good morning. breaking news. residents in oklahoma picking up the pieces this morning after a violent storm system in the oklahoma city area spins off a number of twisters in the middle of rush hour. >> i want to say i'm wrong about this, but this whole thing looks to be about a mild wide. >> the tornadoes deadly. crumbling cars, smashing houses and sending people scrambling for cover. >> if you don't stop we're gonna die! >> one of our own from the weather channel tossed football fields by a twister himself. >> everybody just go, go, keep going if you can. everybody duck down. everybody duck down. >> and as heavy rains and flash flooding soak the nation's midsection --

even more severe weather is in the forecast today, saturday, june 1st, 2013. from nbc news, this is "today" with lester holt and erica hill. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on this busy saturday morning. i'm lester holt. >> i'm kate snow. erica has the morning off this morning. for the second time in two weeks people in oklahoma were waking up to devastation after strong storms and tornadoes ripped through their area. here's video from union city just outside oklahoma city. you can see twin tornadoes forming over an open field as the storm chasers took off, sheet metal hit the front of their vehicle along with massive bails of hay and other debris. we'll talk to them later this morning. we'll hear from the weather

channel's mike bet tess who was in an suv thrown 200 yards by a twister. although he and his crew are banged up, thankfully they're doing pretty well. >> at least five people are confirmed dead this morning, 70 others hurt. those numbers are expected to increase. >> flooding is a major concern for oklahoma and for several other states this morning. in fact, the national weather service says the oklahoma floodwaters could be, quote, life threatening and flash flood watches are in effect from oklahoma to indiana. >> unfortunately we have to say more severe weather could be in store for a large section of the country, including possible tornados from central texas all the way up to cleveland, ohio. back in oklahoma city, will rodgers airport is expected to resume flights later today. it was shut down overnight. they ended up having to shelter 1200 people underground. jan janet shamlian was one of them. good morning to you. >> reporter: yes, we with trying to address the damage at this

point. everything is a guess at this point. this tornado came in after dark last night and it's early morning. anything would really be a guess. it's turning out to be more of a flood event, lester, anyway. there's high water all over. we are flex to the cox convention center where we're told in the underground parking filled with cars the water has reached the roof of those cars. you can talk about the emotional toll on people here. they've been going through this day after day now, of these warnings and taking cover. and looking at scenes like this. from the dashboard of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable. bails of hay sent flying across a road as a twister ripped apart buildings, debris thrown into the pass of their convoy. >> it's getting nasty right here. >> reporter: earlier from the air, the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> this entire line here has got

rotation in it and each one these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: and produce they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city area. >> this is a very violent tornado. people in the path of this thing need to be underground, they need to be in their tornado shelters. >> those unable to take cover were sitting targets for the tornadoes. >> we have a terrible situation that's going on on interstate 40 and interstate 35 right now. multiple cars that have crashed. >> reporter: a mother and her young daughter were killed when their vehicle was tossed from the interstate. and in elrino, oklahoma, this twister tore across the land escape. the tornadoes turned city streets into rushing rivers. drivers forced to abandon their cars in the rising waters. >> power lines are down, trees in the middle of the road, it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere.

>> reporter: the powerful storm that moved into missouri spawning even more tornadoes, knocking power out to thousands and ripping the roof off this home in a st. louis suburb. >> damage and destruction as tornado alley once again lived up to its name. having been in oklahoma city for the better part of two weeks now we hear the warnings day after day. you wonder if people heed them. plenty took shelter but you saw interstate 40, it was packed with cars as the storm was approaching. >> janet, we noted there were 1,200 people sheltered at the airport. you were dropping someone off at the oklahoma city airport. tell us what happened. >> reporter: we had just finished "nightly news." i had another nbcer with me, he needed a rental car. i was heading back to texas. there is an underground tunnel that connects the terminal, probably three-quarter mile long to the parking garages. everyone was told to go down there and did.

the escalators, elevators had been turned off. you were hand-carrying luggage. we were down there the better part of 90 minutes. the airport officials kept us very well informed. at one point telling us put your hands over your head, this is coming in our area now. and it was calm for the most part. they did a great job of keeping people safe. and we left there right after the storm passed and really, again, the biggest problem was flooding at that point. it was nice to have a place to go and to see the organization that took place at the airport. with as you said more than 1,000 people down there. >> sounds like they had a good plan and it worked. glad you and all those folks are safe. janet, thanks so much. >> yes. there were scary moments for the weather channel's mike bet tess and his crew. their suv was thrown 200 yards by tornado. mike talked about his harrowing experience shortly after it happened.

