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CNN Saturday Morning News
Severe Weather Sweeps South; Tennessee Hospital Running On Emergency Power Accepts Patients; FBI Investigation Into St. Bernard Parish Contracts; Hundreds Of Twisters Have Hit The Country; Rolling Stones In China
Aired April 08, 2006 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, they are cleaning up in Tennessee and other parts of the Southeast after a deadly storm. We'll have that live in a live report just a few moments from now right here from CNN's Jonathan Freed.
He is in the hard hit community of Gallatin.
Now, victims of the brutal mosque bombings in Iraq, they were buried today. About 75 people were killed in the attack yesterday on a Shiite shrine. It was the latest escalation of Iraq's sectarian strife.
Afghan and coalition forces say they captured three Taliban insurgents in Kandahar Province today. Earlier, they reported killing two Taliban commanders in southern Afghanistan.
It is Saturday, April 8th.
What a day.
Good morning, everybody.
From the CNN Center right here in Atlanta, talking about storms. We're going to have a ton of storm coverage for u.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's felt like a day in the morning.
NGUYEN: Already. It's only 11:00 Eastern.
HARRIS: Yes. Good morning, everybody.
I'm Tony Harris.
The severe weather isn't confined to the Southeast, that's for sure.
Coming up this hour, we'll tell you about the rain and snow in the West and the problems it's caused.
Also ahead, no parking -- dramatic pictures of a garage implosion in Florida. Hang on. Hang on. There it is. There it is. And there she goes. NGUYEN: There it goes.
HARRIS: Yes.
And something you probably never expected to see.
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: Yes!
HARRIS: The Rolling Stones, Betty.
NGUYEN: Oh. Looking good.
HARRIS: Rocking China. We will have a report from Richard Quest.
NGUYEN: Get ready for that.
HARRIS: Wow!
But first...
NGUYEN: A day of destruction then a turbulent night. A violent storm system that killed eleven people in Tennessee yesterday continued its trek through the Southeast overnight -- look at all these pictures here -- spawning destructive tornadoes and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the Atlanta area.
This morning, people all over the region are looking over the damage and turning to the hard work of cleanup.
HARRIS: CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has been tracking the storm.
He is in the CNN Weather Center to tell us where it is now -- Reynolds, good morning.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
It is moving deeper into the Southeast. People in Nashville, people in Huntsville, back over to Atlanta, they're very familiar with the rough weather that has been taking place over the last 24 hours or so.
But people in Americus, Georgia, you haven't had it yet, but look at what's forming just to the north. You're seeing this intense line of storms. Nothing severe at this point, but that's going to roll right on through and continue on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Atlantic Ocean. We're going to be seeing a lot of this begin to fizzle out.
However, we're seeing some scattered showers, all part of the same system, again, extending all the way up to the Eastern Seaboard, right through Washington inside the beltway, to New York. We're seeing some light rainfall, as well. Heavier spots just on the other side of the Hudson River, just to the north of Paterson, we're seeing some scattered showers. Yonkers, you're getting the rain, as well.
Long Island, all of this that you see out here to the west is drifting toward the east.
But what we are seeing in the Atlanta area again, which we have been showing you all morning, a lot of coverage, is the aftermath of what we believe were tornadoes. They were indicated by Doppler radar. We had some super cells, rotating thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. It's not a guarantee as to what they were. They were either tornadoes or straight line winds. But at this point, who cares? It was -- it was just awful, awful conditions for these folks. It doesn't matter if it was straight line winds or tornadoes, they're dealing with awful conditions this morning in Atlanta; also, as I mentioned, up in Nashville, especially.
North of Nashville they had an awful time yesterday afternoon into the evening and now, thankfully, things are beginning to die down. But what, what a spell it has been with this rough weather.
HARRIS: Reynolds, I'm not done with you yet.
WOLF: Bring it on.
You can ask any question.
HARRIS: And we have, all morning long.
NGUYEN: Yes, we have.
WOLF: You sure do.
HARRIS: Here's the thing, we're going to get some heating. It's a big atmosphere. It's going to heat up...
WOLF: Yes, we are.
HARRIS: ... during the course of this day.
Might we see more severe weather to the east of this line that you've seen showing us this morning?
WOLF: To the east of this line, as this line progress to the southeast, yes, we could see some pop up storms. That's certainly a possibility. We could even have another severe thunderstorm warning pop up.
However, what normally takes place when you have severe weather through a given area, it can be bad, but it stabilizes the atmosphere once it moves through. So even though you see a secondary line forming just to the west of Atlanta and also north of Birmingham, when this next wave comes through, it's not going to have the same type of unstable conditions to deal with.
HARRIS: Got you. WOLF: It's not going to have the opportunity to percolate and become much stronger.
