wind. >> all right, nbc nightly news next, more local news at 6:00. see you then. on this saturday night, flood emergency. a massive and deadly storm pounds the east coast, up to 16 inches of rain predicted in some parts. tonight more than 20 million people under flood watches and warnings. desperate search for a cargo ship with 28 americans onboard, two days after it vanished in the fury of hurricane joaquin. deadly bombing at a hospital in afghanistan run by doctors without borders. hit by an american air strike aimed at taliban militants. and campus massacre. new details from oregon about the shooter's movements that fateful day. survival stories and why congress can't ever seem to agree on how to keep guns out of the wrong hands. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: from nbc news world

headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight, craig melvin. and a good saturday evening. we are following two major developing story tonight. in a few moments thomas roberts will have the latest on thursday's shooting massacre at a community college in oregon. but first -- historic flooding. many parts of charleston are under water tonight. some roads look more like small rivers. more than 20 million people along the eastern seaboard are under a flood watch or flood warning. some communities are expecting epic amounts of rain. 16 inches in some places. this afternoon, president obama declared a state of emergency in south carolina. forecasters say some there could experience a once-in-a-lifetime rain event. we start tonight in greenville, south carolina with kerry sanders. >> reporter: wide areas of charleston, south carolina, underwater tonight.

adding to the relentless rainfall, coastal flooding. with more than 11 inches of rain in the last 36 hours, some residents already forced out of their homes. and there are still at least two more days of this dangerous weather. >> house is flooded. stuck inside for the last two days. >> reporter: at least four storm-related deaths on roads this week. >> please, be extremely careful when you're in or around especially water, because that's where most of our deaths occur during these types of storms. >> reporter: and what may look like harmless puddles can actually disable vehicles. tow truck operators have had a hard time keeping up today. >> the car will just pick up off the ground. because most of them are watertight on the inside and you turn into a boat and you've got no control. >> reporter: near north wildwood, new jersey, this house broke apart, and floated down the bay. >> it was like armageddon.

it just looked like the end -- the wind was blowing, i don't know how. 50, 60, 70 mile-an-hour. >> reporter: in charlotte strong winds snapped old trees heavy with rainwater. in north and south carolina, at least 25,000 customers lost power. >> we've got a lot of rain still yet to come. shifting weather patterns, very unpredictable. we know we'll get a lot of rain's what we have to look out for. >> reporter: in columbia, south carolina, all eyes are on the broad river dam tonight. by tomorrow, the rivers are forecast to be ten feet above flood stage. [ chanting ] >> reporter: for those who tailgated in the rain today at the clemson/notre dame football game, a little humor amid the misery. one way to gauge the amount of rain that's fallen, these waterfalls behind me here in greenville, south carolina. normally you see the rocks. now just covered in raging water. the real fear going forward, the next two days of rain. craig? >> kerry sanders in upstate south carolina for us tonight. kerry, thank you. tens of millions will feel the impact

of the storm for days to come. what's next, and is there relief in sight? let's get the latest from nbc meteorologist now dylan dreyer. dylan? >> craig, looks like the flood threat remains until at least tuesday. look at the rain over the last 12 hours. it has been streaming over the same part of south carolina since thursday. in fact, since thursday we've already picked up in some areas 16 inches of rain in spots just outside of myrtle beach. we also ended up with about 10 to 12 inches of rain especially just outside of charleston. there you see right in through there, and this is the area where they are looking at more rain over the next several hours. so we do have flash flood watches in effect across the western part of the state through tomorrow. the eastern part of the state through monday, because we could still see an additional 7 to up to 10 inches of rain right in this bullseye to the north and west of charleston leading to flash flooding and could also lead to some

mudslides, since the ground is already completely saturated. we also have a coastal flood threat from long island all the way down into new jersey, with each high tide as they're much higher than normal levels as that easterly wind continues to push the atlantic onshore. so coastal flooding will remain a concern. here is hurricane joaquin now. it is exiting the bahamas after washing out homes, after cutting off communication. it is a category 4 storm passing just to the west of bermuda as it weakens to a 3 and eventually race on out to sea as it becomes extra tropical. craig? >> dylan, thank you. the u.s. coast guard continued its search today for a cargo ship that ran into trouble and disappeared as hurricane joaquin battered the bahamas. more than two dozen americans are part of that crew. we get that story tonight from nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: from first light rescue crews scour mile after mile searching for any sign of the "el faro." a 735-foot cargo ship missing since thursday with 33 men and women on board, including 28 americans. one of them, mike holland, an engineer on the ship.

