there have already been some rescues. rob schmidt right now in morgan city, louisiana and rob, as we watched you through the past six or so hours, it seems as though conditions keep getting worse. >> yeah, they do. the wind comes and felt like a couple times i would get knocked over. but right now there's a little bit of a reprieve, as i say that it kicks up. there's the wind. we're about 75 miles to the south and west of new orleans, closer to the storm than new orleans will get, but we're probably 50 or so miles from the eye of this thing right now and in the eye of that storm is about a 75 mile per hour sustained wind, this is now a category 1 hurricane, barry is. we're getting gusts about that speed and at times it can be painful. the water smacks the side of your face. this is a big water and rain concern, a lot of people live at or below sea level and this is a very slow-moving storm, this is barely moving. you can walk faster than this and it's just going to park and barely move over southern louisiana and dump a lot of rain. how much we don't know yet, but they're expecting from 10 to 24 inches i've heard in the forecasting, depending where you live. so, that's a big concern because that's a lot of rain and some of these rivers get above the levees and you know, you see the same problem that we've seen here many times in the past, and most notably back when we had katrina in 2005. nobody wants to see something like that again. the government has spent a lot of money in louisiana trying to shore up the problems and vulnerabilities to make this area safer for these kind of storms, especially the big water storms like this is going to be. people hear a category 1 hurricane they're not worried about that. the category tells you how much wind you'll get. rain and water is what killed most of the people in katrina, and this is going to be a wet storm. as we know, the mississippi river, we've seen it into the spring and summer have been swelled. they've had flooding last week even before this storm was really a thing. so, everything's already high. there's already a lot of water and there's a lot more coming here in the next 48 hours. how much is what we don't know. this storm as we know right now is moving very slow here in morgan city, people are -- it's very quiet. there's nobody out. there's no evacuation orders for new orleans and for most of the bigger cities down here, there's know the an evacuation order, it's a stay in place, hunker down, don't go outside. but that doesn't mean that this isn't a dangerous storm. guys, back to you. >> all right, rob, we'll continue watching you and your picture as the storm moves ever closer. rob, thanks. >> now, east of morgan city towards the mississippi river and live pictures of a very wet french quarter in new orleans, a few tourists and residents are still venturing out into the elements just outside of the city. our own casey stegall is on the ground in slidell. casey. >> yeah, kristin, this is not far from nola metro itself where we started our day, but now we moved up north which is on the north shore of lake ponchartrain and we want to show you why we decided to come here. this is one of the low lying areas, one of many that really are all around this lake. slidell, here, as i'm walking, i'm walking into the road so it was dry back there because obviously that's much higher elevation, but this here, the water totally rushing over the road. not that deep and we're seeing people drive through it even though that's technically a big no-no. where is all the water coming from? look through that fence. see the white caps? that's lake ponchartrain, the reason why water is so high there, just like it is in the mississippi, we have these unusually high levels because of all of the spring rains, and the extremely wet conditions. the ponchartrain goes into lake bourne which feeds into the gulf of mexico. when you've got a storm surge it's felt up into this body of water. however, you see back here these beautiful homes that dot the perimeter of the lake, these various communities, they're up on stilts. these are low lying areas so the folks here are prepared at least for the most part and that's the good news so long as it doesn't keep just coming up. quickly, we want to show you another spot. myrtle grove, louisiana down in plaquemines parish, the lt. governor sending these images, this is water over topping a levee there, it is not a breach, it's not a break and it's not the mississippi river levee, but highway 23. the only road in and out is apparently in jeopardy of flooding, as the water is starting to rise in that location, and that is an area that's under mandatory evacuation orders, so the good news is, hopefully many people listen to those warnings and got out ahead of time. they're moving emergency equipment, emergency equipment in to try and make repairs and real quickly, as we're live, this gentleman here, you can see driving through, it isn't that deep, but as you always hear them say, turn around, don't drown because sometimes it can be deceptive and may only be a few inches in a couple of spots, but then you have a quick drop-off and it doesn't take much moving water to fully pick up a truck or a car so that's why they're asking folks to stay off the streets pretty much for the most part until this thing, at least the bulk of barry gets through. leland and kristin, back to you guys. kristin: casey, you've covered so many storms, hurricanes, thunderstorms in that region in the past. i know it's still very early and the worst is still to come. i'm curious what your take is so far how this storm is comparing in terms of flooding and in terms of how many people are actually listening to these evacuation orders? >> it's a good question. the thing that makes this one so different, and i think the reason why you're seeing so much coverage of it, first of all, it's the first hurricane of the season, but second of all, the mississippi river and lake ponchartrain as i just said, these are extremely high, and usually, for example, the mississippi river down there that goes along and snakes through nola, around the big easy, it's only six or eight feet above sea level typically at this time of year and right now it's at like 16 feet. so when you have water that's that high and then you're talking about a tropical system coming through that has the potential to drop a tremendous amount of rain and we've seen those same models, potentially 20 inches of rain in some isolated areas, that exacerbates the situation because the water levels are so high. when it comes to the evacuations, i've got to say these folks are an interesting bunch. they've seen a whole lot of storms, they've seen cat 4's and cat 5 hurricanes coming their way. some of us have told us this is kind of nothing, but we don't want to clearly make light of the situation because it's extremely dangerous and it is just starting to come on shore. but, again, that's sort of the attitude that we have as we've talked to some of the folks who even are down here and who even have water in their yards. they live down here, it's low lying. it's just part of it. >> you hear cat 1 and it's, you know, for this storm, they're worried about the flooding not the wind speed, a very important distinction there. >> exactly. kristin: casey stegall, appreciate your expertise especially on this. leland: and we've got people watching the hurricane. and rick reichmuth is in the weather center watching hurricane barry coming to shore and we keep saying the worst is yet to come. >> it's an interesting thing, even in the meteorology community have a hard time with messaging. everything is about messaging to the public to create safety for people. so people are used to hurricanes, they think that hurricane creates a certain level of worriness or such. this is a storm that hurricane-- if it gets to a hurricane or a tropical storm, it doesn't matter. it's about the water that's already in place because of a really snowy winter, a thousand miles to the north and wet spring, also to the north. that's the reason why this story matters and where that 20 inch-ish rain band lines up matters. if it happens right over new orleans, it's much different than if it happens 30, 40 miles west of new orleans. that's why we've had so much concern. i will tell you so far it looks like things are looking good for new orleans, to the west of it. the center of the storm, there's a bit of a center to the south cutting off marshall islands. two hours away we've got this pummelling the mobile area and biloxi and seeing rain along the i-65 corridor from mobile up to montgomery that's where we're at breakup point of rain and then we've got the rain that's really the bulk of it, the heaviest to the south of it here of the coast. somewhere around marsh island there, it's an unpopulated island just some kind of a fishing area, but we're seeing the rain move in and the heaviest of the rain and the wind we've been seeing is to the south. this is a buoy out in the ocean to record weather conditions and we've seen winds gusting as high as 91 is miles per hour, that was about four hours ago and we're still seeing winds gusting into the 70's, so a lot of windy conditions off shore, that's going to rotate on shore over the next two hours and you can see the center of what is now hurricane barry, that's the center of it. but if you look at the satellite image, all the energy is to the south of it. that's all moisture that's going to be pulled up to the north over the next couple of days. by the time we get towards, say, monday, this storm has moved just out of louisiana in towards arkansas, the center of the storm, that's only about 250 miles or so, that's a very short distance to go in two-days, because of that we expect to see so much rain here and the national weather service has issued a high threat for significant flooding right here in southeastern louisiana. in baton rouge, morgan city over to new iberia and lafayette, watch for significant flooding that could happen quickly. it's marshland and bayous, and could see levees break, hopefully not, that could be compromised. that's a concern. even up to the north almost where the ohio river and mississippi river meet and we're talking about the very significant threat of flooding. this is why over the next few