still backup at the toll plaza. >> sounds good. thanks so much. we'll be back at 7:25 with a live local news update. >> join us at 11:00 and check everything else at nbcbayarea.com. have a wonderful friday. >> good morning. breaking news. florence's fury. hurricane florence roars ashore in north carolina this morning, slapping the region with torrential rain. a life-threatening storm surge and high winds. hundreds of people trap and in need of rescue. damage and power outages piling up. we have complete coverage live today friday, september 14th, 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today."

hurricane florence with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> welcome to "today." it is 10:00 on the east coast and 7:00 a.m. out west. if you are just waking up, we have been on the air for several hours watching florence, the power, the force, the fury as it is battering the east coast. >> she is a deceptive storm and came on as a category one and causing issues with water and lots of flooding. there are water rescues and the cajun navy is trying to rescue people trapped in their homes. all of this as high tide is an hour and a half away. that's a critical time. >> wind gusts of 105 miles per hour at wilmington airport which is the highest recorded gust since hurricane helene in 1958. while there is no change in the way of location, we have seen a

change in the direction. last hour we told you it was moving west southwest and now it's moving southwest. that, if it continues on that path, it's back out over the water. we will get a complete update from the national hurricane center coming up at 11:00 which will include a new projected path. >> the issue with it going over the water is it fuels it up and makes landfall again. >> what's interesting that was the path of the european model. the national hurricane center path obviously did not take that. it has come further south over the last day or two. >> we will watch what happens. power outages are climbing as we speak. more than a half million homes and businesses in the dark across the carolinas. whole towns without power and it could take weeks to fully restore.

>> rain totals are climbing and 20 inches of rain. some cities could see eight months over the next couple of days. >> eight months worth of rain. can you imagine? 12,000 people in north carolina riding out the storm in shelters. we have fanned out across the region. we will have the forecast in a minute. craig melvin in wilmington, north carolina is having a moment of calm. bring us up to date. >> reporter: good morning to you. shortly before we got ready to come on the air, i want to show you this picture. perhaps you can hear in the background as well. it's a fire alarm that just started maybe five or 10 minutes ago. that fire alarm going off and people starting to leave. we didn't think there were a lot of folks in this building. folks appear to be evacuating.

hurricane force pummelling the eastern seaboard for hours. hurricane florence, a rainmaker for the record books. massive slow moving storm downgraded to a category one hurricane, but still hammering the carolina coast. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: whipping winds and unrelenting rain. roy cooper earlier on "today." >> this is an uninvited group who won't leave. when you are talking about those kinds of winds, that kind of rain with the storm surge and in fact, even when the storm moves through, the rivers will continue to rise. >> reporter: the reality of those rising rivers, sobering. the storm surge already leaving some communities under water. among them, new berg.

dozens have been riskeed and 150 others are stranded and need help. the city tweeting we are coming to get you. the canopy at this gas station toppled by powerful winds. >> the first bands of the storm are upon us, but we have days more to go. >> reporter: first responders including army national guard specialist raymond felton willing to put their lives on the line for their neighbors. >> i'm sure there are plenty of other men and women willing to do the same for me as well. >> reporter: north carolina was right in the storm's path, but now a city without power plunged into darkness. encouraging caution for those who stayed behind. >> surviving this storm will be a test of endurance, teamwork, common sense, and patience. >> reporter: patience and strength to ride out storm and

its aftermath. speaking of power outages, wilmington right now, the entire city of will ming aton and the surrounding area will be without power for several days here. we talked about the rapidly rising rivers. cape fear, i believe you can see it. that river has been swelling quickly over the past few hours. we are keeping a close eye on the high tide. we were here at the embassy suites, one of the last group of people here enjoying the power up until about two hours ago. the power went out and then the water started to roll in to the ground level here at the hotel as well. we have video of our work space. our work space has always become flooded. we had to move to a different part of the ballroom where we set up shop.

we are working off emergency generators. we have become a statistic here in wilmington, north carolina. dark and wet as is the case up and down the carolina coastline, ladies. >> as you were saying, when the fire alarm went off, people came out of their homes and apartments. you don't know the number of people who stayed behind realizing this is a category one. i will ride it out. >> we hope they provisioned because it may last for a few days as far as the rain. >> dylan is on the ground, too. good morning. >> reporter: we have seen so many different conditions and being out in a hurricane, there is a roller coaster of emotions. 20 minutes before that eyewall came into the wilmington area, it didn't feel that bad. it was raining and windy, but fine. then the eyewall came in. we had 105 mile per hour gusts in wilmington and started to see

more debris come through. the rain was so intense it hurt your face as it was coming down. we got into that lull. the rain let up and the winds were not as bad. now it's filling back in again. the rain is filling back in and the winds have welcome very gusty. i'm holding on to this railing every once in a while. that can knock you off your feet. now going forward, we will see the same type of thing. the flooding we are dealing with, it doesn't look that bad right now. that was the flooding from the rain we had. we still have more rain to go as this storm system just creeps slowly to the south and west and we have dwo hotwo hours before high tide. how bad could the flooding be. we can see how the cape fear river overflows. you think everything is fine and it gets bad again.

that's how it will be through the weekend as the rain kicks in. when you are looking at 30 to 40 inches of rain, that water has nowhere to go. it is going to take a long time before any of that floodwater recedes as well. >> dylan, hoda and i were marveling. you are in wing milmington and is across town. you must be getting a band and he is missing it. go ahead, dylan. >> i want to point out that we are about three levels up on a park garage. we are kind of getting higher winds up here. that's also tree level. trees are also at the same level we are and already weakened from all the wind we had so far. those tops of the trees could still come down. that's why even though the worst of the storm is over, we are certainly not done just yet. more damage is still a good possibility. >> trees come down and it makes it harder for first responders

to do rescues as well. >> garrett is in new berg, north carolina. how is it looking there? >> we moved to a different neighborhood here in a low-lying area away from the river. there are a lot of folks who decided first they would try to ride it out. now they have second thoughts. their things are packed up and ready to go. not interested in chatting with us for obvious reasons. we have seen a concerted effort by the first responders going door-to-door, house to house, checking on the folks in their community and see figure people are staying and if they want to go. if so, giving them a right out. we have seen large national guard trucks hitting water to the top of their tires. the water as you get further back gets deep.

there is no way to get in or out without a vehicle or a fire truck. you have the new bern fire truck going home to home, trying to pull folks out. the flooding in this area is not the storm surge. the effects of the rain is continuing to fall. >> garrett, thank you so much. we will keep our eye on new bern. >> the mayor said we are in a race against the clock. we will do as many rescues as we can before the high tide. al, what do we expect? >> you can see it's interesting. here's wilmington. you have one band of showers here. you go further to the east and not much going on. we'll see what the national hurricane center said about that. the path of course, it's a slow mover at 6 miles per hour.

myrtle beach, they have a category one storm that makes its way to the east. rainfall amounts, here's what we are looking at. again, anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of rain. this is a flash flood threat. the highest risk from myrtle beach to cape hatteras. we talked about the storm surge of course. the biggest problem at wrightsville beach. we are just about an hour and a half away from that. we will be watching to see what happens with that and another high tide around midnight. again, big, big problems still continue for at least the next 24 hours just for this area alone. guys? >> al, thank you. 7:12 on the west coast and another big breaking news story. the one-time trump campaign chairman set to appear in court this morning and expected to plead guilty. this is in robert mueller's investigation.

