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CNN Sunday Morning
Deadly Accident in New York City; State of Emergency in Downtown Atlanta
Aired March 16, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, I heard an explosion, I looked up to the right and the support beam had cracked and I saw this thing starting to tumble towards me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: A deadly accident in New York City: A huge crane attached to a skyscraper just comes crashing down. Rescue teams are on the scene right now.
We are going to take you there live.
T.J. HOLMES, CO-HOST: Also: A state of emergency is declared in downtown Atlanta, storms smashed hundreds of windows. Take a look at the mess. And there is a whole lot of work that needs to be done now.
NGUYEN: That and this: Life out in Savannah. A huge blackout hits the city during the popular Saint Patrick's Day party. Thousands of people literally left wandering around in the dark.
Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, it is Sunday, March 16th, what a weekend it has been. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes, glad you could start your day right with us.
NGUYEN: First up: Senator John McCain in Iraq.
HOLMES: Yes, the presumptive Republican nominee arrived there a short time ago, part of a congressional delegation that's on the ground there in Iraq now.
NGUYEN: So, let's take you right now to chief national correspondent John King who is traveling with the senator.
And John, I'd just want to be clear that this, while it hasn't been disclosed, it is a previously scheduled trip, correct?
JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Betty. This is the senator's office stressing an official congressional delegation. Senator McCain who of course, also, will be the Republican candidate for president back in the United States is here along with two other members of Congress: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democrat turned independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
All three are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. All three are outspoken advocates of the so-called surge policy. Both the other senators in addition with Senator McCain, both Lieberman and Lindsey Graham also happen to be high profile supporters of the McCain presidential campaign.
So, there are some, raising some questions back home: Why should U.S. taxpayers be paying for this trip? Three people essentially associated with the McCain campaign including the candidate himself, traveling to Iraq. What Senator McCain says is that these senators have every right and every reason and in fact, the responsibility, he would say, to come here and get a firsthand look and firsthand reports on the political situation, on the security situation.
Because as many people back in the States would know, the commanding general here, David Petraeus along with the U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker will be coming back to Washington next month to brief Congress on what they believe have been the successes and some shortcomings in the so-called surge policy.
So, Senator McCain as part of his official duties as a member of Congress but, Betty, make no mistake about it. Many of his campaign aides have openly said, they hope the American people do see this trip, do see John McCain and view him as authoritative and is comfortable on the world stage.
And it also a simple fact that yes, Congress has some big decisions to make about the Iraq war in the weeks and months ahead. But the Iraq war, Senator McCain support for the surge policy, both Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said they would get the troops out as soon as they could. So, it is a defining issue for the senator in his official duties, his day job, if you will.
And it's also, Betty, is a huge issue in his presidential campaign and he's well aware of that as he visits Baghdad today.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. And so, what is his message to the voters with this trip?
KING: What he wants to convince the voters, Betty, is no matter what you thought of the war back at the beginning, it's five years ago this week, that the war in Iraq began, what Senator McCain's message is, no matter what you think about whether the United States should have gone into Iraq, the United States is in Iraq, more than 100,000 troops here and who has the best policy going forward.
Is it McCain approach? Which he says is keep the troops here as long as the surge is necessary, add more troops if necessary down the road. He doesn't think that would be needed but he says you can't rule that out.
Or he would contrast that with the Democrat's approach, which he says either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama would quickly begin to draw down troops, publicly announcing they were planning to drive down troops. And Senator McCain's position is that that would create a security vacuum here in Iraq that would increase the likelihood that the sectarian strife would escalate yet again.
And he believes, the political situation would quickly deteriorate and at some point, Senator McCain makes the case back home, U.S. troops would likely have to come back to this country and this region.
So, it will be, even though the economy back home more and more is the defining issue in the campaign, without a doubt, Senator McCain knows his support for Iraq war at the beginning, his support for the surge, and his support for a continued presence of the U.S. troops going forward will be a defining issue in the campaign in the months ahead, Betty.
NGUYEN: Chief national correspondent John King, joining us live from Baghdad today. Thank you, John.
HOLMES: We'll turn to New York now. Rescuers are searching for at least one person missing after a giant crane smashed into several buildings there.
NGUYEN: At least four people were killed and 17 others hurt in that construction accident.
HOLMES: We do want to turn now live now to our Stephanie Elam. She's at the scene on Manhattan East Side. Stephanie, good morning to you. Tell us how is that search going?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT - NEW YORK: Good morning, T.J. We did check in to see if there were updates overnight on this really bad crane crash that happened here yesterday afternoon. Nothing new has happened.
They are still searching. It's still a delicate process, because they don't want to disrupt the rubble too much before they find out if someone else there. Like you said, there's still one woman missing.
It was a beautiful day here yesterday even though it's drizzling now. So, people are out bustling. Second Avenue a busy street with bars and restaurants, that was the case until something drastic really happened here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: This construction accident is one of the worst the city has had.
ELAM (voice-over): Devastation struck midtown Manhattan after a tooth (ph) of steel belt shearing off one of the ties holding a crane to a skyscraper under construction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, when I heard an explosion, I looked up to the right and the support beams had cracked and I saw this thing starting to tumble towards me. ELAM: The crane fell from its 19th story porch demolishing parts of three building. A four-story town house was completely crushed when the crane fell on it. Four construction workers were killed and 17 people were injured, three critically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I run into the living room and I looked up at the window and I saw this, the crane structure was tilting right into our window.
ELAM: Residents in the area had been evacuated and first responders continue to look for survivors trapped in the rubble.
BLOOMBERG: We want to make sure that there's nobody else alive that we can at least detect with the dogs or listening devices, because in doing that you may destabilize the file of rubble and fall further on to somebody.
ELAM: He's not officially New York governor until Monday but David Paterson was also on the scene.
DAVID PATERSON, INCOMING NEW YORK GOVERNOR: This is going to be a difficult recovery, the crane is still balanced on the building and to take that down is going to take a tremendous effort and very, very grave risk to the construction workers and firefighters, and the police will be around there trying to make it happen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELAM: And obviously, the crane was supposed to be moved up to the next level so they could start building on the 20th floor. That was supposed to happen yesterday. But actually, obviously at this point, everyone here focused on recovery. Business owners are focused on getting back on their feet on this dreary Sunday morning. T.J.?
HOLMES: All right, Stephanie. Stephanie Elam there for us on the story in New York, a sad story there in Manhattan. Stephanie, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Well, back overseas now: Hundreds of heavily armed police on the streets of Tibet this morning. We want to show you some new video from the capital, Lhasa.
Security officers are doing door to door searches in an area near a palace once used by the Dalai Lama. And they're looking for people they think are involved in violent protest against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama is talking this morning about the violence. The Tibetan spiritual leader responded to allegations that he is orchestrating this protest by calling for an international investigation. The Dalai Lama's government in exile says 80 people have been killed during the protest. The Chinese state-run news agency puts the number at just 10.
Let's take you to Georgia now because this state is reeling from another round of violent weather. Officials with the National Weather Service are expected to be in Polk and Floyd counties to analyze the damage from yesterday's storm.
