on the broadcast tonight, it's a monster. a giant texas wildfire burning out of control destroying everything in its path, and it's just one of many. downpour. what's left of tropical storm lee soaks the southeast with heavy rain, high winds take down power lines, and it is all headed north. labor day. president obama previews his big jobs push and tells republicans to put country before party and back him up. postage due. dire warnings that the u.s. postal service will have to shut down, and what happens when a local post office says good-bye. plus, a holiday weekend softball game to remember with one very special home team. "nightly news" begins now.

>> narrator: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. i'm kate snow in for brian tonight. on this lay day holiday, millions of americans are coping with weather-related disaster. in the southeast it's floodwaters brought on by the pounding rain of tropical storm lee this weekend. that same storm system didn't drop any rain where they so badly need it, in texas. but winds from lee helped whip up wildfires in that bone-dry state. in the last 24 hours fire crews have been called to at least 63 new fires across texas. fires that have torched more than 30,000 acres. nbc's jay gray is just outside austin tonight. good evening, jay. >> reporter: good evening, kate. those fire crews are working dozens of wildfires across texas right now. one of the worst is here in bastrop, about 40 miles southeast of austin. take a

look at this ominous plume of smoke behind me climbing into the sky. clear evidence that the blaze here is still burning out of control. >> reporter: the intense flames are relentless. a blaze pushed by the residual effects of tropical storm lee, winds gusting to 40 miles per hour, an amber glow swallowing everything in its path. wildfires cutting a twisted path across texas, challenging strike teams who are now getting help from the air along the front lines, but to this point are still no match for the flames. >> this fire is not over. it's not contained at this time. it's probably going to get better -- it's going to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: it's hard to believe things could get much worse. in bastrop just outside of austin, more than 450 homes have been reduced to ash. over 17,000 acres charred. numbers that are growing.

>> oh, my god. >> reporter: 5,000 families have been forced from their homes. >> total devastation. >> reporter: hundreds are staying in area shelters. that's where monica turner was when she got the call. >> we just found out that our house has been destroyed. >> reporter: as a wall of smoke continues to fill the horizon, m monica struggles like so many here to figure out what will happen when the skies clears. >> i don't know right now. >> reporter: as the fires continue their violent march across the state, crews are stretched past their limits. >> this has been a very, very difficult fire and a very, very difficult time for our firefighters. >> reporter: more difficult for thousand who must somehow try to piece together now the charred debris and ash, all that's left of their lives. another live look at the smoke that stretches for miles across the texas sky here. the recovery will have to wait. strike teams continue to work around the clock but admit it

will be days before they begin to get a handle on this blaze. kate. >> jay gray in texas tonight. thank you. as we mentioned the low pressure system that was tropical storm lee brought soaking rains inland after drenching the gulf coast and the florida panhandle. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel joins me now from brandon, mississippi. good evening, mike. >> reporter: hey, kate, out here at the reservoir the rain ended mid-day, but what's left of tropical storm lee is heading northeast with very heavy rainfall. the storm is responsible for at least one death in nearby jackson, mississippi. it's spawned as many as 20 tornadoes, so the damage continues to mount. suburban atlanta is the latest and largest city to feel the remnants of lee. strong winds and a possible tornado brought down several trees. >> this is a serious situation. potential tornado circulation right now. >> reporter: while in gulf

shores, alabama, rough surf may have taken the life of a 16-year-old. it has brought misery to lafitte, louisiana where persistent rain keeps on rising. >> i'm disgusted, and if this wasn't my home, i'd be gone. >> reporter: donna ekolate's family has lived here for more than 100 years. today she and her husband guided their canoe down the street named for her family. >> nobody expected it to be this bad. i don't think we had this much water for katrina. >> reporter: at the camelot apartments in jackson, residents evacuated, but henry jenkins stayed behind to start the cleanup. >> i tried to block some of it out. but it got to coming in so much, what could i do? >> reporter: outside lori jones was hard at work in her oven mitts clearing debris to help the water recede. >> we got a lot of trash that gets stuck up in here when it rains. >> reporter: look at the volume of water cascading over the

