Its the kickoff of the hollywood awards season with the Golden Globes. Who will be named the best in tv and film and who will they be wearing . Well peer into our crystal ball as we head to the head carpet today, sunday, january 12, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with lester holt and erica hill, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome to today on this sunday morning. Im erica hill. And im lester holt alongside jenna wolfe and dylan dreyer. All is calm and clear here in the new york city area after a night of heavy rains and high winds. And we didnt even see the worst of it. No, we didnt. In several other parts of the east coast this morning, people are digging out from these nasty storms. Look at this video here. Just amazing. Thats just part of it. Dylan is following it closely. Dylan is a little under the weather herself. I think maybe being at 50 below for three days straight might have had something to do with it. Boy, did we see wild weather yesterday, damaging winds and torrential rains knocked out power and demolished construction across the southeast. Up north, extreme flooding and roads covered in ice. All in all, a storm to remember. What a difference a few days make. Following the arctic blast that brought some of the coldest temperatures in 20 years, now its unseasonably warm temperatures and violent springlike storms. A massive system stretching from maine to georgia marching its way across the east coast saturday. Tornado warnings popping up across southern states. Oh, no, look at that reporter the damaging winds demolishing these houses being built in raleigh and ripping down trees and branches like twigs. Torrential rain turning some of atlanta streets into rivers. Thick fog blanketing the midatlantic. But perhaps some of the most damaging weather was the freezing rain that turned northeast roads into sheets of ice. Cars helpless. In connecticut, this mans car slid off the road, flipped and landed upside down in a reservoir. When i started seeing the water come in, youre going to die or maybe. I was just glad it was cold and the lake was frozen. Reporter five people were hurt when a jackknifed tractortrailer caused a chainreaction crash involving some 70 cars in maine. And a slippery race track in jersey sent this starting gate car plowing into the horses. Several drivers were sent to the hospital, but the horses, remarkably, escaped injury. Hard video to look at there. But yes, we are seeing an end to the severe weather. This cold front is moving to the east. Its all clear right now across parts of the gulf coast states. We will see that change today. Here we have a cold front. Not that much to it now. Its back through the rockies and will move to the south and east. Thats going to be the area where were going to see stronger storms redevelop, especially by tomorrow across the gulf coast states. You see about three to four inches, especially in new orleans and thunderstorms are likely. Were not going to see the Severe Threat of storms that we saw yesterday. We could certainly see those strong damaging winds producing some damage possible across the gulf coast. But this will slowly spread to the northeast and east. We will start to see some improvements. But for today, all is clear. Anything we need to clear up, we can do so today. Its getting much more frustrating for residents in charleston, West Virginia, and the surrounding areas today. Hundreds of thousands of them are now in their fourth day without tap water because of a chemical spill. Officials say it could be days before clean water is flowing again. Luke russert is in charleston with the very latest on the story for us. Luke, good morning. Reporter good morning, lester. Since thursday, nearly 800 calls to the West VirginiaPoison Control Center have been caused by the leak. This as it stretches into the new workweek. Four days later, hundreds of thousands of West Virginians have no access to safe tap water. It remains unclear when life will return to normal. We have employees that have worked the system, that are extremely knowledgeable of this system, are out collecting samples and looking at flushing activities at this time. But were talking days. Reporter the chemical leak is causing great hardships. At hospitals, elective surgeries have been canceled and water is being brought in for any lifesaving procedures. For moms with infants, it means getting by however you can. You do what you got to do when youve got a 9monthold baby at the house. Reporter ordinary tasks like bathing take on a new degree of difficulty. Its not fun trying to bathe the baby out of a dish pan. Reporter also feeling the pinch, the local economy. The leak has closed many businesses since thursday, which means missed shifts and lost revenue. 96 of our economy in West Virginia is made up of Small Businesses. And they Small Businesses hurting. Reporter one of the few restaurants open, the adelphia sports bar, sat halfempty on what would be a busy day of playoff football. This place is usually bustling with a lot of people, a lot of food going out. Not today. Our employees want to work. Reporter patrons found distraction on a limited menu of drinks and chips. We can hold up. Were mountaineers. Reporter a lot of questions have arisen of just how safe the Storage Facility was where the chemical leaked from. Tomorrow, a team will arrive from washington to determine just how safe that tank was and what can be done to prevent further accidents in the future. Lester . All right, luke, thanks for the update. This morning, new york yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and his legal team is vowing to fight the most severe punishment in Major League Baseball history. Hes been sidelined for the upcoming entire season. Kristen dahlgren has the details. Good morning. This begs the question on a lot of peoples minds, will Alex Rodriguez