Hurricane taking direct aim at the florida coast. Hurricane helene is expected to be a category 4 storm. Deadly storm surge. Mexico getting a glimpse of the storm's wrath. When helene will make u. S. Landfall plus we will speak with the mayor of tallahassee. The biggest city in direct line of the storm. Also tonight, courthouse explosion. An explosive device set outside a santa barbara courthouse leaving multiple people injured. Police detaining one person shortly after the blast. The investigation under way into why the bomb was intentionally detonated. Deadly bus hijacking. These horrific moments as a driver is held at gunpoint. The suspect leading police on a chase through downtown l. A. The terrifying take over leaving one passenger fatally shot. The driver being praised for his quick thinking and what we're learning tonight about the suspect in custody. Looming ground invasion, israel preparing its troops for its potential invasion. Hezbollah firing a missile at telaviv for the first time. The breaking news, the u. S. Trying to come up with a deal to bring both sides back from the brink of all out war. One on one with harris. Vice president kamala harris sitting down with msnbcs stephanie ruhl for her first solo network interview. What she's revealing less than six weeks away from the presidential election. Bomb shell mcmahon, former wweceo vince mcmahon defending his title after assault allegations. We speak with the lawyer of the former employee accusing mcmahon of abuse, assault and sex trafficking. The new claims that she says are coming to light in the wake of her client's lawsuit. Scary moments caught on camera. A coyote snatching rock star tommy lee's dog. How his wife got the pup back. With hurricane helene set to make land fall overnight. Top story starts right now. Good evening. Tonight hurricane helene expected to reach category 4 status. Spelling out an alarming scenario for parts of the south. Taking a live look right now at the florida keys. As helene's outer band begins to lash the region. Right now the monster storm is putting more than 40 million at risk. Tropical alerts stretching thousands of miles going well beyond florida. Take a look at the radar. This is where helene is right now. But the hurricane is expected to rapidly intensify fueled by the gulf's extremely warm waters. The sprawling system could unleash dangerous storm surge reaching a staggering 20 feet in some spots as you can see here, that is well above a typical one story home. The storm also putting millions at risk for tornadoes. Power outages that could last days if not weeks. Destructive winds, flash floods, and as we mentioned life threatening storm surge. Helene already making a powerful mark on mexico. Violent winds and torrential rains toppling trees and power lines there. Downpours inundating popular beach declarations giving us a glimpse on to what's heading this way. Officials are warning residents to get out now. Reporter: mandatory evacuation has been ordered. Please leave this area. Reporter: highways jammed with people packing up and getting out. Florida governor ron de santis putting the entire state on alert. This is a really big storm. You're going see impacts up to 250 miles outside the center of the storm. Now for those deciding to hunker down there now really is the time to stock up and gear up for the powerful system. Roughly 24 hours away now from making landfall. We have a lot to get to this evening. We have full team coverage. The mayor offal tallahassee is going to join us as his city is set to join its strongest hurricane in history. What's the latest on the timing and where it's expected to make landfall. Tomorrow night at this time. We'll be watching that northern eye approaching the coast of florida with that landfall expected tomorrow evening. This storm has about 24 hours to see how powerful it can get. The hurricane center has it going up and increasing at 45 miles per hour from what it is right now up to 130milesper hour winds. That's a category four. The lower end of a category 4. It's still possible it could be stronger than this. We hope it's going to be weaker. What we do know for sure is where it's heading. There's been excellent agreement on that. Then the storm is going to race friday early morning through georgia. Even atlanta could have power outages down. All of our computer model, excellent agreement up to apalacha. Tallahassee is only 30 miles inland liz and that's probably the city that we're most concerned with for extreme wind damage. Yeah, bill. This is a massive storm. It's a fastmoving storm. What is most concerning to you right now about where it's heading and the damage it could do. Yeah, so i put three headlines together. These are the things when the storm is over with we're going to be looking at the most. These are the people that are going to need the most help. Tallahassee they're expecting the worse hurricane in their city's history. For the most part. Tallahassee has been on the edge of a couple, missed a couple. This one looks to be the worse strongest winds possibly ever recorded in the city tomorrow night. Storm surge up to 20 feet. Mostly unpopulated area but not completely. There are some small little towns along that big bend area. Also down toward cedar keys. We're going to have to watch that. Historic rain far inland. It started pouring today in areas of northern georgia, south carolina. That's going to continue. We have 36 million people under either a tropical storm warning or hurricane warnings. That storm surge, the worse of it that's that big bend area. Even in tampa it could be four to 8 feet of storm surge which would be historic. We're not going to have horrible wind or rain in tampa. But the storm surge could be higher than any storm that people have ever seen. That could be tomorrow afternoon into early evening. The flood watch covers 36 million. I mentioned the rain, this storm is already drawing moisture up. It's pouring from atlanta to south carolina. And that's before the storm has even gotten there. By the thyme time the storm gets there, the ground is saturated. We're going to have flooding in the appalachians. We could have historical rainfall problems and flooding. That area right near tallahassee. That's where obviously the storm makes landfall liz and we'll have a lot of rain with that too. Reporter: on top of all of that. There's a storm. Tropical cyclones they make landfall. Some produce a lot of tornadoes. Some produce hardly any. We're thinking this is a one that will likely bring us possible tornadoes up toward savannah toward hilton head. That's