spillway. it is much more than average, we had an inch of rain last night in jackson, mississippi, and look what it did to the pearl river. it came up 20 feet more than this time yesterday, expected to top flood stage overnight tonight. in many places the problem is not water but wind. a turn hit a key in florida, leaving behind shattered buildings and grateful residents. >> i woke up to half a house and the greatest thing is i woke up to a whole mother. that's my biggest concern. >> reporter: the bad news this evening is that big tropical blob of moisture, what's left of lee is riding up a cold front into the northeast, the same areas that were saturated with rain, heavy rain from irene, hurricane irene last week. well, more rain is on the way, and with that saturated ground it won't take much more rain to kick in more flash flooding. kate. >> mike, that is certainly not welcome news for parts of northeast where they're still trying to recover from the damage left by hurricane irene which, of course, came ashore nine days ago now.

more than 2,300 homes are still without power in connecticut, and on this holiday weekend, neighbors were out helping neighbors in central new jersey as they get their kids ready to go back to school this week. at least 200 homes were destroyed there. then there's hurricane katia, which strengthened to a major category 3 hurricane today top winds of 115 miles per hour. the good news? katia is far out at sea and expected to stay offshore tracking up the east coast by thursday and friday. as of now the major effects are expected to be rough surf and rip currents along the shoreline. severe weather conditions are creating fire hazards in the far western u.s. the national weather service issued a heat and wind warning for southern california. nbc has late details from los angeles. >> reporter: kate, good evening. there are three fires burning out of control tonight in southern california. the largest blaze so far, the 400-acre wagon fire which is scorching hills in santa clarita

northwest of los angeles. structures are threatened. at this hour no mandatory evacuations. some 250 fire filteghters are o scene and it is fueled by a 5 to 10 mile per wind. the wagon fire tonight at 0% containment, near brentwood and mandoville canyon, crews are dousing the fire from the air. this one burning close to a number of hillside homes. the terrain there is extremely dangerous. kate, weather conditions for the next several days are expected to be hot and dry. president obama spent part of his labor day addressing a crowd of union members in detroit. he gave them a preview of his big jobs speech coming up later this week. both he and one of his supporters turned up the political heat. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker joins me from washington. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, kate.

president obama sounded like candidate obama when he addressed a crowd of thousands in detroit earlier today. as you say, he really did turn up the heat. he gave a glimpse of the jobs plan he will be announcing on thursday. he said it will include investing in infrastructure projects that he believed could put as many as a million construction workers back to work. he said it will include extending payroll tax cuts, and then he said the president ratcheted up the pressure on congress. take a listen. >> but we're not going to wait for them. we're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in congress. we're going to see if congressional republicans will put country before party. >> reporter: we also had heated words from teamsters president jimmy hoffa, who took a swipe at the tea party. take a listen. >> everybody here has got a vote. if we go back and keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of bitches out and give america back to america where we belong. thank you very much. >> reporter: the tea party

express called those comments damaging and dangerous. as for michigan itself, the unemployment rate there is 10.9%. that is well above the national average. president obama won that state handily back in 2008, and it is a must-win state for 2012. kate. >> kristen, a big jobs' speech coming up on thursday. have we got a preview yet of what will be in that? >> reporter: white house officials here say that the president was putting the finishing touches on that speech over the weekend. they say he wants it to be big and bold and aggressive. at the same time he has to be realistic because he has to get it through a republican-led house. however, we'll have to wait until thursday to see how bold he goes. if he gets a lot of push-back from congress, kate, we could see this speech become one of the principle parts of his platform in 2012. kate. >> kristen welker at the white house tonight. thank you. while the president was talking jobs with supporters, the republicans who want to replace him took part in a candidate forum in south carolina.

nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me now from columbia. good evening, kelly. >> reporter: good evening, kate. rick perry was here in south carolina, but at last minute did not participate in that forum. that was a disappointment it to many here. but this holiday was all business for the busy republican field. labor day politics means flipping pancakes in new hampshire, where mitt romney started his day. and the unexpected in south carolina, where governor rick perry cut short his visit saying he had to get home to deal with wildfires in texas. >> i'm leaving here as soon as i get through. >> reporter: perry had time to criticize the president on jobs. >> you don't have to have a ph.d. in economics from harvard to really understand how to get america back working again. >> reporter: five republican contenders were here for a conservative forum. the questions did not come from journalists but from tea party favorite south carolina senator jim demint, iowa congressman steve king and princeton law

professor robert george. to create jobs congresswoman michele bachmann says lower the corporate tax rate. >> i'm an unashamed apologist for the free mas-market system. >> reporter: social issues remain important to south carolina conservatives. >> i would put forward a human life amendment. >> mitt romney wants provide -- pro-choice on abortion rights as the massachusetts governor says roe v. wade should be overturned. >> i would like to see that supreme court return to the states the responsibility for determining laws relating to abortion. >> reporter: nult gingrich, -- newt gingrich, herman cain and ron paul field ed questions here. much of the tea party attention was back in new hampshire where crowds cheered sarah palin. she remained coy on candidacy but today urged tea party supporters to remain united. >> the tea party movement is

bigger than any one person, and it's not about any one candidate. >> reporter: and here in south carolina the forum's organizers defended their focus on social issues when so many people are thinking about jobs, saying those principles shouldn't be put to the side even when economic times are tough. kate. >> kelly o'donnell tonight. thank you. when "nightly news" continues in just a moment. more signs of trouble in thethe economy, financial markets falling fast overseas today. what you need to know before wall street opens in the morning. later, when the post office is more than just a place to take that package, and what happens if it goes away? and wh happens if it goes away? you're smiling. and when they're laughing... you're laughing. be kind to your eyes... with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably... and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun.

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germany's stock index fell 5.3%, france was down 4.8%. in london stocks fell 3.6% today. cnbc michelle cabrera joins me now. why steep drops in europe today? >> the general concern, kate, is that a lot of governments in europe for many decades have borrowed a lot of money to give generous benefits to workers and retirees. they thought they would grow enough to pay back the debts. that hasn't happened. the immediate concern right now, the reason the market sold off today is italy. it's the most indebted nation in europe, and the situation grew so grave earlier in the summer that investors started to treat italy like a subprime borrower, pushing its interest rates up very, very high. europe's central bank stepped in and said we'll help you keep your interest rates low, but you have to promise to make changes like balancing your budget, reducing the size of your government, which is very bloated, passing a balanced budget amendment.

so far italy has failed to do all those things despite getting the help, and over the weekend leaders of the european central bank made very clear they're unhappy with italy. the sell-off you see comes from the concern that if italy doesn't keep receiving help, if they were to default on their debts, you would see bank failures across europe. that would be problematic, european banks have lent italy all the money. >> bank failures does not sound good for anyone. what does that mean for american consumers? for all the rest of us? >> if there were bank failures in europe and a banking crisis, you can be sure that the european economy would go into a recession. think about this -- when you put all the countries in europe together collectively, their economy is bigger than the united states. an economy that big going into recession is problematic overall. remember, they buy our products. they are one of our biggest trading partners. they buy ipods and cars from general motors. it would hurt us in our economy as well, plus, we can expect our stock market to fall pretty sharply in the morning. >> something we'll continue to

watch especially tomorrow morning. thanks so much. when we come back, small towns worry about what life would be like without the local post office. dad, coach, and i was a longtime smoker. in my heart i knew for the longest time that did not want to be a smoker. and the fact that i failed before. i think i was discouraged for a very long time. ♪ knowing ouat cmo ild skedu ld t ngrihe first week was really important to me. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill proven to help people quit smoking. [ jeff ] chantix reduced my urge to smoke, and personally that's what i knew i needed. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away

