swamped, inland residents flooded by hurricane irene fight to survive and recover in the wake of historic disaster. medical marvel, an arizona man survives and somehow keeps his eye after a gardening accident. and backyard brawl, a father severely beats a teenager who got into a fight with his son, and it's all caught on tape.

captioning funded by cbs >> good morning everyone, appreciate you joining us. i'm terrell brown in for betty nguyen this morning. more than three days after hurricane irene plowed up the atlantic coast it's clear most of the worst damage is inland. the storm is blamed for 44 deaths in 13 states, 2.5 million people still don't have power and just west of nrk city, several of new jersey suburbs remain underwater, rescue crews have saved nearly 600 people since the floods hit. yesterday the pasaeic river was 13 feet above flood stage. it may begin to recede today. in vermont dozens of towns are cut off from flooding, there's no power and food is starting to run out. supplies are being flown in by national guard helicopters. some 250 roads in vermont were closed because of the storm, along with 30 highway bridges. jessica stone is in washington with more. jessica, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, terrell. what's amazing in vermont is that some of those rivers still haven't crested.

emergency management officials were there yesterday out of washington. today they travel to new york and new jersey to witness the historic flooding there. the swollen pasaeic river has taken over row after row in houses in parts of missouri. >> the home we built for our kids is gone. adults can handle it. the kids they don't have anything. >> reporter: dozens of residents were forced to leave behind everything tuesday after irene's floodwaters turned neighborhoods into lakes. in patterson, new jersey's third largest city, emergency crews used boats to pluck people from their homes. this woman and her two children escaped after watching the water rise in their living room. >> it scared me, the reality is really hitting me in my face. >> reporter: the record breaking flooding is affecting nearby communities where utility companies turned off the electricity last night. >> i guess they cut it off because of the water. it's crazy. >> reporter: homeland security secretary janet napolitano and

fema director craig fugate will see the flooding for sthechthem today when they visit new jersey. tuesday they'll visit three other states including hard hit vermont. the national guard is having to use helicopters to deliver food and water to some towns still cut off. irene's torrential rains washed out hundreds of roads and dozens of bridges in the state. crews are already working to rebuild the crumbled infrastructure. this emergency road was built in just eight hours, engineers didn't wait for approval to move this creek. >> we'll apologize later. it had to be done. >> reporter: there's no time to waste in a state dealing with its worst flooding in a century. and today, amtrak will resume service between philadelphia and new york city, one of the busiest travel corridors in the northeast. the holdup there was extreme flooding at the trenton rail station, that has now been repaired. terrell? >> jessica stone getting us

started from washington this morning, thank you so much. more on weather now reminder that hurricane season is far from over, forecasters say tropical storm katia is likely to become a hurricane today, katia is brewing far out in the atlantic, now sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. it's too early to say if the storm will threaten the u.s. in bone dry north texas at least 20 homes have been destroyed by a fast moving wildfire. it started wets of ft. worth. overnight it grew to 3,500 acres. conditions are just as dry and windy in oklahoma, where another blaze destroyed ten homes in oklahoma city. hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate. four minor injuries were reported. the fire was mostly under control by last night. a state of emergency has been declared in new orleans, two marsh fires covered the city and surrounding region of smoke. one of the fires burned for more than three days. some schools have canceled outdoor activities. the top man at the bureau of

alcohol, tobacco and firearms is out, it comes in the wake of a law enforcement operation aimed at gun trafficking networks on the mexican border. the operation named fast and furious allegedly allowed high powered assault weapons to fall into the hands of mexican drug cartels. kenneth nelson and two other atf officials have been replaced. the federal agent who went public with criticism of the operation talked to cbs investigative reporter sharyl attkiss attkisson, who broke the story months ago. >> what the supervisors and agency had told us was they no longer wanted to just make cases against straw purchaser, who is someone who buys a firearm not intended for their own personal use, they wanted to make the bigger cases to take off drug trafficking organizations or cartel organizations. >> the guns have shown up at a dozen violent crime scenes in the u.s. including one where border patrol agent brian terry was killed. in libya this morning, moammar gadhafi remains on the run but rebel leaders say they

have a good idea where he is and they are closing in. rebel forces are moving in on the town of sirte, a gadhafi stronghold. they've given pro gadhafi forces until saturday to give in. the libyan rebels captured a soldier who says he saw gadhafi say good-bye to his family. barry petersen has the story. >> reporter: it was friday and libyan government soldiers commanded by gadhafi's son khamis had retreated to this base in tripoli where gadhafi's last frantic moments in power may have played out. 17-year-old soldier abu salim's job was protecting gadhafi traveling in convoys. now a rebel prisoner he was yards away from khamis when the dictatorship ended. about 1:30 in the afternoon an ordinary car pulls up, nothing fancy that would attract attention, inside, moammar gadhafi, joined shortly after by his heavily pregnant daughter, aisha.

