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Tornado Ravages Joplin, Missouri; Armstrong Doping Allegations; First Amendment for Kids; 2012 GOP Field Shaping Up
Aired May 23, 2011 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Even in the season of rampant and ferocious tornadoes, we are stunned by the devastation one tornado can do. Right now survivors in Joplin, Missouri, have two urgent priority even if they have little else. They want to know whether their friends and families are safe, and they need to know about new storms that could be on the way. Violent weather is again a possibility in parts of Oklahoma, and southwest Missouri, along with Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. We'll get the details from CNN's Chad Myers in just a moment or so. But first, the details from Joplin.
Eighty-nine people confirmed dead in a path of destruction half a mile wide, six miles long. Last hour, Missouri's governor told us five families were rescued this morning, but he also knows of a nursing home with 15 residents missing.
Authorities estimate 2,000 buildings, including one of Joplin's two hospitals, are damaged, flattened, or gone. Threats to life and property persist, and they may not be so apparent.
Here's the word from Joplin's mayor, Mike Woolston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MIKE WOOLSTON, JOPLIN, MISSOURI: I think part of the danger is that we have power complete out in some parts of the city, not completely out in other parts of the city. People need to be careful about getting into their homes or getting around the city in that, with the power still on, we have natural gas leaks, our water, utility company has some breaks in the lines. And so there's a danger if we do start getting some fires that we won't have the fire equipment and the water resources to put those fires out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: I mentioned this has been a horrible and historic spring. Less than four weeks ago, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, took a direct hit in the deadliest tornado outbreak in decades. Just five days earlier, a giant twister hit St. Louis, you may recall. And Lambert Airport, in particular, remember that airport shaking?
Days before that, Raleigh, North Carolina, was hit. And another record fell. North Carolina saw 28 tornadoes that day, the most on a single day in that state's history.
Now I want to take you live to Joplin, Missouri. CNN's Brian Todd is outside what used to be a very busy hospital complex.
Brian, tell us what you're seeing where you are. Are they cleaning up or are they still more focused on the rescue efforts right now?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a focus on the rescue efforts, Randi. They're trying to comb through neighborhoods, searching grid by grid to try to find any survivors that might be trapped underneath the rubble of some of these houses. But, frankly, a lot of the buildings are just completely flattened, so we're not sure how that search is going to turn out.
I'm joined now by Michael Spencer, a national spokesman for the American Red Cross, who have come here to Joplin to set up some shelters for people who have been displaced.
Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, Michael. Right now, how dire is it for them? What's your biggest need?
MICHAEL SPENCER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Our biggest need right now is making sure people have a safe place to stay. Many structures in this area were completely destroyed. So we're making sure that there's a warm, dry place, as the rain and the cold sets in on these people. They've been out here for many, many hours.
So we want to make sure they have a place to stay, we want to make sure they have food and emotional support. Those are our primary focuses.
TODD: Are there a lot of people still out there just kind of trying to find a place to say and just getting shelter wherever they can?
SPENCER: I've been walking through neighborhoods, and I'm seeing dozens and dozens of people just come up to me and ask me where they can go to get a safe place to stay. So we're constantly referring people, but there are dozens of people out there right now that do need a warm place to stay.
TODD: Do you have enough food and medical supplies to tend to people who come in?
SPENCER: Yes. Our shelter actually can hold 3,600. We're well below that right now. So we have plenty of food and supplies right now at that shelter, but the situation may change any moment.
TODD: Michael, best of luck to you. Thank you for joining us.
Randi, the weather here, as you can see, has complicated matters. You've got some emergency responders behind us. Again, they're searching grid by grid here, trying to find some survivors. But there have been severe thunderstorms rolling through this area, complicating the search. That hasn't helped matters any.
And they're warning people -- you know, you heard Michael talk about people getting to the shelters, just getting into a safe place. It's not safe yet. They're warning people, don't go back to your homes right away. There are gas leaks, potential fires.
Downed power lines are all over the place. Walking 15 feet here is a real challenge. People are encouraged to get to the shelters, just take some shelter, at least wait it out for a few days -- Randi.
KAYE: And Brian, we talked to the governor, Governor Nixon, there just a short time ago, and he told us that five families had been rescued, which is incredible news. I'm wondering if you're hearing any more word on rescues and how exactly they're going about doing that.
