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Tornado Watches In Effect Across Midwest; Derailed Commuter Train In Connecticut Being Cleared Away

Aired May 19, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here's a look at the top stories this hour in the NEWSROOM.

The Midwest is bracing for nasty storms over the next few hours. At least one tornado touched down in Kansas yesterday. The severe weather system is on the move right now with hail, flooding and more possibly more twisters all in the forecast next.

And real cars involved in that terrible train collision in Connecticut are being cleared away today. In a few minutes, I will talk to a doctor who was on that train when it crashed immediately going to work treating the injured.

In Long Island, New York, the family of a Hofstra University student killed by police is preparing her funeral this week. I will have details on that tragedy in just a moment.

So, we begin with that severe weather. Tornado watches are right now in effect across the Midwest. Dark storm clouds have been moving across much of the country's midsection and south all weekend. The storm chasers got incredible video yesterday of a twister touching down in central Kansas. Take a look at that. In all of that, one home was damaged but no one hurt.

And then on to Tulsa, Oklahoma, strong winds ripped apart tents set up for the city's May fest overnight. But despite the damage the festival is still continuing today as planned.

And heavy rain in Georgia turned many streets into rivers seemingly today. People in a town just outside of Atlanta told our affiliate WSB, it is the worst flooding that they have ever seen.

Jennifer Delgado with us now in the severe weather center and this system is really just starting to pick up speed. Isn't it?

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Fredricka. We told you two hours ago we would see things getting more active and you could see for yourself. Now, we have four tornado watches at. At 2:00 we didn't have this. You can already start see the line starting to develop through parts of Kansas. Now, notice this tornado watches in place for Minnesota, as well as into Iowa, all the way down towards Oklahoma, even that further part of Texas.

Now, what we are going to see today are these storms getting stronger. And with these we will see the possibility of tornadoes, damaging winds as well as hail. The area we are really concerned about is in red. We are going to make this a little bit bigger for you. And you know what, I'm having a little bit of technical difficulties but the area in Kansas, as well as into Kansas city, that's where we are going to see potentially some of the stronger storms producing these super cells that could produce these tornadoes.

Now, as we play this for you and we talk about the severe weather threat, we are really going to see, as I said, right around 8:00 these storms really firing up and even into the morning hours. And then, we are going to get a quiet break in the morning hours, and then, the storm redevelops tomorrow. So, we are talking a multi-day severe weather threat as we go into Monday. And we are also seeing this into Tuesday as well. But notice on Monday we are going to include cities like Chicago, as well as into Milwaukee.

Now, it is not just actually the tornado that we are talking about. We are also talking about some very heavy rainfall that's been coming down across parts of the east, including Georgia where in some areas we have seen five inches of rainfall just from last night. And we saw some of that video of the flooding and there it is again.

And Fredricka, like I said, we will continue to see more of these images of flooding coming out of northern Georgia and as we take you back over on the radar, the storm still lighting up parts of Texas or should I say Tennessee as well as into Georgia, still bringing with it in some of these locations rainfall rates right around 2, 2 1/2 inches per hour. And that's why we have all these flood warnings and watches in place. A lot of these are going to last through this evening.

Fredricka, a lot to follow and a lot to talk about. I'm going to fix that technical difficulty.

WHITFIELD: Yes. OK, thanks. Well, keep us posted because I know this is really just the beginning of what will be a very business late afternoon and early evening.

Thanks so much, Jennifer.

All right, on to Connecticut now. Still trying to figure out what caused a railroad collision there. Railroad authorities are removing the broken rail cars from the site after terrible crash right now threatening to make tomorrow's rush hour a real mess. A commuter train derailed and struck another train in Bridgeport, Connecticut two days ago. Nine people injured in the accident remain hospitalized, one in critical condition.

But thank goodness for the quick action of my next guest on the train, a victim one moment then a lifesaver the next. Dr. Daniel Solomon is chief resident of medical trauma surgery at Yale New Haven hospital.

Good to see you, doctor, joining us from Bridgeport.

