Transcripts For KNTV Early Today 20170828

Inches to fall on the area by friday. President trump has plans to visit texas tuesday. But thats not all hes been up to. And last nights mtv Video Music Awards had its share of politics, eye popping performances and much more. Early today starts right now. Good being with you on a monday morning. Im frances rivera. My coanchor phillip mena is in texas and hell join us in a moment. But he like many other texans are waking up this morning in an almost unrecognizable state. 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 harms 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. Well 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 youre 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 crew in downtown houston and i got stuck in northwest houston because as the roads started to close because of the flooding, it basically turned into the island wherever youre at. Again, rescue crews they need to spend their time and resources saving those that are on rooftops or trapped inside their home. But today those rescues and evacuations, those are were going to see a lot of those today. We could potentially see hundreds of thousands of people along the rising brazos river seeking Higher Ground and perhaps even more impactful is that decision to do a controlled release of the two major dams that protect this entire houston area. Theyre essentially putting thousands at risk of immediate flooding in favor of possibly a dam failure that could threaten millions including downtown houston. There are no good choices here. Its a necessary but drastic measure taken at a drastic time. Well see more rescues throughout the day and that dam release and more rain on the way. In fact, more rain is on the way up to 26 inches expected before friday. For southeast texas. The Emergency Services are working day and night to provide help and to come to the rescue of thousands of those stranded residents. Nbcs sarah dallof is in dickinson, texas. How is it looking there so far . I can see all of the accumulated reporter well, good morning. A light rain falling here. Not unexpected but not good news for the residents. The National Weather service describes the storms and effects as beyond anything experienced and says up to 50 inches of rain may fall in some areas before its finally over. This morning, on the run from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey. Everything is destroyed. Reporter thousands of houston residents forced from their homes by record floodwaters. The water was up to here. I walked out and i was like screaming. Reporter as helicopters plucked people from their rooftops, officials put out a call for help. Those of you who have boats and high water vehicles that can be used in neighborhoods to help move people out of harms way we need your help. Reporter and texans responded. Strangers helping strangers to safety. The problems not just in houston. In dickinson, texas, this photo taken of residents at a nursing home, later rescued by helicopter. Houstons mayor defended his decision not to order an evacuation ahead of the storm. But i want to thank those thousands and thousands and in fact millions of houstonians who heeded the advice and did not get on the road. Reporter praising First Responders and ordinary citizens for their response in the face of catastrophe. And all around this city, scenes like the one behind me. Homes filled with water. We have seen cars abandoned along the highway. So far, the estimate for all the damage in the billions. Frances, fema says it will likely be on the ground here for years. Wow. A scene were seeing over and over again. Thank you. Coming into question, should mandatory evacuations have been issued for the fourth largest city . Nbcs julia bag is in houston. How are the conditions there right now . Reporter well, we have moved closer right here to show you some of the high water. If we can, i want to point out a Police Car Driving by right now. Because we have had reports of looting. Both speaking to police about them getting calls just in the Early Morning hours here about burglaries and also i just talked to man who was trying to make it across this bayou right here. You can hear the water, it has been higher. At one point it was flowing over this bridge right here. In fact, just in the last about 16 hours or so, people were using a boat to get across there. Thats how high the water was at one point. So its come down a little bit. But we can certainly see it come up again. Now, i just talked to a man who owns a beauty store and he was trying to make it across one of the very few crossing points here that was still flooded just in the last hour. And he tried to find another way because were at a point where he wasnt abled to pass and he was able to pass and he was trying to get to the beauty store because the alarm was going off. And then he got stuck trying to reach that. Very dangerous situation for everyone here. One thing after another. Julia, thank you. I want to turn back to phillip mena. And how is it looking out there, weather wise . You said the rain was on and off this morning so far. Reporter yeah. Those torrential downpours we saw all night that just pounded this area, they mercifully relented. At least here in northwest houston. But we do know theres still more rain to come and to get an idea though of how the rest of the region is looking, lets go to meteorologist bill karens for that. Good morning, bill. Good morning, phillip. The rain has been intermittent overnight thankfully and some of the heaviest stuff is headed to louisiana. Some of the rainfall totals is astounding. This is a huge geographical area in and and houston has picked up two feet and the highest total is 34. 