millions bracing for another round of severe weather this week. we're tracking the latest threat after devastating floods swept across texas, killing a young child near dallas. authorities rescuing hundreds

more stranded by the storms. the middle east on the edge this morning after ceasefire talks between israel and hamas hit a wall. israel moves to shut down a major border crossing for humanitarian aid into gaza. the attack that sparked the move. a crackdown on campus protesters at usc as graduation season kicks off. how demonstrators are using commencement ceremonies to send a message this weekend. a scam artist caught stealing from families at their most vulnerable, ring off gold star families after their loved ones died. why the victims say the army played a role too. and a wake-up call from an apple watch. how the device forever changed a woman's life for the better. it's monday, may 6th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. catastrophic flooding continues to plague the houston and dallas areas of texas after days of

relentless rainfall. a boy died sunday after the car he was traveling in was swept away by floodwaters. this body cam video shows houston police rescuing a man and three dogs after being trapped in at least eight feet of water in a flooded trailer park. in dallas, passengers were struggling to escape rushing water on the roadway. since friday, hundreds of people and pets have been rescued across the state. this river nearly swallowing an elevated roadway. and an explosion of electricity crackling along the power lines was likely caused by the wet weather. and for those in the flood zone, the threat isn't over yet. major river flooding expected to last the next few days. this as more dangerous weather is taking aim at the region today. let's turn to nbc meteorologist michelle grossman, who is tracking it all for us. good morning, michelle. what a which to start the week. >> i know. good morning, frances. new week and a new risk for severe weather. not only today but into wednesday. today is volatile in the plains. we have a big storm system

that's going to bring the risk for severe weather from texas all the way to the dakotas. again, we're concerned about river flooding in texas. we're looking at the chance for really strong storms. very large hail. could see long tracking tornadoes and heavy rainfalls as we go throughout this monday. by tuesday, we're going see it moving off to the east. talking about the midwest, potential hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. that will move to the east on wednesday. this is what we're look at today. you can see a lot under the gun. a loft people under the gun. four severe storms. 15 million people at risk. giant softball-sized hail. could see long tracking tornadoes, especially when you see this red area, so wichita, oklahoma city. the orange and yellow, a big swath of land from texas to the dakotas. it's going to be a tough afternoon and evening for many. also concern about heavy rainfall. that's going to lead for the chance of flooding, flash flooding, especially when you see the darker blues from sioux city to kansas city. >> a lot more still to cover, michelle.

thank you. >> sure. breaking overnight. >> israel is warning thousands of civilians to begin evacuating from the city of rafah in the southern gaza strip ahead of an eminent invasion. nbc news reports that cia director burns is heading to israel this morning in a last-ditch effort to salvage truce talks between israel and hamas. it's happening at a critical time with the head of the world food program confirming reports of mass hunger in an interview on "meet the press" yesterday. >> so what i can explain to you is that there is famine, full-blown famine in the north, and it's moving its way south. >> let's go to nbc 4 news correspondent claudio lavanga. good morning, claudio. bring us up to date on the latest. >> good morning, frances. well, the spokesperson for the easily defense forces at a briefing confirmed that the reason ongoing evacuation of about 100,000 palestinians from eastern rafah now is said it doesn't know how long this is going to take. this is not a widespread evacuation. it's only affects the eastern part of the town.

but the idf has confirmed that it is dropping flyers on the part of the town, encouraging residents to move to an extended humanitarian area, in particular to al nawazi, another town on gaza's coastline. officially to allow palestinians -- from the part of the town to get access to humanitarian aid. but as you mentioned, the fear is that this is in preparation of a military ground operation that is being long announced and anticipated by the israeli military. something that has been discouraged so far by humanitarian organizations as well as allies of israel, including the united states for fear that fighting in that part of town could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. because about more than a million palestinians, many of whom fled other parts of gaza because of the war are now held up and finding shelter in rafah. now as you mentioned, the cia confirmed that william burns,

the director, is traveling to israel today in what looks like a last ditch diplomatic efforts to get israel and hamas to agree on a ceasefire and a hostage release deal before the tanks roll into rafah. frances? >> we'll watch closely to see how far the talks go. claudio, thank you. there were more police crackdowns on college campuses this weekend. the lapd clearing out a long-running protest at usc. as our adrienne broaddus reports, this is happening as am pus protests against the war in gaza spread to the graduation ceremonies themselves. protesters left willingly. no one was arrested. >> free, free, palestinian. >> the pro-palestinian demonstrators calling for a cipher and for the school to divest from israel. university officials say they called in police about 12 hours

