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CNN Live Saturday

Tennesseans Survey Tornado Damage As Storms Rip Through Entire Southeast; Severe Weather Baring Down On Georgia And South Carolina. Shia In Iraq Under Siege From Terror Attacks; Austrian American Awarded Paintings Stolen By Nazis

Aired April 08, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN: And the Denver Nuggets say Julius Hodge is expected to fully recover from a gunshot wound. Police say the 22- year-old rookie was shot while driving on an interstate north of the city. A vehicle pulled alongside him and a person inside opened fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Numerous warnings out there with very vivid super cell activity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are painting a picture up here of one of the strongest tornadoes I've experienced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had block and brick, everything piled on top of me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He saw vehicles off the ground, in the air, swirling around as if they were shingles like debris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please be taking cover immediately.

LIN: The past 24 hours have been dangerous and deadly across the Southeastern U.S. Severe weather is blamed for a dozen deaths in Tennessee; 48 tornadoes have been reported. Many, but not all of them have been confirmed. The damage covers at least nine states. Power has been knocked out to thousands of people.

CNN is bringing you extensive live reports from the hardest hit areas. Our Gary Tuchman is looking at the damage just outside Atlanta. Our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storms in the CNN Weather Center. We're going to begin, though, with Jonathan Freed in the devastated town of Gallatin, Tennessee -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I can tell you we're about 25 miles north of Nashville, and the twister, we have some strong images of this twister that we want to show you now.

Started off coming at us from the southeast and heading up towards the northwest here yesterday. And witnesses that we spoke to earlier today said that they saw it on the ground at around 2:45, 3:00 and everybody scattered and went running for cover. They said that they saw, among other things, it just destroy a large home sending debris up into the air.

They say to them it appeared as though hitting that particular house just a half mile from where we're standing right now kind of knocked it off the course that it was on, heading right toward them.

And the governor of Tennessee, who earlier this week was touring in Dyer and Gibson counties because of the 20-mile swathe cut by an F3 tornado there, killing 24 people up there, found himself touring the area here today. And let's listen to what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. PHIL BREDESEN, TENNESSEE: I wish everybody could come walk a neighborhood like this and see it, because I think you'd pay an awful lot more attention to those storm warnings and sirens if you saw what one of these things can do.

FREED: Carol, the governor was talking about sirens there. We were speaking to people who work at a couple of car dealerships that are just off to my left here, that were just pulverized by this storm yesterday. We asked them if they heard sirens and they said they didn't, at least in this area of town.

They were aware because of news reports that tornadoes could be on the ground. They went outside. That's when they saw that twister hit that house and move toward them. There's a subdivision just over my shoulder as well, about a quarter mile behind me, where three of the nine people in Sumner County were killed. People here just sifting through what's left of their lives and a lot of people with drawn faces here today.

LIN: Wow, we're looking at this dramatic picture of what looks like used to be a neighborhood but looks like the tornado touched down right on top of that structure. These people are going to be rebuilding perhaps for years. Jonathan, what's the feeling as you're there now? Is there power? Is there water? Can people kind of live through the day and night?

FREED: Well, in this immediate area here, the plumbing seems to be working at least to a limited extent. There's still no power, though. Behind our camera, I'm locking at crews up on poles and they are stringing fresh cable. They've been doing that all day long, basically since the sun -- we were here before dawn today. As soon as the sun came up, the trucks got to work. They were actually waiting -- sitting and waiting for the sun to come up. Looked like a dozen trucks on the street not far from us.

I asked them when can the people here expect to get their power back and he just shook his head and said, I wish I could tell you. They just don't know.

LIN: So do we. All right, Jonathan.

We want to give people the bigger perspective here, something like 10 counties reporting tornado, at least yesterday. And it has been a painful week for the state; 24 deaths from tornadoes last weekend and a dozen more since last night.

Now, as Jonathan just mentioned, Tennessee's governor is touring the devastation today. He plans to request more federal aid for recovery efforts. And he's expected to add at least one more county to those -- at least those, who need to be declared a disaster area.

Now, the thunderstorms ripped down power lines across northern Georgia and turned trees into missiles crashing into homes and businesses. Now, no deaths reported yet in northern Georgia, but some of the worst damage happened right in the town of Marietta. Gary Tuchman is there.

Gary, for folks that don't know the area this is a suburban community, lots of homes, and developments and even a little town.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is part of metro Atlanta, about 30 minutes away from the city, metropolitan area, 4 million plus people. Most of whom went to sleep last night thinking they dodged a bullet, knowing the most serious damage and the very deadly tornadoes hit to the north of here, in Tennessee. But about 4:00 in the morning many people woke up and this is what happened to many businesses and homes.

