Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight we're live from Tampa, Hurricane Milton regaining Category 5 strength as time runs out for millions to get out of the dangerous storm's path. The monster hurricane expected to be one of the most destructive on record. The Tampa area bracing for a worst-case scenario as a catastrophic storm surge is expected to inundate homes and businesses. Floridians facing a terrifying reality as neighborhoods could be completely wiped out. The concerns over widespread power outages and the serious impacts further inland. Meteorologists Bill Karen standing by with the new shift in the track and when to expect landfall. Also tonight, a matter of life or death, President Biden issuing that dire warning, urging people to evacuate. The barrier islands turned into ghost towns as traffic backs up for miles, gas stations running out of fuel, and grocery store shelves left completely empty.

The stadium turned into a base camp for thousands of first responders. and the urgent effort to clear debris from Hurricane Haleen before Milton moves in. Surge of misinformation, the political battle brewing over the federal disaster response in the wake of Hurricane Haleen. The White House pushing back against former President Trump's false claims over FEMA funding, plus the fiery exchange between Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Harris over hurricane relief calls. The rocket attacks on Israel has pulled off firing out more than 100 missiles into high-fass. Israel expands its invasion into Lebanon. The new evacuation warnings in Beirut and the claims Israel killed the successor to the head of Hezbollah.

Hidden nuclear threat with fears mounting over Iran's nuclear capabilities amid its conflict with Israel, there is a looming risk getting much less attention. The new details about an alarming new threat from North Korea. And California home explosion, the blast, caught on security cam video, the entire roof lifting up and blown to pieces. what we're learning about one person who was inside of the time. Plus, this just in county officials here in the Tampa area tell us that most of the debris piles will not be picked up

before Hurricane Milton strikes. The reasons why coming up. A special edition of Top Story starts right now. And good evening. We are live tonight once again from Tampa, Florida, a city bracing for one of the most powerful storms ever on record. The situation growing even more dire, as Hurricane Milton just re-strengthened into a Cat 5 storm. Right now, curfews are in place. Access to the barrier islands are cut off,

and officials are warning millions that now is the time to get out before it's too late. Hurricane Milton take a look, regaining that rare Category 5 strength before it makes landfall. The track shifting slightly south, putting Sarasota in the direct path now. The extremely dangerous storm expected to slightly weaken before moving on shore, but regardless, it will bring catastrophic conditions to the region. The biggest concern right now with the storm is the destructive and potentially deadly storm search. Up to 15 feet, you can see what it looks like here. It's projected for parts of Tampa all the way down to CST Key. That means water could overtake a typical single story home. Officials in Pinellas County home to Clearwater in St. Petersburg holding a press conference

going as far as saying the storm is unsurvivable. And this is the ocean coming into your living rooms. This is fast-rising water with a lot of pressure behind it. So don't think that you're going to be able to ride that out. And right now we want to take a live look at I-75 in Collier County. Locals know this as Alligator Alley, and it looks like a parking lot right now. Traffic in a complete sandstill has hundreds of thousands seemingly heating those evacuation warnings. More than 6.3 million people in Florida are under a mandatory evacuation warning.

Even parts of the East Coast are now sounding the alarm. Streets in Longboat Key, completely empty. All that is left are piles and piles of sand and debris waiting to be picked up before Milton arrives. And take a look at this. Thousands of Cots lined Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Devil Race, transformed into a massive shelter for first responders. Residents rushing to grab groceries, clearing out stores, and even gas pumps, We're told more than 15% of gas stations in the state are without fuel.

One of the biggest concerns tonight remains the massive debris piles left from Hurricane Helene. Crews working around the clock to clear loads of trash before Milton hits and those destructive winds turned the debris into missiles. And this just in, a county official in charge of the debris cleanup tells me most of those piles we see around the Tampa area will not be picked up. Too much debris, workers are evacuating and there's not enough time. So people should assume that the debris piles they see out there, they're probably going to be there for Hurricane Milton? Yes.

That's got to trouble you. It definitely does. It definitely does. And we get those calls of people in distress, and we try to get out there. We've got all of our forces. We brought all of our contractors that we can working on that. Okay. You just don't think there's enough time? There's not enough time.

And resources, too. A lot of our contractors have gone to prep for Hurricane Milton. So they don't think it's safe to be in Hillsburg County or in the, in the eye of the storm, working. Oh, so contractors have left. So it's been hard to even find people to work. Yes. They left as of this morning.

