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American Morning

Twister Devastates Joplin, Missouri; Obama in London; Joplin Tornado the Deadliest on Record

Aired May 24, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi in Joplin, Missouri.

One hundred and seventeen people now confirmed dead, victims of the deadliest tornado on record in the United States. They are searching a six-mile stretch of destruction for more survivors. Officials say more people may be trapped or found dead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And they are not out of the woods yet.

I'm Christine Romans.

Less than two days after disaster struck, there could be more tornadoes today with Joplin sitting squarely in the danger zone.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

Hundreds of firefighters, police, and even volunteers in Joplin are searching through the rubble for victims and more survivors this morning. But there is so much devastation, so much recovering to do that the Missouri National Guard is putting additional units on alert -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROMANS: Good morning, everybody. It is Tuesday, May 24th.

A lot to talk about today. This is the second sunrise for Joplin, Missouri, and they're still trying to assess the damage.

CHETRY: That's right, because yesterday's morning didn't really lend itself to a lot of favorable conditions when it came to searching.

Ali Velshi is live in Joplin, Missouri.

You were there yesterday when more severe weather went through and a lot of the search and rescue had to sort of be on hold.

VELSHI: Yes. I got here yesterday afternoon and it might as well have been nighttime. You couldn't see through the rain. It was heavy. It was thick. And the destruction is so dense.

I just want to give you some sense of it. It's a little hard to capture on TV. But, look, there is no foliage anywhere behind me.

Now, if you look -- John is going to show you over there. There is -- there are trees. There are leaves. That's the line. That's the line that the tornado carved out.

Over here, there are no trees -- there are stumps, there are branches. There are overturned and crushed cars. There are bits of houses all around me.

I am standing on a foundation of a house. The house has been entirely ripped off the foundation. There is nothing left here except concrete and some wood that's fastened to it with nails and screws.

This is the type of devastation we have seen, but they just couldn't get to it yesterday. So, the search and rescue continues today. One hundred and seventeen people confirmed dead. That was confirmed to me moments ago by Governor Jay Nixon. And it had been 116. He says it is expected to climb higher. This makes it the deadliest tornado since they began recording fatalities from tornadoes in 1950.

Now, hundreds of firefighters, police and national guards are searching for survivors. Seventeen were already found alive.

The National Weather Service says there is a chance of more tor tornadic activity in this region later on today. It's sunny and good weather right now. So, they've got an opportunity. Two thousand buildings and homes have been damaged and destroyed. It is -- we are in the middle of it right now.

Tornado winds were clocked at up to 198 miles per hour. This twister was three-quarters of a mile wide.

Now, two search and rescue workers were hit by lightning yesterday. The lightning activity was remarkable. One of them is recovering. The other remains in intensive care here in Missouri.

So, this is a problem. They had to pull people back last night. They are putting them all back into the mix.

Casey Wian is with me right now.

Casey, we have 117 dead. We have 17 who were pulled. There are two sectors that have not been searched. They are trying to get a helicopter up to search for them. What's likely to happen next?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Local emergency management officials tell us, Ali, that they are hoping the search and rescue is going to be complete by the end of today. They're rushing against the clock as you mentioned. This weather that's approaching is going to be a problem later today. So, they're hoping to wrap that up.

One of the key issues that they're dealing with right now is there are still 1,500 people in Joplin, Missouri, reported missing. Now, that doesn't mean that those people are trapped in rubble or it doesn't mean that those people are deceased. It may mean that they simply left town and gone to be with relatives.

So, what they are expecting is going to be happening is that people are going to start coming back into this disaster area to see what's left of their homes. They weren't able to do that for the most yesterday. So, as those people start coming in to survey the damage, they are going to be able to hopefully clear a lot of those 1,500 people that are reported missing. That's one of their key priorities throughout the day today, Ali.

VELSHI: Now, one of the reasons -- I mean, if these 1,500 are unaccounted for, you think, then why don't they just call somebody. That's very difficult to do around here.

WIAN: Absolutely. Cell service has been spotty at best. There's no power. So, there's no land line phone service in many cases. There's nobody to call, you know?

VELSHI: Yes.

WIAN: And so, when someone is trying to get out in the situation of a rapidly approaching tornado, they are not going to necessarily call all their relatives and let them know where they are and where they are going. They are just trying to beat the storm out of town.

