good morning. harvey roars ashore. the monster hurricane is slamming the texas coast overnight as a category-four storm. 130 mile-per-hour winds, more than 700,000 people in its path. >> reporter: we're bei hit by a pretty significant band from harvey. >> high winds whipping through the gulf coast as torrential rain comes down. fears it could dump more than three feet of rain over texas. hundreds of thousands without power. president trump signing a disaster declaration overnight, amid fears that the damage could be catastrophic. >> hoping i wake up in the morning and i have a town. >> and

over. today, saturday, august 26th, 2017. from nbc news, this this a special edition of "today" -- "hurricane harvey makes landfall." live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. good morning, welcome to "today" on this saturday morning. i'm sheinelle jones. >> glad to have you with us. i'm craig melvin. dylan and lester are in texas covering hurricane harvey with our team of nbc news correspondents. we'll get to them in a moment. first, a look at the latest information on the storm. check it out. this is a satellite image of a harvey ads it rolls over texas. a huge rainmaker. >> this is the scene from up in space. the astronauts aboard the international space station capturing this image of the enormity of hurricane harvey. here's a live look at galveston where the rain and wind has been nonstop since harvey came ashore. >> here's the latest --

around 10:00 p.m. central time. came ashore as a category-four storm. it's since been downgraded to a category one. >> harvey brought with it winds of 130 miles per hour. now top winds have diminished to 90 miles per hour. damage estimates are, of course, still coming in. we are getting reports of buildings that have partially collapsed, downed trees all over, and lots of damage to cars and homes. >> one of the hardest hit towns overnight was rockport, texas. city officials there tell us they are experiencing "utter devastation." >> we have our team spread throughout texas. let's begin with lester holt and dylan dreyer. they're in corpus christi. you drove all night to get there. what did you see? >> reporter: yeah, we started off in san antonio. we were a little bit farther inland. then we made our way on the western side of the storm. as you know, the eastern side is much more intense with the stronger winds, the heavier rain. we actually managed to maneuver between the bands of heaviest rain. i would sayos

saw periods of heavy rain. most of the ride was fairly dry. we kind of came in on the better side of the storm. >> reporter: the landing was not fun. the pilot said they were flying at a 55-knot wind. i got to drive here a short while ago. the power is out in this part of corpus christi. one person driving, i was in the right seat saying, "tree, tree, power line, power line." lots of obstacles along the way. obviously when the sun comes up, we'll get a better assessment of the damage. it won't be a post-storm assessment because this is still very much a hurricane. >> reporter: we're getting hit now -- >> reporter: hurricane harvey slammed into the texas shore overnight. >> reporter: we have been praying for quite a while now for the eye to pass over so we could get some kind of break through here. >> reporter: a category-four storm with winds up to 130 m

strong enough to rip the roof off this builting in fulton near the -- building in fulton near the eye. near the eye of the storm, scenes of devastation. this hotel suffered severe damage, forcing 128 people to evacuate. and reports of people injured inside a senior center after the roof collapsed. at the local high school, several buildings were badly damaged. rockport's mayor earlier issued a grave warning to those who did not evacuate -- write your social security number on your arm so your body can be identified. destruction quickly piled up as the storm blew ashore. when the wind and water are gone, what's left could amount to $40 billion in damage. >> i was hoping i'd wake up in the morning and i had a town. >> reporter: the air pressure from the storm caused the ceiling to buckle at our corpus christi affiliate kris. loca o

weather service reporting for giving them time to prepare. many in corpus christi heeded the warning and got out. >> i figure we've got the kids. >> a 14-foot wall of water was going to come in. we just couldn't risk it. >> the most important thing that you can do is to safeguard your own life. >> reporter: governor abbott also told people in houston to head north, away from the coast. that led to confusion because county officials did not call for an evacuation. hurricane harvey is going to cost us all. this oil drill ship was last to the dock at the port, one of many shut down ahead of the storm. gas prices nationwide already up 10%. no business will take place in galveston for days. the island is practically cut off from the mainland. the spirit is strong in texas, but today is just the first of many difficult

we saw something unusual here. not one but two landfilalls hitting as a category four -- >> even the second was a category four. the last time a category-four hurricane hit the united states was in 2004. but port arances, was a category four, then it hit rockport. we had reports of winds up to 132 miles per hour. some areas have picked up several inches of rain. victoria, texas, picked up almost 16.5 inches of rain. that's the thing with the storm. while it's weakening to a category-one hurricane and will likely downgrade to a tropical storm, it is going to sit in this area for several days. while we have reports of 16 inches of rain, we still have perhaps another 20 to 30 inches of rain to go because some areas will end up in total with 40 inches of rain. there's no steering mechanism for t

texas for the next several days. that being said, also the eastern side of the storm is the stronger side of the storm. we've had reported tornadoes near houston, galveston. not the eye of the storm, but the eastern edge has so much power that spins up the storms. that combined with the storm surge. we were lucky because the storm hit during the time of low tide. however, we're in the middle of a high tide now. when the sun comes up, we'll see what kind of damage the current storm surge is causing with the high tide. >> hats off to our crew. they found the perfect little location nestled against a building where we're kind of out of the wind now. pretty much protected. >> yes. exactly. >> more on all this. back to the studio. >> dylan and lester, thank you. of course, when the sun comes out we'll get a better idea of the damage. >> dylan mentioned victoria, texas. that is where kerry sanders is camped out for us. and dylan said that so far you guys have seen roughly 16.5 inches of rain? >> reporter: it's coming down, and as you heard her say, it

