storm surge weren't enough, we've been experiencing tornado warnings off and on over the last 15, 20 hours or so. so that is keeping people on edge because those tornados pop out of the sky pretty quickly .cause a lot of damage. that's another thing that people have been worried about here, francis. >> even more scared for people without any power or warnings to get that information, too. joe, thank you. >> for more now on the strength of the hurricane, i want to bring in michael brennen, chief hurricane specialist for the oceanic administration in miami. thank you for being with us this morning. fwifs the perspective as far as the impact here of hurricane harvey now. >> well, harvey is continuing the to move inland along the middle texas coast. its forward motion is beginning to slow which is unfortunately what we've expected and that is going to exacerbate that heavy rain threat.

we see more than 16 inches of rain near victoria, texas. only the center of harvey is about 25 miles southwest of victoria. so they're still going to get all this had heavy rain in the core, even as harvey lengthens, it's gradually raining down but the flooding threat is only going to accuracy agency we go through the next several days. we're expecting very, very heavy rain, widespread amounts of 25 to 35 inches of rain, including areas like the houston/galveston area. we could see isolated areas, totals of 40 inches. that is a rainfall threat. >> that is how it's been described as catastrophic flooding over the next few days.

i want to ask you, michael, for people who are wanting to be optimistic about this. >> our official forecast going out the next three days, if i click over .show you the next five, it barely changes. this gets us all the way to wednesday night, this point over here where you see the "d" and that's just indicative of the steering currents and the atmosphere collapsing as we speak. that is going to allow harvey to stall and basically meander. so that influx of moisture that we see occurring here and the radar imagery off the gulf of mexico is going to continue for the next several days and bring in that warm, moist area and that's going to create the shower and thunderstorm activity repeatedly over the location. >> how common is that for it to linger and park itself over one

given area? >> we see -- i mean, we've seen this happen before. we had allison that affected houston many years ago and we saw tremendous rainfall totals there. anytime you have a tropical cyclone, it doesn't have to be a strong tropical cyclone, it can be a weak system. as long as that moisture is there and it keeps riding in over the same location, this heavy-type of rainfall can occur. >> certainly a lot to watch. michael brown, thank you for being with us this morning. we'll let you get back at it. certainly a lot of strategy and preparation goes into getting help to hurricane victims, but there's no one better to talk to about this than retired lieutenant general russell. he, of course, was the commander of a joint task force katrina. as you were watching all of this unfold and seeing harvey do its thing and, again, a lot won't be known until day breaks, what can you tell us about the preparations so far and with the evacuations and the preps that were taken?

>> yes, at the local level, we saw the last 24 to 36 hours once the storm indicated it would be heading into this area, there were had a lot of meetings .preparations and cross-checks at the local and state level to ensure the communication systems were up and the level of preparation as well as to do voluntary evacuation and in some cases some mandatory evacuation. so that -- it all starts in the family, in the home. people having a hurricane plan .having an evacuation plan and then it goes into city and county actions to evacuate people from known areas that will flood or that will take major damage based on the predictions of the storm. then it moved into the federal government over the last three days have prepositioned generators, food, water, and in some cases ice.

the federal government opened several distribution .immediate staging basins where that -- those supplies have continued to come in. they're not directly in the affected area as far as where is dallas and over toward places like ft. pope and in and around so they can immediately get in there within hours. once the harvey settles down and the roads open. the challenge we have now, francis, is this. this is harvey day but. we will have a harvey day two and a harvey day three. harvey day two could be worse than harvey day one, which is normally a reverse for hurricane. the worst part of it is when the hurricane makes landfall and then it is dissipated, torn up

by the surface area and climate condition. this storm will not do that. harvey day two may be as bad as or worse than harvey day one. it will disrupt our ability to do normal search and rescue. so there will be people in their homes now whose homes are surrounded by water, may be in had that water for days and it may take that long to get them rescued, depending on where they are. and harvey day two, there will be more people on the water because the rivers will start backing up, roads will become unpassable and the wind associated with harvey day two may not allow helicopters to fly so we can get into people in rural and isolated areas. the same can be said for harvey day three. so this has a potential to get worse. in the meantime, if you're checking on relatives, text,

don't call. leave that bandwidth available for emergency services which is cell phone and encourage your relatives to save their batteries. >> thank you. >> well, the flooding rain is being seen well north. we have a few minutes, 20 minutes or so before the sunrises. what are you seeing so far, at least where you are. things don't seem too bad. >> francis, things don't seem too bad right now because we have properly protect z ourselves behind a building. sometimes it's too hard to talk with the winds are gusting right in your face. certainly if you went to the other side of the building, we are seeing those wind gusts and we have seen the damage from some of the wind gusts already.

