day. making news in america this morning, breaking overnight, north korea claiming to have tested a nuclear weapon, its most powerful yet. nations around the world condemning the claims. the u.s. reacting overnight. we're in seoul with the latest. severe weather, the parade of storms pounding the west coast. record rainfall already using floods and forcing a hotel roof to collapse. new restrictions. president obama wipi away tears getting emotional as he recalled the nation's mass shootings and taking action on gun control without congress. and court confrontation. a high school coach not agreeing with a call and apparently taking it out on the ref. good wednesday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm kayna whitworth in

and we start with that breaking news. nonoh korea again claiming to have tested a nuclear bomb. >> yeah, at this hououthe u.s. is w wking to confirm the e st but says if true, it would be unacceptable and south korea understandably very, very upset. abc's joohee cho is there with new reaction. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: overnight the surprise announcement read on north korean state tv, the secretive nation saying it conducted a perfect first test of a hydrogen bomb, the news anchor talking about their right to protect itself from, quote, evil warmongers like the united states. the hint of a test first came when a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was detected near the nation's nuclear testing facilities. the nation's leader kim jong-un did mention a month ago that they could miniaturize hydrogen bombs far more powerful than the atomic bombs they have tested in the past. japan's prime minister saying this morning, quote, we absolutely cannot allow this.

threat to security and a likely breach of the international treaty. the major concern for the u.s. with advanced missile technology in theory noh korea could possibly hit the mainland united states, but u.s. officials are skeptical. north korea has often bluffed. joohee cho, abc news, seoul, south korea. the u.s. is sending up special planes to determine exactly what kind of nuclear test was conducted. north korea's ally china sayayit had no prior knowledge of the test. members of the u.n. security council have called an emergency meeting for this morning. of course, we will bring you more details as we get them. and also now here at home, our other top story developing this morning, the first major el nino storms hitting the west. >> southern california is getting slammed right now with record-setting torrential rains. roads turning into rivers, even washing away an entire block's worth of garbage. look at that. abc's lana zak with the latest now. >> repororr: torrential

california, have turned this backyard into a waterfall. a powerful el nino is slamming the california coast turning streets into streams and causing parking garages to overflow with water. the quick burst of heavy rains taking drivers like alexis mateo in san diego by surprise. >> i saw cs going through it, so, i thought, oh, i'm fine until i felt my car slightly lift off, and i just felt all the water, and then i was like, i can't move. >> reporter: the water too heavy for so many roofs surprising diners at this el pollo loco restaurant. and for home owners who once feared wildfires, a new concern. >> probably the most dangerous place in southern california. >> reporter: potential mudslides from denuded hillsides. the owner of this home ready to take off, his evacuation checklist on the front seat. >> we've got the cat box and the

>> reporter: el nino has also contributed to the near record flooding in the south and midwest. and after a record-breaking warm end to 2015, the east has been hit with a sudden burst of cold even bringing snow to the outer banks of north carolina. warmer temperatures are on their way, but rains in the west are expected to last until friday. lana zak, abc news, washington. >> wow. quite some images there from southern california. and another picture to show you right now, the radar picture that first wave of storms slamming southern california is now moving through southern nevada and arizona. >> and then you see, though, right on its heels another wave of storms closing in on nearly 700 miles of california coastline, as well as the western coast of washihiton state. president obama is facing fierce opposition this morning for his controversial executive action on gun control. the president used an emotional

bypass congress and push his own gun safety agenda that critics are calling an abuse of power. abc's kenneth moton has the latest. >> reporter: in a defining moment during his last year in office, president obama shed tears as he made good on his promise toct on gun control. >> every time i think about those kids, it gets me mad. >> reporter: the 20 first graders of the sandy hook massacre, their families and others impacted by gun violence sat in the audience and stood behind the president as he made another emotional plea. his executive actions expand background checks requiring all gun dealers to be licensed. the president also plans to overhaul the fbi's background check system and calls for increasing the use of mental health information for checks. >> this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. you pass a background check, you purchase a firearm. >> reporter: the nra tweeted the president's plan will do nothing

it an attack on the second amendment. >> president obama's executive actions limiting gun rights will restrict our law-abiding citizens. >> these orders today, i believe, are not worth the paper they are written on. >> if there's an issue related to federal gun laws, then he ought to go to congress to forge consensus to make it happen. he doesn't have this power. >> reporter: the white house believes the president's plan will survive any court challenge. tomorrow president obama will hit the road for a gun control town hall in virginia. kendis and kayna. >> all right, kenneth, thank you very much. and to the presidential race now and donald trump's latest fighting words. the gop front-runner is reprising his double-barreled attack on the clintons saying once again that hillary lacks stamina but denying that's a subtle slam against her as a member of the weaker sex. as for her husband, trump said it would be interesting to ask bill clinton if he is any different than bill cosby. >> he was impeached. he wasn't allowed to practice law. he settled for a tremendous

