night. nightline is next. goodnight. thank you for joining us. this is kenneth moton along with mona kosar abdi and a special edition of "world news now." we welcome our west coast stations to continuous coverage of hurricane laura hitting the gulf coast. >> the storm is one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the united states with a storm surge of 20 feet expected along the louisiana coastline. >> abc's rob marciano joins us now from lake charles, louisiana. rob, good morning to you. >> good morning, guys. communications are hard. verizon wireless just went down. power obviously is out here in lake charles. i heard we've got verification of 130-mile-per-hour wind gusts. i believe it. we've got debris and glass

breaking outside and all sorts of stuff flying around way too close. the wind -- this door we can't get open. i'm putting all my weight into it and it's not budging. we can't even get outside right now. there's a fire alarm in our building. for the most part, it's coming unglued, at least outside. other than that, it's a fortress. this town is taking it right now. we're about to get inside the eye itself where these winds should go calm, at least for a few minutes. but this is the most fierce stuff we've seen so far. at one point when we were at higher floors, you could feel the hotel swaying. this being at night, you can't really see what's happening outside. we can't see the storm surge. we've got the river very close to us, or the lake, and that surge, what it's doing right now, i have no idea. no idea, because it's dark. and that may be the most frightening part of this

situation, coming in the dark as a category 4, nearly a 5, one the likes that lake charles has never seen, guys. >> rob, you've covered many hurricanes throughout your entire career. how does this one compare not just with what you're seeing on the ground, but some of the warnings that you're hearing, this unsurvivable storm surge as well? >> that's accurate. national weather service and the hurricane center worked hard over the years to communicate urgency when necessary. because people just haven't acted on it. so those words are accurate. our friends that live in cameron parish, i've got a good friend that lives down there, and he was going to ride out the storm. he had built up around his house -- he had elaborate plans. he had worked through rita. i called him, i said, this is worse than rita, you've got to get out. finally his daughter managed to convince him to leave. a lot of people were running yesterday, late in the day, they were going to ride it out.

they said, i survived the storm 15 years ago, hurricane rita. then they realized, because of the wording from the national weather service and the local officials, that this was going to be worse. and that's what we're seeing right now. you can see -- look at this. this door being pushed in by the wind. unbelievable. you know, being at night, obviously, it makes it that much more scary. so as far as my experience goes, this is very much like hurricane ike back in 2008 where the eye wall came overhead for a good -- the eye itself came overhead a good 50 minutes where we had calm. we haven't seen that yet. but that came in the middle of the night too. that's just unnerving, to say the least. it's unbelievable out there right now. better believe it. >> rob, we should tell our viewers, yes, your love shot we're seeing, yes, it's taking hits, but i'm actually a little surprised that we can hear and

see you right now with those wind gusts. and also something sobering you said yesterday on "world news tonight," you said life will be flat-out different here in lake charles after tomorrow. >> yeah, and i can't really think of a better way to put it. it's just -- when an event like this comes through a town, it changes it forever. rita came through, they had flooding, they had a tremendous amount of damage. but the infrastructure didn't take the hit that this is going to take. and i think the locals know it. this is a place that's near and dear to my heart. i spent three years of my life working in lake charles. i know it well. i've got lifelong friends here. they know it's going to be different after this storm passes. i tell you this, the people of southwest louisiana, they're hardy, they're fun, they're good souls.

and they'll take this with some positivity, regardless of how life changes. but life will be different here, no doubt about that, come tonight. >> all right, our friend rob marciano from lake charles. rob, please stay safe, you and the team. we will check back in with you a little bit later. we want to move to the fact that we know when it comes to those wind gusts, again, 128 miles an hour. this storm is packing quite a punch. we're continuing to monitor the situation there. coming up, new protests in wisconsin. plus the republican national convention. first, an update on the progress of hurricane laura as it lashes the u.s. gulf coast. we will talk to the lieutenant governor of louisiana.

welcome back. hurricane laura is pounding the gulf coast right now after making landfall near cameron, louisiana, with category 4 winds of 150 miles per hour and a life-threatening storm surge. we know that because of the size and intensity of the storm, officials say it could take rescuers 24 hours to get to residents who decided to ride it out. >> we've heard officials in the area say they are concerned about those who didn't heed the warnings to leave. the lieutenant governor of louisiana, billy nungesser, saying that he is praying for those that decided to stay behind. one of those people that decided to stay behind in texas, right outside of beaumont, is ron

rogers, joining us live right now. he is in elevator, texas, about 78 mail miles outside cameron parish, louisiana, where hurricane laura made landfall. rob, are you with us? can you hear me? >> i am. >> rob, what are you seeing right now where you are? >> wind gusts. 60, probably 70 miles per hour, sustained probably 40. shining a flashlight on the woods, it's ripped the bark off the trees. there's a good pine tree that's 150 foot high, i'm waiting for it to snap. we can hear a transformer blowing. unbelievably, we still have power, not sure how, don't expect to it last much longer. we've got another 20 minutes or so before the eye is due east of us. >> with all the officials in the past few days warning residents that they need to leave, the governor of texas saying that it may be up to 24 hours to respond

