the worst of the storm is right over us in pensacola beach right now. a dangerous combination of punishing rains and winds that at times have been tropical storm force. back to you. >> janet, thank you very much. >>> tonight in south asia, more than 260 people are dead and hundreds more injured after a massive 7.5 earthquake triggered rock slides and collapsed buildings. most of the dead were in pakistan but the quake was centered in remote northeast afghanistan. a country already torn by war. at least a dozen afghan school girls were killed in a stampede to get out of their building. >>> tonight 48 hours until a pivotal gop debate and a shake up with ben carson's surge in iowa, blowing past donald trump who is taking shots at carson. and jeb bush's campaign after cutting back on staff and salaries looking to rally supporters before they lose hope. nbc's katy tur is on the trail. >> reporter: donald trump feeling the squeeze. behind ben carson in three iowa polls but refusing to acknowledge it this morning with matt lauer. >> i don't believe i did fall

. >> reporter: high waves, heavy rain and tropical depression forced winds pounding pensacola beach. days after hurricane patricia made land fall in mexico, the punishing aftermath. all along the gulf coast, remnants of the storm. a tornado touched down south of new orleans. 20 children had to be rescued from a school bus on a flooded bridge. and a tropical swell packed wind gusts. and swallowing a white pick up. >> i grabbed a few things out of the back. >> reporter: there are flash flood watches and tornado warnings from louisiana to florida. >> a couple of our roads that run parallel to the beaches are underwater right now. >> reporter: in texas they're trying to dry out after three days of rain from two separate systems. and sent rescuers into high water where people were trapped in their cars. >>> this next story might have you rethinking what you have for breakfast. a world health organization group says processed meats cause cancer and red meat probably does to. eating 50 grams a day, about two slices of bacon increases the risk of colon cancer by 18%. and 100 grams a gree, a

heavy rain and tropical depression force winds pounding pensacola beach. days after hurricane patricia made land fall in mexico, the punishing aftermath. all along the gulf coast remnants of the storm. a tornado touched down south of new orleans. baton rouge battered by more than 10 inches where 20 children had to be rescued from a school bus stuck on the flooded bridge. in mobil 46 miles per hour wind gusts and this expanding sink hole swallowed a white pick up. there are flash flood watches and tornado warnings from louisiana to florida. >> a couple of our roads that run parallel to the beaches are under water right now. >> reporter: in texas they are try trog dry out after three days of rain from two separate systems. a fragrant train derailed south of dallas. >>> this next story may have you rethinking what you have for breakfast. a world health organization group says bacon, sausage ux hot dogs and other processed meats like baloney and ham cause cancer and red meat probably does too. 50 grams a day increases the risk of co-lo rectal cancer by 18%. 10

. >> reporter: high waves, heavy rain and tropical depression force winds pounding pensacola beach. days after hurricane patricia made landfall in mexico, the punishing aftermath. all along the gulf coast, remnants of the storm. a tornado touched down south of new orleans. baton rouge battered by more than ten inches, where 20 children had to be rescued from a school bus, stuck on a flooded bridge. in mobile, a tropical squall packed 46-mile-per-hour wind gusts. and this expanding sinkhole at the university of south alabama swallowed a white pickup. >> i grabbed a few things out of the back. then went out the passenger side window. >> reporter: there are flash flood watches and tornado warnings from louisiana to florida. >> a couple of our roads that run parallel to the beaches are under water right now. >> reporter: in texas they're trying to dry out after three days of rain from two separate systems. flash flooding caused a freight train to derail south of dallas and sent rescuers into high water where drivers became trapped in their cars. >> that was janet shamlian reporting. >>>

nbc news, pensacola beach, florida. >>> and storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein is looking at how those storms are going to impact us. tom? >> right now look at the radar, where janet was located, the florida panhandle, most of that rain has ended. a few showers coming in off the gulf. for us, leading edge of the rain getting closer to us. advancing up 95, getting a few sprinkles now in stafford county, these areas in green, stretching west into fauquier county and culpeper county. just a few sprinkles there. it will take a while before it gets into the metro area. we have several hours before it's moving through. likely the rain not arriving here until later this afternoon. heaviest downpours tomorrow morning into tomorrow afternoon. total amounts by the time it ends tomorrow evening, the area in lavender and red, one to two inches. the red, two inches or more, along the blue ridge, perhaps aloun along south mountain and braddock mountain. likely no flooding locally, but some creeks and streams could be out of their banks around the shenandoah valley and the blue ridge by tomorro

. >> janet shamlian has more from pensacola beach, florida. >> reporter: blue sky but this has been the storm that wouldn't quit. no letup to the heavy rain pounding wind and floods brutalizing the gulf coast from pascagoula to pensacola, wind and rain unrelenting. rain punishing, but more than that it's the wind. gusts exceeding 35 miles an hour, the type of wind you see in a tropical storm. >> reporter: across the south, dramatic scenes as the storm moved through. part of the causeway to dolphin island, alabama had to be shut down, water streaming over the seawall. >> looked out from the balcony, saw it here, i'm like, whoa, that's getting close for comfort. >> reporter: in baton rouge, rescuers pulled 20 children to safety when the bus stalled on a flooded road. the storm moved on from new orleans, but not the misery of flooded street, debris, damaged homes. >> real bad. bad. every time you get yourself situated, some other disaster comes through. >> reporter: but through it all, even humor. >> in you're coming into mobile you should be okay except gust of wind and blinding rain. oth

tropical storm is approaching, but actually the punishing wind and rain we're seeing here on pensacola beache remnants of hurricane patricia, a storm that hit mexico several days ago. the winds are taking a dramatic toll. we'll show you the damage and where all this rain is heading next coming up this morning on "today." >>> that rain will be affecting us in a big way tomorrow. wake-up weather this morning, cold, cloudy and dry. mid-30s to mid-40s now, in the 50s today. we'll talk about the impact of the wind and rain tomorrow coming right up. >>> 95 northbound at 123, brand-new crash in springfield, we'll talk about it in a moment. metro delay as well. details coming up. >>> 5:48 now. news 4 i-team learned what investigators are looking into nearly one year after a dead lay plane crash near the montgomery county airport. the ntsb says they remain in what is the longest part of the investigation of the crash, the fact finding phase. so far the national transportation safety board says it has no timetable for the release of its findings. that crash last autumn killed three people aboard the p

beach there. but here in the pensacola area and up to the north in alabama and mississippi, they have had a prolongedrought so this is welcome rain. the farmers and ranchers would really like to see this rain stick around for a little bit longer. this is part of the system that hit mexico late friday and saturday, some 1500 miles away. it's now making its way across the gulf and into the southeastern united states, still packing quite a punch. >> charles hadlock, thank you, sir. >>> want to turn to msnbc meteorologist rafael miranda. we were talking how this big system was really taking a big hit for houston all the way to louisiana, then the remnants of patricia was backing up into this. it's really two separate systems? >> this system infused with tropical moisture really pounding the gulf coast and here's a look at the radar picture. very heavy rain from the central to eastern gulf coast. not moving very fast but it is moving and gradually weakening. we are not talking about the same extreme rain totals, mainly three to six inches but the flood threat continues for the gulf coast states from place