good morning. i'm chris jansing. it is labor day, monday, september 2nd. we continue to follow breaking news on hurricane dorian. a ferocious, catastrophically, slow moving category 5 that's woman: (on phone) discover. hi. been battering the bahamas with do you have a travel card? yep. our miles card. earn unlimited 1.5 miles 165-mile-per-hour winds, ripping and we'll match it at the end of your first year. roofs off homes, countless homes nice! i'm thinking about a scuba diving trip. under water from the storm surge woman: ooh! (gasp) or not. you okay? of up to 23 feet there. yeah, no, i'm good. earn miles. we'll match 'em at the end of your first year. millions of people are still threatened florida to virginia. i felt i couldn't be dorian, one of the most intense at my best for my family. storms ever in the atlantic in only 8 weeks with mavyret, ocean and the cone of i was cured and left those doubts behind. uncertainty remains wide. right now at least a million i faced reminders of my hep c every day. people are under evacuations orders in florida, georgia, and but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, south carolina. our team is here live with i was cured. reports from the battered even hanging with friends i worried about my hep c. bahamas to the florida coast where holiday hot spots are but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, turning into ghost towns. we will have the latest on the i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure storm track as well, as well as a press conference with the for all common types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test

latest from florida's governor coming up. if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up let's begin with nbc's gabe and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. gutierrez in jensen beach, florida to the east of port st. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, lucie. gabe, evacuation orders in place there. what are you seeing, feeling, hiv-1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take including herbal supplements. and hearing? >> reporter: good morning, don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, chris. over the last hour we've seen or if you've had certain liver problems. some of the outer rain bands of common side effects include headache and tiredness. hurricane dorian. right now it is actually sunny. with hep c behind me, i feel free... a half hour ago or so we were ...fearless... pelted with heavy rain. ...and there's no looking back, because i am cured. the last several hours since about 2:00 a.m. we've been feeling these winds start to talk to your doctor about mavyret. pick up. as you mentioned, more than a million people in florida, georgia, and south carolina will be under mandatory evacuation orders throughout the day today. here in florida we're in martin county. to the north brevard county will have evacuations. so will velsa county as well. it's been a lot in terms of the last couple days. people were worried dorian was

going to cut right through the heart of south florida, then the north to northeast turn that is expected. they breathed a sigh of relief. now once hurricane dorian became a category 5 it got a lot of attention. let's listen to some people who decided to evacuate. >> this trailer still standing from 1946, it's been through should always be working harder.oney every single storm. that's why, your cash automatically goes into i was going to strap the trailer a money market fund when you open a new account. down with ratchet straps and i talked to engineers and it just just another reminder of the value you'll find at fidelity. can't handle the force of the open an account today. wind. >> even if it bypasses we'll still be safer if we move out. thatthere you are, mom!here. that's you? that does kinda look like our family. >> reporter: conditions continue what are you wearing? to deteriorate here and ancestry has over 400,000 yearbooks preparations will be under way through the day. from all across the country. you've covered a lot of start searching for your friends and family, free, hurricanes. you know this will continue through the day as the outer at ancestry.com. rain bands begin to scrape the florida coast. we expect heavy rain and potentially devastating storm surge. many hotels along this beach are closing this morning. some of the people right now that the sun just came out have come to the beach and are taking

in while they still can, while it's still safe. again, authorities say things can get really ugly really quickly and it comes down to how far west hurricane dorian goes. right now it is only about a hundred miles or so off in that direction, of course, battering the bahamas as we speak. the concern is with this huge population on florida's east coast how close it will get to florida's coast. we'll be dealing with this for several days. travel troubles are already mounting. several airports in florida, fort lauderdale, palm beach are shutting down today. and there are many more than a thousand flight cancellations into and out of the u.s. at this point, chris. >> so those folks who haven't and that's going to wrap up left already it is hard to see how they'll get very far. this hour. you take care, gabe gutierrez. i'm chris jansing in for thank you so much for that stephanie ruhle. report. we'll check back in with you. about two hours to the north of phil is here on a busy day. where gabe is we'll go along the >> hunkering town and space coast in coco beach, evacuating. chris, thank you. . >> thank you. florida where mandatory . >> good morning, everybody. evacuations are also in place. what is happening there? do people seem to be heeding the i'm phillip mena in new york.

