♪ 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. dangerous and deadly flooding over parts of the east coast at this hour. and word today that the worst may not be over. this is a live picture of columbia, south carolina. hello, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." another day of relentless

weather in the carolinas. battered and soaked residents are bracing for the flooding to only get course. homes, businesses and abandoned cars are under water. so far at least five people have died in weather-related incidents. new video this morning shows deep floodwaters rushing through parts of columbia. at least one dam broke under the intense flooding. the water is inching closer to the top of street signs there. roads, even interstates are shut down across the region. emergency officials are warning people to stay home. hundreds of church services have been canceled this sunday morning. more dramatic video showing the desperate residents trying to escape streets that turn into raging rivers overnights. hundreds of reported rescued like that one. one woman left a local hospital and found her two young children and husband on top of a car waiting to be rescued. >> i'm just glad they got to them in time.

they had to wait for the boat. we're thankful. we're praying for others because it's crazy out there. >> the national weather service is calling this a once in every 200 years rainfall, vent. we have two reports now. sarah dallof is in south carolina. first let's bring in meteorologist bill karins. where is this heading next? >> nowhere fast. this is as bad if not worse than expected. some areas seeing more than that. boone hall plantation with two feet of rain. charleston over 16 and columbia 9. to the east of charleston, upwards of 18 inches of rain. that much rain caused the biggest problems around columbia. this is one of the reasons why. this is one earthen dam that broke free. all of that water quickly rushed down stream in that creek. that's one of the raen reasons have 18 inches of rain.

here's a photo from columbia, south carolina. these people are standing on the back of the bed of their truck. notice the fire department trying to rescue these people. this is the scene taking place throughout columbia, south carolina, north charleston and north myrtle beach toward florence. we're talking now not just about the monetary damage. we easily have a couple thousand people. 10,000. who knows how many people that don't have homes to live in. that whole bottom floor of that house has at least four to five water. and that's the scene. i've seen apartment complexes halfway up. people can't live in those places anymore. a lot of sheetrock has to be torn out. here's more pictures of first responders rescuing people from their homes. some of the rescues were dramatic. some like this pulling people out of their homes surrounded by

water. also roads are closed. i-95 from interstate 20 to interstate 26. that's dozens of miles of major interstate where people can't get up and down the east coast. think of all the truckers stuck at rest stops. many roads will have to be rebuilt here. estimates of the rainfall upwards of 12 to 18 inches over a huge area. it's not done raining. horrendous flooding from myrtle beach to south of florence. that's the area of gravest concern. historic doesn't sum it up. people haven't seen things like this. >> they're saying 200 years. sometimes those are overstatements. not in this case. >> this one they up to about a once in 500 year event. msnbc's sarah dallof is in columbia, south carolina. we saw some people just coming out, being married by firefighters. seen a lot of dramatic ones

where you are. >> reporter: people overtaken by this water. you can see this intersection. it's transformed into a lake. according to people in the intersection when the water came through it happened in a matter of seconds. they were parked in the middle of the intersection waiting to go. the water immediately rushed in overwhelming them. bonn family, father and two sons. it took 2 1/2 hours for rescuers to meet up with him. he and his dad had to get his two sons on top of the vehicle. if it had been another ten minutes he's not sure they would have made it out alive. they are thankful and praying for other people who continue to be affected by the storm. emergency personnel are scrambling to keep up with the phone calls. the calls were 100 deep. stranded motorists, trees down, power outages.

all across the board, weather related problems and emergencies right now. leading officials to urge people to please stay home. however, we've seen a lot of people coming out here. they want to see the flooding for themselves and take pictures. some of those people are getting caught off guard and becoming victims themselves. they're needing assistance from emergency workers. this water is coming from gills creek which rose seven feet in three hours. that shattered previous records causing huge problems here in downtown columbia. rain still falling as we continue into this wet and dangerous weekend of record-breaking proportions. back to you. >> talk about people describing it only a matter of seconds that water comes in. this is flash flooding. is that coming from that creek, that river you were talking about or behind you? there's an incline behind you. was water rushing down that street? >> if you look down the street, we're on the incline and seeing

it come down and also up from the storm drains. a parking lot there. when we started there this morning we were on that patio behind it. in a matter of ten minutes we were forced off that patio by the rising water. i wouldn't call that specifically a flash flood but how rapidly it rose. that seems like the flash flood conditions. we are under a flash flood warning and will be for several more hours. that started in the middle of the night. 12-plus hours of being under this flash flood warning. conditions not getting any less dangerous. >> do stay safe. sarah dallof. an intensive search off the bahamas has turned up a life ring but no other sign of the u.s. cargo ship that disappeared with 28 americans. it was head from florida to puerto rico but lost contact after running right into hurricane joaquin. nbc's kristen dahlgren has the

latest from jacksonville, florida, the port from which the ship took off from. are officials taking this as a sign of hope or something else? >> reporter: they say it's too early, alex, to really say what this says about the fate of that ship. they did spot a few other things in the water yesterday when they recovered this life ring. the problem was it was so rough out there that the diver that went in the water was only able to pull out this one life ring. today the coast guard is telling me it's spotted more materials consistent with what would be on a ship. they can't confirm that anything they're seeing from the air is from the ship. presumably they'll be sending divers down into the water to try and pick up those objects and see what they are. they are getting calls in from outside sources about an oil slick in the area but the coast guard cannot confirm that it has spotted this oil slick at all. a lot of information coming in. this is where some of the family

members have gathered here today, alex. they've put up the cones, a sign, family members only. you can imagine just how agonizing this wait is. i've spoke be to some of them. they have a lot of questions as they wait for word on their loved ones. they're also asking why they went out with a storm coming in. now tote shipping, the shipping agent spoke last night. here's what's they said about conversations with the captain before he left. >> he informed us he was adjusting his course accordingly to avoid the storm, and unfortunately, the ship became disabled because of a mechanical problem, and the ship found its way in the path of the storm. >> reporter: so they do say this never would have happened if the

ship hadn't lost propulsion. they also say the conversations with the captain while they were suffering this mechanical breakdown and also taking on a little bit of water that the crew was trying to troubleshoot. they were working on it. they'd stopped the water at that point from coming on to the ship and they were all calm and really trying to work through this issue. then, of course, all communications stopped on thursday, and they haven't been heard from since. >> mechanical problems in a cat 4 hurricane. that's not a good combination. developing now, the medical aid group doctors without borders is demanding an independent invest sgigs yesterday's apparent air strike that hit an afghan hospital. they're now saying the death toll has risen to 22. john yang has been following this story from our london bureau. you spoke to a member of that aid organization. what did she tell you? >> that's right. vicki hawkens is the executive directions here in the united kingdom. she related the stories from

their staff, just absolutely horrifying talking about what it was like in that hospital that sustained an aerial bombardment that lasted more than an hour. >> the intensive care units have been almost completely demolished. we had very vulnerable sick patients in that intensive care unit. they saw patients burning in their beds. traumatic, distressing scenes, and we've lost colleagues. >> the nurse talked about rushing into an operating room, finding it empty except for the patient dead on the operating table. now u.s. forces say this air strike targeted militants who were tigfiring directly. but christopher stokes who is the group's managing director issued a statement that says -- not a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the

msf hospital compound prior to the u.s. air strike on saturday morning. he said we condemn this attack which constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law. they are saying this should be investigated as a presumed war crime and that a pentagon investigation isn't going to be enough since they are a party in this. they want a full independent investigation to get to the bottom of it. alex? >> clearly a lot more to come on this one. thanks, john yang. a new day, a new poll. we'll tell you whether any candidate is showing fresh momentum. and the worst is not over. a live picture of virginia beach, virginia, where high waves are pounding the surf there. we'll get a live report next. (man) hmm. what do you think?

