good morning. scares in the sky. dramatic landings on saturday for planes in denver and chicago. passengers inside the plane bracing. it is captured on video. we'll show you those tense moments. deadly crossing. a freight train plows into a car crossing the tracks killing two people inside the vehicle. the fourth train accident in recent weeks. palin family wedding. her daughter engaged to a war hero. what she's saying about her daughter's fiance. obese puppy chowing down is now a symbol of what healthy eating can do.

he's here to show off his new figure. today, sunday march 15th 2015. from nbc news, this is "today." with lester holt and erica hill. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm erica hill. >> i'm craig melvin. sheinelle jones and dylan dreyer. 80% of his body weight. >> 56 pounds. >> much happier dog. >> much healthier. >> does he get a tummy tuck now? >> so much to get to. right to our top story, the extreme flooding across much of the midwest this morning. all the snow and ice from the relentless winter storm is now melting, causing waters to dangerously rise to record levels. we're joined from the ohio river

in cincinnati. kevin, good morning. >> reporter: it's getting warmer which is good news. as you mentioned, all the snow is and ice is melting and it's got people in the ohio valley and elsewhere bracing for flooding. a wintry mix of rain and melting ice is causing lots of problems across the country. in the ohio river valley it's a troubling scene. so much water and no place for it to do. leaving neighbors desperately trying to protect their homes. >> i'm terrified. yeah i'm pretty scared. >> reporter: the swollen river forced street closured in the greater cincinnati and northern kentucky area. all along major rivers from upstate new york to louisiana, there are flood alerts. the record-breaking cold and snowfall the country has experienced this winter is now leading to a potentially dangerous thaw. >> the last time we saw flooding close to this was back in 1997,

18 years ago. >> reporter: in north central ohio warming temperatures have caused small icebergs to float down river, creating actual ice jams for boaters. and authorities are warning onlookers and those who are just plain curious to be careful along the water. >> a lot of people are heading this way to check out the river and see how crazy it is right now. >> reporter: it's great to look at but find a bridge. watch it from the bridge or safety from an elevator area. if it breaks you might not have time to get yourself to safety. >> reporter: old man winter may be loosening his grip but now, that's all setting up a whole new set of problems for those along the rivers. and, craig, the river here is supposed to crest in a few hours from now. six feet above flood stage. that's good news if it starts to go down for a lot of people here. >> cincinnati kevin, thank you.

>> we have a closer look at how bad the flooding could get. >> this is what happens in spring. you have all the snow starting to melt with the warmer temperatures and you have the frozen parts of the river starting to melt apart. all of that ice gets jammed up in the bends and underneath the bridges. here it's a complicated map. i want to point out the flood stage for the ohio river is 52 feet. right now, it is five feet above that at 57 feet. we're going to peak later on this morning. through the week, we'll continue to get closer to the flood stage of 52 feet, and that's when we'll see improvement. it's a slow process. we have no more rain in the forecast forecast so it won't make anything worse. we're looking at continued warm temperatures. ten degrees above average in cincinnati. there are a lot of flash flood warnings in effect mainly for the ohio river, but a lot of the rivers slow into the mississippi river. though it's minor flooding for the mississippi now, that's something we have to watch for the next couple weeks.

>> thanks. another deadly accident on a railroad crossing. sheinelle is following that. >> the rail crossings is at issue again. two people are dead in kentucky. the crash was caught on video. we want to warn you about the graphic images. a train is approaching. suddenly a car comes speeding over the tracks. the train pushed the car a half mile after the impact. two people were killed and two more are in critical condition. air passengers are safe after some scary moments in the sky. we have dramatic video from two emergency landings on saturday in denver and chicago. >> reporter: the crew of a united flight directed passengers into the crash position. this as a passenger captured the plane touched down at denver international saturday its tire shredding on impact. the 71 passengers broke into applause after landing safely.

