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CNN Saturday Morning News

Tornadoes Tear through Homes; Washington State Caucus Today; Capturing the Tornado; School Bans Talking; Kids Shave Heads for Friend; Snowboarding and Skiing; Tornadoes Rake South, Midwest

Aired March 03, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's March 3rd. Good morning, I'm David Mattingly.

Destroyed buildings and lives marked the paths of yesterday's deadly tornado outbreak. These are live pictures from Paulding County, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta. We'll have the latest on the search for survivors and victims.

And on the campaign trail today, it's Washington State's turn to weigh in on the Republican candidates who want to be president.

We start now with the devastation across the Midwest and the South. These are the scenes people are waking up to today. Debris now sits where their homes once stood. At least 31 people are dead. A series of tornados are being blamed for the destruction. There are emergency declarations in place in Indiana and Kentucky.

National Guard troops have also been deployed there. Before we take you live to Indiana for the latest there, I want to show you now an amazing piece of video. It comes from West Liberty, Kentucky, shot just as the tornado was forming over the town.

Now, listen very closely to the desperate prayers from one woman as she pleads for her safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) by god powers in your son's name, take yourself away from our home as you did for Elijah you take -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The prayers were answered. She did come through that storm safely. West Liberty, however, was hit hard by the storm. At least three people died there. Some of the worst damage we've seen is in Indiana. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Henryville, Indiana this morning. Susan, what does it look like there?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now that the sun is coming up, you can see even more of the crushing damage that has been suffered in this area. And as we speak, the governor of the state, Mitch Daniels is being accompanied to this area doing some flyovers and is expected to be taking an on the ground tour of some of the heaviest damage where we are standing now. Over my shoulder David, that's the high school here in Henryville that as you can see has been torn to sleds by this very powerful tornado that swept through here.

There is an elementary school that is also attached to it that also is destroyed. This is the home of the Hornets, right, the Henryville Hornets. The school sign reads, our hearts are full of Hornet pride. That is still true. People aren't going to let this get them down. But the reality is, you have a huge mess on your hands, starting with you.

This is Dr. Glenn Riggs. You are the elementary school principal and you were here when the storm hit along with, what, 40 or so students?

DR. GLENN RIGGS, PRINCIPAL, HENRYVILLE ELEMENTARY: I had about 40 students and staff. We were in the core of the building when the tornado hit and everyone was safe, no one was injured and it's just a blessing. We praise God.

CANDIOTTI: How was it that you weren't able to get out before the storm hit?

RIGGS: We dismissed the students. We had about 700 students from the elementary and about 500 from the high school that we did dismiss. So they were all out of the building. This was the core remaining staff and then we have a day care facility that we had those students here and we moved all of those students then to the office. We had a couple of students that were brought back because the parents weren't home. Bus drivers brought them into the building and then we just weathered the storm, literally. CANDIOTTI: This must take your breath away.

RIGGS: Yes, ma'am. It was a life changing experience.

CANDIOTTI: And we see also that along the storm damage, a lot of cars destroyed here, including yours. What happens to the grade school?

RIGGS: We'll just have to come take that one day at a time and I'm just very, very happy that my children are safe and they're with their families.

CANDIOTTI: Also joining us is the superintendent of this district. This is -- I'm sorry, Monte Schneider.

Monte, you also had roughly the same number of high school students who also couldn't quite make it home. I understand that there were parts of the high school that were meant to be safe areas that also wound up being destroyed, yet these students made it out OK along with some staff members.

MONTE SCHNEIDER, SUPERINTENDENT, WEST CLARK SCHOOLS: Along with Dr. Riggs, the best thing that happened with this, if there is a best thing, is that no one at school, teachers, staff and most importantly students were injured here. And it's a miracle that they weren't.

If you look at the building and look at the buses around the building and at our office in Sellersburg, which is about 10 miles South of here, we lost contact with them because -- we lost radio contact, landline and cell phone contact and actually heard of the damage here on the TVs and radios and had no idea the extent, whether anybody was hurt for quite some time.

So it was a very, very uneasy feeling for us in the central office. And just feel very fortunate that it wasn't worse than what it is.

CANDIOTTI: Do you feel you had enough warning?

SCHNEIDER: I think that we had as far as warning, as far as the different stations and we had it pulled up of course on our computers and all that. The last part of the storm formed so quickly that the actual tornado warning for Clark County came out after we released the students here at Henryville and in a way, it's good that it was. If we would have kept the students here, much of the damage was -- almost 1,200 students in the buildings. That's the elementary and junior/senior high school together and plus about a hundred staff members, I'm certain somebody would have been seriously hurt.