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i've seen hurricane katrina, this is bad. >> i didn't think it would escalate this far. i thought it would be like how it usually rains in charleston. >> people in the carolinas say they've never seen anything like this. massive flooding after days of rain from a storm hitting the east coast for yet another day. 4 million people in south carolina being told to stay put. that means giving up church, shopping, seeing friends and family, all in the name of safety. the weather channel's mike sie e seidel is standing by for us. what is it like? >> you're right on. the wind has picked up again. yesterday was lighter. this is day nine out of the past 12 where we've had winds sustained at 25 miles an hour. we've had gusts up and down the coast around 50 miles an hour. what we've seen overnight is

some beach replenishment. this was about a five-foot drop yesterday. now it's only about 2 1/2. beef got enough high tide here in about an hour and a half and you can see what happens as those waves come in. not only do you get hit by sea foam and saltwater but just took away another six inch chunk of this beach. that's a continuing process through the afternoon and into tomorrow. high tides tomorrow will begin to back off and winds begin to back off into monday night and tuesday. coastal flood advisories and warnings from the connecticut beaches down to south carolina, in parts of florida. a coastal flood advisory as far inland as the potomac in washington, d.c. we're looking at major, even severe beach erosion. and coastal flooding will be an issue. moderate to major coastal flooding today. even into some areas tomorrow. especially around the outer banks and parts of south carolina where they're also

dealing with that onslaught of rain. it's a frothy day out here. this water will come up another foot before it tries to go out later this afternoon. at least two or three more high tides of concern in the tidewater area of virginia. interstate 95, if you're getting set to travel is shut down for a 75-mile stretch in south carolina because of all the heavy rain. a lot of folks trying to get north and south from d.c. and new york to florida. 75-mile stretch shut down because of the fire hose of water coming in off the atlantic ocean. >> that's a huge inconvenience. mike, tell me there are no surfers out there behind you because yesterday there were. >> i don't see any right now. we had a couple out here late yesterday by themselves. you'd see their head bobbing up and down. boy, more power to them. i wouldn't get in this water

past my knees, ankles. waves have been at high as 17 feet. it's amazing how much wind. they're getting sick and tired of it but they're glad they didn't take a direct hit from joaquin. >> the last 12 days. that's a lot for any community to take. thanks, mike seidel. we'll also be reporting from further up the east coast. mike was talking about the conditions up to connecticut. we'll check in with the jersey shore later this afternoon. residents of roseburg, oregon, are going to church. the county sheriff said it's been determined the gunman committed suicide during an exchange of fire with police. the campus will reopen tomorrow and classes could resume a week from monday. a document left by the gunman has been recovered. nine people were also injured in that rampage. that includes 16-year-old shay

ann fitzgerald, the youngest victim. her mother spoke with thomas roberts about waiting to hear if her daughter had survived. >> should have come out and talked to me and told me what they were doing, and we just waited. >> what was going through your mind while you were waiting? >> i was praying. >> for more on this developing story, let's bring in jacob soborov. so what are you seeing there today? >> so just in the last hour, we're outside of umpqua community college. we saw a caravan of vehicles led by a suburban from the department of health and human services which we were told yesterday in the press briefing by the sheriff there would be 15 officials up here from the federal government helping with mental health treatment and mental counseling. the campus itself opens tomorrow for the first time since the

shooting and another week until classes resume. another controversy right now happening on campus. this is the front page of the local paper today. about the emergency warning system at the campus which, according to some faculty members there did not activate as it was supposed to once this incident started to take place. the interim president of umpqua community college told "the oregonian" it's too soon to say if that's the case. one of many questions yet to still be answered up here. >> jacob, thank you. coming up, a new nbc poll on the gop race for president. who is slip, and who is gaining ground? we're also giving you another live look at columbia, south carolina. historic flooding causing major problems there and it's far from over. the latest in a live report coming up. 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.

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if i were doing poorly, if i saw myself going down, if you would stop calling me because you no longer have any interest in trump because he has no chance, i'd go back to my business. i have no problem with that. >> that's the latest from donald trump on "meet the press" on his post campaign plan if he starts to tank in the polls. he's not done yet. new poll numbers show him holding the lead in new hampshire and iowa. the nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll shows trump at 25%. fiorina second and jeb bush is third. in iowa, his closest competition is ben carson and fiorina is third with 8%. bernie sanders maintains his lead by 13 points over hillary clinton. joe biden jumped to 18% now. in iowa, clinton's lead dipped by five points.

bernie sanders is in second place. biden with 22%. joining me now, fred yang, a democrat democratic pollster. does this poll represent the definite ceiling for donald trump? does he have nowhere further to go up and only down? >> i'm not sure, alex, any of us really know what donald trump's ceiling is. i do think that these polls, the national poll we released earlier this week for nbc news/"wall street journal," they do suggest there's some leveling off of the trump dynamic. look, he had a really good summer. in some respects it was hard to sustain that. i think he's basically spent zero money on tv. a lot of this is just free press. and fiorina did well in the second debate. ben carson continues to hang around there. so i think what we're seeing is for donald trump is he's not the

only story of the day. there were other republican candidates he's sharing the stage with. >> you mentioned carly fiorina. do you think she has the ability to leapfrock over donald trump? ben carson as well? >> the only female, the republican electorate in our polling is still more male than female. but i think more than gender, she does present a different nonpolitical resume than donald trump has. yeah, i think for her this is her first sustained look by the american public. donald trump had the whole summer. if you had to say for the fall who to look for, carly fiorina, marco rubio and ben carson. >> you've been doing this a heck of a long time. is there something within these poll numbers that stands out on the republican side and democrat side that could indicate ultimate outcomes?

