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Tornado Devastation in Kansas; Midwest Tornado System; Storm Chasers; Missing Kenyan Airways Jet

Aired May 05, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

MELISSA LONG, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Of course we have continuing coverage of the storms out of the Midwest, something out of a horror film, a monster tornado system is ravaging a small town of Greensburg, Kansas, killing at east six people in that community and one person in another area.
The Red Cross is estimating 90 percent of the town has been wiped out, and with the dawn a new reality and the search for survivors.

Twisters also churned up debris in northwest Oklahoma. You can see this one form before it touched down in Arnett last night and shortly after, a second tornado damaged two buildings and a home, but the good news, no one there was hurt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The windshield wipers! Turn off the wipers. Don't get in a accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Ever experience a tornado before? This is how it looks, this is how it sounds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK stop, we're good. Go, go, go, go! Jesus Christ!

Shut your door. Shut your door. Shut your door. OK, go, back up. Back up. We're OK. We're OK.

RADIO: There are trained spotters on the ground, we don't want you to be out looking at the storm, dangerous storm, hazardous storm Ellis County. Highway 283.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good. Hold on.

RADIO: Four miles south of 51.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to the roar!

I got it.

Hear that? Oh, no. Those are structures. Oh, no! No. Wow! Can you hear that? Don't move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Some pretty remarkable video shot by storm chaser Joel Taylor and also his buddy Reed Timor. We spoke to Reed Timor the last hour. He saying he was an adrenaline junkie, a scientist too, studying for his PhD in meteorology. So they certainly know what they're doing, but of course they did come dangerously close to that tornado yesterday, that's a tornado that passed through Arnett. And you could hear in the background, you could hear the radio personality encouraging people to stay away from the storm and make sure they're not out looking at the storm and hear the panic in their voices, as well.

We're trying to have the opportunity to chat with Joel Taylor a little bit more and find out a little bit about his situation, about what that's of like to be chasing that storm on Friday. We hope to bring that to you a little bit later in the hour.

Now, as you can see, we've been following the stunning storm damage in Greensburg, Kansas. That was video from Oklahoma, now this video from that small down in Kansas in ruins. Less than 2,000 people call it home. Two survivors now describe what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of sudden, the passenger's back window kicked out, and broke out and then all of a sudden, we started getting the shingles and all the dirt blowing in here and then all of a sudden the back end of it kicked and picked up us and threw us from over there to over here, where we're at right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard the sirens (INAUDIBLE) down to the basement and just kind of sat and huddled in the hallway between the bathroom and the office is down there and listened to the house being lifted away above us. The basement stayed intact, and the people were all OK and we came up about an hour later to see that everything across the street was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Two residents explaining what they experienced yesterday. And lives changed in the blink of an eye, the Greensburg residents are just beginning to grasp the full extent of their loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. RON KNOEFEL, KANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL: Right now, it's still a recovery effort because we're trying to go ahead and we're trying to sift through everything and, you know, clear everything as we go. So that's where we're at right now. And like we said, it's very difficult, very difficult situation because communications, they're just nonexistent. It's just, you know, it's impossible right at the moment. But they're trying to get a little bit better grasp on it at the moment, they're surveying it in the helicopter and, you know, they're just trying to get a better of idea of where to start.

The other thing that you folks have to realize is the people that you've been talking to, the people involved with fire, and EMS, and the sheriff's office, they KDOT (ph) folks, all the agencies, they've lost their own homes and they're trying to deal with that at the same time. So, you know, you got to be able to give them a little bit of time, because in most cases they're in shock themselves. So, you know, we've got to consider those people as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: With a breaking news story like this one, of course, we always rely on the officials in the Kansas Emergency Management officers have been keeping us up to date this morning, among them is the spokeswoman Sharon Watson who joins us once again by phone. She is in Greensburg this morning and this afternoon.

Good afternoon, Sharon, we appreciate your time.

