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Tornado Hits Oklahoma; Storm Chasers Capture Tornado on Video

Aired May 21, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Ashleigh Banfield, live in Phoenix, Arizona, where about a half hour from now Jodi Arias is expected to stand up and address a jury that's expected to decide whether she lives or dies. This is really the last-ditch effort, her last appearance before this court determines her fate. I'm going to bring you the latest throughout this hour, as well.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ashleigh, thank you very much.

We have a kind of two tiered system here of what's going on. As soon as Jodi Arias is going on, as Ashleigh told you, we'll switch over to that. But f now we're here in Moore, Oklahoma. This story literally all around us.

This is what happens when you have a bowling alley that is attacked by a tornado. Steel girders, aluminum reinforced walls, everything that held up this massive structure twisted like a pretzel. That is the devastating power and violence that is unique to a tornado.

They are still trying to assess it. With tornadoes, they assess them by damage. The damage here, people in this community say it's as bad as they have ever seen.

Good news. The government has been giving us casualty numbers throughout the morning. Those numbers are going down. Why? Well, they're getting better coordinated reports. Things that are being repeated are getting sorted out. So, right now, we have a death toll in the 20s. Some of them, unfortunately, are kids. Lost their lives in an elementary school because, remember, this struck just as school was getting out. But that number has gone down today so far. That's a little bit of a breath of fresh air for people here.

We want to play some sound of what it was like for people on the ground here, people trying to make it through the horror of a tornado. Take a look and a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETSY RANDOLPH, OKLAHOMA STATE TROOPER: Everywhere you looked, the debris field was so high and so far and so wide, wounded people walking around the streets. You know, they were walking wounded. I mean they were bloody. They were people that had stuff sticking out of them from things that were flying around in the air. There were cars crumpled up like little toys and thrown on top of buildings, buildings that were two and three stories tall that were leveled. I mean it was devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Four thousand-pound cars have been stacked here as if you were in a parking garage. The need is great, immediate, and long-term. Search and rescue is going on. We understand that less than 50 percent of the search area has been combed through by teams. We've been watching them here with their dogs this morning.

One other good break is that while it is windy here, storm cells are moving in the area. The rain has held off, so search and rescue is able to continue. All of the state's assets, the National Guard, are already in place. Surrounding communities are helping out. The president took to the White House today to make his pledge of support saying that we are all Oklahoma after a disaster like this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes. For there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, there are parents to console, first responders to comfort, and, of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And here, they anxiously await the president to actually come and visit because his presence on the ground always adds urgency. The rain's starting to come down here, but, again, the weather is holding enough for search and rescue to continue.

Now, the biggest threat here were these kids that were trapped in schools. One school, the Plaza Tower, it was horrific. The search and rescue there is still going hand by hand. We know kids lost their lives in the basement there. At least those are the best reports that we've had out of it coming from the government.

Another school, Briarwood, was also a focus of attention as parents who had no cell service, many of them no homes and also no information about their kids. If there were families, for all their distress, who get the best news of their days when they got to school that day and found their kids. Take a look and a listen at some of the reunions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, where is she? (INAUDIBLE) looking for Heather (ph). She's out? She's out? OK. It's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was so brave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: A horrible situation, but imagine in the midst of that chaos finding your kid. Imagine how much relief there is for these parents.

And now, speaking of relief, the need here is very great. Throughout our coverage here we keep direct you to cnn.com/impact. You go to the website, you go to that page, and you will find ways to help this community.

Acres and acres of homes in this community are gone. Where there were houses, there are now just haystacks. These tinders (ph), these shards of wood and metal that you see all over. That's all these people's homes are now. Clothing. Everything you need to survive.

The water treatment plant isn't running here right now. Power is spotty. Gas mains are open. This is a very difficult situation. You see on your screen. Please go to cnn.com/impact and see how you can make a difference there.

Another thing that we're trying to figure out this morning about search and rescue is, how many teams can be sustained over how much time. We've seen the dogs here. We had them right next to us. And it has become an open question as to how long it will take them to get through this entire situation. Twenty miles long is the search area and some places two miles wide. That's what they believe the diameter of this storm was, 200-mile-an-hour-winds blowing. And they've been going at it as best they can.

