for more on the urgent evacuation efforts we turn to nbc's jacob rascone. jacob? >> reporter: this is now a mass evacuation. tens of thousands of houstonians suddenly displaced. how bad is this flooding compared to other flooding? >> bad. >> this is awful. >> reporter: in fort bend county south of houston -- please help. >> reporter: they arrive by the truckload at a kroger. shaken, even terrified and heartbroken. this infant had trouble breathing, but is expected to survive. many flock to the city's primary evacuation shelter, the george r. brown convention center. >> they were very nice. they had t-shirts and blankets and stuff for us here and things to eat so we're very happy. >> reporter: but the need so massive, private businesses are stepping up. gallery furniture which housed evacuees during hurricane katrina now home for those who sleep on displaced beds. makeshift evacuation centers are everywhere. the halls of this elementary school lined with displaced families. plucked from rooftops and doorways nearby. fed and clothed here by volunteers. jessica mille

for more on the urgent evacuation efforts we turn to nbc's jacob rascon. jacob. >> reporter: this is now a mass evacuation. tens of thousands of houstonians suddenly displaced. how bad is this flooding compared to other flooding? >> bad. >> this is awful. >> reporter: in ft. bend county, south of houston, they arrive by the truck load at a kroger, shaken, even terrified, and heartbroken. this infant had trouble breathing but is expected to survive. many flocked to the city's primary evacuation sherlt, the george r. brown convention center. >> they had t-shirts and blankets and stuff for us here. we're very happy for it. >> reporter: but the need so massive private businesses are stepping up. gallery furniture, which housed evacuees during hurricane katrina, now a temporary home for hundreds of harvey survivors who sleep on display beds. >> whatever we can do to help these people in time of need, that's what we're going to do. >> reporter: makeshift evacuation centers are everywhere. the halls of this elementary school lined with displaced families plucked f

here's nbc's jacob rascon. >> reporter: the surveillance video is startling.mingly falling from the sky with kristi bomer inside. >> my foot slipped off the -- you know, off the brake. and then i was just like holy toledo. the nose of my bmw kind of went over the edge a little bit. and i freaked out. i just panicked. i went seven stories. and it was -- it was horrific. >> reporter: a terrifying moment kristi was certain would be her last. >> i asked could i please -- could you please call my husband and my -- my daughter. i want to say good-bye. >> reporter: doctors were not confident kristi would survive her injuries -- a broken back and sternum, broken ribs, elbow, ankle, and life-threatening bleeding from her head. >> i thought it was over when i hit the ground. >> reporter: although kristi may never fully recover, she thanks those who made sure she would be a survivor. last year at the same parking garage, another car broke through the cabled barrier, dangling from the top story. the driver rescued. kristi's attorney says they plan to sue the owners of the

>> all right, jacob rascon tonight, thank you. >>> the devastation here is hard to comprehend, and for one family, the grief is simply beyond words. six of their loved ones lost and feared dead in the rushing floodwaters. authorities have yet to recover those victims. but tonight we are learning much more about them and what are believed to be their final moments. nbc's miguel almaguer now with their story. >> reporter: today in hard-hit green's bayou, an ocean of misery and a sea of sadness. this is where search teams could not reach one family. they were escaping rising waters when their van was swept off a bridge. rick saldavarious's brother, sammy, was behind the wheel. >> he said the van was bobbing in the water, that's how deep it was. he kept yelling at the kids. you could hear the kids screaming and crying trying to get out of the van. >> reporter: sammy clung to a tree for nearly an hour before help arrived. >> the sheriff came over there with a boat. threw a life line to them. >> reporter: sammy's parents, retirees in their 80s. 16-year-old debbie posted earlier, no sleep and

we'll go to houston where jacob rascon is standing by. good day to you, jacob. what's the situation like there? >> reporter: this was supposed to be the easy day, alex. you can tell it's coming down, coming down hard overnight. more rain fell than predicted which is really bad news. again, today was supposed to be the easy day, not as much rain. tomorrow is when we expect to get more of it here. we've already had at least two reports of tornadoes. we've seen the damage from at least one of them. it's about 30 minutes south of houston in an area called sienna plantation. we've seen fences, trees, roots upro uprooted. this area has more than 6 million people, and it hasn't seen a storm like this in more than a decade when 1.5 million people didn't live here. in addition you have people who were uprooted, displaced from hurricane katrina. tens of thousands of them. we met one of them yesterday and talked about how they're preparing and how this is bringing back all those memories. in houston, the fourth largest city in the country. it's so developed. you have all t

