making news in america this morning -- the new safety questions overnight surrounding boeing's most popular new jet. word that federal prosecutors are now looking into the development of this 737 max like the one that crashed in ethiopia and indonesia. this, as boeing responds to a new claim about the similarities between those crashes. also this morning, the historic flood emergency. >> not sure what the truck is doing here. >> riversover flowing in the midwest. dams breaking. roads destroyed. entire towns devastated. the number of people rescued and in shelters this morning. and the new threat of more rain. emotional tribute.

a country in mourning. coming together in the wake of those deadly mosque attacks. overnight, as new zealand official make a new announcement today about their gun laws. plus, the poppy apocalypse. how a massive bloom of wild flowers led to a public safety crisis in california. check mate, the 8-year-old living in a a homeless shelter who just won major chess competition and the outpouring of sport he's now getting. and a real cause for alarm. the effect hitting the snooze button can have on your brain. and good monday morning, everyone. we begin with the historic flood emergency across the midwest. >> massive storm and melting snow have combined to raise rivers to record levels. satellite images show an area of nebraska. you can see what it looked like before and after the floods with

the river ovbelievable. in some areas, it could soon get even worse. this morning, devastating floods from nebraska to wisconsin. rivers are overflowing their banks, after heavy rain, rapid snow melt, and ice jams. in nebraska, these images reveal the full scope of the devastation. much of waterloo is cut off from the outside world. the elk horn river crested at a new level. blocking all routes in and out of town. >> in situations like that you try to grab the essential things. >> reporter: two deaths are blamed on the flooding. at least one person is missing. the national guard used helicopters to rescue more than 100 people. some from the roofs of their home. >> i was petrified. i didn't know how i coup. hhway cracked in half. this is what's left of the spencer dam after being destroyed by the powerful flood

water. an 11-foot wall of water devastated three surrounding counties. and? sioux falls. >> not sure what this truck is doing here. >> reporter: the truck ended up feeting on top of a fence. these homes in freemont are in trouble. >> a lot of the water will drain into the mississippi river. the mississippi already at flood stage. it will stay at flood stage until the end of the week. we don't think the crest will happen until some time near the end of the week. >> the red cross opened nearly two dozen shelters in nebraska, helping nearly 700 flood families, the victims there. they could see more rain tomorrow. we'll have the forecast in less than five money outs 37. now to the orr big story this morning. the investigation into the safety of boeing's new jet. grounded after the two deadly crashes. overnight, "the wall street

journal" reported that federal prosecutors are taking a closer look at the development of the jet. it comes amid new questions about the safety approval pro says and the ties between the faa and boeing. stephanie ramos has the details. good morning. >> reporter: janai, good morning. data from the black boxes has been extracted in france. ethiopian officials say the detailed findings may not be released until about a month. but officials are will confirming what many suspected. a startling confirmation by ethiopian officials. the country's transportation minister now declaring that preliminary data from the black boxes recovered shows a quote clear similarity to the lion air max 8 crash off ionbos aoeg73 off in tg eat yore investigation. >> they're controlling the

investigation. what is really needed are outside observers to help them make sure there is transparency and accuracy. >> reporter: this data from both crashes shows the planes jolting up and down erratically. this is what triggered the faa in joining the rest of the world to ground the fleet. >> there may have been some design flaw in the max, that led to, in conjunction with pilot error, one of these mishaps. if that's true, it will be a real black eye for boeing. >> reporter: "the seattle times" reporting that over the years, the faa has delegated increasing authority to boeing. to taken to work of certifying its own airplanes. over the weekend, grieving families in ethiopia. accompanying empty caskets draped with the national flag through the street of the capital. since the october crash, boeing says they have been designing a

software update to address a safety feature. they say that update is almost complete. janai? >> at the same time, so many questions remain. squlnchts a massive chemical fire near houston has been burning all night. smoke has been rising for more than 1 hours now. the fire is fueled by two tanks holding 1 million gallons of chemical. residents in deer park are advised to stay indoors. we turn to the massacre in new zealand. breaking joef night, authorities say they believe the suspect acted alone, but he may have had support. in the meantime, the country is getting to work on new gun laws. overnight, authorities search for evidence in the new zealand mosque shooting. officials in australia raided multiple homes in new south wales looking for evidence near the alleged shooter's hometown. the suspect, whose face is blurred per local law, is australian. he regularly wept to a shooting range several hours away, south

