Its really an exponential effect of damage between the amount of rain we are seeing, the amount of storm surge we are seeing and the duration of it that we are seeing. It is easy in the first few hours after they pass where you say we dont see that much destruction. But it will take days to survey what happened. And there are areas we cant get to. We drove around a little bit today and we saw marinas decimated. That means peoples livelihoods taken away in addition to the homes most likely taken away. The Boat Captains are out here and they wont be able to make a dive living for a long time. Tucker it takes a long time to know what happened. Leland vittert, thank you. Move now to Rick Leventhal who is live for us tonight in wilmington, North Carolina. Rick . Rick we moved from
wrightsville beach. Two of the four fatalities reported so far was a mother and her infant who were killed by a falling tree on their house. Well, there are trees all over this town. And this state that are coming
Also tonight, after President Trump told millions that the government is fully prepared for this hurricane, the president tweeting today, questioning how many really died in puerto rico, saying 3,000 people didnt die after hurricanes hit puerto rico, and the president now says that number was raised to make him look bad. We are also following several other breaking headlines tonight. More than a dozen explosions outside boston in several different communities. Authorities are urging some residents to get out. And paul manafort, tonight news of a key meeting. Is manafort about to plead guilty . Is he striking a deal with Robert Mueller . And good evening from wilmington tonight. And as we come on the air in the west, millions along the coast here and inland are bracing now for this monster hurricane. The Cape Fear River right behind me here. We witnessed some of the very outer bands of the hurricane. The winds, the rain of course
here already. And theres a good chance that the eye of th
400 miles offshore approaching North Carolina and South Carolina. Very dangerous hurricane, category 3 on the scale, winds of 120 miles per hour. Dont think there will be much change in terms of intensity over the next day or two. Likely to approach the coast late thursday into friday with winds near that strength. Because of those wins, we are expecting a very high storm surge. As the center of the storm approached the coast, strong winds, pushing water ashore and it will mean a storm surge as high as 9 to 13 feet. Along portions of the North Carolina coast and up some of the rivers as well with somewhat lower values but still very dangerous all the way down into South Carolina and up to the virginia border. There is a storm surge warning along the coast for lifethreatening storm surge. This will be one of the key hazards for this hurricane. We expect that everyone who needs to prepare is in the process of doing so or is completed doing so so and is following recommendations and evacu
Ground. Leland vittert, Rick Leventhal, and steve harrington. First, adam klotz with the latest on this massive storm. Hi, adam. Hey there, shannon. He continues to be a big one. 90mileperhour winds, category 1 storm. At this point, looks like it is sitting on the coast, not there yet but some of those real heavy bands of rain or moving in. There is your center of circulation, it still off the coast about 80 miles. Take a look at the very happy bands of rain. They are our strong winds within these. It is really pushing the water up along the coast. Flood concerns have been on the coast from Central North Carolina burning you all across the outer banks. Winds have been there also, looking at wind gusts up to 60 Miles Per Hour in some locations, the mid 50s, these are all right along the coast and Communities Just inland. Out a little farther, closer to the eye, which eventually will work its way closer to the coast, wind gusts up to 81 Miles Per Hour. Wind gusts of 112 miles an hour. Ou
And good evening, once again, from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 601 of the Trump Administration. As this white house is preparing for a storm that would test any administration while the ongoing political and legal anxiety continues to hang over this west wing, between the mueller effort, lets not forget the approaching midterms. First, to this approaching storm, it is poised to complete an intercontinental journey from the coast of west africa to the east coast of the United States. By this time tomorrow night we will be covering the hammering of the north and South Carolina coastlines that florence will deliver. The International Space station today used their widestangle lens to fit the entire storm in one frame from 200plus miles above the storm. It was hard to shoot that picture out the window. About preparedness, the president talked about that tonight while engaging in some selfcongratulation at the same time. We have some really big situation confronting us.