laura trevelyan in texas.t least 21 people have been killed and a similar number injured after a building collapsed in india's biggest city, mumbai. the residential property, which was more than a century old and due for demolition, was situated in a crowded bazaar area. about a0 people were inside when it fell after days of heavy rains. the us secretary of defense says he's signed an order to send more american troops to afghanistan. jim mattis did not say how many but said they'd be there in a few days. he said they'd enable the afghan forces to fight more effectively. the move was announced earlier this month by president trump, who said he was sending additional troops to fight a resurgent taliban. the european union's chief negotiator says there's been no decisive progress in the talks about britain leaving the bloc. michel barnier also said there was a need to build trust in areas such as citizens‘ rights and financial obligations. britain's negotiator, david davis, said there had been some advances, but

laura trevelyan in houston in texas.d yesterday severe flooding has hit the indian city of mumbai where monsoon rains has killed at least five people, including two toddlers. it's the latest place to be hit by floods in south asia during the monsoon season, which has affected millions of people across india, nepal and bangladesh. over 1,200 people are estimated to have died. ben rich from bbc weather explains what's going on. rain does not fall continuously and uniformly across south asia all through the monsoon season. instead it comes and goes. there are drier periods and then there are wetter periods. get too many wet spells and that's when we get some significant flooding. noticed there is another area of cloud moving into north—eastern india, bangladesh and nepal, that could exacerbate the flooding situation and we also have a area of wet weather now sliding into pakistan, there could be flash flooding for places like karachi but all the while mumbai will be drying out after an exceptionally wet last few days. conve

how what's happened here at in texas is on a much much bigger scale nor trevelyan in la grange thank you very much do stay with us because we will hope to come but she later in the program? well for more on the president's response to the storm so far i spoke a brief time ago with one christy who was a special adviser to george w. bush. well now it's twelve years since katrina out which was one of the low points of the bush presidency. arm how well isn't this administration doing with harvey. well good evening to you jane i think the administration is doing very well. they're coordinating without officials on the ground in texas of course not only with the governor lieutenant governor. but local officials in these towns and communities that have really been hard hit by this terrible disaster. you're talking about eight area that's the fourth largest metropolitan area the united states. we have tens of thousands of people who have been displaced. as large a billion is just reported there's been a strong coordination with first responders of making sure that people who need be rescued

different ways to think about race but in that context the first articulation focuses of the cement trevelyan's showing how to structure that act -- that mission but set to what extent does the matter to have meaningful representation so people don't feel stigmatized your stereotypes? this is a robust conception focusing largely on first zero - - first amendment values. >> polite guy now wanted to go to med school what was the effect?. >> you'll have a concurrent by justice powell that essentially said affirmative action is constitutional to take race as one factor among many to decide which students to it mitt. so he concurred but later it became the law eliot you can take race into account to decide how to construct your student body but it has macon american institutions far more diverse. we should think of diversity or affirmatiaffirmati ve-action as a commitment for integration. huckabee has with bad debt sad truth there would be close the race the segregated. >> hasn't been challenged?. >> numbers times that the way that we are now that it is still constitutional the supreme court has not

laura trevelyan, thank you very much.h government officials are arriving in brussels for the latest round of brexit negotiations. david davis has said he'd like the eu to show more "flexibility and imagination" in the talks. we want to lock in the points where we agree, unpick the areas where we disagree, and make further progress on the whole range of issues. but in order to do that will require flexibility and imagination from both sides, something i think the council asked for on some subjects. our goal remains the same: we want to agree a deal that works in the best interests of both the european union and the united kingdom. 0ur correspondent gavin lee is outside the european commission, where the talks are being held. gavin, david davis seems to think that they can lock in the points that they can lock in the points that they can lock in the points that they agree on. i was unaware that they agree on. i was unaware that they agree on. i was unaware that they had agreed on anything. that is a very good point. i find

we can speak to laura trevelyan in richmond in texas.re you are and beyond, laura. look behind me, you can see the flooding people here have already experienced, they had to evacuate their homes. the worst is yet to come because they live quite close to the banks of the river, which is going to peak at 56 feet tomorrow. the water levels are going tomorrow. the water levels are going to rise even more. if you look at the wider picture which we can see from some of the live pictures, that is close to crosby in texas where the chemical plant has experienced explosions because they lost power and the chemicals had to be refrigerated. without that the company warned there would be explosions and there have been. you can see the scale of the flooding that houston and the wider area are experiencing. where we are 170 square miles have flooded but if you look at the houston area, an area that combined is the size of new york and chicago, 30% of it has been flooded, so just york and chicago, 30% of it has been flooded, sojust imagine york and chi

