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Massive Tornado Hits Atlanta

Aired March 15, 2008 - 22:00   ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: As we begin this newscast tonight, we're broadcasting from inside the CNN Center here in Atlanta. And the keyword here is inside.
You see that hole in the ceiling? That's where the rain is coming in from. It's proof that this building has been compromised and that's why the public is being told to stay away.

There's something else I want to show you as we get going here. Take a look at this. These are roof tiles that had been falling off of the CNN Center. They've been falling 14 floors and they are heavy.

I want to take you outside to CNN building now to downtown Atlanta. In fact, what I want to show you is another Atlanta landmark. This is the fame Centennial Park just outside the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. Those Olympic torches you see right there withstood a terrorist bombing in 1996. Last night, they could not withstand an EF-2 tornado.

Let me show you what else we're finding right outside our door. Building after building with immense structural damage. We'll tally it up for you. Let's go back inside.

Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. As we start this newscast, I want to start with a visual for you. And as a matter of fact, here it is. Take a look at this. This is a chunk of concrete and particle. Imagine something like this falling 14 floors. That's exactly what it did.

Now stop and think for a moment of what this would have done if something like that would have landed on top of the people who were walking around here, while there were 30,000 people visiting a basketball tournament that was going on here.

The SCC Tournament. Right. This is going to be a fluid newscast. We're going to be taking you to different places, because this is a massive tornado that's hit the city of Atlanta. I want to show you different places, different venues. Let's start in a place, Roger, if you could put up this video. This is from Fulton County. No loss.

This is a complex that's about 100 years old. Now, look at the damage that's been done. Now, keep in mind as we continue to cover this story, this is something that's happened, and it's a rarity of sorts. It's something that happens only from time to time when an actual tornado strikes a large metropolitan area.

The city of Atlanta being one of the ten top cities or largest cities population-wise in the United States. That's what happened as it blew through that area. There's another area I want to show you now. Roger, this is an aerial view of some apartments in the area as well. This is just outside the city.

Now, take a good look at this man there. You can see him there. Let's see if we can get that shot again. It's a part of an apartment complex where the roof is gone. Has been ripped off, but he's still there. Don't know what he's doing, perhaps making a sandwich, perhaps cleaning up. But he's in the area.

We found that particularly interesting. Another picture we want to show you now. Aerials as well as we go to another part of the city. This part here shows an area of the city that has just been devastated by the area. This video coming in from one of our affiliates, by the way.

It shows an area of town that's been devastated as well. It's just to the western part of the city of Atlanta. And we're going to be concentrating there too. As a matter of fact, we're going to have reporters in most of these venues and they're going to be bringing you stories from those areas and talking to the people there as well.

But before we do anything else, let's try and catch up with Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui has been following this story, as have many of our meteorologists here on staff. And I think as we look at this, Jacqui, the thing that most of us are struck by is the size and the dimension. And there was a time when we weren't quite sure what exactly this thing was. Do we know? And can you explain it to us now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we do know that it was a tornado that touched down in the Atlanta area. It was what we call an EF-2 tornado. Winds could have been as strong as 130 miles per hour. And you can tell that by going out and assessing the damage and see if pieces of metal were twisted or see if everything blew down in one direction or maybe in different directions.

Now, the severe weather threat is still ongoing at this time. In parts of the southeast. You can see the Atlanta area, that watch has been dropped now and it's just kind of shaved down to a sliver here in southeastern parts of Georgia, but continuing through the Carolinas. There are still tornado warnings out there from this large storm system itself and we'll zoom in between Savannah and Charleston, where the worst of that weather is.

Tornado warnings are in effect for Effingham County, Georgia, Jasper County, South Carolina, Buford County, Charleston, and Colleton County. And there you can see the storm that we're talking about Hilton Head Island, a place where people like to vacation. So still a dangerous situation ongoing tonight. These watches expire at about 1:00 local time. So a lot of the big cities starting to drop out of that threat. But this still goes on over the next couple of hours.

SANCHEZ: So there's still a threat out there. There something else I want to ask you about. Roger, if you can, do we have that video last night at the Georgia Dome? This is the S.E.C. basketball game. While the game is going on, I think there was just two or three minutes left in the game when suddenly this tornado comes through the city. No one knew at the time what it was. There were people actually there who have been quoted this morning in the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" as saying they were so concerned they thought it was actually a terrorist attack. Thank goodness it wasn't.

