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Levee in Breached in Brazoria County, Texas; Flood Waters Hit Por Arthur Evacuation Shelter; U.S. Conducts Missile Defense Test. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 30, 2017 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00] JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome back. South of Houston, in Brazoria County, residents are nervously watching levees, hoping that they hold. One did breach yesterday but emergency officials have been able to sustain it with sandbags for now.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there.

Ed, we hope those levees hold. We also hope that sunshine holds we can see there now. And there's plenty of sunshine where you are.

LAVANDERA: Oh, we just lost our I.P. connection, so I apologize there. We'll try to reconnect as we talk.

In the meantime, I'll try to paint the picture and the scene here of what is going on. We are just outside of Brazoria, Texas. And people are monitoring what's going on with the two different rivers. They are monitoring that situation to see when those rivers are going to crest. And in the meantime, the signs of that are coming through. The river water is pushing into some of these neighborhoods, putting several hundred homes at risk.

We're with Vernon Snyder (ph) and his family. This is their home. They anticipate that water will get inside but, in the meantime, they're trying to take the precautions to prepare for this.

I'm sorry you guys are going through this during this time. Watching this is just going to be slow and painful.

VERNON SNYDER (ph), TEXAS FLOOD VICTIM: Yes, sir. Like I said, I've been out here since '85, 1985. About 20 years ago, it got like this, but we haven't seen it at this magnitude. Even then, it was slow going. And this come up in a matter of about 24 to 36 hours like this. And they're still predicting more to come, so we're trying to get all kinds of antiques and stuff like that raised up out of harm's way because it's fixing to come through.

LAVANDERA: You have been dealing with it the last couple of days. You said that you were helping neighbors move cattle and horses out of harm's way?

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been moving cows out. I've been helping people get out of their houses down the street. Monday night, I came out about 3:00, I came out, Monday morning, had a little bit of water. At 9:00 that morning, it was this high.

LAVANDERA: Did you think after the storm had passed that you were going to be OK or did you know this was possible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew it was going to come up, but I didn't know it was going to come up this high. It's got nine inches to go before it gets in the house.

LAVANDERA: Nine inches. So we're standing here and waiting. And so people understand what's go going on, is that all of the floodwaters coming from Houston and up north of where we are has to make its way down these rivers and the rivers won't crest for another couple of days. And you guys are anxiously awaiting to see just how high it's going to go?

SNYDER (ph): Yes, sir. We've been -- for the last couple of days, we have been just moving things out, moving travel trailers out, and putting vehicles up on trailers, just everything we can do to try to save what we can. We've been fortunate. After 20 years living, haven't seen anything like this. So we're trying to get it all done.

LAVANDERA: Do you think there's any way you'll be spared or are you anticipating the worst?

UNIDENTIFIED MALER: I'm anticipating the worst. It'll get in the house. It came up over two inches over 12 hours last night. That's not even the worst. Looking at Matt Sebesta's press conference earlier. We haven't even gotten the water from up north yet. It's just rain hitting the rivers. And now the water is going to come from up north, it's going to get in the house.

LAVANDERA: So you guys are getting ready to evacuate? You're going to leave the area, do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not leaving the area. I'm staying at my cousin's down the road. He's high and dry. The water is coming up. But it is what it is and we'll deal with it when it's over.

LAVANDERA: Guys, I'm sorry you guys are going to go through all of this.

One cheerful moment, we have to show them their kids. Let me see where they are. Right over here, right? They're quick moving, but before we go, we'll show you this. They have turned a piece of plywood into a surf board and, anyway, trying to make the best of a horrible situation -- Jim?

[13:35:11] ACOSTA: Absolutely, Ed. Kids will be kids, even in all that flooding. It's good to see them having at least a little bit of fun with all this going on. Our best to those folks you were just talking to a few moments ago.

Ed Lavandera in Brazoria County, Texas. Ed, thank you so much, as always.

Right between Houston and Beaumont sits Texas's 36th congressional district, an area devastated by these floods.

