8,000, gradually. i think they have reached that point. but i want to -- with steve if you'll come and bring us up to date on that. >> thank you, mayor. good morning. this morning we were advised by the core of engineers that the addicts dam, the ponding levels in the dam have exceeded the elevation at the tail, which is north end between clay road and tanner. that uncontrolled release rate will continue through probably september 20th to some level degree of level, peaking out at august 31st, in about two days. we're in close contact with the corps of engineers and harris county flood control district to get a better understanding of where that overflow is going to meander through, what neighborhoods. we anticipate it will be confined within the areas just west of beltway 8 between the

rez vi reservoir and beltway 8, and tanner and i-10. we want to make sure we put the communities on notice to be mindful of what is going on in that area. and so, again, we're in close contact with flood control and also we have been advised also that barkia reservoir will have some overflow as well to a much lesser degree. both reminding everybody that both reservoirs flow into buffalo bayou. and what flood control told us if you're looking at a floodplain map of buffalo bayou, it is around the 500 year floodplain level and they anticipate what it is going to be moving forward, even with the overflows in the future. >> speak to the water level in the kingwood area. >> yes, so we had another discussion with flood control about what is going on at the

west port. we were advised they have started to decrease their discharges out of lake condra, they have leveled off. the flooding, the south part of kingwood, has not yet peaked. we're just trying to make sure that we monitor that as we move forward, flood control is again monitoring those and we anticipate getting some additional information from them as we move forward the next couple of days. >> okay, so we're monitoring very carefully those two areas, from kingwood and the areas that will be impacted by the release of water from the adacks and barkia dam. we're going to set up a shelter on the west side of houston and i'll make that announcement sometime today as well as a necessary precaution. what i will say to people throughout the city of houston, is that please, please be alert. please be on notice.

situations still remains dynamic. and will be dynamic throughout the next 24 hours. but we're monitoring the situation carefully. if based on the modeling and things we see if we think there will be additional flooding, for example in these areas, we will quickly advise you and then i'll recommend a course of action. so just be on notice, things are dynamic, we're trying to get more specific detail information as for example what the release means. so we want to stay on top of that and advise you accordingly. i think those no aare all the ts i intended to recover. the outages remain. >> thank you, mayor. center point energy continues to have about 100,000 customers without electric service. the flood is a challenge in terms of getting crews to where repairs are needed.

over the last 24 hours, we restored service to 240,000 customers but we have 100,000 customers without service. as fast as we get them on, we're losing additional customers. since harvey hit, on friday, 580,000 customers have been restored. at this point 96% of the customers in the area have electric service. but the ones who don't, you're a priority for us. and as conditions allow, we'll get that service back on. one final point, families help families and neighbors help neighbors. if you've been without service and you know people who have electric service and you need access to that, please help each other. thank you. >> i want to underscore this is a storm of historic proportions. not just to the city of houston. and not just to the harris county, but to the entire region. the city of houston is serving as a hub center, if i can use that, not just for the people of houston, but the people that are

in the area. so we have not turned anyone away. there are many people that are coming from outside the city of houston. they're in a point of need and we will be there for them. that's one reason we're opening up two, possibly three additional shelters to accommodate the need because certain areas, for example, are needed to evacuate. outside of the city of houston, they have to go somewhere, okay. and so we're making ourselves available to address those concerns. people who are seniors, people who are disabled, people in low income communities, if you know of individuals, if you know

individuals, if you think individuals, seniors and other disabled, that are living in neighborhoods that are flooded and there by themselves and are needing to be rescued, please continue to let us know. any life threatening situations please let us know and continue to use 911. going to ask you again for this day to stay off the roads because there are many roads that are still not impassable. my hope is that once we get past the next 24 hours, that the situation in the city of houston weatherwise will start -- will significantly improve. until then, let's continue to be -- to be very careful in terms of our ability in the city of houston and meet the needs of houstonians who find themselves in a stressful crisis situation. >> it is a crisis in houston and that is the latest update from officials there where just one example of what they're dealing with, they put together a

megashelter for 5,000 people. it has 9,000 in it. and now they're looking for more shelters, potentially megashelters, spaces where they can put all the people who have been displaced from their homes, and still so many people who are making those phone calls, we're hearing today from officials what we heard yesterday, don't give up on us. there are a lot of rescue operations still under way. good day, i'm chris jansing in for andrea mitchell, following all the breaking news out of texas. montgomery county sheriffs now confirming a fourth harvey related death. and the rain and flooding still major concerns across houston. right now we're following two critical pieces of this story. the ongoing search for residents still trapped in their communities, more than 3,000 rescues have already been made by a combination of officials on the state, federal and local level and then with an assist from texans using their own boats and vehicles to help save lives. then there is this growing floodwater threat, specifically

two houston reservoirs, you heard them mentioned, the addicks and the barker. there is moving water across areas in houston where residesis may have thought the worst was over. more than four feet in this areas, a record for total rainfall in a tropical system. for so many flood victims, the immediate focus is on finding shelter. close to 10,000 people as we said at the george r. brown convention center in houston and dallas officials opened their convention doors to thousands more displaced fellow texans. we're expecting president trump and the first lady to land south of houston in hurricane ravaged corpus christi this hour where they'll have a chance to assess the damage with governor greg abbott before heading to austin. let's bring in our team with the very latest, garrett haak awaiting the president's arrival, and jacob rascon, gabe gutierrez watching many of the rescues. so, gabe, to you first.

