Is that correct . I heard the sheriff say that and the chief say that. I dont want to necessarily compare the intensity of the smoke of this in spanish, the sheriff said theres no more dangerous than a barbecue. I heard the comment but i dont want to make any comparisons on the smoke coming from our fire gl so we cant be sure its just a campfire smoke . What i can tell you is that from the toxicity of the smoke will certainly cause an irritation to your eyes, irritation to your lungs if you breathe it. Just like any smoke. We encourage people to avoid getting exposed to that. Can you go over what the status of the plant is right now . Give us an update right now. The plant continues to be shut down. One of these nine containers have experienced degradation of the material inside the container. The water levels in the plant are starting to recede slightly and thats the current state of the plant as we know it. No one is in danger based on the fire that we expect. Is it possible for your teams to access the plant with a boat right now . We are not intending to go into the site based on the current state as we understand it of the product in these containers. When will you be able to go into the plant again . Certainly we wont until all the floodwaters have receded. Thats the first step. Certainly the product that we believe is potentially decomposing, were not going to put anyone in harms way to try to restore refrigeration because we dont know the state of the product in the containers. We are working on that strategy now. My expectation is thats what the plan will be. [ inaudible question ] if the products havent dedpraded as long as they could be kept cold the integrity of that material could be kept. They just degrade on their own . Thats right. Once they exceed a certain temperature they begin to decompose and that decompression process generates the heat and then causes the fire. Can you talk about how they burn and give us a worst case scenario, if there is an explosion, as we talked about earlier . Whats the worst case with this fire . All that would be speculation in terms of how big a fire could be. We do know that the Sheriffs Department did send over some video of what was happening, the smoke plume, we understand, was 30 to 40 feet in the air. And they could see visible flames out of the container. Is that the extent of what could happen . We just couldnt predict. I dont know the temperatures at which it burns. Guys, do you know . We could try to get that information for you. Richard, you talked about shutting the plant down on friday. Did you all consider flooding and the placement of backup generators and how often did you test the nitrogen . How often did we test the nitrogen backup system . Im not sure how frequently we are testing that equipment but it certainly is maintained, one of the layers of production to provide refrigeration to the cold products we need to store. The beginning of your question is certainly we didnt anticipate having six feet of water in our plant. This is the issue thats led to the incident that were experiencing now. Pardon . Why were people sent home from the rescue center for those People Living within 1. 5 miles and then evacuated the second time . I cant comment on that. Obviously the Fire Marshals Office imposed the 1 1 2mile evacuation zone. We respected that and encourage all the residents who live inside that zone to respect that zone. For their own safety. If they returned back to their homes, they shouldnt have done that. If they could still evacuate safely we would encourage them to do that. What is the probability that the explosion or fires could. [ inaudible ] other chemicals on site . We dont anticipate any other damage to property on site. Do you think you needed additional layers of backup power . You said the chemicals could burn and release smoke. Is there any potential for them not to burn and be released into the floodwaters . If so [ inaudible ] no. We anticipate that the product also decompose once they start to warm up and then will burn. Should you have had additional layers of power backup . We had generators, backup generators, backup backup generators. Im not sure what else we could have done to provide additional layers of security to provide power to the site. Did the flood catch you off guard . If you have no one on site how accurately can you malaysia the situation and know that the situation isnt more worse than you [ inaudible ] inside these containers are remote telemetry that we can monitor the temperatures inside the container. Thats how we know how things are progressing with regard to should we anticipate something to happen soon. That telemetry was compromised. Its not 100 certain what the conditions are in the containers. Were not going to put anybody in harms way. We just dont know. You dont have any idea of how long the fire will continue . We do not, no. We anticipate that certainly weve had the first incident we dont know the answer to that. These thingses are toxic or youre not sure . Theyre noctxious for sure. You cant say that the particles themselves are n nontoxic . Hold on. Answer the question. Nontoxic or can you not say that . Its noxious. Youre not able to say that any of this is nontoxic, correct . I want to make sure im correct. Organic peroxides are yeah, as the sheriff said, they are chemical materials used to initiate other chemical production for the purpose of making plastics. Toxicity is a so you cant say it . Youre not going to say that theyre nontoxic, correct . Are you going to say theyre nontoxic or not . Yes or no . Its a pretty important i mean, the smoke is noxious. Its toxicity is a relative thin