dozen homes destroyed and hundreds damaged. reporters given a tour of destruction came across a battered still standing miracle cafe. >> we'll get it cleaned up. we'll get it back. if the building is gone, then i'll rebuild. >> reporter: in minneapolis, a tornado blew through this neighborhood. other funnel clouds were spotted in missouri and nebraska adding to an already unprecedented twister tally. 875 tornados in april alone have killed 361 people. in kansas, hail the size of golf balls pounded the pavement and shattered car windows. >> many areas will get hit with severe weather repeat lead for the next several days. >> reporter: while out west there is growing concern over the record amounts of snow dwarfing the plows trying to clear it. across a huge swath of landscape, pack levels are greater than 150% above normal, a nightmare flooding threat as it all starts to melt. >> as we progress into late spring, early summer not a good recipe. we will likely see flooding into the lower terrain as we approach the month of june. >> reporter: wind, hail, tornado are forecast as a town picks up the pieces. of course, we'll continue to stay on top of reports of storm damage throughout the day. we'll have updates on the tornados in joplin, minneapolis on "america this morning" and live coverage on "good morning america." >> everybody will be watching the weather today. let's take a look at your monday forecast. today, severe storms are expected to hit oklahoma city, dallas, little rock, memphis, cleveland, pittsburgh and buffalo. evening rain from d.c. to new england, thunderstorms in wisconsin and minnesota. 6 inches of mountain snow in the rockies. showers from seattle to portland. >> sacramento, 72, phoenix, 92. 80s, omaha to dallas, all the way to miami. 70 in new york. 61 in boston. well the water is slowly receding along the banks of the mississippi river. there is a new concern about the levees holding the water back. some residents are worried that the levees may become saturated and eventually collapse. 120 inspectors in new orleans keeping an eye on levees protecting the said itty. >> air traffic controllers across northern europe are keeping a close eye on the ash cloud from an erupting volcano in iceland. it forced an airport to close until this afternoon which led to 40 international flights being canceled. experts say the impact from this eruption won't be close to what happened last year when airports were shut down around the world. amazing pictures there. back here at home, a suspect arrested in los angeles, for the beating of a san francisco giants' fan outside of dodgers stadium. police say a tip from a parole officer led to 31-year-old ramirez's arrest early yesterday. david muir has details. >> reporter: police have taken a suspect into custody in the brutal beating of brian stow. authorities believe the suspect is one of two alleged attackers at dodgers stadium which left the 42-year-old father of two in a medically induced coma. >> a very difficult investigation. a lot of moving pieces still in motion. but a significant break. and one that will lead to a successf fuful prosecution. >> the young father on the way back to his car following the game when witnesses say he was jumped from behind. >> two guys came out of nowhere, both pushed brian from behind. he never saw them coming. and brian fell forward, hit his head and was knocked unconscious. >> the man arrested matches one of two descriptions put out by the police. the reward fund has grown to more than $200,000. lapd was so determined to make an arrest they put up 200 billboards, bearing the suspect's sketch throughs out los angeles. los angeles police say they have other people in custody they say they're questioning. david muir, abc news. republican race for president has undergone a major shuffle. indiana governor mitch daniels said over the weekend he will not run. mainly because his family objected to it. last night, former minnesota governor, tim pawlenty said he will run and announced online and will make it formal at a campaign appearance this morning in iowa. time for happy birthday of sorts. guess who is 31 years old? >> how about this? >> pacman. >> looks good. barely aged a day since hitting video screens may 22nd, 1980, this is my video game. only one i am good at. since then, all pacman has done is become the highest grossing video game of all time. >> such a simple game. everyone loves it. an amazing faktd ct. you probably remember the google link to the game for its 30th anniversary last year. 4.8 million man hours were lost playing that version of it. >> i love ms. pacman. keep talking air hockey. pacman/air hockey challenge. >> world news now olympics. we'll challenge each other. get a video game in here. >> a lot of trash talk. we both think we are the best at both such games. >> i'll bet you a nickel. >> okay. