i'm in houston, northwest houston, where we had been diluted with rain for hour after hour. this is only the third time in history where we have had a flash flood emergency. that is what we are under right now. p every 15 minutes our bayous are filling up and when they overflow they create neighborhood flooding and they are in for potentially some of the worst flooding in the history of the city and that is saying something in a city that has flooded many times five lieutenant governor is so different from where you are in some of these other lower line areas which are smaller towns, rockport has about a population of 10000 people and we heard of those mandatory and some voluntary evacuations. you can't evacuate the entire city of houston. is this the very major disaster that you were warned about is that what the governor called it before it hit. >> yes, i've been on fox a number of times in last place and i've had the same refrain that is this potentially could be the worst storm we have ever seen because, harris, i have not seen a hurricane attached to the tropical storm

stadium in houston. he gave moved to arlington. at&t stadium. the texans practice yesterday in frisco, texas at the dallas cowboys training facility and will do so again today. the outpouring of financial support from the houston sports community has been seismic. houston rockets, leslie alexander selling the team has donated $4 million on behalf of the rocket to the relief fund. houston texans owner bob mcnair donating $1 million matched by the nfl foundation. houston astros jim crane, his ownership group in foundation also giving $4 million encouraging others hurt in and around the region to help in anyway possible. jj loch of the houston texans begin a fundraiser sunday night. he pays $100,000 in critical to double not critical keep going up thanks in part to the houston rockets star chris paul a one-day donated $50,000 to the fundraiser. the generosity is exactly what put us over the $500,000 mark. phenomenal top nominations both large and small. from half a million to 1 million, 125 million. jj whit

houston is 2.3 million people. you look at the surrounding 6eas, you're talking almost million people. you talk about this devastation. it is his stork for board -- of his stork for portions. one go what do you think unchecked of elements by houston officials over the past several decades has created an even worse possibility for calamity when a natural disaster like this is? was a catastrophe waiting to happen. given the fact you have unrestrained capitalism, no , laissez-faire regulations when it comes to the industries that have created lots of problems when it comes to greenhouse gases and other industrial pollution. the impact that basically has been ignored for many years. the fact that, you know, it is a disaster, but it is a very critical disaster. and those communities that historically have borne the burden of environmental pollution and contamination from the many industry come at the same time, are the very communities that are bearing disproportionally the burden of this flooding. so you get this pre-e

focus on the bright colors on houston. here is houston. instead of watching where the center is, just keep an eye on this bright colors of heavy rainfall. band after band. hour after hour. no matter where the storm moves, it continues to flow this moisture into the area. now it seems to be more on the western flank, but this is why we're looking at the possibility unfortunately of doubling our rain totals. a one in 1,000-year rain event. #prayf #prayfortexas. >> indeed. we are all doing that. tom sater, thank you. >>> so some residents of the houston area in particular are being rescued from their homes by boat and as you saw, also helicopters are in the air. others urged to head to the rooftops, because of these unpredictable rising waters. take a listen to some of the survival stories. >> -- pretty terrifying. i must admit. watching the water come up, come in and keep coming up. >> reporter: gone through this twice before? >> yeah. yep. probably the last time. i don't think we're going to do it again. i don't think so. >> reporter: yeah.

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 these folks find themselves in. looks like this bus is full and about to pull it out. again, about seven others lined up right behind it as they continue to bring people out. let's go over here, xavier, we can see how they are bringing the people out of the neighborhood since, obviously, the suvs can't make it around. pickups can't make it around. people are coming out even with dogs. some have life jackets on, whatever they can. children. carrying them to safety getting them in the bus. and hopefully to safety. long night for these folks. the city and county kept the metro buses and the highway water rescue folks from the houston fire in place. yeah, what originally brought us down here, rachel, a phone call to our assignments desk at channel 2. the call was the rouging water, glafier, more people brought off