VELSHI: And that's what the emergency management people have said here, that if you are out of town, if you've left, please try and contact either emergency management or the land line or your families and at least try and get that 1,500 number reduced, so they have a sense of who they are looking for.

They do have a couple of sectors. And the governor and emergency management folks were optimistic that maybe in some of these -- particularly in the apartment building, people went into a basement, went into a shelter, and they might find them alive.

WIAN: It's hard to believe that they're going to find anybody alive. But everybody we have spoken to since yesterday say that they believe they will do it. So, they are going to keep searching and let's hope it happens.

VELSHI: All right. It's remarkable. It's just remarkable as the sun has come up. It's much clearer than it was yesterday. So, we just didn't get this light shining on all this damage. And it just gets more remarkable with each hour as it gets brighter -- Christine and Kiran.

ROMANS: Thanks, Ali, and Casey, as well. I mean -- and we hope they have that window of opportunity you guys this morning to get some good work done while the sunshine without the rain, without lightning that really hamper the rescue yesterday.

CHETRY: Yes. And Rob Marciano joins us now.

Talk about two things -- there are people who are very concerned about this National Weather Service prediction that's saying there is a 45 percent chance. I'd love for you to clarify that. Of a tornado hitting in the same area, hitting Joplin itself?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, not even that high. But you have to remember that -- you know, the odds of a point on the map getting hit by one tornado is pretty remote; to get hit by twice is pretty remote, especially two days later. So, that's probably not going to happen.

Let me show you this map. It highlights how the Storm Prediction Center kind of warns us of a day that's going to be bad, OK? Everything that you see in orange is a slight risk of seeing severe the weather. And that includes Northeast as well. So, there could be severe thunderstorms that roll across there, mostly in the form of high winds and some hail and thunder and lightning and heavy downpours.

But the bull's eye is across what's traditionally tornado alley and that pink area you see is rated as high. That means probability- wise, there's 30 percent chance -- stay with me here -- of a tornado touching down within 25 miles of any one point.

CHETRY: And is Joplin in that area?

MARCIANO: Joplin is in the 10 percent to 15 percent, which -- you know, those numbers don't sound like a lot when you think about 20 percent, 30 percent chance of rain. Roll the dice, we'll be fine.

But, you know, if you are anywhere near the tornado, it's going to be bad. You know, the point is that these people, Oklahoma City to Tulsa, up through Wichita, there are going to be thunderstorms that produce extreme tornadoes that will be large and long lasting on the ground and there will be damage.

The good news in this area -- which is the traditional tornado alley area -- is a little bit more rural, is a little bit more farmland. It is flatter. So you see them coming better as well.

So, hopefully, today and tonight and through tomorrow, we'll have a better outcome than we had two nights ago.

Here's the forecast with current radar with the severe thunderstorm watch that's in effect for parts of central Kansas. And that's the first piece of energy that's going to reignite the atmosphere this afternoon. Slide the map off to the east and you'll see another thunderstorm watch in effect for parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys have the that's the chunk that came through yesterday across the Mississippi now heading towards the Northeast as well.

We do have a decent amount of warm air south of this front. That front, which normally would push through and we get clear weather for recovery efforts in a case like this, stalled. So, we are no the seeing that. And we are seeing the unsettled weather, the heavy, heavy rain that we saw yesterday and last night through Joplin hampering efforts, and now, today, the threat for seeing severe weather.

High temperatures will be near 90. That will help juice the atmosphere. And tomorrow, this all pushes off towards the east.

They will have a break, I think, guys, in the next eight to 10 hours where I think things will be relatively quiet in Joplin. They're going to have to, you know, really get the brunt of their work done today and really go -- try to go after anybody that may be surviving, because tonight, I think, regardless of whether a tornado touches down there, which is unlikely, they are going to see severe weather. They're going to see some thunderstorms that will dump heavy rain and gusty winds. You get them over 30 miles an hour, that's going to blow around the debris that's laying around the ground. And that's going to be dangerous situation as well.

ROMANS: All right. Rob Marciano, thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

ROMANS: Talk to you soon.

