now falling at a rate of two-4 inches in our and highly populated cities like houston. flash flooding emergency. this is tough. no rest for people northeast of the center of the storm and these nighttime hours, tornado warnings are requiring people to stay up and stay alert. harvey has been downgraded to the tropical storm but it continues to punish the infrastructures of central and coastal texas with wind and water. one confirmed death and injury. most of them in one town that seem to take harvey dead on. local media is reporting at least ten people in this one town were treated for injuries from a collapsed rooftops. it is rockport, texas. take a look from the air. this is what is left of rockport. there was no escaping harvey. rockport is a fishing town about 30 miles northeast of corpus christi and other areas like port lavaca and others pierced by the power of harvey. leadership in the state of texas compared for assets deployed all over the region and we just heard tonight. let's bring in the texas lieutenant governor dan patrick by phone. >> always good to be with you. i wish

over houston and the surrounding areas. rain started friday and has not stopped.>> this is a look at houston as neighborhoods are underwater and inundated with floodwaters. the worst is yet to come. we've seen people helping people. neighbors helping strangers. the resilience of humankind is helping people in this terrible devastation that's unfolding in houston. >> look at the rain that's continuing to come. rob roth is in the newsroom with the latest. >>> the houston area is getting a years worth of rain in less than a week. hurricane harvey has caused massive flooding and the worst is far from over. the flooding over houston is widespread looking like a river dotted by land. for people on the ground it's worse, boats rule the roads in much of houston there are rivers where streets used to be. >> our first floor is flooded. it's crazy.>> it's been 40 years since the water has been this high. >>reporter: the number of rescues numbers in the thousands. the coast guard is been bringing up residence in buckets, people who could no longer risk staying in their homes. the rescue effor

and this morning. airlines canceling thousands of flights in and out of houston texas dealing with flooding runways. >> insurance stocks taking a look at features, dow down 36, nasdaq town 12. cheryl: in europe stocks open under pressure. lauren: cooper has a new cbo. the earth to take over and turn on the company. "fbn:am" starts right now. cheryl: 5:01 a.m. in new york. monday, august 28. good morning, everyone. cheryl casone. lauren: thanks for joining us. lauren simonetti. cheryl: a devastating weekend in texas. houston is dealing with record flooding is catastrophic rain is life property in the nation's fourth-largest city wrecking the epicenter of it all come assessing damage from the tropical storm in a decade. just a warning. >> incredible, incredible pictures in houston at the national weather center said, this is something we've never experienced before over such a wide location. maybe you can see the rain still falls in houston. your headline this morning. the floodwaters continue to rise because they are now beginning to release this morning and water from reservoirs we

democracy now! >> our number one goal from corpus christi all the way to east of houston is still protecting and preserving life and rescuing every person that we can find. amy: climate chaos. another foot of rain is expected in texas which is already in the largest recorded rainstorm in u.s. history. we will speak to a reporter who cowrote a major investigation last year looking at how houston was particularly honorable --vulnerable to hurricane. then to the potential public safety crisisis facing houstot's neararly 600,000 undocumumentedd immigrantsts. as the city lies under water, president trump could announce as early as today he will end daca, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which provides legal status for some 85,000 houston residents. we'll speak with one of them, activist cesar espinosa of fiel. we will also look at massive flooding in south asia, nepal, india, and bangladesh where over 1200 people have died over the last few weeks. >> if our demands are not fulfilled, what should we do? we have to sleep on the side of the road. we have to die on the side of the

could speak of houston? we have -- people being rescues 0u6 ro off rooftops. is this going to be katrina part 2? >> as far as the evacuation and now is not the time to second guess the decisions made, was important that everybody work together to ensure that we are going to first save lives and then, second, help people across the state rebuild. and because of the effort we've been able to put together, i think and believe we will be very successful at 0 both. >> we're getting word they're running ouch boats and high-water vehicles in houston in harris county and need assistance but the state is having trouble getting resource there's. can you comment on that? >> sure. whether it be a vehicle, a boat, or air, we have provided to houston every asset they asked for. in fact, we have already had in the air something like 20 helicopters involved in rescue missions. we have boats. so i think about 60 boats over there, and countless high-water vehicles. and so everything they've asked for has been provided, and we stand ready to provide even more and on top of that, we have both dps as

than a thousand team have been rescued in houston overnight. consider that as tropical storm harvey continues to pummel the city with rain. >> we want to show you some of the images we are just getting into cnn within the last hour. look how high this water is there are people trapped in their cars almost up to the window where they would crawl out of if they could. the entire area is under a flash flood emergency. not a warning but an emergency. multiple tornado warnings throughout the stay. >> right now teams of first responders across texas now trying to trek through this catastrophic flooding. ryan is with our affiliate kprc is with the houston fire department and they are trying to rescue people in the high floodwaters and load them on to buses. >> you have people who went to bed last night and, in fact, if we look over here they are still loading up more and more people and bringing in off of the people movers there and 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 r

