breaking news, flooding ka castro if i in texas. >> the emergency after hurricane harvey deepens overnight. >> scary when water is rushing that fast. a runway at a houston airport underwater making rescues. >> you hate to see people lose everything they have and, you know, all we can do is try to help them get to dry land. >> people in the country's fourth largest city pleading for help. >> we need help in the fifth ward. get people here now before they die. >> millions dealing with epic flooding and the race to save them right now. and the storm's latest path. we're tracking it all right now.

we do say good morning. i'm kendis. >> i'm lynda lopez in for diane macedo. >> southeast texas waking up to more drenching downpours and catastrophic flooding triggered by tropical storm harvey blamed for at least three deaths. it's expected to dump up to 50 inches of rain before moving out later this week. >> frantic rescue operations continued. emergency crews and volunteers plucking trapped families from homes. water waist deep in many areas. overnight the army corps of engineers began a controlled release of water from two reservoirs which could flood thousands more homes. >> in the meantime, this is what the runway looked at houston's hobby airport underwater. natasha barrett has breaking details from houston right now. natasha, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and lynda. i'm born and raised in this city and it is absolutely heartbreaking to see what is going on right now.

like so many others, millions of others we've been up all night watching what's happening to our homes because there's even more mandatory evacuations at this hour. people wondering what they should do as rivers are rising and we're far from out of the woods. harvey still could dump anywhere from 15 to 25 more inches of rain on us. rescues you continued throughout the night in houston the country's fourth largest city in crisis. >> the water came up so fast. it was incredible. >> reporter: emergency management officials are asking the public for help saying they need more boats for rescues as roads have turned into river. the geography not helping the situation. rainwater is forced onto streets then on to small bayous easily overwhelmed by heavy downpours. first responders are stretched so thin, neighbors are pitching this to help rescue others from the devastating floodwaters that followed hurricane harvey. >> first time in 40 years that the water has come up this high.

been here for 40 years. >> other desperate residents are being plucked from the rooftop. some by coast guard helicopters. choppers from as far away as san diego and cape cod have joined in rescue efforts. >> that person is on their roof. they've been yelling help and hello for the last few minutes. >> reporter: many having trouble getting through to 911 as it's been overrun with thousands of calls. residents are being told not to call until the situation is life-threatening. >> we need help in fifth ward. we need people here to evacuate people. get people here now before they die. >> reporter: the city's mayor asking for patience. many of those already rescued from the floodwaters left with nothing. >> like memories that get taken away by something you don't expect but i mean it's all just materialistic stuff. >> reporter: more than 2,000 people have been rescued.

that number is growing at this hour. here's the other thing. for the people waiting to see if they need to evacuate, the roads mostly closed everywhere you turn every highway is closed because of high water. people now wondering where will they go if they have to leave their homes with their families? kendis, lynda. >> many says the time to evacuate was actually last thursday or friday to which the mayor is getting a little bit of heat but there's a little bit of history down there as to why they didn't evacuate people. >> you know, kendis, the mayor said in and has been answering questions why didn't he evacuate, at least the city limits when we knew this could possibly happen all of this rainfall but the thing is with all the coastal areas needing to evacuate he wanted the roads to be open because back in the early 2000s, '05 with hurricane rita right after katrina people were frightened. they hit the roads and they were gridlocked for hours trying to get up north to dallas and

people were stranded and ran out of gas. he didn't want people to be in an hysterical state of mind so he was opening the roads for people that he knew would need it so that's why this went down the way it did. >> yeah, dozens of people died when they were evacuating one of those previous storms. thank you. this disaster is still unfolding because as we mentioned much more rain is expected. >> in fact, tropical storm harvey is expected to restrengthen today. accuweather's paul williams is tracking it. paul. >> what we have right now, this storm is still barely on the threshold of being a tropical storm but it's still deadly nonetheless. the location 28.7 north, 96.4 west. it's moving to the east-southeast at three miles per hour. winds sustained at 40 miles per hour. now, the eye emerging just slightly off the coast expected to strengthen just a little bit at least to stay cohesive enough so it'll still have its impact as it tracks toward the north. the eye has fallen apart so

expected not to be upgraded to a hurricane. the heavy downpours still causing multiple concerns for tornado warnings issued throughout the area and take a look at this. water, we're expecting an additional 16 to 32 inches of rain from the outlying and outer tentacles of this thing, we've had over 150 and still counting tornado warnings alone, we're not even talking about the devastation of the flooding. but look at the track. we're expecting this track throughout eastern portions of texas and i wanted to make this very simple for understanding sake. eastern part of the state right into the southern portions of arkansas, but i want you to know this is going until friday. it's going to take it a week to travel through eastern texas. we're talking about devastating and catastrophic impact with flooding, with over 50 inches of rain in some areas. >> wow. >> accuweather's paul williams joining us. well, in houston alone, 911