CANDIOTTI: And, Dr. Riggs, can you tell us, where were the kids hunkered down? And everyone would be frightened by this, but how did you calm them during the tornado?

RIGGS: Well, obviously, there was a lot of prayer. We were in the office core. We had three different rooms in this center of the building and we were all on the floors in the building.

There were about 10 of us or so, 15 in one room, I think. We did a count off, obviously, knew who was there. The children were wonderful. My core staff that were still in the building were just wonderful. There was a lot of peace being spoken to the children and they were just fine.

CANDIOTTI: Was there crying?

RIGGS: No, no, no child -- there wasn't any children crying or anything like that at all. Everyone was very, very peaceful.

CANDIOTTI: Very happy that you both made it out and of course far too early to say where they are going to be holding classes once they gather together, right?

SCHNEIDER?: That's true.

CANDIOTTI: Still has yet to be determined. Obviously, there is a lot of cleanup to do, David.

MATTINGLY: That's right, Susan. A lot of cleanup to do and still a lot of severe weather to be keeping an eye on, some new alerts going out. Bonnie, what have you got for us?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well David, we have a brand new tornado warning, but it's in the same area we were tracking earlier, Southwest Georgia. Unfortunately we are not done with the risk for tornadic activity for today. I don't think today will be as bad as yesterday but we still have those warnings to get too. Let's zoom into the area right now and I can show you where that tornado warning is. It is for central Wert County and South central Georgia as well as Southeastern Daugherty County as well as northeastern Mitchell County. So it's encompassing quite a pretty large area, including the area of Sylvester. You can see our radar sweeping over the region right now.

This tornado warning is in effect until 8:15 and we also have more news to tell you. A brand new tornado watch has been issued. If you just lower the camera here, you can see that's this box right here and it does cover three states. So you're getting a little bit of Georgia, Alabama and Florida now in this tornado watch box.

This goes until 2:00 today. So we could start to see here some very strong thunderstorms working their way through the panhandle of Florida. If you're driving along I-10, you're probably starting to deal with these storms. Take this seriously. In this region, we could see a tornado drop down at any time if we get a tornado warning.

Here is a closer look at some of the storms as I mentioned just to the east of Mobile, Alabama. And then northward, you can see quite a bit of a swath of storms stretching across Alabama and Georgia.

But in Georgia last night, it was a scary situation, a lot of tornado sirens were going off. And now that we have the light of day, we can see the damage and a lot of this is in Paulding County. It's interesting to note -- thank goodness we didn't have any deaths in this part of Georgia, but we certainly did see a lot of damage. You can see roofs completely torn off the home's foundation, looking right inside of the home there, these aerial pictures just coming to us now.

(AUDIO/VIDEO GAP)

SCHNEIDER: This is Paulding County. But the tornado warning is in Southwest Georgia currently. Unfortunately, David, we're not done yet. Severe weather impacting Southwest Georgia. You're looking at pictures of northern Georgia where there was tornado damage yesterday.

Bonnie Schneider, keeping an eye on it for us. The fast-moving tornados up ended lives and homes in just seconds. CNN crews are spread out across the stricken region. We'll have much more on the damage from the storms, just ahead.

Plus, forget about super Tuesday. There's actually a political contest today in the republican presidential race. Washington state is making their presidential choice. We'll look at what's at stake, next.

(RESUME EDITING

MATTINGLY: Checking now stories across country where many people in the Midwest and South are trying to clean up after a severe weather outbreak that tore through several states.

In Ohio, the number of those killed is now up to three. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in one town along the Ohio River. A power plant that services the area was also damaged.

And the National Guard has been called to help out in Kentucky where 12 deaths have been confirmed in the wake of the storms. The governor has declared a statewide emergency in an effort to help local authorities gain access to state resources.

Finally, to Indiana, where several towns have absolutely been wiped out. The Southern part of the state was among the hardest hit area. Authorities stay at least 15 people were killed. And earlier, we took you to Henryville, Indiana. That's where Susan Candiotti was for a look at this morning's aftermath. But now I want to take you back a few hours to the moment right after the tornado hit that town.

Watch now this report from Jennie Runevitch from affiliate WTHR.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNY RUNEVITCH, WTHR CORRESPONDENT: Destruction, devastation, disbelief in the tiny town of Henryville torn apart by tornados.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rain, harsh winds and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we know is we've got complete destruction.

