i want to get you up to speed on what's happening right now. tornadoes are raking across oklahoma right now. warnings are sounding in the r normond and oklahoma city areas. more than one tornado has already touched ground just in the past few minutes. it's the top of the hour. you're watching "cnn newsroom." this is breaking news coverage. we're seeing huge trees stripped bare. houses torn from their foundations. and a wide path of complete destruction in the area around oklahoma city. this video you're looking at right now from one of the storm chasers, from our affiliate who has been watching this entire thing play out throughout the evening has been talking to us here on cnn. also watching this play out is our meteorologist chad myers. and chad, you know this area very well, you used to work and live in this area. we saw a tornado rip through a neighborhood live earlier here on cnn and it was nothing,

nothing but -- nothing less than anything incredible. >> yeah. you know, don, when you see this live, it really brings home what people live through when they're in their own homes. you tell everyone to shelter, to get inside, but i don't think anyone has a feeling for what it is like. when we have pictures of things like this of things torn out of the ground, roof trusses, walls getting knocked down, it really brings to light how much you have to prepare for situations like this if you live in an area that's prone for tornadoes. we're talking about the noaa weather radio. pictures here you see, just homes leveled. this is an ef-3 to an ef-4 tornado. probably a 3 at this point. the pictures you see here. now we're talking 140 to 170 miles per hour when you talk about damage like that, don. >> chad myers, apologize that someone was talking to me. chad, if you look at this

damage, let's talk about the severity of these particular storms. you were saying earlier about the -- what did you say, it was 140 mile an hour winds that would do damage like this, rip these trees, shred these trees like this? >> yeah. you never can put a certain number. you can't say it's 147.2 miles per hour. there really isn't such a thing you do a range. this range is somewhere in the ef-3 category. an ef-1 on the fujita scale, enhanced fujita, that's why we have to use the "e" in front of it. there's 0-5. zero takes a couple shingles, knocks off a couple limbs. a 2 will probably take off the roof structure and couple of 4 x 8 pieces of plywood. 3, removes the trusses like we see here. part of that roof is completely gone. 4 removes some of the outside walls. if you get to a 5, there are no walls left at all. we're not 5. there are walls left. some of the outside walls are

gone. partially an f-4, ef-4, that would approach 200 miles an hour. somewhere in the neighbor ohood of 140, 180. it's how much damage the structures have received and the cost of the repair. yet i don't see a lot of people panicking. i don't see people just looking for rescue squads. search and rescue, so far, so good when it comes to loss of life and injury that i'm seeing here. we can rebuild structures. can't rebuild lives. >> okay. chad, stand by. i want to go to randy duncan, cedric county emergency management director. that's a tornado in wichita. this is it. that's up right now. this is a funnel cloud in wichita, correct? from affiliate kfor that we're looking at. okay. so randy duncan, talk to us about the extent of damage in your area, if there are any injuries. what's going on? randy? >> hello. >> hi. randy duncan. talk to us about the extent of the damage in your area if there

are any injuries or what have you. >> well, i'm very pleased to say there are no fatalities or injuries as a result of this round of severe weather this evening. actually only relatively minor reports of property damage which is remarkable given the severe nature of the weather that passed through wichita and sedgwick county this evening. overall, i would say we escaped relatively unscathed. >> you said that you were surprised, obviously by property damage, but also there weren't more injuries or any injuries at all in your area. >> yes, that's correct. given the fact that we had a large tornado on the ground in the western part of the city in the area of wichita mid-continent airport, it is quite surprising that we didn't have fatalities or injuries, but we didn't, and i would like to think that's because we got the warning out to folks and they took the appropriate life-saving action. >> stand by.

hold on before i let you go. chad, they're out of the woods, right? this is past them. >> that's right. i was very concerned for wichita. i was watching e-mails come in with weather, tornado emergencies, tornado on the ground southwest of the city. large, violent damaging tornado heading into the city. then all of a sudden it really -- it lifted at the most opportune time to spare wichita. i'm really concerned now with the tornado you're watching on the ground, on the screen, with the pink box heading toward bethel acres, going over lake thunderbird. this is east of norman, oklahoma. this is now the storm we need to watch very closely. i do believe there will be a tornado on the ground very, very soon if not not already on the ground heading to maybe shawnee. this is the next storm we need to watch. there's the storm going by wichita. quite fortunate for the people there. >> as we have it here, because we're on top of this, cnn severe weather center. jennifer delgato with the new

situation. >> we're concerned with the storm to the west of nomrman, i should say the east of norman. we have tornado warnings in place until 6:45 local time. as we talk about this storm, this is the one we're concerned about. we put this in, track it for you. give you an idea. residents that live near the area. here's one problem, though, we're pretty close to the radar so that can make things harder to see. as we track this storm for you, hopefully our weather producer can track this storm for me so we can kind of give you an idea where it's heading. anywhere to the east of, say, moore, this is where we're going to see the potential for this storm to bring this tornado. now, keep in mind, stella, 6:19. 6:40 for bethel acres. for shawnee, 6:51. this is why we have the tornado warning in place until 6:45 because we're seeing something showing rotation. we're talking about the super cell bringing potentially a tornado. again, this is doppler indicated. it's not just norman we're talking about. we now have two more, looks like two more warnings in place just

