a once in a lifetime weather event or eve an couple of lifetimes.

good morning. i'm richard wolf in for steven kornacki. hurricane joaquin may be tracking away from the east coast of the united states at this hour, but the storm is expected to generate rainfall levels in the southeast that haven't been seen in 200 or maybe even 500 years. more on that in just a moment. 28 americans are also missing at sea on board a cargo ship that's believed to be caught in the hurricane. we'll have more on the coast guard's effort to find and save that ship. plus we're learning more this morning about the nine people who were shot and killed at an oregon community college on thursday. more on them and the latest from roseburg in just a little bit. the aftermath of yet another mass shooting prompting anger and frustration for president obama, expressing what so many people here in the united states feel. more on that and the rest of the day in politics is coming right up. we begin this morning with

that once in-in-a-lifetime weat event. the carolinas, virginia, and maryland expecting up to a foot of rain before it's over in a part of the country that has already seen massive amounts of flooding this week. the national weather service calling this a 1 in 200 year rainfall event or maybe even 500 years. south carolina governor nikki haley is warning residents to be prepared for extended power outages. msnbc's sarah dowd joins s sarah dallof joins us. >> reporter: flood stage is 115 feet and this morning that river is already at 114 feet. if it keeps rising and the rain is falling, that could lead to extensive flooding in the national park. here in columbia in the city proper, officials are kind of in that wait and watch stage. public works telling us that

this rainfall so far has been steady and their systems have been able to keep up. however, if it suddenly starts coming in a deluge, if there's a sudden downpour, that's when we're going to run into problems in the storm drains and we'll see flooded streets in columbia. forecasters are predicting rainfall in the teens, charleston about two hours from here. they received 6 inches overnight. the governor hasn't ordered any evacuations but she is encouraging people whose homes have flooded before or who may live in low-lying areas to evacuate. a number of public events have been canceled, football game, the greek festival in charleston canceled throughout the weekend, officials hoping this keeps people at home and off the waterlogged and potentially deadly road this weekend. back to you. >> are you seeing people making preparations? are the stores getting cleared of supplies? >> reporter: this is five points, a business and entertainment district.

historically this is one of the first places to flood in columbia. before they left, byes left sandbags by their doors and are keeping a close eye on the drainage system. one man was checking on the drainage system. so far everything is looking good, the drains keeping up, but that could change in a heartbeat especially if the rain really starts coming down hard and fast. >> stay safe out there, sarah. many thanks to you. msnbc's meteorologist bill karins is monitoring the severe weather and joins me now from our weather center. bill, what's going on? >> all eyes are on south carolina. the charleston area, things are shut down in downtown, 1 to 2 feet of water in many places, high tide until 1:00 this afternoon. so we have the rainwater and the coastal water coming in. charleston is probably the ugliest situation on the east coast right now. we're not too worried about joaquin anymore. here we are watching the storm exiting the bahamas. we'll see those pictures later today. thankfully they'll have sunshine today as they begin to assess the damage. there's the path of the storm

from the east west coast, maybe bermuda will have a category 1 storm but that will be just a glancing blow. we are stealing moisture from the tropics and joaquin in what we call an atmospheric river heading towards south carolina. this cutoff low towards florida and the panhandle is pumping like a fire hose almost. think of it spraying out right into south carolina, all this high octane tropical air. and that's why we have this rivet of extremely heavy rain that sat over charleston, now 6 to 7 inches of rainfall just within about 8:00 p.m. last night. that's a lot of rain in a short period of time. that hose now goes all the way to areas like columbia and towards charlotte. we have flash flood warnings throughout this region too. the pictures continue to be zaifting throughout the southeast coast and all the way up through the mid-atlantic too. sfarts the warnings, we have a couple, charleston and towards charlotte, flash flood warnings in effect. charlotte wutz dropped down in rockingham. it looks like we're under a

flashflood watch. here's the charleston area. as far as the flooding goes, it does look like this will probably be a warning that will probably be out much of the day. we're expecting the possibility of another 9 inches of rain on top of the 6 to 7 inches we've already had. this doesn't even mention the days of consistent flow, the high tide cycles keep going up today and tomorrow, richard. we have the coastal flooding and we have the fresh water flooding. we're now getting into the heart of this event and especially south carolina will be a mess for days to come. >> thanks, bill. we'll check in with you later on. turning to the latest developments in the oregon school shooting where we now know the names of the nine victims killed in thursday's shooting at a community college. they are 18-year-old quinn glen cooper. 18-year-old lucas eibel, 33-year-old jason dale johnson, 44-year-old sarena dawn moore.

18-year-old rebecka ann karns, 19-year-old lucero alcaraz, 59-year-old kim saltmarsh dietz and lawrence levine. nine more were wuounded. all are expected to survive. the gunman, 26-year-old chris harp harper% ergs, attended a school for emotionally troubled children, was kicked out of the army and became a loner on celticsed with mass killing. he left a lot of weapons at the scene of the shooting. >> so far we've recovered 13 weapons. out of those 13 weapons we currently have in custody six were recovered at the school, seven were recovered at the shooter's residence. >> jay sob is live in roseburg.

>> reporter: yesterday at the public safety building in roseburg behind me, we got lots of new information on the investigation and the victims as you mentioned from sheriff john hanlin. most importantly, in addition to the victims' names, we foumd out the identity of the shooter, christopher harper mercer, 26. 13 total fire arms, six in his home, seven in his home and six on campus. he was enrolled it turns out at umpqua community college in the class in which the shooting took place and nbc news is reporting according to law enforcement that he was suffering from mental illness. today at a press conference there are lots more unanswered questions we hope to be answered including the motives of the shooter. cause of death, we still don't know if it was self-inflicted or from one of the bullets of the tactical officers that responded on the scene and more about the shooter's background.

lots of unanswered questions still in roseburg. >> you've been spending time in the community over the last couple days. i don't so much -- it's hard to summarize the mood of the community but i've been reading a lot about the community's attitude towards guns. have you talked to people about how them about this bigger debate about gun violence and gun control? >> yeah, i absolutely have, richard. southern oregon is more of a conservative part of the state unlike the urban centers like portland. as a matter of fact, concealed carry is permitted on postsecondary campuses in oregon and there were students i spoke with that were actually armed and on campus at the time of the shooting. one student, john parker jr., told me he did not intervene for fear of being caught in the cross fire with the law enforcement that responded. the interim president of umpqua community college also told me that she was aware of students that were armed on campus but doesn't believe that that is something that would have helped in this situation amend pointed

to the fact it was tactical sheriff's deputies that responded and ultimately ep fwajed in the cross fire with the shooter. >> great point. thank you for all your reporting and for joining us this morning, jacob. this sumner the wake of the charleston church shooting president obama admitted that gun laws here in the u.s. or rather the lack of them has been his biggest frustration as president. this week in the wake of yet another mass shooting on american soil, that frustration only grew. >> i'm going to talk about this on a regular basis, and i will politicize it because our inaction is a political decision that we are making. here you've got the majority of the american people think it's the right thing to do. background checks. other commonsense steps that would maybe save some lives. couldn't even get a full vote.

