Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma Again; Daylight Shows Extent Of Damage; Severe Storms, Flash Floods Threaten; IRS Under Fire Over Dance Video; Poisoned Letter Sent To Obama; Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins; How To Survive A Tornado; Key Decisions In Zimmerman Trial; Pistorius Photos Leaked To Media; Cashing In On The Housing Boom

Aired June 01, 2013 - 11:59   ET

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

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Miguel Marquez. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

Getting right to our top story, tornadoes ripping through the Midwest again. Oklahoma is getting ready to once again clean up after devastating tornadoes. Officials now say nine people died in last night's twisters. Two of them were children and we heard this morning most of the victims were in cars.

It was a chaotic scene as five tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area last night. Storm chasers got this incredible video of one forming in El Reno. More than 70 people were hurt. El Reno and Union City suffered most of the damage. This comes less than two weeks after a huge tornado plowed through nearby Moore, Oklahoma.

And that's not the end of it. Now Oklahoma City is dealing with major flooding. Check this out. Huge chunk of land washed away right next to a road. Some areas have seen as much as 11 inches of rain. The White House says it is closely monitoring the situation in Oklahoma.

El Reno, Oklahoma, is littered with debris from the tornado. Our Nick Valencia has been there all morning surveying the damage. Nick, what are you seeing on the ground? What is the immediate need of people there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Miguel. Right now they need to get their power back on. That's really been the most inconvenience for those residents in Reno and Canadian County in general. You have thousands of people without power, tens of thousands throughout the state of Oklahoma still without power.

We're pulling up on a scene here where a house appears to have lost half of its roof -- surveying and sort of assessing the debris, overturned cars. On our way into Reno early this morning, El Reno, I should say, Miguel, we saw some overturned semi trucks.

(Inaudible) the damage or the magnitude of this storm until the sun came up. What's interesting and we found most interesting is our crew drives around El Reno. You will turn a corner and see a section of the neighborhood that is untouched (inaudible) -- MARQUEZ: Nick, I can stop right there. You're breaking up a little bit. Let me ask you one other question before we lose you all together. You are in Moore covering that. You've become basically our Oklahoma bureau chief at this point. Great job that you're doing, but how are people dealing with yet another round of storms they're facing this daunting clean-up?

VALENCIA: That's a great question, Miguel. There is an underlying anxiety here, but you know this from covering tornados. You know this from, you know, time spent here in Oklahoma. There is resilience. They've gone through so many natural disasters and, of course, Oklahoma City bomb terrorist attack.

It's come to a point where they're dealing with calamity. It's more of a put on our gloves and we're going to work and help each other out and help each other clean. If there's any uplifting thing happening here, it's that, neighbors helping neighbors and even strangers helping strangers.

MARQUEZ: Nick Valencia in El Reno, Oklahoma, thank you very much. Stay safe you all.

George Howell is in Union City, Oklahoma, where he's been surveying the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): (Inaudible) -- from the powerful storm that came through. This is the area where we know that a tornado touched ground. We know it caused a lot of damage in the nearby neighborhood and destroyed some homes and overturned vehicles. I want to show you this. It was part of a vehicle. That's a vehicle that it belonged to right over there. The sign says tornado-con on the door, apparently a storm chaser.

The residents around here tell me that the driver did get out OK, but they say that the sheer force of the winds the other night was strong enough to pick that vehicle up and push it over into that field. You do really get a sense of just how strong this storm was as it developed over the Union City area. Then moved into Oklahoma City, dumped a lot of rain, flooding was the issue in Oklahoma City. And with light of day we can tell that these tornadoes did cause damage. George Howell, CNN, Union City, Oklahoma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: At latest count, more than 212,000 customers in the Midwest have lost power. You can see how the extreme weather toppled lines.

Missouri and Oklahoma right now are facing the most blackouts with more than 160,000 in those two states without power. Illinois and Arkansas and Kansas also have thousands in the dark.

