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Three Dead, Dozens Hurt by Tornadoes; Documenting Tornadoes Hitting the Midwest

Aired November 17, 2013 - 18:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing was left standing after the tornado was done. Clean-up and recovery will take a very long time.

Look at that. This is St. Louis as the storm hit, with at least 19 million people in the direct path of the worst parts of the storm. CNN has mobilized all of its resources to bring you the very latest information.

Jonathan Munken is a director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. He joins us on the phone right now.

We spoke to you just about an hour ago. What is the very latest information that you have? You confirmed two deaths for us. What do you know now?

JONATHAN MUNKEN, DIR., ILLINOIS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (via telephone): Well, I can confirm we have a third death associated with the storm. And this one actually is in the town of Washington. So, somebody that was unable to get down to the basement in time and was pulled out of the home and ultimately found in a field nearby. So, we do have three confirmed fatalities for this outbreak of tornados.

LEMON: Ok. ? This, again, you said is in Washington. You said there are 37 injuries. And would you say seven traumatic injuries. But tell us about the injuries. Do you have an update on that?

MUNKEN: Well, we definitely know that injury number is going to climb significantly. We had a couple of specific requests for what we call ambulance strike teams to go out, where they have a particular surge that's needed in order to evacuate more people than they are immediately capable of doing so.

So, we've add couple of those requests already. So, we know that those injury numbers are going to climb significantly. We don't have the latest update yet on those seven trauma patients that came to St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, but we're certainly monitoring it very closely and expect those numbers to climb.

LEMON: Jonathan Munken is the director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

If you're just tuning in, third death confirmed right here on CNN by Mr. Munken who is there in Illinois right now. Mr. Munken, how are you holding up on resources? How are people dealing with all of a sudden becoming homeless in an instant? Well, that's a significant problem, there's no doubt. There's definitely going to be hundreds of people that are going to be looking for temporary shelter.

MUNKEN: So, the Red Cross is answering the needs with opening shelters in the area, three just in the city of Washington alone. But we know that number is going to climb as well. That's one of the biggest challenges is things are starting to get dark out there. So, as night falls, it's more difficult to coordinate these resources. It's more difficult to search through rubble.

And as this system blows through and cold air comes in, the temperature drop is also going to be an issue, to make sure that people can be kept warm, or fed and they're sheltered as we get into the nightfall.

LEMON: On a human level, how are you holding up and folks there, especially emergency workers?

MUNKEN: Well, certainly, we are doing bet are than many are today and we are grateful for that. But we want to make sure we are providing all of the services necessary for the people directly impacted by this. So, we're going to start working through shifts as we keep things open through the night. As we continue to bring additional asses to the bear to make sure that people can be helped out. We actually just dispatched an additional 61 Illinois guardsmen into the Washington area, to help out there with search and rescue in a varieties of issues.

So, we are doing OK but this is going to be a long haul.

LEMON: Are you going to need federal help, you believe?

MUNKEN: Well, we're going to have some federal resources on the ground shortly on the form of what's called an IMAT team. And they're going to help out just with the incident command. So, right now, I think we have adequate resources inside of the state to do the standard missions of things like search and rescue.

But ultimately, this will grow into a federal process as we look at overall damage assessment, and it's over such a widespread area, it's going to take a lot of folks and once we get around it day break tomorrow, as you mentioned earlier, we're going to have a clearer picture of how extensive the damage really is. So, I think that's where we're going to see some federal assistance to help us with those damage assessments.

LEMON: And people always want to help out. I'm sure many of our viewers are. What do you need most?

MUNKEN: Well, right now, I think what people need most is there's going to be requirement for water. People need to make sure that they have water to drink, depending on how the temperature is going, what the forecasts look like. If it gets cold enough, they're going to need some additional warm clothing and things like that, because a lot of people lost everything that was inside of their homes.

So, some of those will be provided through the groups like the Salvation Army and Red Cross that are helping out with those sheltering efforts. But prayers are always appreciated no matter what the circumstance.

LEMON: Absolutely. Thank you, Jonathan Munken, the director of Illinois Emergency Management Emergency.

Viewers, Mr. Munken confirming here another death in this. We don't want that -- those death toll numbers to go up but they may as you heard him, it's getting dark there, it's getting cold. And they are still trying to assess damage. They're not done yet. They are bringing in resources.

