Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY SUNDAY

Harvey Causing Life-Threatening Flooding in Houston. Aired 7- 8a ET

Aired August 27, 2017 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RYAN KORSGARD, KPRC REPORTER: -- last night.

[07:00:02] And, in fact, if we look over here. They are still loading up more and more people. They are bringing in off of the people movers there, loading them up and taking them to safety.

So, good work from the Houston Fire Department. Metro is here. Houston police as well, loading these people up.

But you're right. You know, going to bed last night and then they wake up to rising water and trying to figure out what to do next. And that's the predicament these folks find themselves in.

Looks like this bus is full. They are about to pull it out. But again, about seven others lined up right behind it as they continue to bring people out.

Let's go over here, Xavier. And we can see how they are bringing the people out of the neighborhood since, obviously, the SUVs can't make it around. Pickups can't make it around.

People are coming out even with dogs, some have life jackets on, whatever they can. Children carrying them to safety, getting them in the bus and hopefully to safety. Long night for these folks. The city and county did not put down their guard. They kept these vehicle, these metro buses and the high water rescue folks from the Houston fire in place.

Yes, what originally brought us down here, Rachel, is a phone call to our assignments desk at Channel 2. The call was the rising water, more people brought off now. And the call was people climbed into the attic to safety. That's what brought us here. We can't make it into the neighborhood as you can imagine.

And these folks are being brought in. We are trying to not to bother them because we are trying to get them to safety and out of the rain as quickly as possible but you can see a child being carried in mom's arms to --

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go -- live pictures now. Our thanks to Ryan Korsgard.

But live pictures now, let's look to this KPRC. People up to their chest, up to their neck here in water trying to get to higher ground as this water continues to rise. CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm trying to discern there. Victor,

maybe you can help me out. It almost looks like somebody is carrying a child? I can't tell. A child on their shoulders. A child on their shoulders there as we can see.

Do we have the sheriff with us?

BLACKWELL: Let's put this also in the preview monitor so we can see it. It's too small from where we are.

PAUL: Thank you. Thank you very much. OK, yes. There's a child on shoulders there. And people just trying to get out of their neighborhoods.

Harris County Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has been live tweeting all night. He has literally been answering people who are asking for help and then taking their tweets, retweeting them to the appropriate emergency management authorities so they can get connected to the right people and hopefully get help.

These are people who, obviously, for whatever reason, decided it was too hard to stay in their homes. Let's listen live here.

SOFIA OJEDA, KPRC REPORTER: Small child on top of that one gentleman there. The water is waist high at this point. We have seen one gentleman who was walking through earlier. The water is really high.

Hold on. I think somebody else on the other side here that is also trying to help them. See this lady here? Let's get closer. But this is what we have seen here, that folks have been getting stuck in this rising water. The constable -- sheriff constable was here a little bit ago.

They could not go down the gulf freeway, guys. They have to turn back around because they are saying all of these side roads, all of these roads are closed off. They cannot get down to turn around.

One elderly woman had to be rescued but I think these guys are in good spirits it seems. They have got their dog. They seem to be doing OK. Grab them.

Hey, guys, can we talk to you for a second? Channel 2 live on the area right now.

Where are you guys the coming from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Far down, third street down. So, yes, it's shoulder length over there.

OJEDA: So, is your house, two stories, one story? What made you guys --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One story.

OJEDA: OK, and it's flooded?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's flooded. Everything is flooded over there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came from Lake Charles to get me and my girls. You have to come get us. The water is rising and we got to get out of here. They kept banging on the door. I thought it was the National Guard. Let's go.

OJEDA: Nobody come could get you. Did you guys try calling 911?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We tried to call all of the hot lines and no one answered. It didn't ring to anything. So we came.

OJEDA: What was going through were mind when you were coming down the road. It's chest high, you're saying?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's chest high. It's freezing and snakes were on our mind. No. I don't know. Adrenaline was pumping so it wasn't really anything. We are getting a workout. Our calves were burning.

OJEDA: How about the rest of your neighborhood, do you know if there are people still in their homes in your neighborhood?

