>> i miss oreo, i miss my intern. >> my dog is not even up yet. good morning, america. breaking news, the major hurricane makes landfall overnight. laura slamming the gulf coast right now. the most powerful winds through louisiana in more than 160 years, topping 150 miles an hour. >> oh, my god. >> ripping skyscrapers apart and in lake charles, people who did not evacuate now calling for rescue. residents bracing for what authorities are calling unsurvivable storm surge. n nine feet,naard mobilized in louisiana for search and rescue. this morning, more than 375,000 people in the dark. power lines on fire. the hurricane on the move and colliding with states hard hit by the coronavirus. louisiana's lieutenant governor and the fema director join us live. ginger and our team spread out all over the storm zone tracking the latest this morning. making his case, vice presil

llg ndrainti, president trump's leadership during the pandemic that has killed nearly 180,000 americans as the president gets set to close out the republican national convention tonight. overnight authorities reveal the identity of the officer who shot jacob blake in the back and a new report there may have been a knife in blake's car. also police arrested a 17-year-old accused of the fatal shooting of those protesters. sports on strike. the nba playoffs shut down by players, demanding justice over the police shooting of jacob blake. lebron and the lakers reportedly voting to end the season. protests in the wnba, soccer and mat me t wide world ofports? president trump's administration accused of pressuring the cdc to stop testing asy . dr. anthony fauci not signing off on these new guidelines. what the white house is saying

this morning and why men might be more susceptible to the virus than women. dr. jha joins us live. plus, baby daisy is here. ♪ cover me in daisies, daisies, daisies ♪ >> reporter: katy perry and orlando bloom welcome their baby girl to the world. how the new parents are celebrating and joining forces with an amazing cause. ♪ they tell me that i'm crazy and good morning, america. so many crises colliding in the country right now and we want to get right to the latest on hurricane laura. it made landfall overnight with a hard hit on southern louisiana. >> this is the strongest hurricane to hit this part of the gulf coast in history and take a look. video from lake charles, powerful winds tearing apart skyscrapers. they're already seeing the catastrophic damage caused by this storm. >> the images coming in are terrifying. let us tell you what we know right now.

that monster storm made landfall as a major category 4 hurricane. that dangerous storm surge as high as ten feet with winds topping 150 miles an hour and there are already nearly 500,000 without power this morning. >> our team is tracking it all across the storm zone. ginger starts us off from port arthur, texas. good morning, ginger. >> reporter: george, here in port arthur, texas, we were on the west side of the storm. we escaped the worst of it. close to half a million customers are without power and that number is going to grow and i'll tell you why. let's first go to this stunning image of when this category 4 made landfall. houston on the left was spared from the storm. the worst of it fell in southwestern louisiana, lake charles. that's where we see the unbelievable pictures of damage today. but we still have a hurricane circulating through northern louisiana and arkansas is going to get into tornado watches and eventuallyough later today. that outer band is going to have heavy lightning and gusts.

we are not going to be done with this for a while. some of the highest wind gusts reported, 137 miles per hour at lake charles. that's the preliminary report and we may see even higher. some of the storm surge up to ten feet so those numbers could still climb as the water pushes but for the most part we're going to watch power outages and more inland effects from this hurricane and eventually tropical storm and we'll lose it by the weekend. t.j.? >> all right, ginger, thank you. we'll check in with you again. we want to head over to rob marciano. he's in lake charles, louisiana. rob, as she just mentioned, that area saw wind gusts of 137 miles per hour. >> reporter: hey, good morning, t.j. the rain has stopped. the winds are beginning to calm down but i can tell you it was one terrifying night. at sunset yesterday winds weren't blowing at all. by midnight this hotel was swaying. shortly after that the power went out and now debris litters this area as it does much of west lake charles with

significant damage being reported here. and now we have the first confirmed fatality from the governor, a 14-year-old girl killed when a tree came down on her home. i fear we'll see more of that as reports come in throughout the day today. hurricane laura coming in with a vengeance. overnight, hurricane laura tearing into the gulf coast. you can see the winds shredding this skyscraper. >> the whole building is falling apart! >> reporter: making landfall around 1:00 a.m. local time in cameron, louisiana, as a category 4 hurricane. >> oh, i got to get out of the debris. >> reporter: the monster storm bringing maximum sustained winds of 150 milvi persibi ge to zero, flying debris happening. >> wind just blasting us. >> reporter: watch as this rv was flipped onto its side as the storm moves in. widespread catastrophic damage expected to be revealed.

you can see power lines just littering the streets and igniting. power surges leading to this massive fire. >> 1:30 in the morning power went out in lake charles. the wind is buffeting our hotel. you can feel the building swaying. >> reporter: traffic signs ripped from the ground. over nine feet of storm surge reported described by officials as unsurvivable. >> the rain has started to come down pretty fiercely and this is just the beginning. >> i'm scared to death. >> reporter: over half a million people forced to evacuate. the entire national guard in louisiana activated. officials warned residents staying in place could be deadly. the grounds of this hotel littered with pieces of the hotel quite frankly, the sides, parts of the roof. as a matter of fact, the manager telling me that parts of the roof actually collapsed. this place is built like a fortress so i can't imagine riding this storm out ie d it mobile homes. we'll see how they faired.

right now the winds though, although they're less, they're blowing upstream. the storm surge is going to be an issue all day long today and debris on the roadways too. so water, debris, going to be very difficult for first responders to get around and start recovery. cecilia? >> rob, thank you so much. we are thinking of everybody there. we want to bring in now ashley thomas who is in sulfur, louisiana. that is right near lake charles. ashley, good morning to you. i know that you and your family decided to ride out this storm at home. you're joining us now by phone. how is everybody this morning? >> everybody is safe and unhurt. >> okay, that is good news. tell us about your night. i understand this ended up being much worse than you thought it would be. >> it did. it did end up being much worse. we thought we were safe. we had generators and our windows boarded up. we were in a home instead of a mobile home and around 2:00 a.m., you know, the weather started getting to where it was just super bad.

we got our family in our home underneath the kitchen table and then after being under the table for about five minutes we lost our roof. >> the roof came off your house, you said, while you were under the table. >> yes, ma'am. >> and what happened then? >> well, we heard lots of noises. the insulation fell down on top of us. after we collected our thoughts and things like that, we went to the closet, you know, just drug everything out of the closet and stayed in there until the eye passed over us. once the eye passed over us, a friend of ours who was staying with us during the storm came to a duplex that is currently under construction at about 95% completion, and we broke through a window and we got ourselves and two other families inside the house with us. >> you left your home. you went outside. you went to a nearby house, ended up breaking into that house. you're with that other family

now and that's where you're calling us from? >> no, there is no family currently living in this house. it's under construction property and we got the other two families that stayed as well off our street into the duplex with us. >> that's where you are right now calling us from safety? >> yes. >> and did you have a sense of the conditions outside? >> we had three large oak trees. they're all down. as far as other damages, we know we've got power lines down but it's still very dark here so we can't really see other than where there were trees and there are no longer trees. >> i know you have called police and asked for help with a rescue. what's the status of that? >> we just have to wait for the storm to calm down enough to where they can send people out. i let them know we are safe and everyone is unhurt but that when resources become available and people start moving, we will need help. >> we are thinking of you and all of your neighbors right now. ashley, stay safe and thank you for joining us this morning. george. >> thank you. >> thank you, cecilia. let's get more now from louisiana's lieutenant governor billy nungesser.