They didn't know just how badly that ceiling had been compromised. Suddenly, parts of the roof started falling down. You see it right there in that picture. A lot of questions as to whether or not those people in that stadium should have remained there or should have been asked to leave.

Jacqui, some thoughts on this?

JERAS: Yes, I'm going to say they should have remained there. Because can you imagine taking 30,000 people and trying to evacuate them on the turn of a dime? And where are they going to go? If those people left that building, they're going to be out in the open. Had that game not gone into overtime, it really could have been much more devastating in terms of injuries and possible fatalities, because there were a lot of cars blown out, trees were blown over, trees fell on top of cars, buildings crumbled, and those pieces of concrete like you showed at the beginning of the show, Rick.

Watch that thing drop on down on somebody who happens to be walking by and coming out of the game. It would have been much more devastating than keeping those people inside.

SANCHEZ: 18,000 people there at the stadium at the time. Some 30,000 have come into town just for the SEC tournament. And we should mention tonight that many of them have been told they have to go back home. The facility was closed they moved the venue over to Georgia Tech. So many of them roaming the streets of downtown today saying, I spent all this money to come here and I can't go to the game because the stadium is compromised.

By the way, thanks, Jacqui. We'll get back to you just a little bit. We've got reporters in key areas that have been affected by this storm.

Don Lemon is in Polk County. That just Northwest of Atlanta. We understand one person was killed there. We'll also going to have Cal Perry. He's in an Atlanta neighborhood known as Cabbage Town. By the way, this may be where the tornado did its worst damage, as it came through the city.

And Rob Marciano is north of Atlanta. He's in Floyd County where another person was killed as well. We're going to get to all three of these gentlemen. Let's start though with Don.

Don, In Polk County, assess the damage if you would for us there.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, you mentioned, Rick, one person was killed. Killed just across the street here. It's dark, you can't see it now. But just across the street from where I'm standing now. I'm going to use this light to spotlight, to help me out here, because you know electricity is at a premium here. There's no electricity so we're using what electricity we have from our truck. I'm standing on the wheel or this is what the roof of their garage. I mean, it was just completely knocked down. I want to show you under this roof, you see one of their cars. Right next to it another. You see these big rafters here. So this thing really came through and caused quite a mess. This is their belongings. Everything they had.

The only thing really left standing is that green thing right there. And that is their safe. They were happy about that. Beyond that, you see the house. On the other side, the roof is completely gone.

And then if you look where I'm pointing here, that's where their barn once stood behind here. That barn demolished. They've just done some renovations. They said they saw what was happening in Atlanta on the news. I had just seen it and when they heard that roaring sound of the wind, what they did, they gathered their family into an interior section of their home, Rick, and they hunkered down.

We've seen damage like this all over Polk County and just across the way. As I said, that's where that person died. I want to show you just how dark it is. We're going to cut the lights for your guys and show you just how dark it is without the electricity. Black as night here and the only thing we have really is this light. Check this out.

SANCHEZ: It's one of those nights where if you didn't invest in a generator tonight, you're going to have a tough time of it. Don, stay there. We're going to come back to you in just a little minute to get a bigger update on what's going on in that area. Meanwhile, further in town, there were no fatalities, but there were plenty of devastating stories to be had. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Heard about it last night. (INAUDIBLE). I was on the phone with my mama. 50 years we've lived in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: 50 years and suddenly it's gone. Let's go to Cal Perry. CNN's Cal Perry standing by in Cabbage Town. This is the area that's being described by most as the one that took the biggest hit. And interestingly, Cal Perry does most of his work for us in our Baghdad Bureau.

Cal, you're certainly familiar with damage from the venue you've been covering stories from in the past.

How do you compare it?

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I got to tell you, this one is a really strange one for me, especially I was at the Omni Hotel when the storm hit. And I was worried that my stuff was getting blown out the window like everybody else's. Luckily my hotel room was OK. The one next to it was completely blown out. Here in Cabbage Town, as you said, extensive damage. And reason being, this was a place that people settled about 100 years ago and that's when they started planting these Oak Trees. Now, these oak trees have grown of course into giant Oak Trees. Very, very strong, powerful, heavy trees. These trees came down in this tornado and smashed these houses. Split some completely in half while people were in them. Others were able to evacuate.

