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Suspected Tornado Causes Heavy Damage in Linn County, Kansas; New Orleans Road to Recovery; 'The Lion in the Village'

Aired March 01, 2007 - 11:01   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM, that's for sure, on this Thursday, the 1st of March.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Homes in splinters. A Kansas community among those hit. A late winter system bringing a severe risk of tornadoes on the warm side. Blizzard conditions on the cold side.

HARRIS: Anatomy of an Iraq attack. A preview of a special CNN report on a suicide strike. It happened at an Army mess hall in late 2004.

COLLINS: Fender benders. A little crash can cost you a big wad of cash. Bumpers put to the test in the NEWSROOM.

Our top story this hour, dangerous storms moving across the United States and claiming their first victim. Winter storm warnings to the north. Tornado warnings to the south.

Take a look at that radar. You can see it for yourself. Weather experts say a day this volatile and this ominous may only occur a few times in the entire year.

Want to begin with the snow, blizzard-like conditions, right now in Omaha, Nebraska. Visibility down to about a quarter of a mile. But the bigger threat for many states, tornadoes.

A twister raked across Kansas and Missouri overnight. A Kansas sheriff joined us a couple hours ago. He reports lots of structural damage in rural Linn County. Crews are out this morning assessing the damage across the two states.

A number of injuries are being reported, and Missouri State Emergency Agency does confirm one fatality. We know that to be in Howell County. The Associated Press says the victim was a 7-year-old in southern Missouri.

HARRIS: Well, there is so much we can talk about with Chad Myers this morning. We can first talk about the damage that we're seeing from the system as it moved through.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, there is so much happening in weather today all across the country, we wanted to grab an extra set of hands to help us sort of juggle all of the pictures from the various regions of country coming into the NEWSROOM, particularly now in the South.

Veronica de la Cruz, that extra set of hands.

Great to see you, Veronica.

You're in this high-tech area that we call epic (ph) here. And you're following a flow of all of the pictures coming through right now.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN PIPELINE ANCHOR: Yes, that's right, Tony, And we're in the epic (ph) center, and we're tracking feeds coming in from across the country, around the world. But like you were saying, we want to focus right now on Web sites, and affiliate Web sites is what we've been looking at.

Let's show you this affiliate Web site, KMBC-TV. This is Kansas City, Missouri. We want to show you the latest video that's been posted there on that Web site.

This is one of their affiliate reporters. His name is Chris Nagus. This is some of the tornado damage. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS NAGUS, REPORTER, KMBC-TV: You can see what is left of a barn. It is a total loss here. You can see, it's been ripped from its foundation, it is just a pile of broken boards. You can see the timber in there. That's about all that it is, the metal sheet roof.

You can't see from this vantage point, but right behind us, there are trees. And I can see debris from this barn up in those trees, I would say a good 50 to 60 feet in the air. This is just one small part of the damage here in Linn County.

If we could, let's show you some video that we shot earlier. What you're going to be see is a power substation. That is off of what is known as F Road, or Ferris Road (ph) here in Linn County. That substation destroyed by a tornado that touched down beginning in Anderson County, and then moved in an easterly direction across Linn County.

That substation, a total loss. And because of that, there is widespread power outages down here in Linn County tonight.

Also in Linn County, we saw some firefighters were out, they had their chainsaws. They were working very hard to chop apart a tree that fell across K-7 Highway. We had reported this earlier. There was an elderly couple in a minivan right in front of us. They ran right in front of that tree, breaking out their windshield. Fortunately, they were not hurt.

Now, as far as injuries go, we have heard some reports of a couple of minor injuries, but nothing serious at this point. The Linn County sheriff has been going door to door, they have been checking with residents out here in this area to make sure that people are OK.

It's been a difficult job tonight because it is very dark out here. The only light out here is from our camera, that's about it, and headlights as they pass by. There is no power, and there is no word when that will be back.

A majority of Linn County, again, without electricity tonight.

The weather has moved out of here. I've seen a few flashes of lightning. But all of that has been off to the north.

At this point, all we have out here is the wind. You can see, it's really blowing out here. I can definitely feel it. The temperature is a little bit cooler than what they were earlier today when the storm first passed through.

But that's the very latest out here in Linn County.

