headquarters in new york city. it doesn't get much bigger than this. a presidential debate for the ages on thursday, just as millions of voters are only starting to tune in to the presidential campaign. kamala harris today laying the groundwork for the issue that democrats think is a winner, abortion. two years to the day after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. at the same time donald trump's blatant lies about the fbi raid on mar-a-lago putting him at risk of getting slapped with a gag order days before the debate. the special counsel's plea to judge cannon, insisting trump's claims that he was the target of a plot is putting lives on the line. hostage family ak kuhning benjamin netanyahu of abandoning their loved ones after he dismisses the white house cease-fire deal. we'll show you the video they just released of the october 7th abductions. first, this the a week that could change everything, a potential turning point, even determinative in the race for president. today joe biden and donald trump gearing up for thursday's critical debate, and few issues are as critical as abortion with neither candidate shy about the stakes. >> when maga republicans rose, that's the beginning. they're going to try to ban the right to choose nationwide. they're coming for ivf and birth control next. send me back to the white house and i'll fight to protect roe v. wade and protect american freedom. >> the massive reversal by the supreme court being celebrated over the weekend by the man who says he made it happen, donald trump. >> i want to thank the six supreme court justices, clarence thomas, samuel alito, brett kavanaugh, neil gorsuch and amy coney barrett for the wisdom and courage they showed on this long-term, very contentious issue. this has been a long time it's been fought. >> today's focus on abortion is just aa part of a major strategic push by team biden. his campaign organizing more than a thousand events leading up to the debate, including 300 watch parties on debate night, 1600 events in battleground states. i want to bring in nbc's aaron gilchrist in college part, maryland, "new york times" staff editor. symone sanders-townsend co-host of "the weekend" here on msnbc. with me here in sfud i don't, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst susan del percio. great to have all of you. aaron, this debate night may be the first time a lot of voters are tuning into this race. how is the biden campaign trying to take advantage of that huge audience? >> reporter: i think the campaign is very aware of that reality, chris. what we're seeing over the course of the week is this campaign trying to put this particular issue of reproductive freedom, as they've called it, in front of potential voters early and oftenment vice president harris has led the charge on this issue for several months now on her remro duckive freedom tour. today we saw her talk about that issue through the prosecution, if you will, of former president trump. the campaign has said all along they believe the overturning of roe v. wade was the result of donald trump's actions. the vice president in her remarks, at the core of her remarks today said the actions that donald trump took to put three supreme court you systems on the supreme court, effectively setting up the methodology for the overturning of roe was premeditated. she said states that have subsequently banned abortions were his accomplices and him taking credit for what the supreme court ultimately did with dobbs was a confession of sorts. attend of her remarks she said donald trump was guilty of stealing reproductive freedom from women around the country. i want you to hear a little more what the vice president told this raucous crowd of supporters today. listen. >> donald trump thinks the government is in a better position to tell women what's in their best interest than women are to know for themselves. but joe biden and i trust women [ cheers and applause ] and women trust all of us to fight for their most fundamental freedoms. >> reporter: so the vice president now is headed out west where she will participate in a panel discussion of sorts around this same issue. this is something we saw the first lady talk about over the weekend. there are other events happening all over the country today with local surrogates who are addressing this issue as well. as we said, it's something the campaign believes people are getting energized around and will lead to potentially good results for them come the november election, chris. >> aaron, thanks for that. look, simone, clearly the administration, the biden campaign are not letting up on this day after day after day. they're hammering it home. if you're not listening on sunday, they're going to talk about it on monday. here is vice president kamala harris on msnbc talking about abortion, just a little bit of what she said to us. >> this is not just a matter that is for debate and discussion and intellectual conversation. the real harm that has occurred every day in america since that case was decided and these laws are being passed, to your point, we know the stories about women seeking care because they're going through a miscarriage and being turned away by an emergency room because the physicians there are afraid they're going to be put in jail. in a state like texas they provide prison for life for a health care provider doing their job. and i don't think that when you look at this issue, most people agree you don't have to abandon your faith. you don't have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies. >> there's a lot to unpack there, a lot of different messages, simone. help us unpack it and give us your take on how the campaign is trying to maximize their edge on this issue. >> first, chris, i cannot remember the last time a sitting president or vice president went into a studio to do an interview. usually the folks come to them. the fact that the vice president was in this interview that happened with mika at the ceremonial office at the white house, in