And the United States is onto the quarterfinals. This was a tremendous routine. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today at the Olympic Games with matt lauer live from rio de janeiro, brazil, and Savannah Guthrie live from rockefeller plaza. Good morning, rio and new york. Can we start by saying its a beautiful day. Can we show you a shot of the most decorated u. S. Woman in olympic track and field history. That is Allyson Felix. She now has [ applause ] a dramatic finish to the 400 meter. Incredible one. People will be watching for a long, long time. It was a dive that ended in basically a photo finish. Today is also the final day of gymnastics. Simone biles is looking to bounce back on the floor. She finally proved by the way that shes human, all right. She lost her balance on the beam. Ended up with a bronze medal. You have to give it 16yearold Laurie Hernandez. She made the most of her lone individual event nabbing the silver. They hugged it out afterwards. Hear from both of them in a little bit. A pretty dramatic night yesterday. Ups and downs. Lets head back to new york and savannah joins us now. What have you got cooking there . Good morning. We have a big story here. They call this the worst flooding since Superstorm Sandy. The latest on flooding going on in louisiana right now. This morning we have a birdseye view of the damage communities are put on alert for water that is still rising. Well have that in a moment. All right, savannah. Thanks very much. Lets bring in natalie in for a look at the olympic action from a day that saw the u. S. Not winning a gold medal for the first time, first olympic day since the 12th day of beijing. Wow. I know. Its incredible. You mentioned that dramatic track finish and a rare slip from simone biles. There was also weather and a dive by miller for the line. In the womens 400 meters, a photo finish. Shaunae miller winning gold and upsetting Allyson Felix in her signature event. Now felix. Catching up to miller, felix had eyes on a fifth gold medal despite the second place finish, felix is now the most decorated woman in track and field history winning her seventh medal in what could be her last olympic competition. Its been a fight all season. I gave it all i had tonight. The dramatic race capping an already chaotic day here in rio. Heavy rain delayed several events. Earlier in the day, an overhead camera broke away from its cable at the olympic park seven minor injuries. When the events resumed, kenyas david won his second consecutive gold in the 800 meter. American Clayton Murphy took bronze. In pole vault, another bronze for the americans. Sam kendricks rocketing over the bar earning the u. S. s first medal in the event since 2004 but for other olympians a day of a false start in round one of the 110 hurdles. Tearing off his bib as we left the track. His olympic hopes dashed. For gymnastics superstar simone biles, a rare misstep. Slipping on the balance beam nearly falling off. The 19 year old finished strong but it wasnt enough to come out on top. Heavily favored to win the bronze while her teammate 16yearold Laurie Hernandez took silver. Her first individual medal. Edging out the americans. Sanne wevers of the netherlands. Biles will have another shot in the floor exercise. For mens Beach Volleyball, its Phil Dalhuasser forced a tie breaker. But the brazilians rallied cheered on by their hometown fans. Brazil has beaten the United States. Tonight april ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings will compete in the semifinals with jennings two victories away from her fourth straight olympic gold. Heres where the medal count stands u usa with a commanding lead. Its the last day of gymnastics including floor finals for the women. In track and field mens high jump final and Beach Volleyball, team usa the women taking on brazil. Semifinals. Lets go. Its midnight. Al and i were at the mens game yesterday. It was tough to watch. Brazil played well. Allyson felix who was just denied gold by that dive in the 400 meters. Good morning. Nice to see you. Good to see you guys. Did you know who won at the end of the race . Were you sure . I wasnt sure, no. I was staring up at the board trying to see how it would sort out. Take me through the last 10, 15 meters of that. I just dug deep. To me this year has been all about fighting and so i knew i was just going to give all i had and fight and i felt like i did that. You know, i left it like that in track and field. Is that something that as a track athlete youre used to seeing or does this happen every now and then . Not used to seeing that. It happens every now and then. Its not too common. You have said to us in the past that the 400 meters is a beast. It is. From start to finish, you said i left everything out there. You have no choice. How did you feel during the race . It wasnt my best race. I felt like it got a little bit when i just tried to give all i had. Its outside of my comfort zone. I feel like im a sprinter and its stepping a little bit outside of what im used to. Can we point out that with the silver medal you are the most decorated track runner, olympian, in u. S. History. Have you been able to get your head around that title . Not quite. You know, it is something that i am definitely very, very proud of. Its been so many years and so much hard work and something that to be in t as jackie joiner, thats going to take time to sink in. Talk about the journey. There have been ups and there have been downs and yet here you are with another medal in 2016. Its been a wild year. In april i had a crazy accident in the gym. I had this ankle injury. At that moment i thought that i wasnt going to be here at all. You came to the today show it was pretty crazy. And then from then on my beloved chloe passed, my dog, and then just before i left from the states, my grandfather passed. It seemed like everything was happening. Like i said, it was time to just fight. A lot of young girls look up to you and watch you and the way you held yourself after yesterdays race and the fact that youre here with us today speaks a lot about you. What do you hope to communicate to young kids watching you . I he youre going to have obstacles and adversity. Let your spirit shine through. Keep fighting no matter how the cards are stacked against you. Dont let that get you down. How many Olympic Games for you now . This is number four. In our history with you, you have shown class every single time. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Appreciate it. Allyson, thank you. You can clap. Well turn now to drama in gymnastics. Simone biles and aly raisman will compete on the floor. I was there and had a chance to talk to Medal Winners when they left the podium. American simone biles has already made usa gymnastics history. For simone biles, the road to a record five gold medals ended shes so fantastic. So consistent. She started off strong. Beautiful. Then uncharacteristically faltered midway touching the beam. Seeing that mistake, dutch gymnast Shaunae Miller adjusted her routine doing something less difficult and winning gold. Crazy good. Are you okay . Imdisappointed in how i performed my beam set. If you think about it im the only gymnast out here that has done this as many times as i have so props for that. Hernandez was the Silver Lining for team usa. Great form. Just 16 years old competing in her first ever international meet, hernandez followed wevers nailing her dismount and walking away with her first individual medal. A silver. This was a tremendous routine. First individual medal at the Olympic Games. When you did your dismount, did you think i got something here . Yeah. I mean, ive been training so hard. Im glad i just did the routine ive been doing in practice. I have no regrets. Do you feel relieved . Up. That was the most nervous ive ever been before a meet. Once i got on the beam i was more calm than usual. Very nice. How happy are you for laurie . I saw you wrap her arms around her and hug her with that m megawatt smile. This whole olympic experience you would think its her second time at the olympics. Im so proud of her. Friends from silver and bronze Medal Winners with biles already looking ahead to her floor routine. One more tomorrow night. Do you feel good about tomorrow . We love you. Look at you right in the heart of it. I was so into that. One of the most fun things i think we get to do on the show is when parents show up. Hernandez, lauries mom and dad. She was looking around for you yesterday afternoon. Tell me what you guys talked about after her win. It was just an incredible feat. It still hasnt hit us to be quite honest. Its just one of these things that its so surreal. Just before she competes, you guys hold hands and do a little prayer circle. I could see you be we think faith before everything. We are so grateful and humble for the experience and laurie to go out there and to shine with her usa team and the comradery of the team of usa, the coaches. Were just so grateful for the opportunity for laurie to be here and just to seewe love you. We love her, too. We love her, too. Thanks for coming by this coming up, well hear from the final five aly raisman and youll see both aly and simone competing tonight on the floor exercise during nbcs primetime olympic coverage starting at 8 00, 7 00 central. More to come from rio. Right now we want to go to new york and check in with savannah. Thank you. We move now to the we move to that desperate situation unfolding in nearly two feet of rain and this morning even more communities are facing a danger of new flooding. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez is in baton rouge again for us this morning. Hi, gabe. Good morning. Reporter hi, savannah. The death toll has now climbed to at least seven. More than 20,000 people have been rescued. As we take a look at the perspective from the drone, many areas are now inundated. The red cross now calling this the worst flooding disaster in the u. S. Since Superstorm Sandy this morning more communities are bracing for historic water levels as louisianas record rainfall moves downstream. This is an unprecedented historic flood event. The Army National guard giving us a firsthand look from the sky. There is plenty of water in wide swaths of louisiana, but thankfully the water in some places appears to be receding. The rain has eased but now other areas south of baton rouge are on high alert preparing for right now were in one of the hardest hit areas. Some parts got more than 31 inches of rain in just 48 hours. The residents here tell us theyve never seen anything like this. A couple hours we probably had six foot of water. Reporter Mark Mccallie barely escaped with his wife and kids and the water rose in watson. Basically we lost everything. Other than our lives. The real concern is the the whatter thats already here flowing downstream. Thousands have packed emergency shelters, many schools are closed and major roads are shut down. Savannah. Down, savannah. Thank you so much. Turning now to the president ial race hillary intong new attacks on the campaign trail with Vice President joe biden getting in jabs of his own and trump is causing a new stir with a controversial proposal. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell is on the story this morning. Andrea, go reporter good morning, savannah. Hillary clinton will be campaigning here in philadelphia today where she needs to run up a huge vote to offset Donald Trumps strengths elsewhere in pennsylvania. This critical battleground state. With his campaign faltering, donald trump is trying to shift gears. Extreme vetting. Reporter going beyond his proposed ban on muslims entering the u. S. , now unveiling an in addition to screening out all members of the sympathizers of terrorist groups, we mustatt. She also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on isis and all of the many adversaries we face. Reporter Clinton Joe Biden to challenge trumps fitness to be commander in chief. This man is totally, thoroughly unqualified to be president of the United States of america. Reporter while clinton leads trump in philadelphia and its suburbs, he is gaining among White Working Class voters in places like scranton. Friends should not let friends vote for trump. Reporter what do you say to take a look at what hes talking about. Take a look at what were talking about. Reporter and in our new nbc News Survey Monkey online poll out today, Hillary Clinton continues to hold a ninepoint lead over donald trump nationally but a majority of voters continue to hold unfavorable views of both candidates with Hillary Clinton onsl Andrea Mitchell on the trail for us. Later today well sit down for an exclusive interview with Hillary Clintons running mate tim kaine and his wife, anne holton. Well have that tomorrow morning on today. For now, well send it back to matt, hoda and al in rio. We look forward to that interview, savannah. Thanks very much. You have more on that flooding back home. More rain there and that rain is going to make its way up into the mid plains and eventually into the northeast. You can see its meandering stationary front from texas into heavy showers and thunderstorms. Flash flood watches for texas. Three to four inches possible from mississippi on into texas and that wet weather makes its way into the northeast. Not enough to alleviate the Drought Conditions there but we could look at two to three inches of rain. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next thats your latest weather. Guys . Thanks so much. Coming up, Gabby Douglas and her mom speak out about Harsh Criticism over why she didnt put her hand over her heart during the National Anthem. Theyre undefeated. Why have the games been so close for the mens u. S. Basketball team . Well get into that but first just ahead the wildest medal celebrations you will ever see. You will ever see. And the you will ever see. And the hi hey ive made plans for later in case this date doesnt go well. Likewise but, funny story. On top of that . My mom is my best friend. Uh oh. Yeah. Oop theres the rescue text from my roommate saying she needs me. Wouldnt it be great if everyone said what they meant . The citi double cash card does. It lets you earn double cash back good is in every blue diamond almond. Good is a catalyst, good is contagious. And once it gets going there is no stopping what you can do. Get your good going. Blue diamond almonds. Proud sponsor of the us swim team poor grant cancer patient small muslim the only label that matters is olympian. General mills wants me to let you know that we use real stuff to make these cereals tasty. That means no artificial flavors or colors. Now for the moment ive been waiting for. Trix are still for kids. . I dont know where im goin . . . . But i sure know where ive been . . . . And ive made up my mind, . . I aint wasting no more time . E only road ive ever known . If you try clarispray. Mes to escape your nasal allergies. New, from the makers of claritin. And nothing is more effective at relieving your coming up when channel 20 im corey rose. On channel 20, the Railroad Crossing where five people died channel 20. Strachan ordinance aims to protect wildlife and homeowners. It could hurt your wallet and you will want the details. Lets check weather and traffic. A big crash on i70 shut down the freeway. Thank goodness the highway reopened. Sky9 was over had a few moments ago and showed the major backups passed 74 and two lanes are getting by at chief hosa. To avoid the delays still trying to dissipate through the area and going east down, 74 through evergreen remains open. C470 is a heavy drive, but typical, overall. Not a lot of crashes in the metro and hopefully we can keep it smooth. We have light showers in Southwestern Colorado that will continue to develop and redevelop through the central part of the state, making their way to the front range late this afternoon and evening. In terms of measurable rain, foothills, a long and south of i70, the best chance to get decent rain. Upper 80s for the daytime highs along the front range and it is warmer in the south and the western sections of our state. Eightyeight and one or two storms, along i70. Stronger Storm Chances and generally dry or storms with wind and rain before two cold fronts come through over the were back now 7 30 on a tuesday morning. Its the 16th day of august. Its good morning. A spectacular one on the beach here in ree yo gets too hot around here. The crowd keeps building. We have a lot to get to this half hour starting with this todays olympic headlines in track. It was a wild end to the womens 400 meters. Miller of the bahamas pulled off the upset over Allyson Felix by diving head first over the finish line. A silver for felix made hert most decorated u. S. Woman in olympic track field history. Her in our last half hour. Emma coburn was the first woman to medal in the womens st steep steeplechase. She took home the bronze. And mens will 800 meters got a bronze. And it is going to be rowdy tonight at womens Beach Volleyball. Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross will face the reigning world champs from brazil in the semifinals. Gold medal is on the line. Well be there. Were going to hear that all night long. Yes, we are. Let us begin though this half hour with the star athlete from team usa being forced to defend herself. Natalie has more on that. Guys, g