SHARON WATSON, KANSAS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good afternoon.

LONG: We have been listening to emergency officials all morning and we just heard one describe it as the most significant emergency the state of Kansas has faced in a long, long time. Is that your perspective as well?

WATSON: It is certainly a significant disaster. Unfortunately the state just had a huge disaster with the western Kansas winter snowstorm that covered about 44 counties and caused significant problems there, too and of course, the tornado results in many different -- many of the same problems, but some different challenges. This is all confined to one particular area so therefore we know this area that we're dealing with, but at the same time, there is a tremendous amount of rubble.

If you can imagine flying over the area and just seeing nothing but rubble, and obviously your video is showing that, I'm sure, but basically that's what the town is coping with and trying to respond to the disaster at the same time they're dealing with such loss.

LONG: This is a small town, some 1,600 people called Greensburg home. What has it been like trying to locate all those people considering the fact that communication is so compromised?

WATSON: The communication issue is the biggest challenge in terms of trying to locate people because there are family members who are trying to reach their other -- you know, people here in this area, they're not able to get through on cell phones an land lines an therefore they simply don't know the whereabouts of their family.

There is a shelter set up -- two shelters with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, so those are resources for people to contact if they are trying to find out information about their families and unfortunately until some of the communications are restored, it could be a while before we have that situation addressed and so it may be a while before families know something, but we do want them to contact the American Red Cross or Salvation Army for those kinds of questions.

LONG: Of course we want to make sure we have the latest information. We were told six deaths in your community related to this storm, is that correct?

WATSON: There's a total of seven fatalities, six in the Greensburg area, in the Kiowa County and one that happened in Stafford County to an individual who was traveling and that person was transported to Pratt County and pronounced dead there.

LONG: The six deaths in Greensburg, are you able to tell us whether they were all in one location or scattered throughout your community?

WATSON: Not at this time. That information is still being gathered. Most of the damage was right in the town of Greensburg. However, as the emergency management director (INAUDIBLE) flew in this morning over the town, you could tell that there is some damage, pretty significant damage to ranches outside of the city of Greensburg, so some of those may have occurred there. We are still gathering that information.

LONG: Spokeswoman, Sharon Watson from the emergency management in the state of Kansas. Sharon, thanks so much for keeping us posted today. We do appreciate your time.

WATSON: Thank you.

LONG: All this morning, all this afternoon, of course, we will be relying on coverage one of our affiliates in Wichita, Kansas, that's W -- rather KWCH Television. They've also been streaming their coverage live on their Web site. Let's list in to their coverage for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER CORNISH, KWCH TELEVISION: ...structural damage which is going to take a while because we're told that there is virtually no building that was undamaged in Greensburg. They are searching, again, as I said, areas throughout the city looking for bodies -- hopefully they won't find anything -- looking for people who may be injured.

And there's the number for the Pratt Red Cross. If you're concerned about loved ones there, once again, you can call that number, 620-672-3651, that is the office in Pratt and that's the location to find out about people that you know who may have been injured in this storm in Greensburg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: That's Roger Cornish, our affiliate that's been bringing us the latest information from Wichita, Kansas this morning and now into the afternoon hours on the East Coast. Of course we want to check on the latest weather situation.

Meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, I understand that they're actually preparing for worse weather to come through that area.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They really are, Melissa. We got two big things we're talking about at this time. We're got a tornado watch in effect for Kansas as well as portions of Nebraska. This will remain in effect until 10:00 tonight. Now Storm Prediction Center now has a new watch and that is a little bit farther to the north and the northeast which includes parts of Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. So, we have two tornado watches that are now in effect. The heaviest storms now still moving into parts of the Cornhuskers State and there's a few other issues we're dealing with, not just severe thunderstorms but that threat of flooding.

