Know you need more ways to show your disapproval on social media today, wednesday, september 16th, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Probably the last guy to ask about facebook, but apparently this is a new way to show a wider range of emotions. Yeah, why is there only the like button when people post something thats kind of sad or poignant it feels awkward to press like so maybe there should be an alternative, a dislike button. Socalled. Exactly im longing for the old days of sideways smiley face and frown face but well get into that a little bit. Our top story, politics. The second republican president ial debate hours away. The site this time, the reagan president ial library in california and the man to beat remains donald trump. Were going to talk to the head of the Republican Party in just a moment, but first nbcs National CorrespondentPeter Alexander is there. Peter, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. The spotlight will once again shine brightly on donald trump, but not just on him exclusively. Also on his challengers like ben carson and Carly Fiorina on the debate stage for the first time with the top ten, now top 11 this time around. Its also a crucial moment for those folks who have plummeted in the polls, jeb bush and scott walker. With only so many dollars from donors available, a bad performance from a candidate tonight could signal the end of the road. Would you come over and speak. Im here for a certain reason. Reporter breaking out the big guns ahead of tonights Republican Debate frontrunner donald trump revved up supporters on the uss iowa in los angeles delivering a speech heavy on promises and light on specifics. Were going to come out with some plans in a very short time. Were going to be building up our military. Reporter earlier predicting a barrage of attacks from his republican rivals. You know, they are all coming after me is what i hear, and whatever tupac shakur. Reporter the showdown is being touted as a heavyweight bout. Rand paul sparred with trump at the first round and appears poised to do it again saying i think he deserves both barrels. I want to make sure everyone in the whole country knows hes a fake conservative. Still, trumps biggest challenge may come from the other republican outsiders with polls showing barson closing in and Carly Fiorina gaining ground as jeb bush falls behind. The superpac supporting bush out with a new online ad saying trump is in a very dark place. The American Dream is dead. Reporter looking to revive his own campaign, bush just released this bilingwall ad. Declaring hispanics an integral part of the American Dream. Bushs mexicanborn wife columba who rarely speaks publicly speaks out. We have celebrations with the family. We keep our traditions. You know, at the end its just that, you know, faith, friends and family. Reporter and in another sign he may be nearing a run, Vice President joe biden for the first time attacked trump directly at a reception honoring hispanics. Trump and that stuff youre hearing on the other team and not just this isnt about democrat republican. Its about a sick message. Reporter a lot at stake for these republicans tonight. Of course, debate prep during the day and how will some that have relax for john kasich, a trip to the gym. Marco rubio will enjoy some time with his wife and daughters and Carly Fiorinas camp, matt and savannah, says she needs an iphone and some solitaire and she will be fine. Well be watching. Reince priebus is the chairman of the Republican National committee. Good to see you, good morning. We have apparently lost our signal to mr. Priebus. Well get him back in just a second. Got Nicolle Wallace here, a former republican strategist and worked for president george w. Bush as his communications director. Good morning. Good morning. As we await mr. Priebus, if youre in his shoes and thinking im the head of the Republican Party and this is my bunch and donald trump is blowing away the competition. Yeah. Do you think the mission tonight for any candidate not named trump is go after trump . Well, i think they all have to run their race and do whats comfortable for them. I think that whats interesting to me is the only two humans that have laid a glove on donald trump are Carly Fiorina with her attack, her counterpunch to him was tougher than any of trumps counterpunch from anybody in the media or look at that and he said look at that face and she put up a great ad with all the beautiful faces and the two sons of Ronald Reagan saying we know Ronald Reagan and donald trump you are not Ronald Reagan. So far no one on stage has laid a glove. This is round two. The next round doesnt come for five or six weeks. Thats an efernt in politics, and some of these campaigns will wither on the vine in that time. Who is tonight do or die for . I think tonight, and i agree with you, this is the last twotiered debate night for the republicans. I think next time they will all be able to fit on one stage but i think tonight is do or die for the establishment wolf pack, if you will, the group of former governors, who are really struggling when compared as a group to Carly Fiorina, ben carson and donald trump who are viewed as outsiders. Do you at this point feel like theres a decent chance that donald trump could actually be the republican nominee, that he could emerge from this process a winner . Listenings ive said for a long time that republican primaries are Better Television than the kardashians and im going to stick by that predicti prediction. This is going to be a roller coaster. This is going to be exciting. Anything can happen. At the end of the day though for the same reasons that the reagans son that donald trump will not inherit the