captioning sponsored by newshourroductions, llc >>oodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight:id the prt visits areas devastated by huoricane flence, as widespread relief operations continue., thhearing in doubt. christine blasey ford asks thati the f.b.estigate her claims of sexual assault bybe brett kavanaugre testifying, but republican senators say that's necessary. i talk with anita hill about th moment. plus, we explore why major stormsike florence are moving slower and dropping more rain. >> the really extraordinaryg thout the storm wasn't the wind category as it hit the coast. it was t fact that it stalled out, enabling it to dump days of

tremendous rainfalkein places liorth carolina. so there's a growing body of evidence that this may be related with climate change. >> woodruff: all that d more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm

raymond james. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfouation.org. >> theemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more st, verdant and peaceful world. more infortion at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like u. thank you.

>> woodruff: a test of wills is building tonight over supreme court nominee bretth kavanad the claim that he committed a sexual assault in high school. the accuser says she wants the f.b.i. to investigate, before a senate hearing. republicans have so far balked at that demand, and the hearing is still set for monday. we will have a full report, after the news summary.ma the day's other story is the ongoing flood disaster in the carolinas. today, the president f for a first-hand look at the mess misery left by hurricane florence. william brangham has our report. >> braham: president trump came to flood-ravaged north and south carolinaoday to assess the response to hurricane florence. his first stop was aarine corps station along the north carolina coast. in a briefing with state and federal officials, the president promised full federal support. >> unfortunately, the money wi be a lot, but it's going to come as fast as you need it.to goinake care of everybody.

to the families who have lost loved ones, america grieves with yo and our hearts break for you. god bless you. we will never forget your loss, we will never leave your side. we're with you all the way. d brangham: he then toure devastated neighborhood in the city of new bern... >> we're giving you a lot of help. >> brangham: ...d also helped distribute food to local residents. less than a week since florence made landfall, a huge part of north carolina remains deluged. close to 200,000 residents are still without power, and about 7,800 are living in shelters. officials are warning that the flooding may worsen still, as t riversoughout the region are bursting their banks. gee cape fear river, the l in the state, crested this morning at over 60 feet. that's four times its normal height. the town of wilmington still remains largely isolated with no safe routes in or out. residents stuck in the city

lined up to receive food, water and other supplies.as ssments of the storm's economic and environmental impactre underway. preliminary estimates say the storm did $22 billion in damage across the region, which would put florence among the t ten costliest storms in history. flood waters have killed almost 3.5 million chickens, and over 5,000 hogs, and waste from those hog farms has been leaking into floodwaters. as the extent of the damage comes into focus, so too are lessons for the nextrm. brigadier general diana holland is with thu.s. army corps of engineers. she says relief efforts will be enhanced the more peop prepare for these events ahead of time. >> the more self-sufficient individuals are, and communities are, the better. the more we do that it is at the individual and local level, the >> brangham: during his final stop in south carolina today, the president reiterated his

support for storm survivors. >> washiton is with you. trump is with you. we are all with you 100%. >> brangham: for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. state department reported te number of terror attacks worldwide fell t% last year. it was largely dmilitary successes against islamin state forcesaq and syria. the report also said that iran remas the leading state sponsor of terror. president ump has ripped into u.s. attorney geral jeff sessions again. he told hill.tv that sessions has failed him on everything from the russia probe to border enforcement. and he went on to say, "i don't have an attorney general. it's very sad." later, as he left the house, mr. trump softened the criticism just a little. >> i'm disappointed in the attorney general for numerous reasons, but we have an attorney general. i'm disappointed in the attorney general for many reasons.

and you understand that. >> woodruff: the president declined to say if hwould fire sessions, who was one of the first people he appointed to his cabinet. instead, he said, "we'll see what happens." in yemen, new warnings today that famine is engulfing the country. the united nations food agency says 8.4 million of yemen's 29 million people will starve without new entry points to deliver food and other aid. almost all aid enters through the rebel-held port of hodeidah but that has bdly damaged in fighting. the government of india approved criminal penalties today for so-called "instant divorce." the practice had allowed muslim men to end their marriages by repeating the arabicfor divorce, "talaq," three times, er any period of time. india's supreme court outlawed the practice last year. more than 20 other countries have already bned it. on wall street, it was a mixed

day for the marketas bank stocks rose but tech shares slumped. the dow jones industrial average gained 158 points to close at 26,405. the nasdaq fell six points, and the s&p 500 added three. and,he pioneering black ball dancer, arthur mitchell, died today in new york city of renal failure. mitchell broke racial barriers in the 1950s, performing in the new york city ballet. he went on to start an all-black dance school, that grew into the acclaimed dance theatre of harlem. arthur mitchell was 84 years old. still to come on the newshour: anita hill on these accusations against a supreme court nominee. is a new deal between north and south korea a significant step toward denuclearization? and, much more.

