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EARLY START

The Devastating Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey; Trump to Visit the Areas Hit by the Typhoon; Harvey Affects America's Oil Industry; Social Media Flooded with Pleas and Posts. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 28, 2017 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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[03:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, HOST, CNN: This likely is going to be an historic rain fall if not an all-time record. Unprecedented. Catastrophic and unfortunately not over. Houston and parts of Texas are devastated after record amounts of main and this storm not finished yet.

We have live coverage of the damage the rescues and what lies in store for those more than 2.2 million people there in Houston, more than six million in that metro area.

Good morning. Welcome to Early Start. I'm Dave Briggs.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, CNN: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, August 28. It is 3 a.m. in the east. Two a.m. right now in Houston.

This morning the fourth largest city in the United States is mostly under water. And it's only going to get worse, folks. The National Weather Service calls this flooding unprecedented and quote, "beyond anything experienced before."

The catastrophic flooding from now tropical storm Harvey stretching government resources, in some cases past the breaking point.

BRIGGS: Authorities in and around Houston scrambling to save those trapped by the high waters after 24 inches of rain fell there in 24 hours. Officials say at least two people were killed by the storm. And the death toll likely to rise.

Houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered as operators give priority to calls where lives are at stake.

ROMANS: Officials say so far there have been about 2,000 -- 2,000 water rescues. The Houston Independent School district has cancelled classes for the week. Dallas has announced plans to open a mega shelter to accommodate 5,000 evacuees. Officials, charities, and hospitals are working to get it open by tomorrow afternoon.

BRIGGS: This morning Corpus Christi International Airport is back open. The six others remain closed. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbot now calling in 1,000 additional members of the National Guard to help flood victims and across the country. Several states and the U.S. military sending emergency workers and equipment to Texas where the work is just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROCK LONG, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY AGENCY: FEMA is going to be there for years, sir. This disaster recovery, this disaster is going to be a landmark event. And we're already in the stages while we're focused on response right now and help in Texas, you know, respond we're already pushing forward recovery housing teams. We're already pushing forward forces to be on the ground to implement national flood insurance program. We're setting up and gearing up for the next couple of years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wow, next couple of years.

BRIGGS: Yes. This is not going away any time soon. Recovery not even began.

CNN's Derek Van Dam joining us live from the flood zone in Houston. Derek, good morning to you. What are you seeing there in the way of devastation?

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Well, Dave, good morning to you. First of all we joined the Harris County first precinct Constables on a search and rescue mission earlier this evening. And what we saw was emotionally draining and quite agonizing.

We had to, on this boat, this search and rescue mission, literally going door to door, we were floating across some of these major neighborhoods just to the south and west of the city of Houston and in the Braes bio area, the Braeswood community that's hit particularly hard with this flooding.

And what we saw there was incredible. We dodged fully submerged SUVs. Water almost up to the roofs of people's homes.

What they were trying to achieve is the search and rescue of one particular woman who was short on oxygen so there were medical concerns with this. Unfortunately, we couldn't cross the bayou because the water was so strong. A torrent of raging water was, just too intense for their boats.

So we had to turn around and search and rescue a different stranded family which we ultimately never got to because we ended up having boat failure. So you can just see the technical and intricate details that they have had to navigate all night.

When they finally did rescue people the emotion, the raw emotion coming from the rescues. We saw children crying in parents' arms as they were brought to dry land. We saw adults being reunited with their pets, which was quite touching as well.

Really amazing and the search and rescue missions continue tonight because heavy rain continues here. Obviously we've got to break now but it has been very, very wet here. ROMANS: Derek, how much more rain are we expecting? Because I mean,

what you see there is so much water with nowhere to go. More water is coming.

[03:05:06] DAM: Yes, water seeks its own level, right, Christine? We have reports of 30 to 35 inches of rain. We heard as well that some of the computer models we're talking about doubling those totals which would be quite astounding, eclipsing 2001 tropical storm Allison, of course.

But the real concern here is that the reservoirs that are meant to protect downtown Houston from the major catastrophic flooding have reached their capacity. In fact, they have to do a never performed dual release of these reservoirs just to the west of this city to prevent any more catastrophic flooding in the city than they have already seen.

So, additional rainfall is going to really stress the system here. It's incredible to see how prone and how susceptible Houston is to flooding and really the video and images I'm sure you're seeing now prove just that.

ROMANS: You know, you see all that water covering the roadways, and you know what happens is when that water does finally eventually come down and that's not happening for the next few days for sure, sometimes the roads aren't there anymore when you're down there, they're washed right away. I mean, does that really...

