1,000, including the marines on the way, 800 army active duty troops, about 300 air force, hundreds of high water vehicles, rubber boats, moving around military marines and army forces using them, trying to help out, trying to see how fast they can get to all these neighborhoods and rescue people and then transition, of course, to the recovery portion of this. water purification is going to be a big issue, they feel. these ships will come with some of the equipment to do just that. the military prepared, swooping in to help. also, so is the vice president as we ve been talking, barbara, we re looking at live pictures. this is one of the towns first hit when the hurricane made land fall. here s the vice president, blue gloves and all, hands on effort here, recovery efforts there in rockport, texas. he s there along with, you can see, the governor, governor abbott, pulling away at trees and limbs around from the hardest-hit areas from this hurricane and storm in texas.
collapsed, but those are there s significant structural damage across the entire community. mayor, have you heard any reports that your forces, your volunteer fire department and police are going to get outside assistance? is there any word of the national guard or fema or the coast guard sending people in? i have not heard yet, and i cannot confirm this, but i am told that the roads leading in to rockport are currently flooded and impassable. if you get help, it has to be from the air or the sea? right now, and coming in from the sea is not a good idea. we ve heard from our crews the same thing, that you can t get in. i want to give our viewers a sense of where rockport is. according to national weather service, that would have been about as close to the point at which this hurricane made land fall. the eye of the storm went on top of our city at 11:30 last
miles per hour continue to batter texas and the gulf at this hour. thanks to hurricane harvey. harvey has been downgraded slightly to a category 3 hurricane as it makes a second land fall. leaving 200,000 people without power so far. the national hurricane center is warning of dangerous storm surges of up to 12 feet in some areas. and nearly 40 inches of rainfall before harvey moves out on wednesday. on harvey s outer edges there s a tornado watch to add to this. with at least one sided so far near plantation. that is about 25 miles south of houston. now about a dozen texas counties and cities are under mandatory evacuation orders today as forecasters warn of catastrophic floods that are just beginning. in corpus christi not far from when the hurricane made land fall. what reports have you heard about damage so far?
numbers from palacios north of here gusting over 70 and we re still getting these bands around the southeast side of hurricane harvey. no letup in side the wind is still onshore and as long as it blows like this, the water is not going to back off very much. it s going to stay up and keep this hotel surrounded so we re hunkered down here. power is out. we re doing the best we can charminging on the car battery. it continues on and on. inkrable that hurricane made landfall about 12 hours ago and we still have those kinds of winds in the area, and the winds aren t even going to be the biggest problem. it s going to be the endless, historic rain according to the national weather service that is going to not be able to drain
the year in sacramento, california apparentlies did not account for much if you don t have accept yort. sixth grade teacher michelle acreson getting a pink slip just weeks after receiving the honor. her job being cut because of $43 million in budget cuts. parents are outraged that an award winning teacher could lose her job. the district defending the layoff based on seniority not on performance and mandated by the state. critics say it s proof that the educational system needs an overhaul. thank you, alisyn. let s get right to rick reichmuth because we have been wanting to see him covered in mud all morning which we will a little bit later. he achieving it yet. not yet with you is he out giving us our weather report. hey, rick. i i am. here at metlife stadium they have until 2014 to clean this up for the super bowl. a lot of dirt for the monster jam event going on tonight. there is also a lot of weather going on across the country. let s talk with that real quickly. hurrican