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Tornadoes Hitting Midwest and South

Aired November 17, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the CNN Center here in Atlanta.

We're watching a severe weather system that is threatening one-third of the U.S. We understand right now that this system is bringing hail in some places, high winds, lots of rain, ominous clouds and, in some occasions, some tornadic activity. We understand a tornado may have already touched down in Illinois in Pecan.

And now we're also getting reports from a storm chaser as well as some confirmation from our weather sources that a tornado may be on the ground in Lebanon, Indiana. These are some of the images from a storm chaser that we continue to watch.

Our Karen Maginnis in the Severe Weather Center, so Karen, let's talk about what may be on the ground right now, the storm chaser that you just talked to said he thinks the tornado has been on the ground for about 2-3 minutes there in Lebanon, Indiana.

MAGINNIS: Yes, and that's when you spoke with him just a few minutes ago. We were reporting this about just about six minutes ago now. This has been a very dynamic, very serious weather system. It's advancing to the east very rapidly and numerous, numerous reports of possible tornadoes. Tornadoes touched down, this particular one, in Lebanon, Indiana, reported to be very large.

As you can see, it's not really very densely populated. But, nonetheless, this is such a broad system and its impact has been great.

We started out earlier in the day at Chicago, where at the Chicago Bears game, Soldier Field, they were letting people evacuate the stadium Also, Pecan in Missouri. This is one of the suburbs out of Peoria. It looks as if from what we can tell from the tracks of this, with downed trees, the downed power lines and the major, structural damage is that a tornado apparently moved from Pecan to the southern or southeastern suburbs of Peoria, then towards Washington, Indiana.

And there you can better believe that the people here are in stunned silence because of the scope of this fierce weather system that is now responsible for some 54 reports of tornadoes. Some of those confirmed, some, the National Weather Service, the local national weather service will have to go out and evaluate.

When you see things that have completely washed a clean slate, nothing left, then you might say those are EF-5 tornadoes. Here we see tipped over automobiles. We've had reports of tipped over mobile homes, also large structures that had been damaged during a touchdown of these tornadoes. And the storm chaser that you spoke with earlier, Fredricka, said he saw this large tornado on the ground in the vicinity of Lebanon. And there are a number of tornado warnings that will continue for -- typically, they last for about 30 minutes or so. And we still all the way from South Bend, Indiana, to Indianapolis, we have a number of severe thunderstorm warnings as well as tornado warnings.

WHITFIELD: OK. And these are live images that we're seeing right now when we saw the damage of that Starbucks, the sign that we saw, a van tipped to its side. But Greg, my producer, can you tell me which city those live images were coming out of? And that was out of Indianapolis so you talked earlier to some big cities like Chicago, Indianapolis, even Detroit, wherein the crosshairs in this case Indianapolis gets hit as well as some of the suburbs kind of cities that we've been talking about.

Now, Chicago, the last we spoke with the emergency management official there, Karen, out of Chicago, while they're not necessarily saying they're completely out of the woods, they were able to say that the skies were starting to clear up a little bit. We know that the Bears and Ravens game is back in Soldier Field.

Now talk to me about Detroit, Michigan, I guess, next in the line of fire of this storm system?

MAGINNIS: Yes. They are currently under tornado watches which means broadly speaking the conditions are favorable for tornadic activity. The warnings are the most compelling, the most immediate that we have to pay attention to.

Here's where some of the tornado reports are coming from. All the way from Illinois extending towards just to the south of Chicago. All the way down to the east of St. Louis. In the vicinity of Cape Gerardo, Missouri, to the south of Cape Gerardo. Now they're pushing into Indiana and Kentucky. Most possibly next, in the line of fire, will be eastern Indiana, Ohio, into northern Kentucky, and possibly into Tennessee. We've had some severe storms coming out of Michigan -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. So now these images right here understand, Karen, I understand, coming from St. Louis, Missouri. You talked about that area also being subjected to -- to some severe weather. And we're already seeing it happen from these images.

