Return to Transcripts main page
In the Arena
Tornado Hits Alabama the Hardest; States of Emergency; Storm Chaser on Deadly Tornado
Aired April 28, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ELIOT SPITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Eliot Spitzer. Thank you for joining us IN THE ARENA.
Continuing our breaking news coverage of what just may be the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes this country has ever seen. Here is the very latest information.
We've just received an updated death toll as of 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 285 people are confirmed dead. But that number is expected to grow since dozens are still missing. One million people are without power tonight. One million. And many won't get it back for weeks.
And we're learning that a record number of tornadoes touched down from Wednesday night to this morning. A preliminary count shows at least 150 different twisters. And keep in mind, one of them alone was a mile wide.
Now I want to take you back to last night for just a moment. I'm going to show you some video that came as close as anything I've seen to showing what it's actually like when a tornado was coming right at you. Just watch and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not moving side to side which means it's coming right at us right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to be --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This house right here. Hey, run up to that house. Get them to take shelter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let them go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn the car around, Joel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to call 911 again. Were you able to get through?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I talked to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that left edge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reed, that is -- that thing is violent. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go that way, go that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep an eye on it, Joel. You get ready to deploy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're it? Is that it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's thunder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it just keeps going. Is that a roar? That's a roar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, there's debris. It hit something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you hear that roar?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. It's going to move south of us. Get ready to back up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the horizontal vortex, guys. Houses. This is not good guys.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SPITZER: Absolutely terrifying footage. And we're going to talk to Reed Timmer, one of the voices you just heard on that tape in just a minute.
But first, let's go to what just may be the hardest hit neighborhood in the hardest hit city in this entire disaster.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf is there in Tuscaloosa -- Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Eliot, it's amazing. It just seems indescribable. I got to tell you from a personal standpoint, I'm from the state of Alabama, 41 years old, spent most of my life here. Started my career as a meteorologist in the state of Alabama forecasting. Covered a widespread number of events for CNN. I've covered fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes.
I've never seen anything like this. You look behind me you see devastation all the way up the hillside and all the way towards the camera. You see just all kinds of debris and trees, everything from parts of plywood, from -- even a life preserver, to bedding, you see shirts, kids toys. Everything.
And this has really a scene that's been played out all across parts of the southeast. Here we've been talking about Alabama but it is something that extends just from this state. It goes to the Mississippi, parts of Arkansas, back into Georgia, into Tennessee, the Carolinas.
An unbelievable severe weather event.
You know, you mentioned earlier, Eliot, about the size of this storm. Again, up to a mile wide at points, and again possibly up to 15 miles on the ground. Most storms, most tornadoes don't last very long. This one was very rare that it held together as long as it did and caused this widespread destruction.
Now you've seen the trees, you've seen some of the debris on the ground. But take a look at these homes. You've got one right here behind me where the foundation looks OK, but then when you see some of the walls, some of these just barely hanging on.
A few of the other houses you see in the background are considerably in better shape but it's very weird, very random how one house looks somewhat OK, other homes are fine.
You know we often tell people, Eliot, when you happen to be in the path of a tornado, to get into the center most room, away from windows. Usually that is going to be the thing that will keep you safe. But in a situation like this with a tornado this strong, the safest place to be is underground.
Many people didn't have that option. And of course the death toll continues to rise. You know --
(CROSSTALK)
SPITZER: You know -- Reynolds?
WOLF: Trying to get the idea of how it must have been in one of these homes to see this powerful storm come on is something that defies logic, reason. So hard for us to wrap our minds around. But we're lucky enough to have a guest with us this evening.
This is Linda Jackson.
Linda, thanks for spending some time with us. I understand you saw the tornado as it was coming closer?
LINDA JACKSON, HOME DESTROYED BY TORNADO: Yes, we did. Me and my daughter and I, we were just standing on the front porch. And we seen something real -- it got real, real dark and it was coming. And we heard them say it was a countdown from six, five, four, coming down off 15th Street, the university.
And my daughter said that's us. She said take cover. So her and her husband and our two grandkids got in their closet. So I ran and got in my closet. And honestly, we could hear it was so quick and fast, it was just like a locomotive train and everything started popping and cracking and blowing and shaking the house.
And we thought it was over. So the wind behind it, we had to run back and get back into the closet again. And when we came out and stood out, people were screaming and hollering and crying. People was dead. We lost everything as well. The back of our house, part of the church is up in it and everything is gone. And we have nothing.
WOLF: From start to finish from the time when you first heard this to the time that it struck, how much -- how many seconds did pass? JACKSON: Well, it was so quick and fast, we -- my son-in-law just had time to get in the closet. That's just how it fast -- it had picked up speed to come. And debris was blowing everywhere. And the house was just shaking and rocking and going on.