thing. So if you breathe it in, what will it do to you . If you breathe in the smoke its going to irritate your lungs. Its an irritant. Its going to cause irritation in your lungs. Beyond smoke inhalation, its not going to kill you just by breathing it in . We dont believe that to be the case. Is there anything you want to say to reassure this community. [ poor audio ] you have been listening to Richard Rennard from arkema, the president of the plant, chemical facility in crosby, texas that weve been looking at images of this morning, talking about the noxious smoke after they have been unable to cool down some of these rigs or vats of chemicals, type of peroxide essentially. We are going to listen in now to something we heard a little earlier from this press conference from one of the Harris County officials talking specifically about the toxicity of the smoke that has been released from this plant. Explosion of smoke from these organic peroxides is similar to standing over a burning campfire. We believe the smoke say nontoxic irritant. The Fire Marshals Office planned from the beginning to allow this fire to burn itself out. Firefighters are taking a defensive posture to prevent it from spreading. Again, Harris County officials talking about whats going on with the arkema plant in crosby, texas, where fire had been reported overnight essentially because they could the couldnt cool down these chemicals. They caught fire. That created popping or explosion sounds. What that means now is people who live within a mile and a half who had to evacuate for safety reasons of the jacob rascon is joining us now on the phone. Youre a couple of minutes away from this plant. Talk me through what youre seeing and hearing. I dont know if you can see me or not. We have our live shot set up. Were a couple of miles away. That is as close as theyre allowing us to get at this time. What we understand, and youve been listening to the press conference just as we have. Theyve had trouble defining what this is. They initially called it an explosion. Later they said they didnt want to call it that because they didnt want to scare people but it is an explosion, a small one. Another eight large containers like 18wheeler type that, big, that size. Those are going to do the same thing. Chemicals are going to react, heat up. There will be small explosions, flames will shoot up into the air, 30, 40 feet, as we heard the other one did and the entire container will essentially be consume bid the fire. That will happen eight times over. When pressed specifically about if there could be a larger explosion, the Chemical Plant rep could not say that it wouldnt happen. These chemicals are known to burn quickly and violently and there is a possibility of an explosion. An explosion not like the little one that caused the fire but a bigger explosion. Everyone was wondering about that, pressing him on it. He had a hard time answering it. They pressed him on how toxic is this. Someone said earlier lean over a campfire. You cant stand there for long. Anybody thats been to a campfire knows that. Those deputies who went to the hospital, 15 of them we now know and two of them are still there. They went there 2 00, 3 00 this morning. They went because they were irritated, their throat, their lung lungs. So far 13 of them have been cleared to go. Two of them remain. Why do they remain . And those fumes that have come out and multiply that, i guess, by eight. Are they going to affect the People Living around there . Theyve evacuated. Just before the live shot from the today show, a family was scrambling, frantic to look for a way to get back there. Because their grandparents even though they had initially evacuated they had gone back because most of the floodwater has receded. Well wait and watch as they continue to burn, send up fumes and whether or not that affects anybody in a significant way. Right. And real questions there, jacob. Thank you for that. The head of the plant there was saying people should go seek medical advice, talk to a doctor if they breathe in what they described as noxious smoke. Questions about the layers of protection. They had generators and backup generators and backups to the backup but unable to definitively say its not toxic to breathe in this smoke. Its going to bother you, hurt your lungs and irritate you, just as smoke would. Saying the toxicity, essentially, say relative thing. I want to bring in the former Deputy Assistant secretary of osha under president obama. Jordan, thank you for being with us. I understand you had a chance to listen into that News Conference. Can i get your fraction what you heard from Richard Rennard there . Yeah, thanks. Its hard to tell what the impacts are going to be. It doesnt appear that this will have a huge impact on public. What concerns me right now is the general atmosphere around houston. You have a huge concentration of this countrys chemical facilities and refineries with much more dangerous chemicals than youre finding in the plant that just have the explosions. And the impact of hurricanes, Climate Change and, unfortunately, what the impact of the Trump Administration policies will have on the plant. Whats the takeaway for People Living in that area of texas right now . Whats the most important thing that they need to know, given that they just evacuate this had area around the plant . People living around these plants need to know whats around these plants and what the specifications are. Epa ensures that plants have to calculate that information but theyre making it harder for the public to get ahold of that information. They need to know what chemicals are in there and, quite