rain and all the way through friday but dry this weekend. >> amazing to see all this rain. >> i know it's wild. >> thanks for joining us. >> see you at 6:00. on our broadcast tonight, mandatory evacuations in california, as a nasty and sprawling storm moves onshore. too much rain, way too fast. and in a drought-stricken region, that now means floods. knocked out. who turned out the lights in detroit? a huge power grid suddenly goes dark. a city-wide emergency focusing attention on a crumbling infrastructure nationwide. sounding the alarm about what's in the cargo hold on some commercial flights. tonight, the cargo that could bring down an airplane. also our nbc news investigation on a potential health risk in certain playgrounds. why some doctors warn against it, some parents won't let their kids near it. and plunge at the pump. gas prices continue to dive, and we'll learn where they may be about to dip under $2 a gallon. "nightly news" begins now.

>> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. special good evening to our viewers out west tonight. that's where we begin our broadcast, in fact, with a situation of immediate concern. you can see it here on the radar loop, huge and powerful storm unleashing record amounts of rain, bringing with it major flooding and land slides. california, a state that is parched with drought, badly needs rain. as they say, not like this. we'll get our report tonight from nbc's jacob rascon in glendora. >> reporter: northern california was hit first and hit hard. the storm toppling trees and power lines, causing accidents and four-hour flight delays at sfo. >> we did miss the first one but got on the second.

>> reporter: in southern california -- >> the storm is really coming. it's coming. it's coming. >> reporter: -- this is more than just a storm. >> the house could go. damage, severe, lives are at stake here, yeah, it's a big deal. >> reporter: the last time a strong storm hit, ed's home was buried. >> it took 14 days to clear the mud out of the back of the house and from the basketball court up here. our concern is it could be worse this time as the rain >> reporter: up to six inches of rain are expected in the foothills in areas recently scorched by wildfires. >> those recent burn areas have denuded hillsides, and there's nothing to hold in the moisture and to hold the ground together. so we really could have a flash flood and a mud floe situation. >> reporter: downed power lines closed the pacific coast highway. the usually dry los angeles river actually became one. just north in camarillo springs, the threat of mud slides kept crews struggling to keep water

away from homes. east of glendora, they handed out sand bags for two day. >> it's safer to be away from your home than at your home. it's not the steady rain we're worried about. it's that high volume of rain in a short amount of time. >> reporter: and we do expect to break records today. many daily rainfall totals in southern california, set half a century ago, will likely fall. and another storm will hit the west coast tomorrow. brian, they hope it will make a dent in some drought here, it will take more than two storms to make any real difference. >> jacob rascon in glendora, california. sadly, there are fatalities to report. two children, one adult were killed, 23 others injured, three

of them seriously. most of the other injuries were minor. the students range from kindergarten up to third grade. one of the buses flipped on its side during the crash. the cause is under investigation. locally, they're saying weather might have been a factor. when the power went out across a big section of the nation's 18th largest city today, the city we used to call the arsenal of democracy, a lot of people, especially those paying attention to the news of late, suspected the worst, perhaps even an outside entity. then the investigation zeroed in. the question became not so much who turned out the lights in detroit today but what. tonight the probable cause speaks to the aging pipes and wires and girders and grids in so many american cities. we get our tonight from john yang in detroit. >> reporter: a massive power outage in downtown detroit today. >> no power on this end of downtown. >> reporter: it started at about 10:30 this morning.

a major cable failure at the masturski power generation plant triggered a blackout to the municipal power grid. courthouses, fire stations and schools all went dark. hospitals, forced to rely on generators, moved some critical care patients. students and staff at nearly 90 schools dismissed early. firefighters rushed to downtown high-rises to help free those trapped in elevators or too weak to climb down stairs. more than 700 stoplights went dark, snarling traffic. people used flashlights in dark buildings to get through the stairwells to safety. hundreds were evacuated from the city's municipal center. and at the local courthouse, a high-profile murder-for-hire trial was interrupted. here you can see the lights flickering while court was in session. attorney christopher quinn was one of the people who had to get out. >> i was just leaving court, jumped on an elevator and all of a sudden it just shook and stopped, and then the power went out sbchlt then me and another individual were stuck on that elevator.

