Good morning. Its friday, august 25th. It is now a category two hurricane. The storm is expected to become a category three by the time it makes landfall, making it the strongest storm to hit texas since 2008. Now, the National Hurricane center is warning of lifethreatening and devastating flooding and has issued storm surge warnings for are parts of the texas coast. Of the 35 inches of rain, they are also possible in parts of Southeast Texas through next week. Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for multiple cities and counties in texas and louisiana where harvey is threatening to be the biggest storm to hit new orleans since katrina 12 years ago. Nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us now with the latest. Obviously, a very scary situation. People heeding those evacuation orders, but this is really a race against time. Todays story will be the storm surge and the winds and how much damage they can do. Then over the weekend it will be about the rain and how this epic historic rain event plays out. Here is the storm. We have it on radar now. You can see the eye. It wobbles here, and thats very typical. We will be continuing to watch that general track motion towards the northwest, towards the Corpus Christi area. The first significant rain bands have now just moved on shore. Thats slapping the coast now with the first gust thats getting peoples attention, and then as you get to the Hurricane Force winds, thats really a small section right in here. Heres how it looks on satellite imagery. The brighter the red shows you the deeper the convection, the deeper the thunderstorms. This is the latest information. 105mileperhour winds. Thats a strong category two. To get up to a category three, it has to get 10 Miles Per Hour stronger. The forecast from the Hurricane Center, this is the new update just in, they have to become a category three major hurricane this afternoon by 1 00 p. M. Landfall sometime this line is 1 00 a. M. That landfall will be around 10 00 p. M. To midnight just to the east of Corpus Christi. Major category three hurricane at landfall. All the concerns we have going into last night remain today. There are no surprises. Thats really bad news for Southeast Texas. Oh, unbelievable. Thank you, bill. Joining us now from corpus chris christi, texas, where the eye of the storm is heading, nbc news correspondent Maya Rodriguez for us. I know you are on the ground for us. Give us the lay of the land. How are the residents preparing for the storm . What are you seeing out there . Well, just within the last hour the winds really started picking up here. We have one of the bands move through within the last hour, and thats not the only sign that a major storm is approaching here. Weve seen people filling up their cars, getting out of town. As we were making our way into corporate yis christy last night, we saw a steady stream of cars and rvs getting out of this area. Of course, we stopped at a store in houston on our way over here to get supplies ourselves, and we can tell you that there were a number of people stocking up on essential items for three, four, five days. Also, no water in that store. Now, here in Corpus Christi, they right now are under voluntary evacuations. You might be aware that Corpus Christi sits on a bay. Theres a Barrier Island just to the east of here. Right now those evacuations remain voluntary, but this is a vulnerable place when it comes to a storm like this. Heres what the mayor had to say about it. Take a listen. The only thing predictable about the storm is that its unpredictable. We are up to and almost at the threshold of mandatory evacuations. We are not going to cross that line right now. The is he is doing assisted evacuates. That started at 8 00 a. M. Today. Zbliefrmt one of the biggest issues when it comes to hurricane preparation is when residents dont heed those warnings to get out. The mayor was not mincing his words. He wants people to get out of dodge. Turning now to washington after seven months of one Party Control in washington. President trump is facing more than a stalled first year agenda. Now our series of looming fiscal deadlines that threaten the operation of the government itself. The Treasury Department says the debt ceiling must be raised by september 29th for the government to make its payments. Congress has until september 30th to pass funding through both chambers. Otherwise, the government runs out of money on october 1st. Yesterday the president tweeted that Republican Leaders on capitol hill had missed an opportunity accusing Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan of ignoring his request to the raising of the debt ceiling to a Veterans Affairs bill, alleging they have allowed democrats to hold it up could have been so easy. Now a mess. Even though speaker ryan was named in the tweet, he told cnbc that he did not see it as a criticism. Take a listen. I dont really take it as going after me. Look, thats an option we were looking at, but the va deadline came up, and we werent able to do that then. Im really not that worried about this. We have plenty of options ahead of us, and we will pass a debt limit increase before we hit the debt limit. After hearing repeal and replace for seven years, he failed. That should never have happened. The White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders denied any friction. Sarah, there seems to be some acrimony. How do you repair the relationships going into the fall sf. I think the relationships are fine. There are going to be some policy differences, but there are a lot of shared goals, and thats what were focused on. Were disappointed that obama care, they failed to get it repealed and replaced, but at the same time President Trump has worked with leader mcconnell to reach out to other members and to work on those shared goals, and well continue to do that when the senate comes back from recess. A Senior Administration official tells nbc news that President Trump is serious about his tuesday night threat of shutting down the government unless the spending bill includes funding for a wall along the mexican border. The president made a similar threat last spring, but relent odd a shortterm funding bill to avoid a shutdown at the end of his first 100 days. This as the white house repea d repeatedly dodged the president had abandoned his campaign plenl that mexico would pay for that wall. How is that not a concession from this white house that mexico isnt actually going to pay for this wall and american taxpayers will . Again, this is something the president is committed to. He is committed to protecting american lives and doing that through the border wall is something thats important. Its a priority. Were moving forward with it. He is not saying that mexico is going to pay for it. He hasnt said theyre not either. Just for some reference, the last time the government shut down under one party rule in washington was during the carter administration. The white house is downplaying the discord as fissures seem to be deepening between President Trump and members of his party. White House Press Secretary sarah huck kwabee sanders told reporters yesterday that the relationships are, in fact, fine, but she also hit back at comments made by senator bob corker earlier this month in which he criticized the president. The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the confidence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. He also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. I think thats a ridiculous and outrageous claim and doesnt dignify a response from this podium. Meanwhile, senator jeff flake, an