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Tornado Outbreak in Oklahoma
Aired May 19, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Ok. Breaking news here on CNN. There's been some horrendous damage in Oklahoma. Just before the break, I promised you that we have more on the President and the First Lady's talks. We don't have time for that right now because this is such a severe situation. I'm Don Lemon. I'm very close to the top of the hour. About 20 seconds away. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. And I want to get you up to speed on what's happening right now. Tornadoes are raking across Oklahoma right now. Warnings are sounding in the Norman and Oklahoma City areas. And more than one tornado has one tornado has already touched ground just in the past few minutes.
Again this is the top of the hour. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And this is our breaking news coverage.
We're seeing huge trees that are stripped bare, houses torn from their foundations and a wide path of complete destruction in the area around Oklahoma City. This video you're looking at right now from one of the storm chasers, from our affiliate who has been watching this entire thing play out throughout the evening has been talking to us here on CNN.
Also watching this play out is our meteorologist Chad Myers. And Chad, you know this area very well, you used to work and live in this area.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
LEMON: We saw a tornado rip through a neighborhood live earlier here on CNN and it was nothing, nothing but -- nothing less than anything incredible.
MYERS: Yes. You know, Don, when you see this live, it really brings home what people live through when they're in their own homes. You tell everyone to shelter, to get inside, but I don't think anyone really has a feeling for what it's like. But when we have pictures like this on the ground of things being torn out of the ground, of shingles, roofs, roof trusses, walls getting knocked down, it really brings to light how much you have to prepare for situations like this if you live in an area that's prone for tornadoes.
We're talking about the NOAA Weather Radio. Pictures here you see, just homes leveled. This is an EF-3 to an EF-4 tornado, probably a 3 at this point. The pictures you see here. Now we're talking 140 miles to 170 miles per hour when you talk about damage like that -- Don.
LEMON: Chad Myers, I apologize someone was talking to me. So Chad, if you look at this damage, let's talk about the severity of these particular storms. You were saying earlier about the -- what did you say, it was 140 mile an hour winds that that would do damage like this, rip these trees, shred these trees like this?
MYERS: Yes. You never can put a certain number. You can't say its 147.2 miles per hour. There isn't really such a thing but you do a range. And this range is somewhere in the EF-3 category.
An EF-1 on the Fujita scale, enhanced Fujita, that's why we have to use the "E" in front of it. But there's zero to five. Zero will take a couple shingles, and knock off a couple limbs. A 2 will probably take off the roof structure and couple of 4 x 8 inches plywood. A 3 removes the trusses like you see here, but part of that roof is completely gone. A 4our removes some of the outside walls. And if you get to a 5, there are no walls left at all. So we're not 5 because there are still walls left.
Some of the outside walls are gone. So maybe we are talking about partially an F-4, an EF-4 that would approach 200 miles an hour.
Bu I'm thinking somewhere in the neighbor of 140, 180 but numbers really don't matter. And it's how much damage these structures have received and the cost of the repair. Yet I don't see a lot of people panicking. I don't see people just looking for -- for rescue squads, search and rescue, so far, so good when it comes to loss of life and injury that I'm seeing here. We can rebuild structures. We can't rebuild lives.
LEMON: Ok. Chad, stand by. I want to go now to Randy Duncan, he is a Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director. And that's a tornado in Wichita. This is it. That's up right now. This is a funnel cloud in Wichita, correct? From affiliate KFOR that we're looking at -- yes.
So Randy Duncan, talk to us about the extent of damage in your area, if there are any injuries. What's going on -- Randy.
RANDY DUNCAN, DIRECTOR, SEDGWICK COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Hello.
LEMON: Hi. Randy Duncan. Talk to us about the extent of the damage in your area if there are any injuries or what have you.
DUNCAN: Well, I'm very pleased to say there are no fatalities or injuries as a result of this round of severe weather this evening. And actually only relatively minor reports of property damage which is remarkable given the severe nature of the weather that passed through Wichita and Sedgwick County this evening. Overall, I would say we escaped relatively unscathed.
LEMON: You said that you were surprised obviously you said by property damage, but also that there weren't more injuries or any injuries at all in your area. DUNCAN: Yes, that's correct. Given the fact that we had a large tornado on the ground in the western part of the city in the area of Wichita mid-Continent Airport, it is quite surprising that we didn't have fatalities or injuries, but we didn't and I would like to think that's because we got the warning out to folks and they took the appropriate life-saving action.
LEMON: Stand by. Hold on before I let you go. Chad, they're out of the woods, right? This is past them.
MYERS: That's right. And I was very concerned for Wichita. I was watching e-mails come in with weather, tornado emergencies, tornado on the ground southwest of the city, large violent damaging tornado heading into the city. Then all of a sudden it really -- it lifted up at the most opportune time to spare Wichita.
But I'm really concerned now with the tornado you're watching on the ground on the screen, with the pink box heading toward Bethel Acres, going over Lake Thunderbird. This is just east of Norman, Oklahoma. This is now the storm we need to watch very closely. I do believe there will be a tornado on the ground very, very soon if not already on the ground heading toward pink and maybe Shawnee. This is the next storm we need to watch.
There is the storm going by Wichita -- quite fortunate for the people there.
LEMON: And as -- as we have it here, because we're on top of this, in the CNN Severe Weather Center Jennifer Delgado with that new situation -- Jennifer.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right you know Chad were saying we're concerned about the storm just to the West of Norman -- I should say to the east of Norman. Now here is the circulation that we're showing here. We do have tornado warnings in place until 6:45 local time.