the area of greatest concern. Has a chance for isolated tornadoes. That's always a wild card liz. We won't really figure that one out when that threat materializes. All right, bill. We know you'll be tracking this. Thanks so much. As bill mentioned this storm is expected to hit very close to the capital city of tallahassee. It could be one of the largest storms to hit that city ever. Kathy, what are you seeing. What are folks doing. What's the latest? liz, good evening. Right now folks are literally bracing for impact. You heard bill mention just a few moments ago. That tallahassee looks like we're in the bulls eye. The mayor we heard from him not too long ago either. This will be the largest storm that the city has seen. If it's a category four which is also a possibility. Something he mentioned. It could be extensive damage. Here in tallahassee there's tall trees. Because those wind gusts could be sustained for an extended period of time. We could be looking at wider power outages in this area. In advance of this storm, they are mobilizing quickly. Relying on mutual aid. We're told that nine different states are pitching in. They have crews coming in. They'll be in later on this evening. They plan on actually tripling the work force by tonight. The mayor also saying this will likely be a marathon not a sprint when it comes to recovery efforts when it comes to friday, liz. Kathy parks, stay safe there. Joining us now is the mayor of tallahassee. John daly, mayor thank you for joining us. We know it's a busy night for you. Your community not a stranger to hurricanes but helen has been nothing like the area has experienced before. What are you bracing for? what are your big conference as you're expecting for it to make landfall. Good evening, liz. That's correct. It'll be the most intense hurricane if we're hit by a category three or category four storm. We're bracing for impact. We're bracing for the worse. We know there's going to be a lot of damage. We know there's going to be a lot of destruction. The residents have done a tremendous job getting ready as well and i want to keep stressing to please take care of yourself, your family, your neighbors and your neighborhood. But this is going to be a catastrophic storm for us. If it does hit us as a category three or a category four. Yeah, do you think the infrastructure is prepared in the city for something like this? we've been working for the past week to make sure we're strengthening all aspects of our infrastructure whether it's direct water system, natural gas system. But look when you have a category four that hits you head on you're going to have significant damage. So we are preparing for restoration after the storm. We have called in our mutual aid agreements and we have crews driving through the night as far as oklahoma to come help out the city of that will city of tallahassee. It was mentioned and it is true. We'll be tripling our work force and once the storm passes we will have mutual aid that will be able to come help us as well. Our hope is to triple the work force to help us with power. But we're bracing and it's going to be devastating. I cannot stress enough for the residents that we need to shelter in place. If you want to leave, you must leave now. Find a safe place to be. Go to one of our shelters and let's be safe and let's be smart. I was going to ask you that mayor. What's the mood on the ground there. What are you seeing as you drive around. Do you feel that people there are truly taking these warnings seriously? absolutely. Liz, we're also a college town. We have florida state university. Florida agriculture and mechanical university. Tallahassee state college. We have a student population of about 70,000. Working with the presidents of those institutions yesterday they shut down the college campuses. We have encouraged the students to go home, to be safe. Those students that have been remaining we have great shelters in place for them to also go be safe. For residents here. We have a saying here we're tallahassee strong. Unfortunately we're familiar with hurricanes although we've never been hit by a storm of this magnitude. But we know how to prepare and we've taken the time to prepare. We will be ready. We have planned. It's just a matter of what is mother nature going to bring us. We'll do the assessment. We'll roll up our sleeves and do as much as we can once it's safe. Have you talked to the governor. Is there something you're asking or resources you're getting from the state ahead of the storm? i'm very pleased that we had a conversation with the governor's office and he has declared a state of emergency. I have had an opportunity to talk to the white house, and president biden has declared a state of emergency for our area. But those actions along with the state of emergency cuts a lot of red tape. Gives us tremendous flexibility to be able to respond. And so, we are in the proper position. We're properly prepared. We have the assets either coming into our community or already staged. We have the personnel coming into our community to compliment our work force as well. We will be prepared. The question is, how bad will the damage be? and if i can liz, i just want to thank all the american men and women that work for the city of tallahassee, the utilities, our first responders, state level, federal, all of the mutual aids that are coming in. All the personnel and the surrounding counties. They're doing an incredible job to try to keep us safe. All right, mayor daly. Thank you so much. Hoping you stay safe. Florida's big bend region is bracing for up to 20 feet of life threatening storm surge. The area now preparing for its third hurricane in just over a year. Including hurricane adelia in august of last year which caused millions of dollars in damages and left several people dead. Our jesse kersh is in that area right now. I know he's joining us from a car because conditions there are taking a turn for the worse. Jesse, where are you right now. What's the latest from where you are. Reporter: hey liz we're just making our way into perry florida. You were talking about adalia and debby. I was here for debby, i was not here for adalia. It's starting to calm downright now and this is that literal, textbook calm before the storm as you talked about. You can see it on screen there. We're bracing for quite a bit of storm surge. Really powerful winds in this area. We came from cedar key earlier and people were boarding up buildings there. But frankly it's unclear how much of a difference that will make because we're looking at storm surge that could be well