good morning. i'm ali velshi. i'm in orange, texas, about five miles west of the louisiana border amidst the ruins from hurricane laura. this is not over yet. this continues to be a category 1 storm. it is now about two hours due north-northeast of where i am and it is still a category 1 hurricane, still inflicting damage. the damage has been quite serious, however. while this is not the worst of it -- they've got trees down here and buildings damaged, across western louisiana, heading into northern louisiana and the state of texas there is, in fact, a lot of damage.

it came onshore last night as a category 4 storm with 150-mile-per-hour winds which would make it the strongest storm -- tied for the strongest storm ever to hit western louisiana. it's now a category 1 storm still, straight due north of where it came onshore. more than 450,000 people at last report in texas and louisiana are without power. these reports come in fairly slowly. we've seen bucket trucks getting out there because the winds on the western side of the storm have died down enough for emergency crews to get out. there are still winds inside the storm. hurricane force winds that are not allowing crews or emergency management to get out. louisiana governor john bel edwards confirms the storm has killed at least one person. it was a 14-year-old girl in leesville, louisiana, when a tree fell on her. that's a major source of the damage. water tends to be the most

dangerous part of these things. but after the wind an rain, the trees fall. that's generally what results in the power outages. according to the white house, president trump is going to visit fema this afternoon and he has been in touch with the governors of louisiana and texas. texas largely got spared most of this thing. i rode it out in beaumont, texas, about 25 miles west of here where we lost power. there was an expectation of great flooding and serious damage there. because it was on the left side of the storm and because these storms go counterclockwise, what we got was northerly winds that were blowing the water south and into the gulf of mexico. the bottom line is, while we got it easy, the folks in the storm and on the right side of the storm not only got it hard, but it's continuing. it's going to continue into arkans arkansas. for that i want to go the my friend bill karins who has been tracking this all night. what's the situation with this storm that continues to be

deadly now? >> the worst part of the storm, obviously, is when it made landfall. the legacy of the storm is how far inland it's still a hurricane. we had landfall at 1:00 central time. here we are nine hours later, still a category 1 hurricane over land. when we see the damage and power outages, it's going to go straight from the coast and go due northward toward shreveport. this was the landfall radar image, the historic part of the storm coming onshore as a strong category 4, only seven miles per hour away from a rare category 5. we haven't had or seen a ton of pictures of incredible storm surge. they said the worst case scenario was 15 to 20 feet. we know we did get at least a ten-foot storm surge. one of the people i talked to made a good point, the highest water levels were to the right of the center, over a wildlife refuge area.

there's nothing 20 feet high, there's nothing to measure it. we may have had those, but we'll never know it. as far as what we're dealing with now, still 75-mile-per-hour winds, almost parallel to the shreveport area. it's going to track towards little rock as we go throughout the day. if there's any damaging winds being done, it will be to the north and northeast of the center. right now the winds are starting to come down enough, it's only going to be minor power outages instead of widespread. there's the new forecast track, 45-mile-per-hour winds max, only seven, eight hours from now. that's good news for everyone in arkansas and hopefully we'll keep the power on in little rock. after that, it's going to be a big rain storm heading to tennessee and kentucky. the legacy of the storm is how fast it rapidly intensified. it scared the heck out of everyone in galveston and houston area. it made landfall in cameron parish with a population of 7,000 people. if this had been 40 miles to the west, there's 2.3 million people

in the houston/galveston area. you can just imagine how many millions of times worse it would have been hitting there. obviously we feel horrible pour the small community of cameron parish and lake charles, but this storm being as strong as it was, made landfall in one of the most sparsely populated areas. the storm surge was over a wildlife refuge area where no one lives. we did get lucky in some ways. but it will still be days and weeks, ali. >> bill, where i am in orange, you can draw a line sort of southwest of beaumont and then down southeast of port arthur, and it makes a triangle. it's called the golden triangle. this is the heart of oil production and oil refining in the country. so we had all those rigs and platforms in the gulf of mexico. 85% of them were evacuated. the refineries were shut down. the folks in this area in many

