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At Least 89 Dead in Missouri Tornado; Cell Phone Recording Captures Terror; Hospital Too Direct Hit From Tornado; More Storms Hitting Joplin Now; Storm Kills 89, Levels 2,000 Buildings; Obama in Ireland; Obama Explores Irish Roots; Afghan Official: Mullah Omar Missing; Imprisoned Hikers Phone Home; Pawlenty Announces 2012 Bid; Arrest in Beating of Giant's Fan
Aired May 23, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is the heart of tornado alley. This morning the devastation in Joplin, Missouri, is shocking. Take a look why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): At least 89 people are confirmed dead. The death toll is expected to grow as crews pick through the wreckage. As much as 30 percent of the city is damaged or destroyed, that includes some 2,000 homes and businesses.
One of those -- one of the buildings damaged, St. John's Regional Medical Center that in the heart of town. Triage centers were set up outside to treat the crush of victims. Now those are the terrible facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is difficult to describe the terror people felt. What you're about to hear is a group of people inside a convenience store as the tornado hit. They're huddled together and they're praying. Much of this video was dark, but listen -
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God? God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good. We're good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love everyone. I love everyone, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Heavenly father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is everyone OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm right here. I'm OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- on someone --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody's on my back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All of those people survived. And I know it's cliche, but the people in that convenience store were lucky. Look at what the tornado left behind. Mangled cars and homes, you'll see the pictures in a moment.
Awful destroyed or badly damaged a Wal-Mart, home depot, a high school, and a hospital. CNN's Brian Todd outside St. John's Regional Hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): There you see the damage. It's unbelievable. Actually Brian Todd is inside of a vehicle now because dark storm clouds are on the horizons, and the winds are very strong. Brian, tell us about it.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, Carol, when I spoke to you the last hour, it was just rolling in on us and we finished our live shot just in time to take cover. It's -- it rained very, very heavily a moment ago, it's still raining.
The clouds are darker than I've ever seen clouds during the daytime. It really is extraordinary. People here are fearful of this kind of thing because I heard a couple people tell us earlier that these are similar conditions that they saw yesterday when the tornado rolled in.
It is a scene of sheer devastation here outside St. John's Regional Medical Center where they took a direct hit from the tornado yesterday. You know, x-rays from this hospital were found 70 miles away in Dade County, Missouri. That tells you just the extent of this tornado.
It's about a half mile to three quarters of a mile wide in scope. It tore down the center of Joplin, Missouri, basically from west to east. It took aim directly on this town and hit it dead center, 25 percent to 30 percent of the city experienced severe damage.
Eighty nine confirmed deaths that death toll very, very likely to go up. And now they're just trying to comb through the wreckage here and trying to find some survivors who may be penned in. But now the weather is really complicating thing and making it much, much more difficult, Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. I'm glad you took cover. Brian Todd is right outside that hospital that was badly damaged. Let's go to our weather center meteorologist, Alexandra Steele.
I know the winds are really whipping up. We just talked to the governor a moment ago. The search and rescue crews are on pause right now waiting for this thing to pass.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's unfortunate. I mean, of all the times now to have this kind of really hindering the efforts and unfortunately we're not going -- we're not going to see what we saw yesterday. I mean, we are seeing some very strong winds and hail, but tornadic activity isn't as likely.
There are no tornado warnings. So it is scary. He said he'd never seen such dark clouds. You know, we are seeing clouds coming from the west. They're thickening and they're lowering. We've got two rounds. Here's a look at the radar picture.
And you could see what's happening, this is called the bow echo, and you see where this red is right over Joplin dropping south- southeast at about 45 miles per hour. What that is are the winds pushing. It's like a door opening.
It's pushing so fast that that's where the strongest winds are. We're seeing right now winds 60, 70 miles per hour. That's one of the culprits with this. Also what we're seeing kind of the worst out of these storms, about quarter-size hail or so and some incredibly heavy rain. So flash flooding a potential.
This is the line moving through right now, but unfortunately on the back side of this, you can see there's a little bit of a break meaning the rain won't be as heavy. We're not seeing the hail cores there.
