Why it could be the start of a new rage in medicine. To. We begin this morning with a look at todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. We have been holding the perimeter around the facility to make sure that our citizens are safe and that our environment is protected to the best we can. In harveys wake, fire at a Chemical Plant. We were able to evacuate in anticipation of any problems. Harvey is moving inland after unleashing a new round of devastation along the louisiana texas border. Officials fear the death toll could climb as floodwaters recede, revealing the true scope of the catastrophic storm. The president committed, unequivocally to committing the people of texas and texas will come through this and we will be stronger. One day after touring the devastation, President Trump in springfield, missouri, to push tax reform. I dont want to be disappointed by congress. Do you understand me . Do you understand . The president and his defense secretary seemed to contradict each other on north korea. The president tweeted that talking isnt the answer. Are we out of Diplomatic Solutions for north korea . No. In sacramento, a deputy was killed and two officers injured during a shootout at a hotel. A somber anniversary europe. 20 years ago today Princess Diana died in a horrific car crash that shocked the world. All that going back, he leap, oh my goodness he caught it the ball game is over broxton with a gamesaver. All that matters. In difficult times, such as these, we see the true character of the american people. Friends helping friends, neighbors helping neighbors and stranger helping stranger. Together, we will overcome. On cbs this morning. The glimmer of hope from one shelter in texas where a group of gospel singers treated evacuees to an motion nal performance. Captioning funded by cbs this mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. A little gospel music can always get you through. Welcome to cbs this morning. Charlie is off. Norah has left houston but is still on asoonment. Were in good hands. Margaret brennan is here with Maurice Dubois of our new york station, wcbs. Welcome again. We begin with breaking news amid the texas flooding crisis. A fire burning this morning at flooded Chemical Plant in crosby is blamed on the disaster. Police had evacuated a wide area around the facility after its owner said there was no way to prevent an explosion. At least one sheriffs deputy needed hospital treatment after inhaling chemical fumes. The plant is 25 miles northeast of houston. It was shut down last week before harvey made landfall. E being beg David Begnaud is in crosby. Good morning. Reporter we are at the Crosby Fire Department about five miles from where the plant is right now. No black smoke but we were able to get a helicopter over the plant and you could see flames and smoke coming from it. It had apparently been burning for several hours. The ruptures as officials are calling it, happened more than six hours ago. Behind me right now officials with the plant are speaking. They have not been willing to release the number of chemicals that are being housed at their facility. The list of chemicals they have not wanted to talk about. They are answering some questions right now. The bottom line is there are nine different trucks, if you will, box trucks, on the premises. Three have lost refrigeration and one has ruptured. Overnight Emergency Response vehicles blocked surrounding roads as the black smoke filled the air under the cover of darkness. There was a chemical decomposition, chemical reaction, that resulted in a fire at this location. Reporter since harvey hit on friday, this plant has been filled with more than 5 feet of water. By sunday backup systems had failed and on tuesday officials ordered all homes want 1 1 2mile radius to be evacuated. In a statement, the company said without proper refrigeration, chemicals will degrade and catch fire. The fire will be explosive and intense, giving off a thick black smoke which could be irritating to the eyes, skin, and lungs. This crosby facility produce ganic peroxides used mainly to make plastics on. On the Company Websites videos show what happens when those chemicals heat up. Eve an small amount can cause an uncontrollable fire. They should have had something to stop it. Reporter matt dempsey has investigated nearly 2,000 Chemical Plants at risk for potential harm. He says the ar chem e ma plant ranks 21st on that list. The plant is flooded. Your reaction is youre surprised at what . They didnt neutralize the chemical. The easiest thing do when you see that water is neutralize the chemical. More important to get t rid of the stock of this stuff and neutralize the threat than it is just to keep it cool. Reporter emergency officials are telling us inside each car are one to ten gallon contain rs and inside of there is about 36,000 pounds of the material used to manufacture plastic. The flames were shooting 30 to 40 feet in the air and there are nine of them. Remember, one has ruptured and the emergency officials told us a short time ago we expect the other eight could go as well. Thats not what you want to hear right now. Thank you very much, david. Harvey is now a tropical depression heading toward arkansas and mississippi. The death toll has climbed to at least 29. So far First Responders in texas have made more than 13,000 rescues. 