it's a great place to cool off. 86 downtown. cooler weather coming on friday. and then by this weekend, a lot colder, let's just say. more at 6:00. >> take your dinner, enjoy it outside tonight if you can. >> good night. on our broadcast tonight, deep impact. a huge part of our country gets rocked by over a month of rain in a day. swallowing cars, leaving water deeper than after some hurricanes. critical moments, a stunning new report reveals how much time was lost before anyone realized flight 370 was missing. and tonight for the first time publicly we hear the final transmissions from the pilots. hidden cost, the side effect of breast cancer treatment that few women talk about. >> an army of real life super heroes hitting the streets. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this

is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. you're about to see and hear what can happen when a month's worth of rainfalls in one 24-hour period. we've shown you the effects of just one slow-moving weather system all this week. it's spawned tornados, left behind a death toll of 35, driven thousands out of their homes and flash floods. watch what happened in baltimore as a retaining wall was feared to be giving way due to pressure behind it and someone started shooting video. >> oh my god! >> all vehicles lost, as their owners looked on. that was just one outbreak of flooding in the state of maryland. all together, this week-long weather outbreak affected almost half the country, over 20 states.

some have seen record-breaking rainfall. we begin with peter alexander. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. days ago this was a quiet creek but as you see now, it's a rushing river. after several states collected historic rain totals in this massive storm. tonight there is a hole in the heart of baltimore, heavy rain causing the road to collapse, swallowing cars, and sweeping debris over this crucial east coast rail line. >> oh my god. >> reporter: tim rogers watched in disbelief as crews crushed his car and others to get them off the tracks. in maryland fed frederick lost 28 cars when flood waters went into his dealership and body shop. >> you see the dollars flying

away. >> reporter: in this case floating away. >> exactly. >> reporter: that water came from this dam officials decided to open overnight to avoid a possible breach. from the plains to the northeast, violent wet weather, 159 reported tornados in 15 states. in new york city wednesday, the tenth rainiest day on record, close to five inches. still, that's nowhere near the eye-popping totals across the southeast. 11 inches in mobile and pensacola, 20 inches since monday. at one point, almost half a foot of water in a a single hour. investigators are looking into whether flooding was a factor last night. two inmates killed, 180 others injure when had a blast rocked the complex shaking houses up to three miles away. so much rain fell in philadelphia that a major river crested higher than it did during super storm sandy. >> just because the rain has stopped, just because it appears, of course, that the rivers or streams are reseeding, unfortunately, we can get lulled into a very false sense of security.

>> reporter: much of the city was left wading in water and many needed help fleeing homes. >> we saw rescue boats and realized there is no way of getting out. >> reporter: back in baltimore the cleanup is just getting derway. >> insurance doesn't cover this because it's an act of god and that's not covered. >> reporter: there are still some flood warnings in this region. brian, flooding could remain an issue. we should dry out this weekend and give everybody a chance to catch their breath and clean up. >> peter alexander starting us off, great falls, virginia, thanks. the news today came out of the search for flight 370, the malaysian government released the preliminary report into the plane's disappearance but really s deepens the mystery about what happened here and the critical time lost in the minutes and hours after initial word that the plane had disappeared. for the first time tonight, we're hearing the recordings of the flight crew talking to controllers. nbc's tom costello covering in washington tonight. hey, tom, good evening.

>> hi, brian. malaysia airlines is telling the family members of the missing to leave hotels and return home to await more news about the fate of their loved ones. the five-page report provide as timeline of events and raises new questions about what took so long to launch a search for the plane after it was reported missing. >> 370, thank you. >> for the first time we're hearing the voice from the cockpit as 370 communicated with malaysia communique tors. family members heard the recordings, we don't know which captain or first officer it is, but all of the conversations appear routine. the last transmission at 1:19 a.m. is believed to be from captain shaw. >> reporter: at 1:21 a.m. the plane disappeared from radar but not until 1:38 a.m. did vietnamese controllers tell

malaysia the plane was missing and then another four hours before the malaysian search and rescue was activated. far too long say some who insist searches would have been launched sooner in the u.s. >> when you dissect that four-hour delay that could be the difference in finding this airplane and not. >> reporter: it took another three hours before the malaysia military tracked the plane is making a u-turn. by then 370 might have already been in the southern indian ocean. family members want answers. >> why is that? who is responsible for it? who makes the decision? >> reporter: also tonight, malaysia has released the cargo manifest for flight 370. with the luggage, the plane was carrying 10,000 pounds of fruit

and freight including lithium ion batteries. a flamability risk exists if there's a damaged package, but the shipment was in compliance. they haven't spotted a single piece of wreckage. today the malaysian government will push for new international standards requiring all commercial aircraft be satellite tracked in realtime all the time. >> tom costello from the washington bureau tonight, thanks. >> we learned late tonight what appears to be a planned attack on a high school that was foiled before it happened. authorities in minnesota charged a 17-year-old with a plan to set off bombs at his school. police say it was a tip from somebody who saw something that didn't seem right that helped uncover this. our justice correspondent pete williams following from the d.c. newsroom. >> good evening. the police chief says an unimaginable tragedy has been prevented by the accidental discovery of this plot.