HOLMES: At least two people killed in North Georgia, the video you're seeing here is from Floyd County. The storm destroyed homes that had been in families for generations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED BRUMBELOW, FLOYD CO., GEORGIA RESIDENT: Beautiful place, beautiful home. It's sad.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You were working on the plumbing not too long ago?
BRUMBELOW: Just yesterday working on the plumbing, just fixing some leaks on it. I hate to see it go. Lots of memories here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Your grandparents own the house?
BRUMBELOW: Yes, they owned the house. They'll miss it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: A few hours earlier, a woman was killed and her husband seriously hurt when their house was hit by a storm in Polk County, Georgia.
HOLMES: Also, the powerful storms caused even more damage as they moved east into South Carolina. Several homes are destroyed in the little town of Prosperity. The National Weather Service says unconfirmed tornado sightings were reported in 17 South Carolina counties.
NGUYEN: Well, it is the second largest Saint Patrick's Day celebration in the country. But in storm-ravaged Savannah, Georgia, the celebratory green soon faded to black. Thunderstorms knocked out power to 150,000 homes and businesses, and that includes the bars which were just brimming with all those Saint Pat's Day parties.
HOLMES: Yes and police closed the riverfront bars by 11:30. You can't stop it at 11:30. Well, the lights started coming back on actually earlier this morning. Crews will be working well into tomorrow to restore power to that entire area.
Savannah had celebrated Saint Pat's Day for nearly 200 years, as many as 500,000 folks packed there each time each year.
NGUYEN: Yes, a big party down there. You know, Atlanta is always a big attraction. Downtown Atlanta though, still cleaning up from Friday night's tornado. And it will probably be that way for a while.
HOLMES: CNN's Rusty Dornin has the latest on the massive recovery efforts. She's there with us live this morning. Rusty, good morning to you.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty and T.J., I'll bet you, you received calls from around the country, wondering, are you OK?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
DORNIN: Yes. I've had people I haven't heard from in months and years calling me. And of course, this is why, welcome to downtown Atlanta. Of course, this is some of the worst event, right here this office building which is very close to CNN Center, of course.
Of course, there were tens of thousands of people that were downtown on Friday night going to the basketball tournament. Also here on a dental convention, but take a look, this is an office building that was part of it was abandoned, 135-mile-per-hour winds that has cut swath through Atlanta, a tornado, a six mile swath through downtown Atlanta.
Now, apparently, that's never happened before. A lot of people are coming downtown of course to see and to take pictures. We've got i-Reporters, have been giving us photographs. Some amazing stuff over the weekend. Some from Lawrence Stewart, just showing the damage, the high rises, the buildings, the windows blown out, that sort of thing.
They are estimating about $150 million to $200 million worth of damage. And Mayor Shirley Franklin and the governor, Sonny Perdue have declared Atlanta in a state of emergency. Of course, that's going to NABL, FEMA, and a lot of other federal and state money to able to come in and really assess the damage.
So, they're going to be doing a lot of cleaning up, of course, over the next few days. CNN Center has been closed all weekend. So, a lot of the folks that were here in that convention have really not had too many places to go. Back to you.
HOLMES: Yes. And that's because this is where everybody comes, they come down to the CNN Center, this hub, this very area that was hit and now a mess, is where people would normally be.
But just a mile to the east really, the other hard hit area, Cabbagetown is the name of a historic district there, what's happening there? What's their cleanup effort like? And I guess just how bad it is there as well? I was out there spending time all morning yesterday really.
DORNIN: Right. Well, they've still got a lot of streets, I think, blocked off because they're trying to clean up that area. As you know, it was the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, a historic loft building with their condos, that sort of thing, part of that just pancaked and collapsed.
And there were also 20 historic homes, shut gun homes like you have down in New Orleans and those were destroyed. So, they've got a pretty big job ahead of them in cleaning up there.
HOLMES: All right. They absolutely do. Rusty, everyone knows, hopefully your friends see right now and know that you are A-OK. But you're absolutely right, people started calling like crazy, checking on all of us. Our Rusty Dornin for us, we appreciate you this morning, thank you.
NGUYEN: Let me took cover and just seconds before the roof peeled away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE WHEELER, HOUSE DAMAGED: It blew the doors open and knocked it back into our television and it was really, really scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Storm stories, survival and tragedy in the aftermath of the Georgia tornadoes.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're expecting much better weather in the southeast. And do you hear that? Yes, that's the noise of people complaining about an easy day. Everybody deserves it here.
It's been a rough time in parts of Alabama, Georgia, and of course, in the Carolinas. We are seeing a chance of some scattered showers and few storms for parts of eastern seaboard, and maybe some storms down in Texas. But for the most part, a relatively quiet day and I know that you guys at the desk are not complaining one bit either.
NGUYEN: No, that is true. We deserve it after all, that many folks have been through this weekend. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: Well, let's talk about this though, because the future of Iraq five years after the war started. We're going to talk with an Iraqi blogger and a journalist living in the U.S. and they're going to share their hopes for their home country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: T.J., have you done your taxes yet?
HOLMES: Yes, I have.
NGUYEN: Already?
HOLMES: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Very good.
HOLMES: Yes. I did my taxes back in late January, I believe it was.
NGUYEN: As soon as I got that W-2, right? You're honest. HOLMES: As soon as I got it, I went in with the whole box full of stuff. Here it goes, get me my refunds. Thank you.
NGUYEN: You're lucky to get one. You know, the deadline for filing your taxes is just around the corner.
HOLMES: I wouldn't know since I file sort of early. But on this week's Right on Your Money, CNN's Christine Romans has the tips to help you get the biggest refund possible. Be sure to watch this very thoroughly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You have less than one month to file your 2007 tax return and making the right decisions now, can get you a bigger check later this year.
Tax Attorney Donna Cocovinis says, first, make sure to choose the right filing status.
DONNA COCOVINIS, TAX ATTORNEY: You could be head of household if you support a parent or a relative. Don't overlook that and especially for someone who may have lost a spouse, there's something called qualifying widower or widow status, and they'll give you the benefit of a lot of joint filings, brackets and deductions.
ROMANS: Also, pay attention to some commonly overlooked deductions.
COCOVINIS: One of the things, this job contains expenses: resume preparation, the stamps, faxing fees, publications to find a job, if you have any medical testing that you need to get the job. Gambling losses, actually, against your gambling winnings unfortunately. So, you have to have won to get those losses. Legal fees to collect alimony and unfortunately sometimes, that's the way you have to get it.
ROMANS: If you had a major life change in the past year, consider working with an accountant.
COCOVINIS: If you have a big change in your tax position, you've been married, have a baby, lose a dependent, get divorced, buy a house, sell a house, sell a business, something where your tax position changing, and if you're uncomfortable doing your taxes, it's a great way to have a financial checkup.
They can show you all the deductions but that you can take in the future, they'll give you the right form, schedules and this way, you can go forward, knowing you get all the reductions that you deserved.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Trust me, you need all the deductions that you can get. Make sure you get some kind of a return (INAUDIBLE). HOLMES: You're getting it worked out now, is that right?
NGUYEN: This week I'm filing -- I'm going to be ahead of the deadline, aren't you proud?
HOLMES: Yes, sure.
NGUYEN: Considering you did it back in February.
HOLMES: Oh, exactly, way back when.