and why is that? it's because of politics. the politics has to change, and the people who are troubled by this have to be as intense and as organized and as adamant about this issue as folks on the other side who are absolutists and think that any gun safety measures are somehow an assault on freedom or communistic. let's not forget, this is happening every single day in forgotten neighborhoods around the country. every single day. kids are just running for their lives, trying to get to school. >> joining us now is our panel. aljoy williams, president of the brooklyn chapter of the naacp. john price was a spokesperson

for president george h.w. bush and an aid to karl rove. and judy zeno teaches campaign management at new york university and is a political science professor at iona college. good morning, panel. >> good morning. >> we have a lot to get to. aljoy, that frustration of president obama is surely reflect in the base. communities that are living with gun violence, democratic voters, is this something that the base, people you work with, do they feel that the president has let them down or do they understand how he has reached this point? >> well, i don't think it's just a base conversation. i think it's the frustration across america. even those supporting or advocating for the rights of gun owners understand there are common assault weapons things we can do. the ebb and flow of support of what people call gun control

goes up and down as mass shootings or terrible tragedies happen. tragedy happens, it goes up, people want stricter laws, they want better control, background checks. and then it kind of levels out after the news cycle has passed and we leave the families alone in dealing not only with their grief but in their continued activism, their brave activism in trying to get some of these things passed. i don't think it's just a base conversation. i think it's a larger conversation because there are people who believe in gun rights for the second amendment and also believe there are concrete things we can do. but here's what happens in the cycle. we start off with someone should have noticed something, right? and we look at the -- we go back and look through the person who committed the act and we see certain signs that people could have noticed. so we say someone should have noticed something. then we say someone should have did something m then we say someone ought to do something. but never do we take on that

ownership and say i as an american can press my elected official and say there are some commonsense things we need to do. never also is there a courage from elected officials on a bipartisan way to say here are some things that we can do while protecting and respecting the second amendment but also making sure we're protecting americans overall. >> you worked in politics. you understand the politics. not a single one of them, at least not on the republican side, no one has tried to say i can pick a different line here. they talk about, you know, criminal justice system, talk about drug abuse, which we'll get to later in the show. how come no one wants to take this on at all? >> few thing thises exemplify the political divide in this country like this issue. if you support president obama,

you want more gup law, if you oppose him, you probably don't. the job of a leader, of a president, is to bridge that divide into fine solutions. everyone agrees that some things need to be done, but this president wasn't on stage 30 seconds yesterday before he was criticizing congress, which is to say republicans, for not passing more gun laws. gun laws may very well be part of the package of things that l. joy just described, but there are other things that need to be done as well, and this president's job, any president's job is to get the country to a place where we can embrace those things collectively and move forward. i don't believe the president has done that. >> what is any republican -- what is the republican solution, any of the candidate solutions to these kinds of mass shootings? >> if republicans want to lead on this issue, they have to be willing to compromise to a certain extent. political opinion seems to be in favor of gun laws but that's like saying something about climate change. the devil is in the details. what a republican should do is put forth a comprehensive plan

that include mental health, drug addiction, addresses drug addiction issues as well as commonsense issues. >> but they're in leadership so why haven't they done that? >> i would argue leadership on this issue comes from the president and comes from the top top. i'll give you a perfect example. in 2013 in the wake of newtown, a democratic congress could not even get gun laws passed. leadership comes from one level and that's the presidency and this president needs to lead. >> they're all elected officials. no one on the campaign wants to take it on. >> because it is a very complex issue. president obama has stumbled on this, i agree. his first term his own attorney general said we have to go after the assault weapons ban. they didn't get it. >> we're going to come back to this. still ahead, more on this weekend's storm and the path of hurricane joaquin. but first, did kevin

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everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable, right? but we put together a benza gi special committee, a select committee. what are her numbers today? her numbers are dropping. why? because she's untrustable. but no one would have known any of that had happened had we not -- >> i agree. i give you credit for that. >> so that was the man who would be the speaker of the house, congressman kevin mccarthy saying something that struck many people as absolutely true but also a huge mistake to admit out loud. the idea that the congressional committee investigating benghazi was created purely out of a political desire to bring down

hillary clinton. >> when i hear a statement like that, which demonstrates unequivocally that this was always meant to be a partisan political exercise, i feel like it does a great disservice and dishonors not just the memory of the four that we lost but of everybody who has served our country. >> that was from al sharpton's interview with hillary clinton. catch more of it tomorrow on the first sunday airing of "politics nation." with clinton's testimony before the benghazi committee fast approaching, many people believe kevin mccarthy has given hillary clinton all of the cover she might need to dismiss what happens in that hearing room. the a parent gaffe is also threatening to cause mccarthy himself the speakership, much as he's trying to push that toothpaste back in the tube. >> this committee was set up for one sole purpose, to find the truth on behalf of the families

for four dead americans. now, i did not intend to imply in any way that that work is political. >> joining me now with the rest of our panel is "the washington post" political reporter robert costa. good morning. >> good morning. >> what on earth was he thinking when he said that? >> mccarthy's still adjusting to the national spotlight. when you're the majority leader of the united states it's more of a background role. you're counting vote, keeping members in line. now he has to step up. he's going to be third in line to the presidency. newt gingrich said it was a transition even for him in 1995 to recognize that everything you say goes national. >> it's a bit difficult preparing for prime time when you're running for the speaker. so has that led to a collapse of confidence in the caucus? has there been if not nervousness but, you know, a lack of surety and sure footing among mccarthy's team? >> i've been calling around the house gop, and there's certainly

some new nervousness, a sense mccarthy may not be ready yet for this job. but he has political capital. the conference in house republicans is young. most of them came in in 2010. mccarthy but the chief recruiter for the party at the time. so he has strong relationships and those will bolster him at this time. he only has one long shot challenge for the speakership. the elections are next week. you are see m grumblingrumbling. the chair of the oversight committee might enter the race, probably won't win but his entry says something. >> i' love to play the sound of the congressman responding to mccarthy this week. >> i'm very supportive of kevin mccarthy, but those statements are absolutely inappropriate. they should be withdrawn. mr. mccarthy should apologize. i think it was absolutely wrong. >> absolutely wrong. he should ply. this is not someone who's, you know, tiptoeing around this issue or around this contest.

it does sound like he's got plans to challenge mccarthy. >> we'll see tomorrow. he said he will make a formal decision on sunday. he's been trying to draft gowdy of south carolina into the race. there's an appetite post boehner to get a fresh face in there. i don't think he has the support within the conference, but to think a committee chairman is already challenging mccarthy setz some people behind the scenes and now publicly wonder is mccarthy ready to lead the party to be a public voice and figure who can bring it forward in an election year when politics are tricky. >> if he comes in as a weakened speaker, difficult to pull off, jeanne, is this a free pass for hillary clinton? >> it is a welcome mark for hillary clinton. but i have to say it is not just this incident about benghazi. his foreign policy address as well was full of missteps, kevin mccarthy. if i'm in the gop in the house

right now, i've got to be saying is this guy the most inexperienced potentially speaker since 1891 to take over this incredibly important role in an incredibly important year? is he ready for prime time? distrustable. is that a word? as somebody who sticks myself in mouth all the time, i appreciate that, but if you're a republican, i think there are a lot of grumblings he might not be ready. >> understood about the exercise and the impression of power, can kevin mccarthy still project power? >> i think he can. he needs to tighten his game, no question about it. he has made some erl lir missteps. he has to prove to his caucus -- >> you think he's trustable? >> that remains to be seen. he needs to tighten his game but he knows that. ill also say if ever there was a time the republican electorate was accommodating and forgiving of people who make brash

