May rise dramatically from where it already is. That is becoming an increasingly tragic story. Thosefore boding warnings even as he announces the increased death toll. Its very chilling. The navy s. E. A. L. S are now our most prominent special forces unit. Their history goes all the way back to world war ii. But the oldest special forces unit in our military is the fighting group that started the special forces group concept, army rangers who traced their history to before the revolutionary war. And i dpru up knowing a lot about army rangers and holding them in awe because my uncle was an army ranger. He graduated from west point, saw combat, was wounded in world war ii. He earned eight silver stars, eight in his military career. After he died in 1977 my uncle john was inducted into the ranger hall of fame. And ive admired many people in my life including many people i have known and worked with, but i have been in full awe of exactly one person, my uncle john, the war hero. And a portion of that awe always extends to special forces veterans and combat veterans, and you might detect some of it tonight when i introduce you to former Army Ranger Jason Crow who you will meet and i will meet in tonights episode of meet the freshman. Hes a freshman democrat from colorado who woon a Congressional District last year that a democrat has never won before. He is bringing his military experience to his new job and bringing his constitutional law experience as a lawyer to his new job when he considers the question of impeachment. And you will hear the story of how an encounter he had with an iraqi man who he was on patrol in baghdad helped shape his decision to come out in support of a impeachment inquiry. You will meet and i will meet congressman jason crow later in this hour and that is something im really looking forward to in this hour and i think you will too. President ial candidate cory booker will also join us tonight. But we begin tonight where the news demands we begin. We have tragic breaking news tonight from the bahamas on what Hurricane Dorian has already done to those islands with the death toll there rising significantly tonight to a new total of 30 victims. And we have the latest tracking tonight about what Hurricane Dorian might do next as it approaches the carolinas. We our live report in a moment from wilmington, North Carolina, which is bracing from a possible direct hit from Hurricane Dorian. The mayor of wilmington will join us and well also get the latest from the bahamas tonight on a situation turning more tragic by the hour. We begin with what you need to know right now about what Hurricane Dorian might do next, and for that we turn to meteorologist bill karins. What is the latest . Right now were waiting to see if we get landfall. Will the highest winds move onshore or stay offshore. That will be a big determination how much damage we have when we wake up tomorrow morning. During the day the storm brushed by areas. But it didnt do a lot of significant damage with the storm surge. That was one thing we were concerned about with the charleston area and even savannah for that matter and we are okay. Gust still sustained up there about 1250 if youre in the worst of the storm. And thats the question, whos going to be in the worst of the storm . As we go throughout the next four hours were going to parallel the coastline, very close to areas, and then we could possibly get that landfall here near atlantic beach, moorehead city. Thats where were going to be watching the possibility of the highest winds. And so far as i mentioned it hasnt been that dramatic with the winds. Even wilmington youre not that far from the center but your winds only gusting to 55. Myrtle beach still gusting to 52 on the backside of the storm but your weather will dramatically improve as we go through the night. Heres that potential landfall some time right around it looks like maybe 2 00, 3 00 a. M. In the morning and that could have the winds 75 to 95 miles per hour. We could get the peak of the surge at high tide about the same time. And then we take the storm early tomorrow morning over the top and looks like by about 10 00 a. M. Itll be crossing land and getting out over the ocean. And then by noon tomorrow after about two weeks of watching what will be historically remembered and never used name again, dorian, will be gone, lawrence. At noon tomorrow, bill, you think that might be the last necessary reporting on this . In the lower 48 and the only little caveat is that this will slingshot up, become extra tropical almost like a noreaster type storm and go into nova scotia. Itll be a different beast then. And how is it looking at this hour in North Carolina . Right now we head to wilmington where nbc news correspondent cal perry is covering dorian for us there. What is the situation there . Reporter im under cover here. Weve had 3 inches of rain in the last three hours. That deluge is something officials are worried about. Ill step out a bit so you can hear the difference. Were getting gusts up to about 50 miles an hour. Not terrible to be honest considering what this storm has done on its way here and what people were expecting. A big part of the reporting needs to be what happened last year in wilmington. Hurricane florence hit