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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  May 21, 2013 8:00pm-9:01pm PDT

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2400s utterly torn apart. 10,000 people affected by this tornado. that does it for us tonight. thanks for watching. we'll be back here in moore, oklaho oklahoma, tomorrow night. erin burnett "outfront" starts now. >> "outfront" we're going to go live to moore, oklahoma. we know why. plus, amid the death, the destruction, the remarkable moments of harrow i. and sacrifice. we'll bring you one of the most incredible stories next. and the picture that has become an image, a symbol of hope for people around the world. you're going to meet that man and that little boy tonight. let's go out front. >> i'm erin burnett and "out
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fro front" front tonight, a special edition. breaking news. we have learned that 2400 homes have been damaged by the tornado in the oklahoma city area. 10,000 have been directly affected by the storm. the city has now gone from rescue and searching to recovery. now the death toll stands at 24, dramatically lower than officials have first indicated. but the number is still tragic. nine children have lost their lives. tonight, we're learning a little bit more about those children. she was nine years old and her father remembered her as a ball of energy, a ball of love. that building is now almost completely flattened. the stories of those who did survive are today just starting to be heard. >> i had to hold onto a wall to
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keep myself safe. >> we had to pull a car out of a front hall way off a teacher. i don't know what that lady's name is, but she had three little kids underneath her. >> teachers, heroes, another local elementary school. we were able to determine the speed of the storm and how fast it was. but, miraculously, every single person out there made it alive. more than 100 people had been pulled alive from 1700 miles of the tornado. trying to pick through their homes. now, we want to show you this video that we were able to obtain. this is shot from inside a car. you can see the little black pieces. it's like giant pieces of wood.
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last night, we were telling you they could have been between 166 and 200. and from the low end of where we are now, significant difference and wind speed. >> you've been speaking to the mayor and saying look, we think, we hope, that we have accounted for everyone. >> i think the headline of the story right now is that the death toll is not higher. 24 is a horrible number, but the mayor says he hopes it doesn't go higher than 24. what we saw in joplin two years ago, where 159 people died, this is significant damage. so the fact that it's 24 is a bit surprising.
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tragic, but it could have been much higher. what i can tell you is a great number of those 2400 were destroyed. today was a lot of people returning to homes that are no more. >> reporter: a cold downpour accompanied residents of moore, oklahoma, as they returned to destroyed homes for the first time. patterson drive looked nothing like they remembered it. >> on the way here, i've seen so much other damage. pardon me for this. >> alyssa lived here with her husband, two small children and two dogs. they evacuated but left the dogs behind. >> this is the bedroom. >> yes. >> reporter: the damage is devastating. >> reporter: where did you find your dogs?
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>> inside the bathtub right by the toilet. >> reporter: josephine martin and stephanie smith are step sisters. >> walking down the street, we couldn't tell which house was ours. this was the main entrance. this is the kitchen. >> this is your bedroom? >> yep, this is my bedroom. mainly, it seemed like the back wall was what was ripped away on my window sill. my closet was perfectly in tact. >> there are dozens and does ps of patterson drive. streets that were december mated in less than 1 minute. streets full of residents who now have to start over. >> some things can never be replaced.
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>> where is your living room? >> over there underneath her roof. >> maybe you'll be able to get the photo albumings. >> i'm hoping so. we've got to get that roof moved. >> and just before we left alyssa's home. >> that's my engagement photos. i feel great. >> we see it time and time again when we cover tornadoes and hurricanes. you'd expect sometimes people run back to their houses and look for tvs or clothing. but what people look for, we see it all of the time, the moe men toes, the heirlooms, the books that they've handed down and definitely those pictures. that's the human spirit. jerry, i just want to ask you, just getting the latest
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situation update from your office. this is still 24 fatalities. but i guess let me just start with that question then, about the fatalities. do you feel confident that it is 24? to be honest with you, i wish i could give you something concrete. we hope that it remains at 24. but until the medical examiner releases that officially, we're not going to be able to confirm that one way or the other. gh and from your perspective and what you've been dealing with, the significant discrepancies and a number of those who lost their lives, how has that confusion made your job more
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difficult? >> you know, we really try not to focus on the number that is are coming in. we know that everything is volatile. everything that's happening is preliminary. we take the information from the rescuers and try to distill that so it becomes accurate for us. but our duty as far as giving resources and to focus on the rescuers to help them accomplish their mission doesn't really change. so we just focus on the task at hand. >> and i know that you have been doing that for years, 30 years you were a firefighter in this distrix. this storm, so many people i've spoken to, storm chasers say this is unprecedented in terms of the damage. is that also what you think, jerry?