CHETRY: So, a very bad situation in Louisiana is getting worse this morning as well as floodwaters continue to rise. They have mandatory evacuations in effect for residents of Butte LaRose, an area just 50 miles downstream from where the Morganza Spillway was opened. Officials estimate that most of the 800 residents have already headed for higher ground there.

ROMANS: Also, traces of DNA reportedly link the former head of the IMF in a sexual assault case. In a number of published reports this morning, DNA from Dominique Strauss-Kahn matches that on the clothing of a hotel maid. Police are reportedly testing more DNA found at the scene. Strauss-Kahn is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a New York hotel last weekend. Right now, he is released on bail.

CHETRY: And new information about the Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009. It looks like pilot error may have caused the horrific accident. According to preliminary findings from the plane's recorders, the pilots may have been distracted by a technical glitch and didn't monitor other critical systems. All 228 people on board died. Meanwhile, investigators say that they may be able to identify two bodies that have been recovered from that wreckage earlier this month.

ROMANS: NATO is launching more than a dozen air strikes on the Libyan capital early this morning. Heavy smoke its blanketing Tripoli. The air strikes targeted the compound for forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi. Officials say this attack is one of the heaviest attacks since the NATO missions began more than two months ago now.

At least three people are dead. More than 150 are injured in this latest round of heavy, heavy NATO bombing.

CHETRY: A cloud of volcanic ash causing chaos across parts of Europe, at least for air travel. Right now, it's drifting toward Britain. Officials say it's a threat to travelers and dozens of plains have been grounded because of it as well as flights canceled, hundreds of passengers stranded so far.

We also have some new video coming in from the Iceland volcano. The ash falling over towns, coating cars, streets and towns in a thick, black dust.

ROMANS: And it's one of the reasons why the president had to cut short his trip by one night to Ireland. President Obama, of course, now will travel to Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday for a firsthand look at the tornado devastation there.

But this morning, he is in London for a state visit. The first couple were formally greeted at Buckingham Palace by the queen and Prince Philip. They met privately with the newly minted duke and duchess of Cambridge, that's Will and Kate for the rest of us.

Later, he'll meet with Britain's prime minister and then be toasted at an official state dinner.

CHETRY: And we got live pictures coming in from Capitol Hill as well.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, is set to speak to the U.S. Congress this morning and to share his vision of settling the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It comes just a day after he criticized President Obama's plan in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC. Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country will not return to the borders it had before 1967, calling them indefensible.

ROMANS: You can catch Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech right here on CNN. Our live coverage begins at 10:45 Eastern Time.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, it's a race to find survivors. We're going to be speaking with Jasper County sheriff, Archie Dunn. Joplin, Mississippi, in Jasper County, about what they are doing while they have this break in the weather.

ROMANS: And this morning, stock market investors are wondering whether there will be a rebound after a pretty tough day yesterday when stocks tanked. Investors spooked by the debt situation in Europe.

CHETRY: Also, some startling new numbers out about the prevalence of behavior disorders from in our kids from autism to ADHD. Why are the disorders on the rise? We are going to be joined by Colleen Boyle (ph) of the CDC who took part in that study, about some answers for parents out there.

Thirteen minutes past the hour.

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VELSHI: I'm standing really right in the midst of the destruction here in Joplin, Missouri. But there are signs of hope -- 17 people have been rescued from these mountains of debris that killed 117 people. The search for survivors goes on. It is going strong actually this morning because the sun is up. The weather has not cooperated until this morning.

Last night and yesterday, it was raining. There was lightning. In fact, two officers were struck by lightning. One remains in intensive care. The other one is recovering.

Archie Dunn is the sheriff of Jasper County.

Come on in, Sheriff Dunn. He joins me now.

Give me your sense of where things stand this morning.

ARCHIE DUNN, JASPER COUNTRY SHERIFF: Well, things are going full speed. It's been slow because of the amount of damage, the extent of it. A lot of people here volunteering. The weather has not cooperated. So, hopefully, today, we'll have one good full day to continue with the search and rescue.

VELSHI: Sheriff Dunn, you've been in this business for almost 40 years. Give me a sense of what you make of what's happened here.

DUNN: You know, I've seen a lot of bad things. I've seen this kind of destruction, but nothing of this magnitude. This is unreal.

VELSHI: Now, you say you have had a lot of people coming in and volunteering to help out. Are they able to help?

