good morning. good morning. breaking news. florence's fury. the dangerous hurricane pounding the east coast rig. a life-threatinenstg this morning hundreds of people in north carolina already trapped. emergencyescues underway. flooding, damage, and power outages quickly piling up as the storm slowly makes landfall. the worst still tos come t morning, and we have complete coverage live. today is friday, september 1h, 2018. >> announcer: f this is a special edition of

"today"-with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. d goo morning. millions waking up to the power, force, the fury of hurencane fl. >> some people said wait, it's a category 3, a 2, now a 1. it's a rainmaker. it is on the coast. flooding is a major concern. we have been talkilready about people being plucked from their this is happening in north carolina. all coveopred. oo >> those are the lucky yones. some are sranded. the sh sigh size of th of this from florida to newke jersey. al t about power outages. that's exactly what's happening. nearly 400,000 homes and businesses in the dark this morning in t carolinas. officials are warning it cou take weeks before power is fly

restored. >> the rain totals are climbing. high tide expected somewhere around 11:00, atlantic beach, north carolina, already received more than 20 inches. some cities could see eight months worth over the next two days. >> imagine tha around 12,000 people in north carolina are riding out the storm there in shelters this morning, and they are the lucky ones. we are fanned out across the region. will get to them in a moment. let's get t al. we expect official landfall any moment? >> tt's right. i believe it probably has made landfall at this point. however, we have to wait for the national hurrir to verify that. the sprawl of this 600 miles from north to south. 700 miles from west to east. and it just continues to grow and push in right -- this was the last reading we got at 6:00.m. ten miles east of wilmington, north carolina. 90-mile-per-hour winds. it is moving west at six miles per hour. as you can see as it comes onshore, we have a tornado watch

in effect now, and that's going to be a problem for a lot of folks there. we are not looking for massive rnados, but they still will cause problems and damage. we lookor that landfall coming up within, if it's not already happened, it will be happening in minutes. friday, 2:00 p.m., it's making its way towards south carolina. tomorrow morning it's still a category 1 hurricane, 75-mile-per-hour ws at a slow cg its way west. coluia, it's on top of it by sunday morning. still they are goingo be seein torpical force winds as well. the winds extend out 130 miles. hurricane-force utnds extend o about 60so miles. there is a wide swath that can cause a l damag is wot w oe fe looking at today. wind gusts right now wilmington 83. kingsville9. 74 out in buoy and we are

expecting storm sges to come in. up to 3 million people could lose power, guys. the sto surge going to be the big story. 11 feet in m 7 to some areas. even some other areas we are getting reports now that the high tides are going to be one to two feet above what they were expecting. that's going to be an issue as well. 0 to 20 inches. it is going to be a problem. as you just heard, upwards of 20 inches in some areas already. we can see 40 inches before it's al over, guys. >> hard to fatho much water. the national hurricane center says the 7:00 a.m. position the center of the eye of the hurricane is about to make landfall nearll wrights beach, carolina. >> the carolina coast has the ocean on this it's filled with rivers and in.le ts andde thisings. craig is in wilmington. that area is getting pounded as we speak. craig, tell us what you are

seeing. >> reporter: this area is being absolutelyummeled rig now, ow oda winds are 80 miles an hour. i want to sh tree behind me. this was a full tree easily an. hour a we have see hour, branch after branch torn off this tree. it's roughly half the size that it was. another major concern right now, shingles off roofs. these shingles are flyingam abo. this from the roof of our hotel. the last time we talked, we have lost per here as well. we are one of the tens of khousands in the wilmington area that's in the d right now. we have also moved locations. we were right the hon the cape fear river. we moved after last hour because it was no longer safe to continue to report from there because that river to a point the water was actually starting to come over with the winds. i also want to show you from

video fromjacksonville, north carolina. this is a scene in jacksonville. 70 people there in jacksonlle had t be rescued at a hotel. there is a hole i the side of that hotel the size of a basketball. it could far worse. at last check we are told everyone there was okay. we are getting word of other rescue operations underway in places like new bern, north carolina, as well. but thee winds h continuing to pick up. the rain has been unrelentinghe over past hour or two. it's actually gotten consid hably worse. e seen a number of trees uprooted as well. we have just lost this we were in contact with a number of officials here i wilmington at least up to an hour ago. officials here telng us they expect close to every resident in wilmington proper to lose power. there is also growing concern that the power could be out for

weeks. savannah, hoda, back to you. >> all right. this is just theeginning. the eye is just coming onshore. t were talking about how at 11:30 is when hige comes. that's another huge concern. dylan happens to be on the ground in wilmington, too. hey, dylan. >> reporter: hey,od this is absolute madness right now. as craig mentioned, things have take such a turn here. we were talking about a category 1 hurricane. that's 90-mile-per-hour winds. can you imagine for a second a truck going down the street at 90 miles an hour? that is no joke. you can see now that the sun is trying to, or at least the daylight is trying to co u thi go down here. it's that relentless battering of the 5to 75-mile-per-hour sustained wind on top of that.

that's what's the debris. we are just going to see more and more debris. i also want to point out, you probably can r well, but the water that is rushing down the street right now has nothing to do with that storm surge we have been talking about. that high tide is not until 11:30 this morning. water are t ushing down street just the rain. there is so much rain coming down. and it is getting tossed at 70 to 90 miles per hour down this street. so, clearly, we have moved into the parking garage and i am no nger standing out there. it is crazy, guys. >> if i mayti med, dylan, holding that yellow piece of equipment. it's called a kestrel. it's an anemometer, whenou see that bug in the corner, that's a live feed from that. >> so it's 83 miles per hour? >> that's a wind gust of 83 miles per hour. >> dylan, beef c. looking at dylan is making me extremely nervous.

>> s t isking about this much rain. she has seen a thing or two in her day. now the storm is going to par there and we are going to see rain for days? >> that's right. again this is only a category 1 storm. as we have bn saying for the last several days, don't pay attention to the category. that's really something tha ves you a false sense. f securi >> you pointed this out. sandy was a category 1 storm, and look at the damat did to the folks onhe east coast. nbc's garrett haake is in new bern, north carolina. that's where floodin ally bad there. trapped on their roofs, some in attics, some in cars. a lot of emergency rescues are underway. garrett, what can youel us? >> reporter: hoda, 30,000 people live in this town. i don'know how many stayed, but those who did are going to be happy to see the light of day this morning. it has been a long, wet night here in new bern. a lot of folks without power all night. this town is wrapped around by

the neuse river. normally, the river stays where it belongs. starting yesterday at noo or s the river came up out of its banks and it's been pushing further into the town. i am about .08 mile from the river. there are intersections that are completely flooded out. houses you can't get to. they are normall not that impacted by this. this was not a heavy wind event here. e rain has beensteady, but it's not been torrential like we have seen fther south in other parts of the storm. it has been mostly about that storm surge. itnow the is asking people to extend what had been an overnight curfew for another 24 hours. they said at 7:00 this morning, if you stayed here, stay in homes. stay off the roads for another 24 hours. o getescue crews start what may be as many as 150 people still tpped in their homes out of their homes to safety. let cleanup crews work. let thews power c start trying to restore power here as we hope we see the water start to come

back out. we are in a goo spot here now between high tide. the next one coming upte someti 11:00. this is a very important time period for first responders where the winds are a little bit low, the rain is a little bit low, and wotare in that high tide. so, again a l of you excited to see morning light and low tide and a chance to get out of their homes if they were stuck overnight. >> there is a window in there to the mayor de. last hour. he said we are toing to try get out there, get these folks, 100, 150 trapped in cars, on roofs who need rescue. they are up against it because the high tide is coming. >> exact. trying to prioritize, as he mentioned, there are children, elderly stuck right now. so that'snother problem. a man keeping his eye on it, governoroy cooper joins us. if you could give us the lay of the land, sir. i am sure you are getting reports from all over your state. what are you hearing? how bad is it? >> north carolina h made strategic plans for this, but