TODD: They're walking around the neighborhoods, as far as we know right now, doing those grid searches, just kind of going into individual properties, individual lots, and poking through. It's a painstaking process. It takes many, many days.
And, of course, the window for survival is closing. The first 48 hours are crucial.
We have not heard any dramatic stories on this end, in this part of town, of any dramatic rescues. Of course, we're hoping for that, and we see emergency crews coming by here constantly. So they're still on the job trying to find people alive.
KAYE: And what was it like for you even just getting around town just to get us coverage of this story? I'm just curious how much debris is around and how difficult it might be for folks to get around there and try and help others.
TODD: It's difficult to get around when you come to on to a lot, because the debris is such -- it's like an earthquake. I mean, just walking 15 feet is a real challenge.
The streets are surprisingly clear. You can navigate the streets with a vehicle. You can walk on the streets.
They have done a good job of clearing some of these streets very quickly to get the emergency vehicles and other vehicles through here. So that is a positive.
KAYE: And in terms of tornadoes, they're not exactly like hurricanes. I mean, parts of the city there seem to be intact.
TODD: Well, there are some buildings intact, some of the larger structures, but, you know, tornadoes are notoriously fickle forces of nature. I mean, here's an example. Look back here.
You've got this neighborhood just kind of center screen here completely flat and devastated, trees uprooted. Now look to the right. You see that townhouse development over there. Now, they've got some damage to the roof and some shingles flew off, but look at the structure. It's just a few feet away, a few yards away.
That's the nature of a tornado. I mean, we talked to a survivor who actually stayed outside during this tornado, pinned herself against the building as it came over her, and she didn't get swept away. She survived it.
You know, it really is often just luck of the draw with your own safety and the safety of your home.
KAYE: It's incredible when you hear stories like that, the survivor that you talked to pinning herself against the building. Then there was this other gentleman who said that his dog had actually warned him before the tornado warnings actually came through. So he was able to take cover.
It is amazing to hear such stories of survival in a tragedy like this.
Brian Todd there.
TODD: Absolutely.
KAYE: Thank you. Appreciate it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAYE: Meanwhile, our "Sound Effect" is the closest I hope you ever come to a monster tornado. While the devastation of Joplin was in progress, several people actually huddled in the back of a convenient store. And then, when the windows blew out, they moved to a walk-in refrigerator.
Well, that was a very smart move. I'm going to play you some very dark, very scary cell phone video, and then we'll hear from the man who shot that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC DUNCAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Basically, the only thing that was left standing was the cooler that we were in. Everything -- everything around it was gone.
You know, it actually tore a few holes in the refrigerator. And so we climbed out 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: We will have much more ahead from Joplin, Missouri, as the search for survivors goes on. People who live there say they've never seen anything like the destruction that took place last night.
We'll talk to a woman who was actually in church when the twister hit. Her story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just total devastation with the hospital down, the high school down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Right now rescue workers are searching through the wreckage from last night's killer tornado in Joplin, Missouri, hoping to find survivors.
Sara Ferguson was actually at church when the twister hit, and she joins us now on the telephone.
Sara, thanks so much for making the time to chat with us. I'm sure it's a very difficult situation there in your community.
What was it like at church as that tornado closed in? Did you know it was coming?
SARA FERGUSON, WITNESSED TORNADO (on the phone): Actually, yes. My husband had stepped out and kind of looked at the weather a little bit. And there were three other guys that stepped out and kind of started walking. And someone had their laptop there, and they started pulling up the news.
And we could see it was coming. There was warnings, and then -- just a little bit -- then we heard the first siren.
And then, shortly after that, we heard a second siren. So we went to the classrooms and we just basically all started praying. And it was just pretty intense. It was raining really hard and --
KAYE: And tell me about those prayers.
FERGUSON: Well, we were just praying that the tornado would just lift and pass over Joplin. And we just prayed for protection over our city, prayed for protection over the homes and the businesses and everything.
KAYE: Was everyone calm, or were these terrifying moments for you?
FERGUSON: Some of us were, some of us weren't. Some of us were crying. Some of us were wondering about our families. And so it was all emotional.
