a this morning. making news in america this morning, the first effects of hurricane florence being felt right now. 83-foot waves reported, 10 million people in its path. >> barrier islands closed. the storm slowing overnight. >> this is going to be a mike tyson punch to the carolina coast. >> this morning the people refusing to evacuate. the rush to protect six nuclear power plants in the path and the military preparations under way. >> and the emotional toll as one town braces for its second major disaster in just two years. >> i don't know the outcome of this one, but i do know one thing, i went through one, i can go through another. >> we have the new timing of the storm and just how much rain could fall. plus, how a popular

restaurant chain is playing a role in the government response right now on a special edition of "america this morning." and good morning on this busy thursday, everyone. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm stephanie ramos in for diane macedo. hurricane florence has weakened overnight. it's now a category 2 storm, but authorities are quick to warn that this enormous hurricane still poses a catastrophic threat. it could dump 40 inches of rain in the coming days. >> the big concern is the storm surge expected to be as high as 13 feet. florence is already generating waves more than 80 feet high. >> overnight many coastal towns began imposing curfews closing bridges and making final preparations as residents flock to shelters. the red cross says 100,000 people may need emergency shelter. >> we've got a lot to get to. we begin our coverage this morning with abc's emily rau in

wilmington, north carolina. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and stephanie. today is the day. it's when we'll really begin to see and feel hurricane florence, but right now in downtown wilmington, north carolina, all is calm and quiet. from maryland to virginia, the carolinas and now even farther south to georgia, millions are bracing for florence. >> it's going to be frightening. it's a lot of -- it's a scary sight, and it's not going to be good what's going to be coming. >> reporter: with the window to evacuate now closing -- >> please leave now. >> reporter: -- hospitals in myrtle beach racing to get patients out of danger after the storm shifted south. >> we're trying to get everybody out, and as such, we're shutting the hospital down. >> reporter: those left near the coast hunkering down. tom pahl, a commissioner in the outer banks, estimates hundreds of residents are staying put. >> the people who are living here and make a decision to not evacuate are making that decision with full knowledge of what that means.

>> reporter: the massive system is churning closer and could bring a deadly storm surge. a 13-foot wall of water predicted in some areas with a one-two punch of up to 40 inches of rain. >> hopefully all these houses will be here when we get back because i mean we love this beach. we live here year round. >> reporter: officials worried about flooding at this nuclear power plant in north carolina along with 15 other reactors in 3 states as the eye of the storm swirls closer. and florence is still moving slowly and people all along the coast are preparing to be without power for days or even weeks. in fact, armies of utility crews are already headed to the southeast portion of the country preparing for mass outages. kendis, stephanie. >> that sign behind emily saying tlc. a lot of people are hoping for that, indeed, this morning. emily in wilmington, north carolina, thank you. and we turn now to how the government is preparing for this storm. >> it all comes as fema faces new questions about this huge

shipment of bottled water for hurricane maria victims now sitting undelivered in puerto rico. you see it there. abc's janai norman continues our coverage. janai. >> reporter: well, stephanie and kendis, those images of water rotting in puerto rico are going viral as the president is reassuring those in the storm zone along the carolina coast that the government is ready to help, but that promise comes as new numbers show just how deadly last hurricane season was. f-22s hitting the sky. apache helicopters being relocated. it's all part of how the federal government is preparing ahead of hurricane florence. >> first responders, law enforcement and fema, and they're all ready. >> reporter: president trump with this warning. >> get out of its way. don't play games with it. it's a big one. it's called mother nature. you never know, but we know. >> reporter: as the president stands ready to face whatever hurricane florence brings, he's still facing backlash for touting his handling of stinhui

insting his administration did an unappre puico and llg e coet >> puerto rico was an incredible unsung success. >> reporter: maria killed nearly 3,000 people, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in modern american history. and there's growing controversy surrounding the response. images of hundreds of pallets of water left to rot in the island sun going viral. that water purchased by fema never made it to hurricane victims. the mayor of san juan telling abc news, he never got it. he never will. >> oops, he did it again. here he goes again. you know, he doesn't understand that this isn't about him and about his ego. >> reporter: and between south carolina, north carolina and virginia, more than 6,000 national guardsmen are being activated ahead of hurricane florence. more are on standby and coast guard search and rescue helicopters are being relocated to savannah, georgia, in