i was watching what you were say seeing over the last hour, crews and residents working together to get people out of there. it seems like it is a nonstop effort. >> that's exactly right. you mentioned the 3,000 rescues in the city of houston, that's just in the city of houston by the police department, just this morning. we have seen according to local constables here hundreds, 400 to 500 people, and that's when we talked to them about an hour ago. look at this, another boat load of people has showed up here, we believe five or six of these evacuees and can be seen, long line of people taken, trapped in their homes, being rescued. pets as well. this is something we have been seeing over and over again for the better part of the last two hours. we're in northwest houston, north of i-10 near clay road. to the north of the addicks reservoir, one of the two that had basically been just about overflowing.

this morning, just over topping and the concern was what that -- what happened. this community is to the north -- more communities to the south along buffalo bayou have these flooding concerns. as you can see, this is not letting up anytime soon, chris. we're talking about 9,000 people at the george r. brown convention center. that's one convention center. it is expected 5,000, but that one is overflowing. there are other shelters that are having to be opened all around the houston area in harris county and elsewhere. and frankly, this is not letting up anytime soon. chris, just heard from the mayor of houston and there was some, i guess, encouraging news, he was saying things may improve here and over the next 24 hours, and, chris, unfortunately, that's some of the concern here, some of the residents here that are just going through such a difficult time being taken out of their homes and it is just very difficult to watch some of this. a lot of these are private citizens that have come in, and

they're laughing there, everything is going -- how are you doing? are you doing okay? >> yes. >> you're doing okay? >> great. how high was the water in your home, ma'am? >> this high. >> about this high? >> started this morning. >> started this morning. >> didn't have a thing yesterday. >> didn't have a thing yesterday. it surprised you, ma'am? >> what? >> it really surprised you? >> uh-huh. >> were you there by yourself? >> no, my husband is somewhere. >> you got to go find him. he's back there? i'll let you go, ma'am. >> he's diabetic. >> he's diabetic. has this area ever flooded before? hold on one second. come over here, ma'am. has this area ever flooded before? >> no. >> okay. >> we have been here 15 years. >> great to see you're okay, ma'am. thank you for talking to us. good luck to you. chris, this is something we're seeing over and over again, folks being rescued from their neighborhoods, you know, this is something we expect to see all

afternoon, over and over again, houstonians stepping in to help each other, it is amazing to see, we're so glad that these folks made it out before the water managed to get too high in their homes, but unfortunately there are other places that have seen water as high as the rooftops and some folks had to be rescued by air. here we have seen some coast guard helicopters, at least one, going around, just really is incredible to see that the amount of people and it shows no signs of letting up. >> yeah. terrifying. everything is okay yesterday, and then suddenly it comes on so quickly and as she mentioned, her husband is diabetic. just for people who haven't been watching all along, give us a sense, once they're brought to the point where you are, where are they taken to? are all of these folks, do they know what shelter they're going to? what is the system that is in place? >> sure, all right. just to give you, for those of you just joining us, if you look in the distance, that's the subdivision we're talking about.

the water rose there quickly overnight. and since early this morning, members of the national guard, private citizens, local authorities have been going in there and rescuing people on boats. some are loaded into the national guard high water vehicle. if you see the chopper noise here, a helicopter right as a coast guard helicopter, right above us, likely going to another air rescue, been buzzing by here every few minutes. so they're loaded into these army national guard vehicles. some of them are. others are unloaded here in this parking lot, we're in a bank parking lot right now. i'm probably -- i have waders on, i'm probably in a foot or two of water. but over here you can see it is dry. they're taken to dry land, some of them are put in suvs in this part of the parking lot and then they're taken to nearby shelters, constable said that i believe it was cinco ranch high school which is nearby here,

they're taken to that shelter and several others. that's highway 6, it remains shut down at clay road. you can't get much further in that direction. we're trying to go south on that, just couldn't. we spent some time earlier in the neighborhood far in the distance. and that neighborhood hasn't completely flooded yet. but the water was rising and residents were debating whether or not to leave there. so, again, that gives you a lay of the land here, chris. this is, again, as i was saying before we saw this latest boat, the mayor of houston says he hopes that within the next 24 hours after the next 24 hours there may be some improvement in the situation. but until then, this water is rising even though we have a break in the rain, simiply so much water has fallen in the last few days, the rivers and creeks are overflowing. this is what you're seeing. this is the result of that. and thankfully a lot of people are stepping up, houstonians and people around