frankly, a lot of facilities in texas have much, much more hazardous chemicals than seem to be in this plant. I dont want to sbrupt sbrupt you here. Given other plants youre talking about with more hazardous chemicals, do you think thats a concern now that these floodwaters have receded in most of east texas weve been looking at . In your view do you think the last big issue we might see or is there a concern if there will be more issues dominoing from here . Certainly a concern. We dont know what the extent of the impact is on chemical facilities there. Probably more important looking into the future, i mean, the Trump Administration can deny Climate Change all it wants. But the fact is that its happening. And these plants that are facing huge unexpected floods and other weather events need to figure out what to do about that and protect the communities around these facilities and the Trump Administration has been rolling back regulations that would protect people from these kinds of incidents. Should this arkema facility have done more, should they have been doing more . Its hard to tell at this point. Obviously, there has to be an investigation about this, which is also troubling. The chemical safety board, the Trump Administration also proposed that that chemical safety board be eliminated in their budget. So theyre not only not looking at whats happening around but theyre taking away the governments ability to investigate these incidents. Former Deputy Assistant secretary of osha under president obama. Jordan, thank you for joining us on the phone. Appreciate t sheriff ed gonzalez is on the phone, who you saw speaking at that News Conference a couple of minutes ago. He is joining us here. Thank you for being with us. I need to talk to you a little bit about the toxicity of the smoke or whatever is happening in this area of texas. You or one of your colleagues said that it is like breathing in a campfire. We did not hear that from the president of arkema. He has been in meetings with them based on his discussions, his research, he basically has told us that the exposure to smoke from these organic peroxides basically its equivalent of standing over a burning campfire. Based on that information we do not believe that the smoke is toxic. All 15 of our deputies have now within released from the hospital and everything appeared to check out fine. Can you clarify that . I might have misheard you. Its not nontoxic or explain what is happening. Its nontoxic irritants. Basically smoke from the fire itself, its nothing toxic. Thats the information weve been receiving. Our fire marshal has been in conversation with the company the last few days. The plant, arkema folk, did not go as far as you are at this point. Does that concern you with the Health Concerns from this smoke . At this point, it does not. Were here. We talked to them as well. Maybe its choice of words or how they frame it and how were framing it. Were constantly going to continue to assess this in real time conversations with them. And if anything changes well adapt what were doing but so far we dont feel theres any danger and everything could be contained there in the site. You mentioned, breaking news here moments ago, all deputies are now released from the hospital. Is that correct . Correct. They all checked out. How are they doing . They were tested and everything checked out fine. Theyve been released from the hospital. Whats their status . How are they feeling . Is there any residual effect . I havent talked to them. I havent gotten their state of mind or anything like that. Its encouraging to know that they were tested medically and everything was fine. When will people be allowed back into their homes, these folks that were evacuated, sheriff . Flooding in the area as well. Theres still damage in and around some of the residential areas in addition we want to make sure we took precaution just in case, safe zone, if you will. So well see what the conditions are around the facility and when we can return back. Sheriff gonzalez, thank you very much. Good luck with you. Well be checking back in with you throughout the morning. Appreciate it. Two hours east of this plant, weve been talking about in crosby to a town called beaumont. You know beaumont. Weve been talking about it on this program and this network. A foot of rain over the last 24 hours. What happened at the Chemical Plant is affecting operations there. Kerry sanders is live for us now in beaumont. Kerry . Natalie, this is where the one domino falls and it hits the next one and goes down. In this area weve had hell oppositer operations. The one we were with, air and Marine Operations unit, they were supposed to be back here today, continuing to search in the area for those who need to be extracted. Because of whats happening in the Chemical Plant their blackhawk has had to zip over there to add some support. One of their three helicopters is over there, helping to survey the area from the sky above. Its a nineminute flight in a black hawk. They went straight over there which, of course, impacts people here. We were up yesterday with them. You can see in this video people who theres no way for them to get out because of their own infirmities. The gentleman here was paralyzed, up to his waist in water in his wheelchair. There was little the neighbors could do for him until the folks from air and Marine Operations, agents who are usually Law Enforcement agents doing rescues repelled down, went, checked on him, went back up, landed the helicopter and then take a stretcher and put him on that. I think he was very happy on board. This is what he had to say. Were airborne right now with the