.>> it's monday, december 20th. coming up on "early today," wicked kwets looms over numerous deaths. icy road caused treacherous travel for millions returning home. iraqi forces claimed key victories against isis in ramadi. is the islamic state in retreat neighborhood, they say has hillary clinton. plus, the force awaken, the fastest become dollars in movie history. a dangerous redalement down un, aparply it's fought fwoert give than receive an peyton manning vehemently denies allegations. "early today" starts right now.

thanks for being with, i'm shannon mulaire. 23 people left dead, a path of destruction amongst the south. in texas, ten people were killed from tornadoes on saturday, clawing monster category-4 in garland. hundreds of homes were droid destroyed. the governors of texas have declared states of emergency. which have to deal with national flooding and a life-threatening and crippling blizzard which has already dumped two feet of snow in some areas of the texas. nbc's brian more brings us up to speed. >>across a huet swath of suburban dallas, residents are struggling to pick up the pieces himself survivors, but victims of a monster stormrm and the massive tornado it unleashed. >> is that the path? 28 years?

i don't know what else to say. sorry. >> reporter: at least 20 twisters tore across north texas, killing eight in the community of garland. the lone star state is still on edge with more weighs of severe weather on the way. some areas hunker down for heavy rains and flooding the panhandle areas of texas and oklahoma were paralyzed by treacherously icycy roads and whiteout blizzards. in missouri, at least eight lives were lost to widespread flooding, rapidly rising water, overwhelmed residents. >> it's skru that it came up very quickly. >> and kept rescue crews working overtime smr the first thing i told them i know how to swichl i knew it was real when the rescue team came. they put us in a life jacket and escorted us down the road. >> for many american, a holiday weekend of hardship, with more foul weather on the horizon. brian moore, nbc news.

>> meteorologist bonnie snider is here, she'll have your weather just ahead. this morning, the iraqi army is claring a major victory over the states. the iraqi official says they believe the army is in full control of central ramadi. iraqi forces made a final push to seize the government complex on sunday. a pro. there is more unrest in chicago after another police-involved shooting leaves two residents dead. yesterday, a villagible was held for 55-year-old betty jones, a mother of 5 and a 19-year-old, both shot and killed by police responsing to a domestic disturbance report. degreer's father called police after his son became agitated. >> the male caller said someone

is threatening his rife. the 19-year-oldson banging on the his bedroom door with a baseball bat. >> according to police, they were confronted by a combative individual upon arrival, resulting in the shooting. jones downstairs neighbor was accidentally struck. mumtple reports say she opened the door when police arrived. the medical examiner ruled both deaths a homicide. her son was home on a break from college. she said he developed mental illness in september but was not violent. the officers were placed on 30 days administrative duty. raul emanuel says the independent police authority is investigating and called for changes in how officics respond to mental health crises. there have been calleds for mayor emanuel to resign, earlier this year. the justice department already has an investigation opened into the chicago police policies. one of the nfl's most legendary

this morning, furiously denying new allegations that suggest he used performance-enhancing drugs. that player telling nbc he'll quote probably sue the news outlet that published the report. >> disgusted is really how i feel. sickened by it. >> reporter: star quarterback and american football ehsu ro peyton manning defending his legacy to espn against an al jazeera documentary that claims maning is one of several pro athletes who took performance-enhancing drugs. >> i know how hard i've worked over my 18 years of playing in the nfl him there are no shortcuts in the nfl him i've done at this time long way and hard way, insinuate anything otherwise is a complete and total joke. it's defamation. it really takes me off. >> reporter: the documentary shows hidden camera interviews with a pharmacist who briefly san bernardino.

sly claims he received banned drug itself through his wife ashley. >> all the time sending ashley manning drug, a growth hormone, everywhere, florida. it will never be under peyton's name, it will always be under her name. >> reporter: random testing didn't begin until 2014. manning received treatment after being injured in 2010 while playing for the indianapolis colts. >> it makes me sick that it brings ashley into it. her medical history. her medical privacy being violated. >> reporter: backlash against the documentarys claims have been swift. manning's current team the denver broncos say they support him 100% t. colts call the report utterly ridiculous. dr. gail dire calls the claims extremely disturbing, not true. charlie sly, himself, the man the documentary hang his claims on is walking them back. >> i am recanting any such

