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.

we do say good morning, everybody. we'll start with the breaking news from the flood zone. at least 18 deaths now blamed on harvey. thousands of people spent the night in shelters. >> rescues continue around the clock with emergency workers desperately trying to reach more people stranded by rising water. >> a new megashelter has opened up in houston's nrg stadium. >> right now there is a new flood emergency to deal with. the mayor of port arthur, texas, saying our whole city is underwater. heavy rain is falling overnight from port arthur to beaumont, texas, and crews struggled to rescue people from a fire at an apartment complex as well. >> as you see the radar, we should tell you life and death struggle right now in the port arthur/beaumont area getting ham remembered by rain. beaumont received 12

rain in six hours overnight but more importantly, 26 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. that is nearly a record there for the united states for one day. now, travel across the region still a major challenge. white caps were seen on the major interstate 10 there, the highway looking more like an ocean in the storm. abc's maggie rulli is tracking the very latest. she joins us now from houston. good morning. >> reporter: diane and kendis, good morning. the weather here in houston does appear to be clearing up but harvey was such a devastating slow moving storm that the floodwaters here are still at catastrophic levels. america's fourth largest city is at a standstill. reeling from the 100 trillion gallons of water harvey left behind. >> there they are. >> reporter: first responders and volunteers alike are racing against rising floodwaters. more than 7,000 people have been rescued so far. many plucked from their roo

desperately clinging to coast guard baskets. but the calls for help just keep coming in. >> i hate to think that there are people in these houses. >> reporter: at least 1,000 people are still in urgent need of help. >> don't give up on us. seek the higher ground. we will get to you. >> reporter: linda was trapped in her car on the highway for two days. >> all i could say is there are angels out here. >> reporter: those rescued are often left with only the damp clothes on their back and anything they could grab. shelters are beyond capacity. the houston convention center with 10,000 taking shelter inside nearly doubled their limit. with harvey moving on, there's the fear of what's left to find once the water begins to recede. >> it's been a nightmare just waiting. >> reporter: the communities now relying on each other and the kindness of thousands of strangers who have kept the donations pouring in. houston's mayor says the focus today will remain on rescues and safety. and he's put a mandatory curfew in place between midnight and 5:00 a.m.

stay indefinitely. diane and kendis. >> maggie, what's it like that the rain has let up? still seems like a huge amount of work to be done. >> reporter: diane, there's so much work to be done but i have to say when that brief sunshine shone through yesterday i wasn't expecting the impact it had on people. just our crew here went outside, looked up at the sun and there was an entire change in spirits and in mood and even the mayor yesterday said this is something that houston needs, but you make a good point, the sun might be shining a little bit more today but the recovery effort, we just have so far more to go. >> sort of like the solar eclipse all over again. people going out to take a look at that sight. >> all right. a little ray of hope. we'll take them where we can get them. thanks, maggie. the president praised emergency officials during his visit to corpus christi and austin tuesday. the president waived the state flag and dec

handle anything but receiving criticism for not acknowledging the victims. he plans to return on saturday to meet with some of them. >> houston city leaders have opened a new megashelter, the convention hall at the nrg ten ter and officials are saying they're trying to make it as welcoming as possible. >> these are guests. these are neighbors. those are the terms. and you see people are greeting them and that's what we want to do. we want everybody that's coming in here to feel warm, feel like this is a place where not only are they safe a place where they can begin to put their life back because most of these folks are going to want to get back in their home as soon as possible. >> absolutely and the nrg shelter's capacity is 10,000 people but the capacity of the convention center was only supposed to be 5,000 and it soon had twice that amount. >> and sometimes we forget in many cases the professionals and volunteers rescuing flood victims are victims themselves. >> this was interesting.

of 200 police officers and other first responders were damaged by the storm and flooding. >> they've been unable to stop at shelters or pick up any personal items like clothing or even toiletries. >> what we need right now is underwear, socks, undershirts and toiletries and please if you are out there watching this and you can make a donation to assist the officer.com to help them rebuild their homes they've their cars, everything. we've had hundreds of officers impacted and still out here serving our community. >> clearly they need the basics. other chairs say they prefer cash contributions rather than physical goods like clothing and food. the nation's oil and gas industry is taking a major hit from harvey. video shows the chevron phillips complex in baytown flooded. one of the largest chemical campuses and was undergoing a renovation when it was shut down over the weekend. exxonmobil and royal dutch shell have also halted operations at thei g

and harvey's also dumping torrential rain on southwestern louisiana. schools and government offices will be closed from baton rouge to the texas state line. although they will be open in new orleans today. engineers in new orleans have been working feverishly to get all of the city's pumping stations online and that promised a prankster to put this banner on one of those stations. the banner says, i think i can. i think i can. a little pumping station that could. let's check in on that forecast and what else we can expect. here's accuweather's justin povick. justin. >> diane and kendis, thanks. good morning to you. again, tracking harvey as the system making landfall as we go throughout the morning hours, but what has been and what will continue to be the biggest impact will be the precipitation. the heavy amounts of rain and the dangerous life-threatening flash flooding. more so throughout the overnight we've seen some tremendous amounts of rainfall in and around beaumont and also port arthur. now, as we go throughout the day