today his mom is desperately trying to get to florida from maine, delayed by weather. >> the coast guard has just worked tirelessly in putting their own lives in their hands to try to find our loved ones. >> reporter: the "el faro" and its crew set off tuesday night from jacksonville on course to reach san juan, puerto rico by saturday. but on thursday morning trouble. "el faro" radioed in a distress call near the bahamas' crooked island. with hurricane joaquin bearing down the ship had lost propulsion, taken on water, and was listing to the side. >> any ship, when you have a list like that, it puts you in an unstable position, and when you're disabled, it compounds the problem. so that's why we're very concerned. >> reporter: for more than two days now there has been no other word. frank hamm is a father of five. his wife believes he'll come home, but she can't help but wonder why the "el faro" was out there at all during a dangerous storm. >> the ship should have never left. and being that it did, then something should

have happened to intervene before it became a hurricane. >> reporter: kenneth benton worked on the "el faro" just last week and knows the ship and its crew well. >> most of that crew have been sailing for at least 15 years. and i know that wherever they are, whether the ship is floating or whether they had to abandon ship, that they're fighting for their survival. >> reporter: we have just gotten late word the coast guard has located a life raft from el faro. search conditions still difficult. high seas, high winds. they will be back out there tomorrow, craig. >> kristen dahlgren for us. kristen, thank you. at least 19 people were killed today in a hospital in afghanistan. it was bombed in what appears to be an american air strike aimed at taliban militants. dozens more were wounded by the

hospital which is run by the aid organization doctors without borders. he with get more tonight from nbc's john yang. >> reporter: daybreak in kunduz revealed t results of an hour-long bombardment. the hospital run by doctors without borders still burning. inside bloodied staff slumped in hallways. surgeries still under way in a makeshift operating room. >> they saw patients burning in their beds. i mean, completely traumatic distressing scenes. >> reporter: the aid group said from 2:08 a.m. until 3:15 local time its hospital was rocked by aerial assaults every 15 minutes. they say it continued for 30 minutes even after they alerted u.s. and afghan forces. they gave the pentagon their gps coordinates as recently as this week. afghan officials claim as many as 15 taliban fighters were shooting from the hospital. the charity flatly denies it. >> a lot of the terrorists were killed, but we also lost doctors.

we will do everything to make sure they're and they can do their job. >> reporter: u.s. forces say the air strikes targeted taliban directly firing upon u.s. service members advising and assisting afghan security forces in the vicinity of a doctors without borders medical facility. as outrage grew on social media, defense secretary ash carter called it tragic and offered "my thoughts and prayers to everyone affected," but stopped well short of an apology. he said a full investigation is under way. late today as afghan forces try to drive the taliban out of kunduz, wounded civilians still arriving at the partially destroyed hospital. doctors without borders is demanding an independent investigation of how death and destruction came to a place solely devoted to care and healing. john yang, nbc news, london. we turn now to the other big story we continue to follow in this country. the deadly shooting

rampage at a college in oregon. my colleague thomas roberts remains on duty in roseburg, oregon. thomas, good evening. >> reporter: craig, good evening to you. and the community of roseburg remains in stunned mourning after nine people were murdered on the campus of umpqua community college just two days ago. while there is encouraging news to report on the nine other shooting victims who survived, we begin our reporting from here with new information about the student shooter's movements during his rampage, and we are getting a clearer picture of his state of mind. nbc's miguel almaguer has details on that. miguel? >> reporter: good evening, thomas. the grief is matched by the intense search for answers. we now know the gunman took his own life in the hills from the campus behind me. but we don't have a definitive motive. tonight so many in this community including the police are asking one question -- why?

chris harper-mercer's shooting spree inside the class where he was enrolled at umpqua community college is the deadliest in oregon history. he took nine lives in ten minutes, then confirmed by police today, his own. >> as those two officers arrived at the scene, there was an exchange of gunfire. the shooter was neutralized at that point in time. >> the medical examiner has determined the cause of death of the shooter to be suicide. >> reporter: armed with six guns, extra ammunition and body armor, harper-mercer left behind a document which investigators say details his poor state of mind. the 26-year-old appeared bitter over not having a girlfriend, complaining the world was against him. he lived alone with his mother, where we are learning tonight police found eight guns. harper-mercer graduated from a school for children with learning and emotional challenges. jane ortiz was a classmate. >> he was quiet. he was a straight-a student. pretty much left everybody alone. nobody picked on him. he didn't pick on anybody.

