there are 330 million americans, 390 million guns in this country. we sell to one another weapons of war that were designed to kill people on a battlefield, that are used to kill people in a walmart or on the side of a street or in a church or in a synagogue or in a mosque. at the hospital we met a family that just lost a 15-year-old daughter, you know, who is suppose to be going to school tomorrow morning. now will not. so, yes, let's act now or let's accept that this is our fate and our future and we will only see more of this. >> reporter: pushing the envelope here, ali, on when it's too soon or perhaps now too late to talk about what we're going to do about gun violence in this country. >> garrett, thank you for your reporting, sir. stay with msnbc for breaking coverage of hurricane dorian. right now my colleague stephanie ruhle picks it up. too often people say too early

to talk about gun laws, too early to talk about climate change. they keep happening. >> ali velshi, my partner here we are again. i am stephanie ruhle here in new york city continuing our break news coverage of hurricane dorian. tonight millions along the eastern seaboard are bracing for the worst as dorian continues to batter the bahamas. and according to the national hurricane center, the storm will come dangerously close to the state of florida before creeping northeast along the coast of georgia, south carolina, and north carolina later this week. hurricane dorian is now a category 4 hurricane, and it remains devastatingly destructive. that is because it is traveling at a speed of just one single mile per hour grinding almost to a halt pummelling the northern islands of the bahamas which have already suffered catastrophic damage. heavy winds and life-threatening storm surges that have battered the islands, toppled trees,

flips cars and are submerging homes entirely underway. slow speed also makes this storm more difficult for our meteorologists to accurately predict the path and the impact along florida's east coast could still be very strong even without getting a direct hit. i am now joined by our colleague msnbc meteorologist bail karens. what is the latest and specifically explain to us one-mile-an-hour, what that means. >> the first thing i want to talk about, we just mentioned the path and everything else. we have locked the path in. over the last 24 hours it hasn't changed much. we don't expect any big wiggles. we don't expect any big changes. so now it's just a matter of -- >> well, then, where is it? >> it's going to be off the coast. it's going to be a minor event for areas in most of florida, maybe a moderate event around jacksonville area, and then a minor moderate hurricane event up along the southeast coast. we would not expect mass devastation or destruction or anything like that.

nothing like what they're doing and seeing the video coming out of the islands. >> where there is currently mass devastation in the northern bahamian islands. >> there is destruction that is now being destroyed all over again. it's unimagine yadge. the fact that it's now been 24 hours and it's only moved roughly about 60 miles. what these people have gone through. then think about these people that are like in their attics, the water levels haven't come down and they are trying to survive the storm. they are waiting for a rescue that isn't going to come yet. now it's going to get dark tonight. so when they went to their shelters with their kids and their families and everything last night, they were thinking to themselves, okay, we got to ride this out, and then tomorrow things will improve. >> when the sun comes out. >> yes. and then the storm has been with them all day. the water levels are still extremely high, and now the sun is going to set and there's no help coming. it's unimaginable the psychological toll that these

people are going through. and the stories that we hear when this is gone is going to be unlike any event where anyone's lived through. >> when we gauge it well, was a five but now a four. give me a history lesson as to what a four looks like. >> one of my colleagues was sending out this information yesterday that, like, a category 5 is like 1,500 times worse than a category 1. so then like a -- >> but a category one is no walk in the park. >> correct. but then like a category 4 would be maybe 700 times worse than a category one. it's exponential. it's not like walking up the stairs when you go from one category to another the damage is that much worse. and, you know, the difference between us having this incredibly horrific event over florida and the bahamas here was roughly about 100, 120 miles.

>> why isn't this storm moving? >> there's nothing to push it. >> what does that mean? >> well, all of these storms are steered. they are steered by what we call high pressure or low pressure, different things high up in the atmosphere that push or move these storms. and the thing that was pushing the storm towards florida weakened. it went away. so it was almost like if i was pushing you and all of a sudden i just stopped pushing you and then all of a sudden you're not going anywhere. >> but it remains right here over the bahamas. >> so now we are waiting for something else to push it. >> because right now it's just sitting there like, hey, i'm here and there's nothing in the atmosphere to move it. and so we are waiting for that to happen. there's been a little bit of rain on the east coast today. that's what we call a trough. that is actually going to pick the storm up slowly. and that's what's going to start sending it north. but that doesn't happen till tomorrow. >> that happens tomorrow. but tonight you're not going anywhere. >> i do have the new 5:00 p.m. update in for you though. i do just want to show you the new path because a lot of people

