well let's get more on this knowledge one by matthew miles and washington d.c. he's the president of the campaign for tobacco free kids very good to have you with us on allergies they are so as we've been reporting the f.d.a. commissioner saying that more than two million middle and high school students were regular users of a cigarettes last year just how big a problem is this mr miles especially compared to say the use of regular cigarettes the problem of the use of these cigarettes monk kids has actually reached epidemic proportions and in fact preliminary data shows a dramatic increase in just the last year in the united states more kids are using these cigarettes than using cigarettes was particularly disturbing is that the new generation of the cigarettes are highly addictive they deliver very high levels of nicotine very rapidly and we're hearing signs of kids becoming hooked literally within days and if they are out and so you say that the smoking cigarettes more than they do regular cigarettes why are they both especially appealing and damaging to young

risks campaigners say the time for self regulation is over it's time for the government targets or matthew miles as president of the campaign for tobacco free care that he says the latest devices are highly addictive. i think what we're seeing is an interesting thing in the united states there's been a dramatic decline in the use of cigarettes they're no longer cool among adolescents the new generation of the cigarettes have been designed in such a way that they're sleek and hip they've been marketed with social media campaigns that appeal to kids and they now come in flavors that are highly appealing to kids and mask the harshness of the flavor so it shouldn't be a surprise if you design a product that appeals to kids marketed on social media and introduce it in flavors you're going to see kids use it what f.d.a. did today is important because they made clear that they see this is a truly serious problem and they recognize that it's the actions of the industry that is made the problem worse with the unfortunate is that there are experiences shown that given the opportunity the tobacco industry

last year we heard from matthew miles president of the campaign for tobacco free kids this is the latest devices are highly addictive i think what we're seeing is an interesting thing in the united states there's been a dramatic decline in the use of cigarettes they're no longer cool among adolescents the new generation of the cigarettes have been designed in such a way that there's sleek and hip they've been marketed with social media campaigns that it peeled to kids and they now come in flavors that are highly appealing to kids and mask the harshness of the flavor so it shouldn't be a surprise if you design a product that appeals to kids marketed on social media and introduce it in flavors you're going to see kids use it what f.d.a. did today is important because they made clear that they see this is a truly serious problem and they recognize that it's the actions of the industry that has made the problem worse what's unfortunate is that there are experiences shown that given the opportunity the tobacco industry and the east cigarette industry won't reform itself they can't police them

matthew. >> half a mile from the river mary jane allen and her aunt linda are not leaving, at least for now. >> what are you thinking and why are you cloosing to stick around. >> bust because i believe that that is not coming this way this time, that river down there. >> if it comes up there between our houses and stuff like that, at the highway, then it's time for us to go find a place. >> just last thursday we were standing at the very bottom of the riverbank here. now take a look at all of this water. reena t is safe to say that the rain will stop soon but the flooding will not. >> ninan: incredible images, demarco morgan, thank you for joining us, demarco. part of the coastal city of wilmington was cut off from the mainland by flood waters. david begnaud is there. >> reena t is virtually impossible to get in or out of wilmington now because of flood water. look at this map from the department of transportation. every black dot you see represents a road closure. that gives you a good sense of how difficult it is to drive around the south eastern part of the state right now. we found sam b

dynamics as matthew's two years ago but maybe twice the amount of rain and i'm most concerned as commissioner white mentioned who's doing a great job in the wilmington area, of towns 30 to 40 to 80 milesnland from wilmington, from new bern, from jacksonville because those are small farm towns that do not have the capability to recover. and they haven't even recovered from hurricane matthew yet some two years later and often these people are the poorest of the poor. and people who can't just get up and move. they live in trailers or mobile homes. they live in rental apartments. they don't have a hotel they can go to. they have maybe a small hotel on the interstate highway. i'm very worried about them and, you know, we forget during hurricane matthew, we lost 28 people due to drowning. and if the water's even worse inland this is not a beach issue. although i'm concerned about the people on the beach. this is more of an inland issue of major flooding. all the way from the mountains to the coast. which is 700, 800 miles. it is an incredible area. matthews really from fayet fayetteville down to the coast. this could be asheville down to the coast and go on until tuesday, wednesday and eve

