ron allen joins us now from amman, jordan, with more. ron? >> reporter: good evening, lester. yes, jordan had been relatively quiet until a stunning outburst of violence here today. syria was even worse, with more dead and wounded on the streets, as so many people in this part of the world continue their fight for their rights and freedoms. as thousands of syrians took to the streets again today, a crackdown. witnesses say president bashar assad's security forces opened fire. more than 50 people killed, according to human rights activists, in the town of daraa, epicenter of the uprising. video posted on the internet the only images of the carnage. >> the only way that assad can stay in power is by being brutal. he has lost his legitimacy. >> reporter: just yesterday a presidential adviser had promised a laundry list of reforms, higher pay, corruption investigations, a possible end to 48 years of emergency law. but clearly, many syrians are not buying it. in yemen, the crowds were even larger. hundreds of thousands demanding president ali abdullah saleh step down. saleh has los

that's where nbc's ron allen is standing by tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is a playing field on the edge of a playground here in little falls, but it's covered by part of the passaic river. the river is about five feet higher than it normally would be this time of year and it's already threatening quite a few homes in this community, as you can see. there is more rain in the forecast and just about everyone here expects this river to rise much higher. the passaic river roared through this neighborhood after drenching rains over the weekend, forcing dozens of families to evacuate to higher ground. les and kelly mcdaniel moved into the house at the end of forest avenue with the river view just six days ago. now they use a swimming pool float and a big stick to navigate their way to dry land. >> they're saying it's supposed to rain all weekend, so it's probably going to come inside the house then. what are you going to do, you know. you can't fight with mother nature. >> reporter: emergency crews had to

brian. >> all right, ron allen in wayne, new jersey, looking at another long night there. ron, thanks. >>> the weather brought some drama to the pga cadillac championship in doral, florida. a violent storm with wind gustsc over 50 miles an hour sent the : famous leaderboard, palm trees, tv towers and hospital tents flying in all different directions. the players were already off the course when the damage took place. fortunately, no one was hurt. now that the weather has calmed down, the action on the course at doral continues tomorrow on the golf channel, this weekend on nbc sports. >>> when we come back here tonight, the president gets personal about how he was a cc1: victim of something so many kids and their parents deal with today. >>> and later, opening the door to high quality, low cost learning on the internet.cc1: some good news in our education: nation segment tonight. cc1:cc1:: >>> anybody with kids knows about it. so many kids and their parents have to deal with it, even more so with the internet. bullying is such a big problem in this day and age in this countr

nbc's ron allen has our report. >> reporter: only a few fleeting images document the brutality. pictures said to be taken by syrian protesters, confronted by government security forces. much of the aftermath too graphic to show. don't shoot, we are your brothers and sisters, a man yells. at least 37 people have been slaughtered the past few days in a town called daraa. thousands there demanding greater freedom and fairness. police also have had little patience for smaller protests in the capital, damascus. watch how this officer arrests this woman. nearby, a roundup at the central mosque. the first serious challenge to president bashar al assad, 45, linked to terrorism by the u.s. he inherited power when his father died in 2000. hafez al assad ruled for three decades, accused of killing 20,000 opponents in a purge in the '80s. syria is now largely closed to outsiders. it insists foreigners are behind the unrest. and after first blaming armed gangs for the killings, today syria admitted some of its security forces made what the government called mistakes. a spokesperson for assad

nbc's ron allen has our report. >> reporter: god, syria, bashar, they chanted, as president al assad arrived at parliament. for days the syrian government had crushed protests with brute force. dozens are believed dead. today they expected him to bend but he took a very hard line and blamed the unrest on outside conspirators. the conspiracy is big and we are not looking for a fight, he said. but we will not hesitate to defend our causes, interests and principles. hopes for reform and an end to 48 years of repressive laws turned out to be wishful thinking. al assad got a well-orchestrated show of support. the only visible dissent, this extraordinary scene. a woman rushing the president's car, quickly subdued. disappointed protesters are reportedly back out, with more expected. earlier this week, near syria's border with jordan, we met an eyewitness who dared speak. >> were you there when the security forces came to town? >> reporter: they invaded our mosque and started killing people, he said. tonight analysts say the syrian president seems convinced he can crush any protests. there a

ron allen, nbc news, buchanan, new york. >>> we are back in a moment with a troubling question a lot of people are asking after the events of the past several days. >>> finally tonight, after the unrelenting and literally world-changing news of the past nine or so days, a question many of us have been asking, now perfectly captured on the cover of "newsweek" magazine out tomorrow, against the backdrop of a cresting wave, the words "apom lips now: tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, revolutions, economies on the brink, what the blank is next?" we wish we could tell you but whatever it is we will be covering it on multiple fronts as we did tonight. but as we leave you on this first day of spring we wanted to lighten things up and look up at the sky last night. did you see it? we're talking about the promised supersized moon. here it is rising near the lincoln memorial, bigger and brighter than it's been in 18 years because it was closer to earth, all part of a cycle of our universe, one of mother nature's most spectacular performances, worth taking a special look at, perhaps duri

nbc's ron allen is in wayne, new jersey, for us. ron, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. it's raining and that's about the last thing these waterlogged communities need. the river is several feet above where it normally is this time of year and rising. it's broken through part of this wall and may easily flow over it. that's a possibility. dozens of homes have been evacuated already and town officials are warning residents this is a serious situation. they should be prepared. all week now the pacaic river has been turning residents into evacuees, forced to use a swimming pool float and a big stick to get from their home to dry land. the river almost rushing in their home. >> they are saying it's supposed to rain all weekend. it will probably come inside the house then. what are you going to do? can't fight with mother nature. >> reporter: downstream in patterson, firefighters were helping people get to higher ground by boat. often dangerous rescues because of swift currents. all of that is just round one. with torrential

more rain on the way and ron allen is in little falls, new jersey. ron, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. we're on island avenue along riverview circle. you can see there is a lot of water out here and it's going to get worse. the water is about a foot or 18 inches deep or so. this is a playing field but of course you can't see the edges of it. as you look down there, there are a lot of homes where the water is up to the back doors and running in the basements. the good news is that the water level is dropping on some of these trees and other structures. you can see there is a mark and the water has dropped maybe six inches or so and it's going to drop about a foot. of course this is a prelude before another big storm that rolls in here thursday into friday where the weather is going to get bad and the waters will inevitably rise. people say the water gets up to about waist deep here. it's a seasonal flood but some people are saying it's not been this bad in decades. in this direction you can see the pesaic river, five or six feet

allen ruby, if he was on the east coast, he would be one of the ten top lauder lawyers in the country. he defended rontheir cases. a lot of drama here in san francisco. i'm damion trujillo for "today in the bay." >>> thank you. 6:32 right now. a santa cruz father is breathing a sigh of relief this morning. thanks to one of our viewers his daughter will fly back here from japan. john tillman's daughter lynn lives with her mother in japan. it took several days for him to get ahold-his daughter. that's when his ex-wife decided it would be best for his daughter to come to california to stay until it was safe to return to japan. a plane ticket did seem out of reach for him until a generous donor contacted us after seeing tillman's story on nbc bay area. >> i just want to say thank you and it is a blessing that there are good people out there still. and i want everybody to give their vibes and their positive healing vibes to all the kids out there in japan. >> the donor has five kids of his own and says if any of them were in lynn's situation he hopes someone would step in and help the way he is. >>> member