good morning. it's tuesday, august 29th. another day and more rainfall is on today the president is set to visit texas, expected to stop in austin and corpus christi. the water is rising. in some areas it came from dams to prevent catastrophic breaches. last night dozens more people were rescued by boats and vehicles with giant lifts in the dark of night. this single spot, dozens of people brought to safety, carrying whatever they could. for the moment the death toll stands at three, but unfortunately, that is expected to rise. family members say a minimum -- a minivan carrying six family members was swept away. though police haven't located it or the people thought to be inside. the omni hotel is also under water. while 100 guests and associates were being evacuated, one of the

staffers who was helping guests get out went missing, and so far is unaccounted for. mandatory evacuations continue through the night, and the effort has been epic. the city's mayor says more than 3,000 people have been rescued. the sheriff's office has conducted high water rescues by noon yesterday, and the images broadcast across the country have drawn people from across the state, louisiana, and beyond to help. >> where are you from? >> galveston, texas. >> what brought you down here? >> my family was high and dry.

>> now, elsewhere the colorado river is running wild in bay city. some people have stuck around despite a mandatory evacuation order. >> let's start in houston where nbc reporter julia bag is standing by. she's at an evacuation center for us. tell us what you are seeing there, julia. >> well, one of the biggest things families need when they show up here usually because they're wet, maybe they've just come from a water rescue, they need dry clothes. that's exactly what's being sorted here, what volunteers are doing. you just heard from that family that came here, and they got some blankets, clothes. that in addition to meals. still, apart from the initial

expected total of 5,000 people expected to be sheltered here, we're way past that. more than 8,600 now. families are still coming here to receive things that necessity need, things that they just can't find other places. >> i'm very, very grateful. i mean, if it wouldn't have been for this, we wouldn't know where to go. we were, like, where do we go? we don't know. i mean, they do have tons of shoes. if you lost things in your house, like flooding. my sister lives in freeport. they're expected to flood tomorrow. she can pick up some things here that she's going to need, and there's toiletries. i mean, i think my girls washed their hair in the sink. >> reporter: with so many people here, there's a heavy police presence. i actually was searched pretty thoroughly. my photographer and i both. when we came in here for protection, for everyone's protection. it's a loud and noisy place. there are babies crying. there's a lot of help that people are receiving here, and it's exactly what they need

right now. >> all right. julia bag for us live in houston, texas. we go from houston to corpus chris christi, texas, where katie beck joins us now live from there. one of the first place harvey had made landfall a few days ago. katie, we know that president trump also set to tour corpus christi later today. what can you tell us about that visit and the situation there today? >> reporter: well, he is expected to leave washington at 8:30 this morning, and we know he is headed to corpus at some point in the visit. he will not be visiting houston, which is obviously, as you saw there, still submerged and expecting more rain. houston will not be on the itinerary, but president trump says he may be making a return trip to exit text as soon as saturday, as well as louisiana. when he comes today, he is likely going to tour some of the damage here on the ground. fortunately, corpus christi is one of the areas in recovery mode at this point. a lot of people have their power back. the weather conditions are mild at this point. one of the things president trump was concerned about was

being a distraction to that recovery effort. he did not want to go to houston and potentially impede any rescues or recovery going on there that is still active. he will be here today. the mayor of rockport has said that he is very excited to see president trump. that he feels the federal government's response has been immediate and has been exactly on point, as it should be. he says the president should come and see this damage for himself because they are going to need billions to recover. that will be something he hopes president trump will take back to congress with him. >> katie beck, thank you. for the latest on the storm, let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins. a live shot of houston over my shoulder. the rain seems to still be torrential there, and people starting to just experience flooding for the first time as we speak this morning. >> there's new flooding. there are some areas the bayous have render to their banks, and others remain high. there's marriage flooding gone

to record flooding. the storm is located south of galveston, and there's a huge hose coming down into the beaumont area. torrential rain with this band. probably about two to four inches per hour. back towards houston, the rain is lighter. more like probably a half inch to maybe an inch an hour rates currently. especially if you go east of houston. it's still pouring, and it has all night long. here's just a little perspective on houston. they've been keeping daily records for rainfall for many decades. thousands and thousands upon days. at the top ten wettest days in houston history, three of them have happened in the last three days. i mean, that's just incredible to think how much rainfall has fallen in this area in the last three days. let's just add it all up for you. the highest totals have been just to the southeast of houston. i mean, if this was a snowstorm, we would be talking about crazy totals where, this is rain. 45 inches, almost now 46 inches in webster.

