growing devastation in the wake of helene. the hurricane responsible for dozens of deaths, with hundreds more still missing. over a million people still in the dark from florida through north carolina. the race to restore power and cell service to the region as remnants of the storm continues to cause trouble. the middle east on edge as israel bombards southern lebanon with a wave of new attacks, including one that killed the leader of hezbollah. iran vowing revenge in response to the strike as western leaders ramp up calls for a ceasefire. a chemical plant inferno forces thousands to evacuate near atlanta. inside, the fight to contain the toxic fumes. remembering a country music legend. the tributes pouring in for kris kristofferson this morning. and the photograph who is drawing a picture with portraits. how she is capturing a little

personality with each snapshot. it's monday, december 30th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. hurricane helene has carved a path of utter devastation across the southeast after making landfall in florida's gulf coast thursday night. at least 88 people have died across six states as floodwaters engulfed homes. a third of those deaths was in north carolina's buncombe county, where entire towns have been decimated. and a desperate search for survivors continues as hundreds are still missing. more than one million customers remain without power from florida to ohio. president biden has approved a disaster declaration in north carolina, where supplies are dwindling in the western part of the state. and many residents are trapped by floodwaters and washed away roads. eric miller from our nbc affiliate in raleigh spoke to residents in hard-hit asheville. >> reporter: the french broad river is down, but it's not out

of the river arts district. >> it's the creative sort of heart almost of asheville. >> reporter: but that heart is now broken. receding waters revealing gas leaks running for days. some businesses swept away entirely. walls, refrigerator, and more piled up in crumpled. >> this is the identity of the town. this is why people come here. >> it's gone. it used to be a bar over here. >> reporter: for residents in the area, especially those at the hillcrest housing project, days without basic services are turning vital. >> there is no stores open. it's cash only. the atms are down. there are little babies that have nothing to drink, and we're going on three, four days with no water. >> reporter: some now turning to the river itself for help. >> come down to buckets and getting water. just to flush the toilet. >> reporter: business owners like mark goldthwaite faced with losing everything. >> it's not only months of recovery, it's years. >> reporter: now worried about

losing even more to looters. >> i confronted somebody already stealing artwork out of the rubble. it shouldn't happen. give us a break. >> reporter: gas remains scarce with lines stretching for blocks. >> i haven't seen any kids. i'm tired. i'm hungry. i still have no power. i have no gas to get to my kids. and i don't know where to get gas. so where is that? >> i hope sees them soon. our thanks to eric miller for that report. let's turn to michelle grossman who is tracking the remnants of helene. >> good morning, frances. so good to see you. we are still tracking remnants. it will be out tomorrow, but still today tracking the chance for more scattered showers. there is that area of low pressure still lingering. we're seeing that rain in the midatlantic from portions of pennsylvania into virginia, also west virginia. we could see pockets of heavy rain. we have flood alert, the chance for flash flooding because the

ground is so, so saturated. the rivers and streams are swollen. as we go throughout tomorrow, the area of low pressure will move offshore. and then we're going watch a cold front move through. that's going to bring the chance of more showers throughout the ohio valley. and then it will make its way to the east as we go throughout the next several days after tomorrow. as we wake up this morning, flood watches through harrisonburg, charlottesburg, also some flash flooding as well where you see the red. that means flooding is happening now or is imminent. there is your chance of flash flooding throughout the day. the blue, the likeliest chance of seeing flash flooding that includes charlottesville. we'll continue to watch some heat in twist. temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. we'll look at that in just a few minutes. >> we'll see you then, thanks, michelle. >> sure. massive fire at a chemical plant in georgia forced evacuations in rockdale county near atlanta. officials appealed to all residents to stay awake and stay

inside. >> stay away from this area at this point. the interstate as you can see is backed up. >> shelter in place. keep your doors and windows closed. in the event the wind shifts, this thing can change really quickly. >> reporter: no one was injured when the fire was sparked early in the morning at biolab chemical plant. the company has not said which chemical is relosed but the company is known to release clorox-based pool products. the infrastructure in eastern lebanon, the idf says. on friday, israel assassinated hassan nasrallah, the top leader of hezbollah in a stunning setback for the iran-backed group. lebanese officials say the israeli attacks that began a week ago have now killed more than a thousand people. the international community is urging restraint that the idf is expanding its offensive. here is matt bradley. >> reporter: israel's attacks on hezbollah continue and iran threatens revenge as a battered

lebanon scrambles to dig itself out from rubble and those left without homes scramble to find shelter. there was a strike and we went out with our children running in the streets. we left our belongings behind. in the weeks that israel expanded its offensive, lebanon estimates about a million people have fled their homes across the country. "this is the largest displacement number to happen in the region," said lebanon's prime minister. under the ruins of beirut, recovery workers unearth the body of hezbollah's slain leader has ran nasrallah, who was killed in a series of explosions two days ago. the death of nasrallah, who is venerated throughout the arab and muslim world a body blow to regional politics. something the biden administration says it's trying to avoid. >> can an all-out war in the emotional east be avoided? it has to. we really have to avoid it.