DUNN: There's a lot of people who haven't been able to help. They want to. There is just no place to send them. It has to be somewhat organized. We've had emergency workers were all over different states, law enforcement. It's really been great.

VELSHI: Give me some sense of the hazards of searching through this. I mean, we are in an area where it is just destruction as far as the eye can see. Houses flattened, cars crumbled.

What has to happen? What does the search and rescue entail?

DUNN: Well, it has to be slow and methodical. As you can see, if you start to walk across there, you could be injured yourself.

VELSHI: There are planks and nails sticking up, just simple injuries.

DUNN: Right. And you have to do everything complete as you go, so someone doesn't have to come behind you and do it again. So, it's just very slow.

VELSHI: And there are other things that your deputies are involved in around the city. It is actually a fairly populated area. It looks rural on a map, but it's very populated. Ands you got issues with traffic and people coming in closing roads off.

So, how is that coming along?

DUNN: We are working with the city and the state. We are assisting all local departments. (INAUDIBLE) damage, we are assisting there. We are doing security. We're doing patrol. We're helping at the temporary morgue.

We're doing a little bit of everything.

VELSHI: The issue here is that this is an area where about 50,000 people sleep and a lot more people come in to work.

DUNN: That's right. Maybe a quarter of a million people during the daytime normally.

VELSHI: So, you are trying to see how this gets back to normal. There is a sense that you got about six to eight hours of good weather today before you got more danger. How are you preparing for the possibility of more tornadoes?

DUNN: That's going to be a problem. You know, obviously, if you were here and a tornado comes through, you have no place to go. There's no place to hide now.

So, that is a problem we have to think about and all the workers need to be aware of that and watch the weather closely.

VELSHI: All right. Sheriff, continued good work to you and your deputies. Thanks very much for being with us. We will keep on top of that you are doing -- Sheriff Archie Dunn.

To find out how you can help the tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri, go to CNN.com/Impact. There, you'll find all the organizations that are pitching in. That is CNN.com/Impact.

We are going to take a quick break and we'll be back right after this.

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ROMANS: Twenty-two minutes after the hour, minding your business this morning.

Contractors who received $24 million in your stimulus money to build roads and provide services, they owe more than $750 million in back taxes to the federal government. That's according to investigators at the Government Accountability Office.

A Senate hearing today will try to determine how tax cheats were able to qualify for government stimulus money in the first place.

This afternoon, Chrysler will announce plans to pay back roughly $5.5 billion in government loans. By doing so, Chrysler could save up to $300 million a year in interest.

Futures are higher this morning. The Dow, though, had a tough day yesterday, a one-month low because of concerns over Europe's debt problems. That sent stocks sliding. The Dow was off 131 points. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also fell. Futures are looking to rebound a bit today.

Nearly half of Americans are what researchers call "financially fragile," unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days. That's according to a new study that looked into whether families have enough money saved for emergencies like a medical expense or important home repairs.

Want to make big bucks? Well, choose a right major. A Georgetown study found that of the top 10 undergraduate majors with the highest median salaries, eight were in engineering. People who majored in elementary education and psychology had some of the lowest median salaries.

And more automakers are doing away with the spare tires so their cars get better gas mileage. For instance, there's no spare tire in the new Chevy Cruze. And G.M. says by replacing the spare with a tire repair kit instead, the car is 26 pounds lighter and that helps the car get 42 miles a gallon on the highway.

AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.

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CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour right now.

The president -- he certainly has a busy schedule and it just got a little bit easier. He's actually visiting Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday. This will be after he returns from his European trip. He wants to witness the tornado destruction himself and lend his support.

This morning, he is in London, though, and he is certainly getting the royal treatment there.

CHETRY: The president and first lady were met by the queen at Buckingham Palace gardens. That's also known as the "queen's backyard."

CNN's Ed Henry is live in London.

We also know that they met with Will and Kate, the duke and duchess of Cambridge. That's right, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Just back from the royal honeymoon, they did get a chance to meet with them privately. They were not -- Will and Kate did not actually come out for this formal ceremony.

The president is only the third U.S. president in 100 years to have this kind of a state visit, all that pomp and circumstance. In fact, there were two different gun salutes. There was one -- it was a 41 gun salute. Normally, the royal band only has 21 guns. They added 20 more because they were firing these guns at a nearby royal park. And then there was a 62-gun salute at the tower of London, so the rest of the city could drink in some of this pageantry, if you will.

