the northeast right now. new video of the twisters touching down in tennessee tearing through backyards, setting off explosions as they took down power lines, homes and businesses leveled. rescue workers searching through the rubble. this woman says she was picked up by the tornado. >> i got hit over my head with something and my eyes was closed as i was spinning. i was just so scared. >> now 52 million on alert for more severe weather across the northeast. overseas, a new warning about the humanitarian crisis inside gaza and the powerful holiday tribute from hostages recently released. what this father told us now that his children are home. >> former president trump's reversal. why he now says he will not testify at his civil trial tomorrow. growing pressure on harvard's president to resign after upenn's leader was forced out after her handling of antisemitism. thieves bust as police warn of a new gift card scam, how scammers steal money off the card before you buy them. >> both of our $200 gift cards were just completely drained. >> what you need to know and the holiday spectacular that almost wasn't. how the whole community came together to turn these lights back ♪♪ ♪♪ >> this is "nbc nightly news with katie snow. good evening, the trail of devastation in two communities came into sharp focus after tornadoes ripped through last night, a toddler and his mom are among six people killed there. dozens more were injured and there were 28 preliminary tornado reports saturday across six states and this was one twister setting off an explosion when it tore through power lines. >> ooh! that is fire. oh, my gosh. >> from above, you can see house after house destroyed. that same weather system today moved into the mid atlantic and northeast bringing more suspected tornadoes, driving rain, wind and the threat of flooding and we'll get to all of that in a moment, but we begin with marisa parra in hard-hit tennessee. marisa? >> kate, where so much reporting has been done here today because of how serious the damage was, and i want to show you just one example behind me. this is someone's bedroom. you can see their dresser, their bed underneath, ripped pieces of installation, shards of wood all exposed to the sky and kate, this isn't the only one. >> shrouded in darkness, tornadoes twisted their way through tennessee neighborhoods. >> oh, my god! oh! >> sparking violent explosions -- >> that's a tornado. those are power lines. >> and taking down power lines with them. >> oh, my god. >> philip dixon taking this video as the twister approached and the night sky lit up. >> i could hear wind tunnel and something like the trains and then a big explosion happened and i couldn't believe i saw that. >> the twister spinning up as a line of severe storms southwest through the southeast saturday night. emergency officials say six people were killed and two of them young. this twister hit clarksville, tennessee, and at the local post office workers running for cover as an apparent tornado swept through the parking lot. >> close the door! >> i hope no one was in those houses. >> daylight lay bare the destruction by night that left more than 60 people in the hospital. this mayor getting emotional saying the response he saw was nothing short of heroic. >> i've never been so proud to be mayor as right now. >> people here bringing with them boxes, bags and stories of survival like this woman who was lifted into the air. >> i was trying to go in the closet when i got that alert. i just remember opening the closet door and just turning around. the wind just took me and i just remember waking up on this side of my house. >> in madison, another hard-hit town just north of nashville, the sign of tragedy. a 2-year-old and his mother killed when a neighborhood was thrown on to theirs, leaving felipe domingo leaving him without his wife and son and as he tells us in spanish with big pain in his heart. down the street, misty saw her neighbors buried under the collapsed roof. >> my neighbor was in there and she was very under the weather and she was screaming help, help. as first responders check rubble for anyone still trapped, homeowners checked their houses looking for anything they can carry. >> and we have to rebuild. we are in the process of rebuilding, one step at a time. >> back now with marisa, it is so devastating. we are getting late word from the governor? >> yeah. governor bill lee just toured here within the hour telling us that looking at all of this was heartbreaking. you can see downed power lines still in front of boom's home and there's still 25,000 people without power across the state and it will be a long road of recovery ahead. kate? >> thanks. >> all of that weather down south pushing to the northeast. more than 52 million people are under the threat of tornadoes, dangerous wind, rain and flooding. george solis is tracking that part of the story for us. wild weather barreling along the east coast tonight is already wreaking havoc. in other no carolina just outside of raleigh a suspected tornado blowing out power lines and damaging homes and the same system had 52 under flood alerts and cities bracing for intense rain and winds causing backups and travel delays in new york. >> started in a very unsettled note. as much as six inches of rain in urban areas also increasing the risk of dangerous and flash flooding. >> i got a couple of am brelas with us and rain jackets and got the proper shoes on, and rain or shine, you what i mean? the storm system could dump as much as ten to 15 inches of snow across northern new york and vermont. in colorado, the snow from the system causing the southwest airlines flight past the runway it did have to be toed leading to more delays and parts of new england leaving two to three inches of additional rainfall. >> george is with us. when might we see the worst part of this rain and wind? >> yeah, kate, this is all forecast to ramp up this evening and into the overnight. here emergency travel officials have issued travel advisories today and tomorrow. kate in. >> okay, george, thank you. in southern california it's not the rain and the wildfire and the wind-driven fire is burning in ventura conte, nearly 3,000 acres have scorched hillsides and threatening homes. some residents have had to evacuate and it's a major challenge for crews trying to get the fire under control. >> now to the israel-hamas war about the humanitarian crisis inside gaza. we are hearing from former israeli hostages about how they're keeping hope alive with so many still in captivity. hallie jackson reports from tel aviv. >> a father yelling for his son at this hospital in southern gaza as the world health organization warns the health system is collapsing. fewer than half of gazan hospitals are partially functioning, they say. this woman tells our team everybody has the flu, diarrhea, there's no medical treatment. in central gaza, hundreds of people line up waiting for food. the jordanian foreign minister with the warning. >> israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region, that will define generations to come. israel's military says it has taken over this key square in gaza city and an israeli flag there now and a menorah with strikes slamming the south. secretary of state tony blinken today defending the u.s. decision to resist u.n. calls