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>> the reason the fed needs to get rates lower and because there's so much debt rolling over, and they don't want it to roll over at higher rates. so they're trying to the race against the the clock. >> somehow there are billions with, untold number of billions of dollars for ukraine, for all these other foreign countries, for people that are here illegally. >> there is zero evidence on east and west coast that if you automate and make it more efficient and productive, that it hurts wages as -- at all. >> maybe you buy that new home that you've been holding off. >> service is down for a lot of these rural towns, and so samaritan's purse and these disaster relief organizations can't even get out to some of the hardest hit places because they don't know what's there. >> how can we even trust that this data is accurate when with we are seeing wild gyrations in the revisions? >> some people don't make that deadline, right? i'm sure you as a student, i as

a student, sometimes we missed deadlines. ♪ ♪ billy, don't you lose my number. ♪ 'cuz you're not anywhere that i can find you ♪ ashley: who doesn't love phil collins? as we look at midtown manhattan in a hazy, puffy cloudy skies. hey, i'm doing weather as well. it is 11.a.m. on this friday, october 4th. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney let's get right to the markets, and you know what? it is jobs day, 114,000 more jobs than expected, a slight tickdown in the unemployment rate and previous months were revised higher as well. all in all, a strong report. and we are up nicely, 2-3000 points on the dow at the start of the session -- 300 -- now we're trying to come back again. bottom line is all the major indexes firmly in the green. big tech names, they too were

moving higher from the opening bell and pretty much that story. the only one that's moving slightly lower now is apple about two-tenth obviously a percent. i'll tell you what -- two tenths of a percent. let's take a look at the 10-year bond and let you know the yield up now more than 11 basis points at 3.9 5%. so the price goes down, the yield dose up. now this, donald trump called out tim walz for referring to himself as a knucklehead during the debate. watch this. >> and how about the vice president? that's going to be president someday? i don't think so. [background sounds] i don't think so. if did you see the debate? i don't think that's going to be president. he called himself knucklehead. we don't want a knucklehead as a president. ashley: i don't know why, he just makes me laugh when he gets on these to things. steve hilton joins me now. steve, you know, self-effacing

things can be endearing to people. and walz says, you know what? i just speak like everybody else. but his verbal stumbles, are they good for, you know, vote-getting or not? because when you call yourself a nub ifinghead and you're going to be -- knucklehead and you're going to be in the if to oval office or right next to it, doesn't seem smart strategy to me. [laughter] >> exactly. and, by the way, this isn't the first time. it's almost every time he's out there, he makes some kind of mistake like. this i mean, he did it i one interview i that they did together, the cnn interview, where his explanation for lying was that his grammar isn't so good. i mean, it's just ridiculous. [laughter] by the way, we've just got rid of a president who could barely in terms of the candidacy of biden, who could barely string a sentence together. what, now they're putting a vice presidential nominee up there who's just as bad as biden. at least biden has the excuse that -- can. [laughter] you know, he's in his 80s.

what's tim walz's excuse? just saying i'm a knucklehead, i don't think that cuts it. ashley: no, i don't think so either. well, let's move on and talk about your favorite subject, california. the school district there facing calls for a federal investigation. they're being accused of racial discrimination over their equity policies making hiring decisions based on race. you know what, steve? have we finally reached the tipping point, do you think, on dei? >> well, i hope so. but the fact that this is going on in a maul district -- by the way -- small district, that is a beautiful part of the state, a lovely village, a lovely beach with. but the school district not lovely. and here they are focusing on equity instead of excellence in education. and so i looked at the results of this school district what they're so obsessed with hiring and diversity. what are they actually getting in terms of their results? in english, over 60% of the students last year didn't meet

basic standards. and in math it was nearly 80%. nearly 80% of the students the did not meet basic standards in math. this is a district just the other side of the mountains from silicon valley. what on earth are they doing? it tells you what's going wrong. we've got to prioritize education in our schools, not the ideology that the far left have been pushing for so long. ashley: steve, before we let you go, you've been around politics for a long time. we're about a month out now from the election here in the u.s. very tight by all accounts. what do you think's going to make the difference? does trump need to keep hammering away on the economy? >> yes. and i think he is doing that, and you're getting a very, very clear contrast now. he's talking about specific plans that people can understand and relate to on taxes, for example. i also think, by the way, what's going on in the country and in the world is going to help trump and hurt harris. you look at the absolutely

