Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Tornadoes Rip Through Midwest; Severe Storms, Flash Floods Threaten Already Devastated States; Storms Tear Through Missouri; Poisoned Letters Sent to Obama and Bloomberg
Aired June 01, 2013 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Alison Kosik.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Coming up on 8:00 on the East Coast, 7:00 in Oklahoma, where once again, another round of killer tornadoes has hit that state.
And that's where we're starting this morning. The sun is up in Oklahoma which is showing us the true scope of the damage of these tornadoes.
(VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Wow. I mean, that's what it looked like as these tornadoes rushed through.
As many as five twisters hit Oklahoma. You see cars speeding down the road, the debris flying everywhere. That's out of a total of 17 that were reported, that number from the National Weather Service. Watch that bale of hay slam right into the car.
Seventeen is the number from the National Weather Service across the Midwest yesterday.
KOSIK: Two of the towns in the path of the storm were El Reno and Union City; five deaths are being blamed on the storm, including a mother and small child. At least 70 others were injured but that may not be all.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LT. JAY BARNETT, OKC POLICE: The number of casualties would probably go up, we would expect that to go up in the next 24 hours, hopefully not very much, and hopefully not at all, but it certainly appears that it may.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KOSIK: And right now, flooding is a major concern. The storms brought more than 10 inches of rain in some areas.
We have got team coverage across the damage zone. George Howell is in Union City, Oklahoma; Nick Valencia is in El Reno, where the twisters first touched down. George, let's begin with you. It's been daylight for about an hour now; set the scene for us, what are you seeing now as opposed to when you were just sitting there in the dark?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, OK, so Union City just west of Oklahoma City, this is where the storm system first started to develop, first started to drop those tornadoes, and this is where we are now seeing the result of what those twisters did here just south of Union City.
I'm in this neighborhood where I can count what used to be one, two, three, perhaps maybe four homes that were standing. They're gone now and you see this debris field all over this area.
I want to go back to this house, though, that we've been talking about all morning, Chris Merritt over here, he is being interviewed by one of our local affiliates but he tells the story his parents lived at that house. He says that he called his parents, told them, hey, you need to get out of the way. He said he saw circulation, perhaps watching one of the affiliate's coverage, saw circulation in a storm near this house.
They left. They went to a nearby fire station. Alison, they came back to this house and when they came back to see what happened here, they looked up in the sky and they saw yet another tornado, so they had to get out of the way again.
People really had a matter of minutes to move and take shelter, whether you shelter in place, whether you go underground or whether you take time in advance of a warning to get on the road and go, people definitely got out of the way of this storm.
What we're feeling right now is very different than what we felt just, you know, 12 hours ago. The other day it was muggy. It was humid. Now we're starting, it's cold this morning. The winds have picked up and you can see the clouds right now, the clouds, quite a difference, what a difference a day makes.
One of our affiliates, they have their helicopter overhead, assessing the damage here. This really is where all of this started to develop, it blossomed. And when you go into the Oklahoma City area, that's where the storm parked itself and just dumped a lot of rain. Flooding is an issue there.
KOSIK: What about now with daylight here; are officials on the scene yet to really survey the damage?
Do you see any efforts to restore power?
HOWELL: Right, well you know, just maybe 15 minutes ago, I saw what seemed to be a truck, you know, just someone going through this street, surveying the damage.
If we pan over here, Jabe (ph), look at this, I mean, a power pole down, look at that. This is what you see all over the place; you see these downed power lines, downed power poles, trees that are down in some places.
So, yes, we saw someone that seemed to be looking at that. Also, we are seeing people drive down this street to start looking at their homes, you know, so this is really a time where people are getting to see the extent of the damage caused by these storms.
KOSIK: All right. George Howell, thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's go a few miles down the road to El Reno, that's where Nick Valencia is this morning. Nick's set up there.
And you described mangled metal there where you are. Tell us what more you see.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, check this out, Victor, this looks like it was positioned at some point on top of the roof of the Canadian Valley Technology Center. Looks like an air conditioning unit, and these are some of the images, just as the sun has come up that we're starting to see.
And it's really scary. What makes things like this all the more dangerous is debris, flying debris like this. This is a piece of metal, a very sharp piece of metal that is just part of the debris that's strewn across all around this Technical Valley Center.
But check this out, Victor, look in the distance there and you see it's really more of a rural community compared to where our George Howell is.
