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American Morning

Tornado Swarm: 17 Dead in Storm Zone; Anna Nicole Smith Burial in Bahamas; Winter Blast: Heavy Snow in New Hampshire

Aired March 02, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Death, devastation, and heartbreak in an instant. A storm of tornadoes across the south kills at least 17.
A hospital in Georgia taking a direct hit overnight. A high school in Alabama crushed. Students and teachers trapped inside. This morning, reports of damage and of heroic actions are coming in as we're live from Enterprise, Alabama, and New York on a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien reporting live from Enterprise, Alabama, where this morning there is shock and grief in the wake of the tornadoes.

Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you miles.

And I'm Kiran Chetry in for Soledad here in New York. Thanks so much for joining us.

Miles.

O'BRIEN: It is a storm that absolutely spanned north and south the continent. One thousand miles from Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf. This time yesterday we were first telling you about it as it began to develop. I recall Chad Myers saying this is going to be one of the big one. And remember, this is still the middle of the winter.

No less than 28 tornado touchdowns reported on that span of weather as it went across the country. Seventeen dead at this juncture right now. Five at the high school I'm standing at here in Enterprise, Alabama. Nine in neighboring Georgia. Another one person dead in Missouri.

We have reporters covering this all over the place. Sean Callebs is nearby in Enterprise, Alabama, looking at some of the damage, which went through here at about a 200-yard-wide swath. Jeanne Meserve is in Americus, Georgia, where the tornado actually hit the hospital and wiped out the ambulance fleet, making it all the more difficult for them to respond there. And, of course, Chad Myers is in the Weather Center in Atlanta. The remnants of this storm still causing havoc. He's looking at where the other activity is today.

We begin with Jean Meserve in Americus.

Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, look at this car behind me. This is sort of typical of the damage we're seeing here that Americus. This is a Honda Accord absolutely flattened by a pine tree. And if you look at the trees behind it, you see that they have all just been sheered off.

But as amazing as that is, that isn't the real story here. It is the building behind me. This is the Sumter Regional Hospital. And as you can see, there are windows blown out up there. There is structural damage. Some of the neighbors described feeling the pressure change in their ears and then this tornado swept in. And as they said, it danced across this parking lot and it savaged this building.

There were about 55 patients inside. They all had to be evacuated. We spoke to Schelly Murray, who supervised that evacuation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHELLY MURRAY, SUMTER REGIONAL HOSPITAL: I was the lead kind of director, traffic coordinator here. And it was rough. But with the help of EMS and with the help of my administrators and the help of our volunteers and our community people, we survived it.

MESERVE: Is your house OK?

MURRAY: Yes, ma'am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Two people in this county, Sumter County, died. They were not patients at this hospital, however. We spoke yesterday to share, Pete Wilson, and he said he just doesn't know how extensive the damage is. He's going to go up in the air in a helicopter and so a survey.

But through the night they had firemen and other rescue personnel going house to house through this community, knocking on doors, trying to find people who might need help. And I will say, it's been a tremendous outpouring of support. We've been told that rescue squads, firemen have come in from as far as 90 miles away.

They are already working to clear the streets here. The power company is here. As you can see, they have generators and temporary lights here in this parking lot. This community is trying very hard to recover from what clearly was a devastating blow, particularly to the heart of the medical system, the Sumter Regional Hospital.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Jeanne Meserve in Americus, Georgia.

Here in Enterprise, Alabama, about 150 miles away, this morning a very similar feeling of emotion here as they try to gather together and get a sense of what has happened here. The grieving process just beginning here.

But in the meantime, the weather is still a factor. Chat Myers in the Weather Center and he's tracking the remnants of that storm and where the trouble areas are this morning.

Chad, good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: I wanted to pan off my shoulder here. Photographer Jay Schksnider (ph) will give us a sense of what's going on here at Enterprise High School. I don't think there's a single vehicle in that parking lot that is left unscathed after what happened here.

Over to the right here, in the far right of your screen, you can see what's identified as the band room. Right next to it is the junior ROTC center. In the middle is the auditorium.

