drenching a dozen states. but impacting travel nationwide. country in chaos. overnight violence, the nation's president rescued from his own police. and an experienced hiker, lost for nearly a week. armed with a pen, he wrote to his wife, expecting to die alone in the desert. good morning. and thanks for being with us on this friday. it will be a messy morning commute for millions in the northeast and mid-atlantic states. some areas already soaked by half a foot of rain. >> airlines are impacted nationwide. flights here to new york have been landing up to five hours behind. >> at least five people have died. north carolina has seen the worst flooding so far. entire roadways and parking lots under water. the nation's capital hasn't been spared, either. >> it's a tropical system still impacting states from the south all the way up to new england. emily schmidt, now, begins our

coverage. >> reporter: all along the east coast, people are discovering a storm doesn't need a name to be a record-breaker. >> a lot of rain. a lot, a lot of rain. >> this is incredible. i've never seen flooding like this. >> reporter: wilmington, north carolina, got 22 1/2 inches of rain from what had been tropical storm nicole. nicole qualified as a tropical storm for just six hours. problems from the weather system are just beginning. >> i've got water-front property. >> reporter: rain-closed roads. saturated the ground, and trees toppled in the wind. four people from one family died when their suv hydroplaned and headed into a flooded ditch. now, the weather and the woes are moving north. >> within an hour, maybe an hour and a half, it was four, five foot of water here. >> reporter: in baltimore county, maryland, fast-rising water flooded car and a tire store garage. >> it was fast. we had no time to really pull

some of the vehicles out. we did what we could do. >> reporter: in annapolis, maryland, sailors who just arrived on their boat from cape town, south africa, could not believe their wet reception. >> we've had more foul weather here in annapolis since arriving than all across the atlantic. >> reporter: the worst of the rain could hit new york city around rush hour. then, extend into maine. this storm may well make more progress than the commuters in its wake. emily schmidt, abc news. as emily referenced, most of the heavy rain is centered over the northeast, where it will linger throughout the day. >> with more on the track of the storm, we're joined by accuweather.com's ava dinges. >> good morning. the flood washes are over for the northeast. back to new england, as well. as we go tlut the day. our latest moisture, coming out of the north. and this rain will last, at least in new york city through much of the morning.

heading to new england, through the majority of the day. bringing another three to six inches of rain from delaware to new england. that could bring storm totals of almost a foot of rain. now, back to you, rob and vinita. >> ava, thanks. sam champion will have the latest storm track later on "good morning america." suspected militants launched an attack in pakistan this morning, setting fire to two dozen nato trucks carrying fuel to afghanistan. >> it's the latest on the tensions between pakistan and the u.s. nick schifrin joins us with kabul, with the latest. good morning to you there. >> reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, vinita. the dozen trucks were headed to a second border crossing between pakistan and afghanistan. militants stopped the trucks at a truck stop. got the drivers out of the trucks. and set the trucks ablaze. the dispute between the u.s. and pakistan started about a day and a half ago, when nato helicopters crossed the border into pakistan. it was the third time in the

last week that those helicopters had crossed the border. that really angered pakistan. and publicly, of course, they've cut the supply line off, which is so key for u.s. troops. and the anger is private, as well. and within the politicians. one senator in pakistan went so far as to say u.s. helicopters should be shot down. the interior minister in pakistan said he wasn't sure if the u.s. was a friend or an enemy. >> nick, we can only imagine that tensions are running very high right now. but what are the long-term effects about this attack? >> reporter: yeah. vinita, i think it's important to say that this border crossing, which has over 50% of everything the u.s. needs in afghanistan to fight the war, it won't stay closed forever. and some of these disputes and some of the language that the pakistanis are using are rhetorical because of domestic, political concerns. but the more unpopular the u.s. is in pakistan, whether among the people or the government, the harder it will be to go after insurgents that live in

pakistan and attack u.s. troops in afghanistan. rob? vinita? >> our nick schifrin, live in kabul. thanks, nick. in other news, ecuador's president seems to have survived the last crisis to rock his administration, at least for now. the president is back at the helm this morning after being trapped in a hospital by his own rebellious police for more than 12 hours. he had been tear gassed during an earlier confrontation with police, who were upset over his plans to cut their benefits. a shakeup has become official. rahm emanuel spends his last day in the obama administration. mr. obama is expected to name peter rouse as emmanuel's replacement. president obama spent the night rallying young voters at a sold-out concert in washington. now is not the time to quit, as the crowd cheered him on.

