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CNN Sunday Morning

Severe Weather; Myanmar Devastation; Clinton Superdelegate Lead Narrows

Aired May 11, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning everybody, you are looking at the danger zone right now. Areas of the country under the gun because of severe weather happening right now. Good morning to you all, I am T.J. Holmes standing by right now in the Severe Weather Center with meteorologist Karen Maginnis. She's been tracking a lot of these storms. We will be talking to her in just a second.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And we want to give you a look at the storm damage. Look at what is left behind from this violent storm. We are in Picher, Oklahoma, a small town that has been blasted by the winds.

So, let's get the latest right now from our Severe Weather Center. I'm going to take it to you, T.J. Holmes and Karen Maginnis joining us now.

As you watch this storm system -- and the thing about it is, it's not over, this is just the beginning.

HOLMES: Yeah, it's been a busy morning, as we've been known, as we've been seeing all morning, Betty, and the pages keep piling up, the watches and warnings keep coming and that storm system continues to move across the country.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and we still have a couple of areas that we are still closely monitoring and that would be across the southeastern and south central sections of Georgia.

Let's go ahead and we will move to the big board and show you what's going on right now. There you can see kind of the big picture. The most intense thunderstorms now moving across south central Georgia and into South Carolina. The core of this system is actually located across the northern Great Lakes region. But, we will zoom down across the southern portion of the southeast and into Georgia. What we are looking at right around Macon, Georgia, we had a line of intense storms move across this region. And as they did, we had a report of a possible tornado that has already claimed at least one life and there are three other injuries reported there.

Atlanta looks to be out of the danger zone, right now. But, as we head towards Savannah, it looks like an embedded thunderstorm activity taking place there.

Here's the big view. We've got several watches that have been issued and now we're watching it erode just a little bit from the north, so still further toward the south in south central Georgia extending down towards the southern half of Georgia and into the Panhandle of Florida.

I want to show you what happened starting at about 4:00 this morning. This is a look at Google Earth. Here's Atlanta, Georgia, let's go towards Fairburn. We had a report of a home damaged or destroyed there from early morning thunderstorms. Then La Grange, Georgia, reports of a possible tornado there with wind damage. Then, we head on towards Dublin, there you can see La Grange, Georgia. We'll move towards Macon, Georgia, then a little further south and that's what we have, Dublin, Georgia. Here's Dublin. And if you were to head north in the vicinity of Sylvania, numerous reports of injuries and lots of reports of damage, that in Screven County.

Well, this is the fire zone for the morning. We will keep you updated on that. We will be back throughout the newscast to bring you further updates -- Betty, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, we appreciate you this morning and we will, of course, be seeing you shortly.

NGUYEN: Yeah, but right now we want to take a look at the damage that has been left behind. Give you a look at the situation in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, this morning. Seven dead in Picher, 150 people injured and an unknown amount of people still missing at this hour. But look at this live picture right here. Hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed. Just a short time ago I spoke with the Oklahoma Emergency Management Agency to talk about the damage. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELANN OOTEN, OK EMERGENCY MGMT AGENCY: I'm basically in the middle of a 20 square block area -- excuse me, a 20 mile square block area here that basically is destroyed. You have so many homes here that are just flattened. You have cars that have been strewn about and you certainly have just a lot of people who are displaced at this point. We have shelters set up in nearby Miami and a lot of people I know took advantage of those last night. But those people will be venturing back in here today to see what's left of their livelihood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Oklahoma's governor says he is going to tour that area today.

HOLMES: We're going to turn a gentleman now who covers the weather in the areas that have been hit so hard. Dan Threlkeld is his name, he's the chief meteorologist for affiliate KJRH.

What can you tell us about what came through last night.

DAN THRELKELD, KJRH METEOROLOGIST: Well, the storm system started west of here and continued to make its way out of Kansas, across northeastern Oklahoma. Actually, here's the first warning, folks here had 13 minutes before the storm made its way into Picher. And guys, it's one thing to seeing these warnings and talking on TV, but when you come down here it's just absolutely incredible to see how widespread the devastation is. Hard to imagine at this time yesterday, these were people's homes, this was a neighborhood, these were people's lives, now just a tremendous amount of damage here.

And again, right now, there's boots on the ground, we've got the folks from the Oklahoma National Guard, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, blocking the area, they're going to be doing door-to-door search to rescue to see if there's anyone is that maybe trapped from the storms that happened last night. But, the storms came through, and part of the same storms that Karen was talking about that are still going on. The storms made their way into Missouri and continue to move east.

