on this saturday night, disaster in nepal. a massive earthquake leaves more than 1,000 dead and triggers an avalanche on mt. everest. tonight, the desperate search for survivors. to the streets, the biggest protests yet in baltimore after a man dies in police custody. w i as investigators look for more witnesses. extreme weather. tornadoes, flash flooding and damaging winds rip through millions brace for what's next. i am a woman, after brucjenner's revelation. r exclusive interview with kim kardashian west. and best buds a story that proves old friends don't have to be old. nightly news" with lester holt. substituting tonight peter alexander. good evening.

tonight, the same underground plates that made the himalayas the mightiest mountains the world unleashed the bigges to strike nepal in 8 years. the 7.8 magnitude quake was felt across the region from india to china. the destruction there is immensz e menace. the powerful quake triggered -- more than 1,500 people including at least one american are believed dead. and that number is climbing. tonigh u.s. disaster response teams are en route to the region. and we begin with nbc's kelly cobiella. >> rep a country in ruins tonight. its people badly shaken and afraid. historic temples destroyed. hospitals overwhelmed. a massive quake hit just before noon without warning. >> walls are crumbli right and left. and i turn to my son and i say, oh, my go it's an earthquake. it's almost as if waves are moving you up and moving you down. and i have to hold on to the side of the c door.

it was, i mean, utte terror really. >> reporter: the 7.8 quake shook so violently witnesses say people jumped out of buildings to avoi being crushed. some rescues were miraculous. the quake rattled parts of five countries. chinese soldiers racing to help. families mourning in india. in nepal's capital, katmandu, the 19th century tower a popular tourist site is gone. more than 50 people could be buried and rescuers are desperately digging. to the east on mt. everest sh running for their lives. the quake triggered avalanch landslides cascading into camps. >> quite a few big avalanches coming down. from there we had quite a bit of rock fall. >> american n freddinburg, a google engineer was among at least ten who died.

more tha 1,000 are believed to b on the mountain. climber carsten peterson said he hid behind this rock as the snow barrelled down. he said we're treating casualties no one can leave basecamp. in india at have died. my leg started shaki and the temple windo and walls started trembling, this caretaker said. he tried to save the kids. we were screaming fo help when the walls of the temple fell down. experts say the danger is still real. >> we've had o aftershocks that are magnitude 4 or large we can expect these continue for weeks, months, even years. >> reporter: as nigh fell in nepal, under stormy skies, thousands slept outdoors. too afraid to go inside. kelly cobiella, nbc news, london. >> among the witnesses to today's disaster, a former nbc news correspondent now living in nepal. she was on the road when the quake struck. tonight, her experience in her own words.

>> it was a little b noon i was driving with my 10-year-old son. initially i thought i had a flat tire but then it was almost as you were being buffett . a small boat in ocean. everyone else was driving erratically, slamming on the brakes people screaming, motorcycles falling in front of us. s completely bent in two. my friend called me to say he and his family survived but their house is completely utterly destroyed. another one his three family members dead. he managed to get out of the hous basically huddling in open spaces. we are in th backyard of our house with as much food as i imagined to get. this is a land of earthquakes, and hasn saying there a big hu one coming. i don't know whether this one was it but it was terrifying. >> again, those are the words of donatella lorch today. clos

baltimore it's been day of h mostly peaceful demonstrations. protesters demanding to know why a 25-year-old man suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while in police custody. the protests were th largest since the death of freddie gra nearly one week ago. nbc's tom costello i in baltimore again tonight. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi ther peter. we've had several thousand protesters in the streets. they started in freddie gray's neighborhood they wound their way throug streets do to city hall. and just in the last minutes we've had violent confrontations with police closer to camden yards near the baseball stadium. but for the most par this day has been about a very vocal b yet peaceful day of protest. from the neighborhoo where freddie gray w arrested, through the streets of baltimore past camden yards an onto city hall. >> no justice, no

peace! >> reporter: this saturday has been an afternoon of protest. the police under fire for a fatal spinal cord injury that freddie gray apparently suffered while in pol custody. for many people here it's one allegation police brutality too many. >> black lives has been lost for many years at the hands o the police departmen and we need it to stop. >> reporter: this department's relationship with th community badly strained. >> i know it's to get b it's not goi a choice better. >> reporter: police commissioner anthony ba troublemak away. >> the people of baltimore will not tolerate you hurting our community where live, where we worsh and where our kids g to school. >> for something lik this to happen for everybody to get together and set -- >> reporter: today batts was in the cro taking hea holding hands. last night the department released videos taken at the time of gray's arres

and a snapshot of witnesses police would like to talk to. 30 investigators are assigned with the department promising to hand ov its findin prosecutors by frida but for many baltimo residents here today the gray case underscores the tension that's been growing for years. >> i have a young black son that i am raising here in baltimore city. and i'm afraid. i'm afraid for him t go to the mall. i'm afraid for him to be out without me or his father. >> reporter: tonight tension and apprehension as baltimore waits for word on whether anyo will be charged in freddie gray's death. just in the last few minutes, again, we've had this confrontation blowing up with police. t for the most part today this was a very respectful crowd and police were keeping their we'll see what the t holds. peter, back to you. >> tom, thank you. it was an extraordinary reve as public