But further west, yet another line will move through just minutes later. So that's the current setup. But you know, we talked about what we're seeing now, and how bad is it. Well this year obviously, it has been an incredibly deadly year, certainly a record- breaking year.
But when you look at the big picture, the average month tornado frequency, obviously May and June certainly the strongest. In April, though, on average, 185, we had over 500 tornadoes. There's has been an incredibly deadly and potent year. April actually in the history books being the deadliest, not only this April, but April of '74 with over 300 deaths.
So how did this all happen? What is the setup here? Well, this is the setup what we've got currently and the synoptic setup from yesterday. All this warm, moist air coming up is colder, dryer air and right here just kind of in the bulls eye was, Joplin with 48 tornado reports.
At the very least we've got the potential today once again for this very severe setup. Isolated tornadoes, hail and winds really, Carol, the biggest threat for today. We'll talk more about the threat for today and tonight coming up in just a little bit.
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Alexandra.
Residents of Joplin have been helping each other since the tornado hit. Doug Hunt, one of the residents of Joplin, I talked with him last hour about going out in a pickup truck.
He actually rescued a woman who was trapped in her apartment complex, but Hunt was actually more moved by the efforts of others coming from far away to lend a helping hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG HUNT, JOPLIN RESIDENT (via telephone): We've got a lot of people that have died, and this city is a resilient city. And I tell you it was very humbling all through the night -- nobody could sleep, but we could hear emergency vehicles driving in from areas hundreds of miles away. So it's a sad time for our city, but at the same time, you know, we're thankful for the people that are coming together and helping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's what it's all about. Hunt said that people have been posting on Facebook to get the word out about those people still trapped. Those people who need help and people are coming to their rescue.
Still ahead, we'll go to the ground zero of this tornado to see its incredible force firsthand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everywhere here in Joplin there are cars stacked, strewn about everywhere. The axis from quick search and rescue that was done last night, they're going to be doing more thorough searches now. You see these everywhere. They're all over Joplin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That was Jim Spellman. He's live in Joplin obviously. Actually, we'll go to him live coming up after this.
And somewhere in all that rubble, a brown wooden deck sits untouched. It's all that's left of one man's family home. We'll talk to him as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This morning, here's the latest out of Joplin, Missouri. We know right now that 89 the people are dead from last night's tornado. That number is almost certain to climb, that's what the governor told us moments ago. The governor also said as much as it 30 percent of the city may be completely wiped out. Heavy rain is now falling and strong winds are blowing. So we believe that the search and rescue team sent in to help, to look for survivors have put on hold until that storm dies down.
Our next guest is one of the people who will now have to rebuild his life. Tom Rogers was inside his house as the storm ripped it apart. This deck all that's left of his home. He has spent the morning with his daughter walking through their neighborhood and witnessing the damage.
Tom Rogers joins us by phone. Thank you, Tom, for joining us. I know this is -- I can't imagine what you're going through, frankly.
TOM ROGERS, TORNADO SURVIVOR (on the telephone): It's something that you would -- even watching a movie, you can't describe the devastation that you see. Everything is just completely gone. It's -- it's surreal.
COSTELLO: Take us back to last night when you knew that storm was going to hit. What did you do?
ROGERS: We had the tornado siren go off once. And we began to just go outside and kind of see what was going on because it looked like it was going to the north of us. It was the second time that we got another round of tornado sirens and we turned the television on and saw what looked like -- it definitely was coming toward us.
We live kind of down in the valley a bit so we didn't feel like we were going to be in any danger until I really looked outside and noticed how black the sky got. To be honest with you, since my daughter was with me, that was the reason why we took shelter.
Normally for myself, I would just ride something like that out so she saved my life as much as she was taken care of, as well. We went into a small bath that was underneath my stairwell. And that's when the winds really started to pick up, and I just cannot describe to you that sound, that freight train sound that everyone describes.
It is absolutely real. She was actually -- she was squatted down, I was covering her. I was trying to hold the door because at that point I knew that everything around us was gone. The stairwell was all that we really had above us.
COSTELLO: Well, Tom, we're looking at a picture of your house, and it's completely flattened so I'm just wondering how you all survived.