cases depend on work related to oil refining, oil products, oil servicing. that is a major industry that's not just shut down but it's going to affect everybody else because of gas prices. >> ali, i was talking last night overnight with a few people that are environmentalists. they were talking about the possibility of these spills out of all these major oil production facilities. that storm surge, could we also get an ecological disaster on our hands throughout that region? it doesn't look like that storm surge went up into sabean pass or the kalka shoe river area. it doesn't look like they had water problems. we'll have to see if they had wind damage. those buildings are built to withstand storms like this, they're major facilities. >> yeah, they've had them over years. i have unconfirmed reports of some sort of chemical spill on

i-10. there are helicopters, generally speaking national guard helicopters involved in very heavy search and rescue operations under way, including helicopters, high water vehicles, flat bottom boats, things like that. i want to go to lake charles, the population center most affected by this hurricane. morgan chesky is there. morgan, what's the situation where you are? >> ali, it's a brutal morning for thousands of people in this city i. took the brunt of the powerful hurricane that rolled ashore 1:00 to 2:00 a.m. we're seeing the extent of the devastation today. we anticipated a wind and water event. people breathing a small sigh of relief because the storm surge isn't necessarily as big as they thought it would be, but the wind damage, just horrific. let me show you one example of this. we're standing outside a tv station here. you can see structure on top of that building. that's the tv tower. so it took out part of that tv

station, and we're just going to walk along this way. you can see it fell on top of this building here, and it didn't stop there. after shearing that side of the building, it came to rest on a third and that's where it came to a stop. ali, this is the kind of powerful winds we're talking about. you mentioned those gusting up to 150 miles an hour. they were sustained. even though we're 30 miles inland, whenever we watch that eyewall roll through this area, around 1:30, 2:00 a.m., you could just see those kind of bands tighten up and you would have a gust after another. and then the crazy part is, when we were in the eye of the storm, that few minutes of peace and quiet, all of a sudden, you have the back side of the hurricane that blows from an entirely different direction. in a lot of incidences, that's what's causing this serious damage is because that first round kind of loosens things up, makes them unstable, and that second is there to knock everything down and just create

a lot of havoc. power outages for nearly half a million people here in louisiana stretching into texas. we do know unfortunately that hurricane laura turned deadly with a teenage girl killed about an hour north of where we are when the high winds toppled a tree into her home killing her. that's the only death reported as of right now. however, there's a big question, ali, in cameron parish. that's the place that took the brunt of lawyurlaura's force. it has a population of about 7,000 people. 150 of those people chose not to go anywhere. we've reached out to officials to check on the status of those people, because that's the place where they said this storm surge could have competed rita in 2005 which brought 18 feet. they were talking 20 feet in this instance. so a lot to figure out here, but a tough day for so many in louisiana. ali. >> let me ask you a quick question, morgan. where were you when the worst of

the storm passed over you? >> reporter: fourth story of a hotel right on the waterway here in lake charles. fortunately we were not in direct contact with the wind. it was kind of blowing past us. i'd crack a window every now and then to witness its power. my photographer captured some of the exterior buildings just outside, a few yards from where they were staying, they handled the wind until all of a sudden, they collapsed. that was just one instance that made it kind of very real for us. this is what we're dealing with. you think i'm 30 miles inland, it's not going to be as bad here as it was on the coast. yet we're finding out it absolutely was. >> morgan, stay safe. i'll come back to you later. morgan is east of me. i want to go 200 miles north near shreveport, louisiana, where my colleague chris jansing is standing by. chris, the center of the storm has not reached you yet. it's going to be add jie sent to

you just to the east. what's the situation where you are? >> reporter: we've gotten a little less rain over the last hour. but the wind, the wind gusts have picked up. i talked to the shreveport fire chief. he said they reported gusts up to 65 miles per hour. you can see behind me i think, there's a walkway that i think goes into one of the casinos that's along the red river here. the cloth roof -- i assume it's cloth -- just field off about a half hour ago and has been flapping in the wind. these winds have been a major concern here. they saw them 15 years ago with hurricane rita. lots of downed trees, downed power lines. that's exactly what we're seeing now. we don't have any definitive numbers. all across the city they're seeing that. downed trees, downed power lines, even three fire stations and the communications center for the city of shreveport were down. they had to go to generator. the other big concern, of course, is what you're seeing

