east coast from the carolinas all the way to maine. chaotic state. a daring rescue in ecuador after rebel police corn ter president. and world's collide. they come face to face for the first time in over six decades. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hi, everybody. great to have you with us today. i'm thomas roberts. and today we begin with drenched, soaked, and just plain drenched. flood watches remain for parts of the northeast this morning after a monster storm moving from the carolinas all the way up to maine yesterday causing at least five deaths. the worst of the rain fell in north carolina where jacksonville picked up 12 inches in just six hours. that's nearly a quarter of its annual rainfall. nbc's curt gregory has more. >> reporter: the remnants of tropical storm nicole blew through the carolinas, causing

flooding along the coast, wilmington, north carolina, soaked with 22 inches of rain since sunday. >> that's not only a record but it's more than hurricane floyd produced back in 1999. >> reporter: the storm caused dangerous driving conditions up and down the coast. state troopers in north carolina blamed the weather for a rollov accident that killed four people. it caused one city bus to slam into another in metro washington a. in suburban philadelphia a large tree toppled over onto a school bus and an ambulance and streets in lancaster, pennsylvania,ere swamped. the nation's capital area is expecting 7 inches of rain before it ends. high winds and rough surf didt stop fishermen on the jersey shore, but the heavy weather did snarl air traffic, causi cancellations and delays in both newark and philadelphia. curt gregory, nbc news.

nbc meteorologist bill karins will have much more on this storm. that's coming up in just a few minutes. >> well, a big change is in store for president obama's team as another key figure gets ready to hit the road. white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is expted to announce today he's leaving his job to run for mayor of chicago. the move comes really as no surprise. emmanuel has been setting the stage for his departure for release after mayor daley announced his retiring. at least for now obama adviser pete rolf is expected to bring a much calmer introverted style to the white house. in california, the drama surrounding the immigration. is reachinghollywood proportions now. she's denied recent revelations that she knowingly employed an mmigrant housekeeper for nearly a decade but now whitman's

husband admits he may have been aware of a letter sent to him in 2003 by the social security administration raising discrepancies about the housekeeper's documents but still he didn't say the housekeeper was illegal. meg whitman who has campaned for tougher sanctions against employers who hire undocumented workers says she's ready to take a lie detector test to prove she d not know about the housekeeper's status. a wild chaotic day in ecuador last night with sold yours staging a rescue at the hospital. the president there, rafael correia has been trapped for more than 12 hours after he was tear gassed, pelted with water, and even physically assaulted. after being freed he told cheering suppoers the violenc amounted to an attempted coup, leading to arrests. with protesters shutting down

airports and also blocking roads. >> now here's a look at some other stories making news today early inamerica. two men are recovering after being rescued from a rhode island river yesterday. the driver of a pickup rolled 20 to 30 feet down a cliff into the river. soon after a rescue attempt a fire rescue fell. the vehicle was fished from the river. no word on what caused the accident. in utah officials say brake failure cause add young driver to loose control of a flatbed truck slamming into a home. it nrowly missed two women inside the home. it's left a family of six temporarily homeless. a central african native looks like a combination of a horse and a zebra but it's actually related to the giraffe. it doesn't keep close to mom. and in minnesota two women from different worlds meet for the very firstime after being pen pals for 63 years.

dortheia was a young girl in germany when she started writing to an american girl. they crossed for 63 years and now each have families of their own. they're finally together giggling like e school girls they once were. congrats to them. and now for a look at your national and regional weather here's nbc's bill karins with your national forecast. good morning. >> let's talk more about the impressive rains that we've seen. what's been very impressive and wetill have flashes there, the rain is over with. it's raining hard in philadelphia. that's where some of the worst of the weather is this morning. notice this orange color is three-plus inches all the way up here through central new york. everywheren green is river flood warning. we're going to have to watch the delaware river closely and up here near albany, new york, interior the adirondacks. you see the radar.

