. hurricane milton restrengthens to a category 5 storm as it barrels towards florida's gulf coast. officials urging residents to get out now before time runs out. nbc meteorologist michelle

grossman joins us, tracking where the storm is expected to hit. and, as milton approaches, the white house is pushing back against rampant misinformation in the wake of hurricane helene. what they're saying about the false claims, some being spread by donald trump. israel's defense minister abruptly cancels a trip to the pentagon on israel's orders. what u.s. officials are saying about the plan. kwqantas airlines issuing a apology after an r-rated movie airs. and all the way from alaska, the results are in. who was crowned the winner of this year's fat bear week? it's wednesday, october 9th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin today with hurricane

milton. the category 5 storm headed for florida. milton is expected to make landfall between tampa bay and fort myers, early thursday morning. bringing 12 to 18 inches of rain. widespread wind damage, flooding, storm surges and power outages. residents continuing to evacuate as 11 counties, home to nearly 6 million home, are under evacuation orders. it is one of the largest evacuations in florida's history. the walt disney parks in florida and orlando will be closing today at 1:00 p.m. as will sea world, busch gardens, and a rare closure for waffle house restaurants, citing their waffle house index, it's' te term to determine the severity of a storm. residents were urged to evacuate, saying milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west central florida.

nbc's dana griffin has more from naples beach. >> reporter: here on naples beach, you can still see people are in the water at this hour, ahead of milton, taking advantage of these waves that are usually not this high on the west side of the peninsula. we've spoken with many of them. many say they are not evacuating because they are not in the evacuation zone. many neighborhoods and many homes along the coast have been told to leave. and the mayor says that while some have left, she's hoping that more will leave, because this is a life-threatening storm. just because we are south of the impact zone of where that direct landfall will likely occur, there is a concern about storm surge here in naples. we could receive 6 to 10 feet of storm surge flooding, which is l life-threatening, and the only way to survive storm surge is to not be here when it hits. i'm dana griffin, nbc news. let's get an update from

michelle grossman. good morning, michelle. >> good morning, frances. we're about 24 hours away from landfall. and this is a potentially catastr catastrophic life-threatening storm. it's still a category 5 storm. it's picked up speed in terms of where it's going, we're looking at the movement at 12 miles per hour and it's going to make landfall between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. thursday morning. we are still looking at the potential for a major hurricane on the west coast of florida. we're going to see winds 100 miles per hour. that will cause power outages that could last weeks. let's take a look at the path for milton. because we are looking by 8:00 tonight, a category 4 storm still. as it approaches the west coast of florida we do expect it to weak and bit. still a major hurricane as it makes landfall. tropical strength all the way to tampa, orlando, fort pierce,

fort myers under a hurricane warning. this is a big one. again, 24 hours ago before that landfall we're going to continue to watch it. >> it's going to be a crucial 24 hours for those trying to evacuate or prepare. the white house is pushing back against what it's calling rampant misinformation about the federal hurricane response. here's nbc's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: in the aftermath of hurricane helene, and with hurricane milton barrelling towards florida, president biden is calling misinformation about the federal response un-american. it /* >> it puts people in circumstances where they panic. >> reporter: former president trump and some of his allies keep spreading false claims. >> for one thing, a billion dollars was stolen from fema to use it for illegal migrants. >> reporter: that's not true. fema has distributed more than a billion dollars to shelter migrants, but the agency says that's from a separate government program, not disaster relief. trump also falsely claims

residents are only being offered $750, even though they can kwauchl for more. >> he really lacks empathy on a very basic level to care about the suffering of other people. >> reporter: on social media, even more outlandish conspiracy theories are exploding from false claims of fema stealing money from donations from the government controlling the weather from antarctica. >> the amount of misinformation just continues to grow unnecessarily. and it's just really creating an interference for us to be able to do the job that we need to do. >> it prevents them from actually coming in and asking for help. >> reporter: but we also pressed the fema administrator about criticism of the federal response. >> the administration was slow to get started. we're only beginning to see that mobilize about a week too late. >> reporter: including from helene survivors. >> i hear them say on the radio that fema's here, but i haven't seen them. >> reporter: what do you say to people like her? >> i think the best thing that i would say to this is just because you don't see a person wearing a fema shirt does not

mean that we're not here. >> reporter: in florida, there's another political storm brewing, between governor ron desantis and vice president kamala harris. a source familiar with the situation tells nbc news he's refused to take her calls. >> this is utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish. >> reporter: desantis fired back, saying he did not know she'd called, adding he'd spoken with president biden and harris has no role in the process. >> she's the first one who's trying to politicize the storm, and she's doing that just because of her campaign. >> reporter: meanwhile, a white house official tells us they're preparing to fight misinformation ahead of this latest storm. calling the false rumors the worst they've seen. >> and our thanks to gabe for that report. it has been more than a week since iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at israel. and the world is still waiting for israel's response. three u.s. officials tell axios that president biden is set to speak with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on the phone today to discuss

