streets of iraq, are too massive for the mountainous terrain of afghanistan. >> afghanistan has fewer roads. unimproved and narrow sxwlur mraps have gotten stuck in the mud. late last year the pentagon issued an urgent call to rush a lighter all-terrain mrap into production. the first m atvs are rolling off the assembly lines. >> the speed at which this is done is generally unprecedented. >> reporter: on display at an army association expo in washington the new truck attracted lots of attention. >> you have the survive ability, the mobility, and a weight of less than 27 thousand pounds. >> reporter: mraps have straight axles that can break. this matv has a 16-inch wheel travel to crawl over a lot of stuff. the pentagon hopes to rapidly roll them onto the battle field at the rate of 1,000 a month. steven portnoy, abc news, washington. ints biggest recall connected to a single defect, ford is expanding a recall due to faulty cruise control the 4.5 million additional vehicles may pose a fire hazard. recall notices are going out to the owners of trucks, vans and suvs made between 1992 and 2003. ford has now recalled a total of more than 14 million vehicles because of this defect. already battered by a strong pacific storm some people in california are being evacuated because of mudslides. in l angeles county there are concerns about areas burned by recent wildfires. as many as 40 homes in la canada are at risk for mudslides. one area of central california was already evacuated. a look now at your wednesday forecast. stormy weather shifts from california, bringing rain and mountain snow to the pacific northwest and northern rockies, kansas, nebraska, the dakotas. rain from the gulf coast states into the carolinas. >> hot day in florida. miami hits 91 again. 50s from baltimore to bost. cooler than usual in the midwest with highs mostly in the 40s. it's 59 in seattle. 64 in boise. and 67 in colorado springs. in oklahoma, it was a happy ending to a sticky and potentially stinky situation. >> check this out, a skunk tried to help himself to some peanut butter. got his head stuck in the jar. luckily someone spotted the skunk and called for help, and then wouldn't you know it the skunk whisperer came to the rescue and set the animal free. >> the skunk never said thank you. but did express its gratitude by choosing not to spray his liberator. pepe le pew. trying to get a little skippy. look at him running off. >> looking for the next jar of skippy he can find. skunk whisperer not at the top of the list of jobs i'd like to have. >> he'll be writing a book about this soon i'm sure. >> at least he didn't get skunked. assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. stay tuned for this important medicare benefit information and free scooter guarantee. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. why should you call the scooter store today? because their mobility experts are also medicare experts. and that means the scooter store is your best shot at qualifying for a scooter that costs you little to nothing. hi i'm doug harrison. pay little to nothing out of pocket. how do we do it? we know what it takes to get you your power chair it's our strength. it's our mission. and we back it up with the scooter store guarantee. if we qualify you and medicare denies your claim for a new powerchair or scooter, i'll give it to you absolutely free. i paid into medicare all my life, and when i needed it the benefit was there for me. the scooter store made it so easy. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. the scooter store got me back out in the world again. talk to. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. welcome back. government doctors say there were five more pediatric deaths from swine flu in the u.s. since late last week. that brings the total up to 81. meanwhile, vaccine injections will become available in some areas today. up to now those getting vaccinated have received their doses in nasal sprays. california health officials are looking into how00 patients were exposed to extremely high levels of radiation during ct scans. it happened at cedars sinai medical center in los angeles, one of the nation's best-kno hospitals. mike von fremd reports. >> reporter: it was a terrible stake. doctors at this world-renowned medical center overrode the settings on their ct scanner, delivering eight times the amount of radiation their patients should have been exposed to. more than 200 patients received the extra blast of radiation. their doctors were using the scans to look for signs of stroke. in a statement, the hospital called the incident a misunderstanding and said they've added double-checks to the process. but a misunderstanding the hospital failed to notice for 18 months, until tients began losing hair. radiology experts we spoke with found that perplexing. >> people are working very hard these days to try and reduce the dose from a given ct scan. so people are turning down the settings. it's very unusual for people to be turning up the settings. >> reporter: experts say a mistake such as the one that happened here is highly unusual. still, the food and drug administration has issued a nationwide alert, warning hospitals across the country to check the settings of their ct scanners. there are an estimated 70 million ct scans performed in the united states each year. a critical diagnostic tool. but there's a trade-off. the average level of radiation exposure in america from medical procedures has increased 600-fold since 1980. for the exposed patients at cedars sinai, it means an increased risk. >> my ballpark estimates is that these individuals have about a one in 100 chance of developing cancer from this inadvertent overexposure to radiation. >> reporter: an investigation is now under way as to how such a critical tool could have been so misused. mike von fremd, abc news, los angeles. >> in some ct scans can actually use the same radiation dose as 300 x-ys. so there is valid concern for overexposure. >> yeah, and as they said in the story a lot of hospitals have been turning down the diationer poshe sure because they were worried about this very thing. here you have the opposite. this is a hospital that suffered a few black eyes recently. remember the actor dennis quaid. his young twins were allegedly overdoseathe hospital. an employee was fired for looking at farrah fawcett's medical records there. another black eye for a legendary and well-known hospital here in the u.s. in a moment we'll return to the big storm on