the vice president's office or her home at, sitting next to a young lady named hadley who was featured very heavily in governor beshear's re-elections ads because she was raped at a young woman by her stepfather and talked about her story. because in kentucky there were bills on the table and politicians that wanted to make it impossible for young women like hadley to get an abortion. i think what the campaign here is trying to do is to put a face to an issue that is very emotionally charged, but also politically charged across the country for folks. when you put a face to the issue, when you talk about the fact that women are being denied care for a miscarriage, when you talk about under a number of these laws across the country, women are unable to get the care they need if they have an ectopic pregnancy, which is a non-viable pregnancy where the egg is not supposed to be, and the same drug they would give to administer for a medical abortion is the same drug mifepristone that is used to take care of an ectopic pregnancy, women left to bleed out in parking lots, kate cox, a story we know from texas, denied the care she needed for a bibby that she wanted, but the baby, again, was nonviable, pregnancy was non-vinyl, so she needed an abortion, that changes the face of things for folks. i think the campaign has been quite successful as we used to say for the vice president, prosecuting that case, right? setting it up, we can talk about these existential issues, but look at the women we are talking about across the country. >> she's sitting next to one of these women who at 14 was raped by her stepfather. ruth, you wrote a great article. it basically explains biden's lead among women is the smallest of any democrat in 20 years. since 2020 biden has lost ten points among white women and trails by eight. while he holds significant leads among black and hips women, he's lost 30 points among both groups. what's the takeaway from all this? for all the talk about abortion galvanizing women, the numbers suggest he could be in trouble. >> yeah, that's right. he has lost significant ground with women. to be clear, joe biden is still winning among women, but by far less than he was in 2020 and other democrats have in the last 20 years. there was a survey digging into this and talked to 3,000 women. they found abortion is a motivating factor for about 10% of women. for the vast majority of women including 60% of black women and hips women, it really is about the economy. that's their motivating factor. they asked if they're better off financially under biden or trump, that group was much better off financially under trump. >> susan, that's the trick, right? communications can your thing. it may not be a clear-cut win for trump with women, but the economy being so important, i warrant to play some sound from donald trump who is not ceding the abortion issue, by the way, and what he had to say at the faith and freedom coalition. >> yeah, so, some of us in our group are torn on trump, which is why half our group is here and half is not, because of his comments regarding abortion. we want a federal abortion ban and obviously he wouldn't support something like that. >> i do also believe in a federal ban. i don't really believe in any exceptions. i will say that when there are situations where a pregnancy needs to be ended for medical emergency, that is something that shouldn't be blocked, but there's always a solution other than abortion. >> so help us understand that and how both candidates try to appeal to those voters who seem somewhat conflicted. >> i think with trump, his problem is he keeps kind of flip-flopping around. he believes if he's just talking to one audience, he can take credit and say, i got roe v. wade overturned. no one said it could be done and i did it. yet, he's also careful saying, oh, it's a state's issue whichever one wanted, whichever one did not want. the more donald trump talks about this issue, i think the bigger hole he digs for himself. at the end, looking at it from a practitioner's point of view, like with the polling and such, yes, you see abortion low down on the top issues when you ask that question, most pressing issue facing you as a voter. when you start making it a one or the other, abortion or the economy, you start seeing there is a way to parse that question especially on the extremist positions where we're seeing pop up in states no exception for rape or incest or life of the mother. i think that's what both sides will end up trying to do at least down ballot. i think president biden is right to talk about abortion, but also freedom, and that's where i think he's going to make it, as well as on health care. now we don't have ob/gyns flocking to a lot of states because they're afraid of going to jail. >> i think -- look, ruth, if we look at a little broader lens, you point out that it does make sense, right, for the biden campaign to focus on abortion and you quote kellyanne conway who said joe biden and democrats only seem to talk to women from the waist down since abortion is the only issue joe biden has an edge on in the polls. that's not 100% true. but having said that, is it clear from your research and from your writing where the strongest possible messaging is? >> you know, it's interesting. abortion is a strong message in states where abortion is on the ballot. for example, in a state like michigan where abortion feels fairly settled for a lot of women, that wasn't a motivating factor to them and they weren't as motivated to vote for biden. in states like arizona where abortion is on the ballot, there you saw a lot of sdk democratic women motivated to vote and vote for joe biden. i think the biden campaign is seeing this strategically in certain states. nationally the economy still is a better issue for women, particularly inflation and these pocketbook issues. >> so let's talk, symone for what we'll hear from president biden on thursday. do you imagine he's heavily into getting his messaging together for preparing for the debate on