(CROSSTALK)

BRIGGS: Right. Evacuation almost impossible at this point. Derek Van Dam, thank you. We could be looking at some 50 inches of rain in some parts of Houston.

ROMANS: That's just, you know, the word epic sometimes is overused when you try to talk about a new story. And this is epic. Incredible 62 counties are under disaster declaration. The city of Rockport are especially hard hit.

And emergency officials saying that area is totally void of any functioning infrastructure. These pictures just amazing. With communication systems hobbled. Sewer system issues. No running water.

CNN's Martin Savidge is there for us with more.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Morning, Dave. Morning, Christie. While the people of Houston struggle with their dilemma here in the small town of Rockport they are absolutely devastated.

It started over two days since this category 4 storm rolled ashore here. And they are still trying to wrap their heads around what has happened to their community. Just look at the level of destruction you see here on the storefront. Magnify that across an entire community and even then you probably can't get a full sense of just how many homes, how many businesses, and how much damage has been done. There is debris still everywhere. There is no electricity. There is no

running water either clean water to drink or sewage. And then on top of that communications limited. They are struggling trying to bring cell phone service on line. And then there is the search that still goes on.

You can see all of this debris and that's part of the problem, makes it difficult for search and rescue teams to go door to door. They continue to do that. Another problem, natural gas. Extreme damage has caused gas leaks and that has its own problems in this community. So, trying to shut that off.

It's no wonder that the city officials are saying that if you're in town you should probably leave. This is not livable. If you evacuate it out of town don't come back just yet. Because there is nothing really for you to you come back to.

And here is the long-term problem. It is going to be a long time before the electricity is turned on. Officials are telling us it may be a matter of weeks. Right now they are simply concerned about making sure everyone is OK. Dave and Christine?

ROMANS: wow.

BRIGGS: Martin Savidge there for us. Another very hard hit area is the city of Dickinson, that's southeast of Houston where Galveston County emergency officials say 20 to 25 people were rescued from the La Vita Bella nursing home.

The nursing home owner's daughter says officials told her mother to shelter the residents in place. But after the water rose she tweeted out this photo as a plea for help, which finally came.

ROMANS: All those folks in their chairs and wheelchairs up to their waist and water. Also in Dickinson, CNN's Ed Lavendera, who drove up from Galveston Sunday night with producer Jason Morris and photojournalist Joel de la Rosa.

The crew were shooting a search and rescue mission which was about to leave a flooded neighborhood when they heard a family crying out so they help out with that rescue. Ed spoke to them once every one was out safely.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Good morning. How long have you guys been trapped in there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All night.

LAVANDERA: All night. You've been with your parents?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LAVANDERA: How are they holding up? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty good. Pretty good. I think pretty good

for the circumstances. But, yes, it's bad. Everything is floating and it's bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Once Ed made it back to land, we can't call it dry land actually, but when he made it back to land he was able to send us this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Dave and Christine, we are standing on not just some small country road that has been flooded out, we are standing on interstate 45, the major thoroughfare that connects Galveston Island to our south all the way to the city of Houston.

[03:10:02] It connects Galveston island south to the city of Houston. This interstate has been shut down because of the floodwaters. We were able to get on a boat and make our way into some of these subdivisions back behind this tree line where hundreds, if not thousands of people have been evacuated throughout the day.

Mainly rescued by fleet of volunteers who showed up here along the interstate, and basically turned this roadway into a boat launch sending their boats, their own private boats out into these neighborhoods pulling off two, three, four people at a time to rescue them from their homes.

It's been an unbelievable sight to see that kind of rescue effort unfolding. Essentially all of this happening because the calls and the demand simply just out doing what first responders were capable of handling. So they called in essentially a fleet of volunteers to help with these boat rescues.

And here you see interstate 45 here are some of the boats people showing up in wave runners, boats on their own, trucks, cars, pulling as many people out of here as possible.

As we went through that neighborhood, a few hours ago, and saw inside that neighborhood, dramatic to see the number of people who had clearly made their way to their rooftops to be able to get away from the floodwaters. Several of them had cut holes and chopped their way through the attic to get on to that rooftop.

Dramatic scenes as we've been able to capture some of the first dramatic images and the intensity and the devastation of the flooding that has happened here across the city of Houston and the southeast Texas area. Dave and Christine?

ROMANS: All right, Ed Lavendera, thanks, Ed.

