good morninea brking overnight. the ry of florence. the deadly storm that road ashore as a hurricane, downgraded to a tropical storm overnight. florence wit s thehts on south carolina is still pummeling north carolina with rain. bringing with it the potential for catastrophic flooding. neighborhoods under water this morning. hundreds ofcu reses as rising flood waters trap people in homes and sending tany to meroofs. so residents wishing they had listened to the warnings to get out ahead of the storm. >> a bad decision. >> and the slowoving storm and effects are still far from .over we have days of rain ahead f

us. how bad is it now? we are live ifthe middle the storm. "today" saturday, september 15th, 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today the fury of florence." live from studio 1aro in efeller plaza. >> good morning. welcome to "today." f thank yo joining us. peter alexander is with us. dylan i in wilmington, north carolina. hurricane florenceade landfall friday morning. >> we are 24 hours later and the winds not as powerful, but winds no less punishing. in the same neighborhood, still churning over much of north carolina and a lot of south carolina too. >> i tsnk what important to note this morning is we are still in the thick of it. all morning re long. up.s get you caught florence is now a tropical storm with top sustained winds down to

50 miles per hour. >> officials say there have been at least five stormelated deaths, including a wan and infa child. 140,000 customers without important power -- power. carolina.ity in north a quarter in south carolina. we are told that number is likely to grow as thi storm prresses today. florence is setting sights on south carolina. we have a team kofrk covering i. we have dylan with the latest. good morng, dylan. >> reporter: good morning, guys. in wilmington, weave been in the bands of not heavy rain, but areas to the northeast of us have been dealing with torrential downpours all through the night. let's show you i is still a tropical storm, but it is massive and it has that classic set up with the counterclockwise rotation that is continuing to mp in the moisture off the atlantic. we are going to see the bands of really heavy rain continue to move through areas like

jacksonville and inland like fayetteville and raleigh with the heavy e rain. aviest rain on the northeast side of the storm. as you said, istis a tropical m. winds at 50 miles per hour. the path of the storm bris it very slowly to the west/southwest. then it will continue to rain out and bring gusty winds toin rior south carolina and north carolina and swipe its way up a to the pittsbura as we go into tuesday. into the northeast by the time we get to wednesday. this is going to linger for quite some the storm surge is still going to be an issue through today's high tide after 12:30 and midnig midnight high tide 3 to 5 feet storm surge along the coast and pimlico river with the storm surge. all of the water needstl to s into the river. that is why the flood warnings are pofsted. the water trickles in, the

waters will overflow the evbank. when the rain stops, if it stops, we still have that floodingthreat. the flood threat today is across south central north carolina and northeastern south carolina. tomorrow it shifts farther inland as the storm shifts inland and brings that heavier rain with it. especially western north carolina on sundad. we have al picked up about 24 inches of rain in areas just to the northea of here like morehead city. we could see additional 15 inches o rain in that deepest color of red across north carolina. that would p storm totals up to 30 to 40 inches. we have a lot of rain to go. we still have the river flooding to go and for the next two high tides, we could have coaal flooding with the storm surge and that storm still pushing water onshore. >> thank you, dylan. >> the monster storm, this is a beast.

leaving a huge trail of destruction. churning and movinglong the shore there. craig is in wilmington, north that.ina with more on craig, not the same winds we saw yesterday. you are still getting pounded. >> reporter: we are. we ar the rain is unrelenting. it has been raining in wilmington now for nearly 30 hours. that is part of the story. the other part of the story is th trail of destruction this storm has left behind. this is o d ofens of trees here in wilmington. this tree is 100 years old. toppled by florence. at lea 30 others similar to this. florence just won't go away. the wd cam in hard. but it is the water that's causing the most harm. >> chest of drawers on top of

cinder blocks. >> reporter: the storm surge reached 7 feet in north carolina and still climbing. help arriving fromround the country. in new bern alone, 60 pple rescued. >> terrifying. >> reporter: those who chose to stick it t, forced to keep above water and wait for help. >> bad decision. >> reporter: getting around in the flood waters an be treacherous. >> water is overflowing in the yard and common for an alligator to come out. >>s gator sougout here. >> reporter: trees are down everywhere. blocking roads and crushing cars and taking out power lines. close to 1 million waking up in the dark this morning and smashing homes. this new bern family barely escaped a crushing blow. >> we all camped in the hallway in a line. we had gone inside. you hear a boom. it rumbled the house. >> reporter: in wilmington,