Flooding that is taking place just to the west of Broken Bow. They've been dealing with heavy rainfall all morning, not only are they dealing with the rain there, but also in the western half of the states, farther back to the east from Sioux Falls southward into Sioux City, even into Spencer, scattered showers and storms. And this is really just the beginning of what we're going to see as we make our way throughout much of the midday hours and into the late afternoon and into the evening as well.

Now the components that are coming together to give us this severe weather event are varied. We've got moisture at the surface that just comes in from the Gulf of Mexico. Now with that you need some kind of lifting mechanism and we have got several of those. One of those is the thing we refer to as the "dry line" which is an atmospheric barrier which simply separates moist air from dry air and just right along that boundary, that combined with daytime heating gives you a chance of showers an storms.

Well we've got that but we've got other things we're dealing with, too, we've got a frontal boundary itself that's going to drifting from the Rockies into the Central Plains, this combined area of low pressure, this double barreled low is going to help happen as well.

Then the low level jet stream that's going to plug into this whole mess later on today which will encourage many of those storms to rotate -- rotating storms, super cells, which spawn tornadoes. That is going to be a big issue for us, especially into the late afternoon hours and into the evening.

Something else i want to show you very quickly will be this temperature map. Now, why in the world would we be interested in temperatures on a day like today? Well, it really illustrates the difference in those air masses. That colder air out to the west, surging its way towards the east, interacting with this warm unstable air mass right into the Central Plains, and right there, that dividing line you see into Nebraska, into Kansas and back up into parts of Minnesota, that's where it's all going to take place throughout the afternoon and evening. Back to you.

LONG: Reynolds Wolf, of course, and we'll be watching the situation that could happen if more severe weather does pass through the already ravaged area of Kansas.

Thanks so much, Reynolds.

And we are watching that situation in Greensburg so closely for you today. We're going bring you the latest in the devastation brought on by those tornadoes throughout the day.

But next, tragedy strikes a Kenyan airline, more than 100 lives in the balance as authorities are searching for a missing plane. We have a live report coming up for you.

And later, the debate over the Iraq funding bill. We're going hear both sides and speak with two senators who have made the trip to Iraq to see the situation for themselves.

You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: A difficult Saturday in Kansas where at least seven people have died in storms in two states. Ninety percent of Greensburg, Kansas has been damaged or destroyed; it was hit by a twister that was at least a half mile wide. Rescue workers are on the scene going door to door to see if anybody happens to be trapped today.

And dozens of people were injured in Greensburg, earlier we heard from two ladies who were driving through that community when the twister hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came around that curve right there and our pickup wasn't even on the ground, it was like -- it felt to us like it was spinning. And we couldn't figure out what was going on. It was raining real bad, so she said, "turn on the radio." So, I turned on the radio and it said get cover immediately if you're in Kiowa County. It was like, "oh crap!" So, this was the own place we saw with something there. So we pulled in here, then we ended up at the end of the -- in by the laundry room in there, they were pulling nerve there and some just stayed in there and it was just -- we could see everything just flying and then -- it sound like diesel engines...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jet engines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jet engine, it was just horrible. We tried to drive down this road right here after it calmed down to see if we could get out of here. We couldn't get out of here nowhere, they told us to pull our car over and shut it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Those were pictures from the community of Greensburg, Kansas. Now, that enormous storm system spawned tornadoes in many areas, among them Oklahoma, as well. Joel Taylor is a storm chaser. We showed you his video earlier. We're going to show thank you it to you again. It is pretty dramatic. Joel, thanks so much for join us, we appreciate it.

JOEL TAYLOR, STORM CHASER: Good to talk to you, Melissa.

LONG: Joel, I think we talked to your buddy earlier, Reed Timor.

TAYLOR: Yes.

LONG: OK, we understand he is studying meteorology, perusing his PhD. Are you also trained in this field?

TAYLOR: I have my bachelors degree in meteorology. I don't do work in it, but I was in the storm chasing. This time of, pretty much we drop everything else to make sure we're out on the plains chasing the storms.

