good morning. robin is off. great to have elizabeth here. let's get right to the breaking news this morning. late-breaking news. with christmas coming, there's been so much concern about terror attacks here in the united states and europe. and we learned some kind of bomb has exploded at the swiss embassy in rome.ome kind of bomb >> it detonated when a worker opened that package. one person was seriously injured. miguel marquez is following the latest for us from london. good morning, miguel. >> reporter: good morning. this was a package bomb that was opened in the swiss embassy in rome, in the northern part of the city. as the package was opened, it injured the hands of that employee. why the embassy would be targeted is not clear. things have been tense in rome and across italy, because of government cuts, especially where students are involved. but it wouldn't explain why they would target the swiss embassy. there was a bomb or a bomb without a detonator on a train on tuesday. but across europe, like the u.s., as you said, there is concern about terror-like attacks. either mumbai-style attacks or suicide attacks. there was a failed attack in stockholm, sweden, on the 11th, where a suicide bomber entered a square and only blew up himself and injured two people. this is likely to raise even greater concerns as we head into the christmas days and into the new year. back to you guys. >> that's right, miguel. a lot more investigating to be done. we've had arrests in britain. 12 men arrested. and attorney general eric holder telling pierre thomas that the threat here is very real. we're going to turn to the aftermath of the wild weather in the west. our correspondents are around in the hardest-hit areas. mike von fremd leads us off from highland, california. mike? >> reporter: good morning, george. if i hit a soft spot here, i'm sure i'll never be the same. look how this mud has hardened and trapped this car. the mud is three to four feet high in some places. and as you can see, it's just about everywhere. the poor people of highland, california, have the biggest mess imaginable. these cars are going nowhere fast. the mud came up so quickly when the creeks overflowed, that everything here has come to a halt. homeowners cannot even get in and out of their doors. it's a catastrophe. >> i've had a river in my living room. all through the downstairs. i've got nothing left. nothing. >> reporter: it's incredible that no one was hurt. but today, everyone is furious. right know, prisoners on work release are cleaning what they can. but officials promise to bring in the cavalry to try to clean up this town. >> we will move on to fixing it up, cleaning it up, getting everything assessed, seeing what the damage is. and seeing how we're going to help these people. >> reporter: for now, highland is impossible, unhealthy and a miserable place to live. in laguna beach, it was a wall of water, splashing through downtown, followed by mountains of mud. the affluent city already has bulldozers cleaning up ocean avenue. >> we performed 60 rescues and evacuated 30-plus homes. >> reporter: there was a dramatic rescue along hotel circle in san diego. where guests, including a pregnant woman, were trapped by high water and terrified by hearing electrical lines snapping. firefighters and lifeguards using rafts took the shivering guests to the hospital. youtube fans took to the internet to show their frustration to millions. in san diego, qualcomm stadium, this driver had to stand on his roof. and police could only watch as the water was rising. in loma linda, this driver tried to ooze out of his car. it was the ultimate challenge. in so many places across so much of california, there is just so much mud. at least the rain has stopped. but just looking at this mud, it's hard to even begin to think where to start to clean up. but officials say at least the exterior of this community should be shoveled out in a few weeks. george? >> okay. and it's spreading east. >> the weather woes are moving inland to the deserts of arizona. and neal karlinsky is at beaver dam, with the latest on the flooding there. >> reporter: elizabeth, good morning. if you can believe it, this is a brand-new home. the owners were just moving in. now, you can see the river straight through the garage. this is normally just a creek that runs through here. but it's rushing now. and you can see how it's wiped this home right off its foundation. it's damaged several others. and today, people around here are just hoping to finally catch a break. you'd never guess from the pictures, but this is the desert southwest. torrential rains swept through nevada and arizona, flooding typically dry communities. >> my first time in a flood. i didn't know what to do. we got out the sandbags and called a bunch of people. >> reporter: pushing cars through neighborhoods. this bulldozer was sent in to rescue a car. but was swept away instead. >> it's sad. it's going to cause a lot of problems. >> reporter: 300 homes in mt. charleston, nevada, have been without power for 48 hours. and residents face the prospect of christmas by candlelight. in northwest arizona, floodwaters ripped through a retirement community. washing away six homes and threatening to destroy more. >> i'm ready to get out of here, right now. you know? there's no sense in staying and risking our lives for that. our lives are more important than our house. >> reporter: people here say they suffered a similar flood five years ago. but this is worse. >> it's sad for this community. this community had just kind of rebuilt from the another 05 flood. and now, to get hit again later. >> reporter: residents have been stacking hundreds of sandbags, frantically trying to save their homes. while the red cross stands ready in case more are forced to leave. >> we're absolutely ready for it. we're expecting upwards of 100 people at this facility, possibly more. if we need additional space, we can open another shelter right away. >> reporter: the bad news is, of course, it's raining right now. the good news is, the water level is now going down, way down. it used to be up over here, just several hours ago. a lot of this is mountain runoff from utah, where they are getting pounded with snow. in fact, george, avalanche warnings have gone up