holy mackerel. >> a desperate search. rescuers scour parts of arizona for a missing person after a violent flash flood leaves nine dead. delayed. the senate postponed a vote on its health care bill as a key senator gets sidelined. >>nothing to see here. the president hosts a major golf tournament at his club while questions swirl on his son's controversial russia meeting. >> i think we may find out there may have been other meetings as well. we don't know that yet. plus, we look back at the lives and historic careers of oscar award winner martin landau and george a. romero. records are shattered by one of the greatest of all-time.

and winter is finally here. "early today" starts right now. good being with you on monday morning, i'm francis rivera. a deadly flash flood swept away over a dozen people in arizona. at least nine were killed, including several children. one victim is still missing, a 27-year-old father of three. officials said they would continue searching for the man this morning, as the region remains under a flash flood watch. nbc's steve patterson has details. >> reporter: the creek, flowing to a popular swimming hole, rushing, but navigable, a bit of summer fun. that within minutes, turned into a roaring, watery death trap. >> holy mackerel. >> there were 14 people that weren't accounted for after the flash flood went through. >> reporter: officials say a family group of 14 people were in the creek when a wall of debris-filled water swept through the canyon. >> normally it's just a trickle

of a creek but during the monsoon season it can go from a foot deep to ten feet deep in a matter of minutes. >> reporter: you can see people there clinging to a tree in the rushing waters. video captured by disa alexander who tried to rescue some of the people in the water. >> we looked down and there's a guy in a tree, holding his daughter. maybe 2-year-old daughter. >> reporter: authorities say a fire just weeks ago cleared the area around the creek of vegetation. it rolled off the surrounding hills and turned into a deadly wall of water. among the nine dead, at least three children. four others rescued by helicopter. and rushed to the hospital. meanwhile in the midwest, unprecedented flooding. with thousands of homes underwater, after days of severe storms. officials in illinois say close to 7,000 structures are damaged. now a mass ive sandbagging operation as rivers continue to swell to record heights. >> it's a lot of work. hopefully, it will protect our things. we don't want all our stuff destroyed obviously. it's tough dealing with this. >> reporter: mother nature's

fury displacing thousands in the midwest, claiming lives in arizona. steve patterson, nbc news. in washington, opponents to the senate republicans' health care bill may have just gotten the opening they needed. a vote on the controversial bill was postponed following the health emergency of a key senator. it comes as president trump's approval ratings reach record lows. just as he pushes congress to act on his signature campaign promise. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: for a second day, the president played host to world class golf at his bedminster club. but his shot at repealing the health care law is on hold and delivering on his pledge is uncertain. but that's a boost to proesthers near the president's property. >> health care is a human right. >> reporter: the delay follows unexpected surgery for senator john mccain who had a blood clot removed. he's doing well. but must remain in arizona this week.

>> i believe as soon as we have a full contingent of senators that we'll have that vote. it's important we do so. >> reporter: but senate republicans are struggling among themselves. divided over the scope of insurance reforms and proposed medicaid cuts. >> there are about eight to ten republican senators who have serious concerns about this bill. and so at the end of the day, i don't know whether it will pass. >> reporter: a new abc news/"washington post" poll shows president trump with the lowest approval rating at six months of any president in 70 years. at 36%. on twitter, the president rounded it up. climbing almost 40% is not bad at this time. one drag on his standing, the russia election interference probe. >> the meeting and who took place at the meeting based on all the information you just said is not a violation of any law, statute or code. >> reporter: trump's personal attorney jay sekulow argued that the campaign broke

no laws ben donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer and russian lobbyist who offered information against clinton. >> i wondered why the secret service, if it was nefarious, why did the secret service let these people in? >> reporter: the senate intelligence committee wants to see if the latest smoke leads to fire. >> i want to hear from everyone in that meeting and get their version of the story. as well as we may find out there may have been other meetings as well. we don't know that yet. >> we should note that in response to the comments from mr. trump's attorney, a spokesman from the secret service says donald trump jr. was not under protection when that meeting took place. hollywood is mourning the death of oscar winner martin landau. he died sunday of unexpected consequences at ucla medical center according to his publicist. he's perhaps best known for playing roland hand in the late 1960s in the "mission impossible" series. he earned emmy nominations for each of the three seasons he was on the show.

landau also spent time on broadway on the silver screen nominated for three academy awards. after lean years in his career in 1995, he won the oscar for best supporting actor for the film "ed wood." replayed bella lugosi of dracula. martin landau, dead at age 89. hundreds in minneapolis show their grief and outrage after an australian woman who was about to get married was fatally shot by police saturday. police were responding to an assault near the woman's home when she was struck by an officer's bullet. >> my mom is dead because a police officer -- shot her for reasons i don't know. and -- i demand answers. >> adding to the cloud of mystery, the officer involved did not activate his body camera. >> i have a lot of questions about why the body cameras were not on. questions i hope and anticipate will be answered in the next few

