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Killer Tornadoes Across the South; Assessing Damage in Tennessee; Comparing the Royal Weddings

Aired April 28, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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


RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to violent weather, we know warnings save lives, but they can't prevent catastrophe. When all the victims are known and the numbers confirmed, the catastrophic outbreak of tornadoes that began a little less than 24 hours ago may be historic.

At least 250 people reported dead, some in Georgia, some in Tennessee, including the woman who lived in the home that was crushed by this tree. More than 150 in Alabama, the state hit hardest of all. This is a girl being rescued, slowly and very gingerly, from the ruins of what had been her neighborhood in Tuscaloosa.

We'll have more incredible pictures in just a moment, but I want you to see the big picture.

The National Weather Service is sorting through 164 tornado reports from 13 states. Not all of those will be confirmed, and some are no doubt duplicate reports of the same twister. But this much we do know -- in six states people were killed, they lost their lives.

Arkansas had two tornado reports and one death. Mississippi, 38 tornado reports, at least 32 deaths. Alabama, 66 reports. That state emergency management agency says 162 people there are confirmed dead.

In Georgia, 15 tornado reports, at least 14 deaths. In Tennessee, 14 reports, at least 33 people dead. You see the numbers, they just keep going here. In Virginia, 11 tornado reports, at least eight people killed in storms.

We've also learned that President Obama plans to visit Alabama tomorrow. And Alabama's governor plans a news conference at 4:00 p.m., just a couple hours from now. That's 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and that will take place from Tuscaloosa.

Our coverage this hour begins with CNN's Reynolds Wolf -- he is in Tuscaloosa -- and Martin Savidge, in the Birmingham suburb of Pleasant Grove.

Reynolds, tell me first what you have seen there today as you've been making your way around that hard-hit community.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Randi, I grew up in the state of Alabama, 41 years old. I can tell you that I was also actually a meteorologist here in the state for a number of years while -- covered a series of tornadic events, but this is incomprehensible.

I've never seen anything like this. This devastation has just been nuts.

I mean, you look right here in the foreground, you can see splinters of houses. Off in the distance, you can see trees that have been stripped completely of vegetation. In fact, if you take a look at this house right here, this house also in just horrible shape.

But the thing is, though, what was it like? How can you possibly fathom what the experience would be like actually being in a structure like that during a tornado? Well, we have an answer.

We have Lathesia Gibson is with us.

Lathesia, thanks for spending some time with us.

LATHESIA GIBSON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: How are you doing?

WOLF: Tell us your story. You were inside the house when the tornado came through.

GIBSON: Yes, I was. I was inside the house. And it was approximately about 5:00. I don't know, around the 5:00 hour.

And they said it was not considered a tornado warning, it was a tornado emergency, which was going to be coming across Tuscaloosa County Courthouse. And I took shelter in the master bedroom closet, me and my stepdaughter, covered with pillows.

And we got up under the clothing and the shoes and the towel rack. And once -- it made -- I guess 35 to 40 seconds, if that long, watched the storm pass.

We -- I mean, I looked up at the sky and the house was gone. I had rubble all over me, sheet rock in my mouth and dust. And it was horrible.

WOLF: Well, right before it happened, what was taking place? Was it quiet? Was it still? Did you have pounding rain? What was the experience?

GIBSON: It sounded like a train was sitting over the house. It was like a roaring sound, and it lasted, like, a matter of a few seconds. And then the house started -- I mean, the bathroom started caving in on me, the house started caving in, and the roof just flew off.

WOLF: So when this was over, it was just silent and you just came out of your closet?

GIBSON: I didn't see anything. It wasn't raining. There was a little bit of rain because my feet were wet in the closet, but there was not rain. The sun started shining.

I mean, it was like it just got real bright all of a sudden. It lighted up.

WOLF: Now, just for our viewers at home, I want you to see something. If you happen to look right over -- you see a gentleman there with a white T-shirt. You look behind that, you'll see a dark refrigerator.

Just to the left of that, that's the closet, correct?

