Tornadoes Rip Through Southern States; At least 283 Dead in Six States
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's continue on, on our breaking news here. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Keeping you in the loop, and keep a look here at this live picture. This is Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We're waiting for this live news conference from the Alabama governor, Robert Bentley, and also the state's EMA director. They're touring some of the hardest-hit counties, one of which, obviously, is Tuscaloosa County. As soon as they come out, we will take that live. But now watch this.</s>BALDWIN: They are calling the storm catastrophic. More than 200 people have lost their lives as tornadoes have ravaged an entire region. I'm Brooke Baldwin. CNN is all over this unfolding story right now. (voice-over): Horror sweeps across the South, the most powerful storm system in decades devastating towns and ending lives.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's parts of this city that I don't recognize. I don't know how anyone survived.</s>BALDWIN: Loved ones are still missing, others in packed hospitals. And the ones still standing are seeing what's left.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is in chaos. It's like a silent monster.</s>BALDWIN: From Texas to New York, millions take cover. Coming up, you will hear from the people who escaped with seconds to spare.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here it is right here. Right here. See it spinning?</s>BALDWIN: And we are live on the ground, where crews are rushing to sift through the destruction.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrible.</s>BALDWIN: And save lives.</s>BALDWIN: OK. Let's start with the latest word we have here, and the death toll, unfortunately, keeps going up and up and up, but the latest number we have with regard to all these storms that have assaulted the South is at least 272, the number of fatalities across these six different states. And that number went up just since the top of the hour. Just a short time ago, we heard from President Obama, speaking from the White House, and he called all this damage you are looking at here heartbreaking. Here he is.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't control when or where a terrible storm may strike. But we can control how we respond to it. And I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover, and we will stand with you as you rebuild. I have already spoken to the governors of Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia, and I have let them know that we are ready to help in any possible way. I have declared a state of emergency in Alabama so that we can make all necessary resources available to that state.</s>BALDWIN: As he mentioned, the president will be heading to Alabama tomorrow, along with Craig Fugate, chief of FEMA. Now I want to take you to Tuscaloosa to Reynolds Wolf in the storm- stricken area there.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: One of the worst things about this tornado is not just the destruction that we have seen or a lot of the wreckage, but also some of the heart-wrenching stories we have heard from many of the people. Shannon Thomas is with us. Shannon, you grew up here in here in Tuscaloosa. What do you think about what you have seen here?</s>SHANNON THOMAS, RESIDENT: I think it's terrible. I grew up here. And we never saw nothing like this before. I mean, I grew up here, went to high school here. And I was at the reserve unit here. Never saw nothing like this before in our life.</s>WOLF: Now, where were you when the storm took place, when this struck?</s>THOMAS: I was at home. And it just -- we thought it was -- we thought -- when it was going on, we just heard the train, and it was just like mind-blowing. We saw -- we thought it was just like mind- blowing.</s>WOLF: Your family and friends OK?</s>THOMAS: So far. My brother, it's like the house was blew off over his head. And he just called me and told me that he saw the tornado over his head. And it was -- he looked up inside the tornado and saw debris going around inside of it. He said the only thing that happened to him was his fingers got...</s>WOLF: Very fortunate compared to many others. Thanks so much for your time. The amazing thing about this story, the numbers that continue to grow. We have had well over 100. In fact, we are getting close to the 200- mark in terms of deaths in Alabama alone, many more across the Southeast. Many people still missing. In fact, in this one neighborhood, there are anywhere from two, some numbers as high as four children that are missing in this area behind me. We have had some parties that have been coming through here searching for people. Hopefully, it is going to be a rescue mission, not a recovery mission. We have had guide dogs that have been through here also, hoping to find some survivors. But, right now, things do look very grim. One thing that is a true testament to the storm is not only the wreckage that you see affecting the houses and some of the trees, but even some of these incredible vehicles you see over here, many of these five-ton trucks that are designed to handle the rigors of the battlefield. But sure enough, many of them just in ruin for the time being. What a devastating story. And, again, it may get worse as the hours and days continue. Let's send it back to you in the newsroom.