ROGERTS: It's by the grace of God, absolutely. We were in prayer the entire time it was going on. I felt like really honestly that we were making -- we were in our last seconds here. I mean, absolutely.
And we were just praying for God to take us quickly without pain and then all of a sudden the freight train noise started to go away, and we saw just a little bit of light from underneath a little bit of rubble that was left. We were still caught underneath.
COSTELLO: So the storm has passed. Is it now quiet?
ROGERS: This was the part that was really, really tough because once we were able to crawl ourselves out, we could hear cries and screams for help. The part that was difficult is then we began to get hail and we began to get lightning and we began to get a really heavy rain.
The lightning was actually zapping around the ground around us. And I instructed as many people as I could, I had to get one person out who was trapped under a washer and dryer, my neighbor. His legs were trapped. But I instructed everybody to get to their cars because it was really the only safe place to get away from the lightning.
Unfortunately, the cars were all completely full of debris and there were no windows in the cars. It was very difficult even after that difficult situation and having to see what you had seen, to try to find shelter from, you know, the hail and the lightning and everything that came afterward.
COSTELLO: I just had this awful picture that you're all just standing there looking at what's left of your life, while the rain pours down and the lightning strikes. And you don't know where to go.
ROGERS: I think it's amazing that you look at all those and you look at one another and you're just so happy that you have one another and you know that everything that you have is an absolutely be replaced.
And so we know that -- God said it wasn't time, but I just ask that, you know, that there be many prayers for those that are out there right now that are suffering far worse than we are right now.
ROGERS: So you went back to the neighborhood today with your child just to survey the damage. And what's next?
ROGERS: Well, absolutely -- last night was actually when we did the survey. This morning we actually ended up about midnight getting into home with some friends. Just trying to get some rest.
But, you know, at this point there's really not much to do because of the weather that we have going on. At this point with as much as going on, you're just not sure where to start.
COSTELLO: Tom Rogers, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck to you.
ROGERS: All right. Thank you so much.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Tom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): I believe we have some live pictures of President Obama who is in Ireland right now. This is in Modobal. Yes, it is. This is in Modobal supposedly President Obama has relatives here and supposedly he's going to meet some of those relatives a little later in the day.
We'll keep you posted on when exactly that happens. Of course early this morning, President Obama and the first lady called on the governor of Missouri to express their condolence for what happened to the town after that tornado.
Of course, the president pledging to help in any way he can. FEMA is already on the way to Joplin, Missouri. But as you can see, in Ireland right now, only happy moments for the president and the first lady.
We'll get back to Ireland when more happens and pass along to you when the president meets his long, lost relatives. We'll be back in a minute.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking on some other top stories now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): President Obama is in Ireland and he has just arrived in the village of Moneygall, home of some of his Irish ancestors. Earlier today, Mr. Obama met with Irish leaders including the president and prime minister.
A NATO official telling CNN there is no indication that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is dead. Earlier an Afghan security official said the leader of the Afghan Taliban has disappeared over the past five days and he may be dead. He's said senior Taliban members have confirmed they cannot contact Mullah Omar.
Those two U.S. hikers being held in Iran have been allowed to phone home. Their families say both men sound reasonably well, but say they learned the men went on a hunger strike to protest withheld letters from home. The men are being held on suspicion of espionage which both say and the U.S. government strongly deny.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty makes it official today. He is jumping into the race for Republican nomination for president. He'll make the announcement in Iowa, home to the critical Iowa caucuses.
Los Angeles police are holding a man they call the primary aggressor in the assault of a San Francisco Giants fan. The arrest comes seven weeks after Bryan Stow, father of two, was beaten outside of Dodgers stadium. Stow remains in critical condition.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is in Los Angeles for us. So Thelma, anything more on the search for other suspects?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, Los Angeles police are now focusing their manhunt on a second suspect who they say also took part in the vicious beating of 42-year-old Bryan Stow. Police are asking for the public's help in identifying the woman who was seen driving the men away from Dodger stadium in a light four-door sedan.