to the north. we have one to the west of tulsa and now you can see another one. it looks like just on top of kansas. see to the west of independence, kansas. we focus on the one in tulsa. as we zoom in a bit more, here is that cell. we can see three of them right along the line. the one to the west of tulsa, we're concerned about that because, of course, don, we know tulsa highly populated areas with these storms moving through and these tornadoes that we're seeing. that is the real threat. of course, we've seen the history of the damage left behind. but as we track the storm just to the west of tulsa and we give you an idea of potentially where the storm could be heading and how quickly it's going to get into tulsa, and hopefully our producer will be able to track the storm in tulsa for us to give residents a heads-up. as we talk about tulsa, we don't forget about what's happening in norman. the one for tulsa, that is in place, it looks like as well until 6:45. now we're doing that for you and we zoom in. there is the circulation.

again, here is menford. now we've put this in. 6:28 for areas like lawrence creek. 6:38 for mansford. tulsa, 7:17. so we still have that threat for more tornadoes as we go through the evening. we'll start to see that threat diminishing, but for parts of eastern oklahoma, we have tornado watches in place until 11:00. and that is local time. don? >> all right, jennifer, thank you very much. if we can get those pictures back. i don't think enough can be said about those pictures and they really do tell the story of the damage that happened in oklahoma earlier. there it is. chad, only, you know, i can tell you what i see here, but read these pictures for us. tell us what happened in carney. this is carney. then in wellston as well. >> the storm came out of oklahoma city proper up near the town of edmond where i used to live. that's where the tv station are located as well. traveled parallel to the i-44. as it came out of oklahoma city,

edmond, and on toward carney. i believe carney probably took it the worst. that's where we had the highest gate-to-gate shear. the doppler radar seeing different directions. wind coming toward the doppler and away from the doppler at 130, 140 miles per hour right there near the carney area going over the highway that connects carney into wellston. as this storm continued to move toward the east, it died off a little bit. it's reintensifying and we have a new tornado warning for the western suburbs of tulsa. i'm very concerned, lake thunderbird, though, on toward bethel acres, that's where the highest degree of danger right now lies. there are three separate super cell s. the one rotating the most is southeast of oklahoma city proper. slightly rural right now, but there are more towns and cities in the way. as this continues to get stronger, don, the storm southeast of oklahoma city is getting stronger, not moving toward oklahoma city, but

definitely toward possibly the shawnee or the bethel acres area. take cover if you lie in that area from lake stanley draper right over toward bethel acres. we'll keep you advised. >> yeah. chad said that quickly, chad speaks quickly because he has so much information to get out. take shelter. be safe. we cannot emphasize that enough. correct, chad myers? >> absolutely put. put as many walls between you and the outside of your home as possible. >> as possible. >> the closet wall. get inside that small inside closet. make sure there's not things heavy over your head. make sure that's not where you store your bowling ball. get everything out of that closet except you and your loved ones. >> amen, brother. stand by, chad myers. i want to go to a storm chaser who can talk to us more about the pictures and the damage. okay. stand by. kokh, affiliate coverage, listen in. it's the oklahoma city area. and this was reporting from carney, correct?

okay. let's listen. >> talked to some of the folks who were hit hard out here in carney. >> great, thank you so much, priscil priscilla. you guys be careful up there, okay? >> thanks. >> priscilla is up in chandler right now. i'm sorry, carney. they are streaming but i can't get their stream. >> we're going to talk to some people right now. they're getting ready to -- >> okay. perfect. hey, jeff, that storm down -- >> okay. they were talking to a reporter who was in the area and was giving really some detailed information about the damage that she was seeing there. but, again, i want to go now to someone who has been chasing this storm. has seen the damage. his name is tony lubbock. i hope i have that right, tony. where are you right now? >> i am southbound out of wellington, kansas, right now, actually to get on some storms that look like they're intensifying south of wichita at the moment. >> so you're near wellington, kansas. wellington, kansas. so far no damage you are seeing from this super cell there yet?