it is 80 miles from the coast, ravaged by hurricane matthew. residents heartbroken at the thought of losing their homes again. >> nowhere. it was level water. never in my life i thought i would ever go through something like that. >> people don't understand. they don't know the emotional toll it takes to literally lose everything. >> in addition to catastrophic flooding they say millions of homes and businesses could go dark for weeks. power companies sending an army of tens of thousands of workers from 17 states. abc news, wilmington, north carolina. >>> we have been busy tracking florence ch it has gotten smaller in the seismic category however it has grown in size. >> it is effecting more lives. there is a new threat, tornados just issued. here is the latest look. it is bigger but winds down to about 105 miles per hour. it is slowing a little bit to the northwest. it puts it at about 110 miles east, southeast. this is live. you can see the eye wall and the storms are at least 200 miles away. that's the size that's grown. here is the tornado

you have stanford football, dave matthews, art and wine festival of mountain view all within five miles all so different, too. >> this is easy. 79 for the high and for the game 60s. doesn't get much better than that. our weather forecast is going to actually get cooler. we hit the hottest of the weather that we've seen most recently. this is one to look at if you're doing something else. it's from sutro tower standing up some 977 feet. you can see the san francisco skyline, treasure island and the east bay hills off in the distance. we do not expect too much in the way of thick smoke. a big night out. 62 degrees. you need the light jacket at least and not expecting too much fog, a beautiful evening no matter where you're headed. that's going to lead us to tomorrow morning's forecast. we do not expect a lot of thick fog. i think we'll have more and 62, also patchy low clouds in the north bay and the east bay as well. we have some excellent conditions. the big change we're monitoring that hot area of high pressure. that's why numbers will be dropping a few degrees. right near the bay, hea

matthew, that cause ed widespread damage two years ago. residents are hoping for divine intervention. here's abc's amy robach. >> reporter: as florence rips through the southeast, floodwaters engulf hopes. 100-mile-per-hour winds tear apart structures. while the storm's path moves dangerously slow across the carolinas. >> lord, you're the only one who can calm this storm down -- >> reporter: the town of lumberton, north carolina, bracing for the worst. laying down sandbags. national guard trucks at the ready. families heading into shelters. as nearly 50-mile-per-hour winds whip into town. a town that's seen its share of destruction. from hurricane hugo in 1989 that brought tides as high as 20 feet and utter devastation to south carolina, to floyd that pounded north carolina with 20 inches of rain 10 years later. but it was hurricane matthew, just two years ago in 2016, that turned the quaint city of lumberton into a veritable water world. the category 1 hurricane left 43 dead here in the u.s., 22 just in the state of north carolina. its catastrophic flooding ruined hundreds of homes, leaving a staggering $2.6 billion cleanup. >> matthew came through on a saturday, october the 8th, 2016. whole lo

folks within a mile of those rivers are under mandatory evacuations and matthew is also really top ofind here just as it is for folks in lumberton. they learned a lot with the flooding there with matthew. cape fear river crested at 53 feet. it is expected to crest at 62 feet tomorrow morning. that means a much wider area for potential damage, for flooding. and that is why officials are clear this morning. they are just as concerned as they were yesterday and this is not the time for folks to become complacent because the flooding is really only just now going to kick into high gear. >> erica hill, that's wise advice. we can only repeat that. listen to the warnings. don't move warning signs, road signs. they're there for a reason. >> of course. >> thank you for being there for us. >> brett kavanaugh is facing sexual assault allegations from when he was in high school. his accuser's lawyer says she is willing now to testify in public before congress. what happens next? we'll discuss. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪ go your own way copd tries to sa

, looks like it will, it was two years ago hurricane matthew which was a catastrophic flooding event brought that, a little bit him and, 25, 30 miles, entire rivers, the situation where people were underwater 15 or 20 feet and couldn't get out. the mayor here in atlantic beach, richard porter, his message for residents very clear. >> get off the island, don't put our first responders in harm's way. don't put yourself in harm's way. get off the island. honors a mandatory evacuation and get out. >> if you do try to stay here and survive the wind, it is likely this story will be one of flooding. we talk to some of the residents who decided to stick around like this gentleman from jacksonville. chris davis. >> we were going to evacuate but now we decided to stay it out. don't want to get trapped in the gridlock. we have generators and all that stuff, coolers, it is about boarding up last-minute windows. >> reporter: the problem is the storm surge, 150 yards behind me, this area will be underwater. that is guaranteed. a quick note, when you see two or three feet of storm surge at that point it becomes deadly because cars and other large