Not getting a lot of earth-moving machinery here yet either. Why? Many of the streets are impassable. This is not an easy area to get to. We're watching them come. We're seeing the first responders come, but they are not here in the force and in the number that they need to be. And that's why they wait. And that's why it's largely now a function of manpower in many of the communities here, literally digging through homes.

Now that's on the overall effort. The specific efforts, you have people going through their own homes, helping in their own blocks. We have Stephanie Elam joining us now who is with somebody, whose with a family, has been monitoring people's efforts to try to figure out what is left of the lives as they knew them.

Stephanie, are you with us?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris. And, you know, one of the things that is so hard, when you look at the devastation of someone's home and you think about the loss of lives of loved ones. But another part of that is the loss of life of a dog or a cat or a pet. We all know that they're like family. And these people just showed up here and they've been yelling for the name of their dog, trying to find their dog, looking through, sifting to see if they can find any sign of their pup and also looking for what else they can find in there. It's just very hard for people as they're going through the rubble.

And it's difficult terrain. As you can see, you look down here. Just to give you an idea why officials really don't want people walking through everywhere, there's nail sticking out. There could be live wire. So they're saying, if you want to come in and look for your pet, that's fine, but don't go digging through yet because they're just afraid of the conditions.

We did speak to another neighbor here and we asked him just how difficult this situation is compared to other tornadoes, because this is where his family's from. And this is what he told us.

All right. Well, we don't have that sound for you, but what I can tell you is, his family's also in Joplin, Missouri, and he said that it's hard to even compare which one's worse simply because that it's just so devastating no matter what. Going through and looking at all the places where your memories are. He was talking about looking at the places where they took pictures of their twin daughters the first day they went to kindergarten.

So, this is what people are looking at. It's a collection of memories that have now been tossed around like they have no meaning. When actually they are just nothing but everything to them, Chris, and that's what makes it so difficult today, as they come out here to piece things back together.

CUOMO: On one level, it is so hard to look at everything that has mattered to you and see that it is gone, yet we were just hearing from people moments ago about how it also brings into focus what really matters to them. When they hear about all who lost loved ones, kids, they look around if they have their family, they feel lucky because they have hope for the future.

Stephanie, thank you very much. We'll come back to you.

We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're doing two things for you here right now on CNN. We are monitoring the situation here in Moore, Oklahoma. It's a very a fluid situation. They are still about halfway through with search and rescue.

We're also monitoring the Jodi Arias situation in Arizona. When we know that she is going to take the stand in her hearing to find out whether or not she gets death penalty, we'll take you to that as well. So, please, stay with CNN. I'll see you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to go just to our north.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to it. You can hear it. Listen!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that collar (ph) cloud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to the roar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not good. Please - dear, God, please keep these people safe. Lots of debris in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a (INAUDIBLE) on the side starting to -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big -- there's a whole roof just came off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Those are the voices of the storm chasers that do that brave work of going up against mother nature and capturing images that the rest of us can understand what people are forced to live through.

I'm joined now by three of them, Kevin, Lauren, Colt (ph). Great to have you all here.

Why aren't you cold, Kevin? It's been getting colder here. You know, it's hampering the search and rescue. You don't even have a coat on. Is that part of being a storm chaser?

KEVIN ROLFS, BASEHUNTERS CHASING NAVIGATOR: I don't know. I just -- the sun came out and I just got a little warm, so I decided to shed the hoodie.

CUOMO: I'm old and cold.

Now, I want to get your guys sense of what it is like here on the ground and how this compares. Now, for a little bit of context, just over to our left, if you take the camera over there, Dave (ph), this was a bowling alley, this structure behind me. You can still see the lanes. You can see the sun reflecting off the water in the wood. The lanes, they're going across your screen. That's what this was. It's made of steel. Different types of steel girders and aluminum bracing and walls. This was a really strong building. And it has been twisted up like it was nothing.

You see a lot of hard weather and the results. Kevin, starting with you and then pass the mic so everybody can give their perspective, how does this one compare?

ROLFS: This one compares to tornadoes the likes of which would be Joplin, Missouri, two years ago. Of course, the May 3, 1999 that struck Moore back in, well, May of '99. It's absolutely horrendous damage to see.