>> well, we were -- i was on the super cell that went through wichita, kansas. there was minor damage in wichita. fortunately they dodged a huge bullet compared to the folks down in oklahoma. but the night's still young and we've got several super cells that look like they're starting to develop along i-35, along the kansas/oklahoma border. >> yeah. so nothing in wellington yet. in the wichita area, where earlier, describe to us what you saw as you saw this storm, as you witnessed it go through and you chased it? >> it was a very intense situation for people of wichita. that tornado started moving into town. it actually got wrapped in rain and precipitation. making it very, very difficult for people to see, which really makes a point of taking heed of these warnings because a lot of times you're not going to see the tornado as it's bearing down on you. especially in these instances where the rain and hail is so heavy it actually blocks the view of the tornado which was

going on in wichita. so, again, fortunately that tornado that went through wichita did not do as bad of damage as the ones in oklahoma. certainly could have been huge to have a tornado like that move through a major city. >> all right. thank you very much, tony laubach who is chasing this. he is in wellington, kansas. we have people in wellington. this is a little bit earlier in the wichita area. look at that. look at that hail. unbeliev unbelievable. that was the minor part of the damage. the hail part. the winds, the rain, worse than that. we're going to keep you updated on that. we also have people in oklahoma. oklahoma got pummeled. you saw the damage from oklahoma. it is just devastating there in the wellston area. also near edmond as well. arcadia, luther, carney. just obliterated many homes there. we're going to update you on the situation there. don't go anywhere. we're going to keep an eye on all things weather for you and keep you updated on the newest

information as it comes in on cnn. also we're going to talk a little bit of politics as well. no, we won't. we'll be right back. that's what i'm hearing. don't go anywhere. ill sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. at university of phoenix we kis where it can take you.cation (now arriving: city hospital) which is why we're proud to help connect our students with leading employers across the nation. (next stop: financial center)

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hello, everyone, don lemon in the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. this is our continuing breaking news coverage of the super cells moving across the country, specifically oklahoma and kansas. leaving destruction in its path. i want to go to meteorologist jennifer delgato with new information for us.

what do you have, jennifer? >> we have a new tornado warning that has been issued. this one is just to the west of norman. as we zoom in a bit for you, it's going to take me a second, because it takes a little bit to try to get oriented here. as we pull this up and zoom into the area, this is one in norman we're talking about. we have another tornado warning in place here. this one is in effect, it looks like, roughly, we can pull the time up. hopefully our producers can track this for us. can you pull that up for me? we have the rotation right to the west. very close to the radar. that makes it hard to see the tornado. with the beam going through. we do know we have signature there. as we track this for you, and we show you 4,000 people potentially under this tornado warning that goes until 6:45. we showed you some of the cities that showed bethel as well as he's going to add in a bit more for us. shawnee for 6:50. 7:02. again, this is a confirmed tornado on the ground. now, as we go back over to our graphic here, we have another one that we are following and

this one is for stella city. and this is just to the east of -- there's norman. you can see for yourself. here's stella. 6:18. bethel acres at 6:39. and this tornado warning, it goes until 6:50. now, that is what's happening right now in parts of oklahoma. as you can see. and we go to the live pictures. this is stella. yes. you see it on the right hand side. don, there's no question this tornado is on the ground. very large wedge tornado. this is moving through and we already know this is near, again, stella. as we show this to you, you need to make sure you are in an interior part of your home in the basement. making sure you are properly, properly covered and you have -- you're not near any windows. don, you see this video here. >> is that -- >> that is a tornado. yes. we. this is live. that is a tornado. it is giant. just like what we saw last time. coming out of oklahoma city i think it was.

reportedly some people were says about a half mile wide. this one right here, let's give it some competition to the one we saw earlier coming out of oklahoma city. and, again, as we zoom in again, this is out of stella. >> this is stella. hey, just to check, producers, is there any sound on this? an we hear this or is it just pictures? no sound. >> no sound? >> again, this is near stella. >> you know what, you don't even need sound with this. >> yeah. >> you know, don, you know that this is a tornado. this is in your path. this is a large one, again, near stella. as we go through, we're looking at the cell right there, and i think this is the area, 6:38 bethel acres. 6:42 clarks heights. i don't know if chad is on the phone or not. he is a lot more familiar with this area than i am. >> i'm here, guys. >> right. okay. there it is. just northwest. there it is. there is our signature. anywhere to the east of that. this is the area we are certainly concerned about.

>> let's look at the pictures. >> yeah, let's go back to the video. >> thank you. there we go. there's the video. again, that's giant. as we talk to our meteorologists here, jennifer delgato and chad myers, we have chad on the phone as well. chad, are you there? >> yes, i am, don, i'm here. >> what are we seeing here. >> watching it live. this is the storm that came across norman. didn't really put anything down there. there was a wall cloud. significant wall cloud. norman was the populated area we were so concerned about. over lake stanley draper, lake thunderbird area, now across pink. this is highway 9. it's moving just to the north of due east. that will take it into bethel acres in just a few minutes and farther to the east, i'm mainly concerned, fire lake golf course area, shawnee, this is the area you see the big word, shawnee. finally off to the east. these storms have been tracking slightly north of due east. that would put it right over two very large towns. not cities proper, but shawnee could certainly be called a city when you talk about the number of people. it's a suburb.

