i'm meteorologist jacqui jeras. we'll have updates as needed throughout the night. >>> this hour, everything you need to know for your week ahead including the man you just saw, bill maher, exposing the controversial past of a tea party darl ang possibly forcing delaware's newest gop primary winner to cancel media appearances. how will washington react tomorrow? just a day after a key senate vote on don't ask, don't tell, the head of the gay republicans here this hour. hurricane igor bearing down, thousands either fleeing or bracing for the worst. it's a giant storm, and we're live in the middle of it in just moments. >> we begin in southern california where an overnight scare about a possible cult suicide turned out to be a false alarm. 13 salvadoran women and children who had been the subject of an intense manhunt were found today safe and unharmed. in fact, they were praying in a public park in palmdale, unaware police were even looking for them. cnn's thelma guitierrez has been sorting out the facts. thelma? >>

meantime, let's get to jacqui jeras at the center hurricane headquarters.acque, he's getting really battered there. >> this has been going on for hours, like he mentioned. i think that igor has gotten as close as it's going to get to bermuda, and it's starting to actually pull away from the islands now. it's a category 1 storm. 75-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds, but we've been seeing those frequent hurricane force gusts now, and when it's so persistent for so long, you tend to have a little more damage. the eye of this hurricane is west of bermuda but the west of the hurricane force winds extend so far out from the center of the storm. that's what continues to lash this island. it's moving to the north, and it's going to hook to the right, and it is impacting the u.s. with these large swells and rip currents. we've been seeing them all weekend long along the atlantic coast, and those will continue into tomorrow. now, we've got a couple of other big weather headlines to tell you about. these pictures coming in out of utah. this is outside of salt lake

>> jacqui, thanks so much. going to follow up on that with kathy johnson, i think she's the deputy director at the emergency management of columbia county. so give me an idea of how you're able to get these evacuations under way. mandatory or is it voluntary at this point? >> all evacuations are voluntary. we cannot force anyone to come out if they choose not to. we are just encouraging that people do because of the situation where the access going into this area will not be passable. which means that police, fire, ems will not be able to get into these residents, if need be. >> how many people are we talking in this area? >> i'm not really sure how many people there are. >> is it pretty significant? you know, a community or is this very rural? >> the whole area is probably about 150 homes. some of the homes are higher than others. but it all goes in and out through one road. >> and what does emergency management need right now to help out people? >> we need people to listen to the fact that we are asking them

jacqui jeras is in the severe weather sent we are the latest on this.e hit bermuda, what more can they expect there? >> more of that 8 p.m.ish, given or take an hour, eastern time, the hurricane-force winds with, now just a report of a gust around 76 miles an hour last hour. power outages can be expected. the waves incredible. the radar from bermuda, there is the island, some of the worst conditions in this area. the storm moving on up through the north now. what is the status? less than 100 miles from bermuda tilt. this is a category 1 storm now, maximum winds 85 miles per hour. this is a huge storm because those hurricane winds extend farther than probably the average storm, we are talking 90 miles away from the average winds that is going to keep them right over bermuda for several hours, talking probably six hours or more with sustained that is one of the reasons this is such a dangerous storm to deal w the forecast path moving to the west of bermuda and curving on up to the north and the east a couple to other things i want to talk about yet this h

jacqui jeras is tracking the storm.st for the tropics and your area when we come right back. >>> let's check your top stories right now, shall we? an american woman held captive in iran for more than a year is on her way home. sarah shourd today left amman where he was staying following her release on tuesday. shourd is one of three american hikers detained by iran after they allegedly crossed over the border from iraq in 2009. iran let her go for medical reasons. the other two americans are still in prison. >>> expectations are high that bp's oil well is finally dead. official word may not come for a day or so. cement was pumped from this drilling rig into the well deep underneath the ocean floor, a procedure known as bottom kill. pressure testing will confirm where the plug is holding. once thad allen announces the well is dead, crews will abandon the site. the last boat is expected to leave the area in about a week. >>> not one, but two tornadoes, two of them hit new york city on thursday night. imagine that. the nat

jacqui jeras is here. igor would be the first threat and then karl or does it matter in the timeline? >> karl is pretty much over with. maybe just some showers. igor is one of the big focuses as this is a powerful hurricane and could make landfall in bermuda. this is a huge hurricane, so even if that eyewall doesn't make it on shore, they are going to be getting hit with hurricane force winds, not to mention huge waves that are going to be pushing through as well. there you can see igor and take a look, yeah, this is the island. those are the islands we're talking about, that tiny dot you can hardly see. karl faded out over here. we have a tropical wave in the gulf. we've got julia right here, which is a tropical storm, 50-mile-per-hour winds, not going to bother anybody. and then we have this tropical wave way out here which has some potential, medium chance of becoming our next named storm. if so, it would be lisa. let's talk about igor and where it's going to be heading. this is a category 2 hurricane r