preparation, so, kendis, they are getting ready. >> and they know it's coming within the next 24 to 48 hours, janai, thank you. >> let's get the latest on the storm's track now from accuweather's paul williams. paul. >> good morning, kendis, stephanie. now florence has lost a little bit of its strength. now a very strong category 2 hurricane. and we're expected to stay a category 2 until it strikes and then downgraded to a 1 and will eventually slide into being a tropical storm. one quick note before we get started, just because it's been downgraded to a category 2 has not changed any of the warnings from the national hurricane center. we are still concerned with historic rainfall and flooding, damaging winds, risk to life and property to the extreme level in wilmington towards charlotte, looking for a high risk of it in raleigh. isolated tornadoes, devastating storm surge. this has always been about the flooding and the catastrophic flooding we're expecting in wilmington with major flooding in charlotte and raleigh. kendis, stephanie. hurricane hunters have taken another flight over florence to get a closer look.

>> the flight director says there's not a lot of good news. we spoke to him last night. >> well, right now it's managed to keep a very strong core. we've seen dry air intrusions both yesterday and today that should be weakening this storm, however, this storm creates its own environment. the area of the highest winds will spread out kind of like sandy, so this is not going to be good news no matter what we find up here. >> that's flight director jack parrish. he says the only good news is that the southern part of the storm is weakening. so, here's something we hadn't really heard of before, the waffle house index. it's an actual thing. >> yeah, fema uses it to track storm conditions. if a waffle house restaurant in one area is closed, then authorities know the conditions there are especially bad. waffle house operations can also indicate how well a city or town is recovering. >> if we are on a limited menu, then you know there's some limited resources.

if we are closed, then you know it's pretty serious, but if we're open, you know the community is coming back, and that's the most important thing after a storm is to get that sense of normalcy. we made it through the storm and now we're getting back on our feet. >> and the waffle house index was created by a former official at fema when he was working in florida. we'll have the other news of the morning just ahead including the disturbing new video of hollywood mogul harvey weinstein from a woman he's accused of sexually assaulting. and also coming up, the strange story of a mother and son attacked by a giraffe right outside their home. just how close they came to getting killed. and later, our coverage of hurricane florence continues with a look at america's cajun navy headed to the carolina navy headed to the carolina coast to rescue those in (boy) grandpa, look what i got! (woman) oh dad, wait 'till you see the bike we got for jake. (narrator) hearing loss happens gradually with age... making it easy to ignore. yet most older americans aren't getting their hearing tested.

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a close call for a woman in new hampshire when a dead tree falls onto the hood of her suv. there it is. if she had arrived at that moment just one second later, the tree would have hit her. she managed to get out of the suv on her own, and she's okay. a businesswoman who says harvey weinstein sexually assaulted her has released video of a meeting that took place just hours prior. >> melissa thompson says she recorded the video thinking she would be meeting with the studio's marketing team. instead she says it turned out to be a one-on-one encounter she did not expect. abc's linsey davis has those details. >> reporter: this newly released video shows harvey weinstein with a young businesswoman just hours before she claims he raped her. in melissa thompson's recorded presentation from 2011, we see weinstein hug the 28-year-old. >> that's nice. let's keep it up.

