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Central Florida Neighborhoods Flattened, Search for Victims Under Way

Aired February 02, 2007 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Homes blown to bits, trucks tossed aside like abandoned toys. The pictures are appalling, the first-hand accounts are heart-stopping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the tornado went and stopped, it was gone, we heard people hollering, and we came across the street to find total devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over tight at this house right here, some lady -- I was trying to help her out, but she didn't make it. I tried my -- I tried my hardest. I feel real bad. I was in there checking her pulse and everything.

I had seen two dead bodies today. So it's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Breaking news in Florida is our top story right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Now, this is the beauty of CNN, folks. And that's our relationship with all our affiliates across the United States.

All of these pictures coming to us live through our various affiliates in Florida. You can see the governor there in the helicopter heading to a live news conference as he's assessing the damage. That's happening right now.

Meanwhile, you see the homes that have been destroyed, the destruction with regard to all the foliage there around the homes, and then crews out there assessing all the damage as thousands of people have been affected by this storm.

T.J. Holmes actually monitoring all the various affiliates, monitoring our live cameras, and all the man and womanpower that we have on this story today -- T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, like you said at the top today, Kyra, the pictures are appalling. And we've unfortunately been staring at these pictures all day from back here in our epic center. What we've been doing is monitoring all the affiliates we have on the ground who we've been leaning on heavily.

We can -- we can check them out, keep an eye on them. We've got some live affiliate coverage there. The weather guy doing some hits.

Like you just talked about, the governor's helicopter landing there. Keeping an eye on that stuff.

But also, up on our wall we have here -- we can bring in some 144-plus feeds to this area here on this wall. And a lot of this wall has been occupied, taken up today with a lot of the coverage out of Florida. Just keeping an eye on those pictures. Just horrible pictures.

And as we see them here, we pass them along to you. So I do want you to know we are certainly keeping an eye on all this for you today.

But again, like you said, those live affiliate pictures have been coming in to us. A lot of shots we haven't been able to show -- been able to show to you. But some things we are able to show to you here, including this live picture here.

As we were just talking to you about some of this live affiliate coverage, there it is, the governor. Governor Crist there, as we're seeing, we know he's been touring around today. There he is.

He is landing there. You see him shaking hands there. In the middle, white hair, wearing a dark shirt.

But these are the pictures we've been leaning on, keeping an eye on this stuff. And as soon as we get them here, we bring them to you. But, of course, the governor, who is pretty much hopping around that central area of the state today, he certainly said he wanted to check in and see for himself and what the people on the ground are up against, and certainly what the emergency crews, how that work is going.

So we're keeping an eye on all that affiliate coverage for you back here and we will keep passing those pictures along to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep checking in.

T.J., thanks.

LEMON: All right. As you said, that's the beauty of CNN.

We have folks all over the place. We want to talk about the thousands of people living a nightmare after being jolted awake by screaming winds and pounding rain. Homes were just ripped apart. Debris scattered for miles across central Florida.

Let's bring in CNN's Rusty dornin. She's standing by right in the midst of the rubble, right there in Lady Lakes.

We spoke to you last hour. What have you learned new now, Rusty?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Don, first of all, one of the reasons, you know, it's so dangerous right now, because the power lines that are down, which is one of the reasons they don't let some of the big trucks back into the area. But you were talking about debris a little earlier. You can see this piece of sheet metal that's just wrapped around -- lord knows where it came from. The oak tree just snapped off.

We're going to take you on a little tour. We're at a median here on US 27. Across the street, where one of the hardest hit places in Lady Lake was, the Lady Lake Church of God. It was completely demolished.

And the storm hit the town around 3:00 in the morning. Just to give you an idea of what happened over here, you can also see the metal caught up in the trees. It looks like paper that is caught up in the branches.

Don't know if that was part of the church or part of some of the mobile homes that were in the area. But we've been watching power crews. We're going to take you right over here and show you a power crew.

They've been putting up these poles very quickly. We just -- this is the second one we've seen since I got here about 45 minutes ago that they put up because so many people are out of power.

Of course, people still searching to see if loved ones are caught in some of the wreckage. Search and rescue crews still out.

