alarmed. the text says this was just a test. what would happen if this happened on saturday. people are freaking out. stop freaking out. it s okay. we re going to go live to san francisco because the epa are sending up radiation monitors. we ll check in at one of those places to be overly cautious here. chad meyers, my thanks to you. now i want to take you straight to japan. keep two things in mind here. first the spiking radiation levels at that stricken power plant. we ve been talking about that now for days. we re still talking about that. number two, a focus on reactor number 3. they are desperately trying to douse that thing with water. you can see the picture right there. also, and this could be crucial here, they are trying to re-establish power to the plant s cooling system. remember it failed as a result of the tsunami here on that is c cnn s dan grant. throughout the night efforts have been under way to establish an external source of power. officials saying they re try
minneapolis. look at this. we re now being told that this is a gas main break, right, smack in the middle of a block and you can see, the flames just there, burning out of control. thankfully no reports of any injuries. but there were evacuations in the area, a couple of schools, a church, grocery store, all evacuated, as firefighters try to put the fire out. it is also shut down part of highway 35-w, the southbound lanes there in south minneapolis. and we ll keep our eyes on this situation, but, a scary one in minneapolis, minnesota, right now. martha: just as the tsunami wave eventually did hit the west coast of this country, now, there is this concern. radiation monitors are now headed to the west coast as scientists say the plume of radiation from japan will hit the western united states in the air tomorrow but, they say it will have extremely low levels of radiation. however, the federal government is already monitoring radiation
south american trip late tomorrow. hitting the points that we talked about here in the rose garden, trying to allay american fears and reassuring the japanese people, one of our closest allies as the president put it since the close of world war ii, the united states stands behind them to recover and get past this immediate crisis. nbc correspondent miguel am ma ger is in los angeles following new developments. miguel? reporter: martin, good afternoon. some time friday, forecasters predict most likely friday evening, small, and we want to emphasize small, low-level radioactive isotopes will likely reach california. experts say those levels are so low they certainly fall within safe limits. a large network of radio monitors is keeping close tabs on all of this. the environmental protection agency or the epa says they ve got 100 radiation monitors that work 24 hours a day and are spread all across the country,
us from california. president obama looking to assure the american people about the risks from this disaster in japan. wind trajectories show how radioactive particles could be carried toward the united states. officials say repeatedly they do not expect any serious amounts to show up in the u.s. we do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the west coast, hawaii, alaska, or u.s. territories in the pacific. shepard: but environmental regulators say they have deployed more radiation monitors in the western united states and in pacific territories just to be on the safe side. we are watching for more news on that power cable that teams are trying to use to restart the nuclear water pumps. we will bring you more information as it comes in. new video from the first desperate moments after the tsunami struck here in japan. we ll see how people tried to get out of the way as the water
trajectory and came up with this model showing a plume of radiation making its way towards the united statements it would go by alaska first and by tomorrow morning it would arrive in southern california. that freaked out a lot of people, me included. but you ve got to keep in mind that map does not indicate the radiation levels. experts across the board say the plume would pose absolutely no risk to southern california, to the unitetted states at all. the feds are deploying more radiation monitors. every large city in california has one. they are putting more in oregon and washington state and here in california measuring samples like air, water, rain, even milk. listen. it s capable of reading radiation levels and a real time basis and then there are filter media inside the instrument that we send to the laboratory twice a week. they are monitoring the information very carefully,