LONG: Joel, this video is amazing. Do you think you got too close?

TAYLOR: Yeah, I do. We would probably want to be 50 to 100 yards further away. We were coming to a tornado from the north, and I was actually filming and Reed was driving, usually it's the other way around. I was watching through the camera and I look up, and the tornado -- through the camera it doesn't look as close as it does in real life -- and look up, and Reed slammed on the brakes as we're coming up to it, and then we actually switch positions and by the time we got done doing that, the tornado was pretty much 50 yards right in front of us.

LONG: In the background on this tape, you can hear one of the local radio personalities encouraging people not to do exactly what you were doing. Were you hearing that?

TAYLOR: Yeah, we were hearing it. It's one of -- you know, we've been chasing for about 10 years each. If people don't know what's going on, definitely you do not want them out there, they need to be taking cover and really we were closer than we ho have been. You know, just things got a little out of hand there for a second. We were able to correct for it, luckily, nothing bad happened.

LONG: This shows the amazing power of Mother Nature. You said you've been studying storm chasing for a decade. Now, how does this compare to other storms you've experienced?

TAYLOR: This is probably some of the best stuff we've gotten. The tornado itself, I mean it's a smaller tornado but very, very violent -- there at the bottom, as you can see just the debris just rolling around it. You know, we've seen bigger tornadoes, but just the feel of this one, and you can hear the roar there and it sounds like a waterfall in the background just as that tornado is doing damage.

LONG: You know, at any point did you fear for your safety?

TAYLOR: If you listen to the video, you can hear our voices get pretty high, yeah, we were -- I think we were both a little nervous for there for a second. LONG: Was that the adrenaline kicking in or was that you were truly worried about yore own safety?

TAYLOR: I mean, I was a little bit worried about our own safety because it was literally right in front of us and it was moving north towards us, but we were able to get the car in reverse and I just started back up and able to gain a little ground...

LONG: These pictures are wild. So many people that have been through a tornado will say it sounded like a freight train. Is that the best description you can give?

TAYLOR: We think it's more like a jet engine or a waterfall when you're real close. I mean, it's just really loud and that one was almost deafening, it was just so loud. But I think a waterfall, you know, just a real large waterfall is probably the closest we come.

LONG: All right, young guy, did you call your family to tell you what you've been doing yesterday?

TAYLOR: Yeah, they know what we do. And they watch us. Well, my dad has actually been with me a few times. He really likes it my mom kind of doesn't want to know about it.

LONG: I'm not sure I blame her. Joel Taylor, thanks so much for joining us on the line, this morning.

TAYLOR: Yeah, thank you.

LONG: Thank your, buddy, Reed Timor as well, for sharing this video and sharing your experiences with that tornado which passed through Arnett, Oklahoma yesterday. Joel, thanks so much. That massive storm ripping through a Midwestern town.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing left over there at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: The devastation in Greensburg, Kansas when NEWSROOM continues.

But next, tragedy strikes a Kenyan airline, more than 100 lives in the balance as authorities are searching for the missing plane. We have a live report coming up for you.

And later, President Bush says fund the Iraq war, now. But the Democratic-led Congress is not giving up the fight over an Iraq funding bill.

You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: Let's take you -- more now on that missing Kenyan Airways jet. More than 100 people onboard. Kenya Airways officials say the search is under way for the plane which had taken off from an airport in Cameroon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TITUS NAIKUNI, CEO KENYA AIRWAYS: The distress signal was picked up on the west coast of Africa and the search and rescue mission initiated by the Cameroon authorities was initiated this morning. The site location has now been centered around a 100 kilometer suburb west of (INAUDIBLE). The search aircraft used in the morning, flew over the zone extensively at low altitude, but did not locate the aircraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Joining us now by phone from Nairobi, journalist Marie Lora.

Marie, thanks so much.