[07:05:03] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's people -- there's a lot of people just chilling in their house, out in the truck beds and everything. No one really left.

OJEDA: And this water walking through it, rough to walk through. The current was OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was only one current over there but it's not that strong. So, I mean, it didn't take us -- probably take kids away but it didn't take us away.

OJEDA: How long were you watching the storm? Did it take to fill up into your home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably -- the water started to rise about 10:00. Ten o'clock, I noticed it started to slowly rising. And then stuff started floating. I mean, it was just -- it was crazy. It kept raining and I called my son, you have to come get us. Somebody has to come because I have the kid.

So they showed up and we busted down a door and threw everybody out of the door and used the raft and here we are. We're getting out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we are going to our house because our house is flooding too. So --

UINDENTIFIED FEMALE: To save her parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

OJEDA: How are you getting there? Do you have -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They waited. They waited.

OJEDA: A lot of these roads are impassible. Do you have a plan? Are you thinking --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going by prayer right now. Prayer and sticking together and survival mode.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the shelters are flooded.

OJEDA: I think you should just take your time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm happy to be out of the house because the house had at least -- the water was up to here in the house. So, I'm just happy to be out of that. Wherever we go from here, it's fine, as long as we're dry.

OJEDA: Now, listen, constable told us that they could not go. The high water rescue trucks could not go around the gulf coast freeway because they couldn't go that way and not that way. So, keep that in mind. You can't get down. It looks like this. It looks like this, and they've got these big, big massive trucks. So, you guys have kids. Just -- I would say stay put, honestly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know if -- any type of emergency truck --

OJEDA: I'm going to look that up here in a bit. But if you could just hold on tight for a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what shelters are around or anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of them are flooded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody has put out information what shelters there are. We heard about Abundant Life but I don't know how to get contact with them to see if anything. I don't know.

OJEDA: All right. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

I want -- Gil, let's go down this way.

BLACKWELL: You've got family members and neighbors there saving each other. This was the video just moments ago as they walk through this water chest high and eventually came up to the bank to able to come to the road. But as you heard the woman talk about the water being shoulder deep in some of the community, let's go back to these live pictures. We have got more people in the water here, again, coming through chest-high. You've got people just trying to save each other.

PAUL: What alerted or actually alarmed me was when they said they do have neighbors that are small children in that neighborhood so you have to wonder if emergency vehicles can get to them. BLACKWELL: You know, we just received this tweet from the National

Weather Service in Houston. If you really want an illustration of how urgent and dire the situation is beyond what is happening, the tweet is want to stress persons do not get into their attics but, instead, on the roof. If calling 911, stay on the line until it's answered.

Let's listen to KPRC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost up to here. My dogs and stuff are there. I called for them and they didn't stop.

OJEDA: Your wife is in the house still?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my older child. Midways down there.

OJEDA: How far, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three blocks.

OJEDA: Is it still rising in your home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. It's bad. I ain't never -- this is -- I ain't never seen anything like this. It's neck deep right there, right there, driving into that Exxon, it's neck deep.

OJEDA: I saw you struggling a little bit to get out of the water there. You slipped a bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The current crossed that bridge where that levee is there is real strong.

OJEDA: Sir, what are do you think you're going to do at this point? Are you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come back to my wife. I thought I could get ahold of the water rescue people here to come get -- you know, at least bring my -- somewhere up here to where it's safe or something, but they just passed us right up, man.

OJEDA: How old is your other child?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is 17.

OJEDA: OK. All right. Just be careful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm good, man. I'm an expert swimmer.

OJEDA: OK, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm like a fish.

OJEDA: You're like a fish?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

OJEDA: OK, sir. All right. He is heading back. He said he was hoping that he was coming out here and that he would see the highway water trucks. He said he did see them at one point.

[07:10:01] Apparently, they didn't see him or maybe they had to turn around and come back because the water was too high.

But he and his son are going to go back. He is telling us that his wife and his other child are back home a good ways away. He is telling us the water was rising into his house chest deep and still rising, making it very difficult. This whole walkway here, this whole road, you're seeing the current is strong and getting stronger. Just a really dire situation at this point. The other group of people telling us that there were still others in the neighborhood that couldn't get out.