And look at this stunning video from space astronauts recording the sheer magnitude and size of this hurricane. This storm is not to be messed with. It will leave neighborhoods unrecognizable and upend countless lives. once again. We have so much to get to this evening, but first, I want to get right to NBC meteorologist, Bill Cairns, with that new track. And Bill, I know there's been a slight shift to the south, which people should consider, but it's not going to change things in a drastic way. Everyone should still heat all the warnings. Oh, of course. No one should, if you're told to evacuate, no one should say, oh, it looks better. Maybe we should head back. The storm took a

big wobble today. There's nothing to say it couldn't take another wobble tomorrow in the other direction. So let me explain first what happened. The storm reintensified up to a a category five. You could see that eye become very apparent. It jogged and wobbled a little more to the east than was expected. And of course, it was supposed to be further to the north. Well, that translates to landfall instead of Tampa Bay, a little further south, towards Sarasota. That's why we had the track change. And so the big thing is, you know, how much can this possibly weaken? Now about 24 hours from now is when we expect the strong winds to be arriving. And landfall is now expected roughly right around 3 a.m. So we pushed that back a couple hours into

tomorrow night into early Thursday morning. You notice that Tampa is still in the cone, Clearwater Beach, and also now, we've now included Fort Myers in Cape Coral. That wasn't like that earlier. So the cone is shifted south. And the reason for the cone is because that shows you the uncertainty in the forecast. We know from past storms that there's typically about a 50-mile wide air in where we think it's going to make landfall. So it could be 25 north. It could be 25 miles south. So the hurricane center keeps that cone. That's why we say don't focus on the center line. But the reason you need to watch the center line where landfall is, because that tells you where the storm surge is going to be. It's south of wherever it makes landfall. So if we get that

landfall in Sarasota, we're not going to have a 10 to 15 foot storm surge in Tampa Bay. Actually, the water in Tampa Bay would be blown out to sea in the opposite direction. And so that would be, you know, today the forecast has trended much better if you have interest around Tampa Bay. If you have interests, say, from Fort Myers to Punta Gorda, heading up to Port Charlotte, Venice, Edgewater, Sarasota, this forecast has continued to be bad and has gotten worse, especially for the Fort Myers area. And, of course, you think what happened just two years ago with Ian, they had a storm surge of 14 feet, and now they're looking at the possibility of 8 to 12 feet. So, I mean, that's just anything that's been rebuilt may be destroyed all over again.

Here's a zoomed-in view. This is Sarasota here. There's Bradenton to the north. Tampa would be up at top of the banner. This was the position at 3 a.m. Thursday morning showing that landfall south of Longboat Key right towards Sarasota. So we'll still see how we adjust this. If we get wobbles, it could be south, it could be north. And, of course, the storm surge would be worse from Siesta Key, Vamo, all the way down to Venice Beach.

That's where the possible 10 to 15 feet of destruction would be. And then a little further south of that is when you get down there towards Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, and Fort Myers in the 8 to 12-inch category. And these max wins, even though Tampa at this point may not get slammed with that storm surge, you still could go through the northern portion of the eye. still deal with 100-mile-per-hour wind gusts. So that hasn't changed. And we have the freshwater flood threat, eight to 12 inches of rain as possible, too, for areas around Tampa and the I-4 corridor.

So, Tom, obviously, you're going to get wobbles. We're going to get some changes. And it doesn't sound like much to have a 10-mile change, but that's really the difference between someone getting a 15-foot storm surge and someone getting two or three feet. And that's the difference between losing your home or coming back to your home.

All right, Bill Karen's with us on that new track. We'll make sure to check in with you later in the broadcast for more coverage. Hurricane Milton, as Bill just showed you, they're barreling towards Florida. Here in Tampa, people are bracing for the worst-case scenario. The possibility of a direct hit. Torrential rains could trigger feet of flooding and storm surge in this low-lying coastal region, a combination that would be catastrophic. For more than a century, Tampa has avoided a direct hit from a major hurricane.

But as Milton barrels across the Gulf, experts warned this time Tampa could be in the bullseye. Large portions of the Tampa Bay Area are going to be uninhabitable. You're not going to have power. You may not have other essentials. According to one report, Tampa is one of the most vulnerable places in the country when it comes to storm search. And the National Hurricane Center warns Milton could bring a wall of water up to 15 feet. I've never seen a hurricane with that trajectory before, so it kind of spooked a lot of people. I think this is the one of trying to hit Tampa? I'd like to say no, but it could be.

But not everyone here is heeding those warnings. So Pasquale, why are you deciding not to evacuate? I mean, I have a 20 year here. Never, never in my house, never the boat will go out, never floating here. I mean, this is different. The hurricane, this is different. Congressman Jared Moskowitz used to run Florida's Department of Emergency Management. He says models have shown a Category 5 hurricane hitting Tampa would be the worst disaster the state could possibly face. The director of emergency management and the National Hurricane Center is talking, what's the worst case in error for Florida? It is that. It is the black swan of a Category 5 storm coming into Tampa. Researchers say the underwater depth off the coast and the funnel

shape of the bay mean the right powerful storm could trap an enormous buildup of water. Another challenge? Tampa's dense population, more than 3 million people live in the area and not everyone has the ability to pick up and leave. Tonight, some hospitals choosing to evacuate vulnerable patients. Folks came from as far as Louisiana and Missouri with ambulances to help transport and move these patients safely. Bob Fritzinger was moved from a hospital in Pinellas County, which sits on the Gulf to safer ground. They were really working. I mean, they're running up and down the halls. Tampa resident Jennifer North will ride out the storm inside this shelter with her daughter Lilliana. I don't live too far from here, but my house is quite old and there's a lot of

trees. Since it's just the two of us, I just felt safer being out of like a community shelter. And the storm is so powerful, you're not going to take any chances. Yeah, I'm not going to take any chances. Lilliana turns two on Friday. Her mom's still hopeful they'll get the chance to celebrate back home, even as this historic storm rages on. We'll see how we do tonight. I mean, we're definitely leaving the comforts of home, but I'd rather be safe. And as Tampa gears up for that potentially devastating storm surge, officials here are urging residents to prepare and to get out. I'm joined now by Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Kronister, which serves Tampa and the surrounding areas. Sheriff, thanks so much for joining Top Story tonight.