there. >> that's serious. neal karlinsky, thank you very much. president obama is even farther west. he's landed in hawaii for his christmas break with family and friends. and he left washington with a smile on his face. higher poll numbers and he ended the ban on gays serving openly in the military and secured a nuclear arms treaty with russia. yunji de nies reports that the president silenced his critics. >> reporter: the president had the marathon session in washington. he's ready to start his vacation. he's a little delayed. and his trip here won't be without a few speed bumps. president obama arrived in the middle of the night, eager to start his hawaiian vacation, after a surprisingly productive end to the year. >> if there's any lesson to draw from the past two weeks, it's that we're not doomed to endless gridlock. >> reporter: fresh off the repeal of don't ask, don't tell and the 9/11 responders bill, president obama is starting to see a turnaround in support. 56% of americans approve of mr. obama's handling of the lame duck session. >> sim not naive. i know there will be tough fights in the months ahead. >> reporter: for now, the president will battle the elements during his vacation. yes, the family will be staying at a luxurious, multimillion-dollar compound. but kailua beach is brown. heavy rain caused overflow. signs warn swimmers to stay out. plus, the murky waters tend to attract sharks. >> it said sewage on the sign. that was enough for me. >> you come all the way to hawaii. you want to go swimming at the beautiful beaches. you get here and find out you can't. >> i'm not going to go into the brown water. >> reporter: all is not lost. at the obama's favorite shaved ice fan, they're already making snow-bamas. >> excited and nervous at the same time. >> reporter: while the forecast calls for rain, the highs will be in the upper 70s. >> it's still better than washington, d.c. >> reporter: at least that's what the locals think. and the president so far has no public events scheduled. we're expecting him to play a little golf and hit the beaches when the water does clear up. the white house does remind us, as always, this is a working vacation. >> always. yunji, thanks very much. let's bring in cokie roberts from washington. even with the brown water in hawaii, the president has to feel pretty pleased, coming out of the lame duck session. >> boy, should he. it was incredible. of course, the s.t.a.r.t. agreement being the most victory for him and one would argue, for the country. but the big tax agreement, don't ask, don't tell, and the 9/11 responders, thanks to jon stewart, as their chief lobbyist, getting the health bill through. the disappointment, he said, was the d.r.e.a.m. act, the piece of legislation for immigrant children, who come to this country, not by their own volition. but allowing them to go to school and pass citizenship. that failed, which bodes badly for immigration, in general, because that was considered the easy one. >> it was considered the easy one. the president was passionate talking about it yesterday, saying don't count me out. i'm a persistent man. but let's look at the pattern that was developed over the lame duck. you did, in the end, have the measures passed with overwhelming votes. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty, the tax cuts, by overwhelming votes. you look at some of the others. the president having to pick and choose and create different coalitions for each piece of legislation. >> of course, that is the way you get it done, george. as you well know. and that was sort of the puzzling thing, up until this lame duck, with this president. was that he wasn't putting together those kinds of coalitions. now, he had a big democratic majority. and he could just go with that. but that wasn't working for him, as we saw in the elections. and so, now, he's in a position of where most presidents are. no permanent friends. no permanent enemies. you put together a coalition on each issue. the big question going forward is whether republicans will continue to cooperate, when they have bigger majority in the senate. or bigger minority in the senate and a majority in the house. you see some republicans today saying, well, this isn't great. you know, now, the president has all these victories. and he's not so weakened anymore. and they don't like that. >> and one of the big failures of the lame duck session, they couldn't get a big budget through for all of next year. that's where most of the fights are going to be next year. and it's a lot easier, i would suspect, to get republicans and democrats to agree on tax cuts than on spending cuts. >> when you're giving something away, it's easy to come together. when you're doing something hard, it's a much harder time. and that spending bill is going to be attached to the always-difficult time of year when they have to raise the ceiling on the national debt. and nobody likes voting for that. so, there's going to be big bumps in the road ahead. you know, george, i really think that voter response is going to tell the next congress a lot because if people start to say, hey. we like this cooperation that we've seen over the last couple of weeks, then it becomes harder to just be obstructionist. and right now, congress is at its lowest level ever in public opinion. so, they've got that cut out for them. >> you're right. as yunji reported, the voters giving the president the highest marks. 