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Tornado Outbreak Kills 30-Plus; GOP Caucus in Washington State; The Legal Guys Tackle Lawsuits by Nicollette Sheridan and Shirley Sherrod

Aired March 03, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so let's talk more now about the tornado watches and the warnings for the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia. At this hour, residents in towns across the South and Midwest are examining the damage as well.

The result of a monster storm that produced huge, powerful twisters in nine states, more than 30 people are dead and many more are injured. Rescue crews are out in force right now, searching for any survivors who may be trapped under mounds of the debris that you're seeing right there.

The path of destruction is massive, stretching from Texas to Virginia. And the severe weather threat is still not over. We have reporters all over the region.

But first let's go to that hardest-hit state of Indiana, where the governor has just finished a tour of the devastation. At least 14 people there died.

Joining me right now live by phone from the town of Marysville, Jeff Piotrowski. He's a storm chaser who helped children get out of a school that was severely damaged by the tornado. So Jeff, describe the scene for me as that storm was approaching.

JEFF PIOTROWSKI, STORM CHASER (via telephone): That's right. We're in Marysville now. And we arrived here about an hour ago and did a survey. The south end of town sustained the most heavy damage (INAUDIBLE) 20 structures heavy damage. (INAUDIBLE) is still here. It's not gone (INAUDIBLE) reports from last night.

The governor just left here moments ago heading across Indiana, doing additional damage surveys and with a team of people. The military has also moved in with search and rescue vehicles. On the south side of town (INAUDIBLE) my livestream, you can see there's about four to five homes that -- farms that had heavy damage and are gone.

But the tornado blitz (ph) here was about 200 yards wide, a very intense tornado, and it tracked through the city on the southeast side. And everybody's been accounted for. Most people are (INAUDIBLE) injuries, just a couple of injuries, no fatalities, is what I understand, but just (INAUDIBLE) damage on the southeast side of town here (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: So Jeff, pretty extraordinary. You're talking to us at the same time you're livestreaming these images for us. And in these images, we're seeing people walking around. Perhaps are these residents that are surveying the damage, or are these kind of first responders who are there to help, volunteers?

PIOTROWSKI: Both. We have a lot of local people here that are people walking down the streets that are local residents and family members. A lot of these people's farms have been here for a while, many generations. One family, the Gillett (ph) family here on the south side of town, been here for about three generations. Their entire farm is gone, which is what's in the view right now.

There's a lot of family members helping pick up the pieces and just trying to get all their belongings loaded into trucks and vehicles (INAUDIBLE) containers. And that's what's happening here in Marysville at this time.

WHITFIELD: Now, Jeff, did most of the people there -- were they hunkered down? Were they prepared, ready for a storm coming their way?

PIOTROWSKI: Yes, most of the people here heard the warning. They knew it was coming. One of the local residents told me because it hit in mid-afternoon, a lot of people were at work and they weren't at their house. And they say that was very fortunate because the houses that did get hit the worst, the people were not at home in (ph) most of these structures that were heavily damaged (INAUDIBLE) gone (ph) (INAUDIBLE) south side of town. Most of the residents were not in their homes when the tornado hit at, you know, about 3:30 and 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And as we look at these images here, it looks like virtually every house is wiped out. Some houses, like the one we're looking at right now, seemed to suffer a little less damage than others. And you're panning there, they were wiped out completely. So how wide was the swath of destruction there that -- was it one twister or more than one?

PIOTROWSKI: You know, it's about 200 -- it's about 200 yards wide on the southeast side of Marysville here. But the damage is actually worse between Marysville and back to I-65, where the tornado (INAUDIBLE) crossed and hit the school there. And that's in between the two cities, so 8, 10-mile road in between it, there's actually -- the damage is actually worse west-southwest of Marysville, back closer to the Henryville area.

That's the area that has heavy damage. And there's actually a lot of homes destroyed between the two communities. So the actual damage is actually even worse southwest of here. On the road coming over here to this area, we saw brick homes totally gone, but a lot of homes west of here that are 100 percent gone. There's nothing left, about 30 structures between here and Henryville.

WHITFIELD: And I'm sorry, this is a mostly farm community?

PIOTROWSKI: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Piotrowski, thanks so much for that view of Marysville, Indiana, devastated. And we can see it from that livestream imagery that Jeff is also able to convey to us while he's talking.

All right, so the threat of severe weather -- well, guess what? It's still not over. Right now, there are new tornado warnings and watches in parts of the South.