stalled over the area. the possibility here of a forecast that we might see upwards of 37 to 40 inches of rain is going to be a big part of what we determine is the result of this horrific arrival of harvey here. because it's going to sit here for several days, even if it becomes a tropical storm, as dylan said, this area is going to be flooded. to give you an idea, the guadalupe river, as they refer to it here, the guadalupe river is estimated by wednesday to be 32 feet above flood stage. the flood story may end up being the big story of hurricane harvey in texas. the wind is still blowing, as you see. the gusts sometimes upwards of 100 miles per hour. this community has no electricity, power lines are down, trees are down. the good news is those who went to the two shelters here -- this is a community of about 67,000 -- those that went to the shelters are reporting that the shelters held, that there haven't v been

but there tomorrow fires overnight. not only fires here in victoria. one lightning strike, it's believed, set off one at an apartment complex. thankfully that was an evacuated apartment complex. still, it burned to the ground. a home that caught fire, similar fires in corpus christi, also in galveston. home fires, the firefighters and police out working in this. frankly, there's very little they could do to respond to the fires when they're also dealing with a hurricane. anxious moments this morning. it's a miserable night for many. guys, it looks like at least here the real story is going to be the rain and the flooding. we haven't got reports to assess damage, but no reports of anything serious like a roof coming off. the rain is still blowing -- wind is still blow, rain is coming down. i can't believe this is going to go on for days. >> roughly 17 inches so far. kerry makes another good point. power outages. so far along the t

power. >> goodness. you could see the wind in the shot. nbc's gabe guterres has been in the middle of the storm all night. he's near where the eye made landfall. what are you seeing? >> reporter: good morning. we're trying to make our way to rockport, texas, nearest to where the eye made landfall. we ran across high water and had to turn around. you see here the damage from the wind. this is a brick structure. the structure itself is still standing, but it was complete boarded up. and you see the damage here. luckily no one was inside. it was clear that the winds came through here overnight. very powerfully. this entire area is without power. the police have blocked off several roads. we have seen debris up and down the texas coast. some buildings have been obliterated. this one just heavily damaged. again, more than 200,000 people at least

we're still getting rain bands, although the worst of the storm has passed to our north. again, the city manager of rockport tells us that around 11:45, just before midnight, is when the storm, when harvey made landfall in the city of rockport. we were just in taft, texas, a short time ago. trees were down, power lines were down. and there were even some high water. we tried to make our way back to rockport. here in the town of sinton, texas. several buildings are damaged. the power is out. unknown how many injuries due to harvey at this time. back to you. >> stay safe. we'll check in again with you. thank you. we want to bring in corpus christi's mayor, joe mccomb. mr. mayor, thanks for your time. i know you're busy. let's start with the flooding. let's start with the power outages. what can you tell us about those things specifically there in corpus christi? >> i don't know how widespread the power outage is, but i know it's considerable. and it's had some impact -- i lost power in my home

night. it kept me from being able to get in touch -- to the media, keep updated to that. it also knocked out the power on our water treatment plant and means we had to go on a water boil notice before people -- for drinking water purposes. it's going to create a problem because many people don't have electricity. i mean, you can still use it to bathe and that sort of thing. that's going to create an issue. the flooding, at least from information that i have, we didn't -- we haven't experienced the amount of rain that we thought we were going to get. and i don't believe -- i haven't heard the latest numbers, but i don't believe the storm surge was as high as it was. the winds were horrific. from what pictures i did see before i lost power and then information that i was getting

through text, obviously none of it's confirmed, but there's just a tremendous amount of damage in corpus christi and the surrounding areas. i've not heard of any fatalities. but then like i said, i've been pretty much out of the loop since about 3:00 this morning with no power and no internet. i'm like everybody else, waiting for -- to get a little sunlight and the opportunity to get to someplace that i can get some power. >> mayor, we're looking at some of the pictures now. some, frankly, devastating. what's your biggest concern this hour? >> you know, really not knowing where to start in terms of driving to offer aid. we just -- until we can identify the need, it's going to be difficult. our emergency people were -- they were out all night, and so i'm

we get daylight where you can see where you're going because we don't want them going out, particularly running over live electrical wires that may be lying and they can't see or holes in the roads that have been washed away. so we're just playing a waiting game with a little bit of daylight now. and it's -- it's fruft rating, but you don't want to get anybody out too early before they can get a view of what's ahead. maybe the next two or three feet, so they don't fall in a hole that's been washed out or an electric line you can't see. so i think caution is the main thruster now until we can get out and assess what the damage is and where people need help as quickly as possible. >> joe mcdocomb, mayor of corpu christi, texas. our thoughts and prayers are with you and the folks there in corpus christi. stay in touch,

on the ground, please. >> i certainly will. thank you. dave price from wnbc in new york is with us in studio 1a while dylan is in texas. what's the latest on the hurricane? >> let's go through two things. the here and now. then let's talk about some of the points our correspondents in the field made. category-four storm, 35 miles southwest of victoria, texas. winds down in the last hour to 85 miles per hour. it's really moving nowhere fast. meandering to the northwest at six miles per hour. the rain bands stretch about 250 miles here. as you see, there are areas to the north and east where we have tornado watches in effect. the feeder bands rolling through houston at this point. we talked about the fact that victoria has about 16 inches of rain alreadi. to put that in

