everything is gone. >> you're looking for your mom? >> my mom, my sister, my brother, my nephew, my dad. >> a desperate search for survivors following a string defdly tornadoes that ripped apart homes and demolished towns aacross ten states. good evening, everyone. i'm chris gordon. the death toll continuing to rise this evening as the extent of the damage becomes clearer. at least 37 people are dead, hundreds injured. the line of twisters crushed homes, ripped down power lines and tossed cars and tractor trailers like toys. the worst of the damage in

southern indiana where entire communities and neighborhoods were wiped off the map in a matter of seconds. we have team coverage. chuck bell in the storm center. we begin with nbc's jay gray. >> reporter: good evening. the devastation you see behind me stretches for miles. two violent attacks from mother senate in the span of three days which in communities just like this across the tornado alley, the loss is almost too much to bear. a day after, and the devastation is almost impossible to believe. >> tragic, terrible. it's one minute you're here and then you're gone. >> reporter: communities and lives ripped apart by 100 tornadoes that touched down across a dozen states. the images of destruction tell the sad story tell the sad story better any words might, kentucky, georgia, tennessee and north carolina. deep, violent scars that stretch for miles, perhaps none more painful than here in the nation's heartland. >> once again, mother nature has

dealt harshly with indiana. >> the small town of henryville wiped from the map. >> we came out of the basement and everything was gone. >> reporter: the only thing left to cling to here is each other. now they begin the impossible task of picking up the pieces, many sifting through this rubble understand as hard as it maybe to believe, it could have actually been even worse. >> it's truly a miracle those kids came out alive. >> reporter: framed by buses toppled on their sides this is all that's left of the high school shredded by the storms. the classrooms lookly would have been full before the storm hit but ahead of the tornado they made a life saving decision, a blessing in an area that from the outside looks so cursed right now. so now the difficult task must begin. survivors working through their grief and pain to somehow make battered communities like this one feel like home again. live in henryville, indiana, i'm jay gray. now back to you.

>> thank you very much. another sign of the severity of this weather, the number of twisters could go down in history as one of the largest tornado outbreaks in the month of march ever. chuck bell is in the storm center with more. >> all right, thanks chris. unofficially the count now is 97 it tornadoes yesterday, the record for the number of tornadoes in the month of march in a single event. 74 tornadoes from march of 2006. this is probably going to far eclipse that record. again, 98 tornadoes reported so far. that number goes down just a smid smidgeon but not below the record pace. it's done the coast of the carolinas. we have not had to worry about severe weather around here. in fact, it turned out to be a beautiful day. bonus sunshine for this afternoon allowed temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s. as you plan your saturday evening, temperatures mid-50s for the next couple of hours and back down into the mid-40s by

11:00 this evening. the clouds are coming back late tonight into tomorrow, and there's still a chance for snow, yes, indeed, snow, chris is in the forecast possibly for monday. we'll detail that with the seven-day. >> see you later, chuck. the red cross is launching a major effort to help those impacted by the deadly tornadoes. shelters are now open in 11 states including parts of virginia and west virginia. red cross workers are setting up stations in the hardest-hit areas handing out food, water and other supplies. specially trained mental health workers are also going to neighborhoods to help victims cope with the traumatic events. red cross officials say technology makes it easy for anyone who wants to help those impacted by tornadoes. >> 10 sdol doll will be taken off your bill and, that money will help the victims of this disaster or other disaster that might happen around the country and around the world. >> it could take several weeks for the red cross to determine

the full scope of the tornado damage. p. now to breaking news involving the georgetown law student in the middle. birth control debate. the associated press is reporting that rush limbaugh has issued an apology to sarah fluke. he says he is, quote, insesince sorry about his insulting characterization of her. fluke testified before a house committee this week on why companies including religious ones should provide free birth control. she said her friend has a health issue that requires the pill and without insurance the pill could cost $3,000 a year. on his radio show this week limbaugh implied if the u.s. paid for birth control, it would be like we remember all her, quote, johns. in his apology, limbaugh went on to say, my choice of words were, quote, not the best. and in the attempt to be hum humorous i created a national stir.

police stay a backup system was put into place, and people were told to call a different number if there was an emergency. again, 911 is back up and running at this hour. police are trying to figure out what caused the system to go down. the washington state caucus is under way tonight, and the gop candidates are hoping to use it as a boost going into super tuesday. that's when ten states are up for grabs including the key swing state of ohio. brian mooar has more. >> reporter: in washington state republicans caucused for their favorite presidential candidates, and while the results are nonbinding, it means momentum just three days before super tuesday, and right now all eyes are on ohio. >> we need a president who knows the economy to fix the economy. >> reporter: mitt romney rallied his supporters on this saturday afternoon in a big town hall in

