miguel almaguer, nbc news, jamestown, colorado. >> our thanks after a three-hour trek to miguel almaguer, kate snow reporting before that. >>> officials in new jersey zlarmds of the fire that took out four blocks of boardwalk in seaside park last thursday. blamed on electrical wiring underneath the boardwalk which sustained damage from sand and salt water during hurricane sandy. some of the wires were buried in this sand under existing construction and were not inspected after sandy. the boardwalk section that burned there was old. while the businesses above were reopened this summer, the infrastructure was not rebuilt. investigators emphasize they found nothing suspicious and offered inspections for other surviving business owner. >>> new evidence today that tens of millions of americans are stuck, five years now after the death of the great american recession. new data out from the u.s. census bureau is showing us more than 46 million living below the poverty line. by the way, the poverty line is considered $23,500 a year for a family of four. more than one in five americans in poverty

nbc's miguel almaguer is in boulder tonight to start us off from there. miguel, good evening. >>> brian, good evening. this is the boulder creek. tonight it is a raging river. it is torrents like this that claimed at least four lives. some 80 people are unaccounted for. while the rain here has stopped for now, the threat, the danger has not. surrounded by surging rapids, several communities along colorado's front range are islands. locals pleading for help any way they can. >> an hour ago that road was there. >> reporter: a harrowing rescue at big thompson canyon. emergency teams used a zip line to bring this woman to safety. the national guard deployed to evacuate the town of lions. 1600 people trapped by rising water. are you happy to be on dry land, safe? >> yeah. >> reporter: 9-year-old alexandria, her mom and three siblings will sleep in a warm bed and have a hot meal for the first time in two days. >> scary. you never think something like that -- you would be in that situation. all of the sudden you're trapped. >> reporter: with damage as far as the

we get the perspective from above tonight from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: wow, look at this. rockslides, mudslides, so many disasters, so much devastation. we have seen so many properties impacted. there are simply too many damaged homes to count. >> unbelievable. >> reporter: this is the big thompson river that weaves through a residential neighborhood. it completely wiped out this section of town. the state says at least 30 highway bridges are completely destroyed. more than a dozen dams have been compromised. this one is completely breached. down the road here, these homes are now in jeopardy. >> wow. wow. >> reporter: so many of these smaller communities are completely surrounded by water. no way in or out by foot or by car. there is a chinook helicopter, one of about 15 that have been doing air operations. they are ferrying out thousands of people that are surrounded by water. we have come along groups of people like this throughout our time up in the air. the national guard has made it clear they want everyone out of this area, but some just refuse to leave. when you se

nbc's miguel almaguer is in boulder tonight to start us off from there. miguel, good evening. >>> brian, good evening. this is the boulder creek. tonight it is a raging river. it is torrents like this that claimed at least four lives. some 80 people are unaccounted for. while the rain here has stopped for now, the threat, the danger has not. surrounded by surging rapids, several communities along colorado's front range are islands. locals pleading for help he any way they can. >> an hour ago that road was there. >> reporter: a harrowing rescue at big thompson canyon. emergency crews used a zip line to bring this woman to safety. the national guard deployed to evacuate the town of lions. 1600 people trapped by rising water. are you happy to be on dry land, safe? >> yeah. >> reporter: 9-year-old alexandria, her mom and s siblings. >> you're trapped. >> reporter: with damage as farce as the eye can see, many remain trapped, some unaccounted for. holly stetson is worried. she hasn't heard from her father. >> we are anxious to get any word and see if he's okay.

