captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. nim judy woodruff. on the newshour t: the president visits areas devastated by hurricane florence, as widespread relief operations continue. then, a hearing in doubt. christine blasey ford asks that the f.b.i. investigate her claims of sexual assault by brett kavanaugh before stifying, but republican senators say that's not necessary.it i talk with hill about this moment. plus, we explore why major storms like florence are movin slower and dropping more rain. >> the really extraordinary ting about the storm wasn 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. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnts, the engine that connec us. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson 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 just, verdant and peaceful world. more information 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 you. thank you. f: >> woodr test of wills is

building tonight over supreme court nominee brett kavaugh and the claim that h 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. the day's other major story is the ongoing flood disaster inna the caro today, the president flew in for a first-hand look at the mess and misery left by hurrica florence. william brangham has our report. >> brangham: president trump h me to flood-ravaged nortand south carolina today to assess the response to hurricanefl ence. his first stop was a marine corps station along the north carolina coast. in a briefing with state and federal officials, the president promised full federal support. >> unfortunately, the money will be a lot, but it's going to come as fast as you need it. going to take care of everybody. to the families who have lost

loved ones, america grieves with you. and our hearts break for you. god bless you. we will never forget your loss, we will never leave your side.e we'rth you all the way. >> brangham: he then toured a devastated neighborhood in the city of new bern... >> we're giving you a lot of help >> brangham: ...and also helped distribute food to local residents.we less than since florence made landfall, a huge part of esrth carolina remains deluged. close to 200,000ents are still without power, and about 7,800 are living in shelters. officials are warn g that the flooding may worsen still, as rivers throughout the region art burstiir banks. the cape fear river, the largest in the state, crested this morning at over 60 feet. that's four mes its normal height. the town of wilminon still remains largely isolated with no safe routes in or out.in residents stuche city lined up to receive food, water and her supplies.

assessments of the storm's economic and environmental impact are underway. preliminary estimates say the storm did $22 billion in damageg across the rn, which would put florence among the top ten costliest storms in s. history. flood waters have killed almost 3.5 million chickens, and over 5,000 hogs, and waste fromhose hog farms has been leaking into floodwaters. as the extent of the damage comes into focus, so too are lessons for the next storm. brigadier general diana holland is with the u.s. army corps ofne engiers. she says relief efforts will be enhanced the more people prepare for these events ahead of time.e >> the mor-sufficient individuals are, and communitiee are,etter. the more we do that it is at tha individual local level, the intter. >> brangham: durhis final stop in south carolioday, the president reiterated his support for storm survivors. >> washington is with you.

trump is with you. are all with you 100%. >> brangham: for the pbs , i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. state department reported that the number of terror attacks worldwide fellla 23 year. it was largely due to military successes against islamic state forces in iraq and syria. the report also said that iran remains the leading state sponsor of terror. president trump has ripped into u.s. attorney general 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 thwhite 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 he would fire sessions, who was one of the first people he appointed to his cabinet. instead, he said, "we'll see what happens." y en, new warnings today that famine is engulfing the country. the united nations food agencyon says 8.4 milf yemen's 29 million people will starve without new entry points to deliver food and oth. almost all aid enters through the rebel-held port of hodeidah, but that haseen badly damaged in fighting. the government of india approved criminal penalties today for"i so-calletant divorce." the practice had allowed muslimt men to eir marriages by repeating the arabic word for divorce, "talaq," three times, over any period of time. india's supreme court outlawed the practice last year. more than 20 other countries have already banned it. on wall street, it was a mixed day for the market, as 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, the pioneering black ballet dancer, arthur mitchell, died y today in nk city of renal failure. mitchell bke racial barriers in the 1950s, performing in the new york city ballet. he went on to start anll-black dance school, that grew into the acclaimed dance theatre of harlem. arthur mitchell was 84 years old.om still toon 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. o woodruff: now, to the

continued standor whether the woman who has accused supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexually as aulting her wiear at a senate judiciary hearing next wk. christine blasey ford all but ruled out appearing before the committee next week. her lawyers say she has received death threats since realing her identity, and they are demanding an f.b.i. investigation before she testifies. amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: this morning, before departing to tour storm-ravaged parts of south carolina, president trump dismissethat request. >> the f.b.i. has been very involved, with respect to justice kavanaugh. they know justice kavanaugh very well. they've investigated him, i guess, six times. and they've investigated him for this heaing. 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 man. very hard for me to imagine that anything happed.

