helene ripped through florida, the sunshine state is bracing for another monster storm. our team is tracking when hurricane hilt milton is expected to make landfall. one year ago today hamas launched it's violent terrorist attack on israel killing 1,200 people with hundreds more wounded. the ensuing war against hamas has left tens of thousands of palestinians dead in gaza and the region on the brink of an all out war. we're live with how the world is marking the solemn ceremony. a final countdown to election say, kamala harris launches a media blitz while donald trump races across swing states. we're live with a busy week ahead. get ready to hail a tesla, the automaker prepares to electrify the self-driving taxi industry. and the cowboys and steelers sunday night showdown stretches into monday. the rifly renewed with a late night thriller that came down to

the wire. we have the highlights as "early today" starts right now. good morning, glad you are with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin with yet another hurricane barreling towards florida. residents are preparing for hurricane milton which could be at least a category 3 storm when it strikes the state's gulf coast on wednesday. this only a week and a half since hurricane helene caused massive devastation in the state. residents lining up to make sandbags ahead of the storm. florida governor ron desantis has also issued an emergency declaration in 51 counties and says a 24/7 cleanup is under way as they prepare for milton. let's turn now to nbc meteorologist michelle grossman who is tracking it all for us. good morning. >> good morning. and this will be a big storm, a high-impact storm. looking at the potential of 15 inches of rain in some spots, that's going to lead to some flooding, could see life-threatening storm surge, i

do think that will be the take away from milton in the next couple of days and also damaging winds. we are looking at a category 1 storm, winds at 90 miles per hour. we will continue to see is strengthen over the next 48 hours as it moves through the very warm gulf. today we will see outer rain bands impacting portions of the yucatan peninsula, rain increasing throughout the state of florida, that will continue tomorrow. this is tuesday as milton continues to strengthen as it crosses a really warm gulf. we will see winds increase, the storm surge increase as well as the rainfall. landfall is expected later wednesday. as of now the latest track we are expecting the evening hours and we will see the storm crossing the peninsula with very heavy rainfall. i think the legacy will be the life-threatening storm surge. there is the path as it makes impact landfall as a major hurricane. we will talk about milton and the rest of the country in a few minutes. >> mirm, thanks. the death toll from hurricane helene continues to soar. reaching 235 as of sunday evening. that number may continue to rise

as officials are unsure how many are accounted for or still missing. tens of thousands of americans across the southeast are still without service, power or homes. without any relief in sight, including north carolina, where many homeowners did not have flood insurance. >> what did the insurance company tell you? >> we are very sorry, you know, that's why we encourage you to buy flood insurance. i don't think i'm going to come back here. i mean, i don't think it's worth rebuilding. >> over the weekend president biden called up 500 active duty troops to help with the ongoing recovery efforts and nearly 7,000 fema personnel have been deployed. helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the u.s. mainland since hurricane katrina. this morning israel is a country united in grief.

one year ago today hamas in gaza launched a large scale invasion of southern israel, killing more than 1,000 in an attack that would change the middle east. in the resulting war israel has killed more than 40,000 palestinians in gaza and as a second front opens up in lebanon a diplomatic solution seems far off. for the latest let's go to claudio lavanga. good morning. how is the anniversary being observed this morning? >> reporter: good morning, frances. well, exactly at 6:30 a.m. this morning in israel, which is the exact time when hamas launched that attack one year ago, hundreds of people gathered, including victims' families and the president of israel, isaac herzog, they gathered at the site of the nova music festival where almost 400 mostly young men who were there dancing and partying that night were slaughtered, killed by hamas militants and also 40 of them were kidnapped. now videos posted online show a

very somber and moving memorial and commemoration with the victims -- the fact lease of the victims speaking and some moments of music andsinging and some moments of silence and all of that was broken by the loud bangs and booms of the heavy fighting that is still ongoing in gaza which is literally next door. at the same time the families of the 101 hostages who are still being held in gaza, they gathered near the residence of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem and stood for those two minutes, the siren that you heard in your intro, and that's played out only very important commemoration, moments of the israeli calendar likely the holocaust memorial remembrance and memorial day. these are the families that have criticized and protested against benjamin netanyahu for the past year demanding a ceasefire, demanding a hostage deal. perhaps their demands are better