56% approved. see you're already dressed for christmas. merry christmas. turning from president obama to former president bush. a developing story as police and secret service agents converged on former president bush's house last night, after a man drove his sports car into the front yard. bush and the former first lady were at home at the time. and monica diaz, from our affiliate, wfaa, is in dallas. good morning, monika. >> reporter: good morning, elizabeth. investigators questioned that man. but he was later released. the incident happened on daria drive, north of dallas. the man's car was damaged and was toted from the scene later. the man drove on to the former president's lawn. george w. bush and his wife, laura, were at home at the time of the incident. they were not injured. and their home was not damaged. family released a statement through a spokesperson. the president and mrs. bush are okay. they appreciate the work of the united states secret service and the dallas police department in responding to this incident. now, back out live here, you see the gates here. these gates were installed last year, to keep people from driving through the neighborhood and passing by the former president's home. the man involved in this incident was visiting a friend. we're live in dallas, monika diaz. back to you. >> thanks, monika. we're going to go to the travel wars between the airline industry and online ticket sellers. shares in orbitz fell 6% after american airlines said its fares will no longer be available on that site. if american is trying to cut out the middleman, what does this mean for the average traveler? bianna golodryga joins us with more. you're shaking your head. >> reporter: not necessarily good news for travelers. 2010 saw the airline industry flying high in profits. some $7 billion in profits in the first nine months alone. no surprise for customers who have seen their airfares soar 13% since last year. now, at least one major airline has found another way to save even more money. and it could come at the expense of, you guessed it, you at home. ask most passengers traveling this holiday season, and they'll tell you, airlines seem to be nickel and diming them every way they can. with fees for baggage, in-flight meals, even earphones. >> $110 for the third bag. >> reporter: and now, another blow for travelers who turn to discount travel websites for lower fares. american airlines has announced its pulling itself off of orbitz.com. and delta airlines will no longer be selling tickets through three other websites. cheapo.com. are they trying to avoid the fees they pay to the discounted sites? or are they trying to hide discounted fares from consumers? >> american wants to use their own distribution system. they don't want to go through what's basically a middleman. >> reporter: how does this affect our ability to compare ticket prices? we decided to check fares for an arbitrary date, from new york to los angeles. we go to orbitz.com, where you don't see american airlines prices anymore. what's interesting is when we check with american airlines' website, we find a much cheaper deal, starting at $149, almost half the price of orbitz. the passengers is who really loses here. and ultimately, what will happen if other airlines follow suit? >> it will make it more difficult for the consumer to figure out who is charging what? and who has the overall best price? and where should they be booking their ticket? >> reporter: so far, priceline and travelocity still carry american airlines fares. we called some of the other major airlines. they didn't respond as to whether they would be following american airlines' suit. they will be following close attention to see if it saves them money. >> they will see what happens. bianna golodryga, not so great news this morning. flying back with a great ticket this morning, a great airfare, we welcome home sam champion from chicago, vegas, l.a. you've been everywhere. >> frequent flyers. >> how many frequent flyer miles did you wrack up? >> the company bought them. i didn't have to pay. let's get to the boards. we'll show you what's going on. the horrible pictures out of the california mudslides. the good news, it's dry today. after some cases, 20 inches of rain. you go to about 67 on saturday. san diego is at 65. phoenix at 72. vegas, about 62 degrees. that moisture is moving into the middle of the country. that will mean snow for some places. talk about the northeast, where there's a light hit of snow around the area of low pressure. so, the snow, we think, will happen in the dakotas. probably into iowa. we think into missouri a little bit here. and this could spread east and be the first white christmas in 100 years in atlanta. we'll talk about that throughout the morning. and all of america's weather in the next half hour. george? >> thank you, sam. fans of the new york jets call them gang green. but this season of embarrassment have many of them seeing red. from the charges that a sideline reporter was sexually harassed. to the sideline trip that cost an assistant coach's job. the jets have been a study in offfield damage control. now, the head coach is on the spot for a sexy video he shot with his wife that's gone viral. >> reporter: the new york jets have been sacked by yet another scandal. and for coach rex ryan, the latest one hits home. >> excuse me, ma'am. >> reporter: it's an apparent serious of foot fetish videos, uncovered by the website deadspin.com. featuring a woman bearing a striking resemblance to ryan's wife. in one video, a woman sticks her toes out of a car window, wearing gang green colors, no less. a man behind the camera sounds like rex himself. and the two are having an intimate chat about her feet. >> really beautiful feet. >> thank you. >> reporter: in a press conference wednesday, ryan, well, tip-toed around the issue. >> this is a personal matter. my wife's beautiful. she's been married for 23 years. and she's awesome. >> reporter: it's another embarrassment in a season that's already had plenty. from accusations of sexual harassment by mexican reporter, ines sainz. >> it's very common to dress like this. >> reporter: to brett favre's racy voicemails, sent to sideline reporter, jen sterger. >> to sal alosi tripping a dolphin player. >> what credibility does rex ryan have going forward, if, in fact, he was involved in something as weird and bizarre some of the players were doing earlier in the season. >> reporter: one thing's for sure, rex is the first to brag how his model wife is one hot momma. >> i never realized how similar i am to tom brady. he's married to a supermodel. hello. i'm also married to a supermodel. >> reporter: for "good morning america," rob nelson, abc news, new york. >> not bad. he's proud of his wife. >> i like the guy. exactly. that's nice. >> be careful of videotapes. coming up, new questions about this teen who took her life after alleged bullying. now, could the student's charges be dropped? a family member speaks out. . sleep is here, on the wings of lunesta. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. 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