we lost our signal because more weather is moving, in more severe weather. hundreds of lightning strike about to approach the area. there's oklahoma city, there's moore. this is one of a few storms on the radar map at this hour but more back out to the west still coming. i'll zoom out to you. another area we're concerned about, north texas, dallas. you are in the tornado watch box today. all of north texas, parts of southern oklahoma. one more graphic here we can show you'll yao all of the lightning strikes. the western half of oklahoma sparking at this hour and lightning strikes will take its toll on receipt covry effort here right there in moore as we try to get people out of those buildings. now all of a sudden first responders, are going to have to evacuate all over the devastated area. we'll get our crews out of the way, the people out of the way. when lightning comes into this area where everything's already torn up, there's no place for people to go. you think, oh, lightning storm's

come, let's go inside. for most of the people, there isn't any inside. inside is gone. the inside is outside. you've been looking now at some of the new video coming in. we've been looking at the national weather service there out there looking at this damage. they're going to determine whether it was the ef-4 or an ef-5, somewhere on that tier point of 200 miles per hour. ef-4 is 166 to 200. ef-5 is 200 or above. ef-5 means parts of homes you can't find them. entire outside walls are gone and inside walls are gone. all you might find is just the slab. i have seen pictures, chris cuomo, of slabs by themselves. not a wall left on any of the homes. so i assume we're going to get right at 200 or maybe above with this tornado at some point in its 22-mile track from new castle right across into moore. chris?

>> chad, you were right. there is heavy rain that is just starting on cue for us now. there is lightning up in the skies, obviously a lot of energy. it got heavy very fast. going to be difficult for search and rescue. we're watching them scramble right now back. they're actually being deliberate about it. also tired. we're watching them leave buildings now because of the exposed metal. so let me go to john king with latest. john? >> chris, i'm not all that far from you in another part of moore. as you know, the rains have turned heavy. look up in the distance, the sky's lighter. this is an inconvenience for many families. you can start to see, people have started to come back. today they decided to come back to their homes to search through. a woman behind the wall, you can't see her, trying to find precious belongings, see if there's anything to preserve. what's fascinating and sad about this the wideness of the swath. this house here destroyed, children's play things here,

literally wrapped into the tree. it goes on and on and on. earlier we were 3/4 of a mile here in the plaza towers neighborhood. as residents came back to their home to find things a remarkable story from rina phillips, her neighborhood is flattened, all houses are destroyed. she was in the house when they heard the storm coming. eight members of her family, including a 2-year-old gra grandchild went down to the storm basement. listen how it played out. >> it was loud, windy. and you know, but once it was over, our cellar started filling up with water on both sides and that's when the grandbabies started panicking. >> must have been pretty scary. >> it was scary but we knew we were getting out. we may have been walking in water but we knew we'd get out. the people in moore and people that's come in to help, you know, they're family.

>> yeah. they realized that they were trapped. >> yeah. >> i imagine, just the water coming in, probably a little bit frightening. >> but we got -- we turned around and we went from house to house and people were going, is anybody there? it's like, no, they're out, we're out, you know, we helped them make sure that our neighbors were out. the ones that we knew were home. >> reporter: one of the remarkable things, when you hear people recount what happened on may 20th, they often talk about may 3rd, may 20th was yesterday. may 3rd the 1999 tornado that came through and took a similar path through moore. rena phillips today us, when she rebuilt after 1999, when they lost everything they add the storm basement, where eight members of the family went down yesterday. they were there looking for two dogs. one of the dogs, titan, found alive, shaking and trembling, dehydrated. titan they found alive.

