could go higher. and breaking news from the afghan capital. a coordinated attack on the key government agencies. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning. it is tuesday, april 19th. i'm chris jansing, and breaking overnight, the taliban claiming responsibility for a deadly explosion in kabul. according to nbc news, more than 20 people were killed. almost 200 others were injured after a car bomb was detonated. it struck near the ministry of defense and a few hundred yards from the presidential palace and nato's local headquarters. security forces had been on high alert since the taliban announced the annual spring offensive last week. now to the historic flooding in houston.

at least five people are confirmed death including a seventh grade teacher. crews have carried out more than a thousand water rescues so far. states of emergency have been declared in nine texas counties and in harris county alone, more than a thousand homes have been flooded. residents are being urged to stay indoors if possible and if not, the governor issued this warning. >> if you're driving down a roadway and see an area coned off, do not pass those cones. do not drive into that area. there's a reason for those cones to be there. that is to protect you from an unsafe condition. >> the message what i'm continuing to say to people is to stay home, stay off the roads, stay dry and stay safe. that helps yourself and it also helps the first responders to do their jobs. >> official says this is the worst flooding in the state since tropical storm allison in 2001. we'll get the latest from bill karins in a few moments. the death toll continues to rise following the devastating

earthquake in ecuador. that government says at least 413 people have died. about 2,500 are listed as injured. the u.s. state department has confirmed at least one u.s. citizen was killed in the quake. >> we're still working with the ecuadoran officials to verify the whereabouts of all americans after the dare. >> rescue teams are fanning out and looking for those missing. one man was rescued from a collapsed hotel yesterday. firefighters say he managed to use a cell phone to call a relative who alerted the rescuers. now on the democratic side despite lead big double digits, hillary clinton took nothing for granted yesterday, making eight stops across manhattan and the surrounding area. she spoke with employees at a hospital in yonkers. stopped by a car wash in queens.

drank bubble tea with chuck schumer, held a rally alongside gabby gifford and ate some ice cream, refueled at a restaurant and she finished at the irish americans for hillary event with her husband. it was a day of off to swipes against bernie sanders, what some might say a bold prediction about the state of the race and some new york style pandering. >> what's something that you always carry with you? >> hot sauce. >> really? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> you getting in formation right now? hot sauce, hot sauce, what? >> hot sauce. >> really? >> yes. >> people are going to say, okay, she's pandering to black people now. [ laughter ] >> okay. is it working? >> i am hoping to do really well tomorrow. and i'm hoping to wrap up the democratic nomination, but, but, i'm not taking anything for granted.

i've got to quickly add that before anybody has the wrong impression. you know, after tomorrow, we have to go to pennsylvania and connecticut and rhode island and delaware and maryland and all the way to california on june the 7th. so we have to stay with this. but again, we have to get ready for the general election which is going to be really, really challenging. >> bernie sanders meanwhile began his primary eve by walking through midtown manhattan, posing for photos along the way. and his day ended with a picturesque rally with manhattan's skyline as the back drop. the campaign says 8,000 people gathered to watch the senator speak. as he's done before, he proclaimed if voter turnout is high, he expects to do well. >> this is a campaign on the move. this is a political revolution

sweeping america. from coast to coast, this is a movement getting the establishment very, very nervous. let me make a very dramatic announcement to you on this beautiful evening. are you ready for this? all right. here it is. i am prepared tonight to announce i will release all of the transcripts of all of the speeches that i have given behind closed doors to wall street. are you ready? here they are. >> also yesterday, the sanders campaign accused clinton and the dnc of serious violation of the

campaign laws. it wrote that a joint fund-raising committee is being exploited to solely benefit clinton's campaign for president. the clinton campaign manager vehemently denied the attacks. and sanders has closed the gap on hillary clinton's national lead since last month. clinton now leads sanders by just two points. that's within the poll's mar general of error. donald trump continues to professionalize his renegade political operation after ten months of rejecting the standards. he handed a $20 million budget according to politico. yesterday, trump's national field director are signed. his duties are taken over by scott walker's former chief strategist. from the beginning of his campaign through february, trump spent more on private air travel than he did on campaign staff. which may have allowed ted cruz to outorganize him at local conventions. trump will fight back at the

national level, hiring the former counsel to the rnc rules committee. this as senate majority leader mitch mcconnell indicated that he believes the convention will be decided where quote, anybody could be nominated. >> some are saying it's tricky to follow the rules of the convention. we'll follow the rules of the convention when a nominee gets to 1,237, he will actually be the candidate. if he doesn't, there will be a second ballot. and about 60% of the delegates who are bound on the first ballot will be free to do whatever they want to on the second ballot. i'm increasingly optimistic there may be a second ballot. counting down to the first votes in new york primary, donald trump cloaked out his campaign in buffalo last night. the area is home to the first congressman to endorse him. but trump got an even bigger name behind him last night.