And Texas Congressman Brian Babin represents that district between Houston and Beaumont. He joins me live on the phone from Woodville.

Congressman, what are the conditions there? Everywhere we turn, every reporter we go to live on the air, they are either riding on boats or they're standing next to water that will come up to your chest or higher. What are things looking like in your area?

REP. BRIAN BABIN, (R), TEXAS (via telephone): Well, I'm in the middle of Tyler County, Texas, in our county seat of Woodville, and I am absolutely trapped in my house. I don't have a way to get out until we have floodwaters recede here.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: You're trapped in your house right now, Congressman?

BABIN: I'm in my home in Tyler County, and we could not get out unless a helicopter plucks me out of here or I get in my boat and launch it. But we're fine. These waters are going to recede hopefully sometime this evening. And we're doing well.

This hurricane is of a magnitude that I have never seen before. I'm from this part of the country. I have seen many tornados and hurricanes and flood events. Never have I seen one like this.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Congressman, can you paint a picture of what it's like around your home right now? Why can't you get out? Are there other folks in there with you?

BABIN: My family's here. I've got one of my children and my grandchildren with me. And we are behind a creek, and that creek is at flood stage and it has completely blocked our exit to get out of here. But we're not worried. We're not worried about it at all. We're worried about other folks who may have their lives in danger throughout this nine-county district. This hurricane for the last four or five days has dumped an enormous amount of rain on the west side of our district, but the east side is now getting pounded now that the storm has moved northeast. And quite frankly, until last night, I've been out in my district kind of making the rounds. But today, I can't get out until these floodwaters -- until it stops raining and these flood waters recede.

ACOSTA: I know, Congressman, you want to put your constituents first and so on. I just want to make sure that you and your family are not in danger. Are you in need of some kind of rescue? Should we be getting people to your home?

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Or are you confident that these waters are going to recede?

BABIN: Oh, yes, I'm fine. We're good here. I'm just one of hundreds of thousands of people in this district and across our state that are being affected by this tropical storm and Hurricane Harvey, which has gone back out in the gulf and made landfall now three times.

And this wonderful district that I represent has more petrol chemical refining facilities down along the coast than any other district in the country and my colleagues around me and the House of Representatives also have numerous petrol chemical facilities. And I think from a national stand point, this is going to be a tough thing because some of the largest refineries are right here. And they are closing up business for the time being until these floodwaters recede. So that's why it's so important that we get our infrastructure built back as quickly as we can. Because this is going to be felt by, I think, all Americans at the gas pump and other areas of our economy.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Congressman -- yes, sir, go ahead.

BABIN: If you don't mind, I want to say how much I think of all of our first responders, our state, local and federal officials, who have worked together and, my goodness, the volunteers that have come out by the thousands to rescue people. And we keep talking about Texans helping Texans, and that is true. I'm proud to be a Texan. But I'll tell you we have had some neighbors come over from other states, notably Louisiana. Hundreds of boat teams and crews have come over here to help us out. People from Florida, all over, have pitched in to help us with this huge storm, which covers an unbelievable amount of geographic territory and has such massive population centers that it's going turn out to be, in my opinion, and many others, I think, if not one, but maybe the most expensive natural disasters, storms in our history.

[13:40:31] ACOSTA: Congressman, you said it perfectly. That's right. And I don't think anything -- we have seen a lot of images, we have seen a lot of stories, but it typifies how this storm has affected so many people from all walks of life, when you have a congressman also trapped in his home.

Congressman Babin, we wish the best to you and your family. And don't be too brave, sir. If things start to get dire, we need to get you and your loved ones out of your home as well if things get worse there.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: We appreciate your time.

BABIN: (INAUDIBLE) -- I appreciate your time.

ACOSTA: Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate you.

With more than 30,000 people in shelters across Texas right now, the need is enormous. You're looking at piles of clothing that people have donated to help families that have lost everything. I would imagine that you can just keep it coming. That will put a dent in the need in Texas and Louisiana right now. To find out how you can help, log on to CNN.com/impact.

