We have to get them to know their rescue is outside, can you come to your window . This is the population we are dealing with and thats what we are trying to do. The other side of the coin, john, we are going to need enormous resources. This is, the word catastrophic does not appropriately describe what we are facing. It is a one time stimlat historic climate weather moment in the history, i think, of the United States because of the way Hurricane Harvey has implementing itself. So, we get water, we stop. We get water, we stop. We dont know when its going to end. I dont know what the Housing Stock will be once we finish. We need federal funding as quickly as possible. You know we have to begin that work in september. I have talked to the democratic leadership. I expect the Republican Leadership to be bipartisan on the funding. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee, we will let you get back out to helping your constituents right now. We appreciate your time and wish you and the people in your area the best. Thanks so much. John, thank you so much for caring and showing. Thank you, again. All right. Cnn with much more coverage starting right now. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Welcome back, everyone. John berman here. Welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. A very difficult morning in texas. Now Tropical Storm hor arvey no nearly done, pounding the coast of texas. Louisiana in its sights. Louisiana now under a federal state of emergency. This is about two and a half days after harvey first made land fall in southwest texas and an enormous about of rain, 2 1 2 feet in some places and two more feet could fall in that area in the next day or two. The army core of engineers forced to release reservoirs. Does that mean more flooding for nearby neighborhoods . More people need to get it. About 30,000 texans will spend part of the week in shelters. That is a big number. So far, more than 1,000 flood victims have been rushed out of their homes by helicopters, row boats, anything and anyone that can get out and help. We are expecting an update from the mayor of houston very, very shortly. Meantime, we are covering it from all angles. Polo sandoval is watching the water rising. Polo . It is expected to reach record levels, too, john, in the next few hours. We are a short drive from houston, texas. All of harveys rain ends up in the rivers and streams. You mentioned the reservoirs and those rivers. This, itself, already approaching minor flood stage thach that is going to change quickly according to the latest river forecast. It will reach 57 feet, that is a record high. It will be broking, actually reached 54 feet last summer. The folks here in richmond, texas know the real flooding threat, as a result, this recommended evacuation is now a mandatory evacuation for the communities along the river. I spoke to one gentleman who lost his home last summer, he just repaired it, lost it again. He fears when the river reaches the record levels, he could lose it again. John . Polo, sandoval, it is still ranning in houston. Another two inches could fall, it might not sound like much, but sit a lot of rain in an area thats been pounded. We have breaking news, the first lady, Melania Trump will accompany the president when they come to texas tomorrow. They will not visit the hardest hit areas, but will talk to people who responded so far and help coordinate that effort. Meantime, i want to go to houston. Up to 30,000 evacuees may be sheltered by the time this is over. The Houston Convention center is one of those sights. Rosa, what are you seeing . Reporter we are hearing tense and traumatic stories of rescues happening with high water vehicles, by air, by vote, from people evacuated by First Responders. Im in the Convention Center and want to show you around. This is where people are arriving in high water vehicles and dropped off here. This is the area where Police Conduct a Security Check before anyone is allowed in the building. Once that happens, folks register back here. They register, they give their information to the American Red Cross and then they go beyond these doors into the vast Convention Center. Now, we dont go in there at the moment because this is now their home. Theres about 2500 evacuees who are here and we are respecting their privacy. A lot of these people, remember, they were in their pajamas when they were rescued. They were in their pajamas with their children in their pajamas when they were rescued. We have heard from multiple people in that Convention Center, some of them describing their rescue as apock lip tick. They said the water began rising quickly. Some took their children to the attic. Others saying they lifted their children above the high water to make sure that their children were safe and then walked for 15, 20 minutes to dry land to make sure they could get to First Responders. John, a lot of stories we are hearing here in the Convention Center really resinating with the heroic efforts of First Responders as well. First responders in both air and high water vehicles trying to get to all these people to take them to safety. John . Thank you so much, at the Houston Convention center where people are trying to find safety. We did speak with Sheila Jackson lee, a member of congress. She said there are neighborhoods that have not been reached yet. We dont know the full scope or the need of those that need to be rescued. Looking at live pictures all morning of boats out, rescue teams out, citizens out trying to help. Tropical storm harvey is hovering over texas and could bring feet of additional rain. Chad myers, at the Weather Center to give us a sense of what is coming. Chad . More rain to come as harvey moves offshore, gathers some strength and some moisture and comes back on shore near houston. Look at league city, southeast of houston proper. 