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Two Tornadoes in Texas, Two in Colorado; Recruiting Millennials to Run for Office. Aired 7-7:30p ET

Aired May 09, 2015 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:07] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Seven o'clock Eastern, we are following breaking news this hour. I'm Poppy Harlow, joining you from New York.

Let me take you right to Texas where in Fort Worth, we saw two tornadoes touch down, there are preliminary reports of people missing according to the local fire chief. Two more tornadoes were spotted in eastern Colorado just in the last hour. The Dallas-Fort Worth area itself is also under increased risk for tornado this evening.

The line of storms is generating heavy rain. This is new video from our affiliate KOCO of flooding not far from Oklahoma City where there are tornado watches and new tornado watches issued for parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. This is in addition to earlier tornado watches in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.

Many towns already reeling from the destructive storms just two days ago, with these new tornado watches, nearly 20 million people are at risk from the violent weather.

Let's go to CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray. She is storm chasing. She is on her way to Texas right now and joins us from the vehicle. She's with us.

Also, our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is joining us from the CNN severe weather center.

Guys, thank you for being here.

Pedram, let's go to you before Jennifer. So, we have seen multiple tornadoes spotted and touching down.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And this latest one that we touched on, that you touched on, Poppy, a few seconds ago, about 70 miles west of Fort Worth, sitting near the town of Ranger. Currently, tornado is on the ground across this area of Ranger. And we know the radar signature out of Cisco was showing a lot of debris. So, we know a potential for large storm on the ground, large tornado on the ground across this region as it tracks over some 2,500 people.

Again, it is not the only one. You shift attention to the north, just north of Wichita Falls, tornado warning for 11,000 people right now. This particular region hard hit and a series of tornado warnings now popping up, meaning tornado conditions are imminent or occurring. And, of course, you take a look, there are two reports right there across areas west of Dallas by about an hour's drive. You broaden that perspective. We've now had over six reports of tornado, make it seven, with five out of eastern Colorado the past couple hours.

So, the activity is definitely picking up. This is certainly what it looked like, was in the works with this weather pattern right now, and you take a look at the forecast models, taking you in the next 60 minutes, show you a large complex of storms popping up in and around Dallas Metro, getting northward. So, we're going to watch it here as we head going toward sunset -- Poppy.

HARLOW: We absolutely are. And as we look at this picture, see if you can take this full, Pedram, to show our viewers this video.

This is, guys, this is from Texas, correct? This is from Cisco, Texas.

So, as we watch this, let me bring in on the phone, Walter Fairbanks. He's the fire chief there in Cisco, Texas. It's just really extraordinary, these images that we're looking at from your town, sir.

What can you tell us about damage on the ground?

WALTER FAIRBANKS, CISCO, TX FIRE DEPT. (via telephone): So far we have three houses that have been totaled, we have one deceased, one critically injured as far as injuries and fatalities, that's what we have at this time.

HARLOW: You said you have one deceased.

FAIRBANKS: Yes.

HARLOW: What can you tell us about -- I know it is early going, but how that person died? Are we talking about homes collapsing on people?

FAIRBANKS: That's unknown at this time. We are still looking into that. We're still dealing with heavy rain and hail at this time, so we really haven't gotten a lot into this incident yet.

HARLOW: Do you know how many tornadoes touched down in and around Cisco?

FAIRBANKS: We can only verify one. One that touched down three miles south of Cisco on 206 which tracked across the field there from 206 to Highway 103, which is three miles east of Highway 206.

And it all stayed south of the city, but it did touch down in some spots in the 183 area, and then it continued on and threatening the other small communities of Carbon and possibly Ranger and Eastland. But I can't verify what they've got going on at this time.

HARLOW: For people that are watching in your area, I know the tornado watch in effect goes until 10:00, 10:00 p.m. Central Time, so four more hours.

What would you tell to people on the ground that they need to do to stay safe, even though the tornado has touched down and may be out of the area, there may be more to come?

