Good evening. We begin tonight with something we rarely see two days before christmas. A major tornado outbreak. The National WeatherService Tonight calling it a particularly dangerous situation that will extend into the evening. More than a dozen homes have been badly damaged in northern mississippi where a tornado struck this afternoon. One of numerous Southern States under severe storm threats today. Earlier at least one person was killed when violent weather rolled through arkansas. It is typical spring weather in those parts. But certainly not the usual stuff of early winter. And unsettled weather across the country has forced numerous Flight Cancellations and extended delays as flight tracker gives us a look at the busy skies over the u. S. Mark potter now with the very latest. You could see the wedge, coneshaped tornado on the ground. Reporter near clarksdale, mississippi, a funnel cloud ripped through this afternoon. People throughout the south and midwest were on edge. With numerous tornado watches and warnings in at least ten states. That is tornado damage if ive ever seen it. You see trees striped like that. Reporter this morning in arkansas, soaking rains and high winds pushed a tree on to a house with five people inside. Killing an 18yearold woman and trapping an 18monthold girl who was rushed to the hospital. You only hear about the stories. You dont expect to be in them. Reporter meteorologist say this weather pattern is the result of several weather patterns coming together. We have recordsetting warmth across the eastern twothirds of the nation the entire month. You combine those two with a big digging jet stream and voila, you get thunderstorms and a tornado threat. Reporter the system brought dark, lowlying clouds and heavy winds that made for truf driving for truckers and holiday travelers away. And it caused flooding throughout the south. Large hail was reported in arkansas, and missouri, covering farmfields and roads and sounding like breaking glass. And we are just learning of reports of possible tornado damage in illinois and indiana as well. While the worst of it is over here in memphis, many others throughout the region tonight are still bracing for rough weather. Lester. Stay safe. Thanks. Lets get to meteorologist dylan dreyer. How far out does this extend. It is mostly through the night tonight. But there are several areas under the gun with these tornado watches that are in affect for the next several hours. And within the watches we have of course had the tornado warnings. Some of the storms producing serious damage as mark mentioned with these tornados developing. Now tonight we are looking still at that risk of tornado activity especially across parts of tennessee and mississippi. But keep in mind, there are 72 Million People that will still see the chance of some sort of Severe Weather overnight. These storms producing gusty winds and large hail as well. Now if you are traveling on christmas eve, out in the pacific northwest, the problem is snow. Especially through the mountain passes. That is going to slow things down quite a bit. Tomorrow in the southeast, were still looking at the chance of storms from atlanta to new orleans, back into houston. Although not as severe as what we are seeing right now. In the northeast, up and down the i95 corridor, it is a slow go on the roads. Rain heavy at times. It does come with recordbreaking temperatures. Highs in the mid to upper 70s. So no White Christmas in eastern half of the country. But out in the rockies that is where the snow will fall. Lester. Thank you very much. To the chaos in minneapolis as activist begin a protest at the largest mall in the country and moved on to the areas International Airport where they blocked roads and cut off access to a terminal causing a huge traffic backup as holiday travelers try to make their flights. Kevin tibbles now with late details. Reporter tense moments at the minneapolis st. Louis airport as black lives matter supporters try to occupy one of the terminal buildings. Police were seen taking several people in to custody. And Security Check points were closed for some 40 minutes. Outside the demonstration caused traffic chaos on an already hectic travel day. The protests started at the mall of america on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Despite a Court Order Barring group leaders, hundreds protested the november shooting death by police of 24yearold jamar clark who Authorities Say was unarmed. Federal and state investigations into his death continue. Many of the mall store closed and when security prevented protesters from entering, many boarded Public Transit and headed for the airport. [ chanting ] reporter todays march comes a year after some 1500 people shut down part of the mall. Angered over Police Involvement in the deaths of unarmed black men in ferguson, missouri, and new york. Tonight an airport spokesperson said normal operations have resumed. Kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. Elsewhere across the country, it is crunchtime. A record holiday rush on the roads and in the air. 100 million americans expected to travel more than 50 miles from home. Travelers and lastminute shippers and shoppers facing a hectic day made more complicated by the weather we talked about at the top of the program. Here is nbcs tom costello. Reporter from coast to coast, the word of the day, volume. From malls to post offices, roads to airports. Take a look at the crush of passengers at chicago ohare. Arriving and departing flights delayed by rain and fog. Just made sure i got here early enough to get through security. Reporter more delays on the east coast. Several hundred flights canceled. The good news is it is not snow. Reporter out on the roads, record volume. 91 million americans trying to merge into traffic during the getaway. We found a mcdonalds on the connect turnpike flipping far more burgers than the typical day. On a typical day, we do about 1600. But for a day like today and a special holiday, we do 5,000 or more. Reporter the nations malls and Department Stores would love a boost in sales like that. For them, this is do or die time. With warm weather taking a big bite out of seasonal sales, retailers have been marking down to driveup customer traffic. I tend to be a late shopper. Reporter at this best buy in miami, they have been selling lots of wearable technology. I feel like they are trying to get their shopping done at this point and looking to come in and get great deals ab be in and out. Reporter and tis the season to ship. The post Office Processing 545 million packages. In denver today, gale semmanceki had 200 packages to deliver. Were helping santa out at the busiest time of the year. Reporter with Christmas Morning now just 36 hours away. Here in tyson corn, virginia, were seeing procrastinators but stores are staying open. Walt, target, toys r us. You could go online and buy it. They call it click it and pick it if you dont want to navigate the malls. Tom, thank you. The