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Killer Storms Rip Through Alabama, Tennessee

Aired November 11, 2002 - 14:03   ET

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

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


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We get more on that deadly series of storms. First we go to Mossy Grove. It was a quiet community northwest of Knoxville. Today it barely exists. Much of the town is in ruin. Some residents are dead, dozens more are still yet to be found.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman is there.

Gary, what is the rebuilding or at least the searching like now?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was about 14 1/2 hours ago, Martin. It was a real life nightmare for the people who live here in this small town. Only few hundred people live here, and we are 40 miles west of Knoxville. Much of the town is still intact. However, a one-mile by one-mile strip in the middle of the town has been devastated. An example, this house across the street, one of scores of homes that have been destroyed or heavily damaged. The roof just blew off the top the home. People's life possessions in the yard right now. The trees in front of the yard which have been there for years you can see uprooted. Behind the house, you can see people's belongings in the grass. Cars flipped over.

As we walk around in this direction, you can see the trees have been uprooted here. And behind me we're talking about that one mile by one mile strip. And you can see the trees, there is insulation in the trees and clothing in the trees. And other trees in home's down in the background.

One of the most amazing stories that occurred here, though, was that this church. This is the New Life Pentecostal Church. And last night when the tornado came they were in the middle of Sunday night services. There were 80 people inside this church when the tornado ripped through it. You can see part of the roof has been collapsed right up there. Windows smashed, the doors smashed in right here. But what's amazing is of the 80 people inside the church, not only was no one killed, nobody was hurt. These are three of the people: Kevin, David and David, who were inside the church last night around 8:15 when the tornado came through.

Tell me what was going on. You were inside the sanctuary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually out here ushering. And I come to the door because it started to kind of roar. And the doors tried to pull open on me. I went ahead and locked it and headed back into the sanctuary. By the time I got -- right before I got to the sanctuary, the side doors just kind of blew open and my little girl was in the hallway with me and some other people in the church. We all just went straight into the sanctuary and went under the pews. And the doors slammed behind us in the sanctuary.

TUCHMAN: Was it pandemonium inside there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was -- there was a lot going on. Inside the sanctuary, the roof tiles, some were blowing in the wind and things were just kind of...

TUCHMAN: Were people screaming? What was happening with the people inside?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was praying. Praying.

TUCHMAN: Tell me praying out loud? Tell me what was going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they were praying out loud. And just praying to God. And God kept his hand upon us.

TUCHMAN: How is your little girl? I mean for children, this is must have been -- this is an episode they'll never forget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was very scared. Very scared. We kept her under the pew and just took care of her. I covered her and kept my hand upon her.

TUCHMAN: David, you where inside there too. Tell me how you felt when you heard the tornado coming through your church?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really didn't feel nothing. I was up there worshipping, praising the lord, and all at once I heard the roof kind of shaking around. Then all at once the lights went out. And we were praising the lord from this early morning until it went on through. We kept on praising the lord. We got under the benches and we prayed and we prayed. And the lord just saved us.

TUCHMAN: Let me ask you, Kevin. How scary was it inside there last night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was scary. But God kept his hand upon us. I was probably on the far side -- I was on far side of the pews on the pews, and I heard like a train, sounded like a train coming. Then I heard the lights go out. Then I went and got with my family, and we all prayed. God kept his hand upon us.

TUCHMAN: Kevin, thanks for talking with us.

We can tell you as you can see behind me, there's heavy damage inside. Inside the sanctuary which is just behind where you see the yellow ribbon, there's almost no damage at all.

We can tell you there are still 150 people missing in this country, Morgan County. However, it is believed that most if not all of the people will be OK. Phone service is still out. Electricity is still out, so they haven't been able to get in touch with those people. They are hopeful they will find no more dead. But right now in the state of Tennessee 17 people at least killed, 80 injured. And one of the people killed was a rescue worker. A fireman was here looking for people who might have been trapped. He suffered a heart attack and was later pronounced dead.

Martin, back to you.

SAVIDGE: All right, Gary Tuchman, Live from Mossy Grove. We'll keep our fingers crossed about the missing.

Also hard hit, the town of Carbon Hill in Alabama. Tornadoes touched down there last night, but it wasn't until this morning that you could really see how much damage was done.

CNN's Charles Molineaux is there and he joins us from one remarkable story after another -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a startling scene here, Martin. The devastation that you see is such a straight line. It is always amazing to watch the path of a tornado. And that is what this was, the National Weather Service now confirms two tornadoes did come through Walker County, Alabama. They're still looking at other instances around the state. If you can take a look at the entire horizon here, in Carbon Hill, you can see the devastation, fallen trees, torn up trees, fallen apart trees. Houses with the roofs turned off. The sound of chain saws have been in the air all afternoon. The path of the tornado continues all the way around here too.

