Copacabana beach today, wednesday, august 17th, 2016. Dont know if ive seen him do quite that good ever and that may there and then have been the gold medal jump. That one just about perfect announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today at the Olympic Games with matt lauer live from rio de janeiro, brazil, and Savannah Guthrie live from rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special splitedition of today. [ cheers and applause ] hoda, were here to covering the olympics, so its all about the athletes. Were going to be talking about a lot of medalists this morning, but with we could give out an olympic gold medal for sportsmanship and supporting team usa, the guy standing down on the deck, get it this morning. He flew all the way from los angeles here to surprise the final five. Hes been watching simone biles tweet. He was keeping up with all of it. He said, what am i doing at home . He got on a plane. There was a lot of cloak and dagger. Were going to show you the epic surprise in a little bit. We love this guy, huh . Yeah, we do. So does the crowd. Well talk to him in a little while. Before that big moment, the big surprise hoda just talked about, we were in the arena watching simone and aly compete. We caught up with them moments after they received their medals. Well have that for you as well. Wow, thats also a great, great moment. Plus, we mentioned that heartbreaking loss for Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross in Beach Volleyball. Natalie, al and billy were all there and natalies got kerri and aprils reaction right after the match. All that is coming up from here in rio. Back to you in back to you in new york. We have breaking news here out of californ raging out of control in San Bernardino county. More than 82,000 people being told to evacuate today. We will be there live. We will have the latest on the historic flooding in louisiana. 40,000 homes have been damaged and we could see new communities inundated today and the crisis is not close to being over. Natalie joins us now with the olympics roundup. Racked up a flew of medals, though. Overnight, a shocking upset in Beach Volleyball. American Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross knocked out in the semifinal match. Brazil has upset the United States. After losing team usa struggled. Every time the americans tried to rally, the Brazilian Team had an opbs. Ross blocked. The loss, the first ever in olympic play. Its really disappointing and heartbreaking and the great thing is we earned the right to fight tomorrow and make it better. In gymnastics, team usa is back on top. Simone biles delivering another perfect routine, this time in the floor exercises. Winning gold for the fourth time during the game. And aly raisman taking silver for her sixth career olympic medal. Dint parallel bars before doing the same on the high bar. U. S. Gymnastics team leaving rio with a combined 12 medals, the most since 1984. Another big effort. Moments later, clay had another reason to celebrate. Today was the day. I just knew today was going to be the best day of my life. In the womens 1500 meters, Jenny Simpson was the first to medal in the event. Simpson falling to the ground after crossing the finish line, and her mother watching from the stands in disbelief. Earlier in the day, usain bolt advanced. He is aiming for her third goal in the 200meter. So heres where the medal count stands. The u. S. Is big after picking up nine more medals in all on tuesday, and followed by china, Great Britain and russia. And the basketball plays in the quarterfinals. And also the bronze for the u. S. Women, so against the other Brazilian Team. Its going to be a tough one for them. What do you say we turn back to gymnastics for a second. Gold and fifth medal all over and her teammate, aly raisman, taking sell srur. We talked to both of them after the medal ceremony. The womens Gymnastics Team dominated once again. This will be remembered as one of the greatest dynasties in gymnastic history. She sets herself a part because she makes everything look so easy, with a record fourth gold medal, the most any American Woman has of won in a single owe limb peck game. And once again, owe pwhreut rates. Obliterates. To leave rio with five gold medals, but that ended on the balance beam monday night. Oh, dont touch you know the expressions its not whether you get knocked down, its whether you get back up. Yoid yesterday. How did you gather yourself . Well, it was pretty easy, because if you think about it, if you think about it, i fell on beam and still got a bronze, and how often do you see that . Clearly did not make the pint sized powerhouse making the most of her opportunity. Half point the rest of the field. Aly being the reigning olympic champion is hoping to defend her title. Aly raisman finishing a strong second. Jam packed with difficulty. Tremendous. The 22yearold team captain and selfproclaimed grandma of the final five was all smiles after the onetwo finish. Congratulations, grandma. How do you feel . I feel very good. I feel very young. You do . Yes, i do. Im very happy. I lost my voice a little bit because i was cheering so loud for the other girls the other days. I was screaming. Did you hear me . I did. I did hear you. Successful u. S. Womens team ever. Wow. How does that feel . Youre the only person to actually say that out loud. I hadnt thought about that, but it feels amazing. Its crazy. I cant believe i have six olympic medals. So it doesnt feel real. If you told me that when i was a little girl, i would have thought you were crazy. Two athletes at the top of their game but leaving the future wide open. Will you be in tokyo . Your coach says youre as strong as ever. Up until now, i hadnt been think being it, but im going to take a vacation, take some time off, and then you know, id never say never, you know. Im definitely thinking about it. How do you improve