the can country are stepping up. >> gabe gutierrez shows us what is going on there. some things that the president will likely hear about. he's about to land in corpus christi, texas, which is where we find garrett haak standing by. a big moment for this president. his first big test for a natural disaster. i understand waiting there on the tarmac for him are the governor and the fema director. >> that's right, chris. we're looking at a little bit of an obstructed shot here as texas governor greg abbott talks with an airman from the texas air national guard who is here, part of the group who is going to welcome the president here in about the next 15 to 20 minutes or so. the president will see firsthand some of the damage here on scene, but i'll tell you, nothing even remotely approaching what is going on in houston. he plans to land here in corpus christi as i said in the next 15 to 20 minutes. they'll motorcade to another location where he'll get a briefing from the governor and from the other first responders here, he'll also get a chance to

thank some of the first responders, some of the folks working around the clock on the cleanup effort here in corpus, which is well under way. we have been driving around over the last two hours or so, a different kind of storm here at the southern edge of where harvey hit, mostly a wind event here, a lot of trees still down. a lot of power lines, a lot of folks still without power. but as you can see, it is a warm, sunny and most importantly dry day here today. and the president will get a chance to see what the recovery effort, when it is in full swing, as it is in this part of the storm area, is under way. and, chris, i'm being directed to look skyward. i think we see air force one starting to come in, so i'll toss back to you now and be back with you in a few minutes. >> we will for sure. while we wait for air force one to make its landing, i want to go over to the convention center shelter in houston, where we find jacob rascon, where we just heard that briefing again, jacob, by city officials. they were expecting 5,000 people, they now have 9,000 and

are looking for even more places to put the texans who are displaced. we do not have -- do we have the picture from there? while we're waiting for air force one to land. jason spencer is the public information officer for harris county. that is home to houston and he joins me now by phone. thank you so much. as we're waiting for the president to land, i want to show viewers a picture of your sheriff, gonzalez, helping a child get through some of the worst flooding. we have been watching live as some of these rescue efforts have gone on with some of our reporters out in the field. how hard is it right now to keep pace with all the calls that are coming in? do you have a good sense of how many people are out there waiting to be rescued? >> i can tell you that it has been just an all hands on deck approach for several days now. our deputies from street level to the sheriff himself have been

working 12 hour plus shifts and we're out rescuing folks as fast as we can. we're really grateful we had support from other state, federal and local entities, pitching in with boats and personnel, neighbors have been helping each other, just if you have an air boat, people are out picking up neighbors. i don't think it is an overstatement to say tens of thousands of rescues happened throughout harris county. and they're continuing to go and we're going to keep going until we're done, until we rescue everyone. so to those out there waiting rescue, hold tight, make yourself visible, hang a towel, sheet from your door or window so we can see you quickly and get on to the next family. if a rescue boat comes by or high water vehicle comes by and offers you help, we highly recommend you take it.

don't think you can wait and catch the next one. it is difficult to know how long it will be. >> one thing we just heard, and we have our correspondents who are out talking to people is an older woman who had just been rescued, she said everything was fine yesterday, and the water just came in so fast today and she and her husband were diabetic, fortunately were able to be rescued. we also heard in that update from city officials that it is probably a weather event for at least another 24 hours. i would presume you're going to continue your operations even beyond the next 24 hours, what can you tell us about your plans going forward? >> so we're still in the full swing of, you know, rescue mode. and we're going to continue to be in that mode until it is not needed anymore. until we send boats out and can't find anyone else who needs to be helped. as hard to predict how long that will be. but we're not going to stop. >> jason spencer from harris county, where they have their hands full and we have a little

bit of a phone break up there. i want to thank him and all the folks there who are working. i just want to let you know that as we continue to watch exactly what is going on with these rescues on the right, on the left, you see that the air force one touching down, we're waiting to seat president who has a number of other administration officials with him. joining me now, anita mcbride, former first lady laura bush's chief of staff, and matt mccartney, the former chief of staff under president clinton. both of you worked at the white house when these natural disasters happened. matt, not only was president clinton in office for hurricane andrew, i think a cat 5 when it hit florida, but you were also on the board of the bush/clinton katrina fund. what can president trump accomplish with a visit like today's? >> i think the american people want to see their president be concerned and also --

>> i'm sorry, matt, i can interrupt you for a second, the governor is speaking and we'll come back to you. >> fine, thank you, chris. >> -- need to be responsive to the challenges that texans are facing. >> has he heard about the crisis down here in rockport, some of the smaller cities that may not be getting as much help obviously for obvious reasons because if -- has he heard about the needs down here, smaller towns? >> i talked to him about those need s personally. i was here in corpus yesterday and after my meeting with local officials, telephone conference with the president, and let him know specifically what the challenges were, by the local officials here, the need to address challenges as one example after listening to the needs for power down here, i made a phone call and we got a thousand more people who were involved in getting power going. be involved today. >> and what do you want to tell everybody watching who has relatives in houston right now? i know that it is one of the most devastating floods of all

