tv Meet the Press MSNBC August 27, 2017 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT
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especially is hard hit. that's america's fourth largest city is under water right now. we know the governor enacted a declaration for certain counties. there are certain areas that are receiving this much of 17 inches of rain. some areas of the city can see historic flooding of roughly totality of 50 inches by thursday. two more feet of rain could fall between now and then. the mayor of houston is saying that 2,000 emergency calls have came in. emergency crews have been working around the clock. president trump announcing several hours ago. we'll travel to texas on tuesday to support areas devastated by harvey. right now without power across the state. we have flash flood emergencies
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for multiple counties in southeast texas. nbc katy blakey is joining us in texas. >> reporter: well, the rain has picked up here as they said it wold. folks are still waiting in line in the tryon gate hot me-- this situation where they just gotten through some somethithing and t about to go through something again. this is the town square where we are standing. this gives you any indications of what's been happening around here. this is where the town square looks like. its got all the power lines are down. this beautiful old historic trees have been broken and
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tossed around here. folks are hunkering down at this point as the weather starts to return and rain is hungrier than earlier today. we heard heartbroken story of a father of six who's worried if this river floods, he can lose it all. one woman is ready to move all the furniture from the second floor. sometimes between today and tomorrow, she's not going to have a first floor. a lot of anxiety as they brace for another round. >> catie beck is reporting for us. now, night is about to fall. we want to check in with maya rodriguez, she's joining us in houston. explain to us what you are witne witnessing today. images coming out, in terms of people leaving by whatever they
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can or in terms of ira raft or whatever they can use. >> people coming by and plugging them off their rooftops and get them to safety. you saw coast guard helicopters going all over the place doing water rescues, they were landing in a parking lot right over here. that's because they're over here in the convention sercenter. this is the george brown center, people are there with their kids and they have their dogs outside, they're not allowed to bring their pets in it at this point. it is serving as a drop off point. also, residence coming to pick up their relatives here because they could not get to them with all the flooded highways and streets in the houston area. so it is sort of serving as a central meeting point if their relatives could get rescued a. it was an arduous journey just
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to get over here. it is a trip that would take 20 minutes on those interstates. those highways and interstates were all flooded. we had to take all kinds of back street to get here. you can imagine how difficult it is for people to get around here in this massive city because of all the flooding. we know people don't have access to information. e plain as with have all become silver line on our devices and iphones. how is service holding up through harvey and the access to information and updates that people can get. >> reporter: it depends where you are. cell phone service have been spotty. all of us have different providers. we have seen service going in and out. a lot of this have been communicated via social media and word of mouth or people heard it over local news.
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that's how the word is getting out. a lot of areas have not lost power. we saw a lot of area that have electricity and different than what we saw further down the gulf coast in corpus cristi or victoria, texas, with power lines. this is more of a flooding situation, we have not quite seen wide outages. information is sort of flowing here a little bit better. thomas. >> maya, thank you very much. we'll come back to you in the hour. i want to check in on the tracking of harvey and what kaen be anticipa can be anticipated. this is a major event between now and thursday with a potential of a total rainfall of 50 inches. our meteorologist is joining us now to explain, that prediction, steve, is that on target? >> i know it is blind blowing for many people thinking that much water for that sort amount of time. 50 inches of rain is what
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houston sees in an average year. we gotten all that now in a matter of days, you know when we get the second round of rain coming on in here. we are expecting another 10 to possibly 20 inches of rain. there is been earlier flood events this year around memorial day. it is an ongoing situation. the fatigue is setting in and a lot of people are getting under. we cannot let our guards down until the second half of next week. we have to talk about some of the other communities. there are a couple hundred mile that is are dealing with this flash flood situation ongoing right now. south of austin. in some situation, flash flood emergencies, you cannot be out
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there. only emergency people can be out on the road. if you tried to venture out here, and you get stuck, they put their lives to get you. the best advise is to stay home. if you are experiencing a severe flooding in your home and that water is coming up to your armpits, you should call 911. if you have little water in your house, we don't want to cloud the emergency line but you definitely want to if it becomes a situation in your house. no movement. >> thank you very much, we'll come back to the hur. flash flood warnings and tornados can happen with the system. joining me now is colonel steve mets. sir, explain what you anticipate and as night is expected to fall