for tokyo . I dont know. Thats a really long ways away. Well see. How do you improve for tokyo . I dont know, thats a long ways away. They managed to save their best moves for last. Every time hoda interviewed this week, she has gotten you two and the rest of you to dance. We looked for her in the stands, is she here . They played her song. Somehow i am here and all i am asking is do a happy dance for hoda. By the way little did they know the reason i was there in the mix zone because you were setting up the huge surprise. The happy dance we have had through all of this, it will not compare. As we mentioned, the u. S. Beach Volleyball Team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross was defeated overnight by one of the teams from brazil. The first loss at the olympics for carry after 26 straight wins and three gold meda medals. What an incredible career they have had. Very hard to compete in those stands. Point for point, and unfortunately it was not their night. The trouble started out early. Brazil coming out strong. Leading the u. S. Right out of the gate. Walshjennings and ross trying to put it on. But the number two ranked team in the world wouldnt let anything go. It was wild scenes in the stands. Hometown crowd going crazy. The brazilians taking set one. The brazilians have taken the first set, and did not let up. Brazil won the second set. They can win it here. And ending Kerri Walsh Jennings 28 streak. Brazil upset the United States. Her first loss at an olympic event. Its really disappointing and really hard breaking, but the great thing is we earned the right to fight tomorrow and make it better. It was about the fiercest fight i would ever seen. How would you characterize the brazilian girls . They are relentless and very sound and savvy, and they made the biggs and we didnt. Did the booing rattle you . I loved it. I thought it was great. You come into brazil and they are passionate and want their team to win. Despite the loss, Kerri Walsh Jennings doing what she does best, setting her sights. Is that a reminder to yourself in these moments in all moments, for sure, and when life is they are so determined. They will be playing again for bronze tonight against brazils other remaining team. Will it be kerris last match . She has not ruled out tokyo. A very, very tough fight. Brazilians are known for Beach Volleyball, too. You can also see usain bolts return to the track in the semifinals, and thats tonight nbcs primetime olympic coverage. Let us go now for breaking news to savannah in new york. We have two big stories to follow this morning, including a raging wildfire in Southern California that exploded overnight, and official evacua evacuate. In louisiana, the unprecedented flooding damaged 40,000 homes. Lets start with gabe gutierrez, and this is between baton rouge and new orleans. The magnitude of this disaster is staggering. 11 people are confirmed dead, and eight more parishes have been added to the federal disaster declaration bringing the total to 20 and authorities here are warning the threat is far from over. This morning a desperate scramble. Its horrible. The toll of the flood growing by the hour, and the record rainfall rushing downstream, innodating new communities. How long you have lived hear . All my life. You have ever seen it flood like this . Never. At least 30,000 people rescued, and more than 40,000 homes damaged. Powerful before and after images of schools and neighborhoods are emerging, and the baton rouge movie studio became a massive makeshift emergency shelter. As some prepare for the worst, others are already living it. Pictures of my daughter. Well never get things like that back. Bob, a retired firefighter that helped Hurricane Katrina victims just return home. To a loss that cant be measured. Just a heartbreaking loss. The waters have largely receded up near baton rouge but theres still plenty of waters in sorrento. All of the water not expected to clear out until later this week. Gabe, a as well. Thank you. To the massive outofcontrol wildfire in Southern California, consuming homes and forcing tens of thousands to evacuated. Reporter good morning, savannah. Hundreds of firefighters here fighting this blaze overnight as more plan to join them from across the state of california, as the wildfire continues to spread. A Devastating Blaze tearing through Southern California overnight, moving fast and tripling in size and engulfing more than 18,000 acres of land, and more than 82,000 residents have evacuated. I looked outside and saw the flames. Air tankers work tirelessly to douse the flames. The fire started tuesday 60 miles east of los angeles, closing down a major interstate and state of emergency declared. The police were running up and down the street telling us we need to get out and i guess its really moving fast. The fire is the result of a punishing heat wave and strong winds and 0 contained as the crews battle the fastmoving flames. Hopefully we will get to come back and this is the third time, so hopefully it will still be standing. Reporter two firefighters had been minorly injured in this fire so far, but thankfully they are doing okay and out of the hospital, but red flag alerts across the state of california right now, that means imminent extreme fire danger over the next 24 hours, savannah. Now to the race to the white house with less than three month to election day, Donald Trumps campaign undergoing a major staff shakeup. Hallie jackson is in milwauk night. Tell us about it. Reporter this is serious stuff in the trump campaign. The shakeup now with less than three months to go before election day, and we are talking about two new names added to the top of the Donald Trumps team, one man once described as the most dangerous political ope operative in america, he will step into the role of ceo, and these moves signal a shift that Paul Manafort may be losing sway, no longer calling all the shots. I am told this morning by a Senior Adviser that the decision came from donald trump himself, and all of this to make him more comfortable and he hopes to stop him from sliding further to Hillary Clinton in the polls. One more note on the election, we have an exclusive interview with tim kaine and h wife in the next hour, and for now we will send it back to rio, matt, and zac efron . No. You have the heat out west . Not going to help the firefighters out there. A big dome of upper level High Pressure and jet stream way up to the north and you can see the active fire, and red flag warnings stretching to the east of san diego up into los angeles, and we are going to see temperatures that are going to be brutal. 