>> here we go, it is high noon here in wilmington, north carolina. good afternoon, everybody, across the country. welcome to our ongoing coverage of hurricane florence, now tropical storm florence. it's been a long, long night, and the rain bands swirl in southeastern north carolina. and northeastern south carolina and the rain pushing deeper into the waters of the rivers in north carolina, as well as south across the southern border in the valley. we'll take you over the next several hours of emergency management and talking to mayors up and down the coast and the governor in north carolina as well as we welcome you to

oncoverage. and i welcome my colleagues, mike emanuel and molly line in d.c. welcome on a saturday. the next two, three hours we'll give our viewers the best look we can find at what's happening with florence. so good day, everybody. here we go. here are your headlines, five are dead related to this storm. we believe all five of those fatalities are here in the state of north carolina. there's more than 700,000 people now without power and that could go on for days if not weeks. but what is the status now of florence? for that we begin our coverage with janice dean back in the fox extreme weather center in new york city. janice, good day to you, what do you see? >> hi, bill, well, it's a tropical storm, but we're keeping our eye on the ball here because it's not the winds we're talking about it's the flooding rainfall because florence is at about two or three miles per hour. that's slower than you, know, a stroll in the park. and that's why we have the

threat for not only flooding, but we could see some weak tornados. so a tornado threat will be existing throughout the afternoon and the evening and we had a couple of tornado warned storms around the jacksonville area because these outer bands scrape across land and they interact with land and we've got winds coming from different directions in the upper levels of the atmosphere, that's why we see the weak rotation and the threat for weak tornados. so, not only that, the threat for that, but severe weather and heavy rain which we'll talk about as well. throughout the day today, for much of north carolina, and a sliver here of south carolina. so, the tornado threat will be exist tent throughout the day today and into tomorrow. we've already received over two feet of rainfall and more rain to come because these same bands are moving over the exact same areas and that's why we have the threat for flash flooding. so the forecast was right on in terms of the rainfall and the threat because the storm is stalled and it's not moving very

quickly. flash flood warnings in effect for many, many cities in north carolina stretching down towards south carolina, including wilmington, including fayetteville, including raleigh. so, inland flooding is going to be a risk as we go through the next couple of days. here is what's going on right now. here is the current river flood gauges you can see right here. that's giving you an indication of moderate to major flooding and here is the forecast. so, that's going to continue and expand into south carolina and virginia as we expect the storm to continue to bring this on-shore flow of moisture from the atlantic. and here is some of the hydro graphs that we are looking at, some of the big river gauges. the streams here are at capacity and reaching record levels to historic levels. so, these are some of the major rivers that will possibly overflow and affect the outlying cities and towns. again, here, major record.

so, this is historic. this is something that they have never seen before and that's the worry. so, we're going to see today, we're going to see sunday and monday and even tuesday record levels of rain gauges and the potential for massive, catastrophic, potentially deadly flooding. that's the take away over the next couple of days, bill. >> good to have you with us again today, janice dean. back to the weather center when we need more updates there. here in wilmington, you can drive through this town and you can't drive half a city block without seeing a big tree down, extensive damage to power lines. we've seen minimal structural damage, a brick chimney that's fallen or perhaps a tree fallen into a home. keep fear has dropped at least four feet from where we saw it last night here. all of that is pretty good good news for wilmington.

we'll get the bands come through again today. speaking with the mayor, a tree came down on a home and killed a woman and eight-month-old infant. the father inside that home is in the hospital treated for the injuries and those are two of the fatalities, two of the five i mentioned a short time ago. i wanted to push you up the closeline in north carolina. 80 miles from us is new bern, north carolina where the flooding at this point was what people there describe as epic. our leland vittert has made his way there in new bern. how does it look today? hello. >> hi, bill. and add another band of rain on top of that flooding here. if people didn't evacuate when they were told to before this storm, they were driven out of these neighborhoods by the water, often times they had to be rescued by boat during the worst of the storm. this is one of the first communities that would flood. it's about as far east as you get and right up one of the

rivers that feeds down into the atlantic. and the storm surge feeded up here into new bern. closer to the coast there is some structural damage that we found, a number of businesses that had been destroyed by the winds, just ripped to shreds. earlier today we went out on a boat rescue and people, if you can believe it, tried to ride out this storm on a sail boat. the coast guard has been so overwhelmed, we went with them and checked sail boat after sail boat. a number have been ripped off their moorings and tossed up on some of the islands in the channels here in north carolina. we weren't able to find the people. the hope is that they were rescued or somehow got out of that sail boat yesterday perhaps, but it's now beginning that search and rescue operation. there are still areas of north carolina that we can't get to. we were told, we saw as we were heading out today, a big group

of law enforcement with swift water rescue boats heading out far, far east, bill, into the most extreme parts of eastern north carolina and the outer banks there. talked to some folks out there who said they've never seen anything like it. completely cut off, homes destroyed, boats tossed into front yards except we can't show you the pictures because we can't get there either. as for the flooding here, it's expected to continue to rain here and obviously, bill, that's exactly the issues that janice dean talked about, which is this storm creeps along, the flooding is going to follow farther and farther inland and with that, that's where we continue to move as these folks wait for the water to go down and then begin digging out and drying out. but that will be a couple of days from now at the earliest, bill. >> no question, leland. thanks. good to have you there back at your position there. new bern, north carolina. throughout the day here, we've seen a lot of folks who stayed behind to ride out the storm.

they're emerging from their homes and everybody had a long night. no power, generated power, but for the most part, things are decent we are in wilmington, north carolina. i think if you'd asked people here three days ago what they were expecting they would have given a much dire forecast, but so far okay in wilmington. in about 20 minutes we are going to talk to the mayor of one of the barrier islands, wrightsville beach, where the eye came on yesterday 7:15 local time. that's coming up in 20 minutes. from leland vittert, going to jonathan hunt 70 miles south of us in conway, south carolina, a little west from myrtle beach and jonathan, what are you getting today? >> you know, well, bill, we had a long lively tough couple of days as everyone did in the myrtle beach area, but in many ways, coast al dodged bullets, downed power lines and downed trees, but it wasn't as bad as everyone feared. the threat inland, we're about

30 miles inland directly west from myrtle beach, we are on the banks of the walkamore river. take a look the pictures. this is going to be the story the next few days. that's the river you're looking at. on that right-hand side of your picture, it is already gone over its banks. as you look up here, we're told that this is approaching what is called moderate flood stage, about 12 feet right now. over the next 24 hours, it's likely to get to 15 feet and over the next few days, they fear this could hit a record level of 18 feet, and as on our left-hand side here, and throughout conway, there are businesses such as this children's center right here and a lot of homes that are in very grave danger of being seriously flooded. this, in fact, bill, is almost exactly what happened two years

ago. hurricane matthew came through, it hit myrtle beach, but, again, the myrtle beach area escaped the worst of it. and days later the water was in the river and conway was badly flooded. people might ask, how does that happen or why does that happen later? you get a kind of water traffic jam and all the rainfall still coming down, coming into the river. that wants to flow out to the ocean, but you've got the high tide and ocean surge that we had pushing it back so it gets to a point where it can't go anywhere and that's when the water rises, when it gets over the banks, so, it is, we are told, a potentially very dangerous situation in towns like conway and in many other towns here in south carolina, and across the state line in north carolina over the next few days. and you've heard fema foreclosures say, again and again, bill, that people in these kinds of towns and cities should not let their guard down.

