11th, 20th anniversary. you can recall how the country came together as one in unity after what happened in new york city and washington and shanksville, pennsylvania. i would like to see more quest and march with unity rather than the division that we talk about each day. >> something to think about as you head out for the long labor day weekend. it has been a difficult week for so many in the country. we hope you get time with your family and people you love. thank you for being with us. joe and mika will be back next week. see you then. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. i'm stephanie ruhle. it is friday, september 3rd. this morning, we are following two major stories. just minutes ago, we got the latest snapshot of the economic

recovery. the united states adding a very disappointing 235,000 jobs in august with the unemployment rate dropping to 5.2%. the big, big question today is with most benefits gone, why are there still so many open jobs and how much is the delta variant disrupting return to normal? marty walsh will be here to answer that question. and devastation across the northeast. 48 people confirmed dead. we were talking with two separate disasters unfolding notice northeast and south. the death toll rising to 48 in new york, new jersey, connecticut and pennsylvania after hurricane ida decimated the area. it is raising questions about climate change and infrastructure. as of this morning, 64 people in

8 states have died from the storm. the governor of will speak in a few minutes from now, phil murphy. and we see this rescue in new york central park. a driver got stuck in the flood waters there. look at this. homes in new jersey on fire in middle of flooded neighborhoods and firefighters not able to reach the homes. and in flood waters, a home exploded because of a suspected gas leak. that caught on surveillance camera. you cannot forget what is going in louisiana. five days after the hurricane hit. a category four there. a monster. still 800,000 people without power. president biden planning to travel there to see the damage first hand. we have reporters in all of the

hardest hit areas. i want to start with yasmin. the state of new jersey is not ready for things like this. when we hear hurricane, people bring an umbrella. >> reporter: it's not. i think it is obvious now we're almost 48 hours after the storm and the clean up is intense. psg&e is here to turn off the electricity to the homes. much of the river overflowed and you cover that with the rain a couple nights ago. that is why the flooding here in mandville is intense. tim, push on the one-way sign. the water was as high as the sign. you see the cops there. the water was that much higher than that. let me walk over here to my right.

follow me a little bit. this is deloris' house. the water in her home went above the door. the basement is filled up with water. luckily, we heard about so many deaths that happened during the storm. luckily they were able to get out at midnight. deloris, what is it like to deal with this destruction? >> it is very hard. this is the fourth time it happened here. this is the worst time for us. when it happened, the kids and i had a visitor in my house. they were stuck. they were hearing noise. the foundation came down. a lot of damage to the foundation. and ruined the space.

>> reporter: if you stayed, you could have died? >> yes. it was very quick. >> reporter: very emotional. >> emotional. maybe half an hour. nobody thinks this can happen. >> reporter: it happened quickly. >> the neighbors were sleeping. we had to knock on their doors. >> reporter: steph, that is what we heard in my coverage over the last 24 hours. it happened quickly. deloris, thank you. good luck to you and your family. tim, flip this around. you see the smoke stack coming from the homes? the home behind. >> we just had an aerial view. >> reporter: the smoke and fire is active. that's why we're back here. these houses could blow.

deloris' house. i heard the clicking sound of the oven going off. the starter. i said we have to move away. they have to shut the electric down. then this home in front of it. that lit on fire. we spoke to the owner today. they lived there for six years with the son. they evacuated during the storm. as you can tell, the community was not able to withstand the infrastructure with the massive once in a lifetime storm. steph. >> you hope it's once in a lifetime. on the context with the left side of the screen, you are looking at the area where yasmin is ride now. the smoke is still going. gary grumbach is in mullica. what is it like there? people must be in shock.