were waiting for this. category 4 still over the islands. let me show you that forecast path. this is out through the next 48 hours. notice the intensity. it went from 184 down to 145. they still have it 135, 125, 120. so we still have this big beast of a storm just off the coast line. now the cone we've taken you out, west palm beach. cocoa beach is out. melbourne area is out. we still have the kennedy space center that is on the edge of the cone. our friends from all of volusia county, the palm bay area, and then a little sliver here right along the jacksonville coast. the trend for any of our models on shore is gone. they are almost all in excellent agreement off the coast. this would keep the core of the hurricane off the coast. what does that mean? it means the strongest winds are off the coast. it means the highest rainfall is off the coast.

notice how finally they're all in really excellent agreement that's why i was telling stephanie a couple minutes ago it doesn't look like there's going to be any changes. we are pretty lock neighborhood this forecast. can there be a surprise? of course. but i'd be shocked at this point if this doesn't remain off the florida coast line. as far as it goes for the florida areas, i like to think minor, moderate, major, historic. the bahamas has gone through an historic hurricane. for the florida east coast, it'll most likely end up being a minor hurricane, possibility of maybe moderate if we get a storm surge up the coast. for our friends in florida it's been a good day to keep it off the coast. >> all right. thank you so much, bill karins, don't go anywhere. i want to stay on this historic hurricane that did hit the bahamas and go to nbc correspondent morgan chesky. he's been covering the devastation there and reporting from nassau. morgan, give us an update. >> reporter: steph, we are here in nassau, bahamas.

despite the relatively calm conditions here, keep in mind that just to the northwest of us grand bahama is currently getting slammed by hurricane dorian moving at a snail's pace dumping feet of rain and still bringing those incredibly high winds to that area. we do know that some people were able to seek shelter on that island, especially after viewing the destruction it brought. thousands of people woke up without homes surrounded by water and not knowing what to do. some of those turning to their phones to issue pleas for help on social media. now i did have a chance to speak to the prime minister of the bahamas earlier today. he said that doran is like fighting a war with an opponent where they have all the weapons and you have none of them. saying that conditions are so bad. he hasn't even been able to fly over abaco island. but he reassured me that the bahamians are a resilient people that treat each other as family, and despite all the destruction

we have seen so far will come out of this on top. we expect to learn much more about the impact of this storm. but at this point in time, officials say no casualties on the island. however, that could be changing as the true extent of this damage from dorian comes to light. steph, we'll send it back to you. >> thank you, nbc's morgan chesky in nassau in the bahamas. nbc correspondent mariana atencio joins us now from cocoa beach, florida. mariana, it might not be raining but it certainly is windy there. >> reporter: the wind has picked up, steph. and our crew and myself have also been caught in these rain bands because the storm, it might not be getting to us just yet. but as we have seen, and i just spoke with the mayor of cocoa beach, he said the storm is 40 to 50 miles off of here. that's a little too close for comfort he said. the waves have certainly gotten bigger. this is a big surfing destination. you don't really see people out here right now because this is under mandatory evacuation. these barrier islands are so

vulnerable to what a storm like dorian could do because they have the ocean here on the one side, and then they have bodies of water like banana river. they have something called mosquito lagoon as well. so when you talk about flooding and you talk about storm surge, the water is going to come in through here. these are some dunes that have recently been renovating. locals are hoping and praying that this is going to be the water at bay. but with a storm that is just moving so slowly. and as you were discussing with our bill karins, it may just sit here and keep dumping water on to of these areas. the water may go over the dunes and into the roads. and that's why you have these barrier islands under these mandatory evacuations. the mayor was telling me at some point our policemen, our firefighters when, these winds reach 40 to 50 miles per hour, if you are out there, we cannot put our people at rust and go out and save you. to that effect, they are leaving the bridges that go off this barrier island open for those

families who are waiting till the last minute to give them a chance to leave when things get hairy, possibly tomorrow, and into wednesday. but again hoping as we were just seeing with bill karins and the forecast that this really doesn't impact the northeast coast of florida and this hopefully goes out to sea, steph. but this storm i've been covering it for a week now, since puerto rico we just don't know. its only consistency has been its inconsistency. steph? >> because it's been inconsistent, because people from florida have been through so much over the years, are they heeding this warning and evacuating? or are you seeing a lot of locals stick around? >> reporter: steph, unfortunately a lot of locals deciding to stick around. i haven't spoken to the first person who told me, listen, i am evacuating. they're all sort of holding their breath and waiting to hear more updates, which is why your job is so important to keep people informed as to what to do. but everyone is sort of hoping

