0 school students in oakland. what police are now saying. world news is coming up next and i will see you back here at 4:00. tonight the desperate search is under way in florida. families still being rescued days later and major new questions about mandatory evacuation orders. should they have come sooner? and tonight the remnants of ian affecting the east, north carolina through new jersey and new york in the coming hours. tonight the staggering death toll from hurricane ian now rising. survivors of the hurricane still being airlifted days after the deadly storm made landfall. lee county alone reporting at least 54 deaths, and more than 800 rescues. the new images emerging showing hurricane ian blasting pine island with wind, waves and debris and many asking about those mandatory evacuation orders, should they have been issued sooner. tonight you will hear authorities defend their decisions. also tonight, the remnants often ian now along the east coast this evening. heavy winds, rain, flooding, the alerts tonight from north carolina right up to new york. rob marciano is standing by to time this out. the president and the first lady on the ground in puerto rico following devastation caused by hurricane fiona. power and water still not fully restored. ukrainian forces breaking through russian lines, even in the territory suddenly seized by russia. tonight the new images of ukraine's military releasing video, claiming to show soldiers ambushing troops in the donbas. russia's stunning acknowledgment. the urgent search for a suspected serial killer, at least five murders in california. all of the victims ambushed alone at night. what we learned today. the breaking news tonight in women's soccer, the disturbing results of an independent investigation finding systemic abuse and sexual misconduct, quote, rooted in a deeper culture beginning in youth leagues. >> nfl star j.j. watt revealing his medical scare, the heart procedure three days before taking the field, as he and his wife prepare to welcome their first child. >> the supreme court beginning its new term, making history and diving in on several key issues. >> a deadly car crash, six young people killed, a passengers iphone automatically alerting first responders. >> and america strong tonight, saving the pets. >> announcer: from abc news world headquarters in new york, this is "world news tonight," with david muir. good evening. it's great to start another week with all of you. we begin with the urgent search for survivors where rescues are still under way days after hurricane ian made landfall. still playing out, the staggering laws of life continues to grow. at least 94 lives lost, the deadliest hurricane in florida in modern history. tonight new images from inside hurricane ian as it struck. this is pine island, an accuweather storm chaser there at the time. and afterward the community of st. james at the tip of pine island, homes shattered, many structures wiped off the map. the coast guard still hard at work tonight since we talked to them after ian made landfall. tonight, of course, those questions about mandatory evacuations and if they could have come any sooner, even just hours sooner, could it have made a difference. senior meteorologist rob marciano is leading us off from fort myers tonight. >> reporter: tonight, across florida, the death toll from hurricane ian is rising. first responders combing through wreckage around the clock in hard-hit lee county. officials say they've rescued more than 800 people but they still don't know how many are still missing. >> the death toll is up to 54. that's 54 more than i ever want to talk about here. >> reporter: new video from accuweather storm chasers shows what families that rode out the storm on pine island were facing. the fury of ian's 150-mile-per-hour winds. >> the water just kept pounding the house and we watch boats, houses, we watched everything just go flying by. >> reporter: pine island res extent joe conforto overcome with emotion as he recounts coming face to face with a ten-foot wall of water. >> we've lost so much at this point, so we appreciate you guys. >> reporter: the island now cut off from the mainland. we jumped on a boat with christopher petro on sunday, ferrying residents and supplies. >> if you don't have a generator, it's grueling. and the water, they need water more than anything. >> where do you think they need it the most? >> i would say st. james. >> reporter: we meet a group of trauma nurses and former military there to lend a hand however they can. >> there's no way of guessing what you're going to see, run into, all we know is here we're. >> reporter: and tonight signs of florida strong, the folks at faith-based relief group mercy chefs got a tip that a local hospital needed water. when they brought some, they realized they had an opportunity to help more. >> right now mercy chefs is doing 6,000 meals a day to the five local hospitals. >> reporter: with death toll now the worst in modern history for florida, lee county's sheriff defending decisions made about evacuations. >> we were not in the cone. i am confident in our county manager, our leaders, our governor, all of us in law enforcement, that we got that message out at the right time. >> reporter: but lee county and most of florida's gulf coast, as these hurricane maps show, was in the cone of uncertainty the entire time. >> the cone was wobbling. it's so difficult for people to track this knowing their own lives and how they're going to get their families out of there. rob with us now. and these are important questions, rob, because every hour does matter when families are trying to make these plans to figure out how they're going to get out. it's a lot easier for some than others. >> reporter: yeah, david. everybody has personal cla challenges when it comes to evacuating. every hour is even more critical, especially now. we look at what they did as far as evacuating people, could they have done it sooner. that's certainly a question we'll be looking into deep la. noaa is always looking to