>> i think the most important number is frankly with general election voters, how high donald trump's negatives are. if he is the republican nominee, and as you said, there's a long way to go. the first real voters won't vote for another five months. i think it's unlikely he could win the general election. that's what our poll numbers are showing us. the other set of poll numbers we haven't really talked about a lot is president obama's numbers continue to be strong. if president obama maintains his job rating, mid-40s, low 50s, that's an important advantage for democrats. eight years ago at this time, president bush's job approval rating was in the mid-30s and going down. if president obama can sustain mid-40, that's an important advantage for democrats next november. >> putting it all out there is a page from the donald trump play

book. it would seem hillary clinton is doing the same thing. do you have indication her poll numbers will improve as a result of that? >> i think the thing about mrs. clinton. this has been a tough period for her. she is still leading. she's still doing well in national polls. still the presumptive favorite for the democratic party. this is a long election. things will look very differently next summer when we have a democrat nominee, a republican nominee. for all of the free press she's been getting that's been negative, she has a lot of strengths. i think against donald trump or other republicans she matches up well in terms of experience and handling of important issues. >> how do you explain joe biden? not officially in the race. two points up. what's that about? >> i think throughout this nomination process, and we do, alex, the nbc news/"wall street

journal" national surveys with bill mcinturf. we've seen regardless of what party or what candidate you are, you get your biggest bump when you announce your candidacy. once you're in the real world of being a candidate, it gets harder. i knowledge right now joe biden has the best of both worlds. he's someone that people respect. he's someone that people like. he is someone, though, who is not actually running for president. and that last advantage, alex, could be his best advantage right now. >> i see what you're saying. fred yang, thanks so much. dangerous and deadly flooding in south carolina. and it could get worse. a live report from charleston coming up. care of my heart.

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after we are all inside for a while, it gets pretty stuffy. when dad opens up the window, what's the first thing he does? the tobin stance. but when we open up the windows, you can see the dust floating around. there's dog hair. pollen. more work. (doorbell) whoa! what's this? swiffer sweeper! swiffer dusters! removes up to 70% of dust and allergens. stays on there like glue. can't do that with the other broom. wow, i love it. the tobin stance! that is totally what it is! welcome back. we're following breaking weather news. check out this new video of

historic flooding in the carolinas caused by the record rainfall there. residents are being told to stay home, even skip church as they continue to rescue people trapped in flooded cars and homes. the rain is only going to get worse. let's get a check on things from gabe gutierrez from charleston. how bad is it there? >> hey there, alex. we've been looking at this all morning. this is what residents in charleston woke up to. cars submerged. many roads impassable. and water rescues are under way. just on the west side of town, west ashley neighborhood. still water rescues continuing throughout the morning. many people waking up and realizing they cannot get out of their homes. overnight there were hundreds of emergency calls. charleston pd says they had at least several dozen. three dozen water rescues just overnight. that's continuing throughout the

day. saturday was charleston's wettest day on record. they had almost a quarter of their average annual rainfall just in 24 hours. the big concern right now is whether these rivers that are swelling across the state might go into record flood stages by tomorrow. thankfully as you can see, the rain has tapered off for a bit just here in charleston. the water has receded on this street. the water earlier today was halfway up that car. it's gone down several inches. there's still major concern here. a lot of roads are still impa e impassable in charleston. overnight couldn't get into the peninsula area except maybe one or two ways. they've started to open up but still very difficult to get around here in south carolina. if people don't have to be somewhere, if they are safe and dry to stay there. >> you brought a shock to us of a car with its window on the

driver's side rolled down. and i thought, why bother rolling that one up. that car is a goner. gabe gutierrez, thank you. more dramatic pictures coming into our affiliate in columbia, south carolina. they covered several rescues live as they happened. >> we are at the shannon crossing apartments. you'll see a trunk of an suv, a crossover vehicle open there. not sure if that was caused by the waters or what led to that. you can see little children, kids. kids being brought out of these homes. >> rescuing kids over there. >> tell me your name? >> my name is ms. ball. >> where do you live? >> right here on the hill. >> what's going through your mind right now? >> i don't know. it's devastation. i pray. that's all i can say.

>> everyone -- we need to leave. we need to get out. that's the indication. how long have you lived here for? >> i've been here a year. never seen anything like this in my life. >> have you been in the columbia area longer? >> 49 years. >> 49 years. do you ever remember this? we talk about hugo. >> i remember hugo. oh, yes. >> would you compare this to that? >> hugo wasn't quite this bad with the flood. this takes the cake. this takes the cake. i've never seen nothing like this in my life. >> our photographer is crouched down against a tree. in a higher area to be able to bring you these images. residents telling me they've found snakes in their ark part me apartments in the midst of all of this because of the rain. at this time as i watch this boat, as it makes its way toward the camera, it's almost like you

don't have any words this is happening in our own backyard. columbia, south carolina. you've got a whole group of folks and children. getting safely to higher ground. that's the hope and prayer we can get folks. i don't think this is the last of it. i can see someone on their balcony. if you look far down. all the way at the end there's someone at the top building in their balcony peeking their has out the window. no way they'll get out unless someone comes to help them. and the hope is that if they stay at higher ground they'd be okay until the waters recede. we justice don't know how high and how fast these waters are going to continue to rise. we just know what we can see and that's where cars used to be parked. they're now in what's become a

lake. >> epic flooding there. thanks to wis for bringing us that story. what's the situation like as we head north? we'll show you on the jersey shore, the scene there, when we return. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn because you can't beat zero heartburn! ahhh the sweet taste of victory! prilosec otc. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly

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the situation is dire at this hour in parts of south carolina. water is running over two dams in two columbia area towns. another dam has completely collapsed. and all of this comes after days of historic rain. that rain is not over yet. more rain is expected through tomorrow. what's the situation like further north on the jersey shore? the weather channel's reagan mejie is in avalon for us. looks windy. wow. >> the winds right now are clocking out at 20, 25 miles an hour. the peak gusts at 26.7 miles an hour. the high winds and high tides continuing issue here in avalon, new jersey.

we're going up the jersey coast from cape may to seaside heights all the way up. all this wind. right here the road is closed. that's why i'm able to go on this road. this is a sea wahll. the high tide is happening in a half an hour. this is nothing compared to what's going to be in a half an hour. the wind gusts as well. if you look at the ocean, it's 14-foot waves at this moment. what is this water doing? we've got this sea wall up. this sea wall is mitigating the possibility of flooding. it's making sure flooding doesn't happen to downtown. it's doing a doesn't job but not a great one. you can see all of the roadway is starting to flood. high tide is at 1:11 this afternoon in avalon, new jersey. we're not there yet. you can only imagine there will be more water on the roadways. this leads to sea isle city which is over the bridge there. look at the power of this wind and water. we're not out of the woods yet

when it comes to the wind. not out of the woods when it comes to the coastal flooding. an advisory until 6:00 with the coastal flooding. that means it's also the strong possibility of even more beach erosion. the pio, public information officer of avalon, says on monday and tuesday, hopefully the winds will die down. hopefully the tide will die down. he'll go outwith a bunch of team and just look at what did this storm do to the beaches. replenishment has happened since sandy. most notably this past sknrl they just got done doing a beach fill in avalon. 40,000 people in the peak summer months come here to avalon. you can imagine there was a lot of beach to fill to make sure those people have a place to park. about 500,000 cubic yards of sand placed on the beaches. the public information officer of avalon says he's not sure

