Recede, rescuers find more bodies. The storms death toll now up to 28 and is expected to rise. Pushing tax cuts. As the debate begins on how to pay for the recovery in texas and louisiana, President Trump hits the road, calling for sweeping stacks cutax cuts. Right now hes only offering an outline. Does anybody have the actual numbers . We want to welcome our viewers around the world. Wolf blitzer is out and im jim sciutto in the situation room. Urgent rescues are under way right now in Southeast Texas after Tropical Storm harvey made a second landfall in nearby louisiana. Harvey is finally moving on, but not quickly enough. It dumped 26 inches of rain in the past 24 hours alone on port arthur, texas. The mayor today declared, quote, our whole city is under water. That includes a nursing home where floodwaters trapped residents there for hours. Also flooded, a shelter which evacuees had to abandon after the water rose right under their cots. Police are pleading now for more rescue boats. The governor of texas says the disaster region is far larger than that of Hurricane Katrina or superstorm sandy. Onethird of the houston area now submerged. The full scope of the catastrophe revealed as the sun came out today for the first time over the city. First responders and volunteers are going door to door in small boat boats, evacuating people trapped by the floods. The citys police chief says there has been 60,000 to 70,000 calls for help. Fema has called for volunteers to save houses when those waters finally recede. 14,000 texas guard troops have been activated and the governor says 10,000 more are on the way from other states. Well hear from flood advisers and local officials and correspondents and guests standing by with full coverage of the breaking news. Take a look right now. These are live pictures. A cnn exclusive, our Martin Savage on this Navy Helicopter here which is flying search and rescue missions over beaumont, texas. Right there, one of those lucky enough to be saved aboard that helicopter right now. Crews from on board that helicopter, the people youre seeing there, have just been lifted to safety by a Navy Helicopter. That Navy Helicopter still over those floodwaters looking for more of the many texas residents who are still trapped by the floodwaters. Lets go straight to texas now, and thats where cnn Senior Correspondent drew griffin is in hardhit beaumont, texas. Drew, tell us what the conditions are there now. We know that earlier you saw some rescues underway. Reporter theyre happening all over the place. The good news is harvey is finally moving on. The rain has abated, almost stopped. But dont let that fool you. The danger, the crisis, continues all across Southeast Texas right now with rescues in many places, water still rising. This emergency, jim, is still on. A deepening humanitarian crisis in houston and throughout Southeast Texas. Amid the historic flooding, victims are fleeing to shelters, convention halls, churches, even a Bowling Alley and a Furniture Store now house flood victims. They said water was rising, time to go. So thats what we did. Reporter the destruction is spreading beyond houston. Beaumont and port arthur, texas got pummeled with 26 inches of rain in 24 hours. The mayor of port arthur says his whole city is now under water. This shelter flooding overnight compounding the misery for people already leaving their homes. Multiple agencies are still making rescue after rescue while many more are still waiting for help. Emergency crews race against time to reach those trapped in their homes. How long were you in there . Three days. Reporter amid the devastation, extraordinary acts of humanity. These two residents lost their homes, but are are working around the clock themselves to save their neighbors. Eat something, dry up a little bit, get a little bit of energy, a little bit of coffee in our system and were back out. Reporter this group forming a human chain to save an elderly man from rushing water. As we prepared to go live on cnn, a man mistook a flooded ravine for a street and drove right into the water. Look at this. Get out, dude you got a power cord . You got a rope . Hold on, im trying to get you a rope. Brian, call 911. Hold on, sir. Can you grab his car . Grab it now. Wrap it around your okay. Okay. Come on, buddy. Are you all right now, buddy . Yeah. Take your breath. Were going to get you off of this bank. How you doing . Great. Reporter later we were able to catch up with jerry summerall. It was all flooded and i just got i was kind of disoriented. I was looking at the water and i thought i just hit a curb, and then i was going to go on the road. Only it wasnt a road, it was a canal. Did you think, dang, what did i do . No kidding. I thought it was the end. If it wouldnt have been for your crew, i would have drowned, i swear to god. Reporter jim, there are many emergencies like that occurring all across texas. And people responding all over texas to this emergency, and theyre going to need it, because as the waters eventually do go down, the misery is going to be revealed and try to build back all these homes, these businesses, this entire community from this historic flood. Jim . Well, small acts of kindness and heroism like that making all the difference for people suffering from these storms. Our drew griffin there, thank you very much. I want to show you these remarkable and i want to be clear, these are live pictures from on board a u. S. Navy rescue helicopter. It has just picked up seven people out of the water in beaumont, texas. Beaumont, texas some of the hardest hit areas. You can see its just landed here noumpl to dry land where that family can get out of safety. That helicopter is going to take off. After the storm hit the coast there, people still stranded in their homes and in the water, and you have rescues like this going on every hour, every day, all day and through the night. And were seeing a lucky family there right now. Seven people rescued