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 like this as emergency crews are able to get out and

of harvey's impact. meanwhile rain continues to fall steadily. some areas we're told will receive about 3 feet. isolated areas we even can see up to 40 inches of rain. so really historic rain and historic flooding. houston beginning to report problems. some areas there the national weather service now issuing their first trash flood warnings for some areas in houston. we're told houston roads and neighborhoods could be inundated by floodwaters as early as tonight. back to you guys. >> nbc's sarah dallof live in galveston, texas, this morning. thank you so much, sarah. now see where the storm is headed with meteorologist lauryn ricketts. she's keeping an eye on it as well. >> definitely keeping an eye. not only impacts around southeast coast of texas but we've got amelia draper down there as well. she's at hotspot at astros park,

south and east of victoria, texas. victoria, the last update i got on them was about an hur ago, 16 1/2 inches of rain. we had some torn, one possibly in the houston area, one in the galveston area. again, that's where our own amelia draper is. they continue to have this tornado watch until early in the afternoon. the sun is just coming up in the area, have to see the damage from the overpass. look at this, thursday. it's saturday. thursday this storm is just going to meander around the east coast. winds 35 miles an hour thursday. that means tropical storm status until then bringing those onshore winds, bringing that storm surge out there. again, we'll have really worry about flooding for this area. we've got more on that and our weather maybe as summer returns on that ten day. talk about that in a little bit. guys. >> lauryn, thank you very much. check out this carport getting rolled by strong winds in the texas area. this is recorded to the

in corpus christi. harvey made landfall last night as a category 4 hurricane. that packs winds up to 156 miles an hour. catastrophic damage is going to occur with those tropical storm force winds. hurricane thankfully now sitting down as a category 1. >> over in rockport, texas, we're hoping the people who may still be in this hotel are okay. as you can see, it's flooded. you can also see water bubbling up from underneath the doors there. outside the hotel, trees have toppled over and buildings are damaged. >> if you move about 50 miles up the coast, you'll see port lavaca. this is where some of the strongest tropical winds were forecast to mostly fair through. can you hear the winds whistling a little bit in the video as the rain hits the boats and water you can see them bobbing up and down. quite a scene there. half hour north from there is where a red cross shelter set up in victoria. 340 people a

inside of a school gym. one person who didn't evacuate says he's having second thoughts. >> i think we're going to be fine. it's just a little more than what i bargained for. next time we have a storm this magnitude, i probably won't stay. >> yeah. >> among those who did evacuate was a 102-year-old woman and her daughter and granddaughter. they are worried about just how long the storm might last. >> in corpus christi, rushing waters slamming do sea walls and slamming roads. could peak at 14 feet, the sea could see as much as 40 inches of rain. the storm center is expected to remain over southeast texas throughout the weekend creating catastrophic damage. the wind, storm surge and flooding. >> this thing is far from over. our own amelia draper made her way to texas for a firsthand look at the hurricane. live from houston coming up i

can you follow her on twitter for her updates from the gulf. meanwhile president trump taking action in response to harvey. that's not the only storm he's dealing with. the controversial moves as the white house and new threat from north korea that's bubbling up. >> all morning long we're tracking hurricane harvey as more damage ces toom

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we're monitoring the latest response to hurricane harvey from president trump. you can see him right there walking to marine one. he's currently at camp david this weekend monitoring the storm. in a tweet the president says he signed a disaster declaration for texas, which will free up federal assistance. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders says the president will try to

texas early next week. >> in a separate major move by the president is causing a storm of its own. we've learned that the president pardoned joe arpaio. he's the former sheriff of maricopa county, arizona. arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt last month for disregarding a court order that essentially told him to stop racial prosecute filing of latinos. meanwhile another top staffer is out at the white house. this time it's president trump's deputy special assistant sebastian gorka. it's not clear if gorka resigned or was fire. one white house official said he did not resign. other notable white house departures on fridays, sean spicer, reince priebus and last week steve bannon. the defense department received a formal directive from the white house to ban transgender service members from serving in the military. the pentagon will stop recruiting transgender troops and payment will be suspended

and other medical costs for those serving. you probably woke up to a push alert about this. north korea launched three ballistic missiles into sea of japan. this is a violation of u.n. sanctions prohibiting north korea from launching missiles-of-missiles or conducting nuclear tests. all missiles appear to be short range missiles and these images were broadcast over north korea's state television today. they show leader kim jong-un meeting with military officials at what a news agency calls a target striking contest. time right now is 8:39 saturday morning. we continue to keep a close watch on harvey. a look at the regarded as this thing insurance its way up texas, making its way to victoria. can u see the eye of theyo

