Together to rescue people trapped by floodwaters. The next hour of the cnn newsroom starts right now. Thank you so much for being with me. We are following breaking news of the historic and catastrophic proportions of this flooding. Unfolding in texas, more than 1,000 people have been rescued in houston. But many more remain trapped because of the rising waters. I was awake all night on th phone. Every time i dialed 911, it automatically hung up, im sure they were just inundated and busy. I called everyone i could, the best i could. Finally i said to all my friends on facebook, i need help, call everyone you can. It was surprising how fast it rose. I didnt think it would rise that fast, but it is. How many people are still back there . Probably hundreds. I want everyone to be safe. Its hard for everybody, but the ones on the creek, you know, theyre they need help and we all got to pitch together and help everybody else out. President trump is expected to travel to texas as early as tuesd tuesday. Governor greg abbott is urging people to stay off the roads, getting to the highest points of their homes. The worst is yet to come. This likely is going to be an historic rainfall, if not an all time record. And the amount of rain that is sustained in certain regions. Lets get the latest on the situation in houston. Downtown houston, these bands of rains continue. Our meteorologists say rain is going to continue until friday. What is the case now. You know, information just into the cnn newsroom, that the houston independent Public School district has closed for the next week, its completely closed. No classes will be going on next week because of the inclement weather. You can see around me, its very clear the reason why, because roads in houston have turned to rivers. Beau yews have turned to raging rivers, its not safe for children to be going to school in these conditions. We have video from earlier today, it was a live shot we did from 7 00 a. M. This morning, we were in the same location, but much closer to the intersection that youre taking a look at, which is commerce and travis here in downtown houston. If you look at those two pictures, you can see the comparison of the amount of water, that gives you an idea of the magnitude of the storm, as you mentioned, we are still getting drerjed at this hour were expecting more rain as we see the bands from Tropical Storm harvey pound and pummel the city of houston take a look around, we are surrounded by water. As far as the eye can see, all you see is water, you see street signs, traffic lights, the traffic lights are no longer on. The traffic signs show us the water level and how dramatic its been rising here throughout the day. The picture from 7 00 a. M. This morning what the water levels look like now tell you the story of what the downtown area has seen. We were doing live shots from a spaghetti warehouse building thats a block away. We can barely see that building right now. We would never be able to get there because of how dangerous this situation is. How fast the water is moving. Upwards of 20 inches more expected throughout the week rosa flores, thank you so much. Lets go south to dickinson texas, not far from galveston. Ed lavin dare remark are you still on i45 . This is incredible to explain, this isnt some small country road tucked away somewhere thats flooded out. This is the middle of i45, you head straight up north, that takes you into downtown houston, this entire interstate is impassable you can see about a foot and a half of water, there isnt any car traffic on here today, but what there is, is an endless fleet of boats. People who have shown up launching their boats into the water to rescue people from the dozens of neighborhoods that extend behind this tree line here, that you cant necessarily see. Were going to talk to this family here. You guys are literally right off the boat . Yeah, we got dropped off by the go cart track. Were kind of lucky. What is it like in your neighborhood . You go out in the yard its waist deep. Its like walking through a lake. You are one of the lucky ones . Yes. We have a two story home. We were able to bring some neighbors over and go up to the second floor. All the adrenaline got us through it now were ready to see what we have to do next. What is it like to see these boats it was pretty neat. Our neighbor was the one who got us. He lives right on the corner. So he donated his boat to the cause. Had you guys been told to evacuate, given any suggestions on what to do . No, they told us to sit still. We havent flooded in that area since 1978 and for all we knew it was safe. A window of three hours, went from nothing to about three feet. You told me there are people are there people still on rooftops in your neighborhood . They had a ladder up to the rooftop. There were only a couple of people in our neighborhood on roofs. Given how chaotic it seems, whats it like in there . Is it running pretty smoothly . Are people panicking . No, everyones working together. Everyones kind of its a disaster, we have to Work Together or youre not going to get anything fixed. Were all working well. Might be too early, do you know what youre going to be