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thanks so much, jacqui. appreciate that. >>> it has been quiet the weekend for politics, we have heard about one candidate dabbling in witchcraft. value voters picking their presidential favorite. plus, we have a sitting senator who has now chosen to run as write-in candidate to keep her seat. >> y'all know that i went back to washington a couple of days ago. the land of [ inaudible ] these outside interest groups like the tea party express, the pundits. all the political guys, they tell me that this can't be done this is a futile effort. well, perhaps it is one time that they met one republican woman who won't quit on alaska. >> cnn deputy political director is joining us now from washington. good to see you. so senator murkowski, back out today, talking about her bid to regain this seat and there are others who have some strong opinions about whether this is going to be, i guess, a futile or fairly legitimate campaign. >> start with some history, fred, 1954 the last time a write-in candidate in a senate el

let's check in with jacqui jeras. oh, boy.s it likely to get worse especially as you have cresting expected? >> most of them have crested. and many of them have just crested in the last couple of hours, in fact. some of the concerns that we have down the line, one of which is in central wisconsin on the wisconsin river in the town of portage where the calladonia dam arks that it could possibly give way. even though the rivers have crested, remember, they're going to stay in flood for several days. so just because the crest has happened doesn't mean that threat is over and done with. there are lots of roads covered. it's a voluntary evacuation, but they're encouraging people to do that in the portage area as a result of that as they could be threatened by that dam break if that should happen. take a look at these green boxes. that's where we have flood warnings in effect at this hour today. now, an area which could have new flooding, those rivers, by the way, all emptying into the mississippi river. and so the mississippi's pro

meteorologist jacqui jeras watching that for us. busy. >> really busy.got word in now that karl made landfall so it's over the land now and that means it will gradually weaken a little bit abe be feeling that brutal impact at this time. here you can see the latest satellite imagery of karl and man close to being a hurricane but not going to happen. at least not while it makes the way across the peninsula. getting into the bay of campeche and we think late tonight or tomorrow already likely regain strength and watch it probably move up to a hurricane so there you can see karl's 65-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds and torrential downpours with karl and fast mover and showing you that track of this storm and look at that. overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning watching that make its way over that open water and we don't think at this time by the way it's impacting the u.s. we have to watch maybe southern texas for some outer bands and some rainfall an right now the best estimate is it will stay south of there. there's the tri if he cfecta of

meteorologist jacqui jeras here in the weather center. boy, this is serious rain and flooding. >> lots of people being impacted by these rivers. many of them have crested just a couple haven't crested yet but they're going to remain in flood for the next couple of days. as you mention we're going to watch those rivers dump into the mississippi and then we'll see some flooding downstream here into lacrosse and we'll watch those areas by the middle of the week. minor to moderate flooding expected along the mississippi. you can see all of the counties that are still under flood warnings as a result of that rain that we had in the middle to latter part of last week. this is really a long stretched out event unfortunately. now we also have some flood concerns across parts of the southeast. there you can see in the dark green areas highlighted right here from atlanta on up into the carolinas where we're expecting to see anywhere between 4 to 6 inches of rain in the next couple of days. we have an area of low pressure that's developed and bringi

jacqui jeras joins us now from the cnn headquarters. not good. >> no, it's not good.is not just that they're going to get hit with a hurricane, but this is a long duration event. bermuda has been dealing with the outer bands of the hurricane. this is the radar from the bermuda weather service. we want to thank them for letting us use their radar tonight. only 20 miles across. these outer bands have already been moving through. as they do, you start to get the increases in the winds. and you'll see those tropical storm force conditions. and this is still more than 24 hours away from landfall likely. so that is, you know, almost two days. a day and a half to two days they're going to be experiencing those strong winds. right now it's a category 2 storm. we're seeing gusts stronger than that. it will be a close call whether the eye wall will make it onshore. either way, the island will certainly be impacted by this system. because this is a huge hurricane. we're talking the winds extend out almost 700 miles across. so certainly going to be feeling the brunt of that. here

jacqui jeras here to tell you what's going on with that. >> it's coming in waves, don. problems all the way across the place. flood watch in effect in virginia and down across georgia including atlanta where we could see three to six inches of rain easy. real concerned about the flood threat and boston, city metro, philadelphia, rain and atlanta, charlotte and washington, d.c., could reach over an hour and delays in miami and tampa. here's a look at atlanta where it's been raining pretty much all day long. a live picture downtown where it continues to be wet and you're under that flood watch. we do expect to see standing water on roadways in addition to smaller rivers and creeks which go out of their banks, we're also concerned across the appalachians, too, don, that we could see mud slides. big weather news tomorrow in the southeast. >> really. all right. thank you very much. >>> let's check the stories that will be grabbing the headlines in the week ahead from the word of politics to wall street to show business. we start tonight at the white house. >> i'm ed henry at

