and news now. stay right there, more news on the way. francine downgraded to a tropical storm, still causing

widespread damage as it slams through louisiana. hundreds of thousands are without power this morning, with significant flooding across the gulf coast. meteorologist angie lassman is tracking francine's path. a worsening fire emergency in california. one wildfire exploding to ten times its size in just a day. forcing more evacuations and rescues and destroying dozens of homes. our team is there with the latest. an ohio community is pushing back after former president donald trump pushed a baseless conspiracy theory at tuesday's debate. how trump and his running mate are reacting, as the community calls their rhetoric racist and xenophobic. it's a three-peat for taylor swift, na snagging the top priz the video music awards for the third year in a row. the records she just broke, plus more of the night's highlights just ahead. and astronauts aboard spacex polaris dawn set to make history

for the first-ever private spacewalk. it comes just hours after one crew member's special story time from outer space. it's thursday, september 12th. "early today" starts right now. dpogood morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin in louisiana where tropical storm francine is still packing a punch. the canals have overflowed. now many streets look like rivers. this rescue was caught on camera. a good samaritan broke the window of this truck to help get the driver to safety. and francine has weakened to a tropical storm that made landfall as a category 2 hurricane. more than 350,000 power outages have been reported. >> reporter: new orleans beginning to feel some of the stronger effects of francine, the storm that need landfall as a category 2 hurricane and now

pushing inland, bringing with it strong winds gusts over 100 miles per hour and a driving rain. some areas have already seen seven inches of rain. and that's going to increase as this storm moves through. of course very low-lying area, new orleans, most of the city below sea level. so that water really has nowhere to go. it will continue to build and flash flooding, again, is going to be a very serious problem here. evacuation orders remain in effect, obviously, along the clo coastline. we know electrical and power crews are waiting as well as recovery teams just outside the strike zone. and as soon as this storm clears, they will move in. the storm had picked up some momentum, shifrteted to a categ 2 with sustained winds of 100 miles per hour just before landfall. it seems to have slowed a bit. that could be an issue with the flooding problems.

because, if this storm lingers, those water totals are just going to grow. that's where you're going to see a major problem. the wind is something you'll have to watch. there are tens of thousands just in the new orleans area without power. that number is expected to grow as this storm moves through. it's going to be a rough ride here and along the path of francine for the next several hours. i'm jay gray, back to you now. >> okay, jay, thank you. >> let's get an update on francine's path and turn to meteorologist angie lassman who is tracking that storm. >> we've got, of course, a weakening system here. a tropical storm francine with winds at 50 miles per hour. it's moving northeast at 14 miles per hour. but notice where the center of that storm is, about 20 miles from new orleans. it's really looking to weaken here as we go through the next 24 hours, but that doesn't mean the rain threat is going to go away. we're still dealing with the potential for flooding across

this region. we've already seen significant impacts when it comes to that. you heard jay talking about that as we go through the day today and even tomorrow. it stalls out and kind of breaks apart across the southeast, but those widely-scattered showers are going to continue across that region. here's the flood alerts now, 12 million people including flash flood warnings centered around new orleans. additional rainfall upwards from a half inch to 3 inches. inches. lexington to tupelo. >> we'll keep watching it, angie, thank you. let's turn now to the impact of the trump-harris debate. according to a nielsen stestima, more than 67 million people watched the debate. now it's back to the campaign trail. vice president harris is kibing off a four-day swing-state tour

in north carolina and pennsylvania. former president trump will speak in arizona today before going to california. one moment from the debate that is still seeing a lot of fallout is when mr. trump made baseless claims about immigrants in ohio. yamiche alcindor traveled there. >> reporter: growing fallout over one of the most talked-about moments of the debate. >> in springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. they're eating the cats. >> reporter: former president trump spreading unfounded claims that members of the growing haitian population in springfield, ohio are abusing pets. city officials say there's no evidence of that. mr. trump's running mate, senator jd vance first spread the baseless accusations on social media earlier this week. when i questioned him about it in the debate spin room, he doubled down. what do you say to haitian americans and haitian immigrant whose say spreading false claims about them puts their lives at risk? >> well, i don't think