BRIGGS: All right. Let's look at the forecast. And bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis in the CNN weather center. What can we expect? KAREN MAGINNIS, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Well, we get received about an

hour ago an update from National Hurricane Center they are saying 15 to 25 additional inches of rain. Possibly 50 additional inches of rainfall in that upper coast of Texas.

You can see part of the big problem here. It's tapping the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. It is still just tropical storm intensity. But it is still very moisture-laden.

I saw this tweet just earlier. "Please rescue us. The water is swallowing us up." You see that over and over again. There are many people pulling their resources to try to get help for this very metropolitan city, some of those surrounding cities like Katy. We have images.

Take a look at this video. It's in black and white. This coming out of Katy, Texas. Right in the upper top of your screen, you see the roof of this SUV, there is a man behind that and these flood waters. If he went either side of that vehicle he would be swept by the current. But there comes a dinghy, several people in that dinghy. They managed to get this man on board that dinghy.

You probably not going to see this entire piece of video but they do take him to land. As Christine said earlier it's not dry land. It's land. It's a safer place. But they are saying all over Harris County and the surrounding counties that this is just the scene after scene after scene.

So where's tropical storm Harvey going to go? Well it looks like it will start to make its way toward the east and southeast and this is just going to put fuel in the gas tank. It is going to pick up that moisture from the gulf of Mexico and is just going to wrap around that area of low pressure and move right over Houston.

Christine and Dave, there's that second round of moisture that's going to push on in.

BRIGGS: As for that second round how long could it stick around, Karen?

MAGINNIS: It looks like it may begin to pick up a little bit of speed but it is still very slow moving. It's going really to be very moisture-laden. Let me see if I can put this into motion once again. There it is. And they think that it's going to increase in intensity. Maybe bump up just a little bit before it moves on towards this Galveston Bay and Houston.

That going into Tuesday morning. So we've got through Tuesday into Wednesday. And Thursday it affects Louisiana. So we've got four more days, five more days of precipitation.

ROMANS: Rain, rain, not going away. All right. Thank you so much, Karen Maginnis. We'll check again with you very, very soon. So, Texas officials not spared the wrath of Harvey. We'll next talk to one official who had to leave Corpus Christi when the storm moved in. We'll also think of what he thinks of criticism for Houston's mayor who did not order evacuations ahead of that storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must put the interest of the city of Houston and Houstonians first. That's exactly what we did. Absolutely no regrets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Texas public officials working on the state's emergency response have not been immune to Harvey's ravages.

Marc Rylander is the communications director for State Attorney General Ken Paxton.

BRIGGS: He's working at the Department of Public Safety special operations command center in Corpus Christi but was forced to leave after the hurricane. And he joins us now by phone from Dallas.

Good morning to you, Mars. two eighteen there. Tell us, what is your message to the people of Texas tonight, this morning?

MARC RYLANDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON'S COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning, Dave and Christine. Thank you for your continuing coverage. The message this morning is simple. It is nightfall in Texas. That's good thing and a negative thing. it's good in that our response teams, our rescue teams get to sort of rest. Regroup a little bit. Re-plan for the new day.

It's negative in that water doesn't stop rising and churning around this affected region. And so we understand that as soon as day fall or day break happens, that you know, there's new opportunities, new challenges. And so what we're asking people to do as we did yesterday is to be patient. Be vigilant and be obedient. Follow the directions of our local law enforcement and rescue people on the ground.

ROMANS: I got to tell you, I mean, it feels as though these are still the early innings. We were just talking to our meteorologist who said the National Hurricane Center season another 15 to 25 additional inches of rain.

[03:20:07] And further up, you know, northeast on the coast, maybe even more than that. So what are you advising people who might be home and watching water rise at this hour?

RYLANDER: Yes. What we've been told and what we have been telling folks is simple. Be patient. There is a plan to get people to safety. While all of us are doing our jobs throughout the normal year, these wonderful law enforcement folks and rescue folks, they're heroes. They are working day in and day out during normal year planning and preparing as much as they can. For such a time as this.

And now that this time happened, we saw yesterday as people heeded the advice, followed directions of these folks. They were led to safety. Despite the craziness of the storm, the depths of this water, we've had so few reports of fatalities, there may be some that we don't know about.

However, when people follow the rules, they get to safety. And so despite the depth of water now and the pending rain shower that I saw your forecast say they could be coming even more we continue to urge people do what you're asked to do. And if you're in an area where you're not asked to be moved at the present time, stay put and follow directions.

