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Flooding in Central Texas; Tornado in Victoria, Texas; Bridge Collapse North of Seattle, Washington

Aired May 25, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

We are following a big flooding taking place in central Texas, San Antonio in particular. A severe flash floods have taken over many parts of the city there, the roads as well as neighborhoods. You are seeing right there, the rescue of someone on a roof top. And this flash flood had claimed the life of one person. Our official say the water swept a woman right out of her car. Officials also say at least one person is missing. Crews have rescued about 100 people in all.

Take a look right there at those images. Heavy rain, it has been relentless today resulting in this kind of flooding. More than nine inches of rain fell today alone. And in San Antonio River has hit a new record, one woman describing exactly what it was like for her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was under water 20 minutes ago. I came over here. I own the property and my daughter couldn't get to her car. Her car is out flooded. The property is also water swarming through the cold out, and I just came over to check to see what I could do. But, obviously, there is nothing that I can do right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: People feeling really helpless there.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis here with more on this.

So, we are talking about a flash flood that took place as a result of some pretty sizable rain amounts just today alone.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It was a one-day event. And Fred, even this warning, they had already seen three inches of rain. When I say this morning, I am talking about 3:00 local time. And they got additional heavy rain. It just never moved out. It kept moving in from the southeast.

Take a look at this. The rivers are swollen. And where you saw that river rescue or the rescue for the rescue operation in the Kodiak where they took the gentleman off the roof, this is actually a golf course and you can see he put on his vest. He got in to the Kodiak and off they went. Seemingly, he was nonetheless for wear but what a frightening event. One fatality also reported from this. A woman apparently had been in her car and it does not take that much water to float an automobile. You would think it would. They found her body and the abandoned automobile.

What can San Antonio or indeed southeast Texas expect over the next couple of hours? Well, I told you about to this training effect of the moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. That is what produced this volume of rainfall right along the interstate region that circles around San Antonio, interstate 410 extending all the way down to Corpus Christi. But, it was this area where we saw severe flooding.

I want to point out one other area that we do have here, Corpus Christi. They are saying there is a tornado warning in effect from a particular south just to the north of Corpus Christi and that will end in just a very short time period.

I want to show one other thing. And that is -- now, this doesn't look that interesting but believe me the information is fascinating, and that is this river, the San Antonio River, rose almost vertically if you can imagine, just in a very short period of time. The record was set back in 1998, Fred. They broke that record and that was a four- day event they saw in 1998, about 22 inches of rain. This was 10 inches of rain and it shot up and over 34 feet. That's why we have seen such severe flooding across the region.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. And you know, just a warning to people too, when they see the standing water, what appeared be to the roadway, they just need to turn around, right, instead of trying to plow through it. It is not worth it. There are currents with that high water as well and people don't know that.

MAGINNIS: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: They get caught by surprise.

MAGINNIS: Yes. And I will be back at the bottom of the hour. We will have some more information for you.

WHITFIELD: Very good. All right, thanks so much, Karen. Appreciate that.

And still, folks are reeling in Oklahoma from the devastation earlier in the week. We are talking about the city of Moore, Oklahoma. Well today, the town of mixed emotions. Happiness because there are a number of high school seniors getting their diplomas today, but then there is sadness because so many victims were laid to rest.

Seniors from one of Moore's three high schools are about to start their graduation ceremony. Another school graduated this morning and the third class turns their tassels later on tonight.

So, for one teacher, it meant a lot to see her students graduate days after they helped her clean up her destroyed home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON LISTON, TEACHER: We had probably 75 students that all of a sudden they caravanned down to my house. And it was like we had no parking spots because all of these cars were there. And they piled up the cars. We started them at one end of the three acres and it looked like a wall of students and with trash cans and trash sacks and they literally picked up every stick that within that three acres there. They did an awesome job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As the celebrations go on, some families are mourning their loved one. There are three funerals for victims today.