Now, as people came back this morning, as you saw there, the reaction absolutely devastated. People have lost everything. And as far as the eye can see, houses here, completely destroyed.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: Cal Perry following that from Cabbage Town. We're going to get back to you in just a little bit as well as we continue to get in videos of this story. Now to Rob Marciano, meteorologist Rob Marciano. He's in Floyd County trying to assess the damage for us there.

Rob, pick it up.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Rick, today's storm different from last night's storm. This one, they had a little bit of warning. The storms that came through Atlanta last night, EF-2, record-breaking for sure. In downtown Atlanta, but kind of took them by surprise. This is where they were supposed to happen. The storm that hit Floyd County here, bigger I'm afraid than what happened in Atlanta last night.

The storm surveyors will come out tomorrow to size it up. But from what I can tell, probably a quarter mile wide in spots, and several miles long, and the damage extensive. Old growth trees completely destroyed and torn up and twisted like toothpicks. And number of homes here completely destroyed if not damaged, including the one behind me, completely destroyed for sure.

Miraculously, the people in this home did survive. But less than 100 yards to my left, there was an elderly couple in the house. The warnings went off around 12:15. The woman said, you know what, I'm going to go up the street to my friend's house that has a storm cellar. The man stood behind, he did not survive.

We mentioned a couple here, did survive miraculously. How did they do it? Well, they went into a cellar. We always say, go to the most center part of your home. Check this out. Or go to the cellar. Not every home in this community has one. They had one. But it was completely covered. This couple had to do much, much more than just hide in the cellar to survive. That story, Rick, is coming up in the next half hour.

SANCHEZ: Well, Rob Marciano, meteorologist Rob Marciano, is going to join us in just a little bit. He's going to fill in the details of that.

By the way, in the midst of all this, there's a disastrous event that's also taking place in New York City. Rescue efforts are still under way where one of those huge cranes that's attached to a sky scraper suddenly gave way and came crashing to the ground. Except there was something in its way before it hit the ground. There was another building. Four people are dead. There may be more. Let's go to CNN's Stephanie Elam. She's there. She's following the story for us.

Stephanie, set this up for us, what happened?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Rick, it was a beautiful day here in New York City. This is also a big street where people like to come. There's a lot of bars, restaurants here on 2nd Avenue in New York. So all of this very devastating to happen right before 2:30 in the afternoon here.

And if we can pan up I'll show you exactly what we can see from this vantage point right here. There is a chunk of that building missing from where the crane fell down and took out basically that top apartment there. It also managed to hit three buildings.

And in the midst of all that, there was a town hall that was completely crushed by this crane that was up on the 19th story of this building, that fell and it hit and knocked out this one whole building. At the bottom of that building was a bar, a bar with (INAUDIBLE). The owner of that building still waiting to hear back if his employee was in there or not. No word yet.

So search conditions continue on through the night. We are looking at all sorts of resources are here. We've got all the first responders, Salvation Army, obviously the Red Cross, all on the scene. We have a lot of people who have been displaced from this. They've shut down a lot of the area so people are looking for shelter elsewhere tonight, Rick.

SANCHEZ: I guess what we need to know at this point most of all, and I'm sure some city officials maybe have addressed this. I don't know if you've heard from them, but is there a possibility that there are still more people there. That someone could be trapped and have they accounted for all the people who either A) in the townhouse or B) in the bar you mentioned?

ELAM: And they have not at this time. They're still searching. And the search efforts are going to continue through the night at this point. Because there are reports that perhaps could be people in there, so they are still searching. It's a delicate process, though, because they can't move too much of the rubble. Some of the rubble being really high at this point.

Because if they do that, it could shift everything inside it and that could cause a problem as far as hurting anyone who may still be in there. So they're still searching. And you get a better idea of how exactly this crane fell, Mayor Michael Bloomberg really explained it to show just how far-reaching this crane collapse was. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: The whole crane fell across the street, stopped that way against the building across the street, and the top half kept going over into the next block. That's correct. So the crane was on the north side of 51st Street. And actually, the building most damaged was on the south side of 50th Street. It went right through the block and something went even over the street into a building over there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: So you can imagine just how devastating that was and how scary it was for the people on the street. So, we'll continue to take a look at the situation, see if we get any news on any survivors, or perhaps finding anybody else in there. But we'll update you in about a half hour or so.