Reporting live, Chris Nagus, KMBC 9 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DE LA CRUZ: So, again, that was the latest from Chris Nagus there at KMBC-TV.

We're keeping track of all of this on the Web. Once again, like Chris was just saying, power outages, school closures. Twenty-eight counties now under advisories, watches, severe weather warnings. And if you click, there they are right there.

KMBC-TV is an affiliate that we're tracking. But we are keeping a close eye on what else is happening across the country. As soon as we get more, we'll bring it to you -- Tony.

HARRIS: Beautiful. OK, Veronica. Appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Well, we want to let you know there really is no season for tornadoes. They can actually happen any time, anywhere, if conditions are right. That said, the peak season for tornadoes is between May and July for most of the United States.

A couple more interesting facts, too. About 1,000 tornadoes touch down in the U.S. every year. Most of them last less than 10 minutes.

And here's the biggest surprise we learned. Believe it or not, tornado forecasting used to be banned in the United States. Prior to 1950, the National Weather Bureau strongly discouraged and at one point even forbade forecasters from using the word "tornado". The bureau felt that meteorologists didn't know enough about them, and that to report them might cause panic.

Certainly a different situation these days. In fact, when weather becomes the news, you can count on CNN to bring it right to you first.

You can also play a role, though. If you see severe weather happening and you can stay safe while doing this, send us an I-Report. Just go to CNN.com and click on "I-Report," or type ireport@cnn.com in to your cell phone and you can share your photos or video that way.

HARRIS: President Bush back in the Gulf region right now. He is in Biloxi, Mississippi, this hour for an update on the Katrina recovery effort there. Later, he visits a charter school in New Orleans. Many of the city's schools are still closed because of storm damage.

Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen joins us live from New Orleans with more on the slow road to recovery.

Susan, great to see you.

I have to ask you, tell us, if you would, about the school the president is going to visit today.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it's a charter school. It's a school run by a nonprofit organization. It is not the abandoned school that Sean Callebs showed us earlier today. There are still many abandoned schools in the New Orleans area.

This is a school that was one of the 90 percent of New Orleans schools that were failing before Katrina that the state was about to take over. The nonprofit organization came in just 10 days before the Hurricane, took it over, and now it's a school that's doing very well.

So, the president is going to be looking at some progress, but he's also going to be hearing a lot about things that are not happening here, Tony. It is the first trip for the president to the Gulf Coast region since the Hurricane Katrina anniversary last August, and he's traveling with his point person for Gulf Coast recovery, Chairman Donald Powell, as well as Louisiana senator David Vitter and Louisiana congressman Bill Jefferson, people who are very familiar with the slow pace to recovery here.

Of the $110 billion that has been promised for Gulf Coast recovery, less than half of that has actually gotten to the people who need it. Tens of thousands of people here in the New Orleans area are still not in their homes. Less than half the population has been able to come back.

The statistics just get worse and worse. The New Orleans Police Department, the New Orleans Fire Department are still operating out of trailers, Tony. And as we've mentioned, the New Orleans public schools are still struggling, really struggling, now 18 months after Hurricane Katrina -- Tony. HARRIS: Hey, Susan, what -- what about the -- we know that the charter school is a for-profit business, but what about the public school system? I know that that is a huge bone of contention for folks in New Orleans, the pace of recovery of the public school system.

What is happening there?

ROESGEN: Well, actually, I just want to make a slight correction. The charter schools are nonprofit organizations, and some of them are run by the recovery school district, which is what has basically replaced the New Orleans school system that was doing so badly before Hurricane Katrina.

HARRIS: Yes.

ROESGEN: The problems are multiple.

For one thing, they were lacking supplies. They didn't have books. They didn't have lots of the equipment that they needed. They still lack teachers, Tony.

A lot of teachers have lost their homes in New Orleans and have not come back. Many of the teachers who were union teachers before Katrina have decided they do not want to join the recovery school district which does not have union teachers. If you want to come down and teach some kids, they could us the help.

Also, some of the same problems that we had before Katrina have returned. There were gang issues, there were drug issues, there were student discipline issues before Katrina. And unfortunately, those problems have come back.

Now, again, the president today will be looking at a school that's doing very well, and we will have more from his speech at that school later this afternoon.