buffalo bills head coach rex ryan. trump went on to hammer ted cruz in his closing remarks. >> tomorrow we're going to show ted cruz who hates new york, hates new york. when you look at that debate, and you see the way he talked about us and new york values, here's a man that turned down sandy money for this state. and plenty of other money. we had lots of things coming in to new york and he voted against. no new yorker can vote for ted cruz. we're going to win at every element of what we're doing. we're going to win with the military. we're going to win with everything. we're going to win so much you're going to get tired of winning. you'll be saying from buffalo, please, we don't want any more business. we're doing too much business. we're making too much money. no matter what you do, we don't want to win any more. i'm going to say, sorry, we're

going to keep winning. we're going to win, win, win and we're going to make america great again! america first, folks. america first. we've got new national polling on the republican side this morning. our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows donald trump now leading the gop field with 40% support. without marco rubio in the race, trump is up ten points from last month. ted cruz up eight points to 35%. and john kasich moves up just two points to 24%. there are new numbers on hypothetical general election match-ups. clinton beats trump by 11 points. cruz by two points and loses to house speaker paul ryan by one point and john kasich by 12. looking abroad now, the u.s. is turning up the heat on isis. while in baghdad, defense secretary ash carter announced the decision to send 2 hundred additional personnel. several helicopters and $400 million in aid to kurdish fighters. the pentagon says the u.s.

troops are advisers and not in direct combat. under the new plan they will be moving closer to the front lines. all this comes as iraqi forces prepare the assault to retake mosul. nbc's lester holt spoke with the defense secretary while in baghdad yesterday. >> as you add additional personnel and they are advising lower down the chain does that put more americans at higher risk? are they closer -- >> the iraqis are still in the lead. that doesn't change. and, lester, americans are at risk today. every single day here. as secretary of defense, i take that more seriously than anything else. i want our troops to be effective. but i want them also to be as safe as possible, consistent with that. but it's very important to do this. because we have to and we will defeat isil. but we need to get that done as soon as possible. that means being more aggressive in the moves we make.

>> as we see the iraqis willing to fight and gaining ground, let's make sure we're providing them more support. we're not doing the fighting ourselves. when we provide special forces that are backing them up, when we're working with the coalitions that we have, what we have seen is that we can continually tighten the noose. my expectation is by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby mosul will eventually fall. >> senator john mccain who welcomed the additional troops criticized the plan as the grudging inkrementalism that rarely wins the wars. last night, joe biden expressed overwhelming frustration with the israeli government in the ongoing push for peace efforts with the palestinians. while he acknowledged both sides share responsibility, biden was critical of closest ally in the middle east. >> there is at the moment no

political will that i observed among israelis or palestinians to move forward with serious negotiations. the trust that is necessary to take risks for peace is fractured. it's fractured on both sides. i firmly believe that the action that israel's government has taken over the past several years, the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures, they're moving us and more importantly moving israel in the wrong direction. at least 20 people were wounded after a bomb tore through a bus in jerusalem yesterday. they say it was caused by the explosive device at the rear of the bus. authorities called it a terrorist attack, but police are still investigating whether it was terror or a criminal incident. still ahead on "way too early," more on the historic flooding from houston. bill karins says the worst is over, but we still don't know

the depth of the damage. plus, new information on the landmark settlement between the nfl and former players over concussions. it was challenged in court and now the decision is in. trolling for a gig with braindrone? can't blame you. it's a drone you control with your brain, which controls your thumbs, which control this joystick. no, i'm actually over at the ge booth. we're creating the operating system for industry. it's called predix.

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hybrid infrastructure, boom. ok. what if 30 million people download the app? we're not good. we're total heroes. scale on demand with the number one company in cloud infrastructure. it is time now for sports and we begin with the 120th running of the boston marathon where the end of the 26.2 mile race, a pair of ethiopian runners won. the men's winner finished after 2 hour, 45 minutes and that's ridiculous. leading off this year's race were the mobility impaired runners which included some of a grown of 21 -- a group of 21 survivors of the marathon bombing who participated this year. that is inspirational.

let's go to the nfl now where an appeal let court has upheld the court that compensates retired players who have brain injuries from repeated injuries. it will provide around $1 billion to the class of former players. to the nba court for another night of playoff basketball. in toronto the raptors snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 98-87 when over the pacers to even up that series at one game apiece. and the warriors are without curry who sat out with an injured right ankle. and then in oklahoma city, the thunderous kevin durant missed a whopping 26 shots. but okc gets a chance for the win, trailing dallas by a point in the final seconds. >> westbrook as the clock ticks -- durant, no.