DR. DANIEL SOLOMON, CHIEF RESIDENT TRAUMA SURGERY, YALE NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL: Thank you. WHITFIELD: So you, like everybody else, using the commuter train to avoid the nasty commute along I-95. Well, give me an idea of what happened. Were you at the time of this collision thrown from your seat or were you at first able to just simply walk away?

SOLOMON: Well, I was in the front car and I didn't feel anything at all. The train bucked a little bit and came to a stop and people were a little bit nervous. And I knew there was a severe enough bump that I wasn't going to get to work on time but when the smoke started filling the car and people started filling in from the back cars, I realized it was probably a little bit more serious.

They broke the emergency exits and we all filed out. People were just milling around on their cell phones I guess trying to get home and get to work. My plan was to just check in, tell the conductor that I was a doctor, if anybody had any cuts or scrapes. But when I reached the back of the car I realized that the damage was a lot more severe and people were falling and filing out of the middle car pretty badly bloodied. That's when I realized it was a little bit more serious than what I expected.

I told one of the other bystanders that I was a trauma surgeon and if there was anything I could do to help. And he directed me into the third car where he said there was a woman on the tracks. And apparently, where the two cars had come together and the wall was shorn off, a woman who had been sitting there was pulled into the space between the two trains and was lying on the tracks and miraculously she was awake and conscience. I think she was a little bit in shock. She was confused and lethargic but I started talking to her. She even started to give me her hand.

And another Good Samaritan, I pulled her into the train and passed her off to the triage area that had sort of just erupted and that's when I started going over all of the other injured. She was lethargic and confused and she had a weak pulse and I was concerned that she was the most significantly injured.

And another woman who had been pulled out looked like she had a head injury and could I feel some broken ribs on the right side of her chest but she had a strong pulse and she was awake and following my commands. And so, when the fire department arrived I triaged to those two out first. And --

WHITFIELD: So Dr. Solomon, we are looking at some still images that would kind of, you know, circled you in that still image. And there are a few other people in that car. It appears just from that moment captured on camera that people remained fairly calm as you were able to identify those who were in greatest need. Did it seem like that?

SOLOMON: Yes. I think that the people in my car were calm because we didn't think that there was a serious accident that had taken place but the people in the rear cars, I think everybody just, you know, good Samaritan instinct took effect and everybody was doing what they could, helping the injured, holding pressure on pretty severe lacerations. And I started to ask some other bystanders to hold people's cervical spine in line in case people had serve cal spine injury. And everybody did exactly what they were told and remained perfectly calm. I was pretty impressed with the Connecticut commuters.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Sounds like you had a lot of cooperation there.

So, among the kinds of injuries that you had to treat there, you said lacerations, and then, you asked people to kind of apply pressure to cervical spines. What else did you see? Were, you know, was it an issue of a lot of broken bones or for the most part people who were very shaken?

SOLOMON: Well, as I mentioned, I think the most significant injuries were fractured ribs and a pretty badly broken pelvis. And then there was another young lady that had a pretty severe bilateral fracture dislocation of her ankle. It was fairy horrific to look at but she had strong pulses in her feet and was able to move her toes. So, I think that after an open reduction she's going to be OK.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, thank goodness you were there. I know a lot of folks who were falling victim to this train collision are very grateful you were there and sprung into action as you did.

Thanks so much, Dr. Daniel Solomon, appreciate your time.

SOLOMON: Thank you, Miss Whitfield.

WHITFIELD: Let's go to Long Island now where investigators are trying to piece together a terrible picture that unfolded there involving a Hofstra University student and a police officer. Police say an intruder broke in to Andrea Robello's home and ordered one of her roommates to leave and get money from an ATM. So, she called police and when police arrived at the home they found the intruder holding a gun to her head. An officer shot suspect multiple times but one of the bullets also hit Robello in the head. Her friends are now remembering her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOVANA ALEJANDRO, STUDENT: She was like really popular and like everybody loved her. She was sweet.

CAROL CONKLIN-SPILLANE, SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: What an all-around nice young woman she was and how she was looking forward to getting an education and going off to college and making something wonderful out of her life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Sad story. Andrea Robello's funeral is planned for Wednesday.