with recuse efforts to the hardest-hit areas, why did you personally decide to stay? >> i personally stayed because i just opened a business. i literally just opened it. i don't have coverage on my inventory, so i've got to stay. the other part was during rita, when we evacuated, we ended up being gone for three weeks because of downed trees, we couldn't get back. your house is just sitting there. it had water in it, wind damage, you couldn't get back and take care of your home or help your neighbors or anything, everybody was just stuck. i didn't want that to happen again. so if something happens to my home this time, i'll be here and be ready to start doing the repairs. >> rob what do you know about your neighbors? do a lot of people in your community did they shelter in place did they get out of that area? >> so my subdivision, our town had 85% flooding during harvey. and my subdivision's got 260 homes. every home had at least 3 feet

in it. i bought my home 22 days before harvey and got water up to the eaves in my house. so everybody was really gun shy. in this neighborhood, i can tell you there might be -- those that stayed, that might be it. luckily for me, within 100 yards is a good friend that stayed, across from him is an elderly couple we're taking care of, they didn't have the means to leave and it was too late when they said, we're ready to go, it was too late to leave. we're going to ride it out with them in different homes. we're all staying in different homes. if one home has something catastrophic happen, we've got two other homes we can go to. we're here watching for them. we are on the good side of the storm, even though this is pretty wild. >> definitely wild. what we know about that area, about texas, louisiana, is community looking out for community. so we say to you, r,leest sa.

toouors,taaf'll bnk y as you ride out this storm. rob rogers in texas, thank you. >> stay with us for more coverage of hurricane laura. about the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54. alex, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular

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as we continue to monitor hurricane laura, we want to check on other big stories this

morning. the sports world stepped up its call for social and racial justice, led by the nba. now the season may be in jeopardy. >> milwaukee refused to take the court for its playoff game against orlando yesterday afternoon. that led to all three nba games being postponed. espn is reporting players will meet today to discuss whether to end the entire season. and the white house is also closely monitoring hurricane lau laura, telling abc news as of now, the president will still speak tonight as planned, wrapping up the republican national convention. >> it comes after day three featured an array of powerful speakers, including a former nfl star, a roman catholic nun who's also a physician, and vice president mike pence delivering the keynote speech. >> pence is facing criticism for not addressing the police shooting in kenosha, wisconsin, saying only that the violence must stop. coming up, our continuing coverage of hurricane laura. >> and the logistics of evacuating thousands of people from the storm zone during a pandemic. again, this storm made landfall just after 1:00 a.m. near

cameron parish.

welcome back. this is a live look of the impact of hurricane laura, a category 4 storm that has made landfall in louisiana. winds now at 140 miles per hour. extreme wind warning has been extended now until 4:00 a.m. eastern standard time, 3:00 a.m. central standard time. the top wind gusts observed so far remains at 132 miles per hour in lake charles, louisiana. lake charles is also seeing sustained winds of 98 miles per hour. >> it's one of the most powerful storms to hit the united states. our meteorologist rob marciano saying it's living up to that warning that it is unsurvivable. but the timing of this storm is complicated as the coronavirus pandemic makes it tough for some to obey those potentially

life-saving orders. abc's will ganss joins us now with more on that. >> as thousands evacuate their homes and flock to inland communities, experts are concerned that cdc guidelines will be ignored and the virus might spread. but emgey icworkers throughout the gulf coast are doing everything in their power to make sure that that doesn't happen. the gulf coast has seen its fair share of evacuations, but as hurricane laura makes landfall this morning in the midst of a pandemic, things have to be done differently. >> don't want to be in a shelter, don't want to be infected, don't want to infect anybody. >> in an evacuation like this, we're used to seeing the images of cots lined up in a stadium, or a coliseum, or a convention center. but obviously during a pandemic, that's not going to work. so what are you guys doing instead to keep everybody safe? >> the choice that we made this time here in ft. worth in conjunction with the state and several local leaders, we are using some of our local hotels. >> reporter: an unprecedented

plan implented in cities across texas and louisiana, but one that provides shelter from both hurricane laura and from covid-19. >> so what it's really allowing us to do is isolate each one of these families as they come into ft. worth and give them, one, a little bit of their own space, but it gives them their own bathroom, their own shower. >> reporter: those convention centers and stadiums now serving as intake centers. >> they are registered into the system. they are given a screening. >> reporter: all while keeping within cdc guidelines. a longer process certainly, but a safer one. >> you're potentially exposed to a lot more people at a public shelter where there are a lot of shared facilities than you would be at a hotel. or even staying with friends and family. >> reporter: while this type of evacuation has never been seen icth classicefforts of emergency sohe hospitality hasn't changed at all. >> sometimes it's just a smiling face and a warm bed that makes a big difference. so whatever we have to do here

in ft. worth, we're willing to do that.

