Their god given talents to edify their community. I thank the lord hes here to do that. Thanks for watching today. Rightthisminute. Com is all new every day. See you next time. And could really save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now. With a Medicare Supplement plan, youll be able to stay with your doctor. Oh, you know, i love that guy. Mmhmm. [ male announcer ] these types of plans let you visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. And there are no networks. You do your pushups today . Prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] dont wait. Call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan to go the distance with you. Go long. A wildfire has for a wildfire has forced immediate evacuations about an hour outside seattle. It is called the Jolly Mountain fire and has burned more than eight square miles. Residents of 150 homes were told in imminent danger. A Lightning Strike triggered the fire more than three weeks ago. President trump is pitching his plan to overhaul the nations tax system. He spoke at a manufacturing plant in springfield, missouri, promising that his tax reforms would lead to Stronger Economic growth for companies as well as workers. He didnt offer any details, but with the Health Care Defeat still on his mind he tried to turn up the pressure on lawmakers. So this is on once in a Generation Opportunity to deliver real tax reform for every day, hardworking americans, and i am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done, and i dont want to be disappointed by congress, do you understand me . [cheers and applause] do you understand . Understand. Congress. I think congress is going to make a come back. I hope so. Tell you what. The United States is counting on it. [cheers and applause] after watching the speech, if you had congress in your drinking game, you would be wasted this morning. The president specifically took aim at claire mccaskill, you saw there, the democratic senator, he told the crowd if she doesnt vote to lower taxes, they should vote her out of congress. And arizona senator john mccain returns to capitol hill next week after being treated for brain cancer. The republican is set to lead a debate on a defense policy bill. Senator mccain has been undergoing radiation and chemotherapy during the august recess. His office says the senator is looking forward to continuing his work for the people of arizona. The fda has approved a new way to fight cancer. It engineers the patients own cells and directs them to fight the cancer. Linzie janis has the details. Reporter a new frontier in the fight against cancer, for the first time, the fda approving an engineered genetic system that reprograms the patients own immune cells, sending them back into the body to destroy cancer. Most of these patients remain in remission years later. That makes us think maybe its a potential cure for some of our kids, and thats very exciting to us. Reporter 12 year old Emily Whitehead was the first child to receive the treatment developed by the university of pennsylvania. At the time her parents were told there was no hope. We were out of options, and we werent ready to quit fighting. Reporter in may, emilys doctors at the Childrens Hospital of philadelphia declaring her five years cancer free. Congratulations. Thank you. I think its really exciting. Because the treatment that i got, other kids will be able to have the same treatment and have the same outcome that i did. Reporter there are serious side effects, but the hope is one day this kind of therapy could be used to treat other cancers. It costs almost 500,000. But the drug company, novartis says it is looking for ways to make sure that the patients who need it get it. Linzie janis, abc news, new york. And nearly 500,000 Heart Patients with implanted pacemakers could be vulnerable to hackers. A voluntary recall has been made because of recently discovered security flaws. Patients will need to visit their doctors to get a firmware update. In order to prevent potential tampering with pacemaker settings. And american dads are getting older. The average age of the father of a newborn is 31, a jump of three and a half years from the past three decades. Researchers found the oldest dads were in the northeast, the youngest in the south. Well, when we come back, the every day heroes stepping up to help the victims of harvey. Thats next. Youre watching world news now. He victims of harvey. Thats next. Youre watching world news now. And you look amazing. Ly comfortable. When your vneck looks more like a uneck. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Add downy to keep your collars from stretching. Unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth. And strengthen fibers. So, dont halfwash it. Downy and its done. Were getting in some new were getting in some new images of victims riding out that storm at shelters all over texas. But some victims are riding out the storm in style, thanks to a small Furniture Store chain that opened its doors, beds and couches to those in needs. Now were learning the owner didnt just stop there. Abcs matt gutman caught up with him. Reporter this is jim mcingvale, better known as mattress mack. Saves you money i am mattress mack, how can i help . Reporter a beloved local businessman with a texassized personality. And since 1981, hes owned the highend gallery Furniture Stores in houston. Soon after the winds started blowing, 66yearold mack went from selling to giving. We got lotting of beds, lots of food, lots of water. Reporter offering a free port in the storm. Mack had plenty of takers. He said a lucky few hundred came in on their own, others rescued by his own delivery trucks. We picked up about 200 people stranded on bridges, Convenience Stores, walking through the water with snakes and alligators. Reporter they all found shelter at macks two houston stores and warehouses where they could recover from their struggles on beds and couches with High Altitude price tags. We said the