GIBSON: Yes. Back to the back, it was the closet to the master bedroom.

WOLF: Now, from the time you heard about the tornado warning, tornado emergency, to the time you got back there, how long did it take?

GIBSON: I don't know. Maybe about four or five minutes. Four or five minutes.

WOLF: Four or five minutes, and a quick decision that may have saved your life and your stepdaughter's?

GIBSON: Right. And I was listening to the radio, and the radio cut off, and then I just started hearing this roaring sound, it was here just that fast.

WOLF: So what's next?

GIBSON: We're just going to have to try to get back together and regroup, start one day at a time. And I'm thankful for my life. I don't really care about all of the destruction. We did save some things.

My car is overturned here. But I just thank God for life, and we are just going to start over.

WOLF: Well, thank you so much for your time.

You know, she's not alone. There's going to be so many people that are starting over.

And what's funny is, from this vantage point, you can look in virtually any direction and what you're going to see is just devastation. In fact, if you look over here, you see the apartment buildings down there, all ripped to shreds.

One side, you've got the old armory. Those huge vehicles, they're also in horrible shape. Treetops -- all the way down this street you've got just things, just all signatures, if you will, of this massive tornado that came through.

At times, it was over a mile wide, they say. And what's even more amazing, and to prove the point about everywhere you look, there's damage, even back this direction, Jonathan Sheer (ph), our very patient photojournalist, is kind enough to give us this shot back over here, too. You see the office buildings down there.

The result is the same, Randi, devastation. Just mind-boggling.

Again, dozens killed here in Tuscaloosa. They're still right now searching many of these mounds of debris for possible entrapment.

The big fear is that that search is going to go to a recovery mode as opposed to a rescue mode. We have over 160 dead in the state of Alabama. Afraid also those numbers will be increasing. Just a horrible severe weather season and we're not through yet -- Randi.

KAYE: Reynolds, just quickly, as I look at those people who are walking around in that area, in that neighborhood around you, where are they going to sleep tonight?

WOLF: That's a great question. Many of them, thankfully, have been living here for a very, very long time. You've got very few transplants.

A lot of the people have grown up in these communities. These are proud Alabamians.

They're going to help each other out. We've already seen family members come in here with other family members to help find just bits and pieces of their property, to reminisce. And, actually, many of them very grateful they actually mad it through altogether.

Some people, the survivors, many of them came through with hardly a scrape. But again, there are some that are missing, and hopefully the mystery of where they might be, what might become of them, will be a little clearer in the days to come.

But still, just a devastating mess. And again, I'll be honest with you, I've never seen anything quite like it.

KAYE: I'm sure. I'm sure. Not many of us have.

All right. Reynolds Wolf, thank you.

Let's get straight to Martin Savidge. He's in the outskirts of Birmingham.

Martin, how are the recovery and rescue efforts going there?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, this is Pleasant Groves. It's about 20 miles to the west of Birmingham.

This has been the real problem, trees like this, power lines, all of that stuff has been clogging the streets and making it very difficult for the emergency rescue and recovery teams to get in there and do the heavy lifting that they have to do. And there's a lot of work to be done because, let me show you down the street here.

You can take a look and probably go all the way down the end of the block and begin to see that from here to the horizon, it is nothing -- well, there's nothing left, for the most part. And as you progress farther down this street, it actually gets worse and worse. The beginning part of this street is not so bad, homes aren't damaged, then they start to look really devastated, and then they disappear.

Now, that's the thing that happens, is that the farther down you go there, there is nothing really standing anymore. A lot of slabs that have been cleared right down to the cement or, in some cases, wide open yawning (ph) basements.

And then there is just piles of rubble. And it's very hard to determine what house is where.

Neighbors are finding other people's homes where their house used to be and vice versa. We talked to one woman. She said she couldn't even identify, didn't even know her home. Then she recognized the car. It was her car on a roof, and it turns out it was her roof. The only problem was the roof was down around her knees at that time.

So that's just one example.