CNN's Bonnie Schneider is live in the Weather Center with more on this. This is an extraordinary system that already cut through some what, 15 or so states, and it's not over yet?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. We said 17 million people affected. And it's carrying over certainly into Saturday. Right now, the tornado warning we are watching -- let's take a look. It looks like we still have one tornado warning in southeast Georgia that we're monitoring, as well. You can see it just down in this region here, north of the Florida border.

This is really part of the same storm system that we were watching work its way across Thomasville and Aldossa (ph). So it will impacting communities like Waycross. You can see the line of thunderstorms working their way through here.

It doesn't necessarily mean a tornado was confirmed, but when you have that rotation in the thunderstorm, remember, that can turn into a funnel cloud. And if it touches down on anything, then we're going to see it become a tornado. So take cover now.

Now, the risk for tornadoes continues through the afternoon. This tornado watch box you see that includes parts of Florida, including Panama City, Valdosta, Georgia -- this actually goes until 2:00 o'clock today, so we still have a little bit time for the threat to continue.

And it's possible it may get extended because these thunderstorms are holding up as they travel very rapidly to the northeast.

We're also tracking more severe weather into South Carolina. We had a tornado warning earlier just for the southeastern South Carolina. That has expired. But we're still seeing some strong thunderstorms in and around this region, and then back out, as I mentioned, coming in from the west along the Florida panhandle.

Well, I also have another update for you in terms of the severe weather. When we put the numbers together, what we experienced yesterday on Friday, numbers are up. So now yesterday, we originally thought we had 95 reports of tornadoes. Now we have 97 reports of tornadoes.

Now, this doesn't mean we have confirmed tornadoes -- we'll get that data from the National Weather Service as they do their storm surveys, and boy, they have a lot of work ahead of them with all the states that have been impacted -- but hundreds of reports of damaging wind and strong hail, over 400 reports of that. That tallies us up even higher to 775, almost 1,000 reports of severe weather yesterday. What a day it was. And I'm sure we'll have more reports coming in today, Fredricka, because the threat of severe weather still exists for parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

WHITFIELD: And as people take your advice on, you know, hunkering down, taking cover, as you just mentioned -- you spend at least one entire chapter in your new book, "Extreme Weather," on tornadoes and what you should do to prepare for, what you do after it's already passed through.

So let's one more time, if you could, explain to people who might be in Florida or North Carolina, what should they do if they hear that a warning or a watch is in effect?

SCHNEIDER: Well, in my book, "Extreme Weather," I talk a lot about tornadoes because they impact -- every state in the country you can have a tornado. But now we're under the gun. We're in severe weather season, the first thing you want to have is this right here and have it at home. This is a NOAA weather radio. I'll step back (INAUDIBLE) so you can see it.

And this weather radio, you want to make sure you have batteries in it, it's turned on, it's programmed to your county. And put it by your bedside. If you're under a tornado watch and you're going to sleep, you want to have this turned on because an alarm will go off. It will alert you, wake you up and give you the notice there's a tornado warning.

And then what do you do? You take cover in the most interior room of your home. If you have a basement, that's ideal. Grab a mattress, blanket to cover yourself. And also, Fredricka, I just want to mention don't forget your pets. Take them with you into a safe spot.

WHITFIELD: OK. So the key there, programming it to your county so you're not hearing alerts in all of the surrounding counties --

SCHNEIDER: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: -- so that you're not staying up all night, kind of paranoid about what's going to happen next. All right, thanks so much, Bonnie Schneider. Appreciate it. And your new book "Extreme Weather" -- very timely.

All right, in small towns like Henryville, Indiana, the full extent of some of the damage may not even be known until search and rescue crews finish their work. That's where our Chris Welch is this morning. So Chris, give me an idea of what they're going to find when they get there.

CHRIS WELCH, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Fred, we've seen widespread damage all over this region, but here in Henryville, as you mentioned, this is one of the hardest hit areas. I'm actually standing right in the middle of town, and this is Henryville High School, or what was Henryville High School, and attached to it, Henryville elementary schools. About 1,400 students total go to the school. All of them made it out unharmed. The vast majority of them were given a warning about 20 minutes before the storm came through. They saw the report. They said they dismissed the students early. The high school students drove home.

They were actually driving a few of the elementary students home when the bus driver saw a storm and said, You know what? Doesn't look safe, drove them back to the school, got them inside. They hunkered down, still came out totally unharmed.

But that bus that was carrying those students that went back to that school is now sitting right here. It was parked in the parking lot of the high school, just at this same time yesterday. But it flew across the road, across the pavement into this diner. It even blew off its own chassis and then went into that diner.