>> jacob rascon tonight. president trump has been monitoring the situation closely but there's a new political storm we're following, this one over the president's pardon of former sheriff joe arpaio of arizona. nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest now from the white house. >> reporter: today's white house hurricane response is headquartered at camp david where president trump led a teleconference with the vice president and cabinet members that directed his federal team to remain fully engaged and positioned to support his number one priority of saving lives. notably upbeat on twitter, president trump wrote, "we are leaving nothing to chance and we have fantastic people on the ground. so far, so good." the president authorized emergency federal money for texas after governor abbott's request. >> we are so pleased that the federal government and the white house have stepped up in the strong way they have by granting our disaster declaration. >> reporter: from a first natural disaster on president trump's watc

was going to hit and knowing that it was going to be even worse than the worst predictions. >> jacob rascon on the ground for several days. stay safe. i'm sure we'll have you back here on the show later on this morning, as well. jacob, thank you. >>> we want to go now to dickinson, texas, a half hour west of galveston. the coast guard rescuing 15 senior citizens. you see them in this picture. this picture that has gone viral, by the way. who were waist deep in water at an assisted living facility. joining me now on the phone is tim mcintosh. his mother-in-law is the one who took this picture. was among the people rescued. she actually owns the assisted living facility where this happened. first of all, how is your mother-in-law doing and how is everyone else at this point? >> she is doing fine. she was rescued by the national guard yesterday about noon and taken to allen, texas. everyone is safe. >> while we're talking with you about the rescue yesterday. i wanted to point out we're watching live now, north harris county. this is actually happened at this moment. people getting rescued. you

jacob rascon is leading off our coverage tonight. jacob, good evening. >> reporter: lester, good evening. tonight the sheriffs and fire department, the national guard even the epa are working overtime hoping to avoid another crisis. nobody's allowed to enter the evacon high stakes waiting game. tonight the flooded arkema chemical plant is still smoldering. neighborhoods within a mile and a half urged to evacuate as officials warn that more explosions are possible. >> these things can burn very quickly and very violently, and it would not be unusual for them to explode. >> reporter: today the whitley family, already dealing with flood damage in their home, headed for grandma's house. >> sounded like a big bomb to me. >> reporter: you got to get out of here. >> yeah, so -- >> reporter: the arkema plant handles organic peroxides used to make plastics, pharmaceuticals and paint. the chemicals have to be refrigerated or they can decompose spontaneously and sometimes explosively. harvey's fury knocked out the facility's power and two backup

that's where jacob rascon begins our reporting tonight. >> reporter: tonight the fore and distressing. >> this is a very, very bad scenario for us here. >> reporter: hurricane harvey intensifying rapidly expecting to slam into texas as a category 3. >> we're going to, in the strongest possible terms, encourage the residents in the low lying areas, as they say, get out of dodge. >> harvey would be the first hurricane to make landfall in texas since 2008 when hurricane ike killed 21 people in texas, arkansas and louisiana, and caused billions of dollars in damage. in 2005, hurricane katrina and hurricane rita also made landfall as category 3 storms. devastating texas and louisiana, more than 1,000 people killed and more than $100 billion in damage. from beaumont to san antonio, the preparations are urgent. >> it's getting more and more serious as time goes by. >> reporter: a rush on gas, water, food and flashlights. e largest city, houston bracing for catastrophic flooding throughout. expecting more than 15 inches of rain over the next five days. here in corpus christi, boards are comin