statements in politics it's now. he's got that going for him but that's about it. >> quickly. >> i think lit change the nature of the am or the hearing when it comes up as well. now republicans are in a position of what questions they're asking, how they're performing and grandstanding or not during the hearing is going to be tied to his statement. so be able to say, ha, we toll you, not only did your new potential leader say so, but now you have republicans in the hearing grandstanding and it is clearly political. >> you think mccarthy is safe. >> safe but you have to win 218 votes and win on the floor. could be chaos next week. mccarthy pretty much has it wrapped up, they say. >> we'll find out pretty soon. thank you very much for joining us today. robert costa of "the washington pos post". catch more of al sharpton's interview with hillary clinton tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. on "politics nation." begins airing sunday mornings

right here on msnbc. and we'll be on afterwards starting at 9:00 a.m. still ahead on "up," we're keeping an eye on the record storm. we'll also be talking to kerry sanders on the ground in green vim, south carolina so, stuls. that detergent was like half the price!

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some trees to go down but it's also allowed some power lines, the weight of the power lines on those poles in the saturated ground to go over. so between south carolina and north carolina there are now upwards of 20,000 customers who have lost power. and according to duke power they expect that will continue and be a problem for more people throughout the weekend. the authorities are watching this very closely. public works officials are on overtime making sure that storm drains themselves are not clogged, but they know it's going to be a battle to try to keep up. you can see over my shoulder here, that's the creek, it's olding up right now, but they also know in the low-lying areas this will get worse. finally, as we take a look in new jersey, you can see one house that fell into the water and that's the real concern. houses along the waterfronts that can get captured by this rising water and get taken out and destroyed. richard? >> very troubling. thank you very much.

nbc's kerry sanders. meanwhile, hurricane joaquin continues to churn near the bahamas. but to the relief of many it looks like it's moving out to sea. msnbc meteorologist bill karins is monitoring all of the extreme weather and joins us from our weather center. >> extreme sums it up. we sill haven't seen the pictures of the island hit the hardest in the bahamas. that will come out later today. they're finally seeing the sun. that's joaquin, not a problem. bermuda could get brushed by it. the big problem is charleston, south carolina, now moving up the interstate towards columbia. it's literally a hose spraying on the same areas with torrential rains. that's why we could see the historic 128 to 20 inches of rain. we've already had 8 inches in charleston and this is just the beginning. the other thing we're dealing with is on the wave front. we are watching big waves continuing. we get this fetch that will be

gusty today and tomorrow for the third day in a row on the beaches from new jersey southward. we're not talking about historic flooding but another high tide cycle taking a chunk out of those dunes. tomorrow near virginia beach, the hampton roads area, we could see more of that. we had flash flood warnings in the charlotte area, those are expired. now it's down towards charleston. we're getting the saltwater and all the rain, torrential rains in this area. flash-flood warning goes until about 11:15 for charleston, goose creek, mt. pleasant and the north choral ston area. the roads are closed. all of downtown charleston, they're telling you not to drive because there's water everywhere, they don't want to have to do additional water rescues. this is the additional rainfall forecast for the area, another 9 or 10 inches pretty much statewide, richard. those are the problems we're

dealing with. i think south carolina is the peak of this storm and event later today. tomorrow we'll deal with the river flooding from all the rain today. >> big numbers, bill. thank you very much. stay with us. still ahead, president obama calling vladimir putin's actions this week a recipe for disaster. we'll try to figure out what's going on in syria ahead. first, new rumors about another late entrance into the 2016 field. stay with us. try the superior hold... ...of fixodent plus adhesives. they help your denture hold strong more like natural teeth.

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the latest poll has joe biden only three points behind the supposedly surging bernie sanders. there's also new buzz about seeing none other than michael bloomberg launch a run. supporters told politico's mike allen that they believe the former new york city mayor would be able to attract republican, independent, and democratic voters. i think i've heard that in every single cycle, a triple whammy of support if true. but working against such a run is that bloomberg himself doesn't actually seem to be interested. let's bring in our panel. jeanne, if you don't appear in the first democratic debate, can you still mount a credible run? >> you can if you are a sitting vice president of the united states. i think that's what joe bide season banking on, he would still be able to make a go of it because he has name recognition, can put together the fund raisers. i would advise him to get into that debate because he is a very strong debater and i think it would attract a lot of attention

to the debate. if he's seriously thinking of running, and he seems like he is, i would advise him to get into the debate. he could still make a go of it even if he's not there. but some of the deadlines in materially states are looming and i think that's the real question. does he get his name on the ballot in these early states? if he doesn't, he'll have a hard time going forward, especially as hillary clinton has announce ld she's wrapped up about half of the supers. they could unwrap themselves but this becomes a problem going for him. >> l. joy, what is the spals that the idea of joe bide season trying to fill for democrats? what are they missing? >> we were just talking about this offline and the likability factor and sort of knowing more information. people, you know -- i don't get the sense people certainly are head over heels for bernie sanders, maybe for his policies and thing, but they don't want to, quote, get a beer or ice cream -- >> no with bernie sanders? >> ben & jerry's.

but more of his policies. we won't even get into the back and forth that is with hillary clinton who's a known entity, who either you like her or you don't and there's very few people that occupy that space in the middle. joe biden, everybody likes joe biden. i mean everybody does, republicans, democrats, independents. so it's the likability factor i think that would go a long way. but i just want to say something about the buzz of new candidates, particularly talking about michael bloomberg. just because a journalist overhears three people in a cocktail reception talking about possibly someone running doesn't make it a buzz of someone running. >> three people all of them probably working for michael bloomberg. >> yeah. >> i love the fact i get to offer the biden campaign, the supposed biden campaign some advice here. i mean, the calculation here to me is obvious. joe biden has to figure out where he fits on the spectrum in

a democratic primary. he certainly can't credibly campaign to hillary's left nap's where all the energy and the excitement is. he's got decades of a record in public life. he can't credibly occupy that space. it seems to me the only space he can occupy is right on top of hillary clinton and in order for him to do that he has to see her crumble, we all have to see her fall for bide on the get in and that's why he's waiting. >> so if he did something, i agree with you on, that but if he did something innovative like pulled an elizabeth warren to his side, he could try to move both to the left and maintain over hillary clinton. if he does something innovative like that, he could make a go for some portions of the left. >> how can he decide to bring in that -- >> though are two dirnfferent decisions, right? the decision he's making or calculating on whether or not to get in the race i think is a personal one dealing with this

personal tragedy. >> i want to talk about bloomberg for a second because it seems to me in the way the republican debate has unfolded so far where really it is moving to the right of where the center of politics has traditionally been, is bloomberg -- is the idea of bloomberg -- not saying it is going to be bloomberg, but does that open up this space that is actually the centrist republican middle space that is not being filled currently? >> no, because four years ago with john huntsman, that didn't turn out too well. in a republican primary to me, mike bloomberg is a nothing to nobody. he's not an outsider and he's not a conservative. so i fail to see where he fots. conceivably could he run as a third party once the two parties have selected their nominee? conceivably he could. do i think he will? no. >> particularly, even when michael bloomberg was mayor in new york city, there were a considerable amount of conservative challenges against him. people in other states were like we are not bloomberg and we will not be a nanny state and talk

about the soda ban. he's been all across the country on gun safety as well. there are clear things that are -- >> even with that, where will do moderate republican voters go in a race where the oxygen is taken up by carly fiorina, ben carson and donald trump? >> sure. i think those are the outsiders, quote, ub quote, and we're still scratching that itch, at least on the republican side. i happen to believe once things calm down and republican voters take a good, hard look at who's left, they're going to choose a candidate that fits the bill, that can accept to believe moderates and i think there are many of them. >> we do see them running right now. you see john kasich and mark rubio fighting it out because there is this establishment fight going on at the same time where the outsiders are getting most of the attention. and so we are going to see this establishment coalesce and in the end republicans will do what they always do, they will pick an establishment candidate. >> not so sure about this time. we have to wrap it up here, but i think it's fascinating.