So I don't think we're going to see much of this into the afternoon hours at all.
HARRIS: OK, so we'll get another update from you in about 10 minutes, at 11:15...
WOLF: You know where to find me. You know were I'm going to be.
NGUYEN: And you know we'll be calling.
WOLF: I know you will.
HARRIS: I feel like I'm back in radio -- we'll have weather at the 15s.
NGUYEN: Yes, we will be talking to you every 15 minutes, so stay nearby, Reynolds.
WOLF: Fair enough.
I'm staying right here.
NGUYEN: All right, here's a closer look at some of the latest pictures that we're getting into CNN.
The northern suburbs of Atlanta suffered heavy destruction overnight. You see where there were tree limbs? Well, no more. Officials reported tornado like damage to homes and businesses.
HARRIS: Trees, billboards, utility poles uprooted. About 36,000 metro Atlanta power customers lost service. Alabama got hit, too. Several homes were damaged in the Birmingham area and a store was destroyed in Aniston. Tennessee was hit the hardest. In addition to claiming 11 lives there, the storms destroyed homes, overturned cars and downed power lines. Witnesses say a tornado that hit Gallatin, 24 miles northeast of Nashville, sent debris flying hundreds of feet into the air.
CNN's Jonathan Freed is there live -- and, Jonathan, it has been quite a quick for u.
but give you a sense of what you're seeing this morning as folks try to get back into their homes -- I'm not even sure they can -- to kind of assess the damage.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
Let me first take you to the action that's happening behind us, Tony.
We are in front of that car dealership. There are about three of them where the cars were just tossed around like toys, flipped upside down, just twisted and crushed and bent out of shape. And we can see a backhoe down there, what has been trying to move the cars and stack them and push them and prod them so that people can just clean up this site as best they can.
Ironically, some of these buildings here were just recently built. There was a fire at this location, we're told, about a year or so ago. So just not a good run of luck for the people that own and operate this car dealership here.
Now, let me take you down here, Tony, because we have been seeing all morning those incredible images of those large homes that were just pulverized. And that neighborhood is just down here. And we're right at the edge of it now. The police, unfortunately, are not letting the media in at this point. We haven't been able to really talk to anybody at their homes.
But you can see that the power crews are right at the edge of this subdivision now and trying to restore power.
When we drove in before dark, earlier today, power was really out everywhere, once you got within a couple of miles of this town. There were just no lights whatsoever.
People have been emerging over the last couple of hours. A lot of people taking photographs of what they're seeing. But mostly just a lot of very pale and drawn faces, Tony, because people just cannot believe that this has happened to this town, after they saw what happened in northwest Tennessee in Dyer County -- Tony.
HARRIS: That's right. That's right.
And, you know, I'm just trying to put myself in the place of some of the people that you've been talking to and have been meeting over the last, well, let's say it, the last week.
FREED: Right.
HARRIS: And particularly in that situation that you're in right now, there's really not a whole lot folks can do. You come by, you take pictures, you -- perhaps you're allowed by local police to take a couple of your belongings, but then you've just got to figure out how to move on and get some shelter and some food and to move on until things kind of clear up a little bit.
FREED: That's it, exactly. And people will do different things. We were talking to some of the people up in Dyer and the shelters were not that full. One of the reasons for that -- and even the hotels weren't even necessarily full, because there was a money issue for a lot of the people up there.
HARRIS: Right.
FREED: So they were trying to stay where they could. Many of them finding family and friends. But you had up to 1,800 buildings, homes and businesses, that were either destroyed or damaged up there in the northwest part of the state on Sunday evening. And now this has happened here. But we've been talking to people who are just -- they're just shaking their heads, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes.
FREED: They can't believe that this has happened twice in one week. Yesterday, I was in Memphis in the afternoon. I was on the 19th floor of a hotel with a good view of the Mississippi and looking south and east and west. And I could hear those tornado sirens going off. And you could just feel the tension in the town.
HARRIS: Which is scary.
FREED: Nothing happened in Memphis, thankfully.
Yes, absolutely...
HARRIS: Yes, I mean, you hear those sirens...
FREED: ... because you just -- right.
HARRIS: You hear those sirens and it's very scary. I mean, and just to bring it home a little bit, we have -- I'm living in Smyrna, Georgia and the sirens go off at about, oh, 3:00 this morning and it rocks your world. It really rocks your world.
Jonathan Freed, you've had quite a week.
We appreciate you taking the time and great reporting for us this morning.
We appreciate it.
FREED: Thanks, Tony.
NGUYEN: Tony, you've been talking about the sirens in Georgia. We want to show you some damage in Georgia. This is in Alpharetta, which is north of the Atlanta area. We're getting these pictures live from our affiliate, WAGA, here in Atlanta.
