i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. this morning on "early today" -- from one extreme to the other. the southeast gets slammed by nearly two feet of rain. bugging out. a california town encounters an infestation of almost biblical proportion. and gun blazing. a piece of wild west history goes under the hammer. hello and very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. high winds are fanning the

flames of two wildfires that have foreed hundreds of evacuations in colorado and new mexico. fire officials say so far the colorado blaze has destroyed or scorched 18 structures and 20,000 acres. officials say the fire is zero percent contained. strong winds grounded aircraft in a 40 square mile wildfire in new mexico that's burned through some three dozen structures. across the country, torrential rains brought damaging floods to the southeast. heavy downpours soaked pensacola with more than 18 inches of rain on saturday, blocking roads and stranding residents and cars in the knee-high water. more than 100 people were forced to evacuate their homes. parts of southeast alabama were drenched during the severe storm. we'll fine out when the rain-soaked area can expect to dry out. that's coming up in a moment in weather. also in alabama, a statewide manhunt is under way for a gunman that open fire at a party this weekend near the campus of

auburn university, killing three and wounding three others. two former auburn football players were among those killed. nbc's kurt gregory has details. >> reporter: a gunman open fire during a fight at a party held at an off-campus apartment complex near auburn university on saturday night. >> it happened so quick. >> reporter: three were killed in the shooting, including two former auburn university players. edward christian and ladarious phillip. three more injured in the gunfire, one is a current football for the university. >> very sad time for the auburn community. auburn university, auburn university athletic department. >> reporter: head coach gene chizik released a statement in part saying, my thoughts and prayers are with the families and all those involved in this tragic incident. >> not only university students and athletes, but it's -- it's young people. it's six young people that have

been shot. >> reporter: authorities are hunting for the suspect, desmonte leonard, charged with capital murder. >> we won't rest until he's located. >> reporter: as the search for the suspect continues. >> don't know what i'm going to do. i'm lost, you know what i'm saying? i grew up with him. >> reporter: as victims' friends and an entire community search for a reason why. opening statements are scheduled today in the trial of former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky. sandusky is facing 52 criminal counts for the alleged sexual abuse of ten boys. some the alleged victims are expected to testify when prosecutors start presenting their case. they reportedly will also show letters sandusky allegedly wrote to one of his accusers. if convicted, sandusky could spend the rest of his lich in prison.

here's a look at other stories making news "early today" in america. residents near sacramento are experiencing what some may call a nuisance of bubble cal proportions. an army of low custs devouring plant life everywhere and homeowners feel helpless. locals are worried the hungry insects could target vineyard and dairy ranches. mexican fruittail bats have left a cave. people have watching them search for pray. the summer feeding period is a seasonal sect cal. low tide in southern california giving marine and people with gigantic snails are showing up, some as much as three times their normal size. finally, a mother and her ducklings brought traffic on a washington freeway to a standstill. police and motorists spent

several minutes attempts to secure safe passage for the animals. they didn't make it easy but the family was eventually relocated. it's now time for a look at your national and regional weather forecast. have you ever seen anything like that? >> stop traffic for something like that? >> for ducks. >> in the front row you could see the guy making a fool of himself trying to catch the ducks. in-f you're a mile down the road, you're -- >> no, he's a good samaritan. >> and entertaining. the amazing pictures out of southern mississippi, alabama and all the panhandle were incredible with the rainfall. in pen coal rsacola, second wety ever recorded in pensacola, 13.13 inches of rain. it wasn't just isolated. west pensacola had the thunderstorms sitting over it

longer and they picked up 21.7 inches of rain, nearly 2 feet of rain. naet why we had epic flooding. they have the sandy soil and can deal with 5 to 6 inches of rain better than anybody but 1 to 2 feet flooding will happen anywhere. still standing water in places, flood warnings in effect. a line of storms developed between atlantic and macon and watching showers and storms pushing off the coastline near savannah and charleston. the other area of concern, strong storms last night from minnesota to iowa, continue to weaken ever so lowly. northern missouri and also as we head through the quad cities dealing with a lot of heavy rain over the last couple of hours. a pretty good line heading for dubuque and north of kansas city now, a line around st. charles looks to be intense. the forecast for today, still watching the threat of heavy rain through the southeast during the day. it will be hot in areas like washington, d.c.

that's a look at your national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. on and off thunderstorms likely from pittsburgh to raleigh southward. the heaviest concentration through georgia. areas out west, beautiful weather as the cold front went through in minneapolis. overall we're in a quiet weather pattern, just happened pensacola and mobile happened to sit under -- >> water logged. is that rain -- >> ever so slowly. >> thanks. a big bailout for spain. big speculation over apple. the latest price for dining with the oracle. plus, ridley scott's allen thriller not enoh at the box office. the orioles have a flare for the dra macktics and the best acting job in baseball. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. l.a. county reports john bryson was allegedly involved in two separate traffic collisions saturday. he was hospitalized. authority say he was cooperative and there is no indication alcohol or drugs played a role. the first collision is under investigation as a felony hit and run. syrian troops have killed at least 35 people this weekend, shelling on the city of homs in attempt to regain control of the stronghold. hosni mubarak is reportedly slipping in and out of consciousness. mubarak, sentenced to life, has had an irregular heart beat and required assistance in breathe

you probably don't know his name but you definitely know his name. frank kady died at age 86. he played store owner on "green acres." and ann any oakley's shotgun has been sold at auction for $143,000. she became a superstar starring in buffalo bill's wild west show. a total of $500,000 was paid for about 100 item of annie oakley memorabilia. and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. many doctors are updating the way they communicate with their patients, e-mails, text messages identify medical problems via facebook and track disease trends on twitter, but some doctors still cling to pen and paper. the american medical association warns, while there are benefits to using social media, doctors must protect patient privacy. for more information on this and other health stories head to the web and check out the web. check out the health page online at msnbc.com. >> announcer: "early today"