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all right. check out these waves. hurricane harvey is causing monstrous waves along the golf course. this was shot in corpus christi, which was getting slammed by tropical storm winds and flooding. hurricane harvey made landfall last night as a category 4 with winds up to 130 miles per hour. hundreds of members of the texas army and air national guards have been scattered throughout the state.

course, to massive storms. that city is now prabracing fro flooding once rainfall from harvey makes it to louisiana. the city is handing out sandbags all weekend long to prepare. new orleans mayor has called in additional state police and is in contact with the national guard. there is concern that the rain will wreak havoc on the city's fragile pump and drainage system. more than a dozen puchmps have been out of service since the rainstorm earlier this month. >> by monday we plan to have each pump station manned 24/7 with trained personnel. we feel very confident we'll be able to hit that target. >> some businesses in the french quarter are not taking any chances and have already boarded up their shops. time right now is 8: 3. harvey expected to ground hundreds of flights this weekend. we're working for you. we checked all three airports, so far no flights to houston have been

the flights that look to be possibly in jeopardy are afternoon and evening. keep an eye on that. many airlines waiving fees for travelers who rescheduled trips. if you can avoid going through houston, of course that is a huge airline hub. if you can do that, you should do so. as harvey made landfall, most people in that area had evacuated or hunkered down. >> but not tv reporters. check this out. yeah. that reporter is brandon walker. he's from our nbc station in houston. of course he's just one of many reporters who have flocked to the golf course to help cover hurricane harvey. walker was standing in port lavaca, which was about 50 miles north of where harvey made landfall. >> hurts just to look at him because you know that rain is stinging. >> yeah. >> a lot of work and often expensive to get your kids ready for a new school year,f

course. >> to make it a bit easier, some districts are helping students get prepared before they step foot in the classroom. news 4's derrick ward live in booey to show us how. good morning, derrick. >> good morning. we're standing amidst 10,000 or so backpacks. this is prince george's county school system's fair. they are doing it in a different location because of the demand. we're here at the stadium. joining me the coordinator of all this. you're doing a good job, started this in april. tell me the highlights. >> the highlights giving back, making a difference in the lives of our students. we know our students need backpacks, they need supplies. what better way coming together with the community, corporate sponsors, elected officials to say this is the time we can serve you. over 8,000 students preregistered for backpacks. we're prepared. our goal was 10,000 backpacks. we exceeded it, 11,000 backpacks. >> that's

immunizations. there's a seventh great requirement and that's a little bit different. all the slots initially filled. people -- there's still a few slots people need to get immunizations. >> yes, please. if you're still watching, come out, bring your information, and we'll be here to make sure. if y if you need the immunization we'll tell you where to go. today is a day of resources. we're giving you what you need so you'll be prepared september 6th to start the school year. >> excellent. finally, come out to the stadium, there's a little entertainment. >> you have an amazing car show, over 200 cars and they get a complimentary ticket to stay for the game. how many of our students have never seen a game before. they can see it bowie, here a family day, beautiful day, what more could we ask for. >> thank you very much. lots of energy this morning. >> thank you. >> good reason to come down. geea

what better way to spend a saturday. back to you. >> thank you, serric. we've been covering the storm which looks crazy, the fact it's stationary there for several days. but locally here -- >> not a bad day outside, enjoy it. >> not bad here. something come compare to, our blizzards where we got back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, kind of the same type of deal. they are going to get hit and hit and hit. >> you're talking about infamous snowmageddon. >> crazy times. yeah, for us around here it's pretty quiet. then you head to texas coast where they are getting the brunt of the weather. not only here but across the united states. we sent amelia draper down there. we'll talk in a little bit. keep it here, interested to what she says, at

right now. again, talking about flooding. she's looking at a lot of flooding going on down there. given the amount of rainfall they have had down there. beautiful up here, we haven't had that much rain. usually by august we've had a good deal of rain in august, but nothing over the last couple days. we'll take it for now. below normal temperatures for today, through the weekend and a lot into next week. it's going to be a beautiful day out there. we do have changes. if you weren't with us, we do have a few changes to your forecast for your monday, tuesday, and wednesday. if you want those warm temperatures back, don't worry, summer is not over yet. headed to workout, it's going to be a beautiful day outside. get that fitness in. we'll remain dry. we're dry up and down the east coast. we had a few sprinkles just into eastern shore. those were overnight. those have now moved out. this our next system we're watching. in fact, the national hurricane center is watching this as well. an area of disorgan s