the worst is apparently, they say, yet to come. bill. >> big part of the story today. thank you, jonathan hunt. today going forward and the days to come, thank you, sir. conway, south carolina. the cape fear river behind me reached an all-time high yesterday, higher than matthew of from 2016, higher from hurricane hazel from 1954, 64 years ago, florence beat that record yesterday. on the phone, joe wilson, a republican represents the second congressional district in south carolina. in columbia, today, sir, can you hear me all right? >> yes, bill, i can. >> your district covers a big portion of the atlantic ocean, north of charleston. what are you hearing, sir? >> i'm pleased and bill, i want to thank you and fox news, you've been so good to report and alert people to whatever is occurring, particularly now, the potential for flooding and how unuseful it is also for

tornados. and also, i want to thank you for what you're doing. and south carolina, governor menry mc-- henry mcmaster, every level of governor was prepared. >> the mary of wilmington put out an urgent message yesterday, he said we want you to tell pooh who have evacuated to give them a day or two to organize the road and clear the debris. if folks start coming in here, it gums up the works for lack of a better phrase and that's the message that he wants people to hear. i don't know how long you can keep your patience at bay when you've got a level of anxiety about your home and possessions that you've left behind? >> he's dead correct. the people need to stay in place for several days. the flooding you indicated, many of the rivers of north carolina actually come into south carolina and it was correctly reported that it's unprecedented flooding several days later. so, people need to be very focused on this and i've also seen, we know that tree limbs,

the trees, signs, street signs have fallen over. people need to stay in place. >> my sense is that since mid day saturday we'd have better idea of damage inland and athe damage along the barrier islands. when do you think we will have a firm idea as to the damage left behind by florence? >> with the leadership we have, the local government are top-notch. it's municipal, county, state, regional, all are just, bill, worldclass individuals and so we will know right away what the damage is and, but it is, as you indicated, less dire. we were preparing for 18 inches of rainy here in the midlands of south carolina, it's turned out to be about five inches, but we don't take it for granted and the flooding still could occur. >> yeah, joe wilson, thank you for your time.

the republican, and we want to bring in matthew swift, working with concordia. thank you for your time and this weekend coverage here. we're trying to assess the damage from a financial standpoint. and you look historically, these storms have gotten more and more expensive over the years in part because we're going to places where we've never lived before. what's your message on the cost of this, matthew, good afternoon. >> good afternoon, thank you so much for having me, bill. i think this is the exact time to be talking about the need for disaster preparedness and infrastructure investment. the economic impact of these things can be huge, not necessarily on the national academy as secretary ross and secretary of commerce said yesterday, but, in fact, on the states, on carolinas, on these communities. so the thing that we need to be very cognizant of, what is the local community resilience that's going to take place here. yes, it's downgraded to a tropical storm, and certain

levels aren't what we thought, but what we're seeing today is the huge risk for flooding. that can have substantial economic impact on these various communities throughout the carolinas, and so it's very important that we prepare for that, that we brace for that, but we also have the conversations that we need to have to better prepare for disaster in the long-term. things like infrastructure investment, things that we need to have the hard conversations now so we do not forget that later on and hold our government accountable for things like the infrastructure. >> my sense is that the hotel we checked in they were well prepared. it's the hotel ballast, but we call it the hotel bunker. very well prepared. the paper work they handed to everybody checking in. they had a plan for everything, matthew. they had a safe room in the hotel that was on the inside away from windows. they had a plan for when the generator went out.

they had a plan for the ice, they had a plan for the water and food. it was very impressive. what is your assessment about how the federal government has gotten ready for this? >> i think the federal government has done what they need to do in this process. i think they've actually handled it quite well, i think they deserve good marks for that. i think the most important thing you were just pointing out is what the private sector can also do in this space. so, we have a partnership where we're looking, we at concordia, at the long-term implications here. we need to remember that hurricanes like katrina, for instance, started at $50 billion, $80 billion and settled at $160 billion. so the economic impact can be big. i heard congressman wilson advise, which is smart, for people to stay put. things that affects employment, shipments, a lot of economic activity that we're losing, so, again, it's great to hear a perfect example where there's been an instance of great preparedness, but as an overall objective, we need to think of

the long-term because the long-term economic implications can be rather substantial. >> i was quite impressed with the figure i saw the other day, 10% of the work force in north carolina, 10% of the work force in south carolina, they're all related to the tourism industry that flows up and down the atlantic beach here. >> yes. >> matthew, thank you for your work there. matthew swift from concordia. back here, mike and molly i'll send it back to you in d.c. we'll talk to the mayor here, and the eyewall at 7:00 in the morning. an assessment for all the homes for people in the north and mideast and it's a second home for them they have taken refuge during the summertime and we'll get an idea of the damage and back to you for now from washington.

mike: thank you very much. florence during to into a massive storm. 18 trillion gallons dropped on the region you're hearing. molly: and the rivers are continuing to rise. and still ahead, paul manafort striking a deal. what does it mean for the president. mike: and new secretary of state mike pompeo has strong words for his predecessor over iran. molly: and supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh facing a fbi-- facing the fbi after democratic senator dianne feinstein reported a sexual assault allegation from a woman who wants to be remaining anonymous. no word of an investigation for that. >> i feel that dianne feinstein did a disservice to the victim and to kavanaugh and the process and not just to the democrats and republicans in this. why e hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable.

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>> president trump is reacting to former campaign manager paul manafort striking a special deal with mueller. he says the plea deal is totally unrehated to the president.

gillian. >> the plea deal includes fool cooperation with robert mueller, requiring him to assist with the russian investigation, and who may rely on his testimony in the future. that was days before he was set to face trial number two over his ukrainian political consultant work and now his team is hunkering down for the storm. >> tough day for mr. manafort to accept responsibility and he want today make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. he's accepted responsibility and this is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should rather that. >> president trump's own team is circling the wagons. rudy guiliani offering this, once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with president trump or the trump campaign. and the white house telling the press pool yesterday, this had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious

