the new death linked to vaping thght now across the country report, president trump firing back after a u.s. intelligence officer filed an explosive complaint. the mystery, what could the president have promised a foreign leader during a phone call the scare in the sky, a plane descending rapidly nearly 30,000 feet in just minutes. anxious moments in the cabin after oxygen masks deploy. a father grasping his son. the passengers urgently texting their families and the incredible million dollar winner inspiring america. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt >> good evening, everyone. the houston area tonight is in the grips of a major flood emergency. the remnants of tropical storm imelda dumping staggering rainfall amounts along the southeast texas coast. at least one person has died and more than a thousand people have been rescued or evacuated. many by boat and the danger isn't over as forecasters say the torrential rains will continue into tonight. our gabe grr rcues are underway.

these families strand in chest deep water rushed to safety. from beaumont to the houston suburbs, the rain. is historic. how does this compare to hurricane harvey >> the feel of it is just like harvey and the people we're rescuing saying they have more water now in their houses than they did during harvey. >> reporter: the floods killing one person, hunter morrison. the remnants of tropical storm imelda unleashed tornadoes late wednesday before torrential downpours overnight. >> we have been getting pounded by heavy rkes since midnight and 40 inches of rain drenching some areas. people driving in the wrong direction. and the city's police chief posting hours of rescue efforts on social media.

>> this is our second truckload. it's packed, whole families. >> reporter: first responders got more than a thousand calls for help now the coast guard is on the move with more rain expected >> torrential downpours will shift to the south of houston tonight and rotates around and moves northeast of houston a >> reporter: in the small town of hampshire, they were hoisted to safety. >> i guess just going outside and seeing people begging for help, it was really scary. >> this is my family these are my kids. >> reporter: pregnant mom erica zamora is now in an emergency shelter with her children. her last 24 hours has been overwhelming, but so is what's next >> i don't know. starting over. with what? we don't have anything >> reporter: sadly she says her homemade it through harvey, but not this this area alone got a whopping 43 inches of rain.

and to give you a an idea how fast it fell, at bush airport in houston, they saw their average monthly rainfall total for september in less than an hour and a half lester >> absolutely incredible all right, gabe gutierrez, thank you. now to the political firestorm tonight in canada after new images surfaced of the prime minister in black face justin trudeau's reelection campaign now turning into an apology tour our ron allen has more >> this is something that i deeply, deeply regret. >> reporter: tonight canadian prime minister justin trudeau apologizing again after new images emerged of him in blackface. >> darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface. >> reporter: trudeau seen here performing in blackface as a and today trudeau's political party confirmed it's also him in this video uncle where or when it was shot the new images come after time magazine published this photo of

trudeau at a gala for an elite school where he taught almost two decades ago. the theme arabian nights the offensive images made public as canadians decide to reelect trudeau and his party next month. the opposition pouncing. >> i believe he's long lost the moral authority to govern. >> reporter: the son of a former prime minister, trudeau burst onto political stage four years ago promising to be a leader for a multi cultural canada. now in the minority community a sense of betrayal. >> i think they're going to have questions about his sincerity,u. >> reporter: today trudeau dismissed questions whether he should drop out of the race. >> the choices i made hurt people >> reporter: and he would not definitively say whether more black face photos exist.

ron allen, nbc news. >> tonight there is a new death linked to vaping missouri reporting the nation's 8th death, a man in his 40s. and the cdc announcing a surge in vaping-related illnesses. 530 cases in 38 states and the virgin islands here's ann thompson. >> reporter: a clear picture today of the vaping victims, more than half are under the age of 25. three quarters of the cases are men. most disturbingly, officials expect the death toll of eight to grow as they search for answers. why is it taking the cdc so long to figure out what's causing this problem >> patients may not even know what's in the products that they've been using patients may have been using a number of products and they may not know which is the one or more that led to the injury they are experiencing >> reporter: eli said he only vaped thc for a month, the active ingredient in marijuanals doctor said, looked 150. >> i wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. >> reporter: the fda's launched a criminal investigation into

the supply chain as it analyzes more than 150 samples. and today a new report says mo st a public health crisis threatening america's young people ann thompson, nbc news, new york >> we're going to turn now to the intrigue in washington tonight. who was president trump talking to and what did he say in a phone call he reportedly made to a world leader that caught the attention of a whistleblower kristen welker has the growing mystery. >> reporter: tonight, president trump firing back amid a bombshell report that one of his calls with a foreign leader prompted a whistleblower complaint from an intelligence officer. mr. trump dismissing the report as presidential harassment tweeting virtually any time i speak on the phone to a foreign leader, i understand there may be many people listening is anybody dumb enough to believe that i would say something inappropriate on sucha

