NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Thursday, August 27, 2026

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Americans missing in deadly flood disaster; Trump orders Lake Ontario renamed ‘Lake America’; Jury deliberates in Lindsay Clancy murder trial; and more on tonight’s broadcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the race against the clock to find survivors after the deadly floods in Nepal. We'll show you an incredible rooftop rescue, a young boy clinging onto a helicopter, people covered in mud, saved by disaster crews, and new videos of the desperate escape, and that monster wave rushing in. We hear from Americans searching for their loved ones right now. Plus, growing fears is another disastrous flood about to happen. Our team with victims tonight. This just did the potential dangerous communication error as President Trump took off on Marine One.

New details in that deadly collision at LaGuardia in March, the NTSB says two air traffic controllers left work early before a plane smashed right into a fire truck. Could they get fire? Also tonight, President Trump renaming Lake O'Cock. Ontario to Lake America as part of his trade war with Canada. Powerful storms pounding the East Coast right now, torrential rains leaving cars stranded, intense hail, pelting parts of New Jersey. Plus, tropical storm Dolly forms in the Atlantic where it's now headed. Jury deliberations underway in the Lindsay Clancy case, the trial of the mother accused of

killing her own children. The cargo jet landing in Los Angeles and then. suddenly catching fire. Our series, The Cost of Denial, one woman hit with half a million dollars in fees after getting a tumor removed. What happened after we started making calls? Nightly News starts right now.

This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening. We thank you for joining us on this Thursday night. We want to begin with the race against time to find survivors in Nepal And the new fears right now, there may be more flooding to come. We've got horrifying new images of those moments of impact. Here you see people running for their lives as a wall of water rushes towards them.

And here you can see the power of the floodwaters. A truck just washed away. Right now the search for survivors is growing more urgent by the hour. Three Americans have been rescued, but 90 others are still missing. Rescuers trudging through thick mud. You see it right here and debris to track down hundreds of people that are still missing. Others have to be rescued by air like this boy. Watch this.

You can see him climbing into a helicopter. And to give you a sense of the full scale of this disaster, look at this image of a Chinese border checkpoint. That was before the floods hit. And now you can see it here, all of it, completely gone. Our Janice McAfrayer and her team are on the ground in Nepal. They start us off tonight. Tonight, an incredible rescue from a rooftop, a boy waving his t-shirt trying to flag down a helicopter

that moved into the corner of the building, the boy grabbing a rescuer's hand, then climbing aboard to safety. On the ground, rescue teams wade through mud, trying to find survivors in the aftermath of devastating floods, with hundreds still missing. All I want is for my husband to come back to me safely in one piece, this woman says. And tonight, new images of the terrifying moment when those monster waves hit near the Nepal-China border. The panic that set in. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. rushing to get to higher ground as the wall of water strikes. Entire communities here wiped out, swallowed by mud.

On the Chinese side in Tibet, hundreds of rescue workers are fanning out, using heavy equipment and bare hands. The State Department telling NBC News, at least three U.S. citizens have been rescued so far, but 90 more are among the missing. Dennis Patel's brother, Venus, is one of them. He was very excited. I mean, he has been planning this trip for quite some time. He says they'd spoken on the phone that morning. I'm trying to cope and do my best to find him. I'm doing everything that I can. I just hope he's okay. while Radika Sharma is desperate for word from her parents.

The last time we heard from them was when they crossed the border at 8 a.m. And we haven't heard from them since. And Janice joins us outside of one of the hospitals there in the capital of Nepal. And Janice, there are fears tonight of another catastrophic flood. Tom, rescue teams are up against time, but also the threat of more flooding. with two unstable lakes that have formed with all that water. And if they break, that could unleash another torrent of water downstream. Tom?