MAGINNIS: Yes. And it looks like from what we're looking at on our radar right now most of the watches, the tornado watches are to the east now. But certainly when that very dynamic storm as it moved very rapidly towards the east, in its wake, you'll start to see those winds. They will be gusting up to 50, 60 miles an hour. Even behind the storm system because the air is going to fill in behind it. Temperatures are going to be much cooler, like in Chicago.

They were in the 60s today. They will be in the 40s for tomorrow. I don't know if these are live pictures or not that we're looking at but yes. It does look like those are some pictures --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right, Karen. All right. Hold on, Karen. You might be able to be part of this conversation, too. We're going to go with the Illinois Department of Emergency Management. Patty Thompson, she's a communications manager for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, joining us by phone from Springfield, Illinois.

All right. So give me an idea of what you are assessing in terms of how many tornadoes may have touched ground, what communities may have been impacted.

PATTY THOMPSON, ILLINOIS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Well, at this time, we have gotten confirmation from the National Weather Service, touchdown in six counties. And those are actually fairly dispersed throughout the state, even down to the very southern tip of Illinois now. But we also have four other counties that have some reported damage. But we don't have confirmation of whether or not those are tornadoes yet or just wind damage.

WHITFIELD: So in these areas, and we're looking at these images here, in these six counties where you say there are reports of touchdowns, what is the need? How do you get to them? What do you do first?

THOMPSON: Well, we actually have been watching the storm system for the last couple days. And we're in contact with the weather service. So (INAUDIBLE) went on alert. We're prepared to send any of the equipment or any personnel that they might need to respond and to recover from this situation, from disaster. And we are in contact -- the Illinois Emergency Management Agency has the staff to the Washington area which was one of the hardest-hit areas that we've heard of so far.

And, say, you're having issues with communications there to where also equipment that will (INAUDIBLE) communications to our first responders.

WHITFIELD: And Patty, we're looking at live pictures, as you and I speak, of Indianapolis and now we're looking at images from potentially the damage out of that Washington, Illinois, area. We're seeing the storm as it's happening there in Indianapolis. Lots of rain, lots of wind, shaking the camera here. And then when we look at the debris out of that Washington, Illinois, area, we're seeing cars that have been flipped over. We're seeing what appeared to have been structures, houses, other buildings that looked purely decimated.

When we talked to the mayor of Peoria earlier, he talked about wanting to send resources to help out the folks in Washington. Do you know anything about injuries, even fatalities? What do you know about the extent of the need?

THOMPSON: At this point, we're still trying to get as much information as possible from the Washington area. I don't have any confirmed information on any injuries, the number of injuries or any fatalities in that area. However, we did have one report from the southern part of our state down in Nashville, which is in Washington County, in the southern part of our state so we're going to have one so far the storm related fatalities that has been confirmed to us.

WHITFIELD: OK. Patty, and quickly, Karen Maginnis has a question for you as well.

MAGINNIS: Patty, this is Karen Maginnis. And for people who are near this area that has been apparently devastated by all the tornadic activity today, people who want to go in and help, what advice would you give to them?

THOMPSON: We usually recommend that people not spontaneously deploy themselves to assert because clearly in an area where they have so much damage and they have -- the first responders are still dealing with life safety issues that having more people in the area can be problematic. But they should be checking to see if there are voluntary agencies that are looking for assistance. And it's best to work through some of those agencies that have organized response.

WHITFIELD: All right. Patty Thompson, thanks so much, of the Illinois Emergency Management. All the best. We'll keep in touch.

Karen Maginnis, thanks so much.

We're going to take a short break. We'll have much more of this severe weather system after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We continue to watch the severe weather system moving across some 26 U.S. states. We've shown you pictures of images from storm chasers in Indiana to damage in Illinois in a town called Washington, Illinois. We recently spoke with the Illinois Department of Emergency Management. They're trying to get resources to the folks in Washington. It does appear as though a tornado touched down there.