that -- no one has spread false claims. what they've said is that a small migrant community has caused a lot of problems. >> reporter: springfield city manager said there's no evidence that immigrants are eating animals. >> that just says the city manager isn't fully in touch with what's going on on the ground. >> reporter: it may have begun in another part of ohio where a resident was arrested for gruesome incident involving a cat. on the ground in springfield we found deep tensions. >> it's just discrimination and racism. >> reporter: he runs a community center for haitians. >> they just believe that their words have no impact, and it's not true. so immigrants in springfield, especially haitians, they are so concerned for their lives. and the lives of the kids. >> reporter: in the last few years, officials say as many as 15,000 haitians legally in the u.s. have moved to the city, which had about 60,000 residents

before. city leaders have advertised newly-created manufacturing jobs and springfield's affordability. but some like bill say it's suffered from the change. what do you say to immigrants who say they're coming here to levi revitalize springfield. >> that's not what's happening. it might be happening for the landlords enriching themselves. >> reporter: in a city meeting, the parents of aidan clark spoke. aidan was killed in a school bus crash last year after a haitian immigrant was found guilty of vehicular homicide. tensions escalated. >> i said to aidan that i would try to make a difference in his honor. this is it. >> reporter: they're urging politicians and others to stop using their son's death to spread hate. >> oneof the worst feelings in the world is not being ailble t protect your child. >> reporter: yamiche alcindor,

spring springfield, ohio. the candidates put their campaigns on hold to mark the somber anniversary, 23 years since the 9/11 attacks. they all attended the ceremony at ground zero in new york. mr. biden and harris attended ceremonies in shanksville, pennsylvania and the pentagon. in memphis, the federal trial is under way for three former police officers charged in the death of tyre nichols last year. prosecutors say the officers took turns beating the 29-year-old. ta they have all pleaded not guilty to using excessive force as well as other charges. defense attorneys say the cops' actions were in line with training. prosecutors say two other former officers have pleaded guilty and had testify. nichols' mother spoke outside the courthouse yesterday. >> our hope is that they're found guilty, and to show the

world that my son was a good person. and he wasn't the criminal that they're trying to make him out to be. >> the trial is expected to last several weeks. the officers could face life in prison if convicted. the rail company involved in the toxic derailment in east palestine, ohio, has now fired its ceo. this, just days after cnbc reported norfolk southern was investigating allan shaw over alleged inappropriate workplace relationship. he was ousted after he was found to have violated company policy by having a consensual relationship with another,tive w another executive who was also fired. turning to the worsening wildfire emergency in southern california where dozens of homes have been destroyed and several people injured, including

firefighters. dana griffin has the latest. >> reporter: in southern california, the race to escape. a barefoot woman narrowly skewed b narrowly rescued by a fire crew. flames destroying at least 39 homes. this woman and her cat helped to safety in wrightwood, california. the hardest-hit area. the fire has come down the hill and is burning along the roadway, jumping over to this side of the street, where you can see trees are now on fire, hollowing them out. this will likely fall on the road and block it. how do you wrap your head around all this? >> you don't. not yet. >> reporter: chuck lyons' dream home is now unrecognizable. but he knows every inch. >> that's our basement. this was our living room. >> reporter: as fires rage, justin halstonburg has been arrested for arson, accused of starting the line fire. his family declined to talk.

and the sheriff there says two people have been arrested for allegedly trying to burglarize evacuated homes in the fire zone. >> if you're going to be an opportunist in san bernardino county and we catch you, you are going to jail. >> reporter: air quality has plummeted as winds push smoke into las vegas. and as homes fall to the fire's forward march some vow to stop it. >> i built that house right there. it's not mine, but i'm not going to let it burn. >> she's still standing by, let's get a check on conditions out west with angie lassman. hi, again, angie. >> we've got concerning conditions for fire once again today. we've got a little chunk near l.a., no surprise where we have red flag warnings uh. parts of the high plains dealing with the fire.. parts of the high plains dealing with the fire.p. parts of the high plains dealing with the fire. otherwise, really warm for the great lakes. omaha into the upper 80s.

dodge city heads to the low 90s along with denver. and the northern tier of the country stays above normal as we get through the next couple days. looking ahead to the weekend, chicago tops out at the low 80s, washington, d.c. to the y conditions. full sunshine from cleveland to detroit, chicago heads to 87 today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. thank you, angie. "early today" is back in a minute with good news in the fight against inflation. and justin timberlake takes a step toward putting his summer dwi arrest in the rear view mirror. in the rear view mirror. then i tried zzzquil sleep nasal strip. their four point lift design opens my nose for maximum air flow. so, i breathe better.

