[Rosa Flores, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, everyone, my name is Rosa Flores and I'm live in Atlanta. Thank you so much for spending part of your Saturday with me. I want to tell you about two developing stories we're following right now. First, a rescue attempt gone wrong in south Sudan today. U.S. aircraft came under fire and four service members were injured. They were trying to evacuate some three dozen Americans from the violence- torn area, and on the first day of winter a storm sweeps across the nation at the worst time possible, rain, ice, and snow hit at the same time millions of Americans hit the roads. Let's begin with south Sudan right now. The four U.S. service members wounded in that first rescue effort are said to be in stable condition, but the fate of about three dozen Americans working for the United Nations in south Sudan remains a question. For now the president is keeping an eye on things while on vacation. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is covering the operation to rescue those Americans while Athena Jones is with the president in Honolulu. And, Athena, I want to start with you, how are they keeping the president in the loop in these conditions?
[Athena Jones, Cnn Correspondent:] Hi, Rosa. Good afternoon. Well, of course, the president is always president even on vacation, and we know from a statement put out just in the last hour that upon landing here in Honolulu overnight, the president was briefed immediately upon landing about the status of those four wounded American service members. And this morning his principals, Susan Rice, his national security adviser, and his deputy national security advisers had a muting, and then they called him, had a secure call with the president to give him yet another update on the situation. He is urging the government, the leaders of south Sudan, saying it is their responsibility to help secure the American citizens there and he's asked his team back in Washington to keep him constantly updated and we're certain that he will. This, of course, comes as you mentioned as the American service members were trying to get about three dozen American citizens working for the U.N. out of south Sudan. That went wrong. They're going to continue to attempt to do that and, of course, there's ongoing violence in that region. Just yesterday secretary of state John Kerry put out a statement saying that the U.S. strongly condemns attacks on the United Nations mission there in south Sudan. So this is in the midst of a lot of violence going on in that region. The president is keeping close tabs and directing his national security staff to keep him updated, Rosa?
[Flores:] And, Barbara, now to you, did this attack by any chance take the military by surprise?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, you know, when they go into these situations, they always know they're facing the possibility of violence and they're prepared for it. But what happened here does not happen that often. Three U.S. military aircraft trying to land in this very remote area, very violent area of south Sudan, and they came under ground fire, small arms fire from the ground. All three aircraft are hit. One sustaining serious damage, four service members injured pardon me, three service members injured, one seriously. So, this is this does not happen that often. The question now, if the violence is so bad, what do they do about it? How do they go back in there and get the American civilians out of there? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, talking about this throughout the day we're told, talking to their commanders, trying to look for a solution, working with the State Department. And there's some potential options that might turn to the United Nations, for example. But the violence is so bad in this area that a short time ago the State Department put out an advisory saying no more U.S. government sponsored flights will be going into this area to try and bring Americans out. It's just too dangerous for now. Rosa?
[Flores:] Athena, Barbara, thank you so much. And now we move on to the other developing story dangerous storms could be a real grinch for people trying to start their holiday travel. More than 94 million people are expected to hit the highways over the next few days with ice and snow already causing delays on the road and on the air. A wintry mix falling in Oklahoma City and ice storm warning is in effect until tomorrow morning. The deep freeze in the midwest expected to shift to the northeast tomorrow. But in the south, warm temperatures. Corresponding severe weather watches, heavy rain, tornadoes and thunderstorms are also possible. This video from a violent storm that ripped through Edwards, Mississippi, last night. We've got all of the angles of this potential travel nightmare covered. Our Nick Valencia is live in Kansas City, but I want to begin with meteorologist Jennifer Gray here in Atlanta in the severe weather center. Jennifer, it seems like the weather is really wacky right now.
[Jennifer Gray, Ams Meteorologist:] It is. It is really wacky. Good word for it. And we are looking at a lot of flooding right now, not only the severe weather. We've had ice. We've had snow. And we're dealing with flooding right now, anywhere from portions of Indiana to Kentucky, even Arkansas, through Little Rock, Truman, Paducah, even Evansville, we've seen quite a bit of flooding anywhere from two to four inches of rain and an additional two to four inches are possible. It's what you call training showers which means they just keep going over and over the same locations and they're not making much forward progress, so the same areas are getting rain for several hours and so it's producing flash flooding in those areas. Evansville has been one of the harder-hit areas where they've received more than two to four inches of rain. And we're going to continue to see it come down in that area as we go through the next several hours. So, taking a look at the rainfall reports, first off, we've seen almost six inches of rain and Truman, Arkansas, almost six inches as well and Macon, Arkansas, almost five inches of rain, so quite a bit has fallen and more is to come in the next couple of hours. Rosa?
[Flores:] Jennifer, stay there with us. We're going to get back to you in just a moment. But let's head out to Kansas City where they could get three to six inches of snow before this storm moves through. Nick Valencia is out there, and, Nick, set the scene for us.
[Nick Valencia, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, it's very cold here right now. It's about 21 degrees, Rosa, but it really feels a lot more like 12 degrees. State officials we've talked to, they say they prepared for this and long before we got here airport officials put out this ice, I'm sorry salt in preparation for freezing rain, ice, sleet, snow in this area. Road conditions are very sleek and we've seen states like Iowa have issue, Oklahoma have issues here and Missouri as well interstate 44 is a big issue. Let's talk about those flight cancellations. Just a little while ago we spoke to Delta and they canceled three flights impacting Cincinnati, Minneapolis and Memphis. So, this weather although it doesn't look as bad as it could be, officials do expect it to get much worse as the day progresses, Rosa?
[Flores:] All right, Nick Valencia, live for us in Kansas City, thank you so much. Now, I want to go back to Jennifer Gray. Jennifer, a lot of people traveling for the holidays. Will this impact their travel plans?
[Gray:] Of course. We're going to see travel delays anywhere from Oklahoma City all the way through Chicago. We're going to see slowdowns all up and down the east coast as well as we go through tomorrow as well. Most of the ground delays right now aren't associated with the weather. However, you can expect as we go through the afternoon today and especially into tomorrow, we'll definitely see some travel delays, so just be patient. Right now we do have tornado watches in effect. One until 6:00 p.m. Central Time. This one up on the top including Memphis, that is in place until 8:00 p.m. Central Time. And so we are going to see the possibility of isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, and right now we have the threat of severe thunderstorms. In each one of these little orange boxes anywhere from East Texas through northwest Louisiana, into Arkansas, those are all severe thunderstorm warnings. And so those storms are packing winds of about 60 miles per hour. They're all moving to the east at about 35 miles per hour. So, this is a dangerous storm system and we're going to be watching the Deep South all throughout the rest of the evening, Rosa?
[Flores:] Jennifer, thank you so much. And we switch gears to this four men have been arrested in connection with a fatal carjacking at a mall in New Jersey. Local authorities worked alongside the FBI and U.S. marshals to track down the men that are accused of shooting and killing a young attorney while his wife watched in horror. The incident occurred six days ago inside a mall parking deck. At a news conference this morning authorities applauded the public for helping in this particular case.
[Paul Fishman, U.s. Attorney:] You have the right to be safe and the expectation that you should be safe in this county and in the state of New Jersey. And in particular you shouldn't have to worry that wherever you go, whether it's in downtown Newark or the Shore Hills Mall or anywhere else, that someone will put a gun to your head and take your car.
[Flores:] The men are charged with murder and could face life in prison if found guilty. And still ahead, a five-year-old boy disappears and it goes unreported for more than hear this three months. The details just ahead. Plus, an emergency space walk outside the International Space Station. We'll tell you what the astronauts were doing.