Now as we talk about this storm, this is the one we're concerned about. We put this and track it for you to give you an idea. Say some of those residents that live near the area. Here's one problem, though, we're pretty close to the radar so that can kind of make things harder to see.
Now as we track this storm for you, so hopefully our weather producer can track this storm for me so we can kind of give you an idea where it's heading. Anywhere to the east of, say, Moore, this is where we're going to see the potential for this storm to bring this tornado. Now, keep in mind, Stella, 6:19; 6:40 for Bethel Acres and then for Shawnee, 6:51.
So this is why we still have this tornado warning in place until 6:45 because we are seeing something showing rotation. We are talking about the super cell bringing potentially a tornado. Again, this is Doppler indicated.
But it's not just Norman that we're talking about. We now have two more it looks like yes two more warnings in place just to the north. We have one to the west of Tulsa and now you can see another one. It looks like just on top of Kansas. You can see to the west of Independence, Kansas.
But we focus on the one in Tulsa. And as we zoom in a bit more, here is that cell. We can see three of them right along the line. The one that's to the west of Tulsa, we're concerned about that because, of course, Don, we know Tulsa highly-populated areas with these storms moving through and these tornadoes that we're seeing. That is the real threat.
Of course, we've already seen the history of the damage left behind. But as we track the storm just to the west of Tulsa and we give you an idea of potentially where the storm could be heading and how quickly it's going to get into Tulsa, and hopefully our producer will be able to track the storm in Tulsa for us to kind of give residents there a heads-up.
But as we talk about Tulsa, we still can't forget about what's happening in Norman. But the one for Tulsa, that is in place it looks like, as well until 6:45. Now we're doing that for you and we zoom in. There is the circulation. Again, here is Mannford. Now we've put this in; 6:28 for areas like Lawrence Creek; 6:38 for Mannford and Tulsa, 7:17.
So we still have that threat for more tornadoes as we go through the evening. And we'll start to see that threat diminishing, but for parts of eastern Oklahoma, we have tornado watches in place until 11:00. And that is local time -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Jennifer, thank you very much.
DELGADO: Thank you.
LEMON: If we can get those pictures back. I don't think enough can be said about those pictures and they really do tell the story of the damage that happened in Oklahoma earlier. There it is.
Chad, only -- you know, I can't -- I can tell you what I see here but read these pictures for us. Tell us what happened in Carney. This is Carney and then in Wellston as well.
MYERS: The storm came out of Oklahoma City proper up near the town of Edmond where I used to live. That's where all the TV stations are located as well. It traveled almost parallel to the I-44 as it came out of Oklahoma City, Edmond and on toward to Carney.
I believe Carney probably took it the worst. That's where we had the highest gate-to-gate shear. And now what that means is that mean the Doppler radar seeing a different directions wind coming toward the Doppler and away from the Doppler at least 130 miles, 140 miles per hour right there near the Carney area going over the highway that connects Carney and into Wellston.
As this storm continued to move to the east, it actually died off a little bit up toward Cushing (ph). But now it's re-intensifying and that's why we have a new tornado warning for the western suburbs of Tulsa. I'm still very concerned, Lake Thunderbird, though, the circulation in Lake Thunderbird on toward Bethel Acres, that's where the highest degree of danger right now lies.
There are three separate super cells. The one that's rotating the most would be just southeast of Oklahoma City proper slightly rural right now, but there are more towns and cities in the way.
As this continues to get stronger, Don, the storm just southeast of Oklahoma City is getting stronger, not moving toward Oklahoma City but definitely toward possibly the Shawnee or the Bethel Acres area. Take cover if you lie in that area from Lake Stanley Draper right over toward Bethel Acres. We'll keep you advised.
LEMON: Yes. Chad said that quickly, Chad speaks quickly because he get -- we had so much information to get out. Take shelter. Be safe. We cannot emphasize that enough. Correct, Chad Myers?
MYERS: Absolutely.
LEMON: Yes.
MYERS: Put as many walls between you and the outside of your home as possible.
LEMON: As possible.
MYERS: These outside walls.
LEMON: Yes.
MYERS: The closet wall. Get inside that small inside closet. And make sure there's not things heavy over your head. Make sure that's not where you store your bowling ball. Get everything out of that closet except you and your loved ones.
LEMON: Amen, brother. Ok stand by, Chad Myers. I want to go to a storm chaser who can talk to us more about the pictures and the damage. Ok. Stand by. KOKH, affiliate coverage, listen in. It's the Oklahoma City area. And this was reporting from Carney, correct? Ok. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRISCILLA LUONG: Talked to you some of the folks that were hit hard out here in Carney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great, thank you so much, Priscilla. You guys -- you guys be careful up there, ok?
LUONG: Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok yes Priscilla is -- is up in Chandler right now -- I'm sorry, Carney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they are streaming but I can't get their stream.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok we're going to talk to some people right now. They're getting ready to test things out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. Perfect. Hey, Jeff, that storm down in Norman --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ok. They were talking to a reporter who was in the area and was giving really some detailed information about the damage that she was seeing there.
But again, I want to go now to someone who has been chasing this storm, has seen the damage. His name is Tony Laubach. And I hope I have that right, Tony. Where are you right now?
TONY LAUBACH, STORM CHASER (via telephone): I am southbound out of Wellington, Kansas right now, actually to get on some storms that look like they're intensifying south of Wichita at the moment.
LEMON: So you're near Wellington, Kansas. Wellington, Kansas. So far no damage that you are seeing from this -- this super cell there yet?