>> nawaz: last night, christine blasey ford's attorney said she needs more time. >> she will talk with thee. commit she's not prepared to talk with them at a hething on monday. just came out 48 hour ago. >> so, point blank, if there's not an investigationen now and then, she would not appear monday in a public hearing? no investigation-- any legitimate investigation-- is going happen between now and monday. >> nawaz: on capitol hill today, democrats deied the timeline: >> the fact that they're saying it has to be you versus kavanaugh on monday as the only possibility to be heard? i find that not only stifling but outrageous t s nomination has been pushed and pushed and pushed with artificial deadlines thatpu the ican party and chairman grassley and senator mcconnell have put. >> nawaz: ...wfole republicans ed ahead. >> she said she wants to be heard, or she did say it. and now she's saying she won't, unless the committee takes other steps. the f.b.i. investigation has already been concluded., the witnesses don't get to

control the committee process. >> do you find her allegations credible, senator? >> well, that's why weving the hearing. >> nawaz: mr. trump also slammed the top-ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, dianne feinstein, whom ford originally contacted in july. >> why didn't senator feinstein bring this up at her meeting with judge kavanaugh? why didn't the democrats? they k because she was showing it to democrats. why did they wait until everything was finishethen bring it up? that doesn't look good. >> nawaz: but feinstein hit back, saying to the president in a tweet, "you may not respect women and the wishes of victims, but i do." aydiciary chairman chuck grassley said mo hearing is still on, but that ford can testify eith in a public or ivate session.dr >> wf: and an update, this evening, judiciary chairman chuck grassley told committee decrats he would also be

willing to have staff members interview ford privately-- including traveling to california, or anywhere else, to meet with her. now, amna nawaz joins now with more on this developing story. am na -- amna, you have been on fe phone today. aside from all turing out of what's going to happen on the hill, people who know judge kavanaugh and who know a professor fo starting to speak out. what are you learning? >> that's right, we've spoken to a numbero people who knew both in high school. the political nes are filtering down to the personal spheres of both judge kavanaugh and professor ford. last week, you will remember, there were 65 women who stepped up to sign a letter of support for judge kavanaugh, they said they knew him in high scool, were attesting to his character. this is what they had to say --e lways treated women with decency and respect, that's true in high school and remained true to this day.ed when they sihe letter, it was an anonymous allegation. we reached out to the women to see if there was any context they wanted to add. in the lase t cou days, we reached out to 30 of the wom,

two clined to speak outright, only three would speak with me o and 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 because the allegations seemed so unlikely, i felt compelled to step up and say this is not the guy i knew. she weighed in on thetyar culture, she said, yes, everyone partied. she says she doesn't remember brett kavanaugh as anyone who 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 sn't been a single other woman to step up and say, yes, if high school or college, he did this me, too. >> woodruff: so the o women you were able to speak with standing by brett kavanaugh. >> that'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 at she had to say. >> we're not talking about even sexual harassment. we're talking about sexual

woodruff: they're vouchingke t. men across our other staff id who've spoken t dozens ohe t thiss at the heart of the.ed matter, right. there's a specific allegation about a specific alleged attack and no o 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 ahd investigating, asking questions. >> that's right, and seems as if, in the absence o a kind of formal investigation, until and unless someone steps forwart additional information to either corroborate or refute what has been said, thiis where we are. >> woodruff: amnaawaz, thank you very much. >> thanks, judy.