we are still talking about new candidates at this stage. stay with us. up next, russian air strikes continue to attack rebel forces fighting in syria. nbc news foreign correspondent aden is here to explain what's happening there. and later on, 28 americans on board a cargo ship are missing at sea. we're keeping an eye on all the severe weather. when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most.

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because russia and iran have supported him throughout this plo says. and in that sense what russia is doing now is not particularly different from what they have been doing in the past. they're just more overt about it. they've been propping up a regime that is rejected by an overwhelming majority of the syrian population.

>> that was president obama denouncing russian president vladimir putin at the white house yesterday as russian bombs continue to rain on syria for a third day. the concern in the west is these strikes are actually an attempt to bolster the syrian regime of bashar al assad at a time when rebel forces are making advances against the crumbling syrian army. on thursday of course putin defended the air strikes. >> at his press conference yesterday, president obama called this russian strategy a recipe for disaster. >> regardless of what mr. putin

said was that he doesn't distinguish between isil and a moderate sunni opposition that wants to see mr. asasad go. from their perspective they're all terrorists and that's a recipe for disaster and one that i reject. >> here is nbc news foreign correspondent. what areas has russia been hitting this week? >> this is the most important part of this question because it gives you a sense of what the russians are saying they're doing and what they're actually doing. they say they're going after isis-held territories. we put up a map to show you what areas isis control. this area marked in red gives you a sense. all isis held territory. on this side you have the government and rebel areas in the green. if you look at these explosions we've marked op the map, thee are the areas where the russian air strikes have been mostly clustered. there have been a few in the isis held territory but not that many.

the majority have been in the rebel held areas and it gives you a sense that the russians are going after what have been known as the moderate syrian opposition. that's a cluster of different organizations. but mostly their main territorial fight is against the assad regime and it seems that's where the russians have been concentrating most of their fighting so far. it's leading people to say that the russians aren't serious about going after isis at this point. >> tell us more about the different kind of rebel groups we're talking about here, the kind of green ones. right? >> that area we showed you in green has a cluster of different organizations. one is an umbrella group known as the army of conquest. but essentially reformed in march. they include a lot of different organizations, mostly new rebels. those sunni rebels consist of groups that are considered by u.s. and western standard to be moderate but at the same time they have elements of al kild-affiliated groups and that has been tricky for the united states to navigate. the u.s. is trying to arm them, equip them, not this particular group but some of this specific underlying smaller groups with

that program that costs about $500 million but hasn't been very successful. the u.s. is reluctant also to give them heavy weaponry out of fear that those weapons may ultimately end up in the hands of groups like isis. but their main fight is against the assad regime as well as against isis and they're now being attacked by the russian military. >> is there anything about what's happening right now that has prompted, triggered this russian action? >> the syrian government over the course of the last several months as definitely weakened. we put this number um to give you a sense. at the beginning of the war, the syrian army was about 300,000. since then, it's gone down to 80,000. a lot of people have left the country, recruiting has been difficult for the syrian regime. the most important thing, the syrian government really controls about 20% to 25% of the country. that means about 75% of the country is in the hands of either groups like isis or other rebels and really the damasc damascus-based regime of president bashar al assad has been very weakened, perhaps why

the russians felt compelled to about now. the regime some say but on its last legs, if you will, coming under increased attack in damascus and didn't have the manpower to sustain this ground battle anymore. >> thank you for explaining a complicated but vital story. still ahead, the latest on the storm's path and what you need to know about the flooding along the east coast. but first, why the phrase "better late than never" might not apply to hillary clinton's schedule. that's next. stay with us.

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and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common, or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. joint pain and damage... can go side by side. ask how enbrel can help relieve joint pain and help stop joint damage. enbrel, the number one rheumatologist-prescribed biologic. there is so much going on this morning, we better get caught up on headlines with today's panel. going to start with this, jeanne. hillary clinton is consistently late and voters are noting. she takes the stage more than an hour after she's supposed to. democratic volunteers, the voters are spoeed to be energized and they're not. this can hurt, right? >> it can. i'm starting to think this may

be a partisan issue. de blasio is consistently late, hillary clinton's husband was always late. i don't know if it's a democratic thing or not. giancarlo said even in the bush administration was always on time. >> someone gave de blasio a watch. >> hillary has to be careful going forward. >> this from the bbc. we'll get through a lot. stay with me. >> lightning round. >> responsibilitiers saying fifa boss sepp blatter must go. this may only speak to half the world's population -- >> more. >> but blatter refuses to resign, major sponsors like visa, budweiser, coca-cola saying he should quit after proceedings were open against him last week. when will he go? >> not soon enough. this guy makes mexican drug cartels look like tours at disney land. as a longtime soccer fan, soccer

fan before it was cool in the united states, the worst kept secret was that fifa was a corrupt, poorly run organization. the whole world knows it now. come on. blatter, got to go. reform has to happen. >> sponsors on board now. enough already. we don't have enough time. this is just impossible. you've got to stick around for another full hour of politics and news at the top of the hour. more headlines. but we're also going to get to the latest on the severe weather right on the other side of this break. nobody told me to expect it... ...intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes. it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. \s help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual vaginal bleeding,

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can a a subconscious. mind? a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive? thank you for staying with us this saturday morning. i'm richard wolf in for steven kornacki. record rainfall in the u.s. we'll get the latest on what's happening and what's going to happen. there's also a cargo ship

missing at sea in the path of hurricane joaquin with 33 crew members on board including 28 americans. we'll take a look at the coast guard's heroic effort to find and save that ship. also this hour, a day of mourning in roseburg, oregon. and president obama with new comments yesterday about the shooting and also about president vladimir putin of russia. we'll take a closer look at russia's true motives for bombing in syria. we begin this hour on the southeastern coast of the united states where a storm of historic proportions has already caused massive flooding and is expected to bring record rainfall to the region. the amount of rain expected to fall in just three days is equal to what the region normally gets in three months. msnbc meteorologist bill karins joins us now from our weather center. bill, what's the late sfes. >> all eyes on charleston, south