Zephyr hills, Florida. It is now -- you might want to call it one of the luckiest places in the sunshine state. Someone in that small town bought the only winning Powerball ticket. The numbers right here -- 22, 10, 13, 14, 52 and, the Powerball number of 11, all paying out a record amount nearly $600 million. John Zarrella is outside the Publix which sold that winning ticket.

John, are we any closer to finding out who got that ticket?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, nobody's come forward, Fredricka. And you are right, you know, that's the Publix behind me there where the winning ticket was sold. And I guess it is safe to say that that's the most famous supermarket anywhere in the world right now.

And you know, it is funny, we have had people coming up to us all afternoon asking, hey, has anybody come forward, has anybody claimed the ticket. But, you know. So, it is settling in here that the winner is from Zephyrhills. But when we talked to people earlier it the day, some people didn't even know that the winning ticket had been purchased here at the store. And other people were already getting phone calls from relatives, some of them long lost.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTCH GONZALEZ, PLAYED POWERBALL: I buy mine here all the time. Yesterday I was in Naples. I bought it in Naples. That's just my luck. And I just hope whoever won really needs the money and I hope they do right by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: We had people telling us they were getting calls from relatives all over the country asking, hey, did you win it? Well you know, the winner, Fredricka, if he, she or they decide to take it as a lump sum, it will be $377 million. I'm thinking that's not enough. I mean why even claim the ticket?

WHITFIELD: That is unbelievable. That's what you call some crazy money.

All right, John Zarrella, thanks so much from Zephyrhills, Florida.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Better luck next time.

All right, President Obama well, he is trying to move past the scandals in Washington. Let's be real -- will it happen? Will his critics let up? Our Candy Crowley joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New CNN ORC poll numbers show President Obama is weathering the storm of scandals swirling around his White House. In April his approval rating was at 51 percent, that's up two points at 53 percent. President is trying to change the focus from the IRS, Benghazi and Associated Press scandals and trying to shift the focus back to the economy.

Listen to what the president had to say this morning during his commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My job as president is to advocate for policies that generate more opportunity for everybody, policies that strengthen the middle class and give more people the chance to climb their way into the middle class, policies that create more good jobs and reduce poverty and educate more children and give more families the security of health care and protect more of our children from the roars of gun violence. That's my job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So can the president regain control of the agenda talking about jobs and health care?

Candy Crowley is anchor of "the STATE OF THE UNION."

So Candy, you talked with White House senior advisor, Dan Pfeiffer on your show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: When it came out on the news a week ago Friday I think. Here's why. Because here is the cardinal rule when you deal with situations like these, not for just for this aspect, all White Houses is you do not interfere in an independent investigation and do you not do anything to give off the appearance of interference in an independent investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So the White House is acknowledging the issues but at the same time making a concerted effort to move forward. Is that what we're going to see likely from the White House this week?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because it is the one-two punch of trying to get control of the situation. You first acknowledge it, which the president did a couple of times this week saying this is terrible, this is awful, we are going to get to the bottom of it, we are going to change it, make sure it never happens again.

And then, you want to redirect. And so, he went to Baltimore. He went to Atlanta today talking about other things. The economy which obviously is something that people still are quite concerned about. So those are the two things that I think they need to do and so much of how they react is going to depend on what comes up because we got a couple hearings this week.

WHITFIELD: And then new polling is really encouraging for the White House, showing that Americans like the way the White House, the president, has been handling IRS, the AP scandal or even questions about Benghazi. So, what is this say to his critics, primarily Republicans? Are they overplaying their hand potentially? CROWLEY: The overall approval rating for the president is about the same place it was in April, 51 percent in April, 53 percent now in this new poll taken after all of these things came out this week.

But there was not bad news for Republicans because one of the questions was that, do you think Republicans are overplaying their hand? And most Americans said no, they thought they were sort of about right, so.

But remember, we are very early on in the IRS. We are not really sure what's going to come out. And so, it is important what this poll says to the president is, he's handled it pretty el up to now. People -- there is a reservoir of good will for this president that he can bank on, unless he spends it all. So, it depends on how he handles it right now. Americans look at it and figure that he's handling it about right. But you have got to like restart the motor every time something else comes out and there are just a couple of things we still don't know about a couple of these problems he's got.

