hurricane maria, wit experts at the national weather service are driving as catastrophic. >> maria lashing the islands of the caribbean with potentially cat tas froftrophic consequences. >> overnight, frantic search and rescue for earthquake victims in mexico is an death toll rises and the race to find survivors grows more urgent. >> the united states has great strength and patience. but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. >> strong words from the leader of the free world after he labeled north korea's leader rocket man. swift reaction this morning.

>> plus a new study suggests playing youth football could have long-term health effects. >> and new way for patients to get to the operating room. "early today" starts right now. good to be with you. i'm frances rivera. >> i'm phillip mena. hurricane maria is churning through the caribbean. this monster spinning winds up to 165 miles per hour. the eye of the storm is looming over st. croix bat areaing it with powerful gusts ripping at the tropical landscape. maria sclamg guadeloupe with wind and rain killing one and injuries two others. the hurricane pounded martinique sending sea water surging and flooding city streets there. u.s. coast guard sthips are stationed in that region preparing to respond to even more damage. >> we're ready to respond following the storm to not only help rescue people if needed but also to reopen the critical ports and waterways. >> now winds are hitting puerto

rico as the hurricane approaches. it's the most powerful storm to threaten it the island in 0 years. tommy lightner is in san juan this morning. how are puerto ricans bracing for this hurricane? >> reporter: hey, philip. i can tell you everybody is hunkered down at this point. there are about 500 shelters set up across the island and a lot of those filled for those choosing to ride it out in their homes, we've spoke within a lot of those people. they are inside. i can also tell you there are still tourists trapped on this island in hotels. just in the last i would say three hours, we have racial seen the rain pick up and the wind pick up. we watched the wind rip the shutters off a building right next door to us. we're actually on the front side of our hotel. it's doo dangerous for us to be on the water side because the wind is so strong at this point already. there are about 300 emergency search and rescue personnel here

at our hotel. i can tell you fema is headquartered here. as soon as the storm passes those emergency personnel will head out and start making rescues we spoke with a lot of them. let's listen to what one of them told me. >> hurricanes always bring this type of destruction where kblgs collapse and then we are able to send the dogs especially when people can't access an area. these animals give us the opportunity to send the dog and what he'll do is if he finds the scent of a live person, he will stay at that position and bark, bark, bark till we get there. >> reporter: i want to give you an idea of just how strong the wind is. already at this and the hurricane hasn't reached here, from inside the hotels, theables, you can hear the wind whistling. it's gotten so strong already. back to you guys. >> i can't imagine what it's like when it does approach. thank you. >> you can imagine the sounds

will be deafening certainly frightening. now to meteorologist bonnie snyder for the latest on maria's track. we already saw that it's pretty severe conditions already. >> this is just the beginning because we still haven't seen the eye get close yet to puerto rico. right now it's working its way to vee ache questions just to the east of the main island. there's still so much more to go. torrential conditions beginning now will last into the evening hours. maria is a category 5 right now 70 miles from southeast of san juan with maximum winds at 160. since it's moving to the northwest at ten, we will see the eye wall get close if not make landfall in the northeast corner of puerto rico. but notice the track of the storm coming over the cooler waters of the atlantic and that cone of uncertainty stretching wide as we get into the weekend. there's a lot of the factors coming into play as to what the storm maria will do and whether or not it will impact the u.s. luckily right now, models are saying that jose or what's left of it will help steer maria away

from the u.s. mainland. that's not a guarantee. this is something to watch for the u.s., as well well into next week. right now our main concern is puerto rico where the storm is bearing down as we saw from that live report. it's just a matter of time before we get the worst of the storm this morning. frances, philip. >> thank you so much. >> the rescue crews searching for survivors in mexico after the country was rocked by a 7.1 earthquake. killing hundreds. and dozens of children are among the dead inside an elementary school that collapsed. it struck about 0 miles southeast of mexico city in the state of puebla and felt far and wide. rocking people in the middle of the workday, setting off sirens, shaking entire buildings. with pictures swaying and furniture rattling. thousands rushed outside onto the streets to escape the danger as fast as possible. the crowds watched in horror as theables they had just been in fell in pieces.