i said that president trump was in houston. he wasn't in houston. he was in corpus christi and austin but not in houston. sorry about that misfire on my part. tonight or early tomorrow, this storm is set to make its second landfall at the louisiana/texas border. we've got eyes on that tonight and also eyes on houston itself as they try to open up a second mega shelter as that convention center teams with twice as many people as they were set up for there. we had a report earlier from there, a live report from there earlier this hour about people not getting into the main part of the convention center and sleeping around its periphery. people not able to get into that building. hopefully some of that crowding will be alleviated with the second shelter opening up in the arena where the houston rockets play. arena where the houston rockets play. >>> now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, rachel. >> such a sad kind of loss. people losing everything that they've held dear. i mean, objects that they've held dear. souvenir

beyonci grew up in houston. destiny's child was her former bandmates who also made it to houston and they are doing efforts on their part as well. j jaye watson another texan celebrity. people are banding together. selected florida -- florida is helping out also. the rangers and the astros. >>> we want to give you a life picture from texas. he is getting briefed he is getting briefed and will have herbert ken harvey and officials are gathering there. a number of officials from the county. the governor office. fema all of them are in this room awaiting for the president. the lieutenant said yesterday they received 1000 calls per hour and that they actually rescued more than 3000 people yesterday.>> the rescue crews are making work a citizen rescuers are jumping in with their own both to save people trapped in floodwaters and home

i'm 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 relative

>>> and rallying behind houston. coldplay is releasing a new song to benefit the victims and more and more celebrities are also stepping up to the challenge, pitching in, in some cases even jumping into the floodwaters to try to help. we have the latest on the nationwide relief effort on this wednesday, august 30th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." ♪ >> and we do say good morning to you, everybody. the numbers from harvey remain staggering, as you hear a little bit more of coldplay there. and just about unmeasurable. the storm has dropped more rain on the gulf coast than any other event in history. >> at least 17,000 people have taken refuge in houston shelters, and more are arriving by the hour. a new one was able to handle another 10,000 evacuees. that opened just a few hours ago. >> and more people waiting to be rescued, pitching tents on roofs and waving towels and sheets just so they can be seen. >> originally, the convention center was only supposed to hold 5,000 people, but it now has t

county, southeast of houston. when harvey blew ashore, it devastated low lying homes and caused unprecedented flooding. another 10 to 15 inches of rain is expected there. city officials are asking for volunteers to help staff rescue shelters. late last night, texas governor greg abbott ordered another 1,000 national guard troops to the houston area. he's declared more than 50 texas counties disaster areas. >> well, the state of things is a state of emergency where we're responding to these needs of the people. in houston as well as around the entire state of texas, by making that does is it triggers the resources from fema. we have been in constant contact with fema officials and the full resources of fema are coming to texas to respond to the challenges you're seeing and also with regard to the challenges we're going to have in rebuilding houston and the entire coastal region. >> evacuees fleeing the coast need shelter. tomorrow the city of dallas plans to open a megashelter in the kay bailey hutchison convention

brian todd in houston. again, what you are looking at is an area in northeast houston, near the beltway in tidwell. this roadway, which is covered by water right now, has turned into the scene where dozens of rescues are happening before our eyes. you can see them treating someone in that boat in a blue jacket. and now our affiliate is pulling out. moments ago, we saw an older ca walk through. it's still raining with more rain to come in there. there at the bottom of your screen, you see people walking out of the water, carrying what they can, in cases, paper and plastic bags. and then in the back, after the cameraman puts a lens on, you can see an 18-wheeler just covered by the water there. we'll go back to that picture when our affiliate gets it back up. i want to go to meteorologist tom seder who joins us from atlanta. tom, this storm is not done yet. what is in store for tonight? >> last night we reached the halfway point. i know we would like to hear it move faster, but since you could have outwalked t