And there are amazing stories of bravery coming out of the Oklahoma tornado disaster and this is one that caught our attention. It is about a seventh grader who became a hero when the circumstances demanded one.

Here now is Nick Valencia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As he walked through the rubble of the now levels school, 13-year-old Dylan Ellis was bewildered.

DYLAN ELLIS, 7TH GRADER: See. Look at this. That's destroyed.

VALENCIA: It was the first time he had been back since the tornado struck.

ELLIS: I don't know how we survived this.

VALENCIA: He remembers taking shelter in the middle school locker room.

ELLIS: Right through here.

VALENCIA: He remembers being surrounded by the cries and screams of 50 children.

ELLIS: Lights went off. You could hear it hit the building like loud and comes and takes off the roof.

VALENCIA: No one was killed when the tornado destroyed high land east middle school. But, this wasn't just a miracle.

DIANE LEE, 7TH GRADER: Isn't the choir room are gone?

ELLIS: Yes. The choir room is gone.

VALENCIA: Quietly standing next to him is his 12-year-old classmate, seventh grader Diane Lee. On Monday, Dylan probably saved her life.

Did you feel like you were going to get sucked away?

LEE: Yes, like the wind around me was like circles and everything and the ground was not underneath me anymore and he held onto my hand. ELLIS: I see her start to go up. I jump on her and lay on her and grab on the bottom of this office that were inside the ground. And then, one that is one tipped over, I pushed her out of the way and then all of the debris starts to hit me.

VALENCIA: How did you think so fast? How do you to do what you did?

ELLIS: I just thought of her as my family. What would I do if they started to go up? Didn't think. Just did it.

VALENCIA: How happy are you that he did?

LEE: Really happy or else I probably wouldn't be here.

VALENCIA: Already best friends since the start of the school year, Dylan and Diane say the tornado has brought them even closer.

LEE: Can't believe we are actually in there and actually got out and he helped me.

VALENCIA: How do you do in school?

ELLIS: Decent. I do OK.

VALENCIA: Middle school years are tough, even without a tornado. But Dylan and Diane have ended the semester with an important lesson; that in your darkest hour friendship will see you through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my God.

All right, Nick Valencia joining us now. What an inspiration those two kids and how brave he is as well. So, you know, overall are most of the students coping much like they are?

VALENCIA: They have gone through a lot, Fred. They have gone through a lot of stress. And today, as you mentioned, three area high schools graduated today, South Moore, West Moore, and the high school of Moore itself. And for a lot of people, this was the normalcy they need. A lot of them lost friends. They lost parents. They lost their homes. And as insignificant as the valuables may seem, it is the little small things that make the biggest difference in a time like this.

We are still in the Moore neighborhood that as you can see is going through the cleanup process. It is going to the recovery process. We have been here since the beginning and the debris is being cleaned up but it is debris now that is being stacked in piles and there is a long road ahead for the people of Moore.

But, if there is an uplifting part about this tragedy, it is how friends are helping friends and neighbors are helping neighbors. The kindness and the resilient of Oklahomans here is just overwhelming -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, Nick as you are talking, we are looking at live pictures of the South Moore high school graduation. We mentioned there was one this morning, one right now, some really happy faces there. I am sure many of these students are trying not to even think about what they have been through in the last week. They are trying to look straight ahead, but this tornado has impacted so much live there in Moore. It doesn't seem like anybody will forget the experience of enduring this monster of a tornado in that town ever.

VALENCIA: No, not at all. And for a lot of the children here, a lot of the students, their lives will be divided, Fred, by before the storm and after the storm. We spoke to a neighbor here who sort of been helping us out. We spoke to his son and he told us about his son and he feels like his son has grown up four years in the last four days. It is just really had a heavy impact on the community here.

But again, you don't hear a lot of complaints from people here. You don't hear a lot of frustration or the anger. People have really come together and if there is any hope for the community here, it is that. It is the helping hands that neighbors. And people are just being really a strong right now when they need to be most -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So nice. All right, Nick Valencia, thanks so much in Moore. And so nice to see all those smiling faces of that those graduates class of 2013 itself, Moore high school.