Now, for a lot of folks, of course, the economy right now is their number one issue this presidential election.
But we're going to be having all of the latest financial news starting tomorrow at noon if you need info on the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch and anything else, really issue number one, next week, 12 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday.
NGUYEN: A rainy night in Georgia, it quickly turned to terror.
HOLMES: And tornadoes carved through the Atlanta area and Reynolds Wolf has the latest from the severe weather center for us. He's going to be all over that.
NGUYEN: Then: Life during war time. We're going to talk to two Iraqis who shared the snapshots of their daily lives in the world. It's a rare peek into the headlines.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, we had a double dose of storms yesterday. Reynolds, looking at the weather today, we really need a break from all of this because people are still trying to clean up.
WOLF: Oh, I know. I mean, this is -- it's funny about these storms. When they roll through area, you think you're going to get a break and weatherwise, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to get a break in parts of the southeast. But still, so many people have to get out there and they're going to start putting their lives back together because their homes have been destroyed. Many places here in Atlanta, we've got wreckage all over the place still.
If you want an idea of what's happening today in terms of cleaning up, just imagine just like a shattered community and that's basically what we're trying to snap together. And one of the reasons why is because the storms we had yesterday showing this videos, video pretty much tells the story of what happened just in north of Atlanta in Polk County.
This actually from Cumming, Georgia -- let's go to that video and if we have the video, we'll show you the hail, one of the byproducts of some of snowstorms. Hail coming down like, I mean, in fact it kind of looks like snow, almost whitish conditions at this point. We had some location around area that had hail up to four inches in diameter. Those are some really strong hailstorms of that size.
Let's go right back to the weather computer and show you why today we're going to get a better, I guess you could say, better conditions in much of the southeast and a good part of the nation.
High pressure is going to be building into the southeast pushing a lot of that unsettled air into parts of Richmond, back up into Baltimore and into the nation's, well, nation's capital right into Baltimore. You're going to see just some splash and dash showers, nothing too severe at this point but some pockets of stronger storms.
Meanwhile, there's a touch of winter-like precipitation back into the Appalachians and far to the north, we go into place like Scranton and into Wilkes-Barre. We're seeing some snow form right now, but into New York, up at Long Island, a few scattered rain drops. By mid morning, we're going to see the rain in New York begin to taper off, then, into the afternoon, it should be fairly nice.
So, any plans you have to go out, say to Central Park, when you have to go for a stroll along of the Avenue of Americas, it's going to be fine for you. In the central plains, you're seeing some snowfall in parts of Nebraska and into Kansas, and southward into Texas, not much now but later on today. We could see some stronger storms from Amarillo southward into Lubbock.
That's your forecast. Let's send it right back to you guys.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We do appreciate it.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: And you know, your pictures are helping us show the damage caused by a tornado that hit the heart of Atlanta.
HOLMES: And we're going to be taking a look at some of those pictures. Josh Levs, Mr. Reality, good to see you this morning, sir.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, guys. Did you notice? T.J. you weren't here yesterday but there are still parts of the roof on the desk up here.
NGUYEN: All over the floor.
LEVS: So, we saved it for you.
HOLMES: I think you (ph) have to clean up before I got back. Really?
LEVS: All right. Coming up: We're going to look at some of the pictures that we've been getting, really, from throughout the area, in response to these storms. Lots of people are sharing i-Report photos. Also, we're going to have an answer to this question: Why is it so beautiful out in the wake of a tornado every single time? I have the answer for you, coming up.
HOLMES: All right. We'll see you here shortly. Thank you, Josh.
Also, folks, a deadly explosion at an ammunitions depot and the initial blast set off a chain reaction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back and good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for starting your Sunday with us.
And we got a lot to tell you about because it has been a deadly weekend when it comes to weather in Georgia. Atlanta has declared a state of emergency. The downtown area where CNN is, it's been called a war zone.
HOLMES: Yes, it is a mess in downtown Atlanta, but the only two known fatalities actually happened outside of the city. One of those fatalities: an elderly man in Floyd County who was killed by flying debris.
NGUYEN: Now, the other was next door in Polk County and CNN's Don Lemon has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What one storm swept away, takes a team of family and friends to help repair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need help, friends and family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all of my friends. So, if they need help, we can pull together and help them out.
LEMON: Joe Wheeler, his wife and three children saw the sky suddenly go from blue to dark gray. The wind howling around them, they grabbed mattresses and anything heavy for cover and hunkered down in this interior hall way.
(on camera): You can hear it whistling. Did it sound like that?
JAMIE WHEELER: It did, only a lot louder and then, it just blew the doors open, knocked it into our television, it was really, really scary.
LEMON (voice-over): But they said, watching the news saved their lives. Only moments before they had watched the catastrophe in downtown Atlanta on TV, Jamie says, she got her son out of his bedroom seconds before the roof peeled away.
WHEELER: My neighbors weren't so lucky. You know, that's where they were. My husband actually went over to find them and help them because their house was gone. I mean, when we looked outside, there was nothing about smoke coming up. And they -- my neighbor didn't make it. LEMON: When you found them, what condition were they in?
WHEELER: The lady was deceased and the man was hurting bad. He was in a lot of pain and he was complaining about his back. So we were trying to keep him stable until an ambulance got there.
LEMON: Was he asking about his wife?
WHEELER: Yes, he was calling for her. We kept talking to him, telling him he was going to be all right.
LEMON: As dark clouds threatened to pour out a repeat storm, the Wheelers and their friends grabbled to shore up their crippled their home. And across the street, relatives of (Bonnie Turner), the woman who died, searched for scattered memories.
LEMON: What did you come here to do?
ELAINA SIMMONS, NIECE OF VICTIM: Just to try to save whatever we could possibly save at all.
LEMON: Don Lemon, CNN, Polk County, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR: A little bit of the damage that we saw yesterday. And i-reporters have really been critical in helping us show the extensive tornado damage, not only in downtown Atlanta but in the other surrounding areas as well.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: And they always help us out on stories like this. Josh Levs is taking a look at some of those I-reports also.
JOSH LEVS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, guys. And you know, obviously we got video that we're sharing all morning. And throughout the next couple of hours, I'll show you some various i- reports. What I'm going to show you right now is T one the most visited things that we had at our new i-reports.com. These are pictures were taken actually where T.J. was yesterday morning in Cabbagetown. This came from John Labelle and I'm going to show you a series of photos here that just show the power. I mean, look at that, you can see the trees are torn up all the way deep down at the roots, everyone showed a series of destruction. What is a historic town out there, you know, that one is not one of the most powerful ones.
Let's keep going. You're going to see how each one - I mean, look at that. These are homes that are being slashed. And if you drive through that area, it's amazing because there are some sections of it that made it fine. That's what a tornado does. It can be ultra specific. But then there you can just see, I mean, just massive destruction.
Now, one of the things that I'm taking a look at today is the history of these things hitting downtown. A lot of people think they don't hit downtown areas like Atlanta very much maybe because of the tall buildings. Well, the government is saying otherwise. Let's take a look at what they say about the myth. This is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and they're saying, do we have these guys, they're saying "the idea of large buildings destroying or preventing a tornado is pure myth actually. Even the largest skyscrapers pale in size and volume when compared to the total circulation of a big tornado from ground through thunderhead."