air, the wrath of harvey is b houston, the fourth largest city, houston, mostly underwater at this hour. mandatory evacuations overnight for several neighborhoods with another 2 feet of rain still possible. let get to gabe gutierrez in the flood zone in houston. gabe, good morning to you. we can barely see you, it's so dark there and you're surrounded by floodwater. what's the situation? >> savannah, good morning. >> reporter: we've been seeing rain constantly throughout the night. this event is not over. many roads are impassable. houston, the fourth largest city, houston, is paralyzed. overnight the rivers continued to rise. bayous, buffalo bayou is at record stajts. norts are considering and they actually overnight release thor from two reservoirs. that will continue to increase the water levels in houston. we see hundreds of water help. authorities in houston are defending their decision not to issue a mandatory evacuation order ahead of the storm. the mayor has said it would have been incredibly dangerous to send millions of people evacuating at the same time. because of a pre

dickinson, a lot of water between here and houston, turned into a bayou. >> i wish i could say that was the end but apparently not after opening down triple digits, the dow is positive. and investors brushing aside fears about north korea's latest missile launch united technologies and caterpillar and apple leading gains and financial and material stocks the biggest laggards right now. let's get you caught up on the latest on harvey the storm setting a rainfall record for tropical cyclones in texas. the national weather service just over 49 inches of rain has been observed at locations southeast of houston flash flood warnings remain in effect throughout houston, about 300,000 people by the way still without power in all of texas. and the list of companies making donations is getting longer. hca health care promising to give $2 million for hurricane relief kroger, exxon-mobil and facebook also pledging money. president trump now on the ground in corpus christi, texas and beginning to tour the devastation from hurricane harvey eamon javers has the latest from washington it's afternoo

>> long way from the forest to get there. up next, lester holt from houston with more flood coverage. >>> tonight an emergency in houston, as critical infrastructure begins to buckle. and massive reservoirs overflow for the first time in their history. the nation's fourth largest city blowing past a record-shattering 51 inches of rain. ening new mega shelters for thousands with nowhere to go. and tonight, a word of tragedy of the police force. an officer dies in the floods while trying to get to work to help others. >> we couldn't find him. it was too treacherous to go under and look for him. >> president trump and the first lady on the ground in texas. the storm now taking aim at louisiana on the 12th anniversary of katrina. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight from katy, texas. >>> good evening to our viewers in the west once again from southeast texas, where we saw something late today that we haven't seen in days. the sun came out for a while. a much-needed ray of hope in a region suffering from so

pounded houston and the texas coast all weekend long the next three days, very critical for houston and the surrounding areas. some reports suggest another 20 inches of rain could fall, but more than 11 million people and tens of billions of dollars of economic activity at risk. contessa brewer downtown houston and jackie deang lose and morgan brennan looking at the rising cost of harvey she is up in connecticut and angie lassman is tracking the path of the storm. right now, let's see how the markets and your money are doing in reaction with joe kernen. >> yeah, stocks are down the dow, anyway. steady this hour in a narrow range. nasdaq is actually up. apple is among the top leaders announcing a product event september 12th where it is suspected to unveil its latest iphone the big moves happening in energy following harvey's destruction. gasoline prices surging as refineries shut down for the duration of the storm, at least. let's get you caught up on the latest of harvey governor greg abbott announcing he has activated the entire texas national guard that brings the total number of

door to door overnight in houston after harvey dumped more than 52 inches of rain. the city opening more shelters this morning as the convention center reaches double its capacity. and another area of texas dealing with a flood emergency right now, a new neighborhood surrounded by water and at least one home on fire. >>> and people are bracing for harvey's third landfall. the storm is now setting its sights on new orleans where flood advisories are already in effect, and we're tracking it all. >>> and new this morning, another warning from north korea after its military fired a missile over japan. how kim jong-un is signaling more launches. >>> good morning, we begin with the breaking news and the new flooding emergency as harvey makes landfall moments ago. >> it's happening right now in the beaumont, port arthur, texas, area east of houston. you can see tropical storm harvey swirling over the region which got hit with 25 inches of rain overnight. >> a near record for a 24-hour period and torrential rains along with neighborhoods underwater. our station in port arthur is live stream

from their homes and there are more than 10,000 rescues from the houston area alone. >> we were on the roof sunday and monday. that water was coming in so fast and we got rescued on that bridge and they told us that that bridge clapped since and i know it's nothing but god. >> harvey made a third landfall across the texas border in louisiana. shelters are already overflowing seeking refuge and some of those shelters are beginning to take on water. more local resources are headed to that region to help with efforts. a pair of new jersey national guard helicopter crews are bound for texas. governor chris christie announce that four pilots and four personnel are on their way with black hawk helicopters and they will be a valuable service to the people of texas and louisiana. >> and sheller dog as rived, they we they were transported from texas to new jersey last night and they were taken to voorhees and the west will be spread out across the region. >> in order for them to clear out room they decided to bring some of their dogs over here so we could clear out the shelter for them and

still hard to tell. among the victims come of this houston police officer who drowned in his car on the way to work. >> it was too treacherous to go wandering look for him. we made the decision to leave officers dare, waiting until the morning because as much as we wanted to recover them last night, we could not put more officers at risk. cheryl: you can hear the houston police chief trying to hold it together. houston has an overnight curfew. the very latest. jeff, hi. reporter: good morning. i'm in the neighborhood. we are getting a break. if you look up in the sky this morning, you see stars for the first time in at least a week and that is good news. a little blue sky at the end of the day yesterday, at least literally if not figuratively. we had an extraordinary opportunity to get inside one of the homes that had already been flooded. often we see homes after the floodwaters have gone down. we got inside a home owned by a man named brandon, who for the first time when inside and gave us a look in their, just extraordinary because this is the scene that is playing out all over h

