anybody has made. i've certainly shown up for presidential trips ill dressed, without the proper rain gear or whatever and paid the price. but i think that the first lady, you know, i'm not surprised that she's there just because given the criticism that came out of the first visit that the president didn't show empathy, didn't meet with the survivors, and then if you remember who was sent there, the vice president and his wife, karen pence, and there was a point made of having a camera shot with mike pence and karen pence meeting with survivors and showing that empathy. you know, we have yet to see donald trump in one of these situations, but it can't hurt to have his wife there kind of doing the same thing. i don't think that she would go so far as to make any kind of remarks that are scripted in any way or intended, but i'm sure that they will have the pool cameras, as we call them, the small group of reporters who are traveling in that motorcade right now surrounding them and

getting those shots of the first lady also interacting with some of the victims. that will probably be to his benefit. >> yeah. so for all of you again who may be just joining us as we are approaching and actually hitting the bottom of the hour here, 12:30 on the east coast, but 11:30 a.m. in houston, the president an his motorcade taking off from the ellington field there. he has just landed on air force one with first lady melania trump, and they are going to have a series of meetings. they are scheduled to meet in just a few minutes with folks who have been tremendously affected by hurricane harvey. those who have been impacted and are just trying to look at their lives, figure out where things stand and begin the process of rebuilding, a significant lift for many, many people around the state of texas and of course in houston proper. the president will then be going to a hurricane harvey relief center. we are not sharing the details of which specific one. there are certainly security concerns. and again, as the president

wanted to make certain he expressed earlier in the week with his visit to texas, he did not want to interrupt any of the rescue and recovery efforts right now. as you're seeing, the tarmac is dry there, things look to be a little bit better. though again, the process of cleanup and recovery is pretty extraordinary and will be years in the making, according to texas governor greg abbott, who met the president and first lady there on the tarmac. they had a few words together on the other side of the car that we were able to see directly on the other side of the camera but we could see them speaking directly with him. after that the president meeting with members of the texas delegation there back at ellington field, and beyond that, the president will take off once again and head to lake charles, louisiana, another area that was hit by a second landfall that was made by harvey. it is quite extraordinary as we watch this very circuitous cavalcade, if you will, convoy

of cars as they exit the field proper and make their way to the first meeting for the president. so for all of you, we are going to continue following the president as he tours harvey-ravaged texas for the second time. right now the fire is out but danger certainly persists here. how long will this unstable chemical plant keep people from their homes? we'll bring you a live report coming up and i say this with my thanks to heidi prez bowla and jay newton small.

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at 36 past the hour, residents remain out of their homes near the arkema chemical plant in crosby, texas. now, officials say they expect more explosions, more fires, all caused by the degrading chemical products in these trailers outside the plant. let's go live now to houston. nbc's catie beck joins us.

i know there have been a couple of fires this week at the arkema chemical plant. are there expectations that it's going to get worse before it gets better? >> reporter: at this point, yes, they are keeping a very close eye on that plant, expecting there will be more fires and more explosions. right now it seems to be pretty contained but they are still holding that mile and a half perimeter for the evaluation of that area and the reason is because of toxic chemicals that may be released into the air. now, the epa has aerial surveillance right now. they are going around that area and assessing whether or not those toxic chemicals are in fact getting into the air, but they are telling folks in that area, please heed all of the safety precautions that we have been giving to you over the past couple of days. please stay out of that area because they don't want to put anyone at risk. alex. >> all right, catie. very quickly where you are, that area, just all the stuff behind you. it's people's lives, junk and the inside of their homes now

just ruined. >> reporter: yeah. unfortunately not all of it -- some of it is junk, some of it is sheetrock, but some of it is keepsakes, things they will never get back that meant something to them. this is an active cleanup site. there are crews here, volunteers that have been here several hours this morning and yesterday trying to get some handle on how to start cleaning all this up. as you can see, it's a daunting task and pretty overwhelming when your yard looks like this and the inside of your house was five feet under water just a few days ago. so it's a really an overwhelming sight. >> and you're seeing this on all the front yard lawns dotting down the street, right? >> it literally looks, yes, like every house on the block is having some kind of rummage sale. that's not the case. this is actually the inside of homes. this is children's toys. this is prescription medications.

