Reports of a top syrian rebel leader killed in an airstrike. Who he was, what this means to the war on isis. Your new day starts right now. Happy saturday to you. Im kristi paul. Im Errol Barnett in for vict victor black well. We want to deal with this unrelenting weather the region hit by a tornadoes outbreak earlier this week, now, look at these pictures were getting in. Drenched with double digit rain totals. Terrible flooding in some parts. Were talking 14 Million People today facing new Severe Threats. More than 22 million tomorrow overnight the death toll from this weeks tornado disaster did go up. At least 15 people are now confirmed dead. Dozens more are injured. Good morning, kristi, some of the states battered by this brutal string of storms the last couple days hit hard again overnight. We are talking mississippi, georgia, tennessee and alabama to those states affected. Reporter Severe Weather batters Southern States, parts of alabama, at least 20 inches fell in less than 24 hours at the airport in gasden. Rescue crews helping residents trapped in their homes. A potential tornado touched down in birpingham, causing damage to several blocks. The damage was done, confined to approximately one square mile. We have three houses that collapsed. We transported, there were two others removed but were report knock injuries. Alabamas governor declared a state of emergency, at least 117 homes overcome by water. In georgia the rain damaged roads and made driving treacherous. And in mississippi, flood warnings and relentless rain add more misery to areas deservetated by tornadoes that killed 18 people in the state. Many roads are flooded. Some people are dealing with rising what under the circumstances in their home. In mississippi, victor and tamika hail watched as their home of ten years was overtaken by water him. The trailer, it floated away. It happened so fast. We had to get up and out of there. Reporter the couple and their 9yearold son now homeless and staying with relatives. Its discouraging. We lost everything. Unique christmas items. That damage looks devastating. At least 15 people lost their lives. Many others have to spend their christmas in shelters. The concern is moving west. Blizzards, heavy snow, a brutal mix of that wintry mix that allison chin char will tell you about. We will check in with her here. Something to keep in mind here, you have millions of holiday travelers trying to get home at this hour. They can expect everything from blizzard conditions to unseasonably warm weather. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us from the Severe Weather center. Is this Severe Weather far from over . I wish i could tell you it was. Here is a look at heavy rains moving out of nashville, starting to move into chattanooga, huntsville and birmingham as well. Lets take a look at where the current threat is going to be. Notice, parts of alabama and georgia have picked up over ten inches of rain and more is on the way. Weve bought the Severe Threat in parts of texas and louisiana today. Out behind this system, were talking blizzard conditions and some ice, which is very dangerous for travel. Severe threats up towards dallas. Then we move into sunday. The Severe Threat pushes east. Again dealing with isolated tornadoes as well. All the green areas indicae we have flood watch, flood warnings, we still have flash flood warnings. Many roads completely under watt. We have water flowing into folks homes. Again, this is not a good condition. Notice the front, it begins to lift and push east. Notice this by mon morning, we could be dealing with a mix of snow, possibly ice and rain for chicago. So if you are planning to head back to work or you have late travel plans on monday in chicago, its not going to work with you, along with any other city across much of the central and southern United States, guys. That is intense stuff. We will continue to check in as folks try to make it home safely this weekend. Now we want to get you to breaking news. Take a look at this video just in of a wildfire in Southern California. It is the wee hours of the morning there at this moment. Its forced officials to close two major roadways and issue mandatory evacuations, fire Officials Say the 101 freeway and Pacific Coast highway, they now have to be shut down. Firefighters there are working to battle an uncontained 900 acre fire north of the city. This fire is growing rapidly as well t. Beach community is now under a mandatory evacuation. We will continue to follow this breaking story. Well have more for you on this throughout the morning. The. The atf have been called in after a suspicious fire hit a texas mosque. This happened yesterday evening at the friday prayers. No one was injured. Firefighters were frightened that the ceiling would cave in. Reporter muslims gathered friday night for prayers in a bank wet hall. Just feet away, tear burned mosque, investigators inside rummageing through charred debris. A brnled synagogue, its not good to see that. Reporter a man got a look at the flames that enveloped the mosque friday afternoon. When i left there, everything was fine a. Whole bunch of people in there. Reporter just an hour before the mosque capacity filled with 200 people for prayers. Its just a place where people look for peace. People look for solutions. And people come this and its very sad. Reporter the flames so intense, firefighters stayed outside for fears of the roof collapsing. People who called this mosque home want to see change. The mosque is doing a great jobble not to hurt people. To educate people for the good and the evil. An evil that may have entered this place of worship. Kathy hernandez, a cnn affiliate. Thank you so much for that report. Well have more on this story, including a look at that investigation with former fbi special agent jonathan gilliam. Up next, immigration controversy. Should the u. S. Deport all undocumented Central