this american morning. good morning. zogood morning alina. it s early. it is early. not so early for you. always great to have you here. carol is off, christine is off. that s right. we ve got you back, which is fantastic. we ve got a really serious situation going on in texas. it s it seems to be getting worse although in some parts getting a little more control over it. these raging wildfires we re telling you about sweeping across the country right now. the governor rick perry is describing the disaster as, quote, a monstrous storm of smoke and flames. the flames are sending thousands of people running for their lives, showing no mercy. it s killed four people. hundreds of firefighters are on the frontlines dousing some of the fires, new ones, they re starting new ones hoping to get rid of the bone dry bub brush that goes up in an instant. this is what s left of a ranch in austin, texas. a pile of twisted metal and ash. the texas forest service sa