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CNN Saturday Morning News

Press Conference from El Reno, Oklahoma on Tornado Aftermath; Massive Blaze Kills Four Firefighters in Houston

Aired June 01, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: And you're looking live at a press conference out of El Reno, Oklahoma, updating us on the situation, the aftermath of the tornado.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE)

RANDALL EDWARDS, SHERIFF, CANADIAN COUNTY, OKLAHOMA: We have Senator Ron Justice, then we have several benevolent organizations here as well. We're going to go ahead and make information available first about the event and what first responders have done from last night when the event started up until this morning. We're also going to talk about infrastructure needs, the county commissioners will do that. The chief will talk about some of the same information as far as how it relates to the city of El Reno.

Basically, we had a tornado that came through. I understand it's been labeled as an F-3, maybe an F-4. When this tornado came through yesterday afternoon basically, it stayed at State Highway 66 or Interstate 40 which run pretty much parallel to each other. And most of the damage that we have in the county to the west end is going to be around Chiles, which is west of El Reno.

And then it runs all the way to the east about as far as Cimarron Road. There may be some other damage, but this is the major damage that we're talking about. And these are the areas that -- that we actually recovered some of the fatality victims out of.

Basically like a lot of events when these tornadoes happened it's pretty chaotic. There's a lot of destruction that happens. We know that there's going to be injuries and some death. And a lot of people self-deploy, we're not only talking about law enforcement and first responders and fire personnel but there's a lot of good citizens that respond and assist with rescues. And that's typically what happens in the beginning is you have rescues.

We have some of that that occurred last night. And -- and then we tried to stabilize the area, determine which areas we need to restrict for access because power lines are down. We had flooding. We had lots of different issues. And typically, you go from a -- a response and a rescue into a recovery effort. We did have fatality victims.

Right now and this is a preliminary number, we're sitting at seven. The medical examiner's office will have to establish the official numbers; we believe we have seven right now. And all of those individuals came from the area that I defined a few minutes ago.

We also believe that preliminary information indicates that most of those victims, if not all, came out of vehicles. So having said that, I'd like to say that our hearts and prayers definitely go out to the -- the families of the victims that lost their lives.

We also have injuries. We had 19 reported injuries that were taken to the hospital in Yukon. And we have a -- we know that there have been a number of people that went to the hospital here in El Reno. But we just don't have a confirmed number.

Through today through law enforcement efforts as well as county commissioners, we've tried to set up some barricades and establish some restricted areas for access. Obviously, that's going to be because people have lost homes, they've lost businesses. They're going to need to get into those areas. And we basically don't need sightseers coming in.

So there's going to be utility companies that are going to make access. OG&E, Cattle Electric, AT&T and Cox Communications are in the area. I imagine they're probably are going to be here for several days attempting to restore power, utilities and services. So we need to make sure that we don't cause problems in those areas of travel so that they can access it and then the victims of this event so that they can also access their properties.

Life safety continues to be the most important thing that's going on here. Again, like I said, there are power lines that are down. There are some roads that have been affected by this. Approaches to bridges have been swept away. So life safety is the most important thing to us. Not only for the public but for our responders and the people that are trying to help restore some sort of normality to the people that were affected.

Right now, a phone number that we have available for the sheriff's office or the emergency operations center. If somebody needs to contact the sheriff's office is 405-262-3434. And not only the sheriff's office, but several other of the offices within the county but city government. We've also been affected by this event. Our phone lines and computers and services have also been affected. So please be patient with us as we attempt to restore those services.

At this time what I'd like to do is turn the mike over to the county commissioners, Jack Stewart and Phil Carson are both available.

PHIL CARSON, COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 1, CANADIAN COUNTY: The district 3 county commissioner.

