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Obama Leaving Ireland Early; Tornado Death Toll Now 116

Aired May 23, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Around dinnertime, the sky turned black, and suddenly, a town is left in ruins and there is more severe weather on the way for Missouri today. I'm Drew Griffin in for Brooke Baldwin. The news starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The winds began to howl, the hail started to fall. One of the deadliest twisters in the state history pass and didn't let up for six miles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It got louder and louder.

GRIFFIN: Churches, schools, homes, even a hospital in Joplin demolished.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, there's glass and the front of the building just got sucked down.

GRIFFIN: We're getting a new video, new pictures that show how this storm unfolded and how fast the warnings came.

Plus, the search is on for the missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically do a door-by-door grid search of the city.

GRIFFIN: Looking for people trapped now. Dozens confirmed dead. We'll take you inside this search live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (on-camera): And we are waiting for a news conference to begin in Joplin, Missouri. That's where rescue crews still searching for survivors from yesterday's near complete destructions. The news conference could happen at any minute. We're going to join it when it does happen. Meantime, we're about to talk with a woman who shot this video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got debris on the ground over here. I got debris on the ground over here right here. I got debris on the ground. It's coming up north. There's debris. There it is. The tornado is coming to the city. Hey, guys, the tornadoes start to come down right here. The winds are on the north, and then it's coming back around. The tornadoes right here. It's coming on the ground right here. Get the sirens going. Get the sirens going. I'm telling you. Go right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going right. Going right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it. I got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with us. We're going right towards it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, crap. Why are you doing that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Largest tornadoes have actually went to the ground. Man, this is (INAUDIBLE) I have a large destructive tornado, and on the southwest side of Joplin. Large tree on the ground (INAUDIBLE). Oh, my God. Going east. Going east. Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am.

It's just tearing up the entire city on the side of the Joplin right now. It's a massive tornado. It's a massive destruction. It's a mile-wide tornado. It's leveling the south side of Joplin right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: That video, I think Chad, showed the exact size of this thing. It was incredible, close-up video. And the reason we have you here is because we have the video taker on the phone with us. Kathyrn Pidtrowski and Katherine, I've got to ask you, first off, what everybody is asking, why did you guys do this? I know you're storm chasers, but at one point, you're telling at your husband to back up. What possessed you, guys, to go out there and try to chase this one?

VOICE OF KATHYRN PIDTROWSKI, TWISTERCHASERS.COM: Well, we were already on the storm system. We knew it was going to develop, and we saw it back building on the storm. We went around to -- we could tell on radar that it was going to take a direct hit. When we approached the storm, we knew exactly the location of it. We could see that it was turning into a wedge, that alerted the officials -- we didn't realize the storm sirens were already sounding in the city at the time.

So, we alerted the city that they need to sound the sirens. And then, we're headed towards -- in the video, and I'm telling Jeff that, because the storm was at that time, I believe, about a half mile wide, but it was growing in size and went to three quarters of a mile and I think it went even larger than that. And so, I was afraid at that point that he couldn't see it visually. I could see it very clearly because the lens of my camera, and I had to tell him to back up.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Miss Pidtrowski, it's Chad Myers, a long-time friend of your husband's. In fact, our first chase was 1988 together when I worked in KOC in Oklahoma City. Jeff always had great back-up then, which means that he knew exactly where every tornado was going to be, he could see it on radar. He knew where the warnings were going to be. He knew the direction of storm was going. This is not something with people without that kind of knowledge and that kind of backup should be doing. Do you agree?

PIDTROWSKI: Oh, absolutely. If you do not have the knowledge, if you do not have the training, if you do not have the experience, it takes many, many, many, many years of experience, studying. I had to do it myself. I've been chasing for 14 years, and I -- to tell you quite honestly, I would say that I'm just now up to speed.

MYERS: Tell me what this tornado looked like to you. You've seen a number of them. What did it look like?

PIDTROWSKI: Oh, it was extremely violent. Very violent. I could see the debris being pulled into the tornado. I knew, you know, just by what I've seen in the past, but I could tell that this was definitely a strong F-4 tornado, and it was just horrific what I was seeing. The intensity of the storm, the damage that I knew it was doing to the community.

We finally aborted the chase when we saw a car that had been hurled -- we didn't see the car actually hurled into the build, but we did see it after the fact, and two persons emerged which totally surprised us, and then, we aborted the chase at that point and just went into search.