we heard about the situation in southern louisiana there, lieutenant governor. what more do we know about t damage? >> well, we know anyone that stayed that's close to the coast, we've got to pay for them because looking at the storm surge, there would be little chance of survival and we know as many -- we've heard from 50 to 150 people may have stayed behind to ride this out and in holly beach where they raised homes 15 feet after rita and many thought that might be safe, that would not survive this tidal surge. we're hopeful most people got out, but as soon as it's safe for the first responders to get in there, we're hopeful that we don't find people that didn't make it. >> when do you think the first responders will be able to make it in? >> as soon as it's light enough and the winds have died down enough and they feel it's safe, they'll go in. i spoke to a family around 3:30

this morning 50 miles from the coast and they said they will never ride out a storm again. they were fearing for their life about 3:30 in the morning. >> do you have a sense of how many families tried to ride out the storm down there? >> i've heard everything from 50 to 150. i know many family members that called me were asking me to make calls to urge their family to get out. i rode out katrina 14 miles from the eye in plaquemines parish and know what i went through, not a good decision, and so i tried to encourage as many people as i could to leave. some people just don't want to leave their belongings and it's very difficult along the coast of louisiana that everything they've worked for is in those communities. it's hard to get them to leave sometimes. >> we're going to speak to the fema director in the next hour. what's your greatest need right now? >> getting the resources in to wres rescue people first and foremost and then making sure everyone gets a roof over their head that's lost their home. we're going to be working with

that may have lost their homes and need a place to stay because we're still trying to te because we're still dealing with the covid-19 issue and we've got to be concerned with their health in that regard as well. >> it is so difficult. stay safe, sir. thank you. t.j.? >> george, want to head back to ginger in port arthur, texas, for us. ginger, what's next? >> reporter: t.j., we are not done with hurricane laura yet. it is still moving through northern louisiana. some of the gusts will topped 80 miles per hour. if you're in shreveport or monroe or along the state line through arkansas, you're going to see gusts through late morning and early afternoon. pine bluff will see a gust close to 60, 70 miles per hour. little rock could easily feel tropical storm force winds going into tonight. by tomorrow morning, we could even talk about a gust to 40 in memphis. that's how hard laura is trying to hold on but this trough is

going to pick her up and kick her out which we'll talk about just as well. for now back over to you. cecilia? >> thank you so much. we'll have much more on the hurricane coming up but want to turn to the latest on the police shooting of jacob blake. authorities now revealing the identity of the officer who shot the 29-year-old father in the back. alex perez is there with the very latest and, alex, another night of protests. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, cecilia. after three nights of violent and deadly protests, additional national guardsmen were called in and things were peaceful here overnight. now, authorities this morning are telling us more about the officer who shot jacob blake. authorities identifying the kenosha officer seen in videos shooting jacob blake seven times in the back as rusten sheskey. authorities say he is a seven-year veteran of the force. investigators say before the shooting, blake admitted to officers he had a knife. that knife was found on the floor inside of his vehicle. now, separately authorities have

arrested 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse from neighboring illinois on charges of first degree murder in connection with shootings tuesday night that left two people dead and one injured. authorities confirm rittenhouse was armed with a long gun captured on video saying he had come to the area to protect property. now, sheskey and the two other officers who responded to that call are on administrative leave pending outcome of this investigation. george. >> alex, thanks very much. now to the republican convention and mike pence in the spotlight with a full-throated defense of president trump, bare-knuckled attack on joe biden. all ahead of president trump's big night tonight, mary bruce is at the white house with all of the highlights. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. this is where the president will be giving that big address tonight. the south lawn of the white house turned into a convention floor. now, overnight the party ramped up its attacks against democrats warning that lawlessness will prevail if joe biden is elected. vice president mike pence getting the biggest applause of the night when he touted president trump as a champion of law and order. overnight, a beaming president

trump greeting supporters flashing thumb's up and posing for pictures. many of his supporters not in masks or socially distancing. a surprise appearance to celebrate his vice president, mike pence, officially accepting the party's nomination. >> i humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as vice president of the united states. [ applause ] >> reporter: pence delivering the speech of the night from ft. mchenry, the site of the battle that inspired the national anthem. speaking before a crowd of american heroes and first responders, pence argued american values are on the line in this election. >> the choice in this election is whether america remains america. >> reporter: pence, the head of the coronavirus task force, touted the administration's response to the pandemic even as nearly 180,000 americans have died. >> we built hospitals, surged military medical personnel and enacted an economic rescue package to save 50 million american jobs. r: hacknowledged the other crisis facing this

country, addressing the unrest sparked by police shootings, but not the protesters' root concerns or the broader fight for racial justice. >> the violence must stop, whether in minneapolis, portland or kenosha. too many heroes have died defending our freedom to see americans strike each other down. we will have law and order on the streets of this country for every american of every race and creed and color. >> reporter: the vice president assuming the role of attack dog saying joe biden poses a danger to americans, falsely claiming he wants to defund the police. >> the hard truth is you won't be safe in joe biden's america. >> reporter: night three was also a night for women as the country marks the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. outgoing white house adviser kellyanne conway with an appeal to the female voters the

president sorely needs. >> he confides in and consults us, respects our opinions and insists that we are on equal footing with the men. >> reporter: now, as for tonight the president and his team have been discussing adjusting their convention plans in response to the hurricane, possibly even delaying the president's address. but as of now we are told the president's big acceptance speech here tonight is a go, george. >> we will be there. our full coverage of the republican convention continues tonight at 7:00 p.m. on abc newslive. i'll be anchoring our primetime coverage on the network starting at 10:00. t.j.? a lot of other major headlines including what happened in the nba yesterday. the playoffs shut down by the players refusing to take the court demanding justice over the police shooting of jacob blake. this sparked protests in the wnba and other major league moinuprning, pressure over that major tesngc. dr. jha will be joining us live. first let's go back to ginger.

>> reporter: cecilia, that surge is still piling up as that storm moves north, so we're not done with all the impacts, even after the storm moves on. i also want to show you how it's going to move on. as the storm gets kind of absorbed into that low pressure system you see on your screen there, it's going to move with the trough across the ohio river valley. it will get sucked up with those westerlies in the jet stream and eject right into the atlantic ocean by saturday night into early sunday. all of this sponsored by the stormy cities and walmart.

>> reporter: everyone here antsy to get into the rescue mode now. guys? >> and we know you'll track it all morning long, ginger. thanks very much. we'll be right back.

