Shes as crooked as they come. Bernie sanders still drawing huge crowds, but with a loss in new york, would it be nearly impossible for him to become his partys nominee . Well ask senator sanders when he joins us live in our studio. Out of the doghouse . An Australian Court issues a light sentence to johnny depps wife, amber heard, after she broke the law by bringing their dogs into the country on a private jet. No time in jail, just a fine. We disrespected australian law. Im really sorry they were not declared. The painfully awkward videotaped apology that has people talking today, monday, april 18th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Good to have you back. Nice to be back. Unfortunately, the news from ecuador keeps getting worse. It is the top story. The race against time to find more survivors of the devastating earthquake in ecuador. It is the countrys worst Natural Disaster in nearly seven decades. Miguel almaguer is there and joins us now. Good morning to you. Good morning. As the sun rises here, were getting a better scope of the damage in quito. They felt a powerful jolt and a roar that lasted nearly a minute. Closer to the coast, homes came crashing down. For some, there was no escape. Reporter it jolted fear, terror and panic into the region. The most powerful earthquake to rattle ecuador in decades, a magnitude 7. 8. Crushing roads, homes and lives. This man says, i felt like it was never going to end. This morning, the death toll is closing in on 300 and rising. Nearly 2,000 people are injured, and countless others are still missing. Vanessa santos says, i need to find my baby. She knows the rest of her family is gone, buried under the rubble. The powerful epicenter hit near costal communities but was Strong Enough to be felt 100 miles away, in guayaquil, ecuadors largest city. Buildings collapsed. The Vice President asking for quiet on the street so rescue teams can hear the calls for help. The cries from deep under the rubble, fading by the hour. The third floor fell on top of us. My whole family was inside. I need help. The army has been mobilized, but landslides are blocking roads. More than 150 aftershocks are rattling this region, making rescues dangerous. But this morning, hope. A little girl pulled from the rubble alive. A short time later, another rescue. So brick by brick, the search pushes on for more survivors. Just a few hours ago, we felt a strong aftershock, but there was no significant damage. At least 400 buildings have been destroyed. That number will clearly rise. Of course, matt, the number they are most concerned about is the death toll. Again, it is at nearly 300 and will continue to rise. Miguel almaguer in ecuador, thanks very much. Now to a dangerous situation unfolding in the south this morning. A historic downpour causing widespread flash flooding, especially around the houston area, where we find janet shamlian. Good morning. Good morning. We have a threat right now. Water rescues going on throughout the region. Many roads like this one, impassable. There are hundreds of cars stranded throughout the city. Reporter a line of spring storms ravages the southwest and midwest. Triggering relentless rain and pelting areas with marblesized hail. Lightning striking the storage tank, sparking this fire at an oil facility southwest of san antonio sunday. We had to battle through a storm. As soon as we got out here, there were several explosions taking place. I noticed the Oil Storage Tanks were completely engulfed. Its been raining and my street is currently a river. Reporter todays rain could set records in southeast texas. 10 to 16 inches overnight, delivering flooded roads and stranded cars. Keeping residents hunkered in their homes. As the region this morning races f braces for even more. The rain has come in the last few overnight hours. Schools are being cancelled throughout the region. Flights, as well. More rain is on the way. Matt and savannah, back to you. Janet shamlian in the houston area, thank you. Three inches an hour . Thats right and its not going anywhere. We have reports of 20 inches of rain thats fallen to the northwest of houston. It just continues. We told you last week about the omega block not allowing systems to move from west to east. This is the result. The storms keep training on top of the heavy rain and thunderstorms that have already fallen. You can see, weve got flash flood watches and Flash Flood Warnings. 5. 5 Million People under a Flash Flood Warning. Flash flood watches total 21 Million People. To give you a sense of this, for the city of houston, if you took one square mile and you had about an inch of rain, that would be more than 17 million gallons of water. If you take a look at the entire region thats under a flash flood watch, average it out to about three inches of rain, its 144,000 square miles. That would total over 7 trillion gallons of water, filling more than 11 million olympic sized swimming pools. Were going to see another 7 to 8 inches of rain throughout the region over the next 24 hours. Keep those people down there in our thoughts. Al, thank you very much. President ial candidates are making the final push ahead of tomorrows key primary here in new york. Donald trump and Hillary Clinton are still up big in the latest polls. We have complete coverage on both races. Senator Bernie Sanders is with us for a live interview this morning. But we will start with the republicans and nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Good morning to you. Hey, savannah. This is a wild race. Were three months away from the start of the Republican National convention in cleveland. No better idea who the partys nominee will be. Cruz had a good weekend picking up delegates, but trump is looking forward to a big day in new york tomorrow. Reporter donald trump counting on his home state of new york to give