Heavy weight exposed by a cyber atook on sony. Attacks on big stars like tom cruise, and they wont like whats said about them. On the bright side, golden globe nominations out today, it was who was not nominatining getting the most attention today, thursday, december 11, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome, its thursday, if you live in hollywood, its all about you this morning, good and bad. Good side, golden globe, actors happy about their names mentioned this morning, but the other side of the coin, actors not happy having names mentioned in emails released in a hacking scandal. By the way, the weather is big out west, the top story. It is. Powerful storms slamming both coasts, and its just the beginning for the folks on the west coast. Absolutely. Well get to that. Lets show you whats happening. Two coasts, two storms. First one, this western wallop, the worst in six years. Flesch flood watches from the Pacific Northwest into southern california, and we got wind watches, high wind warnings. San francisco could see gusts up to 60 Miles Per Hour, and the oregon coast upwards of 95 Miles Per Hour. Well watch it, and we got blizzard warnings and winter storm warnings in the mountains, 24 inches of snow above 6,000 feet, and up to the crest, up to 4 feet of snow. The storm system is pushing in causing problems. Theres heavy rain, especially in northern california. Were talking anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of rain, but even in southern california, tonight into tomorrow, upwards of 3 inches. Heres where its the jackpot, if you will. Tons and tons of rain will continue. Were going to show you, lets go to San Francisco right now. When we saw you last, it was dry. Well, its changed drastically. Reporter yeah, al, good morning. Good to see you again. Over the last couple hours, we have begun to see the heavy, steady rain, the first band of wet and wild weather push in to the San Francisco bay area. As you mentioned, we could see up to 8 inches of rain in the bay area. Its starting now. I want to show you pictures from earlier when the storm first hit the Pacific Northwest. That began hammering the area earlier in the week, and it caused localized flooding, beach erosion, two homes nearly slid into the ocean, near close to seattle, and now they are dealing with localized flooding. Here in the bay area, we expect heavy and steady rain over the next 24 to 48 hours. They are clearing storm drains yesterday, back at it today. Local School Districts cancelled classes here, the Silicon Valley told workers to stay home in areas because the roads will be a mess. Heavy, steady rain is just beginning now. Al, back to you. Thank you so much. Mud slides will be a problem. Lets move here to the east coast dealing with some pretty heavy snow. You see the wrap around, around this low pressure system, look at that, that moisture coming in, cooling off, and dropping in the form of snow. Were talking anywhere from 6 to 9 inches between western new york and western pennsylvania as we watch this push in. Lets go to dylan now. The snow stopped and cleanup is just beginning. Reporter thats right, al. You know, pictureperfect, like stepping into a Christmas Card here in new york, but theres wrap around moisture as mentioned from tuesdays noreaster that stuck in new england. The backside of it, we got one to two feet of snow across the area. Roads were tresh rous yesterday, a school bus rolled over with three students in it. That reported to have minor injuries. Syracuse closed for a time yesterday because of dangerous conditions, but now the heavy snow is making a mess of i90 from buffalo to eerie, pennsylvania, and until the storm moves away, al, well deal with scattered snow showers producing inches of snow throughout the day today. All right. So, guys, bad news out west is this is a two day storm, and then even if you think, oh, i dont live in the west coast, its headed east and probably 60 of the country will be affected by it. A preview of a coming attraction. Al, thank you so much. In washington, the head of the cia addresses troubling findings in the Senate Report on torturing against terror suspects later today. This, as former Vice President cheney and the man who helped design the Interrogation Program speak out. Nbcs chief Foreign Affairs correspondent has the latest, andrea . The cia strikes back. Cia director john brennan makes first Public Comment at the agency headquarters, and now dick cheney has joined the debate. Hes going public after spending days trying to repair the agencys shattered morale. After the report, the cia has a strong defender in former Vice President dick cheney. Its a terrible piece of work, deeply flawed. Reporter on fox news, he was asked about the water boarding. What do we do . Kiss him on both cheeks and say, please, please, tell us what you know . Of course not. We did what needed to be done in order to catch those who were guilty on 9 11 and prevent a further attack, and we were successful on boeth parts. Reporter now, coming out of the shadow, james mitchell, one of two psychologists who designed the techniques. Its not always pretty, and i think there should be an honest debate in the united states. Reporter the firm made 80 million on the program despite having no experience in counterterrorism. Do you sleep comfortably at night . Always. Reporter contrary to the Senate Reports conclusions, the cia insists harsh interrogations in secret prisons produce results. Most importantly, the clues leading to the take down of bin laden, they say the agency is still misleading the public. Director brennan and the cia today are continuing to willfully provide interactive information and misrepresent the ethicacy of torture. In other words, the cia is lying. Reporter todays appearance could be awkward for brennan. At the confirmation hearing a year ago, he disagreed with the Interrogation Practices at the time, but did not agree stopping them because he had no authority over the program. Thank you. We should mention, actually, former Vice President cheney will be chucks guest sunday on meet the press. In the meantime, in the wake of Domestic Violence cases, the National Football league hopes a reworking of the personal conduct policy leads to big changes. Nbcs Peter Alexander spoke with roger goodell, peter, good morning to you. Good morning to you. In addition to play books, theres a new rule book for off the field behavior. The league, in particular roger goodell, took a lot of heat over the last few months, but with this new policy, goodell is promising big change. Admitting to dropping the ball in the past, the commissioner says the league is ready to attack problems head on. Why did confident its right this time . Toughened the policy. Reporter under the new policy, any player charged with a Violent Crime is suspended with pay. The nfl conducts its own investigation independent of law enforcement. Well collect all of the information. Reporter to independently investigate . Yes, we will. Well have experts to gather the information. Well determine if its a violation of personal conduct policy. Reporter the biggest change . Theres a counsel to oversee punishment, formally the commissioners rule. The commissioner still has the final word on appeal. This appears to be independent, but, nchin fact, is an nfl employee employed by the league office. Reporter this comes in the wake of high profile cases like the attack taught on tape. Last week, an independent arbitrator reinstated ray rice ruling against the leagues indefinite suspension. In an interview, matt asked rice about his future. What do you think it takes for another owner and another group of fans to put the images of that video behind and say, well take a chance on ray rice . I take full responsibility for everything i did. All i can hope for