with the houston emergency center. as of 9:00 this morning we received approximately 75,000 calls we did process as well. we've gotten our queue numbers down to 10, meaning those are calls pending. that's a huge difference from yesterday. there were probably 120 to 250 down to 10 to 15 on queue today. we're receiving tre amount of calls, extreme emergency for everyone, the whole region, of course. we are encouraging citizens to call, when they do call 911 to stay on the line. do not hang up, because that just expands our trunk system, which overloads it and puts on hold the number of people we can't get to. so stay on the line. what we also initiated last night what's a voice activated system that notifies people if they do call 911, their call is being processed. that's significant. it what we were experiencing earlier was a constant rain and thinking our system was down. our system hasn't been down, just the long way to call, so stay on the line. we're also encouraging citizens if they receive any calls from relatives, if they have contacted 911 previously, do not follow up with th

right away. and that conversation you had about the immediate needs in houston, specialties, people who have particular skills and the clothes of the detergent and the diapers and the formula and what's heartening is the way people are stepping up. >> are you back later? >> no, i'm not. one of those rare days. >> good afternoon a i'm ali velshi, heavy rain is still pounding the city, the national weather service in houston announced today that 49.2 inches of total rainfall has been recorded in a suburb outside the city, that marks a new report for total from a tropical system in the continental united states. we are learning that over 34,000 people have been rescued in houston. the red cross says that 17,000 people sought refuge in shelters overnight. all eyes are still on a pair of reservoirs in western houston as water levels continue to rise, the levels have surpassed the top of the addicks dam, it's 108.7 feet. the water will now flow into areas around the dam. president trump flying in with the first lady to survey recovery efforts. the president was greeted by texas governor g

trump heading to texas as tropical storm harvey grow stronger. taking aim at houston with another punch in louisiana now also in harvey sites. correspondents live on the ground in texas this morning. lauren: new provocation from north korea and kim jong boone launches to its allies. traced the north korean missile launch rattle investors overnight. stock market futures as you can see the dow put him over by 140 points right now in the premarket. s&p nasdaq download were as well. lauren: stocks under pressure. the euro rallying papers with me in london down 1.5%, a 2% decline in germany with the dax. cheryl: reaction to the north korean lunch with talks in japan. the nikkei down almost half a percent. as you can see in south korea the kospi file point to 3%. "fbn:am" starts right now. train 3501 am in new york. tuesday, august 29th. good morning. i'm lauren simonetti. cheryl: good morning, everyone. i'm cheryl casone. lauren: tropical storm harvey back in. before it moves onto louisiana appeared causing devastating flooding. looking at the rescue effort. officials say nine people appeare

sadreporter: ths 6,000 acres. a huge residential area in southeastern houston. we had police and authority tell us this one of the hardest hit areas. these walls of saturating water just keep coming. but we'll keep you updated. we just had a woman walk past us who was nearly falling over carrying her tv out of her house. she was begging for help. that's what she carried out of her house. back tod you, rick. rick: for the woman you just interviewed. there has been heat on the mayor for not ordering a mandatory evacuation fromm the city of houston. if he had, would she have gotten out? >> porsche, there is some heat on the mayor for not ordering a mandatory evacuation. do you think you might have if you saw come across your tv that you had to get out? >> of course. i would have got my family and we would have been out of here a long time ago. reporter: there is your answer. we have seen people heed some of the warning. but to your point there was no mandatory evacuation. rick: is there any idea how many people might be in homes now that night has fallen? reporter: i think houston police twee

anything experienced. houston, the nation's fourth largest city is all but under water. the mayor says most major roads are impassable. it is estimated that a quarter of the texas population is affected. and at least two deaths are blamed on the storm at this point. parts of texas are expected to get nearly 50 inches of rain. a massive rescue operation is now under way. thousands have been forced to evacuate. the head of fema says the recovery effort could take years and president trump plans to visit the state tomorrow. tropical storm harvey is stalled now, near the coast. still pounding the houston area with heavy rain, which is expected to last through friday. don champion is in houston. >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. this region is still very much paralyzed. behind me, that might easily look like a river, but 16 feet below or so is actually a normally busy parkway here near downtown. and the flooding is only expected to get worse. the coast guard spent the last 24 hours pulling people off roofs in houston, as harvey left many residents with no way to go but up to safety. th

the state including the nation's fourth-largest city, houston. texas governor greg abbott sending additional 1000 national guard members to the area to help with a massive search and rescue effort. >> what is important is everybody worked together to ensure that we are going to first save lives inside game, help people across the state. dagen: president trump has been coordinating the state and officials as they continue to deal with the storm. the president will travel to the region tomorrow. harvey taking its toll on the energy sector. oil and gas this morning, you have a drop in oil prices. gasoline prices have hit a two-year high following not storm. futures are showing this common stocks to start the new weekend. 18-point loss on the dow futures come a loss across the board. in europe, stocks are heading lower as well. losses at the biggest loser being the dax in germany. in asia overnight, markets mixed. we had games on the hang seng in hong kong and shanghai 1%. breaking down the board vote in the richer task of juggling faces a hard. so much more this morning. come and mor

coast most of today and >> abc's lana zak is in houston where the threat isn't so much the wind as the terrible flooding. good morning,. >> reporter: there are threats of levees that are going to be topped within hours. dams that officials are concerned may break. that's why they're starting to do these releases that are going to flood neighborhoods with even more water. one after motheanother, we cont to get evacuation orders for neighborhoods and towns here in texas. rescues continue in the dark of night here in houston. >> we got you, don't worry. >> reporter: bisected by roads that are now rivers, america's fourth largest city is in crisis. >> we need help in fifth ward. we need people here to evacuate people. get people here now before they die! >> reporter: the 911 system overrun. 56,000 calls in just many people say they can't even get through. houston's mayor is asking for patience. >> this is pretty much like day two, okay? there will be day three. and there will be day four. and there may be day five. >> reporter: first responders and good samaritans are working around th