Overall, the National Weather Service storm prediction center is actually reporting that 48 tornado reports have come in, 98 damaging wind reports, and six reports of winds greater than hurricane force in many of these locations. Some of the greatest damage so far we're seeing in Illinois.

And also we understand we have reports of tornadoes touching down in Kentucky and Ohio as well. So a great swath of the country being hit by tornadic activity as well as just simply severe weather activity.

Hail has been brought to some places, damaging winds, of course. An ominous, dark clouds. You're seeing some of the images from storm chasers on the ground. Many of them in Indiana as well as Illinois.

So joining us right now out of Indiana, storm chaser Tony Laubach. He is outside of Advance, Indiana.

So, Tony, give us an idea of what you're seeing. You said earlier that you are not far from Lebanon, Indiana, where it's believed a tornado touched down there and has been on the ground for a few minutes. And that was about 30 minutes ago. Where are you now? What are you seeing?

TONY LAUBACH, STORM CHASER: Well, I'm actually in the town of Lebanon. They did sustain a hit from that tornado. We saw about half an hour ago, there was damage to a Starbucks, a vehicle was also flipped in the parking lot. A lot of emergency crews rolling through town. We haven't seen any other damage outside of that little strip mall there, but witnesses in the Wendy's across the street all told me that they were evacuated into the cooler and the tornado ended up hitting Starbucks right across the street.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. So you did talk to people there. They hid out in the cooler. What about -- it appeared that corner, we saw that earlier with the Starbucks sign damaged and that a van, a minivan toppled to its side where there are a lot of people still in those businesses in that area or just the few people that you spoke with.

LAUBACH: Just a couple of people I have spoken with. Nobody -- I haven't heard any injury. I don't know if anybody was in the car. It looks like the Starbucks, the front of the store, got blown in. So all the -- all the windows on the front of the store were blown in. And some damage to the roof.

The strip mall behind Starbucks, though, seemed to be in pretty good shape. So it looks like it was just a very narrow path here. We're seeing if there's any other damage here in town. But we were able to confirm that tornado on the ground when it came through Lebanon.

WHITFIELD: And what else have you seen along the way? You've been on the road for a few hours now. What have you been witnessing?

LAUBACH: Well, we've seen storms from Illinois all the way to Indiana. The storms have been moving so fast today. Somewhere in the upwards of 75 miles an hour if I've heard the reports correctly. And we were just kind of skipping from storm-to-storm. One storm had moved by we'd have to head south and east to the next one and storms near Bloomington, I think, produced some wind damage. And baseball- sized hail that we also encountered there.

So it's been a -- it's been a very active day in this part of the country for places that usually don't see this kind of stuff.

WHITFIELD: Very active indeed. Especially this time of year. We've heard from our meteorologist Karen Maginnis how unusual it is to have this kind of activity, severe weather, tornadic activity this time of year in late November, mid to late November. So now how are you keeping yourself safe through all of this?

LAUBACH: Well, we're, you know, very well-informed. We try to make it so they were not putting ourselves directly in the path of these tornadoes. We know they're moving fast. We want to make sure we allow ourselves enough time to get out of the way when they do. And we have not been able to see any tornadoes today as a result of that. But we have been safe. And we've been able to stay ahead. And then like I said, we caught this last tornado in Lebanon from the west looking east. And obviously did some damage here in town. WHITFIELD: And in Lebanon where you are, are you seeing any kind of effort to assist people? Assess the damage? Anything like that happening this early in the game?

LAUBACH: We -- emergency crews are actually trying to clear that strip mall. They actually asked us to leave not too long ago. And they were looking like they were talking to some residents, like I said, I didn't see any ambulances or active rescue ongoing. Everybody I talked to in the area seemed to be in pretty good shape. Everybody was able to take shelter. This tornado was warned in advance and fortunately I think most people took the warnings. And I think other than some minor damage and a lack of lattes everybody is going to be OK here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tony Laubach, thanks so much. Storm chaser joining us from Lebanon, Indiana.