This is obviously a very nice suburb. And, as you can see, if you look closely, there are blue tarp. You can see many roofs have that covering it, basically, from the damage that was occurred.
You see one there on your lower left hand side.
You can also see -- see these trees? The treetops are gone. Trees have been snapped in half. Also, trees have fallen on homes. We saw a little bit earlier when one tree went inside the house in the very area where this family's son was to be sleeping.
HARRIS: OK...
NGUYEN: And fortunately he was with a family member and wasn't there at the time.
HARRIS: ... can I tell my story?
Here's a...
NGUYEN: About the trees?
HARRIS: Yes, here's a -- here's the issue with the trees here in Atlanta. I mean, and I guess throughout Georgia, but certainly in Atlanta. You -- it's an act of Congress, really, to get a tree taken down. So whenever there is severe weather, we go through this here, as you know, Betty, we go through this, you know, every March and April...
NGUYEN: Springtime.
HARRIS: Yes, springtime. Every springtime we go through this. And your concern is that what you're seeing here, that the trees will just snap off so you live in this -- this kind of perpetual fear when the winds start to kick up that, you know, you're going to have one of these trees that is an old tree...
NGUYEN: Yes, these aren't twigs.
HARRIS: ... a mature -- exactly.
NGUYEN: These are fully grown trees that really, like you said, you have to pretty much petition to cut them down.
HARRIS: Yes, you really do.
NGUYEN: And, obviously, this storm just came through and cut a lot of them down.
HARRIS: So there you go.
NGUYEN: Unfortunately, it's caused a lot of damage, as well.
Look at this house right here. You can see one of the floors, the top half at least -- I don't know if maybe that is part of the attic, but exposed. Completely exposed there.
HARRIS: That's really something.
NGUYEN: They're going to try to have to get some tarp on top of that...
HARRIS: Yes, sure.
NGUYEN: ... if the rain keeps falling today.
But just a glimpse at some of the damage in the Atlanta area. Obviously nothing compared to what they experienced in Tennessee. Eleven people died yesterday because of these storms.
Now, south of Gallatin, a hospital in Hendersonville, Tennessee running on emergency power admitted 20 patients.
Aaron Solomon of CNN affiliate WSMV has a report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A tornado.
AARON SOLOMON, WSMV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two construction workers were inside this new home when it collapsed. One made it out, the second had to be cut out by rescue personnel. Amazingly, he suffered no life-threatening injuries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my friend.
SOLOMON: The twister also took construction superintendent Mark Cutlip for quite a ride.
MARK CUTLIP, CONSTRUCTION SUPERINTENDENT: We was coming up the street there, my partner and I, and we seen the wind blowing a lot of debris in this destruction. And we had to get to this end of the street. And it -- about 30 yards in that direction, it started sliding us up the road and we started to turn on our side.
It blew all of the windows out of our truck. And at that point, we couldn't see nothing. My partner is in the ambulance now and at that point, the houses starting collapsing and it was just -- it was -- it was about 30 seconds was about all it lasted.
SOLOMON (on camera): What were you thinking? Were you thinking oh, here we go, or what?
CUTLIP: Well, I thought it was over.
SOLOMON (voice-over): The wind started to pick up.
Gwen and Ralph Preveau were forced to move to middle Tennessee after Hurricane Katrina. They were looking at a model home nearby.
GWEN PREVEAU, KATRINA EVACUEE: And it was more frightening than any hurricane I've lived through, because I've run from hurricanes and I had no place to run.
RALPH PREVEAU, KATRINA EVACUEE: I looked out the front door and I saw that the wind was picking up really bad. But then stuff started to come by. We looked out the front door and I actually saw it. I could see the spiral of it. I said here it is. He said let me see. He said we're in it right now.
So we ran to the middle of the house in the interior bathroom, closed the door and waited. And then as soon as we heard the wind subside, we went outside. And I saw it going down the street. And then I looked around and damage all over.
SOLOMON: The new construction here at Mansker Farms, the hardest hit. Four homes leveled. Luckily, no one seriously injured. But that's not all. Nearly two dozen other older homes suffered extensive damage and scores of others suffered some type of damage. As homeowners went back and tried to make repairs, their feared further storms would cause further damage and some felt they were lucky to make it through.
KELLY PARKER, STORM SURVIVOR: I just heard the wind whirling and I said hold on, I've got to go. We've got to get down to the basement. And as we did, the window broke and all the debris came flying down the steps. And we got the door shut and got over in the corner where there were -- where there were no windows.
SOLOMON: Lots of damage here at Mansker Farms, but many lucky people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Here's the thing, for that area in particular, Hendersonville, there was a lot of concern about the water.