Here in the middle of tax season this is a tax preparers' office. I say that kind of irreverently, because fortunately, the good news here in Georgia, is nobody was seriously hurt. But this was a tax preparer's office.

You can see, what happened was, the tornado or -- I say or -- because they're not 100 percent sure it was a tornado yet. Or straight line winds, at least up to 70 miles per hour, ripped in this direction. Everything in this path came down. You can see damage here. This, for example, is the little stereo that they used in the tax preparer's office. They already started cleaning up the place. They had bulldozers already moving the rubble, which for those of us who spent so much time in Louisiana and Mississippi covering Hurricane Katrina and Rita, seeing so many homes that haven't been touched, it is nice to see the work start so soon.

We have, here, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, in Cobb County, and Fulton County to our east. There have been a lot of damage. We took some pictures from the sky earlier. We haven't seen many homes that were destroyed but many of them that were damaged. Roof damage, window damage, damage to the doors that were blown in.

When it came to businesses, though, we've seen many businesses that were destroyed like this tax office here in Cobb County in Marietta, Georgia. Now, another thing, we see this during a lot of tornadoes, power lines damaged. And we've realized about two weeks ago how significant it is when you have damage to power lines because two weeks ago we were in Kansas, in Reno County, Kansas, and power lines that went down caused at least 18 fires in the county, that was the biggest damaging part of that particular tornado.

So the good news here, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, no serious injuries but there's plenty of damage around the area -- Carol.

LIN: Thank goodness that was a commercial building, nobody was inside last night when that thing touched down. You know, Bonnie Schneider was saying that it's probably a tornado, it's all but e official, because look at the damage around you, Gary.

TUCHMAN: Well, I'll tell you, Carol, I'll just say really quick, it would seem very unlikely that it wasn't a tornado because we see that path where it possibly came through. But as of now nobody spotted a funnel cloud hitting here in Cobb County. But it was 4:00 in the morning, it was completely dark, it was raining, it was hailing and hard to see.

LIN: You bet. All right, thanks very much, Gary. Stay safe out there.

I'm from California you can't see an earthquake coming, but you sure can see a tornado heading right at you. Can you imagine that? Take a look at some of the tower camera images that were captured of several Tennessee TV affiliates. They caught the images of the growing storm clouds, as they gathered, and one tower cam on the north side of Nashville caught these scary images as the super cell headed their way. Amazing.

Now, there's a new weather worry on the horizon. Let's go to CNN Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.

Bonnie, you've been warning us the danger is not over yet.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it is not at all. Though the tornado warnings have expired, the tornado watch continues. We're getting these reports of golf-ball size hail in Georgia and South Carolina throughout the evening. A report north of Charleston, they said the rain was coming down in torrents. That was according to a weather spotter.

The big picture now, shows you that our tornado watches continue until 9:00 tonight. So we still have a few hours to go. Strong storms working into the Valdosta area of Georgia. We have reports of wind gusts as strong as 60 miles per hour. Even if we don't get a tornado we're likely to get damage from winds. I've seen reports of thunderstorm winds that have ripped off roofs of buildings as well. So we're getting very, very strong winds with some of these storms.

Also in the Tallahassee area you are under a tornado watch as well, until 9:00 because of the threat of severe weather. It's pushing out of the Atlanta area. There are some spotty showers in north Georgia right now, but don't be alarmed. That doesn't look like it's going to turn into anything too convective this hour. We're definitely looking at the chance for more tornadoes in this region. As we look towards Myrtle Beach area into Wilmington, North Carolina, we're seeing very heavy rain.

We had an unconfirmed report of a tornado, areas to the northeast of Myrtle Beach just on the border of North Carolina. But that's the only tornado report I could find so far in the past six hours. Much of the activity occurred overnight into yesterday. But we're still under the gun and have the threat for the tornado watch straight through tonight.

Look at these strong thunderstorms. There's Valdosta, Georgia and pushing to the northeast. Much of this is moving very fast 45, 60 miles per hour. You may find yourself outside, it's raining lightly. All of a sudden it comes down heavy and hard and those winds will pick up. So, Brunswick, Georgia into Savannah, watch out for some very heavy rain tonight -- Carol.

LIN: We're warned. Bonnie, you're working all kinds of angles on this story. You're coming back in the next half hour. What are you working on then?

SCHNIEDER: We'll explain we're going to explain why we've seen so many tornadoes. It's literally triple the amount of what we saw, so far, reported in March as opposed to this time last year. There is a reason for it, a big picture of the weather pattern and may mean more tornadoes in the upcoming months.