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in the next couple of hours. what is the priority that you are working with the governor and trying to keep people safe. >> we are taking request from the local agency and federal agency, they're directing where they need us and our first priority is preservation of life. where ever they need us is where we are going. when we think of the fact that governor has enacted 3,000 national guard members, i believe there is a capacity of 10,000 that the governor could enact. are we going to see a slow ride. it is been 180 o rig0 right nowe are up to 3,000. do you think it is going to increase. we think it is going to increase. we are at the process of 2,000 to 3,000. we think it is going to increase on that. i don't know how much more on that. everyone and all the different organizations are looking at the
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need and the situation and doing adjusting as we go, making sure that we have the right number of people on the ground >> thank you very much. we'll let you get back to work. >> counselwe want to go to our nightly news anchor, lester holt who's joining us on the ground in houston. lester, i knew you had the opportunity to speak with a lot of people. what are you witnessing up close and personal with harvey and contrast of other storms and what other events that you covered, how significant is this? >> we >> reporter: well, i called of three phases of harvey. we went to some hard hit areas and mainly from wind damage and homes and buildings with r destroyed and huge billboard signs and twisted of the usual stuff from wind damage. as we get closer to houston,
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things begin to shift and rain began to intensify. the windshield wipers would not keep up. we were getting tornado warnings. we are getting warnings along the way and getting into houston is difficult because this is now a city of islands. the flood waters have cut-off neighborhoods and people cannot drive through many cases and you will see cars littered in many neighborhoods where people have tried to go through. folks with boats are helping to bring people out. we saw people being carried out. the first responders are being reenfor reenforced by crews around the country. the focus is life-threatening situation. but, people are coming together, they are finding ways to pitch in. as i mentioned earlier, i think i called it as virtual 911 now of neighbors helping neighbors
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here. this is extraordinary. this area has not seen anything like this. i think what's overwhelming to everyone, what we are seeing now is not the story. there maybe another 20 plus inches of rain to come before this is all over the next several days. >> we know lester, the fact that the president has announced he's coming on tuesday, fema is involved in coordination with the governor, this system while we expect it to dump more water over the next several days. this is the type of storm that's going to leave a devastating impact for years or decades to come. >> reporter: yes, absolutely true. keep in mind, this is a place th that's used to floods. it started raining again. the intersection behind me is going flood me again in the next hour or so. when the rain stops, you will see it see it slowly drains. not all the water here are rising.
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it is a low lining city. it comes so fast that it has its peek. a lot of these places are simply impassable. >> you are seeing those firsthand and as you are talking about neighbors helping neighbors and good samaritans getting into action if they had the right vehicle or boat to help. >> yes, we met a guy who was bringing his mother or daughter and a friend and their dog's out. they were calling 911 and it was not designated as a life and death situation so finally, they continue to yell help and some of the neighbors heard them and had an inflatable wrath and put them in it. they invited to take us back to the neighborhood. we declined but they were there to help people. there is so many folks just like it cht y it. this is an all hands on deck
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kind of crisis. >> i don't think we know the full scope of this devastation in looking at these images. we are getting a brief glimpse of what to come. lester, we'll let you go. nbc's nightly news, lester holt. thank you again. we want to go right now to jacob rascon. he's joining us as part of the team in around affected areas of harvey, we had an opportunity to peek with people on the ground who's most affected. take a look. signal jay, sorry, i thought it was -- jacob is with us live, you are with people and trying to collect things. explain where these people are coming from and what are they trying to do in getting high grounds or shelters? >> it is southeast of houston and harris county. behind me you are looking at
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people loading up the jet ski and others loading up the boat. nearly 24 hours, these are community members, they have gone back and forth that we cannot get to without their boats. we are more than 10 feet have flooded my areas. even up to the roof, they believed they have rescued 400 people or 500 people. they had some help along the way from volunteers and firefighters who also live in the area, they don't get paid to do that. some of the police department members come down and started to help them. they did this on their own and they did it through the night. there is still people i went on the boat and i came back and we did not know what we are doing to find. we ended up rescuing 7 people and couples. a younger couple, they're walking up in the water just
