studio. bill, you got new numbers tracking this. what does the strength look like? >> the winds haven't picked up to get there. we're waiting for the uptick that agrees with the pressure drop. here's the latest radar, it looks like a buzz saw and heaviest bands are right along the coast. we'll see conditions deteriorate quickly. no more breaks in corpus christi and down the coastal areas. only 115 miles southeast of corpus christi. we keep saying that because that's where the eye of the storm is heading, winds at 110 miles per hour and still moving northwest at 10 miles per hour. we can do the easy math on that. we're now about 11 to 12 hours from the center eye coming over the top or very near corpus christi. here's the updated forecast path of the hurricane center. they think it has an excellent chance of gaining 10 more miles per hour and becoming a major category 3. 7:00 p.m. we're talking about -- this is local time here, the sun

is setting and hurricane force winds are now coming onshore as the sun is setting in this area. after this the storm will weaken slowly and still think it can do this buttonhook here. maybe only as a tropical storm but regardless this is tuesday and this is wednesday up here near galveston and galveston bay area. that's the long term trend. we'll deal with the immediate threat the landfalling storm in the eye and storm surge that comes along with it. this is at 5:00 p.m. this evening, one of the computer models, pretty accurate. showing the eye into the really squally heavy bands on the western side. with hurricanes the strongest side is the eastern side and strongest winds will be found. no that they are weak on the back side but usually in the northeast quadrant of the storm. corpus christi almost in the eye of the storm at 11:00 p.m. this evening. you could go through, get the really strong eye wall, winds could go calm about 11:00 p.m. this evening and then we'll probably be in the eye moving

slowly, maybe four or five hours and get the back edge will come on through and hurricane force will click back on. what a night it's going to be. anyone who has decided to wait the storm out there, it's going to be a rough evening and get into the flooding after that. my advice, corpus christi, if you can get out, you're almost out of time. it's really getting late in the game. the current winds are 39. we have the first tropical storm force gust, once you get in sustained winds, that's when power starts to come out. this is by midnight tonight, computers estimating in the northern eye way around corpus christi, 97-mile-per-hour winds are possible. enough to do roof damage and knock down trees and we'll have significant power outages all in that area. as we mentioned during the day tomorrow the winds will slowly weaken. in victoria, could see hurricane force gusts into tomorrow morning. the immediate concerns is the winds and the storm surge and then add for the next five days after that we'll talk about the

rainfall and historic flooding on the rivers. >> let's get there. let's bring in kerr y sanders, coastal town under this storm surge warning. we've heard about mandatory evacuations. please tell me people are listening. >> reporter: most people are listening. in fact the traffic out of here late last night was a 25 mile traffic jam, folks leaving, some folks had boat trailers and other p had horse trailers and people evacuated. but not everybody has evacuated. the police have gone door to door today, some refusing to leave and others who had no way to get out. they were the elderly or infirmed, you can see a bus behind me. some of those folks, the police have gone door to door and brought them here to the port lavaca chamber of commerce and put them on buses. one bus is on its way to new braunfels, a moment ago i spoke to one of the people on the bus.

you can understand how emotional this is. >> so i'm scared. my husband is sick. we'll be okay, i guess. i'm worried about my husband. >> reporter: are you worried about your home when it's over? >> i ain't worried about my home. i just worry about our lives. >> i'm just thankful we're able to get out of here away from the storm and worried what we're going to come back to. >> reporter: what do you think you could come back to? >> being homeless. >> reporter: there we go, tom not even show when he comes back if his home will be standing he lives so close to the shore. 50 yards away. they are expecting anywhere from a 6 to 10-foot storm surge. this is the other bus that will leave shortly.

we can see folks on board here. i'm kerrie sa y sanders. police went door to door and ordered you out, how did this go this morning? >> i just left. nobody came to my door. >> reporter: how do you feel about the fact that you are evacuating and how disruptive mother nature can be but the fact there are at least buses to get you to safety? >> i love it. i think it's wonderful that we're here. >> reporter: and for yourself how do you feel? >> i feel great. i'm old but i still want to live a little longer. >> reporter: best of luck to you. you can see people on the bus. there's children back there waving. going to give us the thumb's up? thumb's up. all glad to be getting out of here and then we've got the volunteers as well as the police -- long drive ahead of you but you guys will be sleeping where once you get to nu braunfels. >> there's a hotel we're going to stay in. >> they are going to a catholic

