Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tornado Devastation; Returning Home?; A Royal Welcome; Tornado Safeguards; Corzine Resumes NJ Governor Duties After Accident

Aired May 07, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you have no doubt noticed you are paying a lot more to fill up. Gas prices have hit a record high. The Lundberg Survey say as gallon of self-serve regular is now $3.07. That tops the previous record of $3.03 in August of last year, Heidi. Today's price is nearly 20 cents higher than it was just two weeks ago. That's outrageous. The increases are being blamed mostly on refinery outages. How convenient. But analysts say there are signs that the rise in prices may be peaking.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Blown away. An entire town practically wiped off the map by a tornado. Today, residents of Greensburg, Kansas, allowed to gather belongings, if they can find them.

COLLINS: They're minding their p's an q's at the White House. Queen Elizabeth II arrives this hour on a state visit. See the grand ceremony live right here in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Without a trace. A little girl missing. The tot seemingly vanishes from her parents' hotel room in Portugal. Searching for Madeline (ph) on Monday, May 7th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Destruction as far as the eye can see. A heartbreaking site for the people of Greensburg, Kansas. This hour, they're getting a firsthand look at the damage from a monster tornado. But there really isn't much left. An estimated 95 percent of the town destroyed. At least nine people in the area killed.

On Main Street, not a business left standing. And every church blown away. The tornado was one of dozens to roar across the southern plains over the weekend. The Greensburg twister an EF-5. That is the highest on the national Weather Service scale. Its winds estimated at 205 miles an hour.

Destruction in Greensburg, unbelievable, yet all too real. CNN's Rob Marciano is with us now from the storm zone with a firsthand look of things.

Rob, your thoughts right off the bat when you arrived. ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's like many things we've seen before, but the unique part about this disaster situation and site, Heidi, is the scope of it. The width of the path of this storm and that it took out this entire town. We haven't seen any structure that really is intact to any degree where it's even usable.

Neighborhood after neighborhood, it's really the same site. You see these mature oak trees. This is a town that's been established for well over 100 years. So trees that have been around for just as long stripped of their bark. In some cases, completely up rooted. Well made brick and mortar homes completely flattened, wiped off their foundations. Automobiles flipped and thrown for, in some cases, tens of yards. Tractor equipment, farm equipment, you know, this is a farming community, but, you know, the farms are well outside of town. We're seeing combines and other farming equipment that's thrown about town. So certainly a lot of this stuff has been thrown for hundreds of yards in some cases.

But what strikes me the most is how wide the damage path is. I've seen tornadoes before do this sort of destruction, but not to this scope. And really the camera lens doesn't do it justice. It's just a site that you need to see up close and personal.

And now, on the third day of this disaster, residents are being allowed to come back and sift through the rubble of what's left of their homes. So now it becomes a more emotional day, as Don Lemon showed you earlier in this broadcast, as these residents who have been kept out of this community for the past three days so that the authorities could get a handle, clean up some of the debris along the roadways, at least make it safe so folks could coming back. And that's what they're going to be doing today. And there is not a whole lot to come back to.

As you mentioned, this is an EF-5 on the scale, the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which makes it a storm that had winds of over 200 miles an hour. We haven't seen a storm this strong since May of 1999 where over 40 people died in Oklahoma.

Here i the scale from 0 to 5. We call it EF now. We just started using this new Enhanced Fujita scale. But in essence, it's the same. Five is the worse. That's what we had come through here. Over 200 mile-an-hour winds, wide spread destruction. EF-4 is also considered an intense tornado with winds 165 to 200 miles an hour. EF-3, 135-165, similar to the tornadoes we saw earlier this year in Alabama, Georgia, and in Lady Lake, Florida. And an EF-1 and EF-1, they're considered, EF-2 and EF-3 are considered to be strong. EF-1 and 0 considered to weak.

