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At Least 10 Dead From Tornadoes; Congress Holds Hearing On Cruises; Cruise Ship Survivors Speak Out; Tornado Warnings In Tennessee And Kentucky; Romney, Santorum Take Aim At Obama; Romney Takes Michigan, Arizona
Aired February 29, 2012 - 11:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news here. There are deadly storms that have impacted several states. We're looking at some pictures here. These are new pictures out of Harrisburg, Illinois. We just spoke with the mayor, Eric Gregg, that these deadly storms that hit his area where, nine people he says confirmed dead and that there are many, many injured. We're taking a look at the new pictures, the devastation that has taken place. We are talking about at least five confirmed dead and storms that have hit other states as well.
I want to bring in Jacqui Jeras to give us a sense what we're talking about, the scope of devastation.
This is just one state. It's just one community. But I understand that there have been many states impacted by these deadly storms and tornado, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're talking about 16 tornado reports at this time last evening. Some of those reports could possibly be more than one report of the same tornado. For example, we think that the tornado that hit Henderson, Kentucky, is the same one that moved into Newberg, Indiana.
These are the states under the risk area right now and that's where we have tornado watches in effect. Conditions are favorable for tornadoes to occur.
And I'm going to step you through this process here and this will show you just how widespread this outbreak has been. All these blue boxes that you see here, those are all wind damage reports. That's damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour. That's in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, across Missouri, into Illinois, Kentucky, into Indiana as well. You can see it just keeps going.
And then those round icons with the red on it, those are tornado warnings. Those are all of the reports of possible tornadoes that have touched down. So we've got five confirmed dead and we know that that number could go up before all is said and done and the threat is going to be ongoing as we head throughout the rest of the night.
We have two storms that we're tracking as we speak. Both that could be producing tornadoes as we go. The counties that are included, this is Louisville, Hardin, Nelson County, all under tornado warnings right now. Take a look at this. We have confirmed damage reported just in the last half an hour. There was an apartment complex damage here and homes damaged between Hojgenville and towards Loretta.
This is a new storm which has redeveloped and these areas need to be seeking shelter immediately. We know you've already been hit hard once. There you can see that first storm as it moved through and then we have the second storm which began to develop. Another dangerous situation, unfortunately, moving over the same area. It's called training, when one thunderstorm develops after the other one. Those conditions are ripe for rotation. Unfortunately, communities from time to time can get hit hard more than once throughout an evening. That was in Kentucky.
This is a video from Illinois, Suzanne, so that was last evening. Five people dead. That death toll could go up. Look at the extensive damage. You see a car in there. You see homes that have been flattened. This was not a small, weak tornado.
When I see, you know, concrete like that where a home has been leveled, that could be indicative of winds up to maybe up to 200 miles per hour with these storms. So they were certainly deadly. They were on the ground for a long period of time.
There you can see that's a large span building where the roof has come down and some collapsing in that area as well. This is late February into early March, and we're turning that corner now from the winter into the spring months and with such an unusually warm winter that we've had, you know, tornadoes can get a little bit more violent when they've got more energy.
They have more clashing of the warm and cold coming together. So all of those elements have been displayed with this really fast-moving storm.
Unfortunately, this has been very widespread. We're going to continue to get reports of damage throughout the afternoon today. And, unfortunately, we could see that death toll go up as a result of that as well, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you. And, Jacqui, we're getting an update, that now it's seven dead from those storms. I want to bring in Tyler Profilet of the affiliate KFVS, he is live in Harrisburg, Illinois.
Tyler, we just with the mayor. He told us that folks really didn't have a lot of time, a lot of warning that they -- the sirens went off but they just had a few minutes to run and seek shelter. You're on the ground, you're talking to folks. What is your understanding of what happened this morning?
TYLER PROFILET, KFVS REPORTER: Suzanne, as you mentioned there, it just hit so fast people didn't really have a lot of time to get to shelter, and even if they were able to get to shelter, the storm was so powerful it ripped right through a lot of this town.
As you take a look behind me, you can see, a bank has been torn and you can see this starts the path of destruction here on the southeastern coordinate of the town. You can see here this is a strip mall close to a Walmart here that has been destroyed. There was an Alltel wireless center, a Hibbett Sport, Payday loan place all in this strip mall here.
I spoke to the manager of this Alltel wireless store. He grew up in Oklahoma. So he grew up in Tornado Alley, he says. He's very used to experiencing tornadoes and being able to survive them. He says he's never heard anything like this tornado, he's never seen anything like the damage that this tornado left behind.
We're also not too far away from where we've had the most loss of life. There's an area of town called Gaskins City. It's about a quarter of a mile behind me. You may be able to see off in the distance here. That's where authorities say they have recovered 10 dead, including two children, and across Saline County, more than 100 people have been injured so far.
A lot of stories, talking to some of the survivors. Most of them say when they started to hear the sound of that freight train, they say it lasted two to three minutes long. A lot of them say they tried to get in a door or in a bathtub or even into a closet.