church? >> yes, they are. >> reporter: best of luck to everybody here. we're going to step out and this may be the last bus that will be leaving. a lot of works and of course the real concern here is those people who have not heetded the warning to leave, especially those -- we know of four who decided to stay put inside an rv park. really the chances of survival with a 6-foot storm surge and category 3 inside an rv are so infin tess mall, it's almost a death wish according to authorities here. >> wow. >> kerry, thanks for your reporting. i hope people take this seriously. let's go to galveston where joe fryer is standing by. what's the situation there? >> reporter: we've been seeing all kinds of weather on the outer band of this all morning long. the winds have picked up more than we've seen all day. we saw heavy rain earlier today as well. really what they are looking at here is not so much a wind

event, yes the winds will be strong but it likely won't be hurricane force winds. they are preparing for a rain event. once this storm as you've said hits the coast it's going to sisit and rain heavily for days. they are expecting a lot of rain in galveston. this is a long, but narrow island community normally a tourist community. not a lot of tourism behind me. there's a ferris wheel and roller coaster on a pier here. no one is there today. i'm told this was built after hurricane ike hit the area nine years ago. this place was hit very hard by hurricane ike. a lot of damage, a lot of flooding. they know what a hurricane can do here. all eyes are on this to see what happens. again, the bigger concern is going to be the days and days of rain that follow and this area alone could be in that 15 to 20-inch rain range and it could be even more in some isolated

areas. that's really what they are worried about here. back to you guys. >> rebuilt after '09, that ferris wheel -- >> the pleasure pier, certainly seen more days of pleasure, not today. >> let's go to corpus christi, harvey is expected to make landfall there. the mayor joe mccomb joins us now. what's the situation where you are in terms of the evacuations and terms of people who have not evacuated? where do things stand? we don't have a mandatory evacuation but urged people in low lying areas, padre and mustang and flower bluff and another area which is -- before it goes into the laguna madre to get out because of the storm surge predictions. the wind is picking up now but i understand -- i haven't heard the latest, i got a call that

said they are talking the winds 70 to 90 miles per hour which is better than 125 if that information is correct. we're concerned about the low lying areas and flash flooding and so we're targeted the areas encouraging people in strongest language other than mandatory to get off the island and get out of dodge. we just don't want anybody to face the flooding event and possibly drown. my number one concern is individual safety. >> are there people who aren't leaving? when we look at the warnings from the national weather service, in corpus christi saying this thing could wash away buildings, knock down major trees and make things uninhabitable, do people think it's reasonable to stay with a warning like that? >> well, i mean, we've been through this before. i lived through celia back in the '70s and the wind gauges back then broke at 160 miles per

hour. the rain is what has got us concerned there. during celia we had very little rain and storm surges wasn't in effect. so the rain and the storm surge combined is what we're concerned about in the low lying areas. the wind at this point, while it's a little stronger than just a regular northern blowing in in the wintertime is not a concern to us -- at least to me it's not. we've got good building standards in our community and supposed -- most buildings are supposed to sustain winds up to 140 miles per hour. so we feel pretty comfortable with our physical assets here in the community but the rising water and the storm surge are really are the main concerns right now. >> mayor mccomb, thanks very much, we'll stay close to you and the folks in corpus christi, our thoughts are with you. good luck and stay safe.

>> for sure. >> our breaking coverage continues next with a live report from the national hurricane center. that's warning people in texas to finish their preparations now because the time is here. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on mmsnbc, that shot again on the pleasure pier. no one on that ferris wheel today. ico has been saving people money for over 75 years. hey, big guy! come on in! let me guess your weight! win a prize! sure, why not. 12 ounces! sorry, mate. four ounces. i've been taking the stairs lately. you win, big guy. sorry, 'scuse me! oh, he looks so much more real on tv. yeah... over 75 years of savings and service. get your rate quote today. super cool notebooks... done. that's mom taking care of business, but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. order online and pickup in store in just one hour.