GRIFFIN: Kathyrn, one think you said that was interested. It was about a half mile wide at one point, and then, it grew to three- quarters and maybe a mile. You're watching this happen over maybe seconds and minutes. Tell me what that was like that you could determine that it was growing that quickly.

PIDTROWSKI: Well, everything involved because you have to be very hyper aware. You have to know -- and it's -- like we talked before, it's through training, it's through experience, it's through knowledge. You know that it may turn right. You know all of these things, and you're always hyper aware of every instance, and you're visually looking for cues of what might be happening as that twister, that storm is developing.

GRIFFIN: I want to ask Chad. Chad, you know, tornadoes we have seen then in the past pop around, dot here, kill a house there, knock a house there, but spare another house, was this tornado different? Would it have jumped around as much because it was so big?

MYERS: Not when you get it to be that big. Plus, it has the momentum that is going to go in the same direction. It's not a rope tornado that can kind of just like a slinky coming out of the sky and come out you. When they have this type of form, and we know that it was a multi-vortex tornado. We'll talk about later in this hour. There were more than one suction spot inside that tornado all spinning.

A tornado is not really brown, or red, or green, or it's not really gray. That's the stuff that's in the condensation funnel. That's why a tornado turns colors. Tornado can be red, tornado can be brown, tornado can be white if it goes over water. Ms. Pidtrowski, one last question, I just want you -- can you describe Jeff's voice in that video? Because it's the same voice that I hear Jeff. When I heard that, I heard that in my ear ten minutes ago in the T's, I knew instantly that was Jeff. Jeff still gets excited about this, doesn't he?

PIDTROWSKI: Well, Jeff was very emotional. He gets very emotional because he knows in so many years he's been doing this for years, he knows what is going to happen. He already can see it's happening. He knows what's going to happen, and he hates what is going to happen, and all he can do is try to get the word out to get persons, call 911, get the word out. He gets very emotional when he tries to convey the message.

He was emotional afterwards, especially when he was pulling persons from the debris. You know, that's just him. He's passionate about weather, but he just had to get the word out.

MYERS: Who was he telling to sound the sirens there when the car kind of stopped and kind of like a U-turn or something? Who was he yelling to saying the wind is from the north. We're standing right here. The tornado is right there. Who was he talking to?

PIDTROWSKI: He was talking to some police officers that were parked in the center section of the roadway, and they were really -- I don't believe they knew that tornado was right there because this storm had a look about it that it was like a gust front in nature, and the tornado was developing at the notch area, and I really don't think that they knew that the wedge was on the ground, and that's what concerned us. They were actually quite surprised.

GRIFFIN: All right. Kathryn Pidtrowski, thank you so much and thanks for that tremendous video. Chad, that leads us into the question I had which is, how did the storm form and what was it about this storm, they were calling it rain wrapped that kind of hit it from sirens, et cetera.

MYERS: When you're in the western part of Oklahoma, let's call it I- 35 and west. You'll go from all the way from Texas all the way up to Nebraska on U.S. 81. If you're on the west side of that, most of your tornadoes are LP, low precipitation tornadoes, which means they're out there, you can see them, it's raining over here a little bit, but there's not a lot of hail or there's not lot of rain and there's the tornado. A great video. Here we go. Let's chase.

When you get east of there, you get more humidity in the air. The dew points are high. The dew points are thick all the way up to the thousands of feet thick, and it begins to rains more, and that rain comes all the way around the backside of the tornado, comes around the southwest side all the way into what's called the mesocyclone. So, it looks just like a rain shaft.

It looks like it's just raining right there, but inside that rain, and that's kind of what distracts me about. Inside that rain, there is a tornado, a violent tornado inside there, but you can't see it as a tornado. You don't see things spinning around because it is raining all the way around. There's a ring of rain around the tornado kind of blinding it or hiding it from chasers, hiding it from officials, from the policemen. They didn't even know it was there.

GRIFFIN: And another thing that we're looking into is that also had created a noise, just the rain and perhaps the hail that was going on that kind of dampened the sirens. People, perhaps, couldn't hear the sirens.

MYERS: You know, you can't trust the sirens. I know they're there and they're great and we have paid so much money putting the sirens, but you have to take responsibility for yourself. You must have a NOAA weather radio. NOAA weather radios will go off all the time if you have it programmed right. There's also a new iPod app that you can program it to go off for tornado sirens. You don't even have to know what county you're in.