tragedy. firefighters struggl hours to get to three people trapped in their home.e ther was rescued, but his wife and their 8 month old did not make . the faces of the firefighters telling the story. some knelt in prayer. >> it hits home for all of us. regardless if you have kids or not or a family or not. reporter: 25,000 are in shelters. in atlantic city casino opened hotelooms for evacuees. it issa hard ty how long they may be waiting to go home.le and w the winds have decreased, the governors of north carolina and south carolina warning residents that florence is far from gone. >> we have days of rain ahead of es. >> we h to have patience. we have to be careful for a long time and then we have to deal with a lot of water after the winds ave.

>> reporter: think about how strong that wind is blowing. >> obviously we cannot hr craig's mic. you hear the winds which gives you a good sense of the situation. >> and the tree. >> craig, thank yo one of the hardest hit communities is new bern, north carolina as water rises, residents seeking higher ground in the homes. there are still more rescues to go. we have garrett with more. >> reporter: it has been a nonsto effort here to rescue people trapped in homes. 385 people had to be evacuated from high water in the homes over the last couple days. rescue efforts on stiller u way. first responders working around the clock. to get everyone in new bern,

north carolina to safety after hurricane florence slammed into the east coast. new bern overwhelmed with more than 10 feet of wr sgrchl. >> i have never been so terrified in my life. >> reporter: officials rushed into the storm zone after receiving o hundreds calls asking for help. >> what are you seeing? >> absolute destruction. >> reporter: many residentser taking shelt on higher ground as crews searching fornye still inside. >> water on the floor like this. >>? up he >> in the house. like this >> reporter: the heavy winds and massive flooding engulfed the town. some still in shock m at hh water consumes a place they call home. t would get think that bad. in the r has come up yard before, but not up into the teuse. >> repor rescuers still working to get the job done as the community waits to see what lies beneath the water.

peter, some good news here. the water level has dropped considerably. the area where i'm now would be waist deep yesterday. power crews are restored some power.pl 15,000 p got lights back on last night. 7,000 more to go. peter. >> a lot of stories of rescues, but more than 100 who need help today. garrett,y thank you vch. let's go back to wilmington, north carolina. we have seen so much of the deruction so far. the downed trees we have shown making it difficult for the rescue crews to get to the people who need help today.c' miguel almaguer is there are for us this morning. miguel, set the scene. >> reporter:peter, good morning. you know, they were preparing here for a flooding event. that certain could still happent really whay have gotten in the last day or so has been all of those massive trees. totally different disaster. we were here when the hurricane rce winds blown t in. therees are sprawled out across the community and

blocking roads for first responders and taking down power lines for the crews working around the clock as you mentioned of nearly 1 million people without power. it is also some of those trees sliced through homes. we spoke to one woman yesterday whoas asleep on her couch and nearly killed by a tree. tree in , a downed wilmington did take the life of two people in another nearby home. that'soing to be an ongoing issue here ov. over the last 24ur ho we did not see power crews in the area. it is difficult for them to maneuver the streets. trees arelocking the streets. it wl take several days to clean them up. when they clean them up, they can restore power. that will take time. >> miguel almaguer on themi grod in wton, north carolina. miguel, thank you. let's go to south carolina i which is f the brunt of florence. gabe gutierrez is in myrtle beach. good morning.

>> reporter: sheinelle, good morning. 160,000 putple are witower in south carolina. the playground was tipped ove over overnight, the wind is not the big story. myrtle beach is under a storm surge warning. the concern is the rain. wee been getting drenched for hours. that is expecteda o continue for while. rivers in the area will continue to rise sharply. they are expected to crest at near record levels by mid next week. leading to potentially catastrophic flooding. sheinelle and peter. >> gabe, thank you. >> now is a good time to bring in brenda bethune. mayor of myrtle beach. mayor, good morning. we spoke to you earlier this week. we want to get a sense of thesi ation. 7 inches so far. 7 more on the way to your city on the coast. what is it like there now? >> it is raing and very windy. we still have a tropical storm