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here. >> that's how it is working here. >> they have most everybody it seems. >> we passed by a lot of homes, there are some homes where it is only up to the door and front yard and maybe their cars or damage but they can still live there. the concern is with more rain, it can rise more. >> thank you so much jeremy rasc rascon. again, we appreciate everybody is stepping up to help us today and throughout this event that we are trying to here in the city. we are right now have managed of our calls for service holding. we are down over 400 and our
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system and vaerified about 105 calls for water rescues. all those people, all of you all had been calling for our system. we have more ref sources out in the feel right now as we did earlier. as we get more partners to join us and helping us. again, i want to echo, please, if you do not have to leave your home or do not have to get out on the road ways. please do not do so. call us, we'll be there. we have more boats in the water. >> we have more hot water rescue vehicles right now. we double our ailmebility to respond. if you are trying to escape water, go to your attic. you want to get out where you
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can e be seen and where we can responded and find you. as far as our sister cities, we are are reaching forward and we'll bring in more officers to help manage this response. our officers are leaning forward there. they are doing a fantastic job. we have everybody here. this is more acceptable to do their job and protect their city. some of them having challenge that is they are having to manage we are out there. >> we didn't raze this is going to be faxing. >> we bring our sister's city for additional help. no one is missed and we also ensure that people's properties are safe when they do leave their homes.
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we have the people committed to do it and we'll continue to do so, thank you. >> thinking of all the first responders and these police officers and houston fire department. they have just done a marvelous job. >> the city that's been out there in the water. and so i certainly want to thank them as well. >> chief. >> i want to first thank the officer of the office of emergency and the hospitality they provided for us the last three days here. >> we are still not out of the woods, we expect heavy downpours at certain times. >> we want to encourage the
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public to be mindful. standing water is extremely dangerous. you cannot tell which you are stepping into. please, if you don't have to be out on the streets, please don't drive. the houston fire department had been working tire lessly as for the houston police department to attract tavar attra attract rescues and keep the public safe. we are working to keep them fresh and their head in the game so to speak and keeping their situational awareness of where they should be. >> we'll work with our partners. we do have state asset now enplaenin place. >> we are going to continue to provide a presence out there
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ensuring we are doing the right thing for the community. >> dennis dennis. we are being at tp ernt for the next feel days. >> mayor, which means all city department are representatived here with along with their i partners, both at the state or the federal level. we got resources from all of these different agencies. it is unbelievable about the corporation that's going on. bottom line is we are not out of the woods yet. we yaw the water deerer rate a little bit. we'll see it here and stay more days, possible practically.
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a big thank you to all of our partner agencies. we'll continue to fork this thing. >> thank you, dennis. >> i am going to paz pass my leadership. >> mark. >> working with the coalition for the home less, we have been coordinating with our agencies that's been working with the oum less. the majority of the office are off on the street and they are in areas where there is shelters. and we work as well with salvation army. additional hoesz individuals have been going to the regular shelter starting george brown. >> the sheriff's department also have outreach team and hatd been out working to get homeless
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inter -- there is still a couple of cases and our first responders are still working with them to con fence them to come off the streets. the home are safe and soupd and prayers and thoughts. i do want to highlight the red cross. >> from the front end, three faces into this and three preparations from the storm. the when he could is what will we do of the after math. >> i like to thank for coming in. reidentified two shelters. >> as we can remember from the last thing and back in frill of last year. we know what happens when water
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came oin and we are flooded and all the pan contador numb that occurred. >> i opened up the chef, and that the anticipation. second, i want to thank members of the community and even prior to the rainfall. and more than 25 churches was stepping up and making episodes of this available. first, i want to thank members of the business community. it is going to even with the rain, when the storm is no longer a storm. we know that the after math is going to rir a lot of attention and a lot of focus to get people to back into a set of normalcy.