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it's the fastest 5g in the world. this is 5g built right. good morning. developing news in oakland where a largely peaceful protest over the jacob blake shooting turned viole violent. about 700 people attempted to set fire to businesses in downtown oakland. cars also burned. dozens of windows broken and several businesses vandalized. aal alameda courthouse set on fire. california's governor has announced big plans to expand covid testing. the state has signed a contract with a major diagnostics company that will process an additional 150,000 covid tests per day.

and that will more than double the state's current testing capacity. the governor says his office is demanding that the test results be returned within 24 to 48

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tangy buffalo sauce, grilled chicken, and melty cheese for just six bucks. papa john's. here it is. >> welcome back to "gma." the latest on hurricane laura. you see the picture, power winds in lake charles flipped that rv over. also hit skyscrapers so hard. this is the strongest hurricane to hit this part of the gulf coast in history. >> a frightening morning for so many people so right back to ginger with more on these winds and the new warnings right now. good morning again, ginger. >> reporter: cecilia, while it feels so calm here now, there is still a push of water and air behind that storm and i want to take you to where the hurricane force wind gusts are still happening. alexander dree ya, over 80 mile-per-hour gusts. shreveport, nearly tropical storm force winds. i want to bring you to what's

going t after this. little rock is in a tropical storm warning so remember to those winds extend far beyond the center, 60 miles with the hurricane winds outside the center, and then as it becomes a tropical storm it will even broaden so the impact will be breezy with the low pressure system and arreremnants, and moisture saturday and sunday. >> we'll have much more on hurricane laura. right now we want to turn to something we saw that was absolutely extraordinary yesterday. mass protests by pro athletes taking a major stand demanding justice over the police shooting of jacob blake. the milwaukee bucks sparked a basketball boycott and a chain reaction throughout the sports world. this morning the nba postseason in doubt following the police involved shooting of jacob blake.

an all players meeting was held to discuss whether the nba bubble season should move forward at all. lebron james reportedly walked out of that meeting after voting to stop the season. he sent out this tweet, we demand change, sick of it. this comes after the milwaukee bucks announced they would not play their playoff game. >> when we take the court and represent milwaukee and wisconsin, we are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable and we demand the same from lawmakers and law enforcement. >> reporter: the nba postponed all three of their playoff games after the bucks' decision. nba on tnt commentator kenny smith walked off the set in solidarity with those players. >> as a black man, as a former player i think it's best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight. >> reporter: former nba player chris webber added these players are taking the first steps. >> i don't know the next steps, don't really care what the next steps are because the first steps are to garner attention and they have everybody's attention around the world right now. >> reporter: one night earlier

los angeles clippers coach doc rivers delivered a passionate call for equality. >> we keep loving this country and this country has not loved us back. and it's just -- it's really so sad. i should just be a coach. it's so often reminded of my color, you know. it's just really sad. we got to do better but we got to demand better. >> reporter: other major sports followed suit, the wnba, major league baseball and major league soccer all postponing their games in solidarity. dominic smith, a new york mets playing seen kneeling before last night's game, worked his way through tears after what he described as a long day. >> i think the most difficult part is to see like people still don't care. being a black man in america is not easy. >> i want to bring espn's stephen a. smith for us.

stephen a., always good to see you. there are three playoff games, nba playoff games scheduled today. what do you think the chances are of those happening? >> i'd say 50/50 right now. they're scheduled to have a meeting today to resume talks from last night. last night didn't end so well. a lot of guys were frustrated because clearly the milwaukee bucks took a stand. that was a great thing. the flip side to it is that it was a relatively unilateral decision. they hadn't informed anybody so because of that it caught a few of the players and a few of the teams off guard. they had a meeting last night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. they were in there for hours and ultimately it was put to a vote and everybody voted to -- everybody voted to continue playing with the exception of the los angeles lakers and the los angeles clippers from what i was told and obviously lebron james walked out. very frustrated that there didn't appear to be a plan but still stood with the decision that the milwaukee bucks made and obviously guys are incredibly frustrated. you see dominic smith from the

new york mets. the imagery of him and his feelings and frustration certainly epitomized those of a lot of nba players for sure and that's why i think you also saw lebron james reacting the way that he reacted. you saw his tweet and what have you. he's clearly fed up and wanted to do away with the season. >> stephen a., you said they're not on the same page, okay. but if you got the lakers voting to not continue the season, that's lebron. can the bubble season continue if lebron doesn't want to be a part of it? >> well, my personal opinion is no because the los angeles lakers and the los angeles clippers as teams, they're the championship favorites. you can throw the bucks in there even if you watched them play during the bubble, some people would say, no, it's about the lakers and it's about the clippers, the two in los angeles, the top two markets in the united states of america where two of the pre-eminent stars in the game, two of the top five players on the planet, lebron james and kawhi leonard, if they don't play and are not

participating then any champion that's crowned is going to be delegitimized in my opinion and i think that of most nba fans and so it's that important, lebron james is the iconic figure clearly in the nba and arguably in all the world of sports and if he's not interested in playing, you can't convince him to play, then you've got a significant, significant problem if you are the national basketball association who, by the way, is a bit lost at this particular moment in time. they spent over $200 million to contribute to this bubble, to make this bubble happen. their beli is that they've capitulated and done everything that the players have asked them to do. i've spoken to several owners over the last 12 hours and they have literally asked the question, we know that there are serious problems in our societya nba community have stood with these players. we will continue to stand with these players and do all that we can and in light of that reality since we definitely did agree to

the bubble and we financed it, what's the problem with continuing to go forward? that's their position right now so we'll see what happens over the next few hours as the players convene again. >> last thing, there was debate and some players who spoke out that said we shouldn't even be restarting this season. what made this the last straw and what's it going to take to get them back on the court? >> well, it's the latest thing. when you see jacob blake get shot in the back seven times it's more of the same in the eyes of the players and as a result they believe people are not listening and people are not hearing and they have family members in the communities from which they come. you have people complaining and begging them to give a voice to the voiceless. that's the pressurized situation that they're on. that's the challenge and that's something that they're going to have to address. i still think the season will go on. but it's a tough -- it's a 50/50 proposition. you can't predict what's going to happen. >> stephen a., always good to see you. we'll see you plenty throughout the day. >> shock waves all across the country. coming up next here new questions about political pressure over the cdc's

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with plant extracts. 100% natural, 100% powerful. there's a tidy cats for that! back now with the latest on the coronavirus crisis. the united states is now reporting more than 5.8 million cases, more than 179,000 deaths and this morning a major shift by the cdc no longer recommending testing for asymptomatic people. questions now abouerts assail the move.

steve osunsami is at the sid cdc headquarters in atlanta with the latest. good morning, steve. >> reporter: good morning. a source connected with the white house task force tell us people across the agency and across public health are, quote, horrified by this. they're worried that this sends the message that people who don't have symptoms can't spread disease which is not true. after months of telling americans that if they're exposed to someone with the coronavirus that they should get tested, the cdc is now saying there's no need in most cases if you have no symptoms. and "the new york times" is reporting that the change was ordered from the top down by the president who believes that bad numbers are meant to hurt his re-election campaign and has said over and over that more tests drive up the numbers of covid-19 cases. the white house denies that they forced the change. >> there is no direction from president trump, the vice president or the secretary about what we need to do when. >> reporter: the nation's top infectious disease doctor, anthony fauci, says this was

done without him. he was under anesthesia and in surgery when this was approved. across the medical community, doctors underline that as much as 40% of coronavirus patients show no symptoms. infectious disease experts are outraged and heartbroken. one sharing on line that our work on the silent spread underscores the importance of testing people who have been exposed to covid-19 regardless of symptoms. this change in policy will kill. >> when you lose the trust in our public health agencies, whether it's cdc or fda, that is a recipe for disaster. >> reporter: the governors of new york and california both say they're not listening to this. >> i don't agree with the new cdc guidance, period, full stop and it's not the policy in the state of california. >> it totally violates public health standards and rationale and just fosters his failed policy of denial.