Flooding is making it impossible to get around in many parts of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Transportation reports portions of nearly 250 roads are closed because of flooding. All the damage from roads to homes to businesses has prompted Missouri's governor to declare a state of emergency.

From the tornadoes to the floods we're tracking a lot of severe weather right now. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is here. Karen, what should folks be looking out for today?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is another round of severe weather. It does not look like it's going to be to the extent that we saw yesterday when I say that I mean, EF3, EF4, or 5 tornados like we have already seen. The damage was just all over the place with hail, wind, trees down, homes destroyed, because of the tornadoes, and you heard about the nine fatalities. That is so far.

But they're sending out survey crews from the National Weather Service to evaluate just how strong those tornadoes were. Right now Oklahoma City, you're looking good. However, Dallas, you're right on the line, starting to see some of that weather develop. And in Memphis, Tennessee, we are expecting those thunderstorms. They are knocking on your door as we speak.

Paducah, Kentucky, over 5 inches of rainfall. In St. Louis, beginning to clear out as that moves into the Ohio River Valley, Tennessee Valley, and across the Arklatex region, the rain is expected to be a big factor what happens for today. We go into yesterday. Look at this. May 31st, the line of storms, temperatures across Oklahoma soared into the triple digits.

That fuelled the fire that eventually spawned some of the tornadoes that flow coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, that cooler air coming in behind it. You get some low level rotation and this is what happened. This just escalated the activity that we saw. The crews now are saying that El Reno, also the Union City tornadoes, they are investigating it and EF4 -- 3 or 4.

And we saw that Moore on May 20th just 11, 12 days ago now, that was an EF5, just to give you some idea of how intense these are. Well, May is the key tornado month. June falls right behind with only minimally less tornado activity and yesterday we had 269 severe weather reports. Of those, 23 were tornadoes. So we'll keep you updated on that. We'll bring you another update in about 30 minutes -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Karen Maginnis, thank you very much. Let's hope the worse of it is behind us.

While we'll be bringing you all the latest in the tornadoes in Oklahoma, we also will talk about hurricanes. That's right. That's because hurricane season starts today. We'll go to Florida and hear why some people are concerned about how bad it could be this year.

And the IRS in hot water again, this time for spending your money to make a "Star Trek" spoof. But not many people are laughing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARQUEZ: It's yet another embarrassing revelation for the IRS. A video from a 2010 conference has surfaced. It's a dance video starring IRS employees paid for with your taxpayer dollars.

Athena Jones is on the north lawn of the White House. We're expecting a report from the inspector general on this and other excessive spending. Athena, when is it coming out and how damaging might it be?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Miguel. This is, of course, not good news for the IRS, this dance video that was played at a 2010 conference in Anaheim. We know this report is coming out next week. We also know that on Thursday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on just this issue, wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars at IRS conferences.

It's being called collected and wasted. We know that the IRS has responded to this cupid dance shuffle video that came out saying this video produced for a 2010 IRS conference was unacceptable and inappropriate use of government funds. The IRS and the government as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately.

So we expect that hearing on Thursday to get a lot of attention. As you mention going into the break, this cupid dance shuffle video isn't the only video that's in question here. That one we've learned cost about $1600, but that's just a fraction of the $60,000 that was spent on two other videos.

One was a "Star Trek" themed spoof training video and the other was a "Gilligan Island" themed video. So those are two more videos that just add to this embarrassment at least potentially -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Athena Jones, something tells me those cupid shuffle videos will not be going viral. She is at the White House for us. Thank you very much.

JONES: Thanks.

MARQUEZ: Now new information on the threatening letters sent to President Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control group. Test results are in and they confirm the letters did, in fact, contain the poison ricin. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now from New York. Susan, you've obtained a copy of one of the letters. What does it say?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, this is a letter and they all -- all the wording seems to match precisely. This one that we obtained was one of the three letters. It was sent to Mark Glaze. Now, he is the director of Mayor Bloomberg's group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

And the wording goes like this, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right and I will exercise that right tell the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."