of christchurch. the suspect legally bought ammunition and multiple guns using a police verified online process. though the owner insists none of the guns sold were used in the attacks. >> gun city did not sell him an mssa. only ak-degree fire arms. >> reporter: new zee lapd's leaders are vowing to tighten the country's gun laws. they hope to announce new gun laws in the next ten days. ? we need to provide assurances to the public that everything that could have been done has been done. >> reporter: the country is now focused on healing. showing an outpouring of support for the victims and their families. local tribes performed a traditional ceremonial dance. as others left tributes and prayed for those killed in the worst maz shooting in the country's history. ♪ among the victims, this 3-year-old boy, believed to be the youngest of the 50 people murdered. in the midst of the loss, a

story of survival. an american toddler was saved by his father. as the gunman opened fire inside their mosque. the child's mother alta marie posted, my husband shielded our son during the attack. >> hug your family. hug your friends. you just don't know when you might not see them again. >> amazing story of survival. so awful seeing the picture of that young victim. social media companies say they're working to keep the suspect's video from being shared. facebook has already delitd 1.5 million attempts to upload the video. switching gears now, time for a look at your weather forecast for this monday morning. >> good morning. we're looking at 37 sites with major flooding happening. fa annpos. alay memphis. we'll have major flooding problems along the missouri, the red, the mississippi, the rivers, just to name a few.

the concentration of concern with minor to major flooding in the same area, road closures, community threatened. we'll be die for monday. tuesday, another round of rain hits the same area as we brace for more problems. i'm accuweather meteorologist paul williams. coming up, a whole new kind of jelly bean this year. but first, the crowded field of candidates running for president gets even more crowded. how everyone an hiss what joe biden says the weekend. later, the so-called poppy apocalypse. how the rush to see wild flowers turned into a public safety crisis. and a

we're back with a frightening scene in nashville. look at this. police are trying to find the atv driver who dragged a police sergeant. the officer suffered minor injuries after being slammed into that barrier. look at that. it happened as dozens of the vooks illegally flooded the street. a reward is being offered in the case. another senator added her name to the crowded field. senator kirsten gillibrand says she'll take on president trump directly. her speech is scheduled in front of a trump building here in new york. meanwhile, on the campaign trail, beto o'rourke made headlines when he denied ever using lsd. much of the talk was around whether joe biden was getting into the race after what he said on saturday. >> i'm told, i get criticized by the new left. i have the most progressive

record of anybody running for the -- of anybody who would run. [ cheers and applause ] i didn't mean -- >> did you hear that slipup? his other remarks at the dinner sounded as if he is about to take on president trump. if he does announce, insiders expect it to happen early next month. in business news, uber's top competition is hoping to get a big lift from its ipo. the initial public offering could value the company of lyft at $23 million. a new kind of candy is about to hit the market. the creator of the jelly belly is creating a new jelly bean infused with cannabis. each bean is infused with ten milligrams of cbd. this story could cause alarm if you hit the snooze button before getting up each day, i'm guilty. some sleep experkts are asking

apple to eliminate the snooze button on the iphone. they say it's bad for your mental health. it causes the body to release a stress hormone. it also disrupts crucial r.e.m. sleep and that could raise your blood pressure. the best advice? set an alarm for when you want to wake up and get up at that time. they make it sound so easy. >> don't they? not gone in happen. not with me. coming up, march madness is under way. a new mom making news for her speed delivery. how quickly she delivers sextuplets. four boys and two girls. when we come back, an arrest in a 20-year-old cold case. how police tracked down the man accused of killing two teenage girls. ke sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... feez he thinks it smells fine, but hisfabr r.t just mask, imat o'.

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causing manhole covers to blow off. several explosions were reported. at least two people were injured. several homes were damaged. well, we turn to aes old murder mystery. the case may have been cracked thanks to dna technology. >> a truck driver has been arrested, charges with killing two teenage girls back in 1999. and police say they used genealogy, dna, to track down their suspect. s a's erielle reshef has the details. >> reporter: cutting emg d nrgs a testing leading this trug driver behind bars. 45-year-old coaly mcraney booinged op multiple counts of murder and rape. the cases of 17-year-old jchlt b. beasley and tracy holland. a jeepology site used to hone in on mcraney. authorities taking a swab b from mcrainny.