This line of storms really focused hard on the state of Illinois. This is Washington County where that death, third death confirmed, this is near Peoria, Illinois.

And it just saddens me every time we have to report something like this, because sometimes you can see a hurricane coming, some, you know, severe weather. You can you see it coming. But the tornado, it just happens in an instant and people are instantaneously, in an instant they are homeless. All of their belongs gone, their homes flattened, memories and let's not forget many times, oftentimes, lives are taken away in the process.

Karen Maginnis joining us from the CNN weather center.

Karen, this is terrible.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is widespread. It's been devastating. We saw this weather shape up on Thursday, last week. But we started this morning out with a high risk for damaging winds, large hail and possibility of isolated damaging tornadoes. And that's what we've seen this afternoon.

Now, we're looking at 76 reports of tornadoes. A lot of those from Chicago to the east of St. Louis into the western regions of Kentucky and now spreading over towards Ohio, into north central Kentucky, and it looks possibly into northern Tennessee, 76 reports. Some may be the same tornado touching down multiple times.

I want to point out, we have a number of watches out, tornado watches. Please listen to the weather radio. And if a warning is issued, take cover immediately, especially if you are in a mobile home.

I want to point out what we have heard out of Washington County, Illinois. Not the city of Washington, where we just heard Mr. Munken speak.

But this is about an hour outside of St. Louis, in Washington County, an EF-4 tornado. That is the assessment of the damage that occurred there from a tornado earlier in the day. EF-4, the path, three miles long, estimated winds at 166 miles an hour. That's an estimate. But we look at the overall damage. They will look at that damage, all the way from peak to suburbs of Peoria, and extending towards Washington.

Don, you were talking to the gentleman there who said already three fatalities, homes flattened, destroyed. It has been a devastating afternoon. Now, we look across Kentucky, still a number of tornado warnings out for this area. We have severe thunderstorm warnings out extending into Ohio and eastern sections of Indiana. Also, extending into Michigan.

Numerous reports of very high winds, heavy downpours, earlier we had some high wind reports coming out of Grand Rapids. Also near Purdue University, at the airport there. I will mention that Cape Gerardo, we haven't spoken much about that, but I'm sure that the National Weather Service is going to be looking at damage there from what appear to be tornadoes that touched down in that boot hill area of Missouri. We had three reports coming out of that area.

Also, earlier, in Chicago, they -- Soldier Field, they told folks to leave the stadium. The stands. They were under severe thunderstorm warning. Not a tornado warning, a severe thunderstorm warning. But it was lightning, it was the wind, it was the rain, that was very problematic.

I want to point out, the other areas, Pekin is right here. This is Peoria, Illinois. Here's Pekin, here are the southern suburbs, here is Washington. It looks as if that tornado traveled in a zone pretty much like this, moving off towards the Northeast. A lot of these cells have moved off towards the Northeast between 50, 60, even 70 miles an hour.

Can you just imagine, if this happens in minutes -- Don, just a week ago we were talking about Haiyan in the Philippines being the strongest storm reported anywhere on Earth. It has 195 mile-an-hour winds and gusts higher than that. If you can imagine something like this taking place just minutes, 166 miles an hour estimated with that Washington County tornado, Don, and everything flattened. It is horrific. And like you said, didn't really know what was coming.

A lot of these tornadoes are rain-wrapped. Now it is dark. So it has been especially traumatizing. As I mentioned, they will go out and assess the damage. And let us know, right now, standing at 76 tornadoes reported.

LEMON: Seventy-six. And as Jonathan Munken, the head of the Illinois Emergency Management said, this is -- they're going to wake up probably tomorrow to more damage, more injuries and let's hope not more deaths.

Karen, thank you very much.

And as we have -- we can confirm for you on CNN, just confirmed a short time ago, a heavy heart, three people now dead in this line of storms that's making its way across the country.

Short break. Update you on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This is a quote. It was complete destruction. That's how one man describes the damage after tornado tore through this neighborhood in Washington, Illinois.

More than 60 tornadoes have been reported across the Upper Midwest, according to our Karen Maginnis, 76 so far, our meteorologist.

Illinois has taken the brunt of the storm. Here are the pictures from south of Chicago -- homes flattened, debris, everywhere. At least three people are reported dead in Illinois, 37 more are injured. And there are new -- there's new information coming in at every single moment here.