complaint with the inspector general. a former u.s. official tells nbc news it involved a phone conversation >> we do not have the complaint. >> reporter: it's all parking a fiery standoff with house democrats demanding the acting director of national intelligence, joseph mcguire, turnover the complaint. but mcguire is refusing, overruling the inspector general who said the allegation was credible and urgent. mcguire citing advice from the department of justice's legal counsel, a d.o.j. official tells nbc news. a top democrat accusing the white house of trying to keep it secret >> if the assertion is accurate that the department of justice has made and the dni has affirmed that this involves a potentially privileged communication, then at one level or another, it likely involves either the president or people around him >> reporter: but republicans tonight are dismissing this latest firestorm >> this is not something i would ever see the president doing, and i would instead of jump to uallncget ths fit. >> reporter: mcguire has agreed to testify publicly next week. and what we still don't know, who the foreign leader was and

what the president allegedly promised lester >> all right, kristen, thank you. tonight one of the surviving crew members from the dive boat inferno that killed 34 people is suing the boat's owner and operator his attorney calling the ship a death trap here's miguel almaguer now with the exclusive interview. >> may day, may day, may day >> reporter: before it erupted in flames killing 34 people, the conception wasn't sea worth think, properly maintained or stocked with adequate safety equipment. those are the staggering claims made by the boat's chef, ryan sims, one of the five surviving crew members who had been on the job only three weeks through his attorney, he says the victims never had a chance >> i think that the boat was a death trap i mean, when you look at the second escape hatch, it's not really an escape hatch it's almost not functional >> reporter: the lawsuit slams the company's failure to comply with industry standards and failure to properly train their employees.

sims, who assumed the boat was safe, broke his leg jumping from the third deck as fire spread across the second deck, killing the 34 people who were trapped by flames below deck the conception's owner has no comment, but spoke to keyt in santa barbara before the lawsuit. >> we've been in this business for a 45 years now and have never had an incident, anything like this. >> reporter: with investigators wanfirming the night watch man exploded, a criminal probe is now underway brow nike has now dropped his endorsement deal after two women accused him of sexual misconduct brown has denied wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed. also tonight new developments in the jeffrey epstein case

another woman filing a lawsuit against his estate alleging epstein sexually assaulted her for three years beginning when she was 14 and in our nbc news exclusive, six of epstein's accusers are speaking out some for the first time publicly to nbc's savannah guthrie for a "dateline" special airing tomorrow night >> reporter: these six women together for the first time sharing strikingly similar stories. a disturbing pattern of recruitmenan the hands of jeffrey epstein virginia roberts giuffre said she was in high school when epstein began abusing her. this is her first broadcast interview. >> you get the news that jeffrey epstein has committed suicide in his jail cell, what did you think? >> it was such a shock to me i mean, when i say shock, i didn't have the words. i was in mourning, not because the world lost a monster >> you weren't mourning him. >> i was not mourning him. i wasn't mourning the death of this man

i was mourning the death of my ability to hold this man accountable. >> reporter: in court filings, giuffre says epstein directed her to have sex with several powerful people around him including prince andrew. like all others she's accused, prince andrew has emphatically denied any form of sexual contact or relationship with her. last month, giuffre had this message for the prince outside of court >> he knows exactly what he's done, and i hope he comes clean about it >> reporter: giuffre is more that than one of 20 accusers who shared their story in the federal court room after epstein's death. the women are now part of a sister hood they never asked for. they believe the justice system let them down. >> they failed us before they'll fail us again. >> exactly >> reporter: former palm beach police chief michael rieder agrees he oversaw the original local investigation into epstein and began raising alarms decades ago that state and federal prosecutors were going too easy on epstein how is it possible the system could have failed so many levels at the same time? how do you explain that? >> there is no explanation i didn't believe it back then, i don't believe it now it's just unfathomableo