You know, this is interesting. You train your officers to deal with crime fighting to arrest criminals and now back-to-back hurricanes, and they are really needed right now. Do they have the proper training, and what are you telling your men and women of your force? They do. We plan for this. It was never a matter of if it was always when. So we are prepared. We strategically placed our assets, our amphibious vehicles, our marine unit assets, off-road vehicles, our chainsaws for our cut teams to open up the roadways, to allow utility vehicles and try to get that power restored back as quick as possible. So, yes, we're prepared, and that's why we've really been focused on communicating with this great community asking them, Listen, you be the good partner. You help us be prepared.

Please leave if you're in those evacuation zones. You know, Sheriff, can you walk our viewers through where you are right now in this interview? Because it looks a little bit like our weather center at NBC. I see radars behind you and other computer screens. Yeah, this is our communication center. This is where all the calls come in. This is the heartbeat of our office. So I'm up here with the Com Center.

We have our command post set up here, and this is where we'll start making decisions. Decisions like when it gets the winds become too sustained above that 40-mile-per-hour, regardless of where this thing jogs. When does it become too unsafe to where we have to suspend service? We didn't have to do that with Hurricane Helene when we did our thousand rescued and answered almost 4,000 calls for service. But again, this storm's going to be different. Yeah, Sheriff, you know, I got to imagine a lot of your men and women also suffered during Hurricane Helene.

Their homes were damaged. Their buildings were damaged. Have their families evacuated? Do you have enough men and women to survive this storm and to help out the community? Great question. Yes, we do. We have several employees out of the 4,000 that have been completely displaced, some that have some damage. But we have a shelter here just for our employees. And a lot of them have heated the warning as well. A lot of our employees, have sent their families. And I keep telling everybody, you don't have to go across the state. You don't have to leave the state and go across the country. Just leave the evacuation zone. Yes, you're going to probably be uncomfortable because with this amount of rain and already heavily saturated areas, that means trees down, that means damage, that means being uncomfortable with the loss of electricity. But again, you might be uncomfortable. You may be inconvenienced,

but you're going to be alive. Yeah, Sheriff, you know, I got to imagine those debris piles worry you, right? Because once that storm surge comes in, once those hurricane force winds come in, all that debris, those nails, that wood's going to be all over the place. And you have vehicles that need to get around and answer these 911 calls. This is going to be a tremendous obstacle. The last storm two weeks ago, yes, we had seven feet of storm surge. And we had vehicles and airboats and amphibious vehicles. And we had a ton of manpower.

Almost 400 additional deputies out there doing. rescues and being able to be in the evacuation zones. Now with this heavy debris, what do you run into? Are you gone somewhere on an airboat? Or are you going to do a rescue? And now you run into a refrigerator? You run into this debris that almost becomes weaponized. Yeah. Sheriff, what is your biggest worry as we get closer and closer to landfall? You know, it's still to be determined. We know we're going to feel the adverse effects from the storm. If it jogs a little, little south, it won't be the storm surge. Instead of five to 10 feet, 10 to 15 feet, it might be one to three. I'm happy with that. But then again, when you have five to 10 inches of rain that you're

still going to have with this amount of wind, I'm worried about the flash flooding. Like I mentioned earlier, we are heavily saturated. Our drainage system, our sewage systems, they're already at max capacity. So now you dump another 10 to 10 inches of rain. This is going to be flash flooding. Water is dangerous, I guess, factor in this whole perfect storm that concerns me. You can't run from water. Yeah, what is your message to people who didn't evacuate, but maybe should have? They're on their own, you know, and I hate to say that. As someone who prides themselves on service above others and has a group of 4,000 employees that want to go out and be heroic and and safe people. Just realized this is a gamble. There's plenty of ways to gamble. If you want to gamble,

I don't know why you're gambling with your life or the life of your loved one, but realize this storm's going to be different. When these wind shear and wind speeds reach a certain, certain speed, I can't imagine a feeling when someone calls for help, and there's no one coming. Yeah, that's got to be incredibly scary. Sheriff, we thank you for your time tonight. I know you're going to be busy, and I'm sure we'll be in contact over the next several days. Sounds great. Stay safe, everyone. As our meteorologist Bill Karens mentioned earlier, Sarasota is about 60 miles south of Tampa. It could also take a direct hit, especially with that new track.

Storm search projections as high as 15 feet, and that's exactly where our Jesse Kirsch is tonight live for top story. Jesse, this new track is the breaking news tonight. Are the people of Sarasota aware that it's wobbled a little south and the eyewalk could pass over Sarasota? Yeah, Tom, I can tell you that it's pretty quiet downtown here. You can see we've got boarded up businesses. We've been noticing more and more boards and other fortifications going up, and police have been going around telling people the loudspeakers on barrier islands like Lido Key area that they should be leaving, that at 7 p.m.