fairley minor from what we've been able to see from getting to the airport in san antonio here to corpus christi downed signed we've seen some larger branches. definitely one of those areas where you need your flashlight when you walk around. we drove down from san antonio. we landed about midnight last night into 55 knot headwinds. so we were coming right into some of those gusts that we saw on the back side of this storm. and we drove down in one of the lulls in between two bands of really heavy rain. it's the eastern side of the storm that gets the brunt of it and that is certainly what we've been seeing. that's where we've already had reports of winds gusting up to 132 miles per hour. that was the first landfall of this category 4 hurricane. the second landfall was in rockport where we have seen devastating damage as that eye wall moved through or just near the city of rockport. we've also already picked up more than 16 inches of rain in

victoria, texas, which is just on the northeastern side of the eye of the storm right now and we're still seeing those really heavy bands of rain coming down. just to put it into perspective just how intense the eastern side of the storm is, areas like houston and just outside of galveston have had reported tornados because of this storm system. so even though we are on the western side of the storm, it's the eastern side of the storm that's going to really face the brunt of the damage with this. now, hurricane harvey has downgraded from a 4 down to a 1. winds are at 90 miles an hour. now the threat is going to transition from wind damage to flooding. since we already have some areas with more than a foot of rain on the ground and the forecast calls for up to 40 inches of rain in some areas, that's more than three feet of water over the next several days. so we are likely going to see record breaking flooding in this area. there's no steering current to push this storm away so it's almost going to rain itself out across texas, possibly into wednesday and then we have to

see what happens after that. >> it is just astoundinging to me that you have a storm like this with so many facets. you have the wind, the rain, the flooding on the side and then the tornados all when people are dealing with no power, no resources, they're in their homes. >> and it happens overnight. that's why nobody has been able to see the damage yet. even where we are, i'm just starting to get my bearings of what actually is behind me right now because it is so dark and there isn't a lot of power. i mean, you really need that flashlight, but then you don't want the batteries to die out and hopefully people did prepare ahead of time and are stalked up on all the necessities that they need, charge their phones and whatnot beforehand. >> of course we'll be here to cover it. we thank you for your time in doing that. as we continue day one of harvey, we'll see what the next few days, crucial days bring. we'll have more live coverage of this historic storm after the break here on mz nbc. msnbc.

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hours after harvey made landfall, it is now unleashing a tour of rain along the gulf coast in texas as a category one. of course, president trump is monitoring the situation and also hearing from him this morning when it comes to hurricane harvey and the response to it, he says via tweet, you are doing a great job. the world is watching. be safe. msnbc continues our coverage here throughout the morning. ♪ we're drowning in information. where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters? the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments

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into there are over 200,000 texans this morning without power as high speeds and wind pummels the area. we'll have the latest developments coming out of

hurricane harvey. bill karins will bring us those developments in a little bit. but for now, i want to go to galveston island where sara has been keeping track of the storm and the impact so far. sara. >> well, hi there, francis. galveston is expecting high tide later this morning and they don't expect water levels to drop for two to three more days after that. the mayor has issued a voluntary evacuation for the west and of the island. these are low-lying areas that are very flood -- very flood prone. they did the best they could leading up to the hurricane, cleaning up storm drains and such, but still, they are expecting problems. they've canceled schools in the area in advance at least through wednesday. meanwhile, the port of galveston remains closed. we know of about 20,000 cruise ship passengers who currently cannot dock here in galveston.

we know who ships are waiting out at sea for conditions to improve. at least one has chosen to stay in mexico until conditions permit them to return. so everybody waiting and watching here in galveston as the sun begins to come up and we begin to get a better picture of the full extent of the damage, francis. >> you can see behind you, certainly we'll understand the full extent of the damage of had hurricane harvey as the sunrises. i want to bring in now sheila jackson lee of houston. she jones us on the phone. i appreciate your being with me. i'm sure it was a sleepless night for you as it was your constituents. what were you hearing overnight as far as the biggest concern? >> thank you and good morning to you and a ul of your viewers.

