on this friday night. violent threat tearing across the country. a huge flood emergency. high water rescues and that massive fire. was it lightning? tonight, millions on high alert for tornadoes. found alive. a dramatic rescue and an amazing survival story. we hear from the man saved after 66 days stranded alone at sea. nbc news exclusive. the police detective caught on camera berating a driver in an apparent bit of road rage, the video gone viral. tonight, he speaks out for the first time. game changer, getting to know a woman about to make history on the field in the nfl. and act of faith. we go behind the scenes of a blockbuster sequel to the smash hit series "the bible." "nightly news" begins right now.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight lester holt. good evening. with a brutal winter barely behind us, tornado season is quickly firing up with several states on alert right now for severe weather. we're keeping a close eye on the radar as areas from southern illinois into northeastern arkansas are under a tornado watch. this on the heels of last night's violent storms that triggered massive flooding, especially in kentucky where a mother and child were swept away in their car and remain missing. right now firefighters in louisville are still wrestling with this massive industrial fire that may have been sparked by lightning. we begin our coverage with nbc's kerry sanders. >> reporter: in louisville, kentucky today, two massive emergencies. first, this six-alarm fire at a ge appliance park. more than 200 firefighters battled the flames. incredibly no one was hurt.

>> this is really, really heartbreaking. >> reporter: while investigators look into the cause of the blaze, one theory, lightning. just yesterday lightning was blamed for sparking this national guard building fire. complicating the response for crews, flash flooding which trapped some cars. >> if you see a high level of water area, just turn around. there's no need to go through it. it is deeper than it appears. >> reporter: since early this morning more than 160 water rescues. >> i just started bringing people out. but there's only one boat. so we all got to take turns. >> reporter: plans now on hold for the avalos family, who'd been hoping to move into their new home tomorrow. >> we put on new drywall and floor. i hope we can save it. >> reporter: near lexington one woman was killed at a campground after a large tree fell on her tent. rivers overflowed in indiana sweeping this

semi off the road. in wichita, kansas two paramedics were injured after high winds damaged their station. last night this tornado touched down in southeast kansas, the region also pummelled by hail. in joplin, missouri nbc's janet shamlian was there when sirens went off. >> i'm in a hotel where all the guests have been evacuated. >> reporter: a town hit hard by that devastating tornado in 2011 was spared this time. here in nashville there are reports just east of town of a funnel cloud being spotted. there have been tornado warnings, sirens have sounded here at least three times telling people to take cover immediately. lester, it's going to be a long night here. >> all right. kerry sanders, thanks. meteorologist dylan dreyer is here. dylan, i see a lot of red in your map. what are we looking at? >> it's in that area, lester, where we could see strongest storms tonight with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, hail two inches in diameter and also our best chance of tornadoes across tennessee and up into kentucky where around

where kerry sanders is there has been some tornado warnings in that area. now, we also have the threat of flash flooding especially across northern kentucky with those heavier downpours that we're seeing with those thunderstorms. this cold front will move east and the storms will weaken as we go into tomorrow morning exiting the east coast by tomorrow. but on the backside of it we could see as much as two to four inches of snow of all things across central and northern new england. >> all right. dylan, thanks. see you on "today" in the morning. now what's being called an incredible story of survival. a 37-year-old man reported missing two months ago found alive from the overturned hull of his sailboat by a passing ship off the north carolina coast. he says he survived 66 days alone stranded at sea. early today he spoke about his harrowing ordeal with nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: it was a dramatic rescue more than 250 miles from the carolina coast. a german containership had picked up

37-year-old lewis jordan who claimed he'd been drifting in the atlantic for 66 days. >> i was worried i was going to die. >> reporter: the mast and rotor on his 35-foot bo once rescued he was asked to radio his parents. >> hey, dad. >> reporter: and he was in remarkable condition after two months at sea able to walk from the chopper under his own power. at the hospital, a tearful reunion with his parents before he sat down with me. you look remarkably good. you don't have a bad sunburn, you're not blistered. you look okay. >> well, i tried to conserve as much energy as i could. try not to do any work because all work equals food and water. and i was trying to ration all that. >> reporter: he says he was able to stay inside the boat and out of the elements during winter on the atlantic. it all started, he says, on january 23rd when he nosed his boat into the ocean to go fishing. but he ventured into a massive storm. >> boom! out of nowhere like a

huge cannonball wave just pounds right next to your head. >> reporter: on three separate occasions he says his boat rolled and capsized then righted itself. desperate, he caught fish and drank rainwater. >> lots of prayer. and what sustained me was i read the holy bible. >> reporter: then on thursday, rescue. the coast guard crew was expecting an emaciated blistered victim. >> i was amazed. he was in wonderful good health, good condition. really surprised. >> reporter: his family says the before and after photos show a weight loss of 30 to 40 pounds. but tonight lewis jordan is on dry land. tom costello, nbc news, norfolk. new evidence tonight being pulled from the black box of that doomed germanwings flight not only proving the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane but that he also accelerated into the mountain with 149 victims onboard. nbc's katy tur has the latest. >> reporter: investigators say they

