Catastrophic Flooding Predicted as Harvey Lashes Texas Gulf Coast
BLITZER: -- 17 million people as Hurricane Harvey lashes Texas and plows toward land fall around Corpus Christi. It is threatening to unleash historic rainfall, up to 3 feet or more and catastrophic storm surges and flooding, emergency officials urgently warning residents that lives are at risk. Tens of thousands have evacuated at this hour. Time is quickly running out to escape the storm. Water levels are rising and weather conditions are deteriorating as Harvey moves closer intensifying along the way. The historic nature of this disaster made even worse by the likelihood that Harvey will stall over land dumping heavy rain on the region for days. The National Weather Service says large areas of south Texas may be uninhabitable for weeks or even months. The Texas governor is already asking for the state to be declared a major disaster area to trigger additional help from the federal government. As the first national disaster on his watch is about to hit a natural disaster, President Trump is over at Camp David. The White House says he's been actively engaged with emergency officials and is planning to travel to Texas early next week. We're also just learning that the president assigned and directed following up officially on his ban on transgender troops that he announced in a tweet last month. This hour I'll speak live with the head of the federal emergency management agency, Brock Long. There you see him. And our correspondents, specialists and other guests are standing by as we cover this breaking story. First, let's go to CNN's Martin Savidge. He's right in the heart of things in Corpus Christi. Martin, you're in the danger zone. That's expected to take a direct hit from Harvey. Give our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world the latest.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Corpus Christi is definitely under the gun and the wind just continues to increase. It's an indication that this hurricane is growing ever more closer to the shore here, and it is the wind right now that is the biggest problem. It is literally body punching this entire area with a heavy, heavy force. It's only going to increase over the next few hours. But then comes the secondary, and that's the rain and that is truly what could be the most destructive and deadly force over multiple days. Not since Katrina have we heard the dire warnings like we're hearing now. And also what we're hearing is that this storm, even when it comes ashore, that's not the end. It really is the beginning.</s>GREG ABOTT, TEXAS GOVERNOR (R): This is going to be a very major disaster.</s>SAVIDGE (voice-over): A dire warning from the Texas governor as hurricane Harvey bears down on the Texas coast. With a window to evacuate now closing, officials are cautioning residents to get out of the storm's path.</s>ABOTT: You have the power and the ability right now to be able to avoid being stuck into a search and rescue situation if you make the decision to get out of harms way before it is too late.</s>SAVIDGE: Millions of people in Texas are being warned to evacuate. The Texas army and international guards have been activated ahead of the storm's land fall, backing winds above 100 miles an hour. Harvey is expected to dump 15 to 20 inches of rain. And if it stalls some in land areas could get up to 35 inches. For coastal areas, waves as high as 20 feet and storm surge endangering everything and everyone in its path.</s>MICHAEL BRENNAN, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: This is life-threatening storm surge inundation. Water moving in as the hurricane makes land fall. We could see 6 to 12 feet of flooding. I'm 6 feet tall, double my height in certain areas of the coast here.</s>SAVIDGE: Farther in land floods and possible spin out tornadoes are the concern.</s>TOM BOSSERT, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: You got nothing to lose but your life. Now is not the time to lose faith in your government institutions.</s>SAVIDGE: With possible widespread and prolonged power outages, residents are stocking up on dwindling supplies.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for calling team of Home Depot. We're out of generators, we're out of water and we're out of sand.</s>SAVIDGE: Keeping an eye in the situation from Washington before departing for Camp David, president Trump tweeting this photo of a hurricane briefing with his tom homeland security advisors and the first lady weighing in as well tweeting for those living near the path of hurricane Harvey, stay safe. Thoughts and prayers of an entire country are with you.</s>SAVIDGE: Wolf, it is really starting to howl now with this hurricane. It's like standing in the backwash of a 747. At times it's hard to even remain on your feet. And the worst is still yet to come. So, right now in this community they're hunkered down. There is no way anybody could leave at this point. If you haven't left, you're going to have to stick it out. Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Do you see any people out there on the streets near you? Are people still driving their cars near you?</s>SAVIDGE: Yes I'm afraid we do. It's - you see it in every storm, but you would think in a storm with this magnitude that they would stay home, but they don't. You'll always have people who want to come out and see what's going on, take their photos. They don't realize it of course there is real danger. Any kind of break, any kind of debris in the air would shatter their car and have a big impact on their lives. It's just not wise at all, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You're absolutely right. Martin Savidge joining us. Martin is in Corpus Christi, that's the real danger zone. Let's head up a little further along the Texas Gulf Coast to Galveston. CNN'S Ed Lavandera is on the scene for us. What's it like there, Ed?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. We're on the eastern edge of this storm looking back toward of the west here at the brunt of Hurricane Harvey down that way and it's those communities that lie between Galveston Island and those -- and Corpus Christi. And a lot of focus is always on the eye of the storm and obviously that is an area of great concern given the sustained winds and the damage that those winds and surf is going to cause in those areas. But in this particular storm, you really have to look at the wider reach and what it is going to be capable of doing and the rainfall that it will be producing in the hours and days ahead. And that is of the most concern and for the most widespread area here in Southeast Texas. So, this is an area that is already prone to major flooding in the weakest of tropical storms, so you can imagine this is exponentially much larger than even some tropical depressions or tropical storms have caused in the past. So, that is why this is so much concerning. Not even just along the coast, you now, here in Galveston, you see the seawall that is here that protects from somebody -- the smaller storm surges and you can see how the water is already pushing up close to this wall. And the seawall stretches throughout most of the island. And once you start getting away from Galveston Island down closer to Corpus Christi, not every community has that kind of protection and that's why the flood waters, not just along the coast line, but even inland is of great concern is as this was storm stalls out and just continues to produce more and more rain, that flooding is going to be of major concern. The teams of a -- first responders have been prepositioning. We're told high water rescue teams in various areas throughout various counties to be able to react to those types of situations, that they expect to have to be called out too. So, that is some of the work that's being done here on the front edge of this storm as many people here from Galveston Island to Houston all the way down to Corpus Christi really prepare for the brunt of what is coming with this hurricane. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Ed Lavandera joining us from Galveston. We're going to get back to you. What I quickly want to go back to Corpus Christi right now, bracing for impact from this hurricane. Weather Nation Field Correspondent professional storm chaser Ben McMillan is there for us. Where exactly are you, Ben, and tell us what you're seeing or hearing?</s>BEN MCMILLAN, WEATHERNATION FIELD CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Wolf, the winds have really picked up here the last hour here in Texas. So that to 5:00 p.m. This is Corpus Christi Bay. Look at how violent this water is coming up and over some of these sea breaks. That's a big concern here is the surge is supposed to hit 6 to 12 feet potentially above sea level and the city itself is only 7 feet above sea level. So, if we get to those higher numbers, we could see a lot of water flowing up over this seawall and into the city and we're watching that condition very closely to make sure that water doesn't rise too quickly.</s>BLITZER: How about the conditions changed over the past hour? We spoke an hour or so ago, Ben, what does it feel like now in this hurricane?</s>MCMILLAN: Wolf, as that eye or center of circulation of the hurricane has moved closer to the city itself, we've seen sustained winds start, which is constant winds flowing in a circular pattern around that hurricane. It's basically a big machine releasing all that heat off the ocean in this rotating storm and that's what those winds are coming from and they're going to continue to batter not only the coastal areas but inland now as the evening goes on.</s>BLITZER: All right. We're going to get back to you. Stand by. Be careful over there, Ben McMillan, the storm chaser. I want to check right now on the emergency response plan for Hurricane Harvey and the catastrophic impact it's likely to have. We're joined by the head of the federal emergency management agency, Brock Long. Administrator Long, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for all the great work that FEMA does. What are your biggest concerns as Hurricane Harvey now approaches landfall?