now it's time to move from t preparatio determination. we've had over 100 people in new bern, north carolina rescued. people rescued from a hotel in jacksonville, north carolina. we have search and rescue teams who are standing by ready to go. people are waiting for the light of day not only to see about the damage, but also toe ready and to be in place to rescue people. we are dealing with significant storm surge with historic rains that, in many places, are going to be measured in feet and not inches. i do believe we are ready for this. we have no reported storm-related deaths at this point. we have evacuated a lot of people from our develop areas. obviously, some are still there and we nee make sure that they are rescued and taken care of. we have 157 shelters across the state, almost 20,000 people in

those shelters. of ce approaching 350,000 people who have lost power. we know that number is rising even as we speak. and we also know that people will be without power for days and sometimes maybe for weeks. so we're asking fomn sense and for patience and make sure you protect yourself and your family. dial 911 if there is an emergency. dial 211 for information about shelters and other help. but we don't want people getting t in this storm right now. >> we should point out, too, governor, there is a l of urgency here. especially for the folks in new bern and other communities like thma, there is a window to get some of these folks who are trapped out before tha high tide comes rolling in at 11:30. are you guys equipped to work people out before the high tid comes? >> there are search and rescue teams there ready to go. we have our local, our state, our federal.

we have help froms.9 sta we knew that these situations were going to occur. we do have a significant storm surge that's pressing against a big river with historic rains on top of tha w thater has nowhere else to go. we are goingo see high water in some of cities, and we know people are going to need help. we have brave men and women who are first responders who are there to help them and to save them and take them tohe h ground. >> all right. governor, just real quick, this is a slowr. mo al keeps talking about one of the problems with the storm is it's just sitting andso parking. gain we are talking about how, oh,ay people willwow, we escaped this thing. this is a days long event? >> this is an unvited brute who just won't leave. enwh kinds of winds, that kind of rain with the storm surge and, in fact, even wh the storm

moves through, the rivers will continue to rise. so we can't be complacent when the sunauomes out b this water, this rain is going to increase the levels of our rivers, some of them predicted to get to historic levels. so we know that there will be flooding even in the weeks after the storm. so we're ready for a tough one here in north rona, but we north carolinians are resilient. we will get through it. we're prepared for this. we're ready to take it on. ut out have your work for you. governor, good of you to spend time with us on a busy morning. >> we're talking about this being a days longms event. in tf the storm surge, when would you expect the worst of that to be here? >> within 24 hours. wiington, that's done. and we'll just move it along. again, depending on the speed, sometimes when y get landfall it does start to pick up speed

but there are no steering currents for this. it's just going toind of meander. that's the problem. an the fol down alo the shore, this will be at least through saturday. >> i know a lot of things with rain events, i remember katrina, there was the levy issue but it was a big water event and it was >> same withhari i have, inow. right? >> yes. a category 1, you saw in craig melvin's report, the limbs stripped off the tree. those become projectil at 80 to 85-mile-per-hour winds. dylan talked about a tree ready to call. people go out once the eyeoh hi. great, okay, and all of a sudden weakened root systems ve way and you have trees flying left and right. >> we will have more on rricane florence straight ahead. jacksonville's mayor will join us with the motel collaps ander rescues th

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to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. nature's bounty. welcome to tide pods talk with gronk. i'm gronk!and i'm big awesome, but this guy is little, can it really clean? heck yeah it can! it's concentrated detergent plus stain fighters plus odor flighers that fight for clean. boom! even this entire bottle can't beat tide pods. and now a word from future gronk: ugh... tide pods. if it's clean, it's got to be tide. welcome back. we, of course, are keeping our eye on hurricane florence. there is another breakin news stor to get to, including an extremely dangerous situation in the suburbs of boston.

>> what a a series of gas explosions and fires tore through several neighborhoods. it's mysterious what caused this. at least one person was killed. dozens were injured. thousands had to evacuate. ron alan has the lmoest. ron, gooing to y good morning. daylight is giving us our first good look at wt happened and the extent of the damage. you see aas home thateen completely destroyed and the one next to it looks untouched. thousands of people remain out of their homes. the power is off as a ecaution. there were reports of fire, explosions, gas odors and 70 different structures, leaving one person dead. chaos in massachusetts. ge it lookede aron. >> reporter: unexplained explosions rocking a trio of communities north of boston. some of the blasts miles apart. in lawrence, andover and north

andover where some 150,000 people live. smell of gas. firefighters overwhelmed. dozens of buildings damaged or destroyed. authorities blaming a series of gas leaks, ordering widespread evacuations. >> the focus is every hous go in there, shut the gas off. make it safe so peopleinet back their houses as soon as possible. >> reporter: warned not to turn electric devices on or off. open and close windows and doors or useheir phones. dozens of residents injured. some sriously,fering from smoik inhalation and shrapnelwo ds from flying debris. lee leo r killed. a massive response b emergency crews from across the region. hustling to battle the roaring flames, but overwhelmed by the number of fires. some homes burning out of control with no firefighters in sight. veteran firefighters at a loss

for words. i started my 30th year in june. no, i have never seen anything like orthis. >> repr: five hours into a disaster, a statement from columb gas of massachusetts offering no explanation writing, the first priority first re and completing safety checks on the system and surrounding area. as day turned into night, local schools and churches turned into makeshift shelters. residents unsure when they will be able to return home and what they will find when they do. >> nerve-wracking. scary. pani was kicking in. we were trying to wrap o minds around it. >> this is so perplexing. are investigators closer to figuring out what caused this? >> reporter: not really. we have heard no explanation so it was scary especially because the expl fires seemed to b happening so randomly. one here then onehe over a

wide area. some of these happened miles apart. of course, the no warning aboute t n the focus is on safety, trying to make sure that the homes are secure and o figuri when people can get back. >> what a terrifying situation.o i know investi will be working hard to figure this out. ron, thank you very much. > just ahead, we will have more coverage of hurricane florence. it's a powerful storm hmering the carolinas. first, this is "today"

we will have much more throughout the morning as we watch the radar. what do you see? >> that eyewall still pounding wilmington. they are in the mid of it right now. t least oing to be another hour or so before they get into the actual eye. then you have the back side of worst is apparently yet to come. we will have a lot more on this

storm coming up in the program. >> we will. of course, high tide a few hours from now. a race against time for rescues. our thoughts are with the carolinas this mor this is a nbc4 today news break. >> 7:26 is your time on this friday, september 14th, 2018. good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> i'm chris lawrence. in the news this morning hurricane florence has made landfall in north caroli locally, we aren't seeing anywhere near of impact they are feeling down there. the d.c. mayor canceled the state of emergency declaration for the district. >> however, maryland and virginia both remain understates ofemergency. first responders from maryland and dominion energy crews have deployed to the hurricane zone to help communities recover. we want to check on your morning commute with jack taylor. good morning. we have had a little bit of trouble in virginia headed from springfield riding up towards

nebratic road. afteroodyard road, a broken htwn vehicle causing delays in the r shoulder lane. white's ferry is closed due to the high water on theotomac and vre is running normal schedules today. >> t fast, reliable internet is crucial. does it every go down? yes. can't do my job. business grinds to a halt. our gig-speed network not only downloads files up to 20 times faster, we go beyond fast with 4g backup for complete reliability. so if the unexpected happens... (snaps fingers) you stay up and running. we lost power... but not to that. i want that. (laughing) for a limited time get fast, reliable internet

for a new low price. call now. comcast business. beyond fast. the includes that you see overhead are in fact theut o most reaches of hurricane florence. obviously, we are not going to get the kind of wind and rain they are getting in north carolina, b we will have cloudy skies. it's breezy. east to northeast winds 15 to 25 miles per hour and passing intermittent periods of rain. higher rain chances the farther south you live o travel today. 7rrent temperatures in the tropicals. 75 in annapolis. uds planner today, all c today. temperatures stuck in the 70s. another very cloudy day coming up for tomorrow. a little bit less rain tomorrow, and just really a cloudy day on

