stunning and sad images coming from paris, france this afternoon. >> an iconic part of the paris skyline. notre dame cathedral completely engulfed in flames. so his is the moment tha many will remember, the main church fire collapsing. nbc news special coverage continues with lester hois. >> this an nbc news special report. here's lester holt. >> good afternoon from new york. we're coming back on the air with the breaking news out of paris where an inferno is breaking at the notre dame cathedral. firefighters are on the sne with the 750-year-old cathedral has been burning for hours. dramatic video capturing the moment when one of the spires collapsed in flames, a drone watching from below. reports also say the roof has collapsed. notre dame has been under a nearly $7 million renovation and initially we saw a lot of flames surrounding the scaffolding. i want to bring in now sarah

harmon of our nbc news in our london bureau who has the very latest. in this is a historic day. just mes ago an official from the french interior ministry saying firefighters may not be able to safe notre dam cathedral. the paris fire department said the nt hour and a half will be crucial. this is a building that's 850 years old by some accounts, even older. it survived revolutions, world wars, and tonight there were fears this could be thend. french president emmanuel macron is on the scene. he is treating this as a national emergency. 400 firefighters are battling the blaze. france's civil security agency says all means necessary will be used except dropping wat via

aircraft. there were fears that measure could damage the structure and acally cause it to collapse. rite remarkably, so far we have noorts of fatalities in this massive blaze. it's pretty incredible when you think about a fire that's beenb ing now going into the fourth hour in an urban heavily-populated area. it still burning and this is an active situation, lester. >> all right, sarah. absolutely agonizing to watch this effort to literally save thisth ral. i want to go to paris now. annalise from our partner euro news is on the scene. what can you tell us about the fight to save notre dame? >> reporter: that fire was declared shortly before 7:00 p.m. local. time that was some three hours ago. as we speak, firefighters continue to trynd fight the flames. their efforts seem absolutely powerless in the face of the magnitude of this fire. in less than two hours the

monument as sarah said survived everything. now the monument was engulfed by flames. that ravaged the roof and it continues now to wage inside. this is a very painful night for paris. a painful night for thosehi watc. there are thousands of people in the streets of paris as we speak and they have been standing idol and in shock watching notre dame being engulfed in flames. we're actually witnessing history going up in flames tonight. >> thank you for that report from the streets of paris whereo we continue watch this monumental effort, just pouring water from their tower ladders and have surrounded this structure. the framework of th scaffolding from the construction there plainly visible, but the flames now coming through where the roof was. it's hard tonow exactly what

kind of fuel this fire is getting, what's inside that is feeding the intensity of the flames, but this is difficult, as annalise pointed out, a difficult fire fighting ton iconic symbol. >> pictures are just unbelievable,te les the archbishop of paris says the roof, the frame and the spire of the cathedral are now consumed. inside there is much wood and that is believed to have fueled this fire. he is inviting priests throughout paris to ring the bells in their church to ask people t come and pray for the remainder of this cathedral. we have word this afteron from the vatican. the spokesperson said that the holy sea and other words,op p francis professes shock and

sadness over this fire. they are praying for the people of paris and especially for the firefighters who are trying to put out the fire. they ensure the vatican wants the people of paris to know that they are feeling very close and they are watching them and they are in their prayers. but this is a very, very impoant structure n just to the cultural life of paris, but certainly to the spiritual life. and on this holy week, the holiest week in theho catc church where catholics and christians around the world remember the -- >> this fire broke out a little e, 7:00 in local t the evening. that would have been about the time, i think 6:40 is when they were scheduled to close their doors to tourldts. it wou be during that transition from allowing furists to come in for mass.

that may account the fact that we have not heard any reports ofas clties or injuries. it was at a place obviously visited i by thousands each day but a period when tourists would have been leaving ill not a gone. we don't know what the timetable was on the construction. as we noted a bit earlier, the prosutor's office inaris has opened an official investigation into the cause right now. is these picture that is causing so much pain and heart break. people watching this on their tvs at a place where you visited or not, it is indeed one of the most iconic structures in the world and certainly across europe and a place that is number one or numb two on the list of visitors to paris. there as the camera moves in, you can see firighters working alongside with the tower ladder pouring water into the centerf

the cathedral trying to get a handle on this. we are now watching a desperate battle to save notre dame. much of the structure has gone now. >> you've been watching an nbc news special report on this devastating fire in the heart of france. the notre dame chedral burning it appears perhaps to the ground with no way of saving it. you'll hear fromidhe prest, his response to this tragic fire in paris coming up at 4:30. >> it's a historic loss not just to paris, but to the wod. >> and to the church. >> we'll keep you informed of what happens there in paris. in the meantime, we come cl ter to home and bring you big story of the day here, a new drone of the damage caused by a powerful deadly line of spring storms. >> at least eight people have died across the country, one of them a woman in stafford, virginia. >> we've got team coverage of the storms and what happens next beginning with northern virginia bureau chief julie carey.