Fourteen people killed over a four-county area in central Florida. Three of them here in Lady Lake. And as you say, and we've been hearing, that this storm, very little warning. Eight to 15 minutes worth of a warning, and you had to be awake at 3:00 in the morning or have a NOAA radio to know it was coming.

Apparently, they say there's no sirens in any part of Florida because the area is just too large of an area to cover. But certainly that's something that people are going to be talking about over the next few days.

So, right now, Don, they are getting crews in here as quickly as they can. They are sealing off the areas, except for people who live here and need to get in to find their loved ones or get to their belongings, and also to repair the power lines that are here.

But we'll keep you up to date with that as it happens -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, Rusty, and as they should keep those people out, because these are people's lives we're talking about.

You are our eyes and ears on the ground there. I don't know if there's some folks you can talk to and maybe bring it to us a little bit later on in the newscast, but we'd like to hear from some people who live in that area.

Thank you very much.

Rusty Dornin. PHILLIPS: And as you heard, as we monitor these live pictures, still, the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, surrounded by the cameras and the reporters. Hopefully we'll be able to bring you bits of this interview.

He's talking on his cell phone right now. He's reporting right back to his emergency -- members of his emergency crew. You can see him surrounded there by both National Guard and Air Force, as he has been flying around the region.

These pictures coming to us through our affiliate, WESH TV, out of Lake County, Florida. The governor flying via helicopter to look and assess all the various damage.

As Rusty said and we've been telling you, at least 14 people are known dead. All in one county. But states of emergency exist in four counties.

Here's a look now at how some of our Florida affiliates have been covering the killer tornadoes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll tell you what, we are in the Islesboro (ph) subdivision on Nordman Avenue (ph), right at Willard (ph). And this is probably the worst of it behind me.

Matter of fact, we took a walk around the neighborhood just a short while ago, and my colleague, Dave Goldshlot (ph), shot this video. Take a look and you will understand the extent of the damage here.

Several blocks of damage. Authorities say at this point, at least seven homes are completely destroyed. And more than likely, many, many more will have such major damage that they may not be salvageable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question now is, just how powerful was the tornado?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And that's what the weather service will go out and examine today.

How it works is that the weather service will go out and examine the damage from the tornadoes and give it a ranking, a Fujita scale ranking, an F-0 to an F-5. That's the classification for tornadoes.

And it always happens after the fact. You can't classify a tornado while it's ongoing. You have to wait until after the fact.

And from the damage here -- and our chief meteorologist Tom Surles (ph) is in as well, and he's been looking at the video of the damage as well, and we're both thinking that it's probably an F-3, maybe even an F-4 tornado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): This is where Joe and Eve Mills (ph) lived for four and a half decades. They raised a family and grew old together. The 80-year-old two-story homestead was gone, though, in a blink early this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I knew it was a tornado because I never -- I've never heard -- it was just like a boom, like an explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even her husband and pet Chihuahua escaped OK. By daybreak, her whole family was here to help salvage a lifetime of memories.

At least we have our lives. That's what's important. The material stuff don't count.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That's how our affiliates covered it earlier.

We -- as you can imagine, law enforcement having a really tough time there. It's a busy day for them.

Let's join Kim Miller. She's on the phone with us. She's from Florida Highway Patrol.

How are you guys doing today?

KIM MILLER, FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL: As you can imagine, it's extremely busy. Our job is to assist the Lake County Sheriff's Office and Volusia County Sheriff's Office with the tremendous task of trying to clear these areas.

LEMON: Yes. Is that -- is that really the challenge today, trying to clear the area and trying to keep folks out who shouldn't be there?

MILLER: In Lake County, most of the people are pretty much behaving. They are staying out of this very rural area so that the Lake County Sheriff's Office and other state law enforcement can clear these areas back here. The search and rescue continued all day.

So they are giving us the room to work. Volusia County is a little bit different. It's very busy over there traffic-wise. But all in all, I think everybody is working together as a group.

LEMON: As we are talking here, Officer Miller -- or Trooper Miller -- we are looking at video of people really picking through the rubble and the wreckage of their homes and their belongings. Is there anything you can say to our viewers so that they can try to at least, in some sense, understand the devastation and what folks there are going through? MILLER: You know, we're used to hurricanes down here. We're not used to these tornadoes popping up without warning. So, in that sense, it's (INAUDIBLE) for these people, because even though bad weather was coming through and the potential for bad weather, these people were not necessarily prepared for this.