SANCHEZ: And those of us who spend any time in the New York City or any big city, for that matter, see those giant cranes, just seem to dangle on the side of those giant skyscrapers. We wonder how it stays up there and just how dangerous they can be. We may be getting our answer tonight.

Stephanie, I understand you're also working on an angle of this story regarding the citations that may have been issued to this particular building and these contractors? We'll get back to you in just a little bit so you could fill us in on that, thanks so much.

ELAM: Sounds good.

SANCHEZ: It's almost unheard of. A major tornado hitting right smack dab in one of the biggest cities in the country. What are the odds, you ask? By the way, here's another scene. This is from Polk County. We're getting this video in now. There's a lot of decisions that are going to need to be made tonight about which building is safe, which building isn't safe, when people are going to be allowed to be going back in.

More storm coverage as we stay on the story for you. We will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): OK. So the weather forecast wasn't the greatest, but this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a tornado warning in downtown Atlanta we're getting told.

SANCHEZ: About 18,000 college basketball fans got a bit more excitement than their tournament ticket promised.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The top of the Georgia Dome is actually moving. SANCHEZ: That was Friday night's twister. Two football fields wide. It smashed into Atlanta's Georgia Dome. It peeled steel sheets off of Phillips Arena. It shattered enormous panels from the glass roof of the CNN Center, sending showers of shards 14 floors below.

Can you believe this? Nobody inside was badly hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would literally thinking and not knowing what to do.

SANCHEZ: The storm was just getting started. Old neighborhoods, strong against the wind but not against massive trees. A long night. A dark night. For many Atlantans with no power after the storm.

The first light of day gave us the first look at this new, painful chapter in the city's history. The last time a tornado struck downtown Atlanta? That would be -- never.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: I took to the streets of downtown Atlanta this afternoon to try and talk to some of the people who were out there looking at the damage. People who were frankly amazed by the storm damage that they were seeing. Many of them took and sent pictures, photos we call I-reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Take a look at these pictures. Taken by I-reporter John LaBelle. They really tell the story about the power of the storm. So strong, it uprooted dozens of giant old trees, pulling their roots straight out of the ground and pulling up the sidewalk with them. And as you can see when they fell, they crushed the homes beneath them.

At least 20 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged in this historic Atlanta neighborhood alone. I-reporter Christina Kennerly took these remarkable photos in downtown Atlanta where the tornado first struck. Buildings reduced to rubble. Cars crushed just a block from the CNN Center.

I-reporter Patrick Taylor took these shots of another building close by in downtown. Now a pile of bricks and lumber. He also got this shot of twisted metal and glass in the streets outside the Georgia Dome where the SEC Basketball Tournament was taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

We should mention that last year, March 1st, 14 tornadoes crisscrossed the State of Georgia. Yet never once has any twister ripped across downtown Atlanta until now. It hit during the night and it wasn't until today that we really finally started to get a first-hand look at some of the severity of this damage. And a lot of people figured that the debris would be, well, if not gone, partially gone, or at least cleaned up. Boy, were we wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ (voice-over): In the light of day, you get a sense of just how severe the storm damage is around downtown Atlanta. Window after window, building after building. Everywhere you look, on the ground, in the air, far worse than so many of us expected.

SHUMAYA JONES, ATLANTA RESIDENT: Windows are out. Glass is falling. And building over there collapsed on top of cars. Like everybody's out taking pictures. You really don't see anything like this. And you can see it from miles and miles away. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it was this bad at all. It's so weird the way it came across. I can't believe that it happened here.

SANCHEZ: Downtown Atlanta, nearby neighborhoods, historic buildings that for years have stood the test of time until now. Areas like Cabbage Town, just a place on the map to some home to others. Others like the Marshalls. Carolyn and her brother Ronnie have never lived anywhere else.

RONNIE MARSHALL, ATLANTA RESIDENT: It looks like the war zone. Just, you know, never seen anything like it. Just debris all over the place. Houses in my yard, backyard, as well as a lot of trees down that I grew up down here. I was born and raised right up here on Powell Street. I'm working at the cotton mill up there. And some of the trees are just uprooted. It was there when I was a child and I'm 69 years old now. And it's just -- just -- hope never to see anything like it again.