Now, Glaze, Miguel, is the only one of the three that actually touched the letter, opened the letter, was exposed to what was on the letter or inside the letter because, of course, Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama never touched it obviously. Those letters were intercepted at another postal facility where their mail is checked out.

MARQUEZ: It sounds like he's doing all right as well, is that correct?

CANDIOTTI: He is. He put out a note on social media a few days ago saying that he was fine.

MARQUEZ: And the markings that we see on both the letter and on the envelope looked like they were rolling something over that. What are those about?

CANDIOTTI: Yes, it looks like those are the marks made by investigators as they were collecting evidence. Be it fingerprints, obviously testing for ricin, any other chemicals, any other clues they could pick up that could help lead them to whoever is behind this.

MARQUEZ: And the investigation, where does it stand? Where does it go from here? There's a couple until Texas that authorities have been interviewing, right?

CANDIOTTI: Yes. They were interviewing a couple in Texas. However, our sources are telling us that there's a credibility issue with at least one member of the couple, the wife, as a matter of fact. So they're still trying to sort things out saying they're using due diligence to do that. But the fact remains, at least as far as we know, there is nothing to indicate so far who is behind these letters. It's not just this one there have been a few of them in the past several weeks so still trying to get to the bottom of it.

MARQUEZ: Yes, it's just disturbing. Thank you very much. Susan Candiotti for us in New York.

Now, some major rulings this week in the case against Georgia Zimmerman, the Florida man accused of killing unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. Our legal guys will tell us what the evidence won't be at the trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Wild weather is pummelling the nation, coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's probably going to be a tornado. Pull off the side of the road right here. Yes, this is our view of it. There's your wall cloud here. Look at that wall cloud, dude.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUEZ: Now we've all seen the devastation and loss of life from tornadoes in Oklahoma alone. At least seven tornadoes hit in the month of May alone. This week, people in Kansas also looked into the sky and saw frightening images like this one.

Out here in New Mexico and California, on tinder dry conditions are fueling wildfires. Experts say the fire season started early this year. If that's not enough earthquaketrack.com has documented nearly 400 earthquakes across the U.S. from Maine to California in the last seven days. Most were very minor, but the sheer number hitting Central Arkansas give rise to a new term, earthquake swarm.

Of course, we haven't even mentioned hurricane season yet. It begins today. Experts say it will be an active season in the Atlantic with as many as 11 hurricanes. But any look forward is haunted by looking back at Hurricane Sandy. We learned a lot from that catastrophic storm. Here's John Zarrella.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, with the start of hurricane season, forecasters are warning people all the way from Texas to Maine to be prepared. Last season's hurricane sandy certainly re-enforced that point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): From Florida to Maine, Superstorm Sandy's long reach touched every state along the eastern seaboard. Hardest hit, New Jersey and New York, cities and towns swallowed up as Sandy's catastrophic storm surge swept ashore. Many of the 117 people who didn't survive drowned.

In the aftermath, federal and local emergency managers are trying to understand why some people simply didn't get the message, get out.

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA DIRECTOR: From all the disasters we deal with hurricanes are the ones that we map and spend a lot of time trying to figure out who is at risk and then get the messages out there for them to evacuate with time to leave and then there are still people that remain behind for all kinds of reasons. And that's what we see unfortunately the greatest loss of life.

ZARRELLA: One reason may have been because of what Sandy wasn't. Rick Knabb is the director of the National Hurricane Center.

RICK KNABB, HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: There is no doubt that the phrase hurricane warning is more attention getting.

ZARRELLA: But there wasn't a hurricane warning because Sandy, while a super storm with hurricane force winds, wasn't a hurricane technically when it made landfall in New Jersey on October 29dth.

KNABB: We had a difficult dilemma on our hands.

ZARRELLA: To avoid what he felt would be confusion in misrepresenting the storm, the National Weather Service decided to go with high wind and flood warnings. It's impossible to say whether some lives would have been saved with the attention getting hurricane warning was in place. If there's a next time, forecasters say there won't be an issue, policy has been changed.