Right after the storm ended last night, we got a hold of all of our workers, brought them back in, organized them into 12-hour shifts. And basically, what we're doing is to install and repair traffic control signs to block traffic into washed out areas, areas where there's high line wires, electric wires that's down on the ground. We do road and bridge repair because there was a heavy amount of rain with this storm. And a lot of the approaches to the bridges are washed out and even low places in the mile section line mile roads are washed out. So our crews are out now and they're repairing these washed out places all due to severe flooding from the rainfall.

We've got chainsaw crews out, we're removing debris from the roads and trees that have been blown down. And we kind of have to do that just to get it ready for the first responders. So they have to be able to get there. It's very important that they can get to the damaged areas.

One concern is the safety of the workers. We try to -- to make it as safe as we can for them even after the storm is over. There's lots of danger. Lots of things can happen after the storm -- Jack?

JACK STEWART, COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 3, CANADIAN COUNTY: I think Commissioner Carson pretty well covered what the crews are out there doing. But the only thing I might add to that is just thank everyone for the coordinated effort that we had last night and continues today. This place is just amazing to watch everybody come together. The sheriff's office, primarily the emergency management crews, Red Cross has been here, Salvation Army was supplying some food this morning, and as they are the rest of the day today at various locations.

And Commissioner Carson and I have each had numerous phone calls from other county commissioners around the state asking what they can do to help. So we're trying to get the situation evaluated and determine where we can use the help as we need it. But there's a lot of help available out there. And it's just been great to be a part of it to see this effort come together.

But like Phil said, that's pretty much what the crews are doing. So I won't reiterate that. And I'm not sure -- Wes? Turn it over to someone else.

KEN BROWN, POLICE CHIEF, EL RENO CITY: Ken Brown, police chief city of El Reno. Again, all the responders reported, responded initially. (Inaudible) responders out watching the tornadoes heat up. We've been very fortunate in that the majority of the damage that occurred in and around El Reno has been to the -- just south of I-40, the track along that line.

We've had rescue crews on site since the beginning of this and continued through it. The fire rescue have been supported by other outside agencies to include Weatherford Homeland Security Groups and they'll continue those efforts throughout the day.

We have also here to support the sheriff's office and some their efforts of security aspects because of the heavy damage of this -- that occurred here locally in some of our outlying bordering areas. Mayor White.

MAYOR MATT WHITE, EL RENO, OKLAHOMA: I want to reiterate what Commissioner Stewart said. I think we're here to -- to help. We're working real good together. We've -- it's been a real good team effort to get this thing done. I want to thank all the first responders. El Reno Sheriff's Department for coordinating all of this, our fire, police department and ambulance service who've worked to this issue.

You know we're trying to get through this. I think it goes back to Commissioner Carson's initial statements. Let these guys do their job. We'll try to get infrastructure back on. You know we had some water issues. I think we're working to those as we speak now.

Once again the police department and the fire department are trying to get in and assess these areas. Let them do their job. There will be time to look at the damage later. And just try to get all the information to us so I appreciate you all.

EDWARDS: OK. Now we'd like to take an opportunity, you've heard from officials with the city and the county. We're very fortunate to have state officials that support us here in Canadian County and we have our Senator Ron Justice that's come this morning. And so we want to let him know how much we appreciate him and give him an opportunity to make a comment.

STATE SEN. RON JUSTICE (R), OKLAHOMA: Well thank you very much. And I -- on behalf of the state of Oklahoma, I just want to say that how much we appreciate the workings of those within the communities. As you know we want to lend our support to this community and -- and I'm just so amazed to watch the coordination of the county officials, the first responders, all those that's involved work together.

You know, the city of El Reno and county working side by side to accomplish these -- these goals to -- to protect the people. And I also want to commend you and the news media because of your coverage in helping them. That was instrumental as well that more lives were not lost. Of course, our hearts go out to those that have lost loved ones in this tragedy. And -- and we want to continue to be supportive of those families as well.