WHITFIELD: Still lots of questions. Still a few more hearings and we know many more on the horizon as it relates to all these.

All right, Candy Crowley. Thanks so much, host of "STATE OF THE UNION."

CROWLEY: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, the jersey shore is back open for business. The boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey comes back to life after getting slammed by super storm Sandy in October. We are going to show you the before and after.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we have been warning you about some potentially dangerous weather targeting the midsection of this country.

Jennifer Delgado is here in the weather center. Talking about a report of at least one tornado touching down?

DELGADO: We do have a report after tornado on the ground near Viola. And that is actually Kansas, not very far from Wichita. And the area we are talking about, we are starting to see these storms firing up more along this line. And the tornado warning is in effect until 3:30 local time. So, that's roughly about another nine minutes but again we did hear reports of weather spotters seeing this wall cloud go through. And we do know that now, that there is a report of a tornado on the ground. So, this mean, if you're in that area of Wichita, make sure you're going into the interior part of your home, try to get to the basement. You want to make sure you are in a safe location and of course listening to your alarms in the local area. For the area that's near this, it is not very far away from Wichita. But again, the areas that you are seeing in red, these are the tornado watches that we do have in place until about 11:00 tonight. And that it goes all the way up to Minnesota, all the way down towards parts of Texas. Fredricka, certainly, we will be watching this. But the severe weather threat is in place for today but areas like Oklahoma and Kansas, this is where we are going to see the greatest potential for some of these storms producing the tornadoes, the damaging winds as well as large ale and that severe weather threat of course continues tomorrow and potentially into Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: All right, keep us posted, Jennifer. Thanks so much.

All right, as you recall, it was bad weather, in fact a hurricane that left a serious mark on the northeast last fall. Well, Boardwalk of New Jersey, guess what? Today it is open again, parts of it. Hurricane Sandy barreled through the area seven months ago, leaving the area looking like this. But the community would not be beaten. That was October. Today, the shore is back in business building back better and some say prettier than before.

Jacqueline Pappas, executive director of the Asbury Park chamber of commerce is on the phone with us right now from Asbury Park.

All right, so Jacqueline, congratulations! I know there are lots of bear hugs going around. What are you most proud of that's back up and running there?

JACQUELINE PAPPAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASHBURY PARK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (via phone): I would say that the determination of our business community and our residents and the fans of Asbury Park and the entire jersey shore has been overwhelming from the moment the storm began and all the way through in our rebuilding process.

WHITFIELD: So, how did it happen? How is it everyone was able to get together, get their resources together, in order to make this kind of transformation?

PAPPAS: You know, it takes a lot of partners. We are a very strong community, Asbury Park over the years has been through quite a lot of evolution, change, challenge and we certainly proved in this point that we are stronger than the storm, but our community really pulled together. From a municipal level with a lot of leadership and guidance from all of our emergency management team, to our business community and their partnerships and at the end of the day, as soon as it was safe to do so, everyone was just ready, willing and able to get back to business and that's how it started.

WHITFIELD: And so, we are looking at some of the still pictures. You see there were some balloons along the railing near the boardwalk, looked like some of the retail space got a real face, you know, lift. We are seeing this restaurant.

When do you expect word to get out that these stores and restaurants are open again for business and that you will see the kind of flood of people that you typically would during the summer months?

PAPPAS: I think that's already begun. Work began very immediately after the storm to take inventory of how much damage we had and have the repair and restoration begin. I can tell you that we were a town that was eagerly anticipating every week some other business coming back online.

Our downtown really kept Asbury Park thriving immediately following the storm. It was literally two weeks that we were able to get most of our business community in the downtown up and running, and then slowly but surely throughout the rest of the winter months and moving into the holiday season our boardwalk started to come back alive. We started with the music venues and continued from there.

WHITFIELD: So the boardwalk here at Asbury Park and this kind of recovery an rebuilding, is it at all symbolic of the same rate of rebuilding and recovery of the residences, a lot of the houses in the area that are just a stone's throw away?

