to earle i start. and i'm zoraida sambolin. >> let's get started. the. the fallout from tropical storm beryl. it is a tropical depression. guess what, building steam again and it's expected to be a tropical storm before we know it again. the storm is dumping as much as ten inches of rain in northern florida and southern georgia. it's also knocking out power to tens of thousands of people right across that region. now beryl has its eyes on the carolinas. cnn's rob marciano has been tracking the storm from the weather center. cnn's george howell is live in georgia. i'm assuming that things are only just starting to get bad out there, george? >> reporter: ashlee , we are expecting to be to be a real soaker. this is going to be the center of the storm. it will move towards the savannah area. just a few days ago the story here was the wind event. a strong wind event that knocked down trees, knocked down power lines. today we are expecting that sustained rain over this area could possibly cause some problems. also, so that you're aware, the beaches here. people are allowed on the beaches but they are not allowed into the water. the concern there, these rip currents. these powerful currents that can pull you into the water. people say, the life guards say, if you're caught in a rip current, best to swim parallel to the shore to get out of the current and get back to shore. no one is allowed in the water at this time, ashleigh. >> what about the people, is anybody being told to get out, hunker down, are they boarding things up? >> reporter: given that this area has been i78 pacted twice with this storm, people are prepared for it. yesterday tourism was down in this area. not nearly as many people as you would expect over the memorial day weekend. people are you could say hunkered down and ride through this storm. a lot of rain expected today and some flash flood watches have already been issued through the area. >> you know how some of those surfers are. despite all the warnings, they still go out there. was there any evidence of that as it was starting to get dark? i know it's about to get light. >> reporter: well, we saw life guards. they are all along these beaches. they're making sure that no one gets in the water. that concern about these rip currents is a serious concern. we caught them looking out for people, watching people preve preventing them from getting in the ocean. >> george howell, be careful out there. obviously keep an eye on things for us if you would. i appreciate that. now to rob marciano, also tracking the storm. what can you tell us, rob? >> well, it's moving very, very slowly. so we know that about this thing. what's impressive about it, it's really held its structure very well. held together inland over 24 hours now. and it will probably hold its designation as a tropical depression for the next 24. the center of it is just to the east of tallahassee. most of the rainful is to the east of the center which is fairly typical. it's tapping moisture from the atlantic ocean. jacksonville saw the brunt of the storm. now the rain bands are going up towards savannah. likely won't get all the way to atlanta. this is where the bulk of the rain will be. this is where we saw the bulk of the rain yesterday and saw some intermittent flooding and street flooding. from jacksonville to brunswick is where the action will be for really the next 60 hours. look at these impression sieve rainfall totals. we haven't seen devastating flooding because it's been so dry in these areas. 6 inches in branford. arlington 6 inches. down in gainesville and jacksonville they saw in some cases record-breaking flooding. here's the forecast for the next 48 hours. look at the red on the map. it will go right over savannah. pretty much right over charleston. it will intensify a little bit off the coast line of north carolina and accelerate with its winds. by the time it gets to charleston tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon it will really start to pick up steam and then head out to sea fairly rapidly. we're looking at flash flood watches that have been posted. all the way up to the outer banks of north carolina. >> rob marciano, watching it for us. five minutes past 5:00. 15 hours worth of a standoff just coming to an end now. a suspect falling to his death off of a construction crane. he was a robbery suspect. he climbed atop a crane on the campus of smu, southern methodist university in dallas, texas. he claimed to have a weapon. he refused to leave the cab. they say that that suspect eventually got sick because the crane doesn't have air conditioning. just minutes ago they say the suspect fell from that crane. that is 150 feet from where that picture is to the ground. radioactive tuna found in u.s. waters. scientists say small amounts of radioactive substances have been detected in 15 pacific blue fins caught last august off the california coast. 