days take a look at this, we'll talk about widespread five inches of rain all the way up towards western kentucky, parts of arkansas, parts of missouri. so it's a widespread event here, guys, not just that coastal thing so we have to watch it for a long time. leland: rick, you made an important point in terms of messaging and in terms of the first couple of hours as you see the storm come on shore we've got the crews down there and you kind of look at it, well, it's a bad storm, but not that impressive in terms of the wind speeds and et cetera. how long until we know where that 20 inch rain band comes on shore, whether or not it dumps along the mississippi or whether new orleans or some of the larger cities dodge that proverbial bullet? >> i think we feel pretty good that the worst of it will be to the west of new orleans. most of our forecasting, pretty much all of our forecasting now cutting a line from morgan city up to baton rouge. that's probably the bullseye. you'll notice a quick gradient here. you go 50 miles and an inch or two of rain and baton rouge might see 20 inches of rain. that, i believe, is pretty confidently where we're going to see the bullseye of the rain. new orleans is on the edge of it. i don't want anybody there to be not worried and obviously, a lot of this water still has to drain down through the mississippi. so, that mississippi that's backed up. it's been over flood stage for about 180 days, here across the mississippi and now we're adding a ton of water that's got to get in there and drain back down the mississippi. leland: watch, worry and wait and rick will be tracking it for us as the rain comes down. thanks so much. >> you bet. leland: kristin. kristin: joining us by phone is louisiana congressman clay higgins, whose district is threatened with severe flooding. congressman you're about 40 miles north of where barry is expect today make landfall. what is concerning you the most right now? >> yes, well, it's the water level's already high, it's saturated and the management systems were already at levels that could not receive much more rain, and this storm is going to produce a tremendous amount of rainfall. so once you combine already high levels and saturated grounds with heavy rainfall, and the storm surge, we're looking at storm surge, three to six feet in these large areas of louisiana's coast. my entire area for sure, it's due south of me. we're very concerned about that combination of storm surge, heavy rainfall, hitting already saturated lands and high water system that's already reached maximum levels. so when that happens, you have a lot of power outage because the root systems of trees, they're saturated and weakened and there's some hurricane level, and winds into the formula, you've got trees down and roads flooded, and the water management systems cannot handle that much rain and that much storm surge at one time. so we're looking at a lot of power outage, flash flooding, and some pretty dangerous conditions is why we've been getting so much preparation done the last couple of days. kristin: right, congressman, we've been seeing images of water going over at least one levee near new orleans. the levee is not breached. make that a clear distinction, but some $15 billion have been poured into the levee system since katrina. how confident are you that the levees are going to hold up in the storm? >> you're confident in the levees, until they fail. that's the nature of a levee system. i spoke with all the agencies and government officials, the governor's office, the fema, corps of engineers, we've been in contact with, coast guard. we've identified with the levee, various levee systems. most of those areas would be topping into -- into the failures like -- so the danger is mitigated by the exact spots where levees might be topped and you just watch them very, very closely and you're standing by to respond and of course, the evacuation orders are-- cover large areas. kristin: yes. >> folks have to comply with that. we have-- in louisiana we've been through a lot of storms and we'll get through this one. kristin: we wish you and your constituents around the region the best as they try to ride out the storm and we know the worst is yet to come. congressman higgins, thank you. >> yes, ma'am. leland: barry is moving in order at 6 miles per hour. we expect a press conference from the louisiana governor at 12:30 central time, that's just about 15 minutes to update us ahead of the storm's landfall. as hurricane barry is sweeping through the gulf coast there's a storm of its own sense here in washington d.c. as the trump administration is dealing up with the shake-up and the resignation of labor secretary acosta. ellison barber joining us with the latest from the white house. hi, ellison. >> hey, leland. president trump declared a national emergency in the state of louisiana on thursday, authorizing the department of homeland security and fema to coordinate disaster relief efforts. fema is authorized to provide equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency and the declarations as the emergency protective measures as limited direct federal assistance provided at 75% federal funding. here is vice-president mike pence. >> people in new orleans and baton rouge, all across louisiana should just listen to state and local emergency management personnel and heed their warnings. we pray that this storm goes through without any loss of life or significant damage. all of our hearts are in louisiana. >> all of this as the president loses yet another member of his cabinet. this week, a number of democratic lawmakers called on labor secretary alex acosta to resign in light of allegations that he mishandled the 2008 non-prosecu non-prosecutal agreement. and the president said he did not think he needed to resign, but he has accepted his resignation. >> it would be selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case that's 12 years old rather than about the amazing economy we have right now. >> there is no need at all, as far as i'm concerned. he's doing this not for himself. he's doing this for the administration. >> from 2005-2009, the outgoing secretary of labor served as the u.s. attorney for the southern district of florida and that's when he handled a case involving jeffrey epstein. epstein is behind bars in new york held on federal charges related to the sex trafficking of minors. prosecutors say between 2002 and 2005 epstein abused dozens of girls, some as young as 14. he has pled not guilty. a day before secretary acosta defended his actions in the 2008 case and indicated he would not resign. we did what we did because we wanted to see epstein go to jail. >> now, this time next week, the deputy secretary of labor, pat pa zella will step in as acting secretary and the case how it was a handled. leland: we'll see if the president has anything to say throughout the rest of the day. and now 12:20 in new orleans, louisiana. mayor cantrell holding a news conference to update the city as barry comes ashore. understand this is illegal, you're not to tamper with bare kids that have been dispersed by the city of new orleans. any of our partners, high water vehicles and boats remain pre-staged around the city. should water rescues be needed, again, we're expecting a heavy rain event that will start to y today, the afternoon, tonight, and into tomorrow. call 911 for any emergencies. emergencies only. this is very important. i want to just thank the citizens of new orleans. you heeded the call and you stayed off of our streets after 8 p.m. last night. we will remain consistent with that message. again, this evening, asking you to stay off the streets being prepared to shelter in place. you heeded the call, you did great and although you may not have seen rainfall as we've been discussing, it is coming our way. so please continue to listen and react accordingly. and we appreciate you so much. i have to say. and it's worth repeating as you'll hear, i'm sure, throughout this press conference. at this time i'm going to turn it over to other agencies, as you know, as this is what we do, and i'm going to start with our director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, mr. colin arnold at this time. >> thanks. good morning, everybody. latest update we just saw before coming in here was that category 1 hurricane barry has made landfall near morgan city and obviously they're in our thoughts. we've been in this situation before. we're still in this situation with barry. as the mayor said, barry has slowed. the timeline is being extended out and we went through a lot of winds last night and a little bit of rain, but there's rain coming and we've all seen what this looks like to the south. there's a lot of rain, a large mass that is going to be moving into our area, potentially this evening and overnight. so i would really just reiterate what the mayor said, please, you know, continue to hold the course and continue to be prepared and to carry yourself, text barry is 888777 for judgments. we can keep you informed. we'll tell you everything we know when we know it with these alerts. we've had people sign up, which is terrific. continue with your supplies and follow us at social media@knollo ready. >> thank you so much, colin. come on up, colonel. . >> thank you, mayor. i've just got a couple of comments that are very short. one, again, as you've heard me, the last two days, i want to thank everybody for support, not only the media and the cooperation we've had from the media, but the state, federal, local agencies that allow us, as employees of this city, to design, plan, meant to take care of our population and our visitors. you, all of you, have done a great job because yesterday it was proven and last night it was proven, you heeded our advice and you are as much a part of this partnership as we are. and so, again, we've got about 24 to 36 hours to look, follow your guidance that you're hearing this morning, and again, thank you for your contribution to this great city. >> thank you, colonel. leland: all right, the mayor and her team in new orleans holding a news conference asking people to stay the course and stay inside. the latest from rick reichmuth and the fox weather team is that the major rain band they were so worried about hitting new orleans and flooding parts