we have to act immediately. that's what she said last week. we got another reminder that maybe she's right. "first look" is up next. good morning on this may day. right now on "first look," monster storm. the severe weather system that brought deadly tornadoes, torrential rain, widespread flooding, and massive sink holes may be gone, but it won't soon be forgotten. he is back. toronto's crack smoking mayor rob ford. plus clippers sweep stakes as owners hold talks on forcing sterling to sell the team, famous suitors line up. a heisman winner accused of stealing crab legs? and a dog delay at a western oregon softball game.

love that video. good morning, everybody. we want to talk about severe weather and heavy rain because it has pounded parts of the u.s. overnight. rushing waters has flooded many roadways forcing drivers to leave their cars stranded in some areas. pensacola, florida, hit hard. record rainfall there, 16 inches. that is the most the city has seen in one day since the year 1880. in baltimore the heavy rain caused an entire street to collapse into a sink hole swallowing several cars. many areas are trying to recover from the rough weather this morning. jay gray has more. >> reporter: rushing flood waters have torn apart roadways, stranded drivers, and swallowed entire communities. the florida panhandle has seen some of the worst rain in pensacola close to 20 inches in 24 hours. >> we've been through tropical storms and hurricanes. like ivan and dennis back to back in 2004 and '05 and we

still did not have this much water. >> it's touching down. >> reporter: in other places, it's been the wind, not the water, battering communities. tornadoes ripped through the deep south leaving a trail of devastation for miles. >> we lost it all. so we've got to build. but we'll be fine. >> reporter: now communities like tupelo begin to clean up and come back, they're dealing not only with the physical damage but the emotional scars that the storms left in mind. >> keep in mind there are people working out there right now that are just in shock. you know, their lives have been destroyed. they've lost friends and loved ones and neighbors. >> reporter: but clinging to the spirit and resolve they will need through a long and difficult recovery. jay gray, nbc news, tupelo, mississippi. well, toronto mayor rob ford is taking a break from the campaign trail to get help for

substance abuse. the report comes of a second video of mayor ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine. nbc news has not verified the authenticity of that video, but a similar clip was released about a year ago and set off a fire storm for ford's office. in the months following, he was filmed numerous times in public where he appeared impaired and erratic. this is one of the most difficult times in my life. i have a problem with alcohol and the choices i have made while under the influence. i have struggled with this for some time. a committee of nba owners is meeting today, and they will be taking the first step towards forcing donald sterling out as owner of the l.a. clippers over the publicized racist remarks he made. but sterling is not going without a fight. a league executive close to the owner tells the new york daily news sterling plans to sue the league if the other owners force

him to sell. >> reporter: donald sterling has remained silent since the nba commissioner banned him from the league for life saying he made offensive remarked about african-americans in audio recordings posted online. if sterling fights to keep the clippers, experts say it could be a tough legal action. >> if the commissioner is acting within the bylaws, courts are not wanting to intervene. >> reporter: a number of big names have been mentioned as possible owners. oprah winfrey, david geffen, and larry ellis said they would be interested in buying the franchise. but first 75% of the league's 30 owners must vote to remove sterling as owner. >> i spoke to several owners, and i have their full support. >> reporter: a vast majority of teams have issued statements of support including the bobcats' michael jordan who applauded the swift and decisive response. >> it's going to be 29-0 or 29-0

if the sterling represent is are allowed to vote. >> reporter: yet stiviano said they never had a sexual relationship saying she's very saddened the nba did what they did. she said a third party was present when those tapes were made in september, but they won't say who. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. and there is more backlash this morning. ucla has returned a $425,000 gift and is rejecting a $3 million pledge from sterling's charitable foundation saying he doesn't share the school's core values. president obama is accusing republicans of abandoning the poor and middle class after the senate struck down a bill to raise the federal minimum wage. republicans argue that a wage hike could slow hiring at a time when job growth is already sluggish. the bill was one of the president's top legislative

priorities. it would have gradually raised the minimum wane to $10.10 an hour. >> by preventing a vote on this bill, they've prevented a raise for 28 million hard working americans. they said no to helping millions work their way out of poverty. they told americans like the one who is are here today that you're on your own. without even looking them in the eye. >> all right. time to shift to this hard working man here richard lui with sports. mike d'antoni stepping down even though they had the worst season in half a century, en though it's only the third time in 38 seasons they didn't make the playoffs, d'antoni wanted an extra year on his contract. they said no way. so he resigned. to the hardwood now. houston stays alive as they take down portland. jeremy lin played big.