warning and getting ready? hurricane dorian, catastrophic >> chris, good morning to you. that mandatory evacuation order category 5 hurricane continues for the barrier islands here in to move slowly across the bahamas lashing the island chain brevard county, coco beach where i am now, merritt island, indian with 200-mile-per-hour wind harbor beach, that went in effect about an hour ago. you can see it is pretty much a ghost town here behind me but firsts and inundating storm surge 23 feet above normal. still early and looks like a at any moment we are expecting to hear from governor ron beautiful day for the early part desantis. we're keeping an eye on this of the day. storm. we know the rain bands gabe was talking about will come in later in the afternoon. these are the critical couple of hours for people to heed those evacuation warnings and get out of town frankly. i want to show you the front cover of the paper here. it says this force has not been with us. the last sustained winds of this force were experienced in 1979. when you talk about this monster of a storm the kind of images we saw in the bahamas, 175-mile-per-hour winds, just this pales in comparison and is

hard to wrap your head around. that's why i want to bring in the vice mayor of indian beach harbor a city about 15 miles south, can you tell chris, are people heeding the evacuation orders, scott? >> for the most part i think they are. people have made preparations, boarded up windows, doors, they've purchased supplies that they need. whether they are evacuating or staying, some folks are electing to stay, but as you've touched on a little bit, the storm is a monster storm. it's different than anything we've ever experienced before. back in 1979 that was hurricane david and i was here then to ride out that storm. and i did so in a shelter. there are many shelters still open. i encourage anybody to make arrangements to go to one of those shelters if they haven't already made plans to go to a hotel on the mainland. >> what about you, personally? you are clearly a veteran of thaes storms. what kind of decision are you facing now? >> well, like you said, i live in indian harbor beach and i've

made preparations to buy supplies, get enough food, sustainable food, putting my window shutters down. >> you're staying put for now. >> i am for now but the storm has turned and stalled. it's barely even moving. so i think the next few hours are very critical in determining what the path of that storm is going to be. >> reporter: thank you, scott. i know you have a busy day ahead. i appreciate your time. critical, chris. that is what the next couple hours look like for these communities, especially in these barrier islands that sit between the ocean in the back of me and the intercoastal waterway. they're really in a very vulnerable area. as he said, shelters opened yesterday at 5:00 p.m. we really urge people to heed the warnings. go to a shelter or skip town. chris? >> mariana atencio in coco beach, thank you for that. let's go to the bahamas where they've been bearing the brunt of this major hurricane. morgan chesky joins us from nassau. just to your north we've been seeing some of the pictures. complete devastation.

>> reporter: yeah, chris, good morning. the damage cannot be over stated, about 90 miles to the north of us is where dorian made landfall yesterday bringing the 200-mile-per-hour wind gusts and storm surges from 10 to 23 feet. we're now facing a two-pronged problem here in the bahamas. because dorian is such a slow moving storm, it's right now sitting over grand bahama where 50,000 people are forced to take shelter and wait this storm out. in the meantime, just to the east, we have abco island where the worst of the storm has moved through but the problem is because it is such a powerful storm the seas and the skies are still too dangerous for officials to even fly over to view the extent of the damage in that area. i'm told rescue boats are waiting in safe zones around the island unable to approach because the seas are simply too dangerous at this point in time. from the images that we've seen from the island, the devastation is simply stunning. even worse, we know that people are trapped right now, surrounded by water.

some taking to their phones to send out pleas for help on social media. take a listen to this. >> please pray for us. please pray for us, everyone. please pray for us. >> the sea is spraying on to our houses. winds are howling like we've never, ever experienced before. >> we need help. please, someone, please come help us. >> reporter: these are people that are used to experiencing this type of weather. hurricanes in this area. but again, it cannot be over stated, no one has seen a type of hurricane this powerful hit this area of the bahamas. that is why there is such a growing level of uneasiness right now because a lot of people here in nassau cannot reach friends and family to make sure they're okay up north on abbaco island and in grand bahama where dorian currently sits. >> of course we want to remind you we're waiting to hear from the governor of florida less