</s>BROCK LONG, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Right now it's the life safety mission. Obviously, the time to evacuate has come to a close. And if you're in those areas and getting ready to experience the 6 to 12, 8 -- 6 to 12 feet of storm surge, it's time to find some higher ground and a facility that can withstand the wind.</s>BLITZER: Did people heed the evacuation orders? I know there a lot of areas, it was voluntary, some mandatory. What are you hearing about that?</s>LONG: So, this was a tough storm, you know, the National Weather Service is -- we have the world's best meteorologists when it comes to the National Weather Service. And -- but the one thing about this storm is it was incredibly difficult for them to forecast because of the nature of it coming off the Yucatan and getting into the Bay of Campeche. And so, what we saw is a rapidly intensifying major hurricane. And it's very hard to motivate people in a small window of time to move. Regarding actual participation rates of a, you know, a 100,000 people plus that were placed under evacuations, I do not have a good number on that. But it was difficult to motivate people most likely because of the nature of this storm and the forecast.</s>BLITZER: How long, Administrator, should people expect to be away from their homes?</s>LONG: This is going to be a marathon and we have to set the expectations of citizens. This one's going to be very difficult. Not only we're going to we have, you know, the first major hurricane landfall since 2005, which brings with it the most deadly hazard, storm surge, and the most costly hazard storm surge, but because the storm is going to lose its steering currents and slow down before land fall and stay on top, you know, of Texas and portions of Louisiana, this is going to be a very -- a multiple day event, low and were -- and it's going to be constantly changing dynamic forecast over the next 48 to 120 hours.</s>BLITZER: It's going to be amazing. Is your biggest fear, you know, the storm surge, the high winds, category 3, 125 mile an hour winds, the flooding, the power outages that certainly will develop. This is potentially a real disaster.</s>LONG: Oh, it's going to be a disaster. It's going to be a significant disaster. And, you know, the citizens of Texas and Louisiana are going to have their daily routine disrupted for a long time, particularly in, you know, the areas that are going to receive the torrential rains. Storm surge is about 50 meter target. Storm surge is the most dangerous element of hurricanes, in my opinion, because it has the highest potential to kill the most amount of people and cause the most amount of damage when they come ashore. Once the system starts to dissipate over time because of interaction with land, it's going to turn into that rainfall event. And then it's going to be a frustrating event because it's going to take time for the system to move out. Now, one of the things that we are watching very carefully is the uncertainty of this forecast. If this system moves a little bit to the east of track or north of track before landfall, it could change the rainfall forecast over the next five days tremendously. So, we want to make sure that, you know, the locals are heeding the -- the warnings the judges are giving out to them, not only in Texas, but also the local officials and the parishes of Louisiana. Any shift to the north and east could change the rainfall forecast significantly for those folks living in Louisiana. So we want to make sure that while the attention right now is -- and all the cameras are in Texas, Louisiana needs to watch this one very closely. We've been in touch with both governors and we are ready to go and preposition in both states.</s>BLITZER: Would you compare this Hurricane Harvey to Hurricane Katrina which happened exactly 12 years ago this week? And we all remember the enormous destruction, the loss of life then.</s>LONG: I really don't compare it to Hurricane Katrina. It's a different scenario. Each storm is different, by the way. No category 3 hurricane is the same, no category 4 hurricane is the same, no tropical storm is the same. You know, for this, this one has no steering currents. Katrina had pretty solid steering currents and moved through the state. It brought a tremendous amount of, you know, storm surge to the coast of Mississippi. And what's interesting is those who stayed behind to experience storm surge in Mississippi were not around to give interviews after that event because storm surge is the unforgiving hazard. Then when you shift over to this event, this is a slow moving event, I would probably, you know, look to the 2001 event and Tropical Storm Allison. Allison stayed over the city of Houston for five days and dropped over 30 inches of rain and was a billion dollar event back in 2001.</s>BLITZER: Yes. I remember that as well. Could this hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, make landfall twice?