. houston police have rescued a total of 3,000 people, 1,000 since noon today. the coast guard is reporting rescuing another 3,000 by boat and air. we saw dramatic views of helicopters coming to people's aid as they stood on their rooftops surrounded on all sides. >> we did a helicopter and boat. it was ridiculous. >> shelters are overwhelmed tonight. the red cross site at the convention center can hold 5,000 employees. tonight, it's near capacity. officials fear the numbers could rise dramatically when the flood waters recede. as president trump prepares to visit texas tomorrow. he's promising the support of the government. >> we hurt together. we struggle together. believe me, we endure together. we are one family. to the people of texas and louisiana, we are 100% with you. >> for reference, the houston area is slightly bigger than new jersey. harvey is expected to have dumped 1,000,000-gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern texas. we have team coverage tonight. "action news" christie ileto and dann cuellar hear about the response to harvey's devastation

in texas. >> todd: as you can see right there, houston one of the areas hit hard but so far, not the area hit the hardest by any stretch of the imagination . we saw matt fin's live shot throughout the course of the morning there in texas and the combination of the storm surge combined with the fact that as rick was predicting that area could receive upwards of 58 inches of rain, really underscores what that area is facing. that said, we heard our houston reporter griff jenkins explain ing houston is an area already saturated because of weeks of rain in that area. it's also an area that when it gets just one inch of rain is prone to extremely heavy flooding.th we're not just looking at houston.in we're not just looking at that entire coast area of texas. >> todd: i want to show you hotel video right now this is amazing this is the fairfield in n in rockport. look at this the inside of this as the local affiliate there walking through the hallways with the roof basically collapsed and of course the commercial structure, so you have a flattened roof there, all the ceiling tiles collapse

. i'm anne-marie green. >>> the record-breaking rainfall that flooded houston is expected to wind down today. but the trouble is far from over. parts of southeast texas are still getting hammered with heavy rain, floodwaters continue to rise, and the destruction and misery are spreading. this morning, east of houston, port arthur, texas, is getting hit hard. the mayor says the entire city is under water. people are trapped in their homes and residents are being told to go into survival mode. and there are reports of an apartment fire. tropical storm harvey makes its second landfall sometime this morning near the texas/louisiana state line. harvey is tinue and so far more than 13,000 people have been pulled from the floodwaters. don champion is in houston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. some people here in houston finally got a glimpse of the sun before it set last night as those rescues of stranded residents continue, the need in this region is only growing. harvey slammed the beaumont area in southeastern texas of going into that survival mode and start trying to

trump's health and human services secretary tom price. >> plus a reporter for our houston affiliate steps in to save a life. her dramatic effort to get help for a trucker stranded in several feet of water. >> but we begin this morning with a look at today's eyeopener. your world in 90 seconds. >>> if you are venturing out on the roads for any reason, you are going to run into high water. that is a certainty at this point. >> cat strosk flooding deaf states texas. >> it's pretty terrifying watching that water come up, come in. >> so many people needed to be rescued that emergency crews could not keep up. >> volunteers joining first responders helping tol pul neighbors and total strangers to safety. >> i'm not even thinking about myself. people need help. i'm going to do my part. >> the national weather service unlls the understooding precedented and,e,quot beyond anything experienced before. >> fema is going to be there for years. a landmark event. >> president trump has convened an all agency meetings to make sure all agencies are doing evything to support texas. >> i've got to tell

. major parts like houston are under water as tropical storm hurricane is continuing to barrel through. fully submerged vehicles and destroyed homes in its wake. and with over 2,000 water rescues performed in just the houston area alone, officials are looking at the residents and pleading for help. >> what we desperately need are boats and high water vehicles. so those of you who have boats and high water vehicles, that can be used in neighborhoods to help move people out of harm's way, we need your help. >> this morning some 1,000 additional national guard troops are being sent into houston as up to ten more inches of rain could get dumped on the area before the sunrise is there. and there could be even more bad weather news for the area in the coming days. we'll get a full report from bill karins in a moment. >>> but first, i want to turn to phillip mena in houston this morning. i know you're trying to get your cameras but with the roads it was impossible. i imagine impossible for so many residents as well. >> reporter: absolutely, good morning. i was trying to get hooked up with the