>> reporter: it was part of a pitch for weinstein to use her tech start-up company. only portions of the video aired on britain's sky tv. >> wow. >> data is so hot, right? >> what's that? >> data is so hot. >> it is hot. you're hot. >> reporter: weinstein asks if he's allowed to flirt with her. a little bit she answers but then she says he touches her under the table. >> a little bit. >> all right? >> a little high. that's a little high. that's a little high. >> i was trying to save face that at first i was trying to kind of manage the situation. there was a combination of confidence and naivete. >> reporter: at the end of the meeting weinstein asks her to meet him for a drink at a hotel. she says she thought they were going to close the deal but instead thompson says he raped her. weinstein denies all nonconsensual sexual contact. thompson is currently suing weinstein. weinstein's attorney says when viewed in its entirety, the video shows that there was nothing forceful. he says they were both flirting and that this is all about money. linsey davis, abc news, new

york. cbs news has f fager, the executive producer of "60 minutes" who is under investigation for sexual harassment. cbs says his firing was not directly related to those allegations, but fager was ousted shortly after sending a text message to a cbs reporter after she asked him to comment on the accusations against him. that text says in part, be careful. there are people who lost their jobs trying to harm me. fager later admitted his language was harsh but says he does not believe it should result in his termination. now, we have new information about why cbs chief executive les moonves was fired. "the new york times" reports the network learned that moonves was being blackmailed by an alleged harassment victim and was trying to get her a job at cbs in return for her silence. police near detroit say a love triangle appears to be the motive for a deadly stabbing at a high school involving two

straight "a" students. the suspect, a 17-year-old girl, is in police custody and facing murder charges. a male student was allegedly involved with both girls. now, police say the 16-year-old victim was stabbed twice in the chest during class. a developing story near the phoenix airport overnight, a massive fire spreading through this maintenance facility. several large tanks exploded and a hazmat crew, they were responding to that. no injuries have been reported though. coming up, anheuser-busch turning beer back into water. the company's hurricane relief plan next. but first a small town devastated by a hurricane just two years ago now prepares for a potential direct hit from hurricane florence. and we head to the racetrack being turned into an emergency shelter. ninety-six hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan,

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around myrtle beach have heeded the warnings. hospitals will be fully evacuated by today. and, in fact, there's one small town in north carolina that was devastated by hurricane matthew only two years ago, and it's once again right there within the bull's-eye. >> and many people are still trying to recover and now they're bracing for another disaster. as florence barrels toward the east coast, the storm is stirring fearful memories in lumberton, north carolina. >> butterflies in my stomach. just not sure what to expect. two years ago we didn't know what to expect. >> reporter: hurricane matthew devastated the town in 2016. many of the survivors were forced to live in fema trailers for nearly a year and some homeowners are still rebuilding including jerry pone sr. >> and i peeked out the window. my god, you know, it was water. all the water was up to right along here. >> reporter: right here. >> right along here. >> reporter: and you didn't just see water.

>> i see fish and all kind of debris and everything. >> reporter: jerry contacted his friends on facebook and someone came to his rescue on a boat. the idea of facing another powerful hurricane bringing jerry to tears. >> all that do is bring back memories. that's the roughest part of all of it. >> reporter: on myrtle beach the surf started picking up before sundown. authorities there say anyone trying to get into the ocean will be arrested. one of the biggest concerns is this 200-foot ferris wheel. abc's tom llamas explains why. >> it's called the sky wheel, it had 42 gondolas. they've all been removed and the ferris wheel is supposed to withstand hurricane-force winds, but officials are worried about the storm surge. here's why. we're just steps from the atlantic ocean, and if that storm surge comes through, record storm surge, it could do something to the structure. 18 million to 19 million tourists a year come out here, but for now they've been told to stay away. >> reporter: outside raleigh hundreds of evacuees are taking

shelter inside this high school. the building is already near capacity. that's according to abc's victor oquendo. >> this place has just about everything they could need. they've got a medical station here and they've turned this gymnasium -- that's where they have lined up a ton of cots for people to get rest and sleep. duke energy says that some 3 million customers in both north and south carolina will likely lose power during hurricane florence so the people have come here and to the many shelters that have opened up in the area. >> reporter: some people are heading south to georgia where the atlanta motor speedway has opened its grounds for evacuees. >> i see people on the internet just said check there, check here. so, we just make phone calls, you know, and then we got this place. i have denzel, the chocolate lab. i have zachary, the dachshund and then nelly, the sassy bird. >> sassy nelly there on standby. >> yeah, and anheuser-busch is doing their part to help throughout this storm. they've stopped making beer at its brewery in georgia, and it's