NGUYEN: The drinking water.
HARRIS: Was the water drinkable?
NGUYEN: Right.
HARRIS: And we learned, I guess in about an hour or so ago, that the water is...
NGUYEN: Yes, to be exact, yes.
HARRIS: ... is fine. So the water is...
NGUYEN: They had some problems...
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: ... but according to the lawmakers that were speaking in that news conference, they said that water is A-OK. You can drink it. There's not a problem with that at this time.
HARRIS: Yes.
Those folks were certainly thankful for that.
Still ahead, severe storms in the South overnight, as we've been telling you all morning long.
Where are they headed now?
We're staying on this story all hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think it's coming right for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, look at that.
Here's the question -- why are we seeing so many tornadoes this year? And, you know, it's just April. It's not even that far into April, April 8th, to be exact. Our Rob Marciano is following this story.
HARRIS: Plus, it's not just the South. The West is seeing spring rains that are causing a trail of destruction.
It's all ahead this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hey, Reynolds, if not for all of the damage done by this storm line, if we were just looking at the radar right now, this would be what, kind of a so-so storm?
WOLF: This would, you know, everything is relative. That's a great question.
HARRIS: Yes.
WOLF: If this was just a regular afternoon, I would say man, these are some pretty impressive storms that are popping up. But when you put it in comparison with the storms that we have been seeing just over the last 24 to 36 hours, these aren't much. The rough stuff was really yesterday. The rough stuff was earlier this morning.
This is, again, the dying stages of this storm.
Take a look at radar. We're going to walk on over here and we're going to walk you through a few couple of things, show you where the strongest storms are forming at this hour.
Most of them well to the south of Atlanta at this time. Some of them just near the Montgomery area, Montgomery, Alabama, right here. Here's 85. Here's Troy. These strong cells just north of Eufaula.
These are some strong storms. They are severe at this point. They are producing some hail, some strong winds. But tornadoes? At this time we don't have any reports of them, but there is that possibility that we could see some. However, you don't have all of the same components that we had in yesterday's storms. You've got the front, yes.
You have the upper level low, of course. But you don't have the daytime heating. You don't have the low level jet stream that's playing a big part of it. You don't have all of the pieces to the puzzle to make the severe weather scenario that we had up in Nashville, that we had in Huntsville, that we had earlier this morning in Atlanta, even over toward Anniston, Alabama and Sacks (ph), as well.
So, things are getting, I guess you could say, a little bit better. I can't believe I'm saying things are getting better when we still have strong storms out there, but that is the case. Now, as we make our way farther up the chain, parts of north Georgia still seeing some scattered showers. But the farther north you go, the weaker the showers and storms become -- back to you.
HARRIS: OK.
Man.
NGUYEN: That's a good -- I mean...
HARRIS: Just the whole...
NGUYEN: A little light at the end of the tunnel here.
HARRIS: Just...
WOLF: It's getting better. It's going to get better for us.
HARRIS: And the context is good.
WOLF: Yes.
HARRIS: That's good.
All right, Reynolds, thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, this is already a very busy and very deadly year for tornadoes. Hundreds of twisters have hit the country so far this year, much more than usual.
CNN's Rob Marciano looks at why it's happening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENTON WILSON, RESIDENT OF MISSOURI: That thing is coming right for us.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Brenton Wilson says he's never seen anything like it. On Sunday, the 17-year-old was hanging out at his grandma's house in Braggadocio, Missouri, when this twister started heading their way.
WILSON: Oh, my gosh. It's about to hit the school. I think it's about to hit the school.
MARCIANO: Since Sunday, over 100 tornadoes have been reported. That brings the total to just over 400 in just over three months. If that seems like a lot, you're right. Last year, in the same period, there were only 96 tornado reports. This is the most tornadoes the U.S. has seen in this period since 1999.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see -- I see another one, Tina (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two of them.
MARCIANO: We have not only seen more tornadoes thus far, we've also seen more deaths, at least 46 fatalities so far.
So why so many tornadoes in such a short period of time? Well, the warm winter played a major role. And keep in mind, it's still early. Peak tornado season is March through May in the Southern states, while peak months in the Northern states are during the summer.
WILSON: I hope it don't come over here.
Oh, my gosh!
MARCIANO: As for Brenton Wilson and his family, the twister spared their homes. But some of their neighbors weren't so lucky.
WILSON: It just blew their house away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That was a massive tornado.
Keep in mind, 35 peopled have died in storms in Tennessee this week alone.
HARRIS: All right, we're going to turn our attention to the aftermath of Katrina.
You know, in the days after Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard Parish officials started picking up the pieces. So why now is the federal government scrutinizing their actions?
