>> announcer:  from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is " nbc nightly news" with lester holt.

>> holt:  good evening. what has been an unusually quiet start to tornado season ended last night with six tornadoes doing heavy damage and sending people to hospitals in eastern north carolina-- the start of what forecasters say is gonna be a very violent, dangerous, and potentially deadly couple of days from the gulf coast up into the midwest. as we come on the air tonight, the risk for severe weather is ramping up from texas on through kansas, and the potential for deadly tornadoes only increases and expands as we get into sunday and monday. tonight, with some 32 million americans in the danger zone, officials in several states are warning people to get their tornado plans out and to stay glued to the local forecast. our coverage begins with nbc´s janet shamlian in houston.

>> shamlian:  this is how it began.

>> man:  here it goes right here. all right, we got debris right here.

>> shamlian:  a funnel cloud forming late afternoon in eastern north carolina.

>> man:  okay, there it is right there. it´s behind the building. and it´s on the ground.

>> shamlian:  today, residents surveyed the damage and started the lengthy clean-up process. at least six tornadoes in the area damaged more than 200 homes and businesses friday. one of the six was the first ef3 of the season, with winds of up to 150 miles per hour.

>> man 1:  the porches are gone, the roof is gone, the siding´s gone, but i still got somewhere to stay.

>> man 2:  yeah. >> man 1: so i´m just blessed.

>> shamlian:  there was heavy hail, as violent storms ripped trees from their roots and snapped power lines. 18 people were hurt. it may have been just a warm-up. after a quiet start, forecasters say the worst outbreak of the season begins tonight.

>> forbes:  over the next few days, between now and wednesday or thursday, we could see more tornadoes than we´ve seen all year thus far. and it´s not just a number. some of the tornadoes could be strong or even violent. those are the kind that can turn deadly. so we need you to really pay attention and heed those tornado warnings.

>> shamlian:  32 million people are in its path. texas, oklahoma, and kansas are in the cross hairs in the next few hours. on sunday, the threat includes arkansas and missouri and then slowly moving east, putting millions more at risk, from the lower mississippi, tennessee, and lower ohio valleys. in tiny chase, kansas, the weather siren is broken. they´re delivering weather radios to the town´s 300 homes and businesses, which sit right in the heart of tornado alley.

>> woman:  we´re a small town. we don´t have a lot of money. so they´re doing what they can to keep this community safe but, yet, be as proactive and save us if something would happen.

>> shamlian:  these tornadoes may touch down overnight when people are sleeping and your heavily populated cities, and that is why we´re getting these strong warnings right now. dr. greg forbes says tomorrow in arkansas, the tor:con level will be an unusually high 7 out of 8. we are at risk here in texas and other states, as well. lester. >> holt: all right. janet shamlian in houston tonight. thanks. for more on the weather threat, we turn nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. dylan.

>> dreyer:  good evening, lester. the weather situation is going to get even more serious by sunday afternoon. we have really warm air -- about 10 to 15 degrees above average -- out ahead of this cold front. but back behind it, temperatures are about 15 to 20 degrees below average. and it´s that clash that could create some very strong storms, in red, from nebraska right down into eastern texas, even stretching over into mississippi. but it´s in orange, encompassing pretty much all of arkansas sunday afternoon, where we could see the possibility of a tornado outbreak. then, as we go into monday, the situation is still the same, and it´s western tennessee right down into most of mississippi where we could see some of our strongest storms -- something we will have to keep an eye on, especially starting sunday afternoon. lester.

>> holt:  all right, dylan, thanks. we´ll see you in the morning on "today." the u.s. increased its military presence in eastern europe today, as the u.s. and other governments prepare to impose more sanctions on russia, this as a group of foreign military observers remain in captivity tonight in ukraine, held by pro-russian militants, who accuse them of being spies. we get the latest tonight from nbc´s jim maceda in ukraine.

>> maceda:  russia ratcheting up the pressure. on the ground, firing at state-of-the-art missile destroyers right under ukraine´s nose, while, overhead, russian fighter jets patrol the skies. these are supposed to be drills, but never has the crisis in ukraine looked closer to war. the warplanes violated ukraine´s airspace seven times overnight, said ukraine´s prime minister.

>> yatsenyuk:  the only reason is to provoke ukraine, to strike missile, and to accuse ukraine of waging the war to russia.