>> reporter: the storm hit here on doyle place in the middle of the night. lightning, high winds and for this family tragic consequences when a tree came down. married for 62 years, they were tleep in bed when a tree crashed through side of the house. tom was able to move out of bed. kathy was pinned between the tree and killed. >> her husband tried to give hem mouth toth until the fire department got here, but it was too late. s reporter: the neighborays the force of the storm woke him up. he and his family taking cover in the living room, the room farthest from any tall trees. >> windy, a lot of lightning, lit up our bedroom, lit up theo wh house, very light. it was for a good 20 minutes. it was pretty bad. >> the victim husbandnd son too broken up to be interviewed on camera, but they tell me at 78 kathy was not one to rex in retirement. this picture shows where you would find her most days. working alongside her son in his

classic car restoration shop. she and her son helpees rre this mustang for a neighbor. >> if most women her age can do what she does, she was almost 80 years old. that's the only woman i know that can pull underneath a car, pull out a tnsmission and put it back in. >> reporter: this loss hits hard. the loss of someone he could always c nt on. >> areally, really nice lady. i'm going to miss her. >> reporter: julie carey, news 4. before those storms moved in our area, they hit the south hard. the national weather service confirmed more than a dozen tornadoes, at least eht people died in the storms. one ef 3 twister with winds nearly 140 miles per hour. franklin, texas, survey crews found evidence of another ef 3 tornado in the town of wex. at least three tornadoes last a path of destruction in alabama. strong thunderstorms did major damage to buildings in ssissippi and today homeowners are assessing it allnk tl

they were okay. >> i've been here all my life. it's hard. now to the rth, it was winter weather that was the big issue there. more thancele 1d at,000 o'hare n chicago. the storm dumped nearlyof 6 inc snow. let's get to the storm here for anpdate on what this system means for us here in the washington area. meteorologist amelia draper standing by. >> amelia, the winds have been kicking up. >> we'll see them subside by about 8:00 p.m. as the sun goes down, but this pofrl stowerful system brought strong winds throughout therea. gusts up to 55 miles an hour at times and most of us still under a wind advisory until 8:00 p.m. tonight. gusts until 55 milesr per hou will continue until 8:00 p.m. right now. i'm tracking wind gusts at about 45 miles an hour. we see the potential for downed

trees and power outages as well. currently we're at 57, so kind of cool out there. winds sustained at 24 miles an hour. now,s the winds die down, we have clear skies overnight tonight. temperatures are going to plummet by 8:00 p.m. we're around 50 degrees. 10:00 we've fallen into the 40s across most of the area. mid 40s by about ddnight. whats this mean tomorrow morning? it's going to be a cold start. i'm going to have more on what you can expect tomorrow throughout the day comingp in about 15 minutes. >> thanks, amelia. you can stay ahead of the weather withca amelia's fo on air and in our nbc washington app. we invite you to download the app if you haven't done that tsready. you'll fine forec for your neighborhood right in the palm of your hand. well, it is spring and spring cleaning season. >> but there's one item in y tr homet you might forget about. consumer reporter susan hogan is working for you with why it's portant to clean your mattress. plus she's got the best tools for that job. and we're le with "access"

to talk about the highly anticipated "game of thrones" career. hints that youss may have mi. and new video of damage from today's strong winds. we're in weather alert mode and amelia is back with when the winds die down and how cold it's going to tomorrow. and we are take on stop of breaking out of paris this afternoon. afternoon. the cathedral of notre dame on you know when you're at ross and you real ae great minds shopke? yes. or when you find tse name-brand shoes that everyone notices? oh, yeah! or when you get exactly what you need for your growing family? yes! that's yes for less. yep! yes, yes, yes, yes...