2016 presidential campaign. it's totally unrelated. at the end of august, president trump tweeted his sympathy for his one-time right-hand aide. i feel very badly for paul manafort and his family. justice took a 12-year-old tax case among other things and applied tremendous pressure on him and unlike michael cohen, he refused to break, such respect for a brave man. and another is in cross-hairs, former obama white house council craig. they're' expected to bring charges again them and there's nothing required by federal law. >> perhaps new charges not necessarily related to the trurp campaign, but there could be other avenues that the justice department could have in their

minds. thank you for that report. mike:. paul manafort's plea deal shows that he's no longer banking on a pardon and that is leading to talks about impeachment. doug, great to have you. >> thank you. mike: how big of a deal is this manafort agreement in your view? >> i think you hit it on the head, mike, in the sense that we have to separate out talk about impeachment, you know, versus some kind of continuing criminal case. i mean, you've heard all the experts say there are two department of justice memoranda that say that you cannot indict a sitting president, it's not settled in the courts, that type of thing. i think the manafort's developments, first of all, we don't know the parameters of the investigation. every case i've been in in the last 30 years when i was a prosecutor or a defense lawyer, obviously, you want to keep that a secret. this is a different landscape and different situation,

obviously. and in fairness, it's not international narcotics trafficking or murder or organized crime. but the fact of the matter is, the fact that they're public sizing demands cooperation is completely against the normal rules. and so to answer your question though, the point is, we'll have to sit back and see where it goes. the details of this cooperation will not, repeat, will not likely be disseminated much and at all, the bottom line, it's probably the report that's issued by the special counsel a the some point. mike: two felonies, financial crimes before the 2016 election and witness tampering earlier this year. is it your sense that manafort's trying to minimize prison time? >> yeah, i mean, i would say so, of course. i mean, basically there is some kind of ten-year cap by virtue of of the exposure undereach that he pled to, and he can't get more than that, and he's

trying to reduce it. the jury is out, no pun intended, as to whether he will be successful. i've been in a number of cases i get the unfortunate call, we've debriefed your client and appreciate the information he gave, but we're not going to use him as a formal cooperator, we're sorry. some cooperators are successful and some are not. mike: and alan dershowitz says it potentially will open doors that hadn't been opened before. does that mean because he has to be fully and truthfully cooperative. >> this was a person who was chair of the campaign, albeit for not that long a period of time. so the point is, i think it's a fair characterization to say that, excuse me, that he may be the most significant, now, person that they've been able to enlist cooperation from. you know, you had that dust-up with michael cohen where he said

some things during his plea alocution. but those who feel it's important to get this man's cooperation, say, as mr. dershowitz says again. and people in front of the ski tips as the cliche says, it's definitely clear now that he has significant information, that's not necessarily true. and the reverse is, this has nothing to do with the president, the plea may have had nothing to do with the campaign, but the cooperation, you can't say that for the simple reason that it's very wide. as you said, at the beginning, mike. mike: so we will wait for special counsel robert mueller to speak when he is ready. until then, doug burns, former federal prosecutor, thanks a lot. >> my pleasure. mike: molly. when we return we'll bring you the latest on tropical storm florence. that's some of the damage.

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>> now 12:30 here in wilmington, north carolina now. we continue to assess the damage both inland, which is a major story today and going forward in the days to come. the other big story that we really have not gotten a good handle on just yet, how the barrier islands are doing between north carolina and south carolina, with the storm surge coming on shore yesterday around 7:15 local time when the eye of the storm passed over wrightsville beach. wrightsville beach, if you take the cape fear river behind me is about eight miles due east of our location and the mayor is with me now. that's bill blare and he made his way to our location. >> good afternoon, how are you doing. bill: you're the mayor of one of what i consider one of the most beautiful part of america. the carolina shore at low tide, it's a magical place.

>> it is. bill: how did you make out after florence? >> the way the storm came in, we took kind of the eyewall coming in and we actually fared pretty well. we had minimal roof damage, shingles, gutters, that type of thing. the biggest impact, we had an unusual backside storm on shore flow that caused a surge after the eyewall passed, which is unusual, normally we get the surge on the incoming wall. got about six feet there, covered most of the island. low tide came out and took it out and came back last night. same thing, because the storm is hanging around, it's not going anywhere, so we've got one more high tide to get through today and after that, i think we'll be in pretty good shape on surge. bill: that sounds like an amazingly positive assessment. >> i'm trying to be positive. we still don't have water, power, sewer anything else. bill: can you describe two or

three homes on the island that are damage? >> there's lots of minor stuff, but only about four roofs. we've got one house with a tree kind of knocking it down, but it's not as-- it's not like wilmington. they had a lot of trees here and just getting here was tough. i mean, there are a lot of trees down here. we are working right now to try to bring our water and sewer systems back up on generator power and whenever the winds die down we'll get new power in here and try to get the power back on, i don't know how long that's going to take. bill: florence was 100 miles per hour? was that the winds? >> i think we recorded a 92 maybe at the bridge sustained, whenever the storm came through. i have been up so many days. bill: yesterday morning, friday morning. and when are you allowing local home owners and what are police doing now and people back on the island? >> the bridge has been closed for three days, you just can't get over there. we are working today to try to get our water and sewer up, which basically gives us, if we

can get the water systems back up, gives us fire protection. until we get that we won't let people back on the beach until we know at least we can provide some kind of public safety. we also have people out on the beach, we had a significant erosion event there. we had had a beach, and most of that sand is gone. protected our houses. >> and you use the dunes built up to protect them. when you're backing winds of 140 miles an hour, i think you got lucky again. >> no question about it. i wouldn't be here if we had 140. you wouldn't see us because we wouldn't be able-- it would be a wipe out. it would be a hazel event. if you know what that means, that's pretty significant. bill: 1954 and that's the storm that everybody talks about here in north carolina. >> so we were worried about it to start with. like now, it's a rain event, floods. i noticed i had a--

one of our aldermen trying to get back into town and he says the roads and interstate are closed. bill: you can't go a city block here in wilmington without seeing damage. bill, thank you for make it go out here from wrightsville beach and go buy a lottery ticket, okay? i want to go up the coast now, griff jenkins standing by live in jacksonville, north carolina, 55 miles per hour north of here near the new river. how is flooding there, griff? good day. >> hey, bill, you know, the flooding's bad. you see here, this is a closed road and it's closed for two reasons, we're going to take you and show awe little bit because of downed power lines and then in the distance, here is a gentleman riding a bike. it's the distance of extreme flooding down there. we were following volunteers on boats to do some rescues, and we weren't able to make it through that heavy water there, and this gentleman here, how are you?

good. how bad is the flooding down there? >> it's pretty bad. blue creek road is totally flooded and there's a white car you can see, and then it's not that bad going down there. >> what's your name? >> jonathan. >> are you from here? >> yeah. >> are you okay? your house flooded? >> no. >> all right. thank you. be safe. and, bill, what we're following is the volunteers in the boats because we want to put in. they got a call of elderly trapped in a structure and this is one of the areas we see the coast guard, you don't see them right now, but they're working the area. we're getting a little bit of flooding and rain and it's in some of those flash flood rains and it starts and subsides, but, really, if you can get a look down there, you can see a car kind of finally just making its way through it and that's the bridge over the new river as we go from jacksonville to ridgeland and it's certainly a problem. one of the things we have seen out here, bill, it's a real

