making news in america this morning -- a severe weather outbreak casting a wide net overnight. tornadoes toppling homes. damaging schools. dozens injured. swollen rivers overflowing their banks. a mid may blizzard. a trip cut short for former president jimmy carter. the health concern that forced the 90-year-old to quickly come home. and a show scare. the stage collapses. the performers descending out of sight. and a multitasking dad becoming a fan favorite because of this catch. his baby right there along for the ride.

and good morning to you all on this monday. i'm. the j. holmes. >> i'm marci gonzalez in for reen ma ninen. as we're coming on the air, more than 50 million people in texas are under the severe threat of a tornado. >> a tornado hit in van, texas. all of the schoolses were damaged. more than 20 people suffered injuries. >> a tornado hit the high school in lake city iowa. about 150 people were inside at an awards ceremony at the time. >> the severe weather on the move. first, susan saulny with the weekend wrap-up. >> reporter: another round of brutal weather in texas. more tornadoes. more flooding. more devastation. this family of eight in van

texas survived a twister by hiding in the bathroom. national guard plaque hawk helicopters pulled people to safety trapped by flash flooding. >> this time they couldn't even get to us by boat. it was scary. >> reporter: two teenagers hoisted to safety after spending more than one hour trapped. back on land overwhelmed by the ordeal. >> carry? >> did you watch this unfold? >> pretty nerve racking. we feel fortunate and appreciate these guys and the national guard. >> reporter: severe spring weather leaving millions rattled and whole towns in ruin. this sink hole in hood countrity, texas. >> there goes the school. there goes the school. >> reporter: part of the same storm system sent snow blapgting ing parts of colorado and the northern plains. more than 13 inches of snow in parts of colorado.

today, the threat moves to the east. from the gulf coast up to the ohio river valley a significant threat of severe weather and potential tornadoes. susan saulny abc news washington. >> arkansas is also reeling from severe weather this morning. a state of emergency declared in franklin county over the weekend after fierce winds downed trees and threatened power lines. >> roads and brijs wiped out. the flash flood watch remains in effect through this morning. >> accuweather's paul williams joins us with the morning forecast. >> listen no matter what part of the ohio valley region you're in, you'll need an umbrella. you can run but you can't hide. those scattered showers and thunderstorms will rumble throughout indiana, michigan, down through illinois to the lower mississippi valley region. if that rain doesn't catch you, we have ana causing thunderstorms and problems throughout the evening hour.

ana will stay primarily along the north carolina coast. the catch to it is this. she will continue to weaken. monday going into tuesday, and then kind of flatten out, kind of like a bread without any yeast. flatten out, lose all of her gus tow. marci? t.j.? >> paul thank you so much. things still not quite back to normal at a nuclear power plant 30 miles north of new york city after a fire and then an oil spill. a cleanup effort is under way on the hudson river. the oil spill caused by a transformer fire at the indian power nuclear plant. no danger and no radio active material was released in the fire or the leak. turning to the deadly attack on two police officers in hatties hattiesburg, mississippi. four suspects due in court today. two officers were gunned down in

a traffic stop. the first officers in hattiesburg gowned down in the line of duty in more than three decades. >> two family members of our community have fallen. >> dean was a 34-year-old married father of two and a decorated officer of the year. tate was a 25-year-old rookie who had a life long dream of joining the force. former president jimmy carter has returned to the u.s. after not feeling well after aduring a trip to south america ka. he went to guayana on friday to observe today's elections. 90-year-old carter wearing those jeans. he's back in atlanta. no other details about his health were revealed. cuban president raul castro has visited the vatican, where he met with the pope more nearly an hour. he said he wanted to thank pope

francis for working to thaw relations between the u.s. and cuba. he said he's considering returning to the catholic church. an apparent snub from the new king of saudi arabia. king sol mon won't attend a high-level meeting hosted by president obama this third. the white house said the president would meet one on one with the king before the summit. lots of moms got a special phone call for mother's day. only a few were lucky enough to get one directly from the white house. three moms who had written to president obama over the past year got the surprise of their lives. a personal call from the president himself. >> hi patty? >> hi, yes. >> hey, this is barack obama. >> nah uh.

no way. >> yes. >> the president thankd them for the hard work they do every day. they did not believe it. >> that's the right response. still ahead, the iphone picture that saved a 2-year-old boy's life. plus airline outrage. a plane makes an emergency landing to remove a 15-year-old girl with autism and her mother. why the pilot says he did it. and vanishing act. but this was not part of the show. the dramatic moment a stage gives way.

well a heck of a find on beach in massachusetts. the remains of a ship that dates back to the mid 1800s now being excavated. the ship was probably a schooner about 100 feet long about 12 feet wide.

