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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Deadly Storms Ravage Midwest and Eastern United States

Aired November 11, 2002 - 17:00   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Mossy Grove, Tennessee one of the hardest hit places after a day of devastating storms swept across the United States. We'll have live reports on the casualties, the close calls and the warnings. That's coming up on a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
ANNOUNCER: Killer storms carve a path of death and destruction from the South to the Great Lakes. In Ohio, it could have been worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have nothing. It's like, you got to start your life all over again but we're alive. That's all that matters.

ANNOUNCER: In Tennessee, worse would be hard to imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of like a locomotive came through.

ANNOUNCER: As Iraq weighs its response to the U.N. ultimatum, President Bush has a Veterans Day warning for Baghdad.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dictator of Iraq will fully disarm or the United States will lead a coalition and disarm him.

ANNOUNCER: Rape in the palace. A new scandal rocks the royal family, as Diana's butler visits the U.S.

PAUL BURRELL, PRINCESS DIANA'S FORMER BUTLER: I have no regrets for a single word I've said, because I've told the truth.

ANNOUNCER: And, you've heard that wine may be good for your heart. What about your brain?

This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Killer storms.

Filling in for Wolf Blitzer today, live, from Washington, Carol Lin.

And live from the site of the storm, Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: It is a stunning scene of contrast here in the town of Mossy Grove, Tennessee, as workers try to repair tremendous damage after a killer storm went through this town shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time. Take a look behind at this incredible scene, the beautiful mountains of Tennessee as the sun sets here, the fall colors, and yet before you a scene of terrible devastation, wreckage from trailer homes, insulation dotting a tree, pieces of cars.

The work here will be very, very difficult as they try to rebuild their lives, as they try to get power back on, and as they try to find no less than 75 missing people, all that on the day after these tremendous storms which swept the nation. We're talking about 50 tornadoes, no less than 50 tornadoes, an unprecedented number, 35 people confirmed killed, many more missing, any number of casualties, very unusual for this time of year. We begin our comprehensive coverage with Gary Tuchman who is right here in Mossy Grove.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mossy Grove, Tennessee is a tiny town in the high country of Tennessee, only a few hundred people where everyone knows everyone. They suffered great tragedy last night. Several people killed in this county after one or more tornadoes came through. This house gives you an idea of what's happened to many of the people who live here. Scores of homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. You can see the belongings of a family just laying out here on their lawn.

Right now we are told in the state of Tennessee, 17 people have been killed, at least 80 people in the state have been injured. Now, in this County alone, Morgan County, at least 75 people are still missing. Authorities are saying at this point they believe none of them are dead. They just believe they haven't been able to contact them because cell phone service, phone service, and electricity, hasn't been working.

But to give you an idea what people have been going through here, here's another house that has been destroyed and you can see if we walk right up here on the bricks that came down from this building, you can just look right into the living room. This is what happened to this home. We are told that most of these people knew to get out. There were watches and then warnings in effect and most of them did get out. The death toll, obviously, would have been much higher if they did not.

But, as of now in this county alone, seven people killed from the tornado and one man, a firefighter, died after suffering a heart attack while trying to look for people who might have been trapped.

This is Gary Tuchman CNN, in Morgan County, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Charles Molineaux in Carbon Hill, Alabama, in the middle of Walker County, the area worst hit by the tornadoes and thunderstorms in the state of Alabama. We're looking across the swathe of destruction caused by the storms as they moved through this area. Alabama Governor Don Siegelman just finished up his tour around the area taking a look at some of the destruction caused to homes as well as the Carbon Hill Junior High School, which is now a trashed mass.

This is very similar to what you saw all over the county this morning when the sun come up and the extent of the devastation became clear. The violent winds tore roofs off houses, brought trees crashing down on some homes, or in a few cases ripped concrete block buildings to shreds. Of the people killed here seven were in cars or trailers, but four were in houses or trailers. Investigators aren't sure because the structures were so thoroughly destroyed and no one knows at this point what they were before. A lot of homeowners are now doing painful cleanup and talking about a terrifying and amazingly fast ordeal. They say they might heard the tornado coming and seen it but it was all over in a matter of minutes.

Tens of thousands of people were still without electricity. The latest word that we have is 13 people statewide have been killed by the storms, but the one thing we do hear from the National Weather Service was that they are very proud of their success in getting out a warning. The watch for the tornadoes went out two hours beforehand and a tornado warning was issued 12 minutes before the first one came down, and some of the people we've talked to who lived through this say they got those warnings and they took precautions. They were indoors in rooms without windows battened down with blankets and mattresses and pillows to protect themselves.

ROSS CABOT (ph), WSP TV, ATLANTA: I'm Ross Cabot of WSP TV in Atlanta, here in Pickens County, Georgia, about 45 miles north of the City of Atlanta. The storms hit here about two o'clock in the morning, as most everybody was asleep in their beds, but despite incredible damage left behind, nobody was killed in Georgia from this line of severe storms. The most serious injury a young child literally sucked out of a destroyed double home and deposited in a nearby pond suffering only a broken arm.

Thirteen people went to local hospitals, injuries described mostly as minor. Power remains out to thousands in this part of North Georgia and a dusk to dawn curfew will be in place in most of Pickens County. Most of the damage here happening around a small town of Tate, Georgia, a somewhat rural part of the state of Georgia. Folks here say if this had happened suburban Atlanta, or in the city itself, we would've had many dead and damage in the billions of dollars. Cleanup here will likely last weeks.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jeff Flock in Van Wert, Ohio, some incredible stories of survival. Take a look at where we stand now. This was a movie theater. They were watching on a screen that doesn't exist anymore the movie "Santa Claus 2" when they got word the tornado was coming. Everyone got out of this theater, got back into hallways and into the bathrooms. One woman I talked to said it was incredible in the girls bathroom. Everyone piled on top of each other but they all survived here. There were two cars that wound up in the seats here. We've got pictures of them being hoisted up out. They're already clearing the debris here in Van Wert.

Across town, a lot of damage at an industrial park also, another incredible story of survival there, a man told us that he spent the tornado in his big rig. He saw it coming, decided to stay with the truck. At one point he said it rotated. This is what the truck looked like. Can you even tell there is a truck in there? Incredibly, a man came out of that not only alive but uninjured. Incredible stories tonight in Van Wert, Ohio. That's the latest from here, back to you.

O'BRIEN: These stores are amazing. I'm standing in a town right now, a very small town where seven people are confirmed dead, dozens are still missing although it's not likely to believe that many of those are among the deceased. And, I'm also standing next to church where at 8:15 in the evening last night they were having a service. Everybody got out just fine. The stories of the capricious behavior of tornadoes are what lead us back to Van Wert, Ohio, and the mayor of that town Steve Gehres, who joins us now live. Mayor Gehres, just bring us up to date. How are things going right there right now? How's the relief effort?

MAYOR STEPHEN GEHRES, VAN WERT, OHIO: I think that things are going well. We planned for these type of emergencies. The city and county of Van Wert is a storm watch county and as a result as they got the warning that tornadoes were coming from Indiana, the emergency director sent out the fire department in the county and we're on the spot and we tracked it coming through the county and were able to, at the theater here where there were 60 children still in the theater, able to notify them in time so they got inside the cinder blocks center of the building and were able to come out safe.

The preparedness that the storm watch community provides and when the communities really get behind that saved a lot of people's lives I think. In Van Wert, it saved over 70 people's lives, 60 of them would have been children here in the theater because as you can see behind me there's nothing left where those children would have been had not been notified of it.

O'BRIEN: Well, that's an astounding story Mayor and you referred to it right at the top. If you can explain to everybody who is listening what it means to be a storm watch area and why other municipalities and counties might want to adopt this idea.

GEHRES: Okay, there are three storm watch counties in Ohio and Van Wert County is one of them. A storm watch county is a county that has gone through certain procedures to set up watches so that when storms come in they're observed by the different police and fire departments out in the communities and are tracked by the EMA director. We probably had 50 people out before the storm actually came into Van Wert County to make sure that it was being tracked, and as a result, the theater here got about a 20 minute notice before the tornado hit to get everybody into the secured area of the theater.