Could be even more devastating. Janice McEfrayer for us. Also breaking tonight back here at home, there was a major communication breakdown. When President Trump took off in his Marine One helicopter today, it's a potentially dangerous problem that's actually happened before and was supposed to have been fixed. Tom Costello tonight was some new reporting.

tonight a new potentially dangerous communication failure as the president was on board marine one the tower not able to hear the pilots this comes as we learn new details on that potential close call this month between marine one carrying the president in a chopper convoy seen here and that commercial airliner departing from regan national airport surprising controllers who never heard marine one radio a three-minute warning to stop air traffic Okay, no three minutes. Roger for seeing brief. Tonight, the NTSB says the Marine One pilots did radio controllers, but their radio signal didn't go through as they departed the White House from the ellipse,

while a new South Lawn chopper pad is being built. The construction at the White House to create a new landing pad led to the loss of line-of-sight communications. Stop, drop one. Stop. Meanwhile, tonight, five months after that horrific crash at LaGuardia, when an airport fire engine was cleared to cross the runway, just as an Air Canada flight was arriving. The FAA confirms to NBC News that it's considering firing two controllers who left early that night, possibly with supervisor permission. The controllers left an hour before their shift ended, leaving just two controllers in the tower. Two Air Canada pilots died, dozens of people injured.

The NTSB has said tower staffing is part of the investigation. I can tell you that our air traffic control team has stated this is a problem, that this is a concern for them for years. Amid a controller shortage, controllers nationwide have been working mandatory overtime. But the FAA tells NBC News it's committed to holding employees accountable and we will not compromise the safety or efficiency of the national airspace system. All right, Tom joins us now from Washington and Tom get another incident. incident is making headlines tonight, involving a cargo plane that shut down a runway at LA's main airport? Yeah, that's right. It's been a busy day. A D-HL cargo plane's landing gear caught fire as a touchdown at LAX overnight. Authorities are investigating what caused the plane's brakes

to lock up, and then the tires blew. Two crew members were on board at the time. Nobody injured, Tom. Glad they're okay. Tom, thank you for that. President Trump escalating that growing trade war with Canada, ordering Lake Ontario, which borders Canada, and New York State to now be called Lake America. Tonight, Canada is responding. Garrett Hake reports from the White House. Tonight, President Trump's new trade taunt towards Canada. Canada's been ripping us off for a long time with trade.

The president signing an executive order to change the official name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Lake of America was something I've been thinking about for a long time. The latest escalation of a new trade war that has seen the two allies, level tariffs as high as 50% on billions of dollars in goods, roiling the relationship with America's second largest trading partner. They are the worst. And they feel entitled. And just we can't have that. Today's order would only affect how the U.S. government refers to the smallest of the Great Lakes, which borders both New York and the Canadian province of Ontario

and has been known as Lake Ontario for centuries. Canadians shrugging off the threat of a U.S. name change. It's meaningless. And on the lake's New York shore? It shouldn't be changed. Bottom line, just keep it, keep it the way it is. All after the president last year issued a similar order to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. We have a Gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean.

So maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change the minister. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responding tonight saying, quote, naming reality means call. and at Lake Ontario, always. Tom. Garrett, thank you. We are tracking severe storm slamming major cities in the northeast right now. Already we're seeing torrential rain and powerful winds pound New Jersey. You see it right here. And flash flooding, inundating streets, the water up to the headlights of this minivan.

Bill Carrens joins us now here live in studio. And Bill, I know you're watching all of this. And also timing out a new storm named Dolly. Yeah, busy night. So we'll start with the severe weather. We've actually been tracking pretty rare tornado warnings in upstate New York, including the Saratoga Springs area, and a new tornado warning along the Pennsylvania border here with New York heading for the Catskills of all places. Flash flooding's been a huge issue today, especially around Philadelphia. We have numerous flash flood warnings and these heavy thunderstorms continue. This threat will exist until about midnight. Now for Dolly, tropical storm is formed. We're approaching the peak of the hurricane season.

This is typically where we say, uh-oh, look out, you know, that these can be when we have those big monster storms. Not this time. El Niño is limiting the high. how intense these storms can get. And the hurricane center actually has this weakening and dissipating before it gets to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but it still could bring some heavy rain. Okay, we'll take it weaker, though. Thanks so much for that, Bill.

We go to closing arguments now on the high-profile murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who admits killing her three young children, including an eight-month-old baby. The defense arguing she suffered from postpartum psychosis, but prosecutors telling jurors it was calculated murder. Here's Emily Aketa. Tonight, a jury weighing whether Lindsay Clancy, who admits to killing her three children, should be found criminally responsible for their deaths and is guilty of murder.