LAUBACH: Well, we were -- I was actually on the super cell earlier that went through Wichita, Kansas. I saw several tornadoes out of that. There was some minor damage in Wichita. Fortunately they dodged a huge bullet compared to the folks down in Oklahoma. But the night's still young and we've got several super cells that look like they're starting to develop along I-35, along the Kansas/Oklahoma border.
LEMON: Yes. So nothing in Wellington yet but in the Wichita area, where earlier, describe to us what you saw as you saw this storm, as you witnessed it go through and you chased it?
LAUBACH: It was -- it was a very -- a very intense situation for people of Wichita. That tornado started moving into town. It actually got wrapped in a rain and precipitation making it very, very difficult for people to see, which really makes a point of taking heed of these warnings because a lot of times you're not going to see the tornado as it's bearing down on you. Especially in these instances where the rain and hail is so heavy it actually blocks the view of the tornado which was going on in Wichita.
So, again, fortunately that tornado that went through Wichita did not do as bad a damage as the ones in Oklahoma. Certainly could have been huge to have a tornado like that move through a major city.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Tony Laubach who is chasing this. He is in Wellington, Kansas. We have people in Wellington. This is a little bit earlier in the Wichita area. And look at that. Look at those -- that hail. Unbelievable and that was the minor part of the damage -- the hail part, the winds, and the rain, worse than that.
We're going to keep you updated on that. We also have people in Oklahoma. Oklahoma got pummeled and you saw the damage from Oklahoma. It is just devastating there in the Wellston area. Also near Edmond as well, Arcadia, Luther, Carney -- they just obliterated many homes there. And we're going to update you on the situation there.
So don't go anywhere. We're going to keep an eye on all things weather for you and keep you updated on the newest information as it comes in here on CNN.
Also we're going to talk a little bit of politics as well. No, we won't. We'll be right back. That's what I'm hearing. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon, live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. This is our continuing breaking news coverage of the super cells that are moving across the country, specifically Oklahoma and Kansas, leaving destruction in its path.
I want to go now to our meteorologist Jennifer Delgado with new information for you. What do you have, Jennifer?
DELGADO: You know what; we do have a new tornado warning that has been issued. And this one is just to the west of Norman. Now, as we zoom in a bit for you, it's going to take me a second, because it takes a little bit to try to get oriented here.
Now, as I we pull this up for you and we kind of zoom into the area, and it looks like this is the one in Norman that we're talking about. We have another tornado warning in place here. This one is in effect, it looks like, roughly, if we can pull the time up and hopefully our producers can track this for us.
Can you pull that up for me? We have the rotation right to the west. Very close to the radar. That makes it hard to see the tornado with the beam going through. But we do know we have signature there. Now, as we track this for you, and we show you about 4,000 people potentially under this tornado warning that goes until 6:45. And we showed you some of the cities that showed Bethel as well -- as he's going to add in a bit more for us -- Shawnee for 6:50, 7:02. Again, this is a confirmed tornado on the ground.
Now, as we go back over to our graphic here, we have another one that we are following and this one is for Stella City. And this is just to the east of -- there's Norman. You can see for yourself. Here's Stella, 6:18. Bethel Acres at 6:39 and this tornado warning, it goes until 6:50. Now, that is what's happening right now in parts of Oklahoma as you can see.
And we go to the live pictures. This is Stella. Yes. You see it on the right hand side. Don, there's no question this tornado is on the ground -- very large wedge tornado. This is moving through and we already know that this is near, again, Stella. As we show this to you, you need to make sure you are in an interior part of your home, in the basement. Making sure you are properly, properly covered and you have -- you're not near any windows.
Don, you see this video here.
LEMON: Is that --
DELGADO: That is a tornado.
LEMON: -- is that a developed cell?
DELGADO: Yes. We. This is live. That is a tornado. It is giant, just like what we saw last time coming out of Oklahoma city I think it was. Reportedly some people were saying about a half mile wide. This one right here, let's give it some competition to the one that we saw earlier coming out of Oklahoma City. And, again, as we zoom in again, this is out of Stella.
LEMON: This is Stella. Hey, just to check, producers, is there any sound on this? Can we hear this or is it just pictures? No sound.
DELGADO: No sound?
LEMON: Again, this is near Stella.
DELGADO: You know what; you don't even need sound with this.
LEMON: Yes.
DELGADO: You know, Don, you know that this is a tornado. This is in your path. This is a large one, again, near Stella. And as we go through, we're looking at the cell right there, and I think this is the area, 6:38 Bethel Acres, 6:42 Clarks Heights.
I don't know if Chad is on the phone or not. But he is a lot more familiar with this area than I am.
MYERS: I'm here, guys.
DELGADO: Right. Ok. There it is. Just northwest, the pink. There it is. There is our signature. So anywhere to the east of that, this is the area we are certainly concerned about.
LEMON: Let's look at the pictures of this, guys.
DELGADO: Yes, let's go back to the video.
LEMON: Thank you. There we go. There's the video. Again, that's giant. As we talk to our meteorologists here, Jennifer Delgado and Chad Myers -- we have Chad on the phone as well. Chad, are you there?
MYERS: Yes, I am, Don, I'm here.
LEMON: What are we seeing here?
MYERS: Watching it live. This is the storm that came across Norman, didn't really put anything down there. There was a wall cloud -- significant wall cloud because Norman was the populated area we were so concerned about. Over Lake Stanley Draper, Lake Thunderbird area, now across Pink -- this is Highway 9 and it's moving just to the north of due east. That will take it into Bethel Acres in just a few minutes.