HOLMES: Yeah Dan, you mentioned Karen. And Karen Maginnis, I'm going to bring her in and let you all talk meteorologist to meteorologist for a second.

Go ahead, Karen.

MAGINNIS: All right, Dan, this is Karen Maginnis, nice to having you join us this morning. I look at the devastation behind you, has there been an estimate as to the intensity of these tornados, EF-4 or EF-5? It certainly looks like it's almost complete destruction, there.

THRELKELD: Last night, Karen, we were looking at the velocities, the wind speeds on radar, and they were in excess of 100 miles-per- hour. Today we'll have three survey teams from the National Weather Service out of the Tulsa office, they'll come here and they'll look at the damage and rate it. But again, they'll be also looking at the storm damage across parts of Missouri as well as tornados that you know, Karen, that we had in southeastern Oklahoma. So, a lot of storms last night. And easily we're looking at wind speeds of probably over 140 miles-an-hour. As you know, Karen, that would classify it as an EF-3. If the winds go estimated over 166 miles-per- hour, that would be an EF-4 and again, I would not be surprised if we had EF-5 damage.

Karen, it's widespread damage here, and it is absolutely incredible what the storms did last night.

MAGINNIS: Dan, has everyone been accounted for? I know you have fatalities in the area, but are they looking for any more people in that area?

THRELKELD: Yes, they are. They are continuing right now to search door-to-door for folks. And some of the folks here left last night, some will be trying to get back in. But, you know, the sad part is, I'm a pet lover, there are stray pets running around here just looking for their owners. People left last night, left early this morning and it is very, very sad to see the devastation. But they got it roped off for lookey-loos (ph) to not come in and potential for looters. But right now, they've got this whole area locked down and it is an absolute mess.

MAGINNIS: Dan, have you surveyed the damage? Can you tell us, was it 20 blocks long? We heard some reference that there was 20 blocks that were affected. Can you give us an estimate? Is it a quarter mile, half a mile damage? THRELKELD: You know, it looks like it made its way over these large chat piles that are off to my west and made its way into this area. I am not seeing a lot of structures, here. Yeah, we are talking about blocks and blocks of nothing really left but rubble and solid foundation, Karen, which rates that as a very high on the EF scale. But it is widespread damage here and it just breaks your heart, because you know that these folks here are going to have a real hard time cleaning up and picking up their lives. But, it is absolutely amazing. But, rescue going on as we speak, right now. And I'm seeing it from time to time the National Guard driving by in their Hummer vehicles and this area here is a mess.

MAGINNIS: It certainly does take your breath away to take a look at that. Thank you, Dan, for joining us this morning, live from Picher, Oklahoma. And the pictures that you are showing us devastating and in a season that has been filled with a lot of devastation all across the south central United States.

And today in Georgia, Betty and T.J., we did have that one fatality in Georgia right around Dublin, so far, and other reports of quite a bit of damage extending down through southeastern sections of Georgia. Back to you.

HOLMES: Yes, now up to 21 deaths, now. And after we've heard about this one now in Georgia. Karen, we appreciate you taking us through that. And again, we will be checking in with you again shortly.

NGUYEN: To get you more of that severe damage in parts of Oklahoma, we are seeing damaged homes, cars tossed around like toys. But the death toll in Oklahoma, at this hour, is seven as far as we know. Of course, there is a search for additional people, 150 people injured an unknown amount of people missing. We want to get more from Keidron Dotson of affiliate KJRH in McAllister, Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIDRON DOTSON, KJRH REPORTER (voice over): This is what's left of powerful winds slamming into a window factory in McAllister. Scattered glass and vinyl scraps are tossed and thrown across the property. Even the trailer of an 18-wheeler is pierced with flying debris. In Heywood the damage is worse. A framed wood house is shredded to pieces, the owner's truck, heavily damaged. Witnesses are still in disbelief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were probably three or four miles, as the crow flies, back and we could see the tornado coming down out of the clouds.

DOTSON: Afterwards, nothing is left untouched except for the lives of the people living here who escaped unharmed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just ripped roofs and the doors off of it and looks like a dozer went across the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: All right, we want to turn our attention to Missouri now. A tornado cut a 20-mile path through the southwestern part of that state, as we've been reporting, this morning.

NGUYEN: Yeah, emergency crews found another body in Newton County, this morning. So, that raises the death toll there to 11. The search continues for victims and survivors. There have been two other deaths reported in neighboring counties in Missouri.

Joining me now, on the phone, is Susie Stonner from the Missouri state Emergency Management Agency. So, we have really bumped up that number to 11 as far as deaths. Can you tell me what you know about the missing and injured this morning?

