breaking news alert. nancy: breaking news at 6:00. as we come on the air word that 55 people are dead after a powerful earthquake rocked central mexico. jonathan: that is the number that could go up a lot. we are seeing video coming in now from mexico city. there is a race to find survivors. many trapped under the rubble. many have been pulled out from some of the collapsed buildings already. lisa fletcher monitoring the breaking story from the live desk. what is the latest? lisa: the death toll continues to rise as rescue crews are looking for survivors. 55 people are dead. streets are filled with debris. numerous buildings collapsed or suffered millions of damage. moments ago i read an "associated press" report rescue workers cheering as they pulled a woman from a downed building and they immediately called for quiet again as they looked for more people trapped. all schools have been closed and mexico city international airport is shut down. there are

power outages and gas leaks. on this day in 1985, mexico city suffered magnitude 8.0 quake that killed 9,500 people. ironically two hours and 15 minutes before today's quake hit the city, the city was engaged in the annual quake practice drill which it does on this anniversary every year. hopefully the timing of this drill has saved some lives. as we get more information and video we will bring it to you. live in the newsroom, lisa fletcher, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you very much. appreciate that. now we are getting word the death toll has gone up already to 61. that is a number that will continue to go up as we have seen so much devastation coming out of mexico city. get alerted anytime major news breaks here and around the world by going to wjla.com/text. sign up for breaking news alert. if something happens you will immediately be notified of it. nancy? nancy: the other big story tonight two hurricanes are making the presence known. this is what it looks like at rehoboth beach as the hurricane jose pounds the

there. josh knight is tracking it. we check in with him in a moment but first go to the coastline. brad bell is live at rehoboth beach with what he sees. brad: we have been here most of the day and it's not terribly unpleasant. watch the water. we had to run from it. we are on the beach but we won't be here much longer at all. the waves are so big and powerful, well, it looks like more than the beach can handle.

200 miles from shore, jose making the presence felt on rehoboth beach. waves as big as they get are crashing ashore drawing a crowd but only to water's edge. no swimming. >> even putting your ankles in is dangerous. the shame is last winter the federal replenishment program rebuilt the beach after damaging storms in the fall of 2015. people here today noting that is life on a seashore. >> they have to renew it again. >> so winds are strong as we felt all day long.

to be out to look at it. show you something. sea foam. you don't usually see it until you get winds like this. it's blowing down the beach. high it to is at 8:00 two hours from now. the water making it up to the sand dune. one bad thing that could happen is if the storm surge is strong enough to start clawing away at this dune. do the damage they have to repair later on. it doesn't look like the buildings in town will be in danger at all. 200 miles offshore and the storm is still this impressive. brad bell, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you, brad. the damage from jose is not limited to the coastline and the erosion. this is new jersey where the surf is so rough it is damaging that fishing pier. meteorologist josh knight tracking the tropics. you know, josh, no shortage of things to talk about here. we have jose. this is going to go on for a couple of days. but maria, that is absolutely terrifying. jon

is -- josh: the power with the storm is incredible. it has gusts up to 200 miles per hour. it went from a cat one to cat five in 15 hours. jonathan: have you seen that before? josh: we have seen it a couple of times this year. so that is what is remarkable with the hurricane season. it was expected to be active but as many storms as we have seen intensify, that is something we are not used to seeing. this is what we have at this point. there is maria. hurricane maria and jose. brad bell talked about that. but i want to zoom in closer to maria. you can see we still have a very of course, a tight eye. strong winds around the eye and the eyewall but gusting to 200 earn many. maximum sustained at 165. now we are less than 80 miles from st. croix here. puerto rico expected to take a hit tonight and into tomorrow morning. the category five is expected to weaken to a four. but still winds of 150 miles per hour as it does make landfall in puerto rico. ultimate

bahamas. but even there we will see heavy rain and the storm surge as a big problem. things are nice and quiet at home. it's starting to feel more like summer. we talk about that in a bit. nancy: thank you. going back to maria. mindboggling damage is how the prime minister has described the destruction after the eye moved over the tiny island nation. one is dead and two people are missing on the guadeloupe. life threatening storm surge flooding and destructive winds are expected in the next 24 to 36 hours. jonathan: the folks need help. they will need more help now. a second expert rescue team from virginia is heading to maria. let me show you. on the left this is virginia task force two. you can see it on the uniforms. that is virginia task force one. they have already been december ployed. they are out there helping folks in the virgin islands. task force two is getting ready. they are getting the stuff together to stage it and leave.