they were going to a local hardware area or home depot where some areas were taken, hoping to find another one. a lot of stories like that. another woman, renee meyers i helped get her kennel out 0 the house, digging through the rubble with her son. she was hopeful, perhaps her dog boo perhaps escaped. as you walk through and see devastation, it's remarkable. look at scope of it death toll has been revised downward. i was out until 2:00 this morning with search and rescue team from nearby bixby. they had cadaver dogs, this morning a team of first responders from texas came in on buses. they were quickly organized, quickly given a grid of the neighborhood. part of the plaza towers neighborhood, off they went to go door-to-door into areas where not all of the homes had been checked out yet and local officials were telling that texas team, as they went off on their mission, still some people, though the number's shrink, some people unaccounted

for. chris? >> absolutely right, john. they're doing the best. but they can't do it when it's slick, can't do it when there's hail or lightning. all of that is going on now. those efforts are being hampered by the weather, obviously. we are all pausing to fill in a lot of the open issues about who is missing, how many injured, how many lost their lives. we are wait on a press conference. it's going to have local bigwigs there, police chief, people organizing the search and recovery, the governor will be there. we'll get best information we've had to date from them. but of course, this is really an evolving situation. it's not even 24 hours since then. and it's just all hands on deck from this community, surrounding communities, surrounding states, the federal government. we spoke earlier today with state representative mark mcbride, his district, moore is his place to take care of 40,000 people he considers family. listen to what he had to say.

>> yesterday i was at one place, they were pulling out a body, i guess. the sad thing, it was a little pink jeep looking little girl's toy sitting in the driveway. i didn't stay there. i didn't know if it was a child or adult. but i mean i was choking back the tears, trying to be strong. >> you know, it's difficult to be strong when you're in harm's way. it's difficult when you've lost your home. imagine if you don't know where your kid is, imagine when you can't use your cell phone and know your kid is in a school that got hit by a tornado. can you imagine? yesterday at brier wood school, parents flew down there, some put themselves in harm's way during the tornado but they had to find their kids. let's play you the wry reunionst took place once the parents got to school.

>> justin? >> he was so brave. he was so brave. he was so brave. he was so brave. >> the best hug if that mother's life to have her kids back and thanking the teachers and other people in the community that kept her kids safe searching for them. that's as good as it gets when they have lived here in moore, oklahoma, one of the lucky ones, when you found what matters most, your kids. we're going to break. latest on moore, oklahoma. we are waiting with a press ken

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oklahoma, we're monitoring two situations right now. obviously, what happened here, the massive tornado and the aftermath, as this community tries to recover. 20 miles of damage, two miles wide in some parts. people still missing. people lost their lives. many people injured. we're going to talk to one in a moment. also, at bottom of your screen, state steel from arizona, monitoring the death penalty hearing from jodi arias, expected to take the stand. will she ask for death penalty, ask to be scared? we don't know. it's fueling the interest in the case. ashleigh banfield is there. i'm in moore, oklahoma. the weather's picked up here. you hear the thunder behind us. it's hampered search and rescue. hail before, bands of rain, thunderstorms coming through. the last thing this community needed especially when so many people have nowhere to get out of the weather. just to give you a sense of we have to hold on to the tent over our head because it's about to blow away.

i want to, if we can, do we have mr. rail on the phone? >> yes. >> good. it's chris cuomo, for the rest of our viewers out there she lived through this. her home was damaged, car was damaged she just got out of the hospital. how are you doing? >> fine as i can be. >> how badly hurt were you from what happened? >> i am just hurt, i'm just sore and battered. i'm not -- i don't have any major injuries so i'm thankful. >> so tell me, barbara, what happened, what happened to your home? >> my son was at school and phones weren't working i didn't know they locked them down in the schools. he was at southmoor high school, i couldn't live, i didn't know where he was. sirens went off, it was a

tornado emergency. i grabbed a pillow went in the hall closet sat on the floor. i could hear it coming for two, three minutes. i covered my head. it kept getting louder and louder. and next thing i know, the windows break, my ears popped, just kept getting louder and louder, and then i felt my house ripping apart, and the rafters came down on me. knock immediated me to the other side. all 0 of the weight kept me from sucking it up because it was trying. >> barbara, we're showing pictures of your house now. and as terrible as this is, as terrible it is to lose your home you to know how lucky you are that you made it out of there. this is -- these pictures are terrible. >> i know. i know. i shouldn't be here. >> well, you should be here, that's why you were r. here. you have to tell yourself, you've got take stock in that. i know this is difficult for

