As the ride sharing giant will implement changes e philip take hospital overnight. The heartbreaking final photos of otto warmbier. O. J. Simpson. And a surprise guest crashes a president ial news conference. Today, wedny, from nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. A thanks for joining us on a wednesday morning. A morning that has us talking about a lot of Severe Weather. Dangerous weather from coasttocoast. We can show a live shot right now. This is new orleans. The outer bands of Tropical Storm cindy, are having huge effect. The waves ca s crashing on to a boardwalk there. And out west, no break from the recordbreaking heat, making life miserable for tens of millions. Were going to get to al in a moment. We want to start with the impact of the Tropical Storm. Kerry new orleans for us. Kerry, good morning. Reporter good morning. Tropical storm cindy is hammering the area. You can see the waves crashing behind me. This is not the gulf of mexico. This is lake pontchartrain. Driving the waves are the winds that are expected to exceed 60 miles per hour. Already, were seeing some localized flooding. You can see here, a parking lot thats flooded out. The real concern here is that the train will be up to 12 inches on what could be a slowmoving storm. The threat, not just here in new orleans. But from florida all the way west to texas. Residents are brg for the worst this morning. As Tropical Storm cindy moves in from the gulf of mexico, packing dangerous winds and heavy rainfall, with severe flooding hitting parts of louisiana. And along the Florida Panhandle, businesses are shutting down. You live in a beautiful place, the good lord washes it off every now and then. Reporter the south, bracing for whats to come, as a different battle in the west. Scorching heat than 40 million the way from colorado to california. Brutal temperatures so hot, theyre shattering records. Death valley hitting 127 degrees tuesday. Its like so hot, you can almost not breathe. Reporter the National Weather service, warning of a major risk for heatrelated illnesses and even death. In arizona, paramedics were on high alert, as theyre flooded with desperate calls. We want you to get to the hospital . Reporter sidewalks anduckl the intense heat. Here in new orleans, the question, of course, after Hurricane Katrina so many years ago, is the levee system and the pumps. The levee system has been rebuilt. The pumps have been on for the last 24 hours. Theyre pumping. And if they can keep up, and its expected they can, they can do about 12 inches of water in a day. If a slowmoving storm comes in with 12 inches, the pumps should keep up. But there will be localized flooding, guys. Kerry sanders, thank you very much. Al steps in here. You want to start cindy or the heat . We look again. Just lake pontchartrain, you can see all of the waves. We will be looking atding in fact, weve already seen severe flooding all the way up into georgia. Last night,ta area, we had major flooding. Right now, Tropical Storm cindya good portion of the gulf. And what we have is a predecessor trarain event. A p. R. E. The moisture ahead of it, with the stationary front and enhancing the rain thats there. Looking at cindy. 170 miles southsouthwest of morgan city. The winds intensified to 60 miles per hour. The Tropical Storm warnings from texas to mobile, alabama, makes landfall early tomorrow morning. That doesnt matter. Look at how far in this goes. Not just the folks way a to the Mississippi River valley, you have to dole with extensive rain. That can cause massive flooding. Three to five inches of rain from nashville to heart, the meat, really, of the gulf coast. We could be looking at 12more. And thats going to cause big problems, really lifethreatening flooding. Out west, the heat continues again today. Sacramento, 108. Las vegas, 115. Albuquerque, 102. It continues again, this denver will be 90 degrees. But we start to see it finally breaking down by sunday. El paso, youll cool to 95. Albuquerque, 89. But still, triple digits for tucson, las vegas and sacramento. San diego is theigid temperaturr 70s. But another 48 hours of heat. And were only in june. A little early. A lot more to get to, including overnight results in the election in georgia. Karen handel defending the challenge from jon ossoff, in the most expensive house race ever. A victory not just for her but to President Trump, as well. Lets start with gabe gutierrez. Reporter good morning. President trump tweeted his con gram grachlations this morning. Republicans are taking a victory lap. Democrats wanted to showcase the trump resistance. Well, it fell flat. This morning, the most expensive house race ever is over. And Republican Karen Handel is the new congresswoman from georgias sixth district. I really am honored to be able to stand before you tonight and so extraordinarily humbled. Reporter around 60 million spent, mostly from out of state. A heated battle, viewed as a highstakes referendum President Trump. The president weighing in again and again on what should have been a sleepy offyear congressional race. And special thanks to the president of the United States of america. Reporter democrats saw an opening in the longtime g stronghold, after the president took price for his cabinet. We showed the world in places that we could fight. On ossoff rn donors from around the country. Handel slammed the political newcomer for living just outside the district, taunting him as she opponent cant do that today. Reporter democrats now wondering whats next. I think this movement is not done. You know, hes taught usow to d respectable way. And i think well keep doing that until we can find a way to win. Reporter but for the gop, a key victory ahead of next years midterms. I give every georgian this promise. My promise is to work every, single day relentlessly, to make our state and this country a better place. Reporter polling for extrem. Handel ended up winning by just four points. In South Carolina in another special election, the republican there also won, although that race was closer than expected. Matt and savannah . Gabe gutierrez, thank you. In washington. Thats the battle over health care. Republican lawmakers are crafting new legislation behind closed doors. That is drawing complaints from democrats. And now, some top gop lawmakers are joining in. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander is at the white house. Hes got the latest on all this. Peter, good morning. Reporter matt, good morning. Youre right. The complaints of secrecy, now bipartisan. One republican senator asking reporters, do you know what the Health Care Bill looks like because i dont. Theres an allrepublican senators meeting to talk about it. Their plan to hold a vote on the gops sweeping rewrite of the health care , just nine days from now. Its the bestkept secret in washington. Care bill, with republicans among those being kept in the dark. No one has been shared. We used to complain like hell when the demts now, theyre doing the same thing. Reporter that criticism, echoing across the party. Even though ive been a member of this working group among senate republicans, assigned to help narrow some of the focus of this, i havent seen the bill. Reporter Senate Majority leader, mitch mcconnell, refusing to give specifics, but promising republicans will see a draft of the bill americans wou of time to review it. Weve been discussing all of the elements of this endlessly for seven years. Everyb. I think this will be about as transparent as it can be. Reporter the questions over transparency, the same raised by republicans about obamacare seven years ago. House Speaker Paul Ryan addressing that issue with matt earlier this year. Were not writing some bill in the back room in harry reids office, like obamacare was written. Were having public hearings. Were having committees working on legislation. This is how the legislative designed, not hatching some bill in a back room. Reporter at stake, coverage for 23 million americans. Among the hurdles, cuts to m medica medicaid. Democrats now ramp up the pressure. Were going down to cvo and see if they can tell us whats in the bill. Reporter three of them making a show of Live Streaming their trip to the congressional budget office, trying to track down the details. News flash, we didnt get the bill. Reporter sean spicer accu accusing democrats of taking themselves out of the mix. They chose not to. Made it clear they didnt want to engage in this process. Reporter with questions swirling about his future role, spicers return to the podium, marked his first oncamera appearance in a week. Social media lighting up after steve bannon explained away spicers absence. Telling a reporter, sean got fatter. Chelsea clinton writing, fat shaming isnt a joke i kind funny, ever. Reporter the president zeroing in on democrats, saying democrats would do better as a party if they got together with republicans on health care, tax cuts, security. He writes obstruction doesnt work. This week, President Trump told tech leaders the senate bill needs more heart. The future of health care that was really in republicans hands. They need 50 votes for their bill to pass. Meaning if just three republicans vote against it, the bill fails. Matt and savannah . Peter alexander at the white house this morning. Thanks so much. Now, to another terrorist belgium. Europe. A man was shot by Security Forces after he blew up a small explosive device in the citys main train station. Keir simmons is there for us with new developments in the investigation this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Were just a short distance from the platforms in this station, an area surrounded by stores. M ks on the ground, where Officials Say an attack could have been far worst. A suitcase packed with nails and gas canisters that only partially exploded. Europe waking up to frightening and familiar images. The floor of brussels station scorched after another terror attack. A birth urst of flames many fee high. The business man from california took this picture. People were running out. The soldiers started coming in as i was leaving. Reporter this video recorded minutes after the attack. Through the smoke, apparently, a glimpse of the suicide bombing suspect, lying on the floor. After the explosion, he was shot dead by soldiers. A european city, again gripped by panic, as people, including tourists, fled. Europe has seen three attacks in three days. And in the past three months, a wave of terror, targeting britain, france and sweden. Among the attacks in manchester, a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert. An attack on londoninparis, a m Police Officer. And sunday night in london, a van mounting a sidewalk and mowing down muslims leaving a prayer service. Police in europes Capital Cities says the situation is under control this morning. Brussels, the scene of a deadly isis attack last year, in which 32 were killed by multiple explosions at the airport. And the metro line. This morning in brussels, as the alleged attackers house is searched, europe, seemingly the target of unrelenting terror. Officials say the man was of moroccan descent. And this wave of attacks, demonstrating while Security Services are able to react here, effectively, savannah, they dont seem to be preable to prevent these attacks. A lot on their hands. Jared kushner is arriving in israel this morning with ambitious hopes of pllaying the groundwork for a peace deal. Hell meet Benjamin Netanyahu and mahmoud abbas. Theyre calling it part of an effort to keep the conversation going, rather than the launching of a new phase in the peace process. And another big story making news in that region, a shakeup at the top of saudi arabias royal hierarchy. King salman has promoted his son to be the next in line to the throne. He replaces salmans nephew as crown prince. No reason for that change was immediately announced. And now, to the options being weighed by the Trump Administration in the wake of the death of former north korean detainee and College Student otto warmbier. We see the final images of otto before he was taken into custody. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent andrea mitching has the littlest for us. Reporter the u. S. And china are meeting at the state department to discuss options against north koreas missile and nuclear tests. All of this complicated as outrage is fwrgrowing across america, about the death of student otto warmbier. Overnight, a vigil at the university of virginia, where t ottombr would have graduated this spring, as anger spreads over his death, lawmakers consider options. Most likely a travel ban for u. S. Citizens. 1,000 americans go there each year. And more economic sanctions. The College Student seen in these photos, exclusive to dailymail. Com. Laughing and joking in his final days before being arrested, came back home to ohio and died monday, after 17 months of north korean captivity. He should have been brought home a long time ago. Reporter President Trump blaming his predecessor. If he were brought home ld have been a lot different. He should have been brought home that same day. Reporter obama officials point out they brought back two americans from pyongyang and said bringing back warmbier was a top priority. Later, mr. Trump seeming to recuse china. While i appreciate the efforts of president xi and china to help with north korea, its not worked out. Last month, the president seemed open to meet with kim jongun. I would be honored to do it. Reporter not in i longer. North korea has committed a crime against humanity. And they probably are not going to come clean and explain what happened. Reporter as Otto Warmbiers hometown get ready for the funeral, at the same high school where he addressed his graduating class four years ago. Filled with promise and eerily prophetic. Many of us will move far away and not come back for a long time. Reporter and today as the officials meet at the state department, the secretaries of state and defense will meet with chinese officials. They will press china to do more, as they try to figure out what the president meant by his confusing tweet, saying china was trying to help, while acknowledging that his policy has not worked. Andrea mitchell, thank you. Big news from the world of business. Uber ceo, Travis Kalanick, announcing his resignation, after months of controversy and speculation. Business correspondent jo ling kent has more on that this morning. Reporter good morning. The uber ceo has resigned after a group of investors pressured him to step down. Following a troubled year for the company. It marks a stunning downturn for one of silicon valleys highestflying startups with 14,000 employees. This in uber Ceo Travis Kalanick is out of a job, stepping down as ceo of the company he founded in 2009. Among a shareholder revolt. In a Statement Given to the new york times, kalanick said, i love uber more than anything in the world. I accepted the investors request to step aside, so uber can go back to building, wratra than be distracted with another fight. He said he would take a leave of absence, in part to grieve the death of his mother. That move, not enough to satisfy investors. The uber board of directors releasing a statement overnight, reading in part, this is a Bold Decision and a sign of his devotion and love for uber. By stepping away, hes taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy, while giving the company room to fully new c ubers history. Ubers recent history has been littered with a series of woeek uber employees, including senior staffers were fired amid an investigation into more than 20 bullying and inappropriate behavior inside the company. In a investigation was sparked by a flag post that went ra eng fowler, who described unwanted sexual advances by her supervisor. The whole business. Epcaughtoncamera confrontation between kalanick and an uber driver, arguing over the highend car services. They claim everything of their life on somebody else. Reporter now, a particular 70 billion Ride Sharing Company is searching for a new ceo to take the wheel and drive it into the future. There is no obvious successor to kalanick. The search is on for a new ceo. And kalanick is likely to keep a presence at uber. He will stay on the board of director s and he will retain a control of the majority of ubers controlling shares. This while the company tries to make good for riders. This week, adding a tipping feature for customers. Lets turn back to mr. Roker who has the top story of the morning, the weather. Were looking at the heavy rain through the gulf coast. But here in the northeast, a Beautiful Day ontap. Severe storms will be firing up later today heorthwest looks spectacular with plenty of sunshine and seasonal temperatures. Were going to get t vo you can pass down a subaru forester. dad shes all yours. vo but you get to keep the memories. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Good morning. Meteorologist bill henley. 84 degrees in Lehigh Valley and middle 80s for the suburbs. Little warmer. 82 at the shore. Skies mostly sunny. 87 in philadelphia. Mostly sunny. Chance well see scattered late day showers in the parts of the area. Isolated showers will move out tonight. Have a great day. And the controversy that surrounds it. First, on a wednesday morning, this is today on nbc. Just ahead, how the Amazon Effect is chag