And then I had a conversation with Beth Varden. She actually normally says, look, she listens to the storms, stays outside when they come. But last night was different. Last night was strange.

Here's how she described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH VARDEN, TORNADO VICTIM: The house was really shaking, and stuff started sucking out of the garage. And the garage doors lifted, and the back door lifted the basement. And we could hear everything upstairs moving around.

You hear a roar. I mean, it's not like a train, it's just like continuous thunder or continuous roar. And after it left we came out. And the first thing we saw was Gary's house was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: She came out of her house on 8th Street. Hers is the only house still standing on that entire street. She actually has a bit of survivor's guilt -- why is it her house is still intact when every one of her neighbor's is either completely destroyed or just plain missing?

Right now they are continuing to try to find survivors, although -- I've talked to some search crews -- they haven't found many people alive. But the good news is, too, also so far, they have not found many dead. The hope is that a lot of the people that are missing are simply scattered as a result of the catastrophe, that they've gone to friends and family. We'll see if that bears out as the day goes on -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Martin Savidge, in Pleasant Grove there for us.

Thank you, Martin.

I also want to remind everybody at home that around 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, as close to that as we can, we're expecting to bring you a live news conference from Governor Robert Bentley from Alabama. Also, the emergency management director there as well.

They will be touring the devastation. Reporters are going along with them. They'll be getting a firsthand look at some of the hardest-hit areas there.

They'll be holding a news conference along the way, and we will bring that to you at 4:00 p.m., just a couple of hours from now.

Meanwhile, let's bring in Dean Flener. He's with the Tennessee Emergency Management. He joins us now by phone.

Dean, tell us, if you can, what the situation is. Tell me where you are exactly and what you're seeing in that area.

DEAN FLENER, SPOKESMAN, TENNESSEE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, I'm in the state emergency operations center here in Nashville, Tennessee. We're engaged in search and rescue operations really in east Tennessee right now.

We had three waves of storms come through yesterday. The one that came through late last night hit particularly hard in east Tennessee, so we're still out there assessing damage and doing search and rescue.

Hamilton and Bradley County, Chattanooga area, just north of Atlanta, southeast of Nashville, they got hit very hard. We have 33 confirmed fatalities in the state. So we're thinking about the families and friends of those fatalities, as well as our neighbors in Alabama today, too.

KAYE: Have you ever, in your experience, seen anything like this?

FLENER: Well, every severe weather event is going to be different. You know, we had the floods last year in May that struck about half of our state. We had tornadoes in February of 2008 that cut a wide swath through Macon County, just northeast of Nashville.

So it is very severe. And we are doing our best to do search and rescue, and taking care of the people who are still out there needing help, and doing search and rescue.

KAYE: Tell me about some of the challenges of that search and rescue. I mean, having covered tornadoes myself, there's power lines down, there's certainly at lot of danger to deal with.

How does your team manage with that?

FLENER: Well, we make sure that everybody takes safety precautions when they're out in the field working. We do a whole lot of training in this state with search and rescue teams, as well as our personnel who go out into the fields to assist in search and rescue to make sure that they're keeping themselves safe as they're out performing those tasks. KAYE: Do you know if there are any communities that you haven't been able to reach at all that are still waiting?

FLENER: No, we've gotten a pretty solid report of activities all across our state from various coordinators and emergency management directors, and it looks like we are making progress. We still have some work to do, though.

KAYE: All right. Dean Flener, Tennessee Emergency Management.

Thirty-three dead in your state, Dean. We wish you luck --

FLENER: Thank you.

KAYE: -- with the cleanup and the recovery as well.

Our coverage is just beginning. But one thing that we do want to share with you is how you can help, how you can help all of those victims in those states, six states hit.

To find out more on how you can help and what you can do, well, you can head over to CNN.com/impact. And that's where you'll find all the organizations and ways that you can assist those in need. Once again, that is CNN.com/impact.

The storm has moved on. We'll check in with meteorologist Chad Myers to find out where it is heading next and how much damage it might still bring with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: And we will of course continue to bring you the latest on the recovery from those deadly tornadoes that tore across the South.