Plus, the sirens had gone off. I was in my basement when it came up. When the sirens stopped, I came out, heard all the car sirens. I want to the city building and then went out to the emergency management place and started the procedures that we've practiced for three years. Once it's done, how do you get everything taken care and it worked real good with all the county offices, the state highway patrol, ODOT, and the National Guard and everything worked real fine.

O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Mayor, I've got to ask you a lot of people must be watching this wondering why every single place in United States doesn't offer that same level of protection and warning. What is stopping other places from doing that? GEHRES: Well, I think part of it is a drive of the local citizens. Some of the people here wanted to cut the EMA director from full-time to a part-time job. There were some of the commissioners and I fought that strenuously plus it takes a little bit of extra money to do those things. But I'm telling you today, there are 70 people alive at least in Van Wert County that wouldn't have been had that system not to put in place. And, I think it's important for everybody to do that.

O'BRIEN: Mayor Gehres, we appreciate your insights on all of this and we hope that other people in decision-making positions across the country are listening as well. Thank you and were glad it's a good story to tell despite such tremendous damage there in Van Wert, Ohio. Let's get back here to Mossy Grove, Tennessee.

I just want to take you a little bit out of the frame of camera here for a moment, and if you look over here, what we saw on the way in, first of all, was just the most beautiful drive you can imagine, driving through these hills and then we happened upon this small little hollow, if you will, this tremendous scene of devastation. You see power crews from all over the region who are here trying to help restore power. It was very difficult for us to even get into the region, in to the specific area because they were trying to get a power line back in service.

I don't know if we can get all the way back around here William, but you got to see this. This is the church I was referring to just a few moments ago. You can see the front of it right there. It is a tremendous amount of damage, but if you look to the left, it's fairly much intact, and everybody who was inside at that 8:15 prayer service last night walked away without a scratch, yet another one of those stories about how arbitrary these storms can be and for many folks here a sign that perhaps someone upstairs was watching over this town.

Nevertheless, a tremendous scene of devastation, seven people confirmed dead from the storm. One person today, a firefighter, died as a result of a heart attack in the course of trying to handle this rescue and relief effort, so it's a very sad tale here in the mountains of Tennessee. I'll send it over to Carol Lin in Washington now -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Miles. You were just talking with the mayor of Van Wert, Ohio about how important some sort of early warning system is in these devastating storms. Well, how well did the storm warning system actually work last night all across the Eastern seaboard, a closer look coming up? And, authorities say they finally got him talking, but what will, well John Lee Malvo say under interrogation that will actually hold up in court, details when we come back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Turning now to the showdown with Iraq, the U.N. resolution on disarmament was taken up today by the Iraqi parliament. The leader of the assembly labeled it "a preamble for war." And, another key official urged that the U.N. resolution be rejected. The White House is dismissing the Iraqi debate as a sham. And, meeting with veterans today, President Bush made it clear that Baghdad has no choice in the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Iraq pledged to disarm more than a decade ago. It's been a decade of systematic deception, unmet obligations, unpunished violations. Those games are now over. Saddam Hussein will fully disarm and prove that he has done so or America will lead a coalition to disarm him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The U.N. Security Council passed the weapons resolution unanimously Friday, giving Iraq seven days to reply. That would be this Friday. Well, defense lawyers in the Washington area sniper case say they'll try to suppress the alleged confession of John Malvo. They say the teenage suspect should not have been questioned outside the presence of his court-appointed guardian or a lawyer. CNN's Patty Davis has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A senior source tells CNN 17-year-old John Lee Malvo has told investigators he pulled the trigger in some of the sniper shootings. That includes the murder of FBI Analyst Linda Franklin outside this Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia October 14th.

Those statements came during seven to eight hours of interrogation by authorities in Virginia without Malvo's lawyer present. Because of that, his court-appointed lawyer says he will move to suppress anything incriminating. Even though Malvo is a juvenile, legal experts say his statements will most likely be admissible in court.

PAUL KAMENAR, WASHINGTON LEGAL FDN: I think his statements will be admissible as long as the police did read him his rights and as long as Malvo knowingly and voluntarily waived those rights.

DAVIS: Unlike previous interrogations, Malvo is said to have been very talkative. Among evidence investigators say they found in John Muhammad's blue Chevy Caprice, two-way radios. CNN's source says Malvo described the shooting as a military type operation and that he and his partner communicated with two-way radios.

Malvo is being tried as an adult. The 17-year-old's court- appointed guardian says he tried to intervene during the questioning but was escorted out of the building. Some say that could give the defense an opening.

JERALYN MERRITT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: For the same reason that juveniles are considered not allowed to vote, not allowed to marry, not allowed to own property, they're considered not old enough to be interrogated in the absence of a parent or guardian.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (on camera): Malvo's guardian says he hopes to track Malvo's mother down so she knows that her son could face the death penalty in Virginia if convicted of his alleged crimes -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much Patty Davis, live in Washington. Well, the buzz from Britain just ahead. Could allegations Diana's former butler is making an effect on Prince Charles' prospects for the throne? And, drinking a whole bottle may dull your mind but could having just one glass actually keep it sharp? A medical announcement just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Controversial revelations by Princess Diana's former butler are leading to a new royal scandal. This one involved allegations that one of Prince Charles' top aides raped another man. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a U.S. tour and upset his salacious stories currently scandalizing Britain are producing a backlash, former royal butler Paul Burrell hit back.

BURRELL: I just never expected it to be so vicious and so personal. The newspapers leading the campaign of vilification against me are the very same people who pretended to by my friends.

ROBERTSON: However, he plans to continues, as he says, telling the truth. Meanwhile in Britain, senior royal advisers gathered at Prince Charles' London home in an intense effort to limit damage done by Burrell's tabloid revelations.

ROBERT LACEY, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: There's no doubt at all though that this generates a lot of scandal and mud and a lot of it currently is sticking to the royal family.

ROBERTSON: Weekend editions piled on the dirt. Charles' former valet in the Sunday mail accuse one of the Prince's senior aides of homosexual rape. Through solicitors paid for by Prince Charles, the unnamed man accused of the attack denied the charges, just as he did during a 1996 internal palace investigation. But police were not brought in until last year, leaving some royal watchers wondering if there had been some form of cover-up at the palace.

ROBERT JOBSON, ROYAL EXPERT: Otherwise, the police would have been brought in to investigate the allegations of rape before the following investigation.

ROBERTSON: On Britain's national day of remembrance, Sunday, the queen and Prince Charles may have had as much as they want to forget was remember, a solemn occasion made more somber by the weight of questions emerging in the wake of the tabloid tide.

JOBSON: There are serious questions being asked about the judgment of the Prince of Wales and the people that he has around him; therefore, his suitability as the next king is being called into question.

ROBERTSON: Also under scrutiny the motivations for the queen's last minute intervention, which stopped Burrell's theft trial, as recent revelations hint at how much the royal family may have wanted to keep hidden.

ROBERTSON (on camera): And then there's the matter of the gifts, Prince Charles is facing questions from members of parliament about allegations his personal assistant sold official royal gifts on the Prince's instruction, keeping part of the proceeds himself, leaving MPs wondering if the profits have been declared on tax returns. Nic Robertson CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is: Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf, and while you're there, we'd like to hear from you so send us your comments and we're going to try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

A check of the hour's top stories is just ahead. Dozens remain unaccounted for in Tennessee. We're going to go live to the scene to hear from the people. Meteorologists say at least 50 tornadoes touched down overnight, a closer look at the science behind the storms. And, a little later, Vietnam vets get a little therapy from an old friend. Soldiers speak about rekindling the connection between man and machine; but first, a check of the headlines making news from around the world.

Britain beware, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is warning British citizens to be alert for a possible terror attack. France has issued a similar alert.

Rescue at sea, several survivors were plucked from the waters of Manila Bay after a commuter plane crashed in the Philippines. At least 14 people died in the crash, which happened just after the plane took off. Investigators suspect engine failure.

Derailment deaths, a Russian commuter train left the rails in St. Petersburg and plowed into a passenger platform killing four people. Reports suggest the brakes failed on the train, which was being tested after repairs.

Kibbutz killings, the Israeli newspaper (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group associated with Yasser Arafat's movement, is claiming responsibility for a deadly attack at an Israeli communal farm. Five Israelis were killed, including a mother and her two young children. The gunman got away.