summarized by what one of them said in new york just a week ago. take a listen. >> the only way my son will be returned is by a deal along with a ceasefire and, yes, we want ceasefire. and the only one who is delaying it, the only obstacle, is benjamin netanyahu, our horrible prime minister. >> reporter: in the meantime security forces all across israel are on high alert for fear that hamas may fire some rockets into israel to mark the anniversary, frances. >> claudio, thank you. here in the u.s. both presidential candidates plan to recognize this anniversary today. the trump campaign says the former president will gather with jewish community leaders at his golf course in florida, and vice president harris will deliver remarks in washington, d.c. and plant a memorial tree. nbc's alice barr joins us from

d.c. good morning. the vice president also has a lot of interviews lined up for the week. >> good morning, frances. yeah, republicans have been accusing vice president harris of avoiding the press and in answer to that she has a media blitz planned for this week. tomorrow she has interviews lined up with you "the view" howard stern and stephen colbert then a union vision town hall on wednesday. tomorrow a "60 minutes" interview will be aired. in a preview she was pressed on her views of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> do we have a real close ally in prime minister netanyahu? >> i think with all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the american people and the israeli people and the answer to that question is yes. >> yesterday the vice president appeared on the popular "call her daddy" podcast. she appealed to their large

younger female audience speaking about reproductive rights. meanwhile, former president trump held a rally overnight in wisconsin where he encouraged voters there to take advantage of early voting, urging them to mail in their absentee ballots right away. this comes after mr. trump returned to the same pennsylvania venue where he survived an assassination attempt in july. this time he was joined by tesla ceo elon musk. the billionaire making his first appearance at a trump campaign rally. the former president will be back in pennsylvania on wednesday for more rallies. >> alice, thank you. two children have been arrested in the attack on a former new york governor. governor david patterson and his step son were assaulted in manhattan saturday night. he said he had confronted some boys who were climbing a fire escape. later patterson says the teens were joined by adults and they punched the father and son as they walked their dog. police say two boys ages 12 and

13 were arrested on gang assault charges. a terrifying experience for passengers on a frontier airlines flight that had to make a hard landing in las vegas this weekend. the airbus 321 reported smoke in the cockpit. when they landed passengers noticed the plane was on fire. maggie vespa has the story. >> reporter: stunning video of a plane on fire on the runway after a mysterious midair emergency led to what airport officials call a hard landing in las vegas. >> we have no communication with the pilot whatsoever, his radios are out. we have no communication with the pilot. >> reporter: the ntsb and faa are investigating after the faa says frontier airlines flight 1326 from san diego to las vegas made an emergency landing after reporting smoke in the cockpit. passengers remember severe turbulence as the airbus 321 approached the runway. >> you felt a drop? >> yeah, we landed and it was so hard i felt it through my body.

just seconds after that i told her, i think it's on fire. >> reporter: lucas and island droe watched as firefighters doused the plane, adding they waited on board for close to an hour, finally evacuated by firefighters. they say they saw the plane's tires blown out. frontier saying no injuries were reported, adding the cause of the incident is currently under investigation after reviewing emergency communications to and from the cockpit, nbc news aviation analyst and former faa investigator jeff gazetti believes this case will be complex. >> i think this was a very serious incident. something happened in that cockpit that created smoke and really challenged that flight crew. >> reporter: a mid-air scare leaving unanswered questions on the ground. maggie vespa, nbc news. turning to another in-flight emergency. on friday a pilot flying a small plane from nevada to california lost consciousness midair. the only passenger on board

jumped into action with the help of aviation experts and an air traffic control be on the ground the passenger was able to safely land. sadly the pilot was confirmed dead at a local hospital after officials say he suffered cardiac arrest dwroo for another quick check on the forecast let's turn to nbc meteorologist michelle grossman once again. >> the big story is milton. rain increasing ahead of milton before it makes rainfall on wednesday. the chance for rain, some heavy in new england today. the middle of the country nice and dry, temperatures in the 60s in the great lakes. out west the southwest we are looking at still scorching conditions, above normal temperatures. we've been hot there for so long. we will continue the heat there as well. wednesday well above average in the northern plains into portions of the grace basin, crisp highs in the great lakes, temperatures only in the 50s in some spots. milton's impacts will be the biggest story on wednesday, looking at a

the triple digits. 108 in phoenix today, 101 in tucson with lots of sunshine. that's your monday forecast. >> okay. thanks so much, michelle. coming up, the "joker" sequel not getting the last laugh at the box office. and ready htoail a tesla taxi? the company's long promised robo taxi. it works on sweat from: stress, heat and activity. it provides 3x stress sweat protection. secret works. [♪♪] looking for a reason to try the new $5 meal deal at mcdonalds? here's one, two, three, four and the price makes 5. that's everything you get with the new $5 meal deal at mcdonald's.