People's screaming and hollering, my grandkids screaming and hollering, and I'm praying, speaking in tongues, calling on the Lord, telling him to help us. And it was just bad. And everybody tried to get in touch with us. Our loved ones. And they can't get through to us. We didn't know what to do.
WOLF: But everyone in your house is OK, correct?
JACKSON: We OK. We just lost our home that we was living in. But everybody in the family is fine. Just a little shaken up. And that's it. But other than that, we are fine and thank Lord for that.
WOLF: Now were your neighbors and friends as lucky or did you --
JACKSON: Well, they was -- they were -- some of them was blessed, too, because some of them across the street was in the house and the one next door. They wasn't there. Only one was there was their grandson. And the ones across the street, we have to go over there to see if they need any help and our friend down the street, their house just got wiped clean away.
And we went to pull in stuff, you know, try to clear a path through our house so we could get out of there because glass and big sticks and trees is everywhere. The back is completely gone.
WOLF: Linda Jackson, we're thinking of you, we're thinking of your family. Thank you so much time -- thank you for sharing this moment with us.
JACKSON: Thank you.
WOLF: This is a very painful moment. And --
JACKSON: Thank you.
WOLF: We'll be in touch.
JACKSON: Thank you. God bless.
WOLF: Unbelievable. That's a story that's -- we've been seeing from so many people throughout this community and many others like it, Eliot. Just a horrible thing. In Alabama alone, 195 gone. Possibly adding to that numbers over the next several hours and days.
Back to you.
SPITZER: You know, Reynolds, it is amazing, as you heard her say. We just lost our home. Thankful to be alive. That description of a locomotive coming down that train. And as the folks were seeing that video of that tornado, the power of that thing, the enormity of it, unbelievable. And just the house is collapsing and the devastation that you've just shown us, it is shocking.
All right. Reynolds, thank you so much. We'll be checking back with you throughout the show.
Turning now to the injured in this disaster, there's only one level one trauma center in the state of Alabama and there's only one man who's been in surgery there since last night, performing operation after operation.
Dr. Loring Rue is the chief of trauma surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham Hospital. He joins me now.
Welcome, sir.
Doctor, you know, first thank you for -- you've been obviously in the operating room constantly taking care of your community. How do you feel? I mean you've seen your city just ripped apart by this horrendous natural disaster.
DR. LORING RUE, CHIEF OF TRAUMA SURGERY, UAB HOSPITAL: Well, it's been extremely devastating. And I think for everybody. And I want to say at the outset, it's not -- I've not been the only one involved in the care of these people. There's a large number of physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and support staff that have been essential in the care of all these patients that we've seen.
SPITZER: Well, Doctor, first we want to thank you for what you've been doing. What are the types of injuries you're seeing? And also are you prepared for this? And so were you ready? And has that -- did that preparedness minimize the number of injuries and save lives?
RUE: Well, I think we're prepared. You know we do disaster drills here at the hospital from time to time. We've had the unfortunate experience of going through one of these storms. In 1998 in which a number of patients were injured. So I think we were prepared.
We obviously had to call in a number of people from home to help deal with these after-hours.
The injuries are pretty severe. Fractures, open fractures. Our orthopedic surgeons literally have been operating around the clock. We've had spinal cord injuries, a lot of chest injuries, many of the patients required being on a ventilator. And we've also had a number of intra-abdominal injuries that my trauma surgery colleagues have operated on to address the problems.
SPITZER: You know I think I've seen people who've analogized this to this sort of trauma surgery and the impact to a high-speed car crash where you just have the force of this tornado crashing you and the house is collapsing.
Is that really the best metaphor for understanding what harm has done to people and what happens in the context of this disaster?
RUE: I think that the injury patterns that we've seen in these patients is very similar to what we see in high-speed motor vehicle collisions. And I think it just speaks to the intensity of these storms and the violence of the storms and the fragility of our human life.
SPITZER: You know, are most of your patients going to be able to survive? I mean the types of injuries, broken bones that will heal, spinal chord injuries obviously are more severe and leave permanent damage. What's the prognosis for most of the patients that you've been seeing?
RUE: You know we have about 23 of these patients in the intensive care unit and unfortunately many of them are older patients. So I think we have to be fairly guarded in our expectations on how they'll do.
I'm optimistic, though, in large part that the majority of these patients will survive, though many of them will have life-altering injuries.
SPITZER: All right. Well, thank you, Doctor, for your good works and the amazing care you've been providing. Good luck and we'll be checking back with you.
RUE: Thank you.
SPITZER: As hospitals struggle to treat the injured, local leaders are assessing the damage and starting the daunting task of recovery and rebuilding. Birmingham Mayor William Bell says some areas of his city were completely flattened.