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oe continue follow breaking news out of paris. these live images coming in to our newsroom now show anc ico part of the paris skyline. notre dame cathedral completely engu in flames. the fire chief in paris says it's unclear if city irrefighters will be able to keep the f at notre dame from spreading and causing more destruction. flames already have reached one of nre dame's towers and they've already brought down the 96 ch's spire that extended meters into the air. we'll continue to follow this breaking news and bring you updates as they come into our newsroom. just heartbreaking for the people of paris. well, if you've got the spring cleaning bug, how aboutr showing you mattress a little love. >> and your mattress of all things, consumer reporter susan hogan explains why it's a important toually clean your mattress and she shows us the best tools to get tha job done.> you spend about a third of

your life sleeping and sure, you change your utsheets, b how often do you clean your mattress? consumer report says freshening up your mattress is good idea for many reasons. >> cleaning your mattress is really easy to do a itan help remove dirt, dust, and other allergens, plus it can help extend the life of your mattress. >> remove all of your bedding and vacuum thentire surface of the mattress. >> you want to pay special attention to the crevices and seams of your mattress. that's where dirt, dust, and ead skin and other icky thinks can collect. >> spot treat any stains. >> you want to use a cleaner or zyme based pet odor remove >> next up, rideodorize. sp el baking soda over thefa entire surce of your mattress,

then leave the baking soda on for 24 hours. >> it's a little inconvenient, but we recommend sleeping in another room of the house or doing it while you're away. >> i you can, leave the mattress near a window. the sun will add sanitizing power. after 24 hours vacuum up the baking soda and enjoy your fresh clean mattress. consumer reports recommend that you clean your mattress twice a year and also use a mattress cover. this will help prevent fleas, mites and others from sbering your >> thanks for giving us nightmares. >> and hopefully you have an extra room. >> put the mattress in the sunlight. >> what if you're allergic to d baking soda? >> i can understand vacuuming it. i'm not goi to put a pound of baking soda. >> we had a lot of wind overnight. my husband told me i shpt throit, but it was certainly

pretty damaging. is all the wind gone >> we're continuing to trackme so stronger wind gusts, but early this morning lau ricketts was live tracking two tornado warnings between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. that's when we saw the strongest wind moving through the area. also had another tornado warning issued about 6:30 last night for frederick county, maryland. no reports of aualornadoes from the national weather service, but i have seen some damage reports around town today. for instance, here's one coming out whe we had a tree down on 66 westbound blocking all lanes. those winds will continue to gust until 8:00 p.m. tht, they're not an issue tomorrow morning. tomorrow morning the issue, we're going to start off with temperatures in the mid 30s 4 t lows. grab the jacket stepping out on your tuesday morning. i'm tracking a chance for a

shower out there wednesday. not super impressed. it is there and it would be light. that being said, heads up for friday during the late afternoon and especially the evening and overnight hours. we could see another round of strong thunderstorms moving through thearea, potentially even severe just like what we were dealing with early this morning. so we're going to keep an eye on that. i do think we'll be in storm weather weather alert mode friday into saturday. temperatures for the most part in the 50s. pefb 57 in washington. not the case you grab the jacket stepping out the door. make sure the kids have it at the bus stop. they're not going to have it on at recess. after school is the perfect day to play outdoors with the high temperature around 70 degrees. we have plenty of sunshine. our sunrise time at around 6:30 in the morning. as we look towednesday, plenty of clouds out there. partly to mostly cloudy skies. we'll have winds coming out of the east. at develops a marine layer.

that being said, maybe a shower or two out there, especially north of washington with the high temperaturef 67. tomorrow is really nice. wednesday is looking okay. thursday is not that bad despite plenty of clouds and then we moved to friday where i mentioned before and i will mention it again, i'm watch the potential for thunderstorms. saturday maybe a shower. sunday, easter sunday right now is looking dry. i'm going to ha more on the holiday weekend coming up. for now i'll leave you with the 4-day forecast. thursday nea 80 with a high of 78. >> perfect. thanks, amelia. tommy mcfly helping you hang on tor youcash today. >> the best tax day deals he's found in our area. what you neeat matters, but what about when you eat. first the plot hints you may have missed i las

for days now "game of thrones" fans couldn't wait for last night's season eight premier. >> social media has exploded following the premier last night.