>> reporter: steph, residents are coming back to homes here to clean up. this is when the real clean up begins. yesterday was more about salvaging the personal belongings. we see more contractors here and clean-up crews and dumpsters and chainsaws going. this tornado was the strongest tornado to hit new jersey in 30 years. this was an ef-3. it ripped through the neighborhood. it was on the ground in south jersey for 20 minutes. it spanned 12 miles across the state. it was at one point the width of four football fields. this house particularly behind me was one of the lucky ones. part of the home ripped up here. you see on the second floor, some of the clothing falling from the dresser. you see the bed in the room next door and the couch on the first level here. governor murphy, governor of new jersey, was here yesterday and surveying the damage and talking to neighbors.

he was on the show this morning. he confirmed 25 people have died as a result of the storm across the state of new jersey. that's good news here for mullica hill. no injuries or casualties from the reported storm. steph. >> my goodness. i haven't seen anything like it for 30 years. ellison barber is in new orleans. ellison, what is on the president's agenda? >> reporter: he is going to be assessing the damage meeting with state and local leaders. people hope he will come to a distribution center to see what they are dealing with. in new orleans, you can't really see what they're dealing with from an aerial view. it is coming to a place like this and seeing people wait withing in line. an hour before this site opened to get cases of water and bags of ice and mres. a lot of people are desperate for ice, not because it is so hot, but they have things at

home that have to be refrigerated. new orleans is 13% of the city with any power. we met one woman in line waiting 40 minutes with her mother. her mother's name is paula and her name is aretha. they are waiting for ice because aretha is diabetic and needs to keep her medicine cold. they have no way to do that. they have four little ones. youngest child is 4 months old and needs to keep the milk fresh. i asked them what they want to ask the president when he comes here today. >> we need energy to come out here and start giving us lights. we can't go like a week or two weeks without electricity because we have problems with the electricity and sewer before the hurricane came. >> reporter: the big energy company, entergy, finished the damage assessments yesterday.

they are expecting to give people a better timeline as to when they can get the power back. stephanie, it has taken too long. the city did not open temporary shelters. they say they will open a special needs medical shelter for people who need help to keep medicine safely stored. right now, that will not open until tomorrow. stephanie. >> a special needs medical center. the united states is faces crisis on top of crisis. thank you all so much. i want to bring in president aaron adams. thank you for joining me. i know what a hectic time it is. based on your assessment, how long will it take to recover from this? we weren't ready. >> so true. thanks for having me. as i moved throughout the city yesterday and day before, the

level of damage to property owners and to the infrastructure was really alarming. i never saw anything in my life here in brooklyn of the brooklyn bridge entry ramp flooded. it was unbelievable. as i was moving around this morning to different sites and also the loss of life. we lost 13 new yorkers. not only physical damage, but also the emotional trauma associated with it as well. >> recovery is what we are facing in the coming weeks. let's talk coming months and infrastructure. as mayor, what would you do as a direct result of the disaster to help protect and fortify the city from the threat of another storm. we call these once in 100 years. they're not. not anymore. >> the first thing we have to be honest with ourselves, which i believe we are not. we believe we can build walls around our shorelines.

this storm and this water damage that we witnessed did not come from the full moon or a high tide. it came from rain. we were flooded in areas that we never witnessed flooding before. williamsburg and the park. these are inland locations. if we don't start putting in place the plan like the netherlands has done and other countries has done, we will start dealing with this issue in a real way. we are building out sewer system with old standards. we have to start using mother nature not to keep water out, but how we live with water. that is what i'll bring together with a smart team of people who will not only think outside the box, but we have to destroy the box and rethink how we are shoring up our cities. >> immediately following disasters, we come together and we say we need to do something big and we don't. i think back to former new york

may user bloomberg in 2013, he announced a $20 billion storm protection plan and it never went into place. as time passes, people don't want to spend the money. the storm and damage costs so much more. how will you make sure your plans get implemented? >> there is always the democracy and push back. when you look at my resume of public service, i policed in the city with 2,000 homicides a year and no one thought we could be a safe city. we had to transform ourselves as a law enforcement agency. i'm saying right now to new york city and america, it is time to transform ourselves to deal with the threat in our environment and we must have one solution that is going to solve a multitude of problems. we are dealing with employment. why not put in place a real plan and build out our cities in a

way to employ new yorkers and use our capital dollars and shore up our cities for the future? we are not doing that now. you have to come in with a real intentional plan and desire to do so. i'm not going to succeed at everything, but i'll not fail at trying. i'll try my best how we can be a resilient city and lead the country in doing so. >> we do know that. no matter what, new yorkers are resilient. thank you for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you. take care. when we come back, we are keeping an eye on the northeast with resources under way -- excuse me. rescues under way after ida unleashes floods and tornadoes. governor phil murphy set to speak as the death toll continues to rise. a huge letdown. the united states adding 235,000 jobs in august when estimates

were above 700,000. when you drive down any street, you see a help wanted sign. is the delta variant to blame or something else? what is keeping people from getting back in the work force? getting back in the work force mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. this is how you become the best! [music: “you're the best” by joe esposito] [music: “you're the best” by joe esposito]

