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 under water and without power. >> it may be days before it ends

up stopping. >> there are developments to report on all these fronts including the latest projections from the national weather service. good morning to all of you, i'm alex witt at msnbc world headquarters in new york with the latest on all these dramatic weather events overnight in texas. we also have three breaking headlines to share this morning as thement faces his first big test dealing with the growing weather disaster. late friday the white house announced a presidential pardon for sheriff joe arpaio. also the president has made the ban on transgender troops official, signing an order that directs the pentagon to move forward on the ban. it remains unclear what happens to transgender personnel who are currently serving in the military. also late on friday, the ousting of sebastian gorka. the white house says gorka is no longer with the administration. more on all those developments later this hour. of course, this hour beginning with the top news of hurricane harvey at this hour.

more than 213,000 people are without power. harvey is tearing through texas and the gulf coast, just downgraded to a category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. storm surges of more than six feet in some areas, more than two dozen counties remain under a tornado watch until 1:00 p.m. central time with at least one twister reported so far. that happened just south of houston. in rockport where harvey made landfall, ten people were injured when the roof of a senior housing complex caved in. harvey is expected to linger over texas through wednesday. rainfall totals could reach -- are you didding down -- 40 inches across the state causing what forecasters are calling catastrophic flooding. maya rodriguez is in corpus christi. maya, good morning to you. as we have light coming your

way, what's it look like? how serious is the situation right now? >> reporter: right now we're seeing very strong winds, lots of rain, pretty much what we've been seeing for hours here. take a look at this. we have towned trees. this is the scene all over town. look at this, we have a line that is down flashing that stop light here, that red light. we've had a lot of reports of fires. we had one on a barrier island just off the coast of car pus christie here. firefighters had to go respond to a house fire there. not clear how that house fire started. they had to head over there in the middle of the category 4 hurricane to try to prevent that fire from spreading to other houses. we also had another fire on the peninsula. firefighters had to head there to handle that fire. first responders having to deal with these incredible winds, the driving rain we've seen.

take a listen to what of the fire chiefs in rockport had to say about the situation. >> we had multiple calls of collapsed roofs, people trapped in homes, high water. we're trying to look over our calls now and try to prioritize what we feel is first come. weave got a lot of work ahead of us. >> reporter: and so, as you can hear from the chief there, there's obviously a lot of serious stuff happening with this storm involving people and property. that's sort of the issue right now. as the sky begins to lighten, because we are expecting sunrise at some point today, hopefully very, very soochblt we do have very heavy cloud cover right now. we'll be able to get a better idea of what the damage is out here as we continue to deal with these winds and these rains. alex? >> maya, one thing. you showed me that downed light

there. one thing that immediately popped to mind are wires that can be so, so a dangerous in water. do you see any freestanding wires there or is it self-contained at this point? >> reporter: we have not seen any downed wires. again, we're in an area of town where the electrical leans are actually under ground. however, the city of corpus christi did put out a tweet saying there are a lots of downed leans and please be careful if they venture out of their homes today. >> maya rodriguez, thank you very much for that. we'll go to houston where jacob rascon is standing by. good day to you, jacob. what's the situation like there? >> reporter: this was supposed to be the easy day, alex. you can tell it's coming down, coming down hard overnight. more rain fell than predicted which is really bad news. again, today was supposed to be the easy day, not as much rain. tomorrow is when we expect to get more of it here. we've already had at least two reports of tornadoes. we've seen the damage from at

least one of them. it's about 30 minutes south of houston in an area called sienna plantation. we've seen fences, trees, roots upro uprooted. this area has more than 6 million people, and it hasn't seen a storm like this in more than a decade when 1.5 million people didn't live here. in addition you have people who were uprooted, displaced from hurricane katrina. tens of thousands of them. we met one of them yesterday and talked about how they're preparing and how this is bringing back all those memories. in houston, the fourth largest city in the country. it's so developed. you have all these bayous, creeks and rivers throughout the city. they cannot handle up to three feet of rain. last night when we put our story together for the "today" show two feet was expected. now it's even more, more than 30 inches in a lot of areas in houston. the buy you just can't handle