and wish for is a second chance. Your reaction to the reinstatement of ray rice . We dont agree with the arbitrators ruling, but accept it. Should a team pick him up . Thats up to the individual leagues. Reporter the National Organization for women calls the policy window dressing and the Players Union is upset saying they were not offered a chance to see the changes until they, quote, hit the presses. Thank you very. Back to hollywood now with the nominations of the golden globes, and birdman stretched its wings, you might say. We are live in los angeles with it all. Good morning, joe. Good morning. A lot of big names announced including for actors, jake gyllenhaal, and for actresses, reese witherspoon, julianne moore, and jennifer aniston. The awards are heating up with scoring notary puble innominati. Leading with seven nominations, bird man, the comedy about a washed up hollywood actor up for best comedy picture along with the big screen version of into the woods. Good day, mr. Wolf. The grand budapest hotel, st. Vincent, and a mild surprise, prize. How was your week . On the drama side, the five best are boyhood, a film shot over the course of 12 years with fox catcher, a movie about geniuses, imitation game, and theory of everything. And rounding out the list is selma based on the civil rights marches in alabama. Dr. King thinks its going to have to wait. Selma made history becoming the first africanamerican female nominated for best director. Perhaps the Biggest Surprise is no nomination for Angelina Jolies unbroken or sniper. What are you feeling . I have good days, bad days, and on my bad days, i feel like i cant find myself. Julianne moore wrapped up two nods in drama and comedy. Why is he mowing your dirt patch . Showing him how the world works. You work, get paid, and you drink. Are you Drinking Alcohol . Bill murray a twotime nominee, and meryl streep is far from cursed, ending her record breaking 29th golden globe nomination. Bring me the nomination or the child you wish for will never see the light of day on the tv side, surprises, no nominations for modern family, the big bang theory, or brooklyn 99, and no nomination for amy pole lar. Savann savannah. Joe, thank you so much. Just give meryl the nomination, make it 30. I cant wait until she is recognized for her work. Those are live sunday, january 11. Well be live with a complete cast the following morning. A very, very big day in the nations capital. The clock is ticking, count down for congress to avoid a government shut down, but the bill on the table is not sitting well with some lawmakers. The 1. 1 trillion pan cuts millions from the environment, School Lunches will be less healthy, and big donors could contribute ten times more. Republicans need democrats 60 or 70 of them to vote yes, and if lawmakers fail an agreement, the backup plan is another extension to keep the government running three or four more months. The motor city thriving under its own power again. They emerged from bankruptcy protection. The emergency manager says hes implemented a two year budget reflecting the elimination of 7 billion in debt. Frightening moments here in new york wednesday night after a car jumped a curb and plowed into a group of people at 10 00 last night. Six people were hit before the car then slammed into a forever 21 store. The injured were taken to the hospital with serious, but nonlife threatening injuries. The driver was taken into custody on suspicion of drunk driving. More on the story of survival from the hawaii sailor who is now back home, being rescue from the coast guard after spending two weeks lost at sea. Reporter after his first shaky steps back on dry land, he explained how he survived 12 days lost at sea. I caught fish, and thats it was not a sushi bar, but thats how i hydrated. Reporter two weeks ago as he sailed, a rogue wave tossed the 25 foot boat, breaking both mass, and kicked him overboard. The coast guard searched for the sailor in an area the size of maryland, but after three days of radio silence, it was called off and Funeral Plans were in the works. I thought i was going to die. Then tuesday may day, may day, anyone hear me . Reporter the coast guard did. They are heros, hard work, and effort, they saved my bacon. Reporter saving his bacon and boat. Now after 12 days surrounded by nothing but water dazed right now, and im headed to the barn. Reporter ready for anything but. Hes chipper. Quite the survivor. Well, heres a concept we have to get behind. Sleeping on the job not frowned upon. In fact, its strongly encouraged at a computer horde ware factory in southern china. Workers there are told by management to catch some sleep two times fer shift for ten minutes each. Some, though, bank their time and tack it on at the end of the lunch break and they can get in a longer nap. Oh, i could take a nap. I wouldnt sleep with all those people around. No . My mouth would be open, drooling. Thank you. Mr. Roker . Yes. Lets show you whats going on quickly across the rest of the country. As we said, a lot of wet weather on the west coast, cooler than usual conditions in the southeast into the gulf coast, and even up into the Northern Plains in the upper mid 50s, and river valley and sunshine. We can climb the highest mountain, reaching up to catch our dream together there is nothing we cant be. Dive into the deepest oceans, dance upon the rolling seas, make a moment, keep the memory. Youll lift me up, for we are free, v o wherever life takes you, take it with you. Pandora unforgettable moments. 7 17, meteorologist christina loren. Dangerous driving on the San Francisco bridge. Please travel cautiously. In addition to the rain, we have a lot of wind out there. Were still getting gusts to 50 Miles Per Hour from time to time. The entire bay area feeling the impact of this very strong storm. There is a line here of heavy rainfall, gusty wind on the way. Its going to be here by 10 00 a. M. And it is going to be very dangerous. More on the storm in the west coast just kidding, not you, al. I can only imagine what the Holiday Party will be like for sony. Can you imagine . Heres the deal. For over a week, theres been a lot of attention on the sony cyber attack, a massive leak exposing employees pass jds words, Social Security numbers, and salaries, but new material was leaked wednesday taking the damage to the next level. The material leaked involved biggest names in hollywood, tom cruise, ang lee that jolie, and leonardo dicaprio. They revealed comments on major celebrities they didnt want them to hear. In one email said to be from a producer about jolie, shes referred to as a minimally talented brat. In some countries, thats a compliment. I dont want to go there. Ruden responded saying in his statement, this is not about salacious emails batted around by gawker and defamer, but its a criminal act and the people behind it should be treated as nothing more nor less than criminal. The hacker indicated, guys, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more emails, perhaps, more virtual information and salarie salaries, but, again, jolie walks into the office and says, what happened . Its going to be chilling. Yeah. Something says she wont walk into the office. Thank you very much. Coming up, branded a liar . The woman behind a new federal lawsuit behind cosby nine years after accusing him of Sexual Assault right here on today. Diamonds may be a girls best friend, but would you buy one created in a lab . Could you tell the difference . Well look at them, but first, this is today on nbc. [ female announcer ] get your taste of the season, at raleys, bel air, and nob hill. Coming up, Melissa Rivers speaks out pcheck outor the all these airline seats. Coming up, Melissa Rivers speaks out publicly for the lots of them, right . But when you try to get one by using your travel