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CNN Live Today

Interview With Jack Goodman

Aired May 05, 2003 - 11:18   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: Our viewers this morning doing a good job of keeping us up to date on the wake of those killer tornadoes yesterday and this morning. We're seeing here a picture from Amy in Joplin, Missouri and this may be the most pleasant one we've seen so far this morning; a rainbow over Joplin, Missouri.
We've also seen devastation in other parts of Missouri, as a matter of fact, some of the worst tornado damage in Missouri happened in a city called Pierce City. Officials there are saying that town has been totally devastated; almost every single structure in that build -- in that town, rather, has either been destroyed or damaged in some way.

State representative Jack Goodman grew up in Pierce City, he joins us by telephone from there, right now, and we sure thank you for your time this morning. Can you give us an idea of what you've seen there?

Do we have Representative Goodman? I'm sorry, but, apparently we are having some problems with our phone lines there in Pierce City, which is not too much of a surprise considering...

JACK GOODMAN, MISSOURI STATE HOUSE: I'm here.

HARRIS: There he is, Jack Goodman state representative in Missouri. As I understand it, sir, you actually grew up in Pierce City. Tell us about your hometown this morning.

GOODMAN: This morning, it's not even recognizable. It's been a town of beautiful historic buildings that have all been refurbished and they almost all have businesses in them and this morning there's not one building that hasn't been significantly damaged. Many of them are gone entirely and very few, if any, will be salvageable. It's just amazing.

HARRIS: Considering that, I've got to think that this had to be a very -- very dangerous time for any people there, forget the structures. What do you know about the people this morning?

GOODMAN: That's been the most devastating thing we've seen. The armory in Pierce City is a place that people in town go to take shelter in the event of a tornado and as it happened, there were a lot of people who did not make it into the basement of the armory and the building collapsed. We did have two fatalities in the armory. We are more hopeful now, but we worked all through the night on the belief that there may be people still trapped in the armory. We are much more hopeful at this point, due to the excavation that has been done, that there is no one in there at this point but we still have no confirmation of that.

HARRIS: Did you have any idea about how many people were there to begin with?

GOODMAN: It all happened so quickly, that they did not really have a chance to take a census of who was coming in and, in fact, a lot of people were on the grounds and in the building thinking that it was not in imminent danger and all of a sudden the tornado actually appeared and people were trying to take cover all at once and it was -- it was just a very quick advance and I'm afraid we don't have any numbers as to how many were in there originally.

HARRIS: So, it sounds like what you're saying there is that people were just milling around and the storm came up out of nowhere and -- was there mass panic at that point?

GOODMAN: Well, that may be a slight overstatement, but it's fairly close. We -- the sirens had gone off and we knew that there had been storms in the area within, you know, 30 minutes to an hour away. But I think that it's just human nature that people think that horrible kind of a thing won't actually happen to me and they were there if it -- if they needed to be, they were on the grounds. I just don't think it ever occurred to anyone that -- that there would not be time to take cover.

HARRIS: Well, where is everyone now? The pictures that we're seeing, that came in show, as we said here earlier, almost every single structure being destroyed in this town. Where are the people this morning?

GOODMAN: There's a Red Cross shelter that's been set up, there are -- a lot of the homes are still inhabitable, there are some are not, many, many are damaged. People have taken in friends and families and strangers to their homes and we've had a tremendous outpouring of volunteers, offers of support and the Red Cross, as I said, does have the structure -- or the, I'm sorry, the shelter set up.

HARRIS: We understand this is your hometown. Do you still have family there?

GOODMAN: I do, in fact, we were here visiting family when the tornado came through.

HARRIS: Well, how is your family?

GOODMAN: Fortunately -- thank you for asking. Fortunately, all of us are fine.

HARRIS: That's good to here. That's great. So, you were all together throughout the storm?

GOODMAN: Yes. Yes.

HARRIS: Have you ever been together like that through anything? Has anyone in your family ever seen anything like this before?

GOODMAN: As a boy, my father was in a tornado, but no one in my family in my lifetime, has had anything like this happen.

HARRIS: Well we are certainly wishing you and your other fellow Missourians the best. Good luck.