this is family haeirlooms, furniture that's been handed down for generations. we watched people sort through this. one homeowner said to me if i stop and think about what i'm doing, i'll start crying so i just have to keep moving forward and cleaning up because i will be so devastated if i stop to consider what i'm doing. >> i think you're describing a lot of people who probably remain in a state of shock. thank you. joining us by phone, rachel moreno, public information officer. the arkema chemical planti, tal about what it is that's burning and how it happened. >> so right now we have six trailers that still have an organic peroxide that is in them. and the reason they're in these trailers is because the plant lost electrical power during hurricane harvey. so they moved the chemicals into the trailers, refrigerated trailers, in order to keep them what they thought was safe and

their backup plan for this situation. unfortunately, the waters got so high that their second plan unfortunately didn't work. so right now what's happening is the chemicals that are in there decomposing and causing a combustion, which is then causing fire and a lot of black smoke. >> rachel, can you describe how strong the fumes are, and do they pose any danger to people? >> i can't describe that. we're about three miles from the plant and we've set up that evacuation zone to keep the citizens safe around that plant. if they're outside of the zone, they should be safe. if they do smell anything from that smoke, we're asking them to turn off their ac units and make sure their windows are closed so it doesn't get into their homes. >> and how long will people be out of their homes, do you expect? >> until the situation is over

with. we're not comfortable allowing them back into the 1.5 mile radius. we anticipate that these six trailers that are remaining will have the same -- that will happen the same way yesterday, we're not exactly sure on the timing. as soon as that happens and we can make sure the air quality is good and it is safe for rez doents retu -- residents to return, we'll get them back to their homes. >> rachel moreno, thank you so much, public information officer for the harris county fire marshal, appreciate that. >> thank you. in just a moment, assessing the government's emergency response to hurricane harvey. a former fema insider is joining us next. haven't you ever wanted something more barry?

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approaching 45 past the hour. there you're seeing what took place about 15 minutes ago. the president and first lady having landed there at ellington field right near houston, just on the outskirts there. they're going to be making their way to a hurricane relief center

and meeting with those who have been so dramatically affected by the effects of hurricane harvey which landed one week ago. actually last night. so a little over seven days ago since hurricane harvey ravaged the state of texas and moved on to louisiana. the president will also be going to lake charles, louisiana, after he meets with a few people in texas. we'll keep following all of that for you. joining me right now, tim manning, former deputy administrator for protection and national preparedness at fema. tim, with a welcome to you, can you give me your assessment so far on the response to harvey? have you been surprised by anything you've seen out of texas? >> i'd say the response so far has been going pretty well, right according to plan. certainly surprised by the magnitude of the flooding, the amount of precipitation dropped by the storm. but the coordination between the state of texas, harris county, fema and the surrounding areas seems to be going pretty well. >> has fema ever had to tackle

something this big or is this, as they keep saying, just of epic proportions and unprecedented and historic? was katrina close to this? >> certainly katrina, the magnitude of the disaster from mississippi and through louisiana and north from katrina was devastating. the response to hurricane sandy was also of an enormous magnitude. but this is -- this is something bigger than we've seen as far as the number of homes that have been inundated by the storm. certainly something bigger than we've seen in quite some time. >> how concerned are you about the warnings from houston officials about the arkema chemical plant that more explosions are likely to happen and really need to happen in these remaining six trailers that they have. they're not putting firefighters on those fires for their own safety. what about the folks who live near that plant. do you also have concerns about this turning into a greater environmental disaster? >> well, it looks to be that

they have the evacuation zone set pretty well and have people evacuated and have an exclusion zone around the chemical planting. i think it bears close scrutiny as time goes on that the epa is involved in monitoring the plume is encouraging. as long as they keep that information flowing to the public and make sure that people know what they need to do to keep themself safe, that's the right tack to take. certainly concern going forward, this may not be the last place there is danger, so it's important that the officials and public pay close attention throughout the region to any other hazards that may develops athe waters recede. >> tim, you may have seen the article in "the houston chronicle" which states that harvey is a sea wall moment. what they're referring to is the great storm of 1900 that killed 8,000 people in galveston and led to the building of a sea wall, which stands today. why isn't there a coastal system in place to protect the refineries, the chemical plants, and that whole area around the

houston ship channel? >> that's an extraordinarily difficult project, problem to tackle really. now, houston has done a great deal of work since tropical storm allison in 2001, i think, to mitigate their risk. you've seen -- you see a lot of important infrastructure being developed all along the coast that protects against sea level rise and storm surge. sometimes, though, what we've seen with leveeing rivers and river control, sometimes that can exacerbate the problems. so certainly it bears looking at and some close scrutiny. i think there is definitely some value in long-term mitigation projects throughout the ship channel, throughout the houston area to protect both the chemical plants and all the critical infrastructure in the community. when you've seen two big storms like this, two big flooding events in less than a couple of decades, it certainly is time to take a really close look and see what you can do to mitigate that from happening again in the future. >> can you possibly put a price