In this part of town in El Reno, it's about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, and I guess that's sort of the good news in here is a lot of empty fields, a lot of open space. We can count about, including the structure that we're standing in front of, just two other structures that appear to have either partial or complete damage to their facilities.
We actually spoke to the sheriff's office just a little while ago. They said they're going to update us on the latest information, they've now scheduled a press conference in front of the sheriff's office at about 10:00 am local, that's 11:00 am Eastern. Still no details as to what we will hear there.
But we haven't been able to speak to many residents around the community just yet. People are just now starting to wake up, of course people were encouraged to get underground or get out of town in this area.
But at least from the sheriff's office, sheriffs that we've spoken to, they say that the more detail, more information will come in the next hour or two, but that's really -- that's about it. That's about all we have out here. Lots of debris, lots of debris around here, but no real major significant structural damage. Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right. Nick Valencia in El Reno for us, Nick, thank you. Oklahoma City, the Will Rogers World Airport there is open, but there are no flights headed in either direction and it's expected to stay that way for the rest of the morning.
Earlier I spoke with the airport spokesperson, who told me about how they handled the storm.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KAREN CARNEY, SPOKESPERSON, WILL ROGERS WORLD AIRPORT: As we began watching this, we knew it was going to be difficult because, again, on a Friday afternoon, the busiest time of the week, lots of people traveling, but as it started to move, we just had to make the decision to keep people safe.
And while we did not get a direct hit by a tornado, certainly we had high winds of about 80 miles an hour, is what I've been told. And you know, we're just grateful we were able to get everybody down there.
Also we had a lot of people -- the airport sits on a main street that is filled with restaurants and hotels and so we had a lot of people that, on that street, that also came to the airport to shelter in place in our tunnel. So we had probably about 1,500 people in our tunnel.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KOSIK: And now to Arkansas, where crews are resuming their search for three missing people after flash flooding hit the area.
Raging floodwaters began rising around a home in Scott County, two women inside called for help. Sheriff Cody Carpenter and a wildlife official tried reaching them in a boat, but they got swept away. Sheriff Carpenter's body has been found. Last hour we spoke to Keith Stevens from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission about the new search.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KEITH STEVENS, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION: That area of the state, which is right on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, saw about 8 inches of rain in a very short period of time. That area is in a valley and the water obviously rushing off of the ridges through that part of the state, ran through the Fourche La Fave, the Mill Creek area and flooded the little community of Y City.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KOSIK: And authorities are continuing their search for the women and the other official.
Thousands of people in the Midwest are in the dark this morning; power is out for more than 212,000 homes and businesses.
Look at the breakdown, Missouri, 89,000 customers, no power; Oklahoma, 86,000; Illinois has more than 31,000. Arkansas has more than 3,000 without power and there are more than 1,000 outages in Kansas. Indiana was also hit; it has about 500 people or households without power.
BLACKWELL: So much of the great video that we see from these storms comes from the storm chasers. These are the people who drive toward the storm instead of seeking shelter and driving away from it like everybody else.
Brandon Sullivan is one of them and this is what he and his team ran into in Union City, Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, no. Man, three tornadoes. Just continuous vortices, continuous vortices here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brett (ph), turn the car around! Let's get ready!
Brett (ph), go! Quick!
Fast as you can!
It's on the right. Go!
Brett (ph), go now!
Hurry! 40 is not enough!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're fine? Get down! Duck down! Duck down!
(Inaudible) again.
Guys? Oh (inaudible).
Go now! (Inaudible), go!
Go!
No, don't turn, no! (Inaudible), we're going to die.
Go, Brett (ph), go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just go, go, (inaudible)!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
It's RFD, just go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, just (inaudible) go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's RFD. You're fine.
That's fine, dude, just go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't stay on the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're fine!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), duck down! Duck down!
BLACKWELL (voice-over): It's amazing.
KOSIK (voice-over): It is amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And it's interesting to see him put that seatbelt on at the last moment and you know, makes you wonder what was he thinking and lucky for us we got to talk to Brandon Sullivan. And I asked him why he put that seat belt on.
BLACKWELL: Yes. You're going to hear that in just a moment about why he's a storm chaser and what he was feeling in that moment as he was screaming "just go, Brett (ph), just go!"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're fine. Get down! Duck down, duck down!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brett (ph), turn the car around! Let's get ready!