breaking news at this hour. laura making landfall. the monster category 4 storm taking aim at the gulf coast right now.hen we were at higher floors, you could feel the hotel swaying. >> the storm surge up to 20 feet, described as unsurvivable, traveling up to 30 miles inland. >> more than 15 inches of rain. this morning, the damage, the destruction, the evacuations, and how the pandemic is impacting the response. we're live across the storm zone right now. ght fo oprotests ove shootac bl >>lack lives matter! black lives matter! >> president trump saying federal law enforcement and the national guard are being deployed. authorities revealing the

identity of the officer they say shot blake seven times. new details about what led up to the shooting. the sports world uniting in protest. >> there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on >> the nba postponing all games. overnight, athletes in other leagues also walking out. what happens next. pence in the spotlight. the vice president's message to america at the republican national convention. making his case for four more years. >> this as the trump administration comes under scrutiny, accused of pressuring the cdc to change coronavirus testing guidelines. dr. anthony fauci not signing off. the new details this morning. good thursday morning, everyone. catastrophic. that's the word authorities are using to describe the storm surge pounding the gulf coast right now. >> hurricane laura made landfall

a short time ago as a strong category 4 storm packing winds up to 150 miles per hour, one of the strongest storms to ever make landfall in the united states. >> this video overnight from lake charles as the eye came ashore. >> the hurricane is lashing parts of texas. this video taken a short time ago in beaumont. >> we begin with meteorologist greg dutra tracking laura, good morning. >> good morning. it is the 10th with 150 or more miles per hour with it as it made landfall across the united states. we've been watching this lake charles center which is where rob mars you know know is, saying he could feel the top levels of his building swaying in the wind. the sensor recorded a wind gust of 132 miles per hour, then disappeared, after maintaining for over an hour with 100-mile-per-hour wind speeds. the sensor has gone down. but there's still a lot of wind

left in this system as this continues to move to the north. areas well north of the coast, rrane-force u a0 tea is above tropical storm force. pine bluff, little rock, arkansas, getting 60 to 70-mile-per-hour winds. that's because the system is moving so quickly. you'll notice something here, hurricane warnings along the coast, they transition to a flash flood potential as you go farther north, extending into portions of tennessee. and this is the reasowh look at all this rainfall. it gets pulled up and along with the system, 2 to 4 inches of rain expected in western and central tennessee. and that even extends to 1 to 2 inches of rain all the way up into the northeast. this is the deal with the system moving forward. hurricane laura will continue t category 2 storm in northern louisiana. it gets caught up in the jet stream and eventually is ejected off the east coast by the time we get through about the next three days, finally giving us a break and a chance to kind of

regain our composure and see exactly what went wrong along the coast. >> greg, thank you. let's head to the louisiana coast right now. our senior meteorologist, rob marciano, is in lake charles. >> rob, what's the situation there where you are? >> it hasn't changed much. we thought we'd get inside the eye of the storm, which would bring us some calm. with the power out, the lake charles radar is out, so we're using other radars from different states. that throws off your location. so we haven't seen a lull in the winds, which i was hoping for, so that we could reposition and maybe get over to a parking lot, a parking garage, so that we can show you what's happening outside. but we can't. it's dark, and this door that i tried to open during the last hit -- maybe i can get it open. see that? look at that, look at all that broken glass out there. all the debris. look at those huge chandeliers

swaying in this wind. that is not a safe place to be. that's why we've been camped out in here. all right, i better come back in. i don't want this door flying. that's what we're dealing with here. any time you get a hurricane in the middle of the night, it's terrifying,s to the least. this one, with 150-mile-an-hour winds coming onshore -- lake charles is 30 miles inland. so this has already been onshore now for "world news now," america this morning and "good morning, america." we'll see you right here tomorrow, thanks for the company, america. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live," with guest host, jason derulo. tonight, luke bryant and our health care hero of the week, and now, here's jason derulo.

>> hello and welcome to jimmy kimmel live, i'm your guest host jason derulo. you probably know me from listening to my music, or watching me on tiktok. and if you don't know who i am you're -- old. i hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's true. if you follow me on tiktok, you know my dog ice. he pops up on there quite a bit. and since this is my first late night monologue, i asked him if he'd judge my material to see how funny i am. ice, how was my opening joke? >> dammit. only a two? ok at least there's room for improvement. we have to enjoy tiktok while we still got it. because the president wants to get rid of it. no one really knows why. personally i think it's because he tried the "i'm a savage" dance and got zero likes. but losing tiktok would be disastrous. without it, where else would we spend time on the internet? besides youtube, twitter, facebook, instagram, linked-in and snapchat? welp, at least i can fall back

on my music career. there's a lot of crazy stuff going on right now.