RUNEVITCH: The storms simply decimated the area. There are injuries, there are deaths, there is serious damage here. Trucks and tree in a tangled web of debris off I-65. A gas station ripped apart. Henryville junior senior high school virtually flattened. The students were let out 20 minutes before the twister hit. A couple dozen students and staff who remained were able to be rescued safely. That storm-battered school is in Ernie Hall's backyard. He says it was leveled in less than a minute.

ERNIE HALL, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I see it coming over and I said, that is a tornado. I can tell from the way the clouds and I said, it's heading right this way, back there in the hallway and put the mattress up and prayed.

RUNEVITCH: Three of them huddled in that hallway as the tornados ripped through.

HALL: I could actually feel the wind looking at me, the roar, a loud roar. Stuff up in the attic was just beating and pounding all over the place.

RUNEVITCH: They made it through the storm, but around town there are serious concerns for the missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to go and find my mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're looking for your mom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom, my sister, my brother, my dad.

RUNEVITCH: And as day turned to night, searches intensified with emergency workers from across the state.

SGT. JERRY GOODIN, INDIANA STATE POLICE: We have formed search teams and we are searching all those areas looking for people that may be trapped inside their homes.

RUNEVITCH: In the midst of that chaos, there are stories of hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have milk. We got juice, chips, toothbrush, toothpaste.

RUNEVITCH: People shuttling supplies to survivors, reunions of family and friends who made it through (INAUDIBLE) A community doing whatever they can to recover from this.

GOODIN: Mother nature unleashed her fury on us, but we're going to get through this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Lives lost, communities devastated, revealing images from the deadly tornado outbreak across the South and Midwest. Our iReporters are sharing their images with us. That's just moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: We're going to go right now to the telephone. We've got Corporal Ashley Henson from the Paulding County sheriff's department. Tell us what's going on there. What are you seeing there this morning?

CORPORAL ASHLEY HENSON, PAULDING COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (via telephone): We have woken up to very extensive damage throughout the western portion of Paulding County and we are currently trying to assess the damage and see where we are.

MATTINGLY: And we're looking at some of the pictures right now. We're seeing some houses. They look like they have the roofs ripped off of them, the interior of the houses absolutely in shambles. What have you seen out there personally?

HENSON: Well, we have gotten -- what we know now is we have two elementary schools that were damaged last night as well as our newly constructed airport along with multiple family residents throughout our county.

MATTINGLY: And with those schools, this came through at a time when everyone was at home, so there was no problem with the kids being at school, right?

HENSON: Right. Fortunately school was not in session at the time and, you know, thank goodness there were actually no injuries or fatalities reported in the Paulding County area.

MATTINGLY: That is amazing to me, looking at some of this damage. And the fact that it was coming through in the middle of the night, people probably didn't hear the warnings until they could hear the wind probably blowing the windows out in some cases.

HENSON: Fortunately our local news coverage was excellent. I think that gave people an early warning as far as what was coming. MATTINGLY: Well, this from Paulding County, Georgia. We're looking at those pictures looking so similar to what we're seeing like in Indiana, Kentucky, throughout the Midwest and South. So glad to hear so far that there are no reports of any fatalities or injuries.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

HENSON: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: And we're now going to join WTHR for live coverage with what they're showing us right now. Let's take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Radar showing a lot quieter weather. I will tell you, though, some flurries across the northern stretch of the state, we've got this overcast low cloud cover that is keeping temperatures chilly, as well. Thirty-two degrees the current reading in (INAUDIBLE). It's 33 in Bloomington. You factor in that wind chill, feels like 23, feels like just 20 degrees currently in Cocomo (ph), feels like only 27 degrees in Terre Haute. It's going to be a markedly cooler day after yesterday. We soar into the 60s.

MATTINGLY: We're going to get back to them in just a second. Right now, there are some incredible images that we're getting from yesterday's deadly tornado outbreak and they're actually coming from you, our iReporters.

Josh Levs is now in the studio monitoring your iReports.

Josh, I'm sure you've got no shortage of photographs and video that's going to make us say, wow.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No shortage and that's what we're talking about. It's a wide area that was affected by this set of storms.

One place we've been talking about a lot today is in Indiana, Henryville with that tornado that was there. Some of the most powerful video from this iReport. Take a look here, which was nearby just west in Borden, Indiana, very close to Henryville. And just west as I was saying, I'll tell you a little bit about this.

This is from iReporter Chad Hinton who tells us that he was let out of work early yesterday. That's one of the reasons I'm comfortable showing you this. I won't show you iReports of people went in danger, but in this case, they were told to leave the office and go home and take shelter. And he just set up his camera as he was driving and he got this video.

