Taking a look at the gulf of mexico where the waut rers still choppy because the wind is coming in. So is the rain. The rain is the big concern in galveston because its not supposed to let up for a few days. It could be from 15 to 20 inches of rain which would definitely affect low lying areas. Were already under a Flash Flood Warning this morning. I expect many more Flash Flood Warnings in the coming days. Here is the thing, that warn extends much farther inland than you might expect. This is not just a coastal issue. That might explain why in galveston a lot of people decided not to evacuate. They didnt evacuate because if they went to houston, houston is still facing this torrential downpour and there could be flooding there. At least here theyre at their homes and more comfortable and can keep an eye on their own property which is important to them. A lot of these folks were here nine years ago during hurricane ike. That was a stronger hurricane that hit the galveston area, whereas this time around what hit goll f stop is more like a tropical storm. The flooding from ike was still severe. The surge is a reminder what could happen in the low lying areas. With all the water coming down in the coming days, a lot of folks sticking around to keep an eye on their properties. They stocked up on water and food. We went to the target last night. Still a good amount of supplies there, but very low on water and completely out of bread. I also noticed Peanut Butter was disappearing quickly. That gives you an idea of what people are stocking up on, knowing they might have to stay inside for a few days. A lot of folks have generators in case the power goes out. We lost power here for a couple hours. We could see sparking going on in the background during the heart of the storm. Still a dangerous situation here, but now all eyes are on the skies to see how much water falls here. You talk about ike, as you said nine years ago. That is certainly something etched in peoples minds. Stats from ike, that was a category 2. Harvey is a category 4 when it hit land. 74 deaths in texas because of ike. For those people in galveston who remember it well, youve got to wonder what theyre thinking and hoping it doesnt get worse because of the storm surges and all that that could be expected. Its significant right now where you are, joe. Can you step out of screen for a minute and lets take a look at these palm fronds that are swaying. Can you give us a look at what you can and cannot see there . Reporter i cant hear you terribly well, here, if you look out here on the water, definitely the clouds are thick. If the sun were to come out a little bit, we probably wouldnt get a very good look at it. The waters remain choppy. Yesterday the situation throughout the day was off and on. Wed have rain and it will would clear up a little bit. Then wed have rain and wind, it was back and forth. Think about it, if this is whats going to happen, this is what its going to be like with all this rain coming down, theres not much any community could do. Youll have streams and buy yous and things like that that will hit their limit. The worry is not so much on the gulf side of everything. Theyve got a seawall here. They put that seawall in after a huge hurricane here in the year 1900. It was a devastating hurricane that killed thousands of people. At the time galveston was lower to the sea level. They build things up, put up this seawall. The seawall did a decent job of keeping things back with hurricane ike. When the storm surge came in, it wrapped around the Narrow Island and came around the back side where the bay is. We were driving around goll f stop yesterday, last night as things really picked up. You could see the water levels were definitely rising and other parts of this eye wland away from the gulf side. Thats where they get really nervous about the flooding, especially in low lying areas. Im looking at cars behind you. I saw one police car. There are a few people driving around right there along the water and along that seawall that youre describing. Is it just regular citizens cars, news crews . What is that thats happening behind you on the roadway . Reporter these are pretty normal cars driving around here. People have confidence in the seawall because the surge wasnt supposed to be as high here. Even the mayor will tell you, they werent really worried about the tropical storm, the hurricane, the surge, the wind. Their concern, even yesterday afternoon, it was raining and windy. We could see people walking up and down the shore, taking pictures, sometimes dipping in the water a little bit. We went to a restaurant last night to grab a late dinner. It was still open. Along the seawall people arent terribly concerned. They have to be concerned because the roads are slick and rainy. Their concerns are when you get to the lower lying areas of galveston. Joe fryer, extraordinary pictures. Thanks for staying with us for this live shot. Joining me once again in the studio, bill karins. Before we do that, galveston, i was surprised seeing people driving on the road. Some of the areas, it has a little elevation. If its just raining, theyre okay. No storm surge really anymore for them. Theyre okay with that stuff. The thing they do have an issue with is the possibility of tornadoes. Theyre in some of that banding thats going to be there. I want to go to a wide view of the storm. This is now not going to move much. I could show you this image two days from now and it will be located in this same spot. Zooming in on the houston area, the feeder band on the outside of this is very strong this morning, centered right over the top of downtown houston. If the storm doesnt move, the feeder band doesnt