All right. Thanks so much, Nick.

All right, there is more tonight on Anderson Cooper Special Report. Get an up close look from the storm chasers point of view. They risked their lives trying to alert others about this disastrous storm. Storm hunters in the path of disaster, tonight 7:00 eastern time only on CNN.

All right, new images to show you of the moments right after a bridge collapse north of Seattle, Washington. The NTSB released these photos just a short time ago. Take a look there. Unbelievable.

You can see two cars falling into the Skagit River when the bridge gave way. Police say an 18 wheeler caused the collapse after it hit one of the over head beams Thursday, the Skagit Rivers, that is. NTSB inspectors are investigating the accident and Washington's governor says it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. You see the vehicles in the water miraculously no one was killed after taking that plunge into the River. Amazing.

All right, we are also finding out some new information today in the brutal killing of a British soldier in broad daylight in London. There are reports that Britain's intelligence service known as the MI5 had asked one of the suspects to spy for them. Well, the suspect was the man recorded right after Wednesday's horrifying attack holding a meat cleaver in this still image and his hands covered in blood.

Well, CNN's Nima Elbagir is in London.

So Nima, you know, what can you tell us about this offer to spy for the British government? NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was information that was revealed by a close friend of Michael Adebolajo in an interview with the BBC. He claimed that after being caught trying to get into Somalia through Kenya that the British security services, the domestic security agency MI5, that made an offer to Michael Adebolajo to spy for them.

Now, of course, we have reached out to the security services here and they have said that they will never, would never comment on such an issue, but anecdotally it is a story that does have resonance. We have heard this story repeatedly from young British men, converts to Islam, Muslim born that say when they are perceived to have associates within a certain kind of radicalized community they are then approached by the security services and asked to work on their behalf, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, what more do we know about the possible ties to militant groups and how investigators are able to learn more or probe more about how many people may be in the London proper metropolitan area.

ELBAGIR: Well, this is a story that seems to be unfolding on a much broader scale than first imagined. Initially, the suspicion had been that these two attackers were working, you know, the stereotypical lone wolves as security agencies called them. But, we now understand from the Kenyan counter terror authorities that Michael Adebolajo faced terror charges in Kenya. In November in 2010, he actually was up in front of a magistrate in the coastal town of Mombasa allegedly for trying to cross through Lano (ph), an island off the coast of Kenya, into the south of Somalia.

This is a route that is very popular among those seeking to join the Al Qaeda linked militant group. (INAUDIBLE) and it gives you a sense that perhaps Adebolajo was part of a broader recruitment network. There is a lot of concern about the (INAUDIBLE) area where that attack was carried out. There is a recruitment zone for (INAUDIBLE). There is also a lot of concern now being raised about what the British authorities knew. If this was the man who was apprehended in Kenya as far back as 2010 and we are now hearing that he was definitely on the radar, then, what does it mean about how he managed to slip off the radar? This and other questions will hopefully be addressed early next week when the intelligence and security committee hears from the MI5 bosses, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nima Elbagir. Thank you so much, coming from London for us this afternoon.

All right, when disaster strikes here in the U.S., will you be ready? We will talk with HLN's money expert Clark Howard about how to prepare for perhaps a tornado or perhaps even a hurricane. Hurricane season beginning next week and we will get more from the international security analyst on that London terror suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we have got a lot of bad weather to report to you. We have been mentioning to you the flooding in San Antonio, Texas. Now we are talking about a tornado on the ground in Texas.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis with us now. Where is this tornado?

MAGINNIS: Well, Fred, this is not in San Antonio. That's where we are dealing with the ten plus inches of rainfall that produced the severe flooding. This is just to the north or northwest of Corpus Christie. It is in Victoria, Texas, that is also the county of Victoria, and that tornado warning goes in effect until the bottom of the hour local time.

