Massive Tornadoes, Flooding Kill 24 People
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: More than 40 people killed across seven states.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could hear the loud roar, like a train, and within 15 to 20 seconds, it's all over.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That sound, I just can't get that sound out of my head.</s>HARLOW: Texas survivors describing what it's like to live through powerful tornadoes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we could do was run to the closet and pray.</s>HARLOW: But the threat is not over.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why you got to shoot first and ask questions later?</s>HARLOW: Also, a student and a grandmother shot and killed by Chicago police.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is the mayor going to step up?</s>HARLOW: This morning, protesters pressuring Mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down. Plus, the Iraqi flag rises over Ramadi. It's a key victory against ISIS. But Americans say the terrorists are winning. What a brand-new CNN poll means for 2016. And Peyton Manning calls doping allegations against him, quote, "trash." And now he's fighting back. Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.</s>HARLOW: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my friend Carol Costello. Hope you had a good weekend. Thank you for being with us. Let's get right to our breaking news. Thirty million Americans right now under threat, as massive, deadly storms trudge east. In the last week, violent weather has killed 43 people, 24 of those deaths coming in just the last 48 hours. We are looking at a true triple threat. Snow, tornadoes and widespread flooding. A closer look at New Mexico, the city of Roswell seeing record snowfall, nearly 16 inches dumping there over the weekend. That snow now heading east, where multiple massive tornadoes just struck. 11 people killed near Dallas from those the storms. In Garland, Texas, we know at least 600 homes have been destroyed. And in the Midwest, cars swept away from deadly flash flooding. More than 100 water rescues in Missouri. Standing water shutting down a major interstate this morning. We'll have a look at today's forecast in just a moment. First, though, I do want to go straight to our Nick Valencia, he is live for us in Garland, Texas, this morning. Nick, you and I were speaking last night. The conditions were so bad it was even knocking your camera out. You were hearing from people who survived these storms. I know we have 11 lives lost. What are you seeing on the ground?</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the closest that we've been allowed to get so far, Poppy. And you could see the force of this EF-4 tornado that ripped through this area. This specific apartment complex suffering the brunt of the damage. Behind me, you can see just how powerful that tornado was, ripping through that brick wall. And over here, as our camera pans, that's the exact path that that tornado took, taking the lives of 11, eight of them here in Garland, Texas.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa, I just got -- there's lightning strike.</s>VALENCIA (voice-over): Overnight in eastern Texas, blinding rain, lightning, and strong winds in the city of Marshall. Downed trees and power lines possibly the work of yet another tornado touching down in the lone star state. Last night patrons inside a Chili's restaurant, huddling inside a freezing, as tornado sirens sound off. A tornado watch still in effect today. This morning the monster storm system wreaking havoc across the southern states, making its way eastward.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a big tornado. Big, big strong tornado.</s>VALENCIA: Over the Christmas weekend, Texas bearing the brunt of the storm. Ravaged by nearly half a dozen deadly tornadoes. An airplane passenger snapping this stunning photo of the massive storm on a flight to Dallas. Two powerful EF-3 and EF-4 twisters carving a path of destruction in Rowlett and nearby Garland on Saturday. The death toll, 11, making this the deadliest December for tornadoes in 60 years. Justin Schuler sifts through what remains of his home in Garland. He and his dog survived by taking cover in a bathtub.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stepped out because I heard the roaring, and that's when I saw it.</s>VALENCIA: Willard Jordan heard the tornado rip through his neighborhood in Dallas, his family and home spared.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buildings cracking, I mean, ripping stuff up. All we could do was run to the closet and pray.</s>VALENCIA: And this Garland resident rescued by family.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just stayed in my closet all night long, shaking like a leaf on a tree.</s>VALENCIA: The deadly storm spawning flash floods, white out conditions, and states of emergency in New Mexico and Missouri. In Missouri, more than 100 water rescues. At least six people in Pulaski County swept away by flood water Saturday night.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a small, dark highway. They probably did not know what hit them until they hit the water.</s>VALENCIA: The massive system dumping more than 16 inches of snow in New Mexico. Icy roads backing up traffic and shutting down Interstate 40 in Albuquerque.</s>VALENCIA: I just got off the phone with the mayor pro-temp here in the city of Garland. He tells me that at least 3,000 people are still without power. Dozens of families still displaced. Many of them having to spend the night in an American Red Cross shelter -- Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Nick Valencia, thank you so much for that. We've got flooding, the biggest threat this morning. A dangerous scene, especially in Missouri. Just moments ago, take a look at this, water on the road. More than waist deep. Never a good idea to drive in that. We've seen multiple cars over the weekend swept away, a number of deaths there. Officials warning drivers find alternate routes this morning or just stay off those roads. Let's go straight to Jennifer Gray, she's tracking the latest in the severe weather center. Good morning, Jennifer.</s>JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Yes. Patience is a virtue. Just keep telling yourself that at the airport. Right, Jennifer?</s>GRAY: Yes. Exactly.</s>HARLOW: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. We're also following breaking news in the fight against ISIS. Iraqi forces, major announcement this morning saying they have, quote, "liberated" the key city of Ramadi from those ISIS militants. This is new video. It shows those troops celebrating in the streets. Also raising the Iraqi flag over that government compound that was surrounded yesterday and liberated this morning. All of this happening just months after an embarrassing setback, when that city fell to ISIS. I want to go straight to Becky Anderson. She has the latest. This is huge because it was back in May that it fell. You had Defense Secretary Ash Carter talking about a lack of a will to fight among the Iraqi forces. Now a complete reversal of fortune.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, no real surprise then, is it, that this was described as an epic victory by the Iraqi military earlier? This much-touted offensive against ISIS militants in the strategic city of Ramadi, about 60 kilometers away from Baghdad. Now CNN cannot independently confirm exactly what is going on, on the ground. The extent then of what the Iraqi army has liberated is very difficult to pin down, Poppy. A somewhat more guarded statement, I have to say, from this spokesman for coalition forces earlier today, congratulating the Iraqis on what he called their continued success against ISIS in Ramadi, and offering continued support for the government of Iraq as it moves, it says, to make Ramadi safe for civilians to return. But what experts conceive is that it is very likely to ISIS militants who had been in control of this government compound in the center of the city may just have moved further north. And it is safe to say, as we've seen in the past, that there is every chance that they can regroup. In fact, reports in the past couple of days that ISIS fighters used civilians as human shields as they retreated from the complex. As far as a number of ISIS fighters are concerned, it's very difficult to say exactly how many are on the ground. I think, Poppy, the Iraqi army will claim this as its single biggest victory over ISIS since the terror group swept through the country in 2014. And the embarrassment of May 2015, as you pointed out. So while the bigger battle against ISIS is far from over, and Ramadi may not be over as a fight, this is certainly a symbolic victory. And there's no doubt there is a win here, at least for the Obama administration's strategy of providing U.S. air support and military advisers for what are these local boots on the ground. And also, importantly -- important to point out, these were Sunni tribal fighters alongside Iraqi Security Forces, not Shiite militia. In the past they were -- often that was a pretty controversial co-option in other operations. So again Iraq's military announcement they control the government complex in the center of Ramadi. How long they can hold it, what they're actually holding happens next really still clearly a big question -- Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Absolutely. Becky Anderson, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Back here on American soil, bad news for the Obama administration. We have this new CNN/ORC poll, which is quite a turnaround in --