>> keep going if you can. >> the tornado threw us 200 yards off the highway that a field. our air bags all deployed. we have a big suv that we ride in, a gmc yukon that the front wheels are hanging off of it, the front is smash the in. i don't know what to say. i'm speechless. thats wa the scariest moment of my life. i've never been through anything like it before. my life flashed before my eyes. we tumbled, were we floating, airborne and we weren't tumbling anymore and we came down hard. i'm just happy everyone is okay. >> it looks like mike and his crew are recovering well. he posted a message on facebook a short while ago. thank you all for the kind thoughts, everyone is okay.

hopefully our mishap will teach us all to respect the weather and be responsible and safe at all costs. he goes on to say, i thought i was doing the right thing but obviously i wasn't. lessons learned the hard way. someone was watching over us, he writes, very blessed to be headed home tomorrow to see my family. we want to re-emphasize everyone in the truck with mike is okay and recovering this morning. >> probably a little shaken up, though. mike and his crew were caught up in the tornado in el reno, oklahoma. this footage of giant twisters were taken by other tornado chasers. in the area around interstate 40 sustained heavy damage. i spoke with the mayor, matt white, i began asking him about interstate 40, how the cars were tossed around and how things are looking this morning. >> everybody is trying to assess it right now. the daylight is just coming up. the damage, you'll start seeing the damage as we look at it right now. >> five fatalities that we know of and as janet said, that

number could go up. what's your sense of injuries, of fatalities? >> well, el reno itself, the town of el reno is pretty well safe. it's the outlying areas of el reno that we're concerned about. the unpopulated area. we know there's a lot of farmhouses, a lot of farms and ranches out there in need. when my wife and i were coming in to oklahoma city this morning, we could barely see over the oklahoma city stockyards, which is a big deal for our community. it looks like it took a big hit. the main damage between el reno and yukon and some down south by union city where a lot of the tornado occurred. so we have to deal with that. of course, after that, the flooding came. so we were trying to deal with that situation too and people getting out and about and trying to get responders around. it's been a hectic night. really thank the meteorologists for all they did. >> you know, it did seem like a lot of people got out on the roads, mr. mayor. is that because they didn't have underground shelter and they

thought they could outrun this thing? why were so many people on the highways? >> i don't know. we're trying to assess that. that's the talk amongst a lot of us. there was a lot of warning from the meteorologists, from all the affiliates here in oklahoma city. our professionals here, other weather men and ladies here in oklahoma are real good. we had a lot of warning. we were all underground and told to be underground pretty early. the i-40 stretch, with a lot of fatalities, we're looking at that right now. >> mayor mike white, el reno, oklahoma. the governor has declared a state of emergency in missouri. we are joined from st. charles. good morning. >> people are coming out to assess the damage in the community. what they're seeing is pretty extensive damage. let's start over this way. this is a maintenance shed.

we're on a golf course community. this is hole 2, just beyond it, the maintenance shed just demolished. the storm whipped this way. you can tell it all went this way. let's take a look at this house. you can see the back of it, the wall has been taken off. that's a bedroom right there. you can even see the bathtub in the rest room right next to it. let's draft next door and get a look at some the other damage, some is of the people who live in the home. that's harvey i spoke to earlier. outside doesn't look too terribly bad but inside it is really bad. there was a young lady in the house at the time who grabbed two dogs in the house and hid inside of a closet as she heard the storm just whipping through this area over here, luckily she was okay. the good news here also within our community and the greater st. louis area, there are no reports of injuries or fatalities. that is the good news. but there is a lot of inconvenience. first and foremost, the home owners in this community and other communities but also