time, american history. what do you want to tell them right now to people who are listening? >> everyone in the state of texas is focused first on saving every life that we can. then we want to help in the evacuation and transition process, in typical texas fashion, we'll rebuild and make it better than ever. >> what about an aid package plan? is that in the works? what is the status of that right now? >> the president and his team have been talking to us about providing tremendous aid. it will be one of the things we talk in more detail about today. it will be something that the president is able to provide from his resources but also part will be an appropriation from the united states congress. >> what else in the way of fema can fema do? they have done a lot so far. >> there are a whole lot of different tools that fema has available. and that will be one of the things we talk about. >> what do you hope the president takes away from what he sees out here today? >> he want him to see and

understand the enormous challenges that texans have faced and the need for the aid that he's providing. he's a champion of texans, a champion of helping us rebuild. and i think we'll hear that commitment. thank you. i got to go. >> thank you, governor. >> well, you hear the governor talking about the need they have, clearly for money. one thing that is going to be looked at is the propose the budget by the president that cuts hundreds of millions of dollars from programs that would help people who find themselves in circumstances like we just saw and are continuing to see with hurricane and tropical storm harvey. the fema budget slashed significantly is going to be a debate that we're going to see going on in congress. we saw a debate after hurricane sandy. but in the meantime, the president is going to have a chance to get on the ground, to talk to people, to talk to folks in the middle of this. let me go back to matt mccartney, knows what it is like having been in the middle, both of hurricane andrew, working for the president at the time,

president clinton, but also working post katrina. what is the president's job here today? >> chris, i think the president has to be engaged. he has to show an understanding of the situation. and i think he has to show some real empathy and concern and compassion for the people of houston, surrounding areas. this is a devastating situation. also in mentioning the bush/clinton katrina fund you need a follow-up and follow through and that's what governor abbott was talking about as well. so you have to have an immediate response. i think we did that well with james lee witt, director of fema. you have to be ahead of the curve and be prepared for these kind of catastrophes. >> how important is it, anita, for him to be there, to be the consoler in chief? how important is what we hear from him today, not just in the way he interacts with people, but in the things he's going to say? >> in this immediate aftermath, of course, everybody is in shock. the people of texas and people

around the country, particularly the people affected who don't know what the new normal is going to be now. they need reassurance that the president and first lady care about them and the country cares about them. and that after the immediate efforts to begin recovery, it will be a long haul. and he needs to help set the stage for that. >> you talk about the long haul, the focus is on saving lives and keeping people safe, we know this will continue for another 24 hours, based on your experience after katrina, what are the people of texas facing? >> well, they're facing some real challenges. and we all hope and pray that those challenges can be met. i do think it brings out this kind of challenge, brings out the best in americans. we saw that really with the eclipse of people coming together. we're seeing people come together now in a very different

circumstance, of course. it is a time for all americans to step forward, the president needs to lead in that effort, sincerely, strongly, confidently, in and engaged fashion and all forms of government, all elements of government, federal, state and local, need to work seamlessly together. that will be one of the real challenges for brock long, the director of fema. he comes well prepared from the state of alabama. he's seen this firsthand with hurricane katrina. >> first lady laura bush was involved in the katrina efforts, particularly with kids, heavily involved in education programs overall as first lady. what role can melania trump play? >> this is one of the issues that was so tragic, of course, in katrina, so many children were even separated from their families. and reuniting families was a very difficult process, and mrs. bush was most concerned about the kids. they were scared. children who told her she made

over 25 visits to the gulf coast after katrina. we went repeatedly as schools were reopening, as libraries were reopening, as playgrounds were reopening, but children that would tell her, you know, they were afraid to take a bath because they were afraid of the water. there are, you know, some long-term support that kids will need and this is where the first lady, this current first lady is very good with children. and hugging them and telling them that it is going to be okay. something important for them to hear right now. >> matt, she brings up a good point, which is that this will, in a few days, potentially, be off the front pages. it will not be wall to wall cable coverage. once the waters start to recede, once people have a chance to go back and reassess and take a look at exactly what happened to their homes or when is left of their homes and there may be -- there almost certainly will be a fight coming up about funding, how much money the federal government will give, and what

their role will be. but long-term as again i'm sure you saw with katrina, these needs don't go away when the everyday pictures on television go away. >> they absolutely don't we saw that in every catastrophe this time including hurricane andrew, the floods in iowa we saw a bit later in the clinton presidency. it is a long-term project. that's what i was referring to earlier with the bush/clinton katrina fund. i think, look, houston is a world class city. i had the privilege to work in houston during my time in the natural gas business. it has wonderful people, resilient, governor abbott talked about the spirit of texas, and that's -- a more optimistic spirit than in our country. we have to look at this realistically and we're going to have to engage enand engage long-term. this is when we see fiscal responsibility needed, but the

role, the proper appropriate role of the federal government. >> well, i think that's a very important point. wasn't to hear more from both of you about this as we're waiting for the president to come off of air force one. i mentioned that fight certain to be go on. the thing about federal government is, it is easy to criticize it, easy to say it is bloated and then something like this happens, and it is where we as americans turn to because the red cross can only do so much. the salvation army can only do so much. local volunteers and churches, they are being stretched to the limit here. and we had the president who tweeted this morning that -- about some of the positions as we see the president walking off of air force one, with first lady melania trump is there as well. and she has her flotus cap on and heading over to get a briefing. he talked about not wanting to fill all the positions that are empty right now. they have been criticized for not staffing up in many areas. he said we don't need many of them.