the houston texans are enduring. >> for all of us back in houston and i hope everybody stay safe. you know, hopefully it starts to blow the other way. i mean, it is a tough deal when you have hurricane season during this time of the year. like i said, i hope everybody stay safe. >> i hope everything all right back there with families in everything. everything will be okay. reporter: star defensive jj lot yesterday posted the following video in instagram. what pledge donation of $100,000 an ounce further salt. >> at his or her city. it's very tough to watch are syndicated by such a bad storm and not be there to help with the car very, not be able to help with the process is very tough. what i do want to do is start a fundraiser because i know the recovery efforts will be mass. >> he pledged $100,000. the within two hours day $200,000 comes a nice update to half a million dollars. the website has been broken because so many people were pledging money towards this. cheryl: texans will play cowboy stadium. no conflict to train the team. >> yeah, nothing has been determined yet. today

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 two days after coming ashore as a hurricane. at least two people have died because of the storm, including one here in houston where rainfall amounts could reach 50 inches, 5-0, before it's over. tonight, 3,000 national guard members are deployed across the disaster zone from houston to corpus christi. as crews move mounds of debris in the areas that took direct hits from harvey, tonight it is water that has this city on it's heels. too much of it too quickly and no place for it all to go. and not since katrina have we seen so many dramatic rescues. urban water rescues. people desperate to literally keep their heads above water. our team is in place to cover it all and jacob rascon leads us off tonight in here in houston, jacob, good evening. >> reporter: lester, good m

right sut outside of houston. they were stuck in their homes and an area that has flooded before, but never quite like this. we spoke with one man who has had his home flood three times before. but this time he had six feet of water in his home. he managed to get out with his wife. another person. you know, a woman who was pregnant. was able to be rescued by coast guard helicopter. there was an elderly woman that we saw pulled out and it was just heartbreaking to see all of these folks trapped inside their homes and throughout houston. now, hallie, this is an ongoing disaster. as we said, the governor said another 1,000 members of the texas national guard have been activated in addition to the 3,000 that we've seen before. and as you can see behind me, so many roads throughout the houston area are impassable. it's hard to get around. hundreds of people having to be evacuated today from the texas medical center. several hospitals and the m.d. anderson hospital. this is a desperate situation, hallie. we covered lots

houston fire, ems workers and the houston police and the houston police have lost an officer. sergeant steve pÉrez, age 60. 34-year veteran of the force was driving to work. he drove two and a half hours on sunday, pre-dawn, trying to find a safe way to get to work. and he drowned. he was caught in flood waters, and it took the police until this morning to recover his body. they knew he had perished but were not able to get his body. our thoughts are with the family of sergeant steve pÉrez, and the houston police department who have lost one of their own in these rescue efforts. if you do want to help, you can go to red cross.org or text "harvey" to 90999. it will automatically take a $10 donation and charge it to your phone bill. that's harvey to 90999. that brings this very busy hour to a close for me. i will see you right back here at 11:00 p.m. eastern. you can find me on facebook and instagram. thank you for watching. "deadline: white house" starts right now. >>> president trump says texas can handle anything. hello, everybody. i am mike barnicle, filling in for nicolle

he wasn't just taken from the city of houston. he was taken from the people of houston. what occurred was this, as follows. on sunday, august 27, steve perez, sergeant steve perez, who had been on, again, like the mayor said, for 34 years, assigned to the traffic enforcement division, left his home at 4:00 a.m., left his home in heavy rain. as a matter of fact, i just got back from making notification a little while ago, and the community is not accessible but for our aircraft, we wouldn't have been able to get out there. but he left at 4:00 a.m. on sunday, august 27, to get to his workstation. sergeant perez, while driving around, our investigation has determined that he spent about two and a half hours driving around, trying to get to his duty station, which is traffic enforcement division, and central here downtown houston. he could not find a path, and you can imagine heavy rain, dark roadways, who knows what else he saw out there with the lighting and that more rural community. he kept driving around, couldn't find it, so he called his chain of command and said, lis