>> reporter: at joe louis arena, home of the detroit red wings, lights out for the second time this week. detroit's in the midst of a four-year $200 million upgrade to its aging power grid, something the mayor says has been neglected for too long. >> what you have is a power grid across this city that the city has not modernized in decades. >> reporter: as you can see, all the power has been restored and ahead of schedule. but still, this was a big blow to this once-proud city struggling to rebuild. brian? >> john yang in detroit for us tonight. john, thanks. >> something we've seen on the roads became official today, auto sales have surged to levels dealers have not seen in over a decade. one of the major reasons being credited for this surge, the steep decline in gas prices we're all seeing continues to plunge all across the country. experts say this trend is likely to continue down to gas price levels many thought we would never see again.

our report on this tonight from nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: from america's highways to its new car showrooms, lower pump prices are helping to gas the economy and put some extra cash in family piggy banks. just since june, oil prices have fallen 34% to a five-year low. while $2.70 a gallon is the national average for gas, in st. louis it's down to $2.37, cheapest in the country. >> i think it's fantastic. i have more money to do something else with. >> reporter: in texas, the average is now $2.53. >> they're cheap. and i can fill my car up for 25 bucks. >> reporter: it's all about supply and demand. the u.s. now produces 9 million barrels a day, the most oil in 30 years. that's an international price war. opec, led by saudi arabia, keeps pumping, hoping to drive prices lower to force competitors like the u.s. out of the game. >> the saudis becoming insecure about the boom in u.s. shale production, looking to cut prices and win that market share

back. and it's certainly benefiting everyone that's filling up at the pump. >> reporter: analysts say we could see gas down to $2 a gallon in a couple of weeks in texas, oklahoma, missouri, and south carolina. for a typical family buying 1,200 gallons of gas a year, it could mean hundreds in savings. janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. now to our nbc news investigation tonight. a follow-up on our own reporting about the potential health risks of certain artificial turf made from ground-up tires being used on football and soccer fields all across our country. after our initial reports aired, they elicited a huge response. some cities are now debating whether to remove artificial turf fields. we also heard from parents concerned about similar materials being used on playgrounds and what they fear it might be doing to their children. we get our report tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: just off the windswept shore of bandon, oregon, a family plays at a the local park.

the swings and slides are off limits. how many of your children still play on this playground? >> none. >> yeah. >> reporter: these mothers have concerns about the playground surface. recycled car and truck tires known as crumb rubber mulch. >> we would come here and i just couldn't stand the smell. and my kids would be tainted in black. >> they were sitting in the mulch. they were playing with it. they were putting it in their mouths and on their faces. >> reporter: shayla deberry osbourne and her friends learned that the same material found in the mulch are found in most tires. this is part of their play, it's deep, too. >> yes. they play in this, they sit in it, they roll in it. >> reporter: the international agency for research on cancer labels four carcinogens while adding that at low levels of exposure they are considered safe. >> i really just feel fearful about them being exposed to this. >> reporter: recycled tires are also used in artificial turf fields. >> something a lot of parents and athletes are going to want to see. >> reporter: an nbc news investigation profiled a college soccer coach who started asking

questions after two of her own players were diagnosed with cancer. in a statement the rubber manufacturers association writes, numerous scientific studies have shown there's no indication of adverse health effects due to exposure to crumb rubber derived from tires and used in athletic fields and playgrounds. but this epidemiologist and pediatrician at mt. sinai hospital in new york says the studies are insufficient. he worries about children's exposure to even low levels of carcinogens. >> my position is not against grinding up tires. my position is we shouldn't be putting the crumb rubber into places where little children can come into close contact with it. >> reporter: he believes children under the age of 10 shouldn't be anywhere near it. >> they're biologically more vulnerable to carcinogenic chemicals than adults because their cells, their organs are going through such rapid growth and development. they're not yet fully formed. so they're more sensitive. >> reporter: but the consumer product safety commission