there's a st. charles family arena where the roof has been partially taken off. this is graduation season as you might know. my son himself was graduating in that very same building last weekend. this weekend, other graduations were planned and those graduations have had to either be postponed or moved to a different area. i believe they're still trying to determine how they're going to handle that. back to you, lester. >> all right, mike rush, thanks very much. so what happened and where is the severe weather hitting today? dylan dreyer is tracking the storm for us. >> this has been a slow-moving cold front. the setup looks busy on the map. that's because the atmosphere is so busy. we have moisture coming in off the gulf of mexico that's making for a very unstable air mass. if you think of atmosphere in layers, you have some wind direction coming in from the south. s so you get closer to the front, wons start to come in from the southwest, behind the front they're coming in from the west and northwest. as you go go up layers in the atmosphere with wind going in all different directions in an

unstable atmosphere on top of that, that's when we have those severe tornadoes. we knew that area was going to get not just regular tornadoes but severe and potentially ef-3, ef-4 type tornadoes which is what we saw yesterday. the rain is still coming down. those flashes of white, that's the lightning. these are very strong storms with hail still a possibility and also the threat of damaging wind gusts. an isolated tornado is still in the possibility in the realm of possibility today from cleveland right back into texas. but it looks like we will see more or less stronger thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. the possibility of some larger hail and then the torrential downpours creating flooding in that area that's already rain soaked. tomorrow, that threat is still with us. but this time it moves to new england and parts of the mid-atlantic right down into washington, d.c., just west of the city in new york. we are going to see the chance of very strong storms as we go into tomorrow as well. flooding is going to be a huge

issue with flash flood warnings and watches. that area still getting pummeled with torrential downpours. we still have the mississippi river and the missouri river early next week. that is still going to see major flooding out that way. there's a lot to keep an eye on with the weather through the rest of the weekend. kate? >> dylan, thanks. we want to take a turn to the rest of the morning's top stories, including a terrible tragedy in houston, texas. >> good morning, guys. good morning everyone. flags are flying at half-staff in houston this morning as that city mourns the loss of four firefighters killed trying to save the community they served daily. diana alvear has that story. >> it's been a hard day for the firefighters. >> reporter: more than 100 firefighters rushed to the southwest inn in houston just after noon on friday. the raging fire ravaged the hotel and a nearby sports bar and disco. four of the city's bravest were killed trying to put it out. >> the structure collapsed and our members, while trying to save lives, were trapped.

>> reporter: another six were injured. one still in critical condition. the firefighters were up against a lot, battling not only the shooting flames of the five-alarm blaze but the grueling texas heat. 90-degree temperatures and high winds that blew plumes of thick smoke across u.s. 59. a few hours later, the fire was out but the smoke had not yet cleared at the scene of the worse loss of life in the department's history. chopper video shows what looks like a prayer service for the fallen. and as ambulances carried the victims away from the scene, firefighters and bystanders saluted as they passed. >> i don't think i felt so bad in my entire life because it's like losing a family member. >> reporter: for "today," diana alvear, nbc news. violence continues to escalate in turkey where clashes between demonstrators and police broke out injuring hundreds of people. this over plans to build on a park in the center of town. police using tear gas and water cannons to hold back some of the protesters.

a kindergarten graduation in cleveland ended in a huge brawl. not a sentence you hear every day. police rushed to an elementary school after someone spilled some punch. as a result, two teens started fighting. police say the family members then got involved and the fight escalated. eight people are now facing charges. finally, there are close calls and calls that aren't so close, really. remember the asteroid making its way towards earth? not so close. nasa says the asteroid approached earth early friday evening but was still -- wait for it -- 3.6 million miles away. that is considered sort of close in nasa speak. by the way, the next time we have to worry about something like this, 2028. lester, quickly do the math. all right, you're time is up. >> 46. >> don't subtract 28, add 28.