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 work

west of houston. drying out. rainfall rates you see in the light green color. .10 inchf 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 week. >> thanks. harvey's catastrophic flooding all too familiar for victims of hurricane katrina. tonight diae parts of louisiana. >> we are headed towards lake charles, louisiana, three hours east of houston. it is bracing

it's on the houston border. maybe another 10 inches in houston. additional ten inches. 30 and in some cases up to 40 inches. as you drift to the north and to the east, look at this. some spots may be getting up to another 25 inches. this is additional. there's already a lot of folks under water. we could be doubling the rainfall totals in some spots. >> you and i are going back and forth this hour. i want to check in on the dam situation. they're releasing some of the pressure in houston. we'll talk about that coming up. adam, thanks very much. let's go to griff jenkins live at the attics reservoir. is it raining again, griff? >> it's absolutely driving rain right now. we stand here at the reservoir. of course, the historic epic amount of rainfall at levels that was measured in 500 years. now we're understanding reaching an 800-year level. you're looking at the bubbling water. 10,000 cubic feet of water per second flowing out of the reservoir. that's the attics red investor. just a few moments ago, the geological survey folks were taking a measure

>> houston is low-lying and all of the water bleeds into houston. it's raining hard in byron and victoria and that water is draining back towards houston.>> i don't think i've ever seen that violet cover, it's worse than red?>> yes, they're getting rainfall of 4 inches in our. it's like the tsunami, do you remember that? it is once-in-a-lifetime. >> we will get more with you and week will go to learn branch it -- lauren blanchard she's in galveston with what it's like. tell us about the situation in galveston.>>reporter: a, we are just along the seawall and we are starting to get more rain. it's been on and off and it's expecting to pick up tonight dumping another few inches of rain on an area that does not need it. in galveston county, there is one down that has just been destroyed by these flooding waters. binghamton issued a mandatory evacuation. in that evacuation alert that went out, if you decide to stay we may not be able to rescue anyone who stays. there is dramatic verbiage from authorities that are trying to get the people that this is a d

she is a h houston natative. looook atcontinue to the catastrophihic storm hitting houston, texas, the nation'n's fourth-largest city. the crisisegegan on friday when hurricicane harvrvey made landfl and rock work, texexas, the less powerful hurricane t to hit the state in 50 years. much of the damage has bebeen calleded by the massive raininf. parts of texas have received 30 ininches of rain and could top 0 inches. amy: we're joined from san diego, california, by david the executive director , of blue frontier, an ocean conservation organization. cacan you talk about the connection between h hurricane harvey, downgraded to a tropical storm, but causing massiveve damage,, and this issue of climate change, global warming? >> sure, amy and renee. my thoughts and agnostic prayers to those in houston and southeast texas, where again, we are saying a natural disaster turned into human catastrophe by choices we make in terms of our energy choices, the pollutants we burned for energy and put into the atmosphere, as well

that is east of houston, thank goodness and back to houston a little bit less. we are still going to see this buffalo bayou go up. it already is a record. it may be four feet above record before we're finally done. >> chris, i just checked center point energy, the power company in houston. 86,000 or somewhere around there, people without power. 2.3 million people still have power. these people that are going into these homes to rescue other people have to understand that that power may still be on. so there's another real danger there that the power is still on for 96% of houston, and the water is going up. >> the good-bad news. we'll be monitoring those numbers. the longer that water stands and the more wind you have that comes into it, the more you can have people losing power. you're right. it's a risk you go in there. but people are always trying to save lives. it's the beauty of the human condition. chad, thank you very much, we'll check back with you in a little bit. right now let's bring in colonel lars zedderstrung from the army corp of engineers in hous

lana zak joining us from houston. we'll have another live report from lana later on in the next half hour. >>> houston area hospitals in the meantime are facing several challenges that may be making things tough to stay open. two critical issues, getting staff to and from work, and the delivery of supplies. >> at least two area hospitals have already decided to evacuate patients. bay shore medical center is moving nearly 200 patients to several other hospitals in the area. it's also suspending services, including its 24-hour emergency medical center. >> and one hospital there, ben taub, canceled the evacuation of 200 patients because the roads are too difficult to travel there. we spoke on the phone with wendy waterman. she and two dozen other people are waiting for water to recede. >> we would see one helicopter fly by, another helicopter fly in another direction. we heard boats. but when we were outside, you would go in the front yard and the backyard, and you would see one or the other, a helicopter lowering someon

