He says the number is 21,000 as they help with the recovery and rescue operations. He urged americans to do what many texans are doing, and that is, find a way to help. We heard from the white house President Trump is pledging 1 million of his own money to the relief effort. Im connell mcshane. Well talk about the president s response overall in just a few minutes. To the ground in cross by, texas, the site of a Chemical Plant fire. Whats the update, hillary . Reporter we are here outside the perimeter where they evacuated people. You can see the police car and the guards. They are not letting anyone in or out because residents have evacuated. Two blasted went off last night and they think there are more tanks that may blow up. All this was caused because power plant is sitting sick feet under water caused from some of the harvey flooding. That cut out their power. That made the system shut down. When the chemicals get hot, when the temperature rise, the chemicals pop and explode and burn. We just talked to a woman who works at this Drilling Company just across the street outside the perimeter. She says she could probably go back on tuesday but all that is up in the air until they secure the area and they have no way of doing that until they dissipate the water. The power plant conditions are so dangerous they dont even have people on the ground monitoring the situation. This is not a controlled explosion. This is something that could happen at any moment, at any time. At some point when the water dissipates and they will be able to secure the area, they will be able to get back inside. But there is no timeline. Its just when those chemicals get hot enough. Connell one of the questions that comes up through all of this, i know officials were asked about it today, the air quality. Are they telling us anything . Are they reassuring . What are they saying . Reporter they will not say the fumes are nontoxic. But they say they are not dangerous. The epa went up in the sky and took a sample and studied it. And they say they see no reason to say their serious concerns around the toxicity. They think that thats keeping people safe. A lot of residents wondering why they have to be out of their homes for an undetermined amount of time if there is no danger behind this smoke. One official describes this as a campfire. So it certainly is more dangerous than a campfire and more dangerous than a house fire. No one is getting specifics about what these chemicals are made of and what dangers oh potential longterm, shortterm health risks they can cause. But since then they have been released after inhaling the fumes. Connell are they content with the onemile radius . Reporter this 1. 5mile radius they think is safe enough. But they have no plans to limit that or move it inward. Its going to remain the 1. 5mile radius until they are able to secure the plant and secure this area and that wont happen until they get rid of the 6 feet of water. Con will be the city manager is with us on the phones. This is what, 2030 miles. Its closer than that. But we are not affected by the situation in crosby. We are focused on our situation in bellview. We shifted to recovery mode. Our citizen volunteers are working to get back to normal in mont belvieu. We received over 20 inches of rain in 6 hours starting saturday night. Our total rainfall is reported at 52 inches. But at city hall we reported 61. 2 inches. Connell thats crazy. Thats the highest anyone has experienced, right . Thats right. Thats what what know thatst noah is what know what noaa is reporting. The plant managers are getting their facility back up and getting people there as they can make it in. We were shut off from the east and the west basically on an island for two days. Everyone is coming in together and trying to make it into work. Connell what is it about mont belvieu that led you to be hit so hard, even compared to your neighbors . I think just where the heavy bands on the storm were coming in. We were right in line with those and we got hit for three days really hard. Saturday we thought we would be fine and wouldnt receive much rain. But that night it dumped on us. We received 11 inches monday and another 11. 5 inches tuesday. Do you think the funding will be offset by budget cuts . Thank you, darlene. Let me say the administration has been in contact with members of congress about a supplemental appropriations bill to deal with the immediate needs of federal assistance for individuals as well as assistance to businesses that are recovering in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. And we expect congress to november specifically on the initial legislation, and well be working diligently in the opening weeks of congress to accomplish that. But let me say, we are confident that members of congress in both Political Parties appreciate the historic nature of the storm and understand the enormous burden placed on families and communities here in texas. We an tilings pay the strong and bipartisan support for that measure. I will tell you that decisions with regard to overall budgeting will be based on decisions made by members of congress and by the president. But as i have done in the fast, i look forward to strongly supporting the president s leadership as we make sure texas in realtime because we are still in the midst of a rescue operation, and a recovery operation unfolding before us. That no texan should doubt as they apply for after he available federal assistance, no Small Business affected should doubt that this administration and Congress Come together to make sure the resources are there. Mr. Vice president , we have spoken to numerous people who lost everything