6,000 miles from japan. the blue fin tuna commonly migrate from japan across the pacific, and they were born about a year ago. though higher than normal, researchers say the amount found in the fish is not dangerous for human consumption. new york city police are turning to the sanitation department in an effort to corroborate the story of this man, pedro hernandez. his confession in the death of a little boy etan patz 33 years ago. he said he killed that 6-year-old boy and disposed of his body in a garbage back. they're looking for records dating back to 1979. hernandez is being held on murder charges and is being kept on suicide watch now at a new york hospital. today's texas primary could be the one for mitt romney making the presumptive gop nominee official. texas has 155 delegates at steak. he's already won 1066 and needs 78 delegates to hit the magic number of 1144 needed to ensure the republican party nomination for president. trail blazers, war heroes, music legends. the people who will receive the presidential medal of freedom happening today. president obama will present the nation's highest civilian honor to 13 people, including the first woman to serve as secretary of state. that's madeline al bright on your screen. also, former senator john glen, the third american in space and the first to on bit the earth. nobel prize winning novel list tony morrison will get the prize as well. bob dylan, the poet of our times. a plot to assassinate american diplomats with snipers and car bombs. find out who was reportedly behind it after this quick break. use our strength & stability to open new opportunities. to lend, and lift ...every business...every dream... to new heights of prosperity. good things are happening. just look up. with u.s. bank. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. but what about your wrinkles. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it has the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce wrinkles in just one week. 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. welcome back to "early start." it's 11 minutes past the hour. they're trying to get to the bottom of an intricate plot to assassinate american diplomats. it traced back to iran. among the targets of the alleged plot, u.s. embassy staff and family members in azerbaijan. that's iran's neighbor to the north. according to the post, the plot was hatched over the past few months. rez assay yeah is live in islamabad, pakistan. what can you tell us? >> reporter: zoraida, we have to be careful with the allegations from the washington post. this is an article that makes allegations about an assassination plot, about a terror plot that's linked to iran. never clearly explains what those links are. it's so lacking in facts, so convoluted that any sensible reader would be saying, what did i just read? what does this mean to me as an american citizen? briefly, let's tell you about the article. it alleges that citizens of azerbaijan was working with operatives inside iran to smuggle weapons to azerbaijan and go after u.s. and foreign diplomats. the article also claims that this plot is linked to other plots tied to iran. here's what the article does do. it doesn't give us an iota of clear evidence that ties the plot to the iranian government. it doesn't name a single iranian that's implicated in the plot. it doesn't tell us clearly who orders the plot. it even acknowledges the obama administration hasn't even tied the plot to the government. all of this is coming from, who, unnamed sources. we can't divulge our name because the information is too sensitive, zoraida. we go back to journalism school where a good student would ask, why can't i see the evidence? why can't i have the sources? if it's so serious, why doesn't the justice department come out? >> those are all very good question that hopefully we'll get some answers to here in the near future. reza sayah, i'm sorry -- we're going to find him back on the phone this time so we can bring you the latest details. >> re-establish that link. that is a fascinating story. i couldn't get any of that, i'm sorry, reza. we'll work to re-establish that. >> 13 minutes past 5:00. christine romans is handling stories for us. >> memorial day was awash for people in florida and georgia thanks to tropical storm beryl. it dropped 10 inches of rain. it caused flooding and widespread power outages. it will bring more rain to parts of georgia. two small planes crash into each other in midair. it happened in virginia. this is about 50 miles from washington, d.c. officials, they don't know what caused this crash. one of the planes burst into flames. the other pilot was taken to the hospital. two accused murder suspects loose this morning after they used a hacksaw to escape an arkansas jail on monday. police say cortez cooper and quincy stewart sliced through metal bars covering a cell window. then they squeezed through and landed on two mattresses they pushed through the window. they don't know how the two managed to hop the ten foot bashed wire fence. after a long weekend the jurors in the john edwards trial return to deliberate. edwards denies any wrongdoing. and fidel castro's niece is traveling to new york today. she's scheduled to speak about international rights for gays and lesbians. she's the daughter of the current cuban president, raoul castro, fidel cast throw's brother. she's an activist for gays and lesbians. time for early reads. a florida teens gets in trouble for standing up to bullies. the school says she went too far. the daily commercial has this incredible story. 