tonight, a monster winter storm. the nor'easter hitting with a dangerous mix of snow, relentless rain and wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour. travel nightmares, thousands of flights canceled, passengers getting sick on a plane trying to land in the storm. >> i'm holding on to the seat and we're going up and down and everywhere. >> massive flooding, roads underwater. al roker is tracking the threat for us. the deadly double shooting inside a college campus dorm. tonight, the urgent manhunt for the gunman. another roller coaster day on wall street as president trump stokes fears of a trade war, saying they're easy to win. how it could impact prices on everything from blue jeans to bourbon. hotel wi-fi warning. the new trick scammers can use to make you think you're signing on to the hotel's network to steal your info. how to protect

yourself. and hollywood's biggest night, how a movie with high hopes at sunday's oscars is inspiring calls to action across america. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening to our viewers in the west. power is out for millions. planes are grounded and floodwaters are rising in many sections of the northeast tonight, as rain, heavy snow and vicious winds pummel the region. storm blamed for at least five deaths so far. in new england, all eyes are on a potentially life-threatening storm surge, flooding costal communities. the weather service in boston tweeting today, take this storm seriously. expect structural damage, homes destroyed. the powerful nor'easter battered an area from the carolinas to maine with winds above 70 miles an hour. the winds making for harrowing moments in the sky, like this flight on its landing

at reagan national airport. flight cancellations felt across the entire country. even amtrak service between washington and boston has been halted. our coverage starts with kristen dahlgren in massachusetts. >> reporter: tonight a powerful nor'easter slamming the east coast with power outages from maine to north carolina. along massachusetts' coastline -- >> this whole street will be totally flooded within the next 45 minutes. >> reporter: wind gusts above 70 miles an hour. streets simply gone beneath the water. and the waves. >> you can hear it. >> whoa. >> now, that's a -- >> that went over the roof. >> that hit the house. we have to step back. >> we more than doubled our staff. >> reporter: duxbury fire was at the ready, checking on residents who stayed behind. >> there is a road underneath here. >> reporter: using this massive

high-water vehicle to get to areas now cut off by water. tens of millions up and down the coast are still in the thick of it. in boston, the harbor spilling into the streets. >> my wife and mother are not happy that i'm bringing my kids down here right now but we're playing it safe. >> reporter: in pennsylvania and upstate new york, heavy snow making driving treacherous. >> rain, snow, slush, it's just -- my windshield wipers can't keep up with this stuff. >> reporter: in new york city, wind gusts over 60 miles an hour toppling trucks on bridges, downing trees in philadelphia, hitting a bus on a highway. while those whipping winds in d.c. rocking scaffolding and downing trees. and turning deadly in virginia. a 6-year-old boy killed in his bed when a tree came through the roof. back in duxbury, first responders ready for a long night. >> everything the meteorologists are telling us, this water won't be able to escape so it's only going to get worse. >> reporter: we still have two more high tide cycles to go

through before the storm moves on. that as we are learning about another death from a downed tree in this storm. lester, as you can see, these winds continue to whip. >> some incredible images, all right kristen dalghren, thanks. this monster storm is wreaking havoc on travel, sending rippings across the country, wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour. it's a nightmare on the roads and in the air, forcing thousands of flight cancellations and making for very rocky rides. let's get the latest from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: at reagan national airport in washington today, a terrifying landing attempt in high winds with air sick passengers as a southwest plane at first aborts then comes around for a second attempt. >> there's lots of people throwing up in bags. it was pretty crazy. >> reporter: thankful to be on the ground, john kirk and his sons returning from orlando. >> the guy whose seat i was holding was throwing up for like five minutes.

i'm holding on and we're going up and down and everywhere. >> reporter: high winds forced more than 3,000 flight cancellations. >> the cross winds are causing a problem for us, and as the day progresses we're also worried about any winds that are higher than 44 miles an hour. >> reporter: at new york's jfk and laguardia airports, flights suspended during the day, stuck in the airport for 48 hours. janet gill and her kids trying to get to boston. >> i really want to be home, you know. my kids want to -- really want their bed. >> reporter: but boston logan felt the cancellations. the high winds affecting train travel. amtrak service in the northeast suspended. meanwhile, the flight aware misery map showing red out of east coast hub airports, while at washington dulles airport, the tower was evacuated with winds pushing 70 miles per hour. the hope? that air travel is back to normal by monday. here in washington, we've got sustained winds averaging 30 to