"access hollywood" kit hoover is joining us live. sounds like it lived up to the billing. >> first of all, for both of u, are you fans? did you watch? you had tiger woods. you had "game of wthrones"? hoas your weekend? >> mine was with tiger. i'm sorry. i missed the throne. >> pat, what about you? >> i think i fell asleep. >> well, let me catch you up, because "game of thrones" kicked off last night on hbo. everybody going crazy. an estimated 1 billion worldwide. isn't that incredible? viewing parties galore. nde #gameofthrones trending. john snow a the romantic dragon ride through the snow covered north. ♪ a whole new world ♪ a new fantastic point of view ♪ >> han on, guys. their flight wasn'tctually set a lladdin, but isn't that the best?

it lined up too perfectly. i had to bring that to you all. >> that was crazy. >> ♪ aouounders place for you and m♪ >> i've ruined you. if you watch now, there will be no more. you'll hav to tune in tonight. i got in a little bit of a pickle. we hadhis darling girl on that wa c in it accident and taylor swift sent her all this stuff. when int iviewed her she said anybody else you want to meet? she said ellen. i said i've got her cell number. then i had to text ellen, say we were bffs and can you send me note, so she sent a sweet video to this girl and we're going to have all that tonight. >> that's the def fig of letting your lips write a check your body can't cash. >> leon, i was way over this

one. >> thank goodness ellen was willing to be a bff for a day. >> she totally saved me. our i texted her can i be gayle? it might be too soon, but i'm moving in on that friendship. storm team 4 issues a weather alert for strong winds. you can see them whipping the flag out. amelia is back and she's tracking a cold start to your tuesday. and we are staying on top of breaking news at notre dame cathedral. fire still burning at one of the world's most visited landmarks.

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tswitch to xfinity wis great limited time offer. plus, get your choice of dvr or f a speed upgrade fr a year. click, call or visit a store today. d> back to the big breaking news of the here at 4:30, the cathedral of notre dame in paris still burning at this hour. >> and withi the past few minutes, french government officials have given us sobering news. they're becoming less confident even save ghters can the iconic structure. >> the steeple and part of the roof collapsed earlier this afternoon and the fire spread rapidly after that. barry errand continues our coverage now. >> reporter: flames shot from the roof of theri cen old cathedral and the smoke rose and could be seen for miles. the smoke engulfed the spire which collapsed, then the roof. it also sent ash pouring on to

tourists in the area. the mayor of paris said on twitter that paris firefighters tried to contain the firefighter. she urged citizens to stay away. they equitied tquoted the fire that said it might be linke to construction. it attracts millions of tourists every year. the site of the cathedral n the heart of paris in flames hard for many to comprehend. emmanuel macron canceled an address to the nation and headed to the scene. his message to the french people on twitter, notre dame, i am sad tonight to see >> we will continue to stay on top of this story throughout the afternoon. you also get real time updates in the nbc washington app. the story is on our home page. let's get to the day's other big story.

the wind advisory is up for most of our area through 8:00 p.m. tonight. it is a weather alert day. let's get an update right now toom s team 4 meteorologist amelia draper. what's the latest out there, amelia? >> hwell, wit the flag at union station, you can see the wind still really whipping across the area. i'm tracking wind gusts rwht nof about 30 to 40 miles an hour across the area. the gusts in the district now still holding at 40 mielles an hour. we have had reports of wind damage. we can still see downed trees and spotty power outages. the national weather service keeping up this wind advisory for most of the a ha. everybodye in brown until 8:00 p.m. tonight. this advisory is for gusts potentially reaching 55 miles an hour leading to downed trees, some power outages. is wins ds do subside

evening. i'll have your allergy in less than ten minutes. the president is spending tax day in minnesota holding a round table discussion about taxes and the economy. speaking just in the past hour, the president touted his 2017 tax cuts. >> it's the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in american history. over 80% of american families now areec reiving that big tax cut. >> the president's signature policy achievementedetting mix reviews, though. new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows only 17% of peoplereelieve they a benefiting from the new tax laws. but for 100% of us we realize tax day can be taxing on our wallets. they're offer deals to help ease the pain. tommy mcfly has some you can still take advantage of.