rescue. This is the air and marine patrol unit. Full team of agents. Theyre putting ekg on him right now. He is paralyzed. The only way he was going to get out was either somebody carrying him or on somebodys back. Were in port arthur right now. How are you feeling . Pretty good. And what was the whats it like to have these guys come here now . It was awesome. It was awesome. Never expected it. Youre happy . Youre glad to be getting out. Youre paralyzed, sir . Yes. Was there any other way to get out and how dangerous has it been for you . No other way. No other way. You heard him say no other way. Were it not for the heroes there were so many here. Sometimes they wear a badge. Other times theyre just neighbors helping each other out. Because of whats going on at that Chemical Plant, theyre not out here. Amphibious units are expected to be here around noon. No matter how deep the water is, theyll be able to get through and the marines will be able to find the next group of people waiting to be pulled out, despite the waters receding. Its deceptive here. You think you can walk, drive through here. You can turn the corner and the water is still up to here. You mentioned people still trapped. Any guidance on how many people were talking about now . No. Here is the best way to explain it. When youre in the helicopter flying over and the agents are looking down, somebody is waving to them like that. They repel down, go down and talk to them. Sometimes this means were here, were okay. Other times it means were here, come rescue us. A lot of time where they spend going down, talking to people. For whatever reason some people want to stay put. Theres a lot of that back and forth. Some people may have cell phones and there is continued Cell Phone Service despite the fact that theres a flood, which is remarkable. They cant talk to each other. Tough situation. No running water. Lot of people had no sleep overnight. No way of knowing if things are okay. Well come back in and check with you. Appreciate you joining us. Sure. David paulison former fema director. Youve been listening to whats happening not only in beaumont but in crosby with that chemical fire. You responded to incidents like this in the past. How concerned should people in crosby be . I think they should be very concerned. You know, we listened to the president of the company but the local fire service and Law Enforcement have done the right thing, mile and a half permanenter evacuation, watching this thing. Not much they can do except watch and wait. Eventually its going to catch on fire, explode. Theyve kept people away. Theyre doing the right thing under the circumstances. So, you know, these organic peroxides are very volatile and have to be kept very cold. Theyve had several backups and theyve all failed and now they have to watch and wait and see what will happen. Should the company have done more . Is it too early to say . Its hard to tell right now. There will be a lot of finger pointing and probably now is not the right time to do that. Now is the right time to focus on keeping people safe, getting people rescued and once were through the crisis part of it, we go back and say we made these decisions. Were they the right ones . Focus on it that way. The finger pointing and second guessing, particularly during this period of time, is not helpful. I think theres no other way to describe whats happening in beaumont. You heard Kerry Sanders report people now still trapped in their homes. You talk about the fact that theres no running water. Whats the First Priority for responders on the ground . Get the people out that want to get out. Even those that dont want to get out need to be encouraged to get out. Floodwaters are still high. Theyre receding in houston but not in beaumont yet. They need to move to a safe place. Go into a shelter and wait for the waters to recede, go back home and see what type of damage they actually have. If you were still in charge, leading the operation here, would you be advising these folks to do anything differently when it comes to the response here . Look whats happening. Its an overwhelming event. Its not one particular area. Right. Its across several states. We have neighbors helping neighbors, people going in with boats. We have marines on the ground, custom Border Protection on the ground, coast guard there. The National Guard has been deployed. Tremendous amount of resources, doing everything that can be done because of the size of this event. Ive been pleased, quite frankly, between the federal, state and local level. We did not see that in katrina at all. I wanted to ask you about the coordination. Weve been talking about, as we heard the governor, brock long, the fema administrator say this is going to be in the headlines or page two six months from now because its going to be an incredibly long recovery. Are you confident that this coordination will continue over the next months and potentially years . We sure hope so. Now is when the rebuilding starts to happen. Were talking about roads, bridges, sewer systems, water systems, like in beaumont. All those things have to be repaired. The bridges that more than likely would have been damaged because of the high water. There will be a lot of back and forth, negotiating how were going to pay for this. Back and forth. If we focus on working as a team well get through it. Im hopeful that will happen. Well watch and wait and see. David pauleson, thank you for that important perspective from where youre sitting. Thank you. Congressman randy weber who represents beaumont in texas. Youre at sams club where theyre loading up water for folks. What are you seeing . Thank you, hallie, they