this is al jazeera, america, i'm richelle carey in new york. these are our top stories. stranded in colorado, rising flood waters leave three towns under water and desperate for help. rebuilding again, nearly a year after hurricane sandy, fire devastates part of the jersey shore. afghanistan consulate is targeted overnight. more than a dozen people killed. ♪ they are basically islands in the middle of the mountains,

flooding has cut off three colorado towns the flooding has washed over roads and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. tamara banks is in boulder county, colorado. describe the scene that you are seeing right now. >> good morning, richelle. the rain just started a couple of moments ago. you can see a road that is completely washed out for about 300 yards. and this is a little ranch there are typically livestock here. horses and cattle, and a lot of other animals, but unfortunately those animals are up in the mountains in the summertime. so this rancher said he didn't lose any livestock, but lost more of his hey, about $150,000 worth of hay.

taking a look at some video we shot over the past day or so, you can see we have flooding of ehhic proportions. this is flooding of biblical proportions according to the national weather service. i-25 is closed in two spots because of flooding. roads are washed out. bridges have been swept away, and it is still too early to say how bad this damage is, and to try to get our arms around it and figure out how much it is going to cost. the governor talked about how fema is going to help out with this situation. >> this is not going to get fixed in a week, right. we have lost a great deal of infrastructure, and it is going to take many weeks to rebuild a lot of this.

>> reporter: it is going to take many weeks if not months as the governor just mentioned. a small down called lions has been isolated by the flooding, and the national yard is trying to get up there to health .those folks out. richelle. >> can you tell us about some of the other rivers in colorado that are flooding right now. >> yeah, the big thompson just north of here is cresting. it is expected to reach about 11 feet in just a little bit. the cache la poudre is flooding the streets in forth and loveland. that is expected to get to 14 feet. flooding, richelle is not unusual here in colorado, it's just that it is happening all at one time in these large grand proportions. richelle? >> those pictures are breath taking. thank you so much.

joining us on the phone is liz do donehey. tell us why things stand right now? >> the line of lion's evacuation has just begun with the assistance of the national guard. there are no safe pathways out of the town without the assistance of emergency vehicles. >> how many people are we talking about? >> reporter: at this point it is a volunteer vak ways. are about 1800 residents, but we expect 35 to 500 people that will be evacuated. we're not sure how many people will actually be evacuated. >> can you give us an update on

the how bad the flood waters are expected to get today. >> bolder creek is at 4,000 cubic feet per second which is normally at about a hundred cubic feet per second. so we're expecting more rain this afternoon. at this point the rain has let up, but over the next 12 hours we are expecting more rain. it should begin to pick up around 9:30 our time, and we're expecting about a third to a half of inch per hour. >> all right. the office of emergency manage inspect colorado. thank you so much and best of luck with the situation you are dealing with. two towns devastated by last year's hurricane sandy will have to rebuild gen. the fire is mostly contained this morning, but dozens of businesses have been destroyed.

the fire started at an ice cream shop on the boardwalk. this shows you how devastating the situation is for those who have lost so much already from superstorm sandy. >> reporter: thursday's fire destroyed what mother nature has spared on this stretch of jersey shore. chris christie looked shaken and was typically blunt. >> i feel like i want to throw up, and that's me. after all of the effort and time and resources that we have put in to help the folks in seaside park and seaside heights rebuild, as i said at the top this is just unthinkable. >> reporter: the fired at an iconic frozen custard shop. hundreds of firefighters fought to control the flames. some suffered minor injuries, several businesses were destroyed. fire comes days after the end of

the summer tourist season, and 11 months after hurricane sandy slammed into the jersey shore. the season was slow for merchants. and now this another blow to the shore's economy. >> we're seeing businesses that had rebuilt themselves during the summer destroyed, and it's really sad. >> actually governor chris christie also spoke just a moment ago to give reporters an update. let's listen to that. >> we have endured and begun to come back from the devastation of sandy. we will not let these fires destroy those efforts. the investigation will likely take days at which point the scene can then be turned over to the property owners, then there will be more work to do and decisions to be made.

