Supreme court neil gorsuch. The first vote set for today. Will republicans be forced to use the socalled Nuclear Option as the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser makes the surprise trip to iraq overnight. Whats his mission . And Historic South Carolina defeats Mississippi State as the gamecocks first ever Womens Basketball title as North Carolina and gonzaga are set to battle it out for the mens title today april 3rd, 2017. From nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on monday morning. 7 00 out on the west coast. Well have more on march madness, even though were in april in just a second. Were going to start on monday morning with breaking news coming out of russia, deadly explosion on a subway in st. Petersburg. Security now being tightened all across that country as the investigation gets under way. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella is with us. Kelly, what can you tell us . Matt, good morning. This happened in the heart of st. Petersburg deep under ground. The russian government saying the blast ripped through the subway at 2 40 in the afternoon local time on a metro train, actually inside a carriage as it traveled between two stations. The aftermath of the powerful explosion in the st. Petersburg metro posted on social media. The blast blew the door off a metro train. Commuters dazed and bloodied on the platform. Ambulances rushing to help the injured. Russias state run news agency said at least 10 were killed, dozens injured, the metro evacuated. This morning unconfirmed reports of a second maybe third blast, Russian Media reporting the explosives were filled with shrapnel. Vladimir putin in st. Petersburg today. He said were considering all causes including terrorism. And the story still developing this morning. Russian Antiterrorist Committee put out a statement confirming there was one explosion, no mention of further explosions. The metro closed while they increase security. They were on alert for possible terror attacks. Last fall they said they stopped isis attacks in moscow and st. Petersburg. Again, matt and savannah, the cause of this mornings blast still not determined. Kelly, thank you. Were sure to learn more about this today. Here at home another day of Severe Weather on tap after damaging storms ripped through the region. Well get to als report but first maya in alexandria, louisiana. Good morning. Good morning. Here homes and businesses damaged, including this one, ripped off the roof and walls. The storm has also killed two people. Overnight heavy storms battering parts of the gulf coast. Lightning streaking across the sky. Large tornado. In lena, louisiana, tornado moving quickly across the highway with reports of multiple tornadoes hitting the state sunday. Just 20 miles away at this strip mall in alexandria, shoppers looked on at the funnel cloud with fear, rapidly forming into a twister blowing out windows. The windows are bused out of the car. Powerful wind and lashing rain also leaving a trail of destruction bringing down trees and power lines. Collapsing part of a gas station, ripping the roof off of this home. Earlier, another tornado brought tragedy to one family in louisiana. After 100mileanhour winds flipped this mobile home killing a woman and her 3yearold daughter. The husband and father inconsolable. I lost everything. Everything. I lost my family. Reporter in other parts of the state, lightning caused this oil tanker to go up in flames. The weekends Severe Weather just the latest in a days long barrage across the region. With flash flooding, damaging winds, and hail all possible in the coming days. This morning the storms will push into mississippi, alabama and georgia, potentially putting 20 Million People at risk for Severe Weather. Matt. All right. Maya rodriguez. Thank you very much. Lets go to al. What are we looking onat for today. Right new tornado watches and severe thunderstorm watches stretching from alabama into the panhandle of florida and also into alabama. So were going to be watching this very, very closely today. In fact, four today, weve got 21 Million People now at risk. A tornado risk, the highest along the central and eastern gulf. Tomorrow not quite so bad, 10 Million People at risk of damaging winds. Then on wednesday the atmosphere gets juiced up again, 43 million at risk mobile, tallahassee, augusta and atlanta. Were going to be watching strong storms fire up this morning right on into the afternoon. Travel delays for the southeast into the midatlantic, we look for heavy rain moving into the northeast with snow in northern new england. Were talking about rainfall amounts into saturday anywhere from 3 to 5 inches. Some areas, guys, could pick up to 7 inches of rain, flash flood watches will be up up and down the east coast and gulf coast. Thank you. Thank you. This is a critical and busy week for the white house. Today the Senate Judiciary committee is expected to vote on president Trumps Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch as a key step toward a senate vote, setting up highstakes showdown with democrats trying to block that nomination. Another issue on capitol hill ongoing investigations into russian meddling in the investigation. U. N. Ambassador nikki haley now says theres no question that moscow was involved and their actions will soon be addressed. Breaking overnight, we learned jared cash nkushner, president s soninlaw is in iraq, unannounced visit as president s chief of staff. Hell play a keep role with chinas president. Nbc Peter Alexander at the white house this morning covering all of this. Peter, good morning. Good morning