardon anybody for any reason is not being above the law, i don't know what is. and that's just an aspect of the presidency that all presidents have used. >> first of all, neither flynn nor man fort have been charged but it's a clear message from trump he will pardon them, himself and family members and anyone else put in harm's way.

when franklin roosevelt ran for a third and fourth term congress put in a constitutional amendment. so nobody including anyone who happens to be president is above the law. that's why we have the law. and that's why we have a justice department and a judicial system and congress, checks and balances. that's the basic function of democracy. >> eric: that's the argument, debate and we'll see how it plays out as the russia investigation plays out. >> sandra: one of the hardest-hit communities in texas assessing the damage left after harvey. victoria residents were at the center of the storm as it made landfall friday night. the mayor of that city joins us next hour to tell us how they're working to pick up the pieces. >> i love this town. i love these people. excuse me. we're going to come back. i know we are.

we're strong and we have heart.

>> sandra: turning now to the nation's capital where more than 1,000 religious leaders are preparing for the minister's march for justice in the wake of the deadly events in charlottesville. a demonstration for racial justice led by al sharpton. kristin fisher is live in washington where the march is expected to start in a couple of hours. was this march planned before or after charlottesville? >> it was planned before but the reverend al sharpton who organized the event that what happened in charlottesville gave a new level of energy to the march. it will start right here at the martin luther king junior memorial at the 54th

anniversary of his march on washington and will end at the department of justice where a civil rights investigation is already underway into what happened down in charlottesville, specifically where a person attending the rally reportedly ran over and killed at least one counter protestor, injuring more than 30 others. president trump, of course, blamed both sides for inciting violence at that event and criticized, democrats and his own administration. the financial times on friday his chief economic advisor said this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities. as a jewish american, i will not allow neo-nazis ranting jews will not replace us to

cause this to leave his job. he drafted his own resignation letter after the president's response to charlottesville but based on that statement, of course, it seems he has decided against it at least for now. now today there is about 200 jewish leaders expected to be here to take part in this march and they will be marching alongside members of the christian and muslim faiths and their message is that they believe that there are certain moral non-negotiables that should not be crossed and they believe that president trump has crossed that line. sandra. >> sandra: kristin fisher in washington for us. thanks. >> eric: more search and rescue missions are continuing across the houston area. tens of thousands are filling up the shelters in our nation's fourth largest city. we're live on the ground with some of the hardest-hit areas and some personal stories from those people who have been saved and you can see what they're going through. later on in the next hour we'll

speak with texas lieutenant governor dan patrick about the recovery mission that's only just beginning. our live coverage of this horrible devastation, dramatic story continues this morning. boris grows mind-blowing coffee. and because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm and invest in his community to make even better coffee. all for a smoother tasting cup. green mountain coffee.

>> sandra: search and rescue missions underway and hort breaking tragedy in texas. tens of thousands of people seconding shelter as severe flooding swamps the houston area. the disaster could be worse before it gets better. i'm sandra smith in for shannon bream this morning. >> eric: good morning, everyone. i'm eric shawn in for bill hemmer. a massive life-sustaining mission is now underway and continues at this hour. homeland security calling this catastrophe an unprecedented event. the state and federal government moving in with emergency supplies and equipment. putting out the call for volunteers saying it will take a community effort to help

overcome this devastating disaster. earlier governor greg abbott of texas warned the danger is far from over. he talked with us on "america's newsroom." >> it will continue to be a challenge for a few more days because there will be more rain come down in houston as well as these swollen bayous. we'll continue to have water flow down. as a result the flooding is not going to end any time soon. >> sandra: fox team coverage, casey stiegel reporting on coverage in dickinson, we begin with janice dean in the extreme weather center with what we can expect. 50 inches possibly more rain, janice? >> absolutely. 50 inches. that would be a total. that would make this the most rainfall that we've ever received in any system across the u.s. at any given time. so that's why we're talking about historic catastrophic life threatening flooding. you can see on this map here