at that point the asteroid will be 45 million miles away. something you may want to think about. obviously it will be on our minds. i'm worried about it. >> as if we don't have enough going on with tornadoes, we have an asteroid. >> let's people the asteroids away at this point. cleveland, ohio, right back into southwestern texas, the biggest threat is hail and damaging wind gust. we are still going to see strong storms. on the east side of that front, 80s and 90s, very humid. on the west side of that front, we're looking at temperatures much, much cooler an highs topping out in the 70s. that's a l here's a look at temperatures around the bay area as you go through the next 24 hours. we're going to see highs inland soaring into the 80s. mid to upper 80s around concord and livermore. mid-90s south of downtown. 70s in san francisco, maybe close to 80 downtown. 80s around oakland.

you'll notice the temperatures will start to cool as we held into tomorrow just a bit inland. more noticeably on the coast. everybody gets into the cooling and the sea breeze turns stronger monday into tuesday. and that's your latest forecast. kate? >> dylan, thanks. still ahead, we'll talk to two storm chasers who got trapped in the middle of a twister and ought it all on tape. but first, this is "today" on nbc. look at them kids. [ sigh ]

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>> the children who were in moore and are fearful already and now to have it happen all over again. >> i think one of the worries is that people, a lot of them took to the road yesterday to get out of the way. that might have created problems in its own light. we're glad that so far the numbers have been low. >> that's right. we're back in oklahoma city for another update coming up. if you're seeing spots before your eyes... it's time... for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] only aveeno® has an active naturals total soy formula that instantly brightens skin. and helps reduce the look of brown spots in just 4 weeks. for healthy radiant skin. try it for a month. then go ahead and try to spot a spot. aveeno® positively radiant. naturally beautiful results. [ female announcer ] one day it will hit you. by replacing one sugared beverage a day with a bottle of nestle pure life water,

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good morning to you. looking live at a beautiful sunrise from freemont. a nice meeld day for us. of course we are also watching the weather in the midwest. another round of tornadoes. first, we want to say good morning, thanks for joining us. i'm kris sanchez. it must be nice to be able to report the forecast we have. >> very calm, high pressure, you're not really seeing any clouds form, anything that produces any rain. it's going to get uncomfortably hot for areas inland around the bay area today. 62 to start the morning in fairfield. that's a warm start. just a weak sea breeze now. you can notice our high temperatures mid to upper 90s inland. areas south of downtown will climb into the 90s.

upper 90s possible for today. near 80 in san francisco. today, pretty hot. tomorrow, the sea breeze starts to come back. cooling temperatures arrive early next week. >> thank you very much, rob. rob's going to update us on the forecast for the midwest a little bit later on in the 7:00 newsca newscast. first, we want to show you what's developing now. oklahoma finds itself right in the middle of that deadly round of tornados. with day break though comes the news that five people were killed including a mother and her young baby. 50 other people east of oklahoma city were injured. now new video this morning. one of those tornadoes touching down in el rino last night, just west of oklahoma city. >> oh, my goodness. my goodness. oh, no. run for the car. turn around. let's get ready. large tornado. large tornado. right there. >> just ten miles away, twin twisters formed near union city,

oklahoma, where officials say at least two were killed. this video was captured by storm chasers. you can see the debris being whipped around. at one point, a massive hay bale slams into the front of the vehicle. we have month more from oklahoma city coming up in 30 minutes right here on "today in the bay." plus, more officers on the street can't stop the violence. another deadly night in san jose as a man is stabbed to death. right here at 7:00. what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. oh, yeah! wow. once you experience it, there's no going back. at our memorial day sale, save on the closeout of our classic special edition bed set. now just $1299 a savings of $600. final days! ends sunday. only at the sleep number store. sleep number. comfort individualized.

you're looking at some of the twisters that touched down in oklahoma overnight. they overturned cars and trucks, toppled houses and sent people scrambling for cover. this morning, people there have the task of picking up the pieces all over again. we'll go live to the area, get an update on where the severe weather is headed in just a minute. we're back on this saturday morning. the 1st day of june, 2013. i'm kate snow alongside lester holt. erica has the morning off. coming up, the storm chasers, like the movie twister, these guys followed the storm but last night they got a close look, too close. we'll record high prices for beef. it's the time of year where a lot of folks want to throw a steak or burger on the grill.

