that's all for us right now. we'll be back tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern with the latest from the tornado zone. cnn's latest continues now with anderson cooper. we're standing in a neighborhood that really is almost unrecognizable to the people who live here at the end of a very, very rough day. in a moment, some of the heroes who have done all they could due to redeem this disaster, you can see it stretches for mile after mile. we learned today that the tornado that came here was almost as powerful as they come. an ef-5 storm with winds topping 200 miles per hour. stayed on the ground for 17 miles. house after house destroyed, a hospital damaged, movie theaters, stores, a bowling alley all torn up. the cost in lives, so far, 24

including 9 children, 7 at the plaza towers elementary school. last night, the death toll was considerably higher because the local authorities seemed to have counted the fatalities twice. 24 killed, several hundred injured. lives torn apart. president obama spoke today about the loss. >> there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms, classrooms. and, in time, we're going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community. >> mr. obama said that oklahoma needs to get everything it needs right away to recover and pledge to do all they can to make that happen. even as the search and the recovery goes on, we keep getting new and incredible pictures of the brutal storm, including some home video taken from the storm cellar as the funnel cloud goes directly overhead. watch.

imagine being in that storm cell. the photographer who took those pictures that lived to post that tape and tell that story. students had to settle for hallways and bathrooms and closets. many survived, but some did not. later tonight, we'll ask why in the middle of this tornado alley aren't shelters more widespread. but, first, the latest from john king who joins us now. >> reporter: remarkably, anderson, 30, 31 hours after the storm hit moore, they say they are just about done. a few is to dot and ts to cross. they're essentially done with three sweeps, three sweeps through each of these communities. they've gone back and forth, back and forth. i was out with search and rescue until about 2:00 a.m. this morning. some of them stayed out all

night. at daybreak, we met someone, we talk about the first responders, the storm shelters. we met rinne and paul phillips this morning. they rebuilt their home after the 1999 tornado. the storm hit eight of them, including a 2-year-old grandchild go down into the cellar. they say when the first responders came through, they heard them screaming. listen to a bit of their story. >> it was loud. and windy. and, you know, but once it was over, our cellar started filling up with water on both sides. and that's when the grand baby started panicking. >> reporter: it must have been pretty scary. >> it was scary, but we knew we were getting out. we may have been walking in a little water, but we knee we'd get out. the people here in moore, and the people that's come in to help, they're family. >> yeah, they put the come along on there and were trying to open up and then they realized that

they were trapped. >> reporter: now, they were helped out in the first wave in the first hours after the storm. that was daybreak after we saw them. and not long after that, as you know, there was a really cold, driving rain here today. it was horrible in the hours to continue the search. the search did continue. neighborhood by neighborhood, we were in this neighborhood earlier today, you and i were talking on live television when we saw the search teams come back for the second sweep. no open gas lines, none of these structures were in danger of falling. and then you see pick axes and debris. dogs with them, search dogs going in. the dogs are heroes, too. while we were talking earlier, we saw one of the dogs step on a nail in this debris. it is remarkable. this community, this morning, the loss of 24 of its sons and daughters. seven of them young children. we will never, ever make light of that. when you go block by block and you see this devastation, 2400

killed. they are all but done with the search moving on out to killed. they are all but done with the search moving on out t killed. they are all but done with the search moving on out to recovery. again, there's mourning to be done here, but it's a miracle. >> it couldn't be much worse. i mean, when you look around, it's stunning that it's not guilty. and thank goodness that it's not. they wanted to search three times each location, each structure, even vehicles. once they've done that, tomorrow and the days ahead? >> a number of things. number one, still a little confusion. a lot of cell phones caught spotty. a few people still saying they haven't accounted for family members. they're going to double check and triple check. they think those people are out of town. there's a few places they still want to double check and triple check. and then we move on to the clean-up part. they already think there's a billion dollars in insurance claims. already had folks in today. taking pictures and walking around. so far, the republican governor has had hot praise for demonstration and fema. so you move into the difficult clean-up recovery. god forbid, if there's someone out there, they will keep

searching if they get a tip on something like that. we're about to mark the two-year anniversary on joplin. some folks from joplin are actually coming here to give advice on this about the long haul ahead. >> now, one of the best stories to emerge from this disaster, it begins outside briarwood elementary school. shortly after the storm frantic parents search for their kids. we just want to watch this and you don't need to see the video to understand what it's like for parents to watch what's happening to their children. this was in the school parking lot.