>> reporter: congressional leaders in the house say they will be launching an investigation. cecilia. >> okay, steve, thank you so much. we're joined live by the director of the harvard global health institute, dr. ashish jha. we always appreciate your time, dr. jha. this is a really big deal so let's just break this down. we know that asymptomatic people are one of the driving forces behind the spread of the virus. is there any scientific medical explanation for why the cdc would make this reversal and say people who don't have symptoms now no longer need to get tested? >> yeah, good morning. thank you for having me on. there is no scientific basis for this change in policy. as the report said, about half of all spread happens from people who don't have symptoms and the idea that we're going to stop recommending those people get tested, it will make the outbreak much, much worse so i think we're all baffled by this decision. >> it is a head scratcher. we talk to you all the time. your lesson always is to us,

listen to the science. what do americans do if the cdc, the science, now seems to be bowing to political pressure? >> yeah, it's very distressing because for a very long time we have known that we could trust the cdc. we could trust the fda. the scientists who are there are great. they're the best in the country. they need to be able to speak openly to the american people. that's not happening at this point. and i think for americans what i recommend you got to find other trusted sources but in the middle of a pandemic, we need to be able to turn to our nation's scientists and i think i and a lot of us are heartbroken this is where we are. >> dr. jha, i want to get one more thing. there is a new study that suggests men might be being hit harder by the virus than women. why do you think that might job. >> we've known for awhile especially among older people men are more likely to get really sick and die and now we have emerging evidence that women mount a more effective immune response.

and that's interesting and that's important and especially as we think about a vaccine down the road it's going to be a really important thing to track. it might be that men might need more shots than women. we'll have to sort it out. it seems to be about the immune response. >> dr. jha, as always, thank you so much. t.j. >> all right, everybody, we'll be back with much more on that monster hurricane. stay here. >> there it goes, oh. >> there it goes, oh. california. we were one of the first stations to pilot a fleet of electric vehicles. we're striving to deliver a package with zero emissions into the air. i feel really proud of the impact that has on the environment. we have two daughters and i want to do everything i can to protect the environment so hopefully they can have a great future. proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira.

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>> incredible, t.j., to stand in the eye of a category 1 storm, to feel that force is nothing short of amazing. you can't stand in a 3 or 4. as a matter of fact just trying to get out or open the door of the hotel to peek outside, i couldn't do it because the force of the wind held that door so strong. all of my weight, full shoulder into it, could not open the door early this morning with 140, 150-mile-an-hour winds out there. it's calming down a little bit but yet another remarkable storm and now that sun is coming up. we'll see what it left. back to you. >> well, rob, we are glad you and the team are safe and of course, we have much more hurricane coverage coming up in our next half hour with the fema director and texas governor greg abbott both joining us on "gma." we'll be back. "gma." we'll be back.

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to get three times the cleaning power, try clean freak from mr. clean. welcome back to "gma." i'm here in port arthur, texas, where things have really calmed down behind laura but that beast is still moving through louisiana and when it was at its peak it was a category 4 at landfall. that image that, is where you saw that 137-mile-per-hour on a boat in lake charles. all of this has been sponsored by pandora. we'll have much more on the

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and good morning. i'm reggie aqui. half moon bay will close its beaches again this weekend. the city says it is dealing with an influx of fires. officials say they need to concentrate resources for those displaced e evacuees and not influx of tourists that usually come to the coastal town on weekends. they want to keep highway 1 through town open for firefighters, too. the city has one evacuation center set up at half moon bay high school. >> hi, everybody. the czu fire is also creating unhealthy air quality down in the south bay, but look at the rapid increase in air quality in san rafael. it was red. unhealthy, just an hour ago and look at that green and yellow. just about everywhere across the

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good morning, america. it's 8:00 a.m. breaking news, hurricane laura makes landfall overnight moving through louisiana right now. the most powerful winds whipping through in more than 160 years topping 150 miles an hour. >> oh, my god. >> in lake charles people who did not evacuate calling for rescue. residents bracing for what authorities are calling unsurvivable storm surge. already more than nine feet. the entire national guard mobilized in louisiana for search and rescue. more than 375,000 people in the dark right now. power lines on fire. the hurricane on the move and colliding with the state's hard hit by the coronavirus. the texas governor and the fema director join us with the latest. ginger and our team all over the storm zone. new this morning, consumer reports out with a new guide on pesticides. why buying fresh produce could be risky business and when you should buy organic versus

non-organic and what fruits and vegetables are your best pick. the future of shopping. "gma's" exclusive first look inside the amazon fresh grocery store opening in just a few weeks. the new smart carts that add up your order as you shop. caught on tape, the harrowing encounter as a shark swims towards 40 members of the coast guard. how they fired into the water to keep the shark away and got unicorn floatie. ♪ larger than life new this morning, we're revealing the next celebrity to join "dancing with the stars." he's larger than life and he's live just ahead. ♪ cover me in daisies, daisies and baby daisy is here, proud parents katy perry and orlando bloom welcome their baby girl to the world as we say, good morning, america. ♪ why did we put all our hopes in a box in the attic ♪

good morning, america. we hope you guys are well this morning. we want to get right to the latest on hurricane laura. it made landfall overnight as you know, the strongest hurricane to hit this part of the gulf coast in history. >> here's what we know right now. that monster storm making landfall as a major category 4 hurricane. that dangerous storm surge as high as ten feet. >> and get this, winds topping 150 miles an hour. already now nearly 500,000 without power this morning. >> our team is all across the storm zone and start with ginger in port arthur, texas. good morning, ginger. >> good morning, george. yes, we have seen the emergency vehicles streaming past because that storm screamed past us overnight and the worsof it was just to our east by about 30 or 50 miles. we still at this hour have a category 2 hurricane moving through west central louisiana. so it's going north at 15. you're going to see hurricane-strength winds all the way from shreveport to alexandria as we go through the next couple of hours. so this is not an overnight and then done. we still have a hurricane until

tonight, and then it moves into arkansas as a likely tropical storm. when it does that, we've got tornado watches will extend north as we go through the day, feeder bands with all that lightning are strong, still a bunch of water pushing up the rivers and so while we've seen surge of nine, ten feet we could see it higher but i think wind is going to be the calling card of what we remember laura for. we saw gusts reportedly to 137 miles per hour in lake charles, cecilia, and we're going to see gusts throughout today, and i think more power outages into even arkansas. >> okay. we know that you are going to be staying on this. ginger, thanks. we want to go back now to rob marciano there in heart hit port charles. good morning, rob. >> hi again, cecilia. a difficult and dangerous storm. this storm flew all night long and in the dark, terrifying at times. it's calmed down a little bit now. as a matter of fact, the boat traffic at the port of lake charles is starting to gets receding just a little bit. but we do have our confirmed

