millions of americans are bracing for potential devastation at this very moment as hurricane matthew slams the bahamas and barrels twarld the united states. good morning. i'm ayman mohyeldin. >> i'm frances rivera. at this hour, hurricane matthew is rapidly intensifying as it nears the atlantic coast. a state of emergency is in effect from florida to the carolinas where the impacts of the storm will be felt as early as tonight. forecasters now are projecting an historic level of damage to the state of florida as this monitor storm nears category 4 and potentially category 5 level strengths. president obama issued this warning after a briefing from

fema. >> i want to emphasize to the public this is a serious storm. it has already hit haiti with devastating effect. it is now in the process of moving through the bahamas. because it's not going to be hitting enough land, it is going to be building strength on its way to florida. >> at least 25 people have been killed in the storm, most in haiti. that number is expected to climb. rescue teams are assessing the scale of the destruction in haiti and cuba as the storm continues to batter the bahamas. tammy leitner is in the bahamas with the latest. what are the cessions there now? >> hey, the northern edge of the hurricane is just pounding the island here. i want to give you a look at what we're seeing. look at that wind and rain. it's going sideways. the trees are bent over it's so strong, and this isn't the worst of it. it is going to increase. the full force of the hurricane is set to hit around 8:00 a.m.,

we're told the eye could go over the island and we could get a direct hit. while the wind and rain is a big concern, also the storm surge is an even bigger concern. itted be up to 15 feet. that could cover a lot of the houses here. extremely dangerous. back to you guys. >> tammy leitner, thanks. >> i want to brng in bill karins who is here. on where matthews and headed and no signs of it weakening? >> not at all. strengthening over night. the winds should be going up throughout the day today. i can't imagine a worst case scenario for the klein of florida. cat-4s are catastrophic hurricanes and there's a slight chance it could jump up to a category 5. 125-mile-per-hour winds. only 200 miles away from motorcycmiami.

the forecast cone easily has wes potch beam and weakening as the storm ravages areas around south carolina and georgia. ee could start to feel the hurricane effects in south florida as soon as this evening with this outer eye wall. right now, the worst of it is over nassau in the bahamas, and then towards areas of south florida. this is what you want to avoid, the western eye wall of the hurricane, 11:00 p.m., that's when the power outages and destruction will begin. then they'll say winds they have never seen before from the space coast up through daytona beach, even orlando could get hurricane force winds with major power outages and tomorrow, we devastate the coastline of north florida and into georgia. the storm surge is devastating, the winds are going to cause devastation, and then the rainfall in the days ahead. this is an historic event, one we'll compare to the katrinas.

sa sandas, and andrews. >> thank you so much. in the wake of hurricane matthew, haiti is jet again facing another humanitarian crisis. u.n. officials say it's the worst event to hit the nation since the devastating earthquake of 2010. while u.s. aid agencies have dispatched response teams and are pledging to send nearly $2 million in aid, 350,000 people at this very moment are in need of immediate assistance. rescue teams are struggling to reach the island's most isolated communities. gabe gur tear ezhas more. >> stranded but determined. one by one, they fight a raging river. this woman almost swept away, rescued just in time. this bridge about two hours east of port osprince was a lifestyle. >> the end of the road is right here. this is where the bridge washed away, and flow the rush is on to repair it and get that side the help it so desperately needs. roads flooded, homes leveled.

supply lines ravaged. the mayor says in his town aloneering at least 14 people were killed. haiti's official death toll expected to rise dramatically. this man told us it was worse than the 2010 earthquake because now his damaged home is cut off. for him and so many others, the road may have ended but the path to recovery is just beginning. gabe gutierrez. >> beginning of the destruction. >> we're now learning new details about an alleged nsa insider breach, andatize hathe potential to cause grave danger to our country. the man remains in custody, accused of stealing top secret information. the 51-year-old was arrested in august after a cache of nsa hacking tools were offered for sale on line. they shared some of the same materials immartin's possession.

the fbi is investigating where there is a link between the two. booze allen hamilton is the company that contracted hamilton and edward snowden. martin faces up to ten years in prison for theft of government property and one year for the removal of classified materials. his attorneys say there is no evidence he intended to betray his company. >> now to the battle for the white house. the approach of hurricane matthew is reportedly having an impact on the presidential campaign. politico reports the clinton campaign will be airing ads today in several cities in florida hoping to take advantage of the typical increase in viewership that often occurs in a storm. field offices for both campaigns may also have to suspend operations in any of the states that have been hit by the hurricane. >> and this morning, the trump campaign has made a change to the schedule to get ready for sunday's debate. he will now be going to new

hampshire for a newly arranged town hall meeting. the same format in sunday's debate. it's viewed as a dry run for trump whose last town hall was months ago. hillary clinton has far more experience with the town haul format, and the "wall street journal" reports that trump's allies want him to be more like mike. but there was speculation pence might have prep trump for the debate. but hallie jackson says the campaign wants to keep pence on the trail in swing states. >> a new national poll this morning gives clinton a ten-point lead over trump. but she only holds about a four-point edge in the real clear politics national average. trump, meanwhile, is facing more questions about his divisive comments on women. a tv reporter asked trump if he understands how hurtful his remarks can be. >> sure, i do. a lot of this is done in the entertainment business. i'm interviewed for apprentice long before i thought in terms of running for office, but a lot