>> you are so brave. you are so brave. that last reunion was trendle purcell. in the 8:00 p.m. hour. take a listen. >> it is so good to have you all here and doing so well. how are you holding up? >> thank you. i'm doing great. i'm happy and pleased as punch with this lady right here. i think she had an intragal part in saving all the kids 234 her room. her

rooi her roon her room. it was a miracle that the kids walked out alive of that building. >> teachers do an incredible job all year with their children, but the heroism was fascinating. >> one of my friends said to me on her ipad that she thought it was coming. i just got all of the desks and told the kids we were going to play worms. and so i made tunnels. i put all the desks on the wall. i said, okay, we're going to get our musical instruments and we're going to play worms. i said we're going to play our musical instruments and we're going to play worms and we're going to play as loud as we can. i didn't want them to hear the roar. >> that's why you wanted the musical instruments to drown out the sound. >> i didn't want them to know what was going to happen. so we got under the desk, two-by-two. and my aid, on the other side, she got on one side and put her body in half and i put my body on the other half. and we started playing the instruments. we started singing "jesus loves

me." and we started playing really loud and singing "jesus loves me." i told them to sing as loud as they could. and if they got scared, they could scream. and so that's what we did. and i said when you get scared, you could scream. but keep playing, keep playing, keep playing. and we did it. and when it was all over, the kids told me that they thought the water fountain was leaking. >> that's what they thought? the water fountain was leaking? >> yeah. and i said that might be rain. and then they were so brave and this little boy didn't cry at all. i said there might be heroes coming. one of them goes -- i forget which one, do you know which one said, what kind of heroes? do you remember? >> were you scared? a little bit? >> uh-huh. >> could you hear the storm i

mean above the sound of the music? >> oh, we could hear. it was so loud. but the kids just kept on -- they were so brave. and this little one, he didn't cry at all. he was just playing his music. so they just kept playing their little instruments that i had. he was the bravest ever, ever. and so they kept playing their little instruments that i had. and then, finally, these people off the street just came and rescued us. >> what was the condition of the classroom afterwards? >> we didn't know because we were underneath the desks. and then the people came, these men off the streets came and they pulled us out and camden and them got out first. and we were -- i was stuck and then we got out. and they went one way from the classroom and i went another. >> you had a head injury? >> yeah. but i didn't -- i just got hit when i got out of the -- when i was getting out. >> in the video, you had actually been going to a couple of locations trying to find camden? >> i had, i had. i had walked, a mile, maybe.

i was told he was at one location. i went there. he wasn't there. so then i had to go to another location and then that's when i found him. and praise god that he was alive. >> and they were so -- you don't know, all our teachers were so brave. it wasn't just -- it was our kids following directions. they were the bravest. they were the heroes because they listend to all the teachers. >> had you done drills like this before? >> we practiced every month? >> we practiced fire drills. >> oh, okay, so you just came up with the idea of the worm. >> yes. that's a guideline. we practice safety procedures. that's in the rules of the school. the kids, we always tell them how important it is to follow safety procedures. and the kids were so good. >> cam doan -- camden, could you

hear the storm or just your music? >> the storm. what was it like afterwards? were the desks on top of you? >> no, the desks was in front of us. and the roof was on top of the desk. >> and everybody in the school was okay? that's just such an incredible blessing. and that must have been the most incredible hug when you saw camden for the first time. >> it was. it was. but not only was i so happy to see him, i was praising her because i just know that she helped keep him safe. >> there's no doubt about it. thank you so much for talking to us. i'm just so glad things worked out for you. i hope your head's okay. >> thank you for all the teachers and all the kids that just followed directions. >> it's great. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> so glad you're here. there's a lot of teachers who have done remarkable things here in the last 48 hours or so. you're going to meet a woman whose house collapsed inside.

also, chad myers on what made this such a powerful and destructive storm. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ♪ the one and only, cheerios

we're looking at the size of that funnel cloud and seeing the wreckage on this block. and for miles around. it's not hard to believe that this was a major tornado. it was, in fact, at the very top of the scale for tornadoes an ef-5.

just quickly to explain what that means and talk more about how the storm measured up, i want to check in with chad myers and the weather center. chad, explain the ranking system. >> when you get an ef-5, that means some building doesn't exist anymore. by the three, you're losing an outside wall, four, you'll lose a lot of walls and five you'll lose everything. 2 you lose a couple of shingles. five you lose everything. that's where we are now. 200, 210 miles per hour. when that tornado was on the ground as an ef-4, this is what it looked like. notice kind of the purple ball looking thing above the word powerful. that is where the debris was flying around. we saw so many pictures of that debris flying around. now we can look inside the storm and see how high that debris was picked up, sucked up and inside of the atmosphere. in fact, we know that parts of

moore, pieces of paper, checks, photographs were found in tulsa, almost 100 miles away. that little part that you see there, that three dimensionality, that's the debris that was picked up in the tornado and thrown around. it went from an ef-0 all the way up to an ef-4 in 10 minutes. in four miles it went from nothing to 167 or greater miles per hour and then it got even stronger. it got up to that 200, 210-mile-per-hour storm. and there are many homes out there that you just can't find anything. the fact that we only lost 24 people a actually a blessing considering how many homes you see with nothing left. anderson? >> yeah, it is incredible. chad, appreciate it. the evidence is all around me from what chad said is around me from ef-5. houses didn't survive the tornado. barbara gerald's house collapsed all around her pinning her