in chicago, a go jet plane made an emergency landing without its nose gear in place. air controllers directed the crippled airliner to the ground. >> appears the nose gear is down. >> reporter: that plane also landed safely with no injuries. ten americans exposed to the ebola virus are being transported to the united states. their health care workers may have been exposed to an infected american in sierra leone. the infected patient is reported to be in good condition in maryland. the final choices will be made for the ncaa basketball tournament. however harvard will be representing the ivy league. they won over yale yesterday. you'll be able to tackle your brackets tonight. the final selections made after all the conference tournaments are finished. amazing video to show you from a racetrack in florida. watch as this top fuel dragster

going 280 miles per hour by the way, split into two. amazingly, the driver, larry dixon, walked away with just a sore back and knee. dixon still isn't sure if he's going to get back on the track today. he says my car is a mess but i'm still here. >> still here. >> most importantly. >> let's keep it that way. >> 280 miles per hour. >> all right. >> lucky he's okay. sore back and knee. >> another check on the forecast by dillon dryian. >> we have snow still falling across new england. new york northern maine, we're seeing most of the snow. could end up with 8 to 12 inches. most areas, snowshowers. we'll see one to three inches in isolated areas. elsewhere across the country, we could see record highs from the southwest into the northern plains into this afternoon.

>> that's your latest forecast. >> back to you. >> now to a mystery that has people speculating all over the globe. where is russian president vladimir putin? he hasn't been seen in public in more than a week. kristin welker has more from the white house. good morning. >> reporter: erer ererica, good morning. theories that putin was displayed in a coupe to the

possibility he's with his girlfriend. it's a mystery that has the world wondering. out of public view for more than a week, vladimir putin is making front page headlines here in the u.s. the "new york post" subggesting he ran off to switzerland with his girlfriend for the birth of their baby. jimmy fallon contemplating the pros and cons of dating him. >> pro, he won't disappear after spending the night. con, you might. got to watch out. >> reporter: this is no joke. the last time putin was seen march 5th with italy's prime minister. now, the #where is putin is trending. the kremlin isn't providing clarity. state-controlled tv reported on a meeting between putin and another leader in the region as if it'd already happened. the only problem, that meeting isn't supposed to take place until monday. a spokesperson for the tv station acknowledged the

mistake, but it fueled the mounting questions and confusion. >> the kremlin is very opaque. it's centralized. we know very little about what's going on. >> reporter: the other theory the 62-year-old leader who is never shy about showing off his good health has the flu. in fact u.s. officials tell nbc news putin may be under the weather. russian officials say he's just fine. >> there is absolutely no reason to doubt the state of his health. his health is perfect, and everything is okay with him. >> reporter: still, russian experts say a show of strength is critical to putin's political prowless. >> you have to keep this confidence game going. it's in his health and vitality. anything that challenges that image is a threat to the regime itself. >> reporter: when deputy white house spokesman was asked about putin, he said, quote, i have enough time keeping track of the whereabouts to one world leader.

this world might have an answer tomorrow, when putin is supposed to appear at an event in st. peters berg petersberg. the race for the white house. the contenders battle it out. there are new questions about the democratic field, given hillary clinton's e-mail scandal. chuck todd is moderator of "meet the press." good to see you. big weekend for republicans. let's talk about the democrats because the e-mail scandal doesn't appear to be going away for hillary clinton. people are wondering if this isn't it if something else comes along and she doesn't bounce back they don't seem to have much of a bench. how much of a concern is that for democrats? >> i think what democrats are concerned about is hillary clinton getting her campaign started. they're not thinking about -- look, there's nobody else in the current field.

