rescue effort only just beginning in schools and homes and businesses that are completely gone. and for so many of these people, the hard work is only just beginning. wolf blitzer is in "the situation room" with continuing coverage. i'm jake tapper, and this has been "the lead." mr. blitzer? jake, thanks very much. we're following the breaking news. indeed, a massive twister ripping through the oklahoma city area, spotters on the ground have described it, get this, as two miles wide. and the first images are showing catastrophic damage. it's almost unbelievable what we're seeing right now. block after block after block of homes destroyed shocked residents hugging each other in the streets. you're looking at live pictures right now. schools described as completely gone. this is an area with a significant population. oklahoma city is a city of more than 600,000 in the greater metropolitan area. hundreds of thousands more,s and this tornado ripping through

that area. only moments ago. and now there are tornado warnsings on the way. noaa's prediction center is in norman, oklahoma, the director bill bunting is on the line with us. bill, update our viewers in the united states and around the world what's going on, because these horrific pictures of the damage and destruction are awful. >> that's right, wolf. our worst fears are becoming realized this afternoon. we knew this was going to be a multi-day event and in fact we're seeing yet another day of strong tornadoes in populated areas. as i left to come over here, the tornado was on the ground doing damage. we certainly hope everyone heeded the warnings, but it's a populated area, and we just fear that not everyone may have gotten the word. we certainly hope that's the case. >> we we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people potentially impacted. whole blocks and blocks and

blocks of populated areas destroyed. these pictures are unbelievably sad. >> that's right. you know, here in oklahoma we're used to tornadoes in the springtime, but by any measure the past couple of days have just been extremely difficult. >> this tornado that hit about an hour or two ago, how significant is it, about two miles wide. what category was it? do you know? >> we don't, wolf. the survey crews will have to get out and look at it. there's no doubt it was a very, very strong tornado and for the folks in the path we certainly hope that they knew the severe weather was possible, activated their emergency plans. and i have to say for folks downstream who are in the path of other storms developing, this is a very dangerous situation. have your plan ready to go, activate it when storms are approaching to keep you and your family safe. >> what do you anticipate over the next hour or two? >> these storms are going to continue producing additional

tornadoes. they'll also produce some very, very large hail, perhaps larger than the size of baseballs. we're also concerned that there may be an enhanced and widespread damaging wind threat with storms as they merge together. unfortunately, this is yet another day of an event that will continue tomorrow from texas on up into the mississippi and ohio valleys and even continue into the middle portion ever the week over the ohio valley and southern new england. as bad as today is, this is not over yet. >> what's causing these tornadoes right now? give us an explanation. >> well, for most of the spring, fairly cool air had covered much of the united states and so we saw a season that started off pretty active in january and february, got relatively quiet in april. but as the warm waters off the gulf of mexico began to send moisture up into the southern and central plains and these upper level disturbances have isht acted with an increasingly unstable atmosphere, we've seen tornadoes increase in frequency and unfortunately intensity and

climate at that lodlogically th peak of the tornado season. we'll continue to deal with these episodes for the next several weeks i'm afraid. >> on the left side of our screen, we're looking at what the tornado looked like a while ago, on the right side live pictures of the destruction near oak city. we're used to a lot of tornadoes hitting rural areas, bill. but once it hits a pretty populated area, the destruction can be so intense that's what looks like just happened ner o ed near oklahoma >> that's right. i haven't seen the coverage in the past few minutes, but our fears are, with such a widespread area of devastation, first responders do a great job, but they are even taxed to the limits with the magnitude of the damage and the need for simultaneous rescue and recovery as the governor said a few hom s moments ago, the first responders here are as good as they come, but this will be challenging in the next several hours and days i'm sure. >> bill, if you don't mind, stick around. i want to listen to what the

chopper pilot from kfor is reporting right now. he's flying over the destruction. >> that's the moore auxiliary, moore public office building where the school headquarters are housed. sounds good, linda. thanks. >> chopper pilot from kfor, our affiliate. bill bunting is still with us from the noaa storm prediction center. bill, it looks awful rg feel ltz awful. this area, i think you can see what's going on. are you familiar with this area year oak ciklahoma city? >> i am. it's a highly populated area, especially as you move progressively eastward toward the i-35 corridor and points east. it's just an area where i hope, again, folks knew damage was inevitable at this point, but we

really hope and pray that folks were able to get to the safest places in the buildings they were in and that they're okay now as the storm passes. >> and you think there are more, though, on the way? >> well, there are certainly more tornadoes in store for portions of oklahoma. as far as that particular area, there may still be additional storms which will only hamper rescue and recovery operations but this is not the last tornado we'll see with this weather system over the central and southern plains today. as i mentioned earlier, the threat will shift just a bit farther east and south as we go into the day tomorrow. >> mr. bunting, hold on for a moment because carrie mckellips is on the phone from the chamber of commerce. carrie, what do you see? where exactly are you? >> i am particularly on highway 37 just east of our walmart, and it went through some additions here in new castle. >> what's the damage there?

>> it's pretty bad. it's about -- what i've seen, i haven't left where i was at, but there's a housing addition where there were homes being built and homes where people lived, and it pretty much took oall the homes in that addition. >> are you seeing first responders on the scene? >> oh, yes. >> firefighters, police? >> fire trucks. the fire department has come in. they've already gone by. yeah, absolutely. our city is on it. they've been on it all day with calling all of our residents, making sure that they are weather aware as well as our school superintendents, calling and making sure that kids got picked up early from school it it it it. so we've been getting calls all day from both. >> and where were you when the tornado hit? >> i was in the cellar. we could see it forming right to the west of us, and just abo

aboabout when we felt it was going to form we closed the cellar door and could hear it above us. >> was there damage to your home? >> it was pretty scary. i'm actually at a friend's house because we don't have a cellar. but yes, it completely took their barn out and there's scrap metal everywhere. it took most of their trees, got their play set. so, yeah, there's a lot of damage. >> and have you seen injuries since this tornado went over the area? >> i have not because, like i said, i have not left my location. but there are lots of emergency crews out there. >> when the tornado was going and you were hunkered down, it was going over, how long did it seem to last as it went over the building, the home where you were trying to hide out? >> well, to me it seemed to last

a lifetime, but i would say probably 15 minutes maybe. >> what did it sound like? >> it started off with some light winds. then you could tell the wind picked up a lot, and then you could hear a lot of banging and clang i clanging, and i'm assuming that it was stuff hitting the top of the cellar door. >> and now you're still with your friends in the cellar? is that right? >> yes. >> so far you're still reluctant to leave the house? everybody you say is remaining hunkered down, is that right? >> yeah. because there's still storms coming. >> how many people are you with? >> there are one, two -- let's see, four kids, three dogs, three adults. my husband is somewhere in the city. so what is that, seven of us,

then our dogs, too. that's a lot of fun. >> that's a lot of friends. any it of the other adults want to add anything to the conversati conversation? >> i don't think so. they're busy with other things because people keep stopping to make sure we're okay. >> but so far everyone with you is okay. >> evan is fieryone is fine, ye. >> good to know. carrie, thank you very much. we'll stay in close touch with you. carrie mckellips of the new castle chamber of commerce. she's hunkered down in the cellar with friends. her husband is elsewhere. we are also getting the latest from bill bunting. mr. bunting, are you still with us? >> i'm here. >> you heard her description. i assume you agree that's the right thing, remaining hunkered down. >> absolutely. there's still storms in the area. it's still best to stay until you know the threat is absolutely ended. that may be hopefully within the next couple of hours, but better

safe than sorry in this situation. absolutely they're doing the right thing. >> we're looking at pictures coming in right now. we see fires that have developed. chad myers is with us as well. chad, you used to live in oklahoma. you know this area well. is it normal a tornado rips through an area and all of a sudden flames develop? >> well, you know, there could be gas leaks. there would certainly be water main leaks. there will be power lines that you think are dead but aren't and they could be sparking as well. typically you don't get too much like this, but when you get probably -- wolf, we're talking ef-3 to ef-4 damage, somewhere between 150 to 200 miles per hour with some of this damage i'm looking at from it these aerials this is certainly a possibility. something else. we talked about new castle with the emergency managers a little bit ago. there's another rotating thunderstorm not that far from new castle that may very well get toward valley brook and dell city. there's not a tornado warning on that yet, but you see what can happen with these rapidly developing thunderstorms. there is a severe thunderstorm

warning on that cell, and if it continues to rotate or rotates even stronger, it may be upgraded. so valley brook, dell city, you need to pay attention rather quickly. midwest city as well. there are more rotating thunderstorms, wolf, and they will rotate for much of the night. we'll watch them for you here. >> we're told -- mr. bunting, you're in norman, oklahoma -- that all the students are being held, all the buses are being held until this tornado warning has passed. are you outside or inside right now in norman, william bunting of the noaa storm prediction center? >> i am inside here in south norman. before i left our operation center there at the storm prediction center, a couple of our employees were in touch with their family members, one of whom is a teacher up near where the tornado hit. everyone was fine. they knew it was coming. but we are unfortunately very close to the areas that were has hardest hit. >> norman is a major university town as well. a lot of students. i assume they're in shelters,

bunkers right now, mr. bunting, right? >> to my knowledge, classes have actually for the spring semester let out, but there were a number of folks on campus, as you would expect, this time of year. but, again, the early warning, folks knew what to do, and unfortunately we get opportunities to put our severe weather plan into action more than a few times a year here. >> chad, you have a quick question for mr. bunting? >> mr. bunting, we knew this was going to be a big three-day period. did you anticipate this? >> well, we certainly knew the potential for intense tornadoes was high. you never want to see it strike a populated area. in fact, you don't want to see it strike where there are any people. but we know that this area is highly populated. we certainly feared this was possible. and unfortunately it seems like our worst fears have happened today. again, i can't stress enough, i just hope that everyone heeded