EF4 and 5 make up less than 1 percent of all tornadoes that occur in the United States. So that gives you an idea just how rare this strong a tornado is. Here in Kansas, they haven't seen an EF-5 tornado for over 17 years now. So even though we live -- this area is right in the heart of tornado alley, it doesn't mean that this sort of thing happens every day.

This town has been around for over 100 years without sustaining this sort of damage. But in some cases, I guess you could say you're living in tornado alley. When these kind of storms can happen this time of year, sometimes you're going to get hit. And, unfortunately, this town got hit head on.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that.

Rob, when you talk about that -- the fact that the wide scale damage and how big this thing really was is what struck you. I'm looking here. It says the damage path at its widest point was about 1.7 miles, but that the tornado moved at about 20 miles an hour. Talk a little bit about the characteristics of this one, if you would. Is it slow moving and, therefore, that's why it did so much damage? Or how does it work?

MARCIANO: Well, oftentimes we report tornadoes that are moving 30, 40 miles an hour. That happens earlier in the season, more towards the winter when the jet streams is stronger, those storms move more quickly.

Now as we get into May and June, the jet stream not quite as strong. The steering currents, they don't move quite that rapidly. Twenty miles an hour. That's about average. Maybe a little bit below average. But as you mention, relative to other storms that we talk about and relative to this size town, when you have a mile wide town and you have a storm, tornado that's 1.7 miles wide, you don't even need a direct hit to have what you have right now. So that was really the main cause of this.

There was sufficient warning. The sirens were going off 20 minutes before this storm came through. Kansas, unlike Oklahoma, in many cases, people have basements. So that's probably the main reason that more people survived than, say, in the Oklahoma tornadoes that we saw back in 1999 where the soil is such where, you know, basements are not as a frequent household thing there. But here, most people do have basements and they heeded the warning. And I think that's, for the most part, what saved lives. You know, having nine fatalities or eight here in Greensburg, relative to the damage that we're seeing around here, Heidi, you know, that's almost miraculous.

COLLINS: Yes. Wow. I imagine so.

All right, Rob Marciano reporting for us live from Greensburg this morning.

Rob, thank you.

HARRIS: Boy, and we just have to show you this. It is some of the most dramatic video we've had on our air. Storm chasers at tornadovideo.net shot this footage in Ellis County, Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Stop. We're good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go. Jesus Christ!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the northeast at about 30 miles an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut your door. Shut your door. Shut your door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Go. Back up. Back up. We're OK. We're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: However, we do not want you out (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: You hear the radio in the background, we do not want you out. But they are professionals.

HARRIS: But what does that mean? What does -- you know, what kind of safeguard does a professional have against a plank being tossed by that. Look at that. Look at the debris field. Look at what's being tossed here. Storm chaser Reid Timmer (ph) clearly put himself in harm's way for some of the most compelling -- this is amazing stuff. But, obviously, this is not something we would advise you to do yourself. Find safe shelter.

Reynolds Wolf there in the Weather Center.

And, Reynolds, here's a question. April's a big month, as we know, for tornadoes. May as well. And June can be tricky as well. So we've got May and June as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Coming home and coming to grips with what's gone. Among those returning to Greensburg, Kansas, today, local attorney Charles Herd. He is on the phone with us.

Charles, great to talk to you. Thanks for the time this morning. We appreciate it.

CHARLES HERD, TORNADO SURVIVOR: You bet.

HARRIS: Charles, how you doing?

HERD: Well, we're alive and uninjured. So we're doing good.

HARRIS: How many in your family?

HERD: Four.

HARRIS: Four.

HERD: Yes.

HARRIS: Take me back to Friday evening. What did you see? When did you get a warnings that severe weather and a possible tornado was bearing down on your city? HERD: Well, we -- my youngest daughter and I were in our home. Our home doesn't have a basement, so when the tornado siren went off, we went to the neighbor's house and got in their basement. And we were there when the tornado hit.