you. you said you were waiting for kids to get out of the high school, is that right? >> my son's in high school, yeah. time for him to get out. i didn't know they were keeping them. i had to stay in the house. >> so your son is okay? >> he's fine, yeah. his school didn't get hit. >> now i know that your son's okay but you have other loved ones, right? you have pets, your cats. still looking for your cats, right? >> yes. i'm missing two cats the white cat and my little ralphie, he don't weigh a pound. he's little gray and tan one. and the big white one is j.j. >> all right. we're showing pictures of your cats now. hopefully, if anybody sees them and watching, they'll take care of them. as you know, katzs are tough, resilient. hopefully they found some shelter. how about you and your son? where will you go now? >> i'm at my daughter's. i really don't know.

i really don't -- i don't know yet. >> well, at least you have family, though, barbara. i know you're hurting and worried about your cats. thank god your son oe's okay an made it out of a situation. hopefully more people were able to escape in what seemed like disaster. i heap you find your way through this and i hope you find your cats. >> thank you. >> there are a lot of people out there like barbara, we're hoping, people who escaped from situations that just seem unlikely. search and rescue hampered now. you can see the weather behind us, different bands of lightning and thunder and hail coming here. the last thing the community needs. standing by for a presser that's going to have the governor, a press conference and local big shots who are all running this recovery effort so we can hear from the police chief and the supervisors, where they are, what progress is being made,

what's needed. remember, cnn.com/impact. please, go online, go to the website, go to the page, find out how to help. the need here is so great. she is, in a way, one of the lucky ones. we'll take a break. >> we pulled the boards and heard people scream and pull them up from there. you ran from pile to pile and waited for someone to scream. >> it's painful. you just the hear, it's pain, you go, what if it was my family member? king, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems,

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i'm wolf blitzer here at what's left at the moore medical facility. let's go over to the governor, mary fallin about to begin the news conference. >> as one large city, one large area, oklahoma. so we're working together, we want the world to know that. we all want the best outcomes. we've got about 15 people here, 16 people to speak. and they'll come up to the microphone, they'll introduce themselves and they'll talk. and after the last person speaks, which will be

commissioner doak, we'll take some questions and answers from you. so right now, i'd like to introduce governor mary fallin. >> thank you so much. i just want to thank the media for all that you've done to help our community get information that's critical at a time like this. thank you so much for helping with the weather and disaster services and being able to help in our search and rescue. we appreciate you. it's been a couple of trying couple of days for the state of oklahoma. it's a sad time, we've experienced one of our most horrific storms and disasters that the state has ever faced. but yet, in the midst of tragedy and loss of life, we have also seen the resilience and courage and strength of our people and we will get through this. we will overcome, and we will rebuild and we will regain our strength. our hearts and prayers are certainly with those that have lost their loved ones. it has been a very, very hard experience, a heartbreaking

experience, especially the loss of children in the schools themselves and those who haven't been able to find their loved ones and waiting to hear. we frankly don't even know yet if there are still missing people, but there still may be. our first and foremost emergency and goal is to have rescue and recovery to make sure that we uncovered every piece of debris and gone through every building, piece of land itself, to see if there might be someone that survived the storm or is experienced some injuries itself. i had the opportunity a few moments teague take an aerial tour to fly along the path of the tornado itself. it is very wide. it is hard to look at. because there is so much debris on the ground itself. in many places homes were absolutely destroyed, taken away. there's just sticks and bricks basically. it's hard to tell if there was a

structure there or not. if you get into some of the major neighborhoods, you can't tell where the streets were, the street signs are gone. and it's been a big challenge for us, as being able to determine which area of the community we might be in because the streets are just gone. signs are just gone. so we have been working very hard to identify various areas of need. the path is very wide of this storm itself. it's about 20 miles long. we estimate it could have been up to two miles and width itself. we flew over the schools. i got to see the terrible destruction of the schools themselves. certainly the business community and the friends and neighbors that lost their homes, we are very sad about. i want to personally thank the administrator fugate who has joined us with fema. they have done a superb job withing with our city, state, federal leaders here. we appreciate you, administrator.