KAYE: We spoke with your governor, Jay Nixon, just a short time ago. I want you to hear what he told us, and then we're going to talk some more.
FERGUSON: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAY NIXON (R), MISSOURI: We have 500 firefighters on the ground right now doing search and rescue. We always brought in our top teams from around the state, Kansas City, Columbia, that worked after 9/11.
We have had five families this morning that we saved from the rubble and dug out. We're continuing that.
It's raining hard down there and very difficult for the dogs and the other searchers to work. The number of folks that we've lost continues to rise, but the bottom line is we still believe there are folks that are alive underneath the rubble, and we're working hard to save them.
KAYE: What is the total number of people that you have lost, the current death toll?
NIXON: The most recent puts us somewhere north of 89 would be official. But I just got off the phone with a nursing home owner there who said that there were 15 still missing, that they were unaccounted for.
I've talked to hospital leaders. I've talked to city managers and others. It's very, very clear that we've still got a lot of work to do down there. But we do believe that there are people underneath the rubble, and we're working in a way that can maximize the folks that we can get to safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And let's get back to Sara Ferguson, who was actually in church as that tornado struck.
Sara, how was it for you? When did you get the all clear? And what was that trip home like for you?
FERGUSON: Well, it kind of started -- it stopped raining. So we thought we needed to get home.
We had no idea -- we live in the opposite end of town, and we really had no idea what had happened up there. And we had two of our sons we were able to get in touch with. No cell phone service, so it was pretty intense driving home. Power lines were down. As we got closer to where the path of the tornado went through, we couldn't find a street to turn north and get home.
KAYE: Did it take a lot longer for you?
FERGUSON: It took us an hour, where it's usually, like, a 10- minute trip.
KAYE: And how is your family doing?
FERGUSON: My family is OK. I only slept an hour last night because we didn't hear about my brother until this morning. We thought that he and my sister-in-law were gone. But we did finally get in touch with them this morning.
One of my nephews was in the Wal-Mart that got hit with his two children, but he just ended up with a broken arm. Another nephew lost his home. And we had a couple of friends that lost their homes.
KAYE: Well, Sara Ferguson, we certainly wish you and your family well, and glad to hear that they are all safe and sound. I appreciate you calling in.
FERGUSON: Thank you.
KAYE: Coming up next, new doping allegations against cyclist Lance Armstrong and his response.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Police have made an arrest in the beating outside Dodgers Stadium that left a San Francisco Giants fan in a coma. After pursuing hundreds of leads, police arrested say they arrested Giovanni Ramirez early yesterday at an East Hollywood apartment acting on a tip from his parole officer.
Ramirez, a known gang member, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and is being held on $1 million bail in the beating of Bryan Stow. Stow's mother talked about the attack with our sister network, HLN, before the arrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN STOWE, MOTHER OF MAN BEATEN AT DODGER STADIUM: And it was just a brutal attack, because whatever that guy hit my son with, Bryan was unconscious before he hit the ground. So he had no way to protect his head.
His forehead just hit the concrete. So, unfortunately, that's where most of the damage is. But, you know, I'm just really upset that nobody stepped in before all that happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Police say Ramirez was the primary aggressor in the March 31st attack on Stowe, a paramedic and a father of two.
At a news conference in Los Angeles, Police Chief Charlie Beck became choked up when he was notified Ramirez had been captured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES POLICE: By 7:00 this morning I got a phone call from my chief of operations, Earl Paysinger, and he said the words that I've been waiting for, for seven weeks. He said that we had Bryan's assault suspect in custody. This is a huge step.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Police are still searching for two others that may have been involved in that attack as well.
Turning now to Lance Armstrong, in a stunning new twist to allegations that he has long used banned performance-enhancing drugs. It's something that's dogged the seven-time Tour de France winner for years and that he has repeatedly denied.
Well, now a grand jury in Los Angeles is hearing secret testimony from some of Armstrong's former teammates on the U.S. Postal Service team. One is Tyler Hamilton, and he spoke out for the first time in public on CBS' "60 Minutes" just last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you actually witness?
TYLER HAMILTON, ARMSTRONG'S FMR. TEAMMATE: I mean, I saw it in his refrigerator. You know? I saw him inject it more than one time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw Lance Armstrong inject EPO?
