Homes Burn in Oklahoma; Captured American Tries to Escape
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Good Friday, April 10th. And here are the top stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM. The South stands guard today against a possible tornado outbreak. Already, a twister slams one Arkansas town, leaving three people dead. Spectacular wildfires roll over neighborhoods around Oklahoma City, the flames fueled by hurricane-force winds. A desperate attempt to escape. An American held by pirates off Africa jumps overboard and tries to swim for it. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Well, it looks like a war zone. That's how one emergency official describes the damage from a deadly tornado that slammed an Arkansas town. At least three people were killed by the twister in Mena, Arkansas, near the Oklahoma border. Authorities say more than 100 homes were damaged. The tornado also hit City Hall, the courthouse, churches, and a middle school.</s>HARRIS: Let's talk about the wildfires whipped into a fury by hurricane-force winds raging across Oklahoma and Texas. At least two people are dead, dozens of homes lost. Our Ed Lavandera joining us now from Midwest City, Oklahoma. And Ed, I mentioned just a moment ago, what a devastating set of wildfires here. We're talking about a number of homes burned and businesses lost.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it was an incredible day yesterday. Firefighters struggling to keep up in the late afternoon, into the evening, with all of these wildfires that were breaking out across Oklahoma and into north Texas. So basically a line from Dallas/Ft. Worth, all the way up past Oklahoma City. And in some neighborhoods, this is what people are finding this morning. As we've looked around this particular home, you look inside, it is nothing but ash. Impossible to even make out any of the belongings that were once in here just yesterday. So an incredible scene. We were speaking with some of the firefighters who had to come back out here to this house a few hours ago, because so many of these spots, they had to quickly douse out these flames and move on to the next one. So a lot of this stuff is still smoldering, a lot of this debris, so they had to come back out here this morning and spray water down on several of these homes, and this is what we have seen. But Tony, the interesting thing is, is that a lot of the damage you see in some of these neighborhoods in Oklahoma kind of reminds you of tornado damage, where you enter a subdivision and one home is destroyed but the next two are standing. And that's because of the wind. The wind picking up the debris, and the embers that were flying from these wildfire fields landing on top of the homes, setting them ablaze. So that's why you see in some of these neighborhoods, the one we're in here, literally, the house next door is standing perfectly intact, and so an incredible scene. But you also do see the remnants of what the battle was like. In fact, on a driveway just across the street here, the garden hose that people were fighting these fires with on their front lawns is still sitting here this morning -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: Boy. And Ed, we just added a guest, a man you're probably familiar with from your time there covering this wildfire. Jerry Lojka is the fire marshal of Midwest City, where you are right now. We're going to talk to him in just a couple of minutes. Ed Lavandera for us. Ed, appreciate it. Thank you. Turning now to the hostage standoff on the high seas, the American ship captain held by Somali pirates tried to make a nighttime escape, but his attempt failed. Here is what we know. Captain Richard Phillips jumped off of the lifeboat where he is being held. He tried to swim to a nearby U.S. warship off the coast of Somalia, but the kidnapers jumped into the water, recaptured him, and returned him to the lifeboat. He is surrounded by four armed pirates. Meantime, two more U.S. warships are on their way to the area. They will assist the Navy destroyer crew in charges of resolving this crisis. Let's get right now to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She is in Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. And Barbara, if you would, bring us the very latest on this. As we mentioned just a moment ago, there are a lot of new developments here.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, a lot is going on. What we can first tell you is U.S. officials have confirmed the basic fact that Captain Phillips apparently did try to make a break for freedom, jumping over the side of the lifeboat in which he is being held to swim possibly to the USS Bainbridge, standing a short distance away. What happened, apparently, is he was very quickly recaptured by the four pirates holding him. There was no time, we are told at this point, for the U.S. Navy to effect a rescue. No helicopter flying overhead, no swimmers in the water. And it's not as all clear that the strategy would have been to keep a helicopter overhead, because that might have unsettled the pirates unduly, it might have churned up a lot of water and made it unsafe for Captain Phillips. So they quickly recaptured him. And now, of course, the U.S. wants to ensure there's a proof of life, that there is continued proof that Captain Phillips is OK. At the same time, Tony, a number of warships moving into this area, some U.S. Navy ships, possibly other coalition ships. The strategy is to make a show of force, to ensure that other pirate ships in the area -- and they are known to be there -- are shadowed by coalition warships, that they are not able to approach the lifeboat, and to make sure that these pirates holding Captain Phillips rapidly begin to understand no help is coming for them from other pirates, from their friends, and that they have no real option, to give up. The idea here is to establish a cordon of warship capability and make sure these other pirate mother ships come nowhere near this situation and get this situation resolved -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: A lot of interesting developments. Barbara Starr for us in Bahrain. Barbara, good to see you. Thank you. This hostage crisis is a game changer. That's how the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command sees it. He spoke exclusively with CNN's Barbara Starr in Bahrain.</s>VICE ADM. WILLIAM GORTNEY, COMMANDER, U.S. NAVY FIFTH FLEET: We've always thought that one of the potential game changes out there is a U.S.-flagged vessel with U.S. citizens on board. And we're there, and that's where we are right now.</s>HARRIS: So far, the U.S. warships sent to take charge of the crisis shows no sign of confronting the pirates. Right now, President Obama is meeting with his money team. We expect to hear from him when that meeting wraps up. And how about this -- a sweet deal in tough times, recession- proof chocolate? Now, that's what I'm talking about.