>> woodruff: now, to the continued standoff over whether e e woman who has accused supreme court nomiett kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her will appear at a senate judiciary hearing next week. christine blasey ford all but ruled out appearing before the committee next week. her lawyers say she has received death threats since reg her identity, anthey are demanding an f.b.i. investigation before she testifies. amna nawaz has the sto. >> nawaz: this morning, before departing to tour storm-ravaged parts of south carolina, thpresident trump dismisse request. >> the f.b.i. has been very involved, with respect to stice kavanaugh. they know justice kavanaugh very well. they've investigated him, i guess, six times. and they've investigated him for this hearing. look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting, and we'll have to make a decision. but i can only say this: he is such an outstanding n.

very hard for me to imagine tha. anything happe >> nawaz: last night, christine blasey ford's attorney said she needs more time. >> she will talk with the committee. she's not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on monday. this just came out 48 hour ago. >> so, point blank, if there's not an investigation between now and then, she would not appear monday in a public heari n? investigation-- any legitimate investigation-- is going to happen between now and monday. >> nawaz: on capitol hill today, democrats decried the timeline:f >> tt that they're saying it has to be you versus kavanaugh on monday as the only possibility to be heard? infind that not only stifl but outrageous. >> this nomination has been pushed and pushed and pushed with artificial deadlines that the republican party and chairman grassley and senator mcconnell have put. >> nawaz: ...while republicans forged ahead. >> she said she wants to be heard, or she did say it. and now she's saying she won't, unless the comttee takes other eps. the f.b.i. investigation has

already been concluded. so, the witnesses don't get to esntrol the committee proc >> do you find her allegations credible, senator? >> well, that's why we're having the hearing. >> nawaz: mr. trump also slammed the top-ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, dianne feinstein, whom rd originally contacted in july. >> why didn't senator feinsteinr g this up at her meeting with judge kavanaugh? why didn't the democrats? they knew about the letter, because she was showing it toat demo why did they wait until everything was finished and then bring it up? that doesn't look good. >> nawaz: but feinstein hit back, saying to the president in ectweet, "you may not re women and the wishes of victims, but i do." judiciary chairman chuck grassley said monday's hearing is still on, but that ford cann testify eitherpublic or private session. >> woodruff: and an update, this evening, judiciary chairman

chuck grassley told committee democrats he would also be willing to have staff s interview ford privately-- including traveling to california, or anywhere else, to meet with her. ownow, amna nawaz joins me with more on this developing story. am na -- amna, you have been on aside from all the figuring out of what's going to happen on the hill, people who know judge kavanaugh and who know professor ford are starting to speak out. what are you learning? >> that's right, we've spoken to a numbero people who knew both in high school.n the political are filtering down to the personal spheres of both judge kavanaugh anprofessor ford. last week, you will remember, there were 65 women who stepped up to sign aetter of support for judge kavanaugh, they said they knew him in high school, were attesting to his character this is what they had to say -- he always treated women with decency and respect, that's true in high school and remained true to this day. when they signed the letter, it was an anonymous allegation. we reached out to the women to e if there waany context they wanted to add. in the last couple of days, wet

reached to 30 of the women, two declined to spet,ak outri only three would speak with me and only one on the record. everyone who spoke with me in any form stands by her signature. but lisa heaps spoke with me. she knewbrook in high school. she said i signed the letter because the allegations seemed so unlikely, i felt compelled to step up and say this is nothe guy i knew. she weighed in on the party culture, she said, yes, everyone partied. she says she doesn't remember brett kavanaugh as anwho partied to what she would call an extreme and she also said, this is important, one of the reasons she believes him is because there hasn't been a single other woman to step up and say, yes, if high school or college, he did this to me, too. >> woodruff: so the o women you were able to speak with standing by brett kavanaugh.>> hat's right. >> woodruff: did any of these women know or did they know professor ford?

