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00:00Good evening. We begin tonight with an annual tradition off the coast of Georgia.
00:04A celebration of survival that turned deadly this weekend.
00:08And tonight we're learning more about the victims and survivors.
00:11I want to show you what the scene looks like today.
00:13The gangway, the ramp passengers use to board a ferry, you see it here, collapsed into the water.
00:19When it happened, dozens of people had been standing on it.
00:22This is what it looked like on Saturday in the moments after the desperate attempts to save people.
00:27Here you see them throwing life preservers into the water.
00:30Among the victims, a chaplain who died while trying to save others.
00:34It happened here on Sapelo Island off the coast of southern Georgia.
00:37Our Jesse Kersh made his way there today.
00:40And a warning, some of what you're about to see is disturbing.
00:46These are the desperate moments as a deadly tragedy unfolded on Georgia's Sapelo Island, south of Savannah,
00:52where hundreds had gathered for a cultural celebration.
00:54Bystanders rushing to help after officials say a ramp leading to a ferry collapsed Saturday, plunging roughly 20 people into the water.
01:04This floating dock is supposed to have a gangway that extends over to the mainland, but look what's left of the gangway.
01:11It is now mostly submerged underwater.
01:13Officials believe that it suffered a catastrophic failure on Saturday, leading to at least seven deaths.
01:20Among those lost, a state chaplain, Dr. Charles Houston.
01:23His daughter, heartbroken.
01:25My dad was the light of our family, was the rock.
01:29Marsha Armstrong says she hurt the gangway buckle and fell in the water.
01:34Then a stranger saved her life.
01:36God sent me an angel.
01:37She said, I got you.
01:38Don't worry, just float.
01:39And she swam back in it.
01:41She swam me up to the shore.
01:42Officials now investigating.
01:44It's my understanding that the structure collapsed in the middle.
01:48One end of the gangway on the landward side is still attached.
01:52I can't tell you exactly at this point in time what happened.
01:56J.R. Grobener says he helped rescue a baby who went underwater.
02:00Stopped reading.
02:01So I put her in the boat and brought her over here to the mainland side.
02:06But she made it.
02:07She's safe.
02:07Officials say Saturday's event brought hundreds more people to the island than would be expected on a typical day.
02:14Is it possible that that extra stress being put on the infrastructure of so many more people would have contributed to the collapse?
02:20At this time, I wouldn't rule out anything as being a possibility.
02:26Jesse is joining us now from Georgia.
02:27And Jesse, officials today suggested that gangway was relatively new, only installed a few years ago.
02:35Exactly, Howie.
02:35The state believes the gangway was completed in late 2021.
02:39Meanwhile, a community member tells me roughly four months ago, he told a state employee he had safety concerns about that very same gangway.
02:48Howie.
02:49Jesse Kirsch, thank you.
02:51Out west, at least two people were killed and nearly 300 others had to be rescued after record rain triggered bad flash flooding in New Mexico.
02:58And now, more storms are on the way.
03:01Here's George Solis.
03:03Tonight, southeastern New Mexico reeling after historic and deadly flooding hit Saturday.
03:09Torrential rain is slamming Roswell with incredible force.
03:13An all-time record of nearly six inches in just a few hours.
03:16Hey, Roswell.
03:19I'm going to go on the roof, I think.
03:21Nearly knee-deep murky waters at this banquet hall, turning a celebration into an evacuation.
03:28Emergency calls were revealing the unfolding chaos.
03:31Just got a call of our double-kid set down our rooms, and multiple houses over here have people stuck.
03:36They're up with attendants.
03:37The New Mexico National Guard, alongside other agencies, rescuing nearly 300 people, and even a dog stranded in floodwaters.
03:44I am completely surrounded by water.
03:46Watch this dramatic moment as Chavez County Sheriff Mike Harrington got on his car roof to survive the sudden floods,
03:53as he warned others to get off the road.
03:55That is the side of my truck.
03:58And there are multiple vehicles.
04:02Came into this, not expecting that much water.
04:06And before I know it, I was slipped off into this.
04:13Tonight, while water levels have started to recede in some parts, some areas remain dangerous.
04:18Officials warning residents to stay off the roads.
04:21Blood watches continue through the night with more rain in the forecast.
04:25Well, I guess we're not going that way.
04:27Adding insult to injury in this deadly and already historic deluge.
04:31George Solis, NBC News.
