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Horror After the Storms; NASDAQ Sliding Back into Bear Territory; Arrests in Pakistan
Aired February 07, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins standing here in what's left of Tennessee, Macon County to be exact. Cities and towns devastated. Lives and homes ripped apart, and a death toll that now stands at 55 all across these four states that had been affected by these massive tornadoes.
Again, we are live from Lafayette, Tennessee. It's in Macon County and it is one of the hardest hit areas by a wave of killer tornadoes that tore across all five southern states. The recovery from the storm has barely started. We're here at first light now where we're starting to see some people sort of picking up the wood and the trees and I actually saw just a little ways from where I'm standing now people burning some of that debris.
I asked them, you know, what are you doing? Is this what people have -- the National Guard and so forth have told you to do? They said we're just trying to get some heat actually and keep going through the morning and trying to pick things up. From the rubble and ruin we are hearing some really incredible stories of survival, hope and also, of course, heartbreak. We're going to be bringing you those stories throughout the morning from here in Lafayette.
Here in Macon County, the tornadoes cut a path of destruction about 15 miles long. And Rusty Dornin has been getting a firsthand look at the damage.
Rusty, good morning to you.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, we're just short distance from you, of course, in the path of this killer tornado that really was, you know, half mile to a mile wide in some places here in Macon County, leaving just debris strewn everywhere. Where in an area known as Brattontown. Folks have yet to appear here today to start cleaning up once again, but the folks that we've talked to in this area, for many of them, they never saw it coming.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice over): Tammy Oldham can't even get through the debris of what's left in her house. Just before the storm hit, she thought the worst had passed her by.
TAMMY OLDHAM, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Lie down, the next thing I know, there was a big roar like a train, like everybody talks about. We got into a closet in our bedroom and covered up and I held on to my daughter. She's got eight stitches in her eye, and we held on to each other until it just passed. The roofs just whipped off our head.
DORNIN: In Oldham's neighborhood alone seven people were killed. Here in Lafayette, Tennessee, the tornado cut a swathe more than a half mile wide. Dozens of twisters tore through five southern states leaving people stunned in the devastation.
Casey Wilson's family was salvaging what they could from the splintered mess that was once their home.
(On camera) So you heard it coming?
CASEY WILSON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: No. But yes, one of my friends text me on the phone and she said that it was at Brattontown church. And I got up and got my mom and daddy and their bedroom was about it and it's completely gone. And I ran in here and as soon as we lay down it hit and took everything we had.
DORNIN (voice over): Police and National Guard quickly roadblock the damaged areas and FEMA crews inspected house after house. Rescue crews in many areas searched the debris for more victims. Everywhere those who survived were giving thanks they made it through the night.
(On camera) So many people are still shocked saying what if? What if the Wilson family had not come into their closet to hide? What if they'd stayed in their beds?
DR. LORRAINE PURCHIS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: This is one of my rooms.
DORNIN (voice over): For this Macon County vet, Lorraine Purchis, the prospect of rebuilding her veterinarian hospital is overwhelming.
PURCHIS: Shock. Disbelief. Thankfulness that it wasn't -- any worse than it is. It could have been worse. It's just tough. And I'm really glad that I have the people that I have that came to my rescue today and helped as much as they helped.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: And she - Lorraine Purchis had quite a few people came to her rescue. This is what's left of her veterinary hospital. She said her clients are not giving her any choice. She is definitely going to rebuild. Most of the animals made it through that were here, although two of the dogs apparently, they cannot find. They were the ones that were in these kennels over here. But you can really see, you know, with the cinder blocks, completely ripped apart, parts of cement holding the cinder blocks together. I mean the force of this tornado is just -- was completely incredible for the people here -- Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Rusty. Boy, it is absolutely unbelievable to be standing amongst all that debris, isn't it? We sure so appreciate the report come to us from Macon County, just a ways down the road here.
And Tony, some of the other things that we have noticed since we have been here, the way that the people are acting. Everyone that I have talked to so far has said you know what? And as you would imagine, they would still be shocked, if you will, but instead, they're already moving on. They're talking about what they're going to do next. They're thankful to be alive. I mean, truly thankful to be alive.
In fact, I was looking at the paper, "The Tennessean" from this morning and we see the headline here now. First terror, then grief. And just the first line I want to read to you. It says, "A father found his son's body tossed on to the driveway. A man pulls his brother from rubble. And Tennesseans from Memphis to Macon County, dealt with their own devastated lives after the state's deadliest storms in 33 years."