This is a school of about 1,200 people. At 1:14 yesterday afternoon, it looked like any school and any parking lot. By 1:16, it looked like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN, (voice over): It is a mangled mess of broken brick, twisted metal, and shattered glass. Beneath the wreckage, the worst result imaginable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you say you helped carry some of the bodies out?

JOE SINCLAIR, ASSISTED STORM VICTIMS: Two little girls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two little girls. Do you have any idea how old they were?

SINCLAIR: One looked about 12. It's a high school, so -- the other was looked about 16. So -- and it's just disturbing.

O'BRIEN: Construction worker Joe Sinclair ran to help and had big questions about why kids were still inside at all.

SINCLAIR: There's plenty of warning. All the schools throughout Alabama had dismisses right at 12:30. And I don't know why they kept these kids in schools.

O'BRIEN: The media had been reporting tornado threats all day.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I want to show you five tornado watch boxes. One for Atlanta, one for Mississippi and Alabama, and then a couple more here that are on the back side and the north side of this system itself.

O'BRIEN: The tornado warning for Enterprise came from the National Weather Service at 12:47 local time. And one of our viewers captured the sirens. (SIRENS)

O'BRIEN: Students were about to be let out.

CHASE BALDWIN, ENTERPRISE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: We were all sitting in the halls. Like there's a tornado warning and we're supposed to get out of school at 1:00, but this happened like just before 1:00.

O'BRIEN: A few moments later, at 1:15, the tornado hit Enterprise High School.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was sitting -- basically I was sitting in the science wing and the tornado came through and the roof came down on us. A lot of the exterior bricks came in and hit some of the people around us. A real good friend of mine, a couple people down, cut her leg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're looking for your child or a relative, you need to go over here so that the high school can account for you.

O'BRIEN: Hours later, people were still unaccounted for and fear was the death toll could rise.

BOB FERRIS, ENTERPRISE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS: We ask that you continue to pray for our students and for their parents and for our community.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: As it stands right now, five students and teachers are listed as dead this morning. We're going to get some additional information as the morning progresses. The big question here in Enterprise is not a question of warning. Clearly there was warning. The sirens blared. People were up and about listening to radios, watching televisions.

The people inside this school knew that a tornado was coming. The question is, did they respond in the way they should have? The question we'll be asked all throughout the morning here.

About 200 yards from where I stand here at Enterprise High School, CNN's Sean Callebs, who's in a neighborhood which was also clobbered by this tornado as it came through here at 1:15.

Sean, good morning.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

It's easy to see why so many people were injured. If you just look at the massive devastation behind me. It just looks as though the house behind me simply imploded. The roof is completely gone. All the windows blown out. Debris tossed all around the lawn.

And look at this car here in front of me. Simply picked up, tosses around, bashed in. The amazing thing is, there's still a dome light on inside that vehicle.

You talked about the warning, the tornado warning that people in this area got. Yesterday afternoon I was able to speak with one of the police officers here in the town of Enterprise and he said that basically that the siren went off just about the time they were letting those school kids out. And he said that it was his understanding they were trying to get those kids into a hallway for safety. So certainly that's one thing people are going to be looking at today.

Another focus today, just the massive debris cleanup down in this area. If you look right down at my feet, you can see pieces of roofs that have just been ripped off. Some aluminum siding as well.

A number of downed power lines. The power is still out in this area. And that, of course, made for some very anxious moments yesterday afternoon when parents arrived here. Simply panicked trying to reunite with their children.

Cell phone service was spotty yesterday. It's still spotty now. The electricity still off in this area. So they were unable to reach people for sometime, Miles.

So a very, very agonizing day. Today, clearly going to be more sobering as all of this begins to set in.

O'BRIEN: Sean, can you imagine anything more horrifying for a parent than not knowing where your child is in the wake of something like this. These people have been just traumatized here, haven't they?

CALLEBS: Oh, without question. Coming in yesterday, there were so many emergency workers from all the surrounding areas, as well as nearby Fort Rucker. Their helicopters are actually ferrying the injured to nearby hospitals. And if you just looked that the faces on the residents here, they knew their neighbors, their neighbors' children. A very stressful day. A very painful day.

A small down like this. Any time a student at a school dies, it has such a dramatic effect. In a small town like this, where five people apparently died at this high school, it has the potential just to almost rip the soul out of this community.