for a 79th inning miracle. >> all right, mariana attendancea. mariana stay safe. we are joined now on the phone by william capote. he's the mayor of palm bay florida, which is along that atlantic coast. how is your city preparing for the effects of this storm? >> right now i'm listening to your show at the same time and i was glad i believe his name was phil saying that he's going to stay out there on the northwest and it's not going to come out close to this area. but at the same time as you heard about cocoa beach and mayor malik worried about what could transpire at his location. but here we are saying to ourselves best case scenario we get a tropical storm. worst-case scenario it's a category 3-4.

because it's not changing if it's going through us. so this has the same characteristic as matthew because matthew kind of did the same thing, and then it veered out 25 miles out sea, and it treated us as best as it could, let's say. but we are prepared here in our city. our staff has done due diligence to make sure that we dealt with being very proactive in getting ready for the water that's going to get dumped on us. the fact that it's only going one mile per hour is really the scary part of it because that's a lot of water to take in. as you were mentioning, we also have the st. johnson river and we have the indian river lagoon. up north they have the banana river and they have the mosquito lagoon. so we are dealing with the same issues. our county is about an hour with the longest county in brevard

county and we're very coastal. but from preparation, we have done the best we could. and we work collectively as a county we work well together. >> well, the city and the county as you said sound prepared. but what are the residents doing? are they actually listening to these evacuation orders? >> yes. we've been through this before. since 2004 when we had francis and jean, that basically prepared us into the future. and our residents don't take it lightly when the warnings come in. yes, some people are going to take that risk of staying out in the barrier islands because this is being so unpredictable that some people like to feel comfortable in staying in their own homes. but i would say to them what you do by doing that, you put our public safety personnel at risk because they are the only ones that can go and get you. so adhere to the notice of evacuation because, if not, the

fire safety, the police, all these people are the ones that you're going to put their lives at risk to come and help you. >> all right. well, mayor, thank you so much for joining me. please stay safe and look after your city. next, chef jose andreas is on a mission of mercy again. this time he's in the bahamas setting up emergency food centers. he will be joining us live as our breaking coverage of hurricane dorian continues. stay right here. ♪ limu emu & doug hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need.

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welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. hurricane dorian continues its crawl toward the eastern seaboard ahead of landfall, what can thousands of americans in the path of this storm expect? for more i'm joined by rafael, former director of public affairs at fema. rafael, people on the eastern seaboard, they are anxious, they are scared. they don't know what to expect. and this storm is crawling north. what is the most important thing they can do right now before it hits? >> well, the only thing that's certain about this storm so far is how uncertain it has been. i think the good news here is that if you look at fema, we have a group of public servants, career public servants who have been through a couple of really tough hurricane seasons and have proceed deployed supplies, food and water, urban search and rescue teams.

you have seen the federal emergency declaration extend beyond just florida into georgia and to south carolina. but your point is exactly right. at the end of the day, being prepared is a shared responsibility between the federal, state, and local governments and individuals themselves, which is why it's so vital that they take action now to prepare? >> and what does action look like? simply evacuate? because when they hear reports that the storm might not make landfal landfall. >> the most important thing people need to do is to listen to the instructions that local agencies are giving them to take right now. if you're in an evacuation zone and you've been asked to evacuate, the time to do that is right now. don't wait. don't try to figure out where it's going to make landfall, if it's going to be a category 5 or a category 4. the truth is that the action that you need to take is right now. and frankly we're a little lucky

extra time to take those actions. but whether you live on the coast or inland, the time to prepare is right now. >> but doesn't the slowless and unpredictability make it tougher for officials? >> that's exactly right. but these disasters come on shore and totally destroy communities. by the way it doesn't take a hurricane to do that. in 2016 we saw a major tropical depression hit louisiana. tens of thousands of families are still struggling to recover there. so the truth is, is as we see these more severe and frequent disasters hit our country, we really need to foster this culture of preparedness across the country so that people know that they need to take action, they're not powerless against hurricanes like this. we will help them. we will provide them with the resources. fema has a great website ready.gov. state and local emergency managers are engaged every day trying to educate local

