>> george, thank you very much, indeed. that's all for us tonight. we'll be back live at midnight with the latest on the devastating tornadoes in oklahoma. >> piers, thanks, good evening, everyone. the plaza in moore elementary now working under flood lights. they just brought in heavy earth-moving machinery. they're searching for children and school staff who may be underneath the rubble. children who took shelter in a hallway that likely no longer exists. many of the classmates survived, but some didn't. seven children confirmed, so far. in all, at least 51 people across the area now confirmed dead. we've got some new video. what the tornado looked and sounded like from closer than most people would care to get.

you can see the debris flying around. it was about two miles wide. estimated winds at least 166 miles an hour, possibly much higher than that. storms like this one, they rarely leave anything standing. this one, sadly, was true to form. stayed on the ground minute after agonizing-minute. hundreds and hundreds of homes and buildings believed to be destroyed. 360's gary tugman is there and joins us by phone. gary, what's the scene? >> reporter: anderson, i'm truly sorry i don't have good news to report here. i'm standing a hundred feet away from the plaza tower school or the wreckage of what was the school. and the search is in for a new phase. heavy equipment has been moved.

they have not found any survivors and several medical personnel tell me they are looking for 24 children who are missing. and it doesn't mean, and we certainly hope not, that doesn't mean they have fallen perish. some may be in hospitals, some weren't in school today. but there are definitely 24 children who are still not accounted for. so while we've been here for two hours, they haven't brought up any bodies. there are stretchers lying here for injured children, they haven't been used. lots of medical equipment here. none of it has been used. they're hoping to use it, but it hasn't been. the search continues frantically. people are standing around and hoping for survivors. the lights have been brought in. this will go on as long as it takes. i will tell you, anderson, this neighborhood may be the hardest

part of moore hit. there's nothing left here. there's no buildings for blocks at a time. i walked two miles to get here. there was some damage and then here, complete devastation. but the worst of it is here at this school. still, 24 children are unaccounted for and the search continues frantically. >> gary, from our vantage point, it is a sickening scene, a haunting scene, the images in those flood lights of the searchers in yellow and firemen searching through the rubble. gary, when we talked about two hours ago, you were actually standing near a father who was seated crying waiting to hear word of his child. are there many parents actually there on site? >> there's only a couple, anderson. they're being confidented at the location. i started talking. and i can't believe how come he is.

he's helped me. he's nine years old. third grade. he doesn't know where he is. he's been comforted by the firemen. the doctor came over and the doctor said he was very blunt. i don't know if we're going to find him. at this point, you're going to have to come to terms to tell you that. and the guy's father just looked so far i loan. it looked painful to watch. this is what happens. we've been covering a lot. it's just another way. you never get used to it, ander sob. it's just painful to watch. >> there's a lot of families waiting for word of their loved ones, not just a children of that elementary school. but people all throughout this area, gary, we're going to continue to check in with you and also bring in george howell who is also in another vantage point, also. george, you have been there for hours, as well. darkness has come. what are you seeing in here from people around you. anderson, you know, you obviously see the lights over

there where gary was talking about. where you see the overhead scene of these rescuers doing their best. to go through the rubble. what we've seen right here on this side of the school, we've seen one after another, sheriff's deputies, we've seen investigators, we've seen a line of people going over into that school. look at this. let's pass over. this is an example of what we're talking about. they're coming in, they're going out, they're doing their very best to find people in that school. we've seen scenes like this all night. this has been happening all night. these are the people that are doing everything they can to help these parents who looking for their children. i just went over there a minute ago. first of all, trying to get over there is difficult. parents are running into this, but you walk around, there are some unpleasant suz prizes here.

when i got over to the scene, you see it is total devastation over there. and we spoke to one parent who's looking for her niece. you see that out here. but we also spoke to three parents who found their children. spoke to them and we learned that the children, they were told during the storm, when the tornado came through, you know, to do this sort of thing. that's what kids who thought here in tornado alley, when it came through, that's how she found her son waiting to be found. >> george, so many people who have not lived through a storm like this don't realize just all the things that become airborne, that become projectiles, that can injure you and now, as you said, all the things on the ground, nails sticking up, boards, sharp glass, everything out there. it's still a very dangerous scene for those who have survived the initial storm. i also want to bring in nick valencia who is in moore, as well, for us. and, nick, you've been talking