they don't know for sure whether the part that was found is the ship's bow or stern. americans will be heading out in droves for the long memorial day weekend. aaa is expecting more than 37 million people to venture out 50 miles from home or more. that's a spike from last year. and the highest number of memorial day travelers in ten years. 9 out of 10 of those travellers will drive to their destination, thanks in part to lower gas prices. now down to $2.65 a gallon. a full dollar down from the national average from last memorial day. the avengers" still doing their thing at the box office. the movie brought in more than $77 million over the weekend. the second largest haul for the second weekend in theaters ever. in second hot pursuit. and "the age of adaline" was third. when we come back, a principal under fire for remarks she made during graduation.

the comment that had the audience filing out. an amazing catch made by a baseball fan, carrying his baby. yes, the catch of the day. new flonase allergy relief nasal spray. this changes everything. flonase is the 24 hour relief that outperforms a leading allergy pill. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over-producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance, flonase controls six. and 6 is greater than 1. so go ahead, inhale life, excite your senses, seize the day and the night. new flonase. 6 is greater than 1. this changes everything. how do they make starburst taste so juicy? they use wicked small fighter jets to shoot the juiciness into every starburst. [ pilot ] it's about to get juicy. whoo! i feel so aliii... it takes guts. [ female announcer ] starburst. unexplainably juicy.

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a tough night in the small town of van, texas, east of dallas. a severe storm, likely a tornado

struck there after dark. dozens of buildings damaged. some destroyed. power lines are down. more than 5 people were hurt. so far, it appears none of those injuries were serious. you need to leave extra time for your commute in the northwest. roads could be slick from texas up through the northwest as well. if you're flying airport delays hobble in houston, chicago, memphis, charlotte, and washington, d.c. an oregon mother is filing a lawsuit after her autistic teen was kicked off a united airlines flight. >> this happened last week. the family was reporting to oregon from disney world. the girl's mom says the girl makes loud noises when her daughter gets frustrated. the pilot made an emergency landing and they were escorted off the plane. >> the police officer said we have to ask you to leave the

plane. i said why? he said well the captain doesn't feel comfortable flying to portland with your daughter on his flight. >> united is standing by the crew, saying they made the best decision for the safety and comfort of their customers. this picture is worth a thousand words, isn't snit a wiltd scene. the choir there. there they go. this grows wrong. 80 people in that choir, they just disappeared. at least eight of the singhs were hurt. they're trying to find out what caused the stage to give way. a mother in illinois has a picture taken on an iphone to thank for tipping her off to her son's serious illness. the pupil in 2-year-old avery's eye came out white. his mom did research and found someone else who found the same thing and her child had cancer.

aif i have got checked out. again, cancer was found. he's lost his eye, but without early detection, the cancer could have spread. >> little guy is doing all right now. certainly good to hear. who knew. a phone. well all right. it's that time of the morning. we turn to our guys from sports. >> exciting playoff action to show you. highlights from our guy at espn. hi i'm kevin connors. fantastic mother's day in the sports world beginning in chicago. cavs an bulls. game four. bulls leading the best of seven, 2-1. five seconds to go. lebron james trying to get a shot off. has it knocked out of bounds with 0.8 seconds to go. the referees go to the monitors. essentially giving the cavaliers a time-out. they put 1.5 seconds back on the clock. draw up a play and lebron james does that. corner jumper as time expires. third playoff buzzer-beater in his career. the cavs win it 86-84.

rangers and capitals. rangers trying to force a game seven. third period leading 3-1. dan boyle let it rip. 4-1, rangers. the rout is on. hang on. capitals would not go away quietly. ward beats lundquist. it's a 4-3 game. under 6:00 to go alex ovechkin for the tie. he's denied. and henrik lundqvist and the rangers survive. they win it 4-3. what a day in the bronx for michael pineda. the yankee right-hander was electric. the fastball. the slider. anything he threw breaking in for strikes. in fact, seventh inning he gets caleb joseph and then ryan flaherty. 16 strikeouts on the day. ties a mayor league record. the yankees win it, 6-2.

well, a high school principal in georgia under fire right now over comments she made at the end of her school's graduation ceremony. the comments many say were racially insensitive. listen to what she said. >> look who's leaving. all the black people. >> you hear that comment. you see how the crowd reacted to that. her name is name si gorduke. she skipped the value dick attorney's speech in the ceremony. and then tried to regain the audience's attention. she became angry when people started leaving. she tried to explain her actions later. >> it was not a statement of racism. it was just my frustration and -- you know, when i said it i told my husband, it felt like the del was in the house, because it didn't even sound like me. >> the principal apologized. no word from the devil just yet. some parents and students say they're not buying her excuses.