After this, you know, the president right now is heading into a lunch with her majesty, the queen, with the first lady as well. And then they're going over to 10 Downing for some serious business because beyond the pomp and circumstance, the president is going to be sitting down with prime minister, David Cameron.

There's obviously a hefty agenda for them to discuss. They've got a lot of issues on the world stage, starting with Libya, of course, that they are working on together, the war in Afghanistan, but also the global economic crisis that's ongoing. And both men are trying to show that they are serious about cutting budget deficits in their countries to try to instill some confidence in world markets.

Then, the president is going to be coming back here for a lavish state dinner that the queen is going to be holding for the first couple. It's interesting because no detail is too small. One royals' expert telling us that they actually here at Buckingham Palace take out a tape measure to measure how far apart the wine glasses are, just so they get every last detail right.

CHETRY: Of course. I mean, the precision, that's what it is all about.

Are the Obamas going to be sleeping at the palace tonight?

HENRY: Yes. It's pretty fascinating. You know, there's over 700 rooms here, over 50 bedrooms. So, they're pretty much going to have their selection of several rooms, we are told, a suite, basically.

And it's interesting because last night, the Obamas came into town a little bit early because of the volcanic ash from Iceland. They wanted to live Ireland because, otherwise, Air Force One could have possibly been grounded in Ireland. So they arrived a little early. This is not a Motel 6. They don't leave the light on for you. It is not like you drop in a little bit early. They ended up staying at the U.S. ambassador's residence. After the steak dinner, they will be here for two nights.

ROMANS: Can you imagine that call? By the way, the president and his wife are going to be there. Check for the pillow.

CHETRY: Turn down.

HENRY: Can you check with the queen? Can they drop in on the queen?

CHETRY: Ed, certainly, mixing a little bit of business with measure on their trip there. Thanks so much.

We are going to update you on our top stories. NATO warplanes are stepping up air strikes in Libya. In an overnight assault, more than a dozen bombs dropped on Tripoli. They say they were targeting a compound with forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. It is dubbed the heaviest attack since the may toe missions began more than two months ago. At least three people killed and hundreds of others injured.

The operator of Japan's Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant confirmed. They are making assessments and finding out about it now.

Severe weather and the threat of more tornadoes complicating rescue efforts in Joplin, Missouri this morning. The number of dead now is at 117 making Sunday's tornado the single deadliest on record in the U.S. Officials fear that that number could rise.

Let's take a look at the radar. The national weather service says there is a chance of more tornado activity in the Midwest. They are considering Joplin still part of the danger zone beginning at 4:00 in the afternoon.

ROMANS: That means right now, Ali Velshi, rescue efforts are franticly underway because they want to beat this bad weather after terrible weather yesterday.

VELSHI: They have a window of 7 or 8 hours to get this done. We have heard from Barbara Starr, confirmed from the military there are about 30 more military police have been added to the area, bringing the National Guard contingent to about 217. They are staffing checkpoints, because now, with the weather having improved, people are going to want to come back and see.

These are all homes. Everything around me were homes. You can't see any of them anymore because they are gone. People are going to want to come by and check. It is still unsafe. They also have certain areas that the rescuers haven't gone through. They have added some National Guard. The search continues. They want to get it done over the course of the next few hours.

We did get confirmation from governor, Jay Nixon, about an hour ago. The death toll has increased by one to 117. There are two sectors that haven't been checked yet. They are hoping both to find some survivors there. But they are also expecting that the death toll will increase.

Two of the rescuers were hit by lightning yesterday, remarkable lightning in the area yesterday. One of them has recovered, the other one still in intensive care. In terms of success stories, 17 people were found alive, according to city officials. Again, they are hoping for more of that today.

There are at least 14,000 people without power in Joplin. Before the sun came up, the only light for miles were the lights of the news trucks. As you both alluded to, tornadoes are possible today, later on in Joplin or other cities in the central United States.

So there is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of very, very hard work going on right now to try and wrap up the search and rescue effort. Christine, Kiran?

ROMANS: Thanks, Ali. We talked earlier about this family with their little 21-month-old baby, so frightening to think of them huddled around the toilet holding on to dear life.

