we begin if there tonight with nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: sunrise in the san joaquin valley. in a region that grows a third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, another winter day without rain. at the local diner in firebaugh, these are difficult times. >> with no water, we can't farm. >> we are fogg in this. >> reporter: lavon allen could lose her restaurant. allen has owned the diner for three years. her husband's family has been in farming for three generations. >> it's a complete loss. not just for us, but for our employees and for the community. >> reporter: joel allen's 20-man crew is out of work. next year he may be out of farming. >> it's to the point where we're scratching our head. what are we going to do next. >> reporter: firebaugh is one of several communities here in the central valley that feeds the nation. but the drought has turned this region into a virtual dust bowl. without water, the harvest in this field is ruined. at the local grocery store, fruit prices are up. sales are down. the market had to lay off three employees and many more in this town of ne

we get more on this tonight from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: in central california, this is theound of extreme drought. cattle ranchers selling off their herds. without rain, there is no grass for grazing. >> what i'm hearing from fellow ranchers is panic. >> reporter: cindy tuse, a rancher for 17 years, says many can no longer afford the price of feed. >> if we continue to have the conditions that are in place right now, i see more selloff. i see more cattlemen having to sell their entire herd. >> reporter: ranchers here echo what the president said when he met with farmers. >> what happens here matters to every working american, right down to the cost of food that you put on your table. >> reporter: tonight at the grocery store, you may already be paying more for milk. the midwest drought of 2012 is still driving up prices today. but in farming towns like firebaugh, this historic drought is hitting home now. with prices up for produce, sales are down. this market has laid off three employees and many more in this town of nearly 8,000 are leaving. city manager ken mcdonald says

nbc's miguel almaguer is just east of l.a. tonight. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. here in the city of azusa, we're in a break between storms. but the concern remains high. the problem is that mountain behind me. a recent fire turned that soil into a concrete mix. meaning when it rains the water will rush into this community down slope, many fear when it happens the mud will begin to slide. on ridgeview drive, the order to evacuate just before the next big storm rolls in. 65-year-old ed highline, a retiree, has been working around the clock. but now he is out of time. >> the water will come over first, and it rains, this whole thing will be full of mud. >> reporter: he knows it will not take much for this mountain to slide into his back yard. how worried are you? >> it's going to happen. we're going to deal with it. we need the rain. we don't want the mess. you can't have both, so we'll take the rain and clean up the mess. >> reporter: only four years ago a winter storm buried a nearby neighborhood in mud after

nbc's miguel almaguer picks up the story from there. >> reporter: his sea legs buckled as he planted his legs on solid ground. jose alvarenga's tale of survival is as wild as his long hair and matted beard. "prayer and god," he says kept him alive, especially after a crewmate starved to death. alvarenga says a storm washed his 24-foot fishing boat into the ocean. it drifted 6,000 miles for more than a year from mexico to the marshall islands, he says, without food, water, or fishing gearment alvarenga told telemundo he used a box to hide from the sun. "i was going to kill myself," he says. "i watched my friend die of hunger and thirst. i asked god to get me out of here, and that's what happened." he says he stayed alive on a boat about this size by eating raw fish, birds and turtles. and he says he drank rain water whenever he could. doctors say it is possible, the 37-year-old who looks healthy, is said to have swollen organs from exposure to sun and salt. which could explain his bloated appearance. sailor and author steven callahan survived 76 days lost at sea. >> it seems very unre