carolina. they get a lot of flooding if they get 1 or 2 inches of heavy rain, then it goes away. the downtown is kind of used to it. this is an exceptional case where they'll get high tide, some of the saltwater coming in and the rain, the fresh water at the same time. it's a bad recipe in south carolina especially down along the coast. we're not worried about joaquin. the bahamas is clearing out. the path of the storm is going to barely miss bermuda. that will be a glancing blow for them. a picture from jeffrey temple, he let me use his picture, this is downtown charleston right now. this is a typical scene from the social media stuff i've seen, about 6 inches to a foot of water in downtown charleston. it is cleared out right now. no one is allowed to drive in, all the roads are clowed and the wohl downtown peninsula and high tide isn't until 1:00. they expect the water to stay high until 4:00. it could be the highest water

levels since hurricane hugo. this could be a top ten all-time flood in areas. if anyone else is down there in the charleston or south carolina or along the storm front, send me images at my twitter account and i'll show them on air. this is ocean city, maryland. we're not as concerned with the tide as yesterday. the winds are not as strong and the fetch is not as bad but sunday it looks like the high tides will peak as bad as friday, maybe higher. a lot more overwashing of the dunes and stuff like that. here's our flash-flood watch map. there's a hose of rain that is now focusing into this region. and it's going to continue throughout the day today. you can see it here. it's just funneling right up through charleston, back through columbia, and it will eventually get to be heavy around the high point and greenville, south carolina, areas. this is the area where greatest concerns are for heavy rain. still the possibility of additional almost foot of rain in areas that have already picked up 3 to 6 inches of rain. we will get that 12 to possibly

18-inch totals. dangerous situation throughout the rest of today. >> incredible volumes of water there. thanks, bill, for the update. we're expecting authorities in oregon to update us later today on the investigation into thursday's shooting at a community college. overnight we learn that the university of oregon will hole a vigil on monday in memory of the nine people killed. the university of oregon ducks football team will also wear a decal with the letters ucc for umpqua community college on their helmets for tonight's football game against colorado. for more, we're joined by msnbc's jacob soboroff in oregon. >> reporter: yesterday the shock transitioned here and most everybody started to feel extreme sorrow and extreme grief. we saw for the first time the faces and the names, heard some of the names of the victims. we heard about their lives and

from their families including two in particular, quinn glen cooper was only 18 years old and was from here in roseburg, had just graduated the local high school in roseburg, roseburg high school, and also lucas eibel, who his parents and family said loved ffa, future farmers of america, volunteered at wildlife safari here, and the saving grace animal shelter. thee personal details will obviously continue to come out in the days ahead. we learned about more of the victims as well. we talked in the last hour about gun control. gun control is starting to become part of the conversation here despite in oregon the relatively lax gun control laws. there was a law passed just this year about background checks in the state but otherwise the gun laws are not particularly stringent. we hear when they came to us yesterday at the public safety center behind us, the governor of the state, kate brown and jeff merkley and others making veiled references to the idea of

potential future reforms but they department want to get into them specifically yesterday. that of course comes on the heels of president obama sternly talking tact need and his feeling for more gun control regulations from the white house on the day of the shooting. >> thesechased legally. is this a sense in the community if not gun control, what else could be done? what would a solution look like to stop this carbon monoxide of thing happening again? >> the sheriff here has been particularly outspoken against the idea of gun control. he wrote a letter to the vice president in 2013 pushing back after sandy hook on the idea of federal gun control regulation. i think the sheriff was asked yesterday during the press conference if the idea something that owning 13 guns was normal. he said oregon is a hunting state. that is something that people do. that is, you know, i don't want to put words in his mouth but that number of guns is not out of the ordinary for somebody prams in a place like southern oregon. >> thank you, jacob soboroff.

the roseburg shooting comes thee years after sandy hook and it feels hike nothing has changed. more school shootings, more mass shootings in all kinds of places and no federal gun control laws. joining us is eric millgrim of the newtown action ahines. his son and daughter both survived the shooting at sandy hook elementary school. good morning. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> what's your first reaction when you hear of another community struck with this mass shooting? >> i'm not surprised. this is going to continue. it is not going to get better without federal intervention. you know you have a problem when you say, hey, have you heard about the latest school shooting and people say which one. we're the only industrialized country in the world that tolerates this. >> this happened in a community as we've heard from jacob there that is pro gun, anti-gun control, and strongly so. it doesn't sound like that community has rallied around the kinds of measures that democrats

and the president were talking about. do you understand what would lead to that kind of reaction in a community or is that sort of a foreign language? >> no, i do. and, you know, communities are homogeneous. even in newtown today the national shooting sports foundation's headquartersed there. it's ironic they happen to be there, the second largest gun lobby behind the nra. there are plenty of people in newtown who don't want any gun control. they think things are fine just the way that it is. i think most saipe americans would ask themselves do we have a problem and if your answer to that is no, things are just fine, there's nothing more to say to people like that. the people who say, yeah, we have a problem, come to the table. let's talk about it. there are things we can do that still respect the second amendment, allow people to lawfully own firearms but keep them out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. >> gian-carlo, you said there

should be a comprehensive republican alternative to what the president is talking about. it doesn't sound like one's going to emerge anytime soon. right? no one is really opening this debate other than you saying there should be a plan. what do you think would be the elements to-that that republicans could sign up to say we as a country, we've put a man on the moon and deals with big challenges, sends armed forces halfway around the world chashgs what can we do about a challenge which seems big but this country does big things? >> as i said before, what frustrates me is the lack of leadership that comes from the president on this issue in a comprehensive fashion. this is a real opportunity for our next president, be it republican or democrat, to convene the country and have a commonsense inclusive discussion about how to solve this problem. we reflexively make this about gun control, and whenever we do that, to eric's point, we won't get past it. we need to have a comprehensive

discussion and that's what leaders do. they convene, they lead the conversation and we can do that. it's an opportunity here for someone. >> i'd to pick up on this. the president straight after his re-election put everything behind responding to newtown and actu actually in the words of one of your former bosses, spent his political capital getting nothing done through congress. are you saying it was the way he approached it? congress seem eed adamant they were not going do this and congress has to pass the law. >> it certainly won't be easy. i don't mean to be overly critical of the president and maybe it is easy for me to sit back and say he didn't try hard enough, but he didn't try hard enough. the fact of the matter is the country, rightly or wrongly, views this president as being focused on gun control a solution that is much more complicated. >> did the president not try hard enough after newtown? >> what could he have done more? he passed all those executive

actions when congress -- there were 54 volts in the senate, which was a majority, which is what we kneed to just get universal background checks, something that virtually every americanry ai grees on, whether you're republican, whether you're democrat, it doesn't matter your political leanings. we know that's not an intrusion. there are some people who should not be allowed to own firearms and certain kinds of firearms. when congress wouldn't even let it come up for a vote, they needed 60 because of the rules of the senate. they never even got voted on. again, what more could the president have done? >> i've got to say, l. joy, i don't understand some of these restrictions. i hear, you know, they're rural arias, people like hunting, and i respect that, but i don't see how concealed carry has anything to do with hunting p. >> yeah. and there are a number of things about gun -- i agree with you, some of it is also in the language we're talking about, right, because if you talk to people about gun control, you know, there's this fear or this conspiracy thought that people are coming around to take your