HAMILTON: Yes. Like, we all did, like I did many, many times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The International Olympic Committee announced Friday that Hamilton has voluntarily surrendered his gold medal won in the 2004 Olympics after admitting to doping during his cycling career.
In response to the CBS report, Armstrong today posted a statement on his Web site, reading in part, "CBS's reporting on this subject has been replete with broken promises, false assurances, and selective reliance on witnesses upon whom no reputable journalist would rely."
A famous British footballer is now at the center of a privacy dispute in Britain. The dispute is over so-called super-injunctions. It's an old way that famous Brits have actually kept their business private.
But a British MP let slip the name Ryan Giggs in parliament today. The Manchester United star had one of these super-injunctions to keep the press from knowing or talking about his affair with a reality TV star.
But now the cat is out of the bag. It turns out the MP won't be punished because he's allowed to break the privacy order as long as he's in parliament at the time. Giggs' name has been burning up Twitter anyway, so it really wasn't that big of a secret. That led the prime minister to say that the current privacy laws were pretty much unsustainable in the face of social networking.
President Obama is leaving Ireland early because of a severe weather threat in Europe. We will give you the details on that coming your way next.
And after touring the devastation in Alabama, country legend Hank Williams, Jr. is leading an effort to raise money for the tornado victims of the Southeast. He helped organize a benefit concert this month and continues his support of the relief efforts.
Here's today's "Impact Your World" report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANK WILLIAMS, JR., COUNTRY ARTIST: Hi. I'm Hank Williams, Jr. And you can make an impact to help the people of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, that have been totally devastated by the worst disaster in the history of the state.
You have to be here. You just can't describe it.
It's absolutely unbelievable.
These cities need not millions, they need billions.
Help is on the way. America can survive and Alabama can survive.
So please join the movement, "Impact Your World." Go to CNN.com/impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: You just saw images of the devastation caused by the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. So we want to bring in our Chad Myers, who of course is watching this.
And it sounds like, Chad, they're heading for more storms. More storms are heading their way.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the cold air, the cold front, has not pushed all the humidity away yet. So, until that happens, you can always get storms that fire during the day, in the heat of the day, to go back up again, to start spinning again. And then eventually it's like a big broom. When the cold front comes by, or a dry line comes by, or something that pushes away all the humidity, as it pushes it farther and farther to the Southeast, it eventually gets to the Gulf of Mexico.
Then we don't know that they're in the tornadoes because they're in the water. They're waterspouts. They don't care, they don't matter, unless you're boating out there.
But a couple of tornado warnings in effect already today, it's not even that hot yet. But for parts of Arkansas and Missouri here, that's around -- that, right here, that's Mountain View. And they're traveling to the north of Mountain View, on up into the Ozarks.
Now, this is the Ozark Plateau, very rugged country up there. The hollers, as they call them. You know, and then, obviously, the Ozark Mountains with some of the big lakes that you can go play on all afternoon long. So that may be something that we worry about later on for today.
Let's get rid of this and I'll show you something else that just happened to St. Louis. A bow echo line of weather right there has moved right through St. Louis. And why is that significant? Because when you get weather that lines up like that, and another broom, and that broom pushed wind through St. Louis between 60 and 70 miles per hour. And we know of damage not from tornadoes, but if it's a 70 mile-per-hour-wind or 100- mile-per-hour tornado, what does it matter if your house was damaged, right?
KAYE: Sure.
MYERS: It's insignificant, how the damage got there. There is damage in St. Louis proper right now.
KAYE: I just want to ask you about what's going on with this volcano in Iceland, because we just got word from Ed Henry and our Brianna Keilar, who are there -- who are in Ireland with the president, that he may actually be leaving Ireland because of this volcanic ash.
MYERS: I think that would be a very good idea --
KAYE: Why?
MYERS: -- if he did leave because there's Iceland right there. And this is an animation coming out here, part of Google Earth. And this is the volcano, Grimsvotn.
KAYE: I'm glad you said that.
Or something. This is my interpretation of how you would say it if you went with the letters. But sometimes the letters don't even make any sense. The ash has puffed out of the volcano. Not the same volcano from last time.
