♪ don't look back, just run for ♪ tonight, breaking news. hurricane harvey makes landfall in texas tonight as a catastrophic category 4. the strong yet hurricane to hit the region in five decades. bearing down with 130-mile-an-hour winds, threatening record rain totals of up to 35 inches and a storm surge of up to 12 feet. thousands fleeing the path of destruction. 200,000 without power. harrowing stories of people hunkering down. we're on the ground with our abc team as the massive monster storm comes ashore. >> announcer: this special edition of "nightline," "hurricane harvey: state of emergency," will be right back.

>> announcer: this is a special edition of "nightline," "hurricane harvey: state of emergency." and good evening. we have breaking news as we come on the air tonight for this special west coast edition. hurricane harvey slightly downgraded but still extremely hazardous. now a category 3 storm with winds of 115 miles an hour barreling through texas, collapsing buildings, plunging hundreds of thousands into darkness. the damage still unfolding tonight. we begin with matt gutman,

though, who's been out in the punishing conditions throughout the night in corpus christi just 30 miles from where the hurricane came ashore. matt, what's happening out there? >> reporter: hey, juju. this storm hasn't let up. what it has done is changed direction. the wind now coming from behind me, bearing ever more rain. the major concern right now is getting to the people who need help. but power outages are rampant throughout this part of texas. 120,000 people in and around corpus christi without power right now, and there's all sorts of debris in the roadway. just a few minutes ago we've seen panel after panel of plexiglas essentially explode off the building, scattering all over the street here. you don't see, it but i'm actually standing on part of it that blew off the building. these are the kinds of hazards that rescuers are facing, and it's why they're struggling so mightily to get out, to get people the help that they need. even damage assessments at this

point are nearly impossible with this deluge coming down, the streets blackened and all of this debris out on the roadways. now, it's going to be some time before rescuers are able to get to everybody who needs it. they're talking about hurricane-force winds in and around rockport. that's a town that really got battered by the eye of the storm for another 12 hours. they're going to see hurricane-force winds until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. this is a very serious situation. we don't know how bad it is. we are right here in corpus christi. but this whole area along the coast has just been battered. now, we went to rockport earlier. we saw it was basically a ghost town. there was a mandatory evacuation. the mayor telling people if you stay you better write your name and your social security number with a sharpie on your arm because you might die. and that is apparently the situation there. it is very, very concerning. and farther up the coast we're seeing the same types of things. what is going to be happening now over the next couple of

hours and days is reinforcements are going to be coming in as much as they can. but so many of these areas are low-lying. the roads just to get in there are going to be inundated. we're talking about this 12-foot storm surge. so just getting to these people and getting them help is going to be very difficult, very trying in the coming hours and days. juju. >> thanks, matt. we want you to stay safe. but we're going to head over now to port lavaca, texas where they're reporting a six-foot storm surge and that could increase. the community is under also a mandatory evacuation order. and it's where abc's senior meteorologist rob marciano has been reporting throughout the night. rob. >> reporter: juju, we have retreated indoors. it's too dangerous at this moment to be outside. at times you can hear things clanging across our hotel. parts of the hotel have been sheared off. downspouts. parts of the outer wall have been torn off. there are some street lights out

there wobbling around. i would suspect some of those have been torn down as well. we've been without power now for three hours. this thing is hitting with all its ferocity in the dark, which makes it even scarier. it made landfall, the lowest pressure landfall since hurricane rita in '05. i was in that storm, it hit in the middle of the night. this is a pretty new hotel. it's pretty surprising to see it basically coming apart. the water is surrounding us. the storm surge has made us an island. and you can hear the wind cranking up even more. it is just nasty, nasty being outside. it's going to be a long night in port lavaca. juju, back up to you. >> definitely a long night for you, rob. thanks for that. and in the studio with us is meteorologist kate parker, who's been tracking this storm. kate, i know that you're obsessed with all things hurricane, but you're also a texas person. >> a texan. born and raised. >> this is personal for you. >> it is. it's surreal to see this image because when we say a category 4

storm made landfall it's easy to say, well, it's down to a category 3. it's still a category 3 hurricane, and it's inland now. this is not a storm that's measured in these hours tonight. it is going to be measured in the course of a week. >> and days and days of this kind of deluge. what kind of flooding can we anticipate? >> a will the of flooding. but this is brand new from the storm prediction center. we have a tornado watch. and this one goes all the way through tomorrow afternoon. this is not something quick. this storm is not moving anywhere anytime fast. you can see by the track here when you have a tropical system you have a lot of spin in the atmosphere. tornadoes can spin up, not just all this rainfall. now, there's also storm surge to speak of. we've already seen six feet like you mentioned, but the forecast was for double for that. so we still could see that go up. we're going to still see that relentless push of water as over two feet of rain is possible and number of spots. this is mind boggling. >> the statistics are so scary. the wind factor is so high.

