the fourth of july. and also, the first to make landfall in the united states in two years. happy fourth of july to you. good friday, i'm craig melvin. it has been a very long night for folks along the carolina coast with hurricane arthur unleashing fierce winds and lashing rain. >> the wind is fierce right now and kicking up a lot of stuff, a lot of debris flying around too. rocking some of these suvs that have been out here. >> we saw transformers exploding in the parking lot. our power at the hotel did stay on, but a lot of the area is in the dark, so a very powerful storm. >> take a look at this. we caught these images overnight of mike seidel from the weather channel, he's been covering the storm overnight, but this was him earlier this morning, around 3:00 a.m., really struggling to stand up. >> we've got reporters stationed along the coast. also nbc meteorologist bill karins tracking the storm here in the studio with us.

bill, first of all, where is the storm right now and how strong is it? >> everyone that's just waking up wants to figure out what happened, how bad it is and the consequences of this category 2 landfall in eastern north carolina. it made landfall at 11:00 last night right around cape lookout, right when it was scheduled. it had strong winds with them. cape lookout gusting to 101. that's a serious wind gust. if these wind gusts happened anywhere really else besides the storm-tested outer banks, the damage would have been a lot worse. this is an area that gets hit every other year, sometimes by major hurricanes, so they can handle this and that's why you're not hearing about a lot of extreme damage out there. the big cities didn't have big winds at all. wilmington, 45. the marine at camp lejeune only gusted to 45. there's cape lookout, it exited over nag's head and now it's 60 to 100 miles off the coast already. it is racing offshore. the sun is coming out and the

beaches that were raked with those strong waves, pretty soon it's going to be a beautiful, breezy afternoon in all of eastern north carolina. so all of those who did lose power, they should be back online in a hurry. we have people without power in pennsylvania and new jersey from thunderstorms last night. this category 2 storm did not cause a lot of damage to infrastructure out there at all. here's a look at the radar. so now the storm from here on out will be more of an inconvenience than really something that's going to be dangerous, that is as long as you stay out of the water. that's part of the inconvenience because the beaches from virginia beach all the way up to ocean city, new jersey, delaware, long island, connecticut, rhode island and cape cod, it's not a day to be in the water with the water churning and definitely the chances of rip currents. the gusty winds continue along with some of the squally weather up the coast. you can see the coastline of maryland, delaware and even southern new jersey getting into some of the outer bands from

arthur. so atlantic city not a pretty morning. new york city still in the middle of it. we're watching one band to the south, a cold front that will try to push through later today is still out to your west and that cold front will just suck this moisture northwards and that's why it's going to be a rainy afternoon from long island all the way through new england. so here's the forecast track. thankfully it's away from new jersey, it's away from long island. it may come a little close to cape cod, nantucket, martha's vineyard. you'll have a brush with a category 1 hurricane. you will expect tropical storm gusts later this evening and nova scotia gets hit by a hurricane. for those of you on cape cod, 8:00 p.m. looks like the timing of the arrival of your 40 to 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts. that's enough to take down some tree branches. that's the time you'll want to grab the kids, go inside and ride out the storm the rest of the night. by 5:00 a.m. in the morning the storm is racing to nova scotia and the strong winds are exiting at that time. if you stay out of the water, we won't have -- you don't have to worry about that so then it's

just an inconvenience of a rainy fourth of july. it's going to pour up there in areas of new england today. we could pick up 2 to 3 inches of rain, and in maine up to 6 inches of rain. again, the threat is way down as long as you stay out of the water. they're yelling, lifeguards are telling people don't go in the water in that area. >> governor pat mccrory of north carolina said yesterday, don't put on your stupid hat. >> i've got a bunch of those. i try not to put them on, though. >> bill karins, thank you, sir. let's check in with sarah dallof. i understand you have new information concerning highway 12 specifically. >> reporter: i can tell you, craig, that highway 12 is now allowing limited access into northern dare county. now, hatteras island, that's not in that part of the county, they are still not allowing anybody into hatteras island. as you recall, that was one of the islands under a mandatory