rain for some of these areas in just about half a day. it is remarkable. we continue to watch the storm. let's not get caught up in what category it is. let's get focused on how long it's going to sit around here. the diameter of the eye, just about 11 miles wide. doesn't seem like a lot, but hurricane-force winds extend just about 30 miles from that eye. tropical storm-force winds extends another 100 to 120 miles from that centerpoint. as we take a look and track, this is what we imagine the track is going look like. this could change through the day. it just sits over the area. look at this -- this is thursday at 1:00 in the morning. the numbers of 20, 30, 40 inches of rain are completely possible. there's a possibility this could meander got the gulf waters and regenerate. this is the most likely scenario we're

reminiscent, if you will, of allison that rolled through texas in 2001. at that point, of course, they saw some catastrophic flooding in the houston area. this is going to be more widespread and head on inland. we'll continue to watch the storm as it kind of sits over the area. wind less of an issue. flooding is going to be the big concern the next several days. back to you. >> thank you, dave. galveston also in the middle of all of this, we found nbc's joe fryer. what's the scene in galveston? >> reporter: good morning. moments ago our phones all went off, issuing a flash flood warning. we expect to get a lot of those flash flood warnings in the coming days here. in galveston, the winds maybe weren't as strong, the surge wasn't as high as other parts of texas. the flooding float is very real. still, there were dramatic moments during the storm. a lot of power loss. we lost power here at our hotel. just to the east of here at the peninsula, there were reports

witnesses say that the winds were so strong, they were blowing embers around the neighborhood, making it hard to fight the fire and get everything under control. typically in this situation there would be reinforcements coming from galveston to help the firefighters on the peninsula. last night the ferry service was shut down. so those firefighters from here weren't able to get over there. meanwhile, we want to go to the southwest, just off of port mansfield. that's where the coast guard had to rescue 12 people from a commercial diving vessel. that was taking on water yesterd yesterday. the ship got stuck, the coast guard hoisted people to safety, got everyone to safer ground before the hurricane hit land. back here in galveston, though, all eyes are going to be on the sky in the coming daze because the rain is expected to keep coming down. there are a lot of low-lying areas. >> dylan

reported tornado in houston and one in galveston. any signs of a tornado touching down there? >> reporter: we haven't seen anything yelt, but thruout the entire day yesterday we were getting tornado warnings. we checked one out, but it was straight-line winds that knocked the golden arches off a mcdonald's sign. we've been seeing tornado warnings throughout recently and. see if there are any actual touchdowns. >> thank you. overnight, president trump signed a disaster delegation for texas. the monster storm, the president's real domestic test since taking office. overnight, instead of focusing on the storm, the president announced he'd pardoned a controversial sheriff in arizona. kelly o'donnell at the white house with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. at this stage, there are limits to what the president can do regarding the storm. he is watching the winds and rains with his homeland security team. he does plan to visit texas, they say, flex week. he's already -- next week. he's already working

aid from the white house. the president signed the disaster proclamation which he described as unleashing federal help. when the first family left for a weekend at camp david, hurricane harvey was not the only storm brewing. a legal lightning bolt from president trump late friday. a presidential pardon for arizona's controversial anti-illegal immigration hard-liner, sheriff joe arpaio. a moment the president teased at his two-day rally in phoenix. >> by the way, i'm curious -- do the people in this room lightning sheriff joe? [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: long accused of using roishl profiling and tough -- racial profiling and tough tactics against illegal immigrants. the 85-year-old sheriff was convicted of criminal attempt for failing to follow a court order to stop the patrols.

>> was sheriff joe convicted for doing his job? [ cheers ] >> reporter: cheered by some conservatives, but critics in both parties say the pardon only enflames divisions and discrimination against hadn't and undermines the rule of law. arpaio spoke to nbc news by phone. >> i have to thank the president for standing by me and standing by law enforcement. >> reporter: still more news as the hurricane soaked up coverage. national security aide sebastian good morninga says he resign -- gorka says he resigned. but a white house official disputes that. he was an ousted strategist of -- strategist of ousted steve bannon. and now managering his first natural disaster. homeland security adviser tom bossert says the president is ready. tweets show maps on his desk in the vofalves and

affected governors. >> if they have unmet needs, that's our problem. the president won't tolerate that. >> reporter: last year, candidate trump visited louisiana flood damage and blasted president obama for remaining on vacation. for president the, sderdisastern do a heck of a job. >> you're doing a heck of a job. >> reporter: in 2005, george w. bush's misplaced praise of katrina investigators, and then president trump visited fema headquarters three weeks ago. still more under what you can cause a friday news dump. the president also sent the official plan to the pentagon for his transgender military policy that bans their service. he's giving the secretary of defense six months to assess the situation. it is unclear what happens to those who are all right in uniform who are currently serving. it stops recruitment and stops pat

>> all right. kelly, thank you. dave's back. we know what the gulf coast is dealing with. what about the rest of the country? >> a quick gander now, high heat in the pacific northwest and southwest. severe sto and that tropical moisture dave talking about could impact our area tuesday and wednesday on the east coast. if you're headed south to the beaches for labor day weekend keep an eye on the forecast. right now beautiful, 67 degrees. we continue to warm up into the mid-70s as we get to the lunch hour. low 80s for daytime highs today. we do have changes early next week. i also have 90s on that ten-da >> a lot going on the weather wall. >> for sure. thank you. >> we'll have much more of our coverage of h

next. -- on nbc.