health is brought to you by vagisil wash. the confident clean. now heeshz an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,554 after adding 93 points friday. the s&p up 10. the nasdaq gained 27. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo, nikkei spiked 165 points while in hong kong the hang seng skyrocketed 451. coming off their best week of the year, stocks should get another lift today. eurozone finance ministers have agreed to lend spain up to $125 billion to help the battered banks, removing a huge cloud hanging over financial markets for month. asian stocks rallied today but an lis worry the reliv could be short-lived. worries over greece's vote to leave the eurozone. investors will be watching jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon testify before congress

about his bank's multibillion dollar trading fiasco. may retail sales and reading on inflation are on deck this week. opec will discuss oil production levels this week as prices hover around eight-month lows. as a result, gas prices have dropped 16 cents over the past three weeks to an average $3.62. a lot of eyes will be on apple today during its annual worldwide developer's conference. speculation swirling around possible new software and hardware. united health care says it will maintain health care reform law regardless of how the supreme court rules on the challenged legislation. cnbc is reporting ubs is ready to sue nasdaq for $350 million in losses from botched facebook ipo. and big congratulations to the winner of warren buffett's annual charity auction who forecasted over, get th

forked over, get this, nearly $3.5 million to dine with the billionaire. the oh's walk off, things get slippery at the french open. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. after incredible rainfall this weekend, we'll watch that storm heading up the east coast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, two competitors competing sunday for one of tennis's top titles were forced to wait as mother nature refused to cooperate at the french open. here's nbc's mario solis for a look at your sports headlines. good morning. for the first time in 39 years the men's final of the french open will be decided on a monday. rain ruling the day in paris. rafael nadal and djokovic played a wet and wild first half, nadal jumped out to an early two-set lead. something tells me novak wasn't too happy, takes out his frustration on the bench. that may have jumpstarted the number one player in the world. he comes back to win the their, ahead in the fourth, when rain crashes the party. drizzle turns into a downpour. the match was suspended due to rain and darkness. they'll try to crown a champion this morning. start spreading the news,

yankees have swept the mets after they tied it in the ninth, russell martin with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the inning, second of the game. get out the brooms, yanks win 5-4. more late inning heroics, red sox and nats tied 3-3 in the ninth. this is what you call a hit and run. bryce harper takes off from first, bernadino to the right, and harper turn on the after-burners, motors around to score the go ahead run. that is textbook baseball. nationals win 4-3. baltimore. if you're going to play the orioles in extra innings you're probably going to lose. one on for matt weiters, touring flight to right. hunter pence can't make the grab. they score the winning run. o's have won nine straight in extra winning 5-4. the catch of the day, or was it? pirates and royals andrew mccutchen down the line, meyers over the wall. head-first over the wall. take another look. he goes head over his heels.

that's the ball rolling around. he picks it up, shows it to the umpire. it's called an out but i call it the best acting job in baseball. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. a diva's concert casualty and details on a hollywood we wedding in texas. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, we're all suckers for a cute kitten but this weekend an entire community rallied to save the life of one. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." here's what you need to know heading out the door. we're going to watch heavy rain this morning. st. joseph, missouri, getting nailed by thunderstorms. kansas city to your north of you is where the heavy rain is going to lie this morning. chicago, isolated storms could head for you later today. and down along the gulf coast, still a chance of storms off and on today from mobile back to new orleans. and then tomorrow not a lot changes. that rain lingers there down along the northern gulf coast. if you're watching us on news center 17, springfield, illinois, celebrate world oceans day by learning how they impact their lives and how we impact them at the henson robinson zoo. that's your early event of the day. >> all right. and now here's another look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. this summer season real battle at the box office went to the animals. the cute critter of the "mad gar car 3" with a better than

expected $63 million debut. they also took in $75 million overseas. another big opening had to settle for the second spot, ridley scott's alien saga "prometheus" taking in $50 million. lady gaga suffered a concussion during her final show in new zealand when a dancer accidentally hit her on the head with a metal pole. she is said to be doing just fine and still set to start her australian tour on wednesday. i wonder how often that happens? >> well not often. finally after five years and two years matthew mcconaughey and camilla alves were married in austin, texas. wedding guests slept over friday in luxury tents. he was wearing a dolce & gabanna tux. for the vows, the couple whispered into each other's ears. >> who married up, him or her?

>> i would say they're even. >> you can't just sit on the fence. de. she's gorgeous. she's beautiful. >> i'm being politically correct. >> not me. this comes to us from wmc action news 5 in memphis, tennessee, where the city rallied around a rescue effort to save one precious life. a team of plumbers, city workers and animal advocates worked tirelessly to free a kitten from an underground pipe while it was trapped. while it was trapped the kitten became a social media dar willing generating buzz on twitter. there's tally of how many of the cat's nine lives were used up but eventually it was saved and aptly named pipe kitty. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "early today," your first stop of the day on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're off to a quiet start on this monday. we have some revenue in the forecast but probably not until later today or tomorrow. the humidity has gone up. 66 in parkton. a mixture of sun and clouds. 30% chance for a thunderstorm later this afternoon. most of the day will be dry. warm and muggy. we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> 4:56. coming up --

>> former penn state coach jerry sandusky finally gets his day in court. >> the search is on for baltimore's new police commissioner. i have details in a live report. >> a disabled vehicle to report on 95 at the fort mchenry.chu ve

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i am sarah caldwell. >> i am lisa robinson. .> i'm here for myself it was hot yesterday. today the humidity will go u