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Breaking News

Deadly Storms

Aired November 11, 2002 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story at this hour, we have just learned now it is believed at least 29 people have been killed, hundreds have lost their homes, wiped out by a line of deadly storms overnight. A government meteorologist said it was the worst outbreak of tornados he has seen in years.
At least 12 people are known dead in Tennessee; 45 are unaccounted for in Mossy Grove, Tennessee. There are no phone lines in or out of that town, west of Knoxville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone came through. They were trying to get home, and told us that there was a tree down, and it sounded like about where our farm is. So, we decided we needed to get over here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Alabama, Tennessee and Ohio were hardest hit. The severe storms are moving east this morning. And an official in Ohio described the damage and loss of life as "totally out of control."

We're going to have a live report coming up from one of the worst-hit areas, Van Wert County, Ohio.

And storms could bring more trouble this morning. That's why we're turning to Chad Myers at this hour. He joins us from Atlanta with the latest forecast.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Paula.

You know what? We still have two tornado warnings in effect, five tornado watches in effect this morning.

Two warnings that I want to get to you right now for Pike County in Alabama -- that is the city of Troy. That is until 6:30 Central Standard Time. The tornado is very close to the city of Troy, moving to the east at 30, Doppler indicated.

And one now that I know you'll have heard of before, on up here toward the north and to the northeast of that, for La Plata, Maryland, a tornado warning in effect. The tornado is expected to be near La Plata at 7:06. If you remember, La Plata was hit hard by an F-4 to possibly an F-5 tornado just a few months ago. This is for Charles County in southern Maryland, eventually toward St. Charles and even Waldorf by about 7:15.

I'll zoom into the D.C. and Baltimore area. The storms came in rapidly from the west overnight. From Baltimore now to Timonium, Towson, all the way down through Columbia, D.C. And then obviously just south of there right along the river, there you go, that big, red thing there, just to the east of the I-95 and west of St. Charles, that's the new tornado warning for La Plato.

Paula -- back to you.

ZAHN: Keep an eye on that for us all morning long.

MYERS: Oh, we will.

ZAHN: It does not look good. Thanks, Chad.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired November 11, 2002 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story at this hour, we have just learned now it is believed at least 29 people have been killed, hundreds have lost their homes, wiped out by a line of deadly storms overnight. A government meteorologist said it was the worst outbreak of tornados he has seen in years.
At least 12 people are known dead in Tennessee; 45 are unaccounted for in Mossy Grove, Tennessee. There are no phone lines in or out of that town, west of Knoxville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone came through. They were trying to get home, and told us that there was a tree down, and it sounded like about where our farm is. So, we decided we needed to get over here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Alabama, Tennessee and Ohio were hardest hit. The severe storms are moving east this morning. And an official in Ohio described the damage and loss of life as "totally out of control."

We're going to have a live report coming up from one of the worst-hit areas, Van Wert County, Ohio.

And storms could bring more trouble this morning. That's why we're turning to Chad Myers at this hour. He joins us from Atlanta with the latest forecast.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Paula.

You know what? We still have two tornado warnings in effect, five tornado watches in effect this morning.

Two warnings that I want to get to you right now for Pike County in Alabama -- that is the city of Troy. That is until 6:30 Central Standard Time. The tornado is very close to the city of Troy, moving to the east at 30, Doppler indicated.

And one now that I know you'll have heard of before, on up here toward the north and to the northeast of that, for La Plata, Maryland, a tornado warning in effect. The tornado is expected to be near La Plata at 7:06. If you remember, La Plata was hit hard by an F-4 to possibly an F-5 tornado just a few months ago. This is for Charles County in southern Maryland, eventually toward St. Charles and even Waldorf by about 7:15.

I'll zoom into the D.C. and Baltimore area. The storms came in rapidly from the west overnight. From Baltimore now to Timonium, Towson, all the way down through Columbia, D.C. And then obviously just south of there right along the river, there you go, that big, red thing there, just to the east of the I-95 and west of St. Charles, that's the new tornado warning for La Plato.

Paula -- back to you.

ZAHN: Keep an eye on that for us all morning long.

MYERS: Oh, we will.

ZAHN: It does not look good. Thanks, Chad.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.