downtown houston is now at three feet. everyone is on board with two to three feet. some areas heading up to four feet. some of the interesting things that have happened overnight, the addicts reservoir. these gates were open to avoid this, and it's rain sog hard, and the water is flowing in so fast. it's at 107.5 feet. if it gets up six more inches, it will start overto pping that. they don't know where the weather will go after that. it's never happened before. does this overflow? only six more inches to go. i'm sure the gates are wide open. owe open theed gates as much as they can, and all the water has to go through the buffalo bay yobayou. the other river we're going to be watching, which is still rising, which is the brazos river. it comes down near sugarland. that's where a lot of evacuations were ordered yesterday. we think it's going to crest

wednesday and thursday at about 59 feet, which is about five feet higher than the previous record. no one has seen water like this. i mean, there were pictures on this river with water in houses yesterday, and it still has to go up another ten feet from those images yesterday. as far as the track of the storm goes, 24 hours more of this for houston and beaumont and our friends in louisiana and then as we go through wednesday and thursday, we take the storm finally to the north. >> bill is talking about these numbers, and sometimes it just takes you a second to kind of compute what that means. another ten feet on top of that. incredible. >> you think at this point we would be on the other side of it, and we're not. >> thank you for that, bill. well, fema administrator brock long said yesterday this disaster is going to be a landmark event, which we've already seen it play out. he has also added that recovery efforts are going to take years. joining us on the phone is one of those people who is assisting in those relief efforts, director of the texas division of emergency disaster services for the salvation army. director, it's great to have you

with us. how many people has your organization helped so far? if you can give us an update on those relief efforts from your perspective. >> good morning. thank you. well, the numbers obviously are continuing to ramp up. we've seen anywhere from -- i'm sure we touched the lives of thousands of people, if not tens of thousands of people already in the last few days. we're working continuously in corpus christi, the rock port areas. those efforts have been ongoing now since late last week. as things continue to ramp up in houston, we have been bringing in assets, field equipment and kitchens that are being in place to move in as quickly as possible from the north and east. we have a number of units staged in san antonio that are prepared to head west or head over into houston. the challenge, of course, is to travel on the roads, and we're

very concerned about how we get people in and out, and that's our -- what we're working on this morning. >> what's the biggest concern looking ahead? we've now experienced five days of this storm. it's not over yet, as bill karins has been talking about, and then you have sort of the recovery efforts. people are going to be having to stay. a lot of these places that they've had to evacuate to likely until sunday or monday. what is the biggest concern it from your standpoint looking ahead? >> well, for years we've talked about how big is big and how bad is bad? we are now starting to understand a little bit about what that means now. we have been planning for this for years. we understand what the challenges are, but the target keeps moving. we're seeing things that we could never have anticipated when you start talking about the amount of rain that's fallen in houston. i think our biggest challenges

for the time being right now is to make sure people are safe. that's our immediate concern. then we start moving into providing them obviously people need clothing. we need to do things to keep them fed, to keep them warm. our mass care efforts will be -- we'll have partners with the texas department of emergency management, fema, all the other nonprofit partners that have come into play in this effort will be working for years with this. i think one of the biggest challenges we're going to have is how do we coordinate the recovery effort over such a large geographical area? it will be challenging for all of us. >> our thoughts and prayers and our thanks are with you and everyone in your organization for all the work you're doing. thank you very much for joining us this morning. still ahead, north korea fires a missile over japan. we'll get a live report in a few minutes. later, president trump explaining the reason behind his pardoning of sheriff joe arpaio. those stories and another check on your weather when we come back. haven't you ever wanted something more barry?