They had a television in their basement and we were following the local, you know, news account of the tornado and its location and its movement. And then the sirens and the electricity went off at the same time. That was a bad sign.

And, you know, you hear the stories about, you know, it sounds like the roar of the train. Well, that really wasn't our experience. Things got really still. And the you feel the pressure and your ears start to pop. And then it's just air is gone. It's just like the pressure, it just sucked the air out of you. And then the dust and the insulation start, you know, start falling down into basement. You could hear the house being destroyed. And then when that part of it was over, it rained and hailed again.

HARRIS: How long in duration, Charles? How long in duration from the uh-oh moment, which sounds to me like that moment when the power and the lights go out, until you felt it was clear to kind of poke your head up out of the basement?

HERD: Oh, it seemed like forever, but it was probably 20, 30 minutes. You know, after the sound of the, you know, destruction of the house was over, you know, of course, you're wanting to go up and look but there was still some wind and there was a lot of rain and hail afterwards. So that, you know, kind of kept us at bay for, you know, another 10 minutes. And, you know, we emerged from the basement.

HARRIS: Have you been able to go back to your house?

HERD: No. This is the -- we looked at it briefly that night, but it was dark. There was, you know, no street lighting. Nothing except the light we had was the reflection of the lightning.

HARRIS: Hey, Charles, you can go back and you can salvage one thing, you hope one thing is there, what's that one thing?

HERD: Oh, photographs.

HARRIS: The pictures, huh?

HERD: Yes. I've thought about that and, you know, it's funny how the things that you thought were more valuable, but your mind turns to photographs and Christmas decorations.

HARRIS: Wow. Charles, take care of your family.

HERD: Thank you.

HARRIS: Thanks for your time this morning.

HERD: You bet. Bye. HARRIS: You have seen the sheer terror twisters bring and the havoc they cause. Now get more in a special report at cnn.com. You can view a special storm chasers gallery, see the science behind the fury and quiz yourself on some tornado trivia. Get more online at cnn.com/tornado.

Still ahead, rush job for the rush hour. San Francisco Bay area residents get a portion of their MacArthur maze back. That story coming up for you in the NEWSROOM.

LAPD investigation. Police use rubber bullets and batons to break up an immigration rally. Now alleged victims are having their say. Hear from them in the NEWSROOM.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is polishing the silver. The queen is polishing her jewels. You will see them all because you're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Queen Elizabeth crowns her state-side trip with a visit to Washington. Right now the White House is prepare for a lavish welcome ceremony set to get underway next hour. Our Richard Quest is joining us now live from Washington in all his lavishness.

Richard, it is about protocol and getting it right, isn't it?

QUEST: Absolutely. Because the one thing you don't want to do at a formal state event is make the guests feel -- obviously not unwelcome, but in any way, they don't know what's happening. So rules are set and rules are followed. One person walks this way, the other person does that. A does that, b does that, c does that. And it's all designed to ensure, and it's agreed in advance.

So in just about half an hour from now, Queen Elizabeth will crossover from Blair House to the White House. She'll then go out on to the South Lawn where she will be greeted by President Bush. The two leaders will then listen to the national anthems of both countries. There will be a 21 gun salute. They will review the troops. And there will then be speeches, Heidi. That is the way you do it when you have a . . .

COLLINS: That's how we roll. That's how we roll.

QUEST: That's it. Because you don't -- I mean, you can't make it up as you're going along with a state event.

COLLINS: Yes, this is very true.

And I know that tonight's dinner has probably got to be the hottest ticket in town, wouldn't you say? This white-tie dinner in the stateroom?

QUEST: Yes.

COLLINS: I mean, don't want to drop the meatball on you're outfit, though, either. That would be really, really bad.

QUEST: Oh, really, woman, meatballs. I mean, you might be having meatloaf . . .

COLLINS: Did you just call me woman?

HARRIS: Yes, he did!

