More, with you that seemed to. Were going to get to those comments and the fallout in just a moment. As you heard we have a lot of breaking news right now. Hurricane florences long siege is underway. This storm has begun slamming the coast of North Carolina. North carolinas governor is about to hold a briefing. We will take you there when it begins. But first lets we have the new 5 00 forecast. We have the new update, so lets go to bill karins, our nbc meteorologist on duty right now. So, bill, what did we learn at 5 00 and where is it headed next . Not weakening fast enough and we didnt really see too many changes with the surge in the rainfall forecast. It looks just as bad now as it did say 6 hours ago when we got the 11 00 a. M. Advisory. You can clear see where the eye of the storm is. It is start that stall or slow drift. Its not going to completely stop. All ut outer banks getting hit with thunderstorm bands, wind gusts occasionally and the winds and the waves are picking up dramatically. Not quite yet in the wilmington beach area. A little further away. That will come after the sun sets. Here are current wind gusts. Well point out we have a noaa buoy. The winds are gusting in the 40 to 50 mile per hour range. People havent begun to lose power yet. That will happen after we go through sunset and through the evening tonight. Thats when well start to have some of the fuses in the transformsers blowing. The latest numbers, 100 miles east southeast of wilmington. Winds are down to 100 for max winds. Thats great. Its a category 2. The odds of it jumping back to a 3, 12 to 18 hours are pretty slim. It will most likely be a 2 as it gets to the wilmington area. It doesnt look that great in satellite presentation anyway. By 2 00 in the morning still off the coast of wilmington. By the time we get through, approximately maybe 11 00 a. M. , 10 00 a. M. , the Hurricane Center would have that landfall. So it will be a daylight landfall, near rights ville beach going over the top of wilmington weakening to 85 Miles Per Hour and diving to the south. With this wind forecast i do not expect a lot of extreme wind damage. Youre not going to be see houses with the roofs torn off. Youll see damage on roofs, a lot of awnings, stuff like that will be problematic. You wont see extreme wind damage. What will be extreme and the most lifethreatening right through the night tonight, almost guarantee you there will be water rescues taking place. High tide between 10 00 p. M. And midnight. That will be dramatic in many cases, possibly record breaking in places like moore head city. And the sound, the trent river, that could be very dramatic. Thats 30 to 40 miles inland where people may not be thinking they had to evacuate. When they see the water rising 6 to 10 feet thats going to be a huge earn yu overnight tonight and then the outer banks, you were pretty bad earlier today. Probably do it again. The other issue, chuck, the other thing that will cause lifethreatening weather, the rainfall forecast. We are looking at twofoot rainfall footprint just north of wilmington to jacksonville, camp lejeune. Possibly 20 inches as it heads towards florence, South Carolina. We have a lot of things to play out. The concern with the wind on a minor, major record scale i put it in the moderate rain for wind damage. Storm surge is major, possibly into record and the rainfall definitely is going to be record. Well deal with that on the rivers sunday, monday, maybe into tuesday, talking about homes, new homes being flooded and damaged. I dont want to say 2 feet of rain is good news, but yesterday we were looking at 30 inches, looking at 40 inches. I take it thats the forecast is down a little bit there. Actually i was just kind of pinpointing the footprint where the few feet would be. Inside of that there is still a chance of isolated 30 to 40 inch totals. Id be surprised somebody would get 36 inches of rain. Here i was looking for silver linings. The wind is the silver lining. Water which kills 75 of people in storms thats our huge concern. Absolutely. Bill karins, thank you so much. Lets go down to wilmington. We heard what bill said wilmington is experiencing mgt experiencing the first bands in wilmington, take it away, craig. Reporter we are experiencing them indeed, chuck. One point ever clarify kapgs. I heard bills report. I spent the last 30, 45 minutes or so with the mayor of wilmington and the Power Outages have started here. Roughly 11,000 homes are without power right now in wilmington, North Carolina. The mayor telling me he fully expects that number will approach somewhere near 100 . They fully expect that virtually all of the homes here in wilmington will lose power. Upper lefthand portion of your screen theres a new graphic and its connected to this wind monitoring contraption that we have at nbc for this storm. So far we have not seen, we have not seen it get north of id say 25 right now. We should also point out that we are being blocked by a building here, so right now it looks like its reading somewhere close to per hour. There are parts of North Carolina as you know that are seeing 60 mile per hour gusts right now. The rain has started. Its been going for a number of hours. We are fully expecting here the next 6 or 7 hours or so the winds to pick up considerably, the rain to pick up considerably. The aptly named cape fear river, this is of big concern. Were talking about i dont mean to cut you off but we have the governor of North Carolina starting his presser. Were going to him real quick. Thank you, craig. With the extreme storm surge along the coast, rivers will start to overflow because when flowing river waters meet the ocean surge, theres really nowhere else for the water to go. As