Welcome to a special edition of the cbs evening news. Im Norah Odonnell in houston where harvey has unleashed historic amounts of rain and devastating flood. Behind me is the Consensual Center which is serving as the largest evacuation shelter in downtown houston. Cbs news has learned there are now nearly 5,000 people inside here tonight. That is almost full capacity. Early in this disaster, and there are still so many days of catastrophic flooding ahead. We have also seen dramatic rescues, all day long in flooded neighborhoods, some by civilians. Mason im Anthony Mason in new york. Harvey barreled ashore friday night as a category four hurricane. Since then 40 inches of rain have fallen in dayton, texas. Now a Tropical Storm harvey is forecast to drop another ten to 20 inches by friday. The official death toll is two, but authorities fear that will rise dramatically. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has mobilized the states entire National Guard, 12,000 strong to help in the rescue and recovery. President trump has declared states of emergency in texas and louisiana, making them eligible for federal disaster relief. He visits the region tomorrow. Before and after pictures tell the grim story of harveys wrath. Odonnell it is incredibly grim, anthony. And we should note too that the federal Emergency Management agency says they expect to be working here on the ground in houston for years to come. Mark strassman joins me now. You have seen some of these rescues. Reporter we have, and on so many levels, the deluge of rain is matched by a deluge of need in the flood zone. Fema estimates 30,000 evacuees would need shelter within a couple of days. More of houstons flood survivors left rooftops in a basket today. 20 coast guard helicopters have plucked more than 300 Harvey Victims to safety. But officials admit there arent enough helicopters, boats or high water vehicles to reach everyone. Emergency systems were overwhelmed. By this morning 75,000 people had called 911 desperate for help. I know yesterday we pulled 76 people to dry land. Reporter 76 people. 76 people, one day. Reporter in one day. Mike hawthorne, a captain with the Houston Fire Department said volunteers with boats and trucks have been lifesavers. The need is overwhelming. The government has resources but we dont have enough. Reporter many victims are tweeting for help in real time. Civilian rescuers are checking social media sites for locations of people in distress. These evacuees arrived at a houston shelter by dump truck. Battered by the elements, their future uncertain but grateful to get out alive. Were happy because were up to the waist in water. Reporter more than 4500 crowded people are in houston shelter Downtown Convention center. Many like kanesha brown, a mother of two, wish they had been given more warning. Do you wish they had given an order to evacuate . I do. We called all the numbers. We couldnt get nobody to come get us. Reporter harvey exploded from a Tropical Storm to a category three hurricane in 30 hours. Officials believe an Evacuation Order might have created a different disaster, highways of trapped evacuees fully exposed to the storms fury. Houston mayor turner. Its difficult to evacuate 6. 5 million people. Unless you are providing fuel and all those other things. Reporter police are investigating reports a family of six drowned yesterday when their van overturned trying to escape through rising waters. We spoke with a Family Member who didnt want to give his name. They jumped out, the National Guard ran over and tried to open the door, couldnt get the doors open, all my nieces drowned. Reporter were you close to your nieces and nephews . Yes, they were my babies. Reporter Something Else to consider in what is already a catastrophe, flooding may not crest until thursday. Odonnell and that is a big fear that comes in the days ahead, mark strassman, thank you so much. Private citizens have heeded the call to use their boats for rescues and Demarco Morgan has been reporting in dickinson, texas. Reporter since the flooding began we have seen many instances of people taking out their own boats to rescue others who were stranded. We were in our garage, and yelling and we flagged him down and he rescued us. Reporter thank god for strangers. Yes. Reporter First Responders in houston have received thousands of calls for help. This afternoon texas Governor Greg Abbott announced hes activating the entire texas National Guard. They are doing their best but there are so many still in need. Too much for the First Responders. They need help. Reporter people have used whatever flotation device they have, even putting strangers on their backs and wading through kneedeep water to help. Many have used their fishing boats this weekend for another purpose. This is our savior. Well give it everything weve got. And we wont stop. Reporter joshua is part of the cajun navy, a flotilla of volunteers from louisiana. He traveled more than 200 miles to help the hundreds of residents stranded in dickinson, a small town east of houston. Louisiana is in a bind, we will help them out as much as we can. Reporter the National Weather service is calling this unprecedented, saying the impacts unknown and beyond anything experienced but some are willing to risk it all. Were here for a purpose and by the grace of god well do what we can. Reporter the waters here in the town of dickinson have started to recede but it is causing a problem for boat owners. A mandatory evacuation is now in place for the residents here. As the rescues continue. Odonnell all right, Demarco Morgan in dickinson, thank you. Overnight the army corps of engineers began releasing water from two reservoirs to prevent additional flooding right here in downtown houston. But that ended up sending flood waters pouring into some neighborhoods. David begnaud is in one of them, david. Reporter the city says it had to be done. And the people here knew it was coming. On saturday there was flooding in this neighborhood. But it wasnt in homes. This morning when they released changer. Sleep wood subdivision in west houston has become an emergency evacuation zone. Water is rushing in from water is rushing in from the nearby bayou and reservoir, people who refuse to leave are now forced to call for help. How long have you been waiting to get out . 