evacuation, but crews are just starting to roll out, road crews, to inspect the road and survey the damage. they have traffic cams set up but overnight some of the views became obstructed by grit, that blowing sand and the dark really contributed to making it very difficult for them to see from those traffic cams. so they are getting out today, going out to assess the damage. they're cautioning people to stay off the roads as they find other obstacles that could present a danger to people. >> all right, sarah dallof for us in kill devil hills, north carolina. thanks. we'll check back with you a little later. also standing by about 200 miles to the south, weather channel's reagan in wrightsville beach. what's it looking like there? >> reporter: it's shaping up to be a much better day here. the sun is out. as you can see the cloud cover, it's basically out of here and it's a beautiful start to this

three-day holiday weekend for the fourth of july. basically we spent the very early morning hours with the mayor of wrightville beach, north carolina, and we were with him just to assess the damage if there was any here in this community. so far so good. right now he says the big thing for him, he's breathing a sigh of relief because the main issue that he was really worried about was, was there going to be any beach erosion. they just pumped $8.5 million into renourishment of the beach. basically dredging out sand from the inland. 75 to 100 additional feet of beach because of erosion that has been happening here in this area. luckily, not too much erosion. maybe a little bit of a ten-foot drop embankment at portions of the beach but other than that, pretty much smooth sailing here at wrightsville beach, north carolina. back to you, craig. as arthur churns north, the storm could drench those popular new york and new jersey beaches.

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i mentioned debris flying. something whacked very hard into this minivan here in nag's head. power has flashed out, gone out a couple of times. the wind is just kicking a lot of sand around, a lot of debris and pieces of things like fences, limbs, things like that. >> this was a report from our affiliate wcnc as hurricane arthur slammed that point. people are now allowed to enter the northern part of their county, but hatteras island closed until further notice. right now that category 2 storm is climbing north toward new

england, while the new york area should dodge a direct hit by arthur. forecasters are warning of giant waves and extremely dangerous rip currents along the state's coastal areas. nbc's long island is live in long beach, new york. he is on long island's south shore. ron, what's the scene like there, sir? >> reporter: in the last hour or so the winds have really picked up a little bit here and the waves seem to have gotten a little bigger too. if you look out there, you can see there are surfers out there. they have been out there since dawn, since the sun came up. in that area of the beach there are also signs that this is closed but this is the way life is here. for the surfers, this is what they live for, bigger waves and a day off to enjoy them. so that's what's happening down there. there are also people out here just trying to get in some morning exercise before the storm hits. rain. as somebody put it, it's the calm before the storm. a line you may have heard before but that's what everybody is saying here, simply that.

the forecasts are calling for heavy rain showers around 11:00 or noon or so. and this will be the third day of drenching rains in this part of the region because we had that last night and the night before along with thunderstorms. also over there you can see the beach patrol. they're gearing up. they have been out here the past couple of minutes or so. there's a big heavy piece of equipment there trying to move some sand and so forth in case there's some erosion or whatever. so they're getting ready and being prepared, but this is a place that's seen the worst of it. they saw hurricane sandy hit here a couple of years ago and this entire beach was obliterated as well as this boardwalk that i'm standing on. the boardwalk has just reopened gradually but now it's fully reopen the last few months so people are up here trying to enjoy it. it's a beautiful place to get some exercise. again, it's sort of the calm before the storm, and everyone is trying to figure out what's going to happen later. there was a concert planned here for yesterday that was

cancelled. there have also been other events in this area that have been cancelled and also in new jersey as well. but the big macy's fireworks extravaganza will happen in new york city the organizers say come what may, so that's to look forward to. >> the show will show on. ron allen, we'll leave it there. thank you. ron allen on long island, new york, for us. the early look at the damage in north carolina after hurricane arthur came ashore. an update on that when we come back.

