It is raw and, yes, it is sometimes inspiring. Your money is affected. Refineries are shutting down, and that is cutting the supply of gasoline. Prices are rising. How many drivers nationwide will gas up as a precaution today . Just like they did after katrina. And, yes, there is a political element as well. President trump says he will go to texas tomorrow. Should he go in the middle of the rescue operation . He will want to avoid the negative publicity that greeted president bushs flyover after katrina. There you have it. Cando texas, perhaps the most dynamic state in the nation, hit with a catastrophe. President trump faces his first Natural Disaster. Watch it here. Varney company is about to begin. Stuart you are going to be seeing a lot of video like this on the lefthand side of the screen and a lot of weather maps like one on the righthand side of your screen. More rain is coming, and rescue operations are, indeed, underway. I should tell you, it is still raining in houstonen x the rain is actually houston, and the rain is actually moving to the east towards louisiana. Nine trillion gallons of water have inundated houston. We are told it could rain all week. Take a look at this. A before and after picture from a highway in houston. On the left, dry as a bone. Look at it. On the right, submerged, a raging torrent. More on all of this in a minute. But first, i want to bring in President Trump, lets talk about that. President trump is set to visit texas tomorrow. Tomorrow. That is still in the cards. Dont know where hes going, but hes still scheduled to visit texas tomorrow. Come in mike brown, former fema director. Should he be going to texas at a time like this, mike brown . Stuart, good to see you. I think the question that the secret service, the White House Advance Team and fema are going to have to answer is where does the president go. I dont mind the president going to texas tomorrow, but he has to stay outside the perimeter of houston. If he goes to Corpus Christi, he goes to rockport, he goes to some of these places that are further south along the gulf coast, thats fine. But right now we still have or fema still has rescue efforts going on throughout the entire houston metropolitan stuart should he take a fly over, mike . When george bush took a flyover of new orleans, theres that famous picture of him looking out of the window of either the helicopter or the plane, and that was used against him. What happens if President Trump does a flyover theres the picture on our screens right now. He caught hell in the media for that. Should the president , President Trump, do the same . No. But heres why. Yes, its fraught with political problems, but right now there are all of these i mean, if you imagine the entire city of houston, all of Harris County, it is like a controlled air Traffic Control area. And so what the president needs to do is to keep marine one, air force one out of that area because that will shut down operations. And i can recall during katrina saying, look, i do not want to shut down operations. I was assured by the secret service that it wouldnt, but theres still a bubble around marine one. So i think what President Trump should do is go to rockport, go to Corpus Christi where the storm actually made landfall, because there are now Recovery Efforts going on there. But stay out of the area where response is still going on. Stuart got it. Now houston is the fourth largest city in the united states. Right. Stuart its growing rapidly. I think its got the best growth rate of any metropolitan area, and this morning its paralyzed. Do you think that the damage so houston will be greater than the damage that katrina wrought on new orleans . Unequivocally. Because to your point, think about this from a business point of view. If you took houston, its the 25, 25th largest gdp in the world. So its like a mini country. And it is entirely shut down right now. You know, most of the jet a fuel manufacturing goes on down there. Major refineries down there. And then when you think about just the size of that gdp being shut down, and if you look at the video that fox business and ores are viewing others are viewing or showing, you look at all of those homes, that water, as you pointed out, its going to rain continually for several more days. There is water in those homes that is up to countertops or higher. That water will take days, if not weeks to recede. And the damage to businesses, the damage to homes, i think, is going to be so extensive over such a wider area that this will way surpass katrina in terms of cost to the economy and in terms of cost to the taxpayers. Stuart mike brown, thank you very much, indeed, for being with us today. Good to see you, sir. You bet. Stuart lefthand side of your screen, dramatic scenes of rescue, turmoil, flooded streets. And as we were saying earlier, some of this video is inspiring. Those First Responders are out there risking life and limb to rescue people by the thousands. 30,000 people are in shelters as we speak. And let us not forget, their own homes are probably flooding as well, so it really is a heroic effort. Stuart yeah. Now, look at dow futures. Were going to open higher. You may be surprised at that. Maybe some investors think a catastrophe is stimulative in that all kinds of tens of billions of dollars are going to be flooding in to be spent in that area. Maybe they think thats good for the economy, i dont know. But dow futures will open higher. The price of oil will actually, it is down. 47 a barrel, down 35 cents. Theres plenty of oil. Its gasoline and how to refine it, how to refine the oil into gasoline. Right. Stuart that is the problem. If you look now im sorry, liz, i didnt mean to interrupt you. 1. 