virginia task force one was shoring up the buildings and working on some dams. all of this in preparation of what is to come for the island nations out there with maria. a bad situation. the stormwatch7 weather team constantly tracking the tropics and monitoring the progress of the hurricane. you can see the updated forecast anytime of the day. or get the free stormwatch7 weather app on your phone in case something should happen. you will be notified. nancy: in a defiant debut at the united nations general assembly president trump promised to destroy north korea if it threatens the united states or the neighbors. president trump: rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself. and for his regime. the united states is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. nancy: "rocket man" is a reference to kim jong un. the president went on to criticize the iran nuclear deal as an embarrassment. as a lunchen

secretary -- lunchen hosted by the secretary general he touted the unlimited potential. jonathan: a bulldozer leading police on a slow-speed chase. the daring move that finally brought this chaotic situation to an end. >> this is a murder. it's police brutality. nancy: murder or self-defense. new information on a confrontation with the police that turned deadly in prince william county. jonathan: when you have a consumer problem that needs to be solved no problem at all. give the call center complaint line a call. 301-652-help. 301-652-4357. we keep lines open until

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come in today and play to earn your private shopping event for the holidays. play to win. win to shop. the monumental gift shop at mgm national harbor. now through november 7. this is monumental. ralphcandidate for governor,rtham, and i sponsored is ad. they're studying for 21st century jobs., but ed gillespie supports donald trump's plan to take money out of virginia public schools and give it to private schools. as a washington dc lobbyist, ed gillespie worked for lenders trying to keep student loan rates high. and ed gillespie's plan to cut taxes for the wealthy could cut virginia school funding, too. ed doesn't stand for education.

jonathan: new developments to tell you about in a deadly shooting of 15-year-old in haymarket. police and prosecutors say the friday shooting was justified saying that the teen was beating a woman with a crowbar before he started threatening them with it. his father, though disagrees. >> they could have subdue my son. this is a murder. this is police brutality. jonathan: the prince william county officers involved in the incident were not wearing body cameras in this. nancy: "7 on your side" consumer alert now after a bank card skimming device found inside a gas pump in arlington. it was found before 3:00 yesterday at the exxon where lee highway splits from old mi

recently keep an eye on the bank statements for fraud. "7 on your side" helping you protect your wallet. go to wjla.com and search "skimmers" and spot ways to spot the devices from the eyes to the fingers to the blue tooth on the phone. jonathan: coming up for us at 6:00, penny causes thousands of dollars in damage to a national treasure. what the man blamed for damaging the lincoln memorial is saying about the crime. nancy: next, chaos at 5 miles per hour. police there chasing down the stolen bulldozer that had already crushed a

i'm a lawyer, and i have clients, and i am proud to do what i do on behalf

narrator: the clients john adams and his team are so proud to work for? banks accused of money laundering. big corporations accused of defrauding taxpayers. and mortgage lenders accused of unfairly foreclosing on homes. now he wants to be attorney general. john adams: the best attorney general the powerful and well-connected can buy. i'm mark herring, candidate for attorney general, and i sponsored this ad. nancy: more on breaking news out of mexico city where rescues are underway in and around the capital after the magnitude 7.1 quake. at this hour 61 people have been confirmed dead but authorities expect the number to rise in coming hours and days. today squeaks comes on the 32nd anniversary of -- the earthquake comes on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 quake that killed thousands in the same area. jonathan: caught on video a shocking scene that you have

police chase a stolen bulldozer through an illinois town. chasing it. within minutes it crushes one of the police cruisers as the officer inside sprints to safety. the officers end up chasing the 9 ton machine, by vehicle and on foot. that is them jogging next to it. an officer jumps on the back of the dozeer, gets a grip on the driver and throws him to the ground. thank you. police say he was high on drugs and he is facing criminal charges that include attempted murder. nancy: more construction equipment thieves gone wild. this is illinois where a teenager stole a forklift, takes out a port-a-potty and tore apart a gas station. no one was hurt. the teen was arrested. jonathan: no bulldozers or forklifts here. just a penny. simple penny. cost thousands of dollars of damage to the lincoln memorial. tim barber is there with the damage and an arrest and this guy has inte

say after he was arrested, tim. tim: park police officers say they spotted him here against a pillar looking up like this. so she hopped on the lower level and walked over. got up behind him. and she caught him in the act with the penny. >> this man is accused of using a penny with lincoln's face to deface lincoln's memorial. >> to think someone would disrespect something that has been here for so long is blind blowing. >> the suspect nurtilek bakirov from the kyrgyz republic a small country west of china. they spotted him carving letters in pillars on the north side of the monument monday afternoon. not sure what the message is, if it's fixable or how a fix will cost. >> people do things and they don't think about the consequences. >> court records show the 30-year-old suspect told the officers "sorry, didn't know you could do that" and "am i in trouble for this?" >> how do you not