behind me. and that's water, always the biggest concern. the good news is that the river had not been high. they had been pretty dry here for the summer. but all this rain coming down did raise a lot of concerns because they've had major flooding here before. last year some homes got a much as 22 inches of water right along the shore. five years ago they had major flooding. so where i am, which is this beautiful park area, was very, very flooded. so they've been pre positioning all these assets, they've already been using some of them. what they haven't had to use fortunately so far is any water rescue. they had a state water rescue team here. but emergency vehicles have been very, very busy including responding to a couple of residential fires. essentially this whole area is shut down. school just started in many of the local school districts on

monday. schools are shut down, businesses are shut down, casinos shut down at midnight. they're hoping to reopen tomorrow. but in the meantime, they're still in the brunt of this. we're expecting to feel the worst of it. now the rain is picking up again. we're expecting to feel the worst of it in the next hour, ali. >> you're going to have rain for several hours which means you're going to have the possibility of downed trees and power lines. please, chris, i know you've been doing this for a long time, but stay safe. i want to go to sam brock. we've been tag teaming all night, in beaumont together. he's now east of me in orange texas. sam, what's the situation where you are? >> reporter: it's sunny where i am right now, ali. good to talk with you. we know for sure there were days of advanced warnings for people to get out of town. that includes in orange county where we are right now. 83,000 people who live here. i talked with one gentleman who lives in this house right here who decided he wasn't going to

go. not just that, he's been here for decades, but since rita in 2005. at that point, the whole barn flooding, the vinyl siding of his home ripped off and didn't have power for 31 days. he decided i'm never going to do that again regardless of what warnings or level of hurricanes are coming my way. he decided to wait it out. you see all these trees in his back yard that have been toppled. there are a couple that could have easily fallen the other way onto his house. he knew which way the wind was blowing and he felt confident. i asked him, is your mentality of this pretty representative of what other people in this community feel as well. here is what he said. >> you were not at any point, mike, worried that your safety could be at risk being in that house last night? >> no. >> is this how most people feel around here or are you alone? >> some people feel that way. >> reporter: as we take a look, ali, at some of the communities

that look utterly devastated or at the very least have lost power lines, trees, damaged homes, you'll recall there was our rescue team, multiple search and rescue teams launched from baton rouge to impacted areas. lake charles was one of them. there are reports right now there were 150 people who did not heed the warnings and stayed. we followed up and asked the louisiana emergency preparedness agency about this. they said there's not 150 people unaccounted for, but there could be that many people who did not leave when they were told to leave. that is concerning. there are search and rescue teams coming from outside state as well, at least florida and other states, to try and find people that might have been impacted by this storm that weren't listening to directions. that would break your heart if there was a tragic outcome to that. officials were so adamant for so long to leave and not take chances. >> that's exactly right. in the final hours before the storm hit, people may have left.

one of the things i heard one of the mayors staying, make sure your family knows you're staying. if you're leaving, make sure your family knows you're leaving. when they have to account for everybody and someone is not in their house, are they missing, in trouble or did they go somewhere else? i'll come back to you in a little bit. i'm joined by tony noah who lives in that house just next to us. a lot of damage in this area as you can see. in typical fashion, i see this, not just this great texas ethic, but i see it all over america, after a tornado or a hurricane, you've been blowing stuff, cutting stuff. you stayed here, you were in this house overnight when it hit. tell me what it felt like to you? >> like a freight train coming through the neighborhood. it hit at 12:56. and it was a roar like i've never heard before. i knew it was here. i called my daughter immediately and said it's here and it sounds like a train. >> you've been through a few hurricanes. >> i've been through a lot of