to you. Jared arrived in iraq, happened earlier this morning. His fatherinlaw, the president at the white house this week with a series of critical meetings including one with the chinese president to take place in florida friday. Just a matter of moments from now hes going to welcome the president of egypt here at home the president is eyeing his first major victory, the confirmation of judge neil gorsuch. Even as President Trump tripped up by fallout from wiretapping tweet hes responding to the Financial Times telling them i dont regret anything because there is nothing you can do about it. You know if you issue hundreds of tweets and every once in a while you have a clinker, thats not so fire. Wiretapping selfie insists without evidence is turning out to be true. This morning a stalemate over the Supreme Court despite the president s praise for federal judge neil gorsuch. Judge gorsuchs nomination is about more than his incredible qualifications. Its about preserving our republic. Standing in gorsuchs way a divided senate. What i can tell you is neil gorsuch will be confirmed this week. How that happens depends on our democratic friends. Democrats threaten to plok with what would be the first filibuster demanding he got 60 votes. Its highly, highly unlikely hell get 60. When a nominee doesnt get 60 votes, you shouldnt change the rules, you should change the nominee. For gorsuch to be confirmed he needs eight democrats on board. So far he only has three. If democrats force the issue, Top RepublicanMitch Mcconnell is threatening to do something thats never happened before with the Supreme Court nominee, deploying the socalled Nuclear Option, changing senate rules to override democrats, confirming gorsuch with a simple majority, just 51 votes. A move that could have far reaching implications long after gorsuch is confirmed. This battle goes back more than a year. Democrats still angry about republicans refusal to give president obamas pick, Merrick Garland a hearing. Playing golf with one of the plans fiercest critics, rand paul. I think the sides are getting closer and closer together. I remain very optimistic we will. The president venting frustration about russia investigation dismissing it as a total scam, writing find the leakers, all of i as ousted security adviser Michael Flynns business comes under scrutiny. Two sets of Financial Disclosures plans show he initially failed to list three russian linked companies that paid him for speaking enga engagemen engagements. Tells nbc news the first filing was a draft of speaking fees that wasnt completed because flynn lost his job a few days after the submission. As for the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner in iraq traveling with joseph dunford, the trip confirmed by senior white house official, kushner and wife ivanka also an official but unpaid adviser report hundreds of millions in Real Estate Holdings and investments. Experts questioning ivanka keeping a multimillion dollar stake in her fathers d. C. Hotel. Also morning a source familiar with ivankas plans said all the Business Decisions made after meeting with independent ethics and white house lawyers to remove any potential conflicts. You can see honor guard in formation as they prepare for the egyptian president to arrive some time from now. Back to you. Turning now to a scene of desperation playing out in south america after a massive avalanche of mud buried a Mountain Town in colombia. The death toll climbing to more than 250 people overnight as rescue crews race to find any possible survivor. Nbcs Tammy Leitner is there. Tammy, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. A wall of water came rushing down here carrying everything in its way including this giant bus. As you see behind me rescuers working around the clock frantically searching for the hundreds that are still missing. This morning a desperate search for missing as survivors of one of the worst natural disasters in colombias recent history struggle to hold out hope. Weve lost a little baby, this woman says, a little baby. We cant find him anywhere. This man brought to tears looking at a list of dozens of missing children. I will not rest, says this grandmother, who hasnt seen her family since the disaster first struck. It happened early saturday as the small city of mocoa slept. A sudden heavy rain storm causing three surrounding rivers to swell sending a massive surge of floodwater, mud and debris toward the towns 40,000 unsuspecting residents. The wall of water so powerful, entire neighborhoods washed away. Homes and bridges destroyed. The nations president has declared a state of emergency and colombias military is now scrambling to help. Many of the roads are still impassable so the Colombian Military is flying in supplies. They are bringing food, water, bedding. Right now theres a rush to take care of survivors as well as search for those still missing. This weeks catastrophic avalanche, a reminder colombia is prone to natural disasters. In 1985 nearly 25,000 people died when a volcano erupted triggering massive mudslides. This man says he has nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, and is wearing borrowed clothes. The level of devastation clearly written on the faces of those left to overcome this enormous tragedy. Locals tell us they buried about 100 people yesterday, but they are Still Holding out hope that more people will be found alive. Back to you guys. All right. Tammy leitner. Tammy, thank you very much. Now back to President Trump. Hes also speaking out about how the u. S. Will handle growing threats posed by north korea. Nbcs lester holt