>> a woman whose name was samanthay spoke to us today and

this is what she had to say. >> we're not talking about even t xual harassment. we're talking abxual woodruff: they're vouchingke t. men across our other staff id o've spoken t dozens of t this is at the heart of thed matter, right. specific allegation about a specific alleged attack and no one has been able to step up with any additional specific information. >> woodruff: so while we wait to see what other investigation goes on, the press is moving ahea investigating, asking questions. >> that's right, and seems as if, in the absence of any kind of formal investigation, until and unless someone steps forward with additional information to either corroborate or refute what has been said, this is are. we >> woodruff: amna nawaz, thank you very much. >> thanks, jy.

>> woodruff: the situation now with kavanaugh's confirmations evokes memor a different confrontation that played out some 27 years ago. in 1991, anita hill was a law professor at the university oklahoma, who came forward publicly to accuse a formersu boss-- thepreme court nominee clarence thomas-- of sexual harassmentye. erday, the "new york times" published an opinion column from hill, with her own prescriptions for what the central figures in the current confrontation could learn from 1991. anita hill is now a professor of law at brandeis university and an author, focusing on issues of gender, race and social policy. and she joins me now. anita hill, welcome back to the "newshou. just to look at what's going on now, the senate judiciary committee leaders are saying they wanty professor blaord to testify, believe an f.b.i. investigation is necessary, their owntaff is

investigating, and they're making it sound as if they're going to go ahead wheer she's there or not. under those circumstances, should she testify? >> you know, that's a decision that she has to makeorf. hers my belief is that, without an investigation, there c be an effective hearing. >> woodruff: so when the senators on the judiciary committee begin an ininvestigation, you're s that's not sufficient? >> i'm saying it's not sufficient not because they -- i know what the staff qualifications are, but i doubtt thy are qualified to carry out this investigation in a neutral fashion. >> woodruff: well, let's go back to 1991. i want to show our audience, this is an excerpt from the confirmation hearings, clarence thomas hearings that year. you were being questioned at

th point then senator arlen specter. let's listen. >> you testified this morning in response to senator biden, that the most embarrassing questioned invo this is not too bad, women's large breasts. that's a word we use all the time. that was the most embarrassingud aspect of what thomas had said to you. >> no, the most embarrassing aspect was his description of the acts of these individuals, these women, the acts th those particular people would engage in. it wasn't just the breasts, it was the continuation of his ory about what happened n those films with the people, with this characteristic physical characteristic. >> with the physical characteristic of? >> the large breasts.

>> woodruff: so, professor ceptionhat was your p of the senator's questioning of you, as you look back on it? >> well, as i look back on i think there is evidence that -- clearly evidence that staffers should not be the one designing thisearing at this point. senator specter had already indicated, prior to my testimony, that he believed clarence thomas, that he did not go into t hearing with an open mind, and what followed idre questions that reflected that he not have an open mind and was not interted, really, in pursuing the truth of my testimony but was more interested inin discred me. >> woodruff: well, as you know, i'm sure what anthese republenators on the

committee right now are saying is there have been already been half dozen f.b.i. investigations of judge kavanaugh, and they question whether they're going to learn mu more. in other words, they're notcl ed to expect that anything new is going to come out. >> and the senators have already indicated that they have made up their mind about this individual. all of this, to me, just points to the fact that they are not prepared to have this hearing. if they don't understand the difference between a general inveigation by the f.b.i. and a specific invotigation int the allegations that have been raised about the sexual assault or potential sexual assault that occurred, if they don't understand that difference, then at a a really not prepared to

go into this phase of the hearinf >> woodruff:t turns out, professor hill, that there is no way to verify professor blasey ford allegation, what are we left with here? if there's no evidence that surfaces, no account -- account that surfaces to back her up or refute what she said? >> one of the ings that i won't assume is the idea that there is no evidence. because i'm not a professional that does these investigations. when y get a professional involved, they will know the questions to ask, they will know the places to go, they w the people to call on asse witn to complete what is a thorough investigation. so there's a lot more that we can learn. i think, so often, we fall into

this trap of saying, oh, this is a he said she said situation, and that, rarely, is the case. there is very often and most often, i would say, ways that testimony can be corroborateth eitheugh other individuals or other circumstances that are similar, and we need to let that play out and to me sure that we have turned over every stone to get to the facts of this situation. i think it's in the best interest of both dr. blasey ford as well as the interest of judge kanaugh, but iertainly think it is in the best interest of themerican public and the court. >> woodruff: given what you just said, i want to, a this country partisan, divided environment we are living in, in this country, is it possible for