the question this morning, is there cooperation. has paul manafort gone to the prosecutor's side? what have we learned? >> reporter: here's what we know. paul manafort is expected to plead guilty to one count of experience and experience to obstruct justice. both charges he was going to face in the upcoming trial in d.c. it's unclear whether manafort has agreed to cooperate with mueller's team and the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. savannah, as you note, that is the critical question. according to the court filings, once manafort enters his plea, he gives up his home in the hamptons and three other properties and bank accounts. he was convicted in virginia of a number of charges including bank and tax fraught charges. there is a lot of speculation about whether the president would consider pardoning

manafort. he has not aweighed in and we reached out to the white house and the president's legal team and so far no response. the president is monitoring hurricane florence and he is already tweeting about the federal response. he is watching the twin massive developments as we track hurricane florence and this development out of a d.c. courtroom. >> a lot of people will be watching if he struck a deal if changes got dropped. what did he get in exchange for charges getting drop and that is why the white house is certainly paying attention. >> also breaking overnight, a dangerous situation in the suburbs of boston. a series of gas explosions tearing through neighborhoods. at least one person kill and dozens hurt and thousands forced to evacuate. in lawrence, massachusetts with the latest on the mystery. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, hoda.

it seems this will go on for a longer time because the people are evacuated and we are hearing from authorities that the power will still be out in neighborhoods like this for at least the next 24 hours. down the road, one of the homes that was destroyed by what looks like an explosion. right next to it, a home stands untouched. at one point at many as 60 to 100 fires and odors of gas reported to authorities am they are trying to find out where the problems were. it seemed to be happening randomly. all of this as we said leaving one man dead. chaos in massachusetts. >> it looked like armageddon. >> reporter: unexplained explosions and some blasts taking place miles apart. lawrence, andover and north andover. terrified residents making calls

to 911 about the smell of gas. firefighters overwhelmed as flame ripped through homes and businesses. dozens of buildings damaged or destroyed. blaming a series of gas leaks and ordering widespread evacuations. >> every house go in there and shut the gas off and make it safe so people can get back home as soon as possible. >> residents warn not to turn electric devices on or off, open windows and doors or use their phones. some people were suffering from smoke inhalation and scrap nell wounds. this 18-year-old was killed when a chimney landed on his car. a massive response by emergency crews from across the region. hustling to battle the roaring flame overwhelmed by the number of fires. some homes burning out of control with no firefighters in sight. veteran firefighters at a loss of words.

>> i started my 30th year in june and never seen anything like this. >> a statement from columbia gas of massachusetts offering no explanation. writing in part, the first priority of our crews at the scene is to ensure the safety of our customers and the community by supporting first responders and completing safety checks on our system and in the surrounding area. as this harrowing day turned into night, local schools and churches turned into makeshift shelters. residents unsure when they will be able to return home and what they will find when they do. >> nerve racking, scary, panic was kicking in. we are all trying to wrap our minds around it. >> reporter: perhaps ironically the same day as the gas company said they would begin a massive upgrade of the gas system across the state in 65 different towns. 300,000 customers. unclear if it has anything to do with the disaster they are trying to figure out here today.

>> ron allen in massachusetts. thank you. >> just ahead, the latest on hurricane florence. we will get a live update from officials on the rescues happening right now in north carolina. first, these messages. hi.i just wanted to tell you that chevy won a j.d.power dependability award for its midsize car-the chevy malibu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm... i'd say i'm a pretty spwell... i try to be.

get 3-wick candles 2 for $20 everyday, so you can find one to suit every side of you. pier 1, this is me. vojimmy (shouting): james!as been jimmy's longest. he's survived record rain and a supplier that went belly up. so while he's proud to have helped put a roof over the heads of hundreds of families, he's most proud of the one he's kept over his own. brand vo: get the most out of your money, whether you're using quickbooks smart invoicing to get paid twice as fast or automatically tracking your mileage. smarter business tools for the world's hardest workers. quickbooks. backing you. ♪ ♪ introducing 1850 coffee. inspired by the year the folger coffee company began. with a bold yet smooth taste. new 1850 coffee. begin boldly. to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways

to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. nature's bounty. welcome to tide pods talk with gronk. i'm gronk! i'm big and awesome, but this guy is little, can it really clean? heck yeah it can! it's concentrated detergent plus stain fighters plus odor flighers that fight for clean. boom! even this entire bottle can't beat tide pods. and now a word from future gronk: ugh... tide pods. if it's clean, it's got to be tide. we're back. it is 7:20 in the west and 10:20 in the east. it has been a long morning as hurricane florence is under way, battering the coast.

there is a real situation plague out in new bern, north carolina. >> flooding is the main concern. it went onshore as a category one, but the warm water is yet to come. amber parker is a public information officer and in new bern. tell us how it's going right now, amber. >> one thing that maybe changed since the last few times we talked is we have daylight on our side. that makes it easier to see the hazards we have. we still have this giant hurricane moving very slowly. certainly bringing in a lot of flooding waters and storm surge, wind, and rain. that in itself makes the conditions very difficult to respond. we have people that are still trapped. more calls are coming in. we have teams doing rescues as fast as they can. >> you are up against it with the clock.

high tide around 11:45. it's not an exact time. it's not a swiss train. when do you have the first responders stop the rescues for a moment? >> they mainly look at if the winds are unsafe and we have the cajun navy assisting as well. >> we are looking at live pictures of people being rescued. one of the big emergency vehicles scooping up people who chose to stay behind or maybe had no choice in their minds other than to stay behind. we are talking about you got more calls. do you have a general idea of how many people are still in their homes and trapped? >> as far as trapped, i don't know how many are trapped. i know we have a good portion that did not evacuate. we at this point have closer to 130 or 150 calls for assistance and the calls are coming in faster and we are trying to tabulate the numbers.

we don't have exact numbers. i saw one call that showed they had 20 people who needed assistance. >> what a morning. we are looking at live pictures of the rescuers and the happiest faces you ever see when the strong folk come in to do the rescues. >> it was a bright side. >> it always is when the cajun navy come in. watching the rescues makes it hit home. first, this is "today" on nbc. first, this is "today" on nbc. bowls to serve teriyaki. see that right there? you can't say that. i can't tell people to try my bowls? no. check out my bowls? nope. what about my billboard? (sighs) what? try my teriyaki bowls.

now available comwith steak or chicken,s. covered in our teriyaki sauce, plus steamed veggies and your choice of white or brown rice. i've got the bowls to serve something different! (sighs) what? try my teriyaki bowls. what pictures are coming in. the cavalry has arrived. rescues are going on as we speak. high tides coming about an hour or so out.

>> our correspondents have been doing an amazing job. our producers and everybody in there is under such tough conditions and have been getting the story. >> we feel for the people being rescued.i )m - -... wihile you were sleeping -- worke good morning everyone. 7:26. i'm scott mcgrew. while you were sleeping, workers in san francisco removed the controversial early days statue. the statue once stood as the civic center plaza. we told you about it yesterday. the board of supervisors changed their mind and voted to remove it. showed a native sitting on the ground with a commission viqueiro standing over him. the statue is going into storage, city leaders say. nice weather across the bay area, enjoying sunshine, a live look over san jose, and our temperatures starting out cool with some low 50s. we're heading up to 75 degrees

today. we'll be up to 78 in antioch and in napa today 75. oakland 70 degrees and 65 degrees in san francisco. our inland valleys continue on with some cooler than normal weather going into the weekend, especially tomorrow, reaching 73 degrees, up to 77 on sunday, and next week we'll see still the continuation of some seasonably cool weather. san francisco clouds and fog and clearing for the afternoon. high also reach into the mid-60s through at least the middle of next week. let's get an update how the commute is rolling with mike. >> apparently the view off of the san mateo bridge is beautiful. we have the crew on the right in the service lane, you might catch a glimpse of the flashing lights. westbound is slow because of that distraction and the commute made worse coming off of that 880 overcrossing in hayward. southbound toward the dumbarton bridge a little crowded but west across 84 is still a smoother drive than west across 92. consider your options. the south bay a lighter flow but north 101 slows.

