>> janet shamlian in willows, california tonight. janet, thanks. >>> severe weather alerts are up across much of the nation's midsection tonight, including tornado watches. high winds, damaging hail and heavy rain already left a destructive path in michigan. the latest from nbc's joe fryer. >> reporter: strong storms ripped up the landscape across michigan. and where hail ricocheted off buildings and cars -- >> the wind just really picked up really, really fast. >> reporter: -- and powerful winds flipped small planes, with gusts reaching 80 miles an hour. >> before i knew it, in about 60 seconds, man, it came through and blew my fence down, messed my garage door up. >> reporter: the roof of this high school gym was ripped clean off, and this pile of dissected tree limbs crushed a house and car with the family inside narrowly escaping. power lines took a hard hit in michigan. more than 150,000 customers lost electricity. severe spring storms stretched across the country's midsection, hitting wisconsin and illinois. >> i have never seen

we get the story from janet shamlian in arkansas. >> that's my grandson there. >> reporter: it was good turn out for jessie green's 83rd birthday, but you wouldn't call this a party. it wasn't a garage sale, either. the memories of a life well lived are muddy and wet. she came home today to start cleaning, to find her friends already started the job. you seem in fairly descent spirits. >> i'm living. i'm walking and talking. >> reporter: she worked an overnight nursing shift and spent all day helping jessie. you got to be exhausted. >> not yet, i will be. >> reporter: drivers waited in line outside city hall, not to get emergency supplies but to give them. >> trying to get the food and water and basic necessities. >> trying to take care of friends and neighbors. >> reporter: like the bank workers that turned the parking lot into a grill, searching lunch in a hardship, many offers of help. this veterinary building has a tree crashed through it. this guy is shaking. >> absolutely. >> reporter: instead of making repairs, he's on a desperate search for owners of the orphans of the storm. ca

. >> janet shamlian starting us off, thanks. >>> the highest storm risk tonight is in arkansas. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is in little rock tonight. mike, what does it look like there? >> hey, lester, first, let's go back to that picture you showed us earlier. a live picture from stromsburg, nebraska. this is west of the omaha area. potentially, a rain-wrapped tornado. we had a tornado down earlier. there have been reports of damage. meanwhile back in little rock, the atmosphere has changed. we're now in the 70s. we're the warm sector of the storm. the warm sector typically the most prone to tornados spinning up. also, for the first time this season, the storm prediction center has put an area under a high risk, including parts of arkansas. we're under a tornado watch. this is a pds tornado watch, meaning a particularly dangerous situation. that is until 11:00 tonight. and unfortunately, as the sun goes down, the tornadoes become even more dangerous because people go to bed and they miss the warnings and you can't see them coming. and over the past hour now, two

janet shamlian is in chico, california, with the very latest for us. janet, good morning. >> reporter: erica, good morning. there is new information into this investigation, an eyewitness who says the fedex truck was on fire before it crossed the median and slammed into that bus. that will be critical to the investigation as the ntsb looks into what happened here. they say there will be no quick answers into this and the investigation could take as long as three months. the other side of this is the identification of the victims. just a terrible process, as these families sit and wait. both drivers, we lost in this. three adult chaperones, five students. in some cases the medical examiner has asked for dental records to positively identify the victims. among them, we're learning a little bit more about them, including marisa serrato, 17 years old, an identical twin whose sister was riding on another bus and arrived safely. her family waited yesterday anxious every time the phone rang. they did receive confirmation last night that she was among the victi

nbc's janet shamlian is live there. how bad is the damage there, janet? >> well, it is devastating.the same from the tornadoes, but you see belongings, and somebody laundry hamper over to the car tees to, the what you are seeing behind me is only a sliver of what i can 360. we are 100 yards off of interstate 40, and just in every direction and with the trees snapped off, and you will see the raw bark and the twisted metal and cars on top of each other. it is awful. there is going to be a news conference starting in an hour from here in mayflower and we expect to get the update at this time, but this is a community of a 500 families, 25 minutes north of little rock, and it is not overstating to say it is decimated. >> thank you, janet, for that report as we are looking at the damage behind you. it is devastating. >> and now no the nra annual meeting which drew 75,000 people to the conference this weekend, but not everyone was there to show support for the gun lobby. moms demand action for gun sense in america is part of mayor bloomberg's anti-drug effort, every town for gun seif ti.

nbc's janet shamlian is in the town of mayflower, arkansas. janet, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, matt. it's heartbreaking. 16 people have been confirmed dead. take a look at what the community of mayflower is waking up to this morning. this storm came in after dusk last night. this is the first chance to assess the damage. deadly and destructive. the tornadoes hit with a vengeance. deadly and destructive, the tornados hit with a vengeance. this morning, rescue workers are continuing to dig through the debris, trying to find people still trapped. cutting a path nearly 80 miles long and half a mile wide, the twister flattened homes and buildings, many completely gone. residents of hard-hit mayflower, arkansas, had to be evacuated, as officials worried that gas leaks could cause explosions. >> kevin! kevin! we need help! someone's stuck! >> reporter: just outside of mayflower on interstate 40, ordinary citizens became first responders. >> all right? anybody else in there? >> reporter: dazed and hurt families huddled together. >> car rolled