nbc's miguel almaguer starts us off from there tonight. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. we have had pounding rain here all day long. that's not a river behind me. it is a road. the national guard has been called in after lives were lost. this entire region in a state of emergency. >> flash flooding is imminent. >> reporter: a day of chaos and confusion as torrential rain pounds boulder, washing away homes, cars and causing at least three deaths. >> they may not let you go up that far. >> reporter: with thousands forced to evacuate, many were trapped by washed-out roads. it started overnight with little warning. gary chambers and his wife were about to abandon their home when they heard a thunderous noise. >> loud crashing sound. boulders coming down the hill. the deck getting tore off the house. i don't know what all it was. it sounded very destructive. >> reporter: dive teams were called to perform rescues. >> do you need a hand? >> reporter: it was neighbors depending on neighbors to reach dry ground. >> something

we get more on this now from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: this video posted on youtube of the granite mountain hot shot team was taken shortly before the elite unit was killed. 19 men lost their lives. investigators now say during the raging yarnell hill fire radio communications were challenging. through updates, brief, informal and vague. there was a critical 33-minute communication blackout before flames swept over the team. >> there was a period that we don't know, we don't have all the information. >> reporter: the three-month investigation placed no blame. it says the hotshots were in a safety zone atop a ridge when, for unknown reasons, the team ascended into a valley when a thunderstorm changed the intensity and spread of a blaze, the men were trapped in a ball of fire, temperatures competed 2,000 degrees. >> no one directed to move from the location that they were in. obviously they made a decision based on the information that they had. >> there's of me constituent unsettled. >> reporter: julie ann ashcraft lost andrew. the report leaves many questions. >> nothing wo

nbc news's miguel almaguer reported it tonight from boulder. >> flash flooding is imminent. >> reporterday of chaos and confusion, as torrential rain pounds boulder, washing away homes, cars, and causing at least three deaths. >> they may not let you go back up that far. >> reporter: with thousands forced to evacuate, many were trapped by washed out roads. it started overnight with little warning. gary chambers and his wife were about to abandon their home when they heard a thunderous noise. >> a loud crashing sound. just the boulders coming down the hill. the deck getting tore off the house. i don't know what all it was, but it sounded very destructive. >> reporter: dive teams were called in to perform rescues. >> you need another hand? >> but it was neighboring depending on neighbors to reach dry ground. >> something we had never seen here before. >> reporter: this is what paul talbot saw outside his front door. >> we're from new england. we've been through some of the worst blizzards, rainstorms. >> reporter: he's ridden out hurricanes before, this was different. >> i've never seen r

miguel almaguer surveyed the destruction from the air. >> wow, wow. >> so many of these smaller communities completely surrounded by water, no way in or out by foot or by car. we've come along groups of people like this throughout our time up in the air. the national guard has made it very clear they want everyone out of this area but some just refuse to leave. the more we fly, the more land we cover, the more heartbreak we see. building animatronics is all about getting things to work together. the timing, the actions, the reactions. everything has to synch up. my expenses are no different. receiptmatch on the business gold rewards card synchronizes your business expenses. just shoot your business card receipts and they're automatically matched up with the charges on your online statement. i'm john kaplan, and i'm a member of a synchronized world. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. [ dog ] on a walk, walk, walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-

. >> and that was nbc's miguel almaguer reporting from colorado on 580 people still unaccounted for after' historic rainfall and flooding. improved conditions have allowed the focus to shift today to finding the victims. officials are tallying washed out roads, destroyed bridges and twisted rail lines that may take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to repair. now we go to georgia, where a press conference is being held right now by officials on that missing teenager who was kidnapped during a home invasion. >> you all should know our chief of police gregory porter, his deputy chiefs chris butler and gina hawkins, chairman of the board of commissioners jeff turner. we have robert andrews from homeland security investigations. we also have rick maxwell from the fbi. and we have a couple of special agents from the gbi, jesse wilson and debby loving. we have representatives from our dictatorsh district attorneys office. and now i will introduce chief gregory porter, clinton county police. >> good evening. this is a good day. this is a good day for the family, the perez family, but mor

