it's friday october 16th. coming up on "early today." more extreme weather hitting the golden state of california now battles massive mud slides and flash flood warning. america's lox war just got longer as president obama does a 180 by keeping thousands of u.s. military members in the battle against al qaeda, the taliban and isis. lamar odom remains that coma but new details regarding the $75,000 he spent at the love ranch. and facing the chicago cubs for another storied match up and this might just be the greatest football catch of the year. "early today" starts right now. good morning i'm alex witt.

southern california is dealing with aftermath of record breaking rain. that shut down parts of several freeways and highways. mud and rock slides closed part of i-5 backing traffic up for miles and stranding hundreds of vehicles. mud slides covered cars several feet deep and in some cases submerging them completely. some drivers reported vehicles being thrown around by the mud. >> all we saw was just a mountain of bolders and dirt and stuff coming right for us. and it pretty much lifted mid car up and spun us around like it was nothing. my wife rolled her window down and it was just like a freight train coming through your house. it was loud. really loud. >> officials say it could take up to a day to clear the road. some residents are still trapped

in their homes after side roads were washed away. other res we residents were hit golf ball sized hail. so far no reports of any fatali fatalities. the burden of the lorngs war in u.s. history will yet be passed to another president. president obama is doing an about face on the pledge he made just last year. >> reporter: it is a war that just weon't end. after 14 years, a trillion dollars and more than 2300 american lives lost, the president said the mission is still not over. >> i've decided to maintain our current posture of 9800 troops in afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. >> it meant going back on a promise made just last year. >> by the end of 2016 our

military will draw down to a normal embassy presence in kabul with a squurt assistance opponent just as in iraq. >> but iraq didn't work out either. the president hoped to end both wars. ended up sending thousands back into the iraq. and thousands will remain in afghanistan. it is not what he wanted. >> i know many of you have grown weary of this conflict. >> the president planned to draw down forces from about 9800 to about a thousand by the end of next year. under the new plan those 9800 will stay through next year and 5500 will stay after that too. some veterans oppose the plan. >> there is no assurance this is going to work. there doesn't seem to be a clear plan for the future. >> but the president is determined. >> that was richard engel

reporting. former nba star lamar odom continues to fight for his life. new details around the condition and what led him into the fight of his life. >> two gay two days later lamar still unresponsive. his in-laws asking the world to play. >> he's got blood coming out of his nice. >> manager of love ranch brothel and talked many hours with odom saying he just wanted to get out of the spotlight. >> we've all been playing. we've been playing a lot. and he can get through this. >> odom played $75,000 and was getting ready to extend his stay. odom used cocaine the day he arrived and an herbal sexual stimulant throughout his visit. odom was inside this vip sweet on the bed fully clothed still

unconscious. it took four men to carry him to the ambulance. >> he would have been air lifted to las vegas but he didn't fit in the helicopter. video shows odom in the ambulance. >> at this point the case is ongoing. >> sources close to the former nba star told our network doctors found multiple drugs in his system that he suffered from a stroke and is in a coma. lamar and khloe kardashian's divorce is yet to be finalized. so she has legal authority to make decisions for him. unconscious for another day and uncertainty ahead. nbc las vegas. >> and kim kardashian has postponed her payback shower while the family continues to pray for odom's recovery? hou >> hours ago, third quarter

funding reports were due in at midnight and democrats vastly outpacing republicans. take a look at the top ten for yourself. hillary clinton is in first with nearly $30 million raised between july and september. and while ben carson was the highest earning republican by far, bernie sanders is in second raking in $26 million largely from grassroots support. and just released in the past few minute, an nbc news online poll by survey monkey. more than half of democrats think hillary clinton did the best at the debate. yesterday on ellen, sanders shared the moment. >> we came in, drove by. and there were long lines of people. and i said to the guy who was with me, what's going on? what kind of ball game going on here? what are all these people lining up to see? it turns out they were at our

rally. i this i we had 7 or 8,000 people. >> donald trump also a grassroots spender. the first filing of his campaign reveals although he claims to be spendsing his own men. he's actually spending cash from mostly online donations. and creating major drama ahead of the next b debate. >> teaming with fellow candidate ben carson, donald trump is threatening to boycott the october 28th, republican presidential debate on cnbc if it lasts longer than two hours and doesn't include opening and closing remarks. they describe their demand as reasonable format changes. cnbc is still in the process of discussing its format but notes it has not done opening and closing remarks since half debates. and added it would take the views under consideration as we finalize the debate structure.

and vice president biden remains undecided. >> are you running for president? >> i'm here to greet president park. >> sources close to the vice president say he's calling allies and early voting states to ask about his chances. a stark contrast to biden's indecision, hillary clinton aggressively quoting the all important latino vote in texas. picking up a key endorsement. >> and after that debate disagreement, donald trump tweeted this moments ago. cnbc has just agreed that the debate will be two hours. fantastic news for all. especially the millions who will be watching. nothing confirmed yet but maybe some good news. >> lawyers for dennis haster told a federal judge he has greed to change his plea to guilty. former speaker was accused of

the avoiding federal banking rules and making payments of the hush money. also charged with lying to the fbi. the misconduct was sexual in nature involving a male student in illinois during the 1960s and 70s. that perp's identity has never been release t. there could be a big change this winter. el nino is bag and with a vengeance. it is one of the strongest ever. the weather fomem set to impact much of the country with wild extremes. >> reporter: government forecasters set the stage for what's coming this winter, even more weather whiplash. citing a rise in ocean temperatures. nokno noaa says it will change weather from coast to coast. record snowfall could be replaced by historic warms.