BRIGGS: Well, Marc, you talk about heeding the advice of local and government officials, why was that advice not to evacuate the city of Houston?

RYLANDER: You know, Dave, I mean, I can't answer that question. What I can do is this. You know, as we do in everything, one of your profession and I honor the people who make those decisions. I don't want Monday afternoon quarterbacking. There is a time and place for that to review and to re-plan for another event.

However, at this moment, Dave and Christine, our job is to focus on rescuing people and getting people to safety. And then at the appropriate time it's to review our plans and policies and the procedures that happen during the storm so that each time something like this, a natural disaster happens, we can just do better and better.

ROMANS: Tell us a little about this mega shelter. Can you tell us any more about this mega shelter that looks like they'll be opening in Dallas. What do we know?

RYLANDER: Yes. I spoke with someone in the Dallas County district attorney's offices just last night. And Dallas is poised and ready to do what this city can. I'm here now. To do what we can in Dallas to assist these people. There will be a mega shelter opening up in Dallas. And my guess is other churches and civic organizations will step up and do the same thing.

I was here in Dallas during hurricane Katrina. I remember thousands upon thousands of displaced people out of the New Orleans area that came to Dallas, were housed at the time in our old reunion arena. They were housed in mega churches that are around this region.

And then churches began to ask parishioners, members to open up their homes and they did. And we have families adopting displaced families. That is the heart of people in Dallas. We've seen it time and again.

I know Mayor Rawlings and his team, district attorney Johnson, her team they're on top of this and it will be handled as spectacularly as it was the last time.

BRIGGS: You are very much seeing the very best of what Texas is all about with people saving one another. But as for that shelter, do you know when it happens? I know it's at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. When does it open and how do you expect people to get people there? RYLANDER: Logistically I don't have details, Dave and Christine.

However, I do know this. Once it's open, there will be a steady and perfect process. We watch bus after bus after bus come in to Reunion arena and come into these churches and other civic buildings during Katrina.

So my expectation, though I don't know for sure, would be that buses are lining up and on stand by and ready to go to parts of Houston and the affected flooded areas where they can get to, and literally load people up and bring them up interstate 45.

ROMANS: All right, 45 which is just under water in some parts where we just saw.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: But a lot of work to do in the early hours here. I guess the take away here is listen to local authorities. They have a plan. Marc Rylander on the phone for us this morning. Thank you, sir.

BRIGGS: OK, coming up, the storm possess a big test for President Trump. He is set to fly to Texas tomorrow. No word on exactly what part of Texas. What's to make of the federal response thus far? That's next on a special Early Start.

[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

President Trump will travel to Texas tomorrow to review the state's efforts to recover from hurricane Harvey and deal with its aftermath The final location for the president's visit have not yet been set but he is expected to travel away from the storm on itself avoiding the most hard-hit areas and try to keep those resources dedicated to where they are needed.

This is the first big hurricane natural disaster for Trump. A test by which presidents have been measured, especially since Katrina.

CNN's Athena Jones has the latest from the White House.

ATHENA JONES, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Good morning, Christine and Dave. President Trump is set to visit Texas on Tuesday as a show of support for the people affected by this massive and still developing weather event.

Now the White House is still working up the details and the logistics with state and local officials and they haven't yet said what city or cities the president could visit. Sources familiar with his plan say they are leaning on having him visit a city like San Antonio. The goal they say is to avoid hard-hit areas.

That's in order to make sure that the president's own footprint, the security and infrastructure and technical support needed to protect and transport him doesn't take away from resources that would otherwise be used for search and rescue and response efforts.

This is of course a major test for the president. His first major test dealing with an ongoing natural disaster. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people really affected here.

We have not heard the president speak about this storm but he has been on Twitter tweeting about it periodically over the course of the weekend focusing on things like the massive rainfall that was predicted. The coordination between agencies that he is saying that there's been good coordination between agencies at all levels of government. And of course, saying that the focus should be on life and safety.

So the president has been eager to show that he is engaged. Doing so mainly via Twitter. But he also held two video teleconference meetings over the weekend to talk about the storm and its aftereffects and the federal response. Christine, Dave?

[03:30:00] ROMANS: All right. Athena at the White House. Thank you.

Rain and flooding inundating the heart of America's oil industry forcing oil rigs and 10 key refineries to shut down.

Look at the infrastructure in the path of this storm. We got ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery, the second largest in the country shut down. Texas gulf coast houses a third of America's oil refineries. Of these closures take 2.2 million barrels of oil per day off line. That disruption means higher gas prices.