32 inches. Almost three feet in bay town. Incredible stuff. Someone has a chance of hitting 50 inches before this is all said and done. Of course we have all the flash flood warnings and emergencies through the area, is the river gauges. Because were watching the river flow into the big rivers so we have numerous gauges headed to record flood stages. There was one spot, two reservoirs they started a controlled release. Because the dams are too high. They dont want them to overflow. So this is buffalo bay you goes through downtown houston. Because of the water release on the dams, its expected to hit a peak in between tuesday and wednesday at 73 feet. Thats six feet higher than what happened yesterday and you saw how bad yesterday looked in the region. Of course heres the radar, some rain redeveloping over the city of houston and e temperatures. This is as hot as it was in the middle of summer in some of the spots and the air conditioning bills still sky high. Frances, there happens to be another tropical threat for the carolinas too. We havent even talked about that yet. The hits keep coming, bill, thank you. Well, we have some other stories to tell you about this morning. Uber now has a new ceo. The companys board chose dara khosrowshahi, hes currently the chief executive of expedia. He replaces travis kalanick. At least 14 people were arrested after demonstrations broke out in berkeley, california. And japan now holds the title of Little League world series champions. They beat texas on sunday in the fifth inning with a score of 122. This is early today. In any light, transitions® lenses help protect from uv rays and harmful blue light. Both indoors. And out. They seamlessly adapt. So you can live the good light™. Find an eyecare professional at transitions. Com. Now, finance your glasses with no interest if paid in full within six months, and get up to 30 back when you combine select essilor® brand lenses. Visit transitions. Com for more details. Oh, its actually. Sfx short balloon squeal its ver. Sfx balloon squeals ok can we. Sfx balloon squeals goodbye oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasnt it . Try lactaid, its real milk, without that annoying lactose. Good right . Yeah. Lactaid. The milk that doesnt mess with you. Outer layer of your enamel tooth surface. White, the thing thats really important to dentists is to make sure that that enamel stays strong and resilient for a lifetime the more that we can strengthen and reharden that tooth surface, the whiter their patients teeth are going to be. Dentists are going to really want to recommend pronamel strong and bright. It helps to strengthen and reharden the enamel. It also has stain lifting action. Its going to give their patients the protection that they need and the whiter teeth that they want. vo more dper rollres for mom more doing chores for dad per roll more earning something you love per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty the quicker picker upper. Some terrifying moments in china when a tree fell on a man on a motorcycle during a typhoon. The man was pinned and Good Samaritans and police helped get him out. He escaped with only minor injuries. President trump is scheduled to visit texas tomorrow. He spent the weekend monitoring Hurricane Harvey from camp david. The first Natural Disaster of his presidency. Details for the visit are still being finalized as the administration tries to figure out how to keep money and resources flowing. Nbcs tracie potts joins us from the nations capital. What are officials saying regarding those resources . Reporter well, theyre aware of the fact, the flooding and the devastation and the rescues that they have to do more than get money and resources down there quickly. This is going to be a sustained effort. Its going to be a long time before texas recovers. Hurricane harvey is gone, but with texas expecting 2 1 2 feet of rain, flooding could become a long term crisis. We have to remind ourselves this event is not over. So we do not understand the full scale of the disaster thats there. Reporter this is President Trump on a Conference Call with his cabinet. Hell visit texas tomorrow. The administrations preparing for Recovery Efforts that could take years. But right now the focus is water rescues, people in shelters, 5,000 federal workers getting food and clean water where its needed most. What we do is make sure they have all the he sources they need to resources they need to make the decisions based on the individuals. Reporter officials are taking some heat for not evacuating before the storm and for President Trump pardoning joe arpaio. He faced a federal trial for detaining suspected illegal immigrants. This should be out of bounds to use that as a political wedge. Reporter arpaio had scheduled a News Conference for today and it was abruptly canceled. Arpaio wants to reschedule but he hasnt given a date though. We are watching attorney general Jeff Sessions in nashville, expected to announce theyre reversing an obama era policy that prevented the federal government from giving military style equipment and vehicles, tanks and rifles to local police departments. There was a lot of controversy about that after the protest in ferguson when some of the rifles turned to the protesters, but the Trump Administration says they help keep the streets safe. They help fight crime and so now they want that surplus military equipment going back to local police departments. Frances . Tracie potts, thank you. Just ahead, well go live to the Corpus Christi area to see theyre getting a break from harvey. Thats next. We run marathons. Companies. Solve problems. How . We eat. We eat almonds. Strawberries. Quinoa. And yeah. We eat chocolate. We eat in sweatpants. In skirts. We eat alone. And together. Women are strong. We eat, and we own it. Special k. With pantene 3 minute miracle daily conditioner. S. A super concentrated prov formula makes hair stronger in just 3 minutes. So its smoother every day. Because strong is beautiful. How dixie ultra plates . Roved with two pounds of steak. In each hand. Dixie ultra. Stress tested so you can stress less at dinner. For 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the 1 shave in america. Now get gillette quality at lower prices every day. Brought to you by 1200 workers in boston were proud of giving you our best. Gillette. The best a man can get. Rock port, texas, is under mandatory evacuation orders as Tropical Storm harvey is expected to return and nbcs catie beck is south of there in Corpus Christi this morning. I know the sun is going to come up, so how is it looking now . Reporter good morning, frances. We havent seen the sun in days and actually its just starting to rain here again in corpus which as you know largely got spared in the storm but is now sort of become a hub for resources. People seeking gas, people seeking supplies. Theres a lot of towns in between corpus and houston that are under major flood threat primarily because theyre on rivers. Right now, a lot of those rivers are very close to cresting. One town in particular, victoria, texas, where we spent a lot of time yesterday, nerves are on edge as the rain continues. Victoria has taken the brunt of this storm at every stage and their river the guadalupe, is rising very quickly. We spoke to a Business Owner