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>> welcome back. we've been following the developing situation in text terks and we're following another breaking story this morning. north korea firing an unidentified ballistic missile through japanese airspace. south korean officials telling nbc news that north korea fired the missile from near the capital of pyongyang just before 6:00 a.m. local time. this comes one week after administration officials claim north korea appeared to be showing respect towards the u.s. >> kim jong un, i respect the fact that i believe he is starting to respect us. i respect that fact very much. i respect that fact. maybe -- probably not, but maybe something positive can come about. >> i think it is worth noting that we have had no missile

launches or provocative acts on the part of north korea since the unanimous adoption of the u.n. security council resolution. i want to take note of that. i want to acknowledge it. i am pleased to see that the regime in pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restrained that we've not seen in the past. we hope this is the beginning of the signal that we are looking for that they are ready to restrain their level of tensions, they're ready to restrain their provocative acts. >> joining us now from seoul, south korea, nbc news correspondent ron allen. ron, good to have you back with us. what is the latest that you are hearing from officials in south korea in and really across the region about the response to this latest provocation from north korea? >> well, those words from secretary tillerson and president trump sound a long time ago because the situation here has escalated dramatically

since this morning when that launch happened. without warning, this is the third time that the north koreans have fired a missile toward or over japan. the last time back in 2009 with a warning, but this time no warning at all. the missile flew some 1,700 miles in the air for some 14 minutes and lands on the other side of japan in the pacific ocean. in japan air raid sirens went off. people were warned to take corps. they had no ytd whidea what was happening. the reaction has been strong and powerful. a lot of resolve. now, all this is happening now because the united states and south korea are carrying out military exercises with anger

the north koreans. they see it as a province education, for preparations for an invasion. the united states claims these are defensive exercises. back to you. >> ron allen live for us in south korea. thank you. still ahead, we're going to get another live update on the weather as tropical storm harvey continues to cause devastating flooding across south texas, and what the red cross is doing to help those in need. we'll be right back. stay with us. , we've seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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welcome back, everybody. in our continuing coverage of hurricane harvey, joining us now by the phone. red cross spokesman tony briggs, who is on the ground in austin, texas. tony, obviously the red cross, a major part of the response efforts. the rescue efforts on the ground in texas. how is it -- what does it take really to organize such a massive effort that seems like it's going to be ongoing over the next couple of weeks, months, if not years really? >> you know, it's great to see that we have so many volunteers who are ready to stop everything that they're doing and get on a plane or drive or get down to texas any way they can to help people they don't know. it's one of the wonderful things that just makes me overjoyed that i'm a part of this organization. >> let's talk a little bit about the challenges that you are facing on the ground. what are the immediate priorities for you? what do you need the most at this stage in the efforts that you are undertaking?

>> you know, the response from the american public has been fantastic. people have been going to their phones and texting to donate by texting 90999 to help with this relief effort. folks have been going to our website red cross.org/volunteer, and they're starting in the volunteer process. it's been -- it's just been amazing. we know that we're going to need more people, and there's volunteers that have been red cross volunteers for many years, and they have just jumped at the chance to come help, and that's just the spirit of the red cross. it's a wonderful thing. >> is there a fear that you could feesably run out of supplies given how long people are going to have to stay at these evacuation sites and how are you going to make sure that doesn't happen? >> well, we've had supplies prepositioned, and what happens is we backfill as we need. as we start to open up more shelters and we flex as needed, we'll be bringing those supplies

in, skpgs we've been working with our partners and the logistics have been a little troubling and a little trying, but we've worked through it, and we have our governmental partners, and the other ngo's that have been working on this. we feel like we're right where we should be, and things are going very well. >> all right. red cross spokesman tony briggs for us. thank you so much for your work. appreciate it. >> thanks. let's get another check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, the water still raining down in houston, and you also talk about the controlled release of two houston area dams, which means the flooding is just going to start beginning for certain residents there. >> yeah. the story is turning. obviously we have the devastation that's already occurred, and now we know new destruction will happen in some of the major rivers that are still going up. new flooding occurring there, and we're still concerned with the dam structures. this is an unthinkable amount of water that the dams and structures have to hold. we don't have any reports of any