earlier in the evening, the 39 raised $2 million for democratic coffers at a democratic fund-raiser. president obama has met with american hiker sarah shourd. a white house statement said the u.s. remains hopeful that iran will demonstrate renewed compassion and finally release the two americans. an unusually stormy finish to the month of september in parts of southern california. thunderstorms moved across san diego county yesterday, bringing some heavy rain and triggering so many lightning strikes it triggered several hours. the storm also knowledged out power to thousands. and now, to this morning's weather from around the country. more showers and lightning from san diego to l.a. and aside from the downpours in the northeast, look for wet weather in the upper midwest, as well, with showers across wisconsin and minnesota. >> 60s in the twin cities, fargo and detroit. a wet 68 here in new york. 73 in boston. 79 in atlanta. mostly 80s from miami to dallas. just shy of 90 in sacramento,

boise and albuquerque. 104 in phoenix. and 70s in the pacific northwest. and when we come back on this friday morning, some surprising news about the government's multibillion-dollar wall street bailout. taxpayers could actually make money. then, the taped dormroom rendezvous and suicide that has shocked so many. so, what will happen to the accused? and the multinational search for americans lost in a hot air balloon. 333333333have crashed at sea. 33333333333333333333333333333333

the government's massive bank bailout program, which is hated by many americans and cost some lawmakers their job, could actually turn a profit. the treasury department now estimates the $700 billion t.a.r.p. program will cost taxpayers $50 billion at worst. and at best, could make money. the program ends sunday. but it called take years to figure out the final costs. the postal service must find new ways to trim its loss this year, now that its request to raise rates has been rejected. the post office asked for an increase of 2 cents to mail a letter. the agency could appeal the decision by independent panel. overseas stocks are rising this morning. tokyo's nikkei average gained 0.4% today. markets were closed in hong kong for a holiday. meanwhile in london, the ftse opened higher. on wall street, the dow fell 47 points yesterday. but still rose 7.7% for the month. that's its best september in 71

years. the nasdaq fell nearly eight points. the days of hitting mute to turn off noisy tv ads could soon be over. the senate has unanimously voted to require tv stations to keep commercials at the same volume as programs. the house passed a similar bill. but it will be about two years before the rule is actually enforced. in today's "usa today" tech report, a look at apple tv. the device lets users stream content from their computer to a big-screen tv. including itunes, netflix and photos and music. ed baig says it is a slick device. but it's not perfect. >> the biggest drawback to the current version of apple tv is you can no longer store stuff on the device. there's no hard drive. that means it's heavily weighted toward rental. for people who like to buy content, buy tvs and movie shows, means you have to stream it to your computer and stream it back to apple tv. >> you can read ed's full review

at usatoday.com. among the new shows will be one with anderson cooper. telepictures productions has signed the news anchor, for a show that will cover social trends, entertainment and other topics, as well. cooper will keep his nighttime gig at cnn, as well. >> 2011, not too far away. >> congrats to anderson. safe and sound. a hiker lost in the desert was ready for the worst. coming up next on this friday. and tiger woods, back in action. but it will be a very soggy action. but it will be a very soggy start to this year's ryder cup. 3333333333 33333333333333333333333333333333 [ poof! ] who are you?!? i'm your "genie"! weren't you just wishing for something more nutritious to eat? i was! well, you could enjoy the taste of decadent dark chocolate, the crunch of almonds, plus 35% of your daily fiber... plus antioxidants in a kellogg's fiber plus bar.

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welcome back, everybody. rain, as you can see here, on the camera lens here in new york city. still several hours to go until this tropical system moves through. but yet, another very wet day

along the east coast. >> just in time for the rush hour, right? this storm will bring more flooding on i-95, from washington, d.c. to maine. also from new york city to the canadian border. wet on i-94 from milwaukee to minneapolis. slick out west on i-5 l.a. to san diego. >> and if you're flying today, a lot of airport delays out there. especially in the cities boston, philadelphia, new york and washington, d.c. the body of the rutgers university student who jumped to his death has now been pulled from the hudson river. 18-year-old tyler clementi reportedly reached out to a gay website for advice, after his roommate secretly streamed his gay encounter live over the internet. clementi's roommate ravi found out that clementi was gay in august and commented about it on twitter. a southern california man is telling an amazing story of survival this morning. he got lost on a desert hike in

joshua tree national park. and survived nearly six days without food or water, all during a record heat wave. >> my husband, my husband. they found my husband. >> reporter: nicole capland describes the miracle reunion with her husband. >> his eyes. looking in his eyes and seeing, that's my husband. thank god you're home. >> reporter: the 64-year-old l.a. real estate agent set off on a day hike last friday, in joshua tree national park. a place he hiked many times before. after 6 days of 100-degree heat and no food or water, rescue crews found him 7 miles south of where he started out. he had written messages, expecting to die there in the desert. >> he used his hiking hat. and he wrote everything down that he wanted me to know. like things that he hadn't told me. and he wrote everything down. and he wrote on the hat who he wanted to be his pal bearers at

his funeral. >> reporter: he traveled at least 20 miles on the first day. then, decided to stay put. that made the difference. >> there he is. >> reporter: bob stein and his helicopter pilot, spotted rosenthal from the air thursday morning. >> couldn't get at him. just picked him up in the helicopter. he couldn't stand on his own at all. >> he did not look like he had gone through what he did. >> reporter: once rosenthal's condition improves, he and his family have many people to thank. >> our story ended well. but it didn't -- it could have gone the other way. >> doctors say rosenthal is weak and dehydrated. but despite his grueling ordeal, they expect him to make a complete recovery. u.s. and croatian coast guard teams have joined the search for two missing american balloonists. the pair disappeared over the adriatic sea on monday. but they are hopeful that the couple will be found. the veteran balloonists lifted off on saturday from england.