a 17-year-old student, john david ladue was charged with attempted murder. he planned to shoot his sister and parents, then set off bombs in the junior high and high school. they say he planned to shoot down students as they ran outside. police say he has told them he wanted to reenact the 1999 columbine attack in colorado. they found completed, functioning bombs, some of them small at his house kept under his bed. they say he had several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. the plot was uncovered tuesday night after someone saw ladue enter a storage unit and close the door. that person became suspicious and called police. authorities say he has been talking to them since he was arrested and told them he intended to kill as many students as he could, then assumed that he would be shot by responding police. >> pete williams on this still developing story tonight, pete, thanks. the pentagon announced a big increase in reported sexual assaults in the u.s. military. it said those reports jumped by

50% to just over 5,000. defense secretary chuck hagel called this increase unprecedented and said it reflected the fact that victims are growing more confident that attackers will be prosecuted. critics quickly pointed out the rate of convictions has remained about the same. there's also been a spike of men in the military reporting incidents of sexual assault. on this traditional college decision day for high school seniors across the country, the obama administration took the unusual step today of releasing a list of 55 colleges and universities that are being investigated for possible violations of anti-discrimination laws, including the handling of sexual assault complaints on campus. these range from ivy leagues to public institutions. the potential violations come under title nine, which prohibits gender discrimination at schools that receive federal money. we put the entire list of 55 colleges on our website tonight.

overseas now, a deadly bomb attack in nigeria late today on a busy street in that country's capital, killing at least nine people. it's the latest in a wave of violence by islamic extremists that has taken well over 1,000 lives so far just this year. the nigerian government also so far largely unable to stop it. and it gets worse. as you may have heard, terrorists have kidnapped more than 200 teenage schoolgirls. a nightmare for the parents and their whereabouts unknown leaving their families anxious and angry. we get this story from andrea mitchell. >> reporter: anger and frustration more than two weeks of the kidnapping of more than 200 girls. a nightmare for the parents and extended family. some of the girls taken from this school may have already been sold into so-called

marriages for a few dollars. >> i personally believe that not enough is being done to rescue our daughters. >> reporter: nigeria, africa's wealthiest country is a magnet for global investment but northeast nigeria is a lawless, dangerous frontier, home to bands of islamic terrorists and destroying western education, especially for girls. parents are terrified say local reporters. >> they don't know where their daughters are and don't feel like enough is being done to rescue their daughters. >> reporter: jennifer is a college senior is organizing other nigerians here to demand action. >> we're asking questions and demanding answers, why isn't anything being done? we need action. we need processes. basically, we need to see something happens. >> reporter: the u.s. spends $20 million a year helping nigeria fight terrorism. >> it's inconceivable that the government could not find some trace of more than 200 girls. >> i would say the government of

nigeria needs to do more, but it's working very hard to deal with this threat. it's a criminal terrorist threat plaguing the country. >> reporter: can we help with the search? drones, surveillance, are there ways to help find the girls before it's too late? >> andrea, at this point we have not directly been asked for that kind of specific assistance. >> reporter: there are reports of negotiations to get the girls back but meanwhile, area schools have been closed, exactly what the terrorists wanted. a tragedy for the missing and all the children in northeast nigeria. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. video has been recovered from the phone of one of the victims of that capsized ferry boat in south korea. in this case, a parent has released the video so that we can hear the announcement over and over telling the passengers to stay where you are. the video shows the final moments of some of those high school students who never made it off the boat, most of them went down with the vessel.

at first, some are nervous, but the mood is mostly light-hearted. toward the end, many are sending good bye messages to parents. over 300 are dead or missing in that disaster. still ahead tonight, the new focus on one particular long-term side effect of breast cancer treatment, it's something a lot of women don't talk about or hear much about and later, the news today about nail salons getting a lot of attention, what customers need to know before you go.

we have an important health news story about a long-term impact for a lot of breast cancer survivors seldom talk about and the toll their treatment can take on lives and careers, in many cases, long after recovery. our report from dr. nancy snyderman. >> in a nanosecond your life is changed, period. it's just -- there is no going back. >> reporter: 53-year-old kris noah assumed when she made it through treatment for breast

cancer and survived, her life would get back on track but she was wrong. >> i never expected to be on disability. i never expected to not go back to work. >> reporter: that's what happens to a surprising number of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer according to a recent study. researchers followed more than 1,000 women under the age of 65 and found of those working when they were diagnosed, almost 1/3rd were unemployed four years later. >> i would not necessarily have thought to mention an impact on employment when talking about the pros and cons of receiving a particular treatment, such as chemotherapy. and so i think as physicians, we can really learn from this. >> reporter: those with chemotherapy were more likely to be unemployed, suggesting they should be more selective about who gets it for early-stage breast cancer when there are other options. >> in some cases, chemotherapy