here's nbc's janet shamlian. >> reporter: terri frana is recovering from a nightmare this morning. >> i saw this large bear charging at me. >> reporter: confronting five bears in her driveway and garage, she hardly had time to think. >> she opened her jaw and clamped down on to my head and i could just hear her teeth marks going through my scalp. >> reporter: terri thought about her children and prayed. >> i thought, please, my kids need me. >> reporter: bears interacting with humans is not uncommon in this unscapscale orlando suburb which is right next to a state nature preserve. >> you can't disrespect the bears, it's their neighborhood. >> reporter: according to an analysis by the "orlando sentinel," reports of bears coming in contact with people and property have more than doubled in the last five years in central florida. from just under a thousand in 2009 to more than 2,200 last year. last night, even as florida wildlife officials set traps, tranquilizer guns ready, bears could be seen wandering through the subdivision. one was shot by a game warden after exhibiting dangerous be

for "today," janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >> now to the unprecedented punishment handed down to los angeles clippers owner donald sterling, for racist comments that drew outrage all across the nation. a lifetime ban from professional basketball and a $2.5 million fine. nbc's joe fryer is out in los angeles. joe, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. the big question, will donald sterling fight to keep his team if the owners force him to sell? sterling has not commented since the announcement. meanwhile, the clippers have now taken the lead in their playoff series. this morning, the l.a. clippers are celebrating two wins, one on the court and one off with the nba's historic ruling. >> i think it definitely made sense and i think it was the right thing. >> reporter: hours before the game, nba commissioner adam silver delivered the punishment. >> effective immediately, i am banning mr. sterling for life. >> reporter: moments later, the clippers website displayed this three-word message. >> we are one! >> reporter: a motto that echoed throughout staples center last n

first, nbc's janet shamlian with their story. >> reporter: to look at them now, you'd never know what. the 9-month-old twins were born conjoined from their chest to their belly, sharing a liver and intestines. at just a month old in a risky operation, a team of surgeons successfully separated the boys in a nine-hour operation that required the touch and go separation of a major blood vessel. and now, for a family that's been through so much, the biggest milestone yet, the boys are leaving the hospital. >> i'm so excited. i'm shaking, i'm so excited. we've been waiting for months for this. and it's finally here. >> reporter: jenny and dave ezel have been all but leaving in the neonatal intensive care unit in dallas. even christmas was there. it's been emotionally and physically draining, they say, and worth every minute. >> when this is over, we're going to have four boys, you know? we're going to be a family and it's going to be great. at the time, we talked about it, but i couldn't envision it. i couldn't see it. but i knew we had to keep talking about it. but now i can finally see i

nbc's janet shamlian is in mesa, arizona, again this morning. janet, good morning. >> reporter: hi, natalie. it's a local community pool here in mesa, but there was olympic-sized enthusiasm, as michael phelps dived into competition. and what a return. this guy takes 18 months off, swims like he hasn't missed a day, and yet there were a few potholes on the comeback road. just like all those unforgettable races, michael phelps in lane four, his old rival ryan lochte in lane five. >> so we are off the block. >> reporter: it was phelps diving back into competition in the final of the 100 meter butterfly, lochte at his side stroke for stroke. phelps swimming toward a comeback. >> lochte and phelps neck and neck. >> reporter: at 28, with one preliminary win, this was a race phelps wanted. and it's oh so close. >> and ryan lochte has just edged out michael phelps in the comeback. >> reporter: for the world's most decorated olympian, out of the pool for 18 months -- >> i traveled, i played golf, i gained 30 pounds. >> reporter: it was his first meet sinc

janet shamlian is there.g. >> reporter: he is calling himself the grandfather of today's games and downplaying expectations of how well he'll do. that is a tough sell for michael phelps. after all, this is a guy who has 18 gold medals. it's been almost two years since he famously hung up his goggles after london, but as of today, phelps is officially back. testing the waters. retired swimmer michael phelps, the most decorated olympian ever, 22 medals is as of today now unretired i just miss being back in the water. >> reporter: phelps said he was finished two years ago after a spectacular finish in london. >> michael phelps is going to win gold! >> reporter: but like basketball's michael jordan and football's brett favre, swimming superstar has decided to lay it on the line and go for the hollywood style ending, a return to greatness. >> michael has never been, is not now, never was, never will be afraid to fail. he's like, let's bring it on now. >> reporter: the first stop is here in arizona, where phelps, w

janet shamlian down in louisville, kentucky, good morning to you. >> hi, matt, good morning.utiful spring day could seem like heaven. especially after that endless winter we just had. but, in fact, it could be pure torture this year for allergy sufferers. we've got all this pollen coming down at once. while it's beautiful here in louisville, this city has the distinction as being the worst in america. for allergy sufferers. trees budding, sun shining, finally time to ditch the winter coats and enjoy the great outdoors. sounds good, right? believe it or not for a lot of people, the answer is no. >> runny nose or i'm sneezing. >> they run, they itch. i don't know what to do about it. >> i'm allergic to pretty much everything. >> experts say this spring's allergy season will be nothing to sneeze at. with climate change playing a role in the reaction. >> certainly, there's evidence that because plants are now growing in places they haven't before, that the growing season is longer, which means there's a chance for a longer exposure to plants that might cause problems, and it coul