Say they just huddled together with their loved ones and tried to pray and hoped that that storm passed over. Luckily, most of this town was spared, but obviously, as you can see, not everybody was so lucky.
MALVEAUX: And, Tyler, if you would, if you have your photographer again go into that building that's behind you and tell us whether or not you know, was there anybody inside that building? It looks like a business there. It was early in the morning. Was that an empty building or were folks, employees going in, starting their day?
PROFILET: Yes, Suzanne. This was a strip mall here that had several businesses inside. A sporting goods store, including a wireless center, payday loan operation in here as well. There was no one inside these buildings whenever the storm passed through. Granted, it passed through shortly before 5 o'clock this morning. So luckily people were not there.
But that's what the manager of one of these stores told me. He said, just imagine if someone had been here working. Imagine if a lot of people had been at work and not been able to get maybe to a basement or underground or been with their families. This really could have been a lot worse.
Now granted we do talk about a lot of times how when these tornadoes or severe storms hit, if they come during the night, that's usually the worse time. But in this case, especially for the folks that work here at this strip mall, they are lucky that it came in at that time, otherwise they would may been inside.
MALVEAUX: And, Tyler, you say you spoke to the manager of the store, one of those stores behind you. What did he tell you about his experience, how he found out and what he discovered when he arrived?
PROFILET: Well, he said he grew up in Oklahoma in Tornado Alley. So he was used to getting calls of severe weather or a possible tornado, and living in Illinois he didn't expect it to be quite this bad. He says whenever he arrived, this is the first thing that he saw, and he said he couldn't believe it. He was really just speechless.
He started calling his co-workers to let them know obviously they are not going to have to have work today. And he's trying to already come up with a plan.
That's something that's been pretty remarkable, of the folks here in Harrisburg, even with the 10 dead, the hundreds injured, people are already starting to dig into this debris and start to dig out and try to make plans about how they are going to move on. But, obviously, that's going to be a very long process.
MALVEAUX: Who have you seen in the community? Who have you talked to in the community? Can you tell us their stories, their experiences?
PROFILET: Yes, I talked to a lot of the survivors. As a matter of fact, this Walmart store here had a lot of damage actually on the backside of the building. I talked to some of the people who actually worked there inside.
They are actually in the middle of a shift change, where people coming in to work the early morning, they say when those doors open, whenever the wind started to come through, it actually started sucking people inside of the building because of that difference in the air pressure. Then people started running for cover. It was really unbelievable.
Lots of people after the storm passed, hugging, crying, looking for their loved ones. Obviously, a lot of the cell phone service has been jammed in this area for some time. So a lot of people at work did have to spend maybe a couple of hours trying to get a hold of their loved ones. Obviously for 10 families at least, they weren't able to contact them because we do have 10 dead here.
But I do want to say the most memorable visual that I have so far is actually a 2-by-4 piece of wood actually stuck into the side of Walmart. If you can imagine, the force it would take for a 2-by-4 piece of wood to stick into a concrete building, that's how strong this storm was.
MALVEAUX: Give us the lay of the land where you are in relation to the hospital. I understand that you said the town behind you, if we can go to that, the picture of the town behind you, that's where there were actually people who died, fatalities there. Is that community close to the hospital? Is that close to the industrial complex there?
PROFILET: Yes, it's only about five blocks away from the hospital here. The hospital sits not too far behind me here, about a mile away or so. So here you can see Gaskins City, which is where we have had the fatalities and a lot of the injuries here and that devastation. Not too far away is the hospital.
Now, we do understand that they have called in extra doctors. Other hospitals in this area have been put on standby so they can accept more patients. Now there's a lot of roads blocked off because they've had power lines, debris blocking the roads, actually to get to the hospital. We had a person at one of the roadblocks who said he was ill and just needed to go see a doctor.
They turned him around and said you need to go somewhere else. Unless someone is having a baby, you need to go find another hospital. That's how serious the situation is here in Harrisburg. We do know that the hospital did actually sustain some damage as well, some busted out windows, but they still have able to see patients and operate at least as smoothly as they can in devastation like this.
MALVEAUX: And Tyler, who are those people behind you? I know we see some camera crews, some reporters. But then we just see some random folks walking around. Are those people who came into work? Are those people who are simply in shock? Who are those people who are actually close to the damage?
PROFILET: A little bit of both, Suzanne. We've had lots of people here who just are kind of lookie-lous, so to say, and just trying to see what's going on. We also have lots of people here who are trying to protect their belongings. Obviously in a sporting goods store, also in this wireless store, you're going to have a lot fairly expensive items.
So we've had people coming out, trying to prevent people from coming in and looting these businesses. But also, in a small town like this, where everyone knows everyone, you really want to make sure that the people that you know are safe.