LIN: Terrific. A little more depth to our coverage. Thanks, Bonnie.

SCHNIEDER: Sure.

LIN: Also, in 35 minutes, Bob Vila, you know him, he's going to show us how to weather proof the home against the exact type of violent storms we're reporting on today.

Now, weather across the country -- and situations across the country -- extreme. The South is not the only place. It's so dry in Texas, wildfires are causing the problems. One blaze threatens 50 homes north of San Antonio. And the fires are blamed for killing a man yesterday and injuring two firefighters. More than 6,000 acres have burned.

Now, over to California, Central California is bracing for another wave of drenching storms. Rivers are already swollen to capacity after a month of rain. Now, this storm system could bring more flooding, and perhaps some levees might even break.

Now, a reminder. You can logon to cnn.com for the very latest information on this weekend's storm damage and the severe weather still threatening the Southeast.

So you've seen the damage. So how do you protect your home from severe weather? We've got the man, Bob Vila. He's going to show us how to do weather proofing 101.

SHANON COOK, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Hi, I'm Shanon Cook. Coming up in world headlines, how far can the stones roll? All the way to China. Details ahead.

LIN: Later, he helped several celebrities shed those unwanted pounds. Dr. Ian Smith from VH-1 Celebrity Fit Club is going to join us with some healthy dieting tips that you can use. You're watching CNN SATURDAY. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Fresh violence claims more lives in Iraq. For the details on that and other international headlines, we're turning to Shanon Cook.

Hey, Shanon.

COOK: Hey, Carol. Thanks very much.

Once again Shia Muslims are the target of a deadly attack in Iraq. Iraqi police say a car bomb exploded south of Baghdad today near a Shia shrine killing six people, 17 others were wounded. And Carol, this as families gathered to bury their dead from yesterday's devastating attack on a prominent Shia mosque in Baghdad; 81 people died in that attack when suicide bombers attacked crowds of worshipers.

Turning our attention now to Nepal. Some pro-democracy rallies turned deadly there when troops opened fire on protesters. One man was killed just west of Kathmandu. Several were wounded. The protested are directed against Nepal's king. King Guanendra (ph). He sacked the government and seized power 14 months ago.

In Italy, a day of respite from the mud slinging that's dominated the general election campaign there. A media blackout is in force one day before Italians go to the polls and conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is hoping to pull off a surprise victory. He's trailing at the moment, trailing his leftist challenger Romano Prodi (ph) in opinion polls.

And, Carol, those two have traded barbs like you would not believe. Some are saying this has been the ugliest electoral campaign in living memory.

LIN: Wow. Now, I hear that the Rolling Stones are playing in China. I have been to China. And I can't quite picture this.

COOK: Well, they did it. They pulled it off with marvelous success. "Start Me Up" in China. The Rolling Stones rocked a sold-out house in Shanghai. It's their first ever concert on the mainland. We have to see them to believe it. Let's see Mick and the gang in action. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK JAGGER, SINGING: Start me up. I'll never stop. Yeah! Start me up start me up I'll never stop

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOK: There you go, Carol, living proof they did do it. Hard to believe after 44 years in the biz there was something the Stones actually hadn't done.

LIN: Yeah. But did China let them play anything they want? I mean, I'm just trying to imagine Mick Jagger skating across the stage doing his tongue thing in China.

COOK: There was a little bit of censorship. The government censors ordered that five of their songs, that they normally probably would play, had to be taken out of their play list. We're talking about songs like "Let's Spend the Night Together," "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar". Apparently there was concern the lyrics in those songs were too suggestive. So they did cut them out. However, the Stones being the Stones, they did slip in a couple other sort of risque songs into their set list, which I'm sure their audience quite enjoyed.

An audience, by the way, largely foreigners and ex-pats, not Chinese natives.

LIN: Wonder what the government thought "start me up" meant, you know?

COOK: I have no idea. Good question.

LIN: But it made it through.

COOK: It sure did.

LIN: OK, maybe just a cup of coffee in the morning. All right. Thanks, Shanon.

COOK: Thank you.

LIN: An exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has special significance for one woman. For 50 years she fought an epic battle with the Austrian government to return family treasures stolen by the Nazis. And now she's won. Here's Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA ALTMANN, OWNER OF PAINTINGS: A forceful person, but I like to follow through when I start something.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ninety-year-old Maria Altmann survived the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938 but left behind precious family heirlooms, jewelry, porcelain figurines and paintings, stolen during the occupation. Altmann recalled how the Germans looted her uncle's home taking five paintings from Austrian artist Gustav Clempf (ph). The most famous, this portrait of Altmann's aunt, Adele.