of that city, are going to miss it to the west. lake morgan, louisiana, morgan city, baton rouge, we've got crews and we'll check with them in the next couple of minutes as we await a press conference by the governor, an hour from now, 1:30 eastern, 12:30 central, as hurricane barry is making its way in. you can see one of the new orleans police cars making its way through the french quarter there. a largely dry french quarter in new orleans. back to news from around the rest of the country now. vice-president mike pence has been pushing back on criticism that customs and border protection agents are providing, quote, compassionate care to migrants in detention centers and calling on congress to address the situation after the vice-president visited the facilities at the southern border. gillian turner with what the vice-president had to say and what the video showed during the visit. >> it's the first time, leland, in a very long time that americans had the opportunity to see the conditions inside these border detention facilities firsthand. it was courtesy of vice-president pence's delegation tour. he was accompanied by republican senators on his trips to the mcallen detention facilities and viewed holding areas with children and one occupied by nearly 400 adult men confined with no place to sleep. >> are you comfortable? are you being well taken care of? do you have snacks? comfortable? do you have a place to get washed up and clean? the vp thanked border patrol agents he encountered along the way and talked about what he'd seen. >> i couldn't be more impressed with the compassionate work that our customs and border protection are doing here at this facility. the truth is here at mcallen station they're operating within the very careful guidelines for he detaining the single adults. the time has come to stop the irresponsible rhetoric about the way that people are cared for and treated. >> officials in the rio grande say they've been overwhelmed, citing 700 to 1,000 arrivals in custody every single day and the democrats say it's no reason for what they call the trump administration's adomable treatmentsments there is no need for them to be arrested when they're looking at their basic human rights. >> and it's been sharply divided over partisan lines. people nationwide are bracing for ice raids, president trump's beginning tomorrow, and 2000 migrants and family members are expected to be targets in the coming days. leland: and thousands and thousands say they're not going to cooperate as the raids take place. gillian turner, kristin has a lot more on the raids. kristin: the trump administration is preparing to carry out the raids. mass roundups of migrants are expected to take part and they're expected across the united states. christina coleman has more. >> hi, kristin. after a three-week delay immigration and custom enforcement is expected to conduct a series of raids targeting undocumented immigrants in cities including in l.a. the plans are met with nationwide protests from groups that say the raids will unfairly separate and target families. here in los angeles outside of a detention center downtown. they're calling for the undocumented migrants to be released and the facilities to be shut down and they also criticize the planned ice raids which they say are designed to cause fear in the immigrant community hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside of a facility in aurora, colorado. some of them pulled down the american flag that flew in front of the facility and raised the flag of mexico in its place and local media say that some spray painted on the blue lives matter flag. and some are advising immigrants communities of their rights and authorities in so-called sanctuary cities are refusing to provide resources to ice. >> if they come to your door and ask for you, you don't have to answer, as a person who is living in their home. if they don't have a warrant with your name on it, you don't have to answer. >> president trump told reporters on friday that the focus of sunday's raids are on immigrants who have missed court appearances or have already been ordered out of the country, but unlike the initial planned raid, specific details about with tomorrow's action have not been leaked. kristin. >> christina coleman, thank you, leland. leland: in you video from louisiana continues to come in. this even before hurricane barry dropped some 20 inches of rain in places. jeff paul, baton rouge, louisiana, that's in the bulls eye as conditions deteriorate. hi, jeff. >> yeah, leland, the wind are getting stronger, the rain is picking up. why folks here in baton rouge is worried about something that happened three years ago as this storm gets closer. after the break. thanks for the ride-along, captain! i've never been in one of these before, even though geico has been- ohhh. ooh ohh here we go, here we go. you got cut off there, what were you saying? oooo. oh no no. maybe that geico has been proudly serving the military for over 75 years? is that what you wanted to say? mhmmm. i have to say, you seemed a lot chattier on tv. geico. proudly serving the military for over 75 years. you ok back there, buddy? i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean! i'll only use an oral-b! oral-b. brush like a pro. >> and a fox news alert as hurricane barry inches towards louisiana coast. the category 1 hurricane, the most dangerous and damaging part of this storm will be the rain. some 20 inches of rain expected in the worst parts. one of those parts in the bullseye, baton rouge, louise louisiana and jeff paul there as it makes its way to him. >> the rain has picked up and you can probably barely see it, but there's a huge bridge in the distance that's coming down so hard, visibility down here starting to get a little bad and every here to my right. this is what everyone is concerned about, at rains pick up and the winds strengthen. this is the mississippi river and usually there are probably four or five steps according to the locals here and you can tell how full that river is. they're not concerned about the levee breaching here because the levee is built fairly high. they're concerned about it in the low lying community and the potential to flood and historically everyone in the town talking about what happened three years ago in 2016 when there was a huge flood that killed several people, damaged a lot of homes and right now as the storm gets closer and closer, everyone here is just hoping for the best. . well, i hope it goes around. with god's help it will go around and that's what i'm hoping and praying for. >> now, as we take a live look out here, this gives you an idea how strong the wind are gett eg- getting. and some emergency folks, it might be someone from the mayor's office checking out the current situation walking along to the mississippi. and to the side of us, this is the convention center. and i'm told by police here, this is where they're staging just in case things get bad here. again, they're crossing their fingers it doesn't turn out to be one of the really big flooding events. and some of forecasts are calling for 10 to 20 inches of rain and the community with the river levels cannot handle much more. leland. leland: jeff paul 60 miles north of where the storm will make landfall. we'll check again with you, jeff, as well as rob schmidt down in morgan city. thanks. kristin: so as hurricane barry drenches louisiana of course the levees are playing a critical wall in holding back the water that's threatening new orleans. joining us now by phone, ricky from the army corps of engineers. thank you for joining us during this critical time. i know you're busy. so far how are the levees holding up? . the levees are, last night we ended up getting a bit of a gift and the river crested two feet below projection and it doesn't looks like-- i would say it's not a concern, but it's not our immediate kind of concern right now. when we're looking at the hurricane system itself, we don't see any surge that can exceed the design elevation so we're in good shape there as well. kristin: so what is your immediate concern right now? >> as we're looking at it, and it's pretty much not only for new orleans, but the entire south louisiana and mississippi area, when you're looking at the rain, it's a slow-moving storm, has the potential to put a lot of rain in a lot of places, kind of all eyes are on the rain. >> a lot of these folks are seeing the images of water going over the top of at least one of the levees near new orleans. should they not be worried about it? i want to make it clear the levee has not been breached, but when you see the wate over top of a levee, it is concerning. should folks be worried about it? >> sure, and i think that the levee that you're talking about, we have down south of new orleans in plaquemines parish, we have back levee, there's not water over the levee, but these are to protect from surge coming out of the bays. and that area, you know, this is a significant threat. this is a lot of water coming into that area. so that's not the new orleans area, this is the lower plaquemines area and stay alert and listen to local officials. kristin: and the 15 billion after katrina. what lessons did you learn that you're putting into practice today as barry hits? >> after katrina, congress provided 15 billion upfront. what we're seeing now with the system is the ability to close the system, make it a walled area, but keep the surge from being able to enter the interior, keep it out to the perimeter. we're seeing that successful right now. we're looking at plaquemines, we have work in the future that hopefully we can get them better production as well. >> i appreciate the judgment and get back to work. >> all right. >> leland. >> we'll keep watching barry as it comes ashore. also sometime this weekend, some immigration activists tells usa today it's like a hurricane they're preparing for as well. they're talking about the trump administration's mass roundup of undocumented people around the country tomorrow. skwloing us is member -- joining us. this is polarized, you have cities like denver and other places the mayor is saying, are we're not going to cooperate and protect the. and others say bring it on. as the president said we're going to round up thousands of