of the was done for the purpose of entertainment. and you know, when people hear it, there's nobody, i can tell you this, there is nobody, nobody, that has more respect for women than i do. >> are you trying to tone it down now? >> not a question of trying. it's very easy. you're in the entertainment business. you're doing the apprentice. row have one of the top shows on television, and you say things differently for a reason. >> right. >> now it's a much different world. >> now, in parts of trump's comments about women, the atlantic magazine is endorsing hillary clinton for the third time ever in making a presidential endorsement. they're calling trump a demagogue, a zen aphobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. >> still ahead, breaking news in syria including a dire warning for families in the aleppo region. >> first, bill karins is back with more on the potential landfall of hurricane matthew. >> besides the winds, we're concerned with the storm surge. miami, ft. lauderdale, only one

to three feet. but it's seven feet around ft. pierce, and then the melbourne n area, that's up to a ten-foot storm surge, and up to georgia and savannah, a 7 to 10-foot storm surge. this storm is going to cause considerable damage with wind, ndter, a rain. 90s from palm springs to yuma. 89 today in phoenix. "early today" is back in two. is that ice-t? nope, it's lemonade. is that ice-t? lemonade. ice-t? what's with these people, man? lemonade, read the sign. lemonade. read it. ok. delicious.

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theret, quote, inevitable fate. they're offering people to lay down their arms before what could be a large scale operation to take back parts of the city. the government is backed by russia and shia militias from iraq and lebanon. they know their specific locations of arms sources. >> new state department data shows the united states welcomed a record number of refugees in 2016. according to the pew research center, of the nearly 85,000 refugees who entered the united states, some 46% were muslim. this also marks the first time in a decade that a small number of refugees were christian versus muslim. >> an unusual and very moving tribute to a young superhero fan in south carolina. the family of a 6-year-old boy who died after a scoot shooting last week asks mourners to don superhero costumes for his funeral. >> over 1,000 came from far and wide, from gotham city to

metropolis to say good-bye. rehema ellis tells the story. >> 6-year-old jacob hall's small blue casket was surrounded by 1500 mourners dressed by the sup superheroes jacob loved. one batman imagining what jacob would say. >> i want to coordinate the biggest hope-filled superhero bash this planet has ever seen. >> dressed as batman's side kick, robin, jacob's mother rene said she asked people to celebrate him in costume. >> i knew there were going to be jacob's classmates, friends from all over the place. i didn't want them to be sad. >> jacob was a happy child, as he headed off to his first day of school just two months ago. >> i'm going to be in first grade. >> good job. and your teacher's name? >> a 14-year-old has been charged with jacob's murder on the playground at his south carolina elementary school.

he's also been charged with the murder of his own father, jeffrey ausborn. >> i know what jacob would say to me. he would say, i porgiforgive thy and love him like jesus loves him. >> proof that jacob was a superhero at heart. rehema ellis, nbc news. >> what a heart touching story there. >> your hearts, your guts for something to be so sad and so beautiful at the same time. >> well, just ahead, we're continuing to follow the progress of hurricane matthew for you. plus, new details on the samsung phone that caused the evacuation of a southwest airliner. g in fe. because it knew an ordinary tissue was near. the fiery tissue left her nose sore and red. so dad slayed the problem with puffs plus lotion, instead. puffs have pillowy softness for dakota's tender nose. with lotion to comfort and soothe when she blows. don't get burned by ordinary tissues.

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fast forwarding today. prince's 65,000 square foot paisley park compound opens to the public. fans will be able to tour the late artist's home. >> yale university will honor its first black student by naming a classroom after him. he escaped slavery in 1828 and was allowed to attend class there. at the time, he wasn't even allowed to speak out or ask question in the classroom. he couldn't ooven earn a degree. >> on the "today" show, the latest creepy clown sightings that have communities nationwide on edge. >> putting some phone owners on edge, samsung galaxy note 7 that

one owner claims was replaced reportedly caught fire as he turned off the phone for a flight. the passenger says he put the phone into his pocket when he heard a pop and then smoke started billowing from his clothes. he flew the phone on the floor. samsung is working to confirm the burnt phone was a new note 7 and there are no reported injuries in this incident. >> that must have been scary. samsung stock is trading on the up side this morning. landon dowdy is here to explain it all for us. >> good morning to you. well, samsung stock soaring more than 4% to a record high in south korea today. that's after a top u.s. shareholder submitted a plan yesterday for a radical makeover calling for a break-up of the electronics giant. samsung says it's reviewing the proposal. meanwhile, the nation's biggest shopping mall is keeping its doors closed on thanksgiving day as the mall of america will reopen at 5:00 a.m. on black friday. it had been open on thanksgiving

day every year since 2012, but officials say they want employees to spend time with their families and retail analysts question the effectiveness of stores being opened on thanksgiving saying it doesn't really lead to high er sales. and the federal government said mylan over charged medicaid for its life-saving epi-pen. the agency that over sees medicare and medicaid classified it as a generic, allowing myelin to pay a small rebate. back over to you. >> really affecting a lot of families there. landon dowdy, thanks. >> that's a nice story about thanksgiving day to give employees off. if you're like me, sometimes you need to escape the family and you need a place to go. that's what the mall was about. >> well, just ahead, why a hospital is charging some parents $40 just to hold their newborn baby. >> blus the eerie image of hurricane matthew that is spooking the internet.