The iPod, the iPhone knows where you are, and if there's a tornado there, it will alert you on your iPhone. You are in the way of the tornado. You must take responsibility for yourself and not count on those sirens, because sometimes, they don't go off. They're not tested. Maybe a power lines down, a transmission line is down and the sirens may not have power. I know they have backup power, but once you lose things, it's a domino effect. Eventually, it's a domino effect where you can't count on everybody else to warn you. A NOAA weather radio will save your life.

GRIFFIN: All right. Chad, thanks. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am -- it's indescribable. I don't know what to say other than that. I've never seen anything like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Reality sinking in. We're going to dip in now to the governor of Missouri who is speaking live. This is Jay Nixon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. JAY NIXON, MISSOURI: We also had a task force one out of Columbia, Missouri. We appreciate them coming down here and working. As we said, it's been a difficult situation here today. This morning, I spoke to the president of the United States. He indicated that they would provide whatever support was necessary. I've spoken twice to the homeland security. We've spoken to each one of the governors that touched various states.

Each of them had pledged support, and this has been a dramatic and difficult time which is going to continue for some period of time. The weather has not been helpful. It looks as if it continues to be thundershowers, and perhaps, even worse is coming behind in waves. I just ask that everyone throughout the region, throughout the country continue to pray for folks as we work out there.

Like I say, it's been a very, very difficult time, but seven rescues today mean that there are other people out there that could be surviving, and we need to make sure we're in a very organized way going about the search that these great leaders are doing right now. We pledge our significant support. Really very quickly, I want to make sure we get the general to say what (INAUDIBLE). Major General Stephen Danner, the majority (ph) of National Guard.

MAJOR GENERAL STEPHEN DANNER, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE MISSOURI NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you, governor. The governor immediately upon hearing the disaster here called out the guard. We had our L and O's here at nine o'clock last night, and we had our first search and rescues working with local officials about midnight last night and working through the night. So, we have search and rescue. We have military police, and we have engineers available, 200 approximately now.

Even as we just came in, we had another contingent arrive from the east of the MP. So, we're going to work very closely with the community and local officials in regarding continuing a search and rescue operations, military police activities and support of law enforcement and the highway patrol, and then, also additional engineering capabilities to clear the streets and help this community get back on its feet. Joplin is a resilient community.

We're right here, and we'll have this thing fully up and going tomorrow to assist the system too, and we look forward to assisting the local officials in any way that we can. We have an additional 450 troops on standby right now to come in. As you know, in any of these kinds of situations, you have to be circumspect as to how you bring in your support.

So, we're going to work with local community that bring in the right amount of support at the right time, in the right manner. So, governor, let's what we have joined them. We have Col. Olwell (ph) who is the task force commander who has been here on scene since last evening and continue to be here as necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our faith-based network has been incredibly helpful already. We appreciate Convoy of Hope in their work. We appreciate the Red Cross and their assistance on the shelter as the time goes on and days go on. We will show that strength of character that Missouri is famous for. As our first responders come back off shifts, we'll make sure they are well fed and taken care of. There's going to be some very difficult shifts in the hours to come up (ph).

There are going to be some things out there that were hard to see and hard stomach. And I ask that everyone keep these workers in their prayers. They've got a difficult job to do, but we're going to cover every foot of this town. We're going to make sure the search and rescue that every person that was here or is here has been accounted for. We remain positive and optimistic that there are still lives out there to be saved.

Until this matter is completed, we will finish this task, backing up these great leaders at the local level who have withstood a tremendous, tremendous amount of pain already. We will here and stand with them. We will complete this task. And when it's done, we will rebuild this city. I'll turn it back to the city manager. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, governor. We appreciate the widespread support we've received from the state, and we thank the city of Missouri for the help that they've provided to the city of Joplin. We've got some other people that we'd like to have an opportunity to speak to you here today. Next up is United States congressman, Billy Long -- Billy.

REP. BILLY LONG, (R) MISSOURI: Joplin is a close-knit community, And I think it goes without saying that there's not going to be a person in this area that's not affected by this tragedy, and I want to thank the governor very, very much. We headed out before daylight to get down here at the crack of dawn this morning to survey the situation, pitch in on help, do anything that we possibly could do. The governor declared this a disaster area already and already called in the National Guard and that's the type of service that we need, and I really, really appreciate that, governor.