Israel strike, helicopters fired rockets into a car repair shop in Gaza City. There are no reports of casualties. Israel says it believes Palestinian militants used the shop to make weapons.

France remembers, thousands attended Armistice Day ceremonies in Paris, marking the anniversary of the end of World War I, and that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Carol Lin sitting in for Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, how much warning did some of the killer storms' victims actually get?

And, of course, the cleanup continues across the Eastern United States. Where dozens of tornadoes have left at least 35 people dead. Once again, we go to CNN's Miles O'Brien who's on the scene in Mossy Grove, Tennessee, one of the hardest places hit -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I'm sure per capita when you consider this is just a tiny little community, it's not even a town or a village, it's just a community here nestled in the mountains of Tennessee, a little bit west of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Mossy Grove is a place that is as hard hit as any place right now and the job is just tremendous.

As you look -- everywhere you look here -- take a look at these power lines down here. These are dead power lines, of course. I'm told by the guys here there are 700 people in Morgan County around here without power. Trees that were just kind of upended at the 10- foot level. And then, as you walk across the street there where some of the houses -- most of the houses are, you see cars stacked up like they're in a junkyard ready for the shredder.

And all manner of personal effects just lying amid the debris -- remote controls, little prescription drugs, photographs, which say memories on them. Well, memories indeed. These are terrible memories for this town and really a memory, which is seared, of course, in Paulette Dyke's mind -- Paulette Dyke owns the Citgo store right down the street there if we can get a shot of it.

Paulette, you were there when it happened a little after 8:00 last night. Tell us what happened, what you heard and what you saw.

PAULETTE DYKE, CITGO STATION OWNER: About 15 until 9:00, the Citgo sign started bending over, the rain started looking like...

O'BRIEN: The whole sign was bending over.

DYKE: The whole sign was bending over, sheets of rain. Our friend door immediately opened and my husband and I were trying to hold it in and the wind just blew us. We went to the back of the store and we -- our garage doors in the back flipped open. They were swinging and we tried to hold it and the wind was just -- all we could hear was the wind and just trying to protect ourselves.

O'BRIEN: Give us a sense -- you had no basement there. So you had no place to flee, right?

DYKE: No, no. We just ran. Probably what saved our store was the fact that the front door was open and the back doors all open and the wind was blowing through.

O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind? Was it sheer panic, was it terror? Were you...

DYKE: Terror. My stomach felt like it was in my heart and it was just -- we were trying to protect ourselves from the flying debris.

O'BRIEN: Did you have any warning prior? Did you have a radio on or anything?

DYKE: Yes, I had the TV on until the power -- the power blew immediately at 10 until 9:00 when the storm started.

O'BRIEN: I see. So you really were sort of in the dark, if you will, on all of this?

DYKE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Now, as you've had a chance to look at this little town, you don't call it home, but it's a very important place to you, with your business here. You have a chance to walk through here. What goes through your mind as you see the personal effects of people who you know so well?

DYKE: I'm just devastated because they're all such good people and they've lost so much. And it's just mind boggling to me what they've been through.

O'BRIEN: Now, tell us there is a woman here who we're told lost an infant child. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

DYKE: I don't really know. I just hear what you're hearing, the same thing, that there say lady here that comes in the store. We know her -- that we've been told that her baby died. That's all I know.

O'BRIEN: Do you...

DYKE: I don't even know her last name.

O'BRIEN: What a terrible tragedy compounded upon everything else. This is a place -- have you lived here in this area for quite some time?

DYKE: No, we've only had the store a year and a half.

O'BRIEN: OK, and this is not what you would call tornado alley typically...

DYKE: No.

O'BRIEN: ... that you would have expected this kind of thing. DYKE: No, no, absolutely not, no.

O'BRIEN: Where does this little community go from here? Will this community rebuild, do you think?

DYKE: Oh, yes, yes. Everybody will -- they will all cooperate with each other. Everybody helps everybody here and it will rebuild.

O'BRIEN: What are they saying to each other today?

DYKE: Everybody is hugging each other and just glad to see that everybody is all right and everybody is checking on everybody. We have had a lot of people -- we don't even live around here and we've had a lot of people that's come just to see if we were all right. They knew we were at the store last night and we have help -- all kinds of help today.

O'BRIEN: All right, and the help, as we see right here, is the crews come in and getting busy. A little less than 24 hours after it hit, the effort to get the power back on. It's a big effort.

DYKE: Right.

O'BRIEN: And obviously, important for you, Paulette Dyke, as you move forward here. We wish you and the community of Mossy Grove well as you try to rebuild and try to regroup from this.

DYKE: We will rebuild, yes.

O'BRIEN: This terrible disaster. Thank you very much, Paulette.

Anyway, the story of these tornadoes is, well, it's an unusual time. It's an unusual place, as we were just talking about. This is not what you would call tornado alley, nor is the middle of November the time of year when you would think a lot about tornadoes. Here to tell us a little bit more about the meteorology behind all of this and how this fluke storm came to be, we turn to Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Miles. Yes, usually February, March, April, those are the months are where you see severe weather happen into the Deep South, although we have what we call a secondary severe weather season between the months of November and December. What happens is we get an active subtropical jet and there you can see behind me, it moves right across the southern tier of the country, especially during an El Nino year, which we are seeing a moderate El Nino year. So the red highlighted area from about central Texas extending over down into southern parts of Georgia, this is typically where we see it. But many of the tornadoes also occurred further up to the north into parts of Tennessee and also into Ohio.

We have pictures that we want to show you coming in from Van Wert, Ohio. And there, you can see a very powerful tornado. As you take a look there, you can kind of see the funnel cloud. And take a note how wide the funnel is as it's there on the ground. We know when we see something like that that this is a very powerful tornado. A lot of times tornadoes right -- go to this point like this and that is the weak part of the storm and that's when you start to see the F0s and F1s. Well, when you see the base of the wall cloud right there almost as wide as the tornado is, as it's touching the ground, you know that going to cause some major damage.

And we have just in from the National Weather Service that this was likely an F4 tornado. What does that mean? Well, likely winds of at least 207 miles per hour. There you can see the Fujita tornado scale behind me. A weak tornado would be considered an F0 with winds of 40 to 72 miles per hour. And the strongest would be an F5 tornado of 261 to 318 miles per hour. And an F3, F4 tornado, that causes massive destruction and just takes homes right off their blocks. So that causes major damage and that's exactly the type of condition that we're kind of seeing by you, Miles.

I did speak with the National Weather Service in your area earlier today. They were -- have been out assessing the damage, likely a strong tornado that touched down there as well. They're going to be having some regional analysts come out to look at the damage and they'll likely give us an idea of how strong that one was sometime tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: Jacqui, just quickly before you get away, first of all, it is unusual for tornadoes to touch down in these mountainous areas, isn't it?

JERAS: Yes, it is a little bit unusual. And a lot of times what happens is the storm system moves into the mountains, it kind of loses some of its lift and some of its energy. It kind of sheers off parts of the storm, so you don't see them happen very often in the mountain regions. Of course, the Appalachians are not all that high. We certainly don't see this very common across parts of the west as you head to the Rockies and areas of the of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and into the Sierra Nevada, is a very unusual situation, but there have been tornadoes recorded in every single state in the United States. And we've had tornadoes recorded every single month as well.

O'BRIEN: You know what struck me, Jacqui, today? Flying a small plane right through the front in the middle of the day, it was not nearly as intense as I expected it to be. It dissipated quickly. Why is that?

JERAS: Well, the storm system is kind of losing its energy and also what's happening is we're getting a little area of low pressure, which is developing on the tail end of that front. And so, that's kind of shifting the energy outward. We have to wait for another what we call a vortmax, so another punch of energy to move in to fire things up once again. And it looks like we're seeing another vortmax developing and moving across the southern tier of the Southeast. So we're going to be watching from about the outer banks of the Carolinas down towards Lake Okeechobee for the threat of severe thunderstorms late tonight and into tomorrow.

So this is an ongoing storm system. It's also go to be riding up the coastline, Miles. So while the severe weather threat is pretty much over and done with for much of the Southeast and the Mid- Atlantic, you're still going to be seeing some rain and windy conditions coming in behind that front.