hurricanes, yes. >> what kind of damage do you have and what have you seen in the neighborhood? >> a lot of fences down. this house has two trees through it. i can see into the attic. >> are they here? >> no, they're not here, no. there's a few other damages that got minor damage. a house on the other side of the neighborhood that has a power line pulled down and bentd the weatherhead. as far as the shingles go, i see some lifted up, seen a few houses with shingles that are in patches, they're missing, not necessarily whole roofs or anything. >> vid you know of is safe? >> as far as i know, yes. everybody that stayed here last night, two people -- four people down there and two people next door -- three people next door to me. we're all fine. >> it didn't occur to you to evacuate? >> i mean it always occurs. my daughters are always working on me to leave. i just don't like to leave. >> at some point last night,

were you thinking that maybe leaving might have been a good idea when you're hearing that freight train noise? >> no, i've been in some other hurricanes when it was like that though, when i was like why didn't i leave, why didn't i leave. but this one last night, i just -- i don't know. it was real loud. it was a lot of wichbltd it got really, really dark as the night wore on. it was about three or four hours that it was here. it got so dark i couldn't find my way around the house. of course, the lights went out immediately within minutes after the storm hit. i could see for a while, but after awhile it got so torrentially -- the downpour and the winds and everything going on, i couldn't find my way around the house without a flashlight. >> as you're walking around today, do you think you guys got out of this better than you expected? >> a lot better than i expected, yes. we thought there was going to be some substantial damage, but from what we've been able to

ascertain, it's not that bad. >> tony, glatd you're safe. i know you have a lot of work to do getting your property back in order. we'll talk through the course of the day. tony noah here in orange. one of the places tony is describing, here in eastern texas, things were not as bad as they were really fearing they would be. the gain in eastern texas is the loss in louisiana. things are in many cases much worse than they were expected to be. after the break we'll go to lafayette, louisiana, for an update there. our coverage will continue here on msnbc. stay with us. >> tech: at safelite, we're here for you with safe, convenient service.

>> tech: we'll come right to you. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: you'll get a text when we're on our way. >> tech: before we arrive, just leave your keys on the dash. we'll replace your windshield with safe, no-contact service. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: and that's service you can trust when you need it the most. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: schedule at safelite.com. ♪ upbeat music >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ come on in, we're open. ♪ all we do is hand you the bag. simple. done. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪

we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. with secret, you're unstoppable. no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back.

i'm ali velshi in orange texas. i was talking to tony noah a few moments ago, he noticed in this tree there's a baby squirrel. you may be able to see it. i don't know if he's injured. he may be sort of caught there. tony is trying to nurse it back to energy and see if he needs something and maybe get him some food or some care. it does look like that squirrel is okay. look at that. little baby squirrel, grabbing it from the tree. he has somebody up the road who adopted a squirrel at some point.

his paw seems to be stuck in the debris. it's not just people and houses and businesses. there's all sorts of folks who suffered through this hurricane. this tree obviously came down and that squirrel's mother had nested in that tree. we're taking care of what's going on across louisiana more than texas. i'm in texas, the eastern part of it. louisiana is where most of the damage was done. it seems to be a category 1 storm in louisiana. in lafayette, louisiana, chris pollone is standing by. what's the situation where you are? >> reporter: hey there, ali. certainly the worst is over here in lafayette. we're still getting strong tropical storm force wind gusts here every so often. we are still seeing some bands of rain, though. the sun is trying to peek out. i also want to show you what the main concern is in this part of southwest louisiana. take a look.

this is the vermillion river, bayou vermilion as residents call it. now it's flooding its banks. this river normally runs from west to east. right now it is running east to west. if you see the river reverse direction, ali, to get out of the way, because that means the flooding is coming. where this river normally empties out is full and it's going to start backing up. that's exactly what happened. that's the concern now. as the storm is moving out of the northern part of louisiana and into arkansas, you're getting still a ton of that rain filling all the rivers and streams and that's all coming down towards the gulf. so around lafayette, they are watching out for river and stream flooding in the usual areas. around town, damage assessment going on. obviously you've got roofs and shingles and trees and things of that nature down.