</s>LONG: Yes. You know, right now this forecast is so uncertain. Any time I see a very slow forward movement and where the models, what we call as spaghetti, you know, do a spaghetti model plot where they are all over the place, they're not in agreement with each other. Right now anything is possible, in my opinion, and we have to watch, you know, each forecast as it comes out very closely because those models are going to change and the guidance that the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center uses is going to change. It's a dynamic situation that we, you know, we can never be too cautious and everybody needs to stay alert.</s>BLITZER: FEMA has deployed what are called urban search and rescue teams to San Antonio right now. What will be their role in the coming days? I assume they're going to be moved out of San Antonio as quickly as possible.</s>LONG: Right. So, the goal of FEMA is we have to pre-stage teams such as search and rescue teams, incident management teams. We are at pre-staging lifesaving commodities. We can't roll directly to the area. I cannot put my staff in danger. It does no good for FEMA to become a victim by getting too close to the storm. But as soon as the governor, you know, asks for support, we understand what the gaps are in the state. We can mobilize those forces very quickly to start helping the state to respond and recover.</s>BLITZER: What sort of coordination support are you getting from the White House, from President Trump right now?</s>LONG: Excellent coordination and support. We are in constant contact with not only the White House, but our acting Secretary Duke over at Homeland Security. I briefed the President directly this morning. He's actually been to the Federal Emergency Management Agency here in the National Response Coordination Center which is behind me where all my dedicated staffs are working. So, the lines of communication are not only clear between the White House and FEMA as well as the lines of communication to the Department of Homeland and Security. But most importantly, you know, our goal is to support our state and local partners and those two governors, John Bell Edwards in Louisiana and Governor Abbott in Texas. And that's what we do. We're not a first response agency. But we are an agency that coordinates the fire power of the federal government down to those governors when called upon.</s>BLITZER: What's the status of President Trump declaring a federal disaster zone or a declaration, even before land fall occurs?</s>LONG: So, here is the process. The declaration request has come up from Governor Abbott in the state of Texas. We come through, evaluate the declaration and put it to the White House. It is in the White House this moment as we speak.</s>BLITZER: So, you guys haven't done it yet. But you anticipate that he will because it's your recommendation that he is going to be relying on, right?</s>LONG: A decision should be made very soon.</s>BLITZER: Very soon. And can I just -- I say that you've recommended that the declaration be issued?</s>LONG: You know, I can't comment on that. Obviously we are leaning forward and ready to support. We have our resources in the state and so we've already mobilized -- we've already mobilized a tremendous amount of resources without being asked to be there.</s>BLITZER: But this is going to be a critically important decision, then. I assume he's going to do it fairly, fairly soon. How different would the situation, administrator, be in the Texas right now if that state had built what some recommended years ago a coastal barrier system, they recommended that after Hurricane Ike.</s>LONG: You know, I'm not familiar necessarily with the coastal barrier system that was put forward. But I can tell you this about the state of Texas. It's a very capable state. They have solid leadership. Chief Nim Kidd, the director of the Texas division of emergency management is on top of things as well as Governor Abbott. And again, you know, Texas is a model. They have amassed a lot of forces and a lot of capability and do serve as a model for some of the other states in the United States. I mean, they are ready to go.</s>BLITZER: Is there also administrator at risk right now of an environmental disaster if some of the oil refineries, other industrial infrastructure are hit, which I assume will be the case?</s>LONG: Yes. There is a risk of that and our ESF 10, hazardous materials emergency support function, you know, is here on-site. They are actually working behind us. We have great communication with our partners at the coast guard and others, EPA and others that handle hazardous materials event should we start to see, you know, issues arise very quickly. But here again, our forces are designed to support the state forces. So, you know, once the state's capacity to handle an environmental disaster succeeded, we can come in and provide technical expertise and physical resources to help overcome those issues.</s>BLITZERS: Brock Long, the administrator of FEMA, thanks so much to you and to all the men and women of FEMA. We are counting on you guys. You always do an incredibly important job in saving lives. And that's what you're going to be doing in the coming days as well. Brock Long, thank you very much.