>> al jazeera has been out there throughout the morning and she joins us live on the phone. i understand the governor says this is going to be an investigation, but what do we know about how this fire spread so quickly? >> reporter: governor christie did say the investigation is just starting and it could take days, but because of the high winds yesterday of 25 to 35 miles per hour, this fire spread very quickly and especially because many of the buildings were very close together. >> have you had a chance to talk to people out there, just how are they taking this in? i know people that don't even have a personal connection to the shore are just devastated seeing what these people are going through. what can you tell me about that. >> reporter: they are devastated. a lot of residents have been coming and look at the charred out remains of these buildings,

and of course they say it is a tragedy, but when i ask them, what do you plan to do? do you still want to stay here? they say we love this place. we're not going anywhere. one woman i asked, how are you going to deal with this challenge, and she answered with one word, with tears in her eyes, and said resilience. >> roxanne, thank you. secretary of state john kerry met with russian foreign minister in geneva again today. they agreed to push for a new peace conference, however, both say until an agreement is made about chemical weapons, peace talks cannot begin. >> basically to discuss the issue of chemical weapons in syria, now that the assad government joined the chemical

weapons convention -- >> and we are committed to try to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons in hopes that those efforts could pay off, and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world. >> they will meet in new york later this month and hope to be able to set a date for a new international peace conference on syria, which would also be held in geneva. phil is in geneva. okay. phil if they are talk saebting dates for a syrian peace conference, how much can anybody read into that? >> reporter: well, richelle there are a couple of things that have happened here in geneva, that if you peace them together give us some idea of what is happening behind closed door at the hotel behind me. first of which is is that

announcement we heard in which secretary of state kerry and the foreign minister, sergey lavrov said they planned to meet in about two week's time. in addition to that, within the last hour, i had a chance to talk to an official from the russian foreign ministry, and she told me what has happened inside that building is that now they have separated these delegations into two different areas, one the diplomatic department, and one the chemical weapons experts department where they are trying to figure out logistically, militarily, and scientifically, how they could do this if they were trying to secure those chemical weapons stockpiles. so if you put those two things together, it does look as though there is some sort of maneuvering happening on the ground here in geneva. >> so many people have said that's the question.

fine if everyone comes to an agreement, but is this event practical to execute this. phil we'll talk to you again in just a bit. thank you so much. the day after the anniversary of september 11th, al qaeda leader talked for more attacks on the us. he said to make the country bleed financially, and he said they can defeat america with large and small attacks on its own soil. he is thought to be hiding somewhere along the afghan pakistani border. 19 people are dead from an attack on the afghan consulate. the taliban is claiming

responsibility. >> reporter: taliban fighters attempted to enter the consulate in the far west of the country. >> translator: an explosion took place, then a number of insurgents entered the consulate gate. we don't know how many there were. >> reporter: the attack included a car bomb, civilians and security forces were among the casualties. guards from the compound took the force of the blast. >> translator: my brother was a security guard at the u.s. console late. he was injured and is now in the hospital. >> reporter: the taliban said the consulate had been an intended target for sometime. american diplomatic missions have been targets here for year. the city has been largely considered secure. the u.s. ambassador issued a statement saying . . .

no areas in afghanistan are completely secure from taliban attacks. the groups still control large areas of the country. the u.s. military will pull out most of their troops by the end of next year, and it's unlikely they will leave behind a defeated taliban. president obama will have a new top economic advisor next year. jeffery zions is replacing the current director later this year. the current director is leaving for personal reasons. inside the court a death sentence from the judge, while

outside -- [ shouting ] >> that story coming up. plus the search for sand? south florida, the push to beef up the beaches slammed by storms.

welcome back an indian court has handed down a death sentence to the four men involved in the gang rape murder of a young woman in new delhi. the court ordered death sentence by hanging. the four men found guilty of attacking the woman and dumping her body. california lawmakers have

approved a bill that will allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's license. the governor supports the bill and has promised to sign it. florida has long been renowned for its miles of beaches and endless sunshine, but the beaches are rapidly running out of sand. andy gallagher has more from miami. >> reporter: they attract millions of visitors each year, generate billions of dollars in revenue, the beaches of south florida are facing a crisis. sand washed away by storms and erosion is normally replenished using sand bridged offshore, but that is an increasingly precious commodity. >> it's for ocean and sand, so if we don't have sand, we don't have anything. >> not a good thing.