But another big story we're following is tomorrow's royal wedding. Next, we compare Kate Middleton's big day to that of Princess Diana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: When Kate Middleton marries her prince just hours from now, royal watchers will surely be comparing her wedding to that of her groom's mom, Princess Diana. There will be some similarities, of course, but as we've discovered, you can also expect plenty of differences.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): A royal wedding with a modern-day twist. We should have known it would be different this time around when Buckingham Palace e-mailed save the date cards, hardly a royal tradition.

Prince William and his fiancee, Kate Middleton, even have an official online wedding page. And there's a Twitter feed from Clarence House, the official residence of William and his brother, Harry. The couple is also on Facebook.

Prince William and his bride will be married at Westminster Abbey, a smaller and more intimate venue than St. Paul's Cathedral, where William's parents married back in 1981. Kate and William invited 1,900 guests, about a third of the number his parents did.

CNN's Richard Quest has covered the royals for years.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: St. Paul's Cathedral was stuffed with everything you could possibly think of. The music was grand and rousing, the carriages were everywhere.

William and Kate don't want that. They want a marriage, they want a wedding, and I think you can tell this by the fact they've invited representatives of their charities to be in Westminster Abbey.

KAYE: Prince Charles and Princess Diana's guests included heads of state from throughout Europe. William and Kate have said they want to have a more personal connection to their guests.

Still, there will be some celebrities, including Sir Elton John, a dear friend of Princess Diana's who performed at her funeral, and David Beckham and his wife, Victoria. David Beckham worked with Prince William on England's 2018 World Cup bid. Rapper Kanye West has also been invited.

Unlike his parents, William and Kate want to be seen as a modern- day couple, and they want their wedding to reflect that. Kate plans to take a car to the ceremony, a Jaguar limousine, to be precise, instead of the traditional open glass coach Princess Diana arrived in. Kate's father will ride with her, just as Diana's did all those years ago. And in case the Jaguar breaks down, there will be reportedly be several others on standby.

QUEST: You can't get too far way from royal tradition. And that's why, for instance, they will ride back from the abbey along the royal processional route in the 1902 State Landau, which is exactly the same State Landau that Charles and Diana used.

KAYE: It's been rumored that Sarah Burton, the creative director at Alexander McQueen's fashion house, will be designing Kate's wedding dress, something the label has denied. Whatever the case, the details and style are still under wraps.

Will it be as elaborate as Diana's? Remember that famous train? It measured 25 feet long. Diana's dress also had 10,000 pearls and sequins embedded in it, and an 18-carat gold horseshoe sewn into petticoats for good luck.

Charles wore his naval commander uniform. William is expected to wear his military uniform.

What Kate's bridesmaids will wear is still a mystery. She has five of them. Her sister Pippa will be her maid of honor. Diana had five bridesmaids, too. Her maid of honor was the queen's niece.

(on camera): And what about the wedding cake? Charles' and Diana's was created by a Belgian pastry chef who was known as the cake maker to the kings.

Kate and William are going a different route, with a British cake designer. They plan to have two cakes. One will be a multi-tiered traditional fruitcake decorated with cream and white icing. It will have a strong British floral theme.

The other will be a groom's cake -- how very American. Prince William has reportedly chosen a buttery family favorite made from McVitie's tea biscuits and dark chocolate.

(voice-over): At the reception after the wedding, hosted by the queen, the champagne will be flowing, along with fancy two-bite finger foods. They'll likely include smoked salmon and beetroot blinis. Also, quail eggs with celery salt, goat cheese and carmelized walnuts.

And don't forget the truffles, in dark, milk and white chocolate. Yum.

If you're wondering what one gives a royal as a wedding gift, don't give it another thought. Unlike Charles and Diana, who received more than 6,000 gifts, Kate and William have asked their guests, in lieu of gifts, to donate to charity.

QUEST: Kate and William are still going to get gifts galore. They will be counting the gifts here at Buckingham Palace for days.