ALTMANN: A huge truck pulled up and just emptied everything that was in that house.

WYNTER: Altmann, a then newlywed, says her family fled Austria three years later and relocated to California, unaware of how valuable the paintings were. And they ended up in an Austrian government gallery. That's until 1988 when an Austrian reporter began tracing the artwork's history, triggering a fierce fight to reclaim them.

HUBERTUS CZERIN, AUSTRIAN JOURNALIST: The fate of the family, the fate of the paintings, I think nobody knew it.

WYNTER: Austria refused to return the paintings, claiming they were willed to its national museum.

RANDOL SCHOENBERG, ALTMANN ATTORNEY: I think it was a willing ignorance that they had, that they could hide behind this sort of legalistic argument of the will.

WNYNTER: The Supreme Court reviewed the case in 2004 and ruled Altmann could sue the Austrian government in American courts. The family knew it was a long shot, but their attorney began mediations with Austria. Altmann was blown away by the ruling.

ALTMANN: I could not imagine that three Austrian judges who are paid by the government would speak unanimously against the government, and they did.

WYNTER: Maria Altmann says she never imagined she'd see this day, a culmination of a seven-year fight for what was rightfully hers.

ALTMANN: A wish came true.

WYNTER: The Clempf (ph) paintings are on display until June, when they will be up for sale. The price and prospective buyers still under wraps.

ALTMANN: I know one thing. I won't hang them in my house.

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: From the big city to the front lines. Tonight, the story of emergency medical technicians lending a hand in the war on terror.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your photograph was just taken. We will use it to prosecute you.

LIN: Also, cameras fighting crime. Ahead, the latest crime- fighting technology that may have you thinking twice before you act.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Tonight, the frontlines move to Pakistan. New York medical technicians are there going to isolated towns in rugged terrain. "People" magazine and our John Roberts partnered together on this story of a critical mission to save lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The world watched the heartbreaking pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake, the overwhelming death and destruction. A group of New York City emergency medical workers were watching, too. And they knew they had to act.

NICK LOBEL-WEISS, NYC MEDICS: When you arrive at a place, and you see that there's a need for medical care, for people that need help, and our group, our team of people had the tools and the talent to provide that and to fulfill that need.

ROBERTS: The quake devastated towns in the shadows of the Himalaya mountains. The numbers were staggering; 73,000 dead, 69,000 injured, 3.5 million homeless. When this band of paramedics arrived, they were stunned to find that many of the injured had never even been seen by a doctor.

PHIL SUAREZ, NYC MEDICS: It was incredible. This was two weeks, about two weeks after the earthquake. And there were wounds that would never, ever have been tended to except for local remedies of herbs and mud and stuff like that.

ROBERTS: Their mission of mercy was complicated by obstacles, a language barrier kept patients from accurately communicating their pain. The perilous terrain made moving between camps nearly impossible. Shelter was almost non-existent. So were medical supplies and a punishing winter that would cover the mountains in snow was approaching fast. But still, the injured and wounded kept coming to their makeshift ER.

SUAREZ: Four men would carry these sick people over this rubble that I could barely walk on. And the more we saw these dozens of people walking trying to make it to us.

ROBERTS: For two weeks the paramedics worked in the harshest conditions for their very grateful patients, doing what they could with what little they had available.

SUAREZ: When we walked in, they were still hugging on us, so grateful so, so grateful that we had come.

ROBERTS: When they returned back home to Pakistan, to their lives, their jobs, their families, they knew their work in the mountains was not yet done. In March, they made their way back. But this time, they were armed with donations, supplies, even prefabricated shelters for some of those still displaced by the quake but unwilling to come down from the mountain.

Six months had passed and little had changed for people in some of the poor Pakistani villages crushed by the quake. But much has changed for these paramedics, who responded to an emergency call a half a world away from home.

LOBEL-WEISS: It was shocking and amazing to everybody. It made an incredible impact, not just on the people that we treated, but on the entire valley.

ROBERTS: John Roberts, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: John's report first aired on "AC 360." So tune in week nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Severe weather still looming in the southeast.

FREED: I'm Jonathan Freed in Gallatin, Tennessee, where the power is still out a day after a deadly twister tore through this town. I will have that story coming up.

LIN: Also, he's the king of home improvement, so we enlisted Bob Vila for tips on how to weather proof your home for the next big storm.

And later, fit versus fat. Ahead, the doctor from "Celebrity Fit Club" joins me with healthy eating tips. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's what's happening right now in the news. This video just into the CNN Center. You're looking at a cornfield where Ontario police found eight bodies. All men either inside their cars or their trucks. Police do believe that this is an isolated incident. But they were found dead.

