With just five days to go, President Trump and joe biden set to hold dueling rallies in a battleground that could hold the key to the election. While a group of former Homeland Security secretaries join forces to dispel concerns over widespread voter fraud. It would be impossible for someone to orchestrate a massive fraud. Savannahs exclusive conversation with them just ahead. Mounting toll. The u. S. Shatters another coronavirus record. More than 80,000 new cases in a single day, as dr. Anthony fauci warns that even with a vaccine, a return to normal is not on the horizon. I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps even into the next year before we start having some semblances of normality. From celebration to investigation. The dodgers Justin Turner facing potential fines and suspension for celebrating on the field at the world series while positive for coronavirus. What the league and his teammates are now saying about his decision. Those stories, plus, you want surprise with that . Ahh well take you inside the new halloween trend of drivethrough Haunted Houses today, thursday, october 29th, 2020. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today. Its a very busy thursday morning. Were so happy youre joining us today. Nice to see you this morning. Lots of breaking news to tell you about, including the frightening knife attack in france this morning. We will take you there for a live report just ahead. But we do begin with concerns here at home over zeta. It ripped through the gulf coast as a strong category 2 hurricane, leaving behind a path of destruction, and it is going to cause even more problems today as it moves up the east coast. Were going to get to als forecast in just a moment. First, nbcs Morgan Chesky has the latest from new orleans. Hey, morgan. Good morning. Reporter savannah, hoda, good morning to you. Right now, hurricane zeta being blamed for at least two deaths. An electrocution here and a drowning in mississippi. The city of new orleans in the hurricane cone seven times this season before hurricane zeta made a direct hit. Oh, my gosh reporter this morning, coastal communities waking up to devastation again. 2foot swell here. Reporter hurricane zeta, a category 2 storm, battering the battered coastline. It never waivered, rolling in with wind guests topping 100 miles an hour. Though we have made it through, we have been damaged. We have been hit. Reporter the destructive winds and heavy rain soaking the gulf of coast from louisiana to alabama, including mississippi, where cars were swamped in this biloxi parking garage. Boats toppled and countless homes taking a big hit from the 11th hurricane this year. It was scary. Reporter the rapid growth seen from the International Space station, swelling to a near category 3 just before making landfall. In new orleans, extra flood gates were shut as early as noon on wednesday, hoping to thwart the inevitable. You have a number of systems that have to come together to keep new orleans safe and dry. Reporter people here exhausted from the relentless storm season. People here in new orleans tweeting that they would like to cancel their subscription to the relentless hurricane of the month, please. This Restaurant Owner had to close nine times this year. This is, by far, the most challenging, stressful year yet. Reporter a region beaten and battered by mother nature, ready for 2020 to finally end. When is it going to stop . When is it going to stop . Reporter this morning, the governor of louisiana expected to tour the worst of the damage today. This storm is now the worst to hit the state of louisiana this late into a Hurricane Season. Hoda . Morgan chesky, the folks in new orleans have been through a lot. Its enough already. We turn to al, who is tracking where zeta has been and also where it is headed now. Thats right, guys. This is the fourth in a row rapidly intensifying hurricane. Weve had eight this year so far, and that is all because of the climate change. Warmer waters in the gulf. Right now, 65 miles west northwest of atlanta, still has 60mileperhour winds. Look at how fast it is moving right now at northeast at 39 miles an hour. Right now, Tropical Storm warnings extend all the way into southern virginia. We have flood and flash flood watches working their way all the way up into the northeast. Weve got this system now rocketing through. It moves off the coast very rapidly, but then heavy rain, flash flooding into the northeast and midatlantic states. Colder air will filter into this tomorrow. Were going to end up with a period of a messy snow in the northeast, parts of the northeast and new england. Rainfall amounts 1 to 2 inches but could be upwards of 3 inches of rain. Look at this, were talking about some places in the upper elevations from binghamton to mt. Washington, about 5 to 6 inches of snow. By the way, we have another area of development, a tropical disturbance were watching in the next five days. 40 chance of development. Our Hurricane Season isnt over yet, guys. Wow. Al, thank you very much. Now to this mornings breaking news out of france. A deadly knife attack inside a church. It happened in nice. Police are saying it is a terrorist attack. Nbcs matt bradley joins us with the latest on it. Matt, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. A Stunning Development here in france. Three people stabbed to death around a cathedral in the Southern City of nice. This whole country had been bracing for another terror attack ever since a teacher was brutally beheaded in a community outside of paris here. Now, it seems their worst expectations have come true. Another day of horror in france. Three People Killed in a knife attack. Two slaughtered inside a church, one