rewards card miles. Those seats mysteriously vanish. Why . All the flights you want are blacked out. Or they hit you up for some outrageous number of miles. Switch to the venture card from capital one. With venture, use your miles on any airline, any flight, any time. No blackout dates. And with every purchase youll earn unlimited double miles. Now were getting somewhere. Whats in your wallet . Now were getting somewhere. Now, thats a burger. And now you can pay and go when youre ready. Now, isnt that convenient . The new lunch double burger from chilis lunch combo menu, starting at 6 bucks. Fresh is happening now. Ok. Then we will do it all together. Treats teets. Teets. Teets. Yeah, look at this it seems like the best family traditions. Always start in the kitchen. Happy holidays from rice krispies. And these Little Angels build in strength. And that little angel says, weeeeeeeee 60 more sheets than charmin. Everything you want and the value you love. Angel soft. Ring ring . Progresso its ok that your soup tastes like my homemade. Its our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken. Apology accepted. Im watching you soup people. Make it progresso or make it yourself now a microclimate weather alert from nbc bay area. Good morning to you. Im laura garciacannon. A big storm delivering as promised right now across most of the bay area. If youre not seeing it yet, you certainly will. Storms closing schools, causing outages. Pg e reports more than 5,000 customers are without power. Winds brought down a tree earlier this morning. The chp says the message here if you have to drive, go slow and be extra aware on bay area nose. Also a Flash Flood Warning for the north bay. This means flash flooding is occurring at this hour and is imminent through about 10 15. You want to stay off the roads if you can, san rafael richmond bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge looking a little bit better. The rain is just getting going when it comes to the heavy stuff. Theres a really potent line out here with a lot of red in it. This will bring in very fierce wind into san jose. From now until about 10 00 a. M. , the action starts and well be in it all night long basically. The heaviest pockets of rainfall up north. You can see all of this moisture on the way to south bay over the course of the next through hours. Check your drive. Theres no backup. The metering lights were turned off. Look at your map, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Blue, puddling, ponding, flooding reported in many starts. Minor incidents as far as traffic incident. As that rain rolls through, a lighter volume of traffic. A lot of folks staying off the road, as christina was talking about. Palo alto, sloppy conditions, wind and wet roads, encourage you to slow it down. Back to you. Well have another local news update in half an hour. We will see you then. Its 7 30 now, the 11th day of december, 2014. That tree if all the glory, we lit it last week. Christmas will be here before you near know it. Two weeks away. We are getting in the spirit. That slow moving noreaster here in the east. Its moving from parts of pennsylvania up to new hampshire, up to twofeet have fallen in upstate new york. Meanwhile, on the west coast, powerful storms are leading to flooding, rain and Hurricane Force winds. Conditions are expected to be so bad if parts of california today. Public schools in San Francisco, oakland, berkeley all cancelled classes. And six people were injured late last night when a woman lost control in manhattan and hit several vehicles. The driver is being investigated for possible drunken driving. You think about that, that was what 34th street, midtown manhattan, i cant imagine how many people were there. Luckily, i dont think there were serious injuries. Coming up, this is incredible. Take a look at these two diamonds. One is all natural, earth made, one is 100 man made. Can you tell the difference . I have been staring at them all morning. A big difference in price. The man made one 30 to 40 less retail, so but you could be seeing more than of them. Thats the dead give away, security. Plus we have a big morning out in hollywood the golden globe nominations are announced. We have complete cover aage. All right, bill cosby famed in a new federal lawsuit. A krachlt woman is accusing him of defamation. She claims they ruined her reputation after she accused the comedian of national assault. Craig melvin is here with more on that. Tamron green was an aspiring model in the 70s when she says bill cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. She says she told her family and friends but her life changed forever when she went public for the first time here on today back in 2005. I want the jury decision to be established forever more vietnam she says she has been waiting 40 years for justice. Appearing at a Video Conference wednesday, green and her attorney announced she is filing a federal defamation lawsuit against bill cosby. I know what happened and he knows what happened. Reporter this is green in 2005, telling her story publicly for the first time on today. Describing a day in the 70s when she says cosby drugged her at a business luncheon and offered to take her back to her apartment. He had gone from helping me to gropeing me to kissing me and touching me. So how did the incident end . I actually told him, he would have to kill me. He left two 100 bills on my coffee table and he left my apartment. Reporter in a lawsuit, she states comments after the today show interview saying her allegations were absolutely false. When grown told it to newsweek cosbys publicist said this is a tenyearsold allegations. The burden is on her to prove by clear and convincing evidence that bill cosby knew what he said was false or likely was false. Reporter in a statement, cosbys Attorney Says, we are very confident we will prevail in this proceedings and we will pursue claims against the attorneys who filed this action. Its the latest in a series of allegations, as many as two dozen women have already come forward, growns Attorney Says some may join this lawsuit. I want justice for myself and my sisters in articles, if you leak. The lawsuit, itself, was filed in a federal court in massachusetts, where the minimum amount of damage is 75,000. Green says the main goal of this lawsuit is to get bill cosby on the witness stand and let a jury decide who is telling the truth. He says he and his team will take ra more aggressive approach. The back door way. It could be a successful way. Well see. Thank you so much. Lets get a check on the storms from both fronts by mr. Roker. Hey, guys, water interesting. Theyve had record setting temperatures in the Pacific Northwest. 130mileperhour jet stream, temperatures 10 to 1520 degrees above formal there. Here in the east, we got this trough of low pressure. Norfolk 48 degrees, this extends down to the south. Tampa 65. Fort lauderdale 73 degrees below average. Same in keilar 7 35, a Flash Flood Warning in place for san rafael, petaluma. It will stay in place until 10 15. The greater bay area right now starting to get those heavy downpours. This is a very slow moving system. Its going to sit and dump rain on the peninsula. Take a look at this, downright dangerous conditions on 101 and 80. If youre headed out, please travel cautiously. Dont forget your weather on weather. Com or online. Mr. Roker, thank you very much. When we come back, we will ask that question. Can you tell the difference . Which one is which . The growing popularity of diamonds made in a labl. They can save you thousands, but will they ever replace the real thing . On trending, jimmy fallon and a barber quartet song you have to see sand hear. First these messages. Thanks. [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable Global Commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. Thank you for coming. mandarin great job. mandarin cut it out. See you tomorrow. You can get a great deal during toyotathon. Ah, the bold new camry. I love the new look. And its a blast to drive. Oh, so youve driven it . [motor racing] woooooooo yeah, ive taken it for a spin. Toyotathon is on, get low 1. 