on our broadcast tonight -- fast and furious. a massive outbreak of tornados tearing across the country. at one point, 19 separate tornado warnings, including some big cities. while some smaller towns are being described as completely gone. backlash. a growing firestorm over rush limbaugh's crude tirade. tonight the young woman he targeted is speaking out with what he said and a surprise phone call today. >>. >> the threat from iran. a nuclear war of words. is israel planning to strike? tonight the strongest warning yet from president obama. and standing together after unthinkable tragedy. students and teachers, an entire town united in an incredible show of support.

"nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. tonight, a u.s. senator from indiana said they'd appreciate the prayers of everyone watching television tonight. we are covering a severe weather outbreak tonight, the likes of which we have not sure we've ever seen before. 155 million americans have been in the path of severe weather today and tonight. we had tornados in eight states. at one point this evening, there were 19 separate tornado warnings. we've seen 163 warnings today overall. they're all over the map in the southeast, including major cities. including some smaller towns that are frankly no longer standing. at the heart of some of these storms is some of the strongest weather this planet can produce. our team has fanned out to cover this.

we want to begin the broadcast with where the worst of it is. dr. greg forbes is the severe weather expert at the weather channel. dr. forbes, we've been watching you all afternoon. one point you apologized to viewers. you were unable to talk about all the tornados, just the most severe. where is the worst of it right now? >> well, brian, there's quite a line of storms all the way from southern ohio down across kentucky and tennessee into mississippi. a lot of tornado warnings within that. on the satellite picture, all the orange indicates big thunderstorms. all the way up into the pennsylvania/ohio border, then down into mississippi. there's even tornadic storms in some parts of alabama. that's been a character today. we had at times three lines of storms. all these red areas here indicate places there are active tornado warnings. they go from ohio to louisiana. then clusters in mississippi, louisiana, over into the florida panhandle and alabama. it has been a busy day and is

going to continue to be a busy night. we still have the greatest threat area in eastern parts of kentucky where all the ingredients are coming together. pittsburgh, washington, d.c., charlotte, atlanta, jackson, all the way down to mobile and new orleans in red here have that threat tonight of additional severe thunderstorms and tornados, as well as large hail. this is a widespread, massive, dangerous outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornados. >> dr. greg forbes who has been following all of it, his life's work at the weather channel, this afternoon. thank you very much. weather channel meteorologist jim cantore is on the ground in henriville, indiana, the scene of some of the worst damage we have seen all day. jim, are you with us? >> reporter: i am, brian. we just got on scene here. it's awful. the same thing we looked at in harrisburg, illinois in terms of ef-4 damage. behind me complete destruction.

who isses blown off their foundation. there is the high school you've probably seen from the air, as well. what i've seen are trees stripped from their barks. the worst thing is to see the look on their faces. people taking things that they have and walking out of town right now. it's very, very chaotic. obviously, police, fire on the scene, constant sounds of ambulances. very close to the heart of downtown, no question about it. this is going to be a tornado that is going to be probably producing ef-4 damage. winds 170 to 200 miles per hour here. you look back at the high school, you see a brick building, a roof torn off, winos, doors, walls, complete walls blown in here. as far as the eye can see, i can see up the hill. probably at least 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile where this thing went. if you trace the storm, it started back in southern illinois, came across all of

southern indiana, produced tornadoes with it, then worked its way through northern kentucky. we had word of tornados with this supercell. there are two that tracked across this area as you've seen it from the air again, just complete destruction in through here to homes, businesses, to trees, to automobiles. right now again, just getting on the scene, we are seeing chaos here as people are trying to figure out what the heck went through here. as a meteorologist, i can tell you it's a tornado that probably produced winds between 165 to 200 miles per hour. we knew this was coming and unfortunately have to talk about it tonight. >> we have dozens of communities under a take-cover warning. you look at the geography of this. it's a north eastern weather event down to the mississippi delta. can you remember this long a line and this numerous a number of funnels in one event? >> reporter: brian, you know what this reminds me of, the

superoutbreak of 1974. it covered a lot of real estate. we had storms that impacted 15 states with tornados here. you've got, again, this type of outbreak going on. very far to the north. the difference is, that was in april. here we are in early march. the climate changing brings us these outbreaks earlier in the year, it looks that way. >> jim cantore, fast work getting on the ground in henriville, indiana. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel in harvest, alabama, with more how this all developed today. >> reporter: around 10:30 a.m. eastern time, the storm makes its first strike in northern alabama. a funnel cloud captured on camera in huntsville. another one 25 miles away in athens, leaving a five-mile swath of demolished houses, downed power lines and uprooted trees. this training center at a state prison takes a direct hit. an 18-wheeler flipped on its

side. this video shows a funnel cloud near a high school. an emotional woman is heard. >> those kids. >> reporter: individual yes shows students inside the school hallway as the tornado hit. thankfully, no one was injured. at 12:07, a warning that the storm is far from over. >> storms will be moving almost 50 to 60 miles per hour so severe weather conditions will change rapidly at any given location. people need to monitor this situation very carefully. >> i felt my house moving. it was pretty bad. i ain't never been through nothing like this before. >> reporter: reports of more than a dozen tornados touched down in two states. sirens sound in hard-his harrisburg, illinois. today it was spared a second beating. a tornado touches down in kentucky. >> we have a tornado on the frowned that is north of pa palmyra. you don't have a lot of time to seek shelter as we teak.

