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CNN Saturday Morning News

Tornadoes Hit Midwest and South; Washington State Holds Caucus Today

Aired March 03, 2012 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: From CNN's World Headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe, live from Studio 7, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything was beating around our head. But thank God we made it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked up. And I was talking to my daughter across the street and I looked up and I just seen debris everywhere. And next thing I knew, I was like, I thought it was a dream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: A dream? More like a nightmare, if you want to be honest about it. This is what was left behind by a strong storm that swept through parts of the Midwest and South. Total devastation. Several tornadoes touched down. As many as 28 people are dead.

In some areas, rescue crews worked deep into the night trying to find survivors and victims. National Guard troops were called up in Kentucky and Indiana to help in some of the hardest hit communities.

This is what it looked like in Borden, Tennessee. You can see tornado there, dozens of people were injured in the storm. We are watching all angles of our story this morning. Our Susan Candiotti is in Henryville, Indiana, right now, one of the hardest hit areas. Rob Marciano is in Ooltewah, Tennessee, where we have also seen significant damage.

And our Bonnie Schneider is standing by in the Severe Weather Center. But right now, some of the worst damage we have seen has been small towns like Henryville, Indiana. That's where our Susan Candiotti is this morning.

Susan, just looking at all of that there behind you, I have to ask, just how bad is it?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is very bad. Crushing damage -- that's how we describe it, David. People here are reeling from what has happened to this area, 15 deaths confirmed so far in the entire state of Kentucky, a couple of them here in Clark County in Henryville. Just to give you an idea, look at this school bus; it was flown here from across the street where that high school is located you heard so much about in Henryville. If you get an idea -- here is -- so here is the front of the bus that you are seeing and the back of it is behind it.

The chassis of the bus is resting this way. So bus this way, chassis off to the side. I mean, it's an incredible view and just another indication of how powerful -- how powerful these storms are. There are a number of us are lined up here, and so I can't walk too, too much. But as you look up in this direction, our photojournalist, Rod Griola, giving a look at some of the power lines.

Obviously, power is out to more than 7,000 customers in the region here, due to this terrible storm, the substation also bad across the street. And, again, this bus came from across the street.

The aerial pictures you have seen throughout the day yesterday and again probably early this morning of that high school in Henryville, amazingly, none of the children reported hurt, just suffering cuts and scrapes. And they got out minutes ahead of the storm.

But at this hour, and certainly, as the sun comes up, David, we are going to see search and rescues going on. Searches being conducted, the sheriff says, from door to door to see if they can account for everyone.

It's hard to put any numbers on this at this time. But, the sheriff says, we are built of tough stock. Even though he described the scene as though a nuclear bomb hit it, he says, we are going to come out of this on the other end. David?

MATTINGLY: Well, Susan, you made a really good point. As soon as the sun comes up, that's when we are really going to start seeing the magnitude of the devastation left behind by this storm. Tornadoes also touched down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and that area, damaging hundreds of homes.

Our Rob Marciano is in Ooltewah, Tennessee, one of the many communities outside Chattanooga that were slammed by the storms. Rob, what have you got there?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is one of the first areas, David, to get hit yesterday. A storm that came out of Alabama did damage there to several homes with injuries as well.

I came across the city of Chattanooga, just in the northern fringes of it and into this community, basically, a suburb north and east of Chattanooga, of about 20,000 people with substantial, in some cases, very, very nice homes, like the home you see me behind, and in some cases scraped down to the foundation with this storm, which, by my count, is 150 to 200 wide in most spots.

And the damage is widespread. We did not have any fatalities. They hope that number stays the same. They are fairly confident that they have gone through most of the homes as far as getting most of the people accounted for here. But that doesn't make them feel better about the 29 injuries that were sustained across eastern Tennessee by these storms.

The gentleman that lives in this home, he's lived here for 30 years, he's a retired naval aviator. And yesterday, during "THE SITUATION ROOM," I got to talk about his experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BENTON, TORNADO VICTIM: I definitely thank the Lord for sparing as many people as he has. And I know that these things can all be replaced. But like everyone here, it's going to take awhile. It's going to take a lot of people and construction to help out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: At least 20 homes like this one completely destroyed and unlivable, over 100 homes easily across the Chattanooga area that have been damaged by this storm. Obviously, there's a lot of people without power.