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you've never seen anything worse? >> i try not to compare. i mean, i look at the amount of damage that was done in '99. and we've done an overlay that this tornado follow up. when you look at nothing that's left but a foundation and you set those side-by-side and they look so much similar that it's really difficult to differentiate. it's just unbelievable that a louse can be nothing left but a foundation. >> jerry, thank you very much again for taking the time. i know you and your team have really not been able to sleep. so, thank you. now, tonight, we are getting a better look at the devastation that jerry is talking about left behind from the tornado in moore, oklahoma. and as we just learned, 2400 homes are damaged. he went through the area today in moore. >> we drove passed blocks and
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blocks of shredded homes, mangled cars and fallen power lines. this is just one of the devastated areas in moore, oklahoma. the mayor showed us stom of the hardest hit areas. he's trying to get a scope of the destruction in the town he's lived in all of his life. >> how overwhelmed do you feel right now? >> pretty overwhelmed. it's going to be a mess to clean this up. >> a local councilman told us what happened next. >> the nurse that was in there, she completed the birthing process. >> while this was going on? >> yes. >> and they said there was no injuries. >> rescue and recovery teams have completed a sweep of the medical center and the parking lot that looks like a junk yard now. >> city officials say these xs
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on vehicles and other things mark the fact that there are no live bodies inside the struck you areture. the mayor says that's why the canine teams are out. >> there are some place ins moore that are still dangerous for us to get close to. >> the biggest concern now for citizens and then for my men and all the people that have come in and help, just to be sure they're safe and be sure the citizens understand the best they can. >> the fire chef says first responders are still working around the clock. says they'll go through every damaged property at least three times. >> and still to come in this live edition of out front, ben mcmillen mulled 15 people out of
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edition of "outfront." tonight, as the victims and their neighbors are beginning the tremendous and monumental task of rebuilding their lives, we're hearing tales of harrowism. we're hearing responders and residents not everyone from moore all coming to help those in need in the aftermalt math of destruction. ben, you helped pull 15 people from a building that collapsed next to the hospital. i want to ask you about them. but when you first got there, what was the scene like. and could you hear people crying for help? >> boy, erin, we followed the mile-wide tornado northbound of i-35. there was a bunch of debris showering down all over our vehicle. if that wasn't enough, we pulled up and saw a hospital had been levelled. at that point, with my e.m.t. training, the best thing to do was to aid the victims.
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there was a particular building that collapsed, it was a large concrete slab that fell on top of nurses and other medical staff. we were able to get a lot of them out. >> what was the condition of those people that you saw rescued. >> >> most people were not wanting to move. we told them this was a very fluid situation. the concrete was shifting. >> there was so many bystanders that wanted to help, the concrete started to shift and collapse even more. in a situation like that, you want to get everybody out as fast as possible. it was a situation where we had to get them out quickly. as far as i know, everyone made elt out okay. >> as you say, thank god that
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you were there and able to help them with that concrete shifting and the first one there. and i know obviously that's dangerous and something a lot of people obviously shouldn't and don't do. you've been chasing these storms since high school. have you seen any one like this one? at what moment did you ralize this was different. >> what happened over new castle, we had a rope funnel come down. it went from a rope funnel to a mile-wide wedge. in 1999, it was on the ground for several minutes coming up in the southwest part of the city. it formed right over really limiting leave time. >> really, as you describe it,
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incredible to imagine. thank you so much. i really appreciate you taking the time. and amidst all of the death and destruction, there are remarkable stories of survival and reunion. she met one family whose story will awe you. >> they knew where it was going. >> if you could just see it pulling up everything and it was on a beline course straight toward this day care. >> what was left of the day care is 3-year-old and 6-week-old boys inside. >> you can't help but operate it. there's no way. >> across town, his daughter, jenna. she already knew briarwood elementary. next door to the day care was flattened.