40 and then it gusts up to 50 or 60, but meteorologists tell us just a few thousand feet up they're seeing 80 mile per hour winds. that makes it a very rough ride if you're in a plane. lester? >> good night to be on the ground. tom costello, thanks. for the latest, let's turn to al roker. al? >> rain out in new england. snow. 58 miles per hour at jfk. montauk 45. what we're looking at now, this system will be moving out slowly and as it does, the rain will start tapering off. as the low pressure moves away, we have the pressure gradient. winds will continue through tomorrow. as you can see, we're going to be looking at wind gusts between 44 to 50 miles per hour right on into early tomorrow morning, so, lester, it's going to take almost all weekend for the air travel system to get back to normal because we still have wind gusts hanging around. >> it will be with us.

al roker, thanks very much. let's turn to a college campus on edge this evening. police searching for the gunman in a deadly double shooting inside a dorm at central michigan university. there's late word from campus police, confirming the victims are the suspects parents. kevin tibbles with the latest with the urgent manhunt. >> reporter: shots rang out before 9:30 this morning in one of the student residents halls at central michigan university, setting in motion a campus-wide lockdown and police manhunt. >> number-one priority right now is safety. we still have people sheltering in place. >> reporter: authorities have not confirmed the victims' identities but tonight are searching for james eric davis jr. the victims are his parents. >> if you encounter

him, consider him to be armed and dangerous. >> reporter: three hours northwest of detroit. today was the final day before students left for spring break. >> for those planning to come to campus to pick up their students for spring break, we would ask that you please stay off campus. >> reporter: anxious families were asked to wait at a nearby hotel. >> just happening all over the place and never would have thought it would have happened here. >> reporter: there is video of davis running down railroad tracks. tonight, he remains at large. kevin tibbles, nbc news. we've got good news about the nationwide flu epidemic. the cdc says flu season has "definitely peaked" but warns it's still widespread in 45 states. another 17 children died from the flu last week, bringing the total number of pediatric deaths to 114 for the season. it was another wild day on wall street after president trump doubled down and welcomed a potential trade war over his surprise announcement on new tariffs on steel and aluminum

imports. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has the story. >> reporter: president trump leaving a washington wind storm can't shake the turbulence tied to the tough new tariffs he announced on aluminum and steel. the dow closing down slightly after another dip today. >> there goes the bell. the dow will close down 50 points. >> reporter: what the commerce secretary calls a tremendous overreaction, arguing any price hike passed to consumers is chump change. >> i just bought this can today at a 7-eleven down here and the price was $1.99. so who in the world is going to be too bothered by six-tenths of a cent. >> reporter: but the risk isn't just that higher costs could get passed to you, it's that other countries could retaliate, making it more expensive for american workers to sell their products overseas, like wheat from farms like this one. >> we depend a lot on

exports, and the fact that something threatens those exports really makes it tough for us. >> reporter: the president aiming to protect u.s. metal workers, tweeting, at times trade wars are good and easy to win. >> trade battles can be easy and possible to win. trade wars are damaging to everybody. >> reporter: why now? nbc news has learned the president became unglued this week, in the words of one source, by a series of events, including hope hicks' testimony to lawmakers on russia, and that's according to two officials familiar with the matter. seething and spoiling for a fight, the president picked one on trade, throwing the markets and his west wing into turmoil with a single sentence. >> it will be 25% for steel. it will be 10% for aluminum. >> reporter: the white house points out the president's position on trade should come as no surprise. as for whether he will actually formally sign this next week, we're told never say never, but he's pretty committed to moving this forward, lester. >> hallie jackson at the white house. thank you. now to our exclusive interview with russian president

vladimir putin, who has denied any russian government involvement after u.s. charges of election meddling. but what about russian citizens who have been indicted in the special counsel investigation? nbc's megyn kelly asked him about that today. >> translator: we cannot respond to that if they do not violate russian laws. >> would this violate russian law? >> translator: i have to see first what they've done, give us materials, give us information. >> hacking into the democratic national committee, creating interference in our election by creating bots that spread false information on twitter, on facebook, spreading misinformation when it comes to black lives matter, when it comes to our presidential election, that's what i'm talking about. >> translator: with all due respect for you personally, with all due respect for congress, you must have people with legal degrees. 100% you do. and people who are well educated who must understand that we, russia, cannot prosecute anyone if they have not violated russian law. if you don't have a legal degree, i can explain to you --