But you know, I think this exemplifies what Oklahoma really is. And that's a team effort working together to accomplish a common goal and -- and on the part of the state of Oklahoma, I just want to say that we want to be there, we want to try to do everything we can to help this community, but I guess above all, I just am -- am so impressed with the coordination, the ability to work together that I've seen here in this community among county, city and the other first responders that's been involved.

That's just overwhelming to me to be able to see the cooperation that we have. You know when you come in and see the devastation that -- that we've had over -- overnight and yet first thing this morning and even during the night people working together to start the cleanup process, to protect other people from injury, so they didn't wait to see what could be done. They immediately jumped in and started doing things to protect each other. And I think that's what's important. And of course, we do want to remember those that are out there working trying to help others for their safety as well.

And so again, I just want to commend everyone in this area for their efforts to work together to -- to protect the citizens in this area. Thank you. KEN GARCIA, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Ken Garcia, the American Red Cross Central and Western Oklahoma. First we just want to say our hearts go out to the communities that were hit last night. It's been a very busy two weeks here in Oklahoma. The Red Cross is continuing to work in these communities.

Last night we opened shelters here in this area. We opened at Christ Church in Yukon. That is at 620 West Vandaman Avenue. And we also opened at Redlands Community College that's at 1300 South Country Club Road. That's here in --

(END LIVE COVERAGE)

KOSIK: OK, we are learning new details about the aftermath of the tornados. For one, the number of people killed in these storms, a little higher. Seven people were killed. The sheriff came out and said that as far as the intensity of these storms, he said it ranked as an F-3 or F-4 on the Fujita scale. Mind you the Fujita scale goes up to F-5. So these were severe and devastating storms that tore through Oklahoma.

He went on to talk about how officials are trying to get the water system, the power back on, traffic systems go up and running again. We're going to keep listening to the news conference off line.

In the meantime, I want to go to Nick Valencia. He's been in Oklahoma all morning surveying the damage. Nick, we just heard from officials that -- that seven people died in those storms. Most of them were in their cars. What are you hearing and seeing on the ground there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, that's unfortunate, Alison. Being in your car in a situation like this is probably one of the worst places to be in order to seek shelter. We've done reports on it over the course of the last couple of weeks, trying to inform our viewers of the safe spots to get underground, take cover.

Unfortunately, these individuals who died as a result of this latest round of tornadoes, it appears they were all coming from their vehicles. If you remember the pictures from last night, the interstate to get out of Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, it was a parking lot.

So it's very difficult for those that were wanting to (inaudible) -- the Under Sheriff Chris West of Canadian County here in El Reno also said there were 19 people injured. We're still waiting on the extent and severity of those injuries.

But dealing with the aftermath, Alison, it's going to take a lot. He mentioned the cleanup crews trying to get into those roads that are -- that are inundated and flooded with heavy rain. A lot of rain fell here overnight, you know, more than eight inches in just a few hours. It completely soaked parts of this -- this area -- El Reno. We were there just outside of Technology Center. That took the brunt end of the storm, as well as the Oil Field Repair Shop just a short time ago. We spoke with residents that hunkered down and took cover there. Miraculously, they say they were able to survive. Those folks that were in the Oil Field Repair Shop they were above ground, they were not in the very safe spot. And they said they took a direct hit from that tornado but were somehow able to make it out alive. Those that were in the basement of the technology center we were at earlier today Alison, 15 people there unscratched, unscathed by -- by -- by any of this -- these heavy winds and rain that came through here.

And also, something that really sticks out to our crew as we drive around the El Reno area, which is about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City is that there are spots where it looks like not even a leaf is out of place. And then you round the corner and there's a -- you know there's road flooded or a field flooded or trees bent over or structures partially are completely collapsed.

It's just incredible. This community here having such a stroke of bad luck, if you want to call it that, in the last couple of weeks dealing with a handful of tornadoes, very strong tornadoes that ripped through this area.