it's just probably 10,000 or 15,000 people that live very close to oklahoma city but not in the city proper. >> and jennifer, as i understand, we're getting new information here by the seconds. there are more -- do we have more warnings or watches? >> we do have more warnings out there. just to give you some more information, i know chad just said bethel acres. we just pulled that up. it's going to be there potentially if it holds together, the super cell, 6:to. that give you time to try to take cover and making sure that you have some type of plan in place that you can activate right now. now let's go to the other one. this is the other tornado warning. this is up in tulsa. and i think this is what i'm looking at right now. >> don't we have a tower cam from tulsa? >> yes, we do have a tower cam out of tulsa. let's go to the one out of tulsa. and what we're looking at is, don, can you see it? >> this is live from tulsa. >> okay. i'm having a hard time seeing it. it looks like what we're dealing with now is another tornado developing there. you can see that rain, the downdraft coming down. it makes it hard to see at times. it looks like we're potentially

seeing a tornadoes across the region and i think it is being confirmed there is a tornado there. as we go back over to our graphic and talk about the two that we have, here's manford, again, this tornado here as we track this for you and tell you, it looks like this is going to be in place to about 6:50. and we show you some of the communities that are in the path of this storm. you can kind of see the signatures. they're looking pretty food goo the radar. very classic hook echo. as we time this for you, i think maybe we'll pull that out for you, 20 miles out. and 6:27, park. 6:52, south village. 6 6 6:57, shamrock. this is not a time to obviously not listen to authorities there. >> listen. some people may think, this is national news, why are we being so local? because we're trying to save people's lives. >> absolutely. this is tornado alley. >> we want people to get to safety. this is tornado alley. we're trying to forecast this for you, tell you how far out this thing is and if it's right on top of you.

chance are if it's some time away from you, you still have power and can see us and can get to safety. also for people around the country who are watching this, listen, we have seen the damage for these poor folks who are coming back to their homes now and what's left of them. and this is what's happening to them on a sunday evening. you may be sitting at home watching us, getting ready and saying, oh, you know, i've got to take care of this, take care of that. imagine for a second, step back and take a breath. your sunday evening could be much different for if you were in a different location. and it could happen to any one of us, whether it's a fire or hurricane or storm or what have you. and it comes right up on top of you and then all of a sudden you have lost your property and your life has changed. we're going to take a breath here because we have so much going on. you heard jennifer talk about all the watches and warnings. you heard chad myers talk about what he's concerned about. what he's concerned about. so we're going to get back to chad. we're going to get back to jennifer as well. we're going to get back to our

storm chasers. we're going to take a breath and collect all the information that we can for you and we're back on the other side of a very short break. ♪ [ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away in the back of our mind. a secret hope. that thing we've always wanted to do. it's not about having dreams, it's about reaching them. ♪ an ally for real possibilities.

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welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the severe weather situation. i'm going to set this up for you. this is affiliate kokh. the meteorologists in the studio talking to a reporter who's driving telling him a tornado is four miles west of him. let's listen in. >> especially when there's a lot of, you know, a lot of truck station around there and you start to -- show what road you're on exactly. >> i'm on i-40. >> okay. he's cruising right past i-40. sean, okay, you may want to slow down a little bit. >> it's to your south. if you go over to doppler 2. >> yes. >> doppler 2, there's like a tornado debris ball showing up on radar.

there's a tornado, and sean is coming on i-40 up in here. he's in the rain and the hail up here not too far from dale. okay? sean, if you're still on listening to us, the tornado is actually to your southwest. i didn't know you were on i-40. i thought you were on another road coming west out of shawnee. you're on i-40. so the tornado is to your southwest. okay? we're getting a debris ball signature on radar right now. basically the tornado is picking up debris and it's flying around the tornado and that's what it is right here, we're picking that up on the radar and it shows up as big hail and stuff like that because you've got trees or whatever, debris flying around. so just be careful there, sean, because you've got a pretty serious situation when you try to drop south there, that tornado is going to come right up on you there. it's just -- it's just west of bethel acres there. okay? and it's just a couple miles south of the interstate. okay? >> okay. i appreciate it. i'll see if i can get you

another view of it. >> what you might want to do, sean, you might want to head back toward shawnee and drop south and get ahead of this storm. >> okay. >> the way you're going, you're just going to continue to -- if you just stay on the interstate, you're going to continue to drive in rain and hail and not see anything. >> okay. >> so i would somehow drop south. it might be a good idea to go back to shawnee, the shawnee exit and drop back south and get ahead of the storm. if you drop south right now where you are, the tornado is going to come right up on you. >> that thing was huge. >> yeah. >> sean, we're leaving your stream up at all times. just so you know. your stream is going to be up for, you know, until further notice. so please stay on, like john was sh saying. i wouldn't continue into that area because you're going to go into the updraft there. as that tornado is on the ground, we want you to stay in a safer spot right there which may be right where you're at or hang back a little bit then drop -- >> it's moving east at 30.