nbc's jacob rascon is there for us. houston is no stranger to floods, but they've rarely seen anything like what we're talking about here. >> reporter: lester, if the forecast holds and houston gets more than 20 inches of rain, the bayous and creeks will overflow flooding areas like this as well as neighborhoods, freeways, businesses and more. local officials have preemptively declared a disaster. before harvey slams into the nation's fourth-largest city, homeowners scramble to save their homes by lifting them. >> through all our crews at this and hope to brings and get it done before it hit. >> reporter: and you're going to make it. >> definite. >> reporter: the chefman's house elevated just in time. >> just an amazing feeling. >> reporter: while others are heartbroken. >> we are about ten days away from being lifted. it will be our third flood in three year. i'm not sure how we'll get through this one. >> we're geared up and ready to go. >> reporter: the threat level is as high as it gets at the harris county office o

nbc's jacob rascone has been spending time talking to them about their questions.pecifically, where is this border wall actually going to go? and will the government seize private land to build it? here is what one local rancher had to say. >> it's been in our family for better than 200 years. i'm a patriot but want to be treated fairly as well by my own country. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. whyou're not thinking clearly, so they called the fire department for us. i could hear crackling in the walls. my mind went totally blank. all i remember saying was, "my boyfriend's beatin

let's get right to houston where we find jacob rascon. jacob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. over the last couple days, we asked all of the officials what is the worst case scenario, they say a foot or foot and a half really fast, our volumes, creeks, rivers can't handle that, and they'll overflow into neighborhoods and into freeways, exactly that has happened. we got so much rain so fast, the local meteorologists, seasoned guys and gals are stunned at what they're seeing, five inches of rain per hour. and behind me, what you're seeing is what we've seen all over the city, which is in freeways where there's a dip here, people will not be able to see it in the dark and they'll get stuck. we understand most people got out. we have run into people who have been stuck and got out and they're waiting to be picked up. this is catastrophic as they said it would be. up to 20 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. this is that 100 year or more flood that they say that they wish they don't get and hope they were preparing for. tens of thousa

we want to start with jacob rascon, this is his hometown. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. earlier you called it a city of islands. i think that was a great way to describe it. it rains and storms so much here all the time but never quite like this. there so many bayous and creaticreeks and rivers throughout the city. they can handle it, but not two feet and then another two feet. this area, for example, is a great example. this area during hurricane rita and tropical storm alison flooded mere inches. this time it flooded more than ten feet. there are hundreds of homes back there that are flooded. and as you said and as the video shows, in the more than 6 million people that live in this area, so many of them are affected and cannot move. the city is paralyzed, in a way. schools are closed. the airports are closed. hospitals have been flooded. it's really a precarious situation, especially because it's day two in what will be a five day or so disaster. lester? >> all right, jacob rascon, tonight. thank you. >>> president trump return

we're here safe. >> jacob rascon reporting.oel osteen said if his church flooded while operating a shelter he would be criticized for that and said the church will continue to serve the houston community long after the controversy passed. >>> a lot of you may be looking for ways to help, as well. every donation we know makes a the red cross is calling for blood donations now. you can call or text to give money to help support the rescue efforts. the city of houston set up a hurricane harvey relief fund. be careful of scams if you choose to donate. you want to look for reputable organizations. you can find ways to help in the nbc washington app. search harvey help. >>> we will also keep you updated throughout the day on harvey in the nbc washington app. look for alerts and check the latest active radar to track the storm. ♪ ♪ >>> it is time to get your kids ready for school and with school starting, so, too, does school anxiety which in some cases can lead to school refusing meaning your kids say hey, i'm not going. here to talk

they worry that it will be much worse in the next several days. >> thank you, jacob rascon in houstontexas. still to come, the state of civil rights in america as we prepare to march on washington. i'll be right back. this is the story of john smith. not this john smith. or this john smith. or any of the other hundreds of john smiths that are humana medicare advantage members. no, it's this john smith. who we paired with a humana team member to help address his own specific health needs. at humana, we take a personal approach to your health, to provide care that's just as unique as you are. no matter what your name is. but their nutritional needs (vremain instinctual.d, that's why there's purina one true instinct. nutrient-dense, protein-rich, real meat number one. this is a different breed of nutrition. purina one, true instinct. super cool notebooks... done. that's mom taking care of business, but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. order online and pickup in store in just one hour. ♪ taking care of business there are the wildcats 'til we die weekenders. the watch me let

