tonight on "nightline," super soaker. a new wave of storms unleashes on steps still suffering from irene. record rain. s and runaway rivers threaten entire towns. meanwhile, wildfires chased hundreds from their homes. it's nature's wrath up close. life after sex. katie couric interviews sarah jessica parker about her most

challenging role since "sex and the city." the role of super mom. >> i sing along all day long as i'm driving my mini van. >> do you drive a mini van? >> yes. >> seriously? >> respect the van. and famous fingertips. katie perry jumps into a hot $340 million market aimed at your cuticles. nail polish is tonight's "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york cityt this is "nightline," september 6th, 2011. >> good evening, all, i'm bill weir. if you spent a week knee deep in flood water, there must be few things worse than a fresh downpour on the roof. after irene soaked the east, a new storm has rivers breaking their banks, threatening more homes. a few states over, folks would gladly trade the crackle of a

wildfire for any amount of blessed rains. lives and lively hoods are on the line tonight, as america ffers from too much water in one part of the nation, not enough in the other. here's abc's linsey davis with the latest. >> reporter: this is what you could call adding insult to injury. >> everything is garbage here. >> reporter: fabio already started rebuilding after close to four feet of water flooded his apartment. the threat of yet another round of flooding has him wishing he'd waited. >> maybe we got to clean again. >> reporter: and not just clean but perhaps put in new warms again. >> new wall and new frame. >> reporter: many people in patterson, new jersey, are in the same boat. the last thing they needed here was more rain. >> water got to go somewhere. so it come up on us. >> reporter: this is harry's pile of destruction. he's worried now this mound of what once was could grow.

the ground here is so saturated, it won't take much to trigger more flooding. >> i don't need this right now. all our winter clothes and everything we packed up to put in the basement for the winter and stuff like that is gone. >> reporter: even though hurricane katia is out in the atlalaic, it's what's keeping all this rain from moving out of the saturated northeast. the gulch coast knows the drill all too well. tropical storm lee pelted the area with heavy rains this weekend, flooding homes and streets. boats seem to be the only way to get around in certain places. but for all the rainfall on the coasas texas saw none of it. the cruel irony in the winds from tropical storm lee only fanned the flames. 100,000 acres have gone up in smoke. and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed. >> our house is gone. >> reporter: firefighters are battling the monster blaze from

the air and d e ground. this has been the worst fire season in texas history. almost half of all the acres burned nationally have been in this one state. 3.5 million acres, roughly the size of connecticut. so many fires, astronauts can actually see the smoke from space. but even as lee weakened, it still remained strong enough to spawn more tornadoes. close to 40 in all. inin atlanta, a storm that uprooted trees and destroyed homes. >> i was in the living room with my kids and we started hearing the wind. >> reporter: in chattanooga, streets were flooded so badly, drivers had to be pulled from their cars. in jackson, mississippi, homes were flooded so severely, firefighters had to carry women and children to safety. now on its march north, the remnants of lee continue dropping enormous amounts of

rain to areas still reeling from irene. louisiana had 15 inches of rain. mississippi, 13 inches. and the forecast called for similar amounts on already saturated ground, as this current system moves slowly north. >> the grounds here are already saturate and we're talking about rainfall amounts here, four to eight inches, a couple of areas could see over ten inches of rain. that's going to exacerbate the problem here. and major flooding concerns as we go ahead into wednesday and thursday. >> reporter: back in new jersey, harry is ready to move on from all this rain. and possibly even move. >> because we can't keep staying in this flooded place like this. >> had enough? >> i got enough. >> reporter: i'm linsey davis for "nightline" in patterson, new jersey. >> hoping they catch a break. our thanks to linsey davis. and just ahead, exciting night for us. we welcome a new member of the

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a new air freshener so smart, that it detects and overcomes unpleasant odors. odor detect works on more than a thousand odors, to keep your world at its brightest. new odor detect. something in the air wick. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> it is always thrilling to help launch h e career of any promising journalist and tonight marks the debut of someone we think you're really going to like. kale tee couric, welcome to abc news. >> thank you so much, bill. i'm very happy to be here. >> so great to have you. and you start us off with the patron saint of city girls everywhere, thrilling high heel lovers all throughout the building today. >> and i have to admit, bill, i am a huge sarah jessica parker fan and i'm also happy to report

i found her to be thoughtful, down to earth and as witty as her small screen alter ego. he's a 46 mother of three, a role she clearly relishes. now, if her busy life has left you wondering, i don't know how she does it, you're not alone. so, we decided to find out. a stroll through the concrete jungle of midtown manhattan with perhaps one of the most famous new yorkers today is not your typical walk in the park. this is sort of a treat. you're seeing miss new york. >> and miss new yorkrk. we're competing in the next pageant. >> reporter: exactly. >> it's a smackdown. >> reporter: sarah jessica parker's had her hat in the ring for so long, she's gotten used to the occasional smackdown. what's the rudest someone has said to you on the street? >> a couple of men have told me, your show was awful, and i was like, well, who forced you to watch it, sir? >> reporter: plenty of people

have gladly been watching since her 1998 debut on "sex and the city" as the single carrie bradshaw. >> all right. i'm going to take them. >> reporter: do you get tired of talking about -- >> no. if that is the identity, if that's, after all is said and done and, you know, here lines and she was a mother and a wife and carrie bradshaw, far worse things a person could say. and far less -- i'm very proud of it. >> reporter: and why not? the hbo series earned her two emmys, four golden globes and spawned two blockbuster movies. though, "sex and the city 2" was widely panned. now, she's a full fledged brand. her own production company. design labels. and three different perfumes. >> covet, the new fragrance by sarah jessica parker. >> it all adds up to $30 million

earnings last year. tying her with angelina jolie for highest paid actress. oh, and by the way, she's also wife to matthew broderick and mom to 8-year-old son james wilke and twins born via surrogate two years ago, loretta and tabitha. >> tabitha calls lorettayaya d heelf tata. and loretta says, no, i am yoretta. so sweweet. >> reporter: she's keenly aware her children arereeing raised in far different circumstances than she was. growing up in cincinnati, onenef eight kids, in a family that often struggled to pay the bills. until her mother and step-father belt their dollar on scholarship-funded dance lessons. she then appeared on "the bob hope show."