And then farther to the east, I'm mainly concerned, Fire Lake Golf Course area, Shawnee, this is the area that you see the big word, Shawnee there next and finally off to the east. These storms have been tracking just slightly north of due east. That would put it right over two very large towns. Not cities proper, but Shawnee could certainly be called a city when you talk about the number of people. It's a suburb. It's just probably 10,000 or 15,000 people that live very close to Oklahoma City but not in the city proper.
LEMON: And Jennifer, as I understand, we're getting new information here by the second. There are more -- do we have more warnings or watches?
DELGADO: We do have more warnings out there. Just to give you some more information, I know Chad just said Bethel Acres. I think we just pulled that up. It's going to be there potentially if it holds together, the super cell, 6:20. So that give you time to try to take cover and making sure that you have some type of plan in place that you can activate right now.
Now let's go to the other one. This is the other tornado warning. This is up in Tulsa. And I think this is what I'm looking at right now.
LEMON: Don't we have -- don't we have a tower cam from Tulsa?
DELGADO: Yes, we do have a tower cam out of Tulsa. Let's go to the one out of Tulsa. And what we're looking at is, Don, can you see it?
LEMON: There we go. Yes, this is live from Tulsa.
DELGADO: Ok. I'm having a hard time seeing it. It looks like what we're dealing with now is another tornado developing there. You can see that rain, the downdraft coming down. It makes it a bit hard to see at times. But it does look like we're potentially seeing a tornado across the region and I think it is being confirmed there is a tornado there.
But as we go back over to our graphic and we talk about the two that we have, here's Mannford, again, this tornado here as we track this for you and tell you, it looks like this is going to be in place to about 6:50. And we show you some of the communities that are in the path of this storm. You can kind of see the signatures. They're looking pretty good on the radar, very classic hook echo.
As we time this for you, I think maybe we'll pull that out for you, 20 miles out. And 6:27 Parkland; 6:52 South Village, Shamrock -- all you who live in these areas from Shamrock from Parkland -- this is not a time to obviously not listen to authorities there. LEMON: Yes. And listen. Some people may think, this is national news, why are we being so local -- because we're trying to save people's lives here.
DELGADO: Absolutely. This is Tornado Alley.
LEMON: We want people to get to safety. This is Tornado Alley. We're trying to tell you -- forecast this for you, tell you how far out this thing is, and if it's right on top of you. Chance are if it's some time away from you, you still have power and you can see us and can get to safety.
And also for people around the country, who are watching this, listen, we have seen the damage for these poor folks who are coming back to their homes now and what's left of them. And this is what's happening to them on a Sunday evening. You may be sitting at home watching us, getting ready and saying, oh, you know, I've got to take care of this, take care of that.
Imagine for a second, step back and take a breath. Your Sunday evening could be much different for if you were in a different location. And it could happen to any one of us, whether it's a fire or hurricane or storm or what have you. And it comes right up on top of you and then all of a sudden you have lost your property and your life has changed.
We're going to take a breath here because we have so much going on. You heard Jennifer talk about all the watches and warnings. You heard Chad Myers talk about what he's concerned about -- what he's concerned about. So we're going to get back to Chad. We're going to get back to Jennifer as well. We're going to get back to our storm chasers.
We're going to take a breath and collect all the information that we can for you and we're back on the other side of a very short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the severe weather situation. I'm going to set this up for you. This is our affiliate KOKH. The meteorologists in the studio talking to a reporter who's driving telling him that a tornado is four miles west of him. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Especially when there's a lot of, you know, a lot of truck station (ph) around there and you start to -- show what road you're on exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm on I-40.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. He's cruising right past I-40. Sean, ok, you may want to slow down a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's to your south. If you go over to Doppler 2.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doppler 2, there's like a tornado debris ball showing up on radar. There's a tornado, and Sean is coming on I-40 up in here. He's in the rain and the hail up here not too far from Dale. Ok?
Sean, if you're still on listening to us, the tornado is actually to your southwest. I didn't know you were on I-40. I thought you were on another road coming west out of Shawnee. You're on I-40. So the tornado is to your southwest. Ok? We're getting a debris ball signature on radar right now.
Basically the tornado is picking up debris and it's flying around the tornado and that's what it is right here. We're picking that up on the radar and it shows up as big hail and stuff like that because you've got trees or whatever, debris flying around. So just be careful there, Sean, because you've got a pretty serious situation when you try to drop south there, that tornado is going to come right up on you there.
It's just -- it's just west of Bethel Acres there. Ok? And it's just a couple miles south of the interstate. Ok?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. I get you. I appreciate it. I'm going to (inaudible) -- I'll see if I can get you another view of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you might want to do, Sean, you might want to head back toward Shawnee and drop south and get ahead of this storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way you're going, you're just going to continue to -- if you just stay on the interstate, you're going to continue to drive in rain and hail and you're not going to see anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I would somehow drop south. It might be a good idea to go back to Shawnee, the Shawnee exit and drop back south and get ahead of the storm. If you drop south right now where you are, the tornado is going to come right up on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That thing was huge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sean, we're leaving your stream up at all times. Just so you know. Your stream is going to be up for, you know, until further notice. So please stay on, like John was saying. I wouldn't continue into that area because you're going to go right into the updraft there and there's that tornado is on the ground. We want you to kind of stay in a safer spot right there which may be right where you're at or like John said, maybe hang back a little bit then drop --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's moving east at 30. New statement from the weather service, Jeff.
LEMON: All right. That is our affiliate KOKH. And you can hear the meteorologist there advising the reporter, "Hey, buddy. You need to slow down or get out of the way a little bit because that thing is headed right towards you", even advising the reporters to be safer.