They were going to be shutting down access to that area. So at this point, that is cut off to the public, and they've also cut off the water. So just echoing what we just heard from that sheriff they were just speaking with, they really are impressing upon people. This is not the place to be during the storm if you are in an evacuation zone. That's been going on for almost 36 hours now that they've been calling for evacuations here. I can tell you that probably more traffic yesterday than today. It does feel increasingly like a ghost town.

We also know that supplies have been flying off the shelves in the area. It's been hard for us to find bottled water. It's been hard for us to find gas and gas cans. So people are clearly aware, have been taking those preparation steps. And we just hope that we're not hearing about large groups of people. that have not evacuated, but I can tell you that especially on the coastline, it has been very quiet so far, Tom. You know, Sarasota has changed a lot over the last 20 years. It was a sleepy beach town that

people used to go to vacation, retire in. Since then, a lot of people have moved to that part of Florida. It's grown. It now has a thriving downtown. But I got to think there's a lot of older Floridians there. Are they staying put or are those people evacuating as well? I haven't come across people yet, thankfully, Tom. And we do. sometimes when we cover the storms. I have not come across someone yet who has told us that they were staying in one of these evacuation zones who didn't have a reason to be there, for example, an official. So, you know, we're hoping that that is broadly what happens in this area. But I do also want to note, Tom, as you mentioned, this is a place that largely has avoided

direct hits from people we've talked to. Helene, less than two weeks ago, brought storm surge around up to my waist in some areas. And the mayor, who we spoke with earlier, said that She thinks that storm was a bit of a wake-up call for people here and changed the way that people approach these storms and has hopefully encouraged more people to heed those evacuation warnings than would have in the past. So that storm, which was so devastating and created all kinds of problems in this area and up and down this coast, hopefully has also been an alarm bell for people before something that could potentially be even more catastrophic makes landfall tomorrow, Tom, or Thursday, I should say, at this point. I know you spoke with Sarasota's, yeah, I know you spoke with Sarasota's mayor. What do they tell you? Yeah, so the mayor was talking to us about the storm surge potential, it being unlivable, which we hear again and again from officials. And I'll say it once again, you cannot put up a good fight against that water when it's rushing in. And by the time you realize it's coming, it's far too late to be evacuating.

Now is the time to be getting out while you still can. The mayor, we also talked about all the debris. Like in the Tampa area, they have had to stop the debris collection, and there's still plenty of it out there. I've seen cookware, shattered glass, planks of wood, food, envelopes. right people's lives are on their lawns now and all of that could potentially become projectiles it could become a battering ramp for that storm surge and all of that is still out there in this community too tom yeah it's the great unknown in this storm what that is going to do as far as how does it factor into the danger of this hurricane jesse kersh we thank you for all your reporting further south in the coastal city of naples florida residents

remember the catastrophic storm surge that hurricane ian brought just two years ago now bracing for the possibility of even more destructive flooding for Hurricane Milton. Dana Griffin is live for us tonight in Naples. And Dana, we know that the track has shifted or wobbled, if you will, slightly south. That could mean a storm search problem for where you are in Naples. Are people aware of this new sort of wobbling track, if you will, and are they taking it more seriously? I think they are. Earlier today, we spoke with the mayor of Naples, and she said that she wasn't seeing the type of evacuations that she had hoped for,

because those evacuations started at 6 a.m. in the coastal areas and some of those areas that are prone to storm surge. She was a little, a little, I wouldn't say worried, but she said, you know, we want to see more. And so she's hoping that throughout the day more people have left and will leave before tomorrow. But as you can see behind me, there are still several people out here on the beach. I've been asking a lot of them as they walk past us. Are they evacuating? Are they in the evacuation zone? I can say most of them say they are not evacuating and that they are. are not in the evacuation zone.

So they feel like they have prepared enough. Either they've boarded up their home. They've gotten to a higher elevation area, so they feel like they are safe. But we've been seeing this all day. People still coming out to the beach, taking advantage of the waves, families coming out just to enjoy the beach. The rain has stopped. So people are trying to enjoy as much of this beach town vibe before the rain and the wind picks up. But the mayor said that this is not a time to relax or to think.

think that the storm cannot bring major impacts here. Listen to what she told me. As far as I'm concerned, these storms are unpredictable. So don't think that just it can't take a quick turn. And we need to be prepared for that. So these people that have evacuated, they need to stay put. And if you're at home, you need to stay put. Because you cannot go out when this storm starts to hit. And the winds are going to start tomorrow afternoon. And when Milton comes ashore, although we are not in the direct line of this storm, we are south of it, which means that we can get a big surge storm, storm surge flooding here, six to ten feet in some areas. So again, even though we are south of the direct landfall hit from Milton, still we will likely see some impacts here tomorrow.