sunday. thvier rains from florence's arrive on monday. another local news update in 25 minutes. >> bac

we are back now. 7:30 on this fridaymorning. the 14th of september, 2018. just look at the destructivepo r of hurricane florence. this coming onshore as a category 1. th is not really a terrible wind maker, but although you are seeing pictures there, it's a rainmaker. flooding is the big concern. 11:30 todayn that range is high tide, a that's what folks along that coastal community are concerned about. >> this ishat we'reeeing. if you are just waking up, this is what people in the carolinas have been dealing with all night long, and it is just getting started. we just had landfall in the last half our or so. nbc's kerry sanders is being hit hard right now. heols on ca beach, north

imagine, they e banks. gettin it. kerry, good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning. i'm about 15 to 20 miles south of the eyewall. as al roker has been telling us is morning, the hurricane-force winds extend about 60 miles out. so you'll see during this report some dinmatic that will hit me. but as we get our first lookhe , you get an opportunity to see over my shoulder behind me over the san dune a little bit of theea atlantic there. we arew tide, or close to low tide right now, and it's ll past the high tide mark. understand that the winds, because of theouerclockwise rotation of this hurricane and the facthat the eye is north of me, the winds are blowing from the north-northwest, blowing to the south and to the east. that means it's pushing the water out. so as we see, the eye connued to mov in a westerly fashion. we should not see anyort of

storm surge here. most of the power here is out. the city manager, mike kramer, says that there are reports of some minor damage. nothing dramatic so as is the case up and down the coast, this is a slow. mov moving about five, six miles an hour. so the mantra is slow, slow, go, go, go. whoa, that win blowing. if you are iide your hou right now, this is what you'rei listto. >> very -- >> it can be eerie if you are inside a house and your windows are boarded up. guys. >> kerry, thank you. kerry has covered so many of these storms. yeah, taking us into the heart of it right there. miguel almaguer is 15 miles north of there in wilmington where we have been spending a lot of time this morning on the show. >> wilmingtone. is the bull's- miguel, good mor. >> reporter: guys,ood morning as we await the eye of the storm

to reach us, i can tell you we are feeling the brunt of these hurricane-force winds. the rain is whipping in several different directions. a short time ago the fire chief crews haven't been able to make their way across the city.da recover f this storm will take weeks, if notonths. the mayor told us yesterday the concern was not these hurricane-force winds, but the rain and lightning. they are expecting 40 inches of rain. this storm is just getting here in this area. thwi are also concerned w certainly have those tidal surges. we are not far from a river, 20 feet away. it's only going to increas here. here in our hotel, we are in a safe location, we still do have power, but we know hundreds of thousands across the region are without power and upwards of 3

llion people will likee electricity before this storm rolls out through here. again, the fire chief said it' not the immediate impact of this storm, but what will come in the days and weeks following it. certainly we are feeling that heavy outer band of rain here. we have been out here since about 8:00 last night. the conditions have worse.sively gotten fortunately, there is not a lot of people that have ventured outside. here in our hotel where we have a safe location though, we can see trees bending in the distance. ceainly the rain is very blinding here and the wind is continuing to crse, guys. k that is something that residents have to worry about whenhey feel like for a moment that mess has passed them by. they actually may b in the eye. ametimes you have it wrong and you walk outsi say, wow, it's gone. well, the worstin is c behind that. ferocious.theas haven't seen that yet.

we have been following a breaking news story out of jacksonville, north carolina. there are rep tts that moren 60 people had to be pulled, rescued this morning overnight from a collapsing metro. let's get the mayor of jacksonville. mayor phillips, what happened with this rescue? dyis every okay? >> yes, ma'am. this was about a little bit after 12:30 this morning when we got a call from a local motor inn. they were reporting some major damage or roof damage . our responders were in des stris. it's been pretty be. her but our first responders, police and fire did go the sce of the hotel and didffect a rescue. it was over 60 people, including on infant. they were all either transpo es

public safety where thw. they are being staged now for temporary shelter. >> mayor sphillips the scene for us right nwe. e watching these windstt ba the coast. the rains. we have been talking about how high tide ces at 11:30 today. tell us what you are concerned ab. >> well, the storm surge, yes, is the big concern. but right now with the low tide the river seems to be still at a fairly decent lel here in jacksonville. but wey experiencg some har winds right now. i have a lotrt of reof downed trees and power t lines. t's about what we have here. iust saw a vehicle go by. so somebody is violating the curfew. but anyway, it's a rough time

here right now. daylight brings a little bit of comfort. at least you can see what's going on and not have to just depend on hearing what went on through the night. it's beenre rough >> and i assume, mayor, you're bracing because as weer uand it from al al and others, this is going to beg days l rain event. are you concerned about additional flooding? >> oh, certainly. we have some low-lying areasn here jacksonville that are of concern to us. we ary hoping that edy evacuated from those areas beuse in past storms we had people that really got themselves in trouble by staying be. > jacksonville mayor sammy phillips. we know you have a busy morning. thank you for being with us, sir. we may check back in, if that's okay, and keep us posted. >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you so much. thws from the national hurricane center. eye of the storm has just

de landfall near wrightsville beach, n l us? >> at 7:35 it made lanouall. to give an idea of the power of the wind and the danger of being outside, take a look at kerry sander's shot. look at tha kitchen vent. that will eventually give way and that's going to be flying out there. again, that's whyowa inside, be debris. look at that. that's very frightening. all right. here ist the lat right now. again, as we said, landfall officially wrightsville beach. you can see how wide the swath of clouds are. the current location five miles east of wilmington, 90-mile-per-ho winds. it's moving west at six miles peh hour. the p of the storm now onshore, it will conti crawl probably west-northwest at aboutix miles an hou by saturday morning at 2:00 a.m. it's just getting past myrtle beach, staying to the north of charleston.

columbia, y are goi to be seeing tropical conditions as well. miles perright now 83 hour, gusts at wilmington 43. myrtle beach43 ile-per-hour wind gusts. so it's going to be really very, very wdy because we've got those tropical force winds and hurricane-force winds extending out. the storm surge again, another big story. 2 feet to 11 feet in the central part of the north carolina coast.ro the rainfall 10 to 15 inches. we cannot rule out as muchs 20 to 40 inches in some spots. to give you andea of the hurricane, it's a cross section. we will give you an idea of what this looks like. it's a swirling counterclockwise mass of thunderstorms building up. so here's what we've got. basically, the width of this thing is about 350 me. however, the eye is only 30 miles wide. th's right the centerf that eye now onshore starting to make its wayin. the height that we're talking

about, it can extend up into tre atmosp as much as 50,000 feet. that is pretty tall into the e eit lf, the winds around the system start to build up. closer into the eye, it's about ro5-mile-per-hour winds. away the actual eye of the storm, you'll have about 75-mile-per-ho i winds. th on average on any given storm. but again this, guys, is a that is still going -- are still going to be talking about it into early next week. >> al, tha you so much. good perspective to see what we're dealing with. the people in north rolina, south carolina they are feeling in. in new bern, ty saw so much water. there is a brief break in the worst contions right now. they are trying too rescues. let's get to the mayor, dana outlaw. you were talking about the first responders were trying to beat e clock against the high tide. how is it going in terms of th

>> well, it's going. we are all very concerd about 150 residents. we want them safe and in shelters. we are working really hard to make that happen. these are veryvery dangerous conditions. many of these folks are going to have to be rcued by boat. that's much more of a danger to our first responders than a vehicle. you yor outlaw, how a finding some of these people? i'm imagining the power is out and there are people who are just scared and trapped and either on their roofs or in their homes in attics or somewhere. how do you know where they are? >> well, 911 for the most part. we are enumerating each and ever one of these citiz as. working very hard. they are scattered all throughout our city.