that drgs nrgs a sent to a high-tech lab out of state. ultimately, matching samples collected from the crime scene. from the victim's father, a hope that justice will finally be served. >> there are some crimes so hans, that i think humanity needs to be rid of the pepper rater. >> reporter: this, the latest in a host of cases advanced using dayses. just this month, this hogky dad arrested for the murder of a woman. >> the suspect's drgs nrgs args is consistent with that left at the scoop. >> reporter: and investigators were up spired by the capture of the suspected golden state killer in northern california last year. the police chief tells me so far, there's no evidence to suggest that there was any connection between the suspect and h victims before this crime. erielle reshef, abc news, new york. in california this morning, mother nature's beauty has

turned into a public safety nightmare. they're calling it the hop pi apocalypse. heavy rains have triggered a superbloom of poppies in this canyon. word spread on social media. people by the thousandsover womened the town of lake ey're ao drawing a of butterflies. ickly she gave birth to sextuplets. you have to hear this. thelma had four boys and two girls. she gave birth to all of them in just nine minutes. the babies are in stable condition. four of them don't have names yet. the odds of having sextuplets are 1 in 4.7 billion. >> she got that job done, didn't she? wasted no time there. all right, in sports, the brackets are out. that means march madness is

about to begin. the ncaa's men's college basketball tournament starts tomorrow. as 67 schools look to dethrone defending champion villanova. this is -- as far as the favorites, the acc dominates the top four overall seeds. number one thank you three are duke, virginia, and north carolina. and fourth overall is gonzaga. the road to minneapolis begins in dayton, ohio, tomorrow night. up next in "the pulse" a turkey takes over as a crossing guard. in new legal battle over the unusual house modeled after the flint stones. first, a boy living in a homeless shelter wince a prestigious chess competition. see how complete strangers are coming together to help him. n rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough

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♪ flintstones meet the flintstones ♪ yeah, it's time to check "the pulse." starting with trouble this bedrock. >> a town in california is suing the owners of a house inspired by "the flintstones." it features dinosaurs and elephants. and there's even a yab bah dab bah too sign in the driveway. >> will ma and fred. the neighbors say they're not happy with the recent additions. the town is suing, calling that property a public new sans. no comment yet from theowne the next one here. the story of a new york boy living in a homeless shelter. he just won major chess tournament. >> so amazing. a gofundme page has already reached its goal. >> he just won the new york state chess championship for his aim group. despe ly playing the for a year. >> wow. >> his family is seeking asylum

after fleeing nigeria two years ago. he says he wants to be the youngest ever chess grand master. >> yes, we're cheering for you, tonny. an amazing site in litchfield, new hampshire. this turkey blocking traffic. taking over as a crossing guard. stopping traffic on the two-lane road. >> the turkey means buzz here. clearly taking safety very seriously. he kept close watch on everyone crossing the road. and only made the journey across the street once even else had safely crossed that road. >> he didn't want to see any of his friends get the stuffing knocked out of them. where else would a cow seek safe haven than at a fast food chain that doesn't serve beef. police say they were chasing a runaway cow all over town before it ran into a chick-fil-a. >> it makes so much sense. its ads tell us to eat more chicken.

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and call 844-214-2424. >> good morning. it is monday, march 18. >> meteorologist is here. what a weekend it was. especially yesterday with the holiday. >> today will be almost as nice. >> wasted on a monday. >> for those of us who have to work. absolutely. we are in the mid-40s and 50s. let's look at what will happen as we head into the afternoon hours. we'll have temperatures that will be again up in the 70s away from the coast.

mid to upper 60s near half moon bay, santa cruz. 5:0 u weather 12-hour planner next. >> good morning, mike. we are doing okay. looking at light volumes. traffic heading downtown oakland or bay bridge. you are looking good with no issues. we did have a big back form form overnight on south bound 880. we had a full highway closure. we got that done on time today at 4:00 a.m. they still have a few on ramps closed until 5:00. all of that has cleared out. definitely good news if you are about to head out the door. we have a new problem in south bay. >> in the south

crews have responded to a pofttt office. three people inside the post office complained of nausea. the fire house right across the street. everyone inside was evacuated. we don't believe anyone has been taken to the hospital. streets are closed in the areas as they try to figure out what is respond the odor. gathering new information, she'll bring us aive report coming up at 5:00 a.m. >> an east bay man who is a father and school principal is in critical condition after he says his wife shot him.

>> reporter: yes. the principal at pittsburgh's adult education center. a statement released saying the district is in shock and mentioned his passion for education. he is a father of eight. he was shot in the head at 1:00 saturday morning. police accuse his wife of shooting him after a domestic altercation. they say it happened in their home on barry drive in pittsburgh. they never suspected anything was wrong with the couple. >> they didn't seem the type to be having problems. you had never seen the police here. he's always told me how much he loves her. you can see how much they love each other. >> police say his wife used a

hand gauun and the