open critic of the president as well, says its possible President Trump may face a primary challenge in 2020. Do you think the president is going to get a primary opponent in 2020 the way things are headed right now and then well let you go . I dont know. I dont know. I think that certainly depends on him. I think he could govern in a way that he wouldnt, but i think that the way the direction he is headed right now just kind of drilling down on the base rather than trying to expand the base, you know, i think he is inviting. Joining us now from washington, capitol Hill Reporter for the hill and our good friend molly hooper. Good to have you back with us this morning. Since congress failed to Pass Health Care reform last month, it seems that President Trumps relationship with republicans has been at least steadily deteriorating when you look at some of the comments like we just heard from senator flake as well as senator corker. What does this mean for his agenda Going Forward . I mean, he does not have any winds on the legislative agenda side. Is there any way he can repair these divisions so out in the open with people like Mitch Mcconnell and others . Emmoo, its a head shaker, right . Obviously, its supposed to be kind of a sleepy time here in d. C. It seems like everybody keeps getting jolted awake. There are a couple of things going on here. Lindsey graham, of all senators, sort of came to the president s defense yesterday when he said, you know, i can understand why President Trump feels frustrated. It has been seven years, and i can understand that he is speaking out and, you know, calling out republicans who have been talking about repeal and replace for seven years, but havent done everything they can to pass it. Thats one thing. On the other hand, Lindsey Graham said but, you know what, the president needs to get an agenda and stick to it. Right now we feel like we dont know where were being led. This is the tweets and the thiss and thats. Its more a matter of how what about trump trying to get votes during the health care bill, and something that turned off a lot of House Republicans was when he would make threats against certain lawmakers. I think if the president can learn sort of how he works with individual members of congress and how he goes about winning support for his agenda, that will be key. Lets talk about this border wall, molly. You like how i built it up there . So we heard Sarah Huckabee sanders dodging questions about whether mexico is actually going to pay for the wall. We remember from the phone conversations that were leaked a couple of months or so, i believe, between the president and mexicos president basically saying im not going to pay for the border wall. Mexico is not going to pay for this border wall. Now the president threatening to shut down the government if we cant figure out a way to pay for that border wall, if the u. S. Government cant figure out a way to pay for that border wall. How will this affect his base . In some, way, shape, or form the Trump Administration is able to sort of say it in a way which is based as, okay, we get it. We get it. Yeah. No big deal. Youll pay for it down the road. Well get him to pay for it. Tricky math. Isnt that what enron got in trouble for . Just kidsing. Thats want going to happen immediately, and trump needs to build some form of that wall immediately. In the immediate future, the republicans are going to have to find a way to get noen e money in there for that border wall and we only time will tell. A few months one month time will tell if they can do that by the time they need to find the government. Theres a whole plan to have sort of viewing panels and a walking area. I mean, theres just some major tourist attractions. You pay for it with quarters. Molly hooper, talk to you again in a bit. Thanks, molly. Excellent. Okay. New polling shows that health care is still a top issue for american voters. In a new university poll, 22 Rank Health Care as the most important problem facing the country. 19 say race relations, 15 pick the economy, 12 say terrorism, and 9 said foreign policy. Immigration sits at just 6 . By an 11 point margin, voters want change in next years congressional election. 51 favoring the democrats for control. Among independent voters, the choice is 49 for democrats, 36 for republicans. Approval of congress is nearing the single digits. Just 10 among voters. 83 disapprove. And the latest gallop tracking poll puts President Trumps job Approval Rating at 34 . All right. Still ahead, tigers catcher james mccann gets rocked in the head during a chaotic game in detroit. More on the status of Hurricane Harvey has a storm heads towards the gulf coast. Those stories and more when we come back. Shawn evans its 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. Its our back to school beeone cent evente. 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And a new culture built around customer service. It all adds up to our most Reliable Network ever. One that keeps you connected to what matters most. Skblienchts Hurricane Harvey is making a beeline for the south coast. Bill karins will tell us how things are progressing there. You have sometime to look over new information from the Hurricane Center. Going all the way back to 2005. One of the longest drauts could end. I think at landfall, possibly near to the east of Corpus Christi after midnight tonight. Now, heres where it gets crazy. This is 3 00 a. M. These are all our different computers. Slows down significantly. Then watch what our computers do. This is 7 00 a. M. Sunday. Its still lingering here. This goes all the way out until tuesday to wednesday. Flash flood watches for 11 million people, and this is whats going to make this an historic storm. This is the expected rainfall forecast from the National Weather service over the next seven days. Thats 20 inches of rain in pink. Huge area. This little x there is where theyre thinking there could be 25 inches of rain. Thats whats going to cause our historic flooding problems. Again, thats where were telling everyone from houston to victoria and Corpus Christi, your concern goes to the middle of next week. Billion, lets hope everyone there heeds those warnings, bill. We want a very big tax cut, but cannot do that until we keep our promise to repeal and replace the disaster known as obama care. We can get this bill passed in some form so that we can pass massive tax reform. Do you have to do health care before tax reform . When i speak to business managers, they say tax reform is so much more impactful to moving the needle on economic growth. You cant put any savings sbu the tax cuts. I think after health care, taxes are going to be so easy. Really. The white house official emphasizes that they never committed to releasing their own proposal. It comes at a frought moment between the white house and the hills top leaders with little of the president s agenda coming to fruition so far. Still ahead, a preview of the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Connor Mcgregor, and thats not the only thing well be talking about in sports. My a1c wasnt were it needed to be. So i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating whats within me with onceweekly trulicity. Trulicity is not insulin. It helps activate my body to do what its suppose to do, release its own insulin. I take it once a week, and it works 24 7. It comes in an easytouse pen and i may even lose a little weight. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. Trulicity is not insulin. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. 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