massive, just like iraq, just like the mural murrah building in oklahoma city. >> reporter: authorities say 5 to 15 people were killed, more than 160 people were injured and as many as 75 homes were damaged. the five-block radius also destroyed a nursing home and 50 units at an apartment complex. >> this was unlike anything i've ever felt before. >> it smelled just nasty, that ammonia, it was fertilizer, you could smell that in the air and black smoke and just a horrible scene. >> reporter: the explosion so powerful that u.s. geological survey reports it was equal to a 2.1 magnitude earthquake. >> well, the buildings are gone, we need to get some search teams in here to get the people out. >> reporter: no word yet on what started the initial fire, but investigators are treating the area as a crime scene just in case. >> nothing at this point indicates that we have had criminal activity. however, we are absolutely not ruling that out. >> reporter: the u.s. chemical >> reporter: local officials say there's no longer any public health concern from any of that smoke. officials say there's between 5 and 15 deaths. also three to five firefighters remain missing. one law enforcement official previously unaccounted for has been found. he is now in serious condition at a local hospital. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez in west, texas for us earlier this morning. earlier we spoke to derek hurt. he's the guy who reported the dramatic moment of the explosion. on the tape you can hear the panic in his daughter's voice as she screams, i can't hear, i can't hear. so i began by asking derek how everyone is doing this morning? >> good. her inner ear is a little sore, but other than that, we do have our full hearing back. >> you were driving in the area, you saw the flames initially. during they were coming from that fertilizer plant? or did you think they were coming from something else? >> we thought maybe it was the high school. we drove over to check it out and saw that it was the fertilizer plant burning. we were going to shoot a little video of it and get out of there. we just didn't make it out in time. >> can you give me an idea how close you were to the building at the time it exploded? sometimes it's hard to tell when you're looking through the lens of a camera? a couple hundred yards? a half mile? what would you estimate? >> probably 200, 250, 300 yards. >> and describe the blast. it looks like the camera is completely knocked out of your hands. i understand you ended up kind of on top of chloe in the car. describe the shockwave. >> i'm pretty sure it lifted the truck off the ground. it just blew me over on top of her. it all happened so quick. just things went black for a moment. >> did you get a chance to look at the area around the plant? we have reports and just heard from a gentleman in the neighborhood surrounding that plant that several blocks were leveled. did you get to see that firsthand? >> i did. >> what was it like? >> it was a pretty horrific scene, some of the injuries we saw. there was probably double-digit people standing in front of me videoing that was closer than i was. after the blast, they were nowhere to be seen. >> derek, it's a small town. do you know anyone who was working in that plant at the time? have you heard of anyone you know dying as a result of this explosion or being severely injured? >> yes, i do know some of the casualties. i'm not aware of anybody working at the facility at that hour. that was our interview a little earlier this morning with derek hurt, who took that video of the explosion. savannah? officials are stressing this tragedy appears at the moment to be an accident. the atf is sending a team. james cavanaugh is a former special agent. >> good morning. >> this national response team, as i understand it is essentially the elite bomb team. what is that you are expertise, and what do you expect their role to be? >> they'll rum a bomb investigation, very similar to what you've seen in boston. they have agents that do the mine news fragments, the scene, the crater, the arson, and then the white collar commanders and investigators and enter viewers. theme team up with the texas state fire marshal and department of public safety to do that. teal bring a investigation to bear to see what caused this explosion and killed these people. >> i imagine the primary concern is whether or not it was an intentional act. we stress against that the early assessments is that it appears to be an accident. how quickly might a team be able to ascertain something like that? >> it will take a number of days. >> it's a hot scene right now. literally it's got to be made safe, victims recovered and saved. sometimes things aren't what they appear. i would think this is an industrial accident most likely, but more than 20 years ago, in kansas city we had the same thing, an explosion that killed six firefighters. atf sent the same team in, this el did an investigation, it turned out to be arson that set off the fire, and we convicted the people and sent them to federal prison. it's got to be sorted through. the key is how did the fire start. that's what they'll be trying to do. >> you mentioned boston, this very same type of team is in boosten. they've had the opportunity to look at fragments. we are talking about a massive explosion in texas, registering on the usgs survey as a 2.1. what is the forensic challenge? >> it's different, savannah, that's exactly right. they're going to walk it back, roll the tape tape, and the key is going to be was the fire attended and witnessed by anybody who survived? if they did, they can tell them it may have started in a mechanical room or compressor or fan and they can maybe determine how it started. if now, maybe they can through fragments and they're expert investigators, be able to pick up fragments and tell how that fire started. >> former atf special agent from that area, james cavanaugh, one of the to get your expertise. thank you. >> thank you. we're also following breaking news. the boston marathon bombing investigation. this morning fbi agents are making significant progress. pete williams is nbc's just correspondent. pete. good morning. >> good morning, matt. the fbi is very eager to identify, find and talk to two young men who displayed the behavior they're looking for, someone who walks up to the spot, leaves a backpack away and walks away just before one of the bombs goes off. the fbi says it has pictures from several different sources showing the same thing happening at the spot where one of the bombs exploded. the sequence of explosions, 13 seconds