the #1 prescribed biologic in crohn's disease. americans bracing for a new wave of storms and the impact on the travel rush. the tsa considering security changes. late today, news that greg gumbel has passed away. first the winter weather. taking aim at more than 50 million people from coast to

coast. dramatic images of multiple tornadoes touching down just outside houston. people seen running for cover. more than three feet of snow in the rockies. freezing rain in the northeast. our weather team tracking what this could mean for new year's eve. new security concerns after that second stowaway incident on a delta flight. the tsa saying it is working to add more physical barriers around ticketing checkpoints. this as airports are packed nationwide during one of the busiest travel weeks of the week. hundreds of flights delayed. the public clash over immigration policy playing out online between musk, ramaswamy and some of president-elect trump's staunchest supporters. what the trump team asked the u.s. supreme court to do about tiktok. a concerning new mutation of the bird flu. what health officials say about

how this could impact the spread of the virus. new details about the deadly christmas day plane crash over seas. a survivor describing what he witnessed. video of prison officers beating an inmate while he appears to be restrained who later died. the attorney general launching an investigation. a fire at one of the most iconic christmas markets in the country. a booth up in flames. it's your chance to be a billionaire. tonight, long lines across the country for the mega millions jackpot reaching $1.2 billion. from abc news world headquarters in new york this is "world news tonight" with david muir. >> good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin tonight with more than 50 million people bracing to dangerous weather from coast to coast during one of the busiest travel periods of the holiday season.

these images here of multiple tornadoes touching down just outside of houston. people running for safety. at least five tornadoes tearing through texas. those storms causing significant damage. now marching to the northeast bringing freezing rain and ice to the i95 corridor, including hartford and boston. threatening millions of travellers hitting the roads and flying this weekend. what it could mean for your new year's eve plans. first, we go to los angeles. >> reporter: less than 24 hours after multiple tornadoes touching down across southeast texas, forcing people to scramble to safety. the south bracing for another round of dangerous severe weather as millions hit of road today. watch as this powerful twister knocks over a postal van. that same neighborhood in southwest houston badly damaged. the side of this home exposed. the roof nearly ripped off. that's just one of the coast to coast storms sweeping across the

country. out west, snow and high avalanche danger. in colorado, officials expect heavy snow, up to three feet. intense winds out west could trigger dangerous avalanche conditions. urging people to stay off the roads in the back country from tonight until monday. in california, a high surf advisory in l.a. county and malibu remains. large waves up to eight feet high slamming the coastline days after scenes like this. boats in a harbor tossed around like toys. or this incident, the wharf in santa cruz collapsing after powerful waves brought it down. along the coast, officials warning of high tide, minor coastal flooding and urging people to stay away from the water. >> an important reminder. let's get to our meteorologist with us in new york. greg, the storms are moving east. more on the way.

>> yeah, that's right. the hits keep on coming. the west coast. >> the atmospheric river determining that they will get another couple rounds of rain. three total rounds. northern california, southern oregon, ten inches of rain. high surf warnings. feet of snow in the rockies. that's a rare four out of five avalanche danger. the weekend bringing in a threat of tornadoes. it looks like saturday a little to the west, then sunday across the southeastern u.s. it's not done there. the northeast has seven states with winter weather alerts out for freezing rain for tomorrow morning. dangerous driving on all major thoroughfares. 80, 90, 95 and i-87. we are not done there. unfortunately, it looks like another separate system will move in right around new year's eve and soak those revellers in times square. >> thank you.

to the new airport security concerns amid the holiday travel rush. tsa working to add more barriers around ticketing checkpoints. this coming days after a second person was caught boarding a delta flight without a ticket in less than a month. tonight, what we learned about where that stowaway was trying to hide. >> reporter: tonight, details in the case of a second person boarding a plane without a ticket. police in seattle finding the stowaway in a bathroom after delta turned the plane around on the tarmac and removed all passengers. it happened on christmas eve on a delta flight headed from seattle to honolulu. a spokesperson for delta says the employees followed procedures. tonight, tsa says it's working to add more barriers around ticketing checkpoints. airport officials say the stowaway was screened at a checkpoint. got through without a boarding pass. then boarded the plane without showing a ticket. >> this has got to stop. there is a very definite

