Know. Breaking overnight, tragedy in gaza. Seven members of the world central kitchen, including an american citizen, killed in an israeli air strike while delivering humanitarian aid. The founder and Chef Jose Andres saying hes heartbroken. Now pausing the groups work in the region. Were live with the latest and what israel is saying this morning. Abortion battleground. Florida Supreme Court allows one of the nations strictest bans to take effect, while also putting the issue in the hands of voters. The intense showdown over reproductive rights now taking center stage in the sunshine state. Left behind. A group of american tourists now racing to rejoin their cruise ship after being stranded on an island off the coast of africa. The ship was anchored right off the harbor. They didnt come back to get us. They will join us at an inside look of their attempts to get back on the boat. All that, plus rescued and ready. You like to sing for your supper . A pair of seal pups set to be released back into the ocean after being nursed back to health. Were with them live every adorable step of the way. And epic performance. Balls up. Another deep one is good superstar Caitlin Clark keeps scoring and setting records, leading iowa to victory against the reigning champs. The hawkeyes are headed back to the final four next up, another icon of womens basketball. And uconn knocks out number one seed. Setting up a final four for the ages, today, tuesday, april 2nd, 2024. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. From studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, guys. Welcome to today. Happy you are with us on a tuesday morning. Caitlin clark, she had a night, didnt she . I mean, 41 points against lsu. Yes, there is a little history here. This is the team they lost to in last years final. So iowa advances to the final four. Hard to believe lsu is out, but good for iowa. Congratulations. A lot more on the tournament in a bit. We begin this morning with those powerful storms overnight and the threat of more today. Take a look at this. A funnel cloud spotted in kingfisher, oklahoma. Thats just one of several reported tornadoes in that region. 54 Million People remain at risk for Severe Weather. More tornadoes a major concern in some areas. And across other parts of the country, heavy rain, flooding and even snow is expected. Parts of Northern New England are set to get up to two feet. And, yes, its april. I cant believe that. We have it all covered. Als forecast as well. But were going to begin with nbcs morgan chesky. He made his way overnight to oklahoma. Hey, morgan, good morning. Reporter yeah, hoda, good morning. In barnesville, one of the hardesthit communities in all of oklahoma after this fastmoving storm. Buildings roof on the ground right behind me after being ripped off this building from a storm and reported tornado that struck under the cover of darkness. If you want to see how powerful the winds will, look no further than the cinder block wall pushed right now. Now the good news, no reports of anyone injured in this entire community, but this storm system is far from over. Reporter overnight, severe storms pounding the central and southern plains. Bringing rain, hail and even tornadoes. A reported twister hitting near kingfisher, oklahoma. The dramatic funnel seen outlined in the sky. And a tornado leaving a trail of wreckage on the ground in the town of barnesville. Some families rushing to take shelter in a nearby school. They were going to stay at the house. I cant lose you. You guys got go with me. Reporter oklahoma also pelted by fierce hail as the storm made its way through. In springfield, missouri, another possible tornado tracked overnight. While heavy rains battered the city. And in north texas, hail rained down as big as tennis balls. These storms all part of a multiday Severe Weather outbreak impacting more than 69 million americans. Stretching from the mississippi and ohio valleys, all the way to the east coast. This following massive storms in southern california, where over the weekend, some highways were left impassable. In los angeles, the city experienced its wettest backtoback years since the late 1800s. Now, mother natures fury moving east ward, leaving more destruction in its wake. And this morning hundreds if not thousands of oklahomaens are still in the dark, but we have seen power crews already up and running today, trying to restore power by putting those lines back. In the meantime, tornado watches still in effect several states to the northeast. Thats where this system is heading. A testament how quickly it moved through this state. Everyone in this town is accounted for. Hoda . All right, morgan. Thank you. Al is on it. He has these spring storms and where theyre headed. Looks like a big mess behind you. Spring storms and possible blizzards conditions all coming from the same storm. Line of heavy showers, thunderstorms pushing in. We have tornado watches. We have severe thunderstorm watches. Weve got tornado warnings up, especially evansville, illinois. We are looking for this making its way indiana, i should say, making its way in. We have 4 Million People under Winter Weather alerts. 