Also, they're just devastated. Not only are they devastated because we've had so many lives lost, they're devastated from these homes.

LEMON: And you've seen this. If you've seen a hurricane, advice to people after -- following a situation like this, whether it's where to go for help or whether it's what to do after something like this happens.

MILLER: You know, the Red Cross is helping out. They're setting up bases at fire departments. They're setting up so many different locations for people to receive help. So that is what they're doing right now. (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: All right. Trooper, we're having trouble hearing you, so I'm going to have to cut you off there. But we thank you. And it's very valuable information. If we can get you back if you can offer something, we'll bring you back.

But Trooper Kim Miller from the Florida Highway Patrol.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

PHILLIPS: As you heard Trooper Miller, she said that the people here in Florida are just not used to tornadoes just popping out -- or popping up without any warning.

Reynolds Wolf, we were talking about that, 3:00 a.m. in the morning, no warning, it's pitch dark.

What was the deal with the sirens?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The sirens, they didn't have any. They didn't have any kind of sirens that I know of in that part of the world.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: And Don, the search and rescue missions are not over.

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: They're still out there. They're out there with the dogs. They're thinking they are going to come across more people that they haven't found yet.

LEMON: We certainly hope that doesn't happen, but with a storm like this, there definitely is a possibility. Sorry to say that.

What's it like to experience this, to live through something like this and to actually cover it? Well, one person right here on our staff lived in Florida for years, experienced this and covered these sorts of incidents. We're going to talk to our very own Rick Sanchez about what folks go through in situations like this.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Florida is among the fastest-growing states. Many of the newcomers, retirees.

LEMON: That's right. And CNN's Rick Sanchez spent many years there and knows quite well the area hit by storms this morning.

You know what? We usually hear about hurricanes, Rick. Don't hear much about tornadoes in Florida. But that may be a misperception on our part, you say.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, Florida gets as many tornadoes as anybody in the country. The problem is, in the past, they haven't been real significant tornadoes.

When we think of big, significant tornadoes, we often think of, you know, places like Kansas. But not places like Florida. But certainly Florida gets as many as just about any state in the nation. And now what we're seeing is more of an effect from these tornadoes.

I mean, you take a look at these pictures and you start to really get a sense of what the damage can be, as you guys have been illustrating all day long. But then you start to ask yourself, well, why is that happening now? Why does it seem like we're get morgue hurricanes and more reports of hurricanes in Florida in the last -- and here's the reason. Population.

Think about this hurricane and think about the story that Chad's mom and Chad were telling early this morning when he was talking about the area where they now live. It's not too many people that used to live there. So this tornado may be three, four years ago would have gone through an area, it maybe may have pushed over a cow.

LEMON: It was barren then. It was barren a couple of years ago. And now they are populated with all this new growth that's happening in Florida, correct?

SANCHEZ: Exactly. And not only growth, but dense growth.

Think of areas where maybe we had grown up or -- look at the distance between these houses. You basically live in an area where you hear your -- you know, your neighbor's toilet flushing. The houses are that close together. It's dense.

People are paying a high premium to be able to live in Florida, but as a result, they are all going there at the same time, they're living in areas that are very concentrated. And, you k now, oftentimes if you get a tornado going through there, there's no alley for the tornado to go without hitting a House, so it will do this kind of damage. And unfortunately, if there are more tornadoes in a state like this with this kind of dense population you'll see this kind of damage. You know, unfortunately, again and again, as horrible as it is to look at.

PHILLIPS: So, Rick, just with all this experience, and you living there and knowing all the people that live in this area, this one came in an unexpected manner, 3:00 a.m. in the morning, pitch black, people didn't know how to prepare for it. But this has happened, of course, time and time again in Florida.

Are homes built differently? Do people prepare differently?

LEMON: The roofs.

SANCHEZ: That's a good question, Kyra.