QUEST: Really. You're not having a meatball. But I mean, I assure you, tonight, they will be having -- you ready for this? You ready for this?

COLLINS: Yes.

QUEST: They will be having fresh pea soup with a hint of lavender. Frankly, I can't imagine what pea soup with lavender tastes.

COLLINS: I'll take a meatball, pal.

QUEST: Then they're having fish, followed by lamb. There's a salad. And then something called -- something like sugar roses or something for dessert. What I would be -- I know the queen will be looking forward to this, will be the entertainment tonight, which is the magnificent violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman (ph). That's a better class, better quality.

COLLINS: Yes. That will be (INAUDIBLE). And I actually heard you saying earlier today that the queen has actually become, in all of her years of service, really, really talented at pushing her food around the plate so as not to, you know, appear that she's really eating anything at all.

QUEST: Well, there's two rules that are coming into play here. First of all, you know, most banquets will always give the queen a very rich dinner. I mean, even though the White House says, keep it simple, keep it fresh, keep it simple. But they always -- the rich sauces. So the queen has become very good at moving it around the plate so it looks -- but also, this little known rule that when the queen finishes eating, everybody else has finished eating. Even if Tony's still scoffing through his, you know, his meatballs. I mean, what can one say.

But providing -- but, you know, that's the same as any state banquet. The moment the guest of honor has finished, Tony, you've finish.

HARRIS: Thank you. Thank you, sir.

QUESTION: The game's up when the guest of honor's finished.

COLLINS: Yes, and he's a big fan of the Swedish meatball, too, let me just tell you right now. So hopefully she will eat slowly and give everyone enough time to complete their extravagant meal.

QUEST: She is -- you cannot imagine what an expert Queen Elizabeth is at these events. Fifty-five years of toasts, dinners . . .

COLLINS: Eating. Fifty-five years of eating.

QUEST: Yes. Well, yes.

COLLINS: Richard, I am just thrilled to have you there to give us the color of all of it. We're going to check back with you a little bit later on.

QUEST: Of course.

COLLINS: We know we'll be carrying these events live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Richard Quest, thank you.

HARRIS: Wow! Wow! Richard Quest. Wow!

No, no, no, we can keep going.

COLLINS: You all right?

HARRIS: Yes.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine feeling much better. Back to work at the governor's mansion this morning. His recovery from a serious auto accident. Well, it could take months. Corzine says he will focus on legislation while laid up, but he will have to skip state ceremonies for the time being. Corzine is expected to speak a little later this hour. We will bring you his comments live.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, back to the images of destruction. From the deadliest, to the most costly. A perspective of tornadoes coming up here in the NEWSROOM.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gerri Willis.

Taking steps to protect you and your home in the case of violent weather. Next on "Top Tips" in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and check the Dow now. As you can see, we're up 30 points. That's nice. It's 13,294. Huge, huge numbers. What are we saying -- what do I get if I'm right that by Christmas we hit 15,000.

HARRIS: Is that a prediction?

COLLINS: Well, yes, but it's completely unfounded and completely devoid of to much knowledge.

HARRIS: We'll work it up. We'll work it up. The minute you go on the record with a prediction, we'll work something up, all right?

COLLINS: I'm sure you will. HARRIS: Yes, we will.

You do not have to live in tornado alley to be at risk of a tornado. That's for sure. But you can reduce the danger by creating a safe haven inside your own home. Here with her "Top Tips," CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, great to see you this morning. Great tips as I look ahead. Sorry, I'm cheating a little bit.

WILLIS: That's all right.

HARRIS: You know, we've been hearing a lot this morning in our meeting this morning and we've been talking about it throughout the show this morning, this idea of a safe room. We know a lot of folks have sought sanctuary in basements. But talk to us about a safe room. That whole concept.

WILLIS: We just had a survivor on saying he went to a neighbor's basement because he didn't have one.

HARRIS: That's right. That's right.