we lost power just for about 20 to 30 minutes this morning in this immediate area. but obviously this area seems to be doing fairly well compared to what the immediate gulf coast is dealing with. don't know if you've mentioned yet, but we have learned of at least one fatality north of lake charles. apparently a 14-year-old girl died when a branch came down on her home. obviously a sad situation. teams are out assessing for people who stayed behind in the storm area to see if there are any more people who are in dire need of help or rescuing. right now louisiana, half a million people or so without power. crews from 20 states are in the region ready to go out and start repairing things. officials warned over the last couple days in some areas it could take days, maybe even weeks to get that power back on,

ali. >> chris, thank you. one of the things that's important is in this region there were also tornado watches and some tornadoes. this idea of falling trees and falling branches is often one of the most dangerous things. water is the most dangerous thing in a hurricane. but obviously the wind has an effect. that is still a danger right now. some of the ground is wet. certainly in louisiana, north of where you are, north of where i am, where chris jansing is in shreveport, they're still getting the rain and the hurricane force winds. i've been talking about louisiana a lot. i'm in texas. texas did not get spared. it was definitely not as bad here as it was going to be. most importantly, it was not add r as bad in the major population centers like houston. a few days ago it looked like houston would be in the track of the storm. texas governor greg abbott was on the "today" show this morning talking about the damage and the assistance that the state is providing. >> we do have search and rescue teams out in the field that are

making both assessments, and they will be looking for anybody who may need to be rescued. we have maybe up to about 100,000 people who are without power. savannah, i've got to tell you this, if you look going north in east texas, you see communities like jasper and center and marshall, texas on interstate 20 still going through the ravages of the storm. heavy wind and rain, possible tornadoes. we're not yet out of the woods. >> governor greg abbott of texas. i want to go to allison getz she is the public information officer for jefferson county, texas, that's beaumont and port arthur. allison, thank you for joining us. can you give an update on what happened last night? i know we lost powers in some areas, not all areas. we've been watching some of the downed trees in that area. largely jefferson county which had been bracing for the worst

impact of the storm, i think we're feeling a little better this morning than we were expecting we might. >> we definitely dodged a bullet. we're very thankful for that. we were expecting this to be a huge wind event and it was, not to the extent that we thought because the storm did jog a little bit to the east. but we have over 100,000 residents that do not have power between jefferson and orange coun county. we've got a lot of trees down, a lot of poles down. we've got crews working on that as we speak. >> allison, what does it look like for people without power? i know after harvey there were long delays. we don't have that situation where beaumont is flooded. are your utility people back out there and starting to repair that now? >> yes. they had over 10,000 people that were staged right outside of the

area ready to go. so i would expect that we will get power up a lot quicker than we did in the past storms. also, we haven't had all the water and everything with flooding and storm surge. so we're hopeful they're going to get power back up so our residents can get back to normal. >> allison, thank you for talking with us. we wish you the best in your recovery for jefferson county and east of texas. allison getz, public information officer for jefr soferson count texas. i'll send this back to my colleague kristen welker. while you're doing that, we're going to try to nurse this baby squirrel back to health. >> let's hope you can. incredible coverage there. we'll check back in a few moments for an update on the squirrel and everything there. we want to get to headlines happening in our country right now, a lot on top of the massive

hurricane. we just learned a million more people in the u.s. filed for unemployment last week. more than 180,000 americans have now died from covid-19. wildfires are tearing through our western states. the republicans will formally renominate president trump tonight for re-election. up next, we're going to drill into the jacob blake case in wisconsin. the new information we're learning about the minutes leading up to his death. we'll talk about new his storic calls for justice. many agent leases are telling the nation now is not the time for sports. we're back after a quick break. stay with us. (gong rings) - this is joe. (combative yelling) he used to have bad breath. now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. (combative yelling)

therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores.

therabreath, it's find your get-up-and-go. find pants that aren't sweats. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there. now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15% of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again.

i'm kristen welker. we will get back to our storm coverage with my colleague ali velshi in texas in just a few moments, but we want to bring you up to date on a few other headlines including several developments in the police shooting of jacob blake in wisconsin. the u.s. justice department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the case. the state's attorney general is still investigating but announced yesterday blake did have a knife in his car found in the floorboard. for the first time the officer who shot blake seven times in the back was publicly identified. as protests continued for a fourth straight night, a 17-year-old is in custody in connection with a deadly shooting that took place on tuesday night. nbc's shaquille brewster is in kenosha. you have been all over this story from the start.