U.S. gas future spiking 7 percent overnight to a two-year high. Experts say gas prices will raise 5 to 15 cents over the next week especially in the south, the southeast and mid-Atlantic U.S. Higher gas prices just one of the potential economic costs from Harvey.

The storm also threaten Texas's recovering economy. The state unemployment rate just starting to fall after spiking last year when oil prices fell and extended oil closures could hurt Texas progress.

As could the cost to rebuild which estimates put at $40 billion with the damage. That includes repairing the 200,000 homes hit by the storm. More than $20 billion of real estate in Houston alone. It's one of the most densely populated areas in the U.S.

If you look at these pictures, Dave, to all that water and we've seen this again and again with all this flooding. When those -- when eventually that water recedes, in some cases, there will be no road left.

BRIGGS: Yes, we won't know the true devastation of the storm for several days.

Early Start continues right now with the latest on hurricane Harvey.

BRIGGS: This likely is going to be an historic rainfall, if not an all-time record.

ROMANS: Unprecedented, catastrophic and not over. Houston and other parts of Texas devastated after record amounts of rain. Storm is not finished yet, folks. We have live coverage of the damage, the rescues and what lies ahead. Welcome back to Early Start extra early this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Greg Briggs. Three thirty-two, Eastern Time. Two thirty- two in Texas where this morning the fourth largest city in the United States is mostly under water and it's only going to get worse.

The National Weather Service calls the flooding unprecedented and both beyond anything experienced before. The catastrophic flooding from now tropical storm Harvey stretching government resources, in some cases well past their breaking point.

ROMANS: Authorities in and around Houston scrambling to save those trapped by the high waters after 24 inches of rain fell there in 24 hours. Officials say at least two people were killed by the storm and the death toll is likely to rise.

Houston's mayor warning that some 911 calls are going unanswered as operators give priorities to calls where lives are at stake.

BRIGGS: Officials say so far there have been about 2,000 water rescues at Houston Independent School district has canceled all class for a week. Dallas has announced plan to open a mega shelter to accommodate 5,000 evacuees at its Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. They hope to have it open by Tuesday.

ROMANS: All right. This morning, Corpus Christie International Airport is back open, the six others remain closed. The governor of Texas now calling in 1,000 additional members of the National Guard to help flood victims. And across the country several state and the U.S. military sending emergency workers and equipment to Texas where the work is only beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: FEMA is going to be there for years. So, this disaster recovery -- this disaster is going to be a landmark event. And we're already in the stages where we're focused on response right now and helping Texas, you know, respond. We're already pushing forward recovery housing teams, we're already pushing forward forces on the ground to implement national flood insurance program. We're setting up and gearing up for the next couple of years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. CNN's Derek Van Dam live now with us this morning from the flood zone in Houston. What are you seeing, Derek?

DAM: Yes. Good morning, Christine. We visited a search and rescue staging area late last night. And what we saw and what we witnessed was simply amazing and rather emotional as well.

We notice the community, a closed in community coming together people offering their boats for search and rescue operations. We joined one of the constables on a search and rescue effort and the emotional part here was actually not being able to reach somebody who was in need of medical attention.

The water was simply too strong for our boat to actually cross over. So we had to go and seek out a different family who was in distress.

What we're witnessing now is unprecedented. An incredible amount of rain. We've had totals over 35 inches reported across Houston.

[03:35:03] And just to the north and east of the city of course there's more rain coming. From a meteorological standpoint this system could potentially slowly reemerge into the gulf of Mexico.

And remember, those waters are extremely warm. It's almost like jet fuel for a hurricane. And we could see this redevelop. It is not out of the realm of possibilities to see this strengthen right back into a hurricane over the next 24 to 48 hours. All depending on the exact track. But one thing for sure, more rain, more flooding, and still the tidal surge along the coastline. Dave, Christine?

BRIGGS: Derek, looking at the NASA web site, they say the satellite images these are almost stationary. It is barely moving. The worst possible news. You've covered plenty of storms. How does this one differ? Obviously it's calm now but in the midst of it at the peak, how does it differ from those you have seen in the past?

DAM: Dave, we can walk faster than Harvey is traveling at the moment. It is extremely slow. But it is moving. That's the crucial part here. Ever so slowly. And again, if that circulation of the storm reemerges over the warm waters, that's when we start to see redevelopment and that's the last thing we need here in an already hard-hit part of southeast Texas.

