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Tornado Devastation in Moore, Oklahoma; Man Found Students Killed by Tornado; Inside the Winds of a Tornado
Aired May 23, 2013 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for being with us. Stories we're watching in the NEWSROOM, lower open on Wall Street this morning. World markets dropped today, partly because of slower manufacturing growth in China. One good note in the U.S. economy, though. Last week's jobless claims ticked down more than expected.
A 37-year-old man in custody as part of an investigation into ricin laced letters in Washington state. An indictment says Matthew Buquet threatened to injure and kill a federal judge. The letters were mailed to the judge at a Spokane office last week.
Reuters reporting on a major road block in the investigation of that fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. U.S. Chemical Safety Board officials say they may never know the cause. The April 17th explosion killed more than a dozen people. The safety board chair says federal and Texas agencies refuse to grant access to witnesses and the blast scene.
Let's go back to Moore, Oklahoma now and our Brooke Baldwin. Brooke, is it still raining -- oh I hear the rain. It's raining hard there.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is raining very, very hard. Severe storms, lightning, 1,001, 1,002, boom, the thunder. I mean the storms are right over us, but storms aside here, Carol, you know we've been telling you what many people in Moore are calling a miracle at Briarwood Elementary School.
I want you to take a look at video here. You will see Monday's tornado effectively leveled that building. Look at this. Just rubble and muck and brick, but amazingly everyone survived. And now new sound of the terrifying moment that that tornado hit on Monday afternoon. Recorded by a teacher's cell phone. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get down, get down, you're okay, you're okay! You're okay. You're okay. You're okay. You're okay! We're okay!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNNE BRETON, BRIARWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: I didn't know what to tell them. I just kept telling them we're okay. My mind, I was praying.
JESSICA ORR, BRIARWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER: She said father just protect us, put angels between us and the tornado. I know you're stronger than the tornado. Some kids were praying, the teachers were praying, and I looked Ms. Breton in the eye and we could hear a roar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That was Brian Todd speaking to those teachers. Again, teachers the heroes here in Moore, Oklahoma. They managed to protect 25 students by huddling inside a bathroom and covering some of the children with their own bodies.
Just ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM, one man rushes to rescue children after the Oklahoma tornado hit an elementary school, only to discover a tragedy waiting for him. We will share that heart-breaking story when CNN's special coverage continues.
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COSTELLO: A bizarre development in the Boston bombing case. An acquaintance of the suspect is now dead after a violent confrontation with the FBI. But before he died, he told officials that the Boston marathon bombing was not the only crime committed by the older suspect, Tamerlan Tsavraev.
John Zarella is in Orlando this morning. Tell us this have to do with that terrible triple homicide that happened two years ago?
JOHN ZARELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, two years ago, Carol. That's right, an Ibrahim Todashev had been in the sights of the FBI for quite a while. For almost immediately after - after the Boston bombings took place. And now it appears that he and Todashev -- Todashev and Tsavraev were connected to this triple murder
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZARELLA: Sources tell CNN this man, Ibrahim Todashev knew Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsavraev, and that Todashev confessed to being, quote, "directly involved in a brutal triple 2011 drug-related murder in Waltham, Massachusetts. A federal law enforcement official tells CNN that Todashev also implicated Tamerlan Tsavraev in the murders. But Tosashev is now dead, shot during questioning by an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state police officers in the kitchen of his Orlando apartment.
Law enforcement sources told CNN, Todashev had confessed to his role in the triple murder, then became violent and attacked the FBI agent. He was then shot and killed. A friend said Todashev knew the bombing suspects, but that was all.
KHASUEN TARAMOV, SLAIN SUSPECT'S FRIEND: He knew them back like two years ago, back when he used to live in Boston, and he knew them, and he wasn't like real close friends with them, just happened to know him. And I guess that was his fault, mistake, but he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombings and everything, you know what I mean?