improve messaging. and as far as the forecast cone is concerned, they're looking to improve the messaging to officials and the public and in an era of global warming where storms are becoming a little more fierce, the messaging is even more crucial. >> we were on the air with you as it was doing its rapid intensification and it changes so quickly with so few hours left before it makes landfall. lots to come in the coming weeks and months. along the east coast we know north carolina, new jersey, right up into new york all still dealing with remnants of ian tonight. >> reporter: yeah, this is kind of some energy that's left over and it's not tropical but it's causing headaches across parts of the mid-atlantic, and certainly jersey. flood alerts are there for water being pushed in, and winds as well. not just today, but it looks like through tonight and much of tomorrow. so windy, rough day in some spots. there will be urban flooding. this is left over from ian but it's not tropical. that said, hurricane season is far from over. >> rob marciano leading us off again tonight. thank you. president biden and first lady dr. jill biden on the ground in prouerto rico today where power and water are still not fully restored four weeks after hurricane fiona. the president told puerto rico today he's committed to the island. >> reporter: president biden set off for puerto rico today, eager to assure people here that they have not been forgotten. >> they haven't been taken very good care of and we're trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. >> reporter: it's been five years since hurricane maria killed roughly 3,000 people. a lot of badly needed aid then hld up by the trump administration. two weeks ago, puerto rico hit again. hurricane fiona knocking out power across the island. tonight some 100,000 households remain in the dark. so many lives uprooted. maria grows emotional telling me all she has is what she could carry with her. everything she had left behind, now destroyed. right now, i don't know what to do, she says. the government right now only cares about themselves. they care about the people that have money. president biden has already pledged $2 billion to help rebuild. today he announced an additional $60 million. >> i'm determined to help puerto rico build faster than in the past and stronger and better prepared for the future. >> so important not to forget puerto rico, and, mary, the president, he travels now to florida on wednesday after hurricane ian? >> reporter: david, the president will be getting a firsthand look at the devastation and recovery effort there on wednesday. one big question, will he meet with rival republican governor ron desantis. tonight the white house isn't saying, but they are stressing this is not about politics, it's about the people of florida. >> really both sides have said state and federal government are working as one after this hurricane, thank you. to the major news to the war in ukraine, russia said it had seized four territories in ukraine. tonight ukrainian forces breaking through russian lines and territory now claimed by russia. the four provinces russia annexed on friday, ukrainian forces now claiming a key city and nearby towns and villages. you see the two locations that just came up. those are inside this claimed territory. tonight a stunning acknowledgment from the kremlin about so-called borders. here is our chief foreign correspondent, ian pannell. >> reporter: tonight ukraine making major new breakthroughs on the battlefield. the ukrainian military releasing this video last week saying it shows soldiers storming the forest of the eastern region, ambushing russian troops. the ukrainians now breaking through parts of russian lines along multiple front, advancing near kherson in the south, pushing back the russians in the northeast and reclaiming cities and towns in the eastern donbas region. parts of some areas putin illegally annexed friday and now are already back in the hands of the ukrainians. the russians retreating from lyman over the weekend, a key transport and logistics hub. captain alexander led his men in the liberation of lyman. >> how do you account for this sudden turnaround? we've seen it in kharkiv, now we're seeing it here in donbas. he says, it speaks to the bravery of our troops and the support of america and others. the recently liberated city is a testament to the ferocity of the battles fought here. when ukrainian troops went through a few weeks ago it unleashed a chain of events. putin annexed some of the territory and threatened the possibility of nuclear war. moscow is struggling to hold territory and in a stunning new admission from the kremlin, it doesn't know where the borders of its newly claimed territories actually are. >> let's bring in ian pannell reporting from ukraine. multiple front right in the territories claimed by russia. the question, how is putin going to respond here? >> reporter: i think it is a good question. putin has made it clear he will defend these newly annexed territories by any means necessary. he's even raised nuclear weapons. but he's effectively boxed himself into a corner with no obvious way out. the kremlin even admitting it doesn't know where its new borders are in these territories. i think that is what makes it such a dangerous moment, with no obvious means of achieving victory, does putin escalate further. >> as you point out, a precarious moment, indeed. back here at home to an urgent search for a suspected serial killer in stockton, california. they say five murders may be linked and all of the victims were ambushed alone and at night. >> reporter: tonight the urgent manhunt in california for a potential serial killer. authorities today releasing the identities of five victims they believe are linked by the same killer or killers. >> at this time we don't know if it's a person, two or three. we just don't know. >> reporter: the medical examiner confirming these men, four of them hispanic, were all gunned down between early july and last week, and they believe