So, if a warning is issued or you have a weather radio, take cover immediately. It was cited by the public and confirmed by the national weather service there was a tornado from this particular self in this pink shaded box. That's where the cell was located right here just to the north of the mall in that area. This is the north of Victoria. We will continue to monitor this. It looks as if it is moving towards the north. We will bring you more details as we receive it. But, just a word of warning, a tornado warning in Victoria, Texas. Take cover immediately. We will keep you updated on that as well as the severe flooding in San Antonio coming up in the next few minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, keep us posted on that.

Meantime, when you talk about the flooding in San Antonio, Texas, Karen, I know you mentioned earlier that we are talking about the San Antonio River rising at an incredible rate of speed after 10 inches of rain and live images right now. Karen has been reporting about 10 inches of rain today and already seeing a record being set involving that San Antonio River that is over flooded in certain areas.

We have seen there have been roads that have been washed out, at least the report of at least one death, a woman who is in her car and a search continues for at least one other person. They have also plucked many people off the roof tops where the water just simply got way too high and folks had nowhere to go. So, we will keep you posted on the flooding situation in San Antonio, Texas and then of course the tornado warning out of Victoria, Texas.

Karen Maginnis, keeping us posted on that.

All right, meantime, we are also following a breaking news out of France where a soldier there has been stabbed. The soldier was on patrol in a business area on the outskirts of Paris when he was attacked. French officials say his wounds are not light threatening.

Police tell CNN the attacker is still on the loose. They described him as a bearded man in his 30s wearing what appears to be some sort of religious clothing under his jacket. And of course, many of these details are still very abroad and of course we will try to get more information about the suspect and information about the soldier that was stabbed there just outside of Paris.

Meantime, we are also learning more today about the suspect in the killing of a British soldier in broad daylight in London. There were reports that Britain's intelligence service known as the MI5 had asked one of the suspects to spy for them. Juliette Kayyem is CNN's national security analyst and she joins us from Newtown, Massachusetts.

All right, good to see you. Well, let me ask you as it pertains to the London attack, taking place in broad daylight, and now we are hearing their reports that perhaps this intelligence service was looking for people to be kind of infiltrators or perhaps be informants, is this common practice as far as you know?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, it is quite common practice in Britain and Britain has I much sort of more aggressive domestic intelligence apparatus than the United Stated. It is based on the rules. They also have much greater what you might call home grown or militant community. They experienced it on July 7th with the subway and bus attacks a couple years ago.

So, they have an aggressive stance. So, the idea that MI5 was trying to recruit citizens essentially to spy on their community is not new. That is something that they do. The challenge for MI5 right now and why the story will be a big one, if true, is that they were recruiting the very guy who turns around, is clearly I guess I would say sort of unsophisticated the attack was grotesque, and it was also in daylight. He knew he was going to get caught. They were trying to recruit him is a wig story because if they couldn't recruit him, why they weren't following him is a question they will have to answer.

WHITFIELD: So, if that's a tactic in Britain, the MI5 would use, do you know of that procedure ever taking place or being a consideration for intelligence agencies here in the U.S. as it pertains to large gatherings or regular gatherings about a certain persuasion and whether any of our intelligence folks would be targeted or looking towards anyone who would regularly attend those gatherings and want to recruit them as informants?

KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, so, we do have a series of both federal and state laws that apply to this. But if someone goes from just thinking a bad thing to actually preparing it, certainly there can be preliminary investigations. But it is a great point because local police departments where this essentially falls, right, have two different approaches to different communities that live in their jurisdictions. One is, you could call sort of the NYPD approach which they have gotten into trouble for. It is aggressive, it is a search and seizure, something called the demographic unit targeting Muslim and Islamic communities. The other is one that sort of Boston lives by and other communities which tends to be more integration community involvement, and then get these communities to feel comfortable with police and neither is perfect. I always say that in a terrorism, happens under both. But, it is certainly something that is happening throughout the United States.