real footage from 1935. look at this. >> the streets of houston, texas, the whole city turned into a flood. people clinging to roofs and awnings. 100 residential blocks and 12 business streets inundated, raging flood waters 12 feet deep. suburbs like an inland sea, clinging to life by a tree, life saving by life both boat. like a rescue at sea, people taken out of windows. a score of lives lost. in the heart of houston, guests in a hotel are marooned without food for 40 hours. a cable line is rigged to carry supplies. all this was caused by a tremendous downpour, 15 inches of rain. buffalo bayou runs through the heart of inhouston. this one the worst and wildest houston has ever had. >> that was 1935 in houston, texas. and as you heard the announcer say there, all that was caused by 15 inches of rain. what houston tonight is coping with is more like 50, 5-0 inches of rain. as of today this storm in houston has produced the single largest rainfall amount from a single storm that has ever been recorded in the continental united states. when texas broke that record today it surpassed th

holt. reporting tonight from houston. >> good evening to our viewers in the west. it just won't stop. the heavy rain from tropical storm harvey that has swamped the city of houston and beyond, neighborhoods, highways, under water in a disaster unlike anything we have seen. there are three confirmed fatalities from harvey and late word of six more possible deaths. remarkable bravery and caring as people, neighbors, and first responders answer the cries for help. at least 2000 people rescued in an urban boat lift as coast guard choppers lift others to safety. scenes reminiscent of new orleans 12 years ago. tonight the storm, the center of the disaster, harvey is not done yet. on track to make an incredible third land fall, weakened, but persistent. and tonight possibly increasing its deadly toll. >>> a family of six now missing and feared dead after their van was swept away by flood waters, including four children under 16 years old. and their great grandparents, according to two relatives. more tragic news in a growing disaster. tonight houstonians are still under siege in a city stil

discussing also on in houston, but will be covering the ongoing challenges that we are dealing of the other parts state. weather. t with the you all probably know and have seen a lot of briefing about the weather. one thing that we are dealing here is basically a ongoing rain, that stretches one tip of which would e the corpus christi up to travis county over to chambers county, and then back to corpus christi. arts of those regions will continue to receive incredibly heavy rain that will lead to flooding and more danger for texans. and so many other areas n that region will sustain heavy rainfall. focusize there's a lot of now. ton right it's important not to forget the aroundin the communities houston that are suffering because of immense rainfall. including, in particular, and brazoria county. for s need to be prepared more rainfall tonight. occasion, very heavy rainfall. emphasize the importance when there is heavy rainfall, when there is importance of staying off the road. if you drive into water, you're taking your life into your own hands. try to seek the high ground, wheth

louisiana border. two reservoirs in houston rose slightly overnight and are expected to crest. many oil companies have either drastically reduced or halted production until the waters recede. fema says so far it's received 195,000 requests for help. 40,000 homes the houston have water damage -- in houston have water damage and the rescue efforts continue. red cross volunteers from fairfax just left for houston to help victims. the confirmed death toll from what are show is now 10 including a houston police officer who drowned inside his vehicle trapped by flood waters. don champion joins us live from houston with what's going on right now. >> reporter: good afternoon. the return of sunshine to this region is helping with leaf and rescue effort -- relief and rescue efforts this midday but to the east, harvey's dead simply destructive crawl continues -- deadly and destructive crawl continues. torrential rains and flash floods submerged port arthur, texas wednesday morning. as tropical storm harvey slammed ashore. >> every highway is closed so we can't get out anymore. we can't evacuat

tapering off, but the floodwaters remain at historic levels across houston and many parts of texas. more residents, though, pulled to safety. many people still stranded on roadways as reservoirs keep spilling over into neighborhoods. first responders and volunteers banding together in what is no doubt a marathon effort. >> meanwhile, shelters across the area are expanding as evacuees stream in overnight. more large capacity venues are opening up, including joel osteen's megachurch after facing some initial criticism. the red cross is standing by to volunteers work around the clock. >>> and new images of kim jong un witnessing the late east latest launch. this is wednesday, august 30th. >>> we do say good morning, everybody on this wednesday. and we're going to start with tropical storm harvey which appears to be finally moving out of the houston area. but it has left a devastating mark. >> the storm dumped more than 52 inches of rain in some place. the most ever recorded in the continental u.s. and there is a curfew in houston until dawn. >> it is right there along the texas/louisi

[indiscernible]. back in houston, there is concern that the flooding will last for weeks. engineers say they had no choice but to release water from a pair of reservoirs to ease the strain on two 70-year-old dams. we talked about this yesterday. the release of water means more homes and -- houston leaders say they are also monitoring the stability of bridges and pipelines in the area. authorizes south of houston fear a major levee may not hold. >> time is 4:03. the death toll from harvey is at least 30. yesterday the body of a houston police sergeant was found submerged in flood waters. perez was driving to work early sunday morning in heavy rain and in the darkness he drove into a flooded underpass with water 16 feet deep. he drowned. in the meantime, six members of one family were killed when flood waters swept away their van. the family included two grandparents and four grand children between the ages of 6 and 16. the coast guard says it has rescued thousands of people, but the conditions are very dangerous. >> there's multiple areas. i mean it could be neck high deep. it's what areas yo

underwater as thousands in houston call for help. trying to escape the flooding being called unprecedented and catastrophic. tonight, the dramatic rescues by boat and air in houston. and beyond. including people trapped in a nursing home in rising flood waters. some of it bringing echoes of hurricane katrina. and a big question, did the mayor of houston do the right thing in not ordering an evacuation? we'll ask the governor of texas as the region braces for up to 50 inches of rain on top of widespread destruction, along the gulf from hurricane harvey. tonight, houston stretched to it's limits, now appealing to the public for boats to join the struggle to save lives. as the disaster unfolds in a city and state under siege. nightly news from houston begins right now. >>> this is nbc nightly news with lester holt reporting tonight from houston. >>> good evening. the nation's fourth biggest city is a city of islands tonight. neighborhoods straited by rising flood waters in the face of an unprecedented amount of rain. stalled tropical storm hor have i still tormenting the region