florence's heavy rain than the town of nichols.when hurricane matthew dumped a foot (30 centimeters) of rain on the area two years ago, the town 40 miles (65 kilometers) inland from the coast lost almost 90 percent of its 261 homes.forecasters say florence could bring more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain to nichols and the surrounding area, touching off severe flash-flooding.nichols mayor lawson battle says his town is better prepared this time, but he strongly recommended everyone get out because he can't guarantee it won't flood.florence has been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph).the national hurricane center says florence is now lashing the north carolina coast with hurricane -force winds and a life-threatening storm surge. it says the threat of freshwater flooding will increase in coming hours and days from the storm's heavy rains.the miami-based center said in an update at 11 p.m. edt thursday that the storm's eye was about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of morehead, city, north carolina. the core is also about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east-southeast of wilmington, north caro

heavy rains as hurricane matthew did two years ago, inland flooding, typically a hurricane's top killer, then becomes a major worry. many evacuees plan to head hundreds of miles inland to feel safe. he of 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, the major bridge to this part of the outer banks becomes one way. jeff, deputies will be posted to stop anyone from coming on to this barrier island, except emergency crews. >> glor: all right, mark strassmann in kitty hawk. thanks. president trump addressed the hurricane today. >> the safety of american people is my absolute highest priority. we are sparing no expense. we are totally prepared. we're ready. we're as ready as anybody's ever been. >> glor: in that session, the president also praised the federal government's response to hurricane maria in puerto rico last year, though it has been widely criticized. >> i think that puerto rico was an incredible, unsung success. n xas, we have been given a- pluses for. florida we've been given a- pluses for. i think in a certain way the jst job we did was puerto rico, but nobody would understand that. to glor: the official death toll in puerto rico was raised last month from 64 to nearly 3,000

florence's heavy rain than the town of nichols.when hurricane matthew dumped a foot (30 centimeters) of rain on the area two years ago, the town 40 miles

hopefully it'll be down to a low category 1 where we'll get maybe 70 miles an hour, but the big problem is going to be the rain. when matthew here it dropped 15 inches ora 15 inches of rain. this is going to be historical can 20, 25 inches of rain sitting in that area. so we're going to have a lot of problems from egress and veins coming in from place like this to get back into the beach. >> you've seen this before and know how unpredictable this can be. generally you know where it's going, the wind speed. it can move fast, do a lot of damage with winds or go slow and bring a lot of water. this appears to be a water event and you've gone through that. >> it is. and this is difficult. we've never had a storm come through myrtle beach moving at 4 miles per hour. we're looking at anywhere from 36 to 48 hours of constant wind and rain. and we just have to be prepared for it. and that's one thing of our city our guys have been ready for it, they're ready, prepared. >> i got some comfort from him. you must be comfortable, steve, because you're staying. >> anytime i'm with john i'm comfortable. >> steve also happen to be the chair

heavy rains as hurricane matthew did two years ago, inland flooding typically a hurricane's top killer then becomes a major worry. many evacuees plan to head hundreds of milesto feel safe. as of 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, the major bridge to this part of the outer banks becomes one way. jeff, deputies will be posted to stop anyone from coming onto this barrier island except emergency crews. >> in other news this morning, americans mark 17 years since the attacks of september 11th. there were solemn remembrances in lower manhattan, the pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania. the terrorist strikes touched off what is now the longest war in u.s. history. charlie d'agata is in afghanistan. >> reporter: they're afghanistan's most powerful weapon in the fight against taliban and isis militants. a s.w.a.t. team off the leash, crisis responding swarms onto the scene at the first sign of trouble. when a terrorist attack -- this unit is the one to stop it. they react within five minutes of getting the call. we watched as these u.s.-trained counterterrorism forces responded to a simulated complex attack. it's exactly the kind of training you'd see with u.s. forces because th

i traveled to the town of lumberton about 80 miles from the coast which was decimated just two years ago by hurricane matthewmporary housing after entire neighborhoods were destroyed. the water was up to your chest? >> yes. water was up to my chest along this area here. and i could not believe that -- >> people don't understand. they don't know the emotional toll it takes to literally lose everything. and jerry told me that the roughest part about this all is imagining what he will do if he loses his home again. this time, to hurricane florence. but then he said this to me, robin the. he said, god wouldn't bring me this far to leave me now. >> got chills just thinking about that. thank you, and thank you for being there. you can get 24/7 storm coverage with abc news live on our website. >>> coming up, that "gma" exclusive. shannen doherty one-on-one, the cancer slayer, i love how she refers to herself as the cancer slayer, talking about her journey, how it has changed her and what's next for her. >>> and are you in for a surprise for a very deserving teacher in her cool. school. wait till you see what t.j. h