over two feet of rainfall within the last couple of days. in some cases seeing a year's worth of rain in a matter of hours. we were seeing rainfall rates of 4 to 6 inches an hour and reports over 30 inches. we'll update these totals as we go. here is the storm right now. as long as the center of circulation remains west or south of houston, we'll still have the threat for heavy rain. we're getting rain right now in the houston area. there is the track, still a tropical storm, remains a tropical storm as we get into tuesday, wednesday. hopefully we're starting to see this lift. really the next 72 to 100 hours will be crucial because the storm is going to sit and linger. nothing to steer it. not only the threat for heavy rainfall but tornadoes now for louisiana, coastal louisiana and look at this heavy rain band moving into central louisiana right now. in some cases again 3 to 4

inches of rainfall an hour. tornado threat extends from galveston to morgan city west of new orleans. future radar shows the storm sitting and lingering monday, tuesday, wednesday, even into thursday when finally we hope to see this storm get out of the way. the damage is already done. this is a humanitarian crisis across the houston area. one they'll be looking after for decades, i think, to come. back to you. >> sandra: wow, thank you. meantime victoria, texas taking a direct hit from harvey when it made landfall friday. officials asking evacuees not to return. they would need food and water to last them several days. joining me now is the mayor of victoria, thanks for coming on with us. what so far is the damage that you have seen in your own city? >> mostly again a lot of wind

and a lot of tree and things like that. some damage to -- a lot of our traffic signals and some of that infrastructure. today is looking better. we've got power restored in certain areas and water for the time being is flowing again. so we're very optimistic this morning. things are getting better. >> sandra: we're all happy to hear that. it sounds like a best-case scenario of a horrible thing that your city and residents have had to go through. how many are without power right now? and how long could they be without it? >> well, it's hard to guess. i would say about just a rough guess 75% do not have power. and we have no definitive estimate. i know each day that goes on it gets better and our utility company debriefed us this morning. they're doing a tremendous job to improve things. i hope in a few days we'll have over half the city on.

i hope. i can't confirm that. >> sandra: in your statement you're saying do not come back. if you evacuated do not come back unless you have food and water to last three to four days and be sure to have enough gas in your car to last several days. very important point as we are witnessing a rise in gas prices and obviously we just talked to the governor and others in the state who are talking about the lack of production that we may see in days and weeks to come. >> well, it's true. well actually do have i've heard this morning a few gas stations that are open, which is very good news. there are some long lines. probably people needing fuel for generators. as far as coming back, really need to check the state of texas road closure website. i believe it's drive tx.org and check and see. there may be some alternative routes back down to the town but certain key areas may be flooded due to river crossings

and such. so it's really -- it's possible to come back. don't be in a hurry and be patient. that's my advice. >> sandra: so you had a mandatory evacuation, is that right, mayor? >> we did, yes, we did. >> sandra: what did you make of the mayor of houston saying it's good idea to get out but did not make the evacuation mandatory there? >> i don't know. that's a whole other situation with metro area, with millions of people. where i have 75,000 friends and neighbors down here. it's a little different situation. i can't really speculate on the discussion they had in houston. i'm really -- my heart goes out to them. i know there are lots of flooding and issues they have right now. >> sandra: mayor, what's the morale of the residents of your city? we heard from some of them earlier. >> i think it's good and getting better every day. we have a number of volunteers and people wanting to help. i can see out the window, i'm

looking out at fire department vehicles in san antonio here. we have assets coming in and so many wonderful people to help and for us it's improving. >> sandra: it's improving for your city of victoria, one of the first hit by the storm. thank you for coming on this morning. >> thank you. >> sandra: eric. >> eric: sandra, meanwhile the city of dickinson texas 25 miles inland dealing with the vast flooding also. that has produced some heartbreaking images like these that we have seen. an elderly woman sitting inside her nursing home in waist deep water. these images went out on twitter and it alerted authorities to get to that nursing home and help save the residents. casey stiegel is live on the ground in dickinson. i want to ask you about that in a moment. what is the latest? standing in such deep water in dickinson? >> it is five at 9:00 in the morning in dickinson on a monday. this intersection here typically at this time would be