days. >> police say they'll release more information after interviewing the officers and any witnesses to the shooting. several people are recovering from injuries after a wild boating accident in indiana this weekend. police now say alcohol was a factor. the 21-foot speedboat was spinning out of control with no driver. police say the 20-year-old operating the boat took a sharp turn at high speeds, throwing all ten passengers overboard. four of them were seriously hurt, including one who lost part of an arm. officers threw rope into the water to try to tangle the boat's propeller, but instead found themselves right in its path, unable to get away, as the boat rammed into them. another officer on a jetski was able to hop on board and stop the runaway speedboat. to the applause of onlookers. police arrested the driver who faces charges of boating while intoxicated and underage drinking. after two weeks on the court, wimbledon, the so-called

cathedral of tennis finished off with a bang, and the history-making moment for this man, roger fedder, as he won a record eighth win at the all england tennis club. at age 35 he becomes the oldest player to ever win the championship. it marks his 19th grand slam title, the most by any man in history. the win puts him head to head with rafael nadal as both men look to finish off the year as the number one player in the world. later this morning, federer will be on the "today" show. to reflect on his record-breaking win. certainly bizarre scene in st. louis when a vehicle somehow ended up on the roof of a home. this is what firefighters found when they arrived at that home. they believe the suv hit the sloped lawn and propelled itself on top of the one-story house. luckily the homeowner was away at the gym when the accident happened. firefighters said they rescued driver who was transported to the hospital in critical condition. california's governor declared a state of emergency in santa barbara county. nearly 3,000 people have been

evacuated as the 18-acre whit we are fire continues to burn. and more than 161 fires are tearing through cap da's province of british columbia. as many as 37,000 people have see evacuated areas in canada. let's get a check of the forecast from bill karins. >> it's still hot in the west, frances. the story in arizona was so tragic as you showed us at the top of the show. last night a scare, too, with thunderstorms. one through phoenix, 62 mooil per her wind gusts at sky harbor airport. the storms are exiting. another round of storms later today into tonight and a flash flood watch flagstaff to tucson to phoenix. 6 million people are potentially impacted but very hit and miss. one quick inch of rain in arizona you get horrendous flooding like we saw over the weekend. st hot in interior sections of california, some of the best weatr inherk,

105 in redding today, very warm through almost all sections of the interior west. they had a pretty good solar eruption over the last couple days and it made for some amazing views of the northern lights. this is time lapse video shot in south dakota, just before sunrise sunday. the vibrant colors light up the sky in northern u.s., this was the scene from montana all the way to massachusetts. these are the charged particles from the solar flare mixing with our atmosphere to create this spectacular sight and it was a little more visual than normal. this was kind of a moderate event, not bad, frances, the communications satellites but nice enough to get beautiful pictures. >> i have yet to check that off my bucket list. >> iceland we're going. >> right now, bill, thank you. just ahead, saying good-bye to the father of the zombie genre.

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skin smoothing venus razors. leading the news iran judiciary sentenced a graduate student for spying for the u.s. spokesman said the verdict could be appealed. the graduate student was there conducting research for his ph.d. dissertation on eurasian cultural history. the state department did not give positions on his release but released a statement. 29-year-old pop star aaron carter has been released on bond after being arrested for alleged drug possession. carter was stopped by police hours before he was set to appear in alabama. for a concert. they both now face multiple charges including dui and drug

possession. for marijuana. the pop singer's older brother, nick, member of the backstreet boyz reached out to him, writing, i love you, no matter what. and if you feel the need to reach for help, i am here and willing to help you get better. aaron responded via his rep. "if my own blood truly cared about my well-being, why wouldn't he call me directly and have a direct conversation instead of making this about him through a very public forum." horror movie king george a. romero died at age 87. his family says he died sunday after a brief bat well lung cancer. the director of the 1968 cult classic "night of the living dead" is credited with invented the rule of zombie flicks. and they could only die by shot to the head. his creatures served as social commentary on consumerism and class differences. his other hit films include dawn of the dead and land of the dead. george a. romero, dead at 77.

just ahead, a big week for o.j. simpson. and why winnie the pooh is being blacklisted in china. you're watching "early today." se with water dripping from the ceiling. you never know when something like this will happen. so let the geico insurance agency help you with homeowners insurance and protect yourself from things like fire, theft, or in this case, water damage. cannonball! now if i had to guess, i'd say somewhere upstairs there's a broken pipe. let the geico insurance agency help you with homeowners insurance. call today to see how much you could save. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day women's complete with key nutrients we may need. plus it supports bone health with calcium and vitamin d. one a day women's in gummies and tablets. so find a venus smooth that contours to curves, the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it.