WILLIS: There's another thing you can do, though, get a safe room. That's basically a small room in a house, like a closet or a basement, that's been re-enforced to provide protection. Look, typically the safe room should be located in a central, interior, ground floor area of the house. Safe rooms can also be built in a garage or away from the house. But generally, these rooms can withstand speeds of over 250 miles per hour. Now to find out more about safe rooms, check out the Federal Emergency Management Agency's website at fema.gov. They've got lots of info on safe room there.

HARRIS: So, Gerri, why do you make the point that we should secure our garages?

WILLIS: Well, Tony, I've got to tell you, 80 percent of residential damage starts with wind through the garage door.

HARRIS: Oh, OK.

WILLIS: It's a weakness. Make sure you re-enforce those garage doors. And qualified inspector can determine if the track system can resist high winds. Now you may need to replace this door or make it a stronger system. Keep in mind, if your garage door is more than eight feet wide, it's vulnerable. Install permanent wood or metal reenforcements.

Tony.

HARRIS: You know, another -- something else that we see in these storms oftentimes is just the reports of folks injured by flying glass. Is there anything that we can do to re-enforce the glass in our homes? WILLIS: Oh, absolutely. The biggest vulnerability with glass, sliding glass doors. They create a lot of damage. If you're replacing your patio doors, consider installing impact-resistant door systems made of laminated glass or plastic glazing. And if you're thinking of replacing your windows, install impact-resistant windows. Now you may not be able to find them in your area, but you can usually order them from manufacturers or home improvement stores on the coast because that's where people are typically very worried about high winds.

HARRIS: I love this last tip. It makes perfect sense. Common sense even. De-clutter the yard.

WILLIS: People forget, anything can become a projectile when the winds are so high. Keeping your yard free of debris will help minimize damage. Trim your shrubs. Cut weak branches or even trees -- very important -- that could fall on your house. And, look, you don't think about this one. If you have gravel or rock landscaping, you know those tiny little white stones, replace that with sledded bark. It becomes, you know, missiles flying through the air. You'll definitely want to get rid of that.

If you have a question, send it to us at toptips@cnn.com. We answer them right here every Friday. And we love to hear from you.

HARRIS: Gerri, great tips this morning.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Timely too.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Thank you for your time.

WILLIS: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: All right, good to see you, Gerri.

Here we are at the bottom of the hour. Welcome back everyone to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

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

Returning home and finding heartbreak, that's the day ahead for residents of Greensburg, Kansas, or maybe more accurately what used to be Greensburg. The town virtually disintegrated by winds that topped 200 miles an hour. Today residents can go home for a quick assessment of what if anything they have left. Emergency crews are also going through the piles of debris now searching for the missing.

HARRIS: Your screen isn't blank. This is the 200 mile-an-hour tornado that wiped out Greensburg, Kansas. Sound and the fury at home, right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: It's the first day back on the job for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. He is before the microphones right now, after that terrible crash on April 12th. Let's go ahead and listen in just for a moment to what he's got to say today.

GOV. JON CORZINE, NEW JERSEY: To make sure that both my lawyers and my staff thought I was sharp enough to go forward. There's some people that doubt that on a regular basis, but being attentive to it. We had our doctors review me thoroughly on Friday. He put the doctors and lawyers together, away from me, to draw a conclusion and all coming back positive. And I feel strong enough to make sure that I can perform the constitutional roles. I'm not going to be high tailing it all over the state, to the four corners for a while. But representational role of governor will be somewhat less, although we can have the public and individuals come to (INAUDIBLE). But on balance, my focus will be on policy and legislation and the fundamentals of the agenda that we were trying to work on before the accident. We'll continue to, got a budget due in six weeks. And by the way, all of us have agreed that we want to get that budget done early so that there are no chances of delay, talking in the first 10 days of June, a lot of negotiations to be done. I don't know where you guys come up with the $2 billion gap --

COLLINS: There you have it, some of the comments from New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, his first day back on the job. It's been about three weeks since that terrible car crash, August 12th, where if you remember he broke his leg, 11 ribs, collar bone and his sternum. So very, very thankful to be alive and did a lot of thanking to his doctors, rescuers, family and friends and of course to Governor Richard Codey (ph) who stepped in for him. So back on the job today working on that budget, as you heard him say.