We're going to have much more of this storm that is bring very dangerous winds, tornadic activity, lots of hail, putting a lot of people's lives in danger.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following breaking news of severe weather in the Midwest. Here's what we know right now. The National Weather Service says there are reports of 48 tornadoes in the Midwest and south. There are 98 reports of damaging wind and 28 reports of hail. And we just got confirmation that one person was killed in the Illinois storms. All told, the severe weather is threatening more than 109 million people across 26 states.

People in Pecan, Illinois, were shocked to see this. Funnel clouds above their house. One person lived there actually got photos of the damage and I talked to Jack Lance who was in the middle of the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK LANCE, RESIDENT: I actually came down from a separate neighborhood and I saw sirens, I saw lights and I -- me and a couple of friends ran down there and we saw a lot of wreckage. We saw a lot of trees down, we saw houses with their roofs completely torn off, the power lines down. There's a huge cloud, a huge storm cloud.

When I was there, it wasn't even the worst of what happened. I'm sure there's more trees down. The winds are very strong right now. And it's not really safe right now. But I -- what I saw was a lot of people distressed and like their homes destroyed. Car windows were shattered. It wasn't a pretty sight.

WHITFIELD: And so the images that we're looking at that you took, we're seeing a lot of trees down. Some of those trees on houses. What about the people who live there? What if anything were they saying to you? Does it appear as though there were any injuries? LANCE: I haven't heard of any injuries. I think people heard the sirens and they got to a safe spot. But it was mostly just heads down and like people really worried about each other. Everyone was asking each other if they're OK. Neighbors were outside. Helping clean up. I saw people with chainsaws trying to cut branches off their roofs trying to get -- everyone was really helping each other. That was a good part of it. I -- it was really good to see the neighbors helping people in need.

WHITFIELD: Incredible. And what are you doing to stay safe? How is the weather looking in your view?

LANCE: I'm staying at my house right now. Yes. I have a storm -- I can see the (INAUDIBLE). They're really loud like a boat flipped over in my yard. And there's - a nearby town got hit as well, like Washington, Illinois, which is right by us. Their town got completely leveled and I'm just staying inside and I'll probably go help people tomorrow for any time they need it, I'm going to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Jack Lance, a resident there in Pecan.

All right. We'll have much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A severe weather system bringing hail, wind, dark clouds and, in some cases, tornadoes, and now threatening some 26 states. Our meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking the storm from the CNN Severe Weather Center.

So, Karen, give us an idea, where is this storm? What's it doing where? These tornadoes just kind of dropping out of the sky.

MAGINNIS: They are moving so rapidly that it's very difficult to keep up with all of them. We've got a team of meteorologist in the weather center. And about 19 million people were in that high risk area that the storm predictions center issued that it was only the sixth times since the late '80s that they've issued a high risk during the month of November.

This is the area we were talking about. This is moving and shifting very rapidly and in its wake, we've seen lots of tornado reports. Fifty-eight reports of tornadoes. Now local national weather service will go out and evaluate it. It could be one cell that touches down in several different areas. And I'll give you an example of that.

Here is Peoria, Illinois. This is Pecan. This is what we saw where all that damage took place. Also, we have reports coming out of Peoria, quite a bit of structural damage there. Also in Washington.

What I think happened is that a super cell moved across Pecan, the southern suburbs of Peoria then up towards Washington. So it may have touched down in Pecan. May have touched down in that southern suburb. And it touched in Washington. Or it may have stayed on the ground for that length of time.

We just don't know. We'll have to take a look at some of those storm tracks. But right now, all the way from Ft. Wayne to Muncie to Indianapolis, this where we have tornado warnings.

But, Fred, there are eight states now that have tornado watches out. The entire state of Michigan, all of Indiana, portions of Ohio, into Tennessee. Extending all the way down into Tennessee, and we'll watch this march towards the east over the next few hours. It's a very dynamic weather system. We had a high wind report of 86 miles an hour, the suburb just outside of Chicago.

