this morning on "world news now," the widening scope of devastation in texas. >> harvey is now moving inland after washing out more gulf coast communitying. thousands desperate to be rescued while volunteers flock to the region, trying to pitch in any way they can. >> the scenes of tragedy now uncovered as floodwaters recede. see how residents are trying to pick up the pieces as we examine ou the storm is being felt elsewhere. conflicting messages? a key member of the president's cabinet says diplomacy is an option with north korea, but that directly contradicts with what the president says, so which is it?

and making the most of a bad situation. we'll see how families are making the best of living as evacuees and a special birthday boy in the midst of the devastation. it's thursday, august 31st. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> doesn't matter that there's a storm, birthdays continue. there are births that actually take place. >> finding little bright spots in all of this, which are always nice to report in the midst of all the destruction. >> they help that the storm is moving away from that area. tropical depression now harvey is spreading its heavy rains into another region. >> you can see the storm moving inland. it's expected to dump eight inches in kentucky and tennessee. >> the storm's floods possibly damaged 100,000 homes in texas alone. thousands of people have been rescued from homes and businesses that were flooded and stalled vehicles among them. these par

port arthur, texas. the infant in a trash bag to try to keep him dry. >> the outpouring of support from around the country has been incredible. people brought boats from as far as away as north carolina to assist in rescues. clothing and other items for evacuees is pouring in from all over the country in addition to money, people donating that way. >> very important stuff there. you can see them piling up. marci gonzalez is in houston this morning. what do you know? >> reporter: hi, guys. this morning, shelters like this one are filling up. they've been bringing people in by the bus load, and they are expecting many more. with the governor saying in some areas, the worst of harvey's impact still is not over. the floodwaters still rising, bringing more desperation in texas near the louisiana border. >> every home in the whole neighborhood. >> reporter: in port arthur, this nursing home under water.

more than 70 elderly residents stranded and soaked for it 24 hours until help arrived. >> breaks my heart. >> reporter: in beaumont, rescues by boat. >> i've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: and by black hawk. this woman lifted to safety wearing drenched clothes and a smile. and hard-hit houston still buried. though the sky is now clear here, the water keeps rising in some areas, more than 13,000 rescues here already. >> i didn't realize i was on camera. >> you look beautiful. >> no, i would have worn my wig for the occasion. >> reporter: to moments of levity. and hope. along with unfathomable grief. family members right there as six of their relatives killed when their van was swept away were found. >> family, i just notified them. obviously, they are devastated as we all are as well. >> reporter: the death toll still climbing as fear of more destruction grows.

texas, the ceo releasing a statement saying he expects chemicals will explode or catch fire within six days, and more than 30,000 people here in texas are living in shelters, including this one, where they've had so many people show up here wanting to help, they have had to turn thousands of volunteers away, up until ten minutes ago. there was a line of people all the way around this building, hoping to get in and help on the overnight shift, because that's when they heard the most help was needed. and you might see people walking by while we're talking, and they're all people who have just been turned away, because they have so many people already in there helping evacuees. >> incredible, marci, those are people there in person. i mean, people all over the country are sitting there wondering what they can do to help. are you getting a sense for what they seem to need the most? >> reporter: well, with this disaster and with really any

are on the ground will say the most important thing you can do to help is send money. because the organizations here know what's needed. they know where it's needed. so they can get that help out in the most efficient way possible to the people who need it most. so at this shelter, they had so many donations come in, they had to turn some away, tell people to stop bringing donations because they already have so many supplies. but this is a community organization that has put this shelter together. they're running things, a lot of the money is coming from their own fund. so really, the best way to help is to support these kinds of organizations putting in this kind of effort in helping all of these people who've been so impacted bihary harvey. >> we've seen so many images of clothes and donations piled up there, marci, thank you so much. the rain now gone. houston's two main airports reopened. >> flights

international and hobby airports. >> and houston's school district will offer students three meals a day for the rest of the school year free of charge for everyone. economists say harvey will be one of the costliest disasters. you're likely to see an increase in gas prices. prediction is 15 to 25 cents before we're done. >> let's go to john porter. john, you kind of tracked all angles of this storm for us. what is it that made this one cause so much damage and disruption, really? >> well, good morning. it is the, really the fact that the significant and devastating rainfall occurred over such a broad area, over an extended period of time, and that has really led to catastrophic flooding in houston and all of the, many of the