HARRIS: Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen for us.

Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Want to show you some other pictures now, another weather scenario that of course we've been following.

We said that there are blizzard and snow-like conditions up in the North. And then we've got the tornadoes that we've been telling you about to the south.

Now, look at this. This is Brookfield, Wisconsin, a grocery store there called the Pick 'n' Save. See that big hole right on top? That's a roof collapse.

There's been about -- we checked with Chad on this to kind of give you an idea of how much snow has fallen in this area Really, only about four inches of snow, but always becomes an issue when you're talking about those roofs and getting the snow cleared. Sometimes you can have this. Don't know if that roof was already in bad shape, compromised in some way. But that's the situation there.

Don't have word on injuries at this point. But once again, Brookfield, Wisconsin, roof collapse because of all of the snow. And we'll continue to follow that one for you. But haven't seen a picture like that in a very long time. That's for sure.

Storms strike the Plains. And the South a target as well today.

Complete severe weather coverage with meteorologist Chad Myers.

You are in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Meal time becomes a nightmare for some U.S. troops in Iraq. What happened on that fateful day?

A special report ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Hollywood party with a buzz, but it's not about spreading rumors. The potential spread of disease instead, in the NEWSROOM.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Greg Hunter at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And we're talking low-speed crash tests.

This car was in one. It did well in the front. How did it do in the back? I'll show you when I come back on CNN's NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly want to look at that radar picture. Clearly, I'm no meteorologist, but we are watching all of this with Chad Myers, and you can tell, even as a layman here, how quickly those storms are moving.

We watched a little bit of video earlier. We've got sunshine now in St. Louis. Earlier, we saw some terribly ominous clouds.

This, some damage at Linn County. We spoke earlier with the sheriff of Linn County, who said lots of structural damage there. And obviously, you can see that. Homes, or what we believe to be homes, just completely blown to bits, and teeny, tiny little bits, too, as you can see from that footage.

My goodness.

Also, we learned of one fatality in Howell County, Missouri. CNN has confirmed that information.

We've got warnings all over the place. We do know at least one tornado touched down a couple of times in southern Missouri overnight.

We will continue to watch the situation and really keep a very close eye on it for you, alongside Chad Myers, bring him up here in just a couple of minutes.

HARRIS: It was supposed to be a safe place for U.S. troops in Iraq. It turned out to be anything but.

CNN's Tom Foreman has the anatomy of a deadly attack two years ago. His special report for "ANDERSON COOPER 360" is called "The Lion in the Village." Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN HOFFMEYER, PHOTOGRAPHER, "RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH": It was very quiet and my ears were ringing. I heard the sounds of moaning. And I heard one man scream, and that was the point I reached for my camera and thought, somebody's going to want to see what happened in here.

STAFF SGT. NICK MALICH, STRYKER BRIGADE, FORT LEWIS: It was just a huge explosion.

CAPT. JUSTIN UHLER, STRYKER BRIGADE, FORT LEWIS: It rocked the whole area, and the ground physically shook.

MASTER SGT. SHANE BRIEL, STRYKER BRIGADE, FORT LEWIS: Oh, I'd say I probably went a good 30 feet or more. I remember thinking to myself, man, a mortar round came off in here.

HOFFMEYER: Just a very loud, very intense crack, like getting hit by a football player and punched in the face at the same time.

SPEC. ALEJANDRO SOTO, STRYKER BRIGADE, FORT LEWIS: I didn't know what happened first. I just felt like somebody had pushed me. And I remember just laying there thinking, OK, this is like when you are dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow.

Tom Foreman joins us now from Washington with more on his special report.

And Tom, I remember reporting on this attack as breaking news two years ago. Remind us all of how many were killed and injured in that attack.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, we looked at your reports as we were going back and researching this. Twenty-two people died, 69 people wounded, civilians and soldiers, Americans and Iraqis. And I have to tell you, right now with suicide bombing on the rise in Afghanistan, apparently fueled by what's happening in Iraq and the continuing suicide bombs in Iraq, I think if you want to understand the situation today, you have to look back at this event, because this was a huge hit...