tag on rebuilding this? we know the president has asked for 14 billion, almost 8 billion immediately and another 6.5 billion or so at the end of the month. is that going to do it? >> you know, as time goes on and the waters recede and we get a better look at what actually the damage is, we'll have a better idea. just for comparison, hurricane katrina was in the neighborhood of $50 billion plus another, say, $20 billion to the national flood insurance program. hurricane sandy was $20 billion plus i think another $10 billion from the insurance program. this storm here, hurricane harvey, we're hearing estimates of 100,000 homes affected, the entire harris county metro area. i think it's certainly on par with katrina, probably even possibly bigger than that. >> i know governor abbott has said $125 billion. sheila jackson lee, whose constituents are there in houston, has said $150 billion. it is extraordinary to try to get your head around those

firgd figures. tim manning, thank you for your insights. i appreciate it, sir. hurricane harvey has president trump's first test when it comes to a crisis, so how did he do? we'll find out from our panel, next. oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek. with no artificial preservatives hot doin all of our meat.. and no added nitrates or nitrites. in every... single... one. so, fire up the grill before summer's over, and finish summer strong with oscar mayer.

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it's been about 30 minutes since the president landed there at ellington field adjacent to houston, texas. he is touring a relief center. he'll be meeting with victims of hurricane harvey as well as legislators from the state of texas before moving on to lake charles, louisiana, a little bit later today. let's bring back jay newton small and joining her, carrie cheffield and peter emerson. with a welcome to you both shall guys, this is going to be quick. carrie, the empathy chip factor, the president has been accused of not being able to show that he possesses a lot of empathy. do you think he's back in texas after being there previously

this week to try to prove those critics wrong? do you think he's capable of doing it? >> well, alex, i think if the president walked on floodwaters, critics would find a way to say she's dama he's damaging the environment or something like that. >> do you think he showed empathy earlier? >> when he saw the crowd and said it's so great to see everyone. to me that was a measure of compassion to say, look, we're all here. we're here because our spirit is stronger than the storm. you know, it's really about how do you want to read the tea leaves. and the never trumpers -- and i was a never trumper but now i'm giving him a chance to say he is our president and he has in good faith done what he needs to in the face of a storm. i think that he's done a great job. i think it's good that he's coming back again and i think this is a chance for him to show even more compassion for people who have been directly affected. i think it made sense when he was there the first time to deal directly with the first responders because it was a

crisis situation. >> peter, i'm guessing you might read the tea leaves a little bit differently, as carrie put it. what do you think? >> i don't have to read tea leaves, i simply read what donald trump tweets and what he says. quite sadly, donald trump may bring empathy to houston and may even bring some action, although i'd suggest that he give the million dollars he committed without any kind of delay, but nonetheless you can't just provide empathy and compassion and talk about loving and being kind while at the same time you're tweeting bitter and divisive and mean bigot words. it just doesn't work that way. >> all right, jay, last word to you? >> alex, i think it goes back to the beginning of his response to this storm where, you know, as the storm is beginning to hit, he was clearly not focused on it. he was at camp david, he was looking at transgender bans in the military and pardoning sheriff arpaio and he was asked by the press, what do you tell the people of houston who are hunkering down for the storm and he just said good luck.

and so that's a tough way to begin this response to the storm and i think he's got to show that he can do better. >> well, we'll see if his critics allow him to turn around with what he does today. jay newton small, we'll say good-bye to you. carrie and peter, you guys are sticking around so we'll see you in just a bit. meantime for all of you, of course the president has arrived in houston, he is heading to the areas of destruction from hurricane harvey. we'll bring you more on his visit straight ahead. plus martin o'malley is joining me. his reaction to what's happening in texas after his run for the white house in 2016, could another candidacy be in his future for 2020?

take two. president trump and first lady melania return to texas after receiving criticism from their first visit. can the president make up for what the creditics call an empay

deficit. a second fire at a chemical plant. why authorities fear more fires may be in store. >> should dreamers be worried? >> we love the dreamers. we love everybody. >> dreamers in suspense. the president is expected to announce daca's fate on tuesday but will he listen to the house speaker's advice not to scrap the program? a very good day to all of you, i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it's 1:00 in the east, 10:00 a.m. in the west and high noon in texas. here's what's happening right now. you see the president, he has landed and is back in texas and expected to get a closer look at the damage from hurricane harvey. his first stop is houston, hardest hit by those floodwaters. then he heads on to lane charles, louisiana, before leaving for washington. mr. trump has asked for aid dollars and congress says it will act quickly on the request. mr. trump is asking for more than $14 billion for relief efforts. $7.85 immediately, $6.7 by the end of this month. now, t