O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center, thank you very much.

Just to update you, we do now have an official death toll of 36 people nationwide. In this county, Morgan County, Tennessee, seven people died immediately as a result of the storm. One other person, a rescue worker, died today of a heart attack in the course of doing exactly what you see behind me. These people are working at both sides of the clock.

Right now, this group here doing its best to restore power. Some 700 people in Morgan County, alone, without power, as we said, and one of the hardest hit places in the country on a night of amazing, unprecedented storms.

As we talked just a few moments ago to Paulette Dyke, who owns that Citgo station down the way there, she said she had her TV on and knew there was going to be problems as the storm was coming, but then the power went out. And once the power went out, she didn't have any sort of advance warning as to what was coming. This is a real problem. CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers looks at the warning issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It was a massive storm that stretched all the way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast.

(on camera): We have some very strong thunderstorms, numerous tornado warnings across this region and we're talking about the Ohio Valley on down into the Tennessee Valley.

(voice-over): Across the country, meteorologists knew it was coming and so did the public who paid attention. Take the Tennessee town of Mossy Grove.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: We listened to the weather on TV and it said that a tornado was headed for Wartburg. My mom had just called me and so my husband talked me into going to the basement. I didn't think it would hit.

MYERS: But it did hit between 8:30 and 9:00 at night, a tornado touches down.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: It sounded like a locomotive came through.

MYERS: The warning came at least 18 minutes early, allowing some families to take cover.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: We didn't see anything. We were all busy trying to get in the bathroom, to get all of the kids in the bathtub so they'd hopefully be safe. That's -- as we were going, our window blew in. That -- I mean we didn't hear anything. There -- it was that quick. MYERS: Because of a tornado's speed, the key to survival is preparation, knowing where you'd seek shelter before the storm hits and understanding the difference between a tornado warning and a tornado watch.

(on camera): A watch means the conditions are right for a thunderstorm, some could contain tornadoes. We indicate a tornado watch by a big red box. Mossy Grove had a tornado watch well in advance of the tornado. If you hear about a watch in your area, you should keep a radio on or a TV on; make sure you pay attention to media. Also, you can turn on your NOAH weather radio if you have one.

A tornado warning, not issued for a big area, but only issued for one county at a time was issued for Morgan County and Mossy Grove at 8:12. Twenty minutes later, the tornado was actually on the ground doing the damage. A tornado warning means that Doppler radar shows the rotation or someone actually saw the tornado on the ground. If you hear about a tornado washing, you need to take cover, get in the basement, get into the lowest level. If you don't have one -- but if you're in a mobile home, you really need to get out. Find a friend with a basement or get into a much stronger shelter.

Chad Myers, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So perhaps the biggest lesson in all of that is to have a good understanding and a healthy dose of respect for the strength of these storms, as Jacqui Jeras said just a moments ago. In excess of 200 miles an hour, these are the strongest storms on the earth. And this little community is now feeling that in a very poignant way. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: A very healthy dose of respect and fear, Miles. Thank you very much.

Well, we've got some groundbreaking medical news coming up. You may have heard what wine can do for heart disease, but what about a disease of the mind? Coming up, medical news made public just an hour ago. And on this Veteran's Day, a sound of a past war, putting today's vets at peace.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back. There is news from the medical research front that may offer hope in the fight against a heartbreaking ailment. Danish scientists report people that drink a little wine seem to have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. So let's go to our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta live in Atlanta.

I feel like we should be making a toast on this one, Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I forgot my wine tonight. But you know, Carol, it's just as you were saying earlier, there's been a thing called the French paradox and the people who drink wine in the past, we've known, despite their high fat diets, still have a lower risk of heart disease. It's something that happened in France. That's why it's called the French paradox.

And now, Carol, just about an hour ago, we're finding out as well that wine, a little bit of red wine, one or two drinks a week, has shown a statistically significant decline in the risk of Alzheimer's disease and all sorts of dementia as well -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dementia, Alzheimer's dementia to name a couple of them.

Now, what it is about red wine, this has been sort of a subject of great debate, but there is a substance called flavonoids in the wine. The name is not that important, but these flavonoids are known to have antioxidant qualities in them. These antioxidants can actually help the body decline the risk of Alzheimer's, thing like that, heart disease, and all that sort of stuff.

Flavonoids can be found in all sorts of different foods, not just red wine. So you don't have to go out and guzzle a bottle of wine. But you can also find it in red grape juice, dark beer, berries, onion and garlic and tea. Those are some of the other foods. But it's those flavonoids that seem to have a significant benefit towards possibly protecting against Alzheimer's -- Carol.

LIN: All that's good to know because a lot of people are allergic to alcohol. So at least there are some alternatives.

GUPTA: That's right.

LIN: Thanks, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good seeing you.

LIN: All right, you too.

Well, you're about to hear the sound many soldiers heard before they went to battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE LA MOIN (ph), CHIEF PILOT: This is that it is all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Why now are Vietnam vets -- why are they choosing to hear the Huey again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: This is Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. President Bush paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of the nation's veterans today, stressing that America is once again at war. This time against terrorism.

Earlier, Mr. Bush made an unscheduled visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In a steady rain, he walked up to the black stonewall, which lists the names of those killed or missing in the Vietnam War. At the base of the memorial, he placed a small American flag. Well, it was known as the Huey. Thousands were deployed during the Vietnam War, bringing troops into battle and bringing out the wounded. A documentary crew has been traveling the country in a restored Huey helicopter, making a film called "In The Shadow of The Blade." As CNN's Ed Lavendera reports, the Huey is helping veterans open up and share their emotions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wolfgang, Wolfgang, on site. We are surrounded, over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sound of those blades meant everything. It meant somebody was coming to pull you out of hell or give you a ride home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, there's a team on the ground that's taking fire. We may have to pull them out.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vietnam veterans will tell you; standing under the Huey helicopter's blades is like being home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like seeing an old friend again that you haven't seen in a long, long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, well, let's leave the decks off for now.

LAVANDERA: That connection between man and machine became Pat Freeze's inspiration for a documentary film. So his team of filmmakers and Vietnam veterans found a Huey helicopter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's their story and this is their helicopter. And the magic happens when you just put them inside.

LAVANDERA: For the last six weeks, they've flown around the country searching for veterans' stories, collecting film footage, even cockpit recordings. The mission's chief pilot, Bruce La Moin, calls it a flying time capsule.

LA MOIN (ph): It's like music. It's music to their ears, guys. This is what it's all about.

LAVANDERA: Ed Walsh is one of the veterans sharing the emotional wounds war has left behind. He used to fly the same chopper being used in this film. But when he sits in that seat, he can't escape the horror of what he saw, the image of a wounded soldier being lifted out of battle. The soldier looked at Walsh.

ED WALSH, VIETNAM VETERAN: He asked me if he was going to die.

LAVANDERA: The soldier asked Walsh to hold his hand. But by the time they landed, the young soldier had died.

WALSH: It's a healing process for the Vietnam vets and all vets. It's a healing process, you know. They need to be welcomed home. They need to be told that they're loved, that they didn't do anything wrong.

LAVANDERA: This chopper was flown by an Army unit nicknamed the Robin Hoods. The signature hat decorates the chopper's nose again, a reminder that this mission has been about taking rich stories and sharing them with those who haven't heard about the unheralded veterans of Vietnam.

Ed Lavendera, CNN, Ozark, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Time is running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Question of The Day." Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? Log onto CNN.com/Wolf to vote. The results in just a moment, but first, what makes a good CEO? Key business leaders are giving their take at the Fortune Global Forum right here in Washington, D.C. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, CEOs have a lot of roles. But I think the most important is setting the tone in the organization, if you will, defining the compass so that all of the organization's people will know what's important, will know what is right and wrong, will know the direction to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To define the strategy for the company and then execute that strategy in a timely and ethical manner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To attract, develop, motivate and retain the best possible people you can find in your company because when you get down to it, it's all about people. And when you have the right people, amazing things can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Earlier we asked you -- Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? Eighty-eight percent of you said yes, while 12 percent of you said no. Remember, this is not, of course, a scientific poll.

