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20 inches by friday. the official death toll is two, but authorities fear that will rise dramically. texas governor greg abbott has mobilized the state's entire national guard, 12,000 strong to help in the rescue and recovery. president trump has declared states of emergency in texas and louisiana, making them eligible for federal disaster relief. he visits the region tomorrow. before and after pictures tell the grim story of harvey's wrath. >> it is incredibly grim, anthony. and we should note too that the federal emergency management agency says they expect to be working here on the ground in houston for years to come. mark strauss man joins me now. you have seen some of these rescues. >> we have, and on so many levels, the deluge of rain is matched by a deluge of need in the flood zone. fema estimates 30,000 evacuees

couple of days. >> more of houston's flood survivors left rooftops in a basket today. 20 coast guard helicopters have plucked more than 300 harvey victims to safety. but officials admit there aren't enough helicopters, boats or high water vehicles to reach everyone. emergency systems were overwhelmed. by this morning 75,000 people had called 911 desperate for help. >> i know yesterday we pulled 76 people to dry land. >> 76 people. >> 76 people, one day. >> in one day. >> mike hawthorne, a captain with the houston fair department said volunteers with boats and trucks have been lifesavers. >> the need is overwhelming. we the government has resources but we don't have enough. >> many victims are tweeting for help in realtime.

social media sites for locations of people in distreses-- distress. these evacuees arrived at a houston shelter by dump truck. battered by the elements, their future uncertain but grateful to get out alive. >> we're happy because-- we up to waste in water. >> more than 4500 crowded people are in houston shelter down ton convention center. many like kanesha brown, a mother of ta wish they had been given more warning. >> do you wish they had given an order to evacuate. >> i do. we called all the numbers. we couldn't get nobody to come get us. >> harvey exploded from a tropical storm to a category three hurricane in 30 hours. officials believe an evac yaition order might have created a different disaster, highways of trapped evacuees fully exposed to the storms furry. houston mayor turner. >> it's difficult to evacuate

6.5 million people. unless you are providing fuel and all those other things. >> police are investigating reports, a family of six drowned yesterday when their van yefer turned trying to escape through rising waters. >> we spoke with a family member who didn't want to give his name. >> they jumped out, the national guard ran over and tried to open the door, couldn't get the doors open, all my neices drowned. >> were you close to your neices and nephews. >> yes, they were may babies. >> something else to consider in what is already a catastrophe, flooding may not crest until thursday. >> and that is a big fear that comes in the days ahead, mark strauss man, thank you so much. private citizens have heeded the call to use their boats for rescues and demarco por began has been reporting in dikonson, texas. sns wins the flooding began we have seen many instances of people taking out their own

stranded. >> we were in our garage, and yelling and we flagged him down and he rescued us. >> thank god for strangers. >> yes. >> first responders in houston have received thousands of calls for help. this afternoon texas governor greg abbott announced he's activating the entire texas fat guard. they are doing their best but there are so many still in need. >> too much for the first responders. they need help. >> people have used whatever throw taition device they v even putting strangers on their backs and wading through kneedeep water to help. >> many have used their fishing boat this weekend for another purpose. >> this is our saffier. >> we'll give it everything we've got. and we won't stop. >> joshia is part of the cajun navy, a flot ila volunteers from louisiana. he traveled more than 200 miles to help the hundreds of residents stranded in

a small town east of house ton. >> louisiana is in a bind, we will help them out as much as we can. >> the national weather service is calling this unprecedented, the impacts unknown and beyond anything experienced but some are willing to risk it all. >> we're here for a purpose and by the grace of god we'll do what we can. >> the waters here in the town of dickonson have started to recede but it is causing a problem for boat owners. a mandatory evacuation is now in place for the residents here. as the rescues continue. >> all right, demarco morgan if dickonson, thank you. overnight the army corps of engineers began releasing water from two reservoirs to prevent additional flooding rate here in undo town houston. but that ended up sending flood waters pouring into some neighborhoods. david begnaud is in one of them, david. >> the city says it had to be done. and the people here knew it was coming. on saturday there was flooding