failures there. there are all structurally sound. i'm going to tell you what is happening overnight. notice that once you get out here past about katy, it's not really raining that much anymore. they're starting to see the back edge as the storm continues to drift to the east. we would like to get that into houston. we would like to take this a little further. we don't know have much -- the rain stops. it's cool right now. it's just sitting right there. this is the additional rainfall total that's expected. about one to 15 inches is possible. one to 15 is on this map. this ten to 15 bull's-eye is still over houston and lubkin. another foot is possible on top of the crazy rainfall amounts that are already three feet in houston, and nearing four feet just southeast of the downtown areas. someone easily could get 50 inches, and, i mean, i haven't heard anyone say it, but if we're going to get another 12 inches on top of this, we may as

well head up near 60. how crazy is that? as far as the forecast path of the storm, about 24 hours of this. i mean, if this is a marathon, we just hit mile 22. this is like the end of the race, which is absolutely the worst part. as you've been seeing the pictures, this is the worst part. again, the storm by about thursday, 1:00 a.m. is in northern louisiana. then the rain is further north. we could have minor flooding problems, but, again, the greatest concerns are with the rivers, the bayous and rez esh w -- reservoirs there. it's almost to the top of the spillway. 108 feet. the water starts going over the north end of the spillway, which has never happened before, and right now at 107.5 feet, it's been going up two to three inches per hour, and that would mean at about two hours from now water will start overtopping that structure and going in areas that have never seen it before. they're not even sure where the water goes from there. there is addicks reservoir. it's going to start coming out the north side.

>> have you ever seen a storm that's gone on this long with this much strength for that period? >> i'm trying to think. we've had flood events like on the mississippi river that have lasted a week, week and a half, but that's because it's so long, and it takes a long time to go down. the storm sitting in a location this long? not that i remember. i mean, there's some historic blizzards that have lingered in new england for many days, but that's a different ballgame brsh. >> i think the word you are hearing is this is an unprecedented, historic event. thank you. much more on the rescue efforts taking place across the houston area this morning. >> we'll have some of the hardest hit areas coming up. keep it here. your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory.

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welcome back, everybody. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top story. >> the rain is expected to pick up again today in texas in time for the president's visit to the state. to the moment the death toll stands at three. unfortunately, though, that is expected to rise. mandatory evacuations continue to be released and around midnight last night dozens more people were rescued by boat. yesterday an ap photographer snapped this photo of demetri, holding a towel over her 44-day-old daughter dakota as they were rescued by boat by members of the -- in all, the city's mayor says more than 3,000 people have been rescued and in many places a helicopter is still the best way to lift people from danger.

like in the video you see by the customs border protection. >> there's been widespread damage, and there are concerns of flooding will only spraeld. some 30,000 people are expected to need shelter like here at the houston convention center as you are seeing. five perishes have been declared federal disaster areas, and there are concerns about dams as two reach record highs, and officials warning there is a potential for overflow from at least one of the dams this morning. let's start first outside of dickinson, texas. nbc's sarah standing by for us. give us the latest from your vantage point. >> reporter: hi there. a fifth day of consecutive rain bringing more damage and pour misery. outside dickinson, texas, because the city is under a mandatory evacuation order as well as a curfew. emergency officials telling

those who choose to stay do so at their own peril. there may not be emergency officials to come help them should they get into a tight spot. now, meanwhile, those dramatic rescues continue, and now the question where to put all of these people who have been displaced. the houston convention center has opened its doors. they said they could take 5,000 people. as of midnight last night, they had 7,000 people. the city considering opening additional shelters. the first flight of evacuees has landed in dallas. that happened last night. they have opened a mega shelter there. it's going to hold about 5,000 people. private businesses, they are also opening their doors. gallery furniture, they house katrina evacuees and now housing harvey evacuees. people actually sleeping in the display beds. pretty amazing pictures that we're seeing as volunteers continue to go door to door to see if anyone is still stuck

