people that they can get back into their homes. even if they get back into homes, there's no gas, no power. and as far as gas goes, alex, no telling when the gas will be turned back on. alex? >> extraordinary scenes. 8,000 people that cannot go home for the time being. alison kosik in boston, thanks very much. back to south carolina and erica hill in myrtle beach with our continuing coverage of now tropical storm florence. erica? >> alex, thank you. let's reset the scene for everyone. here in myrtle beach the situation is decidedly worse than when we got here yesterday, much choppier in the ocean behind us. wind and rain haven't stopped, picking up overnight, and continuing through the morning. that's the story today. this is a storm that's essentially sitting on top of the region, moving at a crawl, 2 miles per hour, which barely feels like any movement at all. and there are hours and hours and inches of rain to come. rain in some areas being measured in feet. records broken.