scrambling to cover the cost. and the swimmer defying the odds and inspiring america. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, everyone when it rains it pours, but rarely like this tonight, an unraveling emergency continues to unfold across swaths of the southwest as severe flooding leaves several areas under water or caked in mud. in texas, arizona, and new mexico fast rising floodwaters triggered some harrowing rescues and shut down major thoroughfares. dallas coming off its second longest dry spell ever, 67 straight days without rain only to now be facing what weather experts say is a 1,000-year flood east of dallas, storm totals approaching 15 inches downtown dallas more than 12 1/2. at dfw airport 7.8 inches of rain falling in just 3 hours. now even as the weather system moves eastward, rain is still in the forecast for some hard-hit areas. miguel almaguer has a look at what they re facing reporter: the record rainfall in cities like
harry smith on the end of an internet era announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening today some tough medicine for an american economy racked by high inflation. the federal reserve raising a key interest rate 0.75% it s the biggest bump-up since 1994 a hike sure to be felt in the wallets of american borrowers. think higher mortgages rates and bigger credit card payments which we ll get into in a moment. what s it all about? the fed hopes the increase will start putting the brakes on inflation which is running at 40-year highs. gas, food, prices, you name it. it s all soaring investors liked the news today the markets rallying on the fed announcement policymakers weighing future increases while trying to steer around the risk of a recession. let s tell you what you need to know about all this starting with tom costello reporter: for days, the fed has telegraphed that it would go big today after acknowledging it should have acted sooner to rein in
in their schools ability to help students catch up with learning loss due to covid. even fewer say they feel very confident about schools having enough teachers and staff available to meet the needs of students and just 30% say they are pretty confident in active shooter preparations for the first time in two years breakfast and lunch won t be covered for everyone now that a federal pandemic-era program has ended, leaving schools and families scrambling to cover the costs. emilie ikeda explains. reporter: single mom jamie bunges has relied on free or reduced price lunches for her fourth grade son since he was in kindergarten what does that extra money mean for you? savings i can put it toward groceries or my gas tank reporter: she said paying for his lunch would cost her more than $1,000 a year i added it up and it was $118 a month and you do that times nine so it was over $1,000 a year so to me it was, oh, my gosh,
the fed has telegraphed that it would go big today after acknowledging it should have acted sooner to rein in inflation. today s rate hike is on top of tw smaller hikes earlier this year. we at the fed understand the hardship that high inflation is causing we re strongly committed to bringing inflation back down. reporter: by raising rates and the cost of borrowing for mortgages and car loans to big business loans, the fed hopes to cool the economy without pushing it into recession inflation now running at 8.6%, the highest since 1981, and americans are getting squeezed to make ends meet, louisiana special ed teacher and single mom christina seal is now selling her plasma to earn an extra $600 a month. it s something that i have to do in order to keep my family afloat, in order to make sure that there is enough food to go around and the lights are on and i ve got gas in my gas tank reporter: christina says her monthly bills have nearly doubled.