34 inches. That is a yardstick worth of rain. Here is where its rained all 72 hours now worth of rainfall. Everywhere you see white, thats 20 inches of rain as predicted by the models days ago. It really came true. So many people have been tweeting saying how come people didnt leave . I think these numbers were truly unbelievable. Not that it wouldnt come true, but no one has seen anything like this before. Yes, its still raining. The heaviest rain has moved into louisiana. Some benefit for the water release they are going do from the reservoirs. They are not going to get additional rainfall today, then they will put some of that water to make sure the reservoirs dont overflow. Here comes the storm back to the gulf of mexico, not long enough for a hurricane, again. Long enough to get more moisture and more humidity and power from the gulf of mexico. Its still warm, 86 degrees there. We are still going to see the rainfall forecast especially north of the city, another foot or more. Here is what the buffalo buy ayu is going to do. 72 feet. It is well above the record stage and going to maybe 73 feet, five feet higher than it is right now. So, floods, houses that are getting wet already, maybe five feet deeper by tomorrow morning. A horrible thing to imagine, chad, what is being dealt with up and down the coast. Thank you so much. Youre welcome. Our next guest says his house flooded in hours. You have lived in houston for some time and have never seen anything like this . Thats correct. I actually survived ike and rita. This is unimaginable. It happened in a matter of hours. I cant explain how it feels because its unbelievable. I have never seen this before. To tell you the truth right now, we are trapped on our street. We cannot leave. We cannot move. Our streets have been flooded since it started raining. Its just a lot of chaos, actually. It is something i cannot explain to you. Its huge, man. Its actually something that i have never seen in my life. I cannot really find the words to tell you how it is affecting everybody. The whole city is paralyzed. We understand. The one thing you do need to know is the whole nation is with you. Ray, hang on, we are looking at live pictures of rescues, of boats going around in different cities. This is ft. Bend, texas. This is one of the areas affected f affected by the release of the reservoirs overflowing. You can see the floodwaters in ft. Bend and children being saved and elderly saved. They are state and local officials trying to help the best they can. Theres a lawn, no telling when the lawn will be covered. All these people are going to have to find somewhere to go in the near future as you see the water creeping up by the second. Rey, tell us where you were as the floodwaters were rising. What did you see and what did you do . Caller well, the first thing i started noticing is there was a lot of wind and the roof, from the roof, it started moving and so one of the bedrooms cracks were opening and when ever we heard that, we went to the room and thats when the water started coming in. I believe that was the foundation of the house because the rain is so, so heavy here it penetrated way underneath the date of birth a dirt and the soil. Thats when the water came to the room. We thought we have to move to higher ground. Rey, where are you right now . As you are hearing the forecast that more rain could be coming, do you feel safe . Caller thats actually a question i cannot answer right now, to tell the truth because, i mean, i dont think, we never thought about this, that it was going to be this big and not a lot of people actually thought it was going to get as bad. Right now, im actually still at my house with with water still inside my house. We are still here, man. You are still there. Any thoughts about how you will be living . What impact this will have in the days and weeks and frankly, months, maybe years ahead . Caller well, that, only god knows. Right now, the only time we have is if this continues, we have to leave. We just cant be here because as i am speaking to you, it is pouring outside and water still coming in and the thing is, we live a family of five and have small children. I dont think we want to start panicking and give them that, you know, that we are panicking and we dont know what to do. The thing is, we want to take it as calm as possible and i know things are bad outside but, you know, we want to maintain we just want to maintain our faith here and i know this is bad, but you know, things can get better. Rey, obviously living through, right now, the devastation from harvey, first hurricane now Tropical Storm with so