60 Million People under flood watches right now. And you can see weve even got winter storm warnings out over the great lakes. Here we go. Today and tonight, dangerous thunderstorms developing all along this line. Weve got heavy snow for the upper great lakes and the midwest. Then, for today, tonight a moderate area of Severe Weather, columbus, to louisville enhanced risk to nashville. Risk of ef2 tornados in this hashed area from birmingham, columbus, charleston, some of these nocturnal, again. Those are twice as deadly as the daytime ones. Then tomorrow, this system moves to the east. This system starts to ramp up, bringing heavy snow to the great lakes. The secondary system develops along the coast, bringing in rain, snow and freezing precip up into new england and then thursday, this system moves further to the coast and thats going to bring the risk of a lot of flooding anywhere from 1 to 4 inches of rain, possibly higher. And then look to the north, were looking at about 18 inches of snow in the up of michigan, but possible blizzard conditions up state new york into interior new england. So, the next 48 hours will be a real mess, guys. All right, al, thank you so much. Well check back with you. There are new tensions in gaza this morning. Several workers delivering humanitarian aid for the world central kitchen have been killed in a reported israeli air strike. The groups founder, famed Chef Jose Andres sharing the news in an emotional post overnight. Nbcs raf sanchez is in tel aviv for us. Hey, raf. Good morning. Reporter hoda, good morning. World central kitchen says 7 of its aide workers were killed in an israeli air strike in central gaza last night. The victims from around the world, including at least one american and chef andres saying this morning that israel must bring an end to the killing of civilians. This morning, the twisted remains of world central kitchen Armored Vehicles destroyed by an israeli strike. The u. S. Charity says 7 of its staff were killed in the attack. And now its halting its aid operations in gaza. The victims include a dual u. S. Canadian citizen, along with british, australian, polish citizenship. A lot of people very happy to see us. Reporter Chef Jose Andres who founded world central kitchen calling them angels. And adding, the Israeli Government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing, stop using food as a weapon. Andres organization was the first to bring food into gaza by sea. He spoke about his mission to get food into northern gaza on today. We need to do everyday shipments to the north. We can solve the hunger problem in the north. Everybody working together, we can. Reporter the Israeli Military calling the killings a tragic indianapolis dent. Saying it launched a thorough review at the highest levels. Its spokesman saying he talked to chef andres. We are committed to examining operations thoroughly and transparently. Reporter but the charity says its staff were traveling in a threevehicle convoy clearly marked with its logo and coordinated their movements with the Israeli Military ahead of time. The white house urging israel to swiftly investigate what happened. One victim, australian, an experienced aid worker. Damien, from poland, was also killed according to his local mayor. Israel facing questions about the accuracy of its strikes in gaza. As elsewhere, rising fears of a wider war. This fiery explosion destroying an iranian diplomatic building in syria yesterday. Iran says the blast killed seven officers from the revolutionary guard. Now its blaming israel and saying that as an ally, the u. S. Must answer for the attack. Now, israel neither confirming nor denying it was behind that strike in syria, but its forces are high on high alert for potential iranian retaliation. Last night, the Israeli Military says an iranianmade drone hit one of its naval bases. There were no casualties, but israel calling it a very serious incident. Hoda . Raf sanchez for us there in tel aviv. Raf, thank you. All right. There are some Key Developments tied to a major issue in the 2024 race. Reproductive rights and abortion. Florida Supreme Court paved the way for the states sixweek abortion ban to take effect. But in a separate ruling, the court ruled that voters will have their say on broader abortion rights in a referendum on the ballot in november. Nbcs senior Legal Correspondent laura jarett is here to break it down. So related, but separate, two different rulings. Lets start with this abortion ban that was passed by the Florida State legislature. It is a long legal road. It is complicated. But the bottom line is that the state Supreme Court upheld this sixweek ban essentially. Yeah. They said there is no right to an abortion under the state constitution. A bunch of states have been dealing with this since the fall of roe v. Wade. Theres no federal right. So the states have been looking at their own constitutions to see if theres any hook there. Obviously advocates have been trying to use that as their only last hope. But the court said, no, there is no constitutional right to an abortion in florida. So the sixweek ban can now go into effect starting at the beginning of next month. Just real quickly, the real impact of this is there are a lot of Southern States that all but banned abortion or have very significant restrictions. A lot of those women had been going to florida. Florida had seen a huge surge. A huge surge since the fall of roe. Now that its cut off, people will have to travel hundreds of miles now to get an abortion. Lets talk about this referendum. A ballot issue the Supreme Court said can appear on novembers ballot for florida voters. And this is going into in the opposite direction. This would enshrine the abortion rights. Yeah, its funny to have the decisions on the same day. There were two different issues that came up. They just happened to come up on the same day. The state had been saying the language on this ballot is too confusing. Not clear enough and the court said, no, its very clear what it means. If the voters approve it, youre able to get an abortion up to the point of viability, which would be around 24 weeks. The difference between sixweek ban and 24 weeks obviously huge. The voters need to have a huge majority, 60 , in order to pass it. It will be on the ballot in november. Of course, the voters will have their say. Okay, lawyer laura, thank you. Breaking overnight, we learned that donald trump posted a 175 million bond as he appeals the judgment in his civil fraud case here in new york. Today he will be back on the campaign trail in the battleground of michigan. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez joins us from grand rapids. Gabe, good morning. Reporter hey there, hoda. Good morning. Far from the u. S. Southern border, President Trump is heading to this critical swing state, michigan, to talk immigration. This will be his First Campaign event in three weeks as he fights legal battles on multiple fronts. Overnight, donald trump posting a 175 million bond in his civil fraud case. For now, the money will prevent the former president s assets from being ceased while the case is appealed. Hes also facing a serious cash crunch as he fights for criminal indictments. Trumps share of his social Media Company dropped by 1 billion after it reported 58 million in losses causing the stock to drop 21 . He announced hed still god bless the usa bibles for 60 each. Make america pray again. Reporter the former president back on the campaign trail today here in battleground michigan, talking immigration. Millions of illegal Border Crossers have entered the country unlawfully. Reporter here in grand rands, hell focus on 25yearold ruby garcia who died last month in what authorities called a Domestic Violence homicide. Police say the suspect, hero man tick partner, is an undocumented immigrant who had previously been deported during the trump administration. We had him out of here and he came back. Reporter while there are hundreds of murders each year committed by legal residents, republicans are citing the case as evidence President Biden is not doing enough to secure the southern border. Bidens michigan allies are firing back. This was not a crisis that occurred overnight. Its been 40 years since our last comprehensive immigration reform. Both parties bear responsibility. Reporter President Bidens team is also focussing heavily on michigan. Democrats plan to open 30 Campaign Offices in the state over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, former President Trump will also visit wisconsin today as well. Hoda . All right. Gabe gutierrez for us there in grand rapids. All right. Quarter after the hour. We have a big night in college basketball. Huge, they would say. Hoda and savannah, good morning. Good morning to you as well. So the rematch of last years womens championship certainly lived up to the hype. Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark shined, leading those iowa hawkeyes passed lsu into the final four once again. Their next opponent uconn after the huskies grabbed the last spot up for grabs. Nbcs sam brock has had the best assignment from the network for the past few weeks, sam has been covering the nonstop action. Sam, good morning. Reporter craig, good morning. Trying as best as i cannot to let this go. And, yes, there is no next year for Caitlin Clark because shes a senior and she went out, craig, with a bang. 41 points, 12 assists, a masterpiece last night. Her reward for doing that, now facing all world talent, paige bueckers, and the uconn huskies as the tournament already captured americas fascination, seemingly just keeping getting better. In what felt like scenes from a hollywood script. Clark pulls up, another deep one, is good shes simply ridiculous. Reporter the countrys most spotlighted sharp shooter Caitlin Clark delivering when it counted most, making a record tying nine threes. This time its iowa reporter clark and the hawkeyes now on their way to a secondstraight final four, vanquishing the team that ended their title hopes a year ago, lsu. This feels a little better. It is my senior year. The job is not finished. Reporter the tigers put up a fight. Highlighted by absurd acrobatics by johnson. On the attack, spinning and finishing reporter and a monster performance from clarks on court rival angel reese kwho shook off an early injury to post 17 points and 20 rebounds before fouling out and ultimately giving clark an end of game hug. We came up short, but we had to keep our heads on. Reporter clark managing to tear down two more records, becoming the alltime division i leader in career made threes. While she was at it, breaking the tournament record for assists. Oh, what a pass reporter but number 22 now gets a matchup with another super nova. Jumps the passing lane. Paige bueckers. Scoops it up and in. Reporter uconns engine in the 2021 National Player of the year is fully recovered from injury and a serious obstacle to any iowa title hopes. And uconn knocks out another number one seed to head back to the final four. Im so proud. Were not supposed to be here, and here we are. Reporter the final four field for the women now all locked up with the surging North Carolina state team taking on undefeated south carolina. A lineup of leading women ready to compete for College Basketballs ultimate prize. So exciting, guys. Clark is not the only player breaking records. Juju watkins of usc just set a new freshman scoring mark. Another incredible thing here. You are talking about uconn and nc state with their mens and womens teams in the final four. In the psalm year, that has never happened before until 2024. What you are seeing right now, weeks of magic and the madness is not over yet. No, its not. It is not, sam brock. Sam, thank you so much. I got to watch some of the iowa game last night. It was fun to watch. I love that you called it the iowa game. It was. Especially the end, right . It will be interesting to see if angel reese decides to come back or play in the wnba. Maybe they could be teammates. Probably not, though. Not the way it works, but wouldnt that be fun . That would be a team to watch. Whats up . I was just enjoying sports center. Very good. Sportscenter with one expert. Exactly. No, two. Heres whats interesting about the weather map. Look at out west. There is nothing going on. Which i