>> reporter: tonight in roseburg a community hurting, hoping to heal. tears still fall for victims like rebecka ann carnes, who had just started college. ♪ amazing grace they remember every incident life lost here. the youngest 18. the oldest 67. first responders lost members of their own family. >> it is with great sadness that we learned that our firefighter justin anspach lost his son, treven taylor anspach, on that day, and our ems paramedic bryant mcfadden lost his niece, rebecka ann carnes, on that day. >> reporter: 16-year-old cheyenne fitzgerald's mom, speaking for the first time, says she was shot in the back. she survived by playing dead but lost a kidney. >> she's having some tough times. healing is going to be slow. >> reporter: chris mintz, still

recovering, is hailed a hero. the single father and army veteran charged the shooter, saving lives. now more than half a million dollars raised by strangers for his recovery. >> i'm doing well and i'm overwhelmed by the support that i've gotten from everybody. >> reporter: tonight there is some hope in all of this heartbreak. a community that has lost together now pulling together. the campus will reopen for staff and students on monday, but classes won't resume until a week from monday. many telling us tonight it is simply too quick to come back to this school. thomas? >> reporter: nbc's miguel almaguer, thank you. heroic stories of survival are still emerging from that tragic and chaotic morning on campus. more about what we know about the youngest shooting survivor. a 16-year-old college freshman, her name cheyenne fitzgerald. shot once in the back, and recovering from a bullet being removed as well as a kidney. fitzgerald is credited

with saving the life of another teen survivor, anna boylan, by telling her friend to play dead. bonnie fitzgerald, cheyenne's mom, sat down with me tonight to talk about her youngest child and how she learned about the shooting. >> bonnie, tell me about your daughter. what is cheyenne like? >> very energetic. on the go. >> reporter: she wants to be a nurse? >> she wants to be a nurse. >> reporter: so she was at school, her fourth day, on campus. and this happens. how did you hear about it? >> i started texting my daughter. but she wasn't replying, or responding back, which that meant -- i was going to go to the school. instead i came here, to mercy medical center. because my inside feelings brought me here. >> reporter: what was the first thing you said to cheyenne? >> i touched her, and she was cold. and she -- she was in shock, but talking,

and she said, "mom" -- she didn't want me to see her in her condition. so they took me out and then she was rushed to the operating -- into the operation. >> reporter: what was going through your mind while you were waiting? >> i was praying. >> reporter: what's her attitude like now? have you had a chance to speak to her while she's in recovery? >> i don't bring anything up to her. i don't ask her questions. she speaks a little bit at a time and i just listen. >> reporter: she's reacting to noise in a way that -- >> right. >> reporter: -- you're afraid of how she's going to be -- >> a chair got moved and she just went off. yes. she got -- she's having some nightmares. and she's starting to remember. >> reporter: how grateful are you that cheyenne is alive? >> unspeakably grateful. very grateful. more than grateful. >> reporter: and our

thanks to the fitzgerald family. no telling how long cheyenne will be in the hospital, but we do know there will be a big birthday celebration. cheyenne turns 17 coming up in november. when "nightly news" continues on this saturday, after the shootings here, how to keep guns out of the wrong hands, and why congress has found it so difficult.