new statement from the weather service, jeff. >> that is our affiliate kokh. hear the meteorologist advising the reporter, hey, buddy, slow down or get out of way because that thing is headed right toward you, advising the reporters to be safer. chad myers has been on the air all evening doing the exact same thing. chad, you must be safe. must be safe in the area. and what are your concerns? you were concerned about some areas in oklahoma earlier. >> well, i'm concerned a couple things, don. people want to go out there and take a look at things. wro you know, what you don't want to be a storm chaser if you don't have proper equipment or backup. weather equipment and a noaa radio doesn't make you a storm chaser. you can get yourself hurt. you'll get other storm chasers or authorities hurt because you're in the way and they have to come rescue you. there's a storm with a tornado on the ground just south of dale. south of i-40.

this is east of oklahoma city heading toward town of shawnee. it's still about 15 miles we've of shawnee and moving away from norman, away from those populated areas there. another populated area, this storm is very close to the shawnee reservoir. tracking to the east right where that meteorologist is pointing, north of what we consider bethel acres into the town of shawnee. this is a very large storm. it's difficult to see. there are no pictures on television, either affiliate i've been looking at because it's wrapped in rain right now which means you can't go out there and look at it. all you're going to see is a bunch of rain. you won't see the tornado. you should stay inside. in shawnee and try to get yourself away from windows and between as many walls and the outside as possible, don. >> chad, i want to show everyone the reason that you're seeing this and that we're on the air now covering this. the intensity of the tornadoes.

if we can get the wichita tornado in the pipe, i want to hear it and i want to see it. let's listen to this. >> it's huge. >> okay. we're getting hit with rain here soon. got to get ready to go. >> so, chad myers, chris chitik is storm chaser, chad, he's tornadohunter.com. chad, let's talk to him. chris, so -- >> yes, how are you? >> this is incredible. >> thank you. >> yeah. well, i mean, incredible in the sense -- >> we were southwest of wichita there, and then it's actually a pretty scary situation.

the guy was completely wrapped in rain. we got in there, got great shots and literally 45 minutes later we were dropping south near wellington, a needing touched down, thank god out in the middle of nowhere. >> how close did you get to this, chris? >> i'd say probably a half mile or so. >> and as you're -- describe to us what's going on. these are power lines that are being taken out and sparking here, right? >> yeah, yeah. so we were right there, and then it crossed over the road and as you can see in the video, it's hitting the power lines and just power flashes are going off and, you know, it's a pretty crazy situation. the road network around that area isn't the best. we tried to do our best we could. we were live streaming as well on our website, tornadohunter.com website. >> sand by, chris. chad, most people would run the other way. >> and you should. chris, i have a question for you, because this was a nearly

deadly storm for wichita, kansas, that didn't happen. this was only ten miles from the most populated area in south and central kansas that we have. it merged with another cell. the cell got in the way. the circulation went away. did you watch it? because i know you watching this cell you had to be thinking to yourself, oh, my, what is wichita in for? did you watch this storm die? >> yes. yes. we watched it. it actually got away from us a little bit. it was moving about 35 miles per hour. then it merged with the other cell, you know, at that time you think it had happened. remember last year wichita got hit pretty bad, a nighttime tornado that came through. yeah, it's a scary situation. we're out chasing at the moment right now as well. >> we watched the storm, don, we watched the circulation for this wichita storm thinking, oh, please, do something. and a cell got in the way. it's like battling tops. for a while there was only one

top. and then another cell came in from the south and battling tops kind of bounced off each other. remember when you were kids, you pulled the string and the tops would bounce off. the big storm, the big tornado finally did die because the other storm got in the way. >> chad myers, chris chittick, both of you guys stand by. we're going to talk to you extensively on the other side of the break as well as meteorologist jennifer delgato in the cnn severe weather center getting more information on watches and warnings and the path of this super cell. don't go anywhere. we're back right after a very short break. >> okay. we're getting hit with rain here soon. got to get ready to go. the kyocera torque lets you hear and be heard

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and 'clean and protect' kills odor-causing bacteria. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth. all right. we're back with our coverage now. you're looking at live pictures from affiliate kokh of one of those tornadoes. there have been a number. let's go to jennifer delgado, meteorologist. she has new information. >> hi, don. the reports continue to go up. we want to focus right now on what's happening in the area to the west of shawnee. this is our area, very classic signature there. we do have a report of a tornado on the ground. again, this is very close to thunderbird state park. now, as we track this for you to give you an idea, potentially