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for three hours, she was trapped with live electrical wires. >> it was the longest three hours of my life. it's hard. >> children were being rushed into children's hospital. 51 patients came in the trauma ward. but that wasn't the hard part of the night for him. >> yeah, it's -- it hurts because you know if they can get to you they got a chance, i'm not sure whether they needed to be here or not. >> little grayson, his ear
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hurts, a bad wound to his head, his baby brother. >> that was my baby. >> your baby. >> unscathed. >> her teacher covered them with a mattress. >> it's a miracle. an absolute miracle. >> grayson was a little bit shaken, as you might imagine. >> what happened? it broke? >> yeah. >> but he's quickl on the mend and ready to play. one family's lucky turn understands there are so many neighbors who are not. >> i'm sorry. i will be praying for you and your family. >> what kinds of doctors are
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seeing the children? >> doctors see the typical type of children. they see the scrapes, spinal cord injuries. they also see various crush injuries. doctor ares expecting multiple serious head trauma. that's why the miracle they were seeing they think it was on other children, as well. >> it's just amazing. when you look at the devastation and how many es scaped. thank you very much. it's another example of those miracles. tonight, workers at the moore medical center are counting their blessings. the top floor of that building was ablg chully torn off.
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i know you had a chance to speak up with dr. stephanie barnhart. i just want to play what she said to you when you asked her about it. >> you were the e.r. doc on call in a hospital that was one of the biggest tornadoes in u.s. history. everybody did well inside your hospital. how are you feeling about that today? >> i don't think it's hit me, really. i still don't feel like i can take any credit for that. like i said, i was just doing my job and knew what i had to do. i can't imagine. it's very emotional. everybody did get out. >> sanjay, it's incredible. she's so humble, so many seemed so humble who did such amazing things. >> yeah, i mean, you know, she was reluctant to take credit
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there, as you could tell, erin. by the way, she's 34 years old. and i expected this hardened trauma surgeon when i heard about the person who had e essentially coordinated this effort there in the hospital. but she took charge. she took people to the center part of the hospital, which is what you're supposed to do. she was trying to prevent people from getting head injuries. and as a result, and other doctors pointed this out to you, that the staff and the patients, nobody had a scratch on them. it could have gone in a much worse direction there. >> and sanjay, it brings me to these things that are just so incredible that happened. it was just one example. that a whole hospital, a whole floor was torn off and everyone is okay.
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of course, there were lives lost. but not nearly as initially reported. the coroner's office yesterday said it could have been as much as 100 people and now it's only 24. what do you make about that dramatically changing number? >> i've seen this once before and i can tell you, the medical examiner's office is taken charge. >> what can happen sometimes is you might have two different organizations, the medical examiner. and, as a result, there may be a lack of communication and, as a result, a double counting. this was almost double the number. i think tchsz that double county again.
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it's an error. all right, dr. sanjay gupta, thank you very much. this time, that number was dramatically number. when the tornado touched down, there were a number of teachers who risked their lives. one of them clears their story next. and the image that has captured the hearts of so many around the world. the special relationship, the friendship between this man and this little boy. they're going to come "outfront" and talk about it next. we went out and asked people a simple question:
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we start the second half of our show reporting from the front line. we are watching the irs story. she's going to invoke her right against self incrimination. lewis learner has already admitted publically to cross-suit niezing the groups. two tea party groups have filed
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lawsuits against the irs alleging privacy. violations. we have new developments in iran. the body that candidates has approved 8 candidates to run for president. absent from the list is the current president. he says that was a long thought any way. consulting was this will likely be a more conservative player, closer to the supreme player. now, the crucial first round of voting begins june 14 lt. a dramatic statement made to jurors today. jodi arias spoke and pleaded that her life be spared. you may remember in an
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interview, after, she was found guilty, she said she wanted the death penalty. she's apparently saying something different. she called the murder of ex-boyfriend travis alex ander the worst mistake she'd ever made and says she could be constructive in prison. >> i can help other become literate so they can add that dimension to their lives. >> the ceo of apple, tim cook, defended the company's tax strategy on capitol hill. so there's a senate panel that says apple has been purposely avoiding billions of dollars in taxes by shifting income to overseas subsidiaries.