something like this, for an allegation to come up, whe someone is being nominated to an important position, and for them to get a fair hearing? >> it'possible, if peopleare willing to put aside partisanship for higher ideals, for the betterment to have the court, for -- for the betterment of the court for what is in the best interest of the public. i will say this, when individuals come forward and raise claims, they do so at great risk. k w from the information that has been published and the story that followed since dr. blasey was revealed as the person w wrote the letter and gave it to her representative, we know that, in ft, there ve been threats to her life. we know that she is now in hiding because of those threats. we can't promise her an

in a fair hearing, but what we ought to be able to promise her is a fair hearing andho augh investigatio and i thin it's a reflection not only on this particular hearing, butlso a reflection on the ability of individuals o are our representatives to do their job, especially when it comes to the supreme court. i think it's ironic that we have senators who are deciding about who is going to sit on the highest court, but they can't really put a part partisanship e long enough to put together a fair hearing to get to the truth about this situation. >> woodruff: professor anita hill, we thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: the connection between climate change and an increase in deadly storms. plus, republicans and race. how g.o.p. candidates are dealing with fringe views among some supporters. there are new signs today of a potential path to peace on the korean peninsula. the leaders of both the north and south agreed to concrete steps toward denucleization. yamiche alcindor reports. >> alcindor: applause, handshakes and smiles-- that marked the signing of a joint agreement between the two leaders, and their most significant progress to date. after days of celebrations and carefully choreographed events,o kim jong-un an jae-in pledged a "new era" for the koreas. it could mean one withouton nuclear wesome day.

>> ( translated ): today, chairman kim jong-un and i agreed on specific measures to remove the fear of war and possibility of armed clash. also, we promised to keep our land permanently free fromea nuthreats and war, and pass it down to our deendents. >> alcindor: kim agreed to dismantle his main tongchang-ri missile testing site. he also said he would allow experts from relevant countries to be present. satellite images, though, show work was already underway to decommission the site. kim also committed to permanently dismantle his main nuclear weons complex. but, he said he would only do so if the u.s. takes unspecified "corresponding measure" the u.s. has said it will ease economic sanctions only in exchange for complete denuclearization, but in shington, president trump sounded upbeat. ar very importantly, no missile testing, no nucesting. >> alcindor: so far, north korea has refused to list its nuclear

sites as well as a timeline for dismantling them., last mon. trump canceled a trip by secretary of state mike pompeo to pyongyang. the president cited the north's lack of progress on giving up its nuclear weaponste. today, he improvement of a different kind. >> the relationships, i have to tell you, at least on a personal basis, they're very goo it's very much calmed down. in the meantime, we'retalking. it's very calm. he's calm, i'm calm, so we'll see what happens. >> alcindor: pompeo said today he has invited the north's top diplomat to meet nexweek. he said he expects nuclear talks to be finish 2 by janua021. back in pyongyang, the -kmoim talks produced several uthievements for north-so relations, including military cooperation. >> ( translated ): we adopted a military pact to end a history of brutal and tragic confrontation and hostility, and agured to make efforts to t the korean peninsula into a land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats. >> alcindor: the two countries

also agreed to make a joint bid for the 2032 olympic games, and work on reunifyingore families separated after t korean war. kim also agreed to travel to south korea, something no rth korean leader has ever done. epw significant are these and how should the united states respond? we get two views. bruce klingner had a 20-year career ithe u.s. intelligence community, where he focused on north korea. he's now a senior research fellow at the heritage foundation. and, jenny town is the managing editor an an online policy journal that uses on north kore thank you, both of you, for being here. bruce, what's your reaction to the meeting yesterday and the agreements that have been announced? >> i think we have to measure it two differentays. on inner-korean relations and forucing the potential military conflict, at least at a tactical level, i think it wasc cessful. on the denuclearization which is of real concerno the united stat we didn't make any real

progress and we need to put more meat to the bonf o this agreement and the singapore agreement president trump was >> bruce is talking about not a lot of change there. what do you think about that, jenny? well, i tend to agree. they did offer a confidence-building measure in terms of actually destroying also the launch pad at well the engine test they already agreed to but reiterated this is not a unilateral process.uc and init is more of a usdpr discussion. >> these leaders announced several different agreements. one is that thes north korean will allow international inspectors in to a key missile test site to confirm whether or not kim jong un is permanently dismantling that. how important is that? >> first, it is what they consider to be their civilian