thursday? we know kamala harris' message. it has been consistent. it has been all across the country. but it's a different thing to stand on stage against donald trump, right? what do you think the strategy is, particularly on the issue of abortion? >> i think the strategy is going to be -- and you have heard the president -- let me back up and say what you heard the vice president say at the end of the clip you played with mika, about people don't have to give up their long-held personal beliefs to say i don't think the government should be making decisions, it's a very important point for a number of reasons. chief among them, because the president has very long-held personal beliefs. he is a very dedicated and devout catholic. he's spoken in the past about this issue and about how his faith ties into this for him. he says he believes that he does not think that the government should be telling women what to do with their bodies. this is about freedom and other freedoms. i think that's how you're going to hear the president couch that. i will be listening on thursday for and if -- if he's pressed on the moderators by that, if anyone -- much is often made about the fact that you don't hear the president say the word abortion. are the moderators going to press him on that, is donald trump going to corner him on that, even though donald trump has had a number of different positions, and i think the ones he took prior to being back on the ballot are the runs that are closer to what he may actually do. but this is going to be an election and a conversation, especially in the debate on thursday, that, yes, touches on abortion, but will absolutely touch on the economy. for a lot of voters out there abortion is, in fact, an economic issue. when you talk to women across the country, i don't think it's in a vacuum. they're all intertwined together. >> thank you all. be sure to turn in symone's show "the weekend" saturdays and sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern. prosecutors in the classified documents case asking for a gag order in a hearing slated to begin soon. we'll head to florida for the details after this. l head to fl details after this il-23 inhibitr that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. control of crohn's means everything to me. ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. 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thereby injecting a political sentiment into what's going on in the courthouse behind us. the hearing begins at 3:00. chris, it should last maybe about a couple of hours. i do not expect a ruling from judge cannon today. >> chuck, the special counsel's office says that donald trump -- and this is from their filings -- quote, deploring knowingly false inflammatory language in the combustible atmosphere that trump has created poses an immediate danger to law enforcement. is he right to be concerned, chuck? >> well, sure, chris. what mr. trump said was remarkably stupid and absolutely wrong. if you made a list of his remarkably stupid and absolutely wrong statements, i think this one would be near the top. the question is whether or not a gag order or trying to restrict his speech in some way is going to be effective. we saw a little bit of this in the new york state case in front of judge merchan where mr. trump was ordered to refrain from making certain comments. he did not, and he was punished. it seemed to rein him in a bit, but it did not. the court is not necessarily the best place to go to remedy every wrong and every sort of silly thing that mr. trump does. it may work, but i'm skeptical. >> so let me ask you, first of all, to do a little fact-check here. because what jack smith wrote was, number one, the search conducted at mar-a-lago was when the former president and his family weren't even there. so hard to assassinate someone who isn't there, but that's not even the point. they say, we should also note, number two, that his legal team was notified ahead of time of the search, and the same protocols were in place when they searched joe biden's property. so fact-check us. what is the proper protocol for what happens in a search like this. >> sure. your two points are good ones, but i think they are secondary, chris. federal law enforcement officers, state and local law enforcement officers are armed always. they have the right to use deadly force under certain circumstances. that doesn't change based on where they are or what they're doing. so before every fbi or dea or atf search, the agents are briefed again and again and again on their deadly force policy. a reminder that this is a very serious topic, one that they have to know by heart, not one that any agent sort of enjoys -- no agent signs up in order to take another person's life. it was completely a normal process for these agents to be briefed on the deadly force policy before executing a search warrant. that's it, chris. that's it. there was no plot, no assassination plot, there's no attempt to get mr. trump at mar-a-lago or mr. biden at his home. all that is utter nonsense. the fact that mr. trump keeps making reckless comments about it is pathetic. again, i'm not sure a court will be able to successfully gag him and stop this nonsense. >> let's just talk about what's on the table which is the gag order. trump's legal team was pretty unsuccessful at challenging the gag order in the new york case. of course, this is a different case, different judge. what are you expecting? what are you looking for here? >> what i would hope for is for mr. trump to be smart, thoughtful, sensible and careful. that's not going to happen in my lifetime. the next thing i'm hoping for is for the judge to warn mr. trump about making reckless and inflammatory comments that unnecessarily put agents in harm's way. if she's not willing to do that, i'm not sure what the value is of even having a gag order in place. she ought to warn mr. trump about the possible consequences of his rhetoric. this doesn't seem to be the judge or the time or the place for this. she's not a particularly good judge. she's demonstrated that over and over again. so i don't fault the smith team for trying to rein in mr. trump's comments. i'm just not sure they're in a venue where it's going to succeed, chris. >> chuck rosenberg, always good to have you on the program, my friend. thank you. brand new and disturbing video just released showing the kidnapping of three young people in israel on october 7th. we're live in tel aviv after this. we're live in tel aviv after this the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. she runs and plays like a puppy again. his #2s are perfect! he's a brand new dog, all in less than a year. when people switch their dog's food from kibble to the farmer's dog, they often say that it feels like magic. but there's no magic involved. 