man accused of killing three people and wounding nine others on an attack on a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is telling a judge he wanted to fire his public defender and demanding to defend himself. In response the judge has ordered Robert Lewis Dear to undergo a competency evaluation to determine whether he is fit to act as his own lawyer. It comes after a Previous Court appearance this month in which he hailed against the public defenders, declared that he was guilty and called himself a, quote, warrior for the babies. We turn to politics and a condition poll showing trump with a commander lead. 39 with ted cruz in second at 18 , followed by ben carson, marco rubio and Chris Christie. For trump and Hillary Clinton, no letup today in a war of words over one particular word used by trump. We get more tonight from nbcs hallie jackson. Reporter after Donald Trumps crude sword, describing Hillary Clinton loss to barack obama she got schlonged. Shes using three words to describe trumps campaign. Bigotry, bluster, bullying. Reporter trump insisting hes been misinterpreted. Mad at the media. Ted cruz is too. Not because of words but because of a picture. Not much ticks me off. But making fun of my girls that, will do it. Reporter a cartoon in the Washington Post shows his young daughters as dancing monkeys. After they were put in a campaign ad. The cartoonist argues that made the kids fair game. Dont mess with my kids. Dont mess with marcos kids or hillarys kids or dont mess with anybodys kids. Reporter the paper pulled the cartoon as cruzs rivals backed him up with words of their own. Disgusting and nasty. The condemnation comes as cruz caps a sixday 5,000 mile swing for states that vote march 1 building off three cwords. Crowds showing up in bigger numbers than before. More cash in the bank than any other gop candidate and a confidence in the Campaign Strategy of turning out krves in iowa and the south. That feels like part of your strategy to draft behind trump in the race. Friends in the media have been trying to get me to play political pundit and to attack donald trump. My atroech is im not interesting in throwing rocks at anybody in this race. Reporter that is prompting words of warning that he may need a new tone with trump, not a detaunt, but a dual. In a twoway case, he will have to denounce trumps language. They have both speculated they could end up head to head edging out a more traditional establishment republican. And while the establishment doesnt want that. Add up the leaders in that lane. Marco rubio, jeb bush and Chris Christie and still only half of what trump has. Lester. Hallie jackson, thank you. A solemn emotion, the remains of six airmen killed by a taliban suicide bomber in afghanistan on monday were brought home late this afternoon. The dignified transfer ceremony was attended by defense sect ash carter. Defense Officials Say the six airmen were killed while providing security for a meeting with local afghan leaders. Meanwhile, there is a crucial battle underway tonight in iraq where Government Forces supported by u. S. Airstrikes have launched an offensive against isis militants in the key city of ramadi. Isis has occupied ramadi for months after driving out and humiliating iraqi forces. But now the forces have regrouped and are advancing, this time leaving isis in retreat. Our report from nbcs bill neely. Reporter ramadi is under siege. And its attackers say they will wrench it from the grip of isis within days. There is spiking, iraqi tanks advancing steadily. And a an an assault backed by dozen of airstrikes in a city where hundreds of troops died in the war against sadam. The enemy now, a few hundred isis fighters using ieds, snipers and suicide bombers. But the iraqis confidence is high. From the celebrating soldier, to the news anchors saying victory is coming, god willing. Ramadi fell to isis in may. Iraqs army humiliated, retreating in disarray. Looking back now, sunni tribal fighters filming their own attack on what is a sunni city. The shiite militias in the summer held back by iraqs government for fear they would massacre sunni civilians. A u. S. Military spokesperson said the fall of ramadi is now inevitable. Though it will be a tough fight. Defeating isis here would be a major blow to a terror group which in recent months has lost two cities in iraq and much ground. Bill neely, nbc news, london. Still ahead here tonight, a private police force armed with guns and ipad, making a dent in crime in a city that needed al the flu virus hits big. With aches, chills, and fever, theres no such thing as a little flu. And it needs a big solution an antiviral. So when the flu hits, call your doctor right away and up the ante with antiviral tamiflu. Prescription tamiflu is an antiviral that attacks the flu virus at its source and helps stop it from spreading in the body. Tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people two weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu, tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. 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Riding three soupedup sufficients and off duty Police Patrol 24 7. Complete with guns and the ability to make arrests. From drug deals, to robberies. It is an Innovative Program for a city where crime was out of control. Rapes were up 39 last year. Armed robberies, 37 . State troopers were brought in to help the Police Department historically mired in corruption. But more seemed to be needed and that is when sydney torres stepped in. The Real Estate Development made a business in the crash business after katrina. They called me the trashy nova. Reporter he teamed up with bob sims. A retired rocket scientist. I think were batman and robin. Reporter the bat signal went up when burglars broke into torres home. He took out an ad. You struck a nerve with the mayor who was none to pleased by this. What did he say. If it is so easy may he should take some of the money and do it himself. I said, wait a second. If he lets me. I would. He spent 500,000 paying the atvs and buying the cops and with an app to report directly to the cops on patrol. It has made Response Time near minutes. If there is a call . There is one now. There is two now. Tell the truth, did you think it was a crazy idea. I thought it was crazy. Reporter but the chief of police is a believer. It had money immediate effect because response to crimes was fast. Reporter and crimes did fall right away. Even the mayor changed his tune. So you started out throwing a few punches. Weve been transferring our entire lives and i challenged sydney, if you are such a big shot, put your money where your mouth is. He did. And he did. Reporter and in seven months Violent Crime is down a whopping 45 . The success means fewer calls coming through the app. The app call is because we are safer. It is not Rocket Science. You had to work that in, didnt you, bob. Reporter Cynthia Mcfadden, nbc news, new orleans. 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