An abc news exclusive. Apples ceo tim cook oneonone promising to invest billions in the u. S. And create 20,000 new jobs. How president trumps tax plan influenced his decision and what hes saying about that battery slowdown. And a first of its kind rescue. Two teens stuck in a strong rip current. Wait till you see how they were saved from the sky. And good morning, america. Winter is hitting so hard right now. Recordbreaking cold and snow across the south. You dont usually see scenes like that in North Carolina. No, you dont. In january. Its pretty, but it can be dangerous out there. Take a look at this from Dale Earnhardt jr. Helping people who drove off the road in North Carolina then says minutes later he actually crashed into a tree. Ooh, but thankfully hes okay. If somebody like that can control a car the way he can, it can happen to anybody. Theres what the roads look like in North Carolina. What he was dealing with. The snow, the ice, cold temperatures could lead to yet more trouble. Ginger, its getting dangerous out there. Is it ever. Just uncomfortable. Baton rouge, louisiana, dropped to 14. That is the coldest in 29 years. Youre looking at a frozen fountain in new orleans and check this out, guys. Destin, florida, the gulf of mexico with sea smoke coming off. Thats how cold it was. The gulf of mexico was steaming. Now, this morning, tampa has dropped subfreezing for the first time in seven years. So it does not happen every single winter. Certainly doesnt always feel like zero in atlanta or greensboro, North Carolina, at 1. The windchill is 1 where you are, marcus moore. And we are so grateful you are out there for us this morning. Reporter ginger, good morning. Its good to be with you. This winter storm the effects are expected to impact travel again today and here in this part of the country, and look at this. This storm dumped several inches of snow here in greensboro, North Carolina. You can see it covering the ground here as far as the eye can see. Its piled high on the bushes and that same snow also packing the roadways here. North carolina says they responded to nearly 1,600 crashes on wednesday. But this winter storm caused chaos across several states. This morning, heavy snow and thick ice to blame for hundreds of accidents across the midwest to the southeast. In ohio, a truck flipping and plunging into an icy pond. Firefighters rushing to pull the driver from the water. They had to actually slide down the bank into the edge of the water and force open the door. Reporter and in georgia, watch closely as this car slides across the highway during a live report from our atlanta affiliate. Police say treacherous conditions are responsible for at least ten deaths, including a louisiana fire chief and an infant who was riding in a car when it slid off a bridge. If we can use this as a lesson, a reminder to stay out of the weather. Reporter from louisiana to tennessee, to texas, homes in the dark and in the cold. Officials saying excess draw from heaters proving too much for power grids. The temperatures plunging so low, fountains turned to Ice Sculptures and streets were completely frozen over. Texas Police Officer losing his footing not once but twice during a traffic stop. And these four pickup trucks had to tow a semi up a hill. And even retired nascar driver Dale Earnhardt jr. Couldnt escape these winter woes tweeting that he crashed after helping others who were stranded. Officials expect there to be some melting today as temperatures will rise above freezing. Only for a short time. Temperatures will deep below freezing tonight. The threat of this snow melting and turning back into ice is a real concern today. Robin. Okay, marcus, thanks so much. Its not just on the ground but its also in the air. This arctic blast is creating a real nightmare for travelers affecting hundreds of flights across the country this morning and Steve Osunsami is at atlantas Hartsfieldjackson International Airport and, steve, youre feeling the cold. Reporter good morning to you, michael. Its bonechilling cold with low temperatures in the teens and here at the worlds Busiest Airport directly behind me, today is the big catchup. All passengers who were on delayed or canceled flights will be coming to the airport today trying to get out and the weather is still impacting flights across the country. More than 400 Flights Canceled and more than 240 flights delayed and, of course, the big challenge is deicing the planes. Here in atlanta, Delta Airlines had to bring in their special deicing teams from the tundras of minnesota to help out with the effort here. The great news for passenger, though, is that this is the last day of the big cold and we all are hoping that ginger is going to be telling us well be in the 60s in the next couple of days but theyre still warning passengers flying out today to make sure to call ahead and make sure their flights are leaving on time. Michael. All right, thank you, steve. We hope ginger tells you and everyone else the same thing. We would take it here in new york. Everywhere, george. The latest from washington where the clock is ticking toward a Government Shutdown. Federal funding runs out tomorrow at midnight. Capitol hill and the white house scrambling to come up with a deal to keep the government running, so lets bring in jon karl, our senior Congressional Correspondent mary bruce. Mary, let me begin with you. House Speaker Paul Ryan hoping to pass his version of the government funding bill, but right now, he doesnt have the votes. Reporter yeah, george, this is coming down to the wire here hoping to keep the lights on, republicans are now pushing for a shortterm funding fix that would fund the government for just one more month. But right now, its not clear if they even have enough republican votes in the house to get this done. Even if it does, well, its