The water is so high here, again, we have had the sheriff's constable telling us the high water rescue trucks are trying to get down 45 and couldn't get off of these feeder road because this is what they all look like. He is saying they had to turn around and go back the wrong way.

We are hearing that about 16 or so, probably more at this point, water rescues are taking place farther down going into Friendswood. That's where we were headed before we stopped here and saw this river essentially on this feeder road. This is 45 at Astoria and we saw families.

PAUL: OK, you heard the family members say 10:00 is when this started. In a matter of eight hours, it was up to their neck.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Rosa Flores is in a place now. They've gotten to higher ground but we don't know for how long because the water is rising so fast there.

Rosa, what are you experiencing, and where are you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The water does continue to rise. You can see beyond my shoulder here. That is where we were live in the last hour and we can't go there any more because the water has risen so quickly that we had to move to higher ground.

We are about a block away but you can see that manhole, Victor, that you mentioned and pointed out in the last hour, it's almost completely overwhelmed. In last hour, you could see it gushing out of the concrete. You can barely see it now because it's so covered with water.

Now, this is the Houston historic district. The corner of Travis and Commerce. For people who are familiar, if you've ever been to Spaghetti Warehouse, you can see it there. Normally, you'd see the parking lot go down, dip down to the banks of the Buffalo bayou.

And right now, all you see is a raging river. These streets turned into raging rivers and it looks like this area just lost power as we were live just now. The ramp into I-45 is not passable. You can see that it is all a raging river. Houston, of course, is expecting between 15 to 25 inches of rain. The

last time that I checked the gauge in the downtown area, the highest rain level was at about 15 inches. And it's still raining, Christi and Victor. That's the big worry.

Now, I was just listening to air as you were showing some of those live rescues. It's incredible to see how much water is in Houston right now. And again, in the last hour, we were a block away. Right now, we can't go there because the water is rising so quickly -- Christi and Victor.

PAUL: Rosa, do stay safe. Thank you so much for helping us understand what's happening there.

Listen, we're going to listen to a break. But the sheriff of Harris County is on the phone with us in just a moment. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:53] REPORTER: Right now, your daughter with your two grandkids in her apartment, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

REPORTER: Tell me the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, she woke up and she tried to come out to come meet us and she got to the gate and none of the gates are able to open. So if anybody is out there listening, please be safe because my grand babies are very scared and nervous.

This is the second time we have to face a hurricane. We did Hurricane Rita and it's not -- we're not ready for this again. So, please just pray for everybody and everybody help each other out there because, right now, it's a very crucial time.

REPORTER: Those are very, very good words.

And you're on the phone with your daughter right now, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.

REPORTER: How is she doing? Can you describe what is going on there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is very scared and nervous and she's trying to make sure that her babies and her get up to her neighbors. So, just pray. Just pray, just all I ask, just pray for my babies!

REPORTER: That's a grandmother right there trying to get to her daughter and her grandkids, very young, very emotional out here. And to add to the drama, we've got a ton of rain and the bayou is running like crazy. We are going to -- we're going to take to one more look at the bayou.

PAUL: All right. So, my God. You just feel that woman's --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: -- fear for her daughter and for her grandchildren. This is what's happening that was just literally a couple of second ago there in Houston.

Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has been tweeting live throughout the night and he is with us now.

BLACKWELL: And our thanks to KPRC for bringing that interview to us.

Sheriff, I'm sure you were able to hear that and I'm sure you know the stories of all the rescues that are happening -- is this really severe flooding where we are seeing water up to chest high and shoulder high? Is it centralized? Is it one area or are we seeing several areas across the Houston area where the water is that deep?

SHERIFF ED GONZALEZ, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS (via telephone): No, this is widespread across the entire Houston region. Hours ago, I started reporting that some areas were already seeing as much as six feet of water at that time.

[07:20:03] And so it's only continued to grow in some places.