And even if you don't know someone, you know somebody who knows the people who are directly affected by this storm. So a lot of people are just coming to check out, either the people that are working with the rescue crews, trying to dig into this debris, and hopefully find more people that may not be accounted for and obviously for their own interests to see how bad this was.
MALVEAUX: And, Tyler, you did mention a hospital that's not far away from where you are. You said about five miles or so from that town that was damaged very heavily.
Do you know anything about the damage to that hospital? We spoke to the mayor and he said that there was actually some structural damage to the hospital now. And it may be difficult to get those patients, to get those who are injured to that local hospital.
PROFILET: Yes, Suzanne. We're actually only about a mile away, only about five blocks from where a lot of this damage was. And we do know that there are windows busted out in part of this hospital. But that hasn't prevented them from being able to accept some patients early on this morning who are hurt in this storm. Obviously they do have other hospitals in the area, no more than about 20 to 25 miles away, on standby, on alert. We're also told that doctors at those outlying hospitals have canceled a lot of their appointments today to make sure they can take on some patients that are going to be coming in from Harrisburg.
So, yes, there has been some structural damage to the Harrisburg hospital but there are other larger hospitals in the area who they will take on some of the patients as well.
MALVEAUX: All right, Tyler, thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Excellent reporting. We're going to get back to you. I want to bring in Jacqui Jeras to talk a bit about new information, and new pictures, aerials that we're seeing out of Kentucky. Jacqui, what do we know about Kentucky?
JERAS: Well, this is in Elizabethtown. And a storm just ripped through there. In fact, two storms moved through, the first one that pushed through did have some public reports and I think law enforcement reports as well that a tornado went through.
So there you can see pieces of twisted metal. I know that some farm homes were damaged in the area, and this was a very strong storm that then Kentucky. Jacqui, what do we know about Kentucky?
This is Elizabethtown. The first storm that pushed through had public reports and law enforcement reports that a tornado went through. So there you can see pieces of twisted metal. I know that farm homes were damaged in the area. This was a very strong storm that then also moved towards the east and continued to cause damage.
So there's been this line of storms that has kind been kind of going one after the other moving through this same area. Some people have been getting hit more than once here today. So this was likely a tornado in Elizabethtown that produced this damage as well. And there are two storms that are still active at this time, both of which could be producing tornadoes, but we don't have ground truth (ph) at the immediate time.
But this is the one that concerns me the most. This is in Kentucky. And I want to be really clear about this because the name of this town is very similar to the one that we've been talking about in Illinois.
But this is Harrodsburg, with a D, and this has what we call a tornado vortex signature on it. And so it is extremely likely that this is a tornado that's on the ground, moving very quickly to the north and east. So Harrodsburg, Kentucky, you need to be seeking shelter immediately, the lowest level of your home, away from doors and windows.
You know, we talk about tornado safety rules and where your safe place is. You know, if you have time, you also want to be putting a bike helmet on yourself, put your baby in a car seat. If you know that you've got 10 minutes, so say if you lived out to the east of here, you know, lived up towards Nicolas, those are the preparations that I would be doing to take place right now.
Now I also want to talk about this other storm where we're seeing some rotation possibly near New Haven. This is the same storm that moved through the second one, that moved through Hodgenville.
And I want to mention that Hodgenville did receive some damage here today as well. We know that there was some damage to an apartment complex that moved through town. We know that the tornado at least got near if not producing damage around the fairgrounds and also near the high school.
But as far as we know at this time, that tornado did not damage the high school itself. It just moved through this region. So we're continuing to see these active lines of storms that have rotation on them. We've got damaging wind associated with a lot of these storms as well and there's a lot of lightning with these storms.
So all three of those things are an extreme danger and these conditions are going to stay favorable over the next several hours.
We're talking well through the afternoon and likely into the evening. Now the watches that are in place as of this time expire at the top of the hour, but it's likely that we'll start to see some of them extended. And then we'll watch for them to be issued to the east of those locations.
So these are new pictures just coming in. This tornado literally moved through less than an hour ago. So it's amazing to think that we're able to show you some aerials and show you some of the damage that has occurred in that area.
Now we don't have any information right now out of Elizabethtown in terms of injuries or fatalities. We just know that there's been some extensive damage throughout this area. So you can see pieces of homes, you can see what looks like outbuildings and possibly some farmsteads that have been damaged, that looks like a pretty sizable building that has collapsed within itself.
Now, it's likely that this tornado in Elizabethtown was not at the intensity of the other ones that we were looking at in places like Missouri and also into places like Illinois.
So we're talking about multiple states, at least six states that have been dealing with this outbreak and we know for sure that there have been at least seven fatalities now. And we do expect that that number is going to continue to rise as we get more information.
You know, it's really hard to assess all of this in a short period of time. This is an active emergency that's taking place that we don't want gawkers out there to try and get in and take a look at the situation. You know, law enforcement is in there, trying to do their job. There may be people that are trapped and injured. We just don't know that information at this time.