now have hard evidence that co-pilot andreas lubitz, a man with a history of depression and suicidal thoughts, deliberately crashed the plane. alone at the controls, the pilot locked out, he changed the altitude setting from 38,000 feet to just 100 feet. and adjusted the autopilot repeatedly to increase speed. information extracted from the battered flight data recorder, which was torn apart during the crash. the empty housing found days ago. the recorder itself just yesterday. discovered almost by chance under scattered clothing by a french police officer. it was her first day on the mountain. i wasn't sure it was the black box, she told us. it was the same color as the ground and all the other debris. it was very easy to pass by without noticing it. smashed and burned, but its incriminating memory in tact. but why did he do it?

investigators have searched at least five fferent doctors offices for his medical records looking for clues. anything to explain why he might have killed himself and 149 others. katy tur, nbc news, cologne, germany. president obama called the president of kenya today to express his horror and offer condolences over the terror attack on a college campus there. at least 148 people were murdered. most of them students. and as bill neely reports from kenya, there were warning signs that an attack was imminent. >> reporter: one by one the murdered students are being carried home. many shot simply for being christian. mothers, fathers and families are waiting outside a mortuary, hundreds of them. this 19-year-old left the university hours before the massacre. most of her friends are dead. >> my best friend is gone, but i just don't believe it until i see her body. >> reporter: this is a

massacre that has traumatized kenyans. but they're also asking how intelligence officials knew an attack on a university was likely but couldn't stop it. last week several universities warned students of a possible attack. the one targeted fearing suspected terrorists were already on campus. kenya's president then criticized similar warnings from foreign governments claiming kenya was safe. at dawn the next day only two guards were on duty as students were massacred. officials say the intelligence they had >> intelligence can only go as far as the reliability and accuracy of the information that has been provided. >> reporter: it's thought just four al shabaab terrorists did this. near the massacre site protests, across this nation prayers, mostly christian kenya marking their holy week with a heavy

heart. bill neely, nbc news, nairobi. >> pope francis condemned the terror attack as an act of senseless brutality. he presided over good friday procession where he heard a sermon denouncing the persecution of christians around the world. during the service the pope prostrated himself in prayer. this year good friday and the start of the jewish holiday of passover fall on the same date. the obama administration is on full court press in support of the preliminary nucl agreement it has announced with iran. nailing down the framework was merely one part of the task. now they're trying to convince skeptical members of the republican-controlled congress it's a good deal. we get more tonight from senior white house correspondent chris jansing. >> reporter: in iran today, crowds cheered in the streets giving a rock star welcome to their tough diplomats for a nuclear deal that could ease devastating sanctions. and an expected star turn president obama. after state-run television made a rare exception and showed his rose garden speech, iranians stood

next to their tvs and posted selfies. it's a much harder sell back home. the president making phone calls from air force one while his senior staff pitched the deal as a way to avoid another middle east war. >> this is providing security for us and we believe for sure our friends and allies. >> repor administration taking advantage of a congressional recess that so far has kept most opponents away from national tv cameras, though not all. >> i'm going to do everything i can working my colleagues to stop these terms from going forward. >> reporter: and there's opposition abroad too. led by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> such a deal does not block iran's path to the bomb. such a deal paves iran's path to the bomb. >> reporter: and even if the politics can be worked through, there are still the complicated details that have to be worked out in the next three months. what are the chances by june 30th you've got a deal? >> well, i think they're much better than they were before we had this framework. certainly much better than 50/50. >> reporter: in spite of that optimistic

assessment, everyone here knows this is going to be a very difficult battle. which is virtually why every member of the president's senior staff is working on this and he still might have to use his veto pen. late today the president made four more phone calls to world leaders trying to win their support. lester. >> chris jansing at the white house. thank you. there's late word tonight that sarah brady has died. she became a passionate advocate for gun control after her late-husband james brady was shot and seriously wounded in the attempted assassination of president reagan. her family says she passed away from pneumonia. nbc's pete williams looks back on her life. >> reporter: for three decades she was the nation's number one picking up the cause after her husband white house press secretary james brady was severely wounded when president reagan was shot outside a washington hotel in 1981. a former staffer for republican politicians working in the background, she became the national face for the gun issue. achieving a huge victory in 1993 after

a seven-year battle with the passage of the brady bill requiring a waiting period and background check for anyone buying a handgun. three years later at the democratic national convention she appeared with her husband to thank president clinton who signed the bill. >> jim lived. and so did the president, thank god. our lives would never be quite the same. all it took was one gun, one bullet and one man who should never have owned a gun. >> reporter: james brady died last august at age 73. the same age as sarah brady who died today. pete williams, nbc news, washington. mixed news on the economy tonight. u.s. employers added 126,000 jobs last month. and while it's still a net positive, it was far below most forecasts. a slow down from previous months with growth of over 200,000 jobs. the unemployment rate