We have a lot of people that are stranded and some folks that are sheltering in place in their homes that, obviously, want to get out. Just shared some information about a young toddler that apparently need a respirator and they are out of electricity. There has been reports of possible submerged vehicles where an adult female and a child are in there and possibly died.

So, you know, all of that still has to be worked out. We are trying to get to everybody as soon as possible but we, too, need to navigate waterways and flooding situations. So, sometimes, it's hard to get to everybody. So need everybody's help in staying patient and staying calm, and using some common sense as well and we will try to get out there as soon as we can.

BLACKWELL: So, if you talk about people who are in their home and trying to get out. Your office tweeted out last hour nonlife- threatening water inside home is safer than going outside. Difficult and scary but we will get to you. Please shelter in place and be safe.

One can imagine just how scary it is, Christi, when the power goes out. And you've got water up to your knees in your home.

PAUL: And it's dark and not light out yet.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: So, Sheriff, we hear you when you're saying stay in place but we have seen in the last 15 minutes at least two families walk from their home because it was almost up to their necks inside their home. Also getting word that we should not be -- people want to stress persons should not go into their attics. Instead, on to the roof and if calling 911, stay on the line until it's answered. This brings back very eerie pictures of Katrina.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: There's no doubt about it. The people on their rooftops.

Do you have helicopters in the air looking for people or is it still too dark to do so?

GONZALEZ: At the moment, it's too dark to do so. So, we are waiting for day break here. We will be going up in the air, we hope. We are trying to get some additional boats as well.

We're also collaborating with other state partners that are able to get to us. So, here, I would imagine within the next 24 hours, we'll definitely be getting additional boats from other cities. I know San Antonio has already offered on and has some boats on the way. And I'm sure, throughout the nation, other resources will be provided.

You know, we obviously recommend that people use their best judgment and common sense and trying to just shelter in place as best as possible. We know the instinct is to want to exit out and just try to go find safer ground somewhere, but sometimes the water could be more treacherous. Manhole covers could be lifted, and it brings a whole different -- other scenarios.

So, we are trying to get to everybody. We also have people stranded on the roadways and so, you know, it's something we have to pull together and need everybody to do their part and the first responders in the air are working very hard to get out to everybody. We are just overwhelmed with the number of volume and some other areas are apparently hit harder than others.

PAUL: But, Sheriff, what do you say to people like the families we have seen here in the last few minutes who say there are people trapped in their homes and the water is rising so quickly and they are in single story homes? They didn't -- it sounds like they didn't have a choice but to leave.

GONZALEZ: Then, obviously, it's about survival at that point. I mean, they got to do what they can to survive and try to seek higher ground somewhere and if it means leaving their home, that's what they have to do.

Our recommendations are always when maybe it hasn't risen to the highest level and maybe still an opportunity some folks have second story, and attics that they could -- it's not recommended because they could be trapped in there but if they have a way to bust out, you know, part of the roofing or something with an ax or something, then that might be an option to just be able to get onto the roof and hopefully the water can subside a little bit by the time we get there. But, you know, it's a matter of just trying to be resourceful and survive until we can get there.

BLACKWELL: Sheriff, we are seeing video here of a pickup truck that was stranded there. We have seen other cars that have attempted to cross these roads or drive down these roads which is never advised.

How common is that? Are these the extreme rare cases, the exceptions? Or are there lots of people trying to get out on these roads?

GONZALEZ: No. I think, unfortunately, it's something that sometimes folks don't follow our instructions. We dry to give the warnings early on, to please, unless you need to, to be out of the house, stay in and be stocked up with resources. We recommended about a week's worth of supplies just in case because we knew this would be a long event.

And sometimes, some were able to do it and others don't. Folks venture out a little bit and sometimes think they can navigate the waters or it's not as high as they thought, and then once they're stuck, it's too late.

[07:25:04] We like to use the phrase, turnaround, don't ground. And we've seen several cases where that's happened over the years where folks went into water. We have one earlier for sure, and possibly more.

PAUL: Sheriff, Governor Rick Scott sent out a note this morning saying they are sending several resources: 25 officers, 17 high water vehicles, two mobile command centers, eight shallow draft vessels, four patrol boats are on their way to Houston. What are you most in need of right now?