the region with life-threatening flooding in and around houston. the water continuing to rise there, welcome to the second hour of "happening now" ." >> molly: fema officials say they expect more than 30,000 people to be in need of shelter. that news as texans flee to their rooftops in search of higher ground and wait for help to arrive. >> the roof went and when it went, the top floor got wet and they just pancake. >> we don't have electricity, no water. basically we just -- we are still breathing. but it humbled us. >> leland: the flooding shutting down highways and byways, turning them into waterways as people use kayaks and boats to get around and with days of rain still in the forecast, texas governor greg abbott warns the worst could still be you have to come. >> it will continue to be a challenge for a few more days, there will be more rain coming down in the houston area as well as the values that will continue to have water flow down and as a result the flooding is not going to end anytime soon. as a result, our first and foremost task is to continue to expand our search an

later this week. the university of houston will stay closed through september 4th. the colorado river is running wild in oh places. >> julia is joining us live from inside an e volcanouation center. rescuers are getting thousands of calls a day to get help, to get people to come get them and bring them to evacuation centers. give us a sense of the ground, you've been talking to people. >> reporter: the center was initially set up to receive about 5,000 evacuees. they are now at more than 8,6 00 people. i've asked volunteers with the red cross is there a limit? initially the limit was 5,000. they said they're not turning anyone away. they'll figure out how to take care of them. people are still coming to the center. there's also volunteers here lending a hand right now. they're sorting clothes for children, for adults, for families, who need some dry clothes. i can tell you that's one of the biggest things they need when they show up. sometimes they're barefoot with just the clothes on their back. when they get here, they can get a meal. just yesterday they served 25,000 meals al

perfect time to learn more. go long. >>> you're looking at an aerial view of houston. it will be years before that region recovers from this historic disaster. parts of the city are expected to be uninhabitable for that long. many businesses and industries may not be able to reopen, either. we'll see how many people end up relocating as a result of this storm. >> yeah. as incredible as those images are, overseas they're also dealing with something similar. a flooding disaster unfolding in south asia as the region faces the worst monsoon season in years. mumbai is one of the world's largest cities. it's paralyzed right now with more rain in the forecast. the united nations estimates that as many as 41 million people in bangladesh, india, and nepal have been affected. more than 1,000 people have died. >>> and breaking overnight in north korea, leader kim jong-un wants to send more missiles into the pacific. that news comes as the world continues reacting to the north firing ballistic weapons over japan. >> pyongyang released this photo of kim smiling as he watched monday's launch. presid

" starts right now. ♪ >> our country's fourth largest city shut down, residents in crisis, houston coping with a disaster of epic proportions. >> it's sad, man. a lot of devastation. i don't think the city was very prepared for it pretty disappointing that we have taken our personal stuff out of here and doing what we got to do. that's what firearm do. >> governor, you got your hands full. what's your priority at this hour? >> protecting lives. >> there is a lot of people left behind that would like to get rescued. >> we know water is coming more tonight and over the next couple days and we didn't want to be there when it was rising even higher. >> 15 elderly residents sitting in waste and shoulder deep water inside the assisted living facility. they got in touch with the national guard which sent the helicopter rescuing all 15 residents. >> president trump will travel to texas on tuesday. >> i give fema a grade of a plus all the way from the president down. >> what does this mean for the rest of the country in terms of the economy? >> we are seeing the price of gas at the pump go

reporting from houston. let's go to new york. >> great reporting, norah. tonight harvey on the move again. scott pagett, chief meteorologist at kvtv, our station in dallas fort worth. scott scott, where is it headed? >> nrorth-northeast. a glimmer of hope is on the west side. west of houston. drying out. rainfall rates you see in the light green color. .10 inch of rain per hour. heavy rain to the east. rainfall rates of 2 inches rain per hour. look at the dry air getting pulled into harvey. harvey, reaching towards north, northeast. the tropical storm warnings remain in effect through parts of louisiana, port arthur, near morgan city. the forecast track has harvey making a third landfall by later on tonight into the early morning hours. a tropical storm, then, downgrading to a tropical depression. and prop ctropical low, kentuck tennessee by the weekend. how much rain in addition? near port arthur, and lake charles, another 7 to 6 inches of rain. alexandria, monroe can see flooding rains as we go through dates. harvey a thing of past, of the system. we go throughened of t the end we

houston find more survivors overnight in the relentless rain and flooding. >> conditions are growing worse. cbs news has learned that the shelter behind me has more than 9,000 evacuees and that is nearly twice the capacity. we'll hear from coast guard rescue crews responding to the disaster and visit a 911 center overwhelmed by calls for help. president trump heads to texas today for a firsthand look at the emergency response. we'll talk to houston resident senator ted cruz about what his city it rained overnight and more heavy rain is expected today. >> however, nothing is getting in the way of the search and rescue crews here. >> peopleol hding out hope that this is going to get better, that the rain is going to pass and we're going to get through this. >> the president's been leaning into this disaster from before it ever started. >> president trump will travel to texas later today to get a firsthand look at the devastation. the president was also asked about his pardon of sheriff joe >> what a sensational catch! >> look at his eyes. he can't believe it. >> all that matter