able to do . How do you plan what to do the next couple days . I have a wonderful dad, hes going to let us stay with him until we figure out what to do. Dad, you cooking tonight . No. You guys need a good meal. A shower. Trust me. I wish you guys the best, thanks for talking to us. Thank you so much. I hope you guys do all right. Good to meet you. There you get a sense of folks in relatively good spirits considering they left their home with 4 to 5 feet of water in it, and thats exactly what its come to here in some of these neighborhoods. Someone showing up in your front yard and plucking you out of the neighborhoods. People are prioritizing who needs to be rescued. And you can see all the boats out here, it doesnt take too long. All these boats crisscrossing. Oh, my goodness much hey, ed, people seem to be really taking this in stride. Based on the people youve been interviewing, theyre smiling. Yes, they may have lost everything. But they have a rosie view. What are the other potential dangers. Were talking about texas, bayous and gators, water moccasins and all that. Have there been any potential Health Hazards in that respect for wildlife . People know. There could be snakes, alligators, those are definitely thins that people need to be very weary of, and thats why these boats are kind of crucial. Because as you see this gentleman over here, wading through it i think hes trying to get to the top of this overpass here. But in fact, we spoke with a local reporter here who was covering a situation on galveston island, walking to a scene where a house had caught on fire, they were walking and all of a sudden, he said he took one step and dropped into six feet of water, into a canal. He thought that was it, i thought my life was over right there, he was in what he thought was a completely perfectly safe place. You cant stress enough how deceiving. How treacherous walking through these areas can be. Thats a concern, but obviously, the real concern here, especially as we start approaching toward nightfall, several hours away from nightfall, theres a rush to get as many people out, being out here, as we heard one person say, youre out here with no electricity and power, and things are sloshing around. The water really rises, you hear repeatedly, theyre always amazed at how quickly the water comes up in their homes. In a matter of an hor. Everyone is shell shocked when they live through that. Theres obstructions in the water you cant see, dont know, when it is when youre talking about water like that that simply grows and spreads. The depths, you dont know was underneath you can be injured in so many different ways. Thank you so much, ed lavandera, well check back with you. Lets head further south to a Coastal Community of rockport, texas. Martin savage is there. Do you see any folks there . No, not a lot of people, a lot of First Responders, but not a lot of people. Same storm, harvey. It struck here, category 4, that was friday night, different circumstance than houston, there they have water problems, here it is just destruction and devastation on a massive scale throughout this community. And you see it street after street, block after block, whether youre in the commercial areas or residential areas. Really hard to give you a sense of the scope of it, the more you drive around, the more you see, and the more youre amazed at what the winds did. Theres only one reported fatality, search and rescue crews are going 24 hours a day. They expect it will take 48 hours to finish up the job. The relief is still pouring in. You see, electric companies trying to come in. This area is cut off. Theres no electricity, pitch dark at night. The water is not fit to drink, and theres no sewage system, thats why city officials are saying, if youre here, you have to leave, they have buses to carry you away. If youre not here, dont come back, its not inhabitable. And it is likely not to be that way for some time to come. So same storm, but this one had a very different impact and they are still struggling to come to grips with it here, a lot of the First Responders that were here are needed elsewhere in the state. Thats a scene from rockport texas. Stay with us, we continue to keep a close eye on south texas, where people are currently fleeing their homes, trying to escape the rising floodwater as Tropical Storm harvey hovers over that state. 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I am home, i am home, i am home after a hall of fame career, its no wonder why i use blueemu arthritis cream. Blueemus nongreasy, deeppenetrating formula gets down deep into those joints for big time pain relief. Blueemu, it works fast and you wont stink. Tim ens flooding is affecting some of the most vulnerable in texas about more than 20 people have been evacuated in a nursing home in dickinson texas. I know this video is extraordinary, you want to double check and make sure youre seeing what youre seeing. People are sitting in water. The woman closest to us is sitting on the chair of her walker, and you see they are submerged by water that has come inside that nursing home. Good news is, we understand the National Guard came in, they were able to rescue 20 to 25 