inside these homes. >> yeah. huge major community effort in light of such devastation that that state is experiencing right now. sarah, live for us in texas city, texas. thank you. unreal images continue to come in from the storm and its aftermath. more than two days after harvey first made landfall, the water level is over waist high in some areas as the rain continues to fall with residents forced to wade through just to reach their neighbors. the woman who took these pictures says they were rescued later in the day by a group of civilians using personal boats along with the u.s. coast guard. we continue to hear these stories of heroism. inside homes, the water level remains up to the windows. personal possessions and belongings submerged in the inescapable water. people just losing everything. yet, as you can see here, the rain will continue. joining us again live now from corpus christi, texas, nbc news correspondent katie beck. good to have you back with us

once again. we've been talking a lot about corpus christi, because it was one of the first places hit by hurricane harvey. at one point they even thought the eye was going to pass right over there. now the storm is set to kind of cycle back again. how are people dealing and preparing for what seems to be a relentless situation? >> yeah. as you stated, corpus really dodged a lot of the damage in the first round. initially those predictions had the eye centered right over corpus and it ended up being more towards brockport where you can see the structural damage is much more significant than here on the grouped in corpus. i think corpus christi at this point, they've had a few days to recover. a lot of people are getting their power back. there are businesses open. there's a sense of sort of normalcy here for the moment. i think they're obviously eagerly anticipating the visit of president trump today. he is going to be touring the area specifically for that reason because it was simply too hazardous to go to houston, and he did not want to be a distraction to the rescue effort

going on there. he will be on the ground today touring areas here and potentially in rock port assessing the damage and sort of reporting back to congress with his estimation of how much recovery funding is going to be needed. he says that he believes texas will get back on its feet very quickly and that congress will pass a bipartisan bill to fund this recovery, but i think it's still yet to be seen exactly how much that's going to be. especially if there's going to be more damage on the way. >> we know the president is going to be visiting corpus christi today. we've been talking about that for the last couple of hours or so. sometimes the visit of a president during times like this can be somewhat politicized. some people wondering if it's too soon. some people saying -- >> is it a photo op? >> it's a photo op. >> have you been talking to the people on the ground, and what is their feeling regarding the president visiting corpus christi today? >> almost unilaterally every public official we've talked to here has been excited about president trump's visit, but,

you are right. it is sort of a fine line of are you disrupting things? there's a recovery active effort that's still going on here, and obviously when a president comes to town, you have to close down streets. there are security measures that need to be taken. it is a fine line between being here, having a presence, assessing the damage, and also not being a distraction from what the main story is. guys. >> back live for us on corpus christi, texas. joining us now former deputy administrator of fema richard sorino. he helped lead the response to superstorm sandy. richard, it's great to have you with us this morning. let's talk a little bit about from the perspective of administrators trying to help with the relief efforts, the priorities for fema at this stage, how would you evaluate the response so far from the federal government coordinating among all these agencies? >> they're still in the save lives stage. there are still a lot of active rescues going on. that's the priority. at the same time they're starting to lean forward to look and see what can be done next,

looking to see how we can look the asheltering, getting the masses of people that need sheltering. the main focus is still on saving lives. especially in the houston area with all the rain and the flooding that's continuing. >> richard, right now it's seemed as if fema has a emergency response fund of $3.8 billion. that seems like a lot of money. the damage from harvey, it is really expected to be in the tens of billions of dollars. they're going to need a lot more money than that $3.8 billion. what does this really mean for the long-term recovery in regards to looking ahead? right now we're on the fifth day of this storm. it seems like it's not going to really show any relief until thursday or so, and then it's just months, really years of rebuilding that city. >> this is going to be the new normal. there is not going to be the opportunity for people to go back to the way they were for quite some time. looking at how that's going to develop, as i said, still life-.