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cook claims the strategy is legal. what apple does, as you know, given all of its success, is make money all over the world and keep it overseas. nicholas thompson says it's done great things for our economy. it has been 656 days since the united states lost its top credit rating. stocks did end the day with a record high. the central bank would keep pumping money into the economy. profits are at record highs, but wages are simply not keeping up. and back to our top story
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tonight, the disaster in oklahoma. it has been raining throughout the day on and off. zernl a search and rescue made operations all day long. and according to glen lewis, at this point, he's saying they don't have anyone missing. authorities are continuing their search to make sure that there are no survivors overlooked. 24 people have been confirmed as killed, including eight children and more. we've also just learned in the past hour that 2400 homes were damaged. and, as we speak, additional help is pouring into the region. the president spoke assurie ini federal aid is on its way. and that moment was at the briarwood elementary school.
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at briarwood, everyone survived. teachers put their lives on the line to save every single child. >> theesz are the frantic moments after the tornado struck briarwood elementary school in moore, oklahoma. words can't fully do justice. >> i can't echbl describe what was going through my head. i was numb. >> this is what you saw? yeah, right before we went in. >> she snapped this picture. tammy raced inside and crammed about 20 students into a closet
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and bathroom. >> before i shut the door, because those bathrooms have doors, i shut the doors and i said i love you. the boys looked at me a little bit strange. i walked into the girls and i said i love you. i just told them to pray. that's what we did the whole time in the closet was pray. >> do you think they grasped what was about to happen? i'm not guilty really sure. we're about to have a program in two days. so they were practicing.
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i glanced up once and you could just see it. it was like brown. huge. never-ending. just all the way up to the heavens. and then i got back down, a cinder block fell on my neck. they decided to move those students in there at that very last second. the walls started caving in. this car blown into the side of the wall. if there had been students on the other side, it could have been devastating. >> despite what you see here, everyone at that school survived. the students were brave. >> i mean, they were calm. >> why dooupg that is?
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as we talked, she braught a muddy paper. >> a beautiful handwriting award that a little boy named jackson was supposed to receive this week. tammy glasgow won't allow them to take it away. >> what do you see right now? >> at home. i miss him. i know we just have three days left. i want to make sure they're all right. >> a lot of people we spoke with today are wondering whether or not more money should be invested in building storm shelters. what's interesting is a lot can be huddled into when tornadoes approach.
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>> thanks very much to you. a big question going on about those shelters. images of relief and gratitude, including this one. you may have seen it. the man hugging that little boy and that moment of reunion. the school no longer exists, but that little boy does. here's what that little boy first saw in that familiar face. earlier, i spoke to the two people in that photo. and i asked them about that woman. >> i'm just sitting there. i was just relieved to fiengd
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hezika. i knew he was there after school. just to see him and know that he was okay. and didn't have any cuts or bruises or anything. it was an emotional connection that we had. it was very real and very rewarding, very satisfying. >> what went through your mind? >> what went through your mind when you first saw me and you knew it was big dog. when i first saw you, i knew that you were going to pick me up so i just jumped.
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i was happy that i survived. >> when you hear hezakaya say that, how do you feel? you were that light for him? >> yeah, i felt like maybe i nooded that hug as much as he did at that time. it was just so much chaos. it was so chaotic. and we just weren't sure, you know, that the school was pretty much devastated and mostly destroyed. and we just weren't sure if anyone was going to come out alive. it was awesome.
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>> what did you think at that moment? >> i just -- i saw him when i came -- i came around the corner. i saw that the school was gone and i just took off running. i said he's in there and i need to find him. he screamed my name it was the best feeling ever to know that he was safe and alive. >> i just want to ask, how does he feel now? does he want to go back to school? or not? >> how do you feel now? do you want to go back to that school or not? >> i don't really want to go back to the school. unless there's another one. if there's another one, i just want to, like, stay away from it and go to a different school so i don't have to go through it again.