I started at the fire department over there this morning. First responders, there are probably four to 500 first responders waiting to go out on search and rescue this morning. Unfortunately, the weather, we had a storm coming in with two-inch hail in it. They said it has been 60-mile-an-hour winds. So, we had to wait that up, but after that, people really pitched in and got out and I went out on a search and rescue, crew with them for a while, and then, went over to the Red Cross disaster services at the university.

The Red Cross is doing a fabulous job, and it's just heart wrenching to listen to talk radio and have people calling in looking for loved ones, and I just want you to know that we're doing everything possible, the governor is, FEMA is, one of my first call for the day was from the White House liaison for FEMA, and they said, congressman, we'll provide anything and everything that you need. We'll have boots on the ground shortly.

And I said, no, I just talked to FEMA. They got here about ten minutes ago. I had contact with them. The local and county and state officials have said whatever they need, they'll provide, and then, whatever we can do on the federal level, we will definitely do that. We road around to the deputy director of FEMA this afternoon surveying the damage. Someone asked them, have you seen anything like this?

And he said, well, possibly Tuscaloosa, but in his career, he's never seen anything like this devastation. If you're seeing the pictures on TV, to me, they don't do it anywhere near justice. The best way I can describe it is a movie of a nuclear disaster, and it looks like a nuclear bomb has hit. And again, I want to thank the governor and everybody else for their participation, and I'll turn it back over to the city manager.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Congressman Long. Next we have the FEMA deputy administrator, Rich Serino -- Rich.

RICH SERINO, FEMA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you. First off, my condolences (INAUDIBLE) to the victim's families as well as to the survivors. On behalf of President Obama, Secretary Napolitano, Administrator Fugate, I went off the full support of the federal family to the state of Missouri as well as the city of Joplin. We are going to be here for the long haul. The president has declared out of this disaster declaration, which means that the people of the affected counties are eligible for assistance as well as obviously the city.

But one thing we want to make sure is that people have the opportunity to contact FEMA for assistance. They call do that in number of ways. The first way is they can call 1-800-621-FEMA, 1-800-621-FEMA. They can also go on the web at www.disasterassistance.gov, and they can also go on their mobile phone, .FEMA.gov. Any one of those three ways, people can register for assistance. As we stated, it's very important to realize that FEMA is going to be here to support the governor, support the government standing (ph) in Joplin.

We're here to support in many ways as possible. This is going to take a whole community effort that does tremendous work, the nine government local organizations, the Red Cross, but it's really the citizens helping citizens and neighbor helping neighbor, going around, talking to a lot of the first responders, the heroic work of the firefighters, the police officers, the EMTs, the paramedics that have done has been very impressive.

They've lost their homes, but they've been out there for 40 hours saving lives. The work that they've done is to be commended, that's an understatement. Again, thank you. Thank you for the work that they've been able to do. We're going to be here for the long haul, and it's going to be neighbors helping neighbors. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you shall rich. That's all we have here in terms of speaking today. I want to introduce a few other people. I'm not going to be able to touch on everyone that's here and everyone that's helped. I want to call the attention of Michaels (ph) over here in yellow shirt. He's been with us all along in our recovery efforts, State Senator Ron Richard here, and Fire Chief Mitch Randles has done a tremendous job to help us in this recovery effort.

Much like we did this morning, we're going to turn it over to some questions and the appropriate person to step to the podium and address that particular question. Once again, the fire chief has most of the specific information in terms of the direct recovery efforts. So, at this point in time, we'll open it up to questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, we don't know about the storm sirens. Of course, with the weather, we're not able to test them. As soon as we can get some clear weather, we will --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: OK. That was live coverage of the news conference happening In Joplin, Missouri. You saw the governor, the city manager, the city officials there, and also, local congressman talking about what is happening. Really, the breaking news out of this in the last few minutes has been the rise in the death toll.

116 people now dead from this terrible record-setting storm that took place in Joplin, Missouri. The second deadliest, tied for the second deadliest storm in U.S. history since the weather service began keeping these records in 1950. We are trying to get our Brian Todd back live with us, trying because the storms continue to rack Joplin, Missouri. And a few minutes ago, our tent on the scene was knocked over. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We want to get right back to Joplin, Missouri. We've been waiting all day to hear whether or not the death toll would go up and it has. Brian Todd joins us on the phone because, Brian, searching for this dead and missing people has been treacherous because of the weather, and I understand just a few minutes ago, weather created havoc with your live shot situation?