American migrants in the nation . There is strong reaction to a plan that can begin as early as next month. Also coming up for you the childhood home of president clinton is torched. Why officials suspect arson is behind it. An indiana woman gets a secret surprise, oh, its caught on tape. Why did you have this reaction . Well show you. 12 minutes past the hour right now. So grateful to have you with us. A lot of reaction this weekend. Plans of a nasty deportation in the u. S. The Washington Post reporting undocumented Central American migrants. They reportedly have not given final approval to. We need to make that point. This is nationwide. It applies to families fleeing violence in Central America. Specifically adults and children already ordered removed from the u. S. By immigration judge. They would be detained wherever they can be found and immediately deported. Even though its a holiday weekend, the president ial candidates are reacting to this. I want to tell you first of all what Bernie Sanders sad said. He plasted the plan saying we must take steps to protect children and families seeking refuge here, not cast them out. Donald trump tweeted wow, because of the pressure put on by me, ice to launch large scale deportation raid. Its about time. Hillary clinton is trying to land somewhere in between it seems. Its critical that everyone has a full and fair hearing and that our country provides refuge to those that need it. Lets talk about this with cnn commentator errol lewis. So i want to go with trump first t. Fact that hes taking credit tore this, which there is no sign he is to be credited for. No sign hes not. Two american people, however, really believe the federal government is taking its queues from trump. Oh, i doubt that in a political season, this is being turned into a football. I mean, there is a remarkably. You did a great job of summarizing it. This is a remarkably complex set of problems that are going on. Donald trump has called for the deportation of 11 Million People estimated to be here, who are undocumented. You are talking about and what the department of Homeland Security is talking about is a very, very small sliver of that. What theyre saying is that if you have been adjudicated as not eligible for asylum and if you are here improperly and you have been hurt by an immigration judge, you have got to go. That is a relatively small set of people. Its certainly emotionally potent. Its certainly politically very much in the news i guess or on the list of the candidates, but this is not something new. In fact, of all of the problems we had, as far as trying to get our arms around this whole immigration problem, this is one of the relatively simple up withs. You know, again, these are people whose names are known. Whose cases are heard. Whose disposition has been ordered by the federal government. With that said, you know, we look at the timing here, it does seem to put Hillary Clinton in a tough spot per se. She didnt necessarily go one way or the other with this, with that stap. Im wondering. How do you think it is she might be able to balance this without seeming to look oppositional to her base. You are talking about the clintons, you do have to look a little at the fine print. Just the quote you read suggests that. Thats the category that were talking about right here. Their claims were heard. As unfair as it may seem, as inhumane as some might be for political or religious pounds. The reality is once you have gone to an immigration judge. Once the law has been tested. Thats the hard part is just getting somebody to show up in court, getting the claim process processed. Once its processed, however, you know, at some point, you got to identify, at least in this category, we went through those flames. I think thats where Hillary Clinton will say lots of people are in the shadows and never, ever, see the light of day in court. I think most americans for political purposes as well as if reality believe that you should have that day in court. Hillarys position, we have to take that seriously. Lets talk about the callen damp. As we look at whats happening for the first in a long time, Iowa Caucuses can late. This year, theyre not until february 1st. Im curious if that will do anybody favors headed into that caucus . I think some of the candidates think it will do them a favor. In this next week, it looks like Chris Christie the governor of new jersey, will make a swing through iowa and meet and greet itself. And he hasnt been polling there very well at all. Most of his attention and time and polling rules are focused on new hampshire. He thinks he has enough time to sneak in there and get something going. Historically, will this really make a difference, any candidate . I think its absolutely food. Kristi, if you look back to 2008, Mike Huckabee snuck in at the last minute. He ended up winning the caucuses. Up until a couple weeks before the caucuses four years ago, Rick Santorum was in seventh place, he came from hein. You know, this is a process, the caucuses in particular that reward multiple attempts to reach people and set things up so that when the caucus arrives, you can execute and get your people out into the polling site. Four weeks is an eternity within it comes to that hole in the ground organizing. Errol lewis, always appreciate your insights. Thank you for being with us. Sure. All right. Sure, this is the first day since we had two errols on the show, still to come on this new day weekend, we got a new development in the case of that texas judge shot outside of her home last month. Coming up, a christmas miracle. Why a georgia family is happy their daughter is alive after a close shot at death. More on that after this. Zplmplt zplmplts. Welcome back, everyone. A child at bill clintons home in arkansas is being investigated as arson. Police say the fire began in the back of the home early friday morning and in addition