florence moves inland, well see more rain and more flooding from our rivers. And remember that rivers keep on rising even after the rain stops. Already, areas of the Northern Cape fear river and vogue sound are flooding and were watching the noose river rise. At mid afternoon the Weather Service had issued 43 flash flood warnings. I want to thank you to the people who have evacuated and are prepared. But to anyone still unwilling to take this storm seriously, let me be clear, you need to get yourself to a safe place now and stay there. We in North Carolina have to shift from preparation to determination. We will survive this and we will endure. In order to help speed more federal help, i have requested an additional disaster declaration for cleanup and recovery. Here at the state Emergency Operations center, people have been working around the clock and they are ready. Workers are helping more than 12,000 evacuees settle at about 126 shelters across the state, and they are opening more as needed and as we speak. Emergency management and fema have strategically positioned supplies and equipment a across our state. Food and water is ready to be dispersed to wherever its needed. Emergency personnel, including swift water rescue teams and emergency medical personnel from North Carolina and 19 other states are staged here. Earlier today i visited with some of the teams who are prepared to help us out as we get through this storm. And, in fact, i talked to teams from florida and ohio today and i told the team from ohio we were not going to debate who is first in flight here because theyre helping us out tonight and im grateful to each and every one of those people. Its gratifying to drive through central North Carolina and see utility trucks, earth movers, and rescue vehicles sitting there ready to go. Thank you to all of these Public Servants who put their own lives at risk to protect the people of North Carolina. As the storm hits, remember to call 911, but only in the event of emergency. Dial 211 if you need shelter, food or other nonemergency information or assistance. And then id like for people to remember these five things. Number one, never drive on roads covered by water. It only takes a few inches to wash away a car. If you come across a road covered in water, turn around immediately. Number two, stay indoors, stay away from windows, and close storm shutters we are going to cut away from the governor there. Hes going through plreparednes. That is important to local residents on that front. Lets check in with Kerry Sanders. Hes in Carolina Beach right now. Kerry, youre starting to feel yeah, there you are. You have our wind testing there. Kerry, youre holding up what are you holding up there . Okay, its a wind speed monitor and its detected bluetooth down to the producer here. Were in a little bit of a lull. Let me take a moment while the wind is not back dramatic and show you over where im standing. On the other side of the board walk over the sand dune, you can see the angry atlantic ocean. The concern, of course, is that storm surge. You just heard the governor talking about the storm surge, which is also a mile the other direction coming up the cape fear river. Were out on this peninsula known as paradise island, Carolina Beach. And so the concern is that that 11foot wall of water is going to come up. Heres how it works. About 60 miles out, its 5,000 feet deep. Thats where the Continental Shelf picks up. The shelf slopes up and the water has nowhere to go but higher and higher. Its predicted up, 13, but 11 feet of water that comes over here. If youre on the first floor of a building, that means the water is over the top of the first floor. So i got the wind picking up here. Im hold this up as i continue to talk here. Well get a read out of what this wind speed is. What do you see on there for wind speed . Okay, 24, doesnt seem that dramatic. When the rain hits you in the face at 24 miles an hour, it hurts. Yes, sir. Chuck, i have my glasses on to protect my eyes. We know the wind is going to pick up more. Weve had strong guftsts. As you can probably tell the wind is coming from northwest and its whipping around if you know the direction of the storm there, the counter clockwise movement. Kerry, youve covered as many hurricanes as anybody i know. North carolina experienced 24 straight hours of Hurricane Force winds. Can you remember a hurricane that stalled like that . I cant, but im curious. Well, there was one in mexico that sat over cancun for like three days and our colleague hang on a second. Check that wind speed. Thats all right. Yeah, here we go. One of our colleagues there spent three days in a bathtub in there and he works at the white house right now. And i think you know him very well. Anyway, he could tell you what thats like. This is going to be miserable. I think the most important thing we heard is aside from this wind is the amount of rain thats going to fall. I think bill karins said it. This storm had been moving at 10 miles an hour. Its now down to 5 miles an hour. As its moving, the progress is 5 miles an hour, that allows for more rain to drop and that of course is going to be the big problem here. Its Geneva Convention to be days later this impact is going to be felt. Appreciate it. Lets go to my colleague ali velshi. Hes in myrtle beach which is relatively calm. Comparatively, trust me, Kerry Sanders was almost blown over. You have a bit easier assignment. What are they expecting in myrtle beach . It happens to be low tide. Its the opposite of what everybody else is showing. The surf is calm. The winds are light. We are just able to see the outer bands of the clouds of the hurricane. We know theyre almost above us here, but theyre not containing