who particulars generators. these power generators are not expected to run around the clock they are doing now. people so reliant on generators ultimately those break down. you go by auto shop you will see a few guys huddled around a power generator getting that thing working again. now, eric, you mentioned the dam, that is in the northwest part of the country, a concern there is that they got a bunch of rain yesterday. rain fills up the reservoir and it makes a whole situation worse. the issue with the dam is the spillway. so much water came over during the course of the hurricane that it eroded the bottom of the spillway. the soil there is the consistency of sand. if enough water goes down and erodes that spillway away enough where it reaches the dam, you could be talking about catastrophic failure, flooding hundreds of homes down below. so what is happening with the army core of engineers, navy pilots are working with u.s. marines. those marines are hooking cables up to jersey barri
you know, gone around puerto rico and seen those very long lives of people desperate to get supplies, alex. they need to see planes coming in and land being like they re jfk. okay. thank you so much. let s bring in gop congressman jim banks of indiana with a good morning to you, sir. you heard her talking about it and i m sure you ve seen it all the presidential tweets this morning attacking the mayor of san juan and puerto rico, we re showing them to our viewers now. this island as you well know is in the midst of one of the most devastating crisis it has ever faced. do these tweets do anything to help the recovery efforts? you heard the desperation in the mayor s voice. the tweets are a distraction from what matters most and that is the president is doing everything he can to address the issues in an unprecedented way in san juan and in puerto rico. not only appointing a three star general but also the efforts of the army core of engineers and others who are on the ground in
harris county earlier today about what the people around here are going through. here s what he had to say. they will continue to experience this water for the next several days. and the neighbor s deeper back against the reservoir. some from 3 to 5 feet of water and they will be indated. do you feel the worst has past? i think we are at the worst. i don t want to say the worst has past, but i think we are at the worst right now. so still a lot of uncertainty is still very touch and go. the army core of engineers, which managing these dams. they watch them 24/7. they are very confidence they will not fail. the good news is no more rain is expected here in the houston area in the coming days. they are not expecting these flood waters to rise but they are asking people at home to get out as soon as they can. alex, thank you very much. pretty incredible to actually see that.
feet could fall in that area in the next day or two. the army core of engineers forced to release reservoirs. does that mean more flooding for nearby neighborhoods? more people need to get it. about 30,000 texans will spend part of the week in shelters. that is a big number. so far, more than 1,000 flood victims have been rushed out of their homes by helicopters, row boats, anything and anyone that can get out and help. we are expecting an update from the mayor of houston very, very shortly. meantime, we are covering it from all angles. polo sandoval is watching the water rising. polo? it is expected to reach record levels, too, john, in the next few hours. we are a short drive from houston, texas. all of harvey s rain ends up in the rivers and streams.
people who have been rescued so far. houston with 185 critical requests spending now. police received 6,000 calls for people in need of help. tens of thousands of calls pouring in. as you heard the mayor say, people who may not have been in a critical crisis situation yesterday, may find themselves in a crisis situation today. the work is ongoing there. you see here in the pictures, the massive flooding, streets turning to rivers. this is coming as tropical storm harvey is under water. two deaths are blamed on the storm. officials expect the number to rise. right now, coast guard crews are looking for flood survivors in and around houston by air and boat. up to two more feet of rain could make a terrible situation worse. the army core of engineers is releasing water from two dams.