Them. This is the worst one yet. Its really somewhat of a gloomy feeling, knowing the coast of North Carolina is going to be changed forever. Reporter President Trump sent out a series of tweets disputing the death toll in puerto rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Mr. Trump wrote, it was done by democrats to make him look bad. Wait, say that again . There is no reason to dispute these numbers. Suspected gas explosions. Reports of multiple injuries. Dozens of homes have been expected. So far, no indication foul play is involved. A gunman killed five people, including his wife, yesterday, in southern california, before turning the gun on himself. Put the gun down General Motors is recalling more than a million trucks and s. U. V. S. The recall covers certain 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and g. M. C. Sierra 1500 pickups. As well as chevy tahoe and suburban s. U. V. S. Glor good evening, everyone. Im jeff glor in wilmington, North Carolina. And this is our western edition. An unwelcome visitor is officially introducing herself tonight. Rse effects of florence are shtting worse by the minute, llst hours before she makes landfall, potentially right at ndr location here. Hns of thousands of homes and businesses have already lost power. That number could climb into the millions. The eye of the storm is about 100 miles offshore right now, only moving at about five miles an hour. Florence is a huge hurricane. Both carolinas could fit inside this storm. Is s packing maximum sustained s nds of 100 miles an hour tat is a category two. But the water is the bigger threat, the potential flooding, heth as much as 40 inches of rain possible in spots, and a storm surge of up to 13 feet. Every east coast state north of florida will get some of that rain. We have a team of correspondents deployed in the hurricane zone tonight. David begnaud is about 80 miles up the coast from here on radio island, which is getting some of the worst of it tonight. David . As night false, conditions are deteriorating. Wind gusts up to 70 miles per ho, but we have been told up to 90. 6 inches of rain so far, but forecasters are saying this area could get 18 inches. Specifically, were on radio island. Theres an Evacuation Order in this h area. Only 4,000 people live here. Some decided to statement theres a dust to dawn curfew, but i cant imagine anyone want tock out on the street right now. Storm surge could reach 6 feet. Im 61, so consider that. Were at a yacht club. Theres a marina behind me, the boats are gone and theres a dock i have been watching rock back and forth wondering how long its going to hang on. Think about it, if the conditions are this bad 12 hours away from landfall, jeff, imagine how much worse its going to get overnight. Glor all right, David Begnaud in begnaud in beaufort. Thank you very much, david. Lets go farther up the coast to the beach town of kitty hawk, North Carolina, in the outer banks, and Mark Strassmann is there. Mark . Epor surge has already ded this Barrier Island neighborhood with a river of fastmoving water, knocking down walls and wrecking houses. Storm surge in avon rushed between homes. In carolina beach, the roads are more suited for boats than cars. On cape hatteras, sand dunes are like minor speed bumps barely slowing down rising tides. Dath a mandatory Evacuation Order, all these houses should be empty. But a local police chief estimated 25 of residents here erll ride out the storm at home. Oren you see the waves get this heose, make you nervous . No. Te reporter 71yearold dick thomson, a lifelong resident here, is a hurricane holdout. Were going to have a surge problem. Theres no way to avoid it. Reporter at high tide tonight, the churning surf t,hind me will give the hold e ts a better sense of whether etey made the right call by staying put. Jeff, they know the worst of this storm is now a day away. Glor indeed it is, and could last for some time. Mark strassmann, thanks very much. Meteorologist megan glaros of wbbm in chicago has been with us all week, helping us track this storm. Ige remains with us here in wilmington tonight. Megan, first of all, whats the latest . Right, at this point, were looking at a cat 2. Its weakened a bit, but thats because its beginning to interact with land at this point. So we do anticipate that. The problem is it also went through a little eye wall replacement cycle, which is ye wntially its reorganization, and so they lose a little bit of strength sometimes during that. We anticipate it, though, being a strong system to make landfall tothin the next 24hour period, likely within the next 12 hours, moving westnorthwest though at a crawl, just five miles an hour. You can see on the radar, parts of North Carolina already getting hammered at this point, jeff. Th glor its interesting, as it thts and spins, we have been on just the outside of the worst of it, it seems like for a couple av hours now. Stt that is moving in here. At this point, the biggest threat is what . The biggest threat will be the rain, i believe. The storm surge is going to be a factor for those along the coastline and for some of the coastal inlets as well, of reurse. But look at these rainfall totals. Were talking about more than 30 inches of rain across a large us ak of South Carolina, North Carolina, and even farther inland, across mountainous iaeas, were going to get very heavy rains as well. That will be a giant factor. Also looking at the surge potential, that will impact a smaller number of people, i think, so the rains a little more widespread event for everyone. Glor and its taking these odd jags, right, like up and upwn . Its not one straight