and yet at the end of the day it's the flooding that concerns you. that's what's deadly. >> nine out of ten deaths in hurricanes come from water. whether it's rainfall flooding or whether it's storm surge. the deaths come from water. wind dangerous as well. i don't want to discount that. but the water is what you need to watch, not just today, not just tomorrow, into next week. >> and it's not just our imagination. this storm popped up quickly. >> 48 hours from a tropical depression to a category 4 hurricane. that is how primed and ready the gulf of mexico was. it was waiting for a storm like this. and we got it. >> pops up quickly but it's going linger for a number of days. we'll keep our eye on it. thanks for being here with us, kate. one of the hardest-hit areas along the coast is rockport, texas. and earlier i spoke with the city's fire chief steve simms and asked him what kind of damage he's seeing out there. >> a lot of fairly severe. we haven't been able to get out and really look at things much other than what's right around close to our station. the eyewall just passed over us.

and the wind has picked back up again. so we're hunkered down in our main station. >> and there are reports that there are several buildings including a high school that have partially collapsed. there's reports that there are seniors trapped in a senior center there. will you attempt rescue operations in the middle of the night? >> not with the wind like it is right now. we have nothing to get on the highway with. our hands are tied. and you know, it's killing all of us. >> i'm sure as first responders that must be the hardest thing, to have to sit and wait. >> very much. >> 130-mile-an-hour winds, what does that sound like in the fire department when it went over you? >> the best way i can describe it is a tin can being kicked down the road. >> that loud. >> that loud. gets your nerves on end. >> you're part of the fabric of this community. what fears do you have tore your town tonight? >> a fear we're going to really see some severe damage. like i say, we haven't been able

to get out and see what we've got going. but it's not looking good. >> the entire country has our eyes on you tonight. and we are -- our thoughts and prayers go out to you tonight. steve, thank you for joining us. >> all right. thank you very much. also caught up in the storm in taft, texas just north of corpus christi is mary lou galindo. i spoke with her when she had just lost power in her house. >> mary lou, i understand a tree just fell on your house? >> yes, ma'am. it broke our roof. it's like the branch of a tree. can you see? >> and it came through the window? >> no. through the roof. >> i mean it came through the roof. it came into your bedroom? >> yes. can you see it? >> i can. i can. it must be harrowing for your family. i know that you're right in the belly of this storm in the mandatory evacuation zone. what made you decide to stay? >> well, my husband is a cancer

patient who's battling prostate cancer as we speak, you know. he's also in a wheelchair and has a prosthesis, and it's very hard and very difficult for him to get around. >> i know you've already shared some earlier video with us with some pretty serious storm damage coming in around your neighborhood. what else are you seeing now? >> we can't see anything because it is completely dark. and we're boarded up and we closed the doors. so we hear a lot of noises on the outside but we cannot see anything. >> they're talking about 130-mile-an-hour winds. how does that sound? what does that feel like for you inside your house? >> well, we can feel the roaring. and every now and then we can feel a little shake. >> and have you had second thoughts about your decision to stay? i guess you had no choice. >> oh, yes. absolutely. my husband says we should have left, we should have left. but we didn't leave. so now we've got to make the best of it. >> okay.

preserve your battery power there, mary lou. we're going to let you go. we're going to wish you the very best. keep in touch and be well tonight. batten down the hatches. >> thank you. >> okay. joining us now is the governor of texas greg abbott in austin. governor, thank you for joining us tonight. >> it's my pleasure. thank you. >> let's start with the damage assessments you're getting at this hour. what are you hearing? >> well, as you can see, as the storm rolls in it's pretty dramatic. we don't have exact numbers right now because the devastation is happening fairly quickly. >> i know you asked president trump to declare a major disaster. what's the worst case scenario that you're looking at? >> well, the president granted that declaration. and what that means is fema has now been triggered to assist texans in our cities and counties to begin the rebuilding process. that will be of tremendous help. >> and yet a fema administrator said today that the window for evacuation has pretty much closed. what advice are you giving to residents who have decided to shelter in place? >> they need to have strategies

to make sure they stay as safe as possible. they need to be constantly vigilant about rising water. they need to be prepared to be without power and maybe have inadequate access to food and supplies for a couple of days. >> and you tweeted out a photo earlier from the emergency operations center. what plans do you have laid out for those four days of flooding you that see coming? >> in that operations center we have 30 agents of the state of texas represented to make sure we cover everything from water rescues to keeping roads open to making sure we have adequate health care and supplies going to the people. so we have intricate plans in every potential avenue of the state of texas. >> there was a grim message from the mayor of rockport, texas who was quoted as saying if you're going to stay in your home you better take a sharpie and write your name and social security number on your arm. is it that grim? because then we have the mayor of houston saying, well, perhaps you should not evacuate. i know you've called for people to consider it. do you want to clarify those

mixed signals? >> well, sure. rockport got hit very hard tonight. and the people there are facing a tough situation. but the way that it works is that it's up to the local officials, whether they be the county judges in texas or the mayors, to make the declaration. obviously the mayor of rockport made his declaration. houston is not getting hit with the eye of the storm like rockport is. and the damage there will be different. and at the appropriate time if it is necessary the county judge or the mayor will make the necessary declarations. >> well, good luck to you tonight and in the days ahead, governor. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you. and we have much more ahead. when we come back, we go to washington, d.c. for the president's response to this emergency situation. and to san antonio to an evacuation center. stay with us. afi sure had a lot on my mind. my 30-year marriage...