Look how huge that tornado is. He's estimating it was a couple miles away from it at the time. And as we know, that tornado there -- stay on this for a second. That tornado there went on to create a great deal of damage and destruction in the area. And this shot of it, because it's pretty much due west, a lot bit South and west of where that tornado was of Henryville, you're able to get a pretty broad sense of just how huge it was. As we're seeing images of damage and destruction from different parts of the country, there are also other elements to these severe storms that have been coming through, not just the huge tornados, but some places have had massive hail storms.

Take a look at this hail. Stay on this. I'm going to tell what you we're seeing here. That's out of Chattanooga. This is from our iReporter Ted Gottwald, golf ball-sized hail. You hear that term a lot, golf ball-sized hail. But I've also seen close-ups of people holding little bits of hail they found in Chattanooga and it is at least as large as golf balls, in some cases, even larger.

You can see the wind. You can get a sense of all that. Look at that. This is just a couple examples of what's coming in folks. Before I go here, I want to give you a sense of what we've got up on CNN.com, as well so we'll pop back to my screen. We have images from all over the parts of the country that have been affected here.

I'm just going to slice through a few of these so you can get a sense of how many places and how many people have been affected throughout these states that we're talking to you about today. We're seeing destroyed homes, destroyed livelihoods, destroyed roads, impassable roads, all sorts of problems like that.

Real quickly, if you want to help people, you can go to CNN.com/impact. We have a section here that is focusing on helping victims. If you don't have photos or videos but you just want to share your story, I'm on social media all day. I'm camped out here in the news room talking to you at Facebook and Twitter, joshlevsCNN. My blog is CNN.com/josh. Share those stories, share your videos, share your photos, obviously anything that was taken in a safe way and we look forward to hearing from you. David, these images are coming in more and more and, obviously, everyone has been affected this morning.

MATTINGLY: Josh, you're making a great point, safety first. This is dangerous stuff. It's OK to take a picture of a tornado or get video from miles away. But don't try to it up close.

LEVS: And I won't show anything (INAUDIBLE) show anything on the air where anyone was in danger. But in those cases where it was taken safely, our iReporters are everywhere and we can't be everywhere so we get some really amazing views of what happened.

MATTINGLY: Absolutely. Thanks a lot, Josh.

Live from the impact zone, we'll take you to Tennessee next to see how communities there are dealing with the devastation. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: It's 27 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. I'm David Mattingly. Thanks for starting your day with us, this stormy day. We now go back to Bonnie Schneider in the severe weather center. Bonnie, what's happening now?

SCHNEIDER: David, we are still tracking some very intense thunderstorms. The tornado warning that was in effect for Southwest Georgia has now expired. However, we can see tornado warnings issued for this part of the country throughout the day today.

In fact, there is a tornado watch in effect until 2:00 Eastern standard time. This encompasses quite a wide area. We have Panama City in the panhandle of Florida, as well as Tallahassee, Dosen (ph), Alabama, Albany, Georgia, Valdosta. So it stretches all the way into parts of South Carolina, as well.

Keep in mind the storms right now can produce large hail, damaging winds and frequent lightning strikes. A lot of that rolled through Georgia last night and north Georgia. Just in advance of it, this yellow box you see here, this is a severe thunderstorm watch box. And even though we're getting heavy rain through central areas of South Carolina like Columbia at this hour, this can become severe and more intense throughout the day, especially as we get more instability later on this afternoon with more heat building in the afternoon.

Currently, some of the heaviest downpours, the strongest storms are in the panhandle of Florida. So if you're driving from Pensacola and you're headed east along I-10, you are going to encounter some very severe weather. This is a good time to plan your day accordingly and not travel if you don't have to in the Southeast.

Some good news, we're seeing some of the storms work their way away from Mississippi. Mississippi has hard hit yesterday as well as north Alabama. However, down here, look at this in Baton Rouge, more thunderstorms are rolling on through.

So it's still an unsettled day across the Southeast, nowhere near what we saw yesterday. But with that tornado watch in effect, we want to keep everyone alert.

What about further north? We've been talking a lot about the Midwest and the Southeast but in the mid-Atlantic, that rain is coming in and we're seeing some heavier bands of rain just coming now into the state of Virginia. Even further to the north, we're also tracking some intense storms working their way just offshore of Long Island. But here is where we're looking at some of the most intense thunderstorms right now, thunderstorm warnings popping up in Southwest Georgia.

Looking back on the day we definitely saw an incredible day yesterday. Just to tally-up the numbers for you, 95 tornado reports, 95 in one day.

