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American Morning
Killer Tornadoes, Measuring Losses in Jackson, Tennessee
Aired May 06, 2003 - 07:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The rain is still falling in Jackson, Tennessee, as you just heard Bill say, where some of the worst tornado damage occurred.
Our Leon Harris is out there this morning.
Good morning to you -- Leon. We understand the rain is really coming down, right?
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you're getting a good look at it here, I'm sure. This is -- in the last couple of minutes that rain has picked up big time. It's come in sheets, and it's come in rather sporadic episodes here, but right now we're back into what appears to be another heavier one.
But that is just adding insult to the injury that this area here, Madison County in Tennessee, has had to endure. You heard Bill mention moments ago about the death toll in the state of Tennessee being up to 14 right now officially. Well, we talked to the county sheriff here in Madison County last night, and he tells me seven of those occurred on one street alone in this area.
Jackson, Tennessee, it's going to be waking up to a rather soggy mess, literally, on their hands, as you can see all around here. This downtown area really was -- had roughshod rode over by this herd of tornadoes that swarmed through here.
Right now, we're hearing there are still massive power outages. We experienced some of that quite a bit ourselves. As a matter of fact, overnight, power in and out in wide swathes of the town. But that isn't the big problem.
Right now with the rain coming down -- and it's been coming down all night long, three to four inches of it or so -- that has got a lot of the area around here totally saturated. We've heard officials here say that the big concern now is that as commuters get up and people try to get out and get on with their lives today, some of the side roads and streets and bridges on the side areas may not be structural intact or have enough integrity that would hold any traffic.
So, that may be a real big mess, but the idea is trying to get that word to people who don't have power. There are residents here who are still dealing with trying to get ice in certain places just to keep what they've got in their homes safe. And it looks like it's going to be that way for them for at least the next three to four days from what we're hearing. We're standing by. We're waiting for the arrival of the governor. We expect he'll be coming through here and taking a tour of the area. And hopefully we'll get some more information from him when he does arrive here later this morning.
Back to you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Leon Harris, we will check in with you a little bit later on to see how things are going there. Thanks so much.
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 - 07:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The rain is still falling in Jackson, Tennessee, as you just heard Bill say, where some of the worst tornado damage occurred.
Our Leon Harris is out there this morning.
Good morning to you -- Leon. We understand the rain is really coming down, right?
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you're getting a good look at it here, I'm sure. This is -- in the last couple of minutes that rain has picked up big time. It's come in sheets, and it's come in rather sporadic episodes here, but right now we're back into what appears to be another heavier one.
But that is just adding insult to the injury that this area here, Madison County in Tennessee, has had to endure. You heard Bill mention moments ago about the death toll in the state of Tennessee being up to 14 right now officially. Well, we talked to the county sheriff here in Madison County last night, and he tells me seven of those occurred on one street alone in this area.
Jackson, Tennessee, it's going to be waking up to a rather soggy mess, literally, on their hands, as you can see all around here. This downtown area really was -- had roughshod rode over by this herd of tornadoes that swarmed through here.
Right now, we're hearing there are still massive power outages. We experienced some of that quite a bit ourselves. As a matter of fact, overnight, power in and out in wide swathes of the town. But that isn't the big problem.
Right now with the rain coming down -- and it's been coming down all night long, three to four inches of it or so -- that has got a lot of the area around here totally saturated. We've heard officials here say that the big concern now is that as commuters get up and people try to get out and get on with their lives today, some of the side roads and streets and bridges on the side areas may not be structural intact or have enough integrity that would hold any traffic.
So, that may be a real big mess, but the idea is trying to get that word to people who don't have power. There are residents here who are still dealing with trying to get ice in certain places just to keep what they've got in their homes safe. And it looks like it's going to be that way for them for at least the next three to four days from what we're hearing. We're standing by. We're waiting for the arrival of the governor. We expect he'll be coming through here and taking a tour of the area. And hopefully we'll get some more information from him when he does arrive here later this morning.
Back to you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Leon Harris, we will check in with you a little bit later on to see how things are going there. Thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