GONZALEZ: Well, right now, we are most in need of boats at this moment, and I'm sure also establishing shelters once we determine the scale of people that are without power or without, you know, their homes because they had to evacuate. So, boats, at this point, are probably the most critical because there's just a lot of area that we are going to need to rescue people out of. And I think we will have sufficient air support to go up in the air soon and hopefully assess where the hardest hit areas are so we can prioritize and triage those area, but at the moment it's a matter of continue to be in rescue mode and get people to safety.

PAUL: How many -- I'm sorry, how many helicopters do you have going up once daylight comes that will just be assessing areas? And how many will be able to actually conduct rescues?

GONZALEZ: Between ourselves, you know, and the Houston police department, our neighboring agencies, we both have multiple helicopters ourselves, so we each have, you know, together, we will have a combined maybe five or six that we'll have at our disposal, as well as some of our state departments that work with us, they could provide some. So, we will have extensive air support and then some again are just more for assessing the damage and then from the air and trying to see, you know, again, folks are on rooftop and trying to see if we can do any operations that way or a boat, depending on the circumstance.

But I think we'll have sufficient resources in that regard. You know, we are out there working. We still have a lot of manpower out in the field right now conducting rescues as we speak. BLACKWELL: We shared a report from our viewers from our affiliate

there, KPRC, in which the reporter was along with a rescue teams that were taking people out of their homes and putting them on to city buses. Is that still happening hours later now? And, if so, where are they going? Where are all of these people being taken?

GONZALEZ: Well, the American Red Cross has set up various shelters throughout the city. And so, those are being utilized. I know some of the smaller municipalities in our area are trying to establish shelters as well and trying to formulate those plans for this morning. So, it's still fluid but they are being taken to local shelters that had already been established.

BLACKWELL: On the left side of your screen -- all right, we had it ready for you but I can tell you, although the picture is gone, that KPRC is still with those buses. We just checked with the affiliate and that operation is still happening. So, those people who can get to these locations are being taken to those Red Cross shelters.

PAUL: Sheriff, we see the pictures as well of all these cars lined up it looks like on frontage roads or trying to get to freeways and they are dry right now. They can't go anywhere.

What if this water continues to rise and overtake those vehicles?

BLACKWELL: Well, I mean, again, we hope by then we are already deploying more boats out into the field as we speak. So, hopefully, we can get to those areas quicker and quickly and that's not the case where we have to confront that. But we are just going to have to adapt.

We are moving quickly. It's dynamic and hopefully as we clear other locations with high water rescue vehicles, we could try to get to them quickly as well. It's just a matter of moving through the call volume as quickly as we can. But we are confident we get to them in safe time.

BLACKWELL: We want to update people who are watching for the latest information citywide. Of course, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, we're told, we'll be holding a news conference at 11:00 Eastern. Of course, we'll bring that to you, the very latest about what's happening across Houston as we're watching these pictures of people wading through water.

PAUL: And, again, just to re-stress, the National Weather Service wanting to make sure people understand. They tweeted out: persons should not go into their attics but, instead, on to the roof, and if calling 911, stay on the line until it's answered. As the sheriff just said, nobody wants to get trapped in the attic and they will as soon as daylight comes, they will be putting some air power in the skies to go assess the situation.

[07:30:01] And, therefore, if you are on your roof and, again, this is so difficult to think about because we remember Katrina and those pictures that came out of there. But that is how they will be able to find you and be able to rescue you. BLACKWELL: All right. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, thanks so

much for speaking with us again. We'll check back a little late.

SHERIFF ED GONZALEZ, SHERIFF, HARRIS, COUNTY, TEXAS: Sound good. Thanks for your effort. Thanks.

PAUL: Thank you for all of your work. Thank you so much to you and the whole team there.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking what's happening now.