KNABB: The weather service can issue or keep up hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings even if something isn't technically a tropical storm or hurricane anymore.

ZARRELLA: But hurricane forecasters and emergency managers argue no matter what you call it people aren't necessarily prepared for the storm's threat they're most vulnerable to.

KNABB: Some places are vulnerable to storm surge, some aren't. Some places are vulnerable to river flooding, some aren't. Don't focus on the skinny black line. Don't focus on the number. Focus on the impacts, what you need to do to protect your family.

ZARRELLA: And do it now. It's too late to figure out a plan when the storm is at your doorstep.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: This is expected to be an active hurricane season, which doesn't necessarily mean a hurricane will hit the United States, but it certainly increases the odds -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Thank you, John Zarrella.

In our next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, we'll talk live with an atmospheric scientist from Rutgers University on what could be causing all of this wild weather.

Coming up, we go live to Oklahoma for the third time in less than a month for the state tornadoes have shredded through neighborhoods, but now people there are facing a new problem, flooding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Miguel Marquez. If you're just tuning in, thanks for joining us. It has been another bad night of severe weather in Oklahoma. All morning we've been showing you pictures and video of the destruction in that state. It's been hit once again by a hard hit by deadly tornadoes, so what's the best way to survive one? Do you run? Do you hide? God forbid you're in one, but our chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta breaks down your options if you are.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very large tornado in Oklahoma.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 13 minutes. That's the average lead time you would have if a tornado was headed your way.

(on camera): There's obviously no completely safe option during a tornado. Your best bet is to get into the basement, somewhere below ground level. But keep in mind that if you are there you want to see what's on the floor above you as well. Refrigerator or piece of heavy furniture could come crashing through the floor so you want to be wary of that.

Also here in Moore, Oklahoma, there aren't a lot of basements. Studies have actually shown that there is another very good option. Take a look over here. Interior room or a closet like that can be the best place to be, as well. The house is gone here, but that closet preserved, even the clothes inside of that. Remember, just got 13 minutes. So find that safe place. Maybe grab a helmet or bike helmet, throw mattresses or a blanket over you to try to protect your head.

(voice-over): One place you can't hide from a tornado is in your car. Tornado strength winds can pick up a one- to two-ton vehicle like this one and toss it around like you or I would a basketball.

(on camera): I obviously don't want to be driving toward a tornado, but it's also a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. It's hard to gauge the distance. If you must be driving and the weather is clear, try driving at right angles to the tornado, perpendicular, to get out of the path of the storm.

There's another misconception as well is that you should get out of your car and run underneath an overpass. What happens in a situation like this is the wind is funnelled. It's even more powerful than the storm and a lot of debris. That debris can injure you.

(voice-over): If you are stuck outside as the tornado approaches, find a ditch or any place far away from potentially dangerous objects and vehicles and stay low.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, coming up, what the jury will not hear in the upcoming murder trial of George Zimmerman. Find out why the judge is blocking certain testimony coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: We have big decisions handed down earlier this week in the George Zimmerman case. The judge ruled that Zimmerman's attorney cannot use parts of Trayvon Martin's past in their defense specifically, drug use, familiarity with guns, and possible past fights. Shortly after those decisions Victor Blackwell had a chance to talk with Zimmerman's defense attorney, Mark O'Mara.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mark, your argument is that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor in this situation during the six to seven minutes of what happened last February. Without the information about the familiarity with guns and the drug history and fighting, how do you prove that Trayvon was the aggressor?

MARK O'MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S ATTORNEY: George's injuries. I mean, George has significant injuries including a smashed nose, and then injuries the back of his head. Trayvon, but for the fatal gunshot, Trayvon didn't have any injuries whatsoever. The forensic evidence itself supports that Trayvon was attacking or hitting at the very least the determination of who did what first is going to be up for the jury to decide.

BLACKWELL: How will you make that argument? How will you convince them that Trayvon it was first to act?