You know, what happened is, after Hurricane Andrew, they went through this rigid new structural law for building codes. And they made sure that trusses, for example, which some of what you are seeing on the ground right there now, especially in some of the real houses, obviously not the manufactured homes, that the trusses were much better at holding the roof down. Which -- a truss is essentially like a long beam that helps to keep your roof down, and they passed all kinds of laws to make that happen.

Most of those in south Florida. Don't know if it actually reached the central part of the state.

And of course the other big question is, when it comes to a tornado, you are talking about winds in small areas but much stronger than what you often get in a hurricane. Although, as we know, hurricanes have tornadoes within them.

Some tornadoes are just so -- so strong that there's no truss building code that's going to be able to keep it -- keep it down. But, yes, they've tried to increase the building code, they tried to make it stricter on builders. You know, who knows?

LEMON: Yes.

SANCHEZ: It's a question we can't answer today, but we may be able to find out in the next couple of weeks, whether in fact if they'd been a little more stringent with the builders, some of these wouldn't have happened.

LEMON: Yes, but sometimes -- I mean, if it's this strong, sometimes there's really not much you can do about it, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Right.

LEMON: I know you would know about this because you covered that area and lived in that area for so long. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

I understand you have some -- you anchor the weekend here. SANCHEZ: Well, absolutely.

LEMON: You've got some interesting stuff coming up. What do you have coming up for us on Saturday and Sunday?

SANCHEZ: We're going to be concentrating, obviously, on all the devastation that we're seeing here. And, you know, hopefully as bad as 14 is, we certainly hope the death toll doesn't get any worse.

We're also going to be focusing on another story out of Florida that we found out about. And this was a baby that was found, of all things, in somebody's House, and they can't find out who it belongs to, why it's there, how it died. And it's really one of those CSI investigations that you try to get into, which is what we're going to be looking at as well.

Investigating the death of a baby that was just all but mummified many, many years ago, by the way. We're going to look into trying to answer some of the questions that investigators are trying to answer as well.

Don, Kyra, back to you.

LEMON: Rick Sanchez, thank you so much for your expertise.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

LEMON: We look forward to seeing you this weekend.

And you can catch Rick right here in the CNN NEWSROOM every Saturday and Sunday night at 10:00 Eastern Time.

PHILLIPS: As you know, during times like this, the American Red Cross jumps right to what they do best, and that is creating shelters and supplies for those that need it most.

Let's get to Laura Howe. She's actually in Washington, D.C. She's with the American Red Cross. She's the director of Disaster Response Public Affairs for the American Red Cross.

And Laura, I know you've been talking to all your various troops on the ground. Right now do you think you have enough shelters and supplies for the people that have been affected?

LAURA HOWE, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, right now we're moving shelters and supplies from across the state of Florida to help the people who are in need there. We have a number of shelters open in Lake and Volusia County, and we're actually moving some of the resources that we had in place in Miami to support some first-aid stations at the Super Bowl up from south Florida up to that area to make sure that we have all of the people and all of the resources that we need to make sure that we can help the people of central Florida.

We have feeding trucks en route. We have communication vehicles en route. And we do, as I said, have a number of shelters open. PHILLIPS: Well, I want to talk about your Web site, too, this "Safe and Well" feature. I didn't know about this until you were telling me about it. This -- and it actually helps link families back up in event of disaster.

Just tell me about this feature.

HOWE: Yes, that's exactly right. We have a feature on our redcross.org Web site. It's on the front page.

If you go to the front page of our Web site, you can see the little picture and you can click on it. And if you are in the effected area, you can list yourself as safe and well, or you can leave a very brief pretext message there for your family to let them know that you'll be contacting them, or to let them know exactly where you are and that you are OK.

If you are outside the affected area, you can go to redcross.org, click on "Safe and Well" and check to see if your family member has listed themselves. Now, if you are in the affected area and you don't have access to a computer, but you do have access to a phone, you can call your loved one who is anywhere around the country, and someone else can actually input all of your information into "Safe and Well" so that all of the people who are around the country who might be looking for you can make sure to know that you are safe and well.

And it has been something that has been highly requested and something that we've been taking a lot of phone calls today about, considering the fact there's a lot of people who have family in Florida, a lot of elderly people reside there, and a lot of vacationers who are there as well. So it's been very useful. And we have a number of people who are on the site registering this afternoon.