7 4, thats the wholesale price of gas, i believe that translates into a gain of, what, 10 or 15 cents per gallon at the retail level for you drivers, the pump prices up 1015 cents. Yeah. Stuart let me go live to houston, jeff flock i believe hes knee deep in water. What have you got to tell us, jeff . Reporter ive got some good news for you, stuart. If youre look down the road here, this is a part of houston that yesterday had about seven feet of water in it. And today the water has dramatically gone down despite the fact that were still getting soaked out here. Yeah, youre right, were still almost knee deep in water, but yesterday look at these homes yesterday, already damaged by flood waters kicked in garage doors and the rest and, you know, theres water damage all over the place in here, and as i said, its still raining. In some of the areas, the bayous because theyre releasing water from those reservoirs that they need to release from because theyre worried the dams are going to give way those are still rising waters. But this neighborhood, fortunately, already the water going down. But were still getting hammeredded by rain, and they say its going to get worse. A little good news, a lot of bad news stuart jeff flock, well take, if theres any good news, we, sir, will take it. Back to you later. Jeff flock, thank you very much, indeed. You know, anybody in our audience who has ever had water in the basement knows this is and theyre talking about water moccasins and alligators and wildlife being flushed off the habitat. Great story of a guy caught a massive fish by hand in his living room. Yeah, absolutely true. [laughter] stuart we can raise a smile on occasion. Yes. Shows you how bad it is too. Stuart let me put that graphic back up again. These are refineries knocked out of action by harvey. 15 of americas Refining Capacity is gone, a quarter of the Oil Production from the gulf is gone. Six Major Oil Companies have closed their refineries, exxon, shell, phillips, new star, valero. Scott shellady is with us. All right, wholesale gas prices up about 4. 5 as we speak. Im told that translate ares into a 1015 cent per gallon rise nationwide at the pump. Is that accurate, scott . Yeah, i think thats accurate. Its on the low end. It could actually be a little bit more. And you know what it really is going to come down to is, basically, this storm and what its done to the price of gasoline will be a shortterm tax on the residents in the u. S. , and thatll help get us through it. Ultimately, this will abate, but right now were going to see a shortterm tax on gasoline probably when we dont want to see it. Stuart am i right in saying itll take several weeks to get the supply back up to normal. Weekings as opposed to months, right . Yeah, itll take weekings. And the good news here is we are very resilient, stuart. To come back in weeks is still a big story, and thats great. Like i said, therell be a shortterm tax, well all get through it, but right now its going to hit when it hurts the most. Stuart explain why the price of crude oil is down this morning. Well, we take that oil and refine it into gas, and thats what we need in the short term. It takes a while to turn oil into gas, and all the while were sitting on a ton of oil. That cant help us right now, so thats the problem. We need something to help us right now. Weve got a limited supply of it. And theres a lot of it, were still in a supply situation, its not a demand situation, its keeping things kind of keeping the lid on things, and thats why youre not going to see oil rally. Stuart briefly, can you explain why the stock market is going to open higher this morning . Identify got to tell you ive got to tell you, stuart, seeing all the pictures and the good news story, theres a resiliency to america in the face of some of these tragedies, all of these tragedies. And i sometimes think these things flow through into the stock market. And so the stock market will act resilient as well. Theres going to be a little bit of a feelgood factor. Youre going to see money flow that way, but ultimately when it comes to initial jobless claims, theyre going to spike in the short term, but when you take a look at the whole country as a whole, these things as far as affecting gdp dont really come through. Stuart scott, thanks very much for joining us. Well see you again at 9 30. All right. Stuart dramatic images to show you including this. Truck driver rescued from his cab. They plucked this man out of ten feet of water at great risk to themselves, by the way, but they got him out. And later this hour a father of five, including three baby triplets, theyre riding out the storm. They are stuck in houston. Theyre going to tell us their story on the air this morning. Youre watching harvey coverage on Varney Company. Its time to rethink whats possible. Rethink the experience. Rethink your allergy pills. Flonase sensimist allergy relief uses unique Mistpro Technology and helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. Most allergy pills only block one. And 6 is greater than one. Rethink your allergy relief. Flonase sensimist. Stuart theres an underlying story here about whos bearing the brunt of underwriting Flood Insurance. Ashley . Well, you cant get insurance from most of the major insurers, so that means this is really a water event, and the federal government is going to take the bankrupt of those insurance claims because there is some Flood Insurance in the secondary insurance market, and thats a big gamble for those companies. Thats why the