g a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds] breaking news, as we come on the air. the terrifying scene on a runway in toronto. a delta airlines plane from minneapolis completely upside down after crash landing with dozens aboard. >> this airplane just crashed. >> at least 18 hurt including a child critically injured at canada's busiest airport. smoke billowing from the fuselage, fire trucks on the

snow-covered tarmac as an air ambulance rushes to the scene. footage from inside the plane showing passengers evacuating. tonight, questions over how this could have happened, and the growing concerns about of a of a yagsz safety as hundreds are let go after the fatal mid-air collision in d.c. the deadly flood emergency in kentucky and at least 11 killed. the mother and daughter swept away. more than 1,000 rescues, roads washed out and entire neighborhoods under water and emergency crews racing to reach people still trapped and the threat isn't over. plus, we're tracking extreme weather. one of the worst winter cold snaps yet for 67 million americans. al roker standing by. >> top american officials head overseas for the highest-level meeting between the u.s. and russia to try and end the war in ukraine, but president zelenskyy, not invited and richard engel reports tonight

from the war zone and honoring the black caddies who carried so much on their shoulders on one of golf's greatest courses. ♪♪ ♪ this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. and good evening. i'm tom llamas in for lester tonight. we are coming on the air with breaking news. a delta passenger jet crash landing a short time ago in toronto. here is the stunning image of how it came to a stop. you see the plane upside down on the runway at front's pearson international airport. one wing gone and no tail left. delta flight 4819 carrying 76 passengers and four crew members was coming in for a landing from minneapolis when the accident occurred. emergency crews were on the scene in those frigid conditions. deep, dark marks visible along one of the engines of the plane. the airport says all onboard accounted for and there were thankfully no fatalities, but

several people are hurt including some in critical condition. tom costello joins us live with new reporting. good evening. >> reporter: tom, this happened at 2:45 p.m. in toronto. the response if firefighters immediate. the airport was closed for several hours and just opening now, but amazingly, everyone got out of this plane alive. >> reporter: on the runway in toronto a terrifying end for delta flight 4819. >> a plane crashed and it's upside down. >> lying upside down on the runway an endeavor air regional jet had just arrived from minneapolis in gusting winds when something went terribly wrong. >> this airplane just crashed. >> as thick, black smoke poured from the plane, firefighters smothered the scene in foam. the right wing ripped off. the fuselage bearing what appeared to be skid or soot marks. >> drop everything! drop it! >> all people onboard managed to escape through the emergency exits. >> i was walking, and i could

see it possibly crashed on the airport. the airplane flipped. >> 18 people injured and transported to area hospitals including two airlifted to trauma centers. one child rushed to children's hospital in toronto. >> i've seen a few people on stretchers that we've transported, and i've seen one person with a sling on their arm, and i've seen others that are just potentially exposure-type injuries, because it is very cold here. a plane, a bombardier, cij 900 regional jet in canada is a workhouse for short haul flights worldwide. at the time of the crash it was 18 degrees with 20 to 30 mile per hour winds and strong cross winds. the question for investigators, how and why did the plane lose at least one, maybe both wings on landing and then flip over causing jet fuel to spill on to the runway? >> i think it's possible the wing may have touched the runway due to a gust, and if that's the

case then the rest of this makes sense and the recorders are going to show that. >> in a statement, delta says our primary focus is impacted. the flight was carrying a total of 80 people, 76 passengers and four crew. the investigation will be led by the canadian transportation safety board with both the faa and ntsb assisting. >> tom, let's talk about those conditions now. the airport was dealing with both with heavy snow and as winds gusting up to 38 miles per hour. >> yeah. it was frigid. the tower reporting winds from the west at 28 miles per hour, gusting to 48 at the time of the crash and as we said, 18 degrees and a lot of snow on the ground there, tom. >> tom, we also have that incredible video, right? talk to us about the pilot and the crew getting so many out safely. >> yeah. the bottom line here in an emergency the orders from the flight deck are get out as fast

as you can and the people buckled in, they tell them don't grab your bag. don't grab your suitcase, don't grab your coat, get out, get out, get out! that's priority for the flight attendants and help everyone get out, as well. >> tom, we thank you for that. >> we are joined by jeff gazetti, a former ntsb investigators. jeff, looking at the aim knowledges of the plane, upside down, no tail, a missing wing. what does all of that tell you? >> well, it tells me that something went awry during landing and just as the captain indicated earlier, typically whenever an airplane ends up upside down like this, it drags a wing and the wind was coming from the right cross wind meaning you would counter with lowering your right wing and perhaps it struck something and caused the airplane to cart

