anything but a holiday for americans reeling from extreme weather. lee is weakening to a tropical depression, but still a massive rain maker that could make travel across much of the country a nightmare. storms winds have helped fuel wildfires in central texas. at this hour, a thousand homes are in danger near austin. and later today, hurricane katia will unleash its first impact on the east coast. we re tracking this storm and tell you where that s headed in a moment. first, we want to begin with the flooding rains pounding the gulf coast since lee made la landfall in louisiana over the weekend. ed lavandera is in the city of lafitte this morning. what s it looking like where you are? reporter: they have shut it down because it is just after high tide here in southern louisiana. and that means that these floodwaters are going back up. many of the roadways in this area simply look like this. this isn t actually that deep but definitely treacherous enough for not allo
here s what s happening. gadhafi s son speaks out from his hiding place, revealing new information about cease-fire talks. could his father be ready to surrender? that exclusive report is just seconds away. tropical storm lee is picking up speed and putting parts of the gulf coast under water. cnn reporters are positioned in towns right in the storm s path. we ll take you there live. then we ll head to an area still reeling from hurricane irene. president obama pays a visit to new jersey, a live report is just ahead. but first, to libya, exclusive developments right here on cnn. moammar gadhafi and his influential sons appear to be running out of options, that s according to cnn s senior international correspondent nic robertson. that s nic with moammar gadhafi s son earlier this year in tripoli. that was before the capital city fell to rebel forces. nic has spoke within the younger gadhafi in the past few hours, mostly about the dwindling chances for a cease-fire. and
today, who or what will move the u.s. economy out of its stall. we begin with tea party patron, jim demint, and then mr. hoffa. and we have homeland security chairman, joe lieberman. and all things political with peter baker of the new york times and mike duffy with time magazine. i am candy crowley, and this is state of the union. the nation s capital and campaign trail will be a wash in jobs plans and presidential politics this year. the president s big unveil is on thursday, and republicans that want his job have ample opportunity to vie for it. dau mint holds twa in the tea party, and the tea party may hold considerable sway in the republican party. senator, thank you so much for taking time. i wanted to start off talking about jobs. what you think has to be in a presidential jobs plan that you will hear about on thursday night and what cannot be in it. well, candy, i have spent the month of august visiting a lot of businesses, and manufacturing plants. i have b
plaquemine s parish south of new orleans. it s not what you want to see. water over top the levee could cause it to fail. issued a voluntary evacuation order as they rushed to get it fixed. in new orleans itself, more than a foot of rain dumped there. all four of the city s storm pumps are operational but he says the city cannot breathe easy just yet. i want to reiterate and put an exclamation point on this, we are not out of the woods yet. this is a very stubborn, persistent slow-moving, unpredictable and vent with wevl continue to be so until tomorrow. cnn s reynolds wolf is out in gulf shores, alabama. reynolds, can you hear me? do you got me? he s talking up a storm. i can tell you that much. hey, reynolds, you got me? it s susan. i don t know if he can hear me. braving the elements out there. you see the red flag warning behind him. he said when there s two flags up, it s the law, you can t go swimming. not in the water. we ll check back with reynolds in a few. meanw
this poor kid is adopted from russia. it makes us look real bad over here. her lawyers did a great job for her. really. you can catch our legal guys every saturday at noon eastern right here in the cnn newsroom. i had, everybody, top of the hour, 5:00 p.m. on the east coast, i m alina cho. thanks for joining us. three developing stories we re watching this hour, the ongoing onslaught from tropical storm lee. parts of the gulf coast waist high in water. we ll take you there live. and gadhafi s son speaks out from his hiding place revealing new information about cease-fire talks. it s an exclusive. we ll have to report, just secs away. nearly ten years after 9/11, new compelling video from that tragic day comes to light. that is straight ahead. this labor day weekend is a washout for millions of americans along the gulf coast. tropical storm lee is still drenching parts of the louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida coast this hour. but it s starting to make a move