ZARELLA: Now dead, Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev knew one of the Waltham, Massachusetts victims. The FBI is now checking to see if they can match his and Todashev's DNA to the crime scene. There were other connections between the two men. Sources tell CNN they came from the same region in Chechnya. Todashev lived in Boston two years ago, both were in mixed martial arts at a studio in Boston and on a mixed martial arts website. Tamerlan Tsarnaev's phone number was found in Todashev's cell.
Earlier this month, Todashev was charged with aggravated battery after, according to Orlando police, getting in a fight over a parking space at a local mall. While it appears Todashev was a violent man, his connection with bombing suspects may go no further than connection in a drug murder case and friendship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARELLA: Now you can see, Carol, behind me, that this is still an active crime scene. More than 24 hours after Todashev was shot and killed. Clearly the FBI are combing through his apartment looking for any thing that might further link him and perhaps others to the Boston bombing suspects. Carol.
COSTELLO: I'm wondering how this went down. So the FBI is questioning this man, and he lunges for a knife near him after he confessed?
ZARELLA: Yeah they were questioning him -- well, he apparently had confessed verbally, but had not written anything down, and according to our sources, he was in the process, about to start writing this down, and became violent, became agitated suddenly, lunged at the FBI agent and in self-defense according to the FBI, that's when he was -- when Todashev was shot and killed.
COSTELLO: Wow. John Zarrella reporting live from Orlando this morning.
Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, we'll take you back to Moore, Oklahoma and tell you a story of survival inside one tiny shelter. How a family of 12 huddled together in a space no bigger than a walk-in closet.
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BALDWIN: Welcome back here -- a special live coverage on CNN of the aftermath of the tornado here in Moore, Oklahoma where photos like these, photos that don't even belong to the homeowner whose property I'm standing on land on his property, just mementos of what's been lost. But another loss, the loss of children is often the hardest to comprehend. Nine children were killed in the aftermath of the tornado here in Moore, including seven students at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
And CNN's Pamela Brown has the story of one of the men who rushed into the school. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Moore resident Adam Baker is giving a hand to a close friend who's home was flattened by Monday's catastrophic tornado. It's helping him cope after he found himself helpless in the face of tragedy at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
ADAM BAKER, TORNADO SURVIVOR: It's just utter devastation. I mean I don't know if there is a way to describe it.
BROWN: Right after the storm hit he was one of many who rushed to Plaza Towers to find loved ones. He desperately searched for his nephew and any other survivors.
(on camera): And you went there to -- in hopes of rescuing people.
BAKER: Yes. And so I didn't really get to I guess. I -- I tried, though. I mean that's all I can do.
BROWN (voice over): Instead he encountered unspeakable horror. Four children buried under the massive debris of the collapsed school, suffocated by its sheer weight.
BAKER: And they probably would have made it if they weren't pinned.
BROWN: How were they pinned?
BAKER: They are pinned by different debris -- desks, 2 x 4s, pieces of metal.
BROWN (voice over): The students were not found in a basement as officials initially believed.
(on camera): But do you think had there have been an underground shelter, these lives could have been saved?
BAKER: Oh, yes, most definitely. I mean underground shelters are some of the best things to have in a tornado.
BROWN (voice over): Still there are not enough of them. Even in tornado-stricken Oklahoma schools aren't required to have underground shelters? The main reason the high cost of retro fitting the schools and the poor soil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about the money and the statistics. An F-5 tornado is very rare. It's one percent to two percent of the tornadoes. They don't happen very often, it's the same reason they don't have safe rooms for earthquakes. They don't work, you know, all the time.
BROWN: A painful truth for Mikki Dixon Davis who lost her son Kyle at Plaza Towers.
MIKKI DIXON DAVIS, VICTIM'S MOTHER: With us living in Oklahoma, tornado shelters should be in every school. It should be -- you know, there should be a place that if this ever happened again during school, that kids can get to a safe place that we don't have to sit there and go through rubble and rubble and rubble and -- and -- and may not ever find what we're looking for.
BROWN: A feeling that Adam Baker knows all too well.
