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CNN Live At Daybreak
Major Parts of Midwest Hit by Tornadoes
Aired May 05, 2003 - 06:25 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This is amateur video that you're looking at, taken by someone out of Baxter Springs, Kansas. You can see the funnel cloud right there. I'm telling you, major parts of the Midwest were hit by dozens of tornadoes. Twenty-eight people are known dead, many others injured, and, of course, many governors of several states have called for states of emergency right now -- and, Chad, looking at that picture, it's just incredible.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Carol. And as I look at that, you look at the base because the top really isn't as important as the base, what actually gets all the way down to the ground there. And this, obviously, did some damage. I actually, I have seen the damage that this tornado did, and although it may look big, maybe a two, two and a half or a three, the damage that this produced was quite devastating when it ripped all of the limbs off very large trees. You're talking about least F4 type tornado damage, winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. All you have left are stumps at the bottom of the trees, no limbs whatsoever. Very, very large tornado.
And, in fact, now, 83 tornadoes yesterday. And we're still counting, because we start at 7:00 a.m. Central Time and we end at 7:00 a.m. Central Time. So the last time that I gave you that number, it was 82. Now it's 83, as we confirm one more, the sighting of one more.
Here you go, 83 dots on the map today, mainly south of Kansas City. But I'm just looking over here, in Jackson County, Tennessee, Procter & Gamble one of, at least, the areas there hard hit. The factory hard hit. Four fatalities in that county and it's still coming down in many areas.
The tornado warning that we have still in effect for another minute or two is for northern Mississippi to the south and southeast of Memphis. But this entire area in red here, again, the moderate risk of severe weather and in the yellow, a risk of severe weather everywhere, all the way from just about Chicago south of Detroit, especially through Indianapolis, right on down into parts of Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.
Remember, there hasn't been any severe weather down here over the weekend and so that air mass, as we call it, is ripe for severe weather. There is a lot of heat. There's a lot of humidity. There's a lot of potential energy in this area down here, where if you take a look up here to the north, it's just been raining so long there's no heat in the atmosphere whatsoever. Mother Nature has wrecked that air mass. It takes a lot of sunshine to get a big tornado to go. And so at least some good news here. Folks up here can breathe a sigh of relief.
Don't breathe a sigh when it comes to flooding. Many areas up there have had four to six inches of rain overnight, so some of those creeks and streams could be flooded. Watch out as you drive this morning, especially while it's still dark out.
COSTELLO: Advice taken.
Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
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 May 5, 2003 - 06:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This is amateur video that you're looking at, taken by someone out of Baxter Springs, Kansas. You can see the funnel cloud right there. I'm telling you, major parts of the Midwest were hit by dozens of tornadoes. Twenty-eight people are known dead, many others injured, and, of course, many governors of several states have called for states of emergency right now -- and, Chad, looking at that picture, it's just incredible.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Carol. And as I look at that, you look at the base because the top really isn't as important as the base, what actually gets all the way down to the ground there. And this, obviously, did some damage. I actually, I have seen the damage that this tornado did, and although it may look big, maybe a two, two and a half or a three, the damage that this produced was quite devastating when it ripped all of the limbs off very large trees. You're talking about least F4 type tornado damage, winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. All you have left are stumps at the bottom of the trees, no limbs whatsoever. Very, very large tornado.
And, in fact, now, 83 tornadoes yesterday. And we're still counting, because we start at 7:00 a.m. Central Time and we end at 7:00 a.m. Central Time. So the last time that I gave you that number, it was 82. Now it's 83, as we confirm one more, the sighting of one more.
Here you go, 83 dots on the map today, mainly south of Kansas City. But I'm just looking over here, in Jackson County, Tennessee, Procter & Gamble one of, at least, the areas there hard hit. The factory hard hit. Four fatalities in that county and it's still coming down in many areas.
The tornado warning that we have still in effect for another minute or two is for northern Mississippi to the south and southeast of Memphis. But this entire area in red here, again, the moderate risk of severe weather and in the yellow, a risk of severe weather everywhere, all the way from just about Chicago south of Detroit, especially through Indianapolis, right on down into parts of Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama.
Remember, there hasn't been any severe weather down here over the weekend and so that air mass, as we call it, is ripe for severe weather. There is a lot of heat. There's a lot of humidity. There's a lot of potential energy in this area down here, where if you take a look up here to the north, it's just been raining so long there's no heat in the atmosphere whatsoever. Mother Nature has wrecked that air mass. It takes a lot of sunshine to get a big tornado to go. And so at least some good news here. Folks up here can breathe a sigh of relief.
Don't breathe a sigh when it comes to flooding. Many areas up there have had four to six inches of rain overnight, so some of those creeks and streams could be flooded. Watch out as you drive this morning, especially while it's still dark out.
COSTELLO: Advice taken.
Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