</s>BALDWIN: Reynolds Wolf, thank you. I do want to take you back 24 hours. It was right around this time yesterday that we showed you this picture live. This was the tornado hitting Coleman, Alabama. Do you remember this? We were on this live. This, we now know, was just the beginning. I want to go back to what Chad Myers told me 24 hours ago right here.</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The Weather Service saying that this is possibly the biggest outbreak they have seen in very many years. And it's just started. We are just to the heat of the day now. This will continue all night long.</s>BALDWIN: And 24 hours later, here you and I are in the same exact spot. We were hoping it wouldn't be as bad as expected, but wishful thinking, I guess.</s>MYERS: Two hundred and seventy-three people now.</s>BALDWIN: Two hundred and seventy-three now?</s>MYERS: That came out a minute ago. I was just walking in. The number is huge and the number keeps going up rapidly. They are finding people so quickly now. I don't know where this number is going to stop and it's very disturbing. If it clicks up one or it comes down two because it -- that's normal. For it to continue to go up by 10 to 20 people an hour is mind-boggling.</s>BALDWIN: Well, it sounds like when you talked to some of our crews on the ground and people talk about, look, if you know a tornado is coming, you huddle in the middle of the home, and you huddle in the tub, in the bathroom. But with this particular swathe of tornadoes, it took the whole home, miles away.</s>MYERS: Yes. I want to take you to some video. I don't know if you have seen this video yet or not. This is basically just coming in. What the tornado did from the air, from looking down at what used to be literally houses. Why did so many people die? Why did so many people -- why -- now I guess we are approaching 300. Why could that have happened if everyone was in a safe house, in their safe room, in their -- down below -- in their closet? Because now as we fly, Brooke, there are houses that aren't there. There are foundations right there in the middle of your screen. And there's not a stick on top of that foundation. Even if you were in your closet, you were still in either injured or you were killed.</s>BALDWIN: You know, oftentimes, at least for me, when I think of tornadoes, I think of more of a narrow, cylindrical shape. But this, did I hear, one of these, it was a mile wide?</s>MYERS: Yes. A mile wide and 60 miles long. Now, not the mile wide the entire 60 miles. It came, it grew, it got smaller, it grew, it got smaller. But three tornadoes out of 10,000 can ever be this big. Only about six out of 10,000 can be the F-4 scale. The men and women of the National Weather Service are not back yet from their survey, from the damage -- we don't know how big the wind speeds are, but clearly 200 miles per hour will be easy and I have never seen a day where so many were F-3, F-4, and F-5s. When we get the numbers in, they will be staggering at the number of large -- it is like having five Category 5 hurricanes in one season all making landfall. That's what yesterday was like.</s>BALDWIN: You talk about the number 273 now you are saying in terms of fatalities over six different states. Is this storm system, is it at all moving northward or is it done?</s>MYERS: It's not done yet. I have three tornado warnings in the low country of North Carolina, kind of, you know, Dare County, kind of off to the east there. And that's going to quickly move offshore. And the rotation will all be offshore. There is still a potential for some spin down in southern Georgia and northern Florida for the next couple of hours, but not this supercell storm system like we had yesterday. One storm here, another storm 50 miles away, not interrupting the flow to this one. This one never slowed down. They bump into each other and they die. They bump into each other and they. Then they split, they bump and they die. And they never get to this -- these were by themselves all day. We don't have that type of situation today.</s>BALDWIN: Chad Myers, stand by. We will talk again. Again, we are watching and waiting for Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and the EMA director to speak there from Tuscaloosa. You see the bottom right hand corner of your screen, that's the live picture we have. As soon as we see them, we will take that to you live. But I want to show you something else. This is video that we have gotten in from Georgia. This is where we are just hearing of this horrific story, but it is a story at least of survival. It is bittersweet. A young girl asleep in her bed is literally sucked up by a tornado. We will tell you what happened to her next.