HARRIS: Yes. FOREMAN: ... for the insurgents there. They planned it very carefully, they delivered it very well, even by this -- by the soldiers who were there. This man managed to get past guards at the gate, past hundreds of soldiers, into the heart of the mess hall, and reek havoc with this suicide bomb. It was a terrible event that has changed our view of suicide bombers and how we handle them over there.

HARRIS: Boy, I have so many questions I want to ask you.

What have we -- what have we learned about who the bombers were? Have we been able to catch them?

FOREMAN: Well, what we understand, this thing is still very much shrouded in secrecy, even after two years, because big militaries in times of war shouldn't give up many secrets. And they try not to.

What we know through the families and through some investigative records we've been able to get a hold of is, the group behind is was called Ansar al-Sunna. It's one of the most violent insurgent groups there.

The men behind it did provide a videotape. They were sort of publicizing what they did. The military still does not know for sure who this man was. They still say they don't know how he got on to the base.

But it is believed they have killed two of the people behind this bombing in a raid, captured two others. We don't know where they are. And two others are believed to still be at large in Syria.

HARRIS: Tom, one last question. Are the bases any safer today than they were two years ago?

FOREMAN: There's no question, there was a pretty top-to-bottom review of base security after this to say, we have to make sure that this doesn't happen again. They changed some of the ways they run the mess halls there to separate more of the Iraqis from the Americans, because this man was wearing an Iraqi National Guard uniform. That's one of the reasons nobody noticed him, because they dined right alongside of each other.

But the most important part of the show, really, Tony, one of the real points of this, besides the investigation, beside the issue of safety, is simply taking time to remember the young people over there. They have done a tremendous thing for us. They are still doing it right now. And what we want to do in the midst of all this is take a moment and pause and remember that they're still fighting, facing suicide bombers, snipers and roadside attacks every day, all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: And that is terrific. Can't wait to see the full report tonight.

Tom Foreman for us in Washington.

Tom, thanks.

And you can watch Tom's full report, "The Lion in the Village," tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That's at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

HUNTER: Hi. This is Greg Hunter at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And we're going to be talking crash tests, coming up in just a few minutes.

Six hundred feet here, but we won't use very much of it. They are low-speed tests.

We'll tell you all about it on CNN's NEWSROOM in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get straight over to Chad now and give you the very latest on this weather situation that we've been following all morning long.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: You can also play a role though. Sometimes we depend on you to let us know what's happening in your area by way of the I- Report. If you see severe weather happening, go ahead and send us an I-Report.

Stay safe, of course, if you attempt to do this. But just go to CNN.com and click on "I-Report," or type ireport@cnn.com in to your cell phone and share your photos and video with us.

HARRIS: Let's take you to -- this is Peabody, Massachusetts now. Want to show you just a sight you don't see very often.

Do we have the pictures?

New video into CNN. Once again, Peabody, Massachusetts. You see that there?

This is train meets dumpster. Can you make it out?

The train meets the dumpster, and this is the result. The fire department not calling this a derailment. The fire department reporting that the train pushed the dumpster against the building and now everything is kind gummed up there and wedged together.

What do you see?

COLLINS: Why was the dumpster on the track?

HARRIS: Well, I was going to get to that, Heidi.

COLLINS: You don't have this answer?

HARRIS; I don't have the answer. But that's it, it's just an unusual picture in this city scene here, something of a square here. And there you go. Spot circle there. There's the dumpster. How did it get there? That's the question, Heidi.

COLLINS: Where's the guy who put it on the tracks, that's what we want to know. We have no idea if that's what really happened. But how a dumpster gets in the middle of train tracks that are obviously active seems to be the question in that one. Boy.

HARRIS: Just want to show it to you, because it's not something you see every day.

COLLINS: no, that's for sure.

HARRIS: Also something you don't see everyday, in the Pacific Northwest snowy weather, snarled traffic. Accidents shutdown Washington's two principle freeways. This is I-90, and Snoqualmie Pass, shutdown for hours after this pileup. It is now reopened. Interstate 5 also has reopened, if you know the area. It was closed in both directions last night because of a series of crash there's.

HARRIS: Minor accidents, major repairs we're talking about now. New tests show they just don't make bumpers the way they used to.

CNN's Greg Hunter reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): People generally think of a car crash like this. But the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says two-thirds of all crashes happen when a car is going just six miles an hour or less. It also says many of today's mid-size car bumpers don't protect them adequately when hit by other vehicles, especially SUVs.