laura trevelyan live in houston.ea has described the firing of a ballistic missile overjapan as the first step in military operations in the pacific. the united nations security council has unanimously condemned the test, and president trump has responded this afternoon by tweeting the diplomatic unease coincides with theresa may's visit to japan. she told the country's prime minister shinzo abe that the uk stands "shoulder to shoulder" with japan and urged china to put more pressure on north korea to stop its missile testing programme. 0urfirst report is from yogita limaye, in the south korean capital seoul. this is the rocket that flew over japan on tuesday morning, according to north korean state television. it's believed to be a hwasong—12 medium—range missile, the kind pyongyang has threatened to fire at the us pacific island of guam. and north korea has said tuesday's test was the first step towards that plan. its leader, kim jong—un, monitored the launch and has ordered more such missile drills aimed at target

the bbc‘s laura trevelyan is in houston. she updated us on the situation a short time ago.ties for people in this neighbourhood getting around? people in this neighbourhood getting around 7 the answer people in this neighbourhood getting around? the answer is right behind me. can you see that boat over my shoulder? there's been a flotilla of rescue boats all day. you can see the extent of the flooding in this neighbourhood, flooding that has been exacerbated by the fact they are doing a controlled release of reservoirs. the authorities are saying that is stopping the reservoirs from completely breaking their banks. the only way to get around is by boat, but the rescue workers are taking a specific position. they are only rescuing people, not taking them back to get their belongings. we've just seen a baby being rescued, a baby coming out of this car seat covered in a blanket, because it is so hot here as well. there hasn't been very much good news in the past five days. more than 16,000 rescues have been carried out, and authorities saying it will take years to recover from

yes thank goodness for people like barry nor trevelyan joining us that from houston thank you very much. well for more on the response to the storm i'm joined now by joe allbaugh who served as female administrator from two thousand and one to two thousand and three. and is with us from oklahoma city tonight joe thanks very much for joining me again. other grayling clearly from norris report was still very much in the rescue phase but what happens next. well the response plays will be continuing until every last person is recovered. other disaster assistance teams on the ground and they make the assessments to property. that belongs both privately and two governments. no make those. assessments as soon as the water recedes somewhat we have areas where the water is still rising this storm is headed off into louisiana mississippi tennessee now. those states are being prepared they have high water rising water it's not the storm itself that's dangerous it's rising water and i would encourage people if they can hear me and are in affected areas. do not go to your attic to escape the rising w

s or trevelyan is tonight. would you believe it or not you're looking that jane believe it or not you are looking that at what is one of the main streets in la grange texas i know it looks like a war so why because the. colorado river has broken its banks causing this devastating flooding this is the worst flooding they've seen half in a hundred years the colorado river is only about five to eight feet. is running or. thirty five feet that is double the flooding level it's causing. absolutely ruinous devastating catastrophic flooding to homes and to businesses naff because the. to have all of the damage has been a hundred miles west of here in houston for one of my colleague james cook reports. in texas today. every stranger is afraid. everyone. exhausted unable even to stand. box she said. all day long with a google to safety. family after family abandoning their homes to the water. anything that would float became part of this makeshift armada. people here are pulling together but many say they had no choice

jesuit priest writes about it in his new book building a bridge and he spoke to my colleague or trevelyan earlier this week. father martin your view mindset so important for flick lead us to welcome lesbian gay bisexual and transgender members into the chat. well for the simple reason that they already are members of the church by virtue of their baptism they already are catholic. but they've felt excluded and marginalised for so long that it's really incumbent upon. church hierarchy to reach out to them in a very positive and forceful way. yet the catholic church doesn't permit homosexuality and so on you putting church leaders in a difficult position. well no not really. you know church teaching is against same sex relations and same sex marriage. but. you know these are our brothers and sisters and so. i'm not putting church leaders and any awkward position at all it's it's a question just welcoming people who are already part of the church. one u. s. bishop has criticized you very strongly saying you're part of an lgbt lobby within the tragic how do you respond to that. young not part

the bbc‘s laura trevelyan is in houston, where people are still being rescued from their homes.re have beenjust so many rescues going on here today where i am. you can see the flooding, you can see how the homes and the cars are submerged and you may even be able to see some of the rescue boats that have been going out all day. the situation right here in this part of houston where i am is they have experienced water levels still rising but that's because of controlled flooding that's been carried out by the authorities. they've been opening the dams of the reservoir outside houston to stop it overflowing. that means people here have seen more flooding, the good news about that, if there can be good news, is authorities have said it can now control the water flow but east of where i'm talking to you from is there have been more devastating floods in port arthur to the louisiana border and the storm itself is moving inland to louisiana, bringing yet more flooding and even threatening tennessee. the worry here now is that there will still be waters rising as the water runs off inl