any moisture. Now, Kerry Sanders is right that way, right . The storm is that way. Its east of here. Thats what its going to be like. 40 miles up the road is mariana. We might not have any rain. Its going to be the same stuff. If that storm path follows the coast as opposed to making inland like a traditional storm, were going to get it here. Even if it doesnt well get the outer bands and Hurricane Force winds. The fact is it looks calm. There are lots of people, stragglers along the beach between here and North Carolina. There are a lot of people who didnt evacuate. Its slow, its going to dump a lot of rain. I dont know who stood in 50 mile an hour sustained winds. Once in a while youll experience that as a gust on a stormy windy day. 100 miles an hour means a lot of damage is coming, a lot of power out, a lot of people are going to get stuck. Myrtle beach is getting its never been hit from a storm this side, a storm that comes from the north. Thats going to do damage that people arent used to. For what its worth. Thats correct. And thats part of why a lot of people are staying. Because of the way this part of the country is shaped, you think its north, but its northeast to North Carolina. So this area is almost a little bit sheltered. People said i remember hugo, ive been through other hurricanes. This flooding saturation, the ground is saturated, thats the difference. The river in conway is going to flood as well. It all depends how a place like this, any of the towns drain after the hurricane. If were talking saturday afternoon and the place is still flooded thats when the problems start to develop. Good point, ali velshi in myrtle beach. Thank you very much. Well keep our eye on the storm. The backlash against President Trump over his claims about Hurricane Marias death toll and how the gop is not responding to it. Well be right back. This is a story about mail and packages. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you im actually closer to my retirement daysing. Than i am my college days. I just want to know, am i gonna be okay . I know people who specialize in am i going to be okay. I like that. You may need glasses though. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session with td ameritrade. Hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But allstate agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Welcome back. As Hurricane Florence batters the carolinas, the president is battling some intense backlash over comments he decided to make today about the devastation from a previous storm. In a series of tweets this morning, he claimed that the official death toll in puerto rico from Hurricane Maria, which numbered nearly 3,000 according to two different studies, was doctored to make him look bad. He said, in part, quote, 3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes ha hit puerto rico. This was done by the democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when i was successfully raising billions of dollars to help rebuilt puerto rico. His word there. Well, que the mondtage a or avoid the baseless claims. Casualties dont make a person look bad. I dont dispute the numbers. Thats what happens when a horrible hurricane hits an isolated place like an island. The president is blaming democrats for the death toll, that he doesnt believe its accurate. Say that again . I cant really comment because i dont know anything about it. Thanks, guys. We have to get inside. I dont have any detail for you on that. I thought yall wanted to talk about the kavanagh nomination. Anybody have anything else you want to talk about . Theres a big difference between 16 and 3,000. I dont know who picked the number 3,000. I dont know how they arrived at the information. Id like to know more. By the way, that was our typo, not the president s typo, rebuild and rebuilt. My apologies on that one. Let me bring in tonights panel. Alexi, political axios. Speak speaker what mark bo. Msnbc contributor. Michael steel, what would you have told speaker ryan to say . I dont know if i would have called puerto rico isolated. Other than that, probably the same. Hes trying to wrap up funding for the year. Hes trying to get the members of the house of representatives back home to campaign in a very, very difficult reelection year. Deal with the president s tweet dujure is the last thing he wants to deal with. Think about it this way. As grotesque and amoral as his tweets are, 37 of the people will believe whatever he says is a smart strategy. How can your party say grotesque and amoral . It was an elected office. Thats the part that all of the people all of the elected republicans on capitol hill have a job to do for their constituents. That means getting them done with a president and that means having to deal with this president. 37 of people who will believe him no matter what is why its dangerous for him to make ridiculous claims. Its giving people a pass not to care about the storms now because hes diminishing the gravity of the situation rear dealing with and people are still trying to build after Hurricane Maria in puerto rico. Heres good news from fema. The word irony gets tossed around quite a bit. But fema has a rumorcontrol page. And yesterday, of course, the at potus account retwreeted the fema control page. We have created a rumor control page for florence that will be updated. Always check with sources before sharing. Always check. We may have hit peak 2018. I saw this yesterday and it sort of said, really . The president of the United States fema is trolling the president now. But it goes maybe thats deliberate. Hes giving out instructions about the storm. The president is, hes trying to. Hes doing all the right things you would want him to