All right. Here we go. Where you see these red shaded areas, these boxes, those are the tornado watches. Where you see the purple images, that's where we have the tornado warnings. So warning is much more important. That means you need to leave wherever you are. If it is a mobile home, you need to get to an interior room. A low-lying area. Not under an overpass.

And staying safe is the critical part. We had a report coming out of Lebanon of a large tornado. That's not Tennessee that was into southern Indiana. That the storm chaser said he spotted a large tornado on the ground there. And it's moving very quickly to the east, northeast at just about 50 to 60 miles an hour.

A number of places reporting flight delays, flight cancellations. Take a look at these pictures out of the storm chasers. And this you can see clearly indicating the dark clouds and some of the super cells that are moving across this region are producing at times brief tornado touchdowns. And, other times, we're getting reports, Fred, of these very large tornados.

Out of Purdue University, this is in northern Indiana we had a report of a 69 mile an hour wind gust at the airport there. Also, at O'Hare in Midway they had cancelled flights, they have delayed flights. In New York, LaGuardia and also J.F.K., they are saying they are anticipating this severe weather and already, some delays expected there.

Also extending into Atlanta. Not because of severe weather but there's low visibility. So as we go into the late day Sunday traffic, people trying to get back to where they work or going to work, it's going to be very problematic. Here you can see, I'm not exactly sure --

WHITFIELD: Yes. This is Saint Louis. I have covered a lot of hurricanes as have you, when I first saw these images, I thought those look like hurricane force winds. I come to find out in some cases, there have been reports of hurricane-force winds where the system has passed through. Not sure if it looks like 74 mile per hour winds there. But it certainly looks very serious and very gusty.

MAGINNIS: Well, winds like this are capable of bringing down tree limbs, trees. There's a particular gust there. All it takes is a high- pro file vehicle like we have seen some of the trucks, the semis, the camper trucks.

WHITFIELD: These are live images right now, Indianapolis. Look how dark.

MAGINNIS: And this is another important point, Fred. I want to mention this. And that is a lot of these tornadoes are rain-wrapped, meaning--

WHITFIELD: What is that?

MAGINNIS: Meaning that you're not seeing sunshine behind them. There is rain and the super cell, the tornado actually is engulfed in this rain. So you can't see it. It's late in the day. The sun is setting earlier. As you can see, hardly any visibility here, you wouldn't know if there was a tornado in your vicinity or not unless you were listening to the weather advisory's, the radio. To see if there was a tornado warning issued in your area, so it is possible these tornadoes are going to be rain-wrap and you won't even see them. So don't assume that you'll be safe.

WHITFIELD: Isn't it amazing within seconds we saw a portion of a skyline and now we see nothing. It is dark; this is happening live right now, flashes of what appear to be lightening.

MAGINNIS: Yes, and that's the other thing. Even if it's not tornadic, you will see high winds that will tip over the vehicles as I mentioned. Hail which will produce some damage there. We've seen a number of reports of very heavy rainfall that extending all the way from Michigan near Grand Rapids, and I also mentioned at Purdue University, they had a report of a 69 mile an hour wind gust there at the airport. Some damaging winds, hail, heavy windfall and look at this the visibility is zero. So these tornados as I just mentioned a minute or so ago could be rain-wrapped. If a warning is issued, you need to take cover immediately.

WHITFIELD: All right. Great warnings. And you know Karen, we talked earlier about Chicago. Chicago was in the cross hairs of severe weather you mentioned it was a thunderstorm warning. Not necessarily threats of tornadic activity but it was dangerous and threatening enough that Soldier Field was evacuated in the middle of a Bears- Ravens game. And all of those attending that game had to go to a safe area there in the stadium. They have since been able to and you see pictures right there were sent into us of folks just simply waiting it out. The game has since resumed.

