Morning. Frantic rescue efforts underway. Were live with the very latest. Wild weather. Get in the house. Do you see it . Yes, its right there. Another night of dangerous tornadoes ripping across the south. Drivers trapped in rising flood waters. Further north, snow is being measured in feet. The northeast in the danger zone today and al is tracking it all. Demanding answers. The u. S. Condemning the israeli air strike that killed seven aid workers, including an american. The president with his toughest language yet saying he is outraged and heart broken and the israeli governments new apology. Mistakes happen. This morning the growing fallout and what were now learning about the victims. Decision 2024. A new poll showing former President Trump leading in six key swing states that could decide the election. While he and President Biden take aim at each other over the border and abortion rights. The latest from the campaign trail just ahead. Those stories, plus ozempic at costco. Inside the retail giants new Health Care Program offering easy access to weight loss drugs. Could other Big Box Stores soon do the same . And musicians versus the machine. Hundreds of stars teaming up to fight back against artificial intelligence. Including the cloning of familiar voices. A closer look at ais newest battleground and why artists are saying it is time to stop the music. Today, wednesday, april 3rd, 2024. From nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hi, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to today. Nice to have you with us on a rainy wednesday morning. Its a rainy one, and it was another night with severe storms across the country. Look at the scene here in kentucky. In all, about a dozen tornadoes were reported across six states. More extreme weather is on the way today, and we are going to check in with al in just a bit. We have breaking news first. That massive earthquake overnight. These are images out of taiwan with a 7. 4 magnitude quake struck just off the coast. It is the most powerful earthquake to hit the island nation in quarter of a century. This morning the death toll is rising. Janis Mackey Frayer joins us live with the very latest. Janice, good morning. Reporter savannah, good morning. This earthquake struck during the morning rush hour and was so strong, tremors were felt hundreds of miles away. At least nine people have died and nearly 900 injured, and rescue workers are only beginning to get a sense of the damage. This is the moment the earthquake hit, a magnitude 7. 4, according to u. S. Estimates. The morning quake rocking city landmarks, violently shaking homes. This tv news room left swaying. As was this rooftop swimming pool. Water falling down another one in this building. The most powerful quake to strike taiwan in a quarter century. Just 15 miles from the epicenter, several buildings were left partially crumbled and dangerously teetering. Emergency workers searching for people trapped. An american living in taiwan was there when it hit. My husband and i jumped to our feet and ran from the nearest doorway and braced ourselves. We could barely keep our Balance Holding both sides of the doorway. All around us, things were falling off the walls and off the shelves, smashing and crashing everywhere. Reporter the quake and multiple aftershocks triggered land shakes across the island. It set off tsunami warnings in the philippines and japan. Thousands were sent racing to higher ground. This is what jason is cleaning up, where the american owns a restaurant. We lost like, you know, most of our plates. Reporter a part of the world accustomed to earthquakes, but few as fierce as this. The timing, janice, is just so difficult right there during rush hour. As these hours are ticking by, what is the search for survivors looking like right now . Reporter well, crews are working to reach people who are trapped on blocked roads and in some cases in tunnels. This afternoon transport officials said that some major highways are impassable because of debris and falling clock. Several buildings have partially collapsed and landslides along that eastern coast rendered the one major highway there unusable. Thats why theyre warning people to stay put and not travel, especially in the mountains. This weekend marks a public highway in taiwan, as well as china, when families travel to visit tombs and graves to honor relatives. But there have been dozens of aftershocks. There is now rain in the weather forecast. So these damaged roads will just be that much more treacherous to move around. Savannah . Difficult hours there in taiwan. Thank you very much. Also breaking overnight, here at home, even more Severe Weather across the country. A destructive storm system moving east. Well get to als forecast in just a moment. But first, we have maggie vespa in la grange, where one of those twisters touched down. Good morning. Reporter yes. A state of emergency actually declared now in kentucky after three confirmed tornadoes swept across the state. You can see, as you point out, one of them touched down here. This is the power of that storm apparently on display. The roof ripped off and, from what we can tell, tossed right across the street, landing in the neighbors front yard. Were seeing widespread damage like this and Power Outages all the result of this latest round of severe spring weather. Get in the house. Do you see it . Yes, its right there. Reporter overnight, more dangerous and destructive weather, tornadoes, high winds and flooding rains punishing multiple states. Some of the worst damage in kentucky where at least three