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CNN Sunday Morning

Bush Declares Parts of Oklahoma Federal Disaster Areas

Aired May 11, 2003 - 09:01   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As far as the weather goes, finally good Mother's Day news for the nation's midsection. A break today from a week of tornado spawning weather. However, President Bush has declared Oklahoma a federal disaster area, at least parts of it, after back-to-back tornadoes. That's where CNN's Brian Cabell is live in Bethany, Oklahoma. Brian, good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson. No tornadoes yesterday in Oklahoma City for the first time in three days and judging from the weather today, which is crisp and cool and blue skies everywhere, it appears we don't have any tornadoes on the horizon at all, at least for the next day or two. Take a look around, though and you can see cleanup still needs to be done. A lot was done yesterday, there's still debris on the ground. Power crews are busy as we speak, as a matter of fact, power lines down here in this area. About 400 homes are still without power in the Oklahoma City area, but they are hoping to get power restored in the next day or two.

If you look at the homes across the street, a tornado passed right over them, just a day and a half ago, and yet they are intact, there are some shattered windows but not much else, they survived. But next door, at Gene's Power Mower Service and Sales, total destruction there, that was the showroom before it is just about gone all they have is debris; they coming managed to save the power mowers.

The police are out, as you can see, blocking off some of the streets. Still, the power companies are trying to restore lines over here. That strip mall over there, that's still without power, they're out of business. Now, if we cross the street, you can see the Wiley Post Airport, I just saw a plane take off from there a little while ago, so they're back in operation, but a number of planes and hangars were destroyed there, just a day and a half ago. Total -- the toll from two tornadoes in two days, 150 people injured, none killed because they had advance warning. Damage estimates, we're told somewhere in excess of $100 million. But, as I say, Anderson, today, sunny, warm -- well, not warm yet, it will be warm a little bit later on, but this does not feel like tornado weather at all. back to you.

COOPER: Yes, it certainly doesn't look like it, either. Looks like a gorgeous day out there and I'm sure a lot of people are very relieved to see that sunshine. Brian Cabell, thanks very much.

I want to check in with Orelon Sidney, now, to take a look at what is happening in the weather, maybe where you are and also in that region. Take a look at what's going to be expecting later on today -- Orelon. ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot. It looks like we're going to see a very, very busy day across much of the northeast. It looks also like, unfortunately, I wonder if the control room guys can switch my source, here, because I can't use this particular map, so maybe if they can switch me over to GR-116, we can get this done. One of the computer's is locked up, so if we can't, we'll take it from here.

Take a look at what's going, though, in parts of Kentucky from a shower, thunderstorm, squall line that moved through last night. Quite a bit of damage reported, actually, from Wisconsin all the way southward through Tennessee and into Kentucky. It doesn't look like the action is going to be nearly as severe today, but it was certainly bad enough last night. And as you saw earlier, especially the mobile homes, it's an illustration of why mobile homes are not safe in any type of severe weather, not just in tornadoes. But, you can see it looks like some well constructed homes with severe damage across the area. We are going to see a much better day, as you can see, it's clear there and this is the squall line that is moving through.

Good news, the watch boxes dropping like flies this morning. We have one in effect now, this one until noontime for parts of Tennessee and on into North Carolina. Showers and thunderstorms will be a problem in the mid-Atlantic though. This is where we think we have the best risk or the worst risk for severe thunderstorms. Also get something rain and thunderstorms now headed towards Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit. Not looking for organized severe weather here, but the day gets better on Monday. We'll talk about that later.

COOPER: All right. Orelon, thanks 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 May 11, 2003 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As far as the weather goes, finally good Mother's Day news for the nation's midsection. A break today from a week of tornado spawning weather. However, President Bush has declared Oklahoma a federal disaster area, at least parts of it, after back-to-back tornadoes. That's where CNN's Brian Cabell is live in Bethany, Oklahoma. Brian, good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson. No tornadoes yesterday in Oklahoma City for the first time in three days and judging from the weather today, which is crisp and cool and blue skies everywhere, it appears we don't have any tornadoes on the horizon at all, at least for the next day or two. Take a look around, though and you can see cleanup still needs to be done. A lot was done yesterday, there's still debris on the ground. Power crews are busy as we speak, as a matter of fact, power lines down here in this area. About 400 homes are still without power in the Oklahoma City area, but they are hoping to get power restored in the next day or two.

If you look at the homes across the street, a tornado passed right over them, just a day and a half ago, and yet they are intact, there are some shattered windows but not much else, they survived. But next door, at Gene's Power Mower Service and Sales, total destruction there, that was the showroom before it is just about gone all they have is debris; they coming managed to save the power mowers.

The police are out, as you can see, blocking off some of the streets. Still, the power companies are trying to restore lines over here. That strip mall over there, that's still without power, they're out of business. Now, if we cross the street, you can see the Wiley Post Airport, I just saw a plane take off from there a little while ago, so they're back in operation, but a number of planes and hangars were destroyed there, just a day and a half ago. Total -- the toll from two tornadoes in two days, 150 people injured, none killed because they had advance warning. Damage estimates, we're told somewhere in excess of $100 million. But, as I say, Anderson, today, sunny, warm -- well, not warm yet, it will be warm a little bit later on, but this does not feel like tornado weather at all. back to you.

COOPER: Yes, it certainly doesn't look like it, either. Looks like a gorgeous day out there and I'm sure a lot of people are very relieved to see that sunshine. Brian Cabell, thanks very much.

I want to check in with Orelon Sidney, now, to take a look at what is happening in the weather, maybe where you are and also in that region. Take a look at what's going to be expecting later on today -- Orelon. ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot. It looks like we're going to see a very, very busy day across much of the northeast. It looks also like, unfortunately, I wonder if the control room guys can switch my source, here, because I can't use this particular map, so maybe if they can switch me over to GR-116, we can get this done. One of the computer's is locked up, so if we can't, we'll take it from here.

Take a look at what's going, though, in parts of Kentucky from a shower, thunderstorm, squall line that moved through last night. Quite a bit of damage reported, actually, from Wisconsin all the way southward through Tennessee and into Kentucky. It doesn't look like the action is going to be nearly as severe today, but it was certainly bad enough last night. And as you saw earlier, especially the mobile homes, it's an illustration of why mobile homes are not safe in any type of severe weather, not just in tornadoes. But, you can see it looks like some well constructed homes with severe damage across the area. We are going to see a much better day, as you can see, it's clear there and this is the squall line that is moving through.

Good news, the watch boxes dropping like flies this morning. We have one in effect now, this one until noontime for parts of Tennessee and on into North Carolina. Showers and thunderstorms will be a problem in the mid-Atlantic though. This is where we think we have the best risk or the worst risk for severe thunderstorms. Also get something rain and thunderstorms now headed towards Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit. Not looking for organized severe weather here, but the day gets better on Monday. We'll talk about that later.

COOPER: All right. Orelon, thanks 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