fatality of a 14-year-old girl and that's not the news we want to hear. overnight, hurricane laura tearing into the gulf coast. you can see the winds shredding this skyscraper. >> the whole building is falling apart. >> reporter: making landfall around 1:00 a.m. local time in cameron, louisiana, as a category 4 hurricane. >> oh, god. got to get out of the debris. >> reporter: the monster storm bringing maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. >> this is the eyewall. you can see visibility is going to zero now, flying debris happening. >> wind just blasting us. >> reporter: watch as this rv was flipped on its side as the storm moves in. widespread catastrophic damage expected to be revealed. earlier this morning we spoke to louisiana's lieutenant governor. >> we know anyone that stayed that's close to the coast, we've got to pray for them because looking at the storm surge, there would be little chance of survival.

>> reporter: you can see power lines just littering the streets and igniting. power surges leading to this massive fire. 1:30 in the morning power just went out in lake charles. the wind is buffeting our hotel. you can feel the building swaying. traffic signs ripped from the ground. over nine feet of storm surge reported described by officials as unsurvivable. over 500,000 people forced to evacuate. >> i'm scared to death. >> reporter: the entire national guard in louisiana activated. officials warned residents staying in place could be deadly. power outages could last for weeks in some cases. the wind and rain has stormed but the storm surge will be slow to drain. cecilia? >> okay, rob, thank you so much. we'll of course have much more hurricane coverage coming up in our next half hour with the fema director and texas governor, greg abbott, both joining us. also what could be the future of smart shopping. an exclusive first look inside amazon's fresh grocery store. also, we are revealing the newest celebrity to join "dancing with the stars" this year.

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welcome back to "good morning america." we are tracking the very latest on hurricane laura. we're going to turn to our matt gutman who joins us from orange, texas. matt, you have been riding out this storm with staff at a hospital there. >> reporter: we have, t.j. a0 ms what's left of an auto body shop here. you can just see what triple

digit wind speeds can do if it's not made out of brick. it is going down. also imagine this, these are splinters flying at that speed. that's something that rescuers are definitely concerned about and just check this out. it's kind of eerie to see a business like this completely shredded. that was the front door. want you to see the rest of it, and check out that sheet metal wrapped around those trees. there's something that's of major concern that we really ran into a lot trying to come in here, is downed power lines seeing this everywhere. trees are down throughout this area. driving in, it was pitch black, very eerie to see, but just over the past few minutes we saw our first responders, the first responders that we've seen now that the winds are below 35 miles an hour. they're going to start doing damage assessment. one thing we did notice, the waters here continue to rise even though the hurricane has moved on. that is going to make getting people -- getting to people who need help that much more difficult.

cecilia? >> okay, matt. thank you so much. joining us is the governor of texas, greg abbott. governor abbott, thanks for joining us.s a very busy and intee for you. survivable satt gun youstate r? >> we've been making assessments over the night including up to the minute and the best we can tell some good news which is really premature is that we have no reports yet of any deaths, there are a lot of people without power right now, maybe as many as 100,000 people without power right now. obviously you can see the storm and continues to sweep through texas in an unprecedented fashion because it's not just where the surge came in but

it's going up north, and jasper and center, texas, so in northeast texas, a hurricane is going through there as far as i know for the first time ever, and truly unprecedented. i will be leaving to go over to that region to make an assessment of the damages and help the people of east texas begin to piece back their communities. >> we are thinking of them certainly. you issued that urgent warning to evacuate ahead of the storm. do you have a sense of how many people complied? >> we had, i know, well over 5,000, maybe as many as 10,000 people who evacuated and especially for those in the port arthur and orange and beaumont areas, it could have been a lifesaver. while to reports of loss of life yet we still don't know how many people may be injured. we'll learn that shortly as the sun rises and we have search and rescue teams in place to make sure that everybody is going to be safe but it's so important for people to remember that early evacuations for a category 4 hurricane like this to whip ugh texas as well as louisiana, those evacuations did save lives. >> are there people who need rescue right now and if so when will it be safe for the rescuers

to go in and help? >> the rescuers are involved and engaged as we speak and undertaking searches and will be making rescues if there are people who need it so we have teams covering the entire area trying to assist anybody who does need to be rescued. >> all right, well, we certainly hope everyone is doing well out there. governor abbott, thank you. >> let's get more from the head of the federal emergency management agency, pete gaynor. we just heard from the governor of texas. what reports are you getting from the region? >> i think the same things. i think power outages, and about 325,000 of those, the majority of those in louisiana, and as the sunrises this morning, we'll start to do damage assessments. i think we're in a fortunate place when we think about surge. i think it was less than we had forecasted, but we'll see significant wind damage to buildings and structures, and so once it's safe to do so, we'll go out and start doing those damage assessments and getting

more situational awareness about the extent of both the damage in texas and in louisiana, and obviously as it moves inland, obviously into arkansas. >> as far as you know right now, no loss of life? >> i have not heard reports of that. i think that's a good sign so far, and we hope that there is no loss of life. >> i know you want to get your teams in as soon as you can. talk about the complications of trying to do your work right in the middle of a pandemic. >> yeah, so, i mean, i think even in a normal hurricane season, traditional hurricane season, it's complicated enough responding. in a covid-19 environment, it makes it more complicated. we've been working on this since may and put out guidance to local states, tribes and territories to adapt their plans because we knew we would be here today so when you think about evacuation, you think about sheltering you're going to need more space and we won't put

people -- where we can, we won't put them in traditional shelters like gymnasiums, but hotels, so through the emergency authorize by the president, local states, territories and tribes have the ability to do that and they have done that both in texas and louisiana. >> you say thankfully the storm surge not as bad as you anticipated of what's your biggest concern right now? >> i think the message is keep your -- if you're in texas or louisiana, keep your family safe. if you're in a safe place, stay inside. wait for all clear from your local elected officials and emergency managers. don't go into the water. it can be dangerous. watch out for downed power lines especially when it's entangled in trees. i know people want to get out there and kind of see what the damage is, but this is, again, another dangerous part of a storm after it passes. people are curious to see what's out there, but again, stay inside. wait for the all clear. don't put yourself in danger,

and if you go out unnecessarily, you could put a first responder in danger, and we don't want that. so again, i think the message from this morning, be safe, wait for the all clear and then we'll see what the damage looks like here in a little bit. >> important advice right there. pete gaynor, thanks very much. let's go to ginger. >> i'm so glad he said that, george. many times people die after the storm and sometimes more people die after the storm. i want to take you through where the storm is moving. we are not done yet. as a hurricane it moves through northern louisiana. the timing takes you to friday, 3:00 a.m., tomorrow morning it is near little rock as a tropical storm. then it jets to the north and east and it'll slide just south of louisville. we stopped it there at 2:00 a.m. saturday, and then by saoul ev