Large tornado, large tornado right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man, that's a good one right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Debris in the air, oh, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Imagine being that close to that storm. It's crazy. And that's what storm chasers do. That was Brandon Sullivan, who you heard. He and his crew, they were right on the edge of the storm.
BLACKWELL: Now by crew we mean his roommate and best friend, Brett (ph), who was driving and some guy who came in from out of town to watch one of these. That's the crew. 2We got the chance to talk to Brandon about his experience and how and why he got so close, but first, what was he thinking?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULLIVAN (voice-over): To state the obvious I guess I was just thinking that we were a little too close, but the tornado strengthened really rapidly and kind of took a turn right at us and I was just hoping that we could get south in time.
KOSIK (voice-over): At some point in time did you really feel like your life was in danger? You do this often, don't you?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Yes, I've been doing this for quite a while, and, yes, I mean, it was definitely the most scared I've ever been in a tornado situation for sure.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): We see that at some point the windshield breaks.
What are you guys driving?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): We are just in -- we're in my car, which is a Jeep. You know, we don't have any armored vehicle or anything like that, so, yes, a piece of debris from a barn actually blows into the car and hit the windshield.
KOSIK (voice-over): How do you decide what to do when you're feeling that fear the most and you're screaming at the driver about what to do?
How do you decide what to do?
How do you decide what the best move is when you're right in the middle of it?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Well, you know, there was a couple things going through my head at the time, you know, is it safer to be in the car? Seek shelter in a ditch? Is it safer to turn a certain direction or continue?
So you know, at that time I decided that we were south of the tornado; with the flying debris that was going on, I knew that we had to stay in the car. Getting out was not an option so we just continued south to try to get away from the path of the tornado.
And luckily there were some other storm chasers that were injured, their cars were flipped, but luckily we were able to get south even though we still did get some damage.
KOSIK (voice-over): Brandon, what were you thinking, not wearing your seat belt into the final moments of that video?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Well, originally, in between the video, I had to jump back in the car as we filmed the tornado and I guess it slipped my mind to put my seat belt on, I was so focused on getting south. But as we started getting really strong winds, I got worried that the car could blow over and at that time my consciousness caught up with me and I realized I wasn't buckled, so that's when I immediately buckled up.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Hey, Brandon, you appear to be a pretty young guy.
How long have you been doing this?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): I've actually been doing this since I was about 14. I'm 21 right now, almost 22, so seven or eight years, so I've seen my fair share of tornadoes, but today I guess just kind of snuck up on me.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Who are these other two guys in this vehicle?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): I'm sorry, I didn't hear that question?
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Who were the two other guys, the guy driving, the guy in the back seat?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Yes. The guy driving, he is my, I guess my best friend and my roommate. He's always driving for me, his name's Brett (ph). We both go to school together for meteorology.
The passenger is a friend from Mississippi, who was actually coming out to the Plains for his first storm chasing trip and trying to see his first tornado.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): That was his first, this is his first one?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Well, actually we got him to a big tornado in Kansas earlier this week, but he tells me that he has got his money's worth.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Yes, because he is silent, jaw-dropped in the back seat the whole time.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Yes, he was -- he handled it much better than I anticipated, I will admit.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): How does this compare to other storms you've chased?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Well, I mean, we definitely got closer than we've ever been before, something I don't want to do again, but I think what was so impressive about this storm is how rapidly it strengthened.
I mean, we were originally, what we felt, in a safe position and it intensified so quickly, the atmosphere was very volatile and things just changed so rapidly.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): You're screaming in a lot of this video. Is that out of necessity because the wind is that loud or is that all adrenalin?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): I would say it's a combination of both. The window was open for some of it. I really am trying to stress to my driver, to Brett (ph), that we need to go south now and what's not shown in most of the video is that there's actually a car in front of us, multiple cars.
I don't know if they were locals or if they were other storm chasers, but they were preventing us really from being able to go south any faster than we were.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): Wow. It looked as if those cars were bouncing.
Were they bouncing or was that just the reflection or the way the image was kind of maneuvered through the crack in the window?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Yes, you know, I think that was just kind of how it was portrayed there. Some of those that were behind us, like I said, the tornado actually passed about a half-mile behind us, but the winds were so strong around it, that's where all the debris came from, but some chasers weren't lucky enough to go south than we did and actually got their vehicle flipped.