space satellite launch progr. so that's where they have been building and testing liquid fuel engines that could be used either for rockets or missiles, but the launch pad has only been used for satellite launches. i think it is significant becsehis is an area where they've had disagreements from the past over civilian and military programs. this closes a loophole and if they allow inspectors and media to observe, i think it is a very positive move, but still a confidence-building measure. it's not meant to be unilateral denuclearization. >> what do you think about that as a positive development, bruce? >> i think this with other aspects of the pyongyang developments are good but outweight by the "however,"as

ect. north korea said they don't need a nuclear test site because their icbm production is over so less importt than during the development of these programs and the missiles we're worried about including icbms are mobile so they wouldn't be launhied by a gantry like so we're more worried about the mobile than a fixed launch facility. >> the north korean leader says he's willing to close the nuclear complex ifand only i the united states takes corresponding measures. what can the united states do other than lift sanctions? >> neck is putting a lot of conditionality on things they are required to donder other u.n. resolutions. they promised to abandon this city in 1994, so we're

trying to get back in the futu k. when norea has put a heavy ateditionality of appropri measures, we don't know what that . we think it might be a peace declaration which they think is very important, number of serious ramifications of where a peace declaration could go, and unless we get a pro quo, i don't think we should go down that path. ny, what do you think of this idea of corresponding measures? >> that's always been the case and always been the expectation u lookth korea, and if yo at the singapore summit declaration, there's a lot room, though, for what the u.s. could do, you know, other than just lifting sanctions because the way that the north koreans are looking at this is really the road to denuclearization is paved with a fundamentally different relationship with the united states. so the number one point is loing at us-dpkr relations and the other is theeace regime and there's a lot to do to

improve ons, create liaison offices, to lift the travel cn, to evenmit to not imposing new sanctions along the way, withou lifting sanctions until you have more specific measureais. but cey the u.s. is going to have to do some of these things if we want north korea to continue down this road, also. >> before yesterday's meeting the president of south kidorea ne of the main objectives is to get the u.s.nd north koreans talks back on track. what do you make of that and what have you learned in the last 24 hours to make you feeles talks are back on track? >> well, i think they will be because the president y ry quicd very positively reacted to this communique. so i think, for him, that's enough to justif having a sect summit, as he has accepted anin tation from kim jong un. but i think experts will see that nhing really has changed. so when we canceled pompeo's trip, nothing changed except

receiving a very nice letter from kim jong un and this positive though not really any action openun earization. i think the president will agree though people will be concerned there is not sufficient preparation for the summit. in many cases we're ing in not knowing what north korea means. we need to find out. we negotte with ourselves, we think that's what north korea wants so let's do that, a they pocket the concession and move on to the next demand. >> what do you think of this idea? >> well, the president obviously responded to it very positively. i th biggest concern, too, is, you know, how are they actually intereting the agreement because, if you look at pompeo's statement this evening, there are things in there that seem to indicate he thinks that north korea actually committed to closing dowh down site.

they will say they're willing to do that if the u.s. plays its part. that's where we run into problems, do we have expectations of what's being committed, do we have matchingec akes of how to evaluate and measure progress over time and i dot think we do. >> the u.s. wants to not lifts sanctiless there's a full denuclearization. south korea wants incentives that are economic. what do both of you think about that idea of these two countries being out of sync? could it hurt the u.s. and south korea alli >> i'm hearing from u.s. officials there is a dissatisfaction with how quickly the moon administration is moorward without smens rat progress in denuclearization so there are already some strains and that could get worse. >> i agree it is causing tensions in the u.s.-korea reliance. moon needs this to work and he's bet a lot on north korea now and they're goingha te to find a

way to compromise or president moon will have to make dficult decisions. >> thank you bruce klingner and jenny town. >> thank you. >>uff: next, miles o'brien looks at some of the science behind hnes, and what might explain the historic flooding that recent storms have delivered. its the latest iment of our weekly series ed "the leadinge" of science and technology. >>'brien: soon after the e of florence passed over the carolinaoast, hurricane scientist hal needham was on the beach with a tape measthe assessing e impact of a storm that weakened but stalled as it made landfall. >> storm surge probably didn't come up here. the storm should probablhave reached the dune field. >> o'brien: florence was a lumbering, lingering generator of storm surge and heavy rain. >> the really extraordinary

