breaking news in america this morning, bracing for dorian. hurricane takes aim at the coast from florida to north carolina. the new forecast this hour. the rainfall, storm surge and wind gusts expected. plus, disaster in the bahamas. new images of the historic devastation. water reaching the windows of this house 20 feet off the ground. this group swept away forced to swim for their lives. the number of homes destroyed and firsthand accounts. why this storm is unlike any other. also this morning, breaking news from california. the urgent search after this boat fire tragedy. 34 people feared dead. the one place search teams are hoping to find survivors. the big question this

morning after the shooting rampage in west texas. what we've learned about the shooter's history and the call minutes earlier to the fbi. the frenzy over popeyes new chicken sandwich turning violent. an armed mob storming the restaurant. plus, hear from the student pilot forced to land this plane by himself on his first lesson. the instructor passing out. how he kept his cool. and later just two days before football season kicks off, the big prediction this morning. the two teams that will make the super bowl according to the experts at espn. good tuesday morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. we begin this morning with the race to dodge dorian as that hurricane inches closer to the u.s. mainland. >> evacuations have been ordered along the coast up to north carolina from florida.

right now the category 3 hurricane is still slamming the bahamas where it's been stalled for more than 24 hours. >> the latest track shows the hurricane hugging the u.s. coastline through the end of this week. states of emergency have been declared as far north as virginia. >> even with the storm's eye le east coast beginning this afternoon. wind gusts in the 50s are possible in west palm beach and vero beach. some areas could see more than a foot of rain and seven feet of storm surge. >> in the meantime, the hurricane is blamed for at least five deaths in the bahamas where the damage is being compared to a war zone. this morning hurricane dorian unleashing its fury puing the bahamas for more than 24 hours straight. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: on grand bahama island, new video of utter devastation and the life-threatening storm surge. >> that's the water hitting my front window, which is extremely high. >> reporter: water seen lapping

the windows of this home. the homeowner says the water reached his kitchen windows 20 feet off the ground. this woman nervously watched as floodwaters reached the second story of her home. to the left you can see the flooded stairs leading to the first floor. in this video the grand bahama internatio rescuers receiving thousands of distress calls. this local man is driving a tractor through floodwaters searching for people who need help. >> swim, swim. >> reporter: the fast-moving waters swept this group away right in front of abc's marcus moore and his team. >> we heard those screams and looked off in the distance and saw four people and a house that was surrounded by the storm surge, the water rushing by. they swam across and made it, and they are thankful to be alive, and it really was a race against time. >> reporter: the u.s. coast guard is evacuating residents from hard hit abaco island where chris pannerman rode out the storm with his wife and

3-year-old daughter. >> this is a life-changing storm. it feels like something out of a movie. >> reporter: pannerman says the storm ripped part of the roof off his home, and he saw one house that was flipped over. >> when we were trapped in the bathroom, the whole building was shaking. s sittg ainst the wallur and i coule eporteti ay e hahadestroyeene rndewithn nghe apocalyptic damage. >> it's like a bomb went off here, and it looks like a war zone. >> reporter: as of monday night at least five deaths are blamed on the storm including this woman's grandson. >> my granddaughter called my daughter from abaco and said -- my daughter said my grandson dead. >> did they say how he died? >> i think they say he drowned. >> reporter: and this morning hurricane hunter lieutenant colonel jeff ragusa telling abc news dorian is unlike any storm

he's ever seen. >> hurricanes are given names because they all have different personalities, and they're different creatures. hurricane dorian was its own hurricane and decided it did not want to react like all the other ones. >> and the prime minister of the bahamas said the hurricane is like fighting a war but being completely helpless to fight. the united states is already sending humanitarian assistance beginning with a disaster response team from u.s. aid. back here at home more than 1 million people are now under evacuation orders from florida to the carolinas. everyone along the coast iexemy destructive dumping more than a foot of rain in some areas. we're already seeing flooding on streets of miami there. abc's serena marshall continues our coverage. she's in new smyrna beach, florida. good morning, serena. >> reporter: kenneth, good morning. the florida national guard has already activated 4500 troops to respond to this

storm, and the american red cross set up 60 shelters just here in florida. this morning, hurricane dorian threatening nearly 1,000 miles of american coastline. >> if you're in a mandatory, you have to get out. >> reporter: with the storm lorida all theay to the derecuat outer banks of north ceact ylon vacate and seek shelter. >> reporter: police going door to door in boynton beach where patients at hospitals are being moved inland. despite the warnings, not all have evacuated. this man venturing out to test the waters in palm beach getting wiped out by the massive waves. >> it looks like he's going to be all right, though. >> reporter: but many have deserted the area fleeing homes and businesses. >> so right now you're just watching and waiting. >> like everybody else in volusia county. >> reporter: in south carolina all lanes of this highway now lead away from the coast.