we turn now to some tips for shopping for produce. when is it better to buy organic? that's always a question in the store. well, a new "consumer reports" survey on pesticides and produce looked at organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables. our adrienne bankert has their findings. adrienne, do tell. >> reporter: good morning to you t.j., and good morning, everybody. we are all eating at home more, many of us aiming to eat healthier and get our kids to eat right and "consumer reports" has a warning after five years of data from the department of agriculture on the levels of pesticides on some of our favorite foods. "consumer reports" is out with a new guide this morning on pesticides that says buying

fresh produce could sometimes be risky business. >> there are a number of toxic pesticides that have been associated with types of neurological problems, with types of cancer and with endocrine disruptions. >> reporter: the organization analyzed data from the u.s. department of agriculture for residual pesticide levels on fruits and vegetables, checking organic and non-organic produce including fresh, frozen and canned. they're now out with their own rating system for pesticide risk. >> the good news in our findings were that about 50% of the ually alo >> reporter: among the veggies that score excellent and very good by "consumer reports," fresh broccoli, cabbage and carrots. for fruit, cranberries, grapefruit and oranges and includes organic and non-organic.

lower scores go to nonorganic fresh green beans, potatoes and peaches. crop life america, a pesticide industry group tells "gma" federal regulators monitor our food for pesticide residues, ensuring produce and other foods are safe to eat and the environmental protection agency which regulates pesticides says it evaluates a substantial amount of data about human health before deciding whether to approve a pesticide for a particular use and setting limits. the presence of a detectable pesticide residue does not mean the residue is at an unsafe level. and the usda recommends washing all produce even if it's going to be peeled in cold running water for 15 to 20 seconds and use a brush on produce with tough skins or rub with your hands whether organic or not. t.j.? >> adrienne always says, can't buy organic, that stuff is expensive. how do i do it on a budget? he r sales just like everything else of organic fruits and veggies. sales are good. sometimes they end up being cheaper than non-organic foods. stock up, buy in bulk and freeze the extra to eat later, and check for lower prices on frozen or canned organic products.

get whole produce, not the sliced prepared items. those are certainly more expensive. t.j. >> there it is, adrienne, thank you so much this morning. all right. we're going to keep with the theme of grocery shopping right now to a "gma" exclusively revealing what could be the future of smart shopping. amazon announcing it's opening its first amazon fresh grocery store. rebecca jarvis has the story. rebecca, wait. no more grocery store lines? is this a thing of the past? >> reporter: it's very likely on that path, cecilia. good morning to you. those long checkout lines, waiting for everything to scan before you get that final tally, these are now part of the new invention brought to you by amazon. if this moment has taught us anything, it is the importance of grocery shopping and the importance of online delivery services, and amazon is at the forefront of the new innovation. this isn't your average grocery cart. "gma" getting an exclusive first look at amazon's new dash cart. how does it work?

you sign in using a qr code from the amazon app and add items to your cart where you can watch your total increase on this screen. when you are done shopping, you exit which automatically completes your purchase, charging your card attached to the app, and a receipt is emailed to you all part of amazon's first 35,000 square-foot grocery store opening to the public in a matter of weeks in woodland hills, california. other unique features? customers can find items quickly in the store by using alexa on the dash cart or amazon devices available throughout the store. amazon which owns whole foods says amazon fresh will operate alongside whole foods market and will continue to invest in and grow both businesses. amazon says they plan to open a handful of these new locations in california and in illinois. they say they'll employ approximately the same number of associates as you would see in a typical grocery store and,

cecilia, you do not need to be a prime member in order to take advantage. >> that will make a lot of people's ears perk up. i assume with that comes some competition? >> reporter: absolutely. this is a moment of experimentation among the likes of walmart and target and kroger when it comes to your groceries. walmart is expected to roll out a service very similar to prime. target is adding groceries to more of its stores and kroger even has its own innovation lab where they are testing out all these new ideas so that your grocery shopping experience in the near future could look very different than the one you see today. >> we'll watch. thanks so much. t.j.? let's turn to that shark encounter caught on camera. the coast guard firing into the water to keep the predator at bay. erielle reshef joins us with the story. erielle, this video is pretty extraordinary. >> reporter: it is indeed. the sailors say a perfect day for a leisurely swim turned into this shocking encounter with a six to eight-foot shark and the coast guard cutter sharing the

video on facebook, calling it one of the most amazing events many of them have ever experienced at sea. this morning, a harrowing encounter caught on tape. shots ring out as a shark approaches the group of 40 coast guard members. >> all swimmers. >> reporter: after setting on a mission to stop illegal fisheries, the group taking a moment to enjoy the beautiful weather opting for an afternoon swim when -- >> we heard shark, sure enough there was a shark in the water. it was swimming towards about 30 or 40 of my shipmates. >> reporter: crew members racing to get out of the water, attempting to climb back to the ship or board nearby boats. >> one, two, three. turn back. >> reporter: it was a crew member, samuel sintron, making a call to shoot firing a few rounds into the water trying to scare the shark away. >> i wasn't willing to risk the lives of my shipmates. made cala .

>> reporter: as the shipmates look on one last call for action on the deck. >> the unicorn. >> reporter: thankfully, all members of the crew making it back aboard safely, including the unicorn floaty. the shark eventually swimming away unharmed. thank goodness for the unicorn floatie and the coast guard says everyone on the flight deck had a bird's-eye view of the ordeal. they say while it wasn't the panic of the fourth of july scene in "jaws," once they realized what was happening, they moved with a purpose. luckily only scrapes and bruises. no major injuries there. >> they got a good story to tell out of it. erielle, thanks. >> the navy likes unicorn floaties. the coast guard, sorry, navy. coming up our big "dancing with the stars" reveal.

good mompk. developing news in oakland where largely peaceful protests over the police shooting in jacob blake in wisconsin turned violence. the agitators within a crowd of about 70 people tried to set fire to businesses in downtown oak lan and broking into cars. authorities say the alameda county superior courthouse was set on fire and vandalized. we want to share good news with you. qulolook at the air quality. san jose has been unhealthy for sensitive groups and got up to red, unhealthy in san rafael, but everybody's being touched by the mist and drizzle and cool

and clean marine layer air. but we're still under a spare the air, so expect the air quality to deteriorate throughout the day. it's comfortable today, but will get hi. what's on your mind?in. can you help keep these guys protected online? easy. connect to the xfi gateway. what about wireless data options for the family? you can customize and save. what about internet speeds that can keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. and now with our stores reopening, we're putting healthy practices in place.