Also, 12 people confirmed dead in Tennessee after tornadoes touched down across the north central part of the state Friday. Eight people were killed, just one subdivision -- in just one subdivision outside of Nashville.

Now, in Iraq, the U.S. military says a marine who was wounded in action yesterday has died. The military says the marine died as a result of enemy action.

Now, today, 2,350 U.S. troops have been killed in the Iraq War.

Israel carries out another deadly air strike on suspected militants. Palestinian sources tell CNN that two people were killed and another was critically wounded. It follows Friday's air strike in Southern Gaza that killed six people and wounded 15.

And "Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner turns 80 years old tomorrow. You can only imagine what he's going to be doing for his party and what he must be like at 80. Despite a few gray hairs, the usual tribulations of aging and the world famous playboy says he still feels great.

For the second time in a week, a deadly wave of storms has rocked Tennessee. Ground zero this time, the small town of Gallatin northeast of Nashville. Standing by live with the latest CNN's Jonathan Freed. Jonathan?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I can tell you that behind me is pretty well some signature damage for what we've seen in town here because of how complete that damage is. That is what's left of a car dealership -- actually, a string of car dealerships that are on this block over here. And the cars were just picked up and tossed, turned upside down. The metal was twisted and broken. Two-by-fours were turned into missiles and slammed right into the metal on the side of cars. This twister -- we can show you what it looked like because it was captured on video. This twister tore through here about 2:45, 3:00 p.m. local time yesterday afternoon.

And witnesses who saw it said they heard the sound, peered around the car dealership, saw it coming and just knew they literally had to run for their lives and grab on to anything they possibly could that looked heavy and secure and try to ride out the storm.

Now Tennessee's Governor Phil Bredesen was here today touring the damage. This is the second time in one we can he had to tour tornado damage. We spoke to him earlier this week up in Dyer and Gibson Counties up in the northwest corner of the state after the tornado tore through there on Sunday evening. Let's listen to what he had to say after touring his second area hit by a twister this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR PHIL BREDESEN, (TN): I wish everybody could come walk a neighborhood like this and see it, because I think you'd pay an awful lot more attention to those storm warnings and sirens if you'd actually walked and see what one of these things can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREED: We spoke to some people around here, Carol. And it wasn't clear whether or not everybody actually heard sirens. Some of the people at the car dealership behind me said they did not. Not far from where we're standing, just a couple blocks away, is a subdivision that was particularly hard hit. There were nine people killed here in Sumner County, and three of them in that subdivision over there. Carol?

LIN: Can you believe, Jonathan, 48 touchdowns, I think, tornadoes, just in the last 24 hours.

FREED: It's remarkable, really, what's been going on. And everybody here is just shaking their heads, not understanding why Tennessee has had a bull's eye on it twice in one week. Storm activity is not unusual for these parts. But people here just did not expect to be hit so hard and to pay such a dear price in such a short period of time.

LIN: I know. We're just looking at these amazing pictures that we're getting into the CNN Center from our affiliates of the area just right around you. Jonathan, thank you.

In fact, our Bonnie Schneider at the CNN Weather Center is working on several different angles and will be explaining why this is such a severe tornado season.

Now, there were many deaths in Tennessee. And Atlanta had the most recent storms. Bonnie's going to join us also on that. But some believe suburban Atlanta, well, that they were prepared.

((BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA ROSSETER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Charlotte, Tennessee, about 40 miles due west of Nashville, the storms hit hard, and the damage is extensive. Homeowners here spent the morning assessing what's left and picking through the debris, and there is plenty of that. This man's trailer was demolished and he saw two funnel clouds crisscross just above him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like - it had trees in it, and a lot of debris and tin and stuff, and it was just like a -- and it wasn't dark. It was bright. It was like a light gray cloud. The one that came over. Now, the other one that came, it was dark. But this one that come over the house, here, you can see all the trees, it pulled trees up out of the ground. It was light. And it touched down right there.

ROSSETER: And at R.A. Duke's, a landmark and a favorite local store, nothing is left but an incredible story of survival from the family, as they headed to the basement with customers, the tornado picked up the store and took their mother with it. Miraculously, she survived.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got here fast. And it come in down on top of us. My mother went flying. And bless his heart, Brian, I can't think of his last name right now -- grabbed her and -- if he hadn't grabbed her, she would have been dead. She would have been gone. They were swirling in the air and ended up underneath all this stuff right here. And it just sucked them up. We was going down -- we were down in the basement. He was right behind. Mother was coming. And all of a sudden, they were gone. The roof was gone.

