about debt in europe and here you go with the markets down 2 percent. nicole pedelides is going to give us a report about what's happening down there and we'll be following the markets all day today on fox news. jon: and this fox news alert, a massive wildfire across drought-stricken texas and today crews are battling the flames hoping they can catch some kind of a break. good morning i'm jon scott. >> welcome back, jon scott, from your world travel, maybe you'll share photos with us this week. we'll see. we're here in the fox news room and "happening now", that's the big story of the day, the fires raging over the lone star state, but the far worst is burning east of austin, where the fast moving flames have destroyed nearly 600 homes and forced the evacuation of almost the entire city, jon. jon: the wildfire outbreak there, causing governor rick perry to take a break from his presidential campaign and return to texas. perry says he is putting politics aside because peoples' lives are at stake in his home state, evacuees saying they are very thankful they made it out alive. >> we got our kids and our pets out. so we just want to know if it's still there or not. >> i got the things that are near and dear, the valuables, legal papers, weapons, pictures, bank records. everything else can be replaced. jenna: texas is experiencing the worst wildfire season on record, with flames scorching 3 1/2 million acres since december, and just to give you some perspective, that's an area larger than the entire state of connecticut. the fires destroying nearly 2500 structures, including more than 1000 homes across that state. kris gutierrez is live from dallas watching this big story for us. >> >> reporter: jenna, more perspective, six of the worst wildfires in texas history began this year. since december firefighters at the state and local level have responded to nearly 21,000 different fires. it is bad down here. take a look at this video here, you mentioned the worst one is in bastrop, south of the capitol city of austin, so far it has burned more than 30,000 acres, up to 600 homes, in 20 sub -- and 20 subdivisions have been consumed by the flames. thousands of people had to evacuate and more are expected to do so today. an estimated 250 firefighters are working around the clock to put this out, but right now, it's still zero percent contained. no word on how this fire started but it was fueled by strong winds from tropical storm lee over the holiday weekend. now, in case you haven't heard, texas is bone dry right now. take a look at this graphic here. the dark red highlights portions of texas that are experiencing what's called an exceptional drought, that's the worst rating given by the u.s. drought monitor, and right now, 81 percent of the lone star state is in that category. 81 percent. and tragically, jenna, two people were killed over the holiday weekend at a fire in gladewater, texas, a 20-year-old woman and her 18 month old child were trapped inside their mobile home by those fast moving flames. tragic, tragic story. jenna: terrible story. kris, thank you very much. we're going to talk about weather mod fission, by the way, coming up, because of the exceptional extreme drought areas in texas. our viewers do an amazing job of repping -- helping us report the news. check out this photo, it shows the enormous fire behind the austin skyline. you can see how enormous this fire is. if you have videos you want to share, click on the you report -- you report link on foxnews.com. jon: there is some good news to report in that wildfire fight in southwest oklahoma. crews there, just got control of a huge grass fire in the wichita mountains wild like refuge, that began burning on thursday, it destroyed 11 homes. initially it was contained on sunday but shifting winds rekindled the fire and it kicked up again, flames affecting 30,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of more than a dozen homes there. >> jen but as you mentioned, progress, and we'll take it where we can with these fires. jon: it's hard in that part of the country with the weather conditions. jenna: also in southern california, there's also a fire there, crews on high alert after a wildfire sparked by, get that, small plane crash, it just doubled in size to 8600-acres, flames from the so-called canyon fire, destroying a dozen homes south of bakersfield, with 650 more homes in the line of fire, hundreds of firefighters backed by some of the big jumbo jet tankers are working hard to bring the flames under control but they certainly have a big job ahead of them with only about 10 percent of that fire contained. jon: from raging fires to violent winds, a close encounter for one georgia couple after driving into the path of a tornado spun out by the remnants of tropical storm lee. their car, completely crushed by a falling tree. the driver says they are lucky to be alive. in atlanta, where forecasters say as many as five tornadoes may have touched down, leaving widespread damage, forcing folks to spend much of their holiday cleaning up, that city, now under a flash flood watch, with a whole lot more rain expected tonight. >> over to louisiana now, where entire communities are surrounded by water, flooding is a major problem in livingston parish. tropical depression lee, leaving behind a real mess there, and even though that storm has been downgraded, forecasters say it continues to be a big problem. look at all that water. and we have a new tornado warning for some folks as well. our meteoromostna in the fox nes extreme weather center with more on that. >> reporter: jon, that's right. we have a brand new tornado warning for north kaeurbgsz knot of raleigh, including the county of warren. that's in effect until 30 past the hour. so you know the drill, guys. north carolina, a state that's unfortunately way too familiar with tornadoes, if you live in warren county, seek shelter immediately. there could potentially be a tornado on the ground now or very short hrefplt there's a risk for severe weather. you mentioned lee did touch down as a tropical storm across southern parts of louisiana and now that storm system is headed towards the northeast, for more heavy rain in this region, expect to see flooding, we also mentioned flooding across parts of northern georgia, although out there right now it's currently qui e as far as the severe weather risk, there are three tornado watch necessary effect for north carolina, south carolina, and also, parts of virginia, and here are your respective expiration times, 2:00 p.m. across most of north carolina. there's a look at that tornado