ever play again . As you mentioned, he says hell fight on in the court system. But experts say the odds really are stacked against him. The suspension severe, 162 games plus the postseason, taking 38yearold Alex Rodriguez out of yankee pinstripes for all of 2014, and some speculate, possibly forever. This is unprecedented discipline by Major League Baseball, not just in the steroids world or performanceenhancing drugs world, but really with respect to anything that any player has ever done on a Major League Baseball field or off it. Reporter rodriguez vowed to fight the ruling in federal court, saying in a statement, the deck has been stacked against me from day one. I have been cleared that i did not use performanceenhancing substances as alleged. No player should have to go through what ive been dealing with. The yankees say they respect the arbitration panels decision. Rodriguez played just 44 games last season, clashed publically with the yankees front office, handed a 211game suspension in august by commissioner bud selig for his role in a sweeping doping investigation, despite never failing a test. The penalty was reduced on saturday, still the longest such punishment ever levied. The fact that he obstructed their investigation, in some ways blocked their path to finding all the truth in this whole matter, i think thats really what bud selig went after. For 20 years, rodriguez dominated baseballs lucrative and hot spotlight. Number 500 for Alex Rodriguez reporter he cracked home runs with ease, dated stars, made for than 350 million. But controversies have tarnished his image and cost him huge, 25 million this Upcoming Season which has some fans crying foul. I think its ridiculous. I think hes being used as a scapegoat. Its a sad day, because im a yankee fan, ive been a yankee fan, im an arod fan. Now, arods attorney is expected to seek that injunction in federal court on monday. The last one challenged in the courts was in 1976. Erica, that one was unsuccessful. 1976. Erica, that one was unsuccessful. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie remains out of sight today as questions still swirl about his political future amid the George Washington bridge scandal. David gregory is moderator of meet the press. Good to see you. Good morning, lester. If it turns out hes telling the truth here ands had no knowledge of this, does this become a problem as we look toward 2016 or will it be distant memory by then . Its difficult to gauge this far out. What i think still continues is a leadership question, a culture question. These are not people who are lower level aides, these are people hes known a long time, been with him a long time who were responsible for it. This email chain suggests they were covering up what they were actually doing. It raises questions about how this operation springs up underneath his feet, if nothing else. Does it also serve almost as a shot across his bow that if you want to run for president , its going to be rough going. No question about it. Its something else. A lot of people think its ideology that will be a problem for him. Is he conservative enough . It does come down to persona, that loud volume persona that has attracted so much support to christie because people find him refreshing. Does it also cut against him with his image of being a bully or somebody whose operation is responsible for petty politics. That could dog him as well. The question is how is that going to play outside of new jersey where lets remember he was overwhelmingly reelect sgld this story has overshadowed the release of bob gates, former defense secretarys new book. He was a holdover from the bush administration. Hes come out with his book, a bit critical of the obama administration, in particular the afghanistan war. How damaging is it for the president to have someone he kept from Previous Administration . I think it is damaging. Theres questions about the president s leadership in foreign affairs, National Security affairs. What i think in my own reading of the book is that gates is really critical of how political the Obama White House was, how Political Considerations loomed so large in the debate over afghanistan, whether to send more troops. But hes also highly complimentary of this president for overriding a lot of political concerns and ultimately surging up forces. Its a pretty nuanced view even where hes pretty critical. Well check with you in a bit on whats coming up on meet the press. Jenna has the upcoming stories. Good morning everyone. Two deadly car bombs evenings ploeded in bagdad today in the latest wave of violence in iraq. At least 13 people were killed, more than 20 wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. More than 70 people have died in sectarian violence in iraq over the past two weeks. Thousands of israelis are paying respects to former israeli Prime Minister aerial sharon today. His body remains in state in jerusalem. Sharon died saturday after eight days in a coma. Tomorrow, Vice President joe biden will lead a u. S. Delegation to sharons memorial service. An update on a story we told you about yesterday. It was about the dallas hunting club getting Death Threats over a permit to shoot an endangered african rhino. The permit sold for 350,000. Money the club says will help conserve the rhinos. Janet shamlian explains. Its i think a message that this animal is worth more rare and dead than alive with healthy populations. Thats not conservation. Reporter the winner whose name was not released bid a record 350,000 with all proceeds going to a nah mibian conservation fund. The auction was full of exhibits like these angered some to the point of Death Threats against club members which prompted tightened security and the fbi getting involved. Ive had threats on my life, my familys life. Our members have been emailed, theyve threatened our members. Reporter with