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♪ ♪ sticks and stones welcome back to "gma." we know who that is. that is katy perry and we are listening to her because the superstar singer has some big news, t.j. >> i am so excited to share breaking "pop news" headline overnight. katy perry and orlando bloom welcome their baby girl to the world and her name, get this, guys, is daisy dove bloom. very sweet. you might recognize that, of course, the title of this latest single is "daisies" but they're floating with love and wonder from the safe and healthy arrival of their daughter and nw ambassadors and setting up a donation page and by supporting

them you are supporting a safe start to life and reimagining a healthy world for every child so more news. her new album released overnight. she has all kinds of good news. >> we are so excited for them. >> congratulations. >> her tiny little hand. >> congratulations to them. we do have now a "gma" exclusive. the big announcement you've been waiting for, about to reveal now, the new star getting ready to rock the ballroom floor with "dancing with the stars." we'll move that dancing ball here shortly and let you see who is going to hit the dance floor. ♪ everybody >> reporter: everybody. ♪ backstreet's back all right >> reporter: get excited. ♪ a.j. answering the "dancing with the stars" call, joining the cast of season 29. ♪ quit playing games with my heart ♪

>> reporter: no, really. ♪ ahat m tha >> reporter: the larger than life backstreet boys singer. ♪ keeps us alive >> reporter: bringing those boy band moves he's been perfecting for over 25 years straight to the dance floor. he'll be the second backstreet boy to boogie in the ballroom. nick carter took second place five years ago. ♪ the question now, is a.j. is one to win the mirror ball? is he? well, let's ask him. let's say hello to a.j. mclean joining us now. congratulations on getting a spot on the show, and honestly it doesn't seem fair. >> thank you. >> you've been dancing for the past 30 years, my man. don't have you an advantage? >> yes. i mean, you know, this is a little bit of a different style of dancing than what i used to

do growing up. i have been dancing since i was about 6 years old, but this is going to be a little bill different. >> yeah, we didn't see any foxtrot with the guys. i am excited to see -- >> there is definitely no foxtrot in the past 27 years, i can assure you of that. >> you must be excited to join the cast. you have two daughters who are 3 and 7. they must be so excited. what are they saying about this? >> they are stoked. especially my oldest. she's been doing competitive dance now for the last two years and my youngest is obviously trying to follow in her business -- big sister's fight steps, and they're both just elated. them to watch daddy cutting a jig on tv. >> and your guy, your band mate nick carter was on the show on a previous season and he came in second. >> yes. >> so you have to at least do that well. so first or second are your only options. >> no pressure, right? >> no pressure.

has he given you advice yet? >> i reached out to nick about four days ago just to get some kind of insight on what to expect during the course of the season and he both supported me as well as terrified me a little bit. you know, just kind of letting me know the schedule is going to be rough, but, you know, just hang in there. pace yourself. it's a marathon, not a sprint and i'm going to do the best i can. hopefully take home that mirror ball. >> we got a little message from your buddy. hopefully it doesn't terrify you. take a listen. >> it's my big brother, a.j., and a.j., i'll never forget when we first started in the backstreet boys, and i auditioned, you were there and taught me my first dance moves in the backstreet boys, so i owe so much to you, bro. i look up to you and if there's anybody that can get the mirror ball, it's definitely you. so get first place, baby. go get that mirror ball. >> go get that mirror ball. >> oh, that was so sweet.

thanks, buddy. >> that was actually a sweet message there. but like you said you've been dancing the past 27 years. is there something you're thinking, okay, this will be in my wheelhouse, i have to make sure i get my signature what move to get in the show. do you have this? >> i mean, obviously there's the patented backstreet's back move, you know, but i would like to maybe find a way to at some point incorporate part of the "all i have to give" video with the hat routine, so, you know, maybe doing something with that could be kind of interesting. just to kind of throw a curveball in there. >> we do like a good hat move. >> yes, yes. >> well, a.j., gad to -- good to see you. we're going to see you plenty. good luck to you and, no pressure, you got to come in first or second and can't be the first to be voted out. those are just -- other than that you should be good. >> okay, okay, i will do my best

to do all three. >> all right. good to see you, my man. you can find out who he'll compete against when the rest of the celebrities are exclusively revealed here on "gma" on wednesday and thne "dancing with the stars" premieres on monday, september 14th right here on abc. >> going to be a fun season. coming up, the fun doesn't end. "the conners" star sara gilbert joins us live. we make it a mission to understand how you live. then, we make choices. ♪ ♪ choices to make beautiful homes smart, which is beautiful. ♪ ♪ we also make beautiful things more affordable. ♪ ♪ we try to make choices to put back what we take out. oh! and we can also make kitchen fronts out of pkestic b this e way because the better the choices we make in here, the better off we'll all be out there.

ikea. make the dream yours.

♪ how you like me now well, back now here on "gma" with the star and executive producer of "the conners," the hit abc sitcom. it's the first broadcast comedy to be back in production since the pandemic and there she is, let's say good morning to miss sara gilbert. hello with the wave. it's good to see you and we want to start by putting up a picture now of the cast back together and certainly things are different now. everybody is wearing a mask with that iconic couch pattern on it. what was it like? what is it like to finally be back together given all that's going on the past several months? >> well, it's wild, you know, - you spend onths not seeing anybody and tn people y work every day. it's definiteldiffer there'a t masks and a lotce an the same, but i do feel very lucky. i'm sure people relate, you

know, it's hard to stay home and not have any of your your routines, not see your loved one, things like that so definitely it's been a lot of fun. >> sara, t.j. mentioned at the beginning that you guys were the first broadcast comedy series to get back to work. you mentioned the masks and space. what are some of the biggest changes you have going on on set there? >> well, i would say definitely the masks and the spacing and then there's a lot of ventilation, you can see there's different zones. you can see that like where -- which people are allowed to be in which zone. a lot of face shields. we even do run-throughs and all that with masks so only for a few minutes when we shoot do we ever take the masks off and even then we're generally pretty spaced out. and, you know, a lot of testing, testing of cast and crew several times a week. it's pretty extensive. >> was it a tough decision to go back?

>> it was -- really involved a health experts and things ke that and i think no decision is being taken lightly right now and i think everybody no matter who we are sort of weighing out what we can do and can't do and what feels safe. i think, you know, we're so lucky that there's people keeping us safe and looking at protocols and all that because it is, you know, a bigger number of people coming together. >> did it change your story line? everything that's happening in the world now, did it change some of the writing? is this being incorporated into the show? >> yeah, definitely we want to reflect what's going on. i think people look to when they come to watch our show they want to see some version of what's happening in the world or in

their lives and i think it would be strange to just be sitting at a restaurant with a group of people and a scene when that's not what's happening in the world, so, you know, we're definitely trying to balance that with there's also some fatigue, people probably also want a break to some degree and not to always be hearing about the pandemic and what's going on and so it's -- there are story lines that touch on it. it affects each of our lives in terms of our livelihood the way it's affecting many people, but we also have a lot of story lines that aren't related and you see masks and you see things like that but it's not always front and center in every story line. >> we know you guys don't shy away from the tough topics so we are really looking forward to this season, sara. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> "the conners" returns wednesdays this fall right here on abc but now we'll head back to ginger.te

now we'll head back to ginger.te we're ing to be all right, we're looking forward to this. we'll turn now to veteran journalist carlos watson whose self-titled show has tens of millions of views on youtube. he is joining us now from my home also the san francisco bay. hello, friend. good to see you this morning. >> good to see you. we miss you back here in the bay area. >> we miss you guys too. so we know a show from your company ozy got nominated for an emmy mod and hopefully get hardware on the shelves behind you. what was your reaction? >> super excited. the show black women own the

