good morning honorly today. nature's fury. a line of spring storms cause a path from iowa to the mit atlantic. shaky ground and up up and awa . china launches it's 8th navigation satellite into orbit. >> this is early today for monday, april 11th, 2011. >> hello and good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation. i'm veronica delacruz.

this morning a trail of destruction. in iowa a state of emergency in parts of that state where a tornado hit a 5th of one town. >> get back! >> reporter: the tornado slammed into iowa saturday evening without warning. >> it happened so fast. we were about 50 yards away from it. we had a dust swirl and before we knew it, we had a full blown tornado on the ground. >> reporter: leaving blocks of the small town shattered. hail and a sunday full of cleaning up to parts of the carolinas and virginia. >> the storm follows days and heat in some places. >> spans wildfires, a foot of

snow in arizona. >> this time of year, we see the temperature swings driven by a jet stream moving from the winter into the summer mode. and the battle is what is helping to fuel the storms. >> forecasters warn the danger is not over yet. bringing the potential for dangversus weather to 40 million people across 20 states. frances coe, nbc news. >> in washington, the government may have averted a shut done. but already a battle is brewing. one in which the president is trying to avoid a shut down. >> reporter: less than a day after the 2011 battle was resolved. house speaker fired a shot.

>> how do you raise the debt lith it without dealing with the problem that is causing it to increase. there will not be an increase without something really big attached to it. >> now we are risking a second recession. >> reporter: if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, the united states can't pay its billing. even the possibility of that happening could send world financial markets tumbling. >> the president is going to have to start cutting up the credit cards pure and simple. >> real spending cuts and caps on spending goed forward. >> reporter: on wednesday, president obama is expected to unveil a new plan to show he is just as serious at getting america's finance as back in order. >> it is important to reduce the

deficit. >> one bite down and two bigger ones to go. >> brian moore, nbc news, washington. >> an aftershock rocks the coast of japan this morning. initially estimated at 7.1 magnitude, it is now classified at 6.6. it was located 100 miles of tokyo. it was lifted shortly after ward. workers were evacuated from the crippled plant which lost power to the cooling pumps. the latest quake had no impact on the plant. delegation of the leaders say terms of the african union's road map are still unclear. rebel fighters have so far

accepted agreement. members of the african union are meet i meeting with rebels today to present the plan. here is a look at other stories making news today. residents arepicks up the pieces after storm system caused damage to homes. crews worked through the night to assess the severity of the storm. parts of oklahoma in need of rain got more than they were asking for. high winds and base-ball sized hail caused power outages and dangerous driving conditions. it pummeled drivers and forced them to pull over and wait out the storm. no confirmations of touch downs. and in florida, following in

mom's foot stepped, the baby ducks fell through a grate covering a drainage pipe. local police used a lift to remove the grate and reunite mom with her babies. and her is bill with the weather channel forecast. see bill, mom is not always right. mom is going to kill me right now. >> let's talk about what happened with the severe weather. a lot of it with wind damage around the dallas-fort worth area. merrill, wisconsin was hit hard. it is severe weather season and lived up to its billing this weekend. we have had a severe weather pattern this week. the storms are going to head to the east coast. on the west coast high pressure

giving us a nice day today. nevada looks good. moisture increasing again in the pacific northwest. still going to be showers on and off today. c scattered showers and cool weather today. showers getting heavy in the low 50s and areas in the northwest. california cool with la only 69 with increasing clouds. that is a look a showers. dry in sam mcramento. >> forecast staying chilly in the northwest. >> strange bill when the east

coast is warmer than spots on the west coast. >> it is spring. it shoots up and shoots down. >> very strange. the start of earnings and the rice rise of gas. plus before it opens here, one new film sweeps the box office clean around the rest of the world. >> coming up. tiger woods made a charge at the masters wild a 21-year-old not for his tri. you are watching "early today".