let's get to houston where we find jacob rascon.ood morning. >> reporter: the officials say the worst case a declare yoe a or a foot and a half, and exactly that has happened. we got so much rain so fast that the seasoned guys and gals are stunned. up to 5 inches of rain per hour. behind me what you are seeing is what we've seen all over the city, which is where there is a continue here, people will not be able to see it in the dark and they will get stuck. this is catastrophic as they said it would be. up to 20 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. this is that 100 year or more flood that they say that they wish they don't get and hope they were preparing for. tens of thousands of katrina survivors are among those that live here, we have spoken to some of them what it means to brace for another one like this and the big, big problem as you know, this is day two of what will be a five day storm here. we always said it wasn't the initial impact for houston but for the 6 million in the metropolitan area, it was the slow moving storm wi

jacob rascon, nbc news. >> so glad she's okay though. wow. >>> calm weather here, but different story over the gulf. >> yeah. no kid pg. >> yeah, everyone there is bracing for hurricane harvey. that hurricane continues. and this will make major headlines over the next couple of days. if you have family in texas or louisiana, make sure you give them a call. make sure they are planning to evacuate. and we are looking at a hurricane now expected to strengthen to a category three, the bad thing about this hurricane is the worst case scenario because it just kind of stalls out over the next several days. and may bring up to 30 inches of rain there. there are a lot of watches, warnings, advisories in effect for the central texas coast. we'll continue to keep you up to date on that. for us, the seven day forecast is coming up at the bottom of the screen. it's going to be heating up here as we take a live look outside. it is sunny and feeling very nice. only 64 degrees right now. and then we do still have the fog and the low visibility in spots

in roma, texas, jacob rascon, nbc news. >> remarkable. just $400 for that guy's property.eanwhile, we're waiting for sarah huckabee sanders to kickoff today's white house press briefing. when she gets out there, we'll bring it to you live. >>> next up, isis claims it has an american child and it is now using him to recruit. jett & the blackhearts] ♪ who can turn the world on with her smile? ♪ ♪ who can take a nothing day, ♪ ♪ and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? ♪ ♪ well it's you girl, and you should know it. ♪ ♪ with each glance and every little movement you show it. ♪ ♪ you're gonna make it after all. ♪ it takes a long time to get to the top... ♪ you're gonna make it after all. ♪ but with america's best ♪ you're gonna make it after all. ♪ bumper-to-bumper limited ♪ you're gonna make it after all. ♪ warranty, the all-new volkswagen tiguan will be there every step ♪ ow!♪ of the way. that's a good thing, eligible for medicare? but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement

jacob rascon is joining us from there. what's it look like there, jacob? >> reporter: i'm on the road right now and to tell you the truth there aren't many people out. we've been driving around looking at the bayous and the creeks. they run throughout the city. and they actually have a pretty good system of draining the water out. the problem is that they get sometimes 8, 9, 10, 12 inches at a time and so fast it's just too much and of course we expect that the 3 feet here, which is a big issue. so today was always going to be the lightest day of the storm. what we had that we didn't expect were tornados. we had at least one confirmed and a couple of others that were possible tornados. i just came from one of those areas, a neighborhood called santa plantation. there is a golf course in the middle there, a new development, and there was a confirmed tornado there that damaged at least 50 homes. some of them, you know, you had big gaping holes in the roof and so the damage is pretty severe in some of those homes, the house is very flooded. we talked to some

jacob rascon is in fork bend county, texas, where rescues have been going on. jacob, what can you tell us there? >> reporter: i don't know if you can see this, but you have right now a jet ski from a gentleman. are you from here? >> kind. >> reporter: you're from nearby? and you've come to help people. okay. we've got kayaks, jet skis, big boats, big trucks. and they're all just going back to rescue people and bring them this way. the reason i'm talking on the phone, we have some audio issues. do you see how fast he's going down there? jet skiing down this main road in richmond. so this is in ft. bend county, southwest of houston. and this is near the brassos river. and they had a bad flood. and i don't know that this area flooded, but somewhere on the river flooded. that river is expected to crest sometime this afternoon and be even worse than the flood last year. so we have these people who don't have mandatory evacuations, but they're getting out. and a lot of homes, it's up to the door, not in the house. but in other homes, people told me they have 2, 3 feet