it is a difficult time here for the houston county area as it is for the whole gulf region. i was outside already this morning and we have heavy pointing and certainly constant rain, a lot of wind. my rain, a lot of wind. my constituents are resilient. we have two emergency centers, one for the city of houston emergency center and transstar utilized by the county. so my constituents did the right thing. they prepared themselves, but still we're in the eye of danger. my concern, of course is the constant rain and the proclivity of this area, 4 million-plus people in this houston metroplex area, being impacted by potential heavy floods. as well, our seniors in the area -- i just got through speaking to commissioner ellis regarding the seniors and the

housing stock that may be vulnerable to heavy wind. my constituents are worried about their neighbors, but they are joining together, and we're working very closely with the red cross. i was on late last night with the red cross, early this morning with the red cross. and we want to be assured that our constituents or the neighbors here in houston know that the red cross shelters will be available for them, as they were available for them in victoria, even though some people were turned away and we had to make sure those people did get in to shelters, that we'll have shelters here in this large metroplex area. >> congresswoman, we have sunrise happening right about now. what is your message to the many people out there who are starting to venture out, starting to see, and they may be desperate or change their minds in wanting to seek shelter, or they're needing essentials that they don't have. what is your message to those out there tempted to do so this morning? >> i would really encourage them

to stay in place, shelter in place for now, because what we're see iing is the wind and rain comes intermittently, but it comes very, very heavy, and we're prone to small tornadoes. as i indicated, missouri city, just a few miles from where i am, homes were just hit by tornadoes. so until they get word that it may be safe, if they still have power, i would encourage them to stay in place. those neighbors who are well equipped, if you can check on your neighbors, if there's an elderly person near you or a young family or disabled person, it's very important to make sure that someone communicates with them. i expect to be out in the neighborhood as soon as it stabilizes, and going into older neighborhoods, the places where there may be seniors or people who economically were not able

to leave from different areas in this large harris county. my district goes in and out of the city of houston and harris county. i want to make sure people know the best place right now, if they're in a home, that has not been impacted, to stay in their home if they still have power, and if they feel concerned, they can call 1-800-red-cross for a shelter that may be open near them, or they can call 713-655-0050 to get assistance in the late morning, our cal transstar. >> congresswoman, i want to ask you about another headline this morning, certainly a headline we're following as well. it would be a big headline on any other day, other than hurricane harvey. i want to ask you about the presidential pardon of the self-titled toughest sheriff in america, sheriff joe arpaio.

as we heard from the president, i am pleased to inform you that i have just granted to grant a full pardon to 85-year-old american patriot sheriff joe arpaio. he kept america safe. when you learned of this, your thoughts? >> let me also say and mention that my prayers are going to those who have already been impacted by the storm and continue to pray for those in the eye of the storm, my neighbors and fellow constituents and friends and fellow texans. our prayers are with you and we're going to be working hard for you. how disappointing to have this announcement on the edge of the most deadliest -- potentially deadliest storm that has hit the texas gulf. hurricane harvey, we expect hurricane harvey to be, if you will, here in this area for at least four or five days. we don't know what impact will come about, what potential loss of life, so we hope there will not be.

sheriff arpaio broke the law. it was not in the course of protecting and serving that he was held in federal criminal contem contempt. remember, the judiciary committee, it's important to note, that the sheriff was racially profiling on the basis of hispanic sir names and brown skin people. he was criminally acting not under the legal application of the law, but he was acting criminally by particularly playing out individuals who had not done anything or broken the law, and that's why he was held in federal contempt. >> let me ask you before i let you go -- >> my point is, i think it was the wrong thing to do. >> quickly, congresswoman, do you think the timing of this, the president tweeting this in the midst of all this hurricane harvey coverage and people prepping, was that purposely done? >> i cannot imagine what the president was thinking.

he did not present himself as a chief comforter or concerned about this region with gorka's resignation, a person with negative views about diversity, his transgender order. all that was disrespectful to the devastation that we might experience here, and certainly he was not concerned about our efforts and the needs of the people of the gulf region, the needs of the american people. very disappointed and very unpresidential. >> we thank you so much for being with us during this crucial 250i78. congresswoman sheila jackson lee, thank you. that does it for me on msnbc. i'm frances rivera. stay tuned for alex witt and new developments on the storm from bill karins here on msnbc. even, you can do endless online research. or, you can take advantage of our best offer ever on an xt5. don't wait. our 2017 models will be moving fast.

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daybreak in texas, a live look coming your way at zbal f stop, texas. hurricane harvey sweeping through the state after first striking late friday. right now we're getting the very first real look at damage from the slowly evolving disaster. it's a category 2 storm right now, as we look at live radar and harvey covering parts of texas. the battering began in the overnight hours with some warnings dire. >> reporter: we're going to be in parts of texas for days to come. almost getting blasted back to the stone age. >> the winds remain the story at this hour. but longer term it is what you see here, you're taking a look at the beginning of some flooding. it is what the national hurricane center is saying could be catastrophic as the next few days wear on. some towns are already without wa