communities and residents about what they can do. but at the end of the day they are a major piece of this puzzle and they need to take action. >> what is the impact of major storm surges? we might be okay, what what could a storm surge do to a community? >> when it comes to hurricane i think we tend to focus a little too much on wind speed. but statistically, water is the biggest killer. if you haven't been through a storm surge before, stephanie, people tend to think of it as maybe a really bad high tide. but it's much, much worse than that. it takes away everything in its path. 3 feet is hard to move around at 6 feet or higher you can drown certainly if you have any pets they won't make it through. and it can stretch miles and miles inland. so people really need to take storm surge seriously. the national hurricane center in miami is now issuing storm surge warnings and watches for parts of the florida and the georgia

coast. folks need to take those very, very seriously. but again it's not just folks on the coast. it's further inland where you can see flash flooding. you can see tornados that spawn off of these types of storms even if they do not make direct landfall. >> rafael, thank you so much. you are definitely making us smarter this evening. former fema official rafael. we are going to keep trying to speak with chef jose andreas, but phone communication from the bahamas is very difficult. you saw the images, that is exactly where it is hitting down. he is there on a rescue mission setting up food centers in the bahamas like he did a year ago in puerto rico. unfortunately right now we cannot get him on the phone. still ahead, the latest on the deadly mass shooting in odessa texas coming just as the state loosens. you heard me correctly, loosens its gun laws. stay with us here on msnbc. we'll be right back. service, . our 18 year old was in an accident.

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welcome back. you're watching msnbc. i'm stephanie ruhle. and we are learning more about the mass shooting in texas that killed seven people and injured over 20 on saturday. police now say that the gunman called the police and he called the fbi after he was fired from

his job that morning. >> saturday morning our suspect went to work in journey oil field service. he was there for a short time and was terminated by his employer. right after that firing, he called 9-1-1 odessa police department's 9-1-1 and so did his employer. and basically they were complaining on each other because they had a disagreement over the firing. a short time before he makes contact with the dps trooper, he actually caused the fbi national tip line -- called the fbi national tip line but makes no threats of any type of violence. >> however, he was pulled over for what officials say was an unrelated traffic violation near midland, texas, which is where the shooter's rampage began and continued into odessa. witnesses who feared for their lives captured a portion of these terrifying moments during

the shooting including this video that we're about to play. and i warn you, this is really hard to watch. h. who's shooting? >> it's okay. it's okay. hey, are you okay? i got you. >> that video my goodness, the suspect used an ar-type assault rifle. but officials say he failed a background check and shouldn't have been able to own a gun in the first place. this comes as a series of new gun laws went into effect yesterday loosening gun restrictions in the state of texas. nbc's garrett haake has the latest. all right, garrett, let's start with what have we learned today about the gunman? >> reporter: well, stephanie, we learned that it appears the proximate cause, the immediate cause of this shooting may have had something to do with the suspect's firing earlier in the

day, those angry phone calls placed by both the suspect and his former employer. the suspect's rambling call to the fbi tip line. it's hard to talk about good fortune or good luck when seven people are dead. but it seems that we were in fact lucky here that it was state troopers who pulled this suspect over for again what they say was an unrelated traffic offense and what started this incident when we don't yet know where the suspect was going or what his intentions were, except i think it's fairly reasonable to assume they were not good. we also learned that this is somebody perhaps someone who should've been on police radar if he wasn't already. one of our team members here on the ground spoke to a neighbor of the suspect today that said he had threatened her with that same rifle as much as a month ago, that he was known to fire it from the roof of his house shooting at small animals in the neighborhood. the way the fbi described it is that this is not the kind of thing you don't see shootings where a person just snaps. that's not really how this works in real life. instead what you often have is a longer, slower spiraling descent

down where a person can make the decision to commit a crime like this. that appears the case here. although the suspect's motive and state of mind is obviously central to this investigation going forward. >> so when he called the police and the fbi, what was it 15 minutes before this all began? do we know what he said? >> reporter: we don't know the contents of this call. although those fbi tip line calls are recorded. this may be something that we can find out in time. the fbi official here who breed of reporters say that he didn't make any specific threats that it was this long rambling call. what you have is these local and federal law enforcement officials springing into action to look for someone. they knew this was a person that appeared disturbed that it was possible at least in those other phone calls placed to the local police departments by the eventual shooter that we were talking about someone who might at least be thinking about violence. but they were essentially looking for one man across two

