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CNN Saturday Morning News

Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma, Again; Storm Chasers Share Stories From Oklahoma

Aired June 01, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik.

I'm Victor Blackwell. It is 9:00 here on the East Coast; 8:00 in Oklahoma. And that's where we're starting this morning. People there assessing the damage caused by five destructive tornadoes.

This is what people in Union City saw as the tornadoes rushed through. Five deaths are being blamed on the storm, including a mother and a small child. At least 70 were injured, but it wasn't just Oklahoma. There are reports of at least 17 tornadoes hitting the region. The governor of Missouri declared a state of emergency because of the damage to homes and businesses there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK BIGHAM, WAREHOUSE MANAGER: One of the trailers blew over kind of rolled over his car, we've got about four or five trucks that are damaged, most of our dock doors are blown in, got some furniture that was stacked up in there for sale that blew over, dividing wall between the two buildings, chunks of it are just gone. I think the roof must have lifted up and then the wall itself just collapsed and the roof probably sat back down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Right now flooding is the major concern. You see these huge flashes of power outages, the storms brought more than 10 inches of rain in some areas. We've got team coverage across Oklahoma this morning as we get a first look at the damage from the storm.

George Howell is in Union City, standing alongside a string of destroyed homes. Nick Valencia is in El Reno, I believe where the twisters first touched down.

George, I want to start with you. We've been talking about flood danger from the storm, but you're actually seeing that there's a lot of danger from the power lines. Tell us about that.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Yes, you know, first of all 200,000 people to the latest figure that I understand out of power at this point and you know, a lot of power lines are down. Take a look at this. I mean this is what you see around here, like this line, and Dave, pan over there to that power pole, just snapped in two like a toothpick. You really do get to see exactly how strong this storm was, this tornado was that came through this area. Again we've been talking about this home here it's really the last home standing on this street because as we pan down the way you can see that the homes that once stood are now piles of rubble and I count you know at least three or four homes from what I can tell that were destroyed by this twister that came through.

Our own meteorologist Chad Myers spotted this twister when it came through this area just before it crossed over interstate 40 and Victor, I can tell you, as we drove back into Oklahoma City and here into Union City, we saw that debris field where the tornado crossed over the highway. We also saw those semis that were just knocked right over. You really do get to see exactly how strong those winds were and exactly why people had to get out of the way of the storm system.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: I guess, George, the good thing is that I'm looking behind you and it doesn't seem like it's heavily populated so one saving grace I guess.

HOWELL: You know, let's talk about the differences. So two weeks ago we saw these very powerful tornadoes, an EF-4 tornado that went through Shawnee, the next day that Monday an EF5 tornado that tore through Moore, a very heavily populated area. So when you look at this storm, the tornadoes were not as strong but there were so many and this was a storm that just kept growing. I think about what it was like for us. We had a plan to get out of the way, thank goodness we had that plan because this was a storm that just kept growing and seemed to follow us.

As we got out of the cones of concern, the tornado warnings, the severe thunderstorm warnings, the storm seemed to have a mind of its own and just follow us, even Chad Myers told us, told viewers yesterday he felt like the storm was chasing him as well, and he was with a storm chaser, he was out of the way of the storm but it seemed to just go after him, too, so it was a very volatile situation.

And then it just parked itself over Oklahoma City and dropped a lot of rain so now we're starting to see exactly what's left over. Seems to be a lot of water on the ground, a lot of standing water, a lot of power lines down, and certainly storm damage from where these tornadoes came through.

KOSIK: All right. George Howell, thank you.

Now let's go ahead and move down the road to El Reno. Nick Valencia is there this morning. Nick the sun is up. What kind of damage are you seeing there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in front of an oil field repair shop that took a direct hit from that tornado last night that came through El Reno, Oklahoma. You look behind me there, Alison and you think that structure all toppled upon itself, the twisted metal, if anyone was inside there it's unlikely that they would have survived but that's exactly what happened to David Stottlemyre. David, come in here, man. You were inside. You weren't even underground, you were inside when that thing toppled, came on top of you?

DAVID STOTTLEMYRE, OIL FIELD MECHANIC : That's correct, we were just inside a building.

VALENCIA: So what happened? Tell me about - take me through when you first saw the tornado to taking cover.

STOTTLEMYRE: They actually told us the tornado was south of us, south of i-40 so we didn't worry about it too much and then the wind started picking up and the rain and we had debris coming at us. So we took off around the corner and there was the tornado looking us dead in the eye.

VALENCIA: You had the tornado sirens go out. About how much time, we hear the average time that people have to take cover for a tornado is 13 minutes. How much time you think would you guess you guys had?

STOTTLEMYRE: Honestly, we can't hear the tornado sirens out here, it was loud and we couldn't hear them at all.

VALENCIA: So you were inside with two other of your co-workers and that roof just completely collapsed on top of you.

STOTTLEMYRE: Correct, yes. It is it.

VALENCIA: You were showing me some pictures a little while ago, you had time to snaps some photos of the tornado as it came towards you?