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the show went on with huge photos of him decorating the stage and the event raised more than $61 million, more than last year. it was in fact the most successful telethon since the financial meltdown in 2008. one of the headlines that greeted us on this labor day, the us postal service is in such bad financial shape it may have to shut down this winter. it's a problem that's been in the making for a long time. the postal service lost $8.5 billion last year, and it has been working on ways to cut costs including closing thousands of locations around the country. nbc's roger o'neill now, more on the impact that losing the town post office could have. >> reporter: it may be antiquated in our digital world. >> i believe i got a package. >> reporter: it's the way neil rogers stays connected. >> pick my bills up every morning at quarter it to 9:00, and it's always it there. >> reporter: that could change

for rogers and thousands more, if the postal service persuades congress to close post offices. most will be rural, all are losing money like fork, south carolina. >> we must be very aggressive in realigning the operations of the postal service to match the declining mail volumes. >> reporter: closing post offices many which opened in the 1800s is one way the postal service says it can stop the hemorrhaging of money. but it's not just about the mail. >> how is miss betty? >> she's doing pretty good. >> mama doing okay? >> yeah. >> you all have a good trip? >> we had a great trip. >> we would lose our identity. >> you're looking mighty pretty today. >> thank you. >> it's important to us. we're going to stand up and say no. >> reporter: before congress will say yes, maine senator susan collins wants overly generous worker benefits reduced. >> 80% of the postal services' costs involve its work force. less than 1% involve operating small rural post offices. >> reporter: it was congress

that imposed some of those onerous costs. postal officials say take the shackles off, and it will stop the financial bleeding. unstoppable is the rapid decline of the postal services cash cow, first-class mail, and that may put this in the museum of yesterday. >> thank you, linda. have a good day. >> reporter: roger o'neil, nbc news, fork, south carolina. when we come back, a team of real american heroes in the game of a lifetime. do you have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding,

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we've covered so many stories about the bravery and resilience of america's wounded warriors coming back from war and working to rebuild their lives. now some active duty and veteran service members have come together on a new kind of team, and this holiday weekend they showed us all how much they can do. here's nbc's jim miklaszewski. >> at first glance they look like any summer softball team, but when these players suit up for game, it means putting on their prosthetics. they're the wounded warriors amputee softball team made up of

military veterans missing limbs. former marine, 22-year-old josh wegey lost both legs to a roadside bomb in afghanistan, but it doesn't slow him down. >> attitude is key in therapy and in any recovery. yes, i was driven to get back to playing this game, because i love it so much. >> reporter: army veteran greg reynolds had to learn how to catch and throw with only one arm. >> i say to everybody the only limitations you have are the ones you make. i don't make any. that's why i am still doing what i do. >> reporter: the team is the brainchild of their coach, david van sleet. >> some of these guys never thought they were going to live, or walk together or play a sport. this means the world to them. this is their stage. this is the new normal. >> reporter: these wounded warriors aren't looking for any sympathy or pity. what they really want is good, hard competition, and they only play able-bodied teams. this weekend they proved they've

got what it takes, smashing homers and making spectacular catches. retired marine, spanky gibson hopes to change people's attitudes towards the disabled. >> we're not blue parking passes at walmart trying to get closer to the front of the line. we're not disabled. we're the same people as we were before. >> reporter: they are truly inspirational. the bat boy whose leg wasputate his shot at the plate. with an infield hit, there was an instant bond between these real-life players. what do you think of these guys out here? >> they're pretty amazing. >> reporter: are they? >> yeah. >> reporter: the wounded warriors took a beating this day, but they've been through far worse and once afraid they may never walk again, they're now flying hard. jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. that is our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being with us. i'm kate snow in for brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com wang. i'm raj mathai. we begin with irony. honoring jobs and growth in a climate unfor giving for millions of americans. job growth has ground to a halt and the job market is sobering to say the least. a 9.1% national unemployment rate, about 12% in california.