But if you talk to Oklahoma residents here, Alison, if there's any uplifting note in this entire tragedy or tragedies that have happened, it's the community working together. And you heard that highlighted in the press conference by -- by county officials, by the sheriff's office. Oklahomans wanting to help each other out; we've seen strangers arrive here. Of course, he mentioned other more benevolent organizations like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army also lending a hand.

But it really is all hands-on deck in a situation like this. And Oklahomans have suffered through so much in -- in recent history.

KOSIK: Yes.

VALENCIA: But it seems as though that they're very prepared to deal with the calamity when it strikes -- Alison.

KOSIK: OK Nick Valencia thanks so much for that.

You know, instead of driving away from a tornado there are some people who actually drive towards them. Next you'll hear from some storm chasers who ran directly into the deadly tornado in Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Duck down, duck down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: And we're learning now new information of the number of people killed in those storms in Oklahoma, now at nine. Two children, seven adults killed in those very intense and very dramatic storms that we've been seeing video of all this morning. And you know, a lot of that video that we've been getting from these storms actually comes from storm chasers. Those are people who actually -- they go toward the storm. They go into the storm instead of seeking shelter.

Brandon Sullivan, he is among them. And I want you to look at what he and his team ran into in Union City, Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no time now. Go south. Brandon if you don't go south, we're going to die.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Duck down, duck down. Go forward if you can. Drive. (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

BRANDON SULLIVAN, STORM CHASER: There was a couple things going through my head at the time. You know, is it safer to abandon the car and seek shelter in the ditch? Is it safer to turn a certain direction or continue? So 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 and get away from the path of the tornado. Luckily -- there were some other storm chasers were injured, their cars were flipped. Luckily, we were able to get south even though we still did get some damage.

KOSIK: Brandon, what were you thinking not wearing your seatbelt until the final moments of that video?

SULLIVAN: You know, 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 seatbelt on. I was so focused on getting south. As we started getting really strong winds, I got worried that the car would blow over and at that time my consciousness caught up with me and I realized I wasn't buckled so that's when immediately buckled up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: By the way, he says he will go back and do that again -- chase those storms. All right.

So we've seen what the weather has done. Now, what is it going to do? Let's go ahead to meteorologist Karen Maginnis in the Severe Weather Center.

Karen, the system that's causing all of this loss of life and destruction, what's it doing now? Where is it headed?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's headed towards the east. We're seeing some strong thunderstorms. They have produced very heavy rainfall, lots of lightning. But I'll show you the risk area. It's a slight risk that we could see some tornadoes -- isolated tornadoes. I think the bulk of what we'll see today will be the heavy downpours. Lots of lightning and some wind damage. The swath all the way from around Detroit, down through Nashville. Nashville, Little Rock right now, you're seeing some huge storms, extended down towards the Dallas- Fort Worth area.

Yesterday the temperatures in Oklahoma were blowing up into the triple digits. It's not going to be that warm today. But that helped fuel those storms. And another CNN meteorologist pointed out to me that the damage from the system, we don't see it in a straight line. It's here, it's there. It's a little bit over here. It's wind damage, straight- line wind. It's tornadoes, it's storm damage. Hail damage. There's a lot to investigate.

All right. We go through the day. Here comes the funnel system. And then by Sunday, it moves towards the east. So into the northeast, those temperatures that are in the upper 80s and 90s today, going to be in the 70s by the beginning of the workweek. But we'll be back to give you some more coming up.

KOSIK: OK. Karen Maginnis, thank you.

In Houston, four firefighters are being mourned. They were killed in a massive hotel fire on Friday. And now investigators are trying to pinpoint the cause. We're going to have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Now to what Houston, Texas Mayor Annise Parker is calling the worst day in the history of her city's fire department. Four Houston firefighters died yesterday after a hotel wall collapsed on them while they fought a major fire. 13 other firefighters are being treated at hospitals. Houston's fire department is the third largest in the country.