Our special coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:47] ACOSTA: Welcome back. One of the shelters set up to help flood evacuees is in Port Arthur, Texas, that is facing some very big flooding problems of their own. This is what it looked like inside the Bob Bowers Civic Center last night. You can see how the water came up around the cots that had been set up for people to sleep on. My, goodness.

Joining me by phone is Barry Bork.

Barry, you're inside that area now. I know your wife is working the phone for us so we can bring this live interview. Tell us how things are going there?

BARRY BORK, TEXAS FLOOD VICTIM: They're going real good. It's -- last night, we probably had about 600 people and probably down to about probably half right now, maybe 250. They're transporting everybody to higher ground to the old Woodrow Wilson Middle School. So it's probably about 10 miles down the road. We'll be safer down there. It's about two feet deep right here.

ACOSTA: And, Barry, what was that like when the water was coming in? That must have been very scary for everybody when the water was actually coming around the cots.

BORK: Very scary. But I tell you what, Jim, everybody worked here as a team. We got all of the water -- on high ground, on tables, we put out these bleachers that we're sitting on right now. I'm going to take the phone away from my wife.

ACOSTA: OK.

BORK: These are the bleachers that everybody is sitting on right here. We had about 600 people here last night and there's where all of the cots were.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: You can still see the water in there? Is that what we're looking at?

BORK: Yes, that's still two feet of water.

ACOSTA: Two feet of water still inside that shelter. Show us again if you can.

BORK: There's a gentleman that's fixing to walk in it right there.

ACOSTA: He is walking in it right there, isn't he? And that water is over the cots.

BORK: Yes.

ACOSTA: So what did everybody have to do when that happened? Did you have to sleep on the bleachers there or --

BORK: There wasn't much sleeping here last night, Jim.

ACOSTA: I can imagine. I can imagine.

Are you getting food in there, blankets?

BORK: No food.

ACOSTA: No food?

BORK: We ate last night around 6:00 or 7:00, and nothing since.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Are the authorities coming in there to help out? Are you seeing any officials or authorities to check on you?

BORK: Yes, there's firemen. There's police officers. FEMA is here. The Red Cross is here. I think that's it right there, Jim.

ACOSTA: And have you talked to other folks there. How are they doing? I suppose everybody is sort of in the same situation. Their homes have been damaged and they have had to flee. I hope no loss of life or anything. Have you run across any stories, anything of that nature?

BORK: Not around here, Jim. But we -- I mean, we have been in here since yesterday at 7:00. We actually left the house yesterday probably about two miles down the road about 3:00 yesterday afternoon. We arrived here at 7:00. Two miles, it took us four hours to get here, just to find a ride here. A kind gentleman by the name of Cass Brantley that owns Texas Off Road, he had a big jacked up jeep that brought us here. Thank you, Cass, for getting us here safe.

[13:3919:] ACOSTA: Barry, we appreciate you showing us those pictures. And if you can show us one more time the situation in that shelter where you are in Port Arthur, Texas.

Just in case there are authorities there in that area, please keep in mind, those folks there have a shelter with water covering those cots, those people are going to need a better place to sleep that is better than those bleachers inside that center.

Thanks to you and your wife for bringing us those pictures and that situation, Barry. You take care. We appreciate it.

BORK: Thank you, Jim.

[13:50:49] ACOSTA: All right, thank you. Live pictures from Houston, Texas, that's getting the brunt of Tropical Storm Harvey as it makes landfall for the second time. You can see that shelter right there is in a lot better shape than the one we showed you a few moments ago. A live report with the latest when we come back.

But first, proof that the most challenging times can bring out the best in people. In Houston, neighbors formed a human chain to help a woman to wade through some waist-high water to a rescue truck. Incredible there. And look at this. A group of people rushing to save an elderly man from a pickup truck swept up by the flood waters on the interstate. Also forming a human chain to get him to safety. Just some of the incredible stories happening out there of people helping people make their way through Harvey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:00] ACOSTA: We will return to our coverage of Tropical Storm Harvey in just a few minutes.