MARIE LORA, JOURNALIST: So, well, we're just -- is another press conference going on right now, actually and we're seeing earlier that the search and rescue mission was underway, it has actually -- we have just learned it has been put on a hold right now because of bad weather. It is raining in the area, south of Cameroon where the plane is believed to have disappeared. It's also getting dark. It's been now over eight hours since the search and rescue mission has started and up until now they haven't been able to locate the wreckage of the plane.

LONG: From what I was reading, the information about that plane actually it was delayed about an hour-and-a-half due to the storm, then about 15, 20 minutes into the flight, they essentially lost contact?

LORA: Yes. Actually, we have learned from -- it has been confirmed by Kenya Airways that the plane was grounded for about an hour, delayed for about an hour before takeoff because of bad weather and because of the rain. And actually, the control tower in (INAUDIBLE) lost control with the plane 11 minutes after takeoff, so that was very, very shortly after takeoff.

Since then, there has been one automated communication from the plane at 11:05 this morning when the Cameroon authorities picked up a distress signal from the plane. But, since that, no other signal, no other kind of communication coming from that plane and it has not been found.

LONG: I understand there are people from about 25 different countries onboard. Do we know the breakdown of the passengers?

LORA: Yes, we do. It was a very international flight. Of course, there's the main, the large number is 35 -- 35 Cameroonians, there was also nine (INAUDIBLE), there were the crew members, but apart from that, there was at least one American on the plane, five Britains, including an "AP" journalist, Anthony Mitchell, but also 15 Indians, Chinese, Nigerians, South Africans, 25 nationalities, three passengers remain unidentified at this hour.

LONG: You mentioned that the search and rescue effort is on hold because of the severe weather. The video we're looking at, we're not able to see the weather situation. Just how bad is it and have they given any estimate as to when they may resume the search?

LORA: No, they haven't given us any estimate. It's difficult to know when the conditions will get better, but also you know it's nightfall now it's going to be very, very dark. The area is also very dense rainforest. So, for the moment, we haven't been given any information as to when and how the rescue efforts could start again. They were going on by helicopter. The government also indicates that the American government was assisting in tracking the flight route with satellite equipment. The Cameroon government is ready to fly to Cameroon with additional equipment, but for the moment, everything is on hold.

LONG: Joining us by phone from Nairobi, journalist Marie Lora. Marie, thanks so much.

Now continuing coverage of the storms in Kansas and Oklahoma, virtually nothing is left untouched in Greensburg, Kansas after that massive tornado wreaked havoc late yesterday and overnight. We're following all the latest details and will bring them to you throughout the day.

But 20 minutes from now we're going to turn our attention to Iraq and to the question of how and when to fund the Iraq war. The debate is ahead. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: Glad you're joining us on this Saturday. More on our top story, most of the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, is nothing but rubble today. Tornadoes ripped through Greensburg and nearby areas late into the night on Friday, killing at least seven and injuring dozens. Six of the dead lived in Kiowa County where Greensburg is located and then one in nearby Stafford County. The survivors today are telling their stories of terror and loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could hear it outside and your ears were popping and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just saw the wind and the houses falling in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was nothing left over there at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing we could find is some clothes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: Of course, Main Street is usually the heart of small towns like Greensburg, and today that small town has been crushed by the devastating power of a tornado.

Megan Strader from our affiliate KWCH reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEGAN STRADER, KWCH REPORTER: I'm standing on what was Greensburg's main street. The buildings that line this street, the main street and the road are now just reduced to bricks and sticks and -- it's a very sad scene to be walking or driving down this street and just see the devastation.

Now, crews are still on the scene trying to survey the damage and clean things up. You can see we have Harper County as well as Buffalo fire department, people are coming from all across the state to try and help out and to bring a little stability to this community after what we they went through last night.

Now, as the sun comes up, the devastation is becoming more clear. Homes that literally looked like they exploded, cars on their tops, trees down, metal flying down the street and the wind. But people here for the most part are staying positive, simply that they are alive and they lived through it.