I want to bring in Sara Ganim who's in Houston, she's been covering this. Sara, can you tell us a little bit more about the firefighters who lost their lives in this?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alison. You know, Anne Sullivan was just 24 years old. She graduated from the fire academy just in April. She was one of the four who died when one of the walls collapsed in the building behind me as it was on fire. These firefighters ran in thinking there were people in there that needed to be rescued. Along with Anne, Robert Garner, he was 29 years old; Robert Bebee, 41 years old; and Matthew Renaud, he was 35 -- Alison.

KOSIK: Do we know at this point what caused the fire that started in the restaurant?

GANIM: Yes. This is actually two buildings that are adjacent to each other in one. It was a restaurant and then an inn. And early this morning, fire officials were telling me that they believed that the fire, based on where they could see the flames when they arrived, and based on witnesses did start in that restaurant area. But I have to tell you, Alison, there's almost nothing left of this building. You can see from some of the footage this morning, it just completely collapsed in on itself. The fire consumed this building and it definitely spread and encompassed the entire structure. There's really not much left except rubble this morning.

KOSIK: All right. Sara Ganim, thank you.

Tornadoes hit Oklahoma City overnight. And now teams are assessing the damage today. We're going to be getting a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Welcome back everyone. I'm Alison Kosik.

Oklahoma is once again cleaning up after devastating tornadoes. At least five new tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area last night. Look at this incredible video taken by some storm chasers. That's just one of the tornadoes forming in El Reno about 25 miles outside of Oklahoma City. At least nine people are dead, including two children; more than 70 people were hurt. El Reno and Union City suffered much of the damage and this comes less than two weeks after a huge tornado plowed through Moore, Oklahoma.

Now the Oklahoma City area is dealing with major flooding. Look at the collapsed road in Eastern Oklahoma County, huge. Some areas have seen as much as 11 inches of rain.

Missouri was hit by storms, too. Road closed all over and hundreds of homes were damaged. Remarkably, no one was killed. I've got Steve Patterson on the line; he's a reporter with KDSK in Hazelwood (ph), Missouri.

Thanks for joining us. What are you seeing there this morning?

STEVE PATTERSON, KDSK: Yes. Thanks for having me, Alison. Really just widespread damage over our St. Louis area here. Really, if you think about it, the National Weather Service reporting four tornadoes that had touched down in this area in really three central locations. The worst is to the west of us over in St. Charles County. That's where homes were absolutely obliterated.

There is a state of emergency declared by the county executive. Some homes are just wiped off the map there in small pockets.

Then to the east of the city over the river in Illinois, that was where significant damage from another tornado that touched down reported there. It arrived in St. Charles County, and here's what a pocket of devastation, really roofs ripped off, power lines down, scattered siding and insulation just all over the roads and, of course, residents kind of wondering what to do next.

85,000 were reporting without power in Missouri; another 25,000 in Illinois. And the National Weather Service and crews of course working to deal with all of this. If you're looking for some good news this Saturday morning, no injuries reported, at least in our area. No fatalities reported as well. So I spoke to one woman who said basically, I mean, look, all this can be cleaned up, all this can be fixed, but of course, not with loss of life. And thankfully, we have not had that in our area.

KOSIK: Yes. We've been looking at that video from St. Charles County, just incredible to see that damage. And we also saw residents going back into their homes to collect items, personal items.

Have you talked to anybody doing that?

PATTERSON: No. Not at this time. Everybody is on the street right now. Everybody is just -- there's a lot of trees that collapsed on the roofs. You can actually start seeing inside some of the homes. We've had some of those power lines that have been arcing and sparking overnight.

So crews out kind of taping up those areas, trying to clear back people from their residences. And most of the people that have experienced damage on that level have actually moved out of the area, are staying with friends and family. So it's still really early in the cleanup process at this time. Would not advise going back to your home if the damage is that bad right now.

