on the broadcast tonight, rainmaker. tropical storm lee bears down on the big easy. folks in new orleans want to know, will the levees hold? labor pain. as americans get ready to celebrate labor day, the job market remains down right dismal. it's a hurt that won't go away. tax scam. identity thieves using turbotax steal millions from the govement. how the brazen scheme was busted. and bear trap. the hunt is on in yellowstone for a killer grizzly. the hunt is on in yellowstone for a killer grizzly. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening, brian is off tonight. just a week after hurricane irene came ashore on the atlantic coast, another massive storm is brewing this time in the gulf of mexico. tropical storm lee is not packing high winds or pushing a dangerous storm surge. what it is bringing is rain. lots of rain. and days of rain. enough rain that new orleans residents are wondering if all the money and effort that went into flood protection after hurricane katrina will keep them safe. mike seidel at the weather channel as the latest from new orleans. mike, good evening. >> reporter: hey, harry, another rain squall blowing through the french quarter. regulators have already shut down more than half of oil production in the gulf of mexico. all because of a tropical storm named lee. take a look at what we're looking at tonight. it's the 12th storm of the season. there's your satellite radar composite. plenty of heavy rain, but the storm is kind of lopsided, most

of the rain is on the east side and the problem with lee is it's not moving. only 2 miles an hour to the north. so there's going to be a multi day stretch of very heavy rain across parts of louisiana and mississippi. seven counties of mississippi, the entire state of louisiana. residents here went through katrina so they take tropical weather very seriously. they are prepping, even as we roll through this afternoon, there's been some sandbagging, but it hasn't been a serious storm prep because really this is not a wind situation, or a storm surge situation, this is more just a situation where we have to deal with very heavy rain. in fact mayor mitch landrieu of new orleans has urged residents to clean storm drains and open up catch basins. >> the city of new orleans is taking all necessary precautions as i said earlier today i issued a declaration of emergency so we

could have as much flexibility and authority to act as quickly as possible. >> reporter: in the wake of katrina, they spent $14 billion shoring up the flood protection system, this includes repairs to the floodgates, the levees and the pumping system and also making sure they have got strong enough floodgates to stop a storm surge from lake pontchartrain. back to tropical storm lee, a very slow moving system. here's that forecast now going over the next couple of days, and we're talking about a lot of rain as it jogs toward the coast, it's expected to move onshore sometime tomorrow or on sunday. spot some spots could see as much as 10 to 20 urges of rain. and it will cause flooding. but because down here on the gulf coast it's flat and we do have sandy soil, we're not going to see anything like that we have seen in the past week following hurricane irene. >> mike, thank you very much, but it sure looks like new orleans is going to be put to the test. elsewhere in the tropics,

katia has regained hurricane strength. out in the atlantic, the storm is expected to spare the caribbean as it gains in intensity and heads for the united states. forecasters say it's too early to say whether katia will pose a danger to our shores. there are still more than a half million people from north carolina to maine without power tonight in the aftermath of hurricane irene. power crews from all over the country are pitching in to try to get things working again, some under the watchful gaze of residents who have gone without many of the conveniences of modern life for days. and of course that's not the only mess that still needs cleaning up as floodwaters ruined all manner of personal possessions. total damage from irene is $20 billion. along the coast, the big worry tonight is getting things back on track in time for the labor day weekend. anne thompson joins us from point pleasant beach, new jersey.