people. Still unclear whether there are any more people there in dickinson, texas. These who have been rescued are well right now. There are other flood victims stuck in homes and hotels. Jake lewis is in houston for work. Stranded at a hotel. Hes joining us now on the phone. Back in new brownsfeld texas . Yes. Im doing good. How are you doing . Im looking at these images that have come in. Showing the standing water of the hallway of your hotel . Yes, thats correct. Tell me the story, what was your experience . Its kind of funny, im a really hard sleeper, and it was like 6 00 this morning, and a guy from work called me and i was still sleeping, i just woke up, he told me, hey, are we going to work . I said yeah, i got off the bed i was in ankle deep water, from 30 seconds in, it was already a bad day. I started walking through the water, looked out, looked at the parking lot, it was just a lake it seemed like, and i set there and i decided i was going to go up to the second floor the electric was still on. It would have beenwise to go up to the second floor. I prayed a lot. And like the song jesus take the wheel he took the wheel and im safe. This was frightening, wasnt it . Extremely. Theyre calling for 30 inches of rain tonight. It was either stay there and everything flood up to me and im on a rooftop or try it. I can tell how deep it is, if you can see the line you can drive to it, be cautious. I was extremely cautious and shaking the whole time, but i made it all right. So jake, when someone sees water like that, of course you want to get out of there, you know that water is everywhere. It might be in the route youre trying to get home, how did you get back . And whats the distance twin where you were in this hotel and houston and new brunfels, home . Its normally a two hour drive. There were a couple ladies i helped out along the way, they followed me out, and we worked as a team. And we just kind of helped each other get out of that situation. Once we got on the highway, it was a little sketchy getting on 610. We got on the 610, there were a few places that were high. Like the governor and the mayor said, dont get on the road. It was crucial at times, and it could be looked at like a bone head or i made it through it. I think its kind of dumb getting through it, but i made it. I didnt use my better judgment. I kind of used my common sense going through that water. Im so glad you got through it, along the way, did you see a lot of standing water, because youre a texan, youve heard the phrase, the advice, turn around, dont drown. There was standing water. You drove through it anyway . Excuse me . I was asking, did you see standing water and did you drive through it anyway . In some spots on the highway, it was maybe a foot. It wasnt running water, if its running water, i wouldnt go into that, but when its just standing water, ive done worse in my pickup. Bless his heart. There were people that were stranded in water up to their waist. We did what we could to help them out. I took a few people to the shelter on the way there. Its a mess down there right now. And its only going to get worse, either wait until it gets worse or try to go through it now. I didnt want to wait for it to happen. I can take my own judgment in, i guess. Glad youre okay opinion glad you were able to help others. Thanks so much for your time and your story. Theres much more ahead with the weather system. While it continues to rain there in the houston area. Really south texas, its going to continue until friday. Thats what tom satder is saying, is that still the case, tom . Unfortunately, with the amount of rain thats fallen in houston and the devastation were seeing with all the pictures coming in, i hate to tell you, we may see just as much rainfall in the days ahead that have already fallen. Were talking over two feet of rainfall. We could surpass three in a few places. The models are saying, yep, theyre in good agreement, lets carry this system back to where it made lawful, and those models speculated that last week, lets carry it offshore, this is like a refueling stop. If it gets back over water, it cannot only retain its strength, but maybe even develop further. Lets take it out further and see where the models have been going with this. The ones that are extremely east, this is a learn concerning for two reasons, it brings the secondary landfall into the shores of louisiana, but because it would be a longer duration into these warm waters, its not out of the question. It could develop much stronger. Lets go with the bulk of these, its still over water, makes a secondary land fall. But its picking up more moisture right over galveston and houston, we carry it northward. Were talking about a system that will be in the state late thursday and into friday. The numbers weve sheen you are interesting, these are all different counties in texas. In Harris County is javi airport. Last night, in just an hour and a half time, they picked up 10 inches of rainfall. Chad myers was talking about this band that would be moving in last night, that continued to back build in the houston area, even getting support from the northern gulf. The rain is going to pick up