no matter where you are chances are you're dealing with heat, storms, wildfires, maybe all three. as we speak, new record temperatures are being set across the northeast. down south texas is taking the brunt of tropical depression alberto. we'll have the very latest coming up. plus, we've been talking about it for months, now it may be happening. a new poll showing a significant number of independents abandoning trump after his conviction, and now supporting president biden. and say good-bye to something we have all gotten used to deal with. those little plastic pillows that come in your amazon box. the company is ditching them as it tries to cut down on the roughly 200 million pounds of plastic it generated just a few years ago. right now, virtually the whole country is impacted by a triple threat of deadly extreme weather. the start of record-breaking summer heat, the beginning blazes of wildfire season, and 2024's first tropical storm. now the majority of the nation is sweltering. oppressive heat already prompting emergencies in at least three cities and shattering records in massachusetts, connecticut, and new york, with temps expected to grow more dangerous in the days ahead. the national weather service saying the weekend could be hazardous. this as wildfires rage in new mexico. two people have already lost their lives. residents saying they are scared to death, and 8,000 forced out of their homes. families now living in makeshift shelters lined with plastic cots. today in texas relentless rain and a statewide disaster declaration triggered by alberto, the tropical storm that caused three deaths in mexico before being downgraded to a tropical depression. pictures of people, furniture, golf carts stranded in knee-deep waters. we have more live from rockport, texas. guad, to make matters worse, some of texas was also under tornado warnings. what's the scene on the ground? >> reporter: that's correct. we had these warnings go out yesterday throughout the day. and we're still under a wind advisory here that should be ending this hour with wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. you can see some of the flooding in this neighborhood. and i'm standing near the driveway of one of these properties holding onto this marker. but it shows how deep it gets. i'm not going to go further than that, but it gets pretty deep. you see the mailboxes. this is one of the areas that flooded near the coast. we still have areas that are closer to the gulf. we have a barrier island between us and the gulf, and we still had this type of flooding. then of course there's been the wind damage. earlier we spoke it a couple who suffered damage in their home just down the road from us. a lot of individuals that live in properties like these are also now dealing with the flooding. let's hear from a couple that spoke to us about what it was like when the water came in. >> i opened the blinds, and i was like, huh, the ocean looks closer. so i woke him up, and he looked, he was like, yep, it's right there. >> the ocean moved on me. >> moved on us. >> couldn't say nothing but where -- where did the road go? you know? the road's gone. there's no moving my truck now. >> reporter: and it just happened so fast. you know, yesterday we were standing in corpus christi at the marina. we saw the water level coming up. we had a marker on the ground. we said, look, if it goes up more than an inch in five minutes, we got to go. it moved up two inches in five minutes. it just happened so fast when you've got that surge coming in, the heavy rain. so conditions can change really fast. that's why authorities were warning a lot of residents in the area with the flooding especially along the coast and in areas where they got a lot of that heavy rain. now fortunately most of that heavy rain, according to the forecast, already made its way through. but we still had flash flood warnings in effect this morning with more of that rain, and again, a lot of these neighborhoods are still under water as the weather makes its way through this area. >> so quite breezy, we see. guad venegas, thank you. let's hope the worst is behind everybody there. and joining us now is peter zanoni, city manager of corpus christi, texas, 60 miles south of rack -- of rockport. thank you for taking the time. what's the situation there in corpus christi right now? how is the city doing? >> good afternoon. thanks for the coverage today. we're doing pretty decent. we did have another band of rain this morning, and our coast -- coastline continues to rise with our high tide. so still dealing with the effects of alberto. we're not out of the clear yet. we're monitoring the situation pretty closely. and actually in some areas we're able to start the cleanup, especially along our coastal beaches and some of our bay areas here in the city. >> at this point, i'm wondering what is your biggest concern? and i know that you had a 24-hour emergency team already throughout the week. did you feel like you've been prepared for what has happened? >> yes. yes. so we're a coastal city, and the city over the decades has been impacted by tropical storms, hurricanes. so we're adept to being, one, prepared, and two, responding and cleaning up and moving forward. it's a big part of our culture here in corpus christi. so we spent a good part of last week preparing eauto -- especially monday and into tuesday -- wednesday, we do what we always do when a storm approaches. we kind of hunker down and see where emergency services are needed, and make sure we're providing a lot of information to our residents. and then the day after today is a little unusual because usually a storm comes and goes and we can start the cleanup immediately, but we're continuing to see with one more high tide impacts to our coastal areas including the marina that you were covering, as well as some of our bay areas, a section of our town called north beach which is very low lying. still is having water inundation today. that's stopping a little bit of the cleanup that we do quickly. but we're transitioning now to what we normally do is the cleanup, the recovery, and trying to move forward from an event like this. >> we know it's not over yet. good luck as you continue those efforts. and of course, it's just really the beginning of hurricane season. so we wish you the very best, hope everybody stays safe. thanks. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. now to the other deadly weather we're seeing. those raging wildfires out west. nbc's dana griffin is tracking the latest for us on this. dana, what can you tell us about the fire-fighting efforts, and who's still in harm's wait right now? >> reporter: when you have a fire that has been burning now since monday, some 23,000 acres burned and zero containment, that is a recipe for additional disaster. as you mentioned earlier, two people have been killed. new mexico state police saying one person was found outside near a hotel. his family confirmed to a local news station that he was waiting for a ride to be picked up. that second person was found in a burned out vehicle. so it shows how fast this fire was moving for people who were probably in the position to evacuate but still got caught up in all of this. you can see just the images of these burned out shells of homes and vehicles. some 1,400 structures have been burned. and the governor has made it clear that this is probably one of the most devastating wildfires that they have had in the state. listen to what she also said earlier today. >> we have two devastating, enormous fires. when i say enormous, it means that they're getting more and more complicated to address. every resource available while we combat these fires is available. more than 17 agencies are on the ground working together. >> reporter: and there are still hundreds of firefighters that may make their way to new mexico or at least to south new mexico to try to help aid in this fire. again, some 23,000 acres have burned. and as the governor mentioned, this is enormous. and it's unclear exactly how long it will take to get this fire under control. the governor declared a regional state emergency. that possibly will grow. now this fire is burning in between resort town and also a historic native american reservation. so it's obviously very complicated. you've got thousands of people that have been evacuated, many of them will have to be reunited as officials work to try to get people in touch with family members. this is really difficult, and recovery is likely going to take a long time. >> just incredible images, too, we're looking at now of just how powerful and devastating that fire is. dana griffin, up this for the update. let's go to george solis reporting from the ground here in new york where it is currently in the mid 90s. george, the city is one of many dealing with extreme heat. cooling centers have been added. governor hochul declared a state of emergency in new york. what else is the city doing for heat protection? >> reporter: yeah, and rightly so. cities basically all hands on deck during a heat emergency of this magnitude. it is a day before a light breeze and shade is your friend. even the central park pigeons which are resilient are finding shade at this point. behind me you might see a flurry of activity. we have seen folks adhering to warnings. we're seeing lots of water, people wearing the light clothing, shorts. and of course above all else, staying hydrated. that is so critical during a situation, a heat emergency of this magnitude. this is baking. the national weather service declaring today summer begins officially at 4:51. and what a welcome it is into the summer season. any indication of what's to come. look, june was fairly cool by some standards. so it's a problem that people haven't had a chance to acclimate to this heat that is just really oppressive and kind of landed here over the last several days. so it's going to take time for people to get acclimated to the heat, and that's what makes it so deadly. above all else, it really is taking those necessary precautions. it may sound redundant, but when it comes to safety -- especially for your children, any woman that's pregnant and the elderly -- to take the necessary precautions of shade, water, light clothing, and limiting your time outdoors. i know another concern for a lot of parents is when those pools in the city are going to open. just so people have a place to cool off. that is on the agenda. it is something that i know city officials are working toward. again, it is just an extremely hot day here in new york. and a lot of people wondering when that relief is in sight. >> that sun looks intense out there. george solis, thanks so much. please go get cooled off. now with us is nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, it is just the start of the season for just about every extreme weather threat out there. what should we be preparing for this summer? >> it's going to be a long, hot summer. we're going to get a bunch of tropical storms and hurricanes, we just don't know where they're going to head. stay tuned to see how the next three months play out. we're off to a fast start in our fire season. we'll have to see how that plays out as we head toward the peak of the fire season, by the way, the end of the summer into the fall. after all the vegetation dries out. this morning we saw our a naped storm, alberto, moving into mexico. this was more of an inconvenient. a wake-up call to say hurricane season is here. we had minor damage, vehicles caught in water. we didn't see wind damage. in mexico it's a different story. a lot of heavy rain and reports of fatalities. today everything's calming down. the water's heading back out to sea. behind it the hurricane center is watching two areas of interest. one is going to be moving almost identically to the southern gulf as we go throughout the next couple of days. that could follow alberto which could be a problem for the areas that get soaked. we also have this area just outside the bahamas. by tomorrow afternoon, this will be near jacksonville, florida, heading up between there and savannah. about 40% chance that becomes a tropical depression. expect rain and breezy conditions in the southeast coastal areas. as far as the temperatures go, it's been amazing to watch this heat wave. this has been different than normal. northern new england has been one of the hottest locations in the country. excessive heat warnings through boston and southern maine. the last couple of hours, the hottest location in the entire country has been in new hampshire. rochester, new hampshire, right now, southern new hampshire, it feels like 106 degrees in the shade. i don't know that has to be one of the first times that's ever happened. boston's logan airport over 100, 101. albany, new york, 97. it's 10 to 20 degrees cooler in philadelphia, washington, d.c., and richmond compared to northern maine. that will change in the days ahead. thunderstorms will cool off northern new england today, and then all that heat tomorrow begins to shift south. we're going to see areas starting to heat up like washington, d.c. we've got 95 in d.c. tomorrow, but over the weekend we should be near 100 on saturday and on sunday. richmond, 101 degrees. this isn't heat index, this is the actual temperature. we really bake in nashville and little rock. i know you're going to love this map -- the july temperature outlook just came out. this is kind of how the whole country is looking for july. and if we had any cooler than normal areas, it would be blue. there's none of that on the map. when you see the bright red in the northeast, all the way through the ohio valley and also through the -- colorado, it is going to be a baking, hot summer. we're probably going to talk more about drought, especially in the mid-atlantic, coming up in the next couple of weeks. of course if the hush hurricanes -- if the hushes come we'll see how that plays out. >> job security for you, bill. i was thinking about you and i being runners. listening for you to say when it was going to be cooling down. looks like we'll have to just pack more water for those runs. >> treadmills, indoors, air conditioning. >> that's the way to go. thank you so much. bill karins. in 90 seconds now, encouraging signs for president biden with just one week to go until the big presidential debate. what new poll numbers tell us about one important group that appears to be leaning more to the left. leaning more to the left (aaron) i own a lot of businesses... so i wear a lot of hats. my restaurants, my tattoo shop... and i also have a non-profit. but no matter what business i'm in... my network and my tech need to keep up. thank you verizon business. 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