they are not in ane beca there are severga low-lyin,, we are not going to stop until we get all50 of them officers, mr. mayor, as you come up to high tide you are going to have moree added on top of at, and what that will mean to what you can do, you are imagine already stretched to the breaking point? >> a our staff have not now.sleep for 36 hours they are very tired, but they are very tenacious and they are going to make it happen. it's going to happen. we are going to get these folks back in safe shelters. >> well, i like that. mayor dana outlaw, you make us feel confident and we hope that everything works out great with you and the residents. >> we'll keep in touch and hope that the, who are so tired, have a burst of energy and keep it going. we appreciate it. we are just getting started. a long morning for the folks in the carolinas .ce hurricane flors officially here, made landfall at b

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we are back with special coverage of hurricane frence. the powerful hurricane making landolll in north ca just moments ago. the eye reaching land, and that's really just the beginning whole problem. >> it is. that was a live shot from carolina beach, north carolina.

look a the size of that storm. you were saying that the storm itself is as big as north and south carolina? >> that's right. as it makests way onshore it's going to, obviously, weaken a it's cut off from its energyur . there is plenty of energy around that. you have been out on these hurricanes. as the morning wears on and the wind picks up, for safety's sake our satellirucks have to put their dishes down. so we'r of our correspondents. >> craig is in there getting it. craig,rnood g. >> reporter: good morning, guys. nhis is actually the mildest it's b in about 90 minutes. the winds have died down. at one point about0 or 30 t .utes ago we were gett this was a full tree hours ago. we continue to lose parts of that tree. this branch fell off about 20

minutes. a so that's been part of the, over the last 20 or 30 minutes, of this story. trees starting to come down. f and folks who know wilmington, north carolina, you have some really old big oak trees here. starting to lose some of those trees. f00,000 plus people without power around the s north carolina. we are amongthose. in addition to the power outages and debris that's starting to swirl around,looding already a major concern. in fact, the ground floor of the embassy suites here in wilmington where we are, we are taking in o water. we hadve a lot of supplies and workplace over the to the some. flooding into the floor of the hotel, that basement floor. addition to that, the ceilings are starting to leak here as well. so the effects of the torrential

rain being felt. i was told before we went on the eye of the storm,fhe eye florence about ten minutes away from us. that's precisely died down so much. on thet back side o if the w sh the winds will shift. the winds that you see root now coming thiay, when you come back next time you will probably see them coming this way. again, we are expecting gus once again of 80 to 85 miles per hour. >> craig, thank you. >> we just spoke to the mayor over in new bern. now nbc'sarrett haake has made -- that's a spot we have been talking about. there have been rescues from rooftops and attics, massive flooding. gaett, set the scene for us. >> reporter: hoda, savannah, we are trying to get further into e mthur lort appearancffe and now, we drove back into the street we were supposed to stay on overnight before we evacuated and this is why we left. this is the high water mark. about 800 yards from where the river normally is t is how

far the water pushed last night around 11:00 at. nig i was talking to a monday who lives on this street. he said 10:00 last night he saw this dumpster come floating down the street. at first he thought it was a car.ha it was moving quickly up the street from the river about 800 yards behind me. this is dry-ish now. atigh tide a little bit after 11:00 we expect to see the water level come pushingp back this block again. i can feel the wind. it isuite literally at my back pushing me towards the camera. the river is behind may. a lot of that water y see in the distance is going to come back up here. most of the folks on this live in houses that were built 200 years ago. folks were trapped overnight. that kind of activity is going to be further back into these neighborhoods where the river wraps around. we will try to get out there. the flooding part of this, even though the rain is not that bad, it's not>> over yet. and the rain as we've been

talking with al, garrett, is k going tp pounding these areas. >> they are such vulnerable areas. it's so waterlogged.s when tnd comes whipping through. >> we will keep followingan it. hurricflorence, its impact continues. the story just getting started. first on a friday morning, this is "today" on nbc.

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wee conti to follow hurricane florence. officially, it made landfall at 7:15 eastern in wrightsville beach, north car northeast of wilmington. a huge population center right now really feeling the effects of hurricane florence. you see the winds. that's just a piece of the story. >> right. the other rt, of course, is the water and flooding. in new onbern, they have lots

of rescues. also, they say the worst is yet to come. high tide is coming around 1 11:30. >> and we have talked about it. it's like brang for impact hours upon hours. the water is rising. the rain is cwiing down. ths are whipping. the clock is ticking, four hours high tide. we keep our eye on hurricane florence. there is another major story, and it's a strange one. a series of gas ex n closesr and around boston, several neighborhoods affected with ut seemingly wit rhyme or reason. let's go bc n ron allen in lawrence, mass, with the latest. ron, good mornin to you. >> reporter: good morning, afy r orkers are going house by house through these three neighborhoods where as many as 150,000 people lima, trying t sure that the gas system is secure. there are at least as many as

8,500 or so custome who are without power and perhaps a wider area because once the s leak started they shut off power to make sure there was no sparking happening that would ignite another explosion. there was an explosion here, ons mi away in some cases. as many as 70 different calls for a fire, of explosions, the godor of. so far we have no idea why this happened. the officials here are frustrated with the gas company becaus they are not offering any explanation for what happened. some reports that the company was going to begin infrastructure work here and otr parts of the state next week, but unclear whether that is linked to the cause of this. the focus now is on safety, on trying to secure these homes, make sure that thes area safe before people can go back to their homes. schools are closed in the area. non-essential state workers have been told to stay home. the area has been completely ti

to when the situation is to get back to normal. >> ron, you're there. what's so interesng is that if effected one house, the next wasn't.ev it's inal different towns. w seems so strange. >> reporter: the a period where explosions were happening and people were running around trying to figure out what happened. 4 this is a0 in the afternoon or so, and thank goodness wasn't in the mi of the night. more people would have been inside their home it was frantic. nobody understands what's happening because things were just popping up. there were explosions and fires. it caused a big problem for the emergency first responders in this area. responders came from as far away as boston and across the new hampshire line. they were stretc they were trying to figure out what was going on. the bottomline, still have very uncertain situation here. >> we are going to keep on it.ye obviously, florence is important, but this is important as well.

we are going to be back.. we are going t track hurricane florence. al will be with us. all of this coming up after . . this is a nbc4 today news break. >> 7:56 is your time on this friday, september 14th, 2018. i'm eun yang. right now we want check on your commute with jack taylor in traffic.st4 good morning. >> hey, good morning. a couple of sproea 236. on broken down before braddock road. crash.ing a only the left lane is getting by. south r rhodeoad an accident. getting busy out there. take it easy. back to you. >> thanks, jack. check on your forecast is ne.

good friday morning. we are cloudy. it is breezy. even a little mist in spots. 73 tre 7 in washington. winds at 16 miles per hour.l kp carolina fod mainly from the east and northeast. the winds are up across the area. this is part of hurricane florence, whichs very f to our south. locally temperatures are in the mid-to-low0s. ere it is, hurricane florence moving onshore in southern portions of north carolina. you see the northern sections of this do extend in our area. we have the cloud cover, some showers in our southern co and more showers this afternoon. have the umblla today or the raincoat. it's going to be breezy with some scattered showers around and hi us in theer 70s. for the weekend not too bad. some scattered showers around tomorrow. sunday looks pretty good, mostly cloudy. florence will be far to the south. until monday and tuesday, that's when the remnants will affect us with rainy conditions, even

breezy with heavy rains at time. >> thanks. l anotheral news update for you

it's 8:00 on "today." breaking news. .rr ane florence slamming into the east coast right now bringing fierce winds, torrential rain, and a dange storm surge. this morning rescue operations underway for hundreds trapped i. their ho >> this is like a wave pool. >> hundred of thousands without power. officials warning number could reach the millions. we have got complete live coverage. today is friday, september 1 >> announcer:bc from news this is a special edition of "today," hurricane florence with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb live from

studio 1a in rockefeller p. snoo zbl good morning. a special edition of "today." 8:00 in the east. 5:00 a.m. out west. what a night for our friends in north and south carolina. l up and down the east coast gettin battered as we speak. >> i think a lot of people went to bedt light and thought it was a category 3, they woke up and it's a category 1, we dodged bullet. what the folks know too well this is a rain, a water, a flooding events. those results could be horrific. >> this could last for days. it's a very slow-moving storm. the eye of nee hurri made landfall officially at 7:15 eastern near wrightsville beach, north carolina. >> we are already seeing this morningos rescues a the region. they say about 150 people were trapped i homes, some in cars, some in attics. elderly, children, there have been rescue crews trying to do their best to navigate the waters and get people to safety.