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.
COLLINS: And Tony, also, as we walked around and kind of tried to make our way through some of the debris, the first thing, I mean I was probably here for about eight seconds and some of the very first things that I found, you know, we talk about the kids and we talk about how scared they may have been. We've got a plethora of stuffed animals, things from Christmastime, and this from right across the way, from where I'm standing is a brick off of someone's home. There's a whole facade that was completely ripped off.
I mean you would think it was just some sort of, I don't know, the light song or something, but I mean it's a true heavy brick with all of the concrete mortar inside.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: And it's all just ripped off. Unbelievable things that we found just right off the bat here and it's truly everywhere you look.
HARRIS: Well, that was going to be my question to you. You know, we see the pictures on television and the first thing I'm always asked when I arrive at one of those scenes, I know you got the same question is, you go from Atlanta, you fly into Nashville. You - overnight in Henderson and then you get to where you are in Macon County, and what is your first impression -- seeing it on television is one thing. Seeing it in person is totally different.
COLLINS: Yes, you know, it's always very different from when you finally land. It was very, very dark when we got here last night. We couldn't see a whole lot. But from the very moment we checked into our hotel. You know all the hotels are completely booked. They're really trying to help out their fellow citizens. And everything is booked up miles and miles from here...
HARRIS: Right.
COLLINS: ...with people who have lost their homes. But then when you step out and the sun comes up and you start getting a good look at - I mean there's no cover. There's nothing left. There's no trees. There's no nothing. It is truly barren land with just a bunch of trash everywhere.
HARRIS: Well, I can't wait for more of your descriptions of what it's like to be on the ground there.
Heidi Collins for us this morning in Lafayette, Tennessee. Heidi, thanks. We're back to you in just a couple of minutes here.
In northern Alabama, near the Tennessee border, four people died in the tornado outbreak. Meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Aldrich Grove, Alabama.
Rob, you are in the vicinity of one of the most amazing sites we have seen so far in the coverage of these storms, and at some point, I hope you show us that tree that has turned into Velcro for all of the flying debris.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, that's an excellent way to describe that and we're going to get to that tree in just a second. But now that the sun has come up, we're able to show you a greater expanse of the path of this storm, the destruction that it's caused the. I'm standing amongst the rubble of what used to be a home. Unfortunately, this is the home where three people lost their lives, a couple and their son. The couple was found behind me next to this refrigerator which was tossed a good 100 yards, maybe 150 from the house that was completely scraped off the foundation.
Their son found out in the field. None of them survived. It's almost a surreal sight. At one point their home was -- across this road. Heavy equipments have been brought in to clear it for traffic, but a lot of the debris from their home still on this side of the roadway. You can't make anything out except for the roof. That's what you're talking about, Tony. That's the roof their home, torn off it. About 200 yards away, pinned into this -- impaled by this tree and sticking there, like you say, like Velcro. Just giving you an idea of the intensity of this storm. So that home, gone.
Just across the street is this brick home. You know, obviously, going to do a little better. But that's going to be -- have to be demolished. The woman in there, elderly woman, she was OK, cuts and bruises, and a broken arm. And there's that check mark or the x mark reminiscent of Katrina, of Greensburg, of other natural disasters that we've seen indicating that a recovery group has been in there to clear that house.
But there have been 80 to 90 homes in Lawrence County alone that have been damaged or destroyed by this -- four fatalities, as we mentioned. Another one across the northeast corner of the state, where there was an even stronger storm, an EF-4 storm there with winds over 160 miles an hour. Maybe up to 200 miles an hour with that particular storm. Survey team comes out later today to check out this one to see how strong it was. They're thinking an EF-3 at some point, Tony, but a severe one.
This is -- certainly the most severe outbreak here in northern Alabama, since at least 1989. You really have to push back to a February outbreak, you got to kind of push back to 1971 for this part the country...
HARRIS: Wow.
MARCIANO: ...where they had over 120 fatalities but that was before Doppler radar.
HARRIS: Yes.
MARCIANO: Doppler radar really gives us the warning that we need. But this county, even though the radar indicated warning was well ahead of the storm by almost 30 minutes, this part of the county doesn't have sirens. So unless they were watching their TV or listening to the radio at 2:00 in the morning, they didn't know about it.