At one point, thousands, but that number has come down under 2,000 at this point. But, obviously, there are a lot of people that don't have homes to sleep in. So they are at area hotels and are shelters and friends and family.

So the grand scheme of things, David, compared to what's going on in Indiana, in Ohio and Kentucky, certainly this pales in comparison. But that doesn't substitute for the fact that these folks got hit as well, parts of eastern Tennessee, during the tornado outbreak last year in April, as did the folks in northern Alabama.

So it just doesn't seem to want to stop here as far as how many storms they got. And yesterday, they got, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, got another round later in the afternoon and another round in the evening. So recovering from this during the day yesterday was very, very frustrating for the victims and the rescue workers, and at times, it was frightening. David?

MATTINGLY: Rob, looking at that house that you are standing at right now, looking at the pictures, that was actually a brick home. I mean, any idea on the power of the winds they were dealing with there?

MARCIANO: You know, I just, by my experience, this was probably a EF- 2 tornado, maybe higher that that. So you're talking winds that were over, you know, 110 to 120 miles per hour, maybe 130 miles per hour, easily over 100-mile-an-hour winds.

But what was striking to me, David, is not just homes like this, but two- and three-story substantial homes, newer construction homes that sustained significant damage like this.

And so when the National Weather Service survey teams come out today to do their thorough examination of the damage, they will come up with specific numbers as to how strong and how big this storm was. and we'll probably have that for you later this afternoon.

MATTINGLY: OK, Rob, and we'll be talking to you later.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is standing by in our Severe Weather Center. Bonnie, after seeing all of this, are we in the clear yet?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we are looking a lot better this morning, David, than we were yesterday because yesterday we had 742 reports of severe weather. That's incredible. Ninety-five of those were tornadoes, you can see here by the red dots on the screen.

But where do we stand right now? Luckily, as of the past hour, the tornado watch, the one that we were keeping an eye on is now expired. We do have a severe thunderstorm watch, though.

And the problem with severe thunderstorms is that while we may not see tornadic winds, we could see some very strong, gusty winds rolling across North Carolina and some heavy thunderstorms in the Atlanta area.

This is all very important because what it means is anything that was sort of hanging very, very briefly, just about to fall down from yesterday's severe weather, with a strong gust of wind could find themselves impacted even more this morning.

What you see here right now is in South Carolina, are severe thunderstorm warnings, that means very strong winds. We'll see hail as well with these systems, and we are also watching some very frequent lightning strikes.

So heavy rain is working its way, kind of draining across areas like I-20, for example in the Atlanta area and I-85. So if you are driving, you are going to find a lot of water on the roads. And this is going to be a problem because we'll see more flooding. I'll talk more about that a little bit later on.

MATTINGLY: Well, this is -- we had such a warm spring this year. No year in the last few years has really seen normal in any part of the country. Is it unusual to have tornadoes this early in the season, given all the volatility we have had recently?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, it actually is. In fact, it is unusual to see this much activity in terms of tornadoes. As you can see, when you look at the average frequency per month, in March, only an average of 92 tornadoes occur for the month of March.

Where we see the most tornadoes is the month of May. So to see it so early in this -- on the first few days of March, to have consecutive tornado outbreaks, it is unusual.

So it's just a reminder that severe weather can pretty much happen, as you can see here, any time of year. So it's important to be prepared and be ready for it and have your family disaster plan in place, in case there is a tornado warning. MATTINGLY: OK, Bonnie, thanks a lot. We are going to have a lot more on the severe weather coming up in the next couple of hours. But right now, here is a rundown of what's ahead.

It's not just the Left, but also those on the Right condemning explosive comments from radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Plus, new I-reports of those powerful tornadoes that you will only see here on CNN.

And the New Orleans Saints are caught up in a scandal. This is a big deal. Did players get paid to injure their opponents?

And it's caucus day in Washington State. The last contest before Super Tuesday. See how many delegates are at stake as the four GOP candidates scramble for more support. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Our top story this morning is the death and destruction left behind by a line of tornadoes that tore through the Midwest and the South. Our correspondents are on the ground gathering the latest information. We'll get back to them in a moment.