really busy. lots of people would be going through here to go to work, to take the kids to appointments, whatever. because look, right there interstate 45, this is what takes you to houston. northbound, southbound goes to galveston. hurricane evacuation route. interstate 45 northbound is covered in water. you can't get to houston. when you walk through here you get a sense of how deep the water is and how widespread this is when we are some 27 miles from houston. and you see the pictures coming out of metro area itself and then all the way here much of the same scene. boats crashed into trees. you have a number of first responders that, of course, have just taken off here and they are up there now. see, look, the boat over there. we've got three of them, look.

so what you're seeing is those aren't first responders it doesn't look like. those are members of the community, volunteers who answered the call for help because there were so many calls. yesterday out on social media the police department here said they were getting more than 500 calls from people that were just trapped in the neighborhoods all back that way. and you know what? it doesn't matter if you're watching us in minnesota, if you're in iowa or if you're in california, this is your neighborhood. all of you have a little corner here that looks just like this with law offices, with a cvs, a bank, and these roads are like rivers. so those boats are volunteers and there were so many calls for help that the first responders themselves were overwhelmed. so people just started hitching up their boats to the back of their trucks and they came and

they have been working around the clock. and the work they're doing is dangerous, by the way. back there there are cars that are totally submerged. you can't even see them and my photo journalist earlier went out with one of these crews and he was talking about how you can easily run aground and do some serious damage. so people here are going door-to-door. they are listening for signs of life. they are listening for cries for help and they're pulling people to safety and getting them to a nearby shelter or linking them up with family. and you stand here, you see it, but it almost doesn't even register. your mind almost can't comprehend it. and i've covered a whole lot of disasters. eric, the thing is, there was warning about this. we kept talking about the catastrophic rain potential here. but all of the people that

we've talked to say this water came up so fast and it happened in the overnight hours. so while they were sleeping they woke up to water rushing into their homes and they had only a few minutes to grab what they could and get out. stop and think about that for a second. if that happened to you, what would you grab? what would you do? and so it's just overwhelming because you see so much suffering but you see people pulling together and helping thy neighbor. and that is pretty powerful to watch. >> eric: it is, casey, as you show us. a vivid example of the american spirit. of the selflessness of people helping each other when authorities have been overwhelmed. a great example. the people tweeting out those photos in the nursing homes. those people were saved, the daughter of the nursing homeowner was able to call authorities and they were able to get those people out. it's continuing throughout this morning. it is heartbreaking and compelling and an example of

the best of this country and our nation and what we represent to each other and our values. that is continuing every moment by those people who are out there right now on their boats helping their neighbors who are in dire distress. casey stiegel, thank you. >> sandra: so nice to see people coming together. a courageous effort underway to help the people of texas. >> i visited with her on several occasions as well as brock long and the president himself and all together they're providing the very best response that we can need. >> sandra: amajor test of president trump faces his first natural disaster. he will head to texas tomorrow. so how is the administration doing? we'll discuss that next. plus grateful residents happy to be alive today. >> the water current was strong and they helped us up to the military truck that evacuated

us to the library. we're happy to be okay. >> eric: those massive rescue operations are underway. national guard moving in as neighbors continue to help neighbors. we'll check in with lieutenant governor dan patrick. >> sandra: we're live at fema headquarters. >> this is still an ongoing situation. we aren't at recovery yet. we're thinking and planning for recovery and we have recovery teams down in texas. but right now this mission, it's very important, this is a life safety, life-sustaining mission. improve our workflow. attract new customers. that's when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. yeah! now business is rolling in. get started at fastsigns.com. yeah! now business is rolling in. trusted battery for your son's favorite toy?t maybe not. maybe, you could trust he wouldn't leave the upstairs water running. (woman screams)