one year ago next week, and it cut the city off from the rest of the state. This city was basically an island for a period of 48 hours. And because of that some people have decided to stay here and ride out the storm because they were not able to get back into their homes last year. Emergency officials are telling people to hunker down. This is sort of the meat of this storm. And again just a reminder to anybody who still has power and there is power on in much of the city, once those winds get to 50 miles an hour, the authorities are not going to get out and do any rescue efforts. Its important for people to remember at least for the next six hours this is the time to hunker down. Thank you for joining us with that live reporting. For more on how the residents of wilmington, North Carolina, are dealing with Hurricane Dorian were joined by phone by the mayor of wilmington, North Carolina. We just heard from bill karins by noon tomorrow this storm could already be in your history books. What do crow expect to wake up tomorrow in terms of the consequences that have already landed on wilmington . A lot of rain and were getting it right now. And of course probably some downed trees and hopefully not power lines but possibly power lines will also come down. Itll be the second time in a year were dealing with the hurricane and now were dealing with dorian and its you know, obviously our citizens are kind of weather weary but were ready to go and well hunker down and put our assets out on the streets as soon as this storm passes. I know you have a lot of experience as a coastal city in the carolinas dealing with hurricanes and anticipation of hurricanes. But did you do anything differently this year based on last Years Experience . We did. Last year we just we were cut off from the world for four days because out lying areas were flooded and interstate 40 and the city was flooded for four days so we prepositioned a lot of fuel, a lot of our resources came in from the state early on were prepositioned into Higher Ground closer to the city. Obviously we have been going through these hurricane drills a couple of times a year, so our teams down here, our First Responders, our Emergency Operation officials are always doing Something Different about every storm and we learned a lot from florence and we positioned a lot of our assets closer into the city this time than last time in anticipation if this thing does come ashore well be ready to help the folks and citizens out in our community. What do you want to tell the people who have evacuated, what do you want to tell them tonight in terms of what they can expect in being able to return . Listen to the what the Emergency Operation folks say. Give us some time to get our crews into the streets and cleanup the debris. We want to make sure if there are any downed power lines theyre not live wires so somebody doesnt get hurt or electrocuted. And let us get those things out of the way and cleared up before you get into town. Well give you the all clear to get back and youll be listening to the state and federal officials as well as local officials before you make that track back into town. If we do have any roadways flooded we want the citizens to be aware of them because we lost several people last year where people tried to traverse roads that were covered and thought they could make it and unfortunately lost their lives because of it. Listen to what Emergency Operation folks are telling you. Mayor bill saffo, thank you for taking the time to talk with us tonight. We appreciate it. And the Health Minister of the bahamas who joined us on this program last night told nbc news tonight that the death toll in the bahamas has just increased by seven to a new total of 30. He told nbc news, quote, the official count is 30, we expect the number to climb dramatically. I certainly believe based on the findings in the field that the number will rise dramatically. I really believe on the topography, geography, the separation due to collapse, floodings this is going to take a while. Settlements that are separated, we literally have to go house by house to inspect some of the structures that have collapsed. Its going to take quite a while. The logistics are incredibly challenging. It is a horrendous challenge right now. The Prime Minister has attempted to prepare the public for the ultimate confirmation and the expectation that this has been a devastating storm and loss of life and property. Dr. Sans told nbc news that the next death toll update will come some time tomorrow. And joining us now by phone is the honorable thompson, the minister of state for the grand bahamas. Minister thompson, can you tell us what you know at this point about the changing death toll . It suddenly went up by seven. Is that because its easier to be able to make some of these identifications and recoveries . Yes. And i want to say good night to you. Good night to all of the folks there in the u. S. And the world whos joining. Youre absolutely correct. The flood waters are now receding. Persons are now able to get into the areas that were impassable before. And so now were now in that recovery mode. We are recovering and seeing now the unfortunately the death toll that exists. I am on the island of grand bahama, and the