But first, here are some of the other stories we are following this morning. It's caucus day in Washington State. Voters will make a decision there in the Republican presidential race. Mitt Romney has been leading in recent polls.

But Rick Santorum has spent a little time there this week, trying to change all that. Our coverage -- our live special coverage begins tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

Daniel Parmertor will be laid to rest today in Chardon, Ohio. He is one of the three victims of the shooting at Chardon High School on Monday. Seventeen-year-old T.J. Lane was charged in the shooting on Thursday. The other two victims will be buried next week.

The Red Cross isn't being allowed to bring food and other aid into Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs, Syria, after government troops there swept in to try and crush the uprising. Opposition groups say more than a dozen people were executed.

Pat Conroy is a journalist who was wounded while covering the conflict in Syria. He spoke with our Anderson Cooper about what's going on in that neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT CONROY, PHOTOJOURNALIST: It's the most ferocious and -- the most ferocious, vicious and unnecessary that I have seen. And there are actually no military targets within Baba Amr. All of the intense shelling is, in fact, directed at the civilian population.

I think it would be wrong to call it a war. This was -- this was, I think, the obvious, a medieval siege and slaughter. I was in Misrata, and sort of at the peak of the shelling there. At least people had space to disappear and run and change neighborhoods.

In Baba Amr there is nowhere to go. The area is ringed by snipers, so any attempt at leaving the neighborhood is met by sniper fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, as you probably know, Homs and the Baba Amr neighborhood have been the epicenter of the antigovernment uprising in Syria.

An agreement has been reached in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP has agreed to pay around $8 billion in damages to more than 100,000 fishermen, hotel owners and Gulf Coast residents impacted by the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal court in Louisiana still has to sign off on the deal. BP still also needs to settle with the federal government. So that story is not over by any stretch of the imagination.

Police near Pittsburgh are searching for the driver of an armored truck who took off with around $2 million. Kenneth Konias allegedly shot and killed his partner in that truck. Police have recovered the truck and Konias' cell phone. But right now, they are saying only that he is armed and he is believed to be somewhere in the United States.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

Now to politics. The contraception issue in Washington gained even more steam this week, thanks to popular radio host Rush Limbaugh. As CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash reports, Limbaugh's inflammatory comments have galvanized support on both sides of the issue.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Explosive comments even for Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK RADIO HOST: What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.

BASH (voice-over): Sandra Fluke is a Georgetown University law student, who appeared at a Democratic event last week, arguing the Obama administration rule requiring free contraception is critical for women's health. We played Limbaugh's comments for Fluke.

BASH: To hear someone like Rush Limbaugh, with millions of viewers, call you a slut?

SANDRA FLUKE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW STUDENT: I think I probably felt -- well, I know that I felt, probably, the way many women do when they are called those types of names. Initially, hurt, and then very quickly upset and just outraged because someone is trying to silence you. BASH (voice-over): Politically, Limbaugh played right into the Democrats playbook, called GOP opposition to free contraception a war on women.

REP. JACKIE SPEIER, (D), CALIFORNIA: I rise this morning to say to Rush Limbaugh, shame on you.

BASH (voice-over): The House Democrats campaign committee tried to raise money from the issue. And Democrats circulated a letter demanding GOP leaders repudiate Limbaugh.

Friday morning, House Speaker John Boehner did just that, a rare slap at a powerful Republican mouthpiece, with a dig at Democrats, too, a spokesman saying the Speaker obviously believes the use of those words was inappropriate, as is trying to raise money off the situation. But Limbaugh is hardly backing down.

LIMBAUGH: A woman comes forth with this frankly hilarious claim that she's having so much sex -- and her buddies with her -- that she can't afford it. And not one person says, well, did you ever think about maybe backing off the amount of sex that you have? Did you ever think it's your responsibility for your own birth control, not everybody else's?

FLUKE: Well, I would say that I don't think that the women of America find it hilarious.

BASH (voice-over): It's in the Democrats' political interest to keep this story going. Fluke even got a call from President Obama.

BASH: Were you surprised to get a call from the President of the United States?

FLUKE: Yes. It certainly wasn't on my calendar for the day.