[19:05:00] FAIRBANKS: We have not got any indication at this time that there's more to come, but this is that time of year where you never know. And they just need to be alert and we are flooding as of now also, so driving around is not really a good idea either.

HARLOW: All right. Chief Walter Fairbanks, fire chief in Cisco. You know, really tragic, one death, and at least one critical injury at this point in time from that tornado. We will let you get back to your work on the ground there. Thank you, sir, for being with me.

Let's continue to watch the images, stunning images of video from Cisco, Texas, where at least one tornado did indeed touch down. There have been reports between five to seven tornadoes from Colorado to Texas and a watch for them in Oklahoma.

Let's go to our meteorologist Jennifer Gray who is in the storm tracking vehicle on her way down to northern Texas. What do you see?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): Well, we actually already are in North Texas. We are (INAUDIBLE). We are west of Dallas and Fort Worth and we're in an area that has already been issued a severe thunderstorm warning and recently a new tornado warning. So, we are very close to this storm. We are traveling south.

We are following a group from University of Oklahoma. You can see that big white vehicle in front of us, that's Doppler radar on wheels, and the goal is to put that inside of the storm, let's us do a lot of research. Helped how well forecasting has been as far as meteorology goes. We are with (INAUDIBLE), he's a legend in the meteorological community.

So, we are in good hands, we are safe, we are not going to get caught in a bad situation. So hopefully we will be able to get the job done here and be able to stay as far back as we can.

But some interesting work being done here, Poppy. We're really close to the storm. Again, it has already been a tornado warned storm near Graham. So, we are pulling over to the side of the road, about to deploy the Doppler radar that we have and hopefully get the information we need from it.

HARLOW: Jennifer Gray, thank you very much. Stay safe there as she's approaching this area where this tornado did hit down.

Again, the headline here, one tornado that touched down in Cisco, Texas, claiming at least on life, critically injuring another person. We'll stay on top of this for you as well.

I do want to bring you this just in to us here at CNN. Also an update on a story we've been closely following. A New York nuclear power plant has been given the all clear after tense moments when smoke was seen rising from the building.

According to a spokesman at Indian Point facility telling us what happened was that a transformer on the nonnuclear side of the plant failed. That caused the fire. The fire was subsequently put out by the sprinklers. We are told the reactor shut down automatically. As it is supposed to, the plant is stable and no one was injured.

All right. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up on the other side, we're going to keep you updated on deadly storms, a tornado claimed at least one life in northern Texas. We'll have that.

Also, we're going to talk to David Burstein about millennials, the millennial generation and how it is completely transforming politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:11:34] HARLOW: All right. We've all heard a lot about the millennial generation. I will admit, I am a proud millennial, so is my next guest. They want authenticity in purchases and in politicians.

And in politics, some critics say millennials don't always put their opinions into action.

David Burstein is here, we brought him on, he knows a lot about millennials. He's the author of "Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping Our World". He is also the founder and CEO of a group called Run for America.

Thank you for being here.

DAVID BURSTEIN, AUTHOR: Great to be with you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You and I talked about what millennials want and not only from companies and how they're changing, I think, corporate America but how they're changing politics. So, talk to me about Run for America, because as I understand it, you basically recruited people to run for Congress in this next election.

BURSTEIN: You know, it's really crazy, Poppy, because in America, we have a really sophisticated system for identifying the best and brightest to do just about everything except run for office. And we said if we ever want to have a political system that actually represents the future and represents this generation, we have to focus on recruiting people to actually run for office. So what we are doing at run for America is bringing in innovators, entrepreneurs, forward thinking people into Congress, and we will recruit and train them and run their campaigns in 2016.

HARLOW: And you hope they'll get elected. You hope they'll get into Congress.

Are you finding any pushback that some of them don't want to run for office? I heard that from some CEOs, high level CEOs, saying you sound like someone that would run for president, they say, why would I do that? I can effect more change in, you know, C-suite, than I can in Washington?

BURSTEIN: You know, one of the challenges, we don't see really politics as the best way to make impact today. And part of what we see our mission has to do is say, let's actually go out there and proactively tell people, you can make a difference, right? The amount of impact someone can make in Washington dwarves the impact you make anywhere else.