Our George Howell is there in Chicago. George I think you are on the phone with us right now. OK. Where are you? What's the experience? Last we spoke, you were starting to see blue skies again, sunshine? What's happening?

George are you there? All right. Just that quickly, we lost that signal. We will try to reconnect with George. I don't know if that's an indicator of what kind of weather they're experiencing right now in Chicago. We'll have much more on THE NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We are following breaking news of severe weather in the Midwest; here is what we know right now. The National Weather Service says there are reports of 48 tornados in the Midwest and South, 98 reports of damaging winds, 28 reports hail. We just got confirmation that one person was killed in the Illinois storm. Let's go to Chicago. I'll try to connect, once again, with George Howell joining us on the phone. So George earlier, we talked about how the Soldier Field was evacuated, game has resumed playing. Where are you, what is happening?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hey Fred. So yes, we are just south of Soldier Field. And again, a few minutes ago we tried to have a live signal with you but because of the winds that are coming in that wasn't possible. We do have a signal though; it breaks up from time to time and even so some reception out here. We are watching the clouds race over the sky line to the North West and we are not quite out of the woods yet here in Chicago area. We've got these strong winds, in fact a high-wind warning for this area that is still ongoing. And we're watching, you know, as the straight line winds come through, the wind gusts pick up from time-to-time.

I want to also talk about the video that was taken just a few hours ago by photo journalist Dave Rupp (ph) where some of these semis that were turned over on Interstate 80, about 80 miles west of Chicago. You get a sense of how strong, how powerful these wind gusts are that are coming through this area. So again the strong storm, those ones that have passed through Chicago, but again the wind they are not letting up yet.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So lots of wind bursts of not even tornados. And then we understand earlier the reason why they had to suspend -- temporarily suspend that game at Soldier Field was in large part because that thunderstorm, a threatening thunderstorm and not necessarily because of the threat of a tornado.

HOWELL: Right, right. It is one of those things, it is just a matter of keeping people as safe as possible, we know that some 60,000 people, I mean that is a packed house. But 60,000 people, they all left the stands, took shelter, keep in mind there were plenty of habeas (ph) out. You come to Chicago; you watch the fairs you go tailgate, the thing to do. But not right now. So people got out of the way of the storm.

And the other thing, Fred, you know, both major airports, Midway and O'Hare. At one point, for about an hour, were at a ground stop. We understand that flights have resumed at both major airports here in Chicago. But this was a big storm it packed a punch the big cells that moved though and we are still watching as these winds continue to push through this area.

WHITFIELD: All right. George Howell thank you so much for keeping us posted out of Chicago. We are going to have much more on the severe weather system threatening 26 U.S. states right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back, live pictures now of Indianapolis. Here it is in the middle of the day, 3:44 local time, very ominous, very dark but nothing like what we saw about 30 minutes ago when this very live shot went dark just in a matter of minutes while we were on the air. You didn't see a thing as the storm system moved in. Unable to see exactly what was taking place on the ground, only that dark cloud kind of took over the skies there bringing in a lot of rain, as well.

We heard our Karen Maginnis, meteorologist talk about earlier how a lot of this system, some of the tornado activity even in this region has been rain wrapped. But unclear whether any kind of tornado did touchdown in Indianapolis just a very severe threatening weather system, thunder storm. This weather system has really wreaked havoc in 26 U.S. states. You see it happening right there as you watched live. You see the skyline in Indianapolis and then, all of the sudden, you do not.

That was about roughly 30 minutes ago. But now, you can see the skyline. The worst part of that system, seemingly, has passed. But, of course, you can still see that there's rain. They're taking place engulfing that city.

So this severe weather which has hit a number of the upper Midwest cities including Chicago, in fact caused a nearly two-hour delay of the Chicago Bears-Baltimore Ravens game at Soldier Field. Earlier, I spoke to a fan who said the weather was perfect when he got there. And then suddenly, that storm moved in.