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>> eric: president trump is planning to visit texas tomorrow. we're told he will not be in houston because of the severity of the ongoing rescue efforts there but in the gulf coast where hurricane harvey first hit. it has brought his first big test since taking the oval office. flood levels not seen in centuries paralyzing the city of houston and surrounding areas. roads turning into rivers and crest high water overcoming the neighborhood. the president tweeting historic rainfall in houston and all over texas. floods are unprecedented and more rain coming. spirit of the people is incredible. thanks. so how is the administration doing from our new hampshire governor john sununu.

is it too early or premature or appropriate to gauge the republican response? a storm of this magnitude local government has been overwhelmed. >> we can give them a grade in progress. i think they've done very well. the president and his team deserve a lot of credit for the early declaration of a disaster even before the storm hit and that allowed them to pre-position and put assets in place and begin cooperating with state and local officials. and they did that without any hesitation. and the second thing i think they ought to get some credit for is the president has resisted the temptation to go down there too soon. i actually think that presidents can show up too soon and actually hinder the rescue activities. and certainly governor abbott and his team deserve credit for the way they've been working with the local officials and calling out the national guard. so i think so far everybody involved in this really

disastrous situation, this human tragedy of what is happening there, deserve at least in progress good grades. >> eric: you talk about presidents going down too soon. he will be there tomorrow but obviously avoiding houston because of the pictures that we're seeing and trying not to interfere with the disaster recovery efforts there. >> i think they're doing this exactly the right way and that's why i say i give them very good grades in progress. >> eric: on the broader issue of local government and potential failures and there has been a lot of talk about evacuation and the mayor of houston turner did not call for an evacuation. in rita 100 some odd people died trying to flee the city. you have the issue of the bayous, the cement gullies. the army corp of engineers haven't finished projects. is there a failure of local government to try to deal with the flood threat? the third deadly flood just in

the last three years. >> well, i'm always hesitant to criticize public officials without knowing all the background details. certainly the mayor of houston had a very hard decision. it's a city of a few million people. once you ask -- mandate a few million people the leave you're creating chaos on the highways. whether he could have or should have required certain local areas to evacuate, i can't tell. i don't know the area. i think there will be a lot of review after the fact. i think it is pre-mature for anybody to try to start criticizing now. the thing to do now is support the efforts, get things going. the best thing that's happening in texas is neighbor to neighbor, citizen to citizen, people taking care of each other. in addition to the public institutions helping out. let's get this thing done and not start pointing fingers too soon in the process. >> eric: hearts and prayers go

out. we're with the people of houston and the gulf coast as they are dealing with this. you're right, governor, it is the spirit of the american people. each other helping each other trying to deal with this horrible disaster as we see it unfold before our eyes. thank you for joining us this morning. >> sandra: rising floodwaters overwhelming rescue efforts in houston as we hear 30,000 people have been placed in shelters. >> people are being forced from their homes and the city and the local government has been doing a great job helping us deliver some comfort and care. >> sandra: with thousands of people displaced from their homes and shelters packed many are taking refuge from tropical storm harvey any place they can find. more live from fema headquarters ahead. obtaining documents revealing president trump's plans to overturn an obama-era policy that would lift a ban on

military gear for local police departments. that developing story next. stre, to get back to doing what you love. ensure, always be you.