The reason it doesn't hit downtowns a lot, is just that what are the chances? Downtowns don't cover that much area. It can hit a downtown as much as it could potentially hit anywhere else. And there have been a few others that have been hit throughout the last several years. Jacksonville, Fort Worth, Salt Lake City. A few examples of downtown.
NGUYEN: Yes, I remember covering the Ft. Worth tornado, and it did.
LEVS: Oh, you were there?
NGUYEN: So much damage there.
LEVS: Yes, that was, there it is, that was back in 2000. So, yes, because you were in Texas, you were covering that at the time.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
LEVS: They say also Little Rock and Nashville. And one more thing I was interested in, did you guys notice that after the storm hit yesterday it was so beautiful out? Like by 5:00 yesterday, it was gorgeous.
NGUYEN: It is usually really nice right before, really calm and then right after the storm blows through.
LEVS: After the third tornado yesterday, I went for a walk with my son at 5:00 in the evening, it was gorgeous out. Bright blue skies, so I'm going to bring in our Reynolds Wolf. He's going to talk to us about this. Reynolds, can you help explain why it is that in the wake of these tornadoes you have the juxtaposition, the massive destruction against this beautiful weather?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Oh, absolutely. Usually when you have severe weather, in fact, nearly in all cases you have severe weather, it's usually associated with some form of low pressure, be it hurricane or be it an outbreak of tornadoes you have an area of low pressure.
Now in nature, just like a positive ion or a negative ion, it would attract each area, you have highs, area of high pressure which falls on area of low pressure. The area of low pressure which caused all the rough weather is now moving onto the Atlantic and as I mentioned, what's following it? An area of high pressure is moving in. Area of high pressure has a compressing effect on the atmosphere which is pretty much a guarantee for blue skies in many cases. That's going to be the case today. So, while people are sifting through the wreckage of their homes, in parts of Georgia and Alabama and South Carolina, and the devastation everywhere, they're going to be doing so with just pristine blue beautiful skies.
LEVS: OK, I think I got this. Low pressure allows for horrible storms or high pressure prevents them, right? So the high pressure comes in, beautiful weather?
WOLF: Close enough. There you go.
LEVS: Not that complicated.
NGUYEN: Glad you got it.
HOLMES: Did he say ion in there?
NGUYEN: Something like that.
LEVS: Leave out the ion. Thank you.
NGUYEN: There's your science lesson for the day.
HOLMES: Wow. All right. Thank you Josh and Reynolds.
Well, medicine and the mind-body connection. Dr. Deepak Chopra on how the spirit helps in healing. My conversation with him in today's "Faces of Faith." That's minutes away.
NGUYEN: Plus, we go back on the campaign trail for the fight over the next battle ground state and some leftover delegates. We are live in Pennsylvania right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Time now for a quick look at some of the other stories that we're watching this morning. Chinese police are cracking down in Tibet. Now, these are some new pictures and it showed armed riot police going door to door doing searches there. Also this morning, the Dalai Lama spoke about the violence. The Tibetans spiritual leader is calling for an international investigation.
HOLMES: Today, some massive explosions we're seeing here in Albania. Actually, it killed seven people, nearly 250 injured. Government officials say they don't believe the blasts were intentional, rather workers were trying to dismantle old ammunition at an army depot. The initial blast set off a series of explosions.
NGUYEN: Well, it a long awaited home coming for nearly 100 children in Chad, they were reunited with their parents five months after an international controversy. Do you remember this one? A French charity said the children were orphans from Darfur but many of them were actually from Chad and had families. Several members of that French charity were convicted of attempted kidnapping.
Taking you to politics and the Pennsylvania primary. It's still more than five weeks away, but we have been talking about it no doubt.
HOLMES: Yes, never too early to campaign there and never too early to report from there either. CNN's Jim Acosta live for us this morning from South Sterling, Pennsylvania. Yes, Jim, you set up shop and you are still there? Good morning to you, sir.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.. Hillary Clinton is campaigning hard in Pennsylvania, and that means going after every possible constituency and yesterday that meant the Irish-American vote. Senator Clinton marched in not one but count them, two Saint Patrick's Day parade -- one in Pittsburgh, the other in Scranton. At her side during both of those marches was the state's powerful governor and her chief surrogate in Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell. Clinton was also asked about the progress that's being made in both Florida and Michigan towards revote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My position is we should count the votes and the best way to do that is count what has already been cast or revote.
((END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Barack Obama was campaigning in Indiana yesterday. He will be on northeastern Pennsylvania tomorrow. As for Hillary Clinton, she'll be giving a major foreign policy address on the Iraq war in Washington tomorrow morning. T.J. and Betty.
HOLMES: And Jim, I know it's been a rough couple of days, actually been some press out there about Barack Obama that hasn't been great having to do with his pastor out of Chic ago but it has been a good day in another way for Barack Obama. Some good news for him. Tell us about it.
ACOSTA: Well, that's right. And it's an indication of how every delegate counts in this campaign for the presidency. But out of Iowa, there is news that some of the delegates that were supporting John Edwards in the Iowa caucuses there have gone ahead and decided to switch their support to Barack Obama. He picked up nine delegates, so that adds to his tender slim margin of delegates over Hillary Clinton and he'll take them at this point. Because as we all know. Every delegate counts in this race and he holds a very slim margin at this point.
And as this race moves forward, we're probably going to see more of that. You're going to see superdelegates being lured from one side to another and in some cases there will be delegates from John Edwards who may be lured to switch sides as well.
HOLMES: You're absolutely right. At this point, every delegate counts. So, those nine a big deal. Jim Acosta for us there in Pennsylvania. Sir, good to see you and we'll certainly be seeing you a lot over the next five weeks there. Thank you so much.
And of course, CNN "Ballot Bowl," your chance to hear from the candidates unfiltered. "Ballot Bowl" kicks off today at 2:00 Eastern, 11:00 Pacific.
NGUYEN: How about this an 81-year-old grandmother, right? She took a leap of faith to her birthday. Check it out. Strangely enough it wasn't scary at all.
NGUYEN: You have to meet this woman. She can't get enough excitement out of life.
HOLMES: Also, another woman who is taking on the youngsters and winning.
I feel great about it. I don't know how they feel.
HOLMES: Yes, how do they feel? A star on here college tennis team, the 60-year-old, she's got game.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Voices of dissent heard around the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more war.
NGUYEN: This was the scene in Hollywood, California, yesterday. 1,500 protesters marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.
HOLMES: And Iraq now five years later, what does the future hold? Zeyad Kasim is an Iraqi blogger and Ayub Nuri is an Iraqi journalist. They certainly have interest in the future of their country. They are just two of thousands now living in the United States.
Gentlemen, good morning. Thank you so much for being with us. Zeyad, I will start with your story. You were actually a dentist in Iraq. I know you had to get out of that profession, really not by choice after the bombing of '06 of the mosque in Samarra but you did make the choice to start blogging. Why is that the route you took?