from the waters by the u. S. Navy. As the rain moved on to the east, the sun finally appeared over houston, revealing the full extent of the catastrophe there. Rescuers out in force still looking for people trapped by the floodwaters. Cnns brian todd accompanied some of those rescues by the water. Brian, tell us the number of people youve seen in need today and how those rescuers are able to get to them. Reporter well, they could only really get to them, jim, on these boats. This air boat that were on and some of these other private boats behind me, fishing boats and others. Just a moment ago, we were told there are some more people in need of rescuing in an apartment complex back into this lake forest neighborhood. They thought they had gotten everyone out, but they have not. Were told the Coast Guard Boat needs to get a little ahead of us because the power of this boat is just too great. We have to let them get ahead of us in the neighborhood. Were going to follow them there and see if we can see who in the apartment complex needs to be rescued. This is a staging area where we just so the some rescuees being dropped off here. They can be dropped off here where theyre picked up by trucks and taken to some dryer areas. One other thing weve noticed, jim, these waters have really risen just overnight and into today because of the release of the Addicks Reservoir that controlled release really flooded the buffalo bayou, and these waters came up today after the brunt of the storm had already passed. These people thought they had dodged a bullet. It came up to our chests in some cases. People were pulled from houses and apartment buildings. We were also told just a moment ago that people, not kids, telling people there is a mandatory evacuation. There is not a mandatory evacuati evacuation. One of these men is a dea agent thinks kids are telling people that so they can go in their homes and possibly loot them. You have a law situation here developing in these neighborhoods where people are trying to take advantage of some, jim. Thats always a danger in catastrophes like this, but you make a good point there, brian. The water continues to rise. The water has to go somewhere. Theyve been coming through rivers, theyve been coming through reservoirs and that means people still in danger. Brian todd, thank you so much. Joining me now in beaumont, texas, is congressman weber. Port arthur completely under water, battered as the storm continues along the gulf coast. Congressman weber, thank you for joining us. I want to ask you if you could give us the latest update on the situation in your district . Yeah, thank you, jim, for having me. Actually im in friendswood which is a ways away from beaumont but beaumont is my district. Tell us what the need is there and how many more people do you believe are still in need of rescue . Jim, its unbelievable. This is the widest flooding. I was born and raised on the gulf coast 63 years. I have three districts, Galveston County and the southern half of Galveston County. My wife and i are going through the suburbs and there are still people trapped in houses. Youre seeing the rain and the flood that made its way over to Jefferson County as harvey moved east. There is probably thousands, if not tens of thousands of people out there in the beaumont port arthur area that need evacuation. There are going to be shelters set up. Its so widespread, its incredible. Youre saying that still today there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, who are still in need of rescue in the beaumont and port arthur area . I dont know if its strictly in Jefferson County, im talking about across my district. Jim, there are people who stayed in their houses. What you have to remember is that the floodwaters are coming and going. Theyve gone up i mean, theyve gone down and then they come back up. Because were getting rainwater down our rivers that was deposited in texas up above us, and youve got some dams and reservoirs that the army corps of engineers is having to let water out of so the dam doesnt get compromised, crack or break. This thing is not over yet. Theyre still talking about flooding occurring in houses. 10,000 may be an exaggeration, maybe its three, four, five, six thousand. But i tell you, there are a lot of people out there to be rescued. Those numbers still staggering. Do you believe you have the resources necessary to get to those people still awaiting rescue . Weve been watching live footage from a u. S. Navy helicopter and just the scope of the devastation is overwhelming. Well, yes, we dont have enough. We had marines being deployed, we have amphibious what they call tracks being deployed, they can go through water. You never have enough. We couldnt figure out assets because you dont know what rain will fall into which watershed, so you can never plan which assets to put one over another. But i know youre seeing the great citizens that have come together. People from other states, theyve brought boats in and theyre bringing people out. We actually set up an email address, harveydisaster gmail. Com if they have a question or a need or if they know someone who needs to be rescued. Im happy we got this kind of great response. Nobody could have ever anticipated how widespread this flood was going to be. Listen, as we watch from that helicopter there, im just imagining how many homes where people may still be looking for aide. We understand that two u. S. Navy ships are going to be deployed from newark, new jersey. The military brings a lot of assets that local Law Enforcement doesnt have. More aircraft, more surface boats, et cetera. Do you think you need the navy now, to call in the navy to get these people to safety . Well, it will depend on the rain. You know, if the rain stops and as much of the water is let out of those dams and reservoirs that we talked about heres what i know. Right now were in the stage of rescuing people, protecting lives, getting people and animals out. We