breaking news this morning on "world news now." flood evacuees seek shelter. new images are coming in of newly-rescued refugees. arriving at newly opened relief centers. we'll get an update from the red cross. in the meantime, the search effort continues as floodwaters rise even though the forecast offers a glimmer of hope. we'll hear from the army corps of engineers, racing to drain neighborhoods that could face weeks of remaining floodwaters. ♪ and rallying behind houston. coldplay is releasing a new song to benefit the victims and more and more celebrities are also stepping up to the challenge,

pitching in, in some case jumping into the floodwaters to help. we have more on the nationwide relief effort on this wednesday, august 30th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> and we say good morning to everybody. the numbers from harvey remain staggering. as you hear a little bit more of coldplay there. and just about unmeasurable. the storm has dropped more rain on the gulf coast than any event in history. >> at least 17,000 people have taken refuge in houston shelters and more are arriving by the hour. a new one was able to handle another 10,000 evacuees that opened just a few hours ago. >> and more people are waiting to be rescued. pitching den pitching tents on roofs and waving towels so they can be seen. >> originally, the convention center was only supposed to hold 5,000 people. but it now has twice that

briggs of the red cross. >> caller: the red cross, we rely on volunteers, and we've been bringing volunteers from all over the country. i just saw four bus loads of volunteers coming in from all over the west coast. and they're now here in houston, ready to help set up the new shelter. and it's been my experience, this has been unprecedented. we've had, we've had more than 200 emergency response vehicles respond. we have many, many volunteers from all over the country here. and we understand that we may have to ramp it up. and we are prepared to do that. we're going to be here for as long as we're needed. >> the people are very lucky that's the case. but the death toll from harvey is now at least 18. >> the thing about that number, officials are including some victims whose bodies who have not been found but are believed to have been swept away by floodwaters. >> this driver north of houston was one of the lucky ones. a constable and his son were on

driver out. >> many have not been so lucky, including a houston police sergeant who drowned in his police car. >> so, we will find him. once our dive team got there, it was too treacherous to go under and look for him. so we made a decision to leave officers there waiting until the morning. because as much as we wanted to recover him last night, we could not put more officers at risk. the dive team was out there again. and within 20 minutes, they found him. unfortunately, in the darkness, sergeant perez drove into the water. and he died in a drowning-type event. the wife told me, she had asked him not to go in. and she tells me, i told him not to go to work. i didn't want him to go because the conditions were so bad. and his response was, we've got work to do.

>> that's the houston police chief there. so tough to watch that press conference there, and he said he spoke with his wife and asked if there was one way that he wanted to go out, would this be it? and she said yeah. >> trying to help others. >> so the historic flooding from harvey is pushing levees and dams to this limits. sending water into homes. >> a levee breached out, prompting an urgent tweet from authorities prompting authorities to get out now. the levee was later fortified, but officials are keeping an eye on other reservoirs. abc's clayton sandell has more. >> reporter: the rain has stopped but the water is still rising. the addicks dam reservoir is so full it's spilling into nearby streets. people evacuated on boats, humvees, even this garbage truck. you're trying to think about when that critical point is to call for help? >> it's now.

we decided we need to get out. >> reporter: neighborhoods downstream from the barker and addicks dam reservoir are pressured too. >> the idea is to balance the inflows that we can't control, based on the unparalleled level of rainfall upstream. and the outflows that we can control. which is what you see here. >> reporter: the man in charge of monitoring the dams says he believes they will hold. >> these dams are currently performing as expected. you can see that the releases are performing as we expect them to be able to with this amount of rainfall. it's unparalleled. you can see that the water pooling behind the dams is still controlled. >> reporter: officials say they see a glimmer of home as waters begin to slowly go back down. but there are some places like this neighborhood that will continue to flood as the reservoirs

drain. and that could take weeks or even months. diane, kendis? >> and the good thing about that shot that you saw, things have dried out, at least a little bit there. >> it does seem like they're easing now, finally. >> but of course the concern is the rain and where it's heading now. >> that's right. it's now straddling texas and louisiana. heavy rain is coming down overnight in western louisiana. and significant flash flooding is expected there. >> at least one possible tornado touched down a few miles from the gulf. >> accuweather's justin povick is here to tell us what else we can expect from harvey today. good morning. >> diane and kendis. thanks. good morning to you. we are tracking extremely heavy rainfall. this system is making its move off to the north and east, very, very slowly. but the biggest of impacts here, again, continue to be from the heavy rain. we're looking at rainfall rates at beaumont texas, approaching four inches per hour. that's why you see

these are flash flood emergencies similar to what we had in houston not too long ago where we are rainfall rates very, very high. beaumont itself coming up on 40 inches of rain. we're looking at landfall as we go throughout the morning. the system's going to start to finally move. and that's what we need. we need a faster pace that will not prolong these dangerous, life-threatening flash flooding conditions. you can see the system accelerating to the northeast. the next several hours i'm very concerned in and around beaumont and port arthur. >> i know the rainfall has been historic. for people who have never seen something like, this which is actually most of us, how do you paint a picture for what's happening and how to deal with something like this? >> well, you know, in houston, they basically saw what they have in a year. well, at least three quarters of that, in four days. so the overall scope of the system is just kind of so hard to, you know, digest. that this much rain could occur from a system. but it does make sense.