32,000 people in the state are in shelters and there is a growing crisis in parts of east texas. The city of beaumont lost its water supply overnight. Anna werner is in nearby port arthur, which they say is totally flooded. Good morning to you. Reporter well, thats right. You get a sense from looking at all this what were dealing with so that you kind of know where we are this morning, harvey made landfall yesterday about 45 miles away from here. Here in port arthur, its almost impossible to get around as we drove around this morning, we encountered multiple detours that we had to take just to get around all of this water and its flooded neighborhoods like this one. In areas east of houston. Flooding stretches for miles, entire cities like port arthur are under water. If you call 911 and we havent gotten there yet, we are on the way. Reporter the mayor put out video on facebook from his own flooded home. If you see someone rescued in your neighborhood, flag them down if you are not comfortable or safe in your home. Reporter harvey made its second u. S. Landfall wednesday and dropped 45 inches of rain on ports of east texas on friday. I have never seen anything like this. Very devastating. Look at these houses and vehicles. People are going to lose. Water so high, it keeps coming. Reporter this man waded through floodwaters up to his chest to help rescue a woman trapped in her vehicle. Cell phone video taken by a boater shows water over parts of interstate 10. This is the same spot earlier this year. Rising waters inundated shelters in two Nursing Homes forcing staffers and National Guard to e evacuate dozens of patients. Helicopters circled in the air searching for people pleading for help and hoisting them to safety. And on the ground, rescues are also complicated says Irving PoliceSergeant Mark vincent. Water meets land meets water meets land. You may have a boat to get to one slab of land to get to more water. Its so sporadic. Reporter jean and her husband took shelter in a mobile home after water poured in their house. Everything i own is under water. I have on pajamas. This is what i own right now. Reporter one person we were talking to here told us everybody here as a boat or a lot of people do and thats really what theyre using to get around here. But these are hazardous conditions. Youve got a lot of materials and items in the water. We were out yesterday not far from here with people trying to rescue people as they drove around in those boats and that is not a very safe situation. Anna, thank you. Helicopters from the navy, coast guard and other agencies are flying rescue missions along the texas gulf coast this morning. Two navy ships and marines will head to the region today from virginia. Vil Omar Villafranca is in college station, texas. Good morning. That sound you hear behind me is a squadron getting ready for another mission. We e rod with them and flew 150 miles to port arthur, texas, and we were there when they started pulling desperate texans from the water. For hundreds of texans stranded in rising watt teshgs path to safety has been this a lifeline from the air. Helicopter rescue crews are able to pluck residents from rooftops in raging rivers. In five hours the team we flew with pulled eight people and eve an dog to safety from hardhit port arthur. Obviously, i havent seen anything like that before. Reporter this lieutenant was a pilot on one of those missions. If you want to be rescued what should they do so a pilot can recognize them . Were looking for a twohand kind of wave like this or anything white, a help sign, anything out of the ordinary. Reporter its a careful coordination to locate and load people desperate to escape a toxic brew of floodwater left by Tropical Storm harvey. Telling us that the water is cold, that they of been sitting in two to three feet of water for a very long time. One of the first rescues that came up wz an older woman. She wasnt able to get her medication but her soninlaw who was also rescued was able to grab her bible. He said were going the need it. So far, this team has flown over 40 missions with more than 250 rescues. One of those who was rescued was this 93yearold woman. She was pulled to safety by petty offense joe snyder. He told us part of the mission is helping calm people who are frightened and desperate. Good feeling to have knowing that youre this persons only hope pretty much and showed up just in the nick of time. Reporter these rescue swimmers are trained for the churning open ocean so, this rescue mission is much different for them. Instead of wearing flippers they have to wear boots when they go down to protect thesmss from whatever debris might be in the floodwater. One rescue swimmer told me he always thought his first rescue mission would be in a war zone. Not here at home. Omar sox impressive. Thank you. Flashflooding could be a problem for millions from louisiana to arkansas. The center of the tropical depression the is near monroe, louisiana, this morning. The heavy yst rain will be in tennessee and kentucky. Memphis could see up to a foot of rain. Houston, though, is not expected to see any more rain until early next week. As the floodwaters recede in houston, the full scale of harveys devastation is becoming apparent. Drone video shows how 14 feet of water covered parts ofdown on monday. Mark strassmann is there with todays conditions. Marc, good morning. Reporter good morning. See that yellow clearance sign behind me . Those 14foot waters you were talking about, three days they rose that high and ever since theyve been resadding. This debris mark is one measure of how far theyve gone back, but in this downtown street the waters went down another 100 yards. But major challenges have yet to g away. Although the rains have stopped, much of houston looks much like a major city and more like a swamp. The Life Saving Missions go on. Border patrol agents rescued this woman clinging to a utility pole. Im gong to push you up, all right . Okay. One, two. Reporter ed emmet is the chief executive of Harris County which includes houston. He told us he has no clear sense of how many people are still missing. There could be some people in some vehicles that we avent recovered yet. Reporter deputies found the bodies of an elderly couple and this air four great grandchildren. They drowned in this van trying to escape the floodwaters. It just swept the van back and got em banked but it was under at least four feet of water so it was invisible at the time. Reporter harvey dumped 1 trillion gallons of rain, enough water to go over Niagara Falls for 15 days. Roughly a third of the county, some 450 square miles, is submerged. 