publicist in an exclusive live interview today, thursday, march publicist in an exclusive live interview today, thursday, march 24th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television from nbc news, this is "today," with matt lauer, and meredith vieira. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> and good morning, welcome to "today" on a thursday morning, i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm ann occur recurry former dith. let's talk about this weather. we had everything, rain, hail, even thundersnow. but, man, nothing like the storms in pennsylvania. >> looks at that. there's some video of a twister. this is one that did the most damage. it was in greensburg, just outside of pittsburgh. as you can see, caught on tape. as well as a major hail storm there. we're going to get the latest in a live report. al will give us the forecast in a couple of minutes. >> in the meantime, we'll get our first look inside the nuclear power plant in japan. you can see the dangerous and dark conditions those heroic workers are battling as they try to restore power to the reactors. and overnight, two workers had to be rushed to the hospital after being exposed to radioactive elements. we'll get details in a live report this morning. >> here's the question that i think will be of interest to a lot of parents out there. how far should a school go to protect one student with a severe peanut allergy? parents are in an uproar over the strict new rules put in place in an elementary school in florida. they claim what's being done there to keep one child safe is hurting other kids' education. we're going to hear from both sides in that story. but we begin this morning with severe weather on both coasts. the weather channel's allison is in greensburg, pennsylvania. allison, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. as is so often the case when eye-witnesses describe a tornado event, this morning when i spoke to residents on this street, one man said it sounded like a freight train had come right down the street, as he and his wife went to their basement for cover. just the fence in his yard was ripped up, so when he came just a few houses down and looked here at the damage, trees uprooted, power lines twisted, and roofs and portions of the whole houses just ripped away, he was dismayed at what he saw. these are just a few of at least 30 homes that were damaged by a funnel cloud that skipped across westmoreland county and today the narcotic weather service will be on-site to determine how this storm should be rated and whether or not that funnel cloud touched down. but for people who lived here, they say there is no doubt about it, matt. >> all right, in pennsylvania for us this morning, allison, thank you very much. >> what's in store today? al roker is up with more on these storms and a first look at the forecast. hey, al, good morning. >> thanks very much. this is a look back at where you can see these storms moving through sparta, tennessee, greensburg, pennsylvania. and very powerful storms last night moving through, triggering off also some problems here in the northeast with snow. now, as we move out west, where they had a tornado reported in northern california, fourth time in four months, we are looking at high wind advisories, we've got flood watches, surf advisories, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories for there. as you can see, we've got another storm system coming on shore. there's another one back behind it. you can see that swirl coming in later on this week. but what we're expecting for today, rainfall amounts again going to be very heavy. we're talking about 1 to 3 inches of rain from monterey up to eureka and snowfall amounts up to 2 feet in the sierra and the cascades. so that's going to be a big problem today, and the snow and the rain is going to continue for at least the next 48 hours. matt? >> all right, al, thank you very much. now to an alarming situation at reagan national airport. two passenger jets forced to land on their own, because the pilots couldn't reach anyone in the control tower. nbc's pete williams is at the airport. pete, good morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. it happened as two planes were preparing to land just a few minutes apart, asking for their final directions from the air traffic control tower here at reagan national airport. but they never got an answer, and this morning, the government believes the only controller on duty may have fallen asleep. wednesday morning, just after midnight, an american airlines 737 coming from miami with 97 people on board contacts the control tower. but instead of getting the usual instructions, the pilot gets no answer at all. >> washington tower. >> reporter: so the pilot circles the airport, seeking guidance from a nearby traffic operations facility in virginia and is told they couldn't get a response either, even on the phone. [ inaudible ] >> we called on the land line, and commercial line and no answer. >> reporter: a man on board the flight says the pilot keeps passengers informed. >> the pilot gets over the loud speaker and says, sorry, folks, we can't land right now, i can't get in touch with the air traffic control tower. we're going to keep circling until i get a response. >> reporter: the plane lands safely following procedures for unmanned airports, making frequent radio calls to notify planes in the area of its position. around that same time, a united airlines plane, 68 people on board, heading in from chicago, is notified by the operations center of the tower problem. >> just so you're aware, one aircraft going into dca, the tower is apparently unmanned. >> reporter: it landed safely, too, and the tower controller was back on the radio about five minutes later. but a former airline pilot calls it a serious lapse. >> of all the airports on the planet, this is the worst one for that to happen to. let's face it. that airport sits within a baseball throw of the pentagon, of the white house, of the capitol building. this is not a very good situation. >> reporter: officials say this controller has an unblemished record, and they're still trying to make sure exactly what happened, whether he fell asleep or had a medical emergency or something else. but now the transportation secretary, ray la hood, has ordered the faa to make sure two controllers are on duty on the late shift at this tower and to are review staffing at other towers nationwide. >> pete, thank you very much. mike pangia is a commercial licensed pilot. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> i'm almost at a loss. how could this happen? and by the way, why aren't there two controllers in a control tower of a major airport at midnight? >> well, this surprises me. i operated an airplane in and out of this area, not at national airport, but at airports close by. and it's very critically protected air space, because it's within a stone's throw of the capitol and so forth. i find it very, very unusual. there is hardly any traffic at those hours. so the job becomes very, very tedious. not because of the amount of traffic, but because of the lack of traffic. and it engenders complacency and so you need two people in that tower at an airport like this airport. >> right. >> and especially -- we have been having weather here lately, and so it's going to limit abilities of the pilots to see the traffic. you need that traffic controller. >> is there no one else at an airport like national who monitors these radio transmissions, not in the tower, and says, wait a second, there's no response, or is there no camera in the control tower that shows what's happening in that room so someone else could react to it? >> no. you need two controllers up there. what these pilots did was contact approach control. they went back to the radar control, which is the control that they were talking to. they were switched over from what they call approach control, over to what we call local control, the actual tower. >> right. >> and so they -- so when you can't get another controller, you go back to the last person. and that's what they did. so the last controller would be able to monitor on radar. but the approach controller can't really tell what's on the runway, and things like that. we need that local controller. >> real, real quickly, mike. did the pilots do the right thing here by landing without guidance? should they have circled longer to wait to see if they could have reached somebody? >> well, that's a judgment call. and all airplanes in this area, particularly at that time, have been with approach control, or should have been with approach control. so there's very, very little traffic in the area. so really, you know, where can these planes go? i think the pilots did the right call. you would have to be in the cockpit in order to make that determination. but i don't fault the pilots for this. i think they did the right thing. >> mike, thanks for your input on this. i appreciate it very much. >> you're welcome, matt. nine minutes after the hour. here's ann. >> matt, thanks. a new round of air strikes in libya overnight, and one very close call for nbc's richard engel while he came under fire by rebels. he joins us on the phone from just outside of ajdabiya. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. we are back on the rebels' front line now. we have been hearing artillery fire this morning from gadhafi's troops a few miles away. the rebels here have the numbers, they have the will to fight. but they don't have the discipline or the equipment to take on gadhafi's troops while they're still dug in. american and european air strikes stopped a massacre in benghazi, and destroyed many of gadhafi's heavy weapons. but on the front lines, the rebels are mostly on their own. here, there are no trenches or sandbags, just men, poorly armed, who want to fight. the rebel front line is about five miles outside the town of ajdabiya. smoke can be seen rising from ajdabiya in the distance. gadhafi still has tanks and artillery in the town. the rebels watch with binoculars, but can't advance. outgunned, rebels say they're killed whenever they approach gadhafi's forces. we have light weapons, he has tanks, complain one man. another rebel showed me, he isn't actually armed at all. it's a toy gun. this is amazing. he just handed me his gun. i didn't realize until he put it in my hands, it's made of plastic. it's a toy. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: three explosions, 50 yards away. so we were doing the interviews, incoming rounds just landed in this area. the rebels are now starting to flee. rebels cheer they survived this assault by gadhafi's army. there have been several artillery rounds that have landed right in this area. we're using this piece of concrete to take a little cover, and to see if the artillery rounds stop long enough for us to get out of the area. shockingly, the rebel we interviewed leaves cover to retrieve his plastic gun. but abandons it as we hear another explosion. we leave a few minutes later, and find rebels regrouping at a safer distance. but without leadership or the close air support, they desperately want from the west, the rebels are struggling. this morning, ann, we have been hearing western fighter jets high in the sky above this area. it is certainly a welcome presence for the rebels here on the front line. ann? >> richard engel this morning, stay safe, and thanks. rachel maddow is the most of "the rachel maddow show." good morning to you. >> good to see you. >> it's alarming to see how poorly alarmed they are, and also how disorganized these rebels are. given that, and a lot of other reasons, what are the chances the u.s. can get further deeply involved? >> the question here is whether or not, honestly, this military intervention by the west is going to make enough room in this military fight that gadhafi goes. it is unclear at this point. richard's reporting as clear as anything points out that the military capacity of the rebels doesn't seem to guarantee that. now, the u.n. mission is not to get rid of gadhafi. is not to defeat him, it's to stop him from massacring civilians. that is the grounds on which this test will be judged. but it's very hard to imagine the u.s. being in this for much longer, and getting out of a lead role. the u.s. military is so dominant compared to other mill tears in the rest of the world. it's hard for us to be a participant in anything we are not running. >> you seem so clear about what the mission is, but in fact, speaker boehner doesn't seem as clear. in fact, he wrote a letter to the president saying, we don't know how long the no-fly zone will be in force, we don't know the cost of the mission, we don't know the benchmark for success. do you agree with the speaker? is that these are questions the president must answer? >> the president has said it's u.s. policy that gadhafi should go. it is not the goal of the no-fly zone and the u.n. military mission to force gadhafi out. those are separate things. the way the u.s. is pursuing its controls includes things like sanctions and an arms embargo which don't have much to do with what is happening with these fighter jets over libya right now. what is interesting about speaker boehner's letter is for him to raise the