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(vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on. we have breaking news, chilling new video that shows the moment three young people were abducted in israel during the october 7th massacre. we need to warn you this is really disturbing to watch. this video was recorded by hamas and released by the families of the hostages. hostages were kidnapped from a shelter after they fled the nova music festival. all three are still believed to be held in gaza today. it is unclear who edited the faces of the kidnappers in this video. nbc's matt bradley is reporting from tel aviv. gabe gutierrez is at the white house. matt, i know you spoke with one of those hostages' family, the american citizen, hersh goldberg polin. >> i spoke with parents rachel and john, and they had some very interesting things to say about their plight and how they're pushing this cause. they've been outspoken from the beginning, pushing the cause not just here in israel where there are lots of families, of course, but also in the united states. they actually just got back from a trip to washington, d.c. where they met with politicians and the biden administration. they said they were fruitful meetings and they feel as though the biden administration is on their side. i spoke with john a little bit about what he sees as the stark choice that is facing policymakers both in the u.s. and here in israel. here is what he told me. so we also have been hearing from the hostage family forum, and they've been saying one of the things they're mourning z just now is the death of one of the fighters from the israeli side who was just killed in the gaza strip. this has been a cause of mourning throughout all of israel. we've been seeing this, of course, on a daily basis as the fight in israel continues in the gaza strip. we've seen protests in front of benjamin netanyahu's house. they've been ramping up the pressure and they're doing so as they're seeing more and more of a rift between washington and jury room. something we've been covering quite regularly. >> i want to go back to that sound. literally e we just got it turned around from your interview. let me play that and you can comment on the other side. >> the situation we're dealing with is binary. we bring home the hostages or we don't. and until we bring them home, we haven't done enough, our leaders haven't done enough, our elected officials haven't done enoughment when it comes to here in israel, one thing that gives me additional optimism is the people on the street. they are speaking. they're speaking loudly and clearly, polling data recently shows it. people want the hostages home. they're willing to take a deal if it means it, people are willing to make the choice and get the hostages home. >> what else did they have to tell you? >> chris, you can see he sees his role and his wife's role and that of so many others here as just one of constant agitation, constant pressure, and that's one of the reasons why we're seeing these protests in front of benjamin netanyahu's house, and the outrage, what you're hearing and seeing all over the place here. this country is very divided. we're seeing from probably most of the people on the left who are already opponents of benjamin netanyahu who are furious with the fact that benjamin netanyahu hasn't yet signed on to some sort of peace deal with hamas to bring those remaining hostages home. nooin and his more right wing allies, they're the ones pushing for an end to hamas. they said they will not withdraw their troops and won't signal an end to the fighting in the gaza strip until they're sure that hamas as an organization has been completely dismantled. that's the conflict you're seeing here in israeli society. it's one these two parents, where they've chosen one particular side. they're americans but have cast themselves into this have domestic conflict and one is that really dividing this country perhaps more than it was divided before. >> matt, thank you for that and thank you for that interview. gabe, just moments ago, israeli defense minister gallant arrived at the state department to meet with secretary of state antony blinken. i'm wondering one week after netanyahu dissolved his war cabinet and the unity government that has led israel since october 7th, what's the anticipation, what's the hope might come out of these conversations? >> certainly a very critical meeting with gal lantd and several high-profile officials here in washington. you mentioned secretary of state antony blinken. also cia director bill burns. tomorrow the defense minister is scheduled to meet with defense secretary lloyd austin. pentagon press secretary was asked about that meeting. he said they will discuss that situation in the middle east, of course. chris, this comes as matt was alluding to, at a time of increased tensions between israel and the united states. the biden administration saying it was disappointed by some of the comments that netanyahu had made. although now the question becomes how do they move past that? we do not have any official comment from the national security council on the latest comments from prime minister netanyahu today. but as you said, there's important meetings happening today and tomorrow. there's also expected to be a discussion about what the u.s. will do with regards to lebanon and potentially what if israel were to decide to invade lebanon in the ongoing conflict with hezbollah. the pentagon secretary said he didn't want to get into hypotheticals. the biden campaign sounds the alarm over the fund-raising frenzy. the latest on the money wars and what the numbers actually tell us. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. watching reports" only on msnbc you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. some dramatic contrasts in the race for president today while joe biden is hyper focused on thursday's debate, donald trump is fund-raising, holding multiple events this week including one today in new orleans. after trump brought in more cash than biden two months in a row, team biden sent an email warning that trump is outraising us with all these billionaires, adding that, in a race as close as this one, that could have cots trophic consequences. politico describes the disappointment and depression among biden donors as they watch their advantage vanish. in fact, for the first time in the race biden is running behind. stewart stephens is former chief strategist for mitt romney's 2020 campaign. joining me in studio nbc's vaughn hillyard. all right, vaughn, at last week's filing deadline trump and the rnc reported $116.5 million cash on hand. biden and the dnc, $91.6 million in the bank. what is trump doing with the cash advantage? >> the trump campaign said give us a few months, we're going to ramp up staffing in the battleground states when joe biden already had men on the field and frankly they didn't even have state directors in some of the battleground states, the trump campaign. now this is their moment. what does that ramp-up look like? do they have operations in rural parts of the state, in places like maricopa county, places like the suburbs of milwaukee. this is their moment to ramp up that. but also spending on campaign advertisements. the biden campaign has massively outspent them on the air waives. if you look at campaign spending to this point, the biden campaign spent for the trump campaign and their allies, about $235 million in the bank, the biden team $212 million. this is what trump and their allies were preparing for. they have now committed to make this moment something out of it. >> the big -- a big chunk of it isn't going to his legal fees? >> that is a question as to what could potentially the super pack, what could they do with it? could they transfer some of the money? the super pac committed spending $100 million on ads over the course of the next month, through labor day. we'll see what some of those add buys look like. this is the moment where you can talk about reserving add space and spending big and making a dent. now this is that moment coming out of the summer here when you would expect four months out for that actually to happen. >> for the grassroots, stewart, the question is how late is too late? politico spoke to a democratic donor who said biden's early money accounted because it allowed for biden to build out these offices which have been cranking along. that's not something trump can catch up on. he can't get back february, march, april and may when the biden campaign was getting boots on the ground. give us your take on him raising more money? and is it too late to really get a grassroots on the ground, offices in those battleground states operation going? >> usually in politics you can do things good, you can do them fast and you can do them cheap, but you can only do two out of the three. i think sort of forgotten in this is the fact that drum came in and absolutely decimated the rnc. that's throwing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in years of preparation for this race. so where the two are starting i don't think can be judged by dollars raised. it's what were they building on when they started to spend this money? i think the trump campaign is way behind in this. everybody i know in the republican party, and i still have a lot of friends over there, they are just either furious or baffled by what trump has done at the rnc. it's a power play i think that doesn't serve him well. putting people like his daughter-in-law who doesn't know anything about politics in charge of a political organization, it isn't going to work well. i think the biden campaign is running a better campaign. more money is always better. i don't think money at the end of this day is going to determine the race. >> when the biden campaign uses a phrase like catastrophic consequences, is that just typical fund-raising piper bolly or do you think some of what we're hearing is because of democrats over estimating the impact or underestimating, de pending on your perspective, the impact that a conviction would have, a lot of people thought maybe the money will dry up. clearly that hasn't happened? >> i would say it was the former. nobody gives money if it doesn't really matter. the more you can up the stakes to say this is essential, we can't win without this, we're facing a catastrophic loss here, that motivates people to give money. so i don't think the fund-raising is an accurate description of how they really feel inside the campaign. look, i think there's a pretty solid trajectory here that's clear. donald trump is sliding downward, and he goes into this debate needing to reverse that trend. the problem here is he's not talking about anything that really a large group of voters care about. he's talking about himself, he's talking about his grievances. most people really don't feel that the united states judicial system is out to get him. so it's a very limited appeal. i think you're going to really see this in this debate where biden is going to go out and talk about things that affect people's lives. trump with his me, me, me, why are they out to get me? that's not a very attractive quality as it goes on and on. >> we only have 30 seconds left. i don't think it's