intensity in an hour and a half to two hours. Were starting to see the eastern flank get a little more exciting. Not just with the tornados, but its moving into louisiana as far as the heavy rainfall. The National Weather service has issued 111 tornado warnings. That doesnt include six tornados that popped up, they were so busy, they surprised them. The bulk of the rain has been to the north and northeastern flank, and will continue to see the back building of these bands feed that moisture, but sliding in toward louisiana. The center has been believing 1 to 2 miles an hour. That will keep electrical crews from getting any Electrical Work done. They can clean the streets as the system moves north back over houston, cant stress it enough, this is a 1 in 1,000 year rage event. Were going to find more areas that have picked up two feet. Heres the problem, the amount of real estate and land mass that will continue or has not seen two feet of rain will start to see two feet of rain. The models take it well north of houst houston, now slides 2 1 2 feet rainfall totals. This is the latest model. Not only are we going to double in houston alone, now what is expected in the days ahead is just as much rainfall as weve seen fall. Its moving so slow, earlier when i was hearing you talk about this moving at 1 mile per hour. It still packs a punch, its still very strong, its moving so slow, and it continues to saturate the area for days to come. Whats interesting about houston, many parts of houston flood at 2 and 3 inches. You have to look at how much theyve grown. Since the year 2000 theyve added 25 more pavement, thats on top of wetlands. More flooding. Thank you so much. Houston being hit very hard. Houston also happens to be the district of ted cruise. Where are you as it relates to all of this rising water were looking right now at a woman being rescued. Unclear whether this is a first responder, theres also many cases of neighbors helping neighbors. What have you seen . Im in houston right now, we are seeing historic flooding. The impact of harvey is massive and expected to grow. We have about 2,000 high water rescues that are on going. People who are trapped with rising water. Ive been spending much of the day in communication with local efficientlies to mobilize resources. To provide assistance to people who are facing real peril we heard from the governor earlier who said everything houston has asked for we provided. The governor has called the mayor a number of times and left messages. What do you believe houston needs right now that needs to be conveyed on a state level. I spoke with both the mayor and governor in the past few hours. The mayor expressed significant concern about needing Additional Resources for high water rescues. That is a concern, i expressed directly to the white house, expressed to fema. And federal officials and also the governor. The governer i got off the phone with him 20, 30 minutes ago. The state has deployed 60 boats to the houston region, and has sent an additional 500 dps troopers and mobilized a total of 3,000 National Guardsmen. The state is acting swiftly to marshall resources. Its taking a little bit of time to get those resources to the affected area, because getting there is not proving easy. Many roadways are shut down, i think were seeing state local and federal officials working well together, were still in the midst of an active crisis. Theres more work to be done. Earlier i spoke to ed emmett. He defended the fact that it was a rain event and its difficult in which to evacuate from a rain event. You dont know who to evacuate. The mayor earlier saying, between 2 and 6 Million People would have to be evacuated if there were to be a mandatory evacuation. That would not be wise. Where are you on evacuations and whether this was handled appropriately . Well, look, theres always time in the future to look back in hindsight and assess what might have been done better. Ive been advising people, listen to your local officials, it varies region by region. We saw devastation further south in Corpus Christi and victoria and rockport. Now were seeing flooding that is very significant i think its important to monitor the situation as its moving. Particularly because this isnt over. We may not be halfway through. Anyone who is facing rising water, stay safe, stay inside, dont go out in your car, the most frequent cause of loss of life is people that get out in their car and they think they can make it, swift moving water can be incredibly dangerous, dont jeopardize your safety. If you see raising water in your home, get up high. Dont go into your attic, this is a very important warning. Dont go into your attic unless you have an axe or other equipment to get through the roof. It can be dave rouse getting trapped with no way to get out. Senator ted cruz, President Trump is back at the white house now. Having arrived there moments ago many the white house saying the president plans to head to the region in, the flooding region there, and here are the images of the family coming off marine one. That they will be in the region on tuesday, what do you want to see come from the president s visit potentially in your