PAPPAS: I think so. The pace is a little bit different and the damage is a little bit different. We were very spared in our residential community, mostly restorable damage. Fortunately for us, not so fortunate for some of our neighboring residential towns, our residential community was less touched than the water front community. But our residential community is really supporting the business community on the water front that really did take a little bit of a beating. You know, there was damage (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: Well, congratulations, Jacqueline Pappas, executive director of the Asbury Park chamber of commerce. And of course, congrats to the team work that it took to get you all to this place of recovery. Thanks so much, all the best.

PAPPAS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, their prom was canceled the first time around. That was 1963, and the place, Birmingham, Alabama. Well, after 50 years and sweeping civil rights changes, these seniors finally get the prom they missed out on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, lots of tornatic (ph) activity in the mid- section of this country.

Jennifer Delgado, with the latest on that storm.

DELGADO: Hi there, Fredricka. Right now, we are hearing reports of another confirmed tornado. This one is actually near clear water. And it is also moving of roughly about 35 miles per hour down. As we zoom in for area here are two areas for signatures that we're hearing reports of. This is not far away from Wichita. Of course the Wichita office issuing this tornado warning. The newest one goes until 4:15 Central Standard Time.

Now keep in mind this is a confirmed tornado, it is the same storm but right now we are hearing reports of at least two, the last one was near Viola. Now I also want to point out to you if you're in this region, you want to make sure you're getting into the internal part of your home. Of course you want to make sure you are being cautious out there in listening to warnings but try to get to the basement. If you don't have a basement, go into a closet, something where it is sturdy and provides that type of shelter.

Again we are following this storm. We'll continue to follow these. Fredricka we are expecting more of these to pop up as we go through the next couple of hours. Of course we have tornado watches in place for good parts of the Plains as well as the Midwest through 11:00 this evening. It is going to continue until tomorrow. We have a busy night ahead.

WHITFIELD: All right. People need to keep it right here for the latest information. Thanks so much Jennifer.

All right. Some other stories that we're following right now. In Long Island, New York, a funeral is being planned for this week for a Hofstra University student shot and killed by a police officer. Police say an intruder broke into Andrea Rebello's home, terrorized her and her roommates. When police arrived at the house they found the intruder holding the victim at gunpoint. An officer shot the suspect multiple times but one of his bullets also hit Rebello in the head.

On to Connecticut. Railroad authorities are removing the broken rail cars from the site of that terrible crash. A commuter train derailed, and then struck another train in Bridgeport on Friday right during rush hour. Nine people injured in the accident remain hospitalized, one in critical condition.

Now let's take a look at the stories that are trending online. Someone is a multi millionaire. Lottery officials have released the winning numbers for the largest Powerball jack pot. One winning ticket was sold at a Publix Supermarket in Florida. Saturday's jackpot was worth an estimated $600 million.

President Barack Obama earned an honorary degree today. He received it after delivering the commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Obama talked about jobs and healthcare. And urged the class of 2013 to remember to help the less fortunate.

And a new study says transportation workers have a 36 percent obesity rate. That's the highest rate among 14 occupation groups. The study says part of the problem is not exercising enough and not eating healthy.

All right. It took 50 years for it to happen but the class of 1963 at five Alabama High Schools finally had prom night. Proms at all Birmingham City Schools were canceled in 1963 because the students participated in Civil Rights marches. Well this weekend those students came back and they finally had had a chance to reunite all dressed up and ready to go and hitting the dance floor for the prom that they missed years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYNTHIA MAY, 1963 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE: The senior prom was everything that I had to look forward to. It was like a rite of passage, if you will. So being denied the prom in '63 was devastating to me. VOICE OF PATRICA HENDRIX, 1963 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE: It is more than just a prom, too, you know. It's healing wounds and the accomplishments that we've made in the 50 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, tickets for the prom -- guess? $19.63. Proceeds will go towards scholarships for Birmingham City High School seniors. Congrats to them.