and extreme drought? there could be epic floods. el nino packing a punch. from california, to texas to florida wetter than average. but the pacific northwest and the oh strl will be much trier. dramatic changes on the way. just today in texas, heat and fire. while in the northeast millions are bracing for freezing temperatures. >> last weekend we had temperatures of 65-70 degrees in a good part of the northeast. as we get into the weekend we're going to see the threat of snow at higher elevation. >> the northern half of the country will be warmer than usual and the southern plains and southeast will be colder than normal. >> bill karins has your weekend forecast. >> can you imagine? that was not the typical mud slides and debris. that was serious stuff. and some thunderstorms intense

enough to produce small hail. this is california. at one pont we had 9,000 light nick strikes yesterday in california. we even got some strikes out there many morning. i-40 from barstow into the arizona. for the weekend. pretty quiet today. mild through the pacific northwest. much of the country cools off this weekend. not too many problems in california. arizona will have to watch the four corner region for

pattern. the only exception where it's still going to be a little initially warm is from yuma towards blies. shocking if anything as extreme in california today as we did yesterday. >> good news. an early release from prison for the blade runner. we've got the details. plus this takes the cake for play of the week. but could it be the play of the year? wait till you see this.

evacuations in central texas as the wild fire destroys nine homes. governor gregabo abbot declared state of disaster. and this blaze east of us aen is

austin is threatening 150 homes. and the navarro fire is 90% contained. and the pope's popularity among americans has soared following his visit to the u.s. last month. 74% view him favorable and that is up from 58% in august. just ahead the catch of the year plus a huge nfl upset. and for many mets and cubs fans it is 1969 all over again. get ready for a series that might reach epic proportions. sports is next.

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toaster strudel. now with more icing. this morning on today, an in-depth rook at ivanka trump. what role will she play in her father's campaign and will we see more of her on the trail? ? sports dodger stadium, we pick up the action in the first inning. >> the left center field, pretty well hit. jockey peters jock peterson goes back. and all the around comes murphy and the mets are on the board in the first. >> the dodgers fight back capitalizing on the rough start for degron.

and now daniel murphy hits a homer of zack greinke to puts the mets ahead for the game-winning run. the cubs can now make plane reservations and meet the mets in new york for game one of the series. in football, the saints taking on the undefeated atlanta falcons. new orleans with two quick touchdowns in the first quarter u including this blocked punt. atlanta leads the league in fourth quarter comebacks. devante freeman has this 25 yard touchdown carry. and in the end the saints held on for the win. the play of the day this play in the third quarter of ucla and stanford. >> reverse back to hogan. how about this from stanford?

did he catch that? pinned against the defenders's back? that is utterly incredible. >> so utterly incredible stanford's circus catch. and you can bet you will be seeing this catch on a lot of plays of the week. it might even be the number one play of the year. that's something else. just ahead the latest in the randy quaid legal saga and jimmy fallon/tom hanks? kid theater? need i say more?

? entertainment news, randy quaid is once again a free man. saying there is no probable cause cause to hold them on fugitive charges. they were arrested friday trying to reenter the u.s. from canada and held on $5,000 bail. they are wanted in california on felony vandalism charges. it is that time of year. the rockets are busy rehearsire. and goose bumps faced on the children's horror book. jack black. and tom hanks is so fantastic.

and last night hanks was on jimmy fallon and acted out scenes from bridge of spies by rewritten by children in kids theater. >> what is this? >> what does it look like dummy? it's a bridge of spies. go away. we're spying. >> can i be a spy? >> no. this bridge is too full of spies already. there's not room for anymore. >> it makes perfect sense. it is a bridge of spies. >> didn't i say he's fantastic though? those two are both great. i'm alex witt and this is "early today."

leading the news from wcnbc to charlotte. two charlotte men shoot and kill each other. the verbal argument escalated after one of the victims allegedly broke into the other person's parked car. investigators say the men knew each other and are not looking for any suspects. and concealed carry in maine no longer requires a permit. effective yesterday, the new law applies to new residents and non residents aged 21 and over. those under 21 on active military exception. and anyone will not be able to carry a gun on work premises.

yesterday, spencer stone was released in a hospital after being seriously wounded in a stabbing last week. he was awarded t. and this gentle giant celebrated her birthday yesterday by playing with a box of kittens. she's famed for understanding more than a thousand signs of the gorilla sign language and 2,000 spoken english words. and talk about filling big shoe, this man has the biggest feet in the world? measuring over a foot long. they are size 26. apparently he was diagnosed with the over active pituitary gland as the child but that's some kind of a new world record there. >> and this one's for you

marshmallow fans. ten lucky winners walk away with the limited edition box. for a chance to win take a photo of yourself holding an imaginary box of lucky charms. you have until sunday october 18th to enter. >> did lucky charms even ever make your top five? >> i loved them as a kid. but i got to have the crunch. >> you finally got out of it. >> i'm out of it. just barely. john stamos is as charged with drives under the influence of a drug in june. no word on the type of drug. birthdays. john mayer. tim robbins. and keep it here for more news, weather and sports.

i'm alex witt. my name is jamir dixon and i'm a locate and mark fieldman for pg&e. most people in the community recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't hit them when you're digging. 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week.

together, we're building a better california. garage - by the waiting gun of a home burglar. the brazen attack that a mom caught off guard in her garage by the waiting gun of a hom the brazen attack that ended with a family locked inside ther bathroom with no way to call for help. añ:ju)jt up a school street in union city.ñi that thing isújnst getting bigger. the sinkhole that forced school official os to carve out fences just to get inside the building. fear that flooding in southern california could be r(come with raging waters and road-soaked highways. "today in the bay" starts right now. good morning, thanks for joining us, i'm kris sanchez in for laura garia canon. >> i'm sam brock. they are going through the