O'BRIEN: A community of only 22,000. And, yes, a tremendous impact today they will not soon forget. Sean Callebs, who's also in Enterprise.

In just a little while, we're going to talk to one of the emergency management official here and we'll ask him about the response. Whether the warning was adequate. It seems as if it was from what we're hearing so far. Whether he believes it is so. And whether people responded in the proper way, especially here at Enterprise High School.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Miles, thanks so much.

And as Chad told us, this is a huge system affecting thousands of miles across the nation. And up and down the East Coast, it's in the forms of heavy rain. In northern New England, it's heavy snow. Part of that same system dumped up to 16 inches of snow in the Plains states.

These pictures come to us from our i-Report viewers in South Dakota. Interstates there closed. Hundreds of schools canceling classes as well today.

And Iowa has declared a state of emergency after the second major snowstorm hit this week. State troopers were busy all night rescuing stranded drivers. And thousands of people are still without power there this morning.

More than a foot of snow fell in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Scott Patterson of our affiliate KPTM has his report from Omaha.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT PATTERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a much better morning here in Omaha, especially compared to 24 hours ago when we had inches of snow coming down every hour and all kind of wind blowing that snow around. You had some pretty massive drifts. This one right here could be considered a medium one. It comes up to about my knee. But in the more open areas, the drifts are even higher.

This storm brought this city of about 420,000 people to a stand- still. Schools closed early on. Businesses closed shortly thereafter. Many of them closing around mid-morning.

And as people tried to get home, they soon realized that it wasn't going to be an easy task. A lot of cars going off the road. And then when cars got into their neighbors, the roads became parking lots. It was just to difficult for their cars to get to their homes, so a lot of people were basically stranded.

TERRI GAVERN, STRANDED DRIVER: This is as far as I got. I only live three blocks away. And there was cars behind me that were stuck. There were cars ahead of me that were stuck. It was pretty frightening.

PATTERSON: Now a number of schools around the Omaha Metro are closed for a second day today. However, many businesses are reopening and that means any parents who haven't cleared the snow out from around their cars have quite a bit of work ahead of them this morning.

Scott Patterson, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Thanks. And we're going to keep watching the severe weather threat that's still in effect right now. Coming up, Miles is going to be talking with the director of emergency management for Enterprise, Alabama. We'll also keep you updated on the forecast as well.

Also happening right now, live pictures coming to us from the medical examiner's office in Ft. Lauderdale. Actually this is a shot right now of the motorcade. The body of Anna Nicole Smith preparing for its final journey back to the Bahamas this morning. Police are escorting the body to the Miami International Airport. There then a flight to Nassau. There are up to 150 guests that will be attending a memorial service this morning. Smith died three weeks ago, setting off a legal battle for her remains.

Also happening in America, in Washington, D.C., change at the top for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Its commander, Major General George Weightman, fired following reports of poor conditions at a hospital building where troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan go to recuperate. General Weightman had been on the job only six months. There's been no permanent replacement named yet.

And in New Orleans, a big step made toward a big-time lawsuit. The city filing a whopping $77 billion damage claim against the Army Corps of Engineers. It's over the flooding that hit the city when the levies failed after Hurricane Katrina. The $77 billion figure comes to about $170,000 for each person who lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina.

And in Virginia, Governor Tim Keane says he will sign a bill requiring all sixth grade girls to get vaccinated for HPV, the virus that can cause cervical cancer. Virginia is the second state after Texas to require that vaccine.

And in Georgia, the arrest of the alleged Barbie Bandits, Ashley Miller and Heather Johnson, 19 years old, both of them, arrested last night. Police say they're the duo caught on camera laughing while robbing a bank outside of Atlanta. They're saying it could be an inside job. Two others were arrested, including a teller at that bank.

Coming up, we're going to have the latest for you on the severe weather alerts right now with Chad.

Also, we're going to go back to Miles. He's in Enterprise, Alabama, this morning. He'll be talking to the director of emergency management there about the all-night rescue effort.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

In Georgia right now, rescue teams are searching the damage left behind by tornadoes that killed at least nine people in the southern part of the state.