NGUYEN: And take a look at this. A Florida parking garage goes down this morning. We're going to show you that implosion. Look at it! Ah! In all its glory.
Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Harry Slatkin's passion and creativity are heating up the candle business. Slatkin started his career on Wall Street, but launched a home fragrance business, Slatkin & Company, after his friend, Vera Wang, told him his talents could be better used elsewhere.
HARRY SLATKIN, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, SLATKIN & COMPANY: Life, to me, is all accident. And I think when I went into the candle company it was by accident. I had never dreamed of starting a home fragrance company. And 15 years ago, nobody used home fragrance. And there was going to be one or two companies. And when we launched, everyone in the industry woke up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slatkin's line of scented candles and potpourri are now sold in more than 300 specialty stores, making it one of the premier home fragrance companies. Limited Brands took notice and bought the company in 2005. SLATKIN: You really have to keep an open mind to people that you meet along the way. I never dreamed it would end up that not only would they buy my company, but I'd end up president of home design for all their brands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Your weather headquarters.
We're getting live pictures in from affiliate WAGA. This is in Alpharetta, Georgia, which is just north of Atlanta.
Look at this tree. We told you about these trees...
HARRIS: These trees...
NGUYEN: ... these mature trees...
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: ... that have fallen over because of this storm. This one obviously fell on top of the house. It's not just one tree, though. Once they widen out, you'll see two trees, actually, have fallen onto this home. And the homeowner, bless his heart, is up there trying to do some damage control.
HARRIS: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What, now?
NGUYEN: That's what we're being told. We're trying to see if somewhere on that, up there...
HARRIS: The homeowner is on one of the trees that's now through his home?
NGUYEN: Trying to do some damage control. I don't know what you can do at this point, because those trees are pretty heavy.
HARRIS: OK.
NGUYEN: But they have a crane there, apparently. They're going to try to take these trees off that roof.
HARRIS: And this is an upscale neighborhood. I mean this is a really upscale neighborhood.
NGUYEN: Yes, you can tell by the house.
HARRIS: And -- yes, big homes, a big golf course community, a lot of Alpharettas and a lot of athletes and celebrity types and singers and performers.
NGUYEN: And hopefully a lot of insurance, because you're going to need it at this point.
HARRIS: Yes. Because you're going to need it.
NGUYEN: See there, two trees that had fallen, one at the top left hand corner and the bottom right hand corner.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: So that homeowner has got a lot to do today. It's going to be a busy Saturday.
HARRIS: We'll keep our eye on it.
Well, since Hurricane Katrina, we've reported frequently on the failures of the federal government to help Katrina victims. It's an ongoing segment we call Keeping Them Honest. But now, one Louisiana community that's been very critical of the federal response finds itself under scrutiny.
Our Gulf Coast correspondent, Susan Roesgen, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Right after the hurricane, most local communities waited for federal help. Not St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Even before the water went down, just days after Katrina, this blue collar community outside of New Orleans started to pick itself up.
St. Bernard Parish leaders ordered thousands of travel trailers for people who lost their homes. And they lined up a contractor to haul Katrina debris, a $700 million deal.
But the Parish didn't wait for FEMA approval, which local governments are supposed to get, and now parish officials confirm that the FBI has started an investigation into those contracts and the potential for fraud.
(on camera): The FBI won't comment on the investigation and neither will FEMA. But a contractor who did not get the deal to haul away garbage says what the parish did was wrong.
BILL MURPHY, CONTRACTOR: I have no idea why we didn't get the contract. None.
ROESGEN: Bill Murphy says his company's bid was $137 million less than the one the parish accepted. But parish leaders say in an emergency situation, they weren't required to take the lowest bid.
LARRY INGARGIOLA, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHIEF: We were trying to get the parish up and running and trying to save lives. And sometimes you take shortcuts to do things. It may not be exactly legal, but at the time, it was right. It was the moral thing to do, to try to save people's lives as much as possible, and save property.
ROESGEN: Parish emergency management chief Larry Ingargiola says FBI agents questioned him a few days ago and he says he expects the scrutiny. So does parish president, junior Rodriguez.
HENRY "JUNIOR" RODRIGUEZ, PARISH PRESIDENT: You've got to understand, when you get this kind of money flowing down, you're going to have these kind of federal officials, the FBI, everybody looking at it, because you've always got somebody that's, you know, going to be tempted.
ROESGEN: In fact, state auditors are also looking at the garbage contract and others, trying to make sure that the parish isn't asking for reimbursement for things the government shouldn't pay for. But parish leaders say they don't regret any contracts signed during the crisis and Ingargiola says the FBI won't find any wrongdoing on his part.
