on this saturday night, path of destruction. the deadly explosive force of a relentless tornado outbreak. tonight, stories from the epicenter where some of our own found themselves swept up. in a dangerous situation. a new threat. a dozen states on alert tonight for flash flooding, already creating massive sinkholes and forcing water rescues as this powerful storm marches east. cancer breakthrough. the remarkable results in some receiving experimental treatment, extending survival and providing new hope for patients in the fight of their lives and the debut. after a rough start, two polar bear cubs are brought together, becoming an instant hit.

good evening. there's a good reason they call it tornado alley and we witnessed it last night as tornados rolled like bowling balls through the middle of the country, claiming at least nine lives and injuring more than 100 in oklahoma which is still reeling from the deadly twister in moore. last night's outbreak spawned reports of at least 25 tornados. oklahoma and missouri took the worst of it, but seven states were affected by the weather. tonight however, tornados are only part of the story. rain and flooding have fallen on the heels of this as this storm system travels east. our team is in place and we begin our coverage in oklahoma city with janet shamlian, where it now seems the soaked ground is giving way. >> the storms have saturated the

ground. take a look at the sinkhole behind me. the fire department says it expects part of the road to partially collapse. this is just one example of how these storms are taking their toll across nearly a dozen states. oklahoma city woke up to heart ache after a terrifying night. five tornados, one a half mile wide, blazing a path of destruction. and violent storms packing torrential rain. as many as 7 inches, causing dangerous flash floods and collapsing roads, creating this giant sinkhole. a one-two punch less than two weeks after the deadly tornado in nearby moore. >> it's growing in size and this is very concerning. folks in the path prepare for a violent tornado. >> almost everyone saw them coming. some too closely. >> go! >> debris flying through the air shattered the windshield of this storm chasing car. >> i was hoping nothing would come in the car. i was really worried about debris coming through the windshield.

>> the warnings to take cover came early. >> you've got to get under ground of out of its way. i'm pleading with you to do that. >> yet main arteries were gridlocked with rush hour traffic. even as the tornados moved over them. >> we've got multiple crashes working right now all over the metro. >> eight of the nine deaths were people in their cars i, including a mother and her child. >> people got in their cars and started driving around. that's unusual. i hope we can discourage that from happening in the future. >> the oklahoma city airport was evacuated as the storm passed just north of it. these are passengers heading to an underground tunnel. as many as 1200 sheltered here. getting updates like this. >> authorities are saying there's multiple rotations, so they say stay put and that's what we're going to do. >> twin twisters ripped up the community of el reno. >> hold on, brothers, hold on. >> the weather channel's mike bettis and his team were caught up in it. everyone is okay. through it all, the rain was

relentless. >> we had storms that repeatedly hit the same spot with 2 or 3 inch per hour rainfalls. sometimes for many hours. some places got 9 to 10 inches of rain and floodinging. >> well beyond oklahoma, 11 states have widespread flooding. in paducah, some had to be rescued from their homes. when the area received more rain in a few hours than it usually gets in a month. >> we're checking manholes and clearing debris from inlets and checking our boats, some of the flooded areas to make sure they are okay. >> missouri had both flooding and tornados. will ber shaw hid in his basement. when the storm passed, he discovered that was all he had left. >> to the bottom of the steps, and i looked up and i thought, that's not the color of my ceiling, you know. i shined the flashlight up there and no reflection. and i said, oh, man. i've been hit. >> another hit for an already

weary region. >> i'm sure a lot of people, if they're not at their breaking point, they're probably pretty close and pretty worn out with it. >> our report in oklahoma city, she mentioned in one of those tornados took an unexpected turn last night as mike bettis and his crew were on the hunt. they had no time to get out of harm's way. suddenly, the tornado they were chasing was chasing them. we're happy to say they all survived the experience. tonight, they describe the harrowing moment in their own words. >> guys, that's it. there's the tornado. >> south of el reno, three vehicle convoy, we had done a live shot. we needed to go south to get in front of the r storm. >> mike bettis and the team are in that arm. >> this was a really dangerous storm because it was small. then it was large, then it had a lot of different vortices within

it and it did a very strange thing where it made a very abrupt left hand turn. we were trying to get on the south side to get into clear air. >> and you could see just this huge wall coming right toward us. >> i was in the lead vehicle. and the tornado just came up and i ended off being blown into a ditch. and the last thing that i remember seeing the bettis mobile pass me and go airborne. >> everybody, go, go, go, just -- >> we realized we weren't going to make it and just screamed for everybody to just hold on, duck down below the windows and hold on and we just started tumbling. >> everybody duck down. everybody duck down. >> there was a moment there where it was weightlessness. we were floating. >> there was like a silent couple of seconds there and then i just braced and then we hit hard. we tumbled a couple of more times and we stopped.