what's going to happen when he starts looking at what this storm has done to their beaches. right now high tide at 111. the tide still coming in and the winds still blowing all of this water on to roadways not only here but throughout the jersey town communities. >> we'll see if we can even check in with you in terms of your situation if it's safe to do so in a half an hour when it's high tide. let's hope those roads don't wash out. let's go to another big developing story. that being russian planes today have struck islamic state targets in syria. russian officials say their attacks disrupted isis supply lines and control structures but the obama administration says they are primarily interested in backing bashar al assad. >> we reject russia's theory that everybody opposed to asaud

is a terrorist. we think that's self-defeating. it will get them into a quagmire and be used as a furth ir recruitment tour for foreign fighters. >> let's bring in a pulitzer prize winning reporter for "the washington post" and author of "black flags, the rise of isis." joby, good to see you. i want to ask you about the latest events in syria. can the russians be effective against isis? >> if their idea is to prop of the assad regime to withstand what's going on. it's lost a lot of territory over the last few years and last few months. its forces are weakened. if the idea it to keep assad in power, yeah, they can do that. whether they can retake territory, where they can push out isis, even if they want to, that looks doubtful. there really aren't that many planes in syria and this is a big territory to cover. >> i'm looking at a new report from the department of homeland

security. it found we're losing the struggle to stop americans from traveling overseas. what are young americans finding so appealing about joining jihadist groups like isis? >> we see some solid data that shows some of those who go over get pretty quickly disillusioned and want to come back, if they can. that's not always easy to do. isis' propaganda machine is good at social media and all kinds of messages that appeal to different people. some are religious. some appeal to adventure. these things they produce are very slick. it's almost like call of duty or world of warcraft. it's video game stuff. and it's very appealing to certain disaffected young men and young women that go over there and want to participate. >> here's what's interesting about your book. you detail the rise of isis as it's outpacing electrie ining a.

how did it reach this level so fast? >> there's been this rift between isis as we know it, various incarnations over the years, and al qaeda, which looks at isis as being way too extreme even forever their purposes. the thing aboutu sis, it wanted to make a caliphate happen right now. they want to do it to the most violent, most extreme measures possible, and their message is what appeals to the most radical people in the islamist world. and these are the ones coming over. these are the ones giving their money and willing to fight. and they're winning right now. much more powerful in terms of messaging and in their military power than al qaeda ever was. >> creating a caliphate throughout the middle east. how does that translate to being a threat to the united states? >> there's certainly a fear as a long-term proposition for us, you have, at minimum, a lot of people trained by isis who are being radicalized, may some day try to come back here and even

more immediate concern is the lone wolves, the ones listening to the messages back here at home and try to decide to do something on their own. you can't stop them. too many people that could possibly want to do this. law enforcement has their hands full trying to figure out who and trying to stop them. >> but is there anything that stands out to you through your research of some way that would suggest how to defeat isis? >> what's interesting to me and this goes to one of the main themes is the people we see in isis today, they are directly a result of many foreign interventions in the past. going back to the soviet invasion of afghanistan where some of the early founders of isis got their training and start. jihadist because they wanted to push the soviets out of afghanistan. the core vices today came out of the iran conflurkt. it's part of the fuel that keeps them going. makes them appeal to people like

them around the world. any time you see russians and others getting involved in this fight in a bigger way, it's a worrisome sign. >> black flags, the rise of isis. joby, good luck with your book. does the publicity around mass shootings inspire others? you might be surprised by the results of one study. the rain, the flood, now the winds. bringing you a live picture of myrtle beach, south carolina, where the winds and waves are rising. want bladder leak underwear that moves like you do? try always discreet underwear and wiggle, giggle, swerve and curve.

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the tragic shooting at roseburg, oregon's umpqua community college has brought tons of reporters to that small logging city. coverage has renewed concerns that attention surrounding mass killings inspiring similar acts. the douglas county sheriff had those concerns in mind thursday. >> let me be very clear. i will not name the shooter.

i will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act. >> let's bring in max, a staff writer at "newsweek" who has written about bhmass shootings d the news media. do you agree with what the sheriff said? the reasoning behind it? >> his reasoning is correct. that sort of only works if no one names the shooter. but we've seen reporters do that. we saw anderson cooper do that after the aurora, colorado, theater shooting. they did find that mass shootings and school shootings are contagious. they found that there's -- that 30% of mass killings have been inspired by previous mass killings. 22% of school shootings were inspired by previous ones. there are people out there who do romanticize the people who

commit these crimes. we saw that with the sandy hook shooter. he had sort of obsessed over columbine. the reasoning is correct. >> how about the news media coverage? do you find a correlation? >> so these researchers from arizona state university did find a correlation. they employed mathematical contagion models typically used to track disease patterns and found these periods of contagion for mass killings and school shootings. the more press coverage that surrounded these, the more likely that a similar incident would happen. there's research that proves that. >> a copycat hikiller, within t weeks? >> y 13 days. unlucky 13. >> what about the writings, trying to explain their actions left behind. there are reports police in oregon recovered some writings that may have been left. also in the wake of the

charleston church shootings. some media outlets published parts of dylann roof's so-called manifesto. and the 1977 son of sam shootings here in new york where the killer in the midst of his killing spree was correspondenting with a columnist. where do you draw the line on publishing and broadcasting them. >> they have guidelines for reports are covering this sort of thing. abc news, in my opinion, and in the dark center's opinion, i would imagine, was correct in what they did with vester flanagan's manifesto. they provided it to the police. they didn't really publish it in full. we've seen the opposite with dylann roof's pseudomanifesto following the charleston shootings. mother jones and many publications did publish and continue to have that online, his 2,000 words, even when they don't appear on his own website

anymore. journalists need to be careful in whom they retweet. we remember vester flanagan in august in the virginia shooting was live tweeting his shooting. so reporters need to be careful in publishing these manifestos. it can traumatize or retraumatize victims and survivors. >> that live tweeting was extraordinary to follow. appreciate it. widespread flooding and dramatic rescues. more coming up from charleston, south carolina, where more rain is yet to come. hold the phone. because at&t and directv are now one! which means you can access your dvr at the dmv. change channels while he changes pants. you don't have to be a couch potato, you can be a train potato! and let them watch all the shows they love, inside the ride that you really kind of hate. introducing the all in one plan. only from directv and at&t.