to any statement of mine that al jazeera plans to air. >> reporter: as for man the five time mvp is sitting out on injury, says he is focusing on team. the force was certainly with star wars wars at the box office this holiday weekend. "the force awakens" soared past days. that's the newest record t. last was jt jurassic world" 13 days in june. now tofly, final sprint to the iowa caucus, guess is is on the attack. donald trump fending off ted cruz now going after clinton, programs not the one you are thinking of. edward lawrence is with us. does the gop front runner have a new punching bag? >> reporter: he is going after

some of the old, some of the new. donald trump is rallying his base, making sure his people, his supporters show up to the polls. his rallies are huge. his support loud. >> and this is amazing. wow! . >> reporter: donald trump's base seems to crave his no filter rhetoric. over the weekend, trump went after hillary clinton again. this time on twitter about her husband. on fox and friends, trump reiterated his charge that former clinton demonstrated pension for sexism. >> a pen chant for sexism is her words. i thought it was fine, i think that billclinton turned out to be a liable for president obama. >> reporter: he attacked trump. >> he is vulgar it is the fact that donald trump thinks we should not be raising the minimum wage. he believes that wages in america are too high. >> reporter: sanders is trying

to mend relations with the democratic party after a data breach that his campaign accessed. meanwhile, donald trump pulled back into strike distance of senator ted cruz for the iowa caucus him polls show the vase a virtual tie for 1st place. political experts say trump's challenge now would be to get his base to show up to caucus. donald trump will be back in iowa again tomorrow in order to campaign him he is trying to, as i said, get that base supported. we had a break from these headlines during christmas and christmas eve. now it seems to be over, shannon. >> a very brief break. edward lawrence, thank you. meteorologist bonnie schneeder is here with us this morning. we have been talking about incred blue warm weather. what's going on? >> it's been a wild weekend. even right now until 5:00 there is a tornado watch t. first one is west of the bigger on here. this is for northeast louisiana.

southeast arkansas, southeast mississippi, look for tornadoes and damaging wind. >> that will expire in about an hour. but another one east of it for much of mississippi and louisiana, including new orleans, this tornado watch goes until 18:00 a.m. across the gulf coast, we will see 8 million people at rick. if that's not enough, the flooding rains continue. this front will eventually push to the east. by the middle and end of the week, we will see more calm pattern, not yet t. flooding rain will move along with the cold front. we are like lynn to see isolated storms across the nest. we are tracking snow. look at this. it's looking through chicago. a wintry mix and a lake shore wind advisory for a rough we've wave along maik lake michigan. we are looking at some snow as i mentioned there to michigan. we will be looking at a wintry picks.

temperatures are much colder, still hanging onto the warmth in the southeast. florida looks great, all the way into the '80s. lots of sunshine. so the southeast looks warm, but the rest of the country dealing with extreme weather. >> what a difference a few days makes. right. if you got a gift card over the holiday we got news for you. plus, unprecedence is flooding causing epic damage. details coming up next. you are watching "early today."y."time. i'm like, huh? aren't they all the same? you know, i had to see for myself. so i went pro. with crest pro-health advanced. advance to a healthier, stronger, cleaner mouth from day 1. this toothpaste... ...and mouthwash make my whole mouth feel amazing. and my teeth stronger. crest pro-health advanced is superior in these 5 areas dentists check. this is gonna go well, for sure. advance to a healthier stronger, cleaner mouth from day 1. great check up.

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great britain has also been hit hard by huge storms, issuinging over 30 severe flood warnings yesterday. british troops evacuated hundreds of people in northern eng, streets look like rivers. one 200-year-old pub was raferaged by the flood waters t. roof, doors destroyed with the strong force of the river flowing underneath it.

train derailed sunday morning killing sulfuric acid and diesel fuel. the area was declared as an emergency site. three people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. josh ja burwell flipped off san diego's sunset cliff. it is believed he was trying to take pictures of the sunset. three good samaritans climbed down the cliff in a desperate attempt to save him. miami police are investigating a drive-by shooting that killed a 7-year-old boy visiting a relative's home. four men pulled up in a white dodge ram and opened fire at the house. check out the under surveillance video showing a man in china trying to catch a woman who fell from an 11-story billing. she had been crying for help while hanging from a window. unfortunately, she died from the fall.

