these are images from kprc in king wood, texas. >> as louisiana marks the 12th anniversary of hurricane katrina, it is now in the eye of another storm. this one hurricane harvey. it has new orleans under a flash flood watch, with meteorologists predicted 4 to 8 inches of rain up until thursday. some 500 residents have been forced from their homes in lake charles, due to flooding. as the storming bears down on new orleans, a bit of good news, the city was able to fix a broken pump that threatened to make flooding much worse. >> joining me now by phone is governor edwards. thank you for joining us, first off. you know what this is like. you guys have lived through katrina, you're sending resources to texas, how long do you expect your resources to be needed out there. >> well, it's going to take a long time in texas for them to get through the response phase,

let's look to this kprc. people up to their chest, up to their neck here in water trying to get to higher ground as this water continues to rise. >> i'm trying to discern there. victor, maybe you can help me out. it looks like somebody is carrying a child? i can't tell. a child on their shoulders. a child on their shoulders there as we can see. do we have the sheriff with us? >> let's put this also in the preview monitor so we can see it. it's too small from where we are. >> thank you. yes. a child on shoulders there. people just trying to get out of their neighborhoods. harris county texas sheriff ed gonzalez has been live tweeting all night. he has literally been answering people who are asking for help and then taking their tweets, retweeting them to the appropriate emergency management authorities so they can get help. these are people who, obviously, for whatever reason, decided it was too hard to stay in their homes. let's listen live here. >> small child on top of that one gentleman there. the water is

our affiliate kprc is ryan korsguard.t to bed last night and, in fact, if we look over here. they are still loading up more and more people. they are bringing in off of the people movers there loading them up and taking them to safety. good work from the houston fire department. metro is here. houston police as well. loading these people up. you're right. you know, going to bed last night and then they wake up to rising water and trying to figure out what to do next. that is the predicament the folks find themselves in. looks like this bus is full. they are about to pull it out. seven others lined up behind it as they continue to bring people out. let's go over here, xavier. we can see how they are bringing

they all went and hid in the freezer. >> that is kprc there. and that was shot in missouri city just on the outskirts of houston. meteorologist derek van dam is about 125 miles southwest of where that was shot. he's in victoria, texas, which itself experienced extensive damage when the hurricane hit. te derek, i know you were saying earlier that you were able to walk around the city and what is the weather like now? >> reporter: it's treacherous here. it's todown right dangerous in houston. let me set the scene for you in victoria. you said it, i'm 125 miles to the south and west of houston. we did a pretty extensive walk around the city. ooirts what you would expect to see with an equivalent of a category 1 hurricane. trees completely snapped over, awnings, roofs, some minor strun structural building damage. we have power lines down, some electricity has been restored. but the tropical storm continues to take me by surprise. every few minutes or so, we'll have a strong tropical storm force wind pelt us in the face with blinding rainfall. i'm s

this is a local reporter from television station kprc. take a look at what happened moments ago on that peninsula, bill karins has been talking about it. rockport, texas. >> reporter: these are about some of the worst conditions i have been in during this type of a hurricane here. look at that wind right there. not only is the water -- the wind is whipping it into a froth. there is no power anywhere in the city of rockport. we're starting to see trees go down everywhere. we're starting to see a lot of debris. in fact, when we were on the live track earlier trying to get our story together, at one point we thought the truck would tip over. that's with two full grown men sitting inside. that is how high these winds are in the area. and we're getting a little bit of a buffer because we're on the side of a hotel. this hotel is about the only spot we could find where we could get a respite from the wind. in fact, a lot of people who did not evacuate this area have come to this hotel to try and get to some type of safety. >> reporter from houst