Now, there were no students on the bus, obviously, at the time so they're thankful for that. Obviously, though, not everyone in this region was so lucky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The stories will be told for a long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say it sounds like a freight train coming through, they mean it.

WELCH: From Tennessee to Alabama to right here in Indiana, towns woke up Saturday to a dramatically different landscape than the day before, one altered by a widespread tornado outbreak.

AUSTIN ALBERT, TORNADO SURVIVOR: The temperatures before the tornado were fluctuating probably 20 degrees from each other and would change in a split of a second. And then the hail was probably baseball or tennis-size.

WELCH: This round of tornadoes comes on the heels of another band of storms this week that devastated towns like Harrisburg, Illinois. One storm chaser said the outbreak so early in the season could be a warning of what's to come.

CHAD HINTON, IREPORTER (via telephone): It's telling you that we're going to have a lot more active, more violent outbreaks when we get into March and April. We're not even in peak season until May, so this is just a precursor of what's coming.

WELCH: But here in Henryville, they're likely not thinking that far ahead, instead trying to comprehend how their lives drastically changed in just one day.

RUSTY IRISH, LOST HOME IN STORM: I'm just thankful we're all -- we all survived this. Like I said, material things can be replaced. The house can be replaced. We've got a place to stay, you know, warmth, food. You know, we don't have to worry about that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WELCH: Now, Fred, get this. Just a short time after this tornado came through Henryville, an infant, a toddler no more than 2 years old, was found in a field in Salem, Indiana. That's about a dozen miles away from Henryville. No one knows exactly how it got there or exactly where it came from, but the story media reports came out that this baby was found in the field. It was airlifted to a hospital. It remains in critical condition.

And thanks to media reports and getting the word out, they have identified that baby. They have not released the name yet to us, but they have identified that baby, thankfully. It's just another reminder of the severity of this storm and what Mother Nature can do.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness, found a dozen miles away from what's believed to be that child's home?

WELCH: That's right. Yes, they haven't given specific details on where the child was from. You know, we don't know if the child was from Henryville or not, or whether it was from Henryville -- or excuse me, from Salem, where the child was found. Either way, it was found in a field by itself.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness! All right. We're hoping the best for that baby. All right, Chris Welch, thanks so much.

All right, the South also got hard hit. Thirteen deaths are reported in Kentucky, one in Alabama. No fatalities are being reported in neighboring Tennessee, but dozens of people there are hurt and there's extensive damage.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Ooltewah, Tennessee, and he's joining us right now on the phone. Rob, describe for us what you're seeing there.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): Well, it's a frantic cleanup today, a little bit more relaxed than yesterday. They only got a couple of hours in yesterday because, as you know, once this twister came through around 1:00 PM, they only had two or three hours before the next round of severe weather started hitting the area. So they didn't really get their hands into it as far as cleaning up as much as they could. With thousands of trees down and hundreds of power poles and power lines, the job at hand is quite severe.

You mentioned injuries. Nearly 30 injuries being reported, some of those serious, but thankfully, no fatalities. And cleaning up around this area -- you know, we've been forced -- the reason I'm on the phone is we've been forced out to move our satellite truck because, you know, this is a different landscape than that of Indiana or other parts of the Midwest, which is much flatter.

We're down here in a valley. We've got the Appalachian Mountains to our east, got the Cumberland plateau to our west, and things can get pretty tight in neighborhoods. And the larger equipment that needs to get in there to clean up some of the big debris needed to get through, including power companies and their cherry-buckets. So we -- cherry- pickers. So we got out of there.

And the good news is today is's calmer day. It's a warmer day. And folks have had time to digest what happened and to start to get their hands dirty in the cleanup efforts. And everyone we've talked to, they're certainly very, very grateful that they didn't suffer any fatalities here.

WHITFIELD: All right, but 29 injured. Thanks so much for that, Rob Marciano in Ooltewah, Tennessee.

All right, North Carolina now also suffered serious damage and many of the homes there reduced to splinters. Joining me right now is Andrew Doud from our affiliate WSOC. He's in East Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which is right near Charlotte.

So give me an idea there, Andrew, of what is being reported. Was it indeed a tornado?

ANDREW DOUD, WSOC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, within the last half hour, we actually learned that the National Weather Service has, in fact, confirmed it was a tornado that touched down. We're not sure just how severe it was yet, but we want to show you a live picture of what's going on right now.

You can see behind me Charlotte Mecklenburg police officers are currently monitoring who comes in and out of the Reedy (ph) Creek subdivision, one of two along this stretch of road, on Plaza Road Extension, that were affected by that tornado last night.