STOTTLEMYRE: I don't think we had time, we just did it. We're in Oklahoma, man, that's what we do.

VALENCIA: How long have you lived here?

STOTTLEMYRE: All my life.

VALENCIA: And you know, with the spate of tornadoes, all the fresh tornadoes that are coming through here, I mean, are you anxious about anything at all? How do you feel about all this news and all this stuff, all this attention you're getting here.

STOTTLEMYRE: Pretty insane, man. We're all pretty shook up the guys that were in there with me. It's surreal really. I have no other way to explain it.

VALENCIA: You've had time to process it here. You said you're maybe more emotional about it last night.

STOTTLEMYRE: Oh, yes, last night, definitely but today it's just another day.

BLACKWELL: All right. So apparently we've lost Nick's shot but the gentleman there is saying "this is Oklahoma, this is what we do."

KOSIK: Used to it.

BLACKWELL: Inside that building.

KOSIK: I don't know how you get used to it but hey, all the power to you. BLACKWELL: I don't know either but he survived, fortunately, and this is what we're seeing, a chilling scene here in Oklahoma. This is what the main highways, let's look at that video, guys.

Of drivers trying to get away from the storm, but that left them right in danger's way and it led to some scary moments. Dave Holder, he's a storm chaser who got a good look at what was going on, he spoke with CNN a little earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE HOLDER, STORM CHASER: There was mass panic and that is something, it scares me, something I haven't seen before. We were south a little ways and people were actually driving southbound in the northbound lanes to try and get out of the way, even though in fact there was no eminent tornado threat people were really, really panicked. You could tell by their erratic driving.

We almost got into a head-on collision trying to go north and having cars come at us the opposite way. It was almost like, I thought about people evacuating from a hurricane or something where they open up the other side of the lanes to let people.

But I mean it's such a dynamic changing evolving situation with tornadoes forming and these storms coming in, it was really just asking for catastrophe. I'm really surprised there wasn't more problems or more, I'm not hearing any more reports of injuries from car crashes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Parts of Oklahoma hit twice in about two weeks, with devastating storms, and we want to find out why and what's causing these tornado spawning storms. With us to explain it is J. Marshall Shepherd, he is the president of the American Meteorological Society and director of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia. It's good to have you with us. Tell us, is there anything that was unique about the storms that we saw yesterday?

J. MARSHALL SHEPHERD, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY: Yes, well climatologically this is actually where we would expect tornadoes this time of year. If you go back and look at the last 30 years or so, central Oklahoma unfortunately is right in the sweet spot for tornadoes around May 20th through the end of May, and I know it's tempting to say, is there something particularly unusual, but this is exactly where we would expect, we're in the heart of the severe weather season there. The fuel supply for these storms, something in meteorology we use called Cate was through the roof. We knew well in advance that these storms are going to be quite dangerous.

BLACKWELL: You say that there are some mistakes that people have made in these storms. What are those mistakes?

SHEPHERD: Yes, I was astounded by some of the things. This was actually a storm that was very well warned for, the National Weather Service did an excellent job with the storm. The weather service was crystal clear to stay off the roads after 4:00 p.m. yesterday and yet there were some misinformation being put out there, there was some bad decisions being made so I think we're in an era where we have to not only look at our meteorological and technological advances which we will continue to do but we have to improve upon our understanding of consuming, warning information as a public and this is where a more social science perception type, communications type research is needed.

BLACKWELL: Yes, being in a car is the last place you want to be when a tornado passes through.

Our meteorologist Karen Maginnis showed us a bar graph that May has 200 or so on average tornadoes. How long are we expecting this height of the season to go on or should we expect it to go on into June and July?

SHEPHERD: Yes, I think we'll see a continuing of this pattern through the next couple of weeks and then it tends to ramp down although tornadoes are possible at any time of the year but we are certainly in the peak of the season particularly for this region as we are in April and May and into early June, so we kind of ramped down out of this tornado threat and as you mentioned in the previous story ramping into our hurricane season throughout as well but the good news I got some amazing news last night, I understand that employees of the National Weather Service and NOAA will not be furloughed due to sequester issues and that's a no brainer in my opinion, it's one of those duh moments. We shouldn't be furloughing our weather employees during the peak of severe weather and hurricane season.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we still need those very clear and really life-saving forecasts that we've seen over the past couple of weeks. J. Marshall Shepherd, thank you so much.

SHEPHERD: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: More on the storm just ahead.

KOSIK: And we're going to hear from another one of those storm chasers who think nothing of getting right into the center of the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: We're beginning to get a better look at the damage left behind by the tornadoes in the Midwest but some of the best material still comes from storm chasers as they track the tornadoes. Reed Timmer is one of them and we got a chance to talk with him and got his impressions of what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: Those multiple vortex tornadoes that you see there can be very intense on a small scale, just the violent motion in there and we saw some severe damages to homes from south of El Reno east, I think Union City was hit really hard and I'm hearing reports there were a few fatalities and it's a very rural area west of Oklahoma City as well but we were tracking the storm for a while and you could tell it was going to put down a monster tornado. It just kept spinning this wall cloud and the suction vortices would come straight down to the ground.

