Do, we have a Customer Service hot line that we turned into a nonemergency call center, and weve asked the residents if they need to be rescued and its not an emergency, or if they think they might need to be rescued, that they call that 311. Most of the people unless they get hit later or are near the river. W we are prioritizing those, the residents that can get out of their homes, like i said, were prioritizing them. And also we they do know that we will wait until daybreak. Because of the standing water, so many of the streets and the
typically shelter in beaumont. We have three shelters open, they will not at capacity until they started to get at capacity, well look at opening another shelter. A shelter, you dont just put up there and ask people to come. You have to have supplies, cots, blankets, and someone that knows how to run it. And the red cross, because of all the devastation in texas is very, very limited resources for them, too. So i think that would be our biggest issue, the resources that we need to put into the new the secondary shelter that were setting up. And then someone to actually run it. We partner with the red cross in helping, but we dont actually run shelters. But we will partner with
resources. Thats probably the biggest challenge right now. Ive been the mayor for ten years, and ive never seen this many people that needed shelter. Well, we hope youre able to open up that other shelter. Thank you for the time we have already opened it. Im sorry, i didnt mean to interrupt you. Im having a hard time hearing. We have already opened it. We just dont have all the resources we need to complete it. But we will not no one has been turned away, no one. That is certainly good news. Mayor, i hope to speak to you tomorrow night, as well. I wish you and the people there the best. As we mentioned, the military has ramped up Rescue Operations. Two u. S. Navy War Shiships Are G deployed to the area, along with
690 marines. Medical, communications, other support teams, are already in place or are on their way. Cnns Martin Savidge has been out and airborne with the navy rescuers over east texas, capturing remarkable images. So martin, youre still on the chopper, returning to base. Tell us what youve been seeing up there. [ indiscernible ]martin, were
hearing you. Were going to go next to beaumont and cnns drew griffin, who has been having quite a remarkable day, as well. Drew, youve been on the ground all day. Talk about what youve been seeing there. Reporter its a violent night, and to add on to what the mayor was speaking out, Jefferson County is a series of islands, anderson. So you have these people rescued, theyre put on an island. As water continues to rise, that island gets smaller, and those people need to be rescued off of that island to another island, to another island. Thats where you have that day after day after day of rescue. And the water is still rising in this county. We just heard about a levy breach thats flooding another subdivision just west of here. It can happen in a split second. Thats what we found out this morning. Were setting up for a live shot, when we heard a noise and we found this guy in really dire straits. Take a look. Look at this. Get out, dude
youve got a power cord . You got a rope . Hold on, im getting you a rope. Dont go backwards. You all right . No, maam, we got a car in the ditch. We just pulled somebody out. Lord have mercy. Are you all right now, buddy . Yeah. Take your breath. Were going to get you off of this bank. Were going to get you off of this bank. Reporter 66yearold jerry summ summeral, he was out hooking for food and got in trouble. This intersection was flooded just about an hour ago. In fact, the police are over there trying to deal with flooded cars that were just left here. But the water continues to move throughout the county. So it drains here, it has to go somewhere else. People are not used to these areas being flooded and theyre getting in trouble. Right now, this emergency is not only continuing for people who need to be evacuated, but for all the people who have been cooked up for days, find themselves getting in trouble just like that fellow. Drew, thats one of the deceptive things. You cant tell how deep this water is, unless theres a submerged car that you just see the top of it. Even in the areas were if right now, if we just pan over here, you have no sense of how deep this water is. And it just goes on as far as the eye can see. Im told, you know, further down there, it gets up to about the waist. Here its pretty shallow. Drew, i assume thats what happened to that man who you helped rescue. He had no idea that the water he
was driving into was going to be so deep. Reporter he thought he was driving onto a road. He had no idea that was an actual drainage ditch. It was a ditch he was driving into. He thought he was crossing a parking lot, crossing a road covered with water. And he was gone, its floating. Just after we pulled him out, his truck, his fourwheel drive truck, sank. It happens that quick. People do not recognize the difference between standing water thats over a road, standing water that is actually a raging river as a drainage ditch. Its happening across Southeast Texas right now. The images on your screen are from orange, texas, the first images im seeing from that area. Again, you get a sense of how much water there is on the ground. Drew, i appreciate that. Thats near the border of texas and louisiana. We should point out. I want to get some perspective