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just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh? hey? i paused it. bam, family time. so how is everyone? find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. >> sandra: fox news obtaining new documents revealing president trump plans to sign an executive order that will reverse an obama-era policy that currently restricts local police from getting military-style guns and equipment. the document states the gear recycled through the department of defenses 1033 program includes everything from ammunition and vehicles to office supplies. under that program assets that would otherwise be scrapped can be repurposed to help state, local and tribal law enforcement to better protect and serve public safety and reduce crime. katie pavlich is an editor for

town hall.com >> this program has been around for a long time before president obama put a hold on it. it was implemented in the 1990s as a way for local law enforcement to carry out raids in a safer way as we have the justice department going after the opioid crisis and the administration making that a priority not surprised they would try to reimplement this. president obama's argument says it creates distrust between local communities and local police that they're overmilitarized. a fine argument to make. the police would argue that in the age of rioting and terror they need to have the equipment they need to keep riots from turning into chaos as we saw in ferguson. that's why the president is re-looking at this and jeff

sessions will lay out why it's a good idea to reinstate the program. >> sandra: fox news is reporting this is something near and dear to jeff session's heart and feels strongly about this and will be announcing this according to our reporting as a speech to the national conference of the fraternal order of police in nashville. we've seen police groups pushing for this move. >> the department of justice can hand down directives and policies surrounding how they apply for the grants and pay for it. local law enforcement departments have standards and procedures around when they use this type of equipment. leftover ammunition, body armor, shields. in some cases grenade launchers. they will use them for tear gas. we look around the country. in charlottesville there was a lot of criticism of the local

police and their response and not being able to get ahead of the rioting that eventually happened there. it is a balance and i'm sure the attorney general will lay out their case. i want to stress this is not something that the trump administration is really changing or putting forward that is any different than administrations prior to the obama administration. in fact, throughout president obama's -- the majority of his term, seven years of his first and second term he had this policy if place because it is something that worked in previous administrations, george w. bush and clinton. the trump administration is reverting wack to something that they used against the drug war in the 90s going into the 2000s they'll use against the opioid crisis in 2017. >> sandra: the president is undoing a ban that was already put on this by the obama administration. officials putting out further to fox news most of this equipment as you say is defensive in nature or used in

search and rescue and disaster relief such as, by the way, what we're seeing in houston right now. katie pavlich. thanks for being here. good to see you. >> eric: the texas gulf coast underwater as harvey is weakening but it is stalled, staying right there. that means more rain, up to four feet as it swamps the region. >> in over 30 to 50 counties possibly impacted in texas. just because we see what's going on in houston, this impact -- these impacts are not only across houston but 50 different counties within texas. >> eric: fema officials are calling on the public for help. we've seen courageous action by people who own their own boats. we'll have a live report from the agency's headquarters. governor abbott says the disaster will get worse in the coming days. that warning as some people are taking to their rooftops as you just saw waiting for help to come. ahead texas lieutenant governor dan patrick will be here to

give us the latest on how rescue operations are going. >> there is worsening weather to the east of houston to beaumont where people will be suffering severe consequences because of rising water there. you always pay

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threatens to overwhelm the dams. thousands of people seeking higher ground. >> i was trying to get the national guard to see me. >> it was real rapid. it just came up like a tsunami almost. >> sandra: happened that fast. rescue operations are underway for those stranded by harvey. officials are bringing many of them to the houston convention center, converted into a massive shelter. despite all those efforts, fema is calling on the public for help and state officials say they're doing the best they can. >> lives are still in dangered and so the state's resources, federal with our county and local partners throughout the state are rescuing as many lives as possible. this will be a long effort to help these communities. >> sandra: catherine herridge is live at fema headquarters in

washington >> we're outside fema headquarters, a half mile from the capitol come flex as -- complex and home to the nrcc, the national response coordination center leading the effort by fema and homeland security. one of the things they do throughout the year is they do tabletop exercises, kind of like drills to prepare for a wide case of scenarios. this morning the fema administrator told reporters nothing could have prepared them for harvey. >> you can say that it's going the rain over five days over a 30-county jurisdiction but pinpointing what watershed the rain will go into is dang near impossible to figure out. unfortunately the city of houston is huge. 2 to 3 million people. pulling the trigger on that is a very difficult situation. >> the situation remains highly fluid this morning in terms of the numbers and assistance. what we're working with right now is over a million meals have gone down to the area as

well as a million liters of water and 70 generators. the acting secretary said they have to take this one step at a time. >> right now we're focused on rescue operations and we'll move into recovery operations later in the week. but today we are deeply concerned with those in houston and surrounding areas who are stranded and in need of immediate assistance. people need help and we are working to provide it. >> fema team after that news conference announced they were heading to texas to get some boots on the ground. that's no substitute, seeing it for themselves while they make this next set of decisions, sandra. >> sandra: and when we spoke to governor abbott of the state of texas earlier on the show he said he sent more national guardsmen and efforts in and more aircraft. what about the assets in the air?