18-year-old stormy rich says she reported a group of girls bullying a special needs student on the bus. she says school officials never took action so she told the girls, quote, if they didn't stop and the school didn't do anything, i would have to handle it. the school said those remarks displayed bullying so it band rich from the bus. >> i feel like i'm missing something. >> yeah logic. >> fighting bullying with bullying. maybe i am missing something. here's something you don't want to miss. be very careful of what you post on facebook. i know we say that all the time. in australia a 17-year-old girl found out the hard way. she posted pictures of a big, fat wad of cash. the daily telegraph says she was helping her grandmother count the money. it was savings. bad guys saw the pictures, figured out where she lived. >> you kind of knew how this was going to go. >> i know. busted in and stole it all. apparently they had knives, a club. these two were robbed. nobody was hurt in the end, but the good news is police have arrested two people in connection with this. >> hopefully recovered the money as well. >> don't have the answer to that one, but you would hope that was something they could resolve. >> zoos across the country are having to decide which endangered species to save and which to let die out. some days the burden feels less like know a building an arc and more like schindler building a list. the eastern black rhino, they're hoping outside conservation groups can help the southern black rhino, otherwise, they will become engs tingt. >> for an extent the look at all of our stories you can look at our blog. cnn.com/start. we've seen the signs. could the housing market finally turn the corner? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure high protein... ensure! nutrition in charge! ♪ ♪ ♪ and we dream up ♪ all the best stuff ♪ and we can make it up ♪ cause we were made for each other ♪ ♪ for always ♪ oh oh ♪ for always [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. welcome back to "early start." more now on our top story. u.s. investigators are trying to get to the bottom of a plot to assassinate american diplomats. according to the washington post u.s. embassy staff and family members are the targets of a plot. reza sayah joins us on the phone. can you start at the top again with what is going on here? we had some problems with communication earlier. >> yes, zoraida. we've been told there are so many allegations so many times that have been raised about iraq. it didn't match reality. i think we need to ask tough questions when we see articles like this. an article in the washington post that made some scary allegations. it falls short on providing clear evidence. it's very lacking of facts and verified information so convoluted that i any any sensible reader in the end would ask, what did i just read and what does this mean to me as a u.s. citizen? briefly the article alleges that a man from azerbaijan was working with -- inside azerbaijan and go after u.s. and foreign diplomats. it also alleges that this alleged plot is linked to other plots tied to iran. here's what the article doesn't do, it doesn't show us an iota of clear evidence linking this plot to the iranian government, any groups tied to the iranian government. it doesn't name a single iranian that's been implicated. it doesn't say who ordered this plot. and it even acknowledges that the obama administration itself hasn't even tied the plot to the iranian government. all this information in this article coming from unnamed sources, use that old excuse that we can't give you our names because this information is too sensitive. another in a long line of scary articles about iran that unfortunately is very short on evidence and verified information. >> how did the u.s. find out this information? >> well, this, according to a foreign spy agency, was a plot that was divulged to them. again, because of the lack of information, the unnamed sources, they're not going to tell us how they found out. all they do is they name a foreign spy agency that found out about this plot, informed the u.s. embassy. there was an alleged target. iranian government, as it often does, it denies the allegation and that's where we stand at this point. >> reza, if this proves to be true, how is this going to affect the relationship between the u.s. and iran with these ongoing negotiations over its nuclear program? >> i don't think it's going to impact u.s./iran relations much. i think the fact that the obama administration hasn't behind this up is an indication of that. the issue is the controversial nuclear program that will continue to be the main issue. there are some in the administration, some in washington who are hawkish about iran, conservative republicans, some in the israeli governments who want to portray iran as a threat to the west. they're going to like seeing reports like this in the washington post no matter how much it is lacking of evidence and verified information. >> all right. reza sayah, in pakistan. thank you for communicating with us via telephone. 25 minutes past 5:00. is the housing market finally on the mend? very telling housing numbers will be out in a couple of hours. >> we are looking forward to that. christine romans is here with a little bit of a preview. >> futures is up more than 100 points. we'll get a consumer confidence number plus the case-shiller housing number. that will show more of a recovery in the housing market. it has been beaten down so badly. many of you are saying don't say housing is getting better. my house is not up in value. you might be right. we're seeing the first spring selling season start to perc up since the crash. stocks are higher in europe over positive economic news out of japan and hopes that china will embark on a stimulus. may has been a terrible month for your 401 k. i hate to be the bearer of bad news but since may 1st it's been a down market. only four days higher for stocks in the whole month of may. that ha