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the longer you've been with us... the more rewards you can get. like sharpening your cooking skills with a top chef. join for free on the xfinity app and watch all the rewards float in. our thanks. your rewards. breaking news this morning. the august jobs report is out and it is a lot worst than thought. u.s. economy adding 235,000 jobs in august with the unemployment

rate at 5.2%. that is lower than the 720,000 jobs we expected. it follows several months of gains and now we have clarity on the delta variant impact as we try to get back to normal. what we are in is that i don't know economy. the labor return to work and school and inflation hurting the recovery. where we go from here is a question mark. wage growth is up in a big way. the question is why aren't people going back to work? i have the panel here to break it down. monica alba and jason fehrman and john hope bryant and aaron dubey. jason, this was a huge miss at a time when every business out there is trying to hire. what do you make of it? >> look, stephanie, no question

you see the delta variant in these numbers. you had a low overall number. number added in leisure and hospitality is zero as restaurants and bars shed jobs. the picture is the delta variant is having a much, much, much smaller impact on the economy than the first wave. we are headed to the same daily death toll in april of last year. the job losses are about 3% as big as the job losses we had last year. people are continuing, for the most part, to go around with their lives, but making small tweaks and the small tweaks are what you see in the numbers. last thing, unemployment rate is down. wages is up. there's progress here. much slower than we were making because of the delta variant. >> but can you explain this. leisure and hospitality. you brought it up. one of the biggest gainers in the last few months.

now it ground to basically zero. is that because people just aren't applying for those jobs or are those employers slowed down hiring? >> we don't know. we observe the net result. i think it is mostly that employers in that sector are not hiring. they're nervous about what is next. again, they are not shedding jobs in large numbers, either. there is a little bit of hit the pause button on the leisure and hospitality sector. not hit the reverse button. >> i think a million restaurant owners are calling up and saying i'm hiring. john, he talked about the wage growth. higher wages is the thing to seduce people back into the work force. why isn't it happening? >> i think he is brilliant, but

i respectfully disagree with him. there is a lot of data missing from the data. you have people say can i get to survival? $15 an hour is what is needed to survive. if you make $12 an hour and you are a family of three or four. you are making $24,000 a year with a 40-hour week. they getting to the $15 wage rate is a respectable living wage. that is not enough to do back into a high-risk job with the delta variant killing people at a stronger rate as he mentioned as the original variant. they don't see national leaders pulling together with the same message. there is a lot of emotion, stephanie, of confidence. people say don't trust your government. national leaders saying don't trust the government. people are saying i'll not trust you. i'll trust me and the internet.

so they don't have day care. they don't have health care. they don't have safe places to work. they going $15 an hour is not enough risk. who is taking that risk? college educated white men who are getting paid more. they'll go back to work. you look at the numbers. white men are doing really well. everybody else -- >> they always do. >> you really think this is a pivot of class versus rate. the color is green. not red or blue or white or black. it's green. parents are saying i'm not ready. i don't see confident schools. workers say i don't see a gateway to a sustainable job. the seasonal jobs are seasonal. the manufacturing jobs with less risk than working in the restaurant and slightly higher pay. these numbers make a lot of sense when you look at them and

california will drop 2.2 million people from extended unemployment next week. 7.5. you will have a lot of data points in the next 30 days where some people are forced to go back to work because they have too much. a lot to unpack here. it is more than the data itself. >> john mentions two really important points. not just the labor shortage, but shift. many shifting to the manufacturing and warehouse center jobs and away from hospitality. they are safer and pay more and offer benefits. aaron, you study unemployment and unemployment benefits. all of the states that got rid of it over the summer did not see people flood back to work. expanded unemployment is running out. extra $300. kids are going back to school. the rent moratorium is ending. this is combination, the