ROSSETER: The Duke family says they will rebuild with the outpouring of help from this community. A community that tonight is in pieces. Amanda Rosseter, CNN, in Charlotte, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Our meteorologist has been working on some very interesting information and our meteorologist passed on this one. According to the government's Storm Prediction Center, more than 400 tornadoes have been reported since January 1st. Now, that is more than four times the number for the same period last year when 96 twisters were reported. Ninety-six last year, 400 this year.

So what is behind the storm surge? Well, Bonnie Schneider, as I promised, our meteorologist, working on that. Bonnie, that is a huge leap! What's changed?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has to do with our weather pattern. Everything is related. One thing relates to the next especially in the law of physics and when it comes to meteorology as well. If you look back at our weather pattern over the last few months we have some distinctive features. The colder air managed to stay mainly into the northern tier of the country, warm conditions across the southeast and very dry conditions, remember that, across much of the southwest where we had brush fire after brush fire int Texas, and dry conditions in Florida as well.

Well, this warm weather that's been affecting the South has also affected the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico. So the Gulf conditions have been warmer than they typically are. Even if it's a slight increase in temperature, even half a degree or a degree can make the biggest difference. Because when an upper level storm system comes in and pulls down that cold air, taps into the warmer water, more warm and moist than usual, not only do we get more tornadoes, but we get tornadoes that are more long lasting and they are larger and more intense like the one we saw in Tennessee that had a path of 10 miles as it worked its way through the Gallatin area.

This is typical what we get when we do have a pattern like this, is what is in place right now. I'd like to tell you it's going to improve. But when you look at statistics, unfortunately, May is the peak month for tornadoes, not April and not March, though we had a multitude, over 226 reports of tornadoes in March alone.

So unfortunately, since the pattern set itself way up, we have ever indication that we're likely to see more tornadoes this season coming up as we move into May. Carol?

LIN: Bonnie, we'll be prepared. Thank you.

Other news across America right now -- let me show you where you can't park anymore. The dust has finally cleared from a successful implosion of a downtown Orlando parking garage earlier today. And it went down. There you go. Without a hitch.

A legal test for those who run the SAT exam for incoming college students. A high school senior is suing the College Board and the company that oversees the test. He says his test was incorrectly scored too low. Last month, word that an estimated 5,000 test-takers got the wrong score. So far, no comment from those named in the suit.

The NBA's Denver Nuggets rookie point guard Julius Hodge is in fair condition after suffering multiple gunshot wounds early this morning. Hodge says he was driving on a Denver highway when a person in the car next to him opened fire. Police have no motive or suspects. Hodge is expected to fully recover.

A Massachusetts prison officer is in trouble for showing the award winning movie "Brokeback Mountain" to prisoners. A state corrections spokesperson says it wasn't the subject matter but the graphic sex scenes that make it inappropriate to show in a prison setting.

All right. Do you ever hear that little voice telling you when you shouldn't be doing something? It may not be all in your head. Local governments are turning to talking surveillance cameras to deter crime and grime. CNN's Gary Nurenberg has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati to a wooded area of Baltimore ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, this is a restricted area.

NURENBERG: Cities are turning to a new generation of talking surveillance cameras to deter crime.

GLENWOOD THOMAS, ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES AGENT: They're able to capture the license plates of vehicles.

NURENBERG: Glenwood Thomas works on environmental crime enforcement in Baltimore where the cameras are being used to stop illegal dumping.

THOMAS: Some of the things that amaze me is restaurants who dump oil in the allies. We have car companies that dump oil inside the drainage system.

PATOR ROBERT BURLEY, OLIVER COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: I right now am tired of people disrespecting the space where I live and operate every day.

NURENBERG: Residents asked the city to install the cameras.

NINA HARPER, OLIVER COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: I'm very frustrated because in the mornings, I drive around the community and I see the trash where the night before it may not have been there.

NURENBERG: The cameras are triggered by motion detectors. The threat clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your photograph was just taken. We will use it to prosecute you.

ROY GREEN, WALNUT HILLS, OHIO: Sounds like the sergeant that I had in the military. It would make me want to do he said to do.

NURENBERG: Baltimore has only used the cameras two months but Thomas is convinced.

THOMAS: The cameras have been an overwhelming success. Basically those areas where the cameras were placed are now clean areas.

NURENBERG (on camera): But those who study the use of cameras by law enforcement agencies say there is another predictable result as well.

CEDRIC LAURANT, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFO. CTR.: They're very effective at preventing crime in the specific location where they're located but not at other places. What happens is the phenomenon of displacement. Criminals go somewhere else.

