[Alina Cho, Cnn Anchor:] The Kansas City chiefs pull off a win the day after one of their own commits suicide. We have new details about his death, the murder of his girlfriend, and what happens now to their three-month-old baby.
[Zoraida Sambolin, Cnn Anchor:] Massive and widespread. Flooding hits California in a major way. We're going to have a live report straight ahead.
[Cho:] And an entire town is evacuated this morning, but why? We'll tell you in just two minutes. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to EARLY START for a Monday. I'm Alina Cho in for John Berman.
[Sambolin:] And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Today is December 3rd. It is just about 6:00 a.m. here in the East. And another pacific storm soaking Northern California this weekend leaving thousands of weary homeowners without power, as well. It's the third storm to hit the region in less than a week, unleashing floodwaters and damaging homes in San Francisco, Sacramento, and several surrounding communities. People who've lived in the areas for decades say they have never seen anything like this.
[Regina Kornbrust, Flood Victim:] I mean, this thing just went up fast, real fast. We have previously where it's gotten up real high, but wasn't gotten this bad.
[Unidentified Male:] You live right here?
[Kornburst:] Right there.
[Unidentified Male:] Right here?
[Kornburst:] Yes, right there. I got my mom out. I took her down to a friend's house down the street. You never know water, at this point, what it's going to do.
[Terry Pohrman, Witness:] People are evacuating out of the park, and as you see in the front of the park you can't get out. I had to park up on the hill and walk down the side hill to get in here. So it's really, really, it's very bad in here.
[Sambolin:] Rob Marciano's been tracking the storms from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Rob, somebody on Facebook was saying it feels like just 5 minutes of a reprieve and then here it comes again. Is there any end in sight for these folks?
[Rob Marciano, Ams Meteorologist:] Well, they're getting a little bit more than 5 minutes today thankfully, but they are going to get another batch of rain tomorrow, but as you've seen and heard the damage for the most part already done. We're seeing some infrastructure damage. Take a look at some of the stuff coming out of Oakland in and around this are, Lafayette, that neighbor inundated with rain fall and some of the hillsides there taking out not only homes, but the under structure of roadways there. So you're talking about serious damage to the roads both primary and secondary and that's going to continue. Also, you know, you get this kind of water over top of roadways, people driving through it, rescues a problem. This area saw a number of water rescues there with the fire department on hand to get their squad out there to rescue folks and Napa Valley also seeing it, north of San Francisco, tremendous amount of rainfall there. Some of the rivers up and over the top of their flood banks, and that will continue today. Sacramento River is still under flood stage, and they're releasing some of the pressure from some of the dams across Northern California, as well, some dramatic stuff there. All right, here's our next pulse of energy that's about to come through, but also look at how much rainfall, can actually fall in the bucket, 17.5 inches in
[Cho:] All right, Rob, thank you very much. The Kansas City Chiefs managed to beat the Carolina Panthers 27-21, but it was a somber victory. They took to the field just a day after police say their teammate Jovan Belcher shot and killed his 22-year- old girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins. Belcher then turned the gun on himself just outside the Chief's practice facility, right in front of the general manager and coaches. He and Perkins leave behind a 3-month-old daughter. Our Casey Wian has been talking to the Chiefs players and coaches, all trying to come to grips with this violent murdersuicide. Casey, good morning, what's the latest on the investigation?
[Casey Wian, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Alina. The investigation continues. Police know what happened that Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins multiple times at the home that they shared on Saturday morning. And then drove here to the Chiefs' training facility and shot himself dead in front of his general manager, his coach, and other team personnel. They had tried to talk him out of doing that. Of course, what the investigation is now centered on is why this happened. Everyone we've spoken with and everyone who's spoken out publicly about Jovan Belcher said this was something that was very out of character for him. He was not a violent person. He was someone who was a good character guy, according to his agent. So police are trying to find out what drove him to commit this tragic act that has left a 3-month-old little girl without her parents Alina.
[Cho:] Yes, I think that is the big question, obviously, when you think about something so tragic, so terrible. Having said that, these same people who said it was out of character also alluded to the fact that there might have been some recent problems in the relationship between Belcher and Perkins, right?
[Wian:] That's true. There were arguments between the two and there've been published reports saying that there've been weeks of arguments between the two. We did speak to a neighbor who said he hadn't heard anything like that. But those who said that the two were arguing said it was nothing really out of the ordinary, sort of characterizing it as normal couples arguing. The Chiefs did, though, hold a moment of silence before yesterday's game. It was apparently a pre-planned moment of silence, to honor the victims of domestic violence Alina.
[Cho:] Casey Wian live for us in Kansas City, Missouri. Casey, thank you.
[Sambolin:] It is 5 minutes past the hour. Only 29 days to go until the nation risks going over that so-called fiscal cliff. Democrats and Republicans are unable, so far, to agree on how to raise revenue and cut spending to close the big budget gap. On January 1st taxes go up, deep spending cuts kick in, if the two sides cannot reach an agreement. The Sunday talk shows offered an example of how far apart they are.
[Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary:] What we're not going to do is extend those tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Remember those cost a trillion dollars over 10 years and there's no possibility that we're going to find a way to get our fiscal house in order without those tax rates going back up.
[Rep. John Boehner , House Speaker:] Nobody wants to go over the cliff. That's why the day after the election I tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. And it's unfortunate that the White House has spent three weeks doing basically nothing.
[Sambolin:] I know what you heard there, but Treasury Secretary Geithner said he does believe a deal can be reached by the end of the year.
[Cho:] Member of the U.S. Coast Guard is dead after a suspicious boat rammed his small boat off the coast of Southern California. Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horn was one of two Coast Guard members thrown off on impact. He suffered a traumatic head injury. The other Coast Guardsman was treated at a local hospital. Coast Guard says the suspicious vessel was intercepted, and the two people were detained.
[Sambolin:] We could find out later this morning if the Supreme Court will wade into the controversial issue of same-sex marriage. The court releases its orders list at 9:30 Eastern Time. And there is a possibility justices will hear cases that challenge the federal defense of merge act or DOMA as it's known or California's Proposition 8, which defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman.
[Cho:] Authorities have ordered folks in parts of Louisiana to get out of town as they work to secure more than 6 million pounds of gun powder, gun powder. Improperly stored M-6 powder was found at Camp Minden on property leased by Expo Systems. Workers are busy moving the powder into authorized facilities on the site. They have safely stored more than 1 million pounds. That is enough to fill 27 18- wheelers.
[Sambolin:] Wow. Well, nine bodies have been recovered from three crushed, burned out cars in a highway tunnel 50 miles west of Tokyo. Officials still don't know what caused a 2000-foot section of eight inch thick concrete to cave in over the weekend. Take a look at these incredible pictures. And they're not saying whether there might be more victims in the rubble.
[Cho:] Malala Yousafzai, that Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban is saying thank you to all of her new friends all over the world. In a message read by Anderson Cooper last night's "CNN Heroes" ceremony in Los Angeles. Malala said, quote, "I thank the people that supported me without distinguishing religion and color." She is now recovering at a British hospital.
[Sambolin:] Dozens of
[Cho:] All right, so if you live around New York City you know that the traffic can be terrible around here around the holidays. Lots and lots of tourists, but nothing compared to this. Listen to this. How about that traffic jam that lasted an entire weekend? We're talking about 155 miles of traffic. We will tell you about it after a quick break.