tornadoes touched down. The states governor declaring an emergency. Sounded like a freight train. Reporter the storm tearing buildings apart. Theres roofs that collapsed, there are gas lines spraying gas everywhere. Reporter houses were ripped off their foundations. Intense winds uprooting massive trees, crushing cars and tearing down power lines, even sweeping people off their feet in lexington. The wild weather affecting more than 100 Million People in 30 states from texas to maine. This womans car window shattered by fierce winds as she grove to work in indiana. Gravel in my head. There is glass in my head, whatever. And mud. Reporter throughout the storms pass, 250,000 without power. In barnsdall, oklahoma, neighbors helping neighbors, cleaning up from a tornado monday that reduced homes to rubble. We all have to help one another in this time of need. Reporter speaking of helping one another, were seeing reports of minor injuries. Thankfully nothing worse as millions of americans begin cleaning up after a severe round of weather. Hoda, back to you. All right. Maggie, thanks. That brings us to mr. Roker and what were watching for today. Yeah, guys. For powerful storms, more Winter Weather to talk about. Right now we have tornado watches from the carolinas all the way down into florida. We also have thunderstorm warnings as well. As we widen out, 27 Million People at risk from washington, d. C. All the way down to tampa. Were talking wind gusts, damaging hail, tornadoes cannot be ruled out with this system. As we move to the north, were looking at that rain pushing into here. We will also start to see some Winter Weather working its way in. 11 Million People under Winter Weather alerts because of the heavy rain. Weve got 43 Million People under flood alerts in the midatlantic and were looking at wind alerts for 61 Million People. Travel is going to be a nightmare today, especially air travel. Look at these strong winds. Were talking about wind gusts. Detroit 22 miles an hour. Peoria, illinois 33. 36 miles an hour winds in syracuse. Here in new york city, wind gusts in the mid40s. And with these strong easterly winds, weve got coastal flood warnings, coastal flood advisories and coastal flood watches. Some could cause a storm surge of up to 4 feet above normal. Heavy street flooding, highway flooding, storm totals up to 3. 5 inches of rain from interior pennsylvania on into new england. Take a look at new england, speaking of that, significant snow, power outrages, heavy wet snow from upstate new york into interior parts of new england. Next 24 hours still a bit of a mess. Thank you, al. Thank you so much. Fallout is growing over the air strikes in gaza that killed seven world central kitchen workers, including an american. According to the un, it brings the total number of aid works killed in the conflict to nearly 200. Israel investigating what it calls an unintentional tragedy. The white house commenting. Reporter good morning to you. We are now learning the identities of all seven of those aid workers who died in that israeli attack. They came from around the world, united in a mission to help the people of gaza and the president personally calling the founder of world kitchen, Chef Jose Andres, to offer condolences. Overnight President Biden paying tribute to the seven world central aid kitchen workers killed in a series of israeli air strikes. They were brave and selfless, he said of the victims, including 33yearold jacob flinkinger, a dual american citizen, seen here in a mission to mexico. Adding President Biden has not done enough to protect aid workers. This incident is emblematic of a larger problem. Reporter the volunteers, part of Chef Jose Andres mission to get food on the edge of famine. Andres describing them as the best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or Collateral Damage in war. He urged israel to stop blocking food deliveries to gaza. He highlighted Benjamin Netanyahus comment about the strike. This happens in war. Israels top general overnight announcing findings of a preliminary investigation into the attack. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during the war in a very complex condition. Reporter nbc news located each of the destroyed aid vehicles, finding they were attacked in at least three strikes over a mile and a half length of coastal road. World central kitchen says the cars were clearly worked with their logo and their movements coordinated with the Israeli Military ahead of time. Israel tells the world that its strikes are based on precise intelligence, that it takes measures to make sure there are no civilians in the area. How can that be true . Its a war zone. And in every war, sadly, tragically, mistakes happen. And we do our very utmost to avoid those mistakes. Reporter world central kitchen pausing its gaza aid operation for now with three of its food ships turning back to sea. Several other aid groups doing the same. A major blow to the humanitarian effort when its needed most. Were learning that two days before that deadly air strike, world central kitchen believes an israeli sniper shot at one of its vehicles. A bullet damaged a wing there. The aid group did file a complaint to the Israeli Military. We asked the idf about that incident but did not hear back. All right. Raf sanchez for us there in tel aviv. Raf, thank you. Craig joins us now. Craig now has the latest on the 2024 president ial race. Oh, yes. Good morning to you as well. With their nominations already secured, President Biden and donald trump added to their delegate polls overnight. Garrett haake joins us from