jacob rascon, nbc news, dallas. >> we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us. that is "nightly news" for this tuesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. right now at 6: dismantling daca. >>> this has a real impact on the bottom line of cos. >> right now as 6:00, dismantling daca. the protests, also the blow it could deal to silicon valley businesses. the news at 6:00 starts right now. i am janelle wang. >> and i am raj mathai. this morning the trump administration announced the game plan. is this immigration reform or is this unjust? the passion and fear being felt across the country. and here is the bay area, our sky ranger has been over head. on your left is the san francisco federal building and on the right side is students and teachers at berkeley plaza. >> we have multiple reports for you this evening. begin with mark matthews who joins us live in san francisco. that protest has moved out into the streets and people are fearful of losing their daca status. >> reporter: i am standing in the middle of 7

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 evacuation zone in what is now a 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 facil

jacob rascon is live in west houston tonight. jacob? >> reporter: kate, good evening.ore than a week after harvey slammed into the texas coast, thousands of homes remain under several feet of water. most of the region is shifting its focus to the cleanup effort and what is likely to be the most expensive natural disaster in u.s. history. tonight in west houston, neighborhood after neighborhood still under water. mandatory evacuations for 4,600 homes after their owners thought they had escaped the worst. >> it's sad. i feel sad for us. i feel sad for everyone. >> reporter: families like the romos told they can't return to their homes for nine more days while the city releases water from overflowing reservoirs. >> the few stuff that we have left that's not been flooded out, that's all we want. >> reporter: throughout the region, the damage is overwhelming. street after street looks like this. the cleanup and rebuilding may cost up to $190 billion, more than hurricanes katrina and sandy combined. a day of prayer in texas and nationwide. some congregations setting up outsi

nbc's jacob rascon is there for us. jacob, give us a sense. what can you tell us? >> reporter: peter, exactly, just a few minutes ago, the situation they warned that might happen is happening. you have the firefighters getting out their air canisters and their masks, and you can tell by the smoke coming up, these are the flames that they said were happening a couple days ago and they warned would happen again. they have a half a million pounds of unstable chemicals in this plant. we were just told 30 seconds ago by an officer that people's throats are starting to burn near to the area and they're warning us that soon we'll have to get back. they're hoping that this doesn't lead to some sort of giant explosion, but this is what they were preparing for, peter. >> all right, jacob rascon with breaking news, as we watch it right now. thank you. >>> regardless of where you live, if you drive, you've probably already seen the effects of hurricane harvey at the gas station. a large percentage of the nation's oil refineries remain shut down this evening, and that is sendin

jacob rascon has more on what's next. >> reporter: neighborhood after neighborhood still underwater. mandatory evacuations for 4600 homes. after their owners thought they had escaped the worst. >> it's sad. i feel sad for us. i feel sad for everyone. >> reporter: families like this can't return to their homes for nine more days while the city releases water from overflowing reservoir is. >> the few stuff that we have left that's been flooded out, that's all we want. >> throughout the region, the damage is overwhelming. street after street looks like this. the cleanup and rebuilding may cost up to $190 billion. more than hurricanes katrina and sandy combined. a day of prayer in texas and some congregations setting up outside while water was pumped from their chapel. volunteers flood the streets and makeshift distribution centers. truck loads of donations from houston toians still pouring in. feeding and clothing thousands stuck in shelters. president trump visiting them over the weekend. with schools also damaged in the flood, some destroyed, kingwood high school took water up to the

nbc's jacob rascone has more from houston. >> reporter: philip, more than a week after harvey slammed into the texas coast, thousands of homes in west texas remain under water. most of the region shifted its focus to the clean up effort and what is likely to be the most expensive natural disaster in u.s. history. >>> in west neighborhood after neighborhood still under water. mandatory evacuations for 4600 homes. after their owners thought they had escaped the worst. >> it's sad. i feel sad for us. i feel sad for everyone. >> reporter: families like the romos told they can't return to their homes for nine more days while the city releases water from overflowing reservoirs. >> the few stuff we have left that's not been flooded out, that's all we want. >> reporter: throughout the region the damage is overwhelming. street after street looks like this. the clean up and rebuilding may cost up to $190 billion, more than hurricanes katrina and sandy combined. a day of prayer in texas and nationwide, some congregations setting up outside while water was pumped from their chapel. volunteers flo