a surprise his base is flocking to trump after the conviction. what about the billionaires? why are the timothy melons -- >> timmy melon is an 81-year-old heir of the melon banking family, he just put $30 million in after the conviction. he's also given to rfk junior. the question is who matches up? you have melinda gates just endorsed joe biden. there's time to begin to match that. yes, there's a lot of big dollar donors given to trump right now. >> so much money. vaughn hillyard, stuart stephens, much appreciated. catastrophic flooding in iowa, carbs stranded, submerged under water. what the state's governor is saying as first responders race to rescue those stranded. a live report from the ground next. if you're swimming on the east coast, you better be careful. the new warning from authorities about deadly rip currents ahead in our next hour. this is "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. this is "chris jansing reports" ly on msnbc. this homestyle chid wrap from subway this is how you do it. savory chicken, crisp veggies all wrapped up— these wraps are amazing. people can hear my thoughts? that's a problem. stay fresh out there with all—new wraps from subway. video tells a devastating story today in iowa. flooding so deep that bulldozers had to be used for rescues. it's slim pickings for vehicles that are actually able to make it through that water. knee-high floods have water logged most cars and cut off other transportation options. water levels collapsed a critical rail bridge late last night, snapping it in the river below and suspending all transit in sioux city. governor kim reynolds said emergency teams already carried out 250 water rescues, some in speed boats like this one at a flooded public school. one of thousands of buildings damaged by record rainfall. joining me now is ktiv's katie koppel reporting live from the ground at the border of iowa and south dakota. a few hours ago the sioux city fire chief said there was still water spilling over from nearby rivers. bring us up to speed of what's on the ground and what's in the forecast. >> reporter: that's right, chris. as you can see behind me, it's just one of the most dramatic images we have coming out of this region here in the iowa/south dakota area. now, this bridge started going down just before 11:00 p.m. last night. i was here a few minutes after that. it looks a lot different now. let's see if we can get video up to see if you can truly get a scope of the damage here. the section of the train bridge is on the north sioux city, south dakota, side and it has collapsed and shifted in the water. the bridge is on the bsnf rail line connecting south dakota and iowa. here you can really see how fast and how harshly the floodwaters are running through the big sioux river. this was just taken this morning. this river crested at 3:30 this morning at 44.98 feet, which is historic flood levels for the big sioux river. now, this crest came several hours sooner than officials expected, and also came in several feet higher than officials predicted. the amount of rain this region has seen in the last few weeks really wreaking havoc. losing this rail passage between south dakota and iowa, a devastating blow. officials say it will likely be months before we see this line reopened. bnsf said they had already stopped traffic on the railroad bridge. again, it will be months before this is fixed. i'm going to see if we can take this back live so my photographer can get even closer. you can see how fast this water is rolling through the bridge here. you can see the one on the -- the one side of your screen here on the north sioux city, south dakota, side is the one that collapsed at first. the other one has also started to give away. if you can see behind there, you can also see the amount of debris that is coming and collecting. we have widespread flooding here in the big sioux river, also the missouri river, the nearby little sioux river. it's catastrophic flooding throughout northeast iowa and southeast south dakota. in mccook lake we have homes entirely washed away. but it's safe to say this region has really been impacted by these floodwaters. it will be a long time before we get any sort of recovery process started. south dakota governor kristi noem saying earlier this morning at a news conference in south dakota that this is the crisis situation here in this region. i'm katie koppel in north sioux city reporting, back to you. >> thank you so much for that. and more deadly flooding overseas. a team of 200 rescuers is working overtime in switzerland to find two missing people after a massive thunderstorm triggered a rock slide, cutting off the only road into the famed alpine ski village. emergency teams did find the body of a man who was killed in a nearby river. successfully rescued one woman from the rubble. while rescuers do have excavators, they have specially trained search dogs, drones and helicopters. officials say the chances of finding the missing are low. weather officials say nearly 5 inches of rain fell in a single one-hour period. two years in prison for robbing two banks, not necessarily a noteworthy sentence except that the robber is an 88-year-old man. so, how did he. ul it off? first, he's had practice. steven whitecloud was convicted of bank robbery in 2008 and served ten years in state prison. this time he's on supplemental oxygen, has scoliosis and stage five lung cancer but whitecloud recruited his 26-year-old grandson to actually stick up the banks, acting as the getaway driver for the dual robberies just four days apart. whitecloud is currently awaiting transfer to a prison medical facility. another update from outside the florida courthouse as that gag order hearing in the trump classified documents case now to kick off in just about an hour from now. stay close. power e*trade's easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley (bell ringing) someone needs to customize and save hundreds with liberty mutual! 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