I'm joined now by my colleague, Rosa Flores. She has been scanning social media sites, and iReports for images of the storm damage and what it's leaving behind. And these pictures are very important. It's very important as well to monitor social media. We want them -- people to be safe as they said in the iReports, but I've been seeing pictures on social media as well.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I know. And can you see the fear and devastation you were talking about in these pictures, because a lot of times, you see the trees piercing through homes, piercing through cars, a lot of destruction, a lot of debris. And we are also learning more about the stories behind these pictures.

I want to you focus on these four photos that we're going to show you here in just a moment, and you are looking at them now, because these photos were taken in Washington Illinois. Now, these were taken by Jim Ardis. Jim is the mayor of Peoria.

Now, the pictures are of his mother-in-law's home. Take a look, all you see are just splinters, part of the house, part of the lawn you see right there. But the home is pretty much completely destroyed.

This is what we continue to see on social media, online, folks looking through the rubble, trying to figure out what's left. A lot of times, as you might imagine, folks, mementos lost or completely damaged, completely destroyed.

Now, we're going to move on and we're going to take you to St. Louis. And we've got some video here that you can take a look that really shows, kind of the strength of this storm. And you can see that the winds and the rain just ravish through there. So if we can listen to that for just a moment.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FLORES: And some even debris flying on there.

Now, we want to show you something really interesting, Don, because as you know, we've had some tower cams up. And we created a time lapse out of Indianapolis. And if we can roll that video, because you're going to be able to see really how these storms were moving, like you were saying, through the Midwest. And you saw it right there.

I don't know if you caught it, folks, but you can see the skyline and it well-defined and the gray skies and all of a sudden it just turns dark. And then you see it over and over again as those clouds are moving through. So, it's a scary sight, Don. Even if you just look at this time lapse, it really shows you the magnitude of Mother Nature.

And when you see a lot of the pictures, it really shows you how delicate and how powerless we are really when it comes to severe weather.

LEMON: Yes. And listen, can you forecast that you're in a path for severe storms but you don't know where a tornado is --

FLORES: Exactly. And that's the thing. We have heard about hurricanes. They usually have a cone of uncertainty. You know kind of where it can hit when it comes to a tornado. It can develop anywhere.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you, Rosa. Rosa is gathering those images from our iReporters and social media. Rosa will get back to us.

And I want -- we want to go overseas. We are talking about severe weather. Let's go overseas briefly now.

It's hard to imagine how a super typhoon roared across central Philippines, obliterating towns and killing more than 3,600 people. That is, until you see this new video into CNN.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: It's really incredible. Along with the dead, 1,100 people are still missing. Hundreds of survivors in this predominantly Catholic nation attended church services today to pray for the loss. This woman is trying to find peace after her children and her sister's children were torn from their arms in the storm surge. Can you imagine? Their bodies still have not been found.

There is some real signs of progress on the ground though. Ten days after the typhoon stormed ashore, survivors in hard-hit Tacloban got food today. For most, it was the first real meal in more than a week.

The power of Mother Nature as our Rosa Flores said just a short time ago. I want to tell you that coming up, I think it is the same person, producer said, is this the same person, the iReporter in the home praying, that we're going to speak to?

So you saw the iReporter, the tornado -- someone filming the tornado out of the window and right away started reciting the Lord's Prayer and praying there. That iReporter is going to join us live next on CNN. We will talk to Anthony Khoury right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now with our breaking news coverage of the severe weather hitting the Midwest. IReporter Anthony Khoury and his family were at home when a tornado barreled through their neighborhood in Washington, Illinois.

He took this video and I want to bring -- let's listen to it real quick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY KHOURY, IREPORTER: Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Anthony Khoury, you are saying the Lord's Prayer there.

KHOURY: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. Why?

The obvious question, why are you praying there?

KHOURY: I come from a -- I come from a very devout Catholic Christian family and we just -- we trust in God that he protects us and he always gives us strength and courage. To help us endure all sorts of sufferings and threats.

LEMON: You know, I imagine a more direct question is, you are praying because of the severity and intensity of the storm. You thought -- someone in your home thought that they heard a helicopter. But in fact, it wasn't a helicopter --

KHOURY: Yes, my dad thought he heard a helicopter. And we look outside and just saw this huge mass of tornado in our backyard destroying everything in its path and we all just ran downstairs and started praying. And holding each other's hand and we believe that God would keep us safe.

LEMON: As we're looking at that video that someone is shooting out of the window, I believe that's you, how far way is this thing?

