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CNN Live Today

Kansas Governor Declares State of Emergency

Aired May 05, 2003 - 10:05   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: At least seven deaths are reported in Kansas, and its governor has declared a state of emergency.
Let's go now to Kansas City, Kansas, and CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About 4:30 Sunday afternoon, one of the tornadoes that touched down here in eastern Kansas roared through this neighborhood. This is Kansas City, Kansas, and what we are looking at here is a stretch of about eight homes. The last five homes on the end there are in relatively decent shape considering what this neighborhood has been through, but if you look at the last three, they were pretty much sliced in half.

And we were speaking with one of the residents who lives in the middle home there, and her and her family are walking through the hills just behind the home trying to collect as many belongings as they possibly can.

Daretha Fears (ph) is the woman that lives in one of those homes there, and she was telling me that she left her home about 40 minutes before the tornado touched down. And the part of the house that she would have used as shelter sits in the back left-hand corner of the house. Everything collapsed into the basement area down there. So, she is extremely grateful here this morning that she wasn't in the home when this storm happened.

We've spoken with several other residents in this neighborhood, who say while they had known that there were severe storms in area and they had been paying attention to the news, that there wasn't a whole lot of time to get ready for this storm rolling through this neighborhood. They said they heard warnings that the tornado was just a couple of miles away, and within a matter of minutes the storm was bearing down.

In fact, one resident told me that he had just finished taking out the trash. Everything looked relatively normal. He had no idea that a major storm was going to change it. As soon as he walked inside, he says things dramatically changed. And he and his wife went into the basement here and sought cover.

Crews are already working in this neighborhood trying to restore power, and also working on cleaning up much of the damage that has been left behind. These are scenes that are playing out all over the states of Kansas and Missouri, as well as Arkansas, and Tennessee as well. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Kansas City, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, our thanks to Ed for that report.

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 - 10:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: At least seven deaths are reported in Kansas, and its governor has declared a state of emergency.
Let's go now to Kansas City, Kansas, and CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About 4:30 Sunday afternoon, one of the tornadoes that touched down here in eastern Kansas roared through this neighborhood. This is Kansas City, Kansas, and what we are looking at here is a stretch of about eight homes. The last five homes on the end there are in relatively decent shape considering what this neighborhood has been through, but if you look at the last three, they were pretty much sliced in half.

And we were speaking with one of the residents who lives in the middle home there, and her and her family are walking through the hills just behind the home trying to collect as many belongings as they possibly can.

Daretha Fears (ph) is the woman that lives in one of those homes there, and she was telling me that she left her home about 40 minutes before the tornado touched down. And the part of the house that she would have used as shelter sits in the back left-hand corner of the house. Everything collapsed into the basement area down there. So, she is extremely grateful here this morning that she wasn't in the home when this storm happened.

We've spoken with several other residents in this neighborhood, who say while they had known that there were severe storms in area and they had been paying attention to the news, that there wasn't a whole lot of time to get ready for this storm rolling through this neighborhood. They said they heard warnings that the tornado was just a couple of miles away, and within a matter of minutes the storm was bearing down.

In fact, one resident told me that he had just finished taking out the trash. Everything looked relatively normal. He had no idea that a major storm was going to change it. As soon as he walked inside, he says things dramatically changed. And he and his wife went into the basement here and sought cover.

Crews are already working in this neighborhood trying to restore power, and also working on cleaning up much of the damage that has been left behind. These are scenes that are playing out all over the states of Kansas and Missouri, as well as Arkansas, and Tennessee as well. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Kansas City, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, our thanks to Ed for that report.

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