>> woodruff: the situation now th kavanaugh's confirmation evokes memories of a different confrontation that played out some 27 years ago. in 1991, anita hill was a law professor at the university of oklahoma, who came forward publicly to accuse a former boss-- then-supreme court nominee clarence thomas-- of sexual harassment. yesterday, the "new york times" published an opinion column from hill, with her own prescriptions for what the central figures in the current confrontation uld learn from 1991. anita hill is now a professor of law at brandeis university and an author, focusing on issues o gendce and social policy. and she joins me now. anita hill, welcome back to the "newshour". just to look at what's going on now, the senate judiciary committee leaders are saying they want professor blasey ford to testify, lieve an f.b.i. investigation is necessary, their own staff is investigating, and they're

making it sound as if they're going to go ahead whether she'sh e or not. under those circumstances, should she testify? >> you know, that's a decision that she has to make for herself. my belief is that, without an investigation, there cannot be an effective hearing. >> woodruff: so when the sena oto the judiciary committee begin an investigation, you're saying that's not sufficient? >> i'm saying it's not fficient not because they -- i know what the staff qualifications are, but i doubt oat they are qualified carry out this investigation in a neutral fashion. >> woodruff: well, let's go back to 1991. i wt to show our audience, this is an excerpt from the confirmation hearings, clarence thomas hearings that year. you were being questionedt this point by then senator arlen

specter. let's listen. >> you testified this morning in response to senator biden, that the most embarrassing question inlved-- this is not too b, women's large breasts. that's a word we use all the time. that was the most embarrassing aspect of what judge thomas had said to you. >> no, the most embarrassing aspect was his description of the acts of these individuals, these women, the acts that those particular people would engage in.n' it wjust the breasts, it was the continuation of his story about what happened in those films with theeople with this characteristic, physical characteristic. >> with the physical characteristic of?re >> the largets.

>> woodruff: so, professor hill, what was your percepti's of the senat questioning of you, as you look back on it? >> well, as i look back on it, i think there is evidence that --e clearly ee that staffers should not be the one designing this hearing at this point. senator specter had already indicated, prior to my stimony, that he believed clarence thomas, that he did not go intowihat hearin an open mind, and what followed q westions that reflected that he did not have an open mind and was not interested, really, in pursuing the truth of my testimony but was more interested in discriting me. woodruff: well, as you know, i'm sure what these repuican senators on the committee right now are saying

is there have been already been ha a dozen f.b.i investigations of judge kavanaugh, and they question whether they're going to learn much more. in other words, they're not inclined 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 thisearing. if they don't understand the difference between a general investigation by the f.b.i. and a specific investigation into the allegations that have been raised about the sexual assault orex potentiall assault that occurred, if they don't understand that difference, then at a are really not prepared to go into thishase of the hearing.

>> woodruff: if it turns out, professor hill, that there is no way to verify professor blasey fo's 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 things that i won't assume is the idea that there is no evidence. because i'm not a professional that does these investigations. whenou get a professional involved, they will know the questions to ask, they the places to go, they will know the people to call on as witnesses to complete what is a thorough investigation. so there's a lotore that we can learn. i think, soal often, we 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 woulsay, ways that testimony can be corroborated either through other individuals or other circumstances that are similar, and we need to let that play out and to make sure that we have turned over every stone toet 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 kavanaugh, but i certainly think it is in the best interest of the american thpublic an court. >> woodruff: given what you just said, i want tosk, in 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, when

someone is being nominated to an portant position, and for them to get a fair hearing? >> it's possible, if people 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 willay this, when individuals come forward and raise claims, they doo at great risk. we know from the information that has been published and the story that followencd dr. blasey was revealed as the person who wrote the letter and gave it to her representative, we know that, in fact, there have been threats t her life. we know that she is now in hiding because of those threats. we can't promise her an outcome in a fair hearing, but what we

ought to be able h to promi is a fair hearing and a thorough investigation. and i thk it's a reflection not only on this particular hearing, but also a reflection on the ability of individuals who 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 ng enough to put together a fair hearing to get to the truth about this situation. >> woodruff: professor anita hill, we thank you very much.nk >> tou.