operators were swamped by more than 56,000 calls in just a 15-hour period. >> absolutely incredible and as the desperate pleas for help pour in volunteers are joining first responders helping to pull neighbors and total strangers to safety. >> we went in there with a military grade five-time vehicle and it was able to get in the neighborhood pretty quickly and rescue -- it was able to rescue a lot of people with that. >> so far just coming in helping people get in the boats, helping make sure they're safe. there was an elderly couple. one of the neighbors was nice enough to take them in so they could have somewhere to be. >> we just called people and ask fundamental they needed help and a lot of people were like yeah, we need some help. >> i got the kids, i made them laugh. helped them, you know, get over their anxiety of being out in the cold water or seeing a large amount of water in their front yard. >> they're being called houston's heroes and it's not just texas, though, parts of

louisiana could see as much as 25 inches of rain from the storm. louisiana's governor is now asking the president to declare federal emergency for at least five parishes because of the significant damage expected from the rain in the next few days. well, still ahead, president trump gets set for his trip to houston. criticism of a controversial pardon grows. the local newsman who found himself and his family right in the middle of the harvey flooding story. broadcasting live as the waters road in his home. stay with us. ok, let's try this.

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well as bridges. president trump is preparing to head to it can as he copes with his first natural disaster. >> under fire for pardoning former arizona sheriff joe arpaio. friday night just as that storm was hitting abc's arlette saenz has the latest from washington. good morning, arlette. texas tomorrow but he's facing a political firestorm after his pardon of controversial sheriff joe arpaio. as hurricane harvey pummeled texas, the president issued a pardon for the 85-year-old arizona sheriff tweeting he is an american patriot. arpaio hadn't even been sentenced yet after he was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge's order to stop using racial profiling to detain latinos. the president's homeland security adviser tom boss territory defended the president's decision. >> i think it's pretty straightforward what the president did. this is not going to threaten our constitutional order.

>> reporter: but he is facing criticism from that. joe biden wrote, the president's contempt for the u.s. constitution and his willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds. even members of the president's own party say they disagree including house speaker paul ryan and arizona's two republican senators. john mccain saying the president's pardon undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law adding arpaio has shown no remorse. and sheriff joe arpaio is lashing out at that republican criticism. in an interview with "the wall street journal" he said the president is a great guy and i'm with him adding i'm sad what they're doing to him. kendis and lynda. >> he's always been a combative sheriff indeed. arlette, thank you. well, there have been thousands of rescues in houston so far. >> and one hit close to home for people at our houston many station ktrk. joe gleason, a photographer broadcast live from his home as the waters rose. take a look. >> we actually started moving things upstairs about 5:00 and

then probably about 5:15 the water started coming through and so at that point we kind of just said, okay, let's just get, you know, the most important things, pets, kids and go on back upstairs. here's the before picture. this is what it looks like normally and then you see it today so never before have we seen it this high. >> we're happy to report that joe gleason's family was rescued and is safe. >> when we come back, the emotional scene as a pregnant woman set to give birth this weeks sees what happened to her home in the storm zone. rescuers arriving at just the right time. the dramatic scenes in houston playing out just a matter of hours ago and how you can help. how do you chase what you love with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? do what i did.

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this dramatic scene, good samaritans helping to pulle driver of this flooded suv to safety. houston police have asked anyone with a boat to help with rescue. the so-called cajun navy from louisiana is responding. that's an informal group of rescuers who formed after hurricane katrina. >> so many good smarr rescues like that and so many people are still waiting to be rescued. many taking to social media to beg for help. >> earlier i spoke with several people trapped waiting for the waters to recede. 19 of them between the ages of 7 and 96 in one home in houston. >> it was like out of a movie. we were outside. we would see one helicopter fly by. one direction. another helicopter fly and then another direction we heard boats. but when we were outside you would go in the front yard and backyard and you would see one or the other, a helicopter lowering someone down to save them. i mean this was going on for a good couple of hours. >> are you guys planning to leave the home or leave that

area any time? are you waiting for people to come and rescue you? >> no. we're planning to stay till the water recedes. we don't have power. we do have plumbing right now. but we feel lucky, fortunate that we're dry and we have enough food, enough water and to hopefully within the next 24, 48, 36 hours the water will recede and people will be able to go to other places. >> do you feel as if you're in danger at all? >> yes, very, very much so. i mean we have one of the housing that are higher up and it's one thing to feel for your community which is something obviously they feel very much inside but it's another thing and just another level to be scared for yourself and your own well-being. >> like the 96-year-old. we have to get her across the street and had to lift her across water. >> we don't have access -- there's 19 people here and to

get all of us out -- >> by canoe or kayak or raft, it's a big -- we don't have a place to go. >> well, one man is describing another dramatic rescue. he was racing to a neighborhood with a canoe to help his family. >> but on his way he heard someone on the highway yelling for help. standing in chest deep water, here's what he told ktrk reporter ted oberg. >> i heard somebody screaming so i saw the guy and another kid jump over and i paddled up to the guy and i asked what he's standing on. he said his truck, an 18-wheeler. >> and all i could see was this part of him. >> meanwhile, more than 1,000 people who have fled the flooding are now staying at the houston convention center. here's what they told our station ktrk overnight. >> everything is under water. cars underwater. our house is underwater. so everything is just -- we here