Look at the comparison between this Volkswagen Passat and this Nissan Altima.

DAVID ZUBY, IIHS VEHICLE RESEARCH SR. VP: It costs less than $1,000 damage to repair the little bit of damage that's here, compared to over $3,000 to repair the damage that's here.

HUNTER: Another IIHS test at just three miles per hour cost $1,400 worth of damage on the corner of a different vehicle.

ZUBY: Bumpers are intended to prevent damage to these expensive components, but the bumper on this vehicle is not wide enough to do it.

HUNTER: The institute, funded by the insurance industry, says current bumper requirements are too lax, not nearly as good as the bumpers on this 1981 Ford Escort, which was then required by law to withstand a five-mile-per-hour crash without damage. The Escort, with a stronger bumper, fared well compare to its modern-day counterparts.

(on camera): This went through the same test this went through?

ZUBY: Exactly the same test.

HUNTER: No damage.

ZUBY: No damage, $4,500 to fix the damage on that car.

HUNTER: That's more than that car's worth.

ZUBY: That's right.

HUNTER (voice over): Pontiac tells CNN its priority is protecting people. Nissan says its cars meet or surpass federal safety regulations and its repair costs are competitive.

Insurers would like car makers to put wider and longer bumpers on cars to be able to withstand low-impact crashes with less damage.

ZUBY: For the consumer, that will mean that when you have these minor kinds of parking lot or rush hour traffic-type crashes, you can have a small impact, drive away with little or no damage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Greg Hunter now in Rutgersville, Virginia. Greg, what are you doing there?

HUNTER: Well, I'm showing you how this car got hit in the trunk and the trunk went close, so you can't drive car. This car has to go to the body shop. It's out of line. It's out of this. And this is a 6-mile-per hour hit on the rear of this car, and you're out of a car if this happens to you. This is $3,000 damage. The bad thing about it is this car only has about 700 miles on it, 800 miles on it. They buy these cars brand new.

Now just to show you, the Saturn did do well on the front square test. There really is no rear damage on there at all. But still, you get hit in the rear-end and you have a $3,000 ding, and it's a very low speed.

Let me show you how low of speed six miles an hour is. You know what, I can walk that fast. We have, you know, an Insurance Institute driver in here, and he's going show us how slow six miles per hour is. Let's all get together and orchestrate. We're at about three miles per hour right now, and we're at about six miles per hour right now.

HARRIS: That's it?

HUNTER: This is a six-mile-per-hour run right here. This is how fast these cars were going, this speed or three miles per hour to get all that damage. Can you believe that? It's just absolutely unbelievable.

HARRIS: I will tell you this.

HUNTER: Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: I will tell you this, I was driving my mom's '70 Nova, that my first car, a Chevrolet Nova, accident at 45 miles per hour, head-on, and walked away with a just bump on this big head. Can't imagine the same accident in these cars today. Wouldn't want to think about it.

HUNTER: Well, Tony, these cars today are safer than that '70 Nova, that's for sure.

HARRIS: But that was a tank.

HUNTER: That car could probably take a lower-speed impact. There's not any safety concerns. It's just that when these cars get hit here in the corner, it can cost -- one car caused $1,400 worth of damage, and the Insurance Institute says that's too much damage.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, there's a distinction, and then there's the difference, and that is it right there.

Greg Hunter, appreciate it. Thank you, Greg.

COLLINS: Yes, and we're still assessing if it was really just a bump on the head.

HARRIS: There are questions.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, party problem, exposure at the bash for the "Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. But it's not what you think. Health concerns in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Hollywood scare. We're not talking about a new horror movie, but concern over the possible spread of hepatitis.

CNN's Brooke Anderson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): People in Hollywood are still talking about the "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue party two weeks ago. The guest of honor? "SI" cover girl Beyonce.

Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck catered the invitation-only event. But the buzz isn't about the cover or the food. It's about hepatitis.

It turns out one of Puck's employees is suffering from Hepatitis A. Health officials urged anyone who attended that party and ate the food to get vaccinated.

Beyonce spent her time at the party signing autographs, and according to her publicist, didn't eat the food.

