gulf war illness. v.a. adviser groups said establishing a definition could improve the treatment of veterans. they advised in the near term v.a. analyze data and in the long term conduct research projects to contribute to a single case definition. v.a. continued in 2015 an objective to establish a single definition. but the agency has no action plan in place to achieve it. without a plan v.a. risks engaging in research not targeted to the goal. we recommended they prepare a plan to develop a single definition and v.a. agreed p w this. thank you this concludes my remarks. >> mr. hern, you're recognized to begin the testimony for american lee june. >> it's like deja vu all over again. you made this assertion in your opening remarks during the march 2016 hearing. one damming g.a.o. record report we are here again to discuss the adjudication of gulf war illness claims by v.a. and yes, it feels like deja vu all over again. good morning chairman burgman and boast. and distinguished members of the sub committ

it was literally an oil tsunami in the gulf of mexico. thousands and thousands of gallons of f crude oil spilling into the w water every minute, evevery day. t this was a manmae catastrophe. and it just struck me that this is--this is the scariest thing i've ever seen. this is a serious threat when oil spills, not just to marine life. obviously that's bad, and obviously the beaches. we're still getting tar washining up n those beaches now. but t also to the liveliliods sf the people in these regigions. in the gulf, 8 out of 10 people have a livelihood connected either to the oil and gas drilling industry or to hospspitality and tourism.m. anl of those things were devastated byby this spill. >> the spill has brought life, uh, to a lot of the issues in the gulf and all of the ancillary businenesses. family fisheries,s, docks, the e marina, the icehouses, the transportation companies, people who prorovide snacks aand grgroceries s to storeres. all t is a direct reflecection of what can happen when things cease. >> after the oil spill, you kn

south and central texas -- the entire gulf coast impacted. the message from officials, get out of the danger zone now. as you can see, people are listening. this is a live look from houston where the highways have been pretty packed. most of the morning, people trying to get out of there. this was the scene as they filled up tanks to hit the road. 700 members of state national guard have been called up ahead of hurricane harvey making landfall from the governor of texas to the mayor of corpus christi, the message is the same. this is not a with. >> i'm not going to risk our police and fire people trying to drag somebody out of the house if they don't want to go. our fire and police, they're fathers, mothers. >> you can feel the impact of this storm on your wallet the next time you get gas. some gulf coast refineries are expected to shut down until the storm passes. the disruption could make prices increase here at home. >>> storm team 4 is tracking this potentially historic storm around the clock. we're sending amelia draper to texas. >> late

>>> breaking news, hurricane harvey upgraded to category 2 as it gathers strength in the gulf of mexico. >>> the oil market on edge azhar i have ta as harvey takes aim on the gulf. >>> and wall street will be keeping an eye on harvey as well as janet yellen's big speech today in jackson hole, wyoming it's august 25, 2017, "worldwide exchange" begins right now >>> good morning welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm sara eisen >> i'm wilfred frost good morning to you from me as well it's new music friday. we are kicking off with taylor swift's new song >> highly anticipated. >> but not very good >> i can't tell. came out overnight >> i listened to it once upstairs with the team >> what did the team think. >> all disappointed, apart from the number one taylor swift fan, karissa. we'll have to listen to it a few more times >> you'll hear it more on the show it is new music friday >>> first let's get to the big developing story out of the gulf of mexico, hurricane harvey gathering strength the storm a category 2 hurricane. it is expected to make landfall in southeast texas later tonight. harve

it's because it's feeding off all the moisture in the gulf. temperatures are mainly in the mid- to upper 80s. so a lot of fuel for hurricane harvey to continue to. develop. so what do you need to know? >> it does spread the width of the hurricane force winds. in addition, we're expecting 12 to 15 feet storm surge. tornado watches and warnings have already been issued as rain bands start to move on shore. it does stall inland and it spins for 72 to 96 hours. as i just mentioned, tapping into the gulf moyisture and it will continue to be a tropical system through next week e. coming up in a bit, we have more on hurricane harvey and i have your ten-day forecast because on the bright side here locally we have a fantastic weekend ahead. back to you. >>> nbc 10 is in contact with a business owner in corpus christi, texas. he says he's afraid to leave because he won't be able to get back. >> a lot of business owners are staying downtown. we live in a pretty secure building. this building rose out celia. they did some major upgrades to this place. it'