i want to start with the update from the wisconsin a.g. what are we learning about the moments leading up to the shooting? what can you tell us? >> reporter: we knew this was a state investigation, so that's why we haven't heard much about the shooting since the sunday night statement that was put up. now wisconsin's attorney general is giving us for the first time the timeline of exactly what we know and some of the basic facts in this case. we know the name of the officer, mr. rustin chesky, on the force for seven years. officers say when they arrived they tried to arrest mr. blake and they tased him. at some point he acknowledged he had a knife in his possession. they don't make clear if they saw the knife. after the shooting they recovered the knife from the floorboard of the driver's side of his vehicle. we also know the state is also asking the federal government to investigate this situation. now that federal civil rights

investigation going on. the state saying they're doing that so two independent bodies are investigating this. we know we should hear some answer within 30 days when a report is sent from the prosecutor's over to -- from the investigators over to the prosecutor. that is when some determination will be made. kristen, we're also hearing about the shooting, the deadly shooting on tuesday night. we're learning more about the suspect in that shooting. we remember that two protesters were shot. one was injured after an altercation between protesters. we know the suspect in that case is a 17-year-old, kyle rittenhouse. we know he came from illinois, a town about 30 minutes away from where we are right now. he's still in custody in illinois. we expect to see him in court later this week. we did hear and there's no online, he was interviewed the night of the shooting for an online outlet. listen to a little bit of what he said about why he drove up

here to kenosha, wisconsin and what he was planning to do with his rifle. listen here. >> our job is to protect this business and part of my job is to help people if there is somebody hurt, i'm running into harm's way. that's why i have my wiefl so i can protect -- >> protesters here were much calmer, much more peaceful, officers aggressive moving up the cuff fee from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. we expect to hear from city leaders and mayor jesse jackson will have a press conference with the mayor. >> shaquille brewster, i know it's still an incredibly tense situation on the ground. thank you for the reporting. the aftermath of the blake shooting touched off an unprecedented moment in professional sports. nba, wnba and mlb decided not to

play yesterday. the wnba followed suit. some major league baseball and soccer games were also called off as players demanded social justice take center court instead. this morning on cnbc, white house senior adviser jared kushner was asked about this moment. take a listen to part of what he had to say. >> i think that the nba players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially. they have that luxury which is great. there's a lot of activism and i think they put a lot of slogans out. we need to turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that's going to solve the problem. i want to bring in my colleague stephanie ruhle who has been tracking all this. she hosts a show here on msnbc at 9:00. great to see you. our senior business correspondent. i know you've been tracking all of this. what do you make of what we just

heard from jared kushner? does the administration run the risk of missing this moment and how widespread is this moment from the sports world? >> sure they do. i'm not sure that's a priority for jared kushner when he's talking about the luxury of being able to take a night off from work. we've never seen anything like this, kristen. think about it. we're almost four years to the date of when colin kaepernick first took a knee. while it gained a huge amount of attention, he hasn't played in the nfl in a number of years. in that instance, the league ran the show, the team owners ran the show. right now we've seen this massive coordinated effort by the players. right now it's the nba in the back seat. what's unique right now is you've got all these owners together in that bubble in orlando. they had a players meeting last night. another one going on right now as well as a governor's meeting. that means a team owner's meeting. this isn't to jared kushner's

wrong, it isn't this is a slogan, this is a complaint, they're actually coming with demands. yesterday from the bucks locker room they were on the phone with the state of wisconsin attorney general and lieutenant governor. they're saying we're not just here to dribble a ball for you, entertain you, we're the power force, we're the boss and we're going to demand something more and better. what's very interesting, i spoke to the bucks owner, mark lazry who says he completely supports his team and looking forward or hoping he can work with them to use everything in his power. guess what? these team owners can say, listen, i'm not in government, i can't do anything. that's a bunch of baloney. if you own a professional sports team, you've got lawmakers on speed dial and have a whole lot of influence. now these players are saying time to use that influence if you want us on this court. >> steph, you always tell it like it is. i think you're absolutely right. one of the things that's so remarkable about this moment is you have team owners supporting