sanders, webb, sand catcandidates actively looking at it. then biden. only do it if hillary clinton stub stumbles two or three more times. democrats need clinton to get her campaign up and running. that's the lesson many took away from this week. had she had a campaign apparatus, a response to the feeding frenzy would have been quicker and more nimble. instead, it was flat footed and late. never mind it came across as defensive and a flashback of the '90s. more importantly than ever this is democrats wanting her to hurry up and get the campaign going. >> let's look at another election now. netanyahu facing the political fight of his life. handycapthanhandyicap the race for us. if netanyahu loses, what might it mean for relations between

this country and israel? >> the professional relationship between the united states and israel will be strong whether it's netanyahu or his opponent. you have a more personal relationship between the president and a new prime minister. professional relationship doesn't change. the question is what's been fascinating that watch craig, is when it comes to netanyahu's path to victory, security security, security. it's similar to bush '04. he wants israelis to think about threats from iran syria, gaza the palestinians. the opposition, they want them to be thinking about economics, domestic issues. it does actually remind me of bush-kerry '04. the dynamic is in the closing days in the race in israel. >> tune into "meet the press" this morning when chuck and his guests will talk about the

fallout over the republican leaders of iran. announcement from the palin family. saturday, sarah palin's daughter is engaged to a war hero. >> reporter: they announced their engagement like any other happy couple these days on instagram, proclaiming themselves the luckiest people ever. the world met bristol when her mother became the republican vice presidential candidate in '08. she was pregnant engaged to her then-boyfriend. it didn't last long just like the bid for the white house, but bristol moved on advocating against teen pregnancy. >> pause before you play. >> reporter: and appearing on various reality tv shows. eventually starring in her own. >> hi i'm bristol palin.

tripp is the love of my life. >> reporter: the world met mire dakota meyer on a different stage. he was awarded the medal of honor, the highest military decoration. >> i didn't think i was going to die. i knew i was. >> reporter: in 2009 then corporate meyer, 21 rescued dozens of american and afghan soldiers from a deadly ambush. >> because of your honor, 36 men are alive today. >> where are you heading? >> somewhere amazing. >> reporter: the couple met on the set of sarah palin's latest show. we're honored to welcome dakota into our family palin wrote on her facebook page. he's an american hero. the best this country has to offer, overcoming the horrors of war to find his happily ever after in alaska and the palins. nbc news los angeles. >> we wish them the best. as we always say, we love love.

>> we do love love. speaking of love there's another couple still going strong. prince charles and camila. the prince took many by surprise when he shared intimate details of his relationship with her. the couple is set to visit the united states this week. we'll go to buckingham palace this morning. >> reporter: good morning. prince charles talks about his brilliant wife who makes him laugh and keeps things light. this is the woman whose public image changed so much that she may not be princess consort when charles is king. she could be queen camila. the future king of england is coming to america. along with the future queen. prince charles and duchess camila happily married for ten years. the prince gushing about his wife this weekend on cnn. >> somebody who you feel understands and wants to

encourage and poke fun if i get too serious. all that helps. >> reporter: on their first trip to the u.s. in 2005 the public still saw camila as the other woman. memories of princess diana still strong, who famously complained in one tv interview that there were three of us in this marriage, and it was a bit crowded. diana called camila the rottweiler. that's history now. when charles and camila married, prince harry and william embraced her, and so did the british public. >> everyone has realized charles and camila were in love. they weren't allowed to be together initially, and now they are. they make each other better people. >> reporter: duchess camila has her own causes and quiet public role. >> you can imagine, it is a real challenge. but she's, i think, been

brilliant, in the way she's tackled these things. >> reporter: the marriage glow rubbing off on prince william and duchess kate, now eight months pregnant and showing off that baby bump on the set of "downton abbey" last week. two happy couples make a happy queen. and the queen, royal watchers say, know how important it is to have a supportive spouse in this royal role. she's been married to prince philip now for 67 years. >> wow. >> thank you. >> amazing. >> that's a long time. >> this is quite the turn around for camila. >> it is. the public perception, to kelly's point, changed a lot. i loved covering the royal wedding. we had a great time. news they probably wouldn't have said at the royal wedding or new england, call me a biscuit. where is that from? >> no idea. >> you're going to find out.