Mayor Bell joins us now.
Mr. Mayor, thank you for being with us tonight.
MAYOR WILLIAM BELL, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Yes. Not a problem, Eliot.
SPITZER: You know you've been out and about --
BELL: You know -- I'm sorry, go ahead.
SPITZER: I was just going to say you've been out and about throughout the whole city, obviously, trying to assess the devastation. What have you seen and what's the spirit of the folks in your city today?
BELL: Well, just when you think you've seen the worst of the worst, you run across another situation that makes you even wonder, can it get any worse than what you've already seen, and it does.
Spirits are still high and we want to make sure that we deliver all the services necessary that the people expect their government to do. As a former governor, you know that they expect us to stand up in times of stress and we're going to do exactly that.
SPITZER: Well, I'm sure you will and you're going to have the support of FEMA. You're going to have a lot of people joining you in that effort.
You know, parts of your city have been completely flattened as you've described it. How many people if you know are homeless and how many people are without power right now?
BELL: Yes. Yes. Well, we know that there are thousands of people who are without homes at this time. And in terms of power, the last time I checked there were probably about 162,000 homes in the area that was without power.
They're working feverishly to correct that. Some areas won't get power for weeks if not months because there are no homes to run power to. So we're trying to make an assessment as to what we can do to bring a sense of normalcy back.
You're talking about people who have lost everything. And we're trying to get donations in to provide clothing, food and water to these individuals as well as families.
SPITZER: You know, earlier in the show, you couldn't have heard it. There was a woman who was interviewed who said we just lost our home, we're thankful to be alive. And it shows you the spirit of people. They've lost everything, as you said, but they're alive. And so that spirit is there.
BELL: Yes.
SPITZER: They're going to fight back. And I know you're going to be working with them.
How are you going to pay for this? Does the city have the financial wherewithal? Are you going to need to turn to the state? Are you going to have to turn to the federal government? How is this going to affect your finances?
BELL: Well, you know, the past year, all cities and local government have been under stress financially. But we do have some reserve funds and we're going to utilize those funds.
But it will be necessary for state government as well as the federal government to step in. Both the governor as well as the president has declared a state of emergency here. And we've been assured that federal funds will follow. So we're going to go ahead and spend the local funds necessary to do whatever we have to do and hope that we will be reimbursed by the state and federal government.
SPITZER: And FEMA has shown up. And FEMA has been responsive to you -- I mean you've got enormous demands. As you say a whole parts of your city just completely leveled. You've got to build temporary housing for folks and that takes a lot of organization, a lot of know- how.
Has FEMA shown up and been responsive to you?
BELL: They have been responsive. Everything that we've requested of FEMA and our local EMA as well as state EMA, they have exceeded to our request. So we have no complaints there. But first of all, we have to make the area safe to get out heavy equipment in and doing assessment of -- as to what the people need.
And we have a team of people who are already planning on the temporary housing that's going to be required. We have temporary shelter in some of our municipal buildings downtown. And we're inviting our residents who need shelter to go to our municipal auditorium. But long term, we're going to need to build shelter for these individuals.
SPITZER: All right, Mayor William Bell, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us tonight.
BELL: Thank you very much. Keep us in your prayers.
SPITZER: We will -- sure will do that. Of all the amazing videos we've seen of yesterday's deadly tornadoes, this one shot outside Philadelphia, Mississippi, already has 1.5 million YouTube views. A million and a half.
Joining me now is the guy who heads the team that braved the storm to make it.
Reed Timmer, host of Discovery Channel's "Storm Chaser" and author of "Into the Storm."
Here's in Meridian, Mississippi tonight.
Welcome, Reed.
REED TIMMER, HOST, DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S "STORM CHASERS": Thanks for having me.
SPITZER: Well, look, I've got to say, you are either one crazy dude or else you're way ahead of us. You go right into the heart of these storms and you take this footage. You know when I look at it, it's terrifying. You get right up next to these tornadoes.
How does it feel?
TIMMER: The power, you really can't explain in words. With that tornado near Philadelphia, it was approaching us. It sounded like continuous thunder and we realized that was actually the roar of the tornado.
And when it got close, it was ripping trees out of the ground. The motion in it was more violent than almost any tornado I've seen in probably 13 years of storm chasing.
SPITZER: You know just listening to us over the computer and the TV, it sounds like a jet engine is right next to you. The ferocity of that -- of those winds. What's yours best guess? How quickly were those winds going when you were that close to it?
TIMMER: Well, it's very difficult to tell without a damage assessment, but just based on visual observation and just feeling the power, I would say the winds are probably between 150 and 200 miles an hour in that tornado.