The Freedom Project is being launched by our sister network CNN International to shine a light on the horrors of modern day slavery. Actress Mira Sorvino is now joining the fight and she is using her role as a special U.N. Ambassador to wage a campaign to end human trafficking. She's our spotlight today for "Impact your world."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIRA SORVINO: A lot of what I've learned about human trafficking has been through direct conversations with victims. I've interviewed many, many victims in several different countries in different situations and different age ranges. Almost all the victims I've spoken to have been women and most of them have been in sexual exploitation. Some of it is so shocking that it almost like ruins you for a few weeks. Like you can't actually escape the horrendousness of what people are telling you and the pain that they have lived through.

I met a little girl at a shelter and she was showing me her homework. It was her addition and subtraction. She was very proud. Then they took me aside and they said, her father murdered her mother in front of her, and then he dropped her off with some relatives in Cancun and they sold her to a brothel at age 4. Four to 7 she was working at a brothel doing things that she did not even know how to describe except that she knew they were incorrect, wrong.

And then somehow she was liberated and ended up in this shelter. To think that there is a sex tourism demand for children of the age of 4, it's one of the most stomach turning things I could possibly imagine as a mother. If all of us rise up and all of us fight that it will end. This is going to change because it is morally intolerable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thieves may be targeting your phone bill. Our favorite money expert Clark Howard will show us the red flags to look out for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: If you get a phone bill you could be a victim of cramming. That is when criminals set up a third party marketing company to get charges put on your phone bill. HLN money expert Clark Howard shows us how to spot these phony charges.

CLARK HOWARD, HLN MONEY EXPERT: Fredricka, I got to tell you, the thing going on with cramming on a cell phone bill drives me crazy! We went through this with traditional land lines. Years ago so many people don't have land lines anymore; the cell phone is the real target now. This is how this plays.

People put phony charges on through your cell phone company that takes an undisclosed commission for doing so and they bill you usually for something that has an innocuous description on your cell phone bill. It could be calling services, operator services, voicemail, something like that. And they're charging usually like $9.99 a month. Something like that.

So here's the thing -- the study by the Attorney General of the state of Vermont found that 60 percent of people surveyed when at they looked at their cell phone bill found phony charges but here's the even more shocking thing. Fifty five percent of people had never looked and didn't know they were getting ripped off. So, when you get your cell phone bill each and every month, you got to go through it line by line to make sure the stuff on it is legit.

Something else going on that's big, big, big. The theft of cell phones. Particularly in walking cities like New York, cell phones are being swiped every day. You should add one of the apps to your phone, you have an iphone, for an android, a number of apps like look out where can you wipe your phone clean if it's been stolen and maybe even find out where it is at that moment.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, all great advice. That's why we love Clark Howard. You can watch Clark Howard on HLN's "Evening Express" Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

All right. Actor Rainn Wilson's face is a big reason he's confronting the government of Iran. Find out what he wants from that country's leaders.

Plus, who's afraid of bears? Not this guy who got some pretty incredible video that we'll show you. That video right there, inside the mouth of a grizzly! I'm talking to him. Not the bear but the guy coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

After nine seasons, one of NBC's top comedies is bye-bye, off the air, gone. "The Office" put Scranton, Pennsylvania on the map. The show followed the lives of odd ball group of employees at a make-believe company called Dunder Mifflin. Well it went the way of NBC's "30 Rock" another popular comedy, poof, gone in thin air.

Actor Rainn Wilson, he is making the transition to life after spending time at the office. The man who plays Dwight Cave Schrute is leading a campaign for the release of seven volunteers being held in Iran. Jake Tapper shows us the strong role faith plays in Wilson's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, ANCHOR, "THE LEAD:" Reporter: It's a show that brought the mockumentary to the mainstream. With a single camera set one no laugh track, reshaped the landscape of network comedies. Rainn Wilson is one of the break-away stars of the show playing bizarre paper salesmen, bed and breakfast proprietor and beef farmer Dwight Chute.

RAINN WILSON, ACTOR, "THE OFFICE:" It is probable that this was the high point of my career and the most awesome thing that I will ever be involved in.

TAPPER: And there is no crime or shame in that.

WILSON: No.

Yes I feel none. I feel just tremendous gratitude.