washington with more. Good morning to you. Reporter yeah. Those primary results werent surprising, but they were welcome, especially for mr. Trump who has been more focused on courtrooms than campaigning. A wall street journal poll showing him narrowly leading biden in six out of seven battleground states, and he returned to the trail yesterday with a bit of wind at his back. You win michigan, you win the election. Reporter donald trump returning to the campaign trail tuesday for a twostate battleground barn storm, rallying supporters in michigan and wisconsin. The former president also ramping up his attacks on President Bidens border policies. Im here tonight to declare that joe bidens bloodbath ends the day i take office. Highlights ruby garcia who Police Allege was killed by her boyfriend, an undocumented immigrant deported in 2020. Now her loved ones are left grieving for this incredible woman. Reporter mr. Trump lambasting a lack of federal action on the effort on the border, despite asking congress to tank a bipartisan bill negotiated in the Senate Earlier this year. There is zero chance i will support this horrible open borders betrayal of america. It will not happen, and i will fight it all the way. Reporter the former president arguing that he is the best candidate on crime and safety. The suburban housewives like donald trump. Do you know why . Im the one that will keep them safe. Reporter on tuesday, President Bidens campaign focused on defending abortion rights, releasing this new ad. Donald trump doesnt trust women. I do. Im joe biden. And i approve this message. Reporter it will air in florida, where the state Supreme Court just ruled a sixweek abortion ban will go into effect next month. President bidens Campaign Manager predicting that abortion issues being front and center in florida will fire up democrats, calling the Sunshine State winnable. It comes as a new poll from the wall street journal shows mr. Trump with narrow leads in swing states, leading President Biden in 6 of the 7 most competitive states. As for the abortion issue yesterday, mr. Trump told nbc news he has more to say about it in a weeks time. Mr. Bidens campaign trolling him on social media with a reminder about taking credit for ending roe v. Wade suggesting he already had plenty to say on this issue for voters to consider. Craig. President biden just spoke with chinas president xi jinping yesterday. What more do we know about the conversation . Reporter it went on for nearly two hours, with both countries describing the call as candid. The white house official said it covered trade, cybersecurity, trade, taiwan. Even tiktok came up. If the u. S. Doesnt want to ban the popular app which is owned by a chinese company, that it has to protect u. S. National security interests and data. All right. Sounds like it was a wideranging conversation. Garrett haake for us in washington. Thank you. College basketball, the tv ratings are in. It turns out the womens elite matchup the other night between iowa and lsu was a recordbreaker, bigtime. Monday nights game, that featured Caitlin Clark and lsu averaged 12. 3 Million Viewers. It set the alltime ratings record for a College Basketball game. Get this, the game drew more viewers than last years world series, which averaged a little more than 9 Million Viewers a game, and last years nba finals withdrew 11. 6 Million Viewers. How about them apples . A lot of apples on fridays final four matchup between iowa and uconn as well. That wasnt even a final four. Thats insane. Correct. Thats awesome. Mr. Roker, how about a check of the weather . It will get bigger for the final four because taylor swift is going to the iowa game. Is that true . Where did you hear that . I just made it up. Do you know how many Airline Tickets were booked in that split second . Roker snow and wind around the great lakes, western twothirds of the country. We will get to your local forecast shake it off, okay in the next 30 seconds. Y working with you to make them real. Old school grit. New world ideas. Morgan stanley. Good wednesday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. As you get started, its going to be a cooler day, youre probably already seeing a lot of cloud cover. That will linger, with peeks of sunshine, and keeping our temperatures in the upper 60s. We are going to see the winds picking up today and temperatures dropping. Were down to a high of 55 tomorrow, with off and on rain. Even a chance of thunderstorms in fridays forecast. For the weekend, were seeing the rain moving away, but still it will be chilly and warming up next week. The control room wants us to make sure taylor swift will not be at that game. We dont know that. How do you know she will not be there . She will not be there. You cannot prove a negative. Okay. All right, al. Here we go. Still ahead send all correspondence to al roker. The new battle over artificial intelligence, music. Why hundreds of stars are joining forces and crying foul over ai and the impact on the songs you hear. Okay. Should you have a right to ignore afterhours calls, emails or Text Messages from your boss . I do. The growing wake of a new bill that does j us still ahead, another reason to make that costco run. What you need to know about the retail giants leap into wellness with a program that include access to weight loss include access to weight loss drugs. Icant relief across bipolar depression. Unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. First your local news. Call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. 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