SPITZER: And so just so it's clear, I mean, you don't just take the footage. You've studied meteorologist, you're getting advanced degrees on this so you actually understand the science of this. So your perspective on this is scientifically based.
You see the footage that you've given us here that we're watching right now and then you see the path of destruction where the ground is just leveled. I mean have you ever been worried it's going to -- when you get that close it's just going to destroy you? I mean -- what do you do to protect yourself?
TIMMER: Well, we have a vehicle that we call the dominator. And it has armor, bullet proof, flex hand windows. It has a hydraulic system so we can drop that whole bullet proof shell to the ground while we're inside the tornadoes. And that exerts a downward force in the vehicle because it (INAUDIBLE) the wind underneath. In that way we won't get picked up.
And it's shaped aerodynamically also to keep us anchored to the ground. And the whole reason we've built that vehicle is to record scientific measurements inside the tornado that no one else can safely collect. Because that the big mystery of tornado science is how fast can those wind speeds get right at the ground.
SPITZER: Look, I don't know if we have a picture of the dominator as you call it to put up on the screen. It's not going to win any awards for aesthetics. But I guess you have a point. You want to get close so you can get a scientific measurement.
How strong is that updraft that you and I were talking about? I tried with you earlier today. There's an updraft you referred to that can actually lift things off the ground. How strong is it and how far up does it carry things?
TIMMER: Well, every -- major tornadoes have the rotational wind, and that's what most people associate with twisters. But they also have incredible vertical velocities .and computer simulations have shown that these vertical velocities can be equivalent to the rotational winds or even stronger than that.
And that's our goal building that vehicle is we mount the radar on the roof, drive into the tornado, scan straight up, and try to measure those updrafts because they can be equally as damaging as the rotational winds if not more in some cases.
SPITZER: Have you actually been inside a tornado? Have you succeeded in driving into the inside of one of these things? And if you have, tell us about it. TIMMER: Yes, we've actually been inside about six or seven tornadoes. And it's not like what you'd think. It's not like a moving twister really where there's just a solid tube. It's very chaotic inside. The motion -- wind motions are very complex.
And there's one tornado we were inside in Minnesota last year. That was an EF-4 tornado. And we measured a 200-mile-per-hour updraft inside that one. So our measurements are coming along, but we need to intercept more tornadoes to try to better understand. These are very complex and dangerous storms.
SPITZER: All right. Reed Timmer, I know there's video that only you have that you took from inside a tornado, literally the center of this dangerous thing. Truly amazing. We're going to show that to everybody when we come back in a little bit.
Reed, stay with us. We'll be back in just a couple of moments.
TIMMER: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SPITZER: Now to the neighborhood of Pleasant Grove, Alabama. It's known as the good neighbor city. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out by the storms.
Martin Savidge is in Pleasant Grove.
Welcome, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eliot, we're inside a house here. And every one of the houses that you'll find inside this community here -- and it's about a community of 10,000 people. They all have an interesting story, but not every one of them is good.
But this one actually is. In this house lived two people. It was basically an older man who looked after his very elderly mother. He was deaf. They did know that the storm was coming. She was watching television and so when they realized that they weren't going to avoid the storm, they went running actually through on here.
There's a bathroom just inside there. He puts the mother inside the bathtub. He dives on top of her. He tries to cover them both up with whatever he can find. Meanwhile their house starts to fall apart around them. But the good news is after the storm is over, they come out alive.
But if you take a look at their house here, it is an absolute shambles. It's got no roof, well, that's an obvious thing. And then if you look at the front of the house -- you won't be able to see it but it leans like a drunken sailor. And the back walls of the house, well, there are no back walls of the house.
The story, though, continues. Because two blocks -- or actually two houses down, there's another house, another older woman. She's by herself. Doesn't have a basement in the house so she goes to the center part of the house, gets in the closet. That's good solid advice. It's usually what you do. Get away from the windows, get to the interior of the home.
Relatives show up after the storm to find her, only they can't find her. Why? Because the home isn't there. They knew where the home was. The driveway is there. The cinderblocks are there but the house isn't there.
They searched all night, searched into mid-morning. They eventually found her 100 yards away in a culvert. They found her body.
So two different homes, two different scenarios, but very much everything that played out in this community in a very short period of time last evening, Eliot.
SPITZER: My goodness, Martin, it makes your blood run cold to think of that old woman just kind of -- and what happened to her. Just devastating. You see the power of those tornadoes and you understand now visually and emotionally what havoc and damage it can do. Horrifying stuff.
SAVIDGE: Absolutely.
SPITZER: Also it makes it clear the importance of getting a head's up. A warning as you pointed out, that first couple, watching TV. They took preventive action. How important was that to this community?