KOSIK (voice-over): Brandon, one last question, we got to go: will you get out there again?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Yes, I'll be out there again. I'll get the Jeep fixed up and we'll go out, but definitely a little humbled and just a good reminder that Mother Nature is the stronger force and she will always win.
KOSIK (voice-over): All right. Brendan Sullivan, you're quite the storm chaser. Be safe out there, OK?
SULLIVAN (voice-over): All right, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That guy in the back seat, if I -- you know, I'm surprised that he was silent the whole ride, because had I been there it would have been a mix of prayers and profanity the whole ride, because there's no way; if you've never done anything like that, that you know...
KOSIK: It's interesting to hear him say that as long as he's been doing this, since 14, now 21, this -- he was really scared with this one. It shows you, you can sort of underestimate the power of Mother Nature.
BLACKWELL: Clearly someone else was driving when he was 14, I assume.
KOSIK: We hope.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
Hey, we're hearing so many people were on the roads when those tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma.
KOSIK: What is the safe escape when you've only got 13 minutes to find shelter? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: We've been showing you pictures and video all morning of the destruction in Oklahoma. The state is once again been hard hit by deadly tornadoes. So what is the best way to survive if a tornado is on its way? Do you run? Do you hide? Our chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta breaks down your options.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), heading into Moore, Oklahoma.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen minutes, that's the average lead time you'd have if a tornado was headed your way.
GUPTA: There's obviously no completely safe option during a tornado. Your best bet is to get into the basement somewhere below ground level, but keep in mind that if you are there, you want to see what's on the floor above you as well. A refrigerator, piece of heavy furniture could come crashing through the floor. So you want to be wary of that.
Also here in Moore, Oklahoma, there aren't a lot of basements. Studies have actually shown that there is another very good option, take a look over here. An interior room or a closet like that can be the best place to be as well.
The house is gone here, but that closet preserved, even the clothes inside of that.
Remember, just got 13 minutes, so find that safe place, maybe grab a helmet or a bike helmet, even throw some mattresses or a blanket over you to try and protect the head.
GUPTA (voice-over): One place you can't hide from a tornado is in your car. Tornado strength winds can pick up a one- to two-ton vehicle like this one and toss it around like you or I would a basketball.
Now you obviously don't want to be driving toward a tornado but it's also a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. It's hard to gauge the distance.
If you must be driving and the weather is clear, try driving at right angles to the tornado, perpendicular to get out of the path of the storm. There's another misconception as well, which is that you should get out of your car and run underneath an overpass.
What happens in a situation like this is the wind is actually funneled, it's even more powerful than the storm and there's also a lot of debris. And that debris can injure you. GUPTA (voice-over): Now if you are stuck outside as a tornado approaches, find a ditch or anyplace far away from potentially dangerous objects and vehicles and stay low.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
KOSIK: And our special coverage on the tornadoes continues just ahead.
BLACKWELL: We'll take you back live to Oklahoma and the devastation caused by multiple tornadoes. The storm system knocked out power, destroyed property, caused flooding. Stay with us here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Bottom of the hour now welcome back. I'm Alison Kosik.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for starting your morning with us.
Let's get you up to speed now on this morning's "Top Story."
Families in Oklahoma and four other Midwestern states are once again tallying their losses. That's after 17 reported tornadoes tore through the region yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horizontal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South of I-40 the tornado is in the south of I-40 and it's going to be right here in front of me Mike it's coming down right now, a very, very, very low to the ground, the entire vortex coming down to the ground, Mike, I've got to back out of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: In Oklahoma five people, including a mother and her child are dead and at least 71 others are hurt but the city of Moore where a tornado last month killed 24 people was largely spared.
BLACKWELL: All right Oklahoma and Missouri now under states of emergency and all the way to Indiana, more than 200,000 people have no power and after all of that, another weather threat, heavy rain from the same system is causing flooding. In Missouri more than 200 roads are already closed.
KOSIK: In Missouri more than 200 roads are already closed. Today's forecast also includes large hail and the potential for more tornadoes. Officials are warning people to stay inside. Back to Oklahoma now where at least five tornadoes touched down near Oklahoma City.
Our Nick Valencia is in El Reno. Nick, what's it look like there? BLACKWELL: All right.