The arrest of 31-year-old Giovanni Ramirez, the man police are describing as the primary aggressor, is a huge score for the LAPD. They had assigned 20 detectives full time to the case. Ramirez was taken into custody early Sunday morning in Los Angeles for assault with a deadly weapon and he is being held on $1 million bail.
Police received more than 600 leads, but got their break late last week when a parole officer gave detectives information on Ramirez who was arrested at the department in East Hollywood. Now the motive for the attack, detectives say, Ramirez and a second suspect who were wearing Dodger attire, began taunting Bryan Stow who was wearing a Giants shirt as he left the stadium with his friends after the opening day game.
Now as they walked away, police say they were jumped. Stow, paramedic and father of two, was knocked to the ground and beaten. Stow is in critical condition. He sustained a serious skull fracture and brain injury in the attack. Now there is a $250,000 reward being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Carol --
COSTELLO: Are people still afraid to go to the games at Dodger stadium?
GUTIERREZ: Carol, they've definitely had a bumpy start. Attendance is down. The attack on opening day forced the Dodgers to come up with a tighter security plan. They have extra officers. They've now put out extra stadium lighting and they've had to cancel some of their alcohol promotions.
But it's just one of the controversies that Dodgers have had to contend with so far this season. As I mentioned, ticket sales are down, and the team's owners are going through a nasty public divorce. They've come under fire for misusing Dodger money.
And as a result of that, the league has had to take over the team's management. It's definitely been a tough road for the Dodgers.
COSTELLO: Well, at least there's an arrest in that beating case. That's a good thing and hopefully more to come soon. Thelma Gutierrez live from Los Angeles.
Scenes of devastation from Joplin, Missouri. At least 89 are dead after a tornado cut through the heart of the city. We'll take there next.
As a possibility of another storm hitting Joplin this morning leaves the threat of debris becoming projectiles. It's not over yet, we'll check in with out weather center. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: As if Joplin, Missouri, hasn't suffered enough, it is raining hard in Joplin. The rain is likely to continue for some time.
The wind is also whipping up debris and that's after last night when a terrible tornado struck. Listen to what a couple of storm chaser said about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You're going to go down a little bit. Just go. Just go. OK. Just a little bit -- my gosh. It's right there. Just -- just go slow. Just go slow, it's going to cross the road right there. It's going to cross the road, gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Got it. My gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gosh. There it is. There it is. Gosh. That is a monster tornado. Get back up and go to that road over there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kevin, I'm off the road so --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, my gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, not you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, go down the road a little bit. Just go, just go. Okay. Just a little bit, you can see -- my gosh. It's right there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It was a huge tornado that cut through the heart of the city. As far as we know there are 89 people who are killed. Of course, that number could grow, that's what the governor told us a short time ago, more than 2,000 buildings destroyed.
We're talking about major buildings like a huge Wal-Mart, damaged or destroyed. Also a home depot destroyed. St. John's Regional Medical Center, severely damaged, unusable right now.
CNN's Brian Todd was standing outside that regional medical center. He filed this report moments ago before the rain came down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see the facade of the building, but I want to show you something else. Look, look at these clouds up here. Look at the difference between the sky over there and look at the sky over here. We've got another storm system brewing.
And it's amazing how dark the clouds are, turning day into night as we speak. This is what people here are really concerned about. This is, you know, similar to the conditions that people saw before this tornado struck. We may have to take some cover pretty soon.
It did come down the heart of the city, 25 percent to 30 percent of this city was severely, severely damaged. So the destruction that you see, that's how much of the city was affected by that. We've got stuff floating around here, it's starting again soon.
Look at this car here. Look at the damage that it sustained. This is a Suzuki, maybe an SUV or station wagon or something. You can't even tell. Look at the wreckage here. A telephone pole fell on top of it.
There's debris in the back there. This kind of scene is repeated over and over and over again and we -- we're getting severe weather now. We may have to break off.
COSTELLO: Brian, take cover because you're making me nervous. Take cover, OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Yes. He heeded my advice. He's still taking cover right now because hail is coming down. There is lightning in the area. It is quite nasty. Let's head over to the weather center and Alexandra Steele. This just doesn't seem fair.