back to you. >> all right, mike. we'll have another local news update coming up in a half hour. have a great friday. many people living with diabetes

monitor their blood glucose every day. which means they have to stop. and stick their fingers. repeatedly. today, life-changing technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest.

we are back with more of our special edition of "today." we are looking live at rescues going on across the north carolina coast. this is in the new bern area. this is a slow and steady trudge. it's kind of parking itself over parts of north carolina and i think the worst water-wise is still yet to come. >> you look in the truck and it appears it's most lye ely elder people. they don't have other folks to help them evacuate. >> or they feel like they can't evacuate.

going to a shelter is not an option. we see what happens and they are a sight for sore eyes. they are out there doing the hard work. >> they are playing beat the clock. depending on where you are going up the coast. >> he is seeing the water rise and fall and rise again. what can you tell us? >> i'm standing here behind this north carolina national guard truck. they are going door-to-door and doing the lord's work. these national guardsmen are from north carolina in their own communities and they have been methodically working through the neighborhoods going door-to-door and checking and looking in windows making sure no one gets left behind where the water level trapped people in their home or made it too difficult to

drive out. families with pets and they don't want to leave their dog or cat behind. i interviewed an older gentleman and had not seen anything like this. he had water around his calves waiting for this moment this morning to get out of here. he stayed because he wanted to keep an eye on his neighbors. taking advantage of what they have done to get a ride to the shelters and safety before and as the rain continues to come down here. >> even last night, it was after nightly news and the storm surge was at 10 feet. >> in fact he was there at about 4:00. the storm surge was coming in. >> we will see how it goes in slow motion. >>.

>> nightly news anchor lester holt is in wilmington and joining us by phone. what are you seeing there? >> hopefully a live picture. we are at the scene of a dramatic rescue right now. it's a one-story brick house. a large tree crashed through the roof taking the back of the house. there are people trapped. we spoke to the fire chief and at least one of the individuals are summoning the trauma surgeon. the ages of the three individuals. family members approached a few moments ago very distraught at the news of what's happening. they had three victims and one of whom is seriously injured. we don't believe it was a mandatory evacuation zone, but a

lot of trees as much as possible. we saw many trees down and we were talking to them. they were here and they move some of the trees and they can delicately get to the victim. they ordered their own safety as well. sadly many rescues are going on in the aftermath. >> they do show you what's going on. a tree falls on a home and people are trapped. rescues seen where there are national guards people who wade through waters up to their calves. who knows how high that water can be.

they are getting people in and out. >> new bern, they didn't expect the water to get that high. they saw them at the scene of what sounds like a fairly serious incident. they have taken pictures and this is the story. this is a category one storm. it's a slow one and sitting there and the winds are just beating. the trees give way. >> it is absolutely true. we're waiting to see which way the storm goes and we will talk to alan, but it looked like it is going south and may go back out to sea. let's go to craig on the ground there in wilmington. hey, craig. >> reporter: hey, hoda. just to speak to what you were talking about with regards to the winds. they had it died down and they are now starting to pick back up here in wilmington which is what we don't need.

you can see the effect of much of that wind. lots of old trees here in wing mington and lots of trees have been toppled in the last few hours as sustained winds snapped branches. in addition to the trees, lots of other random things being tossed about. lots of debris. a piece of a ceiling fan for instance out here as well. all sorts of other random things. wind gusts of about 100 miles an hour. the largest wind gusts they have seen in decades. the concern right now, you talked about high tide. fema saying they are expected

between 11:00 and 12:00. high tide and it would be a miracle if it doesn't overcome the banks. it almost looks like it's going to overtake the banks right now. we are keeping a close eye on that. the power outages here on "today" a short time ago. every home and business as well in the dark. that's expected to be the case for several days. >> thank you so much. we have al at the weather wall watching the track. >> we are still waiting. we are hoping that they get this out early. because this is going to be a real pivotal track, they may take more time to do it. 85 mile per hour winds moving southwest at 6. we have been seeing a west southwesterly movement and we

are talking about the storm surge. wrightsville beach. 7 to 11 feet. as you get closer to the south carolina, north carolina border, cape hatteras about four to six feet and the high tides. we will be watching this closely and we have gone to the gauges we have. you can see these are flood stages. this is the atlantic coast at the pier at wrightsville beach. friday, september 14th around 10:00 a.m., major flood stage at 10 feet. they are just over major flood stage there. that's about the time of the high tide. a little bit after 10:00 a.m. this is the cape fear river at wilmington. we will look for another high tide later in the evening. you can see the record is 8.2 and we are just about a half foot from the record. that's going to be interesting

to see what happens as the high tides come in on top of the storm surge. that would be on top of that. it's a very changeable situation. we will be watching the gauges and the storm surge as it comes in at each high tide. >> we have mike kramer who is the town manager of carolina beach. a quaint beach community who is with us now. good morning. >> good morning. >> set the scene for us in your town. i know in a lot of places people have hunkered down and trying to ride it out. what's going in carolina beach? >> back on monday we established a curfew and mandatory evacuation for 8:00 on wednesday. i think that has been very effective in giving most of the residents a leave. we probably had about 600 residents still in town.

but they have been complying and generally pretty respectful of the curfew in trying to stay out of the wind and rain and get protected. you seeing flooding and that kind of thing? >> actually we have gone through the eye now. we were able to get a crew out and take a look at that. we had very little flooding at this point. very little wind damage. we have trees down and power out. but there is little structural-type damage. >> with high tide fast approaching, tell us your concerns between now and say 12:00 noon or 12:30. >> that's our biggest concern is high tide and the tidal surge. we normally flood on a section of the town when it's sunny because of the high tides.

with a tide surge of nine to 13 feet which is what they recommend or are suggesting, we may see over 50% of the community under water. >> what would you do? you talked about people who stayed put. what's your advice for them? >> we won't send the emergency view crews until the winds go down to less than 50 miles per hour sustained. they need to stay in their place of business or their residence. wait it out. if they need rescue, call us and contact 911. we will put them on a list and try to go out as soon as we can after the winds die down. >> the carolina beach town manager. thanks for taking a few minutes. these are critical hours. a town manager who said in the next hour or so, we may see half of our community under water.

we will continue to cover our story. it's a busy friday morning. we have correspondents fanned out across the region. we wait. clocks ticking. high tide when flooding may reach its worst and we are already seeing heroes of the storm. >> this is just coming in. it is moving west southwest at three miles per hour. it slowed down. that means it's going at a crawl and still moving in that direction towards the ocean. >> we will recap it all after the break. n. if you'd stop in a monsoon to help someone change a tire, save a whale that had beached itself... you're gonna be ok big guy. push! lend a hand in an old-timey barn raising... you got it, jebediah! and if the middle school dance group was down one member and you'd step in and lead them all the way to glory... yes! then carmax is for you, because helping people is what our people are all about. start with 100% cleancheese? ingredients.

like vermont white cheddar. then... add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. catering and delivery now available. panera. food as it should be. you know doc how can i get whiter, brighter teeth.. and the dentist really has to say let's take a step back and talk about protecting your enamel. it's important to look after your enamel because it's the foundation for white teeth. i believe dentists will recommend pronamel strong and bright because it's two fold. it strengthens your enamel, but then also it polishes away stains for whiter teeth. so it's really something that's a win-win for the patient and the dentist. ♪