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that's having your back. and we are back on this sunday morning with a question. have you ever found yourself in a place and you wonder what the heck are people talking about? that's actually me here on weekends. besides at work. >> yes. well a lot of states and regions as we know have their own sayings. sheinelle is in the orange room with some of the more interest being ones we found. >> the folks at yahoo! put this one together. while we don't have time to go through all 50 states here are some of what yahoo! describes as the most hilarious and annoying slang across the country. again, their words, not mine. start with kentucky. if someone says to you, "i think your wig's a little loose." apparently what they're saying is -- what kind of nut job are you anyway? let's go to my old stomping grounds in pennsylvania. you won't hear the word

sandwich. rather hogies. ice cream sprinkles are referred to as jimmies. you don't tiely up the mess you don't clean it up you red it up. this is from floshg. do you wait on line or in line. for everyone else it is inline. but apparently here true in new york people say you wait on line. in what state does "butter my butt and call me a biscuit" translate to "i'm surprised and i'm delighted." >> i'm going south carolina. >> texas. >> alabama or louisiana. >> texas. >> you ready. >> alabama! >> yes! >> wow. wow. >> butter my butt and call me a biscuit. >> >> i would never cheat. >> people in alabama i'm sure are quite pleased. >> i love that saying. i'm going to steal it. that and your wig's a little loose. from an air conditioner on

your wrist to a shoe that can charge your phone. we'll check out some of the coolest gadgets from the south by southwest fest. butter my butt and call in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members

and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. still to come on "today," a decades-old missing persons case is now back in the headlines after an explosive new documentary into the life of robert durst. could tonight's highly anticipated finale of that documentary put the eccentric real estate mogul behind bars. more than ten years after surviving the tsunami that killed her we're here today asking kids what their favorite vegetable is. kids? [ crickets chirping ] now we're gonna give those same kids bush's baked beans.

[ kids ] mmmm... finally, we're gonna tell them that bush's baked beans are actually a veg-- tut-tut-tut. ix-nay on the egetable-vay. oh, right. bush's secret family recipe gives them a delicious flavor so they're a [whispers] vegetable that kids actually like. bush's baked beans. the [whispers] vegetable that kids love. this- is your new wallet. no. really. you can now use your capital one card with apple pay to buy this that... or a few pairs of these-all from your iphone 6 instantly. it's easy. honestly- it's pretty awesome. and when you have the capital one wallet app you can keep track of all your purchases. see what i mean? awesome. what's in your wallet?

what's happened to snacking? how did it become absent-mindedly eating one after the next? we are a creamy cheese that still believes in savoring our food. the laughing cow. reinvent snacking.

good morning. your time is 6:26. you are looking live at downtown san jose where it will be another beautiful day. maybe not quite as hot as it was yesterday. high there, i'm vicky nguyen alongside anthony slaughter, who is standing by with a look at the micro climate forecast. wow. it was warm yesterday. >> 89 degrees in san jose yesterday. new record. >> yeah broken all across the bay area. >> it will be cooler today. we have a storm system making its way into the northern part of the state. unfortunately for us a weak storm system only going to bring light showers to the north bay. everyone else will stay dry. look at our temperatures. 65 degrees in san francisco. 66 in the south bay.

our average high in san franci. we are already above that to start the day. that means it is going to be another warm day. 72, san francisco later today. north bay, you will see the showers later on around lunchtime in the south bay. more sun and clouds mixed there. still 80 degrees. ten degrees cooler. it will still be warm and above average. the rain is not going to amount to much. maybe .10 of an inch and that's it. we will see if there is more rain on the horizon coming up this morning. >> enjoy the great weather outside. frightening moments on an east bay highway. several students rushed to the hospital after their tour bus caught on fire. according to the california highway pa froel,trol the fire started after a wheel popped off in walnut creek around 8:30. some of the students needed oxygen. they were treated for smoke inhalation. a deputy heading to work spotted the tour bus on fire and jumped into a.