the warning, had a plan, and were able to keep them selves ad their family safe. >> look at the pictures of the destruction on the right part of your screen. the left part is taped pictures of what the tornado looked like just a little while ago. look at the destruction. these are live pictures coming in right now. let's listen in to the chopper pilot from our affiliate kfor. unfortunately, he's not speaking right now, but you can see the destruction. you can see the damage right now. jeff pietrowski, a storm chaser. where are you? what are you seeing? >> wolf, right now we are southwest of oklahoma city, large tornado -- duncan, that storm going south of norman about 40 miles and now dropped down to southwestern oklahoma. we've got a atornado on the ground north of red river,

northeast of wichita falls. it's going to be tracking toward ardmore and i-35. got another large tornado on the ground doing major damage. i'm going to be on that trail in about ten minutes, tracking just south of hamilton here. it's going to track toward ardmore. this is a large tornado just north of red river, but the damage done in oklahoma city is massive. there's people trapped all over the city. and it also hit a school, massive rescues under way in oklahoma city at this time. >> you're saying there's another tornado that you're near, that you're watching right now? is that what i'm hearing? >> wolf, that's correct. i just watched a tornado just dissipated to my north, a large tornado quarter mile wide. it did damage on the ground, 25 minutes. now a tornado separate 50 miles to the next storm down the line. this came out of wichita falls. i'm now just about 15 miles and it's coming at me. it's 45 miles an hour, a large mil mil mile-wide tornado.

i'll be on it with probably live video in about ten minutes. >> how close are you, do you estimate? >> right now it's about 15 miles southwest of me, coming in just north of the red river, getting ready to track it. i can see the storm -- i cannot see the tornado yet. i can see the storm, a large supercell. it's bra ae's producing basebal hail and there's report of debris in the air. >> how populated, jeff, is this area where this tornado is moving through? >> it's very rural, southern oklahoma. it's just north of red river, west of i-tirt 5. it's had a number of tornadoes over the years, large, damaging torna tornados. at this time the trial is going to be about 12 1/2 miles southwest closing in on me. still don't see the tornado but it's rapidly approaching me. >> you're heading toward the tornado or are you trying to escape the tornado? >> no. i'm tracking toward the tornado right now.

it's going right toward i-35 and will start moving toward larger communities as a large tornado to the southwest moves toward ardmore and northwest ardmore. but this the largest tornado north of the red river. if it continues, it's going to get into more populated areas over the next hour and it looks like at this time it a's going to continue to do that. >> we're showing our viewers live pictures of the destruction in the oklahoma city area. jeff, chad meyer is joining us in this conversation. chad, i know you have a question for jeff. >> this storm, jeff, is very close to ryan now, heading quickly to the east. it will track to the south of ringling, probably south much wilson, then on over to the i-35, where you talked about where it does get a bit more populated. but this storm is circulating now. i'm watching it on radar. it did pass south of wau reek ka. that is good news. didn't hit that populated town.

but the cone continues to move off to the east in ringling, probably around 45 minutes away from you, although it should track to the south, these can turn left and they can turn right. we will certainly watch them for you. there's percell, lindsay, there's the rotation and ryan. the storm system right there, this green and red. we watch the green and red, wolf. it's the red lights of the taillights of the car moving away from you and the green lights coming at you, those are the headlights, the rotation we're seeing here. jeff is right there, just outside of ringling. the tornado is on the ground not that far away, wolf. >> how many tornadoes, chad, do we estimate already in the last couple of hours have touched down in the oklahoma city area? >> maybe three. the big one was the new castle, across moore and finally dying over lake stanley/draper. that was the big one, the very first one as well. this whole line of weather began

around duncan, oklahoma, about three hours ago. one supercell tried to pick up, it died off. another one picked up as well. and then they started to catch. and when they caught, they had the updrafts going, the downdrafts going, everything working. and they weren't battling each other. there were three separate supercells traveling just to the northeast and the one that picked up the rotation right over new castle drove itself right over moore. and here again are still pictures of what moore, oklahoma, looks like right now at this hour. there are three of the cells. there is the cell that came out of wichita falls. there's the cell a little farther to the north, pauls valley, then the cell into oklahoma city, the same one we're talking about which could still be making a tornado very close to i'd say east of har ra, maybe north of mccloud toward the meeker area as well. these are still severe, these storms. it's still hot during the day, 4:00 p.m., the hot part of the day is the most severe part of the day because the hot air wants to rise like a hot air balloon. the hotter the balloon is, the

higher it goes. the hotter the air a, the bigger the storm. and we're still in the hot part of the day, wolf. >> you know, i want to listen to our affiliate kfor for a minute. they we've got some emergency cruise right here along west 77 as we're heading north. we're going to try to get into it as far as we can. still on the ground. still in contact with the ground, just due to the -- there's dark knows and turning going on in front of us here. so folks, heads up. same rotation as yesterday. just be ready to go if you have to. and we urge you if you're in the path of the storm, you want to get below ground into a safe spot. >> the important thing we have to pass to you, for you folks in

meeker, this is what appears to be a very large tornado and don't take that statement lightly because this is the same storm that produced the destruction in moore. it's the same storm. the wind velocities are large and violent. so it is a big tornado. it is heading directly for the town of meeker. it's only 5 miles west of meek of right now. you folks in meeker, protect your life. be out of the way, belowground. storm cellar, basement, safe room. in a mobile home, evacuate that mobile home. this is a large tornado. you see the hook spinning around, over jack town right now on highway 62 heading directly toured meeker. i want to go back to mark dillard. this is a threat to life and limb in the meeker area.

mark, how far south of 62 are you right now? >> mike, i think we're just about full south here. we've got rain coming in on me, so it's difficult to tell if it's still in contact with the ground, but it's so dark. that's what we're dealing with. it's so dark. in the middle of these tornadic supercells. i do have definition off to the north and east. i can almost see all the way underneath it. i'm not for sure that we've got a funnel in contact with the ground, but the winds are picking up just a little bit here, as we get closer to the situation. it does have a lot of rapid rain with it. bottom line is, folks, it's a long track system so far -- [ inaudible ] >> we're going to break away from kfor for a moment.

the storm chaser is on the phone. i know you're driving toward this new tornado developing. jeff, how close are you? i think we just lost our connection with jeff, the storm closer, but you're looking at live pictures. take a look at the destruction. this is videotape from just a few minutes ago that we're showing you. this is a pretty populated part of the oklahoma city area. more than 600,000 people in the city. hundreds of thousands in the greater oklahoma city area, and this is a huge tornado that ripped through this area. this is a school, we're told, that has been leveled. look at the destruction right now. god only knows the kind of injuries that have occurred as a result of this tornado that was moving so quickly, so powerfully. chad meyers have been watching it. do we know how fast this was? was it 200 miles per hour?

250 miles per hour? do we know the extent of this tornado that caused this devastation? >> i don't think we'll know that until tomorrow. the national weather service will certainly be out there. they were looking at five separate tornadoes today. let's go through them. an ef-0 takes the shingles off a house. an ef-1 takes the shingles and gutters. an ef-2 we're looking at 120, 130 miles per hour. that takes the roof with it, all of the 4 by 8 plywood off. ef-3, you lose all the trusses on the roof, the struts and everything. but the home is still pretty much intact. ef-4, you lose outside walls. walls are gone. you're looking at almost a 200-mile-per-hour storm. 166 to 200. but there are still things left inside. there are still a few walls. you may still find the

refrigerator and the bathroom. with an ef-5, all you find is the concrete slab that's left for the homes. not very many homes in oklahoma have basements, and i know that seems counter-productive, but it's almost impossible to put a basement in a home in oklahoma without dynamite because you're on the rock. it is very expensive. many people do have storm shelters. you actually cut them out of your garage floor. you cut the concrete and then they do literally blast that rock out or chip it out and give you a place to go under where your car would actually park. you drive over that little bit of a doorway in your garage. there's the storm over meeker. we talked about a little bit ago. the storm is rotating. i'm not sure it's on the ground, but up can't worry about that. if there's a tornado warning on it today, you must take cover for meeker because these storms cycle rapidly.

we can go from nothing to 130-mile-per-hour storm. >> joining us on the phone, i know you're in stuff with authorities in your home state, congressman. what are you hearing about casualties? >> not yet. actually it's my hometown. i talked to my wife. i can literally recognize the homes and the businesses. it's early to know. never helpful to speculate about this. fortunately the warning system is very good. the national severe storm laboratory in norman, oklahoma, they do an unbelievable job. people take these things seriously. this is in moore, oklahoma, where i lived for 15 years. our fourth time in 15 years.