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♪all day and all of the night - the kinks♪ ♪all day and all of the night - the kinks♪ yoplait. with a smooth and creamy taste your whole family loves. it is so good all the time. >> before arthur hit, counties were put under mandatory evacuation orders in north carolina. we learned from sarah dallof that access to northern portions of dare county, access is no longer restricted. access to hatteras island, however, is still shut off until further notice. warren judge is the chairman of the dare county board of commissioners.

he joins me now by phone. warren, first of all, what are you hearing, what are you seeing in terms of damage there in dare county? >> early indications, craig, are in the northern part of dare county are very encouraging. we have experienced very little in overwash. we've had -- we have a few hot spots here and there, but nothing that is -- that is not going to be handled and handled quickly. certainly see some blown shingles and blown siding, maybe a sign here and there, but for what we were expecting for what it could have been, early -- like i said, it's early. we've got all the people out and i'm starting to drive around myself. but we look like we are going to come through this in pretty good shape. >> did folks down there heed the calls for evacuation? >> you know, it's -- we don't have a final tally on that.

we'll know better today when we begin talking with property management companies and whatnot, but i feel strongly that the visitors on hatteras island evacuated in high numbers and appropriately so. and residents -- you know, residents -- i'm not quite sure how many of the residents left, but we feel we had a good evacuation for hatteras island. >> what about power outages right now? >> we have some distribution issues. we don't have any transmission issues that we're aware of. power is in the county, it's coming to the county, and, you know, we've got areas where something is wrong with the distribution line, transformer, things like that, but isolated and not causing any great hardships at the moment as far as i know. >> and again, just for folks who might be watching and listening for clarification, which areas

remain closed, which areas are open right now? >> right now hatteras island is restricted. it's restricted. you can't -- we're not letting people go onto hatteras island. this is -- right now this is damage assessment. we do know we have a lot of water on the road and pretty severe flooding east of hatteras village. it might just be rainwater. with the daylight coming and crews getting out, we're beginning to make those assessments. other than that, the county is open. we do have a temporary shutdown on the causeway bridge from nag's head to manglo but that's just a matter of minutes or hours until that wind dies down and begins to turn a little bit

and the water will roll right back into the sound. so the northern -- north of oregon inlet and roanoke island and mainland dare county are open. >> warren judge, chairman of the county commissioners, it sounds like it paid off there. thanks for the update. north carolina governor pat mccrory will give a storm update at 9:30 eastern and we'll try to bring it to you here on msnbc. hurricane arthur right now moving north. what it means for the rest of the east coast. the latest on the path of the storm from bill karins, next.

typically during a category 2 or better hurricane here, we not only would be out of power but you wouldn't be able to stand here right now. this is indicative of the fact that we probably did dodge a bullet pretty good. >> that was the mayor of wrightsville beach, north carolina, just south of the outer banks. water levels remain high along

some portions of the coast but it certainly appears that things could have been far worse. let's get to nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, which areas right now are feeling the worst of the storm? >> sound side flooding. the winds of really come down everywhere. there's no wind damage anymore but the sound side flooding. we have the radar source, the one that you just had up, i can show you the example of what sound side flooding is. it's when you get the winds coming on the back side of the storm from the west, usually you think of the storm surge and everything coming in from the east and that happened a little bit. as the storm pulls away, the winds are coming out of the west. we have the pamlico sounds that are huge areas. all of that water gets pushed out toward the outer banks, so that's been the worst flooding that we've seen and that's still ongoing. it's starting to get a little better as the winds die down but one report was that it went up 4 to 6 feet of water came in in 20 minutes as the eye went past. so that's pretty impressive stuff. as far as back to the other weather maps, the new update

from the hurricane center at 8:00 actually still kept it as a category 2. 100-mile-per-hour winds. now it is due east of virginia beach and it's flying to the northeast at 21 miles per hour. it's going to be up there next to cape cod in about 16 hours from now. so here's the latest as far as the forecast for the storm. as it heads off the coast, the rain bands are ending. we actually have sunny skies in the lower half at least of the outer banks. the next couple of hours the rain will be ending in areas like virginia beach. for areas on north it will take a little longer. typically when you have a landfalling system, your fears are the wind, the waves and the rain. flooding was not a problem with a fast-moving storm. we had 4 inches of rain in wilmington but 1 to 2 inches in eastern north carolina. amazingly low amounts of rain. the red shows you the hurricane force winds clearly off the coast. the orange shows you the tropical storm force gusts up to 39 to 74 so these are even