SANCHEZ: A horrifying moment in which time seemed to standstill. A moment the Marshalls and all their neighbors will remember for years to come, every time the weather turns sour.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right. Throughout this newscast, we're going to bring you video as it comes in to us and plenty of it is still coming in. As a matter of fact, we've got some video. This video is from an area that was devastated by the swirling winds of the sudden twister itself. These pictures are from Cabbagetown, thank you, Chris. We're going to have a live report from there in just a minute. Stay with us, a lot more. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As we begin this newscast tonight, we're broadcasting from inside the CNN Center here in Atlanta. And the keyword here is "inside."

You see that hole in the ceiling? That's where the rain is coming in from. It's proof that this building has been compromised and that's why the public is being told to stay away.

There's something else I want to show you as we get going here. Take a look at this. These are roof tiles that had been falling off of the CNN Center. They've been falling 14 floors and they are heavy. I want to take you outside to CNN building now to downtown Atlanta. In fact, what I want to show you is another Atlanta landmark. This is the fame Centennial Park just outside the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. Those Olympic torches you see right there withstood a terrorist bombing in 1996. Last night, they could not withstand an EF-2 tornado.

Let me show you what else we're finding right outside our door. Building after building with immense structural damage. We'll tally it up for you. Let's go back inside.

Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. We thought it was important to share you that video once again. Because all of this that we just saw, everything that we just showed you was only taking place within a block of the actual CNN Center.

Don Lemon's little further out. He was in Polk County, northwest of Atlanta. He joins us now. To bring us up to date on what's going on there. Describe these pictures. We see people on the ground there, Don, what is it?

LEMON: Hey, Rick. I'm going to ask you real quick. You've got kids, right?

SANCHEZ: Of course.

LEMON: And you want to be papa bear to those kids all the time and you want to save your family and your wife. And as I stand here in wheelers, what's left of their home, I think about the dad. What he said to me today about the mom. You know that dad said if we don't have anything, but I remember at that moment I wanted to be papa bear, but I felt helpless against this storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): What one storm swept away takes a team of family and friends to help repair.

JEFF BOYLES, FAMILY FRIEND: I need help. Friends and family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all my friends. If they help we can pull together and help them out.

LEMON: Joe Wheeler, his wife and three children saw the sky suddenly go from blue to dark gray. The wind howling around them. They grabbed mattresses and anything heavy for cover and hunkered down in this interior hallway.

(on camera): You could hear it whistling? Did it sound like that?

JAMIE WHEELER, HOUSE DAMAGED: It did only a lot louder. And then it just blew the doors open, knock it back into our television. Just -- it was really, really scary.

LEMON: But they said watching the news saved their lives. Only moments before, they had watched the catastrophe in downtown Atlanta on TV. Jamie says she got her son out of his upstairs bedroom seconds before the roof peeled away.

WHEELER: My neighbors weren't so lucky, you know. As we were. My husband actually went over to find -- find them and help them, because their house was gone. I mean, we looked outside, there was nothing but smoke coming up. And they -- my neighbor didn't make it.

LEMON: When you found them, what condition are they in?

JOE WHEELER, HOUSE DAMAGED: The lady was deceased and the man was hurt and bad. He was in a lot of pain and he was complaining about his back, so we're trying to keep him still until ambulance got there.

LEMON: Was he asking about his wife?

WHEELER: Yes. Yes, he was calling for her. We just kept talking to him, telling him he was going to be all right.

LEMON: As dark clouds threatened to pour out a repeat storm, the Wheelers and their friends scrambled to shore up their crippled home. And across the street, relatives of Bonnie Turner, the woman who died, searched for scattered memories.

What did you come here to do?

ELAINA SIMMONS, AUNT DIED IN TODAY'S STORM: Just to try to save whatever we could possibly save at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, as I stand here in the midst of the Wheeler stuff, at least they were lucky. All of their family members are alive and you heard Mrs. Wheeler say, you know, my neighbor was not as lucky. Her neighbor, Bonnie Turner, sadly died. Her husband, Mike Turner, still in the hospital in critical condition.

And coming up a little bit later on in the newscast, we're going to talk to Mrs. Turner's niece. She gave us a very emotional interview, Rick, right in front of the home, or what once was the home. Right in front of the foundation of that home, telling us how they feel and how they -- what they were looking for today as they came back to try to find some memories and things that were found in the rubble.

Rick?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. My colleague, Don Lemon, has been working this story now for the better part of the 24 hours since we first learned of it last night. Job well done.