PHILLIPS: Laura Howe with the American Red Cross.

Thanks so much, Laura. We'll continue to talk to you as we follow pictures from one of our affiliates, WESH TV, out of Lake County, Florida, right now.

You are actually seeing live pictures here as those who have lost pretty much everything are starting to go through the rubble and just try to find anything that they can to retrieve. As you know, the search and rescue teams still in full force, trying to recover possibly more of the dead.

Right now, 14 fatalities in Lake County. Huge piles of debris, as you can see, throughout the central part of Florida. It's like a massive game of pick-up sticks.

Our continuing coverage on CNN goes forward as we take a quick break.

You're watching the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

Homes lost, belongings lost and, more importantly, lives lost.

For this Florida teen, the loss was of a friend she saw every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so sorry. I really am.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was she a 17-year-old?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you know her?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I walked to the bus stop with her in the mornings. We waited on the bus every day together. It makes me sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: At least 14 people dead in violent storms across Florida. The search for other victims still under way.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Straight to our affiliate WKMG, interviewing Senator Bill Nelson right now touring the damage.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again, Jackie (ph), we can toss it back to you. It seems that, again, we're going to be able to see whether or not FEMA...

LEMON: OK. Apparently, that -- that just ended. So we'll try to turn that around for you if he said anything important that you need to know from that, and where he was touring that area. But again, that was Senator Bill Nelson just at the end of that from our affiliate WKMG.

So listen, we're going to go to T.J. Holmes now. He's working on a developing story. He's actually in our satellite center today.

T.J., what do you have for us?

HOLMES: Well, like we have been talking about here, we're monitoring all the affiliates, depending on them heavily, really, today, with the coverage on the ground there. And we have new pictures coming to us from WFTV, one of our affiliates out of Orlando. Some new pictures we do want to bring to you here of some more of this devastation that we are seeing here.

I guess similar pictures we've been seeing throughout the day. Each one, no matter how many you see, they may look alike but still each one is shocking in its own individual way, including this one where a new picture we're seeing here of this devastation. Again, not exactly sure of the area this is in, but we know this is coming from our affiliate WFTV.

It looks like it's coming out of Lake County as well. But some of the devastation here, which includes, I think we saw a big tree there that had come down. Also major damage to a mobile home. Of course, we've been hearing about mobile home parks or certainly devastated by the storms. And we also hear now from a gentleman, Brian Severance (ph), who lives there in Florida, lives in the area, who got caught up in all of these storms. Here's how he described being woken up and what was happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disaster. I mean, is everybody going to take care of this now? I mean, they didn't do nothing for the Christmas thing. And all the trailer parks that were destroyed during Christmas. Are they going to do something this time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you see when you look around?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Complete disaster. Complete disaster. It's devastating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ever seen anything like this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once before when I was a child. But I was only a child. Now that I walked through it and trying to find out family members and friend are OK, it's hard. It's very hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So you can hear there certainly, and understandably, some frustration in his voice. Actually talking about earlier incidents when maybe the area didn't get help they thought they might need and wondering what's going to happen this time. Think about recovery already.

We have a live picture here. Another affiliate we are monitoring, WESH. This is a live picture here out of Lake County. You can again, the pictures, they begin. We've been looking at them for so long here and some of our viewers as well have probably been looking at these pictures.

You can't really discern one from another, different areas, because all the devastation really is just such wiped out in so many places. And the areas, they do look alike. But each one shocking in their own way. And that looked like the picture, we've seen there, if we can get that one back, that live picture. It looks like a mobile home that's pretty much been wiped out there.

Again, but we are monitoring all the affiliates we have there at least six we're keeping an eye on. And as we get those new pictures, get new sound, we're bringing all that stuff to you, Don. LEMON: Yes, keep monitoring, T.J. And of course we're going to see all this devastation happening. It looks like the same picture but again, separate lives, all individuals and all terrible. Thank you T.J.

We want to remind you, we're waiting on a press conference from the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist to happen any moment now live. And as soon as that happens, we'll bring it right to you.