KAYE: Oh, a different one! OK.
MYERS: This is a different volcano. There are many, many volcanoes over Iceland.
KAYE: So, what would be the concern then in Ireland?
MYERS: Because some of this will sneak down towards Ireland. This is the ash cloud coming out here. So, much of the ash will go high in the atmosphere and then over to northern Europe and Russia. But a few of these particles of ash will run down toward Ireland, which would be right there. And if you go and you take a look at all this stuff, you'll take at the ash advisory - I think I will - the ash advisory coming out of Europe. This is Ireland right there. Enough coming down right through here that the president needs to skedaddle out tonight because this is not even into the morning. 6:00 in the morning local time over there, ash will be between where the president is driving -- where the plane is taking off and where he wants to go. You cannot fly through ash --
KAYE: So, there's a difference between tonight and tomorrow for sure. MYERS: Correct. You cannot fly through ash. It will melt back in the jet. The jet will melt it back into pumice or to lava, and that will form on the backside of your aircraft engine, your jet stream, and that will crash your plane. No one wants that. There will be many more flights, not just the president's cancelled out of northern Ireland and places like that tomorrow.
KAYE: All right. Good explainer. Now we know why he may leave early. Certainly sounds like he will. All right. Thank you.
Meanwhile, an unforgiving tornado claims at least 89 lives. This is Joplin, Missouri now. An inside look at the storm and the latest on the search for survivors is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Rescue efforts going on right now after a monster tornado hits the heart of Joplin, Missouri. Parts of the town of 55,000 people are unrecognizable. At least 89 people are dead. And just in case you missed it, we take you there. The unforgettable, chilling moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh. Oh, my gosh!
KAYE (voice-over): This is what the massive tornado looked like as it was bearing down on Joplin, Missouri. But listen to this.
This is what it sounded like from inside a convenient store where terrified customers rode out the storm, jammed inside a dark refrigerated storeroom. We talked to one of those who was crammed inside.
(AUDIO GAP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And Missouri governor Jay Nixon told us just a short time ago 500 firefighters are on the ground, and there are still people buried under collapsed buildings in Joplin. This tornado season has become the deadliest since 1953 with at least 453 people killed by at least 49 deadly twisters. And the death toll in Joplin is only expected to rise. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Time for a little "Globe Trekking" at this hour. Reports today that the Taliban founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may actually be dead. Joining us with a little bit more on this to help sort it all out is Michael Holmes. So, what do we know?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, not much, really. This came from an Afghan intelligence source who said that the Taliban founder was dead. They said his trusted his source. And this was a usually reliable guy. But everyone else is saying no. There's one of the very few photographs of him, too. Because of course, this was a guy when he set up shop in Kabul, in Afghanistan and founded the whole Taliban regime, also banned photography. So, there's hardly any photographs of this guy around. He's also the one who blew up the borders. Remember the big statues in the mountains and everything?
What we're hearing from everyone from NATO to the Pakistan intelligence is there is no evidence that he's actually dead. They just haven't heard from him. Those in Afghanistan hadn't heard from him in five days. And there seems to just have been a bit of an assumption made based on that.
What's interesting, though, is if they haven't heard from him in five days, that's in itself a tacit admission that there are talks going on. So, that's something that people have been going on for a long time, too, is trying to get some reconciliation talks.
KAYE: So, do we know much about his whereabouts? I mean, was he in Afghanistan? Was he in Pakistan?
HOLMES: He's been in Quetta in Pakistan, or thought to been in Quetta, Pakistan for years now, ten years since he escaped after the U.S. went into Afghanistan post 9/11. You know, you've heard of the Quetta shura (ph), which is basically the organizational of heads of elders who run the Taliban. And he's been there for ten years, apparently. But you kind of have (INAUDIBLE), too. If everyone knows he's in Quetta, why hasn't he been caught yet?
KAYE: Yes! That's a good point.
HOLMES: Yes. We haven't heard from him in five days. Well, really? You're that much in contact?
KAYE: Speaking of Pakistan, in a bold attack, Pakistani Taliban attacked this base. What happened there?