womans throat slit, another man stabbed to death. The third victim knifed outside as he tried to flee. Police investigating the killers as a terror attack. The suspect was injured but is now in custody. The brutal murder happened in the notre dame basilica in the city of nice. The incident comes almost two weeks after another horrific attack. A teacher brutally beheaded, targeted because he showed cartoons of the prophet mohamed in class. The motive for this attack is unclear, but the country is already reeling and mourning. You know, terror attacks arent the only cause of tensions here. Covid cases have been rising in this country, and it goes into a hard lockdown at midnight tonight. With this latest rash of terror attacks, thats likely to add anxiety to a country thats already very much on edge. Savannah . Difficult times, matt bradley on the breaking news. Thank you. Well turn our attention now to the president ial race. With just five days to go, the stage is set for dueling rallies in the battleground of florida. Both President Trump and joe biden will be making Campaign Stops there today. Kristen welker joins us from tampa in a moment. First, nbcs Peter Alexander is taking a look at how the candidates are taking different approaches in the homestretch of the race. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Nice to see you. The candidates offering starkly different views on this pandemic. The president insisting a vaccine will be here, in his words, momentarily, and that it will eradicate the virus. He insists were rounding the turn despite Public Health experts warnings to the contrary. Joe biden, for his part, says hes not running on the false promise of ending the pandemic simply flipping a switch but promising that science will be driving his decisions. With days to go, the covid pandemic is still defining this race. Joe biden blaming President Trump for what he calls a failed response to the virus. Seems like he doesnt care much about it. The longer hes in charge, the more reckless he gets. Its enough. Reporter President Trump arguing biden wouldnt be able to bring the country back. Biden is the candidate of layoffs. Lockdowns and misery. Reporter at packed rallies in arizona, the president downplaying the virus and describing grim consequences if his opponent wins. If you vote for biden, it means no kids in school, no graduations, no weddings, no thanksgiving, no christmas, and other than that, youll have a wonderful life. Reporter before casting his ballot in delaware, biden denouncing the claim that among the president s top accomplishments, ending the covid19 pandemic. Its an insult to every Single Person suffering from covid19. And every family who has lost a loved one. Reporter the white house acknowledging the release was poorly worded. With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surging nationwide, this flashback to last spring. President trumps soninlaw and Senior AdviserJared Kushner telling Journalist Bob Woodward the u. S. Was starting its comeback phase. According to audio obtained by cnn. Weve put out rules to get back to work. Trumps now back in charge. Its not the doctors. Theyve kind of we have, like, a negotiated settlement. Reporter biden with Oprah Winfrey and a 94yearold voter overnight, emphasizing the stakes in this election. You said this is the most important election of your lifetime. Its not because im running, its because of the alternative. Well, let me ask you, peter, there are a couple of court cases making headlines this morning, having to do with mailin ballots. Can you bring us up to date . Reporter thats right. In two crucial battlegrounds, pennsylvania and North Carolina, there are two wins for democrats. In both states the Supreme Court effectively saying that the Election Officials can accept absentee ballots for several days after november 3rd in North Carolina. The ballots will be counted if they arrive up to nine days after election day, as long as they are postmarked by then. In the pennsylvania case, a Lower Court Ruling that says the state must count ballots arriving three days after election day. That will stay in place. Notably, Justice Amy Coney barrett did not take part in either one. Of course, a spokesperson saying barrett had not had time to fully review the cases. Peter alexander at the white house, thank you. Craig joins us now, more on the election. Good morning. Good morning to both of you. As you mentioned, the president and joe biden will be campaigning in florida today. In fact, theyll be campaigning in the same city, tampa. Nbcs Kristen Welker has made her way there, as well. Kristen, good morning to you. Reporter hi, craig. Good morning to you. The fight for florida is intensifying this morning, with its 29 electoral votes. Florida is a huge prize. President trump won this state back in 2016. It is going to be critical if he wants to win reelection. Im here outside a polling place where people have been lining up for days to cast their ballots early. It comes as the latest nbc marist poll shows that this state is up for grabs. With dueling rallies in tampa today, President Trump and Vice President biden making a final push in florida. After being tied here a month ago, our latest nbc news marist poll has biden with a slight 4point lead over President Trump in the state. 51 to 47 . Thats within the margin of error. Bidens bounce fueled by a surge among seniors and independents, but President Trump tops biden with several groups, including white voters, men, and the states critical latino voters. 