but this one, boy, just looking what i could judge from the photographs and the film, it may be worse than the one in '99, which that took out 6,000 houses, killed 37 people. so we're talking about extraordinary damage. and when something like that happens, even with the best warning and people heeding it, and they do take it seriously, there's always the potential if you got a direct hit for something really deadly. >> yeah, it looks awful. i know you're in d.c. right now, congressman. you said you spoke to your wife. is she okay? >> she is, fortunately, and my son lives a little south of there. so they're coordinating. she lost power and everything, but this stuff is within blocks of where i live. these are neighborhoods i walk through when i go out in the

evening. we're very fortunate where she's concerned. >> is she hunkered down with a basement? >> we don't have a basement. we have a reinforced interior room. that's pretty common. basements for the reason that your previous observer said, are very rare in oklahoma. they're extremely difficult to build. a lot of people will have individual shelters and reinforced concrete rooms aboveground. >> the video we're showing our viewers, it looks like a mall area that was destroyed, maybe a movie theater. >> yes, it's a movie theater, and it's one of the key attractions of the area. it's a magnificent place. one of these not just multi-screen, but it's very unusual with places you can eat and drink while you're watching your movie. so it draws people from all

around. but that area is right outside the heart of the old downtown area. but mostly it will be hitting -- moore is primarily a suburban city, so you're looking at a lot of housing as well as small business damage, and obviously the school in west moore appears to have gotten hit again. so you worry about anything because obviously you've got children in school. although again, most of these places have reinforced interior structures. they take this stuff very seriously, so i don't have any doubt the right things were done, but it's just awful. >> yeah, you can see somebody there being removed, going to an emergency vehicle. these areas, you say you're from this area, you know these areas. these are live pictures. we're showing what's going on. and you see some random horses

strolling around. >> it's 134th and western. it's in the city limits, right on the edge of town. old family that's literally lived there decades and decades. it's almost since the saddle men of the area. >> you can see the horses and people wandering around. you know these areas. i'm going to show our viewers these pictures, congressman. if you can narrate and tell us where it is, what's going on since this is your neighborhood. >> this actually is my neighborhood. let me get your station here. >> this is right near oklahoma city. >> it's surrounded by oklahoma city on three sides and norman to the south. so it's -- >> congressman, we know that for the last 24 to 48 hours, there were a lot of tornado warnings, so i assume people were ready

for this. >> yeah, they are. again, this is not unusual for us. this is springtime, tornado season from april through june. this is part of an area from 95% of all the tornadoes on the planet hit along the mid-western part of the united states, from the canadian border on down, oklahoma's right at the center of that. this is the big reason why. so obviously in times like this, number one, we've got a really superb disaster civil management system. albert ashwood, the head of it, during the oklahoma city bombing, i dealt with him and dealt with him during many of these tragedies. he's first rate. they know how to respond. the first responders are very

well trained in this. people take it seriously. with winds that are 200-plus miles an hour hit, it's still a potentially very deadly thing and obviously damaging. it's going to take a while to recover from this. >> the destruction's going to be huge. congressman, hold on for a moment. our affiliate kfor is flying over some of the destroyed area. i want you to watch it. there's a reporter on the ground. >> reporter: even right where we're at, i'm shocked when they told me these were horse stalls. it could have been a house. you really can't tell the difference between any of this stuff. >> we want to come back to you but we've gotten more information about the schools. people are very frantic about what happened to the children in briarwood elementary and plaza

towers elementary. we can confirm that 2:45 a message was sent to parents on the internet saying we are currently holding all students until this current storm danger is over. students are being released to parents only at this time. we will notify you when the student release begins. you need to put this in context. there's no way for these people to communicate very much. the administration building was also damaged. we have not confirmed any of this with moore school administration, but -- >> we unfortunately think that the kids, some kids were in those two buildings because of the lockdown order and because of of what we're getting from our news desk right now. we will of course continue to update you on that as quickly as we can. let's go to lance west who is on the road. are you getting closer to the damaged area? >> i'm in the neighborhood walking just now. i just talked to a gentleman.

he was at this school. that's plaza towers. we are probably 200 yards away. he says he's been pulling out children, third graders. they're in the classroom. i see a lot of people huddled outside the building. helicopters are flying in. there's fire and police officers doing door-to-door searches. it's absolute chaos down here. i've never seen anything like this in my 18 years covering tornadoes here in oklahoma city. this is without question the most horrific -- >> okay, lance. we need to get this information. we understand what you're looking at and how horrific it is, but you are telling us that children were in the plaza tower elementary school, that the gentleman you were just talking to was pulling out third graders, is that correct? >> that is correct. i'm racing over there as quickly as i can.

there's a lot of people trying to help. >> lance, they're pulling third graders out. we hope that of course they were in their tornado positions and that some of them will be okay. lance is on his way over there right now. you got to understand when you go down to these scenes and you see this firsthand, when you're there living it, it is an extremely emotional event as well as all those involved. and lance is one of our best reporters, but he's human just like the rest of us, and it is a devastating sight to see these things. >> tell us where the storm is now. >> it's over by meeker and our storm tracker still has a tornado on the ground on the west side of meeker. i have to pass this along to you. with this tornado warning for garbin county, this is a

significant tornado. there is a tornado warning in effect. it is heading directly for paul's valley. >> if the congressman is still with us, you were listening to this report from our local affiliate, you're familiar with this school, these third graders. you know the area. give us your reaction to what you heard. >> it's just devastating. i know that school extremely well. it's actually a voting place, a mile and a half from my home. it's surrounding by houses. a classic neighborhood school. built in the 1960s. middle class, working neighborhoods and kids. and it's just devastating. it just breaks your heart. if there's anything wrong with any of those children. again, i know the area and i know the people and they'll look after them and they'll do the right things and they'll have

done everything they can. they're pretty good at responding in a crisis situation. but gosh, it's almost overwhelming to look at. again, this is the town i grew up in and lived in for 53 years. it's pretty heart breaking. >> it's heart breaking for all of us. you're familiar with this elementary school where they were pulling third graders out. is there a shelter or underground shelter, republican enforced area? >> no. they would have them in interior rooms and windowless rooms. but there's not a communal shelter or an underground shelter there that i'm aware of. so it's pretty, again, unusual occurrence. 50 years, the first time the school's been hit. but it happens. there's not a lot you can do other than take the best preparations. get them in the safest place

possible and hope for the best. and it's just very, very devastating. >> look at the destruction, congressman. this is your hometown. are you familiar with this building over here that we're watching? >> yeah. it looks like that's the warren theater there at telephone road. so you're looking north across moore, and again, a lot of neighborhoods, a lot of fairly densely packed areas, and you're just going to -- lost hundreds and hundreds of homes. >> and we can only hope that the people were protected as this huge tornado ripped apart this area right outside, this is a suburb of oklahoma city. it's not very far from downtown oklahoma city. how far would you say? >> about six miles, almost a straight shot up the interstate. very close, again, surrounded by oklahoma city on three sides. some of the areas you've shown, the school district actually

straddles oklahoma city and moore, known as the moore school district. some of the devastation you're seeing is within the oklahoma city limits. fortunately so far not further north in an even more heavily populated or through the downtown section. but it's clearly very, very damaging and very devastating event. >> if you can stick around for a moment, chad meyers, our severe weather expert is watching what's going on. are more tornadoes on the way to this area? >> i believe there's probably a tornado just to the north now of meeker. i believe there's a tornado heading to paul's valley along i-85 south. probably not far from ringling. they are lining up. when they are supercells, they can all rotate at the same time rather than fight each other. and i used this analogy earlier.

when we were a kid we used to have this game called battling tops. when you put the spring around the top and only pulled one, the top spun forever. but when you pulled a couple of strings, those tops didn't last very long. that's what happens when you get tornadoes banging against each other. they don't last as long. we had the one topspining all by itself. it moves over moore and newcastle and continued up towards meeker. now there are other tornadoes, other supercell rotating thunderstorms south and north of oklahoma city proper. i have a graph that will show you the briarwood elementary school because that was such tremendous reporting just done about the third graders being pulled alive from the school. oklahoma city prop, knew castle, the storm was here to the west

of the turnpike. across to brianwood elementary, that little stpot before the interstate. all those streets are devastated with this very large tornado, probably 200 to 250 miles per hour. >> look at that destruction. i want to listen in briefly to our affiliate kfor. watch this. >> reporter: there's another tornado to the left. that white clear air that's wrapping around, just to the north of that is where the tornado would be. so paul's valley should definitely be taking cover. this is a tornadic storm. [ inaudible ] >> thank you, reed. appreciate that.

now, the important thing to know about this is this is a dangerous storm and the way the velocities are looking, it could produce a significant tornado from paul's valley up to white bead, up to buyers. paoli. buyers at 5:06, stratford 5:11. arbor by 5:24. up into pottowattomy county. this has all the earmark signs of producing a tornado if it isn't on the ground already at paul's valley. paul's valley right now. there's also a strong circulation up the road from paul's valley between paul's valley and white bead. don't take this lightly. conditions are prime for additional tornadic activity. back to you. >> and if you were with us within the past 30 minutes, you

heard lance west as he approached plaza towers elementary school. let's join him again on the phone. lance, i know this is a very emotional devastating scene you're looking at. >> reporter: yeah, it certainly is. we are here five feet away from the school. what was apparently the gymnasium. there are emergency personnel doing their best to save -- those are classrooms right there? okay, those are classrooms. i stand corrected. it is our understanding there are at least 15 children trapped under this debris. there were 75 kids in the classroom? okay, i'm told the number has just been upgraded to 75 kids were in that hallway when this tornado hit. firefighters are standing on what is essentially a large pile of debris trying find these kids. there's a triage center set up,

may have been a basketball court. she's breathing and moving. i would suspect she's maybe a schoolteacher. there are just a host of volunteers. about the worst damage i've ever seen. and you can only pray for the families as they search for these kids. >> absolutely, and those parents waiting to hear word, my goodness. that's plaza towers, correct? >> that is correct. and everything within a square mile of this school has been decimated by this storm. >> lance, are parents being kept back or allowed to look for their children? >> reporter: they are not allowing the parents to get onto the debris pile. there are downed power lines, debris everywhere with nails, gas leaks, things like that. but there are parents who are trying to make it in here. we were able to follow some