As we push past that police car, you can actually see a tree resting on top of a car. That's just one example of a much wider path of destruction.

We want to show you some video now taken from our helicopter earlier this morning. You can see several houses were either damaged or completely destroyed, houses ripped off of some, cars flipped over at others.

We've been speaking to several people here today who have had incredible stories of survival, some incredibly lucky. We spoke to one family who said they were actually on the second floor of their house, and the majority of the damage was done on the first floor. In fact, their daughter, they said, was on their way to their house, and the room in their house that suffered the most damage is where she would have been sleeping about 30 minutes later. She just happened to be running late.

At this point, we know that 89 houses in this area have been damaged, eight suffering major damage, three have been completely destroyed. We also know that Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx has asked for federal assistance -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Andrew. A lot of cleanup, a lot of damage, and certainly, a lot of lives turned upside down. Thanks so much, Andrew Doud. All right, (INAUDIBLE) let's talk about politics straight ahead. Republican presidential candidates are on a delegate hunt in Washington state. We'll have a live report coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, damage from the storms has extended all the way into Georgia. Dozens of homes damaged overnight and parts of the state were under a tornado watch until 5:00 o'clock this morning.

Reporter Jennifer Mayerle is in Dallas, Georgia. Jennifer, tell me about the damage in that area.

JENNIFER MAYERLE, REPORTER: We're actually here at Poole (ph) elementary school here in Dallas, in Paulding County. It's the only school in the country that received some damage. And just take a look. You can see that the roof came completely off. It is off the entire front of the building. It actually extends about six different classrooms.

And I'm going to walk you in and show you what one of those classrooms looks like. Just take a look here. With the roof coming off, you can actually see all the way up to the sky and actually the blue sky here today. But you can see how the roof came off and the tiles just fell in, causing a lot of rain damage to this classroom.

You can just see the desks are just soaked. The floor is actually just quite a mess. And actually, even on the walls, some of the artwork has just begun to kind of smear down. You can see how that rain took it down. And even on the side all the way into that classroom -- there's the computer, the projector and the TV. Everything that they have in here is just really waterlogged and soaked.

And actually, beyond this wall, there's two -- there's another classroom where the wall completely caved in and fell -- but the classroom is actually OK and didn't have any damage.

But just take a look here. I mean, this is the kind of water that we're talking about. Everything is just soaked and waterlogged in here.

The good thing about it is that no students were here at the time. We talked to the principal as well, as the superintendent of the schools here, and they said they are just so thankful this happened at 9:30 at night instead of 9:30 in the morning, when students could have been here in class.

They did tell me, though, that when they do tornado drills, the kids actually go to the interior class -- to the interior halls. There's four wings and they all line up in there. And even though there's damage to the front of the building, damage to the back side of the school, those four wings are completely fine. So they said they are thankful to know that had this actually -- that had students actually been here at the time, they would have been OK. They would have been safe. But again, a lot of damage in this area. Homes around this school here also damaged. We're hearing as many as 40 homes have damage, as well as the airport. Of course, we'll keep bringing you live pictures from here in Paulding County. But for now, back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate that, out of Dallas, Georgia. And of course, we'll keep you posted on the storm damage and new storm threats, as well, for today.

Meantime, let's talk politics right now. In less than an hour, Washington state kicks off its Republican presidential caucuses. Forty delegates are up for grabs. CNN political reporter Shannon Travis is joining us now from Lakewood, Washington. Quite the buzz of excitement there, Shannon?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: There's a lot of buzz of excitement, Fred. Let me just start by telling you what the chairman of the Republican Party here in Washington state told me yesterday. He said that normally, none of the presidential candidates come here, Fred, because Washington's primary and caucus systems used to be well after super-Tuesday, and by then, the nominee was pretty much almost picked.

But this year, obviously, we know that this is a special case. He says that Washington state used to be like the ugly sister invited to the dance, but now it's like the princess.

Now, another thing that Kirby Wilbur, the Washington GOP chairman, told me is that he predicts that this race will come down between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. Now, why? Why is the chairman handicapping the race, essentially, Fred? He says that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich don't have the infrastructure here.

That's really interesting because all four of the candidates in recent days have all campaigned here for the 40 delegates at stake in Washington.

Let's kind of look behind me and show you -- I want to show you what's going on right now, Fred. You've got a lot of caucus goers from this area here in Lakewood gathering already. Bob Brown (ph), who's the man in charge of this particular caucus site -- it's one of 450 caucus sites across Washington today -- he tells me that, potentially, between 500 and 600 people might actually be showing up here.