. >> nbc's jacob rascon is live in houston. what are you seeing there? how is the city preparing?> reporter: we just got to the office of emergency management, the city county, the judge, mayor, all of them will be here later to do a press conference. we're going to get a tour to see what they're looking at. 15 to 20 inches of rain in this area in the next few days. more than 6 million people live in the houston metro area. this is going to be catastrophic, they say. at least the forecast as it is now. when they get 10 inches of rain, which is huge, they flood and you have rescues with helicopters and boats and neighborhoods are under water. so they're projecting, they're saying twice that much. so this is bigger than anything they have really seen in about a decade here in houston. and they're taking the necessary precautions. we were just at a neighborhood where a number of homes are raising, elevating themselves. one had planned the construction for next week but saw the forecast, and now they're rushing in to raise their home, a process that usually takes a couple weeks. but t

let's get to jacob rascon whose joining me live from houston. how bad is it out there? >> reporter: it's as bad as anybody can remember. i was watching the local meteorologist, the seasoned meteorologist talk about how much rain fell and how fast and they were stunned five inches of rain in an hour in some hours, 20 inches of rain in just since overnight and this is what it does just in a matter of hours. this is an inner state freeway and you're looking at a car that's submerged that couldn't see the flooding and this happens so often when we get this big flooding. another one over to the right and we talked to the woman whose in there, she couldn't see it, she tried to stop and immediately the aurt went up to the windows and she had to climb out the windows and she thought she was going to die as you might imagine. that's happens hundreds of times. you have people in their homes who are flooding. you have a thousand people rescued and they're being told to get on their roof and they have a helicopter looking for people as well as those giant emergency vehicles that ca

i want to take you first crosby, texas, where nbc's jacob rascon stands by. walk us through what is happening because some people there have been hospitalized just from the fumes from this chemical plant. >> reporter: we're about 30 miles from houston. several days ago i thai evacuated an area around the plant just in case because there's chemicals kept refrigerated. they knew and expected something might happen and evacuated people. early this morninging what they thought might happen did happen. chemicals that got too warm because they lost their rempbl ration combined. they don't want to call it an explosion now they said, but you look at the helicopter shot and psych that the container that was holding these chem kals looks almost gone and there's black spots everywhere. and initially, they said it was shooting up flames 30 to 40 feet in the air. and so you have that in one of the containers. and now you have other container where is they expect the same thing to happen. so the hope the sheriff says is that all of this is contained in the facility itself,

our team is in place to cover it all and jacob rascon leads us off tonight in here in houston, jacob, good evening. >> reporter: lester, good morning. this neighborhood where rescues are happening nonstop flooded more than ten feet in areas in mere hours. an example of the disaster and it's furry. it is a colossal rescue effort. thousands stranded taken by boat and helicopter. >> the boats are going over top of cars. >> reporter: using anything that floats, their faces tell the story of anxious, anxiety, and fear. >> the water was up to here. i walked out and i was just like screaming. i seen somebody -- they tried to put us on air mattresses, it didn't work. they had to put the babies on air mattresses, babies on their shoulders. >> reporter: with emergency responders overwhelmed, the houston mayor is asking people to call 911 only if their life is in danger as he defended his decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation order. >> but i want to thank those thousands, thousands, in fact, millions of houstonians who heeded the device and did not get on the road. >> reporter: the city o

nbc's jacob rascone now brings us more. >> reporter: it is a colossal rescue effort. thousands stranded, taken by >> water so high boats are going over the top of cars. >> reporter: saved using anything that floats. their faces tell the story of anguish, anxiety and fear. >> the water was up to here. i walked out and i was just like screaming. i seen somebody -- they tried to put us on air mattresses, it didn't work. they had to put babe ids on air mattresses. people were carrying babies on their shoulders. >> reporter: with emergency responders overwhelmed, the mayor is asking people to call 911 only if their life is in danger because he defended his decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation order. >> i want to thank those thousands, thousands, in fact, millions of houstonians who heeded the advice and did not get on the road. >> reporter: the city has now opened its convention center for evacuees as rescue teams plead for the public's help. >> those of you who have boats and high-water vehicles that can be move people out of harms way, we need your help. >> repor