guns. right? >> and that's mott the case. >> but if you talk specifically about some of the issues -- ban on assault rifles and magazines, people agree with that and that's something we can do again and prevent that. wait one second. there's also talking about having background checks, universal background checks, a waiting period before you buy a gun. people who are going hunting, they know they're going this weekend, they have enough time and they agree with that. there's also things like doing a temporary restraining order. if a family is noticing something within their family members and they know that they are in possession, noticing suicidal thoughts or things like that -- we're not just talking about mass shootings, remember, because every single day there is gun violence going on in urban communities and rural communities from suicide, from from murders. there are so many other things going on. so when you talk to people specifically about these specific strategies that we can do to reduce gun violence and

restrict gun ownership from some people, people agree with that pip think from a political stand toint and a messaging standpoint those are the things we need to coalesce around. >> jean, in ne, this is a moment it seems to me in politics, you have people who may want to have an unvarnished debate and there are some big ideas out there. we may have different opinions about donald trump and hi big wall but he wants it to be a big wall and it's not a timid project. >> with a nice door in it. >> a beautiful wall. but is there a bigger challenge right now that stretch ace kros the country that people could talk about? i just don't understand why none of the candidates are offering up a credible plan or eve an semicredible plan. >> what i would really love to see is one of these republican candidates take this up as moral and health crisis. we are fighting terrorism. and terrorism is nothing in comparison to the number of people in this country shot by

guns. you look at those numbers. to eric's point, our children are 14 times more likely to be shot and killed by a gun in this country than in any other industrialized country in the nation. and there are examples of ways we can go. australia, canada, great britain. we don't have to do everything they do, but we can take those as examples and move forward and cut down many experts say by a third the number of our children shot and killed. >> jeanne just laid out sensibly a path to do this. >> thank you. >> no, you did. i won't speak for everyone. i know i'm certainly old enough to remember the so-called third rail of american politics, social security and medicare. no one touched them. when george w. bush was president, he reformed medicare. i don't remember anyone campaigning on that issue. obviously you can't completely equate the two, but medicare was a very difficult, very politically sensitive issue to tackle and he did it. how? he worked across the aisle, discriminated leadership and got it done. >> you're saying one of these

republican candidates not speaking now is going to get into office and -- i think they should speak now. as i said, this is an opportunity to lead and they need to do it but in a comprehensive way because that's how you solve this issue. >> john, with all due respect, let's be honest with each other here for a moment. in 1994 the nra through their lobbying was able to pull the cdc's funding, the premier public health organization in the world so they were not allowed to do gun violence research. even with the executive action, they're still afraid to do gun violence research. i worked in the centers for disease control. i know how the politics work there. without a professional decree, no one is going to stick out their neck on the line. we can't make decisions without the data. >> that needs to change 100%, but a republican congress is not going to do it if a republican president doesn't lead them by the handle and say you must get this done and that's what has to happen. >> it's unfortunate the republican congress won't get a larger picture on what's good for america.

>> democratic senate didn't do it either. >> that's true. i expect it will take a republican president to do this because clearly the conspiracy theer ris about what president obama really wants to do is very powerful and we saw that out of some of the reports in roseburg as well. eric, thank you very much. i think you're staying with us. up next, live to ocean city, maryland, where the mayor has warned the flooding this weekend could be as bad as hurricane sandy. and the desperate search for a cargo ship that vanished near the bahamas in the midst of hurricane joaquin. ent your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most.

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there's a desperate search at sea. the coast guard is serming for a cargo ship near the bahamas.

there are 28 americans on board. kristen dahlgren is live in jacksonville, florida, where the ship set sail earlier this week. >> reporter: good morning, richard. the coast guard has just confirmed they were back out there at first light from the air searching for any sign. so far they have not seen anything today. but the hope is that the improving weather as joaquin moves away will help them as they go through today. we know that the ship was disabled, was taking on water. we know the eye of joaquin moved very close to the ship's last known position. so today families here in jacksonville really holding on to hope that somehow those crew members were able to hold on through the storm. >> we don't know their status. 140-mile-per-hour wind. it could have destroyed their communications equipment. >> reporter: missing at sea, the 735-foot cargo ship with 33 crew members including 28 americans disappeared during hurricane joaquin just as the powerful storm was delivering punishing winds, floods, and torrential rains to the bahamas.

it set off from jacksonville, florida, tuesday night and was expected to reach san juan, puerto rico, friday. but instead it vanished near crooked island in the bahamas. at around 7:20 on thursday morning the coast guard received a distress call from the vessel saying it had taken on water and lost propulsion. >> when you are disabled at sea, you basically are totally vulnerable to the sea state. and there is between 20 and 30-foot waves out there. >> it has not been heard from since. the maritime company that owns the ship says its captain has extensive experience and would not take unnecessary risks. >> the captain knew the conditions and communicated back to our headquarters, you know, his -- the conditions were as he saw them then very favorable, he was very confident, the ship was doing well. >> reporter: all of this doing little to comfort family members praying for their loved ones' safe return. >> we just want them home safe and sound.

we need everyone's prayers. >> reporter: you hear from those families and you just remember that these are fathers and these are husbands that are missing, so really some agonizing times for those families. most of them already here in jacksonville, those who weren't are being flown in so they can be here to get the latest up to day-to-day information on that search. richard? >> thank you. nbc's kristen dahlgren in jacksonville. severe flood warnings are still in effect for much of the southeastern coast. moderate to major coastal flooding, beach erosion, and record amounts of rain are expected in the carolinas, maryland, and virginia today. nbc's tom costello joins us live from ocean city, maryland. good morning, tom. >> reporter: hi, richard. good morning. i have to tell you, they're breathing a sigh of relief in ocean city, maryland. the worst projections we were hearing about the possibility of torrential rain and flooding have really not materialized. we did have some flooding here yesterday in ocean city, but that has now completely receded.

we have no flooding in ocean city right now. when we have high tide again at 12:45 this afternoon, we might get some more of that water coming into the back bay, but behind me you can see the atlantic ocean here is choppy. we've got about 9 to 10 foot height on the surf and the wind at about 30 miles per hour. but this is nothing compared to what it was yesterday. joaquin, the hurricane, is not a threat here. we're really just talking about the potential for more rain this afternoon and that could aggravate whatever we see in terms of some very minor and i want to stress minor street flooding. we've also seen minor flooding in virginia so far. the real worst of the flooding has been in the carolinas. some of that rain may be working its way up the coast, but the folks here on the eastern shore of maryland are warning about the possibility of some rain this afternoon and the possibility of that creating some street flooding. but we have in the view of many people here dodged the bullet. nothing compared to what they had feared. in fact, if you walk the streets of ocean city, maryland, it

looks like just a typical october kind of a cloudy, rainy, overcast day here, really nothing to be concerned about here. we'll see what happens when that rain moves in this afternoon. richard? >> good news from maryland at least. thank you, tom costello. up next, president obama has some strong words for vladimir putin. plus, we'll keep you updated on the brutal weather up and down the east coast. stay with us. we've got trouble in tummy town. peptocopter! ♪ when cold cuts give your belly thunder, pink relief is the first responder,

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♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. at his press conference late yesterday, president obama slammed russian president vladimir putin for bombing syria this week in an apparent effort to bolster the regime of president ba har al asad. >> mr. putin had to go in to syria not out of strength but out of weakness. because his client, mr. assad, was crumbling and it was insufficient for him simply to send them arms and money. now he's got to put in his own planes and his own pilots.