O'MARA: Because there's no evidence to contradict George's position that he was heading back to the car when Trayvon approached him and there's no evidence to conflict that George's testimony was he got hit by Trayvon. So I guess the state would have to show something to say that there's something intervening event where George did something that nobody has any evidence of that gave Trayvon the right to strike out. There's no evidence of that.

BLACKWELL: You said that there was no guarantee you were going to use any of the information from the cellphone.

O'MARA: Correct.

BLACKWELL: Much of it will not be used in opening statement.

O'MARA: Correct.

BLACKWELL: Not in the presence of the jury. If the state goes after the character of George Zimmerman, what will your rebuttal be and do you think this emboldens them to do so?

O'MARA: Well, we do a couple of things. They put his character in evidence we get to put on his character, as well. His character evidence of everything that we had that's so good about George, everyone the FBI talked about who said he's non-violent, says he's a good guy, nonracist. Potentially but not necessarily, Trayvon's history may become irrelevant, particularly how the state handles him. It's not if they're going after George, we're going after Trayvon, absolutely not. That would not be appropriate. If that information becomes relevant we look into it.

BLACKWELL: They have said a lot about how this is a landmark in justice as it relates to African-Americans.

O'MARA: Right.

BLACKWELL: And racial injustice. How do you keep this trial limited to a few minutes on one night in February?

O'MARA: Well, let me ask you this. If they acquit George because the jury says Trayvon was the aggressor, if they make that decision, is that going to be a loss for civil rights? Is it? Set George aside, acquitted because Trayvon was the aggressor, is that a civil rights event? I would suggest not. If they convict George because they think he's the aggressor, is that a benefit to civil rights?

Some might say maybe because at least a young black male victim of a homicide was justified or his loss was not in vain. You might say if you get the conviction then at least he wasn't a lost life, maybe. But the real decision is going to be who was the aggressor and whether or not George acted reasonably?

Those two decisions had nothing to do with rights. Had the case never gone to trial, maybe? Had they said we're not going to prosecute this guy because he killed a black kid, then, OK, maybe that's a civil rights issue. But the jury decides what they're going to decide, I don't see the civil rights connotation to it.

I know civil rights, not as well as many compatriots, but I know it pretty. I grew up in the '60s and '70 so I get a feel for this stuff and I don't see civil rights throughout this case today.

BLACKWELL: Was today a loss for you?

O'MARA: No, I like the idea that they're limiting the evidence to what it should be, five to six minutes before the time of the non- emergency call, the gunshot, and afterwards with the emergency call. If we limit it on that whatever that jury decides has to be the proper verdict as long as they follow the evidence in the law and then we're done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Well, so now we know what evidence won't be allowed at trial. Let's bring our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor is in Cleveland and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joins us from Las Vegas.

Avery, the judge did leave some wiggle room here, didn't she? Zimmerman's attorney says if he can show relevancy he can still maybe bring in this stuff. He says he doesn't need it though. How much damage does do to his case?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, Miguel, it's a mere preliminary ruling. If the state is foolish enough to bring in the character of Trayvon Martin, believe me, O'Mara is going to bring that evidence in. That's why he released it to the public. We understand what he's doing here. The prosecutors can't do it. The defense is letting out all this evidence including among other things that Trayvon Martin had two gold caps on his teeth.

How would that be relevant? And Judge Debra Nelson correctly said, you don't even whisper that. But I think what O'Mara has done has keyed the case up. We start the trial on the 10th of June. A lot of motions have to be resolved. So what's going to happen at this point is we're going to see this coming week what other evidence will be barred. And that will give us a pretty good idea of how this case starts off.

MARQUEZ: Richard, you seem to have a different take on all this.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Miguel. Everybody is jumping to conclusions here and there's false information being spread to everyone. These are preliminary rulings as Avery just said. This is not the ruling of the case. This evidence, I believe, is going to come in during the course of the trial.

These are mini battles in the war. These little battles are really meaningless until the trial begins. Once the trial begins the defense theory is that Trayvon was the aggressor. Now, we know when he -- when the autopsy was done, he had cannabis in his system.