ROMANS: Yes. So much, Derek, lies ahead here. We just saw it move. We'll just show some video of someone driving through very high water. A reminder to people it only takes a few inches of water to sweep your car off the roadway. You will see accidents, you will see people hurt if you get a lot of people going out on the roads.

Also we were hearing over the weekends from officials be very careful about trying to shelter in your attic if you don't have a way out of that attic. If we're expecting an awful lot more water. What are folks there saying about where to go if there's going to be more water?

DAM: Well, I think it was a misnomer that people thought that the attic was the safest place in the event of a flash flood. But you need to get to the highest point of the building you're at and that means the roof. Because you don't want to get stuck, of course, in your attic.

We have seen pictures of holes being punched through the tops of their roofs so people could escape from those attics. With a flash flood, the difference between a flash flood and a flood is that a flash flood can happen in literally seconds.

And we witnessed that when some of these strong feeder bands from tropical storm Harvey made its way into the Braes bayou region where we were doing our search and rescue operation late last night, we saw the water levels rise.

And in fact it rained so heavy in Houston that it's really testing the reservoirs that are west of the city that are meant to protect Houston from the most catastrophic flooding. They had to do a time dual release early because the rain we experience was so intense.

BRIGGS: All right. Derek Van Dam, we appreciate it. Live for us in Houston. Incredible to see the first responders, the citizens of Houston out, and the Cajun Navy who is now saving people from their homes and businesses as well.

ROMANS: All right. Another very hard-hit area. The city of Dickinson southeast of Houston where Galveston County emergency officials say 20 to 25 people were rescued from La Vita Bella nursing home. The nursing homeowner's daughter says officials told her mother to shelter the residents in place. But after the water rose, you can see what happened.

She tweeted out this picture as a plea for help which finally came. These residents were up to their waist in water in their chairs, in their wheel chairs in that nursing home.

BRIGGS: Gosh, just incredible to see these devastating images. Also in Dickinson, CNN's Ed Lavandera who drove up from Galveston Sunday night producer Jason Morris and photojournalist Joe de la Rosa.

The crew was shooting a search and rescue mission which was about to leave a flooded neighborhood when they heard a family crying out so they help with the rescue. Ed spoke to them once every one was out safely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: How long have you guys been trapped in there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All night.

LAVANDERA: All night. You've been with your parents?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LAVANDERA: How are they holding up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty good. Pretty good. I think pretty good for the circumstances. But, yes, it's bad. Everything is floating and it's bad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Once Ed made it back to land, we certainly can't call it dry land he was able to file this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Dave and Christine, we are standing on not just some small country road that has been flooded out, we are standing on interstate 45, the major thoroughfare that connects Galveston island to our south all the way to the city of Houston.

This interstate has been shut down because of the floodwaters. We were able to get on a boat and make our way into some of these subdivisions back behind this tree line where hundreds, if not thousands of people have been evacuated throughout the day.

[03:39:57] Mainly rescued by a fleet of volunteers who showed up here along the interstate and basically turned this roadway into a boat launch sending their boats, their own private boats out into these neighborhoods pulling off two, three, four people at a time to rescue them from their homes.

It's been an unbelievable sight to see that kind of rescue effort unfolding. Essentially all of this happening because the calls and the demand simply just out doing what first responders were capable of handling. So they called in essentially a fleet of volunteers to help with these boat rescues.

And here you see interstate 45 here are some of the boats people showing up in wave runners, boats on their own, trucks, cars, pulling as many people out of here as possible.

As we went through that neighborhood, a few hours ago, and saw inside that neighborhood, it was dramatic to see the number of people who had clearly made their way to their rooftops to be able to get away from the floodwaters. Several of them had cut holes and chopped their way through the attic to get on to that rooftop.

Dramatic scenes as we've been able to capture some of the first dramatic images and the intensity and the devastation of the flooding that has happened here across the city of Houston and the southeast Texas area. Dave and Christine?

ROMANS: Ed Lavandera, and again that warning from officials there, you know, be really careful about thinking that the attic is the safest place to be with the rising waters. If you can't get out of that attic it is the end.

Let's take a look at the forecast. We'll bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis from the weather center. You know, how -- I mean, this is just sitting there. This rain maker just sitting there and could potentially intensify if the conditions are right.

MAGINNIS: Yes. We are looking at it moving back out over the Gulf of Mexico. That's one of the worse things that it can do. Aside from the fact that in the upper levels there is no steering current. The water temperatures are very warm. Those are two key ingredients.