13 hours. About 13 hours. Hey, you need a ride. Yeah. Were coming. Reporter and theyre getting it from civilian samaritans. Where are you . Right here. Okay. Come downstairs. Reporter we were on a boat with truett allen when a woman yelled help from her second story window. Open the door, well help you. Hello, how are you . Fine, thank you. Reporter she walked out of her home with three feet of water inside of it. Down the street was Laura Blinten. The water was up to a foot in her house. And i kept telling people that came by and i said no it is going to be reporter the urgency at the of the moment is palpable. People on their roof, signs saying help, and children whose faces are unforgettable. The baby in the arms of her mother who is in the arms of a rescuer. The young boy seemingly alone, if not for his stuffed animal. The two children carried away by Harris County deputy rick johnson. No one around here seems angry. Are you able to walk . Reporter just grateful, like Laura Blinten who left behind her husbands ashes saving her own life on her birthday. Do you regret not leaving sooner . Yes, i should have. Reporter as the rain gets heavier, the coast guard just left, the rescuers are gone but there is one woman in the corner of this neighborhood where the water is rushing in, who was determined to stay behind. I asked her why. And she didnt want to say. She knows that the water is rising and 911 is overwhelmed with calls for help. But she said, im not leaving, norah. Odonnell that is a decision that some make. David begnaud, thank you so much. Scott padgett is chief meteorologist at ktvt, our tv station in dallas, fort worth. What have you learned . Reporter that harvey has gained strength and the unfortunate thing is that harvey is out over the open water right now drifting to the east southeast at three Miles Per Hour and will be out over the open water through the night, through the morning and even through tuesday afternoon, even closer towards wednesday morning. By wednesday afternoon, then making another landfall right near probably parts of beaumont and pushing inland as a Tropical Storm and thursday and friday into the Mississippi River valley and downgrading to a tropical low. But a lot of rain is falling in parts of houston, galveston and that spreads into southwest louisiana and even to near new orleans. I sampled the rainfall rates, anywhere from half of an inch to inch half of rain per hour adding more rain on top of the 72 hour storm totals, we are going to continue to see another possibly 15 inches in houston by the time we go to wednesday, thursday, and norah, we will continue to see these totals go up a bit more as harvey makes another landfall. Odonnell incredibly worrisome, scott, thank you so much. We should note that here in houston shelters like the one behind me are quickly filling up so some evacuees have been bussed to san antonio, about three hours away, Mireya Villarreal is there. Good evening. Reporter well, good evening. San antonio has been taking in evacuees for five days. 1,100 people coming here for some sort of shelter. And as we speak buses stand staged, ready to head to houston when it is safe to pick up more people and bring them back here to the alamo city. School buses normally filled with students are now filled with families forced out by hurricane harvey. Nicholas tyre and Shelby Burley evacuated rockport with their two small children. We dont have nowhere for them to go. We dont know what were going to do. We dont have any other resources outside than what were getting here. Reporter most of these shelters were unequipped for children. Families made do with makeshift cribs made out of cardboard boxes before a nonprofit arrived with real cribs. At night we can sleep a little better knowing they not going to fall off and hurt their head or get hurt in any other way. Reporter new arrivals are registered and issued identification tags to keep Families Together while officials search for empty beds in shelters. So far four are open and more are needed as san antonio is preparing for more than 10,000 victims. There are pets, seniors, people in hospitals, the levels of impact are huge. Reporter michael is in charge of san antonios food bank. On top of taking in and getting donations their crews are preparing 4,000 hot meals and 2,000 emergency food boxes every day. Were the largest food bank near them so we are already mobilizing forces in texas to be able to come to their rescue and support. Were going to mobilize the rest of texas to come to their aid. Reporter houstons food bank is closed because of the flooding. So major donations are being diverted here to san antonio. As of right now we know this will continue on for at least a week until things hopefully clear up, norah . Odonnell all right, Mireya Villarreal, thank you. Weve got much more coming up including our visit to the u. S. Coast guard command center. A dangerous massive coordination effort that is underway tonight. Now lets turn it back to Anthony Mason in new york. Anthony . Mason thanks, norah. President trump will fly to the disaster zone tomorrow. And possibly again next weekend. No decision has been announced on which towns the president will visit. Today he insisted congress will act swiftly to approve a multibillion dollar recovery package for texas. Coming up next on this expanded edition of the cbs evening news, new questions tonight about mr. Trumps business dealings in russia. And later, a new Missile Launch by north korea. Korea. Most allergy pills only block one. And 6 is greater than one. Rethink your allergy relief. Flonase sensimist. Ethats the height ofs mount everest. Because each day she chooses to take the stairs. At work, at home. Even on the escalator. That can be hard on her lower body, so now she does it with dr. 