expectation of gale force winds, 35 miles an hour or more but janice can be more right on when she talks about not underestimating the danger. for little context hurricane matthewtwo years ago hit north carolina and caused 28 deaths and catastrophic flooding as a category one. this area, many areas haven't recovered, going to be subjected to 9 to 13 feet of storm surge. this could be completely underwater by tomorrow in extreme flooding that will come with it because we have low-lying areas with all of these rivers. it is a water event that is life-threatening. the excessive rainfall complicating things tremendously if it does park here. this happened with matthew. adam schneider wants to remind you you are not getting help if you get in trouble. >> the big struggle is the wind and flooding, we have to worry about not just this weekend but the next two weeks after the storm passes. that is the critical part. >> in atlantic beach the bridge is closing at 7:00 am. we will monitor the situation, back to morehead city. as we wait for the form to hit. jillian: officials in south carolina making a final push to get everyone out ahead of the potentially deadly hurrica

and some miles upstream where there's tons of rain coming down from the storm and over the next few days here in greenville, people are very concerned about major flooding during hurricane matthew two years ago next month, they had that kind of major flooding and they're worried about it happening again this time. so everyone is trying to batten down the hatches here in greenville and hope this storm moves on quicker than anticipated at least right now. we're in greenville, north carolina, in pitt.co county. i'm ed crump. >> much of that circulation will stay over water near the coast, of course, making for some life-threatening storm surge there in that area. >> that, indeed so there are a lot of places impacted and feeling a big impact on from florence. this is new video that i haven't seen so far this morning and it's actually a live picture i'm told and you can see the storm is still whipping up the conditions there. this is in wilmington, north carolina which is just there on the eyewall. there were some wind gusts that are well, well near tropical storm force there in wilmington, north carolina and they're going to be in the thick of it for quite a white. >> cat 1 winds.

matthew. it's only going to get worse. check out sherwood here in conway b. three blocks of flooding. it just goes back and back, two milesthis is an area not under mandatory evacuation. most residents have gotten out of here, though. there are several we spoke to that said they were going to keep an eye on the water levels, they've been coming out every morning to check. it's been inching closer and closer into this community. i talked to the city administrator, they are anxious and nervous, they believe water rescues will take place sometime this weekend as that water is expected to crest from the waccamaw river. it's not expected to crest until tuesday, perhaps wednesday. it's at 18 feet now, expected to crest at 22 feet. you can only imagine what the neighborhood will look like in the coming days, guys. >> nick valencia, trouble still ahead. thank you very much. >>> meteorologist allison chinchar in the weather center with the forecast. nick painted a pretty grim picture. >> yeah. so the good news is there is no rain expected today in that general area. but that changes starting coming up this week, monday and tuesday

matthew a couple years ago. in the next couple days what officials are extremely worried about is river increasing. waccamaw river is a couple mileser continues to swell, that water has to come somewhere. north carolina, water will come south. local police are concerned about that. it is not a concern of if or when they'll see more. this is an indicator of what is to come. >> that's why they're keeping a close watch. nick, appreciate it. thank you. in a moment, we'll hear more from the mayor of myrtle beach, south carolina. how her town is fairing today and what her concerns are heading into the next few days as we wait and watch rivers, including the waccamaw where we saw nick valencia. continuing coverage of tropical storm florence continues. stay with us. i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release its own insulin, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen. and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used

mile-per-hour winds. i spoke to one woman. she said she rode out the storm in a trailer, a double-wide trailer, hurricane matthew, back in 2016. she says that is simply not something that she is willing to do again. they were without power for a week back then in 2016. this time, it could be even longer than that. after this storm actually passes, john, this will turn into a shelter. they'll have cots for everybody, but only obviously for those people who cannot go home because their home is destroyed or flooded out. >> scott mclean for us in conway, south carolina. thanks so much. again, the shelters need to be open now. hopefully, people got to where they need to go already because it's really almost no time left. let's go up to wilmington, north carolina, and might be very near where the eye of the storm makes landfall ultimately, not for a while, still some maybe 24 hours away. kaylee hartung is there. >> yeah, that's right, john. a gust of wind is picking up through here for the first time we have really seen today. otherwise, the waters of the intercoastal waterway between wilmington and wrightsville beach is pretty calm