with the kids. >> oh, my goodness. they've had a long night. >> we all had a long night. everybody had a long night. we were scared to go to sleep so we were taking turns to stay up, making sure water didn't go above nobody. >> this is my front yard this morning. that's the front porch. didn't make it up to the front porch but i was getting scared but it was scary this morning. >> even amazingly some of those evacuees moved to houston from new orleans in 2005 after fleeing hurricane katrina. >> the coastal town of rockport initially took the hardest hit from harvey. many families have lost everything there. but the weeks family is facing even more uncertainty. you see danielle weeks is pregnant and scheduled for a c-section tomorrow. but it's now unclear if that will actually happen. our matt gutman surveyed the damage to the family's home, most of it gone. >> so we can't see it's torn up.

>> that's the baby blanket that i was making for her. >> that was in our bedroom which is on that end of the trailer so there's -- >> officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of rockport but they estimate that nearly half of the residents stayed put. thousands are without power and basic needs. up next, before and after images that sum up the growing catastrophe in houston and you what can do to help those in need. some of the most remarkable images from the flood zone this morning. stay with us. is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime the more that we can strengthen and re-harden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients' teeth are going to be. dentists are going to really want to recommend pronamel strong and bright. it helps to strengthen and re-harden the enamel.

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and we have plenty of new images from the devastation there in texas. take a look at these before and after images of the buffalo bayou that runs through the city. here's what it looked like before the storm and, of course, that is the day after. >> yep, overnight we learned that the controlled release of water from two flood control reservoirs in houston could flood thousands of homes. >> and many americans are asking what they can do to help the people of texas. >> well, entertainer kevin hart is trying to do his part. in a video that went viral overnight he called on his fellow celebrities to step up to the challenge saying people in southeast texas need all the help they can get. >> i challenge the rock, steve harvey, chris rock, dave chappelle, jay-z, beyonce, justin timberlake, jerry seinfeld and i think when you do it, you all should tag somebody else, 25,000 is coming from me. >> wow. he's putting some money where his mouth is. hart's video has been viewed by

more than a million people and here's an important number. if you want to help you can text the word harvey to the red cross at 90999 to immediately donate $10. >> well, the flooding in texas apparently brought out one man's passion for fishing. take a look. wait, wait, wait. >> oh, my god. >> so this guy grabbed a fish from the floodwaters right there in his living room. why not. undless energy. but lower back pain won't stop him from keeping up. because at a dr. scholl's kiosk he got a recommendation for our best custom fit orthotic to relieve his foot, knee, or lower back pain, from being on his feet. by reducing shock and stress on his body with every step. so look out world, dad's taking charge. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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>> hello, good morning, everyone, i'm matt o'donnell, monday, august 28. 4:27 a.m., we're tracking tropical storm harvey and its continued devastation in the houston area. epic flooding in homes and highways. we'll have the latest developments. local volunteers are heading to the south to help victims of harvey. a philadelphia firefighters is in sble condition after battling a blaze overnight. it's back to school today for some of the the the lehigh valls we'll help you get ready for it next on "action news." to becom tropical storm irma is developing off the southeast

coast bringing heavy rain to florida and the carolinas. we'll continue to watch that. record heat on the west coast. finally this half hour an image from harvey that is as stunning as it is putting the spotlight on efforts to protect some of the sa vulnerable victim, seniors. >> eva pilgrim has the story and controversy over whether officials should have issued more evacuations before the storm. >> reporter: the picture heartbreaking. senior citizens some in wheelchairs trapped in the nursing home just outside houston. one woman seems to be calmly knitting in her recliner as the water rises.od making escap impossible another woman sent that picture son-in-law. >> she said, things are really bad. she said we really need help right now so we can't wait. >> reporter: a few hours later helicopter and an official tell local paper we were ting g grandfathers.

here evacuations still under way. an elderly woman with a walker helped into a truck. a mother clutching her baby in a canoe. they were among the many who did not evacuate. in hst road and putting themselves in greater danger. >> reporter: from the governor, the opposite advice. >> if you have the ability to evacuate and go somewhere else for a little while, it would be good. >> reporter: the governor refusing to criticize the saying we've moved beyond whether or not there should have been an evacuation or eva pilgrim, abc news, son, tex. >> thanks to eva there. of the front pages of newspapers really telling the story, "daily news" with the headline hell and high water. >> sums it up with pretty gripping images "houston chronicle" the hometown paper simply saying good morning oven 4:30 a.m.,

monday, august 18. tam is off, make that 28, tam is off, jeanette reyes joins us, we're tracking the devastating impact of harvey. >> the once hurricane is leaving thousands of people stranded needing rescue. at least three people have died in the storm. >> flooding in the nation's 4th largest city is being called unprecedented it is still