that. they'll overflow into neighborhoods, onto freeways, even businesses. if the forecast sticks, this will be just as catastrophic or more than we've been saying. alex? >> jacob, we do not like hearing that. as you said, this was supposed to be the easy day for houston. i've got cousins i spoke with last night. they said we're prepared to hit sunday, but it looks like it came a little early. speaking of the forecast, let's get the latest on the path of that storm. msnbc meteorologist bill karins. >> houston is quickly becoming the story of the day. you can see behind you, this is the wide radar view of the storm. the center of the storm near victoria. that's weakening quickly. look towards the houston area, that's the outer feeder ban that has the lightning strikes there. wherever that feeder band sets up, it will stay over those areas throughout the day today. that's where the great concern

is. houston stays in this feeder band all day long, getting this torrential rainfall, they're already under a flash flood warning. this is the six that's going to happen the next couple days. if houston starts off like this, that sets us back even more. >> look at the dark lines there, that's hard core rain and all hitting houston. >> we color riize this to show intensity. the green is where it's light drizzly type rain, the yellow is moderate, sorng a steady rain. where you get the red, that's torrential thunderstorm-type rain. that's what's over the top of houston right now. that's the worst of it. i'll look at the maps to give you the update. we did get the 8:00 a.m. update from the hurricane center. it's down to 80-mile-per-hour winds. 99% of the wind damage is done with this storm. we'll see those pictures at daybreak and how bad it was, especially toward rockport and along the coast. the movement, now only moving at

6 miles per hour. these are the peak wind gusts when it made landfall, 132, 125, easily a strong category 3, low end category 4. official making landfall at category 4. pressure 938, the second lowest ever recorded in the state of texas. incredible stuff. this is the radar view i showed you before. if i go into the houston area, you can see the beltway around the 610, heavy band of rain we'll continue to watch throughout the day today. there is the flash flood warning. a huge area from houston almost down to south of victoria. 12 million people affected. 4 million people in the flash flood warning. this is the estimated rainfall total. a lot of it is south of houston. this final map shows our river flood warnings that are being issued. you can see how the rivers snake towards the coast, alex. this is what we'll deal with until tuesday or wednesday. >> bill karins on duty, we

appreciate that. let's go from bill to corpus christi. nbc nieptly news anchor lester holt. good morning to you. you may have heard bill talk about the flooding that may have come rivers. i know this storm slammed cordis christie just a few hours ago? >> reporter: we flew in san antonio and came across i-37 and we passed a bridge we were worried about, the bridge was just over the top of the water. we made it through. getting through corpus christi you could see only what your headlights would show you. the power was widely out here. you see downed trees and many pictures of traffic signals and the light. as you see, it is becoming light now. we'll be able to get out and assess the damage a bit more carefully. keep in mind this is not a post hurricane assessment. this storm is still alive and very dangerous. >> we are getting hammered right now. >> reporter: hurricane harvey

slammed into the texas shore overnight. >> we have been praying for quite a while for the eye to pass over so we could get some kind of break here. >> reporter: a category 4 storm with winds up to 135 miles per hour, strong enough to rip the roof off this building in fulton near the point of landfall. nearby in rockport in the eye of the storm, scenes of devastation. this hotel suffered severe damage, forcing 128 people to evacuate, and reports of people injured inside a senior center after the roof collapsed. at the local high school, several buildings were badly damaged. rockport's mayor earlier issued a grave warning to those who did not evacuate. write your social security number on your arm so your body can be identified. destruction quickly piled up as the storm blew ashore. when the wind and water are gone, what's left could amount to $40 billion in damage.

