good monday morning. colorado emergency. over 1200 people have not been heard from. thousands more evacuated and 19,000 homes destroyed or damaged. breaking details ahead. this morning united nations chemical weapons inspectors released their report on the gas attack on august 21st. and right now engineers are power buckling, trying to rotate the costa concordia to ride it and then take it out of the sea. over 65,000 of america's bridges remain structurally deficient. a frightening new york city shootout caught on tape. and a first at the miss america pageant. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, september

16th. >> good morning. i'm richard lui. a state of emergency in colorado as glad waters continue to rise and rain continues there. new this morning, first responders continue helicopter rescue operations. one is so large it's become the biggest mission of its kind since hurricane katrina. officials are telling residents to be prepared there to evacuate at a moment's notice as more rain is expected overnight. nbc's joe fryer is in colorado. >> reporter: like a sucker punch to this battered state, another round of heavy rain hammers colorado. more flooding forces longmont police to knock on doors, warning neighbors to once again flee the place they evacuated just days ago. >> it's a mandatory evacuation. >> reporter: so far the national guard has rescued more than 2,100 people. one helicopter took off hoping to rescue more only to return minutes later because of the weather. while they're helpless in the

air, fema search and rescue teams are still moving on the ground, using trucks that can plow through five feet of floodwater, they implore stra d stranded residents to leave. >> this is one of their last chances to get out. they need to leave the area because they're telling us that some of those roads it may be up to a year before they are rebuilt. >> reporter: in boulder a young couple were killed after a mudslide swept their car off the road wednesday. >> it was just an absolute harrowing, harrowing day of just a living nightmare. >> reporter: more than 1,000 are still unaccounted for, but authorities hope most are just stranded with no power and no way to communicate. however, in larimer county, a missing 80-year-old woman is now presumed dead. >> we do anticipate that there will be additional fatalities. >> reporter: the tragedy already weighs heavily on the sheriff. >> how can we ever roecover fro this? and i know exactly inch by inch, mile by mile, community by

community. >> reporter: with so many roads and bridges washed away, inspection teams survey the damage. >> the thing that worries us is what we can't see, what's down lower. and that's what we're trying to evaluate. >> reporter: early reports suggest at least 30 state highway bridges are destroyed. at least 20 seriously damaged. rebuilding seems hard to imagine with the rain that caused this mess making an encore appearance that no one wanted. >> and bill karins will join us shortly with an outlook in that area of colorado. now to a shooting in new york city's times square to tell you about. >> oh! oh! >> police firing those gunshots late saturday at a man who was acting erratically. the bullets hit two bystanders who are expected to be okay. police say the 35-year-old man was, quote, emotionally disturbed and dodging cars on a busy street. they say he made movements suggesting he had a weapon. ultimately after bringing him down with a stun gun, police found he was unarmed.

is he in police custody facing multiple charges. a daring effort is under way this morning to raise the wrecked kos ka concordia cruise ship. nearly two years ago it capsized and killed at least 30 people off the italian coast. our reporter is in italy at the site of the wreck. good morning. >> reporter: richard, the rolling of the costa concordia is well under way. even though the operation started about three hours later than previously planned because of an overnight storm. well, now the engineers are telling us that the outcome once changed. by the end of the day, they want to roll the costa concordia back upright. well, now, to do that, they will do it one inch at a time because they want to avoid any breakage in the hull of the ship which has been put under a lot of stress and putting pressure. if that happens, of course, the toxic soup of organic and chemical substances are still inside the concordia may pour

into the water, creating an environmental disaster. but engineers are saying that all the precautions are being put in place so that the most expensive and complex salvage operation in maritime history would be affected. richard? >> an amazing feat under way there. the u secretary-general say it would be an atrocious violation of international law if a u.n. report released today confirms the use of chemical weapons in syria. the u.n. mission was to determine whether the weapons were, in fact, used in an august 21st attack but not who was responsible. secretary of state john kerry has already said there's evidence the syrian government used sarin gas against its own people. this morning he's in paris meeting with french president hollande and his french and british counterparts. >> if assad fails to comply with the terms of this framework, make no mistake, we are all agreed, and that includes russia that there will be consequences.

>> kerry is referring to a u.s./russian deal reached this weekend to hand over assad's chemical weapons. a syrian official sunday called the deal a, quote, victory. but the u.s. warns the threat of force is real if damascus fails to follow through. >> what this is about is how do we make sure that we don't have the worst weapons in the hands either of a murderous regime or in the alternative some elements of the opposition that are as opposed to the united states as they are to assad. >> vice president joe biden spoke in iowa on sunday, touting the diplomatic progress in syria. he praised the pregnant for what he calls he praised the president for what he calls a clear and straightforward vision. >> we're going to the united nations with a resolution this week that will, in fact, call on the united nations and the world to put pressure on, put pressure on syria, to have the confiscation and destruction of all those weapons.