they are playing a game of beat the clock. high tide is coming at 11:30. so they want to get as many people out a possible. a metotel plaps soarlelytiorth carolina. an infant was there. and safee are rescued >> that's inland and they are getting it. the rainfall tomatotals 20 to 25 inches o coastal carolina, down to northeastern south carolina. they say some areas a get up to 40 inches ofre rain.og tmoreoing thanhree feet of rai. our team ise. ther they are fanned out across the storm zone. al is checking the path. we get an update around this time every morning. al, what do you got? u can see the white swa from salisbury, maryland to daytona beach seeing the clouds. this is the latest track and latest position from the national hurricane center. still a category 1. landfall near wrightsville beach. ill has 90-mile-per-hour winds and it's still moving at a

snail's pace at six miles an foreseeable future for a good portion of the carolina coastline. here is the path the way we look at it now. it's already made landfall it now continues to the east. a slow mover. it's right by myrtle beach by around saturday morning at 2:00 a. it continues moving west towards columbia. itecomes a tropical storm over columbia and then moves further up into the mississippi river valley. look at this. the winds we arexpecting right ,s of 87-mile-per-hour in wilmington, myrtle beach 43-mile-per-hour winds. the tropical-foe winds extend out 130 miles, and the storm surge is going to be big story out of this. we have one area 7 to 11 feet s high tide 11:39.e beach.

charleston 1:30. 3 in wrightsville beach. 7 to s 11 footrm surge near cape fear and cape lookout. rainfall amounts, look at the s with of 15 to 20 inches of rain throughout much of the carolinas. and look, it actually moves sland as we. as the systemrts to make its way west, we are going to be talking about rainfallmounts that continue to rise. guys. >> all right. al, thanks. we have to worry about the saltwater from the ocean, the fresh water from te rivers that l around. >> and those floodwaters can be muck and dangerous from a public health perspecs well. >> craig is in wilmington, north it might be a little difficult to tell right now, hoda. the winds here havied down a bit since the eye of the storm is upon us.

at one point here in wilmington we had guststh of 90 miles per hour. back into the storm after the eye sses, we expect those winds to return. the s, of course, part o story. the other part of the story, the unrelenting rain. they are expecting as m h in wilmington, north carolina, over the next two or three days, the same aunt they would g in a six-month period. ashurricane florence roared ashore. overnight hurricane florence, the massive slow-movin storm, downgraded it a categoryan 1 hurre, but still hammering with whipping winds and unrelenting rain. this morning the reality is somber. water.mmunities under new bern, where despite mandatory evacuation orders, dozens of people have been

rescued and 150 others are stranded and need help. the city e tweet,e coming to get you. theanopy at this gas station toppled by powerful winds. take this storm seriously. it's going to be upon us for at least 48 hours. >> reporter: wilmington, north carolina right in the storm's path, issued mandatory evacuation orders. right before the storm hit m aor bill saffo i surveyed what should have been empty streets. >> i love everything about north ca it don't get messed up too bad. >> reporter: weren't you supposed to evacuate? >> i hadn't heard anything about that. >> surviving this storm will be a test of endurance, teamwork, common sens and patience. >> reporter: north carolina roy cooper encouraging caution for those that stayed >> reporter: anyone still

unwilling to take this storm t seriously-e be clear. you need to get yourself to a safe place now and stay there. >> reporter: we just heard from fema head brock long a short thosego pointing out that who did decide to stay behind for whatever reason have put the lives of first responders at risk because a lot a of fol now having to go out and try to rescue some of the people who are stuck in their homes. we should also point out at lect there were roughly 450,000 homes without you power in north and south carolina. that is a figure that is also excted to climb. a fire official here in wilmington saying within the past hour they expect the cleanup and the recovery here in wilmington, north carolina, to take months, not weeks. hoda, savannah, back to you. >> thank you. we should point out som people made a choice not to leave and

others probay may have felt trapped for other circumstances. >> felt they had no ghoice. let'sto kerry sanders. he is on dloochcarolina b he is south of kralg. what are you feeling? now it doesn't look so bad? >> reporter: well, t of one of those unusual events were technically, when we look at the radae are in a portion of the's eye. it a very murky eye here, but a i don't see blue sky. but there is very little wind right now. we know that the bk side will be coming up hear as it's movinl five, six an hour. we will feel the winds on the back side. interestingly, you can sort of see in the stillness here in the daylight the building rightre this is a bar called hurricane alley, appropriately named. some of the damage on the roof there. as you lk off into the distance over my shoul beyond the sand dunes you can see the atlantic ocean. what's interesting is we are at a lower tide.

it well past the high tide mark. and so when we see that whipping around, we are on what they call the clean side of the storm and then to the north is the dirty side of the storm. that's because. the counter clk wie motion of the winds. we have seen already how the storm surge has hit nor bern and other locations, and that will continue as it continues to move what al says looks like a westerly direction. so the back side, the so-called eclean of storm, for those who evacuated there is debris here. they made the right decision to leave. you never rlly know until the storm comes ashore where it's going to hit. aere is no good news in slled clean side, at least it's somewhat favorable for your community. he in carolina beach the city manager says that things appear

to be only minor damage power outages. but of course theho is still 24 s to go. >> we should point out, it's not every day you get to watch mebody stand in the eye of a storm. kerry sanders is right in the eye. and just to underscore how weirdly calm it is. i mean, we just saw him getting whipped around. we saw craig. you look at kerry, and it'ike dead silent. >> when you look at the radar, and kerry is right, it's not a classic eye. it has filled in a bit. and so you can see right there, ere is carolina beach, an a he's just the southern end of the eye. >> isn't that crazy? >> that's going to fln. as it moves through, and unfortunately i'm not trying to be a neigh-sayer or harbinger of doom, but thatk side,ethey have tohrough that as well. that is going to push the water backthat area. where it's deceptive. if you look out the window and it looks like think you missed it. you don't havewe

you are not watching tv. >> exactly. very g.deceiv we are learning all of your meteorological terms this morning, ath e are early hours. joe fryer in jacksonville, north carolina, which is a bit more inland, joe, what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah. a contrast to what you are y from wilmington, yet re wedave been pel by rain and wend for several hours. we lost a power 9:00 last night in this part of jacksonville. a lot of i drama this city overnight. more than 60 people had to be rescued from a partially collapsed hotel. rescuefighters and personnel showed up, one room had a basketball-sized hole in it, the roof was leaking. they felt the structure wasn't safe. they got tse 60 people including an infant and some pets to a safety center. once weet through the windy part of it, it's going to be the flooding. much like new bern, jacksonville

is on a river. we are not on the ocean. you hav torive about 20 miles to get to the ocean here. p it is on a rivne to flooding. city officials tell us they are seeing the normal flooding you see in a storm in low-lying aieas. but the is just getting started. on top of that, that river is goingo surge.th e will be some storm surr today from that river. >> joe, thank you so much. >> and one of the worst situations already that we have seen actually hapned overnight. a ten foot storm surge already recorded in new bern, north carolina, it trapped people in homes and cars. what a terrifying night for them. garrett haake is there. gosh in the last few minutes, garrett, things have g aten wors the water is rising as we speak. >> reporter: yes. we are trying to get down to the street corner to a boat in the middle of the street. as we are walking down here, when you think you a out of e storm, it picks up. the wind is picking back up. the rain is cking back up.