>> i'm hoping to wake up in the morning vanned a town. >> reporter: the air pressure from a category 4 hurricane caused the ceiling to buckle at our corpus christi affiliate kris. local officials praising them forgiving them time to prepare. many heeded the warning and got out. >> we've got the kids and it starts flooding -- >> is a 14 foot wall of water that's going to come in, we couldn't risk it. >> the most important thing you can do is to safeguard your own life. >> reporter: governor abbott also told people in houston to head north away from the coast. that led to confusion because county officials did not call forl an evacuation. hurricane harvey is going to cost us all. this oil drill ship was last to the dock in port aran ses, one of the many gulf coast oil operations shut down ahead of the storm. gas prices nationwide are already up 10%.

no business will take place in galveston for days. the island is practically cut off from the mainland. the spirit is strong in texas but today is just the first of many difficult days ahead. we'll be getting out and getting a better look at the damage to buildings and structures here in corpus christi. i should note we're in a protected area here nestled up against a hotel. my colleague dylan dreyer did point out to me that the waves are actually beginning to go out, so we're getting a bit of a calm. the rain has been steady. but over the last hour and a half, we haven't seen in this location any of the heavy stuff. we know that is promised as the storm continues. alex, we'll send it back to you in new york. >> it was very chilling when you talked in your piece about officials who were riding this out to write their social security numbers on their arm so their bodies could be identified. is there any sense how many people have stayed in that area?

will officials begin now at daylight going door to door and seeing who is still around? >> reporter: i haven't heard of feshl counts. driving around, i didn't see police on the streets. naturally, these are things they hold until it is safe to start getting out. i didn't see people on the streets. there is no power, so everything was in the dark. i think i saw one guy actually go by on a bicycle. but that warning certainly gets your attention. that's an acknowledgment of how dangerous this is. we always remind folks, it's not only dangerous for them to stay in these situations unprotected, but for searchers who may have to go out and look for them. >> point well taken. lester holt, we appreciate that. long day ahead. we'll give you a look at galveston, a live look at what is happening there. look at those palm fronds, they're certainly bending in the wind and the waves are tremendous. it's now weakened to a category

1 hurricane. look at the news crew standing by the side of the road. everyone hunkering down in that area. hurricane harvey is not moving offshore. it is staying over texas for days. it could complicate the rescue efforts. we'll give you insight on what first responders are going to need to do next. here's to the safety first... i think i might burst... totally immersed weekenders. whatever kind of weekender you are, there's a hilton for you. book your weekend break direct with hilton.com and join the summer weekenders. tha...oh, burnt-on gravy?ie. ...gotta rinse that. nope. no way. nada. really? dish issues? throw it all in. new cascade platinum powers through... even burnt-on gravy. nice. cascade.

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hurricane harvey is soaking everything in sight. here is what the situation looked like as the storm came ashore late last night. >> we have been praying for quite a while so the eye would pass over so we could get some kind of break with these absolutely unrelenting winds. >> pretty extraordinary watching that reporter hanging on for dear life. let's go to rockport, texas, where the eye of the storm moved right through and which may end up as ground zero in terms of wind damage. nbc's gabe gutierrez is standing by. the situation looks pretty horrible in rockport. i understand the historic downtown area has been pretty devastated. what's it like right now? >> reporter: hi there, francis. we were trying to make our way to rockport, texas, ran into high water and were trying to turn around. we went to taft, texas, a neighborhood with many downed power lines.

right now in sin ton, texas, not rockport. rock part is where this eye made landfall. there seems devastation there, unclear how many injuries. let me show you here in sin ton, texas. this is a brick structure. you can see it was boarded up and the powerful winds blew through overnight. thankfully no one was in sight. most of this downtown area has been evacuated. people got out of town. we've seen emergency responders here throughout the morning, trying to keep the roads closed. we have seen a lot of debris, downed power lines. when we were driving to rockport, we got to one road where we saw the water rise up very quickly. immediately we decided to turn around and get to higher ground, get to safety. this is something that people around this part of texas are going to be dealing with for several days.

it's a -- this is a meandering storm bringing lots of wind and rain. there's a few cars around. some have been police cars. about a half hour ago to an hour ago the winds were a lot stronger. we saw the rain being pushed down this downtown area. you can see the buildings that have been boarded up, pretty much a ghost town here, thankfully. but first light has brought the rain tapering off. we are trying to get an assessment for how -- we still get some of these wind gusts now that make it kind of hard to keep rain out of your eye. again, this is in sinton texas, rockport one of the most hardest hit, more than 200,000 without power still as hurricane harvey made landfall as a category 4, now downgraded to a category 1.