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breaking news this hour, we have brand-new numbers on hurricane harvey, damaging

hurricane strength winds and historic rainfall and 12-foot storm surge and tornadoes. the national hurricane center taking hurricane harvey so so seriously. that is sending out updates this hour. we'll be giving it to you all day long and the national hurricane center issuing the newest advisory just moments ago. >> when you said historic rainfall, that's not our words or producer's words, that is a category that the national weather service uses. everything else is major, major. under landfall it says historic. joining us with the latest on where things stand, michael brennan from the national hurricane center in miami. we were speaking to the mayor of corpus christi who seems to think this is diminishing compared to what they thought it was going to be as it makes landfall. does that jive with your accounts of what's happening? >> at this point we're expecting harvey to be an extremely dangerous hurricane. there are three life threatening

hazards associated with the storm. the hurricane winds in the core here around the eye wall as it begins to move northwest towards the middle texas coast. we have maximum winds right now in the storm of 110 miles per hour, seeing the storm continue to deepen and the data we're getting from the aircraft in it. that core of the storm approaches the middle texas coast late tonight and early saturday, that will bring hurricane force winds onshore. that's one deadly hazard. the second deadly hazard is the storm surge. we have a storm surge warning in effect for much of the texas coast but in particular from the area south of corpus christi to up west of houston, that's where we're expecting the 6 to 12 feet of inundation, flooding at my head or twice that high. you can imagine if you're on the coast in that area, that's water in your house and water in the roads. it's going to make it impossible to move or even get out if you have an issue. if you've been asked or urged to evacuate, this is the time to do it. the tropical storm force winds are basically moving onshore as

these bands reach the coast. that's basically cutting off your time to prepare for the storm. the third hazard, that historic rainfall. we could see catastrophic flooding, widespread areas here including the houston metro area, southwest louisiana, corpus christi, 15 to 25 inches of rain isolated areas of 35 inches of rain. that's going to continue for several days. >> michael, here's the question. you talk about storm surge of 6 to 12 feet. around galveston they have a wall and a lot of places have storm surge walls. some of these levels will be higher than the walls but even if they are not, this water gets around in some places. you're talking about many people's first floors are not 12 feet. >> sure, right. once you're talking about water that's going to be in the first floor of your home along the coast and that's why storm surge is what generally drives evacuation decisions and where we want people to get out of the way and storm surge warning is there to help reinforce this message that this is an area where you're going to see the

danger of storm surge flooding with this hurricane. >> michael, thank you very much. we'll stay in touch with them through the course of the day. the one takeaway here, you've got to take this seriously. >> without a doubt. >> make sure people are watching the news and this is a serious one. >> i'm still as tounded by the people in corp us christi lookig to stay in a parking lot in a mobile home. let's bring in ron nearen berg. san antonio could get 25 inches of rain. what are people in your city doing? >> thank you, steph, our first role in this effort is public safety and make sure we're taking care of the safety of our residents here. but as a regional coordinated center for emergency services throughout the south texas area, our role is also to be a ready

and able and compassionate neighbor. we're receive evacuees people evacuated by mandatory order or self-evacuating and also to make sure we're receiving resources from volunteers and from state emergency services throughout the area and deploying them. that's been happening really since earlier in the week. we spun up our emergency operations center, which is a regional south texas center and i along with the county judge yesterday declared local state of emergency. local disaster -- excuse me to make sure we have access to resources quickly. >> mayor, you have -- you guys got 15 inches in a year. you have the beautiful river walk and the alamo can your city handle the drainage? we have to take it seriously. in san antonio they won't get the same winds in corpus christi or thunderstorm winds most likely, but boy you're going to

get a lot of water. how does that affect the businesses and people in your city in terms of where this water is going to go? >> well the public has invested hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 20 years to ensure better drainage in our area but we do know we're in flash flood alley and a small amount of rain over a short period of time creates a massive flooding event. we're prepared. but we know that we have to get everyone ready and watching the news and ready to turn on a dime. what we're asking people, stay off the roads, don't frafl if you don't have to. make sure you have everything that you need to carry you through the weekend. don't travel unless it's absolutely necessary. we need the roads cleared for emergency vehicles as well as for people coming in off the coast. and also we're just making sure that folks are connected to stay informed of changing weather events. we're asking the download the ready south texas app to stay up

to date with the latest storm information. we are ready. and we are able and we're just making sure our citizens are fully cooperating with the orders from here locally but also from the state. >> well, sending you our warmest wishes, please stay safe and to people of san antonio. mayor ron nirenberg. >> stick around, everyone, we're covering this hurricane and a whole lot more. plus criticism of the trump administration from within the white house. president trump's national economic adviser gary cohn, who had to stand next to trump last week when he hijacked that press conference at trump tower and doubled down on his remarks, you know those about both sides regarding charlottesville, the domestic terror attack. we'll break it down for you, stick around.