right now again the wind is at my back and it's blowing ath of water right off the neuse river and right back into the heart of downtown. it's clear they are not done t yet. we have had ten feet of storpl have been here 200 years. a lot of people have been here a long time, too. they know not to mes around th storms like this. there were dozens, pef aps hundreds wpeople who neededescued. we can't get to thos parts of down yet. >> thank you. literally, he was standing iaround there andwas dry as a bone. >> and that's how fast that comes up. >> wow. >> people nee if they haven't e alread amber parker, the public information officer, you were speaking about some of the rescues. tell us how things stand this

morning. >> we currently still have swr g as fast as they can to get to those who are trapped. we have five swift-water rescue teams and we are alsoth working the cajun navy. >> are you seeing what we're seeing, that the water is nown the rise, heading in the wrong direction? >> it is. the water i continuing to go up. we still have high ti cing. we still have more of this storm coming. it's really just lingering over ur state and our county, just producing more and more water. and wi >> it must be hard because you are asking residents to sit tigh a while you come get them. if i were one of those residents sitting tight, i would be looking at my watchki th, oh my gosh, if they don't get here soon before high tide, we have a worse problem. >> it is. it's a very helpless feeling. youant t do everything you can to help people. of course, we also have to protect our responders. we have to make surefe that it'

and that they to these individuals. and we want to let them know we will get there as fast as we c't make a guarantee of what time we can be there. some areas areo easier get to than others. we hav t to look athings lake the ter, the depth of the water.t' how fast i moving, if there are downed trees or s or other things inay the w. of course, we had the darkness working against us overnight. >> the power is certainly out. amber, when we talked to you a couple hours ago, you had 100 ca calls or so. have you had some success stories this morning? >> yes. i don't have specific individual information, but we are making rescues. we are taking people to our shelters. of course, on top of that now we're getting into our second day really of response. so on top of taking care of these residents who are stranded in the water, we also have to take care of our responders and

th everyone isetting rest and food and water. that way they are safe while amber parker from craven county. new bern is t townthere. thank you. much more on the hurricane and new details on the other breaking story. mysterious explosions rocking the suburbs of bosatn. investigs still trying to figure outxa what ectly went on abnd are.y th itrsr smidsize car-the chevy malibu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm...

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we are going to have more on the hurricane in a moment. that picture certainly has a lot of eyes on ithimorning. >> that's the a deadly series of gas explosions near boston. we are going to talk to the police about the situation and the investigation in just a cond. first, nbc's ron allen is in lawrence trying to untangle this mystery. hey, ron. >> repter: hoda,t is a real mystery. there has been no explanation for why this happened other than there was a pe build-up in the system somewhere. the explosions seem to be rand. ere are still thousands of people, 85 customers without power and without gas service, and authorities are going door to door literally in some areas trying to make sure that the conditions are safe before they let anybody this happened in the middle of the afternoon around 4:00 or so wiout any warning. and there was a lot of fear because it seeme to be happening in random places. some of the explosions many miles apart across these three communities just north of

boston. right now the focus though is on safety, trying to m see that the system, that the homes are onfe and secure before a comes back here. we have been given no timeline how long that willld take. it cake days. it could take longer. we just don't know. at this point these neighborods are still evacuated and the big concern is about safety. back to you. >> ron, thank you. let's get on the phone with lieutenant edward guy. the executive officer of the andover police department. andover experienced several explosions. lieutenant, we are scratching our hds as i assume you are, too. are we closer to understanding what might have caused this? is this looking like an accident, something goes wrong with the gas company, or could this be intentional, an act of malice? do we know? >> good morning. yeah, what we have rs weelieve it wasust overpressurized pipeline for the gas to individual residents and

they are trying to determine why that occurred. wempan issue. we are working closely with the gas company at this time to try to ensure the safety and security of theresidents. >> i think what was confusing to a lot of us watching this was it wasn't like it hap ned in o neighborhood where you could understand there was an issue with the gas. it happened like a checkerboard. one in one ighborhood, one miles away in another. it seemed a little bit more random. >> the way that it occurred, yes, it was random. but granted, some of the houses didxperience fires. some explosions, depending where you were. it was gas leaks or the smell of gas in many residences and so we really needed to evacuate those people to make sure that they were safe and now we are look ig, as said, with columbia gas to try to determine what the issue is. but we are taking it as a step

process. >> that was my next question. it sounds ke it't exactly clear what happened. so then is there a continuing risk to people who are sitting in t this morning? should they be concerned aheut being, that it could happen again? >> what we are doing right now is we're going individually to each residence in the area, making sure alonges with the firefighters and gas company to shut off those residences s we n make a determination what occurred to proceed forward to get people back home and g that gas turned back on in a safe manner. >> all right. lieutenant guy busy morning for you, sir. thank you for the information. that's a big piece of information that it sounds like it's an ise with the gas company and overpressurization, which is hard to say, but l follow that story and, .

of course, hurricane flore she after 7:00. this rainmaker is kind of just getting started we will have more on this in a moment. first, this is s is "today" onbc. i put criminals in prison during the day i'm jennifer wexton, and as a prosecutor, and changed diapers at night. later, when i had a law practice, i volunteered to help moms collect child support. then, as state senator, i worked across party lines to target sexual offenders and take guns away from domestic abusers. in congress, i'll stand up to president trump. i approve this message because, like every working mom, what's ahead is as important as what's in the rearview mirror.

hurricane florence is here. the water is here. this is the scene we are seeing ross the carolinas this morning. >> coming up, we will take a look at some of the rainfall tals. we have gotten some reports of over 20 inches of rain in some sections. of course, the problem is they have been getting a lot of rain all summer. >> youook at it, it looks like it made landfall, that's good, that's over, but thas not the case? >> no, it's moving slowly, six miles an hour west-northwest. it's going tg track event that continues to drop tons of rain. >> we keep our eye around 11:00 and 12:00, when high tide hits. even so, in new bern, there was no high tide and they

still hammered. >> yeah. the water is rising at high tide it goes that much higher. we continue to follow it. these are the tcenes inhe carolinas. hurricane floren is here. our coverage continues. let's get a check of your local . this is a news4 t ay news brea >> good morning. 826 time. hope morning is off to a goodrt s in the news this weekend, you may want to give yourself extra ti you are driving the beltway in prince george's county. saturday night crews will are workingrs on bridge rep on the outer bridgee m suitland road. all those lanes should be reopened sunday morning. > l ge morning comte with chuck taylor. >> hey, good morning. an issue of springfield before braddock roadroast the nson terminal. a broken down vehicle in the left through lane. north kings highway a reported crash. what sounds like emergency work,

work on river road at seven locks road. you have the left lane getting by both direction with a minimal n lay. r the way. we will get a check on the

good morning. hurricane orence making landfall in southeastern north carolina way up here on our end the world still cloudy skies. these rain bands are the outer most reaches of florence's impact. we will have day yand bres well on the periphery of that storm. temperatures in the 70s now. a lot ofud c a little bit less rain tomorrow and suney. sunday may more dry than wet. the heavier rains from florence will arrive here it looike on monday, monday evening, and perhaps linger into the first half of tues finally a chance of nice sparkling septemb sunshine >> hank you. you can the latest news

and weather news anytime on the nbc wash. (birds chirping, a running brook,) ahh. the new deer park sparkling is made with real spring water. ♪ it's so refreshing and delicious,

you don't need slo-mo models to sell it. real spring water, real fruit flavors and refreshing bubbles. just what's refreshingly real. back now. 8:30 on a friday morning, september the 14th, 2018. we have a live look from sunset beac north carolina. florence has made hrence known. she came on as a category 1. she is full of water and rain and dumping a lot. >> you want to know what storm surge looks like, that's what it looks w like. theer has come up. you could see just the very top of a car. >> we keep talking about thibe g a category 1. we are reminded that hurricane sandy came on the east coast as a category 1. so these aren't anything to kinds of storms >> we have been telling people don't pay attention to the

