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Tornado Hits Kansas City Suburb
Aired May 05, 2003 - 13:03 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.
MILES O'BRIEN: There's some potentially wicked weather out there still -- primarily in the south, according to the National Weather Serice. We're watching it now. We will keep you posted as events warrant.
But first, to Kansas City, which was hit overnight as well. CNN's Ed Lavendera is in Gladstone, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. Hello, Ed.
ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, I just finished taking a walking tour of the subdivision you see behind me -- which is known as Carriage Hills here in Gladstone.
And many of the homes you see completely devastated -- several hundred homes in this area. And we've had a chance to speak with several of the residents, the mayor here of Gladstone also saying that a lot of the people here were given adequate warning about this storm coming.
This storm, many people here are saying, was on the ground, actually, for this tornado was on the ground for about 30 minutes. And it gave people a little bit further east of Kansas City and in this area a little bit more heads up and some more warning time as to go indoors.
One of the residents we spoke with -- his name is Warren Hutzler (ph) -- and his home was picked up off of the foundation and tossed back down. He said he was standing in his garage -- kind of looking outside the window there as the storm was approaching.
He said one moment the wind was going to left, and in two seconds the wind was going the other direction. And that's when he and his wife just jumped into the basement of their home. As they walked downstairs, they looked back up. The door had been blown open, and when they looked up, they could see the sky and they knew their house was gone.
So many people here cleaning up the mess that has been left behind. We've seen many residents going through the belongings.
Most of these homes have already been condemned by officials here in Gladstone. For most of these people to get into their homes right now, they need to be escorted by fire officials to be able to get the belongings that they need.
Most of these people will be looking to spend the night elsewhere in the days to come as they try to clean up the mess that has been left behind. We've also seen other crews working to pick up many of the trees that were littered in this area and there were power lines snapped as well. We're told that in the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area -- that this was the hardest hit area.
O'BRIEN: Ed, I'm sorry we have to interrupt you.
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 May 5, 2003 - 13:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN: There's some potentially wicked weather out there still -- primarily in the south, according to the National Weather Serice. We're watching it now. We will keep you posted as events warrant.
But first, to Kansas City, which was hit overnight as well. CNN's Ed Lavendera is in Gladstone, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. Hello, Ed.
ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, I just finished taking a walking tour of the subdivision you see behind me -- which is known as Carriage Hills here in Gladstone.
And many of the homes you see completely devastated -- several hundred homes in this area. And we've had a chance to speak with several of the residents, the mayor here of Gladstone also saying that a lot of the people here were given adequate warning about this storm coming.
This storm, many people here are saying, was on the ground, actually, for this tornado was on the ground for about 30 minutes. And it gave people a little bit further east of Kansas City and in this area a little bit more heads up and some more warning time as to go indoors.
One of the residents we spoke with -- his name is Warren Hutzler (ph) -- and his home was picked up off of the foundation and tossed back down. He said he was standing in his garage -- kind of looking outside the window there as the storm was approaching.
He said one moment the wind was going to left, and in two seconds the wind was going the other direction. And that's when he and his wife just jumped into the basement of their home. As they walked downstairs, they looked back up. The door had been blown open, and when they looked up, they could see the sky and they knew their house was gone.
So many people here cleaning up the mess that has been left behind. We've seen many residents going through the belongings.
Most of these homes have already been condemned by officials here in Gladstone. For most of these people to get into their homes right now, they need to be escorted by fire officials to be able to get the belongings that they need.
Most of these people will be looking to spend the night elsewhere in the days to come as they try to clean up the mess that has been left behind. We've also seen other crews working to pick up many of the trees that were littered in this area and there were power lines snapped as well. We're told that in the Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area -- that this was the hardest hit area.
O'BRIEN: Ed, I'm sorry we have to interrupt you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