for three days, and that's, you know, what happens in these situations. you have a lot more rain just because the movement is almost nonexistent. >> and justin, we've been paying attention to houston, the fourth largest city in this country, so understandably so. you know the area very well, and what parts were hit hard by the rain. what other parts have we not mentioned that are really devastated? >> much of southeastern texas here, basically stretching from houston all the way up toward beaumont, texas. we've had rainfall amounts here anywhere from 35, close to 40 inches of rain. in beaumont it's coming down at a tremendous rate. weary concerned about the streets, streams, rivers and creeks. but later on today, we'll likely see those rainfall rates slacken as the system begins to finally start to move. >> and really quick, one of the things was the rain seemed to let up and then come back.

what can these areas now expect? >> the areas that are now expecting harvey, throughout much of louisiana, mississippi, the rains are going to pick up in pace throughout the day. we could still see a swath of 6-12 inches. even though that doesn't sound like a lot compared to what houston's had, that could produce very, very strong impacts. >> 6-12 inches today. we've seen images of rescues and people helping people. here's another one. people forming a human chain to rescue a driver trapped in floodwaters. >> neighbors went into action to help a pregnant woman. also forming a human chain there. the couple was unable to reach 911 or the coast guard. they were literally able to reach their neighbors who got them help. and we have more on the flooding in texas, including a look at what's next for the people there. plus some other headlines

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you're looking at an aerial view of houston.

it will be years before that region recovers from this historic disaster. parts of the city are expected to be uninhabitable for that long. many businesses and industries may not be able to reopen either. we'll see how many people end up relocating as a result of this storm. >> as incredible as those images are, overseas they're dealing with something similar. flooding disaster unfolding in asia as they face the worst monsoon season in years. mumbai is paralyzed right now with more rain in the forecast. as many as 41 million people in bangladesh, india and nepal have been affected. more than 1,000 have died. and breaking overnight in north korea, leader kim jong un wants to send more missiles into the pacific. now that news comes as the world continues reacting to the north firing ballistic missiles over japan. >> pyongyang released this photo of kim smiling as he watched monday's launch. president trump's reaction was a little bit more grim.

here's abc's martha radatz. >> reporter: already coping with a crisis at home, president trump is now confronting one on the world stage. kim jong un launching an intermediate ranged missile, soaring 1600 miles, crossing above the japanese island of hokkaido before crashing into the sea. the first time kim jong un has made such a provocative move over japanese territory. in japan, high alert. sirens blaring. people receiving text messages, telling them to seek shelter. >> no country should have missiles flying over them like those 130 million people in japan. and so i think something serious has to happen. >> reporter: in a statement, president trump saying only all options are on the table. president trump has spoken with japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, and both agree they need to

increase pressure on north korea, but it is unclear what kind of pressure and impossible to predict what kim will do next. martha radatz. abc news, washington. and nancy pelosi has denounced the leftist protesters who attacked trump supporters at a weekend rally in berkley. pelosi says the people calling themselves anti-fa should be arrested and prosecuted for causing violence. some of the demonstrators were marching against hate and then intervened to help the victims. they say the violence tarnished their peaceful opposition to the president. and the man wanted for the beating of a black protester in charlottesville has surrendered in georgia. deandre harris was beaten by a mob in a parking garage on the day of the deadly rally, alex ramos agreed to be extradited to virginia during a hearing yesterday.

charges in that attack. another man was arrested in ohio on friday. a defamation lawsuit filed by sarah palin against the new york times has been dismissed. a federal judge ruled that palin failed to show that false statements in a times editorial were made maliciously and pointed out that the inaccuracies were quickly corrected. the editorial drew from an ad by palin's political action committee in a mass shooting in arizona that injured then congresswoman gabby giffords. former white house press secretary sean spicer can now say he has met pope francis. you may remember he was left off the list of officials who received an audience with the pope when president trump visited the vatican in may. spicer was one of about 250 people greeted personally by the pontiff. you see the photo there. he was at the vatican as part of the annual meeting of the international catholic legislators, just a couple days ago. it's so sad that spicer, before the visit, he told reporter the

the pope to bless and he didn't get to go. >> it's not sad anymore. he did get to see the pope. when we come back, houston residents returning home to survey the damage of their homes. >> our cameras there as they walk through the doors. you're watching "world news now." being embarassed by her parents? stop this teen from nope. so let's be clear: clearasil works fast on teen acne, not so much on other teen ings.