HARRIS: How scary is that? How scary is that? Rob, it's a -- what a sight that is. We're looking at it again, of the tree. Your neighbor comes to you and says, where's your roof? Well, my roof, friend, is, yes, that tree, right there. There's the roof.
MARCIANO: Yes.
HARRIS: That is absolutely amazing. Rob Marciano for us in Aldrich Grove, Alabama.
Rob, good to see you. Thanks.
And if you're moved by what you see and would like to help the people affected, impacted by these tornadoes, just go to CNN.com and impact your world, add your name to the growing list of CNN viewers grabbing the opportunity to take some action. Again, the address, CNN.com/impact.
You know, we haven't had an opportunity to talk to Reynolds Wolf about this storm over the last couple of days.
Reynolds, what did we see here? We talked about it, oh, just before coming on the air. Just a confluence of events and circumstances, and now you know the aftermath.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Breaking this hour, Los Angeles, a SWAT officer is dead, another wounded. A violent and dramatic overnight standoff dragging into morning. It started when a man called police and claimed he killed three family members. Police went to a house. There was a shoot-out. Police say two officers were hit.
As far as we know, the man is still barricaded inside and, of course, we will keep you posted on this story throughout the morning.
A CNN exclusive now, actress Angelina Jolie on a humanitarian mission in Iraq today. Our Arwa Damon caught up with her a short time ago in Baghdad.
Arwa, great to see you. What is Jolie hoping to accomplish with this mission, this visit?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, quite simply, she's here looking for answers. In fact, she said the decision to come out here despite all of the risks that are involved was an easy one to take, because she wants to see how she can help the Iraqi refugee crisis here. She describes it as being a lagging process, and there are millions and millions of people who are so desperately in need of urgent care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELINA JOLIE, U.N. GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: What happens in Iraq and how Iraq settles in the years to come is going to affect the entire Middle East, and a big part of what is going to affect how it settles is how these people are returned and settled into their homes, into their community, and brought back together and whether they can live together and what their communities look like. So it does have broad implications.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: She did say that there is a lot of goodwill out there, that there are a lot of people who are very well aware of the refugee crisis here, but that there is not enough action being taken. So what she's trying to do is meet with the top U.S. leadership here and senior Iraqi government officials, including the prime minister himself, to put that question forward. Why isn't more being done to help the Iraqis, an estimated 2.2 million displaced within Iraq and another two million largely living in Syria and in Jordan.
She says that this crisis, as we were just hearing, not only has implications for Iraq but for the Middle East and the entire world as a whole saying that not only is there a responsibility towards what's happening in Iraq, because it is a humanitarian crisis, but that this is a responsibility to try to create stability within the entire region and unless this critical problem of the displaced people within Iraq is addressed that cannot be achieved - Tony?
HARRIS: CNN's Arwa Damon. It certainly raises the profile of this issue of the Iraqi refugees. Arwa Damon in Baghdad for us.
Arwa, thank you.
She said the photos were destroyed, but they've been restored. And some in Congress aren't so happy with the top Homeland Security official.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. One heads south, one writes a big check. CNN's Susan Malveaux with the latest from the campaign trail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: All right. I am standing outside of another home. I've walked away a little bit from where we were just moments ago. Just everywhere you go you pick up debris like this. Here's a wheel off of a little truck, a child's toy, and a teapot that is just completely battered. You know, I mean, everything is just strewn about and these poor people's homes. You can see, this is a home that has lost the brick facade. If you look over on this side over here you can see where there's the siding and then the brick has just sort of fallen off almost, through this massive tree, you can hardly see it, but there are pillows coming, flying out the window. The air conditioning unit is just completely battered.
If you walk around and take a further look in their backyard, it just looked like a virtual garbage pile. I mean it goes on and on and look at the cars. I mean, don't these cars look like they've been in, you know, just the worst crash you could ever imagine? The glass is shattered all across the front windshield and blown out of the sides and then the debris.
I mean all of these personal belongings that these families had inside their homes now outside. I mean everywhere you look, in a tractor. I'm thinking possibly where I'm standing right now there may have even been another structure, because it looks like these were a lot of outside items, and now, I mean, there's just absolutely nothing left of it. Look. I can look down here now and I can see shoes and broken record, world champion.