Chad Myers has been on the air all evening, doing the exact same thing. Chad, you must be safe -- must be safe in the area. And what are your concerns? You were concerned about some areas in Oklahoma earlier.
MYERS: I'm concerned with a couple of things Don. I mean people want to go out there and take a look at things. And you know what; you don't want to be a storm chaser if you don't have the proper equipment or you don't have the proper backup. A pickup truck and a NOAA weather radio doesn't make you a storm chaser.
Stay inside. Don't take pictures. Stay away from glass because you can get yourself hurt, first thing. And you'll get other storm chasers or authorities hurt because you're in the way and you're -- they have to come rescue you.
There is a storm with a tornado on the ground just south of Dale. South of I-40. This is east of Oklahoma City and it's heading toward town of Shawnee. It's still about 15 miles west of Shawnee and well east now moving away from Normand, away from Moore, away from those populated areas there. But into another -- in a different populated area, this storm is very close to the Shawnee reservoir. Tracking to the east right where that meteorologist is pointing at it right now, tracking just north of what we would consider bethel acres and into the town of Shawnee.
This is a very large storm. It's difficult to see. There are no pictures on television, and either affiliates that I've been looking at, because it's a little bit wrapped in rain right now, which means you don't just -- can't go out there and look at it. All you're going to see is just a bunch of rain. You won't see the tornado. That's why you should stay inside.
Just stay inside in Shawnee and try to get yourself away from windows and between as many walls and the outside as possible -- Don.
LEMON: Chad, I want to -- I want to show everyone the reason that you're saying this and that we're on the air now covering this. The intensity of these tornadoes. If we can get that Wichita tornado in the pipe, I would love it. And I want to hear it and I want to see it. Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's huge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We're getting hit with rain here soon. Got to get ready to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: So, Chad Myers, Chris Chittick is a storm chaser. And he shot this video, Chad. He's tornadohunter.com. Chad, let's talk to him.
Chris, so --
CHRIS CHITTICK, TORNADOHUNTER.COM: Yes, how are you?
LEMON: This is incredible.
CHITTICK: Thank you.
LEMON: Yes. Well, I mean, incredible in the sense of the --
(CROSSTALK)
CHITTICK: We were southwest of Wichita there, and then it's actually a pretty scary situation. The guy was completely wrapped in rain. And we got in there, got some great shots, and then got out and then literally 45 minutes later we were dropping south near Wellington, and this, and so I'm not a beautiful needle that touched down, thank God it was out in the middle of nowhere.
LEMON: How close did you get to this, Chris?
CHITTICK: I'd say probably a half mile or so?
LEMON: And as you're -- describe to us what's going on. These are power lines that are being taken out and sparking here, right?
CHITTICK: Yes, yes. So we were right there, and then it crossed right over the road and as you can see in the video, it's hitting the power lines and just power flashes are going off and, you know, it's a pretty crazy situation. The road network around that area isn't the best. We tried to do our best we could. (INAUDIBLE) were actually live streaming as well on our Web site, tornadohunter.com Web site.
LEMON: Stand by, Chris.
Chad, most people would run the other way.
MYERS: And you should. Chris, I have a question for you, because this was a nearly deadly storm for Wichita, Kansas, that didn't happen. This was only 10 miles from the most populated area in south and central Kansas that we have. It merged with another cell. The cell got in the way. The circulation went away.
Did you watch it? Because I know you watching this cell had to be thinking to yourself, oh, my, what is Wichita in for? Did you watch this storm die?
CHITTICK: Yes. Yes. Yes. We watched it. It actually got away from us a little bit. It was moving about 35 miles an hour. And then it merged with the other style. You know, at that time you think the (INAUDIBLE) happened. And if you remember Wichita guy had pretty bad, it was the last nighttime tornado that came through. So yes, it's a scary situation. We're out chasing at the moment right now as well. MYERS: We watched the storm, Don, we watched the circulation for this Wichita storm thinking, oh, please, do something. And then -- and then a cell got in the way. It's like battling tops. For a while there was only one top. And then another cell came in from the south and the battling tops kind of bounced off each other.
Remember when you were kids, you pulled the string and the family tops would bounce off. See which one would die first. Well, the big storm, the big tornado finally did die because that other storm got in the way.
LEMON: Chad Myers, Chris Chittick, both of you guys stand by. We're going to talk to you extensively on the other side of the break as well as our meteorologist Jennifer Delgado who is here in the CNN severe weather center getting more information on watches and warnings and the path of this super cell. Don't go anywhere. We're back right after a very short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We're back with our coverage now. You're looking at live pictures from our affiliate KOKH of one of those tornadoes. There have been a number. Let's go to Jennifer Delgado now, our meteorologist here. She has new information.
What do you have, Jennifer?
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Don. You know the reports continue to go up. Now we want to focus right now on what's happening in the area just to the west of Shawnee. This is our area, you can see a very classic signature there. We do have a report of a tornado on the ground.
Again, this is very close to Thunderbird State Park. Now as we track this for you to give you an idea potentially where it could be headed and then next 30 minutes, it looks like Clarks Height at 6:43. Johnson at 7:01. As we go through the next couple of minutes, we're going to continue to see this tornado warning in place until 6:45.
I think we even have some live video coming out of Oklahoma City. Is that it, Don, that we're lo looking at up there? I mean this is -- very clearly, we've had reports of tornadoes popping up three eastern and central parts of Oklahoma. Now --
LEMON: We're not sure of the exact location.
DELGADO: Yes.
LEMON: This is an Oklahoma affiliate KOKH obviously.
DELGADO: Yes.
LEMON: So we're not exactly sure but yes, it is.