not long after the storm regenerated itself over the gulf of mexico. our lines could be impacted by the dutch airlines could -- airlines could be impacted. ryan hughes you i just. -- joins us. >> flight cancellations piling up down south and airlines have deals for travelers to change their plans before the hurricane . several flights out of reagan headed to houston, one just left a couple of minutes ago. another one at 1:35 and a third one at 1:50 are still on-time for now but connecting likes into corpus christi have been canceled -- connecting flights into corpus christi's have been canceled. they are allowing travelers to rebook flights free of charge if they are flying into cities like houston, san antonio, corpus christi, or other cities near the coast. american, united, change fees and fare differences. the canceled these also all weekend long. check with the individual airlines for the specifics. we caught up with travelers scrambling to get home before harvey hits. others crossing their fingers and holding the breath they can fly out of texas

how strong is the ipo market in the gulf?think that the ipo listings you are seeing across the gulf falls within the wider bouquet of reforms you are seeing across the gcc. these are impacting financial markets, the nature of the economies through diversification, and naturally, as you see more and more companies tap into ipo's, they are tapping into the financial market maturity of the region. more ipos are likely to come, particularly as the region advances on that front. yousef: briefly, your view on crude oil at the moment in terms of pricing and impact? guest: i think we are still potentially looking for a sustained rally at the $50 level. i think the commitment from opec in particular continues to remain strong. prices will go up and down depending on what markets do in terms of demand and supply, but overall the outlook is strong. yousef: next on the "best of bloomberg markets: middle east," south africa's trade minister makes the case for countries seeking to invest. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ track your pack. set a curfe

a tropical system, whether be depression or storm that could affect the gulf coas gulf coast. this is one of two reliable forecast models. you can see the rain moving up toward the eastern gulf coast. want to switch over to the euro once again, something potentially in the gulf of mexico. sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, and this one agrees that perhaps it's more of an eastern gulf of mexico situation. however, if that moves westward, it will be eight texas/louisiana problem and will be monitoring that. hurricane irma, rapid intensification, category two hurricane. this will be a very dangerous storm and potentially could affect the caribbean, puerto rico, daemonic in republic, potentially the east coast, and the gulf of mexico or florida. that's why we need to pay attention. heading into sunday, monday, category four, there is a potential for this to be a category five hurricane. nothing in terms of intensification. this is the euro model, one of our reliable forecast models. tuesday, puerto rico, jamaican republic, cuba, and then, perhaps moving into the gulf of mexico. s

almost all of them involve texas gulf coast cities. more coverage of harvey later in the half hour. >>> the president discussed storm prep with the republican governor of texas last night while he's ignited a new war of words with other members of his party. calling out mitch mcconnell and paul ryan by name and he's not backing down from his threat to force a government shutdown unless congress comes up with funding for the border wall. here's abc's jon karl. >> reporter: president trump is in a war of words with his own party threatening a government shutdown if republican leaders don't come up with the money to pay for his biggest campaign promise, the wall on the mexican border. during the campaign the president promised over and over again that mexico, not u.s. taxpayers would pay for the wall. >> and who's going to pay for the what you will? [ chanting "mexico" ] >> reporter: this week he threatened to shut down the government if congress doesn't pay for it. >> the obstructionist democrats would lying us not to do it but believe m

the oil market is on edge as refineries in the gulf prepare for the worst.down on the energy impact. and wall street is awaiting fed chair janet yellen's speech this morning in jackson hole. a preview of what to expect coming up as the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >> announcer: live from the beating heart of business, new york city, this is "squawk box." >>> good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc we're live at the nasdaq markets in times square. i'm melissa lee along with joe kernen joe, senior managing director and a cnbc contributor let's see how the markets are going to shape up on this friday we have been seeing strength in the futures all morning long dow looking at almost 70 points, s&p up 10. nasdaq up 22.5 stocks are on track for a winning week, but apparently without a great deal of conviction according to weekly data, pulled for the sixth straight week of outflows. investors focusing on jackson hole, wyoming today and the kansas city fed symposium, janet yellen will speak this morning and mar yo draghi will addr