HARRIS: Boy, do we have this picture of the White House? Take a look at this, pomp and circumstance unfolding right now, her majesty, the queen, arriving at the south lawn of the White House this morning, minutes from now, for lunch with the president and the first lady.

COLLINS: Her bonnet will stick out over those hats, won't it?

HARRIS: Let's hope so. She's kind of a short lady so the hat helps us. We are going to fill you in on all of the pomp and circumstance. Give you an idea of what's planned for us this morning right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Back to one of the main stories of the day. Of course, how do you rebuild when there is just not much left? Greensburg, Kansas, asking that question after the town was nearly wiped off the map by a killer tornado. Homes, churches, businesses, all reduced to splinters. Jeff Flock is in Greensburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are standing out here where this tornado first touched down on Friday. This is the edge of Greensburg, farm country. In addition to the severe damage downtown, perhaps you can see some of these farmsteads destroyed out here. Several farmsteads destroyed. To give you a 360 view, perhaps you can spin around and maybe you can see out here across the Kansas plain. Again, this is where the storm first touched down before it got into town about seven miles from here. Picture this farm family. They did not hear the sirens in town. Again being so far out of town they did not hear those sirens that gave folks in town about a 20-minute warning. So when they saw the tornado come, they began to race down to the basement, as you would do. They got this door closed.

But of course, then the house began to come apart. Perhaps you can see, that's when the roof came off. They race down here into the basement and begin to try and get into a position in the southwest corner. But because that roof had come off, already debris is raining down on them. The Unrue (ph) family who lives here got into the southwest corner of the basement, got reasonably safe. But you can see perhaps what the debris did down in this basement, created a difficult situation down here. They were OK, but as perhaps you can see upstairs, their house did not fair as well. I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Greensburg, Kansas.

COLLINS: Wow.

Pomp and protocol at this hour, a live shot there. On the menu, when the queen calls on the White House, boy, that's for sure, she arrives shortly, likely right through that little gate there.

HARRIS: Looks great.

COLLINS: You will see the ceremony, coming up live, looks beautiful, right here in the NEWSROOM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange where the bulls are taking the market higher again. Guess what else is on the rise? Gas prices. I'll tell you about record prices at the pump, next on NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: All right. So we are getting closer and closer as we see the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. We just saw Dick Cheney moments ago as well and his wife Lynne (ph), all preparing for a royal welcome. And it's beautiful. We're listening to some of the music now. Queen Elizabeth II will be coming to the south lawn and going to be having a fancy schmancy dinner tonight. I'm sure that's not really what it's billed as.

HARRIS: White tie?

COLLINS: Yeah. Beautiful.

HARRIS: That feels extra special, doesn't it?

COLLINS: Have you ever been to a white tie?.

HARRIS: No, I haven't, the first time since, what, 1976, the bicentennial, white-tie gala. COLLINS: She came as visitor.

HARRIS: Yes white tie gala at the White House. There you see Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates just a moment ago.

COLLINS: Tonight, will be the entertainment according to our Richard Quest who is there watching all of the pomp and circumstance.

HARRIS: Having great fun with you.

COLLINS: Yeah he said that they will be hearing violinist Isak Pearlman (ph) play tonight. So that will be gorgeous I'm sure. And they're not having meatballs. If you were watching a little earlier, that was just a joke.

HARRIS: I think everybody understood that, Heidi, except Richard who took great exception. We'll come back. I think we're just minutes away.

COLLINS: Looks like it.