from this hurricane, im sure you have as well. They are terrified because they say fema is not getting back to them. What advice do you have for them specifically . Im going to ask elaine to come forward, but as of this morning, we have actually had more than 311,000 citizens who have gone on line or telephoned into register for disaster assistance. I am pleads and i think texans should be encouraged to know weve already distributed 530 million in assistance. But as we focus on the rescue operation, there were still 900 calls per hour coming in. Saving lives has bent number one priority of the governor, the president and all of us and continues to be. We urge people to take every opportunities they have, whether its by telephone or online to apply for that federal assistance and know help is on the way. Well make sure every texan and texas business will receive that support. Elaine, did you want to add to that . If you can get online, the best way to apply is online, because you can enter a lot of the data that way, your insurance, how to get back to you. If not, use the phone banks. We are triaging. There are people with mortgage payments due that are currently not in situations where they need immediate assistance. One of the challenges of individual assistance for this disaster is going to be the broad scope of where do the floods work fan how long the floodwaters are lasting. If you have immediate needs, if you havent heard back in a day or two and would like to check on your spliks online or call and follow up. But if you are not a priority, it could take a couple days. Thank you. One important piece of information, go to disasterassistance. Gov. If you are in one of the counties thats been declared a federal disaster, you can get assistance. We urge you to go online and register as quickly as possible at disasterassistance. Gov. Going back to offsets, do you stands by your position from 2005 that Disaster Relief funding should be offset by cuts elsewhere, and can you tell us what the Trump Administrations position will be on offsets . The president s top priority is focusing on rescue and recovery efforts. We have already begun to work with congress to make sure full resources to back stop those efforts and provide for recovery and rebuilding community that have been devastated by Hurricane Harvey is there. I was pleased before i was a Vice President and before i was a governor, i was a member of congress. And i was pleased to support federal disaster funding in if the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But in the months that followed that, i was also part of an effort in congress to find savings in the budget to pay for that. I would leave those decisions to congress and the president of the United States as we move forward. The focus of President Trump, myself, the focus of this governor, our entire administration and i believe the focus of every member of congress, congressman, will be to Work Together so none of the families feeling anxiety that we heard about in the last question, have any reason to be concerned. As communities prepare to recover and rebuild, im very confident that members of both Political Parties will work with our administration to move the legislation forward to rebuild texas bigger and better than ever before. Reporter Elizabeth Sanders representing the network pool today. After seeing the damage here today with your members of the cabinet. What do you think will be the hardest part of rebuilding texas . Anything specific . I will tell you, and i know i speak for everyone gathered here. That the sights and sounds and conversations we had today were just overwhelming. I think the resilience of the people of texas has been inspiring. To see people who have gone through the horror of one of the largest Natural Disasters in American History to be Standing Shoulder to shoulder, passing out food to their neighbors, helping their neighbors clear out their homes with a smile on their face, its humbling and deeply inspiring. But i will tell you, the long term challenge will be getting people back into their communities and homes. In rockport today, we heard from families and High School Students who were just very anxious to get back into their schools. They wanted to have their seen year year in rockport. As of this morning fema had prepositioned some 2,000 manufactured homes. We are ordering another 4,000. The priority will be once we work our way through the rescue efforts which are ongoing and move through recovery and rebuilding, the priority of our Administration Working closely with Governor Abbott is to get people back in their communities and get people back on their streets as quickly as possible. So housing and finding available housing will be a longterm challenge. But the sheer magnitude of this storm, its impacts we saw on the ground and from the air are not lost on anyone here. The president was deeply moved by the suffering and the struggle of the people of texas. He and the first lady will be turning this saturday. Well stay with the people of texas all the way through, not just in the weeks and months, but likely the years it will take to rebuild southeast texas. We know we will with these good and strong people bigger and better than ever before. Thank you all very much. Connell Vice President mike pence taking questions from some reporters who gathered in an airfield in Corpus Christi, texas where he concluded his day touring texas. He has been accompanied by his wife and members of the trump cabinet. The Vice President was asked by most of reporters about how the Disaster Relief efforts would be paid for. He point out a number of times, this is still a recovery