wheels down. right side up. >> the wind was so heavy, i figured it would pick the car back up and we would be dead. >> we all came bailing out, jk picked up the radio and said role call, kp said here and we didn't hear from the others. that's about the time we spotted them. we ran out to the field. >> i think if there's a lesson to be learneded, safety. too close a call for me has heightened my sensitivity now. i feel very guilty if something traumatic happened to our crew, it's on me. >> mike bettis and one crew member were treated and released with minor injuries. another crew member remains in the hospital. we are grateful our colleagues survived that very, very close brush. for people in those devastated small towns, the terror of last night's twisters gave way to the realities faced today. mark potter is in union city, oklahoma tonight. mark? >> good evening. this neighborhood was hit hard by the latest storm.

all ten homes here were badly damaged and a few were flattened. a lot of other things have also been lost here. about 30 miles west of oklahoma city, there is now rubble and heartbreak. for glenda, the loss of the house where she raised her kids is devastated. >> what are you going to do now? >> clean it up and try to decide what i need to do because i don't know. say whether i'm going to rebuild my house, i don't know. >> her roof is now gone, her home is gutted and everything is soaked after the torrential rain. the good news is that no one was hurt here and a few things could be saved, including her daughter's wedding dress. >> i thought it was gone. i just, because we didn't get to see it last night because tornados kept coming. >> tornado warnings here were issued around dinner time. some of the neighbors drove

south to get away and then tried to come back. only to be chased away by a second tornado. first light today revealed the extent of danielle. this family not only learned it house was destroyed, but that some of their horses were badly injured or killed. what's left of this house is owned by a young man and his pregnant wife. today, friends tried to salvage baby clothes. zbl zblin. >> mainly now, just trying to get as much as we can. >> down the road in moore, oklahoma, where almost two weeks ago, a powerful tornado killed 24 people, clean up efforts were interrupted today as once again, a storm threatened. beleaguered residents had had just about enough bad weather. >> i'm hoping this is the end of it because i don't think we can take much more. >> on i-40 outside of oklahoma city, crews removed trucks overturned by the storm and back in union city, a two day old foal who survived the tornado was found terrified and hiding in the grass. but after she was reassured -- >> there you go. >> the foal coincidentally named twister, bounced back. >> yeah. >> bringing a much needed smile

on an otherwise bad day. and with the skies absolutely clear here now, the clean-up is in full swing with lots of people coming by to help. when you ask what are you going to do next, they almost all say we just don't know. it's too early right now. >> thank you. as we mentioned, flash flooding is the other big concern with the storm and flood warnings are in effect tonight for a wide stretch of the country. we want to get the latest from hard hit kentucky. scott newel joins us from paducah. >> good evening. i want to show you the debris that lines the banks of perkins creek. that is plywood all piled up against the utility pole there. it overflowed this morning, flooding the parking lot and many of the lower level roads at

the days inn. nearly 7 inch of rain fell in a 12-hour period with nowhere to go. crews worked to rescue 30 people from the swiftly moving water. one of the highest numbers of such rescues in the history of the county. officials say the flooding left half a dozen families without homes. some found the water had risen up to the windows of their cars. many are expected to be a total loss. the good news, no injuries were reported. at least three roads were washed out, fortunately, those are secondary roads, but it is expected to be some time before those roads are passable again. this system has been sitting over us for several hours. the sun was out a moment ago, but we think it's passed here. one record book though. this is going to turn out to be the third wettest calendar day in paducah history. >> thanks. where is this system headed and who should be on alert? the weather channel's julie martin is tracking it all for us tonight. >> tonight, we're dealing with a double threat. we have flooding and severe weather stretching from the

southern plains to the ohio valley. let's talk about the flooding first. we have flood warnings stretching from oklahoma through much of missouri and illinois. even over towards indiana. keep in mind some of these same areas have picked up about a foot of rain or so in the past week, so this water has nowhere to go. you see the bulk of the rain tonight from arkansas over to western kentucky. one man today died in missouri after being swept away in flood waters and flooding there has led to dozens of road closures. on to the severe side. storms with damaging winds are going to be firing up through tomorrow. tonight, the threat from texas to alabama, also, indiana through western new york. can't rule out a tornado, although the threat not as high. tomorrow, that threat will be targeting the mid-atlantic and northeast. we could see strong storms in d.c., new york and boston. quieter conditions on monday. in the east, once again, we will see things heat up in the

plains, so another very active pattern coming up. >> thanks. while we're talking tornados, today is officially the start of hurricane season. a good time for coastal residents to start reviewing their plans. as we continue on this saturday, promising news about a new kind of treatment for cancer. how for some, they're showing surprising results. and teaming up. the irresistible debut of the buffalo bears. surprising results. and teaming up. the irresistible debut of the buffalo bears. can orencia (abatacept) help? could your "i want" become "i can"? talk to your rheumatologist. orencia reduces many ra symptoms like pain, morning stiffness and the progression of joint damage. it's helped new ra patients and those not helped enough by other treatments. do not take orencia with another biologic medicine for ra due to an increased risk of serious infection. serious side effects can occur including fatal infections. cases of lymphoma and lung cancer have been reported.