STEELE: Right, especially with this clean up. You're telling Brian to take cover and he certainly did. One good thing now, we don't have tornado watches. We don't have tornado warnings. We do have the threat though, Carol, for some severe thunderstorms.
With that really the worst, worst thing today are hail, hail about 1, 1.25, so just bigger than quarter-sized hail. Also a big factor with today's storms the gusty winds, 60, 70 mile-per-hour wind gusts we're seeing today.
So no tornadoes reported, and again, no tornado warnings or watches. Warnings being tornadoes are imminent or being seen by Doppler radar. Tornado watches mean the atmospheres are ripe for tornadoes. So we have that working in our favor.
So here's the current scenario. Of course, we were showing you the devastation from yesterday, but here's the rain, and of course the thunderstorms. There's Springfield, Missouri so of course, the same area under the gun once again, but not to the severity that we saw yesterday.
Of course, this yellow box showing severe thunderstorm watches and warnings again so this area poised for severe weather, which we are seeing. Here's this line. We saw this right when Brian was on, the heaviest, we saw the pictures of the dark clouds thickening, lowering, coming from the west. Well, the strongest line you see delineated right there in the red. You see this bow echo. Bow echo meaning these winds pushing very strongly.
So, winds really the biggest factor. There goes the first line. Just about to get a little bit of a break. It will be raining, but lightly. But then on the back side, you can see there are a few more strong storms pushing in. But once this all moves through, we will be in the clear for a few hours.
But you see this is just a little farther south. So, Joplin getting hit once again. You can see that. And here are a few areas, kind of in the range of it right now. Miami, Neosho, Grove, Joplin, Carthage. I-44 had been closed before, but of course, some reports coming now that I-44 reopening. But of course with this devastation and destruction, Carol. It's unbelievable. Now with the rain coming, really hard to see the extent of the damage. And from the pictures we've seen and the fatalities we've seen, too, just devastating.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. And we mentioned Brian Todd took cover. He's in a truck. He's on the phone now.
STEELE: OK, good!
COSTELLO: So, we'll go out to him. So, Brian, describe to us what it sounds like, you know, with the heavy rain coming down.
TODD (on the phone): Well, it's kind of a standard thunderstorm at the moment, Carol. But when it first rolled in, I saw you played the live shot that we did. When it first rolled in just a couple of seconds after that, it was -- it was really thunderous. I mean, it sounded like a freight train coming through here, and that's what they always tell you it sounds like when there's a tornado's that's about to hit. Now, we did not experience another tornado. And I did that there were no tornado warnings in the area. So, that's a positive thing for the people around here.
But it does complicate the rescue effort. They're still trying to find people who might be trapped under the wreckage of houses, of cars, of other buildings. So it is -- it is a big problem. Still raining, and they're watching for more thunderstorms that could roll into this area.
COSTELLO: It's sad, too, because there's already debris in the road. It's hard enough to get through to people who need help, and now the rain and the hail and the lightning?
TODD: That's right. And there's a -- you mentioned the debris. I mean, just in your field of vision, if you look, you know, 360 degrees around you, there is just several tons of debris to be seen everywhere. It complicates everything. You can't even walk 10 feet. And -- but as part of that debris, there are downed power lines that you're always having to step over. So, it's very treacherous for everyone involved.
COSTELLO: Brian Todd, many thanks.
Jamie Green is a photographer with "The Wichita Eagle." She was in Joplin. She was shooting a wedding for a friend. And then she got into her car to drive away. And the tornado hit.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) JAIME GREEN, "WICHITA EAGLE" PHOTOGRAPHER (on the phone): I took this way before I shot any of the devastation. This was, I believe, when the tornado was about to happen. And then my friend was like, behind me, in another car. And she's from Kansas. And she said that you should never stay in a car during a tornado.
So, we didn't really have many options. So, we got out of the car shortly after I shot that. And we huddled down. It was -- my friend and I and her six-year-old daughter, we huddled down over her daughter out in the elements, but up against a wall, up against an office building.