We did a little hand count on our own. We're estimating maybe just over 100. But again, the day is still young, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right. And then, you know, right around the corner is super-Tuesday. Ten states and lots of delegates up for grabs there. That really is the place where many of the candidates are concentrating their efforts.

SHANNON: Absolutely. I mean, this is almost like the coronation (ph) to the ball (ph) on Tuesday, Fred. As you mentioned, super-Tuesday, 10 states, 419 delegates up for grabs -- Ohio, places like Ohio. I mean, a lot of these candidates have been criss-crossing -- racking up a lot of frequent flier miles, I'm sure, but criss-crossing the country because that's going to be really key.

It's a lot of delegates at stake in this hunt for those 1,144 that they need to win this nomination. So the four candidates that have been coming here to Washington state have obviously been playing up, you know, that they want to win in Washington, but they've been looking ahead to Tuesday, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, but clearly, nothing being taken for granted there with the candidates spending a little time in Washington state --

TRAVIS: That's right.

WHITFIELD: -- today, where that caucusing is taking place. Thanks so much, Shannon Travis, coming to us from Lakewood there.

All right, a program note. Both Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul will be guests on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" tomorrow morning. Then join me every Sunday afternoon 4:00 o'clock Eastern time for a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in this 2012 election.

And then just three days, super-Tuesday, March 6, 12:00 o'clock Eastern time, Wolf Blitzer and CNN's political team will be hosting a new program, "THE CNN ELECTION ROUNDTABLE." It's a live insider chat about the day's implications for the presidential race. You want to go to CNN.com/roundtable for more on that come Tuesday, super-Tuesday.

All right, actress Nicollette Sheridan is suing "Desperate Housewives" for wrongful termination. She says it all started over a slap. Our "Legal Guys" weigh in after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, former "Desperate Housewives" actress Nicollette Sheridan is suing the show for killing off her character.

Let's bring in our "Legal Guys," Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland -- good to see you -- and Richard Herman --

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY, LAW PROFESSOR: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: -- a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from Las Vegas. All right, good to see you, as well.

RICHARD HERMAN, LAW PROFESSOR, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, so Nicollette Sheridan actually slapped her lawyer in court to kind of demonstrate how she claims the show creator, Marc Cherry, hit her during a rehearsal. And so Avery, you know, this is not a case about assault, however, it's about wrongful termination. So what is being established by the Sheridan camp here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, Miss Sheridan considered the dope slap by Marc Cherry, the executive producer, as a form of sexual harassment. So she complained to the HR department, and she claims that as a consequence of her complaint, that she was retaliated against, and that retaliation took the form of killing her character, Edie Britt, off the show.

And as a result, she's claiming she has lost millions of dollars. She's off the show, but it relates to her complaint, and that's the -- that's why this case is really a rip-snorter. It really is very dramatic because, as you said, Fredricka, she really unloaded on her lawyer. I mean, it wasn't a dope slap, it was wham!

WHITFIELD: Yes, it was the real thing.

FRIEDMAN: And the whole jury reacted to it.

WHITFIELD: But then I wonder, Richard --

FRIEDMAN: Oh, yes. Yes, that guy was (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: -- can that backfire? You know, should they have been just acting or -- you know, because this really is going to be a case about he said/she said, but now kind of her playing out in a real way slapping of her attorney, I wonder if that will backfire and make her look like she's the aggressor and not Mr. Cherry, as she is trying to establish.

HERMAN: Desperation by Nicollette. You know, there were other witnesses who saw this, Fred. And if they come into court and say the slap was nowhere near the severity demonstrated in court, she's going to lose all credibility.

But worse than that, Fred, I don't think her case really has any legs to stand on. Her termination from the series took place five months after the alleged contact, and there's evidence to show that they were planning on terminating her before the alleged slap.

So I think her case is going nowhere. She's getting her name in headlights. That's what she wanted. She's getting it. But I don't believe it's going to go anywhere.

WHITFIELD: OK, so she wants $6 million. She used to get $175,000 an episode, and she wants, I guess, to claim some of those losses. We'll see where it goes. I'm sure you and I -- well, both of you and I be talking about this again.

All right, now let's talk about the case of Andrew Breitbart. He died this week, but there is a defamation lawsuit that might continue involving the former USDA employee Sherry Sherrod. And so Richard, might she still be able to pursue that case against the estate of Breitbart?

HERMAN: Absolutely, Fred. That's what happens. The estate stands in his shoes, and she can continue the case. The problem here for Ms. Sherrod is the fact that because she's a public figure, the burden of proof on her will be to prove actual malice, actual intent.