leads houston to a 108-98 win. portland still leading the series three dagames to two. tony parker, a new dad hours before tipoff, leading with points. the win 109-103 is what they get. down by 26, brooklyn claws back. seconds left. they miss the free throw on purpose to get the rebound. but they miffed the pass. they miff also the shot. toronto 115-113 leading 3-2 now. new york and philadelphia's nhl playoff series. pretty intense. the fans even slugging it out. look at that one. that was during game six on tuesday. let me take you to wednesday's game. new york scores two early goals there. philadelphia only adds one. they're on to the next round. los angeles getting their own

game seven win. the win over san jose makes them only the fourth team after losing the first three games to win the series for san jose. a pit bull desperate for a game of fetch interrupted a college softball game. he steals the ball and then gets another one because one's not good enough. the owner findly gets him off the field. you do not want to fight with a pit bull. watch this foul ball in cincinnati. dad extends with his dod ler in tow. >> not even with a glove. he did that bare handed. >> it was like a reflex. and that's because he's a former college baseball player. no sweat for that guy. >> still, though, impressive nonethele nonetheless. >> i bet bill kairns could do that. >> i could. >> you got skills when it comes to baseball? you got weather skills for sure. >> this has been a five-day

stretch. the first tornado watches went out with this storm on sunday. here's a recap of this storm. this goes back 72 hours. you see the loop spinning there. it started in nebraska and went up to the great lakes. added up a ton of preliminary headlines. this will be the first billion-dollar weather disaster of the year. 39 deaths reported. tornadoes were primarily most of those. there were 79 tornadoes. two were ef-4s. in pensacola that was a one in 200 year flood event. recorded yesterday the second wettest april day for new york city. the black hills of south dakota on the backside of the storm picked up nearly two feet of snow in blizzard conditions. here's the rainfall totals yesterday. 7 inches widespread. about 2 to 4 inches in new york. it's still raining hard for

areas from connecticut to boston. the storm itself is now centered almost over the top of milwaukee. we also dealt with the really hot conditions in the west yesterday. that will be a repeat today. as far as the east is concerned, the heavy rains, the flooding, that's all ending during the day today. still some showers, but the flooding rains, the devastation, destruction, we are done. >> it did enough damage. that's for sure. just ahead, what brought l.a.x. to a screeching halt? plus china is about to overtake u.s. as the world's largest. we'll tell you what it is next.

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all right. now for your "first look" at business, we turn to cnbc's bertha coombs. >> after stocks closed out april with gains, the dow jones industrial average notching its first record close of the year. we actually ran the closing bell

here at cnbc to mark our 25th year. the nasdaq fell for the second straight month. we'll look for data ahead of the opening bell on employment, consumer income spending, and earnings from exxon mobile. facebook is introducing new privacy features letting users limit how much of their personal information is seen by third party apps. it can share only your name and e-mail address. facebook is also testing an anonymous log-in button. and couch potatoes rejoice. hulu is launching an interactive ad that's going to let you order from pizza hut from right within the ad. hulu says it could be expanded to other advertisers in the future. but isn't this the best thing? never have to get off your couch. >> i like that idea. thank you, bertha. some stories making news this morning, new concerns over oil tanker trains after one derailed and exploded yesterday

along the james river in virginia and also leaked tens of thousands of gallons of oil into that river. now, no one was injured, but one former official called this another national wakeup call over the need for safer oil tanker trains. people in southern california returning to their homes this morning. an enormous fire forced evacuations. that spread to about a thousand acres in a matter of hours. the high risk continues today. flights at l.a.x. are back in the air this morning. a computer glitch caused a complete ground stoppage yesterday. in all, more than 500 flights were affected. china, well, it is on the verge of overtaking the u.s. this year as the world's biggest economy. that is according to a new report from the international comparison agency. india is now the world's third largest economy ahead of japan. british actor bob hoskins has died. he was nominated for the film

"mona lisa" though you might know him best for his part in "who framed roger rabbit." he died from a bout with pneumonia at the age of 71. jameis winston was cited for all things, stealing crab legs. the florida state star was accused late last year of sexual assault but wasn't officially charged by police. as for those crab legs, well, the 20-year-old says he just forgot to pay for them. scrambled politics is just ahead including florida lawmakers preparing for the zombie apocalypse. plus president obama drops an 'nsync reference. we'll tell you what it is next. [ female announcer ] who are we?