shelter as a result of the storm. >>> it is still raining in houston. the heaviest rain is moving to louisiana. >> firefighters are going door to door in katy, texas. they hopped out, they walk up, they knock to see if anyone is there and if anyone does if no one is there, they put a green sticker to indicate the house was searched and know what it is inside.>>> the water started coming up in some neighborhoods that had remained relatively safe until today. the reason, water being released from local reservoirs had nowhere to go and was starting to flood nearby neighborhoods. that means the number of rescues will only grow.>> anyone with a boat, jet ski, and kayak spent the day picking up people and pets from local neighborhoods in houston. it has been neighbor helping neighbor. now the texas national guard is increasing its numbers in the flooded area. ea. >> with a number of area reservoirs and levies beginning to overflow, more residents are evacuating including south of houston where a levy has been breached by floodwaters. fire ants and snakes and gators are also causing concern

continues to pour over houston and the gulf coast another day of historic rainfall putting much of the city under water. >> we rode out last year and it was okay. this was more than we can imagine. >> reporter: thousands have been forced from their home. >> i walked out and i was just like screaming. >> reporter: and the worst of the flooding isn't over yet. >> bottom line is that it is going to continue on. we need the whole community not only the federal government forces, but this is a whole community effort. >> reporter: citizens are getting involved in the rescue. they are helping the national guard and coast guard to save people trapped in the flood waters. this rescue played out on live tv. >> we can see somebody on the back end of that car. >> reporter: and thousands of people are just feeling grateful to be alive. >> we prayed a lot. we just praise god and we were rescued. we were very thankful. >> reporter: right now people in houston are still expecting up to nearly a foot more of rain which means more flooding is going to happen. i know you have the latest look at where har

>>> hell in houston. >> we almost died. >> the house is totaled. my furniture is totaled. >> harvey is still there turning the nation's fourth largest city into a disaster zone. >> we don't know nothing. we just thank god we've got life. >> as neighbors rescue neighbors we have a way for you to help, too. the news at 11:00 starts now. >> we have to get out. >> we are looking for ur anybody of importance. we're looking for you. >> his machine got wet. his medicine got wet. so he already had three seizures. >> are the people gone? are they in there? oh, my god, you know. >> tens of thousands of people looking for someplace to stay, relentless rain continuing to inundate houston. let's get you up to speed on what's happening as harvey continues its destructive path. here are tonight's headlines. at least nine people are dead. first responders have rescued more than 6,000 people in houston and as of last hour 150 critical requests for help were still waiting to be answered. first responders in houston overwhelmed by the calls for help. the police chief, even the fema director are asking

water still rising. people still trapped. houston issuing a nationwide s.o.s. >> plus, tropical stor diverting planes. a passenger left in limbo. announcer: now, abc7 news at 11:00 on your side. >> tonight, a picture of devastation, neighborhoods under water, the images flowing in all day. or reporter starts off our team coverage from houston. reporter: rescues continue in the dark of night here in houston. >> don't worry, we've got you. reporter: by sected by records, america's third largest city is in crisis. >> we need help in fifth ward. we need people here to evacuate people. get people here now before they die. reporter: the 911 system overrun, 56,000 calls in just 16 hours. many people say they can't even get through. houston's mayor is asking for patience. >> this is pretty much like day two. th there will be day four and there may be day five. >> first responders are working around the clock desperately trying to keep up with the cries for help. >> memories that get taken away by something that you don't expect. but i mean, it's all materialistic stuff. reporter: she was gra

suburban houston. the big concern we keep hearing, alex, is there's going to be more and that the water that's there is going nowhere any time soon. what do you see around you? >> reporter: that's right, chris. in the last few moments the rain and wind have picked up. there's catastrophic flooding all across this city, scenes just like this one. take a look behind me, this is an on-ramp to interstate 610 which is right there. you can still see cars driving along it. right behind it there's an suv almost completely submerged. that's four feet right there. in harris county, 30 inches, it will go up to 50 in the coming days. so things will get worse. there is an all-hands-on-deck response to this catastrophe. local authorities, the coast guard and all sorts of folks going out there in their own boats, volunteers to try to rescue as many people as possible. the coast guard tells us they've carried out some 250 water rescues, rescuing some 1,000 people. that major development this morning, as you noted, is the release from those two reservoirs, barker and addux. all that water will go into t

was killed in that town. >> and another person was killed in the city of houston after being swept away by floodwaters. cars can be seen submerged in many roads simply impassable at this point. commercial flights in and out of houston's two main airports have been halted. now meanwhile, frantic search and rescue operations are under way as deadly floodwaters continue to rise around 3,000 national guard members have been activated to help with the rescue efforts. and cnn meteorologist joins us now from houston, texas where it is just after 11:00 p.m. central time. derek, you've today move to higher ground as you've been reporting on flooding and the search and rescue efforts under way. who than a thousand rescues carried out in houston and they continue into the night as rain keeps falling. how difficult has it been for authorities to perform rescues in the dark? >> rosemary, we actually joined precinct one officers and on the search and rescue mission. about three hours ago and that is at the height of some of the most extreme rain. and it was very challenging. we had to dodge obst