>> reporter: south eastern tennessee hit hard. >> pulley road. >> reporter: by 3:40 p.m., reports of extreme devastation in parts of indiana, after being pummeled by hail, tornados battered large areas of the state. several towns are completely gone. in fact, here the same area was hit by an ef-4/ef-5 last april. there was a mobile home here last year blown off its foundation. its debris is piled back there. the owner put another mobile home, here this morning, it's gone. locals are thankful. there are no fatalities in this area. this is where it all started and continues to roll on this evening. >> mike seidel, thank you very much from harvest, alabama. now to mike bettes in nashville. we've been watching you all afternoon going through the hail storm, size of golf balls, then

driving rain then winds came through there. >> reporter: it's been a volatile afternoon, that's for sure. i bet the 1 million plus people that live here in the music city consider themselves lucky. take a look at what it did. it knocked over small branches and trees. we had golf ball size hail. it has now melted down to about dime size hail. boy, we got hammered hard. our entire crew had to run for shelter as we believe possible weak rotation came over vanderbilt university and over top of us. we rushed to a drain usage culvert to seek shelter from that storm. some of our crew taking the hail hit on the hands and head. this evening, a completely different story. nashville metro in the clear. behind me you see a vivid blue sky. not all of middle tennessee will be looking okay this evening. south i-65 is a bin laden place to be this evening. east tennessee, as well. places like chattanooga,

tennessee, and knoxville, home of the tennessee volunteers in the greatest risk area in the volunteer state. back to you. >> mike bettes in nashville, thanks. to all our viewers in these affected areas, stay with this nbc station, your late local news, of course, and for up to the minute updates all evening long, experts at the weather channel. now we want to turn to some of the day's other news. war of words over iran's nuclear ambitions. tonight president obama says he's not bluffing about using military action if needed, to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. making his strongest comments yet on this subject, sending a message to iran and to israel and the gop candidates who have been critical of his iran policy. we get our report on this from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: president obama gearing up for a critical meeting with israel's prime minister netanyahu monday and his own speech this weekend to america's strongest pro-israel

lobby, took his hardest line yet against iran. telling "the atlantic" jeffrey goldberg, i don't bluff. i don't go around advertising exactly what our intenses are,s but i think both the iranian and israeli governments recognize when the united states says it is unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say. mr. obama faces pressure from all sides on iran. at a campaign fund-raiser in new york last night, a woman opposing military action presumably paid $1,000 for the privilege of yelling at him. >> none of this -- nobody announced a war, young lady. we appreciate your sentiment. you're jumping the gun a little bit there. >> reporter: the president's immediate challenge is monday's visit from israel's prime minister netanyahu. their ninth meeting, including a tenth oval office face-off last may, when netanyahu appeared to

be lecturing the president. in canada today, the prime minister previewed the hard line he will present to the president, a demand iran shut down its nuclear program, which iran claims is peaceful. >> dismantle the underground nuclear facility and stop enrichment inside iran, and get all the enriched material out of iran. >> reporter: "the atlantic's" jeffrey goldberg sat down with the president. >> i was struck how strong and clearly he was speaking how central this issue is to him. >> reporter: mr. obama's clear intent, warn israel not to attack and try to get iran to negotiate seriously. israel is holtly debating the military option and many say getting closer to a preemptive strike, with or without the u.s. >> it is more likely than not because prime minister netanyahu so strongly supports a strike, israel will choose to strike iran in the coming months. >> reporter: facing tough criticism from republican can't kats, as well, president obama

complained to "the atlantic," his support for israel is still being questioned, even though he says he backed israel on every issue for three years. that's going to be his message to the prime minister who placed the possibility of military action against iran on the table. brian? >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom tonight, thanks. still ahead on a busy friday night, the growing firestorm tonight over that crude tirade from rush limbaugh who is refusing to back down. the woman he targeted is speaking out about those comments and the surprise phone call she received today. [ leanne ] appliance park has been here since the early 50s. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over.

[ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ from centrum. its unique assessment tool... helps you find the multivitamin and supplements... that are right for you. so visit nutritionpossible.com. better nutrition... is within reach. centrum. nutrition possible. better nutrition... is within reach. for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease. osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels have been seen with nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist.

talk to your doctor about nexium. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. we are back with this growing firestorm over the crude tirade from rush limbaugh directed at a young woman caught up in the fight over birth control in washington. tonight, the anger is spreading. that young woman is speaking out on her own behalf and limbaugh is refusing to apologize. we get the latest from nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: today rush limbaugh did not back down.

>> what can i do to the women of america? >> thank you for calling this hearing. >> reporter: his comments from sandra fluke set off a firestorm. she is the georgetown law student prohibited from testifying in support of government mandated contraceptive coverage. limbaugh wednesday. >> what does it say about the college co-ed susan fluke who goes from a congressional committee and says she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? it makes her a slut, right? a prostitute. >> reporter: then thursday. >> if we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. i'll tell you what it is. we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch. >> reporter: his comments got women talking. >> i think that he should apologize to every female in

america for that comment. >> i don't equate taking birth control with being a prostitute. >> reporter: the anger transcends political line. in a piece for this weekend's "the washington post," conservative columnist kathleen parker blasts limbaugh. >> all decent people feel offended by this or should, and that means men, women, republicans, democrats, liberals, conservatives. this is a matter of public civility. he has crossed a line. >> reporter: on the presidential campaign trail, republican candidate rick santorum criticized limbaugh's tactics. >> he's being absurd. an entertainer can be absurd. >> reporter: georgetown president defended fluke even though the catholic university disagrees with her, calling the comments misogyinistic. >> you wanted to testify -- >> reporter: just before going on msnbc's "andrea mitchell reports," fluke got a call from president obama. >> he said to tell my parents they should be proud.

>> reporter: they discussed the name he had been called, know not in explicit terms. >> he expressed his concern for me and his disapproval of this type of discourse. >> reporter: on social media, outraged men and women called for a boycott of limbaugh's advertisers. sleep train, sleep number, quicken loans and autozone pulled their ads. as americans of all perspectives demand a more civil discourse. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. when we come back, the return today to a place where knowing will ever be the same. it's time to get going. to have the energy to turn a "to do" list into a memory. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. to keep stepping up even in overtime. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip hop. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of

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for continental will kidisappea along with the code co. if you already have a ticket, don't worry, you will be flying on united. sales of the still-new electric hybrid chevy volt are not moving as fast as chevy would like, so they are going to idle the production line and gm will lay off 1,300 workser for a five-week period. the volt is pricey, north of $33,000 and they sold fewer than 10,000 so far. just this week president obama said he would buy one after he leaves the white house. we learned today van barfoot died. he was a recipient of the medal of honor forehis actions in world war ii. like all of them, his story is incredible. he grew up in the south, part indian. during the war he took part in the landings at sicily, silerno. he walked through a mine field while killing two enemy on the

run. took 17 prisoners single-handedly, destroyed a tank and turned away two others before getting two of his wounded men to safety. he turned down a trip home and chose to receive his medal of honor in the field in france so his men could be with him. he was the in you recently when his american flag violated the rules of his neighborhood association in virginia, but van won that fight, too. he was 92. his death now leaves 82 living medal of honor recipients. we are back in a moment. with an emotional return today, teachers and students standing united. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and...

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my inspiration for quitting were my sons. they were my little cheering squad. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. five days ago a teenager walked into the cafeteria at chardon high school in cleveland, opened fire with a hand gun, killing three boys, injuring two more students and changing that place forever. today was chardon's first day back at school. it was an emotional return for students and teachers in a place that will never, ever be the same. our report tonight from nbc's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the unthinkable, the children of chardon return to school.

>> we are going to stay together. that will help us move on. >> reporter: as their buses pulled up, students from surrounding schools came to show their support. when the chardon hilltoppers took to the court last night, hundreds dressed in school colors, cheered them on. their opponents war chardon t-shirts and all stood together as one before tipoff and a chardon victory. >> it's really remarkable how these kids have an innate wisdom about what they need for healing. >> reporter: while the flowers and memorials will eventually go, two of the three shooting victims left a lasting legacy. they were able to donate their vital organs. 16 other people benefitted from this precious gives. the family of russell king jr said in a statement, so far his gift of life saved eight lives, including a small child, his heart still beats. mourners lined up to say good-bye to 16-year-old danny

parmertor whose funeral is saturday. his father released this video of danny because he wanted everyone to hear his laughter. the mother of demetrius hulan would have turned 17 next week. >> if you don't forgive, you hold that in your heart. you've got that hatred in your heart. this is for my sop. >> reporter: as a small ohio town grieves, those who live here work together to move forward. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chardon, ohio. one more reminder tonight for all those folks in the storm zone, a good idea to keep an eye on the weather channel coverage all night long. for us, that's our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt will be here with you this weekend. we hope to see you, of course, back here monday evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com