district . Well, i spoke to the president earlier, and he committed swift and immediate federal resources and all the support the state needed. I was appreciative of his direct and personal level of concern. Yesterday i spoke with Vice President pence right after the president had convened a Video Conference cabinet meeting, and the Vice President conveyed to me, the president directed every cabinet official to move as swiftly as humanly possible to marshall resources on ground to meet the need. Weve been seeing that level of cooperation. The governor told me hes in the process of signing an agreement with the federal government to create a zulle status command center so you dont have the problems of coordination between the state and federal government weve seen in other disasters. The president told me he wants to come to texas, but doesnt want to come when it would pull resources away from search and rescue. Is tuesday appropriate in your opinion . I think there will be a right time. The priority is search and rescue. So many people that are risking their lives and as you mentioned a minute ago, also just neighbors helping neighbors and in houston and galveston, theres been a call to private citizens, if you have a flat bottom boat and can assist in rescue efforts, do so, thats one of the most incredible things we see, whenever Natural Disaster strikes in texas, and sadly were big enough that we have had a significant number of Natural Disasters, we also see texans coming together and neighbors helping neighbors, were seeing that right now as well. Ted cruz, thanks for your time. All the best to you and your family in houston and everyone in your district. We will be right back. Wrong car. This is not your car . I would love to take it, but no. Oh, im so sorry about that. You guys wanna check it out . Its someone elses car. This is beautiful. What is this . Its the allnew chevy equinox. This feels like a luxury suv. I love this little 360, how do they even do that . I made a bad decision on my last car purchase. Well, your cars here. Bummer. Bummer. Wahwah. Im ready for an upgrade. laughter never stop never over your head. She needs to go to college. I dont know how well do it. Never stop til we get there til we get there or a little internet machine . it makes you wonder shouldnt we get our phones and internet from the same company . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost, so all you pay for is data. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Xfinity mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile. Com. Megans smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. Act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. Go beyond brushing with act®. Welcome back. President trump just arriving back at the white house. Hell be traveling to texas on tuesday. The president and first family just back from a weekend at camp david. Lets go now to athena jones at the white house. The president has made his way back. Off to texas as early as tuesday. Were talking at the last hour, how he wants to go to texas as soon as possible. He could do so as early as tuesday. Now the white house making tuesday official. We dont know what city or cities the president could travel to, but Sarah Huckabee sanders telling us a short while ago, the president will travel to texas on tuesday. We know the president doesnt want to have his footprint, the security and infrastructure needed to protect him. He doesnt want that to get in the way of rescue and recovery efforts, hes likely to travel to avoid the hard hit areas. Were hearing the white house could be leaning toward a city like san antonio, it was outside of the hardest hit zones, well be awaiting more details on that, earlier today the president held a second video teleconference call with mike pence, other cabinet officials and other senior members of the administration, to talk about the federal response, and talk about the ongoing unfolding of Natural Disasters taking place in texas. We know the president stressed the importance of saving lives, making sure that they could avoid a loss of life, and also called on people who were are in the area. Theyre sheltering in place, to heed the instructions of local and state officials so they can remain safe, fred . Athena jones at the white house, thank you so much. The president according to the white house, on his way to texas as early as tuesday. When the president gets to texas these are the stories hes going to hear from people directly about their rescue attempts. Losing everything in places like dickinson texas. These are the images youre seeing right now. Ed lavandera is reporting from these locations. The water is very high. We found a gentleman gracious to bring us out. He drove up from lake jackson today. Hes taking us out in the neighborhoods where hes rescued about 10 people here today this is one of those subdivisions off i45 that has been flooded out by the floodwaters that came in overnight. And this is an area where weve seen boats crisscrossing and the images youre seeing speak for themselves its devastating. People went to bed last night thinking they were going to be high and dry in one of the