The other thing to think about, look at that semi right there. There could be very hazardous materials that are leaking. A lot of times after disasters like this we get natural gas that is leaking. So explosions could happen. So this is still a very active situation and that tornado that likely caused this damage in Elizabethtown has now moved off to the east of there.
Also kind of notice in that picture right there, you kind of see some of that swirl that we saw on the ground. That also tells me that there was some rotation in this storm, so that it was likely a tornado as opposed to damaging winds as it moved through.
But sometimes when we see winds in excess of 60, 70 miles per hour, that can cause as much damage as a tornado. But everything kind of moves in one direction, so when I see things that have been moved and pushed in multiple directions, that's one of those signs that the National Weather Service will go in and look for when they assess the damage to say, yes, indeed, this was a tornado.
But we do know that there have been multiple reports from the public, multiple reports from law enforcement. So we do feel confident that this is a tornado situation that has been going on throughout this area.
It's also amazing to see, look at that home. They are only looking at a little bit of damage on the top of that roof there, as opposed to the home that we just saw a second ago before this, that sustained much more extreme damage. Now some of that could do with tornadoes --
MALVEAUX: All right.
JERAS: -- and sometimes they hop and skip and jump a little bit, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Jacqui, We're going to have much more on this breaking news, extensive damage, injuries, as well as fatalities now because of severe storms that have hit several states. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back to this story, just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Tornadoes, severe storms hitting at least six states now. CNN now confirming that 10 fatalities, 10 have died because of these severe storms.
I want to go to reporter on the ground, Tyler Profilet at Harrisburg, Illinois. We spoke earlier. Give us a sense of what you are seeing on the ground there, the devastation. I mean, it's unbelievable, when you take a look at those buildings that are behind you, these businesses that have just been ripped to shreds. Give us a sense of what you're seeing there.
PROFILET: Suzanne, it's absolute carnage here. And earlier you guys were talking about damage that straight-line winds can do compared to a tornado. We had some people here that might have thought it was a microburst or something. Want you to take a look behind me here. You can actually see off in the distance, this area is called Gaskins City. This is where the 10 fatalities have happened and also several of those 100 injured. It's not too far from the Harrisburg Medical Center hospital. As you can see over here, on the right-hand side of your screen, where there is a house that is actually untouched.
And as you move to the left there, you can see right next door, literally right across the street, houses that have been destroyed. So you can see very specifically a very straight line of damage that this tornado left behind it in its path. There is destruction for a lot of parts here on the southeastern part of the city.
Obviously we have a strip mall here that we showed you before that last commercial break, as well as a bank. Very lucky, though. Close by there is a senior citizen home that houses about 75 seniors. We're told that that did not sustain any damage. So that is at least some of the good news.
But obviously with 10 dead, including two children, and more than 100 injured so far here in Saline County, it's a very devastating storm.
MALVEAUX: Tyler, do we know the circumstances around those deaths, the kids, those two children that died?
PROFILET: We don't know the circumstances surrounding the deaths. We also do not know the names of those yet. They may be releasing those at a press conference at 2 o'clock Central time here at the command post that they've set up here in Harrisburg. But we also know that there is a lot of power outages on this part of town.
We do have a lot of power lines down. Still debris over the roadway here. And to give you an idea of kind of about this region, it's a very -- it's a region full of small to mid-size towns.
So to be able to handle an event like this, they've actually called in law enforcement agencies, from more than 10 different agencies, including the Illinois State Police, lots of other local city police departments, including obviously some federal. Here's the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Conservation police that is here.
And obviously you can see here this is why, the damage here behind me. There's even a flatbed truck that's been flipped over here. So lots of damage, lots of chaos here.
The emergency crews really are still trying to get their footing in this area to try to figure out where they need to go and where a lot of this damage is, because it is so widespread and as we talk about so many times, we talk about tornadoes, sometimes they can touch down, lift back up, and then touch back down again, which seems to be what happened here in Saline County.
But obviously right over here in the Gaskins City area, it's one of the areas that it touched down and it flattened it. MALVEAUX: Tyler, if you can, ask your photographer just to go behind and show us that area, the business area that you're talking about, and describe for us what it was like at 4:30 in the morning local time when this thing first hit.
PROFILET: OK. Obviously it was very dark outside. And this is a strip mall that houses several businesses here. As a matter of fact, I'll ask the photographer to zoom in on that I-beam. Now obviously this is a very large I-beam, a very thick I-beam.
So you can imagine where it's dark outside, we have had unseasonably warm temperatures for southern Illinois at this time of the year. So we did expect even the day before that we were going to have some strong storms with a possibility of a tornado.
So people may have been on alert. We were asking people at our local affiliate here to turn on the weather radios overnight. Whenever you have a power outage and it's in the middle of the night, these things can creep up on you very, very quickly.
Now luckily for the people who work in this strip mall, they were not at work when this hit, obviously, before 5 o'clock in the morning. But then again there are still a lot of people at that time sleeping, which obviously prevents them from seeking shelter.