>> 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 peninla. the leaders of both the north and south agreed to corete steps toward denuclearization. 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, kim jong-un anmoon jae-in pledged a "new era" for the wireas. it could mean one thout nuclear weapons some 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 keeour land permanently free om nuclear threats and war, and pass it down to our descendents. >> alcindor: kim agreed to dismantle his main tongchang-ri missile testing si. 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 weapons complex. but, he said he would only do so if the u.s. takes unspecified "corresponding measures." e u.s. has said it will ease economic sanctions only in exchange for complete denuclearization, but in washington, president trump sounded upbeat. >> very importantly, no missile testing, no nuclear testing. >> alcindor: so far, north korea has refused to list its clear sites as well as a timeline form

tling them. last month, mr. trump canceled a ate mikesecretary of st pompeo to pyongyang. the president cited the north's lack of progress on givg up its nuclear weapons. today, he cited improvement of a different kind. n the relationships, i have to tell you, at least personal basis, they're very good. it's very much calmed down. in the meantime, we're inta it's very calm. he's calm, i'm calm, so we'll see what happe. >> alcindor: pompeo said today he has invited the north's top diplomat to meet next weekhe. said he expects nuclear talks to be finished by january 2021. back in pyongyang, the odon-kim talks uced several achievements for northsouth relations, including military cooperation. >> ( translated ):e adopted a military pact to end a history of brutal and tragic confrontatioand hostility, and agreed to make efforts to turn the korean pea ninsulinto a land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats. >> alcindor: the two countries also agreed to make a joint bid

fothe 2032 olympic games, and work on reunifying moreli faes separated after the korean war. kim alsagreed to travel to south korea, something no north korean leader has ever done. how significant are these eps, and how should the united states respond? we get two views. bruce klingner had a 20-year career in the 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 and producer of 38 north, an online policy journal that focuses on north koreth thank you, f you, for being here. bruce, what's your reaction to the meeting yesterday and theset agreements ave been announced? >> i think we have to measure it two different ways. inner-korean relations and reducing the potential for military conflict, at least at a tacl,tical le think it was successful. on the denuclearization which is of real concerno the united states we didn't nymakeeal progress and we need to put more

meat to the bones of this agreement and the singapore agreement president trump was nalking about. >> bruce is talabout 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 as the engine test they already agreed to but rterated this is not a unilateral process. and init isuch more of a us-dpr discussion. >> these leaders announced several different ants. one is that the north koreans will allow international inectors in to a key missile test site fito c whether or not kim jong un is permanently disling that. how important is that? >> first, it is what they snsider to be their civilian spaellite launch program.

so that's where they have been building anduetesting liquid engines that could be used either for rockets orle mis but the launch pad has only been used for satellite launches. i think it is significant becse this is an area where they've had disagreements from the past over civilian and militariprograms. s closes a loophole and if they allow inspectors d 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. th what do you think abou as a positive development, bruce? >> i think this with other aspects of the pyongyang developments are good but outweight by the "however,"

aspect. north korea said they don't need a nuclear test site because their icbm production i ove so less important than during the development of these and the missiles we're worried about including icbms are mobile so they wouldn't be launched by a gantry like this so we're more woied about the mobile than a fixed launch facility. >>he north korean leader sys he's willing to close the nuclear complex if and only if the united states takes corresponding measures. what can the united states do other than lift sanctions? >> neck putting a lot of conditionality on reings they arired to do under other u.n. resolutions. they promised to aband this facility in 1994, so we're trying to get back in the future. when north korea has put a heavy

conditionality of appropriate measures, we don't know what that nkis. we thit might be a peace declaration which they think is very important, number of serious ramifications of where a copeace declaratiod go, and unless we get a specific quid pro quo, i don't think we should go down tha path. >> jenny, what do you think of this idea of corresponding >> that's always been the case and always been the expectation by north korea, and if you lookt he singapore summit declaration, there's a lot of wroom, though, ft 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 ths paved a fundamentlaly different onship with the united states. so the number one point is looking at us-dpkr relations and the other is the peacee reg and there's a lot to do to improve lations, create