the gulf is still good on investment credit. to push of the cost of it but it will not change enough that you have income investors who are very hungry for yield. the dynamical not change. in terms of the peg, it has the region very well, for decades. for international investors, the currency peg takes uncertainty of the table. at least now you are thinking macro, you're thinking political if you were to remove the peg, i think it would cause so much instability would prove a productive. i think it was for the next few years, there will be, the peg will be stable. tracy: investors have to start thinking about currency risk as well. in terms of liquidity conditions, does that mean things like the ecb, the doj, still really in the throes of stimulative monetary programs, that they are more important for the region and the fed? khalid: no, i think the fed is still the anchor, but while there is a lot of liquidity floating around, trillions of dollars, that is going to have a suppressive effect on regional spreads. you really would

a possible easing of tension in the gulf.ran says it may engage in a diplomatic exchange with saudi arabia. we look at the possible implications for markets. taxing times in the uae. new excise on tobacco and soft drink will start from october, the first in a series of reforms designed to make up for lost revenue from lower oil prices. saudi bonds make a splash. bloomberg's mideast finance reporter looked at what is driving demand for the kingdom's debt. reporter: demand is still pretty high from local investors. always seen in saudi arabia as a result of the spending cuts the government has done, demand in the private sector has dried up. banks are looking for decent assets to buy. there is a lot of demand for these issues. only look at when they were around 58 billion riel's on the table, this time it was just over 30. we are seeing demand is perhaps not as high as it was last month. we are starting to see interbank rates come up. what they were doing a year ago was sucking all of the equivalency out of the system. there is

not going to be any sundown along the gulf coast today. harvey continues to spiral, now just a little bit inland by 40 miles or so. it made land fall last night at 10:00 o'clock central time. now a category one hurricane. 90 miles an hour sustain wind, and what we're really keeping an eye on is obviously the windings are getting lower, but, the rain is now just starting to really ramp up. you can see here our movement, northwest at only 6 miles an hour, that is basically a stand still at this point. so what this means is harvey is just going to sit just a little bit south of houston and it is just going to continue to churn, chun, and churn and pull in moisture from the gulf of mexico and that will continue to inundate the same areas with tons and tons of rainfall. we could be looking for feet, yes, feet of rain, along the gulf coast before this is all said and done. and 30 to 35 inches of rain possibly, in a few areas, localized across the gulf coast. so that is a years worth of rain almost, in just about a weeks time. storm scan three yo

we will be live from the gulf coast in 15 minutes. the national hurricane center next update on harvey's strength and the track should come in a little before 5:00 as steve mentioned. we will have it for you right here. nancy: breaking right now out of charleroi, south carolina, as -- charleston's south carolina. hours-long hostage situation is ending. lindsey: this came to an end when the suspect himself was shot and is transported to the hospital. we learned that the victim he shot has died. all other hostages have been rescued. this all unfolded in the lunchtime rush inside a restaurant in charleston. a popular area with tourists. the mayor claims that the shooter was a disgruntled employee at the restaurant. the owner of the restaurant told the local media the man was a dishwasher who had been fired and sought revee with. people report seeing the suspect coming out of the kitchen. the mayor reports the suspect was shot by police and is in critical condition. we will continue to monitor developments and bring them to you on air and

f houston that will cut off the gulf of mexico moisture for houston itself.re going to be seeing improv'vt( conditions by wednesday. it's headed up towards memphis. fá and they still havexdÑi it as a tropical depression even by the time it gets to memphis. and then some of that lpleftove moisture may be coming up in our direction. we'll talkxd about how that cou effect our labor day weekendñr coming up. womane1 who grew up in houston. she moved to philadelphia two f her mom is still in houston. she is safe and sending her daughter images showing the devastatk$s in the neighborhood where she grew up. of the neighborhood that as içó kid it never flooded. çó i u!ei to walk down there as a kid. you just thinke1 it's so different. >> she is planning a trip back to texas in october. for many people in our area harvey is a reminder of devastation from superstorm sandy. >> afterq surviving sandy some new jersey natives madet( the me to texas where they are reliving the nightmare ofxd a hurricane. ted greenberg has that part of the story. >> reporter:xd houston under

gulf states. support the state and fema. helicopters that are out flying this morning with eight flying into the area, rescuing citizens from the, from the immediate region here. down. still remain in corpus christi. pushing boats on the water from all parts of the country. the customs. border protection, air marine have resources in the fight to support state of texas with full efforts of the coast guard. couple messages as maritime guy up here. this is a very, very dangerous storm. at str catastrophic. a sustained challenge for the coming days. many times folks wrongly presume the event will be the most challenging. over the course of my career. water event in for a significant water event in the coming days. heed the word of emergency managers to citizens out there. self rescuing helping folks with their bets. we are going to need that capability. the response lines, eoc numbers. coast guard numbers overwhelmed right now. trying to attenuate the asks. flag helicopters. very serious rain bands in and around them. the boats