over my head when was standing out of earlier. People were filling sandbags to the protect their homes and then get out. We spoke to a man who decided to stay home during debby and was spooked by the winds that came from debby. And that was cat one: we're talking about something that will be dramatically more. You do not want to be in the path of these storms when they're coming through. And it's not áepb so much about the wind damage. You can hide from the wind but you run from the water. And that is the biggest concern for people who are living very close to the coastline. They will be potentially in the face of that storm surge. And you do not want to be in that position, liz. Absolutely. Jesse. Was thank you for joining us with that report. We know the communication signal was going in and out because of the storm there. But thank you and stay safe. Tampa is also bracing for hurricane helene. The city expecting up to 8 feet of storm surge there as visitors close down and residents prepare for the for the impact. Melissa is joining us. Are you starting to feel the winds shifting? we are feeling the are feeli facing an old rival, let's go! the gmen you're not getting this anywhere else. Stream thursday night football. Only on prime. (♪♪) (♪♪) bounce back fast from heartburn with tums gummy bites, and love food back. (♪♪) pete g. Writes, my tween wants a new phone. How do i not break the bank? we gotcha, pete. Xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. So you get high speeds for low prices. Better than getting low speeds for high prices. Right, bruce? jealous? yeah, look at that. Honestly. Someone get a helmet on this guy. Xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g phone and a second unlimited line free for a year. Switch today! that was the overwhelming response i got from young male union voters in michigan when i asked them what they were going to. More than other voters they tend to be young or black and hispanic. They get more news, these are the undecided. The unhappily committed who can make the difference in this tight presidential election. And the undecideds are challenging old perceptions of how identity influences voting. Joining me now is peters the lead byline in that rivetting story that fits directly with my reporting. Thank you for being here. When biden was still in the race there was a lot of talk about the double haters. Talk about the double haters. To call its information implies there's a sort of like an engine of interest in current events. I think they are just, the world is much more insular. It makes for when i came out of that meeting with these union workers, it is going to be really hard for the harris campaign in particular to a disabuse these young men of the notion. These were people randomly selected in a poll. And i called a lot of them back. So what they say in addition to lesser of two evils they felt better. When he was president they felt they had money more in their pocket. Inflation was a lot lower back then in the prepandemic days. They don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about the controversies he creates. Like look at what happened after the debate and the ridiculous lie about eating cats and dogs. It's something they tune out as nice. Yes i found the same thing thinking of the folks i spoke with. And you make the larger point, not only are they not sort of swayed by trump's inflammatory rhetoric. A lot of them recognize that kamala harris has a better temperament. Has a better disposition to be president. But even that understanding and belief isn't necessarily moving them decidedly into harris' corner. Right, they're human beings full of contradictions we all are. We contain multitudes, jeremy. I think kamala harris acting more presidential and at the same time say, i think that donald trump needs to shut his mouth and doesn't respect in what i want to see in a president. They do think that he would be more respected by world leaders. I think a lot of that also has to do with the fact that she's a woman. Some of the voters i spoke with were skeptical that the country would receive having a female president in a positive way. I don't know the vestude. There are plenty of female presidents in the rest of the world. The rest of the world got there first. There's a lot of questions about what she stands for still. She's only be a candidate for two months. Usually by this point we know these people for two years. They've been running for president for two years. She hasn't had that luxury of time. I just feel there are deeper sort of breaks that i'm not sure for time would heal. The traditional definitions of masculinity. Setting that, i mean it's very hard for a woman to argue that she's you know proman, given the fact that she's trying to be the first woman president in american history. I wonder if that on its own is enough to make it a very steep climb for undecides who in large part as you said are mostly men. Young men. That is a demonstration of how unhappily persuaded or unimpressed voters. Because that's really what we're talking about here. Voters who are unimpressed with each candidate. This is often for them not a moral decision. This is a practical decision. Who is going to improve my life. Am i going to by electing this person feel better about myself, feel like my family is more security. They cast aside you know all of the things that we know very well and you and i have both reported on about trump's serious character of flaws. His abuse of power. So on. It just doesn't have the same kind of moral weight. And they're going back and forth a little bit too right. Just because they're saying harris today doesn't mean they'll saying harris tomorrow. Anyone who is looking at the polls and seeing the dial shifting, could be part of it. Thank you for your time, my friend. Thank you. We have some breaking news this evening to bring you tonight involving the mayor of america's largest city. This one. The new york times is reporting tonight that new york city mayor eric adams has been indicted on federal chargeless. Charges. The times reports those charges remain sealed as of this evening. So we do not know what those charges are. And what they include or do not include. Joining me now is msnbc legal correspondent lisa ruben. Lisa if you could for people outside of new york city and even in new york city. Can you put into perspective the wide circling of indictment that surround the indictment of the mayor of our fair city. Right now we only know of one indictment. And the new york times is only reporting that he is the only one indicte