many people in charleston are bracing for severe flooding. our steve osunsami is there. >> so many families here deciding that they're going to stay put, they're getting their sandbags ready to keep the water out. >> reporter: and in georgia, where 400,000 people are under evacuation orders, the governor is warning them don't take any chances. >> even with all this preparation, we still cannot stress enough that hurricane dorian remains a significant threat. >> reporter: flooding remains the greatest threat. some forecasters are saying certain areas could get up to 15 inches of rain with the storm surge reaching seven feet. kenneth. >> that is a lot and it's still not too late to evacuate. serena marshall, thank you. let's take a closer look now at where hurricane dorian is headed. >> accuweather's adam del rosso has been tracking the storm all night. adam, good morning. >> reporter: janai and kenneth, go devastating images coming out of the bahamas as dorian has just been sitting here over the last 24 hours or so. it is going to gradually and very slowly start to lift to the

north, and we're going to feel more of those impacts along the southeast coast of the u.s. hurricane warnings remain in effect for parts of the bahamas as well as the florida coastline. once you get as far north as charleston, south carolina, hurricane watches are posted. now it's going to start to move because of this dip in the jet stream across the eastern part of the u.s. it's going to give it that tug to the north and as it does so bring it very close to the carolina coastline and regardless of whether or not it makes landfall, we are still going to have significant impacts as it's going to be a category 2 hurricane by late thursday, eventually a category 1 as we head into friday and saturday. hurricane force wind gusts along the florida and carolina coastlines. we're also talking flooding . up to 15 inches of rainfall is possible in some spots. janai, kenneth. >> all right. adam, thank you. our live coverage from the badly damaged bahamas continues at 7:00 a.m. on "good morning america." and you can track this slow moving monster of a storm any time on the abc news app.

well, coming up, a possible change that facebook fans may not like. we'll explain. but first the breaking news overnight at the scene of that boat fire off the california coast where 34 patple are auten next

we're back now with a possible change coming to facebook.st. facebook owned instagram is already testing a similar feature. >> the company says it launched the test on instagram to remove the social pressure many people feel regarding the number of likes their posts get. well, we turn now to the breaking news off the coast of more than two dozen bodies have been recovered after that boat inferno near santa cruz island. >> 34 people are feared dead, but overnight there was still a

glimmer of he sus can nd.ur of a floating inferno. >> we will search all the way through the night into the morning, but i think we all should be prepared to move into the worst outcome. >> reporter: the dive boat with 39 people aboard anchored yards from shore erupted into flames just after 3:00 a.m. monday. >> mayday, mayday, mayday. i can't breathe. >> reporter: five crew members escaped by jumping into the water, but dozens of sleeping passengers were trapped inside the burning boat. >> roger, are they locked inside the boat? roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the doors so they can get off? >> reporter: fireboats arrived at remote santa cruz island, but the "conception" was too far gone. >> completely engulfed boat. me ma objecves to lk r orr: overnight we osnear the sn wreckage.

nine are still missing. abc's will carr on the scene. >> this is rough, rugged terrain. the hope is that maybe somebody >> reporter: on shore one of the crew members in obvious pain, and family members arriving not knowing if their loved ones were alive or dead. the owners of a nearby rescue boat said the "conception's" crew did everything they could. >> the young man was sitting there across from me, and he was crying, and he said that they had celebrated three birthdays. >> reporter: what caused this incident is still a mystery. images from before the fire showed just how tight the space was in the passengers' bunk room. >> of all scenarios to be in a foa worse siation. groups on bo were together to celebrate birthdays. coming up, the frenzy over popeyes chicken sandwich turning violent.

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we are back with this massive fire at this apartment building in north philadelphia. more than 100 firefighters eventually got it under control but the roof collapsed. the building was vacant. no word on the cause of the fire. we turn now to new details about the man who went on that shooting rampage in west texas. over the weekend killing seven people and wounding more than 20 including a baby. >> the focus of the investigation right now is how that shooter was able to get his hands on a gun. this morning abc news has learned the gunman in the odessa, texas, mass shooting failed a federal background gun check because he had been mentally ill. authorities say shortly before 36-year-old seth ator began his rampage on the highway that ended in this swarm of bullets,