>> maceda:  tension at a breaking point. pro-russian militants now occupy the town of slavyansk with armor and heavy weapons, while just outside town, concrete blocks cut off the main road-- a new tactic. these are ukrainian forces that have set up this checkpoint, this blockade, really, of slavyansk, the stronghold of the pro-russian militants, about 5 miles down the road. the idea is to isolate slavyansk and to prevent any supplies, reinforcements, and, most of all, weapons from getting through. but, on friday, insurgents struck back boldly, taking a 13-man team of o.s.c.e. military observers hostage, holding them in this old kgb building. the observer mission is here to negotiate the end of the conflict, but pro-russian officials say it´s part of it. "we get the impression that they are officers carrying out a certain spying mission," he said. and with russia showing no signs of reining in the militants, today, president obama, on a state visit to malaysia, and other g7 leaders said they´ll impose yet more sanctions on russian individuals and businesses, but not yet president vladimir putin, saying russia has only escalated tensions. but as more u.s. troops landed today in a show of force in the neighboring baltics, it was unclear just what could avert a bloodbath in ukraine. jim maceda, nbc news, donetsk.

>> holt:  for more on the crisis in ukraine and how the obama administration is responding, we turn to our chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, who´s traveling with the president in malaysia, and david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." todd, let me -- chuck, let me start off with you with regard to whether ukraine is overshadowing the president´s trip in any way.

>> todd:  well, it definitely is overshadowing this trip. it´s a frustrated white house on many levels. number one, they´re frustrated that they can´t get the european leaders to unite with the united states on something tougher against vladimir putin. they´re frustrated that this trip, in general, is getting overshadowed because they do think they´re actually accomplishing something here in asia. and they´re very frustrated with the press, as always, because they believe that, somehow, we´re not telling that story. but, clearly, the ukraine issue is dominating the president´s downtime. you know, he´ll do a state dinner. then he´s got to go and make some phone calls while he´s in the middle of the night doing that. and then he´s over here trying to assert american influence and american leadership, and it´s a region that really wants american influence and american leadership. but as they watch what´s going on in ukraine and the united states´ inability to get things done in europe, are they wondering, "does american leadership really going to help here in asia?"

>> holt:  and, on that point, let me turn to david. david, sanctions -- it takes a while for their bite to be felt. in the meantime, things are moving very quickly in ukraine. is that all the president really has in his arsenal here?

>> gregory:  well, for the moment, because there doesn´t appear to be a military consequence that the united states or the west want to make vladimir putin pay. you talked about the troops going into the baltics. that is a show of force to say there is a line here somewhere. but, as chuck says, the economic sanctions are tough. europe does a lot of trade with russia, wants to do the business there, needs the oil. but the russian economy is hurting and can hurt more. you have to ask whether russia really wants to invade ukraine or simply continue to destabilize ukraine to prevent it from really turning westward. it´s the management of that that´s so tricky right now for the white house.

>> holt:  all right. david gregory, chuck todd tonight. gentlemen, thanks. david will have much more on all this tomorrow on "meet the press." 10 days after that ferry sank off the coast of south korea, the search for more than 100 people still missing was suspended today because of bad weather, as new images emerge of the final moments before the ship went down. we get the latest tonight from nbc´s bill neely.

>> neely:  just minutes before it sank, a teenager on the ferry took these photographs. the ship listing badly, students clinging on, more than two dozen huddling together, most without life jackets. "the ship is sinking," he wrote. he is still missing. the search for him and more than 100 others is suspended. police boats tied up, rescuers withdrawn due to strong currents. the families fear their children will never be found. the weather here is set to deteriorate, and that will hamper the recovery of the bodies, much to the fury of the families, who say that operation is already far too slow. divers report seeing children clutching each other, 48 crammed together in one room. they just can´t get them out. prosecutors say they were victims of negligence. life rafts on the ferry couldn´t be freed as it sank. the steering was faulty, the cargo overweight. and investigators found cargo restraints on the ferry´s sister ship didn´t work. bill doherty has sailed and inspected ships for 50 years.

>> doherty:  maintenance, particularly of safety operations, was not a high priority with this vessel operator.

>> neely:  four more crew members have now been arrested, meaning all 15 crew responsible for navigating the ship are now in custody. the long wait goes on for so many families. they have cried their way to exhaustion. doctors say they´re traumatized and trapped, too, waiting for a search that, for now, is going nowhere. bill neely, nbc news, jindo, south korea.