communities in eastern texas and up into portions of western louisiana. and we think this really is going to be a national disaster, in terms of the magnitude of this, in terms of the number of lives that are affected. we're very concerned the death toll is going to be increasing, potentially substantially, as more and more first responders get into some of the hardest hit areas, and beyond the tremendous human impact, we're also concerned about the impact to the economy as well. our analysis shows that we may be talking about an impact of more than $190 billion to the economy from the storm, so quite significant. this is not like anything we've seen before in terms of the magnitude of the flooding across houston and surrounding areas. >> $190 billion. that would surpass the $60 billion for superstorm sandy and the sum from hurricane katrina. but that

climatologists saying we're seeing so many of these superstorms, though it's been several years since sandy and 12 years since katrina, you study this stuff at accuweather, do we expect to see more of these storms frequently? >> that's a good question. when you look at any individual storm, in terms of the impact, you're really looking at all the risk factors that are there. in this particular situation, we're talking about the houston metro area. which is certainly an area that has very little elevation. it's really surrounded by water, and we're talking about the ability for those to be risk factors as well as -- >> i mean environmentally, are the conditions there that we will see more of these storms? >> that is certainly a possibility, as we, as we head into the future. and, again, not only just the environmental conditions, but also the impact as well and the risk factors based upon inea

and other factors. >> and john, you know, houston is starting to finally see the water recede. other areas are still waiting for that, and other areas are just now starting to get hit. i wonder where you see being able to really kick start the recovery effort? at what point does that even begin? >> well, we think it's going to be quite some time across the houston area. in fact, it's going to take likely weeks and in some places months for the water to recede back to normal levels, as, as really the water's going to need to move through that complex bayou o bayou and channel system and slowly drain out of that entire system. so it's going to be quite some time before the recovery is going to be able to take full effect in some areas. meanwhile, we'll be tracking the rain from harvey as it continues to move out of louisiana and up into places like arkansas, the rest of the lower mississippi

and eventually up into the ohio valley and the northeast this weekend. >> so it's going to impact quite a few areas beyond the gulf coast states. really, like a week ago we didn't realize harvey would have this sort of impact, so it's hard to prepare for something like this. is there a way to prepare for something like this? >> well, it's always a good idea to be checking back in terms of the latest forecast from here with us at accuweather in terms of keeping ahead of all kinds of weather situations. >> but john, what about supplies at home? is there something you can keep? you know, at home? are there ways to try to get ahead of something like this? when you're not expecting it? >> there sure are. there sure are. it's a good idea to have a backpack ready of things that you'd want to take if you needed to leave your home really for any reason very quickly. so think about the kind of things that you'd take if you had a half an hour before you

needed to leave your home or two hours. you'd want to take critical documents and photos and other items. have that prepared for this situation or any type of natural disaster that may come. >> that's john porter, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> we should mention that the president did address the situation in texas again as he traveled to missouri to drum up support. but this time it was for tax reform. >> the president continued to praise the response to the storm and directly acknowledged the victims after being criticized for not mentioning them during his visit to texas. he expressed thoughts and prayers tor t prayers for the peaople affecte by the disaster. >> recovery will be tough. but i have seen the resilience of the american spirit first hand all over this country. to the people of houston and across texas and louisiana, we are here with you today. we are with you tomorrow. and we will be with you every single day

>> meanwhile, secretary rex tillerson has personally thanked mexico's top diplomat after the country offered assistance in response to hurricane harvey. tillerson called the offer generous but did not say if the u.s. will accept it. the countries have been at odds over nafta negotiations and the president's promised border wall. portions of the texas antisanctuary city law have been blocked it would have penalized law officer whose did not comply. and the governor in texas says that the state will appeal the federal judge's decision. coming up, we'll have more of this morning's headlines, including the latest on an isis convoy hit by a u.s. airstrike. we have the latest on two fronts of the fight against terror. and celebrating a bir

zone. we'll look at some of the heartfelt stories of people coming together to keep each other's spirits up. you're watching "world news now."

the united states showing some firepower in the wake of north korea's missile launch. this is a test of a u.s. intercept weapon, shooting down a ballistic missile near hawaii. it came as president trump tweeted, talking is not the answer in the north korean crisis. but the president's message didn't appear to match the words of his own defense secretary. james mattis says talking with kim jong un's regime remains an option. >> we're never out of diplomatic solutions. we continue to work together. and the minister and i share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests. >> and the secretary of state, rex tillerson, said the u.s. would continue its peaceful pressure campaign. the last formal talks between washington and north korea took

new u.s.-led airstrikes are credited for keeping militants from reaching eastern syria. this comes after a cease-fire was reached with hezbollah. that agreement gave isis safe passage into the region. according to a coalition spokesperson, the airstrikes took out isis vehicles as well as roads along that route. and the pentagon announced there are more troops in afghanistan than previously disclosed. there are actual lly 11,000 tros in the area, 3,000 more than originally reported. the new members include those there on temporary and covert missions. a police chase ends tragically in sacramento. a deputy was injured during a shootout. women led police on a chase in what was believed to be a stolen c