♪

welcome back. when we went to break, you got breaking news from the national hurricane center. >> this just in. florence is now 20 miles still southwest of wilmington, north carolina. it's not really moving that much. it's moving west southwest at three miles per hour. you can walk faster than this hurricane. >> what's the danger? >> the danger is with the winds down to 80 miles per hour, but the danger is it just sits there. as you can see the circulation over the ocean comes around and now is going to be nailing all the folks off to the right of the center of the circulation. >> what are about the direction? if it's going southwest -- >> it's going to pop out by that little pop out. the elbow there and it's back

over water. it won't be losing strength. again, all bets are off. our weather team is right now working on plotting out the path, the latest track of the hurricane center. we will have that soon. >> just to size it up, is this good news or bad news. >> if i had fall on either side, it's not good news. it slowed down and that's going to produce more rain. the storm surge. wherever they had a storm surge before, they'll get it again because it's not moving out that much. it's going to be interesting. we are working on it right now. it looks like they are going to say that hurricane path is going to keep it onshore. we have to wait and see. it's going to be a moment by moment kind of thing. >> the weather wizards are there crunching the numbers out. >> dylan has been in wilmington,

but now she's in a car to try to get a closer lookality dama at to inspect it. >> we had a break or a lull so a few cars were heading out to assess the damage. we are coming up on the cape fire river. if you look straight ahead, that is the cape fear river we are concerned about that will ov overflow and came all the way up on the street. that was a 12-foot storm surge. that kind of thing can happen again. it's a lot of tree damage happening again. this is high street, a fairly main street in wilmington. a lot of businesses were closed, but the downed trees are crossing the street at this point. a lot of clean up work. on other streets we have driven

past, we have seen trees down on power lines that looked like they were stripped in half. that's the thing going forward. you want to make sure you don't trust the lines. even though the power is off and none of the intersection lights are working. we are clearly without power. do not trust the power lines and do not try cross it. go a different direction. we haven't seen flooded streets, but we are in a high elevation. do not drive through the flooded streets. you don't know how deep the puddles are. we are looking around to see what the damage did and so far it looks like minor tree damage crossing the streets and what not. i'm very concerned. there is a couple more streets and trees down across the street. i am concerned when the flooding kicks in how much of the

low-lying areas will get flooded out. we are just playing it safe and cruising around. we are in a very safe spot. not much going now. we are taking it easy, guys. >> good. take a break and keep us posted. we are seeing flooded in morehead city where dylan is. it's mayor jerry jones who joins us now. you have a rehab and health care center. >> i am not familiar with that, but what i am familiar with, i'm at ground zero at my front porch. i managed to make it here in about 16 inches with the storm surge. i will have water in my home and this will be historical if this happens. >> mayor jones, we are looking at pictures of the rehab and health center. one of the concerns with a lot

of communities is getting people in hospitals and rehab and things out to shelters. do you know if that has been taken care of for the most part? >> yes. harbor view was evacuated on tuesday. three days ago now. i'm not concerned about any lives in that building. the building, but no lives. >> you are a coastal town and you managed to get back to your house and you expect the water to rise. high tide is coming. >> we still have another couple of hours for big high tides. i don't know what i'm going to do but watch. >> al was just talking about how the storm has done one thing. it slowed way down. it's going at a snail's pace. what does it mean for you and the way you operate? >> we are assessing right now and when the weather permits, we

are take emergency calls. we will get battered and get out of here. >> we are looking at the radar and you are in a heavy rain band right now. >> yes, i am. >> how does that add to the misery especially doing any kind of rescue work? >> well, it's raining hard. blowing and visibility is limited because of that. when i was driving to my neighborhood, the rain was pouring and all of a sudden there was a downed power line in front of me and i had to hit the brakes. very limited visibility. you need to drive slow and be very careful. >> thank you for your time and thank you for spending a few minutes with us. i know it's a busy time for you. >> thank you. >> we continue to cover it. the countdown is on with the high tide and the rain and the

wind and the storm, some people are feeling like we are having a moment of calm. >> that's what's going to happen. you will get these -- if you look at the radar, you will see breaks. you see blue or green, but right behind it, there is a good area. just to the west of morehead city, out into the ocean. that's what we are talking about. we will keep our eye on it and take a break. this is today on nbc. this is today on nbc.

>> we are back with more special coverage of hurricane florence. you are looking at the national guard doing what they do. rescuing people in new bern, north carolina. people for different reasons decided to ride the storm out. people clearly had physical disabilities.

these guys are doing god's work, take them out of there. >> that are i had a flooding situation with the storm surge hit early. the cajun navy with hoda. you know them well. you get to talk to one of the rescuers on his way in. they got votes and they are doing the hard work happening right now. >> when they show up, you feel a sigh of relief and everything will be okay. we are keeping our eye on that clock. it's almost 11:00 and high tide is due to come in between 11:30 and cle12:30. >> not only do you have a storm surge anywhere from especially near wrightsville beach, but whatever the high tide adds. >> this is tracking in a way. >> it's tracking.

>> west southwest taking it out back into the ocean. it is doing the work to try to build the dunes up to help the beach erosion. >> it is moving slower and you are good friday morning. we continue to watch the updates on hurricane florence. meanwhile in the bay area we've got some clear skies, as we get a live look outside in san jose, also a cool start with temperatures in the low 50s now. we're headed up to 75 degrees today. we'll be up to 74 for the high in livermore, and 76 will be the high in concord. napa 75 and 65 today in san francisco. our cooler than normal weather continues in the forecast, as we go into the weekend and early next week. by sunday we're up to 77 degrees. san francisco stays in the mid-60s with some clearing of our skies by the afternoon. let's get an update on the morning commute from mike. >> it's friday, so a lighter volume. heavier than friday we've seen

all summer. we look at recovery from the san mateo bridge, thumbs up as they finally cleared the crew from off the shoulder, a smoother drive westbound. still you have that build. in san leandro be careful, san leandro almeida county fire addressing a structure fire on marina boulevard in case you see smoke and westbound across richmond to san rafael bridge the earlier crash cleared just past the toll plaza but still slow from the east shore freeway over toward the span, and there's a look at the bay bridge and the berkeley curve approach. we're looking at a slower drive off of 580 and i-80. we don't have any problems. happening now, workers in san francisco removed the controversial early days statue that once stood at the civic center plaza. it shows a native american sitting on the ground with a mission padre and a viqueiro standing over him. critics call it an oppression from a european point of view. the home of the golden state warriors topping out ceremony at

the chase center in san francisco. the final beam goes on the roof that will happen at 12:15 this afternoon. saying monday - we )lt who is headed to the moon. and - a bay area couple got a 45- hundred-dollar bill. for 1 fast food delivery! how we helped solve the case of the "hacked food app." )today in the bay. )

♪ flintstones! meet the flintstones. ♪ ♪ they're the modern stone age family. ♪ ♪ from the town of bedrock. ♪ meet george jetson. ♪ ♪ his boy elroy. with instant acceleration, electric cars are more fun to drive and more affordable than ever. electric cars are here. plug into the present.

it's 8:00 on today. coming up, breaking news, roaring ashore. hurricane florence slamming into the east coast right now bringing fierce winds, torrential rain and a dangerous storm surge. rescue operations under way for hundreds trapped in their homes. >> this is, like, a wave pool. >> hundreds of thousands without power, officials warning that number could reach millions. we've got complete live coverage today, friday, september 14, 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today."