this image of someone from behind shows a person of interest. police saying all five cases occurred in close proximity in stockton, and are linked by evidence found at the crime scenes. all the victims were ambushed while alone in the dark as recently as last tuesday. >> we've got one down, multiple gsws. code 3, please. >> reporter: the victim identified as lawrence renzo lopez, a former musician who once sang about violence in stockton. his family broken by their loss. >> we're all taking this hard because of how much he meant to us in our lives. >> reporter: the cousin, the first victim, telling me paul was like a brother to him. >> who was your initial reaction when you heard serial killer? >> horror. you know,od- wouldn't even think that would happen here. none of the murders were motivated by robberies or gang activity so right now the motive is still a mystery. >> zohreen, thank you. we turn next this evening to the disturbing results of an independent investigation now out tonight into women's professional soccer finding abuse and misconduct is, quote, systemic and rooted deep in the sport's culture, beginning in youth leagues. here is eva pilgrim with exclusive reporting from our colleagues at espn. >> reporter: tonight a damning into u.s.om's soccer, an investigation like w information to be able to demonstrate not only the specific conduct with respect to a number of coaches, but also the systemic failings that allowed it to happen. >> reporter: thening in youth leagues and that the teams, the league and the u.s. soccer federation repeatedly failed to respond appropriately to players' allegations and evidence, allowing abusive coaches to move from team to team. the investigation initiated last year by the federation after allegations from 2015 into former portland thorns manager paul riley became public. players staging a mid-game pause in solidarity. five teams dropping their coaches amid allegations of misconduct. the former midfielder saying he allegedly invited her to his hotel room. >> i was terrified and i know at that point that i had to find a way out and i was not willing to compromise myself for my career, or for this person. >> alex morgan, one of team usa's stars and shim's former teammate speaking to espn. >> i just knew that he had to be held accountable one day and it would happen one day, but it took years for that to happen. >> reporter: back in 2021 he denied the allegations. as for u.s. soccer, they are making some immediate actions, including mandating background checks. >> thank you to you and our colleagues at espn. we'll have much more of the deep dive into women's soccer "truth be told: the fight for women's professional soccer" tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern on espn and espn+. arizona cardinals star jj watt after yesterday's game sharing more about the medical procedure he underwent just days before the game, shocking his heart back into rhythm: >> reporter: nfl star jj watt helping lead his arizona cardinals to another victory but this game was different, played just days after a heart procedure. the defensive lineman reluctantly going public before the news was leaked, tweeting, i went into a-fib on wednesday, had my heart shocked back into rhythm on thursday and i'm playing today. >> when they told me they were going to put me out and shock my heart, i was scared. >> reporter: millions of persons are living with fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that if untreated with increase the risk of stroke. he says his heart was beating weird so he got checked out and was diagnosed with a-fib. he and his wife are expecting their first child, announcing the news on social media. >> we've been looking at ultrasounds of our baby boy and they were happy and thursday we were looking at an ultrasound of my heart. it was just weird. i have a baby on the way. >> reporter: but watt says after the procedure, doctors assured him it was safe to return to the field. cardiologists say many athletes with a-fib are so in tune with their hearts that they can feel when something is off. >> we deliver a specialized style of current through your chest and heart while you're asleep, so we in essence restart -- allow your heart to restart on its own in a normal rhythm. >> reporter: it's not surprising watt played sunday if his doctors cleared him to do so. we're told you do not need a long recovery period after this type of procedure if your heart is in otherwise good condition. you can return to normal activities as early as the next day, david. >> thank you. next, the supreme court opening its new term today with justice ketanji brown jackson on the bench. history made the court today and of course they're tackling major issues that affect millions. >> reporter: they are, david. and that history with justice jackson's first day on the bench, there are now four women on the supreme court for the first time, different backgrounds and approaches. that is a striking image. and for the first time two black americans. but the real story, the 6-3 conservative super majority, after last year's blockbuster term making up major cases, this year they could end whether to end affirmative action in college a admissions, to allow business owners to refuse surface to lgbtq customers, to curb power to regulate waters and wetlands and give state legislatures enhanced powers to oversee elections. this could be another term where the supreme court pushes the law and the country to the right. david. >> we'll be watching closely. thank you. so a consequential january 6th case under way. five members of the oath keeper's far right group charged with conspiracy, dozens were at the capital in the stack formation on the capitol steps. the five on trial are accused of planning a, quote, armed rebellion to stop the transfer of presidential power. they have pleaded nothing. when we come back on a monday night, six young people killed in a deadly crash and an iphone 14 automatically alerting first responders from inside the crash. >> tonight a major fine. kim