KOSIK: I think we're having a problem getting Nick. We'll try to go back to him. Let's go to Karen Maginnis. Karen, what's on top today? Any threats that should be of concern?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes we still have a slight risk of -- in an area where we could see some thunderstorms, could produce an isolated tornado but we think the real risk today is going to be the heavy rainfall, lots of lightning and maybe some wind damage. We can't rule out that possibility of an isolated tornado.
All right. I want to show you what's happening in Oklahoma City you have started to clear out. Wish we could say the same over here in the north western regions of Arkansas and into north eastern Oklahoma. This is where we're seeing some pretty strong storms and very heavy downpours. I'll show you some of those downpour and rainfall totals in just a second.
We move on over across northern Arkansas, they're having problems here, still some cells developing along the leading edge of this frontal system as it's traveling towards the east and then from Springfield to Raleigh to St. Louis, plenty of heavy rainfall here, river gauges filling up, even the Mississippi you may remember last summer they were having trouble getting barges down the Mississippi and now there is so much rainfall that we have flash flood watches. We don't have any tornado watches or warnings out but you can better believe those thunderstorms are really going to be significant rain producers.
Where you see these red shaded areas, flash flood warnings out mostly the east central regions of Oklahoma extending up just to the east and to the south of St. Louis so, watch out for the potential for additional heavy rainfall. And June -- June is another busy month for tornadic activity, May being the peak month, June falls right behind; already in excess of 200 tornadoes for the month of May.
Yesterday 23 reports, those were unfiltered reports of tornadoes. Get around St. Louis, very heavy rainfall and the Mississippi River is filling up as we speak; Oklahoma City over six inches of rain. Back to you.
KOSIK: All right Karen Maginnis hopefully June will be kinder to Oklahoma.
All right. Let's go back to Oklahoma where at least five tornadoes touched down near Oklahoma City. We've got our -- our Nick Valencia back he's in El Reno. Set the scene for us Nick. What does it look like now that daylight is there?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Alison, I'm sorry about that our shot technology here but this is what it looks like around us. It looks like a bunch of wrenches were just tossed around by this tornado making just a debris pile all around us. The tornado swept through here. The good thing about it is this is more of a rural area, more of a rural community, lots of open space, open fields. We are standing in front of the Canadian Valley Technical Center. We've been seeing the -- showing this live all morning this what appears to be an air conditioning unit that's -- perhaps is positioned on top of that roof torn off by those strong winds but that's really the extent and the worst of the damage that we're seeing. It's really a lot of superficial structural damage.
Of course, just beyond me in those fields through here I'm not sure how well you'll be able to -- to make it out but there are structures maybe -- maybe a little over a mile down there that suffered some partial, if not entire structural damage, there are some overturned cars but mostly -- for the most part what we're seeing out here in El Reno is downed trees and downed power lines.
When we approached this city off of I-40, we saw some semis overturned. We saw first responders helping out, the overturned semis, we saw a lot of debris scattered up and down the roads and when the lights were out it was really pitch black dark and there was no power on it was sort of ominous and eerie.
But now that the sun has come up we sort of get a sense that you know this was a powerful tornado that swept through here. But the good thing as I mentioned is -- it's a really wide open field, a lot of wide open space, not that many structures and one would think people to hit here -- Alison.
KOSIK: Ok, Nick Valencia, thank you.
BLACKWELL: You know Karen mentioned just a few moments ago the storm system that spawned these tornadoes in Oklahoma also is now hitting other states.
KOSIK: And we're getting new information from Missouri where heavy rains and high winds have damaged homes and hurt schools and damaged businesses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: The sun is up now across the Midwest that means we're getting our first good look at the damage brought on by the tornadoes Friday. This videos in from St. Charles, Missouri, homes here, destroyed. Look at that, the roof just ripped off there you can look right into what looks to be their dining room; trees broken in half.
The county here has declared a state of emergency and we also want to mention that graduation ceremonies for the Francis Howell School District there have been canceled for today. The arena they would have been held in was damaged in the storm. That's according to our affiliate KSDK.
KOSIK: And staying in Missouri there were a lot of close calls there last night although hundreds of roads were closed and thousands of homes were damaged, thankfully no one was killed. I want you to look now at this tour of some damaged homes with our affiliate KSDK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE RUSH, KSDK REPORTER: As the sun comes up in the greater St. Louis area, the people are coming out to assess the damage in this community for the storm that rolled through this area about 8:00 last night. It rolled through this way but let me show you where we can see that it had the biggest impact as it came through.