exiting too, that's why i don't expect any more wind damage. the path tonight, sometime right around 10:00 or so is when it will be closest to nantucket and cape cod. we do have tropical storm warnings there and could have minor damage, minor problems with water because of the heavy rain. the biggest threat there will be the waves and the beach erosion. your fourth of july forecast, the weather getting worse through the day for new york city, hartford, rhode island, all the way through providence, boston, out on the cape and coastal sections of new hampshire and maine. the reward foerch wir everyone a great saturday and a great sunday. a lot of people know to stay out of the water today but as you go into saturday and all of a sudden it's sunny, it's 84 degrees, it's beautiful, you're still going to have those rip currents. that's when the work of the lifeguards will be most difficult. >> at what point do we think, bill, this thing is downgraded to a category 1? >> it may hold on until 11:00, 2:00 or maybe even 5:00 it may

go down but i expect it to stay a category 1 right into nova scotia. by the way, our friends in canada, they're probably going to see much more damage than we did down here in the states. >> so again, as the mayor of wrightsville beach said, it looks like we dodged a bullet. >> they definitely did down to the south. >> bill karins, we'll come back to you a little bit later. thank you, sir. while it appears north carolina is going to be fine, 19,000 people we should note, roughly 19,000 people in the tar heel state are without hour. massachusetts could still get clipped as hurricane arthur makes its way north, but keep in mind this was just the first named storm of the 2014 season and it's early. joining me now by phone, autumn meem, spokesperson for the american red cross. autumn, first of all, what do you make of the way that states prepared for this storm over the past week? >> i think that given some of the other storms that have come in recent years, it's helped for us to really send out that

preparedness message and people are taking it seriously. the red cross has been preparing for this storm specifically since the beginning of the week, although we prepare 365 days a year for incidents like this. but i know here in north carolina, i'm here in wilmington, north carolina, and we had hundreds of volunteers that were on standby and remain available to help with anything from feeding to bulk distribution of supplies to mental health support. anything that the community needs at this point. >> and what's the scene like on the ground there in north carolina from the red cross perspective? >> you know, we've been through a whole lot worse, i can definitely say that. we did open a number of shelters, evacuation shelters yesterday. we had around 14 shelters open. just under about 300 people that needed to evacuate and needed that shelter. right now we're still getting in initial damage assessment reports and we have a number of

teams that we'll send in to help out with that. >> how much do you believe that storms like sandy, for instance, have made people more aware when smaller hurricanes like this one make landfall, or do you still think there are a lot of folks out there who just assume they can ride it out? >> i think it's both. i think that some people have really heeded some of the warnings and they are prepared and they do things like they have kits in their house. they make a kit, which is really important. they download things like our red cross hurricane app which gives them realtime alerts, and they are more aware. unfortunately, there are some people that, you know, still may think that they can ride it out and hopefully they do have the supplies in place to do that if they do that. >> autumn, thank you so much. >> thank you. kerry sanders joins me live right now from kill devil hills, north carolina. kerry, what's the scene like on the beach right now?

>> reporter: well, there has been some beach erosion. in fact i'm just take you up here and you can see this is the area where it eroded. as i take a step up there, it's about a foot of sand from here out that was pulled back. the fortunate thing is, if there's an upside to beach erosion, is that as the storm surge was coming in, the tide was going out so it could have been much worse, much closer to where the buildings are. we're talking about a good 30 yards or something back to where the real beach erosion stopped. so that's a good sign. bottom line is it's an assessment period right now of determining what happened overnight because it was during the darkness that the storm came in overnight and now the authorities are out, as you've spoken to the folks in the various counties. they think right now that things look like they weren't that bad, especially when you consider this was a category 2. one thing that you need to keep in mind here, craig, a lot of