VOICE OF BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly did, Drew. That's why I'm joining you on the phone. We had five people trying to hold the tent up while I was standing under it trying to, you know, get set to go here after the news conference, and it was just getting whipped around to an extent that it was difficult to hold on to all that, and also, we just simply lost our satellite signal. So, that was really the main problem, but as you mentioned, the really heartbreaking news that we all thought might come has come, 116 dead.

We did hear earlier from the governor that I think the number was five families have been rescued. So, there is not a lack of positive news here, but, when you see the scope of this devastation, block after city block of just flattened homes and buildings, you understand that this life and the death toll was certainly not unexpected.

GRIFFIN: And in any disaster, whether it be a tornado or hurricane or something else, they go block by block, as you have alluded to. Brian, do we know how far, how many blocks they have gone through, not in numbers but perhaps in percentage so we might get an estimate at whether or not this death toll will climb even farther?

TODD: I think you can probably surmise that they're going to find more people. But, frankly, we don't know how many blocks they've gone through so far because the weather has just been so horrendous all day today. With what we just stood through outside, we were actually just talking among ourselves, the thing that rescuers just can't work through this. This was a driving rain storm. You really couldn't see but a couple feet in front of you.

So, there's really no way that they can make the progress that they need to make to get an accurate count, to get even to people who may be, you know, trapped under the rubble and that window is closing. So, this is just a real set back for these guys right now. So, an accurate count and percentage of how many neighborhoods have gone through at this point, almost impossible to tell because of this weather.

GRIFFIN: During the news conference, local congressman kind of caught my ear when he said, on the drive into town, he was shocked to hear people on local talk radio asking other people to see if they've seen their relatives, if anybody has seen, you know, my uncle, my brother, my sister. Are those personal searches going on, Brian? Are those people out actually looking for their relatives to see themselves if their family members survived?

TODD: They are. We've seen across some people who have been looking for relatives, and it's heartbreaking to see. We've actually also come across other people, just local citizens taking on their own kind of defacto search and rescue missions. You'll hear from the veterans of this kind of business, but that's not advisable. If you're not trained on how to do it, you shouldn't be the rubble doing it, but we did -- a couple of hours ago, we came across a group of local citizens looking through some rubble, and we asked them, you know, is this your house?

They would say, no, we're just looking for people to see if anyone is alive in here. So, it is a community that is completely devastated but still committed to trying to, you know, to salvage something here, and it's really something to watch looking through this neighborhoods.

GRIFFIN: Brian Todd lives in Joplin, Missouri where the weather is still causing trouble. Thanks, Brian.

The death toll now at 116. The forecasts say tomorrow's weather may be worse. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Second-worst storm in U.S. history since - they've been tracking this since 1950, and you're telling me, Chad Myers, that the forecast is possibly as bad tomorrow?

MYERS: Well, yes. I just heard, Drew, on the end of that last segment talk about the t's, saying it could be worst tomorrow. A lot of times I sit home and I listen to the networks and I say, "Yes, whatever, right. How could it be worst than 116 dead?" You know there was only one big tornado yesterday. There was only one major tornado, and it his Joplin Missouri. And tomorrow, I think there will be more than that.

But it may not get in the way. Those tornadoes may not get into the way of towns that are already on the ground. That's what happened yesterday. It's not so much that that was a big-time event. Had that rolled 40 miles south of El Dorado or 15 miles south of Wichita, knocked down a couple of irrigation center pivots and maybe a farmhouse, we wouldn't be talking like this today. Even an F-4 or an F-5 tornado hitting one farmhouse because there's nothing else to hit does not make the news. But because of that one storm, that was the major storm yesterday rolled through a population center of 149,000 people and now killed 116 and 500 are injured and more are still missing, that's what made yesterday a bad day.

Tomorrow there will be more tornadoes than today. Let me read this. This is from the National Weather Service. This came out just a couple of minutes ago. "A classic planes tornadic outbreak appears to be evolving across the central and southern Plains for tomorrow, especially for Kansas and Oklahoma. Right where you expect it. Right in Tornado Alley. But there's awful lot of open space out there where there are wheat fields. So, let's just hope that every tornado misses everything else.

Here's how it is going to happen. Let's walk over here just rather quickly. There is right now a medium risk. There are three terms, and I hate them. I can't change them. There's slight risk, there's a moderate risk, and there's high risk. Slight risk means it still could happen. There may be storms from Louisville all the way back down to west Texas. Right now, there is a moderate risk, which means there is a higher risk than that, across Oklahoma City, Wichita, and Springfield. And they are talking -- the severe storms forecast center out of Norman, Oklahoma that somewhere until here there may be a high risk. Last high risk day we had was Tuscaloosa, Alabama day. That's what they are talking about.