Tom? All right, Dana Griffin live in Naples for Top Story. tonight, Dana, we thank you for that. For more on the race to prepare for Milton. I want to bring in Joe Meek. He's the mayor of Crystal River. Crystal River's about 80 miles north of where we are in Tampa, and it's still in Milton's sort of line of impact and that cone of uncertainty. Mayor, I want to thank you for joining Top Story tonight. I'm being told by our control room that there are trucks behind you currently picking up those debris piles. You have the same problem the entire Gulf Coast of Florida has with all that debris. How much is that worrying

tonight, and I know this has wobbled a little south, but again, it could wobble a little north, and you always got to be ready. Tom, first of all, thank you so much for highlighting our area. As you just mentioned, it is a huge concern of us. We have been working nonstop in Crystal River and in our area to pick up the debris, just as you are seeing down south in Hillsborough and Pinellas. We have the same issue here. Unfortunately, two weeks ago, we saw nine foot of storm surge in Crystal River. A huge issue. Just a year ago, we had Hurricane Idalia with seven feet of storm surge, but we are doing everything we can to pick up what we can before this storm comes our way. Are people evacuating in your area? I know the storm right now is tracking south of you,

but are people evacuating? Are they staying put? I know sometimes, you know, when people follow the track, they tend to kind of wait it out to the last minute. Yes, sir. I will tell that I am so proud of our folks. I think they have heated the warnings. Unfortunately, we have a lot of practice on this. Like I said, two weeks ago with Thalene, 12 months ago with Idalia. So folks understand the severity of the situation that we're facing. I will tell you that a lot of our folks have heated the warnings. They have evacuated. They've been through this. We've had our practice runs. And so we know what we need to do. And our folks are custom to that.

Mayor, what do your residents tell you about the insurance issues in Florida? I can't imagine what it's like to own a home there in your area where you had that huge storm Idalia last year, where I first met you, and then you have Helene, and now you're going to have Milton as well. Yes, sir. I feel so bad for our folks. They have what I call an on-grade structure, which is a home that's right on the ground. Like you said, they've been now flooded three times.

We had Hurricane Debbie just a month ago as well. So a lot of folks are struggling. We have a big presence with FEMA here in the city. And there's a lot of decisions that folks have to make with regards to whether or not to rebuild, demolish, and build up. So that's a big point of discussion here in our community. But I will tell you as a result of having gone through this, a lot of folks are better at it. So they have prepared their homes much better. than what they were prior to having to go through this.

And so a lot of people have flood proofs their homes. A lot of people have done things that when the floods come, that it doesn't cause much damage. So unfortunately, because we've gone through it, we've gotten better at it. Yeah. All right, Mayor Joe Meek, Mayor, we'll be thinking about your community, and I'm sure we'll stay in touch in the days ahead.

We're going to have much more ahead tonight on Hurricane Milton, as it slowly churns towards Florida's Gulf Coast. Ahead of this storm, the White House now trying to stop misinformation about its response to Hurricane Haleen. But is FEMA prepared for back-to-back disasters? We're also following other news, including the shocking home explosion in California. Look at this, what we know about a man pulled from the rubble. And this just did another man arrested for plotting an election day terror attack on behalf of ISIS. The late details just coming in.

Stay with us, a special edition of Top Story, live from Tampa, just getting started. We're back now live from Tampa, Florida, where the city is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which has roared back to a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm. We're going to have much more on the evacuations and the warnings in a moment, but we do have other headlines to get to in Top Stories news feed. We're going to start with a cyber attack on the largest water utility company in the U.S. Officials at American Water say they should. shut down their customer service system to mitigate the attack and protect consumer data.

The New Jersey-based company provides services to more than 14 million people in 14 states and 18 military facilities. No word yet on who was behind the attack or the scope of it. The Justice Department says an Afghan National has been charged with plouting an election day terror attack here in the U.S. authorities say the 27-year-old man was living in Oklahoma and was plotting the attack on behalf of ISIS. According to the complaint, he tried to semi-automatic weapons and even resettled his family members overseas in preparation. The charging documents also mentioned at least one co-conspirator who is a minor. Shocking new video capturing a home explosion in California, a ring cam, showing the moment

the house in Long Beach suddenly blew apart, setting debris flying into the air. A man was inside at the time. He was rushed to the hospital. No word yet on his condition. Authorities say the explosion destroyed that home and also damaged another building, an investigation to the cause is now underway. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia are suing TikTok. A bipartisan

group of attorneys general alleged the app is designed to be addictive to children and young people, which harms their mental health. The suit stem from a 2022 investigation into the platform. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims. A U.S. health official will begin screening

travelers from Rwanda for a deadly Ebola-like virus. Starting next week, airline passengers who recently traveled to Rwanda will be rerouted to either Chicago O'Hare or New York's JFK or Washington Dulles. Passengers will meet with CDC staffers for temperature checks and screen for any symptoms of the virus. The virus is highly fatal and spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

So far, no cases have been reported in the U.S. Okay, next to a power and politics with a political storm brewing before Milton's landfall over the federal hurricane response, with the White House and Vice President Harris urgently battling rampant misinformation over storm recovery. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez is on this one. Tonight, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and with Hurricane Milton barreling towards Florida, President Biden is calling misinformation about the federal response un-American. It puts people in circumstances where they panic, where they really, really, really worried.