ZEYAD KASIM, IRAQI BLOGGER: Well, I started blogging after the war because I thought that since Iraqis were isolated for decades under Saddam's regime this was the perfect opportunity for us to write and to reach a larger audience especially in the western world where our voices were unheard in the past. So, there are a couple of bloggers that started right after the war. There was the famous Salam Pax and there was Riverbend's and Ra Jeral (ph). And so we thought we would do the same thing and I started blogging in October of 2003 and also I introduced it to some of my friends.
HOLMES: And you say that this was not really for the audience, not really for the people in Iraq, they know what's going on there. This was for to reach a larger audience of Iraqis around the world.
KASIM: Definitely. I mean, if we wanted to reach the audience inside Iraq, we would have blogged in Arabic, but our point was to reach a larger audience in the west and especially we wanted to speak to Americans directly. And that's because - I mean, most of our readers are Americans. HOLMES: All right. Ayub, you were a journalist. You're here in the U.S. now. You say you would like to go back to Iraq and work now. You said -- what's the point if it's prosperous and things are going well. That's not really when Iraq needs you. Right now is the time when things aren't so well that you need to be there. Why do you say that?
AYUB NURI, IRAQI JOURNALIST: I think that's true. As an Iraqi journalist, I used to work as a radio reporter in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. And I think this is the time that Iraq needs me. If something bad happens in your country and you run away the next day, nobody is going to stay there. I feel this is the time that Iraq needs me. If one day Iraq is prosperous and everything looks great, then at that time people like me can leave the country.
HOLMES: Compare for people, what's the difference or similarities with the U.S. media, which you see how it works here, compared to media there in Iraq. Journalists that are there. I guess kind of compare the two. Give people here in the U.S. an idea of how people in Iraq are getting information?
NURI: I think the idea is I'm an Iraqi journalist and I have a little advantage over western journalists who try to go to Iraq. They are restricted or confined to their hotel rooms or to their bureaus in Baghdad, but if I go back I still have the opportunity of talking to people, although it's very dangerous, but I get a chance to talk to more people and tell the story in a better way. And as a journalist, I work most of the time for American and European audiences and that's a very good channel to get the story out of Iraq to people that foreign journalists might not be able to do.
HOLMES: And Zeyad, I understand you're not blogging as much these days. Here in the U.S. now but do you still see there is more of a need or is there a pretty good information and still bloggers getting the information out?
KASIM: There's definitely a huge need for more voices from inside Iraq. I mean, most of the original Iraqi bloggers who started off to the war have left the country, maybe they fled to neighboring countries or to Europe or the U.S.. So, there's definitely a need for new voices and some new voices have just started blogging from Iraq. It's not just not reporting when media, the Iraqi media or the foreign media. There are still new voices and they're blogging in English and Arabic and they're trying to reach an audience in the Arab world and inside Iraq and to the west.
HOLMES: And Ayub, you said something that jumped out of me is that people you still talk to and you know, people back there in Iraq, things are so much better, but at the same time people still have no hope. Help me understand that.
NURI: That's true. I mean, these days I'm running a radio station, War News radio at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and every day, I call up people and my students call up people in different parts of Iraq and we talk to them. I start to hear some hope in the voice of people. Recently, everybody I've been talking to, they have told me that the situation is better. And this is the first time I hear the word better in the voice of Iraqi people. And it means the violence has declined to some extent and that's what makes them say that the situation is better. But that doesn't mean everything is great and they still have lots of problems and frustrations, but at least, they appreciate there is some improvement in the security situation, especially in Baghdad to some extent.
HOLMES: Well, the word better, like you said, that's an important one to hear. Better. Ayub Nuri, a journalist, an Iraqi journalist and also Zeyad Kasim, a former dentist, who ended up blogging and doing his own brand of journalism as well. Gentlemen, thank you so much, and good luck to you, your families, your friends and your country. I know you both and a lot of people are pulling for Iraq in these days. We appreciate you giving us some insights, spending some time with us and our audience this morning.
NURI: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, are you in need of some inspiration on this Sunday morning?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Check this out. All right. All right. Well, it may take a little time for it to get there, but there she goes. Grandma taking a dive. Meet an 81-year-old woman who has got to have some adrenaline.
WOLF: I'm Reynolds Wolf with a look at today's cold and flu season report. Check out this map behind me. This map behind me is mostly covered in red. And when it's covered in red that means there are many people around the nation that are sniffling and sneezing and they've got fevers, they feel terrible. Ladies and gentlemen, they've got the cold and flu. However, in states that are shaded in blue, like Massachusetts and Mississippi and New Mexico, it's a little better, only regional cases to report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, forget what the sign says, granny knows where she's headed. On her 81st birthday, Kathleen McKell jumped out of the plane with a her 20-year-old grandson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN MCKELL, SKTDIVER: I can't believe why I did that. How I did that, but I'm glad I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you enjoy that?
MCKELL: I thought I was going to lose my hair.
I'm flying!
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: McKell, as you can see obviously enjoys a good adventure. She has been parasailing on her 80th birthday, she went scuba diving. No idea if she did the whole shark diving thing that we talked about not long ago. So, I'm nervous to see what this woman is going to do for her 82nd.
NGUYEN: She was having a good time with it. I think I would have been screaming out of fear. But no, she was loving every minute of it.
HOLMES: That's us.
NGUYEN: I mean I'm too scared. I can't even ride a roller coaster. Come on. Well, today is someone's birthday. Who would that be?
HOLMES: What is he going to do?
NGUYEN: Reynolds wolf, what are you doing for your birthday? What's the big celebration?
WOLF: You know, when you get to be 93 years old like I am. You know, you just basically, just every day is a gift is basically the way I feel.
NGUYEN: Oh, Reynolds.
HOLMES: What has he done in past birthdays though, I wonder if there is a way we could find -- oh, my goodness.
NGUYEN: Reynolds, take us back. Reynolds, what was going on here?
WOLF: You know those moments, you know, when you have a dream of a cake and it instantly appears in front of your face --
NGUYEN: That one is the best.
WOLF: Yes.
NGUYEN: You haven't changed a bit, buddy.
WOLF: No, I haven't.
NGUYEN: Except there are more candles on the cake.
HOLMES: What is that?
WOLF: I don't know. You know, to tell you the truth, there are some things - there are moments in life you just kind of block things out.
NGUYEN: He doesn't want to answer anything.
HOLMES: Tell us that picture? What is that? What's going on?
WOLF: You know, I just, I'm going to plead the fifth.
NGUYEN: It can't be that bad.
HOLMES: It's a family show. How old are you there?
WOLF: I think I was about maybe five or six years old.
NGUYEN: And judging by the candles, I think you were five.
WOLF: Yes. You know, to tell you honestly, you know, when you get to be in your 90s like I am.
HOLMES: Oh, shut up.
WOLF: You lose these birthdays, I'm not quite certain which birthday that might be.
HOLMES: Was that college days?
WOLF: I sure hope so. That would give me an excuse.
HOLMES: Reynolds, happy birthday to you, sir.
WOLF: All right, man. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: You have a good one.
Well, the mystery of that and then of medicine. Here's a question for you. Is healing a science or is it art? Maybe it's both.