positive sign, is duke energy all over the place, working to restore power. at about 9:30 when i was reporting it was about 815,000 people in the neighboring north carolina cities had lost power and now it's down about 50,000. that's a good sign. the duke energy guys just want today work in whatever conditions they can, but we hope to try and reconnect to with some of those rescues going on because there's some people still in their homes calling for help. bill. bill: thank you, griff. griff jenkins, jacksonville, north carolina. we'll bring that power on slowly and bringing the system back online. thank you, griff. great to be with you. george holdings, a republican from north carolina, he's in raleigh. sir, you've been listening and watching our coverage. give us the information you're getting there from raleigh today? >> well, this is going to be a major inland flooding event. waters will continue to rise or days. in harnett county, the little river, they issued an evacuation notice for that part of the

river, people around the river. they expect it to crest at 17 feet above flood level, which is five feet-- more than five feet before where matthew crested two years ago. we're going to continue to see inland flooding for days. waters will continue to rise. they've issued a disaster declaration, fema has, for a number of counties in north carolina, i believe eight or nine. harnett has not yet been designated as a disaster area, but i was talking with fema this morning and they are continuing to examine the counties. they're putting personnel in there to evaluate and i've been assured there will be more disaster declarations for additional counties here in north carolina and we're going to continue to see this develop throughout the coming days. bill: yeah, what do you need, sir? >> well, i'm very happy with the coordination between the federal and state. you know, i can't thank our

first responders enough. they have just been amazing and the non-government agencies, red cross, baptist men, they're all pitching in, a great coordinated effort. but people need to be aware that this is going to continue for days. inland flooding is incredibly dangerous. he this continue to remind people, do not drive in the water. if you see standing water, turn around, don't drown. bill: what do you think based on floyd from 19 years ago and matthew from two years ago? when do you think you have a firm handle on what the rivers are going to do and how they're going to fill up and react? >> it's going to be days, but the forecast is, you know, we're going to exceed, you know, our records. i rode out-- my brother and i rode out floyd and fran down in ebron. my brother rode out this hurricane in nebron and he says

the water reached levels he didn't think were possible through our going through floyd and fran. this is a devastating event. it's going to take more days for it to develop. there will be months of cleanups and we will be in years of recovery. bill: well, sir, thank you for your time and my best to you, and the people of the tarheel state. george holding in raleigh, north carolina. i had a quote from tom rice from south carolina, he said it's like slow poison for so many in the carolinas. i want to go back to mike emanuel and molly line watching things in washington d.c. we'll talk again at the top of the hour. mike: thank you, bill. molly: reminder that things are so dangerous there. a community mourns the loss of a police officer after a horrific shootout. how the officer protected civilians from danger with his actions. today, 97% of employers agree

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>> secretary of state mike pompeo is calling out his predecessor john kerry, accusing him of actively undermining u.s. policy on iran. a spokesman for kerry denied the charges. lucas. >> mike, secretary pompeo unloaded on his predecessor for meeting iran's foreign minister, accusing john kerry of actively undermining u.s. policy against the state sponsor of terrorism. >> when secretary kerry-- what secretary kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented. a former secretary of state engaged with the largest state sponsor of terror much he was telling him to wait out this administration. you can't find precedent for this in u.s. history. >> pompeo's harsh criticism came a day after president trump tweeted john kerry had meeting with the who will till iranian

regime that could only serve to under cut our work for the american people and told them to wait out the trump administration. >> and yesterday he responded to the bill maher show. >> it's the first president i know of who spends more time reading his twitter likes than his briefing books or the constitution of the nights. >> kerry also responded to the president's tweet with one of his own, saying he should be more worried about paul manafort than his meeting with the iranians and he included a plug for his book. it's not a twitter battle, but potentially one. and accused of launching rockets to the u.s. embassy in baghdad this week, similar to the attacks on the kurds last week. u.s. officials are concerned about the escalation of violence in iraq by iranian proxy forces. the united states hold the regime in tehran accountable for

any attacks that results in injury to our personnel or damage to united states government facilities. america will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of american lives. last week, protesters burned down the iranian consulate in the southern city of bazra. mike. mike: so the fireworks with the iranians, obviously, is a great cause for concern, but when you look at john kerry considering potential another run for the white house he probably enjoys this war of words? >> he definitely enjoys the war of words, but this is a state sponsor of terrorism and as they pointed out, it's pointing to a real battle in iraq why nearly 5,000 u.s. troops on the ground. mike: thanks a lot. molly. molly: tropical storm florence remains stalled over the carolinas, dumping heavy rain along the coast. we have got the latest on from the storms when we return. minimums and fees.

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>> as tropical storm florence continues to dump rain on the east coast, president trump's tweets focus on another natural disaster. last night he tweeted here to discuss when trump visiteded island territory, in a briefing 16 people had died in hurricane maria, long after the hurricane took place, many months. goes on to talk about, 50 times

last original number, no way. to talk about this is jeff, who knows a thing or two about hurricanes. he is in new orleans, which of course dealt with hurricane katrina in 2005. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. molly: i want to talk about what president trump said about maria and folks in his own party pushed back and that's here in washington and sometimes people can argue that some of that is politics, but you were on the ground somewhere that has suffered tremendously via mother nature. what are real people saying to you? >> well, here is the difference. back during hurricane katrina 13 years ago, it took four days, really, for the federal government to engage and send help down to new orleans. we've learned so much from katrina. we've learned so much in the past 13 years. look at what the federal government has done this time. they've mobilized all kinds of federal resources in advance. i think the president has been really on the ball, working with

all the officials in the local area. katrina was a failure of the local, state and travel level. this time i think they're as prepared as they can be of course, it's a horrible hurricane and the folks there, they're in our thoughts and prayers, but i think they're doing a good job as far as response --. >> and jeff, i hope you're still with us, here. you dropped out a little bit, but i'm going to ask you another question. when we're looking at the most recent tweets sent by the president specifically related to the storm and maria, and this-- oh, i'm sorry, it looks -- it appears that we have lost jeff. that's a shame. i want to talk a little, now, people have suffered so many storms around the country and so often, it's very difficult to respond to these storms and the feds pour what they can into it. unfortunately in this storm we've already seen a loss of life. five lives loss across the carolinas as the storm moved in and even just watching this video unfold, we can see how precarious the situation continues to be, warnings from

public officials, ongoing warnings from public officials that waters are rising, continuing to rise. the water is still coming down and so often, it's the aftermath of the storm that can also claim lives, whether it's the downed power lines or the flooding. and still ahead on the next hour of america's news headquarters, the latest from the carolinas, and the storm as florence continues to batter the coast. we will bill. bill: look at the rain come down yet again. it comes down in sheets and just drops from the sky. look at the radar, these bands are thick and heavy and they're going to continue for hours. back in a moment. the top of the hour, take you up and down the carolina shore. alright, i brought in new max protein