we have to reduce the size of government, do you see this sort of sparking a larger conversation now about the role of government, and about how congress apportions its money and the support that the president does or does not give to organizations like fema? >> well, certainly this is where the efficacy of our government gets tested. how will it respond to and deliver the services that are desperately needed. and that's at the federal level, and local and state level too. and the degree that all of these levels of government are cooperating with each other is really important. i think the other thing too, having worked in government a number of times, not necessarily the quantity of people that are working there, it is the quality of the work that they're able to do and the leadership that they are -- that they are given and certainly the resources to be able to deliver services is important. so this is -- it doesn't surprise me that this particular -- shouldn't surprise

any of us that this particular president has questioned how government works. this is the first time he's leading a massive bureaucracy like this. and this is where maybe he will see when these government agencies are working well together, with the right people leading them, that they can be in fact very effective and be life saving, which is what it is going to be right now. >> just a couple of updates as we watch the -- have the small business administration and some of the other members of the president's cabinet who are there and having conversations, sarah huckabee sanders did brief aboard -- have a brief gaggle aboard, she said the president does plan to come back on saturday. there are places obviously that he cannot travel to today where it would be disruptive. we expect him to come back not just to texas but also potentially to louisiana. also, we have -- there have been questions about senator ted cruz, he said he didn't know if he was going to be able to get away from what he was doing to

actually have time to get with the president, a part of that is logistical, if he can travel, we're told he'll travel from corpus christi to austin with the president. garrett haak continues to stand by. as well as kristen welker at the white house. kristen, as we're watching this scene unfold on the tarmac there, in corpus christi, texas, what are you hearing from white house officials about what the president wants to accomplish today? >> a couple of takeaways from the gaggle that sarah huckabee sanders had with reporters aboard air force one. first, she said the purpose of the trip is to lay the foundation for what we know will be a long recovery effort. that is a big focus for the president today. and he has verbally said that he will dedicate the resources needed to help texas rebuild, to help with the recovery process, but i think you're going to hear him really stress that today on the ground when he's meeting with state and local officials,

he's getting briefed, he's meeting with families who have been impacted and then one other key point i think that we learned from sarah huckabee sanders is that the president does want to be very cautious about not getting in the way of the work that is being done and that's why you're seeing him there in corpus christi, that's why he's traveling to austin, he's not going to be traveling to the areas that are hardest hit, chris. and then look at the optics of this, the fact he's there with his cabinet secretary, clearly administration wants to send a whole of government response to -- >> all hands on deck. >> all hands on deck, absolutely right. hhs secretary tom price, ben carson, hud secretary, elaine duke, the acting dhs secretary, even linda mcmahon, small business administrator, all there on the ground. they're going to be meeting with their counterparts, chris, throughout the day. so this is a robust response, the optics are important as you were talking about, the president there, but also the first lady and i think what they are going to try to do is not only get briefed on this situation on the ground, not

only get briefed on the ways in which the federal government can help the response to this, but also try to provide that very human comfort for the people there who are suffering on the ground, chris. >> it does strike me as we listen to what kristen has to say that this is, as many people talked about, a test for the president, because we're watching to see what his interaction is here, what he has to say, we have seen in other circumstances how previous presidents have found themselves in a little bit of hot water when they maybe said not exactly the right thing. having said that, this is a test, is it not, for the whole of government, as we look at how broad the impact is, whether it is education, whether it is housing, whether it is homeland security, the breadth of impact that the federal government has a role in is really extraordinary when you look at the amount of destruction in a state like texas. >> absolutely, no question about it. people have a right to expect government and all levels to

function, function competently and be responsive to their needs. and this is a time of need. and we'll see a tremendous outpouring by americans to be supportive and a lot of organizations, as you noted, but our federal government needs to be engaged, and competent in this situation. that's what president trump is trying to convey today at his visit, appropriately so. he is going to have to show some real feeling, some real empathy, to the people in texas that have been hit in this devastating manner and then it is going to have to be followed by real work, real support. i think we did a pretty good job at that under james lee witt with president clinton. we were able to balance the budget in the process, spend the money wisely and our government was smaller than at any time since john kennedy. that goes to the points that anita i thought very eloquently made in her comments. >> matt mccartney, and anita

mcbride, kristen welker at the white house for us, i want to thank all of you and bring in lieutenant colonel travis walters from the texas national guard. he comes to us from austin, texas, which is where the president will travel next. if the president came to you and said how are things going what would you tell him? >> -- evacuation operations as well as sheltering folks. we are being mobilized for the entire national guard, governor did that yesterday, it is all hands on deck here. >> we missed just the very top, we had a technical problem, so i'm not sure if you answered this, but do you have a good sense how many people are out there still waiting to be rescued? >> we do not have an exact number of that, of course. but we are still conducting operations, we're still rescuing people, the situation is very