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i do want to thank everybody for working with us and i want to thank you historians just doing their part helping us get through the triathlon. >> whatever question you may have. >>. >> absolutely not. >> you know kidney of the judge and i have talked and we agree. the best course of action for the city in houston is for people to stay in place. >> number one, if you can reality, there was a lot of conversations about the decorrection in each hurricane harvey was going to go. >> when he fished his -- when you don't know where the danger is. number two.
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try to put some sort of vak occasions. i will put in the vak waigss for a couple of days. >> the lodgistic is crazy. >> if we can remember the last time we ak waited. that was a great deal of chaos and people -- i wish i was not there longer than people who ran out of gas owned their way of confusion. it takesment of prep pags, you have to have an evacuate plan. >> and then you see that, three lorn and million people >> when you can buy that. urp talking about 6.5 million people. >> where are they going. >> once they are away from the city of houston. >> they are away from our assets and our ability to help them. >> they're not leaving the city. at some point in time, they are
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coming back. when they come back, how do you handle that type of traffic coming back in the city. can you imagine what a nightmare it would be with many people trying to come back to the cities. >> no, the decision that we made was a smart one. it is in the best interest of histonians. it was a right decision in terms of their safety and always, we must think of the city of houston and histonian first. we did what was the right thing to do and we are acting aaccording to ta according of the city as we laid out. [ inaudible ]
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>> oh yeah, that does not concern me at all. last year, april 2016, when we faced the flood, we had a number of people at the center. they went quite smoothly. >> the reality is that because of the widespread flooding that's taken place and took of the last day or so, there are a number of people did not have a place to go. and many other people that went to the gas round today wet. and wet in wet clothes. they did not have any place to go. >> stress level for them is
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great. >> some of them have families. some of them have pets. >> this was apart of the plan to help provide stability and security and their lives to put them in a better place and be a temporary as we transition then and get them back in their feet. we know how to do it, it is respectful and dig anified. >> but, she recognized that in my point in time when people are lower in crisis, you do your best to proft them with some
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degree of normal normalcy. i want to thank all the partners just being exceptional >> these people are part of our family. >> what happens when a family webs are indeed? >> we wrap the arms zarnd we give him the hips that they needed to put them back on their feet. >>. >> we have been listening to the mater of houston, answering a series of questions from the media about regretting for not opening evacuation center for. roughly about 6.5 million people. >> the mayor stand firms. no regret of not asking people to rack wait from their houses. because he thougonight. >> to help people effective by the storm but not a rackuatin e.
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>> it would be a mistake to many people flailing out of the city and many different directions in harms way deshlly. >> the may also, trying to create a degree of normal sea during crisis. history will judge. ? the decade recome, as houston needs to rebuild from devastating 'effective, i don't think woman, goin me now, do you port mayor attorney's decision. >> well, good evening everyone, i am at the georgia brown convention sesht which is the new shelter that just opened and
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eeping other amendment peopling in and be process, i am hering the reality of individual have who are now safe. >> i do believe that the the ex mitigation that the mayor gave was rational and reasonableable. >> those of us who live through any number of storms including hurricane rita where we did tried to evacuate and we loost for people ton road then if i can reckon tleks. it is a con guested exiting that we had in front of us. we could not go south because the storm was in corp. pus and ache for ya. >> galveston. >> we could not go west. sus citizen is in the the eye of
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the storm. the movement with so many people light bulb so difficult. thst a rasual basis of thing to people to stay in place. so many places o in the city, even though we are in the ocean, it is safe. >> preks, this will one down area and a certain portion. i dhi we did not have options because of the way harvey is projected and responding and going out and out. we did not have an opportunity to get people out unless we got them out two weeks ago. >> i don't think thel be resilient as they are. >> what we need is to dry the federal resources here. >> we don't need to ask for one boat and you are right. >> constituents are resilient and we got on the kneeing and boats and volunteers, pe are
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ov overwhelm. >> it is going to go up to 1,000 tonight. we need to make sure that our resources are here. i am not aware and so i am i don't want to miss speak. >> i don't know where they are at. we need neighborhoods. >> we got call the senior citizens who were in at home and they're not on their roof, they're at home and need rescue. >> we need more manpower that can help rescue these rescue citizens. i am calling it for homeland security to spend us much resources as we can. >> elaborate with the national graurd. make sure we have supply. >> if we can have that, we'll be able to work with all of thesis
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people, everyone those who are in home versing those who maybe on their roof. >> we got to make choices. if you are on the roof, we have senior in their home where they had water up to their leg or wheelchair. >> the best decision were made with the max wum of mouth and thinking, based on how harvey projected to us. >> her mawe are making the best that we can. observations to the volunteers and people in harris county who helped others. i also wanted to encourage if you are safe, they where you. if you are in a my place, please try to help your neighbor. >> zraurestaurants, with el neeu to open up and be able to provide food. >> those people who are displaced some where and need to
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have food supplies. >> i want to sku whto the presi announcing about coming to visit texas. and survey the gas station damage on tuesday. as you are putting out the call for more resources, one, do you support the gocoming to texas. >> any timever type of retribution. -- >> well, first, i am just watching a hole list of hbd, thank you all. thank you guys. looking forward to working with you. thank you very much. let me say this. >> the last word i heard from the president was the term, good luck to them.