(LAUGHTER)

FLUKE: But I was happy to add that to the schedule. He thanked me for speaking out and being willing to do this, and for helping to magnify the voices of women around the country.

BASH (voice-over): On the presidential campaign trail, Mitt Romney wouldn't answer a question about Limbaugh, but Rick Santorum, who vehemently condemns the president's policy on contraception as an intrusion on religious freedom, he told Wolf Blitzer, Limbaugh is, quote, "being absurd," -- Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Communities across the South and Midwest waking up this morning to scenes like this from a deadly tornado outbreak. But amid the devastation, a little girl is found alive. It's an amazing story. We'll have that for you next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MATTINGLY: Checking stories now across country. We'll start in Indiana, where rescuers found a 20-month-old girl alone in a field after yesterday's tornado outbreak. Watch this.

She was flown to two local hospitals before being identified by relatives. A hospital spokesman says the girl is in critical condition with a tube in her throat to help her breathe. But for the moment, she is alive. An amazing story out of all that devastation.

Also in Indiana, a rescue of the four-legged variety. Look.

Trigger (ph) and Tyson (ph) were found hiding in the rubble of their owner's home in Henryville. And one official says there is, quote, "total devastation" in parts of the surrounding county. Fifteen deaths have been reported so far across the state.

In Kentucky, the governor has approved the deployment of nearly 300 National Guard troops to assist in storm clean-up efforts. A statewide emergency has also been declared to help local authorities get access to state resources. Kentucky officials say at least 12 people there died in the storms.

And finally, in Tennessee, traffic was brought to a standstill on part of I-24 after downed power lines forced a shutdown; both directions of the highway were closed near Chattanooga. One of our crews actually also got stuck in traffic there.

Southern Indiana was particularly hard-hit. This is what remains -- look -- of Henryville High School. Take a good look at this. Storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski was in Henryville, Indiana, when the second tornado ripped through this area. He was able to help some of the kids get out of the school before the tornado just -- pretty much just leveled this building.

Jeff joins us now by phone. Jeff, I have to hand it to you. You are out there chasing these storms. How did you end up at this high school, and how did you know that you had to act to save these kids?

JEFF PIOTROWSKI, STORM CHASER: Well, it -- what happened was the tornado -- tornado actually hits their (inaudible) Henryville, and then as the tornado went through there, which (inaudible) the town about three or four minutes after the tornado. And the second storm was rapidly approaching it.

The (inaudible) town, everything was, you know, was leveled and very heavy destruction. And we realized there was a school (inaudible). And we drove over by the school, and to take shelter from the (inaudible) storm -- baseball and softball hail and 80-mile-an-hour wind, and actually (inaudible) damage to the vehicle.

But (inaudible). And I saw people running up to the school, and I ask them, (inaudible) the school, and they said kids are in (ph). And so at that time, we went up to the school and at that time there were -- kids were trapped in part of the building. There were 71 kids had a after-school, kind of a (inaudible) area. And then after that, they were there -- they took about 45 minutes to get the kids out of the school as the second storm passed, and the second tornado with baseball hail. And took them to another shelter back of the north of the school.

MATTINGLY: Now, so many times, when you are out there and your job as a chaser is to actually be able to put out the information to help people get out of harm's way. These people were already in harm's way. How often is it that you have to pull over and intervene like this to actually help people?

PIOTROWSKI: More than you -- more than you realize. It's a very common (inaudible) it goes with the territory. And especially yesterday, these tornadoes were moving, you know, 60, 70 miles an hour, very fast-moving, very large tornadoes.

And it (inaudible) so people had (inaudible) that were spawned in the morning. And most people (inaudible) for two or three days (inaudible). So that's (inaudible) just telling people here (inaudible) that's what happened.

MATTINGLY: Well, Storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski, thanks so much for being with us this morning. And good job in helping those kids get out of that mess. I'm sure they were happy that you stopped chasing, pulled over and actually helped them to get out of that. So good for you. Thank you.