to people all evening long? >> reporter: yeah, anderson, you can see behind me, there's still first responders going through homes, canvassing, making sure that no one is unaccounted for. there's also stories of survival and residents that weathered the storm. steve wilkinson has been one of those residents. he has everything that he's able to get from his house right here in this basket. >> how are you feeling? how are you doing? >> i'm just still in shock. i can't believe it happened. not in the community. everybody lost everything here today, pretty much. >> there were severe weather warnings. there was a chance meteorologists were saying there's another state of severe weather. >> reporter: when did you

realize it was serious? >> when they said we had 30 minutes to get out. it just kind of tracked norlt east. >> did you see the tornado as it was coming towards you? >> no, i was behind it. i was coming in through a point on new castle. i was coming in behind it. >> take our viewers through just the emotion of showing up at your residence. it's all gone. >> i don't know how to explain it. up le unless it happens, you don't know how to feel. you work 20 years and it's gone in 15 minutes. it's just unreal. it's just -- i don't know. i don't know what to say other than i'm in shock. still. >> steve, you don't have to say anything more. this is just an example and indicative of what a lot of residents here, anderson, are going through. i talk to steve and he's going to -- steve, where are you going to stay tonight? >> my sister lives about a half

mile from here and i'm going to stay with her tonight and decide what to do after that and where to go and what to do after reality sets in. >> what about your neighbors? do you know anything about your neighbors? >> most of my neighbors were okay, too. they made it out. i haven't talked to any of them since then. i'm pretty sure they're okay. none of them has called me. they got my number, so maybe they're still in shock, too. because they lost everything. >> what did you find when you were going through everything in your house? what did you find? >> a lot of debris, dirt, gras, mud, insulation, boards sticking through the top of the house, top of the roof missing. >> what do you have here in the basket. what were you able to recover? >> a pair of shoes and a few clothes. so, basically, it's going to be about it. we could salvage a little bit more. all the insulation blew in on

the clothes and stuff. i don't think there's any saving them. >> this is your life right here? >> yep. i'll get it together again and get it going. >> were you able to recover any pictures? any moe men toes? anything that was sentimental to you, steve? >> not yet. i'm hoping to tomorrow. we had them in little plastic containers. so i haven't goot to go through them yet to see if they're even there or destroyed or what. hopefully they're not. you can't replace pictures of family. kids' pictures when they're younger. it's just hard to explain. it's just unsurreal. >> you're in shock. >> yes, badly, i guess. i just want to break down and cry. but you know how it goes. you've got to strong to keep going. >> well, i don't think anyone would blame you if you did. you've been a resident of oklahoma all your life. you've been through tornadoes before. >> nothing like this one. nothing like this one. even may 3rd of what?

2009 wasn't this bad. not in my opinion. this one is pretty bad. it destroyed the school up there. i think they found five kids up there dead so far. i think they drowned. i feel bad for the parents that go through that. i still got my family. i can go on. but they're going to have to deal with some bad stuff. i feel sorry for them. >> a lot of these residents are having to deal with a lot of the same emotion that steve is going through right now, anderson. >> nick, thank you. and thanks, steve, very much. we wish him and everybody there in harm's way the best right now. to get a better picture of what happened and the magnitude of this storm. it is hard to get a picture of the overview. i want to bring in chad myers in the weather center. can you give us a big picture of this? >> yes, about 3:30 this afternoon, eastern time, 2:30 their time, there was very little on radar. literally 30, 40 minutes later,

e-f-2, 3 and then a 4 on the ground. really just unheard of, explosive. just the devastation that you see here, how the pieces are getting thrown around. this is called debris. i mean, that was a house. that was somebody's shingles. that was somebody's siding. and then all of the sudden now, you've got a thousand of those houses in the way. and, of course, the schools that got in the way, as well. this was a big, super-cell tornado. we talk about them where there's just one cell out by itself. it can rotate, especially on a day like today. when there's one big cell, it becomes the big tornado, and that's what we had here. if ef 4 tornado. things have calmed down significantly. kind of lined things up. there's your new castle pictures right there. brand new.