emergency vehicles and get access, but most of the folks have been stopped a mile back from the destruction zone. >> have you seen children removed from the debris who have been transported? >> we just saw one child, and he's standing now. it looks like he's hugging someone, maybe his parent. but we have only seen one child that has been transported. we have seen other people, other victims transported from here in the backs of pickup trucks. i'm looking at a jeep now that seems to have clearance. but for the most part it's very limited access for the average citizen to get in here. they're going door-to-door searching these homes, searching storm shelters. we met a family coming out of their shelter. they were devastated, said their neighbors were pounding on the door to get in, and they didn't have the strength to open the door because the wind was so devastating. they don't know what happened to

their neighbors. >> and lance, we want to verify this again. you're telling us that 75 children were in class when that storm hit plaza towers, and they believe those 75, they're searching for all of them right now, is that correct? >> reporter: that is what i'm being told, that there were 75 people in that building in the hallway, which was the secure place, the tornado shelter, if you will. but the walls are gone. cinder block walls that are 8 inches thick and the roof is completely gone. it basically looks like it collapsed in on itself. there are search and rescue personnel on top of this 10-foot mountain of debris going through the piles. we can only hope that they can search and continue to yield some positive results. >> absolutely. >> and we do need some hopeful news, and you did tell us, for those joining us, plaza tower

elementary school, 75 children believed to be in the hall when it hit. there is no safe spot for an f-5 if this turns out to be that. but lance, you were saying you saw at least one child who came out of the debris and was hugging a parent, is that correct? >> reporter: that is correct. a young man probably about 8 to 10 years old, i would say. >> that's a good sign. >> and i told you about that jeep, that four-wheel drive. she's being loaded into that jeep right now. also talked to a gentleman who has a child in the school. pulled his child out ten minutes before the tornado hit and came back to help in the search and rescue efforts. he told me they pulled out 30 kids alive, but the search continues for even more. >> so you're saying of the 75 who were sheltered in that school, 30 were pulled out alive? >> reporter: i do know there were 30 pulled out. i don't know if there are 75 more in there or if we can

subtract those 30. obviously i'm going to continue to get more information from the folks out here. this is all preliminary. >> lance, we appreciate your efforts, a parent yourself. and for those of us parents watching, it is difficult to watch, but nothing compared to those families. >> let's go back to adam. >> linda, we're at orr family farm. some people were able to make it to a basement in one of the houses here. but a lot of people had to ride out this storm inside of these horse stalls. one of those people that did this, lando, describe for me the moments that this tornado came through here and what was going on. >> it was all windy before the tornado came. i had no idea it was coming. just figured it was just like

yesterday. a big storm coming and then all of a sudden it went quiet. and when it did that, being from oklahoma, i came outside to see, and i seen debris flying over that way, and i had a little while. so i tried to let some of the horses get loose and free out of their stalls so they'd have a chance. i didn't have very long at all. and i jumped into one of the stalls and they collapsed over on top of me and sat a pickup truck on top of it and pushed it down here. and it was just unbearably loud and you could see stuff flying everywhere, just about on the movie "twister." >> reporter: he jumped into his stall. and how far did this push you? where'd you end up? >> approximately 100 feet it pushed up. there you see the back of a red pickup truck, dodge ram.

it was approximately 100 yards it slid us down here. >> reporter: was it just you in there? >> it was just me. as far as i know, i was from in this barn. everybody else, you know, was either already gone for the day or stayed over in a different barn, but, you know, i stayed here with the horses all the time. i'm an exercise rider and i'm also the caretaker for mark lee. >> reporter: that's the thing, if we could walk over here, you were telling me that this right here is basically where you lived. so, you not only worked here, this is where you lived. >> yes. they used to have the saddles and everything over here. these were tack rooms and this room here is where i used to live at. this here, you know, as you can see, my belongings. then a couple fans for in the shed row.

you know, it's just lost, lost everything. >> reporter: what's going through your mind right now? you just survived something that a lot of people probably wouldn't. you were outside when this happened. you lost everything. has it even set in yet? how are people out here, how are they doing? >> well, the main thing is the horses, you know, these horses are how we survive. you know, these horses are what bring us our meals every day, what bring us our place to sleep, and we might have one horse left out of all of them. >> reporter: that's the thing when you look out here, describe for people what it looked like before. what would we have been looking out at here? >> basically, if you take a look at this here barn, there was four of them, one here, one down there, one right there, and another one down there. >> reporter: what we're looking at here is what the barns used to look like.

there were, i believe, six of these out here, is what i was told. >> yes, yes, then this was the racetrack. there was approximately 80 head of horses or so stabled at this facility. >> reporter: so, where we're standing now would have been one of those stalls? >> yes, where we are standing as you look right here, each little spot from here to that what used to be a stall door. you know, two stalls right there and on each side of these were stalls all the way down on every barn. and -- >> reporter: orlando, i do appreciate your time. certainly, if you need anything, we'll be out here. just holler. again, when you look at this, there really is nothing much left out here. like i said, theorr family were able to get inside their house. the family members were able to

get down there. they tell me they rent out these stalls. they don't know how many people may have been out here at the time because people kind of come and go as they please. again, people like lando who is out here, works out here, lives out here, no idea this tornado was coming. almost like a sixth sense he noticed everything got quiet and immediately reacted to that. and linda, kevin, more than likely saved his life. >> obviously, the case. but we've been on the air since 2:30 giving live broadcasts on the progress of that storm, so please keep in mind that if you know someone in one of these areas affected, please, call them and let them know. for some reason they might not be watching television, might not be alerted. critical people have this information to seek cover. obviously, he did, but many others did not. >> 75 to 100 horses killed out there on that farm.

>> the plaza towers elementary, as well -- >> we're going to break away from our affiliate, kfor. we'll get back to live coverage from there. joining us on the phone, paula price, director of corporate communications for the norman area, the norman, oklahoma, area, the regional health system. paula, we know that two elementary schools were hit. one in oklahoma city, the briarwood elementary school, the plaza towers elementary school, about 500 kids in that school, although we heard 75 were inside when this tornado ripped that building apart. we don't know what the nature of the damage or destruction. we heard one local reporter say about 30 kids were removed from the area, were taken out okay. what are you hearing? your area includes more. >> it does. our hospital, moore medical center, is in moore, oklahoma, and it sustained significant

damage from the tornado, and we are evacuating. we are in the process of ev evacuating the 30 patients that were in the hospital at the time. so those patients are now coming to our other two hospitals, and we don't have all of them here, but we have half of them that have been transported. we have not received any pediatric patients, although with the tornado it takes some time to get the emergency personnel in and get patients evacuated. >> what have you heard about causalities, what is the nature of the causalities, how many have you seen at your facilities? >> we have not seen any causalities at this point that i'm aware of, however, it's still early, you know, from the tornado's effects. we haven't received that yet. however, we as i mentioned have evacuated our patients from our hospital, which all of our employees were not -- none of them were injured, patients are

not in critical condition, but they had to be moved from that hospital because of the significant damage it sustained. >> what are the doctors and administrator at the hospital tell you about the tornado damage to the hospital and moore? >> well, the interesting thing about it is we received text photos from employees, you know, during tornados we have difficulties with cell phones being able to transmit, so we did after the storm passed, the tornado passed, we had a couple of employees send photos that we could see the damage. we still have personnel traveling towards moore medical center. there's a significant amount of roadblocked traffic, emergency personnel, so it's very difficult to even travel ten miles to get to that hospital. so, unfortunately, we only have information about our hospital at this point. >> is that the only hospital in moore? >> well, southwest medical center, which has a hospital

probably ten miles from moore medical center, and that's south oklahoma city. so, they possibly could be receiving patients, as well. i would think they would be. >> were you anywhere near this tornado personally when it ripped through this area? >> no, i was on the norman regional hospital campus, we were all under a code black alert, which means take cover, so we were dealing with that within our facility of over 300 beds, so we were trying to take care of the patients and the outpatients and employees and visitors within our hospital when the tornado was hitting moore. and the same would be said for the health plex hospital. >> we're just getting word from the oklahoma highway patrol, betsy randolph, a spokesperson, people are trapped inside this area and we are going to see devastation for days to come. and if you look at the pictures,

paula, you can see some of that devastation. right now, this tornado ripping through this relatively heavily populated area, suburban part of oklahoma city, actually touching oklahoma city. right now, this is a heartbreaking story that we're all watching right now and can only imagine the causalities, the destruction, that we will begin to see over the next few hours. have you ever seen anything like this before, paula? and you've lived in oklahoma for awhile. >> yes, my whole life. this occurred may 3, 1999, moore was hit with what might have been the first ef-5 tornado. that was devastating, as well. but we will overcome it and we'll be the better for it. so, yes, we've had this before, unfortunately. >> paula, thank you very much. good luck to you. good luck to everyone, obviously, in oklahoma city and the entire area, devastated by

this latest tornado that has ripped through this area. bill bunting is still with us. he's with the noaa storm prediction center in norman, oklahoma. what's the latest information, mr. bunting, that you're getting? >> well, unfortunately, wolf, as i'm here visiting with you, i'm not able to check the latest, but we certainly have multiple tornadic storms in progress. as chad myers was mentioning, as long as the storms stay isolated and relatively discreet, they remain dangerous tornadic storms. as they start to form into lines of storms, the risk becomes embedded tornados, but in the current state, this round of severe weather, this terrible event, is far from over and folks in the path of these storms over the next few hours need to take the warnings extremely seriously. >> william bunting from the noaa storm prediction center in norman, oklahoma.

william, thank you so much for your expertise as we're watching the breaking news unfold. it's now the top of the hour and we want to once again welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from "the situation room." "the situation room." we've got breaking news. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is cnn breaking news. >> a monster tornado that we're watching right now, at least two miles wide. two miles, it devastates the oklahoma city area. this is a huge urban area, hundreds of thousands of people live in this area. this is what it looked like within the last two hours or so during the twister's long and terrifying assault. and this is what it looks like now. some people saying like a major war area, bombs going off. look at this destruction in this area. it's clear from the pictures the damage is catastrophic and we're only beginning to see this destruction. ladies and gentlemen, it's going to get a whole lot worse, we're told, but local authorities.