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welcome back, you're watching "velshi & ruhle," strong words against the trump administration from within the west wing. trump's chief economic adviser gary cohn has spoken out on charlottesville for the very

first time and makes it clear that the president was wrong. here's what he said to the financial times. citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white prem sifts, neo-nazis and the kkk. i believe this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities. he adds, as a jewish american i will not allow neo-nazis ranting jews will not replace us to cause this jew to leave his job. we must unite together against them. white house officials tell nbc news that the white house did authorize the interview with the financial times but not predicting what the president's reaction will be. i spoke to people close to gary cohn who said he did not clear his statement with anyone there,

it is the first time a west wing official has publicly criticized the president about charlottesville. when he says the administration must do better, he's only speaking about one person. the rest of the people we've heard from in the administration have towed the party line. steve mnuchin released a statement in response to calls for him to resign over trump's stance and said, quote, i find it hard to believe i should have to defend myself on this or the president, i feel compelled to let you know that the president is in no way, shape or form believes that neo-nazi and other hate groups that endorse violence are equivalent to groups that demonstrate in peaceful and lawful ways. that is clearly a different message than gary cohn's and he's already getting sharp criticism. no surprise from trump's base. the head line from breitbart news under the leadership of

gary cohn's foe, steve bannon. white house shock, gary cohn trashes trump in the press. just citizens standing up for equality and freedom. i'd like you to notice the little globes in the breitbart headline, they are emojis, wink, wink nod nod, used to denote the globalists that happen to be jewish in the white house. we see what you're doing there. this is extraordinary, but there is criticism that he is only speaking out now two weeks later but what does this do to him in the white house? he didn't resign -- >> it's unusual. look, i'll give him credit for the comment being much better than the squishy one that steve mnuchin made, it is ten days after the press conference and says he was under pressure to come out and make a statement. didn't resign. he's still there. >> didn't resign.

steve mnuchin said he was under pressure but defended president's statements. what is the fallout for gary cohn, many said he's in line to be the next fed chair. you wonder if this will i am pablgt them. >> let's get back to hurricane coverage of harvey. let's bring in brock longstanding by. thank you for being with us. there has not been a storm like this making landfall in the u.s. in more than a decade. back then fema had rocky responses to these things. are you ready for this storm? >> yes, sir, we are. as you can see behind me the national response coordination center the dedicated staff of fema and other agencies are fully engaged. we have strong communication with our partners in texas as well as louisiana. over the past 48 hours we've amassed search and rescue teams, life saving, life supporting commodities in place. we have incident management

teams ready to go. >> one of the big issues we had in katrina was the logistics, of people getting out, help getting in, evacuations and people who decided to stay when they shouldn't have with huge storm surges and flooding. obviously we don't have the low lying land that we had in southern louisiana, but we've been hearing from mayors all morning that a lot of people are sticking around. >> yeah, unfortunately you know, right now is the time to heed the warning. this is a very serious storm. the first major hurricane that we've had since 2005 as you guys suggested earlier. the time to evacuate and heed the warning is quickly coming to a close. and eventually the elements of the system are already beginning to impact the texas coast and inland we're seeing rain bands and seeing the ocean level start to rise in many cases. it's going to be a very dangerous situation and let's set the expectations. texas is about to have a very

significant disaster and we have to let people know that. >> what preparations does fema have in place? >> so as i said earlier, we've already placed incident management teams in both texas as well as the state of louisiana because we anticipate this system to possibly later in the forecast period start to inundate the state of louisiana. we have search and rescue teams -- multiple search and rescue teams ready to go and prestaged in texas. we have emergency communications in place as well and basically once the governor needs our support, we'll be ready to mobilize. >> governor abbott is going to need your support. have you got tight coordination with the state -- who do you have to have coordination with? is it with state responders, national guard? >> so basically we have great communication with not only the governor but also chief kidd, emergency management. state of texas is in very

capable hands. i've worked with chief kidd closely and i have full confidence in his ability and all indications are that they are taking this very seriously and ready to go as well. >> all right, and is there any danger that we're going to have like we had in katrina, where there are supplies and people didn't think they would have to stay around as long as they were going to run out of things, basics like water and gasoline. those are the two things that seem to be biggest issues. >> this is going to be a disaster. what that means is your normal daily routine is about to be disrupted for multiple days, infrastructure and power will go off. infrastructure may not work and that's why we call it a disaster. people need to be making final preparations to you know, to expect those kinds of things to happen. it's going to take time for the infrastructure to come back online but we're prepared to support that effort. >> what's your biggest concern right now going into this storm?