Now, just to show the sheer magnitude of this tornado. You can see this tree was completely uprooted and knocked over into the yard. The tree next to it, similar situation, only this person had the unfortunate experience of it landing right on his truck. Now the house next door, kind of an interesting situation, winds took the entire front wall out but left that front door standing.

Now, in situations like this, there always seems to be that one building that's left standing after the tornado. In Greensburg, it's the courthouse, seems to be a little roof damage on it, but it's still standing proud this morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Red Cross officials say about 90 percent of Greensburg is either destroyed or damaged. To get more on the devastation now, from Chanda Brown of our affiliate KSNW.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANDRA BROWN, KSNW REPORTER: As day breaks and the sun comes up, it's showing just how much damage is here in Greensburg. Take a look, a pickup, another car, a tree, pulled up -- the roots out of the ground. This is what the scene is as far as my eye can see in every direction. This tree with the roots showing as far as you look just sticks up in the air. As we turn around now, you can see literally every direction. I look I cannot see any part of the city that does not have damage.

People estimating at least 95 and that's a conservative guess -- is damaged here in Greensburg. I have talked with some other people that live here and they're questioning right now exactly how they're going to rebuild with this much damage. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: That again was Chandra Brown of our affiliate KSNW. We're tracking the weather system because it looks like there could be more bad weather going through the area that's already been crushed by the tornadoes.

Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf joins us with more. Good afternoon, Reynolds, good morning, depending on where you are watching in the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LONG: Of course, we're keeping our eye on the situation in the Midwest throughout the day, bringing you the very latest on the tornado ravaged areas.

But next, we're going to talk Iraq. The president wants money for the Iraq war, no strings attached. Congress still says no. That's next in the NEWSROOM.

And then about ten minutes from now, despite the death of the godfather of soul, James Brown's legacy is as strong as ever. We're going to look at the man who's music shaped generations. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: It is time to give the troops the resources they're waiting for. That from President Bush this morning as he wrangles with Democrats over money for the Iraq war.

Now, for a look at how the political battle is affecting our U.S. troops, we turn to CNN's Josh Levs for a reality check.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey there.

You know, it's interesting. If you've been paying attention to what's going on in Washington in recent days, you're hearing the word urgent a lot and the message coming out of the White House basically is that if this is not resolved soon, the U.S. soldiers around the world could be in a difficult situation. They're actually using the word urgent.

So what we did today for reality check, we looked into that. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS (voice-over): It's been a Washington buzzword in recent days.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The need to act is urgent.

LEVS: The president and defense officials say the huge supplemental spending bill requested for the war is needed right away.

How urgent is it really? The non-partisan congressional research service has an answer. It says the army could cover its costs until June or July. The army acknowledges it's covered through June. And even if the fight over spending were to drag on longer, soldiers in Iraq would likely not feel an immediate impact. The military could transfer funds from other efforts.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: So the consequences that we've been talking about on the Hill and internally, really are focused on what happens here at home in terms of delaying construction, delaying some kinds of training, delaying hiring, delaying travel, delaying those kinds of things.

LEVS: Democrats say their bill would provide the money.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: In fact, it gives the president more than he asked for for our troops.

LEVS: Last year, after President Bush's funding request, the Republican-controlled Congress took 118 days to get a bill to his desk, longer than this Congress, but the White House says the real question is whether Democrats will ultimately send a bill that the president will sign, one that doesn't include timetables for withdrawal. He suggests they will.

REP. STENY HOYER, (D-MD) MAJORITY LEADER: So, it's incumbent upon us to work together. I don't even think it's a question of backing down, it's a question of recognizing reality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: Reality, and so in the coming days, the president and leaders of both political parties will be meeting again, and they'll see if they can hammer out some kind of compromise.

But Melissa, ultimately what it will entail, that's what I'm calling the $124 billion question.