DR. JONATHAN FIELDING, L.A. COUNTY DEPT. OF PUBLIC HEALTH: There were 13 total of events, and the guest list, if you add them all up, total about 3,500 people. Fewer than that actually came, and I'm sure a smaller number actually ate the food. ANDERSON: Though it declined CNN's request for an interview, Wolfgang Puck Catering issued this statement: "We will continue to work with the health department to bring a speedy and thorough resolution to this investigation."

(on camera): But is it enough? In a town where reputation is everything, even an isolated incident could end up a P.R. nightmare for Wolfgang Puck's high profile catering business.

HOWARD BRAGMAN, HOLLYWOOD PUBLICIST: If you watched the Academy Awards and the pre-show, you saw him everywhere. He has many, many relationships with the media, which is a good thing and a bad thing.

ANDERSON (voice over): Wolfgang Puck has been a fixture in the Hollywood party scene for more than two decades and has famously catered the Governors Ball at the Oscars for nearly as long. The announcement about the catering employee's illness doesn't seem to have slowed down Puck's business, at least for now.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Our Jim Clancy is standing by with the coming show in about 20 minutes or so, right, Jim, "YOUR WORLD TODAY." How are you?

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: We're doing pretty well today. But like everybody else, we're keeping an eye on the weather and on the markets. Pretty stormy sessions all around the world. We'll have the latest on the U.S. markets. But we're going to take a special look at Asia. Remember, that's where the big slide all began earlier this week.

Also, taking a look at Iraq and its refugees. Why they may find it more difficult to find refuge. It's the strain being felt all right round the region.

And also, why these children in India can celebrate. What does it have to do with breakfast at Tiffany's? And Audrey Hepburn's little black dress. We'll explain on "YOUR WORLD TODAY," coming up at the top of the hour. Hope you join us.

HARRIS: Absolutely. Absolutely.

CLANCY: You got it, Jim. Thanks.

COLLINS: Well, as Jim was mentioning the weather yet again, storms strike the Plains, and the South the target as well today. Complete severe weather coverage as meteorologist Chad Myers. You are in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to give you the very latest picture of all of this severe weather that is happening across the country. And in order to do that, we have, we are calling her our extra set of hands today. Veronica De La Cruz with us now from the epicenter, editorial production, incoming contents.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Heidi, as you know, we've been monitoring all the feeds coming in, as well as the Web sites. We're keeping a close eye on what our affiliates are posting on their Web sites.

Earlier we were focused on tornado damage. Now I want to show you some of the rain that's been falling. Leaving a lot of the roads in Kansas City, Missouri virtually underwater. This is our affiliate KCTV. It's a CBS affiliate out of Kansas City, Missouri. We want to show you the latest video posted there.

Ty Chandler talks about all the high water on the streets making the commute this morning slow going. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TY CHANDLER, KCTV REPORTER: Yes, it's a lot of water out here, and it appears that driver decides to go forward, and you can see that water is pretty deep. It's actually flowing into some of the businesses over there. So some of those businesses could also have water damage. Now we're told that water is about three-feet deep. It actually comes up high enough where if an 18-wheeler was in it, which an 18-wheeler did come out on that this morning, that it would be high enough to reach the lights of an 18-wheeler, so that's pretty high. And that particular driver went out there, tried to make it through, did not make it through, decided to climb up on his vehicle and wait for a rescue team to come and get him, and a tow truck did come out and get that driver. He is fine.

But at this point, this section of Gardner is shutdown. Police have recently put up this yellow police tape to keep drives from coming in this area. Just a reminder, those businesses, too, just look at how that water is just going over into that area by those businesses as well, so they could have damage, so if you see this deep water like this, don't go for it. You could end up like that driver who had to get on the roof of his car and wait to be rescued.

Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, but he did have some delays this morning.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DE LA CRUZ: OK, you really got to be careful out there on the roads. That was Ty Chandler with our affiliate KCTV-5 in Kansas City, Missouri, reporting for us. We're going to continue to track what's happening on the Web and bring you the latest -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, very good. Excellent reminder for every, just don't drive through it. It's not worth it.