>> announcer: this is a "news 4 today" newsbreak. good morning. 7:26 on this saturday august 26th. i'm adam tuss. here is what's happening. a tractor-trailer overturned on the inner loop of the beltway this morning. can you see how the front of that truck here was smashed in. maryland state police say the driver is expected to be okay. apparently that driver fell asleep behind the wheel. families today will receive help in starting this new school year off right. prince george's county public schools hosting a back to school fair today. it's going to be at prince george's starting 9:30 this morning. free immunizations will be available. news 4's derrick ward will be

shaping up to be a v

looking like a good start to our saturday morning. storm team 4 meteorologist lauryn ricketts with more on that. >> it's going tab beautiful day today, especially but want to head outside for a run. temperatures under that 80 degree mark. just fantastic. that humidity on the low side, too. 81 for daytime high. again, very comfortable. it's a little refreshing out there now. a little cool. tomorrow will be cool as well. temperatures only in the upper 70s but still another beautiful day. this is our next system we're watching, really organized off the coast of florida. here is a change, chance for rain late monday night, tuesday, wednesday. if you're headed to area beaches along southeastern seaboard, you may be impacted by the storm. keep a close eye on the weather around d.c. area temperatures

next week. >> lauryn, thank you very much. we'll be back in 25 minutes with more local news and breaking we're back on a saturday morning tracking hurricane health care reform as it pummels the texas -- hurricane harvey as it pummels the texas gulf coast. we're looking at sincetton, tex. battered for hours already. >> let's get you caught up. hurricane harvey came on shore as a category-four storm. it is currently hanging out over texas as a category one. >> at least 200,000 people are without power this morning. that number could rise significantly as harvey continues to unleash its fury. >> one of the biggest threats harvey brings -- torrential rains and major flooding. the storm expected to dump up to three feet of water over the

dylan's riding out the storm in corpus christi. what's the latest? >> reporter: the latest is hurricane harvey has downgraded to a category-one hurricane at this point. winds are still up to 90 miles per hour. but now the bigger threat is going to switch to the flooding potential because of the days and days of rain that we'll see. where i'm standing now, it looks fairly calm. that's because we are properly positioned on a particular side of the building. if you go to the other side of the building, we're seeing really very gusty winds. it's just too hard to report to you standing in winds like that. that's why we've protected ourselves a bit. driving down from san antonio, we were fortunate. we were on the western side of the storm which is, i'd say, the side that sees lesser impacts. you don't have the stronge eses winds or intense rainfall. we were driving between bands of rain. we ended up getting a nice lull. the problem was while we were driving, it was so dark. a lot of the area is

that ur anized. there were random signs and things down in the parking lot. you can't get anywhere without a flashlight because there's very little power and a lot of wind damage so far. going forward, we've already picked up 16 inches of rain in victoria, texas, the more intense, eye of the storm. with the system meandering over texas, areas farther east like galveston and houston, we will see most likely record-breaking flooding. the storm unfortunately is going nowhere fast. guys? >> all right. thank you. we'll check in again in a bit. gabe gutierrez has been in the middle of this all night. he was trying to get to rockport, texas, had to turn back near sinton, where the eye made landfall. what have you been seeing,

>> reporter: we're trying to make our way to rockport, where the eye made landfall, according to the city manager, around 11:45 central time. heavy damage there. but even trying to get there, driving from corpus christi, having to take the long route to avoid some of the more dangerous areas, we ran across high water and had to turn around. we were in taft, texas, now we're in sinton. look at the damage -- you see this is a brick structure. very sturdy. it was boarded up, and the winds pounded this building. you see the damage inside. thankfully no one was inside. thankfully it appears at least in this town that most people heeded the advice to evacuate. we've seen first responders and some police officers blocking off roads. a lot of downed power lines, craig. that is the concern. as you mentioned, more than 200,000 people throughout texas are without power at this point. the concern is not just the winds because thankll

worst appears to have passed here. as bad as it is now, it was worse several hours ago. the rain is expected to continue from the meonandering storm tha came on shore. there could be storm surge in parts of texas. again, one of the hardest hit areas, rockport, where the eye made landfall, hearing reports of extensive damage there. here in sinton, texas, we're awaiting first light to get a sense of the extent of the damage. it's not clear the extent -- how many injuries there have been and how many heeded the call to evacuate. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez. stay safe, buddy. in houston, a major fear this morning as the intense flooding the area's expected to get. when it's all said and done, nearly three feet of rain could fall from hurricane harvey. nbc's jacob rascon has more on that from houston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. more rain than we

overnight, and we still have flash flood warnings, tornado warnings. we've seen evidence of at least one tornado touching down about 30 minutes south of houston. this is all very bad news, of course. more than six million people live in the metro area. the energy capital of the world. we have the refineries, the world's largest medical center, and all of that. it's surrounding the area's creeks, lakes, and rivers, all expected to overflow. like everywhere else, but especially here, it's not the initial impact but the flooding that will follow. hurricane harvey's outer band hit houston overnight. in the nation's fourth largest city, flooding is the real threat. and kristen macy has had enough. >> the last two years, i don't want to go through it again. >> reporter: another homeowner built his own levee. still others scrambled to elevate homes in town. the university of texas health center also isn't taking an

protected by submarine-style flood doors. the bayou city is used to flooding but not two feet or more of rain. >> we don't know which watersheds might overflow. we don't know which neighborhoods might flow. >> reporter: the threat is as severe as it gets at the harris county office of emergency management where local, state, and federal authorities are working around the clock. >> we want people to be alert, prepared, informed on, guard, stocked up, patient. >> reporter: texas governor greg abbott has mobilized hundreds of national guard troops who, like local first responders, are preparing for water rescues. this is this man's last chance to buy supplies. he's been through this before -- one of tens of thousands displaced by hurricane katrina in new orleans. relocated to houston. >> you better take it seriously. don't play with there one. don't speculate that you know better than those who are wag