LONG: Very true. All right, Josh Levs, thanks for that reality check.

LEVS: You got it.

LONG: Coming up after the break, also we will hear from the Republicans as part of a delegation in Iraq about their perceptions.

Still to come, also James Brown, the godfather of soul as you never knew him. His remarkable story in the NEWSROOM.

REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Reynolds Wolf with a look at today's allergy report. And we've got high traces of ragweed and pollen in many parts of the southeast as well as the central Rockies and into the Great Basin. However, when you get into the northern plains, into parts of the Midwest, people are breathing easy. Not quite as bad. That is a look at today's allergy report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: In Iraq, more deadly violence against civilians today. Suicide car bombings near a police headquarters and a recruitment center in Baghdad killed 17 people and wounded more than 20 others, including police officers. Elsewhere in the capital, a mortar attack killed three people and wounded four.

The backdrop to the latest violence, President Bush's veto of a bill calling for a timetable for U.S. troops to begin a withdrawal. And a Democratic move to try to revoke the 2002 resolution authorizing the war.

Senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Kit Bond of Missouri are with a Republican delegation traveling in Iraq. They join us now from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Gentlemen, thanks for your time.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER BOND, (R-MO): Good evening.

SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, (R-GA): Thank you, good to be with you.

LONG: Senator Bond, you said a couple of months ago that it really was impossible for lawmakers from some 10,000 miles away to really offer their perspective on Iraq. You're there now. What are your thoughts?

BOND: I never said they shouldn't offer their perspective. We all have our perspectives, I have a fairly strong perspective, but what we can't do is micromanage the war because everybody over here knows that to set an arbitrary timeline in legislation simply discourages our enemies, our allies, the people who are trying to help, but encourages our enemies and tells our troops we don't believe what they're doing.

We could talk about the war, but you cannot write into law a timeline telling General Petraeus when his troops have to withdraw without guaranteeing defeat, which would bring very serious consequences.

LONG: I want to get a little bit more understanding of your agenda, since you have been in Iraq. What have you experienced, what have you seen, who have you spoken with?

BOND: We've spoken with General Petraeus, the DCM at the embassy, other -- many troops, and a number of generals in various commands. And the troops, number one, keep asking why the new equipment, the mine resistant ambush protective vehicles are not being produced. And we had to tell them that there's $3 billion to produce them, but they can't start producing them until Congress passes a bill the president can sign.

But there are -- on the other side, there are good signs that we are making headway and the troops believe that they're doing a good job.

LONG: Making headway --

CHAMBLISS: Melissa.

LONG: Yes.

CHAMBLISS: We also had the opportunity this afternoon to visit with his eminence al Hakim, who is the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution here in Iraq. He probably is the most powerful individual in Iraq right now because here he is, the largest political organization.

And Kit and Senator Snow, Congressman (INAUDIBLE) and I had a long visit with him this afternoon. Very informative, we carried a message to him that we need for the council here to move. We need for some positive things to happen from a legislative perspective and that the people in the United States want to see some action in addition to the military action on the field here.

LONG: You mention they're making some headway in Iraq. You just mentioned as well, Senator, that people in America want to see some action. So, do you think it's reasonable, therefore, to have a bill that includes goals or timelines?

CHAMBLISS: Well, certainly not military timelines. I think we'd be foolish to impose military timelines on the commanders in the field over here. And I cannot tell you the confusion that exists among our soldiers here. They don't understand what's going on in Washington. They really have a difficult time understanding why this funding bill has not been passed and why it's such a, "big deal," because they're out there every day putting their life in harm's way and they expect us to support them.

And certainly I think we should. And I think Kit's exactly right, we just should not micromanage this war from the halls of Congress. And unfortunately, that's what the folks on the other side of the aisle are trying to do.

LONG: Well, let's talk about the folks on the other side ...

CHAMBLISS: Are there reasonable ...