him a win. We have to win by big numbers because we have a system thats rigged. Reporter it amounts to bribery for delegates, and trump says he wont play it. Were going to send you on a boeing 757. Youre going to use the spa, this, that, we want your vote. Thats a corrupt system. Reporter the front runner first warning what might happen if hes not the nominee. Ill tell you what, youre going to have a rough july at that convention. Reporter softening his language 24 hours later. I hope it doesnt involve violence, and im not suggesting that. Reporter trumps argument is resonating. Our new poll says 6 in 10 republicans said the top vote getter should be the partys nominee, even if the delegate doesnt get a delegate majority. Reince priebus says the rules are the rules. Majority rules on the electoral college, the dnc, rnc. I dont know too many places where majority doesnt rule. Reporter ted cruz outh outhustles the front runner, including this weekend in wyoming. If you dont want to hand the general election to Hillary Clinton by seeing donald trump as the nominee, if we come together and unite, well win the nomination. Reporter john kasich dismissing complaints. Act like a professional. Reporter looking forward to the crooked hillary, as crooked as they come. Reporter trump is testing a new nickname for his democratic rival. To think she has a shot at being our president , crooked Hillary Clinton, we cant let it happen. There is another republican drama brewing this morning. Donald trump questioning the rncs ability to put on a quality convention. He said that last years convention in 2012 was the single most Boring Convention hes ever seen. This time around, he says it needs to have more of a showbiz quality to it. Donald trump will be here on thursday for a live town hall on our plaza. As we said, Hillary Clinton heads into tomorrow with a strong lead. Is the New York Primary a make or break moment for her opponent Bernie Sanders . Nbcs Kristen Welker is covering the democratic side of things. Good morning to you. Matt, good morning to you. Senator sanders says hes got the momentum right now, trying his largest crowd yet. More than 28,000 people at Prospect Park yesterday. Secretary clinton has the numbers on her side. Shell be campaigning here later today. For her, the goal is winning big. For senator sanders, its about staying in the game. Reporter Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders making their closing arguments to new york voters. Go out and vote for me on tuesday. Lets have a recordbreaking turnout. Reporter clinton is heading into the final hours with a double digit lead, but sunday, sanders insisted he has a path to the nomination. We do have a viable path. Reporter clinton is brushing aside the republican front runners new nickname for her, crooked hillary. I dont respond to donald trump and his string of insults about me. I can take care of myself. Reporter this comes as clinton is facing tough questions about competing optics this weekend, while sanders met with the pope in rome. Clinton attended fundraisers hosted by george and amal clooney over the weekend. Some tickets costing over 300,000 for couples. Prompting sanders supporters to throw dollar bills at her vehicles. I am a democrat, and i want to see us take back the senate. Reporter clooney also using the explanation, but striking a note of agreement with sanders on meet the press. The sanders campaign, when they talk about it, is absolutely right. Its ridiculous, that we should have this money in politics. Reporter all that giving sanders an opening. Is he backing the wrong horse here . I think he is. Senator sanders has enough money to stay in this race for as long as he wants to. Hes already started looking ahead to upcoming states like pennsylvania, oregon and, of course, delegaterich california. Theres no doubt, a loss here would make it a lot tougher for him to win the nomination. Matt and savannah . Kristen welker, thank you very much. Senator sanders joins us live in studio. Senator, nice to see you. Morning. Good morning. Always interesting to watch you watch a piece like that, as we cover you. For all of your recent successes, what is it, 8 of 9 . Won 8 of the last 9 caucuses and primaries. Still, all the pundits are saying, tomorrow is make or break. If you lose here in new york, it basically becomes impossible for you to outright win the nomination. Thats what the pundits are saying . It is. They said when we began the campaign, there was no chance wed go anywhere. Here we are, won 8 of the last 9 caucuses and primaries, defeating Hillary Clinton in some of the National Polls weve seen in the last couple of weeks. In fact, beating donald trump by 15 or 20 points in general matchup. Am i reading anything wrong . All the polling im seeing going into tomorrows primary in new york has you at least ten points down, up to 17 points down. You have information i dont have . Those are the public polls. The bottom line is, lets look at the real poll tomorrow. Generally speaking, polling has underestimated how we do in elections. 