04:33With just 16 days until the election, Vice President Harris is now responding to the profane comments
04:40former President Trump made about her, with new questions tonight about the legality of Trump supporter Elon Musk
04:46giving out a million dollars a day as part of a turnout push in Pennsylvania.
04:50Dasha Burns is in that battleground with the former president.
04:54Tonight, former President Trump taking questions from Pennsylvania voters at a town hall.
04:58We're going to bring them over to Rickett.
05:00After taking over the fry cooker at a McDonald's in the suburbs outside Philadelphia,
05:05looking to push his unsupported claims,
05:07the Vice President Harris lied about working at the fast food chain when she was in college.
05:11She talked about the heat. It was so tough.
05:14She never worked at McDonald's.
05:15His attacks against Harris increasingly dark and profane,
05:18saying this at another Pennsylvania campaign event on Saturday night.
05:22We can't stand you, you're a s*** vice president.
05:27The worst.
05:28You're the worst vice president.
05:31Kamala, you're fired.
05:33Harris responding to those comments tonight on MSNBC.
05:36What you see in my opponent, a former president of the United States,
05:42really is, um, it demeans the office.
05:46Trump also making headlines for kicking off that rally in the town of Latrobe
05:50with a 12-minute monologue about hometown hero golfer Arnold Palmer,
05:54which took a bizarre turn when Trump described the late Palmer's anatomy.
05:58when he took showers with the other pros that came out of there.
06:03And they said, oh my God, that's unbelievable.
06:08With 16 days to go, tech mogul Elon Musk making a surprise pledge while stumping for Trump in the Keystone State,
06:16launching a million-dollar giveaway for voters who signed his petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.
06:23We're going to be awarding a million dollars to, uh, randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election.
06:37Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro chiming in this morning on Meet the Press.
06:42You are a former attorney general.
06:44Is this legal?
06:45I think there are real questions with how he is spending money, uh, in this race,
06:50how the dark money is flowing, uh, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians.
06:59Dasha is joining us now.
07:01And Dasha, Mr. Trump is next heading to a battleground where he's playing defense.
07:05Yeah, Hallie, he'll head to North Carolina tomorrow,
07:08a state that Democrats haven't won since 2008, but now is very much in play.
07:13He'll have three campaign stops starting in Asheville, where he'll tour the damage and devastation caused by Hurricane Ali and Caller.
07:22Dasha Burns, thank you.
07:24Vice President Harris was joined this weekend by some of the biggest pop stars out there in a push to try to turn out the early vote.
07:30And in the week ahead, she'll be joined by some of the biggest stars in the Democratic Party.
07:34Allie Rafa is traveling with the vice president tonight.
07:37Allie, good evening.
07:40Allie, good evening.
07:41Vice President Harris spent her 60th birthday visiting Atlanta churches,
07:46encouraging congregants to vote as she leans on stars like Stevie Wonder, Lizzo, and Usher
07:51to energize more voters in key swing states.
07:54Former President Obama, among those lending a helping hand,
07:57deploying to Michigan and Wisconsin this week before campaigning with Harris for the first time on Thursday here in Georgia.
08:04The VP preparing to barnstorm blue-wall states with Republican Liz Cheney on Monday to target another key group.
08:10Anti-Trump Republicans.
08:12Allie?
08:14Allie Rafa, thank you.
08:16And I'll be sitting down to talk with Vice President Harris on Tuesday in an exclusive interview you'll see right here on Nightly News.
08:23More to come on that.
08:24To the Middle East now, where Israel's launching a barrage of strikes on Lebanon late tonight,
08:28as U.S. officials try to track down how top-secret intelligence about Israel's plan to hit back at Iran apparently leaked.
08:35Matt Bradley is in Beirut for us tonight.
08:37So, Matt, what are you seeing on the ground there?
08:38Yeah, it's another loud and violent night here in Beirut.
08:43We've been watching these explosions lighting up the skyline behind me for hours.
08:48The Israelis are once again pounding Hezbollah targets throughout the country.
08:53But tonight, they have a specific target in the crossfairs, the Al-Qad Al-Hassan Foundation.
08:59Now, Israel's military accuses Iran of trying to finance Hezbollah's operations through these foundations.
09:05And Matt, what else do I know about this apparent secret document leak?
09:12Three U.S. officials told NBC News they're trying to figure out how these documents got out in the first place.
09:19Now, these are reports about Israeli plans to retaliate against that Iranian missile salvo earlier this month.
09:25And they describe Israeli air exercises rehearsing for a strike on Iran and how Israel is moving its missiles around the country.