does not mention rubber mulch toxicity levels in its playground safety handbook. in fact, it maces rubber mulch on the list of appropriate surfaces. a task force created by the epa to promote tire recycling also recommends the use of rubber mulch, even using a photo of a rubber mulch playground on its website. the epa did not respond to questions about the task force, but says the decision to use recycled tires on playgrounds is a state and local one. both the cpsc and the epa declined repeated requests for interviews. last year 20 million tires were spread on playgrounds nationwide. it's even used on the white house playground. in bandon, town leaders denied a request to tear out the surface. >> we were considering removing it or looking into the possibility of removing it. now we've got more parents coming to the commission saying, no, we want you to leave that. >> reporter: deberry-osborne and her friends are in the minority. >> i think what they really want is a government agency to say

that it's definitively bad before they go through the expense of removing it. >> reporter: dr. landergan doesn't believe we should wait. >> i would say that the first priority for the existing playgrounds, get rid of crumb rubber where little infants come into contact with it. >> reporter: so pull it out? >> pull it out. pull it out. >> reporter: for now, some kids are being kept off the swings. dr. landergan tells not worried about the rubberized mats that are often used in playgrounds because they're contained and not loose. he's worried about the rubber mulch that's loose, kids can pick it up and play in it. >> so urgent for so many parents clearly. stephanie gosk, thank you for your reporting on this. a woman believed to be the wife of the leader of isis is under arrest in lebanon tonight according to that nation's defense ministry. abu bakr al baghdadi is said to have multiple wives. the woman under arrest was reportedly detained while trying to cross into lebanon from syria, using a fake identification.

lebanese officials say one of baghdadi's children was taken into custody along with her. nbc news has learned president obama could announce his choice for the next u.s. defense secretary as early as tomorrow. he is ashton carter, a man who once served as second in command at the pentagon. if confirmed, carter would replace chuck hagel, who announced his resignation rather abruptly just last month. jeb bush became the latest in the republican party to speak truth to power or try to while admitting he is thinking about running for president, he put forth the belief that he would have to lose in the primaries especially early on to win the election. noting the missteps past candidates have made in perhaps trying to play too far to the right before heading into the general election. still ahead tonight, an alarming new look at what's being blamed for several accidents in the air. the cargo that could pose a catastrophic risk and is a possible explanation. also, the show must go on, with or without one of the

biggest names in music, who called on some other pretty big names to step in for him.

there are serious concerns being expressed tonight about whether it's safe to fly on aircraft that are transporting lithium ion batteries, the same batteries in practically every cell phone, laptop and tablet on the market. new video shows what investigators have long suspected and feared. that when packaged together in large numbers, these batteries could pose a catastrophic risk

to an airliner. we get our report on this tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it's a haunting demonstration of how quickly lithium ion batteries could pose a lethal threat to a modern aircraft. in this faa test, a cargo container packed with 5,000 lithium ion batteries in a cartilageridge heater. soon the shipment catches fire. then as temperatures exceed 1100 degrees, a chain reaction and a thunderous explosion ripping apart the container that could have been sitting in an aircraft cargo hold. nbc news aviation analyst captain john cox, an international safety consultant, has spent years investigating the risk of lithium batteries. >> it's a growing threat and one of the few in aviation because we're seeing an increase in the number of batteries and we're seeing a large number of them. >> reporter: crash investigators already blame exploding or overheating lithium batteries for several accidents. september 2010, a u.p.s. cargo plane with more than 80,000 batteries on board caught fire

and crashed near dubai. two pilots were killed. july 2011, an asiana cargo plane with a shipment of electronics and car batteries crashed into the strait of korea killing both pilots. in february 2006, a u.p.s. cargo plane barely made it to the philadelphia airport after a fire erupted on board. both pilots managed to escape. in a 2010 report the faa found that lithium ion cells are flammable and capable of self-ignition when a battery short circuits or overheats. batteries are supposed to be limited to more than just a handful in single box but shippers can pack many boxes into one shipment. tens of thousands of batteries. the concern is that those bulk shipments could pose a serious risk to a passenger plane. now pilots unions are calling for tougher rules on shipping those batteries. brian? >> very sobering stuff. tom costello in our d.c. bureau tonight. tom, thanks. we're back in a moment with

the loss being mourned tonight in the world of music.