issue of cost. it's a new world to see the beltway press and speaker boehner talking about the cost of tomahawk missiles compared to what that could buy us in our budget. i'm a liberal, and it has been a liberal dream for americans to consider defense costs alongside the other things we could spend money on. the first time in my lifetime it's happened in a mainstream way. >> meantime, the president is also getting criticism from the left as well as the right. we have representative anthony weaner saying there is no doubt in my mind that we in congress are not potted plants. we should have been asked for the okay to go into what essentially is an engagement of war. did the president make a mistake in not getting congressional approval? >> i think the president has been so emphatic about how limited this and how it's going to be days and not weeks that we're not going to be in the lead he sees that as a key justification. he notified congress, but he did not ask them. if it goes on for much longer, i think even the administration will acknowledge they have to get a congressional vote and then you will see the politics on this pop even further. >> as usual, the length of engagement will determine a lot of public opinion. rachel maddow, thank you so much. we want to mention you can catch the "rachel maddow show" on msnbc. nalt morales at the news desk. good morning. >> good morning. in tokyo, residents are on edge this morning over reports of radiation in the water supply. nbc's chief science correspondent robert bazell is in tokyo with the latest. good morning, robert. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. the officials are saying that the water here in tokyo is, again, safe enough for infants to drink. but few people are reassured. and at the reactor site, the effort continues, but an incident today shows just how dangerous it is. these newly released pictures show the workers, now heroes, inside the stricken plant. today three workers were exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation, two hospitalized. the meanwhile, tokyo residents continue to be worried, even as radiation levels in the water system drop, and the advisory of giving tap water to infants is lifted. still residents are stocking up on bottled water. erika's son is just 2 weeks old, and now this new mother is concerned. >> i don't know what's going to happen ten years, twenty years later. to me and my baby. so i'm really worried. >> reporter: officials advise against hoarding water as shelves are left empty. in tokyo today, the government started distributing 240,000 bottles of water to households with infants and said it was considering a plan to import bottled water from overseas. at the troubled fukushima plant, workers continue their struggle to regain control. officials said they will soon be bringing in fresh water from a distant dam to cool the reactors. fears have been growing that salt from all of the sea water that's been pumped in could clog the crucial cooling systems. and said their effort to keep pressure under control inside the three reactors working at the time of the quake remains a difficult balancing act. north of the reactor, in an emotional visit, u.s. ambassador john ruse spoke to evacuees in a shelter in the hard hit miagi prefecture. >> i have witnessed the best of humanity. the thoughts and prayers of my country, the united states, are with you. >> reporter: with all this anxiety about the reactors, there hasn't been so much attention to those -- the devastated areas to the north. but, of course, the remains are in misery. ann? >> worth reminding. robert bazell in tokyo, thank you so much. tensions in the middle east are escalating again. israel bombarded targets in the gaza strip in response to the deadly bombing in centr jerusalem yesterday. gazans returned fire with mortar and rockets. and in syria, the crackdown on anti-government protesters left 15 people dead. in yemen, the embattled president is imposing emergency laws to give his security forces greater power in their violent crackdown on protests. flight delays at miami international airport are possible today as workers scramble to restore fueling operations after an overnight fire in a fuel storage area. officials say the fire was potentially disastrous. an 18-wheeler dangled over a highway ramp in ft. worth, texas this morning after an accident sent it careening off the road. rescuers managed to reach the driver, who was still in the cab. a car was also pinned under the truck. the cause of the accident is now under investigation. it's unbelievable video there to see that. it's now 18 minutes past the hour. you're up to date with the news. let's turn it back over to matt, ann and al. >> thanks very much. mr. rocky e lots of weather to talk about. >> we'll show you what's going on for this morning. a lot of rain out west as we have been telling you. lots of wind, maybe isolated tornadoes. damp and chilly on this thursday morning. radar showing some scattered showers south and east of washington. there's another one up around the panhandle of west virginia, now drifting off to the east. we'll have a little bit of light rain from time to time this morning. it's certainly chilly. only 40 degrees around washington. mid-30s near the pennsylvania border. later today, a little sun should come out by mid-afternoon. a and that's your latest >> thank you very much. weather. matt? tributes are pouring in from all around the world for elizabeth taylor. nbc's miguel almaguer is in hollywood. good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. elizabeth taylor was given a star on the hollywood walk of fame back in 1960. a legacy cemented in history. ♪ i can't lie >> reporter: she was one of hollywood's biggest stars. ♪ >> reporter: remembered wednesday night by another icon, close friend and musician, elton john. >> she was without doubt one of the greatest people i've ever met in my life. she was an incredible woman. and i have the privilege to have known her, and god bless you, elizabeth. god knows how we're going to replace you. >> reporter: tributes for taylor were also held in hollywood, where she found her fame. >> i'll just call him pie. oh, you're a pretty one. >> reporter: a two-time oscar winner for best actress, elizabeth taylor was called the goddess of hollywood's golden age, an original starlet, not just a pin-up, but an international legend. >> just one, and i will not only spit in your eye, but i will punch it black and blue. >> reporter: she starred in more than 50 films and 6 television movies. beauty, grace, charisma, all defining traits. >> i have something to ask you. >> co star, mickey