government tends to cover what Flood Insurance there is. So its going to be a huge amount of money stuart i dont believe that money is in the budget. No. Stuart which they have to pass. So wheres it going to come from . Stuart when does it get put into the budget its 25 billion in the hole, that program. Stuart righthand side of your screen, the movement going towards new orleans . Yes. Thunderstorms and tornadoes potentially spinning toward the coast. The president has issued Emergency Declaration disaster areas for five louisiana parishes, sos this is an area that is now on tornado watch today. Stuart and there are more refineries in louisiana. Thats correct. Stuart in that area too. Why is the stock market going to open higher this morning . What is with that . Most people would tune in saying this is a catastrophe, fourth largest city in america underwater. Some time. Obviously, the markets are looking beyond this, stuart. Stuart now, the president is due to start his barnstorming tour, i believe he starts in missouri, and that will be the day after tomorrow. Thats still pretty close to the, still the impact of harvey. Yeah. Stuart do you think maybe his message is watered down a little . Ot tax an economy into prosperity, and when you look at this devastation, cutting tax rates would accelerate the Recovery Efforts dramatically, it would bring the. Stuart i just want to lay something on real thick here, art. Our own janice dean is saying this storm, harvey, is shaping up to be the worst flooding ever in American History its amazing. Stuart and it will dump more run than any other previous storm in American History. Thats the size of this disaster. Any comment . Well, yes. Its an enormous disaster, and, you know, thats why we have to focus, laser beam focus on how to accelerate the recovery in texas. And that really requires Government Action not by spending theyve done, i think, a pretty good job, stuart, with fema and all this in helping that. I mean, this is beyond the pale disaster. But whats really important now is to think of how do you accelerate that recovery in texas and to make it happen faster, not slower. And to my way of thinking, getting burdens out of the way of people who want to recover is really the key. And thats really maybe even having a tax holiday for six enormously beneficial thing to accelerate this recovery. Its going to be a long haul before this is recovered. Stuart and they are a resilient people there in texas. They are. Ive got two children living this. Stuart have you really . Yeah, ive got one in austin and one in san antonio. Stuart okay. Best wishes to them all. Art, thanks very much. Thank you. Stuart now, lets see where we are. Were going to be bringing you all through the david owe as dramatic as this. This is video as dramatic as this. This is dickinson, texas. Thats a live shot yes, it is. That is a live picture right there. Its still coming down by the bucket load. Thats extraordinary. All right, well be back. More video like this and an update on the market. Nah. Not gonna happen. Thats it. Im calling kohler about their walkin bath. My name is ken. How may i help you . Hi, im calling about kohlers walkin bath. Excellent happy to help. Huh . Hold one moment please. [ finger snaps ] mmm. The kohler walkin bath features an extrawide opening and a low stepin at three inches, which is 25 to 60 lower than some leading competitors. The bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. Kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. Are you seeing this . The kohler walkin bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. Everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohlercertified installer. 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Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Stuart even though houston, texas, is underwater this morning, a catastrophic flooding situation, the stock market will open higher this morning. Gasoline prices up and so, too, are stock prices. Joining us now is the Houston Police chief, art acevedo. Sir, welcome to the program. Thanks for very busy time for you, we appreciate you taking time for us. Was it a mistake not to order the general evacuation of houston late last week . Oh, lord, you know, a lot of the, you know, the back street quarterbacks, i absolutely support the decision of our mayor and the county judge to not evacuate. Where do you take a region of 6. 5 Million People . Where do you send them . Especially in a state that is so prone to flash floods on our highways. We havent been able to get resources here because highways have been blocked throughout the state of texas. So i dont think they understand the complexity, they dont understand just how widespread this entire emergency has been. Theres nowhere to take them. Stuart there is some talk this morning of opening up a dam to release more water, a controlled release of water which actually will raise the water level in southwestern houston, thats what ive been hearing. Can you confirm that, and you tell us if the people in southwestern people are now trapped . Well, no, our colleagues at Harris County has been, theyve been effectively going to potentially affected neighborhoods to evacuate them, theyve been working on that for several days. These dams cant handle the volume of water thats on the other side of it, and unfortunately, if we dont open it up and try to do a controlled release, we have a catastrophic failure of that dam, it would be the damage would be beyond the wildest imagination. So there will be a release. We anticipate additional flooding not just from the dams, but also from all these