fluid on the ground. just spoke with some commanders in south houston later -- earlier today. and they expressed that sometimes a road will be passable one hour and the next hour it won't be. we're working with that, trying to get to people as quickly as possible, we'll stay there until the job is done. >> we have heard that from people being rescued. give us an idea of the breadth of operations, what is it that the national guard is trying to do in situations like this? >> right now, we are focused mainly on saving lives and helping our fellow texans. that includes search and rescue operations, both from the ground and the air. that means hoist operations by army helicopters, air force c-130s evacuating people out of galveston island, which occurred yesterday. and as well as ground operations that includes high water vehicles, pulling people out of their homes, and getting them to safety as well as boat operations to rescue people as

well. >> thank you so much, we appreciate it. and our thoughts and prayers are with all the folks, obviously not just in harm's way, but those who are working to make sure that they get people out of harm's way. to gadi schwartz in bay town, texas. what is the situation where you are? >> the situation right now is that it is raining and the bayou is overflowing. take a look. this is where neighbors have come to launch boats, it is also where neighbors are bringing neighbors after they save them. you see the boats, you see that boat right there, that's actually drifting. that's how powerful the current is. so it is very difficult for these guys to get in and get out. there is a bridge over here, but you can't cross over into that side from this area. so they're worried about the people that are over on the other side, hoping that there are boats making similar rescues over here. but you see right here, people are loading in jet skis and you got neighbors out here that have come, even if they don't have a boat, to help drive people to

shelters. so loading in these jet skis and another boat coming out. we were talking to the people brought out of their homes. i was talking to this woman a little bit earlier. you were saying you're worried about that is going on at your house now. tell me about what's go on. >> we had to evacuate yesterday. when we left it was probably the water was probably already about four inches into the house. and we had to leave our three cats behind. and they're on the second story, they have food and water. but i don't know that with this amount of rain that the water is not going to get up to the second story. and i'm just worried they won't survive. >> what was the subdivision like when you left? >> when we left, everything had already crested in the area. all of the reservoirs that we have there. and there was already, like i said, we have a soccer field that was completely full and the water started to come into the house. >> so you're out here today hoping that people are going to check on your -- >> might help me go rescue them out of the house.

that's all i'm asking. >> you look cold. we have a car over here. i'm going to sit you in the car in a bit. hang tight. that's one of the stories that is going on out here. again, rescues happening. we talked to a man a little bit ago, he had done about 200 rescues so far in this area alone, bay town, just down the way, one of the largest exxon refine felries in the country. this is an area that hasn't seen at least from where we're at right now, a lot of emergency crews, it is mostly neighbors coming out, using an app, and knowing that there is a need out here for rescues, so we're going to get this woman in our car and we'll come back with another update in a second. >> as you walk with her, president do walk with her, does she have a shelter to go to? >> she does. she has shelter. she has come out with her family and they're basically just looking for a ride to go check on the cats. it is a heart breaking story.

so many people out here, pets are family, right? when people evacuated they left the pets at home, but right now it is -- it is a situation of life and death, in fact. we have another crew, it looks like people being rescued now coming in. and these are all people that live nearby that have come out to help. and they're bringing people in. there is a wheelchair coming out. people just found some wheelchairs they knew to bring them out here to where there is high land. and you got some pets, people have been able to bring some pets in, but, again, it is a very difficult situation because it is -- it is almost a matter of triage out here. so the people that are looking to go rescue their pets, they're hoping that somebody is going to be able to take them out to check on the homes. you can tell things are extremely busy out here. we have another dog on there. >> is that what they're doing, they're actually taking people with them so they can find their house and find the correct place to look for the animals that

have been left behind? >> i think these people right here, these people are just coming, they-like li look like e just evacuated. are you all right, ma'am? >> yes. >> can i ask you a quick question? what does the neighborhood look like where you came from? >> pretty much like this. >> a lot of people in their houses? >> the water was up to here in our house. >> at what point did you decide we got to get out of sneer. >> we saw the water coming up and the rain keep coming down, we knew it would keep coming. >> how many neighbors are still back there? >> probably a few. they're going to stick it out, i guess. >> you got your dogs out? >> yeah, we have a dog. >> got it. perfect. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> so, again, we have seen rescue after rescue coming in, with people, you know, bringing whatever they can, and usually those pets are one of the things that people grab. but there are families out here hoping they're going to be able to get their pets in a little bit. and obviously, the biggest hope

is that the rain lets up and the waters start to recede here. >> i hope that woman was able to find some place warm to wait, though my guess is she is -- she's got a priority there, which is to rescue her animals. we will see. come back to us if there is anything, just give us the high sign and we'll come back to you. there is a lot of activity where you are. in the meantime, i want to -- yesterday, at this very desk, he was sitting here with john torres. he has since gone to dallas for a closer look. is that right? is that where you are, dr. torres? >> yes, i'm here in dallas. i'm in front of the kay bailey hutchison convention center, a major evacuation center for people evacuating from houston and other areas. in the center itself, they set up 50 to 100 medical beds, pediatric beds to take care of children, doctors, nurses, pharmacists are involved to try