wheel, but you know, the commercial airline, vents like this should not occur during landing. >> jeff guzzetti as it is under way. we thank you for that. and what happened in toronto is the string of high-profile incidents and sam brock takes a closer look. >> the surreal sight of an overturned plane at toronto's pearson international airport just the latest disaster to strike our airways in only the last three weeks with the horrifying d.c. collision in late january, the first fatal commercial plane crash in the u.s. since 2009 claiming the lives of 67 people and days later -- an air ambulance carrying six crashed near a mall in northeast philadelphia killing everyone onboard and another opinion in a car, injuring dozens. less than a week after that, a sobering image posted by the u.s. coast guard from alaska after a regional flight crashed off the coast leaving ten people

dead. the 78-year-old pilot on a plane crashed into the scott dale arizona runway. >> passengers shaken. >> it is nerve-racking. i'll be completely honest, it is nerve-racking. >> i don't feel safe because there's so much stuff going on. >> air traffic controls nationwide are strained for people and resources. >> we need to make improvents where the recommendations and findings suggest they need to be made. that doesn't mean it isn't overall a safe system. >> a deepening concern over the state of what's been an exceedingly safe industry. sam brock, nbc news. we're also following breaking news back here at home. the catastrophic floods across the south. the death toll from the weekend flooding in kentucky is ding again tonight with the young child among the lives lost. many are believed still to be trapped and more storms

threatened to clean up effort. nbc's shaq brewster is in eastern kentucky tonight and joins us live. shaq, good evening. >> good evening, tom and just look at what this back road has turned into. you have rushing water filling the backyards of several of these homes and one neighbor telling me, several feet of water is in her baseme and this is the result not of a swollen river and a mudslide diverted the water leaving yet another neighborhood devastated. >> tonight, as kentucky's devastating floodwaters recede, the river is bracing for yet another round of storms. >> we want to make sure we get the rescues done before that, that we're not doing boat rescues in a snowstorm, and prompting more than a thousand rescues. nearly 250 airlifted in martin county today. stacy said the water came rushing in. >> i felt like i was going to die, really. we ended up going in the at being. >> you were trapped here.

>> yeah. absolutely. >> in kentucky's hart county, a 35-year-old mother and her 5-year-old daughter were killed when police say their vehicle was swept away by water. more than 300 roads are still closed. in pike county, rescuers are working to reach the many they believe are still l trappe >> the most urgent concern right now is making sure that people need help that we get to those people. >> how many people are we talking about? >> we have no idea. >> in places where the water has moved on the daunting future is now visible. >> at one pnt the community was unr water and now they're pushing mud out of the building and trying to save anything they can. >> across kentucky, some 10,000 remain without power and nearly 17,000 without safe drinking water. this weekend storms also spawned tornados in tennessee, damaging cars and ripping off roofs and in atlanta, a tree collapsed into a bedroom killing a

resident inside. the mounting toll of a severe winter storm with yet another on its way. shaquille brewster, nbc news, fleming, neon, ken particulary. all right. let's get right to al roker and as we heard from shaq there, that same area is in a massive section of the country about to face wind, snow and bone-chilling cold. >> that's right, tom. we are looking coast to coast at these winter weather advisories for 43 million people literally from coast to coast. we are expecting this system to dive into the plains for tomorrow. gusty storms near the gulf coast and wednesday the storm tracks quickly across the tennessee river valley. while not lot of snow, and also in the mid-plainses from six to inches of snow. from the dakotas and all of the way to texas we're talking 67

million people and we're talking windchills from ten to 20 degrees below zero. complete details coming up tomorrow morning on "today." tom? >> we'll stay tracking it all week as well. al, we thank you for that. overseas now to the battle for the future of ukraine. top officials from the u.s. and russia will hold talks this week about ending that war, but ukrainian leaders aren't part of the discussions and president zelenskyy says no deal can be reached without them. richard engel reports from inside ukraine. >> president trump dispatched his team to saudi arabia to begin the most intense negotiations yet to end the war in ukraine. the talks, which could redraw the map of ukraine and have major implications for the security of europe and nato begin with the russian side. ukraine is not invited. ukrainian officials telling nbc news that's a troubling sign. there's an old expression in peace talk, if you're not at the table you're on it.

>> russia occupies 20% of the territory in the east and south. ukrainian officials fear president trump could carve off those areas and cede them to president vladimir putin. >> president zelenskyy told nbc news' kristen welker ukraine will not accept a deal they're not part of. >> do you feel you have a seat at the table right now? >> i not only count on it, i am sure we have to be there otherwise it's not acceptable. >> european nations are also shut out of the talks so today they convened a last-minute emergency summit among themselves. in ukraine's front line city of kherson this morning volunteers held a belated valentine's day party in a shelter for children here who after three years are still hiding under ground, not going to school and hardly ever playing and socializing. yuliya is an organizationer and

said, ukrainians want peace and they want their leaders to have an input on the negotiation. >> this by president trump, do you support it or are you nfshs about it? >> it's confusing and it's going quickly and you don't know where it's going. >> president trump said ukraine will not being cluded from negotiations and an envoy is expected later this week, but talks with russia do appear to be the priority and president trump plans to meet with vladimir putin soon. tom? >> all right, richard engel for us. richard, we thank you for that. in 60 seconds, as we continue to track the plane crash, there's new concern as the trump administration lays off hundreds of faa workers. why some worry those cuts could be too deep. that's next.