make its landing, i want to go over to the convention center shelter in houston, where we find jacob rascon, where we just heard that briefing again, jacob, by city officials. they were expecting 5,000 people, they now have 9,000 and are looking for even more places to put the texans who are displaced. we do not have -- do we have the picture from there? while we're waiting for air force one to land. jason spencer is the public information officer for harris county. that is home to houston and he joins me now by phone. thank you so much. as we're waiting for the president to land, i want to show viewers a picture of your sheriff, gonzalez, helping a child get through some of the worst flooding. we have been watching live as some of these rescue efforts have gone on with some of our reporters out in the field. how hard is it right now to keep pace with all the calls that are coming in? do you have a good sense of how many people are out there waiting to be rescued? >> i can tell you that it has been just an all hands on deck approach for several days now. our deputies from street level to th

let us start with nbc's jacob rascon in crosby, texas, where the emergency situation at a chemical plant is unfolding as we speak. jacob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we just got new numbers. we learned that, in fact, 15 deputies were checked at the hospital after inhaling fumes near that chemical plant, and two of them remain in the hospital. we're a couple of miles from where this is. this is as far as they want us to go. a chemical plant rep just said these things burn very quickly and very violently, and there's a possibility that we'll see more incidents like the one this morning later today. this morning reports of two explosions and black smoke coming from a chemical plant near houston, a result of harvey's catastrophic flooding. the plant located in crosby, texas, about 30 miles northeast of houston. the company based out of france releasing a statement this morning warning that a threat of additional explosion remains and telling residents please do not return to the area in the evacuation zone until emergency response authorities announce it is safe to do so. the fa

jacob rascone has the latest on the rescue efforts. [ sirens ] >> reporter: it is a colossal rescue effortthousands taken by boat and helicopter. their faces tell the story of anguish, anxiety, and fear. [ baby crying ] >> the water was up to here. i walked out and i was just like, screaming. i seen somebody, they tried to put us on air mattresses, it didn't work. people were carrying babies on their shoulders. >> reporter: with emergency responders overwhelmed, the mayor of houston is asking people to call 911 only if their life is in danger, as he defended his decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation order. >> i want to thank those thousands and thousands, in fact, millions in houston who heeded the advice and did not get on the road. >> reporter: the city has now opened its convention center for evacuees, as rescue teams plead for the public's help. >> those of you who have boats and high water vehicles that can be used to help move people out of harm's way, we need your help. >> reporter: and the people of houston have responded en masse. >> if they need my help, i'm going to do wh

now to houston, where nbc's jacob rascon stands by. jacob, houston, texas, this is a city of 2.3 million people. >> reporter: rain. 6.3 million people live if the metropolitan area and many have moved here since the last big hurricane hit in texas which was more than a decade ago, category 3, at least. and then you have a quarter million people who are displaced from hurricane katrina who came over here, who know what it's like. so you have a run of course on the food, on the water, the lines for gas are very long. the flooding is not supposed to start here until late tomorrow and sunday, but into monday and tuesday, the storms are supposed to stick around. and again, more rain forecast than they had predicted for more than a decade. >> more rain forecast in houston. that's a low town. i want to press upon this point that kerry sanders made. this hurricane is not just threatening the texas gulf coast. just like he told us, this storm has potential impact to everyone across this country. if you ride in a car, that is the case, through ri

. >> joining me on set nbc news correspondent jacob rascon and mark amaday. want to go to you. traveling around reno one of the states hit hardest by the recession but they made a strong recovery. >> for decades, really, they were the other casino mecca and even before the recession hit, they were struggling and struggling hard. all it took, really, was one big company taking a big chance. when chloe griffin graduated from purdue university in may, the last place she thought she'd end up was reno, nevada. >> i didn't imagine myself coming here. i'm so glad i did. >> reporter: the amazon fulfillment center opened and she joined as a floor manager. >> it is hard to imagine what it was like during the recession. >> reporter: reno was a struggling casino town even before the recession hit and then the local economy really collapsed. casinos filed for bankruptcy and 40% of homes went into foreclosure. unemployment spiked. reno had hit rock bottom and as the new mayor likes to say the only way to go was up. >> when i got into office unemployment was at 13% and now