path. No, and thats what makes o ese tropical systems so hard to forecast, because we lose cose steering currents, so now its kind of an entity in and of itself, just sort of meandering a little bit. The problem is, it may meander long enough that we have impacts of Hurricane Force for a long time, potentially here all the way through saturday. So it will not leave this area for quite some time. Glor again, a longduration glom. All right, megan, we will check back in with you soon. You actually were with us earlier as we met with some scientists who are already gathering data from this hurricane to better predict the erxt one. To sean waugh, Research Scientist for noaas National Severe storms laboratory, srricanes like florence are a huge opportunity. Weve been down here for a couple of days and kind of looked around and have a couple of good spots in mind. Glor waughs job today was to launch hightech weather gonsors attached to balloons aught into the middle of florence. Good to meet you. We caught up with him at wilmington airport, not far from the carolina coastline, as he prepared for liftoff. Florence hurts a lot of people when it makes landfall here, but it potentially helps with the next hurricane. It does. Every bit of data that we collect helps in the future. Glor we got the chance to launch a balloon ourselves. Jeff, if i could get you to alld that . Glor yes. Iorst inflation. Then. Blll right, three, two, one. Glor . Blastoff. So how high is that going to go . Ive had them go as high as 120,000 feet before. Glor what to the point where it pops. T glor whats the goal in all lf this . Looking at, you know, where the peak winds are, where they occur at the ground and how that relates to damage, how the environment changes as it moves onshore, transitioning from a hurricane all the way down to a tropical depression. Hes the whole picture, is basically what were after. Gh glor waugh told us he has studied five hurricanes in real time. The data gathered from each one have helped people prepare for the next one. So, again, as florence does damage now, it also helps in the future in that way. As we have heard, some residents do plan to ride this storm out. Sometimes, they feel like they just have to. Adriana diaz is just north of here with one mans story. Adriana . Reporter jeff, were in jacksonville, North Carolina, where the rains and the winds have really picked up. Were about 20 miles inland from the atlantic ocean, which is just down in that direction. Now, this is the new river. Pllot of people have come here on their boats, to anchor their boats. Plt most people tied up their boats and they got out of here quickly. Now, the owner of this boat, taats captain james ross, he omns a tour boat company. Some of his other boats are out here. Hes decided to spend the night on board. D youre worried that if you left your boat alone, it would get destroyed. Correct, correct. Thats one thing us captains dont do, is we dont run for the hills. We like to stay with our assets, you might as well say. Reporter but this is a life threatening storm. This could cost you your life. Yeah, it could. But, you know, when youre when youre a licensed captain, youre experienced for these kind of problems, you know,. Ituations. So you you just stick with your boat. Reporter i imagine a lot of orople are telling you not to do this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, a few people told me i was crazy. But like i said, this aint my first rodeo. Ive done this before. Reporter its not his first rodeo because he rode out hurricanes bertha, fran, and hioyd, all on boats. Now, we asked him what hes going to do if things just get unbearable out here tonight. G said hes going to jump in the water and swim to shore. Now, the governor of North Carolina issued a sober warning saying dont relax, dont be complacent, stay on guard. Jeff. Glor jumping in the water and swimming to shore doesnt necessarily sound like the best plan, but we hope you all stay t fe. Adriana, thank you very much. Up and down the coast, hospitals rsd Nursing Homes in florences path are being evacuated. Health officials are determined ot to repeat some of the adstakes made in past hurricanes here. Heres demarco morgan. There you go, mr. Howie weve got bars on the side. Reporter this morning was gotime at this fayetteville nursing home. Bus after bus pulled up to evacuate some of the most oflnerable. Mr. Thornhill, were going on vacation. Yeah. Reporter 96yearold World War Ii Army veteran Roger Thornhill was among several dozen being taken to higher ground. Ive been through all of them. This is the worst one yet. And our main concern here at Heritage Place is this creek bed here. Reporter meridian senior livings kevin carlin says this meek that runs just a few yards behind the building is the big worry. During matthew, the water, if you can believe it, actually almost rose to the bottom of this bridge. And so, were always on the overlycautious side. Reporter scenes like this one from Hurricane Harvey is the teason why. Isis facility wasnt evacuated. Residents were left partially s bmerged in the murky uroodwaters. Many of the elderly are coming here to the Cumberland Village assisted living center. Cherie redus is counting on this generator to keep the power going while the staff prepares for emotional needs, especially for patients with dementia or alzheimers. They start feeling insecure. They start wondering whats going on. So our job is to help them feel safe. Reporter now, even though the residents have evacuated, the staff will be carefully monitoring this creek for the next couple of days. Jeff, state Officials Say more than 900 patients and residents