25 points down in michigan and we ended up winning michigan. The main point is, i think, we have a message thats resonating all over this country. We have enthusiasm. We have energy. People understand, its too late for establishment politics and economics. They want real change in the country. They want leadership to stand up to the billionaire class. Its what we provide. You came out in support of legislation that would allow 9 11 families to sue the saudi government. This is a bill the Obama Administration opposes, because its concerned it would open up americans to liability, other countries suing america. Is that not a concern . It is a concern but there is another concern. I think its important to have a full investigation and an understanding of the role the possible role of the saudi government in 9 11. There was, as you know, some 28 pages that have not yet classified information that hasnt been released. We also ask for the release of that information. As you may know, the saudi government has been a major proponent of an extreme fundamentalist aversion of islam. Which is being taught all over the world. It is a destructive religion. I think its important we do understand the role that the saudis may have played. Another story in the news, concerns over what theyre calling a new cold war arms race. The United States, china, russia, all developing the next generation of nuclear weapons. Theyre smaller, less powerful and theyre much more accurate. Its going to cost trillions of dollars. Right. To keep pace. If youre president of the United States, do you endorse the development of that next generation of weapons . If im elected president , we will do everything we can to move to a nonnuclear proliferation treaty. Would you allow the chinese and russians to outspend us in that area . I wouldnt spend it that way. You have to sit down with these people. Russia has economic problems. China has economic problems. Guess what . We have economic problems. Better to spend money on medical and infrastructure, education. If theyre spending trillions to develop the nuclear weapons, would you follow suit . The goal is to get rid of nuclear weapons, not get into an arms race. We have other important things to spend money on. Lets turn back to politics. Donald trump is test for hillar clinton, crooked hillary. He may use fewer words, but do you make the same argument against her . She accepts big money from corporate interests, so she cant adequately represent the middle class . Donald trump is brilliant about creating statements that relate to candidates. Its ugly. We have a corrupt Campaign Finance system. You have said that she accepts this money from wall street yeah. Big banks or fossil fuels and it affects her judgment. Of course it does. Is that crooked . In that case, the entire United States government is crooked. We have a corrupt system. Im proud we are doing it differently. Our average contribution is 27. We received over 7 million individual Campaign Contributions. We dont get money from big money interest. Im going to fight as hard as i can as president to overturn this disastrous Citizens UnitedSupreme Court decision. I dont want to see big money buy elections. Youre not making trumps point . No. Appreciate your time, sensor sanders. Thank you very much. Carter arrived in baghdad for talks over the fight in isis. Commanders will talk about beefing up forces. A senior u. S. Official says the effort will probably mean at least a small number of additional u. S. Troops could be sent into the war zone. Lester holt made the trip with secretary carter and talked to him exclusively in baghdad. You can see that interview tonight on nbc nightly news. The u. S. Military has joined relief efforts in southern japan, where strong earthquakes on thursday and saturday, along with hundreds of aftershocks, have killed more than 40 people there. Another 110,000 people have been displaced. Rescuers dug by hand over the weekend, hoping to find several people who are still missing. Japans government says it may have to issue a special emergency budget to cover the costs of rebuilding. Japanese stocks fell more than 3 today in reaction to that disaster. Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius appeared in a South African courtroom this morning where a judge postponed his sentencing for murder. The new date was set for midjune. Hell remain free on bail under house arrest and wear an electronic tracking device. He was originally sentenced to five years in the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend. But he was later found guilty of the greater charge. The minimum prison sentence is 15 years. Lets turn back to the weather department. We saw snow in the rockies. Spring skiing for lucky folks is coming to an end today. Look for more rain as we talk not only in texas but stretching up into the upper Mississippi River valley. Record highs in the northwest. Gorgeous day along the take on the unexpected. The new 2016 nissan altima. Built to stand out. Good morning. Im meteorologist bill henley. A summer preview today. Sunshine, look at these temperatures. South philadelphia up to 80 degrees. 80 also in doylestown and the pennsylvania suburbs and the lehigh valley, around 78 degrees this afternoon. Big warmup for south jersey. Glassboro will see a high of 81 degrees. Cooler with a sea breeze at the shore, Atlantic City, 68. But up to 80 degrees in delaware and dover. Have a great day. Thats your latest weather. Savannah . Al, thanks. Coming up, a scary situation. A passenger plane on final approach apparently struck by a drone. Can officials do anything tog t stop it from happening again . A florida zoo reopening for the first seem since a veteran keeper was mauled by a tiger. Were there with the latest on what may have led to the attack. First on a monday morning, this is today on nbc. Joe sestak supports a plan that the New York Timesfactreported makes cuts to Social Security benefits. And the plan raises the retirement age. Its true. The a. A. R. P. Opposed the plan, citing dramatic cuts to medicare benefits. The plan sestak supports means higher outofpocket costs for millions on medicare. Any way you spin it, the truth about sestak is gonna hurt. Women vote is responsible for the content of this advertising. Just ahead, today exclusive. Elizabeth holmes, the young ceo, facing a potential ban after trying brookside chocolate, people talk about it online. Love at first taste. I would liquefy it and bathe in it. Curse you, brookside your nefarious plans have succeeded. Nefarious . Are we still talking about chocolate . Brookside. Talk about deliciou