i hope when we come back from vacation we still have a house. >> reporter: jacob rascon, nbc news, savannahgeorgia. >>> you may be wondering as we were just why we're seeing so many and such powerful storms this hurricane season, we asked nbc meteorologist dylan dry dreyer to look at the science behind the storms. >> reporter: two hurricane-making history storms making landfall in two weeks. this is already one of the most devastating ever. >> this year we have ideal atmospheric conditions to lead to the formation of hurricanes. >>> professor oscar schofield studies the ocean and says hurricanes are fueled by two ingreedents, water and heat. this year the ocean is really warm. >> and that warmth is essentially the fuel can for the hurricane. >> reporter: couple that warm water with lots of moisture in the air and conditions in the atlantic are near perfect. another key factor this year, lack of wind shear that can cut through and break up the layers of a hurricane. without it, hurricanes like irma intensify. and what about the question on just about everyone's mind -- >> we can't say that c

jacob rascon, nbc news, dallas. >> we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us." for this tuesday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. >>> good evening, i'm meteorologist tammy sousa. we're continuing to watch a severe thunderstorm watch for our pennsylvania counties until 9:00 tonight. there's a line of strong storms which has produced some marble-sized and quarter-sized hail. we don't have any warnings right now going in the area, earlier we did have severe thunderstorm warnings associated with this. here's a look at some of the hail as it marches through the area. so be aware of that. and a lot of intense lightning as well with brief heavy dow downpours. we will keep you updated, stay with us on nbc 10. -- beyonce. >> and her interview about life after brad. police the princess diaries. harry's girlfriend meghan markle confirming they're in love. only on extra. >> renee's with sophia verb garay, opening up about life with joe and -- >> her fears about stripping down for women's health. >> was it scary? >> yo

. >>> let's take a quick hop over to where jacob rascone is standing by. give us the latest on you have been seeing. >> reporter: this place was bracing for the worst hit senatorio. a hurricane hasn't hit in a century, a lot of people will be waking up thankful there was no worst case scenario. they can hand him the wind, they can hand him the rage. they could not hand him the storm surge. that's what they were really bracing for and worried about that on high tide, which has yet to come up, they would get a giant storm surge of 8 feet or so which would cover a lot of the coastal areas, a lot of the islands. you have 3 million people or so who live in the tampa bay area now. you have thousands of buildings in homes that packed 700 miles of coastline and these islands. that's what they were really worried about and it appears, they're not going to get that. so a lot of people will be waking up thankful. they believe they were ready. you had thousands of people who went to these shelters that were overflowing. you had first responders that were patrolling th

nbc's jacob rascon is in tampa st. pete. where are you? what you're seeing is downed trees? >> yes, st. petersburg, the tampa bay area, all part of the same area. these are among the homes that don't have power. they lost power yesterday afternoon. in fact, karen who lives here, told me when she went to bed, she thought that irma was going to hit as a category 3. remember, that was the worst case scenario that was still possible. that's what they expected when they went to bed. she said she went to bed with pill lows over her head. she was terrified. she didn't even hear the tree topple. we were hear watching her. she was of course just stunned and thankful that it didn't fall the other way on to her house. so there's no damage, no leaks in her house she can see. public works because it's blocking there will come out and chop it up. over here, you see another family who is here cleaning up. there's a lot of debris like that in the road. these people, among other, who boarded up their windows. this is really the worst of the damage that we've seen. we drove around for an hour

jacob rascon for us in st. petersburg. gulf coast to kerry sanders, one of the questions that a lot of people had, the storm came on board in marco island, what's the news there? >> reporter: okay, the fire chief informed us they are out attempted to do some rescues in the area. not on collier avenue but on the south side for anybody that knows the island where the water is three or four feet deep, it is over the mailboxes and there are some people in the homes there. the fire department is in the middle of the backside of hurricane attempting to do some rescues to people as this storm surge is rising. so, what is happening to the south of us is likely happening up here and a little bit of naples, the storm surge is happening ton south side and the fire department despite telling people to not go out and rescuing them, they are heroically out there risking their lives because they decided not to leave. that could be lost of life in the process as it is getting dark and the wind is blowing. >> i was a little surprised given