INGARGIOLA: Because, believe me, if you can -- you can look at my checking account. There's no profit in it. I just can't understand what -- what they're really looking for. They're on a fishing expedition and this fish is not biting.
ROESGEN: Susan Roesgen, CNN, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, we have been watching damage overnight from storms all across the Southeast.
HARRIS: Man, look at this picture again.
OK, and in the West, a spring rain and thaw are making a real mess of things out West.
More on this crazy weather when we come back.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, we have been watching damage overnight from storms all across the southeast.
HARRIS: Yes, look at this picture again. OK. And in the west, a spring rain and thaw are making a real mess of things out west. More on this crazy weather when we come back. You are watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this. Clean-up under way from Mississippi all the way to Georgia after powerful storms ripped through the area. You are looking at new video of the devastation. This is in Marietta, Georgia just outside of Atlanta. The scene is repeated in communities across the region. Homes, lives have been ripped apart. And power's out to tens of thousands of people.
HARRIS: Well, Tennessee is reeling from the storms. Thirty six people have been killed there this week alone in weather-related incidents. CNN's Amanda Rosseter joins us live from Charlotte, Tennessee, about 50 mimes west of Nashville. Amanda, give us a sense of what you have been seeing and the kind of work -- I hear probably a truck or something in the background there. Give us a sense of the work that's going on there now.
AMANDA ROSSETER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, they are really starting to clean up here in this little community. They have some enormous structural damage. No lives lost fortunately in this small area. I do have unfortunately a number to update for you now.
Randy Harris, the spokesperson for TEMA, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency telling us just a few minutes ago that they are changing the number now, the death toll number to 12. We've been reporting 11 all morning. They are now saying it's 12, that they have found another victim in Sumner County. Again that number upgraded to 12.
And of course the people here had only just a few days after the storm came through on Sunday. It took 24 lives here in this state to regroup before this next patch of tornadoes came through on Friday taking 12 people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSSETER (voice-over): And we found out this morning the worst damage is just outside of Nashville. This aerial video north of Nashville says it all. Houses obliterated by the power of the storm. An area church was badly damaged. There were people inside when the storm hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She thought that maybe she could get her purse. She just left her purse and started running and the building began to collapse behind her.
ROSSETER: Two construction workers were inside this new home when it collapsed. One of them got out. The other had to be rescued.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind started to pick up.
ROSSETER: This couple moved to middle Tennessee after hurricane Katrina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's more frightening than any hurricane I've lived through, because I've run from hurricanes. And I had no place to run.
ROSSETER: A man used his cell phone's camera to record a tornado in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin. And it was there at this Nissan dealership that 250 cars on the lot were totaled. The roof of the building was torn off and windows were blown out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSSETER: One day after storms pounded Tennessee, the southeast got more severe weather. Tornadoes touched down from Mississippi to Georgia. Just north of Atlanta, you can see how the powerful storm ripped apart this building and turned over the trailer of an 18 wheeler.
Tony, take a look over my shoulder up here in the sky. We've been telling you all morning that TEMA was planning to send out National Guard helicopters to assess the damage from the air. We are now getting a sense of what they are seeing. This is actually a path we are standing in where the tornado came off this hill. You can see the large tree on the ground behind me and of course the chopper getting a shot of that right now.
So they will be assessing this damage from the air. And as we mentioned, the tornado came up this hill, took out the large tree and brought much of the debris up this hill over the hill. And next half hour I'm going to take you on the other side of the street and show you what the neighbors are dealing with and what the tornado carried over there. Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: I appreciate it, Amanda Rosseter for us in Charlotte, Tennessee. Amanda, thank you.
NGUYEN: You know, Tony, the incredible pictures speak of the horror and the moments following tornadoes in other storms. Here now is a look at the sights and sounds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Numerous warnings out there with very vivid super cell activity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are painting a picture up here of one of the strongest tornadoes I've experienced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He saw vehicles off the ground in the air, swirling around as if they were shingles like debris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please be taking cover immediately.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Wow. Did you see that Reynolds?
WOLF: Absolutely, absolutely. And one thing that I keep thinking about whenever I see these images Tony, is I keep thinking that it could have been lot worse. It was terrible as it was. There are families this morning that are waking up and their lives are just -- they've just been destroyed.
They are missing their homes. They're missing their communities. They're missing their loved ones. Their families are just shattered. But one thing you've got to remember is that had this taken place say 10 to 15 years ago, 20 years ago, it would have been far worse.
The advancements that have been made in forecasting, made in Doppler radar that give us better warning of these systems coming through have given a lot of people a lot of lead time to take action and take shelter. It makes a world of difference. But still, with some of the storms when they came through, there's not a whole lot of shelter you can find from some of those.