i'm cnn meteorologist jacqui jeras. we'll have updates throughout the night as needed. >> tonight, bill maher gets his star on the hollywood walk of fame and yours truly was there. >> how appropriate. >> and now bill's taking aim at today's elections. islamaphobia and yeah, sarah palin. plus, takes your questions and calls. bill maher for the hour is next on "larry king live." >> we'll go to john king in awhile and get election results. first bill maher. the comic, best selling author, host of "realtime with bill maher," which returns to hbo on friday night, september 17th. his standup special bill maher but i'm not wrong is now out on dvd. and today, he received a star on hollywood's walk of fame which we'll get to shortly. we'll talk politics with bill right now. i know you have a personal interest in delaware which could be the big story of the night because the republican establishment figure looks like he's going to get beat. the republican establishment saying they won't support the woman who's going to beat him,

chef jacquy pfeiffer is over there. he's spinning a sculpture. you can see his work.up. >>> first, some of new york city's firefighters are here to tell us about their hot, new calendar. let's meet them. excuse me, george. nice to see you again. please, gentlemen, introduce yourselves. >> how are you going? anthony. mr. january. >> good morning. sebastian, february. >> felipe, mr. march. >> peter franchitti, mr. chill. >> randall, mr. may. >> michael, mr. june. >> terence, mr. july. >> burt, mr. august. >> michael, mr. september. >> george, mr. october. >> wesley, mr. november. unfortunately, mr. december couldn't make it. he got stuck at work. >> working. but sometimes, gentlemen, a year is just not enough. it's just not enough. thank you. mr. february. you're from brooklyn, right? >> yes, i am. >> tell me about this calendar. >> this calendar supports the thomas r. sasser fund, who donated money to nonline of duty deaths of active firefighters. >> if they're killed, not in the line of duty, and their families are in a desperate way, as they would be, this will help

jacqui jeras is keeping a close eye on it.lf is in bermuda waiting for it. >> they are getting overcost conditions. itis not bad, yet. by the evening, we expect conditions going downhill. the winds will pick up and expect to get outer bands. it's not imminent that e igor will make land fall in bermuda, but whether or not the eye hits the coast is not relevant. if it hits it or doesn't hit it, it will have a big impact on bermuda. the winds extend hundreds of miles from the center of the storm. there you can see, it's a tiny island. it helps to put it into perspective. they are going to feel the impact of the storm, no matter what. things are busy in the atlantic. i want to point out a couple different things. julia is going to fade out and move up to the north. not too big of a concern for julia. look at what's going on there. we have an area of disturbed weather that has potential for development. then, back here, we have a 30% chance of this tropical wave becoming our next tropical system. if we get a name out of either of t

jacqui jeras joins us now from the cnn hurricane headquarters. not good. >> no, it's not good. a hurricane. but this is a long duration event. already, don, bermuda's been dealing with the outer bands of the hurricane. this is the radar from the bermuda weather service. we want to thank them for letting us use their radar here tonight. there you can see the teeny, tiny island, only 20 miles across. these outer bands have already been moving through. when they do, you start to get the increases in the winds. you'll see the tropical storm force conditions already. and this is still more than 24 hours away from landfall likely. so that is almost two days. a day and a half to two days where they're going to be experiencing those strong winds. right now, this is a category 2 storm. maximum winds, 100 miles per hour. seeing gusts stronger than that. it's less than 400 miles away from the coast right now. it's going to be a close call as to whether or not that eyewall is going to make it onshore. but either way, the island will certainly be impacted by this system because this is a hu

we'll be checking in with jacqui jaras coming up as well. the workweek in weather and see how hurricane igor is doing as well. right after this. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle. is that a golf cart? yep. we also cover rvs, boats, atvs. anything else i can help you with? can i take a ride? you need a ticket -- i'm first! and that's by the water slide. okay.

. >>> well, you don't need me to toss to jacqui jeras. you just need jacqui. couple of -- julia. >> a few, not a couple. >> yeah, the waves, and the training and the storms. take it away. >> we're in the thick of it. three storms, all of which are rather powerful and all of which are probably going to be hurricanes ultimately if they are not already there. we start out with karl because karl made land fall a couple of hours ago on the yucatan peninsula. it's starting to weaken because it's over land, 60 miles per hour. this is moving along pretty good. rainfall totals 3 to 5 inches and max up to 8. flash flooding can be expected and power outages, and larger tree limbs could come down. this will move over the bay of campeche later tonight and into tomorrow and probably intensify again and become a hurricane. you can see the forecast track with the second land fall later this week on mexico's mainland. texas, keep a heads up in case it takes a northerly track. you might get outer bands but nothing major for you. let's talk about the other two storms. this is re