>> reporter: he remembers katrina's initial impact wasn't nearly as devastating as the flood that's followed. >> things are never the same after one of these storms. you can go back to you think where you were, but it's not quite the same. it does something to you to go through one of these. >> reporter: last night, it was two feet or more for a lot of the area. the forecast has changed for much of the system, much of the area as we've said before. up to three feet of rain within five days. this could be as bad or worse than we've been talking about. pretty bad. >> a whole heck of a lot of rain for america's largest city. thank you. let's check in with dave price with more on hurricane harvey's path. dave? >> jacob was talking about the amount. rain houston is getting -- amount of rain houston is getting. if we look to a somewhat

well, we've got below normal temperatures for us here. temperatures right around 80 degrees for a daytime high. a little crisp out there even. another beautiful day. we've got a beautiful day tomorrow. we do have changes on the way. if you still like summer we've got 90s in that ten-day forecast. we're coming back on at 8:00 a.m. see that 67 in the district, outside the beltway, the cool side. nothing happening on the that's a quick look at the weather picture. a lot going on. >> thank you. coming up next, we will take a look at the major impact harvey is having on businesses, ♪ if you could book a flight,

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we're back on a saturday looking at galveston, texas. hurricane harvey is expected to hammer the texas coast for days and will have a major impact on businesses, airlines, and the gas and oil industry. >> nbc's joling kent with a look at the ways our economy wl ilbe impacted. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. hurricane harvey is expected to do billions of dollars in damage and with the gulf coast as america's most-important oil and gas hub, it's going to cost americans well beyond just texas. the gas prices are already going up. businesses are shutting down in the path of hurricane harvey as is slams the gulf coast. gas stations running on empty. store shelves bare as texans stock up on food and supplies. hundreds of flights preempted through tomorrow leaving travelers stranded. the major airlines, changing fees. >> we move about 320,000 barrels of krufd a

all of that stopped. obviously we don't know when that will resume. >> reporter: the gulf coast is 40e home to nearly half the refining capacity. offshore rigs with 21% of the crude oil. some evacuated as harvey approached. that means nationwide you could be paying more at the pump. >> if there is any significant damage and it takes more than three or four days to fix it, you could see a spike of 15 to 30 cents per gallon of gas between now and labor day. that's an addition of $4 or $5 per fill-up. >> reporter: as the biggest storm to hit the decade in more than a decade, the total cost of harvey expected to be massive. in 1992, hurricane andrew caused $26 billion in damage. 20 years later, the repairs from superstorm sandy cost $75 billion. no storm has ever topped katrina, which claimed nearly 2,000 lives and left more than $108 billion of property damage in its wake. hoping to mitigate

texas families shell out big bucks ahead of harborviewy to protect their homes. generators were a hot commodity in victoria, texas. outside houston, the massey family spent $4,800 on 18,000 pounds of sandbags and plastic, hoping to keep their home dry. >> twice in the last two years. and i just -- i don't want to go through it again. >> reporter: now, there are concerns about price gouging in texas, as well. experts advise that stocking up is a good idea, but no need to totally panic. of course, if you see price gouge, report it to texas authorities. overall, guys, expect to see a major negative economic impact on the region of texas with areas that have been rendered uninhabitable for days, weeks, and probably months. >> all right. jo ling kent. thank you. there's much more of our hurricane coverage of harvey coming up including a look

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back on a saturday morning as we keep a close eye on hurricane harvey. >> federal and local officials working around the deadlock keep people safe. morgan radford now with what is being done out there. good morning. we have a lot of ground to cover. we want to talk about where people can go if they need help. first up, these are the websites you can go to. this is website for fema, the texas department of public safe safety, red cross for central and south texas, and of course the department of homeland security's web page. here you go. if you go on each of these links, you'll find not only what you can do during but after hurricane harvey. and if you or someone you know has actually been displaced because of the storm, the red cross will be opening shelters as needed. check this out -- you can find the list and

shelters that are open on redcross.org. and airbnb offering to help out. the company's disaster response program connects local residents to hosts opening their homes free of charge. if you want more info. just give them a call or reach them at airbnbhelp. to donate, use a trusted organization, a good one, the salvation army, for example, red cross already accepting donations. back to you. >> a lot of information, we'll put it on today.com. thank you. much, much more ahead as we keep an eye on hurricane harvey as it continues to pummel the texas coast. first, this is "today" on nbc.