we appreciate your prompt response in answering our disaster declaration for our state and giving always provel on that. as you know, administrator, not only did we have the storm that passed through yesterday but also storms and loss of life and loss of homes and businesses on sunday, when the storm actually began to roll through the state of oklahoma. so, thank you for your assistance. i also had a second phone call a few moments ago from president obama. once again, reiterating that fema is here to help bring any resources to bear, to help us with any type of red tape that we might run across and several other cabinet secretaries have called also to express their thoughts and prayers and offer assistance. we appreciate all that fema is doing. and i want to say a word to all of the first responders, so many, fire, police, emergency personnel, the office of emergency management, director albert ashwood and his team that

have been coordinating on the state level. thank you very, very much. and job well done to help so many people that are in need. this has been a big tragedy for the state. and it's not easy to handle something this magnitude. i know many people have worked around the clock and have put in extremely long hours and dangerous circumstances helpinging our fellow oklahomans and grateful for you. i want to give you a couple of updates on some things. we have a unified command led by the moore fire department. they have done a superb job in working with their local fishes here, certainly with our state and federal officials. they have a plan. they're implementing the plan and have been since yesterday. i have been to their command headquarters. i've seen them organize their various teams. they have the map of the city

itself, both moore and oklahoma city in which they've been sending out various teams and determining what the most important need is at that particular moment. so thank you, and job well done to the command team itself. at 9:00 a.m. this morning, i brought together all of my cabinet secretaries from my various heads of my agencies for the state of oklahoma. we haddeda thorough meeting goi through the state entities talking about the current needs and challenges facing the state of oklahoma. we want to encourage anyone that is currently still in need in our state to call 800-621-fema, if you need services, if you need some type of help, and if a community needs help or department needs some help. we've also set up a state website that people can go to get current information to look at current services that are

available and certainly to be able to respond to the state government. it is, the website, okstrong.ok. gov. that will be updated throughout the day and the time period until we get through this. there will also be legislation that we are working on right now and the oklahoma senate and the house that will be legislative vehicle to be able to tap our state rainy day savings account to set up an emergency fund for the state to be able to match federal dollars and to also help our local communities in need of services and funding right now. a lot of the communities are tapping their local resources, certainly a lot of personnel is working overtime and there are a lot of departments having to utilize some of their funding. and it will also help us with matching some of the individual whose will apply for the federal

assistance on the individual basis that have lost things and to help reimburst the local communities. i've signed an executive order that will waive the wait limits for utilities coming into state and working within the state on weight and height to help get the power back, restored and other resenessential services restored again. we have many areas without electricity and we've been without water in this local area of the city itself and water pressure's low in oklahoma city, too, because one of our power supplies has affected one of the water plants. i'm aware that we have some state employees that have been affected by the tornadoes throughout the state. only this one, but ones in previous days. for state employees that have lost their homes and i'm not aware if any lost any loved ones, but if the work through

the agency head, we are going to give your state employees affected 15 days of administrative leave, so they won't have to take vacation leave or sick leave to get back on their feet and to take care of their personal needs. i have visited with our secretary of health and human services. we have been working with our local hospitals and our nursing associations and also the state funeral directors. and we have plenty capacity in our hospital to take those that have been injured. we estimate there have been around 237 injuries so far that we know of that have shown up at our various facilities. we also are working to set up mental health counseling centers in our various shelters. we'll be work to establish an 800 number to establish counselling that have lost loved ones or faced stress from all that's going on. we don't have any firm numbers

on the number of deaths that we have experienced. we know that there are people, bodies have been taken to the medical examiner's office. but we have also heard there may be bodies that have been taken to local funeral homes. we are working hard right now to try to get a more accurate count of the loss of life. we hope to have better numbers on that. our department of transportation has pulled together over 400 people throughout the state that are on standby to bring in various bulldozers and equipment. when the time comes that we need to begin the process of helping to clear the roads better, certainly to keep those safe and we will be certainly allowing people to do what they need to do to get their valuable possessions through the lost property that they have experienced, but we also have the resources available to be