that man is recovering in the hospital from fractured bones and torn ligaments. time to get down to business. carhub.com stipulates americans have more than $43 billion in unredeemed gift card value since 2008. card can be redeemed for cash value or exchanged for other cards. disneyland will make room for a new "star wars" related attraction. in june, they will close ten attractions and eaterys, to launch the largest expansion ever. the move comes as disneyland's biggest rival and universal studio hollywood plans to unveil a few harry potter attraction in the spring. undefeated no more the panthers perfect season spoiled. details on that and the bizarre

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>> this morning on "today" not sure what to do with christmas gifts you don't want or need? find out the best way to return or exchange them and what to do with unwanted gift cards neighborhood, all right, in sports, perfect no more. third quarter, falcons 3rd and long. >> looking, throwing for jones, double coverage, smile! what a catch. touchdown.

julio jones just snatches the ball from the air for a 70-yarder to put the falcons ahead for good. hands the carolinas the first loss of the season, 20-13 the final there. in sunday night football, the vikings clinch their first playoff in a proceedout victory over the fading new york giants 49-17. minnesota's when eliminates the falcons wildcard hopes. the arizona cardinals just man handled the green bay packers and aaron rogers, who was sacked eight times and had two fumbles returned for touchdowns. the cards also get a first week bye in the playoffs. heads is the call. heads is the call. it is heads. >> we want an early kickoff. 31 receives. >> that way, just like this. the win wins a toss.

>> the play there looks confused. the patriots insist they intended a kick in overtime instead of putting the paul into tom brady's hands. they capitalized with the game winning 6-yard touchdown pass. jets 26-patriots 20. st. louis was supposed to be an easy one for home team seahawks. the rams came to town with something to prove. they hadn't won in seattle in 11 years. but the rams' victory leaves a lot of question marks for the seahawks. kind of an incredible day. just ahead, yeah the force is strong with "star wars," but can you guess which other films are topping the box office? that's ahead. plus you want believe what shash sa baron coen and his wife isla fisher just did for syrian refugees. details on all those stories

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. . >> busy weekend at the box office. "star wars" "the force awakens" brought in $153 million.on. "interstellar" is the most pirated movie of 2015, saying that the 2014 film has been downloaded nearly 47 million times.

in the furious 7 asks is number 2. followed by avengers. jt jurassic world almost 40 million. kylie jenner is stirring rumors after the 18-year-old reality star posted a photo to instagram finger. she is dating rapper tyga but denied rumors on her website. sash za and isla fisher donated money for measle, shelt esser and sanitation for the refugees. i'm shannon mulaire. this is "early today."ay." fact. when emergency room doctors choose an otc pain reliever for their patients muscle, back and joint pain. the medicine in advil is their #1 choice. nothing is stronger on tough pain than advil. relief doesn't get any better than this.

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>> only in the news, in usa today, a deadly fears for tornadoes. this month is the second deadliest month for deadly weather. this is the first time december will be the deadliest month of the year. from nbc news.com, kentucky mall st. mathieus shuts down after brawls up to 2,000 t. chaos started saturday night around 7:00. officers on duty began responding to disturbances t. entire mall was affected be i the series of brawls, with restaurants and shops surrounding the mao, also closing their doors early. a boat chase in florida lasted 20 hours and more than 300 miles, three men led local authorities and coast guard on

the men were eventually apprehended 70 miles from the coast of cuba. it remains unclear why the boat was stolen and where it was taken. abstract painter elsworth kelly died. according to a gallery spokesperson, kelly died of natural causes at his new york home. he was 92. just four days away from the start of 2016, workers installed 288 new crystals on the famous time's square new year's eve ball made from waterford crystal. they expect millions to head to the square for lowering of the ball. in peru, participants in the annual somluckfest battled it out as a part of a traditional fighting festival t. fight is aimed at settling old scores and

clean slate and a few bruises. referees are on hand in fights from affairs of the heart to financial and legal disputes as well. i don't even know where to go that one. what if that was a thing here? >> i don't think i'd want to do >> i don't think i'd want to be involved with it. apparently, it's a way to start fresh. ahead, boston's chief health inspector has a lunch date at chipotle. he is lawn u lunching at a reopened chipotle. health officials say a sick employee was the source of the outbreak. happy birthday the late night host seth myers is 42, oscar winning actor denzel washington is 51.