much rain already having fallen. So much more to come. Rey, know that you are not alone. We are thinking of you. We are here for you. Whatever we can do, please let us know. Caller thank you. Thank you so much. Please send your prayers. Thank you everyone for doing everything. Honestly, we have seen the love that everybody is sending us. Thats great. We need as much help here, houston does need everyone. Its coming. It is coming. Rey, thank you so much. You are looking at live pictures, the rain falling so hard in and around texas still. So much need. So many people still need to be rescued. Sheila jackson lee, a member of congress, told us there are neighborhoods that have not been reached. We are expecting an update from the mayor of houston, along with police chief officials that will tell us the area of highest need, give us a new sense of the damage done, the lives and the property. Also, not far from houston, in rockport, texas, that town trying to recover after it took a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane. Nick valencia is there for us now. Nick . Reporter this is what a community does look like after it takes a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane. Im nick valencia in rockport texas. Hundreds of people are here. Theres no food, no power and no water and they need help. The first thing i thought is we would have died in here if it would have stayed. We left. We are alive. I just wish this wouldnt have happened. Tmobile announces zero down for all. Now, get the whole family the hottest smartphone brands like Samsung Galaxy for zero down. Plus, get 4 unlimited lines for 40 bucks a month, taxes and fees included. More reasons why tmobile is americas best unlimited network. Heri think i might burst. Totally immersed weekenders. Whatever kind of weekender you are, theres a hilton for you. Book your weekend break direct with hilton. Com and join the summer weekenders. If you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go . Expedia gives you the world in your hand, so you can see more of it. Expedia. All right, john berman here. We are getting new video in from our affiliate ktrk in houston. Look at this. Look at that truck. A semi just covered with water right now. You have to hope the driver of that got out in time and to safety in time. You are looking at the live pictures as boats travel through that city right now, passing on what were roads a few days ago, now are these, well, traffic water ways. Another suv there. Again, going out to drive in this situation, the worst thing you can do. We are expecting a News Conference from houston very, very shortly. The picture you can looking at right now from rockport, texas is the town that took a direct hit from harvey when it was a category 4 hurricane. It seems like a lifetime ago after all the rain that has fallen since then. Our nick valencia is live in rockport, getting a sense of the community. Nick . Reporter 60 of this community decided to stay while that hurricane touched down. This is a community that took a direct hit, deeply affected by Hurricane Harvey. I have been talking to residents all morning long. Joe, how are you doing . I mean, i didnt care to be on tv. I just want to tell all yall reporters and the people here, when you here, act like this is yalls home. Have the respect to report like this is yalls. This place is gone. Reporter what do you think . What do you guys need . Well, we need community. We need san antonio, dallas, other states, you know. I see all these little fundraisers for other places. We need it here. Reporter what made you want to stay for the storm . I didnt have much time. I just came from maryland on a trip. When i got in, i had enough time to board up. I knew if i didnt, i would lose it all. Reporter you said it was worse 120 miles per hour. I was outside about 8 00. I went outside. We had a guy with a flashlight. I had two families come to my house to seek shelter. I had a guy or somebody out there with flashlights, we did a quick in and out check to try to get them, i dont know if they went back to where they were. We couldnt find them. We got back in before it got really bad. It was probably 100mileanhour winds. Reporter your house is okay . When i say okay, you have to realize, its not okay, its a disaster zone. My house is still there, its still there, its not okay. Theres stuff destroyed everywhere. My building is okay, but just all i have to say is yall guys treat this like this is yaall place. I have seen the reporting of some of these guys, have the respect. Act like it is your place. Reporter did you think it was going to be this bad, joe . No. Nobody is god. God was on our side, for sure, because we are still here. But, nobody could imagine it could have done this. The weather guys, you cant predict this stuff, no matter how good you are, you cant predict it. I was hoping it wouldnt do this, but it went up. Reporter tell us about rockport. Tell us about this place, what it was before. Beautiful. A wonderful place. We gonna rebuild it. We need help. We need Financial Support from senators, representatives, leaders. We need it here quick. We dont need a katrina. The people here are ready. We are cutting wood. We are putting stuff together. Get the support