PIOTROWSKI: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, the storm chasers weren't the only ones grabbing their cameras. The revealing images captured by CNN I-reporters are coming up next. You've got to see some of this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: This morning, many residents through the Midwest and the South are making up to this, live pictures of the destruction left behind. This is Henryville, Indiana. This was left behind by a slew of tornadoes that nearly wiped out several towns. We have crews on the ground in the hardest-hit areas. We'll be coming to them later. We are monitoring the situation for you to bring you the latest.

We are getting an even clearer picture, though, of this enormous outbreak of tornadoes and the scope of the devastation actually from you. Some of the most powerful images and vivid accounts are coming from CNN iReports. And now Josh Levs is keeping his eye on all of this.

And, Josh, really some eye-popping video coming in from this storm.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Incredible. We are going to get right to it. Look, I mean, David, we are in a lot of places, but we can't be everywhere. Fortunately, our I-reporters are everywhere. And what they end up getting are some amazing images of these tornadoes and of these storms. Let's take a look at this one. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right, we are going to stay on this video. And I'm going to tell you what we are seeing her. This is from iReporter Chad Hinton. He says it was about 3 o'clock Eastern time on Friday. Look at that huge twister. He says he had been let out of work early in the area. You see in this (inaudible) Borden, Tennessee. Folks were let out early because they knew about the storm that was coming.

And while he was driving home, which is what he was told to do, he set up that camera. Got that shot, he's estimating that he was about a couple miles away from it. And it is stunning because -- stay on this for a second.

And this is a good example of the kind of video that we have been getting from our I-reporters and the kinds of images that have been coming to us, particularly given how huge some of these storms are. Absolutely striking.

We'll be having more of these for you throughout the day. Now, before I go, lets come to my screen. I want to show you some of the images we also have up for you at CNN.com. These are from throughout the stricken area. And I'm going to scroll through some of these. And what you see in many cases are the serious destruction to homes, to businesses, in some cases to entire roads.

And in some cases -- these are from agencies. And in some cases, these photos that we are getting are also from our I-reporters. They're coming through throughout the day.

Now, you might be watching this morning, you might be fine. And you might be wondering how can you help people who were impacted. Well, we have a page for that. CNN.com/impact has a section right now that you can go to, to help people who are impacted by the storms, people who are losing their homes, people who are losing their livelihoods. Check in there.

And if you have images, photos, videos, go ahead and send them to I- report. Or if you just want to share your stories, I'll be following throughout the day on social media @Joshlevscnn, Facebook and Twitter, also my blog, CNN.com/josh.

And, David, I'll be back next hour with some even more amazing video coming from throughout the stricken regions here.

MATTINGLY: OK, Josh, and I imagine we'll see more of that throughout the day today. So thanks a lot. Look forward to seeing that.

LEVS: You bet.

MATTINGLY: We are seeing some of the most devastating scenes today out of Henryville, Indiana. And we'll take you there for a live update just ahead. Stay with us.

Plus, forget about super Tuesday. There's actually a political contest today in the Republican presidential race. Washington state is making their presidential choice. We'll look at what's at stake, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: It's now 33 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. I'm David Mattingly. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Our top story this morning, a series of powerful tornadoes has left at least 28 people dead in parts of the south and Midwest. One of the hardest hit places, the town of Henryville, Indiana. Take a look at the devastation. The storm spared very little there. What you are looking at is just a glimpse of the destruction what was left behind.

Let's go now to Susan Candiotti who is in Henryville, Indiana.

Susan, I'm assuming that the camera just cannot capture the scope of what you are looking at there.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: David, having been here so many times in similar situations, that's right. Especially at this hour because of the darkness. We can only encapsulize (sic) a very small portion of the vast amount of damage that is in this particular area in Clark County, Henryville. But just to give you a quick look. Now we have a little better motion here.

Take a look at the school bus that was tossed from across the street on its side. And if you come over to the side of it, you can see that the bus itself was sheared off from the chassis. This black thing that you can kind of make out here in the darkness is the chassis of the truck and the main portion of the truck is out that way. Look, this chassis is even exposing this gaps cap.

We are also hearing reports in the area on some of the local news stations that natural gas lines because of leaks have been shut down. So they also have, as you can imagine, thousands of reports of customers being without service as well since the tornadoes hit.