The MI5 issue is different though. If their internal investigation unit tried to recruit him and then he turns around and commits terrorism, there is going to be an accounting.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much from Newtown, Massachusetts today. Appreciate your insight. KAYYEM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, a high school student's relationship could affect the rest of her life. She is a big legal trouble right now. I will tell you why she didn't take a plea deal in order to get out of some of this trouble.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Barrack Obama heads to Oklahoma tomorrow. He will get a firsthand look at the devastation but the political storm in Washington will be waiting for him when he returns.

Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst joining us from Washington.

Good to see you, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, the president is dealing with controversies from the U.S. military, sexual assault cases to the IRS, just to name a few. But tomorrow, he will be consoler in chief in Oklahoma. How he handles this natural disaster, could help him weather the storms in Washington, couldn't they?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. This role of consoling a nation in time of tragedy with some people called mourner in chief or consoler in chief, really has become part of the president's portfolio, maybe the most dramatic example it, helping a president turn the political tide was Bill Clinton back in 1995 after the Oklahoma city bombing. That came after the Republicans had taken over Congress and you see him very much on his heels and he really seemed to speak to the nation in a very effective way that helped him reverse the tide.

I think it has become a little more common since then and it is unlikely to significantly change the political dynamic, but it is one of the roles that a president now plays in which he is speaking to the whole country and that can only help him.

WHITFIELD: The CNN/ORC poll showing his approval rating last week. You and I talked about it despite the controversies, that he still remains hugely popular. Any indication that those approval ratings might change, particularly after the IRS hearing this week and now even kind of the drum beat is getting louder as it pertains to attorney general Eric Holder that he continues to be on the defensive? How may all of this impact the president, his handling of his team?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, we are a deeply polarized country. His approval rating is right around 52, 53, really not much different than his vote in 2012. And he basically has a very strong base. He also has, you know, significant strong opposition.

The biggest risk for the president really hasn't yet materialized. You know, in this story, I think, it is going to be a too thick, it is going to be a problem there, there are going to be hearings, it rises to something else if evidence emerges that officials from the administration either the treasury department or the White House directed the IRS to specifically target conservative groups. That makes this a different story. Until it happens I think it is not likely to significantly affect his standing with the public, although it could have some drag as time goes on. But I don't think a big one unless you cross that fire break.

WHITFIELD: How about as it pertains to the military, you know, especially the sexual assault investigations, the president speaking very firmly, challenging the military to do better as did the defense secretary Hagel when he was at west point today.

Does that investigation impact this administration in any way in terms of this administration trying to get some more things done?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it is a somewhat contained and unusual issue. You know, we are at a point in Washington where almost everything divides the party sharply. This is very different. We are seeing a bipartisan reaction to this led by female senators from both parties. And I think this is something that as I say is a contained Iran that is not likely to affect the broader agenda.

The agenda that he laid out this week, the very ambitious agenda on rethinking the legal architecture of the war on terror, something that he very clearly wants to have in place by the time he leaves office, that's another matter. There you see Republicans kind of line up in a more predictable way. But I think on the issue of sexual harassment and sexual, you know, kind of threats in the military, that is something that I think very much is departing from the basic reflects a pattern of partisanship we are seeing on most fronts in Washington now.

WHITFIELD: Yes, the kind of the universal consensus on that.

All right, thanks so much, Ron Brownstein.

Always good to see from you Washington. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: All right, there indeed so many amazing stories emerging from the tornado disaster in Moore, Oklahoma. Among them, a team led by a 2008 CNN hero, Tad Agoglia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never seen anything like this.

TAD AGOGLIA, CNN HERO: Watching the news and literally seeing this tornado touchdown right before our very eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

AGOGLIA: We knew it was powerful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is. It is a mile right there. AGOGLIA: My first response team was prepositioned and we were able to get here within two hours after the strike. We saw a massive destruction right off the bat. We were able to get police escorts and we were brought right to the school. Search and rescue had just begun.