>> right now it's the life safety. obviously, in many cases, we've lost a lot of experience having not been hit by a major hurricane since 2005. and so in many cases people have never experienced the threat of storm surge, which is -- it's the hazard associated with hurricanes that have the highest potential to cause the most amount of damage and kill the most amount of people. nobody lives to talk about their experience with storm surge. >> have you heard from the white house? >> yes, just spoke with the president not even an hour ago. we have been fully engaged with the white house on multiple occasions. >> when you spoke to the president, what did he say? >> he's giving me full authority in conjunction with the department of homeland security to coordinate the federal assets down to the state and local level as soon as we're called upon. >> brock long, thanks so much for joining us. wish you and your colleagues the best of luck in the course of the next couple of days.

brock long, fema administrator, thank you. >> let's go back to our friend and colleague, kerry sanders in port lavaca, texas, a coastal town under a hurricane and storm surge warning. gary, i've got to be honest, i'm still reeling from the last conversation. there you are with rvs parked behind you and you said there are people in the rvs who made the decision to hunker down and hang tight. a storm that's expected to possibly knock down entire building structures. how are these rvs going to stick around? >> reporter: well, you know, some people cannot be convinced. this is the rv park and we put ourselves here where four people apparently say they are going to stay put because of how close we are to the bay here in lavaca. i'm looking up right now and we have our drone up. you can see how close the water is and then come from the drone shot and you see here are the actual rvs. we're talking spitting distance. the problem is you have to remember, with a hurricane comes

something called storm surge. when the storm surge comes it's a wall of water that builds up. when that wall builds up, it can easily be 10 feet. when you have the bay like we have here, it could even be that much worse. one of the residents who has now finally made the decision to leave is jody thorn. you're among the last few who is getting in your car and leaving. what took you so long? >> we were boarding up a lot of things and we own property next door too and it takes a lot of time. and we weren't going to do it if it was like a level one or two. but we used to own that rv -- small rv toppled over in a category 2. >> this is the problem, people can get a false sense of security because you experienced what was a category 2. i don't know which storm you were talking about, i don't think there was a direct hit. >> it's been a while back. >> reporter: memories fade and people think they are stronger. what do you say knowing that

there are four families who decided to stay put? >> my husband keeps saying the rec room is safer than evacuation center you know how it is, you have to go to where you really think you're safest. >> reporter: thankfully you've made the right decision. i'm going to step over here to show. this is what she said she was waiting to do, put up final preparations for their structure. one thing that's interesting, this is a car port not anchored. they are going to leave the car behind and hope this will anchor it. really quite frankly whether the wind takes this or storm surge comes in and winds up flooding this area, this sort of thing becomes damage itself because it flies and maybe in the air, becomes a missile or worse, it starts floating and smashes into something else. for those who have not been through hurricanes and we've been talking about how it's a long time, decade plus since we had a major hurricane, just recognize you should evacuate. the problem with evacuation is not like the problem of trying

to deal with survival in the middle of a category 3. i might note, a lot of people say well i don't know where to go. that's their biggest question. they don't want to sit in a gymnasium or church with hundreds of other people, be uncomfortable. one little note we just picked up today is that air bnb, like the hotel you can find on your phone, they've actually opened up their emergency system. so if you're in euroyour car an listening on satellite radio and not sure where you're going, get out the air bnb app. they are opening up places for people to stay for free. >> you might not know the answer but southern texas has quite a few undocumented immigrants. are they able to go to any of these centers that you're being directed to by city officials? >> reporter: not only wide open, nobody checks on any of that but interestingly, one of the things that is held people up in years past has been animals. people don't want to leave

because of pets. the buses that just left a half hour or so ago, they were taking everybody's pets, dogs. one of the police officers heroically went home, grabbed some of her pet food, brought it back so the people would have food for their pets. that is no longer an issue. people do need to recognize that the end of the day, every piece of the muzzpuzzle has been work out and things they think are true may not be possible anynor. >> that's drone footage on the left of the screen. your point is well taken, moving and relocating and getting out is remarkably inconvenient and disruptive to one's life but the bottom line, it's a lot less disruptive than getting hit by a hurricane. >> kerry sanders, please stay safe. to you at home, stick around, we'll have a lot more live breaking coverage of hurricane harvey. it is hitting 30% of america's oil production. this isn't just going to hit