we have people at kprc that are survivors let's listen. >> they banged on the door, i thought it was the national guard. >> no one could come get you. >> we tried to call all the hot lines and no one answered. it didn't ring to anything. so we came. >> what was going through your mind? it's chest high you're saying. >> it's chest high, freezing. snakes were on our mind. i don't know the adrenaline was pumping so it wasn't anything. we were get ago workout, ocalve were burning. >> how about the rest of your neighborhood. >> there are people in their homes. no one's really left. >> this water walking through it? tough to walk through. >> there was only one current over there but it's not that strong. didn't take us away. probably would take kids away. >> how long did you watch the storm and did it take to fill t up into your home? >> i was watching -- the water started to rise about 10:00. 10:00 i noticed it started slowly rising. and then stuff started floating. it was just -- it was crazy. water just kept rising. i called my son and said you have to come get us because i had the kids

it is in houston from kprc. a rescue right now. this is exactly what we have talking about. flood waters still affecting so many people and so many neighborhoods and these rescues are going on four days after the storm first made landfall. it looks like those folks getting out of that rescue boat. they are walking across to, essentially, higher ground at this point. again, coming to us live from kprc. as it's all up folding today. the storm hit late friday. this is what rescuers, what people by boat, people by chopper are having to deal with. you see that boat turning right back around, presumably, potentially, going to find more folks that need some help. we will keep our eye on this and all the other live pictures coming in from across the state. including one in victoria, texas. that is where you find kerry sanders. overflowing creek in victoria. kerry, you are on day four, day five in victoria at this point. you have seen this whole thing unfold. >> yeah, that's the guadeloupe river you are looking at there. this is a slow motion flood that is taking place. now, you woul

some responded be their own less osteen giving this explanation to kprc. >> we were waiting for the righteally lakewood is always open. we didn't necessarily have staff here the night it flooded out here. >> reporter: now, volunteers are flocking packing trucks full of donations. who is giving this stuff? >> the neighbors around the area, that's it. >> reporter: the zang family, one of hundreds grateful to have the church as their refuge. >> we were rescued. [crying] >> we have elders, we have 5-month boy we're raising for them. we're here safe. >> jacob rascon reporting. today joel 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

. >> there you see kprc reporter brandon walker in texas, smack dab in the center of harvey as it made landfall. >>> we continue to follow developments this morning as this hurricane pummels the bown star state. now to houston where stephanie gosk has been tracking the storm and the historic damage it's bringing. stephanie? >> reporter: the city of houston tonight, how much rain will fall and how quickly will it come? the question is drainage in this city. if it's slow enough, the city hopefully will have the capacity to allow that water to drain. the drainage system in the city is not great. it is a low-lying city, drainage systems over 100 years old. rests in an area interlaced with bayous. there's one bayou in particular that people in the city are concerned about. it's called braise bayou, and it's flooded the last two years in a row. they will be keeping a close eye on that bayou. the other area of concern is to the west of the city. it's two dams. the dams are critical because they stop the floodwater from going down into the city of houston which has a population of 6.6 million

. >> really close he was, kprc reporter brandon walker as again hurricane harvey took landfall.ou can see the amount of wind and rain he was facing there. we continue to follow the hurricane as it pull els the state t. weather channel's reynold is in one of the hardest hit areas not far from lavaca in victoria. tell us what you are seeing. i know it is quite windy. >> we are roughly 55 piles from where the albatross flies. the storm, harvey, major hurricane, hurricane 4. brigg hell with it. we had wide power outages, the last was 200,000. >> that number is fluid. we are having more power out annuals. we actually lost power in our location about 90 minutes ago, flashes of transformers blasting off in the horizon happening all night long t. wind has been screeching at times, a dog roar at others. here we hear a creek, a crack and pieces fall. we got shenles coming down, down spouts, a hot mess, no question about it. we also had a transformer that flew directly behind us right around the time the power went out. we had power lines down the street. they have been pull emed. i get th