18yearold sebastians family is from cuba. He voted for the first time and cast his ballot for the president , citing the economy as his key issue. Donald trump being a businessman is the person i want to see in office. Reporter Natalie Vegas family is from puerto rico, and she voted for biden, driven in part by spiking covid cases in florida. I think he has a plan for the pandemic and trying to get us out. Reporter so far, 6. 3 Million People have voted early in the sunshine state. Thats a 57 increase from 2016. With registered democrats outpacing republicans. And while most voted by mail, plenty are lining up to cast their ballots in person. Everybody had the mask on, all 6 feet or more away from each other. There was sanitizing stations wherever in there. Reporter you felt safe voting . Absolutely. Reporter biden is vastly outspending the president in florida, dropping more than 6 million in advertising compared to less than 300,000 for the trump campaign. While some voters are still haunted by the 2000 bush gore recount, Election Officials say history will not repeat itself. Should people will concerned about a rerun of 2000 . I dont think so. The equipment, technology is advanced from what it was in 2000. These machines that we use now are so accurate. Reporter now, state law allows Election Officials to start voting all of those early and mailin ballots now, which means that we could know the results of florida as early as election night. It is also worth noting the rnc and dnc are pouring millions into this state, craig. Kristen welker for us there in tampa. Kristen, thank you. Savannah . Breaking news on the coronavirus overnight. The u. S. Reported more than 80,000 cases yesterday, a new daily record for the third time in one week. That total includes the state of wisconsins most dismal numbers yet. This is the state where Health Officials are urging people to stay home, except when absolutely necessary. Nbcs kathy park joins us from madison this morning. Kathy, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning to you. The predicted fall surge is in full effect here. In wisconsin, more than 500 coronavirus deaths have reported this month alone. While there are promising treatments on the horizon, dr. Anthony fauci warns the pandemic is far from over. A stark, new warning from dr. Anthony fauci, who says even if effective vaccines are produced i think it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps even into the next year before we start having some semblances of normality. Reporter adding the upcoming holidays could drive new outbreaks. You get one person who is asymptomatic and infected, then all of a sudden, four or five people in that gathering are infected. To me, thats the exact scenario that youre going to see in thanksgiving. Reporter 38 states have seen a rise in hospitalizations over the last week, including wisconsin. Now on a grim path to eclipse 2,000 deaths this weekend. It is a nightmare scenario, frankly, that this could get quite a bit worse. Reporter experts say the state could face a shortage of trained intensive care personnel. Health care workers are coming down with infections just as the community is. Reporter icu doctors say it is difficult to provide comfort for patients in distress. Its terrifying to see someone struggling to breathe. You can see the fear in their eyes. You can see how scared they are. Reporter governor evers sounding the alarm to curb the crisis. Im going to make it easy. Stay home. Dont have people at your home. Dont host or go to gatherings. Reporter on the campaign trail in wisconsin tuesday, President Trump calling for the opposite approach. By the way, speaking of lockdowns, lets get your governor to open it up. Reporter days after the big ten restarted its season, the university of wisconsin is cancelling this saturdays game at nebraska after 12 members of the Football Team tested positive, including coach paul chryst, who said, in part, the safety of everyone in our program has to be our top priority. A state in crisis, struggling to slow a dramatic fall surge. And just to give another perspective on how challenging the situation currently is in the state, here at the University Hospital in madison, the volume of Covid Patients has doubled compared to the spring. Nearly 30 of patients need some sort of icurelated care. Savannah . Kathy, thank you very much. It is 17 minutes after the hour. Lets head over to mr. Roker and get a check of the forecast. Hey, al. Hey, guys. Western third of the country looks fantastic. However, we are looking at wet weather in the east. Heavy rain due to zetas remnants. Also a secondary low bringing more rain into the mississippi and ohio river valleys. Sunshine through the plains. Sunny but not quite as warm out west. Thats good news. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Nice sunrise across the bay area as we take a live look outside at san jose also a chilly start. Grab a jacket if youre going to be heading out. Heres a look at our high temperatures for today. Recovering nicely and reaching into the upper 070s and low 80s. Temperatures comfortable for the next several days and halloween expect a high of 80 and 82 by sunday. And that is your latest weather. Savannah al, thank you so much just ahead, the fbi this morning sounding the alarm on a major cybersecurity threat a coordinated attack targeting u. S. Hospitals this morning, the race to find out who is behind it and why plus, the new coronavirus outbreak in europe cases there exploding, and new lockdowns being announced. Keir simmons joins us live from london with that story fi rs garage door opening it is my fathers love. It is his passion it is his fault he didnt lock the garage. Dont even think about it been there, done that. With liftmaster® powered by myq®, know whats happening in your garage from anywhere. But you can work out anything wowith comcast business. W. Ge