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." >> we continue covering breaking news tracking hurricane harvey. >> looking just as bad as we thought it would be. >> it will be president trump's test in handling a natural disaster. >> we may have a slow agonizing landfall that could last for hour after hour after hour. >> the national hurricane center has issued the first ever public storm surge warning for a swath of the texas coast. >> this is going to be a slow developing major disaster event for the state of texas. >> we're likely to see most of the refineries where 30% of the nation gets its gasoline from have to shut down. >> people in places like washington, d.c. and even washington state might be feeling it this morning and if not this morning they'll feel it this weekend at the pump. >> this is a triple threat. hurricane harvey could be the first category 3 storm to slam into the u.s. in 12 years. >> so hard to believe we could still be talking about it well

into next week. >> easily into next week. >> all right, harvey expected to strengthen into a category 3. right now remains a category 2 but still offshore moving slowly off the very warm gulf of mexico. that's how it gains power. it's a perfect mix for a strong hurricane. the outer bands of the storm are lashing the texas coast. they are just starting now. the national weather service says parts of south texas could soon see catastrophic, they use the term historic flooding. when all is said and done, some across the coast could see 35 inches of rain and possibly a 12-foot storm surge. this is 12 inches, 12 times that. >> 12 feet, 35 inches of rain. if you have a toddler or preschooler at home, that's how tall they are. harvey is on track to make landfall near or east of corpus christi between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. eastern time. not a good -- residents are

strongly advised to get out of town. 735,000 under a hurricane warning and 8 million under a tropical storm warning. two hours from now greg abbott will join us live. in just a moment we're going to go to bill karins, give us an update. >> it's too late. if you're on the immediate coast, it's too late to get out. that's the bottom line. you've used up all of your line. any of the coastal areas. if you're inland like corpus christi, the rain is starting to pick up now and almost too late. you only got an hour or two left before we get to winds strong enough they'll advice to stay where you are. you can see the eye slowly drifting. this will be a painful evening. slow moving, strong possibly major hurricane. it's worst case recipe. you could be in the eye wall for 12 hours straight, that's relentless pounding, hear the howling on your windows and doors for 12 straight hours and worried about trees falling on you. scary stuff. anyone that decided to stay, i

wish you the best. the first responders won't be heading out to rescue people, too dangerous even for them. i want to show you the forecasted updated path. people are worried about this dip and heading inland. if it does that, it would not be half as strong as it is now and would still be a rain making storm. this is the advicible satellite imagery, you can see the eye right there. if this clears out, we could see really strong intense fiction, even further than what it is. >> bill karins, thanks very much. we're going to talk about the impact this is going to have outside of the area as hurricane harvey barrels towards the texas coast. 30% of america's oil production capacity is directly in the path of this storm in the form of offshore rigs and platforms and land based refineries in texas and louisiana. in the gulf, there are more than 737 actually rigs and platforms. these are the devices that drill

upon which people work. platforms are the big ones and tend to be permanent. rigs tend to be moveable. 39 were evacuated ahead of the storm, almost double that number have closed their valves to prevent leaks which puts them out of commission until after harvey passes through. many of these use pipes to send the oil to the land. those pipes can get messed up as well. on land, more than 30 oil and petroleum refineries are in the path of the storm. 3.5 million barrels per day along the texas coast alone, according to analysts, one industry head tells cnbc it could take two weeks for these facilities to get back if harvey hits as a category 2. longer than that if it strengthens. the issue is not getting people in and starting them up which takes time, but they could be damaged like they were in katrina. remember, there are other chemicals that come out of oil. there's these issues about leaks and spillages and containers