Boy, it's just unbelievable and people's books. I mean everywhere you look, you know? It just goes on and on. We haven't had the opportunity to talk with too many people who live in this area to find out to know what they're going to do next. But obviously, lots and lots of concerns about people go. Insurance is always a big concern, too, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: A lot of people talking about how they will rebuild if they will rebuild at all, and then a lot of people saying, you know, might not stay here, because of just this openness. You know? They may not feel as protected as they were before as we look across all here. I don't know if you can tell from the shots we're getting, but it is. It's just open countryside now.
HARRIS: That's right.
COLLINS: I mean, the trees are gone.
HARRIS: No, we can tell. We can certainly see that from the shutter. Just curious, as you look through all of that rubble, debris that's left, people's lives there, their possessions, their belongings...
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: ...I'm wondering where the people are? I mean I guess, you know, after this you try to make the accommodation as best you can for your family. Is there some kind of organized...
COLLINS: Sure.
HARRIS: ...effort there? Shelters? I know the first thought is...
COLLINS: Oh yes.
HARRIS: ...let's join other family members.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. And we have talked with a few people, as we said, down at the shelter. It's just about five minutes from here, really.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: And they're full. You know, this is...
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: ...National Guard armory, sort of at the airport here, the Red Cross is running that. A lot of people there. And then as I mentioned earlier, the hotels around here have given out their rooms.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: There are no hotels anywhere near here. We're saying about 40 miles from here. I mean, even hotel that far out have been giving away rooms. In fact, I asked to use a microwave this morning. And they said, you know, we don't have any left. We've given them all out. They've given their refrigerators out to people. They're doing whatever they can, you know, sort of with the small things...
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: ...to help people out in any way possible. But yes, you're not going see any people...
HARRIS: Exactly.
COLLINS: ...around here today, other than what I was mentioning with the livestock. Some people coming out now to try to take care of their livestock and get them fed.
HARRIS: Well, when you walk through the way you just did it really gives us a sense of how, you know, live of families have been broken...
COLLINS: Yes, it's unbelievable, isn't it?
HARRIS: ...by the storm. Heidi, appreciate it. We're back to you in just a couple of minutes.
COLLINS: OK.
HARRIS: Heidi Collins in Lafayette, Tennessee. All right. It is back to the campaign trail today for senators Clinton and Obama. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, part of the best political team on television, in Chicago, the heart of Obama country, witnessed a big win in Illinois on Super Tuesday.
Suzanne, great to see you. Where are these two Democrats concentrating their efforts? Moving forward.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, there are really some big contests that are coming up on Saturday and Tuesday. And you're going to see these campaigns and candidates basically trying to crisscross the country, those key states. You have what's coming up, a primary in Louisiana. You have caucuses in Nebraska, Washington state and the Virgin Islands.
So today Barack Obama is in New Orleans, Louisiana. It's expected that he's going to do well there. A high African-American population. He moves on to Nebraska. That is where there is significant rural pockets. He also performs well in those areas and he ends up in Washington state.
As for Clinton, she starts in Virginia. She's expected to do well there, and then also heads to Washington state, but her campaign really looking forward, looking ahead to March 4th. That is when you've got the big contest of Texas and Ohio. Those populations she tends to do well and we're talking about older voters, large Hispanic population as well as significant blue collar workers -- Tony?
HARRIS: I think a lot of us were surprised yesterday to hear that Hillary Clinton wrote a pretty sizable check to her own campaign. Money becoming an issue for the Clinton campaign?
MALVEAUX: Well, you know, money is always an issue for all of these candidates, and clearly it is a big issue. This is what allows people to travel across the country, if they can't reach a certain place, it goes into advertising. We saw $32 million from Barack Obama raised in January to Clinton's $13.5 million. Obviously, a big deal. Even yesterday she brought up the fact that she even loaned her campaign some money. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did. I loaned the campaign $5 million from my money. That's where I got the money. I loaned it, because I believe very strongly in this campaign. We had a great month fundraising in January. Broke all records, but my opponent was able to raise more money. And we intended to be competitive, and we were, and I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Tony, she got all that money back, too. An incredible fundraising online that has happened since Super Tuesday. A lot of momentum in this fundraising drive. Thousands of new donors, and they tell us that they've raised $3 million in 24 hours, that her loan was essentially paid back in 48 hours. They're going for $6 million in 72 hours. We'll see if they can make that goal. But clearly, they have a lot of momentum and they are trying to raise the dollars to match it - Tony?
HARRIS: I just love this. What a campaign. What a campaign season. Suzanne Malveaux for us in Chicago.
Suzanne, great to see you. Thank you.