welcome back to "early to y today". here are some of your top headlines. one town almost 25 miles away. the government had refused to

widen the area beyond 12 miles despite being urged to do so around the atomic energy agency. police detained worshippers from an unapproved christian church. they were trying to hold church in an unapproved space. called for anti-government protest similar to ones in the middle east. >> also a rocket lit up the satellite on sunday. they are being used to set up a chinese navigation system. >> and now here is a look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow shed 29 points on friday. nasdaq dropped 15. in tokyo the nikkei dipped 48

points. hand the hang seng dropped 93. the big question will be can corporate america stretch a two-year winning streak into three. alchoa starts things off over last year. the four year forecast will be info c focus this year. rising energy costs are affecting corporate bottom lines. higher gas prices are affecting the bottom line. the average price of a gallon of regular is now $3.76 up 19 cents over the past few weeks. the parent of the new york stock exchange nyse says it is ticking with a lower $10 billion

proposal. experts are calling china's trade deficit a good sign from the global economy. england is taking iceland to court after the country voted for a second time after paying back billions of dollars in loans when the country's bank system collapsed. one more head headache. they are trying to find out medal creates likely containing large amounts of cash. players rising up and falling down the leader board. including tiger woods. early morning sports ed lines are straight ahead. >> severe weather continues to

push toward the east coast and new storm for the west coast. you are watching early today. this is "early today"

the green jacket means everything. here is nbc with an early look at your sports headlines. >> good monday morning. it was a masters to remember. a wild final round. it seemed like they could don the green jacket. south african charles schwart sooxt sel. he has landed. he was atop the leader board. after a great approach to eight. what was t he finished 4th at 10 under par. he melted down on ten. triple bogied and never before seen on tv. and then on 13 it all came out. into a creek. he could barely keep it together. and here comes the calvary.

he was one of eight players and had his share of the lead. but the only one that mattered in the end, putting into a tie for the lead. putting for birdie again. he was on top of the board. on 18 needed to make this in two. why not make it in one. charles schwartsel. the green jacket is his. in a major. hockey, the regular season the matchups are set. nba heat, no love lost between these two. james, the alley oop jam. that is your look at sports on early today. i'm fred rogan. prk

a bunny bounces back to the top of the box office. your early morning headlines are straight ahead. they join together to get in line to set a record. you are watching early today.

. welcome back on this monday. we have a storm system that is on the cool side.

it is not going to rain all day. higher elevations. still pretty warm. we are not dealing with too much snow. down in southern california. you have clouds increasing from your south today. warm side in phoenix there. tomorrow 83 in phoenix. we are okay in california. chilly side. showers for your tuesday. the weather is going to be better tomorrow on the northwest than it is out there right now. plus if you are watching us on knbc, nbc4 in california, check out bubblefest xv. and that is your event of the day. they are on their 15th doub bubblefest. >> i know. here is a look at this weekend movie news comes from the road.

rio doesn't open here for another week. but it has been flapping its wings oversees for a week. here at home, "hop" was number one. and the remake of "arthur" grabbed the second spot. but was a low $12.6 million. being in fewer theaters, hannah, an action movie finished third by "arthur" with $12.3 million, went to soul surfer. who returned to the sport after losing her left arm in a shark attack. your heihness opened with just over a half million.

this comes from kntv, smooth blacktop and sunshine was the perfect recipe for a world record attempt for skaters. they came together for a shot for the longest roll skating line. the current record is held by 280 skaters in singapore. they think they have the bragging rights in the record book. can you imagine that? >> are you a blader or a skater? >> i'm a blader. because i used to ice skate. and you? >> i like going old school. i like the four wheels with the big break on the toe. >> this is "early today." your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

well a group of soldiers got a well-deserved break. they were lynninked by their sacrificed. routine physical therapy gave way with all of them learning to ride the waves. at a regional fork lift competition. they were trying to win the title, best forklift operator.

they drove vehicles through best sig zig zag courses. and a group of children in brazil built their way through a world record and a crane. they built the world's tallest tower measuring in at 102 feet 3 inches tall. 6,000 kids helped to build the structure. proving a little team work can go a long way. did you see them putting the last piece on top? . it was cool. >> time for a look at the stories that we are going to follow throughout the day. today france begins its ban on full face veils anyone who wears a full face burqa is subject to

fines. he is a giants fan who was attacked in the dodger's parking lot last week. he suffered serious injuries. today marks the anniversary of the launch of apollo 13. the crew never made it after an oxygen tank exploded. days later the crew returned to earth. all day long you can see those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight watch brian willians with nbc nightly news. and on the "today" show teen abbey sutherland talks about her attempt to sale around the world. and hear from the faces behind the new nbc singing competition, "the voice".

thank you so much for watching "early today." your first stop of the day today, on your nbc station. have a terrific monday.