KAYE: In the end, perhaps the greatest gift to come from this royal wedding may be that it stands the test of time. The world will get another fairytale wedding, and Britain will finally get another princess.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Our special coverage of the royal wedding begins at 4:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow morning. Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Kiran Chetry, and Cat Deeley will all be live from Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. So be sure to watch right here on CNN.

You can also participate. And if you can't watch, well, at least you can DVR it and watch it later when you can, or maybe when you wake up since it starts so early.

The royal wedding, an important cornerstone of society or nothing more than an expensive spectacle? Ali Velshi and the one and only Richard Quest debate it next in a special edition of "Q&A." So don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Quest means business and so do i. We are here together in the CNN NEWSROOM around the world. Well, hello, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Ali Velshi, welcome to London! "Q&A," where, frankly, most weeks any subject is up for grabs. Nothing is off limits, as we get to battle with the issues that are important. But Ali, this week there's only one issue that we need to grapple with.

VELSHI: And that's why you're in front of Buckingham Palace. Richard, I can't wait for the wedding day. I'll be up really early to see it. But all this hubbub has made me wonder, what is the real value of the royal wedding, Richard? And since it's in your backyard, I'm going to let you go first, Richard. You have 60 seconds at the sound of the bell.

QUEST: What is the value of the royal wedding? The monarchy, the institution. This is the value. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people will come to London and spend possibly more than $150 million helping the UK economy.

The value of monarchy to Britain cannot be overstated. Whether it's economic, the tourists, the infrastructure that it brings, or simply whether because it gives stability. The queen and her family have been on the throne for a thousand years, 1066 was when the last one was William the Conquerer.

If you look at monarchy and the role it has played in the life of this country, you start to see it is crucial, important, and, yes, it is a cornerstone of the way this country operates. Could it change? Does it wane? Does it become unpopular? Absolutely. A bit like your U.S. dollar. Of course, sometimes it goes out of favor. But just like anything -

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

QUEST: -- that lasts for some time, eventually the tide turns. The value of monarchy, it's all around us.

VELSHI: Wow. Wow, Richard! You have certainly got caught up in the whole wedding thing. And as a result, you may have missed something very important that's going on. So, give me 60 seconds now.

(BELL RINGS)

VELSHI: This wedding that Richard is so carried on about is coming in the midst of severe cuts in spending, designed to cut the UK's debt. In the early results of that Britain - that austerity in Britain, Richard, are not altogether smashing, as you would say. The UK economy shrank by half a percent in the last three months of 2010, and grew by half a percent in the first three months of this year. So, basically, Richard, one of the world's largest and most important economies is flat lining. Now the Brits are feeling the pain. You know it. And in the middle of all of this, you've got this lavish and expensive spectacle. Perhaps the real value of the royal wedding is this juxtaposition of the two realities, Richard! Admit it! It gives us pause to ask which economic road to go down, spend or cut?

As you know, Richard, conservatives and Tea Partiers in the U.S. are calling for your UK-style austerity measures, but if Britain's belt tightening unhinges its economic recovery and plunges you back into recession it's going to serve as a powerful warning to the United States. We've got to deal with debt -

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

VELSHI: -- but not at the expense of growth, Richard. Maybe we should all just have a big party like you are.

QUEST: Ali, Ali, oy, oy! You're wounding me here. The Voice, come and rescue us.

THE VOICE: Well, cheerio, chaps! Let's get on with our quiz today, shall we?

VELSHI: Let's do it!

THE VOICE: Queen Elizabeth II the official head of the commonwealth. There are currently 54 member countries. But what was the last country to withdraw from the commonwealth? Is it a Bangladesh, b, Zimbabwe, c, Ghana, or d, Pakistan?

(BELL RINGS)

THE VOICE: Ali?

VELSHI: Zimbabwe.

THE VOICE: Correct! Zimbabwe withdrew in 2003.

On to the next one. The UK is a constitutional monarchy. How many countries are considerED absolute monarchies? is it a, zero, b, four, c, eight, or d, 12?

(BELL RINGS)

THE VOICE: Quest?