people are still trapped in big numbers in the wreckage. some are still hunkered down because the storm danger, certainly, has not yet passed. look at this. we believe this, this, is an elementary school, an elementary school, literally torn to shreds. there's a desperate attempt under way right now to rescue dozens and dozens of children still trapped in the wreckage. we're getting firsthand accounts of the damage, the rescue operation, and the raw fear when the tornado hit. this is an awful, awful story, and unfortunately, it's only just beginning. let's go to our affiliate koco for more, because they are interviewing survivors. >> me and four other guys pulled a teacher out. she was on top of three kids. the kids were fine. she was hurt pretty bad. we put her on a door and wheeled

her out, there were so many cars around. other than that, as far as i know, most of the kids got out. >> reporter: i know a lot of parents have been trying to get ahold of our station trying to figure out if their kids are okay. again, describe that scene and exactly what was going on when you got over there. >> kids everywhere, people running around screaming. there was cars on their sides, school's just gone. you really can't tell what was the front and what was the back anywhere. >> reporter: people were yelling for help? >> yeah. so to speak, yeah. looking for their children. >> reporter: we've gotten reports, i guess, search and rescue mission is going on right now with first responders. what have you heard, are you in contact with anybody at the school? >> no. i don't have any kids. as far as i know, they've gotten all of them out. >> reporter: have you had a chance to walk up and down the street, and if so, what are you seeing, what are people telling you? >> my house was pretty untouched, but as far as i can see, everybody else's, their houses are just gone.

i pulled this gentleman out here in the wheelchair and, i mean, he was all right, but everybody else seems to be fine. >> reporter: describe what it was like, though, when this tornado was coming through. >> i just stepped outside whenever i saw it behind the house. i ducked back inside and hit the bathroom, then heard everything crumbling around me. >> reporter: why did you come out here, though, what are you doing out? >> i just got home from work, hadn't really heard anything about it. and i just heard the wind howling outside, so i had to get out there and see what was going on. >> reporter: i know there's tons of traffic all over the city of moore. we're hearing lots of rumors about injuries, potentially fatalities. what have you heard and what have you seen in other areas other than this neighborhood? >> other than this neighborhood, i haven't been anywhere. heard briarwood elementary is gone. there was a fire a couple

streets down. i saw several people hurt. policemen trying to get him out. other than that, i was just trying to make sure everybody's all right. >> reporter: i can smell in the air right now there's the smell, potent smell of gas. what's going on? >> most people's gas meters in their backyards are broken. lots of power lines are down. everything's just gone. yeah. >> reporter: right now, though, just getting a look at this, as my photojournalist shows us the street, all this destruction. it is truly stunning to think that everybody has gotten out alive. when you look at this, what goes through your mind? >> how sad it is. it's really sad. >> let's break away from koco and go to kfor, our other affiliate. they have an update on the destruction of this school. >> they try to get back, a lot of the folks, who have been joining in the search efforts. quite frankly, it is noisy and if there are children trying to scream for help, they can't get to them, so they are trying to

get some hysterical parents back. every possible emergency personnel is here doing their best to pull the victims out alive. i did speak to a teacher, her name was rhonda, sixth grade teacher here, she is nothing short a hero. she had six kids with her in the bathroom. she laid on top of them as the storm passed through, they are all alive. i understand the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were all accounted for and have been moved to a church that is in the area. and they are safe there. right now, still unaccounted for, i suppose, kindergarten, first, second, third graders. still no word on those kids right now. parents are just now beginning to arrive. as you can expect, they want to help. they are yelling at rescuers, why aren't they doing more, but believe me, these folks are doing everything they can to save whoever may be trapped in this debris. they are about to bring in heavy

equipment. i see a tractor about 50 yards from me that they are trying to get in so they can, hopefully, remove heavy debris, but for those who may just be joining us, we know the third grade class was in a hallway in a classroom taking refuge from the storm and that part of the building is completely gone. there are no walls standing of this school. it is wiped to the foundation. nothing more than a big pile of debris. like i said before, we can only hope and ray for the best that they can find these kids and these teachers alive. >> so we can pass this information on to parents, because there are some hysterical parents with sara stewart right now, whose children attend plaza towers elementary. you're saying the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students are all accounted for and where are they? >> they are at a church, which is a quarter mile from here. i'll see if i can get the information. the name of the church i don't know right now, but i was told

by the teacher those grades were escorted there before the tornado hit. they were not in the school at the time. they are safe. i've just walked up on another triage center, essentially, a red tarp laid on the concrete. there's a woman here whose head is wrapped, blanket over here, she is breathing. i suspect she's with a loved one right now. i don't know if she's associated with the school, or not. as we mentioned, the school is in the middle of a neighborhood and the neighborhood is gone, as well. there will be victims at the school and i suspect in many of the homes, as well. >> unfortunately, sounds like there will be. folks got to know those rescue workers have to step gingerly, they can't move real quickly. they don't want to step on a student that may be buried under rubble. they want to listen for voices, maybe kids crying for help or just crying. and so that's why they have to move a little bit slower than the parents would like. >> absolutely. let me tell you, there are, obviously, raw emotions out here, even among the rescue

workers. the oklahoma city police department was asking people to keep back, he was tearing up after a father was upset they weren't doing more. obviously, it's traumatic for everybody and they are doing everything in their power to get these kids, these faculty members, out of this debris. >> lance, we hate to deal with numbers, but parents watching need to hear these numbers so they can understand what's transpiring, because the numbers tell the story. when we talked about an hour ago, 30 minutes ago, you said 75 students were believed to be in the school at the time the twister hit. is that still the case? >> reporter: that is the last count that we have. in this particular part of the school, and this is the only area of the school that they are searching in right now, the south portion of the school, they were -- i was told there were 75 kids who took refuge in the hallway, cinder block walls, typically the safest place to go if you can't go underground. obviously, a tornado of this

magnitude, not able to withstand mother nature and that area is wiped out. >> the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, apparently, were taken out of the school before it hit. you talked about 30 that were taken out of the school and relocated at a church. >> reporter: that's correct. i spoke to a parent and he said early on initially there were 30 children taken out of this particular area of the school, the south portion. now, i don't know those include the fourth, fifth, sixth graders, they were gone before the tornado hit. they were evacuated and taken to a church, which is to our south. still trying to get details, but that's sort of a rallying point for parents as they are looking for the kid. >> just to clarify one more time, it's the third grade class that appeared to be in the hallway that searchers are looking for right now, some third graders, is that correct? >> that's what i've heard from one rescuer and also from a teacher. this was the area where the third grade kids had taken

refuge from the storm. based on the young man who i saw pulled out a while back, i would say about the age, third grade. maybe 8, 9 years old. he was fine, along with a school teacher. they have been taken off to a nearby hospital, i suspect, but they are alive and well and search continues tonight and we're not going anywhere, we're going to be right here. >> lance west, thank you very much. we can't tell you how much we hope to report every one of those children is alive and well. we'll continue to stay on top of it for you parents who can't make your way there. our hearts out to you, we feel for you. we'll get you the information as quickly and accurately as we can. >> speaking of information, we need accurate information on the storm center right now. let's go over to mike morgan -- >> we're going to continue to monitor our affiliates in oklahoma city. the damage is devastating, as you can see. specially we've been following these two elementary schools that suffered enormously, the plaza towers elementary school in moore, oklahoma, the

briarwood elementary school in oklahoma city. and we're following the rescue operation that is now under way. these preschool, pre-kindergarten through sixth graders in both elementary schools. look at the destruction and pictures coming in. david massy is joining us on the phone right now. he took some video, short video clips, posted them on twitter. david, i want to play these little videos for our viewers and then we'll discuss what's going on. watch this. here's the first one. and we just see your video, and then your words on the right, there's a tornado, literally, right by our home. you can see the toeshd moving close right there. david, are you on the phone? >> yes, i'm here. >> tell us what it was like. >> well, you know, it was very close to our home.

if it had been heading north, it would have hit our neighborhood. i was with my father trying to go north to get to a storm shelter at our grandparent's house. that's about the time the storm went east into the moore neighborhood, where i went later and took those videos. >> there's the second video that you posted, completely obliterated neighborhood two miles from my home. describe what we're seeing. >> well, i parked my car and walked towards where i saw police cars and all the people and i was walking towards the neighborhood and then, you know, you really see the devastation. the entire neighborhood was leveled. people were running down the street. people were crying. and there's plenty of first responders blocking the roads off and going towards the scene. >> here's another one. the middle of a leveled neighborhood. trapped people are calling for help. you saw trapped people, david?