dayton, and he picked up the endorsement of the largest newspaper. rick santorum seems to have the momentum. >> this is a marathon, not a sprint. we're going to keep working. we're doing well, and we feel like this race is narrowing like it should be. >> while newt gingrich has to win the home state of georgia, ron paul is more interested to adding to his did he go gate count, and that's what super tuesday is all about, delegates. 419 up for grabs in ten states. that's more than a third of the 1,144 delegates needed to cinch the nomination. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. there's more to come tonight on "news 4 at 6:00." coming up how a community is coming together to honor one of the victims of the ohio school shooting as he's laid to rest today. the term facebook family gets new meaning for a couple from our area. prince harry leaves behind protocol at a block party in

central america in th

hundreds from a small ohio community came out today to honor one of three students killed in the high school shooting. daniel was 16. he was shot in his school cafeteria on monday. he was remembered today as a computer whiz who loved to laugh. fellow students lined the

streets holding large signs with hearts saying, we are one heartbeat. the families of the three victims have donated their organs. funerals for the other two boys will be held next week. a panel of four marine experts will try to reconstruct the wreck of the costa concordia and determine who is to blame for the deadly cruise ship crash in january. information was handed over to experts during a pretrial hearse in italy. captain frances co-schettino did not attend. his lawyer was there. schettino is facing manslaughter charges for the crash. 25 people died and another vii missing and presumed dead. still to come tonight, some uplifting moments as people in tornado ravaged parts of the midwest try to pick up the pieces. chuck will be back with a look at the forecast and the pote

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prince harry is living it up in central america this week. third in line to the british throne danced with a local woman during a street party in belize last night. harry is spending the weekend there. tomorrow he travels to the bahamas and jamaica, man. it's part of his week long tour of british commonwealth lands. this is prince harry's first solo trip representing the british throne. he looks like he's having fun.

when a maryland family faced challenged conceiving three years ago, they turned to social media for help, and now they're doing it again. news 4 has more on a kensington couple hoping to build their family through facebook. >> reporter: we first met noah, seth and melissa two years ago. like thousands of other families in the u.s. every year, they just adopted noah but they didn't find him through an agency. they found his mother, a friend of a friend through facebook, after posting a flyer on seth's page. >> it was frustration after a couple of months of trying advertisements or sending e-mails out to all of our friends. >> reporter: seth and melissa soon met noah's mother at a coffee shop. three weeks and several meetings with their lawyers later, they were with her for his birth and the rest, as they say, is history. a very happy history. their kensington home filled with love and smiles.

since noah more heart break trying to conceive. now they're going back online in search of a sibling for noah. >> it has no difference whether you have a biological child or you adopt a child or donor egg, you love this child so much. >> reporter: finding noah was a pretty amazing feat. at the time seth had 40 friends on the social networking site, but it ended up that's all he needed. >> all it takes is one. it takes the right match at the right time. >> reporter: if you search adoption on facebook dozens of pages pop up with families all over looking to find that bundle of joy. brad says this is a perfect example of some of the benefits of social media. >> it's just unbelievable the types of things that you can do with the medium, and i can foresee this happening more and more in the future. >> reporter: seth and melissa say they're willing to wait for another perfect baby to come along.

>> the baby you're supposed to have will find you. >> reporter: hoping someone somewhere will see this ad and change their lives forever. >> whenever you're called mommy and the daddy, that's the most important. >> in kensington, maryland, news 4. >> for more information on seth and melissa's story go to nbcwashington.com and search facebook adoption. two much needed uplifting moments today in the tornado-ravaged midwest. in marysville, indiana a family that lost most of their farm and house was reunited with their cat, and in nearby henryville a dog was safely pulled from the rubble of a home. it happened on live television during a report from the weather channel's jim dcantore. the dog was taken to an emergency staging area and was in good condition. great news after so much heartbreak. >> just the difference of having the dog back, sometimes it makes the world a better place. >> having your family together.

>> for us, we escaped all the severe weather yesterday. that was welcome news for us. we had some rumbles of thunder late last night into the predawn hours this morning. all of that is long gone, and we had two or three extra hours of bonus sunshine today. i hope you had a chance to get outside and enjoy it. temperatures responded nicely and made it into the upper 50s and low 60s. you probably noticed a lot more light at the tail end of the day here. sunset is now after 6:00 everybody, and daylight saving time is coming soon. pretty soon we go to sunsets later than 7:00. right now still with a clear sky here in washington, 58 mild degrees, a southwest wind at 7 miles per hour. it was a breezy afternoon, but the winds settle down just a bit. it's a mild early march evening. 57 in culpepper and a little cooler down into southern maryland. nothing going on doppler. it will be dry for saturday evening and a dry start for most on sunday. the stronger thunderstorms are way down to the south today. more tornadoes reported across