this week's shooting rampage here in roseburg, oregon provoked outrage and

frustration from the president on down. and has once again raised a tough question -- what can be done to prevent these mass shootings? the country is deeply divided on the issue. a division reflected in congress. a report on this tonight from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: the nation is collectively outraged but sharply divided about a solution. a sentiment reflected in congress seemingly paralyzed on the gun control issue. >> our silence has become a quiet endorsement of this mass slaughter. >> when i first got the news about oregon, i -- i wept. because it is so painful to know that we can do something, but we're not doing something. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the 2012 sandy hook massacre, connecticut passed tough new gun laws including expanded background checks. democratic senator chris murphy from that state is now pushing for similar federal measures. >> states with tighter background checks laws have less gun deaths. >> reporter: pennsylvania

republican tim murphy says new gun laws are not the answer, instead proposing legislation to improve access to mental health care. >> what is important is we focus on what is in their minds and not just what is in their hands. >> reporter: in a recent poll, 93% of americans support background checks for all gun buyers, but the nation is about evenly split on whether they want stricter gun control laws, and it's always been that way. after the 1981 assassination attempt of former president ronald reagan it took another decade to pass the brady bill mandating federal background checks. in 2011 tucson, arizona, six people killed and representative gaby giffords seriously wounded, but congress was unable to muster new laws even after one of their own was targeted. and after sandy hook, when victims' families walked the halls of congress pushing for change, capitol hill rejected legislation expanding background checks. defeated by republicans and red state democrats arguing it would threaten the right to bear arms.

sandy hook families outraged anew this week. >> congress has failed us. >> reporter: according to the center for responsive politics, gun rights lobbyists are pouring millions into their cause, outspending gun control advocates 6-1 this year, so those who want new laws need to figure out how to match the nra's money and influence. >> this isn't about taking anyone's guns away. what it is about is keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people. >> reporter: the nation's most powerful gun lobby, the nra, declined our multiple requests for comment, and here's a reality check. since 2012 congress added more pro-gun lawmakers. thomas? >> nbc's kristen welker. kristen, thank you. coming up, we're going to go back to craig melvin at 30 rock in new york with more news, including a race against time after a mudslide buries part of a town.

a desperate scene in guatemala, where rescue workers recovered more bodies today after a massive mudslide swallowed more than 100 homes. authorities said the death toll rose to 56 and hundreds more could be missing. it happened thursday night just outside the capital, guatemala city. hundreds are taking part in the rescue effort. in the middle east, a new wave of russian air strikes against syria -- in syria. a russian military spokesman said the warplanes flew 20 missions over the last day hitting nine isis targets. russia insists its targeting isis as well as an al qaeda group in syria, but the attacks have also reportedly hit western-backed rebels fighting the assad government in syria. the u.s. and other countries have condemned russia's involvement. and a bold move by a polish priest

brought a quick response from the vatican today. monsignor krzysztof charamsa had worked at the vatican for 12 years. he admitted in media interviews this week that he was gay and had a partner. at a news conference he called the church homophobic and planned a demonstration in front of the vatican. the vatican responded today by dismissing the priest from his job calling his actions grave and irresponsible. we're back in a moment with an update on our top stories.

tonight, here in roseburg, oregon the community struggling with how to mourn, eventually heal, and someday maybe even forgive. why would someone do something so evil with such paralyzing ripple effects on so many loving families? what remains clear, there is not one easy solution to combat senseless gun violence in this country, but the outpouring of love and kindness from this community to one another is one solution to not letting the shooter win. craig? >> thomas, thank you. neighbors are helping neighbors there in oregon. soon in many places along the eastern seaboard neighbors will also be doing what we do so often in this country when tragedy or disaster strikes. helping rebuild. as history-making rains impact millions right now, states of emergency have been declared. several states are dealing with epic flooding and the rain is expected to

continue in many places. we'll be watching the weather closely tonight. and that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm craig melvin reporting from new york. stay safe, stay dry if you can, and i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today." thanks for watching, and good night. strap in for a windy night. it's going to be gu robles. get ready for a windy night. it's going to be gusty across the bay area. we'll show you where it will be worse and the problems that could come because of it. good evening, everyone. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm peggy bunker. as we speak, that wind that we

are talking about is picking up. take a look here at the flags blowing in san francisco that really tells the story there. on the right you can see the water up against the san mateo bridge and our cameras there. parts of the bay area under a red flag warning. that means there is a chance for new wildfires. in fact, we're learning of a new four-acre brush fire near edwood roads. rob joins us with more on the fire danger. when you get winds like this, rob, any spark dangerous. >> especially in the hills we'll see dry, gusty north winds picking up. super charged sea breeze in san fran francisco and oakland 21 mile per hour winds and san jose gusts to 25 and towards the east bay dublin, guests up to 28 miles per hour and wind gust up to 34 in mount