security risk in having people aboard without a ticket. >> reporter: tonight, hundreds of flights delayed as americans pack the skies in the middle of the holiday travel rush. airports in atlanta, chicago and dallas hit by delays. >> we were on a flight to dallas. it got canceled for bad weather. >> reporter: 90% of travellers are driving to their destinations. a busy part of interstate 80 in northern new jersey closed after the sinkhole opened up, consuming an entire lane. officials say the sinkhole is 40 feet wide, 40 feet deep. created by the collapse of an old mine shaft. >> thank you. to politics. the public clash of trump allies over immigration policy. elon musk and vivek ramaswamy among those urging the new administration to embrace skilled foreign workers. it's sparking backlash from other trump supporters. news about tiktok and what the trump team requested.

>> reporter: tonight, some of president-elect donald trump's staunchest supporters at odds over immigration. >> american jobs for american citizen workers. this is a scam. a total scam. we have to have a throw down, let's have it now. >> reporter: sparked by loyalists taking aim at his supporters, including some who have advocating for a visa program for highly skilled foreign workers. the billionaire elon musk, the south african entrepreneur behind tesla and spacex says companies face a shortage of talented and motivated engineers in america. businessman vivek ramaswamy defending the visas. he said, our american culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence too long. the visa programs allow them to work in technology and medicine.

nikki haley among those pushing back against ramaswamy. we should be investing in american workers. trump criticized the program and suspended it in 2020 during the pandemic. >> mary alice, trump's team making the news about tiktok, asking the supreme court to delay the law banning the app. >> >> reporter: that's right. the law to ban the app is set to go into affect on january 19th, the day before he is inaugurated. they have asked the court to delay that to try to give the incoming president to negotiate a resolution to save the platform and address national security concerns. >> something to watch in the weeks ahead. thank you. next, a potentially troubling new development about the bird flu. the cdc reporting the virus mee

mutated in a patient in the u.s. which could make it easier to spread. no transmissions to other people have been reported. the cdc says the risk to the public is low. >> reporter: the centers for disease control finding potentially concerning new mutations in the bird flu from a patient hospitalized with a serious case of the virus. >> the cdc found this version of the virus had mutations that made it attach to upper airway cells for easily, hinting at a better ability to infect people. that being said, this was only found in the individual that was sick. there's no reason to believe that this version of the virus is spread more broadly. >> reporter: the agency making it clear that the risk to the general public has not changed and remains low. the cdc has confirmed at least 65 cases of bird flu in people in the u.s. this year. >> they are monitoring more than 10,000 exposures. they have tested 530.

what does that mean? we are not testing enough. he would know from other viruses that a lot of the spread can be asymptomatic. >> reporter: the greatest risk may be to animals. earlier this week, the death of a house cat in oregon prompting a pet food company to voluntarily recall a batch of raw frozen pet food that tested positive for the virus. >> there's no reason to believe it's spread more broadly in the population. we have yet to see person to person transmission. >> reporter: officials in california have issued a state of emergency over the bird flu at dairy farms and are asking people to avoid raw dairy products. >> thank you. turning overseas now. survivors of the christmas day plane crash speaking publicly for the first time. the investigation continues amid growing questions about whether a russian anti-aircraft system accidentally shot it down.

>> reporter: tonight, survivors of the christmas day crash of azerbaijan flight 8243 speaking out. questions swirling about whether russian anti-aircraft systems accidentally shot it down. this man saying he heard a bang as the plane approached. i already realized it was all over, he says. i decided i should fill my last minutes now. his account appearing to line up with what a crew member told us. saying he heard three thuds and noticed shortly after that he had been injured. in the left arm, he says. i don't know what touched me. i just looked and saw blood. our conversation was cut short. excuse me, i have to turn my phone off, he says. they're not allowing me to speak. u.s. the officials acknowledging the possibility an air defense system caused the crash. other experts more convinced.