going to need support from democrats to get through the senate and democrats are Still Holding out, demanding that any spending deal includes protections for d. R. E. A. M. Ers. George, we are now 40 hours out and right now congress is playing this dangerous game of political chicken that could very well end in a Government Shutdown. Yeah, usually it gets worked out. No guarantees this time and, jon, the president himself a bit removed from this process. Reporter well, the white house has come out in favor of this shortterm spending to prevent the Government Shutdown but the president is m. I. A. On this, george. As far as i can discern no calls to key conservatives that are opposing this temporary spending bill and one senior white house official told me, quote, this is not the president s fight. So we are a day away from a Government Shutdown and the president is not engaged in the battle to keep the lights on. Not m. I. A. From the broader debate over immigration. Negotiations over daca, border wall, whether mexico will pay for it and the white house chief of staff john kelly made some headlines yesterday, when he said that the president s views on this during the campaign were uninformed and evolving and he was asked about that last night on fox news. Campaign and governing are two Different Things and this president is very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible. And mexico is not going to pay. One way or another its possible that we could get the revenue from mexico but not directly from their government. And, jon, it appears the president did not like those headlines at all from his chief of staff up and tweeting this morning. Reporter absolutely, george. Tweeting an extraordinary circumstance where the president of the United States is basically correcting his chief of staff saying, the wall is the wall. It has never changed or evolved from the first day i conceived of it. But, george, i went to those rallies and i covered the campaign and he repeated so often that he was going to build this wall across the border and that mexico was going to pay for it, that the crowds would actually finish his sentence and he would say who is going to pay for it . Mexico. He didnt say its possible that we could get revenue from mexico but not directly from their government. Mary, in that meeting yesterday, democrats clear that theyre not going to give the president anything like what he wants on the wall. They might do some small down payment for fencing but not the big border wall. Reporter yeah, lots of talk here of boosted Border Security but not a lot of talk from anyone up here on either side of giving the president funding for this big, beautiful wall that hes been promising and, look, this just goes to underscore the frustration that so many lawmakers have up here. The mixed messages coming from the white house and they all say they still need to know where the president stands on these broader immigration questions. No question about that. Thank you both very much and no question, mexico has been very, very clear, theyre not paying for it. What mary said, the frustration on all sides but mexico has been extremely clear about that, george. But now to our abc news exclusive with apple ceo tim cook. He sat down with our chief Business CorrespondentRebecca Jarvis to talk about apples new plan to bring home billions to the u. S. , create 20,000 jobs and, rebecca, the new tax law played a part in this . Good morning, rebecca. Reporter yeah, good morning to you, robin. Thats right. Were here inside of one of apples Massive Data Centers where expansion is under way, 400 jobs on this site alone. Your iphone virtually every service on it runs through a center like this and here this team is working on the future home of the icloud. This morning, apples 350 billion investment in the u. S. , the company pledging to create 20,000 jobs over the next 5 years and increase spending on American Manufacturing and education. This is where your imessages come. This is the facetime video calls. This is your photos. This is icloud. Its here. Reporter ceo tim cook exclusively taking us inside apples Massive Data Center in reno, nevada. Were walking on the cloud right now. Reporter running entirely on renewable energy. Our clue is apple can only have been started in america and we have always felt a deep responsibility to give back. Reporter the new tax plan meaning they can bring back 250 billion in overseas profits at a significantly reduced rate and will write a check for 38 billion to the u. S. Government. Without these policy changes, would you be able to announce today the creation of 20,000 new jobs . No, theyre clearly let me be clear, there are large parts of this that are a result of the tax reform and there are large parts that we would have done in any sitututuation. You have been vocal in the past where you dont see eyetoeye with the president. I wonder with the new tax policy, tim, is it fair in your mind, do American Companies get more than the american middle class out of this tax plan . We are not taking a position on the individual side. I think thats for others look at but on the corporate side i believe that it will create jobs that will help middle class. Reporter the white house applauding apples move. President trump tweeting, huge win for American Workers and the usa. I also asked about those recent battery issues and whether apple was clear enough with its customers that it was needing to slow down some of those phones. Tim cook, the ceo, told me that he deeply apologizes for the issues. He said maybe the company could have been clearer and, robin, he says that apple puts every user at the heart of everything it does. Robin. Always good to hear from tim cook. Safe travels home, rebecca. Michael. Now to the flu epidemic straining Health Care Systems coast to