>> holt:  hillary clinton spoke about her faith today for the first time, in a highly personal speech by the woman considered the front-runner for the democratic presidential nomination in 2016. in lexington, kentucky, mrs. clinton, a methodist, addressed a crowd of 7,000 at the united methodist women´s assembly. she recalled going to her church as a young girl in park ridge, illinois.

>> clinton:  i loved that church. i loved how it made me feel about myself. i loved the doors that it opened in my understanding of the world. i loved the way it helped to deepen my faith and ground it.

>> holt:  hillary clinton today on her church and her faith. millions of people will be watching around the world tomorrow as two popes become saints at a vatican ceremony conducted by pope francis. nbc´s anne thompson is there for the preview for us tonight. hi, anne.

>> thompson:  good evening, lester. it´s already crazy here. the streets around st. peter´s square are closed off, and people are sleeping on the sidewalks, as the vatican braces for 1 million people, who are going to try and fit in that very small square behind me to watch the catholic church make saints of popes john xxiii and john paul ii. you can see, earlier today, it felt like an international festival out here, people from around the world coming to celebrate these two men who had profound impacts on the church and the world. john embraced by the progressive wing of the catholic church for convening the second vatican council and ushering the church into the modern age. john paul ii, of course, a conservative hero for bringing down communism in his native poland and across eastern europe. it was pope francis´ decision to canonize these two men together, a move widely seen as his efforts to help heal the wounds within the catholic church. when pope francis leads the mass tomorrow, he will be joined by his predecessor, pope emeritus benedict -- two popes proclaiming two other popes saints. lester.

>> holt:  anne thompson tonight. thanks. we will have full coverage of the ceremony, beginning at 4:00 a.m. eastern, on many of these nbc stations, on msnbc, and online at nbcnews.com. at a landfill in new mexico today, backhoes and bulldozers struck what was considered gold -- to video-game historians, anyway -- hundreds of copies of "e.t. the extra-terrestrial." it was manufactured by atari three decades ago and is considered by some to be the worst video game ever made, so bad that atari wanted to destroy any evidence of its existence. the game and its role in atari´s demise have been a source of fascination ever since. today´s excavation will be part of a documentary about atari. and up next, honoring a baseball icon in a way that seems just about right for him.

>> uecker:  ...has done such a great job.

>> uecker:  this is a true story.

>> yang:  at 80, bob uecker´s proud to be one of the guys, hanging out with the milwaukee brewers...

>> uecker:  and the pitch.

>> yang:  ...whose games he´s called on radio since 1971. as a player, he broke in to the majors in milwaukee and bounced around the big leagues for six years, compiling a less-than-stellar career batting average of .200. then he found his power swing as an entertainer.

>> carson:  would you welcome mr. baseball," bob uecker.

>> yang:  he made some 100 appearances on johnny carson´s " tonight show," starred in a 1980s sitcom, "mr. belvedere," and had a role in the hit movie " major league."

>> uecker:  just a bit outside. i love ´em. these fans...

>> yang:  most fans may know him from a beer commercial.

>> uecker:  good seats, huh?

>> man:  you´re in the wrong seat, buddy. come on.

>> uecker:  oh. i must be in the front row.

>> yang:  it´s the phrase that made this milwaukee native famous.

>> uecker:  he missed the tag!

>> yang:  and, so, for this unique personality, a unique honor -- a second statue, this one inside the stadium. well, barely inside the stadium. we´re behind the last row of seats here at miller park, in what they call "the uecker seats." and to top it all off, we´re behind a pillar. good seats, huh?

>> uecker:  i would love to do a game up there. you know, from up there. and here´s the swing. and a fly ball hit to somewhere.

>> yang:  he says it could have been a lot worse.

>> uecker:  when they said they wanted it to be a little further away in the seats, they were talking about the lakefront. and that was a little upsetting.

>> yang:  that´s a couple miles at least, isn´t it?

>> uecker:  yeah, and he wanted it out in the water.

>> yang:  in the last five years, uecker´s had two heart operations, a new hip, and three knee replacements. he jokes his next operation will be "an autopsy." but he shows no signs of slowing down. he talks of his new statue as a bit of a legacy, a fundraiser for the make-a-wish foundation.

>> uecker:  i love people. who are we without people? you know, who are we without fans?

>> holt:  and putting smiles on as many of their faces as he can. john yang, nbc news, milwaukee.

>> holt:  that´s " nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i´m lester holt reporting from new york. we´ll see you tomorrow morning on "today," then right back here tomorrow evening. good night.