this is very enjoyable. >> i'm sorry, but i'm grateful for what is here. it is great. it is nice. and it seems like there is still plenty. >> reporter: it might look that way, but brian flynn says the situation is now critical. >> we don't at this point have a clear-cut solution it to. so far we're in the middle of hurricane season right now, we're at the peak of hurricane season right now, and if we were to have a major storm we would have to come up with a source of sand quickly. >> reporter: along the considerations is to bring sand in from places like the bahamas, or use ground up glass. >> we're going to lose our port facilities, our airport. all of these things are going to be non-functional, and the same

is true with broward county. >> reporter: he predicts much of south florida will be out of water by century's end, perhaps much sooner, and thinks the search for sand is fruitless. >> at what point do we stop pouring money into a lost cause and start spending the money in helping people buy out and relocate. >> reporter: but for now authorities are continuing their search for sand. the beaches here are worth a fortune and most want to enjoy them while they can. ♪ we have a stalled out front alboundary draped across the united states extending from portions of new england back into portions of the southwest. that frontal boundary is responsible for helping to draw

up moisture out of the pacific, and we're going to have to continue to deal with devastating flooding across portions of colorado and new mexico as we head into this afternoon and really into the evening as well. you can see we're looking at cloudy skies across utah. most of the moisture is concentrated across new mexico and into colorado. we have light showers right now, but really that is all you need. yesterday in commerce city they received 8 to 10 inches of rain, in aurora, heavy rain expected through the kour of the day. we have flash flood warnings in effect again right around the denver area. this is i-25 territory, folks are strongly urged to stay off of the roadways. not only do you put your lives at risk but also the folks that have to go save you. we'll see heavy rainfall again

across much of colorado. we'll continue to deal with this not just today, but into tomorrow and into the weekend. the boundary as i said extends into the northeast, and it's doing a couple of things. we'll see a continuation of scattered showers into portions of maine. however, temperature wise we're doing a lot better than yesterday. we're looking at highs in the 70s, so a much-needed improvement. and it feels more like october than september. richelle, i'll send it back to you. ♪ americans september their money in their wallets last month. the commerce department reporting retail sales rose just .2 of a percent.

who says you can't fly cheaply anymore. for a short time thursday, united air lines have giving away tickets for free -- or kind of close 20i9. passengers reported buying tickets for 5 to $10 before united shut down its bookings. the airlines said it accidentally filed fairs for zero money. and it is considering what to do about this. trader joe's is the latest company to cut workings from its health care program. it is shifting to health exchanges under the affordable care act. the workers will receive $500 to help buy coverage. an extraordinary funeral for a man who died more than two centuries ago. that story still ahead.

to recap our top stories, rescuers trying to reach people in three colorado towns cut often by massive flooding. thoughs have been forced to flee their homes. and two towns devastated by last year's hurricane sandy have to rebuild again.

live pictures of the aftermath of a fire that raged along the boardwalk reduced dozens of businesses to rubble. it is mostly contained now. the cause is not yet known. . in connecticut a community has finally buried a man two died 215 years ago. the reason for the long delay? the man was a slave. ♪ >> reporter: at st. john's episcopal church in waterbury, connecticut a scene that would have been extraordinary. his name was fortune, and he was a slave. >> i think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to right a wrong that happened 215 years ago. he deserves a dignified funeral.

>> the wrong that -- [ technical difficulties ] >> became an exhibit at the museum just across the street from st. john's. >> the most emotional part for me is knowing in our own city that there was actually a slave that was here, and the bones were right, basically in our backyard. >> reporter: he was on display from the 1940s to 1970s when attitudes changed and the museum put his bones in storage. in 1986 a project began to learn more about him. >> he has a very physical life. he was a strong skeleton. he was probably about 5'5" tall but he worked very hard. so there is breaks in his hands, and has a severe twisted ankle.

>> reporter: 215 years ago this was harmland. fortune did the back-breaking labor from planting to harvesting. a former president of the naacp has a committee that commissioned a university to use mode modern technology to investigate his death. >> they found there was some sort of a blow to the back of his neck, and we don't know if that was done accidentally or on purpose. >> reporter: he was about 55 years old when he died, and two centuries later he was finally laid to rest, as a pastor noted not as a slave, but as a child of god. quite a story. never before has a human-built spacecraft traveled so far.

after three decades in space, it has finally left our solar system. it is now about 12 billion miles from the sun. scientists said thursday' announcement was delayed because they didn't know what it would look like when it crossed the solar system. a balloonist lifted off aiming for a trip across the atlantic using only helium balloons. he hopes to be the first person to do this using a cluster balloon system. the journey could take anywhere from three days to six days. best of luck to him. i'm richelle carey, up next,

grangesteres granny. ♪