deputies say the students are from out of state. no word on where they were heading. several people were taken to john muir medical center in walnut creek. that's it this morning. the extent of the injuries is still unknown. >> it was a long night for drivers on the allty month pass. it happened in the eastbound lanes of i-580. the first wreck was reported after 4:00 as traffic was building and drivers were slowing down. the chp says the car was going too fast and the driver wasn't able to stop in time and triggered a chain reaction of collisions. the impact so hard one man died and a woman was taken to the hospital with injuries. five others suffered minor injuries. investigators are hoping a

bigger reward will bring the capture of an inmate. he assaulted a sheriff's deputy more than a week ago and took off before his appointment at valley medical center in san jose. police consider him dangerous. coming up on 7:00 added to in the bay, making people snil. a new app hopes to deliver some sweetness. that plus all your top stories. an on this in i will be back with a complete look at the seven-day forecast. for now, back to the "today" show.

and they say about a bazillion times, you can't help yourself. right now, you're a free man 100%. you say something inadvertently, and you'll find yourself charged in york or charged in los angeles. our interview was a big risk for you. >> that was robert durst appearing in a sensational new documentary, despite his lawyers telling him not to do it. did he do what his lawyers may have feared and incriminate himself? questions are swirling around him in connection with the deaths of two people and the disappearance of his ex-wife. wellcome back on this sunday morning. march 15th 2015.

>> great crowd. >> this is an energetic crowd on the plaza. >> you people are good! >> finally, it's not freezing. >> refreshing outside. >> is that why you're excited, because you're not freezing? >> dylan is excited about that too. >> lots of girls weekends and birthdays. so much to get to. let's begin with more on this morning's headline the big thaw. creating hazardous conditions. raging rivers sweeping away roads and bridges. homes even on the edge of disaster. in kentucky a freight train plowed into a car crossing the tracks saturday killing two inside the vehicle. this is the fourth train accident in recent weeks. a big day of college hoops. selection sunday, the final choices will be announced for those coveted brackets in the ncaa basketball tournament. >> we need to know who is in it

first. >> the terriers are in it southern championships. >> we know who craig is rooting for. we'll have to do bracket action this weekend, the four of us. >> villeanovavillanova. >> sheinelle's picks. >> dylan and i are working on ours. also ahead, more on the new documentary on robert durst and the stunning revelation that may have police in los angeles tuning into the finale. we'll speak to the former prosecutor who spent years chasing durst on the still uninvolved disappearance of his then wife. spring break for tech gurus. the texas festival is where apps made their debut. we'll show you the gadgets this year. also ahead, a dramatic transformation for a dog once obese and depressed. dennis and his owner are here with his remarkable reveal. the before and after photos are dramatic. >> great story. looking forward to seeing dennis. before we get to all of

that, final check on the forecast. >> step behind you for a second. it's annoying for everybody involved. here we go. we have none of you who knew each other before you got to the plaza. >> lafayette high school we love the st. louis cardinals. we're in new york. >> is that everything? >> everything. >> making friends out here on the plaza. let's look at the weather across the country. it is hot in the southwest. the l.a. marathon is today, and temperatures will be running 20 degrees above average. highs well into the 80s. 77 in salt lake city. heading east into rapid city, south dakota, 81 degrees. the heat spreads over into the midwest, where temps will be in the 60s and 70s. the ice jams causing the flooding issues especially along the ohio river. we're looking at snow through central and northern new england. central parts of maine could end

up with 9 to 12 inches of snow. good sunday morning. i'm meteorologist anthony slaughter. he with have a storm system moving in believe it or not. showers are expected in the north bay. they are going to be very light. everyone else is going to stay dry with a good mix of sun and clouds. temperatures are encredibly warm. 67 in the peninsula. 65 in san francisco. those are our current temperatures. it is going to be another warm day. we are starting off so mild. we north going to go as warm as yesterday. 76, the peninsula. 72, san francisco. showers in the north bay.

good morning. i'm vicky nguyen. a tour bus full of students catches fire on a bay area highway. how one deputy was in the right place at the right time. his son was victim of a vicious beating. the south bay father is questioning the investigation. >> a picture-perfect weekend interrupted by scattered showers. anthony slaughter will let us know where some rain is expected to fall. you are watching "today in the bay." good morning. let's give you a live look outside right now at san jose. it is looking quite blue out there. i think we are going to see a lot of blue skies this morning. thanks so much for waking u