are. Were in dire need. Tanker trucks of water and distilled water. One of my friends has tracked down. They need water. Theyre hard hit. Heavy flooding as harvey moved their direction. Lot of work to be done. Why did this seem to catch everybody in beaumont off guard, congressman . I dont think it really caught them off guard, hallie. Youve got a rain maker like this that is so huge you never know what watershed the rain is going to fall in. If we could predict with a degree of accuracy exactly what rivers would be hardest hit, creeks, streams, so on and so forth, we did get prepositioned assets all around area. This was such a huge rain maker. Youre probably hearing now its the single biggest flood in u. S. History. Are you surprised how the response has unfolded now . Folks were in bowling alleys, stuck in their houses, still with no running water. When will people see some help here . Everybody i say everybody. So many outpouring of people from around the country, different states, youre seeing an outpouring of volunteers. Great First Responder working night and day, search and rescue is their number one property. So youre seeing that go on and take place. Were getting to people as fast as we can. Youre watching helicopter rescues. Weve never seen a flood of this magnitude. I was talking to an interview yesterday. He said like bibliccal proportion. I said exactly. Beaumont, galveston, your district. Some of that help likely will come from congress. And this is a question, for example, senator ted cruz has been battling as well. You voted against the relief bill. You say lawmakers cant play politics with relief money. Do you re re gret that vote in 2013, seeing what your xhoont has to go through . I wanted it to be a standalone vote but not improvement for other areas of the country, buildings and other programs in other areas of the country. I had that conversation with the leadership. I said let make this about the relief effort bill not the other spending they put on the bill. If you have a valid reason, lets make everything stand alone on its own then i dont necessarily regret that vote. And i hope that this bill is a standalone bill. Well see. Theres a question mark about tha that. Yeah. So well see. I Want Congress to get laser focused, if you will, and make sure we dont, in haste, do a lot of things that will cause the df sit to get higher and higher and higher. Thats my next question to you then. Should relief money for your district and other districts in texas be offset ultimately . Is that something youll push for . We would love to find that offset in terms of this. So you have to take each bill by itself. We had that sandy vote. I wanted it to be a standalone vote and couldnt get there. You saw a number of congressmen vote against that bill for that very reason. Lets try to make these things stand alone when we can. Unfortunately, harvey didnt come at the most opportune time, were up against the september 30th deadline. I get that. Were at the end of our fiscal year. Well see what happens. On his way to beaumont with palettes of fresh water and supplies for people who are in need in that town. Well be checking back in with you. The devastation from harvey, as weve been talking about, is extensive. We wont know how bad for some time. That guy riding in a canoe says someone saved him, as well as his kids and dog. His story went viral. After this. Listen. This man, eric harding, is joining us next. Nutritional needs. All in one. Purina one. Healthy energy, all in one. Strong muscles, all in one. Highly digestible, and a taste he loves, all in one. Purina one smartblend is expertly blended. 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You heard the sheriff of Harris County say 20 minutes ago he believes that these are nontoxic irritants but the president of that company did not go that far in a News Conference with reporters that you also saw here. All the deputies who had been taken to the hospital, who had gone to the hospital after inhaling the smoke have now been released. People have been evacuated from within about a mile and a half radius from this area. We are watching this very closely and also getting word that Vice President mike pence will be landing in texas in about the next hour or so. He will be meeting with victims, the damage and devastation there, along with members of the cabinet including rick perry, secretary of energy and former governor of texas. In the last couple of minutes he spoke with reporters on that plane and says, yes, gas prices are going to go up because of this supply issue, from whats happening in texas. He believes congress will provide funding for harvey in what he called a timely fashion. Were watching that and will bring it to you live as soon as we can. Meantime, garret haike is in an evacuated part of houston. What have you been seeing the past few hours as the sun has risen . Weve seen a lot of people coming back to their homes despite the fact that there was a mandatory Evacuation Order overnight. Just outside of houston, the water level here from Harris County, i should say, water level here up stream from those dams should have crested and we dont expect to see water higher than this. Folks arent able to get to their homes and see the damage. Trying to fly these drones out and see how bad the damage was. We have that video to show you now. Devastation in this neighborhood largely at the buffalo b baiou in cinco ranch essentially expanded and completely and i think weve lost garrets microphone there. You heard him talking about whats happening in cinco ranch as we take a look at that footage from high above. The flooding, unbelievable. Creeks