i mean, you know, there's a lot of things going on there. >> well, trump also attacked fellow republican ted cruz saying his canadian birth was a precarious issue. cruz is challenging trump in the polls, now neck and neck with him in california. as for the democrats, bernie sanders blasted wall street in a fiery speech saying greed is not good. the democrat said the industry's business model is fraud. sanders said if a bank is too big to fail, it's then too big to exist and promised to break them up during his first year as president. abc's cecilia vega was there for the speech and questioned him afterward. >> reporter: you sound like you despise corporate america. you sounded angry. >> what i despise is the greed, is the contempt. >> sanders also said that hillary clinton is too close to the financial industry and that her plan to reform does not go

clinton in new hampshire polls. well, still ahead right here, a new lawsuit claiming a popular grocery chain is cheating its customers. plus, federal authorities asking for the public's help in the san bernardino shooting. the 18-minute mystery baffling investigators. and caught on camera, a

nearly taking out a fisherman. you're looking at a new year's fishing trip that almost turned deadly. wash as this 200-pound marlin leaps out of the water. nearly harpoons the man in that blue t-shirt there. connor keoghan's lightning fast

have just saved his life. >> the mother of the so-called affluenza teen could be facing a lengthy prison sentence. tonya couch appeared for a hearing in los angeles yesterday agreeing to be sent to texas to face a criminal charge of hindering apprehension. that by the way carries a penalty of up to ten years behind bars. her 18-year-old son, ethan remains detained in mexico for allegedly fleeing the u.s. to skip out on his parole. the maker of an app that supposedly improved your brain is going to pay a $2 million fine. the company claimed that those who played lumosity games says it would slow the onset of dementia. that last claim annoyed the ftc and it preyed on the fears of older consumers, they say. something fishy about trader joe's tuna. there's a class action lawsuit that says the five-ounce cans don't have enough tuna in them.

which has about 400 stores across the country. starkist recently settled a similar lawsuit. all right, your tickets for tonight's powerball drawing yet. the lottery jackpot is up to $450 million. so if you take it as a lump sum cash payout, you get 165 million after taxes. the odds of winning nearly 1 in 300 million. chances are when a jackpot gets this big there will be multiple winning tickets. i'm fine with that. >> just have to be that one person. nice. when we come back, a high school basketball coach aring to head butt a ref. these boots, take a look, well healed and ready for walking. can you guess the presidential candidate wearing them? hey, you forgot the milk! that's lactaid.

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in higher elevations, roads will be wet from the texasnd louisiana gulf coast up into the snowy midwest and wet roads in florida. flying, airport delays possible in los angeles, san francisco, phoenix, las vegas and salt lake city. there's a new mystery involving the terror couple who carried out the san bernardino attacks. >> yeah, investigators know almost everything about that shooting. when it began, when the terrorist couple were killed in a shootout with pice but there is an 18-minute gap of their time that the fbi can't account for and it wants the public's help. what was the couple doing during those 18 minutes. >> we want to make sure if they made contact with anyone that we don't already know about we're able to fully investigate those matters. >> well, authorities believe that gap may be when the couple ditched their computer's hard drive. in the mean time enrique marquez is in court today for arraignment.

a road rage incident. police say shots were fired at this woman's car and marine corporal eric jamail johnson was responsible. johnson was arrested at his military base in arizona. also a jewelry store thief on a five-state crime spree appears to have struck again. on monday she pulled off her sixth heist. this time in north carolina. the young woman who never wea a disguise targets outlet stores, ties up salespeople at gunpoint and then wears gloves to nab the goods. she has an accomplice with her in two robberies near atlanta. a health alert about who among us isn't getting enough sleep. the cdc says single moms are the most sleep deprived. 45% say they get less than seven hours of sleep a night. significantly higher percentage