And we also know in the area that sustained a lot of this damage on the southeastern part of town, there are some duplexes there that are set aside for senior citizen living, which may have made them maybe perhaps a little more unable to be able to move to a safer place, away from the storm, or maybe not strong enough to be able to survive it.
But, again, we don't know the exact ages of those 10 dead so far, other than the fact that we do know that two of them are children, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Tyler. We had a chance to talk to Mayor Eric Gregg earlier from the community where you are. If you get a moment to talk to law enforcement or any of the folks who are there, who are trying to assist through all of this, if you can grab them, that would be great.
In the meantime, I want to take us to a bit of sound here. This is the mayor.
Earlier today when I was talking to him and he was describing the situation, where residents had just a few minutes, that the alarms went off, the sounds went off and just a few minutes to gather themselves, collect themselves, and run for cover, here's how the mayor described one person, how they experienced this, this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GREGG, HARRISBURG, Illinois (voice-over): Just cut a path of destruction that's just absolutely devastating and heartbreaking. I mean, I was out 15 minutes after the event happened, and was onsite with several other council of the members and our city crews, and we were doing everything we can, working with emergency personnel and trying to get -- you know, again, trying to assess the damage and the injuries and, of course, unfortunately, the loss of life.
It's just, you know, in small communities, it's heartbreaking. We all know each other. We are all -- you know, we are all -- we all care very much about each other. And this is just something that happens in an area that, you know, we just hope and pray to God it never does happen.
We see what happens in other parts of the country. And then now it's -- came to our doorstep. And you know, we're going to do what we have to do. We're going to continue working every day until we, you know, do what has to be done to put this back on track. But it's just a -- it's a very difficult day and a very good community in southern Illinois.
MALVEAUX: Mayor, can you describe for us just how big this area is? We're looking at these new aerial pictures here but it's hard to get a sense of just -- of the extent of it and the size of the community there that's been hit so hard.
We can see the damage. But how big an area is this?
GREGG (voice-over): It looks like the tornado actually stayed on the ground for a few miles and then the path that it cut was -- it looks the length of at least three or four football fields in some areas. You know, we've got homes and semis toppled, cars thrown in lakes and everything else.
I mean, it's just the -- you can't imagine how devastating it is until you're there. I mean, it's like nothing I've ever seen, and frankly, don't ever care to see again, you know. And, again, my heart goes out to those that we've lost today in our community, and the families and all the people that are hurting today. We've had several injuries as well, and millions of dollars' worth of structural damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We are following a breaking news story. Severe storms as well as tornadoes touching down and at least six states involved.
We're talking about hundreds injured and 10 confirmed dead so far, many missing still, a rescue -- search and rescue efforts that are going on throughout those six states. We're going to have a lot more on this breaking news story after a quick break, obviously devastation that is occurring, six states. We're talking 10 who've been killed and hundreds injured, many still missing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Following a breaking news story that severe storms and tornadoes hitting at least six states, six states affected by this, two hard-hit areas in Kentucky as well as Illinois, Harrisburg, Illinois, in particular. We have now confirmed that 10 people have died because of these severe storms across the Midwest.
We are talking about more than 100 people injured, still many, many missing. If you take a look at the kind of devastation and damage that is on the ground here, there are reports now from the mayor as well as other officials that anywhere from 250 to 300 homes have been destroyed or damaged, 25 businesses as well.
Again, there are still a lot of people that they are looking for, people have been taken to local hospitals. There's an active search and rescue that is taking place on the ground there as they try to assess the kind of damage and what they are looking at here.
These are storms, severe storms and tornadoes that hit as early as 4:30 in the morning local time there, giving people very little time to prepare to actually pick up their belongings and simply move to get to shelter as quickly as possible.
They do expect that there could be more fatalities reported as the day goes on. They are just trying to assess what is taking place right now but obviously late night, early morning severe weather that impacted hundreds and hundreds of people across the Midwest.
We're following this developing story as we get more information we're going to give that to you. Again, 10 confirmed dead so far. They expect that that number will rise as the day goes on.
Another story we're following, 2012 off to a rocky start for one Italian cruise ship operator. Today the "Costa Allegra," it's a ship that's been without power for two days now. It is being towed to Sea Shell Islands in the Indian Ocean.
It comes just weeks after the sister ship, The "Costa Concordia" wrecked off the coast of Italy killing at least 21 people. It's getting mix reactions from those travelers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you go on cruises?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not after all the horrible things that had happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wanted to go, I would go. I mean, I don't really go by what happened. Airplanes crash all the time, too, but I still fly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never would have gone in the first place, but that just confirms my thoughts, I suppose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accidents happen even in the air, even in the ground so it makes sense that it will happen on the sea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Cruise ship at sea is a focus on Capitol Hill today in a congressional hearing. Our Lizzie O'Leary is following the story. And I understand you talked to some survivors of the original crash, "Costa Concordia" that are now testifying. What do they say?