fewer than 5,000 black rhinos in the wild, opponents say theres no valid reason to kill one, those the u. S. Wildlife service okayed the permit. For today, janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. Three weeks later there was christmas in space. A supply shipped off at the International Space station loaded with necessary supplies and also the astronauts christmas presents from home. The shipment was delayed because of last months emergency repairs. How did we know christmas presents were a little late . One of the gifts was a Cabbage Patch kid. That went over as well as i wrote it. It got a chuckle. If you didnt get a chance to watch both nfl playoff games yesterday but still want to impress your friends with knowledge, here is said knowledge. The new England Patriots advance to their Third Straight championship game with the win over the colts last night 4322. How about la gear plunk scored four touchdowns for new england. He was kind of the man. In the earlier games the seahawks beat the saints 2315. Im so sorry hoda kotb. They kind of seemed like blowout games unless youre fans of the teams that won. Then they were fantastic games. Dylan is very happy. I am. Erica and i had a little thing going. Somehow i got roped into it. It was really between you and my husband who is a colts fan. Hes not here to put on the patriots shirt. Its all over twitter if youre looking for something to do. We are going to see a big storm system in the addle area. It was pouring yesterday. Now all the watches and warnings are starting to move eastward into the rockies. We even had blizzard warnings in areas where visibility is extremely poor because of heavy snow and blowing wind. We are going to see this whole storm system continue to move eastward but not before it dumps perhaps one to three inches of rain in seattle. Looking at nine inches plus in the higher elevations. Moving east a widespread six to nine inches in the lighter blue. Also as we look west of denver. Some areas could end up with 12 to 18 inches of snow with this storm system over the next 24 hours. Its back behind this cold front which is going to start to Cool Temperatures down. We should be nice and mild in the 40s today in minneapolis. But it drops into not much fog right now around the bay bridge but in other parts of the area were seeing pretty thick fog in spots. Youre seeing it in napa and livermore. Visibility is down at times in the trivalley, less than a mile for the morning. Throughout the afternoon well see the low clouds clear as north winds help to clear out our skies. Highs around san jose in the low 60s. 58 near San Francisco. Mid60s today in santa rosa, then climbing into the 70s as winds turn offshore for the first half of the week. Dry weather continues. Thats your latest forecast. Lester . Up next on today, a family dealing with the loss of their 12yearold daughter finds comfort and inspiration in a letter the girl wrote to her future self. Well explain in that remarkable story after this. [announcer] welcome to the allnew intuit quickbooks. Do more than ever before with it. Make any place your place of business with it. Get paid faster with it. Run payroll with it. Sync this stuff with that stuff with it. Make more time for what you love with it. Turn on only what you need with it. Sample from our smorgasbord of apps with it. Take in the big picture with it. See your finances in a whole new way with it. This is your business on the allnew quickbooks. Run with it. Of looking for a good deal and sheesh, i shouldve looked some more. Thats why walgreens makes it easy to save even more on your Medicare Part d prescriptions. Just stop on by and leave all the legwork to us. Switch to walgreens today where you could save with copays as low as zero dollars on select Medicare Part d plans. At the corner of happy and healthy. A story now about finding home amid despair. A 12yearold girl who died senly last spring left her family an extraordinary gift that theyre sharing with the world. Its inspiring people throughout the social media universe. Here is mike die eastbound bee. Reporter like any parents who lost a child, tim and Mary Ellen Smith of johnson city, tennessee, are struggling with grief. Before their daughter taylor succumbed suddenly to pneumonia, the precocious 12yearold did something remarkable. She had written a letter to herself and she would open it when she was older. Reporter they found it in a sealed envelope, intended to be opened ten years later. It was little girls twopage time capsule list to herself, a thoughtful list of hopes and goals that the smiths decided to share by social media. Hows life she begins to her older self, life is Pretty Simple ten years in her past. She instructs herself to go to college, maybe become a lawyer, stay close to her family and her church and closes with words her parents could almost hear her saying. Its been ten years since i wrote this stuff. Stuff has happened, good and bad. Thats just how life works and you have to go with it. Reporter the response to taylors letter in emails and comments has been emotional and nearly overwhelming. Letters from lots of parents who said just it has encouraged them to love their kids and love each other. Reporter grieving parents who are proud of their daughter, of course. I want the world to know what an awesome, awesome person she was. Reporter and generous enough to share the gift she left them. I cant physically resurrect her, i cant bring her back, but im so grateful that people have been inspired by her story. Reporter taylor left an older brother behind as well as her parents. Along with ood meyerers worldwide, moved by the story of her short but meaningful life. For today, mike taibbi, nbc news. An incredible little girl. I dont know what to say. So touching. Well be back right after this. [woman]ask me. [announcer]. If you think the best bed for on