VOICE OF JIM ARNOLD, WAS AT SOLDIER FIELD WHEN STORM HIT: (Inaudible)

WHITFIELD: In what way? You evacuated?

ARNOLD: Yes. We were evacuated. We got here at noon, it was perfect. The sky looked good, it was 65 degrees. About 20 minutes later, the rain started coming, the skies got black, the wind was insane.

WHITFIELD: Were you scared at that point?

ARNOLD: My daughter was terrified. I was concerned about her. But we've been totally safe the whole time.

WHITFIELD: And then, when they evacuated you and the hundreds of others who were there, you know, packing Soldier Field, where did you go? Have you ever experienced anything at Soldier Field like that before? Did you know where you were being directed?

ARNOLD: We'd never been involved with anything like this. I'd been to a lot of Bears games and sat through 15 degrees below weather, we sat through thick winds, thick snow, all kinds of things but never anything like this. The winds gusted at 70 miles per hour. And the winds and rain were horizontal. Everybody was running for the kits. It was just crazy an hour ago.

WHITFIELD: All because of a severe weather system, a thunder storm in the area of Chicago. And now as far as we know, the Bears-Ravens game is now underway there at Soldier Field.

All right. Earlier we also spoke with someone about the ground stop for about an hour at O'Hare and Midway Airports there in Chicago. Karen Pride was with us. Both of those airports shut down, temporarily. And have since reopen. But delays are still taking place there. Here's her perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOICE OF KAREN PRIDE, HEAD OF MEDIA RELATIONS FOR O'HARE/MIDWAY AIRPORTS: It has been an interesting afternoon. And as of right now actually, there are flights going in and out of both airports. They were in a ground stop for approximately an hour, hour and a half earlier today. But now, the weather has moved through enough for the airlines are able to get some of their flight operations back on track.

WHITFIELD: And what are you telling people, Karen? Folks who plan to travel through Chicago or Midway, folks who are perhaps trying to get on the trains to trying catch a flight or even people who are there in airport?

PRIDE: Well, the people, the travelers who are in the airport are working with the airlines to try to rebook their flights or do whatever they need to do or make other arrangements. But what we tell people every day of the year is check your airlines probably through the web site that is best way to get the flight status. And then get to the airport in a safe manner. So if you are on the train, if you are driving get there at least two hours in advance. Because this weather is very volatile right now, I'm sure traffic on the expressway or other expressways are kind of tied up right now. So give yourself enough time to get to the airport. Better to wait in the terminals then to be stuck in traffic and miss your flight.

WHITFIELD: All right. That was Karen Pride head of Media Relations there for the O'Hare/Midway Airports in Chicago. And we'll have much more on this weather system right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We're watching the severe weather system that is sweeping across a good portion of the nation, a third of the nation being impacted. We'll be bringing you the latest information and developments of this massive storm passing through the Midwest and the south throughout the evening.

And for more on this storm. Let go now to Mimi Ardis. She is actually the wife of Mayor Jim Ardis or Peoria, Illinois. While Peoria wasn't hit directly by what is believed to be some tornadic activity sweeping through, the nearby city of Washington was. So Mimi Ardis thanks so much for being with us. I spoke with your husband earlier and he was talking about the kind of resources that Peoria might be sending to the way of Washington. Want have you heard about how Washington Illinois is doing? How the people there have gotten through this -- what's believed to be a tornado.

VOICE OF MIMI ARDIS, WIFE OF PEORIA MAYOR JIM ARDIS: It's pretty massively damaged in certain areas. I heard that they just closed 24, Route 24; you cannot even get into Washington now. So we just went over there with my mom and got her out. It's pretty devastating. I don't know what it's going to take. You see pictures of things like that that happened and you can't even imagine it until you've seen it. WHITFIELD: What did your mom experience?

ARDIS: I honestly don't know what it is going to take. It's the whole neighborhoods that are totally, completely gone.

WHITFIELD: So I think I heard you correctly. You talked about getting your mom out. What did your mom experience there?