after warning the encampment was a violation of policies and the law and that protesters could face arrests. >> and when the students were cleared by lapd from the center of campus, they shut down this main street. and they also chanted they do not care, they will be back. at the university of virginia in charlottesville, police clashed with demonstrators as they tried to take down an encamp. the school says at least 25s were arrested for trespassing. and it's not just schools. at the art institute of chicago, 68 were arrested and charged with trespassing. now school administrators coast-to-coast trying to determine whether or not to change graduation plans. >> we will not stop, we will not rest! >> reporter: in ann arbor, nearly 75 protesters interrupted the beginning of commencement at the university of michigan. demonstrators chanting before being moved. >> they have the right to protest. >> a lot of these people, you

know, their senior year of high school, their graduation was during covid. so they already had that ruined. and now you got this going on. >> reporter: some universities like usc have canceled their main graduation ceremony, while others have increased their security measures. and the campus is back open to students and faculty with valid id ahead of final exams this week. meanwhile. >> a cross the country, as graduations continue, some volunteer staff are getting trained on the best ways to de-escalate potential disruptions. back to you. >> adrienne, thank you. one person is dead after falling from the stands during ohio state's commencement ceremony on sunday. a spokesperson for the school confirmed that the person dropped near the bell tower at ohio stadium. police are still investigating what led to the fall. the incident did not impact graduation proceedings. a driver has died after crashing into a security barrier at the white house. police are investigating saturday night's incident as a traffic crash. president biden was spending the

weekend in delaware, and the secret service said there was no threat to the white house. former president trump is back in court again today, kicking off week four of the high profile proceedings. mr. trump is charged with falsifying business records. prosecutors allege he paid hush money to porn star stormy daniels to cover up an affair in a final sprint to the 2016 presidential campaign. last week, he was fined $9,000 for contempt of court after repeatedly attacking jurors and witnesses in public statements. and on friday, we heard testimony from one of mr. trump's closest aides. hope hicks talked about the chaos that followed the release of the infamous "access hollywood" tape. let's check back with michelle grossman who has the forecast for the week ahead. >> it's a busy one today. we're look at a lot of weather stories. in the middle the threat for severe weather from texas to the dakotas. high winds throughout portions of the northern plains. behind this, we're look at colder air working in, and a

power pulse will bring spring snow to the intermountain west. out east, it's going to be a little unsettled as well. could see some showers. throughout the midatlantic, heavy rain in the carolinas. even some storms there. by wednesday, that severe storm now target portions of the ohio valley into the great lakes. snow continues into the intermountain west. looking at record highs along the gulf coast. temperatures soaring into the 90s. 90s in texas all throughout the gulf coast, into florida as well. and then friday, we're quiet. thank goodness throughout the middle of the country. seasonal throughout the southwest. could see some snow in the rockies. higher elevations of the rockies and looking at eastern showers. down to the southeast. that's a look at r strong storms bringing tornadoes, hail boo the plains. oklahoma city 80 degrees.

all right. that's your monday forecast. >> okay, michelle, thank you. now some good news before you fuel up for work this week. for the first time this year, gas prices are dropping down about 2 cents nationwide, according to a trilby survey. the average price down to $3.75 a gallon. experts say low crude prices and weaker demand due to inflation are what's driving down the costs. coming up, the g.o.a.t. gets roasted. how tom brady tackled his ckrs. gold star families who had millions stolen from them when they were at their lowest. "early today" is back in a minute. only takes a minute. look at that! the heavy duty cloths are extra thick, for amazing trap & lock. even for his hair. wow. and for dust, i love my heavy duty duster. the fluffy fibers trap dust on contact, up high and all around

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>> oh, my god, yeah. >> reporter: sharon hartz was not only deep in mourning over the sudden death of her 26-year-old son, sergeant thomas anastasio while serving in the military -- >> his birthday right before. >> reporter: -- she was also totally overwhelmed with all of the arrangements that come with the death of a loved one. that's when the army told her that she had not only receive $500,000 in death benefits, but that she would be set up with an army financial counselor to help her with it. >> they insisted that we be educated on the finances, so they were properly handled. >> reporter: she drove to fort dix, where she first sat down with caz craffy, an army reservist who held a civilian job offering advice about money to army families. what was he like when you first met him? >> very charismatic. >> reporter: that turned out to be a facade. craffy was a con man. >> i've lost a little over $200,000. now i'm up in the air. now i can't afford to retire. i feel taken advantage of. i'm embarrassed. >> reporter: prosecutors say craffy was only supposed to be giving families

generic guidance. instead, he held a second job as an investment manager in violation of army rules. he convinced hartz and other gold star relatives to hand him their money, then racked up huge commissions, even as he made unwise investments that plummeted in value. he's now pleaded guilty to bilking dozens of gold star families out of millions of dollars. natasha bevard signed her money over to craffy after she lost her husband, an iraq combat veteran, to suicide. >> i saw in a short amount of time, i lost a lot of money. i had lost like $260,000 overall. >> reporter: public records show craffy bought this $2.1 million house in 2022. it's now in foreclosure and he's facing ten years in prison, but many victims say others have questions to answer. >> i do believe that there is blood on the hands of the army here. >> reporter: attorney natalie khawam specializes in suing the military. she's representing hartz, bevard, and other victims,