QUEST: This is a straightforward guess. I would say eight.

THE VOICE: Incorrect. Ali?

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

VELSHI: I'm going to say 12.

THE VOICE: Incorrect again.

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

THE VOICE: Richard?

QUEST: Four.

THE VOICE: Four is the correct answer. Brunei, Amman, Qatar, and Swaziland.

VELSHI: Ha! Swaziland is the one that would have caught me.

THE VOICE: Onto the last question. Now for something a little lighter. The royal wedding, we've seen the mugs and the tea towels, so which of these is not adorned with the royal couple as wedding souvenirs? Is it a, sick bags, b, condoms, c, dog food, or d, vuzelas? Ali?

(BELL RINGS)

VELSHI: Vuzelas, obviously!

THE VOICE: Oh oh! You are correct! The others are souvenirs but not officially sanctioned royal wedding souvenirs. So, Ali you care more about this wedding than you'd like to lead on.

VELSHI: Apparently so. Richard has got me interested. Richard, I've got to tell you, it's a little embarrassing for you to have won on your own turf. But you're welcome back next week.

QUEST: Hey, I'm blaming the fact I can barely hear a word you're saying which is the best way to listen to most of what you say!

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Richard, we look forward to watching all of your coverage of the royal wedding.

(BELL RINGS)

VELSHI: Hey, we'll be back next week, same time, CNN NEWSROOM. 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Keep your topics coming to our blogs, CNN.com/qmb and CNN.com/ali. Tell us each week what you want to talk about. See you next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Welcome back. We want to let you know the governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, will be holding a press conference at 3:30 today, just about an hour or so from now. We'll keep an eye on that. Let you know what the latest is in terms of the storm damage here in the state of Georgia.

But on the phone right now, we have the governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley, to give us the very latest. Governor, thank you so much for talking with us and taking the time to do so. Have you had a chance to survey the devastation in your state? And how does your state look after being hit so hard? GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY (R), ALABAMA (on the phone): Well, we're in the process now of surveying the damage in our state. In fact, I'm on a tour now. I'm in Birmingham at the present time. We're going to Tuscaloosa as our next visit. We've been in Alabama. And we have in areas we have a lot of devastation. The problem is when it hits so hard, as it has in some of those areas we lost a lot of lives, at present our confirmed dead is 180 in Alabama.

KAYE: And what's being done for those who did manage to survive this? Do you have shelters set up? Do you have enough bed space for these people? And are they able to reach them?

BENTLEY: We do. We have -- we have a very organized effort. Our EMA is very organized. We have a tremendous number of volunteers. We have a governor state-based initiative like the federal government has that works with our volunteers.

We're doing OK. I mean, obviously we are right now in a rescue and search -- rescue mode making sure that we find those that are injured. But also those that are deceased and making sure we get an accurate count of that and helping those families.

KAYE: Has anyone been rescued today? I mean, this is still a rescue effort, not a recovery effort. I'm just curious if anyone has been found alive today.

BENTLEY: I -- we do not -- not that we know of as of this moment, not in the last few hours. I activated the National Guard yesterday. We have 2,000 National Guardsmen in the areas. We have our local first responders, and they're doing an outstanding job. So, I -- of course, I asked the federal government for help last night.

KAYE: Right.

BENTLEY: The president has issued that proclamation allowing us --

KAYE: Right. And the president is expected there tomorrow. What do you need from the president right now, and will you take him on a tour of the devastation?

BENTLEY: Well, of course, we just -- he's like I am, I mean, he's president of the United States. He's president of everyone, and he wants to see the damage and visit with the people. That's what we're doing. But they have offered -- the federal government has offered all of their assistance, and we probably this afternoon will ask for an expedited issuance of that so that we can get things more quickly.

KAYE: And what do you want or need the people of Alabama to do in the next few hours or even overnight tonight?

BENTLEY: Well, neighbors help neighbors. Obviously is one of the things that we do. We do that well in Alabama. We need a place for people to stay. We need food for them to eat. We need --whatever the needs are, we're going to try to meet. And -- but things I think right now are going as well as possible.