in effect. as well as flash flood it is still not a great situation here. >> you talked about the winds. what kd of rescues did first responders deal with overnight? downtown winds pose problems for you? >> -- did the winds pose problems for you? >> we did not have major problems at this point. we are thankfu forthat. it is the rain that is coming and the grounds tha are saturated. that is a dangerous situation because of the trs. what we are worried about most is inland flooding in the interior areas becau weave five major rivers surrounding us and those are expected to cre within the next three to five days. >> you will be dealing with, mrs. mayor, tropical storm force winds for much of the day and into this afternoon. a sense by some in that now it is just a tropical orm and the worst has passed. what is the message to the people in your community and thosey watches as t think they

may be past the worst of it. >> tropical storms are still very dangerous. there's watern the roads in some places. we have traffic lights out. here's a risk of trees falling because of the ground saturat n saturation. power continues to go out in certain places. it is still a situaon that we need to put safety first. taking a risk is not worth it right now. >> absolutely. mayor, finally, we know your city is in a low lying area on the atlantic coast. what effects of the rain and storm surge have on the roads leading out of the town and your cess roads? >> when the rivers crest in three to five days, that's when the floodingl really appear. we aren't seeing any major flooding in myrtle beach as of yet. theg flood that will happen that will affect us will be in the interio areas which affects us because those are the roadways coming into us.

>> still a long weekend ahead. south carolina's myrtle beach mayor brenda bethune. good luck. >> thank you. >> the rain and satrm surge thor communities is still far from over. let's go to nbc's kerry sanders in north carolina beach, north carolina where the water coming ashore is still a real fear. good morning, kerry.or >> rr: good morning. the wind is unrelenting here. pounding.s because of it here on carolina beach, the bridge is closed out here to what iss known-- as paradise island. the people remaining are isolated. there is a boil water alert. very little water pressure in the system. those that are stuck he a trying to camp out in their homes. because this is such a slow-moving storm, sliupplies could be running short. the city manager says he

believes that the street flooding we have here is minimal,bu of course, the fear is we will see more of it come in over the sand dunes you pay seeme behind -- you may see behind me. the authorities monitoring the situation at thisint. there is no power. much like you see along the coast in other parts of north carolinas the good n here is they have not gotten 911 calls asking for help. they hav rescues.to provide the pier here is pretty much gone. the chamber of commerce says it is about 70% washeday guys, at this point, this slow mover is beating the area. hopefully flo will get out of here soon. just persally, it is exhausting. >> the winds are fierce.rr stay safe. president trump has been monitoring the storm from the white house in washgton. praising the first responders on the ground. e also is tweeting about the

death toll from hurricane maria and his disbelief how high it . we have kelly o'donnell with more. >> reporter: gooermorning, p and sheinelle. the 3,800 federalye emp and 10,000 from fema and 5,000 from theel hd security. that is a glimpse of the resources the officials he been telling us about with the storm.er the president has not been visible the last couple days, but he has been active on itter where he focussed attention on thanking first responders saying the workots quot easy and dangerous and tremendous talent. heerica is proud of you. keep up great work. what also stands out this morning is the president has not yet acknowledged the loss of life from this storm. he does t continu complain about the coverage and controversyver the response to last year's hurricane which hit

texas. puerto rico, as you mentioned, peter, heisputes the death toll of 3,000 as too broad and inaccuratee desphe government does accept that, it is an academic review of deaths after the storm going beyond the storm of those died of injuries to those whose loss of life were tied to lack of resources. the white house released photos not taken by journalists at the white house, but the administration. t showin president behind the scenes attending briefings on florence and the response. peter. >> the president critimozing ats saying they are trying for ake him look ba hurricane maria. he is trying to be proactive in the daysahead. what do we know about his plans to go down to the hurricane region and check out the damage and destruction? >> reporter: we don't always get this information in advance, peter, as you know. th white house says the president does want to go to the affected areas in the coming.

da the hard part is always deciding whats e best place to send the president so he can see the damage and see firster respo and those effected. victims and families touched by this, but without getting in the way and the security resources that come with the president t disrupti efforts. we don't know where he will to t, but his intention is go somewhere in the storm zone. when the president did that last year i thatluded the paper towel tossing incident passing out those supplies and people criticized president trump seeing that as out of the proper tone for the gravity of that situation. >> a lot of peopl struck by the fact he hasn't acknowledged the florence related deaths. we wait to hear from the president. kelly, thank you. busy morning. more of our coverage of tropical storm florence just ahead. but first this is "today" on nbc.

