NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, October 9, 2026

Episode Date: October 10, 2026

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. local time as a Category 2 storm with 105-mph winds. NBC News’ Bill Karins explains what’s next as the storm continues to move. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Breaking news tonight, the monster hurricane making landfall tonight. Gulf Coast evacuations now expanding. The dangerous Cat 3 storm barreling inland. Massive waves lashing the coast, millions on alert as conditions quickly deteriorate. Alabama and Florida's panhandle in the bullseye. Airport shut down, bridges closed off, the risk for widespread power outages and storm surge up to nine feet high. and the view from inside the storm at sea, the warning that the hurricane could spin off tornadoes and how the storm will tear up the east coast, our team in that storm zone tonight.

Plus huge waves pummeling the West Coast, Southern California neighborhoods underwater as a rare tropical storm moves in. The massive earthquake rocking Panama, buildings crumbling, car smashed, reporters on live TV running for safety, the tsunami risk right now. New surveillance video of an ice involved shooting in New York City. The chaotic moments after a man in his car was shot, his five-year-old reportedly asking if his dad was dead, the multiple crimes he's wanted for. Growing backlash over plans to live stream the firing squad execution of the Fort Hood Killer,

the vice president saying he will not watch what family members of the victims are saying tonight. A helicopter plunging into a lake at least five people pulled out a lot. Extreme turbulence forcing this emergency landing in Miami. Passengers slammed into the ceiling. The injured rushed to hospitals. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Hey, good evening.

We thank you for joining us on this Friday night. We have major breaking news as we come on the air. Hurricane Isayas beginning to pound the Gulf Coast with driving rain and dangerous winds. You're looking live right now at Pensacola, where the worst of the storm is beginning to roar ashore right now. Issaia is currently a Category 3 hurricane with winds hitting 115 miles per hour. We have live cameras. You see them right here across the Gulf Coast from Mobile to New Orleans, with landfall expected near Destin, Florida, in the next hour or two. And here is the storm right now.

You can see the size of this. Hitting the coast stronger than forecasters had originally predicted. Already roads are starting to flood out along the Florida panhandle. Huge waves crashing along the Gulf right now. And this is footage from a sail drone, taking real-time measurements, capturing what it looks like inside the eye of the storm. And the threat isn't just to the Gulf. Look at the track, the hurricane, and its remnants set to tear through the southeast throughout the weekend. And if that's not enough, look at this.

This is on the West Coast. Roads flooded out in Southern California as a tropical storm there churns offshore. We're covering every angle of both threats tonight. Bill Cairns is standing by to time it all out. But we want to start with Jesse Quirish, currently in the storm zone. Tom, good evening. The wind gusts starting to be strong enough to push us around. We're getting pelted with rain.

Look at how that water is churning, and all of this is only about to get worse. Tonight, Hurricane Isayi is pounding Florida's panhandle. Conditions rapidly deteriorating as the storm's powerful eye moves on. shore. Evaluation. The storm becoming a major category three hurricane this morning. It's sustained winds clocking in at 120 miles per hour. Destin, Florida Mayor Bobby Wagner urging families to hunker down.

My plea to everyone is please protect yourself, your family, your friends, keep yourself safe, and we can replace anything else that comes our way. Right now the biggest threat? Life-threatening storm surge, a rush of water that could be up to the city. of water that could be up to nine feet high in some areas, along with crashing waves. A NOAA ocean drone intercepting Isayas in the Gulf, waves a towering 65 feet high. Back here in Destin, people anxiously waiting to see what tomorrow's daylight brings. You're just hoping this is here tomorrow.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Isayas will be a days-long danger. Its wrath extending far beyond the coast. The southeast bracing for heavy rain, damaging. winds and a growing tornado threat. President Trump, who was expected at tomorrow's Alabama, Georgia football game, canceling his trip so first responders can stay focused on that storm. We're back now live with Jesse Kirsch there in Destin. Jesse, you know, we're hitting those outer rain bands are hitting you right now. Isayas is going to be a major windmaker as well.

What do the gust feel like right now? Yeah, I've started to be shaking, Tom, from them. And at times the wind and the rain combining to make it blinding out here. The visibility is getting way worse. And take a look at this as the docks out here are shaking. You've got just one boat here. This is practically a ghost town, and that's what officials wanted. Tom. All right, Jesse Kirch in the storm zone.