nbc's jacob rascon has more on that from houston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning.we expected fell 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 chances. proe protected by submarine-style flood doors. the bayo

one thing we were hearing from jacob rascon is how quickly everything went to hell in a hand basket.the waters rose so quickly. there's stories of people out last night having dinner restaurants and yes it wasn't a pretty day but very quickly things went from unpleasant to dangerous. can you speak to that, maya? >> just as we were driving over here -- and we came up from victoria, texas, so we've been encountering this rain for ours. there are so many areas where the water is creeping up. you can see that in a matter of an hour the roadways will be covered with water. it's becoming increasingly inundated and that's the danger because this rain isn't letting up. >> maya rodriguez, that you can so much for that live report. we're glad that that man is helping out his neighbors. that's what others can do. much appreciated. >>> we are expecting a briefing from texas governor greg abbot with the latest information to save the people trapped in that state. we'll check in with reporters in that region so stay with us. >>> the white house is defending president trump's decision to pardon for

. >>> we want to go right now to jacob rascon. he's joining us as part of the team in around affected areas of harvey, we had an opportunity to peek with people on the ground who's most affected. take a look. signal jay, sorry, i thought it was -- jacob is with us live, you are with people and trying to collect things. explain where these people are coming from and what are they trying to do in getting high grounds or shelters? >> it is southeast of houston and harris county. behind me you are looking at people loading up the jet ski and others loading up the boat. nearly 24 hours, these are community members, they have gone back and forth that we cannot get to without their boats. we are more than 10 feet have flooded my areas. even up to the roof, they believed they have rescued 400 people or 500 people. they had some help along the way from volunteers and firefighters who also live in the area, they don't get paid to do that. some of the police department members come down and started to help them. they did this on their own an

nbc's jacob rascon talked to that driver on the ground who was just inc crushed. >> reporter: terrifying moments caught on camera. surveillance video released overnight caught a car slamming into the ground moments after falling seven stories from an austin, texas parking garage last month. the vehicle narrowly missing an suv parked in an alley directly below. the suv driven by william birch. >> i take it you didn't see anything coming. >> no. but i heard it. >> reporter: the noise he heard turned out to be a bmw careening off one of the top floors of the garage. the sedan crashing into the pavement before clipping the back end of his suv. >> i was on the spokerphone with my mom at the time when this happened. and i could just imagine what she was thinking. i said a car just landed on me, i've got to go. >> reporter: the bmw then came to rest on its roof. bystanders frantically coming to the aid of the driver. >> it was a little scary. luckily nobody got too hurt. >> reporter: police believe the woman driving the bmw mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing the car to b

i want to go to jacob rascon in houston. we talked exactly 24 hours ago. how has the situation changed there over the last day? >> so yesterday we were in this flooded areas and we know there are still a lot of areas that are flooded and continue to flood. in ft. ben county, the brazos river has crested. we know there are still hundreds even thousands of people still stranded. so the civilian boats will be pack out there today. we've made it to the central evacuation center, the george r. brown convention center. this is where people enter. you can see there's a lot of law enforcement, of course, many of them have been here for days. they don't know if their homes are okay. then they come over after they're checked in and led to this and other auditoriums. this is where they're getting breakfast. there are thousands of people inside there. they've got food, diapers, other things. five auditoriums packed with people and they say it's nearly double capacity. that's because they only had 5,000 cots. and so when they got more than almost double that, they had

now is people who live within a mile and a half who had to evacuate for safety reasons of the jacob rascon is joining us now on the phone. you're a couple of minutes away from this plant. talk me through what you're seeing and hearing. >> i don't know if you can see me or not. we have our live shot set up. we're a couple of miles away. that is as close as they're allowing us to get at this time. what we understand, and you've been listening to the press conference just as we have. they've had trouble defining what this is. they initially called it an explosion. later they said they didn't want to call it that because they didn't want to scare people but it is an explosion, a small one. another eight large containers like 18-wheeler type that, big, that size. those are going to do the same thing. chemicals are going to react, heat up. there will be small explosions, flames will shoot up into the air, 30, 40 feet, as we heard the other one did and the entire container will essentially be consume bid the fire. that will happen eight times over. when pressed specifically about if there could b