DELGADO: Yes, you can see that. It's lowering. Now we have something new in place. This is coming out of Iowa. This is to the west of Des Moines. As we put this into motion, it's located to the west of it. But it looks like it's going to be heading into the Des Moines area in about next 30 minutes now.
This tornado warning that we are hearing, a confirmed tornado, it's moving very quickly, Don. This forward speed is 55 miles per hour. And that's why we're saying potentially into west Des Moines in the next 30 minutes. Des Moines as well as into acne, 39 minutes. But Adelp 15 minutes. Your time is really coming to a minute for you two. Get to shelter. But make sure you're getting into the interior part of your room or your home as well as into the basement.
Something that provides safety. Better than being on the outside of the home, of course. Never be near the windows. Again, that's what's happening in Des Moines. So, again, still looking at several tornado warnings through parts of Oklahoma and if it's not my imagination, I think now there's been another one issued there. I don't think there were two boxes out there at last check. Now we're seeing two different areas for tornado warnings. And then for areas up to Tulsa.
We have tornado warnings in place as well. Not sure if we have that on our radar or not. But I'm going to try to zoom out a bit more for you. This is Iowa, again, that we're talking about.
LEMON: Hey, Jennifer. I want to tell you I'm hearing from the producers, this is KFOR, new pictures and --
DELGADO: Oklahoma, uh-huh.
LEMON: What is believed to be something that is developing there.
DELGADO: Yes. I thought I just saw a tornado.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You can see at the center your screen yes.
DELGADO: It's very hard to see. You know, rain wrapped -- we see these issues. It's hard for us to see. Of course, it's hard for people who live there, the residents, to see that as well.
LEMON: OK. Jennifer, as we watch -- stand by, Jennifer, because -- yes, you're working on the latest information. I want to get to Chad Myers who also has some new information.
Chad, as we watch these pictures from KFOR, what do you have?
MYERS: Well, I have something for any serious XM Radio viewers, listeners out there. We're talking about I-40. If you're on I-40, if you're 10 or 15 miles east of Shawnee on I-40 heading to the west, you need to stop. You literally need to stop your car and let this tornado go by you. You do not want to drive into this. You see it now, Don. This storm is about to go just to the east of Dale, right over I-40. Tractor trailers, cars are no match to power like this.
LEMON: This is enormous, Chad, that we're looking at. I'm not -- can we hear? Is this from a chopper that earlier -- where the tornado hit? Can we listen in to this chopper?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What looks like right there toward St. Gregory's, and just going to be over maybe the north side of OBU, over the airport there, Mike.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, where are you at, Chase?
LEMON: So, Chad, I wanted to hear more from this chopper pilot Mike -- let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 3-W, it's fixing across 3-W.
LEMON: So, Chad, this was Shawnee that you were talking about and this thing is enormous. And you can see it is touching down, Chad Myers. And this --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Mike?
MYERS: I don't want to get in the way of this live streaming video.
LEMON: Yes. Let's listen, Chad. Let's listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just south end of 3-5. About one mile. Shawnee. It's in 3-W. It's fixing across 3-W and I-40. All right. Coming back. Over to the right. Now to the left. Come in left.
LEMON: So, Chad, it is intermittent, but as you said, if you're on I- 40, you need to stop right now because your car is no match for this.
MYERS: Yes, he was mentioning 3-W. It's also known as U.S. 177. A U.S. state highway. And if you get into this with a car, with the winds here are 130, 150 miles per hour, your car is no match. There's no room left for your car or you in that car when this tornado is done with it. You need to stop the car and just get out if you have to and get in the ditch.
This is the time where you need to get in the ditch. You know, people always ask, should we really get in the ditch? Yes. If there's nowhere else out, then yes, get out of the car because there might be -- this could be really --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Chad, do you see this?
MYERS: I'm watching it live.
LEMON: Do you -- look at this. This is --
MYERS: I see it, Don.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: This looks like I-40 --
MYERS: This is an EF-3, 130, 140 mile an hour storm. Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We already see some gusty winds, even as far away --
MYERS: This is the main storm that came out of Normand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still very gusty winds. More than likely a rear flank downdraft. Millennium 3, let's get that full screen, please.
LEMON: Wow. So, Chad, you saw the size -- what did he say? That was a down flank, a back --
MYERS: It's so hard on television, Don, to figure out what part of a storm. Because I don't know which way the camera is looking. What we know is that that's not the most important part of the storm. The tornado is on the ground at I-40 and U.S. 177 or it's called 3-W just north of the town of Shawnee crossing over I-40 and it will -- it'll be paralleling I-40 for a while. And then traveling north of I-40 on the way to the northeast.
Now this should still track well south of Tulsa, but you get the idea. One cell after the next today has been rotating and this is another big one.
LEMON: Chad, the affiliate radar says the town of Dale, what does that mean to you?
MYERS: Dale is along I-40. And it's right there at the intersection. Little bit farther to the west of there than the I-77, 3-W, I-40. Dale is missed. Dale really did get a big miss. And so did Shawnee, the town proper. This is kind of the northern part of Shawnee where Shawnee attaches to I-40.
There will be some businesses up there, a few hotels, restaurants along the same intersection. It's more of almost an interchange, like a cloverleaf right up there to the north of Shawnee. And that's where this tornado is on the ground right now.
LEMON: What does the chopper shot look like, guys? The one we were looking at? This -- Chad, there it is. This looks well developed and enormous.