Let's do this now, let's go to that part of town called Cabbagetown. This is a little more close to the center of the city itself. That's where CNN's Cal Perry is standing by to bring us up to date on what's going on in this residential area.

Cal, pick it up for us.

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, I can tell you, you can say this is just one example of oh so many -- of what needs to happen for people to be able to put their lives back together. They need to get these trees off these houses. It's quiet now but earlier today, Rick, people were seeing for the first time the real damage that an EF2 tornado can do in such a densely populated area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Down there is our house. It's gone.

PERRY (voice-over): The historic neighborhood of Cabbagetown in Eastern Atlanta, a neighborhood rich in history, ironically, that history may have sealed its fate. At least 30 to 40 houses in this neighborhood alone destroyed. It was founded 100 years ago, which is when these giant oak trees were planted. And these very trees have now heavily damaged an entire neighborhood. As far as the eye can see, devastation. The damage, random.

BRAD RENINGER, CABBAGETOWN RESIDENT: My dog's safe and my wife's safe. All I can say is we got lucky. Just, you know -- the way the tree just went to the left instead of head-on.

PERRY: In less than a mile away, a four-story apartment building collapsed in pancake fashion. A miracle that no one was trapped inside. And so the rebuilding slowly begins. Something that will certainly take weeks or months, which is the problem. With more storms expected, how much will this rebuilding really help in the end?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PERRY: And you know, Rick, something I was really struck by today was the fact, of course, there is no power and there are so many people without power. And the information, getting information out to those people is so difficult. But we'll talk to you in about 15 minutes, we're going to show you what it was like when word spread that people should run for cover including the media.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much, Cal. This deadly storm system continues to work its way, interestingly enough across the southeast part of United States. We're going to show you what happened after this tornado left the metro Atlanta area.

Also, a frantic scene in New York City, still going on. We're keeping an eye on the rescue efforts where a giant crane has fallen on a four-story building. We're expecting an update. We'll bring it to you right away. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the weekend rundown. Historic homes have been crushed like cans by centuries-old trees. It's a tornado with winds of 130 miles an hour. It has torn a path of destruction through the center of Atlanta. Downtown landmarks filled with rushing water.

Take a look at this picture. This after gaping holes were torn through roofs. That's not designed to be a waterfall, folks. That's actually just a stairwell. And take a look at this. What looks like the waterfall actually ran down that rushing staircase.

Let's take you now to Floyd County if we can. That's in Georgia. It's on the Alabama state line. There's new video coming in from there as well. You'll see it right behind me. Quite a bit of damage there as well. More storms rolling in throughout the day today in fact, as if the folks didn't have enough from yesterday.

One of the fatalities from the storm occurred there. Let's go now to Rob Marciano. He's picking up that part of the story for us.

Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good evening. And Rick, this neighborhood for the most part is completely destroyed here in Floyd County as this tornado ripped through the area shortly afternoon in broad daylight. They did have warning, but for some folks, that just wasn't enough.

This is one of the many homes that was completely destroyed. I am standing in the living room of what used to be a very solid frame home on top of concrete, cinderblock, brick, stone and mortar. You see decades-old oak trees twisted and turned over what's left of this home. Most of it has been blown off behind me.

Well, what did this couple do to survive? Middle-aged couple, all they found, hey, here comes a storm. What are we going to do? We're going to get into the basement, get into the storm cellar. That's pretty much what this is. Check it out.

I mean, it's not very big here but they got in it. And while that wasn't the easiest part, their troubles just begun. After everything blew apart here, including the stone and concrete, look at that piece of wall right there. That stone and mortar piece of wall was on top of the gentleman that was there.

The woman who happened to be free but obviously distraught, took this 2x4 from somewhere and look at the rusty nails on it. Rusty nails here shoved it underneath that piece of heavy, heavy wall and lift it. I don't know how she did it, lifted it so that he could escape. I can't even do it. It's amazing. It's another one of these stories that a human body gets that adrenaline, that survival rush going, and you can do just about anything.

This couple got out and they walked down the road a piece into a car and they waited out the storm there until they were able to be picked up. They are in the hospital tonight. They were lucky enough to survive. The gentleman, about 100 yards from here, was not lucky enough to survive. And I am out of breath.