HOLMES: Maybe it's both. Well, right after this, my interview with medical doctor, no, we're not talking about Dr. Sanjay Gupta here. It's not what you think. This medical doctor and spiritual guru, Deepak Chopra.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Recently, I sat down with spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, author of the new book, "The Third Jesus." Dr. Chopra is known as one of the world's leaders in the field of mind-body medicine but surprised to learn his first calling. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEEPAK CHOPRA, THE ART AND SCIENCE OF MEDICINE: I wanted to be a journalist and I wanted to write so I wanted to be what you are. My father on my 12th birthday gave me fiction books which were all about doctors and ended up going to medical school because I liked the story so much.
HOLMES: What was your first job?
CHOPRA: My first job actually at the age of 17 years when I had just entered medical school, I used to go India radio in India and I used to read the news and I had a following in East Africa and in Asia, et cetera.
HOLMES: Chopra finished medical school but learned there's more to healing than what's found in text books.
CHOPRA: When I started to see patients, I realized that you can have two patients who had exactly the same disease and saw the same doctor and the same treatment and then they have completely different outcomes. I was always interested in the fact that people who had spiritual experience and found themselves in a place of peace and harmony and love and laughter, that they had stronger healing responses and we were not looking at this at that point.
HOLMES: People were resistant at first. Why is that?
CHOPRA: Anything that's new, anything the breaks the old paradigm, there's a lot of resistance there.
HOLMES: Chopra was able to combine his medical knowledge with his passion for writing. But it took a little business sense to reach his audience.
CHOPRA: I didn't know where I would end up. I started to write the stories of my patients, I sent them to medical journals and nobody would print them or publish them. So, I actually wrote them myself, got a little money to publish about maybe 100 books myself and somebody placed that body, the first book on the mind-body connection in the window at the Harvard Coop, which is the Harvard book store and suddenly an agent called me and the next thing I know, it became a national bestseller.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Chopra has published more than 50 books but he still remains modest about his success and next Sunday, we'll bring you more of my interview with Dr. Chopra and his advice for you. Here's a quick preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHOPTRA: Those were not just stories at all and I think for anyone who wants to really make a difference, you have to sing your song. Because every human being has a unique song to sing and they should just sing it, not worrying who listens or what they think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And again, more of my interview with Dr. Deepak Chopra next week in our "Faces of Faith," on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: there's a lot that we don't know about why and what exactly happened but you should know that we are using every bit of our efforts to conduct a rescue operation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, a tragedy in New York City. Why did a giant crane suddenly topple into a neighboring building? And there were deadly consequences.
A report from the scene is straight ahead.
NGUYEN: Well, from those pictures to this: Downtown Atlanta under a state of emergency. We have an update on the cleanup efforts following Friday's tornado.
Plus: The latest on another round of storms to hit Georgia.
HOLMES: And in Tibet: New reports of Chinese security forces going house to house to hunt down demonstrators. The Dalai Lama calls it cultural genocide. He's appealing to the international community this morning to intervene.
Lots to talk to you about this morning. Hello to you all from the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for starting your day with us.
HOLMES: And we will start this hour in New York: Rescuers are searching for at least one person missing after a giant crane smashed into several buildings.
NGUYEN: At least four people were killed, 17 others hurt.
HOLMES: And we want to the scene now of Manhattan's East Side. Our Stephanie Elam is keeping an eye on this story for us. And Stephanie, please give us the update. They're still searching for one?
ELAM: T.J. and Betty, they're basically saying nothing new has happened overnight since we were here last night. Nothing's changed. They're still delicately going through the rubble to see if they can find anyone who may still be alive, still trapped in that rubble there and they've also got to move that big crane that's behind us.
This morning, we've seen cranes coming in to help the process. A lot of emergency workers still on the scene, and I actually want you to take a look behind me right now, because from here, you can actually see the building where the crane was. It's that building that was under construction on the right-hand side and then over my shoulder a little more, you can actually see the crane is leaning up against the other building, where it took out a chunk of the top of that building yesterday afternoon.
The other top part of that crane is falling over the top of the building but they're really got a perspective of how this happens. Let's listen to this piece of tape that we have from the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. He really explains what happened yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, when I heard an explosion. I looked up to the right, and this support beam had cracked, and I saw this thing starting to tumble towards me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran into the living room and I looked out in the window and saw this -- the crane structure was tilting right into our window.
BLOOMBERG: The whole crane fell across the street, stopped that way against the building across the street and the top half kept going over into the next block. That's correct.
So, the crane was on the north side of 51st Street, and actually the building most south damaged was on the south side of 50th Street. It went right through the block and something went even over the street into a building over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: So, obviously you also heard some eyewitness accounts of what it was like for them in this neighborhood at that time yesterday and you heard the mayor explained what this looked like. So, it basically toppled over both sides of where we are now. This is 51st Street and it toppled over into the north side of 50th Street, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, did I hear you right? They have to bring in more cranes to help remove this crane. I mean, how is this cleanup process really working? How long is this going to take you?
ELAM: They don't know how long it's going to take, but really what has to happen, there's parts of this crane -- it's almost like it collapsed like Lego's, it just fell over. So, there are parts of the crane that need to be removed when it smashed and completely flattened that townhouse, there's parts of the crane that are still on that building that they're trying to find.
So, they've got to get the crane in there to help lift out those pieces and then for this big tilting piece over here. They've got to break that down and in order to do that, they need these other cranes to help lift it up and get it down.
HOLMES: Well, my goodness and they're still searching for one person. Stephanie Elam on the scene for us of a mess there in New York City. Stephanie, we appreciate you this morning.
ELAM: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Well, also this morning, we're going to be talking about the storms, the second round of fierce storms in Georgia that we saw and this time around, the results were both destructive as well as deadly.
A woman was killed yesterday when a storm leveled her home in Polk County in the northwest part of the state. The woman and her husband were thrown into a field and that's where neighbors found both of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHEELER: The lady was deceased. And the man was hurting bad. He was in a lot of pain, and he was complaining about his back. So we're just trying to keep him still until -- until the ambulance got here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Officials with the National Weather Service are expected there today in neighboring Floyd County where an elderly man was killed by flying debris. The Weather Service will assess the damage from these storms.
NGUYEN: Well, a state of emergency declared for Atlanta following Friday night's tornado. And CNN's Rusty Dornin has the latest on this massive cleanup and recovery efforts.
Rusty, as we're all coming in to work this morning, you still could see a lot of the damage in downtown Atlanta. Many of the streets are still blocked.
DORNIN: Yes, right. And Betty, you know, take a look here. I mean, this is obviously was the brunt of this office. It almost looks like an earthquake ripping all the bricks completely out of the building. But this is one of the hardest hit places, as you know, just very close to CNN Center.
You can see the power line, power line is down right here, of all the power, I guess about 7,000 people still in Atlanta are without power.
But check out this car, you can't really tell, but there is a little bit of battery life there. When we rolled up this morning, there was a policeman with -- he had just arrested a man for trying to steal the radio out of that car and apparently, there are police in town to make sure there is no looting. There hasn't really been a problem, but he did catch that guy trying to take the radio out of car.
Now, let's take a look at CNN Center, of course. It's kind of be hard to see right now in the light, but there is a huge crane in front of CNN Center that's trying to repair on top of the building the ripped out windows and structural damage that was done and of course, that's part of the Omni Hotel as well, where a lot of windows broken.