from cnn contributor russel honore, who headed up the Hurricane Katrina effort. And joining us is john connors, member of team rubrubicon, an organization that brings together volunteers nor moments hike this. General, whats your assessment in terms of Rescue Operations and the flooding . Well, the problem has gotten bigger. I mean, we have Search And Rescue missions ongoing. This is the hard part, after we pick people up with helicopters and using the Emergency Signals to find people, once this water goes down, anderson, every house has to be checked. And that cannot be done by civilian volunteers. Without these volunteers, we would be in a mess, because the military has been slow to scale up. We should have navy ships to follow hurricanes in. We learned that in katrina and rita. Yet, one of the biggest hurricanes predicted as of Last Thursday Didnt Have Navy ships following it. We have to get this fixed, because were at the beginning of hurricane season. That being said, the shelters look great. Everybody is getting along as far as the Government Agencies. We dont have the bickering and the fighting. And the Volunteer Efforts are incredible. Yes. But i was here today with a boat. We came on this very road to go search. Nobody to talk to. No communications systems. We need to tie that together with a disruptive technology, and allow the police and fire to talk to civilians that are coming into the region and say go here. We need you over here. This is your mission. When you get here, link up. And then communicate with them. John, you guys are veterans. What are you seeing on the ground . Were veterans, we pair our
skills with First Responders. So were trained to respond to chaos. Were ready to go. So our folks got on the ground monday. Weve been doing Boat Operations since monday. Well continue to do those until the community doesnt need it. Youre focused on longterm. We expect well be here for a few months. What we generally do is wait for the waters to recede, so its safe for the volunteers to come in and then start working on longterm operations. Thats the thing, general. Obviously, theres the adrenaline now for folks that are here, that gets you through for a couple of days. But then theres the grim reality of Recovery Operations and rebuilding. And there are things the volunteers cant do. The big mission for volunteers is to go to houses. Last year in baton rouge, katri katrina, for years after the hurricane, Volunteer Groups came from all over the world. You see that over there, anderson in every one of those
catch basins have to be cleaned before the next storm. Every drain, every culvert between here and the gulf has to be cleaned. If it took 40 inches this time, what the impact the flood has had on the drains thats one of the things, theres tension on storms when they happen and the media aftermath. A lot of people, once the water dissipates, they go, its over. But its not. Exactly. And team rubicon is still working on houses in new york and new jersey that were wrecked during sandy. So everyone else forgets about it, but well stay there with the community. What do you see in terms of organization . What our teams have been seeing is the armada of the community that has stepped up to help each other. And to see everyone working side by side with the Government Agencies is encouraging. John, team rubicon exists
without government funding. Teamrubiconusa. Org. Take a look at these live pictures again. What area is this now . This is orange, texas. And it just gives you a sense of i mean, this is not over. I know a lot of folks saw houston today, they saw the rain stop and they thought, well, the worst is over. And that may be the case for some neighborhoods here in houston. But check out whats happening here in orange, texas. You get a sense of just how deep those waters are. When we come back, what began as a Life Saving Resuscitation has now turned into something of a mystery. No one seems to know where this survivor still is. She apparently still needs medical attention. And well hear from some of the survivors still making their way to safety with the help of the army of volunteers. Well be right back from houston
and all along the region. Knowing where you stand. Its never been easier. Except when it comes to your retirement plan. But at fidelity, were making Retirement Planning clearer. And it all starts with getting your Fidelity Retirement score. In 60 seconds, youll know where you stand. And together, well help you make decisions for your plan. To keep you on track. Time to think of your future its your retirement. Know where you stand. On your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. The Lincoln Summer Invitation is on. Now get our best offers of the season. On the agile mkc. And the versatile midsize lincoln mkx. Or go where summer takes you in the exhilarating mkz. Hurry in its the final days of the Lincoln Summer Invitation sales event. Ending september 5th. Right now, get zero percent apr plus 1,000 dollars Summer Savings on the lincoln mkx, mkc and mkz. Welcome back. Were here in houston. I want to give you a sense of whats happening behind me. This is the texas state maritime unit, division, excuse me. They were supposed to be stopped for the night. Someone just came up to them and said their grand mother in a house and needs a rescuing. So theyre actually mounting up again. Theyre going to take some of their boats out. They stopped because its getting dark and theyll resume tomorrow. But they look like theyre going to go out and try to find that person. You can see another boat just coming in, if we pan over here a little bit. I dont know if theyre bringing somebody out or just a boat returning after a day of rescues. That looks like a group of volunteers. Weve seen so many rescues just from this area today. More than 600 people we were told were brought out over the course of the day. Again, some of these folks are just volunteers. They had a boat. They are not even people who necessarily live in this neighborhood. So well continue to follow Whats Going On here. Well bring you any updates. Well be seeing scenes like this unfolding around the area, whether by police, troops, or the volunteers around the gulf, as well