people are going to come out and walk. we already see some people when we look down the beach here. you see a few people out taking a peek, looking to see what it looks like out here. wind is still blowing occasionally, sand is stinging, but that seems inviting to a lot of people. they don't usually see such great ferocious waves. it's dangerous because of the rip currents which you don't see underneath. as this water hits my feet, it's cold. it's about 10 degrees colder than it was yesterday. and that's because of the upwelling effect of a hurricane. when the hurricane comes up, it's pulling up the water from very deep and so that colder water comes to the surface. aside from the fact that it's dangerous to get in there with the rip currents, the water is at about 69 degrees so it's dropped considerably in temperature, as i said. for most people, that's just not comfortable. kids, they don't really recognize that so it's really a parent's responsibility to recognize that that rip current

threat is something that they really need to take seriously. >> kerry, what are you seeing or hearing with regards to power outages in that area? >> reporter: there are some power outages, but they're not particularly widespread. about 2,000 people without power. interestingly, the power companies, because they have been through this before, i mean we are in the hurricane alley here, they know to preposition crews in the area, so crews moved in late yesterday. they are there are out this morning. one of the things that's going to delay them restoring power is you know those buckle trucks, they snorkel up and get up and start working on the lines, they have to wait until the winds really drop down to put it up there. even though they have the arms on the truck to stabilize it, nobody wants to see somebody get injured boy a truck toppling over if somebody is trying to figure out how to fix it because the wind knocked the truck over so that may delay. but we've already seen the winds let up considerably in the last hour and a half. there are some strong gusts, though, so that will take some

time. if you live in one of these areas and see a work crew and thinking why are they drinking coffee and just standing around, that is why. >> it's good to see a lot of folks heeded the warnings there. that's a comforting sight. kerry sander, kill devil hills, north carolina. we'll come back to you a little later as well. thank you, sir, as always. fema urged caution ahead of hurricane arthur landfall, warning people in the danger zone to heed those evacuation orders. i'm joined by congresswoman from new york. >> good to see you, craig, and how is delano? >> great, thank you for asking. 17 weeks on monday. >> oh. >> first flight this weekend, assuming that we can make it down to south carolina. so thank you for asking. >> wow. >> let's talk about fema here. at what point does fema get involved in weather events like this? >> when it's declared a national disaster and there is a vote in congress. usually congress votes very quickly and swiftly as they did on 9/11 and katrina.

it took them longer for sandy. but their assistance is vital, having worked closely with them in 9/11, katrina and sandy, i can see a professionalism evolving. in fact i was in their offices just last week on unmet needs of some of my constituents who are still suffering from sandy. but obviously this has not evolved into a sandy-type situation and hopefully it won't. >> at this point there's no reason to think that it will. just really how do they determine how much money is doled out? is that just -- >> congress, congress. congress votes for it. the president and congress agree. the various areas submit their unmet needs, their challenges to congress, and it's reviewed and goes through committee. it goes to the floor and is voted on. >> let's pivot and talk about the economy. of course the jobs numbers. >> good news. happy birthday, america. some good news, finally.

>> unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1. 288,000 total jobs added. in fact the april and may numbers were also revised upwards as well. that's the lowest unemployment rate we have seen since 2008, since before the great recession started. why do you think it is that there's still poll data that shows that americans still don't like the way that president obama is handling the economy? there's this quinnipiac poll out showing that 55% disapprove, 45% approve. how do you reconcile those two things? >> they haven't studied the situation. they haven't studied the facts. we've now had five weeks of -- or rather five months of over 220,000 jobs, the first time that has happened since the roaring '90s. and the unemployment number is very important because it's for the first time in many months that the number of people being employed, not the number of people that are giving up and not looking for work. so this is a very positive sign.