I'm Carol Lin in for Wolf Blitzer. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 11, 2002 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Mossy Grove, Tennessee one of the hardest hit places after a day of devastating storms swept across the United States. We'll have live reports on the casualties, the close calls and the warnings. That's coming up on a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
ANNOUNCER: Killer storms carve a path of death and destruction from the South to the Great Lakes. In Ohio, it could have been worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have nothing. It's like, you got to start your life all over again but we're alive. That's all that matters.

ANNOUNCER: In Tennessee, worse would be hard to imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of like a locomotive came through.

ANNOUNCER: As Iraq weighs its response to the U.N. ultimatum, President Bush has a Veterans Day warning for Baghdad.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dictator of Iraq will fully disarm or the United States will lead a coalition and disarm him.

ANNOUNCER: Rape in the palace. A new scandal rocks the royal family, as Diana's butler visits the U.S.

PAUL BURRELL, PRINCESS DIANA'S FORMER BUTLER: I have no regrets for a single word I've said, because I've told the truth.

ANNOUNCER: And, you've heard that wine may be good for your heart. What about your brain?

This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. Killer storms.

Filling in for Wolf Blitzer today, live, from Washington, Carol Lin.

And live from the site of the storm, Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: It is a stunning scene of contrast here in the town of Mossy Grove, Tennessee, as workers try to repair tremendous damage after a killer storm went through this town shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time. Take a look behind at this incredible scene, the beautiful mountains of Tennessee as the sun sets here, the fall colors, and yet before you a scene of terrible devastation, wreckage from trailer homes, insulation dotting a tree, pieces of cars.

The work here will be very, very difficult as they try to rebuild their lives, as they try to get power back on, and as they try to find no less than 75 missing people, all that on the day after these tremendous storms which swept the nation. We're talking about 50 tornadoes, no less than 50 tornadoes, an unprecedented number, 35 people confirmed killed, many more missing, any number of casualties, very unusual for this time of year. We begin our comprehensive coverage with Gary Tuchman who is right here in Mossy Grove.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mossy Grove, Tennessee is a tiny town in the high country of Tennessee, only a few hundred people where everyone knows everyone. They suffered great tragedy last night. Several people killed in this county after one or more tornadoes came through. This house gives you an idea of what's happened to many of the people who live here. Scores of homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. You can see the belongings of a family just laying out here on their lawn.

Right now we are told in the state of Tennessee, 17 people have been killed, at least 80 people in the state have been injured. Now, in this County alone, Morgan County, at least 75 people are still missing. Authorities are saying at this point they believe none of them are dead. They just believe they haven't been able to contact them because cell phone service, phone service, and electricity, hasn't been working.

But to give you an idea what people have been going through here, here's another house that has been destroyed and you can see if we walk right up here on the bricks that came down from this building, you can just look right into the living room. This is what happened to this home. We are told that most of these people knew to get out. There were watches and then warnings in effect and most of them did get out. The death toll, obviously, would have been much higher if they did not.

But, as of now in this county alone, seven people killed from the tornado and one man, a firefighter, died after suffering a heart attack while trying to look for people who might have been trapped.

This is Gary Tuchman CNN, in Morgan County, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Charles Molineaux in Carbon Hill, Alabama, in the middle of Walker County, the area worst hit by the tornadoes and thunderstorms in the state of Alabama. We're looking across the swathe of destruction caused by the storms as they moved through this area. Alabama Governor Don Siegelman just finished up his tour around the area taking a look at some of the destruction caused to homes as well as the Carbon Hill Junior High School, which is now a trashed mass.

This is very similar to what you saw all over the county this morning when the sun come up and the extent of the devastation became clear. The violent winds tore roofs off houses, brought trees crashing down on some homes, or in a few cases ripped concrete block buildings to shreds. Of the people killed here seven were in cars or trailers, but four were in houses or trailers. Investigators aren't sure because the structures were so thoroughly destroyed and no one knows at this point what they were before. A lot of homeowners are now doing painful cleanup and talking about a terrifying and amazingly fast ordeal. They say they might heard the tornado coming and seen it but it was all over in a matter of minutes.

Tens of thousands of people were still without electricity. The latest word that we have is 13 people statewide have been killed by the storms, but the one thing we do hear from the National Weather Service was that they are very proud of their success in getting out a warning. The watch for the tornadoes went out two hours beforehand and a tornado warning was issued 12 minutes before the first one came down, and some of the people we've talked to who lived through this say they got those warnings and they took precautions. They were indoors in rooms without windows battened down with blankets and mattresses and pillows to protect themselves.

ROSS CABOT (ph), WSP TV, ATLANTA: I'm Ross Cabot of WSP TV in Atlanta, here in Pickens County, Georgia, about 45 miles north of the City of Atlanta. The storms hit here about two o'clock in the morning, as most everybody was asleep in their beds, but despite incredible damage left behind, nobody was killed in Georgia from this line of severe storms. The most serious injury a young child literally sucked out of a destroyed double home and deposited in a nearby pond suffering only a broken arm.

Thirteen people went to local hospitals, injuries described mostly as minor. Power remains out to thousands in this part of North Georgia and a dusk to dawn curfew will be in place in most of Pickens County. Most of the damage here happening around a small town of Tate, Georgia, a somewhat rural part of the state of Georgia. Folks here say if this had happened suburban Atlanta, or in the city itself, we would've had many dead and damage in the billions of dollars. Cleanup here will likely last weeks.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jeff Flock in Van Wert, Ohio, some incredible stories of survival. Take a look at where we stand now. This was a movie theater. They were watching on a screen that doesn't exist anymore the movie "Santa Claus 2" when they got word the tornado was coming. Everyone got out of this theater, got back into hallways and into the bathrooms. One woman I talked to said it was incredible in the girls bathroom. Everyone piled on top of each other but they all survived here. There were two cars that wound up in the seats here. We've got pictures of them being hoisted up out. They're already clearing the debris here in Van Wert.

Across town, a lot of damage at an industrial park also, another incredible story of survival there, a man told us that he spent the tornado in his big rig. He saw it coming, decided to stay with the truck. At one point he said it rotated. This is what the truck looked like. Can you even tell there is a truck in there? Incredibly, a man came out of that not only alive but uninjured. Incredible stories tonight in Van Wert, Ohio. That's the latest from here, back to you.

O'BRIEN: These stores are amazing. I'm standing in a town right now, a very small town where seven people are confirmed dead, dozens are still missing although it's not likely to believe that many of those are among the deceased. And, I'm also standing next to church where at 8:15 in the evening last night they were having a service. Everybody got out just fine. The stories of the capricious behavior of tornadoes are what lead us back to Van Wert, Ohio, and the mayor of that town Steve Gehres, who joins us now live. Mayor Gehres, just bring us up to date. How are things going right there right now? How's the relief effort?

MAYOR STEPHEN GEHRES, VAN WERT, OHIO: I think that things are going well. We planned for these type of emergencies. The city and county of Van Wert is a storm watch county and as a result as they got the warning that tornadoes were coming from Indiana, the emergency director sent out the fire department in the county and we're on the spot and we tracked it coming through the county and were able to, at the theater here where there were 60 children still in the theater, able to notify them in time so they got inside the cinder blocks center of the building and were able to come out safe.

The preparedness that the storm watch community provides and when the communities really get behind that saved a lot of people's lives I think. In Van Wert, it saved over 70 people's lives, 60 of them would have been children here in the theater because as you can see behind me there's nothing left where those children would have been had not been notified of it.

O'BRIEN: Well, that's an astounding story Mayor and you referred to it right at the top. If you can explain to everybody who is listening what it means to be a storm watch area and why other municipalities and counties might want to adopt this idea.

GEHRES: Okay, there are three storm watch counties in Ohio and Van Wert County is one of them. A storm watch county is a county that has gone through certain procedures to set up watches so that when storms come in they're observed by the different police and fire departments out in the communities and are tracked by the EMA director. We probably had 50 people out before the storm actually came into Van Wert County to make sure that it was being tracked, and as a result, the theater here got about a 20 minute notice before the tornado hit to get everybody into the secured area of the theater.

Plus, the sirens had gone off. I was in my basement when it came up. When the sirens stopped, I came out, heard all the car sirens. I want to the city building and then went out to the emergency management place and started the procedures that we've practiced for three years. Once it's done, how do you get everything taken care and it worked real good with all the county offices, the state highway patrol, ODOT, and the National Guard and everything worked real fine.