>> after the quake, emergency crews rushed into action searching for any signs of life among those ruined homes. and civilians even appeared to join in sorting through the rubble looking to help out their fellow quake victims. the country's president says 40% of mexico city had its power knocked out and 60% of a state nearby is still without electricity. and in a terrible coincidence, this latest disaster truck on the 32nd industry of a massive earthquake that hit mexico city in 1985. that one killing at least 9500 people. hours before yesterday's quake, buildings across mexico city were holding earthquake drills to mark that anniversary. steve patterson is in mexico on the phone for us. what is the latest? >> reporter: good morning. as you mentioned, this is a race against type at this point. rescue crews are doing all they can working all throughout the night and morning and they will be in the next few days to try

to rescue as many people as humanly possible. we've just entered the city limits of mexico city where we've seen what appear to be crews in different areas sort of staging. we haven't seen any real damage where we are, but the damage is going to be hot and heavy in different pockets of the city. this is a very large sprawling metropolitan city. where it is bad, it is very bad. one of the biggest concentrations right now is the southern mexico city where there is a school that collapsed killing at least 1 children. another 30 people are unaccounted for. there are military, federal, state, local officials working on just that scene to try to rescue as many kids as they possibly can. meanwhile, ha damage spread all throughout the city. 40 buildings in mexico city itself. imagine new york city it, 40 buildings collapsing sending dust up above the sky scrapers. that's the situation here where

we are. we'll have much more for you throughout the morning. >> a heart wrenching picture. thank you so much. steve patterson in mexico city this morning. it was a u.n. debut like no other after the president of the united states took to the lectern before a packed general assembly declaring terrorists losers pushing his america first policy and openly mocking kim jong-un threatening to wipe the rogue nation off the face of the earth if needed. >> the united states has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. >> we're told there was an audible gasp in the assembly after mr. trump threatened north korea but that was just the tip of the iceberg. we're joined by tracie potts in washington this morning. good morning. what are you hearing about the

fallout here? >> reporter: people are saying it was a speech like no other. president trump being very direct not only about north korea but also about the united states. and his position that america comes first. president trump going into this had made it very clear that his focus is not going to be as much cooperation as it is putting the united states first in every area. in fact, listen to what the president had to say about that. >> as president of the united states, i will always put america first. just like you as the leaders of your countries will always and should always put your countries first. >> reporter: in fact, is mentioned sovereignty more than 20 times in the speech. it was a clear focus for him. meantime, he also talked about the iran nuclear deal, his intent to pull out of that. he mentioned russia and china

but not election interference, not currency manipulation, things he's talked about before. didn't talk about ukraine. he did talk about praise for russia and china for backing the u.n. sanctions and yes, he talked about the u.s. not pulling more weight than it should in every country paying its fair share as we expected. >> thank you very much. >> tracie potts for us, thank you. we want to check back with bonnie snyder with an update on hurricane ma yag bearing down on puerto rico in the early morning hours for them. so where exactly is the track here? >> we're getting very close. only 70 miles away right now. the northern part of the eye wall worked its way across st. croix and now this tiny island of ea quez is about to get a direct hit. much more populated san juan will be impacted. 160-mile-per-hour winds with this storm, a category 5.

heating up feeling more like summer with highs in the 80s across much of texas. the track of powerful category 5 maria copies. will it get a little bit weaker as it comes over the open waters of the atlantic. we'll see it go down to a category 3. >> former president barack obama will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural goalkeepers event in new york city hosted by the gates foundation highlighting global progress toward eliminating disease and poverty. >> a slogan just imagine how far you can go with a little bit of english were removed from croatia's capital after part of a lawsuit. >> a well preserved german submarine found off the coast of belgium. you're watching "early today." r! polo! marco...! polo! marco...!