There's going a medical expert who is going to tell the judge at the time of trial what that impact of that had on him, would that make him aggressive or not, would that make him paranoid, would he be more likely to be an aggressor. If the judge buys that evidence, that's coming in at trial. I'm telling you, people got it wrong. Don't think this is not coming in. A lot of this is going to be highly relevant.

MARQUEZ: Can we speak about Mr. Zimmerman for a second? He has physically changed appearance, 100 pounds he put on since all of this began. Avery, what is going through this guy's head right now?

FRIEDMAN: Well, he's eating a lot of food, I guess. I don't know. It's got nothing to do with the defense. To me, whether or not he's gained a lot of weight, whether he's changed his appearance, I don't see that as particularly significant because, remember, the burden, Miguel, is on the prosecution to prove this second degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

And you know what? I think this is a very, very tough burden for the prosecution so whether George Zimmerman is 100 pounds heavier or not, I don't think is going to make any difference in this trial.

HERMAN: Miguel, no one knows -- Miguel, unless you've walked the walk, nobody knows what's going through Zimmerman right now. He's probably prettified, freaking out, eating. When you're a criminal defendant facing substantial prison time, loss of liberty, you get nervous. This is not a derogatory thing. This is just reality. This is real. This is not TV. This is real.

MARQUEZ: All right, we're going to move on to the Pistorius case now. That's Oscar Pistorius. He is the South African Olympic star accused of murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. Pistorius is out on bail and awaiting trial. He's got a court appearance next week. Pictures of the blood covered bathroom where Reena Stemkamp was shot had become public. Skynews got a hold of them.

Defense is howling saying this is the first time they've seen these pictures even though they asked for them all along. You see bullet holes in the door and the panel missing below the handle indicating Pistorius may have been on his stumps as he claimed.

Another picture shows blood spatters on the stairs consistent with Pistorius' story. Avery, these pictures seem to support Pistorius' claims. Do they help and what could their release mean?

FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, there's a bit of consistency in this respect, Miguel. He said he fired four shots into the bathroom. Well, what you see in the photos are two shots. So you've got an inconsistency there. It's really difficult to sort out at least in my judgment whose advantage these photographs will serve. Will it be the defense because it basically consistent with his story or the prosecution that there was some evidence that he did it and now they have to tie in a motive. I think that's the hardest part of this case.

MARQUEZ: Richard, you know, claims Pistorius' watch was stolen by investigators, footprints in the blood from the lead investigators who walked through the crime scene. He's been removed. This does not look good for the prosecution at the moment, yes?

HERMAN: You know, Miguel, when we watch "Law and Order" and all these shows you see the yellow tape that goes up on crime scenes. That's to preserve the integrity of the crime scene. Well, in this particular case, the integrity went out the window a long time ago. These pictures, I know CNN did not authenticate them. Some of the walls have been reconstructed, who knows when the bullet holes were put in there. We don't know.

The lead prosecutor has been removed because he's charged with attempted murder in another case. This case is going nowhere. They are not going to be able to prove based on the burden of proof they have that this guy did this and, you know, he very well may have done it, he very well may be getting away with it because the police work here is beyond shoddy. It's horrific. They dropped the ball.

FRIEDMAN: It's a tough case.

MARQUEZ: It's going to be a very tough case and fascinating one to watch. Richard, Avery, thank you for joining us this weekend.

As people try to wrap their heads around the damage of an EF-5 tornado more twisters hit. Homes in Oklahoma are levelled and more lives lost. Will that area finally get a break? We'll have the forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Killer tornadoes are forming with a speed and vengeance that we've not seen in recent history. Last night El Reno, Oklahoma was caught right in the path of the tornado. Our Nick Valencia is in Union City, Oklahoma. Nick, what have you been seeing?

VALENCIA: Well, we're on the second floor of what once was a house and we're surrounded by volunteers who came to this residence. They had no idea who the owners were, but decided to lend a helping hand. In fact, I want b to bring in one of the volunteers. She came here from Houston.