than half an hour from now. let's check in with msnbc meteorologist michelle grossman. we just heard from the local mayor with mariana atencio that the next couple hours are going to be critical as they watch and see what they do next. >> you can bet we'll be watching it minute by minute, hour by hour. as you know since last monday this has been unexpected and inconsistent so certainly going to watch for that northward turn we are betting on over the next several hours. certainly keeping our eyes on it. let's talk about what is happening now in the bahamas. this is sort of a two-part story. what is happening now devastation and destruction and sheer sadness over the bahamas. right now over grand bahama island you can see the core right there but notice if you zoom in a little closer here if you watch it's a little mesmerizing but the last few frames starting to move off to the north. the steering currents are pretty weak still but we are hoping and confident those currents are going to move it up to the north and also to the west. right now it is located 30 miles east-northeast of freeport so

they are in the bulls eye for that weather today. we are going to see the battering winds, the dangerous rain, and also the push of water on to the islands. winds at 165 miles per hour, still a very powerful storm. but keep this in mind. it was as high as 185 miles per hour. so we are seeing a little bit lessening, maybe a little land friction brought it down. maybe a little wind shear. that is the good news. with every advisory yesterday we saw it going up. we finally are seeing it stabilized at 165 miles per hour. so again, very, very powerful. but it is a little indication that things are starting to lose its steam just a bit. it will take a while, at least five days actually and practically parked over the bahamas moving west at 1 miles per hour. then we want to talk about the east coast. we have to start preparing now. we had the evacuations in place. you want to heed every warning you've heard so far and we have tropical storm warnings. hurricane storm warnings in places along the east coast. here is your latest track over the grand bahama islands right

now asuka category 5. it is going to clear to the west and then we expect the turn to happen. by tuesday at 2:00 a.m. category 4 storm still very powerful. it will skirt the east coast but so painfully close. i know we focus on the track and landfall but even though it's still off the coast we are going to have that battering storm surge. that is the biggest culprit for deaths when we talk about hurricanes. water is the second. this cone of concern still includes the eastern coast of florida so no one is out of the woods yet. don't let your guard down. we are going to have another advisory at 11:00. this could change. it does look like it's been pretty consistent, keeping it west of the coast. as we go throughout time here still a category 3 storm by tuesday. this, if you think about it is a 14-day event we will be talking about dorian and then later on friday we may see a landfall. somewhere along the north

carolina coast. and then it skirts off to the north and east by saturday. so still many days to come with this storm. i talked about the hurricane watches and warnings. we have them in place of course for the bahama islands and here is the east coast now included. you want to keep this in mind. the tropical storm watch is from golden beach to the north. you have hurricane warnings because we could feel those winds and those are destructive winds. we'll have beach erosions, very high waves, so of course you do not want to be in the water. then we'll have that push of water as well. talking about dorian's impacts, catastrophic winds, we saw them yesterday so devastating and so sad to see all the videos. you can bet we'll see more today and it is going to take a long time before we go back in and see what really happened there and also to aid them in recovering. now for hurricane gusts across the southeast we could see that possibly where you see this pink here, the highest probability of that happening. so north of miami, melbourne, jacksonville could see it, charleston. it goes all the way up through

the carolinas and we'll talk about rainfall as well. the good news would be, most of it would be off to the east, hugging the coast but still could see flooding rains. florida has been saturated over the past couple weeks. we'll watch this closely over the next several days. >> thank you so much. joining me on the phone from the florida national guard is the commander for hurricane dorian's response, brigadier general paul chauncey. thank you so much for being with us. give us an update if you will how many guardsmen have been activated in florida and what you're doing right now to get ready. >> thank you, chris. we have all available soldiers and airmen on duty now, certainly given the continued uncertainty and unprecedented strength of this storm we can't leave anything to chance. we've got soldiers and airmen from nassau county down to miami dade, along the east coast and, you know, in cooperation with the interagency partners, and with the support of our governor

and adjutant general we are extremely confident we are ready to respond to those in need. >> the numbers in the paper were around 4400. >> that is approximately correct, representative of the florida national guard contingent exclusive of the partners supporting us as well. >> i know during hurricane irma about the same number was activated but then eventually the number swelled to about 7,000. should the worst case scenario happen you have the ability to bring in even more man power? >> we do and we already have that in place. a lot of the numbers not reported just simply as a matter of statistics if you will but you're exactly right. 7,000, 7,500 or so would be the next lick if we had to pull them in. >> how quickly could you activate? >> meadimmediately. >> i was checking some of the equipment out from high wheeled vehicles, boats, helicopters ranging from chinooks to lakotas