thing the storm wasn't the wind category as it hit the coast. it was the fact that it stalled out, enabling it to dump days of tremendous rainfall in places like north carolina. so, there's a growing body of evidence that this may be related with climate change. >> o'brien: weather systems are pushed by steering currents like the jet stream, which is fueled in part by the temperature fference, or gradient, between the arctic and the tropics. climate change is causing the poles to warm faster than the tropics, reducing the temperature gradient, and that reduces the energy that drives the currents, slowing them, and weather systems, down.>> nabling them to just park ovocation and just dump days of tremendous rainfall, which is really deadly and coly. >> o'brien: a study in the journal "nature"june of this year concluded that between 1949 and 2016, tropicsl cyclones have ed down 30% when they hit land in the northwest pacific, and 20% in the north atlantic.

atmospheric research scientist james kossin of university wisconsin the lead author. >> i think the question that we have to ask is, at's causing the trend? whether this is just some small piece of a longer-termatural variability, in which case maybe the storms will end up speedg up again in the next 50 or 75 years; or, whether there's a human fingerprint on it and its length to warming, in which case we would expect the slowing to just continue as long as we keep warming the planet. all of these are consistent with our expectations with global warming. >> o'brien: kossin says hurricane harvey is a perfect case in point. it hit houston in 2017, stalt, and downloaded nearly 50 inches of rain in some places over the course of a week. t orence and harvey appear to be om the same cyclonic cloth. so far, the former has doused parts of the carolinas with more

than 30 inches of rain. the slowdown is likely to have compounded another problem: increased rainfall totals caused by more heat and moisture in the atmosphere, due to human-caused climate change. kevin reed is a professor of atmospheric scat stony brook university. >> when you have warmer ocean smperatures, so, warmer temperature at tface of the ocean, you can evaporate more wat so that means that when you have a hurricane, there's more water vapor up in the air, which means there is more availater vapor to cdense out and to produce rainfall. so it's a combinatioof the slowing of storms as well as the increased rainfall, due to the increased water vapor in t atmosphere and a warmer world. >> o'brien: hal needham does his field work in the immediate afterm a storm to get a precise idea of what happened. before florence formed, we met at the landmark deering estate south of miami. it sits on the shores of

biscayne bay in a place vulnerable to storm surge events. >> really for southeast florida, this particular area has seen a lot of really high storm surge from hurricanes, so there's really a geography to it. >> o'brien: in 1992, hurricane andrew inundated the estate with a 17-foot storm surge. needham scars on this tree, where the bark had been rubbed off by the raging seawater. >> when we think of coastal flooding, sometimes we think of salt water slowly coming up. du storm surge, the water is pushing in incredibly rapidly, and it's filled with debris. we can actuab tree bark off of trees and this is a sign wheran back here and see how high the water level got. >> o'brien: and despite the current conventional wisdom, andrew was not miami's worst- case scenario. it w not a direct hit on the heart of the city, and it was a tight, fast-moving storm, nothing likehe days-long barrage of florence, harvey or irma.

to get a better overview on the real high-water marks, needham has spent the last decade inilding a comprehensive dataset of coastal floodg for at-risk u.s. cities. >> it is pretty time-intensi, and to do it right, you really have to get into the local arives. you can only do so much online, so getting that local archives, looking at historic maps, talking to historians and librariansetting those big events from the past. the reason that's important is that hurricanes are very re events, and so any given location, might see two or three direct hits in a century. >> o'brien: and there is one other important factor at play: sea level rise. on the day needham a i met in miami, a brief thunderstorm rolled through his neighborhood just before my arrival, a typical event on a s afternoon in south florida. and so now is this scene on his street. that's a fair amount of water. >> sure. >> o'brien: in your head, you sort of try to interpolate to a

hurricane. >> so, that's exactly it. esere is no named storm, there is no advisorino flood warnings. this was just a thunderstorm. 'brien: climate change- lduced sea level rise has saturated the poroestone on which this city was built. >> so, this ismeust what we mes called "compound flooding." there is the issue of the heavy rainfall, but on top of th, we have the issue of sea levels rising, and if there's a named hurricane, you know, pushing storm surge as well. if this is what happens from an inch of rain on a summer afternoon, what happens when we got a named storm with 10 or 15 inches of rain, and we got a massive storm surge and then sea levels are rising at the same time? >> o'brien: at happens when a named storm is bearing down on miami is at the heart of frank rollason's job. >> we have a raft of maps that we are able to use and go through. they give us a various assortment of options and scenarios that could happen an that have happened in the past, and we can see what the results