folks. >> yeah, leland, this is an interesting thing because the people that will be removed, they have removal orders. they've gone through due process in this country unlike any other country in the world. and they've been given an opportunity to present their case and they didn't pro prevail. the courts said you need to choose after multiple opportunities to not come to court. so i'm not sure what folks really want to do in some of these cities that say, look, we don't want to obey the law and we're not going to cooperate with ice. leland: it's not even cities. what do you make of a number of your colleagues in congress putting out press releases, both in english and spanish, look, if an ice agent comes to the door, you don't need to open the door, don't need to let them in, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. that doesn't sound like part of the oath of office that hey, we're going to uphold the constitution and rule of law. >> leland, i was just going to say that exact thing. we took an oath to uphold the constitution, defend it from all enemies, foreign and domestic and when you're advocating to basically break the law, which is what they're advocating for, you're really not in tune and in harmony with your oath of office, in my opinion. if you've got problems, the place to take it up is to debate it on the floor of the house and vote up or down on a bill, which they won't let us bring the bills we think would help correct some of the issues. but i find it incredibly responsible and it puts our men and women of ice and other agencies at risk because-- >> the other thing that we hear that puts men and women of law enforcement at risk, when we heard about the oakland mayor a year or so ago, there was an ice made coming to her city and republicans across the board. i don't have a clip of you, but republicans across the board eviscerated on this point you just made. what do you make of the fact that your side of the aisle, including the president, hey, the raids are coming. this isn't make the job of what you say is important any easier. >> well, i agree with you. here is the issue though. there's a difference when you start talking about the actual practicalities and how it's going to take place and announcing there's going to be raids. you know, my opinion is, if we quietly start doing this, you'll see a tremendous deterrent effect, leland. leland: so you prefer to announce the arrest after they happen rather than to say they're coming? >> yeah, i mean, i understand one to say they're coming because you're trying to prevent a deterrent effect like the crisis on the border, but at the same time i'm trying to protect ice agents. you know what? maybe the locals as well and sanctuary. >> and we know that in certain situation if things go pear-shaped you'll have local law enforcement there backing ice up as it goes down. congressman, we appreciate it, we apologize for the short time. we've got a hurricane coming ashore, we'll get that in a minute. >> bless the people of louisiana. leland: they've been through this before. thank you, sir. >> thanks. kristin: wealthy financier jeff epstein and r. kelly both facing charges of abuse with underage girls. we'll talk with the prosecutor about the faces coming up. ♪ who can say why your heart sighs ♪ ♪ as your love 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"he later navigated northward, leaving... progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. >> new york federal prosecutors are asking a judge not to release jeffrey epstein on bail. this is after it was reported he allegedly paid thousands of dollars in hush money to witnesses more than ten years ago. so joining us now to discuss, federal prosecutor debby hines. let's start with the new allegations. prosecutors alleging he paid off not only witnesses, but accomplices. how strong is it the case? >> the case is strong. we will, it's strong case against epstein. he's paid to the tune of not thousands, but hundreds of thousands, $350,000 to two people one was a co-conspirator in his sexual assault case, they've got proof of that in the bank accounts and everything. kristin: how much time at the facing, in addition to awful things he's accused of doing, he's got a new set of hush room, bribes, payments. what are we talking? >> he's like 62, 65, he's facing 45 years as a maximum if he's convicted on the charges, so he's looking at probably if he gets convicted, spending the rest of his life in a prison. kristin: and r. kelly. >> oh, my. kristin: a different person obviously, but somebody else facing similar charges. he's facing new charges from federal prosecutors that he paid off and threatened witnesses and maybe even the victims themselves in order to try to cover up some of these crimes. how much time is he facing now? >> oh, my god, r. kelly-- i can't even. i had a hard time calculating. let's go, he has three cases, the case this cook county, illinois. he has the case, the federal case in new york and has a federal case in chicago. so when you're talking about, you have to talk about all three cases, if you're adding up the maximum for all three he's facing, it's well over the number of years that he is owed right now. so, he's really in a bit of trouble there. but they're one and the same in reality and it's really good that you linked up epstein. jeffrey epstein with r. kelly. >> in a way they're so similar. >> they're the same coin, but opposite sides. the one thing that makes them different is one is white and one a black and epstein as a bazillion dollars and r. kelly couldn't make bail. and exploitation of children, they're the same people. kristin: i want to play a clip from steve greenberg, his attorney. and essentially his defense after the new allegations. >> they've charged him in new york with enticing people and encouraging people to have sex with them. i don't think that people accidentally have sex so i'm not really sure what the criminal activity is there. kristin: i wish our viewers could have seen your face, i don't think that people accidentally have sex. >> he's talking people. let's be clear what he's talking about. this outrages me, we're talking children, children cannot consent to having sex. we are talking minors. there's no consensual there. we have to have truth to power, and what are we talking about in the case with r. kelly? i don't know if r. kelly's attorney is putting on a good face, but he's definitely not speaking truth in this situation. kristin: leland. leland: mr live pictures and th continue to track hurricane barry. this is the french quarter in new orleans. live there as doug mckelway is standing by with an update when we come back. we're the slowskys. we like drip coffee, layovers- -and waiting on hold. what we don't like is relying on fancy technology for help. snail mail! we were invited to a y2k party... uh, didn't that happen, like, 20 years ago? oh, look, karolyn, we've got a mathematician on our hands! check it out! now you can schedule a callback or reschedule an appointment, even on nights and weekends. today's xfinity service. simple. easy. awesome. i'd rather not. the mayor of louisiana-- of new orleans, pardon me, telling folks there to stay off the streets still as hurricane barry comes ashore west of the big easy. doug mckelway there tracking the storm and the weather as it continues to deteriorate. hi, doug. >> hi, i could tell you they're not staying off the streets, leland. new orleans, nevertheless, is waiting on pins and needles to see how they handle this with the upgraded levee system and storm drainage system, the first test since katrina. it makes you wonder how the city has survived for over 300 years and given it's below sea level and in a hurricane prone area. the reason for that the mississippi river. it was the main storm of commerce during the 19th century in this country on a ship like that, hopefully firmly docked. the other side you see barges firmly latched to the shoreline and hopefully they won't break free when the wind picks up. look at the levee system, if you look on this bank of the river, you'll see what's called the moonwalk, it's a pedestrian walkway, named for the former mayor, moon landreau. >> and this is the second component of the levee system and below us is a third part of the levee system, the brown structure is it a steel gate that slides on a steel ramp shut. and they are lined wherever there's an opening to the river. it's the first test, we're waiting and watching and they've invested literally billions of dollars, the u.s. army corps of ng nears has. back to you. >> 20 inches expected in some parts of the state and the storm surge on top of that. doug mckelway, we'll watch. thanks so much. tracking barry as he comes ashore just west of new orleans. the latest on the track. wind speeds and rain forecast when we come back. 