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everywhere. u.s. inflation cooled again if august, with overall prices rising 2.5% year-over-year. the cost of food rose just over 2%, while energy prices fell 4%. and next week, the fed could cut interest rates for the first time in years. her already, you can see mortgage rates falling almost two full points from last october. justin timberlake is due in a new york courtroom tomorrow after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors in his drunk driving case. details of the deal were not immediately clear. nbc news has reached out to his lawyer. timberlake was arrested for dwi while visiting the hamptons in june. surveillance video appearing to show his vehicle minutes before being pulled over. legendary r&b singer and songwriter frankie beverly has died. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> the philadelphia native formed the group frankie beverly and mays back in 1970 and created hits like "before i let go", "joy and pain", "happy feelings" and more. his farewell tour just ended in july. his family took to instagram to share the heartbreaking news saying he lived his life with pure soul. he lived for his music, family and friends. he was 77 years old. still to come, there's no bad blood at these vmas. katy perry takes a tour through her legacy. tour through her legacy. hey guys. how we feeling? you ready? hey! adams elementary, go rams! i think he needs one too. what do you think? this is not just flu protection. you guys ready to fight some crime?

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♪ ♪ >> chappell roan went medieval, taking home the moon person for best new artist and gdedicating it to her lgbtq fans. things circled back as they always do these days to taylor swift. she ended the night with seven awards in all, including video of the year for fortnight, which she directed herself. she is tied with beyonce for winningest artist. that's the big newsmaker right there. the other news was when she had the shout out to travis. >> i heard. i was of course asleep for this. but, when i saw the news this morning, i thought oh, okay. confirming that everything is fine between them. johnbon jovi wasn't up for

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and stripping your skin. i use new olay cleansing melts every day. just soak, activate and wash. to clean, tone and refresh. that's a 3x better clean. olay. ♪♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing non-medicated vicks vapors. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors. a group of private astronauts are taking one giant leap into the history books this morning. the center piece of the polaris

dawn mission gets under way this morning. a pair of astronauts are performing their first commercial spacewalk ever. however, all four are suited up, because there is no air lock, so they have to let the air out of the spacex capsule to exit it. it is the third day of their mission before even began, it helped bring people together across the universe. here's erin mclaughlin. >> reporter: polaris dawn's mission to space for astronaut anna mennen, this mission is about more than distance, it's about connection. from the dragon capsule, she host the a very special story time. she read her book "kisses from space" to a select group back on earth, including her own k her e a kids and children with cancer. the proceeds will benefit st. jude's. >> who knew that a dragon could fly up so high? >> reporter: theat the end of t

story, 7-year-old st. jude patient nmicah asked a question. >> do people live in space, and do you live in space? >> we are living here for five days, and we'll be home soon. >> what was it like to ask an astronaut in space a question? >> it was cool. >> reporter: now cancer free, his mom rebecca says experiences like this have helped the family find joy. >> it kind of makes you special, because people want to bless you and lover o on you and let you w that you're not alone. >> reporter: as anna mennen floats among the stars, micah's family is inspire the to embark on their own mission to pay it forward. erin mclaughlin, nbc news. >> the mission is amazing, even more so that it benefits st. jude. life is about to get pretty sweet for one lucky person in

su sugarland, texas. the mega millions winner is in that area. they could have a lump sum of $404.2 million. is the biggest lottery prize this year so far. here's dylan drier with a look at what's ahead. >> award-winning beauty products that get the oprah seal of approval. and lenny kravitz rocks our plaza. that's this morning on the third hour of "today." thanks soech much for wakinp with "early today." with "early today." i'm france football season already and not a satellite dish in sight! i hardly recognize the roofs i grew up on. enough squawkin'! oh great... coach prime! y'all are whining while everyone else is watching nonstop football on directv! tell me! whose house is this? their house?

i think they're renting. listen, listen— i know they get easy access to all this football... but you know what you got? what, coach? a crumb bum attitude! now drop and give me twenty! twenty what? inferno raging in southern california, threatening thousands of homes.