09:32Now, these documents, they don't really go into details about how or when the Israelis might attack Iran.
09:38But they do say that there's no indication that the Israelis are going to be using nuclear weapons.
09:44Ali?
09:45Matt Bradley, thank you.
09:47A major crisis in Cuba just got more serious tonight with a hurricane making landfall during a nationwide blackout.
09:53Cuba taking a direct hit from Hurricane Oscar tonight, a Category 1 storm, even as millions of Cubans are still in the dark, three days after the whole island's power grid went down.
10:05Some Cubans have resorted to cooking by fire outside today to prevent food from rotting since there's no electricity.
10:11Still ahead tonight, our one-on-one with an American who was held in Russia for more than five years and the devastating news he got behind bars.
10:19Plus, Steve Kornacki takes us inside a top polling call center to try to find out, will the polls be more accurate this time on Election Day?
10:30We're back with that one-on-one interview with a former U.S. Marine, detained in Russia for more than five years and released nearly three months ago in one of the biggest prisoner swaps since the Cold War era.
10:42Tonight, he's sharing his story with our Andrea Mitchell.
10:45It was a homecoming more than five years in the making.
10:50Former Marine Paul Whelan, the longest-held of three Americans wrongfully detained in Russia, finally back on U.S. soil.
10:58I sat down with him for the first time since his release in August.
11:02How are you doing?
11:04Five years, seven months, five days as a hostage in Russia in extremely poor conditions.
11:10It takes a toll.
11:11Those harsh conditions, bad food, no medical care, sleep deprivation.
11:16Do you have flashbacks?
11:17You know, I do, especially when I see pictures of me in court.
11:21Do you have trouble sleeping?
11:22I do.
11:23The entire time I was being held hostage, the Russians interrupted my sleep.
11:28They always kept the light on.
11:30You know, in my cell, 24 hours a day.
11:3224 hours a day?
11:3224 hours a day.
11:33If I see a bright light or anything like that, it reminds me of having a flashlight shined in my face.
11:38Whelan was in Moscow for a friend's wedding in 2018 when Russian agents stormed his hotel room.
11:46He was charged with espionage.
11:48Did they try to make you give a confession?
11:51They did several times.
11:52I was in La Forteva prison.
11:54It's known for the shooting gallery where they would take prisoners to shoot them.
11:58As a Marine, Whelan had served two tours in Iraq.
12:01He was well-trained, resilient.
12:03But to Vladimir Putin, he was a valuable pawn for prisoner trades.
12:07While Whelan waited, the U.S. swapped a Russian drug dealer for former Marine Trevor Reed.
12:13And then a notorious Russian arms dealer, Victor Boot, for basketball star Brittany Griner.
12:18Both had served far less time than Whelan.
12:20The only time that I really felt that I was abandoned was the second time that I was left behind.
12:26It was devastating to hear in the news.
12:29Did you ever think of suicide?
12:30No.
12:31No, I was fighting too much.
12:33I knew I was a hostage.
12:35I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of me committing suicide.
12:39Were there moments of total depression and distress?
12:43Yeah, I think the worst was when my dog died.
12:48That meant that when I got home, it wasn't going to be the same home that I left.
12:52Now he's free.
12:53And when he arrived, a gesture from the president.
12:56He took this flag, this lapel pin off his lapel, and put it onto my shirt.
13:01It cemented my feeling that, you know, America had not lost hope in me.
13:08And that, you know, the U.S. government had done what they said they would, bring me home.
13:14Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington.
13:17We're back in a moment with Steve Kornacki's inside look at how polling works and the push for more accuracy before Election Day.
13:25Plus, this piano man's mission to bring his state together, one concert at a time.
13:30We are just over two weeks away from Election Day, with polls showing Vice President Harris and former President Trump in a dead heat.
13:40But after a series of elections where the polls were off, sometimes way off, some folks are wondering, will they get it right this time?
13:48Our Steve Kornacki went to one of the top polling centers in the country to find out for himself.
13:54Hello, my name is.
13:55Hello, my name is Dawn.
13:57Hello, my name is Annette, and I'm calling from the Columbia University.
14:00This is perhaps the second hardest part of modern-day polling.
14:04Sorry that we missed you.
14:05Sorry that we missed you.
14:06This is starting to miss you.
14:07We're trying to reach over to getting voters to pick up the phone and answer them.
14:11I've had days where I just dialed and dialed and dialed and dialed and got new surveys.
14:16And that feeds into the hardest part of polling.