o we are basaturday morning as we track tropical storm florence. let's check in with dylan. dylan, ist unusual for the storm to park over land the way it is doing? >> we have certainly seen it happen before. it is than usual. once -- it is unusual. once you get to late september, the atmos vere isy moveable. you have the jet streams which push thi.s aw somethingomes in and comes right back out. the way we are set up now, there is no jet stream to push things along. an area of high pressure across the northeast. that is like a block from this storm moving to the northeast. it is like the door csed and it cannot get out of here. there is nothing pushing it out of here. that's why this storm is moving at 5 miles per hour and it just going to sit and rain itself out over north andna sou caro and then slowly the jet stream will start to move it on

it is not a typical set up. usually things are moving well gnis time of year. >> i was on the asnt in 2005. cancun. hurricane rnlma. it c on top of us for 100 hours. when they sit, they canse serious damage and tons of rain. dylan, thank you. >> so muc water. we have live from north carolina and south carolina as we track this historic [ phone rings ] hey maya. what's up? hey! so listen, i was taking another look at your overall financial strategy. you still thinking about opening your own shop? every day. i think there are some ways to help keep you on track. and closer to home. i'm all ears. how did edward jones grow to a trillion dollars in assets under care? thanks. by thinking about your goals as much as you do. us. it's what this country is made of. but right now,

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good morning. it's 7:26 on this saturday, september 15th. i'm meghan fitzgerald. we want to take you to top hstories. d.c.lth officials believe at least five people have died from overdosesince thursday. medics treated at least 47 people were overdoses in the same time period. health officials believe the victims overdosed on synthetic drugalled also known as spice. and tomorrow help from maryland rise to the carolinas still dealing with tropical storm florence. ryland heart helteic aquatic team is sending crewys

for about we'll have a check on the forecast coming up. stay with us.

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we're talking about florence. a few showers and coastal flooding even if is not raining from the easterly flow, you can see it'sbreezy. it's going to continue. don't cancel plans. nicer weather is cing by wednesday. florence is down to a tropical storm. wi0 miles per hour. it's going to take its time through the carolina coast. it couring us rain late sunday nightnto tuesday morning. that's when we'll see the remnants of florence in our area. until then a few showers and breezy. maybe even peeks of sun. temperatures around 80. heavier rain coming sunday night through at least tuesday morning and as we head into fall which begins on saturday. we are looking at sunshine.

>> we'll be back with more of your local news headlines and weather in about 25 minutes. r now, back to the "today" sh. we are back on sat morning. september 15th, 2018. this is a live loool at ca beach, north carolina, where the effects of florence are frnt this g. >> we saw kerry sanders get knocked around by the winds this morning. let's catch you up on the latest and tropical storm florence makes its way to south carolina. causing major problems in north carolina. just churning on top of that state. catastrophic flooding expected inoth states. as many as 40 inches of rain could fall in places. rth carolina's governor is warning whole communities could be wiped out. >> cal, state and federal teams from across the country have rushed in to help leading to hundreds of rescues with he potential for many more to come.

as of this morning, more than 26,000 people have left home and headed to shelters to ride out therstorms >> the question this morning is where is florence long will it be before the storm moves out? dylan is in wilmington wit more on that. dylan, it is taking its time. that is bad news for people in your location. >> reporter: it is. a is movin 5 miles an hour. i described it yesterday as a hurricane being one of the things where it is a roller coter of emotions. you get into the lulls which is what we recently hadlm in gton and you let your guard down. the torrential downpours move back in. that is filling up the rivers. that is anng issue g forward even when the rain stops. that is why you have to keep your guardn up the situation because there are lots of things that will come into play even when the storm moves out. let's take you to latest and show you it is still a very well organizedstorm. a tropical storm right now.