>> the city of houston has been impacted by an inordinate amount of rain that fell on the city of houston. >> but what is the plan for those 6 million plus people? >> we asked people to prepare and they did. i'm going to allow all the people on social media and talking heads to talk. but they don't have the responsibility of managing and running this city. i do. >> reporter: flooding closed highways and roads all over houston and getting supplies into the city has been a logistical nightmare. we followed four walmart trucks carrying donated food and water to the city's overcrowded convention center. it took the trucks two days to get here. but living space for all the evacuees left no room to unload the supplies. >> let me assure you it is going to be improved today. >> can you guarantee the supply chains of food, water, cots are going to get through to that center in time? >> we made a request on fema for an additional 10,000 cots and additional supplies and we said we need them to get here as soon as possible. >> reporter: fema officials say they're aware of the need at the convention c

houston community fund. you can give as little as $10 or go for something larger. it's tax deductible and verified to go straight to those affected by floods. so remember the gofundme guarantee. look for better business bureau accredited charities and hurricane harvey relief fund endorsed by the houston mayor. my verify team is always ready to go to work for you. in the wake of this tragedy a lot of scammers, fake news and nefarious people out there. let us know about it. find me on facebook or twitter@adamlongotv or verify@wusa9.com. >>> we wanted to look closer at some pictures making e rounds. the posters claim the pictures are from houston, but are they really? we asked our pete muntean to check it out. >> can you tell which of these are real? it's tough. i'm about to tell you how you can check on your own because these photos keep getting retweeted, reposted, reused by tricksters. i talked to the foremost researchers of fake photos about why these keep cropping up, but first let's go through these one b

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. th

this is in houston. they are letting ten people in as ten people come out, very short and supplies all across the houston area. much more to go, molly, lots of rain to come. >> molly: we appreciate the picture, lots more water on the way. >> leland: had that been during a hurricane or tropical storm, we would have a site it looks really bad out there. still without rain, still without water and that wind. >> molly: the structural integf things, there's more to come. the water begins to go down, they will have to assess all the highways and that was just a hint of what is happening in real time right now. >> leland: there's going to be a couple of processes the fema director said. president trump expected to get a firsthand look during his visit to texas tomorrow, even with more torrential rain and the forecast the president is going down there. we are going to preview exactly where he will go. and who he's going to need coming up. plus, texans coming together, stranger helping stranger, the pictures have

f houston that will cut off the gulf of mexico moisture for houston itself. so they're going to be seeing improv'vt( conditions by wednesday. it's headed up towards memphis. fá and they still havexdÑi it as a tropical depression even by the time it gets to memphis. and then some of that lpleftove moisture may be coming up in our direction. we'll talkxd about how that cou effect our labor day weekendñr coming up. womane1 who grew up in houston. she moved to philadelphia two f her mom is still in houston. she is safe and sending her daughter images showing the devastatk$s in the neighborhood where she grew up. of the neighborhood that as içó kid it never flooded. çó i u!ei to walk down there as a kid. you just thinke1 it's so different. >> she is planning a trip back to texas in october. for many people in our area harvey is a reminder of devastation from superstorm sandy. >> afterq surviving sandy some new jersey natives madet( the me to texas where they are reliving the nightmare ofxd a hurricane. ted greenberg has that part of the story. >> reporter:x

not just houston, folks. a lot of flooding really between the gulf coast of mexico and houston and i'm sure parts west of houston there's a lot of stuff that is under water. we'll show you some pictures that we saw personally later on today. but let's get now to the economic impact of what this may be because we are all just figuring it out. this is the beginning in many ways you've got, of course, continued rainfall continued rescue efforts then there will come the long recovery hopefully an easier recovery than some expect they are expecting some more rain, unfortunately. the houston economy cannot be understated and it importance on the united states cannot be understated. approximately $500 billion of economic actevty produced out of the houston region every single year that would make it one of the largest 25 countries with an economy just about the size of sweden 3 million jobs directly associated with houston. it is the fastest growing large metropolitan area in the united states the biggest job creati