. >> one of the hardest hit communities is jamestown, northwest of boulder and miguel almaguer returnedidents forced out. >> why do you think so many people stayed behind? >> mostly because they just didn't want to leave their houses, didn't want to leave -- leave and have their house gone. >> president obama has promised the full resources of the federal government to help the victims in their recovery. >> back to the other story that is dominating today. washington's attempt to return to normal following this horrific navy yard shooting. it's not business as usual at the capitol where police have beefed up presence and senate was put on lockdown for several hours at the height of the shooting investigation and less urgent in the house, they were not formally in session. we now have just four working days that includes today on the calendar before we get to, yes, a potential government shutdown. the debt ceiling follows just a couple of weeks after that. president obama, of course, has said he will negotiate over the budget but debating our credit limit is off the table. >> i'm happy t

miguel almaguer is in seattle where the stormy weather isn't over there yet. th a one-two punch. first, it was rain. but the last two hours or so, the story has been wind. wind gusts have reached up to 60 miles per hour, topping trees and power lines, cutting out power temporarily to thousands in this region. the last 48 hours, the story has really been the rain and localized flooding. record rain in september has turned some roads into rivers. this entire region is trying to clean up. we expect more rain and more wind in the forecast over the next several days. natalie, back to you. >> miguel almaguer, thank you so much. >>> the retrial of former american exchange student amanda knox got underway today in italy. knox spent four years behind bars for the 2007 murder of her roommate until they overturned the verdicts against her and her former boyfriend. italy's highest court has ordered a new trial. knox is not required to appear in court and she says she will not return to italy. >>> the vatican announced this morning that pope john paul ii will be declared a

miguel almaguer and his crew made the difficult trek in, the final stretch on foot to reach the people there. he's with us now from boulder. miguel, good morning. >> reporter: getting into jamestown is treacherous. the air national guard, when air lifting individuals out, said this was their best and last chance to get out. all public roads leading into the community are shut down which should be about a 20 minute drive, took us well over 3 hours. >> reporter: winding through colorado's front range, the journey to jamestown ends in a road to nowhere. to reach a community literally cut off from the world, the only way in it is on foot. and once you're here, it's clear why so many have left. returning home for the first time monday, chad was among those air lifted out by the national guard. >> you left. >> you got on one of those chinooks out. >> yes. >> why did you think so many people stayed behind? >> mostly because they didn't want to leave their houses. they didn't want to leave and have their house gone. >> reporter: the mayor is one of 40 who remained behind. for a week she lived

miguel almaguer is in seattle where the stormy weather isn't over yet.nch. first it was rain but more recently it's been wind. we have wind gusts that have topped some 60 miles per hour toppling trees and power lines temporarily cutting off power to thousands but it was rain over the weekend that lead to some severe localized flooding. roads became rivers. it was a mess out here for the commute but this region is beginning to dry out a little bit. we do expect rain over the next several days but much of the region is beginning to pick up and wash out. we do expect the heavy wind storms to continue for the next several days. >>> miguel, thank you so much. the retrial of former american exchange student amanda knox got underway today in italy. knox spent four years behind bars for the 2007 murder of her roommate until they overturned the verdicts against her and her former boyfriend. now they ordered a new trial. knox is not required to appear in court and she says she will not return to italy. >>> the vatican announced this morning that pope john paul ii

. >> miguel almaguer reporting for us.he historic phone call between president obama and president ru h rowhani of iran. more "morning joe" when we come back. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪ waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? that's just my speed. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. >>> welcome back to "morning joe." here with us now bbc north america bureau chief, paul, out with a new book "the new middle east, the world after the arab spring." good to have you wit

nbc's miguel almaguer joins me here in boulder. >> reporter: matt, good morning. the numbers are staggering. more than 100 miles of roadway washed away. the best perspective comes from the air. >> about 500 feet above the ground level, the view of the damage is extensive. wow! look at this. it is going to certainly take months to clean up this damage. the flood zone is actually about the size of the entire state of connecticut. we're over boulder here. the population used to be about 100,000, but some 15,000 people are in the evacuation zone. many of these folks simply can't go home. the damage is just too much. rock slides, mudslides, so many disasters. so much devastation. there are too many damaged homes to count. the focus remains on rescuing and evacuating thousands of people on the ground. one official said they haven't seen this many americans rescued by the air since katrina. at one point, some 400 children were rescued. the military convoys are going door-to-door now. they are telling folks who refuse to leave this may be their best and their last chance