in the incident, but the police chase ended at the hotel and resulted in the deadly shootout. and new video out of russia shows the start of an intense weather situation. at least, not one, not two, you count them, four funnel clouds spot the near sochi, which hosted the last winter olympics, of course. some reports say there were as many as a dozen tornados in that area. >> wow. >> very freaky. coming up in our next half hour, a break through in the fight against cancer, how a new treatment approved by the fda is giving hope to leukemia patients. but first rob marciano takes us to the skies above houston and southeast texas to survey the damage left in the wake of harvey and the rescue efforts. that's next. 60% of women are wearing the wrong size pad and... ...experience leaks. introducing always my fit. find the number that's right for your flow and panty size on the top of any always pack.

and wore' bae're back with coverage from harvey. you can get a sense of the reach when you see it above. >> rob marciano took to the skies rescuing people in a black helicopter. >> reporter: we're in the air over devastated port arthur, texas, pummeled with catastrophic flooding, with the cvp air and marine operation, searching for

desperate need of evacuation. it's surreal. they are true heroes. first up, an elderly couple and their dog stranded in their neighborhood. this woman soaking wet, hoisted in by basket. a smile of relief, happy to be safe. next, the man and his dog. we've already made one of an elderly couple and their dog. we're right back at it. across texas, dramatic rescues like this. black hawk helicopters spotting families in the floods. first responders rappelling down and hoisting those to safety. with so many to be saved they plan on doing this well into the night. the view from the black hawk was staggering. the water was as high as rooftops. in our 90-minute ride, we rescued 15 people. and the airfield at beaumont is a very busy place. this operation is far from over. >> that's rob marciano there. and so far, there have been so many rescues, 3500 rescues since

>> they've activated the entire texas national guard, over 12,000 troops right there. >> and half of all of the aircraft that the coast guard has in this country are right there in texas. >> much needed. >> the mix is next. so if you're on medicare or will be 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.

.. because there aren't any. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. rates are competitive. and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want. there's no enrollment window... no waiting to apply. so call now. remember, medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row.

duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. clearasil rapid action begins working fast for clearly visible results in as little as 12 hours.

being embarassed by her parents? nope. so let's be clear: clearasil works fast on teen acne, not so much on other teen ings. ♪ time now for the mix, and we are going to start things off over in deer park, texas, where a group of evacuees from hurricane harvey at a shelter decided hurricane harvey will not stop a birthday celebration. ♪ happy birthday to you >> it happened to fall on tuesday, and the strangers around him decided they were celebrating no matter what. they even got him a cake and presents. can you hear everyone singing "happy birthday" all of the children at the shelter were invited to the party. >> look at him blowing out the candle there. i think he's quite psyched about it as well. >> i'm guessing this is a birthday anthony will never

>> indeed. another memory was made at the convention center, 9,000 or 10,000 people at that shelter, to try to lighten up the mode, spiderman made an appearance. pounding it out. so that's a video shared of spiderman making the rounds at the convention center, just went through the shelter, visited some kids, handed out some stickers. >> pretty cool. >> meantime, made some huge smiles on the kids' faces. >> earlier we saw batman. you know what else put a smile on someone's face? on monday, good old ray yoder celebrated his 81st birthday by completing his mission to see all 645 cracker barrels in the

remember, we told you about them. they were nearing their record as they tried to hit all the cracker barrels, they completed that, my friends, on monday, just in time foray ray's birthd, 645 cracker barrels. >> happy birthday and congratulations, and after all that all they got was a tee shirt. >> you know the peg game that you play at the tables? ray apparently knows how to beat it. >> i'm sure he's a pro at it. >> 645 restaurants later, he figured it out. >> it took him until the last one to figure it out. this next video makes you wonder why. this is juan carlos. do you see that? when you see the closeup, you'll realize, he is covered by bees. >> oh, no. >> he's an employee. >> heck no. >> at a honey bee farm

so he brought 100,000 bees with him, created a beard, and then some. >> no.

this morning on "world news now," the desperate rescue effort on the coast. residents finding themselves quickly surrounded by water as harvey moves away from texas, areas to the north may see more flooding conditions. meanwhile, a nearby chemical plant is flooded and may be at risk of explosion. the ceo sent out a word of warning. we'll get a live report from the ground just ahead. and new this half hour, the fda approves a cancer break through. >> so who's able to get the treatment called historic? we'll let you know. and it's abc's day of giving. all across our platforms, we're asking you, the viewers, to help the relief effort in texas with lots of surprises from the many