for houston. i know this is a houston story, but we've seen epic rainfalls north, east, west, and south of houston. baytown, quebec numbers there. we think and of everyone and now louisiana as the storm continues to move. future radar doesn't move much, doesn't budge for the next 18, 24 hours. still bringing the potential for showers and thunderstorms in louisiana. new orleans, we've had a couple of tornado storms. there is wednesday and as we get into thursday, friday, finally will start to see this thing move, but the damage is done, catastrophic. it is a still life learning, obviously. we have flash flood warnings in effect. major flooding on all of the river gauges. storm totals they have never, ever seen before. it's going moment by moment. any inch of rain is not welcome in this region. tropical storm harvey, still a tropical storm, expecting it to be so over the next 6-12 hours. eventually thursday, it is going to start to move. it will get picked up in a cold front, something we hoped for

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 15 hours. 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 the clock, desperately trying to keep up with all the cries for help. and those that are rescued are often left with nothing. >> memories that get taken away by something that you don't expect, but i mean, it's all just materialistic stuff. >> reporter: luis says she was stranded without a place to go. >> they said there would be buses. no buses ever came, so we were just sitting there in the rain. just waiting for som

taken inside of a nursing home 30 miles outside of houston. that is ruth miller in the middle this is a disturbing photo, she was one of 15 elderly residents stranded in waist deep water, tonight we are learning more about the story behind the photo. the woman who owns the nursing home took the photo she had already called 911 but no one had come yet so her son-in-law posted the photo on twitter with the caption need help asap , emergency services. it was retweeted hundreds of times, tommy mcintosh is the name of the man who tweeted the photo. >> i don't have a large owfolling but i said let's put it on twitter and see if we can get some action. so i want to say thank twitter followers that believed the story and retweeted and got everything in motion. >> he got action three hours after the photo was tweeted all 15 senior citizens were rescued. rescues were already on the way when the photo started getting attention online. they urged people to use 911 not social media for rescue requests. >> at first many people questioned if the photo taken

last year houston led the u.s. in flood-relate ld deaths mostly due to an april storm that took eight lives. the metro area's development has exploded. one study found the houston area has added 25% more pavement over 15 years, replacing soil-rich wetlands that could absorb water with concrete-covered suburbia. >> the urban development is what's driving and exacerbating flood losses over time. >> professor same brody from texas a&m galveston spent years ref researching houston floods and says it's mostly a man made problem. >> we're adding about 100,000 people a year. with those people come parking lots, pavements, rooftops rjs roadways. that makes it very difficult for the water to drain slowly and into the bayous and into the bay. >> houston is unique in it has no formal zoning laws. new structures are required to be built 12 inches above 100-year flooding levels. chuck blank has lived in this neighborhood for 20 years and says he's never seen rising water like this. >> we've got too much concrete. the water does

used to play in houston. told us harvey is different. >> i definitely understand what they're going through and things like that. keep in contact with a couple of guys down there. making sure things are safe and good with their families. definitely paying close attention to it. pray r for everything down there. praying to keep everything safe. >>> refineries are shutdown. shutdown before the storm to minimize damage. how soon they could reopen depends on the amount of flooding in the area. some analysts believe fallout from harvey and surge in demand for the labor day holiday could cause prices to jump anywhere between 5-25 cents a gallon. >> just a few minutes before the start of the "today" show. check with savannah guthrie and craig melvin. good morning, guys. >> good morning to you. coming up on the show this morning, of course we're going to have complete coverage of this unprecedented national disaster. houston, under water this morning as you know and still two more feet of rain that could come. >> we