well, it was a night of tight-fitting swimsuits, dancing and singing in atlantic city. and this morning there's a new miss america. one that has not looked like any other miss america in history. >> miss new york! >> shock. nina davuluri crowned during this year's competition. the 24-year-old becomes the first indian-american woman to win the title and becomes the second consecutive miss new york to take top honors. for her talent she performed a bollywood fusion dance. even though she missed her cue at the beginning, the judges were apparently impressed about her interview question regarding plastic surgery when she told women to be confident in who you are. that is really cool dancing. >> congratulations. >> yeah, congratulations. do you have your moves down? can you handle that? >> never even tried it. >> let's talk colorado. when you and i were talking on

friday, i'm not sure many expected to see this. >> a continuation. we were talking about the boulder area. we knew how horrible it was there. just the scope of it continued to increase in creek african yon after mudslide. and the additional rains, the problems just multiplied. by the numbers, five fatalities, 16 inches of rain in one location a guy measured in seven days. that's tropics-type rainfall. and they can't handle that in the mountains. 1,000 still accounted for plus, 1500 homes damaged, about 17,000 plus have been damaged, 1700 destroyed. as far as expected rainfall, not a lot of additional problems. most of it is all over. what a cleanup this will be with all the roads and bridges that are washed out. the snow season is not far away in the mountains either. they've got to get these roads passable. at least the main ones just for infrastructure regions. to get supplies in the area over the winter. as far as the rain goes, we had the delay in the football game in seattle with that storm last night. that has passed. additional showers in the

northwest today. temperatures much cooler this week than last week, although we're still pretty hot in the desert southwest and still very warm in southern california. you know, just the pictures just incredible how widespread it is in colorado. that's your national forecast. now areas. california, for now you still look dry. so, you know, again, the worst is over. i mean, we're talking about a 1 in 1,000-year event. >> holy moly. bill karins, thank you so much. just ahead, a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll about how americans feel about obamacare. frightening numbers about the state of the nation's bridges. "early today" is back in two minutes.

and welcome back. a new nbc news/"wall street

journal" poll asks americans about the looming health care overhaul. well, the first question was how much do they actually understand the law? only 10% say they understand obamacare very well. 20% say they understand it pretty well. 35% only some, and 34% say they don't understand it well at all. when asked how they feel about obamacare, 31% say it's a good idea while 44% feel it is a bad idea. a charlotte police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. officials say the officer used excessive force on the victim. the former famu football player jonathan ferrell was running towards police after getting into a car accident when he was shot and killed. a church in poland caught fire sunday. mass had to be evacuated. the wooden dome on top of the church was destroyed, falling 130 feet. the associated press has a new report out saying over 65,000 bridges in the united states are classified as structurally deficient, on the list, washington, d.c.'s,

douglas bridge and new york's brooklyn bridge. engineers claim the bridges are safe and not going to be collapse. in green bay, about two dozen native american protesters gathered outside of lambeau field. they want them to do something about washington's red-faced mascot. team owner daniel snider owns the redskins and has no plans to change the team's name. cnbc's seema mody. larry summers pulling his name to succeed ben bernanke. the former treasury secretary had faced fierce opposition from democrats, hurting his chances to be confirmed. fed vice chair janet yellen is now seen as the leading candidate to replace bernanke whose term ends in january. president obama speaks today on the fifth anniversary of lehman brothers collapse. he's expected to tout the government's response to the financial crisis including recovering taxpayer money from

the bank bailouts. and ford is installing electric car recharging stations for employees at more than 50 plants and offices. ford estimates it will cost 50 cents to fully charge a vehicle, saving workers $2 a day in gas. richard, back to you. >> every penny counts. thank you so much, seema. fear was on the agenda for moviegoers who made "insidious 2" the top movie this weekend with a takeover of $41 million. the robert deniro/michelle pfeiffer mob movie came in second. mariel siebert leaves behind a $48 million fortune. of that, she left $100,000 explicitly for the care of monster girl, her chihuahua. she wrote in her will, quote, i request that my dog not be left along for long periods of time during the day. lucky dog. this morning billboard announced that pink is its woman of the year. the singer's sixth album, "the truth about love," has sold 1.7

million albums. it has three top ten hits on it and the number one tune, "just give me a reason." if it's monday, we've got all your nfl action. stick around for that and much more next.

and now to sports. it was a tough weekend on get off the couch if you love football.

nfl for you. seahawks versus the 49ers. both great defenses. but seattle's was better. the proof, that san francisco punt blocked and recovered. then later colin kaepernick with a forced fumble. then he's intercepted. that seals the game and, you know, hey, why not celebrate with the cheerleaders since you're way ahead. seahawks destroy the 49ers, 49-3. ouch! the manning bowl in the meadowlands for you. seconds before the half. eli intercepted here. and if you like acrobatics, watch denver's defense here. eli, his throw bounces off a defender's foot. it's caught by denver. denver's holliday does the dance, 81 yards long. denver, 41-23. big bro peyton gets his third win against lil' bro, eli. also, the bears get the "w" over the vikings, barely. 16 seconds left. chicago's jay cutler passes for a touchdown.