But take a look. This is called a her. Take a look at this. One strong band as we go into Monday afternoon then into Tuesday we start seeing more of these bands moving on into Louisiana where they are looking at the potential for flooding.

Just to back it up a little bit. Let's take a look at this. This is the European model. Meaning they plug in different parameters. We have a North American model. But they're all in pretty good agreement. It brings out tropical storm Harvey into the Gulf of Mexico keeps it along the coast. Moves back in over Houston.

With the staggering rainfall totals and then just kind of shifting it off towards the north and northeast. It isn't until Thursday and Friday, Dave and Christine, that we start to see it even moving out. So we've got still about four more days and the National Hurricane Center says you might see 15, 25 more inches of rainfall. That's certainly possible.

Some areas could really be picking up 50 inches of rainfall. We have a lot of comparisons with Allison back in 2001. And hopefully next hour near at the top of the hour we'll be showing you some comparison. But Harvey is doing a lot of the things that Allison did back in 2001 for which there are many comparisons.

And in Allison, some parts of the city of Houston saw about 35 inches of rain. Just in two days. In Houston, two days. We've seen about 26 inches. Some areas have seen a whole lot more than that. Especially as we make our way down toward that Galveston area.

So we'll be back near the top of the hour and give you another update. One of the worst tweets I saw by the way was somebody who said "Rescue us. We're being swallowed up by the water."

ROMANS: Unbelievable.

BRIGGS: And thank you very much, Karen. That's how people are covering the story. The social media storm. People are tweeting out their stories. That's how people are finding them, rescuing them. Twitter and Facebook has become the way to get the word out what you need.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty four minutes past the hour. The storm posed a big test for President Trump. He is set to fly to Texas tomorrow. What did we make of the federal response so far? That's next.

[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: All right. Welcome back to an early, Early Start.

President Trump will travel to Texas tomorrow to review the state's effort to recover from hurricane Harvey and deal with its aftermath. The final locations for the president's visit have not yet been set but he is expected to travel away from the storm own itself and not take away those desperately needed resources avoiding the most hard- hit area.

It's his the first big hurricane test for Trump. A test by which presidents have certainly been measured before, especially since Katrina.

CNN's Athena Jones has the latest from the White House.

JONES: Good morning, Christine and Dave. President Trump is set to visit Texas on Tuesday as a show of support for the people affected by this massive and still developing weather event. Now the White House is still working up the details and the logistics

with state and local officials and they haven't yet said what city or cities the president could visit. Sources familiar with his plan say they are leaning on having him visit a city like San Antonio. The goal they say is to avoid hard-hit areas.

That's in order to make sure that the president's own footprint, the security and infrastructure and technical support needed to protect and transport him doesn't take away from resources that would otherwise be used for search and rescue and response efforts.

This is of course a major test for the president. His first major test dealing with an ongoing natural disaster. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people really affected here.

We have not heard the president speak about this storm but he has been on Twitter tweeting about it periodically over the course of the weekend focusing on things like the massive rainfall that was predicted. The coordination between agencies that he is saying that there's been good coordination between agencies at all levels of government. And of course, saying that the focus should be on life and safety.

[03:49:57] So the president has been eager to show that he is engaged. Doing so mainly via Twitter. But he also held two video teleconference meetings over the weekend to talk about the storm and its aftereffects and the federal response. Christine, Dave?

ROMANS: All right. Athena Jones at the White House. Of course, it's been getting attention around the world in global markets. I'll tell you how markets are reacting, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN money stream this Monday morning. Rain and flooding inundating the heart of America's oil industry, forcing oil rigs and 10 key refineries to shut down, including ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery, the second largest in the country.

The gulf coast of Texas houses a third of the America's refineries. These closures take 2.2 million barrels of oil per day offline. That disruption means higher gas prices. You can see gas prices rise maybe 5 to 15 cents over the next week especially in the south, the southeast and the mid-Atlantic U.S.

Higher gas prices just one of the potential costs from Harvey of the storm also threatens the economy in Texas. The state's unemployment rate just started to fall after spiking last year when oil prices fell. Extended oil closures could hurt progress there.

As could the cost to rebuild which estimates put at $40 billion worth of damage. That includes repairing the 200,000 homes hit by the storm. More than $20 billion worth of real estate in Houston alone. It's one of the most densely-populated areas in the U.S. All right. Global markets are low where stock markets are lower.

Experts are telling the first damage estimates from tropical storm Harvey, especially from America's oil industry, U.S. gas futures hit a two-year high overnight. Gas futures up 7 percent overnight.