>> miguel almaguer, san jose, california for us tonight. miguel, thanks. >>> and a hot topic in american politics just got more interesting where president obama is concerned. it has to do with the keystone pipeline from canada to the u.s. gulf coast. and just tonight, a long-delayed environmental impact report could remove a major hurdle for its approval. we get our late report tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: it is a classic battle. the oil industry arguing jobs and energy independence versus environmentalists worried about oil spills, wildlife and climate change. the pipeline would stretch for 875 miles, from montana on the kandi zal pampore boarder to steel city, nebraska. delivering 830,000 barrels a day of thick star sand crude oil on to the gulf coast. president obama trailed for months by anti-pipeline protesters had promised he would not approve it if it would accelerate climate change. >> our national interests will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. >>

we have miguel almaguer in california. >> reporter: good evening, this l.a. suburb is under what they call an orange alert. voluntary evacuations are in effect as a series of storms move in this direction. as you can see behind me they are filling sandbags at rapid fire pace, because of the thread of mudslides. this is where the kobi fire broke out in january, turning the soil into clay. elsewhere we see powerful winds. at sfo today high winds caused three-hour delays. in los angeles, we have had an inch of rain in the last few mon months, now in the next two days alone we could have up to four inches with this new storm. the biggest punch will come saturday, that will be just hours before the oscars. not to worry, they will find a way to keep the stars dry. brian, as you know we're in a severe drought. we need all the rain we can get. as a matter of fact we need 15 inches. so when it is all said and done the storm will likely just be a drop in the rain bucket. brian? >>> all right, miguel almaguer, covering what could be a major event. >>> and now much of th

let's start, though, with what's happening on the ground in california, nbc's miguel almaguer is standing by where people have been forced to evacuate. >> reporter: tamron, good morning, it has been hammering rain nearly the entire day here in southern california. we've seen rain all across the state. we've got about a year's worth of rain in this one storm alone. i want to show you the dangerous situation here, you can see these homes behind me just above them, a mountainside that was ravaged by fire not long ago, in fact, the fire is still smoldering a month later. the concern is the storm will run off the mountains and literally run into these homes behind me. because of that threat, they've evacuated about 1,000 homes in this neighborhood. police have issued those mandatory evacuations, though not everyone here is heeding them. it's a mess out here in southern california, not just here in local neighborhoods where they are experiencing some localized flooding, but on freeways up and down the state, there have been spinouts and rollovers all morning long. it's certainly going to be a d

here is nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: on ridge view drive, the order to evacuate just before the next big storm rolls in. 65-year-old ed highline, a retiree, had has been working around the clock. but now he's out of time. >> the water will come over first and it rains. this whole thing will be full of mud. >> reporter: he knows it won't take mountain to slide into his backyard. >> we need the rain. we don't want the mess. you can't have both. so we'll take the rain, we'll clean up the mess. >> reporter: only four years ago a winter storm buried a nearby neighborhood in mud after a wildfire torched the foothills. all of los angeles is on high alert. >> we have storm watch live team coverage. it took only an inch to make freeways a mess. in southern california, nearly 200 accidents. hazmat teams shut down this highway for a fuel spill. on social media, tweets like this, nobody owns an umbrella and nobody knows how to drive in rain. from police, buckle, put down your cell phone and drive safe. the silver lining, california desperately needs water. they measured the snow pack, 75% b

in azusa, california, miguel almaguer is there, and those areas under mandatory evacuations, miguel. >> reporter: yeah, al, good morning. check this out. we have the hammering rain that is dropping buckets of water and sheets of water down this hill. the concern for police is behind the homes. 1 1000 homes have been evacuated. this mountain side was burned by the colby fire. the concern now is the mud my sheet down from the hills right into the homes below. there is a major concern. they evacuated more than 1,000 homes. it continues to rain and the danger level increases. police have asked everyone in the neighborhood to evacuate. i want to show you pictures taken earlier this morning. it was pounding rain in northern california as well. it is raining up and down the state. we have seen about a year's worth of rain here in southern california over this one storm. we have beaten all kinds of totals here. we are expecting that rain to continue today. they began sandbagging and prepping for the storm several days ago. people were out in force prepping the homes to get ready for the big

let's start, though, with what's happening on the ground in california, nbc's miguel almaguer is standingcuate. >> reporter: tamron, good morning, it has been hammering rain nearly the entire day here in southern california. we've seen rain all across the state. we've got about a year's worth of rain in this one storm alone. i want to show you the dangerous situation here, you can see these homes behind me just above them, a mountainside that was ravaged by fire not long ago, in fact, the fire is still smoldering a month later. the concern is the storm will run off the mountains and literally run into these homes behind me. because of that threat, they've evacuated about 1,000 homes i