over to the titans and texans. matt schaub with a clutch touchdown for the win there. then if philly, 11 seconds left in the game. the chargers win it with this 46-yard field goal. all tight ones. other scores, the packers beat the redskins. dallas loses to kansas city. and tonight the steelers take on the cincinnati bengals. in baseball, the red sox beat the yanks 9-2. but before the game, boston honoring mariano rivera. he gets a painting of himself. looks pretty good. a seat from fenn quaway and the pitching mound rubber. he'll retire after 19 years. this climber goes big here. he goes up a 900 foot tall tower in china. distance between those metal strips he's hanging on to, about six feet. good thing the 23-year-old has a maximum reach of 7 feet. and because he can, for the finale, there he goes. he jumps. by the way, in his spare time, he likes to highwire walk. just ahead, could kanye be headed to prison?

next.

welcome back. i mentioned that the weather pattern is changing in the pacific northwest. more of an on-shore flow, but it's not completely lost. we are going to see a period of warm-up in the middle of this week before more showery-type weather returns in the portland area. although gloomy the next two days, look for a nice middle of the week. as far as the rest of the west goes, we're okay from san francisco to sacramento. san jose, san diego. l.a., sunglasses needed. getting a little warm and

toasty. vegas back up to 100. and 107 today in phoenix. summertime continues in a few spots. >> there in vegas. thank you, bill. now for entertainment news. kanye west faces up to a year in prison. it's related to battery charges and attempted grand theft after a run-in with a paparazzo in july. deaina lohan, lindsay's quo, she has been a parent trapped with the entire world watching. ha, ha, ha. bob newhart receiving an emmy last night for his guest-starring role in "the big bang theory." always a funny guy there. the track list for paul mccartney's new album "new" was announced yesterday. mccartney says "save us" and i can be bet" will leave listeners surprised and are different. the album is due out october 15th. wedding bells rang for two celebrity couples, lebron james.

john legend married "sports illustrated" model chrissi teaguen. paula deen made her first public appearance at a houston cooking show. the chef cried tears of joy for the show's support. and "saturday night live" cast member will be taking over seth meyers' anchor chair on "weekend update." >> she has to be one of the least-known people ever to take the chair. >> yeah. >> she was only on the show, i think, for one year. >> very talented. >> yeah. i mean, it will be interesting to see how she does. >> everybody likes "weekend update." we'll see what happens. >> a lot of pressure. >> a lot of pressure. i'm richard lui, and this is "early today," we hope just your first stop of the day on nbc.

leading news in "the washington post," former nsa and cia director says terrorists love using gmail. speaking at a washington, d.c., church sunday michael hayden said, quote, i don't think you'll see that in a google commercial, but it's free and ubiquitous so of course it is. and in "the new york times," labeled a cheat but he has a story. this 80-year-old weight lifter is the oldest person ever busted by the u.s. anti-doping agency for using steroids. also leading our news, car seat dangers, safe kids worldwide finds one in four parents have driven without their kids buckled up in a car or booster seat. younger parents with higher incomes and higher levels of education were most likely to allow their kids to not buckle up. and sunday marking 50 years since the ku klux klan bombed

the 16th street baptist church in birmingham killing four little girls. attorney general eric holder and condoleezza rice, a birmingham native, spoke yesterday. >> i came up in a family where my parents couldn't take me to a movie theater or to a restaurant. they did have me convinced even though i couldn't have a hamburger at the woolworth's lunch counter, i could be president of the united states if i wanted to. >> to not recognize that progress does a great disservice for the people who fought so long, who sacrificed so much so that she would and i i would have the opportunities that we had. >> the murders of carol robertson and the others represent a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement in the united states. an arizona church knows how to get -- rather how to let the good times fly. members setting a record for the world's largest pie fight. all of them throwing over 1,000 shaving cream pies. >> that's not a pie. shaving cream. >> you can't eat it. it doesn't taste very well.

the church beat the previous pie fight record by over 100 participants. bill, proceeds from that event went to a charity that provides food. >> that's all the good part, but we're talking the guinness record here. >> if you're going to do the pie fight -- >> custard? >> make them edible. >> apple. apple may hurt a little bit. >> you can tell bill and i are hungry at this time of the morning. fire officials will monitor the site of last week's massive boardwalk fire in new jersey after a flare-up erupted sunday. governor chris christie plans to hold a mobile cabinet meeting for those who have been impacted there. the president and the first lady welcome musical artists to the white house for a celebration of latin music during hispanic heritage month. and happy 39th birthday to richard engel. amy poehler turns 42 and blues legend b.b. king, 88. bobby flay, giada de laurentiis and james blunt help to christen studio 1a. keep it here. i'm richard lui with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." you have an amazing monday ahead.

happen. >> three women killed by a fire at an east bay home. why firefighters say it could have been prevented. >> and some possible relief for the thousands of people in colorado impacted by all of that flash flooding. hundreds still in need of rescue. we'll let you know how some bay area volunteers are helping out. >> more than a year after it capsized, crews finally start to right the "costa concordia" off the coast of italy. >> i want to take you outside for a live look, that is the bay bridge toll plaza. pretty smooth going at this time of day. once again it is very early. on this monday, september 16, this is "today in the bay."