Well, she told Congress, a controversial Halloween party photos were destroyed. Julie Myers was then confirmed as the nation's immigration enforcement chief, but the pictures are back and so is the controversy.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve has our exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), HOMELAND SECURITY CHMN.: Well, they absolutely were shocking.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN NEWSROOM (voice over): The photos have been heavily redacted. The face of the man in a dread lock wig and prison uniform is covered, but his skin appears to have been darkened. The head of the House Homeland Security Committee has seen the photo uncensored.
THOMPSON: It stereotypically portrays person of color as a criminal.
MESERVE (on camera): Is it clear to you looking at the unredacted photos that this person's wearing makeup?
THOMPSON: Oh, no question.
MESERVE (voice over): But Julie Myers told Congress last fall she was not aware the man was wearing makeup at the party. Myers at the time was acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She helped judge this costume most original and was photographed alongside the winner. Myers, we're told, realized immediately after the party the costume was inappropriate. She ordered all photos of her and the costumed man destroyed, and according to her spokeswoman, Myers believed they were destroyed.
That certainly is what Myers told members of Congress, who at the time had no idea the photos could be forensically restored.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: They were not being honest with the senators who asked very specific questions about the existence of these photos, and a desire to see the photos before Miss Myers's nomination went forward. It is too bad that these photos surfaced too late to have dealt with her nomination, perhaps in a different way.
MESERVE (on camera): Do you think it would have had an impact on her confirmation? MCCASKILL: I think it would.
MESERVE (voice over): The Senate confirmed Myers in December.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. Jeanne Meserve joins us now live from our Washington bureau.
Jeanne, good to see you. What does Julie Myers have to say about all this?
MESERVE: Well, Julie Myers declined comment, but her spokeswoman did speak to us. She said there'd been no effort to suppress these photos at all until Myers was confirmed. She said that the agency had dealt expeditiously with the CNN FOIA request, Freedom of Information Act request, for these photographs. And so the key question we've asked that hasn't been answered is when exactly Myers did find out that these photos weren't gone forever? That they could be restored? And we haven't gotten an answer to that question yet.
HARRIS: CNN Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington. Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
Market set to slide again today with tech stocks leading the way. The NASDAQ in bear market territory. What does it all mean for your money?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go. 30 minutes past the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins coming to you live this morning from Lafayette, Tennessee. Boy, the horror after the storms. That's what we are seeing this morning. Live in Macon County. It's actually one of the hardest hit areas by these devastating tornadoes that just pounded the south. The death toll stands at 55 this morning.
The storms raged across parts of five southern states. It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in more than two decades. In fact, President Bush will be here in Lafayette tomorrow to survey the damage. He promises Federal help in the recovery effort. And, boy, that is certainly something, Tony, that people are going to be very happy to hear as we look all across this area.
We've walked for a few miles now. We've gone in and out some of the buildings here. We've checked in on the shelter and everywhere we go, we see a sense of people just being stunned and yet others, who are kind of trying to shake them and kind of saying -- All right, you know what, we got to pick back up and we've got to get going. And it really is a remarkable sense of survival. Also, we have a guest with us who is the epitome of survival, I should say. I'm standing with James Kruger who lives here in Lafayette. And as you can see by the look of James' face, he's really been through it. And I know it's been a really tough time for you James. We appreciate you coming here and telling us your story.
How are you and happened?
JAMES KRUGER, STORM SURVIVOR: I'm doing already considering. We try to make jokes while we're at the shelter and trying to comfort everybody. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm still here. I could tell you what happened. Basically, I was in a tornado.
COLLINS: Were you right in it.
KRUGER: I was right in it. I'm going to start from the beginning. I was watching the voting, and then they broke, all the local channels. So I watched out for about an hour and a half and I got tired of it, and so I switched to a -- the local network, public TV, and Hillary Clinton was on and she was giving her condolences to the people in Memphis and Arkansas. And then a little bit more of them talking about the votes and everything. Then the lights went out.
Just before the lights went out, a red line went on the -- telling you that the tornado was heading towards Westmoreland, and then two minutes later said -- no, it's going through Lafayette. And so -- and then the lights went out.
COLLINS: Was it just when the electricity went out, when you realized that this thing was headed your way?
