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CNN Live Today

Interview With Weatherman Shawn Cable

Aired June 25, 2003 - 11:01   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: From summer heat now to summer storms. Tornadoes, some nearly a mile wide, left a trail of destruction across the Midwest. This was the scene in a Tiny South Dakota town, it's called Manchester, as a huge twister touched down. The local sheriff says after the storms blew through the area the only thing left standing was one shed.
Joining us now is a man who shot this video, Shawn Cable from our affiliate KELO. Shawn, why'd you shoot this video? How close did you get?

SHAWN CABLE, KELO WEATHERMAN: Well, when we were probably about a mile away from this, it was quite a storm, absolutely incredible. The tornado actually started as about a mile wide, what we call a "wedge tornado" which is just one of those big up and down things that is very wide and covers a large area. Then as we went on in time, it got smaller and turned into that almost like a stove pipe-shaped tornado.

COLLINS: Is this something now that you guys are pretty familiar with? I mean obviously you have had tornadoes before. What was so different about this one?

CABLE: Well, you know we do this quite a bit. We have a pretty aggressive weather coverage department here at KELO-land TV. And we go out, a couple of us go, Brian Carson's (ph) my collegue and I go out and we actually chase and follow the storms. And the other half of our team, a couple other guys stay here in the storm center and actually run the radar.

And we were live continuously throughout the event. Really this is not the only tornado we had. There were tornadoes all over the place. And really just an entire outbreak like this is kid of unusual for our area. We don't really see large outbreaks. There were nearly 40 tornadoes across South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa last night.

And the amazing thing about this deal is that there were only a few injuries. Nobody was killed but a lot of damage reported. We were kind of running around trying to pick up the pieces and find damage to show people and to help out with here this morning.

COLLINS: Shawn, we are running a piece of information at the bottom of the screen about a man who was actually lifted from his home and blown several miles away. Do you know anything about that?

CABLE: Can you believe that? That's the most incredible thing I've heard. The guy was actually heading down into his basement, he was on his way down into the basement when he got sucked out, carried about 100 feet and set down. He's fine. No problems at all.

But you can see some of the damage pictures here. I mean this little town of Manchester, there are about six or maybe eight buildings in the town. It's a very, very small town. About 20 to 25 people there. But a lot of those buildings were wiped clean off the foundation. When we got there there were a lot places where homes stood. All that was left was a slab of cement. So that just goes to show the power of the storm as it moved through.

COLLINS: Now folks that live out in those areas, you say there are not too many buildings out there, but the ones that were there are no longer, pretty much. What about the warning system there? Do you find it good or can people out there not really hear anything?

CABLE: Well, you know, it's tough when you are in a small town like that or in the rural areas here in South Dakota. A lot of rural agricultural communities, and most of them do have really good warning systems and sirens. The media around here is fabulous when it comes to getting the word out and getting information. I know we were on the air constantly, for about seven hours.

COLLINS: And you are fabulous, Shawn.

CABLE: Well thank you. You know, it was just a crazy night. A lot of storms. The thing that goes through your mind when you are watching something like this is, My God, there are people underneath this thing. And that's one of the things that made me felt really good is when we got there, all of the people that lived in that town were accounted for. And that was, I think, the best news of all.

COLLINS: All right. Shawn, thank you so much for telling us everything that happened there. Once again, Shawn Cable from our affiliate KELO. Excellent job last night. We appreciate your time.

CABLE: Thank you.

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 June 25, 2003 - 11:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: From summer heat now to summer storms. Tornadoes, some nearly a mile wide, left a trail of destruction across the Midwest. This was the scene in a Tiny South Dakota town, it's called Manchester, as a huge twister touched down. The local sheriff says after the storms blew through the area the only thing left standing was one shed.
Joining us now is a man who shot this video, Shawn Cable from our affiliate KELO. Shawn, why'd you shoot this video? How close did you get?

SHAWN CABLE, KELO WEATHERMAN: Well, when we were probably about a mile away from this, it was quite a storm, absolutely incredible. The tornado actually started as about a mile wide, what we call a "wedge tornado" which is just one of those big up and down things that is very wide and covers a large area. Then as we went on in time, it got smaller and turned into that almost like a stove pipe-shaped tornado.

COLLINS: Is this something now that you guys are pretty familiar with? I mean obviously you have had tornadoes before. What was so different about this one?

CABLE: Well, you know we do this quite a bit. We have a pretty aggressive weather coverage department here at KELO-land TV. And we go out, a couple of us go, Brian Carson's (ph) my collegue and I go out and we actually chase and follow the storms. And the other half of our team, a couple other guys stay here in the storm center and actually run the radar.

And we were live continuously throughout the event. Really this is not the only tornado we had. There were tornadoes all over the place. And really just an entire outbreak like this is kid of unusual for our area. We don't really see large outbreaks. There were nearly 40 tornadoes across South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa last night.

And the amazing thing about this deal is that there were only a few injuries. Nobody was killed but a lot of damage reported. We were kind of running around trying to pick up the pieces and find damage to show people and to help out with here this morning.

COLLINS: Shawn, we are running a piece of information at the bottom of the screen about a man who was actually lifted from his home and blown several miles away. Do you know anything about that?

CABLE: Can you believe that? That's the most incredible thing I've heard. The guy was actually heading down into his basement, he was on his way down into the basement when he got sucked out, carried about 100 feet and set down. He's fine. No problems at all.

But you can see some of the damage pictures here. I mean this little town of Manchester, there are about six or maybe eight buildings in the town. It's a very, very small town. About 20 to 25 people there. But a lot of those buildings were wiped clean off the foundation. When we got there there were a lot places where homes stood. All that was left was a slab of cement. So that just goes to show the power of the storm as it moved through.

COLLINS: Now folks that live out in those areas, you say there are not too many buildings out there, but the ones that were there are no longer, pretty much. What about the warning system there? Do you find it good or can people out there not really hear anything?

CABLE: Well, you know, it's tough when you are in a small town like that or in the rural areas here in South Dakota. A lot of rural agricultural communities, and most of them do have really good warning systems and sirens. The media around here is fabulous when it comes to getting the word out and getting information. I know we were on the air constantly, for about seven hours.

COLLINS: And you are fabulous, Shawn.

CABLE: Well thank you. You know, it was just a crazy night. A lot of storms. The thing that goes through your mind when you are watching something like this is, My God, there are people underneath this thing. And that's one of the things that made me felt really good is when we got there, all of the people that lived in that town were accounted for. And that was, I think, the best news of all.

COLLINS: All right. Shawn, thank you so much for telling us everything that happened there. Once again, Shawn Cable from our affiliate KELO. Excellent job last night. We appreciate your time.

CABLE: Thank you.

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