this is called a wedge tornado. the debris that the radar was seeing in the air was 2 1/2 miles around. we haven't talked about this a lot, but the debris ball is something new. it's something where our new doppler radar cannot only see in this direction, but can also see it horizontally. so it can tell that those things, those pieces it's seeing in the air, seeing, the things that it's seeing in the air are not rain drops. they're shingles. they're bigger. they're insulation. that debris ball was so big. it continues off to the east. this cell has died off. there's still many more all the way from st. louis and all the way down even into arkansas. this is the storm with oklahoma city. about 60 miles from one side to the other and then the backside here, this part right here, that we were so concerned about near

moore earlier today. we take you back to '99, 2003. an ironic look at what happened here. this yellow line is our track today. this red line is the track for 1999 and the blue line, the track for 25003. let me fly you in and show you how this lines up. everybodys talking about this 1999 tornado. here's our tornado today. a 2, 3, turning into the ef-4. all basically in the same position. this storm today turned to the right and continued to cross. but i can't imagine a town anywhere in the world that has soon three storms, two f4s and an f-5. right now, the weather service is saying at least f-4, 166-200

miles per hour. they'll be out tomorrow looking at the real damage, not just aerials. >> did you say the debris around this thing was as wide as 2 1/2 miles at one point? >> that's right. when the suction picks stuff up off the ground, it throws it into the tornado itself, into the funnel, into the c condensation funnel and everything gets thrown out. if the radar sees all of that debris and thinks it's rain, thinks it's something, it's bouncing off of that debris. and that debris bounce-off field is 2 1/2 miles in diameter. you can see how much larger the debris field is when it turned into itself. 2 1/2 miles across. everything you see there is a man-made something. a shingle. a window. a door. houses were blown apart, obviously. even some of these pick-up trucks were blown tens of 20 feet in the air and thrown back down on their top. this is a devastatingly large

tornado. >> that makes it a 2 1/2 mile killing zone. that could be easily -- i know we see a lot of puncture wounds from people who actually get hit. but you could easily be killed by that debris. >> so many times we talk about that it's not going to be the funnel that kills you. the funnel is small compared to something moving at 150 miles per hour like a shingle. and there you see all of that stuff in the air. this is the new video. we just bought this new video. they will use this video in schools. they will look at this video and break it down piece by piece by piece and this will be a scientific paper at sometime. >> you also called it a wedge tornado, what is that? >> it's a part where you think about of a tornado, a small tornado, just the tip would touch the grown. this tornado actually has the bottom cut off. almost like a pyramid. and the pyramid would touch the

ground. and then you talk about a pyramid that might be cut off at the top. well, this tornado could still keep going parteder to the ground if the ground was farther away. that's how you get such a wide footprint as this could have been another 300 feet down while the width of it is on the ground that entire time. skouerring trees. they took the grass off the ground, anderson. it sucked the grass right out of the dirt in some of these spots. that's just stuff going around and skouerring the ground and sucking it up and throwing it out. and when we saw this on the ground, we did this live, we were on live about 3:50. it was just an amazing thing to watch. but we knew that this was going to be a very devastating story.

>> anyone seeking shelter, saint andrews, 119th street in oklahoma city. they're offering shelt ere as well as a place for families to reunite. all children who have not connected with their parents are being taken there. if you'd like to help out, you can call the american red cross oklahoma city office. if you just want to donate, you can go to www.redcross.org and that way you won't be tieing up a phone line. you can text red cross to 90999 or call 1-800-red-cross. obviously, throughout the night, the search for two dozen children goes on in that school. we'll be right back. la's known definitely for its traffic,

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that's a big, big tornado. >> i hope those people are okay. >> sadly, a dreblgt hit killing at least 51 people and more. the search tonight, still underway. an elementary school in moore, seven children are known to have died. it could just be that they're miss i

missing. >> reporter: anderson, so we've been following people talking to them as they're searching for relatives. some are not having luck. i wanted to bring in here jenna and chelsea deeten. >> my daughter and i drove in from tulsa. i was talking to my mom at 3:30. my mom lives right here at 13th street where nothing's left. we hit the highway and came in. >> and she backed up and we saw that on the news. ives like there's no way she's in there still. we drove all the way here and got a text. he said grandma is fine. she's at my house. mom, everything is gone. all the pictures, all grandma's stuff, all of my pictures, my leather jacket, there's nothing left.

so my son came in on 19th street, saw that nothing was left, ran in where my mom was and just found her. she was just wondering with her little dog, she has a yorkie. and we got this text and it was awesome. >> i'm trying to figure out where the playground was. it's heart wrenching. >> i know you i've got to go. >> i've got to go get my mom. thank you. >> reporter: thank you for sharing with us. >> you know, anderson, some people are having luck out here. others are not. they are still families. they're mothers and fathers.