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>> announcer: this special edition of "nightline," "hurricane harvey: state of emergency," continues. and welcome back. we are following hurricane harvey wreaking havoc in texas tonight. this is president trump's first natural disaster, as you know, since taking office. and the federal response is already under way. but there is also much other news coming out of the capitol tonight. and for more we go to abc's gloria riviera in washington. gloria. >> good morning, juju. here in washington we really expected to be focusing on the federal response, this first big test for the administration in terms of a natural disaster. but the president has surprised us with two more headlines.

we'll get to both of those. but let's start with harvey. the president has been updating twitter followers throughout the night. just before 1:00 a.m. tweeting that his administration is fully engaged with open lines of communication and to those in the storm's path telling them america is with you. earlier the president tweeted he had signed a disaster proclamation. that came after we see him leaving there for camp david where he's been monitoring the situation with vice president pence in d.c. now, he said that he had signed that declaration to unleash the full force of government help. that means making federal funding available to the recovery efforts. that news came just before 10:00 p.m. eastern, letting local authorities on the ground in texas know they're not alone and really marking this as the first test and looking at how well the administration will handle the storm, how effective can it be in an emergency. now, speaking of effective, this president has been multitasking since the storm started.

15 minutes after the news that he had signed the declaration broke again over twitter, the president announcing he's granted a full pardon to controversial former arizona sheriff joe arpaio. arpaio was facing up to six months in prison. he had been convicted for criminal contempt of court for ignoring orders to stop detaining suspected undocumented immigrants. arpaio was an early outspoken supporter of the president. the two have been closely aligned in support of building a wall on the border with mexico. now, there has been quick backlash to this. senator john mccain from arizona, where he's getting treatment for cancer, in a statement saying, "trump's pardon undermines the president's own claim to respect the rule of law." if that weren't enough, there is more. before the night was over the white house released a presidential memorandum directing the pentagon to ban transgender people from joining the u.s. military. this is big news.

it instructs the department of defense to stop funding transgender-related treatments. and it's a ban that took the military by surprise. military leaders. and it comes the same day that in his weekly address the president said every person that puts on the uniform makes our country proud. so much news tonight in addition to all this harvey news, and we'll be watching it all from washington. juju? >> thanks to you, gloria. you know, there is clearly more damage unfolding. it's going to be an enormous impact, an enormous ripple effect of the storm when it comes to travel flights are being canceled. and passengers aboard cruise ships are unable to return home at this hour. abc's victor okendo is in houston tonight for us with all of the ripple effects. victor? >> reporter: and juju, the big rain event hasn't even gotten to houston yet. harvey already making its presence felt. there are some 20,000 passengers on board four cruise ships in the gulf of mexico that are not able to get to the galveston port because that port is now closed. so they are going to be riding

out this storm, waiting for it to pass before they return to that port. that's what's happening at sea. and in the air we just got word that corpus christi international airport is now closed and it likely won't reopen until monday at the earliest. flight cancellations. there were plenty of them on friday. more than 130 on friday alone between houston's airports and corpus christi. on saturday that number expected to grow. already at 170. those numbers could change. make sure to check with your airline before flying out. something else to consider here. experts say that harvey could have a major impact on gas prices. there are more than 45% -- there's more than 45% of u.s. petroleum refining capacity located along the gulf coast, and there are dozens of offshore oil and gas rigs right in the path of this storm. we could be looking at significant increases from 5 cents to 15 cents per gallon. here in houston, juju, we are bracing for a big heavy rain event later in the day saturday. that's when it's expected. right now the mayor saying no need to evacuate. >> thanks to you, victor.

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final look at hurricane harvey. just moments ago downgraded to a category 2. but kate, you're saying this is expected given that it's moving over land. >> yeah. and it's still winds suss taita at 110 miles an hour. still a massive amount of rain. this storm is just beginning. you've got feet of rain to come in some areas. we've already seen almost eight inches in a spot. this rain is coming down fast and furious. if you live near a stream, a creek, a river, anything, expect it to go out of bounds. >> everyone will remain hunkered down. kate, thanks so much for joining us. stay with us for continued coverage of hurricane harvey

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