catastrophic response to to hurricane helene, what's going on in north carolina, those incredibly important states, north carolina and georgia, and then you look at the world exploding on their watch, you with see all of this together, labor unrest, you name it, i think it tells you that the lack of competence -- never mind all the far-left ideologies -- the basic lack of governing competition, that's what people see now in the administration, and they want a change. and that's why i think everything right now is looking good for donald trump and j.d. vance. if. ashley: they don't want a knucklehead, that is for sure. [laughter] great stuff, steve, as always. enjoy california, even though you can't enjoy the politics. >> thank you. ashley: thank you, steve. let's check the markets now. we've been higher pretty much all morning. the dow did turn negative just for about five seconds but is now back up again 100 points, and the s&p and nasdaq also moving higher. our good friend jonathan hoenig joins us this morning. [laughter] jonathan, great to see you. the jobs numbers, as we've been

talking about all morning, came in way better than expected, both july and august also revised higher. if what does that mean for rate cuts in the markets? >> well, to me, it locks like rates are actually going higher, ashley. this is why i always focus on price. frankly, anything the government says i kind of dismiss. remember, we were told inflation was going to be transitory? ashley: yes. >> interest rates are going up. the 10-year has gone from about 3.6% when they cut rates, it's now almost 4%. i just don't think inflation is dead. i'm seeing so much evidence, a lot of commodities going up that says inflation is ready to rear its ugly head once again. ashley: yeah. let's hope not, but you could be right. let's take a look at your exotic stock pick of the week. what's that about in. >> right into that theme, commodities are cheap, ashley. despite the fact that so many of them are higher. agricultural commodities is up about 20% year to date,

industrial metals, oil, gold is up 20%, so djp is an etn, an exchange-traded note, that attracts them all. think of it as the s&p 500 of commodities. it's it's a broad index play, butted commodities are as cheap anytime in the last 50 years, so you know you're not buying the top. and, again, i don't see any cutting of spending in d.c. under either candidate. so i think inflation's ready to roar once again, djp will benefit from those higher prices. ashley: yeah. you know what, jonathan? let me ask you this question, the state of the consumer, so important to this economy. where are we in that? if you know, we may have avoided a hard landing as far as the fed goes, people are still wracking up a lot of credit card bills. auto loans are starting to become more and more late in their payments. i mean, what's the psyche of the consumer right now? >> i think they are extraordinarily stretched, ashley.

credit card interest rates not only at an all-time high, but those balances at all-time highs. so we talk about the economy as if it's this obscure thing that exists on a spread sheet. the economy is all of us. it's our viewers every day just trying to get their kids to school, they are stressed and stretched as they've never been in the last 25 years. ashley: well, we'll have to leave it there. jonathan, always great stuff. thank you, sir, for joining us. have yourself a great weekend. all right. we are looking at tesla. thank you. lauren, what's going on with tesla? lauren: up 4 ahead of next week's big robotaxi event. dan ives of wed bush expects that to be game-changing for awe autonomous if technology. there's a lithium ion producer called albemarle, and you can see that stock's up 6%. arcade yum is also surging 13.5% on a report that rio tinto is on the hunt for a provider of

lithium ion batteries, think for evs, electric vehicles. abercrombie & fitch, it takes me back to, you know, the 19900s, but it's back in a big way. very popular with millennials and gen-z. jpmorgan adds them to their positive catalyst watch. stock the surging 8.5%. they say, look, you go in, you're probably not going to find great sales. it's great for the company's margins and profitability. and their holster brand, that's the show that's pitch back, so dark, reeked of cologne when you walked n. i haven't been in one in ages, not sure if the lights are back on. ashley: oh, boy. [laughter] lauren: [inaudible] ashley: they're trying to hide the price tag from you. you can't see it. [laughter] lauren, thank you very much. coming up, parts of tennessee, as we know, have been hit with historic thousand-year flooding during helene.