and good evening. >> reporter: good evening, harry. there are fewer than 32,000 customers here in new jersey without power and governor christie session everyone should have electricity back by midnight tonight, a bright start to what officials hope will be a successful holiday weekend. this is the come back weekend at the jersey shore for merchants and tourists. mary ellen dunn is one of thousands here anxious to put their toes in the sand after irene. >> being confined, i have a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old on the beach with my parents. >> reporter: in point pleasant, irene did more damage to the bottom line. >> i only get 15 or 16 weekends a year, i can't lose one of them. >> reporter: so ed brannigan is hoping to make up some of those losses this weekend. how does it look on a friday afternoon at 3:00? >> i'm pretty happy with it so far. >> reporter: last week as irene

approached, governor christie had stern words for vacationers. >> get the hell off the beach. >> reporter: and today? >> get the hell back on the beach. >> reporter: sach owns a now flooded apartment building in patterson, new jersey. >> this is something different, i have never experienced something like this. >> reporter: then there is the issue of the struggling economy, nationwide 31 million people are expected to get away, but aaa says that's down from 2.5% from last year. >> it can be pretty much blamed on shaky consumer confidence. we're also talking about stubbornly high unemployment. >> reporter: on jenkinson's boardwalk, it's been a pretty good summer. vis it the fors are spendsing more on the extras here, games, minigolf and food. and while no one wants to lose a weekend, jenkinson says its

timing was not all that bad. >> if it had to be a weekend, that was the best weekend of all of them to lose. >> reporter: and that's because as the summer wanes, business wanes. and so labor day is the slowest of the big three summer holidays, competing with the start of school, fall sports and now the aftermath of irene. harry? >> anne thompson on the jersey shore tonight, thank you. unfortunately, it looks like tropical storm lee will not have much impact on texas where folks could really use some rain about now. tonight crews aban hour west of ft. word have a wild fire that's about 50% contained. the wildfire has burned more than 6,000 acres and destroyed dozens of homes. take a look at a map of texas, the dark red represents exceptional drought conditions. the lone star state is in the middle of its worst drought in half a century. in southern california tonight, crews are battling a

fast moving wildfire that's quickly burned through hundreds of acres forcing evacuations and shutting down the main freeway to las vegas on this busy holiday weekend. nbc's aditi roy has the latest. >> reporter: that wildfire grew to 500 acres within two hours. it tore through the dry desert brush and threatened nearby ranch homes northeast of los angeles. 1,500 homes have been evacuated. fire officials say the blaze began on interstate 15, jumped the freeway and quickly spread to the rolling hills of the san bernardino national forest, the heavily traveled roadway was temporarily shut down causing holiday traffic to back up for miles, about a dozen aircraft, including a dc-10 jumbo jet tanker are attacking the flames from the air.

one firefighter was injured and another suffered smoke inhalation. now to the other big story of this day, the jobs numbers for august are in and what a disappointment. the number of jobs lost this month subtracted from the number of jobs gained came out to 0. that's zero. and the unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.1%, so that means to the official number of unemployed stands at about 14 million people, but there are millions more when you count those who can only find part-time jobs and those who have given up completely. if you're looking for work, there's double humiliation, the lack of a paycheck and the loss of self-esteem. nbc's lisa myers has the story. >> reporter: almost every day somewhere in america you can find long lines of the unemployed, looking for work, 5,000 turned out in atlanta this week, for 400 jobs. >> it's been emotionally draining, been looking for over a year now. >> we're about to start the jobs fair. >> reporter: in a chicago suburb, hundreds showed up.

we talked to many who had been jobless a very long time. their pain was obvious. >> right now, i'm just living with no money. >> reporter: more than 6 million americans have now been without work for more than six months, considered the long-term unemployed. >> for that group, that subset of americans, this feels like a depression. >> reporter: mark eisenberg lost his job eight months ago. what's the toughest thing about this for you? >> self-esteem. >> reporter: he can't support his family the way he would like and they're just getting by on his wife's teaching salary. he says his daughter doesn't understand why he can't get a job, why they can't buy things. what does that feel like to you? >> a failure. i feel like i failed. >> reporter: the unemployment picture is grim, these lines track overall job losses during recent recessions then gains during recoveries.