catalyst getting people back to work? plus wages? >> cutting ui in june had a small impact on job finding rate for those unemployment. you know, we found 1 out of 8 people losing benefits actually found a job by early august. so earnings replaced only 5 cents for every dollar loss of benefits leading to a pretty large drop in consumption and spending to the tune of $2 billion just in a couple of months in these states. after labor day, we will see a much bigger version of that play out. maybe four times as large. i worry a lot about the pocketbooks of people that may be 7 million to 8 million families set to lose unemployment benefits. i worry that it might additionally add some headwinds to overall spending and job

creation. >> aaron, there are jobs for people to go back to and while it is great that the stimulus gives money to people that they can spend to the economy, it is not normal for us in perpetuity to spend government money. that is not normal cash flow. >> absolutely. we're also not in a normal time as just this month's job number based on the delta variant suggests. we are actually asking people to go back to work at a time when there are other constraints and at a time when there's actually a delta wave of the pandemic raging. i think that creates stress on people's lives and also on the overall economy. >> monica, that takes us to the president. he is going to speak in less than an hour.

this is a tough needle to thread. >> reporter: this could happen. he said his message that day was not one of quote celebration, that there was still a lot of hard work left to be done. he warned specifically about the delta variant and impact it could have potentially on the economy. i expect when he speaks in a little bit, he'll repeat those themes and say what he has been saying for months that the economy is not going to be in his words like an on/off switch where you hit the light. it is more about a dimmer. the president will try to tout what they view as the good pockets of the jobs report. unemployment has fallen to the lowest rate since march of 2020 and 76% of jobs lost to the coronavirus pandemic have now been regained. of course, that means there are still about 5 million jobs to go. the president will probably put this into context and frame it into a bigger picture and saying

this is a bit weaker, but the slow and steady growth is what they are hoping to, of course, see in the coming months. they are very worried and white house officials behind the scenes, again, are fearful because as vaccinations go down, that had been something they thought was going to help the numbers. of course, we did see a dip over the summer. now they're climbing again. that is another piece of this i expect the president to address, steph. >> john, you and i have talked about a living wage for a long time. we are getting to better numbers. $15 an hour. $20 an hour. and that doesn't change. how much of a game changer can that be for lower wage americans? >> the silver lining, the rainbow after the storm, no pun intended, with what is going in

the country. that is not going away. i was in maui last week. the retail stores are advertising $15 an hour plus benefits. that is not temporary. that is good for the economy. we will be able to manage that. i'm a small business owner. i pay my workers that for the better. we will be fine. i think the biggest point here, stephanie, the pivot we need to make. by the way, black folks were more than 50% lower on the report on unemployment. i want to make sure that is also said. this is not all rosy news for all groups. particularly african-americans. i think all groups struggling, stephanie, will pivot to confidence with the infrastructure bill passing. if we get human infrastructure here passed with the future, you will have the plan of the 21st century.

how do we recover from world war ii? we are at war. a war without bombs or boats. we are in a war with china and russia. these folks want our place in the world. we can give it up by shooting ourselves in the foot and arguing or we can realize there is no pleasure in the fact with the hole in my hull of the boat and we have to start rowing together. you have to invest in the country. the economy booms. every time. statistically proven. after world war ii, the country took off like a rocket because of the plan. a mortgage for a new home and apprenticeship for a job for the future. that is where the white middle class came from. we need to have that again with

the new generation. >> jason, let's say you are in your old job and advertising the president. what does the administration do from here? they have small businesses in their ear and big businesses saying i can't hire people. they don't want to come back to work. the jobs are open. delta is still surging. if you are not an employer, for every day americans, all of these shortages caused by the labor shortage is pushing inflation. prices are up on almost everything. what does the administration do with this? >> stephanie, the most important near-term economic priority is getting the virus under control. more vaccination and vaccination mandates is part of that. second, the states have a big role to play. they have a very large amount of money back from the legislation in march. they should be using some of that money to cushion the blow of the unemployment insurance expiration. we shouldn't go back to $300 a week, but we shouldn't be