$3.8 billion is a lot of money, but a long, expensive recovery, that's going to disappear pretty quickly. they know that the folks at fema, administrator long, as well as another folks, they're focussing right now and getting their job done. let congress continue to look at how to get more funding. right now it's a matter of getting the resources to the people on the ground that need them right away. once they finish the initial rescues and looking at that part is how do we shelter large numbers of people. where do they have to go? how to do that? then looking at the short-term, getting people into rentals, hotels, abnb for a short time, and then looking at what rentals are available. there's only so much space and how to start to develop that. that's one thing that i've seen that's very good is the leadership that's shown by administrator long, the emergency management director of

texas, the governor, seeing everybody, the federal, state, local governments working together. the whole community bringing together the nonprofits, the faith-based community. looking at the private sector, how they can cooperate as well. >> i know that you worked in the response efforts in regards to hurricane sandy. i was reporting on the ground for that. are there any lessons that you learned that people have learned from superstorm sandy that they can apply now to what's going on in southeast texas? >> the whole community is bringing together all the people as well as bringing together survivors themselves. we've seen people helping each other out quite a bit. we've seen the cajun navy, as it's called, and other neighbors helping neighbors. looking at how to start and where people can go. people want to stay in their neighborhoods, where they're used to living, where they're used to socializing. how to rebuild back there and take the opportunity to rebuild better as well. >> richard, richard sorino,

former deputy director of fema. thank you for joining us. appreciate it. still ahead, bill karins joining us with the latest forecast. what he is describing as a can't win situation for houston. with potentially 30,000 people in need of shelter, we'll tell you why joel olstein is taking heat on social media. "morning joe" back in a moment. hey allergy muddlers

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recognizing that their homes may be behind them and having to rebuild ahead of them, and sort of like the long period of time in which they're going to have to stay in those evacuation centers inle they can return to what they know. >> when people get here, they're exhausted. they're often very wet. their first stop, i'll show you, is right here. they can pick up some dry clothes, dry socks. i can't tell you how much it means to have dry socks with all the rain here and the flooding in houston. there are blankets here. they come here to warm up. we just talked to a family who experienced the worst. they didn't come here with very much, and they are looking for help right now. >> it's been pretty awful, but i'm thankful for all the people that have helped us out and are here doing what they can. >> you came here just in the last few minutes. what are you hoping? what's next? what do you do now? >> we don't even know.

we've lost everything. we're going to see. go with it. >> yeah. >> reporter: you've got some blankets. they've got clothes here. they even gave your daughter this stuffed animal right here. >> it's small little comforts like that that make it easier for all of us. >> reporter: alissa, tell me about the moment. first of all, your second floor apartment gets flooded, but you had i apower surge that caused a fire. take me through those moments. >> it was panic. i mean, all i could think about was getting out, and i didn't even grab anything. we went bare footed to the hospital. >> you went to the hospital and now you're here. >> we were bare footed. all we had was formula and a bottle. we'll just roll with what we've got. >> reporter: that family, like so many others, just trying to keep their kids calm. we just saw some more families come in with little kids

changing into dry clothes. they don't understand what's going on. parents telling me it's difficult to explain to them exactly what this has been like. we'll send it back to you in the studio. >> all right, jug julia bag the for us live. let's get the latest on the storm with nbc meteorologist bill karins. torrential rain continues to fall in houston. the dam's controlled release will affect thousands of residents. >> maybe uncontrolled releases too as they start to overtop their spillways possibly. i just saw a report. i was looking at some of the highest totals. just got the first report in of 47 inches of rain. now we've almost officially getting close to that 50 inch mark with the storm. it poured overnight, and it continues to do so. the storm is located, by the way, south of galveston, and this hose continues into the beaumont area. some of the moisture is wrapping back to houston. it's not as hards and heavy as it is last night. it is still raining. again, we like to shut this off and head this to the north. about 24 hours more of

catastrophic flooding. yes rrks additional catastrophes throughout this region because of the heavy rainfall and the story you're going to hear a lot today is what happens with the barker reservoir and the addicks reservoirs. at least i know the addicks was. these are close to overtopping. this is the addiks reservoir. this is the graph they have of the website tracking where it is. this purple line shows you the top of the spillway at 108 feet. this blue line shows you, as we've gone through sunday, monday, tuesday now how the height of the water has gone. now, they opened up this spillway, remember, about 24 hours ago. that has not stopped the water from going up. we're getting very close to the top of the spillway. they actually update this about every eight minutes or so, and you can see here, 107.39, 107.43. it levelled for eight minutes. then it went to 107.47 and now 107.5. now we're only half a foot away of getting 108 feet where it would spill over the north end of the spillway, and new