"gadhafi looked calm" says abu salim. during a 15-minute meeting gadhafi hands over the control such as it is to khamis, there is an intense family farewell, a sister to her brother, a father to his son. from here, gadhafi with his daughter at his side became a deposed tyrant on the run. they left the compound in a group of suvs while the fighting was still going on and headed south. abu salim's commander told him gadhafi was headed for sabha, where he can use strong tribal ties and the vast desert for protection. it's a familiar hideout for him. it's where he fled after the u.s. bombing in 1986. on saturday, abu salim said he held the door open as khamis got into an armored car. minutes later the car was blown up in a missile strike. based upon the young soldier's information, rebels announced that khamis was dead. if gadhafi is holed up in sabha it will be hard for the rebels

to get at him but he is a master of disinformation. it's entirely possible he said he was going off in one direction and went off in another to elude capture. barry petersen, cbs news, tripoli, libya. >> it's also reported gadhafi may have fooled the world about the death of his adopted daughter hannah. back in 1986, he claims she died during a u.s. air strike in tripoli following a libyan backed terror bombing in berlin that killed two servicemen but libyan found a room in the compound that could have been hers. a hospital official in tripoli even claims she was a doctor there. the website of the anti-secrecy group wikileaks crashed overnight, came under a sustained cyber attacks. wikileaks has been sharply criticized by u.s. officials for its ongoing release for thousands of secret diplomatic cables. david petraeus is retiring from the army after 37 years.

he'll be honored today at a retirement ceremony at ft. mishz, virginia. next week he'll be sworn in as head of the cia. we'll take a quick break now on this wednesday, president obama preps a big speech on jobs, but will capitol hill listen? plus a royal dip, pictures of prince haar pi partying. this is the "cbs morning news."

a father in florida has been arrested for severely beating a 16-year-old boy. a warning the video you're about to see could be graphic. 35-year-old gary johnson takes down the boy with one swing and keeps on hitting him. police say johnson set up the situation and had a friend tape the beating after the boy and johnson's son got into a brawl. he's been charged with aggravated battery and child abuse. "cbs moneywatch" on this time wednesday, president obama readies a major new job creation plan. susan mcginnis is here in new

york. >> most asian markets saw gains today as bargain hunters moved in. hong kong's hang seng index edged up a fraction and tokyo's nikkei was flat. today wall street gets the latest from the manufacturing sector, on tuesday stocks finished higher despite a report showing consumer confidence at its lowest point in almost a year and a half. the dow added 20 points, the nasdaq gained 14. next week president obama delivers a major speech on job creation. the white house says he will lay out a series of steps congress can take immediately to jump-start the economy. officials tell cbs news this will include a major school construction project to refurbish and renovate schools at a cost of $50 billion, extension of the payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits at a cost of $175 billion and new incentives for businesses to grow their workforce with up to $5,000 per tax credit for each new hire.

white house officials say it will all be paid for with additional deficit reductions but it remains to be seen how this plan will go over on capitol hill especially in the republican controlled house. detroit is downsizing. automakers plan to ramp up production of smaller cars betting they will be more popular because of lower cost and high gas prices. gm will add more saturday shifts to make more chevy cruise compacts and ford and toyota. it is decision time for netflix customers. starting tomorrow higher prices go into effect. you can pay $7.99 a month for unlimited streaming or more movies in the mail or $16 for both. that service used to cost $10 a month. the big question is how many customers they lose. when the company announced the new plan many subscribers threatened to cancel their

subscriptions. >> thank you so much. now to the prince and the pool. ♪ that appears to be harry dancing at an exclusive club in croatia saturday and jumping fully dressed into the swimming pool. a fellow clubgoer took that video. you may have already heard this, beyonce's announcement. beyonce set a record when she informed the world she was pregnant, almost 9,000 tweets were second, the previous record was 7,000 when japan beat the u.s. for the women's world club. still a little bit hurt beyonce didn't call me first to tell me. coming up your weather forecast and in sports the red sox and yankees battle it out for first place in the a.l. east. we'll be right back.

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that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. p. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. sunny and 86 in new york. 89 with thunderstorms in miami. partly cloudy and 82 in chicago. 102 and sunny in dallas and 82 and sunny in los angeles. time for a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows clouds stretching from the northwest to the great lakes and florida thunderstorms. later today hail and strong winds in the northern plains. the southern plains continue to be sunny and very hot.

in sports this morning another bruising game between the yankees and the red sox. in the fifth in boston, francisco cervelles hit a towering high homer to the hop of the green monster, yanks up 4-2. next time up in the seventh gets hit by a pitch, the benches clear, no punches hit. in the end the yanks win by two. at the u.s. open, serena williams back for the first time in two years, recovered from a series of injuries, had an easy time, 61, 6-1, serena looking to win her fourth u.s. open in 14 grand slam titles. in college football, the ncaa handed out its punishment to the miami hurricanes. a dozen players are being punished from taking benefits from a team booster. eight players have to sit out at least one game. they have to repay the benefits they received.

