Over. Today, saturday, august 26th, 2017. From nbc news, this this a special edition of today Hurricane Harvey makes landfall. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, welcome to today on this saturday morning. Im sheinelle jones. Glad to have you with us. Im craig melvin. Dylan and lester are in texas covering Hurricane Harvey with our team of nbc news correspondents. Well get to them in a moment. First, a look at the latest information on the storm. Check it out. This is a satellite image of a harvey ads it rolls over texas. A huge rainmaker. This is the scene from up in space. The astronauts aboard the International Space station capturing this image of the enormity of Hurricane Harvey. Heres a live look at galveston where the rain and wind has been nonstop since harvey came ashore. Heres the latest Hurricane Harvey made landfall around 10 00 p. M. Central time. Came ashore as a categoryfour storm. Its since been downgraded to a category one. Harvey brought with it winds of 130 Miles Per Hour. Now top winds have diminished to 90 Miles Per Hour. Damage estimates are, of course, still coming in. We are getting reports of buildings that have partially collapsed, downed trees all over, and lots of damage to cars and homes. One of the hardest hit towns overnight was rockport, texas. City officials there tell us they are experiencing utter devastation. We have our team spread throughout texas. Lets begin with lester holt and dylan dreyer. Theyre in Corpus Christi. You drove all night to get there. What did you see . Reporter yeah, we started off in san antonio. We were a little bit farther inland. Then we made our way on the western side of the storm. As you know, the eastern side is much more intense with the stronger winds, the heavier rain. We actually managed to maneuver between the bands of heaviest rain. I would say most of the ride we saw periods of heavy rain. Most of the ride was fairly dry. We kind of came in on the better side of the storm. Reporter the landing was not fun. The pilot said they were flying at a 55knot wind. I got to drive here a short while ago. The power is out in this part of Corpus Christi. One person driving, i was in the right seat saying, tree, tree, power line, power line. Lots of obstacles along the way. Obviously when the sun comes up, well get a better assessment of the damage. It wont be a poststorm assessment because this is still very much a hurricane. Reporter were getting hit now reporter Hurricane Harvey slammed into the texas shore overnight. Reporter we have been praying for quite a while now for the eye to pass over so we could get some kind of break through here. Reporter a categoryfour storm with winds up to 130 Miles Per Hour. Strong enough to rip the roof off this builting in fulton near the building in fulton near the eye. Near the eye of the storm, scenes of devastation. This hotel suffered severe damage, forcing 128 people to evacuate. And reports of people injured inside a Senior Center after the roof collapsed. At the local high school, several buildings were badly damaged. Rockports mayor earlier issued a grave warning to those who did not evacuate write your Social Security number on your arm so your body can be identified. Destruction quickly piled up as the storm blew ashore. When the wind and water are gone, whats left could amount to 40 billion in damage. I was hoping id wake up in the morning and i had a town. Reporter the air pressure from the storm caused the ceiling to buckle at our Corpus Christi affiliate kris. Local officials praised the Weather Service reporting for giving them time to prepare. Many in Corpus Christi heeded the warning and got out. I figure weve got the kids. A 14foot wall of water was going to come in. We just couldnt risk it. The most important thing that you can do is to safeguard your own life. Reporter Governor Abbott also told people in houston to head north, away from the coast. That led to confusion because county officials did not call for an evacuation. Hurricane harvey is going to cost us all. This oil drill ship was last to the dock at the port, one of many shut down ahead of the storm. Gas prices nationwide already up 10 . No business will take place in galveston for days. The island is practically cut off from the mainland. The spirit is strong in texas, but today is just the first of many difficult days ahead. We saw something unusual here. Not one but two landfilalls hitting as a category four even the second was a category four. The last time a categoryfour hurricane hit the United States was in 2004. But port arances, was a category four, then it hit rockport. We had reports of winds up to 132 Miles Per Hour. Some areas have picked up several inches of rain. Victoria, texas, picked up almost 16. 5 inches of rain. Thats the thing with the storm. While its weakening to a categoryone hurricane and will likely downgrade to a Tropical Storm, it is going to sit in this area for several days. While we have reports of 16 inches of rain, we still have perhaps another 20 to 30 inches of rain to go because some areas will end up in total with 40 inches of rain. Theres no steering mechanism for the storm. Its going to sit across eastern texas for the next several days. That being said, also the eastern side of the storm is the stronger side of the storm. Weve had reported tornadoes near houston, galveston. Not the eye of the storm, but the eastern edge has so much power that spins up the storms. That combined with the storm surge. We were lucky because the storm hit during the time of low tide. However, were in the middle of a high tide now. When the sun comes up, well see what kind of damage the current storm surge is causing with the high tide. Hats off to our crew. They found the Perfect Little location nestled against a building where were kind of out of the wind now. Pretty much protected. Yes. Exactly. More on all this. Back to the studio. Dylan and lester, thank you. Of course, when the sun comes out well get a better idea of the damage. Dylan mentioned victoria, texas. That is where Kerry Sanders is camped out for us. And dylan said that so far you guys have seen roughly 16. 