And there's a similar search that's ongoing now in southern Alabama. A tornado hit there as well, killing seven people, five inside of a high school. And we're going to be getting a live report straight ahead.

Right now it's about 17 past the hour and Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center today watching today's severe weather potential.

Hi, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: I'm in Enterprise, Alabama, this morning. It happened so quickly and there was so much focus on this high school behind me yesterday that emergency officials are still really trying to get a handle on how much damage those tornadoes caused as they came through town here, 1:15 local time yesterday.

John Tallas is head of Emergency Management Agency here in Coffee County, Alabama. He's got a busy day ahead.

We appreciate your time. We know you're very busy.

Mr. Tallas, first of all, just tell us right now your best assessment beyond the high school here, which we can plainly see. How much damage has Coffee County sustained?

JOHN TALLAS, DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOR COFFEE COUNTY: Well, the tornado appears to have touched down on the city side of the airport and then ran a swath pretty much through this part of the county -- the eastern part of the county. Of course, taking out a good portion of parts of Enterprise. Again, as you said, the high school was our focus because we had kidos in all of our schools hunkered down with the tornado warnings and so forth.

We know we have structural damage. We have yet to assess all of that. Today we'll begin a full day of assessment so that we can get a good handle on that. We're trying to certainly, at least initially, clear debris so we can gain access to these areas and restore power and central services.

O'BRIEN: Do you fear, as the morning progresses, you'll learn of more deaths or injuries?

TALLAS: There's that distinct possibility because we have not done our assessment. So as time goes by, we'll complete that and there is that possibility, yes.

O'BRIEN: Two-part question. Was there enough warning and did, in this case, did they act appropriately, put those students where they needed to be to be safe?

TALLAS: The standard protocol, at least in this county, and I think in most school systems, is that -- and I'll answer your question in reverse. When we issue a tornado warning, the kids go in the hallway. That is the structurally most sound portion of the building typically in our schools. We try to keep them out of gyms. We try to keep them out of the cafeterias because those have windows or spanning roofs. And in this case, the kids were in the hallways.

But this is the first time that I've seen four distinct wind sheers converge at the same time. And it was devastating.

O'BRIEN: So what you're implying is, there may not have been any refuge from this storm.

TALLAS: In this particular case, no, I don't think there would have been.

O'BRIEN: Was there enough warning, do you think?

TALLAS: We were under a tornado warning almost consistently from midmorning through a good portion of the afternoon. They would be set to expire. We were initially led to believe that we would get this weather in waves. Unfortunately, it was a continuum of bad weather.

We sounded the sirens at least three different times during this process. And we were pretty much under a constant state of tornado warning throughout most of the mid morning.

O'BRIEN: John Tallas, best to you and Coffee County as you try to pick up the pieces today. You've got a big job ahead and we wish you well. John Tallas, who directs emergency management here in Coffee County. A big day ahead for him and for everybody around Enterprise, Alabama.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Miles, thanks so much.

We're following some breaking news right now and we have some pictures to show you of a bus accident taking place in Atlanta. It overturned. Police are saying that it was carrying a load of passengers. They're saying it fell off of a bridge and on to Interstate 75 in downtown Atlanta.

We're getting word that I-75 in both directions closed right now. We also heard it was a youth baseball team that was on that bus and that it was a charter bus. Right now we have no reports on any injuries or casualties as a result.

But the shots coming to us from the Georgia Department of Transportation show the bus there lying on its side. It appears to be in the southbound lane of the expressway. Again, all we are hearing at this point is that it overturned on the interstate. Interstate 75 shut down in both directions and we'll update you as soon as we get more information on that charter bus accident in Atlanta.

Meantime, coming up, deadly twisters in the South and blizzards in the Midwest. Driving, treacherous. Schools and flights canceled. We have Chad Myers with us on what you can expect today.

Plus, are you late for your mortgage payment? Well, if you are, you're not the only one. We're "Minding Your Business." That's all coming up ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.

After taking an early battering, the stock market closed with just a small decline. So what can we expect for today's open? Well, it is 26 past the hour and Andrew Ross Sorkin is in for Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."

Good to see you this morning, Andrew.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, the market had an OK day yesterday. Those declines were not horrible, horrible. And I think coming into today we thought maybe we'd have a chance to get some of these gains back, if you will.