held steady at 5.5%. now to an nbc news exclusive. the police detective caught on camera verbally assaulting a driver on the streets of new york in a video that went viral. the 15-year veteran has been moved off his post in the joint terrorism task force. and tonight he is speaking out for the first time. jonathan dienst of our nbc station here in new york has our report. >> stop it with your mouth. >> okay. >> stop it with your for what, sir, for what sir. stop it with that [ bleep ]. >> reporter: that is nypd detective cherry in a video that's been watched online over 2 million times. today, he spoke out for the first time. >> i apologize. sincerely apologize. >> reporter: he was apologizing for this. >> i don't know what the [ bleep ] planet you think you're on right now. >> i'm not -- >> reporter: cherry is seen yelling at an uber driver. the exchange caught on cell phone by a passenger in the backseat. >> i let the emotions -- my emotions get the better of me. >> reporter: detective cherry says not everything was caught

on camera. he says he was trying to park his car, which was unmarked. when he says the uber driver honked and got angry with him. he then pulled him over. >> i asked him for his license. he turned away from me. and he turned back with a smirk and told me he wasn't going to give me anything. >> reporter: he says that's when he got angry and the passenger started recording. later he asks this question. >> how long have you been in this country? >> reporter: is that race-based? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: he says it was a question simply about driving experience in new york city. the city's police commissioner said this week that no good cop could watch that without a wince. >> disgusted with myself. >> reporter: today cherry said there was no intention to hurt the driver, offering up this apology. >> tell him i was sorry and offer to buy him some dinner. >> reporter: detective cherry hopes to be back working the streets soon. jonathan dienst, nbc news, new york. there's a lot more still ahead tonight. coming up the woman about to make history in the nfl. we'll get to kno

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we're back with a woman who is about to make history in the nfl, which has been an all-boys club on the field since the league was founded in 1920. looks like that's about to change this fall. nbc's stephanie gosk reports. >> reporter: football ref sarah thomas is the most accomplished woman in her field, and often the only woman on the field. the nfl's roster referees won't be released until next

week, but the baltimore sun reports thomas is on the starters list. which would make her the first permanent female nfl official. >> it's a competitive game out here. >> reporter: you love this sport, don't you? >> yeah, i do. >> reporter: we caught up with the mother of three at the new orleans saints training camp two years ago. at the time her youngest was 7 months old. what is the demand from you during a game? >> just focus. i mean complete focus. yeah, you've got to be in shape. i mean, look at these athletes. >> reporter: you have to run up and down the field. >> absolutely. i've got to be able to move with them. >> reporter: thomas worked her way up through the referee ranks, being a woman she says hasn't made a difference. what counts is being in the game. >> there's a drive in me that says i want to nail it. i want to work the perfect game. >> reporter: the news comes after a difficult year. the nfl was criticized widely for how it handled domestic violence allegations involving players. >> i'm sure that some people will look at this and say this is the nfl further advancing its agenda to show sensitivity to

gender issues. i hope the truth is that sarah thomas was the best candidate. >> reporter: there will be some pressure when she takes the field in the fall. but for now thomas does a dance in the end zone. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with a hilarious tribute to moms everywhere. . we're back in a moment with a hi the garden is the story of our lives... told and retold. it's as old as our time on earth. and as new as tomorrow. you can have a yard. or slightly less. gardening isn't about where we choose to live. it's about how we choose to live. miracle-gro. life starts here. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter

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in 2013, "the bible" miniseries became a runaway hit pulling in tens of millions of viewers. on easter sunday nbc will begin airing a follow-up picking up where the last one left off. as nbc's anne thompson tells us there's a good reason why hollywood keeps returning to the good book. >> now it's time for faith and practice -- >> reporter: on this the most solemn the christian calendar. >> today's good friday. >> reporter: reverend a.r. bernard's 1 million listeners anticipating easter sunday. and -- >> a.d. the bible comes out on sunday. >> reporter: the start of the newest faith-based tv series. there are no car crashes. no loud explosions. so what's the appeal of something like this? >> well, people want to understand their faith in a deeper and more profound way.

and we love -- everybody loves a good story. >> reporter: the stories of the bible make it the best-selling book of all-time with more than 5 billion copies sold. from its pages come some of the most popular movies. >> dare hold his mighty hand. >> reporter: "the ten commandments." and "the passion of the christ." a $370 million hit. >> i am coming soon. >> reporter: on the small screen "the bible" miniseries on the history channel averaged more than 13 million viewers. a.d. picks up where the bible left off. executive producers mark burnett and roma downey. >> i think it speaks to a deeper need the public has to connect with the word to connect with hope. >> reporter: this behind-the-scenes footage shows how present day morocco was transformed into ancient jerusalem. >> it took hundreds of workers months in the

hot morocan desert to create this in time. >> reporter: recreating an age-old story with the timeless appeal of hope. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. that will do it for us on this friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc

>> he has ups and downs. >> new updates on the kardashian men. i have a candid chloe, and she holds nothing back about kylie. >> i don't know if that's appropriate to say. what's up taylor? >> g