dire at a nursing home east of houston. patients were rushed out as floodwaters held the facility. rescuers waited through two feet of water to get the patient's out. the patients were carried on to boats and carried to a safe dry place. as of many of these situations, the rescues are being carried out by ordinary citizens with boats. >>> port arthur is in the beaumont area, 2.5 hours east of houston. it's close to the louisiana state line. >>> in houston, viewers full two of the six bodies of a family out of a van. the van was swept away in floodwaters. authorities recovered the bodies of two adults today. they were in the van with their four great-grandchildren on sunday afternoon trying to get away from the storm. >> i talked to the medical examiner's office, consulting about the water.>>> the four children range from 6 to 16. sheriff's officials believe they will recover the children once the van is pulled from the water.>>> it's tragic to see those stories. houston is getting its first real break from the rain today. it has allowed the standing water to go down but the floodi

4:00, levees are breaking just outside of houston. michelle: some rainfall told to get out now. nancy: the rainfall unlike anything the country has seen before. 49 inches from one storm. breaks a record for the continental united states. jonathan: keep in mind that is happening in the last few days. a couple howevers ago president trump arrived in corpus christi where the clean-up efforts are underway. michelle: lana zak begins abc7's team coverage now from houston. lana: president donald trump and first lady melania arrived in corpus christi to receive a briefing on the flood. >> this is of epic proportion. >> nobody has seen anything like this. >> many of the officials present told the president recovery is just beginning. >> recovery is a slow process. rest assured we are doing everything we can. >> in houston, epic rescue effort continues around the clock to save people trapped by rising floodwaters. this man stuck on top of his car waited for crews on a dinghy to take him to high ground. we saw shelters beyond capacity. >> we are not going to turn people away. >> emergency

the east, 3:00 a.m. in houston, texas. the fourth largest city in the united states mostly under water, only going to get worse there. the national weather service calls the flooding unprecedented and "beyond anything experienced before." the catastrophic flooding from now, tropical storm harvey, stretching government resources in some cases well past their breaking point. >> authorities in and around houston are scrambling to save those trapped by the high waters after 24 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. officials say at least two people were killed by the storm. the death toll, folks, the death toll is likely to rise here. houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered. operators are giving priorities to calls in areas where lives are at stake. >> officials say so far there have been about 2,000 water rescues. the houston independent school district has canceled classes for the week. dallas has announced plans to open a mega shelter to accommodate 5,000 evacuees. officials, charities, and hospitals working to get it open at the kay bailey hutchison violation c

calderÓn y enrique acevedo. aranza: buenas noches. decretan toque de queda en houston desde la medianoche hasta las cinco de la madrugada para evitar saqueos en zonas inundadas. ademÁs hay victimas fatales. un hombre hallado por un voluntario y una anciana. una cifra oficial estÁ en 18. ascienden a 17,000 las personas en refugios en texas. los meteorÓlogos pronostican que la tormenta harvey tocarÁ tierra maÑana, avanzarÁ lentamente por luisiana y llevarÁ sus lluvias hacia el norte. ahora vamos directamente hasta houston en vivo donde se encuentra mi colega enrique acevedo. buenas noches. enrique: buenas noches. la buena noticia es que la probabilidad de lluvia para la zona metropolitana de houston, se ha reducido considerablemente un 30%. desde hoy a las 6:00 de la tarde ha dejado de llover y se hubieron bar los primeros rayos del sol en los Últimos cuatro dÍas en esta ciudad de houston. el panorama sigue siendo desolador. el daÑo a la infraestructura, como podemos ver en una de las principales entradas de la carretera de houston, es evidente. el nÚmero de vÍctimas

at this hour in and around houston as well as southeast texas with another 10 inches possible overnight. harvey has drifted out to sea but is expected to head back inland. >> and there is a flash flood emergency. the city of beaumont, texas, is getting hammered this morning. the rain is coming down at 2 inches per hour. >> and rescuers worked through the night. the death toll has climbed to at least six while thousands of people are under new evacuation orders. >> and today president trump heads to texas after promising billions of dollars in relief. abc's maggie rulli joins us from the flood zone in houston. maggie, good morning. >> reporter: diane and kendis, good morning. this is a weather disaster affecting thousands of square miles and millions of people and unfortunately only more rain is now on the way. overnight, the national guard live streams their dangerous night ops mission desperate to keep up with the thousands in need of rescuing from rapidly rising floodwaters in houston. life and death moments caught on camera. families fighting to stay above water floating on

rushing that fast, rising that fast. >> the relentless rain still pounding the houston area. water submerging whole neighborhoods. a runway at a houston airport underwater and boats now navigating freeways to make rescues. >> you hate to see people lose everything they have and, you know, all we can do is try to help them get to dry land. >> people in the country's fourth largest city pleading for help. >> we need help in fifth ward. get people here now before they die. >> the millions dealing with epic flooding and the race to save them right now. and the storm's latest path. we're tracking it all. >>> and good monday morning. i'm kendis gibson. had >> i'm lynda lopez in for diane macedo. southeast texas is waking up to more drenching downpours and catastrophic flooding triggered by tropical storm harvey now being blamed for at least three deaths. >> harvey remains parked right there in southeast texas. it's expected to dump up to 50 inches of rain before moving out later this week. that would be a record. now, frantic rescue operations continued overnight. emergency crews and vol