SUSIE STONNER, MISSOURI EMERGENCY MGMT AGENCY: Well, we know that many people have automatically went to hospitals for treatment, for injuries, so we don't have a good figure on how many people were injured. Many people have -- quite a few people have gone to shelters, we've established three shelters, two in Newton County and one in Berry County. Many people went to, rather than going to a shelter, they went with friends that had power. We have had power outages because of the storms. So, we are still trying to gather information to find out -- to get a clearer picture of what's going on.

NGUYEN: Just looking at the numbers, 11 deaths in Newton County alone, especially in the community that of Racine. Is this an area that got enough warning or was it just these storms were so powerful?

STONNER: It was, they did receive warning, the National Weather Service sent out severe advanced weather notice. But, you know (AUDIO GAP)

NGUYEN: Susie, are you still with us? Looks like we have lost our connection with Susie Stonner with the Missouri Emergency Management Agency, there. Of course, we're going to try to get her back on the line. And when we do, we're going to bring that to you. But again, 11 deaths reported in Missouri. A total, in three states, now -- Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia, a total of 21 people killed so far in these storms. And the thing about it is, this storm system is not over, it is still moving in the southeast. So, we will continue to follow that.

Back to the tornados and that system that slammed through southeast Arkansas. Take a look at this. A house and a store were flattened as a number of cars flipped. The high winds ripped the roofs off of several buildings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH SMITH, TORNADO VICTIM: The walls were shaking, the roof was rattling, and at that time across the bowling alley it took the lanes -- it took the roof off the lanes and the roof actually ended up in front of the bowling alley doors. The bathroom stall wall fell over and we just squatted down against the ceiling with about 30 other people in the bowling alley, up against the wall. (END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: We will continue to follow these survival stories throughout the morning and bring you the latest just as soon as we get the information.

HOLMES: All right, we will turn to a little presidential politics. It is Mother's Day, but Hillary Clinton still on the campaign trail, in fact, today she's going to be where it all began, our "Trail Mix," straight ahead.

NGUYEN: And rough weather rocking the southeast at this hour. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis in the Severe Weather Center monitoring the situation. We have an update, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAGINNIS: All right, good morning, everyone. I'm CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis. We are taking a look and a continuation of the severe weather yesterday, it was centered over Missouri and Oklahoma. Numerous deaths reported there. Let's go ahead and take full screen what's happening across the southeast.

Still a pretty good line of thunderstorms making its way across South Carolina, also into Georgia. Now, as we just kind of zoom out just a little bit, those are our two tornado watch that is we do have in effect. But the area that we are closing in on to show you what is happening across this area, this is the region that has the potential for severe weather. This is an area from Savannah all the way down towards extreme southeastern sections of Georgia.

We do have a current tornado warning that has just been issued and they extend from southeastern sections of Georgia, which include Chatham, Liberty, Coffee and Jeff Davis County. We will keep you updated on the dangerous situation with the continuation of the tornado watches. Now, back to the news desk.

NGUYEN: Yeah, as you mentioned there is one death in Georgia and we want to get you more information on the damage in this state.

HOLMES: Ryan Young from affiliate WSB has a story for us from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, WSB ATLANTA REPORTER: ...to say, did you know the storm is heading right toward your house, she could not have been more right about that, because when you look behind me, this had its roof ripped off, the garage was sucked inside and taken up toward the roof. At that point, she ran to the bathroom, she had her cat and the dog inside and she was terrified as her house was being ripped to pieces.

Now, we walked to the back portion of this house because the wind came right through here and it just ripped this smaller house in the back portion right off its foundation. In fact, the structure is now 40 yards away from where it actually sat on the foundation. Now, we also talked to people next door who said they ran downstairs to their basement around 3:30. They felt the vibration, that shake, and then all of a sudden they knew their garage was being sucked out and their home was being ravaged. In fact, the young man inside, his name is Michael, said this is the second time he's been through a storm this year. He says if he was upstairs, they don't think they would have made it.

I want to show you now, bring you back this way, live. They are working as we speak to bring power back to this area. Obviously, people want that critical power back. If you look in the distance right there, you Caroll (ph) EMCs working right now to restore power lines. There's like a section, about a mile section here, it seems like the wind just came through and just split the trees, took down power lines, knocked down homes, the people here say they are happy they were able to walk out and be OK. That's the thing we heard the most.

Everyone was talking about watching the television, getting downstairs before the power went out and just knowing that they were able to walk out. Obviously some people are upset at losing everything, but right now families walked out together and that's what they're most happy about. We have new sound for you and some new video we're going to be bringing you some of that pretty soon. Reporting live in Carroll.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Yeah, that was from our local affiliate WSB, here in Atlanta. And these storms are still moving through the southeast and we're staying on top of all of that for you.