So really, that is not happening. But of course, the next phase is for crews to get out here and start cleaning some of this up.

KOSIK: All right. Steve Patterson with KDSK, thanks for giving us your insight there.

PATTERSON: Thank you.

KOSIK: And we got new information about ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. We're going to show you one of those letters coming up.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Peru is famous for many things. It has one of the seven modern wonders of the world. Machu Picchu. It's known for its ancient Inca civilians but Peru is also recognized for its food. And that's where we find Anthony Bourdain this week on "PARTS UNKNOWN."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST: One thing you need to know about Peru is it's big. That is Ocean and mountains, Amazon. Peru, you think Machu Picchu and don't they eat hamsters there.

For a long time now We've been hearing in the states that Peruvian cuisine is going to be the next big thing.

Chocolate. What can I say about chocolate? It's the perfect stocking stuffer, Mother's Day gift, Valentine's Day gift. Before chocolate in Europe, this was what the Aztec kings would drink.

It's always fun to travel with Eric.

ERIC RIPERT, CHEF: Yes, we're just sipping a cooler. I can't wait.

BOURDAIN: You know, the best thing about this whole trip is that Eric was identified as me in the newspaper. Could prove useful.

RIPERT: Wasn't me.

BOURDAIN: It's that repair guy.

I was fascinated by the display of pre-Colombian erotica at the museum.

RIPERT: Yes, I should have known that.

BOURDAIN: I guess there really is nothing new under the sun. Think you invented something new? Nope.

Peru still manages to amaze.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And you can see Bourdain's trip to Peru tomorrow night, right here on CNN at 9:00 pm. That's "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN," every Sunday night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Oklahoma City's medical examiner now says nine people were killed in a string of tornadoes last night. Two were children. Officials now say that many of the victims were in their cars. It's the latest blow for Oklahoma who were already cleaning up after the major tornado that hit almost two weeks ago.

Tornadoes were also reported further north in Missouri and other parts of the Midwest. Homes were reduced to rubble just outside St. Louis. Thankfully, no reports of anyone killed there.

Now new information on the threatening letters sent to President Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control group. Test results are in and they confirm that the letters did in fact contain the poison ricin. CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now in New York.

Susan, you've actually obtained a copy of one of the letters. What does it say?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, the wording in these letters appears to be the same as the ones received by all of the people involved in this investigation.

The one that we obtained is a copy of a letter sent to Mark Glaze. He is the director of Mayor Bloomberg's gun control group called Mayors against Illegal Guns. And the words sent here are the same that matched the one to Bloomberg.

It reads, quote, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone 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 till the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."

Now, Mark Glaze is the only one of the three recipients who actually opened the letter, got his hands on it, because the other two were intercepted before they reached the president and Mayor Bloomberg, of course.

However, as far as we know Mr. Glaze is all right. He sent a message via social media a few days ago that he seemed to be OK.

KOSIK: I think I saw some markings on the letter, on the envelope. Any significance to those?

CANDIOTTI: They are. We're seeing these on the letters as well.

The markings, the blotches that you see are clearly where the investigators, according to our sources, looked for any ingredients, for example, the ricin or any other fingerprints or forensic evidence that could be obtained.

So all of that, of course, is part of the investigation. And all of these were postmarked May 20th through a postal facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.

KOSIK: So where does the investigation go from here, Susan?

CANDIOTTI: Well, they're trying to, of course, figure out who sent these letters. We do know that a couple in Texas is being interviewed.

However, we are learning from our sources that there are some credibility issues with the wife, who is part of the couple. So they're trying to figure out where, if anywhere, that part of the investigation will go.

KOSIK: OK. Susan Candiotti, thanks.

CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.

KOSIK: They caught the ire of the president and Congress. Now you'll never believe what IRS employees have been caught on tape doing. We're going to show you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Oklahoma hit again by a round of deadly weather just 12 days after an EF-5 tornado hit. The state has been hit by several tornadoes and flooding that caused this road to collapse -- amazing. Yesterday, at least five tornadoes touched down in and around Oklahoma City, killing nine people and injuring more than 70.