hell with profits. Lets take care of the people. Thats the right thing to do. Thats the way i was brought up. Reporter this has also become a crash pad for a National Guard company on break. These 12,000 beds quite the upgrade from their standard issue cots. And hes not concerned about any wear and tear. When they said gallery furniture, i said think got to be joking. Reporter this is carol. Shes here with her daughter and two grandsons, home for the past few days has been this living room display. You were also in katrina. I was also in katrina. I never thought going here we would experience the same thing, but we did. Reporter this time she was rescued by the Fire Department which brought her to macks place. He didnt have to do this. He made us so comfortable. When i left home i left home without some of my medications and medical equipment, and they supplied it. Reporter countless other businesses are also stepping up. Bakery workers here stuck at work stayed up all night, baking bread to feed First Responders. Restaurants, giving away free meals to rescuers as well. And even airbnb teaming up with their hosts to offer free rooms to evacuees. This is where we have all our dogs staying. Reporter and back here at macks place, doing everything they can to make their temporary guests more comfortable. Nearing his seventh decade, mack himself literally worked 24 hours straight, despite it all, his store, amazingly, is still open for business. You know, somebody said, are you all still a shelter or a Furniture Store. I said we can be both. Its not an either or proposition. Reporter and walking by those mattresses stacked high, we came across ruby hayes reaching out to mattress mack. Spent your 84th birthday here. She says harvey took everything from her. And right there, mack does Something Better than dry off her tears. Ill give you a mattress for your birthday, hows that . I got to give you a birthday present. Happy birthday. Nice to see you. Reporter a true testament to the spirit of texas. Ah, what a wonderful gift. A wonderful man for what hes doing there. And he did during katrina as well. Yeah, hes done this before. I also do love thats pointing out, were still open for business. You can still buy something. Matt gutman asked him, the furniture that the people are using, will you end up selling it . And he said sure, ill come up with some kind of schtick. He has built his storing on an elevated concrete bed so that they would be flood proof. Brilliant in knowing that houston, a large part of the city is in a floodplain. Yeah, he figured purposely, he could avoid the floods himself and provide shelter for those in need. One of the folks who was there at the shelter said its sort of like a Slumber Party on steroids. They also said that theyve accepted donations throughout, but now all they need is cleaning supplies. Lots of donations there. W all they need is cleaning supplies. Lots of donations there. Re. I love you, couch. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet, backsweat, and gordos. Everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Soft surfaces trap odors. Febreze fabric refresher cleans them away for good. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up to 45 days. Breathe happy with febreze. Clearasil rapid action begins working fast for clearly visible results in as little as 12 hours. But can ot fix this teens skateboarding mishap . Nope. So lets be clear clearasil works fast on teen acne, not so much on other teen things. Tand, our adulte children are here. So, we save by using tide. Which means we use less. Three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. Those are moms. Anybody seen my pants . Nothing cleans better. Put those on dad its got to be tide. Weve seen so many people opening their hearts, their home and their wallets to help those affected by harvey. Tune in today to good morning, america and join Robin Roberts for the telethon throughout the day. On abc, the network called free form as well as radio disney. They have a panel of celebrities fielding calls as well. Give them a ring, have a little chat, you never know who may pick up the phone. The guest list still a surprise, but we are being told and authorized to tell you there are some big names in sports, tv and actors and some singers youve probably heard of. Probably. There you go. Thats insider information. A few hints for you, and those are not the only celebrities stepping in of course to help in this effort. Weve been keeping an eye on j. J. Watt, plays for the Houston Texans and a huge force in trying to raise money. He originally laid out a goal of 200,000. Raised that in under two hours. A few days later he raised the goal to 6 million. Immediately reached that. Well, now j. J. Has increased his goal on the site to 10 million. Theyre already approaching that as well. And the goal, he said, theyve got semi Truck Drivers donating time and trucks, and all the money will go to the goods going into the trucks, generators, clothing, food, cleaning supplies, and theyre trying to make sure the money gets directly to the people who need it. The boys just returned to houston after doing practice somewhere else. So a lot of them got to see the damage close up yesterday. Theres a rapper in houston whos pretty popular down there called trae the truth. You see him on the left. And hes been doing some great work. Trae was rescued by a boat. After he got rescued, hes been going out by boat with a friends boat from san antonio, and rescuing people on his own. He actually rescued Orlando Magic basketball star and forward jonathan simmons. You see him there. Who just happened to show up and trae was there. Paying it forward. He got rescued himself. And decided now that im here, i might as well rescue a few others myself. And Miranda Lamberts foundation is focussing on animals. Weve seen lots of videos of pets stranded. Theyve been able to rescue 72 dogs. There are so many that have been stranded unfortunately. Dont miss our updates on