cities and a large stretch of highway when these state troopers essentially lucked upon him for what authorities say was a failure to properly signal a turn. >> garrett, i know you spoke to presidential candidate beto o'rourke today. i've seen the news coverage. this is a texan so it's hitting home for him. what did he tell you? >> reporter: absolutely. i think after el paso, we saw beto o'rourke who is singularly focused on this issue of violence and whatever form it comes in. i was struck by the fact that o'rourke's presence here flies in the face of the why that politicians used to handle this. i can't tell you how many of these i have covered where politicians were even in favor of gun laws would say i don't want to talk about this yet, it's too early. what i saw from o'rourke is someone aggressively looking for an opportunity to politicize this arguing that it's not too early to be talking about stronger gun control but

essentially too late. based on the conversations he was having with victims at the hospital in odessa, here is some of what he told me. >> we have put profits and industry political action committees ahead of the lives of our fellow human beings. and our fellow human beings regardless of party affiliation, regardless of whether or not they own a gun, regardless of geography, are fed up with it. they are just as angry as the woman i jand they want us to dog about it. so now is the perfect time. in fact, the essential time for us to talk about it. >> reporter: steph, congress isn't back for another week. the texas legislature isn't scheduled to meet again for another year. yes, you heard me right. they only meet every other year. if i were to make any kind of prediction looking ahead, the texas governor here has a commission in place to study possible solutions here. given the specifics of this crime here in odessa, and the blueprint laid by the republican governor of florida to pass red flag laws in that state, i would not be surprised to see

additional ideas about what texas could do to improve red flag laws which is something that is less triggering, if you will, and in some other states. >> tell us about these new laws that went into effect yesterday. when you see the headline there was a tragic shooting on saturday and new laws go into effect that very same day or the following people, people assume they're stricter laws. but alas it's the opposite. >> reporter: indeed it is the opposite. although the timing is purely coincidental. these were passed during the texas legislature's session that was ended in june signed by the governor over the course of the summer. they were praised by the nra he said this was one of the most successful legislation sessions that they had had in texas perhaps ever. these are restrictions that are being changed or lifted on where and when texans can carry their firearms that they illegally own. some of them include allowing folks to keep a gun locked in their car when they're parked at a school, carrying your gun into

your place of worship is now allowed unless your church specifically bans it. and in the event of a disaster, a national emergency or emergency of any kind, open and carry is essentially allowed. you will not be prosecuted for taking your gun with you regardless of the licensing of it as you are leaving a store. and changing and loosening the rules on how guns must be stored in foster homes. now guns and their ammunition can be stored together in foster homes licensed by the state. the governor of texas made the argument that these laws are intended to improve public safety. which would allow more armed r marshalls in texas school. guns in the hands of whomever, do they make us more or less safe? texas apparently has an answer that they are willing to try at least for now. >> all right. nbc's garrett haake. thank you so much, garrett, joining us from odessa, texas. up next, more than 30 people

are still missing from a horrif horrific boat fire off the coast of california. ♪ play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. ♪ tum tum tum tums so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more

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"i can't breathe." that's what was heard on the audio right there on a may day call placed on the coast guard early this morning from a boat that was on fire off the coast of california. 39 people were on board when the fire began. the coast guard has confirmed to the nbc affiliate in los angeles that four bodies have been recovered. 30 people still remain unaccounted for. and five crew members jumped off the boat and they were rescued. the 75-foot dive boat was just 20 yards off santa barbara from where the fire began. blaine, what in the world happens? that may day call came around 3:30 in the morning. so of course almost everybody on that boat was asleep. >> reporter: everybody was asleep. not only were they asleep, stephanie, but they were below deck making it very difficult to escape. we're talking about pitch black conditions, 3:00 a.m. people are groggy, very tight confined spaces. so certainly not conducive to a

fast escape. and you mentioned the fact that four fatalities have been confirmed. unfortunately we can possibly suspect that we will see that number go up from here. there are still more than two dozen people from that boat, steph, that are still unaccounted for right now. so let me walk you through first the conditions that we're talking about. this was a 75-foot boat. you see right there the flames almost completely taking over that vessel. five crew members were able to escape. they were able to get off. the only reason they were able to escape safely two with only relatively minor injuries is because they happened to be awake. they happened to be up on deck getting ready for the dive of the day when that fire broke out they were able to jump off and essentially call for help. but those other 34 people were stuck in those cabins and unable to escape. so we've gotten an update from officials earlier today. we are expecting another one to come within the next two hours or so. but they are looking on the