want to be sure we get everybody rescued to a safe, dry place and get them warm clothes, an environment with medical attention, get that taken care of. At some point well come back and assess exactly how the process went. No, we dont have enough assets on the ground. We literally there are humvee vehicles, military vehicles that have been picking people up. As i said, amphibious vehicles, helicopters that you saw, small air boats that have been going in there. We could use lots more to get these people out as quickly as possible. So once its all over and done with, we will assess how this went. Weve got experience on the texas gulf coast with a hurricane. This kind of flood, we have experience with floods. But this is a flood of what they would call biblical proportions, and that nag tmagnitude, you cot have had enough assets in place for it. Biblical proportions, i was just thinking of that also. Congressman, were thinking of you, were thinking of residents of your staff there. So thank you again. Bless you, jim. The helicopter is over one of the hardest hit areas here. Beaumont, texas. All that water and the water is still rising. Its coming from further north in the state. Its flowing down to cities and towns like this. Were joined by pentagon correspondent barbara starr. So now we know the u. S. Navy is being called in to help. How long will it take for those ships to get from norfolk to the state of texas . Reporter its going to take a couple days, two amphibious warships. They will come with significant ability. The main thing they can do is stay offshore, fly their helicopters over the impact area. Theyre going to have anywhere from 200 to 400 marines with them, but they dont have to live off this devastated community. Theyre going to come with their own food, water, housing. They stay on board the ship, they fly back and forth. Your previous guest was talking about this. Get enough assets into the area and get people out so youre seeing that the active duty responders across the region mobilize, but tliterally, the ar power, the land power to begin to move across this area hopefully more rapidly and get people out. So look at these helicopter pictures. Unbelievably dramatic. What they are doing right now, as you look at this, they have people on board, military personnel, navy and air force, and they are scanning continuously. They are looking for any signs on the ground, people on rooftops, people waving sheets or towels out of their windows, people who have to be rescued who are in imminent danger from the floodwaters, and the only way to get to them is by helicopter. If somebody is on their roof, these are the kind of helicopters, these types of helicopters, that fly overhead, they lower a basket with a rescue person attached and then or they have a belt and they bring these people up to their helicopters. It is dangerous precision work. The problem is they can only rescue a couple people at a time, then they have to go back, reload, essentially. But, you know, you dont want to call this a military operation. This is humanitarian Disaster Relief. But its the same skill set that they do use in a combat zone. If theyre in a combat zone, theyre looking for targets. Right now they are looking for people desperate to get out, jim. Well, the u. S. Navy, as you know, barbara, has enormous experience with humanitarian aid. Even going back to the asia tsunami, kalt ctrina. They know how to do it and they do it well. This is a live picture from aboard one of the u. S. Navy helicopte helicopters, in fact, a joint operation between the u. S. Navy and the u. S. Air force. Flooded homes, flooded neighborhoods, flooded communities. Were joined now as well by retired rear admiral john kirby, spokesman for the state department, certainly knows a thing or two about the navys capabilities. John, as we get a true scope of the disaster, that looks like a job for the u. S. Navy. As barbara said, the navy and the marine corps can be of assistance from the air and also on the ground. You can tell just from looking at the devastation, the widespread flooding, certainly there are military capabilities that can be brought to bear, not just by the navymarine corps but by the national service. This is going to take weeks, if not months. I think everybody in the military who has contributed to this realizes they could very well be involved in some way for quite some time. One question ive had from the beginning, as you go through these neighborhoods, and weve seen this helicopter hovering over this community, how scientific, if thats the word, are they doing this search and rescue . Are they setting up a grid so they know what areas theyve covered before, theyre not doubling up so they know where aid has not reached yet . I suspect theyre under fema, that theyre not just out cowboying this thing and doing it on their own. I suspect theyre giving areas that they want to fly, that hasnt been searched. But i suppose theyre looking for navy and civil authorities not to supplant them. Well be back as we watch these live pictures, the Navy Helicopters searching the communities of beaumont, texas looking for survivors. We saw a live rescue on air, a family of seven pulled up to safety on that helicopter. Please stay with us. Well be back after this short break. Lets see, there are the wildcats til we die weekenders. The watch me let if fly. This i gotta try weekenders. Then weve got the bendy. Spendy weekenders. The tranquility awaits. Hanging with our mates weekenders and the its been quite a day. So glad we got away weekenders. Whatever kind of weekender you are, theres a hilton for you. Book your weekend break direct at hilton. Com and join the weekenders. Duncan just protected his family with a 500,000 Life Insurance policy. How much do you think it cost him . 100 a month . 75 . 50 . Actually, duncan got his 500,000 for under 28 a month. Less than 1 a day his secret . Selectquote. 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