in 1999, topping the hurricane. many lost their lives by driving through water during that storm. so this time around authorities are warning the folks, don't even think about it. from the southeast to new england it is bad and getting worse, and we are working and watching it all. janice dean our meteorologist on over time today already in the fox weather center. >> reporter: thank goodness for our hair and make up team. megyn: god bless those geniuses. >> reporter: tropical storm nicole was only a tropical storm for six hours, megyn. we are getting a tremendous amount of moisture from the tropics. jamaica over 8 inches of rain, several people are dead, many are missing right now, and millions of dollars worth of damage because of this tropical storm. we are still getting that feed of moisture all up and down the east coast. there is the radar right now you can see the heaviest of rain moving towards the ou outer bans and the interior sections of the northeast. what you can't see on the radar, the winds. winds in excess of 30 even close to 50 miles per hour. all of that saturated ground and all of those trees we could easily see those branches ripped apart and we could also see the power outages up and down the east coast. there is wilmington as megyn mentioned, incredible, historic rain for them over a four to five day period. still getting the stream of moisture. and the cold front that is also moving across the northeast, megyn is going to push all of this moisture along the coast. even though parts of new york and philly, you're getting a drying out period right now, more rain on the way, and then we're dealing with winds. let's take a look at the wind gusts right now. we are talking about wind gusts in excess of 20 even 30 miles per hour along the coast, taking a look at 6:00 p-rpbgs m -- pm today, 30 to 50-mile per hour winds and that will stay with us through the overnight hours, all along the east coast. look at long island over 50-mile per hour winds. that's the other part of the storm that we're not talking about, the incredible rainfall and the winds that will stay with us throughout the evening, overnight tonight and into tomorrow. a quick look at the future radar, more of that rain streaming in overnight into tomorrow. we are not done yet. we'll be reporting on this throughout the afternoon, the overnight and unfortunately into friday. megyn: what a situation the even spire east coast there. thank you so much. folks, this is making for a nightmare travel situation in large twaths of the country. a live look at the new york metropolitan area. airports experiencing delays. when that happens there is typically a ripple effect all across the country. peter is live outside our headquarters with a firsthand look at the messy conditions. this weather was bad this morning and it's getting worse this morning. how is it faring for travelers. >> reporter: people traveling by planes, trains or automobiles are all being affected by wet weather, particularly people who are flying at airports ufp and down the east coast. those airports have been particularly messy all this morning. the delays at those airports are chaining by the minute with the weather. i can tell you down in wilmington north carolina a lot of flights heading north to new york or philadelphia have been delayed or canceled. here in new york flights into jfk are backed up 2 1/2 hours already. and flights in laguardia are delayed an hour and a half. amtrak passengers in the northeast are having scattered delays because of tree branches on the tracks and high water but no cancellations there yet. down in north carolina officials said this morning there were too many flooded roads to count and many are impassible. some cars got stuck. to avoid further problems dozens of school district down in the tar heel state are closed today and dozens more had delayed option. further north some schools in maryland and fairfield, connecticut are going to send the kids home early from school and power is out for thousands along the east coast. megyn: you have to watch out for hydroplaning on the highways. it may not be flooded but you can hydroplane. peter thank you so much. fox news alert. new reporting this hour on the international manhunt underway for terror suspects. these are the guys linked to an al-qaida plot targeting american tourists in hotels in paris, london and other hot spots. trace gallagher has more info. >> reporter: we have covered a number of terror threats over the years but with so little information to go on i can't remember authorities scrambling to stop what they believe is the real deal. intelligence experts say they believe this is a hit group of about ten people. they believe they are trying to go after unprotected areas in the united kingdom, as well as france and germany. now pakistani intelligence believes this group is headed by two british brothers along with eight germans. they think one of the british brothers might have been killed in a drone strike earlier this month. remember the united states has upped the number of drone strikes in pakistan so they could disrupt these terror cells. authorities do believe this hit group, so to speak, is hiding out in the tribal areas monitoring chatter and phone calls coming out of there about logistics and facilitators. they are afraid of the real possibility, the very real possibility that some cells are apparently already in place, because they have left the tribal areas, they have snuck through turkey and iran and are now in europe. they believe they are planning a mumbai-style attack to use arms. we are talking guns over bombs because they can maximize the damage, the death they can do in-crowded places. remember the eiffel tower has been evacuated twice. megyn: i'm sorry trace, breaking news out of the white house where we expect rahm emanuel's departure is being announced. let's take a listen to robert gibbs. >> we will save the specifics for then and we'll be happy to get into a long conversation on that. i don't have any news on that. i read your paper, i've read a number of papers. i'm here to tell you the president will have a personal announcement tomorrow. at that point he will deliver that news. >> reports are correct? >> unintelligible. >> i'm not going to get into that. >> sometimes you make personal announcements, why is this not rising to the level of a personal announcement by the president? >> i -- without getting into what the announcement will be -- >> people listen to this, it sounds like a game, we are talking about rahm emanuel to run for the mayor of chicago. >> lynn, come up here, you should brief and -- look guys. >> i'm trying to move the ball along here. >> we all have deadlines, i understand that. i'm happy to talk about a whole host of subjects today. i am not going to move a whole lot on what i've already said. >> the news report is accurate that he is leaving to run for mayor. >> i'm not running for mayor. >> i'm talking about rahm emanuel. >> will he also possibly have two announcement, somebody coming, somebody going? >> i would bet on having two announcements, yes. >> will we here from the personnel? >> some of them, question. >> if he were to leave what effect would that have? >> a lot of people are leaving. there are reports about general jones, secretary gates, it's a good time for him to leave. key members of the national security team and the economic team, could you just comment on that? >> yeah, i've said this a number of times, look, i think two years in -- if you look back historically, is a time in which people have come into government service at the beginning of an administration and leave to go back to academia or business, or to retire and go into other pursuits. i think it is in many ways the normal rhythm of an administration to do. we have -- i think i've said this to a number of you all, folks that have worked in here for the last two years have managed to pack four or six or eight or ten years worth of work into those two. the economic team has dealt with the type of series of crisis from housing to financial facility, to the recovery act, to unemployment. i would point out, done so in a way if you look at the news today on aig, we are -- megyn: there you see robert gibbs refusing actually to confirm or comment on reports, including in the "wall street journal," that rahm emanuel will be announcing his retirement or his leaving his position as chief of staff tomorrow, and that he will be meeting with con state units and potential important political groups over the weekend in chicago before he begins to run in earnest for the position of chicago mayor on monday. those are the reports. robert gibbs refusing to directly confirm or deny. you heard one of the reporters say, why are you elevating this to such a big deal where you won't even confirm what has been suspected and reported by a number of outlets. it's not a shock that rahm emanuel might want to leave the white house and run for chicago mayor. now it's a question of the timing and who would be his replacement. robert gibbs loathe to get into the specifics there, not sure why. talking about two years that's sort of the normal departure park, it's a hard job. mike emanuel is with us to put sper tebgt tiff into this. am i wrong the questions are when he's leaving and who his replacement is going to be. >> reporter: i've been told by sources outside this building that it is going to be rahm emanuel's departure announced tomorrow at 11:05 in the east room. gibbs hinted there would be two announcements made. my understand thap pete rorouse will be chief of staff. he was once chief to senator barack obama. clear hraoet president is comfortable with him. he has been an insider with this president for quite a longtime. winds he will be named as the interim chief of staff tomorrow. clearly they did not want to role it out at the briefing with robert gibbs today. people i've talked to outside the building say the field is getting crowded for mayor of chicago. he's not going to be rubber stamped the next mayor of chicago, he needs to get there, get on the ground and start working con sit unit -- con state unit sees. he is feeling pressure to leave they wants to be mayor of chicago, not because the president wants him to leave but because of the next job he wants to have. megyn: perhaps the real headline here is what happens at this white house when rahm emanuel is no longer a part of it. i mean the political reports, those in the know say that the president doesn't make a decision without robert gibbs, valerie jarrett and rahm emanuel in the room. you can add david axelrod to that too. one of his core team is leaving the white house. he's known for his fiery temper but also for getting things down. some on the left really hate rahm emanuel because he's advocated for some positions in the middle. he's wanted president obama to strike more of a moderate tone on issues like healthcare, much to the dismay of the left. nonetheless he is leaving now. what does that mean for this president and his decision-making process. david axelrod is the president's senior adviser and he said he's likely to leave to go work on barack obama's re-election campaign some time soon. >> reporter: that's right he is expected to leave to work on the re-election bid. this is a period of great transition at this white house. some would suggest it's an opportunity for fresh blood to come in. obviously the president does not like to have complete strangers in these key roles. that's why it seems to make sense that a guy like pete rouse who has been with him since he was a united states senator might be a shoo-in to stay a while longer, perhaps for the rest of this term to be the chief of staff. we'll make the president to make the announcement how he qualifies and how long he will stay in the role. since he was chief of staff when he was ez senator, this is someone president obama trusts greatly. megyn: he'll have a lot of responsibility when and if he takes over. you can see that tomorrow on fox news. mike, thanks. also from washington and speaking of the white house and healthcare, the white house is getting involved in reports that the fast food giant and huge american employer mcdonald's, threatening to drop the health insurance plans of nearly 30,000 employees, all because of a new regulation courtesy of the president's healthcare overhaul. here is how the thing got started. around 8:20 p.m. yesterday the "wall street journal" reports that mcdonald's may drop healthcare for those tens of thousands of workers. less than two hours later mcdonald's responds saying that news is false, not specifically denying the allegation but saying, the reports were false and full of, quote, speculation. and then this morning a spokeswoman for health and human services says that the paper and mcdonald's are both wrong. mcdonald's is wrong about its own plan. brian sullivan is with the fox news network and he's my guest now if mcdonald is dropping 30,000 people from the healthcare rolls that's huge. tell us why. >> reporter: it directly strikes at the healthcare plan. this is almost exactly what it was designed to prevent. and if this happens, listen the "wall street journal" got a hold of a memo. unless the memo from