women who are living alone or even single dads who are more likely to have more financial resources. police in langhorne, pennsylvania, were called to a high school basketball game ter a coach appeared to head butt a referee who called a foul against his team. take a look. video of the incident shows the coach in the blue shirt walked toward the ref, lurched toward him. the coach thrown out of the game. no word yet on whether any charges will be filed in this one. for other sports no we have a lot of basketball action for you, both college and the nba. >> here's stan and neil at espn. >> he's stan, i'm neil. we're on our last leg here. >> warriors and lakers right across the street from our studio, tuesday night, klay thompson came ready to play from southern california, made himself at home at the staples center, had 22 points in the

of 14 from the floor and wound up with 36 points for the game as he came back with 14 more in the third quarter when he outscored the lakers, 14-13 by himself. steph curry aggravated a shin injury, says he's okay, had 17 point, 6 assist, warors 109-88. three-game road trip they start. stan was covering that so i got a rarity, lsu and hosting number nine, kentucky and ben simmons got it and quarterman had the game and craig victor, there was a st. aug's guy in the highlight. lsu. quarterman, simmons, simmons pampered by nows in the first half. wasn't hampered by anything including kentucky's defense in the second. lsu, man. i'm wondering how they lost five games the way they looked in that one. >> you know, even when he doesn't have a great game he always does something special as

kind of like you and me. >> that's it. back to you. >> ben simmons, might have a future. >> that is amazing. up next in "the pulse," a presidentidida getting a footwear. rich? well, it appears all wealthy people have one common pastime. >> powerball. my trainer didn't believe me that trop50 could taste so good and still have 50% fewer calories. can i stop, jane?

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the candidate to former french president nicolas sarkozy who wears a similar boot. he is 5'10". sarkozy was 5'2", wasn't he. these boots will likely put him over the six foot mark. very fashionable, marco. okay, so here's a tip. if you want to be a millionaire and you don't want to win -- you don't win tonight's powerball lottery, read. >> billionaire warren buffett says 80% of his working day is dedicated to reading, in fact, the author of how rich people think studied 1200 rich people over three decades and found nearly all of them read to educate themselves. >> so not all of the rich people that he interviewed have a lot of formal education but generally appreciate the power of learning on their own. >> continuing that education. >> yeah. so, today a lot of people will be reading online help wanted listings. the jobs search site monster.com says the first wednesday back at

the busiest job search day. monster expects 70% more searches than on a typical day. >> interesting. how come? the theory is that after just a few days back on the job many people realize how miserable they are in their job. well, one tip from an expert, don't search the sites while at work. >> don't use your work computer. >> a lot of people would do that anyway. a father tricking his wife into naming his daughter after his favorite soccer team. >> so the australian man picked the name lanesra. his wife loved it. that was two years ago. >> just recently his wife discovered the meaning, it is actually arsenal spelled backwards. arsenal is one of the best soccer teams in the world. arguably speaking in the english prix premier league. >> she's going to end up being an amazing soccer player.

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checking our top stories, north korea claiming it tested a hydrogen bomb that would be a major advancement for their nuclear ambitions. the u.n. security council called an emergency meeting this morning. republicans are vowing to challenge president obama's executive actions on gun control. the nra called the president's tearful remarks tuesday part of a, quote, con desending lecture. much of california is bracing for another day of el nino-fueled storms dumping an addi to 3 inches of rain that could trigger mudslides. well, we're looking at the rest of today's weather, snow over the rockies, a band of rain stretches from texas and the louisiana coast all the way to the great lakes. well, finally an unusual find in alexanderria, virginia, a construction project unearthed part of a ship that dates back

>> the big dig is sparking curiosity, attracting crowds even. die we have that report. >> reporter: they came out in numbers. >> i thought what a great opportunity to actually see an archaeological dig in process. so close. >> reporter: snapping photos of an old ship. >> i wted to get pictures of this great find. we won't ever see this again probably, right? >> reporter: to get a glimpse at a piece of history as archaeologists meticulously work to document what's uncovered. becomes of it. >> reporter: according to the city's archaeologists francine bromberg it's roughly 50 feet long which they believe may only vessel. >> from the point of view of understanding ship building practices in the past this is an extremely important find. >> reporter: she says it was dismantled in the late 18th century and used as the framework to extend the waterfront to the deeper part of the potomac river.

incredible aspirations to become an international port. >> reporter: but it wasn't uncovered until construction worker started working on the new hotel indigo at 220. they do think it could have been used for military purposes. >> maybe dead pirates in there. >> reporter: once they remove the wood they says they plan to keep it in a wet environment to preserve it. >> it is a treasure to us. there is no way to put this even into words how excited we are to find -- to get this find on the waterfront. >> reporter: in alexandria, die an diane cho, abc news. that's what's making news in america this morning.