CHETRY: They did the right thing. They wept right to the bathroom. When you had a chance to talk to them, they count their blessings, we have each other and nobody is hurt. The type of cleanup, the type of rebuilding that lies ahead is certainly terrifying. Bronson said he heard the sirens and the twister. They huddled in the bathroom shielding their 21-month-old from the deadly winds. And then a few minutes later, it was over. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sky, that's all that was left. I begged him not to open the door. I was afraid it wasn't over. It was -- all you saw for blocks.

VELSHI: You are over there. You are about a mile and a half away, and you can see us from there now. That wasn't the case?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can see further than here. You can see it clear across town it seems like. It goes on forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That was Zach's fiancee, Rachel.

ROMANS: They said that he seems to be getting through this pretty well. He knows that something devastating happened. The little guy was screaming through the whole thing. You can imagine how terrifying it was to see the parents so upset.

The dad looked up and could see through the vent in the roof of the bathroom, sky. When she opened the door, she didn't want him to open the door, she was so afraid it was still happening but they survived. We see a fingerprint of tornadoes as sometimes it is just one little room of the house that's left standing.

CHETRY: They tell you if you cannot get underground, if you cannot get below the surface of the earth, the bathroom is a good place to go. It worked out for them.

Still ahead, Coleen Boyle joins us live. She is at the CDC, on a new study on the rise of behavioral disorders from ADHD or autism. Are we catching it more or are they reporting it more or truly are more children suffering? We are going to talk about it coming up. It's 36 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: It's 39 minutes past the hour. In today's "American Family" segment, a number of children diagnosed with development disbelieves is on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 15 percent of kids, nearly 10 million, have some disbelieve, like autism or ADHD or just an unspecified behavioral disorder.

Joining me now is Dr. Coleen Boyle from the CDC's center on birth defects and the lead author of this new CDC study. Welcome.

DR. COLEEN BOYLE, CDC CENTER ON BIRTH DEFECTS: Thank you.

CHETRY: To get some of the numbers out there, they say what we have seen is that one in six children has some developmental disbelieve. These are numbers from 2006 to 2008. We have seen an increase, a 17 percent increase in prevalence over a 12-year period. How significant is that according to your study?

BOYLE: Developmental disabilities are very important problems. And I think this study points that out. As you mentioned, there is one in six children in the U.S. that have these developmental disbelieves disabilities. And although this 17 percent doesn't sound like a lot but it translates into 1.8 million more children with developments disabilities.

CHETRY: Some people ask, does it just mean that we are looking for more problems? Developmental disabilities or is there more awareness on the part of parents or pediatricians or are more children being born with developmental disorders?

BOYLE: I think, Kiran, you have touched on a number of the different factors that are relating to the potential increase here. Obviously, we know that there is a broadening of diagnostic criteria for some of the developmental disabilities. Obviously, autism and ADHD are two of those in which those criteria have expanded or broadened over time.

There is better awareness among parents and providers, health care providers, educators. One of the reasons for that is that we know that early intervention, particularly for autism as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is important. It does make a difference in terms of the long-term outcome for children.

CHETRY: A couple of questions. First of all, would kids outgrow, the majority of kids outgrow, not severe autism but some of the other development disorders, eventually would they outgrow them and not necessarily targeted treatment?

BOYLE: OK, so for some children, clearly, there will be improvement over time. The need for services may diminish as the child gets older. A lot of this, we don't know. So I think we need to continue to do longitudinal studies to better understand the impact of these conditions on children and their families over time.

CHETRY: It also raises the question of practicality. Are there enough people trained in this early intervention to help kids out early, get it solved, let these kids go on the road to future success and with all the new era austerity, will this be funded? Will there be money to pay for trying to help these kids?

BOYLE: That's a very, very important point. We need to have more early educators, folks that are actually able to train and intervene with children. Children are our future. We need to be able to invest in them. We do know that early intervention makes a difference with children with all of the conditions we included in this study.

The other thing we know, we need to continue to invest in research related to understanding why these conditions happen in the first place. CHETRY: There is a lot of -- there are a lot of theories out there. Obviously, parents are concern. There are questions about anyone at which people -- waiting longer to have children. Does that have an impact, our environment, toxins, chemicals? I know that you can't just point to one thing. But there are a lot of parents who are very worried about it.