I think we're not being taken care of. Former President Trump and some of his allies keep spreading false claims. to use it legal migrants. That's not true. FEMA has distributed more than a billion dollars to shelter migrants, but the agency says

that's from a separate government program, not disaster relief. Trump also falsely claims residents are only being offered $750, even though they can qualify for more. He really lacks empathy on a very basic level to care about the suffering

of other people. On social media, even more outlandish conspiracy theories are exploding from false claims of FEMA stealing money from donations to the government controlling the weather from Antarctica. The amounts of misinformation just continues to grow unnecessarily. And it's just really creating an interference for us to be able to do the job that we need to do. It prevents them from actually coming in and asking for help. But we also press the FEMA administrator about criticism

of the federal response. The administration was slow to get started. We're only beginning to see that mobilized about a week too late, including from Haleen survivors. I hear them say on the radio that FEMA's here, but I haven't seen them. What do you say to people like her? I think the best thing that I would say to this is just because you don't see a person wearing a FEMA shirt does not mean that we're not here. In Florida, there's another political storm brewing between Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris.

A source familiar with the situation tells NBC News he's refused to take her calls. It's just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish. Overnight, DeSantis fired back, saying he did not know she'd called, adding he's spoken with President Biden, and Harris has no role in the process. She's the first one who's trying to politicize the storm, and she's doing that just because of her campaign. Meanwhile, tonight, the Biden administration is ramping up its efforts to fight misinformation ahead of this latest storm. False rumors during uncertain times is not new,

But a White House official says this is the worst they've ever seen with a natural disaster. Tom? And Vice President Kamala Harris on a media blitz this week, sitting down with Howard Stern, The View, and 60 Minutes. I mean, criticism from Republicans that she hasn't done any enough interviews and the stunning new revelations from Bob Woodward's latest book that former President Trump sent Russian President Vladimir Putin COVID test in 2020 for his personal use. Garrett Hake has the details. Tonight, in her ongoing media blitz, Vice President Harris telling ABC she wouldn't change anything President Biden did. Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years? There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.

Later saying, she would name a Republican to her cabinet. Former President Trump slamming the response, calling it, quote, her dumbest answer so far. and Biden, the worst president in history. While on CBS, Harris was pressed about her record on the border. Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did? It's a longstanding problem, and solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions. But the numbers did quadruple under your watch.

And the numbers today, because of what we have done, we have cut. the flow of illegal immigration by half. New data obtained by NBC News shows there were 54,000 illegal border crossings last month, the lowest number in three years. Meanwhile, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward writes in a new book that former President Trump secretly sent Russian President Putin COVID tests for his personal use in 2020. Please don't tell anybody you sent these to me. Woodward says Putin told Trump. I don't care, Trump replied, fine. Woodward, citing an unnamed aide who claims Trump may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since leaving the White House. NBC News has not confirmed Woodward's reporting. The Trump campaign responding in part,

quote, none of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true. Harris slamming Trump today. Everybody was scrambling to get these kits, the tests. This guy who was president of the United States is sending them to Russia to a murderous dictator for his personal use. And that was Garrett Hake reporting from the campaign trail. Our special coverage tracking Hurricane Milton is going to continue tonight from Tampa. Still ahead, the monster storm barreling towards this area. What's going to happen next, including the new track and why it is wobbling a bit south. Bill Karen's in the house to explain that.

Stay with us. Top story, just getting started. We're back now live from Tampa, a city in the crosshairs of Hurricane Milton. We are at one of the sites where they're dumping all that debris that surrounds the Tampa area. You can see trucks just in the distance working hard tonight. I've been told that they're going to be working all through the night. We had a chance to speak with the Hillsborough County official in charge of the debris pickup. She admitted to me that they're not going to be able to pick up most of the debris piles that dot the Tampa area,

but that they're going to work as long as they can probably into tomorrow afternoon up until those tropical storm force winds start to hit Tampa, around 30, 35-mile-per-hour winds because then it becomes too dangerous. Something else she did tell us that they're contractors. It was very hard to find workers because so many people have evacuated, and they just did not have enough time with all the damage from Helene, and now the second storm hurricane Milton coming in. So they're going to do the best job they can. But again, she says most of those debris piles around the neighborhoods that surround Tampa

are still going to be there when Milton strikes. For the latest track and the latest news on Hurricane Milton, I want to bring in Bill Karens. Once again, Bill, the big news tonight, there was a slight wall. to the south, explain to our viewers what that really means. Yeah, when we get a wobble like that, hurricanes are expected. We can't predict them.

They're going to have little slight shifts, and then they usually correct themselves. And those little wobbles can cause big differences in where the landfall is. Obviously, if you have an eye that's only about 10 miles wide, if we get a 10 mile wobble, that puts it over a completely different area. So let me give you an example here. So this is our simulated radar.

So this is one of our computer models that tells us kind of the estimate. And obviously, you can see where the eye is right here. And so this is going to be paused. down around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, tomorrow evening, with it off the coast, the bands are beginning to arrive. If we get another wobble, say, tomorrow during the day or later on tonight, and that brings it a little more to the south, instead of the eye being here, it would be down here. And that's the difference. That's what happens. Before the wobble happened today, everything was pointing more towards Tampa. Now it's pointing a little further south, and that's why we're saying

storm surge, which is our number one fear. That's the number one thing that's going to destroy the most houses, in people's livelihoods, is storm surge. And that's going to happen south of the landfill. That's why we're saying Sarasota, Fort Myers, this area in here, including Venice, is most at risk for the highest, most extreme storm surge that could destroy some of those communities. So that's like the really serious, sad, life-threatening part of the storm. Bill, if we're broadcasting tomorrow from the Sarasota area, when do you think we're going to start to feel hurricane force winds? When will those residents that live in that area? If they haven't evacuated, when will things start to get sort of dangerous?