KAYE: I don't know if you've had a chance --

BENTLEY: And this really is the worst natural disaster that has hit this state in my lifetime.

KAYE: I was saying I don't know if you've had a chance to tour the damage and see the damage from the air, but as we continue to look at these amazing aerials and we look at your state, which in a sense has really been flattened, I'm curious if you can tell us a little bit about the decision to postpone the graduation at the University of Alabama, which I believe has now been moved to August?

BENTLEY: You know, I spoke with the president of the university last night, making sure that they were OK. I have not spoken with them about graduation. I've been too busy dealing with lives. We haven't really worried about that. But we'll let them make that decision. And I don't know what that decision is.

KAYE: All right. Well, from what we understand, it's been postponed from May 7th until August now.

So, Governor, we will let you get on your way and continue to make your way around the state and help your community and your members of the state there.

We wish you luck. Again, thank you so much for taking the time out to tell us what the latest is from Alabama. Thank you.

BENTLEY: Thank you very much.

KAYE: 250 people are dead, thousands of people are hurt in the storms that spread through the South yesterday and overnight and is now pushing through the Northeast. We talk with our weather team about when this weather will end.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on the phone): Devastating. The infrastructure has been absolutely decimated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought my life was over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can feel the house lift up like it was going to go and I thought we were going to take a ride. But praise God, he sustained us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just complete destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The roofs have blown of homes. A little girl got trapped.

MAYOR WALTER MADDOX, TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA (on the phone): We're facing a overwhelming situation in which we are short on men, materials, and equipment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Surreal, sickening, absolute destruction. Yesterday and overnight, these Southern storms swept through the South, devastating entire communities. Hundreds are dead. Nearly a thousand injured.

So, let's break down the numbers for you in today's "Big Breakdown. First, let's start with the deaths state by state. OK, Alabama, first, we just heard the official number from the governor is 180. So, we haven't had a chance to update our map. That says 162. But it's now up to 180. Mississippi, 32. Georgia, 14. Virginia, eight. Tennessee, 33. We also have Arkansas, one. That's at least 250 people killed in these storms, and of course, the numbers could grow.

Now, let's talk about the injured. These numbers are harder to compile due to the sheer numbers of hospitals in the South treating the victims. But according to our medical unit, if look at the numbers here, 941 injured. In Tuscaloosa alone, 700-plus people were injured. More than 700 people. And we've just received word that more than 348,000 people are still without power in Alabama.

Now, let's talk about the help that these people are getting. In Alabama, 1,100 member of the National Guard are mobilized to provide emergency assistance. President Obama signed Alabama's emergency declaration and ordered federal aid to help state and local response efforts there. The president will be in Alabama tomorrow, as we've been telling you, to take a look at the damage.

We've also learned the University of Alabama has suspended normal operations due to the storms. Final exams will not be conducted next week as scheduled. And graduation has been postponed from May 7th until August now.

In Kentucky, 125 Guardsmen are there. They've been called out to help with flood victims in the western portion of the state of Kentucky. A state of emergency was declared in all of these states. Look at this. Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, and Virginia. So, hundreds of people dead. Even more injured. Entire buildings destroyed. Hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed.

Exactly how many tornadoes have hit so far? Well, we can't confirm the exact number of tornadoes yet, but we can talk about official reports of tornadoes. According to the NOAA storm prediction center, there were 164 reports of tornadoes in a 24-hour period. That's from 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning until 8:00 a.m. this morning, and that is Eastern time.

Now, we just spoke with Alabama governor Robert Bentley, and he and the Alabama Emergency Management director will be holding a news conference this afternoon at about 4:00 Eastern time. We want to talk about that with our Chad Myers here.

Chad, this was a huge swath of storms. I mean, that one tornado that we saw was over a mile wide. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. What concerned me the most about what you just said was that that map that you said was not updated. It was updated one hour ago.

KAYE: Yes, of course. The death toll keeps climbing.