but the high cost of beef may cause you to lose your appetite. we'll look at what's behind the increase coming up. >> imagine taking your tablet to the beach or the pool or with your kids sippy cups and not having to worry about dropping or damaging or water damage. mario armstrong will be here to tell us about a new waterproof tablet. i can't wait. we begin in oklahoma. for the second time in two weeks, the area is reeling from another round of violent weather. janet shamlian is there. >> kate, good morning. people are getting their first look around as the sun comes up. this is going to turn out to be potentially more of a flood event. at least in this region, than damage. although there certainly is damage and tens of thousands of people without power this morning. i want you to take a look at some of the pictures from the storm chasers last night. they were on top of it. we knew the storm was coming. we've been going through this

drill the better part of two weeks. starting a week ago sunday when the tornado came into shawnee. we knew the system was here, the warnings were out. you could see the clouds in the sky and yet, let's go to some of the video of the interstate. people did not take shelter in enough time and two of the five deaths at least that we know of, happened on interstate 40 here. cars were backed up for miles. that said, tens of thousands of people did go to shelters. i was at the oklahoma city airport. we were underneath the airport in what is a tunnel that connects the terminals to a parking garage. and it was crazy and you could feel things even in there. but some people did not take shelter. right now we know of five confirmed deaths. again, as we hit first light here in oklahoma city, kate, we're going to get a better look at things and what the damage is like. i will say there's the collateral damage of the people's emotions of this community which are just frayed after being through this day after day now for the better part of two weeks. >> it is taking a toll.

janet shamlian, glad you're safe. lester? it was a dramatic night for two storm chasers as they got very close to a giant twister. take a look. >> head down, duck down! duck down! drive forward if you can! brandon sullivan and brett wright of tornado titans. glad to see you in one piece, i should note. good morning. >> good morning. >> brandon, tell me about it. my understanding of storm chasing, you want to get as close to the tornado as safely possible. this didn't look safe. had you ever experienced anything quite like this? >> i've certainly never experienced anything like this. you know, we were obviously very close to the tornado. it grew really quickly, became a violent tornado very fast. we tried to go south but ultimately it got a little too close. >> we saw you with your hands covering your head. what were you seeing? what was hitting the vehicle as you were trying to shield

yourself? >> well, the tornado actually passed about a half mile behind us. but the winds rushing into the tornado destroyed a barn right in front of us. so that barn and some other farm equipment were being tossed right at our car. piece of the barn hit our windshield and broke it out. so that's what i was covering my eyes from. >> brent, you were at the wheel of this. obviously as i noted, you want to be as close but safe at the same time. did the tornado simply turn on you? was there a change of direction that left you without an escape route? >> well, it was heading west at us and then it took a sharp turn to the southeast. we got really worried and we had to blast south as quick as we can to get out of the tornado. we tried our best. >> as i'm watching this playing quarterback here sitting in my safe seat, i'm thinking get into reverse, go the other direction. could you go in the direction you needed to go? >> yes. we were able to go south as fast as we could basically on the

dirt roads. which we were experiencing very high winds and muddy roads and people in front of us. it was very difficult to get out safely. >> brendan, my understanding is you're both meteorological students. this is what you live for. this is what you want to see. at the same time, what's the value of storm chasing? what science is there to be learned? what is there that we don't know about tornadoes that requires you to get so close? >> well, you know, there are others out there that have a lot of scientific instruments that can collect a lot of data. the main thing that we're out there for is just to kind of document what's going on. i know personally, i submitted a report to the national weather service yesterday right as the tornado touched down. it helps to give them a confirmation that there is a tornado on the ground, it is coming in to a populated area. a lot of storm chasers out there, that's what they do. they report and they get the word out there. like you said, for us, it's a science. we like to take what we learn in