O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Mayor, I've got to ask you a lot of people must be watching this wondering why every single place in United States doesn't offer that same level of protection and warning. What is stopping other places from doing that? GEHRES: Well, I think part of it is a drive of the local citizens. Some of the people here wanted to cut the EMA director from full-time to a part-time job. There were some of the commissioners and I fought that strenuously plus it takes a little bit of extra money to do those things. But I'm telling you today, there are 70 people alive at least in Van Wert County that wouldn't have been had that system not to put in place. And, I think it's important for everybody to do that.

O'BRIEN: Mayor Gehres, we appreciate your insights on all of this and we hope that other people in decision-making positions across the country are listening as well. Thank you and were glad it's a good story to tell despite such tremendous damage there in Van Wert, Ohio. Let's get back here to Mossy Grove, Tennessee.

I just want to take you a little bit out of the frame of camera here for a moment, and if you look over here, what we saw on the way in, first of all, was just the most beautiful drive you can imagine, driving through these hills and then we happened upon this small little hollow, if you will, this tremendous scene of devastation. You see power crews from all over the region who are here trying to help restore power. It was very difficult for us to even get into the region, in to the specific area because they were trying to get a power line back in service.

I don't know if we can get all the way back around here William, but you got to see this. This is the church I was referring to just a few moments ago. You can see the front of it right there. It is a tremendous amount of damage, but if you look to the left, it's fairly much intact, and everybody who was inside at that 8:15 prayer service last night walked away without a scratch, yet another one of those stories about how arbitrary these storms can be and for many folks here a sign that perhaps someone upstairs was watching over this town.

Nevertheless, a tremendous scene of devastation, seven people confirmed dead from the storm. One person today, a firefighter, died as a result of a heart attack in the course of trying to handle this rescue and relief effort, so it's a very sad tale here in the mountains of Tennessee. I'll send it over to Carol Lin in Washington now -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, Miles. You were just talking with the mayor of Van Wert, Ohio about how important some sort of early warning system is in these devastating storms. Well, how well did the storm warning system actually work last night all across the Eastern seaboard, a closer look coming up? And, authorities say they finally got him talking, but what will, well John Lee Malvo say under interrogation that will actually hold up in court, details when we come back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Turning now to the showdown with Iraq, the U.N. resolution on disarmament was taken up today by the Iraqi parliament. The leader of the assembly labeled it "a preamble for war." And, another key official urged that the U.N. resolution be rejected. The White House is dismissing the Iraqi debate as a sham. And, meeting with veterans today, President Bush made it clear that Baghdad has no choice in the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Iraq pledged to disarm more than a decade ago. It's been a decade of systematic deception, unmet obligations, unpunished violations. Those games are now over. Saddam Hussein will fully disarm and prove that he has done so or America will lead a coalition to disarm him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The U.N. Security Council passed the weapons resolution unanimously Friday, giving Iraq seven days to reply. That would be this Friday. Well, defense lawyers in the Washington area sniper case say they'll try to suppress the alleged confession of John Malvo. They say the teenage suspect should not have been questioned outside the presence of his court-appointed guardian or a lawyer. CNN's Patty Davis has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A senior source tells CNN 17-year-old John Lee Malvo has told investigators he pulled the trigger in some of the sniper shootings. That includes the murder of FBI Analyst Linda Franklin outside this Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia October 14th.

Those statements came during seven to eight hours of interrogation by authorities in Virginia without Malvo's lawyer present. Because of that, his court-appointed lawyer says he will move to suppress anything incriminating. Even though Malvo is a juvenile, legal experts say his statements will most likely be admissible in court.

PAUL KAMENAR, WASHINGTON LEGAL FDN: I think his statements will be admissible as long as the police did read him his rights and as long as Malvo knowingly and voluntarily waived those rights.

DAVIS: Unlike previous interrogations, Malvo is said to have been very talkative. Among evidence investigators say they found in John Muhammad's blue Chevy Caprice, two-way radios. CNN's source says Malvo described the shooting as a military type operation and that he and his partner communicated with two-way radios.

Malvo is being tried as an adult. The 17-year-old's court- appointed guardian says he tried to intervene during the questioning but was escorted out of the building. Some say that could give the defense an opening.

JERALYN MERRITT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: For the same reason that juveniles are considered not allowed to vote, not allowed to marry, not allowed to own property, they're considered not old enough to be interrogated in the absence of a parent or guardian.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (on camera): Malvo's guardian says he hopes to track Malvo's mother down so she knows that her son could face the death penalty in Virginia if convicted of his alleged crimes -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much Patty Davis, live in Washington. Well, the buzz from Britain just ahead. Could allegations Diana's former butler is making an effect on Prince Charles' prospects for the throne? And, drinking a whole bottle may dull your mind but could having just one glass actually keep it sharp? A medical announcement just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Controversial revelations by Princess Diana's former butler are leading to a new royal scandal. This one involved allegations that one of Prince Charles' top aides raped another man. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a U.S. tour and upset his salacious stories currently scandalizing Britain are producing a backlash, former royal butler Paul Burrell hit back.

BURRELL: I just never expected it to be so vicious and so personal. The newspapers leading the campaign of vilification against me are the very same people who pretended to by my friends.

ROBERTSON: However, he plans to continues, as he says, telling the truth. Meanwhile in Britain, senior royal advisers gathered at Prince Charles' London home in an intense effort to limit damage done by Burrell's tabloid revelations.

ROBERT LACEY, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: There's no doubt at all though that this generates a lot of scandal and mud and a lot of it currently is sticking to the royal family.

ROBERTSON: Weekend editions piled on the dirt. Charles' former valet in the Sunday mail accuse one of the Prince's senior aides of homosexual rape. Through solicitors paid for by Prince Charles, the unnamed man accused of the attack denied the charges, just as he did during a 1996 internal palace investigation. But police were not brought in until last year, leaving some royal watchers wondering if there had been some form of cover-up at the palace.

ROBERT JOBSON, ROYAL EXPERT: Otherwise, the police would have been brought in to investigate the allegations of rape before the following investigation.

ROBERTSON: On Britain's national day of remembrance, Sunday, the queen and Prince Charles may have had as much as they want to forget was remember, a solemn occasion made more somber by the weight of questions emerging in the wake of the tabloid tide.

JOBSON: There are serious questions being asked about the judgment of the Prince of Wales and the people that he has around him; therefore, his suitability as the next king is being called into question.

ROBERTSON: Also under scrutiny the motivations for the queen's last minute intervention, which stopped Burrell's theft trial, as recent revelations hint at how much the royal family may have wanted to keep hidden.

ROBERTSON (on camera): And then there's the matter of the gifts, Prince Charles is facing questions from members of parliament about allegations his personal assistant sold official royal gifts on the Prince's instruction, keeping part of the proceeds himself, leaving MPs wondering if the profits have been declared on tax returns. Nic Robertson CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is: Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. Vote at cnn.com/wolf, and while you're there, we'd like to hear from you so send us your comments and we're going to try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read our daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.

A check of the hour's top stories is just ahead. Dozens remain unaccounted for in Tennessee. We're going to go live to the scene to hear from the people. Meteorologists say at least 50 tornadoes touched down overnight, a closer look at the science behind the storms. And, a little later, Vietnam vets get a little therapy from an old friend. Soldiers speak about rekindling the connection between man and machine; but first, a check of the headlines making news from around the world.

Britain beware, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is warning British citizens to be alert for a possible terror attack. France has issued a similar alert.

Rescue at sea, several survivors were plucked from the waters of Manila Bay after a commuter plane crashed in the Philippines. At least 14 people died in the crash, which happened just after the plane took off. Investigators suspect engine failure.

Derailment deaths, a Russian commuter train left the rails in St. Petersburg and plowed into a passenger platform killing four people. Reports suggest the brakes failed on the train, which was being tested after repairs.

Kibbutz killings, the Israeli newspaper (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group associated with Yasser Arafat's movement, is claiming responsibility for a deadly attack at an Israeli communal farm. Five Israelis were killed, including a mother and her two young children. The gunman got away.