>> tough stuff. those remarks followed a week-long war in public between the two leaders at a time when both were in physical proximity. they paused momentarily for a stiff handle sheikh and a closed door meeting monday at the united nations general assembly. that was their first formal meeting in more than two years. here at home, obama is facing criticism that his reluctance to intervene militarily in syria has allowed russia to take the lead. >> this administration has confused our friends, encouraged our enemies, mistaken excess caution for prudence and replaced the risk of action with the perils of inaction. into the wreckage. into the wreckage of this administration's middle east policy has now stepped vladimir putin. >> syria has become just the latest backdrop for an increasingly nasty relationship with the former cold war adversary and yesterday obama

pushed back hard against the claim that putin has taken the leading role in the middle east. >> the notion that he put forward a plan and that somehow the international community sees that as viable because there's a vacuum there, i didn't see after the made that speech in the united nations suddenly the 60-nation coalition that we have start lining up behind him. iran and assad make up mr. putin's coalition at the moment. the rest of the world makes up ours. >> joining me now is the granddaughter of the former soviet premier nikita krush kruschev and professor at the new international school. >> good morning. i thought vladimir putin and russian political opinion was much more concerned with ukraine and fighting a conflict there.

is there danger in the distraction that vladimir putin will be seen to be off topic and maybe getting into a quagmire in the middle east? >> not really, because ukraine has outlived its purpose, its political purpose. it's actually unraveling right now because there have been minsk agreements, greemt agreements withdrawing the troops, withdrawing the armed fors. they have a military and having some sort of a reconciliation or resolution with the kiev government. so that actually politically is no longer interesting to putin just because it didn't become a grand strategy that he wanted to take half of -- not half of ukraine, a lot of ukraine, which he called new russia. so crimea is putin's and that's fine for now. so he actually needs a much larger political gamble, political game, which is in the middle east, to indeed show that he is a very important international player.

i would say the last thing here is that barack obama always very quick to dismiss putin's claims, and this has been a very bad strategy on barack obama's part. >> because it helps putin. >> not only that, but then barack obama has to eat his words. a year ago barack obama called putin a regional power and putin is showing maybe he is a regional power but he's not easily to be dismissed. >> the leader of the russian orthodox church said this about the air strikes. he said the fight against terrorism is a holy struggle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world to combat terrorism. i don't know if this helps putin by putting him in as the leader of a holy war, but it cannot help russian forces or objectives in isis territory because it's isis recruitment slogan right there. >> absolutely. george bush's rhetoric to a degree that putin sort of spiritualized in the following decade. but the reason it's important for pew tip is because they are

supporting original christians in egypt and those in palestine so then he becomes leader on that -- of that world that, you know, there is an islamic state taking over, but we are really an original christian force. in some ways it is more of a propaganda for the russians because putin really made it into very important orthodox christian state than it is for the middle east. so we'll see how all this propaganda purposes for the local community would actually play out in international stage and it probably would be problematic at some point. >> as if that isn't complicated enough. i want to bring in the panel. american politics is complicated just on the democratic side. i want to play some sound of hillary clinton on syria because there's a very clear gap here between what hillary clinton is saying and what the president is saying. let's listen to her now. >> i personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone

and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of what's happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees. >> so very different position there of intervention humanitarian purposes. this is president obama responding to hillary clinton yesterday. >> there's a difference between running for president and being president. and the decisions that are being made and the discussions that i'm having with the joint chiefs become much more specific and require i think a different kind of judgment. >> jeanne, that's actually an ouch moment. the president is slapping down the democratic front-runner. he' presumably the favored candidate in this race right now. i'm president. i know how difficult this stuff is. and i don't know what she's talking about because it's not practical.

is there room for hillary clinton here? i realize this is foreign policy, but there is probably no bigger international story, foreign affairs story right now. so is there room for hillary clinton to put some distance between herself and president clinton? do democratic voters gravitate towards this? >> i think she's desperately trying to put that room between them because of course she was his secretary of state for a number of years. and so she is going to be tied to his foreign policies whether she likes it or not. and certainly i don't know if the professor agrees with this, she has contributed to where we are at this point. and i think this probably in my mind goes down as the blackest mark on barack obama's presidency in terms of his legacy unless he can in the next year, year and a half that he's got left do something to change the course. but i struggle as you're talking thinking what does he do now? imagine this. imagine if those russian planes -- imagine if they knock out -- you know, take down one of our european allies.

imagine if they shoot down an american or an american plane or american ally. what do we do then? what happens then? you're going to have us close to a war. >> nina, it doesn't sound like president pew sin is going to run a short-term campaign here. if he's serious about propping up assad, he'll be there for talking about a year for president obama to show some action there. surely he's got a longer longevity, putin has longer life span here in syria than this president does. >> absolutely. and putin has shown that he's not there for a short period. i mean, you know, you impose sanctions over his annexation of crimea, you expect immediate results. he doesn't work this way. he actually long and steady. and he needs to stay in power until 2024 because what happens if he's taken out? this is not going to be pretty. so this is something that is part of his consideration, and he does think that he's going to outlive and outsmart barack

obama. in fact, two years ago he did say you will see that gadhafi is not going to be in power and assad still will be. and, you know, we've seen that absolutely. >> you said 2024 for vladimir putin, which is an astonishingly long time. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. still ahead, carly fiorina gets personal about an issue that doesn't get talked about much especially on the campaign trail. looks like some folks have had it with their airline credit card miles. sometimes those seats cost a ridiculous number of miles... or there's a fee to use them. i know. it's so frustrating. they'd be a lot happier with the capital one venture card. and you would, too! why? it's so easy with venture. you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. just book any flight you want then use your miles to cover the cost. now, that's more like it. what's in your wallet?

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we're keeping a close eye on the severe weather this morning bringing record levels of rain to the southeastern united states. and there's also the search for that missing cargo ship in the path of hurricane joaquin off the bahamas. msnbc meteorologist bill karins is monitoring it all and joins me from our weather center. look at this aim j that just came in. this doesn't have anything to do with joaquin. that is house that is tipped

over into the water. this was north wildwood, new jersey, last night during the high tide cycle. this doesn't look like it was a house that was maybe teetering on the edge. obviously it was close to the shore but it looks like a really nice property and a lot of the debris is now in the water. this is on the jersey shore. again, with each high tide cycle vulnerable structures from past storms, some structures hanging precariously anyways and this must have been one of them. as far as charleston, continuing to get more images. padding boarding outside your house down your street, this image on my twitter account. thanks for sending that to me. also we're trying to -- again, about 6 inches to a foot of water throughout much of downtown charleston. you can see the houses and the structures. there's a door to a place here about 2 inches from the water. the water will keep going up in charleston. they got an inch of rain in the last hour alone. they're heading towards high tide at 1:00. the combination of the ocean water and the rainwater. this is going to be an historic flood in downtown charleston

peaking likely as we go throughout the day today. of course yoeb with all that rainfall, of course we're under flash flood warnings here in the charleston area. we'll probably extend that later. then of course the rainfall hasn't stopped. i mentioned we picked up an inch of rain at the airport in the last hour. this is just a hose. this is what we thought would happen. this is why we've been saying this would be an historic rainfall in south carolina. we knew that this hose of rain and thunderstorms would not move much during the entire day today. so right now it's focused over charleston, trying to push down and it goes all the way to orangeburg towards columbia and that's where the worst flooding will be. this is in addition to what's already fallen in this region. that's why the rivers are going to be a problem in this area for days to come. remember the house image i showed you in the northern portions of wildwood, located right about here, just south of atlantic city, new jersey. they're under coastal flood warnings from the jersey shore

all the way down through virginia beach to norfolk, hampton bay. at each high tide cycle we'll see problems there and coastal flood warnings around charleston with that torrential rain. a lot more damage still to be done. the rainfall flooding will peak today but we'll still have damage on rivers as we go throughout the day tomorrow even into monday. >> what a mess in the streets of charleston. >> yes. >> thanks for update. y's data i, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most.