thank you all, folks. 0ur correspondent laura trevelyan who is at la grange in texas — 150 kilometres houston. good to have you back with us. tell us good to have you back with us. tell usa good to have you back with us. tell us a little bit of what are the main lines you are hearing about where you are. you are about equities to between austin and houston. —— equity still —— equal distance. between austin and houston. —— equity still -- equal distance. we have the mayor of la grange with us on the bbc. now you have had a chance to inspect the damage caused by this historic flooding your experience, what is your assessment? the days we planned for the hurricane and the disaster and the preplanning was really good, so it has left us in a pretty good position. but the heartbreak of it comes i'iow position. but the heartbreak of it comes now in ucd human element involved and the loss... we have had i'io involved and the loss... we have had no loss of life so far, but the loss of property is so severe. the city has never seen the likes of the rainfall and hurricane effects before. the riv

a little earlier, we spoke to our correspondent laura trevelyan in la grange in texas, one of the citiesnd just how fast they are moving here. joining me now to talk about all of this is an reddan, who has lived in the town all her life, a retired teacher. welcome to the bbc. can you describe what the last 2a hours have been like? it's been really scary for a lot of people. a lot of people have businesses here, they've been evacuating. everybody in the area has been coming together to help people get out of their homes, save as much as they can. can you give us some sense of how much the water levels have risen here? this is a street normally behind us. i've lived here my whole life, and i'm almost 60, and it's never been this high. we've seen devastation on the golf course before, because that's right by the river, but never up this high. i think in the 305 it had gotten up to the square. but this is like never anything that we've seen. and you've had mandatory evacuations here. but people were only told yesterday afternoon that they had to get out. that must have been a shock when you

people have had to be rescued, many plucked from rooftops by helicopter. 0ur correspondent laura trevelyangrange, 100 miles west of houston in texas for us. welcome to this small community la grange is about 100 miles west of houston. this is a microcosm here of the devastating, catastrophic flooding which is ravaging this region. behind me you can see the colorado river has broken its banks and flooded the main street. the actual river is about a quarter of a mile away from here. but what's happened is that with the extremely heavy rainfall in the wake of hurricane harvey making landfall on friday, the river hasjust hurricane harvey making landfall on friday, the river has just increased and increased and finally burst its banks. you can see that homes, businesses are flooded. some of them almost submerged. you can see the mailbox there, just exactly the level of the flooding. normally the river is at about eight feet. now it's 53 feet high. quite extraordinary levels of water rising and what's more the water isn't going to crest, we're told, for at least another three to four hours. in t

properties making it one of the costliest storms in us history. 0ur north america correspondent laura trevelyanxas. what's happening there? jane, i'm speaking to you from the banks of colorado river. we are not on the coast of texas, we are way inland. look at the river behind me. it is flooded to historic levels. in this small town of smith ville homes have been evacuated. there's a centre for evacuees. this is a micro cos much of what's happening across the region. in houston last night over 9,000 people had to sleep in the convention centre there because that has been so hard hit. the storm now has been so hard hit. the storm now has gone out into the gulf of mexico, but there is every possibility tomorrow it may take another swing in the direction of houston which has already endured so much. all of this is over in louisiana, the neighbouring state. there are already evacuations underway. they're there are already evacuations underway. they‘ re expecting there are already evacuations underway. they're expecting 7—11 inches of rain. president trump is coming to texas to see the relief operat

earlier i spoke to our correspondent laura trevelyan who‘s in richmond, and i asked her what is happening land fall. what is happening here, is that because of the excessive rain fall, the rivers are swelling, the rivers behind us have broken its banks and there have been more mandatory evacuations here in the county of texas, and the water levels are due to rice another couple of feet and not peaking until friday afternoon. people cannot get into homes. people are anxious. such a difficult time. these are mobile homes, people who don‘t have much to begin with. and people are worried about what they will find when they get here. one man i spoke to said, this would mean more debt for him. and there have been officials, bilingual officials, this is a hispanic community, there are officials speak being what is on offer to help them out but it is a stressful time and a swash where there is a life threatening situation and this couldtown until friday. this is astonishing and still another 2a hours for this continue at least. you are looking nob a relative suburban area, in urban areas, have th