we're not there, yet, but we're working with the french and many others. >> reporter: but israel said its war isn't with hezbollah alone, but with the iran-backed militant groups throughout the east. and more evidence of an expanding war. israel fired missiles at hodeida in yemen, likely sparking this huge fire. >> and our thanks to matt for that report. new this morning, california governor gavin newsom vetoed a first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence safety bill on sunday, saying it was not the best way to regulate large ai models. the bill would have required companies to test and publicly disclosed safety protocols aimed at r to prevent misuse. talks are coming down to the peyer wyre to prevent a dock worker strike. the international longshoreman's

represents 85,000 workers at ports stretching from maine to texas. if a deal isn't reached by midnight, union workers are expected to walk off the job. the strike could cost nearly half a billion dollars per day and lead to shortages on everything from electronics to canned goods. the union is demanding higher wages and new guardrails against automation. country music legend kris kristofferson has passed away. ♪ feeling good was good enough for me, good enough for me and bobby mcgee ♪ ♪ from the kwcoal mines ♪ >> reporter: that is from one of his most famous songs, "me and bobby mcgee." he died peacefully at his home on maui. he earned three grammy awards and also excelled as an actor. he won a golden globe for "a star is born" where he starred alongside barbra streisand in

1996. kris kristofferson was 88 years old. all right. let's get a check now on the historic heat hitting much of the country. nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is tracking it for us. good morning again. so much to watch on this monday. >> there is so much. looking at the chance for some dangerous heat in the southwest once again. we're going to see temperatures soaring into the triple-digits. 10 to 20 degrees above normal. and 24 million people impacted by heat alerts today with heat advisories from san francisco down through monterey. also heat warnings in the hot pink for places like las vegas, yuma and phoenix. we're going to see temperatures dangerous on this monday, and it's going to continue over the next several days. take a look at some of the temperatures we could be seeing. las vegas 102. the record is 103. the record in el centro is 110. could see 112. tomorrow the heat does continue. temperatures continue into the

triple-digits. 107 in phoenix. 102 in tucson. all right. that's your monday forecast. >> thank you so much, michelle. >> sure. even the undefeated buffalo bills were no match for king derrick henry. >> there goes henry off a big running game against dallas. on the run. lewis chasing. at the 40, at the 30, he will score! circumstances the baltimore ravens rode their king to victory on sunday night football. the legendary running back opened the night with that 87-yard touchdown run and lamar jackson threw another score. the ravens right their ship with a ruschel win and hand josh allen and the bills their first loss this season, 35-10.

still to corp., hallie jackson travelled to north carolina asking americans their thoughts on the economy ahead of eltis. eianers in 60 seconds. of one sh? grab bounty. (♪♪) bounty is made to be stronger... ...and more absorbent. so, while ordinary brands can't hold up, one sheet of bounty keeps working, even when wet. (♪♪) now that's the sound of value. bounty. the quicker picker upper. i'm adding downy unstopables to my wash. now i'll be smelling fresh all day long. [sniff] still fresh. still fresh! ♪♪

with downy unstopables, you just toss, wash, wow. for all-day freshness. we are just over a month away from election day, and this morning we're getting a pulse on the economy from voters themselves. hallie jackson travelled to eastern north carolina to ask voters in their own words about what could be the deciding factor in the race for the white house. >> hi, ladies! >> reporter: in this key swing county in battleground north carolina. >> there is no right answer, no wrong answer. >> reporter: we showed up with a whiteboard and a question. how would you fill this in? sir? the economy is? >> the first word that comes to mind. >> i don't think i'm allowed to write that word. >> reporter: and we heard plenty. >> pathetic. >> hard. >> i think doing okay. >> reporter: from terrible to getting better. >> i think it's strong.

the whole economy is not just consumer prices. >> no, it's not! >> reporter: no, it's not that person says. from struggling -- >> real people are feeling much more pain than what the 401(k)s or iras might be showing. >> reporter: to booming. >> money flowing. people are spending money. i don't have any complaints. i'm a small business owner. >> reporter: and we heard one word again and again. >> it sucks. >> reporter: renee plans to vote for donald trump. >> because everything is more expensive. everything is just so much more expensive than 3 1/2 years ago. >> reporter: on that point, glendora sutton agrees. do you feel that pinch economically? >> absolutely. >> reporter: tell me than. >> it's rough on everybody. like housing is up. groceries are expensive. everything. and our paychecks don't live up to it. >> reporter: but she is plan to vote for kamala harris. nice and big right here. the whole thing may feel, well, complicated. >> it's very, very complicated.