>> i do. >> then you have to understand what it takes is an official request to the general prosecutor of the russian federation. give us a document. give us an official request. >> you said that that the last time and now i'm back with an indictment. >> translator: this has to go through official channels, not through the press or yelling and hollering in the united states congress. >> we'll have much more of megyn's reporting from russia in the coming days. tonight an nbc news investigation involving russia. claims that russian ships are being used in an elaborate operation to help north korea evade sanctions. a lot that has major implications in the growing concerns over the north korean nuclear threat. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel went on the trail to a remote russian port looking into this. >> reporter: one of the keys to north korea's funding its expanding nuclear program might be here in russia. we came here to investigate how the sanctions-starved regime is getting cash

through smuggling right under everyone's nose. this area may look completely blocked off right now by the ice, but this is actually an essential shipping route. a route, apparently, used to move banned goods and keep kim jong-un's regime afloat. a still-unpublished u.n. report obtained by nbc news says north korea made $200 million in just nine months last year through illicit trade. the report describes several cases of shipping north korean coal through russia. we were searching the ports for specific ships. we're looking for a ship called "vitas." according to shipping logs, it went out to sea last fall and then apparently turned off its locator beacon. reuters quoted two european security officials who said the ship then transferred is, -- 1,600 tons of

oil to a north korean vessel. the guard remembered the ship, but when she checked the records the ship's name wasn't on them. can we go in and see it? we did eventually find a way to get to the vityas in that port and capture these images. >> russia has a rich history of often being an obstacle to sanctions against some of the darkest characters in the international sphere. >> reporter: despite our findings in that u.n. report, no russian ship or companies were included in the latest u.s. sanctions. the russian government and the ship owners had no comment. lester? >> richard engel, thank you. there's much more of richard's reporting tonight at 9:00 eastern on msnbc. still ahead tonight, how computer hackers can easily break into hotel wi-fi networks and how you can protect your personal information. also, the oscar nominated film that's about three billboards and how it's having a big influence in how people present their messages.

we're back with a

new warning about the wi-fi at popular hotels. hackers have new tricks to steal your personal information just as you unwind on vacation. once you log in, they spy on your every move. how do you protect yourself and your privacy? nbc national investigative correspondent jeff rossen has the tips and a dramatic experiment in tonight's "rossen reports." >> reporter: at this resort in cancun, guests are on their phones. what they don't know -- there's a hacker here using a new trick. he's creating a fake wi-fi network, but making it look like the real one from the hotel. >> so we're at the resort right now and their wi-fi access point is fiesta rewards. we set up fiesta rewards pool which makes people think we're at the pool, it must be a stronger signal, i'll use that one. >> reporter: when you log in, hackers can spy on your every move and steal all your personal information. and we watched guest after guest connect to

our fake network thinking it's the real thing. >> you can see there's someone named sharon and someone named cody. they both have iphones. >> and you're watching what they do. >> monitoring everything they're doing. >> reporter: i'm going to try to find them. >> good luck. >> reporter: the hotel is in on it but no one else is. is there a sharon here? you're sharon. what wi-fi are you on? >> fiesta rewards pool. >> reporter: that's the hotel wi-fi? >> yes. >> reporter: what if i told you that's not the wi-fi and our security expert can monitor everything you're doing now on your phone. >> it frightens me. why would you want someone to know your personal information? >> reporter: even on the beach people are logging in. cody? >> yeah. >> reporter: there it is, fiesta rewards pool. >> it's unsettling being on vacation. that's scary. >> reporter: but what information can the hacker really get? i test it out. >> i'm watching everything he's doing in realtime. >> reporter: going to buy some gloves for when i get back home to the cold. >> he just entered in his visa information so it's his visa card number [ bleep ]. >> reporter: i'm going to log into my e-mail. >> he just logged in,

there's his e-mail [ bleep ] and his address [ bleep ]. >> reporter: how do you protect yourself? use your cell carrier's 3g or 4g when banking or shopping, it's more secure. plus, ask the hotel for the name of its wi-fi and be sure to shut off the auto join function so your phone doesn't join a fake network without you even knowing it. jeff rossen, nbc news, cancun, mexico. we're back in a moment with a hollywood do over, beatty and dunaway preparing to take the stage once again at the oscars.

