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Tornado Strikes Dallas, TX; Wildfires in California and Australia; Iraqi Forces Take Back Ramadi. Aired Midnight-12:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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

NATALIE ALLEN: Devastating weather in the United States. A deadly tornado tears through Dallas, Texas, killing at least four people. And from wind and rain to fire, stunning images from a scenic part of California going up in flames while Australia recovers from its own disastrous fire. And taking back Ramadi, Iraqi forces say they are now firmly in control of a good part of the town which had been under Isis control for months. These stories are all ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Hello everyone. We're live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

And we begin with the weather, because we are seeing severe weather all over the world right now. In Australia fire officials say a bushy fire there might keep burning into the New Year. And in California people are being forced to evacuate after wildfires burn nearly 500 hectares.

In the UK emergency officials issues more than 100 flood alerts and warnings because of torrential rains, wind and fog. And in Texas we are learning four people have died as a result of a powerful tornado. Those four people who died were in Garland, Texas. That's just east of Dallas. Its' a suburb of Dallas, and officials say that number is only preliminary. More severe weather is heading that way. There has been significant damage reported in the Dallas area. Other parts of the state have been hit by high winds and rain which are expected to turn to heavy snow later Sunday. So the people there are bracing for more.

Joining me on the phone is Andrew Greenstein from radio station KRLD. He's in Dallas for us. Andrew, what more are you learning about this area of Dallas that was hit?

ANDREW GREENSTEIN: Well, right now I am actually outside what once was a church in the town of Ovilla. That is just south of Dallas. Church of the Nazarene. Powerful tornado ripped through the area and it completely destroyed the church. Where the sanctuary once was, it's now just a frame. I can see building insulation, brick siding and the remains of a baby grand piano strewn all over what once was the sanctuary. Now very fortunately, no one was here at the church at the time that the tornado hit. So no one was hurt here. In fact, the pastor of this church would have normally been here at the church at this time on a Saturday night likely preparing for Sunday morning worship services, but he and his wife happened to be at the American Airlines Center attending a Dallas Mavericks game. So fortunately they were not here, but when they found out what happened to their church, they left the arena and they came here to survey the massive damage here.

NATALIE ALLEN: Andrew, when has Dallas seen a killer tornado, and are the folks there saying there was much warning? Were they prepared? Was there a tornado warning sound?

ANDREW GREENSTEIN: Well, there were tornado warnings sounds and as I was out in the area yesterday on Christmas Day, I even told the listeners that some of the storms today could possibly be severe. So we knew that this weather system was going to be coming and there was going to be a chance of massive thunderstorms on top of tornadic activity. So tornadoes are really not all that unusual here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

NATALIE ALLEN: Any word on the people who died? The four who died? Where they were?

ANDREW GREENSTEIN: They were in Garland, which is east of Dallas. Now I'm in Ovilla right now, which is south of Dallas, in another part of the metroplex. But we're actually now haring that at least eight people throughout north Texas have been killed by these storms so far.

NATALIE ALLEN: So you really don't know how many there have been perhaps, and now there is snow on the way. What are officials doing to help people get prepared and stay safe? I'm sure a lot of people are there on holiday, visiting family since we're still in the middle of a holiday week.

ANDREW GREENSTEIN: Yes, and people are being told to hunker in place. Especially right now, in the part of the area where I'm at right now, normally there would be city lights, you know illuminating the streets and some of the homes and all that. Right now it is completely pitch black. The power is out. You can't tell if it's 7:30 at night, 10:30 at night, or 3:00 in the morning. It is just pitch black. You cannot see a thing right now.

NATALIE ALLEN: Well we appreciate you reporting for us. We know it's a difficult night there. Andrew Greenstein. Perhaps we'll talk with you again as the night pushes on. Thank you.

How much longer will all these dangerous conditions last? Well we just heard it. They are expecting more. Derek Van Dam is following this story among other stories as well in the weather world.