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and you were very close to hezakaya, what does that do for you? >> well, he's a special little man. and i think this will just -- this will enrich our relationship, as far as that goings. s. he's just continue to be the same little dog. he calls me big dog and i call him little dog. he just says i'm so glad to see you, big dog, whenever he ran through me. so it was pretty special. >> does it surprise you? i mean, the whole world has seen it. it has become an image of joy and recovery. can you believe that?
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no,i can't. the media outlets that are getting these types of stories and pictures out for everyone that actually helps us, you know, to the heeling process and helps us to learn and see that we have to depend on one another. we have to depend on one another to get through these kinds of things. we're oklahomans and that's the oklahoma spirit. we've been through this. we'll get through it. by the grace of god, we'll rebuild and clean up and move on. thank you so much. all right, thanks to all three of you. okay, thank you. >> next, more than one hundred people have been pulled alive from the path of discussion. many of them safed by rescue dogs. we're going to meet the handler
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they have no idea what it was like before u-verse high speed internet. yeah, you couldn't just stream movies to a device like that. one time, i had to wait half a day to watch a movie. you watched movies?! i was lucky if i could watch a show. show?! man, i was happy to see a sneezing panda clip! trevor, have you eaten today? you sound a little grumpy. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] connect all your wi-fi-enabled devices with u-verse high speed internet. rethink possible. officials say more than 100 people have been pulled alive from the rubble left by the tornado. a lot of them were found by dogs. live, out front tonight, is oklahoma city fire captain with oklahoma task force number one
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joining us with his partner, salsa who hasz been working so hard. dan, i know when you reached the scene, it was just 15 minutes after touchdown. where did you go first to look for people? >> we were assigned to search briarwood elementary. >> and briarwood was completely levelled? >> you must have gotten there and thought the devastation was incredible, yet, you were able to get everyone out alive? >> yeah, it was a true amount of devastation. dana, i know you're there with salsa who is looking so calm and in control, you've been working, though, canine teams on the ground, 12 hour shifts, just completely exhausting. human or dog. how were you able to find people? how does salsa work?
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>> the handler's main responsibility is to make sure they cover the area. >> she's traind, when she gets the scent of a live human, she'll put her nose down and just bark until we relieve them. >> when you're in the middle of this, you haven't slept, you get word that your niece was among the missing in briarwood. what happened to her? >> she was, actually, picked up by her grandparents.
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her father, when we first dispatched, we had to park several blocks away. one of the citizens grabbed me on the arm and said can you help me? he needed to find her. so it became not just a normal search, but a more personal, going through briarwood elementary, searching for her. but, thankfully, she was picked up earlier. so it turned out well. >> that was a blessing. and, you know, salsa has worked in five other tornadoes, when she finds someone alive and you hear her bark, does she feel a sense of a pride? does she know and understand the amazing thing she's just done? do you think?
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>> no they actually -- during our trainings, it's no different to them. to them, they're playing another game of hide and seek. so the victim that we're searching for, to them, is somebody that's hiding. so they're the least stressed out on this search. >> still to come, it seems like these tornados only happen in this country. and there's a reason for that. we'll explain. ♪
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when the tornado touched down on monday, it caught a lot of people off guard. mostly, because there's been a real lull in tornadoes. they say you think usually cool conditions cut tornado activity by depriving moist, warm air that they need to feel tornadoes. but, yet, even with fewer storms, america still has the bulk of the world's tornado activity. it brings me to tonight's number. 75%. that's the percent of tornadoes that occur in this country every year. the u.s. averages between 800 and a thousand tornadoes. ja bpan is the second country o that list and they only get 100. but why? it's a combination of a couple things.
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tornado alley really cuts right through the midwest. it's a climate that creates tornadoes. when you think about it, is that probable, why is there such a discrepancy in the numbers. 75% in this country. i've been doing a lot of places around the world that seem similar. it shows you how amazing it is, how little we still can understand. our continuing coverage of the devastating coverage continues with piers morgan live after this break. ere. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu.
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