coast. Fears are growing over how quickly its spreading and turning deadly and abcs Adrienne Bankert is here with the very latest. Boy, this is getting bad, adrienne. Its especially deadly among children, michael. According to the cdc at least 20 kids have died of the flu this season and this morning, millions of families are on edge watching for symptoms. Michael messengers mom noticed her 12yearold son suffering flulike symptoms during dinner so she took him to the hospital. Where they gave him fluids and told him to rest. The next morning she found him frustrating to breathe. The only way i can describe the way he looked is he looked like a fish out of water trying to breathe. Reporter he later died from what his family believes is the flu. The guilt because im a mom, im supposed to protect my kids, and i couldnt. I couldnt protect him. Reporter michael had received a flu vaccine, and even though there is no official ruling yet on his cause of death, the medical community is bracing itself for how to deal with this epidemic that often has little warning. 40yearold katie thomas was sent home with a flu diagnosis and 48 hours later she was admitted to this hospital where she died within 18 hours. Her families says that days earlier the mother of three and fitness enthusiast was ice skating with her kids. It just happened so quickly. We were just in shock. Its been devastating. Reporter her family tells abc news they believe oxley thomas had received the flu vaccine. Weve seen record volumes pretty much daily and its been all hands on deck. Reporter hospitals overwhelmed and waiting rooms overflowing. This is what we work hard and train and what were here for. Reporter the cdc doesnt keep track of all flu deaths. Just pediatric cases and each state reports differently so the number of patients and sadly deaths will likely go up again. Californias been hit particularly hard. San diego county had 51 new flurelated deaths just last week. Lets bring in dr. Allen hansen, hes the emergency room medical director of palomar, outside of san diego. Thank you for joining us. You say that this years flu is absolutely different than years before. Why is that . Well, what were seeing is that the number of cases really has spiked much earlier in the flu season than we normally see, in fact, it really spiked just after the Christmas Holiday and we saw record volumes just right after that. And there are so many cases coming in that youve actually had to bring in traveling staff to help you guys out. Well, what we do every year we prepare for these high volumes and expect that. This year we plan to have 17 additional travel nurses that have come to help from all over the country and something we prepare for every year and its been particularly necessary this year with the high volumes that were seeing. And weve been hearing about seemingly Healthy People all of a sudden get sick and even dying from the flu and happening so quickly, so fast, why is that happening so fast . Well, you know, its not clear at this time why it seems to be more virulent and more infectious. What we are seeing is just higher volumes of cases and that may be part of it. Really the predominant people that are affected are the young and the elderly with more medical conditions. And what about the hospital workers . Theyre around the flu all day. Every day. What are you doing to keep them safe . What kind of extra precautions are you taking with the hospital workers . So, the biggest thing is everyone is required to be vaccinated. And that is the biggest protection you can have but all the standard precautions with handwashing and Wearing Masks are the best thing we can do to help keep our workers healthy when theyre working long hours taking care of these larger number of patients. Dr. Hansen, thank you and thank you for the work youre doing out there in california to try to keep everybody as healthy as possible. Thank you very much. And, boy, this epidemic is taking over. So serious. Take precautions. Thank you, michael. Were going to go to that sea rescue. We showed you at the top of the program. The first of its kind and see these two teenagers caught in a rip current in australia this morning when emergency crews sent out a drone to save them. They flew over the teenagers, dropped a life raft and the kids were able to grab on it and swim to safety. Great use of a drone. Drones used for good. Yes. Love seeing that. Well, we know that its summer in australia. We just saw that, but thats about not so much. Not here. No, tampa, florida, this morning, there are accidents because of black ice. Theyve dropped to 29 degrees. First time since 1981 and seeing up to a foot of snow in parts of North Carolina. This is from durham from a snowball fight at North Carolina central university, so thats great news but 54 . More than 54 of the nation is covered in snow and a lot comes from the south. Look at that mississippi, check out all of tennessee covered in at least a dusting of snow. Kentucky for sure and as you go north obviously a little bit more but thats a lot of snow and we dont always see that. That cold, though, i have some good news if you dont like it its going away. So is the snow. Look at this, by saturday afternoon, were talking 50s all the way up the east coast. Good morning im meteorologist mike nicco from abc 7 mornings. A foggy kind of drizly morning commute with rain on the way. Cold showers snow level down to 35 money feet and our next story weaker. Mid to upper 50s with the rain coming in. Tonight turning over to shower. The rest of us in the low to upper 40s theres one way to make the snow and cold look interesting and that would be in austria with a huge snownado. Thats beautiful. Sounds like sharknado. Snownado, sharknado. Okay. I didnt know it was real. Who knew . Thank you, ginger. Coming up, was it a hate crime . W