school and apply it to the weather. to see really mother nature play out. >> if your intent was to remind us all how fearsome these things are, you did it well. we're glad you're okay. thanks for talking with us this morning. appreciate it. >> thank you. what's causing all these dangerous tornadoes and how long will the threat last? dylan is tracking all the storms. dylan, good morning again. >> good morning, kate. good morning everyone. this is a very slow-moving cold front with moisture coming in off the gulf of mexico setting up the stage for a very unstable atmosphere. yesterday we had a very strong threat of just very severe tornadoes. today we still have the threat of strong storms. you can see the rain that's coming down across oklahoma and parts of northwestern arkansas and into southeastern missouri. lots of lightning and torrential downpours. now, today the threat of strong storms extends from cleveland, ohio, all the way down into del rio, texas. they're not going to be as strong of storms as we saw yesterday. but we still could see wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour

and torrential downpours on top of that severe weather and the severe rain we've already seen in that area already. flash flood warnings, flash flood watches still in effect all through the midwest. unfortunately, we're still looking at another 1 to 2, perhaps up to 3 inches of rain to fall exactly in that area from northwestern pennsylvania right down into parts of northern arkansas and into mississippi as well. so we are going to see torrential downpours create even more flooding, more strong storms today and that threat slowly spreads into the northeast as we go into tomorrow. we're watching this all weekend long. that's a look at the weather across the country. >> a much calmer but hotter weather picture in the bay area. you'll see numbers in the mid to upper 90s midland. you'll notice south of san jose some 90s as well. 70s and 80s around downtown san francisco, oakland. inner bay and coaster locations

will begin to see temperatures drop it everybody seeing a drop in numbers especially inland monday into tuesday as we start the new week. and that's your latest forecast. kate? >> dylan, thanks. up next, prepare to pay more if you plan to grill steaks or burgers this summer. we'll look at why beef prices are now at record highs. but first, these messages. [ camera shutter clicks ] ♪ ♪ [ camera shutter clicking ] ♪ [ male announcer ] meet the best low-light smartphone camera. [ camera shutter clicking ] better than iphone. better than galaxy. the windows phone nokia lumia 928. ♪ the windows phone nokia lumia 928. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late.

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memorial day weekend. choice sirloin steak up 5%. ground beef up 9%. lean ground beef up 21%. a third of that increase passed down to consumers. the average price for a steak at 4.81 d a poupd. ground beef, more than $3.50 a pound. no relief in sight before the big fourth of july grilling holiday. grills across the country are waiting to be fired up. consumer sentiment amount at the highest level in six years. but consumer spending is actually down. one reason for the high prices, come on baby. >> years of drought across the midwest resulting in high feed prices for cattle ranchers. >> it becomes an economic situation and we're going to have to feed these animals and if we can't feed them, we have to find a place for them to go and most of those will be to the butcher. >> in fact, the u.s. has the smallest number of cattle since the 1950s with less than 90 million head roaming the range.

the national cattlemen's beef association says consumers will start to see lower prices once the herd numbers increase next year. while the price for beef may force some to look for alternatives for the grill, beef lovers know there's no substitute. >> i'll be more careful about how much i buy so there's no way. >> beef may be what's for dinner, but it's going to cost a lot more this summer. jackie deangelis, nbc news. now here's lester. >> all right, kate. thanks. this morning, we've got mario's top three. the digital lifestyle. mario armstrong rounded up the biggest story of the week in gadgets, apps and social media. >> good morning. >> i want to tell you about people finding all nat ways for video entertainment. getting rid of cable and watching hulu and things on the internet. now folks are cutting the internet account. >> cutting the internet at home. your option is to find local

caves, find hotels with access. public places. libraries, places where you can plug in for free. >> go wireless. >> some people are just using their phones. people are saying wait, i carry my phone throughout my house. why can't i do facebook and e-mail from the phone. >> but you pay data charges on that. >> you do. my advice to folks, if you are cutting the internet and save the money from the cable bill or bundling, first thing is make sure you're a light user. e-mail, facebook, light researcher. buy the unlimited data plan on your cell phone because you'll get in trouble. last but not least, look for the hotspots to know where in your area you can get -- >> you know the speed can vary in places. slow sometimes. >> stealing from your neighbor is not good. >> an ordinary tablet but it's waterproof. it's goodbye the pool. >> absolutely. it's lightweight. it's summertime. this is a sony tablet.