it was simply called houston. eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any of these types of plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan any time you want. so don't wait. call unitedhealthcare now to request your free decision guide. >>> one last check with david no rain and no 80s. a temperature profile northern and western suburbs looking comfortable 77 and 78 an 8 -- >> the

the heaviest rain bands now east of houston. that is good news for houston. at least the heavy rain is not right over the city. but still really bad news for parts of texas. look at this track, though. not leaving texas until about wednesday. then moving closer to tennessee with the leftover moisture. possibly here as we go into labor day weekend. tomorrow, though, is another thing we're watching. we have a tropical area of low pressure off the southeast coast. that's moving off our coastline and it could get stronger. we're going to be watching it closely. the national hurricane center is watching it, too. this is what future weather is showing. by tomorrow, morning rain likely. even through the day. periods of rain. that will be in tomorrow's forecast. remember it before you step outside. you want the umbrellas tomorrow. today, unseasonably cool. 78 degrees. with the rain, only around 73. once that leaves wednesday we're sunny, 79. friday looks good too. again, into the weekend we'll be watching the remnants of harvey. some of that moisture here for your la

houston's a great city. we're going to come out strong and we'll need a lot of money to help the people rebuild. >> that's jj watt announcing a fund-raiser to assist with the recovery efforts in the houston area and asking fans to donate if they can. he's contributing $100,000 and so far $300,000 has been awarded. >>> and last night at the vma's ed sheeran won for the first ever artist of the year award. and another big honoree was pink who was presented with this year's video vanguard award. if her speech she opened up about being bullied for her looks something her 6-year-old daughter faces as well. >> i said, do you see my changing my body? no, mama. do you see me selling out arenas all over the world, yes, mama. okay. so baby girl, we don't change. we take the gravel and the shell and we make a pearl and you my darling girl are beautiful. and i love you. >> well the night also got political. six transgender military members walked the red carpet and they said anyone willing and able should be welcome to

, downtown houston. it's a very dangerous situation. >> reporter: behind me, this is what a high water rescue looks like. officials have come out to our crews and told us we need to get to safety. this rescue truck carrying us and others to higher ground. >> i got stuck on the freeway. i'm just really worried about all of my houstonians that are out there. >> reporter: it went from bad to worse very quickly this morning. you have no idea how deep it is in certain spots here. rain still coming down. flood waters still rising. this family getting out with only what they could carry. the water came up this high? >> this high. >> victor, many still waiting to be rescued. do the local authorities feel like they have enough support? >> reporter: it's been an incredibly challenging day. they say they're bringing all the resources and manpower they have. the chief of police saying they're running on fumes. their hearts ache, but they won't stop. tom? >> they are working around the clock. victor, thank you. >>> e

latest and joys us from houston. good morning. >> reporter: diane and kendis, good morning. well, the weather here in houston does appear to be clearing up. but harvey was such a devastating slow-moving storm that the floodwaters here are still at catastrophic levels. america's fourth largest city is at a standstill. reeling from the 100 trillion gallons of water harvey left behind. >> there they are. there they are. >> reporter: first responders and volunteers alike are racing against rising floodwaters. more than 7,000 people have been rescued so far. many plucked from their roofs desperately clinging to coast guard baskets. but the calls for help just keep coming in. >> i hate to think that there are people in these houses. >> reporter: at least 1,000 people are still in urgent need of help. >> don't give up on us. seek the higher ground. we will get to you. >> reporter: linda was trapped in her car on the highway for two days. >> all i could say is there are angels out here. >> reporter: those rescued are often l

in houston, the price is escalating. norah is there. >> reporter: the city is forced to take action overnight because of overflowing shelters. thousands are desperate for a place to stay. we'll show you the conditions facing evacuees who want to know if houston should have been better prepared. >>> plus, to fully appreciate the scope of the devastation, you have to see it from the sky. we'll take you up in a helicopter high over houston for a dramatic view of how floodwaters are transforming the city. >>> and in our more perfect union series, a pair of texas furniture stores opened for people who need food and shelter. the owner says we have got to give people hope. >>> but we begin this morning with a look at today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> the first responders are so busy. 911 calls are not being answered. the situation in port arthur continues to be dire. >> tropical storm harvey makes a second landfall overnight. >> unless you're in imminent danger, you're just going t have to figure out a way to d