9 apr financing for 60 months on the bold new 2015 camry. Offer ends january 5th. Plus every new toyota comes with toyotacare, toyotas no cost maintenance plan. I know a great place for a drive. Dave, im sorry to interrupt. I gotta take a sick day tomorrow. Dads dont take sick days, dads take nyquil. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. Gon premium electronic gifts this thursday through saturday. Plus, everyone gets kohls cash. Find your yes. Kohls. Oh and could you turn on air conditioning im starting to sweat. Ill just do it myself. Useless. Thats nice. Sets the mood. Have your entire house within reach, even when your devices arent. Introducing relay by wink its like a robot butler, but not as awkward. Its the purple pill, the 1 prescribed acid blocking brand, available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. Get complete protection. Nexium level protection™ and helping us appreciate to doorbyour enthusiasm. S, dog barks playfully dear murphy, thanks for being a warm pillow, a snuggler, and showing me that slobber. Ha just adds character. Dear sadie, for playing along with makebelieve games, thanks for teaching us to be as patient. As you. Give thanks for all the joy inspiration your pet gives you shop thousands of unique toys treats at petsmart® all right. We are back now at 7 40. Listen up, if are you sloping for jewelry. Ability 26 of all marriage proposals happen in hollywood. This is a timely story. If are you in the market for a diamond, have you new option, today chanel jones is here with more on that. Good morning. Good morning, manmade diamonds have been around for decades. They have really developed in the last five years, people more conscious about the source of their diamonds and Lab Grown Diamonds are gaining popularity. They spark him as symbols of lasting love. Diamonds have been called a girls best friend. Now one of the earths most precious stones is being created in the laboratory. After several years of research and development, a scientific break through has been achieved, growing a laboratory diamond of gem quality. We are not talking manmade lookalikes. Experts say man made diamonds have the same quality as natural diamonds. Natural diamonds and Lab Created Diamonds are virtually the same thing him they have the same pop, the same spark him. The same durability, hardness, they weigh the same. They react to many gem tests a it is same thing. Reporter instead of being meaned from the earth after billions of years, scientists have found a way to crystallize the diamonds. Ootsdz difference the price. Today we are seeing anything from 15 to 20 to as much as 40 less than natural diamonds. Reporter professional gem tester tom moses looked to see if he could tell the difference between the World Largest labmade colorless diamond at 3 carats and a natural of the same size and quality. A terrible surprise. Reporter moses said he could only tell the difference two sophisticated machinery and tests that clearly identified the manmade diamond. I was quite impressed with the size of the lab grown stone the polish the shine the brilliance was what one would expect to see also in a natural diamond. Out on the street, people couldnt dell the difference. Which one you think is lab grown or grown if a mind . They look exactly alike. Reporter would you buy a diamond grown in the lab . No. Why not . Its not the real thing. You cant cheat your woman or a man out of a real diamond. Reporter what i told you it was 30 to 401st cheaper . Totally worth it, in my opinion. It would still bother me. Reporter experts say acceptance is not there yet. Most major retailers do not carry labmade colorless diamonds. Theyre available online. As the demand goes up for natural diamonds and supply goes down and prices become astronomical, i think many people will be very happy there are labgrown diamonds available today. I think you will see more and more Jewelry Stores offering them because diamond is diamond and nothing looks like a diamond except diamond. So heres the deal, your corner store will most likely not be able to tell the dwimpbs between the natural and lab grown either. Experts say you should get testing from a laboratory to make sure you are getting an earth grown diamond if thats what you pay for. If people in the store dont know the difference, how do you know you are not paying too much . Thats why you have to get it tested. Can you tell . We have been spending a lot of time. Its identity tal. Heres the answer, this is the real thing. Its interesting, i was asking people on the street, a rose, is it just as sweet if its grown in a greenhouse versus your back yard . Is it still a rose . Do you still love it . Now if a woman or a man proposed to you with a lab grown ring, i wouldnt know the difference. I wouldnt know, if he doesnt tell me. Lab made indictments are a girls best thing. There you go, there you have it. Coming up on trend, Melissa Rivers trusting comments since joan rivers death. Next, a better way to wrap. Tamara has short cuts to save next, a better way to wrap. Tamara has short cuts to save you more this Holiday Season we gdid he help pick it out . Er. No, hes a cat. How did i get so big . Where am i . Youre in moms belly. How did i get there . Wizards. Can you make it go faster . No i already tried. Is this mine . That ones for alice. But she doesnt know it yet. Why not . Mom says shes still cooking. Capture your memories with hallmark keepsakes ornaments. After seeing everything, but let me take one last look. Sure. Take your time. Builtin nav, heated seats for mom, dvd with Wireless Headphones for the kids and tons of room for the golf clubs golf clubs, and strollers. Shhh. I love this part. So what do you think . I think its everything we wanted. Great. Discover for yourself why more people find their perfect car at carmax. Carmax. Start here. This is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. During the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. At night and when its cloudy, we use more natural gas. This ensures we can produce Clean Electricity whenever our customers need it. Youve been part of this family for as long as i can remember. And you just mean so much to all of us. The holidays wouldnt be the same without your crescent rolls. We got you a little something. We got you jeans. Its about time. Pipin hot pillsbury crescent rolls. Make your holidays pop . Its the curly hair you were born with. You tried to fight it. Hide it. Change it. Not anymore. Professional strength frizz ease. Our powerful spray gives you smooth, frizzfree curls that are ready for anything. Frizz ease. Only from john frieda. If every driver in the u. S. Kept heres a qtheir cars you tires properly inflated, how many gallons of fuel could america save each year . Up to 2 billion gallons . 4 billion . 6 billion . The answer is. Up to 4 billion gallons. By keeping your tires properly inflated, you can increase your cars fuel economy and reduce its co2 emissions. Take the energy quiz round 2. Energy lives here. 7 49. We are back. We all know the holidays can be tech e hectic. Tamron found a shortcut. What is this about . Its about wrapping gifts. This is the gift giving season. We asked viewers to send us their best gift packing photographs. I mean by best i mean worse. This is my best wrapping stills. Get a tutorial. Lol. Scissors. Im not exactly sure, this is amazing. Haley, my dear, what is that . It looks like a hersheys kiss, but with plastic. Its creative. She said i should be better at wrapping presents, alas, i fail you once again. This is amazing. So on youtube, how many hits has this received . Almost 2 million hits. They help us learn to wrap in 12 second. We are going to try to wrap these gifts in 12 seconds. Thats good. Pack a bike. Do not has him. There we go. Its a heckle. You know our control room is like, this is good tv. You do the corners, then the middle. Come over here. Come on. I will give you natalie to do mine. I cant do it. Hire go. We start with the corners. 