areas where they were going to be better off to with stand the intense rain that was coming and the floodwaters that were coming down, you can see how much water the folks in this neighborhood have taken on. So many people with their own boats have been coming through this neighborhood pulling people out fp right now its incredibly quiet. Not many people, if only a handful by this time of the day are still in here. We have seen a couple rooftops where you can tell people have used axes to punch their way through the attic and on to the rooftop of their homes, and crazy enough in some of these places, you can see the porch light is still on in some of the homes. The electricity is still on. You can just see how much water is in this neighborhood. Everyone almost every car submerged. Water, you can see when you look in through the windows, the furniture, tossed around inside the floodwaters, this is a little neighborhood just adjacent to i45 in the town of dickinson. There is not you can see over here, one of the another group of hes asking if weve seen any people. We havent seen any around here . In the subdivision . Not since earlier this morning. I think most people out of here are gone. If you go back to where that bridge is, where everyones launching their boat. Run up whatever road that is, the neighborhoods on the left still have some people in them . Hughes road . Yeah. Im circling in here making sure theres no one left in here. How many people have you rescued today . Towed one boat in. Its just you folks like this who have come in here and you know what is odd as we sit here and drive, austin was telling us, you have to be careful when youre driving through these neighborhoods, on one of his last trips through here, he got lodged on top of a car that was hard to see. 7, 8 feet of water, every car youve seen submerged. Here you can see, look over here to your right, we look these cars, you can see coolers where people were managing their way, pushing their cars to the edge. Coast guard teams have been coming into this neighborhood throughout the day. And rescuing people, you can see here we are at the top of the street signs at the intersection of meadow court and meadow lane, you can see how many water this is going on and on through all of it, as you look over, theres a bayou that stretches throughout the back part of this neighborhood, you can see just how dramatic the pictures are here from this neighborhood. The gentleman thats driving the boat that youre in, he lives in that neighborhood . I mean, he clearly knows these the neighborhood well enough to know where the streets start and end there, but whats his story as to why he decided to pitch in and help out . Austin, this is your first time in this neighborhood . Its my second time in this general neighborhood. Lets stand up here a little bit and figure out a way to talk to austin while he maneuvers his way. Do you mind if we talk to you. Youre from lake jackson which isnt that close to here . Yeah, its about an hour west of here. How did you hear this news . What made you want to bring your boat out here . I dont remember if it was the Game Wardens Office or the local police, anyone with a flat bottom boat in the general va cenity, if you can come help, wed greatly appreciate it. Within an hour, it had 3,000 shares or Something Like that, it got the word out pretty quick. Were standing on the interstate, the boats started coming out of nowhere it seemed like. Ive been passed by a dozen boats. What is that . A military truck . Is it a National Guard truck . Thats what i was thinking when i saw it earlier. Its kind of erie. The people you rescued from here, what did they tell you . The first people i pulled out, it was a wife and her husband and their daughter. And they i dont know how they got as far as they did. I picked them up closer to the entrance to the neighborhood, they said, is there anyway we can go back and get our dogs. I said, yes, we can, let me drop your wife and daughter off first. The other family, they stepped out into knee deep water in their house. They had no idea . No idea. Their neighbor was dry and they went over there and were camping out. You knew the storm was coming. I didnt realize it was going to be this bad . It shocks you . Yeah, its mindboggling. Look at the what is this vehicle in it looks like a camper . I cant tell if its an official National Guard truck or not. Have you ever seen flooding like this . This is unreal. We had flooding last memorial day. The worst house may have had two feet of water in it, not 10. Nothing compared to this. The people that you rescued from here, did they say most people evacuated or were still here . Most people were going this morning, they didnt know. A fair amount of people had evacuated for the storm. But most of their neighbors, they had no idea it was going to get like this. They figured there was going to be a little bit of water in the streets and ditches, but that was it. They underestimated it. This is stunning. Is not terribly isolated. It goes on for a large area, its not just one little street thats flooded. This is in several giant subdivisions. Oh, yeah. Its wild. Fredericka, this is that