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ then...over time... become dull... and lose their luster because washing in the bargain brand can leave dirt from the wash on your clothes causing your whites to get dingy. new improved tide plus bleach helps to remove the dirt in one wash to bring your whites back to bright. turning white-ish to...wow. tide plus bleach. style is an option. clean is not. also try tide stain release, the in-wash booster from tide. well they say little girls are made of sugar, spice, all things nice. girl scouts cookie, another story. >> two girl scouts trying to earn a high badge by helping endangered orangutans, found out their cookies are part of the problem. here is linsey davis. >> reporter: by middle school, the two girls had filled their sashes with a bunch of badges. so they joined forces in pursuit of the highest girl scout honor of all, the girl scout bronze award. >> in order to achieve this we had to raise awareness about an issue within our community or national or global community. >> reporter: they chose orangutans and how palm oil plantations have pushed them to the edge of extinction. >> i remember if my mom brought home anything with palm oil, i said mom you are contributing. how could you do this? >> reporter: you can imagine how crummy they felt when the 200 million boxes of cookies the organization sells each year were part of the problem. >> i think when we both found out palm oil was in the cookies were were shocked. i was sad. >> reporter: what started out as a project about palm oil and turned up the heat on paep nut butter patties and 15 varieties of cookies which contained palm oils. the girls stopped selling them and went up the food chain at girl scouts usa to try to convince the organization to switch to an alternative canola oil. >> part of the girl scout law is to make the world a better place. they're not giving us the opportunity. >> girl scouts usa says it is too late for next year's cookies but the recipe is constantly changing. they added palm oil. >> palm oil because of naturally transfat quality is a healthier and better choice than anything we have used previously. >> reporter: the girls aren't giving up. they have a meeting at girl scouts headquarters tuesday and they ultimately did earn their bronze award. as you can imagine it was bittersweet. linsey davis, abc news, new york. incredible. great story. a lot of people are paying attention to palm oil. kelloggs, they're moving, taking palm oil out of cereals, frosted flakes. keebler and rice crispies to help with the issue. >> good for them. you never know, where it is going to go for the badge, where the road is going to take them. all right, coming up next, not so funny business for comb mick russell brand, police in japan. >> the big winners and behind the scenes scoop from last night's billboard awards, coming the scenes scoop from last night's billboard awards, coming up in "the skinny." i touched the ball before it went out, coach. team! alex. alex, good call. you are good to go. so, have you made your decision yet? yeah, i think so. the wishes of thousands of children are waiting to come true. you can make it happen. find out how today at wish.org. ♪ skinny ♪ so skinny >> and a new week rolls around. time for "the skinny." big night last night, with the billboard awards. muse ache war music awards. they've been gone for five years. we didn't know that. now they're back. i think they did pretty well. take a look, part of the reason it was a good show, sort of a comeback moment for britney. >> another one. >> her and rhianna, on stage smooch. taylor swift. and the beiebs. eminem. beyonce did very well. also neil diamond. he was smoking hot. he was. the whole crowd was singing "sweet caroline." i have a little crush on neil diamond. i like older music. >> older music or older men? >> and what's your next -- >> move on. russell brand, a younger man you like. >> yes. >> out in japan to see katie perry perform. his wife. but he actually got deported out of the country because of old arrests on his record from actually ten years ago. >> why does that surprise me? >> he used to be a heroin addict, arrested 11 times before he got clean. >> liked drugs and women. >> he tweeted something, planning escape from japanese custody. it's bloody hard to dig a tunnel with a chopstick. he is doing all right. he got booted out of the country. >> arnold schwarzenegger, deported from the shriver marriage. >> yes, indeed. >> the schwarzenegger kids have been tweeting a lot. we have been talking about it around here. maybe a pr person should come and say let's simmer down a little bit. they're young. they have their opinions. their daughter, katherine schwarzenegger tweeted about forgiveness. she would like the whole family to come together. sometimes we forgive people because we want them back in our lives. she retweeted sunday. she also wrote, holding grudges is bad for your health. and wrote forgive and let go. sounds like that is really the path she is on. she is sending out lots of tweets. her brothers have been tweeting