HARRIS: And we will bring you the entire ceremony, celebration this morning right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, not such a celebration at the gas pump, huh? Prices at the pump hitting records and summer is still more than a month away, Susan. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.

LISOVICZ: I think the queen can afford these prices. She's one of the wealthiest women in the world. But for the rest of us, if you drive you have already felt the sticker shock at the pump. According to the Lundberg survey, the national average for self serve regular gasoline rose to a record $3.07 per gallon. That's up 19 cents from just two weeks ago. That beats a previous record hit in August of last year. If you factor in inflation, the new price still trails the adjusted all-time high for March of 1981. But guess what, another six cents and we'll top that, too. The shock comes not only from the price itself but the pace as well. Since late January the national average is up 88 cents.

COLLINS: Ow.

LISOVICZ: Heidi.

COLLINS: So what's behind the increase here? Can drivers look for forward to any relief, do you think? Do you have any good news, Susan?

LISOVICZ: Not in the short term, I'm afraid, Heidi. Refinery problems are the main culprit. We have heard this before. There have been at least a dozen unexpected partial shut downs that's putting the squeeze on gasoline supplies, supply and demand. And there's the demand, the peek driving season gets under way Memorial Day weekend fast approaching. With more people hitting the roads, analysts aren't expecting any significant relief any time soon. But some say in the shorter turn we could see prices fall back just slightly. Oil prices are down about 50 cents today adding to a week-long slide but it usually takes a few weeks for changes in futures markets to trickle down to retail prices.

Turning to the market as well, here's something we can celebrate, stocks are posting gains for the fifth straight session. Investors welcoming some fresh merger news. It's merger Monday. Dow industrials up nearly 21 points. The Nasdaq composite is up four points. If the Dow closes higher today, it will match the streak setback in the summer of 1927. Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Holy cow.

LISOVICZ: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, Susan. We know you're on top of all things business for us. We'll check back a little bit later on.

LISOVICZ: I'll try to give you better news.

HARRIS: Before we get to her majesty the queen, just a bizarre story out of Las Vegas this morning, one person killed, another hurt in an explosion in a parking lot outside of a Las Vegas strip resort. More details on that in just a moment. Authorities say a man removing a backpack from atop his car died of injuries he received when the pack exploded. So it sounds like the backpack obviously was rigged and then it blew up. It happened on the second floor of the parking structure behind the Luxor hotel and casino about 4:00 a.m. local time. A second person was taken to an area hospital. You have some shots here of the scene taped off, obviously. We understand that police, firefighters and the Federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and explosives are on the scene investigating as well. But just a bizarre set of circumstances out of Las Vegas this morning. One person killed, another hurt when a backpack exploded. We will continue to follow this story and bring you additional information as we get it to you in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, it is pomp and protocol, on the menu when the queen calls on the White House. More live pictures for you today, this ceremony. She does arrive shortly. You will see it all right here live in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The killer tornado that flattened Greensburg struck in the dark of night. You are about to see scenes of the actual storm, the video compelling and terrifying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Power flash. Power flash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Get that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not just -- oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just stick your --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not stick your -- oh, my god. This is horrible. This is horrible. This is horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Wow. The Greensburg tornado as it happened at the tiny Kansas town, only about 1500 people living in Greensburg. Chilling scenes caught on tape by storm chasers.

HARRIS: I've been watching Reynolds in the pre-set. He has this, what is that behind you there, Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was actually, believe it or not, this was the entrance to the junior high school in Greensburg.

COLLINS: Look at that.

WOLF: This is what's left to it. This was actually sent to us by Jeff Hutton. He is the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service out of Dodge City, Kansas. This is absolutely terrifying and one of the things that scares me so much about this is not just the damage that we see from this mortar and brick structure, but can you imagine had this storm taken place not around 9:00, 9:30 but what if it had taken place during school hours? Think about it. You can't get much stronger than a building like this. And sure enough, this tornado made mincemeat of it. What a terrifying thing. Throughout the day I'll show you a few more of these. Jacqui Jeras is also going to be along with you through the afternoon and through the evening hours and she's going to show you more of these images and they are just, they are terrifying. How else can you put it?