Carbon Hill Junior High which was all trashed by the storm. Fortunately this damage went nowhere near any of the kids, because the storm came through on Sunday and overnight.

It was only this morning that it began to become apparent as to just how severe the damage was not just in Carbon Hill but around Walker County. The two tornadoes moved diagonally across, creating a path of destruction up to half a mile wide as they moved in a northeasterly direction.

Now statewide, The National Weather Service is investigating would could be a dozen tornadoes and the deaths of 13 people. Governor Don Siegelman has declared a state of emergency. He's actually expected here in Walker County in about an hour and half. Seven counties have reported severe damage. Tens of thousands people lost their electricity, and the Alabama power crews are just about everywhere. You see the trucks all over the place.

Here at Carbon Hill Junior High, one administrator actually ran inside the building to try to save some precious records which might sound like a very brave and risky thing to do, but under the circumstances, she doesn't think so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, that's a hard leap to take, but I immediately went in and retrieved some records that we needed. I wasn't afraid of anything falling on me since the roof was gone out of my office, but the permanent records are safe, and we had probably about ten classrooms it looks like that have been damaged, but we'll just bounce right back. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: Now ironically, Carbon Hill High School, just over the other side of this building, is a bunch of trailers. Very vulnerable to a tornado. But most are more or less OK. They were in trailers because the school was recovering from a fire and all of its classes were being held in mobiles.

The National Weather Service says the extent of damage and the track of the tornadoes is not unusual except that it is unusually wide, up to half a mile wide. It's pretty extraordinary for tornadoes, where you can see a very narrow track of damage, sometimes only a few hundred feet. So very unusual storm in that respect. But also not something unusual to see in the fall as they tracked across the area causing all this damage. We're expecting to hear a little bit more later on today as to whether some of these other cases around the state, as many as a dozen tornadoes in all, actually were in fact tornadoes. But The damage is pretty undeniable -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Charles, we've been asking this in all the places we go live to: Was there warning? Did the people know? And how much advance warning?

MOLINEAUX: Yes, there were. There were actually about 67 counties across the state, there was something like 62 under tornado watches and about 27 under tornado warnings. So there were definitely warnings out. People were on the lookout for the storms. They did have some notice for this.

SAVIDGE: Charles Molineaux, live in Carbon Hill, our hearts go out to people there. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 11, 2002 - 14:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We get more on that deadly series of storms. First we go to Mossy Grove. It was a quiet community northwest of Knoxville. Today it barely exists. Much of the town is in ruin. Some residents are dead, dozens more are still yet to be found.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman is there.

Gary, what is the rebuilding or at least the searching like now?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was about 14 1/2 hours ago, Martin. It was a real life nightmare for the people who live here in this small town. Only few hundred people live here, and we are 40 miles west of Knoxville. Much of the town is still intact. However, a one-mile by one-mile strip in the middle of the town has been devastated. An example, this house across the street, one of scores of homes that have been destroyed or heavily damaged. The roof just blew off the top the home. People's life possessions in the yard right now. The trees in front of the yard which have been there for years you can see uprooted. Behind the house, you can see people's belongings in the grass. Cars flipped over.

As we walk around in this direction, you can see the trees have been uprooted here. And behind me we're talking about that one mile by one mile strip. And you can see the trees, there is insulation in the trees and clothing in the trees. And other trees in home's down in the background.

One of the most amazing stories that occurred here, though, was that this church. This is the New Life Pentecostal Church. And last night when the tornado came they were in the middle of Sunday night services. There were 80 people inside this church when the tornado ripped through it. You can see part of the roof has been collapsed right up there. Windows smashed, the doors smashed in right here. But what's amazing is of the 80 people inside the church, not only was no one killed, nobody was hurt. These are three of the people: Kevin, David and David, who were inside the church last night around 8:15 when the tornado came through.

Tell me what was going on. You were inside the sanctuary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually out here ushering. And I come to the door because it started to kind of roar. And the doors tried to pull open on me. I went ahead and locked it and headed back into the sanctuary. By the time I got -- right before I got to the sanctuary, the side doors just kind of blew open and my little girl was in the hallway with me and some other people in the church. We all just went straight into the sanctuary and went under the pews. And the doors slammed behind us in the sanctuary.

TUCHMAN: Was it pandemonium inside there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was -- there was a lot going on. Inside the sanctuary, the roof tiles, some were blowing in the wind and things were just kind of...

TUCHMAN: Were people screaming? What was happening with the people inside?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was praying. Praying.

TUCHMAN: Tell me praying out loud? Tell me what was going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they were praying out loud. And just praying to God. And God kept his hand upon us.