south georgia and parts of northern and western florida. tough going for them. some of this moisture here is aiming at southern maryland, so you folks, saint mary's county, southern calvert county may have a chance of light rain coming your way during the day tomorrow from washington northbound nothing to worry about. we have a lot different weather than in met fro washington. the colder air is coming south. the front south of us now. that west to northwesterly breeze allows the colder weather to settle in. by 6:00 tomorrow morning, there's a leading edge of shower chances sneaking into far southern maryland and might be snow across southern delaware, but eventually that area of low pressure moves out to sea and leaves us alone. a monday clipper may bring another chance for snow to us. better chances, again, the further south you go. more likely to get snow in richmond than in washington. here it is up close and personal here on our future weather forecast. there's the light rain possible early tomorrow morning. a few folks into southern

maryland not looking for a lot of rain, just more cloud cover than anything else but light rain is a possibility. into the early morning hours of monday, here we are 6:00 a.m. monday morning, a chance of snow sneaking our way staying south of route 50. nonetheless could pick up 1 to 2 inches well south of washington. we'll be fine-tuning that forecast over the coming days. for this evening, clear to the west and a little more clouds down to the south and evening temperatures in the 40s. a chilly start tomorrow morning with increasing clouds. startup temperatures in the 30s, and tomorrow a cloudy and cooler day. a chance of light rain into southern maryland. the all important seven-day forecast, cloudy and cold and a chance of some snow on monday morning. temperatures monday not long after the sun comes up is well above the freezing mark. so we're not looking for a big event, but in a winter without any snow, we'll take it. >> you'll keep updating us. still ahead, geor

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the hoyas wanted to end the season with a bang. >> you want to end the year with a bang. >> but what? >> there's a but to this story? >> yeah. >> we'll just move on. if you remember when the season started, georgetown was predicted to finish 10th in the big east. that was according to the coaches' poll. here's another reminder. sometimes coaches don't always get it right. today the hoyas closing out the regular season on the road against marquette. on the line? second place in the big east. coach john thompson iii, they

beat the golden eagles by 3 in january. check out the ball movement. hollis thompson on the baseline, and he throws it down. georgetown trails by 10 at the break. second half, marquette pressing again, this time hoyas turn it over. jay crowder up to jameel wilson, monster dunk. hoyas had 15 turnovers in the game. later, georgetown trying to make a run. markel starks to porter. the freshman had a season high 19 points, but this day belonged to a senior. his name? jay crowder. marquette, check it out here. gets the rebound and the put-back. he went for a game high of 26 points and 14 rebound, seventh ranked marquette beats georgetown 83-69. the big east tournament begins on tuesday. the hoyas earn the number five seed. in the atlantic ten, george washington wrapping up their season on the road, dayton. first half, turn it over.

straight to the bublcket, and h finished with 16 points. later in the half, dayton working the give-and-go. chris johnson to mat cavanagh back to johnson. dayton leads 38-27 at the break. second half now. down by 20 here. they force a turnover, binds ahead to david pelham. dunk to and the foul. he went for 18 points and 9 rebounds. dayton is too much for g.w. kurt johnson for three buries it. they were 10-16 from beyond the aarc. dayton defeats george washington 75-69. the colonials finish the season with a 10-20 records. patriot league semifinals, troy brewer on the road at lehigh. first half daniel munoz to brewer for three. he got it. he scored 15 points in the first half. later they go on an 8-0 run to end the half including this three from mackey mcknight.

lehigh leads 34-28 at halftime. second half you now, lehigh on the inbound. c.j. mccullem up and in. later, munoz with the ball, and not anymore. pass is stolen by mcculllem. and lehigh elaiminates american. the eagles finish the season with 20-11 record. women's acc turn: the terps taking on wake forest in the semifinals. first half off the miss, alyssa thomas grabs it. check out the nice move here. the acc player of the year scored a game high of 16 points. terps up 6 at halftime. second half, thomas reminds us sharing is caring. passes to lauren mintze, good. maryland in control. later, thomas misses a free throw, but check kaiser.

rebound put back. i love it. terps bench is loves it, too. maryland defeats wake forest advancing to sunday's championship against georgia tech. with a win the terps are the first acc team to win ten tournament titles. talking baseball now. the nationals lose 3-1 to the as tro troes in the grapefruit league. they play houston tomorrow. tiger woods starting the day in 31st place, and in today's round, not bad. he had two bogies and three birdies including this one on number four. tiger sits aat 2 under for the tournament, 8 shots behind the leader. tom gillis is in trouble and he gets out of the mud and sets up this to save par on 8. you know what? he does. impressive putt. gillis as minus 9, two shots behind the leader. this man, defending u.s. open

champ rear roary mcilroy. he knocks in for birdie. how about on number 18 for another birdie? rory is feeling this. he's at 11 under par, and if he wins the honda classic, he would become the number one ranked golfer in the world. >> wow. >> just in time for the masters. >> of course you love him. you followed him at the u.s. open at congressional. >> he's the man. >> thank you hakem, chuck. that's the news for now. "nightly news" up next. we'll back her