MYERS: The death toll went up by more than a dozen in an hour. That's just -- how many more people are they actually going to find?

KAYE: And the governor told us they didn't find anyone alive at least in Alabama today, as far as he knew.

MYERS: It was such a devastating event. Literally, it was wind speeds of 200, 225 miles per hour. Weather Service out there looking to see what that number is.

This gives you an idea from the air of what's not left. I mean, sometimes you say, oh, yes, I can see a building there, I can see where that house was, they lost a couple shingles. There's nothing left in the path. You have to understand we're seeing a quarter of a mile of a path. This tornado was on the ground as a very large tornado for 60 miles. So, there's damage like this as far as you can see and as far as you can fly that helicopter.

Now, the good news when it left Tuscaloosa before it got to Hueytown, there was a long distance, 30 miles of basically empty space. Only a few houses in between there. But those rural houses got hit as well.

KAYE: And so people in the northeast are watching this move that way, but they can't expect anything like this, can they?

MYERS: We don't have the potential today for F-3, F-4, F-5, 200- mile-per-hour tornadoes, no. The weather goes from all the way to about Canada down to Jacksonville. And yes, there are a couple of storms and storms causing wind, even one that went through New York City with a little bit of wind, a couple of tornado watches here for Virginia Beach now, kind of boxing up the tide water. But not the type of weather we had yesterday.

KAYE: OK, well that's certainly some good news on a day like this where there's so much terrible news coming out of the South. Chad, thank you.

To find out more to help tornado victims head over to CNN.com/impact, and there you'll find all of the organizations and all of the ways you can help those in need. Once again, that's CNN.com/impact.

The severe weather hitting the South has the White House adjusting the president's schedule. Gloria Borger will have the details for us. That's straight ahead.

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KAYE: What was already a busy week at White Houses is now even more hectic in the wake of the devastating tornadoes. CNN's senior political analyst Gloria Borger joins me now from the political desk in Washington. And Gloria, the White House certainly has been quick to try to show a federal response to this disaster.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure, they have. You know, the president, as you pointed out, was on the phone immediately with the governor. He's making a trip to Alabama tomorrow. H's been on the phone with the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, the Emergency Management Association.

But the other thing that's important here is in kind of a crisis like this, the president is not only the grand manager of the emergency, but also he becomes the pastor in chief to a certain degree. And I think that's what the trip to Alabama is about, because people like to know not only that the government is on their side, but also that the president understands what they're going through.

Obama was criticized if you recall, for not getting down to the Gulf quickly enough after the BP oil disaster. So, I think they don't want to make that mistake again, and I think it's important for the people who are affected by these tornadoes to see that the president and that their government is really behind them in any way they possibly can be.

KAYE: Yes. Sure. Switching topics just a little bit, the president will soon announce CIA director Leon Panetta as his choice to run the Pentagon. This is even more significant, right, amid the budget-cutting fights?

BORGER: Yes, it's very interesting. Leon Panetta has probably one of the best and extensive resumes in Washington, you know, going back to being a member of the House, chairman of the House Budget Committee, as a Democrat. But he was also Bill Clinton's chief of staff, he was head of the Office of Management and Budget. And head of the CIA. So, he has a lot of budgetary experience.

When I look at this appointment I think, OK, the Pentagon is getting ready to downsize. And what Leon Panetta is really good at is looking at a large organization and trying to figure out how to make budget cuts. The President himself wants to make $400 billion in cuts in the Pentagon over the next dozen or so years. And that number could grow, depending on the outcome of the budget debate.

So, I think when you look at Panetta you say, you know what? This is somebody who's going to have to do a lot of shrinking of the Pentagon. Secretary Gates has cut weapon systems, but Leon Panetta is actually going to have to cut line items on the budget. And in Washington, that's a tough, tough thing to do, Randi.

KAYE: Yes, it sure is. All right. Gloria Borger, nice to see you. Thank you.

As we told you, President Obama will speak live on the storm in just minutes. Our coverage continues with that and much more right after this break.

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