tells about this. >> they've been flying through your social media. they're got freebies. noou matter what y love, you might have missed this or take advantage of thison afterno. california tortilla, they do free chips and queso when you come on in and buy a other item. that's prettyer awesome. ths a whole bunch of these on the nbc washington app as far as food goose. if you know how long you can hold on to or should hold on to the tax documents? >> i've heard from three to seven ears. >> i'veard three years, but i've got, like, a decade sitting in the closet at home. >> that's a fire hazard, tom. >> absolutely. >> office max are going to let you do a 5 pound shred. you can bring all thont tax documes up to 5 pounds and shred them all. >> save some trees. get that stuff recycled. something else you've gotor f us? >> the nats are telling tickets

for $10.40 in honor of you filing your 1040 form. get it? it's like they planned it that way. they're available all throughout the season. we've got the whole list. we've been working all day on this, just search tax day deals. >> what we like is the nats to be winning 10-4 games. do did that way. good deal. good stuff. back over to you. >> thank you, both. well, the caps defense of the stanley cup continues tonight. the team is in raleigh, north carolina playing the first road game of the 2019 playoffs. news 4 sherree burruss is live at pnc arena. a few hours from now that place is going to be rocking, snntsis it? >> yes, it is pat. we are expecting it to be crazy loud and high energy. carolina fans are starting early. they're known for tailgating. ound 2:00 p.m. this afternoon i saw fans already setting up. i just checked, fans are already outside. let me remind you, p k drop isn't until 7:00.ar

the cina hurricanes in the playoffs for the first time in ten years.it desp trailing two games to none in this series, pnc arena will definitely be electric tonight for the first home playoff game in a decade. storm surge celebrations have really boosted the energy of this fan base and while we likely won't see those because of what's at stake in the playoffs, the caps are still expecting a wild atmosphere. > i think it's going to be a lot. it's better to play when it's into the game. when it's atmosphere like that, you always want to play. you enjoy the time. >> i think we have to be prepared definitely. em coming back in this building, obviously they've dono a pretty gd job with the fans this year and getting them involved. i imagine they're going to be fired up for tonight. >> the fans can provide a boost for this colinaeam. the capitals expecting a greater

sense of urgency from carolina looking for their first playo n, but coming up at 5:00, the secret strategy the caps are using. what they found suc ss with in the playoffs. back to you. >> we do not want to see any of those goofy postgame celebration there is. that's the bottom line. the nats are in tcontrol. ify win, we don't have to see that crazy mess. thanks, sherree. new data on the measles outbreak. and it shows the disease is spreading worldwide at an alarming rate. last time we had a measles outbreak this bad. we near weather alert on this monday. amelia just showed you some of the worst damage in our area. ahead, h

charges have been droppns agai a woman accused of assaulting a senior white house adviseel kanne conway. conway accused the woman of grabbing her shoulders and elling at her when she was dining with her family at a bethesda restaurant. conway's school age daughter and a friend were with him. this morning the state's attorney said the woman was rude but did not injure conway and did agree to apologize. if you have a little gas in your car and you were thinking about waitingnd until the e of the week to fill up, you might tnt to reconsider that. turns outt could cost you more. according to gas buddy, the cheapest days to fuep u t auesde specificly in the morning from

about 7:00 to 10:00. the worst day to fill up is friday right bef we theeekend get s away. thevey says if everyone filled up early in the week, it veuld save drirs more than $2 billion per year. news 4 working for your health with some new datan the measles outbreak. the news continues to get worse across the globe. today the world health organization announced worldwide measles cases quadrupled. there have been more than -- there have been more than 550 casesniince the begin of the year. that is the secstd bigge outbreak since the disease was considered eliminated back in 2000. more than half the cases werert repo in new york city where officials declared a health emergency. your doctor may have told you to stay away from late night eating. it turnst out i may depend on what you eat before you go to

bed. doctors say foods that contain highly saturated fats, sugars, sweet dri sweet driucs and desert re the production of seratonin. >> if he has the chocolate and it bothers him, don't do it. >> doctors say opt for foods high in melatoninfoods like berries. if you do get hungry before bed, speak with your doctor about healthy options for you. we are staying on top of breaking news out of france. >> we'll show you some more live pictures. up nepd, an ue on the damage to theof inside the hiss torto notre dame cathedral. chilly with rilly wi temperatures for the most part right around the 50s.

we warm back up. with that warmup, i'm tracking with that warmup, i'm tracking thehance for sev cer

it hasn't always been easy, has it? ♪ there have been days when you doubted yourself. ♪ and days when you were ready to quit. ♪ but you didn't. ♪ because you had the courage to venture into something powerful. education. if i leave you with just three words of advice: never...stop...growing.