12 seconds. No, wait, wait, i didnt mean to heckle so much. Now i ripped it. All fun and games. Corners. All right remember all right. No its not. Whatever. Well see you after christmas. Thank you. Thank you. Always next year, coming up, thank you. Always next year, coming up, sorry l ok. Then we will do it all together. Treats teets. Teets. Teets. Yeah, look at this it seems like the best family traditions. Always start in the kitchen. Happy holidays from rice krispies. Dave, im sorry to interrupt. I gotta take a sick day tomorrow. Dads dont take sick days, dads take nyquil. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. Best foods and holiday leftovers become irresistibly creamy turkey casserole. Real delicious best foods. Bring out the best foods. Bring out the best. Real delicious best foods. Were not just selling the at famohottestwear, shoes of the Holiday Season. Were selling straight up im going to kiss sara marcus under the mistletoe confidence. This year give them converse from famous footwear. Victory is yours. Give a journey. Give a new perspective. Give a little joy. A book is a gift like no other. And barnes noble is like no other book store in the world. With so many books to discover and the new nook by samsung now a full featured tablet. A book is the gift theyll remember long after the holidays are over. Announcer now a microclimate weather alert from nbc bay area. A very good wet thursday morning to you. Its 7 56. Im laura garciacannon. Most places now feeling the brunt of one of the biggest bay area storms in year. Heres a live look at the Golden Gate Bridge this morning. Weve been seeing a steady downpour at that location. Over in didnt san jose, the south bay only now starting to experience the downpour, but strong winds blowing since last night have toppled trees in the process. Pg e now says more than 20,500 bay area customers do not have power. They may not get it back for a while. Christina has a look at your forecast. We have a Flash Flood Warning in place. That means flash flooding is occurring or imminent. We are all over social media. Take a look at this picture from rebecca on twitter. You can see healdsburg, look at the flooding there. And the san rafael bridge has had flooding area. Were expecting it to continue across the bay area all through tonight. First lets check your drive with mike. Light flow around the bay but bad conditions. Look at the south bay, 280, 17. Look at your maps. The whole area getting in green, wet roadways, 880 toward 101, thats the worst of it. Both sides of the bay looking all right but the rain continuing to travel, soupy conditions. Slow past the coliseum. The bay bridge toll plaza, no metering lights. Back after this. Whats possible today . Wifi access in more places then ever before. All your favorites in the cloud and on every device. A home you control with the touch of a finger. News and entertainment that informs and delights in ways you never thought possible. Comcast nbcuniversal bringing media and Technology Together for you. Its 8 00 on today. Coming up, the princes new pal. The energy was just so positive. I just loved it. Meet the young performer who impressed wins Prince William so much, the future king offered to step in and help him out. Plus melissas moment. Melissa rivers pays tribute to her mother. We will share her e emotional, yet funny, tribute. Who has the golden touch . Hollywood is up for the 72nd golden globe nomination. We will tell you who made the cut. Today thursday, december 11th, 2014. Aint no Mountain High enough from madison, wisconsin, this is the mother daughter trip we always wanted to see today. We came to celebrate our birthday with yall. Want to say happy birthday to my husband josh surprised him with a trip to nypd. Roll tide we are from alabama good morning. What a pretty morning out here on our plaza. December, 2014. Its great to have some good great Throwback Thursday song aint no Mountain High enough. Its Throwback Thursday for marvin gaye. We like him anyway. Coming up, we have five ways to survive a Holiday Party without packing on extra pounds. We will get tips from bob harper from biggest loser. He has things ive never heard before. Pretty good. A check of the mornings top stories. Hey, nat. Many americans are waking up to dangerous travel conditions. Miguel almagear is there with more. Reporter a pounding steady rain in the San Francisco bay area. Could see up to 8 inches of rain the next 24 to 48 hours. A lot of water for this droughtstricken region. First take you up to the Pacific Northwest where some beach erosion has pushed two homes into the ocean. A third now on the brink. That area, they are concerned about flooding as well. Here in the San Francisco bay area, though, its not just rain that is the concern. We could see 75mileanhour or category one hurricane strength winds. Its going to be a wet and sloppy day all across the bay area. Some local schools have already cancelled classes today and major businesses have told their employees to stay at home. Its a wet and wild day all day long. Natalie, back to you. Thank you, miguel. Cia director john brennan is making his first Public Comments on a senate post911 terror suspects brennan said he had no authority over the program at the time in use. He said he had no authority over the time that it was in use. Meantime, former Vice President dig cheney defended the tactics, saying they were needed to catch those who were guilty on 9 11 and to prevent another attack. There is more evidence this morning exposure to a chemical may be more harmful and children whose mothers had the highest levels of certain phalates in their bodies during pregnancy had significantly lower i. Q. S at the age of 7. However they noticed that the studies does not show it damages the childrens brains during development. They are used in products ranging from plastic toys to bottles and scented dryer sheets. In california, a couple thought it was an earthquake, it was this luxury suv that went airborne and crashed through the roof of their garage early wednesday. The garage and two cars were badly damaged. Police say the driver rented it from a low bmw lost control on a curve. One of europes other royal families is celebrating a blessed event. This morning Prince Albert of monaco announced the birth of his twins, crown prince jacques and princess gabriella. Id like to express my sincere gratitude to those in monica that express their attachments to the princess, myself and my family. His wife delivered the twins on wednesday. They were born at the hospital named after mother, american actress grace kelly. It is 8 05. Lets get another check of the weather with al roker. Hey, al. And good morning. We got the king of the elves over here. Are you the king of the elves . I am. From lord of the rings. I am, thank you. Im king of the trollles. Good to see you. Lets show you what we have going on. I love this place. Here in the east you just saw all of the snow. This is western new york. Buffalo will pick up another few inches before its all over. Western new york, erie, pennsylvania, between erie and buffalo, upwards of a foot of snow. We are going to be watching that. Then the big storm out west. This thing is going to be just epic. We are talking about a storm that six inches or six years has not