winds at 50 miles an hour. you do get stronger gusts. it is 35 miles west of myrtle beach. that heavyand of rain in north carolina and south carolina will be parked there for some time. now this storm will continue to slowly move westward. heavy rain expected all across north carolina today. even north central south carolina. we are going to see that slowly move inland to bring the rain to the higherlevations osunday. then it will move throughohhe river valley and move to pennsylvania and ohio as we go into monday. this whole thing still has to rain itsf out. the northeast is going to get in on the rain eventually as well. can i just point out this is the national hurricane center track from the advisory number 40. this was made on sunday, september 9th. the national hurricane center had the storm coming right to wilmington. here we are four or five days

out and the actual observed landfall was two miles from the forecasted landfall was located. it was incredible. o i was one of the hurricane hunters that collected the data to help make the forecasts. it really was an accurate forecast. as you saw, peopled hee the warnings. people knew the storm was headed in this direction. morehead city, highest rainfallo ls. close to 2 feet of rain in the system. in wilmington, we had 5 inches of rain because we have be in the in between bands. there are several rivers in moderate to major flooding right now. as all of the wonernues to fall and trickles to the ground, it has to go somewhere. it gs to the rivers and the continue to overflow. the winds gusting up to 30 per hour. we still have tornado watches across the area. this is an involved storm. there is still the possibility of some spin-up. an additional of 5 to 10 inches

of rain and up to 15 is still possible putting storm totals u to 30 to 40 inches. the storm is now a tropical storm, but there is still a way to go before t effects of this storm will finally move out of here. it will last perhaps all the way to the middle or end of next week with the flooding. peter. >> dylan, thank you very much. >> good information. dozens of people rescued in jacksonville, north carolina. that is where joe fryer is thisn g. joe, good morning. >> reporter: sheinelle, good morning. this really is the story right now in northeastern north carolina. that is the rain.s it relentless. i keep getting hit with the bands. it started onhursday and continues here into saturday morning. the result othat is what you see now. this neighbhood. you look there --

>> lookt that. >> the pictures speak for itself. we are hearing a bit of joe. we will cut him off to get the connection sorte out. significant rain there. storm surge. the rainreating the dangerous environment. we want to check in with the mayor of jacksonville. mayor sammy phillips. mr. may or, good morning. we appreciate your time. up to 80-mile-an-hour winds. give us a sense of the scene around your community and try to give us a sense of how significant and widespread damage is there. >> right now we are experiencing quite a bit of major flooding in jacksonville. not all of it is related to iorm surge. a lot ofhas to do with the amount of rain we received over the last few hours in some of the lower areas of town. not just the waterways, but

other parts of town where the water is not getting out of here quicklyenough. >> mayor, we are looking at pictures here where cars areer sud under water and churches here. jacksonville was under a voluntar was that the right call? >> i think so. we did implement afe c on thursday evening. still got aot of people moving around and traveling around despite the fact there is a cuew. >> if i can, mr. mayor, can i ask you about a situation that played out yesterday. we reported this across nbc. dozens evacuated from the hotel in your town yeerday. a lot, of those peopleo left their homes to go to the hotel, and forced to leave there was the roof w shredded and torn off. how are they doing today? is there any scene similar across thecommunity.

>> we have had one house fire. how that happened we're not sure about the cause. had a lot of structure damage to businesses and homes here ow. a lotthat is due toin the wd that's continuing to blow prett hard. we had someeal strong winds last night that were registering way up on the scale of intensity. right now, we're trying to get people outf areas that don't normally ood. that's a big challenge that our first responders are having right now. >> as we lookth at pictures and i hear you eak, what i top of mind at this hour, mayor? >> just trying to get everybody safe. we have a lot of shelters that are opened up now. we are taking people from t

evacuation areas. those are the big challenges. we still have a lot ofs thing that are inhappen power loss. traffic lights still down. electric wires. power lines still down. trees still falling. those are things that are presenting a clear danger to everybody right now. >> bottom line is you still have enty more rain coming. unfortunately. cacksonville, north lina, mayor sammy phillips. thank you for your good luck with the recovery. >> thank you. > there is news shaking u washington. another headline we have focused on. afte the former campaign chairman paul manafort pleadedi to federal crimes and now agreeing to cooperate with th russia investigation with the special counsel. what does this mean for president trump? we have whpoe house corrent kelly o'donnell

joining us now. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the cooperating has begun for paul manafort. he and his lawyers met with thes special counsel team to privately explain what -- with theou specialel team to privately meet and t discu issues. who manafort could hurt is an open question. the newest cooperating witness. paul manafort's felony plea deal means he must tell-all to special counselabnvestigators t anyone or anything in the russia investigation. what that means for president trump is unclear. for example, manafort, as chairman, was part of t 2016 trump tower meeting with the russian lawyer. friday, the white housece dist itself from manafort's conviction. this had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious presidential campaign.