CHARLENE WILFORD, VOLUNTEER: Hi.

VALENCIA: What brought you here?

WILFORD: I saw on the news that Granbury had a tornado, headed there for a few days to Moore. And then today our leads are assessing damage from one of our churches so I drove out and asked if I could help.

VALENCIA: What was the response like? A lot of times people just want their privacy in a situation like this. How do you approach a family in Oklahoma, so self reliant?

WILFORD: Actually this is a very friendly community and the mother of the house here is an American Red Cross volunteer and she also works with some of the communities and she just seemed glad for the help. So I'm grateful to be here.

VALENCIA: Well, we're grateful to have you here. Thank you for taking the time with CNN. And Miguel, this is a residence. This is families. This is a place where childhood memories remain. Now this is what's left here. This is what's left. In fact, this is the man that grew up here for 18 years. He just had to go break up a fight between his llamas over there. Just can't make this stuff up. What's it like look at all this stuff, man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sombering, you know, feeling, just to see all of your stuff, your memories from your childhood, just scattered around. You know, stuff is ruined, trash, you know. But you know, it's just a reminder to know that no one was hurt here. That's the main thing really, you know.

VALENCIA: That's, Miguel, a lot of people are focusing on the positive. They've really got no choice. And for so many in the state of Oklahoma with all this rounds of new tornadoes a lot of people's lives will forever be divided by what happened before the storm and how they carry on afterwards.

MARQUEZ: This is also a deadly storm. You don't want to down play the severity of it. What's the immediate need for people in the area and across this long line of storms, Nick?

VALENCIA: Well, they're just trying to clean up right now. This is -- for some more good news. This is a very rural community. There are not a lot of subdivisions around here. There are not a lot of businesses around here. This tornado when it came through it hit a lot of empty land. It did, of course, leave nine people dead. You're right.

It was another deadly round of tornados. But for a community that's so, as I mentioned, self-reliant and really able to stand on their own two feet almost immediately after being knocked down by, you know, just vicious, severe weather. It's incredible to see and it's just -- get right to work. You're witnessing it live in action right now, people just picking up the pieces, trying to clean up, and trying to take the next step in their lives -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Nick, you've within -- you've covered more for us. You're now -- you were in El Reno this morning and in Union City now, the breadth of it. It's hard for people to imagine how people can make their way through this. How are people coping? I know they're tough out there, but this is a lot to take on.

VALENCIA: You know, when you look at the damage in Moore and not to downplay any of this damage out here, but Moore was a lot more densely populated, Miguel. There was a lot more people right in the middle of that tornado, that EF5 and it was a stronger wind stream that went through there. More people were at risk. People are really, you know, anxious.

There is an underlying sentiment of anxiety. When the tornado sirens go off and the thought of, gosh, we just can't get any luck here, can we? It's new round after new round. We talked to some local affiliates today. They were saying that there could be possibly more severe weather next week. So it just seems that tornado alley, this place that they call tornado alley in the United States, is really living up to its name -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Sounds like PTSD all around out there. Nick Valencia, thank you very much from Union City, Oklahoma. Thank you.

From Oklahoma to Indiana, more potentially dangerous thunderstorms with flash floods and battering winds. They are still a major threat. Let's go to CNN's Severe Weather Center and meteorologist Karen Maginnis. Karen, what conditions right now like and what is the forecast?

MAGINNIS: Well, we've got some pretty nasty weather that's moving in. Let me show you what's happening in Memphis. Right now, we were looking at this about 30 minutes ago and you saw some puffy clouds but now the visibility is near zero. They are under a severe thunderstorm warning as we speak.

The temperature was 82 and you can barely see this tower cam has got rain all over it. Well, here's the reason why. We knew it was knocking on your door and here it goes. Two severe thunderstorm warnings out so that means you could see high winds, heavy downpours, lots of frequent lightning and extending up to Paducah, Kentucky, they've seen over five inches of rainfall there. There is that severe thunderstorm warning out.