authorities are awaiting first light and will assess the damage and figure out the extent of what harvey brought to texas. frances, back to you. >> it's alex here actually. >> i'm sorry. >> not a problem. it's okay. you guys saw a precarious situation. lester's crew was making its way to corpus christi and had to think twice about crossing a river that had come up under a bridge and was spilling over. i see sinton is just a bit north of corpus christi, just a bit to the -- looks like the northwest of rockport. you couldn't even get there at this point. >> reporter: right. we started in corpus christi several hours ago. we couldn't go directly to rockport, obviously, because one of those main bridges was shut down. we had to take the long way around. we went through the sinton area and towards taft, texas, but had to double back at one point. again, here in sinton, texas, this is something that covering

these hurricanes overnight, it's a very difficult situation. in the dark things can get out of hand really quickly. yes, this was a situation where we saw some rushing water, didn't really zee it until it was almost up on us and had to immediately turn around and make sure we didn't get draped there for whatever reason. very harrowing situation here for much of the texas gulf coast. yes, alex, as you know, this is a meandering storm that's going to dump a lot of rain to a lot of the population centers as you've been hearing from other correspondents in houston. kerry sanders earlier was in victoria, texas. they're expecting a lot of flooding there. really this is something that local officials think can be unprecedented. >> yes, jacob rascon coming from houston, they were supposed to have an easy day but already getting pummeled with rain. >> you're articulating well what the problem is for first

responders and rescuers, you can't even access some of those places. those people who stayed behind did so at their own peril. thank you very much for that, and we'll see if you make your way to rockport. let's bring if retired luiten jent general russell honore. he was responsible for the military efforts after hurricane katrina. i know harvey has been steadily downgraded all morning, but forecasters say the worst may be yet to come because of the storm surge. you know what storm surge is all about with regard to katrina. can you explain why that is so dangerous -- >> again, i was talking to the reporter. >> general, i'm ask you to just stand by for a minute. we're having a little bit of trouble with your audio. as soon as we can get that back, we'll go back to you, sir.

let's give it another try there. so storm surge, problematic because what? extreme flooding? is that it? >> absolutely and rainfall. alex, this is a different type of storm than we've seen before. normally, day one of a hurricane, the hurricane hit landfall is one and done. within hours it's gone up north and torn up by wind shear. this storm is going to stay around. harvey day two could be worse than harvey day one as we have more and more people who are impacted from the surge along the coast and the impending rain storms as well as tornado bands that are still in the area. there will be a harvey day three. each day could get worse as the rivers swell, cutting off communications by road. cutting off our ability to get in because of winds with

helicopters and disrupting our ability to communicate because of downed power lines and the communication grid will degenerate. this could get worse before it gets better, is what i want people to understand. and it could get bigger in that it will start touching and affecting the nation's fourth largest city that is surrounded to the south by the center of our petro chemical industry which feeds our industry and puts gas in our cars as well as secondary effects, if any tornadoes might hit one of those chemical plants. so the worst is not over yet, is my prediction. >> i'm sure your prediction, unfortunately, sir, is spot on. we will be seeing you again in the next hour. i want to thank you very much for your heads-up, for everyone to keep a vigilant watch on things with regard to hurricane harvey. galveston officials don't think they'll see water receding

for days. we'll get more from that area of texas right after the break. harvey.

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with more complete relief you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6 is greater than 1 changes everything. the rath of hurricane harvey has knocked out power to more than 200,000 customers in the texas region there. firefighters have been risking their lives responding to this fire in corpus christi. the winds whipped the fire, engulfed three homes, fortunately no reports of injuries at this point. 20,000 cruise passengers are stuck at sea as their ships are routed away from port on galveston island. nbc's joe fryer is in galveston with more on all this. first of all, what's it like out there? it seems to be not letting up at all? >> reporter: in fact, the conditions are probably worse right now than earlier this morning. now that it's daylight, we can get a better look at what's happening around ,