and there are no quick and easy solutions. >> reporter: in our newest poll, nbc news asked people all over the country the same open-ended question. the economy is -- and by a 2-1 margin, the responses negative. walk me through some of the dynamics in play right now. we sat down with our senior business correspondent christine romans at where else, a kitchen table to talk through it. if the experts you talked to, if economists were to boil down how the economy is doing into a single word on our whiteboard, what would that be? >> if economists were to boil it down. that would say resilient. they'd say strong. some would say historic. >> reporter: the unemployment rate 4.2%. inflation at its lowest rate in more than three years. and the markets setting record highs. but higher prices at the grocery store, for example, aren't dropping back down as quickly as many want. the problem is there are pieces inside the economy that cause

real americans the kitchen table paying their bills, they feel like they can't get ahead. those things are child care. they're elder care. they are concern about social security. >> reporter: experts call it a vibe session, the disconnect between how the economy seasoned how it feels. for some, clearly a mixed bag. hey there, sir. thumbs-up, thumbs-down? the economy is? thumbs-up. and a thumbs-down right behind him. >> reporter: from bad to great, more than just a feeling, the reality for many americans. who wants to do the writing? with one word, this election season top of mind, money. >> my wallet, yes. wallet first. >> reporter: you vote with your waemt. >> our thanks to halle for that report. still to come, it may be apocalypse now for one oscar-winning director. rdd the latest epic from francis fo coppola hitting movie heat theirs weekend. find out how moviegoers reacted to his passion project. bye, bye cough. later chest congestion.

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the wild robot reached the top of the multiplex mountain this weekend. the latest release from dreamworks animation took in $35 million in its debut. meanwhile, things are looking bleak for "megalopolis." the new epic from francis ford coppola opened at number 6 with just $4 million. the legendary filmmaker self-financed his passion project with $120 million of his own money. it's being panned. critics are saying what is this? there are big names like allen driver in this, dustin hoffman. my favorite chloe fineman and aubrey plaza also in this. >> shocking. you can't predict it.

it was a big book in our district. the guest stars already out for "snl" 50. the cold open of saturday's season premiere featured the return of maya rudolph as vice president kamala harris. the sketch recapping the last few months and jim gaffigan as tim walz and even dana carvey as president biden. meanwhile, "snl" main stain bowen yang played j.d. vance. yang also made a splash on weekend update and charli xcx for a brat-themed talk show. that's a lot of names. >> that's a lot going on. think about it. they have been dark. they haven't been on. this is the premiere of the season. so much material that they had, right? so entire season. so the next one will get even better i'm sure. when we come back, how california is paving the way for healthier food in schools.

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news that's making headlines. over the weekend, california governor gavin newsom signed a bill banning foods that contain six common food dyes from schools. the bill's author cited reports that found the chemicals can cause developmental and behavioral issues. according to a new study, playing video games for 15 minutes can boost your mood. researchers found 72% of players experienced a positive impact. overnight the mini moon, is entering our orbit for about two months. it's about the size of a school bus. ♪ that just will never come out ♪ ♪ pour downy in the rinse, jade ♪ ♪ every now and then i rinse it out! ♪ fights odor in just one wash. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast

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a photographer in north carolina found an original and striking way to capture the essence of kids, and it turns out not smiling with work wonders. here is kate snow. >> perfect. >> reporter: they don't look like most of the photos you see of kids. no forced grins or uncomfortable outfits. charlotte, north carolina photographer brook light tries to capture a mood, a personality. >> it's fun. it's an amazing job to get to work with kids in a way that is -- you left a little part of empowerment with them to be yeah, you're legit and you're amazing. >> reporter: during the pandemic, brooke started taking photos of candles. but one day her niece ruby came to visit, and brooke wanted to be the cool aunt, so she offered to take ruby's photo. >> let's do something a little

different. you don't have to smile. just hang out and chill and be yourself. >> reporter: the results were powerful. she started offering moody mini photo shoots. and in 2023, they went viral. kids don't have to smile, and parents are encouraged to let them wear what they want. >> i have had everything from hoodies to rainbow tulle skirts, leopard crocs, i have literally seen it all. but it is so obvious when they're wearing something that they like. when they are wearing something that they think is cool, they relax in the photo shoot so much more. >> reporter: noel showed up in a t-shirt, a long tutu skirt and cowboy boots. >> from the moment she stepped through the door. >> reporter: she was celebrating her 7th birthday. >> i can do whatever i want. >> you can do whatever you want. yeah. you didn't have to smile. you could just be yourself. >> yeah. >> reporter: this is noel's favorite shot. when her mom nicole first saw

the photos, she cried. what made you cry? >> i think just seeing her comfortable and her really kind of owning it. she was able to bring that out of noel. and, yeah, she captured a moment in time that we will never forget. >> reporter: simple photos with lasting impressions. >> at the end of the day, it's an experience for a kid to say that you exactly as you are good enough. you don't have to change. exactly what you love and the things that you are about, you are a person. you're not just a kid. you are a person. and you matter and deserve to be seen and take up space. and you don't have to shrink yourself and you don't have to be small. and you're good enough. >> almost like modeling pics and perfect for the emo kids who don't like to smile my way. thanks to kate f thaor