are much less than they were, but the rains are still causing devastation. 0ur correspondent laura trevelyange, 100 miles west of houston in texas for us. welcome to la grange in texas. look at the water levels. you can just see how fast the water levels are rising here. the colorado river has broken its banks and this town centre is completely flooded. you can see businesses are submerged. mailboxes are practically submerged. at one point i saw a deer floating down, carried by the current. in the two hours i've been standing here the water level has risen about i a foot. it's not expected to crest for another two to four hours. this is all happening in the aftermath of hurricane harvey. because there has been so much torrential rainfall following the hurricane, because it turned into a tropical storm and just hung around the area of houston of the we're 100 miles west just hung around the area of houston of the we're100 miles west of houston, if you can believe it. this is the scene here. just think how catastrophic it is when you actually get to houston itself. here's my colleague richard

community of la grange, that's where we can take you live to our north america correspondent laura trevelyanis there for us. welcome to la grange, a small community reeling from the impact of storm harvey and it is a microcosm of communities across texas. more than 300 homes were evacuated as the colorado river broke its banks and homes were devastated, all of this as president trump comes here to texas. he landed in corpus christi within the last couple of hours and right now he is being briefed on the situation at corpus christi, one of the first places that storm harvey made landfall. he is here to see for himself exactly what is going on and to ask the difficult questions about whether the kind of belief being provided is exactly what people on the ground need. here is what the president had to say shortly after landing. i want to look at this 510 years from now as this is the way to do it. this was of epic proportion, i'io do it. this was of epic proportion, no one has ever seen anything like this. ijust want to say that working with the governor and his entire team has been an honour f

let's cross to our correspondent laura trevelyan in la grange in texas.la grange which is a microcosm of the devastation across texas right now landed heading to the state of louisiana. it is a small town 100 miles west of houston and it is inland and yet the colorado river broke its banks because of that extraordinary rainfall that happened in the aftermath of hurricane hardly and we have seen historic levels of flooding and people's homes and businesses have been the ruin. the storm is not finished yet. just think of what happened in houston where the situation is much worse. the store may make landfall a third time tomorrow and bring further rainfall and flooding to houston and it is heading east to louisiana on the 12th anniversary of harry katrina which caused all of that damage in new orleans. all of this as the president is on his way to his very first natural disaster as president to see how the relief effort is going for himself. trying to paddle to safety. reports elderly people, some in their 90s are still caught up. a lot of elderly people hav

have died and nearly 200,000 people have registered for financial help. 0ur correspondent, laura trevelyanuston for us. welcome to houston, where you can see behind me the absolute chaos that the catastrophic flooding has called in the aftermath of hurricane harvey. as you can see, people have had to abandon their homes and cars. these are extraordinary scenes. this morning, i've witnessed dramatic rescues. people have come from all over texas and even out of texas with their boats, just to do whatever they can in the face of this extraordinary situation. the flooding behind me has been worsened by the fact that we are in houston, >> weather—2—macro: reservoirs on the outskirts are full and have been spelling. the authorities have had to do timed releases of water to stop something worse happening, which has increase the flooding. my colleague has a report on the overall situation. still dazed, but at least they're dry. the people of houston awoke after a night under curfew to take stock. downtown the waters have receded. the worst appears to be over. but there are still struggles ahead. r

houston is not the only city affected. 0ur north american correspondent laura trevelyan is in smithsvillee banks of the colorado river, we are way inland but look at the river behind me, it has flooded to historic levels. in this small town of less than 5000 people homes have been evacuated and there is a centre for all of the evacuees and this is a microcosm of what is happening here what is happening across the region. in houston last night more than 9000 people had to sleep in the convention centre because that has been so hard—hit, and the storm has gone out into the gulf of mexico but there is every possibility forecasters say that tomorrow it might take another swing in the direction of houston which is already suffering so much, and all of this is in louisiana where there are evacuations and the way, they are evacuations and the way, they are expecting 7—11 inches of rain. president trump is coming here to see for himself the relief operation and he is aware of the importance of appearing presidential and unifying at this moment of trauma for texas. we hope to be with laura later o