>> from fema's perspective they have 12 search and rescue teams from around the country traveling to the area. earlier today the nypd the counter terrorism unit posted photos on twitter of the team they've got heading to texas. but one of the things that came out of the news conference this morning is that the skies are still unsafe. >> unlike katrina which passed clear, we're still operating in the midst of a tropical storm. so our flight crews and we've got multiple flight crews, we have thrown every coast guard asset available at this response. there are conditions where it is not safe to fly. >> one of the things they urge the public is not to put drones into the skies over houston because it's such a congested airspace. this could create more complications and even more accidents, sandra. >> sandra: important to get that out there. catherine herridge, thank you. >> eric: we're joined by the

lieutenant governor of texas, dan patrick. thank you for joining us on the telephone from houston. the call is out this morning for volunteers to help in the rescue efforts. we just heard from catherine herridge more assets are going in. are you encouraged this morning even though your state and residents are facing very tough conditions? >> look, i'm always encouraged to be an american and be a texan. we come together as one, eric. i know you've been showing videos throughout the days and evenings of extraordinary efforts by our volunteers. there is a movie out in the theaters dunkirk about the big armada that went to save their soldiers. we have our own flotilla right now. we have people trapped in their homes and trapped on balconies and on apartment rooftops and people from louisiana, from surrounding states, all across texas from brought in their boats and going out and staying past dark sometimes when it

gets pretty dangerous. it's dangerous during the day as well. they're joining our brave first responders and we have people -- you mentioned the last report some photos from new york that is here to help us, california, louisiana, nebraska, arizona, states all around us. this is going to be years in recovery, eric. this is a storm -- i've been here since 1979 and been through a lot of these storms. if you can picture -- if i can paint a picture for you. first of all the storm came in at rock port. that would be -- houston is 200 miles away. that would be like a hurricane hitting rockefeller center and boston being flooded. that's the distance. and if you put a clock on the wall and if you envision the middle of the clock being houston and the northern end of our suburbs would be 12:00, a place called con row and the southern 6:00, galveston, that's 70 or 75 miles and 9:00 would be katie texas on the

west side and 3:00 would be the east side, baytown and beyond. that whole clock is underwater. the whole clock, we're paralyzed. i can't be on an uplink with you because i'm flooded in right now. i was hoping to get to victoria and other points. i can't even get out of my own neighborhood. my daughter's home is flooded out. everybody is being impacted and -- but we are together as one, eric. >> eric: that is the message, mr. patrick, that you are and we are as one nation together as one. >> you bet. >> eric: allison claimed 23 lives. we've heard more than 100. they've had the memorial day day floods. this is the third just in the last three years. but thankfully so far the death toll is frankly rather low at this moment, sadly, tragically likely to go up but at five, there were some precautions and efforts taken. how long do you think this will

go and what's the greatest challenge immediately this week that you face? >> well, first of all i want to thank the president and the white house. they responded quickly to governor abbott. the governor and i have been in constant communication. he is in austin and i'm in houston area. the governor has done a great job. you reported in your last package we have every asset deployed possible. whether the coast guard or state, local and county and volunteers. it is a massive rescue effort. it is all about lives right now, eric. for me what the focus is, we would like to get a break in the rain at least for a day so that some of this water can recede. but this issue, if the storm turns and comes back and dumps more rain, that will be a problem mid and later in the week. we can't absorb much more. secondly, the other issue is all of these hundreds of thousands of people as they are evacuating, you have to have a place for them to go.