KRUGER: That's right. And then I put my sweatpants on, you know, I was in my underwear at my desk, and I lit two candles. I went into the kitchen to get my flashlight, and I looked out the window to see if Miss Dixie was all right, to see if she turned her lights on. She was. And came back in and sat at my desk, drank a shot of whiskey and then heard this noise. And then, I went to the -- I got a double fireplaces, a 100-year-old house, and I went next to it where there's a door and then all of a sudden, I bent down low and all of a sudden I heard the glass break and it was sucking.
So I tried to shut the door and when I tried to shut the door, seemed like the door was lifting up. So I just dove and I laid flat on the floor like this and then I was -- my back was taken everything, I could see everything, just coming across.
COLLINS: Everything was falling on top of you?
KRUGER: No, it was scraping me and then going up. And then after it was done I -- I didn't wake up. I just -- I was laying there. I was laying in the dirt. There was no floor. No nothing. I get up. Look around. Get my bearings. And I'm starting to think -- I'm in the same place I slid. I didn't move, people. I figured, I didn't move.
COLLINS: Everything else moved around you. Wow.
KRUGER: Just a statement. It was only 400-pound that I dove next to an old-time heater and it's gone. The fireplace is gone. My whole house and the church is gone. And you know what?
COLLINS: How do you think you're still there?
KRUGER: I think God was holding my legs, beating my ass, teaching me that I haven't been doing everything He want me to. I have to look at it this way, because if you can look at my back. It's worse than my eyes.
COLLINS: What do you think hit your eye? Any idea? Do you know?
KRUGER: Yesterday, I went to the hospital, checked me out and everything, and I wasn't as bad as a lot of people. So -- we went over to the school first and from the school, once they got the generators started at the National Guards, we went there, and then some of the doctors and the people volunteering there and everything.
I told them, I'm going to take this scab off here, because there was blood. So I started cleaning it. And they cleaned it and cleaned it and it was a piece of stick.
COLLINS: Oh my God.
KRUGER: So, I mean -- but my back -- my back is black and bluer than this thing. You know, I'm sorry, God, that I'm always -- I mean, I'm very spiritual. I have my beliefs about God. I believe He's everything. I don't have no ifs, ands, or buts, but...
COLLINS: You saw His strength in all of this thing?
KRUGER: Well, yes. You know something? No way I should be doing, I don't do it and I feel like -- He's grabbing my legs. I don't know how to explain it people. I'm logical and I'm scientifical. And you just don't want to explain this. And I want to go back up there and check to make sure that, that is exactly -- but I double checked before I left. I finally walked down the street when I saw a car coming up, asked them for a cigarette. And then...
COLLINS: What about -- James, what about your family?
KRUGER: My family -- it's just me out here. My ex-wife -- I got another piece of property with her on it. Taking care of it -- well, tried to, but just can't. It's hard to.
COLLINS: They're all coming in to help you out.
KRUGER: No. I got to find out if she's all right. From what I understand, that was wiped out. OK? So, I don't know if I have another place to stay, but my mom's coming in from Arizona, and she just joined the Red Cross two weeks ago. And she's volunteered six times already and now this happens, and -- but she's on her way out from Arizona, that's Fort Huachuca by Tombstone and -- I don't know what to tell you man. I don't know how to explain this.
COLLINS: Well, there's not much explaining, it is there. When you're in the middle of something like that. James, we so appreciate your story. Glad that you are OK at this point. I know there's a lot more to be done and I'm certainly glad that your mom will be coming out, because she can help you and several other people at the Red Cross -- I know is helping over at shelter which I notice where you were staying.
KRUGER: I got thousands and thousands of friends out there.
COLLINS: Yes.
KRUGER: I'm a Macon County people. We'd like your help.
COLLINS: That's what we're learning more about, all of that, and all of the help that everyone needs here. I'm certainly appreciate your story. Once again, James Kruger.
KRUGER: It something else.
COLLINS: I know it is. Tony, I'm going to send it back to you. For now, though, this is just one of the stories of the people who are here and what they've been through.
HARRIS: Whoa. That is -- that is amazing. Give our best to that young man. He has certainly been through something. All right, let's get you -- you want to go to Susan Roesgen now.
All right, Susan Roesgen is also on the ground in one of those hard-hit areas right now. In Jackson, Tennessee, and Susan, we saw some amazing pictures -- Union University yesterday. Exactly, where are you, and what is the view -- the scene from where you are this morning?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you're looking at it. I'm in the parking lot. One of the parking lots of Union University. And today the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chernoff, and the director of FEMA are going to be here and they're going to get the same shock that the students are getting today as they see these crushed cars here in the parking lot and as they get a look at their dormitories.