But first, to another big story we are following, and that is, of course, North Korea. The media there reporting that Pyongyang's missile launch over Japan was just the beginning. The next target, they say, is Guam. Hard to sort out some of the bluster from the facts here. But meanwhile, the U.S. conducted its own test, shooting down a medium range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii this morning. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeting out a response to all of this and the escalating tensions, writing, "The U.S. has been talking to North Korea and paying them extortion money for 25 years. Talking is not the answer." That's the word there from the president.

But note this, Secretary of Defense James Mattis did not seem to share that same sentiment when asked about it earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're never out of diplomatic solutions. We continue to work together. And the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations, and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Secretary Mattis is meeting with the South Korean defense minister later on today.

And as North Korea escalates its threats against the U.S., a military base in Alaska is preparing for a worst-case scenario.

CNN's senior national correspondent, Kyung Lah, shows us what stands between the United States and a North Korean nuclear missile strike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is America's final shield, the last and only protection against an incoming North Korean nuclear missile. Housed deep underground in the heart of Alaska's wilderness at Fort Greeley about 150 miles north of Fairbanks, the heavily Armed 49th Missile Defense Battalion secures 38 missile silos, dotting a landscape frigid even in late summer. The tip barely revealing what lies beneath.

We're allowed rare access to bring you up close to America's ground- based missile interceptors or GBIs.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: This is what will be launched here out of Fort Greeley to intercept any threat that's coming into the defended homeland.

LAH (on camera): The key piece of equipment is right here.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: The kill vehicle is right there towards the top.

(MUSIC)

LAH (voice-over): The kill vehicle to take down any potential intercontinental ballistic missile coming to the U.S., including from North Korea, which the U.S. could face in the future.

Here's how it works. North Korea launches.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: Impact location is Los Angeles. We are engaging this threat at this time.

LAH: Instantly activating a secured room in Fort Greeley. What you're seeing now is a drill, declassified, so we can show you generally how the ground-based interceptors work to protect the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: Roger.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: As the alarms go off, what you'd see is those white shells that you see behind us would separate extremely quickly, and immediately you'd see a flash of flame as that GBI would leave the tube at a really incredible rate of speed.

LAH: Outside the earth's atmosphere in space, if it works, the interceptor kills the incoming nuclear weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: We train to shoot a bullet at a bullet and destroy it so it doesn't destroy us.

LAH (on camera): Have the drills this year taking on a new meaning?

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: What that does is that just makes it more real for us. Because now, I've got a leader of a foreign country who says, I'm going to take my missile and I'm going to kill your citizens with it.

LAH: What kind of confidence do you have if North Korea launches a missile that this system will work?

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. MILITARY OFFICIAL: I have 100 percent confidence this system will work.

LAH (voice-over): That's despite a 60 percent success rate. Out of 18 test launches, the interceptors have only struck its target 10 times in controlled launches.

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN, (R), ALASKA: Just because we've had some failures, doesn't mean we're not learning.

LAH: Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan believes the interceptors are still America's best shot as a last defense as North Korea moves rapidly closer to being able to strike the U.S. mainland. Introducing a bill boosting the number of missiles to a total of 72, setting the possibility of 100 missile interceptors. So far, a cost of $40 billion to taxpayers.

SULLIVAN: Doing nothing in the face of this threat when we clearly have the capability to make sure we have a very protected homeland is not an acceptable option, and I think most Americans would agree with me on that.

LAH (on camera): So what about the argument that North Korea will never actually fire a missile? That this is just for it to gain a bargaining chip? Well, Senator Sullivan says the flaw in that thinking is that it assumes that Kim Jong-Un is rational. He calls it expensive but a necessary insurance policy.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: That's it for me.

Brooke Baldwin picks up CNN's special coverage of the effects of Tropical Storm Harvey right now.

[14:00:08] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN special live coverage here of this historic and deadly flooding that is still gripping the state of Texas.