the west coast. >> the pacific storm we mention the rain and during the time of mudslides in california earlier. >> flash flood warn rgs in effect in areas of southern california scorched by wildfires. >> we get an "american landscape" coverage from abc-7 los angeles. >> now, southern california's first high-definition news. eyewitness news at 6:00. >> we're tracking a huge storm bringing more rain than southern california has seen in months. residents in fire-ravaged areas are bracing for the worst because more rain and heavier rain is yet to come. the hillsides above their homes could come tumbling down. good evening. >> this is eyewitness news at 6:00. this is the beginning of what could be a very wet and dangerous night. one storm cell after another is showering southern california. >> residents across southern california are bracing for potential flash floods or mudslides in the areas recently burned in wildfires. gene gleason is there live. he tells us what residents are being advised to do to protect themselves, gene? >> reporter: many residents thought they had months to prepare for the rainy season. suddenly this major storm loomed up out over the pacific. we're in the worst drought in a generation and a lot of people would like to see a lot of rain. but the folks in the foothills are kind of looking out there and hoping it doesn't rain too much. rain started falling about noon. but so far in the upper reaches of la canada, it's been light. none of the heavy downpours predicted for this major october storm. that's good news for tom smith. his house at 5524 ocean view boulevard is directly under a steep, burned-over hillside. smith is racing the clock to shore up the back of the house with railroad ties anchored by steel pipes. >> we went through the fire. we hoped that was it. but obviously now we have this. >> now tell me your plan here. i understand you're going to put some walls up and stuff? >> we're building walls in back just to divert the -- we're going to divert the debris when it comes down through the breezeway and get it out into the street so the city and county can pick it up. >> reporter: forecasters are predicting 4 inches or more of rain tonight in the foothills. county public works officials have lined the top four blocks of ocean view with rail barriers and homeowners have filled in with walls of sandbags. >> they told us if we get more than an inch of rain in one hour, then that's something serious to look for. any more, we will be told to evacuate. >> reporter: most of the canyons here have debris basins and storm drains to protect them. but many residents remember past floods when e catch basins filled up and the overflow spilled into houses. live in la canada, flintridge, gene gleason. >> homeowners who were hit by a wildfire in santa barbara this spring are facing a mudslide threat as that storm moves in. eyewitness news reporter is live in santa barbara where residents have been working very hard to protect their homes. >> reporter: it is raining here again in santa barbara. not a strong rain but it's been like that all day long, off and on. it's giving residents a chance to actually, as you can see, get some sandbags, start to prepare a little bit just in case. residents are packing sandbags to place around their properties. they told me they've been through this before and they're taking precautions just in case. >> you can see that house right up there. that -- i mean, you know, a lot of these homes are built on hills like that. and so it could be a disaster if we don't do this kind of stuff. >> reporter: the area still looks devastated. charred hillsides and homes day stroyed by fires. residents that survived the flames are now worried about the rain. >> the fire last year we got lucky. that was already at the about ining of the rainy season. here we've got areas that burned which really there was no vegetation growing until the rains hit. so there's no growth that's going to be on those hills until a few months from now. >> reporter: even though it's rainy you can still smell the burnt, charred wood in this area. and this is what residents are worried about, because as you can see it's all been burned through. if the water and the mud comes through this area they're concerned it could run out to this major street and actually block this road. in some areas we saw construction crews building up erosion protection walls. there are sandbags and k-rails placed on several streets. even bales of hay. >> we've had some heavy rain but the hill has pretty much held. there's a lot of clay on the hill so mostly it will be more runoff than dirt running down. >> reporter: recess kents say they'll be looking at the hills tonight. that gentleman said he's going to be watching that hillside throughout the evening. no one knows exactly how much rain is going to fall in this area but they're hoping by tomorrow morning those hills will still be standing and there won't be any problems. reporting live from santa barbara, abc-7 eyewitness news. >> truly when it rains it pours. no pun intended there at all. flooding is bad enough, then you have to contend with mudslides. these are the same people who were already victims of the wildfires. >> seems like you pay such a high price for living in a beautiful surrounding. that great view, those multi-million dollar views, yet oftentimes this is the price you pay when mother nature weighs i. [ female announcer ] new swiffer wet jet cleans so deep, your old mop will just have to get over it... [ engine rattles ] [ man ] love stinks! ♪ love stinks! ♪ yeah! yeah! [ female announcer ] new swiffer wet jet is redesigned. it cleans deep in corners. its solution penetrates layers of dirt and its absorbent pad locks it away to clean better than a mop. the newly redesigned swiffer wet jet. ♪ love stinks! "world news now" delivers papers" now. as debate rages in the news room here. are you a big corn flake fan? >> they're okay. they're all right. maybe frosted flakes. >> apparently there is a big problem of fake flakes out there. and now kelloggs is trying to crack down. who knew this was such a problem. what they're trying to do now is imprint their logo on the actual flakes so you'll be able to see the word "kelloggs" on some of these corn flakes. basically they've develop someday system, this is the uk, where they can sort of toast the appearance of their logo onto the flakes through using a concentrated beam of light. and part of the problem is that, you know, when you buy a generic