>> it looks like a buzzer beater, but video shows stephen adams doesn't get the shot off in time. the basket is waved off as the dallas win ties the series. it also means that the mavericks who are a 14-point underdog in the game notched the biggest upset in the nba playoff game in the last 20 seasons. meanwhile, on the ice last night, the wild cut the star series lead to one. and the capitals pushed the flyers to the brink after a 6-1 win on the road. but in san jose, l.a.'s tanner pearson nets it in overtime that puts the kings on the board in the best of seven series. finally, in tennis, a ball boy has a tough go of it yesterday. at the barcelona open. maybe a little overzealous. while running back to his spot -- >> he recovered. >> face first plant in the clock wall. but come on, give him props for

a quick recovery. >> yeah. >> let's get a check on your weather from meteorologist bill karins -- >> no big deal. hoping no one was seeing it. right in the face. did you see all the pictures yesterday, the houston stuff was incredible. it was happening at this time yesterday. i mean, just you can't tell -- i can't tell you how many vehicles are ruined. about a thousand homes had water in them. five fatalities unfortunately. and just some really dramatic stuff. that was what was happening 24 hours ago right now. that water still high. but it has receded in at least some spots. look at the pictures. nowhere was safe. houston is relatively flat and it takes a while for the water to make its way out to the gulf. it kind of seeps out. here's the rainfall total, the highest totals were to the northwest of houston. one spot reported 20 inches on the rain gauge. on our maps, everywhere in the gray picked up a foot of rain. pretty incredible amounts of rain. there was a chance for thunderstorms overnight.

none have developed so at least we have kept it dry. we still have a chance during the day of additional rain. we have showery weather north of st. louis heading over on the quad cities. back in colorado a little more snow for you. but as far as additional rainfall, the next two days combined. you know, we can deal with this. this is the possibility of one, two, at most maybe three inches of rain, compared to a foot of rain. we'll get through this without any additional damage being done. there's a flash flood in effect, because the water is so high. if we get a downpour the water can rise and go back down again. the worst is over. another beautiful day from about washington, d.c., southward, but definitely cooler in new england today. chris, they had a great day yesterday for the marathon, but today some showers and 50 degrees. at fenway, everything was perfect. >> wasn't so bad here either. let's turn to business,

where the dow soared for first time in nine months. nancy hulgrave has more. what's behind that surge? >> well, a lot of focus is now turning to the earnings picture. we have not just talking about results for the current quarter. investors have been honing in on guidance expectations for what the big companies expect in the quarter and the year ahead. so some positive earnings news lifting investor sentiment, as the dow gets above 8,000. all three performed well, including hitting the highest close of the year. when we look overall for the year, they're within 2% of the all time high ever. this is good news, but still some individual corporate stories. one of them being goldman sachs which will report earnings later. but we're getting some news that goldman sachs has turned into the retail bank. prior to this you may think of goldman just for the super rich, perhaps private wealth clients with deposits around $10 million or so, but now they're taking online deposits starting from

$1. this is as a result of ge capital online. they were to give 1.05% annual yield on new deposits and 2% on the five year cds. not bad for that. >> nancy hulgrave live from london, thank you. one question in particular asked of hillary clinton is off limits. why she booed a reporter. next on "way too early."

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welcome back. hillary clinton continued her campaign for the new york primary yesterday when she stopped by mikey likes it ice cream in the east village and indulged in a sundae called victory named in her honor. while ted cruz is steadfast while not wearing hats on camera, secretary clinton broke her own no eating in front of the press corps. >> it is so good. >> you're breaking your rule. >> i know. but i couldn't -- i was going to take it to go, but it was in front of me. i had to start eating it. >> what's the calorie count? >> oh, come on! boo! >> there's no calories. if you eat it live, there's no calories. >> i eat it all the time. >> who asked that question? and finally this morning, paul ryan has insisted he won't be seeking the republican nomination for president, but the writers of "saturday night live" are poking some fun at the

house speaker in a clip that was cut from the show for time. >> hi, i'm paul ryan. and i want to be very clear. i'm not running for president. >> i hear you, america. you want someone to restore the strong leadership that's been so sorely missing in this country for the last eight years. someone who if he were elected president would cut taxes, rein in entitlements, strengthen the borders and create high paying jobs for americans like you. so when young and dynamic with a sick body and a decent face, someone with a full head of his own hair and devilish little forelock and long, muscular fingers, fingers that know what they're doing. but i'm not running. my family is my priority right now. >> but dad, don't some of our best presidents come out of contested conventions? >> like eisenhower and lincoln? >> you're both right. so i guess there would be a lot

of historical precedent in i were to run. but that's just not my style. >> paul ryan for president. >> i'm paul ryan. and i did not approve this message. that's going to do it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," the polls open at the top of the hour, moments from now. and nbc's chuck todd and andrea mitchell help set the stage. plus, new york city mayor bill de blasio on the democratic side and peter king for the republicans. "morning joe" is just moments away. ♪ ♪ you live life your way. we can help you retire your way, too. financial guidance while you're mastering life.

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