BLACKWELL: So, we were speaking about this morning, Allison, about this was expected to happen but over a course of days. This is happening on just the second day now where people are up to their shoulders in water in some of these communities. How long will this rain go on now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I wish I could give you an end date. I truly wish I could. I mean, we talked yesterday. We knew 20, 30, 40 inches was going to happen. We just figured it would probably really start to impact people Sunday night, Monday, especially into Tuesday. The problem some of these areas got the 20 inches yesterday. They got all of it yesterday and it's still raining.

This is the part that concerns me, folks. I want you to look at this map here. Here is Houston. Look down here, OK? See how it goes from nothing?

And then, all of a sudden, the moisture blows up. Those are new storm developing and this is not a good scenario at all because that's the moisture that's going to feed back into Houston and eastern Texas and into Louisiana, which means we have more rain and a lot -- a ton more rain that is going to be arriving for these regions.

In addition to that, we also still have the tornado threat for portions Houston and toward the east when you head into Louisiana. So, Texas is not the only location has a potential for tornadoes today. Look at some of these totals that have already come in. Berry Bayou, over 20 inches. Same thing with Clear Creek.

Again, folks, we're not done. We know this system is going to stay put for at least five days. So, that 20 inches that has already fallen, that number is going to go up and it's going to go up quickly. This also means the rivers are going to go up quickly.

This is White Oak Bayou. It rose 25 feet in just eight hours, 25 feet in eight hours.

The other one, this is Buffalo Bayou already well into major flood stage. We are talking about only less than a foot from breaking their record.

And then this one is San Bernard River. We expect to crest ten feet above the previous record when this is all said and done. And here's a look, Victor and Christi, again, at the forecast radar.

You're seeing what we call training, meaning the storms are over the same spots over and over and over again. Yes, the colors haven't changed. We still, at this point, expect at least an additional 20, if not 30 inches of additional rain.

BLACKWELL: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

PAUL: You know, we heard one of the women there say we're going by prayer.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: That's what we are going by because they said, what is your plan? We don't have a plan. We're just going by prayer. We're going to continue to bring you the very latest as it's happening. More pictures coming in.

And Nick Valencia not in Houston but in Rockport. They suffered specifically from the hurricane itself -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They sure did, Christi. The winds of Hurricane Harvey an estimated 130 miles per hour when Rockport took a direct hit.

I'm Nick Valencia in Rockford, Texas. We'll tell you how the community is rebuilding after the break. You're watching CNN NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:37:37] PAUL: It is tough going right now in Houston and in Texas overall. We've got tornado, well, tornado warnings, not just watches but tornado warnings, and flood emergencies. Not warnings, but emergencies.

So, it's a tough one and we are glad you're sticking with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: There have been more than a thousand rescues overnight in Houston alone and we've watched this morning, people walk through the rising floodwaters to try to get to higher ground. I want you to see this interview with KPRC reporter Sophia Ojeda with a family just waited to safety and now wonders what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOPHIA OJEDA, KPRC REPORTER: Where are you guys the coming from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Far down, third street down. So, yes, it's shoulder length over there.

OJEDA: So, is your house, two stories, one story? What made you guys --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One story.

OJEDA: OK, and it's flooded?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's flooded. Everything is flooded over there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came from Lake Charles to get me and my girls. You have to come get us. The water is rising and we got to get out of here. They kept banging on the door. I thought it was the National Guard. Let's go.

OJEDA: Nobody come could get you. Did you guys try calling 911?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We tried to call all the hotlines and no one answered. It didn't ring to anything. So we came.

OJEDA: What was going through your mind when you were coming down the road. It's chest high, you're saying?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's chest high. It's freezing and snakes were on our mind.

No. I don't know. Adrenaline was pumping so it wasn't really anything. We are getting a workout. Our calves were burning.

OJEDA: How about the rest of your neighborhood, do you know if there are people still in their homes in your neighborhood?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's people -- there's a lot of people just chilling in their house, out in the truck beds and everything. No one really left.

OJEDA: And this water walking through it, rough to walk through. The current was OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was only one current over there but it's not that strong. So, I mean, it didn't take us away -- probably take kids away but it didn't take us away.