we're going to bring you the latest on the recovery efforts there. the port strike is over for now, but in 90 days the unions will be back at the negotiating table and we, you know, heaven forbid, could be facing a fresh strike on our hands. so how does a restaurant prepare for a supply chain shortage? we're going to ask closing bell concern celebrity chef andrew gruel. and listen to this. >> reporter: mr. president, you said you've been talking to disreilly president benjamin netanyahu, what are you waiting for? >> because there's no action going on right now. ashley: interesting, isn't it? well, while there's no action going on right now, iran is vowing a deseussive strike on us riege -- decisive strike on israel. so does israel are our full support? i'm going to put that question to senator marsha blackburn next. ♪

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included, for only $15 a month. ashley: joe biden told reporters he hasn't spoke anden with benjamin netanyahu because, quote, there is no action going on. mark meredith is at the white house this morning and, mark, where does the administration stand on fully supporting israel? >> reporter: ashley, reporters have been asking that question to the president if including yesterday. he took a handful of questions as he was leaving the white house, and some of the comments appeared to spook the oil market as they shot up 5% yesterday over concerns israel could target some of iran's oil facilities. now, the president insists the u.s. remains committed to supporting israels reel -- israel, but he also believes there are limits on what should and not be targeted. >> [inaudible] >> the answer is, no.

and i think there's things that that -- we'll be discussing with the israelis what they're going to do, but all a seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally. >> reporter: we don't know what that response is going to be including "the wall street journal" reporting today israel has yet to say what their final decision will be about what their response would look like. but the white house has reportedly been blindsided repeated by -- repeatedly in recent weeks. the white house says the president will speak with the prime minister at some point, but we don't know when. this week the national security adviser spoke with the president of the, ae thanking him for continuing humanitarian support in gaza, but there are till concerns about americans who could be trapped in the middle east trying to get out before the war could widen. even a democratic congressman was saying the administration wasn't doing enough to get americans out of lebanon.

ashley? ashley: mark meredith at the white house, thank you very much. by the way, iran has issued a new warning to israel after the strike earlier this week. the iranian president says any type of attack will be met with, quote, decisive response by our armed forces. if all right. tennessee senator marsha blackburn joins us this morning. senator, great to sew you. joe biden -- to see you. joe biden is urging israel to exercise restraint. if there is a war, will israel have our full support? >> and we want to make certain that israel does have our full support. and p ashley, it has to be so frustrating for the leadership in israel to see this squishy approach coming out of the white house. you don't know where their red line is, if they're going to stay with it, they're uncertain about what they're going to do to provide ammunition for

israel. what we need to do is say we are going if to be steadfast in supporting israel and their right to protect themselves and making certain israel has what they need to protect themselves and their people. ashley: are we worried, senator, about getting involved in another endless war? >> we are always worried about where actions are going to take us. as you look at the instability in certain regions. but what we have to realize is we didn't have this under president donald trump. there was not a new war that was started because people knew when he said something, when he drew a red line, that if you made a different action and crossed that red line, that the unite would come after you. we saw that in 2020. and we need a leader on the global stage who is going to say what they mean, mean what they

say and back it up with action. that is not what you're seeing out of joe biden and kamala harris. ashley: right. no consequences for actions. while we have hue -- you here, senator, i have to ask. we know the partses of east tennessee certainly up in the mountains hit hard by hurricane helene. >> yes. ashley: some areas experiencing what's being described as historic, thousand-year flooding. how's the recovery process going? >> our local tennessee emergency management association, working with the county emergency operation centers and their emergency management and our elected officials, our national guard, our tennessee department of transportation, they have all done amazing work. our volunteers, our churches in communities and tennesseans that are sending gallons of water and

food and clothing, all that's amazing. we are hopeful that fema will finally get on the ground today in these counties, that they will open these centers, they will provide not only the ability to file for relief, but they will get some people in there. our national guard has been great. they've been flying helicopters, they've been working, but we need more resources. these communities are devastated. when you are on the ground walking through this, ashley, pardon me, it is, it -- i've never seen anything like it. it is beyond anything -- pardon me. beyond anything i have ever seen. and we need those resources quickly. ashley: and those -- if they don't call it the volunteer state for nothing, senator. i know people are helping people to. >> you're right. ashley: thank you so much for

