the threat is not over. msnbc s mariana atencio is live in the town of nichols which sits between two flooded rivers in south carolina. it is apparently only accessible by boat. is that right, mariana? that s right, only by boat or high water vehicles. i want you to look at the state of the city. it is essentially a city under water, craig. it is all hands on deck situation. because as you mentioned this is a city that sits in a sort of bowl and it s getting water from the lumber river in north carolina all the of florence floodwater we ve been covering making its way down slowly but also from the river in south carolina. and these images you re seeing, this is going to get worse. because rivers like the little river in south carolina they are not expected to crest until later in the week and possibly early next week.
as the u.s. navy successfully conducts a missile intercept test off hawaii. and cancer breakthrough. the first of its kind treatment approved in the u.s. and good evening. thanks for joining us on this wednesday night. i m tom llamas in for david, and tonight, tropical storm harvey delivering a second punch along the gulf. millions along the texas/louisiana border now feeling its wrath. port arthur, texas, a city under water. residents at this nursing home rescued from their flooded out building, and look at this. other victims lifted to safety in a blackhawk helicopter. we were there with customs and border protection, and now flood waters threatening to ignite an explosion at a chemical plant, forcing evacuations. tonight from houston to beaumont to new orleans. they are all reeling from this storm. so let s get right to abc s gio benitez outside beaumont tonight.
united states has coming due, it s really november 1st when they have $67 billion of payments that have to go out the door all on the same day. stop saying that. thursday. the question is whether or not markets will start to freak out on thursday or tomorrow when we get closer to it and looks like, hey, wait a second, looks like this thing isn t going to happen. unpredictable. if there isn t pain come thursday, a lot of members don t believe the debt ceiling is a real thing at all. they are going to dig in further and say why should we do anything. if it s not hurting my people back home, why should i care. this is like katrina coverage. i remember in the early evening katrina barreling towards new orleans, not so bad. a couple of hours it went dark and then we woke up to half a city under water. part of it we re much like hurricane katrina in uncharted testimony, we don t really actually know what happens when
out. family friend michael kobel described the process and what they found. we received the results of the autopsy, which stated he died of a heart attack of natural causes. the autopsy further states that nothing else was found in his system. reporter: we ve also had it confirmed it was james gandolfini s son, michael, just 13 years old, who alerted the authorities when he found his father slumped in a hotel room. they actually had to bash the door down. they administered cpr all the way to hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. now they are making arrangements for a funeral in new york thursday, friday, perhaps at the latest saturday. meanwhile, the film festival that he was due to attend in sicily is going ahead as a tribute to the 51-year-old actor. jake? thanks, dan. up next, a major north american city under water. holy [ muted ].
northeast are desperate to escape the flooding and the damage unleashed by hurricane irene. we re tracking the rescues and the danger right now. and we ll put the arrest of the uncle in a dui charge. this hour, and whether they matter to most american. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. up first this hour, a very tough political debate over national security that will unfold between president obama and his republican challenger, whoever that might be. the commander in chief dep and it s no coincidence that war and foreign policy are getting more attention on the campaign trail with the ten-year milestone of the 9/11 attacks only a few days away. let s bring in cnn s jim acosta. he s watching all of this unfold. we know the economy will be issue number one. but national security will be a key debating point for the democratic and republican candidates. that s right. it s flareed up recently with libya and with the killing of osama bin laden. it s still import