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i certainly hope if the president doms, it will bae stronger sprons. i bottom talking to hi leadership but i spepts the leadership. we are prepared to go back and begin to work on the -- we have had some disasters since sandy, hurricane sandy. and i would expect republicans and democrats to come together, this is a 1,000 year plus, this is catastrophic. although we are handling it in the best way possible. this is nothing to play around we point with. this is something that we have not seen before. it is an ocean money here. >> my foint point is to be abley he will join with the members of i don't think of the leadership on both sides. to crash supplemental and get
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resources here. >> i hope the present will not follow through with the tuting down o f tl government. that would simply devastate flood wickets and other parts of texas. . it impacted victoria and we cannot suffer a shut down because of what the president represented. i hope if he comes. >> yun of us, i web of the conditioning have not heard from president trump. we are still apart of the team, working with the governor and mayor and county judge. we do this as a team. people are suffering and we do this as a team. >> i hope he comes in and prepares for us to light like money that we need to as a whsa the part of texas. >> sarah jackson lee. >> thank you very much.
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>> using all your power to help. we appreciate it your reporting. as you are opinions of what you are seeing mary so we can understand what people are living through and years to come. >> the president, thank you tank woman. >> the president tweeted 30 seconds ago. >> floods are unprecedented and more rain is coming. >> thanks. >> so there we have the president tweeting on this. he twitting several times to. he treated other things and nafta and mexico is playing for the wall. >> mejaja rodriguez is not far. >> right now, we go to these different scenes. there are similar imagines that are overwhelming for the find.
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as far as i can see where you are, it seems much guyer and water system are in place to take away saturation. those systems where wondering. >> at least in sparts of downtown houston. chris christie where we are. >> there was a lot of water, there was some water on some of the side streets here. >> this area is a buzz activities. ifr where else, not a lot of traffic. >> tons of it. this is a george brown convention center. he's been set up from your parents who you have been plugging your armed away. >> that is correct, some people have been rescued by dumb, the city of houston has about 389 of them going around and picking people up with 70 areas c.