Also an amazing story of a rescue of a 20-month-old baby, might have been a little older than that that was discovered in a field out here somewhere in this area. The baby was taken to one hospital, then air lifted to a specialty hospital in Louisville, which is not that far from here. We are only about 20 miles north.

They were at first unable to identify the baby. But then because of all the publicity, they did discover who this little girl is.

She is, however, said to be, as of last night, Friday night, in critical condition. They had to insert a tube to help her with the breathing. And certainly everyone is hoping and praying that she will be all right.

Fifteen deaths throughout the state of Kentucky. Two in this area. Back to you, David.

MATTINGLY: OK. Thank you, Susan.

In the space of three days, two killer tornado outbreaks. And it's still early, very early in the year. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joins me at the severe weather center. Bonnie, this doesn't look like it's going to be ending anytime soon in terms of the damage. What about the storm itself?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we are still dealing with severe weather across parts of the southeast. But luckily, there's no tornado watches or warnings at present. But looking back at yesterday's severe weather report, it's incredible.

This is Google Earth. And we put down how many tornadoes occurred. How many? Seven hundred and thirty two reports of severe weather yesterday. Ninety five reports of tornadoes. That is an incredibly high number, unfortunately.

And we are still, you know, getting more reports in. And once the National Weather Service gets around to heading out there to all the locations, it's going to take awhile because there's such vast damage. They will be able to determine how strong the tornadoes were, where the exact path was and how wide the tornadoes were as well.

Looking at the severe weather threat at present, here is what we are facing. Heavy rain. There's a flash flood warning right now just to the north and east of Atlanta. So we are watching for severe weather to break out with heavy downpours of rain over and over again. This is called the training effect. Imagine trains going across the track in the same place over and over again. That's what we are seeing with the rain now.

We're also seeing severe thunderstorm warnings popping up over South Carolina, right over the city of Florence, South Carolina. Get ready for heavy downpours, frequent lightning strikes and very gusty winds. These storms also have a history of producing large hail as well. We've seen that yesterday and we'll continue to see that for today as well. So David, it's something we are keeping a watch on. As I mentioned though, no tornado warnings or watches at present.

MATTINGLY: OK. Keep an eye on it. Thank you, Bonnie.

To politics now and today's Washington state caucuses. But as CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser reports today's contest isn't just about delegate counts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Washington state is in the campaign spotlight today. It is holding caucuses. Now 40 delegates are up for grabs. But much, much more important than that, a quick shot of momentum going into super Tuesday is really at stake.

Washington is the last state to vote before super Tuesday when 10 states hold contests and all four Republican presidential candidates hope that a strong finish today could carry over to Tuesday. You know, that's why all four have made trips to Washington state. And that's a long way to travel.

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas is still there. He's there today. While former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich all campaigned today in Ohio. It's arguably the most important super Tuesday state.

And a new poll indicates that Santorum's lead in Ohio had vanished with his four point margin over Romney in a Quinnipiac survey on Friday within the poll sampling here. But Santorum remains optimistic.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm so excited about what's going on here in Ohio. We've got great grassroots support here in this state.

STEINHAUSER: Ohio is just as crucial for Romney.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect the fact that this is a state with great passion, great energy, great teams. My goodness, gracious. I'm honored to be here with you.

STEINHAUSER: The GOP nominations is a battle for delegates. And more than 400 are at stake on Tuesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Thank you, Paul Steinhauser.

Be sure to tune in to CNN tonight for a special coverage of the Washington state caucuses. We'll have the results and analysis for you starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

You might want to think twice now before taking another sleeping pill. Researchers say they may shorten your life. Next, I'll talk with a doctor about just how concerned you should be. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: This morning, rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors after an enormous outbreak of tornadoes in parts of the south and the Midwest. At least 28 deaths are being reported in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. I'm joined now by Dr. Sujatha Reddy. We know so much about there are so many ways to be hurt when a tornado comes through. What types of injuries are we possibly looking at this morning?

DR. SUJATHA REDDY, PREMIER CARE FOR WOMEN: The most common injuries actually are going to be from blowing glass or debris, things like cuts, scrapes and bruises. The more deadly injuries are again from being thrown by a tornado or something tossed at you, brain injuries, chest injuries or both.