about the difficult time. kids are speaking out. >> tough time for the family. let's hope they get through. they do it with the world watching. >> ashton kucher, his new stint on "2 1/2 men" a one year contract, $20 million worth. gives him the right to walk away from the show after a year if the show is renewed and warner brothers wants to keep him. cool $20 million for the season. can walk away after one year. win-win. >> same with cbs. they can cancel it. not working. a one-year deal. >> not a bad gig. couple months work for $20 million. >> good luck. the counter. in most homes, it gets all the action. bring it -- with bounty. in this lab demo, one sheet of bounty leaves this surface as clean as 2 sheets of the bargain brand. why use more when you can use less? bounty. the one-sheet clean picker-upper. here are some stories to watch on abc news. come day break we will see how widespread the damage is in joplin, mis. a powerful tornado hit that city last night. a dozen fatalities have been reported. mark kelly talks to tucson, arizona school children through a video connection hook-up from the international space station. latest survey of gas prices out over night, shows prices fell average of 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. average price is now $4.05. still by no means cheap. at least going down. >> i filled up last night. had to take out look a second mortgage on my house. finally, we know rob is not the biggest animal lover. this is a story you just have to love. you just have to love this one. >> another animal story on "world news now," never stops. abby, a german short-haired pointer playing with her owner when impaled through the heart. she fought the odds through and lived to bark about it. here is tj winick. >> reporter: you can actually see and hear abby the dog's heart race when comforted by owner adam becker. considering what she has been through, it is a miracle abby's heart is beating at all. the german short-haired pointer was impaled by a stick last monday in the woods outside seattle. >> she started crying. i went over there, saw a hole in her chest, probably, 4 inches. and i put my skirt on it. and skaecarried her out. >> it is bad. remarkable she is a life actually. >> reporter: this x ray shows the stick, you can see the shadow. so the dog didn't bleed to death, the doctor had to stitch up the heart as this was pulled out. the nature of the injury and cost involved the surgery is extraordinary rare. one false move, abby is not alive today. >> my heart has never beat as fast as during that one. >> reporter: accidental impalings happen often, with dogs and humans. a 2-year-old had a screwdriver in her head and walked away with an eye bruise. last week this x-ray was taken minutes after a las vegas man walked into the emergency room with a 2 inch thick fence pole sticking out of his neck. difference between life and death can be mesh ushd in millimeters. foreign objects missing arteries and blood vessels. as for abby, we are happy to report she is on the mend and could be headed home as soon as monday. >> she is going to be all right. >> reporter: tj winick in new york. >> oh, $15,000 that surgery cost. a lot more than the guy can handle. if you want to help him out. donate to seattle veterinary specialist clinic. >> and pets are family members really. you can see how much he cares really. you can see how much he cares about let's turn over this log. yeah! both: whoa! i like the big black ones. i like the brown wiggly ones. mmm. i like the green crunchy ones myself. whoa. explore nature. there are surprises everywhere. go to discovertheforest.org. cat, voice-over: you locate your nearest shelter, you go down there, and you pick out the perfect match for you. me. this morning on "world news now" -- breaking news. multiple fatalities reported after a mile-wide tornado rips through joplin, missouri. >> we are getting new details on widespread damage there and what we can expect to see at sunrise. it is monday, may 23rd. good morning, i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm rob nelson. deadly tornados hit both joplin, missouri, and minneapolis, minnesota. a huge string of severe storms hitting the middle of the country. we'll bring you the latest developments. all signs point to they're waking up to a horrific morning in the middle part of the country. also this half-hour, another volcano in iceland could have an impact on international travel. what air traffic controllers overseas have learned from the last volcano that could help them out this time. and later on in this half-hour, oprah winfrey makes tv history this week with the final episode of her iconic talk show. we are getting some hints now about surprises that could be in store when she wraps things up wednesday. >> didn't she look great in the purple dress. >> the color purple, a theme for her. >> must be nice to exhale and know she can rest before she has the whole network thing to take care