HOLMES: Karen Maginnis still watching things. Things continuing to pop and develop this morning?

MAGINNIS: They certainly are and we have a current tornado warning which includes much of the southeastern quadrant of the state of Georgia until 10:00 a.m. Now, this is where we have some of the embedded super cells. I want to illustrate what's going on as we take a look at the full screen all the way from just to the south of savannah, extending down towards Brunswick. It is pretty much in this area that we are looking at counties Wayne, Long, Macintosh, Chatham, Liberty, Coffee and Jeff Davis counties that are currently.

If you take a look at one of these areas, this particular cell right there -- actually I've got it just a little bit further to the north, that's the one that we're looking at on Doppler radar, looks especially interesting. We'll keep you updated on that and we'll continue right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, I'm over here again at the international desk. This is where this group our editors and producers have really been busy the past full week and certainly this morning, as well, keeping an eye on the situation in Myanmar and what is happening there.

The cyclone, survivor there is are starting to finally get some aid. The U.N. has been able to get out some relief trucks. You are seeing some of the video now, this is certainly good news. It's been slow, but still it's happening. Now, several trucks full of aid getting into the country. The first U.S. flight carrying shelter equipment is supposed to arrive on Monday, it will be turned over to Myanmar's military government. And CNN has learned the U.S. hopes to send two more planes, Tuesday.

However, we have learned this morning, can you believe, that a Red Cross boat delivering relief supplies to the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta region sank when it hit debris in the river. That is certainly just horrible, horrible news that we got into the NEWSROOM, this morning. So, it's been slow trying to get help to the people and then unfortunately now, this boat has sank, we don't exactly know why, but we're keeping an eye on the situation and certainly our folks over here are doing it for us.

NGUYEN: Well, it just seems like it's one problem compiled on another one there in Myanmar. And I want to warn you that some of the video that you are about to see, as we continue the story, is graphic and it's disturbing. CNN's Dan Rivers takes you on a journey into the heart of devastation in Myanmar immediately after the cyclone and his exceptional reporting came at great personal risk, you're about to see why. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The furious winds of Cyclone Nargus had ripped apart towns and villages. Tens of thousands were dead and the airport had been shut for two days. We were on the first flight in when it reopened and we were shocked at what we saw.

Yangon was choked with fallen trees. They were plenty of soldiers, but many seemed to be standing doing nothing. And then there were the lines for fuel, finding fuel for our car was also a nightmare and all the while we had to be careful we weren't being followed by authorities.

(on camera): It just goes on and on and on for miles, really.

(voice over): There was limited electricity and communications were fraught, but we were still managing to report on what was happening. We have to change hoteling every day. Now my reports were on air, I was a marked man. We're having to sneak in and out of the hotel through the back stairs so they don't know I'm here because we understand that the authorities are now looking for me, specifically.

(on camera): There were two guys, basically sitting in a car outside our hotel, looked like they could have been sitting, waiting and watching. It's difficult not to get completely paranoid and ridiculous here because you see feel like everyone is potentially military intelligence and they are looking for you. (voice over): We spent more than eight hours driving to the most affected areas through torrential rain which was compounding the misery of survivors huddled in the debris of their own homes. The roads are terrible. There are also numerous checkpoints, we are forced to find another way in.

We finally manage to get to the heart of the Irrawaddy Delta where the devastation was appalling. We had narrowly avoided being arrested and we were effectively on the run.

(on camera): Well, I almost got caught in the last town. The police had my photo. They took the rest of my team in and were questioning them and showing them my photo and they were let go and I caught up with them afterwards. We then drove down, we hit a checkpoint, got turned around, we decided basically that we were going to get caught, so we pulled off the road, we have taken a boat up here and we're now stuck in the middle of the Irrawaddy Delta with about two Snickers bar and a dairy can of fuel to last us.

(voice over): We tried to push further into the delta. Just after the video is shot, we are detained by the police. Somehow we talk our way out and decide it's time for me to leave. I'm left feeling angry the hunter has spent so much time hunting us while the bodies of tens of thousands of poor souls are abandoned and decomposing. We even filmed bodies being carried and unceremoniously dumped in the river, perhaps this is why the regime is so keen to keep us out.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Myanmar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, for more about Dan Rivers' experience inside Myanmar, you want to stay tuned for CNN RELIABLE SOURCES.

