this upcoming week, terry, back in the 60s. >> anthony, thanks a lot. "nbc nightly news" is next. we're back at 6:00. hope you can join us. on this saturday night, no survivor after a russian plane carrying 224 people crashes in egypt. tonight families are desperate for answers. we're live in cairo. extreme flooding. at least five dead in texas and several tornadoes confirmed. tonight millions of americans are under flash flood watches as the storm moves east. the plague. doctors are treating an oregon team for a disease that once killed tens of millions. how did she get it and why is it a threat? >> drone hacking. did these researchers prevent a terror attack? the feds are paying attention. >> and good hair day. how fathers are

inspiring their daughters. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters new york, this is "nbc night live news." reporting tonight, kristen welker. >> good evening. we begin tonight with yet another tragedy in the skies. this time a plane crashed in egypt, claiming the lives of all 224 people on board. most of the passengers were russians, 25 were children. they had just departed the red sea resort of sharmel sheik when the plane went down. russian president vladimir putin has declared tomorrow a day of mourning. bill neely starts us off tonight from cairo. >> in the barren desert, the mangled remains of planes carrying 224 people, their clothes scattered, their cell

phones ringing in the debris. no one survived to answer. many passengers were found still strapped to their seats. 25 were children. this was a metro jet plane, an a-321, 18 years old. it took off at 5:51 in the morning from the egy egyptian tourist resort bound for st. petersburg, russia. at 31,000 people it dropped slid and slowed dramatically before disappearing from radar and crashing. communication had been lost, he says, but russian official himself no idea why. the airline quickly insisted human error was not to blame. our pilot was very experienced, she says. our aircraft was in full working order so we don't know what caused the crash. at st. petersburg airport, terrible scenes as relatives learned that everyone on board was dead. i got a call it had crashed, he said, on

my way to the airport. my son called us, she said, with his wife and daughter on board. yuri and his 3-year-old daughter photographed by her mom, olga, all perished. they believe a technical failure caused the crash. the crew apparently complaining of engine trouble several times in the past week. the pilot in the final minutes reportedly requesting an emergency landing. the plane crashed in the sinai desert where islamists have fought an insurgency for years. russian and egyptian minister resist claims that the plane had been shot down saying militants lack the missiles to do it. tonight russia is in shock and in mourning. a national tragedy and still a mystery this country will not forget. a mystery that may soon be solved. it believed both the

black box flight recorders have been recovered and russian investigators have arrived here in egypt tonight. one shock wave from this disaster, some airlines are reviewing their flight paths. two european carriers citing security, saying they won't fly over this area of egypt until the exact cause of this crash has been found. >> bill neely, thank you for the latest on this tragic story. we want to bring in captain john cox, who is an aviation analyst for nbc news. you have flown this exact model plane before. they have found both of the black boxes as bill kneneely reported. based on your knowledge of this plane, what do you think investigators will be able to learn from them? >> i think investigators will keep a very open mind. that i look at everything. the two recorders will tell us what all happened to the air pla -- airplanes and what

conversations the crew had. they will keep an open mind in finding what caused this tragedy. >> we also learned the plan slowed down dramatically before the crash. what does this tell you, along with the images from the crash, the horrible images? >> the information shows the airplane descended and slowed down quite a bit. it would be consistent with a stall, and that's certainly something the investigators are going to look at very, very closely. that is born out to some degree by the pictures that are first coming out of the desert is that the type of impact damage done to the aircraft is consistent with it being at a relatively low speed. so these are bit of circumstantial evidence that the investigators will use. >> thank you for your insights, captain john cox, we appreciate it. >> back in this country now at least five people are dead after a storm system in texas that also caused several tornadoes, and it's

not over yet. tonight several million americans are under flash flood warnings, as the storm moved east bringing new storm warnings with it. what's the late tlst there, charles? >> reporter: the water moved so fast that it pushed cars around like toys. eight scene that played out in dozens of places across texas. heavy rains pounded the texas hill country. dozens were rescued from washed out roads. three people drown in austin. >> it was crazy. within five minutes it was flooded. >> reporter: nearly 15 inches of rain fell in austin friday, setting an all-time one-day record. as the water rose on citation avenue, 67-year-old inez and