move, we call it training. If these storms train over the houston area for two or three days, this is when we can get epic rainfall totals. I want to head back over to the weather maps. I was hesitating to show this. It was a more reliable weather map. Our european long range map. Theres different caveats, this is not the official forecast. The official forecast is causing for a possibility of widespread 20 inches, maybe a little more. This is the european model for the same area. Pink shows 20 inches of rain. I saw this 56 inches and i thought it must be a misprint. I went and looked at a closer view, there are spots to the south of there up to 60 inches. It wasnt a misprint. This isnt the official forecast. This just shows you and sets off huge alarm bells that this is the potential. It doesnt mean this is going to happen. It does happen widespread 20 inches, we know that. Thats why the three to four feet if possible. Who knows . Someone could get more than that. Thats what happens when you have a tropical stims for four days. One spot in victoria, texas, already had 16 inches. If its going to rain for four more Straight Days in a tropical storm, who knows . Maybe they do get up to those crazy totals. Our Flash Flood Warnings are from just outside of victoria all the way through the houston area and our river flood warnings are only going to get worse. I cant stress enough, alex, forget about the wind. The winds arent doing anymore damage. That part of the storm is over. Now were getting to the part thats going to be catastrophic, the fact thats going to make this a multi billion dollar weather disaster. When you said 56 inches, i thought how is that even possible . Well go to Kerry Sanders who is in victoria. Well give him this news after this break and get his reaction there and get a sense of whats coming. That is Kerry Sanders camera right there. Theres a lot of rain his way. Well get to kerry after the break. Stay with us. 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Forecasters predicting up to three feet of rain in some places. We have the latest for you here. Covering Hurricane Harvey, a lot of indications out of washington for you. The president signed a disaster declaration for texas as Hurricane Harvey loomed offshore, but also announced a controversial pardon. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is standing by at the white house with more on this. Kelly, good saturday morning to you. Tell us more. Reporter political news to talk about as well. First on the hurricane, the president is already tweeting the day about the coordinated response between federal, state and local officials, praising fema, talking about the fact that hes closely monitoring all this. There isnt much the president can do at this stage, but he has signed a declaration. He says that unleashes federal help. The president plans to travel to texas sometime next week according to white house officials. Given the duration of this storm, that could be difficult. The president also had Something Else in mind that got a lot of attention overnight. When the first family left for a weekend at camp david, Hurricane Harvey was not the only storm brewing. A legal lightning bolt from President Trump late friday, a president ial pardon for arizonas controversial anti immigration hard liner sheriff joe arpaio, a move the president teased at his tuesday rally in phoenix. By the way, im just curious, do the people in this room like sheriff joe . Reporter long accused of using racial profiling and tough tactics against undocumented immigrants. Im not going to stop. Reporter 85yearold former sheriff was convicted of criminal contempt for failing to follow a court order to stop the patrols. Was sheriff joe convicted for doing his job . Reporter cheered by some conservatives, but critics in both parties say the pardon only inflames divisions and discrimination against latinos, and undermines the rule of law. Arpaio spoke to nbc news by phone. I have to thank the president for standing by me and standing by law enforcement. Reporter still more news as the hurricane soaked up coverage. National security aide Sebastian Gorka says he resigned, but a white house official disputes that. Gorkas nationalist views made him an ally of ousted strategist steve bannon. Perhaps the biggest test for President Trump, managing his first natural disaster. This is right up President Trumps alley. Reporter Homeland Security adviser tom boss cert says the president is ready. Tweets show mapts on his desk in the oval office. Talking directly with them or the governors. If they have any unmet needs, the president wont tolerate that. Reporter last year candidate trump toured louisiana flood damage and blasted president obama for remaining on vacation. For president s, disasters can do political damage. Brownie, youre doing a heck of a job. Reporter in 2005 george w. Bushs misplaced praise of his fema administrator kpat bated criticism of bushs handling of the katrina crisis. President trump made his first visit to fema headquarters just three weeks ago. Reporter and still another topic that is hotly contested, the president sent the official policy over to the pentagon regarding the transgender military ban. He will give the secretary of defense six months to look at this and try to determine what will happen for those who are already openly serving in uniform as transgender. The policy would stop recruitment, it would stop making payments for medical care that is related to sex reassignment and gender reassignment surgery or treatment, and it would also be something that we think the president may have some latitude for this secretary of defense, to allow the careers to continue for those openly serving, but its unclear. Theres so much controversy around this, this is another one of the issues before President Trump enacted this on a friday night in august with the storm bearing down. Alex . Exactly, Kelly Odonnell. We thank you for keeping a close eye on things from the white house for us. Hurricane harvey is weakening, the dangers of the storm may only be getting worse. A heavy rain poses catastrophic risks of flooding throughout southeastern texas. Well follow that for you. Former fema director james lee wit about what may be on the way to southern texas. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Hey, is this our turn . Honey. Our turn . Yeah, we go left right here. woman vo Great Adventures are still out there. Well find them in our Subaru Outback. avo love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Get 0 apr financing for 63 months on all new 2017 Subaru Outback models. Now through august 31. Fist past the later. The latest on Hurricane Harvey, its a sustained storm of winds of 91 mild an hour. It sets the stage for heavy rains and lifethreatening flooding to come. The National Weather service says some yards could see as much as 40 inches of rain. Let me bring in attorney general ken paxton, thank you, sir, for being here. Do you have updates on the conditions and the efforts you can share with us . First of all, encourage the viewers to pray for our people. My concern is a lot of people stay behind. As daybreak comes, were starting to assess whats going on. I know that even last night, there were ambulances leaving corpus christi. I dont know where they were going. Its going to be an interesting day. Especially with the continuing rain. I know your office, in particular, you are worried about things to come, like price gougeing, about scams, other crimes of fraud, people are trying to recover from whats hit them as a natural disaster. What is your biggest concern . We have legislation that would pass that penalizes price gouging. We already know a retailer was charging very 42 for a case of water. A gas station charging 99 for a case of water. We are out there, we have people sending us information. Penalties are huge, 20,000 for one incident, few do this to somebody 65 or older, the penalties can be up to 250,000. Went people to know, if you are price gougeing, were going to find you. We are asking residents to help with that. There is a count seumer protect hot line they can call . They can get on it and let us 2340e what they see. You can report any incidents of price gouging that you see. In terms of the cost of this storm, sir, i look at the experience return rita, return ike and damage can be into the billions of dollars and take weeks to recover. Some places months. What are your expectations . So ive lived if texas for over dedecade. This is by far the worst storm ive ever seen just because of the lingering effects and staying in one plates. I think were well prepared. We do well with handling natural disasters. Weve had a lot of practice dealing with them. I think this is an especially dangerous storm. I am worried about the next few days. I bet you r. With regard to loss of life, have you we heard any of that is this we havent gotten in the News Division loss of life. Have you we heard anything that made you concerned . I have people in corpus christi, they were concerned. They had we heard rumors, there were a lot of people that stayed behind on the island, obviously, that was a concern. So obviously, we den know a lot until daybreak. And well see what happens, but there is some concern that many people stayed behind that shouldnt have. All right. Texas attorney general, ken paxton, our thoughts and prayers are certainly with you and the good people of texas, thank you, such, best of luck. Thank you, we appreciate those concerns. All right. Right here into studio, i am joined by the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness in columbus, university. Thank you so much for being here, sir. We have more than 700,000 people in the direct path of this hurricane. Right . When you look at a state like texas, you think you learn lesson, but can you ever be fully prepared for a hurricane of this macmy tude . Its like a lack a mole. We hit a, then b, when it happens, i think we think for one thing there has been a number of people injured in a nursing home in rockport. Why are those people still there . And were they asked to evacuate . Were they told to evacuate . The problem is they were left in harms way. I think among the issues we have to think about now. I think we may be finding out that theed a viets to leave was too soft and too late and well see what happens, but now, there is going to be an enormous job of keeping people safe who didnt leave. Thats going to be a tremendous challenge for the officials down there. So. The winds. People think oh, it was a category 4 a few hours ago, now its a category 1. That isnt anywhere near the truth. I dont think weve ever experienced rainfall like we will experience if texas. And it will affect a large city of houston, it will affect a lot of rural, more isolated yaemplts it will be very, very difficult to make sure the people in in those areas, nursing homes, facility, hospital, were they evacuateare they safe . I think the word is beginning, its beginning under incredibly difficult circumstance. All thissed intoing will make it quite difficult for people to go on search and rescue and so on and so on. Its a lot of work under the worst possible conditions down there. We think of what happened in hurricane katrina. I know its been said people that perished died alone. So you got to think about those rescuers, first responders, but there is also advice, try to keep