But when you look at the situation in Washington, we can see people --

HARLOW: They didn't get something done.

BURSTEIN: Not get anything done.

HARLOW: So, millennials makeup 25 percent of the voting age population. By 2020, they're projected to grow to 36 percent.

Do you think that these demographics are going to ensure that millennials have a strong voice in politics or do you think we need a similar recruitment campaign for millennials to vote and be more involved?

BURSTEIN: Look, when we market products, right, people don't say we made a bad product, spent no money on marketing, it is terrible people didn't come buy our product, right? The same thing is true in politics, right? We had a terrible product in our politicians and don't spend any effort marketing it. So, I think part of what we can do is help show people, some leaders have actually would make --

HARLOW: Here's the thing. We know Hillary Clinton wants the millennials. We know the GOP candidates want the millennials. We also know they're likely going to bring the most money of any presidential campaign. We heard the Clinton camp saying $2.5 billion, and I just wonder what your take is on millennials reaction to that.

I think a lot of millennials have an adverse reaction hearing about that amount of money from either party.

BURSTEIN: I think, Poppy, it's not just true with millennials. It's true of people all over the country who think that why are we making this kind of investment in a system again that's not producing the kind of results we actually want and hope.

I think it's a big challenge that this generation and whoever is president next has to tackle in a serious way.

HARLOW: Thank you very much for coming on the program. I appreciate it. Wish we had more time to talk. We have a lot of breaking news to get to.

Thanks again, congrats on the book, "Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping Our World", 26 years old, author of a book, CEO, totally underachiever.

[19:15:09] Thank you very much. Good to have you on the program.

BURSTEIN: Thank you, Poppy.

Coming up, more on deadly storms sweeping the Great Plains. We're talking about a tornado touching down, taking at least one life in northern Texas, another one confirmed near Wichita Falls. We're going to have a live report, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLO: The death toll stands at more than 7,800 people who died in last month's Nepal earthquake. Repair and recovery are just getting under way after the 13-day period of mourning has ended. But hundreds are still missing and right alongside the destruction are miraculous stories of survival.

These were images shot by Thomas Nybo. He was sitting in a coffee shop in Kathmandu when the quake struck. Thanks to quick thinking, he and a group of tourists saved a man by digging him out from the rubble. It is remarkable indeed.

Thank you for being with me. I'm glad you're OK.

THOMAS NYBO, FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER: Thank you, Poppy. Nice to be here.

HARLOW: Can you take me back to what it was like for you there?

NYBO: I was in a coffee shop at the time of the earthquake. It felt like a tremor that many of the viewers have probably experienced. But instead of stopping two or three seconds, the intensity ramped up, the building was shaking, televisions falling off the wall, people were screaming. It was impossible to get out of the building.

And when it stopped, I ran on the street, there were tens of thousands were on the streets in this area of Kathmandu.

[19:20:05] I ran to my hotel, which was intact, but next to it a six story building hotel collapsed into a water collection point that's 30 feet below ground, that's what the pictures show.

And there was an Italian tourist who was at the bottom of this pit, I asked him is anyone alive, he said come down here, there's somebody I can talk to. I ran down there and this man, he was an Indian doctor on a medical mission in Nepal and we spoke to him. We told him we would get him out. But there was no arrival of any kind of rescue crew, any ambulances, so there were a group of us tourists who would grab any available tools, pick axes, hammers, we spent two hours smashing the concrete only to come across steel rebar, which we then had to cut using hacksaws.

After two hours, the soldiers, some Nepalese soldiers showed up, you can see them here, they started to go in the hole we created, and the aftershocks really start to hit. They would go in the hole, have to scramble out. After 20 more minutes, they were able to pull out this doctor alive.

HARLOW: Wow. NYBO: I actually just spoke to his sister yesterday on the phone. He is recovering in India. No bones were broken miraculously, but his muscles were traumatized, and because of this his kidneys shut down. He has been on dialysis, but they're hoping to stop that in the next day or two.