People had their luggage literally sucked out of the rooms. There's about $150 to $200 million worth of damage downtown. As you said, Atlanta has been declared a state of emergency.
So, there's going to be a lot of cleanup efforts going on and there's going to be still be a lot of streets that are blocked off. CNN Center has been closed all weekend while they try to clean up. But apparently, that's going to be open tomorrow. So, it just a big job ahead. Betty? NGUYEN: A lot of cleanup to do and for people to understand the magnitude of this storm, this storm what, stretched six miles wide, correct?
DORNIN: Six miles through Atlanta, and you think about this, Betty. Not only unusual for Atlanta, but it's almost unimaginable to have a tornado comes through the heart of a major American city. I mean, it's just not something people really expect. People here were not expecting it. I only live two miles away.
Yesterday, when the storms came in again, I was fearful to take a nap during the afternoon, because I was afraid maybe there would be a tornado warning and I wouldn't know it. So, you know, people just not expecting this kind of thing in the downtown area.
NGUYEN: That is so true. And it was a good thing a lot of these games were going on and people were inside those facilities and not out on the streets of Atlanta, especially in the downtown area which -- it was a Friday night. People are out and about.
Rusty Dornin with all the damage there. Thank you, Rusty.
HOLMES: And we got pictures from across Georgia really showing the intensity of the storms and the extent of the destruction.
NGUYEN: In Cabbagetown neighborhood, which is just east of downtown Atlanta where several homes were destroyed. The tornado uprooted massive trees and toppled on the houses. This is same neighborhood where several floors of a loft apartment building collapsed in pancake fashion.
HOLMES: Also, in Cartersville, Georgia, this is 40 miles northeast of Atlanta, a home with its roof missing. We're going to look at here, trees snapped off like match sticks. Several Georgia counties were under tornado and thunderstorm warnings throughout the day yesterday.
NGUYEN: And take a look at this: This is really something that really struck me yesterday as we were following -- this is the damage and cleanup. Look at that guy right there.
This is an apartment with no roof. And if you look closely, you can see a guy milling around in the kitchen trying to do a little bit of cleanup. Now, he may be trying to salvage what he can. But you know, a lot of people are having to do that today with what's left of their homes.
This is just some of the images from the storms and tornadoes that blew through Georgia.
HOLMES: It's amazing to see the house from that vantage point. You're looking at the entire home from above. You can see it all. My goodness.
And of course, we were reporting yesterday morning and we got some warnings and got nervous because another storm was coming through and actually evacuated our newsroom and sent the people downstairs.
NGUYEN: I was on the air when we had to evacuate. The newsroom had to go down to the CNN international studios while we were still broadcasting. You were with me, Reynolds. It got to a point that people, especially after seeing the damage from the first storm, we were a little fearful.
WOLF: You know, something all that tied in together. Let's see, it was 9:00 o'clock when the first wave came through, we have one yesterday morning. We have the third wave that came through yesterday afternoon.
The thing to me that ties all of this together is what T.J. said yesterday during one of his live shots. He mentioned, you know, we cover all of these events, but when it happens in your home, in your backyard, I mean, it really brings you close to heart. I mean, we care about these event when they happened all over the world, but it puts it in fresh perspective when it's right our window.
HOLMES: Literally.
WOLF: Yes, literally and right through the roof.
NGUYEN: To our building.
WOLF: Yes, no question. Today though, thankfully, we're going to get a much easier day for much of the nation.
Right now, we do see the tail end of that system that brought the rough weather to parts of the southeast moving out into the Atlantic but the back side of the system, sending scattered showers from our nation's capital northward into New York. It will be a better day for you in New York into the afternoon or sunshine builds in.
Until then, look for the rainfall, in Scranton and Binghamton, it's going to be a snowfall event. And into the central plains, some mix there too. Rain, sleet, snow from Nebraska southward to Kansas and even to portions of Oklahoma and Texas.
And now into the west coast, you're seeing some scattered rainshowers from Los Angeles, a few thunderstorms near San Diego, and back in Las Vegas, a rainy day along the strip.
Now, that isn't to say we're not going to see some severe weather today. There is the chance we could have stronger storms this afternoon primarily for North Texas, northeast New Mexico and into parts of Oklahoma, too.
But certainly, not of the magnitude of what we dealt here in the southeast over the last several days. Back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We do appreciate it.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: Well, there is a call for help in Tibet. The Dalai Lama is speaking for the first time this morning about recent violence in his home country. We're going to tell you what he said.
HOLMES: Also: The campaign trail, this is a little detour off the campaign trail for John McCain. The trail has taken him to Baghdad while the Democrats look ahead to Pennsylvania.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Bloodshed in Tibet. China is launching a bloody crackdown on protesters there.
NGUYEN: Yes. Today, the Dalai Lama is calling for an international investigation and he says his people are facing a cultural genocide.
CNN's John Vause has the latest.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT - BEIJING: Beijing says it now has regained control over the Tibetan capital Lhasa and earlier today, we saw we have heavily armed Chinese riot police moving through one neighborhood. It appears that a number of people had been rounded up and taken away.
Authorities have also reportedly told all tourists to leave and protesters have been given a deadline of midnight Monday local time, about 27 hours from now, to give themselves up. If they do, they'll be treated with leniency. If they inform on anybody else, who is taking part in those protests, then, they would not be punished at all.
If they do not give themselves up, they'd be warned to expect severe punishment. According to a government announcement in the "Tibetan Daily Newspaper, " there is a heavy troop presence in Ganzhu (ph) province that's a home of a large number of Tibetans who are also involved in protest in recent days.
Chinese officials are accusing the Tibetan exile leader, the Dalai Lama from masterminding these protests and they say, just a small number of monks were behind the violent protests that we've seen in recent days.
But today, the Dalai Lama actually called for an international investigation into the Chinese crackdown. He also accused China of, quote, "A rule of terror" as well as carrying out cultural genocide.
The U.S. Secretary of State is now urging to China to show restraint. But China's leader, Hu Jintao who was, this weekend, unanimously re-elected for another term as president, has a reputation of harshly dealing with any unrest in Tibet.
Twenty years ago, when he was the party's secretary there, he declared martial law. He sent in Chinese troops to deal with very several protest. Back then, it was reported that as many as 18 monks were killed and there are fears that right now, again, he may be working from the same playbook.
HOLMES: And also, we are following a developing story out of Pakistan this hour.
Pakistani state television reporting that at least 16 people have been killed in a missile strike, happened near the border with Afghanistan, and the target according to the state TV was the home of a suspected militant leader.
The border area has long been considered a refuge for al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's not clear who fired that missile or who the victims are right now.
NGUYEN: Well, Senator John McCain is in Baghdad right now. He arrived there earlier this morning as part of a congressional delegation. It's McCain's eighth trip to Iraq since the war started five years ago.
Some campaign staffers say they hope the latest trip allows voters to see the presumptive Republican nominee as a leader. McCain is scheduled to meet with the U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. After Iraq, McCain and the delegation head to other parts of the Middle East and Europe.
HOLMES: So, while John McCain is in Baghdad, where are the Democratic candidates? And what are they focusing on right now?