♪ you're only a day away >> i loved sisiing. i wasn't terrifically god at it, i don't think. but i just loved it -- >> reporter: well, you had to be pretty good at it. >> i had a decent year. according to those around me, i could really act the part. so, what i -- what i lacked in power, in ethel merman, i really brought the emotional side. maybe -- >> reporter: you were the meryl streep of "annie." >> i was a great interpreter. >> reporter: she made the transition from precocious kid to awkward teen when she was cast in "square pegs." >> i'm never wearing my glasses again. >> repepter: her breakout movie role came in 1991 opposite steve martin in "l.a. story." >> so, you going to see me again? >> reporter: but playing that bundle of energy desperate for love would really set her career on fire. i think about you, because i watch "sex and the city" reruns

every night. pathetic. but i think about how challenging it must be for you to pick roams after being so associated with "sex and the city" and with carrie bradshaw. how do you figure out, gee, i want to expand. >> i'm only looking at something and thinking, is this different than carrie bradshaw. i don't think that's a very -- i'm m t deconstructing very deeply. the question for me is, who do i get to work with and for? and what are, you know, what are the great scenes that we're trying to convey to the audience? and i really love this story. >> reporter: this latest story -- >> i don't nope how you do it. >> i don't know how she does it. >> reporter: is a comedy based on the 2002 best-selling book about a woman and sometimes fafling to have it all. >> did you take ben to have his hair cut? >> oh. >> that was his first hair cut. first hair cut. it's just so great to see how

everybody does it. but it is genuinely inspiring and very moving to see how a majority of women have to do it. and i think about that a lot. instead of sleepingngi do, the list. number one -- >> reporter: the story might as well be her own. she, too, does a daily juggling act, balancing family with a demanding career. do you think tension between working mothers and stay at home mothers, the so-called mommy wars, that got so much attention about a decade ago, does that still really exist in a very l palpable way? >> to suggest it's work outside the home and not work in the home is so crazy to me that i can see that sometimes that's the source in some ways of this interesting conflict. we're alllightly envious of the other all the time anyway. you know, i'm at drop off, and

maybe there's parents there who weren't and they are getting to spend 20, 30 minutes after dropoff together talking, there's a part of me that wishes i could be there because what i've learned about being a parent is how much you sort of secretly learn from everybody else and how valuable it is. >> reporter: it seems she's comfortable in both words. one moment, she's sporting couture on the red carpet. the next, she's behind the wheel of the ultimate mommy mobile. >> so, i sing along all day long as i'm driving my mini van dropping kids off. >> reporter: do you drive a mini van? >> yes. >> reporter: seriously? >> respect the van. >> reporter: i'm proud of mine. >> i am, too. and there was a moment prior to the actual lease -- leased, not bought -- my mother had been really screaming, like, my mother, so believed in the honda -- i mean, my mother is a huge honda fan. and, consumers reports and -- you know. so i called up bronx honda because my mother told me to and

spoke to a gentleman there and we got ourselves a m mi van and i'm telling you, it's theost vonderful car. >> reporter: and no, she's's no adding honda pitchwoman too her resume. but tooling around in a mini van is just one way of hangingng on normalcy and avoiding the trappings of celebrity. she's out there, defiantly, paparazzi be damned. >> ihink the things th s that a more painful to me are not the intrusion of paparazzi. it's the lack of civility that i find far more intimidating and far more painful an experience. it's the anonymity of being cruel, the delight in tearing people down. the tabloid era that we find ourselves in is a cultural bone yard and that is painful to me. dealing with the streets of new york and going to the market myself and navigating being a public person in physical ways, i am up to the challenge. it is the emotional scar tissue

that is, like, incredibly difficululfor me. >> reporter: maneuvering the tough terrain of public life can be tricky. but some how, she makes it look easy. it's been an unconventional ride for the star with unconventional looks. how does sarah jessica parker do it? by living the most conventional life she can. >> sometimes it feels that you can barely breathe or think or make good decisions because you're so overwhelmed by all of it. but i must confess that i can't imagine it generally speaking, any other way. >> reporter: so, bill, just like carrie bradshaw, sarah jessica parker is the ultimate working girl. >> and rocking the mini van. good for her. come back often, please. great to have you here. >> reporter: i will, thank you. >> and you can see much more of sarah jessica parker, she will

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so, it's 3,000 bc, you're a member of the upper class in achent egypt or china and you need a brilliant way to show your importance. colored beepswax on your fingernanas. 5,000 years later a little polish is just another way a woman can up her game. and for an tree ya canning, that is a "sign of the times." >> reporter: celebrities claim

to have all the answers when it comes to luscious locks, a fresh face and even how to smell si e sensual. but leaving no body part untapped, the stars now want to deck out your digits. katy perry is unleashing her own line of nail polish, including a color named for her hit song, "take dream." opi is one of the world's leading manufacturers. we paid a visit to her lab with their founder. >> i always say it's the greatest accessory. most affordable. you can change it as often as you like and get a whole new look. >> reporter: looks that include crazy colors with names like overexposed in south beach, trophy wife, houston we have a purple or for you ladies waiting for your prince, no more waity katie. they've created 1500 shades. >> what is the all-time number one selling shade at opi? 'm