as it was personal gold medalist he the most famous face in the pe a not unique. nbc's national co miguel almaguer reports. >> my brain is more female than it is male. >> reporter: bruce jenner confirmed what was suspected. in an interview, the gold medal olympian amer icon at 65 wants to live life as a woman. >> i look at it this way. bruce, always telling a lie. he's lived a lie his whole life about who he is. and i can't do that any longer. >> reporter: the decathlon champ turned reality star known all

over the world is now the most famous transgender to go public. but jenner is hardly alone. >> i never really thought of myself as male. i was very uncomfortable with walls that society t to put on men. >> reporter: 33-year-old amanda swagger was born michael swagger, the oldest sibling to tw sisters who never truly felt l brother. for three decades amanda lived as michael, becoming a teacher, e football. was it a difficult decision to make? >> it took a very, very long time to co up with the self-assurance that was doing the right thing. but once that happened, the de was actually very ea once i had gotten ov the self-acceptance myself. >> reporter: maureen morrisey is a therapist at the los angeles gender the point of transitioning, it's usually because they simply can't live an

inauthentic life importan to recognize that. >> reporter: it's estimated 700,000 people are transgender. for many it's too painful. jenner underst some would suicide. >> i could see where people get to that. just go in t got a gun. boom! you know, pain's ove it's done. i can't do something like that. i mean, i want to kn how this story ends. >> reporter: for bru jenner and amanda swagger, the story isn't ending. it's just beginning. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. and those closes to bruce jenner are also breaking their silence no among them stepdaughter kim kardashian w in an exclusive interview she told matt lauer how their family took the news >> reporter: did thi support take time? was there an adjustment period fo family members to ki of get used to this idea? >> i think there is still an adjustment. and there is, you know, family therapy. and we're really close. you know, i see

reports that say, yo know, this one doesn support him and this one's over here, and my mom feels this wa it's all really so made up. we all really suppor him. is it a hard adjustment? yes. >> you can see the rest of matt's exclusive inte monday morning on "today." tonight, millions in the midwest and southeast remain under the threat of a severe weather system that could bring with it the risk of tornadoes. it comes after a series of storms tore through parts of the south. nbc's kevin tibbles is on the road in louisville kentucky tonight. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: hey, peter. well tonight much of kentucky and many places in the midwest and southeast are essentially hunkering down for another night of heavy weather as a series of serious storm systems works its way across the nation from west to east. heavy rain strong winds and golf ball size hail in texas

overnight. and reports of at least two tornadoes. in johnson county, southwest of dt 50 homes were destroyed, residents forced to spend the night in hotels. >> missing half the roof two cars are completely destroyed. >> reporter: this afternn the view i-70 west of st. louis just one area under a tornado watch. while in the south similar scenes today in new orleans. in the dallas area 80-mile-an-hou ripped trees from the ground. and at one point 60,000 were without power. >> everything happened so fast. and just a blackout. and start pouring down raining. and we just ran inside. >> t wind lift a tree right one woman's apartment. >> the glass just broke through quickly. i could kind of hear the wind just blowing like crazy all over the place. >> repor in irving texas strong thunderstorms caused flash flooding. one woman had to be rescued from her car. >> when i saw the water and when i hit my brakes the car just

kind of floated. i don't know how i'm going to get it fixed now. >> r weather in kansas as well. lightning storms heavy rain and large hail. twisters touched down in the western part of the state. twin tornadoes were spotted in scott county. it all follows a week of very rough weather in parts of the plains and south. new video showing a tornado touching down in lorraine texas this week. a dangerous situation for millions as the storm continues east. and tonight there is confirmation peter, that a tornado has toucd down in the n part of this state about nine miles from the town of henderson, kentucky. peter, back to you. >> all right, kevin, drive safely tonight. for more on what we can expect from this round of severe weather we want to get to our meteorologist dylan dreyer dylan, good evening. >> good evening, peter. h e the storms are fi up. very active storms down through georgia

right now. it's frequent g but it's the tornado watch in effect across parts of n kentucky where we're very focused on. the storms are producing torrential downpours. we'v a had repo of large hail damaging wind gusts and a few tornado warnings have been issued over the last or so. we are going to see this area in orange that's our enhanced area, sout il extreme southwestern indiana, parts of western kentucky and north-central parts of tennessee. that's w we are focused on for tonight. but this area of low pressure exit the east coast as we go into tomorrow morning. that will shut off the first round of storms. but then a second area of low pressure is going to develop back through texas. mainly late in the day on sunday. that's going to trigger more storms. now, we're not looking at widespread tornadoes tomorrow but we are still looking from most of oklahoma through central texas for wind gusts up near 70 miles per hour. also very large hail dangerous cloud-to-ground lightng and flash flooding is possible. we could see as much as two to three inches of rain across parts of oklahoma and

eastern texas. that could lead to flash flooding. and that's going to be the major concern for sunday night into early monday morning. peter. a long weeke a lot of this country. dylan, thank you ver when "nightly news" continues on this saturday the storm that's making a big statement by only offering discounts congratulations. you're down with crestor. yes! when diet and exercise aren't enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55%. crestor is not for people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines you take. call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. these could be signs of serious side effects. i'm down with crestor! make your move. ask your doctor about crestor. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more