When all those things come together, when the warm and cold come together and they hit each other, you can always get big weather. There is some big weather across parts of Missouri and Arkansas right now. But severe weather talks about wind. The only tornado threat right now is western Oklahoma here. This is Clinton, Wheterford, west of Oklahoma City. It's all about this warm and all about this cold. It's about when the cool air is aloft and it's nice and cool up here and that warm air wants to push the cool air up and you start to get bubbling and bubbling and bubbling, and there it goes. You get warm air amassing. It's humid, muggy, it's a tornado day.

You smell it in Oklahoma sometimes. You just know the humidity is in the air. You walk outside and the wind is just howling. You think, oh, this is not going to be good. The storms go up and they go up and they go up and form hail across the upper and middle levels. And that hail is literally just spinning around and it becomes spin here that gets translated to the ground. And eventually all of that upward motion turns into a center where it's called a meso-cyclone, and that meso-cyclone can easily be a tornado. Yesterday's tornado, right through Jopin, Missouri.

Now, here's downtown Joplin. It did not go through downtown Joplin. It was a couple miles south, all the way here. The approximate damage here, path about half a mile wide from 20th to 26th Street and then eastward all the way almost towards Duquesne. So, if you have relatives in the northern half of Joplin and you cannot get ahold of them, they are probably fine. The rest of this town up here had some hail. The rest of the northern part of Joplin is literally just fine.

It's the southern part is where the damage is, almost cutting the city, according to the city manager, almost cutting the city in half. You almost can't get from one city to the next because the roads are so clogged with debris. Drew?

GRIFFIN: Chad, thanks. It's just incredible to learn about this.

And up next, a closer look at how it all unfolded, second by second, including video of a group of people who survived inside a convenience store cooler. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Parts of Joplin, Missouri unrecognizable. Many of the quarter of the buildings suffered major or significant damage. CNN's Randi Kaye takes a closer look at the storm and the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Atlanta

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: We are just getting word now of flight cancellations across the globe because of a volcanic ash cloud in Iceland. President Obama being forced to leave Ireland early, thanks to that ash. That's ahead.

Also, big mishap involving the president's limo. Watch carefully.

(VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Oh, my! The limo gets stuck on the curb. What if that was a real emergency? We'll see how it all played out next.

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GRIFFIN: Developing now, the president is set to leave Ireland in a few minutes. A bit early due to concerns about this. An ash cloud from Iceland is hanging in the sky. The Obamas are going to stay in London at the U.S. ambassador's house instead of in Ireland.

British Airways have been canceling flights as well between London and Scotland and Ryan Air and KLM cancelling flights to and from Scotland because of that ash cloud.

Meanwhile, do you think the president of the U.S. is Irish? Well, President Obama, has some Irish roots and visited his ancestral home of Moneygall today, kicking back a pint and cracking a ton of jokes and shared some of his message in Gaelic.

We've got the highlights you've got to hear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hello Ireland! My name is Barack Obama of the Moneygall Obamas and I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way.

I feel even more at home after that pint that I had. I feel even warmer. In return, let me offer the hearty greetings of tens of millions of Irish-Americans who proudly trace their heritage to this small island.

They say hello. Some wise Irish man or woman once said that broken Irish is better than -- so here goes. I am happy to be in Ireland. Saying, yes we can. Yes we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Before we move on, one moment from the president's Ireland trip will likely linger longer than his small town visit. It's this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: One of the White House limousines flying the official flag of the president. The car too long to clear the curb outside of the U.S. embassy in Dublin, it is stuck. Secret Service and Irish security forces quickly shielded the scene from view while the occupants switched cars.

The stuck limo sat there for about 15 minutes. A Secret Service spokesman said that the president and first lady were not in that car and found another exit. They blame a slight miss calculation for that.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Back to the breaking news now out of Missouri where one survivor said it was like a nuclear bomb dropped on the town.

Coming up, the heartbreaking story of how his aunt and uncle died and what she wrote on Facebook moments before her death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer coming up at the top of this hour just minutes away. Wolf --

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: We're going to have a lot of what has happened with the devastation in Joplin, Missouri. Here's one thing that I'm interested in. We're going to speaking live with the governor of Missouri, the congressman that represents Joplin and several eyewitnesses.