</s>LONG: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZERS: Let's get an update on the hurricane forecast right now. Our meteorologist Chad Meyers is in the CNN Severe Weather Center for us. So, what's the latest there, Chad?</s>CHAD MEYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I would say, Wolf, right now the western part of the eye wall where the wind is 125 is less than 15 miles from shore. 15 miles from a national sea shore, plus Mustang island and there are houses and places of residence there, resource there as well but not all that built up. But I want you to show -- I want to show you here. That it's raining all the way from almost New Orleans all the way down to Brownsville. So, this is not a localized area although we are obviously focused on the eye and where the eye is going. The problem here is, we are going to see the wind damage here. We're going to see the flood damage as the storm expands out. It is going to continue to get stronger until it makes land fall. That's not too far away, maybe an hour or two. And then as it gets over landed likely begins to die off. Still a cut three tonight, but then by tomorrow probably down to about a category one, 75 miles per hour. That's over land. That's blowing a lot of things around and still grabbing the moisture off the Gulf of Mexico and throwing it down as tropical rain. Been in the tropics on a cruise ship or whatever and all of the sudden you say, "How could it rain this hard?" That's what Texas is going to have for five solid days. And the cabinet was talking about the spaghetti models. And I well just show them to you because I have them right in front of me. Spaghetti says this storm is going to head to San Antonio tonight, that's 24 hours from now. Then where does it go? There is not a model that would agree with you on anything because they all just spread out and go in every different direction. There is no consensus from the model which means the storm is going to essentially stop and wobble and you could put down 25, 30, maybe more inches of rainfall in any one area. I just measured it on Google earth. I can kind of do a polygon and get the square miles. The 20-inch rainfall total that's going to cover up most of Texas is the size of South Carolina. I know I said 30 inches about the size of Delaware, but 20 inches or more will be the size of South Carolina with all of that rain coming down. Plus one more thing tonight, Wolf, if you don't have to worry about anything else, there is a risk of some small or tornadoes any time one of the storms comes on shore. So, think about that as you go to bed and hear the bumps through the night. It's just one thing after another. A tornado watch has just been issued. Here is the shore. Here is that area of 125 mile per hour winds. There is our Martin Savidge right there. Now, this heaviest wind should move up toward the north. But I think Marty could still be in 120 or 115 mile per hour winds, and that is a destructive, almost a f-2, ef-2 tornado, even though it's not a tornado it's a hurricane, the same wind damage is possible from this as a tornado for sure.</s>BLITZER: Yes. I just want to elaborate on what you just reported, Chad. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has just issued what they're calling an extreme wind warning for portions of the Texas coast through 8:00 p.m. Eastern, according to the statement widespread destructive winds of 115 to 145 miles per hour will produce what they say will be swaths of tornado-like damage. Explain that.</s>MEYERS: Absolutely. Well, it's a new product, and 115 to 145 is a pretty extreme product. I mean, we're talking 115 can knock anything down. It's going to take some roofs off, going to absolutely take every shingle off, every roof on there. Now the good news is, this is either part National Sea Shore or part Mustang Island, Port Aransas is here, that the people did get away. Now, there is not anyone left. It was a mandatory evacuation 48 hours ago. So, I hope, anyway, everyone listened to mandatory because mandatory is mandatory, to get off of that island. This right here, the circle that I've drawn, that's one of the counties under that warning. And then farther up here is another area that's going to see this band. This is the band right there, that crescent, almost looks like an eclipse, that crescent right there is where all that wind is. The hurricane hunters have been in there and I just saw about ten minutes ago at 7,000 feet, a hurricane hunter aircraft had a wind gust of 147 miles per hour. Now I know that's 6,000 feet up and that's not on the ground. But you translate that down, that's still a gust of 135.</s>BLISTERZ: Yes, if the wind and the surge and the flooding were not enough, now a tornado warning for part of that Texas gulf coast as well. Chad, stay with us. Don't go too far away. We're all over the breaking story, hurricane Harvey bearing down on the gulf coast right now, Texas and Louisiana, threatening to bring catastrophe to those states. Much more of our live coverage, coming up.