Through 25 years of fun and thrills at universal Orlando Resort. As the one and only pitbull helps us take our summer Concert Series on the road today. Friday, may 29th, 2015. Announcer from nbc news this is a special edition of today in orlando with matt lauer live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza and Savannah Guthrie live from universal Orlando Resort. And good morning, everyone. We are splitting up on this friday morning. Im matt lauer along with Natalie Morales here in new york. Savannah and al down at orlando at universal Orlando Resort. Guys hows it been going . Good morning. Its awesome out here. Weve got beautiful weather. Weve got al roker. And pitbull getting ready to take the concert stage. Weve got a lot of fun planned later on today right here from universal orlando for their 25th anniversary. Its a beautiful morning. I know youre following breaking news on the weather. Matt up to you. Well get to that right now. Texas is being hammered once again by record rains and flooding. The Weather Channels dave malkoff is in dallas where people are stranded on roadways. Dave, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. As most of dallas was sleeping the rain was coming down with lots of lightning and water. Several water rescues happening this morning. Underneath this one bridge near the love field airport, there are at least six vehicles under there still waiting to get towed out. Including this one right here. Sam ung was inside his brand new bmw when the water came threw, he was swept away inside of it and he was able to escape. But look at this brand new bmw. He was able to get out through the window because the door wouldnt open up. The water was just moving so fast. The one Swift Water Rescue Team we talked to had already rescued five people. And that was about 5 00 a. M. This morning. Its going on and its still coming down. Matt . Dave malkoff of the Weather Channel down in dallas this morning. Dave thanks very much. Going to have more on that situation in a moment. But first, another developing story. This one right here in new york. Passenger planes leaving jfk airport targeted by laser pointers. Nbcs tom costello covers aviation for us. Tom, what can you tell us . Reporter between 9 30 and 10 00 p. M. Last night four miles northwest of farmingdale, new york. Just the most recent case of a person or people on the ground pointing a potentially blinding laser at a cockpit. The planes were flying at 8,000 feet when they were hit by a green laser. American 185, Shuttle America 4213 delta 2292 and delta 2631. No one was injured. But in march two nypd chopper pilots suffered eye injuries after they were hit for tracking down a source of lasers being pointed at la guardia. Nobody reported injured from last nights incident but the faa and police are looking to track down whoever might be responsible. Do they have an area where these pointers were probably coming from . All they know is that it was northwest of farmingdale. But Authorities Say its almost as if somebody on the ground is bored and they point one of these green lasers that you can buy online or at an Office Supply store and they kind of point this up towards the cockpit to a plane overhead. The problem is that flash of green light can blind the pilots and makes it impossible for them to see out their windows or even to look at their flight controls. The crime, by the way, pretty serious. Punishable up to 20 years in prison 250,000 fine. So the faa and the fbi are serious about prosecuting anyone found responsible. Obviously a dangerous situation. Tom costello thank you very much. Lets get more now on the historic flooding down south. As we showed you overnight parts of texas receiving exactly what they do not need. More than rain. Gabe gutierrez has more on that. Gabe good morning to you. Reporter matt good morning. Rain also pounded this area overnight. This river is rising. Just to our north, authorities in austin had to rescue a houseboat that had broken free from its dock. Flood alerts are now extending some 800 miles from texas to missouri. Overnight dozens of people were rescued from flash flooding in Central Texas as Emergency Responders throughout the state struggle to cope with the wettest may on record. The water shut my truck down. And the water started rising immediately. Reporter in Johnston County south of dallas at least 45 roads have been shut down. In oklahoma fastrising waters also stranded drivers. It went from not being anything like this then all of a sudden dramatic. Reporter soldiers from ft. Sill steps in to help. Its only the right thing to do. Reporter across texas, swollen rivers are threatening homes. Parts of lubbock under water. Near houston, voluntary i vacuations are underway as others are cleaning up. Everything is destroyed. Reporter some in hardhit wimberley, texas, arent taking any chances. Theyre leaving. It was last weekend when it seemed the water would never stop. The blanco river burst in through this home gushing into a living room. The incredible scene captured on cell phone video. How in the world did you keep recording . I dont know. I was in shock. Reporter sara perez and her husband ernie were on a memorial weekend vacation. Their 4yearold daughter sleeping in the next room. The water came through like a train. Thats the only way to describe it. Reporter that water so powerful it knocked their suv into their neighbors house. Did you ever think it would stop . No. I didnt. Reporter but the river did stop just in time. And rescuers were able to pull the family from their second floor window to safety. Just terrifying. Reporter today the couple is thankful. They saved my daughter. Reporter and the familys still in shock. Hopes theyll never have to face this horror again. The weatherrelated deaths over the past few days in texas and oklahoma has risen to 25. 