hurricane florence with savannah guthrie and mow hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> good morning, everybody. we're back. it's a special edition of "today" and you are watching humanity in this storm. rescuers, heroes at this hour it's already been a long, long morning for those out east even though it's just 8:00 on the west coast. we're sharing images of rescue as hurricane florence continues its beatdown on the east coast. >> you pointed out something so important. in these storms you look at the destruction and pain and you're right in those moments there's that, someone helping someone down the stairs but this is a brutal storm. it came on as just a category one but it's packing a lot of punch. it's full of water, sitting right there. >> these folks are showing 5 lot of heart. >> but this thing is moving very slowly, al, and that has you concerned. >> it's only moving

west/southwest at three american. you can walk faster than this storm so it's for all intense and purposes stationary. power is out to more than a half million homes and businesses. >> the category one hurricane is dumping three inches 60 rain an hour and some areas. overall totals now reaches 30 inches. that's an atlantic beach. some places may see 40 inches of rain. >> high tide comes in about 45 minutes. about 12,000 people are in shelters. more than a million people were forced to evacuate their homes. >> let's go over to garrett haake in new bern, north carolina. that town got a lot of flooding. the storm surge hit it hard. it's a race against time. high tide upon us and we see those national guards people out there trying to make a

difference this morning garrett. >> it was finally light enough, the winds finally low enough and a few hours to spare where they could get back into these neighborhoods they had not been able to access overnight or in the early hours this morning. and they tried to get people out who decided to ride the storm out. you saw a great example of efforts between agencies to work together. we saw new bern firefighters going door to door, looking in windows, making sure no one was left behind and summoning in those national guard trucks with national guardsmen who were able to lift these folks out, put them in high-water vehicles and bring them to a staging area where folks were able to make their plans but it looks like we'll be sitting in water here for quite a while in new bern. yes, we're in the high tide but we are not done with the rain. it's been falling consistently and continues to do so and

probably will for a couple more hours. the bottom line -- there's nowhere else for this water to go. so the city on lockdown under curfew until 7:00. hopefully the only people moving are those first responders getting people out of houses and getting them somewhere safe as we ride this out in new bern, north carolina. savannah and hoda? >> great work to capture these images of the rescues under way live as we speak. >> we want to turn to the major general of the national guard. we are watching some of your guys and women in action. walk us through what the plan is for rescuing folks. >>. [ inaudible ] i am looking at the national guardsmen out there helping with the rescue of -- and the asy answer the of our citizens and this is our first priority is to

help our citizens and get them to safe shelter and help our partner agencies and it's encouraging to see all these national guardsmen out here doing just that. >> sir, it's great to talk to you via skype. kind of a miracle we get as good a connection as this during this storm. did you have to play a waiting game with mother nature and look for the window of opportunity to go in before high tried to affect these rescued? >> that's exactly right. this has been a slow moving storm we've talked about for the last week. we've been in preparation for this event for seven days so our soldiers have been waiting for this for days now so we can wait to move in to do what you're seeing on tv. >> if you had to put your finger on the biggest challenge you face, what would you say that was? >> our biggest challenge is the water, quite frankly, to work our way through the high water and the integration of getting

in with our partner agencies and doing what we're doing here. >> a lot of people are probably scared and are probably waiting for the national guard to show up. you're doing great work. thank you so much. >> thank you for the opportunity to talk about our guardsmen and what we're doing to help north carolina. >> thanks again major general james ernst from the north carolina national guard. >> like to talk about them and show them in action. dylan is in wilmington, north carolina. wilmington has been in the bull's-eye this morning. good morning again. >> good morning. we have been in the bull's-eye. we were standing in the eye wall of this storm. we're driving around wilmington to assess the damage and it's tree damage that we're running into. these seem like old trees that have been here for a long time

but we were in the eye wall for so long that it was a constant battering of the wind on even very strong structures. and we are going to see perhaps more storm damage and tree damage. so this will be one of those things where crews will have to get out and clean up. judging from the homes we've driven by, a lot have been boarded up. we haven't seen people of any kind. we're not dealing with flooding yet so it's just tree damage at this point that the crews will have to come out and take care of which certainly will take time. we're meandering over the roads as there is no one else on the roads but some of the roads get blocked because of the trees so that's kind of -- it's a good thing. the fact that we're just seeing tree damage. considering everybody has lost power we're not seeing downed

power lines so hopefully that means the crews don't have much to repair in that regard. just tree damage after how brutal it was that we were out there for i'd say is not all that bad. it's a good sign. >> it is and as we turn to al, are we allowed to breathe a sigh of relief? is it a big flooding concern? >> it is and i don't want to be pessimist pessimistic. we can't say the danger for wilmington is passed yet. you can see the wrap around bands still coming in so we have to worry about that. here's the latest track from the national hurricane center and you can see it parallels the coast so even though we have a west/southwest movement, they're bringing it more westerly.

you have more storm surge coming in there and we look forward to saturday morning at 8:00 o'clock p.m. so this still is a system staying as a tropical storm as it makes its way almost to tennessee, still a tropical storm. i want to give a shoutout to the national hurricane center. this was sunday, september 5 and this is the path where they have it making landfall. they did an excellent job and we'll continue to watch the path and see what happens. let's turn to myrtle beach. gabe gutierrez is there right now. gabe, you look like you are in it. you're getting those outer bands now. >> yeah, hi, al. yes, within the past half hour or so, things have picked up here in myrtle beach.

we had been seeing over the past several hours all those heavy winds and massive amounts of rain that are hitting north carolin carolina. you can see behind me the diner has structural damage and that's considering we aren't even seeing the height of the winds just yet. now, to my right i'm blocked by a building here to prevent any debris from hitting me from this side but we are still getting pelted by heavy rains as well as these winds. ocean boulevard is the beach. these businesses have been boarded up for days. the mayor telling us she believes at least 60% of this towne evacuated. many heading to emergency shelters. the question is what about the storm surge. we're expecting high time in a short time? emergency vehicles, dozens, have been stationed inside the convention center in myrtle

beach in order to be ready to depl deploy. we expect rain to continue throughout much of the day and into tomorrow. >> you're on the western fringe of the storm so if you think about it, the tropical force winds extend out 130 miles. the hurricane force winds are about 60 miles so with the storm only moving at best three miles per hour, they have a long slog. >> so gave gutierrez is in myrtle beach. what were you going to say, gabe? >> sorry, savannah, can't hear you. but yes we're expecting these rains to continue for a long time. this slow-moving storm as al mentioned just three miles an hour. there are questions about how much damage that will happen. the city of myrtle beach

tweeting that the damage reports are just starting to come in. we're trying to get around and see some of that damage as safely as we can and we pulled outside here. ocean boulevard, extremely busy, has been deserted for days, this is such a popular beach destination and there's a lot of concern here that if this storm lingers for such a long time and dumps so much rain and there is massive flooding in this area it could be economically devastating for years to come. it's ferocious. it's hard for me to stay standing even in these winds which aren't as powerful as the ones you've been seeing in north korea up the coast. guys back to you. >> if pimlico county we have on

the phone chris murray, the county's public information officer. how much flooding are you seeing? tell me about the rescues under way. >> we're in the height of it. we've been going for 20 hours and we've seen areas with nine to 13 foot inundation of floodwaters. we're getting heavy winds and a lot of rain, widespread power outages, all infrastructure is down, cell phones is all we have other than radio communications. >> are you guys taking boats out and rescuing people now in this window? i know you're up against the clock with high tide? we jumped on this window, i've gotti of new york tafb force one here with us and they are out with our local responders and we have currently completed 31 or 32 missions. all involved in water rescues

and floodwater rescues. >> >> if your phones are out and radios compromised, how are you coordinating movements. >> we're coordinating through private networks and state partners and we have other counties. this is stuff that we are used to and gone over through planning and training over the years. >> you mentioned nine to thirty feet -- 13 feet in floodwater before high tide and now it's looming, that time irrelevant in in the next hour. so that would pile more water on top of that. >> we're on a race against time to get people out of here. >> are you getting a lot of calls. >> they're filtering in slowly. we had a background where we had to shut down operations due to

conditions overnight. >> any idea of how many people you need to get to? >> at this time i couldn't tell you. >> all right, chris, we wish you the best of luck in pimlico county not far from new burn. >> it will be early and often. >> you look at what's going on in beaufort.