It's very difficult to prove. Her damages are minimal, at best. I think her reputation has been enhanced by this whole incident, and therefore, I would suspect that she's going to dismiss this case in the near future. WHITFIELD: Really?

So Avery, but would it be difficult to establish, because she's also pursuing Breitbart's aide, Larry O'Connor, so, you know, he will have to testify as well, or he at least will be challenged as well by she (sic) and her attorney.

FRIEDMAN: Well, that depends on one thing, Fredericka. There is an appeal pending in the district -- U.S. District Court of Appeals, and it claims that the Sherrod case is what's called a slap suit. A slap suit means it's phony, that it's just -- it just was brought to make trouble, that there really is no defamation.

And that, both O'Connor and Breitbart's lawsuit, was based on the freedom of press and freedom of speech, so it may never even get to trial if a three-judge panel in the District of Columbia says it's a slap suit.

If it does, she doesn't really have to show damages, because it's defamation per se and it's District of Columbia jurors, District of Columbia jurors. I've been there, I know what that's like. There's danger all around, so we're going to have to find out what happens in the Court of Appeals first.

WHITFIELD: OK. And people -- just to remind a lot of people, Breitbart is accused of, you know, using and kind of distorting a video to represent Sherri Sherrod, making her out to be a racist, and that is at the heart of this defamation suit, so we'll see how it plays out.

Avery and Richard, always good to see you. Thanks so much. We're going to have to cut it short this time, instead of seeing you for part deux in this hour, because of all the storms.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part deux next time.

WHITFIELD: We look forward to seeing you next week. All right. Thanks so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

WHITFIELD: Have a great weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye-bye.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right. In fact, we've got new images that are coming out of the storms that swept through maybe 15 states since yesterday. It has been an extraordinary system that has unfolded. We'll be sharing some of those images with you and more eyewitness counts after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking today's top stories, rescue crews are searching for survivors after tornadoes ripped across the South and Midwest. More than 30 people were killed. Most of the fatalities were in Kentucky and Indiana.

National Guard troops have been deployed to wiped-out communities to provide aid and security. Tornado watches are posted at this hour in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

A mass shooting takes place outside an Arizona nightclub and today 13 people are recovering from wounds. Police say two people are in serious condition.

And family and friends are saying goodbye today at a funeral for 16- year-old Daniel Parmertor. He's one of three students killed in the high school shooting in Chardon, Ohio. Two other students were hospitalized, another was grazed by gunfire.

And BP says it will pay nearly $8 billion to settle claims related to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. A group representing the plaintiffs said the amount will, quote, "fully compensate" the victims. The three long -- three-month, rather, long spill happened after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig operated by BP. Eleven people were killed in that explosion.

And home prices are the lowest in a decade. Should you buy, sell or rent?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're in an economic recovery, so what does that mean, if you're looking for a home? In this week's "Smart is the New Rich," Christine Romans takes a look at whether you should buy, sell or rent in this housing market.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, YOUR BOTTOM LINE: Are we finally seeing the bottom in the housing market? Let's get right to the bottom of it. Mike Aubrey is a realtor and host of HGTV's "Real Estate Intervention."

Mike, would you say it's time to buy, sell or rent in this housing market?

MIKE AUBREY, HOST, HGTV, "REAL ESTATE INTERVENTION": Unequivocably (sic), you must buy right now. We're never going to see prices as cheap as they are, and we're never going to see mortgage money as cheap as you can get it.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: I know, but we've been thinking this for a few months now, years now, that home prices couldn't go lower and they keep going lower. That's the big fear. If you buy a house right now, it could be a less expensive house in one or two years.

AUBREY: Well, you know what, I mean, I think that it depends on who the buyer is, Christine. I mean, if you're an investor and you're someone who is savvy and you're out in the marketplace, I think that you may have a different viewpoint than, say, someone who is looking to buy a house that they intend to live in.

If you intend to live in a house right now, you're going to get a mortgage interest rate deduction on that house that you're going to live in. I think that what you're going to do is cut your nose off to spite your face. Say that the market continues to drop even through the end of 2012, which it may very well.

I know that mortgage rates aren't going to go any cheaper than they are right now. And when you talk about the gift that keeps on taking, even a quarter point in mortgage interest over 30 years, which, by the way, right now is about 3.88 percent on a 30-year fixed loan, you're going to end up paying more even if you pay $20,000 or $30,000 less for the house that you buy.