HARLOW: So, it sounds like he is going to be okay.

NYBO: He is. Remarkable ending to the story.

HARLOW: It is remarkable.

Look, these photos have been around the world now. Everyone has seen these. I wonder what you think happens when the spotlight is off Nepal. You talk about 7,800 deaths. You talk about thousands of injuries, hundreds at least still missing.

NYBO: It is a really dangerous time for Nepal. We are about six months from monsoon season. And when you factor that in with the fact that 800,000 have homes they can't live in, it is setting the stage for cholera and other diseases which can really just ravage communities.

HARLOW: And we saw what happened in Haiti after the earthquake there and cholera outbreak. So, help is certainly need.

Thank you so much. I'm glad you and your team are OK, and you were able to save this doctor's life. Keep us posted how he is doing.

NYBO: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

If you want to help, you can go to CNN.com/impact.

All right. W are tracking breaking news of severe storms, tornadoes that claimed at least one life in Texas. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:18] HARLOW: All right, breaking news: severe weather across the Great Plains into Texas. Fire officials in Cisco, Texas, confirming to us at CNN that at least one person has been killed, another critically injured by this enormous tornado.

It was one of two that touched down a short time ago, just west of Fort Worth. Other tornadoes were spotted in eastern Colorado tonight. The weather map is dotted with tornado watches this afternoon which means circumstances are ripe for exactly what has played out.

The watches cover parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

CNN's Alina Machado is in Dallas right now.

Give me a sense of how it is on the ground, what you're expecting, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, right now we're under a moderate risk of tornadoes, for tornadoes tonight. So we're definitely keeping an eye on the skies.

You could see, there's a bit of a breeze, you can see the way the branches are moving. We have seen periods of light rain in Dallas, Fort Worth area. Not much in terms of flooding or anything like that, but you can see that the ground is definitely saturated.

Nothing, though, like what we have seen some two hours west of where we are in Eastland County, Texas. That's where the reported tornado happened. That's where we heard of at least one person dead, another person critically injured, and also several damaged homes.

And, Poppy, the hope is that that's the worst of this, but we're definitely keeping an eye on conditions here, hoping things do not get any worse than what we have seen.

HARLOW: Absolutely. One life already claimed. Alina, thank you.

Let's go to straight to Jennifer Gray, as we show you remarkable images of the tornado that did touch down in Cisco, Texas.

Jen, you're in a vehicle close to the image we are showing the viewers with a team of storm chasers and other meteorologists. What are they seeing?

GRAY: We are actually with a group from university of Oklahoma. They're the best in what they do. These people are legendary, with Howie Bluestein, he has been instrumental developing research and better the technology used for forecasting. He is an icon in meteorology.

You can see the white vehicle, that's a Doppler on wheels. The goal is to get ahead of the storm, place the Doppler down, and get out of the way. You want to put that inside the storm so they can get research from that.

We were just at a storm couple miles back, wasn't matured enough. We are heading east to get ahead of the storm, give it more time to mature, maybe it will be stronger by the time it gets to us.

We are inside an area that has been issued a tornado warning, so we are in a dangerous situation, but like I said, we are with the best, we're going to stay safe, stay back, not get too close, these folks know what they're doing. So, we're going to bring you the pictures and see what we see, Poppy.

But, yes, we're out here. We're just west of Dallas. We're a little north of the Cisco storm. Around a different cluster of storms, but it is all pretty dangerous, as you noted. These do have a history of producing tornadoes.

So, it is important folks get to their safe spot, their shelter, have a plan in place at a moment's notice, because these can develop and mature very quickly.

HARLOW: If you're watching now, you shouldn't be on the road as Jen is, she's with a team of meteorologists that specialize in this, they will stay safe. If you're thinking of going on the roads anywhere near there in northern Texas, do not.

Jennifer, thank you to you and the team. Stay safe.

Thank you all for joining us. Stay with CNN and CNN.com for updates on severe weather around the country all evening. Thanks for being with me. I'm Poppy Harlow. See you tomorrow.