SAVIDGE: Well, I mean, it was very important. The thing was that everybody knew these storms were likely to come. They let school out at 10:00 in the morning. They let many people out of work at noon. The storm did not hit until 6:00 in the evening. So the awareness was there.
This is not one of those things where the storm snuck up on anybody. Everybody knew for about 48 hours, it was going to be bad weather that had been predicted. The problem was, it was just so bad that like I say the people who took the right precautions went to the interior of the home or those who even went to their basement, if you were in the direct path of this particular storm, it was a killer, regardless of whatever you tried and whatever sound advice you followed. If you were right into its path, it was going to find you.
SPITZER: All right. Martin Savidge, thank you for that report. All right. Sad stories.
Earlier we were talking with storm chaser Reed Timmer. Now let's go back to him to show what happens inside the swirling force of a tornado.
Reed joins us again from Meridian, Mississippi.
And Reed, this is rare video only you have it. And I want to show the audience what it looks like inside. Tell us what we're seeing. TIMMER: Yes, this is a tornado in Aurora, Nebraska. I've chosen in 2009 and we are inside that tornado. We measured wind speed of 140 miles per hour. Our ears were popping from the pressure that's all inside. And that's also the data that we're trying to collect. Those intense pressure falls that you get inside tornadoes. Because sometimes you can get 100 to 200 millibar pressure falls inside a strong tornadoes. And you get that ear popping sensation. The same as when you're flying in an airplane.
And the wind speeds gusted up dramatically as one of those suction boards as it's ripped around the back side. And those -- those mini tornadoes that spin around inside the parent vortex that it really inflicts serious damage in a more localized level.
SPITZER: Tell me, what's it's like when you sort of pierce the tornado? How do you get inside it from outside it? Was it like going through the sound barrier? I mean I just can't imagine what it's like to drive through that swirling wind and the power of it?
TIMMER: The vehicle is getting the path of the tornado and then dropped the shells to the ground and then wait for it to move over us. But when it's approaching, you're almost mesmerized by it. And when that first wind gust hits the vehicle it really is like a solid object.
The whole vehicle started shaking back and forth. To be honest, I'm a little bit scared every single time we intercept, but at the same time, I know we're collecting that valuable scientific data that maybe years down the road could advance warning lead times so people can take cover when these dangerous approach.
SPITZER: And as you point out, your car is specifically designed. It drops to the ground, it has bullet proof glass, it has all sorts of preventive measures, and so you can record this data. And you think you're reasonably safe inside that car.
TIMMER: Yes, but tornadoes like yesterday, that massive tornado outbreak, we weren't going to mess with those. It doesn't matter if you have a bullet proof tank, a tornado like that is going to lift it off the ground. And we've been storm chasing for 13 years and know how to do this safety. And I think it's important to know that if people don't know what they're doing, they could easily get themselves killed if they try to storm chase.
SPITZER: Yes. I hope that is imminently clear to everybody after these stories we've reporting all day.
You know, you've described to us how things can be lifted off the ground. Even heavy objects. How far up were they taken? Are the forces enough to lift it up -- you know, we all think of the movies. Do things really get lifted -- you know, 800,000 feet off the ground and then just kind of dropped back down?
TIMMER: They do. Because basically the backside of a super cell thunderstorm is like a vacuum cleaner, a rotating vacuum cleaner. It sucks everything up and lifts it high up into the -- trapped in the super cell storm. In some cases that could be over 1,000 feet. Well, higher than that. Several thousand feet into the storm.
Yesterday we were well east of the super cell ahead of a confirmed tornado. And there is debris raining down on us and we were probably 10, 15 miles east of the storm.
SPITZER: All right. Reed Timmer, thanks for that amazing report. Keep up the great work. Stay safe.
And as they say to everybody out there, don't try what he does at home. He is trained to do it. Nobody else should do it.
Reed, thanks a lot for that report.
Up next, we haven't heard much about what happened in Tennessee. But coming up next, the governor of that state joins us to tell us how bad it is. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SPITZER: We just received an updated death toll. As of 8:30 p.m. eastern time 288 people confirmed dead. That number will grow since dozens are still missing.
In Tennessee, the storms that brought those deadly tornadoes have moved on. But Tennessee is dealing with another potential disaster, as if tornadoes weren't enough. Now it's serious flooding. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam joins us now from Memphis. Governor, thanks for taking time out to chat with us.
GOV. BILL HASLAM, TENNESSEE: Thanks for having us on. It is a serious situation. We're facing the twin challenges of tornadoes that swept through the state, and then a rising Mississippi River almost at historic levels presenting a new threat.
SPITZER: Governor, I have to ask, is the flooding a consequence of the tornadoes or is this after separate crisis? There's been unprecedented rainfall. So these are separate crises you're dealing with right now?
