and that's what's making news in right now on "america this morning -- >> it is just relentless for hours and hours on end now. >> nicholas makes landfall with life-threatening floods and a dangerous storm surge. winds up to 75 miles per hour. the new emergency declared overnight. texas and louisiana in the bull's-eye. our reporters are there. the new debate in the covid crisis. are vaccine booster shots really needed for everyone? plus, new data about the number of covid cases among children, and as kids get back to school, why the national guard is being called in to drive school buses. security alert. the urgent new message from apple about a security flaw that could let criminals access your data and your camera. how to fix it.

the new tell all book about former first lady melania trump and the new claim about her response to the january 6th riot at the capitol. a monday night football thriller in las vegas. the overtime ending. and from the umpire who took a hit to the head and stayed in the game to the bad dog crashing this sporting event to the head turning and bizarre fashion on display at the met gala, it's tuesday, september 14th. good tuesday morning, everyone. okay, we begin with the breaking news. nicholas taking aim at texas and louisiana. prior to landfall overnight, the storm strengthened into a hurricane with winds up to 75 miles per hour, but the big concern is rain and storm surge. here's a live look right now at galveston, texas, nearly 200,000 power outages are already reported, and overnight president biden approved an emergency declaration for louisiana. >> and back in texas, new video shows the lights going out in the city of lake jackson, south

of houston, as the storm slammed the coast, and not far away a tree fell on top of this rv, two people were rescued. this morning, nicholas making landfall along the texas coast, a state of emergency in effect. amid fears the storm could dump up to 20 inches of rain in some areas. overnight conditions deteriorating near galveston. >> this rain not only looks like it's coming in sideways, i can tell you down here it is coming in sideways, just torrential rain, more than i felt in a storm in a long time. it is an intense, intense amount of rain. >> do not drive through flooded roadways, particularly at night. every time there is heavy rain, we see people drown. we see vehicles flooded. don't take that chance. >> reporter: nicholas taking aim at areas hit hard by hurricane harvey back in 2017 including flood prone houston where up to a foot of rain could once again

inundate streets and flood homes. >> what i can assu ppl this city is that we are as ready for this storm as we could be for any storm. >> reporter: the port of houston closed so are schools, medical facilities, covid testing sites. in louisiana. forecasters warning of significant flooding along the coast where hurricane ida slammed ashore just over two weeks ago. >> it could drop heavy rain and cause flash flooding and will only worsen scenes like you see behind me, but the cajun navy says they will be there the rain coming and they will be there into the next disaster. >> reporter: the national guard in position with high water rescue vehicles, 23 boats and 15 aircraft. new orleans is now under a flash flood watch through thursday. >> i know that bracing for another storm while we're still responding to and trying to recover from hurricane ida is not the position that we wanted to be in, but it is the situation that we are prepared for. >> reporter: it's more misery

for the more than 100,000 customers in the state still without power after ida. flooding has killed at least 116 people in the u.s. so far this year. the deadliest year since 2017, and we'll have more on nicholas' track in just a few moments. it is now up to california voters whether gavin newsom remains their governor. president biden campaigned for his fellow democrat hoping to push him over the top in today's recall election. polls show newsom with a comfortable lead, but if the polls are wrong, republican larry elder is poised to take over, a change that president biden claims would be disastrous. >> you either keep gavin newsom a your governor, or you'll get donald trump. >> no one, whether it's obama, whether it's kamala harris, whether it's nancy pelosi, whether it's bernie sanders, no one has uttered the following words, governor gavin newsom has done a good job for the people of california. you won't hear that because he

hasn't. >> a website paid for by elder's campaign is already making claims about voter fraud. turning to the pandemic, new figures show the death rate from covid is six times higher right now than it was in july. it comes amid growing debate over the time line for vaccine booster shots and growing concern about covid cases among kids. abc's alex presha is here with the very latest. alex, good morning to you. >> reporter: andrew, good morning. millions of students are back in classrooms, and many of them are ineligible for the vaccine because they're, frankly, too young, and now experts worry that covid cases could soar even higher in kids. with in-person classes now in session for millions of students across the country, concerns over a fall delta covid surge are growing. more than 243,000 children tested positive for covid-19 last week, the second highest case week ever. 1 million children across the country have tested positive for covid in the last month. doctors saying those numbers will likely continue to rise.