Their mom is the one that's killing them. That's extreme atrocity and cruelty. The former labor and delivery nurse seen emotional in closing arguments, as the prosecution described in disturbing detail how Clancy strangled Cora, Dawson, and Callan in 2023. before attempting to kill herself. Those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery. And so she had to remove the protective factor.

Prosecutors alleging her actions were deliberate, intentionally sending her husband out for errands before the killings, and afterwards asking for an attorney in the hospital. Still with a tube in her throat, she's asking, do I have a lawyer? But Clancy's defense telling jurors she's not criminally responsible. She was a nurse, a daughter, a wife, and a darn good mother. The defense arguing she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis and says she heard a voice. How does this turn into this because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she

that detailing the more than a dozen medications she was prescribed. Larazepam, search for me. An alleged inadequate care, despite her pleas for help, a case driving protests on both sides and thrusting maternal health into the spotlight. Emily, joins us now live outside of court. Emily, I know you have a big update. The defense asked the jury to consider a lesser charge and the judge agreed? Yeah, Tom, that's right.

The jury is now considering manslaughter in addition to first and second. degree murder. And if Clancy is found not guilty, by the way, she's not just going to immediately go free. She would be checked into a mental health facility for further evaluation, Tom. Emily, Aketa for us, Emily, thank you. When we return in 60 seconds, the cost of denial, this woman got hit with half a million dollars worth of bills after getting a tumor removed. What happened when we called? We're back now with our series, the cost of denial. With insurance premiums soaring, many Americans are. left looking for alternatives, some enticed by short-term insurance policies.

But as Ann Thompson reports, it's important to understand what these plans do and don't cover. In Appleton, Wisconsin, Lisa Brundrich has long been self-reliant, tending a 10-acre property with her husband, Rich, fixing cars at their auto repair business. But last February, she encountered something she couldn't fix. the bottoms of my feet went numb. And I was like, this is so strange. So I called my doctor and I said, my feet feel numb. The numbness spread up the 63-year-old's body.

I'm just going to tap on your reflexes. Sending her to neurosurgeon Dr. Thomas Washer. What we found was a large tumor that was compressing the spinal cord causing the numbness. It was benign, but they had to move quickly. Was she at risk for paralysis? Yes. And that, you know, was something that was just starting to happen when we did the surgery. While Lisa and Rich were worried about her health, they hadn't been worried about their insurance.

When their ACA market insurers stopped covering their area, they switched to something called short-term insurance. A plan the 60-somethings hoped would be their bridge to Medicare. We had no intention of using it. You just thought it was there just in case. They chose Golden Rule, owned by United Healthcare, with a high deductible and a lower monthly price tag than traditional plans to cover emergencies and sudden illnesses. You didn't think about going with the plans offered through the Affordable Care Act. It's not affordable. It's $1900 a month.

The brundrages were fine, or so they thought, until the bills came in, along with denials from Golden Rule. It's like denied, why? And then it said, preexisting condition. And it's like, how is this a pre-existing condition. Unlike most health insurance, short-term plans do not have to cover pre-existing conditions. And Lisa's plan, she says, told her the tumor near her spine was a pre-existing condition, leaving her baffled. Had you ever had numbness in your feet before? No. Had you ever had numbness that went up your legs? No. Had you ever had any trouble walking? No. Is there any way Lisa could have known that she had this problem? Not in my estimation. facing a half million dollars in bills, Lisa decided to fight.

This is the angiogram, 200,139, hiring an attorney and emailing NBC News. Cost of denial, I watch it all the time. And you all responded right away. 24 hours after NBC reached out to United Healthcare, which owns Golden Rule, what happened? They're going to cover my bills. Huge relief. Huge relief. Golden Rule telling NBC News, following additional review of the records as part of the appeal process, the claims have been approved.

For Lisa, the whole experience is a cautionary tale. I feel like you really got to know the ins and out of the policy that you're buying. And Thompson joins us now in studio. And first off, great news. She's going to get covered for that. These short-term plans, they may sound very enticing, but people have to be careful. Right, because there are a lot of things they don't cover, often along with not. covering pre-existing conditions.

They don't cover maternal, maternity care, or mental health services, or even some prescription drugs. And the other thing to know, Tom, is that a handful of states outlaw them outright. Okay, good to know that, too. And we thank you. That's nightly news for this Thursday.

I'm Tom Yamas. We thank you so much for watching. Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night.