her husband, frank, were not rescued. >> she was telling him i can't hold on, i can't hold on. >> her body found later found. >> the rains moved east, stranding at least 90 motorists. tornadoes injured two people and damaged about 30 home. >> we heard lots of alerts coming through on our phone. my husband and i jumped up out the bed and grabbed the kid and hunkered down in the hallway. >> there was a lot of wind. it sounded like a train coming through here. >> at this r.v. park, a possible tornado touched down. in less than a minute,

water from a rising creek came pouring through these doors and windows. she stood there in the living room holding on to her dog, ashley, for three hours until help finally came, all the while watching her belongings float away. >> never thought it was going to be this bad. >> reporter: and the halloween rains will make this month the wettest october on record for much of texas. kristen? >> charles, incredible imaging out of that flood zone. thank you. >> to politics now, ten republicans candidates for president converged in iowa today for a major event. george bush looking for a rebound rubio looking to capitalize on his momentum. what's the story there? >> reporter: jeb bush

drew a crowd looking and sounding like the fighter he is as he fights to make a comeback. campaigning on halloween, jeb bush isn't scared of given taking on marco rubio and his missed senate vote. >> if you're elected to serve, should do what chuck grassley does. you should show up and vote. >> reporter: a noticeably fired up bush hoping to reboot his campaign, openly acknowledging he has to in an exclusive interview with chuck todd. >> i know have to get better with the debate. i'm a grinder. when i see i'm not doing something well, i reset and get better. >> reporter: bush denies seeing a 112 memo describing rubio as a risky bet. >> you didn't know about this? >> i didn't know about it. >> reporter: rubio picks up support from

a billionaire. in this battleground state, both rubio and bush need to build more support if they help to beat ben carson, who has overtaken donald trump in polls here, despite only campaigning in iowa in the last two months. trump sounding more detail oriented than ever in virginia, laying out his plan to help veterans and reacting to the cnbc debate. >> we have to handle china, we have to handle isis but we're afraid to have a tough question? >> the republican party slammed them at gotchas. now a talking part after the rnc suspended their affiliation. >> they were doing everything to say

explain to me, are you more of a ghoul or a goblin? >> reporter: candidates are set to meet tomorrow night to go over concerns about the debate process and what they'd like to be different. >> holly, thank you. be sure to watch more of chuck's interview with jeb bush tomorrow among only on "meet the press." >> and coming up, the military blimp that drifted more than 100 miles on wednesday. today a chinook helicopter airlifted the remains out of the wood and into a field where crews loaded it on to truck for removal. the army has begun taking insurance claims for damages caused by that way ward blimp. >> health investigators are investigating an e. coli outbreak at several chipotle food chains. eight people have been hospitalized. chipotle has closed 43

restaurants it says out of an abundance of caution. >> we're talk about the bubonic plague. doctors in oregon are treating a teen-age girl with a rare case of the disease that she likely contracted during a local hunting trip. this year more people have been diagnosed with the plague since 2006. migu miguel migu miguel has our report tonight. >> reporter: though the disease is rare, it is common in the wild. >> the plague bacteria is if rodent, rats, prairie dogs. >> reporter: if caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics. >> i'm very sick. >> reporter: it was a close call for

7-year-old jane downey. bitten by an insect two years ago, today she's healthy. lucinda and her husband both caught the plague with flu-like symptoms. >> what john and i both felt with tremendous fevers, aches and pains and an extreme lack of energy. >> reporter: john died of cancer but lucinda believes the plague played a role. the epidemic swept through asia, europe and africa in the 24th century, killing some 50 million people. in 1900 the disease arrived in the u.s. on ships infested with rats. today the plague is still here. this summer in yosemite, the park was closed and sprayed for insects. a disease that was thought to be rare is still a threat. >> when "nightly news" continues on this saturday, why the u.s. government is paying close attention to these drone researchers.

plus, holy see. meet the baby giving the pope a run for his money on this halloween.

. welcome back. hardly a week goes by without a new headline about drones popping up. several days ago authorities discovered a drone in oklahoma attempting to transport materials to convicts at prison there. so how can authorities stop a drone when it being used for hostile purposes? tonight we meet a group of university scientists in texas who are doing just that. at the university of texas at austin, the football stadium, home of the longhorns, doubles as a flight lab. beautiful laboratory. >> it's magnificent.