running through these neighborhoods. Folks not able to get back inside their homes. Its not just beaumont, its places like galveston that got hit with the storm. The guy you saw right before the break, his name is eric harding. He, his wife and seven kids and their dog were all rescued by somebody in a canoe earlier this week. Eric is joining us now on the phone. How are you doing . How is your family . Were doing well. Unlike some of the areas, the water has gone dof down enough for us to get into our homes. The front of our house looks like apocalypse but we were able to rip out a lot of our home yesterday and were continuing to do that today and work our way down the street. We see your daughter in floaties inside the canoe. What was that like, having to leave your home, load although kids in the boat and get out . It kind of happened fast. Saturday night started as a rainstorm. I kind of seen the creek next to us was coming up the street. And 7 00 in the morning, i had to wake everybody up. Here is the deal. Grab your favorite clothes. Were going next door and then next door started to get closer. Then these canoes showed up, you though. Before they did, you got behind the piano with water up to your knees, up to the bench you were sitting on. Whats with that . Actually came back to the house we were sheltering in a place close. I came back to the house to get their favorite stuffed animals and waded in with a friend of mine. My son plays poo piano and he was really upset that his piano was getting flooded and so i was like, ill sit down real quick and play. Im not much of a pichlt ano player. Just sending him the video back. I posted it. You did it for your son originally and then a lot of people really felt like this was sort of a moment to take in, in the middle of all this devastation. Absolutely. Thats kind of been humbling in that regard. Tell me about your house. You said basically had you to rip it out. Where do you go from here . Were really supported honestly. An Incredible Church family around us at claire creek. Literally teams of those guys here. Once this gets done, we have family kind of close. No one takes people with seven kids, really, except the people we stayed with. Bouncing around a little bit while we get things put back together the next few months and well figure it out as we go. So many people have offered and so many people that are stepping up. Its not just us. Across the board. Everywhere you go. Everywhere in town. A third of the houses in our neighborhood are flooded. 2,000, 3,000. One of the things resonated with so many people here has been damages in particular, kids, the youngest victims of this. Right. You have seven of them. How are they doing . I imagine theyre freaked out, overwhelmed but their spirits seem to be okay. Walk me through that. The initial shock of get your clothes, were leaving our house, i tried to say that in a nonshocking way. Do one thing at a time. Grab some clothes. Put it in a bag. Were going to go next door. Then our youngest daughter, eliza, was really just crying. Shes a little emotional anyway. Shes 5. And as soon as she saw the canoe she was like, a canoe ride. Theyre back and forth. They can live in the moment. Weve been trying to make moments with them as much as we can, you know. The sun is out. The tear down started. Well try to get some normal going. Bowl businesses are opening up for kids to do crafts for kids for free. Its amazing. Aric harding our thoughts are with you, your kids, your dog, your wife. Thank you for being on the phone and talking us through that moment. Appreciate it. Gl thank you so much. Coming up next, we are talking more about what is happening with Hurricane Harvey, especially in the aftermath of what is now a tropical depression, particularly the situation with folks who might be undocumented, looking for shelter. Were talking about that next. For your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. 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Some of those folks potentially undocumented immigrants. There has been a kind of stand down in houston, directed by i. C. E. Pete right now . I. C. E. Has essentially stopped enforcing Immigration Law in all of the affected areas, not just the shelters and where people are gathering unless the agents find somebody committed some particular crime. I. C. E. Deployed 200 people from around the country to help with search and rescue and provide security for the rescuers. Is that typical that i. C. E. Would take the action to help out with these rescues with the response as well . I dont think theres anything typical about whats going on in texas. They said on august 25th before this hit that they wouldnt do enforcement at the rescue sites at the shelters but its in fact much broader than that. Pete williams, thanks for that perspective. I want to go back to texas. The governor there greg abbott has said the undocumented immigrants should sook shelter. Border patrol agents will not mariana. Tell us what youve heard. Reporter ive spoken to half a dozen undocumented immigrants making their way into the shelter this morning. It is perhaps not a coincidence that they are seeking help five or six days after the storm hit after many other people as youve been featuring on the show are heading home upon realizing the waters arent receding i need supplies and food for my family. Even though they are aware the mayor has said nobody seeking help will get into legal trouble for not having the proper paperwork, there is this fear in the undocumented community here in houston that they may be put on some sort of database or may be raids happening in the shelters or they