For CBS This Morning co-anchor Norah O’Donnell, Hurricane Harvey hits particularly close to home. The San Antonio native still has a ton of friends living in South Texas, particularly Houston, and in addition to her wall-to-wall reporting for CBS News from Houston, O’Donnell has been staying in contact with friends throughout this ordeal.
“I had friends texting me videos of their parents in a house upstairs with their dogs a couple hours ago,” O’Donnell told TVNewser by phone this morning. “I just keep thinking to myself: ”The water’s not doing to stop,’ and it’s only 11 a.m. on Monday.”
“I don’t know if this city can take anymore rain,” she continued.
O’Donnell happens to be the sole morning news anchor on the ground, and continues to stay focused despite the difficult conditions.
The CBS Evening News has been expanded to a full-hour this evening. O’Donnell will anchor one half hour from Houston, and Anthony Mason will anchor the other half hour from New York.
TVNewser: How are you and your crew doing today?
O’Donnell: Thank you for asking. We’re doing fine. We’re in a more protected area right now than we were earlier this morning, near the Buffalo Bayou (well-known park in Houston) which was really tough, especially on the crew, who had been there since around 3 a.m. local time; and everyone was just trying to hold on to the tent. The wind was blowing quite heavy along with the rain, so they really took the brunt of it. I think we did about two hours there before moving to a location right across from the Houston convention center, downtown, which is now a shelter.
TVNewser: I noticed this morning you were forced to move locations right after doing a live hit with Gayle (King). Can you talk about how that all went down?
O’Donnell: We did. The rain was coming down so heavily, and our stage manager couldn’t wipe the rain off the lens fast enough to keep it clear so that viewers could see us.
We were standing by the Buffalo Bayou, which officials had predicted was going to rise about half of a foot every hour because of excess water from those two reservoirs. Officials were letting water come out of those two reservoirs, and then water was then going to fill into the Buffalo Bayou. This was done to protect downtown Houston. Because of the potential flooding there at Buffalo Bayou, along with the wind and the rain, we felt we had to move closer to downtown.
TVNewser: What are your personal thoughts on what has been happening over the past few days?
O’Donnell: It was tough for me to sleep last night because the rain was (and continues to be) non-stop. I was trying to sleep but couldn’t stop thinking about the people who are still stuck in their homes. Again, it’s only 11 a.m. on Monday, and this is supposed to keep going through Wednesday. I really don’t know what they’re going to do. At first, I thought that Sunday was kind of a turning point. But today is going to be a another very hard day because you have rescue crews who are trying to save people through the pouring rain here. If you are in your car, it’s very tough for windshield wipers to even work. The helicopters have to take that into consideration when they’re trying to help people too.
The fire department said this morning that they have received 5,500 calls in the past 24 hours. This is a disaster of epic proportions, and like nothing I have ever covered.