HASLAM: The Mississippi River is fed by a lot of different tributaries throughout the middle part of the country. Then you have everything from snow melt in the upper Midwest to record rainfalls. Think of the Mississippi River as the great collector river for the middle part of the country. There's a huge flood back in 1937 that's still kind of, still history around here, and the river is about to crest on that same level.
SPITZER: Have you had enough warn on the flooding side so the folks aren't caught? There's a certain preparedness I would presume for flooding that lets people get away from the rising tide and protect their properties as best you can.
HASLAM: I think there is. The caution that I always -- and that's why I appreciate folks like you giving us this attention. People know this is really serious. When tornadoes strike, we had 33 fatalities in the state with maybe some others missing. Something like this happens even you almost can't get the warning out fast enough. With this situation, we do have time and we're hoping people understand how serious it is.
SPITZER: It's a crisis at this stage that is cresting now which means this issue is going to continue for you for a couple of days. In terms of the tornadoes, 33, my latest number was 34 in Tennessee who died. A tragedy no matter how you look at it. Memphis is a city, I'm told, escaped kind of unscathed from the tornadoes. Where is the greatest harm been in our state?
HASLAM: This is actually really in the eastern part. Really all the way through Tennessee was hit fairly hard, but parts of middle Tennessee as well. You walk into neighborhood where is the whole neighborhood is gone. Where there were six houses there's not a piece of material five feet long left of what used to be a split level ranch that a family used to live in.
The encouraging thing is how many people jumped in. All day long, I heard stories about neighborhoods rushing out, pulling people out of houses and people showing up to get trees off of cars. That's the encouraging part even in a hard time like this.
SPITZER: It certainly does bring out the best in our commune it is. The crises, the tragedies, everybody comes together to help those who need it. What is the total number of homeless and those who have power that you're aware of in your state and terms of projections when you'll be able to restore basic services for the communities hardest hit?
HASLAM: The worst storm day was yesterday. We had some areas that lost power from two or flee days ago and then a fresh round of storms came in. The power companies throughout the state are working hard to get everybody back with power.
I don't have a latest number in terms of how many families are still without, but it's a pretty sizable number. Tennessee is a long but narrow state and because the storms were over two or three-day period and were so widespread, we're trying now to gather the information the total number of families without power, as well as getting a confirmed number of fatalities.
SPITZER: Thank you, governor, for being with us. My in-laws have a place up in The Blue Ridge Parkway near the north Carolina- Tennessee area. I know that area well. All the best to you getting things back to normal in short order.
HASLAM: Thank you. We very much appreciate everyone's help with this.
SPITZER: Meanwhile police and rescue workers continue to search for victims in Pleasant Grove, Alabama. Deputies, firefighters, police officers, even U.S. marshals are combing through the rubble looking for any survivors. Don Lemon is there and joins us now. You had a chance to talk to residents who survived. What did they tell you? DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, when they're not either crying or too overcome to speak, mostly they just sort of moan and say that they are obviously devastated. Many of them don't have insurance. These are poor people, a lot of them. And they're working class Americans. These are people who, you know, help keep the country going, and now they don't have anything.
It just came through, and literally you can look at this place and just ripped a path right through many neighborhoods here in Alabama and all across the south. This one tree has been here forever, really just ripped out of the ground.
You asked me, what are some of the survivors saying? We're going to talk to one right now. Bennie Lacy, she looks young but she's in her 60s she tells me. You've been here for 14 years?
BENNIE LACY, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Yes, 14 years.
LEMON: You were in the house. What happened?
LACY: I was watching through the glass and saw it coming. And me and my husband went running trying to make it to the bathroom. It hit and all the windows exploded in pressure. It was worse than a train coming through.
LEMON: When you finally lived through it and you got outside and you saw the damage, what did you think?
LACY: I just couldn't imagine how much damage there was.
LEMON: And it was you and your husband and your two dogs at home.
LACY: Right.
LEMON: What did you guys do then?
LACY: We just tried to get the pieces and check on neighbors. I came over here to help a man that was bleeding and brought bandages. Wash cloths and stuff.
LEMON: And your neighbors, you said a man was bleeding. All of your neighbor's homes are pretty much gone?
LACY: Everything is gone.
LEMON: As you walk through the neighborhood, tell us what you saw?
LACY: I saw nothing that is savable. I mean, just everything is gone.
LEMON: People are watching this around the country, really around the world. What do you want them to know about what happened here?
LACY: A lot of pain. But then we have a lot of people coming and helping us clean the trees up off the houses and all.
LEMON: You think there's enough resources here, enough places to stay? What do you want the government to know if they're listening?