MATTINGLY: And on top of that there's all the debris that's flying, there's all sorts of lacerations, people have broken bones and things like that. It's almost like getting hit by a car.

REDDY: You can make that analogy or an explosion that tosses you. You know, tornadoes can pick you up and bounce you around and throw you into something or pick you up to a high height and then drop you, quickly gravity takes over. So these are devastating injuries, potentially.

MATTINGLY: Now, as far as the people that have been found and they're also going out doing a really, just an incredible search this morning through all the wreckage trying to find other people who might be trapped, do you expect based on the injuries, the type of injuries that you see in this, do you expect the death toll to go higher?

REDDY: I really hope not, but it wouldn't surprise me. Because I think you're going to find people as the sun comes out under debris and they have severe injuries, several hours could really take a toll on them.

MATTINGLY: And now changing the subject a little bit, do you know people who are taking sleeping pills? You know, I have had to do this at times because of my erratic schedule, I need a sleep aid to get to sleep quickly and things like that. Should we be worried now?

REDDY: Well, this new study is interesting. You know, there's actually a lot of flaws in this study. If you look at what the study is saying, it's saying that people that took even a small amount of sleeping pills had a higher risk of dying. But it doesn't say that the sleeping pill actually caused their death. It's not a cause and effect. The people that have trouble sleeping are at higher risk for things like heart disease, strokes if you have sleep apnea. So if you are taking sleeping pills for those reasons, then perhaps that's what's causing you to die. So it was an interesting relationship. But it's definitely not a cause and effect.

When I prescribed sleeping pills to my patients, I recommend they take them, you know, sparingly, don't use them every single day. They are really designed for short term use if you travel abroad. Or for people that do have erratic schedules and need to get some sleep. But I think it's telling us that we really don't want to become dependent on a pill population.

MATTINGLY: Well, that is relief from a personal standpoint. But when you have a patient and you are prescribing some sort of sleep medication for them, is this going to be just an extra layer of explanation that you have to give when you're talking to them about this medication?

REDDY: You know, possibly. It just brings to attention that all medication have side effects and so you just need to be vigilant and cautious and just take medicine when you really need to.

MATTINGLY: And something else now, something about caffeine. This new product that's on the market that comes in something like in a lipstick container, you spray it in your mouth and get an instant dose of caffeine. What is that? How does that work?

REDDY: So it's made by a company called Readable Products and it's Aeroshot. It's an inhalable caffeine. But it actually goes into your mouth and it dissolves. There's about three to six puffs in each lipstick container. And the whole container contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine. And that's comparable to a good cup of coffee or a Red Bull in this case. MATTINGLY: Well, we've talked about energy drinks. We know about those little energy shots that you can buy. Is there something along those lines, is it safe? I mean we talked about the sleep aids. I mean you squirt a couple of things like this in your mouth and maybe you are back on track after taking a sleeping pill or something. But is this something that we need to be concerned about?

REDDY: You know, there are some concerns only because it's a very attractive, cute marketing concept. And you know, there's always been concern about alcohol and caffeine together. So in an easy to use form are we going to see that young people are maybe going to abuse this? There really is no difference in the amount of caffeine in this Aeroshot versus a Red Bull or a cup of coffee or some of the energy drinks definitely have more caffeine than what's in this shot. So from a safety perspective, in by itself, it's fine. What people are concerned about and one of the senators was concerned about this is that it has a potential for abuse because it is sort of gimmicky and cute and easy to use. It's very cheap, it's only $3. The company is saying it's not going to market it to young people but that's where we saw a lot of deaths actually with caffeine and alcohol with college kids. So again, it's just a gimmicky, cute kind of thing that has a potential for abuse.

MATTINGLY: And young people abusing products over the counter, no we have never seen that before.

REDDY: Never.

MATTINGLY: All right. Doctor, thank you so much. Lots of good information this morning. I really was interested in that sleep medication. So thank you. Thank you for the good advice.

REDDY: You're welcome.

REDDY: Well, now waking up to massive damage. That's what is facing thousands today who live in areas struck by strong storms. We'll take a look at that damage, next.

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MATTINGLY: Now we have been showing you the pictures all morning. Homes reduced to rubble. That's the scene across parts of the Midwest and south this morning after a string of tornadoes touched down. CNN's Sandra Endo has more.