increase its forward momentum and decrease its wind speed and these are both good things especially the fact it's going to be moving faster over the course of the next couple of days. with that said still dangerous flooding ongoing in houston, even though the rains have come to an end about 90 miles east of houston the rains continuing, flash flood watches in effect up the mississippi river where we could see some areas picking up an additional 6 plus inches of rainfall even locally over 8 inches of rain. drier air returns to houston fortoday. impacts continue to be widespread to the east of harvey. diane, kendis. >> houston is going to be in the 80s and sunny today. thank you, justin. ance and our parent company pitching in to try to help. >> on thursday disney will hold a day of giving, a fund-raising effort that runs all day on abc, freeperform and radio disney. >> to kick things off disney committed $1 million to the red cross. you can donate by visiting abcnews.com. when we come back other news of the morning next

the president's push to ban transgender people from the military. that ban now frozen. also ahead, the new threat this morning from north korea after launching a missile overjapan. and $99 for a case of water? the outrageous prices being reported after hurricane harvey.

the scene shows just a small part of what the houston area is dealing with. see those trucks coming down that flooded freeway. that small car on the opposite side just doesn't stand a chance. up to half a million cars and trucks are expected to be a total loss because of the storm. and now to the standoff with north korea. president trump says all options are on the table after the north launched a missile overjapan. >> north korean leader kim jong-un was shown smiling after e

apparently considering more missile launches. here's abc's emily rau. >> i think something serious has to happen. >> reporter: u.n. ambassador nikki haley saying enough is enough after the united nations security council called an emergency meeting on north korea, unanimously condemning kim jong-un's latest missile launch. >> i think it sends a very good message to north korea. >> reporter: the intermediate range missile launched near pyongyang soaring 1600 miles crossing over a japanese island before crashing into the sea. sirens blaring in japan with warnings to take cover. the government sending text messages to its people about the possibility of an imminent attack. >> we were trying to get neighbors out and we just knocked on people's doors. i was quite shaken by it. >> reporter: south korea responding with a live bombing drill and in a statement president trump saying only all options are on the table. >> no country should have

those 130 million people in japan and so i think something serious has to happen. >> reporter: north korea's state run news agency is reporting kim jong-un has said this latest missile launch is a, quote, prelude to containing guam. diane and kendis. >> emily, there are fears now they may test yet another nuclear weapon. emily rau, thank you. transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving in the military for now pending completion of a study. defense secretary jim mattis is forming a panel that will offer recommendations on how to proceed with implementing president trump's ban on transgender service members. the president called for that change in policy on friday. that's a month after announcing in a tweet democrats have asked the president to reconsider. former white house press secretary sean spicer can finally say he's met the pope. you may recall he missed out when president trump visited pope francis in may. but spicer was there last weekend at the vatican for a meeting. his final day with the trump

tomorrow. when we come back, the new flooding emergency unfolding in eastern texas right now. also ahead, just hours after a levee breached in houston, we check in on the city's reservoirs and how they're holding up. flood victims sleeping on expensive mattresses and sofas. the generous store owner providing much needed relief. f underwear are those? they're breathable underwear from fruit of the loom. [gasp] what are those? guys... they're breathable underwear from fruit of the loom. yes, they have these tiny holes to let the air through, can you help me? wa wa weewoo look at those. can you feel this? [blowing] turn around for me. seriously? yeah. slow...slow...slower...slower is that okay. i don't think you should get that dress. it doesn't fit. stay cool with breathable underwear from fruit of the loom.

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abc's clayton sandell shows us. >> reporter: the rain has stopped but the waters are still rising. the addicks reservoir in west houston is so full it's spilling into nearby streets. people and pets evacuated on boats, humvee, even this garbage truck. right now you're trying to figure out when this critical point is to call for help and get out. >> it's actually now. we decided we need to get out. >> reporter: neighborhoods downstream of the reservoirs are flooding too as officials are forced to release water to relieve pressure on the dams. >> the dilemma is to try to balance the inflows that we can't control based off of that unparalleled level of rifle that's he kurred upstream and the outflows 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

expect them to be with this amount of rainfall that's unparalleled and you can see that the water is pooling behind the dams is still being controlled. >> reporter: officials now say they see a glimmer of hope as bayou and reservoir levels in parts of houston begin to slowly go back down. but there are some places like this neighborhood that will continue to flood as the reservoirs upstream continue to drain and that could take weeks or even months. diane, kendis. >> yeah, clayton, certainly a new concern there for many residents, thank you. tv pastor joel osteen's megachurch in houston is now accepting evacuees, it comes after he was sharply criticized for not opening his megachurch with 17,000 seats there for people. osteen says because the building was close to flooding and because the mayor had asked people to stay off the roads, the church could not open earlier. he denies ever turning people away. and over in the houston area police say they're keeping an eye out for possible looters as well. only about a