TUCHMAN: How is your little girl? I mean for children, this is must have been -- this is an episode they'll never forget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was very scared. Very scared. We kept her under the pew and just took care of her. I covered her and kept my hand upon her.

TUCHMAN: David, you where inside there too. Tell me how you felt when you heard the tornado coming through your church?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really didn't feel nothing. I was up there worshipping, praising the lord, and all at once I heard the roof kind of shaking around. Then all at once the lights went out. And we were praising the lord from this early morning until it went on through. We kept on praising the lord. We got under the benches and we prayed and we prayed. And the lord just saved us.

TUCHMAN: Let me ask you, Kevin. How scary was it inside there last night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was scary. But God kept his hand upon us. I was probably on the far side -- I was on far side of the pews on the pews, and I heard like a train, sounded like a train coming. Then I heard the lights go out. Then I went and got with my family, and we all prayed. God kept his hand upon us.

TUCHMAN: Kevin, thanks for talking with us.

We can tell you as you can see behind me, there's heavy damage inside. Inside the sanctuary which is just behind where you see the yellow ribbon, there's almost no damage at all.

We can tell you there are still 150 people missing in this country, Morgan County. However, it is believed that most if not all of the people will be OK. Phone service is still out. Electricity is still out, so they haven't been able to get in touch with those people. They are hopeful they will find no more dead. But right now in the state of Tennessee 17 people at least killed, 80 injured. And one of the people killed was a rescue worker. A fireman was here looking for people who might have been trapped. He suffered a heart attack and was later pronounced dead.

Martin, back to you.

SAVIDGE: All right, Gary Tuchman, Live from Mossy Grove. We'll keep our fingers crossed about the missing.

Also hard hit, the town of Carbon Hill in Alabama. Tornadoes touched down there last night, but it wasn't until this morning that you could really see how much damage was done.

CNN's Charles Molineaux is there and he joins us from one remarkable story after another -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a startling scene here, Martin. The devastation that you see is such a straight line. It is always amazing to watch the path of a tornado. And that is what this was, the National Weather Service now confirms two tornadoes did come through Walker County, Alabama. They're still looking at other instances around the state. If you can take a look at the entire horizon here, in Carbon Hill, you can see the devastation, fallen trees, torn up trees, fallen apart trees. Houses with the roofs turned off. The sound of chain saws have been in the air all afternoon. The path of the tornado continues all the way around here too.

Carbon Hill Junior High which was all trashed by the storm. Fortunately this damage went nowhere near any of the kids, because the storm came through on Sunday and overnight.

It was only this morning that it began to become apparent as to just how severe the damage was not just in Carbon Hill but around Walker County. The two tornadoes moved diagonally across, creating a path of destruction up to half a mile wide as they moved in a northeasterly direction.

Now statewide, The National Weather Service is investigating would could be a dozen tornadoes and the deaths of 13 people. Governor Don Siegelman has declared a state of emergency. He's actually expected here in Walker County in about an hour and half. Seven counties have reported severe damage. Tens of thousands people lost their electricity, and the Alabama power crews are just about everywhere. You see the trucks all over the place.

Here at Carbon Hill Junior High, one administrator actually ran inside the building to try to save some precious records which might sound like a very brave and risky thing to do, but under the circumstances, she doesn't think so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, that's a hard leap to take, but I immediately went in and retrieved some records that we needed. I wasn't afraid of anything falling on me since the roof was gone out of my office, but the permanent records are safe, and we had probably about ten classrooms it looks like that have been damaged, but we'll just bounce right back. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MOLINEAUX: Now ironically, Carbon Hill High School, just over the other side of this building, is a bunch of trailers. Very vulnerable to a tornado. But most are more or less OK. They were in trailers because the school was recovering from a fire and all of its classes were being held in mobiles.

The National Weather Service says the extent of damage and the track of the tornadoes is not unusual except that it is unusually wide, up to half a mile wide. It's pretty extraordinary for tornadoes, where you can see a very narrow track of damage, sometimes only a few hundred feet. So very unusual storm in that respect. But also not something unusual to see in the fall as they tracked across the area causing all this damage. We're expecting to hear a little bit more later on today as to whether some of these other cases around the state, as many as a dozen tornadoes in all, actually were in fact tornadoes. But The damage is pretty undeniable -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Charles, we've been asking this in all the places we go live to: Was there warning? Did the people know? And how much advance warning?

MOLINEAUX: Yes, there were. There were actually about 67 counties across the state, there was something like 62 under tornado watches and about 27 under tornado warnings. So there were definitely warnings out. People were on the lookout for the storms. They did have some notice for this.

SAVIDGE: Charles Molineaux, live in Carbon Hill, our hearts go out to people there. Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com