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good morning. it's 7:56 on this saturday august 26th, i'm meagan fitzgerald. here is a look at some of the stories we're following for you

a tractor-trailer turned over on the inner loop of the beltway this morning. can you see how the front of the truck was smashed. maryland state police say the driver is expected to be okay. apparently the driver fell asleep behind the wheel. families will get help in starting the new school year off, right, prince george county schools hosting a back to school fair today. it will be at prince george's stadium in starting at 9:30 this morning. free immunizations will be available. news 4's derrick ward will be live there this morning starting at 8:30. your forecast is comin

welcome back. let's check in with storm team 4 meteorologist lauryn ricketts. good morning, lauryn. >> we're looking at nice temperatures, 50s and 60s. it's a little cool outside. we'll continue to warm into the upper 70s, low 80s depending on your location. again, another beautiful day. if you liked yesterday you'll like today and tomorrow. we've got a little system off the southeastern coast of florida. that could bring us some rain as we get into monday night. we could have thunderstorms on the day through tuesday possibly leading spot first part of wednesday but temperatures stay well below normal so a 90

southern area beaches along the eastern seaboard you're going to have rain to deal with this week. >> lauryn, good morning. harvey's wrath. the monster hurricane making landfall on the texas coast overnight as a category-four storm. 130 mile-per-hour winds winds ashore, torrential waves pummelling the gulf coast. one community already experiencing utter devastation as daylight breaks and residents get their first real look at the damage harvey left behind. >> we didn't think it would hit category four. >> president trump declaring texas a disaster area. and the misery has only just started with widespread and devastating flooding expected

the possibility of more than three feet of rain in the coming days alone. our team is spread out across the gulf coast as hurricane harvey barrels down, today, saturday, august 26th, 2017. ♪ >> from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today" -- "hurricane harvey makes landfall." live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and welcome back to "today" on a saturday morning. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm sheinelle jones. dylan and lester holt are in texas covering hurricane harvey with a team of nbc news correspondents. >> we will get to them in a moment. first, here's the latest information -- this is a look at a satellite image of harvey as it rolls over texas now. it's a huge rain maker. >> and check out the scene from up in space. the astronauts aboard the international space station capturing this image of the enormity of

where the rain and wind has been nonstop since harvey came ashore. >> this is the latest -- hurricane harvey made landfall around 10:00 p.m. central time. it came ashore as a category-four storm but has been downgraded to a category one. >> harvey brought with it winds of 130 miles per hour. now top winds have diminished to 80 miles per hour, barely a category-one storm. we're getting initial damage reports of buildings that have partially collapsed, downed trees all over, and lots of damage to cars and homes. >> one of the hardest hit areas was rockport, texas. that's where the eye made landfall. city officials telling us that they are experiencing "utter devastation." >> daylight is just about to break in texas, and residents will be able to get a clearer picture of the devastation from harvey. >> we have our team spread out throughout texas. lester holt and dylan dreyer are

[001:02:58;00] it was an interesting drive to say the least, from san antonio. we landed in san antonio late last night. and then we drove down here to corpus christi. and the thing that i found interesting was, you know, we were on the western side of the storm which i guess was the less intense side of the storm. i looked at the radar before we left. we could sneak in between the bands of real heavy rain. on the east side and west side, we had torrential downpours. then we were able to make it here with some gusty winds, some debris on the roads -- >> we were in separate cars. a convoy on highway 37. i was watching the radar and realized this was a great way to come in. on the weak side. >> we were a little concerned about one bridge that might have been flooded out. >> a viaduct. we slowed down because there's a big creek that runs underneath it. that would have been the show stopper for us. we made that -- flying in, we should note, the pilot made a comment, he said, "we had a

55-knot wind on the nose cin it was bouncy. >> we felt it. >> keep in mind, that was san antonio, far from this. you pointed out something that i hadn't noticed earlier. the waves are going out now. >> yes. that's why if looks eerily calm even though we're on the coast of the gulf of mexico. now we're on the back side of the storm. winds are pushing everything out to sea. on the eastern side, the storm surge is still a major concern. we're searing it alleviated because the water is being pushed out to sea. >> you note as it gets light, people have a better idea of the damage. i drove around about an hour ago on my way back to this location. we could only see what was in the headlights. we saw downed traffic signals, trees in the road, other bits of debris. you couldn't see the buildings because the lights weren't hitting them. we'll get a better view of damage later on. the most important thing is we're not talking about post-storm damage assessment.

this thing is still a hurricane. it will be around for quite a pummelled now -- >> hurricane harvey slammed into the texas shore overnight. >> reporter: we have been praying for quite a while for the eye to pass over so we could get some kind of break through here. >> a category-four storm, winds up to 130 miles per hour. strong enough to rip the roof off this building in fulton near the point of landfall. nearby in rockport, in the eye of the storm, scenes of devastation. this hotel suffered severe damage, forcing 128 people to evacuate. reports of people injured inside a senior center after the roof collapsed. at the local high school, several buildings were badly damaged. rockport's mayor earlier issued a grave warning to those who did not evacuate -- write your social security number on your arm so your body can be identified. destruction quickly piled up as

the storm blew when the wind and water are gone, what's left could amount to $40 billion in damage. >> i was hoping to wake up in the morning and i had a town. >> the air pressure from the storm caused the ceiling to buckle eight our affiliate, kris. local officials praised the weather service reporting for giving them time to prepare. many in corpus christi heeded the warning and got out. >> i figured we got the kids and, you know, it's -- as much flooding. >> a 14-foot wall of water could have come in. we couldn't risk it. >> the most important thing you can do is to guard your own life. >> reporter: governor abbott told people in houston to head north, away from the coast. that led to confusion because county officials did not call for an evacuation. hurricane harvey is going to cost us all. this oil drill ship was last to the dock in port aransas, just one of the many gulf coast oil