mantle of Ronald Reagan, the strains of narcissim, if you will, making it all about himself and talking about how great he is not where i think the republican primary voters could land. Could they, absolutely but i dont think it will happen. Have you figured out the dynamic, you look at the polling, three candidates with no experience in politics or governing anything. Right. No time in congress or in governors offices as you just mentioned. Right. And those tree candidates, trump, carson and fiorina, have 54 of the total support. Why is that . I think that what trump has tapped into perfectly and what carson and fiorina are starting to talk about more is the abject disgust with politics as usual in washington, and it is it is at the other folks peril to fail to hear that. I think what trumps doing perfectly is listening to the sentiment, but at the end of the day we dont always vote for the person that echoes our anger. We vote for the person that channels our hopes for future and so far trump is not that guy. Nicole wall air, thank you so much. Trying to get our signal up with chairman priebus, get back to, if we can. Good to have you. Meantime, another did you have day on tap for crews out west fighting mass fwildfires in california and dealing with the ah math of deadly flooding in utah. 16 People Killed and four others still missing. Two reports beginning with nbcs ron mott. Ron, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning to you. The death toll from these flash floods has left this region in a state of shock, and the aftermath here is pretty eyeopening. Take a look at the scene behind me, this white car crushed, wedged into between mountains of muddy debris and were learning this morning just a bit more about some of those who were killed. Oh, that van. Oh, theres two vehicles. Reporter shortly after one of three survivors fled this scary scene in search of help as floodwaters threatened. There goes the van. Oh, my goodness. Oh, dear. It went over the thing. Oh, no. Reporter the rapids moved in. Oh, no. Reporter sweeping at least a dozen of one family to their deaths, Three Sisters and their children, one still missing this morning and feared lost as well. My name is Joseph Jessup and this here is my son Joseph Jessup. My family and my Friends Family were swept away in this flash flood. Reporter Joseph Jessup, the eldest son of one of the mothers, couldnt reach help in time to save his family. According to distant relatives estranged from the polygamist second once controlled by warren jeffs serving a life sentence for sexual assault. We trust in him to heal our wounded heart at this time. I would not like to take any questions at this time. Thank you. Reporter Officials Say the Three Sisters, naomi, della and josephine, seen if these family portraits, were stopped short of the initial flood when waters engulfed them from behind. Many in this closeknit religious Community Stood watch throughout the day as cleanup crews cleared much degreeclogged road and rescuers continue to look for the last missing person. Utah governor gary herbert took to twitter to express his sorrow over dual tragedies including four people found dead at nearby Zion National park where three remaund up accounted for into the night and they were warned to be mindful of flooding threats. Be careful. This area does flash flood and it doesnt take that much. Reporter 25 members of the Utah National guard have been called in to help, and, unfortunately, for a Third Straight day the weather is going to be a factor. Thunderstorms again in the forecast. Matt, savannah, back to you. All right, ron mott. Ron, thank you very much. Now to the wildfire raging north of San Francisco threatening thousands of homes there. Nbcs National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer is on the scene again for us this morning. Miguel, whats the latest. Reporter savannah, good morning. Here in the mountains there arent many roads in or out of this community. We were on one when we hit smoke, then flames. We hunkered down with firefighters in a safety zone when this blaze just exploded. This is the eye of a firestorm, a blow torch whipping in multiple directions. On our way home on the only way out this is what we found. You could hear the fury. And feel the intensity. Crews tell us these flames are shooting at 40, 50 miles an hour in some places, and even here in the vehicle you can feel the heat. We were with firefighters when the wave of flames exploding how quickly can this fire take off and jump from hill to hill . In a matter of minutes. Reporter it looked like a furnace and felt like an oven. Crews rolled into the mouth of the infern ore as we retreated to their safety zone. Could you see this blaze was out of control, and could you hear this monster feeding on these droughtstricken mountains. Sounds like that sucking sound that people describe as a jet plane. Reporter when the fire torches in these trees, the immediate concern isnt necessarily the flames which are intense. Its the embers. They can travel for miles. Those embers and hot ash sent crews scrambling. A vehicle catching fire. One firefighter called this biblical, conditions few will ever see. Because we were on a twolane road with experienced firefighters, danger was as minimal as it can be in a hot zone like this. Fortunately there were no homes in the area. Ultimately this blaze ran into an area that had burned just a few years ago so it burned itself out. Savannah. Incredible to see. Miguel almaguer, thank you so much. Natalie joins us now with some new steps to deal with an ongoing crisis in europe. Yeah, guys. Its sad news. Hungary taking even more extreme measures to keep the migrants out of the country with a new razor wiretopped fence now in place. Police rounded up far fewer people on its side of the serbian border on tuesday. Nbcs chief Foreign Correspondent rich engel is in hungary with the latest on the humanitarian crisis. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, natalie. Yesterday there were dozens of people who were arrested while trying to cross this fence. Today hardly any simply because they are not getting through. The fence is holding. It is being patrolled 24 hours a day by police and by soldiers. Some people are backed up in serbia which is right on the other side of this fence, but already they are looking for new routes to sweden and germany. They are trying to go around hungary, and the new routes that are emerging through croatia and a land route that goes between turkey and greece. So this country, hungary, has dammed this river of migrants, and like a river they are finding a ways around it. Natalie . All right. Richard engel in hungary for us. Thank you, richard. All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve today, and the big question will it or wont it raise Interest Rates for the first time in nine years . The fed meeting today and tomorrow, and now that the job market is considered essentially recovered, many economists say it is time to start edging from a record low near zero towards normal rates. Others argue though that many other factors such as chinas sputtering economy raised some serious concerns. A decision will be announced thursday. Salmonellatainted cucumbers imported from mexico have now sickened at least 418 people in 31 states. Health Officials Say the outbreak of foodborne illness has sent 91 people to hospitals and caused two deaths. Most people recover without treatment, but the illness can be serious for young children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. Some frightening moments in new jersey on tuesday when a stunt almost went terribly wrong. Escape artist spencer horseman was attempting to get out of a waterfilled plexiglass box during a promotional event for an upcoming show with chrissagel, but after being underwater for about two and a half minutes he couldnt get that final lock open so rescuers saw him struggling and lowered the box and were able to pull him out. He was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown but he was responsive at the time. Now, you may recall this isnt the first time that horseman has failed to complete the stunt. Back in june he wasnt able to free himself at the foxwood casino in connecticut and lost consciousness for some time and had to be freed by stage hands. A home run usually cause for some celebration, sometimes fireworks when a player sends one over the fence, but you dont typically see fireworks when the other team hits one, right . That is until tuesday night in cleveland. Take a look. Into the corner and alex rios has his second home run of the trip. Kansas citys alex rios hitting that solo shot home run and the man in charge of the fireworks in cleveland had an itchy trigger finger and send or the pyrotechnics display and the hometown crowd started booing and the poor fireworks guy clearly embarrassed by the whole situation hiding his face with his hat. You know, what hes going to love living in kansas city, he really is. Beautiful at this time of year. Meanwhile, the indians, not so happy. You had one job. Natalie, thank you very much. Dylan is here. Looks like an umbrella day for some of our friends down in florida. In florida, yes, where it has been an umbrella day which seems like for the past several weeks. Its eastern florida that is still under a drought, so its eastern florida thats actually going to get most of the rain. Weve got a combination of lowlevel moisture streaming in off the atlantic, upper level winds streaming in off the gulf of mexico and that combination means pockets of heavier rain for the next several day and we do have an area of High Pressure sitting off to the north. Part of the reason why the rest of the country is enjoying some pretty nice weather. This is going to keep all of these showers and storms down across florida, and we could end up with perhaps some flash flooding within some of these heavier downpours. Look at how much rain we can see from miami all the way up to jacksonville. As much as two to four, maybe even five inches of rain so that will certainly help with the deficit weve seen since june. Thats a look at the weather across the im first alert meteorologist Brittney Shipp. Today temperatures will range between 83 and 87, lots of sunshine and nice. A little warmer than what we saw yesterday. But our humidity stays low, wind speeds light out of the west. 5 to 10 miles per hour. Your sevenday forecast shows we are going to see an instant replay into tomorrow, then look at friday and saturday. The only difference is saturday more humidity but a cold front drops temperatures to the low 80s by sunday. Ts your latest forecast. All right, dylan, thank you. Now to that shooting that shocked and saddened the country. A Television Reporter and photographer gunned down while they reported live on the air. Well, now for first time the woman they were interviewing who was also shot is speaking out and nbcs Hallie Jackson has the story this morning. Hallie, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. Millions of people have seen those images of Vicky Gardner standing with Allison Parker second before a gunman opened fire on live tv. Gardner has also seen that video and said she had to watch it to move on but is still not ready to return to the scene. Vicky gardner remembers every moment from this interview. I saw movement and then gunfire, lots and lots of gunfire. Reporter the shooting airing l