here fast. Reporter we are getting the message out. You got here quick, you know. Dont worry about the Little Things like names of people that deceased and stuff. Thats personal stuff, leave that alone. Well get all that out. Get out there and show everybody whats going on. Reporter yes, sir. Get some support. Reporter we will. Lets get it back together, we can do it. Reporter we will report here as long as it takes. Thanks. They are coming up to us here, people like Aaron Mitchell in the last hour, people like joe. This community is hurting, but it is a resilient one, that is evident. John . He had an Important Message as you look at the live pictures, imagine if this was your home. Treat this, treat this event as if it were happening to you. You are looking out the window, seeing the streets around you inundated with water. This place is gone. This is an important moment for this country as it comes together to help the community there move past this. President trump will head to texas tomorrow. We just learned the first lady, Melania Trump will accompany him. 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Livestreat the airport. E sport binge dvrd shows while painting your toes. On demand laughs during long bubble baths. Tv on every screen is awesome. The Xfinity Stream app. All your tv at home. The most on demand your entire dvr. Top networks. And live sports on the go. Included with xfinity tv. Xfinity, the future of awesome. Live pictures right now on your left and right from houston, texas. On the left, that is where we are expecting to hear any minute from the mayor of houston, Sylvester Turner. He is going to give an update on his city, which is devastated by the hurricane, then Tropical Storm harvey. The rain is stall falling. Frankly, there should be no vehicles on the roads right now. Only boats should be on the roadways, whats covered roadways. Well get an update from the mayor any minute. The president of the United States and Melania Trump headed to texas tomorrow. They are not going to houston but they will meet with state and local officials and coordinate the disaster response. Joe johns is at the white house with the latest. Joe . Reporter it was the Vice President who confirmed in an interview that Melania Trump, the first lady, will accompany her husband on the trip to texas. They are not likely to go to the heart of the disaster zone, more likely to go to san antonio or austin, texas. The reason being, the president is concerned whenever he travels, he has contingent of Public Safety personnel who have to assist him and he doesnt want to destrakt from the ongoing response effort. The administration trying to show a bit of sensitivity to the situation on the ground in texas right now. As far as the president s day goes today, he is already signed an order declaring an emergency in the state of louisiana, also hit by this storm that allows fema, the federal Emergency Management agency to step in. The president also expected to sign another order today which, essentially would step back the, increase, i should say, the ability of local Police Departments to use surplus military equipment. This would roll back an obama era rule that was put in place after the controversy surrounding militarization of Police Departments after the ferguson riots. Today, we are expected to see the president in a News Conference with the president of finland, very likely to get questions there about the federal response to the situation in texas. This, of course, is a response that is going to go on for months, perhaps years and is the very first challenge of its type that this administration, of course, has faced. John . Joe johns at the white house for us. Thanks so much. Joining us is Amber Phillips from the fix, Ron Brownstein and salina, a cnn contributor. We are waiting to hear from the houston mayor. We may have to cut out and go to that the minute he starts speaking. Salina, any president knows it is in a fish bowl, watched carefully to how it responds to Natural Disasters. We have seen it before, we are seeing it now. How would you assess what the president and his team are doing . To date, so far, i think they have done a very good job in terms of communication, reminding people to stay safe, offering support and, you know, to the people that are at risk in this situation, hes freed up the money in texas. Immediately, as soon as it hit the ground, but he freed up money in louisiana. Very important. Hes staying ahead of the game. I think that the president has the benefit of learning from the mistakes that were made in katrina and also the mistakes made with the bp oil spill in terms of not only how you handle it visually, but in freeing up the money. The most important thing is giving the local resources all the money available so they can continue the rescue and then recovery efforts. Then to free up the money so that people can start to begin to rebuild. Ron brown stroostein, that hn the response thursday, friday, saturday from the president. Again, we will hear it today. Theres also been hard core politics going on in those days, not completely connected to the hurricane. Friday night, as the storm was hitting, we learned President Trump pardoned sheriff joe arpaio, an extremely