able to begin clearing at some point in time in the future. og&e is working hard to restore power. we have had 38,000 residents at this point in time that are without power, 20,000 in moore, and oklahoma city. so we're working to get that power back up. one of the other challenges that we have faced throughout the time period has been the problems with communications, with cell service, and telephone lines that have been town. at&t and verizon have set up mobile units to allow better communication for us. the department of agriculture and forestry has also brought in heavy equipment to help when the time comes with debris clearing. and i just want to add that for those that are calling and offering help and resources, please make contact with our various charities through the red cross for donations or volunteer help, and also the salvation army. they're the best source to give

information to. i'll turn it over to administrat administrator fugate. thanking you coming to oklahoma. >> let's be clear, fema's job is to support the team and the team's been working since the tornado struck. local fire, police, volunteers, governors called out, the national guard. the primary response is disaster is being led by the governor, first responders. our job is to support. it's unfortunate that we are once again seeing what tornadoes can do. you're also seeing what investment in public safety and the commitment of training and exercise does when disaster does strike. let's get practical stuff out here for the public. those people that have been affected, you've had losses due to the storm, go ahead and call 1-800-621-fema. the governor asked last night, the president made the

declaration, this was a quick turnaround but it's because of the devastation and the evidence of how bad it was the president concurred and issued that last night. so it's important people start registering. a lot of people are staying with friends and family, some probably staying in their cars right now. we can provide some assistance, rental assistance. we want to get people a place to stay. so the first step is register to start assistance. 800-621-fema or go with mobile device, if they have c connectivity go to disast disasterassistance.gov. you have towers down because of the power outages. unless emergency, use text messaging. you can relieve congestion by using text messaging. if it's not an emergency, stay off the phones until the system come back up. third, let people know you're okay. one of the challenges with this type of event is, because the

devastation is so bad, it's difficult to get a handle on how many people may be missing. so if you have -- you did live in the areas, you were impacted, let people know you're okay so we're not looking for people that we don't need to be looking for. as the governor points out, they're going through debris. we're going to keep looking until everybody's found. you can help by letting people know you're okay. red cross does have a safe and wellness site where you can check in and check on people. so let people know you're okay. the last thing, as the governor said, if you're not in the area, you want to help, the best way to help is to give generously to the volunteer organizations that are active in disaster. there's a variety of folks from red cross, salvation army, southern baptist that do great work and definitely can use your contributions. if you're not in the area, the best way to help, send help through the organizations. that is our -- that's the lesson we've learned time and time again. stuff isn't as great as it is

cash when it comes to longer-term needs to folks that have lost everything. thank you. >> i'm albert ashwood. i would like to reiterate what craig said, whether the federal government or the state government, we have a simple job, that's to support our local jurisdictions, make sure they have everything that we have to offer to help them get through this emergency phase of this disaster. and to help effectively respond. we will also begin recovery as stated. we're looking up to set up assistance centers, an area we can have many assistance centers set up with various individuals, somewhere to go to. some of the challenges have to do with getting the message out, communications. it's easy to stand up and talk about mobile apps that we have or talk about calling 1-800-62-1 fema or going to websites. if you've lost electricity and phone is dead and don't know where to do, we have to go old

school method. message out to people in the - debris and trying to stay with their property and trying to get back into their property so we can get that message to them. we'll be working on that throughout the day, supporting local jurisdiction and making sure they have everything they need. i'd like to introduce at this time fire chief moore. >> hi, i'm gary bird, i'm fire chief for the city of moore. updated information. we kept over 200 responders in the field last night. we stayed at school overnight going through the school and stayed in several different locations back and forth, changing men out, and we had to pull off several times because of weather, lightning, but we went back out. we are out. we started with primary search yesterday and secondary search. we made it through, i will say, most of the structures, vehicles, homes. ones we didn't make in through