the gulf is ready for this type of storm. it's a warm area, the gulf is a warm body of water it. produces serious storms from time to time. this one was a big one or is a big one as it continues on and was a big one for corpus christi as it came through a couple hours ago. it pounded it hard. the development of this storm turning from a cat 1 or tropical storm to a cat 4 in a short period of time was what i think spooked a lot of people to get out of here because corpus christi at this hour is a ghost town quite frankly, nobody stuck around to see how this was going to go. we haven't seen anybody here. our hotel is filled with media members, and you drive down the streets and it's vacant. people knew not to toy with a cat 3, cat 4, they knew it was a big storm. i think people might say they're due because you live in the gulf, this is part of the life. this is living here. you're going to have hurricanes, big storms. the last big one was ike, and this is the biggest storm to hit the continental united states since 2005. a solid 12 years since we had a nasty storm, that was a bad

all eyes are on the gulf of mexico. we are keeping a close eye on hurricane harvey, we have trap col store warnings inland as south as austin texas and the hurricane warning extending into areas of corpus christi, and even as you head inland. houston to browns mills, a tropical storm warning or hurricane warning in effect. hurricane harvey is a category two storm winds sustained at 110 miles per hour. and it's moving to the northwest at 10 miles per hour and this is expected to make landfall just to the north of corpus christi later tonight during the overnight hours and early tomorrow morning as a category 3 storms. with torrential rain. and folks could get months worth of rain in this storm alone. a high temperature of of 77, saturday partly sunny plenty of sun and high of 76 degrees, and sunday a bit of a september feel with a high of 76. up in the poconos as we get into the rest of our weekend sun and afternoon clouds today and a high of 68. cool tomorrow and saturday high of 68 degrees and nice on sunday with a tem

that, it is likely that will intensely, rapidly intensify and continue to work its way toward the gulf coast, as a category 3 storm, as we head through the rest of your friday, expected to make landfall later this evening. so we'll show you here, its exact track, as it continues to track really to the north of corpus christi, is where we are expecting that heaviest impact as a category 3 storm, before it swoops down, back into the gulf of mexico, as a tropical storm early next week. so here's what we're tracking in terms of rainfall, because we've been talking about it all day, flooding will be the primary threat, as we head through the next couple of days. so here are those impacts again. a major impact for wind. this will be a category 3 hurricane. winds in excess of 111 miles per hour, storm surge also a major concern, that storm surge between 6 and at 12 feet the rainfall, expecting anywhere from 15 to 25 inches of rain locally, up to 35 inches of rain which is, of course, a threat as we track those types of storms let's talk about the last time we saw a storm like this it will be

a dangerous situation on the gulf coast. we're going to check your commute from wtop's jack taylor in a moment. but first the friday forecast with sheena. what do you got? >> we're talking about cooler temperatures this morning. that's nice. as you're standing outside or heading outside, i'm outside on the patio. we're looking at really nice conditions this morning. a few showers passed by quickly. but today will be dry. again, we're talking about hurricane harvey. eventually this will bring us some rain. maybe for more

still tapping into the gulf of mexico.les per hour. wind speeds at 80. the forward motion still around the same at 6 miles per hour. just crawling. that will not change over the course of the next few days. we already have some high rainfall totals, courtesy of harvey. let's take a peek at what's already on the map. victoria over 16 inches of rain. mcfadden, over 11, almost 12 inches of rain. almost 11.5 inches. sugarland, 9 inches. it has only just begun. we're talking about day of rainfall to come. let's take a look at what we're going to deal with in terms of additional rainfalli coming in with this. even if it moves back over the gulf and restrengthens, we're still pulling in the moisture. if it stays over the state of texas, still pulling in the moisture. we're looking at rainfall totals that could include in this white shaded area here upwards of three feet of rain. perhaps as much as 40 inches of rainfall. i want to show you the national hurricane center track. if you've ever looked at a hurricane before and you loo