happened. Seattle, l. A. , San Francisco, and everywhere in between will be a mess. Rainfall amounts, upwards of a foot of rain to the north. Even in the south, one to three inches of rain and snowfall amounts. We are talking four feet in the sierras. This thing is going to be massive. Yeah, thats right, al. Schools are closed and for good reasons. We have a Flash Flood Warning in place until 10 15, goes for san rafael, novato, and a new one for most of the peninsula until 9 30. Basically, dangerous driving conditions right now, i mean treacherous conditions through marin county, over the Golden Gate Bridge, down the peninsula, just about to highway 92. As we head throughout the day today, the showers will continue to come in. Also getting some really fierce winds. You want to take it easy if you dont have to be on the roads, please stay at home. You came to celebrate your sweet 16. What is your name . Desree. Nice to see you, desree. Happy birthday. All right. Al, thank you very much. Coming up next, do you prefer the aisle, the window or the middle when you fly . Window. Aisle. This tells a lot about your person amendment. There is research about this. These two swapped Contact Information, they liked each other so much. Survival tips for your next Holiday Party is also coming up. First, these messages. How did edward jones get so big . Could you teach our kids that trick . By not acting that way. Ok, last quarter. Its how edward jones makes sense of investing. Philosophy is, reynolds . No. Not exactly. To attain success, one must project success. Thats why we use fedex one rate®. Their flat rate shipping. Exactly. It makes us look topnotch but we know its affordable. garage door opening sighs honey, havent i asked you to please use the. We dont have a reception entrance. Ship a pak via Fedex Express saver® for as low as 7. 50. [ music playing ] abourt we are back. 8 10. Time what is trending. First up this morning, Melissa Rivers is talking publicly for the first time about the sudden loss of her mother. A Hollywood Reporter event on wednesday which is honoring women and entertainment, melissa shared part of what made her mom joan rivers so special. The most beautiful, successful women. My mother was fearless and i dont mean she didnt have any fears. I mean even though she was only 52, she stood tall and walked through them and that is what made her such a brilliant performers. If my mother were here this morning, shed not only be grateful and proud, she would be beyond herself and she would be sitting at the table beaming, while very discreetly shoving croissants and silverware into her purse. It was a beautiful tribute. You really cant say enough about melissa with the touching words about her mom and a funny speech too. She has the funny dna, no question about it. Nice to hear from her. Lets switch to that topic we teased just a second ago. When it comes to airline seats, everyone has a preference. Window. Aisle and window. Aisle. You just lay across everyone . Either one. I like both. Aisle, aisle, okay. Here is what happened. Folks at yahoo came up with a list of what your preference says about your personality. So lets put it to the test, okay . If you are an aisle person, four of the five of us up here like aisles. That means you love having freedom. Yes. You are introverted. Yes not really. Your phone call. You are serious and a little bit claustrophobic. I like to go to the bathroom. I like full access to the restroom. Thats the main thing. Me too. Although i dont want to be seated near the restroom. Never absolutely not people who like a window seat. You value your privacy. Although you are opened to new experiences and you love to dream. You can nestle up against the window. You can look out and imagining things below you. Or seeing the thing on the wing. Anybody here like the middle seat . You are extroverted because you want to talk to everybody. And you are also considerate. Enlightened, a little disorganized wanted. Get the good seat. Okay, we all know the song Sexual Healing by marvin gaye, i bet you have never heard it like this. Jimmy fallon and the barber shop quartet put their own unique spin on the song with help from a special gest. Guest. Get up get up get up lets make love tonight wake up wake up wake up because you do it right lets get down tonight baby i cant hold it much longer its getting stronger and stronger when i get this feeling i want Sexual Healing Sexual Healing is something thats good for me that should be illegal. Thats so wrong. Wow. Its a classic, steve carell there. Beautiful. You want to see the whole performance, you can see it at today. Com. How much do we love steve carell . The guy can do no long. Any role, he is amazing. He really is. That is what is trending today. Now to a remarkable story tied to this weeks royal visit from the duke and duchess from cambridge. For one young man, an encounter with Prince William may change the course of his life. National correspondent kate snow has that story. Good morning to you. Good morning, matt. Its a pretty good deal when you perform in front of the prince. Right . Its a even bigger deal when the prince calls your performance inspirational and tells you he was so moved, he wants to help you make your dream come true. Thats pretty much what happened to stephen prescott. My mother grant. She was 15. Reporter in rehearsal, steven prescotts monologue about growing up without a dad was raw, honest. You see, my dad got locked up when i was 1 years old. I remember the first time going to meet my father, to visit him in prison. I was 7 years old. I wanted to talk to him. I didnt know what to say to him. He was a stranger to me. Promise me something, all right . Promise me you will not end up in here like me. Reporter but at 16, he was arrested for robbery, sent to new yorks infamous prison rikers island. I remember sitting in that cell, thinking, wow, this is not a place for me. Reporter sentenced to probation, he found a Theater Program that changed everything. I asked god to please turn my life around and to give me a second change. You see my friends so proud reporter on tuesday the duke and duchess of cambridge were in the front row. I was scared to make eye contact with them. I didnt want them to throw me off. But their energy was just so positive. I loved it. I didnt know what to do, i panicked. I looked back, right there behind me. Reporter when it was over, Prince William walked straight up to steven. He shook my hand and complimented me about the performance. He he said, that was a really great performance. He asked what do i plan to do with this piece . I said i plan on touring around with schools. Reporter the future king says he wants to help steven create a full scale oneman show, maybe even take it to london. Why is it so important to you to do this show . Because a lot of kids are lost. I feel that my story will inspire them. I hope that inspires them. If i was able to do it, they can do it as well. Its no different from there. Reporter just by offering to help, Prince William has already brought a lot of attention to steven. Hes hoping to have a full script ready, right, to perform in january . Yes. Yes. Good morning. Stephen, good to have you here. Thank you for having me. Just another normal week in your life, right . This is not normal at all im very excited. Im very overwhelming. Im just so happy to be here. Im taking in the moment. You ran through your performance, you have to think, im doing it, im making it. Did you know youd nailed it . Well, im my biggest critique. I didnt feel like i was nailing it. Because i criticize myself so much just me as my own. But the prince, you know, he complimented me. I was surprised with his reaction. It was so breath taking. Lets just clarify the exchanging of contact numbers. Its not like he walked up, handed you