Earlier when we got on the scene here, this home like many of the homes here, steeped in tradition, steeped in family connection, has spanned many generations. And we talked with the grandson of the people that used to own this home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BRUMBELOW, FLOYD COUNTY, GA. RESIDENT: This place, beautiful home, inside.

MARCIANO: You were working on the plumbing not too long ago?

BRUMBELOW: Right. Just yesterday, here to work on the plumbing. Just fixing some leaks and things around on it. I hate to see it go. Lots of memories here as a grandchild.

MARCIANO: Your grandparents owned this house?

BRUMBELOW: Yes, they owned this house. Going to miss it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: This is a picture of Ed's family, several generations, celebrating a birthday years ago in front of this house that used to stay here. That actually is right here. It's where that picture was posed. Obviously, the wall gone. But underneath where that picture was taken is where the cellar is, where this couple managed to survive, Rick.

But obviously, it was a lot tougher than just getting into the basement and bundling up and hoping for the best. This middle-aged woman had it through all her feats and strength and spirit, just dig deep to get her husband out. And tonight, they're resting and hopefully recovering well in the hospital.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: Great first person reporting, Rob. We certainly appreciate that. You've made us understand exactly what that human drama was all about as it was occurring.

Let's go over to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras now to check in on exactly what this thing was. We've been hearing throughout the day it was, what, an EF2?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right.

SANCHEZ: What does that mean?

JERAS: Right. It's an EF2 tornado, where Rob was at with a different situation. That was probably a lot stronger storm than what we saw here in the Atlanta area.

And I'll start up by showing you the radar picture of what was this thing looked like. It was a super cell type thunderstorm. You notice how it's out there all by itself as it was up to the northwest of Atlanta. And notice the little signature shape on it. We've got a little bit of hook down here, and there you can see how the storm is wide on the eastern edge of it. It moved to the south and east, pushed through the Atlanta area, and then moved out and lifted up as it did that. That path of destruction was six miles long and it was about 200 miles wide.

Let's talk about the strength of the storm. EF2. What does that mean to you? Well, we got that new enhanced scale. That's why we're not calling an F2 anymore because there are little more things that are taken into consideration.

What it means is it causes considerable damage, winds are estimated to be between 111 to 135 miles per hour. The National Weather Service out of Peachtree City, Rick, says that the strongest winds they think were probably about 130 miles per hour. And that was in the Cabbagetown area.

When the storm moved through here, the tornado, through CNN center, also through the Georgia Dome area, it was probably only 100 miles per hour at that time. So imagine if it was 130, or maybe an EF3 or 4 tornado, what kind of damage that would have caused.

SANCHEZ: We can only imagine. Jacqui, thanks so much. Thanks for filling us in. We're going to check back with you in a just a little bit.

Also, there's this story that we're following out of New York City. It's a crane that's crashed to the ground. Look at some of the pictures there. It's one of those giant cranes on a building. We'll take you back to this deadly scene and break it down for you. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: There's a developing story that we're following for you right now. It's coming out of New York City. It's one of those cranes that's on a skyscraper. It's apparently fallen on top of yet another building. This is a townhouse and four people are dead.

Stephanie Elam's following the story. And now we're understanding, Stephanie, that there may have been as many as 13 citations, or at least, citings, of those contractors? Fill us in on the details on this if you would.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's true, Rick. On this one building that this construction is going on, there were citations on it. And while it makes you think perhaps this has something to do with the tragic accident of today, the mayor came out today, Mayor Bloomberg, saying that that is normal operating procedure to see those sort of things happen on a building.

They did just have an investigation yesterday to make sure that they were ready for high winds that are expected tomorrow. They did have a stop work order put in but that was also standard operating procedure to make sure that everything was bolted down and ready to go for the winds on Sunday.

Obviously, though, it was a beautiful day here in Saturday until something went drastically wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: This construction accident is one of the worst the city has had.

ELAM (voice-over): Devastation struck midtown Manhattan after a piece of steel fell, shearing off one of the ties holding a crane to a skyscraper under construction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden I heard an explosion. I looked up to the right. And the support beam had cracked. And I saw this thing starting to tumble towards me.

ELAM: The crane fell from its 19th story perch, demolishing parts of three buildings. A four-story townhouse was completely crushed when the crane fell on it. Four construction workers were killed, 17 other people were injured, three critically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran into the living room and I looked out the window and I saw this crane structure was tilting right into our window.