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come, the slow-moving storm into landfall. rob schmidt is on the ground in morgan city with more. hi, rob. >> reporter: hey, guys. we're getting nailed right now. the winds have picked up yet again and they're really strong. we're getting gusts, occasionally gets a gus get a gt just about knocks you over. the storm is 30 miles directly to our west which puts us on the east side of the storm which is the dirty side of the storm. that's where the bulk of the rain and the wind, just the nastier side of any hurricane seems to be on the eastern side as it moves along, maybe the northern and eastern side. that's where we are. and, man, there it is. that's got to be the best gust we've felt all day, the strongest, definitely not the best. we have to have sustained winds around 40, 50 miles an hour with gusts around 80. we're getting hit hard with the gusts. the rain not so much coming in. we're expecting like a 3 to 6-foot storm surge. that has come across, it's come over hand. it's moved fast, marsh island, i think, moving into more and more populated areas as the storm moves on. it will go up and it will slide past us here in morgan city. it will go near baton rouge, lafayette, other parts of louisiana to the west and slowly move north. if it keeps moving at at this rate, water will be a problem and, man, we're getting hit. water will be the big issue, like you said, if this thing continues to meander and slowly soak southern louisiana. we'll have to worry about rivers, worry about the mississippi in new orleans, other areas, because it's a big storm. it's not just the eye we're worried about and the area close to here. there's a lot of rain with the system, covering most of southern louisiana at this point. we're going to see a lot of water out of this, guys. but at this point, you're seeing conditions right here, this is just a lake. if we take a look over here, i mean, this is typically a pretty flat place from what we understand, people take houseboats out here and relax. you can see, it looks like a raging, angry ocean right now. this is the most violent the storm has been yet. we've been out here for about seven, eight hours today. back to you. kristin: rob, you've been doing a great job. you've got a good, wide stance with your legs. i'm confident you'll be able to stay on your feet. thanks so much, rob. >> reporter: sure. thank you. leland: we go east to mississippi, steve harrigan, bay, st. louis, mississippi, another one of these communities waiting for not only the wind, but the flooding that is going to come over the next 12 to 24 hours. hi, steve. >> reporter: leland, getting a taste of both right here in bay st. louis, on the mississippi coast. you can see behind me some pretty good churn with the wind picking up. the beach has already disappeared. the real story is going to be the rain, pretty much studly falling. -- steadily falling. we could see 10 to 20 inches in parts of mississippi. the governor declared a state of emergency. there's a number of shelters open. they have rescue teams in place, both high water vehicles and swift boats, as well, to carry out emergency rescues in the south. especially along the coast, if that is necessary. we expect to hear from the governor in about two hours' time but when you talk to officials here, you get a sense of confidence. they have been preparing for a week. they filled more than 80 sandbags and they have shelters in place. bay st. louis has taken a lot of steps since 2005 when they nearly got wiped out by hurricane katrina. they built a huge sea wall. they had a 30-foot surge back then. they're expecting a 5-foot surge this time around. when you talk to people who have been through that life or death storm in 2005, they're not that concerned. but i've got to he'll tell you, the churn looks pretty powerful. if we get 10 inches of rain, we could see catastrophic flooding. leland: noteworthy how far out the big rain totals go to where you are and then farther north, over the next couple days. steve, before we let you go, i'm wondering, how many of the roads have they protectively shut down? we see these bridges out that your camera is panning out to, et cetera. how closed off are these communities a along the mississippi coast versus being able to still get people and supplies in and out? >> reporter: it' >> reporter: it definitely looks like a dicey situation here, like you wouldn't want to drive along this road right now with these waves. along the coastline, we've seen pretty much in max areas, one, one and-a-half feet of water. we're seeing a lot of vehicles, jeeps, high terrain vehicles, just plowing through the water. there's been a lot of structural changes here since 2005. so many of the homes along the coast are 10, 15, even 20 or 30 feet above water on stilts. people are ready for this. the roads are not blocked off. a few neighborhoods in trouble. but this could change over the next three days and the entire state could be in trouble, not just along the coastline, leland. leland: oftentimes that inland flooding is so much worse. steve, you and i have covered a lot of these together in our time and it depends on sort of how well-organized these communities are in terms of whether they pre-position supplies, talking about water, generators, fuel for the generators, high water vehicles, swift water rescue teams, et cetera. do you get the feeling that mississippi, even though they weren't necessarily in the bull's-eye initially of this storm, has gotten things together in the past 24 hours or are they still scrambling? >> i think mississippi often plays second fiddle to new orleans in these storms but i do think their officials are prepared and confident, they've got a team of 24 just moving here to the coast with swift boats in place. they've got shelters open. they've got 80,000 bags already in place. we're going to hear from the governor in two hours. so this has been a slow-moving storm. it's been giving them time to prepare. they've been add it for more than a week and you do get a sense of confidence, that they are ready to go out and hip. of course, these lighter winds could make things easier for them to actually make their way out into the storm, especially in daylight hours, leland. leland: you just hope with the lighter winds, people don't take too many risks along the way. steve harrigan with us, as you said bay st. louis, mississippi and the water is churning. steve, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. leland: now we bring in by phone to walk us through some of the national response to hurricane barry, just continue kern with the american red cross. he is in new orleans. good to talk to you, sir. appreciate it. give us a sense of what you guys have staged and what you're ready for. >> it really is about that pre-deployment. we've got about 11 shelters, evacuation centers open now serving people, serving food right now. in the last few days, we arranged locally and nationally to have vehicles, food and other immediate needs on-hand so we can be ready throughout louisiana. leland: you talk about evacuation centers. are they filling up? are people filling in? we heard from reporters some of the residents say look, it's a category 1, i've been through this before, not worried. >> it's two things. i think people heeded the preparedness message. some people have left. we saw a lot of that in new orleans, we saw kind of a very dying down when people paying heed to the population. we had a population over 35 last night. we expect that to pick up as kind of the big part of the storm, the rain kind of sets in, that second part of the disaster unfolds. leland: you wonder about the flooding farther inland. tell us about how your preparations are going up farther inland, in baton rouge, mobile and some of the other cities up north in mississippi where they're expecting the flooding as well. >> absolutely. that's actually been kind of the focus all around that baton rouge, northern louisiana area for the initial evacuations and we've got volunteer teams and food and resources on the ready at those -- about a dozen sites, and ready to open new shelter sites, one in mississippi as well. for whatever may come in the next day or so. leland: so often in these storms as you watch them minute by minute, you feel like things are going to be okay, it's not that bad. and then the floodwaters rise so quickly and you've got folks cut off and evacuating as well. justin, real quick for you. give us raw numbers of how people you have standing by down there, numbers of supplies, et cetera. >> it was dozens of volunteers and staff. i know for sure. and on the ready for national to bring more people as the days and disasters unfold. i encourage people to go to red cross, our website, download the emergency app. we'll have updated information on shelters there. people can dial 211 locally to find out the ratest. leland: great work. our thanks to you and your volunteers as well and those who will come down as things get worse. justin, thanks so much. >> thank you, leland. kristin: now to chief meteorologist rick ritemouth with the latest on the forecast. >> one of the things that happens especially with flooding is it's a cumulative event. it will take us the next couple days with all of the rain that falls. the floodings will be ongoing for the next couple of days. we still have all of this energy and moisture that is going to continue to move to the north. most of the energy from the storm, move of the rain from the storm is on the east side of the center of it, moving across parts of alabama, southern alabama, mobile has been getting heavy rain, cutting across i-65. new orleans has been in and out of showers, not that bad just yet. the heaviest of the rain has been to the south of the homa area. we've been seeing one bouy in the ocean with winds over 70 miles an hour for about six hours now and that is the energy that is still going to pull on-shore. we're going to see really strong winds on-shore. center of the storm somewhere across southern leas louisiana, around marsh island, an unpopulated island. still a category 1 hurricane. that will probably pull down pretty quickly as it pulls to the north. all of the energy from the storm still off-shore to pull up towards the north as the center moves north but it moves really slowly. that's why the rainfall totals will be so extreme. there's a high risk for flooding here. they issued the high risk three days ago. they did that o two other times, one in hurricane harvey, one in hurricane floor republicans. one of the reasons the flooding is so bad all the moisture we had this past winter and spring to the north of this area. the ground is saturated and the rivers are full. will have spots here from baton rouge to morgan city, that's the bull's-eye for the heaviest rain. that's going to be somewhere in the 10 to 20-inch range. doesn't take long until you see a sharp gradient to places that don't get as much rain. may be talking about a few inches in eastern mississippi 10 to 20 inches in western mississippi. this is the area that we're seeing the mills sip by river already in the flood stage for about 180 days. record-breaking flooding that we've seen this year across the mississippi river, that's already in flood stage before the storm and now we have this moisture coming into the same spot. the flooding story will be with us for a long time. over the next couple days, we'll see the images coming out. people in the area need to be prepared. kristin: thank you so much. we'll be watching it for the next several days. appreciate it. turning now to the campaign trail, several 2020 candidates are making their case today to voters in several key early voting states. our garrett tenney is following them all. garrett, usually by