joining us this morning, senator marsha blackburn of tennessee. >> you're so welcome. thank you. ashley: thank you. well, this isn't good news, the national hurricane center is tracking three new tropical disturbances. mine, what's the story on how bad could it get, lauren? lauren: i know, and you likely hear a lot about this. hurricane kirk is a category four storm and became one much earlier than expected. so its swells could affect the east coast this weekend, so be on alert for strong surge and rip conditions. that's not all. leslie is right behind kirk, and as of thousand she is not expected to hit land -- as of now. but with so much activity in the tropics, nothing is outside the realm of possibilities, and the cleanup continues for helene. so two, potentially three more on the way, you know? it makes people a little nervous. ashley: yes, it does, and with good reason. lauren, thank you very much. take a quick look at these markets, get you up to speed on where we are. we started out like gangbusters,

we lost all our momentum and look at this, the dow just turned negative, down 26 the points. the s&p slightly higher, the nasdaq up about half a percent. all right, coming up, donald trump is making a big push to win michigan. >> early mail-in voting is underway now in michigan, so if you want, go out and get that ballot. while you're at it, get as many other trump supporters as you can, and they'll do the psalm. the same. ashley: some democrats, apparently, are freaking out that this could be a repeat of hillary clinton's 2016 loss. meantime, california's governor newsom if just signed a law to allow cannabis cafés to be built in the state. chef andrew gruel owns restaurants in california. what does he make of that decision? i'm going to ask him. the chef is next. ♪ ♪

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momentum if although the nasdaq is up about a third of a percent. lauren, you've been keeping an eye on some movers for us. let's begin with jpmorgan. lauren: the dow lost it commitment momentum, but but the jpmorgan has not, higher by 2.22%. the september jobs report point toss the a still-strong economy. that's means employed americans may be less likely to default on debt. that's good for the banks. also treasury yield withs completely surging to the. -- yields surging today. if you're looking at the 22 or 10-year note, it's up 20, 30 points from where it was just last week. norwegian cruise lines, also a winner. we're constantly talking about how the consumer? not slowing down according to stifel. they say strong bookings and also strong onboard spend. so you book your cruise and then you spend a lot of money on that cruise. they're lifting norwegian's price target to 2. the stock's at 20 the now -- 29.

carnival also higher. ashley: turn to politics, michigan governor gretchen whitmer set the sign a bill that will take money from family care caretakers and give it to the union leaders. how does that work, lauren in. lauren: okay. he is expected to sign this bill that would unionize 30,000 family caregivers in michigan. it would classify those aides as employees of the state and allow unions to collect dues from them. even if they didn't want to be in a union, they would still have to the pay up. yeah. whitmer says unionization will allow these caregivers of senior, of disabled to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits, but opponents say, look, these bills are is unclear as they're written, and what they do in the end is put pressure on the employers, often small companies. and that leads to worker shortages in the end. so you're not helping the exact population that you want to help, the disabled and the

elderly. ashley: exactly. closed shops never work. lauren, thank you very much. let's get back to the port strike. port owners have agreed to a tentative deal with the ila, but only good until january 15th. it's not a wholly-done deal. celebrity chef and restaurant owner andrew gruel joins me this morning. great to see you, andrew. let me begin there. how do restaurants prepare if they can't reach a long-term deal? it must be hard to the anticipate. to anticipate. >> it's very hard to the anticipate because, number one, cash is tight in this economy so nobody has the working capital to put out and say there could be a problem, so we're going to throw $20,000 down to get if some pooches -- futures on product. really right now we're relying on the government, the union workers and the businesses the come to a resolution. we've known this was going to happen since 0 the 21, effectively, when that first issue coming out of the pandemic kind of blocked things up into