category. t effect. the national hurricane center is working on a product right now that not only will give you a tegory for the wind speed, like with the saffir-simpson scale, but also a scale for storm surge. >> and storm surge cs more fatalities? >> 60% of the deaths are from storm surge. >> hang tight. we want to get the latest on the path. miguel almaguer is in wilmingto at the cente of all of it. good morning, miguel. how are cond they are getting a little bitbetter. we had strong hurricane-force winds in the last hour. although they arenificant, i want to show you the trees here in the distance. you can seeheare clearly bending over. actually, that's a good sign. you can take a look at the water whitecaps have been surging over the last several hours here. so we'rete seeing thaty

increase of hurricane-force winds. of course, the pelting rain, which is blowing sideways and very gusty at points. we know they are veryin concern wilmington about the 40 plus inches of rain that we are likely going to see over t next 24 hours or so. the mayor is concerned about localized flooding. they are also going to get that storm surge from this waterway here. that storm surge could reach up to 13 feet high and go as far a two miles inland. so that's a major concern. roughly 300,000, 400,000 people are without power. we expect that number to climb as well. in terms of rescues, the fire department and the police department are t workingether inside the office of emergency services, which we visited yesterday. fire officials told us they iauld not send out emergency crews immly if folks were in need of help because these conditions would be too treacherous to drive through communities. hour they are standing by. they are waiting at the ready

for those emergency calls. right now they say they have had no calls for anyone in distress, but that will likely change as the day pushes on here. in a short time we are expecting the eye of the hurricane toveome right wilmington, to come right over this area. we know the conditions will drastically change for the better and turn worse again. so the conditions he again fluctuating at time we are still seeing powerful winds d strg rain, guys. >> miguel, thank you very much. >> that so slowly and it is so wide. >> >> it's south of wilmington. now you hav with a counterclockwise flow of wind, it's now going to be pushing all that rain, all that water, o al than water right up against the shoreline. >> well, craig is als in wilmington. just got off the phone with a city official. hey, craig. >> reporter: hey, i talked to mayor bill saffo. mayor saffo the long-time mayor of wilmington, north carolina. we just chatted and he told me that all of wilmington is

without power righte now. entire city is in the darkness. that's more than 200,000eople in t county. he also said that they have gotten a number of rescue calls as well. a number of people have called who have gotten stuck into their homes. they are trying to respond to those calls as quickly as possible. mayor saffe that this was somethinghat they had been prepared for in terms of the pow outages. one of the things they were not necessarily anticipating, the speed with which the water is rushing into dlmntown gton. a number of the roads are already impassable. a number ofs busines have already been flooded. they have a numberf power lr lis that aredy down as well. as allocated, we still have the back end of this thing to contend with. as you can tell, believe it or not, the winds actually have died down somewhat. we saw gusts of 90 plus miles per hour just about an hour ago.

at last check, they were down considerably. we continue to see, though, i'd say every 15 or 20 minutes we see one of t explosions of light. these transformers that a still popping off. so that's a big part of thest y. but, by and large, as we've been talking about, and mayor saffod indicahis to me on the phone as well, they are pleased ath the fact that so many peopleeared to heed the warnings and they got out of town. so that is the one bright spot t now here in wilmington. >> all right. craig, thank you so much. martinet,g us i buddy the fire chief. you have been in that community or a long, long time. how doeshis compare to other storms you he seen? >> i don't thi anybody, since i have been here, anybody has seen anything like this. as a mter of fact, i saw something a little bit earlier that said we hadn't seen winds this strong in wilmington for 60 years. >> the mayor says he is

concernedbout a bunch of things. one how quickly the water seems to be rushing in and that's leading to more rescues. rescues been doing tell us what's happening. >> we have several active rescues going on as we speak. mostly as a result of trees down on homest havele trapped pen their houses. we have just cleared up from a residential structure fire not too long ago thaturned into defensive operation. that was at tgh heit of the hurricane. we have got first responders out ere trying to do the best job they can. the problem that we have now is the roads are almost impassable. it's a jigsaw trying to get around town to try to getee be all the trees that have gotten across the roads. >> are you in a position, chief, to do water rescues if necessary? sounds like inther parts of the state there have been people stranded literally in an attic or top floor.

>> we haven't ac cessed the beah commutes. that will be a first priory after we get into more of a rescuetance. right now we're having trouble in the urban and me suburban area of the city proper itself. that's being very difficult to address here lately. >> chief, we are watching the clock here because we keep hearing that high tide hits between 11:00 and 12:00 eastern time for us. tell us what your concerns are in. >> well, i mean, obviously, we have access concerns. we are getting aouble whammy here. this thing is on us rightwi now. hurricane-force winds over long periods of time, even the mostrdy trees are holding up. our problem is access from trees initially. but you're right. at high tide we are going have to see where the river is. i know, i heard earlier mayor

saffo talking about how quickly the river was ring. when our river floods in some parts of wilmington, that's a pretty devastating event. we have low-lying areas. parts, the river is pretty -- the banks are pretty high. >> and what about the safety of s?ur firstin rg,poesernd there have been moments and times where rescues simply cannot take place because it isn't safe for your first you folks trying toet out there. it's safe enough do that? >> well, it's not safe, that's forure. calife, we are ained our going to save somebody's life. in thi case the rescues are where people are -- we are actively trying to rescueeople trapped in their homes by fallen trees. andis so tha ongoing and it will continue to be ongoing until we get into theecovery

part of this operation. >> all right. wilmington fire chief buddy martinet. thank you so much. we wish you the best of luck. these are difficult times. thank you for taking a couple of minutes to speak to usis about >> you are you kno what else? it's the fatigue. these guys have d prepping ou are on kind of fumes. so in addition to how treacherous iis out there, you literally are operating on almost nothing. >> one official sd their folks already have 36 hours without sleep. e st got here an hour and a half ago, in terms of landfall. >> g location. still a category 1 storm. ten miles south of wilmington with 90-mile-per-hour winds. still moving to the west at six miles per hour. take a look. we have also got a tornado watch we have to worry about as this system makes its way west.t so moves fairly slowly. i mean, it's barely moving. saturday by 2:00 p.m. it's in eastern south carolina.

then it continues over columbia as a trocal system and makes its way into the mississippi and valleys.r eventually it ends up all the wayo up int new england by wednesday morning. rainfall amounts we have seen so far, we have had unofficial amnts up to 20 inches. but officially morehead city four inches. almost 9 in surf city. greenville, look how far away and already 2 1/3 inches of rain. so, guys, more rain i coming. they have got aos psibility of 30 to 40 inches of rain. let's head over, show you really quickly our storm surge. this is the big problem. this will be, of course, what we talk about, where we worry about the greatest loss of life. we are coming up in the next three hrs for the high tides, and then there is another high tide later tonight. the cone of really the big storm surge is from cape fear to cape lookout. again, it's notike a wall of

water that comes rushing in. it's water that makes its way, being pushed by those winds. the forward motion of the storm is aboutpe the same that you will see with that stormge s so you're basically talking right now, the storm is moving west-northwest at six miles an hour. well, it could be even faster because of the low-lying and flat surfaces of the carolina shoreline. it's a very shallow shoreline. it's a shallow continental shelf. so there is very little friction to slow down that water. it could be actually moving faster than hix miles pr when that storm surge happens, guys. >> probably some bel sea level. it's one of those things that it doesn't ist roll in. is. now at pylon three feet of rain. yo see what has officials so very worried this morning. al, thank you. we will have more coverage live, hurricane florce battering the carolinas this morning. we will take a check of these . at carmax?

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it's friday morning and th so much breaking news. we continue to cover hurricane florencean >> she madeall a little after 7:00. she is still battering the coast there. >> the radar picture tells the story. other breakin paul manafort, the one-time campaign manager for donald trump, is in the news this morning. kristen welker is at the white house. of course, manafor facingn upcoming trial.