a piece of paper and said here is my cell, call me any time. No. It was like representative to representative, right . Yes, thats how it happened. He said he would love to give me his Contact Information. I said, really . You want to give me your Contact Information . He said yes. I said how can we do that . He got his personal assistant. They just exchanged Contact Information. The future king of england. By the way, its heir to the throne at email. Com. You said this has all given you hope. Can you explain what you mean by it . When i say hope, im just happy that i have a chance to actually send this message out. And its just not my story. Its the story of every man in my community, especially a man of color. Im speaking to them. I have a chance to speak to the we had several already this morning. Everywhere shaded in red and im going to go ahead and say most of the bay area can expect flooding conditions throughout the next couple hours. Weve got a really potent storm system just dumping rain. The newest to be added to that list, santa clara county, but here is the difference, we dont have the same kind of drainage as they do in the north bay, but we have the same rainfall on the way, so everybody is going to get this heavy rain. Take a look at the radar right now and this is the line that im most concerned about. This is the line thats producing so much rain so quickly, it doesnt have anywhere to go. Its accumulating out there on your roadways. Let me widen out for you and show you where this line is headed, hasnt even hit san jose just yet, but the National Weather service know its on the way, which is why they issued that Flash Flood Warning. If you can, stay indoors, if you cannot, heres mike, he knows what the roadways look like. Good morning to you, mike. All right, looking over here towards the bay bridge, christina, sorry, getting more information. First of all, cant see the bay bridge, you can make out the outline of the cars, water on the roadway. Metering lights are off. Richmond san rafael bridge, i want to talk to our friends at chp, shes on the phone with us, deanna, thank you for joining us this morning. How are you doing . Its a wet and wild day, for sure. For sure, for sure. Looking over here at the bridge, very wet, soupy throughout the north bay. Chp had a rough night and rough day right now, but we obviously have the big warnings. First of all, for drivers, very windy, very wet. Flooding out there, as well. Some basics for the folks at home, give the shouts out to the drivers, first of all. What im noticing is we do go through periods of torrential downpour. That will have obscurement for your vision. You need to absolutely slow during periods of time where you cant see out in front of you, and its very important to have your lights on, not just your headlights, so you can be seen by the drivers that are around you. As were looking at the live look here, we can take another live shot if you can in the control room. Deanna, lighter flow of traffic, like we said, so some folks might be focusing more on how clear it is, but we want to lower the speeds because hydroplaning is an issue. Were having a lot more water. Any commonalities, a lot of spinouts . I know theres a lot of debris, but what are you seeing today . We do see a lot of trees down, a lot of standing water on the roadway, and like youre saying, the possibilities of hydroplaning are great today. We have had a couple spinouts, and i know when it hits you, it does cause some anxiety and your first reaction would be to hit those brakes, but please do not hit the brakes when youre hydroplaning. You have to let off the acceleration and just continue forward. Once you get out of that hydroplaning situation, you regain that control of your car, hit your brakes one or two times to dry them out in case there was any water that got on the brakes. Got you, got you, ease off the impulse and steady your hand, as well. Looking over here towards the wind, as well. Flags are flapping for fremont, showing us thats going on there. Weve had wind advisories. Chp is not the National Weather service, but your officers across the bay are issuing wind advisories for the bay area bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge. I hear theres a onelane buffer between the north and southbound directions. Can you talk on that point at all . From what i understand, that was applied earlier this morning. We put out the wind advisories on all the bridges and it is, you know, the rain is coming in sideways, its not coming straight down at all. Thats a good indication to people that are driving that there is heavy wind and they are gusty. They are just not constant, you know, 30 miles an hour winds, but they are those gusts and swirls, so slow down your speeds, be prepared because thats the best, you know, resort that you can do in these windy situations. Got you. Of course, safety for all involved at this time, chp is out there, as well as the caltrans Maintenance Crew trying to help everybodys day move smoother. Is there specific protocol . We know we slow, but is there a specific protocol, folks supposed to move over a lane or two if its available . Absolutely if you can at all, because there are those situations like were talking about that there is a possibility of hydroplaning and you definitely dont want to end up harming somebody out there, as well as yourself. If you do see cars in the roadway, you know, someone does spin out, be attentive and move over slowly. Got you. Please, drive slowly, lights on, buckle your belt. If you are involved in a collision, move over to the right, or exit the freeway. All right. Outstanding advice. Diana, one more question for you, when you were packing for the day, preparing to go out, is there a emergency kit we might want to have in our car for these types of conditions . Yeah, absolutely. You want to make sure and have snacks, water, you want to have blankets, you want to have a flashlight, you know, in situations like this, same as Power Outages in your home, you want to have the same things at your home in case those, you know, emergency situations occur. You want to be prepared for both you, your family, and even friends in the vicinity. Have a plan. Plan ahead. And have those things available for yourself. Outstanding. Well, thank you. Were going to get back, not back to your resting day, but busy day with the rest of the california highway patrol. Thank you, from chp. Ill talk about mass transit, we have bart issues, as well. For now, back to you guys at the desk. Well, thats what i wanted to briefly ask you about, as well, mike. Earlier we had reports that the montgomery station was shut down because of a power outage and actually they were just running the trains straight through. Thats exactly it, sorry, didnt know if we had enough time before the next report, but looking at the bart website right now. The montgomery station, as you said, thats closed for service basically. They are running trains straight through for bart and muni because theres no power for that station, they are not allowing folks to stop, but service is going through that station. Now were getting an update for the san bruno station, as well, i hear the san bruno station is closed because of flooding. So two separate issues, Power Outages and likelihood of flooding on the roadways. Remember, the underground stations are a problem, as well. So barts also reporting wide delays, at least five to ten minutes, if not more, because of the conditions. They lowered the speeds to the trains, very slippery, thats for safety sake, as well. Again, montgomery station closed for service, same for the san bruno station for separate reasons. Plan the extra time. If you dont have to venture out for work or your family, then try to stay at home and follow the coverage here. Were watching