yesterday who was in tears at a gas pump expressing his concern. He has six children, he own as a Small Business and the last time that river flooded in 1998 he lost everything. He is preparing to lose everything again. So potentially more rain on the way and still a lot of damage still left behind. Folks are bracing for another round, a lot of fear and anxiety especially for those towns that have river flooding concerns. Frances . No break for them just yet. Still ahead, the nfl player stepping up in a big way for victims of the houston floods. Plus, the most outrageous and inspiring moments from last nights Video Music Awards. Peop. Psoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. For 100 years, heritage and innovation have made gillette the 1 shave in america. Now get gillette quality at lower prices every day. Brought to you by 1200 workers in boston were proud of giving you our best. Gillette. The best a man can get. We believe in food thats anaturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. Tand, our adulte children are here. So, we save by using tide. Which means we use less. Three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. Those are moms. Anybody seen my pants . Nothing cleans better. Put those on dad its got to be tide. Its very tough to watch your city get hit by such a bad storm and not be there to help. Houstons a great city. Were going to come out strong and well need a lot of money to help the people rebuild. Thats jj watt announcing a fundraiser to assist with the Recovery Efforts in the houston area and asking fans to donate if they can. Hes contributing 100,000 and so far 300,000 has been awarded. And last night at the Vmas Ed Sheeran won for the first ever artist of the year award. And another big honoree was pink who was presented with this years video vanguard award. If her speech she opened up about being bullied for her looks something her 6yearold 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 dont 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 join the armed forces. And a descendant of robert e. Lee spoke out against racism before introducing the mother of Heather Heyer. She announced the Heather Heyer foundation. Host katy perry spoke those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Saying everyone at the awards sends their love and prayers. So going to continue to need those in that area too with more rain on the way. And were just were just about at that time where the storm is still ongoing. So you know usually a couple days after it ends the celebrities will try to get out there and do the fundraisers. Use their celebrity power to get the red cross, you know, the money they deserve and need for helping. We saw that with jj watt so hopefully that will continue. Maybe some specials to announce in the future. Some people are nowhere to go, shelters are scrambling to open and more rain is in the forecast and one way to help is through the american red cross. Their information is right there on the screen. Shawn evans its 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Transitions® lenses help protect from uv rays and harmful blue light. Both indoors. And out. They seamlessly adapt. So you can live the good light™. Find an eyecare professional at transitions. Com. Now, finance your glasses with no interest if paid in full within six months, and get up to 30 back when you combine select essilor® brand lenses. Visit transitions. Com for more details. So were continuing to watch the radar and we do think some rain is going to redevelop near houston, but the heaviest isnt focused on them them. They have a bit of a break in the last couple of hours. A slow drift, and then finally by thursday we get rid of this and the rain should be over with in the texas area in the 48 hours. There will be an additional possibility, this region has two feet of rain. One area has gotten 30 inches of rain and this map shows another 10 to 15 inches possible from houston to beaumont. I mean, thats just crazy, frances. So people have people gotten three feet and they have a chance for another foot and a half. Crazingly disturbing. The storm in texas can last for three more days but how about the impact that could last much longer . My coanchor phillip mena is in houston. These storms can mold houston and texas in the next several years and beyond. Reporter oh, yeah. Something thats going to be felt for weeks, months and years. Just we dont even know what its going to look like when it dries out. Theres a local tv station thats been here for years. They were flooded out and that building i dont know how they can rebuild on that bayou especially with what we have seen just in the last few days. But we talked about the rescues and evacuations that we are expecting today. But you know one question that needs to be answered still is how will all of the evacuees get to the shelters and to the safe spots . Most of the vital roadways in houston are impossible, theyre cut off. Thats why im speaking with you by phone and not in front of a camera right now. Im driving around in this massive supervisor and suv and i wouldnt dare take the flooded side streets and theyre impassab impassable. I saw people walking on the freeways, they lost their vehicle. So logistic issues are here. But the main thing is getting them ott of the immediate danger and rescuing those who are needing it, on rooftops or calling 911 for help. And this had go ahead. I wanted to ask you, yeah. Reporter i have been in texas my whole life. And i never have seen anything like this, frances, ever. Covering anything. As a life long texan and someone who worked there for three years, it speaks volumes when we look at the aerial views. So much of the communities are under water and knowing that the heart break is not going to be done. Thank you. Im frances rivera. This is early today. Thank you so much for being with us. I hope you join us again tomorrow. We are under a micro climate weather alert. A live look outside in palo alto. Were expecting dangerous heat of bay area standards. Thank you so much for joining us on this monday. Im laura garciacannon. And im marcus washington. Thank you for joining us, as laura said. A lot of people are talking about the heat were going to experience throughout the day. We felt it yesterday and it will be just as hot in some spots, hotter as we go into this afternoon. The dangerous conditions in the hills and the east bay, the trivalley as well as parts of the delta. 98 degrees to 112 degrees for all of these areas shaded