TAPPER: The show's been on one level an unlikely success. It faced skeptics who thought it could never improve on the British original starring Ricky Gervais. Then came questions as to whether the show could survive the loss of star Steve Carell. But it has thrived. Is it tough to call it quits on a show?

WILSON: "The Office" ending really came from us going to the producers and saying, you know what? It's time to end this thing. Let's do one final season, let's make it great, let's have a big finale and let's do it right. I love the people there so much. It is such a great family. And at the same time, it was time for it to go away.

TAPPER: Recently the cast and crew threw a giant rap party and soaked up a victory lap in the Pennsylvania town the paper company called home. Thousands came to bid them farewell.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Yes! I feel like the Beatles!

TAPPER: But Wilson is now using his office fame to help support fellow members of the Bahai faith, ones who are being persecuted.

WILSON: Bahai's believe that there is only one god and that all religions are in harmony. It is a beautiful faith. I grew up in it.

Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for coming.

TAPPER: He came to Washington to raise awareness about seven Bahai volunteer leaders who have been imprisoned in Iran for five years.

WILSON: The charges against them are just preposterous. It is like spying for Israel and corruption and corruption on earth. So this campaign of five years too many is really to let people know, hey, there are Bahai's rotting in jail on a 20-year sentence on completely trumped up charges simply because they have a certain set of faith beliefs that run against the theocracy in Iran.

TAPPER: But nobody looks a scans at you because you are a spiritual person.

WILSON: Probably Ricky Gervais does. Yes. He's one of those like --

TAPPER: He's a doubter.

WILSON: Well, he's an active proselytizing atheist. TAPPER: Right. He's aggressively atheist.

WILSON: That's OK. I respect his beliefs.

TAPPER: He doesn't respect yours though.

WILSON: He probably doesn't but that's OK. But I thank him for creating "The Office." Because I wouldn't have a job without that.

TAPPER: You sound really at peace and centered and not very much like a lot of actors I've met. Is this because --

WILSON: You know, my faith grounds me and centers me and gives me focus and purpose and I'm very grateful for that. Maybe I'll just always be known as Dwight and that's great. I'm totally fine with that. I'm a good actor. I know that there is a lot of other work out there for me and a lot of fulfilling other stuff. This is just how I'm feeling right now. Talk to me tomorrow and I could be pulling my hair out and be like, damn Carell!

TAPPER: If you have a hunger for more of Dwight Schrute, sorry. NBC reportedly passed on a spinoff but if you have a hunger for more Rainn Wilson or want to know more about those imprisoned in Iran, check out his website Soulpancake.com.

Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: You could also check out the CNN.com/belief location as well if you want to learn more about Rainn Wilson and what he is doing as it pertains to the seven Bahai's in Iran.

All right. We've been mentioning to you some severe weather in the midsection of the country. Now we are talking about Wichita, Kansas. You know it is bad when even some of the weather forecasters are taking cover. Let's go to Jennifer Delgado now for more on this. Explain what is happening.

DELGADO: Hi there Fredricka. You're right; things are getting extremely dangerous across parts of central Kansas. Now what we're learning now is basically the employees of the Wichita office we're talking the National Weather Service, they're basically taking cover now because they have a large dangerous tornado that's been spotted on the ground and it is moving in their direction.

Here is where the office is located, right where the cone is. The reason why they're actually taking cover is because if you look right here, this hook, this inflow, this is the area that we're watching for the potential for that storm to produce and drop down another tornado. We are hearing of course that there is a tornado on the ground. It is moving to the northeast roughly at a direction of about 30 miles per hour in that northeasterly direction. Now they turned over basically coverage to the Topeka office because these folks need to get safe in this Wichita office. So right now again we are talking this tornado warning in effect until 4:15 Central Time and the employees of the Wichita office are turning over coverage to Topeka because they have this large and dangerous tornado heading in their direction. Again there is at the Mid Continent Airport and that is in Wichita.

WHITFIELD: OK, thanks so much, Jennifer. Keep us posted on that.