GOODMAN: Thank you very much for your concern.

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 - 11:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Our viewers this morning doing a good job of keeping us up to date on the wake of those killer tornadoes yesterday and this morning. We're seeing here a picture from Amy in Joplin, Missouri and this may be the most pleasant one we've seen so far this morning; a rainbow over Joplin, Missouri.
We've also seen devastation in other parts of Missouri, as a matter of fact, some of the worst tornado damage in Missouri happened in a city called Pierce City. Officials there are saying that town has been totally devastated; almost every single structure in that build -- in that town, rather, has either been destroyed or damaged in some way.

State representative Jack Goodman grew up in Pierce City, he joins us by telephone from there, right now, and we sure thank you for your time this morning. Can you give us an idea of what you've seen there?

Do we have Representative Goodman? I'm sorry, but, apparently we are having some problems with our phone lines there in Pierce City, which is not too much of a surprise considering...

JACK GOODMAN, MISSOURI STATE HOUSE: I'm here.

HARRIS: There he is, Jack Goodman state representative in Missouri. As I understand it, sir, you actually grew up in Pierce City. Tell us about your hometown this morning.

GOODMAN: This morning, it's not even recognizable. It's been a town of beautiful historic buildings that have all been refurbished and they almost all have businesses in them and this morning there's not one building that hasn't been significantly damaged. Many of them are gone entirely and very few, if any, will be salvageable. It's just amazing.

HARRIS: Considering that, I've got to think that this had to be a very -- very dangerous time for any people there, forget the structures. What do you know about the people this morning?

GOODMAN: That's been the most devastating thing we've seen. The armory in Pierce City is a place that people in town go to take shelter in the event of a tornado and as it happened, there were a lot of people who did not make it into the basement of the armory and the building collapsed. We did have two fatalities in the armory. We are more hopeful now, but we worked all through the night on the belief that there may be people still trapped in the armory. We are much more hopeful at this point, due to the excavation that has been done, that there is no one in there at this point but we still have no confirmation of that.

HARRIS: Did you have any idea about how many people were there to begin with?

GOODMAN: It all happened so quickly, that they did not really have a chance to take a census of who was coming in and, in fact, a lot of people were on the grounds and in the building thinking that it was not in imminent danger and all of a sudden the tornado actually appeared and people were trying to take cover all at once and it was -- it was just a very quick advance and I'm afraid we don't have any numbers as to how many were in there originally.

HARRIS: So, it sounds like what you're saying there is that people were just milling around and the storm came up out of nowhere and -- was there mass panic at that point?

GOODMAN: Well, that may be a slight overstatement, but it's fairly close. We -- the sirens had gone off and we knew that there had been storms in the area within, you know, 30 minutes to an hour away. But I think that it's just human nature that people think that horrible kind of a thing won't actually happen to me and they were there if it -- if they needed to be, they were on the grounds. I just don't think it ever occurred to anyone that -- that there would not be time to take cover.

HARRIS: Well, where is everyone now? The pictures that we're seeing, that came in show, as we said here earlier, almost every single structure being destroyed in this town. Where are the people this morning?

GOODMAN: There's a Red Cross shelter that's been set up, there are -- a lot of the homes are still inhabitable, there are some are not, many, many are damaged. People have taken in friends and families and strangers to their homes and we've had a tremendous outpouring of volunteers, offers of support and the Red Cross, as I said, does have the structure -- or the, I'm sorry, the shelter set up.

HARRIS: We understand this is your hometown. Do you still have family there?

GOODMAN: I do, in fact, we were here visiting family when the tornado came through.

HARRIS: Well, how is your family?

GOODMAN: Fortunately -- thank you for asking. Fortunately, all of us are fine.

HARRIS: That's good to here. That's great. So, you were all together throughout the storm?

GOODMAN: Yes. Yes.

HARRIS: Have you ever been together like that through anything? Has anyone in your family ever seen anything like this before?

GOODMAN: As a boy, my father was in a tornado, but no one in my family in my lifetime, has had anything like this happen.

HARRIS: Well we are certainly wishing you and your other fellow Missourians the best. Good luck.

GOODMAN: Thank you very much for your concern.

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