>> yes. i heard people calling for help. there was one woman, she just needed help getting up. there was debris over here. she was unhurt. i did see a young man. he was walking through the neighborhood, he just looked stunned. he had his arms over his head crying and the man told me later he was pulled out from underneath rubble and he was unhurt, but he was looking at his destroyed house. he looked like he was alone, looking for family or just anything. >> you posted this one, this is a very sad one, these men are looking for a lost little boy named tommy. did they find him, do you know? >> no. i was in the middle of the neighborhood and a woman ran up and said that a little boy was missing and he was possibly in one of the homes underneath the rubble, so all -- this was just a group of men helping out that were organized and they ran over on top of the home and were screaming his name, but they

didn't get a response from him, and they ran to another area and i was pretty overwhelmed. that's the time a guy walked away when they couldn't hear anything from him. >> david massey, thank you very much for sharing these emotional stories and video with our viewers. good luck to you, good luck to everybody in oklahoma. we're just getting word, by the way, the oklahoma department of emergency management confirming that the national guard in oklahoma has been activated in response to these tornados. we're also getting word that the preliminary rating of damage created by the moore, oklahoma, tornado is at least, at least, an ef-4, that would be 166 to 200 miles per hour. the national weather service said this on monday, at ef-4 tornado, 166 to 200 miles an hour. i want to show our viewers a

picture of the plaza towers elementary school in moore, oklahoma. here it is, this is plaza towers before this tornado hit this area. and you saw the destruction, the devastation afterwards. chad, you're with us right now. our viewers who are just tuning in, they are seeing these awful images, the destruction in moore, oklahoma, and elsewhere. update our viewers, first of all, on what has happened, chad. >> about three and a half hours ago we saw the first storms pop up near duncan, oklahoma, southwest of oklahoma city about 100 miles. then a few more popped up and one started to rotate near newcastle, oklahoma. it continued to rotate and quickly from nothing to a funnel to an ef-2 on the ground in just five to ten minutes, then it grew in size and it kept growing. you just said the ef-4 tornado, that's preliminary. there may be higher wind gusts somewhere, but that would be my exact guess, ef-3 to ef-4 at this point, which means many of

the walls of homes may be gone but there may be an interior closet or room still okay. if you get to the ef-5, that's over 200, there will be nothing left except the concrete slab that the house once sat on. something else i want to talk about here, wolf, i don't believe we're done yet, there's a tornado warning for the town of comanche, texas, southwest of dallas-fort worth. and dallas-fort worth, although 100 miles away from you, there are still tornado possibilities getting to you, especially into fort worth neighborhoods. henrietta into oklahoma, still possibly tornados here. up towards bartlesville. any storm that develops, that moves towards you, especially the southwest side of any discreet storm like that one right there, that could be rotating and there could be a tornado on the ground at any time. you still need to watch these

storms. they are not done yet, wolf. >> kfor chopper reporter is narrating what he is seeing right now. listen to this. >> on top of the roof, they have a roof like we do, it's a plastic or rubber vinyl roof over, you know, a flat pitch. they've got shingles and stuff on there that came from neighboring houses, so that building when they put it up, yeah, go ahead. yeah, we'll be on it here in a second. go to your left, travis. keep going left and straight down. it's right out my door. zoom out. right there. there it is. right there. >> rescue workers. we talked to betsy randolph with the highway patrol about 24 minutes ago, according to my notes, and she said responders

were having a very difficult time even getting in to the area because i-35, as you had told us before, traffic had been stopped so people couldn't drive into the storm, but then you had traffic backed up for miles with nowhere to go and now responders can't get through. >> it's definite, people say they are ready to go home, how can we get out of here? you might just want to -- i know it stinks, stay here tonight, but you're going to clog up the roadway with people wanting to get on here. might not be a bad idea to stay in place. northbound lane is backed up all the way to 110-a, which is going to be the robinson street exit there in norman. traffic is backed up all the way there. i'm looking back to the north and i'm not seeing very -- i'm not seeing any traffic on southbound i-35, so they have to be backed up or shut down probably about the i-40 dallas junction, i don't know if they are sending them down i-44 or

other ways or if they just stopped the roadway completely. but, again, on these -- let's see here, on sante fe just south of fourth street, there are still cars that are blocked up right there and part of this is from the police did a great job of blocking people off when they saw where the damage path was and they were not even letting people continue to drive in there, so i think part of that's a backlash of that. now people are coming home, getting off work or left work and they want to see, you know, the state of their house, you know, see their belongings. maybe make sure loved ones are still there. >> that's the school there. >> used to be these housing additions. plaza towers. >> that elementary school, john, looks like they are moving in a bunch of little backboards. >> reporter: yeah. hang on one second. >> sure, you go right ahead.

lance west is there, i'm trying to see him from this vantage point. if you were with us about 11 minutes ago when we talked to lance, he said the authorities are there, search and rescue crews set up the yellow tape. they had cordoned off the area to keep parents and others back so they could hear if there were any cries for help from faculty or students believed to be trapped in that rubble. lance west told us previously that one of the rescuers on the scene indicated 75 children and/or faculty could have been in the school when the twister hit. lance also said that third graders were in a hall where they sought cover, and the third grade class is now the focus of much of this investigation and much of this search right now. >> he also told us many of the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, we believe, were let out and were okay at a church there. of course, our concerns right

now are for the little ones. >> they were moved to another location before the storm hit the school. >> right. >> our concern right now is for the children and faculty who may still be under that rubble. if we can go back to lance. our producer right now may be able to contact him. and if so, we'd like to know where he is so we can zoom on him to show what his perspective is on that scene, because we've been going to him live. >> he's down there somewhere, but he may have been moved back beyond those yellow lines there. he may be getting information what they are telling him, not firsthand stuff. information relays from different emergency agencies and that's what sometimes takes is long. >> lance, we're right over the scene right now. can you describe to us where you are? >> reporter: yes, i see chopper 4. it is to the west of me, and i am standing where a whole bunch of folks are gathered.

they are bringing out some boards, some stretchers, what looks to be like all-out effort here momentarily, the national guard has arrived. i do have reason to believe that they have found some victims. excuse me, i asked one of the medics if he could confirm -- he just put his head down and said, i can't answer that. >> so much raw emotion out there right now. as we said earlier, when you actually are on the scene itself, because we've all covered these before, through the prism of television, it's not like it is when you're on the scene and you're seeing the anguish of the parents and of the rescuers and of little ones being pulled out. it's a very, very tough job. lance is doing a great job of it right now. >> we're focused right now on

plaza towers elementary, but keep in mind that this whole section of moore is very similar to this. if people were not underground, their chances of surviving this storm were not in their best interests. it was a horrific storm. mike morgan says, in his opinion, it was three times more intense than that tornado that struck this same area may 3, 1999. he said this storm was 20 miles long, two and a half miles wide in terms of the debris ball as it moved through this area. he believes it will probably be designated an f-4 or f-5 tornado. if you look at the damage we're even seeing from this distance, there's no doubt in your mind that this storm was horrific. >> absolutely. as we continue to look at john's shot there from chopper 4, running the camera for him, again, tonight as he was last night. let's talk to allie myer, who's on the phone.

allie is at eastern and i-240, worried about first responders being able to get in, allie, what are you seeing right now, are they able to get where they need to go? >> reporter: yes, linda and kevin, i'm further north. what they've done is shut down i-35 southbound traffic at i-240. they are diverting all i-35 southbound traffic to i-40 east or westbound. they have reserved those lanes, all four lanes of southbound i-35 traffic for first responders only, and i can tell you that those lanes are being used right now. i saw the edman fire department, semi truck full of equipment headed southbound, midwest city ambulance, edman fire department, all agencies lights and sirens going southbound to the moore area. unfortunately, i just saw one northbound ambulance with lights

and sirens running. there aren't a lot of ambulances coming out with victims. i assume they'll be heading to o.u. medical center for the most critical injuries. of course, you know they are going to have a lot of trouble once they get into the areas of most serious damage, but for right now, i-35 traffic, if you're headed to norman or south of oklahoma city, i-35 southbound is not an open road for you right now. they are reserving those lanes for first responders traffic only. >> allie, let me interject here when we talked to betsy randolph from the highway patrol about 35 minutes ago, she said it's an all-call for first responders in moore, oklahoma. if you're at home watching this and have the abilities, talents, and knowledge to be of help in this area and are authorized to be a first responder, we ask you move to that area immediately to help in whatever way you can. now, we have been focused here

for quite some time on plaza towers elementary. this is only one part of a very devastated city. we're there at this moment because of the hope that more children will come out of that school alive. there are injuries throughout the city. >> there are injuries, and i just received an injury update. this is very preliminary, of course, but integra southwest, they are treating a total of 19 right now, seven in critical condition, seven serious condition, five are fair or good condition. one of the 19 is a child and we're not sure what condition that child is in. again, seven critical, seven serious, five fair or good right now. we expect those numbers, of course, unfortunately, to go up. >> as i recall talking to doctors after the may 3, 1999, tornado struck this same area of march, most of the damages and most of the injuries that they are treating in the emergency rooms are puncture injuries. >> yeah. flying debris. >> debris that's been flying in

the area. sometimes propelled at speeds of 150 miles an hour. we're talking about nails, talking about boards, talking about any type of metal that has come loose from these buildings that's now become shrapnel and a million knives flying through the air. >> so many lacerations and other more ghastly injuries from these kind of things. people do survive, but they live with these injuries from now on. let's go back to john welsh in chopper 4. you're navigating with a lot of traffic up there right now, but the situation from where you see it, i know it's early in the search and rescue, but are you seeing anything, anything, any shred of daylight or hope out there for those worried about loved ones? >> reporter: you know, we're showing you the plaza towers schools right now, and we do have a lot of rescue crews in there and they have looks like some axes and other stuff they are trying to break through this

debris. the whole back of the school has been pushed around to the front. so there's a lot of guys in there and they are trying to get some stuff out, but as far as seeing people walk out or bring anything out, kevin, we're not seeing anything. but, you know, again, we're staying right here. there's a lot of traffic. it's picking up in the neighborhoods, people are coming home and lacking at their, obviously, the destruction to their homes and all their property there, but that ohp's on scene. they have both their helicopters, doing a great job. they picked up spotters to help search for people on the ground. we're up here higher at 3500 feet zooming, using our camera lens to help out. i've asked them, hey, if you have any areas you want people to look or us to consolidate our efforts on, let us know so we can kind of help everybody out.