ROMANS: Yes, to get that mortgage rate, you need money in the bank, money to put down, a pretty good credit score and, of course, you have to have a house that you can sell already. You can't already have a house that you can't get rid of. But you're right, these mortgage rates have never been so low and home prices -- and home sales, actually, are starting to pick up a little bit.

Mike Aubrey, thank you so much. I'm Christine Romans with this week's "Smart is the New Rich."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. And we'll have much more on the tornadoes that swept through nine states. Our viewers are sharing their dramatic storm stories. More on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's get back to our top story this afternoon, 97 reports of tornadoes sweeping through nine states. Some of the most powerful images and vivid accounts are actually coming from you, CNN iReporters. Josh Levs has been going through all of those reports for us. Give us an idea what people are saying and seeing.

JOSH LEVS, CNN REPORTER; Yes, and Fred, they have been coming in throughout the day. We're getting them from all sorts of stricken regions and they tell a lot of different stories. And zoom in on this first picture, which is one of our iReports right here that I want to tell you about. This comes to us from Branson, Missouri. This is a good example of one picture showing you a lot.

You can feel the sheer force of the storms when you see something like that. That big tree split, clearly some damage to the home, clearly some major damage to the car there, too. Now something else we're getting, which I'm finding really interesting, is more and more of our iReporters are sending us photos of what the storms looked like when they were first coming through. It's going to look like a big mess of gray. Basically this whole thing here is the sky.

This is a shot that we got from an iReporter in Berea, Kentucky, and it goes all the way down into there. And there's another one I want to jump over to here, that's very similar, coming out of Nashville.

This is an iReport that we just received a few minutes ago. And if you see up here, all of this is what the sky looked like to some people who were in Nashville at the time that it was coming through. That comes from Randy Brough (ph). And he says as soon as that went through, what was left behind was incredibly heavy hail, which leads us to this first video I want to show you. Take a look here.

(PLAY VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So that second photo I was showing you just now was in Nashville, and this video is from another iReporter in Nashville. This one is from Ted Briggs. And this is of some of the hail that was coming down as the storm was passing through.

And I've been seeing some closeups of what some of these pieces of hail look like and we're about to see it in this video, at least as large as golf balls, in some cases, even bigger. And they have been obviously taking a pounding and bringing a lot of damage along with them. We're going to get closeups here.

So before we leave this video I want you to see them in his hand and those aren't some of the absolute largest. So these are just some of the pictures and videos that have been coming in.

Now, by far the most popular video among our iReports today is one that tells a great deal about what the tornadoes look like to some people in this country. Take a look at this.

(PLAY VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now, let me tell you what we're seeing here. This is out of Borden, Indiana, and this was taken by iReporter Chad Hinton. And he was looking out just a couple of miles and he says, though, he was looking out toward, is Henryville, and that is the area, one of the major areas that we've been showing you today that experienced so much damage, so much destruction.

He had been told, go ahead and drive home. And he was among the people who did drive home. Look at how huge that tornado is. And you can see what it looked like to him.

All right. When you see all this, it might make you want to reach out and help some of the people who were impacted by the storms. And we have a way you can do that. It's right behind me on the screen here. Out at CNN.com/impact, "Impact Your World." And I've linked it up to my Facebook and Twitter pages. And at the blog, CNN.com/josh, you can always reach out and help people any time in the coming days. Obviously, Fred, the more we see these images -- and we will see a lot more images throughout today and in the coming days. It makes a lot of people want to reach out and help.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes, people generally want to help and people, of course, very much welcome that. Thanks so much, Josh Levs. Appreciate that.

All right. So in the Florida Keys, lots of concerns about the fragile coral reefs, but not because of storms. One expert diver shows us how he is bringing back marine life. Meet our CNN Hero after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Top stories straight ahead, including the severe weather that's hitting parts of the South for the second straight day. Tornado watches are in effect in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. The threat comes a day after a deadly tornado outbreak across parts of the South and Midwest. We'll have one toddler's amazing story of survival straight ahead.

But first, this week's CNN Hero has watched the beauty of the sea disappear, and now he's working to bring life back to an underwater world in crisis. Meet Ken Nedimyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN NEDIMYER, BEFRIENDING THE PLANET: I grew up diving in the Florida Keys, and it was just the most magical place. The coral reefs were so pretty, and I decided that's what I wanted to do for a living, is dive on coral reefs.

In an area where there's live coral, there's always more fish. Reefs provide protection for our coastal areas and recreational opportunities for millions of people.