Jesse, stay safe tonight. We're going to move a little further west. This is such a massive storm. Also hitting Pensacola right now as Guamai Martel and her team are there. The winds and rain are really picking up. Guamai, what are you feeling? Yeah, and there are no bullsillo. Some small branches are already falling off the trees,

and we're not even in the worst part of the storm just yet. We have seen that the wind continues to pick up the pace, and so does the rain. It's very, very hard to see anything out here, depending on where you go. And so what I can tell you as well is that two miles from here, we actually have the bridge that connects the downtown area to Pensacola Beach. That bridge has been closed since about 4 p.m.,

and that's because they said that they were going to shut that down as soon as we had 40 miles an hour. That's all the information I have for you, Tom, right now. Sending it back to you. Well, Ma, we thank you for that. I want to bring in Bill Cairns. And Bill, take us through Isayah, the track and what stands out to you right now. Yeah, the dangerous portion of the storm, Tom, is now just arriving.

And this is going to be a quick hitter. And this is like three to four hours, and it's in and out in most locations. And that means a really fast ramp up of the winds near the landfall position. So these are the current live wind gusts out there. And the rule of thumb is when you get over 50 miles per hour, you start to get scattered, power outages. When you start to get over 60, you start to get more. widespread and we're seeing that now. Even Mobile just had a gust to 60. The other issue is tornadoes.

We've been worried about this for the last couple of days. Our tornado watches up. We've had a couple warnings. Nothing confirmed as of yet, but this will continue through the night. This goes all the way over into north central portions of Florida tonight into areas of Georgia. And as far as the storm surge, the worst of it is going to be just right of the center. It appears Destin, Fort Walton Beach area, Panama City Beach. These are the areas that I'm most concerned with as we go throughout the next three hours until landfall. And as far as the wind gust go, watch out from Atlanta northwards into the mountains of North Carolina and North Georgia, Tom. We could see numerous power outages well away from the center. Bill Cairns for us, and we're going to stay in contact with our

teams throughout the broadcast and the night. We thank you. We're also tracking that tropical storm out west, already flooding streets in Southern California, and it's still days away. Our Steve Patterson reports from Long Beach. Tonight, Monster waves mulling, the Southern California coast, sending five-foot swells of tidal surge against already battered beachfronts. In Orange County, Newport Beach's Balboa Boulevard submerged. Video shows vehicles trudging through floodwater. You can definitely tell that Mother Nature is coming up or away. One cyclist struggling just to make it down the street. In Long Beach, people laying out

sandbags in hopes of protecting their homes. Parts of the boardwalk ripped apart, sending shableness. utter chunks of debris into the ocean. You can see this now red-tagged home badly damaged, parts of the siding and roof tumbling into the sea, the home now on the verge of total collapse. Officials now warning, stay away from the area as the tide continues to rise. And speaking about tide, Steve Patterson joins us now live from Long Beach and Steve. It's only going to get worse over the weekend. Tom, you're absolutely right, but you have to see this boardwalk up close.

Look at this. The fence line gone here, sand covering the patio. furniture, and then the devastation is clear. Look at this. The sandbags lining this home, which is now boarded up. We do expect a stronger surge this weekend up to seven feet predicted by Monday. Tom, it's going to be a tough few days for those communities. Okay, Steve, we thank you. We head to Panama now in a massive earthquake, taking down buildings there, smashing cars, and triggering tsunami warnings across the region. Aaron Gilchrist has the latest. Tonight, a frantic search in Panama after a major earthquake. This hostile, crumption.

crumbling to the ground, setting off a search for anyone who may be trapped. A bell tower collapsing at this 400-year-old cathedral, and the moments shaking started captured by this TV station. The 7.7 magnitude quake struck this afternoon, centered about 120 miles from the capital, near Pita Losa Arriba in southwestern Panama, triggering tsunami warnings for several countries. In Panama City, people pouring into the streets to assess the damage.

seen smashed under buildings. And outside the city, others watching in horror as the cables on the Panama Canal's Centennial Bridge vibrate wildly. Panama's president has activated emergency services and is calling for calm as reports of injuries are starting to come in and strong aftershocks have already been recorded. Aaron Gilchrist, NBC News. Now to the growing fallout over an ice involved shooting in New York City with new video showing the moments just before agents open with the suspect's five-year-old still inside his car. Aaron McLaughlin has that new surveillance video. Tonight, new NYPD video shows the moments before the ice involved shooting.

