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Tornado Warnings Increasing in Southeast
Aired May 06, 2003 - 14:49 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: Let's go back and show you a live picture of Atlanta, Georgia, if we've got one. I don't mean to step on Jacqui's thing here. I thought we were going to go to this shot here quickly.
There it is, there's Atlanta. And, actually, it looks a little better than it did a few moments ago. But still not exactly a pretty picture unless you are a cloud-o-phile, which undoubtedly Jacqui is. Right? Don't you spend a lot of time looking at clouds?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Have you looked at them from both sides now?
JERAS: Always, just like the song.
Anyway, yes, that is an ominous looking picture. We've got a lot of low-level clouds or what we call the Scud clouds. But just by looking as close I can here in my monitor, I'm not seeing any type of rotation there.
Most of the tornadic cells are to the north of the metro area now. Has been expired for Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton Counties, but Gwinnett County now in north central Georgia is under a tornado warning. Also southern Hart and Elbert County in northeastern Georgia, Madison County and Clarke and Oglethorpe Counties. And all of those warnings are in effect until the top of the hour at this time. And depending on what happens with the speed of some of these cells they may be extended a little bit.
One cell that we're really concerned about is just pushing into South Carolina right now, showing strong rotation on radar. If we could go to my radar picture I'll circle it out for you because it's right along Interstate 85. There you can see it, right here. And these storm systems are pushing off to the east, almost due east about 45 miles per hour. So they're moving along at a very good clip. And of course that's a very well traveled interstate.
There is some more redevelopment coming in back in behind this. And so all along that I-20 corridor you're going have to use a lot of caution. This is not a good time to be out and be traveling for today. This tornado watch will continue throughout the much afternoon.
Got some new information coming in here now. Tornado warning for Abbeville County in upstate South Carolina. That's that cell I was talking about right here near I-85 until 3:30. This is a radar indicating tornado about ten miles southwest of Lowndesville. And that one's also moving to the east about 40 miles per hour.
So if you live in those counties that I just mentioned, you need to take cover now. And I know we've been drilling you about it the last couple of days but get to the lowest level of your home. Get away from doors and windows. You want to cover your head. Put something on top of you, if you can do that, and wait until those sirens come off because this is a very serious situation.
We do have a few reports of some damage way up here into Walker County from earlier this morning. I'll circle it here for you so you can see it just a little bit better. It was some minor damage but some farm homes did have a little bit of trouble there. No injuries to report at this time.
So the number of tornadoes throughout the day continues to go on up. We're also keeping our eye on what's happening across parts of Kansas and into Missouri. Kansas City has been getting hit hard in the last half an hour with severe thunderstorms that have been pushing through. And of course this is on top of the tornadic damage that you had on Sunday.
Severe thunderstorm watch across the tri-state area here, right along the Ohio River, around Evansville, down towards Paducah. And then Dallas/Fort Worth, you're just on the edge of a severe thunderstorm watch, which includes much of central Texas.
Now, that is a severe thunderstorm watch. However, we've had several thunderstorm watches issued earlier this morning and have had rotating thunderstorms move through those areas. So even though it's just a thunderstorm watch, be aware that we may be getting more rotation.
So, Miles, the situation continues to break. Very ominous looking throughout the afternoon.
O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Just got an instant message from my wife. She says my kids are stranded at their school because of a tornado warning. They aren't going to be coming home for a while.
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 6, 2003 - 14:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go back and show you a live picture of Atlanta, Georgia, if we've got one. I don't mean to step on Jacqui's thing here. I thought we were going to go to this shot here quickly.
There it is, there's Atlanta. And, actually, it looks a little better than it did a few moments ago. But still not exactly a pretty picture unless you are a cloud-o-phile, which undoubtedly Jacqui is. Right? Don't you spend a lot of time looking at clouds?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Have you looked at them from both sides now?
JERAS: Always, just like the song.
Anyway, yes, that is an ominous looking picture. We've got a lot of low-level clouds or what we call the Scud clouds. But just by looking as close I can here in my monitor, I'm not seeing any type of rotation there.
Most of the tornadic cells are to the north of the metro area now. Has been expired for Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton Counties, but Gwinnett County now in north central Georgia is under a tornado warning. Also southern Hart and Elbert County in northeastern Georgia, Madison County and Clarke and Oglethorpe Counties. And all of those warnings are in effect until the top of the hour at this time. And depending on what happens with the speed of some of these cells they may be extended a little bit.
One cell that we're really concerned about is just pushing into South Carolina right now, showing strong rotation on radar. If we could go to my radar picture I'll circle it out for you because it's right along Interstate 85. There you can see it, right here. And these storm systems are pushing off to the east, almost due east about 45 miles per hour. So they're moving along at a very good clip. And of course that's a very well traveled interstate.
There is some more redevelopment coming in back in behind this. And so all along that I-20 corridor you're going have to use a lot of caution. This is not a good time to be out and be traveling for today. This tornado watch will continue throughout the much afternoon.
Got some new information coming in here now. Tornado warning for Abbeville County in upstate South Carolina. That's that cell I was talking about right here near I-85 until 3:30. This is a radar indicating tornado about ten miles southwest of Lowndesville. And that one's also moving to the east about 40 miles per hour.
So if you live in those counties that I just mentioned, you need to take cover now. And I know we've been drilling you about it the last couple of days but get to the lowest level of your home. Get away from doors and windows. You want to cover your head. Put something on top of you, if you can do that, and wait until those sirens come off because this is a very serious situation.
We do have a few reports of some damage way up here into Walker County from earlier this morning. I'll circle it here for you so you can see it just a little bit better. It was some minor damage but some farm homes did have a little bit of trouble there. No injuries to report at this time.
So the number of tornadoes throughout the day continues to go on up. We're also keeping our eye on what's happening across parts of Kansas and into Missouri. Kansas City has been getting hit hard in the last half an hour with severe thunderstorms that have been pushing through. And of course this is on top of the tornadic damage that you had on Sunday.
Severe thunderstorm watch across the tri-state area here, right along the Ohio River, around Evansville, down towards Paducah. And then Dallas/Fort Worth, you're just on the edge of a severe thunderstorm watch, which includes much of central Texas.
Now, that is a severe thunderstorm watch. However, we've had several thunderstorm watches issued earlier this morning and have had rotating thunderstorms move through those areas. So even though it's just a thunderstorm watch, be aware that we may be getting more rotation.
So, Miles, the situation continues to break. Very ominous looking throughout the afternoon.
O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Just got an instant message from my wife. She says my kids are stranded at their school because of a tornado warning. They aren't going to be coming home for a while.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