brand people say, kelloggs makes the generic brand too, they just call it something else. they're like, no, we don't, this is our way of proving it. they're going to put out a few flakes on each box at first, if they can figure out how to do it en masse, every corn flake you put if your mouth may eventually have the logo on it. did we see the logo? by the time you put milk on it, >> it will disappear. >> breaking up is hard to do. it's a song. >> yes. >> but it is -- >> i can sing it if you want. at 4:30 we'll do that. breaking up is hard to do, especially for this guy in his girlfriend tried to break up with him, she back home to his apartment, he was on the bed, tried to make up and get things back together. he pushed her up against the wall and then stabbed her fish. she had a beta pet fish. a bright purple beta named delorean. and he impaled this fish, now has been sentenced to two years' probation and a psychological evaluation as a result. according to court records he quickly admitted to killing the can't have me, then she can't have the fish. >> that's serious breakup. >> maybe had trouble seeing what he was doing, needs new glasses or something. you know, rarely would i give any props to a drug dealer. but i guess you sort of have to give them some points for trying here. i don't know. down in texas, they made a huge drug bust. and it was in the last vehicle you would ever expect, a school bus. somebody had taken this school bus and they had changed the markings on it to resemble one of the local school district busbus buses. cops pulled it over and found over 5,000 pounds of marijuana, street value $1.7 million. apparentlyre the senate's major step. a committee passes a health care reform bill. >> but when history calls, history calls. >> the president's reaction and the challenges ahead. then, war strategy. what afghanistan's president says about the ongoing battle as barack obama reviews plans today to send more troops. and, icy insight. the navy takes us on an unprecedented arctic ocean adventure. it's wednesday, october 14th. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> it's really fascinating. we hear so much about global warming. but this is a look at it from sort of a new perspective. >> maybe a positive sign. >> could be, that's for sure. david kerley has that story coming up this half ur so stick around for that. good morning, i'm jeremy hubbard. >> i'm lindsey davis. the huge effort to reform the nation's health care system may just be paying off. the key senate committee has passed one versionersi >> the full senate begins debate in about two weeks. until then, unions and big business organizations are already demanding changes. t.j. winick joins from us washington with more. good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy and lindsey. later today the work will begin in the senate to merge the baucus bill withnother committee's measure that includes the public option. >> mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes, nine nays. >> reporter: the senate finance committee took a major step 29 billion psnowe wato support bill. >> so is this bill all that i would want? far from it. is it all that it can be? no. but when history calls, history calls. >> reporter: afterwards the president thanked snowe and called the vote a critical milestone. >> now is not the time to offer ourselves congratulations. now is the time to dig in and work even harder to get this done. >> reporter: the bill passed on tuesday would require americans to have health insurance or pay a fine up to $1,900 per family. provides subsidies to help families with incomes under $88,000 buy insurance. and prohibit denial of coverage because of pre-existing condition. >> most people agree -- >> reporter: no sooner had passage occurred than the insurance industry began airing ads in multiple states attacking democratic health care reform proposals as bad for seniors. >> congress is proposing over $100 billion in cuts to medicare advantage. >> reporter: despite the victory democrats will need 60 votes to pass any bill in the senate. republicans vow to keep fighting. >> i'm not going to stay still and let people say that a vote against this bill is a vote for the status quo. >> reporter: even as senator snowe voted yes, she warned she may vote no when the bill goes before the full senate, and democrats may need her vote. at least four democrats have also warned they may vote no. jeremy and lindsey? >> thanks, t.j., for that. the president sits down again today with his national security team to go over afghanistan war strategy and plans to send more troops. although the focus on r, hough the focus on perhaps 80,000 or more. today the british government plans to announce 500 more soldiers will go to afghanistan. right now, 9,000 are currently deployed there. general stanley mcchrystal, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, is warning rampant government corruption could derail the military mission. and results are expected shortly in the investigation of fraud in the august presidential electio diane sawyer put those two key issues to afghan president hamid karzai in an abc news exclusive. >> do you agree that the mission is going to fail without additional american troops and how many are enough? >> i have seen general mcchrystal's report. i'm fully behind him. >> so you welcome additional american forces? >> yes, ma'am. >> general mcchrystal said the afghan people do not trust the government to provide their essential needs. there is widespread corruption and abuse of power. what will you do differently? given the widespread indictment of corruption in your government? >> matters of corruption are one issue. legitimacy of the order that we have is a different issue. as you have issues of corruption in america, we have them too in afghanistan but on a much larger scale. >> you're comparing the united states to corruption in afghanistan? >> no, no, no. no, no, i'm talking of the existence of issues in governments and the way to handle them. >> eight years after the war began, as we said, 865 american troops have died, 4,000 more have been injured. what went wrong? >> the first thing that went wrong was lack of concentration, as i said earlier, on the sanctuaries of terrorists. the second thing that went wrong was not paying attention to the afghan police and security forces. the third thing that went wrong was the war on terror was conducted in afghan villages where it was not. and thousands of civilians were killed an