5 inches of rain . Reporter its coming down, and as you heard her say, it was stalled over the area. The possibility here of a forecast that we might see upwards of 37 to 40 inches of rain is going to be a big part of what we determine is the result of this horrific arrival of harvey here. Because its going to sit here for several days, even if it becomes a Tropical Storm, as dylan said, this area is going to be flooded. To give you an idea, the Guadalupe River, as they refer to it here, the Guadalupe River is estimated by wednesday to be 32 feet above flood stage. The flood story may end up being the big story of Hurricane Harvey in texas. The wind is still blowing, as you see. The gusts sometimes upwards of 100 Miles Per Hour. This community has no electricity, power lines are down, trees are down. The good news is those who went to the two shelters here this is a community of about 67,000 those that went to the shelters are reporting that the shelters held, that there havent v bebeen problems there. But there tomorrow fires overnight. Not only fires here in victoria. One lightning strike, its believed, set off one at an apartment complex. Thankfully that was an evacuated apartment complex. Still, it burned to the ground. A home that caught fire, similar fires in Corpus Christi, also in galveston. Home fires, the firefighters and police out working in this. Frankly, theres very little they could do to respond to the fires when theyre also dealing with a hurricane. Anxious moments this morning. Its a miserable night for many. Guys, it looks like at least here the real story is going to be the rain and the flooding. We havent got reports to assess damage, but no reports of anything serious like a roof coming off. The rain is still blowing wind is still blow, rain is coming down. I cant believe this is going to go on for days. Roughly 17 inches so far. Kerry makes another good point. Power outages. So far along the texas coast, more than 200,000 people without power. Goodness. You could see the wind in the shot. Nbcs Gabe Guterres has been in the middle of the storm all night. Hes near where the eye made landfall. What are you seeing . Reporter good morning. Were trying to make our way to rockport, texas, nearest to where the eye made landfall. We ran across high water and had to turn around. You see here the damage from the wind. This is a brick structure. The structure itself is still standing, but it was complete boarded up. And you see the damage here. Luckily no one was inside. It was clear that the winds came through here overnight. Very powerfully. This entire area is without power. The police have blocked off several roads. We have seen debris up and down the texas coast. Some buildings have been obliterated. This one just heavily damaged. Again, more than 200,000 people at least without power. Were still getting rain bands, although the worst of the storm has passed to our north. Again, the city manager of rockport tells us that around 11 45, just before midnight, is when the storm, when harvey made landfall in the city of rockport. We were just in taft, texas, a short time ago. Trees were down, power lines were down. And there were even some high water. We tried to make our way back to rockport. Here in the town of sinton, texas. Several buildings are damaged. The power is out. Unknown how many injuries due to harvey at this time. Back to you. Stay safe. Well check in again with you. Thank you. We want to bring in Corpus Christis mayor, joe mccomb. Mr. Mayor, thanks for your time. I know youre busy. Lets start with the flooding. Lets start with the power outages. What can you tell us about those things specifically there in Corpus Christi . I dont know how widespread the power outage is, but i know its considerable. And its had some impact i lost power in my home last night. It kept me from being able to get in touch to the media, keep updated to that. It also knocked out the power on our Water Treatment plant and means we had to go on a water boil notice before people for Drinking Water purposes. Its going to create a problem because many people dont have electricity. I mean, you can still use it to bathe and that sort of thing. Thats going to create an issue. The flooding, at least from information that i have, we didnt we havent experienced the amount of rain that we thought we were going to get. And i dont believe i havent heard the latest numbers, but i dont believe the storm surge was as high as it was. The winds were horrific. From what pictures i did see before i lost power and then information that i was getting through text, obviously none of its confirmed, but theres just a tremendous amount of damage in Corpus Christi and the surrounding areas. Ive not heard of any fatalities. But then like i said, ive been pretty much out of the loop since about 3 00 this morning with no power and no internet. Im like everybody else, waiting for to get a little sunlight and the opportunity to get to someplace that i can get some power. Mayor, were looking at some of the pictures now. Some, frankly, devastating. Whats your biggest concern this hour . You know, really not knowing where to start in terms of driving to offer aid. We just until we can identify the need, its going to be difficult. Our emergency people were they were out all night, and so im assuming as soon as the we get daylight where you can see where youre going because we dont want them going out, particularly running over live electrical wires that may be lying and they cant see or holes in the roads that have been washed away. So were just playing a waiting game with a little bit of daylight now. And its its fruft rating, but you dont want to get anybody out too early before they can get a view of whats ahead. Maybe the next two or three feet, so they dont fall in a hole thats been washed out or an electric line you cant see. So i think caution is the main thruster now until we can get out and assess what the damage is and where people need help as quickly as possible. Joe mcdocomb, mayor of corpu christi, texas. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the folks there in Corpus Christi. Stay in touch, sir. Keep us post on whats happening on the ground, please. I certainly will. Thank you. Dave price from wnbc in new york is with us in studio 1a while dylan is in texas. Whats the latest on the hurricane . Lets go through two things. The here and now. Then lets talk about some of the points our correspondents in the field made. Categoryfour storm, 35 miles southwest of victoria, texas. Winds down in the last hour to 85 Miles Per Hour. Its really moving nowhere fast. Meandering to the northwest at six Miles Per Hour. The rain bands stretch about 250 miles here. As you see, there are areas to the north and east where we have tornado watches in effect. The feeder bands rolling through houston at this point. We talked about the fact that victoria has about 16 inches of rain alreadi. To put that in perspective, thats almostyears worth of rain for some of these areas in just about half a day. It is remarkable. We continue to watch the storm. Lets not get caught up in what category it is. Lets get focused on how long its going to sit around here. The diameter of the eye, just about 11 miles wide. Doesnt seem like a lot, but hurricaneforce winds extend just about 30 miles from that eye. Tropical stormforce winds extends another 100 to 120 miles from that centerpoint. As we take a look and track, this is what we imagine the track is going look like. This could change through the day. It just sits over the area. Look at this this is thursday at 1 00 in the morning. The numbers of 20, 30, 40 inches of rain are completely possible. Theres a possibility this could meander got the gulf waters and regenerate. This is the most likely scenario were looking at. Keep in mind, this is reminiscent, if you will, of allison that rolled through texas in 2001. At that point, of course, they saw some catastrophic flooding in the houston area. This is going to be more widespread and head on inland. Well continue to watch the storm as it kind of sits over the area. Wind less of an issue. Flooding is going to be the big concern the next several days. Back to you. Thank you, dave. Galveston also in the middle of all of this, we found nbcs joe fryer. Whats the scene in galveston . Reporter good morning. Moments ago our phones all went off, issuing a flash flood warning. We expect to get a lot of those flash flood warnings in the coming days here. In galveston, the winds maybe werent as strong, the surge wasnt as high as other parts of texas. The flooding float is very real. Still, there were dramatic moments during the storm. A lot of power loss. We lost power here at our hotel. Just to the east of here at the peninsula, there were reports of house fires. Witnesses say that the winds were so strong, they were blowing embers around the neighborhood, making it hard to fight the fire and get everything under control. Typically in this situation there would be reinforcements coming from galveston to help the firefighters on the peninsula. Last night the Ferry Service was shut down. So those firefighters from here werent able to get over there. Meanwhile, we want to go to the southwest, just off of port mansfield. Thats where the coast guard had to rescue 12 people from a commercial diving vessel. That was taking on water yesterd yesterday. The ship got stuck, the coast guard hoisted people to safety, got everyone to safer ground before the hurricane hit land. Back here in galveston, though, all eyes are going to be on the sky in the coming daze because the rain is expected to keep coming down. There are a lot of lowlying areas. Dylan mentioned a couple reported tornado in houston and one in galveston. Any signs of a tornado touching down there . Reporter we havent seen anything yelt, but thruout the entire day yesterday we were getting tornado warnings. We checked one out, but it was straightline winds that knocked the golden arches off a mcdonalds sign. Weve been seeing tornado warnings throughout recently and. See if there are any actual touchdowns. Thank you. Overnight, President Trump signed a disaster delegation for texas. The monster storm, the president s real domestic test since taking office. Overnight, instead of focusing on the storm, the president announced hed pardoned a controversial sheriff in arizona. Kelly odonnell at the white house with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning. At this stage, there are limits to what the president can do regarding the storm. He is watching the winds and rains with his Homeland Security team. He does plan to visit texas, they say, flex week. Hes already next week. Hes already working with the governor who requested specific aid from the white house. The president signed the disaster proclamation which he described as unleashing federal help. 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 antiillegal immigration hardliner, sheriff joe arpaio. A moment the president teased at his twoday rally in phoenix. By the way, im curious do the people in this room lightning sheriff joe . [ cheers and applause ] reporter long accused of using roishl profiling and t