mcdonald's on their stationary was forged to hhs the "wall street journal" is standing behind its story. megyn: because once this report hit mcdonald says oh, my goodness, the white house says oh, my goodness. i've read that mcdonald's statement as a lawyer and said where is the explicit denial it's not in here. they say the report is false, that could mean any part of the report, and they said it's full of speculation, well that doesn't mean we are not going to do it. then the "wall street journal" to back up its own reporting comes out and says we are basing this on mcdonald's own memos to the white house. >> reporter: to hhs, health and human services. it's a big deal, because listen, mcdonald's in this memo that reportedly does not exist at the "wall street journal," obtained megyn basically says look under this new plan we can't spend more than 80, 85% on sort of marketing. we've got to 0 spend it on the premiums for the 30,000 workers. they said we can't do it because you know fast-food restaurants have a lot of turn over it's man power intensive. we're just not going to meet it so we'll have to drop this so so-called mini med coverage for our workers. they are small plans but it strikes right at the heart of obamacare and what was exactly not supposed to happen. megyn: if mcdonald's has to drop the healthcare workers who picks up that tab. >> reporter: here is the rub. maybe this is good for mcdonald's. think about it, if they drop these workers, okay, theoretically they could then get picked up not by the government but they would get government subjec subsidies. according to the kaiser foundation a well respected institute. a family of four making 150 p-% of the poverty level if they don't get healthcare paid for by their employer would get a tax credit. if the employer does pay for plans they'd get zero. megyn: they get a tax credit from the feds, from uncle sam. >> reporter: from you and me. tax credits come from somewhere. megyn: the people out there watching have a stake in this because it's not just mow and brian, trust me, you too will have to a pay for the subsidy that the workers are going to get. which is why they are saying its not true, it's speculation, it may or may not happen. what is health and human services saying. they are saying both mctkopld mc mcdonald's and the "wall street journal" shall wrong, why? give me the bottom line, we are not business people, we are news channel people. >> reporter: the bottom line is this, they have to come to some agreement on this 80% spending on premiums. mcdonald says no according to the memo that doesn't exist -- megyn: there is an argument whether they have to pay that or not basically. >> reporter: they have labor turn over. people have to fill out forms all the time. megyn: they are haggling, negotiating we'll see if suddenly there is an exception given to mcdonald's given the publicity given to the "wall street journal." >> reporter: to the phantom memo that doesn't exist. megyn: i never saw the memo in my life. i don't know how that memo got to the "wall street journal." thank you. new developments today into an investigation of the department of justice -- into the department of justice t- on accusations that race and politics are playing a critical role in deciding voter intimidation cases. you know this case now. frank wolf of virginia is warning the attorney general ever the united states eric holder to come clean about the decisions driving the case in question. there are whistle blowers from the department of justice saying that the department of justice is basically flat out racist and unwilling to protect white voters, period. that they don't believe the voting rights laws apply to white victims, and they don't plan on enforcing voting rights violations if the victims are white. that's what the two whistle blowers have said. there is hostility within the doj. mr. wolf is saying he may want a congressional investigation into this. shannon bream is live in washington. shannon you spoke with congressman wolfment he told you there is much more to this case. what more could there be? >> reporter: well, this is interesting, megyn. in addition to the two whistle blowers that you talked about he told me that there are a number of other people who still work at the department of justice, they are worried for their jobs, want to remain anonymous. they have told him stories of being harassed and intimidated by higher ups when they raise concerns about race-based enforcement decisions. here is what he told me. >> i think there is a political agenda to not being race newt tral at the justice department. if there is any department, any department that that ought not take place, and it should take place in no department, but particularly the justice department whose job it is to enforce the law. >> reporter: and he told me he said i never thought i'd see the day that the department of justice wasn't complying with legitimate subpoenas. he says he's worried the attorney general eric holder isn't coming clean. he says he has a moral and legal obligation to the american people to come forward and clear up this situation to make sure that laws are being enforced and that nobody is being harassed in the department if they are speaking up about this. wolf says that he and other members have repeatedly gone to the house jew dish recommittee, congressman john conyers asking him to launch an investigation. that has not happened. i asked if they win in number is that going to happen. he says i don't care what happens in november, i'm going to keep pushing. i spoke with an officer there. he tpaoupbdz it interesting that the names have not been refield by the doj. that speaks volume. here is a letter that he sent to the commission in a general response to the allegation. he says since pw-blging theassistant attorney jenna cornerstone of my message to the entire division is that we must recommit the division to enforcing all the laws on the books that we are empowered to enforce and we must not pick and choose among them. there is no policy of celebrity tiff enforcement and our actions bear this out. now we wait to see if that congressional investigation is launched at some point in the future. megyn: the inspector general of the doj, glen fine is investigating some of these allegations which is a major about face. we'll see how his investigation turns out as well. shannon thanks so much. >> reporter: good to see you. megyn: likewise. breaking news from the fox news polling team. see what happens when we asked america are you better off now than you 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