z i want you to hold this. one thing you should notice right away is lightweight. >> it is lightweight. >> and thinnest. >> how do you get if wet. >> all the ports are pretty much sealed with rubber flaps. >> we're going to demonstrate this in real time here. something you could do accidentally is take your cup of coffee and spill it right on the tablet. >> nice. >> so yeah. up to three feet for 30 minutes. this could be fully immersed in water and still work. >> not that you want to do that. the point is, it would be good for the splashes and that sort of thing. >> if you're using tablet underwater something else is going on. >> nobody has photos in their -- when is the last time somebody handed you a photo. >> you can keep that one of my beautiful wife. this is a app called kick send. we take a lot of photos on our

phone. do we ever print them out? >> rarely. >> right. within an hour, i was able to take photos on my phone, use the kick send app. send it to a nearby walgreens or cvs. knowing my gps of where i was, i picked up my prints in an hour. >> these are high quality prints? >> high quality. they don't change the resolution from on your phone as well. you can send it to a friend's house. an event at a party or reception. you could take photos then and there and in an hour, pick them up and hand them out. >> it's called kick send. >> very cool. >> mario armstrong. three winners. >> i'm not goingo dunk my pad any time soon. if i ever was, that's the one i choose. up next a documentary about mermaids makes a rating splash but did it make viewers confuse fact with mick shonn. we'll talk about that. but first these messages. crest , i've noticed a huge improvement. we'll talk about that. but first these messages. cmick . we'll talk about that.

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♪ mermaids have long been the mystery of the sea. christopher columbus has said to spot one. as michelle franzen reports, a recent fictional documentary on animal planet created a whole new wave of confusion. with sweeping underwater visuals and reenactments of reported sightings, animal planet's latest fictional documentary mermaids, the new

evidence reeled in a record audience for the network with 3.6 million viewers. more than the cable channel's popular meerkat manor series and the puppy bowl. >> people voted with their remotors. so it certainly wasn't too real to be entertaining. i think it's provocative. i think it's a conversation. >> it is the sequel to last year's mermaids, the body found. the make believe, never seen footage and scientific theories acted out were trending on twitter. and spawned a debate on whether mermaids really exist. >> sure, i believe in mermaid, yes. >> i do not believe in mermaids. but i believe that there are people who will believe there are mermaid after watching this show. >> the program drew criticism from one marine biologist who wrote on slate.com, despite millennia of humans exploring the ocean, no credible evidence of the existence of mermaids has ever been found. the mythical creatures draw the

same curiosity as the lochness monst monster, bigfoot and vampires and have been glamorized on the big screen. tom hanks fell in love with one in splash and of course disney's "the little mermaid". >> the mermaids travel with whales. >> media critics say the entertaining take on mermaids builds on that history. >> should something per purporting to be a real documentary always announce it is fake? technically yes. but again we're talking about mermaids. i don't see how you could be fooled by this. >> hysterically entertaining or accurate, it is likely we haven't heard or seen the last of the tall tale of the seas. for "today," michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. i was raised by a scientist. no way i'm falling for it. >> i believe that other guy. he says that i believe that there are people who believe there are mermaids after watching that. i'm not one of them. we'll be right back with more on "today" on nbc.

♪ that's going to do it for us on this saturday. you can get the latest on the oklahoma and the continuing weather threats all day long at nbcnews.com. more on nbc "nightly news." i'll see you then. have a great day. [ female announcer ] are you sensitive to dairy? then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love.

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nothing says, "i'm happy to see you too," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone.

good morning. i'm kris sanchez. coming up next on "today in the bay," another round of deadly tornados touch down in the midwest. >> this whole thing looks about a mile wide. >> a new path of destruction, killing five people. the latest on the damage. plus the forecast for today. and a bicyclist is killed in a bizarre crash that shut down parts of interstate 80 in san jose. plus, what police are planning to do this weekend to tamp down deadly violence before it happens, but is it working? "today in the bay" starts in two meants. minutes. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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good morning on this first day of june. we start with a warm forecast as we look at the city from our mountain camera. it is going to be a very warm day today. we'll talk about the forecast for the midwe