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mike: it is 1:00 here in wilmington, north carolina and florence is one stubborn storm. you're looking at damage here in the city of wilmington, the historic wilmington area. you can't go half a city block without seeing a live oak tree down in the street, power lines down, damage, ripped apart on behalf of hurricane florence that came on shore yesterday. welcome back to our continuing coverage. for the next hour, we're going to take you up and down the coastline, take you to the white house, give you an assessment for what we're learning for this storm that continues now. you see the rain come down and watch the radar. if you look at the screen and see the city of wilmington, you

can see the giant bands of rain that will continue to lap through here for the next several hours, if not into sunday, tomorrow. at the moment, five deaths blamed on the storms. more than 700,000 people in north carolina are working today without power. the mayor of wilmington is with me now. he's been an excellent source of information since going back to wednesday of this week and mr. mayor, thank you again for your time. first of all, on the state level, what can you say? >> on the state level they're bringing us all the resources they can bring us at this time. we have to get the power back on. we're working with duke power. they're going to bring 1,000 trucks in. they're getting the teams into the wilmington area. currently the city's got 20 crews out there, trying to clear the debris off the streets which is not enough. we also have to work with duke power. we're coming across a a lot of live power lines. so we're not going to touch those power lines until the duke people are with us. trying to get those folks in

here as quickly as possible is paramount. the second thing is, every stoplight in the city is out. we've got our crews out there that assessed those. we're not going to be able to get out there until the winds drop below 35 miles an hour. as soon as they do, we'll start fixing the lights. what we ask our citizens is please approach those intersection as if they were a four-way stop. the other thing is, we will have a curfew from 10:00 until 6:00 this evening. we're assess the curfew on a day by day basis. we feel like the curfew still needs to be in place. in addition to that, we've got a lot of crews waiting to get into the area, fema, duke power, all of our state, federal agencies are ready to come into the area. we're just having to clear debris to get them into the area. we've got a lot of work to do. bill: the waiting game is to clear the roads to allow the crews to come in. if you could say one thing to

the people watching, if you've left, stay away for a day or two, why that is? >> you go to every neighborhood, the roads are impassable. you may get around one tree and then you've got another tree. and the trees are entangled with high power wires that can electrocute you. that's a concern that we all have here is -- we want to work with duke power and get those trees and all that debris out of the way before people get back in here. i know people want to get back. i know a lot of people have been inquiring about that. please be patient until we can get in there and clear the roadway as best we can. gear trying to clear -- we're trying to clear the major roadways so we can get emergency vehicles to and from hospitals or wherever they need to go. bill: there's amazing rain out there. i knows that woman and that infant were killed about a mile down the road yesterday. have you heard from the president? >> i heard from the president two days ago. he was very gracious, told me anything that we needed with respect to resources from the federal level, from fema, he was there for us and they were

monitoring the situation. they were in touch with us from the state and local level. we're happy with the federal, state response. everybody is coordinated and a working together in this situation. bill: my sense locally for you, lets' see what the cape fear river does. you're a week or two away from life coming back to normal. >> at least. the other thing we're worried about is we've already had 12 inches of rain. we're anticipating to receive another 14 inches of rain. bill: you don't need that. >> we're talking about the cresting of the cape fear river ott tuesdariveron tuesday at 26. bill: we appreciate your time. >> thank you for everything you folks have done to get the word out to all the people. bill: we want to move now, south carolina, it's a big story down there as well. allison barber is in marion, south carolina. if you were to get in your car and drive 80 miles south of here, allison, how's it going there and what do you see?

>> we're having consistent rainfall, that's what forecasters say is expected throughout the week or throughout the weekend and that is what officials are most worried about. evacuation orders across the state of south carolina, some are still in effect, closer to the coast. but a little more close towards us, some of those evacuation orders are starting to lift. we're right near florence county, south carolina. they are no longer under evacuation orders. some people have started to venture out of their homes and this area really the only thing we've seen open is one single gas station. but people have headed there to try and get some gas to fill up, to take back to their homes to keep their generators running because they are without power. others are trying to get ready to go out to work and clear off some of the debris that may have fallen on different streets. take a listen to what they said. >> we had two trees fall down in the yard yesterday. it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. we had a lot of wind and rain. >> matthew was a lot worse.

i expected a lot worse from this. matthew had a lot of trees down in florence. this year i've seen maybe two or three trees down. >> reporter: across the state officials say in south carolina at least 170,000 people are without power but all in all, the people that we have spoken to say what they have experienced in this state is not as bad as they were expecting but they also say they know they're not out of the clear just yet. >> i think that it's still some yet to come, because it's still raining. you don't know what this water is going to do and the wind is still blowing pretty good, so weak trees a and power lines and things like that, it's still dangerous. >> reporter: so officials have said heading into this weekend that their main concerns are rainfall, flash flooding and the potential for river flooding. this right here, bill, is the pepest e dee river. it gets a lot of water flow from

north carolina. this is a concern with this river and a number of other rivers across the state is that not only are these rivers going to take water, this rainfall, coming down in south carolina right now but it's also going to get the water that is up where you are in north carolina and that could lead to trouble in this state. bill. bill: we'll know in about 48 hourthat.kevin cork is on the nn of the white house. what is the message from the president today? kevin, good afternoon. >> reporter: we have an official lid at that time white house. we don't anticipate seeing the president on camera today at least not in person. white house officials are monitoring the circumstance across the region. let me take you to twitter. the president has been relatively inactive on twitter but i can tell you this, about 12 hours ago, a little more than that, he had this to say. he said great job, fema, first responders, law enforcement, not easy, very dangerous, tremendous

talent. america is proud of you. keep it all going. finish strong. now, yesterday, bill, the president was joined by key members of his team including homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen, and others getting the latest information regarding the fallout from the storm including most importantly a read on rescue and recovery efforts where applicable. it's important, bill, there is a major emphasis at the white house on the restoration of power and delivery of critical services, the key being procurement and distribution of materials meant to alleviate the hardship that so many will face in the coming days and weeks. while we haven't heard from the president yet today on twitter, he did weigh in yesterday again on the reporting in the aftermath of hurricane maria that hit puerto rico. the president said this. when trump visited the island territory last october officials told him in a briefing 16 people had died from maria. the washington post. this was long after the hurricane took place.

every many months it went to 64 people. then, like m magic, 3,000 people killed. he continues, they hired researchers to tell them how many people had died in puerto rico. how would they not know this? this method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed, 50 times more than the original number, no way. the original criticism didn't sit well with the minority leader on capitol hill. >> think about that. pray over that. so sad for the president to add salt to the wounds by making the most unfortunate statement that he made. but let's put that aside and let's be serious and real about it. >> that was nancy pelosi from california. meanwhile, the governor of puerto rico had this to say on twitter. he said mr. president, i would very much be willing to walk you through the scientific process of the study and how they arrived at the excess mortality

number estimate. there's no reason to underscore the tragedy we've suffered in the ga aftermath maria. he said i hope you consider sending a message of support to show how you stand with all of the u.s. citizens in puerto rico that lost loved ones. it would certainly be an act of respect and empathy. tough words there from the governor who is obviously trying to be respectful. he and the president do have a very good relationship. i should also add, bill, that today around 1:30 we expect the president to get the latest update, again, we don't expect to see him in person but we do hope and anticipate that we should be able to get some pictures and as soon as i get them i'll pass them along. for now, back to you. bill: good stuff i know you will. thank you, kevin cork. with me now, terrence ow o'shawy with north com. general, good afternoon to you. give us an assessment about what your men and women are doing up and down the carolina shore.