the 'canes may receive more punishment as well. >>. the stanley cup looking a little lopsided this morning. the boston bruins michael ryder put it on a table, there it went. whoopsie. in case you're wondering, each player may spend 24 hours with the trophy, he's not supposed to drop it. my bad. when we come back another look at the top stories and why is this man smiling? because doctors saved his life and his eye. we'll talk about it coming up. stay with us. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

deputies say she was snatched from school by her father.. the mother's concern.. and where they may be headed. a giants employee busted.. accused of embezzling more than a million dollars. the crucial mistake that tipped off the team. our worst fears confirmed. the feds come down hard on pg and e for the san bruno blast. the reaction to the devastating mistakes. and how you can get paid to hack into facebook. join us for cbs 5 early edition ... beginning at 4:30.

,,,, on the "cbs morning news" here's a look at today's weather. a storm system could bring powerful thunderstorms to parts of montana and north dakota. the great lakes will have showers and a few thunderstorms, the desert southwest could see an isolated storm or two as will south florida. here's another look at this morning's top stories on a wednesday, floodwaters from hurricane irene have washed out

more than 250 roads in vermont and cut off a dozen towns, a similar story in new jersey, more than 600 people had to be rescued from the floods. a growing wildfire in dry north texas has destroyed at least 20 homes and a fast moving grass fire in oklahoma city burned ten others. a remarkable story of survival and recovery an arizona man fell face first on to a pair of pruning shears that ended up half way into his head. tucson station klod has the story. >> when i felt up there, i sort of pulled on it a little and seemed real solid so i left it alone and realized that it was clipper. >> reporter: 86-year-old leroy leutcher fell onto the clippers, the handle went through his right eye socket. >> there was blood all over, anyway, i saw this instrument in

his face and i just said, leroy, honey, what have you done? i was just shocked. >> this was pretty dramatic, and you know you didn't understand what you were looking at. >> reporter: university medical center had assembled a trauma team. >> we found it was in his neck close to his carotid artery. >> it was a screw feeling. i can't tell you how much it hurt. >> it was rock solid in his face, making a second incision underneath his gum line, opening up his sinus and we were able to visualize the handle and we were able to loosen it up enough where we could slide it out carefully. >> reporter: amazingly his eyeball had been pushed up and back, doctors couldn't tell if it was still in one piece, it was. >> i cover this eye right now and i can see all of you as good as i can see out of this eye. >> reporter: he has some double vision that doctors say they can

correct. he can't speak highly enough about his care and the miracle. >> i thank my lucky stars that i'm here. >> tough to watch that. boy,. this morning on "the early show" much more on president obama's new jobs plan. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." everywhere your pet goes ] the frontline plus killing force is there annihilating fleas and ticks. ♪ visit completekiller.com and get a coupon for frontline plus. [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste.

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one week from t one week from this sunday, americans will pause to remember the trauma and the tragedy of september 11th, 2001. we've all seen the pictures of the twin towers fall but few experience the immediate aftermath on and under the ground at ground zero, until now, with newly released video. bob orr takes you there. >> i need a bucket line. >> reporter: as firefighters dug through the debris and cadaver dogs were ferried on zip lines in and out of narrow pockets out

of the wreckage, this first cut of history was recorded. on the surface searchers faced a seemingly insurmountable task, picking through one and a half million tons of twisted steel and broken concrete but a equally daunting challenge loomed below. >> we're in office depot over here, this opens up into a large space. we may want to take a look. >> reporter: while some stairwells remained accessible, many pathways and escalators were cut off by immovable rubble. rescue crews had to travel along pipes and squeeze through narrow ways. the subterranean search turned up no miracles, no survivors, but there were so many strange, even haunting discoveries. newspapers were found untouched on their stands, trumpeting the big stories from the morning of september 11th, an arrest in a bank heist topped the "new york

daily news" an election story headlined the "new york post" searchers found dusty merchandise stacked on store shelves right where it was when the clerks ran to safety and one subway train was found crushed in the cave-in, along with parked cars tossed around in their underground garage and then there were the clocks, frozen just before 10:00 a.m. back aboveground, the fema cameras captured more memorable scenes, a rescue dog fitted with a camera on its collar, a crushed fire truck someone identified by writing e-34 for engine 34, flags planted amid the wreckage and small pieces from the first jetliner to hit the twin towers. this section of windows came from american airlines flight 11. but perhaps the most defining image was the panorama of

destruction and the last skeletal remains of the world trade center being brought down. bob orr, cbs news, washington. coming up later on "the early show," the struggle against disastrous flooding in the northeast after hurricane irene, the cost of the storm are rising as fast as the floodwater. then the gunwalker case. the head of the atf steps down after misguided weapons are fudfud funneled to mexican drug cartels. and the latest on medical news on gluten free diets. all of that later on "the early show." appreciate you watching, i'm terrell brown. take care, everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com