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what men and women are paid. while not everyone agrees how wide that gap is according to the white house women working full-time earn just 78% of what men do annually. now one store owner is finding a unique way to draw attention to that fact. here's nbc's chris jansing. christina newman keeps beehives in her backyard for making honey. yamamoto has clay in the workshop for her pottery. but when they're in the pop-up shop in pittsburgh they also make a point. w are earning less than min u men and that adds up to real money. since women working full-time in pennsylvania makes 76 cents for every dollar a man earns, men pay full price but women pay what they're paid 76%. so as you look at prices and differences, what's takeaway? >> i feel like for the first time i'm actually getti de it's a tongue in cheek way of pointing to a harsh reality. the average income for n in pennsylvania is over $49,000 a year.

but for women just over $37,000. that difference could pay for about 20 months of groceries, nine mortgage and utility payments over 15 months of rent. and the shop a nonprofit, is hosting workshops and panel discussions too. this one a coaching session for women entrepreneurs. eight dollars you'd save on this. all sales go to the more than 40 women whos textiles publications food and art are sold here. >> you know it's stinging when as a woman you realize you're not considered equal. >> the idea hav critics who say it's unfair to men. it's not truly about discriminating against men. it's about kind of talking about this issue in a positive way. >> and none male shoppers have complained about paying full price. >> wage equality shouldn't be an issue but it still is. >> reporter: she'd to take the project to all 50 states. louisiana is next where women make just 66 cents on the

dollar. chris jansing, nbc news, pittsburgh, still ahead, if you think this half-court shot is incredible

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in practice today. a donut has boldly gone where no pastry has ever been before. two swedish brothers say they successfully launched the sprinkled donut into space by attaching it to a helium balloon. it traveled almost 20 miles in the sky befo returning safely to earth. and while some are suspect, the donut was recovered from a swedish lake a little soggy but still in tact. speaking of junk food tonight two women are crediting it with their survival. they're sisters and they were missing for nearly two weeks after their suv became stranded in a remote part of michigan. they had no cell service. they s they lived on eight boxes of girl scout cookies and a bag of cheese puffs. they were eventually spotted by police and fortunately brought safely. up next a lesson in friendship by

finally tonight, two first graders who could teach us all a thing or two about being there for each other. colin cox and ryan branson are only 7 years old but provin you can be best friends at any age. we get their tonight from our friend, mike b our nbc station ksdk in st. louis. >> reporter: old friends don't have t be old. >> they truly love each other >> reporter: colin c and ryan branson hav known each other for two year that's a long time when you're only 7. are you guys on a mission? >> yep. >> reporter: what's the missio >> we need to save t day from evil bad guys. >> how many are up

here all together? >> reporter: they me here at to christian school in st. louis. though the reason th became friends sound more like the reason you're hired for a job. >> i like his experience. >> reporter: but col came home from schoo one day with some ba news. >> he said, well, mommy i'm kind of sa my friend at school. his name is ryan. his house burned dow a couple d i'm really sad for him. >> reporter: it happened late one night in late february. ryan's family had ju fallen asleep. a seven-alarm fire tore through their apartment complex displacing dozens of families. stuffed animals, i lost my toy box, i lost my bed. >> reporter: in fact, his family virtually everything. but they found an angel in colin. who asked his mom if he could make a vide to put on facebook. >> i always take his picture and he alway says don't put it on facebook b everybody will see it. he understands

everybody sees things on faceboo >> repor hoping people would see this. >> and my friend at school, his name is ryan, and his age is 7. his house burned dow >> reporter: within hours it was clear that one small voice >> i'm asking you to help ryan. >> reporter: can hav a big impa >> i'm sitting here and i'm looking at i and i run down stair to show my mother an she's looking and sh just starts crying. oh, she starts cryin >> reporter: what di you thin >> it was very great >> so donate today. >> reporter: to date people have donated more than $10,000 to help ryan's family. it's never easy to explain misfortune t a 7-year-old, but friendship needs no explanation. >> because that's wh friends do. they stand up for ea other. they help each other >> is there another subtraction fact? >> reporter: first graders showing us a that you don't have know everything to know the important things. >> you're the best friend ever.

>> what would i do without you? >> reporter: mike bush, nbc news, st. louis. >> way to go ryan and collin. > thas "nbc nightly news" for this tree, are waiving like crazy. what is being conon find survivors and more in the local

man killed in the local quake. >> thank you for joining us. more than 2,000 people are dead. after a large earthquake in nepal. >> tonight rescuer are searching for anyone missing. take a look at the strength. a house, trees and all shaking violently. you can understand how unre-enforced buildings collapsed. >> the first patrolmentremor hit at 7.8, several powerful after shocks followed crating more damage. we have the latest on what is happening in nepal. >> rescues are continuing, people buried under the collapsed billings. some people posted updated on twitter. >> the