reservoir. take you to google earth. houston proper, we talked about this, buffalo bayou, it goes right from houston into these two reservoirs. the reservoirs were built because back in 1940 there was 250,000 people living in houston. they said let s hold the water back because this is farmland. it s no longer farmland. people live there. this is addicks. the dam here it s 108. here it s 114. the water is pouring around the dam this way because right now the level is 109. top of the levee is 108, the water is 109, you can understand what s going on there. let me take you to the reservoir itself. there are people who have built homes here. they allowed them to build homes inside the reservoir. these homes are flooded.
landfall landfall. is the city prepared? how is it doing. we have new orleans mayor mitch landrieu with us now. we know time is precious. how are you doing right now? listen, by the grace of god, is going to miss us. it came to the east of us and it s going to the west of us. we re not going to feel the kind of impact that houston felt. we re pretty well prepared for what comes our way. as you can see, you have to be humbled by mother nature. on this anniversary of katrina, our house and prepares go out to the folks in houston. unfortunately the worst is not yet over. beaumont got hurt very badly as did southwest louisiana last night. as we ve watched this thing unfold. you ve seen the incredible humanitarian crisis. but simultaneously you see the unbelievable hheroism. even in your darkest hour, it s
what the need will be. you lived it down there. the stories fade from the spotlight. we ll mark anniversaries, but the weeks, the months to come, what do people need to remember? typically, first of all, one of the things is that everybody wants to help and throw everything at it. houston is not in a position right now to receive everything. i would be very thoughtful and make sure you give money to the organizations that have a good track record in helping that can be precise about how they actually get in. you re right. next week the cameras are going to leave, but the people are still going to be in the shelters. then they have to get back in their homes, back in their schools. this is going to be a long haul for them. finally, this can t be said enough. the financial resources are going to be required and most likely will have to come not just from the state of texas and the faith-based communities which is going to be incredible. the outpouring of humanity and support is going t
going to be okay. the other thing for the country to watch and it s very important, everybody is in the same boat. nobody is asking anybody in the boat what color you are, where you re from, what class you re in. everybody is helping each other. at the end of the day it s going to be all right. we ll have to go through very difficult times together. the country will reach out and help them the way they lifted up new orleans after katrina 12 years ago. times like this strip away all the bs and people see you re interconnected in the most fundamental ways. help us understand this concern that it could still be worse. what is it that could be yet to come in houston and the surrounding areas that we re going to have to look out for? first of all, besides the most obviously, invest 93 is off the coast of africa and still may be coming through, as if you haven t had enough. what s going on in houston, obviously you re seeing the flood. there are a lot of people who did not evacuate. the
screaming and crying trying to get out of the van. he kept telling them to go to the back of the van and open the back doors, open the back doors. but from what he s describing, i m sure the kids couldn t even grab a grip onto the van to even reach the back door much less open it. he said it just went under the water. in an effort to try to prevent more tragedies in southeast texas, there are mandatory evacuations including here in fort ben county. that s why many communities along the brazos river and here in houston are relatively empty. virtual ghost town this morning. those stories of the family lost are so, so heartbreaking. we feel for them and are praying for them this morning. thank you for that reporting. the american red cross says more than 17,000 harvey evacuees are in shelters across the state. it s just after 6:00 a.m. at the one where i am in houston and