they were competing in an annual european race, when their tracking device stopped transmitting. time, now, for your sports news. rain soaked the course for the morning start of the ryder cup competition in wales. the u.s. sent dustin johnson and phil mickelson for the opening match. and tiger woods is teaming up with steve stricker. here's don bell at espn news with the rest of this morning's sports highlights. >> good morning. i'm don bell with your espn news update. we start with some baseball. the diamondbacks visiting the san francisco giants. pablo sandoval hasn't homered in 23-consecutive games. you can kiss that one good-bye. kung fu panda in the water there. splash landing. in the third, madison gardener

strikes out drew. juan uribe taking care of it. top of the fifth, a continuing theme. mark reynolds grounds out. he struck out seven. and he stranded eight diamondback runners. bottom of the fifth, soros giving back to the people. a home run right there. giants up 2-1. bottom of the sixth. buster poesy, the impressive rookie. the giants go on to win, 4-1. adrian gonzalez and the padres facing off against the cubs. bottom of the sixth inning. no score. runners on first and second. and adrian gonzalez grounds into the 6-3 double-play. cubs get out of the inning unscathed. top of the ninth now. no score. and there's a runner on second. heath bell, facing brad snyder. and snyder getting it done. the cubs win 1-0. the padres trail the giants by three games in the n.l. west. these two teams will play in a

pivotal three-game series in san francisco starting today. i'm don bell with your espn news update. now, back to you. coming up next, the stories we'll be following on this busy news day. including a rare court appearance for the american convicted of murder in it flip italy. ♪ turn the tub around

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this friday. travelers face a major disruption because of a huge rainstorm all up and down the east coast. the storm caused up to five-hour delays at new york area airports and slowed amtrak in the northeast. rahm emanuel leaves his job today as white house chief of staff. he will return to his hometown of chicago, where he will run for mayor. he is being replaced by senior adviser, pete rouse. robert dudley takes over as head of bp. dudley faces a major challenge of rebuilding the oil giant's reputation. amanda knox, the american student convicted of killing her roommate heads back to an italian courtroom today. she is now facing slander charges for saying police slapped her during the murder investigation. in california, convicted sex offender phillip garrido and his wife, nancy, have reportedly been indicted for the kidnapping of jaycee dugard. the couple is expected to be arraigned together today near skraumt. garrido was convicted of

abducting dugard when she was 7 years old and holding her captive for 18 years. and hillary clinton meets with shaarah shourd, the americ hiker released from iran. two more hikers are still held in that country. coming up later on "good morning america," it's a hard stat to believe. but one in ten americans now suffers from depression. a major doctor's group is out with new recommendations for treatment. and believe it or not, a lot of it could take place at the gym. dr. richard besser will join us with all the details. >> more people than i think folks realize. some of you, your local news is coming up next. >> for everyone else, a movie premiere, 12,000 miles away from hollywood.

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they pick a make a point around the weather. we try to get arounded leftovers. and a busy signal in your car inform you are toos abouty,

don't be texts and don't be calling anyone because there's a new law in effect today. happy friday. thanks for joining us. >> glad that's over. >> i know. what a mess. the ugly day yesterday. awful. >> how you feeling? are we ready to ring it out? you like this. >> i do. >> purposeel friday. >> put in the pocket. >> let's go get some weather right now. here's meteorologist justin berk. >> and you used that to wipe off the windshield. >> yes. we have ourselves good news. at least in terms of that storm. it's pulling out of here. now if you traveling up towards new york and new england, they are dealing with it. rainfall is from philidelphia up through new york and new england. but we get it exiting out ready much on target with the expectation before dawn. that's good news, right? check this out. we have flood warnings continuing for most of the area. this goes until the 9:00 hour and there's high water to be found and especially along the coastal communities.

check this out, though. record rain for the date at bwi. 6.02. and the most amount of rain we have seen on the last day of september since records began in the 1800s. flood warning continues in the 9:45 but clearing and a breezy setup. check out rainfall total. storm totals yesterday. look at edgemere 11.05. almost a foot of rage. hickory 6-- i am sorry 9.68. and parkville cracked the 9 inch mark. 5 1/2 in dundalk and easton on the eastern shore with just over five inches of rainfall. there's the almanac for today. we will try to get back up to near normal in the lower 70s. but another thing playing out over the weekend, we will talk about the next storm in a bit. kim brown has the first look at traffic and hopefully the roads are not too bad. >> reporter: at least it's not raining. that's a step in the right direction. however, flooding downed trees will be a problem this morning. so here's