>> reporter: professor todd humphries and his grad students are testing ways to take out a hostile drone. what did you demonstrate here? >> it's a lot like a football interception. the drone wanted to be in one place, we intercepted it, brought it down and made it go to a different place. >> reporter: as this drone hovers over the stadium, this black box beams out false saying nal sayi signals, making the drone thinking it's somewhere other than it is, forcing it to change course. >> nice! >> reporter: the drone killer concept dpan began as an experiment to see how a drone might be hacked. >> reporter: they saw you as hackers? >> they didn't want a relationship with us. >> reporter: but students quickly realized they'd

invented one way to help thwart hostile drone attacks. >> we had control over this thing even though its legitimate operator had no sense that we had already hijacked it. >> reporter: it's something that the department of homeland security contacted them about to reproduce their activities. now the navy and air force have come calling. >> reporter: is this technology a silver bullet? >> it's powerful technology, but it's not the final solution. this is just but one tool. we need all the tools we can find. >> now, the government has been working on developing its own countermeasures as well and government officials now have fresh urgency after that drone landed on the white house. their biggest fear,

that a drone could wind up in the hands of terrorists. >> when we come back, why an asteroid flying on this halloween night is extra spooky.

a triple crown

winner, a breeder cup winner, a horse of a lifetime! american pharaoh! >> just amazing, american pharaoh winning the final race of his career tonight, the breeders cup classic. that makes him the first ever horse to win horse racings's grand slam, which includes the kentucky derby, frepreakness and belmont stakes, taking home $5 million and a legacy nearly impossible to beat. and new york is hoping up to even the playing field after defeating kansas city last night. >> and a special halloween asteroid is expected to fly by earth tonight. though scientists say it seemingly looks like a skull, it's nicknamed the great pumpkin. it's big enough to do some major damage but thankfully it won't come any closer than 300,000 miles away. you can't see it with the naked eye so don't

be spooked. >> and look at this. this pint-sized pontiff stole the show riding around in his own little popemobile with, yes, a fiat logo to match. he even wore the pope's traditional hat and red shoes. president obama said the toddler pope took the top prize. no arguing with that. >> up next, why these dads are sharing a good hair day with their daughters.

finally tonight, we want you to meet a single dad who took it upon himself to learn hair styling for the sake of his young daughter, but he took it a step further by starting a class to teach other dads to do the same. >> do you need more water? >> phil does everything with daughter emma, from baking brownies to helping with homework. but as a single dad, one part of raising a little girl has always

been a struggle -- styling her hair. >> i didn't want her to miss out on something being cool looking or having cool hair. >> reporter: mystified by a world of pony tails and braids and buns, phil dove into the world of online tutorials and was soon turning out salon styles. >> she loved feeling special. everywhere we went people would compliment her air. she has real fine hair. >> reporter: now it's a class for dads. >> reporter: with his comb at the ready, he's giving lessons to other challenged dads. >> i work with my hands, too, it's funny.

>> reporter: construction workers, and i.t. professionals by day, braiding by night. >> he did really good. it was tight and it wasn't loose. >> reporter: as they take pride if their handy work, the dads are also learning this isn't just about hair. it's time spent together, and the value of that may be the best of all. >> i get to spend ten minutes of the day with my dad each time and i get to have fun with him doing hair. >> reporter: dads, daughters and the bond offer a good hair day. nbc news, daytona beach, florida. >> some agreed dad and a great story. a reminder tonight is daylight savings. doesn't forget to turn your clocks back an hour. i'm kristen welker. for all of us here on nbc news, have a great night and a great halloween.

keeping halloween partiers under control. from san francisco to santa cruz the problems police are worried about tonight and what's being done to prevent those problems. good evening, everyone. i'm terry mcsweeney. peggy bunker has the night off.

well, right now thousands of people are headed into san francisco for halloween. there is no official party in the castro district, as there was years ago. people are expected to go there anyway. they don't need it to be official. across town there's a party at at&t. nbc bay area's christie smith is joining us live to tell us what's going on in san fran. christie. >> terry, as the night goes on, we're seeing more and more costumes, and i have to tell you they are getting more creative. as you said, there's no more big street party in the castro but certainly it is a place that people love to come and celebrate in san francisco in some pretty creative costumes i might add. halloween is also big business in the castro for costumes. also restaurants and bars. now, keep in mind there are no street closures here. san francisco police stepping up patrols, of course looking for impaired drivers across the city and reminding people to be safe. watch out for trick or treaters. one man here told us he thinks the athe