but it wasn't in homes. this morning when they released the water, it was a game changer. >> we need if you need help, come out. >> fleetwood sub division has become an emergency evacuation zone. water is rushing in from the nearby bayou and reservoir, people without refuse to leave are now forced to call for help. >> how long have you been waiting to get out. >> 13 hours. >> about 13 hours. >> hey, i need a ride. >> country. >> we're coming. >> and they're getting it from civilian samaritans. >> where are you? >> right here. >> okay. come downstairs. >> we were on a boat with truett allen when a woman yelled help from her second story window. >> open the door, we'll help you. >> hello, how are you. >> fine, thank you. >> she walked out of her home with three feet of water inside of it. down the street was laura blinten. >> i kept telling people coming by saying no, it is going to be fine. >> the urgency at o

moment is palpable. people on their roof, signs saying help, and children whose faces are unforgettable. the baby in the arms of her mother who is in the arms of a rescuer. the young boy seemingly alone, if not for his stuffed animal. the two children carried away by harris county deputy rick johnson. no one around here seems angry. >> are you able to walk. >> just grateful, like laura blinten who left behind her husband's ashes saving her own life on her birthday. >> do you regret not leaving sooner? >> yes, i should have. >> as the rain gets heavier, the coast guard just left, the rescuers are gonement but there is one woman in the corner of this neighborhood where the water is rushing in, who was determined to stay behind. i asked her why. and she didn't want to say. she knows that the water is rising and 911 is overwhelmed with calls for help. but she said i'm not leaving, norah. >> that is a decision that some make.

scott padgett is chief meteorologist at ktvt, our tv station in dallas forth wort. what have you learned. >> that harvey has gained strength and the unfortunate thing is that harvey is out over the open water right now drifting to the east southeast at three miles per hour and will be out over the open water through the night, through the morning and even through tuesday afternoon, even closer towards wednesday morning. by wednesday afternoon, then making another landfall right near probably port sibin beaumont and pushing in as a tropical storm and thursday and friday into the mississippi wifer river valley and downgrading to a tropical low. but a lot of rain is falling near houston, gal ves ston and that spreads into southwest louisiana and even to near new orleans. i sampl tedhe rainfall, anywhere from half of an inch to inch half of rain per hour adding more rain on top of the 72 hour storm

continue to see another possibly 15 inches in houston by the time we go to wednesday, thursday, and norah, we will continue to see these totals go up a bit more as harvey makes another landfall. >> incredibly woreisome, scott, thank you so much. we should note that here in houston shelters like the one behind me are quickly filling up so some evacuees have been bussed to san antonio, about three hours away, mireya villarreal is there. good evening. >> well, good evening. san antonio has been taking in evacuees for five days. 1100 people coming here for some sort of shell tr. and as we speak buses stand staged, ready to head to houston when it is safe to pick up more people and bring them back here to the alamo city. >> school buses nrmally filled with students are now filled with families forced out by hurricane harvey. nicholas and shelby evacuated rockport with their two small

them to go. we don't know what we're going to do. we don't have any other resources outside than what we're getting here. >> most of these shelters were unequipped for children. families made do with make-shift cribs made out of cardboard boxes before a nonprofit arrived with real cribs. >> at night we can sleep a little better knowing they not going to fall off and hurt their head or get hurt in any other way. >> new arrivals are registered and issued identification tags to keep families together while officials search for empty beds in shelters. so far four are open and more are needed as san antonio is preparing for more than 10,000 victims. >> they are pets, seniors, people in hospitals, the levels of impact are huge. >> michael is in charge of san antonio's food bank. on top of taking in and getting donations their crews are preparing 4,000 hot meals and 2,000 emergency food boxes every

day. >> we're the largest food bank near them so we are already mobilizing forces in texas to be able to come to their rescue and support. we're going to mobilize the rest of texas to come to their aid. >> houston's food bank is closed because of the flooding. so major donations are being diverted rate here to san antonio. right now we know this will continue on for at least a week until things hopefully clear up, nor-- norah? >> all right, mireya villarreal, thank you. we've got much more coming up including our visit to the u.s. coast guard command center. a dangerous massive coordination effort that is under way tonight. now let's turn it back to anthony mason in new york. anthony. >> thanks, norah. president trump will fly to the disaster zone tomorrow. and possibly again next weekend. no decision has been announced on which towns the president will visit. today he insisted congress will act swiftly to approve a multibillion dollar recovery package for texas.

edition of the cbs evening news, new questions tonight about mr. trump's business dealings in russia. and later, a new missile launch by north korea. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. rethink your allergy relief. flonase sensimist. ♪ ethat's the height ofs mount everest. because each day she chooses to take the stairs. at work, at home...