the oil refineries, oil refineries are along the gulf coast. one third of those are in the path of harvey right now. production operations are starting to shut down in response to the hurricane. dozens of oil platforms out there have been evacuated. but the big concern of course is the rain. and hthis is really impressive. check out the areas in white. those areas could get much more than ten inches of rain by monday night when we're talking to you. that's up to austin that we're talking that could have more than ten inches of rain, and austin is located some 200 miles from the coast. absolutely devastating and impressive. now let's get the latest right now on the forecast track. justin povick from accuweather. good morning. >> kendis and linda, thanks and good morning to you. we are tracking hurricane harvey which continues to strengthen at this house, movement north and west to the southeastern texas coastline. hurricane warnings in effect from corpus christi, adjacent waters and coast to the north warnings from houston to galveston. movement

the entire gulf coast will be impacted here. the message from officials is get out of the danger zone right now. this will be the first major hurricane to hit texas in a decade. >> we have team coverage on this dangerous storm. erika gonzalez is at the live desk right now. tell us what people are doing to get out of there on time. flights in a second. i have to show you the video of babies. being evacuated from corpus christi, which is the bull's-eye of harvey's past. ten critically ill babies. some weighing less than a pound were flown with specialized equipment from a hospital in corpus to north texas where they're going to ride out the storm. hospitals fear massive power outages and this is the safest option with their parents driving up from the coast to meet them at the nicu of cook children's medical center in north texas. >>> flights are increasingly hard to get in that area. we've been keeping an eye on flight aware's so-called misery map where more than 100 flights in and out of texas have been canceled. my mom was here

and engage with people suffering and struggling on the gulf coast. president's visit to texas was well received by the people there, especially the state and local officials who realizes that help from washington is going to be required in the next days, months, weeks and even years ahead. the president was hit hard by the critics for what could be seen as a lack of expression of empathy for the victims, the president choosing instead to focus on the resilience of texas and offering words of encouragement. >> this was of epic proportion. no one has ever seen anything like that. governor, thank you very much. we don't want to say congratulations. we'll congratulate each other when it's all finished. >> reporter: today the president is expected to go back on the road, this time to springfield, missouri, to offer the opening salvo, if you will, on his tax reform plan. no indication that the white house is planning on changing that trip due to the situation on the gulf coast. the president is expected to return to the disaster area over the weekend, chri

rob: hurricane harvey moving closer to the gulf coast. in galveston, texas, some last-minute evacuations. >> reporter: sorry it was so hard to get to you. we don't see much in hurricanes, we have lightning in the area so we had to move everything over here to get some shelter so we are not gapped by a bolt of lightning. in galveston, to the south southeast in houston, texas, the real story in galveston is flooding. the initial story is 50 miles south of here where we are headed later today when the storm is closer to making landfall in the corpus christi area, that is the initial landfall, a category 3 storm. we are talking sustained windss of 120 miles an hour or so. that is a serious storm and a huge departure from what we were expecting just 24 hours ago when we were just expecting a lot of rain and not too much wind. now it is a heavy series hurricane that could do a lot of damage. this will be the first major hurricane since hurricane ike, mandatory evacuations for the south of galveston. mandatory evacuations between the gulf where

could be the strongest storm hitting the gulf coast in years, right? >> absolutely, jim.re blowing the horn, catastrophic, never seen before, terminology like that. a statement was put out with language we haven't heard since hurricane katrina. locations uninhabitable for weeks if not months. a double-edged sword. first the landfall. how strong will it be, where, at what time? devastating enough. nine years since the state of texas had a hurricane make landfall. harvey is makes up for lost time. the other edge of the sword is what happens after landfall? that's our concern for days. national hurricane center brings it in, wee hours of the morning, maybe, 3:00, 4:00 or five and brings it inland. extending the model out 120 hours. it loops back into the gulf, where it could easily regenerate, restrengthen, feeding off the warm waters and tosses it up to galveston and the houston area. look at all of the models, likes we have in the last couple of days. one thing is for sure. they all agree on landfall. good. giving an idea where evacuations should take place. gives us confi

live updating from the gulf coast. also, president trump firing back at a fellow republican who questioned the president's competence. now we take you to miami and the national hurricane center and michael brennan. >> good afternoon. this is mike brennan at the national hurricane center with your 2:00 p.m. central daylight time update on hurricane harvey. we have data from the hurricane hunter aircraft. it's a major hurricane. 120 miles per hour winds. harvey is located about 75 miles southeast of corpus christi, texas. the eye is becoming apparent. we can see the eye as it makes its approach to the middle texas coast. while harvey will make landfall in the middle texas coast late tonight, early saturday morning, bringing the core that is dangerous, major hurricane force winds on land. we're seeing sustained tropical force winds. sustained winds in the last hour of 49 miles per hour with higher wind gusts. we can see the multiple rain bands spreading on shore. over the next 12 to 24 hours, harvey will make landfall and