it is totally unrelated manafort's lawyer. >> he's accepted responsibility. >> reporter: stressed the financial crimes started before >> this is conduct that dates >> reporter: in federal court, manafort admitted the money laundering from the foreign lobbying in 2006 continued until 2017. manafort made millions advising the pro-russian president of ukraine. friday's plea reement allowed manafort to plead guilty to f fewer charges and avoid a second trial after convicted in another case las month. he is pleading guilty because he is in fact guilty. previously president tru praised manafort as a brave man or resisting pressure and criticized so-called flippers. >> everything is wonderful. then they get ten years in jail and flip on whoever the next highest one or as high as you

can go. it almostought to be outlawed. >> reporter: and after that clip om the president, manafort was in fact sentenced to ten years in prison for some of the financial crimes he has been convicted. his sentence could be by how fully and truthfully he cooperatesith osecutors. now after more than a year of manafort fighting the charges against him, his plea deal friday really was a stunning evelopment with b consequences to be seen in weeks and maybe months to come. peter. >> kelly the white house. thank you. >> matthew miller served in the a administration. he is now an nbc security analyst. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> bre this down for us. we have the conviction of paul manafortn the virginia court few weeks ago and kelly was talking aut he pleaded guilty in the d.c. court on friday.

what does this mean form? legal s an end to t fight he has been waging for over a year. he has to forfeit $46 million in cash and properties. he will look at the sentence up to ten years in d.c. how long he serves is how valuable cooperator he is for bob mueller's team. >> this amounted tohe holy grail in the investigation. for one reason, it puts prosecutors in the room during that 2016 meeting that took place at trump tower trump jr. hosted with the russian lawyerho trump junior promised d clinton.lary why is this so important if the crimes don't relate to the russia investigation? >> what paul manafort pled guilty to in court yesterday is

less important than what he is telling bob mueller behind closed doors. he was a participate in the procedu trump tower meeting in june of 2016. he can testify not just about the president's knowledge or involvement or events in the meeting, but knowledge and involvement of jared kumhner and junior. he can connect theots for any other illegal activity in the campaign. whether anybody knew about hacking of the documents and release of the e-mails. >> there t isk that president trump wants to pardon manart. ishat up for discussion? >> the ship has sailed. when you think of pardon, that is politically toxic for the presiden only 18 of the country would support that. it really don't accomplish what the president needs. for manafort to get the would have deal, h gone in and told bob mueller everything he knows about the president's invinvement in

cr activity and the involvement of everyone around theesent. there is no way for the president to unring that bell. >> matt, this is significant. robert mueller has five individuals to plead guilty to all of the charges they faced.ul manafort, michael cohen, obvious list other names you can see on your screen. including the former national security adviser michael fliynn as well. what should we kee >> peter, everyone that bob mueller has targeted has cooperated. they may have held out at fir and take a case to trial, but they have come in and told him what he wants to know. he seems to be circling key adviser of the president. roger stone. he is someone who proclaimed to have knowledge of the wikileaks leaks before this happened. that is next. then the question of the presidential interview. whether the president will do the interview ahe special

counsel subpoenas him. that is key. >> good ttformation. miller, thank you. another big story from washington this morning athe supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is denying allegations of sexual misconduct recently waged against him when he w in high school. the white house and senate republicans are blasting claim a as democratic dirty trick. we have geoff bennett with more >> reporter: theis morning, supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is fhting back over allegations of sexual misconduct. saying i categorically deny this allegation. i did not do this back in high school or atytime. the incident in which allegedly took place more than 30 years ago. detailed in a letter given to top democrat dian feinstein weeks ago. reporting that kavanaugh and a male t friendpped a teenage girl in a bedroom during a high

school party. kavanaugh allegedly got on top ofhe teenager and put a hand over herouth before she freed herself and left the room. that male friend denying that account to "the weekly standard." it is just absolutely nuts. ier n saw brett act that way. feinstein received the letter iy well before kavanaugh's hearings began. she only handed over the information to the fbi last we. the woman in question made it clear she did not want this information tbe public. the white house now pushing back. asting the move as a last-minute effort to derail the president's pick. senator orrin hatch blastin d i thocrats does not see fit to raise it for over a nth. and 65 women who knew kavanaugh in high school. signing a tt.