PHILLIPS: Our other top story, the future of Iraq. Rampant killing, hardening hatred and a likelihood that things could get worse. That's Iraq, according to the U.S. government's top intelligence experts. Their verdict issued today in the form of a long-awaited national intelligence estimate, NIE, a nonclassified summary stating that Iraq is increasingly polarized. Its security forces weak, political leaders divided, its rival sects resorting to ever greater levels of violence. Ahead, we're going to have reaction from the Pentagon, as well as our own military experts, three retired generals.

But first, let's start at the White House with CNN's Elaine Quijano -- Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Kyra. That's right, this assessment by the nation's intelligence community on Iraq is certainly sobering.

It comes as the president is trying to convince skeptical lawmakers that his new plan to send additional U.S. troops to Iraq can work. Now the National Intelligence Estimate is really the collective view of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies and it says that the challenges facing the Iraqi people are, quote, "daunting."

Now the declassified key judgments lay out how sectarian and ethnic divisions could be serious obstacles for Iraqi leaders in achieving political reconciliation. Today the president's national security adviser Stephen Hadley did not dispute what intelligence officials have said publicly now for some weeks about Iraq, that the situation there is precarious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The NIE shows and the president clearly understands that it is clearly a difficult, challenging and complex situation on the ground in Iraq.

This is not a simple problem. And we came to the -- that is to say the president came to the same conclusion that unless efforts to reverse these conditions in Iraq show measurable progress in the coming 12-to-18 months, the overall security situation will deteriorate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now the estimate identifies Iraqi on Iraqi violence as the primary source of conflict in Iraq, surpassing al Qaeda. Also going on to say that sectarian violence really is the most immediate threat to the administration's goals in Iraq -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Thanks so much.

As you can imagine, we're getting word in out of Iraq minute by minute. T.J. Holmes in the newsroom now with more on that chopper crash that happened near Baghdad. T.J., what are you learning?

HOLMES: Well, we are learning now that the U.S. military has confirmed that on board that U.S. Apache helicopter that did go down in northwest Baghdad were two U.S. soldiers.

They say those two were killed in this incident. Again, this was in northwest Baghdad. This helicopter went down today in northwest Baghdad or northwest of Baghdad, I should say.

And that two U.S. soldiers were, in fact, killed. The military would only say that it happened while this helicopter and these soldiers were conducting operations is how they put it and that this incident is now under investigation.

They say the two soldiers have been recovered. The crash site has been secured. And right now, the operations continue in that area. But again the Apache helicopter crash, at least two soldiers killed. Don't know right now, or at least the military is not saying how they believe this helicopter might have been brought down, whether it had some kind of mechanical issues or in fact it was shot down.

This is of course one of several incidents we've heard in the past couple of weeks of helicopters going down and U.S. soldiers and service members and U.S. citizens even, security personnel, being killed.

So another incident, two soldiers killed. Again, we're monitoring the stuff out of the tornado in Florida. But again, this is news as well. We're keeping an eye on it here -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, T.J. Holmes in the NEWSROOM, thanks.

LEMON: All right, let's get back now to the national intelligence estimate with more reaction from that -- on that report. Let's go to the Pentagon. CNN's Barbara Starr -- Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Don, today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Peter Pace held their first joint press conference right here in this room in the Pentagon earlier today.

And, of course, the NIE, the national intelligence estimate was one of the top topics by reporters' questions. Secretary Gates was asked whether he agreed with the notion in that NIE report that part of the situation in Iraq could be described as a civil war. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: When I think of the civil war, I think of thousands of people out on the streets killing each other.

What I see in Iraq and the sectarian conflict are gangs of killers going after specific neighborhoods, going after specific targets, either individuals or other groups, or terror attacks in marketplaces to inflict casualties. This isn't a divided army, a divided government in the sense that I have always thought of a civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: You know, T.J. -- Don, let's go back to what T.J. was talking about just a moment ago. Now the fourth U.S. helicopter downed in Iraq in the last two weeks.

This also came up at the briefing and General Pace expressing some concern about all of this saying that they are going to review tactics and techniques and procedures for flying helicopters in Iraq, making sure that there is nothing that they are not understanding about enemy tactics. They are concerned. They believe that some of these helicopters, obviously, were brought down by enemy fire.