However, Europe and Asia not looking so great this morning. So I do think we should -- there's some market jitters. I think it's going to be a tough day, especially on the open. I just can't imagine that we're really going to see folks come in there really bullish just yet.

One of the reasons I think that is, is in part because there's such an overhang on the mortgage issue, especially sub prime. You know, Countrywide came out yesterday -- these are the largest mortgage lenders in the country -- saying that 20 percent -- well, virtually 20 percent of their sub prime, which is poor credit folks, are going to be delinquent or foreclosing.

And yesterday when we were on the show, we were talking about really just how hard it has been to sell a home. If you put your home on sale, it's taking five months virtually to sell it. So I think all of this is overhanging the whole issue.

I also think if you look, gold is down for the first time. A commodity that's never down. And oil, the one thing that's sort of weird, still staying up. So I think it's confusing, but I think we have some serious market jitters.

And then we have to figure out what the American consumer is going to do. And we're going to talk about that a little later. Sears, Dell, and Gap reporting earnings and they're mix, too. So these are very confusing times.

CHETRY: All right. What about late mortgage payments? If you're unable to make the payments?

SORKIN: Well, that's the tough part. For years the nation and the economy has really grown in part because the mortgages were so easy to get. These ARMs, these adjustable rate mortgages, were just everywhere and now people are having a very tough time for the first time and it's harder and harder to get one.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we're going to have much more on that with you a little bit later.

Thanks so much, Andrew.

SORKIN: Thank you.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, coming up, the top stories of the morning.

Coming up next, Miles reporting live from Enterprise, Alabama, on the tornado outbreak that hit across the south.

Plus, we're also watching live pictures right now. The body of Anna Nicole Smith making its way to Miami International Airport. That will then go on to the Bahamas for her funeral finally.

Also a charter but overturning off of an interstate ramp in Atlanta. We're getting reports it was carrying a youth baseball team. The busy interstate is closed. We're going to get more details straight ahead.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: New pictures just in -- devastating tornadoes right through the heart of Georgia. Nine people killed there.

Enterprise, Alabama, five students and teachers confirmed dead this morning. A search through the night in the rubble of a high school to account for everyone.

In a little while, we'll talk to some students who road out that killer storm ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien, reporting live this morning from Enterprise, Alabama, at the high school where all this devastation occurred -- Kiran.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry, in for Soledad here in New York.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Miles is going to bring us up to date right now on that situation.

Hey, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Thank you, Kiran.

Let's set the scene for you.

We told you about it yesterday, and this morning it is the aftermath. Yesterday it was a storm system 1,000 miles in length, from north in Minnesota, all the way down to the Gulf Coast states, spawning several tornadoes. Twenty-eight in all documented that have touched down, causing damage all throughout primarily the middle section of the United States, Missouri, and into Alabama and Georgia.

At this juncture, 17 are confirmed dead. Five at the high school where I stand right now in Enterprise, Alabama, in southern Alabama, nine in neighboring Georgia, one in Missouri.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve is in Americus, Georgia, this morning, where the tornado swept through and actually struck the hospital, making it all the more difficult for them to respond because it took out their fleet of ambulances.

Jeanne, what is the latest from there this morning?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a mess. The sun is coming up and we're getting a better look at the damage here. As you mentioned, nine dead in Georgia, two of them here in Sumter because of damage like this.

Look at this car. This is in the parking lot of the Sumter Regional Hospital. And if we pan up a little bit, you see the trees.

They've just been completely mowed off. It sort of looks as though a giant weed whacker came here and just did a number on them.

And as we walk down the parking lot a little bit, we'll see some other cars. One of them just flipped right over. It's right on its roof.

Some of the cars that we've seen around here are pinged along the side. It looks like hail damage, but it isn't. Let me show you what it is.

I have in my hand here a rock. This is a rock that came off the roof of the hospital, and some of them went it looks like 100 yards and did damage to the cars.

We even saw instances where insulation from inside the hospital was blown and embedded into the -- into the plastic, into the rubber around the windows, the window gaskets. Amazing force must have carried this. And we hope later to take you up closer to the hospital.

