Page 47 - Fulton News Today

Fulton. i was asking what they wanted to hear from the president and what they thought about the presidents visit. every single member of the community i spoke to was excited that the president was coming. they believed it was perfect timing. they dont think hes a distraction being here. they did say, however, they dont want to be forgotten about. this is not a community of 10 million, i should say. its a community of 10,000 and they know that the pictures in houston are haeartbreaking. they kno...

But that area has been ravaged from the winds of the hurricane that ripped through that area. >> reporter: yeah, right. the rain was a big event yesterday and of course during the storm. we havent had much of that problem today. the winds are still gusty. its a problem here because you have so much debris on the ground. and just to give you a sample of the kind of devastation you see block after block in this community here. and the drone -- not to disrespect the drone operator, but that is some...

Skies to see how much water falls. >> reporter: theres little they could do to respond to the fires when theyre also dealing with a hurricane. >> thats almost half a years worth of rain for some of these areas in just about half a day. >> lets bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins right now for an update on what this looks like. bill? >> the rockport area is the area we dont know exactly how bad it is. its daylight. weve had some pictures from the region. there were a bunch of storm chaser, hur...

Calls. in fact one of the sheriffs here, bill mills, was telling me they were getting call after call as the worst of the storm was coming and they just koochbts do thinki couldnt do anything about it. they were getting calls of walls falling on people and roofs being ripped off homes. and they were bothered that they couldnt do anything to help because they themselves were trapped in the storm. it was during that hour and a half window of the eye of the storm that they said that they were able ...

Slammed into the texas shore overnight. >> we have been praying for quite a while for the eye to pass over so we could get some kind of break here. >> reporter: a category 4 storm with winds up to 135 miles per hour, strong enough to rip the roof off this building in fulton near the point of landfall. nearby in rockport in the eye of the storm, scenes of devastation. this hotel suffered severe damage, forcing 128 people to evacuate, and reports of people injured inside a senior center after the ...

Warnings. thats the problem with these feeder bands as they slide in. do not focus on the eye right now. its a broad storm. may have tornado warnings up towards the galveston area. this is going to be a doozy. it is catastrophic. we can use those words, jake. >> all right. thank you so much. bringing in fulton, texas, mayor jimmy kendrick, of the emergency management team as well. joining me now live from rockport, one of the cities under mandatory evacuation. mayor, thanks for joining us. are...

Say right now is that people need to understand the most important thing to have is their life. they must do everything they can to preserve their life and they can deal with their property later. >> i spoke with one of your mayors earlier, mayor jimmy kendrick of fulton, who told me about 40% of his citizens are staying put. theyre planning on riding out the storm. what is your message to those who are not evacuating and who think they can ride this out? >> well, it kind of depends upon where t...

They have closed their doors and will not be responding until conditions get better for them. so these people, if you are here and you consider stepping outdoors, you should probably hunker down and dont come out until its over. >> thats the thing. the first responders face dangers, too, when they go out. you are a meteorologist. you are there in the fire department as well. can you describe what a 12 foot storm surge will do to the community where you are in fulton? >> particularly in east fult...

Got to be able to watch the bands of rain and wind come through and approach us. were probably a couple minutes away from the next band of rain to hit us. really must say its really concerning after years of covering different storms all over the country, one of the things that really strikes me is these types of storms in the dark. you can hear the wind, but you cant feel or see in fact debris thats going to be picked up in these wind storms here in the coming hours. that makes this all the mor...

Language is stark. quote, this is a life-threatening situation, according to the national weather service. another official telling residents who did not evacuate that it is too late. write their name and social security numbers on their forearms should they find a body later. this monster could unleash a storm surge up to 12 feet. and this storm could stall, dumping 40 inches of rain by this storm on wednesday. brett is a storm chaser. he is outfront live in fullton, texas. we are looking now, ...