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Mason an Important New Development tonight in the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. Cbs news has confirmed that an attorney for President Trumps real estate empire reached out to a top aide of president Vladimir Putin during the campaign. As Major Garrett reports, the exchange appears to directly tie mr. Trumps business inner circle to the kremlin. Reporter in january 2016 justice primary season was heating up, Michael Cohen a long time attorney for the Trump Organization emailed demitry peskov, chief spokesman for russian president Vladimir Putin. Cohen sought the kremlins help with a proposed trump tower project in moscow. Cohen wrote i respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that i might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. It does not appear peskov responded. Today, cohen said he discussed the deal with mr. Trump three times and that mr. Trump signed a letter of intent in october 2015. By that time, candidate trump had surged to the top of the republican polls. And i will get along with putin. Reporter cohen also traded emails with felix sater, a business associate involved in the trump tower moscow project. Sater claimed to have deep ties inside the kremlin. Our boy can become president of the u. S. A. And we can engineer it, mr. Sater wrote. I will get all of putins team to buy in on this, i will manage this process. In a statement today, cohen described trump tower moscow as a building proposal that did not succeed and nothing more. The project was scrapped shortly after cohen emailed peskov, the kremlin spokesman. The campaign is on its way to victory. Reporter cohen did not take a formal role in mr. Trumps campaign but regularly appeared on television to praise the candidate. Negotiations over trump tower moscow occurred between september 2015 and january 2016. A period during which mr. Trump praised putin and russia. Think of putin, pretty tough cookie, right . If putin likes me and he thinks i am a good smart person which i hope he believes that i am. Actually hes right, i am brilliant, you know that. Reporter six months later, the president denied having business dealings in russia. I have nothing to do with russia. I have nothing to do with russia. And even for anything reporter the white house had no comment on the revelations when asked today if he considered russia a security threat, President Trump declined, saying only many countries fall into that category. He added he hopes some day to have good relations with moscow. Anthony. Mason Major Garrett at the white house, thanks. Still ahead, more from houston and north korea flexes its muscle again. Muscle again. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. 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Our care program can save you 20 or more on your monthly bill. It just takes a few minutes to apply and youll see the savings on your next bill. When having a little extra can mean a lot. Turn to care. Go to pge. Com care and enroll today. Mason north korea flexed its muscle again today by launching a missile that flew right over japan. Cbss david martin is at the pentagon tonight with more, david . Reporter anthony, the pentagon confirms that while this missile flew over japan, it did not fly far enough to be a threat to the united states. According to initial reports it broke into pieces and fell into water several hundred miles east of japan. But this represents a major escalation in tensions over north koreas Missile Program since all the other launches in recent years have been fired at a high enough angle that they would always come down in the sea of japan short of japanese territory. This time the japanese government had to warn civilians living in northern japan to take shelter and a japanese Government Official called it an unprecedented grave threat. Anthony . Mason david martin at the pentagon, thank you, david. In a moment Norah Odonnell will be back with a look at the coast guards role in the rescues. Rescues. Ement. Just start as early as you can. Its going to pay off in the future. If we all start saving a little more today, well all be better prepared tomorrow. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. 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Dr. Scholls. Born to move. Ah, my poor mouth breather. Allergies . Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Enough. Take that. A breathe right nasal strip of course. Imagine just put one on and pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than allergy medicine alone. So you can breathe, and sleep. Better than a catnap. Shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. Breathe right. Odonnell the u. S. Coast guard is playing a major role in search and rescue operations. 550 guard members have flown in from all over the country and more are on the way. 15 to 20 aircraft are up in the air at any given time. And today we visited the Coast Guard Air station and spoke with commander joe spitler. Where do they all come from . They came from all over the nations, from cape cod down to miami, over to san diego and back up to traverse city. Almost every coast guard unit has added helicopters to our fleet. Odonnell we have been having a tough time driving in this. I dont know how your pilots are flying in this. The weather is very bad, the bands come through, the visibility goes to near zero. The winds are gusting 30 to 40 miles an hour but we train for this. We train for this environment and this is what the coast guard is far. Odonnell how dire is the situation . Right now its significant. We are triaging the emergencies, the medical emergencies, the kids, the elderly. Were doing our best to get everybody we can. And there are just so many people. Odonnell are you worried about meeting the need . The coast guard will meet the need. We will be here until its complete and will continue to put assets on scene. Odonnell it really was remarkable to be inside the hangar with these pilots and rescue swimmers, there is a rescue swimmer on every single one of these helicopters. I dont think any other news outlet has that access to talk to the coast guard there. They were busy, working around the clock. We will have more inside and talking to many of those that are on the front lines of this rescue effort, that is more tomorrow on cbs this morning. Lets now go back to Anthony Mason in new york. Mason what an amazing job. Thanks, norah. Some stations will be leaving us but for most this expanded edition of the cbs evening news will continue in a moment. Im Anthony Mason in new york. Well see you soon. Captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org captioning sponsored by cbs captioning sponsored by cbs it is the worst i have ever seen it. We almost died. Its up to here. My house is gone. All my kids stuff is gone. 45 minutes, the water was just gushing in. His medicine got wet. He already had three seizures. How are you doing, maam . This is the cbs evening news. Mason and welcome back to this expanded edition of the cbs evening news, as we continue our coverage of harveys wrath. Im Anthony Mason in new york. Odonnell and im Norah Odonnell in houston which has been hit by unprecedented amount of rain