>> yes, we are going to see a slight uptick just because more exposure and also this delta variant is a little bit more stickier than the alpha variant we saw last year. >> reporter: the country now averaging 1,200 deaths a day, 6 times the death toll 2 months ago. in california, davy macias was seven months pregnant when she and her husband daniel were hospitalized with covid. doctors delivering the baby after davy was put on a ventilator, the couple passing away a few weeks apart. both were unvaccinated and left behind five children. daniel texting family before he died. >> he was trying to breathe, and he said, anyone is not vaccinated, i suggest you do now. >> reporter: just days after president biden announced his sweeping strategy to mandate vaccinations, republican governor ron desantis says he'll fine florida cities that have issued vaccine mandates, up to $5,000 per infraction.

>> we're going to protect florida jobs. we are not going to let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate. >> reporter: one school district there has already reversed a mask mandate for students after a judge ruled in favor of the governor's ban on mask mandates. parents can now opt their children out of wearing a face covering. meanwhile, in iowa des moines public schools will reinstate a mask mandate after a federal judge's ruling. that mandate will go into effect tomorrow. andrew. >> alex presha there in washington, d.c., thank you. massachusetts is calling in the national guard to get kids to school. 90 members of the guard will begin training today to drive school buses because of the shortage due to the pandemic and retirements. really there is a shortage of workers across the economy, and experts say the shortage of basic goods as well like metals, plastics and wood could last into next year. covid cases overseas are behind a backlog in shipping and prices are skyrocketing. supply chain problems are also hurting supermarkets, which are planning more price increases. secretary of state antony blinken is defending the chaotic

withdrawal from afghanistan. during a congressional hearing two republicans called on blinken to resign. but he defended president biden's decision to pull out saying, the attempt to rebuild afghanistan failed. >> if 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in support, equipment and training did not suffice, why would another year, another five, another ten? >> mr. secretary, the american people don't like to lose, especially not to the terrorists, but that is exactly what is happening. >> blinken went on to blame the trump administration saying biden inherited a deadline to withdraw but no plan to carry it out. capitol police say a man arrested near the headquarters of the democratic national committee was spreading white supremacist ideology. they say a bayonet and machete was found in his truck, which included racist symbols. he allegedly told officers he was on patrol.

it comes as police prepare to reinstall fencing around the capitol before a rally this saturday which is aimed at supporting those who stormed the capitol in january. apple has an urgent new warning to anyone using their devices. the company is urging people to download an emergency software update for all iphones, ipads, apple watches and mac computers. the update fixes a flaw that could allow spyware to unknowingly be installed on your devices. an israeli firm is reportedly behind the spyware which can turn on your camera and microphone. all right. time now for a look at your tuesday weather. nicholas making its way up the texas coast into this tuesday morning. we're talking about wind and rain from southeast texas all the way through louisiana. it's a very slow-moving storm, so it's going to be putting a lot of rain down between houston and galveston all the way across ida ravaged areas of southern louisiana. as far as the amount of rain we're expecting, 8 to 12 inches from houston and galveston to lake charles, several inches in new orleans. and we're also talking about hurricane-force gusts in some

areas. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren. coming up, a special tribute to alex trebek. also ahead, the desperate search for a woman on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend. she hasn't been seen from for weeks. what her family is revealing. and does facebook allow certain well-connected people to break the rules? the new investigation.