scene. This is extraordinary. This is a very concentrated residential area, and to see how many cars were left and possibly how many people were rescued out of that is astounding. Earlier, we had an image from a nursing home, and it was in that very neighborhood as well, where the water had come in and the people who were staying in that nursing home, were in their chairs with the water waist deep. Extraordinary work that your friend is doing, the two friends who are staring the boat are doing by rescuing people, neighbor helping neighbor. Heeding the call coming from texas officials, asking if anyone had a boat in which tola perspective. Were going to check back with you from dickinson texas, further north out of houston texas, downtown houston also hit hard, where there are bands of rainfalling, and high water, brian todd is there. Whats your perspective now that youre there with fresh eyes and on the ground there. It is very difficult to traverse this area west of downtown houston, were about 6 miles west of the downtown area, we came down route 45 from the north. Ed came from the south, he got cut off coming from the south, we got cut off 20 miles north of the city, this is what youre looking at. Were right along route 610, the loop that goes around the city, the access to this is flooded. Eddie gross is going to zoom in there. Thats the back of an 18 wheeler, it got stranded there. Probably a good five feet of water that struck was stranded in. I talked to a witness who saw the driver of the truck being rescued a couple hours ago, houston fire had to go in boats over there and pull her out, a female driver of the truck, they had to pull her out and get on a boat. To the right of it, you can see two submerged vehicles. There were people a second ago on that at that convertible vehicle, looking in to see if there was anybody there. And then they moved on. There are people kind of moving along this thoroughfare in boats. If you come over here, and you pan left our right, your left a little bit, that is 610. And you can see there are some high water vehicles that can get through there, theyre struggling to get through, a lot of people are being turned around the other way. This is the Buffalo Bayou that has overflowed on to this access road. And Buffalo Bayou is one of the many bayous in the houston area that funnel the water into the gulf of mexico, you can see how overwhelmed Buffalo Bayou is. Its just over here to my left, completely overflowed. You can see what its doing to the thoroughfare here. We were told this driver of this 18 wheeler saw these other two vehicles were stranded, she tried to make it through, and had a really close call there. We heard the governor say earlier today, that 250 plus highways throughout the state were shut down. We experienced that trying to get from dallas down here, trying to get around some interstates, route 45, a major highway was closed 25 miles north of houston. 24rz a neighborhood here to my left to see whos being rescued here. A peril for motorists. That 18 wheeler got stuck here a few hours ago. The driver got out okay. I saw on the other side of your shoulder, it looked like a lot of emergency lights. Any idea what kind of activity is occurring over there . Is it serving as a barricade . Whats going on . I think theyre trying to get through to the other side where maybe they can pass through that area. Were not sure what theyre doing. A lot of people are stopped up there, even a major highway here gets flooded. I45 got flooded. This is 610, part of it is flooded over here. High water vehicles getting through here, not sure what theyre doing over there with those emergency vehicles. They may be steering people back. Its dangerous to get through on any road, much less some of the smaller ones that are completely submerged. You can testify to what the journey it was to get from dallas to houston with all of those road closures and standing water everywhere you look. Were learning from the National Weather service. Earlier it had been reported perhaps another 20 inches of rain could be expected in that area. Until friday now were hearing from the National Weather service it could be 40 to 50 inches additionally. It is bad now, its certainly going to worsen there. Thank you so much, brian todd, all our correspondents who have been with us throughout the day, giving us a firsthand view of what people are experiencing there. Live pictures right now of dickinson texas by way of our friendly boaters who have given ed lavandera an incredible look. You see the dogs that are in safe haven in that boat at that residents. Rescues have been taking place by Good Samaritans and First Responders all day long. It will continue. Our continuing coverage goes on. Im fredericricka whitfield, mu more straight ahead. And the rummage through your closet fee. Who is she, verizon . Are those my heels . Yeah yeah, were the same size. In shoes. With tmobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just 40 bucks each. And now get zero down on the hottest smart phone brands like samsung galaxy. More reasons why tmobile is americas best unlimited network. 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