BOYLE: Understandably. There is work that's ongoing. There obviously could be more work done, particularly in the area of autism, trying to understand risk factors, biologic and other risk factors that might be contributing to the increase in higher prevalence of autism.

I want to point out the other developmental disabilities. One very noteworthy thing was that there was no decline in any of the conditions over time. So I think we do need to invest more to understand why these conditions occur in the first place and that we can hopefully prevent them.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Well, you have a good study on it that I encourage people to read some briefs about. Dr. Coleen Boyle, director at CDC on the national center on birth defects and developmental disabilities. Thanks for being with us this morning.

BOYLE: Thank you very much.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, back to Joplin, Missouri. Severe weather returns to that region. Rob Marciano is going to walk us through what the maps are telling us about the tornado and thunderstorm activity that is forecast for the region coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A lot going on this morning.

Here are your headlines: thunderstorms and lightning complicating search and rescue efforts right now in Joplin. Sunday's twister killed at least 117 people, making it the single deadliest tornado on record in the U.S. 2000 homes and buildings have been destroyed or damaged.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Butte LaRose, Louisiana as the floodwaters from the Morganza Spillway continue to rise. Officials estimate that most of the 800 residents have already headed now for higher ground.

New evidence in the case against the former IMF chief: according to published reports, Dominique Strauss-Kahn's DNA matches material found on a hotel maid's clothing who he's accused of sexually assaulting. Right now, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is out on bail.

Pumping ceremony across the pond; President Obama welcomed by the Queen in a 41-gun salute on a state visit to London this morning. America's first couple also had a brief private meeting with Prince William and his new bride, Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The markets open in 45 minutes. Right now, it appears investors are looking to recoup some of the losses from yesterday. The DOW, NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures are all up.

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You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break.

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CHETRY: Back to our "Top Story" this morning at 49 minutes past the hour. The tornado that tore apart Joplin, Missouri, killing 117 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it off; I can't film.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it, I got it, I got it. I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop, stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it on video. I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, that's it, the single deadliest twister ever recorded in the United States caught on tape there. According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, it measured three- quarters of a mile across flattening a six-mile stretch of Joplin.

And at times, wind speeds hitting 198 miles-an-hour. And more extreme weather including the chance of tornado activity in the forecast for Joplin this afternoon.

ROMANS: So far, there are 117 confirmed fatalities in Joplin. That number is expected to rise though, as search and rescue teams reach more flattened buildings.

I want to show you a close-up view of the tornado as it was forming on Sunday. This is courtesy of the storm-chasing team at TornadoVideo.net.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're -- oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh, there it is. There it is. Oh, gosh, that is a monster tornado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: And we first showed you this video yesterday capturing the terror of 20 people jammed into an industrial refrigerator inside of a Joplin convenience store when the tornado hit.

ROMANS: You know, the video is very dark. But what's remarkable here are the sounds. Listen carefully to the people as they begin to pray as this twister grows louder around them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Jesus, help me. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You know an industrial cooler, walking into the cooler at a convenience store or hugging the toilet or getting in with pillows into the tub, this is how people are telling their stories of survival.

CHETRY: I mean, that was a split-second decision by the part of the -- the iReporter that send us that, Isaac. He said, they just thought, let's just get in here. And they crammed in. They had no idea. He said he really thought he was going to die.

But it shows you just the scale and scope of this. Rob Marciano is here in New York this morning. You know, you talked about these top speeds of 198 miles an hour at times. Now, they are now saying that there could have actually been other vortexes -- other tornadoes within the tornado responsible for so much of this damage.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we call them multi-vortex tornado basically. And sometimes they are really hard to see. They -- and sometimes they are invisible but it's what makes the damage path so wide often. And certainly, we don't -- we hope not to see that again tonight.

But there's a good chance of seeing tornadoes and not just tornadoes but damaging long-lasting tornadoes across parts of the plains this afternoon and tonight. So not things that these folks want to hear but let's kind of zero in on where we think exactly where that's going be.

Here is a forecast from the Storms Prediction Center out of Norman, Oklahoma. The orange which stretches all way to the northeast indicates a slight chance of seeing severe thunderstorms. Most of that area will be thunder, lightning, hail, some damaging wind yet yes, but when we zoom into the plains of the orange area, the brighter orange area there, that indicates a moderate risk of seeing some severe weather, potentially some thunderstorms that could produce some tornadoes. That does includes parts of southwest Missouri.

