Houston Mayor on Current Need; Massive Assistance Needed; Texas Woman's Emotional Homecoming
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON, TEXAS (via telephone): Was a major, major landfall event. Just like in Beaumont. Beaumont happened a week after Hurricane Harvey struck. Beaumont received 26 inches of rain, water, in 24 hours. So for the city of Houston and Harris County, this was a major rainfall event. What the city of Houston would have liked to have had, more high water rescue equipment, trucks and boats. Those are the sort of asset that we need. And we need more of them ahead of time. But in anticipating the heavy rainfall, we set up two shelters, just before that heavy rain came, and one -- close to one of the low income communities north of Houston and moved many of those people into those shelters prior to the heavy rainfall coming. So that shelter got up at one point to 2,000 people in their shelter. As of yesterday, there were less than 400 people in that shelter. The same thing with the George R. Brown. At its max, there were 10,000 people in the convention center. Now that number is now under 8,000. And we are working with those individuals to transition out. So for the city of Houston -- the city of Houston and Harris County, we're not in the direct path of the hurricane. For us, it was a major rainfall. And so our grid now is -- it -- 33,000 households without power. The water system in the city of Houston never went down. It's fine. It is working. The transit system is now working. But we are wanting to do, we want to go from door to door to make sure that we haven't missed anyone. We want to focus on that as we move to recovery. And so that's where we are. We're giving special attention to west Houston because they flooded, not from Hurricane Harvey, but because of the release from the reservoir. And that's why you have a lot of people who are very frustrated because their homes were dry from the hurricane -- from the tropical storm, you know, from Hurricane Harvey, but the release from the reservoir. With respect to the Kingwood area, they are in large part, they are flooding, because water was released from</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Sure. But I mean what was the other option? I mean that -- look, that's what they had to do, right? You had to release the floodgates on some of these dams and the reservoirs, I mean, otherwise it would have been catastrophic. So I'm standing in this area of Wilchester.</s>TURNER: Oh, that's --</s>CAMEROTA: That's the situation here. That's -- I mean people understand that, right?</s>TURNER: Yes. People understand that but they don't necessarily have to like that. No one wants their home flooded.</s>CAMEROTA: Ys.</s>TURNER: Now, I got that. No one wants their home flooded. The Corps of Engineers, according to what they're saying to me, they're having to balance the amount of water on the west side of the reservoirs versus what they need to release in order to provide additional capacity in case there's another major rainfall that comes in the next week, two weeks, three weeks.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>TURNER: They need to build up their capacity.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>TURNER: People understand that.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes. And --</s>TURNER: But they -- that doesn't mean they have to like it.</s>CAMEROTA: Understood. And so, Mr. Mayor --</s>TURNER: But then -- but in terms of -- yes, but in terms -- but in terms --</s>CAMEROTA: I want to ask you, I mean given -- given all of that and everything -- go ahead.</s>TURNER: Yes. No, go on. Go on.</s>CAMEROTA: Given everything that you've learned through this past week, the president, President Trump is coming tomorrow. So will you ask him for more resources? What do you plan to say to him?</s>TURNER: In fact, the -- even today, the director of FEMA is coming to meet with me today. The head of Homeland Security will be in Houston today. And basically what I'm saying to them is that we must operate with a sense of urgency. We have to have the resources in order to assist people that are transitioning from a crisis state and getting them back in a much more stable situation. And we need the resources now. In fact, let me back that up. We need the resources yesterday. It is important that we provide people who are homeowners, whose homes have been damaged because of flooding. And in the city of Houston, the number of units is probably more now, more than 40,000 to 50,000 in the city of Houston. And so homeowners are going to want to get back into their homes as quickly as possible and we need the federal assistance right now. In terms of people, especially low income individuals. And I want to highlight them. Many of them are renters, OK. We need to make sure that we give them the assistance that they need in order to stabilize their lives and get them back on their feet. Housing is going to be critically important. People can't stay in shelters forever if they don't have other places to go. So we have to provide housing accommodations. And they need to get that information and that assistance like right now because you can only keep people in shelters for so long. And now they're asking, mayor, what is the next step? Debris removal. That is a critical component. People are putting their debris out right now and it is going to be massive. Every community in the city of Houston, quite frankly in the whole region, when the sun is out, things dry out, people returning to their homes, they're putting all of that debris out. You can't leave it out there. That will create a public health hazard. So we -- we need --</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>TURNER: We don't need a reimbursement. We don't need a reimbursement after we have done it. We need the assistance up front. It needs to be advanced and it needs to be massive. And we need an army of FEMA representatives on the ground assisting people in registering and walking them through the system. And we need that yesterday.</s>CAMEROTA: Mayor, have you made that in treaty to President Trump directly? Have you spoken to the president?</s>TURNER: I have not spoken to the president. I have spoken to Secretary Carson. I have spoken to Secretary Perry. And I thanked them for calling. I have talked to Senator Cruz and he's been in Houston and at the shelters and has made direct contact with FEMA on my behalf. I've talked to a number of the FEMA representatives. And today I'm going to talk to Director Brock, who's over FEMA, and the head of Homeland Security. I'm talking to him today. I have not personally talked to the president. What I would say to everyone, I know there's a debt. And I know there are other things that are out there. But for all -- and I'm not just speaking for the city of the Houston. The city of Houston is advancing resources to Beaumont, even as we face our own set of issues. What I would say to everyone is that this should be priority number one for our country. And we have to provide -- and let's put the politics aside. Let's provide the necessary resources now in order for people to rebuild their lives. We should not keep them in a traumatized state any longer than they need to be. So they need housing. They need assistance. They need debris removal. These are all of the things that local governments need in order to move forward. Our port -- I didn't mention that. The Port of Houston is starting to get back in business. The hopefully they'll be fully operational in probably another week. But we need all of this assistance because what's happening in the Texas Gulf Coast area doesn't just impact the Texas Gulf Coast. It impacts the entire country. And that's what people have to understand. It may be geographically in our area, but the ramifications and the impact affects the entire country, if not -- i it doesn't have a global impact as well.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, we will see if Congress agrees with you and how much they want to open up the purse strings and how much federal relief they will bring to the city of Houston and beyond. But, Mayor Sylvester Turner, thank you.</s>TURNER: Then we'll -- can I just -- can I just say one quick thing, Alisyn?</s>CAMEROTA: Yes, quickly. Yes.</s>TURNER: What I -- what I would say to people is that, put yourselves in our shoes. It may not be you today, but the way these storms are coming, it certainly can be you tomorrow. And you have to ask the question, how would you want to be treated if it happened to you?</s>CAMEROTA: Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for joining us on</s>NEW DAY. TURNER: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Up next, we're going to follow one woman as she returns home after Harvey has passed. But it was not the damage that made her break down in tears. You have to see her story, next.