HOLMES: And Dan will talk about the difficult task of covering a major event from a place where reporters are not welcome. That's coming up, 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, we know that you may want to help and at cnn.com we do have a special page on the devastation in Myanmar, complete with links to aid agencies that are organizing help for that region and it's a chance for you to impact your world, so let us be your guide.

Also, if you are just waking up in Georgia or South Carolina, you will want to keep a close eye on the weather, today. Severe storms are plowing across the region, just take a look at the radar, there. Meteorologist, Karen Maginnis has been monitoring the situation and is going to update you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: And severe is right. We have been following these storms as they've moved to the southeast. And look at this, this is in Clayton County, Georgia, the town of Ellenwood, to be exact, and this is neighborhood where you can see lots of lumber all over the place, homes destroyed. You know, when you talk about high winds and you talk about tornados, and we don't exactly what has hit this particular area, but it's amazing to see many homes still standing there intact, no destruction, no problems whatsoever, and then right next door you have something like this. And this is not nearly as bad as we've seen in this particular neighborhood. This is just a live picture that we are getting right now from our affiliate WSB. But, hopefully this shot will widen out and you can see some of these other homes that are just really devastated because of the storm that is blew through. And those storms, they are still moving at this hour.

HOLMES: And here you were talking about them, we were hoping they were going to move the picture out and we will try to keep looking at this picture. Karen, we know you're there in the Weather Center for us keeping an eye on what's happening. We will try to keep this live picture up and give our viewers...

NGUYEN: There's one in the middle.

HOLMES: Yeah, right in the middle, there.

MAGINNIS: This is very different damage from what we were looking at when we spoke with the meteorologist earlier in Missouri and Oklahoma, where you see some of these home that are flattened, that's not so to say that these homes haven't suffered their fair share of damage here, but they gauge a tornado -- there is actually the Fujita Scale, it an estimated the severity of the winds. When you have roof damage and some small trees blown over, then you're looking at perhaps, EF-1s, what we saw out in Oklahoma, EF- 3 and EF-4 wouldn't surprise me if we saw EF-5, five being the worst.

But, there you can see some of the debris that has been scattered thanks to these storms. They could have been straight-line winds, but because there's been a history of some of these super cell thunderstorm that is have produced some tornados, it would not surprise me if the National Weather Service went out and did some of their surveying either today, or maybe tomorrow, in the next 48 hours or so and said, yes, that perhaps this does look like tornado damage. There you can see it from our affiliate WSB in Atlanta, out of Clayton County, specifically, the Ellenwood area.

They are saying numerous trees are reported down on Rex Road. But, I want to report something else. And this, a little bit further towards the South, Tattnall County, Georgia, you are looking at Ellenwood, Georgia, that is Clayton, County. They're saying Cobbtown, Tattnall, not Cobb County, but Cobbtown in Tattnall County, Georgia, two injuries there, likely a tornado, numerous residents damaged or destroyed, numerous trees reported down, lots of damage reported on the interstate, probably from debris that has flown onto the interstate.

A trained weather spotter in Tattnal County did say that he did see a tornado with this line of thunderstorms that moved across the area at about between 5:30 and close to 8:00 this morning in Georgia.

From top to bottom, in northern sections of Georgia, all the way down to the South. Now we are looking at the same video from WSB, our affiliate in Atlanta, of Atlanta, Georgia, it looks like, now that has changed out of the Atlanta, Georgia area the line of storms moved across around 4:30 this morning. Look at the debris on the roads there.

NGUYEN: It is just amazing to see...

MAGINNIS: Actually that is from Ellenwood area, that is Clayton County.

NGUYEN: Right, the same neighborhood we were looking at.

MAGINNIS: Exactly.

NGUYEN: Let me ask you this, as we look at this damage, because for the folks who live in Georgia, who live in South Carolina, North Carolina, and the places in the southeast, are they expecting more of this to be heading into other areas?

MAGINNIS: This is all moving very rapidly, so these cells move through very quickly. This morning they were moving through to the east around 60 to 65 miles-an-hour. To answer your question, Betty, we've still kind of got a core or a line, if you will, squall line of storms that is moving very rapidly across southeastern Georgia, towards the coast, also in South Carolina. But, but, to my new CNN meteorologist, she just graduated from meteorology school, and she handed me this, that there's a tornado in Kentucky. So, the core of the system is still situated back across the lower Great Lakes, but the most vigorous that we have seen as of late has been across Georgia and South Carolina.

Yesterday, yesterday, just less than 24 hours ago, we were looking at the intense storms, the fatalities, some 21 fatalities across Missouri and Oklahoma and now this morning we've got a fatality in Georgia, that reported near Dublin. And you are looking at these live pictures coming out of WSB-TV, here in Atlanta, but this is in Clayton County in Ellenwood, Georgia. There you can see folks probably just...