And in the pink area indicates a high risk. And they don't put this kind of high risk forecast out very often. And what it means is there is basically a 30 percent chance of a tornado touching down within a 25-mile radius at any one point. And there's a lot of statistics stuff there. But basically, there is going to be tornadoes in this area, it's just a matter of exactly where.

We already have thunderstorms that are popping up. Here is the radar Severe Thunderstorm Watch out for Central Kansas; this is kind of the precursor of the big event this afternoon. This will set up the atmosphere for more energy coming out of the Colorado Rockies. And as the day and time heats up the ground we'll see more explosive storms develop late day and through the evening.

A little bit further off to the east. This is the other piece of energy that is out ahead of this system. There is a Thunderstorm Watch out for parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. And this will be pushing towards the I-95 Corridor as the max daytime heating cranks up this afternoon. And that's why we think we'll see some rough thunderstorms across the I-95 corridor.

All right, as far as tomorrow is concerned, we do have a risk for this whole system pushing off to the east. And across the mid Mississippi River Valleys is where we expect a moderate risk which is nothing to sneeze at right there. I think tomorrow is going to be a rough as well once this thing pushes across Joplin.

I have an interesting graphic I want to kind of put some context of how tornadoes act. And what you are looking at is the number of tornado fatalities there in the pink. And the black line is the moving average over the past century.

So we're moving down because of advances in Doppler radar, because of our advances in communication. But look at the last nine in that pink, that is this year, the number of fatalities now up and over 480 people. There is really no explanation for that except just plain old bad luck. La Nina has something to do with it, we've got a more turbulent jet stream that's going on. But its' been a horrible, horrible year as far as the fatalities and these things striking right were a lot of people at.

ROMANS: And we were talking to Craig Fugate from FEMA earlier into talking about some tornadoes, to snowstorms, to all of the flooding, everything we've seen this year. It has been a really rough year. I mean they are just sort of digging in and trying to get it done.

CHETRY: As the look ahead unfortunately to hurricane season; hopefully, it will be a quiet one.

MARCIANO: We'll put our -- we'll try for that one at least.

CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Fifty-four minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want everybody in Joplin, everybody in Missouri, everybody in Minnesota, everybody across the Midwest to know that we are here for you. The American people are by your side. We're going to stay there until every home is repaired, until every neighborhood is rebuilt, until every business is back on its feet. That's my commitment. And that's the American people's commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: President Obama in London today announcing that he will come here to Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday. The sun is shining here in Joplin, something that hasn't happened since this tornado hit on Sunday afternoon. That means crews are back out there searching the rubble.

They've got a bit of a reprieve. They've got some good weather, but they've only got a few hours of it. Right now, we know that 117 people were killed by this tornado, making it the worst since they began measuring the number of people dying in tornadoes; 17 people were found alive.

Two sectors in this -- this city remain to be searched. They are expecting the number of fatalities to increase. But they are hoping, they are hoping that there are survivors there.

Meanwhile, residents have started returning. They are taking a look at their properties, their damaged properties. They have increased the number of National Guardsmen and sheriff's deputies monitoring intersections, because it is not safe for some people to come back. People really want to see what they are coming home to.

I have to tell you, if you look around me, there is not much here at all. There are 1,500 people still unaccounted for. But the sheriffs are clear that doesn't mean they are Missing or in harm's way. It just means they have left. It is hard to communicate around here because cell phones are not working all that much.

And of course look at some of the damage. This is a parking lot at a Wal-Mart. Look at those crushed cars. We are seeing that all over the place. Cars balled up and twisted, crushed like cans. Those are being removed.

A lot of work to be done and they've got a short window because there is a danger of more tornadoes coming in this afternoon.

We will stay on top of this coverage. We will stay here live in Joplin. Kiran, Christine -- back to you.

ROMANS: all right. Thanks, Ali. Great work there today in Joplin.

And that's going to wrap it up for us today here in New York.

CHETRY: That's right.

Rob thank you for your weather expertise as well.

MARCIANO: You bet.

CHETRY: We'll all be back here bright and early tomorrow. Meanwhile, the news continues. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello starts right now. Good morning, Carol.