the sun peeked out of houston's sky. there have been nine confirmed deaths including houston police officer steve perez, drowning in flood waters, two days shy of his 61st birthday. >> it was too treacherous to look for him. >> the rescues totaling 13,000 and still they pour in. more than a thousand in houston are waiting for help. >> linda says she was stranded in her car with rising flood water for two days. >> all i can say is there are angels out here. help is pouring in by the truckload and there is still more need. >> it's gut wrenching. what can i do for my neighbors? >> we encourage people if they need shelter to come here to seek shelter. we may not have the amenities for them like a cot. those in new orleans are using sandbags on the 12th anniversary of katrina. >> it evoked memories and heartbreak. >> houston's mayor says no city welcomed more from katrina than houston. >> reporting live from houston, lana zach. back to you. >> chad pradelli hit the ground in texas surveying the flood zone. he's facing an emer

near houston. there's a broad area of 15 to 20-inches and even greater in the whole south central part of texas. if we can have the rainfall map, yeah, that one. this is a 1 to 5-day forecast. as i noted, we will get back into the moderate to heavy rains later today and then into tomorrow and we will see how long that lasts. it all depends on the track. 15 to 20-inch rainfall still associated with the max. notice the shift towards the east, southwest louisiana, western louisiana and going into northeast texas is included and we need to watch the area carefully. go to the last map, this is a map of the current flooding, we have major flooding occurring already in the houston area and you see that area blossoming out, north and west of houston, the peak flow and depth of this flow will max out in the wednesday-thursday time frame and this does include the projected rainfall that we are expecting. also -- and even though we see on this map that currently we don't see flooding in eastern texas and west

presentador: pasamos en vivo a houston con enrique acevedo. enrique: primero el impacto del huracÁn, despuÉs tormenta y el harvey. las lluvias histÓricas que ha arrojado sobre esta zona. carolina: pasan los dÍas y norma herrera no deja de llorar. aunque aÚn no se repone de haberlo perdido todo, lo que mÁs le duele es ver a su hija asÍ. >> mi mamÁ es madre y padre y todos los aÑos que ella trabajÓ para meter a nuestra casa, yya no la tenemos. carolina: un vecino las rescatÓ de milagro cuando el agua les estaba llegando al cuello. >> yo sÉ que es duro. me dijeron que mi casa quedÓ completamente tapada. carolina: mientras las autoridades suplicaban a las personas que evacuaran, el nivel del agua seguÍa subiendo y miles de personas hispanas decidieron arriesgarlo todo por el miedo a inmigraciÓn. pedro fue uno de ellos. >> llegaron los helicÓpteros a rescatarnos. carolina: pedro no querÍa ir a un albergue hasta que se dio cuenta de que era una situaciÓn de vida o muerte. su casa se estaba inundando. >> prÁcticamente perdÍ todo.

houston hobby, that's the second airport in houston. 33.88 inches at houston hobby. if of the major airports, houston hobby and houston bush intercontinental are close until further notice. baytown is a small town outside of houston that's expected to have 10 feet of water downtown by the end of the day. they have 37 inches of rain. houston hobby and bush intercontinental, they have 28 inches. astounding. there was or vars are overflowing. they're very concerned about downtown. officials say the amount of water entering is greater than the amount being released and that can cause more homes and streets to flood. i want to take you over to the big wall back over here and show you what's happening now with the storm. the thing is, it's moved a little bit to the east. yesterday we were on this wall and i was telling you, the storm is going to come back over the water and it would be able to get more fuel. it's like gas for the car, when it goes back over the water, that's what happened. it's now turning over. the expectation now is the storm is going to come back ashore