for an immediate cease fire. >> that would simply perpetuate the problem. >> the israelis say 20 hostages were killed in gaza and more were held there, kidnapped from kfar aza. tonight members of that kibbutz gathying up the coast for hanukkah. here we meet a familiar face to the many who watched his vigil in tel aviv with a chair with a sign, my family is in gaza. now they're home, his wife and three children released two weeks ago, in the hospital at first, treatment for stomach infection and the light still dark for his 4-year-old. >> he can't really fall asleep. he doesn't want to, you know? i guess he's afraid to fall asleep. what he told us the other night was that he really wishes for the other hostages to return. obviously, we all started crying. >> then a surprise. his son, drawn to the camera, calling their dad to dinner. a reminder on a holiday celebrating a miracle. >> every day i'm re-living a miracle. >> some still exist. >> and i think back to what their life two weeks ago must have been like and it's just incredible they're here. >> you see they're kids, life goes on. they show us how things should be and i've learned throughout this journey so many things. my main conclusion is the most important thing in life is life. >> so well said. hallie joins us now from tel aviv. we have an update tonight on the possibility of negotiations over the release of more hostages. >> that's right, kate with the qataris with the foreign minister saying they see the same willingness to negotiate as more and making sure they push ahead on the dip the ma diplomatic front. >> a surprise reversal from former president donald trump. he will no longer testify in person at his civil fraud trial in new york tomorrow. allie rafah has the details. >> tonight an 11th-hour reversal. former president trump announcing on his social media platform that he will not go back on the witness stand monday on the civil fraught lawsuit threatening his empire. mr. trump saying i have testified to everything and have nothing more to say adding i will not be testifying on monday. the former president was slated to give the final word in his defense as his legal team's last witness of the ten-week trial that's nearing its end. >> strategically, this is the right call by the defense. it may be that they never wanted him to come back and testify, but only today they were able to prevail upon their client to listen to his lawyers' advice. >> in a statement tonight mr. trump's attorney saying, quote, was there no valid reason for president trump to testify further in this case. >> i'm the first guy who ever got indicted whose poll numbers go up. >> a new poll shows trump betting him a hypothetical matchup and the polls out of the margin of error. >> the president firing a warning shot at his successor in manhattan. >> i can only say to joe, be very careful what you wish for. he's opened up a pandora's box that may never let our country be the same. >> and allie joins us now. with trump not testifying in his civil trial tomorrow is the trial almost over? >> well, kate, if the prosecution doesn't have a rebuttal, that likely means the end of the trial with both sides making their closing pitches directly to the judge. kate? >> allie rafah for us. thank you. an announcement from the white house today president biden has invited volodymyr zelenskyy to the white house. the leaders are expected to meet tuesday amid the ongoing congressional debate amid funding for russia. a democratic bill with billions in aid from ukraine failed to clear the senate because of disagreements in board security over the u.s. >> ivy league flash pack and the harvard's pressure to resign about anti-semitism on campus and police cracking down on my name's dan and i live here in san antonio, texas. i ran my own hvac business and now i'm retired. i'm not good being retired. i'm a pain in the neck. i like to be able to have a purpose. about three or four years ago, i wasn't feeling as if i was as sharp as i used to be. i saw the prevagen commercials. after a short amount of time taking prevagen, i started noticing a difference-- that i'm remembering this, i'm remembering that. i stopped taking prevagen and i found myself slacking back so i jumped right back on it. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. mr. clean magic eraser powers through tough messes. so it makes it look like i spent hours cleaning, and you know i didn't. it makes my running shoe look like new! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. i was a bit nervous at first but then i figured it's just walking, right? 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it does not depend on the context, the answer is yes and this is why you should resign. >> that congressman, elise stefanik tweeted after the resignation of upenn, one down, two to go, referencing the leaders at harvard and m.i.t. harvard's president did later apologize writing in part on x let me be clear, calls for violence against the jewish community or any group is vile and those who threaten our jewish students may be held to account and that hasn't quieted her critics including bill akman who was actively pushing for her resignation. jonathan greenblatt is ceo of the anti-defamation league. >> is adl calling for these leaders to resign? >> i think adl is saying we want action, and if the presidents prepare clear and well-developed plans to their boards demonstrate how they are prepared to take real, immediate steps, and i think that might alay many of the concerns. >> universities across the country may face mounting criticism over their response to the war. some jewish and muslim students say too little is being done to protect them. >> it's important for people to understand that we are all in it together and everyone is hurt and everyone feels, yeah, quite disturbed by -- i mean, this situation. >> dana griffin, nbc news. coming up, we've got a warning about gift card scams. this is a dramatic moment a suspected scammer got caught. how their scheme could ruin your holiday. plus the triumphant -what even is this? 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>> it was amazing how the people that have been coming to our display for 35 years, they stepped up and they said we want this display to continue. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> i'm sorry. i get emotional when i talk about it because it is so humbling. >> i hear the emotion in your voice. >> am so blessed. >> heather trunky who has been visiting since she was a kid starteded a gift registry for the gattis. >> i'm just humbled to be a small part of the story here. >> now, thanks to the kindness of this community, half a million points of light and love are shining once again. it's just amazing. you don't realize how many wonderful people there are in this world. >> what do you think this says about the world? >> i don't know how many more years the good lord is giving me on this earth, but i will keep the christmas decorations going until i die. >> the gattis say it takes them until at least february to pack everything up every year and they'll keep doing this as long as they can. that is nbc "nightly news" for this sunday and stay here for the philadelphia eagles versus the dallas cowboys tonight. i'm kate snow, for all of us here at nbc news,tay safe. s