1,200 people live in the dorms here, Tony. 1,200 students live in the dorms and when this tornado came through on Tuesday night, they were mostly in the dorms. Getting ready to go to sleep, hanging out in the dorms and this is has came through.
You can see that most of the dorms are almost completely destroyed. Some of them have the sides peeled off. Looks like doll houses. You can look inside and look the furniture. Yet, every one of those students was able to walk out alive. They have been trained in tornado drills. They practice these drills. They knew to go from the second floor down to the bathrooms on the ground floor and take cover there. But you know, the way a tornado works, it can do such destruction. In fact, we found a door that used to be part of a wall, but the wall is no longer there. Now it's just a door to nowhere. But, again, every student was able to walk out. There were eight students who were initially trapped, but they got out OK. Only minor injuries. They're not planning to have class here for another two weeks but I'm thinking that this may be $50 million in damage.
Tony, we'll also have some new video here from Jackson, Tennessee. New video from a subdivision that was really hard-hit. So don't let anybody tell that a brick home can withstand a tornado, because these were mostly brick homes that you're going to see in an hour and they were just about wiped out.
HARRIS: Your pictures have been amazing. Can't wait to see the very latest pictures. Susan Roesgen for us this morning in Jackson, Tennessee. A hard-hit area on the campus there, Union University. Susan, thank you.
Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange. Let's get the business day started. The opening bell a few minutes ago. We want to take a look at the numbers. The Dow starts the day at 12,200 after setting 65 points yesterday and as we get out of the gates this morning, the Dow down 14.
We kind of thought that there might a down start to the day. Stocks set to slide a bit today. We're going to be checking the markets with Susan Lisovicz throughout the morning right here in the NEWSROOM.
Boy, what are we talking about here this morning? A bit of a hit to the tech sector. Some disappointing retail sales numbers and now Wall Street is talking bear market? Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Stephanie, great to see you. All right, take a moment here. Sort it all out for us.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony. Well, let's start of, first of all, with that bear market part. First of all, we have NASDAQ sliding back into bear territory. It's down 20 percent, more than 20 percent, from its cyclical high which was hit back in October. So if you take a look at that in saying -- hmm, looks like we slid enough there.
However, NASDAQ is not the only part of this problem that we look at. We look at the Dow. We look at the S&P. Those two close, but not quite in that moment. So we're not going to say it's overall a bear market. Just saying that the NASDAQ isn't bear territory right now. A lot of that having to do with Cisco, which yesterday did come out with their guidance and said that slower growth is going to be a part of their picture moving forward.
The Cisco number is not making NASDAQ feel good today and again NASDAQ is off as well. But the big story that we've seen, that started after the bell yesterday, it was really about retail sales, Tony. And taking a look at Macy's which said that their sales were down 7 percent -- more than 7 percent in January. And that's obviously a big drop there.
On top of that, they're cutting more than 2,500 management jobs. So obviously, the Macy's news kind of freaked out retailers and then we got more sales news today. And if you take a look at some of the same-store sales numbers, Wal-Mart, obviously the world's largest retailer, their same-store sales just up half a percent. That was less than they expected for growth and it's obviously a huge deal when the number one retailer in the world said that sales are coming in less than they expected.
Tony?
HARRIS: OK. Stephanie, I'm curious as to what that really means. The biggest retailer on the planet? I mean, that's pretty significant.
ELAM: It's hugely significant. I mean, to think about they're saying this because people weren't using their gift cards. But I don't know how many people actually go to Wal-Mart for their gift card purchases. You know, you tend to go there if you need some cotton balls, you need some motor oil, you need some basic stuff, right?
Go there, you just pick it up and you move on. And it's a kind of store that attracts all levels of consumers. You go in there to get what you need. So obviously, this is a wider spread issue here that we're seeing with retailers. And that's why everyone cares, because it shows that the consumer is pulling back. And keep in mind, the consumer is two-thirds of what drives this economy. We really need the consumer to spend and that keeps the engine going. So it's giving more fears to the fact that the engine is indeed slowing down.
HARRIS: Can I get my rebate check, please? Maybe I can help just a little bit, Stephanie.
ELAM: And even if you did, how many of those people have debt? There's that question.
HARRIS: Oh, there you go. It's save/spend, save/spend. All right, Stephanie, great to see you. Thanks for your help this morning.