cutting off as many people that are about to be cut off. governors have the resources to do that. they should do it. finally, the administration should continue to concentrate on the medium- and long-term of the economy. a couple of months will be bumpy up and down. time is the biggest thing to fix the problems. we need to, as the president says, build back better. they should not lose sight of the infrastructure investments of the human investments in the reconciliation bill and stay focused on that as well. don't get distracted month to month by the data from what matters in the longer term. >> all right. don't focus on the short-term. great advice. easier said than done. thank you all for joining us. we'll leave it there. coming up, back to the top story of the day. devastation across the northeast with hurricane ida claiming 48 lives in the last few days. both governors of new york and

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back to our top story. the death toll from hurricane ida still rising with 64 people confirmed dead from the gulf coast to the tri-state area. earlier estimates put the storm's damages at over $100 billion. president biden approving emergency declaration funding in

new york and new jersey after the region witnessed historic flooding. the governors of new york and new jersey set to speak any moment. we will bring that to you live. let's bring in gabe gutierrez in manville, new jersey. gabe. >> reporter: stephanie, we are here in manville. a short time ago, authorities moved us back because of electrical crews are working on the power lines here. if we can zoom in to what is going on behind me, this is a home that is still on fire. if you look closely, there are still hot spots after the home next to it apparently exploded. we also have some aerial images as well. stephanie, this is something we have been seeing really throughout the morning. several homes across the region actually exploded or the homes next to them caught fire. firefighters had a very difficult time getting to areas like this because up until late last night, this neighborhood

was under water. dozens of people as you have been mentioning across the northeast have been killed because of the remnants of ida. we spoke with the homeowner at this home and he and his family safely evacuated. he is at a shelter nearby right now. he does thankfully have insurance. this storm brought so much rain and it was so powerful and a lot of questions we have been talking about how to rebuild the infrastructure here to withstand some of the more powerful storms. new jersey was hit hard. at least 23 people were killed in the state. a powerful ef-3 tornado slammed the southern portion of the state. destroying homes. this morning, authorities are assessing the damage here. again, we were here early this morning and now you see the police tape. there are more crews over there trying to get a handle on this. this is a first time that some

of the residents have been back since the storm. you see the ground is dry. that is good news. scenes of utter devastation here because many residents did not expect the flooding and unfortunately for the house behind me, did not expect the explosion. stephanie. >> 24 hours later, the houses are still burning. gabe, thank you. we will turn from flooding and tornadoes here on the east to wildfires in the west. this morning, the caldor fire prompted a citywide evacuation of tahoe is now 27% contained. firefighters racing against the clock. the inferno spans more than 200,000 acres has destroyed 800 structures and threatening thousands of others still. joining us from south lake is jake ward. jake, what is the latest on the ground? >> reporter: stephanie, this is the day on the eve of one of the biggest vacation weekends of the region. when you would in theory stop off and pick up a rental canoe

or stand-up paddleboard. if you rolled into the south lake right now, they would turn you away at road blocks like these. tourism authorities are telling anyone who wishes to visit lake tahoe not to do so this weekend. that is unprecedented for a place which sees 100,000 people in the region on labor day weekend. right now, as you say, the fire is about 27% contained. the forecast is more positive for firefighters here. winds are no longer pushing north which would have brought the flames right to the shores of the lake which would have been a first in modern history. fortunately, the winds are going in the opposite direction toward the south. that is giving firefighters a chance to slow things down. here on the ground, the adaptation to this radically altered environment is to be seen. water running down the hillside. right up above me is the heavenly ski resort.

that ski resort had to purchase snow making equipment with the snowfall this past year was not what one hoped. they are running the snow blowers all day long to get humidity into the air to try to tamp down the threat of fire across the region. at this point, we are looking at a fire of 200,000 acres. south lake tahoe seems to be spared. we are still looking at severe fire weather for the next two months according to fire report. we are not out of the woods yet. for this moment, this fire will not savage the place where i'm standing. stephanie. >> heavenly facing off against an inferno. jake, thank you for that report. i'm glad you are safe where you are. coming up, a big miss. we have been talking about it all morning. u.s. adding 235,000 jobs last month. a lot lower than expected. is the delta variant to blame? labor secretary marty walsh will