we are back with more of this special edition of "today," hurricane florence, which hit the coast a little after 7:00 this morning. she's a rain maker, she's deceptive, she's moving slowly.

she's dumping a lot of water. >> that's right. moving west/southwest at three miles per hour. 80 miles per hour winds. but as you can see, these feeder bands -- if you look there on the radar you can see around wilmington there are breaks in the radar coverage and that's what you're going to end up seeing. if we zoom in a bit on the radar you will see there are breaks in the radar coverage and that's where we're getting -- we're hearing from our crews. >> in myrteri myrtle beach, the getting hit really hard. craig is in wilmington. what do we get this time, craig? >> i don't know if this is one of those breaks and aforementioned bands. it doesn't feel that way. it is slightly better than the worst we saw a couple hours ago. but the winds have picked up. the rain has not stopped here in wilmington, north carolina. one of the concerns we have,

it's been a lot of time talking about this this morning. nearby wrightsville beach. this is the major beach here outside wilmington proper. beach erosion, i talked to the deputy mayor of wrightsville beach two days ago. they trucked in a few million tons of sand. it's been four or five million dollars on sand for wrightsville beach. the deputy mayor saying they were fully prepared to redo t t that. they're expecting high tide on 11:00. wilmington nestled between cape fear. we have the atlantic ocean on the other side, the mayor of wilmington telling me a short

time ago that there is concern in low-lying areas especially that they were going to see flooding. they see flooding in wilmington after a bad rain storm so when you start talking about 24 hours of persistent rain, they are prepared to have serious problems with regards to the flooding. that half million figure you guys have been talking about without power, the lion's share of those people in north carolina, 200,000 of those in and around wilmington as well. they are expecting to be in the dark here in wilmington for some tim time. >> a new track happens around 11:00. >> it basically parallels the coast inland so it doesn't take it offshore. it's moving west/southwest and we would look at the river gauges around just where craig is, the atlantic pier, or

atlantic beach at johnny mercer pier at wrightsville beach. it's calling for a record flood stage and so that's on top of what's going to come with the storm surge. >> it's been up and down for folks there. winds are picking up and kerry sanders has been there. this is right on the coast. it seems like you're getting another bout of it. >> well, we now have seen the shift in the wind so we're now getting the backside of the eye wall and that means the wind is now coming directly off of the atlantic where before it was coming from the northwest so as i step out you can see we're close to high tide. the wind is coming from the atlantic so that is driving the water towards the shore which will build that storm surge

making its way up here and as a matter of fact it's really quite interesting to note it's moving from right to left but now it's moving in the other direction. it shows you the power of what the wind is doing out there with the waves and movement of the water. so at this point -- and al gave us an indication when he gave us an indication that the eye was going to move along the coast that we will see this water predicted at 11 feet to come over the sand dunes and likely over the board walk down there and the one thing we know is that this can happen very quickly and so i will likely position myself up here on the

balcony for this event if it does happen. because there's nothing you can do physically while you're down there. >> let me ask you a question about those protective dunes. how high are those? >> when i was looking, i think they were maybe at most eight feet. as you know along the coast here, they plant. they put plants that hold the sand and nobody is allowed to walk on it. in the old days it would be naturally occurring, part of what mother nature did to protect the coast but with the building and everything else it's a man made effort to keep those sand dunes there as a protectio protection. you can see it building up. if you saw this hours earlier

when the tide was higher. >> and they're running parallel to the shoreline. >> exactly. the current is ripping and it's the power of the wind so we're seeing it push the walter and i think we explained this. we'll reexplain it. you go out there 120 miles. you have the continental shelf and it's 5,000 feet down. almost a mile. but then it's 60 miles out. it hits at about 120 feet and the slope goes like this so as the wind is blowing all of the water the water has nowhere to go but to pile higher and higher and it creates that dome and that's what we're seeing here. from an earth science perspective it's fashion nating to watch.

we recognize this will be highly damaging. >> makes me want you to go climb another flight of stairs kerry when you talk about it that way and the notion of this water upon you. >> there's a great shot from the international space station that shows this from space. >> you want them to come and go but not this one. >> once they make landfall they take off like a shot but this thing is slowing down because there are no steering currents for this so it's taking its own sweet time meandering. >> and does it lose steam? because it's now onland. >> it's close enough to the ocean that if you notice the wrap around it is pulling in

moisture off the atlantic. from where we started this morning it was 90 miles per hour. now it's 80 but still plenty of punch. >> and dumping a lot of rain. we will they can back in on the breaking news of ti )m ... a bombshell announcement by the catholic church in san jose. bishop patrick mcgrath -- plans to name names .. and list each and every priest who has faced credible sexual abuse accusations. it )s part of the ongoing church investigation into sexual abuse. the bishop says he wants greater transparency and to do right by children who were victimized. mcgrath plans to announce those names by the end of next month. he )ll also hold three listening sessions .. he says will allow abuse victims to share their stories. i )ll have another local news update for you in half an hour.

call for north 85 approaching 87 there is a crash that has to be moved to the shoulder. we'll watch for a little slowing, nothing major there. we have more slowing 680 traveling north off of the 280 interchange. the crash tied things up and folks scrambled out. the skrash should be cleared from the interchange and we see a smooth drive no lanes blocked on this live shot we have right there. we're also looking over here toward the san mateo bridge and after a morning with all the activity over on the right service lane it's clear, scott. back to you. >> mike, thank you. we'll have another local news update coming in half an hour. see you then.

♪ ♪ ♪ i put a spell on you ♪ yeah, because you're mine ♪ with chase atms serena can now grab cash on the go, all with the tap of her phone.

♪ stop the things you do no card? no problem. life, lived serena's way. chase, make more of what's yours. we're back now with more of this special edition of "today" as we bring you the latest from hurricane florence. this storm made landfall at 8:p 15 eastern near wrightsville beach, north carolina. this triggered a lot of flash flooding. with the slow speed of that storm, that's part of the problem, this storm will linger, the rain will linger, the water will be a slow build. >> we'll continue to watch that ch. paul manafort appearing at a hearing where he is expected to

plead ggs as part of special counsel robert mueller's investigation. kristen kel we are is at the white house. tell us about what you know about this agreement and what it means for the white house. >> savannah, here's what we know so far. paul manafort is expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct justice. now those are both charges he was going to face in his upcoming trial in d.c. prosecutors in the case dropped five of the seven charges pending against mr. manafort and we expect the details to be laid out in court which is getting under way. now it's unclear whether paufrlt has agreed to cooperate with mueller's team and its investigation into russian meddling and the 2016 election and that's the critical question. that's what the president will be watching for. according to the court filings, once manafort enters his plea, he agreed to give up his home in the hamptons, three other properties as well as several bank accounts and likely jail time. last month he was convicted in

virginia on a number of charges including bank and tax fraud charges. there has been speculation the president would pardon manafort but publicly he hasn't weighed into that ch. we have reached out to the white house and the president's legal team, so far no response. we anticipate we will get a statement later today. all of this could have big implications for the president and republican party as they fight to hold on to the house in the critical midterm elections just around the corner. >> our reporter said one of the prosecutors confirmed paul manafort's deal wherein they dropped five charges and kept two is a cooperation agreement which of course sets up the boblt that paul manafort will be talking to prosecutors and helping them build their case in the larger russia investigation. thank you very much.