LIZZIE O'LEARY, AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there was a couple, Suzanne, who are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary with this cruise. It was their first night on this ship and they were at dinner with two other couples.
She was only wearing a cocktail dress that she ended up wearing as they tried to get rescued from the ship and they went without direction from the crew for what was going on. Essentially found their own way to life jackets and life boats. Listen to Sameer describe what those few hours were like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMEER SHARMA, COSTA CONCORDIA PASSENGER: They had enough time from 9:30 to 11:00 when we were on a lifeboat because we waited. We remained seated in the dining room for half an hour for them to tell us.
If they had told us immediately, I mean, they had more than three hours to get everybody out and that was more than enough time rather than everything happening in the last half hour when two decks were already under water when we got out and we were on the fourth one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'LEARY: Indeed the Sharmas didn't even know that the boat had struck a rock until they got to the U.S. embassy the next day, Suzanne. They were told that little about what was going on.
MALVEAUX: And Congress is looking at the disaster today. What is likely to change?
O'LEARY: Well, right now there is no law that says you have to have a safety drill to tell everybody where to go in the event of a disaster while you're in port. It only has to happen in the first day that the ship set sail.
So there were many passengers including the Sharmas who didn't know what to do, were never told. Congress is thinking about making that mandatory. Also mandating more lifeboats, several of the lifeboats weren't accessible because the ship tipped over on its side, as you can see, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Lizzie, thank you very much.
Following another story, Mitt Romney getting his mojo back. How did he do it? We're going to ask a political insider what is behind Mitt Romney's big win in Arizona.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We have breaking news. More severe weather. Want to go directly to Jacqui Jeras who has some tornado warning I understand, Jacqui? JERAS: Yes, we have tornado warnings now. None of which are confirmed on the ground, but one of which does have a history of producing some damage and this is the one we're most concerned about.
This is just south of Lexington, Kentucky. This includes Boil, Gerard, Jesamine and Mercer counties, you need to be seeking shelter immediately. And then the second one is down here into Tennessee. This includes the city of Clarksville.
This is for Houston, Montgomery and Stewart counties. So you need to be seeking shelter immediately as that storm appears to be intensifying right now. We also have new video that's coming in. This is out of Elizabethtown and that is what you see in the upper corner of your screen.
And that was a likely tornado that happened about an hour, hour and a half ago that moved through the area. Now, it appears that it missed the downtown area and stayed mostly on the out skirts.
But there were numerous buildings, homes, as well as outbuildings as it sustained considerable amount of damage and it's a live, working situation as we speak.
We don't know about injuries or fatalities or how widespread the situation is there in Elizabeth Town at this time. It appears that those storms have moved out of Elizabeth Town and some drier weather is going to push into this area.
Now, we also have other breaking information. We have a new tornado watch which has just been issued, just literally a minute ago. That's this big red box here. It includes the city of Nashville, the city of Bowling Green, the city of Lexington, Kentucky.
These are large, metropolitan areas that can be experiencing tornadoes in the upcoming hours. Now, just to the west of there, these little boxes that stretch up towards Cincinnati, those expire at the top of the hour and that's because these storms are moving extremely rapidly off to the east.
So these are the kind of tornadoes moving at 50 or 60 miles per hour. That's as fast as you're driving on the interstate. Imagine that. These are not tornadoes that you can run from. These are tornadoes that you have to hide from.
So keep those tornado safety rules in mind today. You need to be extremely alert. You need to be communicating with your family and loved ones where you're going to go and what you're going to do. That's the lowest level of your home, away from doors and windows. Get to a stairwell, which is often a very good place for you to be under these situations. Keep that in mind in the upcoming hours. Look at that mangled metal. Go ahead, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: I was just looking at these pictures here and the kind of devastation. Can you tell from those pictures whether or not these are the kinds of tornadoes that are touching down quickly and bounce being back up or is this the kind of tornadoes that is ripping through communities and sticking around for a while creating maximum damage?
JERAS: Yes, you know, from what I've seen so far, we've seen things touching down for a while, lifting back up and potentially going back down again. You really can't get a good look at it until you get up into the air and see those widespread paths that move on through the area.
But these do appear a little bit more spotty and that can make them a little bit more unpredictable where you think you might be in the clear and then all of a sudden that thing may ramp back up again and touch back on the ground once again as well.
It's hard to tell the intensity of these storms at least that we're looking at here in Elizabethtown because it has been so spotty and a lot of these have been outbuildings here. When I see twisted metal, when I see things leveled from the ground, we can talk about an EF-2 tornado on a scale of zero to five.
MALVEAUX: All right, Jacqui. Thank you. We're going to be following this breaking news story. As Jacqui mentioned, if you're in one of those areas where there's a watch or warning, take cover. It's a very serious situation.
