i actually think it was one of the best jobs that s ever been done with respect to what this is all about. it s an unsung success. texas we have been given a-pluses for. florida we have been given a-pluses for. i think in a certain way the best job we did was puerto rico but nobody would understand that. just a reminder of what maria cost. almost 3,000 people died as a result of that storm. that s according to the latest study. $90 billion in damage. also, half the area without power for three months. ashley parker is a white house reporter for the washington post. she is also a msnbc political analyst. ash, i want to show everyone your article today. here s the headline. tremendously big: trump reaches for superlatives in face of
you know, within the next 72 hours we are providing a safe haven and meals for these residents and we just really want people to really listen to the local news and, you know, bring their emergency kits, bring, you know, all the necessity that is they need, whether it s medication, you know, food and water for three days and, you know, come here and seek shelter from the storm. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. craig, over the few hours, later on tonight, when we expect shelters to fill up. throughout south carolina and north carolina, more than million and a half people under mandatory evacuation orders right now. craig? all right. gabe guite reds for us there in conway. nbc s tammy litener not far from gabe. at a costco there. a lot of folks determined the try to ride it out apparently. what are they telling you there at the costco which as i understand it shutt down a short time ago, as well. reporter: that s right,
servicing more than 4,000 evacuees so far. some 3,000 national guardsmen to be called by this time tomorrow morning. i want do get to al roker with the latest on the track of the storm. al, where is this thing headed? has it shifted at all? here s the deal, craig. i don t know that i can say that there will be landfall friday at 8:00 a.m. but let s get started. category 4 storm. 485 miles southeast of wilmington with 130-mile-per-hour winds and moving northwest at 15. at the current path it would come very close to wilmington where you are. landfall. but does it make landfall? 8:00 a.m. 120-mile-per-hour winds as a category 3 storm and may make landfall saturday night into south carolina. north of charleston. and if that happens it would
continue on to the east, to the west i should say, bringing rain even as far west as atlanta. the rainfall from this as you have mentioned, the rainfall upwards of 40 inches in some spots but if you remember last time yesterday, craig, when we were talking, we were okay looinging at the heaviest rain of virginia and west virginia and now moving inland into north carolina and south carolina. that s but we have the european model and this is where they diverge. look what happens. skirts the coast to charleston. if that s the case as you know the northeast quadrant is the strongest part of the storm and so then you get the strongest quadrant along wilmington, myrtle beach and maybe down into charleston and that s the big problem and then you see the rainfall now. the heaviest rainfall, ten to
a system. fema warning it will be the strongest storm to car get the carolinas in decades and that s saying a lot. where it is headed. when it should arrive and what to expect to see on the ground if you live in its path. also, tremendously big. that s president trump s characterization of the storm. he insists that the feds are totally prepared. so, are we ready? america s storm and rescue infrastructure will most certainly be tested with lives potentially on the line. fema s director just minutes ago telling my colleague andrea mitchell that people are running out of time. we ll get to that part of the story in just a moment. but we start, we start with the storm of a lifetime. that s what the national weather service continues to characterize it as. a dangerous cat 4 storm right now about 485 miles southeast of where i am standing right now. the storm massivement bigger than the entire state of