wnnfans. Com. Includ good thursday morning. Im kendis gibson. Good thursday morning. Im kendis gibson. And im diane macedo. Here are the headlines were following on world news now. The death toll in texas is rising with harvey blamed for taking 30 lives. Thousands have been rescued, including residents of a nursing home in port arthur where at least 70 people were trapped. People in texas are beginning to return home. And begin the massive cleanup process. Debris includes everything from once prized possessions to soggy carpet and drywall. The city of houston resumes trash pickup today. The pentagon has revealed there are currently 11,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan, about 3,000 more than initially reported. And that number is expected to grow to 15,000 in the next few months. And President Trump pushing to revamp the tax code, calling on congress. To approve cuts to bring back main street, he says and help small businesses. Those are some of our top stories on this thursday, august 31st. From abc news, this is world news now. Good morning, everyone. Were going to start this half hour with another round of heavy flooding in east texas, near the louisiana border. Forecasters say a downgraded harvey is poised to unleash at least another four to eight inches of rain today and tomorrow increasing the risk of more flooding before its over. And reservoirs are overflowing and were learning this morning that rising floodwaters knocked out the entire water supply for the city of beaumont, texas. 31 people in this storm are confirmed dead. That is expected to climb. And with the new flooding, thousands of marine and National Guard troops have been deployed. Gio benitez is outside beaumont. With new details. Reporter beaumont and port arthur, texas, flooded. Residents waking up to this. I10 completely under water. Cars submerged, and in some cases water reaching rooftops. Families in agony, waving white towels, signaling for help. In the last 24 hours, the storm tragically claiming two lives, 41yearold colette seltzer died, her 3yearold clinging to her, her little girl miraculously in stable condition. In port arthur, they rushed to this nursing home. More than 70 elderly patients in bedrooms and hallways. Workers gathering desperately needed oxygen tanks and medicine. Outside, local residents with their own boats taking them to safety. A military chopper later landing on the highway to airlift some out. City officials pleading for volunteers to come with boats to help with rescues. And we were there as so many stranded beaumont residents finally made it to dry land. How are you feeling right now . Scared. Dont know which way to go. Losing everything. Floating, floating, floating, floating. Reporter crystal dortch placing this plea on facebook from her living room, her three children huddle together on a table. The family rescued and safe. In nearby port arthur, even the shelters flooding. Enough is enough. We need help. Reporter people piling on bleachers. Trying to get to higher ground. They, too, are safe, as we met the every day neighbor saving so many lives. You are heroes, getting all these people out of there. Were not hero. There are a lot more people hero than us. Reporter this is truly the citizens armada. Were talking about every day people coming from all over the place. More of them coming in right now. And theyre not just coming from texas and louisiana. Theyre coming from nevada, oregon, north carolina, and i can tell you, they arent going home anytime soon. Thanks, gio. The department of defense is paying a role in that effort. 24,000 National Guard troops are deployed in south texas. 14,000 of them are from the lonestar state and 10,000 from other states. So far the guard has made 8500 rescues and evacuated 26,000 people. The marines, coast guard, navy and air force are pitching in. Theyre providing air support. More than 60 military aircraft along with two navy warships. People with boats are coming, even as far as north carolina, mobilized on social media, arriving at a staging area. Earlier in the week, the cajun navy arrived from louisiana. They have experienced some flooding in their own state of course last year. And they put those resources that they gathered at that time now to good use in texas well. The people of texas certainly appreciating all the help. More than 32,000 people are housed in emergency shelters. Hundreds of shelters are filling up with people in desperate need. An estimated 500 shelters now up and running. 500 shelters. Think about that. And that figure includes schools, businesses and churches. In the meantime, the red cross is bracing now for relief effort that will last weeks. They have 12,000 volunteers there on the ground, and hundreds more are on the way right now. And the harvey may have moved on, but its left behind another deadly danger. Authorities are on alert because of the growing risk of an explosion at a flooded Chemical Plant. It could happen at any hour. Abcs Clayton Sandell reports. Reporter crosby, texas is dealing with too much water and now the potential for fire or worse. The new danger coming from a flooded manufacturing plant, the ceo of arkema says he fears chemicals will catch fear or explode within six days. Adding there is no way to prevent it. In a statement, they describe the situation toe plant as serious. Dozens of homes are nearby. And everyone living within a one and a halfmile radius have been ordered to evacuate, their family, pets, whatever they can carry, leaving in school buses and military vehicles. The chemicals used to make things like hoses, foam cups and plastic pipes need to be kept cold, but more than 40 inches of rain knocked out electricity, killed backup generators and now threatens the remaining cold storage units. What is not clear is how big a fire or explosion might be and what impact it might have on people and the environment. Right now federal, state and local officials are watching closely. Clayton sandell, abc news, houston. Quite a sce