Now, with the wind reports and the strong and damaging hail, that led to an incredible number, a number that we don't see very often, certainly not in early March. Look at this, zoom in on this please we've got 758 total storm reports. That is absolutely incredible.

And that's something that we're going to keep in mind as we go through the day that we really did see an incredibly dangerous day yesterday.

Now, what about for this afternoon? We have a slight risk of severe weather for today across much of northern Florida the panhandle back out to the west, South Carolina up into North Carolina. And look at this, the area of severe threat actually stretches further to the north. So we're looking at coastal areas of South Carolina, as well. And a little bit of North Carolina, including the city of Wilmington. This is another area where we could see severe weather throughout much of the day today.

So it's something we're going to keep in mind as we go through.

Another thing to keep in mind is, is this normal for March to see so much severe weather right at the start of the month? Well, the answer is no. When you are looking at the average number of tornados that we see typically in the month of March, it's about 92 on average. Of course give or take more or less, that's for the entire month across the country. Where we see the most tornados is actually in the month of May, 322.

So already to have such an active day so early in the month of March is definitely unusual. And it wasn't just an active day, it was a deadly day. And it was the large long-lasting tornados that worked their way across Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee; a big, big portion of the country impacted yesterday, millions of Americans impacted.

Today, the storm system is a little further south and east, not as many tornados but we still have that tornado watch in effect until 2:00 for today -- David.

MATTINGLY: That's right. Not out of the woods yet. Thank you, Bonnie.

At least 31 people are dead from devastating tornados that have crisscrossed the country but many communities are still searching for survivors and victims. One of the first hit areas by the tornados was Chattanooga, Tennessee, where hundreds of homes were reduced to rubble.

Our Rob Marciano is in Ooltewah, Tennessee, one of the many communities outside Chattanooga that were slammed by the storms. Rob, what are you seeing this morning?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well as you know, this storm started in northern Alabama yesterday. And they -- it was hit there -- it was really the first confirmed tornado of this massive tornado outbreak. And then it made its way across the border and hit north Chattanooga and then this town Ooltewah -- Ooltewah which is just northeast, it's got about 20,000 people who live here. It's pretty big and the folks that live here have some pretty substantial homes, many of which have been scraped down to their foundation.

Looking across the recreational lake here, another community over there where you've got splintered trees and homes that in some cases are completely destroyed, a number of injuries, including one person that had to be air lifted out of there. In all, 27 people were injured across eastern Tennessee during the storm yesterday.

But thankfully, they think nobody died. So zero fatalities; they've accounted they think for most everybody. Now, I caught up with a gentleman who lives here and this, wiped off its foundation, this home here. A well -- a well built home completely, completely destroyed.

A gentleman and his wife lived here for about 30 years. He's a 78 year-old navy veteran, a fighter pilot. And he was just kind of going through his stuff and getting the more memorable items. And he knew enough that we were going to have another storm last night. So he wrapped up his most precious items so they wouldn't get damaged by -- by the rain that came through last night. That was smart. And here is what he told me about his experience yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BENTON, TORNADO VICTIM: Well I can definitely thank the Lord for sparing as many people as he has and I know that these things can all be replaced. But like everyone else here, it's going to take a while. It's going to take a lot of people in construction to help out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: And a lot of people are helping out. You can already hear the buzz of chainsaws once again a lot of heavy equipment in here yesterday. And again today to clear out the roadways and to get the people in here to start to pick up the pieces and as I speak right now, David, I'm looking at the power company trying to string lines not necessarily to this place, but connect other communities that aren't so banged up.

But this one right here is; and we've got over 20 homes completely destroyed and over 100 homes with significant damage across this part of the Chattanooga area --David.

MATTINGLY: That's right, Rob, just so much damage and repairs just now beginning. This is going to be a story that's not going to go away for a long time.

Well, on to politics now. We are just three days away from Super Tuesday. But there's actually another important contest that takes place today. It's the Washington Republican Caucus. CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joins us now.

Paul, in normal election years, we wouldn't be talking this much about Washington. Why has it become so important this time?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, I guess it's all timing. It's a -- it is becoming a player now in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination David, no doubt about it. Listen, 40 delegates eventually at stake in these caucuses today in Washington State. But much more than that, momentum is up for grabs.