This is a maintenance shed for the golf course, this is a golf course community, this is hole number two right here, just demolished by this right here. Now let's follow the storm's path and go over to this house, the wall sheared off, you can see that bedroom, you can even see right next door the bathtub to the bathroom, that's right next door.
Ok let's go to the house next door to them, from this particular angle, it may not look so bad but there is extensive damage, the homeowners let us walk through and the roof is blown out in certain areas, just really bad condition and on top of that it's raining so anything that was salvageable is getting soaked right now.
So I did speak with somebody who was in that particular house at the time, she had two dogs and she crowded into a closet near the front door. She could hear the storm just blowing through, the front door blew off, a grandfather clock blew past that closet that she was in.
But the good news she's ok everybody else in the St. Louis area is ok as well, no reports of fatalities or injuries. There is one big piece of a problem here is that there is an arena where a lot of graduations are taking place, scheduled to take place today. Now they're trying to figure out alternate plans.
BLACKWELL: All right. It looks like one of the worst hit places in Missouri is St. Charles County north of St. Louis. We've got video taken just this morning. Look at this.
KOSIK: Oh my gosh.
BLACKWELL: Look at this. This was of course caused by last night's tornadoes and you see as -- as typical of tornadoes some houses look as if they're untouched on the right side of your screen if you look down the left those houses destroyed and now the violent storms are spawning flash floods.
KOSIK: With us now by phone from St. Charles County is government spokeswoman Colene McEntee, Colene tell me what the conditions are like right now where you are?
COLENE MCENTEE, SPOKESWOMAN, ST. CHARLES COUNTY (via telephone): Yes well right now we have a little bit of rain and it seems cloudy right now. Our -- our mobile incident command post is going to be open at 8:00 a.m. to do damage assessment from last night's storm.
Overnight the dispatchers in the area reported a quiet overnight. We've seen power outages go down from about 15,000 to 9,500. And we're expecting with daylight and as our mobile incident command post opens that there will be more damage reports.
KOSIK: Some of this is incredible to look at. You know, your town was one of the hardest hit.
MCENTEE: Yes, St. Charles County -- St. Charles County executives declared a state of emergency for the county. The damage as of last night seemed to be confined to a ten-square mile area between Caulks Hill Road and Pitman Hill Road in St. Charles County. Some of the subdivisions and communities that received the most damage are Cambridge Crossing, Whitmoor and Camelot.
A subdivision called Haversham seemed to have received the worst damage as of last night. Homes on a road called Crowley Road were missing roofs and an elementary school had roof damage. We also had damage to our local family arena.
But again there were no fatalities, no life-threatening or serious injuries. There were about 25 injuries responded to by fire and EMS between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. But they weren't all necessarily storm- related.
BLACKWELL: All right. Colene McEntee of St. Charles County there in Missouri; thank you so much for giving us an update on what's happened in Missouri because we've talked a lot about Oklahoma. Colene, thanks.
MCENTEE: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: We have new information about the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
KOSIK: Plus the sun is coming up in Oklahoma. People are beginning to see the damage left behind by more than a dozen tornadoes. We've got crews scouring the area to bring you the latest information.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: All morning we're keeping you updated on the violent storm crossing the Midwest. You're looking at new pictures of damage in Missouri. At least 17 tornadoes were reported across several states including Oklahoma where five people were killed, 71 others injured but now the biggest concern is flooding.
The storm dumped 11 inches of rain in some places and more than 200,000 people are without power. We've got crews on the scene and we'll be giving you the latest information as it comes.
BLACKWELL: Ten minutes before the top of the hour and we have an update on those threatening letters sent to President Obama and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York. Conclusive tests are in and they confirm that the letters did contain the poison ricin.
I want to bring in national correspondent Susan Candiotti; she's in New York. Susan you've obtained a copy of one of the letters involved in the investigation. How does this compare to the letters sent to the President, to the mayor? Are they the same letter?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor, the wording is exactly the same in at least two of the letters. In this one copy that we received it was the letter that was sent to Mark Glaze. Now Mark Glaze is the director of Mayor Bloomberg's group called Mayors against Illegal Guns. And again the wording word for word, same letter that Mayor Bloomberg received. We've not seen the actual letter that was sent to President Obama.
But in this one it says, quote, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right and I will exercise that right until the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."