this lieutenant colonel is a ballistic expert on the investigation about the investigation in 2014. he has no doubt flight 8243 was also fired upon. >> this is the typical pattern you would see from a warhead exploding. >> reporter: several airlines, including israel in suspending flights to russia. in the u.s., new video released hours ago showing the disturbing beating of a new york inmate. robert brooks was handcuffed when it took place earlier this month. the new york state attorney general is now investigating. we want to warn you, this video is disturbing. >> reporter: tonight, disturbing police body camera video shows correction officers at an upstate new york prison beating a handcuffed inmate for 15

minutes the day he was transferred into their facility. in the video from multiple body cameras, you can see officers choking, punching and kicking 43-year-old robert brooks in the face, torso and genitals on december 9, as two sergeants and a nurse watch and never intervene. according to a deposition by an investigation. >> as attorney general, you have my word that we will use every possible tool available to us to investigate this death thoroughly and swiftly. >> reporter: it happened at a facility in utica. brooks was pronounced dead the next day at a nearby hospital. a preliminary autopsy ruling it a homicide caused by asphyxia caused by neck compression. kathy hochul ordering the termination of 14 prison staffers. he was serving a 12-year prison sentence for stabbing his girlfriend. an attorney for his family

telling abc news, he was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe. he deserved to live. the family attorney also saying the motive for this case is unclear. she calls it incomprehensible. >> thank you. we turn now to the economy and mortgage rates rising this week. reaching a five-month high. new data showing it's 35% more expensive to buy a house than rent. >> reporter: tonight, with mortgage rates at a five-month high, aspiring home buyers are bracing for another challenging housing market in 2025. new data from real estate firm cbre finds on average in the u.s., it's 35% more expensive to buy a house than to rent. a new apartment lease costs on average $2,200 per month. a monthly mortgage payment on a new home is close to $3,000.

>> this is it. >> reporter: this 30-year-old woman was on the house hunt for three years while paying rent. >> it feels like my own. >> reporter: saving enough for a down payment on a fixer upper. first time home buyers accounting for 24% of all home sales in the past year. an all-time low. why do you think you were able to successfully buy a house at age 30? >> i think the first thing is having a plan. each month saving a little bit more. also, working with lenders and understanding what goes behind buying a home is what led me to it. >> reporter: the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is 6.85%. rates are expected to stay in that 6% range next year. >> frustrating for home buyers. thank you. there's more ahead on "world news tonight." fire breaking out at an iconic christmas market. the passing of greg gumbel.

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finally tonight, saying good-bye to a legend here at abc news. revealing the world from behind his camera. >> reporter: tony was a legendary and much beloved abc news cameraman for over 40 years. he captured images like these from vietnam for what was the first televised war. >> this is the story of the vietnam war. >> shoot soldiers suffering close up of rain and water and show them in the mud soldiers suffering. >> reporter: he braved the dangers alongside sam donaldson, peter jennings. >> here in saigon. >> reporter: this is ted koppel.

>> reporter: he captured televised american history. he covered it all from presidential politics to international summits. >> i remember being in moscow with sam donaldson and sam insisted on working with tony and so did every other anchor there. >> reporter: what made tony a good cameraman? >> he had life experience. he had the eye to see a storyteller. >> reporter: he helped usher in a new generation of anchors. >> investigators say -- do you remember any of those early standups? >> i remember just ten minutes before. already show started and you came make sure mistake. >> i came to you when the show was on the air? >> yeah. >> nothing has changed. thank you for having patience for all of us all these years. >> you are one of my correspondents. >> i'm proud of that.

proud of that. >> our thoughts are with his family tonight. have a good night. bulldozers are taking away. but the santa cruz wharf may never be the same after this week's partial collapse. >> surf still up and an advisory is in effect. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i'll let you know when the wet weather will return for the weekend. coming up. >> all right. we're joined live by abc seven news insider phil matier. the governor says putting the chp into oakland made a big difference to crime. we'll add some perspective to that. >> always live abc seven news

starts right now. >> we're at a point, an inflection point in terms of the states support, an inflection point, according to the governor. >> but that state support of local law enforcement is not going away, at least not yet. good evening. thank you for joining us. >> i'm dan ashley and i'm larry beil. the chp support in the east bay is going to stay in place nearly a year after it began, and the oakland police department is glad to hear it. >> this has been a huge impact. >> today was the third extension, and it came just four days before the chp surge in the east bay was set to expire. the governor is extending it one more month, but he's calling on oakland's police commission to change opd's pursuit policy if it wants continued help from the state. >> someone that literally puts people's lives at risk. that occurs right in front of an officer in a vehicle. that officer cannot, under this