there was a final farewell today for the man known as america's pastor. more than 2,000 mourners attended a private funeral in north carolina for the reverend billy graham. among them, president trump and vice president mike pence. it was held under a huge white tent,

reminiscent of the one where graham held his los angeles brigade. a suit filed by gold medalist aly raisman says usa gymnastics should have known about allegations against former usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar, or they did know and failed to act. she's one of over 250 women and girls to accuse nassar of abuse. nassar has been sentenced to up to hundreds of years in prison. and in hollywood on sunday, it will be a comeback story for faye dunaway and warren beatty. you'll recall last year's oscar disaster when beatty was given the wrong envelope to present the best picture award with dunaway. on sunday, they'll get to do it again, presenting the same award at the end of the show. hollywood ending if there ever was one. when we come back, the oscar-nominated movie centered on a powerful message simply delivered now has life imitating art.

next at 6: we )ll have live team weather coverage from all over the bay area plus i )m tracking where the heavy rain )s headed with a live look from stormranger all that and more - next right now at 6: finally tonight, when the academy awards are held this sunday evening, "three billboards outside ebbing, missouri" will be among the movies up for best picture. the story draws on a retro platform -- the billboard -- to deliver its powerful message. and as national correspondent miguel almaguer reports, others are borrowing a page from the movie's plot line for real life activism. >> how may i help you? >> there are three billboards out. >> reporter: a mother heartbroken because of her daughter's unsolved murder puts up three billboards outside ebbing, missouri, demanding justice. >> i don't think those billboards is very fair. >> reporter: the oscar-nominated film more than just

critically acclaimed. today, activists are using the plot to protest tragedy. three billboards circled a senator's office "slaughter in school" and "still no gun control." "how come, marco rubio?" >> i think the reason why they resonated with people is because of its simplicity and its humanness. >> reporter: around the world, billboards are speaking volumes. 500,000 dead in syria and still no action. in london, questions after a deadly apartment fire. actress frances mcdormand. >> i appreciate a well-organized act of civil disobedience. >> reporter: life imitating art doesn't always demand social change. some have used three billboards to flatter one person. in cleveland, philly fans want to lure lebron james away. in palm springs, a love letter to serena williams from her husband. from the heart felt to

the heart wrenching, "three billboards "is a movie inspiring a movement. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. we appreciate you spending part of your evening with us, that is "nightly news" for this friday night, i'm winds that blew this tree right into a home, knocking it off i right now at 6:00, driving rain and whipping winds. winds that blew this tree right into a home, knocking it off its foundation. the news at 6:00 starts right now. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> the storm is picking up strength, putting us under a microclimate weather alert. we are atop the san bruno mountains giving detailed information about this storm as it unfolds. we want to show a live look at san francisco where it rained off and on most of the day. >> let's start with chief meteorologist jeff ranieri.

where is the storm heading? >> some of the heaviest rainfall throughout the bay area. strong, isolated thunderstorms in some cases moving super fast. you go through a period of drying, and all of a sudden that heavy rainfall arrives. and then it's moving on to the next location. so i want to take you to the top areas of concerns right now. the number one zone here is across the peninsula, over burlingame, between burlingame and san mateo. rainfall rates of over 1 inch per hour, so some very heavy downpours. a closer look shows some of that heaviest rainfall right over rollins road, also ansah boulevard. we zoom out wider and it's tracking north and east. likely holding up into ala meeta as we continue through 6:41 tonight. now a second area we're tracking that down here across the south bay. you can see storm rangers putting a lot more detail into this rainfall. currently over milpitas. this is also tracking off