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no, i wouldn't want to impose. we're family now. it's not an imposition. hey look you know, if you don't want to swim, you don't have... ... to swim. nobody's forcing ya, ya know? he doesn't have... ...to, he's an adult. no dad, he's gonna swim. no, it's fine, we can play cards. c'mon, let's... as hurricane matthew picks up speed the outlook seems ominous. especially as you see here, but a weather channel meteorologist conveyed it by tweeting out this satellite image. can you make out here the shape of it? it looks pretty sinister. with all seriousness of the storm, but it's interesting how it takes the form. >> it took me a second to put it all together, but that's the eye of the storm, so i can see why

it's an ominous sign. >> one man is finding that maybe hospitals can put a price on love. this story also will raise a lot of eyebrows. ryan grassley asked the hospital for an itemized bill after the birth of his son. he noticed this one line on here that his wife was charged $40 to hold the baby. the hospital said the charge for the skin to skin contact only after c-sections in order to bring an extra nurse into the operating room. the new dad, he had a good sense of humor and added he had a positive experience overall at the hospital. you see it there, skin to skin contact, $39.35. >> when it comes to that, i shouldn't have to say, but when you touch that baby. >> they could have rolled it into additional care. with you itemize it, it raises eyebrows. >> no charging for kisses or hugs. the would be a hb. >> stephen colbert took advantage of election season last night on the late show. >> one of the big themes of last night's debate was the folks on

donald trump's other running mate, vladimir putin. governor pence broke with trump's praise of putin to issueing the warning about the dangers of a resurgent russia. >> what we're dealing with, there's an old proverb that says the russian bear never dies, it just hibernates. >> it has come to light that he may have just made up that old proverb about russia. this could be the biggest trump campaign scandal since melania quoted the ancient proverbs of michelle obama. >> i think you can make things up. >> up next, a live report from the caribbean on hurricane matthew. you're watching "early today." more "stay" per roll. more "sit" per roll.

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welcome back. if you're just joining us, we couldn't have a more dire forecast. a worst case scenario forecast for the east coast of florida. starting tonight and continuing up through georgia and possibly even south carolina into saturday morning. category 4 storm raking the coastline. category 4 storms are catastrophic. this would be unprecedented in our country's history to have a hurricane this intense through this much of coastline. that's the scenario we're looking at. as far as the impacts, 10 to15-foot storm surges. that occurs in florida. the winds will pick up later today into tonight. think of all the high rise buildings, hotels and windows blown out, roofs being ripped

out. they have never had the impact like we're expecting in the east coast of florida. they have dealt with a lot of category 3s, not a category 4. unpreside unpr unprecedented, historic. >> we have covered a lot of hurricanes. when it comes to this one, looking at it differently. we're talking about possible historic devastation, and even after the storm is long gone, talking about what you expect power outages long after? >> comparison to hurricane jean, i believe it was 2005. made landfall around the melbourne, florida, area. that had power outages up to two weeks and cost $20 billion worth of damage. this storm is going to be more intense, and it's going to be along the coastline longer than that storm. and the problem is power crews can't come down from north carolina, south carolina, or georgia because the storm could head up there next. there's probably power crews now from tennessee, oklahoma, texas, and louisiana that are staging. when this is gone, they'll rush to florida. two weeks from now, we'll easily

have 1 hundreds of thousands of people waiting to get their power on. >> are you getting a sense that individuals, people, communities that live all around the eastern shore you were talking about, are they listening to that advise, and do you think the tone coming out of politicians is the right tone for how historic and dire this hurricane looks like? >> 24 hours ago yesterday, there was a chance it could maybe move off the coast. they were calling for evacuations. especially for the barrier island. this morning, the message will get a lot more urgent now that it looks sure of heading onshore as a category 4. they want people off the coast. they can't help you at all. now we're calling for a storm surge of 6 to 10 feet. you're standing at the beach, and if you're 6 foot tall, that water could be three feet over your head. that will rush over the roads, into the hotels, everywhere. >> quickly, if you could show the radar, is there a chance of it coming back around? >> there are some scenarios of it wrapping around, it would be weak if it did.

>> all right. something wll be following. e' lv01r

sam/on't vo g and breaking oveit >>. good morning, i am bob redell. police are investigating a late night homicide. and breaking overnight. floridians bracing for hurricane matthew. and the giants with a thrilling finish in new york. >> the pitch, high drive to center field, still going back! today in the bay starts right now. >> good morning to giants fans. happy you're with us.