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themselves as robo taxis and after several delays the wait could be over. elon musk is set to unveil on thursday in los angeles potentially a cyber car prototype. this could be the first step of musk's larger vision to transform tesla into sort of an airbnb on wheels when customers will be able to order rides from self-driving cars when the owners are not using them. it's also an important moment for tesla because several of its competitors are already operating self-driving taxis. you have google's wamo that has an autonomous taxi fleet already in operation in los angeles, san francisco and phoenix. and amazon also is developing its own version that is called zooks. they're set to launch next year. in china you have two companies that also have commercial taxis in operation. so this is a crucial one for tesla. now, another story activist investor starboard value

reportedly has built a $1 billion stake in pfizer the pharma group. according to the sources they're trying to operate a turn around at the company that has been struggling to find its next big thing after the success of course of its covid-19 vaccine. now, they have had several set backs at pfizer including a -- they didn't mention to develop. potentially this activist investor is trying to help the company find its next big step there. >> charlotte, thank you. this year consumers are expected to spend around $3.5 billion on candy for spooky season. that's a slight decrease from last year's total. and for the first time m&m's has dethroned reese's cups as the most popular halloween candy. reese's now takes second place and sour patch kids is ranked third. still to come, dolly parton comes to the aid for hurricane victims. and the "joker" sequel gets what it sees fdervrom moviegoers.

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look around. look at all these people. i will no longer allow any of you to keep me down. ♪ be happy again ♪ it may have topped the box office, but moviegoers didn't find "joker" anything to laugh at. the musically tinged theater thriller which cost nearly $200 million opened to a disappointing $40 million. the wild robot fell to number two while "beetlejuice beetlejuice" was number three. i'm loving the musical but i don't know what to expect with that. >> the director was like it's not a musical but they're singing the lines. very confusing.

i don't know, i think it's interesting. i'd like to see it. now to a music icon reaching out to help her devastated community. ♪ helene, helene, helene ♪ ♪ you came in here and broke us all apart ♪ ♪ helene, helene ♪ >> on friday dolly parton announced she and her companies are partnering with walmart to provide aid to those affected by hurricane helene. the country legend who hails from east tennessee is giving $1 million to the mountain ways foundation which provides immediate assistance to flood victims. her companies are matching that donation while walmart will provide an additional $10 million. so needed in those areas. >> it was just a matter of time with dolly parton she always reaches out when it comes to instances like this. coming up, the cowboys and steelers burn the midnightil o in their sunday night showdown. first, keanu reeves is taking his talents to the raceway. start to break away from uc with tremfya...

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prescott, throws, crossing, it's caught for the touchdown! it's tolbert! dak prescott proved why he is the highest paid man in the nfl on sunday night football. he led his team 70 yards in the final minutes and hit jalen tolbert for got ahead score versus the steelers. the cowboys get the win 20-17. earlier in the day fans were treated to a modern classic in cincinnati, the ravens and bengals needed overtime to decide a winner in a game that featured ten total touchdowns. justin tucker nailed a 24 yard tore give baltimore the crucial divisional win. and college football is still buzzing over one of the biggest upsets in history, vanderbilt topped alabama -- toppled alabama and took the celebration through the streets of nashville. here is hallie jackson. >> vanderbilt takes down number one alabama. >> reporter: the astonishing college football upset everyone

is talking about, vanderbilt super fans crying, then storming the field saturday in the team's first victory over alabama in 40 years. the unranked underdog taking down the top seed. >> look at this. games like this take life. >> reporter: it is history for vanderbilt today. >> reporter: the party spilled over into the streets of nashville. thousands marching through music city carrying the goalposts some three miles down broadway before dumping it into the cumberland river. >> in the river! whoo! >> vanderbilt wins! >> reporter: calling that game, joe dao, announcer by night, insurance worker by day and a long suffering vandy fan relishing this moment. >> what was it like to say those words when vanderbilt finally after all of these decades beat

alabama? >> it felt to me in the moment to be history and it felt just fun and crazy. it was just great. >> touchdown, vanderbilt! >> reporter: the commodore's home turf win over the crimson tide extra special as tennessee recovers from the aftermath of hurricane helene. >> what do you think it means for tennessee to have a moment like this to come together around? >> i think a lot of people are weary across our city, across our state and across our country, but this was a chance to do something fun for just a little bit. give people a little rest, a little hope. >> i'm sure they're still celebrating at vandy. our thanks to hallie for that report. and thanks to you for starting your week with "early today." i'm frances rivera. thanks for being with me. have a great mony. see you back hdaer