that is some time lapse video showing how dramatically this garage flooded as harvey hit. >> yeah, you can see the water rise past the suv's tires. so many neighbors in the surrounding areas are still under water and you can see why. came up pretty quickly. >> luckily that area is getting a break in the rain and some are taking the opportunity to come back and see what's left. >> and it's a tough re

>> reporter: amy powers lives in this home. part of the unfortunate reality is that they're going through it the third time, some of these families, and the experience for them, they may be houston's best teachers. there are thousands of families who will go through what the powers have gone through. what is your plan now? >> this time around i'm done. we've flooded twice before, and i put the house back together fairly, well, i was going to say confident we wouldn't flood again. but after the second flood i made the decision. i loved our house, our cul-de-sac, the space, the neighbors, and i decided i would rather put my house back together and enjoy it as long as i could. and risk flooding again. i made that conscious decision. and even now, despite all the difficulty, i'm grateful for the time we've spent in here. and we'll move on. and, you know, it's probably mostly financial, the loss. >> don't have the energy to -- >> i don't have the energy to do this again. ca

watching this from a friend's house or a shelter or thinking about what comes next, what's the one piece of advice you'd give someone who hasn't gone through this? >> accept help. i've always been the kind of person that never asked for help and always declined offers of help. and i've learned you just can't do it. this is beyond the magnitude that one family can deal with. and when you're receiving help, you're giving other people the opportunity to help. because so many people want to help, they feel helpless and want to do something. by letting people it's a win/win. today i have friends here cleaning out clothes and stuff. >> taking all your clothes out. >> he's taking a lot of my clothes out. and, you know, you learn. you actually have too much stuff and you don't need most of it. but it's no fun, and i'm just grateful for family and friends, and i don't want to do it again. >> reporter: thanks for letting us in to see what's happened here, because we know in is a scene that will replay itself. >> i'm also grateful because i know there's a lot of lost life. we are safe and dry and happy,

and that's all that matters. >> that is really all that matters. unfortunately, only about 20% of the people who received flooding have flood insurance. coming up, coldplay's special message. up, coldplay's special message.

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♪ i know nothing's going to break the will of houston ♪ ♪ oh, how we can't wait to go down there again ♪ >> you've heard the lyrics. we can't wait to go down there again. the band is vowing to make it to houston to perform for the people there. >> and here's the thing about it. after playing there, chris martin, the lead singer vowed they will never play this song again. i assume they'll make a special occasion, once they return to houston, and they will play this song. >> i think exceptions can be made in that case. >> yeah, so they played the song in miami, and there you have it. >> but chris martin and coldplay, just a few of the celebrities stepping up to give back to houston and to try to help the people out there. sean lowe drove a boat through houston to help harvey victims. he posted a picture on twitter saying i had a chance to do what i could to help some of the

people in houston. i couldn't believe the devastation. my heart broke for the elderly and mothers trapped in homes with young babies. >> and football player j.j. watt has been ahead of this. from the very beginning, in the early hours of the storm. and the latest on his hurricane harvey recovery effort fund, they have now raised their goal to $6 million, because they've already raised more than $5 million there from j.j. watt. >> and part of the help there, tennessee titans owner, donated $1 million to j.j. watts' fund. she has a home outside of the city. watt then put out a message, saying it's hard to put into words his feelings when he found out about strung's donation. he calls it remarkable. >> we have the one, the other effort, i call it the kevin hart challenge, where he challenged celebrity friends to donate. >> sandra bullock donated $1 million.

>> d.j. callan. kevin hart says they're almost at their goal. we'll be right back. z2gv6z zi0z y2gv6y yi0y

making news in america this morning, searching for survivors. rescuers in boats going door to door. overnight in houston, after harvey dumped more than 52 inches of rain. the city opening more shelters this morning as the convention center reaches double its capacity. and another area of texas dealing with a flood emergency right now, a new neighborhood surrounded by water and at least one home on fire. people are bracing for harvey's third landfall. the storm is now setting its sights on new orleans where flood advisories are already in effect and we're tracking it all. and new this morning another warning from north korea after its military fired a missile over japan. how kim jong-un is signaling more launches.