KHOURY: It was like two streets away. It wasn't that far from us.

LEMON: Are these your neighbors' homes?

KHOURY: Yes, these are like all my neighbors. It's my street and the street next to us, we're the only ones in our neighborhood that wasn't hit by the tornado. You know, it was just a shock to all of us. It was very devastated.

LEMON: Have you been able to go outside since?

KHOURY: Yes. After the tornado passed, my dad and I got in our car just to check out the damage and we just saw destruction everywhere. It was -- we saw people in the street. Crying and families just -- families hurt and you know, our heart just goes out to all of the families.

And you know, we just saw cars like flipped over and, you know, just -- just it was -- the whole land was flat, you know. I've never seen anything like this.

LEMON: How are your neighbors?

KHOURY: Can you repeat that?

LEMON: How are your neighbors doing?

KHOURY: I haven't really -- I haven't contacted any of my neighbors. I haven't spoken to them. All of my family and friends heard about the catastrophe on the news. And we had no signal. So I just -- went out of town to Peoria to have signal. And reach all of my friends and family who are very worried about me.

But my family is OK and my house is OK. No damage. We were blessed.

LEMON: Anthony Khoury, thank you, Washington, Illinois. Obviously praying because of the severity and intensity of this thing. We appreciate you joining us on CNN. We are glad that you are safe. Our iReporter, Anthony Khoury, shooting that video out of his window.

KHOURY: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Thank you, our very best to your family.

You know, people in eight states under severe weather threat, outbreak of tornadoes moving across the Midwest. We're going to show you who needs to take cover next. Information you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We are updating you right now on the severe weather hammering the Midwest. One tornado was a monster, an EF-4. This is a scene in Gifford, Illinois, just this afternoon. Sadly, this scene is reported over and over across the region. At least three people now confirmed dead and many more, dozens of others, have been hurt.

Nearly 80 tornado sightings have been reported. One Illinois emergency official tells us the path of destruction, 350 miles wide, 350 miles wide. And some winds may have reached up to 200 miles per hour.

The Illinois National Guard has been deployed to help with search and rescue. Rosa Flores is here and she has been on top of the stream of images and video coming into the CNN, from people in the storm.

And all these pictures of frightening scenes that's been happening in the Midwest that our viewers from our CNN viewers that are coming.

FLORES: I know. And one of them that really stands out is a picture of a family looking for their pets. Like when you think about these things, you also have to remember a lot of people have pets that are like a loved one and so we want to start off with a new picture. Now take a look at your screen because this is a very scary scene. Imagine this, the folks taking this photo, actually, very, very scared. I'm hoping we can -- we can show you this picture. But it is a very well-defined funnel cloud in Pekin, Illinois. And there you have it. And so these images are really scary, of course, for the people that are taking them. But here you see two levels of clouds, of gray, and of course of fear for the people that are actually taking this photo.

We can go to this next photo. Here, I'm -- there we go. This is very important, folks, because we talk time and time again how important visualizing these things are, taking these pictures, but we want to be sure that you are careful out there when you do this. So be very, very careful. And here is why you should be careful. This next photo will show us some of the destruction that we've seen in these line of storms.

Now we've seen a lot of tweets, a lot of information flowing into social media through a lot of these towns. Garner, Washington, Peoria, Gifford, which was just south and southwest of Chicago. And like I was saying, a lot of the times, some of the messages are to family members, some of the messages are about the devastation and the destruction that they are seeing in their communities.

LEMON: Unbelievable. Rosa, I want to get to something new that we have and some new video into CNN. This is from our affiliate WTHR. This is Kokomo, Indiana. Kokomo, Indiana. These are live pictures. We just spoke to a gentleman there in the emergency -- one of the emergency shelters, there was a shelter in place. Emergency Management Agency Larry Smith was his name and told us about the fire department, there was a partial roof collapse at the fire department.

This is the fire department that he's talking about. These are live pictures. Again, from our affiliate WTHR in Kokomo, Indiana. You see a fire truck right in the middle of this. Lots of flashing lights. Lots of apparatus on the scene there. But again, many of these towns hit really hard, Kokomo, Indiana, was one of them. This is 50 miles due north of Indianapolis. And again, these are chopper shots, helicopter shots from our affiliate.