HOLMES: Yes, Pakistan can't take a (INAUDIBLE) at the moment. I mean, there's been so much violence going on. In fact, one of the Pakistan spokespeople was saying there's a 9/11 impact virtually every day. They've lost thousands and thousands of people.
This was particularly brazen. This is six guys, apparently. Just six got over the wall at a major naval base and ran amok. They blew up a couple of planes, including a U.S.-made one, several million dollars worth and started shooting up the place. Killed ten Pakistani security --
KAYE: Was this a suicide attack?
HOLMES: A couple were wearing suicide vests. One detonated, one did not. They found three bodies. They think there's another body under the rubble. And it looks like two of them got away. Basically just climbed the fence. Says a lot, doesn't it?
KAYE: Hmm. Yes. And to hear they have a 9/11 there every day, that certainly does say a lot.
HOLMES: And it is true that even in the frontier area of Pakistan up near the Af-Pac border, it is true that the Pakistanis have lost more soldiers -- just soldiers -- than all NATO troops combined. By a lot.
KAYE: In 20 seconds, can you give me the latest on this volcano in Iceland?
HOLMES: Yes. I'm not going to say it for you --
KAYE: Is it going to be pretty -
(LAUGHTER)
KAYE: -- pretty devastating?
HOLMES: Everyone's worried about it. But not as worried as they were about the last one. Apparently the ash is different. I don't know. I caught the tail end of Chad. I don't know if he mentioned it. The ash in this volcano is heavier. It's bigger bits of ash. So, they think it will come down to earth a lot quicker.
But it is heading across to Britain. There are precautions being taken. If you're watching in England or something and you've got a flight in the next - say, in two days, get out now if you can.
KAYE: Yes. This is probably why is president is leaving Ireland early.
HOLMES: It's precisely why, yes. But it's slightly different. It's not unusual for this one to erupt. It's the biggest eruption in 100 years. It's much, much bigger eruption than the one that we saw last year that caused all the trouble.
KAYE: All right. Michael Holmes, thank you. Good to see you as well.
With the deadly tornadoes in Missouri last night, 2011 is now the deadliest year on record in the United States since 1953, but how exactly do these storms form? We take you inside the anatomy of a tornado, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Rescue efforts going on right now after a monster tornado hits the heart of Joplin, Missouri. Parts of the town of 55,000 people now unrecognizable. At least 89 people have lost their lives. And just in case you missed it, we take you there the unforgettable, chilling moments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! (END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE (voice-over): This is what the massive tornado looked like as it was bearing down on Joplin, Missouri. But listen to this.
This is what it sounded like from inside a convenient store where terrified customers rode out the storm, jammed inside a dark refrigerated storeroom. We talked to one of those who was crammed inside.
ISSAC DUNCAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: There was about 20 people in the back huddled down. And everyone was kind of deciding what to do. All of a sudden, the glass in the front of the building just got sucked out. Completely blew out. And so my buddy who was with me kind of had the idea that we should all run as fast as we can and get in that cooler.
KAYE: These people inside thankful to be alive.
DUNCAN: Basically the only thing that was left standing was the cooler that we were in.
KAYE: In a matter of moments the tornado was gone. In a flash, lives changed.
STEVE POLLEY, WITNESSED STORM: There were semis laid over on their side. There were several up on the ramp that were laid over. Several people up on the banks that were hurt, bleeding. They were walking wounded, I guess. Best way to put that.
KAYE: One of the hardest hit places, the hospital.
BETHANY SCUTTI, WITNESSED STORM: Every window looks to be blown out. There's debris hanging out of the windows. There's just cars stacked alk over the parking lot.
KAYE: The power of the storm sent X-rays flying. They were found as far as 70 miles away. The tornado was at least half a mile wide and hit residential areas and businesses alike. Including the city's Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
MITCH RANDLES, JOPLIN FIRE DEPARTMENT: I don't think you can single out that any one area, the entire path of the tornado it took through town has just basically devastated the central portion of Joplin.
KAYE: Not even rescuers themselves were spared. Also, hit the fire chief's home.
RANDLES: It's been destroyed.
KAYE: Joplin, Missouri, literally cut in two. And it may not be over yet. More storms are on the way.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: Nearly every time a tornado slams into the town, we get videos of pictures and storm clouds. But what do they really mean? How does a storm like this form?