NURENBERG: Baltimore's Thomas is no Mary Poppins when it comes to displacement but still has a bottom line.

THOMAS: Since the cameras have been up here, this is pretty much a clean location now.

NURENBERG: Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's home improvement severe weather style. Up next, Bob Vila is going to show us how to protect our investment before the storm strikes.

And still ahead, it's a celebrity diet that worked for some on this reality show. But will it work for you? Find out just ahead. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

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LIN: We're tracking this real time. Word of tornadoes touching down. Bonnie Schneider has that from the CNN Weather Center. Bonnie?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Carol, earlier this afternoon we were talking about the tornado being spotted into the Charleston area. And now we just got this in that there was a tornado, a rope tornado -- and it's called that because it looks like a long rope, kind of skinny, falling from the sky. Not to say it's not a powerful one because this blew out windows in buildings and did cause damage to businesses along the path in West Ashley in the Charleston area. Right now in Charleston you're getting light to moderate rain but still some strong winds. We've had numerous reports of large hail still through the South Carolina and Georgia area, and down through Florida as well. Look at this just to the east of Tallahassee. So still under the gun. Jacksonville tonight about to get pounded by some strong thunderstorms. These have very gusty winds. And Carol, even if we don't see a tornado coming out of these storms we'll still see drenching rains, frequent lightning strikes and very gusty winds.

LIN: All right. You're on it. Thanks very much, Bonnie. So, so many storms already and we're not even into hurricane season. Now is definitely the time to storm proof your home. I spoke with home improvement expert Bob Vila and he just finished a storm ready house in Florida. This project is available on DVD.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Bob, how much did this cost, to rebuild this house in Punta Gorda.

BOB VILA, HOME IMPROVEMENT EXPERT: Remember, it's brand new construction. The house that was there could not be renovated or rebuilt, so it had to be scraped off the lot. Everything we have there now is new construction. It's over $300,000.

LIN: So per square footage, if somebody wanted to build a house like that, how much would it cost?

VILA: That's a tough question because when we build a house like this, it's a demonstration project house, we're always kind of adding more that you normally would put into the average house. But in the couple hundred dollar a square foot range I would guess is what it ended up being.

LIN: OK. Then I guess the better way to ask you this is, Bob, do you think this kind of retrofitting is affordable for most people?

VILA: Yeah, because you've got to remember if you're retrofitting, if you're taking steps to make an existing house sturdier, you're not necessarily going to go out and pour a new foundation underneath it, but you are probably going to take measures to increase the house's ability to withstand minor flooding.

LIN: What do you think is the first thing people should attack right now?

VILA: Well, you know, everybody always goes out and figures out how to buy the plywood and put the shutters on the openings, the window openings. That's a very important thing to keep in mind. And most homeowners probably already have some sort of shuttering devices. Another thing that's very important is the garage door. Lots of tract houses and homes built over the last 10 or 20 years have double-wide garage doors that are relatively flimsy. So that's one area to investigate, figure out whether it can be replaced with a sturdier reinforced door or whether you can take some measures to make it a stronger surface.

LIN: That can make a difference.

VILA: Yeah, the key thing, when you have some sort of failure and the wind blows into the house, that's when you can have the wind lift the roof off. And then, speaking of the roof, you can get all sorts of metal anchoring devices that are available. And we showed lots on the program which, as you know, it's the DVD thing. Lots of these metal anchoring devices that will help tie down the roof rafters to the existing walls of the house.

Some of the key things are the common sense things. Make sure that the openings of the house are securely protected. Make sure that the roof is nicely tied down.

LIN: You bet. Bob Vila, great advice. Thank you very much.

VILA: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we talked to Bob about joining us during hurricane season to see how well this house withstood the elements this season and also some advice for people as they're starting to rebuild or looking at fresh damage.

Now, the third round of the Masters suffered a lengthy weather delay, as you can imagine, earlier. But at this hour they're back on the green. Standing by at the Augusta National Golf Club, CNN's Larry Smith, smiling.

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. And dry for once as well. Some weary-eyes late this afternoon as tournament officials close out not only a long day of weather watching and worry, but also look ahead to an extended Sunday as well. Weather delay of nearly four and a half hours sent tens of thousands of fans scrambling for cover and left 47 players trying to get in as many holes as possible before play is called again tonight due to darkness.

Now, it's an all-star group that is chasing atadalatrow (ph) out today here at Augusta National. Eight former Masters champions are within six shots of the lead heading into today, including Fred Couples, the 46-year-old and 1992 Masters champion still going strong after all these years, he was three under par and three shots behind the leader Chad Campbell heading into today.