We had some equipment onsite that really was needed. Cranes, to lift up heavy debris, cat machines with grapple buckets to move the debris out of the way. We were digging through an area of the school where we thought there could be young children trapped. Seeing the desks, pieces of paper that children had written on, they just stopped me in my tracks and reminded me of why I do what I do every day.

My team spends over 50 large scale disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, super storm Sandy. This could be almost as bad as Joplin. I am not a scientist, but something is changing. The disasters are becoming more epic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: This is CNN breaking news.

AGOGLIA: Thanks to the news, meteorologists, thanks to technology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: You need to be in your tornado shelter immediately.

AGOGLIA: People are becoming more aware of how to prepare and get out of harm's way when these large scale disasters strike. We have come here to help, to be a part of the community. But, it is always vitally important for me and my team to remember every house had a family living in it and they need a helping hand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So, to help Tad, help those impacted by the disaster or find out about the other CNN heroes working in Moore, right now, go to CNNheroes.com.

All right, torrential rain pounds central Texas. San Antonio is under nearly nine inches of water right now in some parts deeper. We will get an update on rescues and how long the severe weather will be sticking around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Severe flash floods have taken over parts of San Antonio, Texas, today killing one person. Fire officials say the water swept a woman right out of her car. Her body was found near a creek. Officials also say at least one person is missing and crews have had to rescue about 100 people.

The heavy rain has been relentless today, more than nine inches have fallen. And the San Antonio River has now hit a new flood record.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis with more on that. Pretty remarkable record that broke one that took many days to set, this one just took one. MAGINNIS: Yes. This is it. And less than a 24-hour time period, about 12, maybe 14 hours and this morning, we saw a record rainfall amount at 3:00 this morning in San Antonio. They already had three inches of rain. They seem close to ten inches and it looks like the train of moisture is going to continue, but I don't think you will see the volume of rain that we have seen in the past 12 hours or so. But it will be there. It will start to shut down going tomorrow morning.

Now, having said that, look at what happened. I know this doesn't look very interesting. But essentially this tells us a lot. Look how the river here, the San Antonio River just spiked out of nowhere. It jumped up to a record 34 feet plus. The old record was at 32. You may have seen those pictures of the person being rescued off of the golf course. Right to the side of your screen, you can see some live pictures coming out of San Antonio from our affiliate KSAT.

Here is the rescue of this gentleman. He was on top of a building that was on a golf course. The golf course was inundated. They had the rescue operation in this Kodiak. He put on his life vest, he got into Kodiak and off they go. He appears to be fine. But as Fredricka just mentioned, there is one fatality, a woman whose body was found as well as her automobile.

And they are saying look at those gauges before you go into some of these dry washes. The other thing that we have to tell you about and that is the tornado warning. It goes to the top of the hour. This is in Victoria, the county of Victoria is to the north of the city of Victoria and has a history of a brief tornado and appears that the cell is just weakening, tapering off even as we speak. But nonetheless, Fred, it tells us that the atmosphere is still capable of a lot of volatility and very fierce weather.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks for the warning. Appreciate that. Keep us posted on that both we are talking the flooding and the tornadic potential there in Victoria. So, we will of course continue to watch all of those fronts.

And we will also take you back to Moore, Oklahoma. Tomorrow is Sunday. And a lot of people there are relying on faith to get them through the aftermath of that horrific tornado. We will talk with a pastor in Moore straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: When a huge tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, earlier this week a lot of people were praying for themselves and for the people they love. And right now, they are relying on that same faith to get them through the aftermath.

Life church TV has thousands of members in the area. Bobby Gruenewald is a pastor at LifeChurch TV. He is joining us right now from Moore, Oklahoma. Good to see you.