apart can be heard on this videotape of universal sports network technicians making final preparations to cover the end of the marathon event. a key image investigators say was captured by a surveillance camera with a bird's-eye view mounted high up across the street from the second bombing site. officials say it shows a young man talking on his cell phone who sets down what appears to be a heavy backpack and dashes away moments before the second bomb goes off. because he was on a cell phone, investigators are checking the logs of the hundreds of people using their phones in the moments before the bombing that might help identify who that person was. it's that second bombing spot seen in this picture sent to nbc boston station whdh showing a garbage bag next to a mailbox. while investigators can't be sure that bag contained a bomb, federal officials tell nbc news that is the spot where the second bomb went off. former atf bomb investigator jim cavanaugh says it's obvious. >> large injuries were on the side of it, debris field to the left. some protected areas over on the right side that indicate the blast was to the one side of the trash receptacle. this was the scene of the blast. >> the fbi is considering publicly showing the pictures of the men they're looking for, and may do so later at a news conference today. >> pete, thank you very much. drenching rain overnight in chicago. al? >> there are states of emergency throughout much of northern illinois into central illinois, because of the flooding they've gotten, the dan ryan expressway. it's a real mess there. chicago o'hare airport picking up over 4 inches of rain in the last 3 hours. in fact, airport reporting the terminal has actually had water on the floor. it's been flooding in there. still more heavy rain making its way through chicago today. it's going to continue to come down. we have flawed flood warnings much through missouri and illinois, and we're also looking for rainfall amounts anyway anyway to what they have picked up, another 3 to 5 inches from peoria to saginaw, michigan. more flooding to deal with over the next 12 to 24 hours. >> we promised a busy morning for news. a senate measure calling for expanded background checks in fact fail. kellie o'donnell has the latest. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: along with the failure of the background expansion. the president says these just round one. surrounding the president in the rose garden, the first words about what comes next belonged to the father of a young boy taken in newtown. >> we will always be here because we have no other choice. we are not going away. >> reporter: gabby giffords says many senators chose powerful gun groups over their constituents. >> the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. >> reporter: furious, president obama said the bill did not harm gun rights. >> this legislation met that test. and too many senators failed theirs. >> reporter: more anger erupted when a woman shouted at senators, shame on you. most republicans and four democrats from states with high gun ownership voted against expanding background checks. >> criminals do not submit to background checks now. they will not submit to expanded background checks. >> the way to stop violent crime is to stop violent criminals. >> reporter: the politics was about more than gun rights. later today, a bipartisan group of senators will roll out immigration reform. democrat senator joe manchin who fought hard to get enough votes on background checks found that with two politically hard votes, some senators chose immigration over guns. >> if you're looking at it and trying to evaluate it, they're saying maybe immigration and maybe guns on top of that might be too much for me to go home and explain. >> reporter: and many of those senators who voted no, toe me they had hearty most from their constituents they didn't want to see changes to gun-related laws. the reality is the bill will probably stay on hold with no action. >> thank you, kelly. a suspect is in custody after allegedly mailing letters to the president and a senator that potentially contained the poison ricin. peter alexander following that story at the white house with the latest. peter, good morning. >> good morning. that suspect was arrested at his home in mississippi wednesday evening. a celebrity impersonator, federal officials say, in his early 40s. the arrest in mississippi late wednesday rapidly concluded a day that left the nation's capital on edge. the fbi says the suspect paul kevin curtis sent three letters all of which preliminarily tested positive for the definitely poison ricin, produced from castor beans. one to president obama, another to mississippi republican senator roger wicker, and a third, local authorities said, to a mississippi justice official. >> there are great consistencies between the content, the letter itself, the way the letter was written, the postmark of the letter. >> reporter: the fbi says the letters to the president and senator were postmarked memphis, tennessee, ten days ago with identical language including the phrase, to see a wrong and not expose it is to become a silent partner to its continuance. signed iak.c., i am k.c., and i approve this message. those were never delivered. intercepted by a precaution put in place after the anthrax attacks that killed five people shortly after 9/11. and federal officials say more tests are needed, natalie, to determine if, in fact, that substance was ricin, and if so, how strong. the fib also says these see no connection between this ricin-tainted scare and what's happening in boston. >> peter alexander at the white house for us this morning, thank you. it's now 7:18. back to al. you have the rest of the weather forecast? >> as we look at the western forecast, a gorgeous day. nice day in san francisco, partly sunny, 69. denver some clouds, still a little on the chilly side, 36 degrees. phoenix 77, seattle you'll see showers and temperature of 53. the rest of the country you're going to look at a risk of a strong storms today from the mid-minneapolmi mid-mississippi valley. expect more snow anywhere from 6 to 9 inches of snow center minnesota to northern minnesota. and about 3 to 6 inches of snow back to the central plains. we'll get your local forecast in just a moment. you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices to help you fine-tune your personal economy. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity no-fee ira. thursday morning. meteorologist, christina loren, i want to start with your wind speeds which have significantly dropped off. it will not be windy. san jose, oakland, sunnyvale. overall, a nice warming trend today. temperatures jumping into the upper 70s, low 80s. 80 degrees for livermore. 