hurricane-stricken puerto rico and are set to visit florida later this week. in cuba, another wave of protests sweeping the island following a nationwide blackout. cuba is once again demanding freedom. meanwhile in washington, the new supreme court term begins today as the court prepares to take up a number of consequential cases. also this morning, opening arguments are happening right now in the conspiracy trial for five members of the oathkeepers militia group in connection to january 6th. and with 36 days to the midterm elections, the power of latino voters and how they could shape key races. and we begin this very busy hour with our top story. the daunting search and rescue missions happening right now after hurricane ian hit florida. over 1,200 fema personnel are trying to reach survivors and recover remains five days after this storm pummeled the gulf coast in florida. this as the death toll continues to climb. at least 87 people have now lost their lives in
power. water as well. we re going to get a live update on what he ll hear and see as well. also this morning, court is in session. it s the first day of the supreme court s nine-month term with justice ketanji brown jackson making history as its newest member. the history-making docket, the justices have teed up, after their last blockbuster term. opening statements are under way in a trial involving the oath keepers. their founder and other members are the first capitol attack defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy charges. coming up, what it could mean for future cases against january 6th rioters. we want to start though with the aftermath of hurricane ian and our reporters on the ground in hard-hit lee county where serge and rescue operations are under way. we are now into day five of the search-and-rescue mission which is currently ongoing. you ve been on the ground for the last couple of days. speaking a lot over the weekend as well. still the devastation unfat
remain flooded five days after the storm hit. the death toll now at 87. relief efforts also under way. but they re just barely making a dent for the thousands of people who have seen their homes damaged or destroyed and their lives changed forever. i ve lost everything. everything. my life savings. my tools, everything. you hope for the best. yeah. but it s the worst. all the way to the ceilings. ceiling fans are down, walls gone. a half foot of mud everywhere. . nobody could get a hold of us. we couldn t get a hold of anyone else. it was just you felt like you were in, you know, you were the only person in the world. heartbreaking. plus, we re watching president biden, who is headed to puerto rico later this hour, to survey damage from hurricane fiona, which hit two weeks ago. he will travel to florida on wednesday. opening statements in a trial that could end up as a blueprint for prosecutions stemming from january 6th. stewart rhodes, the head of the far righ
go before the midterm, republicans are regaining ground on inflation, crime, and immigration. ron johnson s opponent on one of key races. and we ll show you part of katie couric s interview on the today show and share our own kristen dahlgren s difficult journey with the disease. good day, everyone. i m andrea mitchell in washington. has rescue workers in florida continue going door to door searching for survivors who could still be trapped. state officials reporting 600,000 florida customers are still without power and more than 160,000 are applying for fema assistance. president biden will tour the damage on wednesday. right now, he and the first lady are on their way to puerto rico showing how they are dealing with the devastation from hurricane fiona two weeks ago. darsha, you spent part of the weekend with fema task force. it was terrifying as they were going door to door. reporter: yeah, to be on the ground with these teams as they re conducting this dangerous a
there, i asked him what it s like for his team to encounter those situations over and over again. take a listen. it s a sad experience. you know, there s there s mixed emotions in that we run a dog and that dog alerts and we know we potentially have somebody that survived. we run a human remains dog and that dog alerts and we have more confirmation that that person is deceased. so although we re pleased that we were able to locate someone, we re sad that they are deceased. reporter: so as you hear those tragic numbers, the death toll going up, that is the process. that s what it looks like and i ll tell you one of the more chilling moments of our day yesterday was during that time, as the dog barked, indicated that there might be someone deceased there and the team