underneath the debris until first responders managed to pull her out. she joins me with her daughter tiffany. it's great to have you both here. when the storm was coming, how much warning did you have? >> i'm not quite sure because i was working. then i got the alert that severe thunderstorms were coming. and then, as soon as that happened, it turned into a watch. and then, the next thing i know, i don't know what to do because my son is in high school, south moore high school and i didn't get my alert because my phone quit working. they were holding them in the school and so i stayed in the house. >> where in the house did you go? >> i went in my living room. i had a hall closet. a coat closet. i went in there, sat on the floor, grabbed a pillow and put it over my head. it got so loud, i knew it was hitting.

then the glasses all start breaking, popping out. my ears started popping. i felt the suction. and, about that time, i heard my house just flying apart. the rafters came down. >> oh, my goodness. >> it pinned me. it was a good thing because then the tornado couldn't suck me away. >> so the rafters kind of kept you down? >> yeah. >> that's incredible. how do you get through it. >> i almost didn't. i got through the tornado but i didn't think anybody was going to find me. i was screaming at the top of my lungs. nobody could hear me. they kept going to other people. i guess because i was buried. >> >> so you were buried under your house? >> everything else was gone. just that one area was the only thing that was left. >> how did you get rescued? >> well, some guy, it wasn't first responders, he said something just made him stop. and he says he could hear. then after he stopped, he listened and he thought he heard something and that's when he found me.

he went and found a big rafter to take some of the pressure off of my side. >> how long were you in there for? >> it seemed like 40 minutes, 45 minutes. >> tiffany, how about you? >> i wasn't with her. >> yeah. >> i -- she was somehow able to get a call through to me while i was at work. i just heard her say help me. i'm buried. i can't breathe. >> so you were able to call from beneath the wreckage? >> it was a hit and miss things. sometimes tiffany was able to call me and then my brother got through. he beat the first responders out there i think basically. i had already gotten pulled out. it took six people. >> six people? >> one of them prying it up with the rafter and five others to get it up enough and one of them to grab my legs and slide me out. that man finally that just stopped. he didn't really hear me.

i was screaming at the top of my lungs. i know how you are about the apps on your phone. >> i'm not good with apps. >> i had the bull horn app on my phone and i was using that. they couldn't hear that. >> tiffany, what was it like to get that call from your mom? >> it was the most helpless feeling. my heart stopped and i don't ever want to get another call like that again. >> she's right here next to you so that's good. >> yeah, she is. >> how long before you were able to be reunited? >> it took me about an hour to get to her. i had to walk. i had to park my car about four miles from her. i finally gave up and parked and just started walking. >> that must have been a nightmare walk? >> yeah. done it before though.

>> i'm so glad you're doing okay. how do you feel now? >> i still feel like i got beaten up with a baseball bat. but i don't care. >> you must have gotten some good news. i just heard. you were missing two of your cats? >> two of my cats were missing. we just found them. >> where did you find them? >> they were buried in all of the rubble. >> and they're okay? >> they're okay. they were the two we couldn't find. that's ralphie and j.j. some other people found him. that's ralphie and jj. we found them. >> they're altogether. that's great. >> they're in the truck. we just found them right before we came up here. >> that is so amazing. so you just went back to the house and you were looking around and they were there? >> no, we had been there about an hour throwing stuff. >> pulling everything. >> they were inside the debris? wow. incredible they survived. that's so great. i'm so happy for you. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> incredible story, barbara and

tiffany. we wish you the best and everybody in this community. so many people, you know, rolled up their sleeves and did whatever they could in the moments after the storm to try to help their neighbors. coming up, you're going to meet a heroic teacher. she knew how to give her kids the best chance possible to keep her kids safe. there is heartache as well. you're going to hear from a family who lost their 9-year-old daughter. they wanted you to know about what she was like.

one of the families in

mourning here tonight is the hornsby. nine-year-old little girl, a third grader. she didn't survive the storm. i want to show you how energetic janetta was. this is home video the family gave to us today. they wanted you to see their little girl happy, laughing and a big, beautiful smile. her dad, joshua, is a veteran of the iraq war. we had a chance to speak with him earlier today at mount trinity baptist church along with her aunt. >> when you first saw her, what did you think? >> my heart just sank and i started worrying and panicking. i just needed to find my baby. i just kept waiting and hoping that i find her. i was looking through the other kids that had already gotten out. just waiting. >> when did you get word about her? >> this morning. >> where were you? what happened? >> i was at first baptist church. they had opened a shelter for parents that still hadn't found their kids.