it's finally moving out. baltimore, you're one, washington, d.c., you're done. and the rain hasn't arrived yet in places like new york city. here's the closer view. the red and yellow, that's rain and heavy thunderstorms through new jersey. that's the worst of it this morning. so be prepared. leave really early if you want to get to work on time tod in and around new york. as far as the rest of the country goes, looking just fine weatherwise. beautiful conditions in the middle of the nation from chicago to dallas, all the way down through florida. enjoy what should be a perfect friday. that's a look at your friday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. plenty of sunshine todayn cincinnati. gorgeous weather through the ohio valley. look at raleigh, that's nice. , low humidity and sunshine. now boston hasn't had any rain from the bic soaker but that will change later today. rain will be off and on during the day. thomas, we'll be done with this storm system by the time the weekend arrives and i'll have

that forecast coming up. >> we look forward to it. so a month to remember on wall street, a huge toy recall, and what's next for fast food breck forecast. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus movie-goers friend the facebook movie in theaters this weekend. the giants are set to clinch a college football thriller. and, oh, by, what a grab. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome ack to "early today." i'm thomas roberts, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. suspected militants torched more than two dozen tankers in southern pakistan today that were carrying supplies for american and nato forces fighting in afghanistan. the attack happened one day after they blocked a vital supply route in the country's north, that in retaliation for a

nato helicopter attack that mistakenly killed three pakistani soldiers. >> the icon will be released next month, days after they hold their first electon in two decades. the nobel peace laureate who has been detained for more than 20 years will be freed when her current house arrest expires november 13. the price of a first-class starp will remain at 44 cents for now after feral regulators denied t postal service's request to raise the cost by two cents in january. according to tin pen dent agency that oversees em they fail to demonstrate that the recession was responsible for their multibillion-dollar financial crisis. and french police are searching for theevs who broke into afarmer's vineyard and sold 33 tons of apes. at was his entire crops. they took advantage of a full moon and used a professional

harvesting machine to haul away what amounted to $23,000 in lost income and a year's worth of work. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 1088 after losing 47 points yesterday. the s&p dipped 3, and the nasdaq fell by 7. we take a look overseas at trading there this morning. in tokyo they added 13 points but in hong kong the hang seng lost 20. wall street ended the month of a weak note yesterday, but it was still the best septembe in 71 years, defying september's track record as stock's rst month. the dow gained 7.7%, the strongest since 1939. the s&p and nasdaq also logged healthygains. yesterdayraders were initially upbeat with data showing the economy making profit but yesterday they moved in with techhares among the best performers leaving the fall. apple, dell, and google were all

down about 1%. the biggest advancer was boeing after announcing their results would not be heard by the delay of the biggest commercial jet. aig roseore than 4% after unveiling a plan for its to repay its $182 billion taxpayer bailout. prudtial fell more than 4% after it agreed to buy two japanese life insurance units from aig for $4.2 billion. and here we go again. dollar thrifty shareholders rejected a buyout offer from hertz, giving it another chance to rival bidder avis. elseware fisher-price will recall about 10 million toys and other items in u.s. and canada due to a potential injury. n narviartis will pay.

and finally for you. fast food for breakfast is nothing new, but how about a breakfast pizza. yeah, a 24-hour domino's in ohio is experimenting with a pizza made wh eggsnd breakfast meats. sales are strong. breakfast may be coming to a domino's for you. breakfast of champions. >> a royal pain for the rays, the giants sweep toward the playoffs and a battle of the unbeatens, plus, if you really feel the need go for a ful ball with a kid in your handa, you'd better be sure not to make an error. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. e tropical downpours on the east coa will moving offshore. your regional forecast is looking good. you're watchg "early today."

goodorning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, with the major league season heading into its final weekend, the san francisco giants have put themselves in the catbird seat when it comes to making playoffs. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the san fraisco giants have set themselves up to clinch the nl west in front of their home crowd this weekend after sweeping the arizona amondbac diamondbacks.