yesterday we'll make it a second and third time. we'll be through every damaged piece of property in the city at least three times before we're done. we hope to be done by dark tonight. and i want to thank everyone that has come in to help from all over oklahoma and all over the nation to help the city of moore. thank you. >> jerry stillings, chief of police here in moore. again i want to thank the other agencies. we could not have done this without them and continue to do this without them. we have 75 static posts that we have officers stationed at, and we obviously couldn't do that on our own without these other agencies. the one thing i just want to emphasize is that we have to have people out of those affected areas so that we can do our work and get it done sooner so that we can shrink the perimeter and let people back in. and the other issue is, please,

try to stay away from 4th street and 19th street when driving. it's just bogging us down. we can't -- we've had traffic jams. if you don't belong in the area, please stay away from those areas. santa fe's the same way, telephone, telephone road. so those are -- have caused big issues for us. if we can get the public to cooperate, if you -- there's not -- there isn't anything that you can do there at this time. and there are a lot of safety issues there. so, if you will give us time, let the search and rescue take place, we can get you in there a lot quicker. thank you. >> i'm major general miles deering, the general of oklahoma, and i just want to say, first of all, it's an honor to support the first responders and that's what we're here for, is to support the first responders and fill gaps in the capabilities that they have with

either our resources or the resources we can reach out and gather to support this effort. and it's just been a phenomenal effort thus far. but it's going to be a long time before we totally heal from this. and recover. but we're here to support. thank you. >> i'm mike thompson, governor fallin's cabinet secretary for safety security. i'll echo what the police chief said. if you own have a reason to be in the affected area, avoid it. we want to be sensitive to people looking for their lost ones and loved ones and trying to look at the area here. but it's still just slows down the recovery efforts. so if you don't need to be here, please avoid this area and let us do our work. we're going to be here as long as we need to get the community back. we're going to be sensitive to the people that were affected by this loss. until we know collectively we've dpit tough job ahead of us and

we're going to be here to help the community as long as it takes. >> mayor? >> first of all, i'd like to say thank you for everyone here today. i apologize, air conditioner's not working, we're on generator power. bear with us. a lot of thank-yous. first and foremost, the president of the united states sent me a fema director, couldn't do without him. the governor, who has been here on site every since this happened, and i just appreciate her and her staff. all of the city employees, all of the other agencies that have come from all over, we appreciate their support and assistance. i want to say thank you to the city of oklahoma city, the city of norman, without them we wouldn't do it. and this has been quite an experience. i was the actual mayor here in may 3, 1999. so this is not my first rodeo with this. but it done get any easier.

especially with the loss of life. and with that, i'll turn it over to the mayor who will answer questions in a little bit. thank you. >> first, i want to commend the city of moore and the resources that they have put into this. this could easily have overwhelmed an ordinary group of public safety officials. they have not only been up to the task but i think have performed valiantly and were immediately on the scene. there are, you know, a number of organizations that deserve some level of mention including the media, whose technology provided excellent warning and saved hundreds of lives. i was able to tour the site this morning. one of the takeaways that a person sees in in that situation is that no one could possibly have survived this. and yet we know they did. we know people crawled out of the rubble and we're talking levels of debris that's four-foot high as far as you can see. we're talking about cars that are upside down and school books

and children's toys and trees without bark. this was the storm of storms. and the fact that so many lives have been spared, i think, is a great testament to the technology, media public safety officials whom have been mentioned, largely from the city of moore and the city of oklahoma city but larger, other municipalities and county officials as well. i do have one bit of new information to pass along. it appears that we have the power restored to the water treatment plant. if not by now, in the next few minutes. it takes a little bit of while for the pressure to build up in the system. so residents who expect water, power to increase throughout the afternoon, we could be at full usage later today. wouldn't be a bad idea to use less water than is necessary for the next few minutes, next few hours. but the system should be back up and running re, very soon.