flooding would occur, and then they worry about the structural integrity because if water is pouring out of it where they don't expect it to, then you worry about soil erecognitiosio things like that. this is a concern. i'm not saying it's guaranteed to overflow, but you look at the trend. it's been going up for the last day, even though the gate is opened. that's a developing story this morning. >> all right, thanks so much, bill. houston mega church pastor and televangelist joel olstein is responding to criticism that he didn't open his church to those seeking shelter to those that are victims of harvey. olstein was blasted on social media when news started to spread that the church was not yet open as an official shelter. the church responded with pictures showing that its facility also sustained flood damage, but denied that the church closed its doors writing, "we will continue to be a distribution center for those in need. we're prepared to shelter people once the city and county

shelters reach capacity." according to "the houston chronicle" the church will be open today to collect donation on behalf of the city. still ahead, we're going to go live to dallas where officials are working to get the convention center ready to receive potentially thousands of people seeking shelter there. we're back in a moment. so, your new prescription does have a few side effects. oh, like what? ♪ you're gonna have dizziness, ♪ nausea, and sweaty eyelids. ♪ and in certain cases chronic flatulence. ♪ no. ♪ sooooo gassy girl. ♪ so gassy. if you're boyz ii men, you make anything sound good. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. next! ♪ next! take the zantac it challenge! pill works fast? zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than

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welcome back. we're tracking the latest as

harvey continues to wreak havoc across texas. in dallas, the first plane has arrived with nearly 80 eevacuees. marianno, good to have you with us. what can you tell us? >> good morning. city officials here are expecting up to 5,000 gulf coast residents just in this mega shelter where i'm standing now we're talking from. it's the kay bailey convention center in dallas where just in a few hours we were expecting lines of people, buses commonwealthing to drop people off, plenty of activity, thousands of people seeking refuge and medical attention. we're waiting to show you those images throughout the morning. we do know the first wave of

ev evacuees did come to dallas. and the shelter will be in the center's parking garage level. i just want to remind you that 12 years ago during hurricane katrina, the city did receive some criticism they were not as prepared for the aftermath. now officials are telling us they are prepared for whatever may come. i will be on the ground, talking to you, talking to people and bringing you their stories as soon as the center opens in just a little bit. >> let's turn to kate dischino, the director of emergency response americaes cares.

what has been the obstacles your organization has been facing so far and what are your relief workers reporting back to you about the situation there on the ground? >> good morning. you're absolutely right. this is a very difficult operating situation. our focus is on health. we're delivering medicine. as rescue efforts are happening, there's no time for people to grab their belongings. maybe they'll bring some medicines but disasters like this, they don't realize how long they'll be away for. our shipments are providing medicine and medical supplies. >> and what is the situation on the ground in regard to the hospitals that are up and running, or if they are even up and running in the houston area? can you talk to us about that?

>> we've heard reports of a number of hospitals that have had to evacuate their patients. there are low-income, uninsured and underinsured patients. yesterday i had the opportunity going door to door responding to people calling their hotline who were unable to leave their home and unable to reach anyone. >> and how are you fielding sort of the specific needs at these evacuation centers with thousands of people flooding in every day. there are a lot of people with needs, whether it comes to newborn babies to people with chronic conditions and the elderly. how do you organize that and get people what they need? >> that's a great point.

yesterday we spent time looking at their needs. we have shipments of insulin on the way. we're also prepared for -- many times disasters like this require long-term intervention. >> thank you so much for joining us. coming up next on "morning joe," the very latest. houston expected to get hit with more rain, possibly 50 inches more before the week is out. >> and we'll have the latest reports of close ties and top tacts between top moscow officials and those close to donald trump. "morning joe," just moments

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it's really like texas, if you think about it. but it is an historic amount of water, in particular. there's never been anything like it. the people are handling it amazingly well and the people of texas have really pierersevered. >> today president trump heads to texas. houston, the nation's fourth largest city remains mostly paralyzed. we'll check in with bill karins about what rescue crews can expect today. there are several other big developing stories. north korea fires a ballistic missile through japanese airspace while the trump administration is occupied back home and a