an area of low pressure. that's going to continue to travel up the east coast. if you are headed to the beach, as we head into labor day, southern beaches from the virginia beach all the way down through the coast of carolinas and spoke georginto georgia, yo watching this. i do believe a good deal of rain before it moves out to sea and gets into our area. that's something we're watching, watching this, hurricane harvey right now. this is where amelia draper is going to be. again, on the outer bands right now. they have already had a tornado in houston, galveston down here, also a tornado there. i want to talk about that. they do have that tornado watch until 1:00. look at, this the storm surge. there's little bitty inlets you can't see on the map. that storm surge 9 to 12 feet above the ground. the wind will push the water from the ocean up to the shoreline and it's got nowhere to go. th

into early next week. look at this rainfall forecast as we go through mid next week. i do believe there's going to be isolated spots of 40 inches or so even around new orleans. doesn't need any more rain in new orleans since they are already below sea level. again, just under a foot of rain in that area off the louisiana coastline. here we go. winds down to 80 miles an hour. that's still category 1 hurricane. came onshore twice as a category 4 hurricane. but look at this. it just meanders. it's got nothing to steer it out of here. it's kind of blocked. it's going to continue to get warmth from the gulf of mexico. that's going to continue to fuel the fire. look at this. thursday of next week winds still 35 miles an hour. that is still tropical storm force winds. again, they are dealing with that all the way through next week. flooding, rain, storm surge, that's what they are going to be dealing with unfortunately. here we're looking nice today. tomorrow i do believe

around as we get into monday. of course we're tracking storms as we get into wednesday of next week. guys. >> thank you very much. coming up, extreme times call for extreme measures. we're going to tell you about the expensive and creative attempt to save one family's heme that ty are hoping is

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welcome back. we're getting a fresh look at the damage left behind so far from hurricane harvey. >> this is a live look at galveston, texas, as the sun is coming up in that part of the state. we're starting to see a little more of what is left bin. my goodness, see the water continues to pound there. that's what so many talking about the winds but the amount of rain and storm surge we're going to see. >> so many people are worried they will lose all they own in this hurricane. looking at the footage you can see why. >> in houston one woman taking extreme measure toss help keep her home and precious materials dry. roseanne tells us why that home owner has spared no expense. >> i just want to prevent it if i can. >> reporter: this local has had enough. >> our home had never flooded in 60 years. it's flooded twice in the last two years. i don't want to go through it again. >> reporter: the goal, keep the water out, so she plastic wrapped her home. >> everything flooded at once

win -- within five minutes last night. the goal was to keep the water from getting in. >> she surrounded her 4,000 square feet home with 18,000 pounds of sandbags costing her more than $2200. >> our second line of defense is this liner. then we're expecting this gorilla tape to keep it secure. it's supposed to be waterproof. if it works, i'll do it again. >> an expensive experiment that cost $450 for waterproof liners, $250 for tape and drain routers, and more than $1900 for labor and delivery fees. a whopping $4800 and counting. but massey says prevention is worth every penny. >> with one-story home even an inch you have to take four feet out. massive construction, out for

four or five months. >> she only hopes her efforts won't be in vein. >> it was a lot of work and money if it doesn't work. we'll see. >> roseanne reporting there in houston. taking a live look at radar as we continue to see harvey move inward. the storm surge there. stay with us. amelia draper in the 9:00 hour in houston wil let usl

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>> announcer: "news 4 today" begins with breaking news. >> right now at 8:58 on saturday morning, hurricane harvey is losing strength but the danger is far from over. the massive hurricane hits the golf course hard damaging homes and sending debris flying. now communities in texas are waking up to debris scattered throughout their neighborhood. good morning to you, i'm meagan fitzgerald in for angie goff. hurricane harvey hovering over texas as we speak. >> can you see it in this video. it warned it would be catastrophic and that fear is a reality. >> 211,000 homes without power on the texas golf course. the storm made landfall just after 11:00 -- 10:00, rather, last night. >> roofs have been ripped off buildings, scattering debris. as daylight comes up, we're getting a better idea of just how much damage there is there and what there is to pick up when it comes to the pieces. we have team coverage of

meteorologist lauryn ricketts is tracking its path but we start with meteorologist amelia draper live in houston at minute maid park. what are you seeing? >> we're five minutes away from the park. there are numerous flash flood warnings for the houston greater area throughout the day today and the upcoming week. not only that but we're under a tornado watch. now, we were driving around and we are seeing flooding in widespread areas. no widespread flooding yet but you can see where water is starting to collect, it is getting deep. you can notice the road starting to flood over. officials urnging people to be cautious. this texas talking about a gun show on the hypighway there, it important to remember it fill up