This is the last contest before Super Tuesday, as you mentioned. Just three days away when ten states will hold primaries and caucuses. And for the candidates, well they can't emphasize enough how important Washington State is. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I encourage you to make a big difference. You have an opportunity. Everybody is focused in on Super Tuesday. But you are the voice. You are the voice that's going to speak very loudly before Super Tuesday and put this race on a whole other plane.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are going to be a bunch of states that are going to make their mind up in the next couple of days. But you guys are first and so your voice is going to be heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Well, the candidates hope a strong finish today in Washington State. David, we'll carry over until Super Tuesday. That's why you saw all four candidates, all four of the major Republican presidential candidates campaigning in Washington State. They all made visits, in fact Ron Paul will continue to be there today -- David.

MATTINGLY: And it's all about momentum at this point, isn't it? I mean, this close to Super Tuesday, they want to be able to say I've got the -- I've got the momentum behind me going into this big race.

STEINHAUSER: Exactly. Exactly and talking about Super Tuesday, it's interesting three of the candidates today will be in Ohio; Santorum, Romney and Newt Gingrich. And take a look at this David this is the most recent poll out yesterday in the battle for Ohio which is arguably probably the most important state on Super Tuesday.

And Rick Santorum at one time had a pretty solid lead according to polls but that seems to have disappeared and basically all knotted up between Santorum and Romney in Ohio with Gingrich and Paul further down; a lot of business coming up over the next couple of days as we head towards Super Tuesday -- David.

MATTINGLY: And you've got to hand to these candidates; they manage to really keep it interesting with every single matchup that comes along.

STEINHAUSER: No doubt. There has been -- a lot of drama in this battle for the nomination.

MATTINGLY: All right thank you. Paul Steinhauser.

Up next, a middle school bans talking -- seriously. We'll explain after the break.

But before we get to that, it's time for "Travel Insider". As CNN reporters and producers, we often have the inside scoop on great places to go. Our White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar, shows us where she goes to unwind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brianna Keilar and I cover the White House for CNN. And one of my favorite places in the D.C. area is Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It's about seven and a half miles south of the White House. This is the place where you can come and get a great meal, do a little shopping and even get a history lessons.

This is, after all, the hometown of George Washington and here at the old Presbyterian Meeting House you can find the gravesite of his personal physician, James Drake. It's a little spooky. It's one of the stops on the ghost tour here in town. But I say we get out of here and go find some other spirits.

This is one of my favorite places in Old Town to end the evening. This is the PX Speakeasy it's completely unmarked and the blue light means that they're open. So you can just knock on the door and come on in.

When you get upstairs at PX, you might be lucky enough to show up on a night where Todd Trasher, the owner and bartender here.

Thanks Todd.

TODD TRASHER, BAR CHEF: Great. How are you? Nice to see you.

KEILAR: Todd is here to mix you a drink. So what are we having tonight?

TRASHER: I don't know. What are you in the mood for? Rum, vodka, gin?

KEILAR: Let's try gin.

TRASHER: Gin tonight ok.

So this is Le Blanc, it's a fortified wine from France. Purple basil, put a little dash of gin just to give it a little bit of a backbone, three drops of citric acid and a orange flower water, a little bit of ice to start. Stir 30 or more times, not that I'm counting. You smack it. Wave it to the cocktail gods, sweet basil.

KEILAR: That's amazing.

TRASHER: Thanks very much.

KEILAR: Cheers from Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: This morning, many residents throughout the Midwest and south are waking up to this. Destruction left behind by a slew of tornados that nearly wiped out several towns. At least 31 people have been killed.

We have crews on the ground in the hardest hit areas. We're monitoring the situation for you to bring you the latest.

Checking a few other top stories at this hour, the attention of the Republican presidential race shift to Washington State's caucuses today; 40 delegates are up for grabs. It comes just three days before Super Tuesday. Voters will also be taking part in a nonbinding straw poll. And Washington's caucuses are open, meaning Democrats and Independents can also participate as well as the Republicans.

Family and friends will gather today to remember Daniel Parmertor, one of three teenagers killed in a school shooting this week at Chardon, Ohio. Two other students were hospitalized while another was grazed by gunfire. Chardon High School reopened the students yesterday where the principal led a moment of silence. Grief counselors and police were also on campus.

BP says it will pay nearly $8 billion to settle claims related to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. A group representing the plaintiffs said the amount will, quote, "Fully compensate the victims". The three-month long spill occurred after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig which was operated by BP; 11 people were killed in that blast.

Every day, people do wild and controversial things. You know, those "what were you thinking moments"? Well that -- those things often go viral. So every Saturday we're going to be breaking down the psychology of it all. Relationship expert and psychologist Dr. Alduan Tartt joins me now.

First, though, I want you to take a look at this video. Let's roll that video. And this was from a crew from affiliate WDRB in Louisville. They've taped this. They were at a gas station shooting video of a tornado that devastated Henryville, Indiana.