on chewy, save 35% and shop all your favorite brands. for any taste, or any diet, at prices you love. delivered fast. for low prices, for life of pets, there's chewy. we're back now with questions on air safety. the trump administration has fired hundreds of faa employees

part of it is effort to reshape the federal workforce. here's kelly o'donnell. >> with alarming real world incident, the public safety faces an internal test as the federal workforce is under scrutiny and hit with job cuts. president trump's department of government efficiency and elon musk's doge team continue to make cuts including at the federal aviation administration. close to 300 faa employees terminated this weekend according to a union that represents rkers there. 28-year-old jason king was at faa for eight months. when you were doing your job at faa did you think you were helping to make the public safer? >> i did. >> he worries cuts could be too deep. even for the people that are still there, their workload has drastically increased, and i

think that's where a big part of my concern with public safety comes in. >> other federal job cuts may also be linked to public safety. 400 layoffs at homeland security including 200 positions at fema. the federal emergency management agency, hundreds fired from the centers for disease control including about two dozen who support outbreak response according to agency sources. >> protests across the country turning this presidents day holiday into a day of action, from the winter chill of albany to sunshine in orlando. >> we win! >> the west coast to the nation's capital. >> the people are going to feel it eventually. >> meanwhile, an employee affiliated with doge is expected to seek access to an irs system that holds sensitive information.

stephen miller insists americans' financial data is completely secure. >> i give you complete and total assurance on that point. we are talking about performing a basic anti-fraud review to ensure that people are not engaging in large-scale theft of federal taxpayer benefits. >> kelly, is there new reaction to the firings at the faa with this new plane crash. >> we heard from a democratic senator who said today that these cuts have injected unnecessary risk, but a spokesperson for the department of transportation says the faa is continuing to hire air traffic controllers and has retained employees who perform critical safety functions. tom? >> all right. kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. thank you. >> still ahead tonight, a major case that could be the first supreme court test of its kind. the big question, who can president trump fire as he reshapes the federal government coming up. relief at 4 weeks. many people were in remission at 12 weeks, at 1 year,

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>> welcome back. the u.s. justice department is asking the supreme court to intervene in a case involving the firing of a government ethics watchdog by president trump. nbc news senior legal correspondent laura jarrett joins us with more. how likely is it that the supreme court agrees to hear this? >> the president only needs four justices to agree to hear it, but i'd be surprised that they'd weigh in at this early stage given that it's working its way through the lower courts. the watchdog fired said he

should be able to keep his job because of the federal law that shields leaders of independent agencies except in limited circumstances, but the broader question whether mr. trump has the authority to push him out could be an early test of how the supreme court's conservative majority views the president's, forts to reshape the government and given how many federal workers have been fired at this point, the justices are likely to take up this issue at some point or another at some point soon. >> laura, we thank you for that. when we come back, a story you will not want to miss. the black caddies who spent the last 50 years working for the best golfers in history. their tradition at the masters. best golfers in history. their tradition at the masters. that's next.

in the city of augusta, georgia, home to that legendary golf uncl, a mural is about to be unveiled dedicated to the men of golf whose story you may not know. nbc's priscilla thompson has more on their enduring legacy still felt on the course today. >> i'm going to be your caddy for the day. >> all right. >> for years, it was j jim dent who carried the bags of golf legends. >> i've got your club here. choosing the clubs. >> thank you, kennedy. >> that might lead them to a masters win. we're at forest hills golf club today. >> wow. >> but as a teen in the 1950s, dent joined augusta national's all-black caddy corps that players were required to use and began learning the game of golf

on a course he wasn't allowed to play. >> racism and discrimination, did you experience any of that? >> oh, sure, but it didn't bother me. caddies focused on reading the greens, becoming experts on the course for arnold palmer and jack nicklaus. >> inspired by it all dent decided to take his swing. >> it was a long journey, taking his swing. it was hard. ong journey. >> going on to win a dozen pga tour tournaments. >> what did you feel like that first job as a caddy gave you? >> it gave me everything i own. if i hadn't done caddying i would have never made a golfer and i would have never made the money i made, you know? >> in the 1980s after nearly 50 years augusta nationals began allowing outside caddys and the all-black caddies all be but

vanished. rooted in racism. >> by the time came it was easy. >> you were ready to take your place out there. >> claiming their spot in a stored tradition as masters of the green in their own right prospect priscilla thompson, nbc news, augusta, georgia. we thank priscilla for that story and we thank you for watching "nightly news " on thi monday. i'm tom llamas. have a great monday.

using president's day to protest the commander in chief. bay area cities taking part in a nationwide day of action. good afternoon everyone, i'm janelle wang. welcome to nbc bay area news at 4:30. our robert honda is in san jose where protesters had a message for president trump. we are also tracking other stories on this president's day, including a