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expected to grow given these conditions. crews have been busy rescuing hundreds of people today and overnight, including families who had to be taken from their homes by boat. one resident has been awake since 1:00 a.m. dealing with waist-high floodwaters inside his home. >> didn't think it was going to get this high here. when they said 12 to 15 or 18 inches, i didn't think it was going to be three feet. the bands are coming. get your car moved out now would be the recommendation. >> the concern now, rivers reaching the flood stages. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." we're going to get the latest forecast from our meteorologist shawna. furst to sarah dallof. beef been talking about the dramatic rescues overnight into this morning. what have you seen from this vantage point? >> dramatic rescues.

this was the scene of one this morning where a father and two young sons had to be rescued from the top of their car. the water had come up so high. if there had been another ten minutes he doesn't think they'd make it. they are thankful for the emergency response and prayerful for anyone else finding themselves in a similar situation. these swift water rescues are happening all over town. we had a crew just return a few minutes ago from two apartment complexes. approximately 20 people rescued. 40 people from another. so there's a pretty dramatic numbers. and emergency services are just inundated with calls. at one point the fire chief told me those calls were rescue were stacked about 100 deep. also calls about downed trees and power outages. it's a recipe for disaster. this water is coming from gills creek. it rose seven feet in three hours this morning. just shattered a previous

record. this was just a creek. it's created a river, a lake in this intersection. the water beginning to recede a few feet. still a long ways before we're out of the woods yet. and any of these business owners get a chance to get inside and see the damage that's been done. >> i want to double check. power is that out there behind you? when you mix the power lines with waurkter, that's a dangero situation. >> we had firefighters pleading with people. a firefight eer pleading with people not to get in the water. so many downed power lines. the power to all these businesses behind me does appear to be out. earlier while the water was high those street lights were on. it's a dangerous situation. you can understand why emergency services are pleading with people to stay out of the water and really just stay home.

>> appreciate that, sarah dallof. let's bring in our meteorologist who joins us from los angeles knbc. she's come here in studio. what are you seeing in columbia and the rest of the region? >> we're seeing incredible photos. south carolina is getting inundated with this rain. it's almost overcoming some of these homes. we're going to see more rain as we continue and a lot of that rain will head into the rivers and streams and creeks. that's going to overflow and create some issues. you can see these numbers just so much. boone hall, over two feet of rain there. charleston, 16 feet. three months worth of rain within three days. we'll continue to see more here. columbia with nine inches of rain and myrtle beach looking at more rain today with eight inches of rain on the ground. radar, that atmospheric river, or what we like to call is that

garden hose of water straight into south carolina. yesterday, today, and that's going to make an axis tilt toward the north. these incredible pictures and video from south carolina. a lot of the roads inundated. back to the radar. we're expecting a tilt to the north later on this afternoon. a low pressure trough right along the east. that's causing the axis of this moisture to tilt up. a lot of the problems will be for myrtle beach and areas to the north into the afternoon and evening. and continuing into possibly monday. futurecast is going to illustrate that. myrtle beach looking at heavy amounts there. some of these areas getting a foot of rain and a lot of that is to continue. we won't see this continue to dissipate until around monday night and then drift off to the east. rainfall totals at least six inches in georgetown. more for orangeburg and areas in south carolina.

and we're also watching that flash flood threat extending into columbia. inner south carolina looking at that issue. coastal impacts, not only are we seeing flooding on the roads and also throughout the streams and creeks. we're seeing that through the coast. more northeast winds are moving into the coastline causing problems along the coast with high tides. high tide is in about one hour or so for many of these areas including the delmarva peninsula. >> coastal winds only complicating things. we're just getting new details in the search for the missing u.s. cargo ship which day peered thursday with 32 people on board. what are you hearing there? >> reporter: hi there, alex. those search crews have been out again since first light this morning. we just got an update from the coast guard. those crews have spotted life jackets, life rings, containers and also an oil sheen in the

search area. they can't confirm that any of that material is from "alfaro." yesterday they were able to recover a life ring. they spotted it from the air and sent a diver down into the water. they also spotted a few other things at the time. because conditions were so rough they were only able to recover that one life ring. presumably today they'll be lowering divers into the water to try to recover some of those materia materials. here in jacksonville, family members have gathered in the bmding behind me throughout the day. they've been coming in. i've been speaking with them over the past two days. deborah roberts son mike holland is missing, and here's what she told us. >> one of his friends is an engineer that's supposed to be going on the ship next week.

having conversations with him, knowing the ship really well, helps reassure me. every time i talk to him i feel more hopeful that they're adrift out there and that we'll be reunited. that's why we're headed to jacksonville. >> family members continuing to cling to hope here that their loved ones are going to be found out there. tote marine, the shipping agent also came out and said they're hopeful. this is a good ship. the captain is very experienced. the crew was calm as they were communicating with them before they lost contact. they were hopeful they'd also find the crew on board that ship. we'll continue to keep you updated. >> thanks, kristen. residents of roseburg, oregon, are remembering the nine people killed and nine others wounded in thursday's shootings at the umpqua community college. the county sheriff said the gunman committed suicide during exchange of gunfire with police.

let's bring in jacob soberov. the school is scheduled to open up, is it tomorrow? how about classes? >> so classes are not opening tomorrow. classes will open a week from monday. and you can already see people are walking, starting to walk by because this road just reopened for the first time today. trying to resume their day-to-day routine. obviously, it's not easy. this morning, people are remembering victims. and one story that's emerged in particular. los angeles times reports a father spoke to his daughter who had survived the shooting and said trevor taylor anspach fell on top of his daughter and may have saved her life. that's in the "los angeles times." treven taylor anspach was the son of one of the ems service workers in this area. that's hit this community particularly hard. at this hour in this community, church services are ongoing

remembering some of the victims. this is a very hard thing for the people up here. >> acts of selfless bravely. thanks, jacob. let's go from there to presidential politics. the candidates weighing in on the renewed gun debate. >> i think the vast majority of the american people, including gun owners, and i know that's true in vermont, want sensible gun control legislation. and they also believe that we should have more access to mental health facilities and counselors than we presently do. >> it's just beyond my comprehension that we are seeing these mass murders happen again and again and again. as i have said, we have got to get the political will to do everything we can to keep people safe. >> guns, no guns, it doesn't matter. you have people that are mentally ill. they'll come through the cracks. >> look, stuff happens. there's always a crisis and the impulse is to always do

something and it's not always the right thing to do. >> a spokesperson for jeb bush said his comments were taken out of context. a new poll shows him still unable to make significant gains. trump is at 21%, five-point advantage over carly fiorina who jumped ten points since last month. jeb bush third with 11%. in iowa, trump's closest competition is ben carson. fiorina third with 8%. among democrats, bernie sanders maintains his lead in new hampshire by 14 points over hillary clinton. joe biden, not even announced by the way, jumped two points to 18%. then in iowa, clinton's lead dipped by five points. though she stopped by "saturday night live" playing opposite herself. need an explanation? here it is. >> i'm just so darn bummed. all anyone wants to talk about is donald trump. >> donald trump? isn't he the one that's like,