being damaged. it means right now the national average for a gallon of gasoline is $2.35 a gallon. according to aaa if harvey does significant damage, one analyst predicts a spike between 15 and 27 cents per gallon between now and labor day. if you have a 16-gallon tank, an extra 4 to $5 to fill up. gas prices are a little tricky because sometimes they start increasing ahead of time in anticipation. we'll have to see what happens. and there is the other issue, damage there could actually be gas stations that don't have gas or can't get it easily. power outages are there and gas becomes hard to get as well because gas stations need power. >> a lot of things to worry about there. a man worrying about all of them texas governor abbott declared a

state of emergency activating 700 members of national guard. he'll be giving a press conference this afternoon. first, he joins us to talk about the hurricane and the preparation. texas governor greg abbott. governor, you tweeted out that you have spoken to president trump and fema. what kind of response to expect after the storm passes through? a week from now we're worried. >> we're already engaged in working with fema and have been for days now. the president and the secretary of homeland security also promised their support for the people of the state of texas. i think everybody is coming to realize the magnitude and complication of this storm. the greatest concern that we have is the fact that as of a couple of days ago as the storm was heading towards texas, it looked like a tropical storm and not too many texans took it that serious. obviously it has grown far more serious over the past 24 to 48 hours. not only do we have the hurricane situation but because of the rainfall you were talking

about, there's going to be enormous flooding. so we're concerned that not enough people have evacuated and we're still urging people if at all possible if you are in low lying areas, if you're in zones where evacuation orders urging at all possible, if you're in low lying areas, if you're in zones where evacuation orders have been in place, there may be time for you to get out. if you don't get out you could be in an area without power, without water, without necessities for at least a week, if not longer. so if at all possible, if you can get out of harm's way, please do everything you can over the next few hours to get out. there are locations in san antonio, in austin, in dallas that can host you that can take care offia. >> we spoke to the mayor of san antonio, who said they are prepared to be good neighbors. the president tweeted out he has spoken with governor abbott of texas and are here to assist as

needed. we spoke to the mayor of corpus christi a little earlier. they've not got a mandatory evacuation there. the mayor thought it was going to be less serious than he thought. that stands in stark prediction of all the reporting we've been given. i know you're self-reliant, but should that be a mandatory evacuation? >> the mayors of these areas know their areas well. even if it's a voluntary evacuation order, i think texans should heed that. they'll find the next few hours the storm is going to be stronger, more serious than what was anticipated. and longer lasting. remember this, now, the flooding that will take place will not be just along the coast, it will be inland, about 100 miles. that water will come rushing

down toward the coast, complicating roadways for a long time to come. now is the time to get out while you still can. >> so, how do you prepare for a 12 foot storm surge? even the sound of that, sandbags can't help you when you're talking 12 feet. >> one of the most important things we can and have done is to prepare for water rescue missions. we have multiple teams, whether it be through the 700 state and national guard that we've activated, whether it be what's called texas task force one or two or working with fema, we have multiple water rescue teams south of corpus christi up to the houston area to make sure that we will be able to be in the process of saving lives, which is the most important thing we can do. >> when we've seen lives lost in these hurricanes in the past, it often has to do with people who don't have the resources to get out of town, moving, relocating before a storm is remarkable

inconvenient, difficult to do. there are a lot of people who don't have resources and don't know, as you mentioned, where they're supposed to go. do you think there's enough bussing, enough shelters around that can accommodate people who otherwise think they don't have the money or capacity to get out of town? >> sure. there have been and are multiple buses and mass transportation facilities leaving areas such as corpus christi, taking people to places like san antonio. if you're going to san antonio or austin or these other shelters, you don't have to worry about the cost. you have other people who will be taking care of you. you need to find a pathway out. if you're looking for that pathway, contact your local emergency management director, that should be easy to find. if nothing else call your local police department and they can put you in touch with them. take haste and use all speed to try to find a pathway out of this storm. >> how about risk of deportation? for those undocumented immigrants that could be in the way of the storm's path, are they in the clear to go to some

of these evacuation centers? do they have to show id? >> it's my understanding from what i saw from the border patrol instructions yesterday that will not be an issue. what everyone is focused on right now is insuring we do all we can to protect life. we have a high regard for life. we want to insure the safety of all lives. we're prepared to take all measures to do so. >> speaking of which, there's a cone at the southern end of this storm that gets to brownsville and gets to the mexico border and the rio grande. are you coordinating with mexican officials on that side for things that may happen around that area some. >> we are coordinating with mexican officials, but also with border patrol officials and all the officials up and down the rio grande valley all the way up to north and northeast of the houston area. listen, this is going to be massive storm that will have ripple effects up and down the texas coastline. so this is going to be broad-based coordination by officials at all levels.

