0 our "starting point" this morning, tropical storm andrea, rain, lots of it, heavy winds and floods. this storm quickly making its way up the east coast. this is a live picture of the churning seas from north carolina. which state will get hit the hardest? we're going to track this storm. >> first your phone calls and now your internet activity. the controversy surrounding the nsa's spying is growing by the minute, from the political fallout from the president to the public outrage, we cover all the angles. >> the irs forced to defend spending your money on a parody individu video like his this. hear what the head of the agency had to say about "star trek" and "gilligan's island." the norwegian navy blowing up one of its own ships to test out the new long range stealth missile. >> turns out norwegians have great aim. >> it comes from that vikings heritage. >> i'm john berman. it is friday, june 7th p.m. welcome to "starting point." tropical storm andrea is the kind of rainmaker the east coast hasn't seen since hurricane sandy. in other words, you might want to rethink your weekend plans or make sure you carry an umbrella with you at all times. the storm walloped florida, seriously injuring one woman and made it ways through georgia and expected to churn up the eastern seaboard bringing heavy rain, flooding and the possibility of isolated tornadoes depending where you are. nick valenci is on wrightsville beach. >> the wind has slowly started to pick up in the last couple hours since we've been here and the waves inching towards the shore. no rain yet but that could quickly change. >> reporter: rain, rain and more rain. fast-moving tropical storm andrea is making her presence known up and down the eastern seaboard. the first storm of the hurricane season will dump rain through the weekend in every state from florida to maine. parts of the northeast seeing rain totals that they haven't seen since superstorm sandy last october. in roadways all across the south, downed trees and closed streets, making it challenging to get around. >> it's pretty bad and the flooding around here is getting worse and worse. >> reporter: in florida, andrea spawned multiple tornadoes. one twister near palm beach. flipping a 28-foot boat, blowing cars off of driveways and snapping trees in half. >> i didn't hear it coming. >> reporter: another reported tornado near fer nan dino beach, florida, tearing apart this roof. >> as soon as i puts the phone down, a huge gush of wind and i looked out the window and it was literally like it was coming off the ocean and i got so frightened i screamed. >> reporter: the sunshine state pummelled with rain for two days as the flood threat now spreads up the east coast. forecasters predict some areas could see as much as six inches of rain. and as you see in this picture taken in florida after andrea, brighter days will come after this long, wet weekend. now officials have not issued any evacuations for this area. we've seen residents out for their morning jog, another handful of residents enjoying the view. but there are other residents, christine, who have gotten out of town anticipating some wet weather to come here to north carolina. christine? >> after it leaves you, it will be moving up the coast where it will hit us. nick valencia. >> find out where it's going to hit after it is done with nick. check in with alexandria steele. >> good morning. we are going to see this rocket north and east. that is the good news. it's going to move northeast. 28 miles per hour now. could even increase in speed. two threats with this. the rain and thus the flooding. again between 2 and 4 inches locally, even more than that. there is the isolated tornado threat, especially through the carolinas, north carolina and coastal virginia. that is where the concern is. a tornado watch, already had a tornado warning this morning. doppler radar indicated tornado. that has expired. heaviest rain here you can see, in eastern north carolina into virginia. that's where we're going to see heavy rain today. wind gusting this afternoon between 30s and about 41-mile-per-hour wind gusts. the strongest wind gust, though, right off the coast where the heaviest bands of rain are. so here's its movement this morning. center of circulation right now northeast of savannah. we're going to watch that move north and eastward. by tomorrow see where the center is, where the heaviest rain is. wet night tonight, new york and boston, for the first part of tomorrow, clears by saturday afternoon, and sunday, we'll see partly sunny skies there. so you guys, the biggest threat will be the rain and especially in the coastal virginia, north carolina. isolated tornado threat this afternoon and today. >> so keep on the lookout for the good news. the storm passing through more quickly than we expected. >> very quickly. >> thanks. are your gmail messages and facebook posts mined by the u.s. government. a question every american has a right to ask. there are new reports intelligence agencies in this country are accessing the central servers of nine of the country's biggest technology firms and mining the data in the servers for years. the operation is called prism and according to the "washington post," and "the guardian," nine giant internet firms are caught up in it. the program reportedly began in 2007 but has expanded under the obama administration and this morning cnn is working to confirm a "wall street journal" report that the agency may be collecting credit card transactions as well. it's not known whether the credit card data was collected once or as part of an ongoing effort as we confirm the different details, we're going to reveal them to you. here are the details we do now from our own barbara starr. >> reporter: a potentially explosive disclosure about how easily