[03:54:55] At Wall Street closing last week with its first weekly gain in three on the promise of tax reform.

Economic adviser Gary Cohen told the Financial Times the president begins a public campaign for reform this week. The promise of tax cuts fuel in the markets rally since the election, also boosting stocks is a speech from Fed chair Janet Yellen on Friday. She says the U.S. financial system is safer now than it was during the financial crisis.

We hear from the president we're told on tax reform on Wednesday, at an event Wednesday as the U.S. heads into the second round of NAFTA talks, President Trump is renewing his threat to scrap the deal.

The president tweeting Sunday that both Mexico and Canada are, quote, "being very difficult." The U.S., quote, "may have to terminate NAFTA."

Renegotiating NAFTA of course was a core campaign promise from this president. He blames NAFTA for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Negotiators expects a great deal of effort will be required they've told us as talks were in Friday, especially since that aim to rewrite NAFTA by the end of the year. That's a blinding pace for trade negotiations.

Uber finally has a new CEO. Expedia head Dara Khosrowshahi. That's according to a source close to the company. Uber has not had a CEO since June. That's when founder Travis Kalanick resigned after the investigation into the company's culture.

But Khosrowshahi was not among those rumored to be in the running. That has included HP head Meg Whitman, former G.E. CEO Jeff Immelt. Immelt reportedly pulled out Sunday because of problems with Uber's board. So watch that space there.

BRIGGS: Should be a lot of P.R. problems to pronounce there.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Yes, a lot of words too.

BRIGGS: OK. Social media certainly been a huge part of the response to this tropical storm. Especially from people who have been tweeting out their need for emergency help.

CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter has more on how we'll always view this storm through the lens of social media.

BRIAN STELTER, SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Hi there, yes. As rain continues to fall, this had become a flood emergency in the aid of social media. And that matters because local residents are actually using their phones, using Facebook and Twitter to call for help. We've seen the hundreds of cases on Sunday of people trying to tweet

to local authorities or post on Facebook to their local lawmakers listing where they are located, what their phone number is and what their condition is. Asking for boats or for helicopters to come in and rescue them.

And I've not seen this on this scale in the United States before. Well, we've certainly seen other countries where social media has played a vital role in rescue efforts. But if you think back 12 years ago, the last time a major hurricane made land fall on the United States. Facebook was brand-new and Twitter didn't really exist yet at all. Smart phones were not nearly as widespread or commonly used as they are today.

Obviously cell phone reception is an issue. Electricity is an issue. But there are some neighborhoods in and around Houston where the cell phone towers were operating, the power grid was operating, but there were homes with many feet of standing water.

So people were using their phones not just to call 911 but essentially to text 911 as well. Now the U.S. Coast Guard put out a message saying please do not send us your information. Please do actually make the phone call in order to request rescuing.

But we have seen other local officials, other local authorities go ahead and use Twitter and Facebook to communicate with citizens and in some cases to coordinate rescues.

Now traditional media plays a vital role as well. It's really the combination of social media and then TV and radio networks that we've seen try to inform and help locals in and around Houston and parts of southeast Texas.

Now this was viral throughout the day on Sunday. And unfortunately it's really going to remain really important in the days to come.

Now we've seen people getting alerts on their phones then try to tune in via radio to listen to TV stations that are simulcast on radio. It's those kinds of connections and emergencies that show the importance of local media in combination with these newer social media tools.

BRIGGS: All right. Brian Stelter, thanks. We do know the hash tag Houston strong just before 30 a.m. Texas time trending this morning for people offering their condolences and their support to the city of Houston.

ROMANS: All right. Early Start continues right now.

BRIGGS: This likely is going to be an historic rainfall, if not an all-time record.

ROMANS: Unprecedented, catastrophic, and it's not over. Houston and other parts of Texas devastated after record amounts of rain. And again, this storm isn't finished.

The National Hurricane Center says another 15 to 25 inches are coming.

Good morning, and welcome to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: And you could see this one until Thursday morning. I'm Dave Briggs. It is Monday, August 28th, 4 a.m. in the east, it is 3 a.m. in Houston, Texas. All eyes there this morning.

The fourth largest city in the United States mostly under water, only going to get worse there as well.

[03:59:58] The National Weather Service calls the flooding unprecedented and, quote, "beyond anything experienced before." The catastrophic flooding from now tropical storm Harvey stretching government resources, in some cases, well past their break.