LACY: I think the government needs to come and help the people that don't have insurance. I have insurance. I'm fortunate. And I'm staying in the house. We have one room that's pretty much safe. But there's a lot of people that don't have insurance.
LEMON: And you don't have electricity?
LACY: No.
LEMON: What are you going to do?
LACY: Just light lanterns.
LEMON: Yes, and pray, I'm sure.
LACY: I've prayed a lot.
LEMON: Bennie Lacy, thank you. You're a trooper for coming over and talking to us. And her husband is standing across the street over there, Eliot, with the dogs and other neighbors. Many of the neighbors are still here, but they are still going around and really sort of embracing each other. And there's a lot of camaraderie here. It's sadness, but you heard her say it, they're going to pick up the pieces and move on.
SPITZER: Amazing story, moving story. What is the first thing they did? Went outside and helped her neighbors. That's what's going to bring these communities back. Thank you so much for that powerful report.
LEMON: Absolutely.
SPITZER: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SPITZER: There's one guy I know who can answer all those questions I know I want to ask, like why now? How did these tornadoes get so strong, and so many of them. That Chad Myers, CNN's own meteorologist. Chad, explain this to us. How does this mayhem break out?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It broke out because the storms did not lineup. We heard for years a thing called a squall line, like 20 little dogs trying to fight for one bowl of food. They all stay little dogs.
Well, if you have one bowl of food and one dog eating all the food, he becomes one big dog. This storm over Tuscaloosa and eventually near Hueytown had its own energy, moisture, low pressure here where that pressure was. It literally has its own vacuum cleaner on the southwest side of the storm. We don't yet know whether this was an EF-4 or an EF-5. But it was close, somewhere around 200 miles an hour. The spin, 200 miles an hour as it rolled over Tuscaloosa. So that's how it happens.
The structure is something different. Some of these storms were 60,000 feet tall. In an airplane you could not fly over it. You would have to fly around it. Reed was also talking about debris falling out of the sky. How does that happen ten miles away? The suction of the tornado sucks up debris, shingles, paper, insulation, takes it up into the jet stream, so very high.
It blows it downstream and it falls out of the front of the storm miles, miles and miles away from where it started. And people have found checks from old storms literally 100 miles away.
Now, 160 reports of tornadoes. Let's get to that for a second. That didn't happen. Eliot, ask me why?
SPITZER: I'm going to ask you why then coming back to the other stuff. I'm just sitting here in amazement.
MYERS: We probably had six to 10 real big tornadoes across Alabama. You're probably saying where did 160 come from? If you see somebody ten miles report a tornado ten miles north and you have somebody 15 miles northeast of Tuscaloosa, it's the same tornado, but they don't count it as one. They count it as two separate resorts because they're seen in two different areas. There weren't 160 reports. There were 160 reports of tornadoes on the ground.
SPITZER: This goes up 60,000 feet. Winds going 250 miles an hour, you're telling me now, put this in context. When you fly from New York to Los Angeles, pretty as high as airplanes go, 35,000, 40,000 feet. So you're another -- that may be seven miles off the ground. You're telling me you're another 50 percent above that and it's still one tornado going straight up there, rotating at that speed?
MYERS: Yes, one cell, one cell literally becoming its own engine. Almost like how a hurricane can become its own engine, make its own spin. A super cell tornadic storm makes its own spin and it looks like a hook. This isn't the best picture of one. It was yesterday's tornado and it's a little bit because it was yesterday. I don't have one I can show you live. But a super cell tornado will have a hook on the back. This is the part of the storm that is the tornado.
So let's say you're right there. First of all, this cell moves this way, it rains, then it hails on you and then you get into this. It stops. I know you've heard it. It's the calm before the storm. But it really means the calm before the tornado. But if it's hailing, it stops and there's still weather to the west, there's a tornado about to hit you.
SPITZER: Chad, we're going to have to come back to this. I'm just intrigued. It sounds like it's a hurricane but rotating at 250 miles an hour, unbelievable stuff. This is amazing. All right, Chad, thanks so much. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SPITZER: Now to Georgia where the storm left at least 15 people dead, several of them in the northwest town of Ringgold. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Ringgold tonight. Rafael, how are the people there holding up?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eliot, people here are telling me what happened here last night is the worst they've seen in the last four decades. And you hear the stories about people run into their houses, some people that actually saw the tornado coming at a distance and barely had time to escape, people who lost everything, their businesses, their homes, students who no longer have a high school and they were only a month away from graduation. So all kinds of stories of people who are suffering through this.
But at the same time you're amazed about the resiliency of these people. Here with me tonight. We have the Merrill family. We have robin, 13 years old, and her father, Len. They lived right next to where I'm standing right now in the middle of the path of the tornado. And I'm just amazed at the stories they've been telling me. Len, let me start with you first. Tell me exactly what happened that moment when the tornado hit.