jacob rascon from houston with more on the recovery efforts. >> reporter: this recovery effort will beng for months and years to come. right now, the stage that we're in is the piles of trash that you see in neighborhood after neighborhood where we are as -- an area northwest of houston, a neighborhood called nor chester, and if i could, i want to point out right over here, this home was built up, specifically so that the flooding would not hit it. it was built up several feet, but like all of the other homes in this neighborhood, it still got water inside. the latest numbers from fema are that 573,000 people, more than a half million, have requested assistance, that's for their homes, that's for their cars, and other things. i believe near 200,000 have been approved. this is going to be ongoing for months. and for years. we know that congress, the aid is pending there. they'll need more than that. 190 billion i think was the latest estimate that the governor gave, which would be, like, katrina and sandy combined. and so this is an effort, as you would imagine, it looks like this in so

jacob rascon has more on what's next. >> reporter: neighborhood after neighborhood still underwater. mandatory evacuations for 4600 homes. after their owners thought they had escaped the worst. >> it's sad. i feel sad for us. i feel sad for everyone. >> reporter: families like this can't return to their homes for nine more days while the city releases water from overflowing reservoir is. >> the few stuff that we have left that's been flooded out, that's all we want. >> throughout the region, the damage is overwhelming. street after street looks like this. the cleanup and rebuilding may cost up to $190 billion. more than hurricanes katrina and sandy combined. a day of prayer in texas and

. >> jacob rascon, nbc news, savannah georgia. >> thanks to jacob for that support. i want to bring in james lascano. he and his wife have a newborn baby with health issues that has affected how they're dealing with preparations for the storm. first of all, james, thank you for staying up late to join us. tell me about how your familiar lip's de family's dealing with this. >> thank you for having me on. last thursday my daughter was born, a beautiful baby girl and she was born with jaundice. and if you're not familiar with that, that's something when the bilirubin count is too high in the blood. we had to make a lot of follow-up appointments with the doctor to make sure the counsel was going down. by the time we were done with th apintments, it was late thursday and friday, the roads were jammed and there was no gas to be found. at that point i had to make a decision do i take my newborn out on the road and take the risk of being caught on the road with her and my other two children and my wife or do i find shelter and, you know, kind of ride it out? >> james, first

nbc's jacob rascon reports on the situation here. >> reporter: tonight a worse case scenario in the tampa bay area. home to more than 3 million people, bracing for what could be the first direct hit by a major hurricane in nearly a century. >> there's large portions of the area that yes, could be underwater. there's lots of low-lying roadways not just the bridges but the roads themselves that will experience flooding. >> reporter: dozens of shelters overflowing. at wesley chapel high school. >> this is our makeshift kitchen. >> reporter: food, water, medicine and bedding for hundreds of elderly evacuees. >> got to get the wheelchair, the cane, get on the bus, this and that. >> reporter: a last-minute rescue operation moving trucks packed with critical supplies. caretakers prepared to hunker down for three days. >> it's very scary. like i said, i left my home, my husband. these people have left their homes, their families and so we don't know what the next few days is going to bring. >> reporter: few metropolitan areas are vulnerable to catastrophic storm level as tampa bay, built at sea l

nbc's jacob rascon has more in tonight's "inspiring america" report. >> i mean, you'd grow up in a hurryl harris remembers the battle of iwo jima like it was yesterday. he was there 72 years ago when fellow marines raised the american flag atop mt. surabachi. >> all of a sudden there was an unbelievable explosion. and there went one of my best buddies. >> reporter: behind the camera is high school senior andy fancher. >> for 92 you're getting around just fine. >> reporter: his 55th interview with a veteran and counting. >> now is the time to ensure these stories are preserved for future generation. >> reporter: andy produces short films using the interviews and posts them to his do for others what andy wishes someone had done for him. >> i was sifting through old family photographs and i stumbled on one. >> reporter: it was his great grandfather gene t.fancher who survived the war but like so many other veterans died without recording his war stories. now it's a race against time. >> five of my interviewees have passed on since i interviewed them. >> reporter: john farris died 15 days af

jacob rascon has the latest from savannah. jacob. >> thousands pack into buses headed inland. more than half million people under the georgia coast under evacuation orders. >> so you're out of here? >> i'm out of here. >> in cities like tybee island, many understand the threat from hurricane matthew. >> it just zrodestroyed the hardwood florida. >> these two moved into their beach home last week. tonight they're moving out. >> where are you going? >> right now we really don't know. we're got to leave. >> mandatory e vvacuations as f north as the north carolina coast. bracing for an unpredictable irma. >> i hope when i come back from vacation i've still got a house. >> we are about to get some new information on the path of hurricane irma. the very latest in just a few minutes. coming your way at the top of the hour. stay with us. >>> hello, everyone. i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc world headquarters, where it is 3:00 a.m. in the east. it is midnight out west. you're watching our special coverage of hurricane irma. at this hour, the hurricane is building strength as it