NGUYEN: Yeah, you can see people coming to survey the damage of what is left of their hopes. And it is, again, remarkable when you look at this type of damage you'll see one home really demolished and yet the one standing next to it with very little damage.

We're going to continue to follow this throughout the morning because these storms are indeed moving. But just to let our viewers know, this has affected a large area, many states involved here. We have Oklahoma, we have Missouri, we have Georgia now, 21 deaths out of all of those three states and the storm is still moving through many others. So, you want to stay tuned, you want to stay on top of this as we will continue to bring you the latest with this storm system.

HOLMES: And we want to show what you it looked like in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, this morning, as well. Seven dead in the town of Picher, northeast in Oklahoma, hit hard by at least one tornado, hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed. Oklahoma's governor expected to tour the area, today.

Let's get a better idea of exactly what's happening there on the ground in northwest Oklahoma. Emergency crews have been searching in the rubble for possible victims, possible survivors. Joining me now from Picher, Oklahoma, is state trooper. Lieutenant George Brown.

Sir, we appreciate you giving us some time, this morning. And can you tell us first just the updated numbers, can you confirm for us how many you all know of that are dead and also is there an injury number, as well?

LT GEORGE BROWN, OKLAHOMA STATE TROOPER: We have a good number of fatality, a good solid number, and that is six, two adult female, three adult male, one child. We have six dead here in Picher. As far as the number of injured, we're still working on that. Our efforts, obviously, this morning are on search and rescue to try and get the people out of here, get them medical attention and get them attended to.

HOLMES: All right, sir, do you have numbers of missing as well, do you have everybody accounted for just yet?

BROWN: We do not. I spoke with a family last night at a local hospital here who told me they had three loved ones missing. We took down those names, that is part of the operation as well to account for those missing, put them on our board in our command post and actually go search for those specific people.

HOLMES: And sir, did this hit one area of your town, if you will? A lot of people not sure, don't have a good idea of Picher and how large the town is, anyway, but did it hit the entire town? Is there widespread damage or is it really concentrated in one area of your town?

BROWN: It's concentrated and isolated specifically to this residential area. Picher is a small town, if you will, in Ottawa County, an area in northeastern Oklahoma and this tornado, local residents tell me, came down in the residential area here and struck about a 20-block radius, here. Just devastating, as you can see around me, the homes that were, some of them completely leveled, some of them all but the interior portion maybe a closet was damaged and you can see by being here the devastation that this thing caused.

HOLMES: And Lieutenant Brown, did everybody get enough of a heads-up, did they know it was coming, did they get the warnings about the tornado and did they heed that warning from what you can tell?

BROWN: I've spoken to some that live here, and local resident disnot mention any type of a warning. That would be something for the National Weather Service to address, but no, I'm not aware of any advanced warning, here.

HOLMES: All right, Lieutenant George Brown, we appreciate your giving us some time. We know you have quite a job on your hand there to try to help your people through this tough time. And good luck finding those that are missing, hopefully we won't hear of any more deaths in your town or anywhere else around Oklahoma, sir. Lieutenant George Brown with the state patrol, there, sir, we appreciate you.

BROWN: Thank you.

NGUYEN: OK, so that's the situation in Oklahoma. But look at this. This is a 20-mile path of destruction in Missouri, the worst of it, in Newton County where another body was found in the rubble overnight. So, that brings Missouri death toll to 13, but that number could still rise.

HOLMES: Tornadoes has slammed southeastern Arkansas. Winds crumpled sheet metal like paper, trees were snapped, rubble covering the streets all over the place, this is video coming to us from Stuttgart, Arkansas. There are reports a house and a store were flattened, also reports that a number of cars were flipped. A nursing home was hit head-on, as well, we're told that those inside got to safety just as strong winds began blowing out windows and doors, so a close call, there.

NGUYEN: Well, we are going to stay on top of this storm coverage because the storms are not over at this point, unfortunately. So far, 21 people killed in three different states and the storms are still moving at this hour, so stay tuned for CNN, we have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: OK, and another live look at Ellenwood, Georgia, this is in Clayton County, south of the Atlanta area, where strong storms made their way through last night. Storms that have making their way through the County and have made their way into the southeastern part of the state, which is now -- or part of the country, which is no under the gun with severe weather watches and warnings.