Yeah, I can look at this map. It actually helps us with this, too. So this would be the beginning of the Hurricane Force Gus, and that's at 7 p.m. tomorrow. I think the really sustained stronger gust be heading in more or less between 7 p.m. and midnight, that's when the power will start going out in the Sarasota area southwards down the coast, the Tampa area maybe a little tick after that. And then as the center and the eye goes over you, you know, between midnight and, say, 4 a.m., That's when we'll have that kind of calm, and that's when north of Tampa and Orlando could be getting some of the stronger winds.

That's at 2 a.m. and then we take the thing across the Florida Peninsula. So kind of a timeline is we do expect the hurricane winds to arrive tomorrow evening, landfall after midnight. And then by the time the sun comes up, Tom, a lot of the storm is going to be over with by the west coast of Florida. We'll have a good idea of just how bad the damage is by the time we get to noon on Thursday. Yeah, very similar to what happened with Hurricane Helene. And speaking of Hurricane Helene, you know, the big threat there as we were broadcasting on that Thursday night was the concern about tornadoes. Yeah, we're going to have isolated tornadoes with this storm. It doesn't look like it's going to be widespread.

I worry more about the ones that happen make landfall during the day because we get the heating of the day in these outer bands. But we will have a chance of isolated tornadoes, Orlando, Tampa, Melbourne, southwards. And this will include areas all the way down the West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, too. time, it's isolated tornadoes, but something everyone still has to pay attention to as we go throughout the day tomorrow and into tomorrow night. Okay, Bill Carins, we always thank you for everything you do when we return the nuclear threat flying under the radar. As the world watches what happens in the Middle East and here in Tampa, North Korea is ramping up rhetoric on using nuclear weapons. Our new reporting on the latest

warning from Kim Jong-un. Stay with us. Welcome back to the special. edition of Top Story live from Tampa, Florida. As we track Hurricane Milton, more on that monster storm approaching in a moment. But we also want to get to the latest on the growing conflict in the Middle East. Israel making advances in its ground offensive in Lebanon and claiming to have taken out the new leader of Hezbollah. It comes as the world waits Israel's response to that massive missile attack from Iran. Richard Engel is in Beirut for us tonight. Israel is delivering Hezbollah crushing blows. Today, new video shows

Israeli troops raising the Israeli flag in a southern Lebanese village. Although the Israeli military has yet to confirm it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today claimed an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah's successor, chosen to replace Hassan Nasrallah, assassinated by Israel just days before. Hezbollah is weaker than it's been for many, many years. Riding high, the Biden administration worries Netanyahu could retaliate against Iran's recent missile barrage without fully coordinating with the U.S. Tonight, the Israeli defense ministers planned visit to the U.S. set for tomorrow was postponed.

President Biden has said he does not support striking Iran's nuclear facilities. An Israeli attack on Iran's oil industry could drive up gas prices ahead of November's election. Vice President Harris weighed in on 60 minutes. Which foreign country do you consider to be our greatest adversary? I think there's an obvious one in mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands. Here in Beirut, evacuations are picking up pace. Ten U.S. charter flights, including today, have so far taken out a thousand Americans

and hundreds more have left on commercial flights. There's an urgency to get them out. Tom. Richard Engel in Beirut tonight, with the eyes of the world on escalating violence there in the Middle East, Tonight, Kim Jong-un stoking fears of a nuclear attack. The North Korean leader threatening to use his most powerful weapons against the South, quote, without hesitation, NBC chief international correspondent, Keir Simmons reports. With world attention focused on the Middle East and fears of further escalation between Iran

with its nuclear program and nuclear-armed Israel. The rhetoric from North Korea's Kim Jong-un is getting less international. attention. This week, he repeated a warning. If South Korea used armed forces against his country, North Korea would, without hesitation, use all its attack capabilities. And he said the use of nuclear weapons is not ruled out, though he later said, we have no intention of attacking South Korea. This week saw a massive annual military parade in South Korea, including a U.S. bomber, where South Korean president, Yun Sukyo, vowed the end of the North Korean regime if it ever used a nuclear weapon. So, add the Korean peninsula to the global list of problems

in the next president's entry. The two candidates offering very different approaches. I got along very well, North Korea, Kim Jong-un, I got along very well with him. He'd like to see me back, too. I think he misses me if you want to know that, too. up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump. Increasing the complexity, many burning international issues are interwoven. In Ukraine, it's now highly likely that North Korean soldiers are fighting for Russia, South Korea's defense minister says. Kim Jong-un wished President Putin a happy birthday this week, a friendship both sides