check out the phantom kayak into the ball. he gothe soggy souvenir and the giants led it, 1-0. quenches th of the season. giants won it, 4-1. they need to win this weekend against the padres to clinch the st. speaking of the padres, they're reeling. a chopper to the left. carlos marmol struck out one. they're now three back in the west and two games back in the wild card. big red machine chugging toward the postseason. they put the reds up, 2-0. a single to left. the reds hammered the astros, 9-1. they' finish the regular season with a series against the brewers. college football, they came down to one costly error. under 30 seconds to play, ti at 35. ing a gees trying to get in a field goal position but jared jackson threw it right to lewis.

huge mistake a that led to this. dan bailey with a 40-yard field goal to win. they won it. > finally back to san francisco where the play of the day was made by a fan. foul ball to the right and this dad made a grab with one hand while holding his back with another. talk about multi-tasking. one more look and look closely. the guy actually has a glove but it's on the hand that's holding the kid. he caught the ball but he'll probably catch an earful from his wife when he gets home. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great ekd. i'm fred roggin. so coming up, we are going to tell you without a doubt whic film will win this weekend at the box office. plus, you won't believe how much mel gibson's ex-is getting in child support and what she originally asked for. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. you've watching "early today."

welcome back. it looks like a really nice forecast heading into the weekend. the only probable will be from philly to new york up through new england as the rain exits during the day. the rest of the country looks great. look as we go into the weekend. cool if not chilly air. look at chicago and nneapolis, only the 50s in the east. should be a very beautiful,

beautiful fall weekend in the st. in the east coast for the most part it should be rather dry and almost like fall. well if you're watching us on wkyt in cleveland, ohio, get a hands-on experience at skplorn exploring strae stuff. strange matter touch it, twist it, smash it at the great lakes science center. and that's your "early today" event of the day, thomas. how many times day do you get to tell your kids to do it. touch it, twist it, smash it. they never get to do it. >> they're not supposed to. well, now here's an early look at this morning's headlines entertainment. at the box ofce a victory is a victory even if there's no competition. the social network, the tale that tells the beginnings is expected to crush or cruise to the top with at least $20 million. crushing anything out there i meant to say. elsewhere tmz reports that ox a

na greg vai va has jumped the amount. her lawyers had asked the judge to increase the support $2060,000 a month. finally the couple known around the world as the white house party crashers have threatened to sue the women on "the real housewives of washington, d.c." if they call them white house party crashers. they have hired a lawyer and former tv court commentator lisa bloom who e-mailed the cast of that show basically telling them there's no conclusive evidence that the salahis crashed the white house dinner and they'd better not say sew. although, bill, we're not part of the show so i can sayit. they are the white house party crashers. >> they're going to try to prohibit freedom of speech? >> i guess so. this comes to us from ktv in anchorage, alaska, where one

coupleroves you don't grow out of toys. they built a giant motorized fully operational giant flyer wagon complete with an eight-foot-high handle. they used a life-size wagon wheel for steering. that it get lots of stares but don't worry, this one is street leechlt congrats to them. well, i'm thomas roberts, and this is "early today," just your first stopf the day, today on your nbc station. ♪

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our time right now is 4:28. 59 degrees outside. you can see it's hazy. finally, mercifully a dry house. taking a look at radar, a far different time from this time yesterday. a few blue splotches out there. >> we had torrential downpours yesterday. >> had to bring out the lls. >> megan mcgrath was talking about how she was pruning in her fingers because it was so bad. meteorologist tom kierein joins us tovrnlth good morning, tom. >> good morning. i have webbed feet so we're ready to go. heaviest rainsnded at midnight. the winds are picking up a little bit. but as you mentioned, a few blue

blotches. here in the district of columbia and maryland, the stdier, heavier rain pulled off to the north and east. travel problems in and out of new york and boston. right now it has cooled do. temperatures in the 50s in many cations, around the shenandoah valley, blue ridge. in the district of columbia, low 6 0s. low 60s in prince george's. southern maryland, chesapeake bay, mid-70s. eastern shore that got pounded with heavy rain overnight is in the low 70s. winds a bit blustery in the wake of the storm that pulled off north and east of us. wind gusts 25 to 30 miles per hour coming north-northwest. wasps drying out as the