14 others are still missing. And the search for them is scheduled to continue today, but this rain wont make it easy. Gabe gutierrez once again for us in wimberley, thank you. Al its almost impossible to believe this region isnt going to get a break. And theyre not. Not until at least early next week as we look at whats going on out there. Wettest may ever in dallas and probably on the way to the wettest month ever in dallas. Its the weddest estwettest month ever for the state of texas as you watch this push down toward houston, texas. Weve got a wide swath. 52 Million People at risk for damaging hail winds, and rain. Well see more storms sweep across the region. First this morning dissipate then a second front pushes in. More heavy thunderstorms saturday into sunday bringing anywhere from another 3 to 5 inches of rain to the region. We do not see a break at least until early next week. When finally they will get a chance to dry out. But in the meantime flash flood watches and warnings go into saturday and sunday in that region. Historic stuff were seeing. It really is. Well get the rest of the forecast in a bit. Matt up to you in new york. Thanks very much. Now a newly unveiled indictment thats getting a lot of attention. Former House SpeakerDennis Hastert accused in a scheme for accepting hush money to a person in his home state. Pete williams has the latest on this one. Pete good morning to you. Reporter matt good morning. This grand jury indictment revealing the charges raises but doesnt answer two big questions. Who does the government claim the former speaker was paying and what was the past misconduct that a grand jury says was worth millions to keep quiet . The charges were filed against Dennis Hastert now 73 who was speaker of the u. S. House of representatives from 1999 to 2007. Prosecutors say the charges involve payments to someone from yorkville, illinois where hastert was a teacher and coach in the 1960s and 70s. A point of pride during when he was speaker. As a teacher i learned the value of brevity. Reporter four years ago he agreed to pay 3. 5 million in hush money to that individual. Someone who has known hastert for most of that persons life the document says. He agreed to make the payments quote, to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against individual a that occurred years earlier. It does not say whether individual a is a man or woman or what the misconduct was. Prosecutors say hastert paid almost 2 million with drawing money from his accounts 50,000 at a time but cut that down to less than 10,000 at a time to evade federal transaction rules. When asked about the withdrawals he lied to the fbi and said i kept the cash. Thats what im doing. This indictment was shocking not only because who it involved. Denny hastert. But that the investigation had been a secret. Reporter no response to the charges from hastert himself. A spokesman from the lobbying firm hes been working at says hastert resigned. Dont go away. You talked about those two big questions. What was the misconduct and exactly who was he paying off. At what point during the Legal Process does the public get that information . Reporter well as a purely technical matter maybe never. Its not essential to prove the charges to show why he was doing this. The mere fact that he was structuring the payments and lying to the fbi about whether the cash was for himself or someone else but if this does progress through the courts im sure at some point it would come out. Pete thank you very much. Natalie is here now with a dramatic twist at a closely watched trial. Good morning once again. We are hearing for the first time a chilling interview with james holmes the admitted gunman on the attack at a colorado Movie Theater back in 2012. The interview conducted by a stateappointed psychiatrist is now being played for jurors. Jacob rascon is in los angeles. Jacob, good morning. Reporter good morning. This marks a shift in the trial. More than 150 First Responders and witnesses have already testified about the horror that day. Now we move onto the crux of the case. The mentality of the mass shooter. I only count fatalities. What about the wounded . They were like collateral damage. Reporter james holmes showed no emotion pl psychiatrist william reed who conducted the mental evaluation testified today holmes was mentally ill, but legally sane. That the defendant James Egan Holmes got the definition of legal sanity. Yes. What brings tears to your eyes sometimes . Just regrets. Regrets about . About the shooting. Reporter Defense Attorneys have admitted that holmes carried out the attack but argued he was in the grips of a psychosis. His own diary detailed his philosophy on life and death, good and evil followed by eight pages of the word why repeated over and over. Then what he called a selfdiagnosis of a broken mind and finally the plot. Page after page of diagrams alternate venues and methods, an airport, biological warfare, serial murder. Writing the obsession to kill since i was a kid with age became more realistic. And finally the last escape. Mass murder at the movies. Dr. Reed will take the stand again this morning and for the next several days of court. The jury will hear all 22 hours of his interview with the shooter. A second psychiatrist is also expected to testify that holmes was legally sane but a third Mental Health expert for the defense is expected to disagree. Back to you. All right. Jacob rascon, thank you. Amidst a massive corruption scandal, fifas blatter made his bid for a fifth term in office. His only challenger is prince Ali Al Hussein of jordan. The vote comes days after Police Arrested seven soccer officials part of a wide sweeping scandal. So far u. S. Investigators has not disclosed any word blatter knew of misconduct. A volcano erupted this morning blasting plumes of black smoke into the sky. There were no immediate injuries reported to the residents whose only access to the outside world is by boat. Evacuations, though are underway there. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe told reporters in tokyo they will do everything they can to make sure the islanders are safe. And a trip to the stanley cup finals on the line tonight. You can catch it on nbc sports network. Game seven meanwhile of the western conference finals between the ducks and the blackhawks tomorrow night. Going to be exciting tv. This is definitely no way to start off your work day. Take a look. An oexz deejay walking into his job at a skating rink. Here is what happens as he steps through those he stepped on a snake and it bit him. It turns out its a four foot bull snake. It wasnt venomous and the snake was caught and will be released into the wild. He was on the cell phone not paying attention. Thats a hazard. Walking into snakes. Thanks very much. Lets head back to orlando, get a check of the weather from al. As woody would say, theres a snake in my boot lets show you what we have. Again, a Beautiful Day along the eastern seaboard. Heavy thunderstorms to the south. A lot of wet weather, big swath wet weather through the plains. And the western third looks spectacular. Hi. Hi, were here to look at a camry. We just came from a birthday party. Ohh, let me get you a new one. Camrys are so reliable. Yeah. And you gotta love that bold new styling. Here you go. Whoa wow. Those balloon towers dont make themselves. During toyota time, get 0 apr financing for 60 months on a bold 2015 camry. Offer ends june 1st. For great deals on other toyotas, visit toyota. Com. Thanks jan. Thanks jan. Now you both have camrys. Yeah toyota. Lets go places. Hi. Im first alert meteorologist brittney shipp. As we head into the rest of today our temperatures will range between 85 and 88 degrees. Well above average. Mix of sun and clouds and less humidity. It will feel more comfortable out. Seven day forecast shows as we head into the weekend, 87 degrees. Still warm and above average. Take a look at what we have on sunday. Drops down and track showers and storms. Rainy day on monday. Temperatures dropping into the 50s. We start to recover into next week. Thats your latest weather. Heavy rain moving into e the new england area. Well detail that in the next half hour. Thank you very much. Now to politics and the everexpanding list of candidates in the president ial race as we go by the numbers. Reporter with the entry of former pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum the republican field just got a little more crowded. But a new poll out of Quinnipiac University shows theres no clear front runner yet. In the top tier with 10 Jeb Bush Ben CarsonMike Huckabee marco rubio, and scott walker. And in the second tier senators rand paul and ted cruz with donald trump and Chris Christie in single digits. And who among them all provides the most competition . For the Democratic Front runner Hillary Clinton. Well in a headtohead matchup, the former secretary of state has only a slight lead against senator rand paul. And also with senator marco rubio. On the democratic side, her competition is about to increase with Martin Omalley expected to join the race over the weekend. Were still a long way out. Its going to get more and more interesting. You can always count on drama in politics and apparently at the National Spelling bee as well. There was plenty to be had during last nights thrilling finale. Peter alexander has more on the dramatic finish. Peter, good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Break out your dictionaries. Scherenschnitte. Well tell you what it means in a minute. The spelling thats up to you. It was a spell binding final round of the National Spelling bee. Your two champs went back and forth so long the judges ran out of words. Nunatak. Correct. Reporter the judges threw the book but both Vanya Shivashankar and gokul. These are the real letter winners. 285 word wizards about half boys half girls. Twothirds from Public Schools chosen from 11 million entrants in regional contests. For the scripps National Spelling bee. Thats become an unforgettable cult favorite. Kabaragoya. What . Reporter leaving audiences in a spell and creating some unlikely stars. Thats correct. Reporter some as young as 6. The official pronouncer won on a glitch in 1980. He won after paige misspelled the word glitch. Reporter 1984 winner Dan Greenblatt now the voice of a video game. Spelling the act of looking forward to win the 2002 bee. But he didnt know hed be back on tv in the world series of poker. For this years cowinners these may be the most important College Acceptance letters. So for an unprecedented second year in a row, you have cochampions. Vanya is the first sibling of a past champion to win. Her sister won in 2009. Matt and natalie, can you spell dynasty . Barely. I feel very not smart this morning after hearing that whole report. Thanks so much. By the way, i talked to the winners a little earlier. Well have that in the next hour. Also ahead, our epic search for a great white shark. Kerry sanders is diving in live. And kerry, i understand youre already seeing some. Reporter we are already seeing some sharks. We havent spotted a great white yet. Weve got some bull sharks in the area. This is an area where the great whites have been spotted in recent weeks. And what are the chances were going to run into a great white . Well just earlier this month a diver was in the water and came facetoface. Well get in your cage kerry. Well check in with you in a little while. 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