to blackhawks. tell us what the folks are trained to do in situations like this? >> one thing is very important, you know, we learn from significant emotional experience and from repetition and florida has its share of both. we spend a lot of time each year in may ramping up and preparing for this but with us being dual status both down range combat as well as in the state we train for this all the time. our high wheel vehicle operators, our pilots, many of whom are citizen soldiers and they fly in the civilian life, all the way down to our boat operators with our special forces and partners there and our systems, this is ongoing and inherent to their traditional military role. >> brigadier general paul chauncey, thank you for all you and the folks under your command do and be careful out there. our thoughts are with them. we appreciate it. >> thank you, chris. >> we're following breaking news

as well from the other coast. ventura county, california where the u.s. coast guard is responding to what could be a major incident at channel island harbor. a boat with more than 30 people reportedly on fire. let's go to blain alexander in our bureau there. >> reporter: good morning to you. we are working to find out more. we do know as of right now coast guard officials are working to evacuate more than three dozen people from this vessel. as you mentioned this channel island, santa cruz island just off the coast of santa barbara. we understand it is a boat, about a 75-foot boat. there are more than 30 people onboard and the vessel is reported to have been on fire. we are learning more about the rescue efforts as this is going on. the u.s. coast guard is tweeting out updates and reported that a group of crew members have been able to make it off. that they've rescued some of them. one person reported with minor injuries. but they're still continuing those efforts. those ongoing efforts to evacuate everybody from that boat. so as of right now there are a

lot of questions we don't know. we don't know the conditions of the other people who still remain on the boat, who weren't able to get off. we also don't exactly know what caused this fire or how much of the 75-foot boat has been engulfed in flames. again, we do know there were multiple rescue assets that were dispatched to try and get people off safely, chris. >> thanks so much for that, blayne. i'm sure we'll be checking back in as we learn more. coming up, we'll have much more on hurricane dorian including the live press conference from the florida governor ron de santos later in the hour. at least seven people killed after a man goes on a shooting rampage randomly shooting innocent people as he drives by. we'll go to texas for new information. zla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting.

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we have new information on the mass shooting in texas that left seven people dead from 15 to 57 years old. 22 more are injured including a 17-month-old baby girl. law enforcement sources telling nbc news the suspect had recently been fired from his job, had a criminal record, and should not have been able to own a gun. police in odessa say the 36-year-old gunman opened fire on a police officer during a routine traffic stop then fled to a nearby community where he started randomly shooting at people. during a 15-mile-long chase that ended when police shot and killed him. here's the father of a witness describing his face time call with his daughter while all of it was happening. >> we're hearing pop, pop, pop,

pop. and i'm telling hayden, be calm. be strong. she's describing what's happening. she's scared. imagine what the parents are like on the other end of the phone, watching face time and it could be your daughter's last time you see her alive. >> the shooting took place just hours before new texas gun laws were set to take effect, laws that loosened regulations. just four weeks after 22 people were killed in el paso. nbc's garrett haake joins us now from odessa, texas. let's start with the gunman identified by law enforcement yesterday. what more do we know about him and how all of this played out? >> reporter: chris, the gunman is sort of a frustrating part of this investigation right now. we know a lot of individual pieces but not how they all fit together. for example, we do know that he was fired from his job recently.

we have no idea whether that was part of the motivation for this crime. police also believe that the movie theater where all of this ended, the final shootout occurred, was in some way the destination of this suspect but we don't know why he was going there. was he targeting the movie theater specifically? was he looking for people inside of it? we know he was using an ar style weapon according to police but we don't know how he came to possess it. there were a number of things in his background which would have made it likely impossible to buy it legally. these are things the police and federal investigators who have been on the ground really since the other night here in odessa have been trying to figure out, trying to nail down a motive and figure out how all of the pieces fit together. the police chief yesterday frustrated in the news conference that i attended because he felt like a lot of this could only be revealed by the suspect who is now dead. >> let's talk more about the people who died and the people who are injured, the number of gofundme pages that popped up, a lot of attention paid to this