LEN MERRILL, HOME DAMAGED IN TORNADO: We just ran back in the house and got back on the floor, because you could see the coming back of the house. Trees falling, you could hear them cracking in the yard. We walked out there and it's just gone. It was real scary.
ROMO: Did you hear any alarms before the tornado came in?
LEN MERRILL: No, sir.
ROMO: No alarms whatsoever?
LEN MERRILL: No, nothing, just a big wind with me and a couple more on the front porch. And gist come from torch, the fire department. And the tree started bending over double and we went back in the house and was looking out the window. And you could see the trees and stuff. All -- I've never seen nothing like that.
ROMO: Robin here witnessed the whole moment. Can you tell us how did it sound? What was it like to experience that tornado last night?
ROBIN MERRILL, HOME DAMAGED IN TORNADO: It was really scary and I don't want to be in another one because there wasn't any warnings. It just came out of nowhere. We didn't hear an alarm or anything. It was really scary.
ROMO: So your family -- you guys were all together. At what moment did you decide that it was just too dangerous and decided to run inside the house?
ROBIN MERRILL: The moment that I heard trees cracking and the roof fell off the house.
ROMO: So when you woke up this morning and saw the devastation and realized some people were missing, what went through your mind?
ROBIN MERRILL: I was really happy to be alive, because if you look also the buildings around us, they're really damaged and stuff. Our house really isn't that bad but I'll really happy to be alive.
ROMO: Finally, Len, what would you like to let the country know about what happened here in Ringgold.
LEN MERRILL: I hope it never happens again because there are going to be a lot of people missing here. I know there are. It's just down in Ringgold, just something we've never seen.
ROMO: Thank you very much for being with us.
Eliot, a woman was telling me two trees fell on top of her house, and miraculously everybody survived. Back to you.
SPITZER: Rafael Romo, thank you for that report. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SPITZER: After the storm, emergency services rushed in to help people piece back together their lives. And leading that response is Craig Fugate, who heads up FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I spoke with him a short while ago from Tuscaloosa where he was assessing the damage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPITZER: Mr. Fugate, thank you for joining us. How does this disaster compare to what else you've seen of tornadoes, hurricanes that came through Florida on a regular basis?
CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: You know how you have a tornado that's a hit and skip, goes a few blocks then it's clear. That's not what happened here. We have solid damage where these tornadoes hit the ground moving through the urban areas and getting a lot of homes and businesses. So it's a wide and long path as we flew up from Birmingham all the way here to Tuscaloosa. This one has been across multiple areas and cities. We've had reports about entire towns flattened.
SPITZER: The enormity and magnitude of this is incomprehensible to most of us. Put some numbers on it if you can.
FUGATE: The governor of Alabama was just asked that, and he said we're still trying to get people to do rescues and locate the missing. They haven't even begun to count how many people. A lot of folks are staying with family and friends. So they don't have a good count of how many people don't have a place to stay but they do have the shelters open.
But I think this is going to rank up as one of the worst tornado outbreaks in history, rivaling maybe even the 1974 outbreak.
SPITZER: You know, it seems to me the loss of life and injuries are simply enormous and everybody's hearts and prayers go out to the families involved. It's just a tragedy beyond description. How do you begin to recover and rebuild whole communities that have been torn asunder? Can FEMA come in and start construction? What role will you be playing?
FUGATE: Well, again right now, based upon the requests of the governor, President Obama declared an emergency last night to release federal assistance for the emergency response. And as that's continuing, we're working with the state to begin that initiate step of what recovery looks like.
SPITZER: FEMA has been involved in some of these big responses over the last couple years not always with great public relations. Certainly you're right there, front and center there today. People seem happy with FEMA's response. When will money begin to flow? One of the things you do provide is money to states and the governor repeated that asking for funding. Will you be able to get funding to the governor of Alabama and other states as quickly as they want?
FUGATE: Well, that's part of why the president wanted me down here, to get eyes on the target, see what the damages looked like so I could report back quickly on the governor's request. We do have that request. We are working it up. And we will report back the damages we've seen and get that information so we can make that decision happen.
But again, this is an assessment process. Last night the president, prior to when we would normally do assessments, the president made the determination last night that federal assistance should be far greater. Now we're working on what we need to support the recovery.
SPITZER: Mr. Fugate, thanks so much. I know you have loads to do, and we wish you all the best in attending to these huge issues.
FUGATE: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPITZER: All right, thank you all for joining me "In the Arena" tonight on an amazing story of tragedy and survival. "Piers Morgan Tonight" starts right now.