some of these moves by the players. so much remarkable and unprecedented. stephanie ruhle, thank you so much for helping us understand a very complicated situation. coming up next. the president set to accept his party's nomination tonight. what can we expect to hear from him on a final evening on what's been a norm-busting republican convention we'll head back to the gulf course where hurricane laura is a category 1 storm but still wreaking havoc. this is msnbc. stay with us. this is msnbc. stay with us

i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon. struggling to clean toughm mr. clean. bathroom messes with sprays? then you gotta try mr. clean magic erasers. just wet.. squeeze.. and erase tough messes around your bathtub and shower. mr. clean magic erasers. there's no clean like mr. clean

tonight president trump officially accepts his party's nomination for the presidency. vice president mike pence addressed the convention wednesday night. he leaned into the theme of law and order mentioning the ongoing unrest in kenosha, but notably did not mention jacob blake by

name. >> last week joe biden didn't say one word about the violence and chaos engulfing cities across this country. the violence must stop, whether in minneapolis, portland or kenosha. we will have law and order on the streets of this country for every american of every race and creed and color. >> nbc's monica alba is in washington following the convention. she has been all over this story. monica, great to see you. you and i were up late talking to our sources trying to figure out what we can expect tonight, particularly given everything that is going on right now in kenosha and with the hurricane. what are you expecting? do you think there will be any changes to this program? >> reporter: no major adjustments. multiple campaign officials telling us the president will be giving his acceptance speech tonight on the south lawn as originally envisioned. there are certainly a lot of

questions about the topics we believe he will be touching on, hurricane laura and the storm damage in his remarks as you heard the vice president do last night. in 2016 the president delivered the longest convention acceptance speech of any to date. one hour and 15 minutes long. we'll see if he goes beyond that tonight. he'll be introduced by his daughter ivanka who is also a senior adviser. she'll be doing this in her personal capacity. before them, we'll hear from speakers like rudy giuliani, the president's longtime personal attorney. we'll be hearing from kevin mccarthy, mitch mcconnell and ben carson as well to round out this final evening. in the very end we expect fireworks to be shot off from the national mall and the washington monument, kristen. >> monica, so much has been unprecedented about this moment given the pandemic. the president has been using the power of his office as a

backdrop to this entire convention. tonight is no different. he's going to be speaking from the south lawn. talk about how unprecedented and just unusual that is and the potential ethical concerns. >> reporter: it's highly unusual, kristen. it's prompted a lot of questions and controversy over the use of the white house, the people's house really, as a political backdrop as has been done all week long. it fits this pattern that republicans want, which is showing and using the trappings of the presidency, the advantages of the incumbency, but taken it to a degree far further than anybody in the past has done. there are questions tonight about shattering norms when it comes to testing and coronavirus health and safety protocols. we're told not everybody in the office will be tested, only those close to the president and first lady, kristen. >> monica alba setting the stage for the main event. great stuff, monica. thank you so much for that report. i'm going to hand it now back over to ali velshi after a short break.

he is, of course, in orange texas where people are dealing with serious damage. we will have more reporting from the ground when we come right back. 14 day system, you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us. ♪ where everybody knows ♪ someyour name ♪ant to go

♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. can it one up spaghetti night? cleaning power of liquid. it sure can. really? can it one up breakfast in bed? yeah, for sure. thanks, boys. what about that? uhh, yep! it can? yeah, even that! i would very much like to see that. me too.

introducing tide power pods. one up the toughest stains with 50% more cleaning power than liquid detergent. any further questions? uh uh! nope! one up the power of liquid with tide power pods. anything i want to buy is going to be on rakuten. rakuten is easy to use, free to sign up and it's in over 3,000 stores. i buy a lot of makeup. shampoo, conditioner. books, food travel shoes stuff for my backyard anything from clothes to electronics. workout gear. i even recently got cash back on domain hosting. you can buy tires. to me, rakuten is a great way to get cash back on anything you buy. shop. get cash back. repeat. sign up today and get cash back with rakuten. shopsome companies stilleat. have hr stuck between employeesentering data.a. changing data. more and more sensitive, personal data. and it doesn't just drag hr down. it drags the entire business down -- with inefficiency, errors and waste. it's ridiculous. so ridiculous.