we dedicated the stage in his honor. it will now forever be known as the alex trebek stage. >> "jeopardy!" kicked off the show's new season by honoring alex trebek then came the first of five episodes with mike richards as host since this

week's episodes were taped. richards has left the show amid outrage over his remarks about women and minorities. facebook is under fire after a new report claiming it has different rules for people in a vip program. "the wall street journal" reports facebook keeps a list of profiles that are immune to the company's rules allowing posts that would otherwise be taken down. the program reportedly includes 5 million politicians, celebrities and journalists. the company says the program was developed to give certain accounts a, quote, second layer of review. now to the mystery surrounding a woman last spotted with her boyfriend during a cross-country trip of a lifetime. she hasn't been seen for weeks after documenting their travels on social media. here's abc's megan tevrizian. >> reporter: this morning, a frantic plea for help from the family of a missing woman from long island, new york. >> you can't describe it. it's just everything just hurts, everything sucks. >> she seemed okay. >> reporter: 22-year-old gabrielle petito left home on a cross-country driving

adventure with her fiance brian laundrie back in july traveling to various national parks in a white ford van and documenting their trip on youtube. >> we are right outside capitol reef right now. >> reporter: petito was last seen august 24 checking out of hotel with laundrie. her mother spoke to her by phone the next day and told her they were in wyoming heading to yellowstone. >> a few days is one thing when you're out camping, but when it starts to become seven, eight, nine, ten days, that's a problem. >> reporter: authorities found the couple's white van in north port, florida, where the two were living together before they left on their trip. petito's family says laundrie is now back in florida, has hired a lawyer and will not sit down with investigators. >> everything else doesn't matter. finding, finding her. that's what i beg of you. >> reporter: the fbi and police departments in new york and florida all investigating. the north port police department saying, they currently have no

definitive information that a crime took place here in north port adding that the circumstances are odd. abc news has reached out to laundrie for comment, but has not received a response. petito's family says gabrielle was following her dreams traveling the country. the couple was supposed to wrap up their trip next month. andrew, mona. >> megan, thank you. and coming up, countdown to history. we hear from the cancer survivor who is among the first all civilian crew heading to space tomorrow. but first new claims being made about former first lady melania trump and how she's responding. before you go there, ♪ or fist bump there. ♪ or... oh! i can't wait to go there! ♪ or reunite there, ♪ start here.

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moisturizes deeply with no sticky feel. the game changing nivea breathable. back now with mother nature putting on a show over new york city last night. two lightning bolts hit the top of one world trade center as a strong thunderstorm passed through the region. we turn now to the new tell-all book about former first lady melania trump. she's also dismissing the allegations in that book. this morning, new details about melania trump's time in the white house. >> thank you. >> provided by the woman at her side most of those years. in her new book, stephanie grisham, best known as the press secretary who never held a news conference, gives an inside look and takes aim at the former first lady. she recalls the january 6 riot at the u.s. capitol. writing that as rioters stormed

the building, she texted mrs. trump -- >> she says the former first lady had a one-word respons, no. she later resigned. she also writes that mrs. trump shared her husband's belief that the 2020 election results were illegitimate saying something bad happened. mrs. trump refused to set up the customary meeting with jill biden. grisham compares mrs. trump to marie an ttonette. this morning, mrs. trump's office dismissed the allegations in the book, saying in a statement -- >> sources say the book contains unflattering details about mark meadows and jared kushner. the book is due out next month.

the first all-civilian flight to orbit earth is set to launch this morning. they will take four passengers 350 miles into space. one on board will be hayley arceneaux who survived bone cancer. >> fac that i'm going to beyogee is absolutely mind blowing to me. but i'm excited about some of the other parts. i'll be the first with a prosthetic body part in space. >> the mission will be completely controlled from the ground. the raiders and the ravens served up some serious drama on monday night football. they went late in overtime when lamar jackson lost a fumble and the raiders ended wit a wide open touchdown pass and they won 33-27. a tough moment on the field for an umpire in the cardinals/mets game when the umpire was hit in the side of

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moving forward, finding solutions.

this is abc 7 news. >> the eyes of the nation are on you. i am not joking. you have to vote no. >> a campaign of support, including president biden. it all comes down to today. will governor newsom keep his job? the high-stakes. >> a hurricane that made landfall overnight, now downgraded to a tropical storm. we are tracking nicholas and where it will head next. >> dressed to impress. some of the best looks from everyone's favorite actors, singers and influencers. september 14. >> we are going to start with a check of our forecast with the birthday boy. >> happy birthday, mike. >> thank you. feeling blessed this morning. i've got my new shirt on, from