>> anderson, as george just said, it's starting to rain right now. we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. there's still 30, 40 men and women in the rain looking for the possibility. but the expectation is being lowered here. there's a possibility that all 24 have perished.

they don't know for sure at this point. i can tell you it looks like a huge bomb. it is not recognize blg. some of the neighborhoods we saw in northern japan, there's one truck that's upside down on top of the school. there's no possibility of recognize i recognizing what they look like. this neighborhood has been so decimated. it is absolutely amazing that somebody could have survived. right now, they're still searching for 24 children. >> and search and rescue crews, they have microphones and the like that they can actually drop down inside that debris and kind of quiet down the area just to

hear if there may be anybody down there. so they have a lot of things at their disposal. so far, there's no good news to report. >> all right, gary. we're going to come back to you for any late information as our coverage from moore continues throughout the evening. we'll be right back. flying is old hat for business travelers.

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they were like what do we do? do we have time to get in the vehicle and run it? or do we just hunker down. so we hid in the closet. and prayed. and luckily, the only room that was spared was the room that we were in. incredible. more in oklahoma. joining by phone is the chief medical examiner. thank you for joining us. what can you tell us? >> i can tell you that we have confirmed 51 fatalities. actually, in excess of 20 of those being children. don't have the exact numbers at this point. e have been told that there are still a multitude of calls. >> so this is the first we're hearing these numbers and they're sickening to hear.

51 fatalities, at least 51 are children. are you aware that they're all children from the school? from that one school that are self searching? >> we're just right now trying to handle the situation as best we can. i should have a break down on everything in the morning. you're saying that there are going to be more call sns. >> yes, unfortunately. >> this is obviously the most possible scenario. how are you equipped? do you have enough people to deal with all of this? >> we do. we have a national team that's coming in with families trying to find their lost loved ones. we have investigators deployed to the scenes and here in the office.

we have a full replacement staff going in and so we will keep going until this is completed. >> do you have family members calling you? is that the proper protocol? >> yes, we have a team set upright now where people would call and say someone matches this description and/or has this name. and we're trying to help families as best we can. it's important for them, as well. >> do you want to give out that number just as if it would help people? >> sure, it's 405-239-7141. >> okay. that's the numbers for family members looking for their loved ones. again, if you are not directly involved in this or a drekt relative of a family member, please do not waste their time and call. it 405-239-7141.

amy, i appreciate your time. and, again, my best to your staff and all the hard work that you are doing. again, the news of amy bringing us a confirmation of 51 fatalities. at least 20 of them are children. possibly more. and they have calls of more people coming in, more deceased people. joining me now, storm chaser brenten lee. you heard that from the huge number of children so far killed in this. what did you see? >> it was one of the quickest tornadoes that i've ever seen. i had about 15 minutes before it touched down.

but it was just devastating. >> and we're looking at the images that you took now. about how far away from it were were you? >> the initial funnel, we were 200, 300 yards. >> what does it feel like and sound like? what did it sound like to you? >> it sounds surreal. it does sound like a freight train. it was incredible. this was shot on my iphone. they were basically trying to yank the eyephoiphone out of my. >> you could feel it? >> absolutely. at this point, it was -- you could see it coming out of my hand.

>> that is unbelievable. this is actually a very wide one. >> absolutely. >> it was incredible. >> at one point, the debris, the width was as much as 2 1/2 miles around. could you see a lot of that -- a lot of that debris from your vantage point? >> we could see a lot of it, you know, with all of these videos, on and off, you don't really have a soom on your eye phone for the video.

this is the actual distance. >> chad, again, these are new pictures we have been seeing. it gives you a sense of this thing. >> these men and women are very, very much invovrled in the whole process of keeping people alive. let's just talk about this. wlafs the scariest part of this chase for you today? >> it was definitely the closest point. you never know, at this point right here, you could see the

funnel off the ground. maybe an e-f three. it was incredible that quickly. it was incredible. >> anderson, this storm went from 27,000 feet to 54,000 feet in from 10-20 minutes. and the terms of warning? >> it depends on where you were. there was an appendage on the bottom of the storm. the tornado was on the ground at 56 minutes passed if hour. we had it on the air live.

we know it was between 15-16 minutes for this tornado to get on the ground. then, it took another probably 30 minutes to get to these moore locations, especially around the elementary schools. parents had to make the decision, do you stay at home? do you go and try to pick up your child at school? schools have systems in place. it's just a nightmare to happen. i appreciate you and what you do. once again, our live coverage continues throughout this hour and throughout the night. the latest, at least 20 of the 51 fatalities right now that we know about are children. a number of them, at least se n seven, perhaps more with the search for survivors is going on right now. nom, nom, nom.