with paycom, employees enter and manage their own data in a single, easy to use software. visit paycom.com, and schedule your demo today. with safe, convenient service. we're here for you >> tech: we'll come right to you. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: you'll get a text when we're on our way. >> tech: before we arrive, just leave your keys on the dash. we'll replace your windshield with safe, no-contact service. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: and that's service you can trust when you need it the most. ♪ upbeat music >> tech: schedule at safelite.com. ♪ upbeat music >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ there are silver linings in everything. over the course of the last hour we've been nursing this little guy back to health. while you weren't watching me, we gave him some gatorade, which

the google told me we could do because he needs electrolytes. we gave him a quarter cap and he's now asleep. we determined he's a "he" and we're calling him larry. in louisiana they're still dealing with the aftermath of this very, very serious hurricane laura. i want to go back to lake charles where catie beck is standing by. catie? >> reporter: ali, now in daylight in lake charles we're getting a look at the devastating damage that hurricane laura left behind. we were here in this parking lot for most of it last night, as those hurricane-force winds swept through. we were seeing winds up to 132 miles an hour. and that is what was able to take down parts of the roof, parts of the walls. there's downed trees all over this parking lot. at times our crew had to flee to safety to try and avoid what was swirling in the air for hours. now, wind gusts have subsided.

and the good news is the storm surge situation isn't exactly as expected. they said 15 to 20 feet of storm surge which would have meant that basically everything around this casino would have been underwater. this morning, that is not the case. i think people here in lake charles are sighing some relief to know that all of the town is not submerged at this point. they are keeping an eye on those water levels because all can change depending on tides and rainfall. so far they are relieved at that. the next step is power. there are still hundreds of thousands of people between texas and louisiana that are without power this morning. and the crews are working hard to solve that. governor greg abbott in texas made a concerted effort, sent more than 9,000 power trucks here to try and assist and to beat this storm, really, to be ahead of it. as they were coming in on i-10 yesterday, we saw lines and lines of them in parking lots ready to be of assistance this morning. that is probably what those trucks are doing right this very minute, is getting to work and

trying to get power restored to those who have lost it. in terms of cleanup, the damage will be extensive. the wind damage here, specifically in lake charles. as you can see, it was pretty extent of t extensive. that is going to take time and money to clean up. i think these folks are feeling they're prepared for that. a lot of them did evacuate and are probably relieved at the amount of cleanup they have to do at this point, ali. >> catie beck in lake charles, just east of here. that's it for me for now. i'll be back. larry and i are going to be traveling around east texas and western louisiana to find out more about what's going on with the storm, what the aftereffects are. i'll talk to you later. "andrea mitchell reports" is up next. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade,

who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad. get e*trade's simplified technical analysis. find your get-up-and-go. find pants that aren't sweats. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there. now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15% of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again. ♪

♪ ♪ you can adjust youriggest sacomfort on both sides...eep your sleep number setting.. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me keep up with mom? you got this. so you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. and now, all beds are on sale. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com. and mine's unlisted.. try boost® high protein...

-with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein. and now enjoy boost® high protein in new café mocha flavor. you say that customers make thelet's talk data. only xfinity mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. i accept! 5g, everybody's talking about it. how do i get it? everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. that's good. next item: corner offices for everyone. just have to make more corners in this building. chad. your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. now that's simple, easy, awesome. switch and save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus, get $400 off when you buy the new samsung galaxy note20 ultra 5g.

good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as hurricane laura continues to rip through louisiana, the c category 1 storm slamming through the state, causing flooding and power outages for hundreds of thousands of residents. state troops, rescue crews and national guardsmen are starting to move into coastal areas as conditions begin to improve, checking on residents in and around lake charles, residents who chose to ride out what appears to be the most powerful storm to make landfall in louisiana since the 1850s. this hour, president trump is going to travel from his washington hotel to fema headquarters for a briefing on the storm after a meeting i