right now everyone -- they're joyous to be rescued, you know. you can replace stuff. it's stuff. you can get your house repaired, when you see these people get rescued by police, fire or volunteers they praise god and are thankful. but the reality of the world will come in in a week or two and there will be in a shelter somewhere if they don't have a family. the kids go to school. you have to supply three meals a day and security. it becomes a massive operation. this is a texas-sized disaster. maybe at the end of this week the biggest disaster in american history impacting the most people and the most economic damage and hopefully not the loss of life. it is not just houston. it is all across 200 miles away. in a country today that we see -- we've seen sadly divided among many issues. every texan stands together

again. no republicans, democrats, black, white and brown. they're texans and americans helping each other to survive. once we get through the survival and we will continue and texas will continue to be great. >> eric: we'll survive. we're one country and in this together. our hearts and prayers are with you and your fellow citizens. sorry to hear about your daughter's flooded home. thank you, the rescue efforts will continue and we'll stay on this. >> she will be fine, too, eric. >> sandra: more states are joining in on rescue efforts in texas as national guard members, first responders and good samaritans pitch in to help and tell you how our nation is coming together to help the lone star state. nts... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish,

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it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. >> sandra: violence breaking out after thousands of left and right protestors descending on berkeley, california last night.

at least 13 people were arrested this weekend. meanwhile emotions running high during a town hall meeting in charlottesville where residents expressed frustration over the response to the chaos which left three dead and dozens injured. the former national spokesperson for several presidential campaigns and president of new heights communications. with us in lisa boothe, the founder of high noon tragedies and contributor to fox news. lisa, i'll start with you first. take your pick of what is going on right now in the impact that we're seeing from the violence of those charlottesville protests? >> we're seeing a lot of violence and hate in this country and have for a number of years recently. we saw it in the riots in ferguson and baltimore where people are getting way out of hand. i think what we really need to see is marginalizing some of these hate groups like we saw when so many people came

together to denounce what we saw in charlottesville with this neo-nazi and white supremacists and we aren't seeing that same rebuke of groups like antifa. i have not seen one democratic leader say that these groups should stop what we saw in berkeley. where is congresswoman barbara lee who represents the 13th district of california? where is former speaker nancy pelosi who represents the nearby district of the 12th? if we're truly honest and if we truly want to stamp out hate in this country and stamp out and push out violence in this country it should be denounced in all of its forms. i have not seen anyone from the left denounce this group that is here. >> sandra: i want to share this op-ed in the "wall street journal." why the left can't let go of racism. it starts out by asking is america racist? it says so today there is

sweetness at the news of race sis many because it sets off the hunts for inoh center in power, -- even a remote hint of racism can trigger a moral entrepreneurism. >> i think i was just as horrified as most americans by what transpired in charlottesville. and i was equally inspired by what happened in boston which is to say that there was a small number of neo-nazi, kk, other hate groups calling themselves a free speech rally but organized by a lot of the same people who were in charlottesville and they were surrounded by 40,000 peace-loving, good bostonians saying we won't accept hate in our city and town and country. >> will you accept it from

antifa? where has been a single democrat member of congress on that? >> can i finish my sentence? i think what we've heard from a lot of people, myself included, is that we don't want violent protests anywhere. >> i want lisa to have the last word here. >> i just think we've seen the media prop up groups like antifa. cnn ran a headline of unmasking antifa, peace through violence. where have been members of congress from the left denouncing groups like antifa? name one democrat that denounced them? >> i was on television right after him and heard him denounce it. >> eric: 15 states and counting are pushing to help the lone star state sending special recovery teams to the flooded areas of texas including the nypd. we'll bring you the latest on that effort straight ahead.