shoreline trying to figure out if perhaps there are any survivors. one thing that really struck me, steph, is that this took place only about 20 yards or so away from shore. so we're not talking about out in the middle of open waters. but we are talking about relatively close to shore. but when you talk about all these factors combined, it make it's very difficult to escape. >> 20 yards away from shore. but those crew members who did survive when they jumped off the boat they didn't swam to shore. they swam to another boat, didn't they? >> reporter: yes, they did. and that's where they were able to call for help. there are going to be certainly a lot of questions that come from t what were the safety procedures that were supposed to be in place? what other thing that you're looking at of course is the fact that there were a lot of flammable materials on board. this was a boat that was outfitted for diving. so we're talking about oxygen tanks. we're also talking about a possibly propane tanks that were used for cooking. this was an excursion that also serves food on board. so other things that would have made that fire go even hotter

even harder and made it even more difficult for firefighters and crews to put that out and save the people on board, steph. >> tell us more about the rescue efforts. the fact that 30 people are still unaccounted for, what are they doing? >> reporter: so we know that early this morning when that call came in, they dispatched search crews by water. they dispatched to boats. they also dispatched them in the air. >> it was kind of a foggy morning. so those air efforts were a bit hampered. but we know that a lot of people went out several different jurisdictions trying to find people. here's what made things more difficult. our gadi schwartz is actually there. he's been talking with people who have been involved in these rescue efforts. as he described one of the things that makes it more difficult is of course you see the flames. they are trying to put out those flames. but at the same time they are trying not to compromise the vessel itself. so you want to put enough water on it of course to put the fire out but not so much that it causes the boat to sink. unfortunately that's what happened. we know that it eventually did sink. only a small part of it was

sticking out. so it just makes the conditions even more difficult when you talk about a rescue effort. >> all right, blaine alexander joining us from california. and as hurricane dorian continues to grind its way through the bahamas, it could take hours and maybe even days before we get a true picture of the devastation. but we are speaking to someone who's there. chef jose andreas along with his humanitarian relief team world central kitchen is currently in the bahamas working to provide humanitarian relief for victims of this hurricane. chef andreas joins me now. it feels like just yesterday you were spending weeks which turned into months in puerto rico. now here you are in the bahamas. you're in nassau. that is mile as way from the eye of the storm. but tell us about what it is like where you are. >> well, in nassau, the conditions have nothing to do with the conditions of the grand bahamas. but we were able to experience

here heavy winds, some flooding in some parts of the island, some parts of the island even they lost electricity. but, again, nothing like what the people are experiencing in these islands. so here we are getting ready. we hope that we are going to be able to arrive hopefully tomorrow as soon as the winds die down and the seas become more welcoming to the ships. so we hope we are going to be able to get there by helicopter. the planes are going to have a hard time going any time soon in the next 24 hours. we know that the airports are totally flooded. so hopefully helicopters will be a quicker easier way to start arriving and assessing the damage. and obviously the rescue missions that they will have to take in place first and all the medical aid that is going to be needed in the island initially. >> i know you can't get to those northern islands yet. but you and your team have

communicated with people there. what are they telling you about the conditions? we now know that the death toll is at least five. >> yes. that's what we are listening, you know, when you talk to locals that they have some connection with people in the islands, they describe you that some people are seeing bodies floating in the water. you know, the death count probably maybe even increases. but what i can tell you is that everybody in nassau is very eager to help. what you see here are all these volunteers, many of them bahamians. but many people here are on vacation and many of them are putting their vacation aside and being part of the volunteer team. what we are doing right now is making sure that we assess all the possibilities. we know that we can be using some kitchens in both islands. we've been contacting them, some of the hotels and they are

waiting for everybody to start arriving slowly but surely. >> we so appreciate it. chef jose andres. we are fwobab getting a live report from the national hurricane center as dorian grinds its way toward the florida coast. do not go anywhere. we will be right back in a moment. in a moment this was me six years ago... and this is me now! i got liberty mutual. they customized my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. then i won the lottery, got hair plugs, and started working out. and so can you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's handcrafted burgers now starting at $7.99