this red line shows the current great recession, steeper losses and few jobs recovered. those looking for work also face another painful reality. a recent study found that most of the jobs generated in this recovery are low paying jobs, most of the better paying jobs lost in recession, simply have not come back. mark says he started at the bottom and worked his way up to management before and he'll do it again he just needs a job. >> it really hurts. it really does. and to put up that long. and to put up that long and have faith and keep going. >> reporter: for all the anguish, mark is not hopeless or defeated, he says he will find a job. lisa myers, nbc news, kenosha, wisconsin. the government agency that regulates mortgage giants fannie

mae and freddie mac is suing 17 of the world's largest banks including bank of america, jpmorganchase, citigroup and goldman-sachs. the suit is aimed at recovering some of the money fannie and freddie lost when the mortgage bonds the bank sold them went bad. the lawsuits claim the banks made false and misleading statements when they sold those mortgage bonds making them seem much safer than they actually were. word that those lawsuits were coming and today's grim jobs report sent wall street numbers tumbling. the dow down 2 53 points, that's more than 2%. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 both were down more than 2.5% as well. police and federal agents in tampa, florida have broken up what they say is a massive fraud scheme to get money from the federal government. the target, the irs, and you will be stunned at how easy it was for the crooks to get their loot. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has the report.

>> reporter: police in tampa, florida are accustomed to seeing drug dealers with fancy cars but they were stunned to find out where the money came from that bought cars like this ultraexpensive bentley. >> it was all purchased and basically paid for with cash. >> reporter: they have arrested 49 people charged with fraud and identity theft, accuses of receiving piles of cash by filing phony tax returns to get money from the irs. >> the money was raining down on these suspects, it was easy money and free money. >> reporter: investigators say identities complete with social security numbers were stolen from family tree websites. the scammers then used tax filing software to afly for refunds with the stolen names. money poured back from the irs sent on ready to use debit cards. during a year-long investigation, police watched suspects spend up to $20,000 at a time on shopping sprees for jewelry and clothes.

tampa detective sal mageri told nbc affiliate wfla the scam was highly addictive, sweeping the streets like a drug epidemic. >> it's like rock cocaine on a plastic card. >> reporter: postal inspectors said they received irs refunds cards with $130 million all destined for tampa. >> people are going to learn quickly that this is an easy way to make money and basically pick the pocket of the u.s. government. >> reporter: among the victims, logan pennypacker, a devel developmentally disabled man whose parents say his identity was stolen to get $2,600 from the irs. >> you feel personally violated that somebody would stoop to this, to try to gain money out of the system. >> reporter: the irs says it has a system for detecting scams like this, but government auditors say it's often unable to spot them until after the money has already been paid. police in tampa say they're cracking down hard, still puzzled about how they became the capital of tax refund fraud.

pete williams, nbc news, washington. when "nightly news" continues, in just a moment, man versus wild, on the hunt for a killer in yellowstone. and later, neighbors helping neighbors, pulling together after a disaster, making a difference in vermont. ld, on th killer in yellowstone. heartburn, right ? you have t yeah, it flares up a few days a week. well, we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole, the leading prescription heartburn medicine. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. i protect him from stomach acid so he can get to work. look, guys, i've already tried a lot of stuff. wow. with zegerid otc, you get 24-hour relief. so, this is goodbye heartburn ? gone. finito. zegerid otc. two ingredients... ...one mission. heartburn solved. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain.

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59-year-old john wallace, the michigan native was mauled to death by a grizzly as he hiked alone. >> my brother absolutely loved the outdoors and worked in one of the national parks and loved to just hike in nature. >> reporter: in yellowstone's 140-year history, there's been only seven fatal bear attacks, but two have come just this summer. rangers are so concerned they have set traps to catch the bear. the trap is fairly simple, once the bait is inside, the bear walks in through the backdoor. once it reaches for the food, the bear trips the lever and then the gate slams shut. across the west, it's been a summer of vicious attacks. >> it bit down on my head. >> reporter: sam was hiking with friends just north of anchorage this summer when he was mauled by a grizzly. >> i kept saying i'm going to die, i'm going to die. >> the bears are real intent on feeding so you're more likely to have a close, surprise encounter with bears at this time of the year. >> reporter: although fatal attacks are rare, people are pushing limits infringing on bear territory.