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SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) When daylight comes to West Liberty, Kentucky, the realization of what's happened will be devastating. And the small town is not alone. This is Henryville, Indiana, another town rocked by violent storms. Dozens of apparent tornadoes tore across the country's midsection Friday leveling homes, buildings, anything in their path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Catastrophic. You see these types of things in the news, in the media, with you guys which you really don't have an understanding of the great devastation unless you see it in person. It's unbelievable.

ENDO: At times there were more than 20 active tornado warnings across multiple states.

JOHN GORDON, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (ON THE PHONE): It's just nuts right here. People's lives are in danger here with these storms, these rotating storms and these tornadoes that are coming down.

ENDO: The fury unleashed early starting in Alabama, ripping off roofs and snapping power lines. As the day rolled on, so did the storms, gaining in intensity.

Storms brought heavy rain, golf ball sized hail and ferocious winds. There are multiple reports of twisters touching down and extensive damage.

In Hamilton County, Tennessee, one man returned to find his home of 30 years reduced to a pile of rubble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is real live stuff here.

ENDO: It's now a race to clear blocked roads so emergency vehicles can get to the people who need help. In Harrisburg, Illinois, already beaten down from the EF-4 twister that blew through just days ago, residents can only hope they will be spared a second blow.

(on camera): The good news is severe weather is expected to be over by Saturday morning. Then the clean up and recovery effort will begin.

Reporting from Nashville, I'm Sandra Endo.

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MATTINGLY: And our tornado aftermath coverage will continue this morning.

But coming up, a look at a different kind of farm. One man has taken his planting under water in an effort to beautify the deep. We meet him, this week's CNN's hero.

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MATTINGLY: Saving the beauty of the ocean. You know, how do you even start with a job that big? Well, one veteran diver has seen a major change under water so he's trying to fix the problem. That's what's made him this week's CNN hero.

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KEN NEDIMYER: I grew up diving in the Florida keys. It was just the most magical place. The coral reefs were so pretty. I decided that's what I wanted to do for a living, dive in coral reefs.

In an area where there's live coral, there's always more fish. The reefs provide protection for coastal areas and recreational opportunities for millions of people. I was diving for 40 years. And over time, I saw those coral reefs start to die. Coral reefs worldwide are in decline. If coral reefs die completely, coastal communities would be bankrupt, tourism would be virtually gone. A billion people in the world would be impacted.

I started thinking, you know, how can we fix this problem? My name is ken. I help grow and restore coral reefs. We have developed a system that's simple in something we train others to do. We start with a piece of coral this big, hang it on trees. After a year or two, it becomes this big. Then we cut the branches of and do it again.

My name is Ken Nedimyer, I grow, protect and restore coral reefs.

We developed a system that's simple and something that we can train others to do.

(INAUDIBLE) this big and we hang it on the trees and after about a year or two, it becomes this big. And then we cut the branches off and we do it again.

BILLY CAUSEY: Ken's coral nursery is one of the largest in the wider Caribbean. It's 10 times larger than others that are in existence.

NEDIMYER: In 2003, we (INAUDIBLE) six corals here. Now, there's over 3,000 growing in this area alone.

Before I felt helpless watching it die. Now, I think there's hope. It's not too late. Everybody can help. I see all those corals and all those fish. It's like this whole reef is coming back to life. And making a difference is exciting.

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MATTINGLY: Wow. That is just amazing. Remember, all of our CNN heroes come from your suggestions. So be sure to go to cnnheroes.com to see how you can nominate someone.

Well, just ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom, deadly storms across the Midwest and south brought on by a violent slew of tornadoes. Our crews are standing by with the latest starting with Rob Marciano.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, David. We are live just north and east of Chattanooga where at least one tornado came through this area. Tens of homes damaged as well as injuries abound. We'll have a live report in the next hour.

MATTINGLY: And coming up on "Sanjay Gupta, M.D." -

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. With super Tuesday coming up, people are starting to take a closer look at Mitt Romney and his record especially the controversial health care law he signed when he was governor. It was the model for Obamacare and we are going to take a closer look at how it worked in Massachusetts. That's coming up at 7:30.

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