Well, Chad Myers is here. He's going to talk to us about the anatomy of a tornado.
MYERS: Yes.
KAYE: But, first of all, why -- why do we get more here in America than elsewhere?
MYERS: OK. Here we go. We have three things happening in America that other places across the world don't have.
We have a mountain range to our west. We have the Rocky Mountains. When air comes out of the Rockies it is pushed from 14,000 feet, top of the 14ers, Colorado, back down the slope. When it comes down, it dries up and it warms up. It can be called a dry line.
Dry air -- don't ask me why -- it's because of the way the molecules work, dry air is heavier than moist air. It's exactly opposite of what your brain thinks. Moist air has water in it, it must heavier. Water is heavy. No, moist area is buoyant.
So, when the dry air comes of the Rockies, there's buoyant air here, it pushes it up.
There's also Canada or the Northern Plains. That's where the cold air comes down. That cold air is heavier than the buoyant, warm air. So, the air goes up.
Now, let's watch -- Dave, hit it. Now, let's watch what happens when warm air and cold air collide. The warm air starts to go up, like a hot air balloon, you know?
KAYE: So, this is how they form?
MYERS: This is how they form. In the heat of the day, the sun comes out, there's a lot of humidity on the ground, and the storms want to go up. The air wants to go up. You know, just kind of think of this as bubbling. The air kind of bubbles up -- you get clouds that become taller and taller. They're cumulus -- turning into cumulonimbus.
And then just because the whole world is spinning. If you get this storm all by itself, part of the back of the storm can actually turn into a low pressure system itself, called a mesocyclone, a small cyclone.
And here's the picture of the mesocyclone on Joplin, Missouri, yesterday. It actually looks like a big hook echo. We talk about this hook. It is hailing here. It is storming back here.
But right through here, not much is going on. And if you want to be a storm chaser, you want to be here. You don't want to be here in the hail core and you don't want to be here for very long.
KAYE: Yes, you don't want to be there at all really.
MYERS: Eventually, that tornado is going to come over. What stopped people from taking great pictures of this is because this was called a rain-wrapped tornado. By the time it got in Joplin, it was wrapped up in rain. The tornado was many the middle of the rain.
So, all you saw was a bunch of rain moving around. Not realizing there was a 200-mile-per-hour storm, 200-mile-per-hour tornado, probably something like an EF-4 tornado at about 200 miles per hour inside that spinning.
KAYE: Wow. All right. Thank you, Chad. That was very interesting actually. I feel like we went inside the tornado. There you go.
MYERS: You got it.
KAYE: Wow.
Too young to vote, too young to drive and too young for free speech? That's the argument in court today. Do elementary school kids enjoy First Amendment freedoms? Our Stream Team will weigh in on that one, next.
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KAYE: It's a basic right of all Americans, or is it? I'm talking about the First Amendment, freedom of speech. A rare court hearing today calls that right into question for one group: children, specifically, elementary school kids.
Today's hearing before all 17 judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has to do with a series of moves by the Plano, Texas school district. They stopped one group of students from handing out candy cane pens with a religious message attached to it at a school party, which is why this is actually called the candy cane case.
A couple of other instances cited in this case includes students prohibited from writing "Merry Christmas" on holiday cards being sent to U.S. troops overseas, even one girl's pencils were confiscated because they mentioned God.
So, we wanted to put this question to our Stream Team today: are elementary school students too young to have First Amendment rights?
On the team today: Pedro Noguera, education professor at NYU; CNN education contributor Steve Perry; and William Van Alstyne, law professor at William & Mary.
And here is the First Amendment before we get started. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the free exercise of speech."
OK, Pedro, seems like a simple question. Can kids too young to vote, drive or drink, have freedom of speech?
PEDRO NOGUERA, NYU PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION: Well, unfortunately many rights that children -- that adults enjoy, children don't enjoy in schools. And there are a number of ways in which their civil liberties are limited and restrained and often violated. There are many searches that occur in schools that are unlawful or that are -- would be regarded as unlawful outside of schools. And I think that even in this case, their speech is often limited.
So, I would say that, unfortunately, the rights of children not the same as the rights of adults, and that's -- the courts have consistently ruled that.