I was diving for 40 years, and over time I saw those coral reefs start to die. Coral reefs worldwide are in decline. If coral reefs die completely, coastal communities would be bankrupt, tourism would be virtually gone. A billion people in the world will be impacted. I started thinking, you know, how can we fix this problem?

My name is Ken Nedimyer and I grow and protect and restore coral reefs.

We developed a system that's simple and it's something that we can train others to do.

We start with a piece of coral this big and we hang it on a tree. And after about a year or two, it becomes this big. And then we cut the branches off, and we do it again. BILLY CAUSEY, SOUTHEAST REGIONAL DIRECTOR, NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES, NOAA: Ken's Coral Nursery is one of the largest in the wider Caribbean. It's 10 times larger than the others that are in existence.

NEDIMYER: In 2003, we originally planted six corals here but now there's over 3,000 growing in this area alone.

Before, I felt helpless watching it die. Now I think there's hope. It's not too late, everybody can help. I see all those corals and all those fish. So it's like this whole reef is coming back to life and making a difference is exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Remember all of our heroes come from your nominations, so go to cnnheroes.com to share your inspirational stories.

All right. Speaking of the ocean and coastlines, popular destinations for Spring Break, well, if you're thinking of heading to Mexico, some advice after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Some international news now. More clarity on who is being blamed for burning Qurans at a NATO base in Afghanistan: five American service men and an Afghan translator.

According to a NATO official, who's familiar with the investigations, intense protests over the burnings have left at least 39 people dead, including four American soldiers.

In Syria, activist groups say Syrian soldiers have executed more than 40 military defectors in Idlib Province today. And in Homs, the Red Cross is being stopped from bringing food or other aid into the Baba Amr neighborhood.

Also the bodies of American journalist Marie Colvin and a French photographer were turned over to western diplomats in Syria. Both were killed in shelling in Baba Amr last week.

A spring break trip to Mexico should come with some precautions. Rob Marciano explains in this week's "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB MARCIANO, NEWS AND WEATHER ANCHOR, CNN WORLDWIDE (voice-over): Many college students are about to head south of the border for Spring Break. But the U.S. State Department has issued travel warnings for many states across Mexico, including 14 states where they advise against non-essential travel.

JAMES PETTIT, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: There is a lot of transnational criminal organization activity, the various drug cartels that operate in Mexico. This makes travel, particularly in the border areas, extremely dangerous.

MARCIANO (voice-over): The State Department says avoid driving in Mexico, especially at night.

GABE SAGLIE, TRAVELZOO.COM: I think most of Spring Break partiers might look at either cruising or flying into a destination like Cancun or Cabo San Lucas. These continue to be generally safe areas, once you're on the ground.

We have found that the traditional tourist destinations and resorts are still, by and large, fairly safe.

MARCIANO (voice-over): Details for specific cities can be found at travel.state.gov, where trips can be registered in their STEP program --

PETTIT: That's a way whereby we can push out updated information to these students, who are, as you know, very much into social media. And we can communicate with them in that way.

MARCIANO (voice-over): -- giving students a chance to relax on the go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, more on the storms coming up. A baby girl ended up alone in a field, clinging to life after last night's storms. We'll tell you how she's doing after a remarkable rescue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories, a massive storm system that caused dozens of tornadoes is now in the Carolinas and Florida.

An Indiana toddler is in critical condition today. Rescuers found her alone in a field after yesterday's tornado outbreak. The 20-month-old baby was flown to two local hospitals before being identified by relatives. A hospital spokesman says the girl is breathing with the help of a tube.

And Republican leaders are condemning conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh after he called a law student who uses contraception a slut.

Sandra Fluke testified before Congress, advocating that insurance companies cover birth control. President Obama called Fluke to support her, but Limbaugh has not backed down from his comments.

And in just a few minutes, Washington State kicks off its Republican presidential caucuses. Forty delegates there are at stake. And the winner stands to gain momentum three days before the biggest contest yet, Super Tuesday. That's when 10 states hold primaries and caucuses, with 437 delegates up for grabs.

And stay with CNN all afternoon long as we bring you new images and stories out of the tornado zones.

Thousands of couples also want to have children nationwide. In our 2 o'clock Eastern hour, a CNN special, "BABY QUEST." We'll tell you about a new test that actually tracks the number of eggs a woman has, and the innovations in in vitro fertilization.

And our gaming and gadgets expert, Marc Saltzman, talks to singer Katy Perry about her new video game. That's 3:00 Eastern Time.

And if you're thinking about changing careers, perhaps, we'll tell you about five questions you need to ask yourself before you make that move.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. I'll see you later on. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.