young girl less than 2 years old. what is the latest on the victims of this horrific shooting? >> that young girl was air lifted to a hospital in lubbock a couple hundred miles away. the police chief yesterday again in the same press conference said that he had spoke tone the girl's parents as has nbc but he said he was hardened by the fact they said when you're a toddler you don't know what a big deal it is that you just survived being shot. one of those striking things about covering scenes like this, the humanity of it all, the degree of ranges in ages for example of the victims in this case. among the dead the age range is 15 years old, a high school student in odessa, to a 57-year-old. one of the dead is a mail carrier who was driving that truck, had been delivering letters for the u.s. postal service only for about a year. we hope to get updates on the conditions of some of those still hospitalized here but, chris, you can almost paint by numbers here. it's depressing to report this to you but as has been the case in el paso and so many of these

other shootings, when an ar-style rifle is used you're talking high velocity rounds, people who suffer massive internal injuries. a lot of these folks are going to be in the hospital for weeks perhaps. and on a holiday weekend we're limited in the information we can get but we are hoping to get a little more information about the status of their recovery, those who are still hospitalized this morning. >> talk a little bit more about the new gun laws that took effect in texas yesterday. largely loosening any restrictions. i mean, it's very early for this but are you hearing anything, for example, from state officials that might suggest they're having second thoughts? >> the nra in texas praised the legislative session that ended in june as one of the most productive in their view in the mystery of texas legislative sessions. there was about ten new bills signed by the governor, most of them in june, and all took effect by coincidence yesterday. they do things like loosening restrictions on taking guns on to school property. you can now leave your gun locked up in your car if you're

parked at a school for example. at a church, a church would have to go out of its way to specifically prohibit you from bringing a gun into the pew with you on sunday. they've loosened the rules for how guns have to be stored in foster homes. it used to be that guns and ammo had to be locked up separately now the rule says go ahead and lock them up together. in a disaster situation in texas now you can carry your gun regardless of how you -- whether you are licensed to do so. all of these have frustrated gun rights advocates in this state who at least for now are still out numbered in what remains a red state. >> garrett haake, thank you so much for that report. the politics of guns has taken on a new urgency. we've seen a lot of movement on state levels obviously not in texas and congress isn't scheduled to return to washington for another week yet. i want to bring in reuters white house correspondent jeff mason and nbc news jonathan allen, good to see you both this morning. i want to play part of how the president responded to the odessa shooting. here it is.

>> this really hasn't changed anything. we're doing a package and we'll see what it -- how it comes about. it is coming about right now and a lot of people are talking about it and that's irrespective of what happened yesterday in texas. >> jeff, he says they're doing a package. what exactly does that mean? >> well, i think, chris, that means they're working on a legislative package of some kind that will address some of these the shootings in el paso and ohio earlier this summer. it is interesting he said it is not affected by yesterday's events. i think that he means is that this is something that was already ongoing and we anticipate we'll see something once congress is back in session later this month. the white house says it has been working on this with democratic and republican lawmakers and their staffs.

clearly the events of yesterday show the mass shootings continue to happen and there will probably be more pressure on congress to do something. unfortunately the record if we look back over several years including the obama administration is such that even after big shootings not a lot happens in congress. >> we haven't heard anything substantive since the shootings in el paso and dayton. i think, jonathan, you can say background checks have goent tt the most attention in terms of getting done both because they are widely popular. a recent quinnipiac poll showed 93% of people support them. and that included the president apparently until recently. take a listen. >> i'm looking to do background checks. i think background checks are important. i don't want guns in the hands of the lunatic or a maniac. and i think if we do proper background checks we can prevent that. for the most part as strong as you make your background checks they would not have stopped any of it. so it's a big problem. it's a mental problem. it's a big problem.

>> yeah. he said yesterday he's looking now at substantial reforms in mental health systems. very different from the background checks we heard not so long ago. talk me through the politics. does the nra influence outweigh 93% of the american public? >> so far it has, chris. if you listen to the first clip you played of the president he said the last shooting really hasn't changed anything. and that's true of pretty much all of the shootings over, sadly, over the last couple of decades. with regard to the background checks, what you'll hear from people who are against expanding background checks is if somebody obtained a gun illegally, they'll say that background checks wouldn't have stopped it. if they obtained the gun legally, they'll say that expanding background checks would not have stopped it. and so there's sort of a response to the idea of

