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CNN Live At Daybreak
Residents Beginning Long Process of Rebuilding
Aired May 06, 2003 - 06:21 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: Residents of areas devastated by killer tornadoes are beginning the very long process of rebuilding.
We take you now to one particularly hard hit area, Jackson, Tennessee.
CNN's Kimberly Osias is there -- Kimberly, show us what it looks like.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, is it a tough scene. You can see a lot of the destruction here behind us. We are in downtown Jackson, as you said, where the majority of destruction occurred. Buildings absolutely torn asunder. And now, of course, the biggest concern, Carol, is for damage mitigation as people begin the work of trying to repair their buildings and their homes, putting plywood over roofs that have been blown apart and windows torn out.
But it's going to be very, very difficult, of course, in this rain that keeps on coming, as these people try and put their lives back together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of like a bomb went off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what it sounded like to me, just crash and that was it.
OSIAS (voice-over): It happened quickly, with speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's done catastrophic damage. It's an F4 at least.
OSIAS: The powerful funnel cloud crossed the Kansas Plains first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have nothing. We don't have clothes. We have nothing.
OSIAS: Sunday night, dry Rocky Mountain air combined with moisture off of the Gulf of Mexico improved a deadly combination, spawning more than 80 twisters in all.
GOV. BOB HOLDEN, MISSOURI: You drive down through here and it looks like the tornado just picked out the heart of these cities and took the heart right out. But they didn't, they didn't take the heart. The heart will be back here.
OSIAS: In Missouri, roofs ripped apart. Debris strewn for miles carried by the twister's force. In Pierce City, a century old church now needs restoration and rebuilding. Residents, including the mayor, sought shelter in the town's armory, only to find it, too, turned into a target for the tornado. At least one person was killed there.
Downed power lines and fear of looting forced mandatory curfews in Jackson, Tennessee. Eleven dead there so far. Hundreds in shelters.
Forecasters say nature's most violent storm registered an F4, leveling the area's law enforcement center and the Procter & Gamble distribution center, as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: We're back out now live. And, Carol, of course, as you know, in the South, the tornadic activity really centers in the spring, from March until May, and we're at the tail end right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and there's more nasty stuff to come.
Thank you, Kimberly.
We want to bring in Arch Kennedy right now because, what, flash flood warnings in Tennessee?
ARCH KENNEDY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Umm-hmm.
COSTELLO: And also more tornado warnings.
KENNEDY: Everything going on, and we have a couple of warnings. I think Giles County, East Central Lawrence County under the gun with a tornado warning as we speak. And that's really southern parts of Tennessee. And we're also dealing with this flash flooding potential -- I want to mention that, too -- this morning across a lot of the state, including parts of northern Alabama and Georgia.
So we have a lot going on. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this system is going to continue to produce severe weather for days here.
COSTELLO: For day?
KENNEDY: We could be talking a week more.
COSTELLO: How unusual is this?
KENNEDY: Kind of unusual to see it last this long, that's for sure. And this is definitely going down in history, this storm system.
COSTELLO: Definitely. KENNEDY: So we're going to keep watching it for you and we're looking at showers and storms this morning across the Deep South. That's where the action is happening. We're looking at mainly Tennessee for the flooding potential this morning. Again, we're getting that training and by that we mean showers, storms moving over the same period of, same area of land, over places that already have received a lot of heavy activity.
Again, you can see the heaviest stuff across Tennessee this morning. And here we'll take another vantage point and you can see what I'm talking about. There's that severe cell that's possibly a tornado in southern parts of Tennessee and plenty of activity extending back into northern areas of Mississippi.
We do have a tornado watch still in effect, parts of one into parts of the eastern Carolinas here and we're going to shift the severe weather focus father west today. So places that already have seen devastation are under the gun this afternoon. And we're talking about mainly parts of central and southern Missouri, most of Arkansas. And so if you're doing any traveling today in this vicinity, be on the lookout for tornadic development, large hail and heavy rain.