Well, Jim Acosta answering that question. What they're focusing on? They are focusing on Pennsylvania. I guess that's the short answer. Good morning to you. What are the candidates up to right now?
ACOSTA: Good morning, T.J. You're right, they are focusing on Pennsylvania.
But just to give you a sense as to the marathon campaign that we're in the middle of right now, Barack Obama was not in Pennsylvania yesterday. He was campaigning for votes in Indiana which holds its primary after the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd. So, Barack Obama was addressing a huge crowd in the Hoosier State yesterday.
As for Hillary Clinton, she was in Pennsylvania yesterday. She marched in not one, but count them, two St. Patrick's Day parades: one in Pittsburgh and the other in Scranton. At her side during both of those parades was her chief surrogate in Pennsylvania, the state's very influential government, Ed Rendell.
She was also asked by reporters about the two surrogate scandals in both of these campaigns over the last week. One for Hillary Clinton in the form of Geraldine Ferraro; and the other for Barack Obama in the form of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
And the senator from New York told reporters that she and Barack Obama have come to an agreement that they need to move past these surrogate scandals and get back to talking about the issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We both have had instances during the course of the year with staff members, supporters, saying things that we've had to reject and repudiate, and we want to make sure that we try to keep this campaign focused on what voters are interested in and what they should have to -- what information they should have to make their decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, Barack Obama will be in Pennsylvania. He will be here in northeastern Pennsylvania, in Scranton tomorrow. Hillary Clinton is planning a major address on the Iraq war for tomorrow on the eve of the 5th anniversary of that conflict. T.J.
HOLMES: All right. And she did two St. Patrick's Day parades. She must really like St. Pat's Day or she really likes Pennsylvania. What one you think it is, Jim?
ACOSTA: She saw a lot of green here yesterday.
HOLMES: A lot of green -- all right, Jim Acosta for us there in Pennsylvania, happy St. Pat's Day to you, tomorrow, as well.
And of course, folks, CNN BALLOT BOWL, it's your chance to hear the candidates unfiltered. BALLOT BOWL kicks off today, 2:00 o'clock Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific.
NGUYEN: Well, it was indeed the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
HOLMES: Yes, the luck of the Irish runs out when the storm rolls in. Green fades to black during a massive St. Patrick's Day celebration.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's give you a quick look at some of the other stories making news today.
HOLMES: And Tacoma, Washington battle lines over the Iraq war. Anti-war protesters have scheduled their rally to mark this week's fifth anniversary of the war, but before it began, counter-protesters showed up to rally support for the troops. Police summoned in riot gear kept the groups separated. Nobody arrested in this instance.
NGUYEN: My goodness. Massive explosions kill seven people and injure nearly 250 in Albania. Government officials say they don't believe the blasts were intentional.
Here's what happened. Workers were trying to dismantle old ammunition at an army depot and the initial blast set off a series of explosions.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in this country but in storm-ravaged Savannah, Georgia, the celebratory green faded to black. Thunderstorms knocked out power.
Police closed the riverfront bars by 11:30. Lights started coming back on early this morning. But crews will be working well into tomorrow to try to restore power to that entire area.
NGUYEN: Well, the CNN.com newsroom as well as this newsroom took a direct hit from Friday night's tornado. But it hasn't slowed down what we're doing here to bring you the latest video and pictures.
HOLMES: Of course not, we've compiled the best videos and photos of the tornado damage on our Web site. Josh Levs of the Dotcom desk walking through some this morning. Good morning, sir.
LEVS: Actually, Dotcom itself, a few windows were blown out. Facing outside, there's a plaster and wood to keep the people protected today. And one of the hottest things on Dotcom right now is photos from the storm, three different sets of them actually.
We're going to take a look of what people are visiting. This is what people are looking at right now. These are some of the most powerful images of historic neighborhood that's east of downtown. And in each one, you can get a sense of the power of the storm.
How rare it is for something of this magnitude to actually strike an area of the house -- you know, this close to a downtown area at all. And look at that, I mean, just crushing through these homes.
The next set of pictures I'm going to show is from downtown itself. You can see this set on CNN.com where you some of the skyscrapers, some of the major buildings that we have along here.
There you go. And it will show you that you can see how some of the major buildings that are right smack in the middle of downtown right outside of CNN Center had parts of them ripped off, falling on to the ground. And some of that are still out there.
Authorities are doing a great job. The third set people are looking at is CNN Center. That was at its worst. A lot of that has been cleaned up right outside our building.
Let's look at a few more of these. This is all in the neighborhood of CNN Center, right here, right outside those doors.
NGUYEN: Look at that.
LEVS: And our observe atrium, it was raining inside the atrium and inside the Omni Hotel which is -- there you go. They've had to block off that entire area which, by the way, is an economic center for downtown Atlanta.
NGUYEN: Usually there are, you know, hundreds of people in and out of CNN Center at any given moment because of all the crowds that come down -- this is kind of like the hub when you come Atlanta. You got Centennial Olympic Park; you got the CNN Center; and lots of other sporting that facilities as well.
HOLMES: Especially this weekend, folks were all over the place. There was scouring with the SEC fans and a lot going on.
NGUYEN: Hawks game. LEVS: The Omni Hotel is trying to figure out what to do. One more quick thing here, as you guys know it's Reynolds' birthday.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is.
LEVS: So, they let him work double duty today. They can do all sorts of extra stuff.
Hey there, Reynolds, happy birthday.
All right. But in reality here, one of our producers brought this up. And let's see if you know how to explain. Why do these things sound exactly like freight trains? Everyone says and it's true, when the tornado is coming it sounds like a freight train coming, why is that?
WOLF: Well, I mean, the thing about the freight train, the thing that makes noise in a freight train is obviously, the engine, but it's also the sound of the wheels, not just the wheels on the track, but the wheels spinning, propelling the train forward, but also moving through the air, so you have (INAUDIBLE) kind of noise. But then when you think about a tornado -
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE)
LEVS: Do that again. That was good.
WOLF: Yes. (INAUDIBLE). Well, this is going to be on Youtube.
On the same time, think about the tornadoes, the same rules apply. I mean, you've got the sound of the tornado which is not just the movement of air, but also that spinning motion. I mean think of it, air can always sound differently to the human ear.
I mean, you step outside, you're going to have a -- get ready for this. When you have a windy day, it's going to be (INAUDIBLE) kind of day. But when you have the tornado, it's the chugging sound. It's the sound of that wind spinning in the circular motion in an actually relatively small container.
I mean, if you are outside in a hurricane, hurricane is obviously, much, much bigger, hundreds of miles wise, so, you don't have that small container, you'd just have the rush, rush of wind.
LEVS: That was awesome.
NGUYEN: You know what? If this doesn't work out, you can obviously go to a movie set anywhere and do sound effects. I mean, I see it in your future.
HOLMES: You didn't do the right tornado sound though, Reynolds, give us the tornado sound.
NGUYEN: One more time, come on.
HOLMES: You did the train and the outside. Give us a tornado sound.
WOLF: I'm not going to do it anymore.
LEVS: Happy birthday, Reynolds.
NGUYEN: Thanks for putting him through that.
HOLMES: Thanks, Josh.
NGUYEN: All right, Josh, get out of here now.
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