All right. Pretty frightening stuff there on the weather front. You're about to see some pretty frightening images of something else. A grizzly taking a bite out of this shot. We're going to talk to the photographer -- yes -- who's responsible for this image of inside a grizzly bear's mouth. All that straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: In Wichita, Kansas, that tornado threat is now getting an upgrade. Very serious. Jennifer Delgado in the Severe Weather Center. What's happening?

DELGADO: Hi, Fredricka. We do now know this is actually a tornado emergency. Now what this means is we're at basically the very highest level here. Went from the tornado warning that we still have in place but what they're saying is that they have a very large and dangerous tornado on the ground. This is extremely dangerous tornado so basically what they're saying is if you are not underground, you could be killed or if you're not in a tornado shelter. You do not need to delay; you want to make sure you are taking cover right now.

Again the area that we're talking about is in Sedgwick County. Now as we point this out to you, here's another area that we are looking at for possible rotation. We've had numerous popping up for areas including Viola, as well as into areas -- sorry, forgive me. I'm looking at some different e-mails right here. For Wichita, it is the area basically just to the southwest. What you're not seeing basically inflow. What we're see something rotation across this region. What we're going to continue to deal with is more tornado warnings as we go throughout the evening. I think we'll try to track this for you. Play with the weather graphics a little bit more you. And hopefully we have this.

And actually we are going to take a look at storm relative velocity. This is the area that we are talking about. This is Wichita and this gives you an idea of Viola, we saw that earlier today. But again a tornado emergency in place for Wichita and the weather service workers in Wichita have actually taken cover, turned over service to Topeka because it is so dangerous.

We want to make sure they're making sure that we're safe but we also want to make sure they're safe as well. This is at the Mid Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas.

WHITFIELD: Very alarming here, too, because we are talking about a fairly populated area.

DELGADO: Yes. Absolutely. We'll see more of these popping up across Kansas as well as Oklahoma as we go throughout night.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much Jennifer Delgado, appreciate that. Keep us posted.

All right. Here is a question for you. So what happens when a nature expert sets up a camera in the Alaskan wilderness hoping to get a close and personal video of a grizzly bear? Well amazingly, it works. The grizzly just might try to eat the camera, however, but in the end some incredible images. This is the grizzly encountering that camera, pawing it at first, and then trying to take a bite out of it. We get to see everything, tonsils, tongue, and serious teeth.

All of it all captured by the brain child of all of this, Brad Josephs, who studies wildlife around the world. He's actually joining us now live from Alaska. There in the wilderness sort of behind you there. So Brad, where did you get this crazy idea which turned out to be a brilliant idea?

BRAD JOSEPHS, FILMED GRIZZLY BEAR TRYING TO EAT GOPRO: I was working -- actually I was guiding a group of photographers in a very remote area on the Alaskan Peninsula and one of the things I was doing last summer was trying to get really kind of up-close footage of a bear that hasn't been gotten before and we used this go-pro cameras now and just got really, really lucky. This was hours and hours and hours and didn't get anything. But I'm very lucky.

WHITFIELD: Incredibly lucky. We are learning so much about the grizzly. And of course we think about the images we see in the movies and how ferocious and terrible. Yes, he's got the teeth to live up to that. But you also have beautiful images, beautiful images of these grizzlies and this one in particular we're seeing kind of stalking right there in the water, up on its behind legs. Your objective here is to get people to appreciate as opposed to fear these amazing animals.

JOSEPHS: Yes, that's right. I mean it wasn't really my intention to get a video to scare people of bears even more. I really think bears have a really bad reputation and they have a hard time getting along with people a lot. So mostly my mission in life I think is to make people appreciate bears and conserve them and conserve their habitat, conserve the resources like salmon and things that they rely on. So I'm not trying to scare people even more, but -- I guess it is an entertaining video.

WHITFIELD: We can better appreciate the majesty of these grizzlies. Thank you so much, Brad Josephs. I wish we could talk some more, but we've got a lot of breaking news going on mainly the tornanic activities going on but that's really worth taking a stop, taking a moment to really just enjoy the Alaskan wilderness. Thanks so much. All the best to you. Thanks for sharing.

JOSEPHS: No problem.

WHITFIELD: We're going to have much more on that tornado emergency being declared in Wichita, Kansas right after this.

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