OJEDA: How long were you watching the storm? And did it take to fill up into your home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably -- the water started to rise about 10:00. Ten o'clock, I noticed it started to slowly rising. And then stuff started floating. I mean, it was just -- it was crazy. It kept raining and I called my son, you have to come get us. Somebody has to come because I have the kids.

So they showed up and we busted down a door and threw everybody out of the door and used the raft and here we are. We're getting out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, now we are going to our house because our house is flooding too. So --

UINDENTIFIED FEMALE: To save her parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

[07:40:00] OJEDA: Be careful, be careful. How are you getting there? Do you have --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They waited. They waited. So --

OJEDA: A lot of these roads are impassible. Do you have a plan? I mean, are you thinking --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going by prayer right now. Prayer and sticking together and survival mode.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the shelters are flooded.

(CROSSTALK)

OJEDA: I think you should just take your time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm happy to be out of the house because the house had at least -- the water was up to here in the house. So, I'm just happy to be out of that. Wherever we go from here, it's fine, as long as we're dry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. We're going to keep watching to see if they can get to that neighborhood.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Because now, you're thinking they said, our neighbors are children are in that neighborhood who couldn't get out well. So, we're going to keep watching that. But we do want to take you to Rockport, Texas, now as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's where the wind was the worse. You see the widespread damage there.

And our Nick Valencia is there and showing us just -- I guess the right word for it is devastation.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Nick?

VALENCIA: Victor and Christi, when Hurricane Harvey touched down in coastal Texas on Friday night, there was no community hit harder than this one I'm standing in right here, Rockport, Texas, a community of about 10,000 people.

It's a community that's been through this type of thing before. In fact, when you look at one of those houses that has been destroyed in the background, on the boards written on those walls, the plywood to protect that home, it was listed some of the hurricanes that they have been through before. In talking to some of those local residents, they say that's one of the reasons why 60 percent of the town decided to stay.

In the past, they had been predicted to be in the direct path of hurricanes, but the hurricanes never came. The local officials say you have to go back all the way to 1970, to Hurricane Celia, the last time this community was hit this hard.

But you get a sense that, you know, they're going to be OK. There's a lot of positive in this community, a lot of optimism in speaking to the local residents. Yes, they've been through these harrowing experiences and that was very evident.

When we showed up yesterday morning, the look in the eyes of the individuals that we were interviewing, it is very hard to describe other than to just -- it looked like they had seen a ghost or experience add near-death experience and talking to some of those residents, they felt they were close to death.

Today, though, there were nominal signs of progress. We -- on our way in this morning, we saw a command center that had been set up. There was a local cell tower that had been set up as well, that's part of the problem. Communication had not been possible for a lot of people here, but that is slowly progressing. A lot of people here hoping that that time line to get things back to normal is short -- Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right. Nick Valencia keeping an eye on Rockport as we watch what is happening in Houston as well -- Nick, thanks so much.

PAUL: All right. We're going to take you live next to Victoria. Polo Sandoval is there after this quick break.

But, Polo, it's raining there as well.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. You know, some of the devastating flooding happening in Houston, but what about the smaller coastal communities, other communities in southeast Texas that now look like virtual ghost towns? Up-to-speed on what people are dealing up coming up on your CNN NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:34] BLACKWELL: This morning, Harvey is slamming a large part of Texas on the east coast with this just never ending seemingly rain. Houston is bearing the brunt of it right now. We've got the video in from the streets there that are just inundated with water. The cars and truck submerged there. People who are trying to pass who should not have just been stranded and have to get out and walk.

PAUL: Yes, and we've seen people walking in waist-deep waters just trying to get to safety because their home was really starting to get inundated. CNN's Polo Sandoval, not in Houston but in Victoria, Texas, where again, an awful lot of water there. And the rooster, I got to point out, the rooster, because that's the second time we've heard him. BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Polo?

SANDOVAL: And that's actually part of the story here, too, guys. Just think about it, yesterday morning, the eye of then Hurricane Harvey was sweeping through the region with wicked winds. Twenty-four hours later, it is silent. You're able to hear that rooster perhaps and two frogs.