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>> eric: an update on the situation and other officials are there. let's listen in. >> 24 to 48 hours which will assist our ability and change our response profile to be able to meet the demand. we're asking the public again the roads are dangerous, stay out of the roads if you don't need to be out driving around or walking around. it is very difficult to assess the road conditions. just a little bit of water covering the roads, we don't know what impact the rain has had and washing away the roads. that causes a lot of hazards. so please, if you don't have to be on the road, we recommend you stay indoors, that will be the safest thing to do. call 911 if you need

assistance, okay? 311 is another avenue if you can't get through. what we recommend is that when you call 911, stay on the line. don't hang up because that just creates more calls, it creates more work because our dispatchers are now calling back these numbers. so if you call 911, stay on the line and we will address your issue. thanks. >> so from midnight to where we are today, the fire department has rescued 290 and we fully recognize there are many other people that are out there in distress situations and we intend to get to every one of them. i'll have someone specifically talk about 911 in a few minutes but i want to focus on the rescue portion. chief. >> thank you, mayor, the use of police department remains in a tactical alert posture with all of our officers working a minimum of 12-hour shifts.

we've handleed 56,000 calls from 911 services that began at 6:00 p.m. on friday. to date we've completed the rescue of 2,000 people from houston and members of our community. and as of this moment, as of this press conference we have approximately 185 critical rescue requests that are still pending. our goal today with our partners at the fire department and our other partners are coming in from around the state and country is to complete the rescues of all critical missions today. and again, because of the weather and the lighting conditions, we cannot use our boats at night. most of the boats don't have lights and we can't do it. but they should be on the water now. the last thing that i want to mention in terms of the public safety emergency is the looting situation. we've had four people that

tried to loot and they were arrested. after these events, frequently once the natural disaster piece of it where it's active floods going on, folks move in from around other states and even other cities and other regions to come in and loot and create problems. i can tell you that we do have every one of our officers deployed and we have police officers from throughout the state of texas on their way to actually augment our police force. so we'll have plenty of resource. the one thing you can be assured if you try to commit a criminal offense and take advantage of our citizens that have already been victimized enough by mother nature, you can be assured you will be arrested. lastly, a lot of cars, many cars have been towed throughout the city and if you want to know where your car is at, even though i can tell you it shouldn't be your priority to drive somewhere to find your

car because the weather emergency continues, but you can find out if it's been towed at find my towed car.com, or call 713-308-8580. that's 713-308-8580. lastly, i just want to on behalf of all of us express our -- just the way we feel about our community. a lot of people are frustrated and don't understand why we send trucks we can't get to you. unfortunately those trucks can only go so far in moving water. even the big trucks. and so hopefully today we'll get to the rest of you. please don't give up on us and none of us are going to give up. that's our goal for today, mayor. >> thank you. the goal is rescue and that's the major focus for the day. that's my directive is that we want to focus on getting people

where they are and getting them out of their homes or whatever the stressful situation may be. in that regard we have more assets we're working with today than we had yesterday. and there are more assets that are on the way. there are some that are still being slowed down because the streets are impassable and at the same time there are a lot of assistance coming from outside the city. i want to thank the mayor out of boston. he is sending down some high water rescue equipment and vehicles and i thank him for that. he is also providing clothes and other things that are needed for people who are in our shelters. i thank him for that as well as additional assistance. that's coming from many other mayors as well. in terms of reaching us, 911. there have been a number of observations made about 911. i want joe lord to come and give us a status report of where we are.

we are making sure when people call they are able to reach us and once they reach us we need to respond to them. joe. >> eric: thank you, mayor. i'm with the houston emergency center and as of this 9:00 this morning we received approximately 75,000 calls that we did process as well. and we've gotten our q numbers those are the calls that are pending. that is a huge difference from yesterday, probably about 250 down to about ten, 15 on cue today. we are receiving tremendous amount of calls as an extreme emergency for everyone. we are encouraged and citizens to call, when they do call 911 to stay on the line. do not hang out, because that just expands our trump system. which overloads, and puts out a hold on numbers of people that we cannot get to. stay on the line. we have all