the entire time we have known brett kavanaugh, he has treated respect.t kavanaugh's committee vote is still set for this week. for "tay," geoff bennett, the white house. residents in the boston suburb have more questions than answers after the gas explosions in dozens of homes. it rocked lawrence, massachusetts on wednesday. residents are still not allowed back in the homes as the investigation moves forward. we have ron allen with the latest this morning. ron, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, sheille. let's show you the extraordinary example of the disaster. this home was completely destroyere what is mo it is the only house in the entire neighborhood when you look around that was destroyed at all. nofire, no other damage to be seen. this disaste wasrandom. the news here today is that the governor of the state of

massachusetts has declared a state of emergency because the local gas company wasn't getting the job done of repairing the system and getting people back in homes. a neweompany will t over along with federal investigators. there is still no explanation of how sething so terrible could happen. 24 hours after a devastating series of explosions and fires, patience is wearing thin. dozens ofomes and businesses gutted. 18-year-old leo was killed when a falling chiey crushed his car. he was visiting friends. >> the family is broken apart. his mother is crying. she's going through a tough time. >> reporter: thousands of residents still displed with no idea when it will be stave to go home. >> i hope -- it will be saf to go home. >> i hope they investigate. >> it i unbelievable. i can't wait to figure out what happened. something like this should never have happened >> reporter: governor baker

dedid clade declaredtate of emergency. >> i do believe this will lead c a better game on the ground. >> reporter: urghallenge is making sure that gas is shutff in more than 8,000 properties one by one. authorities say less than half the job is done.om the gasny pushing back. >> i don't think anybody else managing this h woulde been further down the road than we are at the moment. >>as it amistake? error? what happened? >> the national transportation safety board is doing the investation. they will make that n. determinat >> reporter: some evacuees were allowed to return briefly. >> they allowed us to come. >> reporter: others getting a first loof how little is left. >> it is hard becauses t a family home. we got married behind there. we will rebuild. this will be home again. >> reporter: everyone here is expecting a push from the power company in charge. some people may be abl to go

home today, but they won't have electricity or power. that will take weeks. recovering from something like this is taking longer than tha back to you. >> thank you, ron. >> and scary. busy saturdaymorning. more ahead this morning, including the latest fromce flor as the storm dumps heavy rain on north carolina this morning. but first this is "today" on nbc.

back with the latest on florence. look athe live pictures in the storm zone. 24 hours, almost exactly 24 hours after landfall still punishing that area. >> we have more and that coming up, but first these messages. [ phone rings ] hey maya. what's up? hey! so listen, i was taking another look at your overall financial strategy.

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you're and we support that.ing what matters, at innovation health, a partnership between inova and aetna, at we take a totalth, approach to health and wellness, so you can age actively. in and keep pursuthe life you love. innovation health medicare. learn more at ihmedicare.com it is 7:56 on this saturday, september 15th. good morning. let's get a check othe top stories. we'll start with paul manafort cooperating with the special counsel's russia investigation.

that is part of paul manafort's plea deal. he admitted guilt to money laundering and othercr imes. he avoids the secont trial tha could bring greater punishment. tomorrow help from maryland arrives at the carolinas still dealing with tropical storm florence. maryland heart, a held continue copter team is sending two teams to north carolina. the crews should be tfire about days. lauren rickets is tracking florence this morning. we'll check in with her on the latest on the other side

>> we are looking at foggy conditions. this is a camera behind our viewo low mid 70s through the morning. 80s today. passing showers cannot b ruled out. north.d have sunshine, this is the outer most band of florence. florence churning and the south carolina, north carolina coastline. a few showers out there today. i believe we' have peaks of sunshine. if you have plans, don't cancel them. keep an eye to the sky with passing showers moving through. by monday, tuesday, that's when we'll see the remnants of florence pass to the west. that's why we're looking at heavier raitu monday andday. i think the heaviest rain is along the shenandoahvalley. should end by tuesday night.

the first day of fall is saturday. sunshine. ll right. lauren, and as lauren continues to keep tabs onen fl, we'll go live to jim at 8: 30 this morning in north good morning. breaking overnight. fury of florence. the monster storm downgraded to a tropical storm overnight after roaring ashore as a category one hurricane. already nearly two feet of rain dropped o region and another foot and a half expected before the storm moves on. rising flood waters trapping people in their homes. crews from all over the country coming to help out with hundreds of rescues as nearly 1 million lose power. the deadly storm is far from over andorth carolina's governor warns entire communities could be wiped