>> reporter: hi, good morning to both of you. that's right. the white house monitoring hurrane florence, but also watchi what happens closely court rning in the proceedings for the president's former campaign chair paul manafort. there are reports that he is close to striking some type of deal with special council robert mueller. however, nbc news has not confirmed that has, the question is, if he in fact, struck a deal, will he cooperate with prosecutors? that remains unswered. we know, of course, that paul manafort was convicted on several counts of financial fraud last month, and he is faci another trial here in d.c. now, the presidenthi has the scenes floated the possibility, talked about the possibility of potentially pardon he never talked about that publicly. himself from his former campaign chair, who served on his

campaign for five months. agai watching as it continues to monitor the developments with hurricane florence. paul manafort will be in court later on today. savannah, hoda. >> thank you. also thismorning, elizabeth smart is speaking out. urging officials to reconsider the planned release of one of her convicted kidnappers. it's a story that captured the nation. >> you kno eliza says wanda barzee is dangerous, but barzy, who is set to remain behind bars until 2023. is scheduled to get out of prison in a matter of days after the utah board of parole ruled in favor of her attorneys who argued their client's sentence up to 15 years should include previous time served. >> do i believe she is dangerous? yes. but not just to me. >> reporter: elizabeth smart not holding back. >> i know the depths of her

depravity. reporter: warning the community she believes wanda barzee, the woman who pleaded guilty for her role ins smar vicious kidnapping, remains a dangerous threat. > she is a woman who had six children, and yet coconspired to kidnap a 14-yearld girl. and not only sit next to her while being raped, but encourage her husband to continue to rape >> reporte smart's 2002 r:. abduction shocked the country. the 14-ar-old taken at knife point from her bedroom. >> elizabet if you're out there, we are doing everything we possibly can to help you. >> reporter: smart was held for nine months by brian david mitchell and wanda barzee being discovered 18 miles away from home. >> it's real! it's real! >> reporter: barzee testified that mitchell wanted smart and other young women for his, ote, plural wives. mitchell is now serving a life sentence, but barzee, who

pleaded guilty for her role in walkbduction, is set to free from prison in days. >> wanda barzee saw me as hersl e. she called me her handmaiden. she in her own right abused me just as much as he did. >> reporter: she was expected to remain in prison until 2024. now the utah parole board that they must count time spent in federal custody towards her state se, meaning the clock on rzee's prison term should have started back in 2003. smart, now a childy advocate with two young children haser own, says she forgiven wanda barzee, b she doubts her kidnapper has been rehabilitatehi >> i don't she is just a threat to me. i think she is a threat to any vulnerable person in our community. >> for elizabeth smart to come out anday inuch detail what >> t courage is unbelievable. >> yes. so is there t ink chance this

could change? >> no.rz wanda has 60 months of federal patrol supervision. she has to sign up for a mental health program and register on the sex offenderlist. the road. e going to >> she is out and about? >> that's unbelievable. we have had elizabeth smart . her bravely is on display. that was amazing. >> lived to and think about the life she created for herself, it is remarkable. >> good for her for speaking out. thank you. we have a lot coming up. we have the very latest on hurricane florence. the damage we're already seeing and what is to come. it may be the worst part of the storm on the way first, this is "today" on nbc.

those are some of the scenes this morning as hurricane florence batters the carolinas. a storm that is almost impossible to comp helprehend i terms of its size. >> we are talking about water coasts already along the and this storm, i mean, it hit at 7:00, but it's rea getting started. lee worst of the storm may be coming. s head out to dylan in wilmington. hey, dylan. >> reporter: hey, we have moved locations n because it was getting a little bit too dangerous in the bottom level of the parking garage we were in. the winds are obviously really strong. since we have been in the eyewall of the storm, we were feeling wind gusts around 90 miles per hour. it's a constant, persistent wind. just to stand infit, you are ting again it. answer the o shingles the roofs, they are just getting blasted by this incessant wind that doesn't let up. some of those are start to pop

off. i want to take you to a different view of where we were just we are in the same parking garage. we are on the third level as opposed to the first level. we are at tree level here. that's why it still seems very windy. these treesa lot of are top lipling over. once these branches are blown off by a wind gust, that lands on the power lines and that power outagesause and more damage. now, the road we were standing i on before now completely covered with water, and you can seet a very gross water. if i'm being honest, it smells, too. so we are starting to see a i back the sewers and the sewage kind of bubbling ut. thatwhy, even though this is just fresh rainwater, it's combining with t sage. it's not something you want to wade through once the flooding continues. thiss just the rainwater flooding. we still have about three hours to go before that storm surge flooding even kicks in.

so that all combines. and you can see it's aairly low-lying area. just going to continue to add it me flooding here. we had to clear out of that firs floor of the parking garage because that was starting to come in and more debris was starting to fly around. we are getting a different perspective here. obviously, it's windier up here. we are almost out of that eyewall. so we should start to see winds at least get a little bit better. but the rain isoi just to continue from here on out. >> thank you, dylan. i mean, thiss a slow mover, too. that's the worse part? >> yeah, its forward speed i six miles per hour. it extends out about, the tropical-force winds extend out 130 miles. the hurricane fce out 60 miles. you do the math. in six hours, it's only 36 miles away. >> wow. >>ut theands stretch out farther than that. again, it's going to be a real issue for at least the next 24 hours. >> an was saying, the water is coming up. you aretarting to see the storm surge. it's not a wall of water that

washes in and washes out. all this time this threat of the looming high tide. somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00 today, which will pile water upon water? >> right. it doesn't come backut it kind of sits there. because e ground is so saturated, there is nowhere for it to go. as dylan alluded to,hat's the problem. you all of a sudden have failure ystems because the have lost power. now there is a backup in the system. we tell people, don't go out u don't know what's in the water. >>he category doesn't determine tne damage that o of these storms does. when i think about hurricane harvey. katrinaas a category 3. i remembered thinking, wow, it was only a 3 -- >> technically, sandy wasn't a hurricane. it was a superstorm. and that was the a equivalent category 1 storm. >> a lot to cover. the morning just getting

started. our prayers are with t people of carolina this morning. they are facing quite a storm this morning.oo winds, rain, and the damage. the toll is just starting to be counted. this is a nbc4 today news break. >> 8:56 on this friday. september 14th, 2018. good morning. hurricane florence has made landfall in north carolina. the storm is packing windsp to 90 miles per hour. storm surge along the coastline has already reached ten feet in some places. more than 300,000 people are already without power. more on the current conditions and t storm track coming up in storm few minutes with team4 meteorologist sheena parveen. first, we want to check on the commute with jack taylor. hey, jack. good morning. of our things clearing out. braddock road, a broken acciden

washington parkway was causing slowdowns. r lane, aivity cleared om the left side of the roadway in both directions. major delays coming south on 355 towards nih. your forecast is up .

good friday morning. cloudy, breezy, 73 degrees right knew. we are going to be breezy as we go through the day today with that breezy northeast wind. so keep that in mine and wll see some showers. right now low 70s for most of the area. there is hurricane florence in southern parts of north carolina. of re on the northern edge this. we are going it keep the clouds in the forecast this afternoon.n or some scattered showers to move by with highs in the upper 70s. as we g io the weekend florence is still going to be very far to our south. the weekend forecast, someor showers tw. monday and tuesday the remnants would be here. so we will be looking at a y rainy, bre day. some heavy rain at times. then the sun comes back as we go

into wednesday. the latest news and weather anytime in the nbc washington app .

9:00 eastern, now. 6:00 a.m. pacific.ak if you're justg up, we're covering hurricane florence. g is here and already hav widespread devastation on the east coast. >> it came onshore a little after 7:00. but the worst may be on the way. want to get you caught up on the test. the eye of the hurricane made landfall near wrightsville beach this morning. it brought trential rains and a storm surge. >> 20 to 25 inches of rain reported. we should be talking in feet.th is along the coast of north and south carolina. some areas may see up to 40