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now let's get back to the breaking news on our economy. the markets opening just minutes ago after we learned 235,000 jobs added last month and the markets are down. any moment now, president biden will speak with the jobs report. for now, we have a look at what the administration has to say. secretary marty walsh. this is a complicated number. we were expecting almost 900,000. >> the forecasts were wrong last month. they forecast 600,000 jobs.

we have over 1 million now with the adjustment. >> forget the forecast. it's a bad number. >> when you look at the number, i look at the positive side of the number. 235,000 jobs. most in the private sector. unemployment rate fell to 5.2%. the last three months, 750,000 job. we have work to do. when i look at the numbers, i look at the number of hospitality. the numbers were the highest in the last three months. this month, we had almost zero gain there. you correlate that with the delta variant and you see correlation there. >> why is that? is that the delta variant is spreading so employers in leisure and hospitality are no longer hiring people and their numbers are down or no one is applying for the jobs? >> i think a little bit of everything. i think people are not going out

to eat as much. i think we have to keep in perspective here is since february of 2020, we have been dealing with and living with a global pandemic. there is no road map on how we recover. when you think about the investment and think about the american rescue plan and what that has done and you think 4.5 million jobs returned since president biden has been sworn in as president of the united states of america. we are moving in the right direction. we have a way to go. we will not recover in one month or two months or three months. this is a long-term recovery. we will continue to do everything we can by job training and working with business and industry to get people back into the economy. the one thing i will say is we're asking people to get vaccinated. you have high levels of vaccination and less levels of delta variant. there is a correlation there as well. >> absolutely. let's talk about where we go from here. wages are up in a big way. that's great news. we were hoping that would

happen. at the same time, we know expanded unemployment is running out and the rent moratorium and parents are going back to work with kids back to school. do you expect in the coming months to see more people return to work? >> the answer is yes. i expect it. there is an expanded answer to that. the delta variant and if there are other variants are not causing high rates of covid-19 and causing havoc on the economy. we have a lot of work to do as americans. we need to continue to get the infection rates down and continue to make sure we get people back to work and as schools open in some parts of the country now this week and next week, we will see more participation in the work force so kids have a place to go during the day. >> worker shortage effects employers and all of us. not having workers messes up

supply chains and that makes things exextensive. >> the bright spot in the report is manufacturing this month, showing that our auto manufacturing is getting bigger. also the president is working on buying american and building american, he has an initiative and the build back america agenda money in for job training is also a focus on creating more of a supply chain here in the united states of america. the president has been focused on that, economic folks focused on that, i've been focused on that, secretary of labor creating opportunities within our own country. >> you've said states that have a surplus of money can use some of that money to help people now that those expanded unemployment benefits are running out, but some states they're not doing it. states like new jersey, they're saying they cannot use relief

money. are you considering an executive order to make it easier for states that want to do it? >> secretary yellen and myself sent a letter to the states allowing or saying so them they can use part of their american rescue plan dollars for unemployment benefits if need be. not every state in the country needs to expand unemployment. some of the rates in some states are lower so it's a state by state, area by area situation. >> all right, secretary walsh, always good to see you. thanks for joining me today. >> thanks for having me. happy labor day to everyone. >> indeed. i want to turn to governor phil murphy speaking in millburn, new jersey. let's listen in. >> -- for assisting with the cleanup, whatever evidence you have both for your own insurance purposes as well as for accessing our grants. help is coming. i know this is the absolute thing you all needed in the small business community, probably any of us needed after a year and a half of long struggle against a pandemic, but

we are in this with you. tim is in here to fill in some of the details on the grabts in grants in a few minutes. i mentioned in our communications with the president and the fema administrator and as well as with many other members of fema, we have requested additional emergency funding for homeowners individuals and families to help us support new jerseyians affected by this tropical storm in all manner of ways. our conversations have been reassuring and we are looking forward to utilizing full federal support. i'll pass this microphone over to tim in just a minute but a couple other quick storm announcements. with the heaviest of hearts i'm saddened to report an additional two fatalities as a result of this tropical storm, that brings our statewide total right now to 25 losses of life.