conversation was something we pitched to oprah winfrey and the oprah winfrey network and we're really excited to see this special talk show. 100 black women talking about critical issues, life, love, motherhood, and who knew that the first season would garner us an emmy nomination, but real excited about it and excited for all the women who were involved in making this show so special. >> carlos, it's good to see you. it's been a while, my man. we go way, way back so good to see you. >> we do. >> smile hasn't changed a bit. you have plenty of reasons to be smiling now. the fastest, do very this right, the fastest growing talk show in youtube history? how are you pulling this off? what's the formula? >> i love doing it. i think we're in such a critical moment, t.j., where so much is up in the air in the world and i think we need different kinds of conversations, in-depth conversations not just with one kind of person, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, writers from john legend to

malcolm gladwell, to bethanny frankel so it's really been a nice space to do that in a long form way and i think you've seen youtube really become a destination for people. i think what john krasinski did earlier in the year really made it kind of magical with some good news and i think we have had a lot of success, maybe even more than we expected. >> you said the show and this is a huge thing, changes the conversation. how do you think that's happening? >> you know, cecilia, i think one of the things i think is critical is not only an opportunity for people to tell their personal back stories but to weigh in on what's happening today. you know, in a lot of ways i feel like we're in the midst of the new '60s or the dawn of the new '60s. big conversations about race, about class, about how we get along wiare up in the air, and having a space where people can go in-depth. places like larry king and oprah winfrey gave us that room to kind of go in depth so i'm hoping in some ways this show maybe can't do the same thing but can do something special and really allow people to be more honest, more candid than they

might have been pre-covid. >> look at that. oprah, larry, carlos. >> t.j., t.j., i meant to put t.j. in there. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. no, but one other thing you've talked to so many big names. is there a dream guest, though? >> you know, there are a couple of folks. i'd love to talk to vladimir putin, but do you know who i really want to talk to, the woman who i think is shaping culture is your girl cardi b. wouldn't mind talking to her at all. obviously her songs are everywhere. she's changing the conversation. she's interviewing presidential ul'tintalking to that know, new yorker. she's one of many that i'd feel pretty fortunate to sit down with. >> carlos, i've interviewed her before. whoo, you better bring a seat belt and a buckle, man. it's a good time, man. it really is. >> we would watch that is what we're saying. carlos, thank you so much. we are excited for you and hope you get that cardi b booking. coming up,ve greatlavors

hacks with chef eden (vo) i have the best job in the world. ♪ i get to remind people of their grandmother's conchitas. give the little kids cookies... and celebrate birthdays with all our neighbors. hopefully, we'll be part of this community for many, many more years. ♪

♪ we're hungry and excited about this. we're back and things are about to get fun and flavorful with our nextguest, guys. eden grinshpan. she is the chef and tv host of "top chef canada," who wrote the book "eating out loud," middle eastern flavors, and she's joining us from ton troe wi toronto with no "t," if you are from there. eden, good morning to you. >> how are you? >> hi. >> thank you for being here. you're going to give us tips for how to make your favorite middle eastern dishes speaking my language. this is one of my favorite

cuisines. we'll start with baba ganoosh. how do you make sure it gets flavor? >> it is actually one of my favorite dishes to eat and to make. i remember the first time i like picked up this technique and blew my mind so so excited to share with you. it and throw it on a preheated grill or stove under the broiler and what you want to really do is char your eggplant, okay? so you want to, like, get it to kind of wilt, it's going to look a little unrecognizable. want it to get white and charred in some places and what that does is it steams the meat on the inside of the eggplant and also infuses a lot of that smokiness you get from the charred skin on the outside. so that is the base of baba ganoosh. it is a beautiful eggplant spread and made it so take the meat out of the eggplant. i want to show you what i got and what you do is you mix it with fresh garlic, you put some lemon juice to brighten it up. salt and some tahini paste which is one of my all-time favorite ingredients.

this beautiful tahini kind of paste that just is so nutty and creamy and really just adds such a beautiful texture to a baba ganoosh. what i'll do is show you a pretty cool hack. another thing i picked up that changed my life. i like to garnish my baba ganoosh with pomegranate. take it and slice it in half. this actually -- when i taught my dad this, he was like, whoa, he used to pick it out one by one. >> you take the pomegranate and hold it in your hand and cradle it and with a wooden spatula you hit the outside just like this and what it does, it releases the pomegranate seeds right in between your fingers into the bowl. >> no wa >> that is a trick pomegranate. >> no way, no like actually it changes the game. it changes the game. it's life changing. >> i know. >> what i like to do is garnish

my baba ganoosh with za'atar oil. it's a really beautiful middle eastern spice. i put the pomegranate seeds on top which adds a gorgeous color and texture. >> eden, we're running out of time but wanted to get to the fresh ingredients. we got to do it quickly. >> here we go. i absolutely love this summer fattoush salad. i use a ton of herbs in my cooking. put your herbs in water so all the mud and sediment falls to the bottom and start in the fridge, wrap it in paper towel, put it in a ziploc or put it into a cork container and cover with plastic and keeps it fresh for a long time. >> guess what we're getting today, ordering mediterranean and make our next after this. eden, thank you so much. congratulations on the new book. everywhere on tuesday. we'll be right back.

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>> announcer: tomorrow, start your weekend off with some scottish soul. ♪ before you go >> announcer: as grammy nominated sensation lewis capaldi performs for you tomorrow only on "good morning america's" summer concert series sponsored by caesars rewards. thanks to everybody for watching. we had a great day. >> that was my line. have a great day was my line. . >> we're ending strong, cecilia.

ending strong. >> bye, guys.

good morning, everyone. california's governor has announced big plans to expand covid testing capacity to cut down on cost and shorten the turn around times for test. the state signed a contract with a major diagnose nos iics the governor says his office is demanding that the test results be returned within 24 to 48 hours. >> all right, let's take a look at what's going on. i have g news. air quality is good or moderate across all neighborhoods. so the cleaner sea breeze has reached all neighborhoods. we had unhealthy air in the bay most of the night. temperatures cooler today from mid-60s in san francisco to 90s

inland. hotter tomorrow. >> now it's time for kelly and ryan. we'll be back at 11:0 >> announcer: it's "live with kelly and ryan." today, find out why we "lit-rally" love rob lowe. and judd apatow gives us a glimpse into the "king of staten island." plus, from "taste the nation," chef padma lakshmi. and we'll show you how to ace a virtual interview, all next on "live." and now, here are kelly ripa and ryan seacrest! >> kelly: oh, hi! >> ryan: good morning. >> kelly: good morning, sunshine, hi. what are you doin' there? >> ryan: i was just doing my one-man band setup here. [laughs] >> kelly: it's thursday, august 27, 2020. how many mugs does it take to get you on the air? >> ryan: you know, it takes a dozen mugs to get me on the air. it's interesting--as we've been doing the show from home, i've discoveredew