Trump surveys disaster relief efforts in Texas
JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Coming up to 30 minutes past the hour, you're watching CNN's live coverage of Tropical Storm Harvey. Hello everybody, I'm John Vause in Los Angeles.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: I'm George Howell live in Richmond, Texas. The scene out here, you see water rising here in this neighborhood. What you see here is indicative quite frankly of what you will find throughout the metro area here around Houston. A lot of neighborhoods are dealing with a lot of water. And then just to the east of us right along the Texas-Louisiana border, that's where we're watching this storm continue to wreak havoc on people there in the Beaumont area, Lake Charles area. So a lot of things still happening. But, again, as we see daylight tomorrow, we'll see more water rescues, these water rescues are happening throughout the region. Our Martin Savidge gives us a look at what he saw in Sugar Land, Texas just north of Houston.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: By the time the mandatory evacuation was ordered at the sprawling Riverstone Subdivision in Sugar Land, Texas it was too late. High waters had already cut off escape leading hundreds trapped in their own homes.</s>TONY NORTON, TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE: As we're going through, people are starting to scream for help out of their houses, so that's when we realized how many people were in here.</s>SAVIDGE: Nearly a third of Fort Bend County is under a mandatory evacuation order, meaning it's either already flooded or threatening to. All night long anxious residents watched the waters rise all around them. By morning, families were being rescued by the boatload. What was it like coming out by boat?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: It was very scary. We -- this is a neighborhood that we walk with our children, we ride bikes, we -- this is a very safe environment and to go through that area on a boat and have it kind of wobbling with the children very scared was just unnerving.</s>SAVIDGE: We joined a volunteer boat crewed by two oil rig workers and a pediatrician.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: I know these communities because I run back in here and I used to live back in here.</s>SAVIDGE: The team passes by waving at anxious homeowners wanting first to get to those deeper in the subdivision who are at greater risk. There's a growing sense of urgency both for the rescuers and those waiting to be rescued as the waters continue to rise. Many people have been sending out their SOS on social media connecting with strangers all across the country who then relay their addresses to rescuers. At this house we load three generations of the same family. They tried to drive out the day before but their car stalled in high water forcing them to retreat and wait.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: They told us yesterday afternoon, and so we tried getting out like right after that and we got stuck on</s>LJ -- SAVIDGE: You tried to drive.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Yes, we tried driving out. It wasn't this bad.</s>SAVIDGE: Back on land at the entrance of their own subdivision, residents suddenly find themselves homeless. Relieved to be rescued and now worried by something else, what do they do next?</s>HOWELL: All right. That's CNN National Correspondent, Martin Savidge in Sugar Land, Texas. To the southwest of Houston, I'm getting my suburbs little confused, I was thinking about the Woodlands, John but, again, a lot of these suburbs are dealing with a lot of water and a lot of problems. John, back to you.</s>VAUSE: There's a lot of confusion there George, it is understandable given everything that has happened. President Donald Trump went down to Texas on Tuesday for a firsthand look at relief efforts, joining meetings with officials in Corpus Christi and Austin, he talked about the size of the storm and his hope that the government's response would be a model for future disasters.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Elaine, fantastic job and Brock has been incredible. And from your standpoint, Nim and the whole group have been. And Steve, I just met Steve, at the job that they've done getting along. Number one, they like each other, very important. Number two, they respect each other and the job that all of these groups have done getting along is in terms of coordination has been really incredible and everyone's talking about it.</s>VAUSE: Joining us now, Wendy Greuel, Former City Councilwoman here in Los Angeles and CNN Political Commentator John Phillips. The only thing missing was you're doing a heck of a job around here I think. Wendy, the president really seemed to relish being the cheerleader and chief,</s>ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There was something from what President Trump said, I hope he will say it later today, but that's the empathy for the people who suffer. That in my opinion should have been the first thing he should have said was that his heart goes out to those people in Houston who are going through this.</s>VAUSE: So Wendy, why didn't he mention that? Why was there no empathy?</s>WENDY GREUEL, LOS ANGELES FORMER CITY COUNCILWOMAN: Well it's unfortunate, because we all want him to be able to go out there and to bring people together. But it was more of him talking about the crowds that were there and the people that were sitting next to him versus the individuals that you've seen here in CNN all night who are the victims. And about going out to the general public and saying, "Here's how you can help" or "Here's what you need to do if you're living in Houston and where you can get assistance." They want a president that shows empathy and leadership at this time.</s>VAUSE: John, did President Trump fail the comforter in chief test? We've seen it from Bush, we've seen it Obama, Reagan, they all did it very well.</s>JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. President George W. Bush had tons of empathy when he flew over Katrina and that was a complete --</s>VAUSE: Great empathy on that level.</s>PHILLIPS: And you know what, the empathy isn't the most important part, he's down there, he's flying the flag, and he's getting them what they need. And Wendy and I were speaking about this off camera before we started the segment, if you really looked at government, you look at who has most influence, most control over your life, it's people at the state and local level. And if you're the federal government right now and you've got a disaster like this that's just wreaking all of this havoc on Texas, what you should be doing right now is organizationally giving the local people what they want, what they need. And right now we've seen the Trump Administration doing that. He appointed a lot of generals in very sensitive positions, those guys are very good at this and I think we're going to be okay.</s>VAUSE: But Wendy, should -- we have heard a lot more from the president in terms of what the plan will be. I mean obviously not all the details, but at least an indication of where this is all going, what the future will hold?</s>GREUEL: Absolutely. And a timeline of two when funds are going to be released, that he's going to have Congress adopt legislation that's going to be able to give the dollars that are necessary to be able to help Texas. And for some of those senators who voted against providing these resources to Sandy and New York, now it's going to be in Texas. I think we're looking to him to be able to address issues that are going to come forward. This is not just about today and tomorrow, which is a tragedy, it's really about the future of these places where the work is just beginning on how they're going to clean it up.</s>VAUSE: And John, that raises a question, how will this president who has such bitter divisions right now with so many in Congress, clearly there is a common need here and a common purpose, but this will require both sides, for the White House and Congress to leave that animosity at home and come together and work together. Are we going to see that?</s>PHILLIPS: I think you will. And I think that a lot of what needs to be done also is done behind closed doors. I mean you don't necessarily have to play all of this out on television, it doesn't have to be done at a press conference. And clearly you saw Governor Greg Abbott sitting at the table with President Trump, he's been on the phone with the feds nonstop since this storm hit. And from his point of view, he's getting everything he needs.</s>VAUSE: Okay. A short segment to that. We thank you so much for being with us. There's a lot in play right now and obviously the president and other officials have got a lot to deal with. Thank you both. North Korea says more missile launches are on the way as U.S. President Donald Trump is warning all options are on the table. When we come back, a lot more on where the North Korean missile crisis is heading.