You can see the damage here. The windows out. But down here a little ways, there is a two-by-four that was embedded into a concrete wall. The wind put it there.

Amazingly forceful. Of course, because of the hospital damage, they had to evacuate. We're told there were about 55 patients here. A couple of them in critical condition. They were put in buses, they were put in ambulances, they were taken to hospitals elsewhere in an area that was not damaged.

This hospital is shut down for all intents and purposes. They've tried to take some supplies out of here, however. They've taken those to some emergency shelters here in town so that the people who are injured can go there and get some treatment -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, it must have been a frantic seen, Jeanne, trying to get all of those already very hurt and injured and sick people to safety.

Are they safe and sound this morning? Is there another hospital that's taking care of them?

MESERVE: Yes, three were named to me. I talked to a woman in the emergency room who sort of honchoed the evacuation. She named three local hospitals where they were taken.

She said everybody is in stable condition. There were only three, she said, who were critical at the time of the evacuation.

But, of course, there have to be a lot of people around here who are injured. When you look at these trees, when you look at these cars, when we look at some of the houses around here, as well as the hospital, there are undoubtedly a lot of people with injuries, both serious and less serious, who are going to need some kind of medical attention today. That's why they've gone ahead and tried to set up these places in some of the local shelters, and some of the hospital staff will be there to treat people -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, there's no -- there's no good place for a tornado to hit, but it's hard to think of a place that's worse than a hospital.

Jeanne Meserve in Americus, Georgia, this morning.

We're in Enterprise, Alabama. Behind me is the high school where we know five students and teachers died. They've accounted for everybody now.

In a little while, we're going to talk to the mayor of Enterprise, Alabama. It's a tough morning for them, obviously. They didn't get much sleep last night. And they still, with all the focus on the high school, have not really assessed all of the damage here in Coffee County.

We'll get an update on that. The possibility there might be more injured and killed here lurks this morning -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Miles. Thanks a lot.

We're following another breaking story, and that's out of Atlanta, Georgia, this morning, where a charter bus toppled off of a bridge, falling on to Interstate 75, and rolling over on its side. These are pictures from just a little while ago, as well as some live pictures that we're just getting in.

It looks like, at least according to a police spokesman on the scene, that two people are reported dead. They say it was a charter bus carrying a youth baseball team.

They also say there are other injuries. And firefighters right now are trying to pull people through the roof of the bus.

As we said, the bus is on its side. Witnesses are saying that sports equipment is scattered along the interstate. The southbound lanes of I-75 remain closed right now.

Police say that the initial reports indicate the bus was headed from Ohio to a tournament in Florida when that happened. No word on how that accident happened, just that it toppled off of the Northside Drive Bridge (ph) and fell on to Interstate 75.

Again, those are the pictures right now. There are some reports that there were as many as two, possibly one person killed, as well as other injuries. But the situation certainly is changing right now as firefighters are trying to pull people through the roof of that bus.

We'll continue to keep you updated on that story.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Three weeks after she died, Anna Nicole Smith will finally be laid to rest today. Right now here body is being taken to the airport in Miami for a flight to the Bahamas, and that's where she'll be buried in a few hours.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is live for us in Nassau, Bahamas, this morning -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

You know, in life, Anna Nicole Smith basked in the spotlight much like her idol, Marilyn Monroe. But in death, probably even she could not have conceived the kind of attention she is receiving. At this early hour here in Nassau, Bahamas, preparations are already under way at the church you may be able to see over my shoulder. And also at this hour, a Hearse is taking the remains of Anna Nicole Smith to Miami International Airport.

The security is remarkable, being led by a police motorcade to that airport. She will be flown here by private plane to the Bahamas, accompanied by the Broward County medical examiner at the request of a judge, as well as the guardian who represents her daughter, Dannielynn.

Once she arrives here by private plane, she will be taken to the church here. Her casket taken inside. A service to begin around 10:30 in the morning, to be attended by roughly 300 people, including her mother from Texas, her partner, Howard K. Stern, and her ex- boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, who claims to be the biological father of her baby.

The service described as very pink, her favorite color, and very over the top. And then she will be laid to rest, buried next to her son Daniel, as she has said she wanted.