and again i want to spread my thanks to governor fallin and her staff and of course to the federal officials who have come here in our hour of need and been with us. thank you all. >> as usual, the response has been overwhelming by all of the partner agencies in public safety, all of the volunteer agencies, the state, local, federal, it's just overwhelming, usually we come to expect that. we've obviously dealt with this in the past. right now, oklahoma city in and of 0 itself, the area affected is only eight square miles with moderate to really extreme damage. there's about four square miles that we have cordoned off. that area's cordoned off with people only right now at this point, only alling owners,

homeowners to go into the areas to try to get to their homes to see if they can salvage some things that they may be able to. but those are the only ones allowed in those areas. we will be in that area, in those areas, securing those areas for quite some time. probably for a week to two weeks, just to protect property and make sure everybody has the opportunity to get back to their -- get back to their property, do what they need to do. we have -- in oklahoma city, we've had a confirmed four deaths. i think overall, the medical examiner has actually confirmed 24 deaths. but four of those are in oklahoma city, remainder would be in moore. obviously, as the governor spoke, there could be obviously others in the coming days. the search is still going on, heavily in moore because they have a larger area to cov. we could expect more possibly. so we have a 24 right now. could be more.

all of the people reported miss, initially last night, about 48. all of those have been actually found except for i think a few left in moore that they are working on to try to locate that have not. if there is still somebody out there, if there's anybody out there, citizens that have not found loved ones we ask them to go ahead and call us 297-1129 and at least report that and let us have the opportunity, maybe, to locate them. again, i want to thank the media for their cooperation and all of the state, local agencies that have worked together to rally, make a tragic event handled as well as possible. so thank you. >> keith bryant fire chief oklahoma city fire department. just to add to what chief citty said about the operations in oklahoma city as the form was

forming yesterday, we activated the state's urban search and rescue task force. we actually had those assets and those personnel assembling as the storm was approaching oklahoma city. so therefore, when the storm did strike we could have those personnel and assets in place very, very quickly to start beginning search and rescue operations. as of last night, about midnight, we had complete iered a primary and secondary search of the affected areas in oklahoma city. the task force set up a base of operations next to brier wood elementary school and they continued to operate out of there. currently, what we are doing is going through the list of registered storm shelters in the affected area in oklahoma city and double-checking those to make sure anybody that may have been in a storm shelter and wasn't able to get out.

other than that we an oklahoma city fire department task force that is dedicated to the affected area. if any fires were to break out, emergency medical needs arose, we are there so we can respond quickly to that area. and again, working just with the state task force in that area to make sure that we thoroughly search the area and, again, be able to respond quickly to anything that may arise since the storm occurred last night. >> good afternoon, i'm cleveland county commissioner stacey and this is county commissioner rod cleveland. first of all, i want you to know, we grieve with our fellow residents of cleveland county for the loss of life and the -- those injured. absolutely devastating. we have -- it's been a rough few days for cleveland county. as you know, we started on sunday, and it initially we had storms and tornadoes hit the

east side of our county. our crews have been out 24/7 since that time. and we have been involved in absolutely aspect of that from cleanup, search and rescue, to we're opening up in cleveland county at our fair grounds so we can take livestock there. but every kind of aspect that you can think of we're trying to be involved and help the residents. we're going to be in this until the very end. this is our county. we will heal together. as you've heard this is a resilient county and the citizens here in moore and norman have been through this before and know what to do. we'll be together until the end and heal together. thank you. >> one of the main tern concerns that we have is sheltering the people that lost their homes. contact red cross. i've been in contact with them, they have a number of shelters available. shelters in norman that's available. they have food and water.

one of journey church trying to coordinate, harvest church in norman. the other thing is it's like i said, commissioner stacey, the fair grounds of cleveland county, the foundation and moore shelter, the moore animal shelter is set up there to take pets and help with food and cleanup for their pets. so we appreciate all your help. thank you. >> my name is gary cox. the director of the oklahoma city health department. our job in public health is to keep people healthy and well, prevent further loss of life. further disease we're doing a number of effort as long that line with our partner, blue cross, blue shield we have three mobile vans giving tetanus shots to those that might be doing a cleanup and have injuries, puncture wounds or other wounds so those will be available in

oklahoma city and oklahoma county and available in cleveland county if needed. we are working with restaurants, food establishments, with the t food and get the restaurants and get them open and safe food for the public for those that have lost power. for food safety, if power has been lost in the areas where it has been lost, food really maintains safe between two and four hours in the refrigerator. if it is in the freezer probably closer to 24 hours. of course, we always say if in doubt throw it out. just keep everybody as healthy, as well, and prevent disease and death if we can.