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there is news tonight from a cancer conference in chicago of a promising new treatment for several kinds of cancer that is already producing remarkable results in some patients and could eventually help many more. here's robert bazell. >> go through it. three. amazing response as did bob, to a new type of treatment for lung cancer. while immune therapy is still in

experimental stage, many doctors see the drugs as a big part of the future of cancer care. >> the benefit has the potential to be huge. we're able to take tumors, lung cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer and we're seeing tumors shrink and i think the thing that's quite impressive is that these patients continue to do well. >> that's good. >> o grady was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in early 2009. it spread through her body and even though she endured brutal chemo therapy, her tumors continued to grow. >> i thought i was going to be dying in the near future. >> three years ago, she started an experimental therapy and got better quickly. sin since june, she has taken no medications and has reached milestones she thought she would miss. immune therapy dru work by

coaxing white blood cells to kill cancer cells. for now, the drugs usually work in only about 20 to 40% of patients and doctors can't predict which one, but when they do work, the response is often quick. bob's lung cancer was a huge mass in his chest. these scans show how it shrank in months. >> you can see dramatic gre regression of this match. >> things seem to be going phenomenally well. hopefully, it will continue for a long time. >> the therapy is very new. so far, there's only one approved drug on the market, but experts say there will be many within the next few years and they hope that by combining the new drugs with each other and other therapy, they'll effectively treat more patients. when we continue here on after a short break, more news including a look back at the life of jean stapleton. both tylenol and bayer back & body

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stapleton died yesterday in new york. she was already a veteran of teenage is, film and television when she was cast. carol o'connor described her as a benign, compassionate presence opposite his rude and boarish character. she was 90 years old. overseas, this was another day of violent government demonstrations in turkey. police used water cannons against the protesters. almost 1,000 people were arrested in more than 90 demonstrations across the country. they were sparked by plans to turn a park into a shopping mall, but became a broader protest against the prime minister. houston was in mourning today after the deadliest fire in the history of the city's fire department. four firefighters were killed, including a 24-year-old woman who just joined ed the departmet

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finally tonight, we couldn't resist the call of the wild. word that two youngsters from the north that needed a helping hand were now making their first public appearance at the buffalo zoo this week. stephanie gosk was there for the almost unbearably cute debut. >> baby polar bears need friends. especially or fanned baby polar bears. colley was motherless and friendless until just a few days ago when the buffalo zoo introduced him to luna, whose mother was unable to care for her. kaitlin is one of the keepers. >> the fist day was a little nerve rackinging for everybody,

but now, they're playing. >> colley's journey was long, beginning in alaska after an es ko shot his mother. the hunter said he didn't realize she had a cub. >> he followed her footsteps back to her den and found a lone cub, then he put it in his parka and drove by snow mobile miles and miles. >> two months later, she was carefully bundled up and flown on a ups cargo plane to one of the only zoos with a possible play mate. >> when he first got here, he was nervous, quiet, stuck to himself. >> if we didn't have this fence here, would luna want to play with us? >> she would want to play with us and we would not want to play back with her. >> they were introduced slowly. first, from a distance, then face to face in public. lines snake out the gates. lily and kaitlin are regulars.

colley may move to another zoo to breed, but soop keepers hope his stay will raise money to build a new exhibit and raise wareness. they are an endangered species, their habitat slowly melting away as the earth gets warmer. >> zoos have decided to build really high quality exhibits to take in orphaned cubs so we can educate the public to maybe use less energy to reduce our greenhouse gases. >> they certainly have the public's attention and in the process, colley got a much needed friend. stephanie gosk, nbc news, buffalo, new york. that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester hold from new york. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today", then right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

a city on three rivers, pittsburgh, home of a three-time stanley cup champion wanting four. crosby captains the team. no one in the east has more goals. the team favors milan lucic of the boston bruins. at 6'4", 220, the hit leader. the colors both black and gold. black and blue. stanley cup playoffs on nbc penguins-bruins after this. >>