[cheering] . if you're jus joining us right now, it's 4:45. let's get you caught up with owur things you need to kn frm. we are staying on top of the stunning images from paris. the cathedral of notre dame still on fire. these are live pictures. french officials admitting the flames have spread so rapidly they're not sure they can save the structure. church officials believe a large portion of the inside of the churchas been destroyed. we'll have another update coming up on news 4 at 5:00. the spring storm took a live in stafford county. 78-year-old kathy tyler was killed when a tree fell on her home and landed on the bed where she was sleeping. her husband of 62 years was able to roll out of bed but was unable to save his wife. two days of tributes beginning in maryland in honor of long time house speaker mike

elusch. hundreds of mourners filing into the statehouse to pay respects as busch lies in state. he died earlier this month after serving more than the decades in the house of delegates. today's tax day. the nats are helping you tur that day -- tax day frown into something upside they're offering a deal on ticket prices. just $10.40. many restaurants have deals as well for you today.he find t all in the nbc washington app. search tax day deals. a musician with ties to our air is using his talents to put a rare genetic disorder in the spotlight. >> james went to mcdonh high school, graduated from georgetown university school of law but instead of going on to become a lawyer, he turned to music in hopes of helping others. >>on ma dean from ourister

station in san diego shows how he's using his songs to bring awareness and give a voicer to othose may be struggle. >> this is my calling. this is what i'm supposed to do with my life. >> james ian is a gifted musician. he makes it look effortless. ove he album labor of played all the instruments. >> soy tracked drums first, then i think base and then guitar and overdubs and t n vocal. >> sharing his gift of music ld with the wor is just part of his life calling. he has the genetic disease called spinal muscular atrophy or sma. >> folks with this disorder, we are missing a protein that allows us to build mfrl, scus s our muscles degenerate over time. >> james has type three. type one is the genetic killer ofinfants, affecting one in 6,000 births. >> it affects your major life functions and a lot of folks need help going aboutheir daily lives.

>> this singer/song writer living with a lg list of challenges. >> i walk. i walk with a limp. i fall down involuntarily and i n't get up on my own. getting up from seated positions, especially lower seated positions is really, really difficult. >> along with tremors, extreme itigue and muscle weakness, makes even the simple things like lifting, plugging in his guitar gr playi guitar ords playing the key a challenge. james has a law degree from georgetown. he's never practiced a day of la because heays he found his voice as an advocate here. ♪ >> a lot of the songs came from a place of me having these physical challenges and struggles. over time i've learned to accept it and i've learned to honestly use it as a way to engage with

others and raise awareness about the disability. if you really want to do something, put your min to it. put your heart to it. what really matters is the belief in yourself and having faith and confidence in yourself to do it. >> wow. that was monica dean reporting. doctors tell james he may end up in a wheelchair, but he's hoping new medications wil help slow the pro grgression of his disas >> he'oing to fight it. >> i wish him the very best. we have winds here. that's been the big story. it was blowing like crazy today. i saw my newspaper going down then of my driveway this morning. this is ridiculous outside. >> you know what else those winds were blowing around? thell po. that's why i'm talking like this today. >> i did notice >>there. t is just terrible out there. here's why. not only do trees c run high, but mold spores from all the rain we had over the weekend are nowigh as well.

post thd oed this on my facebod twitter pages. grasses continue to run for the most part local to moderate this year. if your allergies are bothering you, it's mold and trees. the winds will sub sigside betw 7:00 and 8:00 tonight. with clear skies in place, our temperatures will cool off nicely. by 11:00 p.m. we're at 50 degrees in washington. 40 degrees in the suburb. it will be a chilly start in washogton. mid tpper 30s in the suburbs. you definitely want to grab the jacket heading out tomorrow morning. i'm not seeing a huge concern for hitting freezing tomorrow morning even in the most rural locations. so if you do have some sensitive plants, you should be tomorrow beautiful sunny skies. lunchtime temperature around 60. mild 70 for a high tomorrow.

really pleasant afternoon and evening after a chilly start. 7:00 tomorrow. weather having a low impact on your tuesday. the commute to and from work, no issue there is. recess or just eating lunch outdoors, it's comfortable. it's sunny. outdoor exercise tomorrow is going to be awesome. this is friday at 3:00 p.m. where we're tracking the potential for some strong tre seve thunderstorms and some heavy rain moving through the area, especially as we head on into the evening hours on friday and very early saturday morning. iday i think we'll be in a storm team 4 weather alert for that potential for strong to severe thunderstorms. and then the weekend, easter weekend not all that bad. 's breeze oh saturday. it's cool but nice on sunday. saturday i can'tule out an isolated shower, but most if not all of the day is looking dry. we start off at 62. wearm to high of 70 degrees on saturday. very similar to tomorrow for those afternoon temperatures. sunday i want a light jacket for all the egg hunts out there with a cool 55 to start easter sunday. by 5:00 p.m. we'll have a high