Israel strike, helicopters fired rockets into a car repair shop in Gaza City. There are no reports of casualties. Israel says it believes Palestinian militants used the shop to make weapons.

France remembers, thousands attended Armistice Day ceremonies in Paris, marking the anniversary of the end of World War I, and that's our look around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Carol Lin sitting in for Wolf Blitzer. Coming up, how much warning did some of the killer storms' victims actually get?

And, of course, the cleanup continues across the Eastern United States. Where dozens of tornadoes have left at least 35 people dead. Once again, we go to CNN's Miles O'Brien who's on the scene in Mossy Grove, Tennessee, one of the hardest places hit -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I'm sure per capita when you consider this is just a tiny little community, it's not even a town or a village, it's just a community here nestled in the mountains of Tennessee, a little bit west of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Mossy Grove is a place that is as hard hit as any place right now and the job is just tremendous.

As you look -- everywhere you look here -- take a look at these power lines down here. These are dead power lines, of course. I'm told by the guys here there are 700 people in Morgan County around here without power. Trees that were just kind of upended at the 10- foot level. And then, as you walk across the street there where some of the houses -- most of the houses are, you see cars stacked up like they're in a junkyard ready for the shredder.

And all manner of personal effects just lying amid the debris -- remote controls, little prescription drugs, photographs, which say memories on them. Well, memories indeed. These are terrible memories for this town and really a memory, which is seared, of course, in Paulette Dyke's mind -- Paulette Dyke owns the Citgo store right down the street there if we can get a shot of it.

Paulette, you were there when it happened a little after 8:00 last night. Tell us what happened, what you heard and what you saw.

PAULETTE DYKE, CITGO STATION OWNER: About 15 until 9:00, the Citgo sign started bending over, the rain started looking like...

O'BRIEN: The whole sign was bending over.

DYKE: The whole sign was bending over, sheets of rain. Our friend door immediately opened and my husband and I were trying to hold it in and the wind just blew us. We went to the back of the store and we -- our garage doors in the back flipped open. They were swinging and we tried to hold it and the wind was just -- all we could hear was the wind and just trying to protect ourselves.

O'BRIEN: Give us a sense -- you had no basement there. So you had no place to flee, right?

DYKE: No, no. We just ran. Probably what saved our store was the fact that the front door was open and the back doors all open and the wind was blowing through.

O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind? Was it sheer panic, was it terror? Were you...

DYKE: Terror. My stomach felt like it was in my heart and it was just -- we were trying to protect ourselves from the flying debris.

O'BRIEN: Did you have any warning prior? Did you have a radio on or anything?

DYKE: Yes, I had the TV on until the power -- the power blew immediately at 10 until 9:00 when the storm started.

O'BRIEN: I see. So you really were sort of in the dark, if you will, on all of this?

DYKE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Now, as you've had a chance to look at this little town, you don't call it home, but it's a very important place to you, with your business here. You have a chance to walk through here. What goes through your mind as you see the personal effects of people who you know so well?

DYKE: I'm just devastated because they're all such good people and they've lost so much. And it's just mind boggling to me what they've been through.

O'BRIEN: Now, tell us there is a woman here who we're told lost an infant child. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

DYKE: I don't really know. I just hear what you're hearing, the same thing, that there say lady here that comes in the store. We know her -- that we've been told that her baby died. That's all I know.

O'BRIEN: Do you...

DYKE: I don't even know her last name.

O'BRIEN: What a terrible tragedy compounded upon everything else. This is a place -- have you lived here in this area for quite some time?

DYKE: No, we've only had the store a year and a half.

O'BRIEN: OK, and this is not what you would call tornado alley typically...

DYKE: No.

O'BRIEN: ... that you would have expected this kind of thing. DYKE: No, no, absolutely not, no.

O'BRIEN: Where does this little community go from here? Will this community rebuild, do you think?

DYKE: Oh, yes, yes. Everybody will -- they will all cooperate with each other. Everybody helps everybody here and it will rebuild.

O'BRIEN: What are they saying to each other today?

DYKE: Everybody is hugging each other and just glad to see that everybody is all right and everybody is checking on everybody. We have had a lot of people -- we don't even live around here and we've had a lot of people that's come just to see if we were all right. They knew we were at the store last night and we have help -- all kinds of help today.

O'BRIEN: All right, and the help, as we see right here, is the crews come in and getting busy. A little less than 24 hours after it hit, the effort to get the power back on. It's a big effort.

DYKE: Right.

O'BRIEN: And obviously, important for you, Paulette Dyke, as you move forward here. We wish you and the community of Mossy Grove well as you try to rebuild and try to regroup from this.

DYKE: We will rebuild, yes.

O'BRIEN: This terrible disaster. Thank you very much, Paulette.

Anyway, the story of these tornadoes is, well, it's an unusual time. It's an unusual place, as we were just talking about. This is not what you would call tornado alley, nor is the middle of November the time of year when you would think a lot about tornadoes. Here to tell us a little bit more about the meteorology behind all of this and how this fluke storm came to be, we turn to Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Miles. Yes, usually February, March, April, those are the months are where you see severe weather happen into the Deep South, although we have what we call a secondary severe weather season between the months of November and December. What happens is we get an active subtropical jet and there you can see behind me, it moves right across the southern tier of the country, especially during an El Nino year, which we are seeing a moderate El Nino year. So the red highlighted area from about central Texas extending over down into southern parts of Georgia, this is typically where we see it. But many of the tornadoes also occurred further up to the north into parts of Tennessee and also into Ohio.

We have pictures that we want to show you coming in from Van Wert, Ohio. And there, you can see a very powerful tornado. As you take a look there, you can kind of see the funnel cloud. And take a note how wide the funnel is as it's there on the ground. We know when we see something like that that this is a very powerful tornado. A lot of times tornadoes right -- go to this point like this and that is the weak part of the storm and that's when you start to see the F0s and F1s. Well, when you see the base of the wall cloud right there almost as wide as the tornado is, as it's touching the ground, you know that going to cause some major damage.

And we have just in from the National Weather Service that this was likely an F4 tornado. What does that mean? Well, likely winds of at least 207 miles per hour. There you can see the Fujita tornado scale behind me. A weak tornado would be considered an F0 with winds of 40 to 72 miles per hour. And the strongest would be an F5 tornado of 261 to 318 miles per hour. And an F3, F4 tornado, that causes massive destruction and just takes homes right off their blocks. So that causes major damage and that's exactly the type of condition that we're kind of seeing by you, Miles.

I did speak with the National Weather Service in your area earlier today. They were -- have been out assessing the damage, likely a strong tornado that touched down there as well. They're going to be having some regional analysts come out to look at the damage and they'll likely give us an idea of how strong that one was sometime tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: Jacqui, just quickly before you get away, first of all, it is unusual for tornadoes to touch down in these mountainous areas, isn't it?

JERAS: Yes, it is a little bit unusual. And a lot of times what happens is the storm system moves into the mountains, it kind of loses some of its lift and some of its energy. It kind of sheers off parts of the storm, so you don't see them happen very often in the mountain regions. Of course, the Appalachians are not all that high. We certainly don't see this very common across parts of the west as you head to the Rockies and areas of the of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and into the Sierra Nevada, is a very unusual situation, but there have been tornadoes recorded in every single state in the United States. And we've had tornadoes recorded every single month as well.

O'BRIEN: You know what struck me, Jacqui, today? Flying a small plane right through the front in the middle of the day, it was not nearly as intense as I expected it to be. It dissipated quickly. Why is that?

JERAS: Well, the storm system is kind of losing its energy and also what's happening is we're getting a little area of low pressure, which is developing on the tail end of that front. And so, that's kind of shifting the energy outward. We have to wait for another what we call a vortmax, so another punch of energy to move in to fire things up once again. And it looks like we're seeing another vortmax developing and moving across the southern tier of the Southeast. So we're going to be watching from about the outer banks of the Carolinas down towards Lake Okeechobee for the threat of severe thunderstorms late tonight and into tomorrow.

So this is an ongoing storm system. It's also go to be riding up the coastline, Miles. So while the severe weather threat is pretty much over and done with for much of the Southeast and the Mid- Atlantic, you're still going to be seeing some rain and windy conditions coming in behind that front.

O'BRIEN: Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center, thank you very much.