expanding background checks. most americans as you pointed out, the overwhelming vast majority, 93% i think is the statistic you cited, think background checks being expanded is a good idea. the opposition comes from the idea of a slippery slope among gun owners who say if they give even an inch, even a millimeter, to gun control advocates, they're going to start a process of further gun restrictions that they're going to be unable to reverse. what we've seen, chris, over the course of the last couple decades in this country is a tremendous, you know, tremendous change in sort of our culture, right? in 1966 charles whitman goes up into a tower at the university of texas and most people remember his name because it was such an anomaly. it is hard to remember the names of all of the shooters from these incidents because they are happening so frequently. it is impossible to remember the

names of all of the victims and, yet, the folks in the building behind me, the capitol, even though they've been the victims of mass shootings in recent years, have done nothing about it. >> so in our last minute, jeff, i want to ask you about the big picture here. "the washington post" has a terrific article describing what they call the president's lost summer, a series of self-inflicted wounds from incendiary comour congresswomen of color, certainly the problems he has had as a result of the trade war. this is a president who is in need of a political win, frankly. why isn't gun control on that list? are the people within the white house truly of the mind that he loses more than he gains, for example, if he goes behind -- if he gets behind background checks? >> well, a good question. i think the president as jonathan was just saying and as you were saying earlier has certainly shifted his positions on gun control as he does on some other policy areas.

why would this not be a win that he would want? it's hard to say. i think he is under certainly pressure from the nra and from his base because the second amendment is something that is very important to people in texas and in other red leaning states and any encroachment or perceived encroachment on that is something that would upset people who are normally and regularly his voters. that said, his initial instincts after shootings like this, and you played some of that in the clips, usually seems to be we need to do something. we need to do something stronger. background checks. i support them. but then he gets that pressure or he gets, he has a meeting with the nra or with others, and he changes his tune. >> jeff mason, jonathan allen, happy labor day, guys, thank you so much for working on this holiday. any minute now governor ron desantis will hold a press conference as hurricane dorian moves toward florida. we'll have that plus the latest guidance on where the category 5 storm is heading.

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we're staying on top of the breaking news out of southern california getting new images on the massive rescue operation under way in ventura county, california.

this is from the county fire department where the boat is on fire. blayne alexander is following the story from our l.a. bureau. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we're now getting our first look at how massive the fire is. those pictures that we're now just getting into our newsroom. you see the 75-foot boat is fully engulfed in flames. we do know we're getting new numbers about the rescue efforts. we know that five crew members were able to make it off. they have been rescued. one of them reportedly has minor injuries. that is according to the u.s. coast guard. but there are still 34 people, chris, who are unaccounted for this morning. so we are talking about an active rescue scene, active rescue operation right now. coast guard officials. multiple units have been dispatched trying to get nearly three dozen people off of that boat. this is the santa cruz islands just off the coast of santa barbara. of course we're talking about a busy labor day weekend. certainly a primetime for boating. and this tragedy that struck about an hour or so ago when we

first got the tweets from the u.s. coast guard. again, 34 people still not accounted for but you look at the pictures and you see how devastating that fire is and we know that crews are working very quickly to try and get anybody else off safely, chris. >> thank you for that. we will keep coming back to you as we learn more and see more. let's get back to our breaking news on hurricane dorian, that extremely dangerous and powerful category 5 hurricane causing widespread damage in the bahamas with millions on alert from florida to virginia. we are expecting to get an update from florida governor ron desantis less than half an hour from now. they pushed the press conference back now probably closer to 10:00. we'll bring you his remarks live. a little earlier on the "today" show we heard from the acting fema administrator who made age urgent plea to those in evacuation zones. >> you need to heed the advice of your state and local emergency managers. take action now. if you are at risk and have been given mandatory evacuation

orders you should get out. don't try to tough it out. >> we'll go to jacksonville beach, florida, and nbc meteorologist michelle grossman is closely tracking dorian's path. just a few hours ago the winds seem to have picked up a bit and the surf is a little stronger. >> reporter: chris, it certainly feels like that. and here at jacksonville beach, the beach is actually closed. let me show you what things look like here. it is mostly empty. we have seen a few people. you'll hear some beeping. that bulldozer you see there has been pushing sand in the area toward the dunes. what you won't see is life guards. because the beach is closed, if somebody were to go into the water right now and need help life guards would not be available to help them. also, this morning we're just talking to people who are out here walking on the beach. pam turner is joining us. you're from here, pam. you're looking at this surf. tell me what you think. >> incredible. we don't see waves like this hardly ever.