what movement we do see is into the gulf of mexico allowing it to strengthen and bring in that gulf of mexico moisture. you can see the bands setting up. one of them is setting up here in new orleans. you may be hearing about flooding there, too, before this is over. we have more bans coming into the houston area, as well. you can see the eye pretty clearly on this satellite right there. the official position from the hurricane center showing it moving more towards the southeast. in the meantime the moisture just keeps coming right off of the gulf of mexico. there may be a bit of a break there at least for a while later on tonight until the next band comes on. the winds are up to 45 miles per hour. it was 40 miles per hour a little while ago. pressure going down as long as it stays offshore has the strength of restrengthening. by tomorrow it's still just east of houston. so they are still going to be getting hit hard. you have to wait until wednesday before it moves far enough away so that we can see the conditions improve. these are the computer models showing great agreement out into

harvey is smashing into the gulf coast tonight. it's the most powerful storm to hit the u.s. in over a decade. from space you can see the monster storm sprawl over the gulf, already spawning tornado warnings. pushing a mountain of water before it, that storm surge plowing into padre island. winds stripping bark from trees in port o'connor. the wind is really picking up. the rain coming down hard. pelting you, it feels like there are little needles pounding your eyes at this point. and the hurricane is still probably 100 miles out. and this massive storm is still intensifying. texas' governor activating 1,300 national guard troops, opening enough shelters to house 41,000 evacuees. >> this is going to be a very major disaster. >> reporter: officials in rockport warning staying could mean dying. >> you would make some preparation to mark your arm with a sharpie pen, with your social security number on it. >> reporter: we drove there this afternoon. this place is a ghost town. fema warning this could be a "very significant disaster" for texas, as president trump was briefed in th

gulf coast towards houston and southwest louisiana. that's a much easier production for gas and oil in the western gulf the storm has significant comings. we'll have to watch that that can be a route much more significant for oil and gas. >> you mentioned all the rain potentially 30 inches and there are some models that said four feet, what are implications on that >> catastrophic. i am not going as far to say that the three to four feet call for rainfall i would be surprised where you have some areas between san antonio and houston and mid texas, maybe closer to three feet of rainfallen in some isolated area. we have a lot of flooding in the san antonio area early in the summer, we could be looking at a repeat. they're right on the edge and austin, right on the edge of what's very severe flooding.

we will get a look now at the government's response to the rain and flooding in the gulf coast with today's "washington journal." lets tell our viewers what he had to say when he visited corpus christi on tuesday. >> we love you. we are special. we are here to take care. it is going well. we are going to get you back and operating immediately. thank you everybody, what a crowd. governor,thank your governor abbott has done a fantastic job. thank you very much. we just want to thank your governor, senator cruz, everybody, we want to thank the whole group. this has been a total cooperative effort. we will see you soon. epic, itistoric, it is happened in texas and texas can handle anything. thank you all. thank you. [applause] host: the president in corpus christi on tuesday. is he meeting the moment? better momentsthe as president, much more in the lines of presidential behavior. he has portrayed himself as unifying force. he has seen himself as a very divisive figure. there is a huge test still to comp. we are only beginning to come to terms with the magnitude of the damage caused by this sto

along the gulf coast.ere's a picture that he posted not too long ago showing the president in the oval office being briefed by tom bossert, homeland security adviser. there is chief of staff john kelly in the room as well. elaine duke from homeland security. she was a part of this call, as well as brock long. you've been speaking about. he is the fema director right now. the bottom line is, the president says, as he tweeted a short time earlier, as well, that he has spoken with the governors of texas and louisiana. he says closely monitoring hurricane harvey developments and here to assist as needed. security officials here at the white house tell me the emphasis right now for americans should be on what their state and local officials are telling them. that the white house, the national teams are prepared to respond and to assist as necessary. but for the moment, this remains, as they say, in the hands of those local and state officials, katy. >> and peter, president obama was criticized by donald trump,