and the dow jones responded with over 17,000, the highest in history i'm told. so the economy is improving. as long as someone doesn't have a job and you want one, we have to continue working but you have to put it in perspective. president obama inherited an economy that we were shedding 700,000 jobs a month. because of his efforts and congress' efforts and the private sector's efforts, we've been improving steadily. we've had 54 months of private sector job growth. i'd say that that's a very positive signal. but he can't do it alone. the american entrepreneur, the american public and congress has to support him. two things that he's calling for that are critically important for jobs is the extension of the highway trust fund. a million jobs -- >> what's happened with the highway trust fund? here's one of the few things in congress that republicans and democrats at least in the past have historically both been fans of. both parties have said this

works, it makes sense, this is the best way to build roads and fix roads and bridges and overpasses. >> and it's investing in jobs and the investing in our efficiency and infrastructure. >> what's happened to the highway trust fund? >> ask the republicans. they're holding it up. the president is pushing it hard heechlt has a plan to replenish it, to reauthorize it. democrats are supporting him, some republicans are supporting him. also the xm bank. this is one of the best programs. it makes money for the treasury and helps american businesses export. one of the weaknesses in our economy is we need to export more. they help small businesses. 90% of their assistance is with smaller businesses. of course some of our larger businesses and most successful companies benefit from it, but it's a win, win, win. and why a large segment of the republican party is opposed to it. there was a letter with 44 members of the republican side in support of reauthorizing xm.

it is an important economic job growth tool and we need to reauthorize it. >> it looks at some point the bank gets authorized but the highway trust fund continues to baffle me. i don't understand what the opposition to that would be. >> also the anti-terrorism risk insurance. that's also a vital program that has to be reauthorized, but we're coming together in agreement on that. the devil is in the details. we're fighting over details. but that will be reauthorized. i believe all three will, because it's critical to our economy. the highway trust fund, a million jobs. the export/import, at least 200,000 jobs. and i have a constituent who exports cakes to russia in a container, bakery goods, and this is helped by the ex/im banks. so i am muystified to their objection. it makes no sense. a good birthday present, a

fourth of july present would be for us to get together and support this and move it forward. >> we will leave it there, congressman. always good to see you, thanks very much. >> always great to see you, craig. the fourth of july, big day for barbecues and fireworks. and if hurricane arthur lets up, we may be able to see a bit of both. up next, the scrambling taking place in cities along the east coast to get those fireworks up in the sky.

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thank you. your usual. she believes life's too short for inefficiencies. i now pronounce you husband and wife. no second should be squandered. which is why we make our appraisal process quick and easy, and why jeannine chooses to start here. carmax. start here. the governor of north carolina, pat mccrory, expected to address the media about 45 minutes from now to give people an update on hurricane arthur. when that happens, we will bring it to you live here on msnbc. we have seen some reports of flooding, but not a lot of storm damage in the tar heel state so far. arthur expected to stay off the coast until it hits nova scotia sometime tomorrow. all of this according to our meteorologist, bill karins. we are getting a look at some of the aftermath of hurricane arthur in some of the coastal areas of north carolina right now. this picture was tweeted out by

a fellow named jeff rogers. here's a look of the city of waves, north carolina. these are tweeted out by the weather channel's jim cantore. weather wreaking havoc with some holiday fireworks displays, as you might imagine. in boston, partiers celebrated july 4th on july 3rd because of the forecast for bad weather. several cities up and down the east coast have been forced to alter or cancel their festivities because of the nasty weather. and that includes the world-renowned phil grucci, president and ceo of a sixth generation family-owned business. six generations you've been doing this? >> and they're out there ready to go right now. >> fireworks in your blood. >> that's right. >> you do displays all over the country, correct? >> yes. >> how many are you talking? >> we have 82 fireworks programs across the country.

