to dry land. >> in galveston, texas, thank you. >>> let's get back to houston where nbc reporter julia baggng by at the nrg center. julia, you've been with us the past couple days as we've been having special coverage of hurricane harvey. you've been at the shelters as well. hour the evacuees faring at the nrg center considering that it just opened late last night? >> reporter: that's right, things up and running in a hurry here. just in the last 5 1/2 hours or so, they went from zero to 900 evacuees here in the shelter right now. this, a much bigger center than that convention center in downtown houston, able to hold up to 10,000. able to accommodate people much more comfortably now. we can tell you that that they as a resulted off with 30 volunteers 5 1/2 hours ago. they now have more than 700 volunteers, people coming in from all around houston. i just talked to a man who suffers from copd who had to be rescued with his dog. the good news this is a place that will take you with your pets and that man told us what he went through. >> i sat it out, and i took the trip late. and they came a

julia bagg, thank you. >> i will say to julia's point, when i was covering hurricane sandy and my familyng during hurricane irene. when people are watching, people are saying get out. but it's an emotional decision to leave your home even when people are telling you to do that. now to nbc meteorologist bill karins who has been standing by. >> good morning to you, yasmin and ayman. we are watching the storm carefully. for the last 48 hours, the storm has sat within victoria texas, within 60 miles of there. 000 we'll watch it drift today and tomorrow. we start to move the storm throughout the week, then we'll start to see the rain heading out of the flood zone around houston and into other areas. let's give you that forecast there. this is over the week. by tuesday and wednesday starting to send the moisture further to the north and that will help areas to the south. rain bands continue to develop off the gulf. the torrential raen will continue throughout the midweek. hopefully we can put it in a different spot than it was all weekend long. rainfall predictions, we're still thinking 10 to

that's this morning that is where we find julia bagg, she is there with us this morning, julia, how are things looking over there? >> well, phillip, things going very quickly here. from a start of about 30 volunteers, six and a half hours ago, they've had more than 700. and now they're accommodating more than 1,000 people, more than 1,000 evacuees, trying to provide some relief to the george r. brown convention center, phillip, where you are now. we've been speaking with volunteers who have been blowing up beds, doing all kinds of things, janet stone you have been here much of the overnight hours. tell me what you've been up to. what it's been like seeing the families coming through here. >> you feel so sad that they have no place to go. but you're glad they're here that they survived the flooding waters coming into their homes so we've been sorting a lot of the donation items so that we're able to give them out to the people. soap, diapers, clothing, pillows, sheets. all kinds of things just to provide for them. some kind of comfort. >> what about these kids? i know you see the kids co

nbc's julia bagg is in houston near the chemical plant. what's the latest from there? >> this morning we know about the two explosions and i saw the plume of smoke myself coming up from the plant earlier this morning. now firefighters have pushed us back to where we are, where it's apparently safe, they've blocked off this road between houston going northeast to beaumont. what happened here at the plant is that hurricane harvey dumped so much water it flooded the generators, they lost power, that means the refrigeration system failed. and then the chemicals that they use here got too hot and that's what put this place at risk for explosions and potentially a fire as well. people who live in this area, within a mile and a half, they've been evacuated for days. we also know that ten deputies a short while ago had to go to the hospital after breathing in some smo smoke. right now, firefighters coming and going, keeping a close eye on the situation. frances, back to you. >>> thank you. now to my co-anchor, phillip mena in houston. a dire situation there, crucial at the che

julia bagg for us, thank you. >>> throughout the aftermath of harvey we've seen countless images of peopleescued from south texas after they were left stranded by the rising water. >> hundreds of people were brought to safety after being plucked. brave crews race to find families needing help. >> reporter: harrowing moments as children, like 11-year-old joshua, his parents, and neighbors are plucked from fast-rising floodwaters. desperation turning to relief. >> we were like so happy, like, god had answered our prayers. >> reporter: it happened all day long. when we boarded a team of navy sea hawk helicopters headed to hard-hit beaumont, texas. within minutes tamika singleton was spotted with her family desperately waving a white towel. >> i thought y'all were going to pass us up because another helicopter had came, and they passed us up, and when we seen y'all looking at us, we thought, oh, my god, we go the so emotional. >> the navy and air force working together, lifting singleton to safety, and this moment as her son joins her. finally, her husband. the family safely reunited. >> when