Drew, they had 24 minutes notice. They had an alert some 24 minutes before this tornado moved into Joplin, a city of about 70,000 or 80,000 and the metropolitan area close to 200,000. So what happens when you're given a warning that a tornado is moving in, 24 minutes, some people got the warning right away.

Others probably got it with 15 minutes to spare, 10 minutes, five minutes. What do you do in a situation like that? We're going in depth on what's happening right now in Joplin, the aftermath of this disaster and what happened leading up to it.

It's going to dominate our show, but we're not going to neglect all of the important news, including the political news, what is happening around the world. So there is a lot of news. It's a very busy news day, as you well know.

GRIFFIN: All right, Wolf. Coming up on "THE SITUATION ROOM" just a couple of minutes from now, Wolf. Thanks a lot.

And coming up next right here, I'm going to speak live with an eyewitness who says that everyone who survived is going to know someone who died. He knows that personally. He lost his aunt and uncle who just returned from a trip from Disney World. Find out what she, the aunt, posted on Facebook as the twister began to form. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: As you look at the devastation pictures in the aftermath of the storm, we've learned a few minutes ago. The number of people confirmed dead has risen to 116 people killed making it the second deadliest storm disaster in American history.

We want to Zach Tusinger. He took the pictures you are seeing right now. He rode out the storm and sadly some people very close to him did not make it.

Zack, talk us through what happened before the storm and when you found out about your aunt and uncle.

ZACH TUSINGER, WITNESSED TORNADO STRIKE ON JOPLIN (via telephone): Yes. Thanks, Drew. You know, we're just thinking of everybody, you know, praying for Joplin right now. We really appreciate that. I was at my parents' house on the north side of town and I knew there was a storm coming in so I went back to my apartment where there was covering for my car.

I was only worried about hail at that point. I went up to my roof, foolishly. I've never been afraid of tornadoes before. So I wanted to get a picture of the storm. I saw the funnel cloud. It was rain- wrapped, like they said. I took a picture of it.

At that time I knew something really bad was going on. I went to the first floor of my building it was really windy and scary for a good 10, 15 minutes. After the storm passed, I immediately -- there was rumors about how half of the town was gone and hospital gone and things that you would never possibly imagine in your craziest, wildest nightmares.

So I drove as far south as I could. I only got to 15th Street. I parked my car. I went on foot to my grandparents' house. The house is OK. The yard is a mess. They were all safe and I went to a good friend of mine's parents' house to check on them. Their house is a total wash.

Spent the next couple of hours trying to save pictures and clothes and everything that we could because they're just in the driveway. As far as I could see, you know, it used to be you couldn't see more than a block and know you could see a mile. It was like a war zone, something out of a movie or you know, some sort of, you know, science fiction film where everything gets destroyed.

The look, the smell, the smoke, it was just awful. As night fell, it got worse. I made it to my parents' house on the north side of town after dark and we sadly found out that my aunt and uncle have lost their lives. They lived near St. Johns Hospital. They had actually just gotten back into Joplin a few hours before the storm after a vacation to Orlando. Everything is so surreal.

GRIFFIN: Zach, like you, your aunt and uncle knew the storm was coming. You know, Wolf is talking about what do you do when you know a storm is coming when you have a warning? But you know that your aunt knew that it was coming because of what she posted on her own Facebook.

TUSINGER: She did. She was updating. Look, everyone in Joplin was posting on Facebook. I was posting on Facebook the news. My meteorologists were posting. My aunt was posting. They were hiding in a hallway in their house with their dogs when it came and it's just insane.

And I think it says a lot about the communication systems that we have today and how we can communicate with each other even minutes of a crisis, you know, realtime. It's something very difficult.

You know, you read about it, but experiencing it. It's totally different. I don't know. I've been doing my best to try to post stuff online and e-mail and text people to try to get the word out. Everybody feels so hopeless. I figure this is what I can do, to help what is going on here in town.

GRIFFIN: What did your aunt post online?

TUSINGER: She -- my word, my God, something to that effect. They had been posting about hiding in the hallway and everything and then I know she texted somebody that they were in their hallway. They didn't have a basement. They had their dogs there.

GRIFFIN: Zach, we'll continue to follow your story. Zach Tusinger, part of the recovery in Joplin, Missouri the day after the storm. Let's go right now to Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Wolf --