ugh, you're all losers. >> that is him. that is him. >> that was pretty good. tomorrow the "today" show will broadcast clinton's town hall coming from new hampshire. falling rain, broken dams, rising tides combining to create dangerous flooding in columbia, south carolina. in just a moment we'll hear from a woman who needed to be rescued from her flooded home. it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help. it provides estrogens to 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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at a quarter past, we're keeping you up to date on this breaking news with new video in to us. columbia south carolina. the fallout from the record-setting rain there. president obama has declared a

state of emergency. these days of heavy rain have produced dangerous flooding. also triggered countless rescues like the one you're seeing here. it's on record as the worst rain storm there in 500 years. residents of one apartment complex are safe after this harrowing morning. they were trapped in floodwaters. no way to escape on their own. thanks to a man in a boat, they are no okay. a reporter with wis-tv caught up with residents. >> if we wouldn't have got out by 7:00 this morning, we wouldn't have got out. a lot of our neighbors got trapped in their homes and had to come rescue them in motor boats and canoes. we've lost everything. what i've got on my body is what we've got. pretty much everyone down that hill has lost everything. our vehicles, our clothes. but the best thing is we still have our lives. nobody has lost their lives yet.

wonderful. >> we are so glad that you are here with us. can you talk us through that process? you got up about 5:30 -- >> 5:30. it's a creek behind our house. we said we thought we had 30 minutes to an hour to evacuate. that didn't happen. by 10 minutes later, water came in our apartment from the bathroom. the bathroom, the kitchen, front door once we opened that, it gushed in like the ocean was coming in. grabbed our dog and what we could get and we got in my truck. truck stalled. so i had to walk through the water uphill to get us to safety up here at my friend's house. we're praying this water don't come no farther than this. >> what were you thinking when that water came? >> child, we've got to go. we have to go. we have to go. we have to get out of here. it's not going to be safe. it's not going to be safe. >> that woman is now in a shelter. in downtown columbia, the gills

creek has risen to 17 feet. that's about ten feet above flood stage. we're going to keep you posted on all the developments in the flood southeast. let's get more on the oregon shooting. 9 people killed, 9 wounded when that's gunman opened fire on umpqua campus. there have been 45 shootings at schools across the country. so far this year. pennsylvania democrat senator robert casey. always good to see you, sir. >> thanks, alex. >> just four days ago when we all learned this gunman struck the oregon campus killing nine people, officials found he owned 13 firearms. you changed your own views on gun law measures after the sand i hook school shootings nearly three years ago. 142 school shootings have taken place in the three years since sandy hook. why is congress unable to write any kind of legislation reforming gun regulation?

>> i think it would be best for the country if the congress had a debate, had more votes on it. the last time we voted on the three measures, the background check and ban on the military-style weapon as well as the magazines, the bullets, that was 2013. we're long overdue. >> are you talking about the manchin/toomey bill. >> the background check bill was supported by manchin and toomey. i believe we should have those votes again and debate. i think the debate would be healthy for the country and force people to confront this issue and maybe because of the debate you could arrive at a bipartisan consensus. i would hope the majority leader mcconnell would schedule votes and have us examine this again. i think long term the only way that we get all three passed, in

addition to mental health provisions, changes in mental health laws to stop someone who is clearly going down the wrong path is -- we've got to do the mental health part of this as well. the only way it's really going to change is in elections. those who say that there is no problem, we don't need to make any changes need to be confronted in elections. that hasn't happened on that side of the debate. until that happens, we're going to be in this dilemma where folks want to do something and yet the votes aren't there in congress. >> senator, you and the rest of the country all heard president obama expressing his capac peration over the lack of congressional action. could the president have done more sooner? and if not on the federal level, we're seeing action on the state level. what about your state, pennsylvania? has pennsylvania toughened up on gun regulations? >> furirst of all, with regard

the president, i think he's done all he can do. this is a matter for congress. congress has to change the law when it comes to how many weapons someone can have who might be deranged and have a real problem. and congress has to act on the mental health provisions i talked about. one thing pennsylvania did years ago, we have more gun owners than almost any other state. and we have a strong tradition for support for the second amendment. lots of hunters, folks who use firearms for sporting. sometimes even collection. and for protection. and that should be -- that obviously should be legal. but in our state, we had an instant background check system put in in the 1990s which should be the kind of model for the country. it didn't solve all the problems, but that's one of the provisions. if you can put in an instant

background check system in -- through state government action in pennsylvania, i'm sure you could do it around the country. that's why we have to take steps to limit the likelihood, reduce the likelihood that someone who has a terrible mental health problem or criminal record can get a hold of a weapon. >> let's talk about the crisis in syria. you're calling on the obama administration to reinvigorate its efforts to find a way to try to end the civil war there. how has the new russian involvement complicated that goal? >> i think it's complicated it somewhat. i hope we don't overreact. i hear some republicans in their usual categorical condemnation of everything the president does on foreign policy reacting to mr. putin's provocative actions as if it's a call to war. something like that. we have to make it very clear to mr. putin he's not going to be allowed to continue down the path he started the other day. but in the last day or so, some

of the strikes were in isis-held areas finally. all the other strikes, "new york times" had a chart today that i counted about 25 of the strikes were against rebels. against assad. we can't allow them to do that. i don't think his provocative actions are going to persist, and i don't think they give him much of an advantage. he's nowhere near the power we are. having said that, we have to consider in addition to using every military asset we have in the region, we have to do some nonmilitary things to get people to the table. negotiate, implement the umpts n. security council resolutions that deal wutith humanitarian a and prohibition of barrel bombing. and also do a lot more to push the other countries in the region to not just take on the fight but also to take on the responsibility to help in a humanitarian way. the people of syria have benefited tremendously from $4.5 billion of our tax dollars.

we can do more. but a lot of countries in the region have to do more with humanitarian aid and follow the lead of countries like jordan who have taken in huge numbers. tens and tens of thousands of refugees. so some countries in the region have done a lot and some have not done much at all. >> senator robert casey, always good to talk with you, sir. we'll see you again. hillary clinton's appearance on "saturday night live" is part of a campaign to change her image? that's ahead. 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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27 past with this breaking news from the east coast about thewidespread flooding. a high tide is making matters worse in south carolina which has seen catastrophic flooding after days of unprecedented rains. we'll take you back to the carolinas in just minutes. hillary clinton is taking a break from the campaign trail after making a cameo appearance

on "saturday night live" playing opposite herself. take a look. >> oh, i get it. you're a politician. >> yes, yes. and how about you? >> well, me, i'm just an extraordinary citizen who believes the keystone pipeline will destroy our environment. >> i agree with you there. it did take me a long time to decide that, but i am against it. >> you know, nothing wrong with taking your time. what's important is getting it right. >> yep, i'll drink to that. god, i love a scalding hot vodka. >> her appearance comes as a new poll shows her maintaining her lead in iowa but continuing to trail behind bernie sanders in new hampshire. joining me is heidi prisbella. welcome to you. just last month, hillary clinton was on "jimmy fallon," also on "ellen" tomorrow on the "today" show. she's also going to sit down with savannah guthrie.