of. >> exactly. >> the news this morning, begin with the breaking news out of joplin, missouri. there is unimaginable damage after a powerful killer tornado slammed into the city of 50,000 last night leaving much of it virtually flattened. >> the death toll said to be in the dozens and destruction there overwhelming. home after home torn to shreds. major businesses wiped out. even hospital roof blown off. a state of emergency is now in effect. the national guard has been called in. >> that same deadly -- >> st. johns regional medical center hospital, the roof was completely torn off. the tornado went right through st. johns. and a triage, multiple triages, multiple morgues are set up right in the area. bodies just laid on the street. and after, right after the storm, i actually went out, began gathering the news for tonight. assessing the damage. you could hear residents who were trapped under the rubble just crying out for help. they wanted everyone to know that they were still alive. but they needed to get out. and where dead bodies were being laid on the street. their loved ones actually going up to the bodies, crying, screaming, giving them cpr, with any hopes of reviving them. >> what have you heard so far about the extent of the damage in that city? >> you know, as you have already heard it is just unfathomable. and the darkness is upon them. and they are just facing the unthinkable. right now every report we get is that absolutely all efforts are on search-and-rescue. you have heard about these just -- building damages, private homes, huge businesses, and, and we want to make sure that every asset is focused on getting them out, it's dark, and -- we're doing all we can to help those citizens right now. >> now that same deadly storm system spawned at least three tornados which tore through minneapolis. at least one person was killed there. dozens of others hurt. >> kstp's correspondent shows us the damage in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods. >> reporter: can you seep it? at first we couldn't. this is all that is left of this woman's house. >> it's gone. the big huge tree that was in the backyard, fell and it just crumbled, totally collapsed. >> reporter: we heard the emergency calls on the scanner while we were on our way. the woman's husband strapped inside had to escape. >> tried to get down to the basement. it threw him back. thank goodness. he broke a window out of the back. only part of the house standing, 3-foot area left in the house. and he broke the window and climbed out the back window. >> reporter: hard to imagine being anywhere in this pile of debris and survive. nearby. >> it sounded like, like a house being torn off its foundation. >> reporter: tony got his family into the basement. that sound heap heard wasn't a house being torn from a foundation it was his garage. >> the condition of it, it is not there. >> reporter: i walked with this woman, she saw her house for the first time. >> oh, no! look at! >> reporter: she told me she feels lucky, if she hadn't gone to church she would have been home. >> i am blessed. i wasn't in here the i didn't have my grandkids in here. sometimes i have my grandkids. and we sleep back there. it would have caved in on us. >> and we'll have much more from minnesota and missouri later today. you get the latest on the victims, the damage and power outages on "america this morning" and we'll continue our live coverage on "good morning america" as well. just imagine that woman walking up and seeing her house. unbelievable. >> completely destroyed there. of course, a lot of eyes on the weather in those particular areas. let's check in monday weather. we have more severe storms on tap from dallas to buffalo. also more tornados, hail, winds, topping up to 80 miles an hour. up to 6 inches of mountain snow, west of denver into the northern rockies. cool rain from billings, rapid city, showers in seattle. >> 80 in albuquerque. 80s, indianapolis. 70 in new york. 92 in atlanta. and 87 in miami. >> it may be a few days before we know how badly air traffic across northern europe is being affected by a volcanic ash cloud. the cloud spewing from a volcano in iceland right now. so far the impact pretty minimal. as john brahn of the bbc reports. everybody hopes it stays that way. >> reporter: the skies over iceland, adorned by nature's most spectacular. this is a sight causing alarm for the rest of europe. the volcano has burst into life, belching ash into the atmosphere and turning day light into night. people venturing outside are being urged to return to their homes. farmers, are rounding up their live stock. this is the size of the ash plume when the volcano first erupted. it's been growing steadily as it drifts east wards. this is its projected position over norway. assuming the volcano continues to erupt at the same pace and concentration it is now and if we look at the upper level winds it's towards the end of the week where we will start to see there could be a pr