the saxophone solo from "brown sugar" is about as recognizable as any in the western world. we learned today the man who played it, and so much else, bobby keys, has died. he played and toured with the stones for 45 years, recorded with lennon, streisand, harrison, clapton and more. he was the pride of will you lu texas, born on the same day as keith richards, who today called him his soulmate. bobby keys was 70 years old. they called it u2 minus one to mark world aids day. u2 performed a surprise concert in times square without bono, who is home in dublin, recovering from an awful bicycle crash, including broken bones and surgery. as you can see, they found some guys to fill in for him. bruce and chris martin took turns on lead vocals, carrie

underwood and kanye also performed. when we come back after one more break, "making a difference," why it may seem like you're on every charity's e-mail list today. "nbc nightly news" with brian williams is brought to you by the salvation army. visit redkettlereason.org to find out how people like you are doing the most good this giving tuesday.

after all the focus on profits on black friday and cyber monday, somebody had a good idea a few years back to make today all about nonprofits. they call it giving tuesday. now that we've endured days of sales pitch bombardment and ads, the only thing we're being asked to buy on this day is some good karma. nbc kevin tibbles has tonight's "making a difference" report. >> reporter: a tradition of charity, 'tis the season. and along with black friday and cyber monday, the holiday spirit, too, has gone viral on giving tuesday. >> have to pay it forward. have to help somebody out. >> reporter: are you going to do it? >> i already did. >> reporter: websites and apps designed to streamline and maximize donating that still allow you to pick where your money goes.

check out the app from the fund-raising platform crowdrise. you focus in on a dollar bill. and for every dollar donated, you help build a virtual tower of giving. donations become bricks that may soon surpass chicago's willis tower in height. today new yorkers could watch more than 1,000 organizations help the giving tower grow. >> it's just been incredible to see all of these different charities rally. >> we've seen a 90% increase in online giving on this date year after year since it started. >> reporter: the salvation army funds 70% of its operations with christmas donations, giving tuesday helps with changing times. >> our red kettles do not have the credit card machines connected. we had to find other ways for people to contribute. >> reporter: the idea was born here at new york's 92nd street y, where today folks were taking

unselfies to promote unselfish giving. >> giving is one thing that brings people together. >> reporter: coming together on giving tuesday to remember the true spirit of the season. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. and finally tonight, speaking of giving thanks, a check of the calendar today revealed we've been meeting like this now for ten years. and my thanks go to you. without you, there'd be no "nightly news" and i'm feeling enormous gratitude today for my family and also for my work family, the people of "nightly news," the people of nbc news. they make the operation go. without all of them, there would be none of this. most nights we wish we had better news to report. i can only promise to continue to do our dead level best at reporting the news. so that is our broadcast on a tuesday night. and after a decade of this, i can't say this often enough. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

a soaking across the bay area. a new storm rolls in and it's creating lots of problems. it brought heavy rains and winds, which toppled trees in several bay area cities. >> and it's not over. take a look at our live doppler radar. it's covered in green, at least, it's heading our way. and that means another wet and dangerous commute. our live cameras tracking not only the storm, but also tonight the traffic. good evening and thanks for being with us. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. we have live team coverage across the bay area.

covering weather problems in the north bay, traffic problems in the east bay, flooding woes in the peninsula, and a look at how people are dealing with the nonstop rain in san jose. we begin with our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri, who's spearheading our coverage tonight. and jeff, what do conditions look like right now? >> right now we're seeing at least the heaviest we had all day long, now moving off towards the east. but we're also finding some moderate areas of rainfall that are scattered, continuing across the bay area. and check it out, after all the problems we had today, we have the center of the storm system still offshore and that is what is really going to hit us as we head throughout the next 18 hours. we'll take a look at our weather underground totals, and you can see why our flooding concerns will remain high over the next 24 hours, in just a 24-hour period, over an inch and a half of rainfall in tiburon, also over an inch in sonoma. san francisco, close to 1 1/2 inches. and it continues. the peninsula, which has had such a hard time recently getting any kind of rainfall, has had nearly 2