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hundreds of people are expected to take shelter inside the convention center. some of the suck aoki puns as sart of a pick up point. >> the relatives were not able to get out to them because of the loaded roetight. >> this is an era that is both wet in the, some of the treats here are flooded. the area is pretty dry and the electricity is on and hotel is opened. >> there is this stray of starbucks foe serious condition here in houston. some places looking completely normal as it does here. >> i think the mayor giving a at the same time be mending no regret attitude at asking to 6.35 people to evaluate and harris county combined. it was a thinking of what they
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are trying to deal with yours. >> unrefriktable storm like harvey that's locked in and around the city. it is dam if yn if you do and df you don't. for people that you had the experience to talk to. do they think the pmayor made te right call when it comes to not enforcing any types of evacuations. >> reporter: the people that i spoke to had personal stories. i didn't think it is going to flood this way or stories like i did not expect for this to happen this soon. for many people it is a personal decision whether they whether they wanted to e ravacuated or . other people said no, i am going to hunker down and stay here. so even when those evacuation orders are you shaissued, it do mean everybody is going to heed
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them. we have hurricane rita, and i covered that as well. the evacuation that took place was a bit of a disaster as you are aware of. >> those memories trying to linger all those people moving out of the highway. >> there is a lot of things to consider. from the people that i spoke to was a personal decision of whether they decided to stay or go. >> thomas. >> as we think of rita and what the nation was going through at that time. it was a month africa trina. the -- katrina. that storm that dealt with so many people. >> the mayor truchouched on tha. this storm is one of the thousands of storms. it is fearful. if you send people unglans of a
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sense of morm manormalcy, they' trying to come back to life after this deal. >> we'll continue with our coverage of tropical storm harvey in houston, right here on msnbc, in a moment. ♪ hey, is this our turn? honey...our turn? yeah, we go left right here. (woman vo) great adventures are still out there. we'll find them in our subaru outback. (avo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on all new 2017 subaru outback models. now through august 31. for the never-before-seen two sided clean, just add water. one side deeply exfoliates the other gently smooths and a flexible body cleanser inside lathers for a close, complete clean. just hang your duo to dry after each use,
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more of our harvey coverage helicopte continues. jay gray is standing by with us. we heard from the mayor talking about no regret attitude that he had and talking about having done that before and the problems that they had on the road s with people trying to ge to austin. po people trying to flee after hurricane rita. what are you seeing on the road behind you. we see some people passing and others not to fortunate. >> yeah, shelters are in place. we have seen it pick up the last few minutes chl. forecasters say it is going to happen. they warn people don't get a false sense of security here. you got people parked along the side of the major highway. you got people going in the
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wrong direction. driving through what is standing water here. this is just a very dangerous and difficult situation that's playing out right now on interstate 45. a major highway in the fourth largest city in the nation. as you come back to the south side of 45, what you see is it is completely under water at this point like so much in houston by the way. a car that's been stopped there and a truck that's completely submerged and you got the 18 wheeler cam there that did not make it through. this is why so many are on the other side trying to get -- it speaks to the desperation of a lot people in houston. trying to find some ways to get through the water. we talked to some people here coming at the edge and decided to turn back. a lot of people have family or homes on the other side. they want to get over there and see what happens with all of this water. >> again, they feel it is the best time to do that is right
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now. during the break in the rain. the rain is coming back. now is not the time to get out. get stuck some where and not be able to get back. officials here have requested that anyone with a boat, anyone with a highway water vehicle come out and help. they executed more than 3,000 rescues in the area. i talked to somebody 0 minut30 ago. with a group of people drove in from louisiana trying to help the people here. thomas, i know you have been talking about it for several days. >> fema says they'll be on the ground in houston for years. >> jay gray reporting in houston for us. >> you talk about the water rescues there taking place. joining us is kevin. there is been about 3,000 water
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rescues also. the help of good samaritans like the navy coming in. how are you holding up with the amount of request and needs that you have for water rescues and what you are able to actively performed? >> sure, yes, we continue to coordinate with our locals and emergency operation centers. as we get these requests in. we continue to triage them and people based on illnesses or injuries and we prioritize them. those are the one that is actively that's going to affect rescue mission. >> it is over how much geography for coordination working with the coast guards and others say volunteer that is as that are c
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with water vehicle. >> we are covering the whole area of galveston area. >> we are here and we are supporting all the locals. wi we are trying to coordinate the efforts. we also had been coordinating c with border protection as well as texas dps. we have also been vausked in helicopter rescue missions. >> have you been able to because of the weather system and the fact that it stalled when you talk about any type of rescues, how hampered have they in because of rain bans or tornado forming activity that thwarted your efforts of rescue? >> these air cruisers are definitely taking on dangerous missions. as you have already heard some of these wind bands they sometimes will be down to less than a mile visibility. winds gusting to 30 miles per hour. it is definitely a dangerous environment.