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leading the news this morning, the senate judiciary committee announced it's considering two bills to protect robert mueller from being fired as he investigates possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia in the 2016 presidential election. consideration of the two bills comes as we learn of the shock and awe tactics employed by mueller as he builds his case. while the senate considers those bills, the intel committee was busy canceling an interview with michael cohen in its own russia probe. the cancellation coming after kohn broke an agreement by speaking with the media. the committee will slp him to testify publicly. >> kevin hart is reportedly caught up in the middle of a cheating and extortion scandal. police are investigating a failed extortion attempt against the comedian. a an woman is demanding money from hart over a video showing

him in a sexually suggestive situation with a woman not his wife. hart posted a message on instagram not addressing the allegations directly. the woman at the center of the scandal has hired a high profile attorney, lisa bloom who identified her client as an actress and model. she will speak out about the scandal at a press conference scheduled for later today. >> a new study finds children who play football are at higher risk of neurological health issue later in life. study from boston university's ct e center found children under 12 exposed to repeated head impacts have two times the risk of developing behavioral problems and three times the risk of developing depression. and the younger the athletes are when they start playing tackle football, the higher the risk of damage. researchers say the study bolsters evidence that tackle football can cause long-term brain injury in children even if

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hurricane maria, a powerful category 5 storm with maximum winds at 165 miles per hour getting very close to puerto rico less than 0 miles away from san juan. the track will take it to the north and west. will it impact the u.s.? right now it looks like it's forecast to turn away from the u.s. it depends on the interaction with jose. that's right. we'll still be talking about jose into the weekend. the tropical storm affecting areas of the northeast coast right now. frances and philip is, something to watch even into next week. >> appreciate it. >> just ahead, a massive car recall to tell you about, plus how one hospital is making kids' trips to the or a little less scary, in fact, even more enjoyable. "early today" is back in a minute. shawn evans: it's 6 am. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day

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some people are saying trump's speech was pretty devicive. check out the official next to him when trump sits down. watch this video. >> on behalf of the general assembly. >> i've never seen someone moon walk out of a u.n. speech. ♪ even the chair was like, don't leave me out here alone. >> attorney general jeff sessions who visited portland, oregon, a sanctuary city and took the opportunity to rail against what he calls the evils of sanctuary cities in states claiming the possible of harboring undocumented immigrants endangers us all. >> so i urge port land, this wonderful city, this wonderful

state of oregon and every sanctuary jurisdiction to reconsider what's happening. and i urge governor brown of california not to sign this law that is in front of him. >> well, we have a major safety recall to tell you about this morning. fiat and chrysler says nearly half a million of medium and heavy duty ram trucks may have a water pump problem that could overheat and spark a fire. the recall affects certain pickup models from 2013 to 2017. we posted a complete list for you on our early today facebook page. >> we've been saying rocket man a lot the past couple days. president trump's new nickname for kim jong un is giving a '70s hit some newfound attention. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself. ♪ rocket man >> we all know the song. the single from elton john released in 1972. the searchers for the song are

cite rocketing. music web sites genius told searches have boomed to more than 4,000 a day. that's not necessarily translating into big bucks for the singer. spotify says there's been no significant increase for the song nor does it appear in itunes most played song list. it makes me want to watch the video. >> i never seen the video before. that was my favorite elton john song. >> i haven't either. >> it was only a matter of time before it got popular. >> one san diego hospital is giving sick children a new toy to make them feel better. rady children's hospital has remote controlled cars they can drive to the operating room to make them more relaxed before proceed purpz the doctors are loving it, too. children ride in style. they got a bmw, mercedes or even a lamborghini. the cars are donated by the san diego law enforcement teddy bear drive. >> anything to put smiles on kids' faces.

>> i'm frances river an. >> i'm phillip mena. be sure to follow us on facebook, twitter and itagram. three people rushed to the ns

hospital when a fire breaks out at a san francisco home. breaking right now, three people rushed to the hospital when a fire breaks out in a san francisco home. plus, we are tracking two breaking international stories. frantic search is under way after a 7.1 earthquake hits mexico. hurricane maria made land fall in puerto rico as well. the u.s. territory fears the storm may be catastrophic. so much going on now on this wednesday morning. good morning to you, i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm marcus washington. of course we have a lot of those stories we are talking about, but we want to head toefr kari to look at the forecast. >> a few spotty showers this morning before you head out the door, especially in the north bay as we are tracking the rain well to the north of us right