hurricane matthew did not have a lot of the factors and certainly the duration this storm does. god willing we will get through this okay. down here 45 miles an hour gusts. we're finally entering the florence actual weather pattern. the real deal is just starting now. we've had power outages. we just had several blocks going down during our last break. i don't know what the numbers are. but we will have conditions like this and getting into 80, 85 miles an hour wind, two high tides before then. that's going to be a big determining factor. this is just the beginning of a high tide here. we don't know what's going to happen when the wind shifts. this is a mandatory evacuation zone. not everybody left. so we're just starting to get into it here and we're watching you as a window into the future. >> chris cuomo down in north myrtle beach. it is upsetting that you can see, but i can't see you. i appreciate your concern, and this is coming your way not too long from now. emergency management imploring people do not drive through this just yet because it is not over and it is not safe. let's go to the weather center now. chad myers is there for a

miles wide. and at its highest point about 35 feet above slaeea level. and this area floods. 6,000 people call it home. they're no stranger to hurricanes. they have been through matthewnd floyd. and the benchmark hurricane hugo chl businesses and homes here get inundated with storm surge. we're familiar with the fact storm surge is not the only concern. a it's a prolonged event. heavy rainfall, records will be set. >> the president echoed the dire warnings about florence. after touting incredible success responding to hurricane maria. in puerto rico. the death toll for marry ya is 3,000 people. the president says he's already hearing good things about preparation for this storm. >> tremendous people working on the hurricane. first responders, law enforcement. and fema and they're all ready. we're getting tremendous accolades from politicians and the people. we are ready. this is going to be one of the biggest to hit the country. >> as part of the federal government response to florence the centers for disease control opened emergency operations center in atlanta. >> part of the private preparation for florence there's ab online mapping program that connects civilian

miles per hour, rain up to 30 inches. i spoke to one woman who said she rode out the storm in her trailer hurricane matthew two years ago withwo . >> to think that help was so close and yet sadly so far for these individuals is really, really disturbing and troubling. >> jeff still struggles thinking about his mother's final moments. >> you haven't given on justice for your mother? >> i believe that there still to be justice in this situation like all situations. these events don't go away and get brushed under the rug. some closure has to occur so this event doesn't get replicated. >> randi joins me outside the florida hospital where the patients could have been taken. where do things stand with the investigation now? >> anderson, it's still an active investigation. hollywood place and the state attorney's office are still looking into this. we understand that they have video surveillance from inside the nursing home which shows what was going on inside and something they will likely use to build a case for criminal charges if those two do come. the documents filed by the estate agency says this surveillance video shows tha

matthew. i'm told hypotheticalsly this pier under new construction could with stand winds of up to 200 miles pertures on the carolina coast. so the president has approved emergency declarations in north and south carolina. earlier the president tweeting my people just informed me this is one of the worst storms to hit the coast in many years. also south carolina, north carolina and virginia. please be prepared be careful and be safe. we have seen long lines at stores and gas stations. the mead concern is the coast it is expected to bring storms far inland. south carolina governor henry mcmaster evacuations of eight coastal counties trying to move people away from the coast. he estimates this will effect possibly 1 million people. listen. >> we know that this evacuation order that i'm issuing is going to be inconvenient for some people. it's going to be inconvenient. but, we do not want to risk one south carolina life in this hurricane. >> so, starting at noon today, they are going to reverse the flow of four major highways, including i 26. in other words, all of the lanes are going to carry peop

about 18 miles inland it is not so much about the winds, they have been spared that, but post florence flooding they're really worried about, especially those that experienced matthew only two years ago, victor. >> polo sandoval in lumberton, north carolina. thank you. you and the crew be safe as well. if there are communities here that are not dealing with flooding or don't have damage in their immediate neighborhood, there's a good chance they're facing power outages, more than 900,000, close to 950,000 customers across north and south carolina are without power. those aren't 950,000 people, customers, there may be many people living in a single house. we have got on the phone jeff brooks with duke energy. i would like to ask you how many customers are yours? >> good morning. about 550,000 of those customers are ours and we have seen numbers beginning to climb in south carolina as florence makes her way through the state and southern counties of north carolina. that's on top of all of the coastal counties in which pretty much every customer is out for extended periods. so we have a lot of outages, we're seeing it continue to climb. the challenge is that our crews