that's the name of this game. i don't really care about people seeing pictures of it, my goal right now is try and help find people in the rubble. that's what we're trying to do here. the damage is very severe and this is nothing like i've ever seen before, kevin. >> john welsh, to that end, we're trying to provide people with all the -- >> there you see what's going on at the plaza towers elementary school on the right, what it used to look like. on the left, live pictures of the devastation, the destruction. this is a school, pre-k through sixth grade, approximately 500 kids go to this school. and we don't know what's going on underneath that rubble. we do know that a major search and rescue operation is under way right now. these are mostly we're told for third graders who were not removed before this tornado hit moore, oklahoma, which is literally just outside of oklahoma city. a major city in the midwest. i want to show our viewers some

of the pictures. if you take a look, you can see some of the knapsacks that were hanging if you look up there near the right. there it is near the right-hand part of your screen. they were just there as this tornado, an ef-4 we're told by the national weather service with speeds of 166 to 200 miles per hour. it ripped through this area of moore, oklahoma, right outside of oklahoma city, and literally leveled, leveled, this elementary school, the plaza towers elementary school. this is what it used to look like and this is what it lacks like right now. nick valencia is on the scene for us in moore, oklahoma. you're not very far away, nick, tell our viewers what you're seeing. >> wolf, we're right in the strike zone. less than a half mile away, i can see smoke billowing. when we pulled up on the scene with our crew, the young man and his friend looking for a lost loved one, he couldn't even find

his house, wolf. i'm looking at devastation as far as my eyes can see. appears as though there may be people on the second floor of a house, looks as though they may be trapped there. it's looking really bad out here. first responders, siren s wailing. i-35 has been closed. we had to snake through and cut through the moore cemetery. that's where we're at, right on the edge of the moore cemetery. >> i think our connection with nick is breaking up -- >> trees, just it looks very bad here. i'm sorry, i can't hear you very well. there's first responder helicopters, as well, covering right now overhead. there's people running through the streets right now just looking for their loved ones, for their homes, for their

possessions. i'm looking at somebody right now running towards me. i'm not quite sure where he's going, but the neighborhood is not standing anymore, wolf. it's completely gone. >> the pictures we're showing our viewers, nick, right now, what used to be a beautiful little elementary school in moore, oklahoma. the plaza towers elementary school. obviously, leveled by this ef-4 tornado that ripped through this part of the oklahoma city metropolitan area. moore is right outside of oklahoma city. you see rescue workers on the scene right now, the national guard of oklahoma has been activated. more and more rescue workers are on the way right now. they are trying to find survivors. they are especially looking underneath the rubble for third graders who may have been trapped at this elementary school, the plaza towers elementary school. this is an awful, awful situation that we're seeing

unfold right now. god only knows what's going on there, and it's only one small area of a huge part of the metropolitan area that has been devastated in oklahoma city. let's listen in to kfor, once again, our affiliate. >> again, just a couple of minutes ago, walked down to plaza towers elementary. i know people are very curious about that. we talked to a couple of kids actually on their way down. they said they were inside the school when the tornado hit. they were literally being told to hang on to the walls of the interior of that school when the tornado was overhead. very sad, very sad story. obviously, one of the people we talked to said that a teacher was actually on top, laying on top of three elementary school kids. that teacher was in very, very bad shape. personally, he didn't think that this person was going to make it

through the storm, but again, one teacher laying on top of three kids, trying to protect them from the debris. plaza towers elementary, as you've seen from the air, is basically gone. most of the walls are destroyed. there are cars that were tossed into the front of that where the office building is. there's now a car, a dodge durango sitting in the front of the school where the office is. again, right now we cannot get our live truck back into the scene. hopefully, in the next couple of minutes we may be able to. the streets have started to clear up a little bit as people were coming in nonstop, complete gridlock an hour ago, now it's gotten better. again, search and rescue operations are continuing over at the school building. i don't know for sure how many kids have been taken out of that school. i can tell you a number of kids were taken out, although when we were out there, there were still rescue crews that were out on scene attempting to get kids, the last information i heard on scene just about five minutes trapped towards the back of the

school in the basement area. again, right now i don't know how many kids were still in the school, how many got out of the school, but we know some of the kids, obviously, got out of the school, because we talked to a couple of them. some of those kids were safe, escaped injury, some of the teachers doing their very best trying to protect those kids, may have been severely injured, maybe even killed in this storm. again, it's indescribable when you look around, literally, 360 degrees, everywhere you look, total devastation in this area. we'll try to have much more when this continues. >> jesse, you have to talk about those kids that got out. where were they that they could have possibly gotten out of that debris? oh, he -- >> kids said they were actually told to go into the hallways outside of their classrooms and they were literally hugging the sides of the walls as that tornado was overhead, ripping the school apart. they were in the hallways outside their classrooms hugging the walls. teachers laying on top of some

of those kids as debris was coming into that school. absolutely indescribable scene. i cannot imagine what it was like for some of those little kids, young kids, second, third, fourth grade kids in that school at the time. again, some of them have gotten out, but as we were on scene, there were rescue crews asking us if we knew if there were kids inside. i didn't know. some thought they were in the back, in the basement area, still be kids, rescue crews going in digging in the back of the school. as you've seen, not much left on that school. it's amazing anybody got out, but it appears some have. i don't know how many haven't. we'll have to wait and see. >> jesse wells reporting live. we'll go back to lance west here in just a moment. we indicated before they needed first responders to come down into that area. we're being told they ask you delay that right now, they have more than they can handle in terms of coordinating the people that are there.

if you're watching and planned to help, do not do that at this time. again, do not go to moore at this time to try to help. they are asking that you not come into that area. >> let me give you an update real quick that was just handed to me. some students, at least 15 from briarwood elementary, at least 15 students are at 15613, 15613 vicki drive. 15613 vicki drive. at least 15 of those students from briarwood school are at that location. so, if you have students or loved ones involved in that school, 15613 vicki drive is where you need to go if you want to try and find them, if you can get there. >> the problem is unless they are already in the moore area, you're not going to be able to get in, because they've shut it off to most traffic. let's go back to lance west, who is at the plaza towers elementary. lance, do you have any

additional information? >> reporter: yeah, i can tell you edmond search and rescue have joined the effort, along with several other personnel. they've brought a dog in, ready to do some search and rescue operations. it does look like they've taken some backboards up to the pile of debris. i've seen firefighters hovered over this mountain of metal and cinderblock and it looks, from my perspective, like they may be communicating with someone. if there is a victim under that rubble, they haven't been able to reach them yet, but it looks from this vantage point like they may be talking to someone trapped in the debris. that's encouraging sign, it is right near that wall that jesse wells had referred to where the kids were have supposed to have taken rescue from the storm. right in that general vicinity. i should also mention right across the street there is a home where about 15 minutes ago some folks out here heard cries for help and there are probably 50 people right now on hands and

knees pulling away boards and debris in hopes of finding that person alive. it was about 15 minutes ago we were over there checking out the situation and they say they heard some cries for help. we don't have an update, but people in that direction right now, looks like they are still there, still picking away boards. again, that's an encouraging sign. that's the status right now as far as the search and rescue efforts go. we can tell you since i arrived hear, gosh, i guess about an hour, hour and a half ago, they have not pulled anyone out from the school. early on when we arrived, there was a little boy, 8 years old, they have been taken to a hospital. i spoke to two other teachers inside the school, they are okay, other than bumps and bruises. we know fourth, fifth, and sixth graders have all been accounted for. they are doing a head count to see how many people may be trapped in the school. >> lance west, thank you very much. of course, there are relatives around the nation who are

watching live coverage. we're attempting to get as much information accurately to you as possible. >> folks on the ground will do that. they are very good at that. let's go back to mike, because we still do have storms here in oklahoma. mike? >> i want to reassure folks we are tracking everything back here. we have reid timer out, four trackers out right now, and we are here with you during this coverage of the destruction down in moore. we are plugged in completely. i can guarantee you. all right, looking at these live pictures thanks to our excellent affiliate kfor. this is the plaza towers elementary school in moore, oklahoma. that's a suburb of oklahoma city. there were, used to be, about 500 kids, students on that school, pre-k through sixth grade. we know some third graders were stuck there. we are hoping they are okay, but you see those rescue workers

working feverishly to come up with hopefully some rescues. not far away, briarwood elementary school in oklahoma city itself, that was hit by this tornado. an ef-4 tornado. that's the preliminary rating of this tornado, ef-4. that corresponds with 166 to 200 miles per hour. this was a huge tornado, about two miles wide. chad myers is watching all of this. chad, you know this area well. you worked in oklahoma. not that long ago. >> i did. to see the damage and the destruction of a school like that, and then as the camera pans over to the neighborhood and i know we're focused on the school and how bad it was damaged, but when he pans just 100 yards right or left, you see homes that are almost not there. they don't exist. so this school, although taking a direct hit, actually at least has some walls standing. the homes very close have nothing standing.

something else i've noticed, almost scoured the landscape, the grass around the school is gone. the trees are gone. there's nothing left except mud. this had such scour power, literally, it would take all of the knives and the shakes and shingles around and scour the landscapes, take the dirt right away and suck it up into this storm, creating all of that debris. this is going to take a very long time. i know we're focused on a couple of schools, but there are so many homes. there are a thousand homes that look just like this that must have people trapped inside. this is going to be a long recovery for the people of moore. couple things i want to get to you, henrietta, texas, just to the east, i want you taking cover. there's still a tornado on the ground with the storm here. there's a tornado possible here to the southwest of dallas-fort worth, that's comanche, texas. and the storms aren't lined up yet. we talked to mr. bunting from

the national severe storms forecast center and he talked about when the storms are alone like that or here alone, they can spin like a basketball, but when they begin to line up, they don't spin, just cause wind damage. it's the spin we're worried about. st. louis, the city, you're just put under a tornado watch, which means that you need to watch out. any storm approaching your city could have a tornado in it tonight. although it's getting dark, getting cooler, it's not over. this storm system will continue well into the overnight hours, those are the danger hours. make sure your noaa weather radio is on tonight. >> it's going to be dark in oklahoma city and moore pretty soon, that's going to make the search and rescue operation even more complicated. as much as folks want to go there and help, we're told from the city of moore to not drive into the damaged areas. they say, quote, our emergency personnel will need access to help victims. if you are not injured, please, do not call into 911.