DEREK VAN DAM: We're not done with tornado threat in Texas, and it's only going to advance a little further to the east come Sunday, and it could impact places like Louisiana as well. We will highlight that in just a moment. But I want to show you this nighttime footage of the twister that was captured. This is in fact called a nocturnal tornado. Aside from the very obvious that you just simply can't see the tornado at nighttime, making it particularly dangerous, think about where people actually are located. A lot of them in homes instead of the sturdy structure of perhaps a brick building where they work or perhaps where they go to school. A lot of times that can be a safer place than let's say a mobile home for instance, and not having the visual representation of a tornado bearing down on a particular house or a structure can make this extremely, extremely dangerous and you can see the first signs of some of the damage that is taking place there. The true extent of the damage will certainly come tomorrow morning when that daylight comes, and they are able to assess just how bad it was.

Well certainly it was a very treacherous day across Texas and into Oklahoma. In total we've had six tornado reports so far. Multiple damage with wind and hail as well. The storm that moved through the Dallas-Fort Worth region didn't go through the city center of Dallas; again, it was just to the south and just to the east where the damage was reported. Nonetheless, a very populated area. In fact, in Dallas County, the second most populated county in Texas.

Now the setup going forward, you heard Natalie talk about it a moment ago. We're going to start to see heavy snow, ice and rain develop on the backside of this system. Here is our severe weather threat heading into Sunday. We are alighting up with weather watches and warnings, making this a particularly difficult and treacherous travel season for all the holiday goers, visiting family and friends, and it continues right into Monday as well. Look at all the rainfall. So on top of this we have potential of flooding. There's a look at the latest flood watches and warnings, stretching from Texas to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, even to Illinois and Indiana as well. Perhaps even 10 to 20 inches of rainfall possible, 250 to 500 millimeters.

NATALIE ALLEN: All right Derek, thanks very much. We have other weather to report now. We are going to turn to southern California where dry weather conditions are fueling a wildfire started by a downed power line. Nearly 500 hectares have burned in the Solamar fire. That's near Ventura County. At last check the flames were just 10 percent contained. This dramatic video was captured by a Dutch family on vacation. Some vacation! As they escaped the area on Saturday two major highways, including the Pacific Coast Highway were closed briefly. Both have since reopened and mandatory evaluations have been lifted right now.

We are going to cross over to Australia where bush fires in Victoria State have been mainly subdued with about 500 firefighters working to fully contain them. The fires have destroyed more than 100 homes and shut down parts of the Great Ocean Road. That's a popular scenic highway. Emergency officials say dry conditions could cause more fires. We want to turn now to Peter Baker to get more information. He is a state duty officer with the Country Fire Authority and joins us by phone from the state control center in Melbourne. Mr. Baker, thank you for joining us. We know your teams are very busy right now. What caused the fire that took these homes in the Victoria region?

PETER BAKER: Hello Natalie, the fires started with one fire that we've got a problem with at the moment. That fire started by a lightning strike deep in the heart of some forest called the Upwey Forest last Saturday.

NATALIE ALLEN: And how much contained is it, and what do you know about the loss of peoples' homes? The numbers?

PETER BAKER: The fire is not yet contained, so today we've got around about 300 firefighters and 15 aircraft working on the edge of that. We've got a lot of fire edge. We've got a boundary on this of 40 kilometers. As far as the housing lots, the count yesterday was 119, and I haven't heard, sorry, it's 116, and I have not heard about any further increase on that today. So 116 homes lost in this devastating fire.

NATALIE ALLEN: And tell us about this area. These are luxury homes that were lost. Is that right?

PETER BAKER: The area is very pretty. It's similar to, as you said before, the Pacific Coast Highway, there are some fantastic roads just on the western side of California. This is an Australian equivalent the Great Ocean Road, and many of your listeners will be familiar with this area that have traveled this part of the country. Fantastic homes in elevated positions with great ocean views.

NATALIE ALLEN: It sounds like the people there in Southern California have to deal with the Santa Ana winds that stir up the fires there. Victoria is one of the most fire prone areas in the world. What do you do specifically in this area to try to prevent things like this?

PETER BAKER: Well a lot of education for communities and community groups. So people who live in these areas, they are aware of the environment they live in. But we understand that sometimes we've got the upper hand when it comes to fire and quite often nature has the upper hand. With the major forest fire in this type of country with the winds we had on Christmas Day, nature had the upper hand. So it comes back to common sense and life preservation, evacuation and people carrying out their personal drills that they would practice and preplan in their mind what they will do should this happen.

