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Tornado's Rip Through Kansas City Randomly Destroying Homes

Aired May 05, 2003 - 14:13   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, CNN ANCHOR: Seven people reported dead in the storm aftermath in Kansas, and seven counties in that state have been declared disaster areas today.
CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Kansas City, Kansas.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, Miles. We jumped across the river. We're in Missouri, and this is the town of Gladstone, which is a suburb here in Kansas City, Missouri. The subdivision you see behind me is Carriage Hills, and I'm being told this is one of the hardest hit areas in Kansas City, Missouri. Many of the residents here, we've been taking a walking tour of this neighborhood. And they've described that they've got just a little bit of waning to be able to duck away from the storm. And what we've seen here is several hundred homes that have been seriously damaged and several homes, quite frankly, just completely destroyed.

In fact, many of the people we've seen here, just going through the rubble at this point trying to piece together whatever they can, save whatever they can. We've also seen a lot of crews going through, cleaning up the trees and the power lines and all the mess that has been left behind. One home, in particular, is completely was lifted off of its foundation and dropped just behind the house there. And the gentleman who lives in that house says that he was standing in his garage watching the storm come in. The wind was blowing one direction, and then it immediately changed to start blowing in the other direction. And that's when he knew the tornado was coming. So he and his wife jumped into the basement, and he describes what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN HUTSCER, TORNADO VICTIM: I was standing right there watching it, and then the wind was blowing, you know, 30, 40 miles an hour this way. Then all of a sudden, it switched and went 30, 40 miles an hour the opposite direction, just in a split second. And I hollered at Sharon, I said, we're headed to the basement. And we got down there and got the door closed, and something hit the door and blew it open, and I just saw daylight and the house was gone, and it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: You look back out at a live picture of the subdivision, you see many of the homes that are like this. The rooftops have been completely peeled away.

It's very strange also here, Miles. You still see the phenomenon that you tend to see a lot in the tornadoes where you have a lot of damaged homes right here, but if you look down the way between these two homes, you see that home with the white front. Actually, some of those homes over there are left in pretty good shape. So a lot of the residents here still trying to come to terms with just how random these tornadoes tend to act as they roll through these neighborhoods -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Ed. It is capricious, isn't it? And I suspect a lot of homeowners there just wondering why they might have been spared.

LAVANDERA: Well, you know, I was talking to the mayor here in Gladstone just a little while ago, and he says that, when everybody emerged from this particular neighborhood. There were about 23 people in this area injured last night because of the storms. As everyone came out of their basements and started realizing, hey, for the most part, we're in pretty good shape. Everyone seemed to be jovial and happy about their situation.

They all feel that, hey, we can repair the house. As long as everyone's okay, we're in good shape. But the mayor noticed some more depressed looks on people's faces here today as they go through the rubble and find pictures and belongings that can't be replaced. So that's what people are coming to terms here with most of the day.

O'BRIEN: There really is a whole cycle of reactions that are kind of predictable.

Ed Lavandera in Missouri, not Kansas. We're very sorry about that. Gladstone, specifically. We appreciate you being with us today.

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




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Aired May 5, 2003 - 14:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Seven people reported dead in the storm aftermath in Kansas, and seven counties in that state have been declared disaster areas today.
CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Kansas City, Kansas.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, Miles. We jumped across the river. We're in Missouri, and this is the town of Gladstone, which is a suburb here in Kansas City, Missouri. The subdivision you see behind me is Carriage Hills, and I'm being told this is one of the hardest hit areas in Kansas City, Missouri. Many of the residents here, we've been taking a walking tour of this neighborhood. And they've described that they've got just a little bit of waning to be able to duck away from the storm. And what we've seen here is several hundred homes that have been seriously damaged and several homes, quite frankly, just completely destroyed.

In fact, many of the people we've seen here, just going through the rubble at this point trying to piece together whatever they can, save whatever they can. We've also seen a lot of crews going through, cleaning up the trees and the power lines and all the mess that has been left behind. One home, in particular, is completely was lifted off of its foundation and dropped just behind the house there. And the gentleman who lives in that house says that he was standing in his garage watching the storm come in. The wind was blowing one direction, and then it immediately changed to start blowing in the other direction. And that's when he knew the tornado was coming. So he and his wife jumped into the basement, and he describes what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN HUTSCER, TORNADO VICTIM: I was standing right there watching it, and then the wind was blowing, you know, 30, 40 miles an hour this way. Then all of a sudden, it switched and went 30, 40 miles an hour the opposite direction, just in a split second. And I hollered at Sharon, I said, we're headed to the basement. And we got down there and got the door closed, and something hit the door and blew it open, and I just saw daylight and the house was gone, and it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: You look back out at a live picture of the subdivision, you see many of the homes that are like this. The rooftops have been completely peeled away.

It's very strange also here, Miles. You still see the phenomenon that you tend to see a lot in the tornadoes where you have a lot of damaged homes right here, but if you look down the way between these two homes, you see that home with the white front. Actually, some of those homes over there are left in pretty good shape. So a lot of the residents here still trying to come to terms with just how random these tornadoes tend to act as they roll through these neighborhoods -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Ed. It is capricious, isn't it? And I suspect a lot of homeowners there just wondering why they might have been spared.

LAVANDERA: Well, you know, I was talking to the mayor here in Gladstone just a little while ago, and he says that, when everybody emerged from this particular neighborhood. There were about 23 people in this area injured last night because of the storms. As everyone came out of their basements and started realizing, hey, for the most part, we're in pretty good shape. Everyone seemed to be jovial and happy about their situation.

They all feel that, hey, we can repair the house. As long as everyone's okay, we're in good shape. But the mayor noticed some more depressed looks on people's faces here today as they go through the rubble and find pictures and belongings that can't be replaced. So that's what people are coming to terms here with most of the day.

O'BRIEN: There really is a whole cycle of reactions that are kind of predictable.

Ed Lavandera in Missouri, not Kansas. We're very sorry about that. Gladstone, specifically. We appreciate you being with us today.

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




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