A local sheriff says most of those killed were in their cars. Across the Midwest, a total of 17 tornadoes hit yesterday, causing more than 212,000 customers to lose power across six states.

And now, another embarrassing revelation for the IRS: a video made for an IRS conference in 2010 has surfaced. It's a dance video starring IRS employees. CNN's chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash is in Washington with the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a dance called the Cupid Shuffle. If you've never heard of it, you don't work for the IRS.

BASH (voice-over): CNN obtained this video made by IRS employees to close out a 2010 IRS conference. According to the video's narrator, those taking part in learning the Cupid Shuffle are competing to, quote, "become the next great dance sensation."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to become the next great dance sensation.

BASH (voice-over): CNN is told a new IRS inspector general report coming out next week will detail excess spending at the IRS, and this video will be spotlighted as an example of ways IRS employees wasted taxpayer dollars.

The IRS is not defending it at all, telling CNN, quote, "This video produced for a 2010 IRS conference was unacceptable and inappropriate use of government funds. The IRS and the government as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately."

BASH: Now we're told that Cupid dance video cost $1,600 to make. Certain doesn't break the bank, but we also were told the IRS spent a lot more, $60,000 to make a pair of different videos, spoofs of "Gilligan's Island" and "Star Trek."

BASH (voice-over): Now you can see the production value is better than the Cupid dance. But it doesn't look like they spent much on acting lessons. Watch this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry about the uniforms, Captain. The dry cleaner gave me the wrong order. Starlight Coffee while you wait, sir? It's better than McDonald's and only twice the price.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No can do, Yeoman. I've already spent my per diem for the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: All this opens up yet another controversial front for the IRS, which, of course, is under fire from both parties for targeting Tea Party groups who were applying for tax exempt status. As for the upcoming report on excessive IRS spending, the new acting IRS commissioner is calling the 2010 conferences that appeared to waste taxpayer dollars, quote, "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era, saying taxpayers should take comfort that a conference like this would not take place today." Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KOSIK: I'm thinking what's the point of the videos? Hopefully we'll find out soon.

Chaos at a kindergarten graduation? The fight that erupted into an all-out riot next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: We're getting some of the first images of the damage from last night's tornados in Oklahoma.

The medical examiner now says nine people were killed, including two children. It's the latest blow for Oklahoma, a state that was already trying to clean up after a devastating tornado that hit almost two weeks ago. And as people try to cope with all of this, they're also dealing with major flooding.

And now to Ohio and an event that was supposed to be a sweet ceremony celebrating a kindergarten graduation. Instead Cleveland police say it erupted into a riot. Peggy Sinkovich from CNN affiliate WJW has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, City of Cleveland, at Michael R. White School, there are adults out here fighting.

PEGGY SINKOVICH, WJW: Dozens of 5th District police officers surrounded Michael R. White School Friday morning after receiving a call that shots were fired.

Moments after police arrived, they learned that wasn't true.

WAYNE DRUMMOND, CLEVELAND POLICE: But no guns were involved in it. No shots fired.

SINKOVICH (voice-over): Fifth District Commander Wayne Drummond said when officers arrived shortly after 11:00, they found about eight people involved in a fight outside of the building. He says the fight started shortly after the ceremony ended.

Eight people, including two teenagers, were arrested.

All of those arrested were taken to jail and they face a charge of aggravated rioting. Now they're expected to be in court sometime next week.

No one was injured during the fight. Several parents and grandparents showed up at the school to get their children after they learned police were at the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came up here to get my granddaughters, you know, because I was concerned, you know, with so much stuff going on at schools today. You know, I was really concerned.

SINKOVICH: Others, including police, say fights should never happen at a school.