CUOMO: And on the ground, Lauren, take the mic, what are you seeing in terms of what people are dealing with here?

LAUREN HILL, BASEHUNTERS CHASING: Everywhere you turn, there's like a new - new damage, a new car completely obliterated and the ground scoured in parts and just buildings swept clean. This is the kind of damage where it really -- unless you were underground, you know, it's almost impossible to dig out. And miracles are happening. I mean people are digging out, but many people didn't.

CUOMO: You were telling me earlier this morning that there's something unique about a tornado. Hurricanes are terrible and devastating, cyclones. You've seen them all.

But there's something about a tornado. What is it that makes it so uniquely violent?

HILL: It's such a concentrated energy. The angular momentum is in such a small located area. And so unlike a hurricane where it's several hundred miles, it's really -- especially in an area like this where it's going through the heart of a city, the effects are just catastrophic.

And right there, I mean, you could be a mile down the road and be fine. You'll see houses where they're fine and yet their neighbor across the street, completely obliterated.

CUOMO: Nothing wins. Any type of structure that comes up against a tornado this size, this strength is going to lose.

HILL: Right. And honestly, underground shelters.

CUOMO: That's the only thing you have.

HILL: Yeah.

CUOMO: Now, Colt, do me a favor. Set up for me the video that we were watching earlier. I want to play some more now.

COLT FORNEY, BASEHUNTERS CHASING: OK.

CUOMO: What the scene was like in terms of your watching this tornado and realizing how strong it actually was.

FORNEY: Well, we got to the South Moore High School parking lot. That's where we filmed the majority of our footage from, and as it started approaching you could just see the violent motion near the ground.

And it was -- you can -- maybe about a mile and a half, maybe two miles out, you could start hearing the roar.

When we moved back to the east, dropped south to get out of its way, a little bit -- looked like it was going to be too close, so we were dropping back south a bit. The roar was almost deafening.

HILL: You could feel it.

CUOMO: And that's just from the wind and all of the different debris?

FORNEY: The debris swirl, the wind, debris colliding with the ground and the air. It was incredible.

CUOMO: We have it here. Let's relive what the storm chasers made it through. Go ahead and play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go north. Back behind it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back through the debris field, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search and rescue's (inaudible), guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the damage, the damage path right now. Houses are completely leveled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) it's unrecognizable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houses are leveled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This doesn't look like it was ever even a development.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it doesn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no. This ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God, guys! Look at those people. We have to help them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, pull over in this little -- right here. Pull over right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now, Lauren, you're driving?

Take the mike. Tell me what is it like? How do you negotiate distance and where you can be, wanting to see versus not wanting to become one of the victims.

HILL: It's really a difficult situation, especially in town. So many things are going through your mind, not only the storm and the collar cloud of the storm above. Is it going to increase? Is it still tracking east? Is it going to occlude and go a little bit more north, but you're also trying to figure out traffic and where you're going to negotiate and roads and you're listening to your navigator and he's pointing out roads.

And it's so many things at once. At one point, it's like, no, we need to go south. And it's definitely difficult and interesting experience, but ...

CUOMO: This things moving 30-to-50-miles and hour. You have to adjust speed accordingly?

HILL: Right. You do. And you also have to adjust for the fact that it's increasing in size not only forward, but also kind of at you even though it's moving away just when it wedges out. And so you've really got to keep an eye on (inaudible) winds, you know, and just -- even debris, once the tornado has moved from houses across the way, as the winds are picking up into the swirl of the tornado, it's already past and it's -- yeah.

CUOMO: These stick homes, Kevin, seem to be absolutely of no resistance to this type of force coming over.

I mean, look, obviously these steel-reinforced buildings were nothing. The hospital which is just right next to us, which is a place that people go to for safety, for shelter, was just decimated by this, so obviously, it can take on everything.

But in particular, these wooden houses we see really fall apart fast. In what order do you see usually it going? Is it roof first and then walls? What do you see happen?

KEVIN ROLFS, BASEHUNTERS CHASING NAVIGATOR: To be honest, it can vary from what I've seen.