provides a very small benefit beyond all the other wonderful treatments we now have for breast cancer. >> reporter: the other message, patients should prepare for the possibility of lasting side effects like numbness, pain and cognitive decline which may leave them unable to work. >> just to load the buckets into my truck would be enough to wear me out. >> reporter: kris put her home remodelling business on hold but hopes eventually to get back on her feet. >> i can see progress, but it's really hard to be patient, and not be back. >> no one is suggesting that a woman forego necessary treatment, but tonight is a reminder for doctors and patients to make sure they understand the long-term physical, psychological, and economic repercussions when talking about any way to treat cancer. there is a real cost to the cure, brian, and isn't discussed enough. >> maybe we'll start hearing a little more talk about it now. nancy snyderman, thanks.

we're back in a moment with the concern being discussed about one of the most photographed public figures in the world.

there's a story from health news that sure got a lot of talk in our newsroom today. it's a report from the dermatology journal of the mempb medical association. it's about the ultraviolet lights in mail salons. by one estimation, it could take as few as 24 exposures, two dozen trips to the salon to reach the point where uv light might trigger cancer-causing dna damage, which is cumulative. the risk is low but one of our co-workers in talking about this says she slathers her hands in spf 100 before going to a salon. one cuts the tips off of thin gloves and uses those before going under the uv light. while this was based on a study of 16 different salons conducted, it's a good caution for women to be aware of. a baltimore high schoolteacher with a remarkable

track record for preparing kids for college was today honored at the white house as the 2014 national teacher of the year. 30-year-old sean mccomb teaches english at a high school and his wife is a teacher at the school. he started a college readiness program for low income and at risk kids which has a success rate of 98% of students later admitted to a four-year college. good news out of michigan for lovers of american and industrial history. the effort to preserve a portion of the famous willow run manufacturing plant has succeeded. they raised the money they needed. it was a ford assembly line one mile long. it was converted to make b 24 bombers during world war ii and turned out one every hour. thousands of women worked on the line, cheered often by rosie the riveter campaign, claiming that a woman could do quote, a man's

work. part of it will be spared to be part of an aviation museum. while your prom date may have used this as an excuse to not dance, he does have weak ankles. the work weighs over five tons. it's weakened by vibrations, earthquakes, traffic. it was displayed outdoors, after all, for 300 years and suffers from michelangelo's choice of poor quality marble at the outset. when we come back tonight, maybing a difference. a program that's helped get so many kids through rough times. and now it plans to do even more.

finally tonight, on making a difference report, this one we happily revisit a great idea we first showed you awhile back. super hero capes that transfer all the powers and privileges of a super hero to kids that need help getting through a tough spot, many in the hospital. the makers of the capes in question decided to go big and take their idea one step further. we get the story from kevin tibbles. >> reporter: a gathering of real life super heroes, superman,

batman, captain america, lots of them, too. >> it's the acceptable day to wear your cape. >> reporter: joining forces to do good. >> here we go. hop up and away. >> reporter: it's called the super run and more than 500 cape crusaders swooped onto the streets of detroit to save the day by raising money and awareness for local charities. oh, and have a little fun. >> everyone knows what to do with a superhero cape. >> reporter: holy brainstorm batman, it came from justin and holly bartman, owners of super fly kids, which makes capes of all shapes, sizes and colors. they also make capes for heart heroes, the organization we told you about last summer that provides them to kids battling the real life villain of heart defects. >> you know, just to be able to

provide just that little bit of relief to, you know, what is going on is pretty special. >> reporter: by holding the super runs, this dynamic duo is hoping to show everyone that by donating a little bit of themselves, they, too, can be super heroes. >> be that super hero. you know, there is no reason that you can't go out today and do something amazing to help people that need it. >> you don't really need to have a cape on to be a superhero. >> capes are not required, but preferred. >> reporter: the pair plans to organize 25 more super runs across the country. and by looking at the response to the first one, there are a lot of mild mannered folks out there waiting to leap a tall building or two for a good cause. >> you're faster than the camera guys, run. >> great story to end on for this thursday night. we're happy to report kevin landed safely. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you

right back here tomorrow evening. good night. >> announcer: nbc bay area news starts now. >> right now, a call to action across the world for immigration reform on this may day. a live look right now at san jose city hall where thousands of marchers have just arrived. >> good evening. thank you for joining us. >> may day rallies across the country like this one in oakl d oakland. this is happening as we speak. they're heading to wards the

fruit vail bart station. tonight, no different. thousands of people marching through the streets of downtown san jose. among the primary issues here, workers' rights and immigration reform. >> here at our lady of gaud lieu pay church, it's one reason why dozens of people gathered in front of the church this morning demanding immigration reform. >> primarily, we need to stop the deportations. they'revf happening right now a the rate of 1200 people a day. it's an immoral act of aggression against a culture, against a people. >> nobody is more passionate than 12-year-old jose gonzalez. his mother was deported this weekment his older brother, david, says current immigration laws are