>> reporter: but tonight, these women say they will not give up on jceah guthrie, nbc ne, new york >> there is much more of savannah's interview tomorrow on "today" and "dateline" tomorrow night at 10:00, 9:00 central now to a place facing the immediate impacts of climate change and as our richard engel found out, scientists in iceland have come up with a possible solution >> reporter: iceland may have to change its name because this viking nation's glaciers are melting. environmental researcher sugoros took me to see a deep lagoon with icebergs floating where a glacier had been >> ten years ago, the lagoon didn't even exist. >> reporter: how does it make you feel to see this, this lake? >> honestly it's love/hating for me it screams climate change. >> reporter: iceland has nearly 300 named glaciers one is already completely gone this summer, the locals held a funeral for it around the world, more than 300 billion tons of glacier ice is

melting every year, warming the oceans and lifting them. this stunning video was shot last month in greenland where temperatures in the 70s melted so much glacier ice, it created a river. we found the same all across iceland. everywhere we've been going, we've been passing these little streams. >> it almost seems like the glacier is bleeding. >> reporter: but this vulnerable country may have come up with a solution scientists here have figured out a way to take carbon dioxide, one of the main causes of climate change, out of the environment, and fuse it into these harmless rocks these are -- this stone. >> these are actual rock samples. >> reporter: carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is what warms the planet now they are capturing it in the air, dissolving it in water and pumping it underground where it's absorbed in the rocks

forever. why isn't this happening today on a massive scale >> it's really cost. short-sightedness as well probably >> reporter: iceland's future depends on finding a solution. what do you say to people who doubt that this is happening? >> open your eyes. it's happening all around us >> reporter: richard engel, nbc news, iceland. >> a shocking revelation tonight about birds and how they are vanishing from the u.s. and canada a new study found almost 3 billion fewer birds flying around than there were 50 years ago, a 29% decline, caused in part by development and use of pesticides still ahead tonight, the urgent search for a 5-year-old girl who disappeared from a playground tonight new clues. her family desperate for answers. also the terrifying moment from the air passengers texting family

next tonight, the urgent search for a little girl in new jersey missing since monday. police fear she may have been abducted at a park in broad daylight tonight there are new images from just before she vanished.ey slept since dulce's disappearance. police issuing an amber alert for a man who drove off with her in a van with tinted windows >> time is of the essence.

as time passes, it gets harder to find her. >> reporter: the family came to this bridge ton, new jersey, park she stayed in the car while the kids played here minutes later dulce was gone, vanished in broad daylight her mother pleading for her daughter's return. >> we can't find my daughter >> reporter: the search growing on the ground and from the air as volunteers offer food, water and reward money >> when i see >> seporter: toni despe >> up next for us, frightening moments at 30,000 feet

we're back now with the terrifying emergency for passengers aboard a delta airlines flight when the pilots

had to quickly make an emergency descent some 30,000 feet very quickly. here's tom costello. >> reporter: delta airlines flight 2353 was traveling from atlanta to fort lauderdale wednesday when pilots received a cabin pressure warning and acted quickly, descending 30,000 feet in just eight minutes. >> there is an emergency inbound. >> reporter: as oxygen masks dropped, one passenger hugged his son.old ys his first instinct was to call his family and prepare for >> i liken it to a roller coaster and you go down a steep hill, your stomach comes up in your throat. >> reporter: the plane making an emergency landing in tampa >> it's not something you expect to experience. >> reporter: in a statement delta apologized to its customers saying the flight was diverted out of an abundance of caution. tonight passengers shaken, but safe tom costello, nbc news >> up next, a new star is born, inspiring america.

in tonight's inspiring america, the young man who just won the hearts of the entire country, jo ling kent on his triumph. >> reporter: cody lee has found his voice. and it is captivating. so played his way to the top of "america's got talent. >> the winner is cody lee! rortd lost his sight before his first birthday and was diagnosed with autism at age 4. >> cody, congratulations >> woo-hoo >> how does it feel? >> it was unbelievable >> reporter: cody's mother tina has been at his side every step of the way >> it's given me a lot of faith and hope in the world when you have a special needs kid, you feel alone

and to see the way that the world reacted inspired me. >> we are nothing without people like you >> reporter: simon cowell called this the best finale he's ever judged >> how many people are in similar position to him? we don't know. and i think that's where his family has been unbelievable because they realized he had this gift. >> reporter: and now the world knows, too jo ling kent, nbc news, hollywood. >> what an amazing talent. congratulations, cody.

[cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> kelly: ♪ the way that things have ♪ ♪ you made me, you made me a believer ♪ ♪ pain ♪ you made me, you made me a believer, believer, first things

first ♪ ♪ i was choking in the crowd ♪ building my brain up in the cloud ♪ ♪ filing like ashes to the ground, open my feelings, that would drown ♪ ♪ but they never did, never did did ♪ ♪ rained down, it rained down ♪ you made me a comment you made me a believer, believer ♪ ♪ pain ♪ you break me down, you build me up, believer, believer ♪ ♪ pain ♪ i let the bullets fly, let them rain ♪ ♪ my love, my life, my drive, it came from ♪ ♪ pain ♪ you made me, you made me a believer, believer ♪

[cheers and applause] >> kelly: welcome to "the kelly clarkson show"!