to the damage from flames, the homes walkway and door were vandalized with graffiti. The home is a National Historic site, he planned to live there the first your years of his life. A texas judge is home this morning from the hospital. She was shot and wounded in her driveway november 6th. A person of interest in the aattack is still in jail. Police believe he was targeted. Again the news is, he is finally home. Pope francis called for peace in the holly land and throughout the world in his Christmas Day message. The pope called forisse realpalestinian talks and they appeared to endorse a twostate solution. He agreed they would succeed in holding that countrys devastating civil war. A florida family is so grateful for what theyre calling a christmas miracle because they say this is something that saved here daughters life there theyre not just being thankful. Theyre paying it period, this morning, they had a message for parents about one of the gift you can give your child. Cnn correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with that story. Reporter errol kristi, a family spent the day here at this intensive care unit. Their daughter was perfectly healthy until the flu attacked her heart. She was a completely healthy 4yearold little girl. Now she is fighting for her life because of the flu. You thought she was not going to make it . On sunday, december 13th. She had a slight fever. She was extremely sick. On monday, she felt better. She even danced in her School Christmas play. Three days later. When she was pale, she had cold hands, cold feet. She spoke to us, she was trying to say, somethings wrong. She never spoke with me in that tone before, asking for help. Reporter her parents took her to the prnlgs room yu in the income of too many. She arrived and went into cardiac arrest. Its tough to watch your child right in front of you. You thought you were going to lose her . Yes. Her heart wasnt doing anything . It stopped. Doctors performed cpr on her for 45 minutes. He said, you know, you have to appreciate her how she is. He hugged her. Reporter doctors couldnt get gemmas heart working again. They put her on life support and sent her to a transplant center, thinking shed need a new heart. Her heart wasnt doing anything. No, not good. Reporter the sunday before christmas, her parents asked friends around the world to say prayers for their daughter. In brazil and in miami, 11 00. Everyone at the same time . Yeah. And thats when lela and alexei, they got their christmas miracle. All of a sudden on sunday, gemmas heart started to beat again. Can you explain it . Sometimes we dont understand everything thats happened in medicine. What is gemmas prognosis . She will make a great recovery. Itself from now, this will be a bump in her life. She should be back to doing the things shes done rom nobody can help why some people get so desperately hurt from the flu. Did gemma ever get a flu shot . No. Never. Because . I didnt think of the flu as a serious illness. But now they do and the parents of this little girl who dreams of being a doctor when she grows up have a message to other parents. Get your child vaccinated for the flu. Gemma is doing better. She is still not out of the woods yet. Every year, chyron die of the flu. Its not too late to get a flu shot this season. Errol, kristi. Wow. If you want a reminder, thats it. People do forget the flu can be deadly. Take it serious. All right, still to come here on few day, a Top Commander of a syrian rebel force killed in an airstrike. Who was she . How significantly is this on the war on roar . Our military analysts weigh in. Also the man accused of a shooting rampage at a planned parenthood clinic last month says he wants to represent himself in court. Talking a a criminal defense attorney about the consequences and possibility of that. We are keeping a close eye on this breaking news, a wildfire already forcing road closures and mandatory evacuations. Stay with us. We dont have clothe, all i have is what i have on. Its discouraging. We lost everything. My child didnt get 18 christmas items. You feel for these people. A mississippi family woke up Christmas Morning a home of ten years ruined, completely flooded. With two feet of water inside a lot of Southern States have been drenched. Some thoughts getting ten or more inches of rain. We will keep you updated on the weather story. It is certainly severe and dangerous. Also take a look at this, the atf have been call in to investigate, after a vicious fire destroyed a mosque in texas. Eight firefighters, the fire appeared to have multiple points of entry, but its too soon to determine the cause. In Southern California, take a look at some of the pictures were getting in here a. Wildfire forces officials to close two roadways, mandatory evacuations, fire officials stay 101 freeway and the Pacific Coast highway fear the city of ventura shut down an uncontained fire north of the city, it is growing rapidly. The Beach Community under a voluntary evacuation at the moment. We will have a live report at the top of the hour. We have breaking news out of japan. A u. S. Airbase ordered personnel to self inflachlt the yokota airbase is located northwest of tokyo. List bring in cnn analyst colonel. You have been to this air pace. What kind of incidents would call for a shelter in place . Good morning, errol. There are a lot of things that could happen, that cult could result in this. Bank robberies do occur on military base every now and then. Fortunately, theyre very rare, Something Like that could spark it, a domestic abuse. A hostage situation. So, of course, all of this is speculationtive. But the basic idea is that any type of incident like this such as what happened navy yard would result in a shelter and yokota is a big base. The headquarters of the fifth air force so there is important regulations. It has great significance for the u. S. Presence in that