>> and they range in size? >> from a small local community program to a large municipal city program. >> and these are not your usual just light a match and watch them go. these are huge fireworks spectaculars, so to speak? >> tens of thousands of firework devices all loaded. fired with computer systems. we've been designing the programs for months now. some of them over a year in preparation. so it's not just show up with the punk and light the firecracker. >> elaborate computer programs they use now? >> for both design and the actual execution to fire the program. >> who pays for a lot of these fireworks spectaculars? that's always something that's fascinating, because i've been to a few and i see these things and think, man, this has got to be expensive. >> actually it's not very expensive. i want to put my little plug in here for the price per person that's watching the program, it's pennies. many of our audiences are tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people. who pays for it is general lly

sponsor. the municipality generally has sponsors. the municipal services are the police and the fire but the money for the fireworks is coming from a private sponsor. >> where's the biggest show tonight? >> jersey city is going to be a big program right behind the statue of liberty, weather permitting, if you will. again, that's a show that's sponsored by budweiser. they're kind enough in the city of jersey city to make it work. >> smallest show, do you know? >> smallest show. it's a small community program out on long island, a private program for a family. >> you guys also, i just found out that you do our show out in westport, connecticut. >> it's postponed until monday. >> and we'll be there on monday. >> i will be there. >> that's a heck of a show. >> it is. that's one of the largest programs on the eastern seaboard that no one really knows about because it's a small community of people that watch that. and it's grown out of proportion. >> the first year i went because we moved up from d.c. you see the fireworks at the capitol, i mean that becomes

sort of the gold standard. >> that's right. >> we moved to westport and we're like this is right on par, if not better. >> nice to stay close to home. >> and you guys i would also imagine are pretty used to having to juggle these things in terms of weather as well. >> our office is buzzing right now. we have about 15 of those programs that are now being moved around to monday or sunday or saturday. >> what do you guys do when it's not new year's or fourth of july? >> we celebrate -- we're working all year long. our two peaks are new year's eve and fourth of july, but we're celebrating. there's grand openings and anniversaries happening and bar mitzvahs and parties all year long. >> phil grucci, the fireworks guy. phil, thank you. we'll see you in westport on monday. >> you got it. the storm, again, postponing fireworks displays, could also kick up some dangerous rip currents up and down of the east coast as well. dylan dreyer with more on that hidden danger. >> reporter: as hurricane arthur whips up the waters on the east coast, the powerful waves can be

enticing for adventurous beachgoers. but high and frequent waves can also cause dangerous rip currents. often invisible to swimmers, they're responsible for 80% of all rescues. the murky areas show the rip currents. shifts in the sand create a short narrow valley where receding water flows back out to sea at a much more rapid rate. >> it was right here by the peer. >> jason cahill survived the terrifying ordeal. >> it was nothing i've felt before and i'm a pretty strong guy. >> reporter: he's talking to his son about safety. rip currents pull the swimmer away from the shore, not underwater. survival may depend on going against your natural instinct. swimming directly back to the shore is nearly impossible. the danger occurs when a swimmer can no longer keep themselves afloat either from fear, exhaustion or lack of skill. anyone can get caught in them. andrew healy has been a lifeguard for 44 years.

>> so you yourself have been stuck in them? >> sure. >> reporter: how to escape? rip currents are often no wider than 30 feet. >> most people we still them swim left to right parallel because then you're out of the force of the water bringing you out. >> that advice saved randy's life. there were no lifeguards on duty when he was swept away. >> it took me about a half hour to get out of the rip current and i was about a half a mile away from my blanket, but i made it out. and i was a little winded. you just have to believe that you're going to make it and everything is going to be okay. >> that was nbc's dylan dreyer there. she adds that even if you are only in the water up to your knees, you can still get caught up in a dangerous rip current if you get knocked down by a wave. ahead, planes, trains, automobiles. the best way to get to grandma's this weekend as hurricane arthur deals an unexpected blow to a lot of travel plans. she keeps you on your toes.