Our only other option would have been to throw a bench through the glass window, which we actually thought of but we didn't -- we decided not to. So that was -- again, that video was taken, I think, maybe a minute or two before the tornado.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're glad Jaime's okay. She also sent us several pictures of the devastation at St. John's hospital. You can find them online.
Also happening this morning, President Obama is in Ireland to explore his Irish roots. Well, for more than that. He just arrived in the tiny town of Moneygall. You're looking at live pictures outside the pub. Actually these not -- these are the live pictures outside the pub. You see the people lining the streets. But the president and the first lady are inside a pub right now.
This is the first stop of a six-day, four-country European tour. We'll have that plus the day's other top stories when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You can never know the fury or the fear a tornado brings unless you've survived through one. But this next piece of video gets us probably as close as possible. It was shot inside a Joplin convenience store, which was about to take a direct hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(VOICES)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now, the man who shot that video, he says everyone inside the store thought they were going to die.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ISSAC DUNCAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR (on the phone): They had said there was a tornado about a block away from us, and so we just pulled into the quickest thing we could see, which was that Fast Trip. When we went in, the electricity of already out. There were about 20 people in the back huddled down. And everyone was kind of just deciding what to do.
And all of a sudden, the glass in the front of the building just got sucked out. Basically the only thing that was left standing was the cooler that we were in. Everything -- everything around it was gone. You know, when -- it actually tore a few holes in the refrigerator. And so we climbed out of -- of one of the walls at the end of the refrigerator. And when we crawled out, you know, it was -- everything was just flattened. Trees, houses, everything around there.
Me and my buddies, we -- after we talked about it, we all just kind of decided one was like a strangely like peaceful feeling. And then after it passed, we were still sitting there for probably 30 minutes, just kind of trapped. Trying to figure out what we should do. And so we just -- you know, eventually decided after we -- the gas pumps were starting to leak all the gas, you could smell fumes really bad. And then we started to smell electrical fire.
And so we decided to just -- the smartest thing would be to get out. So, we climbed out. Tried to help the people out.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Amazing. There were 20 people hunkered down inside that walk-in refrigerator. All came out alive. And thanking God they did.
President Obama is in Ireland. Earlier this morning, he made a call to the governor of Missouri to express his condolences. Right now, the president and the first lady, Michelle Obama, are in Moneygall where President Obama has some long-lost relatives. We understand they're in a pub right now.
Our Ed Henry is in Dublin, Ireland. Tell us more.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the president basically is putting the money in Moneygall, if you will. They are selling T-shirts and anything they can put the Obama name on right now because as you know, he has some descendants there. His great-great-great grandfather on his mother's side.
So, you probably see these live pictures. They're lining the streets. A pretty small town. Just a few hundred people. They brought in people from neighboring enclaves to get a look at this. And I can tell you, we could hear people shouting to the president, "Welcome home, Mr. President" as he and the first lady shook a lot of hands, were kissing babies.
Maybe a little bit reminiscent of an American campaign since there are, oh, what, about 40 million Irish Americans back in the States? Maybe a slight coincidence with 2012 coming up.
But also in all seriousness, a chance for the president to connect with some of his roots here in Ireland. You mentioned that he's going to be going into a pub. Pretty interesting that Guinness, we're told, has sent over their master brewer to make sure to help make sure that whatever pint the president has is just perfect. He's going to be doing this at a little pub called Olly Hayes pub.
They are just going nuts. They're calling it Obama-mania sweeping through Ireland. And interesting because one of my favorite tidbits is they've also now built a rest stop near this town, Moneygall, along the motorway. And basically it's going to be a rest stop for food and fuel. And among the shops will be a Little John's pizzeria that will be at the Barack Obama plaza. So Papa John's -- it will be a Papa John's pizza at the Barack Obama plaza.
So, here you have an American pizza franchise serving quasi- Italian food in Ireland. Doesn't get any better than that, Carol.
COSTELLO: No, I think the Guinness part's the best in my book.
A question, though. We saw the president and Mrs. Obama right in the middle of the crowd in Moneygall. That was pretty amazing stuff.