thank you. >> we have been getting a complete briefing of what is going on here in oklahoma. it is really awful. behind me what was once a medical facility right outside of oklahoma city. i just drove in from the airport and i must say it is heartbreaking to see the devastation in this area. you heard the governor brief us on the casualties, the fema administrator is here sent by the president of the united states. 24 confirmed dead. of those nine children are dead. 237 people reported injured. we are going to take a quick break, resume our special coverage here from oklahoma. this devastation is awful. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm.

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or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. welcome back. we are also watching what is happening in phoenix. jodi arias, the trial winding down. we will find out fairly soon whether she will get the death penalty or life in prison. ashleigh banfield is in phoenix for us. it looks like she is about to make a statement. >> i can just tell you that we have waited over an hour and a half for the process to begin.

there was an issue with a witness who backed out at the 11th hour. let's listen in as jodi arias approaches the podium to address this jury. we don't know if she is going to ask for them to spare her life or for them to give her death. let's listen in. >> ms. arias, please wait to begin. one of the jurors needs to have a new head set. you may proceed.

>> several months back while the first days of this trial was on going my mom visited me like she had been doing every week since trial began. she told me after leaving the courthouse she was idling at the stop light and looked at the car next to her and travis' siblings were in that car. my mom and i were silent for a few moments when she finally voiced exactly what i was thinking. she said i know they are going through hell. yet nothing drove that point home for me more than when i heard them speak last week. i never meant to cause them so much pain. when steven said she read on travis' card that it said call

steven and that he had never got that call i know that is because of me. and when samantha showed us the last picture that she took with travis i know that is because of me that that will always be the last picture that she will ever take with travis. throughout this trial i have avoided looking at travis' family for a variety of reasons that i will not go to. i wondered where is his grandma. is she here? i didn't learn until last week what happened to her. samantha said that travis was the glue to their family. around thanksgiving in 2007 travis called me. he was really upset. he said his grandmother was ill and frail and that he didn't know if she was going to make it. he said he didn't know what the family would do if she didn't

make it because she was the glue to the family. to know that they are both gone and to know that i may have inadvertently induced her passing destroys me. every time i have had the thought or desire to commit suicide there is one element that has almost always caused me to waiver. they are sitting right over there. they are my family. at times i lost track of that element. for example, the incident i testified to when i took my razor apart at the jail. i managed to convince myself that they would get over the pain with time and that in the long run i was doing them a favor by unburdening them of my presence in their lives. i wrote a bunch of them good bye letters addressed specifically to each person. and in the letters i didn't

focus so much on explanations but on how much and why i loved each of them. and then i wrote a general explanatory letter to help them understand my decision. at that time i saw it as taking myself off of life support. i didn't know a lot of anything about prison at that time and i didn't think it was fair to expect my family to have to support me for the rest of my life. i didn't know then that if i got life instead of death i could become employed and self-reliant. i didn't know there were many things i can do to contribute in a meaningful way. in prison there are programs i ask start and people i can help and programs that i can continue to participate in. i'll share a few examples that i thought of. a few months before trial and by

that i mean jury selection my hair was past my waist and i donated it to locks of love, a nonprofit, which creates wigs. that was my third donation since i was arrested. if i am allowed to live in prison i will continue to donate to that organization for the rest of my life. over the years i have spent in incarceration i received many requests from many to teach spanish or american sign language. because my case was pending i didn't have the time. in prison i will. if i am sentenced to life i will live among the general population of women and will be able to share my knowledge with them. i may be able to start classes. if i get permission i would like to implement a recycling program. thme