where it could be headed and then next 30 minutes, it looks like clarks height at 6:43. johnson at 7:01. as we go through the next couple of minutes, we're going to continue to see this tornado warning in place until 6:45. i think we even have some live video coming out of oklahoma city. is that it, don, that we're l k looking at up there? i mean, very clearly, we've had reports of tornadoes popping up three eastern and central parts of oklahoma. >> we're not sure of the exact location. this is an oklahoma affiliate kokh obviously. we're not exactly sure. >> yes, you can see that. it's lowering. now, we have something new in place. this is coming out of iowa. this is to the west of des moines. as we put this into motion, it's located to the west of it. it looks like it's going to be heading into the des moines area in the next 30 minutes now. this tornado warning that we are hearing, a confirmed tornado, moving very quickly, don. this forward speed is 55 mile

per hour. des moines. adelp 15 minutes. your time is coming to a minute to get to shelter. make sure you're getting into the interior part of your room or your home as well as into the basement. something that provides safety. better than being on the outside of the home, of course. never be near the windows. again, that's what's happening in des moines. so, again, still looking at several tornado warnings through parts of oklahoma and if it's not my imagination, i think now there's been another one issued there. i don't think there were two boxes out there at last check. now we're seeing two different areas for tornado warnings. and then for areas up to tulsa. we have tornado warnings in place as well. not sure if we have that on our radar as well. i'll zoom out a bit more for you. this is iowa, again, we're talking about. >> hey, jennifer. i'm hear from the producers, kfor, new pictures. it is believed to be something that is developing there.

>> yeah. i thought i just saw a tornado. it's very hard to see. rain wrapped. we see these issues. it's hard for us to see, of course, it's hard for people who live there, the residents as well. >> stand by, jennifer. yeah, you're working on the latest information. i want to get to chad myers who has new information. as we watch these pictures from kfor, what do you have? >> i have something for any serious xm radio viewers, listeners out there. we're talking about i-40. if you're on i-40, if you're 10 or 15 miles east of shawnee on i-40 heading to the west, you need to stop. you literally need to stop your car and let this tornado go by you. you do not want to drive into this. see it now, don. this storm is about to go just to the east of dale, right over i-40. tractor trailers, cars are no match to power like this. >> this is enormous, chad, that we're looking at. is this from a chopper earlier where the tornado hit? can we listen in to this?

>> what looks like right there toward st. gregorys, and just going to be over maybe the north side of obu, over the airport, mike. hey, where are you at, chase? >> chad, i wanted to hear more from this chopper pilot. let's listen. >> it's 3-w, fixing acro croscr >> chad, this was shawnee you were talking about and this thing is enormous. and you can see it is touching down, chad myers. >> hey, mike? >> i don't want to get in the way of this live streaming video. >> let's listen, chad. let's listen. >> just south end of 3-5.

about one mile. shawnee. it's in 3-w. it's fixing across 3-w and i-40. all right. coming back. over to the right. now to the left. come in left. >> so chad, it is intermittent, but as you said, if you're on i-40, you need to stop right now because your car is no match for this. >> yeah, he was mentioning 3-w. it's also known as u.s. 177. u.s. state highway. and if you get into this with a car, where the winds here are 130, 150 miles per hour, your ka

is no match. there's no room left for your car or you in that car when this tornado is done with. you need to stop the car and just get out if you have to and get in the ditch. this is the time where you need to get in the ditch. you know, people always ask, should we really get in the ditch? yes. if there's nowhere else out, then yes, get out of the car because there might be -- this could be really -- >> chad, do you see this? >> i'm watching it live. >> do you -- look at this. >> i see it, don. this is an ef-3. 130, 140 mile an hour storm. >> already see some gusty winds, even as far away -- >> this is the main storm that came out of norman. >> still very gusty winds. more than likely a rear flank downdraft. millennium 3, let's get that full screen, please. >> chad, you saw the size -- that was a downflank, a back -- >> it's so hard on television, don, to figure out what part of a storm. because i don't know which way the camera is looking. what we know is that that's not

the most important part of the storm. the tornado is on the ground at i-40 and u.s. 177 or called 3-w north of the town of shawnee crossing over i-40 and it will be paralleling i-40 for a while. and then traveling north of i-40 on the way to the northeast. now, this should still track well south of tulsa, but you get the idea. one cell after the next today has been rotating and this is another big one. >> chad, the affiliate radar says the town of dale, what does that mean to you? >> dale is along i-40. and it's right there at the intersection. little bit farther to the west of there than the i-77, 3w, i-40. dale is missed. dale really did get a big miss. so did shawnee the town proper. this the northern part of shawnee where shawnee attaches to i-40. there will be businesses up there, a few hotels, restaurants

along the same intersection. it's more of almost an interchange, like a relief right up there to the north of shawnee. that's where this tornado is on the ground right now. >> what does the chopper shot look like, guys? the one we were looking at? chad, there it is. this looks well developed and enormous. >> yeah. i've been watching it live streaming on the kfor website. you can also click on there, the live video, the streaming video. helicopter shot. these helicopter pilots, i don't know how they do it. they've been doing it since 1989 when i left oklahoma city for other places and they get these sh shots. they with well out of the way. there's never been on zentan ac. they're miles away. it's zoomed in. that's a wedge tornado 130 to 160 mile per hour tornado on the ground. very close there north of shawnee, right along the i-40 corridor. >> i know it's hard from watching on television and streaming just how big this is. earlier the chopper pilot for the one that hit earlier, i think it was wellston, was about