this time in the show we've talked about 2020 20 times by now. not today, barry is taking up a lot of our time. bring us up-to-speed on where the candidates are. >> reporter: it's a very busy weekend. this is the time of the year when the early states start filling up. this is the case here as well. iowa, south carolina, new hampshire, those are the places to be this weekend and health care continues to be one of the leading issues the candidates are talking about. at a house party earlier today in the granite state, joe biden highlighted how he is the only top candidate who owe poses medicare for -- opposes medicaid for all. he wants to expand the affordable care act. last night in new ha new hampsh, biden criticized over candidates for not being honest about the cost and consequences of medicare for all, except for bernie sanders. >> he's been honest about it, he said he will have to raise taxes, end all private insurance, he's been straightforward about it. >> reporter: tom steyers is in south carolina today as he tries to build up enough support to make it on the debate stage later this month. this morning in charleston, steyer took a lot of shots at president trump and with i.c.e.'s mass deportations expected tomorrow, he criticized the administration's immigration policy. >> we need immigrants. the united states needs immigrants just to keep our population constant and if you look, to keep young people here, as the population is aging the way it is. we need immigrants. >> reporter: this past week we started to see a lot more of the democratic candidates pointing out the differences between their policy plans and those of their rivals to put it nicely. the biggest example of that is the growing feud between joe biden and kamala harris. this afternoon, she will have a chance to respond to buy bidens latest critiques of her health care plan. kristin: garrett, thanks. leland. leland: the president promising i.c.e. agents will round up thousands of illegal immigrants starting tomorrow. we're here to tell you what tips some members of congress are offering on how to avoid the raids. crabfest is back at red 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'cause it turns liquid to gel. so i have nothing to hide. always discreet. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously. eh, not enough fiber... chocolate would be good... snacking should be sweet and simple. the delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. glucerna. everyday progress causeway and the water levels are so high, you can see the white caps and you can see it just lapping up against the shore. my photographer jeremy keeps panning over to the right, you have a number of brough beautifs that dot the entire lake along the sides and the various communities. this is slidell. you have a lot of areas along the northern part of lake pontchartrain. to give you some perspective of how large the lake is itself, let's show you fox news drone video. they put the drone up yesterday when it wasn't too windy and it wasn't raining. this gives you a sense of what we're talking about, this birdss eye view, in terms of how large the lake is, how many communities are around it and how high the water levels are and this is without a significant storm surge and also without all of the extended rainfall that is expected over the next 24, 48 hours. we want to take you to another problem spot, video out of mirromyrtle grove, louisiana. we understand that spot, in addition to a location called point celeste, there are images of water overtopping a levee there. it is not a breach. it is not a mississippi river levee. but highway 23, the only road in and out of there, is in jeopardy of flooding. we understand emergency equipment is being brought in to make repairs. that of course an area that is under mandatory evacuation orders. but a very fluid situation as barry continues barreling down on much of the gulf coast, from texas, louisiana, all the way to alabama, mississippi. kristin. kristin: casey, thank you so much. leland. leland: we keep watching that. and we are also watching this weekend immigration authorities that are preparing for a roundup they say of undocumented my grants who have been ordered to leave the united states but haven't in several cities across the united states. the raids begin sunday and they are already being met with protests and demonstrations across the country. christina coleman tracking all of that for our west coast newsroom. hi, christina. >> reporter: some of the cities where the raids are set to take place include san francisco, houston, sh chicago and here in, the plans have sparked outrage and protests from groups that say the raids will unfairly target and separate families. in los angeles, large protests outside a detention center, demonstrators calling for the undocumented migrants inside to be released and detention facilities to be shut down. they criticize the plan's i.c.e. raids which they say are designed to cause fear in the immigrant community. hundreds of protesters protesting in colorado, some of them pulled down the american flag that flew in front of the facility and raised the flag of mexico in its place. local media reporting demonstrators pointed abolish oh i.c.e. messages. some city officials are advising immigrant communities of their rights and authorities in so-called sanctuary cities are refusing to provide resources to i.c.e. the trump administration officials have been reiterating that i.c.e. has authority to enforce the rule of law. they say the record number of migrant families arriving at the southern border in recent months is challenging for border agents and republican lawmakers say raids like this can also be a deterrent to potential migrants. >> there's a difference when you start talking about the actual practicalities and how it's going to take place and announcing there's going to be raids. my opinion is, if we quietly start doing this, you'll see a tremendous deterrent effect. >> reporter: president trump told reporters on friday that the focus of sunday's raids was on immigrants who have missed court appearances or who have been ordered out of the country already. unlike the initial planned raids from a few weeks ago, specific details about tomorrow's actions have not been leaked. leland. leland: all right. we'll watch it through the weekend and tomorrow morning as well with crews around the country. thanks so much. kristin: for more on that, we bring in democratic strategist, robin byro. let's start with something that congressman andy biggs laid last hour with leland vittert, he's a republican congressman and he is against what many democratic members of congress are advocating that people in these local communities should do, and they've been essentially giving out advice, telling them what to do if an i.c.e. agent knocks on their door and they're also saying and advocating that local law enforcement should not cooperate with i.c.e. congressman biggs said this, when you are advocating to basically break the law which is what they're advocating for, that is not in harmony with the oath of office in my opinion. your response? >> i understand where representatives biggs is going. nancy pelosi put out a message that all these interested in is letting people know their legal rights under the law which anyone is entitled to in this country. they don't want i.c.e. coming into your home without a warrant signed by a judge. that's reasonable. some of the other things, some of the place place they're taki, i'm not comfortable with. but i'm comfortable with letting people know their legal rights under the law. kristin: very fair point. what about in baltimore where they're actively saying that local law enforcement or local officials are not going to cooperate with i.c.e. when they're conducting these raids? >> sure. look, i'm speaking to you from atlanta, georgia. that's a sanctuary city. the mayor said the same thing. she went so far as to say that the reason that she's taking that position is, one, that her predecessor also had, because we're not seeing a rise in crime in atlanta, georgia. they can take that position if they want to. i don't necessarily agree with it. but i understand where they're coming from, kristin. kristin: i'd like to play for you a clip of what president trump was saying just yesterday as he was leaving the white house. he was essentially making his final case before these raids take place. listen here. >> they came in illegally. they have to go out. we have millions of people standing in line waiting to become citizens of this country. they've taken tests. they've studied. they've learned english. they've done so much. they've been waiting seven, eight, nine years. we have some waiting 10 years to come in. it's not fair. kristin: president trump making the case that, you know, these raids are necessary because congress isn't doing anything to change the asylum laws and because he believes it's not fair for these people to be here illegally when so many people are trying to enter the country legally. what's your take? >> you know, it was fascinating yesterday to see former i.c.e. director homan's testimony on the hill, because he addressed this. he addressed the need for comprehensive immigration reform. wewe need to work together to gt that done. the one thing i'm concerned with the raids -- we're not concerned with people being picked up who are under final orders of removal. it's the fact that i.c.e. said they're picking up people who may look like they're illegal immigrants when they're conducting raids. i don't see that as being fair. kristin: president trump said they're going to be targeting people with final deportation orders. that's the focus. >> right. it is the focus. but there will be collateral damage based on who is in the area that doesn't have an id. make sure you have an id if you're near these people. kristin: that would almost certainly entail some families being separated from their children and whatnot. the raids are supposed to start tomorrow. we'll see what happens. robin, thank you. leland. >> thank you, kristin. leland: happening right now, hurricane barry coming ashore, morgan city, louisiana at about 12:30 central time, boy, it's gotten a lot worse there. evacuations and water rescues listenealready underway. jeff paul in