BAKER: So I pulled them out and basically just tried to put them in a row as respectfully as I could.
BROWN (on camera): What was that like for you?
BAKER: It's terrible for me. But it's my duty as an American. It's a hole in your heart just to see these little broken bodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Just to see that -- those pictures there, Brooke, and we've learned according to the National Weather Service, the school where the school was, Plaza Towers Elementary is the only location they can confirm that there were EF-5 strength winds, winds of 200 miles per hour or more.
BALDWIN: So what about the issue we've heard from the Mayor of Moore, we've heard from an Oklahoma lawmaker sort of proposing a mandatory requirement for these shelters.
BROWN: Right. Well, ever since the '99 tornado that we've been hearing so much about the schools that were rebuilt from that tornado, there was a requirement for them to have shelters. Now in light of what happened, you're seeing state representatives saying we're going to propose legislation and make it a requirement. You're seeing online petitions from residents saying we need to make this happen.
Here is the problem, though, we talked about the cost. According to the Oklahoma --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: It's not cheap.
BROWN: No it's $600,000 and up according to Oklahoma management office.
BALDWIN: Yes.
BROWN: And they said that they've built 100 in schools so far and new construction, it's very tough retro fitting these schools already built and we talked about the soil, the poor soil, the high water table, there's a lot of hurdles to get over to make these shelters available in the schools. But it seems like something needs to happen for sure.
BALDWIN: Pamela Brown, thank you so much. It's not just the schools, a lot of homeowners you know --
BROWN: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- a lot of homeowners here in Oklahoma do not have them and it's tough (ph). Thank you so much. Just ahead from us here in Moore, Oklahoma, were going to tell you what it's like inside the winds of more than 200 miles per hour, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And good morning and welcome back. You are watching special live coverage here in Moore, Oklahoma.
And you know it's pretty tough to imagine the destructive power of a tornado, until you see the damage it leaves behind; 200-mile-an-hour winds can turn a piece of wood into a missile.
And CNN's Chris Lawrence met Larry Tanner at Texas Tech's National Wind Institute to just get a -- get a look inside a tornado simulator. Here's Chris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY TANNER, TEXAS TECH'S NATIONAL WIND INSTITUTE: Three, two, one.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tanner launches the most common type of debris, a 15-pound piece of wood, to see if a shelter can withstand the impact at 100 miles per hour. The wood splinters in the blink of an eye. But by slowing it down, you can see the incredible force and destructive power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Look at that. The simulator is designed to test storm shelters; 2 x 4s, flying around in a storm can really do some damage, punching a hole through plywood. Plywood, keep in mind, is stronger at the siding on most houses here in Moore, Oklahoma.
Coming up, we're going to continue our coverage, looking at the federal response to the deadly tornado here in Oklahoma, where some say things need to change. What needs to happen in the days ahead? We're going to look at that.
Special coverage continues from Oklahoma after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fifty-six minutes past the hour. Time to check our "Top Stories."
The search resumes this morning for a fourth grader following a landslide. One child was killed and two more were hurt Wednesday during a fossil hunting field trip at a park.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They fell into what became a hole and the earth came on top of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Search dogs are being used to find the missing child. Recent heavy rains are hindering their search efforts, though.
The Boy Scout's long ban on gay members could end today. The National Council will vote in just a few hours whether to eliminate the ban. If the policy change is approved, it would only allow gay scouts, not gay scout leaders. The results will be announced tonight.
In Los Angeles, voters elect the city's first Jewish mayor. Eric Garcetti will take the reins July 1st from Antonio Villaraigosa who could not run because of term limits. The 42-year-old Garcetti has promised to pull L.A. out of a recession. He defeated city comptroller, Wendy Greuel, who would have been LA's first female mayor.
An 80-year-old Japanese man is now the oldest person ever to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. Yuichiro Miura got to the top of the world's highest mountain with his son by his side. It was his third trip to the top of the world. He also climbed Everest at the age of 70 and then he climbed it again at the age of 75. Wow.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after the break.
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