She leaves behind Dannielynn and two questions. How did she die? And who was the father of her baby?

Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: Susan Candiotti live for us in Nassau, Bahamas, this morning.

Thank you. And we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to update you on the severe weather, what to expect for today. We're going to check in with Chad Myers.

Also, we're going to go back out to Miles O'Brien, who is live for us in Enterprise, Alabama. He's going to be speaking with the mayor of that city after -- in the aftermath of all that devastation. We're going to talk more about what it was like and what's going on there this morning, keep you updated here on AMERICAN MORNING.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. The most news in the morning right here on CNN.

Miles O'Brien reporting, live from Enterprise, Alabama.

We have some new numbers, a little bit of breaking news here from Enterprise and from the mayor here, indicating there are as many as nine deaths in this city. One adult, separate from my location right now at the Enterprise High School, eight teens -- eight. We've been saying five earlier, but the new, revised, more accurate number is eight teens who perished in this school.

Joining me now to talk a little bit more about what lies ahead for a shocked community is mayor Kenneth Boswell.

Mayor Boswell, when did you finally account for everybody overnight?

MAYOR KENNETH BOSWELL, ENTERPRISE, ALABAMA: At 12:42 a.m. this morning.

O'BRIEN: OK. That process -- so we can say categorically right now that either you've discovered people or accounted for everybody who would have been in this school?

BOSWELL: Correct.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Tell me what you know about the further assessment outside of the high school. So much attention was focused here. What's the plan for today to figure out if anybody else was hurt or killed?

BOSWELL: Actually, we've had four areas that has been affected heavily. We have sat down last night, got our plans together, and we will take and start with debris removal.

We have the National Guard that will be moving in this morning. We've already checked the residential debris at least twice, but we will be doing that again this morning with the National Guard.

O'BRIEN: When you heard those numbers, that's a huge toll for any community, but this is a small community. People very close-knit. What's been the reaction here?

BOSWELL: Absolutely devastating. Anytime that you have any loss of life, it's absolutely devastating. But for it to happen to teenagers, it's -- you just mourn for the families. And our heart goes out to those families today.

O'BRIEN: What about the response to the warnings in this case? They were -- they were in hallways. And that, as I understand it, was the plan.

As best you can tell at this point, were people doing what they were supposed to be doing yesterday afternoon when they heard there was a tornado warning?

BOSWELL: Absolutely. I'd like to commend our school staff on the excellent job that they have done. They did -- it was textbook.

They did everything by the book. The tornado was so devastating, that it took a direct hit and there was nothing that could survive from anything of that nature when you take that kind of hit.

O'BRIEN: Mayor Kenneth Boswell, city of Enterprise.

Best of luck to you today. It's going to be a long day. It's been a long night.

Thank you very much.

BOSWELL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Once again, Kiran, the revised death toll here in Enterprise, eight students who died in that high school behind us yesterday as that tornado came through at 1:15. One adult, a separate location in the city, also perished.

We'll keep you posted -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Devastating, Miles. Thanks so much.

All part of the same system that's causing so much trouble weather-wise is also having an affect in the New England area, as we're going to head to New Hampshire right now, where some areas could expect to get more than a foot of snow.

Kria Sakakeeny from our affiliate WMUR joins us live from Tilton, New Hampshire.

And I see the snow certainly coming down right now as well.

Hi, Kria.

KRIA SAKAKEENY, REPORTER, WMUR: Right. I'm a female snowwoman.

Well, this is about the second major storm New Hampshire has gotten in just two weeks. On Valentine's Day, we saw about a foot of snow. At least actually 20 inches. And right now we're going to get about 14.

Let's take a look over here at how deep the snow has actually gotten. We've seeing about three to four inches so far, and it's a very wet, messy mix. And it's making driving pretty hazardous.

If we take a look at the roads, we can see the slush gathering. Crews have been out plowing. We've seen a lot of cars dovetailing back and forth.

Again, all up and down the state they're expecting the snow to accumulate probably to about 14 inches. But toward the southern part of the state it's going to get wet and icy. Up north, of course, the ski areas are just dying for snow to help boost business because we got a very slow start to the winter.

So for now, reporting live in Tilton, New Hampshire, Kria Sakakeeny for CNN.