Veronica De La Cruz from the epicenter. Thanks very much, Veronica.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: We want to go ahead and talk with someone who is sort of in the middle of all of this storm activity right now. We have on the line for us, Dennis Crider. He is a sports editor for "The West Plains Daily Quill," and he apparently got to the scene of the tornado just about an hour or so after it hit.

Dennis, are you on the line with us?

DENNIS CRIDER, "WEST PLAINS DAILY QUILL NEWSPAPER": Yes, I'm with you.

COLLINS: Terrific. Thanks for being here.

Tell us a little bit about what you saw when you first arrived.

CRIDER: Well, when I first arrived, it was a heavily wooded area. And I couldn't see much of anything but trees down everywhere, and chainsaws going here and there, and I started asking questions, and I found out that back about 100 yards in the wood is where a house, a mobile home and a salvage yard once stood. It looked like a bomb dropped on it.

COLLINS: Really? Have you ever seen anything like this before in your area?

CRIDER: I've been to tornado damage before, but not anything quite this severe.

COLLINS: Really? What are people saying in the area?

CRIDER: They're -- i haven't got to talk to a lot of people. People in the immediate area were shocked, you know that the one fatality occurred, and they said they heard the typical sound like a train, and high winds and so forth, and said it went through so fast it was just over immediately.

COLLINS: Wow. Dennis, have you been able to find out anything about that fatality. We hear at CNN been able to confirm that there was one way fatality in Howell County and four injuries. That's about the extent of what we have been able to confirm.

CRIDER: I have a 7-year-old girl was killed, and her father, and mother and one brother were injured. And the other brother, I don't know any injuries on him.

COLLINS: Dennis, can you tell us who confirmed that for you?

CRIDER: OK. That was -- there were neighbors who were on the scene and what I observed, and also our sheriff...

COLLINS: Your sheriff.

CRIDER: ... confirmed the fatality.

CRIDER: ... neighbors who were on the scene and what I observed and also our sheriff.

COLLINS: Your sheriff.

CRIDER: Confirmed the fatality.

COLLINS: Howell County sheriff, Robbie Crites.

CRIDER: Robbie Crites.

COLLINS: All right, so we are hearing from Dennis Crider here, who is the sports editor for the "Wests Plains Daily Quill." According to his accounts coming to him from Howell County Sheriff Robbie Crites that apparently yes, a 7-year-old girl was killed in this particular tornado.

Howell County, Missouri and several of those injures, four that we have been able to find out about were to her family as well. Dennis, sir, do appreciate your reporting for us here today, thank you.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where the bulls are trying to rally in a volatile session that saw the Dow drop 200 points within the first five minutes of trading. I'll have all the numbers when NEWSROOM continues. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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HARRIS: For the third day in a row, keeping a close eye on the action on Wall Street, that's for sure. In just the first few minutes of trading, the Dow industrials dropped dramatically, more than 200 points. We watched it right here in the NEWSROOM. Things are changing by the minute. Susan, you're shaking your head. Man, this has been a wild ride.

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HARRIS: You're back in the NEWSROOM in an hour.

COLLINS: Yep, and so is T.J. Holmes.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We're not going to be kissing grandma around here in the next hour.

HARRIS: OK.

HOLMES: But like you've all been talking all day, it's been a lot about the weather. So pretty much just weather and Wall Street is what we're going to be talking. A lot of breaking news.

Of course, this could be one of the worst weather days of the entire year. We're going to be following all that news. A lot of it is going to be coming in, a lot of information. I know we've got confirmation of one of the first deaths in this outbreak of severe weather. So we will be all over that weather as it happens.

Also, as you just heard there from Susan Lisovicz, she'll be keeping an eye there on Wall Street potentially or as we've already seen, another wild ride on Wall Street. That steep drop as we first started the trading day, rebounded a little bit. We're covering that a little bit. But still, keeping a close eye on that. Hopefully we will not have to use that reference to kissing grandmothers anymore like Susan just used.

But that's coming up at the top of the hour or the next hour with me and Fredricka.

COLLINS: Do you like your grandmother?

HARRIS: We love our grandmothers.

HOLMES: We love our grandmothers, but come on now.

HARRIS: But it is Wall Street in the mix, it was a little strange.

HOLMES: Too much for a Thursday.

COLLINS: OK, we'll be watching T.J., thank you.

CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Have a good day, everybody.

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