since 2000, there's been an average of three people killed by bears every year. >> it's still a beautiful place, and why give that up? it's definitely a concern. >> reporter: late today, park rangers captured a bear, dna testing will determine if it's the killer grizzly. meantime, rangers say yellowstone is safe. up next, the unbelievable sight snapped by a guy just out for a day at the beach. by a guy just out for a day at the beach. we help them save money with generic prescriptions. we talk to them about prescription safety and -- help them save money. plus we discuss possible side effects and -- help them save money! we help them save money. get care 1 on 1 and talk savings, safety, and side effects when you transfer or fill a new ongoing prescription. i'm carla, and this is my cvs.

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there's been a string of shark sightings along the southern california coast in recent days and it looks like one of them was caught on camera. a local photographer captured this image of what looks like a back end of a shark inside a wave in the middle of a group of surfers at a beach in ensenitas. some were skeptical saying the picture could actually have been a surf board ducking under the wave. but at least one shark expert says that is definitely a 10 to 12 footer. clean up this mess, a message delivered by parents to their kids since the beginning of time, is now being issued to the national academy of sciences to nasa and other space agencies. the reason?

there's too much space junk in earth's orbit. at least 22,000 objects that could do damage to spaceships and valuable satellites. the solution, don't laugh, could be some fancy space technology, nets, magnets and giant umbrellas to scoop the stuff up. the folks at nasa say they're going to think about it. and we learned today about a piece of history destroyed by hurricane irene. the arlington oak, a 220-year-old behemoth stood over the gravesite of john kennedy at arlington national cemetery. for 48 years, the tree had a special drainage system to protect it but it could not survive irene's strong winds. up next proving that the spirit of community is still alive and well. neighbors helping each other after a storm, making a difference. after the storm, ma

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as a researcher, i refer to her as "that woman with the great gums." because great gums are a foundation of a healthy smile. so she uses crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. and it protects these other areas dentists check most. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. because healthy smiles are built on healthy gums. life opens up when you do. this week began with this week began with hurricane irene still pelting northern new england with record rain and it ends with the people of vermont giving us all a lesson in taking a disaster in stride, they're helping each other, solving problems and making a difference.

here's nbc's ron mott. >> it's not over yet, it's only just beginning. >> reporter: floodwaters have moved on. the damage breathtaking, lives lost, others up ended, clearly a rough road ahead. >> it's just a different place. you know, everybody's happy. >> reporter: yet people are still smiling in vermont. in woodstock, there's no drinking water unless it's bottled and the power is still out in places but so too is the community. >> we're holding up all right. >> reporter: out sharing storm stories and an old-fashioned pot luck on the green. >> we have a lot of nice friends who have offered us showers and i can't really complain. >> if you need help, don't be afraid to ask. >> reporter: being a good neighbor right now tops most everyone's agenda here, native or not. >> we're from new orleans, we want to help.

>> reporter: help cutting through mud caked floors, or serving up a bite of goodness. >> no matter what it takes, everybody is wanting to help is coming together. it's like everybody is brother and sister right now. >> reporter: of course it's all relative, one person's pain may be another's mere inconvenience. but what they say is especially important is that a spirit of forging ahead fills the air. while there will be plenty of sweat equity needed to recover, the locals aren't singing the blues. >> the worst is behind us and the best is in front of us because we have each other and that's all that really matters. >> reporter: instead they're simply saying good buy to yesterday. ♪ irene good night #

>> reporter: and hello to tomorrow, in unison. ron mott, nbc news, woodstock, vermont. and that's our broadcast for this friday night, thank you for being with us, i'm harry smith in for brian williams, for being with us, i'm harry smith in for brian williams, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we begin with developing news, a deadly gas explosion in menlo park, you see our nbc chopper has been over the scene for the past hour. one person has been confirmed dead. more than two dozen people have been evacuated. the explosion happened at the membrane technology and research, a company called mtr, a well established company on willow road off 101. membrane research provides product and technology for gas