let's go live to our correspondent laura trevelyan who's at la grange in texas, about a 100 miles westuston. welcome to lagrange in texas, a small community reeling from the devastating impact of the flooding in the wake of hurricane harvey. it's a microcosm of communities across texas. what's happened is more than 300 homes were evacuated as the colorado river broke its banks. homes have been absolutely devastated. all of this as president trump comes here to the lone star state of texas, landing in corpus christi in the last couple of hours. right now he is being briefed on the situation in corpus christi, which was one of the first places in texas where hurricane harvey made landfall. he's here to see for himself exactly what's going on and to ask difficult questions as to whether the kind of relief being provided is exactly what people on the ground need. this is what the president had to say shortly after landing in corpus christi. it will be looked at in five or ten years from now, as this is the way to do it. this is of epic proportion. nobody has ever seen anything like this. i

we can speak now to our correspondent, laura trevelyan, who is in richmond, in texas.appening to all that water? matthew, it's only going to rise, which seems extraordinary, doesn't it? almost a week after hurricane harp are you made landfall. because of the excessive rainfall, the rivers are swelling. the river behind us has broken its banks, it still hasn't crested. there were more mandatory evacuations here in texas this morning. the water levels here are due to rise another couple of feet and not fully speak until friday afternoon. people here can't get back into their homes. people are incredibly anxious. a difficult time. these are mobile homes. people who don't have much to begin with. they are worried to see what they will find when they get there. one mani will find when they get there. one man i spoke to said it will mean more debt for him. the government will help. there have been officials here, by lingual officials, it is a hispanic community here, telling people about the assistance on offer. this is a hugely anxiety inducing time. in other communities th

laura trevelyan is in houston in texas and joins us now.elcome to a flooded area of houston where the road behind me has been turned into a slipway for boats. there are so many rescue boats being launched, many manned by volunteers. this neighbourhood has been flooded, people have abandoned their homes and cars and what is more because where we are is just below the reservoir is outside of houston which are virtually overflowing as received so much rainfall, there are timed releases from the dams and the water level in this already flooded area is continuing to rise. a quite extraordinary situation. people are anxious for news of relatives still in some of these homes that they have not heard from. my colleague has this report on the latest situation. plucked from the flood water. lifted from a rooftop, a mother and child. one of so many rescues in a city turned into an inland sea. from across the us have come volunteers with their boats. now the only way to reach many residents as the water has risen and risen, and risen again. this is a b

our correspondent, laura trevelyan, is in texas.ising. the river will peak tomorrow, so people here are bracing for even more flooding. my colleague simon jones remembers now. his report does contain flash photography. this plant is flooded it‘s lost power. the chemicals can‘t be kept cool power. the chemicals can‘t be kept cool. the owner had warned this was inevitable. so the bottom line is that we do what‘s called plume modelling. that‘s what we base a lot of the evacuations on. so, by all means, the plume is incredibly dangerous. bus loads of residents had been moved out you about the authorities that remain are finding it difficult to move into the chemical plant to find out exactly what‘s happened. they now say rather than large explosions, what people may have heard was the sound of containers rupturing. may have heard was the sound of containers rupturinglj may have heard was the sound of containers rupturing. i want to apologise for the impact on the local community. we appreciate all the work the responders are doing to he

well, our correspondent laura trevelyan is in la grange, texas.s developing, the rain keeps coming. the storm might return to houston. what is going on where you are right now? that is exactly right. i'm here ina now? that is exactly right. i'm here in a small town, 100 miles west of houston, and we are inland. people had no idea there was going to be flooding. but because of the immense rainfall in the wake of harvey, the colorado river broke its banks and the main streets in this town have flooded. and now people are trying to get back into their houses and they are trying to assess the damage but the real worry is that the storm is not over yet. it has gone into the gulf of mexico and it might make a third landfall tomorrow, to the east of houston, bringing yet more rain. the situation regarding the addicks dam where they are trying to control the water levels, but even with that safety precaution, those dams are overflowing and it really isa dams are overflowing and it really is a very difficult situation here. as the storm continues to churn.

we can nowjoin our correspondent laura trevelyan in houston. iam in i am in the smithfield.t the coast, but the colorado river here has burst its banks due to the immense rainfall as the tropical storm cindy swirled around euston affecting the entire area. people here have had to leave their homes. this small town has to set up an evacuation centre. the storm is not over yet. it is rolling to the east of houston, even affecting louisiana, where the president has declared emergency conditions. the president will come here today himself dizzy high relief actions are going in texas. waiting for help to arrive as the floods reached new heights. all day, emergency responders, neighbours, and even complete strangers, have answered pleas for help from those trapped across houston. but still, it has not been enough. there is so much water. we have our children with us. we're trying to save our babies, that's it. resources have been overwhelmed by the epic scale of this disaster. 20 helicopters have been flying missions and the state's entire national guard has been deployed to aid i