liaison offices, to lift the travel ban, to even commit t not imposing new sanctions along the way, without lifting sanctions until you have more specific measures. gut certainly the u.s. is goin to have to do some of these things if we want north korea to ntinue down this road, also. >> before yesterday's meeting the president of south korea id one of the main objectives is to get the u.s.nd north koreans talks back on what do you make of that and what have you learned in the last 24 hours to make you feel these talks are back on track? >> well, i thinkehey will because the president very quickly and very positively reacted to this communique. so i think, for him, that's enough to justify having aect summit, as he has accepted an uinvitation from kim jo but i think experts will see that nothing 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 noteally any nuclearization. i think the president will agree though people will be concerned there is not sufficient preparation for the summit. in many cases we're going in not knowing what north korea means. we need to find out. we negotiate with ourselves, we think that's what north korea wants so let's do that, and they pocket the concession and me on to the next demand. >> what do you think of this idea? >> the president obviously responded to it very positively. i thk my biggest concern, too, is, you know, how are they actually interretingthe agreement because, if you look at pompeo's statement this evening, are things in there that seem to indicate he thinks that north korea actually committed to closing dow down te site. they will say they're willing to do that if the u.s. plays its

part. that's where we run intodo problemse have expectations of what's being committed, do we have matching ec takes of how to evaluate and measure progress over time and i don't think we do. >> the u.s. wantso not lift sanctions unless there's a full denuclearization. euth korea wants incentives that anomic. 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 allirice? >> i'm hg from u.s. officials there is a dissatisfaction with how quickly the moon administration is moving forward without smens rat progress in denuclearization so there are already some strains and that could getorse. >> i agree it is causing tensions in the.skorea reliance. moon needs this to work and he's bet a lot on north korea now and they're going thave to find a way to compromise or president

moon will have to make difficult decisions. >> thank you bruce klingner and jenny town. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, miles o'brien s at some of the science behind hurricanes, and what might explain the historic flooding that recent storms have delivered. its the latest installment of our weekly series on "the leading edge" of science and technology. >> o'brien: soon after the eye rence passed over the carolina coast, hurricane scientist hal needham was on the beach with a tape measure assessing the impact of a storm that weakened but stalled as it made landfall. >> storm surge probably didn't come up here. the storm should probably have reached the dune field. >> o'brien: florence was a lumbering, lingering generator of storm surge and heavy rain. >> the really extraordinary thing about 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. soe'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 difference, or gradient, between the arctic and the tropics. climate change ilecausing the to warm faster than the e opics, reducing the temperaturadient, and that reduces the energy that drives n.e currents, slowing them, and weather systems, d >> enabling them to just park over a location and just dump days of tremendous rainfall, which really deadly and costly. >> o'brien: a study in the journal "nature" in june of this year conclud that between 1949 and 2016, tropical cyclones have hiowed down 30% when they t land in the northwest pacific, and 20% in the north atltic. atmospheric research scientist

james kossin of university wisconsin is the lead author. think the question that we have to ask is, what's causing the trend? whether th piece of a longer-term natural variability, in which case maybe the storms will end up speeding 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 hurricrvey is a perfect case in point. it hit houston in 2017, stalled out, and downloaded nearly 50 inches of rain in some places over the course of a week. flornd harvey appear to be cut from the same cyclonic cloth. , the former has doused parts of the carolinas with more than 30 inches of rain. the slowdown is likely to have