ELAM: Residents in the area have been evacuated and first responders continue to look for survivors trapped in the rubble.

BLOOMBERG: We want to make sure that there's nobody else alive that we can at least detect with the dogs or listening devices, because in doing that you may destabilize the pile of rubble and it would fall further onto somebody.

ELAM: He's not officially New York governor until Monday, but David Paterson was also on the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be a very difficult, difficult recovery. The crane is still balanced on the building. And to take that down is going to take a tremendous effort and very, very grave risk to the construction workers and firefighters and the police who'll be around there trying to make it happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And the crane was actually supposed to be extended today so that they could start working on the next level at 20th floor. But obviously, that's not where the minds are now. Everyone here is focused on recovery at this point.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: And I'm struck by what you said about the mayor's comment on the 13 citations. My goodness. If 13 citations is perfectly normal, with this that we're seeing as a backdrop, one can't help but wonder, then what's abnormal?

Stephanie, thanks so much for the report. We'll continue to look into it. Fine reporting. We're going to head back to Atlanta in just a moment. It's been an amazing 24 hours. We're going to take you live to some of the hardest-hit areas. You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A tornado rips through metropolitan Atlanta. Don Lemon is one of our correspondents following the story. These are the places in Polk County where one person was killed.

Don, fill us in.

LEMON: Hey, Rick, you know, Bonnie Turner was an elderly woman. She and her husband lived here, Mike Turner, and beloved in this community. They have retired. She sold and trained dogs. She was loved for that. She was loved by the people in her community, but also by her family and friends.

And as we were preparing our story today, one of her family members came over. They were looking through the yard for debris. She came over and she wanted to share her aunt's story with us. And here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELAINA SIMMONS, AUNT DIED IN TODAY'S STORM: She was a great all- around great person. She sold dogs to all over the country. And I mean, she's going to be greatly missed.

This house, just coming here and hanging out and seeing her around is just going to be weird. And Easter's coming up. And she's just going to be -- one face that we're not going to see. But her memory will still be with us always. You go to bed one night and think that everything's going to be OK, and then you wake up and in an instant, it's completely changed. Don't take anything for granted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That's some good advice there. Bonnie and Mike, sort of the glue of the family. Everyone has an aunt and uncle in the family where everyone goes over for the holidays. That was the kind of people that they were. Mike is still in the hospital, still in the hospital, still in critical condition.

But sadly, as we've been reporting, Bonnie passed on. Again, she sold dogs and trained dogs and she will be missed by her family and friends.

So we just wanted to give you something personal to show you about the folks who lived here, and the person who died, and we certainly wish her husband well.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: Thanks for sticking in there, Don. Good day's work, my friend.

You know, a lot of the reporters who've been following this story, have seen this story develop throughout the southeast. And now what we'd like to do is check back in with Jacqui Jeras, because what she's telling us, when last we checked was, this system's not done yet. This thing still has some ways to travel. So, we'll get you that story when we come back. There's Jacqui. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let's put our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras back in.

Jacqui, there's something I want to show you and the viewers who are watching us now. Roger, we've got some of those pictures of downtown, you'll see a building after building, the Equitable, the Omni, the CNN Center, hotels, giant corporations, not just one or two windowpanes blown out, but 30, 40, 50, 60 windowpanes. What causes this? Is it the pressure from the tornado itself?

JERAS: Probably debris, actually, Rick. You know, we're just looking at the corner of that building. Did you notice that the windows were blown out on at least two sides of that? So we know it wasn't a straight line wind that just pushed through and got one side of the building. It was very likely debris that was kicked up from something else, thrown up into the air.

And also notice, you know, these aren't all at the lower levels. It's not all on the middle levels of the building. It is all the way up and down that building, so you know it went very, very high up into the atmosphere.

SANCHEZ: Jacqui Jeras, thanks for keeping us abreast of all the developments throughout the course of the night. Those of us who spend our lives looking for news are reminded tonight that from time to time we don't have to look for it. It simply comes back to us.

That's what's happened on this particular occasion. The news that's just come to us. And in the end, we end up sharing in what we often see in others. A dangerous tornado. A difficult situation. And in the end, as journalists, it makes us better.

Thanks so much for being with us. I'm Rick Sanchez. We'll look for you again tomorrow at 10:00.

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