>> in the meantime, complaints are pouring in about price gouging with prices for basic necessities like gas and drinking water skyrocketing. texas tempers flaring. furious over markups on necessities like this man selling water out of his truck accused of marking up bottles by 500%. >> you ought to be ashamed of yourself. >> reporter: now in the middle of this massive crisis the texas attorney general says he's already received more than 600 reports of price gouging. >> we've seen water up to $99 for a case of water. we've seen fuel prices up to $20 a gallon. we've seen hotels jack prices up sometimes six, seven time what is they should be charging. >> reporter: check out one woman's receipt from a store. she said she was charged nearly 70 bucks for only two cases of beer at a raceway. raceway says it's investigating the incident. the store manager apologizing telling abc news overnight it was a clerical error and not

a full refund. we should note in texas price goufrners can be fined as much as $20,000 end up to $250,000 if the victim is over the age of 65. some evacuees in texas had been enjoying high-end accommodations. >> that's thanks to gallery furniture stores. the owner who is known as mattress mac ordered the stores to open as temporary shelters. those fleeing those floods were allowed to sleep on $8,000 sofa sets, tempur-pedic mattresses and also treated to a nice dinner including a rack of lamb and tenderloin with asparagus so riding out the storm in style. >> i think they deserve it. still ahead we'll show you some unique rescues as the floodwaters kept rising up in texas. the remarkable before and after images putting the disaster in some negative perspective. r tooth surface. the thing that's really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong

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a look at new imaging coming in of people checking in the convention center in houston now at double its estimated capacity. new shelters are now opening up to help house those victims but harvey has forced the houston astros baseball team to find a new home. >> that home is 800 miles away. tampa, the astros opened a series against the texas rangers last night in tampa. both teams saying the game felt unusual. >> revenue from those games will be donated to hurricane relief efforts. we've seen lots of rescues during our harvey coverage but not quite like this one, this is at a home in north houston. check it out. >> 78-year-old grandmother karen spencer seen here on the back of a jetski. the guy driving it backed right into the door of her flooded home. >> here's the thing, though, spencer and her husband

food. they also mentioned they were trapped and they're regulars there. it was the manager at the chick-fil-a that then sent help. >> but they never got the food. amazing before and after scenes from houston. >> this is a look at the buffalo bayou taking over the downtown area. there's the before picture and take a look at the after. all of the roadways completely covered in water. you just see the tops of the trees. >> this was striking, because you see the houston skyline here and you take a look at that overpass. and now take a look at it there. just gives you a sense of how p acknowledging that texas is now facing a long road to recovery in the aftermath of hurricane harvey. he met yesterday with state and federal emergency officials, who are already on the ground. the president did not tour any of the worst hit flo

says they did not want to disrupt rescue and recovery efforts. the washington post is reporting at least 22 storm related deaths across texas. good morning washington. we are following breaking traffic news right now. lets get right to julie.

- drier & milder today - rain from harvey arrives saturday (harvey makes landfall, again, later this morning) - nice for labor day - dry & seasonable for back to school tuesday today: mostly becoming partly cloudy. highs: 77-80 winds: nw 5 mph tonight: partly to mostly cloudy. lows: 56-64 winds: sw 5 mph thursday: partly to mostly cloudy. seasonably warm and humid. stray shower. lows: 81-85 winds: wnw 5-10 mph right now-- police are looking for the man

terrifying sight on metro. a gunman shooting down an escalator. it happened at the columbia heights metro station, last friday afternoon. police say -- the incident began as a neighborhood fight, and then the violence spilled into the metro station. the good news- no one was hurt. but - police are searching for the gunman - and asking anyone with information to come forward. in virginia. a nurse- accused of sexually assaulting a patient several times. frederick yeboah worked at the "sentara northern virginia medical center" in woodbridge. he is now charged with sexual battery- and being held without bond. investigators believe this case is isolated and that there are no other victims. must see video out of tampa, florida. a store clerk, lucky to be alive after bullets fly inches from his head.

robbers enter the store and with guns in hand. they empty the cash register of cash and before they leave.... they take a shot. you see the shot just miss the clerks head by inches. it instead hits a cigarette carton behind. the clerk says he must of had an angel watching over him. no arrest has yet been made. police are offering a three-thousand dollar reward. a beef over beef is now turning into a major lawsuit. and it is all over the name of a cheeseburger. if you are a fan of california's famous "in-n-out" burger chain-- then you know that its famous for it's popular double-double burger. now-- a new chain called "smashbuger" is wooing customers with it's triple-double burger. in-n-out is now suing, citing trademark infringment. customers say this is no job for a lawsuit-- but it does have the makings of a cook-off. if you were wondering-- smashburger calls it the triple-double burger becuase its made with two beef

it the triple-double burger becuase its made with two beef patties and three layers of cheese. it's xx and we're just getting started. good morning washington. i'm larry smith. and i'm autria godfrey. we want to get right to that breaking news-- a serious accident shuts down interstate 95.