HENRY: Yes. You don't really get to see the president do that very often, any president, for security reasons, obviously. I can tell you that some of our producers who have been on the ground there in Moneygall and here in Dublin, there's obviously been intense security in the days ahead leading up to this. The town is in a virtual lockdown, if you will. So, it's safe for the president. The Secret Service was all around. You see some of them there.
And you don't see him wade into a crowd quite like that very often, as you note, unless you get closer to the campaign season. And as I said, there aren't any votes here in Ireland. But there are an awful lot of Irish-American votes back there in the States, Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, you got that right. Ed Henry, thank you. We needed a bit of brightness. Those are happy pictures, and we like it. Thank you, Ed.
Coming up, we're going to take you back to Joplin, Missouri. Our Brian Todd is right outside of St. John's Regional Hospital. He talked to a minister whose church was hit by a tornado. He'll tell you his story of survival. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There are no tornado watches or warnings in Joplin, Missouri, and thank goodness for that after what happened last night. But the rain is coming down. There is thunder and lightning, it's terrible. There was even heavy hail. The weather's so bad right now that search-and-rescue teams have called it quits for just a time. Of course, they're going door to door looking for survivors. But they'll resume that activity as soon as that storm passes by.
Our Brian Todd was actually outside the hospital heavily damaged in the tornado last night. He talked to C.J. Campbell, a minister whose church was hit by the tornado. Here's what they had to say earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) C.J. CAMPBELL, REVEREND: first we had the initial warning. The tornado sirens went off about 20 minutes early. And then again about 10 minutes before it hit. It hit here at St. John's Regional Medical Center on the west side of Joplin Metroplex about 5:45.
It hit our house about three miles to the east, about 5:55. It was traveling very slowly, but it had F-4 force, up to about 200 miles per hour, that evil monster vortex. And my foster sister and I were completely surrounded by a collapsed 1,800 square foot house within 60 seconds.
First began the low roar in the distance, and then it got louder and louder, until it sounded like about 50 semi-trailer trucks fully laden, going about 70 miles an hour, about 10 feet outside the front door. The floor began to vibrate. And then shake very violently. And seemingly buckle and we thought we were going to be sucked up the chimney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh! But they were not. They survived. We'll have more coverage for you on Joplin just ahead.
But let's look ahead and see what else is making news later today. House minority whip Steny Hoyer delivers a speech this morning on the debt crisis. That's coming up today at 11:30 Eastern.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has scheduled a news conference for 12:30 Eastern to officially announce he is running for the Republican presidential nomination. That news conference being held in Des Moines, Iowa.
And in Washington, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address members of the country's most powerful pro-Israeli lobbying group. The speech is set for 9:15 Eastern. President Obama spoke to APAC yesterday.
Bethany Schudi is a CNN iReporter. In four minutes, she'll tell us what she saw after arriving at the St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin. She arrived just shortly after the tornado struck. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: As we've been telling you, it's raining hard. Thunderstorm, lightning in Joplin, Missouri. They're still trying to recover from the deadly tornado that passed through at dinnertime last night. As far as we know, 89 people are dead. The governor says that number will probably rise. Two thousand building - 2,000 buildings destroyed or partially destroyed, including the local high school. We just talked to the principle, who said he's still trying to account for all of his students. Still nine days of school left. He's trying to figure that out, too.
There's so many stories of survival, so many lucky people, including Drew Moore. He's a reporter with KODE Action News. He joins us now by phone.
Drew, I understand your apartment complex was just leveled.
DREW MOORE, KODE ACTION 12 CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Oh, indeed it was. I didn't get back here until 11:30 yesterday evening, and it was a pretty -- a pretty grim dose of realty.
COSTELLO: Where were you when the storm hit?
MOORE: Frankly, by the grace of God, I was at the station training. Doing something -- as a matter of fact, the tornado started, we saw it form out the back of the station. And you know, it wasn't until 30 minutes later - you know, I had never been through a tornado before. I'm from up in Detroit. It wasn't until 30 minutes later where the sirens - you really realize what it means.
COSTELLO: Yes, you realize you had to heed the warning. You're driving home, and you see your apartment building leveled. What went through your mind?