are these interviews her -- the appearance on "snl" part of a strategy to appear more relatable? >> i am one of those who didn't necessarily think this was a strategy just the period in her campaign when she'd start to do more media appearances. but no doubt she's trying to show a lighter side. there's a couple of things going on with her poll ratings. the biggest thing is the e-mail scandal and taint around that. she does have some likablity challenges as well. and this might help in the sense that's democrats and people inclined to like her anyway, might get a kick out of it. i don't know that it's going to fundamentally do anything to move her poll numbers right now. the biggest question mark that's going to shake up the poll numbers and potentially help her is knowing whether joe biden is going to get into the race. those numbers change when you

take him out of the equation. >> the e-mail question. do you think she's finding her stride there? >> representative mccarthy's comments, linking benghazi to dragging down her poll numbers is going to help. we know the history of that is the reason why the e-mails came into play was because of some of the investigative work the benghazi commission did. this month could be helpful to her in that that committee and its hearing on october 22nd is going to look much different than it might have had he not made those comments. it's going to be very hard for them to press her too hard because she'll be able to come back and say, there you go making this a political issue. and then if they make it about mostly about benghazi, there's been already so much money, so much time spent investigating that. it's just -- i don't see much coming out of it new. >> looking ahead to the debate next week, she certainly leads in the latest "usa today" national poll by almost 20

points. bernie sanders and joe biden continue to gain support. what does she have to do during that debate to regain the control when she first announced? >> not stumble. debates -- this is why you see her campaign pushing back on having too many of them. front-runners don't have a ton to gain from debate situation. it's the scrappy underdogs who will be coming at her on many issues where they feel she's not far enough to the left. the progressive base feels she's not far enough to the left. even on "saturday night live," her kind of atoning for her past positions on gay marriage, her emphasizing her opposition to the keystone pipeline, and so i think you'll have to see her kind of explain that history a little more in the debates and also go maybe more on the offensive, where she can, on some issues. for example, on bernie sanders' history on gun control or opposing gun control.

>> the nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll shows carly fiorina continuing to gain support. you wrote about her gender like hillary clinton as being a factor. can you explain that in how you gauge the future of her candidacy? >> yes. so it would be quite historic if we had two women running on opposite tickets. however, i think if fiorina's case, gender could be less of an asset because gop women say that it's less of a primary voting issue for them. and if she did get into general election with hillary clinton, if you look at her positions on a number of issues considered to be critical to women's economic security, like the minimum wage, paid maternity leave, she's really no different than a lot of her male competitors. even more conservative arguably when the paid maternity leave, or lilly ledbetter equal pay act came up in the senate.

all of the senate republican women supported it. carly fiorina opposes it. her gender may not be as much of an issue as some in the gop think it might be in terms of it being an advantage. in terms of overall where she is, she's clearly enjoying her boomlet right now. >> a bounce. >> we saw it in 2008 and 2012 that the gop field really are the electorate likes to flirt with a lot of different candidates. that's why we don't have a president herman cain or newt gingrich. not that i'm likening her to their odds of getting the nomination, but i think we're very early in the process and i think we're going to see this carousel continue to go around and a number of different candidates enjoy their time as well on top. >> i think you're right, heidi. thanks so much from "usa today." we'll see you again. let's go back to the record-breaking rain storm hitting the east coast. joining me is mike seidel.

sure windy out there last hour. doesn't seem like it's let up. >> it hasn't. we've been doing this about two weeks straight. a little bit of a break last week. 9 out of 12 days so far. 10 out of 13. the beach is getting eaten alive. we've lost more sand here. this is carlton beach. the south boardwalk from the hotels. gusting as high as 40 miles an hour. look at these winds out here. 8 to ten-footers. if you look down behind me some of the fence here and surf. there's some of the fence there. behind that is part of a tree. the long shore drift here is north to south. the fence and the tree. some of the debris. we're going to lose more of this. that's a given. high tide here in about an hour. downtown norfolk, more water there in the streets. more beach erosion from jersey to the carolinas. in addition to the horrible flooding situation in parts of

south carolina right now. we're watching georgetown and arcing into the columbia. a 75-mile stretch of i-95 that was closed through south carolina, going north and south on the eastern seaboard. we're going to have to deal with this until tomorrow and then get a break and these winds will finally subside as well as the surf and tides here up and down the coast. especially here. this is the second most -- metro area for coastal flooding outside of new orleans in the united states. living up to it in recent days. >> mike seidel, thanks so much. the big takeaway is it is windy. that minneapolis dentist who killed cecil the lion awakened the world to trophy hunting. now a new msnbc documentary shows us where lions are raised to solely be hunted. we'll take you inside a breed g ing farm. so we switched to charmin.

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roseburg,ing or oe ing ooregon g the nine people killed. the roseburg news review reveals the emergency alert system at the school failed during thursday's shootings. yesterday the county sheriff said it was determined the gunman committed suicide during an exchange of gunfire with police. the campus will reopen tomorrow. classes could resume a week from monday. i'm joined by the mother of the youngest survivor of that shooting, bonnie shawn and connie fitzgerald. bonnie, i'll bet despite the hardship right now you're counting your blessings that's your daughter is alive and survived. >> yes, i am. thinking of her right now. cheyanne fitzgerald. >> she's a beautiful girl. we've seen her pictures. she's recovering from surgery. didn't she have to have a kidney removed because a bullet was

lodged in her kidney through her back, right? >> yes, yes, that's so. >> so how is she feeling? is she up and around? able to talk with you? what's she saying? >> she's drowsy. she's not up and around. they are working with her to get her up and around. she's in a lot of pain. i was wanting her to be up on her cell phone talking and what i'm seeing from other victims. she's just resting. she's trying to heal. >> that's the important thing right now. no one can imagine getting the news or hearing about an incident where you know that your loved ones are. tell me how you found out about cheyenne and the fact she was involved in this horrible incident.

>> well, i was working. somebody said there was a shooting at the college. i just ran out of my work and got on the phone trying to call my daughter. after i found out, and that was at 10:35 when i first started calling my daughter and she wasn't texting back to me. so i was feeling uncomfortable then when i heard about the shooting. and so, therefore, i was coming out to the school. and i ran into a couple of her other cousins, steven and savannah fit jerld, because they were on their way to me and i was on my way somewhere. and i was going to go to, like i said, to the college. instead, i went to the emergency room because that's where my heart said to go. >> mother's instinct there. courtney, how are you doing? you're close to cheyenne. you're just a couple years older than she is.

how are you and your family coping? >> we're doing good. we're trying to be as supportive as we can to bonnie and her father and cheyenne, whatever they need. we're just there for them and want to make sure they are getting the comfort they need at this point. >> bonnie, at one place you have mentioned cheyenne said the gunman chose one male student who he referred to as the lucky one, handed this male student an envelope. did she give you any other details that could shed light on why the gunman picked that student in particular? nothing else about what's in that envelope? >> she was very drowsy when speaking. so it's just things are just slowly coming to her. so i don't ask her questions. i'm just sitting back and waiting for her to be ready to talk. and when she is i'll be -- i'm right there for her. >> i'm sure you will be. >> i'm right there for her. >> i've been staying with her.