israel's plans. for the latest, let's turn to claudio lavanga. what more do we know? >> reporter: good morning, frances. well, at least according to two u.s. officials whose are familiar with the matter, they say israel has not briefed the united states yet with the details of that potential response by israel to iran's attack last week. but, entertat the same time, thd the u.s. has been discussing options on whether or how to join and support israel in that retaliation with its own intelligence and its own airstrikes. now tomorrow, on wednesday, today, on wednesday, israel, israel's defense minister gallant and the u.s. defense secretary, lloyd austin, were meant to meet in washington, but that meeting was postponed at the last minute by the israeli prime minister netanyahu. now there was no official reason for that change of plan, but the fear here, at least according to the u.s. officials whose are

familiar with this meeting and the arrangement, they said that the fear was that israel would retaliate against iran while gallant would be in washington. in the meantime, the prime minister of israel, netanyahu, issued this prerecorded video message in which he said that israel got rid of or killed the would-be successors of hezbollah, the leader, hassan nasrallah. he didn't name names, but one was believed to have been killed in beirut in one of the airstrikes last week. he also spoke directly to the people of lebanon, saying, warning them that they should basically get rid of nasrallah, of hezbollah, if they don't want to end up like people in gaza. take a listen to what he said. >> you have an opportunity to save lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in gaza. i say to you, the people of

lebanon, free your country from hezbollah so that this war can end. free your country from hezbollah so that your country can prosper again. >> reporter: now that was a staunch warning to the people of lebanon that did not want this war, nor did they nichinitiate . back to you, frances. there are only 27 days left in the countdown to our presidential election. vice president kamala harris continued her media blitz last night by dropping by the late show with stephen colbert. this, after interviews with the "view" and howard stern. garrett haake has the latest from the campaign trail. >> reporter: in her ongoing media blitz, vice president harris telling nbc she wouldn't change anything president biden did. >> would you have done something differently than president biden during the past four years? >> there's not a thing that come to mind, in terms of -- and i've been a part of, of most of the decisions that have had impact.

>> reporter: later saying she would name a republican to her cabinet. former president trump slamming the response, calling it, quote, her dumbest answer so far. and biden the worst president in history. while, on cbs, harris was pressed about her record on the border. >> was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did? >> it's a long-standing problem. and solutions are at hand. and from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions. >> but the numbers did quadruple under your, under your watch. >> because of what we have done. we have cut the flow of the illegal immigration by half. >> reporter: new data obtained by nbc news shows there were 54,000 illegal border crossings last month, the lowest number in three years. meanwhile, washington post reporter bob woodward writes in a new book that former president trump secretly sent russian president putin kocovid tests f

his personal use in 2020. please don't tell anybody i sent these to you. i don't care, trump relied, fine. trump may have spoken to putin as many as seven times since leaving the white house. nbc news has not confirmed woodward's reporting. the trump campaign saying none of these made-up stories are true. >> everything was scrambling to get these kits, the test. this guy who was president of the united states is sending them to russia? to a murderous dictator for his personal use? >> reporter: and we're learning now about the monday arrest by the fbi of a 27-year-old man, an afghan citizen, living in oklahoma city, staying he wanted to conduct an election-day terror attack for isis. he was trying to buy semi-automatic weapons and ammunition. social media giant tiktok is

once again in the legal hot seat. 13 states and the district of columbia are taking tiktok to court, alleging the dopamine-inducing algorithm causes anxiety, depression and body body dismore of fyeah. tiktok added the lawsuits are disappointing after they tried to work with the states for over two years. besides watching hurricane milton, let's get a quick check on the weather across the country with our nbc meteorologist michelle grossman, who is back once again, and hopefully it's quiet for everybody else, michelle. >> quiet for many of us. we're looking really nice and dry throughout the middle of the country. the southern part of the country. we're dry in the west, but we continue to be so warm, unseasonably warm, temperatures into the triple digits in some spots. phoenix 104. really nice in the mid atlantic. temperatures in the 60s.

64 in boston. look at the great lakes, looking really nice there. chicago today, 72 with lot abou milton. you need to prepare now. because 24 hours away is the landfall. we're looking at lots of rain in orlando and tampa. all right, that's your wednesday forecast. >> thank you so much, michelle. still to come, the biden administration moves to replace lead pipes, once and for all. and, music mogul shawnean "didd combs fights for bail as he awaits australiae trial. ustrali. . . . . . .