LONG: Let's talk about the folks on the other side of the aisle. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now saying that how about a bill that will fund the war but only guarantee the money through July and then look at certain political security goals that must be met. In the spirit of compromise, how does that sound?

CHAMBLISS: Well, what General Petraeus told us today is that it's going to be at least September before he's able to look at military benchmarks and decide whether or not the new strategy is beginning to work. He doesn't even have all the troops on ground -- on the ground yet that have been authorized.

So, it's not fair to the military to impose that arbitrary July deadline. I think we're going to be looking at this fall before there can even be an analysis -- whether or not there's the potential for it to work.

And General Petraeus is going to be very straight forward. He's going to come back to Congress and say OK, here's the deal, either it's working or it's not working and then we'll have the opportunity to make some decisions after that.

LONG: Senator Chambliss ...

BOND: More to the point ...

LONG: I was just going to say we're just about out of time.

BOND: ... by a 1,000 cuts to run -- to cut off the money after two months puts us in the same bad position and it allows the Democrats to achieve their goal of defeat in Iraq.

LONG: Senator Chambliss -- Saxby Chambliss, Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, thanks so much for joining us during your Republican delegation trip in Baghdad. We appreciate your time and perspective this afternoon.

CHAMBLISS: Thank you.

BOND: Thank you.

LONG: We're going to check back with the people of Greensburg next in the NEWSROOM. They have survived a night of horrific storms. And now, how can they put their community back together? We're going to try to find out. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: James Brown, the godfather of soul, the hardest working man in show business, a cultural icon, his message helped shape a generation. We're going to bring you that story a little bit later here on CNN in the NEWSROOM.

Finding out a little bit more now about the situation in Kansas, I want you to take you to a live news conference going on in the community of Greensburg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to back him up in any way.

STEVE HEWITT, GREENSBURG CITY ADMINISTRATOR: Well, let me just say this, is that I can't tell you how concerned I am about this community. Early this morning, I made a statement that you know, we're going to come together and fix this, but let me tell you that after reviewing, being through this city, from the air and driving through the streets, it's scary. It's very scary right now. This community is going to struggle.

I want to say thank you to all the people that are here helping us. We've got hundreds of people from all over the state helping us and we're going to get through this during these first few days, but there's going to be a time when these folks are going to have to go home and I'm scared mostly because they're going to go home and I have a small community, I have a small staff and how are we going to rebuild this community?

And -- you know, I can't stress that enough because it's a devastating sight. I do not doubt that 95 percent of my community has been damaged, 95 percent. I mean it's terrible, 95 percent of this community is gone. And how are we going to rebuild? And I don't know how or the way we're going to do it. You know, we've got logistics and information we've got to come up with and we've got to do things right and we're going to do things right but it's going to be tough. And I don't know how we're going to do it but I just want to let people know it's a serious situation.

This small community out here has had a devastating loss and I don't know, you know, we're concerned. And that's what I want to say today is that you know, we appreciate the help. But right now, you know, it's going to be a tough road ahead of us.

QUESTION: How is the search and rescue going?

HEWITT: It's going. I mean -- and we're finding folks and there'll be some more information, I believe, very, very soon regarding some of that information as well. I don't have the details myself. But we continue to find people and we'll continue to find people, I'm afraid throughout the next couple of days.

QUESTION: Steve, what do you want to tell your townspeople?

HEWITT: Well, I want them to I guess rally themselves. We're going to have to come together, you know, and we're going to have come together as one. Because we can rebuild this community but it's not going to be easy and I'm very nervous about what the future holds, but we can do it. You know, we can come together and we can make this work but it's not going to be easy. This is an unbelievable event that occurred last night. And you have to see it in person to really understand it. But it's devastating.

QUESTION: Steve, talk about the efforts being done and the support that you're getting from surrounding communities?

HEWITT: Well, we're getting excellent support. We're getting folks from as far as Topeka ...

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