operations shut down the storm. gas prices nationwide are already up 10%. no business will take place in galveston for days. the slanted is practic-- island is practically cut off from the mainland. the spirit is strong in texas, but is just the first of many difficult days ahead. we should note, this hurricane made not one but two landfills. it will -- landfalls. it will ton soak the area and be an issue. an ongoing event for many, many days to come. back to you in new york. >> thank you. nbc's gabe gutierrez has been in the middle of this thing all night. he's now in sinton, texas. that's near where the eye of the storm made landfall. what are you seeing now? >> reporter: good morning. we're starting to see first light. authorities here want to assess the damage from this and get an understanding of any injuries and also how many buildings were

damaged. we're here in sinton, heavily damaged. was boarded up. the winds plowed through here overnight as harvey made landfall. we were trying to make our way through rockport, texas. that is near where the eye of the storm hit. and we ran across high water, had to double back quickly. tried to stay safe as the storm came ashore. right now we're still feeling the rain. it's lettu up a bit the last ho or two. the wind is still making it treacherous on the roads. as you mentioned, craig and sheinelle, more than 200,000 people remain without power. first light is expected to bring some understanding of the extent of damage and injuries at this point. here in sinton, authorities trying to keep people off the roads. it appears that most people have

left, but it's unclear at the coast dire warning to evacuate. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez in sinton. the sun starting to rise there. we'll get a better look at the damage. galveston also in the middle of this. that's where we find joe fryer. what's it looking like there in galveston, texas? >> reporter: good morning. the winds have picked up. a few minutes ago we had hard, sideways rain blowing here. that is the big concern moving forward from today on. avenue are rains caused major flooding. the system will keep dumping rain. people in the low high lying areas are concerned. we've had the winds, storm surge, even tornado warnings the last 24 hours keeping everyone on their toes. there were dramatic moments overnight. we had power outages at our hotel. to the east all over the peninsula, there were homes that caught fire.

imagine being a firefighter these winds going on. witnesses say the winds were blowing around embers, making it hard to keep the fires under control. meanwhile, we want to go way to the southwest here to port mansfield, texas, just off the waters there. the coast guard yesterday had to rescue 12 people from a commercial diving vessel. that 160-foot vessel was taking on water. the coast guard was able to come in and hoist the 12 on there all to safety and get them to dry lands or semi dry land before the hurricane hit. that was a close tall thecall t. now, it doesn't matter where you are, it's not just assessing the wind, it's the rain the next few days. many in galveston staying in town, sandbags ready, they've shuttered themselves in. they have water and generators. they want to see what happens and if the floodwaters are going to hit record levels. back to you.

>> joe fer is in texas keeping a close eye on harvey's in tropp tropical storm force winds, extend another 140 miles. now, keep in mind, this is the path we imagine this storm will take over the next several days. this is what i want to note. look at that. that's thursday morning, thursday morning, and this storm is still circulating and still dumping rain. areas to the southwest of victoria right now have received already 16 inches of rain.

that's in the last 12 for that area, are just about double that. so in half a day, we've received half a year's worth of rain. the numbers are really simply remarkable. storm surge another issue. dylan talked about what they are in corpus christi on the back end of the storm, so water is beginning to filter its way back out. keep in mind we are going to see on the northern end higher numbers and that water is pushing inland. the rain is coming down and there's nowhere for it to go. that's why even though winds are diminishing and category strength is also going down, this is a story that will develop over the next several days and could be treacherous as time goes on. that's a look at the weather

picture, send it back to you. >> thank you. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the president is already tweeting this morning praise for all the different levels of government and how they're handling things, including fema, saying, "the world is watching. be safe." president trump also said that he got the message loud and clear about mobilizing several resources early. the white house says the president plans to visit texas sometime next week. given the expected duration of the storm, that could be challenging. critics including top democrats accused the president of using the hurricane for political cover. to deliver that controversial pardon late friday of arizona sheriff joe arpaio. he was convicted of criminal contempt for failing to stop immigration patrols described azerbaijas discriminatory and based on racial profiling of latinoss. the 85-year-old former sheriff tells nbc news he is grateful

the president stood up for him. the pardon has the president has also taken action on another csitrovaler irish -- sending his policy to the pentagon for the ban of transgender service members. now the secretary of defense will get six months to determine what happens to those already serving open leap as transgender. the policy stops payments for gender reassignment medical care and ends recruitment of transgender individuals. >> thank you. a busy news day on all fronts. let's attornturn to some other headlines. north korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on friday night. the move likely in retaliation to the united states and south korea's annual war games in the korean peninsula. the second missile seems to have blown up immediately, but none threatened guam. president trump has been notified and is monitoring the situation. in england, counterterror police are detaining a man who

was outside of buckingham palace with the weapon. he drove up with the web e weapon in his car -- the weekend in his car. no members were there at the time. security has been high since attacks this year. the move is on for a missing service member after a black hawk helicopter crashed off the southern coast of yemen. five other troops on board that aircraft have been rescued. officials are calling it a training accident. the accident is now under investigation. two free speech rallies scheduled to take place in northern california this weekend have been canceled. organizers grew concerned that local law enforcement would fail to protect them. the right-wing group patriotic prayer scrapped plans to rally by the golden gate bridge following threats by left wing protesters. san francisco's mayor has spoken out against the group. another rally at nearby berkeley was also canceled. there's still growing fear over possible violence and unrest.