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we are getting some new pictures showing flooding in the north carolina town of manteo on roanoke island in the outer banks. arthur has turned a number of streets into rivers making dangerous, if not making driving dangerous if not completely impossible there, certainly hazardous. folks being asked to stay off the streets until the waters there recede again. that is the town of manteo, roanoke island, outer banks. hurricane arthur causing in addition to the flooding, thousands of people have had to change their vacation plans. nearly 5,000 flights have been delayed, another 1100 have been cancelled altogether so far. so what do you do if you're supposed to fly into an area that's impacted by a storm like arthur and how do you navigate all those annoying change fees if your flight has been cancelled? joining me now, ceo of bestfares.com. tom parsons. tom, thanks for being with me. when it comes to weather delays or cancellations, you correct me

if i'm wrong here, airlines are not required to compensate you, are they? >> well, i guess when you mean compensation, there's two things. right now if you're going to the carolinas and your flight has been cancelled, like you said, there's about 1,000 cancellations, and you can't get to that destination, you have a couple options. the airlines will reaccommodate you at no fees, because the flight was cancelled, or if you feel this just ruins your vacation or where you're going has been damaged, maybe you just don't want to be there this weekend, if the airlines cancel your flight, you're entitled to 100% of your money back however you paid it. if you paid with credit card or cash, the airlines will reimburse you 100%. you take your cash, you run, you wait till another day and fly another day. >> what about hotel rooms? >> hotel rooms are a little different. if you prepay for it, you know, i would probably still call the hotel or whoever you bought it from. in most cases if you just have

reservations, call the hotel before 6:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, whatever their rules are and say i'm not coming. the same thing applies to car rentals. right now if you're flying on an airline, if you've got a hotel reservation or car rental, i think -- right now the only place i see that may have a lot of problems are the north or south carolinas. if you're in boston and you're getting to florida, don't worry. i think you're going to get there. i think new york or philadelphia, you'll get there. but if you're going to the carolinas, that's where you have to do that. but this is a good fire drill. they're watching this this weekend and it's good to know what you should do in the future. >> is it ever a good idea to buy that travel insurance? >> you know, i have about six millionaire miles. in that six millionaire miles, i don't remember ever buying travel insurance. >> not once? >> i still make sure my -- maybe my credit card may have it or something in that order.

they also protect me. i think the more expensive the trip, if you're taking a $59 or $79 flight each way or $200 airfare, i'm not sure if i'd waste my money on something like that. if you're taking a cruise and it's several thousand and you want to make sure -- in that case you want to buy the air and the cruise together with the cruise line and then maybe pick up the travel insurance there, yeah, that might be something. but the more expensive the trip, the more loss of investment, then i think travel insurance may work. >> tom parsons, we will leave it there. thank you, sir. happy fourth of july. that is going to do it for me, at least for this hour on the fourth of july. i'm craig melvin. richard lui will pick things up after the break. again, we are waiting on a live update from north carolina as governor pat mccrory there will brief the media on how his state is holding up in the wake of hurricane arthur. we'll also take you live to new orleans as well. the annual essence festival

kicked off last night.

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a very good day to you. i'm richard lui. happy fourth of july to all of you. after battering the outer banks overnight, category 2 hurricane arthur continues to track north leaving a wealth of damage in its wake. in about 30 minutes we will hear from north carolina governor pat mccrory with an update on how his state held up and take a look at where the storm is headed next. plus the latest out of georgia on the dad charged with leaving his 22-month-old son in a sweltering car for over seven hours. that tragic story takes an even stranger turn. and we'll take you live to new orleans where the 20th annual essence festival kicked off with a bang last night. all that today. first off, to hurricane arthur, the category 2 storm churning up

the east coast at this hour. we're waiting for a news conference to begin in about 30 minutes with north carolina's governor giving an update on the storm and its impact on the state. we also have reporters out across the east coast from north carolina to new york. nbc meteorologist bill karins tracking the storm's latest movements. bill, let's start with you on this. so the national hurricane center, they have given the latest location. where is it and where is it headed? >> it's a little further off the coast, still a category 2, 100-mile-per-hour storm. now our concern is with our friends in cape cod and nova scotia because you guys are going to get nailed while cape cod will get brushed. last night cape lookout, you were the landfall location. the first category 2 hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. since 2008. we've had a little bit of a drought here. we haven't had a lot of powerful hurricanes making landfall. remember, sandy was barely a hurricane. it was a hybrid, huge