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russian president vladimir putin. cohen sowt the kremlin's help with a proposed trump tower project in moscow. cohen wrote i respectfully request someone, preferably you contact me so that i might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. it does not appear peskov responded. in an interview with "the wall street journal," cohen said he discussed the deal with mr. trump multiple times and that mr. trump signed a letter of intent in october 2015. by that time, candidate trump had surged to the top of the republican polls. >> i will get along with putin. >> cohen also traded emails with felix satter, a business associate involved in the trump tower moscow project. satter claimed to have deep ties inside the kremlin. our boy can become president of the u.s.a. and we can engineer it, mr. satter wrote. i will get all of puttin-- putin's team to buy in on this, i will manage this

described trump tower moscow as quote a building proposal that did not succeed and nothing more. the project was scrapped shortly after cohen emailed peskov, the kremlin spokesman. >> the campaign is on its way to victory. >> cohen did not take a formal role in mr. trump's campaign but regularly appeared on television to praise the candidate. >> negotiations over trump tower moscow occurred between september 2015 and january 12016. a period during which mr. trump praisessed putin and russia. >> think of putin, pretty tough cookie, right? if putin likes me and he thinks i am a good smart person which i hope he believes that i am. actually he's right, i am brilliant, you know that. >> six months later, the president denied having business dealings in russia. >> i have nothing to do with russia. i have nothing to do with russia. and even for anything-- the thite house had no comment on

today if he considered russia a security threat, president trump declined saying only many countries fall into that cot gore. he added he hopes some day to have good relations with moscow. anthony. >> major garrett at the white house, thanks. still ahead, more from houston and north korea flexes its muscle again.

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>> flort korea flexed its muscle again today by launching a miss thail flew right over japan. cbs's david martin is at the pentagon tonight with ,david? >> anthony, the pentagon confirms that while this missile flew over japan, it did not fly far enough to be a threat to the united states. according to initial reports it broke into pieces and fell underwater several hundred miles east of japan. but this represents a major escalation in tensions over north korea's missile program since all the other

recent years have been fired at a high enough angle that they would always come down in the sea of japan short of japanese territory. this time the japanese government had to warn civilians living in northern japan to take shelter and the japanese government official called it an unprecedented grave threat. anthony? >> david martin at the pentagon, thank you, david. in a moment norah o'donnell will be back with a look at the coast guard's role in the rescues. eme. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow.

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15 to 20 aircraft are up in the air at any given time. and today we visited the coast guard air station and spoke with commander joe sitler. >> where do they all come from. >> they came from all over the nations, from cape cod down to miami, over to san diego and back up to tra verse city. almost every coast guard unit has added helicopters to our fleet. >> we have been having a tough time driving in this. i don't know how your pilots are flying in this. >> the weather is very bad, the bands come through, the visibility goes to near zero. the winds are gusting 30 to 40 miles an hour but we train for this. we train for this environment and this is what the coast guard is far. >> how dire is the situation. >> right now it's significant. we are tri aging the emergencies, the medical emergencies, the kids, the he would erly. doing our best to get everybody we can. and there are just so many people. >> are you worried about meeting the need? >> the coast guard will meet the need. we will be here until it's complete and will continue to put assets on

>> it really was remarkable to be inside the hangar with these pilots and rescue swimmers, there is a rescue swimmer on every sing e8 one of these helicopters. i don't think any other news outlet has that access to talk to the coast guard there. they were busy, working around the clock. we will have more inside and talking to many of those that are on the front lines of this rescue effort, that is more tomorrow on cbs this morning. let's now go back to anthony mason in new york. >> what an amazing job. thanks, norah. some stations will be leaving us but for most this expanded edition of the cbs evening news will continue in a moment. i'm anthony mason in new york. we'll see you soon.

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we almost died. i've been in deplorable conditions. >> nobody has shoes. we took whatever we can. the water was waist deep. >> we are going to hook up to the boat and save some more lives and help more people until this blows over. >> we're not talking about a few days. quite frankly we're not even talking about a few weeks. we're talking about months. literally months. >> we need help out here. because it's starting to rain and thunder again. and we can't take anymore rain. >> the worst of mother nature, the best of human nature. right now the aftermath of hurricane harvey continues to take a devastating toll on texas. water levels continue to rise as do panic levels for many stuck in thei