77 in fremont. 77 degrees in san jose staying nice and warm through the extended period. we're following the latest on the deadly blast at the fertilizer plant in texas. danger facing some residents there. first, this is "today" on nbc. president and mrs. obama arriving in boston to honor the victims of monday's deadly bombing. here you go little man. [ humming ] [ babbling ] the cheerios bandit got you again? [ both laugh ] ♪ the one and only, cheerios [ both laugh ] what thats's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. ok! this won't take long, will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. that didn't take very long did it! this spring, dig in and save. that's nice, post it. already did. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. dig in and save with earthgro mulch, a special buy at 3 bags for just 10 bucks. she gives me snickers peanut butter squared and i eat it. it's snickers with creamy peanut butter, would you like one? let's just keep an open mind. [ groans ] [ male announcer ] if you like peanut butter and chocolate, you'll love peanut butter and snickers. try snickers peanut butter squared. it is 5:11 this morning. that is the time the quake struck. the bomb squad and a suspicious package forced organizers to move the annual commemoration ceremony over to union square instead. the scene has been cleared. the man suspected of kidnapping and killing morgan hill teenager, sierra lamar, will not be in court after all. we have just learned and heard interest the santa clara county clerk. torres has waved his right to appear in court. he has yet to enter a plea to kidnapping and murder charges. lamar's body for the record has not yet been found. take a look at a big rig crash at the dublin interchange. this happened at about 5:00 on westbound interstate 580 at the off ramp to northbound i-60. this making the morning commute in a word brutal. a big-time headache. let's check in with mike inno he way. >> the road warriors are out there. look at the maps. this is the reason we are talking about the status. big rig cleared from lanes about 20 minutes ago. still, the cleanup continues. we still have lanes blocked, west 580 until caltrans sweepers can get there to clean up from a spill as well as the rest of the debris. looks like closer to 8:00 until they can get there. we have that drag, a slow, slow crawl over toward 680. no good alternate. a smooth flow for 680 down through sunol. at 880, a crash through the interchange. nice sunshine out there. good thing is the wind has dropped off, mike. high-profile vehicle drivers, a much easier ride to, would. a little bit more glassy out on the bay. those winds will continue to relax as we head throughout the day. 41, gilroy. by noon today, temperatures climbing into the 60s and 70s. we'll round out the day in the low 80s in the warmest cities across the bay area. that warming trend continues well into this weekend. we will peak on monday at 90 degrees inland. ♪ o say can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ and the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ >> we're back at 7:30. we're covering a lot of tragic news this morning. but we thought we would take time for a moment of pure inspiration. that was the scene at boston garden last night. the bruins playing a home game, first major sporting event since monday's bombings. and as you could see, we had an individual starting the singing of the national anthem and the entire crowd jumped in in the middle and took over. and it was a city coming together under very difficult circumstances. i love that video. i really do. >> they needed that moment. >> yeah, when a community is hurting, what ties us together is often such a comfort and that was the case last night. we are, of course, continuing to stay up on all of the news that's breaking this morning, including a terrible scene in west, texas, where a fire at a fertilizer plant sparked that powerful explosion. that blast leveled homes and buildings for blocks and blocks. let's get to gabe gutierrez again. he has the latest on this. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. crews are still going door to door searching for potential victims. the fire is still smolders. just a short while ago we learned that 3 to 5 firefighters are unaccounted for, but one police officer previously reported missing has been found. he's in the hospital in serious condition. as for the number of dead at this point, local officials are still being very cautious. they stress this is an early estimate, but right now they believe between 5 and 15 people have died. again they say that number could rise. more than 160 people have been treated at local hospitals. anywhere from 50 to 80 buildings have been damaged, a nursing home and complex have been destroyed. people have been shaken. this happened just before 8:00 this morning as firefighters were battling the fire, and right now they're trying to figure out why this happened. so far no word from officials on why this happened. savannah, back to you. >> gabe gheitiers at the scene, thank you so much. we should mention, by the way, this came close to what happened in waco. but authorities are believing so far this has nothing to do with this. let's turn to crystal and jill. jill is a trauma nurse -- >> i can't hurt. >> they said good morning. >> i gather that one of you can't hear me, if you could just translate, and we'll try to fix our technical problems. >> okay. your home is close to the plant, what did you experience? >> yes, ma'am. my house is about 15 blocks away from the fertilizer plant. and we saw the fire. you heard the emt trucks as they drove by with west being a small town, you always want to see what's going on. within five minutes, the fire was completely out of control. i could see the first response team as they had their trucks, you know, kind of half-mooned around the fire. i turned around and walked back to my house and was going to get my kids in the car and get out of there trying to prevent from being around when the explosion happened. and about the time i got this far, you could hear the boom and within seconds it just sucked you in and threw you on the ground. i was able to get my oldest daughter jaylee was covered. and i was able to grab my youngest kylee, and we dove to the front door. >> and are you all right, crystal? did you or any of your family members suffer any injuries? >> no, luckily everybody