he was fired from his trucking job. he and his employer then both dialed 911. ator also called the fbi tip line just 15 minutes before the gunfire erupted. >> a very incoherent call. didn't make any threats. >> reporter: police say he first fired on a state trooper who had pulled him over during a routine traffic stop then terrorized the midland, odessa, area shooting at more than 20 different locations. among the seven people killed, a 15-year-old girl shopping with her family and a 40-year-old father shot while sitting at a red light. his wife and kids in the car with him. the shooter eventually ditching his car and hijacking a postal van killing the driver then ramming that mail van into a police cruiser before he was finally killed. a neighbor says she too had called police on ator for his troubling behavior saying he was firing his gun late at night. she told us in spanish she called the cops, but they never came. now law enforcement facing the

troubling question, how despite being diagnosed as mentally ill did he get ahold of that weapon? and the 17-month-old baby injured in the shooting is now recovering at home after shrapnel was removed from her chest. the real estate tycoon at the center of the hbo documentary "the jinx" is expected to go on trial for murder after years of delays. 76-year-old robert durst is accused of killing his longtime confident susan berman at her p keep her from talking to police about the 1982 disappearance of his wife. durst was arrested in 2015 after he appeared to confess in the documentary. the frenzy over popeyes new chicken sandwich took a violent turn in houston. police say an angry group of customers with a gun stormed the restaurant after being told at the drive-through that the sandwiches were sold out. an employee was able to lock the group out of the restaurant and they took off from the scene. an american tennis player has apologized after he was fined $10,000 for making a

shooting gesture at the u.s. open. mike bryan held his racket like a gun and pointed it toward the umpire after a wrong call. bryan said the gesture was meant to be playful. also at the u.s. open defending women's champion naomi that's are security arrives. the crowd celebrated the cubs' win over the mariners. >> they know how to do it up in chicago. >> yeah, they do. up next in "the pulse," espn's bold prediction on who is going to the super bowl this season. plus, but first we hear from the student pilot forced to land a plane during his first lesson after his instructor passed out. and later why the maid of honor at this wedding showed up wearing a dinosaur costume. ow d? i now pronounce you husband and wife. you may kiss the bride. awwww. oh, get your birdseed ready. ♪

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♪ ♪ntil>> hax sster he was on a training flight in australia when his instructor passed out after a possible seizure. sylvester alerted air traffic control, and the controller asked an important question. >> have you landed any aircraft before? >> no, i haven't. this is my first lesson. >> ah, yep. it was his first lesson in that type of plane, but the air traffic controller was able to guide him through the flight, it all from the ground. the air max says despite the ordeal, he won't hesitate to get back in the air. >> oh, yeah, 100%. yeah. you have to do that because i mean you got to show your kids

that, you know, having issues like this, you know, you've got to power through them. >> he said he has to set a good example for his kids. he's got three kids that he had to make it home to. the flight instructor now recovering in the hospital. max was put to the ultimate test, and he stepped up to the plate. >> he sounded so calm. >> yeah. >> over that radio transmission there. >> could you imagine? >> i'd be like, aaagh! all right, next we found the perfect car to drive on the highway to the danger zone. ♪ i went to the danger zone >> the danger zone. it's a production model bugatti that hit 305 miles per hour on a test track. bugatti says that's a record for a car >> but the company admits it did modify the $3 million car. we're not sure where you could actually drive that fa >> maybe the 495 there, the so e >> i mean, so if you woke up in

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fire grows to 25, one still missing. >> more ecu under way from florida to north carolina. >> after years of planning construction -- excuse me, my voice is awful. >> it's okay. the grand opening ceremony today. it's my last day on air here at abc7 through this reggie, and i am carrying through this, because you showed up for me today. >> i am a wreck. >> you still look wonderful. >> i don't know about that. >> we will do sign language. let me take over now, and you guys figure out what is going on over there, get some

tea with maybe some 67 at half moon bay, and 71 in san francisco, and san jose,86, and we'll talk about dorian coming up soon. here's francis. it's back to work and back to school, and it would be a busy morning commute and right now it's looking great. no delays, not even fog to slow you down right now. i did have to use my wipers a few times in san francisco. a live shot at the toll plaza. westbound 4, antioch to hercules, 25 minutes. westbound 80, highway 4 to the maze is 16 minutes.

developing news, nine people still missing. >> 25 bodies have been found, and most of them near the wreckage, and that 33 people 3 were sleeping. we have learned the company worldwide diving adventures, and the owner is among those missing, and she was leading the trip that was celebrating three birthdays. >> of all scenarios, to be in a remote location and have a fire that occurs. >> it's designed in such a manner it has to be another way of the bunk room.

>> officials say it appears to have been an accident. a husband and wife on a fishing trip rescued the five surviving crew members. >> we heard somebody knocking on the door or my boat, my wife heard it because i could not hear, and all five crew members were in their underwear. i wish i could have picked all 35 of them up. i got the space. you know, if t