We'll have more -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Arch.
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 6, 2003 - 06:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Residents of areas devastated by killer tornadoes are beginning the very long process of rebuilding.
We take you now to one particularly hard hit area, Jackson, Tennessee.
CNN's Kimberly Osias is there -- Kimberly, show us what it looks like.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, is it a tough scene. You can see a lot of the destruction here behind us. We are in downtown Jackson, as you said, where the majority of destruction occurred. Buildings absolutely torn asunder. And now, of course, the biggest concern, Carol, is for damage mitigation as people begin the work of trying to repair their buildings and their homes, putting plywood over roofs that have been blown apart and windows torn out.
But it's going to be very, very difficult, of course, in this rain that keeps on coming, as these people try and put their lives back together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of like a bomb went off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what it sounded like to me, just crash and that was it.
OSIAS (voice-over): It happened quickly, with speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's done catastrophic damage. It's an F4 at least.
OSIAS: The powerful funnel cloud crossed the Kansas Plains first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have nothing. We don't have clothes. We have nothing.
OSIAS: Sunday night, dry Rocky Mountain air combined with moisture off of the Gulf of Mexico improved a deadly combination, spawning more than 80 twisters in all.
GOV. BOB HOLDEN, MISSOURI: You drive down through here and it looks like the tornado just picked out the heart of these cities and took the heart right out. But they didn't, they didn't take the heart. The heart will be back here.
OSIAS: In Missouri, roofs ripped apart. Debris strewn for miles carried by the twister's force. In Pierce City, a century old church now needs restoration and rebuilding. Residents, including the mayor, sought shelter in the town's armory, only to find it, too, turned into a target for the tornado. At least one person was killed there.
Downed power lines and fear of looting forced mandatory curfews in Jackson, Tennessee. Eleven dead there so far. Hundreds in shelters.
Forecasters say nature's most violent storm registered an F4, leveling the area's law enforcement center and the Procter & Gamble distribution center, as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: We're back out now live. And, Carol, of course, as you know, in the South, the tornadic activity really centers in the spring, from March until May, and we're at the tail end right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and there's more nasty stuff to come.
Thank you, Kimberly.
We want to bring in Arch Kennedy right now because, what, flash flood warnings in Tennessee?
ARCH KENNEDY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Umm-hmm.
COSTELLO: And also more tornado warnings.
KENNEDY: Everything going on, and we have a couple of warnings. I think Giles County, East Central Lawrence County under the gun with a tornado warning as we speak. And that's really southern parts of Tennessee. And we're also dealing with this flash flooding potential -- I want to mention that, too -- this morning across a lot of the state, including parts of northern Alabama and Georgia.
So we have a lot going on. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this system is going to continue to produce severe weather for days here.
COSTELLO: For day?
KENNEDY: We could be talking a week more.
COSTELLO: How unusual is this?
KENNEDY: Kind of unusual to see it last this long, that's for sure. And this is definitely going down in history, this storm system.
COSTELLO: Definitely. KENNEDY: So we're going to keep watching it for you and we're looking at showers and storms this morning across the Deep South. That's where the action is happening. We're looking at mainly Tennessee for the flooding potential this morning. Again, we're getting that training and by that we mean showers, storms moving over the same period of, same area of land, over places that already have received a lot of heavy activity.
Again, you can see the heaviest stuff across Tennessee this morning. And here we'll take another vantage point and you can see what I'm talking about. There's that severe cell that's possibly a tornado in southern parts of Tennessee and plenty of activity extending back into northern areas of Mississippi.
We do have a tornado watch still in effect, parts of one into parts of the eastern Carolinas here and we're going to shift the severe weather focus father west today. So places that already have seen devastation are under the gun this afternoon. And we're talking about mainly parts of central and southern Missouri, most of Arkansas. And so if you're doing any traveling today in this vicinity, be on the lookout for tornadic development, large hail and heavy rain.
We'll have more -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Arch.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