as across the country. Theres a lot to talk about. I want to go to ryan nobles. Weve been seeing some of the images from orange tonight. What is happening there on the ground . Reporter orange is just on the louisianatexas border. This area was hit hard by the second wave of harvey after it went back out to the Gulf Of Mexico and came back inland. So a lot of the flooding here began around 1 00 this morning. You can see this area where we are now. This is a shopping market area. Its become a central locating point. And you can see in the distance there is a supermarket. We understand that supermarket is closed. But from time to time, theyre getting if food and water shipments. So there is a line of people out in front of this supermarket, hoping to get stocked up on provisions so they can take care of their families. And the Rescue Effort has gone on here all day, starting early in the morgning. It is by and large a volunteer force. There are First Responders from louisiana and texas helping to guide them. One of the problems they had
earlier today, anderson, even into the night is that there are many boats willing to get people out of their homes and to dry land. But there arent necessarily buses and cars and trucks able to take them to shelters. So thats one of the holdups in this Rescue Effort. But its going to take some time before all these people can be rescued and to be put somewhere safe. And the water at this point has not started to recede. Anderson . Ryan nobles, appreciate it. So many people in houston and east texas are wondering about their loved ones, whether theyre okay, whether theyre alive. As you see behind me, these are some folks being brought out, thanking the folks who brought them out. You also have now this maritime division, which are going to start out. Theyve got helmets on. It may not seem like this they have to take all the precautions they can, because some of that water is very deep. You get into areas of eddys. It can turn quickly. Many of the survivors are looking for other ones. Many of the survivors are in the george r. Brown convention center. The chief of police joins us. What is the latest tonight in terms of Rescue Operations . Do you have a sense how many people were rescued today . How many people do you still believe may be in need of help . Well,ky tell you that Rescue Operations have continued in our west area of the city. I dont have a current number. This is really day six for the Houston Police department. People havent gone home. This will be the first time tonight that were going the let some of them go home to get some rest. But every hour it passes,
theyre going down. Its certainly with the thousands of people that have been rescued, were down to a matter of a hundred or so. I wonder, to the people who see the Waters Receding and saying houston is out of the woods, what is your message to those people tonight . Well, first, the message is that were not quite out of the woods, because we still have a water event going on, on the west side of the area. And we still havent gone into the neighborhoods for secondary searches. My heart is still aching. All of us fear that we might find folks in these homes. You look at the destruction here of twostory homes just completely engulfed and covered by water where you cant even see the roof tops. We just fear what we might find. While were glad we have had
such few deaths, the event of biblical proportions, were still concerned about what we might find in the days to come. And that actual toll you may not know, is my understanding, until the waters recede and until you can do those secondary searches. Correct. And so that and secondary searches, our First Responders, its still very risky to go back into those neighborhoods where power lines are down and gas mains and a lot of debris, a lot of things that they have to deal with. And so were thankful that there are additional teams heading towards our area of operation here. And those strike teams will help us complete the secondary searches. Chief, i wish you the best and all of your officers. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for talking with us, chief acevedo, Doing Incredible work here in houston. So much need, so many people are responding. So many neighborhoods to cover. Take a look at this video, this is not a bay, its the freeway. It looks like the ocean or a bay. Well talk to the man who took this video when we come back. Ucn about my culture. I put the gele on my head and i looked into the mirror and i was trying not to cry. Because its a hat, but its like the most important hat ive ever owned. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. Theres water rising on their street. And that hadnt happened until this morning . Until this morning. We said let me come and get you. And she was like, no, were fine, were just going to ride it. We dont think its going to be a big deal. How old are they my uncle is 90, my aunt is like 83. So they saw the water coming but they thought they could ride it out . Yeah. All of a sudden about half an hour ago, i get a call from my aunt. She said the water is up to the house. We need help. So i took off from the house, came over here. We borrowed one of my friends higher trucks. The water is pretty deep. Unbelievable. Information, the address and the location and they just took off. Are you still in communication with your aunt . Yes. Im talking to her about a minute ago. How are they holding up . Theyre there. Theyre scared. Its getting to that point where its coming. Its a matter of life or death for them and theyre ready to come out. So many people who woke up today, it wasnt raining, the neighborhood hadnt flooded. Then certain reservoirs started to flood and overflow. New neighborhoods that started to flood that didnt flood before. Yeah. Its going like the opposite. They were fine until everything