>> thanks, savannah. >> another major story. the investigation into a gasline problem that caused dozens of explosions and house fires in the boston suburbs. ron allen is in lawrence, massachusetts, with the latest. ron, good morning. >> good morning, hoda. we've been able to talk to some residents who have been trickling back to these neighborhoods to pick up their possessions and it turns out we know there was only one fatality so far, a young man named leo rondon who was 18 years old. he was sitting in a car in the driveway of the house behind me. we can see the car but you can't perhaps because the trees are blocking it. we spoke to a friend of his, a young man named anthony gill, who came here to just try to get his head around what happened to his friend, he said he was here hanging out with other friends, he described him as a good kid from the neighborhood who was trying to do his best in school and make something of his life. just an indication of how random this disaster has been. here is what anthony gill had to

say about his friend leo. >> he was a good kid. always djing, always trying to better himself in school. never got into trouble. on the driveway the same day he got his license. >> at this point with also see a lot of activity there, a lot of police there, a lot of utility worke workers. there's an army of gas technicians going door to door checking on some 8,000 houses or so doing safety checks before they are going to feel comfortable turning the gas back on in these places. at a recent briefing, officials were asked how long it would take and they said as of today they don't know how long this process will take so, again, thousands of people out of their homes, power shut off. unclear when that will change because this is a seemingly unprecedented disaster authorities are still having a difficult time trying to figure out. hoda?

>> and firefighters who worked there said they've never seen anything like that in the 30 years they've been there on the job. ron, thank you. >> thank you, ron. we want to turn back to hurricane florence. its impact being felt across the region. letter hoe lester holt is in wilmington on the phone. bring us up to date. >> it's been a dramatic and tragic day in wilmington. firefighters have responded to a number of downed trees but when they got to this one particular house one firefighters told me it was the worst-case scenario. three people, we don't know ages or gender, were trapped after a tree crushed part of their house. firefighters said they were in verbal contact with some of the victims. after several hours they brought one person out speaking with paramedics however that raised our hopes that we would see the other too, soon. but instead firefighters had somber looks on their faces.

they met quietly and spoke among themselves and then took a kneel in prayer. obviously this now appears to be turning into a recovery operation at that house but it shows you the -- we talk about the safety of firefighters, it reminds of us of the emotional toll. one firefighters told me we tried so hard and did our jobs. back on the streets of wilmington, downed trees, streets are impassablimpassable. we haven't seen heavy rain for the last couple hours. i don't know if that will continue to be the case. i'll let weather people speak to that but there are people trying to get up around around but the winds are still gusty and present some danger and obviously first responders hope people will stay off the streets.

>> that's unfortunate sad upd update. >> gape gutierrez is down the coast in myrtle beach, south carolina. the storm is actually slowly creeping in your direction, gabe. how is it looking. >> we're just seeing a police officer drive by trying to keep keep off the streets. we're getting the western end of the storm, the outer bands and wind gusts pick up. we've been pelted with rain over the last few hours or so. we haven't seen anywhere close to the winds that my colleagues up the coast have, lester and others in north carolina. south carolina is just seeing the effects of this storm. we expect conditions to deteriorate quite a bit, a major

concern here in myrtle beach, south carolina, 1 the storm surge and also flooding. the local officials are starting to report some reports of damage. as far as emergency vehicles, they are being stationed, dozens of them, at the convention center ready to deploy as soon as the worst part of the storm is over but while there is flooding in north carolina again and water rescues under way here, we're still a few hours away from that but even those tropical storm force winds are starting to take their toll on this very popular tourist destination and local officials are worried on what this could mean long term for -- as we get another wind gust. local officials are waiting to see what this could mean for the economy of this popular beach town and, again we expect conditions to deteriorate over the coming hours. myrtle beach is in a county

called hoary county. the storm is approaching you. it's a slow mover, tell us what you're concerned with. >> well, my thoughts and prayers go out to the folks of new bern and wilmington and i wish we could help them. we're in a struggle right now and we're expecting that stuff to roll down the coast so our biggest concerns is flooding and wind damage. >> what have you soon so far, sir, in terms of -- our correspondents are there, they're seeing the winds pick up, i know you've seen rain. have you observed flooding yet? >> not yet. we've had trees that have fallen, some roads that are impassable right now but our biggest concern is we are in the low-lying area of south carolina so all the water runs down from north carolina and different parts of south carolina and within a few days we could be inundated with storm surges or flooding like we've never seen before. during matthew about two years

ago it was at our max and we were expecting three to six feet -- that's feet -- above matthew. >> chief hill, a lot of folks last night went to bed or woke up and thought oh, well, it's just a category one. did you get the evacuations you were hoping for give than the storm was downgraded? >> we got way ahead of the storm and started evacuating monday or tuesday, i apologize, i've lost track of days but we had lane reversals, we've never done that before and that worked out very well. we got folks out of town so we had several hundred folks here, several thousand folks at the beaches around horry county and it about 55% to 60% on compliance with the evacuation. >> hopefully it makes these next hours and days easier for you in terms of rebuilding and figuring

out how much damage will be done. chief hill, these are tense hours. thank you for spending time with us. >> thank you for having me. >> appreciate it. dylan has been out and about in wilmington. dylan, i see the rain is back with you. >> the rain is back, savannah, we've been driving around wilmington here and we came across this one street that's suffered damage to the point where this tree toppled over and now we have a water pipe busted so in addition to all of the rain we've seen we have more water that is pumping out of this busted pipe here. we have trees down all across the road here and actually i ran into a family who road out the storm and lives up this street and experienced that kind of damage. hey, guys. >> hello. >> we were just talking earlier. you have been through storms like this before. how does this compare to storms you've seen in the past? >> it was comparable which was a

bit of a surprise. they had downgraded the category and that was relieving. it started kicking hard last night and slept through the night and it was surprising this morning. the house was moving but i felt secure. 118-year-old house. >> so this house has been around through some stuff. what was the night like as the winds were strong? even early this morning when gu gusts we gusts we gusts were 105 miles per hour. >> well, the house itself is on a hill so we weren't concerned about flooding but the first story was secure and the second story was a little bit -- so sorry for that. >> that's what we understand. out of nowhere -- i think it was around 5:00 a.m. a tree in between our house and our sister house, almost an exact replica of ours tore the power line and tore the box off the side of the house so that was interesting and the dogs were not happy.

>> i heard a lot of dogs howling in our hotel, people brought them in. so going forward what is the next step besides cleanup? >> a little cleanup. the street isn't as bad as i've seen in the past. often it's been terrible and everybody gets together with chain saws and clears the roads. that won't be so hard but we'll look for an electrician to restore our basic power feed and all that but thankfully we don't have much damage. >> so glad you are safe. thanks for talking to me and we were just discussing this tree over here. it's wild because just a moment ago this tree was on top of the roof of this house. you can kind of see the damage here where the tree was laying on top and i took a video of it at just the moment a wind gust came and removed the tree from the house and put the tree back in place.

