here now byron pitts. >> we join ow as florence slams north and south carolina. dangerous storm surge threat, five feet along the coast expected overnight. the flooding threat moving inland. relentless rain falling all weekend. here's abc's tom llamas. >> reporter: tonight florence, a storm that is constantly changing, battling north and south carolina. on a slow march across the carolinas. but a massive rainmaker, leaving ruin in its wake. >> the storm is wreaking havoc on our state. >> reporter: gas stations destroyed. homes under water. people and pets stranded amid downed power lines and trees. nearly 1 million customers without power. at least five people are now dead. including a mother and her infant. >> we are saddened today to announce the first fatalities of this storm here in wilmington. a mother and her approximately 8-month-old were killed after a tree fell onto the house, crushing them. >> reporter: firefighters managing to rescue the father, who was rushed to the hospital. the fire chief describing to us on the scene how they had to cut through the

byron pitts on an emotional five-month journey with an investigative genealogist. >> i started getting text messages from rob's birth mom. >> the shocking discovery. >> wow. >> the powerful reunion. >> there she is. >> this special edition of "nightline," "finding mom," will be right back. >>> this special edition of "nightline," "finding mom," continues. byron pitts reporting. >>> you're looking at a man who loves his daughter. >> got it. >> reporter: his family. his life. >> ready? >> reporter: but it's a life filled with secrets. rob martin is now on a quest to find the birth family he never knew. >> for my daughter's sake. i wanted to give her a foothold in something. i never had any of that, no anchor in anything. >> reporter: but he could be running out of time. >> my body's fighting hard. >> reporter: he's battling leukem leukemia. >> i've had fevers on and off for five days. >> reporter: and may need a bone marrow transplant. >> i love you. >> i love you. >> reporter: rob's search for his blood line could prove to be a lifeline. tonight we go on a five-month journey to find the

byron pitts on an emotional five-month journey with an investigative genealogist. >> i started getting

i was actually standing next toby ron pit-- to byron pitts. people making that horrific decision of whether to jump -- >> you said in real-time, you just, your mind -- >> i couldn't get my mind around it. >> grasp exactly what was happening. even,000 saw it, just your mind didn't process that these were people that had chosen to jump from the top of the towers. also you told me before that when the tower, the first tower was falling, you just stood transfixed staring at it, and that it was byron who actually pulled you away and threw you under a truck as -- >> it just seemed so impossible that structure that was so big and so magnificent and so, obviously, strong and had so many people in it. it seemed so impossible what was happening right before our eyes, literally we were so close we were craning our necks to see the top and then the top began to crumble down towards us. like so many others, we ran, we were covered with soot. we stayed down there for weeks and tried to get our arms around a story that was so close to us that in some ways it