Tiger Woods the defending champion and four-time Masters champion and he is in usual form. Last year he drained a record seven straight birdies -- that's a Masters record -- in the weather-plagued third round, three on Saturday, four more Sunday morning. That propelled him to victory. He's already birdied one hole today. He's two under par with 14 holes to go in the third round.

And by the way, one other side note. We've been talking about 54-year-old Ben Crenshaw trying to win a third Masters victory at the advanced age of 54. Wheels coming off a little bit. Bogey, double bogey to begin his day so he right now is at two over par and those chances of victory are probably gone for him. Let's go back to you.

LIN: Advanced age of 54? You know, Larry, we're going to be there some day.

SMITH: We will. But for Masters players, it's advanced. Otherwise, it's not. Very young.

LIN: Our audience will be pleased with that, Larry. Thank you.

Well, for those of you trying to lose weight this spring, all right, so you want to look hot this summer. So stay tuned, we have expert advice for "Celebrity Fit Club." Will it work for you?

But first, here's what's coming up on CNN's ON THE STORY.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ali Velshi and we're ON THE STORY. Dana Bash is ON THE STORY of Tom DeLay calling it quits. Ed Henry covers President Bush standing firm against public criticism. And Kelli Arena has the latest on the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. All coming up. All ON THE STORY.

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LIN: Every expert seems to have the key to successful dieting. But there are so many people who have heard it all before and they just want something that works. So you may have heard of the "Fat Smash Diet" from VH-1's "Celebrity Fit Club." Is that the one that really works? Let's ask the man who created it, Dr. Ian Smith. Hey, Dr. Smith. How are you?

DR. IAN SMITH, "FAT SMASH DIET": Hey, Carol. Good to see you.

LIN: It looks like the show is going well. I looked at the website. And how are these celebrities doing?

SMITH: They did great actually. A lot of them lost over 30 pounds in 100 days. Those who didn't lose 30 pounds lost 25, 24 pounds. They did really well on the program.

LIN: So the big picture of this diet, how is it different than any other? Because what I ultimately read into it is eat healthy, eat less and make sure you exercise.

SMITH: Well, the idea here is there are no gimmicks in this diet. And it's very inexpensive. There's no calorie counting whatsoever. The celebrities told me, we don't want to county in calories. It's a four-phase program and starts off with a detox, a natural detox nine day phase ...

LIN: What do you mean detox? Poisons in our body?

SMITH: Right. It releases all the impurities out of our body but with a natural way, mostly with fruits and vegetables and other foods. But the idea is you take your body down to ground zero and use the other phases to build your body back up. And it's not just a diet, by the way, it's about life-style changes. The idea behind the program is by the end of the diet you'll have a new way of eating that you can stay on forever.

LIN: Really, you're trying to change people's habits and give them like a checklist, an outline. Do this and then gradually build towards healthier foods and healthier habits.

SMITH: Exactly. The interesting thing is people lose a lot of weight in the first two phases and I'm happy about that.

LIN: But it's mostly water, isn't it?

SMITH: Some of it is water but when you get to the second phase of the program it's not water at all. The water weight is gone at that point. What I try to explain to people is, I'm happy about the early weight loss but more happy that you're able to keep it off for a long period of time and that by the end of the program you now are making smarter choices and you now are respecting food and not overindulging food.

LIN: And it's not until what, stage three that you can reincorporate things like carbs and wheat bread and other desserts.

SMITH: Well, actually, in my program you have carbs in my program. Carbs are very important despite all the controversy about carbs. It's about choosing the right carbs. So even in phase one you have lots of fruits and veggies and other things that do have carbs in them. However, the program includes fun foods. Who wants to stay on a program that doesn't have fun foods? You can have pizza and pasta and all other kinds of things towards the later stage of the diet. But the idea is instead of eating those foods all the time, eat them in moderation.

LIN: Time and place. Dr. Ian Smith, terrific. You don't look like you have a weight problem. Maybe you'll be a good role model for everybody.

SMITH: I try to eat healthy and stay healthy.

LIN: All right. As we all should.

SMITH: Absolutely.

LIN: Thanks so much.

SMITH: Thank you.

LIN: There's lots more ahead on CNN tonight. Up next at 7:00 Eastern, ON THE STORY, then at 8:00 p.m., CNN PRESENTS, "Immigrant Nation," an inside look at our country divided. And at 9:00 p.m. LARRY KING LIVE. Tonight's guest panel shares its thoughts on Katie Couric's upcoming move to CBS. And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern. Tonight, your children on the Web. We're going to show you how easy it is for kids to be lured into pornographic sites.

A check of the hour's headlines next and then ON THE STORY.

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