have had reason to celebrate. During the Russian leaders' visit in June, they signed a comprehensive strategic partnership. The U.S. suspects that means sharing more weapons and perhaps even nuclear secrets. We continue to be incredibly concerned by the expanding security relationship between North Korea and Russia, both for the support that North Korea continues to provide to Russia, prosecute its illegal war against Ukraine, and for the prospect of Russia assisting North Korea in ways that ultimately will be destabilized, to the Korean Peninsula. Kim's confidence is growing. Last month, he was pictured visiting centrifuges that can produce fuel for nuclear bombs. Last year, he brought his daughter

to inspect missiles. This is my honor. The years when Kim Jong-un was prepared to meet with President Trump and, perhaps negotiate, are a memory now. The next president may have to deal with a very different North Korea. Tom, the relationship between President Putin and Kim Jong-un is not new. President Putin knew Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il. But the closeness between the two men and the two countries, that is, increasingly unusual. U.S. intelligence estimates that North Korea shipped 16,000 crates of munitions to Russia in the past year. And Russia says it is helping North Korea with its space program.

tensions, too, between China and North Korea, between China and Russia and Iran. That may be an opportunity for a future administration. Tom? Keir Simmons for us. Here we appreciate it. We're going to have much more from our live coverage of Hurricane Milton. Up next, a doctor in St. Petersburg, whose home was damaged in Hurricane Helene, now preparing for a second punch from Milton. How she's managing that while riding out the storm at the hospital where she works?

Stay with us. Count me down. We are back now with our live coverage of Hurricane Milton here in Tampa, Florida. So many preparing for their second massive storm in such a short time. One of those residents is Dr. Megan Martin. She's an emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. Her home severely damaged in Hurricane Helene. Now she's bracing for the next one.

Dr. Martin, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So I understand and tell me if I'm right here. You're currently at your hospital working, but you're also with your children preparing to ride out the storm there. What are you most concerned about heading into Hurricane Milton? You know, honestly, I'm really concerned about the potential for storm surge that's out there. You know, right now it looks like it might go a little bit south for us. But if it, you know, turns back any north, you know, we're going to have pretty significant storm surge, wind damage.

And this community is already reeling from Hurricane Helene. There's so much damage already in our community, and another storm is going to create a lot of problems. You care for patients, and I know you also have to deal with their parents as well. How are those families dealing with the news that another major hurricane is coming through this area? You know, I think all of the families are feeling that little extra bit of stress. It takes a lot more work on our part and on their part, you know, when kids get sick trying to find a pharmacy, that's open to send a prescription to making sure that they're going to be in a safe environment at home if we're sending them home. And then obviously getting admitted here trying to work out the family

challenges is also an issue. So there's a little bit of extra stress for everyone right now. I was speaking to a friend who had his entire first floor damage in Hurricane Helene. He has two small children. They had to evacuate. They have a pile of debris in front of their house or not sure what's going to happen with Hurricane Milton. I know you were in a similar situation. How do you sort of drop everything that's happening in your personal life with Hurricane Helene. Prepare for this hurricane while caring for your patients. You know, I think once I step foot in the hospital, in the emergency department, I put my stethoscope on. It's really easy just to focus on what's going on. There's no windows in the

emergency center. I can just focus on my patients. But when I step out of the emergency center, it gets, it's complicated and it's hard and it's stressful and trying to keep my family situated and everything at home situated. It's been challenging, but I really, I felt, an outlet on social media, and it's kind of a coping mechanism for me at this point. Yeah, you know, on social media, I think that's how some of our producers and Bookers found you. You've talked about some of your neighbors who maybe didn't want to evacuate. Did they eventually evacuate, and if not, what have you been telling them? Luckily, the neighbors did evacuate for this storm.

One of them, we had one neighbor that has a second story that was planning on staying, but we were able to talk them into leaving. We're just really concerned about the potential damages out there, and it being, you know, such a strong storm. You know, for the last time, there were a couple families that didn't evacuate, and they ended up leaving, you know, in the middle of the night, in the pitch black, in six or seven feet of water that just has debris, and it's not clean water. So I think they've kind of learned their lesson,

and hopefully sharing their story will help others make that decision to just get out of town. Yeah, but I also understand, man, with people that have lost so much, they're just worried about their home because half their homes are gutted. They're not sure what's going to happen with the debris piles and the storm surge, and it's getting costly to keep evacuating. Yeah, and a lot of people also lost their vehicles having transportation challenges, and everyone's evacuating. There's no gas. There's a lot of challenges right now. There are still some options. The shelters are open. They're still taking people. Uber is offering free rides with the code Milton relief. But it is challenging and it's stressful, trying to make these decisions, whether we stay, whether we go, or even where we were able to go. How are you maintaining your own children's sanity while you're working at the hospital and trying to keep them occupied?

They basically get on limited screen time for the next couple of days. They're going to be with our child care center during the day while I'm working. And while we're here, it's just going to be relaxing and just trying to survive, I think. Dr. Megan Martin, we thank you for everything that you're doing and everything that you've done for this community. And we'll keep watching and following you on TikTok. Thank you very much. All right, that's going to do it for this special edition of Top Story. So much happening with Hurricane Milton, that new track and that slight wobble South.

We're going to keep following this story over the next several days, including all of tonight. I'm Tom Yamis, reporting live in Tampa, Florida. We thank you for watching again, this special edition of Top Story. Stay right there. More news on the way. Thank you.