They said there were power outages in the area. You can see that because that's what we're showing, not just showing you a dark picture. We're showing you the dark picture because usually this area is lighted and there are people with homes with the electricity on and everything is normal. This is a power outage. And you can see the emergency workers were there on the scene.

So there were damage -- there was damage at the mall. And the people in the mall got an early indication, got an early warning. They evacuated. He said there were no injuries initially early on to report there. There was also damage to a bank in the area. And they said damage to a fire station. The roof collapsed. That's the pictures we were looking at moments ago.

He said also a car dealership had been damaged in the area. Numerous homes had their roofs blown off. And homes, as he said, had just blown up many of them by the storm.

Gas lines are out, we're told, in the area. Some exposed gas that they are trying to get a handle on that. And he says on the south end of Kokomo, there was a shelter in place. An area where people could shelter in place but he said both of the hospitals in the area fortunately were up and running.

The only light in many areas, as you can see flashlights from emergency workers or flashlights from people who live there who are trying to assess the damage from their homes as you can imagine. These towns, many of them devastated by this. 1600 people, as you can see on the bottom of your screen there without power in Kokomo. And 16,000 without power in Kokomo, Indiana.

These pictures coming into CNN every moment. And as soon as we get them, we will bring them to you here on CNN.

This one is live and according to an emergency official in Illinois at least three people have died from this line of storms.

Tornadoes severe storms have destroyed at least 70 homes in Illinois. Dozens of people are hurt. Three people are dead as I just said. And Illinois National Guardsmen have launched a search mission looking for people trapped in the damage. Dangerous storms may threaten millions of people all across this nation.

I want to get to our Karen Maginnis, she's in the CNN Severe Weather Center in Atlanta.

Karen, this is unbelievable. The more pictures we get in, with every single report it seems to get more and more devastating.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Don, the video that you showed us of the person shooting out of their window, saying the "Lord's Prayer," during the wedge tornado that was touching down, which looked like in there riding their backyard, it was chilling. And we're taking a look at that right now. Why don't we go ahead and listen to that video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY KHOURY, STORM SURVIVOR: Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAGINNIS: Don, when you listen to that, you hear a certain desperation. And just chilling words. As this man is praying that nothing will happen to him and his family, but all across the Midwest and into the Great Lakes, this is sort of the same scenario and that we've had dozens and dozens of reports of tornadoes.

Right now, 65, what they refer to as filtered reports. Meaning they've taken out the duplicate reports of tornadoes. But I want to show you, zoom in. What happened just to east of St. Louis. This is along Interstate 64. Actually this tornado, this tornado, and this one. A tornado with a track that moved, not parallel to the Interstate, but touchdown, left a path of damage.

We have a report that an EF-4 tornado, with winds between 166 and 200 miles an hour, widespread damage, almost near destruction. This happened in Washington County, Illinois. This is not in the city of Washington. That was an area that started out in Pekin, just to the southern suburbs of Peoria. And then off towards Washington.

Look at what's happening now. We've got a smaller and smaller line of storms. And right now severe thunderstorms warnings out, no warnings. We see one warning here just to southeast of Cincinnati. If there's a tornado warning, that means you need to take cover immediately. And looking up towards Toledo, Detroit, and further north up into Flint, this is where we're looking at. Some pretty heavy downpours with the possibility of hail, high winds and some localized flooding.

But we could see an isolated tornado as we go throughout the evening. I think we've lost a lot of energy with this system. I hesitate to say that because I don't want anybody to think this is over and done with but we have certainly seen our fair share of 65 reports of tornadoes, extending from southern Chicago to the east of St. Louis.

Your Cape Girardeau , Missouri, and extending on over towards Kentucky near Hopkins County, and then into central Indiana as you just mentioned, Don, right around Kokomo, with plenty of damage to report there but we'll have updates throughout the evening. Back to you.

LEMON: Karen, it's going to be a very busy night, obviously, for the people in the Midwest. Lots of them won't get any sleep. And we're going to be here for you here on CNN as well. Karen Maginnis and I, as well as the worldwide resources of CNN. We are not going to go off of this storm. So make sure you stay tuned to CNN all evening. And we'll bring you the very latest. We want you to be safe. And that's what we're here for.

More storm coverage. We're going to -- as a matter of fact take you live to Chicago next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Emergency officials right now are trying to assess the significant weather damage across the upper Midwest.