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now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. citing the decision on the l.a. clippers, harry reid wants the nfl to rename the washington redskins. reid told colleagues it is time for a name change. >> i believe roger goodell is a good man, but it's time for this good man to act. remove this hateful term from their league's vocabulary. follow the nba's lead. meanwhile, a new tennessee law is the first of its kind in the country. it authorizes the arrest and incarceration of women who use drugs while pregnant. tennessee governor bill haslam

signed it into law earlier this week. a florida senate gun bill was amended to include a possible zombie apocalypse? yeah. the bill would reportedly allow people to carry their weapons without a concealed weapons permit during a state of emergency. the argument being that gun owners shouldn't have to leave their guns at home during something like a hurricane or other disaster. c bk is defending its decision to bring in stephen colbert as the new late night host. who said colbert has a liberal bias. president obama giving a nod to j.t., justin timberlake in the 'nsync song "it's gonna be me." on his facebook page he posted it's gonna be may.

and that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. right now in washington, i am joined by syndicated clumist bob franken. always a pleasure. it's gonna be may. is that your slogan in. >> i have to tell you, carrying guns during a zombie apocalypse. can they be stopped by guns? >> word's out on that. i'm not sure. >> could you have the research department check? >> we'll get on that right away. in the meantime, though, i want to start off with toronto mayor rob ford. a new video as allegedly surfaced showing him possibly smoking crack cocaine. ford has decided to go to rehab. but that being the case, is this the end of the political road for him? >> one would have thought by now would have been the end of the political road. i guess the political road would end, one would think, when the

next election occurs. he can follow his destiny and go to hollywood where he would blend right in. >> he's got a lot of people talking. that is for sure. and back here at home, washington is facing a new crisis. it's called the highway cliff this time around. the highway trust fund which pays for interstate projects will be broke. can they avoid going over this cliff? >> well, first of all, the highway trust fund was set up and paid for by gasoline taxes. it's the way that we would finance, we being the united states, would finance its interstate highway system. as a matter of fact, all of the highway system. the problem is that there isn't enough money. so the choices are raising the gasoline tax and try that in an election year or coming up with money from the general fund. there are other alternatives, for instance, changing policy and relying less on the car and more on mass transit. but that usually gets you run out of the room when you suggest

it. >> we know this is an election year, so can realistically they find common ground on this? >> the common ground would be concrete, of course. sure there's going to be a battle. what isn't about a battle? the one thing everybody seems to agree on is making sure you can score points with the people back home, the voters, by spending money on highways. i suspect there will be less of a fight over this and other things. >> as always, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> work on the zombies for me. >> they'll be here for the white house correspondents dinner. >> oh, you went there today. thank you. coming up, bill kairns and richard lui will be back with first buzz. look at this cute little guy eating tiny burritos. it is our awesome web video of the day. that is next. it's probably because they are the measurement of everything we do.

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all right. time for our first buzz. i know this happens to richard and bill all the time. never to me. >> we fend them off. >> i'm sure you do. >> so, reporters, right? you're out in the field doing a live report. this woman out in ktla reporting on a wildfire. she's trying to get some man on the street reaction to what's happening. this is what happens to her. >> do you live around here? >> yeah. wow, you're super pretty. do you want to go on a date some time? >> we're actually on the air live on ktla. >> what fire? you want to go on a date? >> exactly. it's funny. >> priorities. >> she was interviewing a local

official before that saying it's really bad and this guy says -- >> she didn't say yes or no, for the record. >> she's a married woman. >> he had a dog and was shirtless. how could you say no? >> she saw him shirtless. >> how could you say no to this video. >> gopro doesn't need any more advertisement, but if they want a commercial, this is the new commercial. underwater with the seals. if that's not good enough, the seal belly rub cameras. they literally -- the seal sat there almost like a little doggy. >> i love that. >> that is pretty cool. >> all right. if you think that's cute, i don't know. this tops the cute meter. this wins by far. check it out. this artist decided to make itty-bitty burritos for a tiny little hamster. and look at this. >> this is like animal kingdom day here. >> he is shoving -- he's

inhaling that. >> it's in his cheeks. >> look at the rope chair, the poker chip plate. >> i could watch this all day long. that's kind of scary, right? thanks for watching us today. "way too early" with thomas roberts starts now. ♪ in this case what we're fighting for, i don't think it can do anything to hurt our game. we're fighting to get an owner out of our league that shouldn't be part of our league. and no matter how long it take, no matter how much money it costs, we need to get him out of there. whoever is associated with him. the doesn't belong in our league. like i said, the next step is for the owners to vote and get him to sell the franchise. and obviously it's not going to be as night and day, you know. it's not going to be like that. not wake up tomorrow and the team is in someone else's hands. but we need to get the next step

going. it can't be something we drag on. >> king james speaks and a lot of people are listening. shifting to team buyers. some of the big names that want in on that action. then mayor rob ford taking a leave of absence. why he needs to take time for himself. and the new video that may have played a role in that decision. and from southwest florida flooding to baltimore city sinkholes, the punishing weather continues to hit the eastern seaboard. is there any relief in sight? this is "way too early." ♪ hey, hey, everybody. good morning. i am thomas roberts. it is thursday, may the 1st. welcome to "way too early," the show still trying to dry off after a nasty ride in new york city here. but april showers are supposed to bring may flowers. but first we start with this breaking news coming this morning out of