>> how about oil refineries? clearly there's big oil in texas. how prepared are they? even if they shut down temporarily, how long would it take them to get back and operational? we know this could affect prices at the gas tank around the country. >> sure. listen, they are very experienced in dealing with these challenges. this is not the first time they've dealt with these challenges. they get prepared in advance and make sure that they will minimize both the potential damage, but also expedite the process of getting the refineries back up and running. if there's anybody i have confidence in, it's those refineries because they know how to operate this. they will get it back online as quickly as possible. >> governor, our thoughts are with you. we wish you the best for the state. we'll be following it closely through the course of the next 24 hours. governor greg abbott of texas.

congressman thanks for being here. are you satisfied the plans that need to be underway in corpus christi are underway? >> listen, we've worked really hard to get ready here in corpus christi. the houses are boarded. people in low-lying areas are evacuated. we've got to hunker down and see what happens. >> congressman, we were just talking to the governor. we have spoken to the mayor earlier today. you don't have a mandatory evacuation going on in that area. you feeling okay about that? >> well, we did evacuate some counties further up north along the coast. corpus christi has a sea wall i'm standing on designed by the same guy who did mount rushmore, it's protected us through several hurricanes. low lying areas definitely need to be a concern. i'm worried the storm comes ashore and stalls and we get rain after rain.

you've got to rain for the storm to clear before the emergency responders can get in with disaster relief. people who are staying need to make sure they have plenty of food and water on hand for several days. >> how are you going to manage that? those who choose to ignore evacuation orders and stay? when hurricane sandy hit the state of new jersey, governor chris christie said you're putting your own lives at risk. i will not send the first responders to protect you, nor will the state of new jersey pay for it if you don't listen to our clear warnings. >> you need to heed the evacuation orders. there's no question about that. but we texans are resilient and we'll help our neighbors out. i've got a friend down the street who has a full powered generator for his house. we'll have the power out, most likely, for a matter of weeks after this storm. it's not just getting through the few hours of the storm, it's the days of continuing rain and the weeks without full services

like electricity. >> congressman, you are the picture of resilience standing there soaked, talking to us as an inspiration to your fellow texans, thank you for being with us. >> what's he going to do with winds like that? an umbrella is not going to help him. >> it's going to whip. thanks, congressman. >> i'm still stunned talking to kerry sanders, people staying in their motor homes. 12 foot storm surge. you know, a storm that could take down windows, buildings. >> again, there's the massive, very high winds that blow things around. there's the fact this thing is offshore. it's not the strength we think it's going to land with, it's slow moving across a warm body of water which will make it gain steam. we'll have historic rainfall, not heavy rainfall, not major rainfall, historic rainfall. you've got places that may get

35 inches of rain. >> for days. think about the drainage issue for days and days. this one's extraordinary. >> all right, we're going to stay with this, we'll keep on covering this storm through the course of the day and the night here on msnbc. for those of you who know people or are in the area, take it seriously. we'll also report on the impact on the rest of the country, as we were saying with oil and other issues coming from that area. that's it for us, thanks for watching this hour of msnbc. so much to cover, stick with us, right now more news on "andrea mitchell reports." thank you, stephanie. >> "andrea mitchell reports" with chris jansing who is right next to us. >> 8 million people under a hurricane warning. the texas gulf coast breacing.

thousands of people have coast coastal areas as mandatory evacuations are in place. the impact of the storm is expected to be life threatening, that's according to the national hurricane center. harvey's on track to make landfall early saturday morning. up to three feet of rain is expected in some areas which could no doubt cause catastrophic flooding. >> one message we need to get to everybody, and that is heed warnings. your life is in potential danger. >> as they say, get out of dodge. >> we do have a team of reporters stationed along the texas course from corpus christi to galveston. president trump is keeping a close eye on the situation. and spoke by phone with the governors of texas and louisiana. offering federal support. all as he's battling with fellow republicans on the border wall and ce