everyone comes to the beach when this happens and i'm sure you've probably spotted a few surfers here and there taking advantage of it. >> we did see a wind surfer but of course officials urging everyone to stay out of the water. >> stay out of the water. >> tell me, you're looking at this monster storm just off our coast. >> incredible. i mean, absolutely incredible. i've lived here my lifetime and we've certainly experienced hurricanes but nothing like this. and terry and i were just talking about it. it's almost to the point where it's a little aggravating because the storm is so slow and it's just so tentative in terms of what is going to be happening. but, yeah. we're preparing, absolutely. >> keeping us in suspense here. you know, you have plans and -- >> absolutely. we came down from milwaukee, wisconsin. we didn't -- when we left we didn't know it was going to be this much of a hurricane. we thought something was way out there somewhere but now we are here and we're having our last walk on the beach and we need to evacuate the hotel. >> reporter: okay. yes. that is certainly the word.

thank you both, ladies. please do be safe. that is what we're hearing as well. we have to be safe as well this morning and evacuate from our hotels here on the beach. chris? >> julia, be careful out there, you and your crew. thank you so much. let's go over to meteorologist michelle grossman. you know, we've seen this delay in the update from the governor of florida. we're going to get an update in the next 90 minutes or so or less than that from the national hurricane center? >> that comes in at 11:00. you want to act now. the time to act along the coast of florida is now. and i think this lady said it perfectly. it's frustrating. we need to be patient with this. but we need to expect the worst case scenario or at least prepare for it. let's take a look. we'll start with the bahamas. they've had a rough 24 hours and will continue to have a rough 24 hours as well. it is moving painfully slow and is kind of parked over the grand bahama island. if you notice i'll show you when

we put this into motion. it has nudged a little bit to the north. we have to wait until it moves to the north, takes the turn where we can really make that prediction of what we can expect along the coast. let's look at the latest stats. 30 miles east-northeast of freeport, grand bahama island. winds apartmet 165 miles per ho. a powerhouse of wind and rain. it is a strong storm. it is not as strong as it was. we are seeing a teenie bit of weakening which is good news. it will take a while before we see major weakening but at least some friction over land, a little more wind shear. we're not seeing the strengthening we saw with every advisory yesterday. there is the movement at 1 mile per hour. a very, very slow walk. that is allowing all of this rain to fall over the grand bahama island and it is just awful for the island. water does a ton of damage. this is going to be a lot of money, lives on the line here, and we'll be talking about this for several days to come once we can get in there and see exactly

what damage has been done. tracking dorian, still a category 5 storm. we'll see it category 5 over the next several days. tuesday we see the decrease into a category 4 storm. we are confident that the steering mechanisms are still in place, that we will see the turn. we'll see that turn to the north and also to the west. category 3 storm off the coast of florida. we'll talk more about that a little bit later but we still have major concerns along the coast. you need to prepare now. >> thank you. we will keep checking in with you. i want to bring in retired general who served as commander of joint task force katrina. thank you so much for being with us. as you're watching and hearing about the storm track, what goes through your mind? >> what goes through my mind is the amount of planning right now and positioning of troops and forc force, air, land, and sea working on the northern command as well as the national guard headquarters, synchronizing the

positioning of assets to go in and help people. and people in the bahamas need to know that there are assets on the way but the storm has to clear out before they can get in there. as we speak, helicopters, all moving into position to be able to assist people in florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, and all the way up to virginia so the department of defense is busy preparing along with fema a synchronized ability to respond at the request of people. >> it is hard, what do you see as the biggest threat right now based on your experience? >> the biggest threat is going to be the surge water as it comes ashore. even if we don't get part of the eye or a small part of it, that

surge water is going to push water into those access canals all the way from the space center north to jacksonville. when it gets to jacksonville, it'll get in the river and flow south. so the surge water damage i think is the biggest and people should heed the advice of the local government and evacuate. remember, you own your own evacuation. and that is the problem if people do not evacuate out of low-lying areas. first responders are going to do everything they can to get to you but it may take a while because we're dealing with such a big, powerful storm and the lights will be out, chris. >> and a storm that could according to officials bring a storm surge of 4 to 7 feet. based on your experience with katrina, what kind of information would you pass on not just to the people which is to evacuate but to authorities about what to expect and what to do? >> make sure people understand where they live what that 4 to 8-foot surge is going to look like in the community that they