compounded anotherem: 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 ience at stony brook university. >> when you have warmer ocean temperatures, so, warmer temperature at the surface of the ocean, you can eva more water vapor into the air. so that means that when you have a hurricane, there's more water vapor up in the air, which means there is more avaible water vapor to condense out and to produce rainfall. so it's a combination of the slowing of storms as well as the increased rainfall, due to the increased water vapor in the atmosphere and a warmer world. >> o'brien: hal needham does his field work in the immediate aftermath of 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 surges from hurricanes, so there's really a geography to it. >> o'brien: in 1992, hurricane t andrew inundat estate with a 17-foot storm surge. needham showed me the tell-tale scars on this tree, where the bark had been rubbed oy the raging seawater. >> when we think of co flooding, sometimes we think of salt water slowly coming up. durng a storm surge, the wa is pushing in incredibly rapidly, and it's filled with debris. we can actuay rub tree bark off of trees and this is a sign we can 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 was not a direct hit on the heart of the city, and it waa tight-moving storm, nothing like the days-long barrage of flonce, harvey or irma. to get a better overview on the real high-water marks, needham

has spent the last decade building a comprehensive dataset of coastal flooding for at-risk u.s. citie >> it is pretty time-intensive, and to do it right, you really have to get into the local archives. hau can only do so much online, so gettinglocal archives, looking at historic maps, talking to historians and libraria events from the past.g the reason that's important is that hurricanes are very rare events, and so any given location, might see two or three direct hits in a century. 'brien: and there is one other important factor at play: sea level rise. on the day needham and i met in miami, a brief thunderstorm rolled through his neighborhood just before rrival, a typical event on a summer 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, tt's exactly it.

there is no named storm, there is no advisories, no flood warnings. this was just a thundetorm. >> o'brien: climate change- induced sea level rise has saturated the porous limestone on which this city was built >> so, this is just what we sometimes called "compound flooding." there is the issue of the heavy rainfall, but on top of that, 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 15 inches of rain, and we got a massive storm surge and then sea levels are rising at the same time? >> o'brien: what 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 useo through. they give us a various assortment of options and scenarios that could happen and that have happened in the past, and we can see what the results of those were. o'brien: he heads the office

of emergency management for miami-dade county. he is aware of the complexity of compound flooding. >> changes in the flood zones take place and we o adjust for that. so the bottom line is that, in the end, this is our mos current one,t's up-to-date, e will utilize to make t decisions on the relocations or the evacuations. en: so how accurate are ps rollason relies on? needham believes not enough data is funneled into the models on which the flood ps are based. he says that part of the problem is a distinct divisionf expertise. >> in general, in the science of hydrology, whave people that study storm surge, and we have people that study rainfall, and sometimes, the two camps don't talk. so the map, the evacuation maps and the harvey approached the texas coast, where we have rainfall maps and we had 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 , 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 hcanes in a warming world.it s apparent that the risk is growing. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in miami. >> woodruff: now to a sharp divide for repubcans, over race. this year, a handful of g.o.p. congressional candidates have oply expressed racist view others in the party disagree over how, and drw often, to s the issue. lisa desjardins takes us inside the virgin senate race. and a warning: this story includes some disturng,

violent and racist content. >> desjardins: in a neatly- appointed home in northern virginia, potential donors are sizing up an uonventional candidate: corey stewart. the g.o.p. nominee for u.s. senate is a divisive figure, 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 detested by others in the republican party as someone they see as stoking racial divide. stewart flatly denies that. >> republicans, including g,myself, we're always sayou know, we absolutely disavow racism. we absolutely disavow any sort of bigotry or rcism. what tublican party needs to stand for is making sure that

the quality of life for average working americans improves. >> desjardins: but early last he supported paul nehlen an anti-semite who ran for congress in wisconsin. and a month latewart appeared with jason kessler, a white nationalist. kessler later organized the "unite the right" rally in charlottesville, whe a protester was killed by a white nationalist driving into the crowd. stewart insists he did not know the men's views at the time, and he has disavowed them. when he took to facebook with his own views on charlottesville, stewart blamed liberals, and didn't mention 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