controversial move, he was convicted for contempt of force for certain rules on immigrants though the court told him not to. You think this was a very important move, a signal from the president , a clear decision about where hes headed and whom hes addressing as president . Absolutely. I think the arpaio pardon is kind of a culminating moment that we have seen since the fall of the Health Care Bill when the president suffered erosion among core supporters and blue collar whites. Since that moment, we have seen a significant turn to the right on cultural and social issues starting with the ban on transgender soldiers, proposing to cut illegal immigration in half, cutting down on sanctuary cities and the pardon of arpaio, for many is what connor was to the 20th century immigration of africanamericans into american society. I think this is an important moment. By the way, on the flooding, there are near term and long term politics. Near term is dealing with the immediate crisis and getting people out of harms way. There are issues around the corner, how we are going to pay for this and whether the republicans, in the aftermath of sandy, including senators who would not Fund Reconstruction unless it was offset by cuts elsewhere. Where the republicans hold to that . Perhaps we are going to ask once in a lifetime event in katrina, once in a lifetime in sandy, once in a lifetime here. Do we need to have that debate more directly than we have been doing so . We may have other thoughts on nature. They are questions asked as lives are being saved at this very moment in and around houston. If i can, i want to play sound from you over the weekend. We are waiting for the mayor, Sylvester Turner to brief us on houston. Rex tillerson was on the sunday shows and asked about the white house the response the president had and the american spirit overall. His response was jarring. Listen to this. I dont believe anyone doubts the american peoples values or the commitment of the American Government or the governments agencies to advancing those values and defending those values . And the president s values . The president speaks for himself, chris. Are you separating yourself from that, sir . I have made my own comments as to our values in a speech i gave to the state department this past week. Amber, the secretary of state seemingly suggesting that the president s values arent necessarily American Values and restaurant necessarily his values. You say jarring . I say jaw dropping. Secretary of state, Rex Tillerson was not only separating himself from the president in that interview he was saying america and our government values essentially arent the same at the president. Also this weekend, a facebook video from secretary of defense jim mattis popped up of him telling u. S. Troops abroad. We are not sure where, he was abroad last week saying lets hold the line until our country learns to respect people. You have some of trumps top cabinet officials taking a giant step back from the president in the wake of charlottesville and it raises the question of whether, if they are going to speak out publicly, they are considering leaving his administration. Amber, while i have you, your paper has a report that came out overnight that under different circumstances might be getting more attention and have to do with the Trump Corporation desire and plans, discussions to build on property in moscow while he was running for president. This was news. Yeah. This happened in late 2015, the deal fell through according to the report in early 2016. I think this is just as significant as all the other russia ties from a political perspective we are learning the Trump Administration or excuse me, the Trump Campaign had during the campaign itself. The reason being that as u. S. Security officials in 2016 were learning that russia wanted to ill filtrate the election, they were terrified to learn russian officials were reaching out to the Trump Campaign and the Trump Campaign was Holding Meetings with them. Now you have this extra layer that trumps own business could make a ton of money building a version of trump tower in moscow. That deal fell through. We have no idea if its due to the president s praise to Vladimir Putin and vice versa, but raises a question and i guarantee you Robert Muellers team is looking at this. The time frame was until january, 2016. Apparently the deal fell through by the time of the first primary. Thank you so much. The president headed to texas tomorrow. Well be watching to see his reaction to the tragedy unfolding there. We are waiting to hear from the houston mayor right now, Sylvester Turner, a News Conference scheduled any minute now. We will get a sense of the latest on the ground as that state is dealing with pure devastation. Stay with us. You do all this research on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. woman theres a moment of truth. Etes, and now with victoza®, a better moment of proof. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill, which didnt get me to my goal. 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Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. The most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Nows the time for a better moment of proof. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Live pictures right now from houston on the left. We are expecting a News Conference any minute now from the mayor of houston to give us the latest of whats going on on the right. You can see the rescue effort that is have been under way for days now to try to help the people stranded in their homes as the floodwaters continue to rise in that city. A remarkable effort from state and local officials to help as many people as possible and sometimes not officials at all, but people out there just trying to help. This was ed yesterday, here on cnn. Reporter we are about to leave this neighborhood. A woman flagged us down that her elderly parents were stuck in the home. Im going to put the mike down to help them get in the boat and get them out of here. Im going to put the microphone down while we help them get into the boat. Ed helping the elderly man and his wife in the boat. Ed was traveling with volunteers, people just trying to help. Joining us now is a man driving the boat. He helped the man to safety and so many more. Thank you so much not just for joining us, but thank you for everything you are doing. Tell us about this rescue. Caller okay. First of all, its my pleasure. I wasnt the only person out there, either. There was a fleet of volunteer that is showed up yesterday. But, that particular couple and daughter we rescued, we were patrolling a neighborhood i had been through five times already. It just so happened i heard a voice and i looked and they were up to their neck in water, standing in the doorway, saying can we get a ride out . We managed to pull them in the boat and back to safety. Are you still seeing people out there who need to be rescued as you travel around in your boat . Right now, actually back home in lake jackson, we are preparing for some floods that we are going to be seeing in the next couple days, probably later tonight and tomorrow, we are going to see a lot of our area flooding. I havent made it back up to dickinson this morning. From what i could tell yesterday, there were still people out there, but the volunteer efforts were tremendous. I mean, it was awesome. They got hundreds of boats out there looking for people. They called, i want to say most everyone, but im not going to say that got everyone. Im sure there are a few stuck in their homes. I hope they will continue to search for them. You know, it was awesome, i can tell you that from watching it not just yesterday, but today play out again and again. Truly an unbelievable thing you did. What made you go out to help . Caller to be honest, my little brother, nathan, i was working with friends yesterday morning, helping to move stuff for the floods here. My brother said hey, Galveston County posted they need all available boats to come help. After that, it was history. We got in the truck and started driving and got up there and launched on the side of the interstate and went to work. How many how many families do you figure, how many people do you figure you connected with yesterday . Caller oh, man. We personally pulled out, i believe four families about 15 or 16 people, then several of their pets, half a does zen pets or so. But, some of the people i was speaking with who already made it back to the interstate, to dry ground, high ground, you know, it was heart breaking and seeing some of those homes where theres literally just their personal belongings floating down the middle of the street and cars floating in their garages and stuff like that. It was traumatizing. Four families in dickinson and around there that owe ewe their lives, which is a wonderful thing. A wonderful thing you did and are doing. We thank you for your efforts. I appreciate you being with us. Caller not a problem. I hope if some day im in the same situation someone will be there for you. You have good karma. Caller thank you. One of the people trying to help. City and state and local officials helping. Neighbors helping neighbors. Government forces on the scene as well. There is so much need. We are waiting to hear from the houston mayor to get the latest from the situation on the ground. Stay with cnn special live coverage and the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. At whole foods market, we believe in food thats naturally 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. If you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go . Expedia. All right. This is houston mayor, Sylvester Turner right now, getting ready to speak joined by the police chief of houston as well. Lets listen in. There are several things i want to address this morning in terms of bringing everyone up to date. I first want to start off by talking about the rescues because thats the number one priority, getting to the people in the city of houston who may remain in their homes and we want to get to them today. Thats thats our goal to try to reach everyone today and get them out of stressful situations. I just want to go directly to it this morning. I know everybody is doing a lot of things. This is going to be a busy day. Chief, you want to start and give us a report . Yes. Thank you, mayor. Good morning, everybody. The Houston Fire Department today, the last 24 hours, we have responded to 5500 calls for service. 