a half mile wide, he said. >> this is on its way there. this storm is still getting stronger. this storm was a weak ef-0. ef-1. coming over lake thunderbird. draper. farther east on the way into bethel acres. this is now getting stronger. there's nothing in the way. there's nothing that's trying to steal its energy. it's the only storm around. it is becoming the big dog. it could eat all of the moisture and all of the heat. that's why this storm is getting bigger and bigger as we watch it. >> as we look, as we said, it was i-40 and 3-w i think. what's in that area? it's going right across the airport? tell us about that area and the density of that area. >> yeah, just slightly north of the airport and shawnee, town of shawnee, probably a good six miles farther to the south of there. >> you notice they're driving away, chad, by the way. they're getting out of there. >> -- for the people there in shawnee.

sometimes it's time to get out of the way. you notice still all the cars that are out there. they all put themselves in danger whether they're chasers or not. this is a day when you're in that area to stay home, protect yourself, your family and all the other things around your home. there's no reason to go out on a sunday night. this is dangerous. >> and i notice they're driving away quickly and i would imagine, i don't know -- i see other cars going the other way. trying to get out of danger or if they're chasing this storm. we saw -- and we saw emergency vehicles heading toward the storm a moment ago. >> hey, don, this is one of the reasons why i need to talk about the apps you can buy for your phones. i'm not going to talk about any one app. you do your own research. but it's about the app, if you use your gps and you're driving, you know, you hear about these warnings. the warnings are for counties. the county of such and such just got a warning. if you're driving from -- you don't know what county you're in in oklahoma. you're just driving. the new apps know where you are.

they know what county you're in. they know you were just placed in a tornado warning. anybody that travels a lot, that drives a lot in tornado alley, in severe weather season, you need to buy one of these apps. many of them are close to free. 99 cents. 1.99. whatever it might be. it's the best thing you can possibly do so you know where you are when the tornadoes are close to you. >> chad, we're at the beginning of the season, right? >> well, yeah, april should have been the beginning of the season. really. we didn't have an april season. something in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 tornadoes in april. should have been almost 400. by this time of year, we should have over 500 tornadoes on the year on ground on average. right now we have 250. today is going to make up for quite a few numbers i believe. it is still spring. my son gets out of school for summer break on friday. everybody thinks it's already summer but it's not. it is still spring. there's still warm air. there's still cold air. there are still major jet streams in the air and severe weather season is certainly not over. even though it had a late start,

it's in full swing now. >> chad, you're watching. you said you're watching the live stream. and i am on social media following this as well @donlemoncnn. i'm not sure if you have time to check social media, but chad is on as well. chad, i have a question from a viewer. people on the stream keep talking about the mall. what's going on at the mall? which is a heavy, you know, heavily traveled area. have you heard that as you were watching? >> i don't know what mall they're talking about, don. i mean, there is -- there's a kind of a strip mall-ish things on up there at the 3-w and i-40 and i just saw pictures of rescue squads, of first responders, lights on. i couldn't even get a locator for that. i couldn't figure out what intersection that street was. there's damage all the way from the lake thunderbird east of norman area, across that area, lake thunderbird, lake zrap draper. this tornado almost went right

over the radar. it traveled just to the north of shawnee. >> this is lake thunderbird area. for those of you downstairs, our national desk, if you can check on the mall, just ask our affiliate, kfor, what's happening at the mall. i'm getting people asking me ar about that. say, again, tom? i'm sorry. we did see some damage in the lake thunderbird area. just a couple minutes ago. we'll get that video to you shortly. and also i'm being told, chad, shawnee mall is on the north side of town, i-40, looks like it may have been in the direct path of the tornado. thank you, folks, on twitter. excuse me, for that. that's something we need to check and confirm with cnn and our folks are all over it. thank you for that. they're saying that the mall may have been hit by a debris ball. so, again, that needs to be confirmed. we're checking on it. of course, it's sunday evening. that's what people do.