Again, some of these storms producing winds that, straight-line winds, the tornadoes themselves causing widespread devastation. Hail the size of grapefruits for heaven's sakes and place hit as we mentioned, up in Nashville back to Huntsville, Alabama. And Atlanta this morning we've seen a lot of tree damage.
Now one thing we've been seeing in the Atlanta area in terms of the damage with those trees is a lot of the trees just knocked right over. And one of the reasons why we see that is because we have the strong winds from the tornadoes obviously and straight line winds. And those trees have a very shallow root system. So when you have the wind catching the top of the trees, it's kind of like the sails from a giant clipper ship.
They eventually just pop and just give way. And lot of times you have the pine trees that are a little bit more malleable. They'll tend to bend. But a lot of the big heavy damage usually comes from the hardwoods, the big oak trees because when those things tip over, they can't bend as easily and when they crash, they crash pretty hard.
Right now what we're seeing is the heaviest weather, the roughest stuff, well south of the Atlanta area, still moving towards the Gulf coast. Now if you happen to be in Tallahassee, yes, you are going to be dealing with some showers and storms today. However, it's not going to be anything like what your neighbors up in Atlanta were dealing with, your neighbors in Nashville back over to Huntsville as well.
Over into the western parts of the city of Georgia, you are going to get some scattered showers, maybe some thunderstorms into the afternoon. Again, we're not expecting anything too severe. Could it be a severe thunderstorm? Absolutely. But you're not going to have all the components coming together to create a major severe weather event like we've seen in other parts of the country. The scattered showers continue all the way up the eastern seaboard. And I'll tell you, as soon as this moves down to the Atlantic, it's all going to fizzle out.
I have to tell you folks, we've got to stay on our toes. We've got a long way to go for severe weather season. That's coming down the pike. You always have to be aware, ready for these situations to unfold. And as Betty mentioned so wisely earlier this morning, we've got hurricane season to look forward to. So this is something -- how serious nature can really be and we always have to be paying attention.
NGUYEN: And it's just the beginning.
WOLF: You bet.
HARRIS: And a quick question for you. We've been talking this morning about how many more storms, how many more tornadoes so far. And you were saying earlier that part of the reason is that we are able to identify and the technology is helping us identify and call these storms in a way that we haven't been able to do in the past.
WOLF: Absolutely. Tony, years ago we would just classify a storm as being a tornado or at least giving tornado warning when you had visual confirmation by a trained spotter. Now we are able to give those tornado warnings simply by being able to detect some rotation in these storms as they roll through, these super cells, these rotating thunder storms that are capable of producing these twisters. When we see them, that's when we give the warning. That gives people not sometimes in many cases plenty of time. It gives them a little bit of an advantage to take shelter.
NGUYEN: Four hundred tornadoes reported so far this year.
WOLF: It is amazing. It is amazing.
NGUYEN: It blows my mind, that number.
WOLF: We've got to deal with it.
NGUYEN: All right. Reynolds we will be talking with you shortly. Thank you. Let's go to Texas now. The winds in west Texas aren't whipping quite as much today. And high humidity is helping to cut the danger of more wild fires. Fires scorched about 40,000 acres in the Texas panhandle this week. One man was killed by a fast-moving blaze.
In Oklahoma City, rain and cooler temperatures are helping firefighters get a grip on wild fires. High winds caused the fires to pick up yesterday.
HARRIS: California braces for the possibility of more flooding in the San Joaquin Valley. Some rivers are already overflowing after more than a month of rain and more storms are forecast. Officials are concerned about the threat of levee breaches.
NGUYEN: Severe storms across the southeast overnight, this morning, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee residents are picking up. Look at this video. It really boggles my mind to see this. How much damage did mother nature do? That's the big question for us this morning.
HARRIS: the mighty Stones. How about it? Rock 'n' roll. But we like it.
NGUYEN: And they like it.
HARRIS: The Rolling Stones perform in China. And we have one concert-goer live to tell us how it's going straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Tornadoes, hail and powerful wind and rain, a devastating mix across the southeast this morning. Thunderstorms roared through Mississippi to Georgia. Houses damaged, trees downed and power lines entangled. Tennessee has been terrorized by these storms. They have had 36 storm deaths there this just this week alone. Twelve of those people were killed in storms yesterday near Nashville.
CNN is tracking this intense line of storms for you from our severe weather center. You want to stay with us throughout the day to find out what you can expect from this powerful and deadly system that has been rolling through. As you can see there Reynolds Wolf working hard to get us the latest on these storms. Where are the storms right now Reynolds?
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: What a difference a day makes. And despite the fact that we were seeing reds and yellow on that radar, just a rain event today.
WOLF: It's still some strong stuff. But it is primarily a rain event coming through. You bet.