>> you've been staying in the hospital. that must be exhausting because you're not getting your sleep. >> i need to know what's going on with my daughter. >> you are a good mom. i'd be doing the same. courtney, what's the thing you want to do most when cheyenne gets up n around and is bet. what are you looking forward to doing with her again? >> making sure she loves life again and stays on the path that she wants to be on. and if she wants to continue with nursing, we want to make sure that she's able to do that. and just want to hear her laugh again and smile and not be afraid. >> yeah. >> that would be pretty extraordinary were she continue on her plans for nursing given what she's been throughout. she'd be an extraordinary nurse under those conditions. >> yes. >> bonnie, courtney, our thoughts are with you and best of luck in the days ahead. we'll keep checking in. >> thanks. new information on the breaking news we've been bringing you about historic rain

hitting the carolinas. how one south carolina town is trying to deal with it and take you there in just a minute. rescues include more than people. how about man's best friend? look at that. ...intercourse thal due to menopausal changes. it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help. it provides estrogens to 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, breast or uterine cancer, blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant. side effects may include headache, pelvic pain, breast pain, vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots, or dementia, so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks.

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we are back with more breaking weather news. crews have been rescuing hundreds of people all night and all day across the southeast. one south carolina man used his boat to get his dog to drier ground. he also helped out neighbors to get out of their homes this morning. let's get to gabe gutierrez who is in charleston for us. how are conditions there? >> hi, alex. good afternoon. not far from the historic downtown charleston. and the water has receded just a little bit. but roads here are still impassable. cars are abandoned. submerged overnight. and this is just really an historic rainfall here in charleston. emergency officials say that if you don't have to be out here,

that you should just stay home. they say that people who are out and about are making their lives more difficult. there have been numerous water rescues that have continued into today. earlier this morning on the west side of charleston. water rescues were continuing. people were out. rescue workers from all over the state and all over the southeast were there. and they were trying to get to houses that were very difficult to get to. one woman we saw was virtually in shock and crying. she was -- as she was led out to the boat. she didn't expect the water to rise so fast last night. and it was just incredible experience. another woman, she managed to get out of her own house in a small paddle boat she had and had to go find medicine for her sick neighbor's child. a desperate situation out here in charleston for many people. people in this part of the country are used to floods. this is really historic. charleston got nearly a quarter

of its yearly average for flooding in just 24 hours. the wettest day here on record. alex? >> that's an extraordinary statistic. all right. thanks, nbc's gabe gutierrez in charleston. bred for the bullet. breeding lions commercially just for hunting. an expose preview next. 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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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. we are continuing to monitor historic flooding in the carolinas and parts of the southeast. this is a live picture of one roadway in columbia, south carolina, which looks more like a rushing river. this after rushing water spilled over dams in two towns near columbia. another dam is completely collapsed. residents are being told to stay home as many roads are impassable, even some interstates are shut down on this sunday. well, the death of a beloved lion named cecil at the hands of an american hunter in zimbabwe this past july ignited a debate about the ethics of that hunt.

but there is a legal side of the lion hunting practice. on wednesday, msnbc will give viewers an exclusive look inside the world of canned hunting in south africa. >> the captive lion industry have created a completely new market. the hunter who who will go to tanzania and spend huge amounts of money on a 21-day hunt knowing he may not even get that lion is a totally different market to the market that comes to south africa, who pays the money for a guaranteed hunt and he can get lion and whatever else he wants. >> i'm joined by dr. luke hunter, president of pant hera, the global wild cat organization. doctor, i want to start with you. there are guarantees a canned spr hunt is offered? and that it's legal, is that correct?

>> that's correct. the industry there works -- it breeds lions on baht rttery far. so there are 6,000 lions in captive fairly miserable conditions. they're offered up to hunters, the majority of them from the united states. and when the hunter goes to the situation the animal is in an enclosure. it's a guaranteed outcome so the hunter can go for two or three days we essentially 100% guarantee he will come back with his lion trophy. >> so this is a terrible alternative to wild hunts, is it not? is there anything positive about this? >> alex, i don't think there's anything at all positive about this. the argument that the film makes about wild hunting, for example, in tanzania and the graphic we just saw shows that, you know, a hunter goes to tanzania, spends an average of $76,000 for a wild lion hunt and there's no guarantee of success. no i'm not a big fan of hunting

but at least some of that may go to conserving wildlife organizations. until the south african one, there's no revenue. none of it goes anywhere near conserving wild lion populations. >> and i understand one thing that upsets you most is that some people are luring young volunteers to contribute to the industry and they don't know they're doing it, right? >> that's exactly right. it's an important point. volunteers are attracted with the promise of being able to cuddle lion cubs. this incredibly appealing opportunity to raise lion cubs for conservations but what's going on is lion farmers -- and that's what they are -- remove the cubs from the adult lione lionesses when they're very young so the lionesses come into season and can reduce quickly and they use these willing naive volunteers from overseas, from the u.s. and western affluent democracies like the us to go and pay for the privilege of

bottle feeding lion cubs and they assume they're contributing to conservation but what they're doing is raising lion cubs for hunters. >> i want to play another clip from the documentary and get your reaction. here's that. >> we've lost 95% of our lions in 50 years. we're losing the rhino every ten or 11 hours. it's a bloodbath out there. this stuff will be gone before we even know it and it's much more important than we think. it affects the very fabric of this continent. >> 90% of lions lost in the last 50 years. how does that threaten our world? >> it's incredibly serious. people don't think of a lions as a species deserving conservation attention because in africa, if you're fortunate enough to visit as a tourist you can see lions in the game reserves, the protected areas. so the problem is that what people don't realize is that's a rare event now and lions have undergone calamitous declines. >> dr. hunter, i want to thank you so much for your time and

we'll promote the show here. everyone be sure to watch the premier of "blood lions" at 10:00. that's it for week ends with alex wia alex witt. up next, "meet the press."

this sunday, another mass shooting. and the question, why does america lead the world in gun violence? >> how can you with a straight face make the argument that more guns will make us safer? >> in our polarized environment, is there anything to be done to stop gun violence? plus my latest sitdown with donald trump and his surprising comments about what it would take to drop out. >> i'm not a masochist and if i was dropping in the polls where i saw that i wasn't going to win, why would i continue? also, is trump holding his lead? is clinton holding off bernie sanders? we have new numbers out of iowa and new hampshire. and russia joins the fight in syria. >> putin realizes there's going to be no push back whatsoever from the united states.