ARDIS: Well she just had a knee replaced about a month ago, she's mobile and she's doing really well. But she did not get into her basement which was completely, it's kind of the back part of the basement you can see, the windows are kind of above ground. But in the front, you can't tell. So her basement was very protected. She did not get to her basement. And she sat right in her front, when you walk in the front door, she has a little bench there and she was sitting on that bench. All walls completely around her, except the middle one, were gone. And when you look in, you know, when you're looking at the front of the house, you can look all the way through. There's no front wall, there is no back wall, and there was the bench that she was sitting on.

WHITFIELD: Unbelievable.

ARDIS: I know it was, it was really stressful. We didn't even know about it. My brother from Springfield called us and said his son lives in Washington, he got a hold of him and Tony told him that his whole neighborhood was completely gone. So my mom didn't live that far away. We were in a class today, my husband and my son and I were so we weren't, I didn't even know. We knew there was a tornado warning, but we didn't know that there was an actual tornado.

So my brother called so we kind of decided just to go over there and make sure that she was OK not knowing anything because we couldn't get a hold of her. On the way to Washington, it looked fine until you got -- they closed the Main Street because of the damage across that Main Street so we kind of went around about way. And going into my mom's neighborhood the back way, you turn the corner and it was complete devastation.

WHITFIELD: You had to be panic-stricken.

ARDIS: Oh my gosh, it was terrible. It was only a couple blocks away that it was, oh my gosh, I hope she's OK. We pulled up to her street and she was standing out in her front yard looking at her house. It was so scary. I don't know how to describe it. It's awful. It's complete devastation.

WHITFIELD: It is. It sounds awful. It's still unclear how many people may have been injured with what many believe to be a tornado to hit that area. So glad to hear that your mom is OK. But what a close call. We saw the images earlier of the devastation it looks like a big old steam roller has just simply moved in and plowed down these structures and these trees. Thank you so much Mimi Ardis for joining us, the wife of the Mayor of Peoria.

Karen Maginnis our meteorologist at the Weather Center looking at these images. Hearing that story about that close call and it is believed to be a tornado that hit Washington. But again, a confirmation still has to come from the National Weather Service, right?

MAGINNIS: Yes, but I'm fairly sure they're going to say it was a tornado. They will evaluate how strong it was.

WHITFIELD: Sure.

MAGINNIS: So let's run down what we saw today. In Chicago, for all intense purposes they evacuated or told people to get out of the stands at Soldier Field. They had wind gusts around the Chicago area, 86 miles an hour. They were under a severe thunderstorm watch when they wanted people to leave the stands.

Then we go down towards Pekin, in Missouri. And this is in the vicinity of Peoria. This is where we saw all that tornado damage, large structures damaged, we had reports of cars flipped over, also mobile homes flipped over. We also have seen some damage reports, or high wind reports, coming out of Michigan. Heavy rainfall reports coming out of there.

And now we are shifting our focus into Kentucky, because most of that severe weather has moved towards the east. In the vicinity, just to the north of Hopkinsville, Greenville, Kentucky, there was a report just in the last few minutes of a tornado on the ground. We don't know if there's been any damage or any injuries. We know already a confirmed fatality, that coming out of Illinois earlier. But Fred, just at the top of the hour, we will bring you some more information about the severe weather outbreak. WHITFIELD: All right. We look forward to that. Thank you so much Karen Maginnis appreciate that. We are going to have much more in THE NEWSROOM. Again, we're going to take this coverage right into the evening, overnight to keep you a breast of this very severe weather system that is sweeping a third of the nation. Extraordinary, 26 states impacted.

My colleague, Don Lemon is going to take it from here. Don, I know as a former Chicagoan, you know this part of the country very well. But this is a very nasty system. You heard Karen talk about earlier how rare it is to have this kind of system this time of year to impact that region of the country.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely right Fred. Great coverage and we have much, much more for you. Roll it.