>> thanks so much, bill. i appreciate the opportunity to provide an update. let me first start by thanking the first responders, the state and local officials and fema for the incredible work they're doing as we watch. you heard from the mayor and his team, the great synchronization we have from the state, local and federal level. this collaboration is critical to the national response framework. it continues to be phenomenal. i just finished briefings with operational commanders and they're scattered all over the country and in support of this and separately just got off the phone with fema and in that fema where we highlight the federal response, we actually have the state representative directly briefing us so we know what the states need. we've been able to si synchronie our response to be in close cooperation with the state and local demand signals. bill: have you had search and rescue operations carried on on behalf of the u.s. air force and

coast guard? >> in fact, there's been 23 reported rescues from the coast guard and we're augmenting and supporting the coast guard efforts right now. we're working the command and control of that. we're definitely synchronized in here and postured. we think there will be significantly more of those events coming. bill: general, you said based on what the states need. what do they need, sir? >> the close coordination going into the storm has allowed us to remain consistent in what that demand signal is. as we thought, that vertical lift or helicopter lift, that search and rescue, ability to have the high water vehicles and you heard about some of the challenges of getting into some of these areas with the high flood and the debris, that capability is key and that's what we've positioned for with over 100 rotary wing aircraft for example ready to assist. bill: general, thank you for your time. good luck to you. it's really good to have you on the job. >> you bet.

bill: good luck, sir, to you and your men and your women working so hard around the clock in the wake of florence. thank you, sir. with me now, insurance is going to be a big deal, shawn bur jess is with me from usaa to get an assessment of what homeowners have in store for them. it's always such a big part of the story, whether it's florence or any other storm we cover, sir. what do you have today? good afternoon. >> yeah, bill, thank you for the time. first, i want to say from usaa, hearts and thoughts are with the citizens of north carolina, south carolina, everyone in the area. we know this will impact the communities. at us am aa we serve the milita. we take care of military families. many have evacuated, left their homes, left their cars and right now safety is number one as the event continues to move through the area. we're concentrating on safety for our employees and safety for our membership. bill: what can you do for those

u.s. men and women from the u.s. military? what is your advice to them after the experience of a storm like florence? >> we know that it's a devastating storm. we've seen it come on, on-shore. here's the advice we would say. first, listen to local authorities. because as i said, safety is first. second is if you have a claim and you want to report it, we're here to serve. we have a 96 year history of serving military families. one of the ways we do that is protecting their financial security, homes and cars. go to our mobile device, usaa.com, call us, report the damage that you have once it's safe to go in and assess what's happened to your home, your vehicle or your personal belongings. bill: how can you ease the burden of this process? when you know that the reality for so many is just it's a struggle and it's a fight, it's a push and pull to get the operation solved, whether it be a house or home. >> it's a great question.

we've got 800 adjustors staged around the area right now to come in and assist our membership with the process and we have mobile units set up outside the area once it's safe, they'll be in there. as an innovative company, as we've been for our 96-year history as i mentioned, we're using a lot of tactics to make it easier for people to have their claim processed, aerial imagery is one of those things. as many people are evacuated, they don't know what happened to their home, they can't see it. through drone technology and other ways to get aerial pictures, we can show members preand post event what happened to their home so we can get the process started quickly and easily for them. bill: wow, that's cool, you're using drones for this process. >> yeah, we've got drones and aerial imagery. we fly planes over the devastated areas an we get photos that are made available to our membership, where they can see here's my home before the storm came ashore, here's my

home afterwards, before they can get into the area. we see that a process not just to get the claims experience fast, but for safety for the citizens, they don't have to go back to the area too soon. bill: thank you for your time. our best to you. take care of our men and women in uniform. >> that's what we do. thank you. bill: thank you for your time. we want to go back to mike emmanuel and molly line in washington, d.c. this storm is stubborn. we said yesterday she's big and she's slow. she is fitting the definition yet again. the rain that we're getting started about 20 minutes ago, it's relentless at the moment. mike: it's such a massive storm that some people are breathing a sigh of relief, others are waiting for the worst news, perhaps, and it's really hard to get your hands around the whole storm. it's hit such a huge area. >> molly: and the warning of the waters rising still. bill: you're both right about that. when you think about the storm, if you took it on a map and

placed over the top of north and south carolina, the storm would cover the entirety of both states at the same time. you can go up the coast for 120 miles, you can go down the coast for 120 miles and you'll see the effects and the damage there. what i thought was interesting was the contrast between the mayor here in wilmington, talking about the amount of damage here in the city of wilmington, and then talking to the mayor out in wrightsville beach, eight miles east of here where the eyewall came shore yesterday morning. barrier islands with the homes on the atlantic ocean and he described minimal damage relative to what we have here in wilmington. so it's just a -- we're trying to pull in all these data points and paint a picture as best we can as we go up and down the coastline and then inland as well in the coming days. >> molly: sometimes when you get inland you get a different landscape and you get the big trees coming down and the power outages and that creates the big mess and that can stall as far as people getting back to their

onlies safely and getting the power back on and some of the infrastructure problems become more long-standing as we saw in the wake of super storm sandy, a lot of folks inland had a lot of problems getting things back to normal. mike: with all the flooding, cleanup and recovery will be a massive project as well. bill: that's right. that's right, mike. i just saw a family at six, we have been at the hotel with them the past three days, they went walking behind us with the luggage, they said we're done with the hotel, we're going home. we don't care. no power. we'll tough it out. so they've had enough. mike: really compelling coverage. we'll be back to you soon. bill: thank you, mike, thank you molly. mike: new details in the death of a firefighter killed battling california firefighters. why fire officials are facing scrutiny after the death of the firefighter. plus a series of deadly gas explosions prompts a state of emergency in massachusetts. why more fire crews are

assisting in evacuations today. >> molly: a mother preparing to honor her murdered daughter is struck and killed at the teen's memorial. what authorities say caused the confrontation between a mother and a murderer. >> for some reason or another she got in her car to try to run over what she had on the ground and started banging and to stop her from doing that and she just went forward. she just ran her over

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mike: the fort worth texas community is mourning the death of undercover police officer holgarrett hole who was shot and killed friday night outside a local bar. after midnight a gun battle took place between officers and men who robbed the bar. one of the suspects was killed in the shootout. two others were arrested. officer hole 17 year spent 17 yh the fort worth police department. >> molly: the mother of a child murdered by ms-13 gang members was struck by an suv and killed while attending her daughter's memorial. news of her death got a response from the president. jeff paul has more.