the gulf of mexico waters are like a hot tub.the way of this storm strengthening before landfall and the water temperatures, i'm going to show you the water temperature map in just a second. we are doing with water temperatures around 88, 89 degrees. so a category 3 major hurricane making landfall, as it makes landfall, actually more dangerous because the winds are going to ramp up quickly and the storm surge is going to ramp up quickly. that is going to be a big part of the story. as rob mentioned, the leg gales of this storm will be the flooding, which we are going to talk about i want to show you sea surface temperatures. the reasonable why we think there is still room for this storm to strengthen we have water ahead of it. 89 degrees. that's the fuel this storm needs to strengthen. we don't have anything in the you were levels of the atmosphere to tear this storm apart. there is nothing in its way. no place to go, just up towards the coast with very warm waters ahead. so you can see the hurricane right now, very well defined

already pushed up gas prices, harvey is expect to stick around for days and could spin back in the gulf, and strike again, next week. and just to give you an idea of how much rain parts of this region are expecting, january, the national weather service had to add another color to its precipitation map, to illustrate rain chances of more than 20 inches, just incredible. >> incredible storm, don, so we're hearing people there actually need help but first responders just can't get to them, what do you know about that. >> reporter: that is right, there came a certain point during the storm, when local officials said that we are not going to put the lives of first responders, at risk, in fact, jan, overnight i saw a building, what looked like a building burning just down the street from our hotel, fire crews just not go out into the conditions, within the pennsylvania hour or so we have started to see some first responders driving around, and i guess just assessing some of the initial damage here, but certainly as conditions start to improve, a little bit, we might, see some first responder

but the worst, far from over as heavy reigns continue to pummel the gulf coast. >> rescue team from our region are how crews in maryland and virginia are gearing up for the task ahead. >> and tropical storm harvey is hitting texas hard tonight overnight slammed houston causing widespread devastating flooding throughout the city. >> it's a monster form and lingering along the gulf co coast. houston underwater and flooding forced some residents on to rooftops. >> sadly the storm is blamed for several deaths. ,000 national guard troops are now helping and rescue efforts and more than a dozen texas counties are under a federal disaster declaration and all public transit is shut down in houston. >> national weather service warns before the storm is over houston and surrounding areas could see as much as 50" of rain. more than 4 feet. >> devastating and dramatic images like this are coming in and there you see senior citizens trapped in a nursing home in city of dig up son most in wheel chairs and using oxygen tanks. thankfully they were evac evacuated. >> and people are been impacked by the

thank you. >> the gulf of mexico is bountiful and the holder of many secrets.y name is penny hammer and i've lived near this majestic body of water most of my life. far away, deep within the gulf, lies a secret place, and i'd like to share it with you. to get there, we must journey 100 miles past these waves. among the archipelago of steel platforms, the water becomes crystal-clear and caribbean-blue. come with me to explore this magical explosion of life!

let's move to the gulf news.een approached about a newjob may been approached about a newjob may be hearing about more money, but this is in another league. yes, this is amazing, this is about neymar. he is amazing, this is about neymar. he isa is amazing, this is about neymar. he is a fantastic forward. but he has beenin is a fantastic forward. but he has been in the shadow of lionel messi for the past few years. he looks as ifa for the past few years. he looks as if a clause in his contract has been triggered, and paris saint—germain could buy him from barcelona. and at a stroke, it would solve the plunge for qatar. that is according to the gulf news. they have written here that the transfer here is less about football than it is about politics. but is it not becoming like that anyway? it has been like that for many years, about politics, notjust football. and the size of the summer just phenomenal. 222 million euros. that is double what united paid for paul pogba. some say the reason that qatar bought neymar i

right now it's batteri ining th gulf coast. we'll have updates throughout the morning. >>> we'll begin with our current conditions outside. temperatures are fairly nice this morning. there is a fall-like chill in the air. 54 in allentown, 64 mt. holly. 63 in trenton. and in philadelphia, 68 for the current reading. today will be beautiful. as we go through the day, it looks like this is tomorrow, but tomorrow and today will be very similar. so today and tomorrow, we are looking at a mix of clouds and sun, and we are expecting for those temperatures to rise into right afternoon the upper 70s, low 80s for our highs. let's talk about hurricane harvey. so we're jumping over to harry sorry texas. ju harvey over-texas. with between 15 and 30 inches of rain possible by the time harvey finally weakens and starts to try to move off to the north. that is all the way through at least wednesday, thursday. some models have it sticking over that area through saturday of next weekend. surge up to 12 feet possible. just checked and high tide i