MYERS: Yes. I've been watching it live streaming on the KFOR Web site. You can also click on there, the live video, the streaming video. Helicopter shot. These helicopter pilots, I don't know how they do it. They've been doing it since 1989 when I left Oklahoma City for other places and they get these shots. They are well out of the way. There's never been an accident. They're miles away. The lens is long. It's zoomed in. But that is a wedge tornado at least 130 to 160 mile per hour tornado on the ground. Very close there north of Shawnee, right along the I-40 corridor.
LEMON: I know it's hard from watching on television and streaming just how big this is. Earlier the chopper pilot for the one that hit earlier, I think it was Wellston, was about a half-mile wide, he said.
MYERS: This is on its way there. This storm is still getting stronger. This storm was a weak EF-0, EF-1, coming over Lake Thunderbirds and Draper, and then farther to the east on the way into Bethel Acres. And now this is still getting stronger. There's nothing in the way. There's nothing that's trying to steal its energy. It's the only storm around. It is becoming the big dog.
It could eat all of the moisture and all of the heat. And that's why this storm is getting bigger and bigger as we watch it.
LEMON: As we look, as we said, it was I-40 and 3-W I think. What's in that area? He says it's going right across the airport? Tell us about that area and the density of that area.
MYERS: Yes, just slightly north of the airport and Shawnee, the town of Shawnee, probably a good six miles farther to the south of there.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And you notice they're driving away, Chad, by the way. They're getting out of there.
MYERS: -- for the people there in Shawnee. Yes, you know, what, sometimes it's time to get out of the way. But you notice still all the cars that are out there. They all put themselves in danger with other chasers or not. This is a day when you're in that area to just stay home, protect yourself, your family and all the other things that around your home. There's no reason to go out on a Sunday night. This is dangerous.
LEMON: And I notice that they're driving away quickly and I would imagine, I don't know -- I see other cars going the other way. If they're trying to get out of danger or if they're chasing this storm. And we saw -- and we saw emergency vehicles heading toward the storm a moment ago.
MYERS: Hey, Don, this is one of the reasons why I need to talk about these apps that you could buy for your phones. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to talk about any one app. You do your own research. But it's about the app that if you use your GPS and you're driving, you know, you hear about these warnings. The warnings are for counties. The county of such and such just got a warning.
Well, if you're driving from -- from Virginia, you don't know what county you're in in Oklahoma. You're just driving. But the new apps know where you are. They know what county you're in. And they know that you were just placed in a tornado warning. Anybody that travels a lot, that drives a lot in Tornado Alley, in severe weather season, you need to buy one of these apps. Many of them are close to free, 99 cents, 1.99, whatever it might be. It's the best thing you can possibly do so you know where you are when the tornadoes are close to you.
LEMON: Chad, we're at the beginning of the season, right?
MYERS: Well, yes, April should have been the beginning of the season really. We didn't have an April season. Something in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 tornadoes in April. There should have been almost 400. By this time of year, we should have over 500 tornadoes on the year on ground on average. Right now we only have 250. Today is going to make up for quite a few numbers I believe. It's still spring.
You know, my son gets out of school for summer break on Friday. Everybody thinks it's already summer but it's not. It is still spring. There's still warm air. There's still cold air. There are still major jet streams in the air and severe weather season is certainly not over. Even though it had a late start, it's in full swing now.
LEMON: Chad, you're watching -- you said you're watching the live stream. And I am on social media following this as well, @donlemonCNN -- Chad and I. I'm not sure if you have time to check social media, but Chad is on as well.
But, Chad, I have a question from a viewer. People on the stream keep talking about the mall. What's going on at the mall? Which is a heavy, you know, heavily traveled area. Have you heard that as you were watching?
I don't know what mall from the viewers. These people on the stream keep talking about the mall. What's going on at the mall, which is a heavy -- you know, heavily traveled area? Have you heard that as you were watching?
MYERS: I don't know what mall they're talking about, Don. I mean, there is -- there's a kind of a strip mall-ish things on up there at the 3-W and I-40 and I just saw pictures of rescue squads, of first responders, lights on. I couldn't even get a locator for that. I couldn't figure out what intersection that street was. But there's damage all the way from the Lake Thunderbird east of Normand area, across that area, Lake Thunderbird, Lake Stanley Draper. That's almost without (INAUDIBLE). This tornado literally almost went right over the radar. Now it has traveled just to the north of that word Shawnee.
LEMON: This is Lake Thunderbird, Chad, that you're looking at. The Lake Thunderbird area. And for those of you downstairs, and our national desk, if you can check on the mall, just ask our affiliate, KFOR, what's happening at the mall because I'm getting people asking me about that.
Say, again, Tom? I'm sorry. We did see some damage in the Lake Thunderbird area just a couple of minutes and we'll get that video to you shortly.
And also I'm being told, Chad, Shawnee mall is just on the north side of town, right on I-40, looks like it may have been in the direct path of the tornado.
Thank you, folks, on Twitter. Excuse me, for that. But again that's something we need to check and confirm here with CNN and our folks are all over it. So thank you for that. They're saying that the mall may have been hit by a debris ball. So, again, that needs to be confirmed. And we're checking on it. So of course, it's Sunday evening. That's what people do. They go to the mall, especially during graduation.
MYERS: But you know that's a new term, Don. The debris ball is a very new term. It's because now we have dual pole Doppler radar which means we used to just have Doppler radar that would see in one direction. But now we actually have the wavelengths going in two opposite directions. Up and down, the horizontal and also on the vertical. And so therefore we can now determine that what we see on radar is not a raindrop.
We can tell that it's hail but we also can tell that it might be a shingle, it could be a leaf, it could be a tree limb. It might be any part of a house. We know that the radar now knows the size of the stuff and it's saying, let me get the information, this is not a raindrop. This is debris. The only way debris gets in the sky is if it gets picked up by a tornado.