. >>> miguel almaguer is in california covering the storms there. >> reporter: it is certainly wet here, not as cold as where al is. rain, we are getting a lot of it here. let me give you statistics. over the last 24 hours or so we got about an inch of rain. over the last eight months here in california we have gotten about an inch. this is certainly a significant storm. you can see the sand bags because locals are preparing for what we could see this afternoon, that is mudslides. this is area where a significant fire broke out a couple of months ago. they are concerned the ground has turned into a cement-like material meaning the water will rush down mountain sides and into homes. let me show you video of last night of heavy down pours from northern california all the way here to southern california. we saw damage across the state, down trees, localized flooding and high tide threatening beach communities. we saw delays at san francisco international airport. up to three hours, we can see more delays today because of the strong winds. that is the reason behind the knocked down trees. m

miguel almaguer with the story. >> reporter: 4-year-old sophia jarvis was the first to be diagnosed. one morning 2 1/2 years ago she had difficulty breathing and flu-like symptoms. her mom rushed her to the hospital where she later learned sophia suffers from a polio-like syndrome. her left arm is now paralyzed. >> i was with her in the e.r. when she was having trouble breathing. i know we are so lucky she's here. >> monday, sophia's parents joined doctors in palo alto who now say there are at least five but possibly up to 25 cases of the mystery illness in california alone. >> all of the children have permanent weakness in the most severely affected limbs. >> so doctors stress the number of affected children is small, the illness rare. for now, little to do to help their young victims. >> parents lived in fear of polio's sudden attack. >> polio was eradicated nearly 30 years ago in this country. children do not have that illness, but the symptoms are similar. at children's hospital in oakland, dr. christina aguilar says she's treated at least eight children with the symptoms and not

let's get the story now from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: for the cast away thought to be deade than a year, pictures from london's "daily mail" show a fresh haircut, a clean shave, and a tale of survival as long and tangled as the beard he once had. jose alvarenga wobbled back on to land with a story even he can't believe. god, he says, kept him alive as he watched a crew mate die of starvation. i was going to kill myself, he says. i saw my friend die of hunger and thirst. while in a 24-foot boat like this one, he says the storm swept him 6,000 miles from mexico to the marshall islands without food, water or fishing gear. alvarenga says he used a box to shelter himself from the sun as he drifted on a boat about this size. he says he killed fish, turtles and birds to stay alive and drank rain water whenever he could. he says he survived 14 months in the open ocean before finally seeing land and swimming ashore. >> he was saying thank god, thank god, thank god over and over again. >> the 37-year-old who looks healthy is suffering from swollen organs, which may explain his bloate

nbc's miguel almaguer has the story. >> reporter: the final curtain call.oes. i don't care -- >> reporter: leno left off where he started, number one in the ratings. his first guest in 1992 also his last. >> billy crystal! you're moving to 9:00. >> yes, 9:00. i just have to get it straight. for the tivo. >> reporter: thursday night, there were surprises. a string of stars belting a melodic tribute. carol burnett and oprah winfrey said good-bye. ♪ you'd buy them all a car >> reporter: jay leno leaves a late-night legend. >> i bid you a very heartfelt good night. >> reporter: he took over the reins from johnny carson in '92. for more than two decades, he made america laugh. >> what country was the vietnam war fought? >> korea. >> korea. >> i can't do this anymore. sorry. >> reporter: now at age 63, leno steps aside for 39-year-old jimmy fallon. the show may be over, but leno says he won't stop performing. he'll continue to do stand-up, and he's had offers from other networks. but he says he's done with late night. but first, his good-bye. >> this has been the

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