this gridlock are, but i don't think people realized how bad that really was is and could be and still is to some degree. things like to-go materials, those prices wednesday up 5x, 6, and, 7, and, and already in the past few days with the mere prospect of this, prices have skyrocketed. ashley: yeah. we've been talking a lot about the consumer, andrew, this morning. from your perspective as a restaurant owner, how -- what is the psyche of the consumer right now? if. >> well, they're apprehensive, right in so some consumers are spending money, more luxury situations when it comes to to dining out. i think that everyday dining is now being cut back. i mean, to some degree that's good in that people are cooking more themselves which we know is healthier, but on the flipside, some of those smaller businesses are getting hit with a decrease in sales. it's an odd economy, but i think everybody's just kind of sitting and waiting. people are holding on that their

money because they don't know what's going to happen. ashley: yeah. exactly. i want to get to this issue, governor gavin newsom signing a bill to allow amer the dam-style cannabis cafés in california -- amsterdam-style. what do you think, good idea? >> i'm an open market guy. as long as you're not infringing on somebody's liberties, i would say go for it. but the the unfortunate reality is in california this isn't going to work because you don't have a regulatory framework where you can actually police, right? we already see it with bars and restaurants. and, you know, california already smells like the world fair of skunks, everybody's smoking weed everywhere. [laughter] but now you introduce this into a food setting, potentially have kids around, i just don't think that newsom can hand handle this, the state of california can manage this. if this were florida or another state, i'd say, yeah, go for it. a couple guys eating extra

doughnuts getting high in a café, go for it. not in california. ashley: very quickly, how's business for you personally? is it good? >> it's the good but it's a grind because we've got to be working all those extra dollars. increasing catering sales and trying to look out into the future and finding those little ways in which you can save a penny here, a penny there. and when you hear about the port strike and goods going up, you're looking over the cliff panicking. ashley: let's hope that's not going to be the case. at least we've got a tentative deal in place. andrew gruel, as always, great stuff, andrew. thanks for joining us. we do appreciate it. staying in california, by the way, governor newsom going after the city of or norwalk for its handling of the homeless crisis. what's going on there, lauren? lauren: so or author walk is just outside of l.a., and they banned setting up emergency shelters. yeah, the shelters are needed. they got state funds to build them, but they were worried

about the impact of putting shelters into the community. so they took a pause. they wanted to control their own land. well, the governor, gavin newsom, didn't like that. he says norwalk is breaking the law, and he might sue them because of it. if so one city says, yeah, we know there's a problem, but we want to control what we do and how we do it with our land, and the state says, no, we might sue you if you don't listen to us. bottom line, huge homeless problem across the state. go ahead. ashley: absolutely. massive problem. i thought we just saw newsom the other day picking up stuff from homeless encampments but, yeah, it's just an absolute mess. lauren, thank you very much, appreciate that. all right, coming up, parts of north carolina still picking up the pieces after helene. some say the damage on par with katrina's level of devastation, but the federal response has not been up to par, at least to those on the ground. we're going to bring you the very latest. and donald trump will be

heading to the north carolina tonight. he is expected to rip into biden and harris for their botched response to the storm. we'll have a preview from fayetteville next. ♪ ♪

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ashley: just over two hours of today's accessing, and it's been kind of up and down. we are in the green now across the board although slightly on the dow. the s&p up slightly, the that damage up a third of percent, but we've lost all the gain we saw initially from the pretty strong jobs report for september. perhaps the story of the day has been the treasury yields that have been absolutely surging. take a look at the 10-year yield, up nearly 12 basis points at3.96%. so we haven't seen those levels since back in early august or even further back. we are seeing the treasuries, as prices go down, yields going up.

now this, top democrat strategists are reportedly paranoid that kamala harris could lose a crucial swing state this election. all right, lauren, which one are we talking about? lauren: michigan. so some of these democratic separate twists are seeing -- strategists are seeing the specter of 2016 all over again. that's when the polls did not hoe how much support trump had in michigan. he was actually the first republican to win it since 19888. but then michigan flipped and went for joe biden in 2020. trump wants it back again, and he was in saginaw campaigning last night. >> early mail-in voting is underway now in michigan, so if you want, go out and get that ballot. return it as soon as possible. and if not, get a ballot, just go and vote. you gotta vote. we gotta win this election. our country is being destroyed by these lunatics. [cheers and applause] and while you're at it, get as many other trump supporters as you can, and they'll do the