osteen says the doors of his houston church are now open, accepting those in need, but moments ago, a kprc reporter tweeted out this photo of the lines outside of the church. you know, the back story of this is that osteen faced heavy, heavy criticism on social media because the church wasn't initially available to shelter those in need. lakewood church responded to the criticism by saying the church was inaccessible due to severe flooding. today, joel osteen himself tweeted, "victoria and i care deeply about our fellow houstonians, lakewood's doors are open and we are receiving anyone who needs shelter." now, the main shelter kind of ground zero in houston, that's housing these flood victims has swelled beyond capacity, but the red cross is telling cnn that they will not turn anyone away over at the houston convention center. cnn was allowed inside the building where more than 9,000 people spent the night and more people are showing up by the hour. we're going take you to rosa flores here in just a second. but just hearing that we're going to listen in to the houston mayor right now. >> b

actually a boat and rv storage facility, and the owner of that facility spoke with our affiliate station, kprc, this morning and said that he had actually just stopped by to grab some papers from his office and suddenly he was greeted with this. and one of the reasons they think that it's a tornado is that the buildings across the street, the buildings down the road, all seem to be relatively okay, but you have catastrophic damage, really, to this business. thomas. >> stephanie gosk, just outside of houston in katy, texas, for us. stephanie, stay safe with the crew. >>> i want to go to nbc meteorologist shanna mendiola. as we look at where stephanie was just outside of houston and as we look at the bands of harvey behind you, talk about the tornado activity that stephanie was referencing and the risk of that, plus the heavy rain that they expect for the next 48 hours. >> we've got a lot going on. our severe storm radar, stephanie's located right here, just west of houston and you can notice that here on the radar we've got bands going just east of there and west but what's happening is the sto

. >> this coming from kprc. this man in the foreground is on a walker.ble among us need special help right now. we have talked this morning about wind speed and measured this in inches and hours. but this is about people. people who need help right now. we see that at least these people have gathered and it looks like they're starting to get some of the help at least that's our hope. let's go 200 miles down the coast to rockport that suffered the worst of the wind. we saw this a few moments ago. our nick valencia now has the man who mounted that flag. nick, tell us what's happening there. >> reporter: wasn't that a beautiful moment to watch? the most tender moment that we have seen in the middle of all of this ugliness. we're watching it here. my cameraman and i, we started to tear up. take us through that. you are coming back to your girlfriend's business for the first time. >> well, it was quite disastrous to see your town in ruins. you gotta pick up the pieces. i thought the first thing i could do is put up the flag. >> reporter: a symbol of hope? >>

here's one kprc reporter's live shot yesterday morning as the rain continues to fall. >> reporter: how about what happened at your house? >> it came up quick like we didn't have a chance to react, because by the time you knew it, the cars were already underwater. like quick, so you couldn't get out. >> reporter: wow. >> yeah. >> reporter: how are you feeling now? >> feeling good. >> reporter: because you're safe? >> yes. >> reporter: right, you're alive. you're alive. these are neighbors helping neighbors. no police officers are here. we did see the coast guard again but these are people are in a dire situation, and neighbors know that. family members know that, so they're going in to save them, but you can still see people are walking out, just carrying some of their belongings in waist deep water. it's just so tragic to see. i was talking to an 18-year-old woman earlier, emekia she's pregnant, she walked out of this water with ohm a couple of belongings her cell phone, umbrella and some of her belongings so she really needs help. other people out here also need help and we hope that

we would like to they kprc. they are our affiliate in how's. they are doing tremendous work.o our correspondents out there in difficult conditions. they will continue to stay out there to bring stories to us. >> remarkable work all around. it is 2:00 p.m. here in washington, 1:00 p.m. in texas where harvey turned roadways and streets into rivers and could force 30,000 people from their homes. >> it is a landmark event. we have not seen an event like this, you could not draw this up. >> this is dynamic. things could champ by the hour and literally by the day. >> the house is four foot under water. >> what's going through your mind when you see this? >> grief. >> it is prey scary. there are a lot more neighbors where we came from trying to stay aboveground. >> we prayed a lot, and we were rose -- rescued. and we thank god. >> we need people to know that we are here for the long hall. >> houston city leaders report that 185 critical rescues are still under