10 it's a good idea what -- i've never seen the wind cause the reverse of damage and put something back in place. >> i'm glad they rewracked it. it's like in slow motion. >> we keep talking about high tide. we're in the witching hour. will wilmington be changing? >> we're waiting to see. we'll get some reports in the next 30 minutes but it will be one of those things depending on how strong those winds are. >> our coverage rolls on. we're talking about hurricane florence. we'll be back but first this is "today" on nbc.

♪ what if home security was different? what if it looked different? what if the measure of working, was that you never had to think about it. ♪ what if it was so easy to use, you actually used it. [alarm] you have 3 minutes to exit. what if it gave you time, and what you really need from home security. a sense of security. ♪

8:46 on the west coast. 11:46 on the east coast and these are the hours that are counting as we follow the path of hurricane florence. high tide is upon us. >> she is barely moving three miles an hour. we want to bring in the mayor of wilmington with us live. we've been talking about high tide arriving in this hour. how is that looking? >> we are already starting to see the high tide effects coming up the cape fear river. they had an $1$11 million beach

renourishment program washed away. we have a lot of damage in wilmington with a lot of trees on roofs, power outages. and of course we're getting emergency medical calls for medical emergencies. we're getting to those folks as quickly as we can. >> we're worried about the storm surge and the rain. this could be just parked over your area for a long time. are you concerned about flooding from the rains as well? >> absolutely. we're talking about an event between 24 to 40 inches of rain. it's been moving at three miles an hour and it's just -- you can walk faster than the storm is moving. it's over 400 miles wide so we are catching rain and wind, creating a lot of damage and it's been pounding us for the last 24 hours and we got several more hours before the system is

out of the area on saturday. >> i know power is out throughout much of the city and surrounding suburbs. as your water system been compromised? >> we have checked with them. it has not. our water is system is up, it's fine. we have backup generators and we're doing fine with our water system. now where we are -- where people have lost power, those people on wells, the pumps are gone, they don't have water so there is an issue in unincorporated community outside of the city of wilmington. >> mayor saffo, i know you have work to do. we're happy you joined us and we wish you guys the best down in wilmington. >> thank you very much, guys. >> wilmington saw a little earlier. myrtle beach down south from there.

nbc's gabe gutierrez is there and i see things have deteriorated. >> these heavy winds right now as well as this rain, it's picked up in the last few minutes since we talked to you. right behind me is the diner where the awnings have been blown off. more has been blown off in the last few minutes and we expect this to get much worse in the coming hours. the beach -- we'll here in ocean boulevard in myrtle beach and for anybody familiar with this area, the beach is one block away. high tide is around this time and they expect storm surge over the next couple of hours and these businesses are worried. we see a few cars driving around, some are news crews, others are police officers so not many people around here right now but again as we get

these wind gusts that are tropical storm force right now, the worst is yet to come and we expect more rain. the slow moving storm moving at a few miles an hour is expected to dump so much rain in this area, emergency responders are just waiting to get water rescue calls like we've been seeing up the coast in north carolina. back to you. >> earlier we talked to a guy named jordy bloodsworth from the cajun navy. when they show up and you are stuck in your house you feel like the cavalry arrived. he's on his way into new bern, north carolina. he's there, jordy, we spoke to you last, you were on your way in. tell us how rescued are going? >> right now we are just kind of pursuing a few addresses that have been accumulating overnight and throughout the morning. we just pulled up to looks like an elementary school that is serving as a shelter that was

possibly needing help for some peop people. so we split our group into a couple smaller groups to see how much we can cover and how quickly we can get it done and try to see what area we move into next. >> are you in a boat or high water vehicle? how are you getting around? >> we're just in a regular truck pulling the boats and driving around. the roads are fairly clear and no real water on the roads yet, just some off the main highway areas have been taking on water. >> we keep wondering about how hide and how that will affect communities like new bern. when you talk about folks who were there, did they give reasons why they decided to stay behind or what are you learning? >> everybody is different. some people say that you know they didn't have a way out or couldn't afford anything like

that or didn't have the resources to get out and some people thought it wasn't going to be as bad as they said and decided to stay or stayed and had a last-second change of heart and wanted to get out once they saw us. so it's a lot of different things for everybody but that's why we try to preach preparedness all year. it's much easier to get out in the beginning. >> jordy, what you were saying we've heard over and over again that they went to bed hearing it had been downgraded to a category one storm and thought okay we're out of the woods. is that a common thread that you hear with these storms like this? >> it is. it's -- it seems like it, at least, that everybody's kind of worried about oh, what the category of the storm is and everything. well to us that isn't that big of a deal. i look at the storm surge and

how fast that can be because going back to another storm we responded to in 2016 in baton rouge, majority of the city and surrounding cities flooded and it was summer rainstorm. it's not necessarily what category the storm is, yeah, winds get bad and can tear up more things but when the rainfall is predicted to be so high -- >> we're so glad you're on the job taking care of things in new bern. thanks for all you, do we appreciate it. >> no problem, thank you. >> take care, jordy. >> miguel almaguer is a couple hours down the coast, wilmington, north carolina. miguel, you've had a morning, how are things looking now? >> savannah we have steady rain and wind and these are the best conditions all morning long. the last time we checked in we had hurricane force winds. that's an issue later today as the mayor told you a short time

ago. he alluded to high tide. it's difficult to tell when looking at this river here but i can tell you over the last several hours it's surged several feet higher. that's the big concern and we're told with the storm surge, the water can go two miles inland. that's the big concern they're bracing around here now. power is out in the city of wilmington. just about everybody has no electricity, no power so it will be a long couple days moving forward. >> great work as all of our crew and producers have done. you're talking about we've been on the air for six hours watching the various aspects of this storm but it's just sitting there. so this keeps going. >> that's right. and it will continue going. this is a long-lived event. only three miles per hour forward movement. we've got a longer time to talk about this. >> all right. our coverage will continue on this nbc station.

msnbc as well. nbcnews.com. we will continue to have live coverage and tomorrow morning on "today" they will start counting the cost, counting the toll of this damage. we're back in a moment. i )m - -... wihile you were sleeping -- workers in san francisco removed the controversial )eary it's 8:56. while you were sleeping, workers in san francisco removed the controversial early days statue. it once stood at the civic center plaza. noticed a viewer from a video -- video rather from a viewer who witnessed the early hours removal. we told you yesterday the board of supervisors had changed their minds and voted to remove it. it showed a native american sitting on the ground with a mission padre standing over him. critics called it a statue of oppression. city leaders said it will go into storage. happening now, a bombshell announcement by the catholic

church in san jose. bishop patrick mcgraw names names and lists every priest who has faced credible sexual abuse allegations. part of the ongoing church investigation into sexual abuse. the bishop says he wants greater transparency and to do right by the children who were victimized. mcgraw plans to announce those names by the end of next month. he'll also hold free listening sessions. he says he'll allow abuse victims to share their stories. a man charged with killing on an oakland bart platform is expected to appear in court today. john lee cowell scheduled to enter a plea, accused of attacking wilson and her sister at the bart station in july. we'll have weather coming in up an hour. stay connected to your worl wherever the world takes you. get the nbc bay area app. sayingt

who is headed to the moon. and - a bay area couple got a 45- hundred-dollar bill. for 1 fast food delivery! how we helped solve the case of the "hacked food app." )today in the bay. )

[ cheers and applause ] >> hello, everybody, good morning. i'm megyn kelly, welcome to the show. we have much to discuss. here to help me do it, co-host of pbs' in principle amy holmes, dan goldman and host of the podcast "inside the studio" joe levy. all right. so my friend, my good friend, who's a -- she's a pretty powerful player on wall street at a hedge fund calls me up last night irritated. she has gone to her umpteenth dinner. she's been to a gazillion of these things and gets asked as