It typically is the roof that will fly up first as the wind kind of catches up underneath it and will take it up.

But in terms of a mobile home, those can just be shredded and rolled and torn apart almost instantaneously in a tornado like this. And there's no safe place to be if that's the case.

CUOMO: Now one thing that we have all seen that is also unique, as was this tornado, is the response by this community. You see a calm. I mean, people are hurting, and tears, but often the tears get you through it.

But there is a resolve, a resilience. The shelters, low population because the community takes in its own, treats everyone as family.

So we're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about how the Oklahomans here in Moore are already trying to recover and we will tell you why this place is special, not just because of its vulnerability, but because of its resolve.

When we come back, stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be fine. We'll rebuild again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome to CNN viewers everywhere. I'm Chris Cuomo in Moore, Oklahoma.

The situation is what you see on your screen. A massive tornado tore through this community yesterday at about 3:00 p.m., just as schools were getting out, 20 miles long worth of damage, two miles wide in some places, winds sustained of over 200-miles-an-hour.

And remember, this wasn't a hurricane. It's a tornado, uniquely violent, that spinning, cutting motion of the energy literally takes and makes its way through anything in its path.

Death toll, injured, the number are developing. We have a little bit of a bright spot of information for you with that. We'll tell you in a second. We've heard that over 100 people have been rescued.

Search and rescue's been hampered throughout the course of this recovery because of weather. But right now it's back on and they are marshalling all available assets.

Most importantly, those in the community are helping themselves. They're taking in people who have been in harm's way. They're looking through to see what's left of their lives, and they are counting their blessings, those who got their children back.

A big source of concern here was that two schools were hit significantly by this, one of them really bad. It's literally -- they're searching through things by hand. Kids lost their lives there.

The other one, a lot of great reunions were had. I want to bring in Pam Brown. She's been reporting from the beginning.

Let's start with this bright spot. The government had been putting out numbers, over 50. But they had said it's early. We don't know what's duplicative and what isn't. We're now getting a little bit of a bright spot while still early.

What are we hearing?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're hearing that, at this point, the death toll as gone down to 24 people and nine children, including nine children, six from the school that you just mentioned.

But event though this is a bright spot, Chris, it's still very early. There are a lot of people, including children, that are still unaccounted for and we have seen the search-and-rescue teams searching through the rubble.

They were out here earlier with their cadaver dogs here at this bowling alley that's obviously now just a mountain of rubble. But they are still searching for people.

And it was interesting, hearing them talk. They huddled around here because this has been very tough for them, too. They have a lot of challenges and trying to find survivors that are still trapped under the rubble, talking about the chemicals, downed power lines, the fact that the elements are picking up at sometimes. Now it's fine.

But it's been very tough for them, and they we encouraging each other, saying, hang in there. Rely on each. Let's through this, and let's do what we're here for and find people who could still be alive but are trapped, as we speak. CUOMO: To remind people here, you know, we're standing on a carpet in what used to be a bowling alley. The sound you hear is a helicopter from the national guard. They're doing overhead surveys. Just so you know what you're hearing.

This was a bowling alley. You see the alleys here and the balls. This was steel reinforced. They're massive beams, all twisted, and they have to make their way through this in order to do any searching, yes?

BROWN: Yeah, it was really incredible, just watching them earlier today with the cadaver dogs that were running throughout here and the teams. Really, you have a tough situation because this is heavy material. We're talking about steel girder, right behind you, the scraps right here of metal hugging the pole.

This is a very, potentially dangerous situation. But they're really doing a good job of coming to these places and moving on to the next place. They really have their work cut out for them, Chris.

CUOMO: And the need, very great. CNN.com/impact, find out how to give. The water treatment plant from Moore, not online right now, which means water is scarce. They're being asked to conserve.

Fifty-thousand-plus without power, still we're waiting for that number to come down, still less than 24 hours since the horrific event.

And, of course those who lost their lives, those still remaining, the injured, all developing in a picture here.

We're going to take a break. Remember, we're following two stories for you, the disaster here in Moore, Oklahoma, and also, the big legal question for Jodi Arias, whether or not she deserves the death penalty for her homicide conviction.

We will give you the latest on both when we come back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)