And so you'll hear that word debris ball from now on. It's a new term. It's kind of like we lost the word squall line. But we picked up the word debris ball and you'll hear that a lot. When you hear that word that means a tornado is on the ground creating damage.
LEMON: OK. We're hearing now that the mall may have been closed. Hopefully it was. But again, look at these pictures. The sky is ominous. And just moments ago we saw a fully formed tornado crossing I-40 and Chad Myers is watching it. Our meteorologist here. Jennifer Delgado as well. And also our affiliates. Of course, covering it.
The power of CNN. We have everybody on this story. And we want to make sure that you're safe. But the damage we can assure you is significant in Oklahoma and in Kansas. And we're going to stay on top of the story for as long as it takes. There's also a warning now in Iowa. West of Des Moines.
More right after a very quick break. Don't go anywhere. We're back in just moments here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Looking at live pictures now. Shawnee, Oklahoma. Shawnee, Oklahoma. These are -- sorry, pardon me. These are moments ago. Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Our meteorologist Jennifer Delgado is here. Jennifer, looks like a tornado to me.
DELGADO: Looks like a tornado. And it is a tornado. We've had --
LEMON: This is live.
DELGADO: -- reports of tornado on the ground in Shawnee. And we've been talking about this. Chad as well. As we showed you on the radar, we're still watching this area. Very questionable. This is where we're seeing that rotation. There is Shawnee. And again, we've been talking a lot about pink.
Well, as we zoom in for you, we're going to track this for you. We're looking at two areas of rotation as we track this for you. We go about 33 minutes out. This is what's going to happen. Well, see this near Johnson if this storm holds together. This super cell. For areas like Belmont, it's 7:20.
Now keep in mind, this tornado warning is in effect until 6:45. Could we still see some more development after that? Yes. It is still possible. But that is what is happening right now. Keep in mind, 30,000 people are potentially affected by that tornado that you're seeing on that split screen. On what's on parts of Oklahoma.
Now as we go back, there's another area that we're following. Now it's not just the area near Shawnee that we're looking at. We're looking at three cells. But I want to point out to you how big the cell is just to the north of Shawnee. It's been robbing all that energy from the earlier storms that we had just really from about the last hour.
Now we go up towards the north. And Des Moines. We've got a storm just to your west that looks really not so good right now. And as we go through, the next couple of minutes, this storm system moving to the east and the forward speed has been pretty good on this. At times it was up to about 35 to 45 miles per hour. As we track this for you and hopefully our guys in the back, our weather producers can track the storm.
In Des Moines, we're expecting this to potentially get there within the next couple of minutes. If we can see about potentially tracking that, here it goes for you, Don. If you're in Baxter, 39 minutes. Johnston, seven minutes. And then for areas like Maxwell, 29. And that tornado warning, of course, is going to be in place until 7:00 Central Time. So still a lot of activity out there.
We're continuing to follow all these warnings out there. But tornado watches in place. Until 11:00 from Minnesota all the way down to Texas -- Don.
LEMON: Jennifer, I want to get to our reporter on the ground. KOKH talking to people who are affected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very, very windy. It was very, very scary.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I bet. Now tell us about the damage. We saw the barn. Is your house OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is some damage at the house. The garage door is just bowed in. It won't be able to be opened. I don't know for how long. The fence which we just put up is damaged quite a few places. The swing set. But we don't really know about the house. We're trying to get all the power tools and the animals taken care first.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now you were telling me, you actually still have a neighbor, she is elderly. It was tough to even get her in the shelter. What's going on right now with that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, she had surgery last week. She had a hip replacement. She's pretty good at getting around but she needs a little help. And luckily for us, she called us and made us come over. And so we got in the shelter with her and it was -- it was lucky for us.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That is the great news is everybody out here is OK. The other great news, guys, is here in (INAUDIBLE) they have people from all over coming to help them. You were telling us, the church, Boy Scouts. Who do we have helping you guys?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of men from our church and ladies.
LEMON: OK. So that's our affiliate coverage, KOKH. That lady there affected by the storm. Our meteorologist Chad Myers listening and watching as we continue to look at the Shawnee area now.
Chad, I understand from folks who have been on social media, again, not confirmed, but there were people who were sheltering in places we're told by authorities at the Shawnee mall. But they -- it appears everything is OK there. What are we looking at?
MYERS: Well, you know, I'm a little bit more concerned at this point in time with the area near Johnson, Oklahoma. It appears that the storm that move, the tornado that created the damage very north of -- just north of Shawnee, weakened and another storm popped up just to the east of it, maybe five or six miles east of there, near Johnson. Moving now into kind of a rural area.
But if you are in the north Des Moines area, Jester Park, Ankeny, and places up there, I believe that tornado up near Des Moines, north of Des Moines, well north, moving away from Des Moines, is probably on the ground as well, Don.
LEMON: Oh, well, Chad, you know, it's very interesting to watch this. There have been, again, a number of watches and warnings. And they are still going on throughout the evening here on CNN.
Listen, I want to tell you that Jennifer Delgado is going to stand by here at the CNN Severe Weather Center. Our Chad Myers is going to watch this very closely as well as well as everyone here at CNN. We're all working here for you this evening. We want to keep you as safe as possible and warn you as to when this may be coming to your area. It doesn't appear to be slowing down right now. So we'll be back. I'll be back with some updates for you. And if the situation warrants it, I will be back live. Our entire team here to bring it to you. In the meantime, we're going to turn it over to Mr. Anthony Bourdain, "PARTS UNKNOWN."