contemplating a lawsuit to hold the army accountable. >> they were at their lowest, and here's the only person they believed was going take care of them was the army, sends in a person that basically took advantage of them. >> reporter: in a statement to nbc news, the army says they conducted a thorough criminal investigation and found this to be an isolated case and that they remain dedicated to caring for families of fallen soldiers. for sharon, it's not just about the money. >> i feel like i let my son down, because, you know, this was his way of taking care of me and my children. you know? so it's -- it's devastating. >> reporter: ken dilanian, nbc news, paramus, new jersey. still to come, netflix gets flagged for roughling the passer. hear the joke that got an unexpectedeaio rctn from tom brady at the streamer's first ever live roast, coming up after this. just like i was. dryness and frizz could be damaged hair

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♪ this is an epic story. of cosmic proportions. >> the bad guys are closing in. >> we're going to hide you. >> no, we're going beat the [ bleep ] out of him. i never forget a fist. >> i was an easy ride to top of the box office for "the fall guy." the action romp starring ryan gosling and embley live blunt pulled in $28.5 million in the first week in theaters. and the 25th anniversary rerelease of "star wars" episode 1 came in second. challengers took second place with $7.6 million. you said you wanted to see "the fall guy". >> they're so cute. and they have such chemistry together. i think it's going to be a great movie. >> he is on a career high when it comes to ryan gosling. >> 100%. like "barbie," now this. he can do no wrong. and then his wife, eva perez. well, this i wanted to see too, but missed it.

tom brady may have ice in his veins, but one comedian still managed to get under his skin on sunday. early on in netflix's greatest roast of all time, brady seemed to take offense from roaster jeff ross. >> that scrawny rookie famously walked into the owner robert kraft office's and said i'm the best decision your organization has ever made. would you like a massage. >> okay, okay. he's having fun. >> all right, ross was referencing the controversy surrounding new england patriots owner robert kraft, who was charged as part of a 2019 human trafficking investigation. kraft pleaded not guilty, and the charges were dropped a year later. and if anyone knows jeffrey ross, you know he is going to go there. but i like how he stopped him. we're not doing that. >> it's interesting that he stopped him on that, because kevin hart was up there, also bringing up gisele, and gisele's jujitsu trainer/boyfriend right now. >> oh, that hits low. >> but he didn't go up for that

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>> reporter: jessica malone had just biked home from harlem to hell's kitchen when her apple phone started vibrating. >> it turned red and was vibrating and said seek medical attention i was really thrown off, okay, this is serious. >> reporter: jessica docked her bike and rushed to the african american. >> she had come in with severe palpitation and chest pain and light-headedness and dizziness. >> reporter: dr. mohammed was on call at mount sinai west. he had an abnormal heart palpitation call afib. >> this is really serious. your family needs to come down here. >> reporter: concerned about blood clots and a potential stroke, doctors had to use electrical currents to shock jessica's heart into a normal rhythm. it worked and the next day she was able to go home. >> the apple watches are very helpful because they provide patients with a very quick alert system for them to see a health care provider.

>> reporter: if not for the alert center watch, jessica says she would have gone home and taken a nap. instead, she credits the apple watch for turning her life around. >> even when it subs, it feels good. >> reporter: since the health scare last may, jessica has dropped 100 pounds and adopted a healthy lifestyle, training to run her very first marathon, this weekend's potomac river run in d.c. which falls exactly one year since she was discharged from the hospital. >> it wouldn't even cross my mind. >> reporter: jessica has been documenting her journey on social media to inspire others to pay attention to their health. and you'll notice in all the videos, she's wearing her apple watch, and she certainly will be for all 26.2 miles. >> i absolutely will be, yes. i'm never taking it off. i take it off the charge, and that's it. >> good for her. what a turnaround. our thanks to adam kuperstein for that report. madonna brought more than a ray of light to brazil over the weekend. ♪

♪ nothing really matters ♪ ♪ love is all we need ♪ >> the pop icon on included her celebration tour with a massive free concert on the copacabana beach in rio de janeiro saturday. according to news brazilian site g-1, an estimated 1.6 million people packed the sandy dance floor or to the queen of pop's historic performance. look at this crowd. it is believed to be the largest one in her career, and what a way to end it. because remember, when she started this year, she had those health issues where she had to put it on hold. what way to end

a stark warning ahead of the expected ground invasion in rafah. we are live in washington with the new white house push to boost talks for ceasefire. grocery store game changer one state lawmaker wants those supe