NATALIE ALLEN: Right. They know the dangers, but you also had tourists in this area. This happened on Christmas Day when they lost their homes. That had to be pretty tough for a lot of people to take. Have you been hearing about what people are saying about what they went through?

PETER BAKER: Personally I haven't but the relief centers that were set up on either side of where the fire is, the relief center's been doing an extraordinary job of making sure that people were housed appropriately and comfortably, given it was Christmas. There is also a very strong network of people who live along the Ocean Road, so there were a lot of relations and good friends who helped out and assisted.

NATALIE ALLEN: It had to be especially difficult since they had to leave their home on Christmas, and now many have no home to come back to. We really appreciate your time. Peter Baker, talking with us from Melbourne, Australia. Thanks.

Well now we turn to northern England and Scotland where heavy rains are triggering floods and bringing rivers to historically high levels. The waters have cut off entire towns in Lancastershire and Yorkshire, the two hardest hit areas. Authorities there have issued rare red alerts, which indicate a possible danger to life. Prime Minister David Cameron will convene a cabinet meeting on Sunday to address the situation. And look at the mess in South America where four countries are being

hit with the worst flooding they have seen in 15 years. More than 100,000 people evacuated their homes in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Heavy rain began to fall more than a week ago, causing rivers to swell past their banks. There are a number reports that a number of people have died.

And back to the Dallas, Texas tornado for just a moment, we reported four, and our reporter there in Texas reported eight. We can confirm, CNN can confirm five deaths there right now in Texas.

While we turn to other news in just a moment, Iraqi troops gaining ground against Isis. Ahead we'll have the latest and their fight to recapture the key city of Ramadi. Plus new audio reportedly from Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We'll go through this unusual message right after this.

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NATALIE ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. The death toll from a huge landslide in Jinxing China has risen now to seven, and on Saturday this solemn memorial was held for the victims. More than 70 people still missing are now feared dead. It has been a week since a massive pile of construction debris swallowed buildings there. Chinese state media are blaming the landslide on safety violations.

Rebels in northern Syria have captured a major dam from Isis fighters. The Tishreen Dam sits about 22 km up the Euphrates River from the Isis stronghold of Raqqa. CNN military analyst Rick Francona says the dam is a major power generation point and part of a key supply line into the strategic city.

RICK FRANCONA: While everybody's been focused on that supply route between Mosul and Raqqa this actually cuts off the sup[ply line from Turkey down into Raqqa. So this is very important. This is critical and you're right, that dam controls, it's the major generation capability for northern Syria. It also controls the waters of the Euphrates River. So this will be a big blow to Isis, and it is yet one more step in what the coalition has to do to isolate them so they can finally kick them out of Iraq and Syria. This is a really good development. Everybody's been focused on what's been going on in Ramadi. What has to happen in Mosul. But this is also a key piece of the puzzle.

NATALIE ALLEN: Rick Francona there for us. Iraqi troops say they have complete control of a strategic part of the city of Ramadi. Government forces engaged in heavy combat with Isis fighters and diffused a large number of booby traps. The troops also rescued 120 families who were trapped inside the city. CNN's Robyn Kriel has more on the battle.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This push to reclaim Ramadi's city center began in earnest on Tuesday. Iraqi security forces now claim to be within blocks of the main government compound. That is Isis's stronghold. Defense officials claim they control about three quarters of the city and that they have Isis surrounded. There are around 300 to 500 Isis fighters remaining inside the city. Iraqi officials say they are mostly foreign fighters. The extremist militants have rigged up thousands of improvised explosive devices in cars, the ground and in homes to counter the Iraqi government force's assault. Civilians who were not able to flee the city ahead of the operation are being asked to wave white flags. The Iraqi government says they will be granted safe passage.

The recapture of Ramadi would be both a strategic victory of the Iraqi forces and a morale boost for the troops. Strategic because of its location on the Bagdad highway and its proximity to the capital, Baghdad. And a boost for Iraqi troops who were humiliated by the ease at which Ramadi fell to the terror group back in May. Robyn Kriel, CNN, London.