32,000 people have been forced into shelters. Before the storm hit, i was supposed to sign a lease for an apartment and is storm hit so we have nowhere to g. Reporter houston opened three megashelters that can house up to 20,000 people. Officials vow to keep them open as long as necessary. We need to make sure we have plans. What are we going to do about housing . What are we going to do about schools . What are we going to do about infrastructure . The recovery is not weeks, its likely to be years. Reporter fema has received more than 210,000 individual applications for financial help. The overall operation is down shifting from rescue to recovery from life threatening to getting life back to normal. Marc thanks. Vice president pence is on his way to texas to visit people hit bihar vie and to see the damage. President trump sent a message of reassurance yesterday during a pitch for his tax reform plan at factory in missouri. Major garrett is at the white house. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The mental havoc that is Hurricane Harvey, President Trump is trying to generate real political momentum for tax reform. Yesterdays speech was one of many on that topic. The white house is scrambling to pass tax cut before the end of the year, but theres less time than meets the eye. Only 48 days left in the house and senate. Can i say missouri . Or should assay missouri . Snoosh while rescues in the aftermath of harvey continued in texas and louisiana, President Trump flew to springfield, missouri, to cam feipaign for massive tax cuts. First, he addressed harveys wrath. To those americans who have lost loved one, all of america is grieving with you. Reporter mr. Trump was criticized for those not mentioning those killed in the storm on his tuesday trip and not visiting floodravaged areas. The fact he saw no damage first hand did not stop him from claiming on twitter, quote, first hand the horror and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. The president promised relief for the middle class. We want to help them take home as much of their money as possible. Reporter but his plan largely includes cuts for wealthiest of americans including reducing the Corporate Tax rate from 35 to 15 and lowering taxes on profits made overseas. But before Congress Even addresses tax reform, it must pass a budge it, secure funding for Hurricane Harvey relief, and raise the debt ceiling. Several House Republicans sitting in front of him, the president said this is a chance for congress to redeem itself after the failure to pass obamacare repeal. I am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done. And i dont want to be disappointed by congress. Do you understand me . [ applause ] do you understand . Reporter tax reform, will, by necessity, take a backseat to Hurricane Harvey relief. The Vice President will, unlike the president , visit with victims of Hurricane Harvey and witness first hand actual damage. Maurice . Major garrett at the white house. Thank you. The u. S. , south korea and japan put on a military display, a display of power overnight, in response to north koreas latest missile launch. New video shows b 1 supersonic bombers and f35 fighter jets in a bombing drill in south korea. North korea fired an intermediate range Ballistic Missile on tuesday that flew over northern japan. Ben tracy is in tokyo. Good morning. Reporter good morning. This was a very direct show of force to north korea. It wasnt just the u. S. It involved u. S. Allies, japan and south korea. All of this happened hours after the u. S. Conducted a successful Missile Defense test off the co. There are conflicting messages from washington on how to handle north korea. On wednesday, President Trump tweeted the u. S. Has been talking to north korea and paying them extortion money for 25 years. Talking is not the answer. The same day, secretary of Defense James Mattis said we are never out of Diplomatic Solutions. Today is the last day of the joint military exercises between the u. S. And south korea. That could be a time for the tensions to finally start going down. But kim jongun said he wants to keep launching missiles into the pacific. If he does that, it certainly wont help. Gayle . Thank you, ben, reporting from tokyo. A 12yearold girl in philadelphia has been cancer free for five years thanks to a a new trimt that just won federal approval. Ahe ahead, our dr. Dr. David agus the scope many harvey evacuees are learning to scope of their loss. Kris van cleave is there. The families here are now starting to come home. What theyre finding is theres not a whole lot to come home to. Thats coming up on cbs this morning. Thats coming up on cbs this morning. Ou look amazing. And you look amazing. Ly comfortable. When your vneck looks more like a uneck. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Add downy to keep your collars from stretching. Unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth. 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