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they trained for that and they are out there to support and actually be here for the public and to execute the mission. they are doing a great job 24/7. >> last question and i know that this has been asked and encouraged for people with water vehicles to help and lend a hand to neighbors and those in need, but have there been instances that those good samaritan patrols have needed your help to get bigger guns, so to speak, of the coast guard to help them in the work that they were trying to do so it is doubling your efforts? >> i have not heard of instances where they needed our assistance. however, i do know we have three flood response teams that came in from all across the country from kentucky, tennessee and they have unique shallow water
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boats that allow them to do urban rescue. they have been doing that all day long. they will be back at it again tomorrow. >> we know you have a lot of work ahead of you. we are looking at images of folks helping other folks out. those walking through waist deep water with the belongings that they are taking with them. some neighbors actually carrying other people or family members out. we will let you get back to work. coordinating the patrols for the coast guard from galveston outside of houston and taking care of rescues that are necessary within that geography. we want to go back to katie beck. this is by the university of houston. they have been kind of the brunt of the storm so to speak as this has been kind of never ending for people. this is a system that will keep delivering rain until thursday. >> reporter: right.
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the real concern is going to be this river. as you can see tons of debris floating down this river at a pretty good click here. the debris in this river is from all of the down trees and limbs we have been seeing as they are washing through the center of town. what is on everyone's mind is how high this river will get. it has flooded here and this river is typically at six feet. it is right now at 20 feet and is expected to crest at 32 feet which is the height of this bridge. it is possible that by tomorrow this bridge will be under water. the river is much higher than usual and it is starting to expand to the sides. it has pushed the banks and into the next field over as you can see through the trees there. all of that water beyond the tree line is not supposed to be there. that is from where the river has started to widen and sort of getting into the land and the
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farms and the homes this way. there is a real threat of flooding. they remember it from before and they hope that isn't the case tomorrow. >> i know you have had an opportunity to speak to a lot of people that reference the facts that they were residents for the historic flood. did they make reference to nearly 20 years later, better systems? what has been learned and put in place to help with the fears for the river to flood? >> reporter: i think the people here certainly after that flooding took lessons and have taken them seriously. we saw so many people getting gas for generator whose told us i have food and water for weeks. i was ready. i knew this was coming. i think saying that is one thing but emotionally getting through this is another. and having to prepare yourself to go through this again as this rain comes in we have had periods of rain that has been torrential. right now we are in sort of a
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lull. it is going to pick up again and the flooding threat is very real at this point. >> thanks so much. we want to go back to wn be, c meteorologist who has been with me. steve, break down where the storm is right now and as we think about this here it is sunday night. these folks in texas are going to have to dealing with rain bands until thursday with the potential for 50 inches in total rainfall. >> the fact that we can't get rid of the system. that is the hardest concept to digest is that we have three if not four more days of this. so there is concern right now. it is in the houston area. you saw the live shot and katie's live shot here. there are two bands here of thunderstorms that are forming. it's this band just south and west of houston that is really starting to flare up. remember last night this got us in trouble.
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this fetch in off the gulf and another ban setting up. that will work its way into houston. one of our reliable computer models by 10:00 has that band starting to back its way into houston. while you see quiet right now on the live shots i think the heavy rain is coming back. the problem with today's feeder bands you have had a lot of tornadoes with them. these brief pin ups. we will have to track that through the night. this is 2:00 tomorrow morning notice that heavy rain shield is still there causing lots of problems here. even though it may not be raining the entire time over the next couple of days, these rivers and these bayous are going to keep filling up because there is all the run off that needs to happen. it's not just a problem in houston. the neighbors to the east need to watch especially southwestern areas of louisiana where rainfall amounts are definitely increasing now and looks like
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flash flood emergencies will continue even east of the houston area. a real disaster and unfortunately we have a couple more days of this which is really hard to believe. >> thank you so much. update on harvey. we just got new information from the national hurricane center saying harvey will remain tropical storm strength through wednesday. the president announced earlier that he will be visiting texas on tuesday. the tropical system of harvey is going to stay in place roughly delivering about 50 inches of rain in totality as we get to the rest of the week with millions of people having to deal with harvey. updates here on msnbc. get between you and life's beautiful moments. switch to flonase allergy relief. flonase outperforms the #1 non-drowsy allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens, our bodies react by overproducing 6 key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms.
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