in the interests of protecting the individuals and their families, please keep their memories and families in your prayers, we will be releasing at some point shortly today a list of where these fatalities occurred by municipality. again, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and we pray for the memories of those lost. overwhelmingly folks lost if not entirely to flooding, no fatalities, thank god related to any of the tornadoes that touched down in south jersey. we have at least six persons missing right now in the state, i say at least, to the best of our abilities to calculate that. we will also likely be releasing the municipal data to where they're missing from. this was a deadly and dangerous storm and we continue to face its aftereffects. our first responders have done a tremendous job and i want to give them a huge shout out, rescuing people from incredibly

dangerous situations, and we are very grateful for their heroic efforts. i just heard one story by a committee woman here today. i was in two communities yesterday, each of whom the first responders had rescued in each community 200 or more persons. so as awful as this loss of life is, and every loss is awful, this could have been so much worse, but for those heroic efforts. i urge anyone in an area where flooding persists, please stay off the roads. motorists have been caught by surprise at the depth of the water on a road they knew, not to mention the swiftness of the current, easily swept away or trapped and sadly, we have many examples of just that and the risk and loss of life is real. please use common sense and stay safe. it is only appropriate as i give you an update regarding power outages that the president of

the board of public utilities joe has joined us. >> governor phil murphy, giving an update in new jersey, actually upping the death count as rescues still continue. it has been an exceptionally heavy week here and across the country, and to end our nation's longest war, flooding, devastation, going down across the south and the northeast, fires out west, and of course the covid crisis pushing hospitals to the brink, all of that took place this week. if you are feeling stressed, depressed, your anxiety is on high, maybe that's why, but let's just take a moment before we end this week to remember all of the good in the world, and the good people, the people who stepped up and ran towards danger to help others amid all of these crise, like the cajun navy, very spoke to the volunteer this week, his group rushed into the floodwaters when everyone else was trying to rush out. let's remember him. >> starting this morning, i'm about to be in laplace.

we're just asking for donations and we'll set up a spot and when everything is ready we'll start serving hot meals daily. >> and dr. mark klein, who described how his doctors and nurses and hospital workers put their patients above everything else when ida hit. >> some of them actually drove their spouses and their children out of harm's way as far away as birmingham and atlanta and then came back to provide coverage in the hospital for other people's children. >> and then there were others like veteran and veterans advocate jason candor, who reminded us what it means to serve. >> there are young women who are educated. there are people who had freedoms. there are people who will now, thanks to this airlift, spread across the world and contribute to it, because of what happened in afghanistan over the last 20 years.

>> i know it is so easy to criticize. there's lots we can do to talk about how divided we are, especially after a week like this, but in this moment, please just take a beat, take a breath to recognize the bright spots. there is still good in this world, extraordinary people around us, each and every day. that wraps up this hour and this week for me. i'm stephanie ruehl. hallie jackson picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break as president biden is just minutes away from talking about the august jobs report, before he heads down to louisiana to survey the storm damage. don't go anywhere. we've got a lot to cover. that'sd low cash mode, the financial watch out that gives you the options and extra time needed to help you avoid an overdraft fee. it's one way we're making a difference. low cash mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. we gave new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep to people who were tired of being tired. i've never slept like this before. i've never woken up like this before.

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as robust as folks had hoped. 235,000 jobs added last month. what is to blame covid, specifically delta. we'll bring you the president's remarks as soon as they begin. he's delivering those right before he heads to louisiana, where hurricane ida wiped out houses, businesses, we are live in new orleans and we're live in new jersey, where towns and cities are still paralyzed this morning from the record flooding. today this morning, we're learning 48 people have been killed connected to ida in the northeast. new jersey's governor looking at the damage in one town still underwater. >> millburn was crushed in the downtown small business community was crushed and that's a big reason why we're here today. >> i'm hallie jackson with monica alba at the white house