But you're seeing here a neighborhood where many homes have been damaged heavily. Doesn't look like a lot of them have been flattened, but I don't know if that's any consolation to any of these homeowners when they see this mess that has been left in their neighborhood, again this is in Ellenwood Georgia, just south of Atlanta, where strong storms have gone through this area and are still making their way across the country. But here you go again, another live look at just how this damage has just spread out, stuff just strewn about all over this neighborhood. It doesn't look like too many of these homes in this particular subdivision has been spared by this storm.

But, we have been watching these storms all morning long and right now we still have watches and warnings in the southeastern part of the country. We do know that 21 deaths can be now attributed to these storms that is hit in Oklahoma, also Missouri, also one death in Georgia that we know of so far, as well.

So, and again here another live look and we -- some of this, we're starting to see some of these pictures of people who are coming out and trying to see what's left of their homes in many areas. We don't have any reports at least out of this area of anybody trapped or any injuries in this particular neighborhood. But still we were just taking these live pictures and the more that the picture kind of spreads out, here, they zoom out of this picture, you get more of an idea of just how large this community is. And it looks like every home in this community suffered in one way or another and there is just, like you said a second ago, Betty, just lumber littered all over the place, here.

And again, another look. We don't have any that are flattened. The larger homes, it appears, in this neighborhood, but certainly a mess left. We will keep an eye on this and also the severe weather that's moving across the country. Been a tough, tough weather day and weather couple of days for a lot of people in this country.

NGUYEN: And in fact, in Oklahoma, they are still searching for an unknown number of people missing, that on top of the deaths that we have reported this morning. So, there's a lot to still tell you about and these storms, as I've motioned earlier, are still moving through the southeast. So, we will stay on top of that. In the meantime, though, we do have other news to bring you especially from the campaign trail because there is no break for Hillary Clinton on this Mother's Day.

She is campaigning today in West Virginia before Tuesday's primary. Senator Clinton and her daughter Chelsea will, however, attend Mother's Day celebration in Graften, this afternoon, and take part in a town hall meeting tonight in Putnam County.

Senators Obama and John McCain, well, they are taking this Mother's Day off. They have no public events scheduled today.

HOLMES: Well, Hillary Clinton is ahead, at least in superdelegates, by one. OK, but it's something. Here now to talk about that and much more is Ken Rudin, the political editor for NPR.

Ken, always good to see you. West Virginia coming up, she has a lead, she's expected to win. So, at the end of the day, can she really, I don't know, use that as any kind of momentum boost if she does win and win big in West Virginia?

KEN RUDIN, NPR: Well, it's only 28 delegates and it is, you know, again she's so far behind delegates, popular votes, states won to Barak Obama, but you know, she says she's in it until there's a nominee and until somebody gets 2025 delegates there is no nominee so she plugs on. She will win big in West Virginia big, it's the kind of demographics that she won in Pennsylvania. It's older, it's more rural, there are gun owners, it's 95 percent white. It's the kind of state that she's been doing very well in.

HOLMES: So, Ken, does that send any sign to superdelegate if she wins and wins it big? Does that really send a message to anybody? Can she sell that to any superdelegate?

RUDIN: It hasn't work sp far even when she won Pennsylvania only by nearly 10 points on April 22. A flood of superdelegates went Barak Obama's way, so she's winning states, she's losing states, but there seems to be -- the only thing that's left is reaching 2025 and the superdelegates keep moving towards Barak Obama. And the worst part for her is that some superdelegate who have supported her in the past, like Joe Andrew, the former Democratic national chairman (INAUDIBLE) Donald Payne and the congressman from New Jersey has switched from Hillary Clinton to Barak Obama, and that's even more troubling for the campaign.

HOLMES: And Ken, why do they do that? These superdelegates, they're supposed to be independent minded and independent thinkers and supposed to do this on their own, but you are starting to see people switch and you're starting to see things go Obama's way because he seems to be the on ahead. Are they doing what seems to be the popular thing that their constituents might want them to do or are they really going by their own convictions, here, or they know they have to do the popular thing?

RUDIN: Well, by definition, I mean, they are independents, they are not responsible for what -- you know, they're bound by what happens in their districts. And Donald Payne, for example, New Jersey went heavily for Hillary Clinton back on Super Tuesday. I think the feeling is that there's an inevitability about Barak Obama, that he's going to be the nominee. And for all of Hillary Clinton saying she wants to fight, I think these superdelegates are sending her a signal, stay in the race, but don't make it negative because if Barak Obama is ultimately the nominee in November, we don't want to damage the nominee going into the general election.

HOLMES: From people we've talked to and including, it sounds like, from you as well, it's only a matter of time before she has to drop out. So what -- does she have a winning strategy left? Of course, it's a wing and a prayer, as many would say, to try to get to all the superdelegate support, but I mean is there a winning strategy or is this an exit strategy we're seeing played out?