I want you to take a look now at St. Louis. Check out the incredible winds there. It's all part of the severe weather system that's spawned more than 60 tornadoes. Majority of those in Illinois. Three people are dead. There are 37 others that are injured.

The director of Illinois Emergency Management tells me he expects the number of injured to climb significantly.

Want to get some live pictures now. Check out these, these are from Kokomo, Indiana. And our affiliate WTHR flying over the scene right now. A fire station has been damaged there. We're told that the roof has been ripped off of the fire station. A local mall has been damaged as well. 16,000 people without power and you can see there from the darkness, there is severe damage as well.

And you can you see that there is no power. The streets are being lighted, or lit. However you'd like to say it. By either cars or flashlights. At the moment. I want you to check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHOURY: So I hope no one -- our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That is CNN iReporter Anthony Khoury in Washington, Illinois, where a storm, a tornado as a matter of fact, came within a few hundred a yards of his home. And he witnessed it as it really destroyed his neighbor's home. You can you see that. They broke into prayer.

We spoke with him just moments ago. I asked him why he did it and he said that storm was so close. He's a religious man and he believes that God can help and help save his family during that.

The National Weather Service says it has received more than 70 reports of tornadoes today including this one that leveled the small town f Washington, Illinois.

Now in Chicago. In Chicago, a CNN iReporter shot the video from a high rise above the Chicago River. And despite the ferocity, the lights -- the lights stayed on and traffic kept moving. The storm charged into the city just in time for today's NFL game between the Bears and the Ravens. Fans were evacuated to safe areas inside Soldier Field and play resumed after a two-hour delay.

CNN's George Howell is in Chicago now.

George, a frightening scene for many people there.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, and you showed the video. You see that damage. You see the strong winds that were associated with that storm system. You can understand the concern about this storm as it moved into the -- into the Chicago land area. Again, you mentioned the game between the Bears and the Ravens, that game just wrapping up now. Folks are getting on the road. The traffic obviously a nightmare here.

As it is typically after games like this. But when you consider the weather situation, it's even worse for people trying to get back home.

Also want to talk about the situation now. We're not out of the woods here. You know, the storms have passed through. But we're still getting these very strong gusts of wind that come through. In fact, we're under a high wind warning here in the Chicago area.

And I want to show some video that we took earlier just about 80 miles west of Chicago. And you hear one of the gusts coming through now. Eighty miles west of Chicago, you see where the semis were overturned because of the strong winds. So we're not out of the woods yet. Still getting strong winds through this area and people are, you know, watching as the storm passes -- Don.

LEMON: George, you're getting that wind. Has that been hitting you all day like that? Off and on? We lost the shot so -- can we hear him? Can we -- at least hear him?

HOWELL: You got me?

LEMON: I got you.

HOWELL: Everything OK?

LEMON: Yes. Go ahead.

HOWELL: Yes, so, you -- you asked that question, we've been trying to do these live reports. We get out here, stand in front of the camera -- and knocked out signal out.

LEMON: OK. So what George is saying. George is -- what George -- the story he's telling is that we've been trying to go to George throughout our hours here on CNN. And we've had to have him on the phone because the wind, the weather is so bad, the wind is so severe in Chicago. It's hard to get a signal out. Either satellite signal or if you're doing bouts with a microwave shot off of a building, you know, to a satellite or however you want to do it. It's hard to do when you have severe weather especially that wind hitting.

Probably harder to do a satellite shot than it is to do a microwave shot. So we're having a bit of trouble here. And that just shows you, just to reiterate, just how tough it is, for folks out there to wind conditions. A small feat for us but it's really terrible for people who lost everything in the midst of all of these storms that are hitting the Midwest. All of these tornadoes and the storm system, I should say, that's hitting the Midwest.

We're keeping an eye on extremely dangerous weather for you. Right now tornadoes moving across the Midwest. People in eight states are in their paths. An update on the storms, coming up. But first this.

Coming up at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN a day America will never forget. Fifty years ago this month, an assassin gunned down John F. Kennedy as his motorcade rolled through downtown Dallas. At the president's funeral Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered a eulogy that still resonates today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE EARL WARREN, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Our nation is bereaved. The whole world is poorer because of his loss. But we can all be better Americans because John Fitzgerald Kennedy has passed our way. Because he has been our chosen leader at a time in history when his character, his vision, and his quiet courage, have enabled him to chart a course for us. A safe course for us. Through the shoals of treacherous seas that encompass the world.