nbc's jacob rascon in houston, texas, with more. cob. >> reporter: in west houston, neighborhood after neighborhood still under water. mandatory evacuations for 4600 homes. after their owners thought they had escaped the worst. >> it's sad. i feel sad for us. i feel sad for everyone. >> families like romos told they can't return to their homes for nine more days while the city releases water from overflowing reservoirs. >> the few stuff we have left that's not been flooded out, that's all we want. >> throughout the region the damage is overwhelming, street after street looks like this. the cleanup and rebuilding may cost up to $190 billion, more than hurricanes katrina and sandy combined. a day of prayer in texas and nationwide, some congregations setting up outside while water was pumped from their chapel. volunteers flood the streets and makeshift distribution centers. truckloads of donations from trs from feed and kroeting tens of thousandses stuck in shelters. in crosby, northeast of houston, the ar skrks rrkarkimia plant s. more

let's go to jacob rascon in st. pete. the very same city. we were just talking to the mayor. jacob, how have conditions worsened there in the plast cas couple of minutes? >> we were talking in the last hour. the wind gusts, almost impossible to see, but there are parts of treesal over the road and sidewalks. the rain has been really steady for hours. and the wind is up and it's down. i believe that we're still expecting five to eight feet of a storm surge which is what they've always been concerned about because a lot of this city and a lot of the tampa bay area is built on sea level. and as we saw in a lot of other areas, the bay was sucked out. we expect it all to come back with high tide with an extra five to eight feet. we are still expecting that. and the evacuation "a" areas where they're expecting that flooding, a lot of those people have left. that's the only change in the condition is that the wind is picking up, brian. >> i want to show to our audience there, back on the correspondent, your colleague over in tampa, at the weather channel is really getting a lot of gu

nbc's jacob rascon remains on duty for us. what have we heard on the status of this plant, jacob? >> reporter: so, so far, overnight we haven't had any new fires. but the people who run the plant say, look, it's inevitable that the area eight large containers will catch fire, there will be big flames, and the worst-case scenario, is some big explosion there. they expect that even in the worst-case scenario, the homes that surround the plant won't be damaged. what they do expect, though, is that there will be a lot of fumes. and that those fumes are not good for people. that's why they evacuated the area. they had at least 300 or so people who left and others who stayed. those who have stayed, and we just talked to the assistant fire chief here for harris county, who is in charge of the operation, he said they had to turn off their air conditioning, roll up their windows. i mean, they're taking this very seriously. they say these fumes are not good for you. and that's why, of course, they're evacuating everybody. those who have evacuated, we talked to many of them. they're worried

jacob rascon is in st. petersburg. how is it looking there this morning? >> reporter: we've seen a lot of the same, chris. we've seen a lot of trees, debris in the roads, couple of power lines. really they dodged a bullet, just like tampa did. behind me, this big tree in the road is the biggest tree we've seen. this is the worst damage, essentially, we've seen after driving around for an hour or so. just a giant tree that toppled in the middle of the street. st. petersburg police haven't gone out yet. they were waiting to survey the damage. they'll find what we found, minimal damage. no structural damage that i can tell. i saw one neighbor walking around, checking his house. a lot of the folks here had boarded up their windows. you're not going to be able to see that in the dark. but a lot of people prepared here. so much of the tampa bay area was built -- once in a century hurricane made land fall after they had been booming so long. even tampa general hospital built on an island there. they were expecting the worst. the storm surge was going to be the wo

that's where jacob rascon is. hello, jacob. >> reporter: hello.o the road. crews will be out all morning. the cleanup will still be massive. overnight hurricane irma pounded tampa bay with sheets of rain and powerful wind gusts. threatening 3 million people, the second largest metropolitan area in florida bracing for a potential disaster. the worst of the rain and the wind hit st. petersburg overnight. but what the entire tampa bay area is really bracing for is the storm surge. few areas are as vulnerable to catastrophic storm surge than tampa bay. connected by low lying bridges. homes and buildings packed on islands and along 700 miles of coast. the predictions were dire. potentially the first major hurricane to make landfall here in nearly a century. >> even though we haven't had a direct hit in 90 years, what worries me is the surge combined with the high tide which will take place at the same time. >> reporter: hillsboro county alone converted 42 schools into shelters. many filled to capacity. >> how could you not get a little anxious? you're