of those were. rg o'brien: he heads the office of ecy management for miami-dade county. he is keenly aware of the complexity of compound flooding. >> changes in the flood zones take place and we have to adjust for that. so the bottom line is that, in the d, this is our most current one, iup-to-date, that we will utilize to make the decisions on the relocations or the evacuations. >> o'bso how accurate are the maps rollason relies on? needham believes nugh data is funneled into the models on which the flood maps are based. bl says that part of the p is a distinct division of expertise. >> in general, in the science of hydrology, we have people that study storm surge, a t we have peopt study rainfall, and sometimes, the two camps don't talk. so the map, thevacuation maps and the flood maps coming out as harvey approached the texa coast, where we have rainfall maps and we had storm surge maps, and the two weren't really talking to each other.

>> o'brien: in addition to his archival research, needham has developed an online resource called "u-surge" to share detailed historical data, and is creating an app, "u-flood," where anyone could add some data points to the current flooding picture. crowdsourcing may be one way to better define the real risk posed by hurricanes in a warming world. it is apparent that the risk is growing. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in miami. oodruff: now to a sharp divide for republicans, over thce. year, a handful of g.o.p. congressional candidates have openly expressed racist views. others in the party disagree over how, and how often, to address the issue. lisa desjardins takes us inside the virginia senate race.

and a warning: this stor includes some disturbing, violent and racist content. >> desjardins: in a neatly- appointed me in northern virginia, potential donors are sizing up an unconventional candidate: coreytewart. the g.o.p. nominee for u.s. senate is a divisive fure, loved by some conservatives as ardently anti-illegal immigration and pro-trump... >> we'll be supporting the president, going to be bringing back manufacturing jobs. >> desjardins: ...but detest by others in the republican party as someone they see as stoking racial divide. stewart flatly denies that. >> republicans, including myself, we're always saying, you know, we absolutely disavow racism. we absolutely disavow any sort of bigotry or racism.

what the republican party needs to stand for is making sure that e quality of life for average working americans improves. desjardins: but early last year, he supported paul nehlen, an antsemite who ran for congress in wisconsin. and a month later, stewart appeared with jason kessler, a white nationalist. kessler latenized the nite the right" rally in charlottesville, where protester was killed ba white nationalist driving into the crowd. stewart insists he did not know the ndn's views at the time, a he has disavowed them. when he took to facebook with h views on charlottesville, stewart blamed liberals, and didn't mtion white nationalists. he said conservatives were under attack. >> unfortunately, in the aftermath of charlottesville, there will be those on the left, the democrats, the media, the liberals, who will use this as

an excuse to further crack down on conservative free speech. >> desjardins: the national republican party is not supporting stewart, but he's far from their biggest nightmare. in new jersey, republican congressional nominee seth grossman shared a racist article saying that black pele are a threat to all who cross their paths. another republican congressional mpminee in california has focused his gn on denying the holocaust. in illinois, there's neo-nazi arthur jones, who ran unopposed an his g.o.p. primary. in north carolina, state juse candidate russell walker's website charges ths are the children of satan. on all of these races, state and na republican parties have withdrawn support for the dindidates. >> we have got tance ourselves at every single turn as emphatically as wfrom anything related to white nationalism. >> desjardins: john whitbeck is the former chairman of the virginia republican party.

he stepp down from the position shortly after corey stewart won the nomination. >>sur ideas are the right o for everybody, from muslims to indian americans to soich asians to a americans. and that's what we've got to get back to, as a party, qckly. >> desjardins: it is a deep identity divide. stewart sees race as a political weapon used by democrats. a minnesota native, he showed us his historic colonial-era home in northern virginia. stewart points to the diversity of his county, where he's repeatedly been elected chairman of the board of supervisors. >> i've been having my ear to the ground, and won four elections here. and i could not have done that if not for the support of a lot f people in my community, all races, of all religions, of all ethnicities. >> desjardins: we talked at length, and he gave direct, skeptical views not usually