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we've lost animals. we've lost everything. we don't have anything left. my parents, we can't get ahold of them. we have no cell. if they're out there and they're watching, please let them know that me and my family is okay.

we'll make it. we'll be okay. >> so many people lost so much. they tweeted hometown, got hit a gazillionth time. joins us on the phone tonight. tobey, your thoughts on seeing these images? >> it's devastating. i grew up in those neighborhoods that got hit today. we lived in the moot there. and there's been so many tornadoes that have come through there.

but nothing like this one did. >> do you recognize the streelts? it just seems like blocks are just gone. >> oh, my stister's house got hit. it's a mile north of my mother's house. people forget yesterday, we came down over thunder bird lake. finished up out of draper. they're 80 miles apart. i live kind of in between them. i left today and i knew when we flew out of there, i could see the building back in the southwest. it was just man, this is going to be here for two or three days.

they prepare you for this. and the numbers could be much, much higher, really. it's just devastating. >> it's usually one of the things the governor was saying today. she was thanking the local media for reporting the advanced warning. there's a lot of people who don't have basements in this part of oklahoma. and so they got out to try to figure out if they should get into their vehicle or drive away or go to a friend's house. >> that's the thing be the school. i got out here today and just spent the time in the studio. everybody here was saying how did they get in school? you never know, it could have hit 50 different schools. and those people said hey, you

know, it's coming right at us here. you can't call the parents to come get them now. i guess you could evacuate every school. they're used to dealing with this in the springtime, they did the best they could do, i'm sure. >> yeah, it's just as easy to run into something than from something. you have to decide what is best at the time. i appreciate you calling in. thank you. i know your thoughts and prayers with everyone font. >> yeah, god bless them. they'll rise again. it's a tragedy. i wish everybody god's speed. >> thank you very much. we know confirmed 51 fatalities, at least 20 of them children.

that's what we learned a short time ago from the state's medical examiner's office. we'll be right back.

we've had some new video and more. take a look. mplts oh, my gosh. wait, hold on. it's going to our north. you can hear the siren warning and see that debris. chad, again, i'm just amazed. you mentioned it earlier, that debris swirling around that funnel. >> that's right. even today i was watching the slide. we were doing it live on tv with

the situation room and with jake tapper. and all of the sudden, i thought to myself, this is going to lift. this must lift. this is an impossibility that this size of a tor nay dee could actually go through a city, even though of course we know that it can. moore's been hit by three storms this size or bigger. you couldn't put it in your mind that this was going to go through a populated area and it did. and it stayed on the ground for it seemed like an hour. it may have been longer than that. it's the shingles. it's the glass, it's the car that is are flying around. we heard so many people with laser rations. that's where they come from. again, 51 fatalities. at least 20 of them children. at least 20 of those 51 are children.

when i spoke to the spokesperson, she said they had been receiving more calls about more fatalities that had come to the medical examiner's office.

the sun has set on a devastating day in oklahoma. a tornado at least at one pint, two miles wide wiping out whole neighborhood, killing at least 51 people. the search is still going on in the darkness. it's been an especially tough day. this is how we got here. >> breaking news, a tornado touchdown in new castle, oklahoma. >> if you are in the moore area, please, take cover now. >> oh, my goodness. it's three quarters of a mile wide. and it's moving into western side of moore. it is coming into a highly populated area. this will just level towns. honestly, this is getting very scary. >> this is so big, it doesn't look like a tornado. >> this is not something to play around with. just get in that storm shelter

and stay in there until you hear that this storm has finally passed. >> you're looking at the result of one of the most destructive tornadoes in the shredded parts of the area. >> what we're seeing now, block after block after block of homes destroyed, shocked residents hugging each other in the streets. >> we're probably 200 yards away. he said he's probably pulling out children. third graders. i've never seen anything like this in my 18 years of every tornado. this is, without question, the most horrible. >> it's just unvariably loud. >> this, right here, is basically where you lived. you not only worked here, this is where you lived.

>> i just lost, lost everything. >> lost everything. a lot 06 people can say that tontd. that does it for us. cnn will be live all night long. the latest on the devastating storm, our latest continues now. >> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, we have breaking news. at least 51 people are dead after a massive tornado toured through oklahoma city earlier today. among the dead, as we can tell you live at this hour, are at least 20 children. state chief medical examiner says those numbers are expected to rise in this traj ji. at least 145 people have been hospitalized, as well. you're looking at pictures of what it looked like after the