the government can collect information on-line. "the washington post" and the british newspaper "the guardian" are reporting the national security agency, the nsa, and the fbi, are tapping directly into the servers of nine leading internet companies, including microsoft, yahoo! google, facebook, aol, skype, youtube, and apple. that's according to a top secret nsa presentation. intercepting data like video, photographs, and e-mails, flowing on-line. >> what this program enables the national security agency to do is to reach directly into the servers of the largest internet companies in the world, things that virtually every human being in the western world now uses, to communicate with one another. >> reporter: the program appears to be intended to grab non-u.s. intercepts, many of which flow through the robust u.s. internet. one slide in the nsa presentation explains, your targets communications could easily be flowing into and through the u.s. cnn has not confirmed the authenticity of the documents. several of the companies reportedly cooperating with the government issued denials of involvement. this follows the stunning news that a secret federal court order directed verizon to hand over phone records of millions of americans. former intelligence officials and privacy advocates say, it's reasonable to presume other telephone companies got similar orders. >> if this is an open-ended and indiscriminate collection process as it seems to be, then logically one would expect it to be much bigger than verizon business. >> reporter: and it all leaves the administration needing to explain this exchange in march. >> does the nsa collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. >> no, sir. >> it does not? >> not willingly. >> reporter: that verizon program, lawmakers say having access to that data helped law enforcement stop terrorist plots from being carried out. now the man you saw at the end, james clapper, the director of national intelligence took the extraordinary step of issuing a public statement overnight about all of this saying, quote, the unauthorized disclosure about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of americans. the program cannot be used to intentionally target any u.s. citizen, any other u.s. person, or anyone located within the united states. that is the government's defense. it's legal. i think the questions are going to keep coming. christine, john. >> a lot of questions. it's so interesting, too, barbara, we're a company country that overshares our financial information on facebook and twitter, but when it's the government we think that is looking in on us without us knowing that's when people start to get real, real nervous. i think the story keeps developing. thanks, barbara. obviously there's political fallout to all of this from the secret surveillance of millions of americans. the obama administration insists that it has been an effective weapon in the war on terror calling it legal, limited and necessary. cnn's dan lothian live at the white house this morning. good morning. the white house has been cautious in its response but in washington there have been strong and divided feelings on this, some lawmakers pointing to the increasing domestic terrorist threats saying this is needed to protect americans but others say this kind of information gathering is going too far. >> reporter: this morning, president obama is waking up in california, as a political firestorm over the government's collection of phone and internet data intensifies. >> the bottom line is that the united states government now has phone records and other records of tens and tens and tens of millions of americans who have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with terrorism. >> reporter: the political fallout after news that the nsa was collecting american's phone records from verizon was quick, public outrage over privacy rights already taking form on-line. >> can you hear me now? >> yes, we can. >> can you hear me now. >> yes, we can. >> your call goes through. >> can you hear me now? >> yes, we can. >> reporter: a singing editorial in "the new york times" proclaims, president obama's drag net and says the administration has now lost all credibility and the letter to attorney general eric holder from the author of the patriot act representative jim sense brenner who writes he's extremely disturbed by what appears to be an overbroad interpretation of the act. even the president's liberal base piled on. "the huffington post" ran a photo on its cover page showing obama morphing into george w. bush. the program has its defenders. >> this program was used to stop a program -- excuse me, stop a terrorist attack in the united states. we know that. >> reporter: the white house says these types of orders include data, not phone calls, and have been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terror threats. but some lawmakers want more answers and attorney general holder, already under pressure for snooping on reporters, is on the hot seat again. >> could you assure to us that no phones inside the capitol were monitored, members of congress? >> with all due respect, senator, i don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. >> the white house has been emphasizing that the president has been trying to strike a balance between security and civil liberties and they insist that there are safeguards in place in order to prevent abuse. john? >> dan lothian at the white house for us this morning, thanks a lot, dan. ahead on "starting point" a top irs official who played spock in an agency training video how he fared before a congressional committee, up next. >> what's up with the norwegian navy. why is it attacking one of its own ships. look at what they did. we'll tell you why just after the break.