this coming to us from our affiliate kprc.nd we're going to keep an eye on these pictures of devastation. welcome back now. we are going to start getting an idea here. part of it you can see there in the live pictures of what is just widespread devastation from hurricane harvey. >> take a listen to that. >> as franklin graham just said, it's a long way to go. it's not months, but it's years. the challenges will be great. but we know that the generosity and the prayers and the faith of the today, tomorrow, until this city and this state and this region rebuild. but when it comes to the exact aid, one of the big questions is how much aid will be needed. the assessments are still being done on a conference call with house gop members last night. there was talk of an immediate package as well as a longer term bill. and that's what we heard from white house homeland security advisor tom bossert. the white house will be putting together what he called a responsible emergency aid funding package. with the information they have right

. >> we have been listening in to kprc as you watched those live pictures coming to us from north harris county. these folks s soaking wet. cathy rodriguez you were listening in to. in the process of moving things in their home to try to salvage what they could with the street increasingly flooded. if they would not have been able to get out yesterday, they would not have been able to make it today because of how deep the water has been. i want to go to my colleague gabe gutierrez live in houston where it is still pouring, gabe, i think. it's not expected to stop any time soon. >> yeah. that's exactly right, hallie. we have been feeling this rain throughout the morning off and on throughout the morning. this is a major thoroughfare in the southwest area of the city and the shopping district here and this road on a monday morning would typically be filled and on to the 610 loop for those of you familiar with houston. but if you can see behind me, some of these flood gauges. nine feet of water in this area, just incredible, hallie. i was listening in to some of the interviews. i was listen

. >> that was brandon walker from nbc affiliate kprc has hurricane harvey made land fall. of brave reporters who are bringing the story, and a lot who didn't heed the mandatory warnings. joining us live on the phone is rick florez. did you have a mandatory warning in victoria? >> yes, we did. and it was given out yesterday to get out, but we stayed here. >> because you texans are like that. >> we're tough. >> how did it go? how did it play off? >> well, it went very well until the power went out this morning at 2:06:00 a.m. we also caught a lot of wind. it was very scary last night. my daughter was upset. she's 15 and she was upset with us being here. my wife and i just hunkered down with her, and we just said it's going to be okay. when the sun came up, we could see what happened. there's a lot of tree damage. we also had some damage on the roof where the shingles are flying all over the place. flooding is minor. i don't know if you can hear that, but we still have high wind gusts. >> we just saw a picture of a tree go down. in a hurricane you sometimes see a tree break o

and bill spencer, reporter with affiliate kprc has that story. >> i've got some heart warming pictureso show you. the people that are so glad that they have got to a shelter and food and dry right now. look at this family. just laid down to go to sleep here. mother and father. and their two children. we have a father over here with his two beautiful daughters right here. people here at the high school are sprawled out all over. every square inch of floor that you can find. and that's where they are making their home tonight. this is all they have to go to. but they seem to be in pretty good spirits. look at this family over here. if you take a walk with me. they have a play set set up for the child. no the baby. all the kids are together. they've made their own makeshift bedding. and they were a little while ago telling stories, bedtime stories, and with puppets. i don't know if you can see that family over there. but it is kind of heart warming to see something soft and warm on what has been such a horrible few days here. >> amazing. they are safe in that shelter. but of course for so

later giving this explanation to kprc. >> we were waiting for the right time. is always open. we didn't necessarily have staff here the night that it flooded out here. >> reporter: now, volunteers are flocking to the megachurch, packing donations. who is giving this stuff? >> the neighbors in the area. that's it. >> reporter: what is behind me, just a taste of the response. and 300 people are sleeping upstairs that came in from the storm. we talked to some of them yesterday. i don't know if they realize really where they were or the controversy. they say they were just happy to have a place to stay. guys, back to you. >> jacob rascon, thank you so much. >>> pastor joel osteen is with us this morning. thank you for getting up early with us. >> great to be with you all. >> by now, you're familiar with the criticism that the church has faced. and i guess my question is to you, why did the church wait until yesterday to start taking in people? >> well, our church -- our church doors have always been open. in fact, we took people in when the water started to recede,