KAYE: And, Steve, we gave a few examples here of things that the children were no longer able to do. As a principal, would you say that all of these cases are the same or sound the same?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: No. No, they're not all the same. And this, I don't think, is as much about freedom of speech because freedom of speech is not absolute. I, as a principal, have the responsibility to make sure it's safe for all children to express themselves.
But expression is one thing. When you go so far as to infringe upon others' rights, meaning that you try to sell your idea of a religion or sell your idea against a religion, because we can't just look it from the side of the religion, we also have to look at it from the side of those people who don't want that. I have to make sure that this environment of my school is a place that's safe for all children, regardless of what side of the issue of religion they fall.
KAYE: And, William, you're our legal expert here. So, how rare is it to have all 17 judges hearing a case? Certainly a case like this one?
WILLIAM VAN ALSTYNE, LAW PROFESSOR, WILLIAM & MARY: Well, these en banc reviews are very unusual. Ordinarily, even in the courts of appeal, they hear them in panels of three. So, the fact that this is being heard by all of the judges is an indication that it's an issue of considerable importance and of a kind that occurs very often so that they would like it settled in that large area for which this is the principal court of appeals for the United States.
KAYE: And, Pedro, part of the argument is that kids may be too young, these kids kind these cases may be too young to truly understand the messages that they're giving in these cases, in these instances, where they're handing out these pencils or Christmas cards, whatever may be. What do you think?
NOGUERA: Well, I think, clearly, they are too young to understand the full implications of the law and the ways in which their rights may be regarded as a violation. You know, this is an example, I think, where very often, the reasonable standards are not applied. Clearly, children giving out candy canes or sending letters to troops is -- would not be regarded as a violation of free speech or even a violation of the separation of church and state. And so, hopefully, the courts will view this differently than some of the more I think extreme examples that come up.
KAYE: And, Steve, just quickly, don't you think there's a message here or a lesson here maybe for the kids? And what would that be?
PERRY: The message is that everything ain't supposed to be done everywhere. Meaning that when you're in a school, there are certain rules in which you have to follow. At our school, we expect that you're supposed to respect the rights of others, and they will respect your rights and what that specifically means in this case is if the child wants to express his or her religious compulsion or interest, then they have to do it in such a way that doesn't infringe upon other people's rights.
I'm a principal, I'm not a legal person. I just want to make sure that school feels good for everybody.
KAYE: All right. All of you -- a very interesting discussion as this case gets underway. Steve, William and Pedro, thank you so much for coming in talking about it.
Another hat in the ring for the Republicans. So, who is in and who is out? The breakdown in our CNN political update is coming your way next.
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KAYE: Tim Pawlenty has joined the ranked of Republicans running for president. He just made the official announcement just a couple hours ago.
CNN's senior political editor Mark Preston joins us from Washington.
Mark, not really any big surprise here, right?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, no big surprise. Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, had already formed an exploratory committee. He had already indicated that he was all but ready to run for president. And, in fact, he did make that announcement today officially as you said.
You know, he has a new campaign theme. It's called "A Time for Truth." And what it appears like is that Tim Pawlenty is going to run on the whole idea that he is going to tackle the tough issues facing this country. In fact, he gave his announcement speech in Iowa. And he was critical of ethanol subsidies, which is very important to farmers out there.
He's also going to Florida later this week where he's going to talk about reforming Social Security. He'll also be in New York City, Randi, where he's going to talk about Wall Street reform.
So, Tim Pawlenty is in it for the Republican presidential nomination.
KAYE: And what do you make of some of the folks who used the B-word about Tim Pawlenty? They say he's a little bit boring.
PRESTON: Well, they do say he is a little bit boring. But, you know something, that might be his ace in the hole, so to speak. Tim Pawlenty says he'll tackle the tough issues. He's not about a lot of flash, but he says he can get things done, Randi.
So, we'll see what happens, especially with Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor, deciding not to run. A lot of people think that will actually help Tim Pawlenty -- Randi.
KAYE: Yes. He may just benefit from that.
All right. Mark Preston, thank you. Nice to see you.
PRESTON: Thanks.
KAYE: And your next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" is just one hour away.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Drew Griffin, who is in for Brooke Baldwin.
Hey there, Drew.