For Memphis you might expect three to five inches of rainfall certainly not out of the question. And in this north western and north central quadrant of Arkansas, heavy downpours here, Little Rock saw a severe thunderstorm in the past couple of hours and St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, they are sending National Weather Service survey crews out to see just what kind of tornado the intensity of the tornado there.

And, by the way, the El Reno tornado just to the west of Oklahoma City, that has been evaluated as an EF3. The Moore tornado, back on May 20th, was an EF5, at the top of the scales. Now, some of these thunderstorms that popped up during the evening hours yesterday in Central Oklahoma, around Oklahoma City, some of those thunderstorms tops around 60,000 feet.

But somebody very astutely pointed out that we saw tornadoes here, tornadoes in Missouri, maybe some tornadoes in Indiana, one in Tennessee. They were all over the place. And it wasn't just tornadoes. We saw wind damage, hail, now the storm waters, the rivers are stilling up, the Mississippi River. And St. Louis, we think about Tuesday or Wednesday, we could see this maybe come within record-setting levels. We'll have to continue to monitor that. But Miguel, staying on top of the weather, it is very busy in the weather department right now. But we'll continue to update you through the afternoon.

MARQUEZ: Karen Maginnis, you're the hardest working person in television right now. Let's hope the worse is behind us.

The housing market is making a comeback and you need to know how to cash in on it. Our Christine Romans will show you how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Well, it's no secret the housing market is coming back and people are eager to invest. In this week's "Smart is the New Rich" Christine Romans shows you how to cash in on both at the same time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Home prices are rising. Demand is back, but it's not just home buyers and sellers who are cashing in. When you buy a house or build a house you're fueling an entire industry and creating opportunities for investing. And not just in the real estate itself.

SARAT SETHI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS C. LANE AND ASSOCIATES: Consumers feeling better. Balance sheets are getting better. Home equity lines, can take out more money. What are they going to do with that money?

ROMANS: Shares of Home Depot, Lowe's, Williams-Sonoma and Sherwin Williams, all up more than 20 percent this year. When stock charts look like this, is it too late to get in? Maybe, but there are other places to cash in.

STEPHEN LEEB, CHAIRMAN AND CIO, LEEB CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: If you own a home, it's a near certainty that you have a car. When people buy houses they buy cars. The car industry has been doing well lately, but there's still room for further growth.

ROMANS: Making stocks like Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota more attractive. There are also tiny components in your house.

SETHI: Companies that make the chips, the microcontrollers that go into dishwashers, into washing machines, into garage door openers, like a Microchip, which makes those has 4 percent yield has global exposure and especially when housing improves they're going to start doing better.

ROMANS: Also ripe for the picking, supermarkets.

LEEB: As home ownership becomes bigger and more prevalent and grows, I think you will see people eating in more. Any grocery chain is likely to benefit. ROMANS: Leeb likes Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. Updated kitchen, spacious ding room, those things entice homeowners to eat at home. If you don't want to buy a house, but you want to buy into housing, that's how. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And now an out of this world event. An asteroid called 1998 QE2, there it went, just flew by, whiz by the earth on Friday with its own moon in tow, it got within 3.6 million miles of our planet. Too close to call really. Scientists say it won't pass by us again until 2028 and then there will be lots more elbow room. The asteroid is expected to be 45 million miles away.

Coming up this afternoon on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll have every development from the Midwest where tornadoes are wreaking havoc and the latest controversy at IRS. It's out of this world. The tax service boldly takes your money aboard the Starship Enterprise. More of the "Star Trek" spoof and other antics caught on tape that you paid for.

Plus the intensifying search for killer or killers who gunned down a Kentucky police officer in a cold-blooded ambush.

Two sports legends direct from the NEWSROOM, Joe Namath will tell us about today's grand reopening of the Football Hall of Fame and Phil Jackson weighs in on tonight's playoff game between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers. Those stories and much more beginning at the top of the hour, don't miss it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)