NATALIE ALLEN: Well a new audio message purportedly from Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surfaced on Isis-affiliated social media over the weekend. The last recording that claimed to be from this shadowy commander of Isis was back in May. CNN's Oren Liebermann has the details on this new, mysterious message.

(Oren Liebermann via video): This newly released audio recording of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is 24 minutes long, and it's called Wait, For We As Well Are Waiting With You, a reference to a Koran verse that speaks of judgment day. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the recording, but it seems to follow the standard dissemination for Isis videos. It has two focuses: the first is a morale boost for Isis troops, troops that are now fighting in Iraq and Syria. Isis is likely to have a difficult year ahead, analysts say, and Baghdadi makes big recruitment push here as many in the international community crackdown on radicalization and make it difficult to travel to the region. The second big focus here is on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Isis has actually faced criticism in the past for not focusing more on the region's longest conflict, and we've seen here over the past two months an effort to change that. The first Hebrew language Isis video was released two months ago or so, and now this message from Baghdadi saying Isis will surround Israel and liberate Jerusalem.

Israel's assessment is that Isis is still a fairly distant threat. There have been a few arrests here of people trying to join Isis or spreading Isis propaganda, but those numbers are still fairly small. What's also interesting about this message is what's not in it: Baghdadi makes no reference to recent Isis attacks on Paris or Sinai with the downing of the Russian jet. That would seem to be something he would want to boast about, but no mention of either one, which opens up some questions about when this message was recorded. Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

NATALIE ALLEN: Several major European cities are heightened security alert right now. Police in Vienna, Austria say what they call a friendly intelligence service has warned a number of European cities about possible terror attacks happening between now and New Year's Eve. Officials are not saying which cities were given the warning, but they say the attacks could include guns or explosives, and that the warning includes the names of several possible attackers. But investigations of those people have not turned up anything concrete. Police in Vienna and other cities have stepped up security checks and surveillance at public venues.

Ahead here, a Beijing restaurant has diners, tables and lots of food on the menu, but there's one thing it doesn't have: waiters. I'll have that story next.

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NATALIE ALLEN: A Beijing restaurant is getting rid of the middle man, or woman, between you and your meal. You won't find any waiters when you dine there. But you will need your smart phone. Here's our Asia Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens.

ANDREW STEVENS via video: It's lunch time in Beijing, and here, indeed across the country, workers are joining their friends and colleagues for a bite to eat. But we've found a restaurant serving something slightly different in the dining experience. It's linking mobile technology with this city's deep love of food.

Welcome to (Renren Chian), and first thing you'll notice about this restaurant is there are no waiters. They've 'been replaced with an app. But it's not just any app. I'm now on the Wii Chat, the most popular messaging app in China. When I say popular, we're talking hundreds of millions of people on this. So I've got the menu up. The serving choices, I'm going for the spicy beef rice noodles. It's telling me I'm getting a bit of a discount, so all together that is about five dollars. It's now giving me a number which will be called out on the speakers in just a few minutes, and that will be my dish.

One place they are staffed: the kitchen. The team of chefs turning digital orders into your lunch. Ok, here we are, in about five minutes. And there's the beef with spicy noodles. All through the power of the smart phone and a helping hand from the kitchen. But the restaurant owner is looking at cutting his overhead even more.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): There will be no (voice) in this restaurant. That is, no waitress, no cashier, no merchandiser, and no chef. I did this because I'm following the technology development trend in China.

ANDREW STEVENS: In an age where smart phones are signaling the end of face-to-face conversation around the dining table, why not take it one step further and take out the need to speak to a waiter too? Andrew Stevens. Delicious. CNN Beijing.

NATALIE ALLEN: Well people eager to burn off their Christmas meals took off in Berlin Saturday for the annual Roast Goose Digestion run. That's what it's called. Hundreds of runners jog 10 km through the city's Grunewald Forest before sipping a cup of mulled wine at the end. Regulars say they come out for the traditional run every year. Nice costumes there. Rain or shine.

Thanks for watching. I'm Natalie Allen. Our top stories are right after this.

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