warning. otherwise, flash flood watches and flood watches in effect for basically parts of tennessee, also flood warnings still in effect from mississippi andba, from the ongoing flooding of lee. as far as additional rain, from texas up into portions of upstate new york, we're talking about 6-10 inches of rain and guys, we just have to deal with irene a little more than a week ago, across the northeast. there are areas that are still recovering, and now we're expecting more rain, jon. jon: maria molina in the fox weather center, more rain they don't need. let's ship it to texas and oklahoma. jenna: exactly. jon: maria, thank you. unbelievable. well, president obama's job approval rating, plunge to go a new low in some polls. just ahead of his big jobs speech to congress coming this thursday. according to a brand new nbc-"wall street journal" poll, 44 percent of adults approve of the job the president is doing, 51 percent disapprove, and take a look at this, just 37 percent approve of the president's handling of the economy, while 59 percent disapprove. here now with more context and analysis on that, fox news digital politics editor and anchor of "power play" on foxnews.com, live, chris stierwalt. the last democratic president won office by famously chant o'clock the mantra it's the economy, stupid. well, if only 37 percent approve of the job this president is doing on the economy, that doesn't bode well for his reelection, does it? >> certainly this week is a pivot point, jon, for the president. he is dragging a terrible, terrible job approval rating, the nation has seemingly lost confidence in the president's ability to turn things around for an economy that continues to falter. we see the numbers on wall street today, we see the continued problems. the president has put a lot of weight on his own shoulders because on thursday he's going to give this big jobs speech. he's creating a level of expectations, he and his advisers are creating a level of expectations that may prove very, very difficult for the president to meet, given how little confidence voters are expressing in the president's ability to address the problem. jon: and i guess that's the rub. it doesn't seem like there are a lot of bullets left in the gun to try to fix this problem. >> well, and that's also the -- why you start to see the escalating rhetoric, that's why you see democrats very angry, that's why you see folks like james p. hoffa with his comments about tea partiers and others, there's a lot of anger inside the president's base, they want to see the president really go after republicans, really attack house republicans, and go hard, but that forgets one very crucial fact, if independents don't have confidence and trust in the president right now, they're not going to listen to him or like it if he goes too hard against his adversaries in the house. jon: we heard over the weekend the president essentially blaming congress for the lack of jobs and maybe with his approval rating so low, maybe it is smart policy to blame one institution that has actually lower approval ratings, that same nbc-"wall street journal" poll finds that only 13 percent of americans approve of the job congress is doing. >> well, everybody always hates congress, jon. that's the -- people like their individual congressman, perhaps, but as an institution, people dislike it. now, this debt ceiling battle and the ongoing struggles that the republican house has had with the president has helped drive down these numbers because conservatives don't like the way that it turned out, liberals think they got railroaded, and obviously, right now, congress is at a very low point. but i would point you to this. republicans are at their highest point in the history of this poll in terms of the percentage of americans who would like them in control of the house, so it's bad news for boehner, but that's one bright spot, 46 percent of americans think republicans should be all the way in control in congress. jon: chris stierwalt, our digital politics editor, thank you chris, and we know a lot of you are logged in while you're watching "happening now". catch more of chris on the web, hosting power play at the bottom of the hour. go to foxnews.com and click on the link. jenna: fox news business alert. let's take another look at these markets, a rough day back after the labor day break and that's an understatement. a half hour into the trading day, the markets are lower, the dow down more than 200 points and this morning's losses follows a big drop in the europeans market that were open nicole pelide -- pediledes is with us. why are the markets so low? >> reporter: there's so much concern not only at home about a double-dip recession but concerns from europe and greece, and the austerity measures and whether they're doing the job over there. we did see selling in europe, you see the european banks, some of which were down 9 percent, 10 percent. today on the dow jones industrial average, the selling, 250 points to the downside, 2 percent alone, this is after four-months of selling in september. it's usually the worst month of the year. so not a good day to kick it off. a lot of folks came back from labor day weekend with good spirits but it's broad-based, all dow 30 components are in the red, so not one name with an up arrow, financials are to the downside, bank of america, j.p. morgan j.p. morgan, hewlett-packard, these are the three big losers, down 4 percent and 5 percent respectively. the selling is across the board. some of the folks have been running back to gold, which is about $16 right now and as far as the names we're watching, general motors, new low there. those are some of the action we're seeing but the selling continues and traders say they expect it to continue, especially after that jobs report friday, which has no jobs at all. jenna: as you mentioned, widespread selling. we're all in it together, iness, nicole, that's the one thing we can take away from it, nicole pedelides, thank you. jon: a bizarre hostage standoff involving a father and his 12-year-old daughter, the man apparently threatening to set off a backpack he said was killed with explosives. the latest on this chaotic scene coming up. jenna: the u.s. postal service, now billions in debt, facing a default itself. will congress vote to save it or stamp it out? you know it gets no federal money, the postoffice. we're going to talk about this, coming up. jon: 42 cents or 44 cents a stamp, maybe they don't need it. yesterday, we showed you this photo, a monster captured. this is a salt water croc, weighs more than a ton. i didn't take part of in that