85 to 100 degrees in some sections and in central california, thats repeated, and this recordsetting heat moving up into the Pacific Northwest right up on into the weekend. We will get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning. A bright and sunny start to your wednesday. Current temperatures are in the 70s in most suburbs 80. Wont be as hot as we have been. High temperatures today will be mostly up in the low 90s during the middle of the afternoon, and more clouds starting to develop after 3 00 or 4 00, and occasional showers and thundershowers are likely this evening. Next couple of days, staying a little warmer than average but nowhere near 100 degrees. Thats your latest weather. Coming up, so excited how we pulled it off, the bigur on the final five. Zac efron. And zac is here on copacabana beach live hanging with the crowd. First this is today on nbc. [ hip hop beat throughout ] [ fans cheering ] my level. So you never miss a moment, miss a minute, miss a medal. Why settle when you can have it all . Soccer to wrestling. Track and field to basketball. Fencing to cycling. Diving to balance beam. All you have to say is, show me, and boom its on the screen. From the bottom of the mat, to the couch where you at . Show me the latest medal count . Xfinitys where its at. Welcome to it all. Comcast nbcuniversal is proud to bring you coverage of the rio Olympic Games. Coming up, a coming up, a collision on track putting the olympic spirit on full display. But first your local news. Im batman im batman im batman im batman sfx boop im batman 24 designs available, 6. 97 each save money. Live better. Walmart. Allows me to actually operate my guibusiness from everest. 4 i help clients achieve their dreams. Being able to go between having a laptop and having a tablet is really important to me. I couldnt do that with my mac. I love that we as humans can go to the top of the world. Its the durability. The reliability. Its incredible. One smart choice leads to the next. The new 2017 ford fusion is here. Its the beauty of a wellmade choice. 7 26 is your time on this wednesday, august 17th, 2016. I am eun yang. D. C. Police are looking for a gunman after an overnight shooting that sent three people to the hospital. Neighbors say they heard dozens of shots fired along first street southwest between 0 and t before 3 00 a. M. Two women and a man are hurt and they are expected to survive. Police are looking for a tan or creamcolored car. Call police if you can help. And then the search for a person in the potomac will start in an hour. Montgomery fire and rescue says the man went underwater and the search was suspended last night once it became too dark. We will take a break and check your forecast when we come back. A quick look at traffic. New crash blocking the left lane before third street tunnel. 395 north, the express lanes after 27 washington boulevard, a crash reported there. A live look at 395, not looking so pretty. The forecast after this. Squuuuack, lets feed him lets feto the sharks sharks yay and take all of his gold and take all of his gold ya and hide it from the crew ya. . Squuuuack, theyre all morons anyway i never said that. They all smell bad too. No you all smell wonderful i smell bad if youre a parrot, you repeat things. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Bright and sunny outside, and most of the suburbs are in the 70s today. Afternoon highs will be in the upper 80s to low 90s across most areas and an increase in chance for showers or thundershowers, and rain chances are really going up after 6 00 or 7 00 this the upper 80s and back in the low 90s on friday and most of the weekend it will be dry but there will be showers by sunday afternoon and evening. Another local news update in 25 minutes. Now back to the today show after this short break. Simplify you, classify you, deny, defy or crucify you. All i really want to do is, baby, be friends with you. All right, were back now, 7 30 on a wednesday morning. Its the 17th day of august can you believe that view . No, i cannot. Thats from the helicopter looking down at copacabana beach, another perfect day. Why the beach just got better . Yeah, the beach got a lot better for all of us. Lets talk headlines. The drive for historic fourth straight gold medal for Beach Volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings is over, and she and her partner were defeated in straight sets late last night by a team from brazil, and kerri and april will play a little later. Christian taylor, marking a repeat of their performance in london four years ago. The final day of our gymnastics was a very good one for team usa. And lava won two silvers, and tkoring the womens competition, we were working on a big surprise for simone and the rest of the final five with zac efron. Her voice goes up like four octaves. This is part of the real special edition of make your today. Take a look. Tpheufplt rios olympic arena, simone biles was getting ready for one of the best nights of her life. Normally does, its just fun. Little did she know how good it was going to get, because just a stones throw away, zachary yoarrived to surprise her. Its happening. You are here at the olympics and shes going to. We