And all of this now a common thread throughout the situation in Iraq. Helicopters down, large groups of fighters being encountered in Najaf in the south. The whole business of Iranian weapons coming into Iraq. What is the common thread? A lot of new tactics. A lot of changing tactics by enemy forces and the U.S. military wanting to make sure that it's keeping up.

LEMON: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much. And we're all over this story. We're going to hear from our military analysts just a little bit later on. Today we have three of our heaviest hitters, retired generals David Grange, Don Shepperd and Spider Marks, they'll join us here live.

PHILLIPS: Live pictures out of Volusia County in central Florida. Deadly and devastating. People sifting through the rubble, block after block, across central Florida. A tornado slicing through the state in the middle of the night. We'll have more on the search and rescue and what's being done to help these people. You're watching the CNN NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: Boy.

LEMON: Yes, Kyra, it doesn't get any more real than this. Look at this video. People picking up the pieces from their home. The last time we saw anything close to this was Hurricane Katrina.

PHILLIPS: These pictures are actually coming into us from our affiliate WKMG. I mean, you can see the destructions to the cars and to the homes and all the belongings of these individuals. One woman just a minute ago said, well, there's my sink over there in the...

LEMON: Tree.

PHILLIPS: ... yes, in the trees. And now, not -- the police -- OK, now we're getting a live picture. This is from WESH-TV, Don.

And the police are actually out there looking for signs of life. They've got search and rescues out there because there have been 14 people killed in these storms. All of them taking place in Lake County, Florida. But we're also being told that the search and rescue missions are in full force in all four counties.

LEMON: And you can imagine what this has to do. A lot of people, including some dogs and monitoring all of this and our satellite center has been keeping an eye on this. Give us some details on what's going on here, T.J.

HOLMES: Those pictures we're looking at, we're looking at them as you are. We're getting these new pictures in, we're pretty much just bringing them right to you.

But what we've been watching are rescuers going through not rubble, like in some of the neighborhoods we're seeing, like we saw that family going through, looking through things there.

But we're seeing them go through a wooded area. This is a live picture, I do believe. You see the dog here. Dogs are being used, which is often a staple of search and rescue efforts with a devastation like this. But they are going through what appears to be a wooded area that's nearby maybe a neighborhood, nearby where some homes were. So don't exactly know what -- if they suspect that there is something there for sure. If they got a hint or clue or some kind of information.

LEMON: And it appears, T.J., it appears to be a cadaver dog. And -- which is normal in this sort of situation where you have a storm this big and you've got at least 14 people dead. That's when they, sadly, bring in cadaver dogs.

PHILLIPS: And T.J., you've been talking about this. Don and I have been talking about this. Search and rescue teams in all four counties looking for any signs of life.

Unfortunately, a number those bodies were found through the search and rescue dogs. A number of the 14 fatalities. And now they've got the crews out there looking for hopefully signs of life, but if not, at least some sort of conclusion to those that are missing a loved one.

HOLMES: And that is what these pictures have shown us. Here's some of the first pictures that we have seen of that, guys, of those dogs actually being brought out and don't know why this particular area if there was a hint or clue to them.

Someone, a family member may have given information or what they might think is in this area. But certainly this is the first pictures we're seeing of those dogs being brought out, unfortunately. But they are checking a wooded area it appears and I'm sure it's happening other areas where there is rubble.

But this just happened to be the live picture that we are getting and the live picture we wanted to bring to you. Of course, you see here the vehicles and the people gathered around. These scenes, we've seen them so many times in big incidents and catastrophes and disasters. This is how it goes here.

LEMON: T.J. is monitoring a number of satellite feeds back there, keeping an eye on the satellites. Keep looking for us and finding that great video and information for us, T.J. and we'll check back with you.

We want to remind our viewers, a press conference, Governor Charlie Crist coming up. It's going to be very interesting to hear what he has to say because he's usually talking about -- he's new in that spot. But the governor in Florida, usually talking about hurricanes and not necessarily tornadoes. So we'll keep you updated on that.

PHILLIPS: His first big disaster he's going to have to deal with. We're going to follow these live pictures via WESH, one of our affiliates there. Live pictures coming out of Lake County, Florida.