may be turned down. I just spoke to a woman by the name of patrice ya, she is aund many years. This is what she said. Lets listen. We heard by the mayor of houston that not to be afraid because nobody is going to be asking you for documents, but our community is so afraid, they dont trust what people are telling them because they are going through a lot. Reporter i just spoke to the red cross here in the shelter and shthey assured us that nobo is getting turned down for not having paperwork and no i. C. E. Raids in the shelter. Thank you very much. As weve been talking about on this show and all morning long, its the kindness of strangers at the heart of some of the most incredible stories out of harvey. At the top of the list you may know him, this texas celebrity, Furniture Store owner mattress mac. Youve seen the pictures, hes opened up stores to people out of their homes and kids and even pets, giving a little bit of comfort and taste of home to people who may have cost everything. Guess who is with us next, mattress mack. Stick around. So thats the idea. What do you think . Hate to play devils advocate but. I kind of feel like its a game changer. I wouldnt go that far. Are you there . Hes probably on mute. Yeah. Gary wont like it. Why . Because hes gary. phone ringing what . Keep going yeah. laughs voice on phone its not millennial enough. There are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you so were doing it. Yes start saying yes to your companys best ideas. Let us help with money and knowhow, so you can get business done. American express open. I enjoy the fresher things in life. So you can get business done. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices from over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Your body was made for Better Things than rheumatoid arthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz is right for you. Xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Xeljanz can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate, and is also available in a oncedaily pill. Ask about xeljanz xr. So consider this as you go about your daily routine. As youre waking up today probably in your own bed. More than 32,000 people in texas were waking up in a shelter. Its not just officials, the government, the cities providing a place to sleep and eat. Its also regular houstonians like this man. If youre from houston, he is a celeb, super famous and know him as mattress mack. He opened the stores to about 400 people and National Guard members helping out with rescue operations. Thank you very much for being with us sir, appreciate it. Glad to be on the show, thanks for talking to me, im not famous, im infamous. Ive seen some of the interviews youve done over the last day or so. You call this a Slumber Party on steroids. What prompted you to open your doors to these folks . Yeah, we did this during katrina with all of the new orleans put a sign on our bill board, Louisiana Residents welcome. Were no stranger to this. On sunday after the hurricane got really bad and rain was everywhere, customers were emailing us, texting us, requesting us to come get them out of the house because the government was overwhelmed. I think the government did a great job but couldnt handle this flooding we had. We got our box truck with four or five feet of water and drove into neighborhoods and pick the up about 200 people and brought them here. 200 people came in cars and we had about 400 people for three nights in both stores. Tell us whats happening now. Three nights, night one its great to have a place of stay. I wonder if spirits are fading because its been so long since theyve been forced out of their homes. How are folks, feeling . You know, the psychological damage is huge on these people. They weathered it like champions and a lot of them from this location have gone back home now fema and red cross situations. But our west Houston Store is getting more people all the time because of the mandatory evacuations with the problems with the levee and rising rivers up there. Mack, very quickly, what happens to this merchandise now that people have slept on and sat on over the last four days . This furniture is resilient and good quality and made in america, going to last. We just sell it. Youre going to sell it. Yeah, were having a Hurricane Harvey sale, mark it down and sell it and people will be happy and well move on. Were here to help customers and thats what were trying to do. Mattress mack, thank you very much for being on the show. Good luck to you and i appreciate you joining us here. Thank you. You have a good day. Not just ones youre looking at but incredible photos and pictures over the last week. Todays big picture is another one, here it is. A woman being rescue the from an assisted living home in orange, texas, which flooded yesterday when the storm moved east. You can see the rescuers helping out the most vulnerable including her. Gerald herbert for the associated press. Hit me up on social media, facebook, instagram, snapchat, would love to turn it over to ali velshi and stephanie ruhle, youre both there in new york. Hallie, thanks very much. Im stephanie ruhle, it is thursday, august 31st, glad to be back with my partner. Much to cover. Lets get started. They reveal the sheer magnitude of destruction. Alarming situation is playing out right now in crosby, texas. Reports of two explosions and black smoke coming from a Chemical Plant near houston. No way to prevent the explosions due to flooding and lack of power. The largest fuel transporter is shutting down its main pipeline to the northeast. Houstons Fire Department is beginning a block by block search for