NGUYEN: Got you, Reynolds Wolf. We'll be talking with you shortly.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HARRIS: OK, are you ready for this? Can they get some satisfaction in Shanghai? That's the question for the Rolling Stones. They are rocking China today. Hey now. And our Richard Quest joining us on the phone live at the concert. Richard, good to talk to you. Set that scene for us in Shanghai.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was the most extraordinary evening. I mean it was surreal at some particular point. Here we were in the heart of capitalist, communist China Shanghai with is skyscrapers and its western living and there was The Rolling Stones.
Mick Jagger, gone 60, managing -- I mean how he strutted his stuff up and down that stage for the best part of two hours, Lord alone only knows. The audience was primarily westerners. I would say maybe 20 to 30 percent were locals or at least those from the Asia Pacific region. And frankly, Tony, they enjoyed every single moment of it.
HARRIS: But Richard, they didn't get the full Stone experience. You can't play a brown sugar in Shanghai. The sensors are going to clamp down on you. There are probably about four or five or six, I don't know, half of the play list that you can't ...
QUEST: You see the stones were clever. There were two big blow- up dolls. One male, one female that came from the side of the stage. They were usually used during "Honky Tonk Woman." Well they blew those dolls up just as they always would do. So yes, a little oblique message. Mick Jagger told me forgive the name dropping. But I did talk to him yesterday. And as Mick said -- me and Mick first name terms. He said, we've got 400 other songs. There's plenty to choose from. HARRIS: But wait a minute Richard, wait a minute. Come on. The Rolling Stones are bowing to censorship? They are like Google now.
QUEST: You know that was the point I asked again and again. I asked particularly Keith Richards. I said you are like Google. You are making excuses for coming to China. They didn't really care. They had the same excuse that Google does. It's better to get your foot in the door and pry it open. I think having been at that concert initially I thought the Stones were a little lackluster tonight.
But it just got better. And by the time Mick Jagger sang "Satisfaction," he had the whole audience screaming for more. It's the sort of -- one woman, I was talking to a lady afterwards from Shanghai. And she said, we've never seen anything before like this. I wish Chinese bands would be more like the Rolling Stones.
NGUYEN: Richard, let me just ask you really quick. What's wrong with your voice? Have you been rocking out there? What have you been doing my friend?
QUEST: Well, I've been singing. I've been strutting. I was in the middle of the rain in Shanghai. Well, let me tell you it is coming up to midnight and I've still got another hour to do. But you should see me strut. It's an impressive business.
NGUYEN: Richard Quest strutting his stuff to the Stones. Amid all the -- and blow-up dolls to boot. What a scary sight, huh?
HARRIS: And just for the record, not live pictures. You know they let you get a couple of them in the concert. But that's from a past concert and that's good stuff.
NGUYEN: But still -- the visual of that. Wow. All right. We're going to bring you back down to reality.
In Florida, you won't be able to find space for your car in this Orlando parking garage. You see why? Take a look. Check that out. Demolition experts imploded that garage this morning. The garage was demolished to make way for expansion of the interstate system.
Well, technology wins again. We've been getting amazing images here of the storm sweeping the south. You don't want to miss how this twister was captured. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: CNN is your severe weather headquarters on television and online as well.
NGUYEN: Our Veronica de la Cruz joins us now on what's available on CNN.Com. Got a lot of stuff on there.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of resources, like you know. We went over how you can get your forecast as well as find safety tips. But also you guys know about the video and the pictures. This piece of video I'm just about to show you is receiving a lot of clicks right now. You may have seen this.
This is Gallatin, Tennessee. This video was taken by a student who was standing on campus at school. He said he was standing behind the library about 200 yards away. And he was able to capture this twister on video with his cell phone.
NGUYEN: Wow.
DE LA CRUZ: He said when the winds got too strong, he went inside which is important because we want to remind people that if they are out there and they are trying to capture these image, pictures, video, what have you. Please be careful.
NGUYEN: Yes, don't endanger yourself.
DE LA CRUZ: So that is all online at CNN.Com/weather. Also all those resources we were talking about earlier. You can find that online.
NGUYEN: A plethora of information.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, you can read about the Fujita scale, separate fact from fiction by reading about how the storms form. For example, here are a few indicators that a tornado may strike. The sky turns dark, often a green color and then like we saw a lot of yesterday, large chunks of hail fall. So you can find it all online CNN.Com. Tremendous resources online and on TV.
NGUYEN: That's why we are your severe weather headquarters right here at CNN. Thanks (ph) veronica.
HARRIS: CNN LIVE SATURDAY with Fredricka Whitfield is up next right after this short break.
NGUYEN: Have a great day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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