operation, but went on to say he expects the initial funding to be approved quite quickly by the congress. Lets bring in congresswoman jody arrington. Four thoughts on what will be a process here. We saw it after other storms whether it be katrina or sandy getting this money approved. Do you think it will happen . The great state of texas is great in so many ways and im proud to be from texas and proud of how our citizens responded because there is a selfreliance. There is a commitment to community and loving thy neighbor. Thats the spirit of texas. Thats why you have seen, i think, a different response and read cover are you in the early phases because its been all hands on deck. While we need the government at all levels to participate, we are not waiting on the government. I think that made all the difference. But im also confident after hearing the president and the Vice President who both traveled to show their support and commitment that they will as Vice President pence said stay with us every step of the way. You have got 3 members of the house from texas. And this wont be a republican and democrat issue. This is going to be a help our fellow American Issue and well make sure to work hard to get that relief funding on the first phase and as we get more information, continue to fund it so we get people back home and back to some sense of normalcy. Connell we are watching on the split screen, the volunteer efforts. The two are working in concert. We have seen it all week long out of texas. Lets talk about how this gets done. The mechanics in warn. You could have multiple bills targeted as specific needs, there could be some sort of big relief package and i think we saw in the past sandy that that can be easier said than done. Or you could attach this to say the debt celling vote or something to make it easier to pass. Is there an approach you think is the best . I think we witnessed and this will be my first full round of appropriations and my first budget process. But i know there will be great debate and drama to be sure over the debt ceiling and appropriations. We have to pull this out of that process. We have to bifurcate this needed emergency Disaster Relief and Recovery Funding so it doesnt get bogged down in that. Here is the thing. We dont need to play with peoples lives. I think americans are frustrated with congress. And with the protracted process of getting anything done, and the gridlock, and doing nothing too often. This has to stand apart from that normal culture. And we have to have real outcomes and adequate funding. We have to have Quick Response from congress. I think the way to do that is to make sure this funding is isolated from the broader funding package. So just one bill, all the relief texas needs isolated from the funding package. I would bifurcate it but i wouldnt do one big funding. We dont have all the facts. I can tell you we dont know enough right now to have one big funding package. That wouldnt be responsible. And i dont think thats whats needed. Whats needed is the search and rescue operations. We need to fund that. Whats needed is temporary housing and food. There is a first phase. Even with debris removal and temporary housing. Connell i understand what you are saying. That make a lot of sense. Appreciate you walking us through that. Good luck to you and your constituent as we walk through this. Welly check in on some of the recover rests when we come back. E helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. 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. Is everything ok . Adt, i could hear crackling in the walls, and my mind went totally blank. When a fire is going on, youre running around, youre not thinking clearly, so they called the Fire Department for us. And all of this occurred in four minutes or less. Within five minutes. I am absolutely grateful we all made it out safely. Its kind of one of those things you cant even. You cant even thank somebody. People you dont know actually care about you. To protect what you love, call 1800adtcares the other breaking news we are following the price of gasoline and effect harvey is having on all of that. Of that. Up to two and a half year high the whole cell level and thats something we seen in the last few days with all the refineries and pipelines rubble related to harvey. Oil prices mean time are down almost 6 for the month of august. The final day of the month seems like we have more oil than we know what to do with. From the sharp report editor steven shore joining us this evening. Its eyes get to you thank you very much for coming on. We have seen the refined product of gasoline and oil but we also said made the decision to release oil from our reserves. Can you explain that and what it might do . Absolutely. Keep in mind hurricanes that is a Refining Crude Oil soap when outputting crude oil into the refinery are not taking her find product out and we are getting a crazy rally in the gas market and that set the price and the spike we are seeing now at the pump that we will continue to see if released a week of not the next two weeks will be shortlived because we are taking measures to not only alleviate the glut itself to mention the release of a Million Dollars of the Strategic Petroleum reserve. That order was earmarked for the refinery epicenter in lake charles louisiana which was not hit by the hurricane and therefore its able to put both barrels on to the Colonial Pipeline and continue to move gasoline and diesel up to the u. S. Northeast. That said we still have a situation where we have a tremendous amount of crude oil and lets keep in mind we have knocked out a third of the Refining Capacity in the largest r