You know, winter pictures like this may not always -- well, winter may not always seem like tornado season. But when you see things like this, it sure brings things close to home that could happen any time in any part of the country.

And our meteorologist Chad Myers has been following not only what has been happening today, but also what has happened with the past effects of tornadoes.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a tornado right out my back door. You can see it, oh, my god.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): The word tornado comes from two Spanish words, "tronada," meaning thunderstorm and the verb "tornar," to twist or to turn.

They're ferociously unpredictable, but most tornadoes form in the same way. As the thunderstorm develops, air begins spinning in a horizontal column. Violent updrafts tip that column up into an upright shaft of horrendous potential.

That dark funnel we see is formed by clouds, dust and debris from the ground. The average tornado travels northeast. But twisters can zigzag in any direction. And while typical forward speed is 30 miles- per-hour, tornadoes can race at highway pace. Never try to outrun one.

Nationwide, more than 800 twisters form each year. They cause an average of 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. They can occur in any month. Spring is high season in the south, summer for the plains and the Upper Midwest. Tornadoes have formed in all 50 states, but 70 percent occur in the Great Plains, otherwise known as tornado alley. Kansas and Oklahoma are the top tornado producers. And Kansas holds the record for the most in a year -- 124 twisters in 2004.

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LEMON: That's tornadoes. Of course, nothing -- oh, man, look at this. Just imagine that being your home. Someone lived there not long ago. And it's not inhabitable. If you look at that, Kyra, you know, no one can live in that and that's going to have to be totally rebuilt, as are so many homes and businesses in central Florida.

PHILLIPS: The storms hit about 3:00 a.m. in the morning. It was a rude awakening for everybody living in central Florida. Now the search and rescue crews are out there, trying to find any signs of life. And the governor, getting ready to hold a news conference. We'll bring that to you live to try and see what the victims of this storm are going to receive.

You're watching CNN.

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LEMON: A storm carrying the state's deadliest tornadoes in a decade rolled through central Florida last night. Just look at the devastation in all of this. States of emergency declared in four counties: Lake, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia Counties. We're going to talk to some homeowners in Volusia Country and let you listen in from our affiliate WKMG.

A. HUBER, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Sort of is. It's pretty much beat up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk a little bit about your backyard. If we can turn you around just a little bit. I mean, what are we actually looking at? this is an area where used to be a garage?

A. HUBER: It was a garage, where the truck sits. That was an oversized garage. And it just took that right up and ruined our water pump. And next door was a carport for our car. And it's gone, too. And our shed is there that has a lawn -- had lawn mowers in it. I don't know what shape they're in. And we like to burn wood. We have a wood stove and we had a big -- a lot of wood there that's all sawed out to burn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To me, I'm looking around and I see a lot of your personal belongings. There's a toolbox. There's luggage. What is it like to look at this and know this is your -- really your life on your lawn?

A. HUBER: You ought to ask him. He was a mechanic all his life and those are his tools you see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're joined now by Vern Huber (ph). And you are Addie's (ph) husband. And talk a little bit about -- as we sort of look at your lawn, it's devastating. V. HUBER, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It's just hard to know where to begin. I mean, it's -- all my tools are scattered out and it's going to take a long time to get it straightened out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk us through the overnight hours. How did you wake up and when did you come outside and see this?

V. HUBER: Well, we didn't come out until daylight to see what happened. But during the night it was just like a roar. In about five minutes, everything was calmed down and over with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said to me earlier that you actually heard the weather radio and that was your first alert to do something. And then I understand you and your wife kind of came together and hid under a couch. Is that right?

V. HUBER: Under cushions off of the couch. We sat on the floor and put the cushions over our head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What were you thinking at that point? Obviously, the wind is howling. You're hearing -- it sounds like a freight train. You know you're with your wife, and yet you don't know what's going on outside.

V. HUBER: I know. It's just hard to realize that it was that bad, you know. We though, well, maybe just blew over and it would be over with. But we didn't realize how bad it was until morning.

LEMON: Your friends -- could be your friends, your loved ones or your neighbors. Folks there in Florida really dealing with it today. Just unbelievable stuff.

PHILLIPS: We'll have more from the NEWSROOM in just two minutes. --

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