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dea dea diddy d diddy combs is trying to get out of jail. he's charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. this is his third attempt at getting out on bail as he awaits trial. l.a. fitness is facing a federal lawsuit over disability discrimination. the chain, which has nearly 700 locations is accused of violating the americans with disabilities act by not offering equal access to gyms, pools and fitness equipment. a spokesperson says the company takes its obligation to comply with the a.d.a. seriously and plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit. investigators are trying to figure out what caused this home explosion. debris flew into the air. a man inside was injured. no word yet on his condition. the explosion destroyed the home

and damaged nanother building. still to come, a quantifiable gaffe by qantas. the airline apologizing after an the airline apologizing after an entertainment error. both. see ya boys. ♪♪ oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! ♪ there's a light. ♪ ♪ a certain kind of light ♪ ♪ that always shines on me. ♪ ♪ there's a way ♪ ♪ everybody say. ♪ ♪ oh... ♪ ♪ you must know what it's like. ♪ ♪ baby, you must know what it's like ♪

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we are back now with an entertainment mishap 40,000 feet in the air. australian airline qantas is apologizing after showing a sexually explicit movie to all passengers on a flight from sydney to tokyo last week. the airline chose to show the film, purported to be an r-rated film, "daddio". it was switched to a family-friendly film following complaints from passengers. they are reviewing how the film was selected. maybe they thought "daddio" was a family film. when we come back, details

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ask your doctor about tremfya today. ♪ here's what's making headlines this morning. president biden is setting a ten-year deadline for cities across the u.s. to replace lead pipes to ensure everyone has safe drinking water. the move comes a decade after the flint, michigan water crisis. it is the strongest restriction since federal standards were set decades ago. the fda has approved the first at-home test for both flu and covid outside of an emergency use authorization. the test is a nasal swab and takes about 15 minutes to test. walmart is opening five more pet service centers after opening its first location outside atlanta last year. the new locations will be in arizona and georgia and will include vet care and grooming services. a 16-year-old twitch streamer just became the first

person to loop past the highest level on tetris, rolling the game back to level zero, the record of reaching level 255 was previously thought to be impossible, though the teen was using a version modified to avoid crashes. that's pretty impressive. i wonder how much he gets outside in all that time. we'll be right back. many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. hey... how you doing? this mucus won't move out. you're gonna love this property. the guy's congestion remedy? harmless. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. don't leave! it's fine! ugh! i was worried about this side of town!

mucinex in, mucus out! don't mask symptoms, treat the cause. ♪ upbeat music ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> long live the queen of fat bear week. a mama bear known as grazer handily won the competition beating chunk for the second year in a row. grazer not only won the rematch but was also the first to

triumph in the tournament while raising a cub. competition was fierce at the annual showdown in alaska, with hibernation just a few short weeks away. steve patterson takes us behind the scenes. >> reporter: through the roaring waters of brooks falls, these alaska brown bears are parking on the pounds. like heavyweight boxers bulking up for a weigh-n goin, gorging sockeye salmon, nearly doubling their body weight. animal lovers from across the world can watch the webcams. last year, 1.3 million people cast ballots, a massive increase over 10 years ago. >> the accessibility of watching truly wild animals and not in a zoo sense, i think connects people to it and how awesome bears are. >> reporter: and they awesome. like heavyweight grazer, last

year's fat bear champ. a mama grizz weighing in around 1,000 pounds. wildfire guide john kuiper has a front-row seat at the river's edge. >> reporter: the national park gets fewer than 20,000 visitors annually and can only be reached by boat or seaplane. so fat bear week, a collab between the park service is a way to learn about this habitat. >> they rely heavily on the salmon runs to add enough weight for the hibernation season. >> reporter: this year, john's all in for chunk. this massive alpha bear of the falls, easily recognizable with the signature scar on his face. >> he was bigger than anything i'd seen before. >> reporter: even carving out a special chunkon his arm for him. >> people feel a lot stronger in their obligation to protect something if they feel a connection to it. that's one of the important

things that this week does, it connects people to the wild so they have a desire to keep it wild. >> so cool with those cameras. now we know. the life of a bear, that's living, all that salmon, too. our thanks to steve patterson for that story. exciting news for the american girl doll lovers of the '80s and '90s. they released the annual halloween costumes, and this year, adults can dress up as their favorite dolls. fans can choose from eight characters, and all costumes come with a wig to bring the look together. there's some ideas right there. there's some ideas right there. thanks for dupixent helps people with asthma breathe better in as little as two weeks. when you can breathe better, what isn't better? this is better. this is better. that's better. dupixent is an add on treatment for specific types of moderate to severe asthma. it works with your asthma medicine to help improve lung function. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's proven to help prevent asthma attacks.

and doesn't that make things better? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids without talking to your doctor. when you can get more out of your lungs, you can do more with less asthma. isn't that better? ask your doctor about dupixent, the most prescribed biologic in asthma. and now approved as an add-on treatment for adults with inadequately controlled copd with a specific marker of inflammation. team coverage. as hurricane milton is set to make landfall in a matter of hours. meteorologist vianey arana tracking the powerful storm as people who live there scramble to get to safety. plus, a little overwhelmed,