they go to the mall, especially during graduation. >> that's a new term, don. debris ball is a very new term. it's because we have dual pole doppler radar. we used to have doppler radar that would see in one direction. we actually have the wavelengths going in two opposite directions. up and down, the horizontal and also on the vertical. therefore we can term whdetermi we see on radar is not a rain drop. it might be a shingle, could be a leaf, could be a tree limb. it might be any part of a house. the radar knows the size of the stuff and it's saying, the information, this is not a raindrop. this is debris. the only way debris gets in the sky is if it gets picked up by a tornado. so you'll hear that word debris ball from now on. it's a new term. kind of like we lost the word squall line. we picked up the word debris ball. a tornado is on the ground creating damage. >> okay. we're hearing now the mall may

have been closed. hopefully it was. again, look at these pictures. the sky is ominous. moments ago we saw a fully formed tornado crossing i-40 and chad myers is watching it. our meteorologist here. jennifer delgado as well. also our affiliates. of course, covering it. the power of cnn. we have everybody on this story. and we want to make sure that you're safe. but the damage we can assure you is significant. in oklahoma and in kansas. we're going to stay on top of the story for as long as it takes. there's also a warning now in iowa. west of des moines. more right after a very quick break. don't go anywhere. we're back in just moments here on cnn. [ male announcer ] my client gloria

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looking at live pictures. shawnee, oklahoma. shawnee, oklahoma. these are, sorry, pardon me. these are moments ago. shawnee, oklahoma. our meteorologist jennifer delgado is here. jennifer, looks like a tornado to me. >> looks like a tornado. and it is a tornado. we've had denv-- >> reports of tornds tornadoes on the ground in shawnee. we're watching this area. very questionable. we're seeing the rotation. there is shawnee. again, weave been talking a lot about pink. as we zoom in, we're going to track this for you. we're looking at two areas of rotation as we track this for you. we go 33 minutes out. this is what's going to happen. near johnson if the storm holds together. if the super cell, for areas like belmont, at 7:20. keep in mind, this tornado warning is in effect until 6:45. could we still see some more

development after that? yes. it is still possible. that is what is happening right now. keep in mind, 30,000 people are potentially affected by that tornado that you're seeing on that split screen. on what's on parts of oklahoma. now, as we go back, there's another area that we're following. now, it's not just the area near shawnee that we're looking at. we're looking at three cells. i want to point out to you how big the cell is just to the north of shawnee. it's been robbing all that energy from earlier storms we had just really from about the last hour. now we go up toward the north. and des moines. we've got a storm just to your west that looks really not so good right now. as we go through, the next couple minutes, this storm system moving to the east and the forward speed has been good on this. at times it was up to about 35 to 45 miles per hour. as we track this for you and hopefully our guys in the back, our weather producers can track the storm. in des moines, we're expecting this to potentially get there within the next couple minutes. if we can see potentially tracking that, here it goes for

you. don. if you're in baxter, 39 minutes. johnston, 7 minutes. for areas like maxwell, 29. that tornado warning, of course, is going to be in place until 7:00 central time. so still a lot of activity out there. we're continuing to follow all these warnings out there. tornado watches in place. until 11:00 from minnesota all the way down to texas, don. >> jennifer, i want to get to our reporter on the ground. kokh talking to people who are affected. >> very, very windy. it was very, very scary. >> i bet. tell us about the damage. we saw the barn. is your house okay? >> there is some damage at the house. the garage door is bowed in. it won't be able to be opened. i don't know for how long. the fence which we put up is damaged. we done know about the house. we're trying to get power tools and animals taken care of first. >> you were telling me, you have a neighbor, he is elderly.

it was tough to get her in the she shelter. what's going on with that? >> she had surgery last week. she had a hip replacement. she's good at getting around but needed help. luckily for us, she called us and made us come over. we got in the shelter with her. >> that is the great news, everybody out here is okay. the other great news, guys, is karen was telling me they have people from all over coming to help them. you were telling us, church, boy scouts. who do we have helping you guys? >> a lot of men from our church and ladies. >> so that's our affiliate coverage, kokh. that lady there affected by the storm. our meteorologist chad myers listings and watching as we continue to look at the shawnee area now. i understand from folks on social media, again, not confirmed, but people sheltering in places at the shawnee mall. it appears everything is okay there. what are we looking at? >> you know, i'm concerned at this point in time with the area

near johnson, oklahoma. it appears the tornado that created the damage very north of just north of shawnee, weakened and another storm popped up just to the east of it, maybe five or six miles east of there. near johnson. moving now into kind of a rural area. if you are in the north des moines area, jester park, average ankeny, the tornado well north of des moines, moving away from des moines, is probably on the ground as well, don. >> oh, well, chad, you know, it's very interesting to watch this. there have been, again, a number of watches and warnings. they're still going on throughout the evening here on c cnn. listen, i want to tell you that jennifer delgado is going to stand by here at the cnn severe weather center. chad myers is going to watch this closely as well as well as everyone here at cnn. we're all working here for you this evening. we want to keep you as safe as possible and warn you as to when this may be coming to your area. it doesn't appear to be slowing

down right now. so we'll be back. i'll be back with updates for you. if the situation warrants it, i will be back live. our sbrentire team to bring it you. in the meantime, we're going to turn it over to mr. anthony bourdain parts unknown. i've always wanted to get as far away as possible from the place where i was born.