one. joan joan -- jenna: i'm skeptical. jon: the video, coming up. jenna: right now the united states postal service is drowning in debt and looking for federal money to help keep it afloat, a crit cat senate hearing could decide the agency was fate, that could happen today. some are call fog a government bailout, others say it's time the u.s. postal service is stamped out completely. doug mckelway is live from our washington bureau with more. doug. >> reporter: good morning, jenna. the u.s. postal service is in really bad financial shape and increasing the cost of a postage stamp won't cut it this time around. it's the victim of changing technology, especially from e-mail and the union contract that is prevent the service from downsizing a any private business would do under similar circumstances. the postal service expects losses of up to $10 billion by the end of this fiscal year. it's seen a 2 percent drop in its core service first class mail since last year. without an infusion of money, the service is up against its $15 billion borrowing limit and faces default. postmaster general patrick donaho says the postal service can't reach it's goals under contracts, quoteing from testimony to be delivered later today, with more than 85 percent of career employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, making significant changes to compensation and benefits is challenging. we must be able to reduce up to an additional 120,000 career positions over the next three years. current labor agreements prevent the postal service from moving swiftly enough to achieve these work force reductions, he says. cliff gurney, president of the american postal workers union, takes an entirely different view as you might expect, in prepared statements, he says, quote now, it is very clear, however, that the strategy of adepressively making cuts has passed the point of diminishing returns and has begun to be counterproductive, the postal service having been engaged in several years of cost cutting has become like the man whose only tool is a hammer. to him, everything looks like a nail, end quote. for the postoffice, labor represents about 8 percent of its expenses. that's much more than private carriers like fedex and ups. we'll be learning much more about the problems and potential solutions in testimony today before the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee this afternoon. the hearing gets underway at 2:00 p.m. and we'll be there. jenna: we'll be talking to the chair of that committee, senator skwro*eb lieberman later in the show. thank you for your great reporting, doug, thank you very much. >> sure thing. jon: jenna's favorite story of the day, the hunt! jenna: i don't know about that. jon: for the giant crocodile in the philippines. jenna: that's good. that was a nice reenactment. jon: animal experts have been looking for this thing for months. they scoured a creek, setting traps along several miles of shoreline. denies of people. to finally sub due the 1 ton salt water crocodile. when they finally caught it, he broke a bunch of traps before they caught him. he is responsible for killing at least one fisherman and taking down, get this, an entire water buffalo. authorities believe an even bigger killer croc might be in shallow waters and are conducting a search in another part of the country. there's the size of that thing. jenna: bigger than that? >> jon: they're going to put him in an eco tourism park. at least they're letting him live. good for them. jenna: all right. we'll keep you updated on that continuing story. jon: you'll be one of the first to visit, right? >> jenna: i think so. i think i'm fine looking it through video. jon: don't you remember what happened in skwr*ur asic park? -- jurassic park? >> jenna: good question. the president is gearing up for his big jobs speech to congress a few days from now as voters show widespread discontent over his handling of the economy. what can the president say to turn things around? we'll take a closer look at that. one major problem the health care overhaul was supposed to address, people using emergency room for primary care. is there a better way? a former e.r. dock on the -- doc on the front lines with his take. jon some new information crossing our international desk, in australia, a father seen shirtless and wearing courtroom wig is suspected of holding his 12-year-old daughter hostage for nearly 12 hours. apparently the guy walked into a sidney law office, told the receptionist he was carrying a backpack filled with explosives, the 52-year-old later arrested, his daughter, not physically harmed. police say the guy is expected to appear in court tomorrow. jenna: "happening now", libyan rebels reaching a deal with tribal elders in one area to end the seige of another cacafe strong hold -- qaddafi strong hold without a shot being fired. we actually don't know where where he is now. many are asking what a post-qaddafi libya will actually look like and what the libya crisis teaches us about the so-called obama dock trib in the middle east. for more, we're joined by k.t. mcfarland, national security analyst. k.t., during the start of the libyan mission, if that's what we want to call t. new yorker came out with an article and talked about this leading from behind, one of the president's advisers said that to one of the writers. now the new yorker comes out with a new interpretation saying the way that was interpreted by the press is wrong, that leading from behind means leading are monacy and what libya shows us is monacy -- >> everybody is trying to figure out what is the obama doctrine. is it in favor of interveneing in libya, but not in syria? what is it? so it's this lead from behind notion, but the problem with it is when they say this is leading from behind the scenes or leading quietly, what are the presuppositions they're making, one, that america has the ability to lead, that our declining status as a superpower means we can't lead and second, the assumption is that we've been ill in the world, that our leadership has not done well, so the bin laden administration says okay, this is what our doctrine is going for be, but the problem with it is the american people don't think that we're a declining superpower, the american people don't think we've been a force for ill in the world. the second problem is, if you're trying to lead from behind, at the certain point the guys in the front, instead of looking barks they're going to forget about you and lead from the front. finally, it's not effective. when things start going wrong, which they have in libya, you have little abi