same really is happening on the island of grand bahama. Were the second most populated island in the bahamas. So a bit more populated than abacos. And there were some areas we were only able to reach today. Unfortunately recovering bodies today. So the Prime Minister and dr. Sans were absolutely correct that the official death count unfortunately is going to increase. One of the grimmer points of news that we got today was the fact the islands need more morticians, more people who know how to handle dead bodies and help in the identification of dead bodies. And they are flying in from the United States, as many as can. Is that the current most important focus is finding and identifying these victims . Well, thats one of the focuses. I mean, weve been doing that today, getting into the eastern side of the island today, and unfortunately, we did recover some bodies today. However, thats just one of the concerns. We have hundreds of persons on our island that are homeless. We have about 400 now that remain in shelters. A number are still with their families. One part of our island was really completely devastated. We had flood waters in the range of 20 feet high. Some persons trapped in their attics had to be rescued. Weve now setup feeding banks because obviously persons who have lost their houses, the complete island is out of power and out of water. So the government has mobilized thankfully persons of control will now be receiving relief items and are now mobilizing to get those relief items into the community. We have feeding centers and were now trying to feed, clothe, provide water, provide those essential supplies just to keep our population going. Are there areas of the islands that are so remote that the people there who have survived wont be able to find their way to a safer place . They wont be able to walk whatever that distance might be . Well, the island of grand bahama and also the island of abacos really have a number of so you can imagine there are areas in regular circumstances only assessable by boat in some cases only by small boats. C compound that with areas only assessable by one road, and that road either will have been washed away or that road would have had debris that was covered and so it would have taken some time to access those areas because of the damage. But we have done so by way of heavy equipment and access to those roads. In some cases weve actually had to use vessels to go around the island to get into different areas. And so its been challenging, but our police, our defense force, our officials i really commend them because theyve stepped up. The Prime Minister has said we will spare no expense to ensure that we do what we can to recover, that we do what we can to assist our population and thats really whats been happening. Minister thompson, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We are very sorry for what has happened to your islands and what you are continuing to discover in this aftermath. We really appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. And we want to thank all of your listeners. Weve gotten tremendous support, tremendous outpouring. So we want to thank all of those persons who have been in the recovery effort and have offered their help and assistance to us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. And when we come back, one of the most devastating hurricanes that has ever hit North EasternUnited States was Hurricane Sandy which brought devastation like weve never seen to new york citys Staten Island and new jersey. Cory booker was mayor of newark, new jersey, then. He brought people into his home then to feed them, to let them stay there, and he saw what is always true about hurricanes. Surviving the hurricane is one thing but surviving the aftermath is Something Else. And surviving the aftermath usually is much more difficult for poor people just like everything else. Cory booker will tell us what he did leading his city through the aftermath of super storm sandy. Thats coming up. If you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. 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Shhh bdogs talking now. 100 years of nfl history. The packers and the bears. Theres only one thing more badass than this years kickoff. And youre looking at her. Say nbc into your xfinity voice remote to watch now. The destruction caused by super storms and hurricanes like dorian costs the United States billions of dollars in damage every year. But when it comes to escaping, surviving and recovering from a Natural Disaster its like everything else, poor people suffer the most. A report by the National Bureau of Economic Research states the obvious. There is a broad consensus that the wealthy can access a wide range of protective strategies from owning a second home to accessing better quality medicine, food and medical care and housing. The poor are thus more likely to bear the incidents of Natural Disasters. Our next guest has had hard experience dealing with the catastrophic effects of super storms on poor communities. Cory booker was mayor of newark, new jersey, when Hurricane Sandy hit new jersey in october of 2012. Sandy had just been downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the time it hit new jersey but it still left mill