pretty stupid. >> the suspect next court appearance is in november. he is ordered to stay away from the lincoln memorial. reporting live on the national mall tonight, tim barber, abc7 news. jonathan: "am i in trouble for this?" you think? this is the third time a vandal struck the lincoln memorial this year. last month someone wrote profanity and red tape on column and in february someone sprawled conspiracy theories on the land mark. both unsolveed. four years ago a woman threw green paint on the actual sculpture of abraham lincoln. that woman was taken into dustdy. -- taken into custody. nancy: the reminder that the "7 on your side, call for action" team taking calls for 15 minutes. they are the experts to help you solve problem with businesses. call 301-652-4357. that is 301-652-help. phone lines are open until 6:30. jonath

to weather. there is so much going on. josh: it's been busy. we have been lucky. it's so quiet here. meanwhile, maria, jose and getting to the beaches are dealing with the effects from jose. let's get to it. i want to show you what is happening in ocean city where we have wind gusts around 35 miles per hour. you can see here the camera is a little jumpy. with all that wind and weather going on. you see the beach and the foam from the wavers working its way up from the beach. keep in mind the beach wide and ocean city. it does have quite a distance to go. here is jose and it's maintaining the strength. it is expected to do that one more day. i want to show where the tropical storm force winds extend from. the red color is the hurricane force. 74, 75 miles per hour. not

but this is shy of the beaches. however wind gusts are up to tropical storm force. this is stuck and it me yanders in the area. it will weak -- me anders in the -- meanders in the area. there are a few models that bring it back to coastline as rain and cloud cover. is it likely? no, not really. but something to keep an eye on throughout the week. heading farther, excuse me closer to home. 77 at 7:00. 72 at 9:00. clouds that are comfortable. if you are getting back to work and school we have places that are windy. 70 in annapolis. mild start to the day. manassas, you might want a light jacket to start with the temperature of 61 early in the morning. off to school, 79 around recess. on the

summer. 86 degrees. for the temperatures when the kids get home from school. highs around the area are 86 for d.c. 88 in fredericksburg and culpeper. 88 for frederick. average high tomorrow is 78. ten degrees above what would be normal. 86 by the time we get to saturday. the first day of fall is friday. we are at 85. eight, nine, ten degrees above average for the game on saturday. 86. for the redskins game on sunday is 87. staying warm for us as we head into the weekend. looking forward to next week. that is finally when things cool down for us. we have the temperatures that are back in low 80's. nancy: hard to believe it's almost fall already with the temperatures. jonathan: all right. redskins are celebrating the win sunday and now they have to focus on the raiders. nancy: that is a good game sunday at them. erin: gone but not forgotten. why a pair of former r

words when we come back.

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erin: quarterback robert griffin iii celebrated when the redskins fired coach shanahan

he was on 106.7 the fan and listen to what moss said. >> 2014 comes and he don't care. he rips r.g. every chance he gets. we are sitting there looking like you know what? you are so happy that mike is gone. but now you can get behind every day. you are not playing the football we need to for to us be successful. biggest mistake. erin: rgiii fired back on twitter. he said no sub tweeting needed. santana moss i treat you like a brother and have always had your back to openly lie about me. it's a betrayal. there you go. interesting stuff. jonathan: encouraging news. erin: bryce harper played in simulation game today. harper ran the bases, fielded and seems to be making g

progress which is great timing because the nationals are set to begin postseason play october 6. after a day off yesterday the nats are in atlanta to begin a three-game set with the braves. first pitch at 7:00. jonathan: we need bryce. erin: yes. jonathan: big hitter. erin: hopefully you know you can get right back into it. right? jonathan: be nice. nancy: we shall see. josh: it's nice and quiet this everything. you can't ask for more. heading in the end of september. it's getting hotter to the end of the week. fall starts friday but you wouldn't know it the way it feels outside. great weather for the d.c. united game saturday everything. the redskins on sunday night. finally cooling off but still above average we get to thursday and friday of next week. jonathan: all right. good enough. nancy: thank you. "world news tonight" with mauer is coming up next -- david muir is coming up next. jonathan: have a great night.

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tonight, two major breaking stories as we come on the air. the massive and deadly earthquake this afternoon, a magnitude 7.1, shaking mexico city. dozens confirmed dead. buildings coming down. rescuers pulling victims from the rubble. and the urgent effort at this hour to get to people still trapped. also breaking, the monster hurricane, maria, a category 5. tonight, puerto rico right now preparing for a direct hit. authorities warning evacuate, or you could die. and the new models coming in tonight, the new track as it then moves closer to the u.s. president trump's new threat tonight, vowing to, quote, totally destroy north korea, if the u.s. is forced to defend