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welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. we return now to our break being news coverage of hurricane dorian. here in the united states, millions have been ordered to evacuate as the category 4 storm crawls toward the southeast coast of the u.s. earlier this hour, the national hurricane center issued its latest advisory update on hurricane dorian. deputy center ed rapaport joins us now. ed, what's the latest? >> yes, at this point the hurricane is essentially stationary, still over grand bahama island. disastrous situation, the last 24 hours or so, the hurricane has been nearly stationary, first over the abaco then drifted over to grand bahama. i'm going to show you radar pictures. this is the center of the

hurricane. here is grand bahama island. this is freeport which is just outside the eye wall, southwest eye wall. they've been having hurricane force winds 6 to 12 hours. they're probably going to have another 6 to 12 hours of hurricane force winds. going to be a terrible night there in the western bahamas. >> a category 4 storm that has moved 12 miles in the course of the last 20 hours, and now it's stationary. when was the last time you saw anything like that? >> well, every storm is different. in this particular case we did think there would be a slow down after the charge tarowards the west, towards south florida that's occurred. now what we think is going to be taking place is a gradual pickup of speed beginning overnight tonight or during the day tomorrow, towards the northwest and will track -- take the hurricane center about parallel to the coast of the southeastern united states, but it looks like if all works out well, about 50 miles or so offshore, that's

important because hurricane force winds extend to the west about 35 miles. so any deviation, though, from that forecast to the west will bring hurricane conditions and a higher storm surge to the coast. that's our concern. that's why we have hurricane warnings, hurricane watches up the coast all the way to the carolinas now and a storm surge warning and watch for roughly the same area. >> what's the likelihood the kirnt path could shift in the coming hours? >> well, we don't think there will be much shifting because at the moment it's not moving at all. when it picks up forward speed it's likely to be the north, northwest. in the next 12 hours or so. it gives us an opportunity to talk about that. the storm surge we're expecting, center of the hurricane takes this track as forecast. we're looking at a 4 foot storm surge much along the southeastern coast. if the center comes closer to the coast we could see as much as a 7 foot inundation. that's why we have storm

watches, something they introduced a couple years ago to save lives. >> besides the northern islands in the bahamas which we know are getting hit so hard right now, what is the highest risk area next? >> well, much of the coast of the united states, the southeast coast is at risk, and this is enough to be life-threatening in terms of the storm surge. that's why we have evacuations in place. as the storm goes farther north it's going to extend that risk to north carolina. we have two or three days to see this play out, but hopefully that's enough time for everybody to be prepared, follow closely the advice of local emergency management officials. >> without a doubt. ed, thank you so much for giving us an update. ed rapaport of the national hurricane center. well, authorities in florida, we've been mentioning it throughout the hour, have ordered mandatory evacuations in the most vulnerable coastal communities. rising sea levels due to climate change only increase the risk and intensity of the storm surge, which is one of the biggest risks posed by any

hurricane, specifically this one. joini joining me now is alex harris. alex, it wasn't so many years ago there was no such thing as a climate change reporter. now there is. you you are so needed, specifically in places like southern florida. help us understand how sea levels make storms like this even more dangerous. >> right. so absolutely. south florida is one of the most vulnerable spots in the entire nation for sea level rise. we've seen since 1992, about. what that does is not visible on a day-to-day basis, but it raises the level of the baseline of the water so. when we see dangerous storm surge coming in, right now south florida is not in for any incredibly high levels of storm surge. but when we see it come in, that higher level that we see all up and down the east coast could make that storm surge even more, come in more inland. it could have -- our water levels are already higher inland. it could lead to a lot more flooding and danger for people

inland as well. >> is there a direct link between climate change and the frequency and intensity of the storms we're seeing over the last few years? >> so, hurricane scientists are cautious to draw too strong of a link, but what we've seen so far is there is some good research out there that suggests that climate change, a warmer world makes it more likely we'd see more intense storms. so less cats 1, 2 and 3, maybe more categories 4 and 5. other research suggests we'll see slower and water storms sort of what we're seeing with dorian, what we saw with harvey and florence. really the strongest signal we see right now is an intensity of storms. >> alex harris, thank you so much of the "miami herald." we will be keeping you updated on all the latest on hurricane dorian and much more. do not go anywhere. we'll be right back after this. you're watching msnbc. this you're watching msnbc. represent:

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welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle at msnbc headquarters here in new york city, continuing our breaking news coverage of hurricane dorian. millions of people are on high alert this evening as the storm approaches the eastern coast of florida. we have already seen its devastating impact