as the storm continues to impact your day around the day. Back to you. Thank you very much. Well let mike get a chance to gather more information, because it is continuously changing this morning as the storm barrels through. Meantime, weve learned pretty much every county in the bay area about is under Flash Flood Warnings. Sonoma, napa, san mateo, santa clara. Lets send it over to christina loren. Hence the reason for the school closures, right, sam and laura . You can see the picture coming in from healdsburg. You are our weather watchers out there. We want to see your pictures. You, especially in the north bay who have been dealing with this heavy rainfall overnight, into today, please, send us those pictures. You can do so online at nbcbayarea. Com. And well share those with the bay area. Also a lot of people without power right now. Were going to be showing you everything we can on social media in case you do lose power. Let me show you whats going on. The entire bay area getting the moderate to heavy rainfall, but look at this line, this is the line im most concerned about, the line of red where you have rain rates two inches per hour coming down. This is whats creating the flash flooding on your local roadways. Wait until we show you some of the pictures from San Francisco. It is downright dangerous out there. If you can, please stay indoors. This line is on the way to santa clara, 8 48, reaching sunnyvale by 8 40. 8 23 for menlo park. And, yeah, then well see all this activity in the trivalley, 8 38 in pleasanton. In addition to the very, very heavy rainfall, torrential, which isnt a word we use in the bay area, we have this fierce wind coupled with it. Yeah, these are sustained speeds. You have to factor in the fact this is a straight wind, 18 Miles Per Hour in San Francisco. Were getting gusts closer to 50 Miles Per Hour, and so its definitely reason for you to stay indoors. Some people have reported already accumulating over eight inches of rain up in ukiah. Well be in the thick of it now for the next few hours at least, even after it passes, still talking about heavy rain as we get into this afternoon. Were going to be tracking this for you to your doorstep on nbc bay area. Right now im going to send it back to you, sam and laura. Were going to send it out. We have crews throughout the bay area gathering information. All this rain is coming down. Toipt check in with nbc bay area Stephanie Chuang live in petaluma this morning. Good morning, stephanie. Reporter yeah, hey, good morning, sam and laura. The rain still, obviously, coming down now. One change, though, from the last time we saw you guys about an hour ago, the wind is not as active right now so the rain just coming down straight. Here we are standing by lakeville highway and 101, the on and offramp, where we saw problems last week with flooding here and thats why were back here. So far the good news is, no problems here, but i have to tell you, we went down lakeville street or lakeville highway and there was a stretch of roads there, well have the video later, there was a stretch of road there where it was completely flooded, still had vehicles going through some waiting for others to pass to see if they could make it and theyd drive across, but chp has warned time and time again, do not drive through these puddles of standing water if you cannot see the ground. You could get stuck and that is something we saw last week during the wet weather, as well as in San Francisco. Again, the rain is coming down here, you can see why there are so many warnings for drivers out here on the roadways, but the good news is, where there was flooding last week, so far weve had no incidents. Live in pet lieu that, Stephanie Chuang. Back to you. Thank you very much. We just got information about a substation that went out in San Francisco. This is affecting a lot of people. 50,000 customers now without power in that area alone. And previously to the height of the storm, Something Like 37,000 customers according to pg e that had not actually had their power. Youre talking about more than doubling that number just with that substation going out. Were going to keep a close eye on that. Christina was talking about the high winds, not only the pounding rain and now that its making its way south, but the high winds coming with it, as well. Pretty relentless out there. If you dont have to go out, a lot of businesses have shut down, told their employees to stay home. We do have reporters throughout the bay area, including our own bob redell. I want to check in with him right now. We see about your lens, its soaking out there. Reporter yeah, its been relentless for at least the past three hours. You have the heavy rain and at times the gusts of wind, that rain starts going at an angle. We have definitely seen it as a slant driving. If you are driving, northbound 101 here, one thing you want to watch out for this morning, not just here, but anywhere throughout the bay area, is standing water. You can see it, its right there, but you dont know youre in it until youre in it. You definitely want to watch your speed out there because that stuff does, obviously, it can cause spinouts if youre not careful. Here were watching these drivers heading northbound on 101 and they are still going at the limit and we havent seen any problems as of yet, but definitely a lot of standing water. There you go, out there. Were not seeing it in the southbound direction, so if this is your commute in to work and if your boss is telling you to come in today, youre heading southbound towards the Golden Gate Bridge, your commute is clearly at the limit. It does appear that a lot of people are staying home today because either their work said dont bother or kids are staying home because school is out because of the heavy rain. Again, you can see what the Road Conditions are like out here. Also from crossing the Richmond San Rafael bridge as well as the bay bridge, once you get up in the upper elevations and if you have a high profile vehicle, it is dangerous. Its very gusty, its very windy. You could get pushed around. Theyve been advising not to use the Richmond San Rafael for that very reason. Reporting live here, bob redell, nbc bay area news. It is amazing to see all the water, so have you noticed that traffic has lightened up at all in the time youve been out there . Reporter absolutely, definitely lightened up out here, especially if you look at the commute direction, laura. Usually this area, especially if you go through the curve, you would see traffic backed up, but here we are in the 8 00 hour, youve got speed at the limit, again, the brake lights and plenty of space between cars. The northbound direction, of course, reversed from you, so this wouldnt be much of a surprise, but definitely a surprise what were seeing now in the southbound direction. All right, bob redell live this morning, thank you, bob. Its a good thing many of the schools in the bay area decided to shut down as of last night, preempting whats become a very dangerous storm as weve been highlighting. Flash flooding in at least bay area counties by our county, flash flooding, violent, sudden flooding. Lets find out more about that. Good morning, yeah, Flash Flood Warning means either occurring or imminent. Good reason kids arent going to school. Take a look at Vintage High School in napa. You are our weather watchers, we want your pictures, that way we can show what the entire bay area looks like. Take a look at this, 280 through colma right now. As i can show you, san mateo also heavy flooding coming through the area. Let me get right to the radar for you, were still waiting on this very potent line here in the south bay, its slowly moving, this is whats creating that flooding. More in just moments. Right now back to you, sam and laura. Thank you very much,