we need the lines for injuries. >> wolf? >> we're also told president obama has been informed of what's going on. he and his top homeland security advisers through fema are monitoring the situation. they are receiving updates. chad, you're getting more information? >> wolf, something that happens when this type of event occurs in a city is cell phone towers literally don't work. everyone's trying to call everyone. the best thing you can do to try to get ahold of someone at this point is try to text them. then when a small nano second opens up on a cell tower, that text will go through. the receiver will get that text and be able to text you back, making phone calls ties up a lot of power. text if you can. >> thank you for that. tom foreman is taking a look at the path of this devastating storm. tom, what are you seeing? >> wolf, put context of what chad just said, here's oklahoma city in the middle of the state here, we've heard a lot of talk about i-35.

that's right over here. this has turned into an absolute choke point, the reason is quite simple, this is the fundamental area in which we can see all of this damage. if you trace all these photographs and you match it up to the map, this is what was hit. moore medical center up here, out of commission. the theater, all these shopping areas hit, all these homes here. here is plaza elementary school in the middle of all this. this is where we've seen that tremendous amount of damage that's taken place. if you look at it, you can see this was the school before, this is the school after, as we've seen so many times. as chad noted, and i really want to stress this, wf, if you look at the damage here, there's a tremendous amount of damage to these homes. to have a point of reference, this distance from here to here is about a mile and about a mile over here. in this one block area here are about 1200 homes around plaza towers school. go over here, briarwood

elementary, pick up another 600 homes. we counted these on the sat late image. over this way, 500 homes over here and then about another 1,200 over here. you see you reach 3,500 homes that seem to be absolutely in the area that was just ripped apart by this storm, going right through here, all indications are the heaviest damage is in through here and as i said, about 3500 homes. there's going to be a lot of digging out and a lot of assessment of the damage over theex 24 hours. >> that search and rescue operation, as we can see, tom, already intense. as you give us good perspective, this is a pretty populated area, densely populated area, one of the major suburbs of oklahoma city, literally, touching oklahoma city. >> absolutely. this is a suburban area. as you were to go driving down the street before the storm, what you would see down this street is all sorts of popular restaurants and hotels and shopping centers.

this is a lowe's over here, post office over here, bowling place, movie theater, as we mentioned. that reporter who mentioned being in the cemetery, the cemetery is right over here. so, he was right at the epicenter of this damage. as you know, the school is right over here. so, this is an area that is absolutely the heart of suburban america. lots of people living in there. lots of services in here. as we mentioned, already a choke point over here. it's going to be a real challenge for people there, as it always is in such circumstances, to simply keep these arteries open to keep help flowing in and out and helping parents find their children, helping people who need help get out. wolf? >> on the left part of the screen, tom, we're showing our viewers, there it is, these are live pictures coming in from our affiliate kfor. plaza towers elementary school in moore, oklahoma, one of the major suburbs of oklahoma city, search and rescue workers are on the scene. they are looking for survivors. they are looking for kids.

this is a school of approximately 500 students from last year. that's the number of kids that were there, plus educators and administrators. this is a school that, literally, has been leveled, as you can see, as a result of this tornado. an ef-4, preliminary rating 166 to 200 miles per hour ripping through this area. this is an area that has been devastated, hundreds of homes ripped apart, as well. dick valencia is on the scene for us, where are you, what are you seeing. >> reporter: we're about two blocks away from the elementary school that was reportedly hit hard by the tornado. we've seen people sift through the rubble, sift through the debris, looking dazed and confused, some of them wanderinger aimlessly, but the destruction is as bad as it looks in the pictures.

our team was at the hotel watching the tornado develop and we got here, in fact, wolf, even before some of the first responders. we hear sirens wailing, i could see an ambulance probably about maybe 300 or 400 yards away from where i'm standing, and as far as my eyes can see, the homes are demolished. there's debris everywhere. chimneys cracked, houses ripped apart, the outsides of the homes completely leveled. telephone poles slanted, split in half. cars, windows broken out, cars stalled. residents just trying to look for their loved ones. i mentioned to you earlier when we first got on the scene, wolf, there was a group of about five or six young men running through the debris, calling out the names of their loved ones. we tried to talk to them. they were, obviously, not in a position to want to talk. they couldn't even find their home. they were looking for their home

and they couldn't even find it. it had been blown away. right now i'm looking at a dog that seems to be just kind of wandering around looking for its owner. we're told that oklahoma university medical center has 20 patients already have been admitted. adults and children, especially those included in the trauma unit. we're only just beginning to get the extent of the casualties from this tornado. let's listen in to the chopper pilot from kfor. >> and the debris is somewhere northeast of here. >> john, what i'm going to ask you to do if you don't mind, you did this for us about an hour ago. but we've had so many more people join us. you could please go back to where the twister entered moore, oklahoma, and follow-through and describe to us what you were seeing so that people understand the devastation that we're looking at? mike morgan said he estimates 30 square miles of devastation from

this tornado that hit moore earlier this afternoon. >> and we'll continue to followu that, john. >> can you see the scouring of the earthment all you're seeing is just dirt. we'll keep going to the left past the orr family farm and pick it up right there about from this distance it will be i-44 and the river. so let me see here. >> you're on the west side of moore? >> yeah. i'll on west side of moore. we'll go the damage path. we'll zoom in and we'll bring this here so we're crossing -- we're coming up on may and then the next intersection is going to be penn. after that, we're going to follow -- we're going to cross the orr family farm here.

you'll back out just a little bit, travis. and keep coming to the right. when tony reported earlier, he was reporting from right there the -- >> we're starting to lose john a little bit. but what he's showing you is the path of this storm as it moved through moore, oklahoma, earlier this afternoon. 30 square miles of devastation believed to be estimated by mike morgan, our meteorologist. the death toll that we know so far are four confirmed deaths. we got those from meg alexander. they were there as they began pulling the bodies out. she said it was a man's body, a woman's and a 7-month-old baby and truthfully, my notes don't indicate who the fourth person may have been. at least four fatalities so far in moore, oklahoma. >> let's take it down to the ground in that heavy hit there at ground zero, unfortunately in moore with jesse wells, our reporter on the scene there now.

je jes jesse? >> we've been talking about plaza towers elementary at lot. we've seen it from the air. this it is. i stepelementary school. we said it again from the air. this school is basically gone. it's totally destroyed. most of the walls collapsed as you can see. there is a number of cars that were thrown into the front of this building. there is an office on the front of the school. there is a truck, an suv of some kind getting thrown in. they're continuing to work on kids getting out of this school building. there were awe couple kids that were literally hugging the walls of the interior hall ways as that tornado went overhead trying to survive. they were being detected by

rescue rescuers. we don't know how many kids are still inside. apparently there may still be kids inside the school. we really don't know the information. very sparse coming out from down here. again, you can see the search and rescue crews continuing to treat the kids that were in this school, that search for kids and there may be kids inside. honestly, it's not, of course, just the schools that got hit as we pan around a little bit further, can you see that all around, 360 degrees around where i'm standing, all the homes literally leveled to the ground. again, right now very chaotic scene. people just trying to search through a lot of these homes, honestly, it's a search and rescue operation out here for a lot of folks if they have loved ones and friends and they haven't heard from them and they're trying to find out if their family members are still alive. it's really indescribable. >> we'll continue to monitor

what is going on. cnn's live coverage of the devastating tornadoes in oklahoma. but continue right after these messages. we'll have the very latest on the school leveled by the tornado. are you still 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. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ]

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about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? we're getting the first confirmation of fatalities in this devastating tornado in a ripped through parts of metropolitan oklahoma city. six deaths. those are the first confirmed fatalities according to the office of the chief medical officer in the area. six fatalities. a lot of people have been injured. those are live pictures you're seeing thanks to our affiliate kfor on the left part of your screen. that's from the plaza towers elementary school. a math jor, major search and ree operation is under way right now. this is in moore, oklahoma, outside of oklahoma city. this was an elementary school pre-k through sixth grade of 500

kids and educators, students, they're looking for survivors, especially we're told third graders who may not have been able to leave the school before that tornado ripped this area. if you go further out from this little school, this plaza you to irz elementary school, there are hundreds of homes that have been leveled as a result of this tornado and not very far away another almostry school, the briarhood elementary school in oklahoma city, right in oklahoma city, moore, oklahoma, is outside of oklahoma city, another pre-k through sixth grade elementary schooled ripped apart as well about 700 children were students in that briarwood elementary school. you see this going on and on and on. these are heartbreaking developments that we're watching right now. the national guard has been activated. the president of the united states through his aides is telling everyone including the governor of oklahoma that the president ordered everyone at

fema, everyone else in the administration to be available to assist. cnn's coverage continues right now with erin burnett. please stay with cnn for all the late environment information. we'll be live bringing all of the news throughout the night. we'll not leave the story, we promise you that. erin, anderson cooper, they'll be anchoring our coverage throughout the night. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room". >> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. a massive path of destruction across a suburb of oklahoma city. it was a two mile wide tornado that has torn through this area and happened late this afternoon. near lly 200,000 people were in the path of this storm. it was in a suburb of oklahoma city. the national wea s