all right. up next in "the pulse." a massive whale shark swims by and so they jump on him for a ride. a little girl with her little pink fishing pole. but she fleeld quite a big catch. i'm brian vickers, nascar® driver. i'm kevin nealon comedian. and i'm arnold palmer, professional golfer. know what we have in common? we talked to our doctors about treatment with xarelto®. me, when i had a blood clot in my leg that could have traveled to my lungs. that's why i took xarelto®, too. xarelto® is proven to treat and help reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots. i took xarelto® for afib... an irregular heartbeat that can lead to a stroke from a blood clot. xarelto® is proven to reduce the risk of stroke in people with afib, not caused by a heart valve problem. hey, well i'm glad we got together. for people with afib currently well managed on warfarin there is limited information on

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all right, time to check "the pulse." stories you'll be talking about today. if you don't know if you're coming or going, don't look at the calendar this week. >> every date this week is a palindrone. reading the same forward and backwards. today, 5-11-15 reads the same back to right. >> the same drill for the next nine days. only if you write them the american way, starting with the month instead of the day. you follow us there, folks? >> it's a little early to put all this together. next up, a dad who will never forget a mother's day he spent at the ballpark in philadelphia. >> during the mets-phillies game yesterday, one of the mets fouled a pitch off. take a look at what happened.

there it is. do cow make it out? the guy caught the ball there. you might be businessing -- you see the kid. strapd in there. that's awesome. >> mike capko making the one-hand grab with 7-month-old son colden strap encolten strapped to his chest. how did it feel? >> it hurt. he crushed the ball. you have natural reaction. it worked out great. >> he's a big phillies fan. been to plenty of games. never caught a ball before. >> his wife says they'll have a great story to share with colten when he's old enough. dad kept one hand free the make sure baby's all right. now some florida teens who seem to need a reminder that animals in their natural habitat should be left alone. >> the water off florida where they were fishing over the weekend. they spotted this huge whale shark. instead of keeping their distance which i would have done.

they jumped right on in and had a swim with it. is this you're seeing the video showing the guy grabbing the shark's dorsal fin and being pulled through the water. might seem like a good time to some. dangerous to others. the experts say it could be harmful to the animal. >> and it's just plain crazy. okay. and we'll leave to it you to decide if this is a fish story. dad posted this video on youtube, supposedly showing his daughter zoey reeling in a giant bass that looks to be about half her size. >> okay there's a reason my dear marci said supposedly. in the video, it seems zoey is using a tiny pink fishing pole that could possibly be a toy. we never see her catch the fish. that's led to speculation out there online that the dad maybe planted the fish on his daughter's pole. but there's always a fish tale right? >> that pole would have snapped, i don't know. or maybe she's a pro.

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>> good morning, i'm tamala edwards. it is monday, may 11. we've got breaking news, fire rips through an new jersey apartment buildings and injuries several people and this includes a firefighter. developing right now a new round of brutal weather pounded the south overnight causing flooding. accuweather is track be some early morning fog there's the possibility of showers in some parts we've got all that and more, weather and traffic updates all next. south. hot and humid in the northeast. finat we know for sure there is

one mom in texas who had a mother's day she'll never forget. tom llamas tells us why. >> reporter: the tears started falling just after mom deana hit the field at halftime. she thought this video from her son andrew an airman based overseas was her mother's day gift. the real gift was running up behind her. >> united states air force staff sergeant andrew ents. >> i had no idea. this has got to be the best mother's day present ever. >> it was priceless. like a moment i will never forget. just seeing her face and the look and the expression on her face and how excited she was. >> reporter: andrew is based in south korea. he hasn't been home in eight months. being here for mother's day and for church with his parents and sister is special. >> we were not expecting him to come home until december. >> oh! >> reporter: across the country, service members surprising their moms.

is. >> staff sergeant james has just returned from afghanistan to be with -- >> reporter: staff sergeant markeeta james surprised her moment who was about to receive a degree. back in houston, the entss' are making the most of his visit. brumpbl with extended family. andrew has rarely made it home in the past five years. >> it's been hard. i know that andrew is in a good place. i miss him tremendously. but, i know he's happy. doing what he's doing, serving our country and protecting our freedom. >> reporter: and drew and his mom get three weeks together this time. a visit the two will now never forget. tom llamas, abc news new york. >> such a great story. >> that's a good day. all i did was called my mom. i feel like i really -- >> failed. that's what's making news in america this morning. stay with us for "good morning america." for marci and me, have a great monday.

>> good morning we're following several breaking and developing stories on this monday may 11. at least one person escaped an overnight apartment fire by jumping out of the window, we're live in mercer county new jersey with the details. >> more wild weather is expected in areas that saw more tornados over the weekend. >> details on what set her off and who wishes now blaming. >> good morning it's good