DRUMMOND: It's just a shame. I think it's an absolute shame that something as good as a graduation ceremony or promotion ceremony is marred by the actions of a few. It's a darn shame, so that's why these individuals are going to jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And investigators say the riot began after a fight broke out between two teen girls.

"CNN NEWSROOM" starts at the top of the hour. Miguel Marquez is here with that.

You've got a busy show ahead of you.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you've had a busy show yourself. We're going to continue the pace this afternoon. Seems we're going to follow up with the deadly storms in the Midwest and try to figure out, get to the question of whether or not the end is near, the end of this season of misery for people there.

We also wanted to get -- drive more into this woman who was arrested in Mexico. We're going to talk to a Marine who was held for months there in Mexico. He had a very similar story, a much worse story in many ways. We're going to chat with him as well.

KOSIK: I remember that very vaguely. He was there for how long?

MARQUEZ: Four months, Jon Hammer (ph), he was just out of Afghanistan. He was going with a buddy down to, you know, surf, basically. He had a Winnebago and his grandfather's shotgun, he had a permit for it, crosses the line and gets arrested, spends four months, at some points chained to his bed in Mexico. He has a real warning for people crossing into Mexico.

KOSIK: And it's going to be interesting to keep track of the weather today as the day goes on, as things maybe heat up.

MARQUEZ: Yes. Look, we're not expecting terrible weather today, but there's going to be a lot of clean up and that death toll obviously has gone from seven to nine this morning. We're watching that. There's going to be a lot of cleanup.

The other problem with this weather is rain. We've seen that road washouts. There's a lot of dangers out there, getting electricity back on as it heats up as well for the elderly and infirm. It's very tough to survive in those very hot and humid conditions.

KOSIK: All right. Miguel Marquez, I'll be watching.

Are you taking a break from work this summer? If so, you're one of the lucky ones. Find out why America is no-vacation nation. I'll tell you why next.

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KOSIK: It seems like more and more the U.S. is turning into the no- vacation nation. Unlike many other countries, the U.S. does not require companies to offer paid time off. What? Oh, yes. So many Americans can't leave their jobs, even for a few days. Others won't.

Tom Foreman has this week's "American Journey."

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As beaches, resorts, and theme parks brace for the summer rush, they can count a quarter of all Americans out of the mix. That's how many receive no paid vacation in a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

And the lower your wages, the less likely time off is in your plans, according to John Schmitt.

Many Americans get vacations.

JOHN SCHMITT, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH: We do. But we get a lot less than everybody else. The average American gets less than the minimum required vacation in every other country that we looked at.

FOREMAN: They looked at places like Japan with 10 days, Germany with 24 and France with 30. What's more, a study last year found more than half of Americans who do get vacation time don't use all of it, often for fear of appearing lazy or being laid off.

SCHMITT: I think what it is is that we have a much higher level of job insecurity in this country than in the rest of the world.

FOREMAN: It has not always been this way. The growth of the car culture in the 1950s fueled the idea that regular folks, not just the rich, should get away from the grind now and then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you feel if you were me?

FOREMAN: And for several decades, the family vacation was as American as, well, America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A vacation on a farm. Have you ever thought of this?

FOREMAN: Certainly some believe the country's work ethic is precisely what made the economy great and now would be the worst time for vacation fever to sweep in. But others --

So are you going to take a vacation? SCHMITT: I am going to take a few weeks off in July.

FOREMAN: Others suggest rebuilding the economy might need to start with more folks recharging their batteries -- Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And now an out-of-this-world event, an asteroid called 1998 QE2 whizzed past Earth this Friday with its own moon in tow. It got within about 3.6 million miles of our planet and scientists say it won't pass by us again until 2028. And then maybe there's going to be lots more elbow room because the asteroid is expected to be about 45 million miles away.

I'm going to see you back here again tomorrow morning. "CNN NEWSROOM" starts right now with Miguel Marquez.

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