14:19We're conducting an independent public opinion survey.
14:22Getting it right.
14:22We really want to represent everyone's news in our poll.
14:26After a surprise Donald Trump win in 2016, the polling missed the 2016 election outcome.
14:34And a surprisingly close Joe Biden win in 2020.
14:37A lot of folks are waking up and saying, why were these seeming to be so off?
14:43They do handle and dialed.
14:44I mean, the PIAC University's poll director, Doug Schwartz, and others like him have tweaked their methods to better predict who will win in November.
14:51How do you think about that in terms of what happened there and what you're doing now?
14:55Some pollsters are thinking it's because they missed the trunk voter.
15:01And then for us, we don't feel like we've missed reaching the trunk voter.
15:05We got the trunk voter.
15:07They were in our poll, but they didn't tell us how they would vote.
15:10This time around, we're better prepared.
15:12So they're re-raising their questions.
15:14If the election for president were being held, they're doing everything they can to reach those who are hard to reach.
15:20Our motto is we try hard to reach the hard-to-reach people.
15:25So we keep dialing their new methodology, showing results.
15:28We tested that in 2022.
15:31We had one of our most accurate elections ever.
15:34Experts point to a variety of reasons for past errors.
15:38Trump voters who may avoid surveys.
15:39Pollsters trying to predict who will actually turn out to vote.
15:43Polling pre-elect is always really hard because, as a pollster,
15:47I need to try to make my day look like what I think the electorate's going to look like.
15:50Will the electorate be more Republican?
15:52More Democratic?
15:53How many first-time voters?
15:54It's like a 50-50 coin toss to me.
15:56So whether or not the poll are going to be right.
15:58Here's why that's important.
16:00These are the poll averages right now in all the battleground states.
16:03If those polls are off the same way they were in 2016 and 2020,
16:07Donald Trump is in great shape.
16:09But these poll errors don't always happen in the same direction.
16:13If they're off by the same amount, but this time underestimating Democrats,
16:18this is what those states would look like.
16:20How much attention have you been paying to the election?
16:22So everybody is asking, are the polls going to actually get it right this year?
16:26What do you say to that?
16:27I think so, at least in terms of the high-quality polls.
16:30I think people need to sort of remember it's an estimate, it's a range.
16:34Don't expect perfection, polling perfection.
16:37Is it very likely?
16:38It's hard to reach.
16:39She talked to me.
16:41Darn it.
16:42As some voters.
16:43Steve Grenadine, NBC News, Hampton Venet.
16:46When we come back, there's good news tonight about the beauty of nature and music,
16:51and this piano man's mission to celebrate both in his home state.
16:55There's good news tonight about a piano man with a mission to bring his state together with the beauty of nature and the sound of music.
17:08This fall, in a place known for maple syrup, sweet sounds to music in the Green Mountain State from David Feuerstein's piano.
17:23He's an award-winning music professor at the University of Vermont, who's performed around the world.
17:30His stage now, every single one of Vermont's more than 250 towns.
17:42It's a project he started two years ago called Play Every Town.
17:46David, sometimes even getting a little extra help to get his piano where he's got to go.
17:52I also like to localize the programs a bit more than that.
17:55These free concerts are a mission, he says, to focus on the environment.
17:59So the idea of this project is to call attention to the climate crisis.
18:05And we'd always meant to see all the towns of Vermont.
18:09And now we're putting a bunch of milk, but we're all celebrating the community and enjoying the music.
18:16So far, he's performed in nearly 70 towns across the state, with sights set on every single one over the next few years.
18:25Near his hometown of Huntington, a warm welcome.
18:30A duet with his wife, Annalise, and donations to help the state rebound from recent floods.
18:39And he's got groupies, yeah, groupies, following his journey.
18:43Who wouldn't miss it for the world?
18:45We've been to 49 towns, and the scenery is always beautiful.
18:51The trees, it's just a joy.
18:54A one-man symphony hitting nature's notes.
18:57Music unites people.
19:00Music puts people on the same page.
19:02Music is a powerful tool in putting strength into social movements and giving people the courage to work together.
19:10And by the way, David performed show number 68 in Springfield just today.
19:28That's mainly news for the Sunday, but we've got Sunday Night Football right after this, with the Jets versus the Steelers.
19:33Lester will be back tomorrow.
19:35I'm Allie Jackson.
19:36For all of us here at NBC, thanks for watching, and have a great week.
19:39Have a great week.
19:56Have a great week.