An ice officer runs up banging on a driver's side window. Another officer running with him when the car speeds out of view. Police say the shooting was not seen on the video. DHS says the suspect ignored orders to stop and weaponized his vehicle, leading the officer to fire. This eyewitness video obtained by NBC News shows the chaos afterwards. 28-year-old suspect Oscar Belgal, wounded on the ground next to a car with the windows blown out. Witnesses say the suspect's five-year-old looking on. An eyewitness tells us the boy was crying, asking if his dad was dead.

NYPD body camera footage shows them arriving after the shooting. New York City officials say at least one. unplained-clothed ICE officer fired seven rounds at Belgao's car, striking him superficially in the neck. The boy who'd been in the backseat was physically unharmed. Overnight protesters clashed with police. Mayor Zorn Mammdani joining other top Democrats calling for ICE to be abolished. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ice agents. We know that ice is rotten to its core. Today, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen firing back. It's shameful that you have a mayor that goes out there and puts criminals over law-abiding citizens.

DHS says Belgall was in the U.S. illegally from the Dominican Republic, associated with a violent gang and has an extensive criminal record, including a conviction for grand larceny and arrests for assault and robbery. This individual is a threat to our community. Aaron joins us now live from a growing anti-ice protest there in New York City. Aaron, do we know what those demonstrators are calling for tonight? There in those demonstrations tonight for us. Aaron, we thank you.

We're also monitoring growing backlash over plans to live stream the firing squad execution of the Fort Hood killer. Ryan Chandler reports on the pushback and what family members of victims are saying tonight. Tonight, will the firing squad execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, be live streamed to the world. President Trump saying yes. Did I approve? Absolutely. But the vice president saying he won't be watching.

This is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people. Now that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately live stream, I'm not going to be watching it. All after defense secretary Pete Hegseth had announced the live stream overnight. It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and we'll make sure that people are able to watch it. Nadal Hassan was convicted of premeditated murder for the 2009 rampage at a Texas Army base, killing 13 people, wounding 32 others. Evidence showed he'd been radicalized for jihad, but the plans to live stream the execution,

sparking backlash. Do you think this execution should be live streamed? Absolutely not. Kaylee Vanekers' father was killed in the attack. Making this a spectacle doesn't heal anyone. This is for someone's perverted version of interest. And this is not okay with me. Republican Tom Tillis calling the live stream beyond disgusting.

Writing public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. Hassan was shot and paralyzed while carrying out his attack and is now bound to a wheelchair. And it is still possible Hassan could appeal all of this. He previously told military mental health personnel he wished he had died and he hopes to become a martyr. Tom. Ryan Chandler with a lot of new developments. on that one tonight. Ryan, thank you. This is also breaking tonight. President Trump announcing Russia will supply the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of barrels of diesel fuel aimed at bringing

down the prices at the pump. Garrett Hake joins us tonight from the president's rally in Syracuse. And Garrett, this comes after the U.S. had been trying to block global purchases of Russian oil as a punishment for invading Ukraine. And tonight, that war is still raging on. Yeah, that's right, Tom. This really is a stunning policy reversal for the Trump had which had been trying to stop Russia's war machine by sanctioning Russian oil around the globe. Now President Trump says that after a phone call with Vladimir Putin today, Russia will send 300,000 tons of diesel fuel, initially with more to follow. Now, the president's saying this will bring down domestic fuel prices, but that first allotment is really just about as much diesel fuel as the U.S. uses in a single day.

Ukraine's President Zelensky blasting this decision to ease sanctions as, quote, obvious weakness in saying the quote, the benefit to the civilized world. Tom. Great, hey, first, Garrett, thank you. When we return in 60 seconds, the violent turbulence passengers injured after a brutal flight had to divert to Miami.

We're back down with some alarming new video, a helicopter crashing in Guatemala. You see it falling fast there before it crashes down into that lake. Seven people were on board at the time. Five have been rescued, and divers right now are still searching for the two others that are missing.

Also tonight, severe turbulence, causing a mass casualty event aboard an Avianca flight from Columbia to New York. One passenger seemed holding an ice pack from their injuries. Three cabin crew and six passengers were hurt, and pilots were forced to declare an emergency and land in Miami. That's nightly news for this Friday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching.

Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night.