now preparing cans of drinking water for hurricane victims. >> the brewery is making 300,000 cans of water to be shipped to towns across north and south carolina. well, coming up, a new alert for parents about the dangers of e-cigarettes. and also ahead, the mother and son nearly killed by a giraffe outside their home. what happened just before the animal attacked. plus, an olympic star racing into space literally. that story coming up. that story coming up. and puffed... like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. so my doctor said... symbicort can help you breathe better. starting within 5 minutes. it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. doctor: symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. it may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it.

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on the run. overseas, an american woman and her son were attacked by a giraffe in south africa and are showing some signs of improvement. katy williams' father says his daughter and 3-year-old grandson are both out of a coma and making great progress. he says his daughter, who is a biologist, was walking with her son near their home in a nature preserve when the giraffe attacked. >> this time she came through a wooded section, went into a clearing, and instantly the giraffe came at them. she had nowhere to run and nothing to do. it's bad luck, but it is -- it is the way of nature. we hold no malice against that giraffe, and we would prefer that nothing is done to harm that giraffe whatsoever. >> the giraffe apparently thought her calf was in danger. williams' husband was able to scare off the animal and call for help. the fda has an urgent new warning for parents. it says e-cigarettes have become

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man 1: what's your body of proof? hi. good morning. thanks for joining us. it's thursday, september 13th. >> you're never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. >> we will look at our forecast and then all the florence you can handle. mid to upper 50s in most neighborhoods. los gatos and morgan hill, 40s. fairfield at 60. concord, 61 degrees. let's see where we end up this afternoon. high clouds and sunshine. a few low clouds along the coast. low 60s there. mid to upper 60s at mid-60s inland. a slow down on 880 in

hayward before tennyson. we had construction. a few lanes and off-ramp closed. scheduled to go until 5:00 this morning. they are starting to pick that up. we had what sounds like an industrial accident on that construction scene. i believe one of the workers they were hit by one of the work trucks. so there are emergency crews there as well. that was causing a bit of delay. it sounds like the injuries are pretty minor. keeping an eye on that. north of state route 92. next update at 4:30 >> developing news out of bakersfield where kearn county deputies are investigating a shooting rampage that left six dead, including the gunman. >> the sheriff says the gunman and his wife went to a trucking business around 5:30 last night. the gunman confronted a man and shot him before turning 9 gun on his own wife. three more people were eventually shot in the rampage spanning several crime scenes.

when deputies eventually caught up with the suspect, he took his own life. >> these are not random shootings. six people lost their lives in a short period of time. this is highly unusual. >> the suspect is believed to have carjacked a vehicle with a mother and child inside, but the two managed to escape. this morning authorities still do not have a motive. happening now, hurricane florence is still taking aim on the carolinas as it continues to weaken. >> now it is a category 2 storm with maximum winds of 110 miles per hour. it's about 200 miles east-southeast of wilmington, north carolina. the storm is still forecasted to be an extremely dangerous hurricane. heavy rain and excessive flooding are expected, as well as a life-threatening storm surge. 1.6 million people are under a hurricane warning. it is expected to make landfall as a category 2 tomorrow morning. projections have it stalling before slowly moving along the south carolina coast saturday

morning. we're going to have a live report from wilmington with the latest on evacuations in a few minutes. meteorologists are flying into the eye to get footage on its intensity. this was yesterday. information they collect about the temperature, pressure, and wind speed and direction help them determine where florence is headed and the impact it's going to have as it gets closer to land. it is certainly going to have a big impact. >> it is 4:30. let's watch it and see where it is going. good morning, mike. good morning. we'll start are live doppler 7. the eye now and all the bands out healed of the storm as it starts to push ashore on the outer banks in the form of skaer scattered thunderstorms right now. it dropped in intensity, but nothing hashafar as the repercussions and what it is going to create when it does come