BOBBY GRUENEWALD, PASTOR, LIFECHURCH TV: Good to be with you, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: So, we have heard from so many victims who when that tornado was bearing down on their community, they were praying out loud and they have continued to pray even in the aftermath. What is it about that community where faith really is at the core?

GRUENEWALD: You know, Oklahomans are full of faith and here in Oklahoma City in particular we have been through tragedies in the path and a community that has really come together and most importantly around faith. We have people here that really believe God is good all the time even in the midst of these tragedies. And I think in times like this one when others are maybe asking questions about where God was, people here in Oklahoma, many of them, are actually turning to God in these times and realize that he is good and faithful.

WHITFIELD: But then, you do occasionally hear from people whose homes were taken or loved one was taken and then they do ask, you know, where was God? What do you tell them?

GRUENEWALD: You know, it is natural, I think, during this process of kind of grieving sometimes to ask some of these types of questions and they want to know if God is here. He is present. God didn't cause this to happen. He is good and he is faithful. And I think as people process through that, we may help them know that God is close to those who are broken hearted and it says that in the psalms. And it actually in times like these that are not the times to turn prosecute from God but rather to turn to God during these times and to the church.

WHITFIELD: You and your members have helped out in a big way there in Moore by cleaning up whether it be to help go through the debris of people's homes, helping them find belongings, et cetera, but apparently one priority was for you all to clean up a cemetery there in Moore. Why is that? And what did you discover or what took place in the process there?

GRUENEWALD: Sure. I think right in the aftermath we had, you know, just enormous number of people that wanted to just come and do something, find a way to help and obviously, we understood the first responders were doing their job and it really wasn't a time for thousands of people to descend in the middle of it. And so, we worked with the relief organizations to sort of find some things that maybe we could do and we partnered with another church here in the community and I think about 1,000 people came down to clean up a cemetery. Because that was something that was sort of out of the way and we knew it would be a matter of time before that cemetery would unfortunately need to be used. And so, it was a way that we could take the energy and the just the strong desire the people had, helping and able to find a way for them to do that.

WHITFIELD: Have you all been coordinating with other church groups there because this is a massive undertaking to help out the hundreds of people hit there, thousands of people hit.

GRUENEWALD: I think that's one of the best parts really of the story, of the relief effort is so many churches locally have come together. There is a strong coordination effort between churches of different denominations. We actually have churches from all over the world that have been contacting us and how they can help, so we have people from Australia, from California, from different parts of the U.S., that have been calling us to help.

This is a time when the church really unites together because before long the media will have to leave and so will some of the national relief organizations, but the church will be present here and the churches that are here in this community will be present for many, many years to come. And so, it is really important that we unite together right now to help each other and help our community.

WHITFIELD: Bobby Gruenewald, pastor of LifeChurch TV. Thanks so much for your time and all the best as you continue to help the folks there, your neighbors, your friends in Moore, Oklahoma.

GRUENEWALD: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Matters of health now, a surprising revelation from actor Brad Pitt. The actor says he thinks he may have faced blindness and he plans to get tested for the disorder. He says even having a real conversation with someone doesn't help him remember faces.

And what must it be like living with face blindness? Sanjay Gupta talks with a man who was diagnosed with that condition.

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DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oliver Sacks may be a world famous neurologist, but there is one simple thing, something important, something most of us take for granted that he can barely do at all. That's to recognize a face, even a famous one.

What about this one?

DOCTOR OLIVER SACKS, NEUROLOGIST: Soft focus. The owner of this face is looking tough. But, I don't know who it is. Sometimes I fail to recognize myself.

GUPTA: Yourself?

SACKS: Yes. I have occasionally started apologizing to a clumsy bearded man only to realize this is a mirror.

GUPTA: He is face blind. It is a rare and incurable condition he's had since birth. Sacks suspects its genetic since his brother suffers from the same condition. He can see each facial feature just fine, but putting it altogether, that's the problem.

How about this picture?

SACKS: Well, that a very beautiful, model or actress or I suppose one thinks of Marilyn Monroe.