A lot of damage and already lost lives now CNN confirming at least 10 people have died because of the severe weather. Hundreds and hundreds of people have been injured and millions of dollars worth of destruction. We're going to have more after the break.
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MALVEAUX: Two leading candidates in the Republican race for president sound off on an issue affecting all of us. We're talking about rising gas prices. Both Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney blaming President Obama for his energy policies.
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MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a president who doesn't like oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear. We're seeing some of the results as we look at gasoline prices today. If I'm the president, I will bring in the Keystone pipeline, get oil from Canada, and get the energy secured.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president's done a lot of long-term bad things for gas prices here in America. You know, he has shut down pretty much all oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
He's denied permits for offshore. As you know, he put a long- term moratorium on deep water drilling. He's refused to open up the Alaska wildlife refuge and refuses to open up the Keystone pipeline where oil is being produced in Canada and even North Dakota.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right, so before anybody takes on President Obama directly, the Republicans they got to decide on a nominee. It comes down to delegate counts.
CNN's latest delegate estimates show that Mitt Romney has 167. Rick Santorum, 48. Newt Gingrich remains at 38. Ron Paul 27. Takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.
It was a squeaker for Mitt Romney in Michigan, but he clobbered Rick Santorum in the Arizona primary.
Joining us to talk about all of this and the race ahead, political scientist Bruce Merrill. He is a senior research fellow at Arizona State University.
Good to see you.
BRUCE MERRILL, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Good to see you.
MALVEAUX: We've become like a regular here.
MERRILL: We have, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: You know, a team. I like this.
Tell us, first of all, what happened here in Arizona, the primary? Why did we see such a surge when it came to Romney?
MERRILL: Well, I think for a couple of reasons. I think, number one, Santorum made the right decision by going to Michigan. He pulled out of Arizona with about a week, 10 days to go. Romney was very well organized here. Had a massive get out the vote campaign. And a lot of money, a lot of media, did very well. He should be given a lot of credit for the size of the win here.
But what we found in the exit polling, both here and in Michigan, is exactly your point. The conservatives are going to have to decide, do they want to defeat Barack Obama or are they going to continue to move away from Romney on social issues? And Romney's still having a very hard time connecting with working class people and with social conservatives. And yet by far he has the best chance to beat Obama in the fall if they really want to win.
MALVEAUX: Let's talk about Arizona, because some of the Democrats, they're actually quite enthusiastic about the possibility of Arizona going to them this go around. Last time it went to McCain. There are a couple things they pointed to, that it was McCain's home state, of course, so he won it. There was low turnout last night in the primary, so they might see that in the general election. And also the role of Hispanics this go round. That they believe they've got all those advantages that could turn this state. Do you think that's true?
MERRILL: I think it's possible. It's not likely. Hispanics are such an important part of the growing electorate in Arizona, but they have not participated at all in the past. And there's not a lot of evidence that there's something that's going to be on the ballot that is really going to motivate them.
However, the things you say are true. They're increasingly active a little bit. You with -- (INAUDIBLE), this Democratic candidate for Senate, could generate a lot of enthusiasm in the fall. A lot does depend on what's happening with the economy, however. And that's -- the economy's improving in Arizona and it's going to be increasingly a status quo, I think.
MALVEAUX: And, finally, looking forward to Super Tuesday, the longer this thing goes on, does that help or hurt President Obama?
MERRILL: I think it helps him, actually, because I think it's -- you know, there's always the argument that this is good competition. We're learning how to be strong. But the criticisms have been so personal and so scathing that it's going to be hard, I think, to bring some of those people back aboard in the fall. And so I really think it divides and deepens the division in the Republican Party.
MALVEAUX: All right, Bruce Merrill, very nice to see you again. We're going to miss you.
MERRILL: Well, we're going to miss you.
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you -- thank you, once again.
MERRILL: OK. OK, Suzanne.
We've got some breaking news, obviously, we're following. The severe weather that is taking place across the Midwest. Six different states affected by this. We have on the phone Jane Harper from Harrisburg, Illinois. She works at a hospital in Harrisburg.
If you can give us a sense, first of all, which hospital is it? Is it the one that the mayor told us has actually been hit and damaged or is it another one?
JANE HARPER, WORKS AT MEDICAL CENTER HIT BY TORNADO (via telephone): Yes, we were -- we were hit. The name of the hospital is Harrisburg Medical Center.
MALVEAUX: And tell me about the damage. The extent of the damage.
HARPER: Very -- part of the south wall of the hospital was blown out. A couple of patient rooms lost a wall. One of the head nurse's office lost part of a wall. There were a couple of windows in patient rooms that were blown out. The south door was damaged. There's ceiling tiles everywhere and water leaking. And it was a mess.
MALVEAUX: I understand that what we were just watching there and seeing were actually some of the photos that you took of the hospital, the extent of the damage. Have you had to move any patients out of the hospital? Is your care -- is your hospital operating as it normally would?