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in today's quick hits, violence in the venezuelan capital sunday when a gunman shot into a crowd of voters, killing one person and wounding several others. more than 7.1 million people

voted in a symbolic referendum against president nicolas maduro's plan to rewrite the constitution. o.j. simpson gets his parole hearing this thursday. a four-member parole board will decide if simpson who has been behind bars for nearly a decade for a bungled vegas robbery will go free. and in china competition not for the faint of heart. participants perform stunts on a slack line more than 1300 feet off the ground. record highs for two major wall street indices. what is driving the dollar's decline? landy dowdy has all those answers. good morning. >> hi there, frances, good monday morning. futures are pointing to a higher open on wall street as earnings season gets under way. netflix out with its quarterly report card after the bell today, goldman sachs, microsoft, and ge among the major companies reporting later this week. u.s. markets finishing higher on friday with the dow and the nasdaq closing at record highs led by technology stocks and consumer staple. elon musk delivering a dire

warning to u.s. politicians over the weekend, the founder of tesla and spacex telling the national governors association artificial intelligence posed "the biggest risk we face in civilization" and calling for proactive regulation in the space, musk telling the group of governors by the time we're reactive with a.i. regulation it's too late. looks like the chinese government is cracking down on winnie the pooh. the fictional bear blacklisted and blocked out from chinese social media. no official reason given for the cartoon crackdown but the move comes amid an increase in sensorship ahead of the communist party congress this fall, observers telling "the financial times" the move is likely related to comparisons between the stout cartoon bear and chinese president xi jinping. frances, back over to you. >> i would never put those two together. >> the image? >> you're like, oh. >> wait a second.

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you have celebrity couple dax shepard and kristen bell. they showed off their obsession of "game of thrones" with this video shown ahead of the season seven premiere. and you couldn't miss it, ed sheeran's lit up social media. he was in a scene of a group of soldiers singing a short new song in celebration of his appearance he posted this shot on instagram writing "throwback to the time i was a lannister." >> i haven't seen it yet. >> i'll leave it to everybody else out there tweeting about it. >> i've been staying off twitter purposely until i watch the show this morning. the bbc is making history with the selection of dr. who, the first female doctor after 12 male doctors jodie whitaker will be the if, to appear on the christmas special.

after receiving mixed reactions she said "this is really exciting time" and dr. who represents everything that's exciting about change. it's sci-fi, they go through time. why not? >> you think there'd everen a female jamie bond? >> they've talked about it. >> there's that investigation with charlize thereon out there coming up, but not truly a ms. bond. two famous franchises swung to the top of the box office. did you see either of this? "war of the planet of the apes" kicked spider-man: homecoming" to second place. the web-slinger brought in $45 million after its $117 million debut last weekend. very impressive there, top two. >> you got "despicable me" pulling out almost $19 million. i had to see that because of the kids. keep it here. your privacy makes you my number 1 place...

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>> welcome back. this week is typically the hottest week we have of the entire year being the peak of the summer season and soaring temperatures in the west, it's been that way since the beginning of the summer. 100 in sacramento, bakers field about 106 and the heat spreads to the middle of the country, this will be the first prolonged heat wave of the summer for areas like st. louis, that will be 100 to 102 throughout the middle of the week. it's hard to find any relief this time of year, frances. >> everybody on the west coast is like see what we're going through? thanks. a team of young science students finally made it to the u.s. to compete in an international robotics competition. they're from afghanistan. up until a few days ago, it appeared doubtful the all-girls team would get to come.

nbc's morgan radford has more on their long journey. >> reporter: in the heart of afghanistan, six teenage girls measuring, testing, and building a robot. here, only 1 in 5 girls makes it past middle school. but this 16-year-old wants to set a different example. >> i want to show them that nothing is impossible. >> reporter: this team is entering the first global challenge. an international competition to try to solve world problems like designing row bots to clean contaminated water. >> 158 nations. each with one team. just like the olympics. coming here to address a common problem. >> reporter: after spending months building their robot, all six girls packed into a taxi, making the 500-mile trip to the u.s. embassy in kabul to apply for visas. each time, they were denied. >> why a visa is granted or denied is always something that will be kept confidential. >> reporter: afghanistan is not

one of the six mostly muslim countries under the trump administration's travel ban. >> we were so hopeless. because we didn't get the visa. and we came to a couple, two times. >> reporter: their case sparking international attention. and then, a last-minute intervention by the president himself. the girls were granted a visa. elated, they packed their bags to make the journey. at an airport just outside washington, d.c., fans waited to greet them at midnight. >> they are powerful. they are strong. they are not silent anymore. >> reporter: for rudaba, a dream come true. >> i'm so happy, i can say to you how much we are happy. >> reporter: happy to make history. morgan radford, nbc news, new york. >> they have yet to compete but at this point you can say they've already won. >> i want to know in ten years how this changed their lives and what they go on to do, this was a huge moment.

>> and imagine if they do one even better. thk you for being with anus joining us.

i )m laura garcia cannon. ==sam/2shot== and i )m m br good monday morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm sam brock. breaking news out of south san francisco, a fatal crash is shutting down at least one lane on highway 101 right now. turn it over to mike inouye for what's going on. chp reported all lanes of 101 closed. but pete suratos is on scene there and tells us the freeway indeed is actually open. the slowing you see, folks are forced over to the right -- to the left two lanes as you travel southbound 101 approaching grand avenue. what happened is we understand someone hit something. they reported to chp they thought it was a large animal. it turns out it was a pedestrian, someone on the ad