>> reporter: investigators believe this started with a confrontation over the placement of a memorial that honored the live of evelyn rodriguez's daughter. she became a household name after speaking out on the national stage regarding the murder of her 16-year-old daughter. she attended president trump's state of the union and sat with the president while discussing the gang related death. here she is at the time speaking about what pushed her so hard to stop the violence. >> i just feel her presence and i can hear her. [ crying ] mom, keep up the fight. >> reporter: president trump tweeted shortly after finding out about rodriguezs death, she wrote that my thoughts and prayers with with evelyn rodriguez this evening along with family and friends. investigators say she was preppinpreparing for a vigil whe got in a heated argument with a person who lived near the

memorial site. police believe they were standing at the driver of an suv and the vehicle sped forward and hit her. the driver stayed on-scene and was not immediately arrested. police say the investigation is ongoing. >> molly: incredibly sad how much can one family suffer. thank you for your reporting. mike: still ahead, the latest from the carolina coast as tropical storm florence continues the crawl inland. we have a live report from wilmington. >> reporter: the weather is still miserable. we're seeing the effects of florence. this is one of hundreds of trees that were knocked down or fell down here in the city of wilmington. this one just brushing the st. james parish house. we'll have more on the situation on the ground here coming up right after the break.

bill: back here live in wilmington. the fallout from hurricane florence, now tropical storm

florence, now we're getting word of 80 miles inland up in cape fear river, in couple letter cud county, they've ordered a mandatory evacuation for everyone living within a mile of the cape fear and little rivers. you might be familiar with faithville, the home of fort bragg, we're working to get a better assessment as to what's happening there, up river from wilmington, north carolina. in the city of wilmington, there's extensive damage when it comes to power lines down and trees down and rick leventhal rode the storm out in wrightsville beach. he's with me in downtown historic wilmington. what are you seeing now from your location there? good afternoon. >> rick: good afternoon, bill. the rain is relentless. the power is out here. that means traffic lights are out at every intersection. and that's a problem as more people start hitting the road. there could be a lot more accidents because you're supposed to stop at every one of those intersections. a lot of people are not doing

that. some of the major intersections, there are state police positioned with lights on but they can't do that everywhere. and the other thing we're seeing across the city are he trees like this one that came down. this one just brushing a parish house. a lot of the other trees are doing significant damage and blocking the roads here in the historic section. we want to show you video we shot a few blocks from here on what looks like a twitter touched down because we see a path from a roof of an industrial building completely ripped off, you see the debris in a line towards the intersection and then a massive tree that was knocked down, pulling up the sidewalk around it, blocking that entire street and then just beyond that, down the block, we saw more trees down in a line. so it really looks like a twister hit there. there were tornado warnings issued last night. one of the residents said he also thought it was a tornado that came down and did damage to his house while it carved a path

through the neighborhood. this is a significant cleanup situation, bill. that can't necessarily get out safely and do the tree removal work they need to do, and that would involve getting power lines back up. so they're in a standby mode for the most part. we saws a guy with a chainsaw and hopefully they can get that tree out of the way. it's slow-going as the storm continues to pelt this part of north carolina. bill: rick, have you jumped in your car and drove eight miles due east, you hit wrightsville beach. you were out there to ride the storm out. what was the experience like yesterday morning and throughout the day? >> rick: it came ashore right into the beach house that we had rented a few blocks from the ocean and it hit overnight and the house was shaking and it brought a lot of rain and there was surge there, a record-breaking surge in wrightsville beach, almost five

feet over high tide. we watched the water covering the main road. we got in the vehicle to get out of there. our vehicle wound up in pretty deep water as the intercoastal met that community. and they did suffer some significant flooding but the mayor has told us that the damages were pretty minimal but travel there was very treacherous for a while. it's a good thing that pretty much everyone heeded the mandatory evacuation order and got out. it was a rough night. the house was rocking. we didn't know how bad it was going to get. bill: amazing to hear that assessment from the mayor too. good to see you, rick. thank you. best to you and your crew on the ground here in wilmington, north carolina. we have jonathan mctha mcnamaram the red cross. what do you want people to know? >> i had a chance to hear an earlier report. we're concerned about people

starting to go back to their homes while the water is rising. it only takes 6 inches of moving water to move a person or 12 inches of water to move a vehicle. that's when we see the people make the decision to wade through the water and they can get in a dangerous situation. there's chemicals in the water. there can be debris in it. in addition to animals, like snakes that get loose from their homes. you can download the red cross app that has all the information. we work diligently to have evacuation shelters in place. over 17,000 people spent in night in shelters. that's why we have them there, a safe place. bill: everything smooth inside the evacuation centers so far? >> we're hearing reports of families that are in the shelters that rallying around each other. you saw that firsthand in houston last year before they become little communities. we have red cross volunteers who are there with partners to provide as comfortable of a setting as possible, to make people be able to take a deep

breath. this can be a stressful time. we have health care workers and officials there, to provide services we can and hot meals. as the days go on this is a massive mobilization from the red cross. we have over 2200 workers on the ground, more on the way and we'll be getting relief to neighborhoods as soon as it's safe to do so and we'll continue to help for days and months ahead. bill: do you have everything you need? >> right now, this is a massive nationwide mobilization for the red cross. we have prepositioned over 120 trailers worth of supplies, 140 emergency response vehicles, which will go neighborhood by neighborhood, providing relief supplies, providing hot meals, cleanup kits. we were able to do this because of the generosity of the american public in the past. if you would like to help in this effort, because it takes a lot of effort, you can text the word florence to 9099 to make a

donation. these are average americans that volunteer. this is important for the american public to know, these are ordinary americans that go across the country to help people they've never met. that's what makes our response so special. bill: the news is -- it's not getting much better. we're now getting reports of one fatality in south carolina which brings to total of storm related deaths to six. we're not out of the woods. as you can see, our live images from the past hour, this has been a downpour, nonstop for 60 minutes. we saw this yesterday. we saw it last night. we're seeing it yet again, sir. so we're not done yet. final word from the red cross? >> just once again, i think you're spot oven about how dangerous the situation is. water can rise a lot more quickly than you realize. keep yourself in a safe location so the local officials and the community -- until they tell you it's safe to go back. we don't want you to put yourself in harm harm's way or g

them to put first responders harm's way. we want to keep them out of the water if we can. stay vigilant and stay safe many that's what the red cross is here for. bill: thank you, jonathan mcnamara. mike and molly, when we cover these things, you see people on camera. what do you don't see is five times the number of people behind the camera, whether it's chris or will or rob or elysa or pat. they're terrific colleagues. you don't see them but they deserve shoutout on our behalf and everyone working at the hotel down the street. without them, this is not possible. for them, thank you. >> molly: he had an important message he was talking about, how dangerous the storm remains, the water is rising, the danger is making sure you stay out of the water, don't return to your homes, there is dangerous things in the water, from animals to

chemicals. there has been another death as result of the storm, bringing the total to six. so it seems like that is -- we're at a point in the storm where it's very dangerous and potentially for days to come. bill: yes, we hear about those stories, right, molly? right, mike? we tell you don't drive through standing water. you don't know what's underneed it. the words go out about generators, be careful, don't run it inside. we saw a why was electrocuted. he's one of the six fatalities. we're putting the word out there, hopefully folks listen. mike: the 140-mile-an-hour winds may be over but the danger is not. bill, thank you very much. bill: good to be with you, guys. mike: a deadly series of explosion that's has boston area residents demanding answers. we'll have the details after the break. while your spouse was serving our country,