The storm that, of course, the fact that this tornado was just one of many that we had from Thursday, Friday, Saturday and of course Sunday, the totals that we have for you are just amazing. These are the reported tornadoes. These aren't confirmed. The numbers of reports that we had on Thursday, seven. On Friday, we had 30. Saturday was the big day with 93. And then on Sunday we had 10. The total reports in this entire outbreak ran 140. That's a staggering number. Remember, the record of tornadoes was this super outbreak of 1974 on April 3rd and 4th where you had 148 confirmed. Keep in mind this number isn't represent a confirmed total. Over the next couple days I'm sure that it might be fairly close. We'll certainly find out soon enough, at least in the next couple of days. That's the latest we have for you. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.

HARRIS: Reynolds, thanks.

WOLF: You bet.

COLLINS: Well, residents of Greensburg, Kansas, are returning to their homes this morning. It's estimated, though, that 95 percent of the town has been destroyed, a testament to the devastating power of tornadoes. CNN's Josh Levs has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The devastation, the loss, images all too familiar, especially to residents of the so-called tornado alley in the Midwest and south. The National Weather Service says the deadliest tornado disaster was in March 1925. It struck Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing nearly 700 people. Almost 50 years later, April 1974, came the worst single outbreak of tornadoes in the shortest period of time, the infamous super outbreak, 148 across 16 states in less than 24 hours. More than 300 people were killed.

One of the largest single twisters recorded was recent, in Haelem (ph), Nebraska in April 2004. The National Weather Service says it measured nearly 2.5 miles across, though it killed only one person. The U.S. experiences about 1,000 tornado as year, more than any other country. And the National Weather Service says about 60 people are killed each year. More die in heat or floods and in recent years more have died in hurricanes. But of course the impact of a tornado is not measured just in lives lost. Many in Greensburg, Kansas who survived the latest twisters, have lost their livelihoods, homes, everything of sentimental value. Tornadoes generally last only a few minutes but can destroy what people have spent years working for.

TERRY DAVID, KANSAS EMERGENCY MGMT: This is the most significant emergency the state of Kansas has faced in a long, long time.

LEVS: One thing that's not known is how much it will end up costing the state. The National Weather Service says the costliest tornado ever was in 1973 in Georgia. When you account for inflation, it ended up costing the state more than $5 million. Joshua Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And let's take you back to Washington, DC now. What a great day at the nation's capital, the White House bathed in sunshine this morning for the queen. Her majesty, the queen arriving at the south lawn of the White House any moment this morning for lunch with the president and first lady and quite a ceremony on hand. Maybe sneak just a quick listen? Anything happening? All right. We will bring you the entire ceremony this morning in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Heidi, I think this is the moment.

COLLINS: I think so. We are looking at, of course, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

HARRIS: She looks great today. Look at her.

COLLINS: Awaiting the queen to come in, probably through those glass doors that we keep seeing opening and closing there. And I hear a drum roll in the background. So this has got to be it. We've been watching it all morning long, just a fascinating ceremony going on. Let's go ahead and maybe just listen in for a moment.

Well, let's be honest. We've all been waiting to see what the hat looks like but I certainly don't want to be demeaning in any way. It's really beautiful. And they have such a gorgeous day for it. Queen Elizabeth II there shaking hands now with Vice President Cheney and his wife Lynne Cheney. It looks like the five of them will proceed and also the duke there behind her, of course going to be heading on inside. We also see Condoleezza Rice in the background and Defense Secretary Gates. It's a great day. We had the 21-gun salute. We had both national anthems, beautiful. You're looking at some of these numbers, too, here out of curiosity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem of the United Kingdom followed by the national anthem of the United States of America.

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