You could also see the upward motion, too, so it's not just the really violent horizontally rotating motion but also the updraft that caused some of that damage and thankfully at that time when the video was shot there was open farmland that went further east and caused damage. We saw some storm chasers and motorists that were thrown off the road.

We pulled them out of their vehicles and it was just a disaster, very violent tornado and today was one of those days where you knew there was going to be strong tornadoes and they seemed to keep hitting Oklahoma, and a really eerie part of today, was when we were chasing that weak rain-wrapped tornado it thankfully weakened moving through south Oklahoma City and we were actually dropped south and went to the damage path of the EF5 tornado just, what seven to 10 days ago and I live actually two to three miles south of that damage path.

So our thoughts and prayers definitely go out to the people out here in Oklahoma City and south of Oklahoma City in Moore, because it is going to take years to rebuild. I mean it looks like a war zone out there. This tornado took a hard turn and tornadoes that are this strong, you can see how volatile those suction vortices can be and they don't have that predictable in the past and scientifically also in terms of tornadoes it's right near the ground, those suction vortices.

It's a big mystery how fast the wind speeds can get in the suction vortices. Some theories show that on small scales the wind gusts could be 400 or 500 miles per hour.

So suction vortices are the reason why you have one house that will sustain complete damage and the one next door will be left untouched and if we can better understand the wind speeds in those suction vortices we can better build structures to withstand them, that's how we build our armored vehicles with the spikes and the hydraulics and the (INAUDIBLE) windows so we can get up close and personal and use our instrumentation try to measure the pressure and wind speeds.

That's kind of an obsession of mine as a scientist and storm chaser to get close to the suction vortices and try to better understand them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Up next, when nature is threatened, she heeds the call. Meet this week's CNN hero who is rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing thousands of birds back into their natural habitats for free.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: As global wildlife populations are threatened by pollution and shrinking habitats, wildlife centers across the U.S. say the vast majority of injuries to animals are caused by humans. This week's CNN hero is helping to repair the damage playing mother nature to thousands of animals who were born to be wild. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONA RUTGER: In this fast-paced world, we do forget that we are animals, and part of the natural world. This is a beautiful female bald eagle.

Humans, we are wildlife's worst enemy in many, many ways. She had been clipped by a small jet. We don't want her to live in a cage. We want to get her back out there in the wild.

I'm Mona Rutger, I rescue, rehabilitate and release injured wildlife back into their natural habitat.

I think we can get her fixed up and get her back out there.

When I started this center I thought I was going to get 25, 30 animals a year. Once people found out, the phone never stopped ringing.

This Coopers Hawk is ready to go. It's all consuming but I'm doing something I love. One -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two, three, be free!

RUTGER: With an injured animal, everyone says let nature take its course but 90 percent of these animals' injuries, they are human related. That's not nature. It's us. We need to become more responsible caretakers of the earth. Each animal has a role to play in the food chain. If just one link breaks, the whole chain falls apart.

This is a big day for these little baby ducks. We successfully released thousands of animals back to the wild, it's the same thrill every single time.

Whoa. We're counting on the children to do a better job than we have in the past. Where do wild animals really belong?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the wild.

RUTGER: I desperately want them to feel the excitement that I find in nature. We can make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We're going to be bringing you much more of the wreckage left by the 17 tornadoes that tore through the Midwest yesterday and the flash floods that could wreak havoc today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Checking top stories, five people are dead, 71 at least are hurt after tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma last night. The violent storm system spawned 17 tornadoes across five states. More than 200,000 people are still without power, and in Missouri flash floods have shut down sections of 200 roads, from Texas to Indiana more flooding, large hail, possibly more tornadoes are expected today. KOSIK: 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 VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH STEPHENS, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION: That area it is right on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, saw about eight 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 went into the mill creek area and flooded the little community of white city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And authorities are continuing to search for the women and other official.

Houston is mourning the deaths of four of its firefighters, they were killed as they battled a blaze that engulfed a Houston hotel and restaurant yesterday. They went inside the hotel to look for anyone who might be trapped and a wall collapsed on them. More than a dozen other firefighters are being treated at local hospitals. Their colleagues combed through the rubble to pull them out.

BLACKWELL: The FBI is trying to figure out who sent threatening letters to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of a gun control group. The FBI says it found very low amounts of the poison ricin in those letters. They're also looking into a ricin-laced letter that was sent to Fairchild Air Force base near Spokane, Washington.

KOSIK: Seventeen reported tornadoes tear through the Midwest and this morning we're getting a look at the damage and the new risk of flooding. We're going to continue our storm coverage next hour.

Thanks for watching today. I'm going to see you right back here at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: Our crews are still working in Oklahoma, we've got George Howell there also, Chad Myers has been there for days and Nick Valencia in the town of El Reno, where two tornadoes touched down yesterday. We're going to get you the very latest at the top of the hour.

"YOUR MONEY" starts now.