Now clearly, the tornado was barreling down on them. But instead of immediately taking cover, they shot this video. Now it's something we often see during severe weather. And just the last hour, we spoke to a professional storm chaser who gets very close to these very dangerous storms.

So the question I have for you is -- you know, I've done this myself -- why do people do this? I'm interested in your professional opinion.

DR. ALDUAN TARTT, PSYCHOLOGIST AND RELATIONSHIP EXPERT: The thrill of the chase. It's exciting. It's blind optimism that is not going to hurt you. And you get so hyper-focused on the excitement and in the sense of adventure and on the adrenaline that's flowing that you can get video and capture something and show it to the world.

MATTINGLY: Can that blind you to the risk that you might be facing?

TARTT: Oh, absolutely. I mean you're so focused on catching this video that you're not even focused on your surroundings. Your adrenaline is pumping. It's a sense of adventure. It's why people drive fast and they're hoping to get on CNN.

MATTINGLY: Well, now we were talking about professionals who are out there doing this. There's a lot of amateurs that go out and do this, as well in the past. I've talked to people who were outside shooting video, spectacular video of a tornado going by. And I say, at any time, didn't you think you should have taken shelter? I mean their self-preservation kind of disappear with adrenaline?

TARTT: Absolutely. When they're focusing on capturing this video, they're not thinking about safety. It's why we play the lottery, knowing that we're not going to win. In addition to that, it's profitable. A lot of people do this for money, hoping that their video goes viral. It's when your focus and your purpose is -- it's like being in a zone. You don't focus intensity, you don't focus on timing, you don't focus on pressure. You're just focusing on the tornado.

MATTINGLY: I might want to argue with you. I don't think profit comes into it at the moment. People just seeing that right in there in front of them just overwhelmed by the moment; just wanting to capture that --

(CROSSTALK)

TARTT: That's true. And they're different from the professional storm chasers, you know.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

Well, changing the subject, this story sounds like a sequel to "Footloose". I mean there's a middle school that's actually trying to ban talking. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAITH STROUD, PRINCIPAL, KNIGHT MIDDLE SCHOOL: We have, actually, a very structured protocol in place. When it's time to dismiss, the students are lined up, single file, one behind the other and the teachers actually escort them from class to class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Ok. Come on, no talking in the hallway? It seems to me that's impossible. What could they possibly accomplish with that?

TARTT: I'm going to have to disagree. This is a school that was perennially on the failing list. If there's no structure and there's no order and there's no discipline, she's going to lose control of the school. I'm guessing that Principal Strouds's strategy is to put some type of order and discipline into the school and allow them to earn the right to talk in the hallway.

MATTINGLY: So maintaining control of that five or ten minutes or whatever they have to change classes is one of those last untested areas where they haven't been able to insert discipline?

TARTT: Absolutely. This is when bullying is occurring. This is when fighting is occurring. This is when skipping is occurring. And they're getting distracted from the lesson. Remember, she only has a couple years to turn this school around. I guarantee towards the end of the year she'll allow them to earn it and then the school will have structured discipline and order and then education can occur.

MATTINGLY: Well, it's making a whole lot more sense now that you explained it to me like that.

But now, let's end this on an inspiring note -- people shaving their heads for a cause in Ohio. Some elementary school students went bald to support their friend who is fighting cancer. This isn't an easy thing to do for young people because appearance means everything. But do events like this do more than just raise money? Is it actually helping these kids deal with the problem their friend is having?

TARTT: Absolutely. You cannot image the stress, especially for girls, with losing their hair and feeling different as far as cancer is concerned. The fact that the student would come around, his friends would do this in support means all the world.

MATTINGLY: Well, that's very interesting. I mean, you see these kids doing these things, you never think about the deeper meaning behind it. So, good for them and good for them helping themselves by doing this.

TARTT: Absolutely. They should be applauded. Now he feels connected and part of the school, he doesn't feel different. And that means a lot to a kid's self esteem.

MATTINGLY: Ok. Thank you very much.

TARTT: Thank you very much, David.

MATTINGLY: I enjoyed it thanks.

Well, we're going back now to Bonnie in the severe weather center. Something new happening, Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, David. We have a new tornado warning and it is, once again, for southwest Georgia. Now, a tornado has not been spotted by a weather spotter, but it has been detected on Doppler Radar. So as you can see, the tornado warning is in southwest Georgia and that is taking us all the way into northeastern Decatur County, northwestern Grady County and southwestern Mitchell County. This goes until 9:00 this morning.