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i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. ...of fixodent plus adhesives. they help your denture hold strong more like natural teeth. and you can eat even tough food. fixodent. strong more like natural teeth. fixodent and forget it. i very much hope that i am the only person on this stage who can say this, but i know there are millions of americans out there who will say the same thing. my husband, frank, and i buried a child to drug addiction. so we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. >> that was carly fiorina talking about the death of her stepdaughter during the last republican debate. with heroin abuse and prescription drug addiction at epidemic levels the issue of drug addiction is being raised

often on the 2016 campaign trail. chris christie and jeb bush have both visited treatment centers. hillary clinton outlined a plan designed to combat drug abuse for a new hampshire newspaper. in fact, several candidates are now making policies on substance abuse part of their campaigns. that's probably because the state of new hampshire is fe feeling the effects of this epidemic most acutely. during his vi to manchester last week, jeb bush was told that in the past 30 days more than 100 people overdosed on drugs in manchester alone. former governor howard dean of the neighboring state of vermont joins us now. he's an msnbc contributor, a former democratic party chair and of course a 2004 candidate for president. good morning, governor dean. >> good morning. >> so when i was covering your campaign in 2004 i don't remember many candidates, i may have blanked on you talking about this, but it didn't seem to me many people were talking

about drug abuse, not in this way, anyway. >> no, it wasn't. ironically, the whole discussion was kicked off by the current vermont governor, peter shem lin, when he devoted an entire state of the union address to drug addiction, which was very controversial at the time. i think he gets some credit for basically turning around the country's policy on this, which is now being discussed, as you pointed out, by both republican and democratic politicians and it's essential we do something different. the war on drugs hasn't worked, drugs are much more dangerous. even marijuana is causing really big problems because a lot of what people smoke turns out not to be marijuana but synthetic chinese manufactured chemicals which create tremendous violence. this is an enormous epidemic and we have to deal with it and it's a very serious public health problem. >> in your own home state of vermont over 2,000 people were treated for heroin last year. that's 64% more than in 2013. this is an epidemic that's really out of control, isn't it?

>> it is. it actually started with prescription pills that were much, much stronger. when my kid were in high school up here, that was the rage, these prescription narcotic, which could find their way onto the black market very easily. then that formulation changed and they became much more difficult to abuse and that's when cheap heroin began to flood into vermont in ways that no one could have imagined before. we've had a heroin problem for a long time, but it's always been fairly minimal. but after about 2008 or so, it began to really be a major problem. >> as a physician and a politician, what is a comprehensive policy package look like here that is actually credible for these candidates to talk about? >> well, i think -- who know where is to start, but let's start with treatment. people should not be sentenced to prison for possessing narcotics. they should be sent to

treatment, mandatory treatment. this is contrary to everything i learned when i was in medical school. you have to sentence people to treatment. you also have to have realistic expectations. the average person who becomes clean goes through seven failures before they finally become clean. secondly, we have to be much smarter about using substitutes. things like methadone, which i have some concerns about because it's also dealt on the street, but these things allow people to function normally without the kind of high that interferes with their lives and so i do think there's a very prominent role here for synthetic pope yachts that don't create the high but do fix the addiction part. you're still addicted to drugs, which some people have had problems with, but it's much better to have people like that in the workforce than it is to have them in jail. those are places to start with. >> l. joy, i just want to bring you in here. it sounds like the debate have moved on from criminalizing people suffering from substance

abuse. that something you're seeing as well? >> yeah, but i want us to be mindful -- the link as governor dean mentioned to the criminal justice system and we've been here before. we talked about the crack and cocaine epidemic. when we were talking about that and started creating creating l. that was criminalizing possession and drug abuse. there's a time now to make sure we're not repeating some of that same behavior. and just look at how the conversation about heroin abuse in places like vermont versus some place in new york city or in other places and the population, and what the population looks like. so what i'm looking forward to is if we're going to have this conversation, that we move to a treatment conversation in all communities and that's also reducing the amount of people, particularly people of color, who are in the criminal justice system, strictly because they have an addiction to drugs. and so there's some reform we

need to do to that overall. there's problem bleably a numbe people that need to be released from prison that were probably there just because they have a substance abuse problem. >> we're going to have to wrap it up right there. thank you, governor dean, for joining us this morning, i appreciate it. >> thank you. and also -- 100% right, by the way. >> thank you. still ahead, president obama is headed to broadway. try the superior hold... ...of fixodent plus adhesives.

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there's a huge amount going on this morning. it's time to get caught up on some headlines with today's panel. obama is planning to see the musical "hamilton" again to raise money for democrats. i'm a huge fan. he's going to see the musical november 2 for a democratic party fund-raiser. his third time. michelle obama just saw it. this is the obama musical, isn't

it? >> uh, yeah. everybody should go see it, yes. also, like, ya'll just wait a month, so i can then get my tickets. because this is causing problems for those of us who have been waiting for a while to get tickets who don't have, like, $500,000 to donate to the dnc. >> you can just donate. >> i feel your pain. u.s. education secretary arne duncan to step down at the end of the year. one of the longest serving members of the obama administration. he's chosen john b. king jr.ed who currently deputy secretary of education to replace duncan. education was a major priority reform for president bush. do you think he has done a good job, arne duncan? >> i think he has done a good job. he's reformed in some areas where necessary. he's been a great role model for kids. i think he's a leader. give him high, ma marks for his as education secretary. >> "new york times" says

"friends" is popular with new york teenagers. teens like "friends" because of the stress-free lifestyle the show depicts. the characters have nice apartments and lots of free time but there's something about that perfect lifestyle that's fun to watch. i think we're getting an ' '80s/'90s nostalgia moment. we're almost to the 30th anniversary of "back to the future ii." in which markety mcfly travel also to 2015. we're so close to that special date. people love that sort of -- the days before terrorism and recession. >> they do. >> right? >> i have two teenagers. i didn't realize the anniversary until my younger one told me. he's like, don't you know the date? i said, oh, my gosh, that's right. so they are truly enthralled with all of these '80s nostal a nostalgia. i'm hopie ining we can wear the clothes again. >> i'd like to go to the carefree days of not paying

bills. >> and having a big apartment. >> i would also suggest you watch something like "living single." they have a better apartment than the "friends" did. and a better show. >> tv tips right here. thank you to my panel this morning. and thank you for getting "up" with us this morning. we'll be back tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern time and before that at 8:00 a.m., "politics nation." presidential candidate hillary clinton is al sharpton's first guest. but before that, you're going to watch melissa harris perry because she's coming up next.

♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. good morning, i'm dorian moran. melissa is off this week. the donald tmp