It is fairly eerie here almost looks like a ghost town. This is one neighborhood in the city of Victoria, Texas. You can see the floodwaters continue to rise as that rain continues to fall and that is fueling concerns.

Fortunately, many people did evacuate, not just because of the rising water but also because of the infrastructure. Harvey, when it swept through the region, it did cripple the infrastructure, not only with the sources of water. That's the irony, too. There is water everywhere, yet people are being asked to conserve as much water as they can or boil their water as well.

So, that is clearly concerning. Also, of course, power outages. We had to drive through the darkness to get here. There's a lot of surrounding towns throughout southeast Texas that are still in the dark.

And, lastly, I should mention that many of these towns are located along the river. We are only two blocks from the Guadalupe River, which could potentially rise, which means we could see even more flooding in the future as, of course, Houston continues to deal with flooding of their own -- guys.

PAUL: Polo, take good care of yourself. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right. We've got on the phone with us, Luis Castillo, who is trapped inside a home in Houston with the family. We have seen some video there. If we could put up the video, that would be great.

Luis, thanks for being with us. Tell us what is happening inside your house and how quickly that water came up.

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS (via telephone): Yes, well, we've actually -- we have been in this town home right on Buffalo Bayou about 13 years. And the water has come up high before but never like this. There was just about to our front step ready to come in the front door. We have never seen water this high before. We've never seen water this high before.

[07:50:00] So, we're actually just packing a few things and we're going to wade out of here to some neighbors down the street who still have power and see how we fare. But it's really disconcerting. We feel like we're on the Titanic right now, surrounded by water.

PAUL: Luis, how quickly is it rising? Do you feel like it's stopping or subsiding? HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: We're watching it come up

the front steps, and it's coming up every -- it's coming up about -- every 20 minutes, it comes up one more step. It's coming up that fast.

BLACKWELL: Who is with you? Do you have children with you?

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: No, we actually don't. It's just myself and Joe. My last name is not Castillo. It's Pacheco (ph).

BLACKWELL: OK.

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: We are just getting ready to leave the house. We've moved some of our valuable stuff like upstairs and hopefully it won't hit the second floor. But we have cars that are under water outside and the water is the highest we've ever, ever seen. It's just catastrophic.

PAUL: You said you're going to neighbors because they still have power. Do they not have water issues yet?

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: Well, they do. Their house is kind of up on a hill. Their street is flooded. It's about knee to waist deep but they're only 500 yards away so we can wade down there, you know, put a backpack on and go down toward the street in the water.

PAUL: And you think it will be safe to be there for a while?

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: Yes. And hopefully there's something left of our house.

PAUL: Well, Louise, we hope for you. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

HOUSTON RESIDENT TRAPPED BY FLOODWATERS: Thank you.

PAUL: And best of luck to you. We're certainly thinking about all of you.

Everybody, just stay close. We have more for you on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:04] PAUL: All right. We want to read you a couple of tweets that are coming as we have been following what's happening in Houston. It is a very difficult situation today. The city of Houston, Sylvester Turner, retweeted, 911 service at capacity. If you can shelter in place do so, a few inches in your home is not imminent danger. Only call if in eminent danger.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we have this from the National Weather Service in Houston. Want to stress persons should not go into their attics but, instead onto the roof. And, if calling 911, stay on the line until it is answered.

PAUL: We also have Brock Long, the FEMA director, who is tweeting: turn around and don't drown.

Basically telling people, please, just don't try to go through this water, drive through it, because it's caused a nightmare.

BLACKWELL: And we also have this tweet from the president in the last 11 minutes: Great book by a great guy. Highly recommended, retweeting Sheriff David Clarke, promoting his book "Cop Under Fire." That from the president of the United States.

PAUL: It is a very difficult situation, though, we should point in Houston. We have seen families in water up to their necks, trying to get out. You see it here.

We are going to continue to follow this throughout the day. There are children and families holed up in homes that can't get out right now. They're waiting for daylight, which should come any moment, so they can get some of those helicopters in the area, the sheriff's department tells us, and making -- start looking for people who may be on their rooftops.

BLACKWELL: Our coverage continues right now with "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King.