with advanced missile technology in theory noh korea could possibly hit the mainland united states, but u.s. officials are skeptical. north korea has often bluffed. joohee cho, abc news, seoul, south korea. >>> the u.s. is sending up special planes to determine exactly what kind of nuclear test was conducted. north korea's ally china sayayit had no prior knowledge of the test. members of the u.n. security council have called an emergency meeting for this morning. of course, we will bring you more details as we get them. >>> and also now here at home, our other top story developing this morning, the first major el nino storms hitting the west. >> southern california is getting slammed right now with record-setting torrential rains. roads turning into rivers, even washing away an entire block's worth of garbage. look at that. abc's lana zak with the latest now. >> repororr: torrential california, have turned this backyard into a waterfall. a powerful el nino is slamming the california coast turning streets into streams and causing parking garages to overflow with water. the quick burst of

herb: noh korea conducted some kind of nuclear test this week. we are not sure what it was. what is the best way for the u.s. to respond to that? is there a way to deter them? rep. thornberry: it is a hard question because getting inside the mind of the leader of north korea is difficult. it would probably be scary if you tried. i think a couple of things. the house will vote on a north korea sanctions bill next week. it is a somewhat similar approach that has been pushed before to try to tighten down and inflict some pain on that country. i think it is very important for us to push missile defense because while they are working on nuclear weapons, they are also working on the missiles to deliver them to the united states. missile defense, and our own nuclear deterrent, which unfortunately has been allowed to decay over the last 20-30 years, has to be strengthened. that is the key thing, as well as working with our allies -- south korea, and of course, in the last couple of weeks we have seen south korea and japan put some of their differences behind them, and that is positi

and the fears of noh korea's claims of a hydrogen bomb test. are down and our markets will open down about 2% across the board. >>> republican presidential candidate ted cruz pushing back on claims that he may not be eligible for the white house. gop front-runner donald trump has been questioning whether cruz is a citizen. he was born in canada but his mother is an american citizen. >> the question is settled. the child of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural citizen. >> this is the first time trump has shown anything similar to fright or panic. he sees cruz running ahead in iowa. >>> hillary clinton is still up by 20 points over bernie sanders. >>> let's get you to where you need to go. sal, are you ready? you don't have rain. >> it's a much better commute. i have the chp board and there have been a couple of minor things going on. for the most part we're off to a nice start. let's take a look. and in the east bay commute, it's looking good. this is i-8 80 north and southbound. and it continues to move nicely. there are no problems reported

. >>> the house today votes on sanctions against noh rtrea after its nuclear bomb test. it will deny north koreatrong bipartisan support although it sat stuck in committee for ten months until north korea's claim it set off a hydrogen bomb last week. but it's uncertain whether the senate will pass the bill or what effect passage would have. >>> we're getting an ominous message from isis after a deadly attack on a shopping mall in baghdad. at least 18 people were killed in that attack that ended after a nearly two-hour gun battle. a few hours after the attack, at least 20 people were killed in an attack on a cafe outside of baghdad. isis has warned of even worse incidents to come. >>> nals iraq, a u.s. strike is believed to have destroyed a huge stockpile of isis cash. an official says 2,000-pound bombs targeted a cache storage facility in the city of mosul. it's the second time the u.s. has carried out this kind of air strike. >>> breaking news from ohio where three people are dead following a house explosion and fire near cleveland. the victims are a mother, father and their child. another chil