GUPTA: I am curious, looking at me right now, can you describe what you are seeing?

SACKS: You have very beautiful white teeth. So I would recognize you especially by your teeth.

GUPTA: You see, he finds a way, a way to adapt.

SACKS: I mean, now I have ousted myself about-face blindness. It makes it easier.

GUPTA: Would you want to be cured this, if you could?

SACKS: Yes, I think so. I think if I was suddenly presented with thousands of familiar, potentially familiar faces, I think this might overwhelm me.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. That is extraordinary.

All right, just a week away, hurricane season is upon us. So, what can you do to stay prepared? We will have tips right after this.

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WHITFIELD: We are exactly a week away from the start of hurricane season. The U.S. government is predicting an above-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic including three to six major storms with 100- mile-per-hour sustained winds. Forecasters say the Atlantic could see 13 to 20 named storms this year. However, they say the pacific will have a below-normal hurricane season.

So, more than $2 billion in insurance claims are expected from this week's tornado in Oklahoma. Whether it's a tornado or a hurricane, you should always be prepared for disaster.

HLN's money expert, Clark Howard, has these tips.

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CLARK HOWARD, HLN MONEY EXPERT: Number one, it's not just money. Everybody should have a go kit. We have two in our house, in the event that for whatever reason we had to leave our house in a hurry or we had to hunker down in our case we are lucky enough to have a basement, where we have a supply of water, and some nonperishable foods. It is the first thing, is you have to look after your health and safety.

Financially, though, one thing I'm finding is that people are terribly underinsured. That somebody may have bought a home more than five years ago, they have never raised the coverages they had for their home. And if you have a catastrophic loss, you are financially broken because you will not have enough homeowner's insurance coverage to rebuild your home or to replace your possessions.

WHITFIELD: So, you're saying you need to increase your insurance coverage? Or how do you --

HOWARD: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: Go about that, even if your home has depreciated in value. Or even if you have paid off your home or you're close to paying it off?

HOWARD: Thank you for asking the question the way you did. Because with what happened through the real estate bust, a lot of people thought increase my home owners insurance, are you crazy? Crazy like a fox because the cost of construction continues to rise even as -- and home values are rising again. But even if your home had dropped in market value, if it was a total loss or substantial loss, it would take a lot of money to rebuild it.

So that's why every three years you should go to your insurer, and have them evaluate whether or not you have adequate insurance. Because most of the time you will be underinsured, and the insurer is not going to pay all the costs to the rebuild your home.

One other thing, on that point, is make sure your possessions, the portion of your insurance that pays for your household goods, that you have what's known as replacement value coverage. Otherwise, your insurer will say, that's three years old. We are only going to give you 25 cents on the dollar for that. It costs you only a tiny amount more in premiums to have that replacement value coverage on your possessions.

WHITFIELD: How do you, you know, say this was my property at this location, and you know, I've got nothing to show for it.

HOWARD: In terms of documenting what you have, I recommend once a year, at the time we switch to daylight savings time or we switch back to standard time, that you videotape your home. You do a walk and talk, and you videotape everything you have, and instead of having to worry where you put it, you store it with one of the cloud surfaces where you can store things up in outer space, wherever the cloud is. So if you did have a catastrophic loss, you have walked around the house, you say we got this new TV last month. We paid this number of dollars for it. It's a 42-inch television. These are our clothes and you walk through and you describe all your possessions. So that later the insurer is not thinking, hey you are just trying to get one over on us. You can provide a videotape showing that it's no more than one year old, everything you have and what you paid for it.

WHITFIELD: And the value of it. Don't necessarily have to have those receipts, because that, too, may have been blown away. That's going to be enough for your insurance companies.

HOWARD: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All great advice, but that's why we turn to you, Clark Howard.

HOWARD: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Of course you can watch Clark Howard on HLN's "Evening Express," Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

All right, a Florida teen faces charges for her relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Her response to a possible plea deal, next.

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