has more on that. Hes in seoul, south korea this morning. Lester, good morning. Reporter savannah, the president s remarks about possible unilateral action if china doesnt climb on board will do nothing to diffuse tensions in north korea especially when north korea is trying to enhance their Nuclear Weapons capability. It also puts the focus on 28,000500 Service Members here and the risk of hostility. Ready to fight tonight is the slogan at this air base. Its fighter jets just a threeminute flight from the border. We are ready for combat mode. We train all the time. When we go out on training were training pseudocombat. At the air base we get a rare peek inside the Operations Center where operators are the first to protect the missile launches. Their missiles already putting millions in the region at risk, including tens of thousands of American Military personnel and u. S. Civilians like teacher steve and leah rigby who live in seoul. So do the threats from north korea, do they rattle you or take them with a grain of salt. I think weve heard these threats so many times. Its spring were going to hear another threat that south korea is going to be turned into fire. Weve heard it before and nothing has happened before. Seoul is a modern metropolis, hardly looks under the threat of constant military attack. In fact shelters are plentiful and marked. A reminder, 35 miles from the dmz, well in range of north korean artillery. Whats casting a chill all the way to washington is north koreas claim to be working on an Intercontinental Missile and Small Nuclear warhead capable of reaching the u. S. This is a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability. Right now it appears to be going in a very reckless manner. Reporter secretary mattis will get no argument from a highranking north korean diplomat who defected last year. Ademas del desarrollo de in addition to missile development, activity spotted on this commercial satellite photo suggests north korea may test another Nuclear Warhead soon. Think of this as two streams moving toward each other. You never want the streams to cross. When they do, the u. S. Will be forced to make a decision whether or not to do a preemptive strike. Its important to note there are about 300,000 u. S. Citizens living in south korea. The vast majority of them here in seoul. I attended a briefing with u. S. Military officials today who said a lot of their planning is focused on how to get those american civilians out if, in fact, hostilities were ever to break out. Spending a couple of days here in south korea, the military giving me unprecedented in some cases and certainly rare access. Well share more tonight on nightly news. Matt and savannah, well send it back to you. All right, lester. Well see you in a little mile on nightly news. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange avoided an eviction notice from Ecuadorian Embassy in london, worked out in his favor. Assange as you know has been holed up in the tiny embassy in london for five years protected by ecuadors current leftist government. Conservative government guillermo threatened to roll back that welcome mat and remove assange within 30 days of winning office. But the lesser candidate won, pulled out razor thin victory making it likely assange will get to stay. In other news carjacker got unusual payback during a crime that was caught on camera. The victim is seen filling up her tank at a gas station in tuuksberry, massachusetts. The woman hoses him down with gasoline and hangs onto the car as he starts to drive away. Fortunately she was not injured. The carjacker got away after a brief police pursuit. Hes now been identified. There is a warrant for his arrest followed by the smell of gasoline. Lets bring in al. How is it going . Not too bad. Take a look at warm temperatures out there, starting to finally feel like spring. Above average temperatures for eastern half of the country, 71 coming from the west. Youre going to have to pack the warmer stuff out there. Its going to be pretty nice, new york city 64, madison 67, charlotte 82 degrees. As we head back out west temperatures nice, 74, Oklahoma City a high of 72. Then as we look on the west coast, weve got the satellite showing theres another big area of rain coming into the pacific northwest. By midweek youre going to be looking at a lot of rain and mountain snows. In effect our west coast update for today. For today its spectacular. Things dry out nicely. Seattle youll see a high of 54, San Francisco 66. Los angeles 69. A little on the cooler side denver, sunshine and 56, finally snow coming to an end. Salt lake city 52. Rest of the country a Beautiful Day in the northeast. Southwest looking gorgeous. Some mountain snows, rockies will see a little more snow hanging around. Good morning. It is 7 19. Waking up to 50 degrees in San Francisco. Your temperature trend is looking dry and seasonable. Expecting to hit the 60s by about 10 00 a. M. Climbing into the upper 60s by 2 00. San jose also looking pretty good today. 50 degrees right now, and then by 2 00, already climbing into the 70s. Our highs for today will be in the upper 60s and 70s. And thats your lat thats your latest weather. A Tennessee High School student and the teacher who abducted her spotted on camera several states away. The new twist in that search as the girls father speaks out. In the wake of a tragic Carbon Monoxide leak at a hotel. What you need to know to protect your family from the socalled silent killer. This is today on nbc. A hotel. What you need to know to protect yourself from to take advantage of this offer on a volvo s90, visit yo