ELAM: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM. Arrest in Pakistan. Two suspects today in the assassination of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Dethroned and busted. Did Miss Nevada USA attack a police officer?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Did you elbow him?
What did you do? Tell us. We can't -- we don't know unless you talk to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Oh, please. Resisting arrest. Simply irresistible. In the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins standing in Macon County, Tennessee -- Lafayette to be exact. Absolutely by far the worst hit area, at least, in this state from these tornadoes that came through here like a whirlwind. Just unbelievable how it has completely overturned and uprooted people from their homes. I am just now starting to hear, as can you tell, the sun is up obviously. I'm just now starting to hear the sounds of trash trucks and buzz saws and people sort of beginning that very, very tedious process of trying to clean things up a little bit.
We're seeing a lot more traffic on the roads now and a lot more people, because I'll tell you what, when we first got here, it was very barren and nobody around trying to really begin the day hard and fast.
Another person I'd like to introduce to you this morning, someone who has been helping out these victims. He's with the Red Cross. This is Jill Gorin.
And Jill, you were telling me during the break we now know, sort of, the level of this disaster?
JILL GORIN, NATIONAL RED CROSS SPOKESWOMAN: Right. The National Red Cross has declared this and really the whole state of Tennessee is at level 4. What that means is they're predicting they will distribute financial assistance anywhere between $250,000 all the way up to $2.5 million. That's a very, very large range. To give you an idea, level 7 is one of the highest levels. So 4 is definitely, definitely big.
COLLINS: Wow. Well, you know -- and I think for people who don't know this area and don't know the lay of the land, it's hard to understand how widespread this was.
One of the things that we've been hearing, one of the reasons why they think so much damage around us is because of the way this tornado came down and then stayed on the ground. 20 to 30 minutes, just continually doing this damage. What type of stories are you hearing? I know, you've been over at the shelter just on the way here and talking with a lot of the people.
GORIN: Right. So many heartfelt stories. Especially here in Macon County where there are fatalities. 200 homes completely damage and destroyed. 1,200 had some damage. There was a lady I was talking to earlier who said that one of her best friend was in a mobile home and live right beside a church and thought, of course, you'd be safer in the church. Went inside the church. She was killed. The church was completely destroyed. Her mobile home wasn't even affected.
So stories like that about just choices people made at the very last minute that affected everything.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. And you know, we've seen so much of this brick just being thrown around. You do -- you always think the brick is the safest structure. But it turns out that -- I'm looking at this brick on the ground and some of the other ones that we showed just 16 minutes ago and they were just strewn about the place as well. What is the Red Cross doing? What did people need? What can people from outside of the area get to the Red Cross?
GORIN: Right now, we have two shelters open. The biggest by far is here in Macon County. We've had 80 people at this shelter. We're doing mobile feeding. We have emergency response vehicles. Six, actually, being deployed from all across the country. There are volunteers being deployed from all across the country. We're preparing 2,000 meals per day. Not only feeding the victims of this storm, but also first responders, emergency management, other Red Crossers.
Red Cross also does their own damages estimate. So we're going around to the different neighborhood and looking at the damage and determining what everyone lost. And in the next few days, we'll be sitting down with each family, which going to take a -- you know, a good bit of time determining what they've lot and we're going to be able to give them financial assistance based on what they've lost.
COLLINS: Good. Well, all right. Well, I certainly imagine they love to see you coming and love to sit down and talk with you. Just by way of comfort certainly. Jill Gorin, with the national area of Red Cross. We certainly appreciate that.
GORIN: Thank you.
Life among the ruins. Getting help to the tornado victims. It is as you just heard a very big job. So, how are they holding up? We'll talk about it, in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, now in custody. Two suspects in the assassination of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. They were arrested today in Rawalpindi. That's the city where Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack on December 27th. Her assassination, as you'll recall, sparked chaos across the country. Police are still holding two other people in their investigation. They were detained last month.
Angelina Jolie's mission, help Iraqis forced from their homes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGELINA JOLIE, U.N. GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: I don't see borders and I see lives and I see children. And this is, you know, an environment where there's a war but there's also humanitarian crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The exclusive CNN interview in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Some breaking news we want to share with you just in to CNN. The Charleston affiliate WSAZ, that's Charleston, West Virginia, is reporting a police in Portsmouth, Ohio are reporting that a female teacher has been shot inside a school. It happened at Notre Dame Elementary.
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