onservative 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 reying that black people are a that to all who cross their reths. anotheblican congressional nominee in california has focused his campaign on denying the holocaust. in illinois, there's neo-nazi arthur jones, who ran unop.psed in his gprimary. and in north carolina, state house candidate russell walker's website charges th jews are the children of satan. in all of these races, state and naveonal republican parties withdrawn support for the candidates. distanceve got t ourselves at every single turn as emphatically as wcan from anything related to white nationalism. >> desjardins: john whitbeck is the former chairman of the virginia republican pay. he stepped down from the position shortly after corey

start won the nomination. >> our ideas are the right os for everybody, from muslims to indian americans to south asians to aican americans. and that's what we've got to get back to, as a party, quickly. >> desjardins: it is a deep identity divide. stewart es 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 ed his county, where he's repeat been elected chairman of the board of supervisors. nd i've been having my ear to the grand won four elections here. and i could not have done that if not for the support of a lot of people in my community, of all races, of all religions, of all ethnicities. g desjardins: we talked at length, and e direct, skeptical views not usually spoken out loud by politicians. are yo there is a movement of people in

this country who are white nationalists? >> yh. what i'm saying is, i haven't seen it. jardins: if you're sayin that america has moved past race, i want to ask you, do you think that a person of colta faces any lions because of their color now? >> no. i think, for the most part, i really don't believe tst of our issues are due to race. >> desjardins: you think that an individual who is black or hispanic does not have fewer opportunities... >> i don't believe that at all. i think it has to do with socio- economics. >> this person is full of baloney. >> desjardins: steven taylor is tical science professor 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 if you believe that, you believe easter bunny is coming on easter and santa claus is coming on christmas eve. >> desjardins: meantime, in the past month, voters in florida and iowa recved racist robocalls from a white nationalist group. in florida, the calls portrayed andrew gillum, the bla democratic nominee for governor, as ainstrel caricature. >> desjardins: and of course, the highest-ranking republican, presidendonald trump, has repeatedly used sharp words about race. >> our african amerin communities are absolutely in the worst shape they'vever been in before. ever, ever, ever. >> desjardins: this is the divide. some believe that kind of talk defies political correctness. others say it's offensive. some, like supporters of corey

stewart, see racism as exaggerated. >> "if you don't agree with me,o 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. t what dse racial overtones tell us about the mid transportation this year? do you think race wille an sue in these campaigns? >> it depends on where you're looking but, erall, the naacp did a survey and said sphrearn voters do think this year's mid transportation is more important than in 2014. they believe turnout will be up and that's important forurnout for democrats which is where african-americans usually vote because dls saw that turnout go down two years ago and helped president trump actually. so there's that issue and also

candidates of color who are running who seem to be helpingcr other dems on the ballot including andrew gillem in florida. >> woodruff: so you mentioned the republican party, you interviewed the former chair of the party in virginia. what is the party officially saying about this?e >> it runs gamut. 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 accept here. in north carolina thean said because of the man's past actions we are separating ourselves. it's not always the party in control in case of iinois where neo-nazi arthur jones is running, he openly saide snookered the republican party, using them for his own ends, ind hat case the republicanga party ran adsst him. >> woodruff: what do you think of corey stewart, candidat ofor the sta virginia, what does he say about where we are?

>> this is not an easy story and so is corey stewart. he is someone who is convince i henot racist and there are no overtly racist statements b attached to hi he did associate with people who are on the fringe. on the other hand, he's got a diverse county and does participate and connect with all these communities. but he expressed to me in thee interview whoughts i heard from white politicians, just 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 thoughts are also controversial with minorities who see them as not helpful and, in some cases, racist. my conclusion from a lot of this reporting is that the conversations are getting 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 no >> woodruff: well, it is an important story, compdlica story. thank you, lisa. >> and more online, too. >> woodruff: and morene onli lisa desjardins, we thank you.

and also on the newshour online, best-selling author robert kaplan's book "earning the rockies" is our september pick for the newshour-"new york times" book club, "now read this." fight now, you'll find his recommendations fo inspiring books about place. that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour fort. toni i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at thene pbhour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellularieves that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you usie we offer a v of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phones a ilittle, a lot, or anythi between. to learn more, go to consumercellul.tv >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond jas.

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