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>> molly: authorities are investigating a series of gas explosions that killed at least one person and left several others injured in the boston area. brian llenas has the latest. brian. >> reporter: as many as 80 homes and businesses caught on fire, three homes exploded thursday in three neighborhoods a half hour north of boston. 150 emergency 911 calls flooded the system as really first responders, hundreds of them, battled simultaneous fires in andover, north andover and lawrence, massachusetts. the fires were sparked by natural gas line leaks. at this hour, investigators are still trying to figure out how and why. the ntsb is on the ground, investigating. preliminary investigation points to the overpressureization of the lines. some 8,000 people were evacuated from their homes. many are still displaced as gas meters are being turned off and

inspected. >> no one knew what was going on. they were saying there was a gas leak somewhere. everybody was all over the place. everybody was scared. >> the smoke started coming out, we just ran out. i didn't want to risk staying in there and something happening to my daughters. >> reporter: 25 people were injured, tragically one man died, an 18-year-old lionel raddone was sitting in the car in his driveway when a gas explosion at miss hom at his hoa chimney to fall on his car. a police officer worked non stop to try to save the 18-year-old and others as his own home burned to the ground. this map gives you an idea of the extent of the fires and meanwhile, the governor, charles baker -- those blue dots are the fire. the governor and local mayors

blasted the columbia gas company for their lack of response. >> when we first got word of this incident, the least informed and the last to act have been columbia gas. >> we are sorry. we're sorry and deeply concerned about the inconvenience. this is the sort of thing that a gas distribution company hopes never happens. >> reporter: the governor issued a state of emergency in massachusetts, essentially fireing the columbia gas company and putting eversource utility in charge of the recovery. >> molly: it was deadly and tear terrifying and people on the ground deserve answers and they're seeking them. thank you for your reporting. mike: after the break, president trump supreme court pick, judge kavanaugh, facing increased scrutiny after a letter accusing him of sexual

misconduct years ago. we have details. the carolina coast is being hit hard by tropical storm florence, we have the latest on the storm as it moves inland. your digestive system has billions of bacteria but life can throw them off balance. re-align yourself with align probiotic. and try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit >> molly: a firefighter battling the largest wildfire in california's history was crushed by a tree that was uprooted during a fire suppressing drop.

the 42-year-old, matthew burch, was killed last month when thousands of gallons of flame retardant was dropped from a plane on the wrong flight path. investigators released the findings of friday. the department of forestry and fire protection is conducting an internal investigation. >> molly: senator dianne feinstein under fire from republicans this week for not releasing a letter to the senate judiciary committee accusing supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault when he was in high school. >> molly: some members of the committee are saying by her holding the letter, she is trying to delay judge kavanaugh's confirmation hearing in the senate which is scheduled for this coming week. others say this is a relevant and regular part of the vetting process. joining us now, dee stewart, president of the stewart group and douglas smith, managing director for ken strategies. great to have you. i found it striking covering the

story this week that senator feinstein had the allegations in july, privately with judge kavanaugh in august and had the open hearings for several days and a closed hearing and didn't bring it up then. >> the fbi vetted judge kavanaugh six times since 1993. the fbi made the right call. instead of opening a criminal investigation, they put it in his file. they're not taking the bait. it's a maneuver to try to run out the clock. the democrats are hoping to take control of the u.s. senate. the fbi put the letter in the file. charles grassley, the chair's judiciary committee, said hearings will go forward and so the nomination march continues on. mike: your thoughts? >> it's not that diane feinstein asked for a criminal investigation, she just asked it be put in the record, which is

the process. the challenge is we're focusing too much on the process and not on the content. this is a big decision to be made. do i think senator feinstein handled it properly? i'm not entirely sure. what we need to focus on, is he a candidate to be for a life appointment on the supreme court. what we're seeing unfortunately is the result of this escalation of the pa partisanship. neither side trusts each other. senator grassley doesn't trust senator feinstein. this could have been handled in a smoother way, if they got together and discussed this. >> maria: your thoughts on the timing -- >> molly: your thoughts on the timing? >> i think the timing isn't quite right. what we're seeing is the me too movement. everyone is very scared on how do you properly handle things. nobody wants to be the person accused of doing it. we saw what happened in the gat aftermath of anita hill. he there weri think in this days

we saw what happened with cbs this week, everyone is that concerned, do i think that judge kavanaugh should get an absolute fair view, 1,000 percent. he deserves an honest review of his record. >> molly: you bring up the me too movement. when there have been allegations in the past, someone comes forward and maybe one or two or however many other women say something happened as well. in brett kavanaugh's case, very quickly, the opposite occurred. there were 65 women that knew him during high school, came forward, putting out a letter sort of backing his character. >> the women who know judge kavanaugh best support judge kavanaugh. they do so because he treated them with honor, with respect and integrity. 84 of his colleagues who served at the bush white house with him who were female wrote a letter supporting him. in addition to 65 letters from his high school classmates who were female who said they knew him to be a decent and honorable

person who promoted and supported women. mike: the plan is to go forward on thursday. we know the democrats on the committee were against judge cav flaw the beginning. so we expect a party line vote. does he get through? >> ruth bader ginsburg said it was better was these issues were not so partisan. justice ginsburg was confirmed by a vote of 96-3 in the early 90s because she was a qualified person. judge kavanaugh by any respect, by measurement, is qualified. he served on the d.c. court of appeals. he served in the council's office under president bush at the white house. he served as a staff secretary under president george w. bush at the white house. we're talking about a qualified jurist, outstanding legal mind who will make an outstanding supreme court justice of the united states once he's confirmed this week. mike: kind of like mayor marin

garland. >> we're not electing a president now. we're electing -- mike: what goes around, comes around, the president put forward a highly qualified, to your point everyone said was imminently qualified, and was defeated because of partisanship. we're seeing an he's cay an escf partisanship. i think that's something that we should think through as an aftermath of this debate. >> molly: we have recent poll numbers, this poll is should the senate confirm kavanaugh to the supreme court and it breaks down along party lines. all votes, 41, 42 there. but republicans say yes 81%, democrats say yes, just 9%, meaning 76% no on the kavanaugh becoming a supreme court justice. independents lean a little bit more towards the yes column. so we see that kind of that breakdown along party lines, even among the public. what do you say to that?

>> i think we'v been this side w of taking us away from the important issues. how does he stand on roe v wade, and protecting children's schools around gun safety issues. that's what i want to hear discussed in an open and honest way. i wish chairman grassley just released all the documents, put them out there and take the side show away, let the american public decide for themselves. mike: sorry to interrupt. we have to leave it there. thank you very much. we'll be right back. .. . sale fares are low, you should see what we charge you for two checked bags.

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the only fast, powerful heartburn relief plus melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. ♪ oh, what a relief it is! >> latest details out of carolina coast as tropical storm batters catastrophic damage and claiming at least six lives. >> nearly a million homes and businesses are without powers as crews work to remove down trees and there were also mandatory evacuations who are still underway right now, the city of pay -- fayetville, those near little river are asked to evacuate, threat of injury or loss of life. i'm molly. >> and i'm mike emmanuel. >> hi, mike and