RUDIN: Well, it's perhaps both I mean, she still feels that she's a stronger general election candidate. She still feels that Barak Obama is very weak with a lot of the constituency that she would be very strong with. She still feels that Michigan and Florida delegates should be seated and she's fighting that. And again, you know, we're not going to push her around on Mother's Day, but of course, she knows that the numbers are not there or numbers are not there for her, but there's no reason, as Mike Huckabee did the same thing. He stayed in until it was time to get out and he got out at the right time and perhaps that'll be the same thing on the Democratic side.

HOLMES: Just as yes or no, would she accept a V.P. position?

RUDIN: Oh, god, yes, but would she be offered it? Probably not.

HOLMES: All right, I said yes or no, Ken.

RUDIN: Well, yes and no.

HOLMES: All right, Ken Rudin, always good to see you, buddy, you have a good rest of your day.

RUDIN: Thank you. Happy Mother's Day.

HOLMES: All right, thank you very much, to yours as well. NGUYEN: Well, CNN is your election 2008 headquarters. You don't want to go any other place because up next for the Democrats is, of course, West Virginia.

HOLMES: And you can join the best political team on television for complete coverage Tuesday night, May 13, that's starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Also you don't want to miss BALLOT BOWL, the candidates, this is for you to hear them unfiltered, not just in little sound bites. That comes your way this afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 Eastern.

NGUYEN: Meanwhile, just married, first daughter Jenna Bush and her long-time boyfriend, Henry Hager, tied the knot during a sunset ceremony, yesterday.

HOLMES: Yes, you can't see much. But -- yes, we have the exclusive video of the wedding. And that's it, people.

NGUYEN: That's the best we can get. You know what, considering the circumstances, this is pretty good stuff.

HOLMES: Yes, about 200 guests attended this wedding at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. The newlyweds danced to "Lovin' in my Baby's Eyes" by Taj Mahal, not on my iPod, but I'm OK.

NGUYEN: Maybe we should check it out.

HOLMES: I will get that today.

NGUYEN: OK, in the meantime, though, folks are watching very closely today because there is a strong storm system that is moving to the east, it has already moved through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia and in three states so far, there are 21 deaths reported, more than 150 injuries and an unknown amount of people still missing. So, we are following this for you and we'll bring you the latest.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN (voice over): A trip on an elevator changed Nina Disesa's life.

NINA DISESA, CHAIRMAN, MCCANN ERICSON, NY: And when I was 28 years old, one Saturday, I was going out grocery shopping with my husband and we stepped into the elevator and on the sixth floor he told me that he didn't love me anymore. At the time I thought my life was over and it turned out to be the very beginning of my life.

NGUYEN: Disesa then started her career in advertising, and she's been riding her way to the top ever since.

DISESA: Even as a young person, I always had five-year plans. I would start a job and I'd say, OK, in five years I want to be here. And I would try to beat that schedule. NGUYEN: And she always did. Disesa started as a copywriter, she's chairman of one of the world's largest advertising agencies. She's the first woman in the company to take on that role.

DISESA: Women are biologically wired to succeed in business as leaders. We have such great instincts. You know, we have empathy, we can read a room. Women's intuition is like mind reading.

NGUYEN: Disesa recently published a book about climbing the ladder as a woman called, "Seducing the Boys Club."

DISESA: The first thing that we have to be is really good at what we do and once you have that reputation, then getting up the ladder is just a question of getting the right people to support you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Again, parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, getting hit hard after a series of severe storms. We're watching the weather, watching the radar, here. A lot of places still under the gun, right now. At least 21 people that we know of have been killed across at least three states because of severe weather. And again, as you see there, severe weather still moving through.

A Tornado devastated 20 block swath of Picher, Oklahoma. At least seven deaths occurred, there. We are looking at a live picture here of Ellenwood, Georgia, this is in Clayton County, just south of Atlanta, where this neighborhood got hit pretty hard. You can see damage all over the place as you see there in this live picture.

NGUYEN: And the storms are not over. We understand there is a new tornado watch for Kentucky. CNN meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, is following all of this and we will indeed bring you the latest from the Severe Weather Center. But in the meantime RELIABLE SOURCES is coming up next with Howard Kurtz.

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NGUYEN: Parts of Missouri and Oklahoma look like warzone and you can see why. A series of storms killed at least 21 people. A tornado devastated a 20-block swath of Picher, Oklahoma where some seven deaths have occurred, so far. The storm system has moved east overnight and meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, has been watching it from the CNN Weather Center. She joins us live.