HARPER: It's my understanding that -- I don't speak for the hospital, but it's my understanding that what the hospital has decided is to try and move everyone out, transfer the ones who can be transferred, discharge the ones who can be discharged, and then await the findings of the structural engineer before any decision is made about when to reopen and what needs to be done before that.
But, yes, we were moving patients when the storm hit because we had some warning and so the patients on the wing that was damaged had just been moved into the radiology suite, which is in the middle of the building and more reinforced than anything else.
MALVEAUX: So you were actually at the hospital at this moment and you say that patients are being moved out of the hospital to other facilities?
HARPER: That's my understanding. I left several hours ago and you'll really have to talk to the public relations people at the hospital to double-check.
MALVEAUX: OK.
HARPER: But that was my understanding when I left.
MALVEAUX: Were you there?
HARPER: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Were you there when the tornado struck? Tell me what happened.
HARPER: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Tell me what you experienced.
HARPER: Well, I had seen the storm warning on television and I called the emergency department to make sure that the word had gotten out that there was a tornado coming. And just as I got off the phone with them, I heard the wall implode. And the storm did not actually sound that close, but then the wall blew out and the door blew out and the ceiling tiles started coming down.
Luckily there was no damage in the room I was in. But I went running out into the corridor to see if there was anything that I could help with. And that was while the nurses down on that particular wing were in the process of getting the patients moved out. I think by that time almost all of them had been put in the radiology suite.
MALVEAUX: Can you --
HARPER: But when the storm hit -- I'm sorry?
MALVEAUX: Yes, please go ahead. When the storm hit.
HARPER: When the storm hit, of course, all of the fire alarms went off and all the automatic doors closed and we lost power. And that was -- that was -- I think the only time that anybody even came close to getting hurt, I believe one of the nurses was knocked on to her backside by one of the doors closing in her face. But that was the only -- anything even close to injury that I saw while I was there. And I left between -- I think it was about 8:30 this morning before I left. MALVEAUX: What was the reaction of the patients when this storm hit your hospital?
HARPER: Some of them were nervous. I don't think any of them were really scared because I'm not sure they really understood what was happening. There was one relative who was still in the hospital at that time and who was really frightened because she was right behind the nurse that had the door slammed in her face and got startled by all the noise and the doors closing and such. But the group of patients that I was with in radiology, they were actually amazingly calm. And the staff was fabulous.
MALVEAUX: Can you describe --
HARPER: They were just phenomenal.
MALVEAUX: Tell me about how that evacuation took place. Can you describe how the patients were being moved out of the hospital at that time, the moment that the tornado hit?
HARPER: Well, we weren't taking them out of the building, we were taking them into the center of the building where it's most structurally sound and solid. Around the radiology suite, where all of the heavy x-ray equipment is, because that's the safest part of the building and that's what the hospital policy calls for when there's a tornado warning, is just get people away from the windows and into the interior of the building.
Most of them came in wheelchairs. There were a couple that were brought in on their beds because they would not have been able to stand the transfer into a chair. And, you know, rather than try and mess around with gurneys and carts and what not, we just unplug the bed and take it. And it's a very small hospital, so there were probably only maybe a dozen patients in that area at the time.
MALVEAUX: Jane, thank you very much.
We want to tell our viewers, if there is a way that you believe you can help, you can go to cnn.com Impact Your World. Obviously there's going to be a lot of folks who need assistance. A lot of people who have questions and concerns about their loved ones on the ground. Those who are missing, those who are injured. Again, cnn.com Impact Your World, to get a sense of how you might be able to help the folks on the ground.
Again, we are talking about at least seven dead from the tornados, six states involved, hundreds of people injured, millions of dollars in damage. And, again, a hospital right there in Harrisburg, Illinois, where we were just speaking with one of the workers there. This is a growing and developing story. It -- there will be a lot of people who will need help during this time.
We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: We're following a breaking news story. A lot of people impacted by this. We're talking about severe weather. We are talking about tornadoes touching down. Six different states affected. But, most seriously, severely in Kentucky, as well as Illinois.
We are talking about homes hit, schools destroyed, businesses, whole communities simply just picked up and put down by these powerful, powerful tornadoes and storms. CNN has now confirmed at least 10 people have died from these severe storms. Of those 10, at least two children. Hundreds of people have been injured. There is an active search and rescue as people comb through the rubble, searching for anyone who might have survived in those communities.
We know that close to 300 homes that have been damaged or destroyed in Illinois alone. And so far people are just trying to make sense of what has taken place. Early morning, late evening, about 4:30 in the morning local time out of Harrisburg, Illinois. You can see there, people who are looking at the damage, trying to assess if there are any survivors. People have been sent to local hospitals where there have been various injuries. One local hospital actually hit by the tornado.
We're going to have a lot more on this breaking news story. But I want to hand it over to Randi Kaye as the CNN NEWSROOM continues.
Hey, Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Suzanne.