dave priets a stretch of very, very warm weather. look at temperatures in the pacific northwest getting into the mid-90s as we head through the beginning of the workweek. it is going to be a scorcher out there. then head to northern plains states where we're watching severe storms. the other area of interest, right there in the florida peninsula, tropical moisture, flood watch for areas including miami. that's a quick look at our national weather. here is a look at what's happening right where you are. >> well, it's a little chilly out there right where we are. temperatures 50s and 60s, although it is a beautiful morning out there. it's going to continue to be a beautiful day as those temperatures warm up into the upper 70s and lower 80s depending on where you are. we're not expecting any rain out there today. then as we head through your sunday, still dry. maybe a few more clouds around tomorrow.

i do believe we'll have some clouds aroun temperatures in the mid-70s. we stay in the mid-70s tuesday . >> that's a look at the national maps. much more ahead as we track hurricane harvey as it hammers the texas gulf coast this

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discover social security alerts. hdid you get that email i sente wyou...before you wake up. ... when life keeps you up... zzzquil helps you fall asleep in less than 20 minutes. because sleep is a beautiful thing. back on a saturday morning with a live look at galveston, texas. the sun is about to start rising. we are going to get a good look at the damage that has hit galveston. it's been nearly 12 years since a major hurricane came ashore here in this country. that's the longest america has gone without seeing a category-three storm or larger. >> dylan has more from corpus christi. hey, again. hi, guys. the last major hurricane was hurricane wilma in 2005.

the last time a category-four was back in 2004. so why has it been so long between major hurricanes? some might say luck. with hurricane harvey's ariemp this morning, the we end -- arrival this morning, the end of a run of good luck. the longest stretch of hurricane-free weather now over. >> your life is in potential danger. >> the last hurricane this strong to hit the mainland, wilma, 12 years ago in 2005. we haven't had a stretch that long since hurricane records were first taken in the 1850s. noaa did predict an above-normal atlantic hurricane season this year. so harvey's landfall isn't surprising. >> as they say, get out of dodge. >> what safety officials fear is that it's been so long, residents in the south might not be prepared. among the worst hurricanes in u.s. history, katrina, which made landfall on august 29th, 2005. more than 1,800 people dead.

new orleans under water. the costliest hurricane in u.s. history. 25 years ago this week, hurricane andrew ravaged south florida. >> although the relief effort is well underway. urgent need exists. >> 65 dead, 127,000 homes damaged or destroyed. the cost -- nearly $27 billion. the rush to prepare for sandy is on. and superstorm sandy, not considered to be a major hurricane because it hit the u.s. as a category-two storm. still left tremendous damage. >> we've never seen this. unprecedented. >> the 2012 hurricane affected 24 states, killed 72 people in the u.s., and cost $65 billion in damages, making it the second-costliest weather disaster after hurricane katrina. how have we managed to dodge a bullet until now? the general consensus in the weather community -- pure luck. that lucky streak now has come

to an end. this point. even though harvey is weakening, we're still forecasting about 40 inches of rain. that could lead to proerdbreaking flooding. guys -- record-breaking flooding. guys? >> thks.

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only citi lets you earn 1% cash back when you buy, and 1% as you pay. double means double. you. i'm adam tuss. >> good morning to you. i'm meagan fitzgerald in for angie goff. straight ahead on "news 4 today" we track destruction as hurricane harvey hits land.

>> and we are continuing watch what happens with hurricane harvey over the next week. what's going on with our temperatures over the next week. could we see summer return? we've got the ten-day forecast coming up. we have team coverage of the storm at 9:00 a.m. we'll check in with mamelia draper live in texas. >> major traffic problems. impact across the country and thousands on vacation who are stuck at sea. a "field of dreams" and sea of backpacks, this is how prince george's county school year gets under way this year. i'll tell you what this is about coming up on news 4. all that and live coverage from texas on hurricane harvey

when we start "news 4 today." >> we're going

harvey hits rd right now on "news 4 today," the massive hurricane makes landfall wrecking homes, ripping through the golf course. >> whipping winds and now the danger of flooding. the community torn apart and why this threat is so far from over. good morning to you. i'm meagan fitzgerald in for angie goff. hurricane harvey is hovering over texas as we speak. >> i'm adam tuss. starting to move inland a little bit. meteorologist warned it would be catastrophic. now that fear is a reality. >> talking about more than 200,000 homes without power right now on the golf course in texas. the storm made landfall just after 10:00 last night. >> roofs have been ripped off buildings, scattered debris everywhere. as daylight comes up, a better idea of how much damage is in that area and the impact that it's having. hurricane harvey may be slowing down but it was powerful as it made landfall in texas. >> nbc's sarah dallof continues our coverage this morning.

she's live for us in galveston. good morning, you know, this is the strongest hurricane to hit texas in nearly half a century. even though it's been downgraded from a four to a one, this is still a kacatastrophic storm as storm surge rises. as the sun comes up, crews are going to be able to go out and get a better picture of the extent of the damage. overnight already videos and photos of damage and injuries as well. rockport really the center of the hurricane. it was hit we're thinking at this point the hardest. it's a seaside community of about 10,000 people. we're hearing the roof of a senior center collapsed two people injured. two people potentially trapped in a home. we expect to hear more stories