temperature of 66. here's your storm team 4. 67 on wednesday with plenty of clouds out therema e an isolated shower or two, especially north of washington. as we look to thursday, we're mild. s near 80 despite plenty of clouds. friday again a good chance for strong and maybe even severe thunderstorms later inda the chance for lingering showers on saturday. easter sunday is looking dry. >> sounds good. hope you feel better soon. >> i mean, it's every year. >> thank you. well, i case you missed it, this is the illusions of dance team performing over the weekend at the cherry blossom festival. here they are. they are a group of girls ages 7 to 12 based at the benning court community center in northeast. we introduced them to you last year when they were raising money for new performance costumes. they were a bit shy of their goal and the cherry blossom festival stepped in to payhe balance. last december news 4 today

surprised the girls with those new costumes right here in aour studio. on saturday they wore them and they wore them well. >> and it's fantastic that molette does. >> yes, in the community. >> it's so heartwarming to see what she's doing in so many facets. >> absolutely. >> those girls will remember her and hopefully us for the rest of their lives because of that. nice going. good stuff. >> great story. >> i like the costumes. they're really nice. >> they're kind of snazzy as my mother wousay. >> yeah, snazzy. we've got a lot coming up at 5:00. this year's measles we've been hearing so much about, it's now the second largest outbreak in more than 20 years. >> when w join you, doreen gentzler takes a look at the rising numbers and the impactn public health. plus we continue to follow

that heartbreaking news out of paris. the fire today at the notre dame cathedral. >> it is still burning and it looks like they mayot be able to save this glorious, iconic building there. we're going to talk about the significance of notre dame and what it means to all of us all over the planet. >> it's just heartbreaking scenes coming out of there. back to you for now.

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if you're justoining us, we are in weather alert mode because of strong winds outside. you check out the flag there. wind advisory until 8:00 p.m. amelia draper is back with the weather that moves in. the storm system that blew through our area overnight vastated parts of the south yesterday. >> at least eight people are dead. dozens of communities in ruin. jay gray with the storms that left hundreds ofam fily es homeless tonight. >> reporter: snow and slush in chicago. driving rains across the south giviy. >> that's a tornado. that's it right there. >> reporter: to a stng of tornadoes, more than a dozenav leing at least eight dead, threic of the vtims children. >> a tornado on the ground headed towards anklin. >> reporter: the violent storm splin splintering neighborhoods and

tossing debris for miles. twisted metal, wrecked car, roofs ripped away, homesorn apart from texas to ohio. >> atrip of homes on the other side of town over here completely gone. just gone. everything is gone. >> reporter: now as they sift through what's left, survivors search for anything they can pull from the debris. >> man, it's rough. >> reporter: and any way they can begin to recover. jay zbgray, nbc news. after a night of severe weather, i'm still tracking powerful storm. s when they subside, plus when we can see more severe weather. but first a scene that's horrifying and heartbreaking. >> this is an icon of paris and it's just shocking. now it's changed for alltime. > that massive fire at the

cathedral of notre dame in paris and the effort under way to save the history inside. >> and we begin with those hetbreaking images. one of the world's most iconic structures still engulfed fire. >> from the 1100s to this utter devastation. tonight the french government says the efforts by hundreds of firefighters may not be enough to save the historic cathedral of notre dame. >> the fire breaking out at the start of holy week. e andn for the nonfaithful, the images have been awful as the cathedral's spire collapsed. the stained glass is melting away. >> sonf pai to watch. leon harris in the newsroom with efforts to look at further destruction and save the little that's lefnow. >> jim and wendy, you don't have to be catholic to feel the loss here. as they try to put out those

remaining flames, fire crews are so working to move out and preserve some of th sacred artifacts that may. survive the two stone towers remain but the interior frame of the structure has been largely consumed by the fire. the wor famous stained glass woins go wo windows began and the spire that contained a number of artifacts collapsed into the flames. the fire has brought the normally busy french capital to a standstill tonight. parisians and tourists awe st s awestruck. >> the things you take for granted and you see every day and suddenly things like this happen. it's difficult to speak. also lots of questions. the fire appeared to start in the area