same. 33 days from now we are going to win the state of michigan -- [cheers and applause] lauren: well, harris is in detroit and flint today. that's her first -- her fourth trip to to michigan since she became the nominee at the end of july so, obviously, michigan is a swing state, super important. i guess they gotta make inroads with the undecided voters there or those that don't usually vote and persuade them. ashley: yep, that's right. gonna be huge. all right, lauren, thank you very much. by the way, president trump returning to the north carolina for a town hall tonight. bryan llenas is in fayetteville this morning and, bryan, is trump going to make tonight's event all about biden and harris and their response to the storm? >> reporter: yeah. ashley, good morning. it's a safe bet that this hurricane helene and the devastation and the government's response will play a large role in tonight's town hall format where people will be able to ask the former president questions. we are in fayetteville, north

carolina, this is just a 4-hour drive away from the epicenter of the tomorrow's impacts here in north carolina in asheville. we expect to hear about the storm coverage, we also expect to hear about the military. this is a strong military community. after dhs though yesterday said that fema does not have enough money to get through this hurricane season, adderallly in michigan yesterday with -- at a rally in michigan yesterday, trump blamed the biden-harris administration for spending a with or dollars of fema money on housing and caring for migrants over the last two years. the trump campaign has also been highlighting the perceived unfairness that storm victims are initially getting a one-time $750 payment from fema while illegal immigrants have been housed in luxury hotels. >> well, they're doing a very bad job. they've given over a billion dollars to illegal migrants that came in, and now they have no money for north carolina, for georgia, for south carolina, alabama, tennessee and florida. i think that's a disgrace,

frankly. it's the worst run -- this is, this is a country that's being run by fools. >> reporter: but dhs says no disaster response money has been diverted the migrants. quote, these claims are completely false. the shelter and services program is a completely separate appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by congress and is not associated in any way with fema's disaster-related authorities or funding stream. so far $20 million has been provided to hurricane survivors. this is trump's fourth visit to north carolina in the last month. the latest quinnipiac poll shows the former president ahead by just two points over vice president kamala harris in a tightening race. trump is traveling to georgia first today, appealer at an emergency management briefing -- appearing -- alongside governor brian kemp. that's marking their first appearance together since 20 to. -- 2020. ashley, they've had a rocky relationship. this could be another defining

moment given that kemp has been very complimentary thus far of the federal government's response to the hurricane if his state. ashley? ashley: it's going to be interesting to follow. bryan, thank you so much. bryan llenas in fay fayetteville is. by the way, larry kudlow will have donald trump on his show today. they're going to be doing a deep dive into donald trump's economic agenda and his response to the conclusion of the port strike and so much more. you can catch the whole interview at 4 p.m. eastern right here on the fox business network. good stuff. by the way, this weekend donald trump will also be holding a rally in butler, pennsylvania. of course, that's where the first assassination attempt was. come in, lauren. he's got a special guest, apparently. lauren: none other than elon musk. but do you remember that elon musk officially endorsed, trump, like 30 minutes after the first assassination attempt, and that was three months ago. i can't believe we have to to say after the first

assassination attempt. ashley: i know. [laughter] lauren: anyway, this is what musk posted night, simply if i will be there to support -- and you see the image of trump being a fighter with his fist in the air. so the trump rally is tomorrow in butler, pennsylvania. the secret service will be working very closely with pennsylvania state police and local authorities to ensure that this is going to be the safest place on earth. and we will likely see trump behind the bulletproof glass while he's on stage, but he's going back, and he's got help from the richest person in the world who has a huge following and is a convert, right in a a former democrat turned republican now supporting trump. ashley: very god. all right -- very good. all right, should be interesting. lauren, thank you. taking a quick look, if we can, at the dow 30 stocks as we head to the break here, you know, about -- what have we got there, 15 or higher, 15 are lower, the dow 30. right down the middle.

the dow up 53 points. the laggards, verizon, home depot, jpmorgan chase, financial stocks leading the way on the dow. meanwhile, residents of asheville, north carolina, still struggling as we've seen to recover from helene's devastation. one resident is ripping the biden-harris administration for how they fade, he says, in their response responser -- how they failed, and he's here to lay out those failures next. ♪ when a tough cough finds you on the go, a syrup would be... silly! woo! hey! try new robitussin soft chews. packed with the power of robitussin... in every bite.