to take care of the healthy, the people coming here. the person in charge is dr. ray fowler, a physician at parkland emergency department, and chief medical officer for the mini hospital here. thank you for being here. you're a busy, busy man. what are the health conditions you're most concerned with right now initially? >> current clinic we have, this one is just opening today, 22% of the population are age 3 or under. there is going to be an enormous pediatric population. this will be the largest disaster response we have ever done in dallas. this is our fifth major hurricane response in 12 years. hurricane katrina was enormous. i worked with that unwith. this this is going to be twice the size. >> what do you think medically is going to happen over the next couple of weeks? >> everything from what little babies can get, from seizures to meningitis, what old folks get, which will be strokes and heart attacks and everything in between. we take care of women in labor, we'll have a methadone clinic

probably. we take care of the entirety of the population of the people that are served. >> for people that are still in houston evacuating into floodwaters what is your message to them healthwise in. >> firstly, i think it is very important to understand that if they haven't had a tetanus shot in a long time, any chance they bumped against something metal or something, it will be very important that they get their health screened. we are prepared to do that. we have multiple physicians and nurses and other staff available to do the screening necessary. >> in the water itself, is there anything they need to be concerned with? >> absolutely. this water is not sterile. it could be anything from fungus to algae to spores and so forth. we'll check them over very carefully. we anticipate the buses coming right away. >> diabetes, heart disease, those kinds of things you're looking at as well. >> two types of people we'll see, those acutely ill with anything from diarrhea, we had that in hurricane katrina, 200 victims of neurovirus diarrhea.

and folks are rescued from the water. they have high blood pressure, don't have their meds, diabetic, off their insulin, we'll take care of them. >> you do a fantastic job. >> thank you very much. >> can i get -- can i get in a quick question? dr. torres, is he still -- i was stunned to hear him say, he thought this could potentially be twice the size of katrina. a catastrophe of epic proportions, of course, in that situation. fortunately haven't seen here 1800 people die, but what makes him say it could be twice the size of katrina? >> chris' question, you menti mentioned twice the size of katrina, what makes you say that? >> we're prepared for 5,000. as the mayor announced yesterday, we may go upwards of 10, 15, 20,000, which means we can't get all of them in there. we have a lower level here that we can go to, but that's going to be phase b. we're going to have to do some serious planning.

>> it could be huge. you're not taking care of patients here all the time, shipping them out to other hospitals. >> if need be, yes. i would conclude by saying, if it needs to be done, we'll get it done. >> there you go, chris. these are the people taking care of the evacuees who immediate that health care. >> to both of you, our thanks. much appreciated. still to come, president trump and first lady melania trump, we saw them land at corpus christi, they're on their way to get a briefing on hurricane harvey. stay with us right here on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. it's time for the biggest sale of the year

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dramatic rescue operations continue to be going on all across the houston area. we of been watching them live. n minute by minute some of these operations. now i understand as we see at least one boat behind you, gadi, there is another evacuation they have to do? >> reporter: yeah. that's right. i want to point out that boat. they're rushing off. we were just talking to them, then they got the call that there is an elementary school on the other side of this bayou that is risen and that elementary school was an evacuation zone on that side of the river. they are now evacuating that evacuation zone because the water is coming up to too high on that school. it's an elementary school. you see other boats here, a pontoon, some jet skis behind us. they're loading in. the plant from this area is to get as many boats as they can over to that evacuation zone,

over to that school, and start evacuating everybody from there, bringing them here to dry land and they're taking them to two or three shelters over here. people that don't have boats have brought cars out here so they can shuttle people back and forth. there's also some buses. but now it's getting congested because there are so many cars, so many people wanting to help so, they're starting to clear people out that don't have boats to put in the water. you have all of these crews right here, and police just arrived on the scene. they're basically being briefed on the situation by the residents over here and just kind of taking it upon themselves to organize and to get everybody to safety. so as soon as we see some of those boats returning with the evacuees who are now being brought here to safety, we're going to g ahead and flag you down. back to you. >> i think this is a perfect example of what we heard from officials earlier today, which is that obviously if you have a role to play it's fine to be out there. otherwise, if you're just out there seeing what's going on, you could be hindering some of

the things that the people who are helping need to d. gadi, we'll let you get back to it. remarkable reporting there. one organization on the ground in texas is team rubicon. that is a nonprofit that trains military veterans to aid in disaster relief. joining me now is the co-founder and ceo of team rubicon, jake wood. thanks for joining us. what's rubicon doing right now on the ground in texas? >> of course. thanks for having me. our hearts and prayers go out to the people of houston, texas. team rubicon has three boats in the water right now assisting with rescue efforts. we have about 16 swift water rescue personnel manning those boats. in addition to that, we of got two reconnaissance and assessment teams to south and west of houston liasing with local officials as we begin preparations for a much larger response where we could be deploying upwards of a thousand veteran volunteers into the city of houston and the state of texas over the course of the coming weeks and months to assist with the longer term