live in. many of them put out the evacuation areas but a little shock and awe is to go around and mark what the 8 foot looked like in the communities you live in. every community is built at a little different elevation. you might be well on the coast line but inland you may not have 8 foot at the front door of your house. so you need to walk out there with your iphone, stand on the front step, and see the elevation to your home. and if it is below that you need to move now. >> good advice. and as i said, hard won advice. lieutenant general russell honore thank you so much. we appreciate you being with us from baton rouge. >> have a good day. >> thank you. you too. good luck. up next, the campaign trail, after another shooting the candidates expressing out rage and demanding action. every day, visionaries are creating the future.

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>> in the space of 48 hours, they have tweeted or spoken out about guns, expressing outrage after the shooting in odessa and demanding action to stop future attacks, what to do about gun violence in general and mass shootings has become an inflection point in the 2020 campaign. rick tyler say republican

strategist and co-founder of foundry strategies. happy labor day to both of you. i mentioned we heard from all the democrats. but beto o'rourke's remarks stood out. let me play what he said. . >> the firearms that were used or how they acquired them. but we do know this is [ bleep ]. >> so people talked about that. the use of the word. can outrage be an effective way of both communicating is examine separating yourself from the pack? >> you know, chris, in this circumstance, absolutely. i think he is reflecting the views of the majority of the american people, which are this is really messed up. i'm not going to repeat the word on television. you have to keep in mind, pet toe o'rourke has seen several mass shootings this texas the last year and a half. . >> his home state.

>> souther land springs, el paso and odessa. if anybody has the right to say this it is him and julian castro. they are so fed up with the language of thoughts and prayers. beto is taking it one step further. i'm not sure every other candidate would auto us that kind of language. i am glad he is because he has seen the effect on his communities and he is fed up. he has even more of a reason to get angry and upset and to try to use this issue to corral more support around finally passing some sort of gun safety legislation. . >> rick, i feel like you and i have had the same conversation so many times. after dayton and el paso, there was this urgency that faded when congress went into summer recess? how much longer will a frustrated and frightened public put up with the answer frankly from a lot of republicans which

has in many ways poeuld down to nothing that you're talking about could stop any of this? >> well, look, i think, chris, i don't know the answer to that question. we have to balance out with the right to bear children. i am a gun owner. i would like to hear from most gun owners. i think most are for -- >> polls suggest that most gun owners, majority of gun owners are in fact, for sensible gun restrictions. they are legitimately careful about their firearms. >> opening a gun is a huge responsibility and a burden. personally, i would like to hear from more gun owners to talk about licensing. i could support licensing with training. in washington, d.c. where i am, it is legal to carry a firearm. you must have at least 16 hours

of training to acquire that license. and you must do eight hours every two years to keep that license. and you must register the firearm that you carry in the city. i don't agree with all the city's laws, but i think that's reasonable. it is reasonable to expect that anybody who wants to sell a firearm to somebody else, there would be a reasonable expectation that that person is qualified and to legally own a firearm. so i don't understand why we can't pass background checks tomorrow. i think we at least start there. red flag laws are very, very important. i think that we need to look at domestic terrorism.

somebody is recruiting people. that's a dangerous thing. it could be foreign state actors could recruit people in the same way tkpapbgs get recruited. they don't particularly what your philosophy is or ideology.. they don't particularly what your philosophy is or ideology. that is just a dangerous thing. we need to get on it. those are things we could to a . . >> we have a big debate september 12th. what does their clear message need to be? . >> well, the clear message needs to be, number one, we have to pan military style assault weapons. that et just 101. it is ridiculous they are still on the streets and people can legally purchase them. and expand background checks. it would expand background checks. it is the most realizedic thing

to get past. that would make a big difference. . >> good to see both of you on this labor tay. thank you. >> florida governor rick desantis expected to give an update on hurricane taurean. we will have that for you live. plus, the latest on what looks to be a tedly boat fire off the coas dozens of people still unaccounted for.