We've seen a developing tornado detected by the radar at Mt. Pleasant; it's moving east at 35 miles per hour. So if you're in this region, near (INAUDIBLE), you'll want to take cover now because a tornado could drop down at any time with this strong storm system.

This is part of a big storm system we're watching for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. You can see severe thunderstorms in southwest Georgia. But there's a large tornado watch box that stretches southward into the Panhandle of Florida, northward into South Carolina and a good portion of southwest Georgia as well. So this will go until 2:00 today.

David, that means we run the risk of tornados anywhere in this vicinity straight through 2:00. But we're seeing severe thunderstorms popping up. As you can see from west to east, from Louisiana all the way to Georgia and then back out northward towards Virginia. Some of those storms are stretching as far north as Virginia at this hour.

You can see a severe thunderstorm watch box extends all the way to North Carolina. And some of the heavier rain is also working its way even further to the north. In Philadelphia, we're starting to get some rain, northern New Jersey. It's staying away from New York City at this hour but expect some of that to move in for you later on. Thunderstorms you can see offshore of Long Island.

And believe it or not, it's still feeling much like winter, of course, in the northeast in New England. That's where the storm system is only producing some more of a cold rain than anything else -- back to you.

MATTINGLY: But still hours to go on that severe weather; thanks Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

MATTINGLY: We'll be keeping an eye on it.

Some tornado survivors say they may have lost everything, but they feel lucky to be alive. They are telling us what it's like to live through a monster storm that tore up everything in its path. That is coming up straight ahead.

But first, when snowboarders first hit the slope, they got a lot of stares from skiers. Now there's some new equipment on the mountains causing some double takes. Reynolds Wolf has the story in this week's "Start Small, Think Big".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Albert Mendoza grew up with a love to ride.

ALBERT MENDOZA, DUAL SNOWBOARDS: I grew up in the Venice. The only thing we did over there is skateboard and surf. I come from a background of going sideways.

WOLF: So when inspiration hit him, it hit quickly.

MENDOZA: When I was a kid, I came up here to bear and we had one inner tube for like five kids. Jump on it, pop. There it goes. There were some empty cans laying around. What I did was just smash them on. See if they would work. And I could crunch them on. They stick on to your feet. I would run and try to slide with those.

WOLF: He began working on turning the can idea into boards; then teamed up with Scott Rickett an avid snowboarder who had just sold his own skateboard company. They started Dual Snowboards. It's a hybrid of snowboarding and skiing giving riders a board for each foot and a whole new way to experience the snow.

SCOTT RICKETT, DUAL SNOWBOARDS: One of the biggest disadvantages of snowboarding is having your legs lock together. The dual gives us a whole new set of tricks you can do. It brings in a whole new freedom of doing grabs and spins and run back up and hit a feature over and over.

WOLF: For traditional skiers and snowboarders, the duals might look strange and take some getting used to, but in the business of action sports, Albert and Scott say they're giving athletes what they want.

RICKETT: We're in southern California and we have everything. We have snow, surf, the mountains. The kids are still looking for something new to do. It just opens up new possibilities and new ways to ride.

WOLF: Reynolds Wolf, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: For the second time in a week -- in less than a week -- parts of the Midwest and the South are waking up to nearly unbelievable devastation. Killer tornados ravaged entire neighborhoods one after the other and crumpled homes like match sticks. The death toll is now 31 from Friday's storms.

Here is a look at some of the destruction few there will ever forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everywhere you look, there's just a story like this. A bus into a building, a mobile home completely flattened; just major damage everywhere in this area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything was beaten around our heads. But thank God we made it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked up and I was talking to my daughter across the street. I looked up and I just see debris everywhere. And the next thing I knew, I was like, I thought it was a dream.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's gas leaks. The houses are all completely demolished back there. Completely, to the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building shook. The lights went off. The noise is incredible. And it passed right by in front of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting hail. Golf ball sized hail. I can't honestly tell you what's going on.

CRYSTAL PENDERGRASS, STORM SURVIVOR: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just like you were on a waiting scale this way. And it just kept on like this. And the next thing I know, I'm pushing tables, refrigerators, freezers, whatever I had on me, off of me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it just seemed like my house was lifted up and then it just dropped. The roof fell in and the glass was every place. And while I was under the table, I said, "Lord, make this pass." And it did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Just the scope of this, it's just so hard to take in this morning. People from Indiana to Georgia are waking up to this morning to see the devastation left behind by an outbreak of tornados.

Our live team coverage continues at the top of the hour. Stay with us.

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