And now that he is relieved of the almost super human burden, we impose on him, may he rest in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: An Illinois man prayed as a massive twister roared near his family home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHOURY: I hope no one's hurt. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was iReporter Anthony Khoury, who says obviously he is a man of faith and he was praying that that thing wouldn't come any closer to his home. He said it flipped over cars, tore up his neighbors' homes, his family is safe right now. But some of his neighbors lost everything.

All across Illinois three people are dead and dozens are injured. At least 70 homes are destroyed. Severe weather, storms are threatening millions across the U.S.

Want to take you now live. This is Kokomo -- actually, this is video of Kokomo, Indiana. It is from earlier. It's from our affiliate, WTHR. We just spoke to emergency management spokesman Larry Smith a short time ago. Here's what he's saying.

Now reports of major injuries in the area but there are injuries. Most of those injuries took place near the mall. A mall that had to be evacuated as these storms came through. There is a state of emergency in place until 6:00 a.m. The Red Cross is now on the scene. And what you're looking at in those pictures that was a fire department. One fire station, where the roof was ripped off.

Sixteen thousand people without power in Kokomo, Indiana. It's going to be a long night and more -- sadly, he said, they expect in Illinois and Indiana and many places in between for the injury numbers to go up.

We are following severe weather all across the Midwest. More than 70 tornadoes may already have been reported. We are going to -- up next, we're going to check in with our meteorologist Karen Maginnis to see if the worst is over and where this storm is headed now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Our breaking news coverage. Three people are dead. Dozens are injured. After more than 70 reported tornadoes slammed the central U.S.

I want to show you the video of howling. Howling severe storms. This is in St. Louis. So severe weather erupted throughout the Midwest today, threatening millions of people. Tornadoes ripped apart homes in Gifford, Illinois. At least six trucks overturned on Illinois highways due to high winds.

Illinois National Guard is doing search and rescue in some parts of the state to see if anyone may be trapped inside of their homes.

The pictures are just horrific. Imagine what people are going through.

Our Karen Maginnis watching it all, tracking it all for us in the CNN Severe Weather Center. She's go the big picture view of the -- this line of storms.

Is anyone in danger? What's going on now?

MAGINNIS: What we're mostly seeing now are severe thunderstorms. We do have a couple of tornado warnings that have been issued. But this broad area from near Chicago to the east of St. Louis towards Paducah near Cape Girardeau and then in central Indiana. Let's take you -- and show you some of those live pictures coming out of Kokomo. They're saying a state of emergency.

The mall has been damaged. And you can see just little bits of -- all right, the shot was going in and out there. But there you can see some emergency vehicles that are in place because of a tornado, an apparent tornado that has touched down.

Don, I'll mention that the National Weather Service, the local national weather service will go out tomorrow. They will look at damage. Assess it. See how strong the tornado or maybe a severe thunderstorm in the area may have been, but coming up at 8:00 Eastern Time, we'll give you complete details on all the damage and the situation across the Midwest today.

I'll send it back to you now.

LEMON: Yes, Karen, and it's just unbelievable. It's really unbelievable to see all of those images coming in. And as we speak to the emergency directors, Emergency Management and crews all across the country, they each are telling us the same thing. That sadly, they believe that the number of injuries are going to go up and hopefully the death toll does not go up.

We've got a confirmation of three people dead by the Illinois Emergency Management. So it's -- just a short time ago, if you're on CNN, earlier on had been two for a while, but now three people confirmed dead. And many, many more injuries.

We're going to keep you updated on the situation throughout the evening here on CNN. As a matter of fact, our coverage is going to continue very shortly here at the top of the hour and then again at the top of our 8:00 hour. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LEMON: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here. It is the top of the hour. "TED TURNER, THE MAVERICK" is going to begin in just a few seconds here but we have some breaking news into the CNN NEWSROOM that I want to update you on. A tornado outbreak is tearing across the upper Midwest. And boy, is it destructive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHOURY: Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There was one -- this was one of 11 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois as it hit the small town of Washington near Peoria. At least three people are now confirmed dead. This was the aftermath. Nothing left standing after the tornado was done.

And this is St. Louis as that storm hit. And the storms are far from over. They are moving into Ohio, into Michigan and Kentucky with at least 19 million people in the path.

We are going to direct the worldwide resources to CNN on this for you. Meantime, "TED TURNER, THE MAVERICK" begins right now.