matthew. this is already leading to some road closures. the interstate that runs through this city, a part of it is closed. i-95, a major thoroughfare, is closed. 20 milesen u.s. 64 and portions of i-40. what officials are recommending right now to the general public is that they simply stay home. even though the clouds of florence may eventually dissipate, the very real threat of flooding still remains. and finally, martin, i can tell you that there is a concern now that there are some people who think that the worst is over. the mayor pro tem of the city told me that what they had seen is that there were people who were leaving the shelter, thinking that the worst was over, and he is pleading that they simply stay at higher ground. wait for the flooding threat to be over. that could take potentially days, martin. >> reporter: that's the problem, many people just don't want to be in a shelter, and on top of that they want to be home and see what's left. yet, as you just said, the governor and officials are saying now is not the time to get out there, they need the roads open for emergency responders. polo sandoval, thank you very much. we're taking a l

matthew two years ago, do you think authorities are taking precautions to prepare? >> i think they have, eric as janice dean said, this is a slow-moving disaster for this storm to hoover at and 2 milesper hour, you know, we've got that issue, we've got the issue of trees, we've got the issue of tremendous amount of water as example in union county which i represent, we've already had a fatality with a tree that fell over the roadway and a lady hit and unfortunately died but the secondary roads are really treacherous and i hope people are not goated into a sense of false security because we haven't had the outages as coastal counties have had. we are going to have anywhere from 10 to 15-inches of rain along with the gust that come with it. eric: that's very important you pointed out because often times you think it's fine, as the poor woman found, you don't know what debris, electrical power could be on the road and could be hazardous. >> i was talking to an airline pilot and he was saying that a commercial airliner is built to land in 24 miles an hour, we have gust that are 30 to 40 and have yet to come in our area and i average people to stay off the record particularly the seconda

matthew, fema was here very quickly. griff: fayetteville spared a little bit of beating because 30 miles south. as he toured all the areas, he assured everyone in the storm he had backs and mayors like mayor culvin, listen. >> you will need it and we have it and we will be supplying it and there will be nothing left undone, you'll have everything you need. griff: in the flooding south of here also still a major issue highway 95 closer to limberton shut down and in some areas indeed days if not weeks, dagen. dagen: griff, we appreciate you very much. you were in the storm and you've stay today cover the aftermath because it matters, thank you so much, griff, we will be speaking with alex azar following the catastrophic floods at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. coming up alibaba backtracking, why jack ma is walking back promise to create 1 million jobs in the u.s., plus one soggy commute, the new york city rat, assuming it's a he, more of this video for you straight ahead. agent beekman was one step ahead of them. because he hid his customers' gold in a different box. and the bandits, well, they got rock

matthew. and now again. and i stayed, but this time i-- stayed half a week and left and couldn't take it anymore. >> we sent up our drone to give you an aerial perspective. lumberton is 60 milesut prolonged rains from hurricane florence created flood conditions not only in this town, but throughout many parts of southeastern north carolina. closing about 750 roads, including sections of interstates 95 and 40. and meanwhile, flooding along the cape fear river forced duke energy to shut down the lb sutton natural gas plant in wilmington. flood waters breached a cooling lake and department of environmental quality, river has spelled into a basin or a dump, containing coal byproducts or coal ash from a retired plant at the site. duke energy says they're serving power connected to the grid. 26,000 are now without power, but that's down considerably from the 1.8 million who went without electricity during the height of the storm. neil: thank you, jonathan serrie. we're getting a report out of politico that congress is looking at providing 1 1/2 billion, specifically 1 billion for north carolina, half a billion dollars to south carolina and they hope to act on that promptly. this is

matthew, hurricane floyd, hurricane fran. we mapped out areas we know where flooding can likely occur so that there will be inland evacuations as well. >> reporter: perhaps hundreds of milesclared mandatory evacuations in eight coastal counties including the popular tourist destination of charleston. this potentially impacts as many as a million people. back to you. maria: all right, jonathan, thanks very much. let's get to the latest on the storm's path, janice dean in the weather center. >> we are watching the storm and remember last year we had hurricane harvey affect the southeast coast of texas? this could be very reminiscent of that for north carolina. we could see on order of two feet, even three feet of rain if the storm stalls. that's what the computer guidance is telling us, that this storm is going to stall. category 4, it's going through a restructuring right now. the storm is trying to strengthen, certainly could see a category 5 in the next couple hours today or tomorrow before it makes landfall on thursday, friday. we have hurricane watches now posted for the coastal carolinas. we're going to start to see advisories coming out every three hours. here's the