esoken out loud by politicians. are you oning whether there is a movement of people in this country who are white nationalists? >> yea what i'm saying is, i haven't seen it. >> desjardins: if you're saying that americaraas moved past , i want to ask you, do you think that a person of color faces any limitations because of their color now? >> no. rethink, for the most part, i ly don't believe that most of our issues are due to race. >> desjardins: you think that an invidual who is black or hispanic does not have fewer opportunities... >> i don't believe that at all. i think it has to with socio- economics. >> this person is full of baloney. >> desjardins: steven taylor is a political science professor at american university. he points out racism has been woven into campaigns since the nation began. taylor does not believe republicans, like stewart, who say that they or their party have moved past race. >> does mr. post-racial want me to live on his street? or does mr. post-racial want seven of ten people on the street to look like me?

he probably doesn't. >> desjardins: you think that idea is just a cover up. >> i think it's a lie. it's just that it is just a e you believe that, you believe that tter bunny is coming on easter and santa claus is coming on christmas eve. >> desjardins: meantime, in the d st month, voters in florida and iowa receicist robocalls from a white nationalist group. in florida, the calls portrayed andrew gillum, the black inmocratic nominee for governor, as a mstrel caricature. >> desjardins: and of course, the highest-ranking republicanna president trump, has repeatedly used sharp words about race. >> our african america communities are absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in before. ever, ever, ever. >> desjardins: this is the divide. some believe that kind of talk defies political correctness.

others say it's offense. some, like supporters of corey stewart, see racism as exaggerated. >> "if you don't agree with me, you're a racist, or a nazi." come on, give me a break >> desjardins: but other republicans see a serious party problem, allowing and stoking hate. it is an identity crisis spilling onto the ballot this fall, over who republicans are, and who they want to be. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. so, lisa, a lot of important reporting there. what do these racial overtones tell us about the mid transportation this year? do you think race will be an issue in these caaigns? >> it depends on where you're looking but, overall, the naacp did a surv and said sphrearn voters do think this year's mid ansportation is more important than in 2014. upey believe turnout will be and that's important for turnout for democrats which i where african-americans usually vote because dls saw that turnout go down two years ago and helped

president trump actually. oo there's that issue and also candidates of cr who are running who seem to be helping other democrats on the ball cluding andrew gillem in florida. >> woodruff: so you mentioned the republican party, you intervirwed the former cha of the party in virginia. what is the party officially saying about this? >> it runs the gamu in some cases the national party have a very clear message, in the case of new jersey bigotry will not be accepted and we will not aept here. sin north carolina the md because of the man's past actions we areeparating ourselves. it's not always the party in control in case of illnois where neo-nazi arthur jones is ruing, he openly said h snookered the republican party, using them for his own ends, and in that case the republican party ran ads against him. >> woodruff: what do you think offoorey stewart, candidat the state of virginia, what does

he say about where we are? >> this is not an easy story and so is corey start. is someone who is convince head is not racist and there ar no overtly racist statements attached to him but he didci ase with people who are clearly on the fringe. on the other hand, he's got a diverse county and does participatand connect with all these communities. but he expressed to me in the interview where thoughts i heard from white politicians, st not on camera bmplet these are thoughts that i think are common in the republican party, that they think white people are held to a different standard. i think these thought are also controversial with minorities who see them as not helpful and, in some cases, racst. my conclusion from a lot of this reporting is that the conversations ar farther apart. here is a man who says he's not racist but i don't think he hears what the minority community is saying right now. >> woodruff: well, it is an important story, complicated story. thank u, lisa. >> and more online, too.

>> woodruff: and more online. lisa desjardins, we thank you. and also on the newshour onlinea best-sellihor robert kaplan's book "earning the rockies" is our september pick for the newshour-"new york times" book club, "now read this." right now, you'll find his oucommendations for five inspiring books place. that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm ju woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you us we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phonelia le, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go toar consumercellv >> bnsf railway. >> financial services fis.

raymond jame >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions anindividuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ioaptioning sponsored by newshour produ, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. a slew of new books portray a ckless foreign policy, the trump administration hollowing without american diplomacy. i get the real deal with the veteran u.s. diplomat, william as america's powerful reckon with the #metootsunami, sally field opens up about her own history of abuse. also today, coming out as an illegal immigrant. our alicia menendez talks to li er prize winning journalist jose antonio vargas. >> unid