recovery efforts. >> and these are men and women who are going to call on their training from the military to do these things that are going to be to need to be done, yes? >> exactly right. the mission of team rubicon is to recruit, train, and deploy military veterans for disaster response. these are men and women who have been called to serve before and the u.s. taxpayer has already invested a ton of money to get them trained and provide them peerngs and we're just trying to make sure that doesn't go to waste. >> how does all this get funded? do they take on some of their own expenses when they do this? >> well, team rubicon's a charity organization. we're funded through individual contributions and donations from individuals and companies. and we pay all the expenses for our volunteers to km and deploy. we want to make sure they have no financial hurdles to participate and to help their communities when their communities need them most. >> jake wood, co-founder and ceo of team rubicon, our thoughts and prayers with all the folks who are there and our thanks to you who come to the aid of people in need in these times of

crisis. we much appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. >> of course. thanks for having me. >> it's astonishing they just keep coming one after another, these rescues, children, pets, the elderly, people who were in their homes yesterday, thought they were out of the woods, now they're finding themselves in harm's way. we are waiting for the president of the united states along with the governor to arrive for a briefing in corpus christi, texas. we saw the president and the first lady landing with members of his cabinet just a short time ago. as we're watching these pictures, i want to bring in ann guerin and phil ruker, two writers with "the washington post." ann, we have a situation for this president, we keep talking about a test but it was interesting as i was talking to anita mcbride, former first lady laura bush's chief of staff and matt mccollar ti, the chief of staffer understood president clinton, talk about this as a

test, they were saying it will be key to see the way he has real feelings and real empathy, how does he respond in this first big situation like this. what will you be looking for? na'il be looking far combination of things that do test a president's response to a sudden event like this that's really out of his control. and one of those things will be how well can he relate to people in a time of crisis, can he be a figure of sort of comforting authority, and the executive order will be how well does he have the facts at his command. will he be able to say that will give some practical frame to what the federal government is doing and what kind of federal resources including money are going to be applied, and then anything that he'll say about the longer term cost of this.

he very confidently predicted yesterday that the money would come through from congress very quickly and there wouldn't be any problem, but he's going to be facing some more specific questions about that today. whauz wh what does that look like and what's he going do about it. >> is he going to pivot, phil rucker, from a budget, where hundreds of millions of dollars were cut from programs that would help people like the ones we're seeing now, some being carried off the boat, a gentlemen carrying two garbage bags filled with things, one looked like a hand made afghan, basically looked like -- there he is, anything he might be able to salvage and throw in. seeing children wrapped in towels. can he pivot away from what was a budget and proposal is aed they we're going to shrink the size of government even as we watch the need for government in a situation like this? >> it's a great question and i

don't know how this is going to play out. it's going to be an extraordinary cleanup effort that's going to take many months and a huge amount of federal resources. >> years. >> years really. the question is whether this president's going to have the patience to stick with it and be committed to this effort over the long run. you know, two months from now, three months from now, eight months from now, a year from now, is he still going to be focused on texas, is he going to be driving resources to those areas to help clean up and is he going to use whatever political capital he has on capitol hill, which is not much right now, is he going the use that to get out of congress the resources that the people of houston need. >> we just have a minute left, ann, but it occurred to me as i was watching this, people wanted him because they wanted a change, they didn't like the way government was working. when you have a situation like this, experience matter, knowing how government works, knowing the way these systems are put into place and why they're put into place to help people matter. i guess we're also going the see whether or not they're able to

handle this as a government, as an overall government, right, ann? >> yeah, sure. i mean, certainly a lot of the mechanics and the machinery involved in the federal response here are not things that trump has changed or really would have had, you know, much reason to consider in his fairly brief time in office. a fair amount of that just sort of runs on its own and it's the white house's job to martial it and to stay out of the way when appropriate. so far we see evidence that that is working pretty well. there haven't been any, you know, major things that you can point to in terms of white house -- that would be the white house's fault. but beyond, that i think people chose trump in part because they wanted someone who was decisive and we'll see him playing that role today. >> ann guerin, phil rucker, thanks to beth of you. this has been and will continue to be i'm sure an afternoon of

both heartrending and heartwarming situations because we've soon so many people who left with just their lives but they did leave with their lives because of the bravery of the men and women out there who continued these ongoing rescue operations they expect will continue well into tomorrow and beyond. you saw a picture before that of ted cruz, the senator from texas, waiting for the arrival of the president. there is the president and the governor and we will continue to follow his visit there to the ravaged areas of texas. that's going to d it for me. i'm chris jansing in for andrea mitchell. craig melvin picks up our coverage. hello, my friend. >> good to see you, chris. good afternoon. we continue our breaking news coverage of now tropical storm harvey this hour. threatening new, new catastrophic flooding in houston there. live look there, left side of your screen. this is corpus christi, texas, where, again, president trump set to receive a briefing any moment now.