Now Victor, let's point out that Mark Glaze is the only one of the recipients who actually opened the letter. He received it. The other two letters were sent and intercepted at different facilities. But Mark Glaze is said to be okay, according to a message that he sent out via social media earlier in the week.
BLACKWELL: Susan I want to go back to the picture of that letter because I noticed that there are some markings, some stains there. What are those?
CANDIOTTI: Yes, those stains according to our sources are the marks that the investigators would have made when they began testing the letter and the letters and the envelopes for any traces of ricin or any other evidence and chemicals, this kind of thing. And as you indicated those conclusive tests are in. We got word of that last night saying that definitely these are positive for ricin in low concentrated levels.
BLACKWELL: Wow. All right, Susan Candiotti in New York for us. Thanks.
KOSIK: And while much of our coverage is on tornadoes, today would you believe it's also the beginning of hurricane season.
BLACKWELL: After Sandy slammed into the northeast, forecasters are making some changes and remind you to have a disaster plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Power crews are working this morning to try to get power back on to more than 200,000 people without power across several states in the Midwest. The 17 tornadoes touched down between 1:00 and about 10:00, 11:00 Eastern time yesterday.
We have already heard reports of five deaths, more than 70 injuries but police say they expect those numbers to rise as they get a chance to see the real scope of the damage, now that the sun is up. We're going to have a lot more on the storms in a few minutes.
And as if these deadly tornadoes were not enough, the Atlantic hurricane season starts today.
KOSIK: And forecasters, they're predicting a busy and active season, which usually peaks around mid-August to late October. So what lessons did forecasters learn from Sandy last year?
Our John Zarrella has been looking into that. Good morning, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Victor, with the start of hurricane season, forecasters are warning people from Texas all the way to Maine to be prepared. Last season's Hurricane Sandy certainly reinforced that point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: From Florida to Maine, Superstorm Sandy's long reach touched every state along the Eastern Seaboard. Hardest hit, New Jersey and New York, cities and towns swallowed up as Sandy's catastrophic storm surge swept ashore. Many of the 117 people who didn't survive drowned.
In the aftermath federal and local emergency managers are trying to understand why some people simply didn't get the message -- get out.
CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA DIRECTOR: Of all the disasters we deal with, hurricanes are the one that we map and spend a lot of time trying to figure out who's at risk and then get the messaging out there for them to evacuate, with time to leave. And then there are still people that remain behind, for all kinds of reasons, and that's where we see unfortunately the greatest loss of life.
ZARRELLA: One reason may have been because of what Sandy wasn't. Rick Knabb is director of the National Hurricane Center.
RICK KNABB, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: There is no doubt that phrase, "Hurricane warning" is more attention getting.
ZARRELLA: Reporter: there wasn't a hurricane warning because Sandy while a superstorm with hurricane force winds wasn't a hurricane technically when it made landfall near Brigantine, New Jersey on October 29.
KNABB: We had a difficult dilemma on our hands.
ZARRELLA: To avoid what it felt would be confusion and misrepresenting the storm the National Weather Service decided to go with high wind and flood warnings. It's impossible to say whether some lives would have been saved if the attention getting "hurricane warning" was in place. But if and when there's a next time, forecasters say there won't be an issue. Policy has been changed.
KNABB: The weather service can issue or keep up hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings even if something isn't technically a hurricane or tropical storm anymore.
ZARRELLA: But hurricane forecasters and emergency managers argue no matter what you call it, people aren't necessarily prepared for the storm's threat they're most vulnerable to.
KNABB: Some places are vulnerable to storm surge, some aren't. Some places are vulnerable to river flooding, some aren't.
FUGATE: Don't focus on the skinny black line, don't focus on the number. Focus on the impacts of what you need to do to protect your family.
ZARRELLA: And do it now. It's too late to figure out a plan when the storm is at your doorstep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: This is expected to be an active hurricane season which doesn't necessarily mean a hurricane will hit the United States, but it certainly does increase the odds -- Alison, Victor.
KOSIK: John Zarrella, thank you.
BLACKWELL: And you know, even after Superstorm Sandy and 165 died, there will be some people who will never leave.
KOSIK: They think they can still ride it out.
BLACKWELL: They'll just hunker down as they say and stay in.
Well, thanks for starting your morning with us.
KOSIK: We have much more ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.