MOORE: Well, it was 11:30 at night. And you know, the first thing is people look for the gas station across the street or they look for the driveway or -- OK, my driveway is right after this building. Well, frankly, Carol, there were no visual cues. There was only lightning in the background which illuminated what used to be structures.
And so, with the help of a friend it took me three or four doors to honestly zero on which apartment was mine. And I went in, and I was able to pull out some stuff. But you know what? At the end of the day, Carol, I'm still able -- I'm still alive to tell you the story.
COSTELLO: Do you know if everyone in your apartment building made it out?
MOORE: I don't know, frankly. I was downtown. I was checking out our main street. When I was at the station after it happened, I know there were a number of emergency personnel on hand. I know there were a number of ambulances and fire trucks. And there were doors that were knocked in or crowbarred in. And I believe that they did everything they could.
But quite frankly, Carol, with the devastation -- I can't tell you that they would have been alive.
COSTELLO: Just so sad. I also understand that the people of Joplin -- and there are also outsiders coming to help. The spirit of the community is alive and well.
MOORE: Well, you know, there's -- there's something about the spirit of the South. And especially in southwest Missouri. When I was walking around downtown in really what I would consider ground zero, I probably saw no less than 10 or 15 police or fire or emergency personnel. Counties that were represented by their cars and badges on their shoulder. And there were a lot of people, frankly, that didn't even get a call. They just knew to get in their car and to come in because they knew we needed help.
COSTELLO: Drew Moore, thanks for telling your story. We appreciate it.
MOORE: You're welcome, Carol.
COSTELLO: Images of that destruction. Residents saying the city of Joplin looks like a war zone now, as you heard Drew say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is bad. Oh, my gosh. This is awful. This is -- look at that! That is destroyed! Completely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Those are a couple of storm chasers. We'll also show you the moment of impact as that tornado roared through Missouri.
Plus, a primary aggressor now in police custody after that brutal beating of a San Francisco Giants fan. That's coming up in the 11 a.m. Eastern hour of NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: OK, we're going to end on a happy note! There you see President Obama and the first lady -- there she is, right in the foreground. And as you see there, they're drinking a Guinness now in Moneygall, Ireland. And that's just after they visited their long- lost relatives.
Let's bring in Jim Acosta. The president has been well received in Ireland, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're even thinking about adding an apostrophe after the first O. That's actually --
COSTELO: O'obama?
ACOSTA: -- goes back to the 2008 campaign. Yes, they've talked about it for years now. But yes, the president drinking a Guinness. You know, mixing it up with the locals there at an Irish pub, always a good place to find folks --
COSTELLO: Absolutely. And it's also good to eavesdrop. So, let's do that for a bit, shall we?
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am very impressed. So, how long do you have --
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Oops, sorry!
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1930.
B. OBAMA: 1930?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1931. And when my grandparents had to come across the road --
B. OBAMA: Right across the street?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
B. OBAMA: In 1930? So, your grandparents had it and then so you're the fourth generation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.
B. OBAMA: That's outstanding!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But don't tell the (INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
B. OBAMA: How many pubs are in town?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two.
B. OBAMA: Two. Is there, like, a fierce competition?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Well, they were laughing, Jim. So, the president is showing a bit of Irish humor.
ACOSTA: That's right. And Carol, I don't know if you noticed that there, but his pinky did go up when he tipped that pint back. Perhaps he's practicing for tea with the queen. I don't know.
COSTELOL: I don't know. But we do understand that like the president of Guinness or something went to the bar so that he could have the perfect glass of Guinness served to the president and the first lady. I'm sure it was served at the proper temperature, as well.
ACOSTA: Yes. I'm getting thirsty. I'm just going to leave right now. We've got an Irish pub up the street. Serves a mean Guinness.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Well, I wish I could join you there.
Thanks, Jim, for playing along. We appreciate it.
ACOSTA: OK. You got it. Sure. You bet.
COSTELLO: Now it's time to throw it over to Suzanne Malveaux.
I'll join you in just a bit to talk about political wives and the effect they're having on whether someone runs for president or not.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We're not going to drink Guinness here, but we're glad to have you, Carol. This is the place to be.
COSTELLO: All right.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol. See you.
COSTELLO: Sure.