Just to update you, we do now have an official death toll of 36 people nationwide. In this county, Morgan County, Tennessee, seven people died immediately as a result of the storm. One other person, a rescue worker, died today of a heart attack in the course of doing exactly what you see behind me. These people are working at both sides of the clock.

Right now, this group here doing its best to restore power. Some 700 people in Morgan County, alone, without power, as we said, and one of the hardest hit places in the country on a night of amazing, unprecedented storms.

As we talked just a few moments ago to Paulette Dyke, who owns that Citgo station down the way there, she said she had her TV on and knew there was going to be problems as the storm was coming, but then the power went out. And once the power went out, she didn't have any sort of advance warning as to what was coming. This is a real problem. CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers looks at the warning issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It was a massive storm that stretched all the way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast.

(on camera): We have some very strong thunderstorms, numerous tornado warnings across this region and we're talking about the Ohio Valley on down into the Tennessee Valley.

(voice-over): Across the country, meteorologists knew it was coming and so did the public who paid attention. Take the Tennessee town of Mossy Grove.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: We listened to the weather on TV and it said that a tornado was headed for Wartburg. My mom had just called me and so my husband talked me into going to the basement. I didn't think it would hit.

MYERS: But it did hit between 8:30 and 9:00 at night, a tornado touches down.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: It sounded like a locomotive came through.

MYERS: The warning came at least 18 minutes early, allowing some families to take cover.

UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: We didn't see anything. We were all busy trying to get in the bathroom, to get all of the kids in the bathtub so they'd hopefully be safe. That's -- as we were going, our window blew in. That -- I mean we didn't hear anything. There -- it was that quick. MYERS: Because of a tornado's speed, the key to survival is preparation, knowing where you'd seek shelter before the storm hits and understanding the difference between a tornado warning and a tornado watch.

(on camera): A watch means the conditions are right for a thunderstorm, some could contain tornadoes. We indicate a tornado watch by a big red box. Mossy Grove had a tornado watch well in advance of the tornado. If you hear about a watch in your area, you should keep a radio on or a TV on; make sure you pay attention to media. Also, you can turn on your NOAH weather radio if you have one.

A tornado warning, not issued for a big area, but only issued for one county at a time was issued for Morgan County and Mossy Grove at 8:12. Twenty minutes later, the tornado was actually on the ground doing the damage. A tornado warning means that Doppler radar shows the rotation or someone actually saw the tornado on the ground. If you hear about a tornado washing, you need to take cover, get in the basement, get into the lowest level. If you don't have one -- but if you're in a mobile home, you really need to get out. Find a friend with a basement or get into a much stronger shelter.

Chad Myers, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So perhaps the biggest lesson in all of that is to have a good understanding and a healthy dose of respect for the strength of these storms, as Jacqui Jeras said just a moments ago. In excess of 200 miles an hour, these are the strongest storms on the earth. And this little community is now feeling that in a very poignant way. Back to you, Carol.

LIN: A very healthy dose of respect and fear, Miles. Thank you very much.

Well, we've got some groundbreaking medical news coming up. You may have heard what wine can do for heart disease, but what about a disease of the mind? Coming up, medical news made public just an hour ago. And on this Veteran's Day, a sound of a past war, putting today's vets at peace.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back. There is news from the medical research front that may offer hope in the fight against a heartbreaking ailment. Danish scientists report people that drink a little wine seem to have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. So let's go to our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta live in Atlanta.

I feel like we should be making a toast on this one, Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I forgot my wine tonight. But you know, Carol, it's just as you were saying earlier, there's been a thing called the French paradox and the people who drink wine in the past, we've known, despite their high fat diets, still have a lower risk of heart disease. It's something that happened in France. That's why it's called the French paradox.

And now, Carol, just about an hour ago, we're finding out as well that wine, a little bit of red wine, one or two drinks a week, has shown a statistically significant decline in the risk of Alzheimer's disease and all sorts of dementia as well -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dementia, Alzheimer's dementia to name a couple of them.

Now, what it is about red wine, this has been sort of a subject of great debate, but there is a substance called flavonoids in the wine. The name is not that important, but these flavonoids are known to have antioxidant qualities in them. These antioxidants can actually help the body decline the risk of Alzheimer's, thing like that, heart disease, and all that sort of stuff.

Flavonoids can be found in all sorts of different foods, not just red wine. So you don't have to go out and guzzle a bottle of wine. But you can also find it in red grape juice, dark beer, berries, onion and garlic and tea. Those are some of the other foods. But it's those flavonoids that seem to have a significant benefit towards possibly protecting against Alzheimer's -- Carol.

LIN: All that's good to know because a lot of people are allergic to alcohol. So at least there are some alternatives.

GUPTA: That's right.

LIN: Thanks, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good seeing you.

LIN: All right, you too.

Well, you're about to hear the sound many soldiers heard before they went to battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE LA MOIN (ph), CHIEF PILOT: This is that it is all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Why now are Vietnam vets -- why are they choosing to hear the Huey again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: This is Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. President Bush paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of the nation's veterans today, stressing that America is once again at war. This time against terrorism.

Earlier, Mr. Bush made an unscheduled visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In a steady rain, he walked up to the black stonewall, which lists the names of those killed or missing in the Vietnam War. At the base of the memorial, he placed a small American flag. Well, it was known as the Huey. Thousands were deployed during the Vietnam War, bringing troops into battle and bringing out the wounded. A documentary crew has been traveling the country in a restored Huey helicopter, making a film called "In The Shadow of The Blade." As CNN's Ed Lavendera reports, the Huey is helping veterans open up and share their emotions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wolfgang, Wolfgang, on site. We are surrounded, over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sound of those blades meant everything. It meant somebody was coming to pull you out of hell or give you a ride home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, there's a team on the ground that's taking fire. We may have to pull them out.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vietnam veterans will tell you; standing under the Huey helicopter's blades is like being home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like seeing an old friend again that you haven't seen in a long, long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, well, let's leave the decks off for now.

LAVANDERA: That connection between man and machine became Pat Freeze's inspiration for a documentary film. So his team of filmmakers and Vietnam veterans found a Huey helicopter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's their story and this is their helicopter. And the magic happens when you just put them inside.

LAVANDERA: For the last six weeks, they've flown around the country searching for veterans' stories, collecting film footage, even cockpit recordings. The mission's chief pilot, Bruce La Moin, calls it a flying time capsule.

LA MOIN (ph): It's like music. It's music to their ears, guys. This is what it's all about.

LAVANDERA: Ed Walsh is one of the veterans sharing the emotional wounds war has left behind. He used to fly the same chopper being used in this film. But when he sits in that seat, he can't escape the horror of what he saw, the image of a wounded soldier being lifted out of battle. The soldier looked at Walsh.

ED WALSH, VIETNAM VETERAN: He asked me if he was going to die.

LAVANDERA: The soldier asked Walsh to hold his hand. But by the time they landed, the young soldier had died.

WALSH: It's a healing process for the Vietnam vets and all vets. It's a healing process, you know. They need to be welcomed home. They need to be told that they're loved, that they didn't do anything wrong.

LAVANDERA: This chopper was flown by an Army unit nicknamed the Robin Hoods. The signature hat decorates the chopper's nose again, a reminder that this mission has been about taking rich stories and sharing them with those who haven't heard about the unheralded veterans of Vietnam.

Ed Lavendera, CNN, Ozark, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Time is running out for your turn to weigh in on our "Question of The Day." Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? Log onto CNN.com/Wolf to vote. The results in just a moment, but first, what makes a good CEO? Key business leaders are giving their take at the Fortune Global Forum right here in Washington, D.C. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, CEOs have a lot of roles. But I think the most important is setting the tone in the organization, if you will, defining the compass so that all of the organization's people will know what's important, will know what is right and wrong, will know the direction to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To define the strategy for the company and then execute that strategy in a timely and ethical manner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To attract, develop, motivate and retain the best possible people you can find in your company because when you get down to it, it's all about people. And when you have the right people, amazing things can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Earlier we asked you -- Can the British royal family survive this latest scandal? Eighty-eight percent of you said yes, while 12 percent of you said no. Remember, this is not, of course, a scientific poll.

I'm Carol Lin in for Wolf Blitzer. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.

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