baton rouge where the bull's-eye for 20 inches of rain is headed. hi, jeff? >> reporter: the rain is really starting to pick up. you can feel the wind gusts out here, really starting to get stronger. what this community is concerned about moving forward as hurricane barry gets closer and close e after the break. smith. or this john smith. or any of the other hundreds of john smiths that are humana medicare advantage members. no, it's this john smith. who we paired with a humana team member to help address 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"it's the easiest, because it's the cheesiest" kraft. for the win win. car vending machines and buying a car 100% online.vented now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way-- at carvana. kristin: more than 97,000 people in louisiana are without power right now as hurricane barry just hammers the gulf coast with heavy rain and strong winds. jeff paul on the ground in baton rouge with more. hey, jeff. >> reporter: kristin, yeah, things are really starting to change in baton rouge. earlier this morning there wasn't a lot of rain. there were clouds, no winds. now we're getting a lot of rain and the wind gusts are nearly 5. this is what everyone has their eyes on, right here behind me. this is the mississippi river. it is at almost an all-time high right here. there's a few steps here, normally the steps go way deep into there. they're worried about in other areas around baton rouge, all that rain adding to an already very saturated area. these are just the outer bands right now of hurricane barry. and a little while ago we caught up with the mayor here in baton rouge. she came out here. her concern was that because the storm is so slow, that it's going to start dum dumping more water and the prediction was the storm would happen this morning. she's thinking some people are waking up thinking this storm isn't anything. she hopes people stay in place, that they are safe. here's what she had to say about the storm as it gets closer. >> we want people to continue to stay off the roads. and to just be vigilant around this. you know, so far this morning we didn't have the impact that was anticipated and perhaps we still may not have that impact as we move through this weather event. but in the meantime, i want everyone to stay the course. >> reporter: coming back out here live in baton rouge, this is right near the mississippi river and this is one of the areas where a lot of tourists come out here and check out the mississippi and get an idea of just the weather. there were a lot of people out here earlier. that has changed. it's pretty much a ghost town out here. that is what the mayor is hoping, that people stay inside as the storm gets closer to baton rouge. kristin: now it's just you, jeff paul. don't get blown over right there. jeff paul, thank you so much. leland: you can hear the rain and the wind in that live shot as well. as we continue to track hurricane barry, we bring in the director of the national hurricane center, ken graham. good to see you, sir. we appreciate it. not sure the last time you slept. you probably got another day or two on this, in the next -- as the storm comes ashore. help us understand where really the risks are for this flooding. 75-mile-an-hour wind is not going to be the big one, the flooding could be. >> yeah, you know, you really look at it, you look at historically, the last three years, for example, 83% of the fatalities in the tropical systems has been from inland flooding and over half in cars. that's why we're talking about the rain and flooding so much. if you look at a textbook copy of a hurricane, that's not what they look like. the winds are there. look at the rain moving into southeast louisiana. look at the rain bands. you know the rain bands over the mississippi coast and mobile have been sitting there for almost all day long. that's going to be a big impact with time. leland: talk about how much time, because it's so easy in these early hours, as quote, unquote, the storm has come ashore, you look at the live shots that we've seen from folks. you go there's power lines down, a few roads flooded, et cetera. how long do people need to be on the knife edge of worry, not only on the coast but then inland? >> i tell you, you look at our forecast, we've been calling for a slow storm. each one of th docks these dotsa forecast point. the closer they are together, that means we've got a slow storm. by monday morning, arkansas, and tuesday morning, miss sour rim . this is moving northward and that means rain, along the area, tropical storm rains throughout the weekend and early next week. leland: rick was talking about a warning that was put out, i don't know whether it was by you all or the national weather service, about how confident they were that the flooding inland will be in their words, catastrophic. what does that mean? >> well, we have different categories when we talk about the potential for flash flooding. the highest one is high risk. we have a high risk out for portions o south louisiana, there's a 50% of anybody in there getting flash flooding. we have a high risk and moderate risk for a large area, that's our highest way -- the biggest way we can say look, there's a danger for flooding, we put that out, there's a high risk potential for flash flooding. leland: it's so easy as you watch the storms around the country, there's stuff blown over, there will be water rescues, et cetera. depending on where the storm comes ashores it could have massive effects on commerce around the country. louisiana, there's the mississippi river and so much moves along the mississippi river and you have the gas and oil rigs out in the gulf. hundreds of them, quite literally, many of them have been evacuated already. what's the time line typically for conditions out in the gulf to return enough to normal that they can start getting people back out there and get oil and gas flowing again? >> you know, it really depends on the speed of the storm. this case, we've got a slow storm. if you think about the origins of hurricane barry, we were watching this from georgia all the way into the gulf of mexico, calling for this to be a potential hurricane. we want to get the warning out. we want to get everything out that we can early so we can get people evacuated from the rigs. that's what happened. it takes time. this is a slow storm. remember how large that is. look at this. that's the area of tropical storm force winds. it's going to take a few days for this to get out of there and up into an area that's not going to affect the gulf. so we've got two, three days left before it's even safe in the waters. leland: all right. ken, we appreciate the work that you and your team do and noteworthnotenoteworthy as krisd out this is the middle of july and we already have our first storm coming ashore with barry here. ken, appreciate it. thanks so much. and get to sleep at some point or at least another cup of coffee. >> you bet. kristin: several thousand people along the gulf coast are without power. there are some apps you can use to make your life easier, as long as you keep the cell phone charged. my favorite app is the gas buddy app. you always want a gas station without a huge line. this app will let you do that. it will let you know who has gas for sale, if there's a long wait time and if you can get the best prices. leland: we heard about this for americaamerican red cross, in tf offering suggestions for first aid if something happens but also information on their shelters, et cetera. pet first aid, to help you locate the nearest emergency vet hospital as well. and it's amazing in these storms often so much how many pets end up either abandoned or lost as well. kristin: yeah. that's a great point. two other apps, the my ray r car app, this lets you set an alert. leland: and lets you be your own expert meteorologist. kristin: and another one is dark sky app, lets you see up close in your immediate local area, so i think it means instead of you going outside, you can just use the app. leland: or the orbitz app to book a ticket to leave before the storm. kristin: it's too late now. leland: we heard from the mayor of louisiana, if you haven't goten out, you need to stay in. so many people, they die trying to get out when it's too late. kristin: exactly. so we're going to continue tracking hurricane barry, how much rain this gulf coast is bracing for and where the system is going to be headed next, all that coming up. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? who used expedia to book the vacation rental that led to the ride ♪ which took them to the place where they discovered that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. ♪ flights, hotels, cars, activities, vacation rentals. expedia. everything you need to go. leland: governor john bell edwards of louisiana and now briefing on the storm, hurricane barry coming ashore and the governor saying it is going to get a lot worse from here. >> the rivers in the capital region, based upon regional experience that we had in 2016, we do expect the komey to crest close to, if not slightly higher than the crest in 2016. that is obviously not good news here. we expect the a am amy to crest around the crest of the 1983 flood level. that's a little better than in 2016, but still a very serious flood threat. some good news is that the gauge at the carrollton -- the carrollton gauge, i should say, the mississippi river in new orleans is now expected to crest at 17.1 feet. as you know, as of yesterday, we were expecting that crest to be 19 feet. even at 19 feet, we didn't anticipate river overtopping lee levee's anywhere. we can say the river won't overtop the levee anywhere on the mississippi. the u.s. coast guard did rescue 11 people from their flooded homes this morning, in the lower portion of perebone parish, that is outside the hurricane protection system of pere diss bonboneand was under a voluntary evacuation record. i want to thank the coast guard for doing that. incredibly important that the services were available and they have the expertise and the equipment to be able to make those rescues even by air during the period of the storm, when most of the air assets are not able to fly. and so that's another federal resource that has been brought to bear here in the