CHETRY: Kria, thanks so much.

And we're going to get a check right now on more of what we can expect today weather-wise in some of the areas that could be hardest hit. Let's head to Chad Myers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: And coming up, we're going to update you on a deadly bus accident in Atlanta. A charter bus toppling off of a bridge, landing on an interstate, with a youth baseball team inside. We're going to have more details for you coming up.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

News not good right now. We have some breaking news in Atlanta, Georgia.

We're updating you now on that fatal bus accident. It looks like there are multiple fatalities, at least according to the fire department captain who is on or heading to the scene right now.

It was a bus carrying some little league baseball players. They were on a trip headed from Ohio to Florida, when apparently the bus just went over an overpass, landing on I-75. They say there are also dozens of injuries.

Right now firefighters are pulling people through the roof of that overturned bus, trying to get as many as possible to area hospitals. It looks like it's causing a lot of problems on Interstate 75 as well.

The highway right now is shut down as they try to get as many people out to safety as possible. But again, we first heard maybe two people killed, dozens injured. Now we're hearing from the fire captain that it's multiple fatalities.

So we will continue to keep you updated. And new word just coming in from my producers, at least five people killed after that bus plowed off of an overpass and fell on its side on Interstate 75.

Again, many others being transported to area hospitals. And we'll continue to keep you updated, checking in with the Atlanta fire and police officials on that one.

Meantime, retail members are in, the news is mixed this morning. Andrew Ross Sorkin is in for Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business" today.

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

CHETRY: Good to see you.

SORKIN: I have bad news, but it doesn't compare with that, I'm sorry to say.

CHETRY: Right.

SORKIN: The retail picture is -- is so confusing, and the market is obviously so confusing. The big issues to just keep an eye on today, Dell said yesterday that their earnings are down 33 percent. The American consumer is not helping them.

Part of their problem, it appears to be that they are losing serious market share to Hewlett-Packard. You'll remember Dell was the great story of the 1990s, and through even the past couple of years, but has really struggled.

The other company that is struggling more than ever today -- I don't know if you're a Gap shopper, but if you shop at The Gap -- not enough of us clearly are shopping at The Gap -- their profits down 35 percent, 6 percent at The Gap stores themselves. The only thing that's looking good at The GAP really is the fact that people are somewhat going to Banana Republic, up 14 percent.

But I should note, by the way, shareholders of The Gap are probably not going to get hit. As we reported before, The Gap is actually up for sale and may get bought out. So those shares, for better or worse, are at some level artificially inflated, at least until we figure out whether there is a sale or not.

And then Sears, which owns K-mart -- K-mart, they merged together a couple of years ago. They're reporting that their profits are higher. But oddly enough, it's not because their sales are any better.

In fact, their sales are worse, down 4.9 percent. They're just doing a very good job of cutting employees, I hate to say.

CHETRY: So really there isn't much good news in what you're telling us this morning.

SORKIN: No. No, it's not really a mixed picture. It's a bad picture. And I apologize about that.

Later today we have even more bad news, but at least it's interesting. On Wall Street, the biggest insider trading ring, and we will talking about a major insider trading ring bust that happened late yesterday in the next hour.

CHETRY: All right. Andre andrew, we'll see you then. Thanks so much.

SORKIN: Thank you.

CHETRY: Meantime, we're going to have more on those deadly twisters and the damage left in their paths. We're live from Alabama and Georgia this morning.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Death, devastation and heartbreak. All in an instant, a swarm of tornadoes have crossed the South, kills at least 20 people.

A hospital in Georgia taking a direct hit overnight. A high school in Alabama crushed. And we just learned there were eight teens who died inside.

We're live this morning from Enterprise, Alabama, and New York City. A special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien, live from Enterprise, Alabama.

It is a very grim morning here. The sun is just coming up, and we've just learned eight teenagers died in the city of 22,000 in the high school behind me.

Good morning, Kiran.

CHETRY: Good morning.

I'm Kiran Chetry, here in for Soledad in New York.

And Miles, we're covering another devastating story this morning. And that is a bus that fell off of an overpass, landing on Interstate 75, with a youth baseball team from Ohio on board.

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