Survivors of the storm at an air field outside houston in a couple of hours. Theyll also survey the damage in louisiana later today. The president promised a swift government response to the disaster. It could be coming soon. The white house is requesting 8 billion in disaster aid. Couple billion more than initially expected. A vote on the aid money has been scheduled for late next week in the house. Weve got our team of correspondents covering the president s visit to the gulf coast and the latest with the recovery from harvey. We start with cnn White House Correspondent athena jones, live in downtown houston. Earlier this weekend the president stayed away frommed disaster area. Were going to see a very different president today we assume . Hi, christi. I think we have an opportunity to see a very different president. The white house explained the reasoning behind the president meeting with state and local officials, touring Emergency Operations center when he came on tuesday, avoidin
Options and the president wanted to be briefed on each one of them. We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies. We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country but we have many options to do so. How soon might the administration announce its planning for dealing with the north and can it do so without the full allies in the region . Thats the full question. Essentially the president may be forced to act to protect the homeland. Doing so could bring cat os traffic consequences to our friends in the region and its the reason why each president over the last several years have struggled with. The president has been dealing with this. The north once again as you pointed out on sunday had another nuclear test, its sixth. This one triggering a 5. 7 magnitude trem orr. Shaking abilities in northeast china. The president took to twitter to sort of remind our allies in the region of what is at stake. He said this, south korea is finding, as ive told them
Epic disaster, he gets criticized if you go in too soon, perhaps interfere with any kind of recovery efforts, we heard some of that, the president didnt meet with any people that were directly affected, today we have seen the president and first lady there interacting with folks who have their lives turned upside down by Hurricane Harvey. President there on the tarmac interacting also with the United States Senate Delegation representing louisiana, senators cassidy and kennedy who will be asked to approve funding for Hurricane Harvey victims in the coming days and so those personal conversations very important as the president will look for votes, one would think that recovery for Hurricane Harvey would not be controversial in any way but you never know these days the way Congress Works and so the president putting a face to face pitch if you will with the congressional delegation to louisiana to lets get relief to these folks and get them back on their feet. Quickly because its very,
Few hours to add to the record breaking totals. The highest rainfall total from harvey thus far almost 52 inches in cedar bay ou. Right now houston is under curfew until 5 a central team, 6 00 eastern. Part of an effort to stem looting. 14 people have been arrested for looting in the past 48 hours. He says anyone caught looting in the disaster area faces extra punishment. Northwest of muft Officials Say the water keeps rising in the addicks and barker reservoirs even after it flows over the spillways. Homes have seen three and five feet of flood water. Water is not expected to stop until midseptember. There are nine confirmed deaths from harvey including a Houston Police officer who you see there. He drowned trying to get to work during the flood. We cant find him and well once we got out there it was too treacherous to go under and look for him. As much as we wanted to recover him last night we could not put another more officers at risk. For what we knew in our hearts was going to be
Fire as floodwaters surround it. And all of this as residents are returning to their homes and removing debris. The president and first lady should land in houston in the next hour. And the two have a jampacked day. Theyll visit a Disaster Relief center and meet with survivoring of the storm. And theyll be greeting texas congressional delegation members before leaving for louisiana. And later on today, the president and first lady will meet with the louisiana delegation, visit with the National Guard and the socalled cajun navy. Weve come to know them and their efforts in rescuing people. The latest on harvey at this hour now. There have been 50 stormrelated deaths. But as floodwaters subside, that number could go up. More than 72,000 people have been rescued. We have reporters covering all angles of this story. First lets go to kayley hartung in texas. Its been three days since water pumps failed in the beaumont area. Whats the situation in terms of people who are going to be waiting