state of louisiana, to protect life and that's critically important. i do want to clear up a little misinformation that's been going around. the overtopping that has occurred in plaka disman's pari, it's not a main levee. it's a back levee. it points further stop. highway 23 has not been overtopped. it has not been closed. that is possible going forward. this validates i believe the decision that president kirk lapine made to have a mandatory evacuation in the lower portion of plakaman's parish. we anticipated that the back levee would be overtopped and so we are not surprised by what has happened. but what everyone should understand, no mississippi river levee has been overtopped and not a single levee in the state of louisiana as of right now has failed or breached. finally, i want to share with everyone that if you are in need of a shelter, you can text lashelter to 898-211-or you can call 211 to find a list of shelters that are open in your area. again, text lashelter, all word, lashelter, to 898211 or call 211. also want to caution everybody. this is just the beginning. i ask everyone to stay vigilant and be safe. this has always been projected to be a rain, flood event and it will be. the vast majority of the rain that's falling right now is falling in the gulf. that will soon change. as the storm continues to move north. we have planned, we have prepared, we have stationed folks. we activated 3,000 members of the national guard. we prepositioned assets including busses and pumps. shelters are open and more are opening around the state. we need you to continue to stay in touch with the news sources, heed the advice of local elected officials, do not attempt to go sight-seeing. that is very dangerous for you, but the real problem with that is you make it much more likely if you venture out too soon and when it's not necessary for you to do so, our emergency response people are going to have to be trying to rescue those sight-seers and not be able to focus solely on those individuals who need rescuing because of the flood. and so be patient. if you are driving, and you don't know for an absolute fact that standing water is safe to proceed through, don't do it. turn around and go back. that is the source of most fatalities in floods, at least here in louisiana, over the last several years. the other problem with that is often there is a current and it's impeperceptible in many cases. it doesn't take much to wash a car or truck into a ditch or stream and individuals drown. you can find real-time information on all roadways in the state by visiting 511la.org. it will indicate whether the road is under construction, whether there is water over the road, whether the road has been closed. be patient as it relates to cleanup activities too. don't get out before it is safe to do so and when you get out to clean up, understand that any water on the ground should be presumed to be energized. do not handle or expose yourself to the danger of any electricity lines. so it's going to be a long several days for our state. i know the people of louisiana are strong and resilient and i can assure you, we are going to get through this. but there are going to be some significant challenges. the next ucg meeting is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. however, we may and i suspect we likely will have another press availability before that ucg meeting is over. i expect there may be another one tonight with information we continue to learn, both as relates to the storm, and to the damage that we're seeing across the state of louisiana. and i would invite everyone to continue to put themselves and their families in a better position to withstand the remaining portions of the storm over the next few days and continue to join their prayers to mine for our state. now, at this time i'm going to be followed with more specific information from the following individuals and in this order. cpra chairman, chip kline, will be followed by secretary shawn wilson of the dotd. secretary marquiseta walters will brief on the status of shelters, followed by secretary gee of the department of health. congressman garrett grace will speak after general curtis. the other individuals who are here do not anticipate speaking. leland: governor john bell edwards of louisiana talking about hurricane barry which is now officially made shore. it has been downgrade todd a tropical storm which happens as the eye wall oftentimes comes over land. the governor made the most important point. he said most of the rain that's falling right now is in the gulf. it is soon going to be over land. and in parts they're talking about up to 20 inches of rain. kristin: just a huge amount of rain. leland: already 11 rescues by the coast guard. kristin: even though the worst is still to come, you already have national and local relief efforts underway as residents up and down the gulf coast especially along new orleans brace for hurricane barry which has just made landfall. this is heavy rain, slow-moving storm, it's going to continue through the region for several days so joining us now from fema's headquarters in dc, is fema associate administrator for the office of response and recovery, jeff byerd. where are you seeing the biggest need right now? >> that's a great question. i always want to thank the media for what you're doing. the biggest need that we see is to continue to get the prep preparedness he message out and the seriousness of the storm. this is a slow-moving storm that's going to dump a lot of rain and continue to dump a lot of rain on areas that have been experiencing flooding for several months now. so the biggest need that we see and you're a part of that team is to continue to get the message out, don't try to drive through water, even though there may be breaks in the weather, there's rain bands coming behind the storm. it's going to be a couple days before we goat a situation where the weather's past specifically in luce ya louisiana. we'll have continued threats north of louisiana. our need right now is what the local and state's need is, is to make sure we're getting the preparedness message out and the warnings. kristin: how worried are you that people hear cat 1, not too big a deal, how worried are you that folks aren't taking the storm as seriously as they should? >> fema is always worried. when you look at a category of storm, as you well know, that's measured by the wind speed. really the deadly parts of a storm are always the water, whether that be the surge coming from the gulf, in this case, or the rain coming from above. we would say don't necessarily pay attention to the wind speed on this one. it is the rain. it is that really flash flooding that can hit you soon and then the follow-on river flooding that we're going to be monitoring. leland: we heard from the governor of louisiana that there are vast power outages. those are going to only grow. we know that. he said the u.s. coast guard already made 11 rescues. how do things change for you all when you're trying to stage now for the inland flooding? talk to us about the resources that are north, ready to move south, now that barry has made landfall. >> we do that prior to the storm. we've been moving resources into louisiana, middle of this week. we've been in conversations with louisiana and mississippi, texas. leland: what are they telling you they need? what have you moved? >> we moved, urban search and rescue assets, water resources currently in the state, ready to go. we've got commodities should that become a need and water mres, generators to fact backfill or support the state's needs. we've got disaster medical assistant teams with our partners at health and human services that are ready to go should we need that. we've got ambulance that's we brought that can support medical evacuations should that be needed. wee feel we're in a very good position, support a proactive state. the governor and the team has done an outstanding job. over 3,000 guardsmen, we feel like we're in a good spot. kristin: fema took a lot of hits after hurricane katrina. what lessons have you learned from katrina that you're putting into place today? >> we learn a lot of lessons in every storm. one of the major lessons we learned is what we talked about, ma'am, the ability to move resources, well prior to a storm and we've done that. we're readily to go. the -- ready to go. the president authorized an emergency declaration a couple days ago, that gives us the authority we need to support the state. leland: jeff, we know you've got a long couple days, probably weeks ahead of you as everyone begins to deal with barry and the aftermath. we're in the beginning of this as this storms just made landfall. jeff noted the search and rescue teams. in hurricane florence last year, we were out with guys who came from orange county, california to north carolina. they bring in teams from all over the country to be ready to go into the waters as the floodwaters rise. kristin: the waters are going to continue to rise. leland: just starting. kristin: over the next few days. stay with us. that's all for us here in washington right now. america's news headquarters continues. i'm kristin fisher. leland: i'm leland vittert. eric and arthel continue to track barry, the rest of the news of the weekend from new york. [do you want breakfast or no?] free cancellations! [definitely breakfast.] how good is that? be a booker at booking.com. but how do i know if i'm i'm getting a good deal? i tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if i'm getting a great price. this is how car buying was always meant to be. this is truecar. eric: barry has made landfall. this happened about two minutes ago in louisiana, downgraded for now to a tropical storm. we're expecting an update any minute now from the national hurricane center. as tropical storm barry weakens to that lower level, but you know barry's already caused a a lot of trouble as it's making landfall, the storm knocking out power for more than 70,000 people and heavy rain that could last for days down south. welcome to a you new hour of america's news headquarters. i'm eric shawn. arthel: i'm arthel neville. tropical storm barry moving slowly and packing sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. millions bracing for dangerous storm surge and massive