living in coastal and eastern counties here in the state have evacuated so far. Glor demarco, thanks very much. President trump was briefed today on storm emergency preparations. One president on twitter rejected the recently revised death toll from Hurricane Maria in puerto rico last year. A year after the storm, the american territory is still recovering. Heres weijia jiang. Reporter 3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit puerto rico, President Trump declared this morning on twitter, dismissing the official death toll of 2,975 victims. The president has defended his administrations response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated puerto rico nearly a year ago. I think that puerto rico was an incredible, unsung success. A lot of love in this room. Reporter President Trump visited the island shortly after the storm hit. Today he said, when he left, tey had anywhere from six to 18 deaths. He said the increase in fatalities was done by the democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible. O erto ricos democratic governor, ricardo rosello, said the official count was not political. We sanctioned an independent saoup to do a study, to make it transparent. Reporter the death toll is wsed on the work of George Washington university oksearchers who looked at how many people were expected to die in the six months following Hurricane Maria, had the storm not occurred, compared to actual fatalities. House Speaker Paul Ryan casualties dont make a person look bad. Thats not so i have no reason to dispute these numbers. Reporter in a new statement just out tonight, the white house says every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror, but, says the study, its just a statistical estimate and not a confirmed list of deaths. Jeff, researchers say they are confident in their findings. Glor weijia, thank you very much. We are following breaking news outside boston. A series of natural gas explosions set at least 39 homes on fire. Firefighters battled flames jutting high into the sky after explosions rocked as many as 70 homes and locations in three communities north of boston. It just shook the house. So, at that point, you know, we got out of the house, and we were looking around to see what was going on, and then there was just fire trucks everywhere. Reporter residents have been forced to evacuate after gas odors spread over entire neighborhoods. Lawrence, massachusetts mayor, dan rivera. Were still trying to get to the bottom of this. Were trying to fight the fires for now. Reporter the cause is unclear but cbs news learned the explosions appear to be from High Pressure in the gas lines. There is no indication of a criminal act. According to the Lawrence Police department, roads in lawrence have been closed for the past few days for gas line work. At least four people are being treated at local hospitals. Residents have been asked to leave any home with a gas smell. Come out to the street and just make sure that youre not in a home that smells like gas. Reporter a local police chief says the smoke was so thick, he could not see the sky. Residents say the scariest part about all of this is that they really do not know what could go up in flames next. First responders from all over the state are in these neighborhoods tonight. Kenneth craig, cbs news news, north andover, massachusetts. Glor we are going to be right back. Your brain changes as you get older. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Give me 30 seconds and ill give you three things to know about aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. One, plans like these help pay some of what medicare doesnt. Two, they let you choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. Three, these are the only plans endorsed by aarp. Call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist relieves your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. It helps block six key inflammatory substances. Most pills block one. Flonase sensimist. Most pills block one. burke seen it, covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Which is the only egg good eonly egglands best. With more farmfresh taste, more vitamins, and 25 less saturated fat . Only egglands best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. Glor Elizabeth Smart today glor Elizabeth Smart today pleaded with authorities in utah to reconsider releasing one of her kidnappers. Heres john blackstone. Reporter for Elizabeth Smart, the release of one of her kidnappers, wanda barzee, years earlier than expected, was a shock. Months ago, i was on my way to a parole hearing when i was told that she would never be let out until 2024. Reporter in 2002, smart was 14 years old when she was d dnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom. Nine months later, she was discovered. We have found Elizabeth Smart. Reporter she had been held captive by a onetime street preacher, brian david mitchell, and his wife, wanda barzee. Daart says mitchell raped her almost daily with barzees help. She is a woman who had six children, but encouraged her husband to continue to rape me. Orteeporter in 2011, mitchell was sentenced to life in prison. In june, the utah parole board set barzees release date in 2024, but last week announced a miscalculated credit for time nrved in a federal prison. She will now be set free. Eptember 19. I never wanted to think about her ever again. So, do i believe that she is dangerous . Yes. But not just to me. I believe that she is a danger erd a threat to any vulnerable wrson in our community, which d why our community should be worried. T reporter but the parole board says they have lit