4,000 have been water related incidents. The Houston Fire Department in cooperation with the Police Department and our partners in this effort have done 290 water rescues since midnight last night. Its a dangerous situation out there. We are expecting more rain. We are expecting to really, the demand for our services is going to increase. We have pending calls we are going to try to get to. We have resources on scene now, state and federal resources. We have Texas Task Force one and fema on board. We have 350 additional personnel and we are expecting another 350 in the next 2448 hours, which will really assist our ability and change our response profile to be able to meet the demand. We are asking the public, again, the roads are dangerous. Stay out of the roads if you dont need to be out driving or walking around. Its difficult to assess the road conditions. Just a little bit of water covering the roads, we dont know what impact the rain has had. Washing away the roads causes hazards. Please, if you dont need to be on the road, we recommend you stay indoors, that is the safest thing to do. Call 911 if you need assistance, okay . 311 is another if you cant get through. We recommend when you call 911, stay on the line. Dont hang up. That just creates more calls, it creates more work because our dispatchers are calling back these numbers. If you call 911, stay on the line and we will address your issue. Thanks. So, from midnight to where we are today, the Fire Department rescued 290. We fully recognize there are many other people out there in distress situations and we intend to get to every one of them. Going to have someone specifically talk about 911 but i want to focus on the rescue mission. Chief . Thank you, mayor. The houston Police Department remains in posture with all officers working 12hour shifts. We have handled 56,000 calls since we began at 6 00 p. M. On friday. To date, we have completed the rescue of 2,000 houstonians and members of the community. As of this moment, as of this press conference, we have approximately 185 critical rescue requests that are still pending. Our goal today, with our partners at the Fire Department and our other partners coming in from around the state and country is to complete the rescues of all Critical Missions today. And, again, because of the weather and the lighting conditions, we cannot use our boats at night. Most of the boats dont have light. The last thing i want to mention in terms of the Public Safety emergency is the situation we have had four people that tried to loot and they arrested them. After these events, fre queeque once the Natural Disaster is going on, folks move in from other states and regions to loot and create problems. I can tell you, we have every one of our officers deployed and Police Officers throughout the state of texas on their way to augment our police force. We will have plenty of resources. One thing to be sure, if you commit a criminal offense or take advantage of citizens that have been victimized enough with mother nature, you will be arrested. Lastly, many, many cars have been towed throughout the city. If you want to know where your car is at, even though i can tell you, it should not be your priority to drive and assess your car, the weather emergency continues. You can find out if its actually been towed at findmytowedcar. Findmytowedcar. Com or call 7133088580. 7133088580. Lastly, i just want to, on behalf of all of us, express our, just the way we feel about the community. A lot of people are frustrated. They dont understand why when we say we sent trucks and we cant get to you. They can only go so far in moving water. Hopefully today well get to the rest of you. Please, dont give up on us. None of us are going to give up. Thats the goal for the day, mayor. Thank you. The goal is rescue. Thats the major focus for the day. Thats my directive, we want to focus on getting people where they are and getting them out of their homes or whatever their stressful situation may be. In that regard, more assets we are working with today than we had yesterday and more assets are on the way. Some are being slowed down because the streets are impassable. At the same time, there are a lot of systems coming from outside of the city. I want to thank mayor out of boston. Hes sending down high water rescue equipment, vehicles and i thank him for that. Hes providing clothes and other things that are needed. People going to shelters, i thank him for that and additional assistance. In terms of reaching us, 911, i know there have been a number of observations made about 911. Im going to tell you where we are. Its placed on high priority. When people call, they can reach us and we need to respond to them. Joe . Thank you. As of 9 00 this morning, we received 75,000 called and we have gotten our numbers down to ten, meaning those are the calls that are pending that we have. Thats a huge difference from yesterday. About 120 to 250 down to 1015 on the queue today. Yes, we are receiving a tremendous amount of calls, this is an extreme emergency. But we are encouraging citizens to call. When they do call 911, stay on the line. Do not hang up because that just expands our system, which overloads it. It puts out the whole