katrina hit. >> that's one of the working pumps. that's frightening. president trump will get to see the devastation in person when he travels to texas where he will go to the state's emerge operation center. >> he is praising local officials. here's abc's jonathan karl. >> reporter: at the white house, president trump offered this message to the victims of hurricane harvey. we are 100% with you. >> we're one american family. we hurt together. we struggle together. and believe me, we endure together. we are one family. >> reporter: the president was upbeat about recovery efforts, saying the texas governor is doing a fantastic job. calling his fema administratored you standing in so many ways. >> texas is a unique place. a great state. great people. i think you will be up and running very quickly. really very quickly. yeah. i think you're going to be in

>> reporter: trump defended his pardon of joe arpaio, who is convicted of contempt of court for racial profiling. the pardon announced just azhar i have was hitting the texas coast. >> i assumed the ratings would be higher. the hurricane was just starting. and i put it out that i had pardoned, as we say, sheriff joe. she is loved in arizona. i thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly. >> reporter: the president and the first lady are headed to texas to get a firsthand look at the damage. white house officials say they're taking great pains not to interfere with recovery efforts. the president said he will be going back to texas and louisiana again on saturday. jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. >> jon was there for that news conference. it did produce a few laughs, thanks to the press corps from finland. >> the president thought tha

question during a "q" and "a" question. >> thank you, mr. president. i have a question to president trump, if i may. >> i know there might be a couple more questions. you want to take one more? go ahead, pick. go ahead. again? you're going to give her the same one. >> she's not the same lady. >> we have a lo of blonde women in finland. there are many blonde women in finland. >> they look similar. different blazers. a moment of brevity. coming up, an update from our reporter in south korea, as the north launches another missile. why this latest act is causing so much

and a desperate mother in texas, stranded on a rooftop. makes a play for help live on the air. how social media is helping in the rescue effort. so if you're on medicare or wbe soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust... or go with someone new. you're not stuck in a network...

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call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. the water level in the reservoir upstream of houston is rising, even though the army corps of engineers has been releasing water. you can see the water coming up over this parkway near the

reservoir. the two local dam were built in the 1930s and haven't been updated in more than 50 years. rainfall totals are topping three feet in parts of the houston area, with an addition of 10 to 15 inches of rain expected. you can see all of the activity expected in that area. those people will not get a break for a few days. >> the center of the storm, they're just south of the houston/galveston area and expected to make landfall later tomorrow morning, in the early morning hours. even though it's off the coast there, it's still bringing a whole lot of moisture right now. a lot of people are going to have a long, long few days still ahead of them. we get to more, now, on the other big stories. japan's government is reacting to a missile launch by north korea. >> this is provocative move prompting calls for an emergency meeting at

>> reporter: this is at least the fifth time north korea lobbed a missile over japan. the concept of a test missile falling in waters is troubling enough. but a test overflight sends chills across the nation. public announcement saying a north korean missile could hit hokkaido. lately, japan has been doing civil defense drills at hocoast cities to be prepared. if the missile at thrown to the south, that flight distance would have been less than 200 miles short of guam. north korea did warn earlier this month it will fire four of

surrounding guam, in what they call a historic enveloping fire. looks like they wanted to repeat that message loud and clear. the crisis has been calming down in recent weeks. rex tillerson praising north korea for showing restraint. president trump said he started to think kim jong-un was respecting the united states. the media here says challenging president trump, who threatened fire and fury. >> there was no actual damage from that missile. but the level of concern is extremely high this morning. north korea just seems to elevate things more and more. >> they do. and there was trading in the asian markets. and they sank. the neki was down in early morning trading. coming up, a desperate cry for help from one

rallying a community. >> how she sehelped save her family from the rising waters. and smooth removal for your lightest. tampax pearl. and pocket pearl, for on the go. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. flonase sensimist. ♪

♪ we have been seeing story after story of families stranded since harvey made landfall of amazing rescuers of good samaritans coming to the aid. now, we're hearing of some taking to social media to get help. >> a woman was waiting on her roof for several hours. and she made a desperate plea, live on "good morning america." >> it's not going good for us. across the street, the building is caving in. it's water everywhere. we have nowhere to go. i have all my

everything. i have nothing but the clothes on my back. the water is moving fast. it's coming up real, real fast. we tried to leave. but there was nowhere for us to go. we had to break the window to get outside on the roof. we had to take the window pane out so everybody can fit through the window. they just put an elderly lady on the roof across from us. if you can see across the street, there's an elderly lady. the water is coming in through the backside. please help us. i'm scared. we don't have no food. i haven't ate in two days. no water. my baby is dehydrated. all my baby is doing is sleeping. we need help. we need help right now. they got a whole family out there in the water. i seen three dead bodies. >> just breaks your

we should mention she was finally rescued after eight hours by volunteers of the cajun navy. >> she eventually made it to the convention center. we caught up with her. and she explained how the whole ordeal was. and the relief when she got rescued. >> scared out of my mind. i thought i was going to die. i kept calling. everybody kept saying, call, call, call. it broke me today to see people die. social media saved my life. i had people i had never met trying to help us get out. that has never happened in my life. i get on social media. i connect with a lot of people i grew up with and my family and stuff. but those people that helped me

social media help saved my live. >> as if the story can't be more unbelievable, she moved to houston from new orleans, after being displaced by katrina. and she's not the only one in that predicament. >> there were so many people who were bussed to houston after hurricane katrina. and swore they would never go back to new orleans because they didn't want to deal with a hurricane again. for this storm to hit so many people inland and hit the same group of people. we spoke to a group of neighbors who had become an island. they were hoping for the water to recede. not only is the water not receding, the rain isn't stopping right now. it will be several days for those folks. they

working at this hour. >> you look at the images coming in. epic, reminiscent of katrina. these are things that are happening in our time. >> all hands on deck.

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hurricane harvey and the damage going on back home. >> reporter: with that weekend play and his own nonmoney, j.j. watt started an effort. >> people are sending us pictures of their homes. >> reporter: her son's houston home is okay. but thousands of others are not. >> he checked in and said, this is what we want to get going. absolutely. this is amazing. i have no doubt it would exceed the intentions initially. >> reporter: and the defensive end reminded us that houston bailed out thousands of flood victims after hurricane katrina. >> it's great to give houston that chance. it will not be a one day thing or a one week thing. >> reporter: the

goal was 200,000. then, raised it to 5 million. >> we appreciate it so much. >> reporter: he told reporters he's in it for the long haul. >> we will come back stronger. we will rebuild the city stronger than it was. >> and j.j. will appear on "good morning america" later this morning. >> he's hit $1,150,000. maybe you remember us showing you ken hart, who put out a video, challenging all of his celebrity friends. people hoe knows that has money. barack obama, ludacris, all of t them. he but up $25,000 of his own money. >> chris brown has donated $100,000

website. >> it's the largest amount by anybody.

breaking news this morning on "world news now," the devastating flooding in texas gets even worse. >> after days of trying to ride out the storm, thousands are giving up hope and trying to get to higher ground. with waterlogged residents brought to safety, shivering after waiting in the rain for hours. as more evacuees escape the water, they're finding cramped quarters in shelters. we'll get a live report from houston where the situation is getting desperate. the other breaking news. north korea launching a missile over japan. residents warned to take cover after the launch