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ashley: rescue missions still underway in areas hit hard by hurricane helene. the death toll has now topped more than 2020 people. if -- 200people. madison scarpino is in one of those areas and take us through the damage from your perspective. >> reporter: well, we're in north carolina right now, one of the hardest hit areas, some people here calling it a war zone. and when you take a look around, you can see why. right now you are looking at a lot that used to have about four mobile homes. we actually just talked to the owner of this lot, and he tells us, thankfully, everyone got out safe once that flooding started. but as you can see, a lot of

these homes completely leveled. one of them was actually picked up by the flooding and just moved by itself across the street. so it's a week later and it's going to be a very, very long cleanup process for the people who live here and around the region are. you mentioned the death toll, currently at 200 to-- 244 people but, unfortunately, multiple agencies on the ground that they do expect that number to rise, and the majority of those deaths are here in north carolina. but when it comes to federal relief, some people have told us that they haven't seen fema or heard from them. others tell us that they did get a knock on their door from fema and have already applied for that federal assistance. but the majority of this is just neighbors helping neighbors. and, you know, one thing we keep hearing, ashley, is that mountain people are strong, they're are are resilient, and a lot of people we talked to are just grateful to be alive. take a listen. >> honestly, i don't know right now. i'm very fortunate, i have

family that's close by. i'm staying with them. i've got a of roof over my head. no one has power or water, but i'm staying with friends, i'm not in a shelter. we have a bed to sleep on, it's dry. >> reporter: and, ashley, the biggest need here remains clean water. one woman was actually taking water from her pool and disbursting it to her neighbors so they could flush a toilet. back to you. -- ashley: great report, madison. the pictures, i'm sure, don't do it justice. it is dreadful. let's go down to barrett mcgrath, a resident of asheville. thank you, sir, for being here. look, let me begin with how bad has the damage been for you, and how has the recovery been? >> thank you, ashley, for having me on. i appreciate the coverage and attention that you all are giving to this. ashley: sure. >> the -- where i was, the

damage was not -- where i reside is south of asheville. the damage was not terribly bad. we were forknew lit, we are on high ground. lost water, lost power, but we were in pretty good shape. we, what i've seen out of the outskirts has been decidedly different. as i went out to rural areas. ashley: and with regard to the response, we've heard complaints that it's been nonexistent in some cases and that it's really just community members helping each other, as we just saw in that previous report. i mean, has the administration mishandled this, do you think? >> well, here's what i saw. my wife and i tried to engage with county government here locally to do some things, and we found that to be very frustrating. we made a decision that we were going to just take it upon ourself, i went to charlotte tuesday, loaded up a car with

supplies, and wednesday and yesterday i went out to areas in the far northwest reaches of the state. to begin to try to get things the people. what i found when i got there, pleasantly, was that that local governments, locals and county governments had in these small towns had set up supply distribution points that people would get things from. but it was all being driven locally. the problem is people who could not reach those places. and so the mission i took upon was to try to drive to people's houses and to get them things; one, get them things that i had with me find out what else they might need. ashley: yeah. well, that's very good of you, and we thank you for that. barrett, we're going to have to move on. >> could i add one thing -- ashley: yes, go ahead. >> i add a one thing? what's frustrating for, i think, all of us here is that the

weather forecast actually had this nailed a week ahead of time. ashley: yeah. >> the, charity showing -- the chart showing where the storm was going to go was coming straight here. we had 10 inches of rain in the 3 days prior to the storm with more than 20 the predicted. governor cooper did not arrive in this town until monday, and the storm hit thursday night. ashley: yeah. >> there were distribution points with supplies were not open. and my last point -- ashley: barrett, we're running out of time. we've got -- we're going to get cut off. we'll have more "varney "after this, but thank you for joining us.

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credit one bank. get cash back rewards, and live large. ashley: which state's nickname is it? lauren: number 4, idaho. ashley: i think we are right. number 4, idaho. the answer is? being being being being being. we get the door prize. it has a lot of gems. thank you for joining us, great to see you. have a great weekend. that's it for "varney and company". neil cavuto, it's yours.