>> what do you want people to know about your daughter? >> she was the best kid anybody could have. she was jenae. she was, you know, a ball of energy, a ball of love. >> your face lights up when you say her name. >> yeah, that's my baby. >> there is no kid like her. very unique bunch. she is all of our uniqueness balled up into one. i mean, she's the sweetest thing, the bossiest thing, the most fun. always trying to make us laugh. just a sweet baby. sweet baby. >> does it seem real? >> no. it still ain't sunk in. i'm still hoping, you know, for that call to say, we made a mistake, you know? i just pray that that's what it

is, you know? that's all i can hope for. but i've just got to take it as it is. >> how do you face something like this? >> just got to face it minute by minute, day by day. there's no way to face it. just got to be strong and carry on. >> does it seem real to you? >> at moments. you know, when it hurts it feels real. but then when i can laugh and talk, it's not really more than something that happened. and it hurts. and the pain is real. the pain is real. and i have a daughter who's 14. >> how did you tell your daughter? >> honestly, i broke down and she was nearby and i don't think she knew, was it a relief sob or

a pain sob. and then she asked me, is she okay? and i just -- and i told her, she didn't make it. >> life, you know, it's not fair. you've just got to take what life gives you, you know what i mean? i can sit and dwell on it and let it ruin me or i can, you know, make my baby proud and keep pushing on like i know she would want me to do. >> he wants to make his baby proud. the hornsby family and all of the families are in our prayers in the difficult days, months and years ahead. there was of course heart ache at plaza towers. there were heroes for whom this tragedy would have been deeper. for days, the teacher has been telling her sixth graders to finish strong this year. that was their motto. finish strong. yesterday, they and she certainly did just that. she knew from her husband who

works in construction that a closet wouldn't cut it. they hunkered down in a closet and other students in a bathroom. >> it's great to see you both here. when you knew this storm was coming, tell me what happened. >> i knew it was coming because mark was sending me texts. he said you need to get out of the hallways and into smaller places. we actually knew it was getting ready to hit when the lights started flashing. and that's when we all didn't just stay in the hallway, we went into the bathroom. got over the kids. >> you were watching it on tv. >> i was at home watching it on television. . >> you knew it was coming towards the school? >> the weather guys said this is going to develop. and the traditional hook was huge. i come into the bedroom and send her a text. by the time i get back into the house, it's already huge. and the reporter, the weather man was saying this thing is going to develop. it's going to drop. it's going to be a monster. people, if you're in the

newcastle, south oklahoma city area, you need to get out right now. and it was directly northeast of us, and that's the way they travel. so i was getting in the truck to leave. as i was leaving my residence, i looked over at newcastle and there it was, just a pencil. as i was trying to drive away, down the road, it just got thicker and thicker and thicker. >> and you decided to go toward the school? >> the radio was saying hey, this thing isn't going northeast. it's going directly east. it was between the streets that the school is at. and i'm like, it's going to hit the school. so i turned around and the thing had passed me then and so i started chasing it down 134th street. it was probably half a mile in front of me. passing cop cars. people were -- the lights were out. and i got to the edge of the school street where you go into the school and there were houses there. i thought this is a good sign.

the tornado was right there. i went another block, more damage. another block, more damage. pretty close i got close to the school, houses, you've seen them. i saw the school. it was leveled. and i had to use the four-wheel drive to get around the polls and the wires to get into the parking lot. i was the first vehicle that i saw there. i couldn't see other people. and i'm thinking, she's gone. i lost her. >> that was your thought? >> yes. there's no way that anybody could walk away from this. >> and you had been previously told to be in the hall ways, but your husband said, no, go into a closet? that's the safest place? >> we've rehearsed this many times. i've been at plaza for five years. we were going by our procedures, everybody did. and our principal, ann any simpson was wonderful. her husband is a firefighter. he was there about the same time mark was there. we got into the closet. >> how many kids do you have in that closet? >> we have five.

>> everybody else we fit into the bathrooms, fourth, fifth, sixth grade. >> what was it like trying to hold onto that? >> this is the only injury i have. >> that was holding onto the door? >> yes. >> and so you literally felt the door literally trying to get sucked open? >> sometimes it would get pulled that way. i told the kids, it's going to rain. we'll stay strong here. eventually, it seemed like it lasted forever. i think it actually hovered for quite a while. it was loud. you could hear the windows crashing first. it got light again because the ceiling was gone. but we were safe. >> did you know she had made it into the closet? >> well, the one phone call i had, she asked me, do you think the closet is safe. i said absolutely. and from what i understand, she

got in there and the other teachers took the kids in the bathroom >> so you go in there and you see the hallways destroyed. >> there's knee deep from stuff. all the ceiling stuff, everything is down on the floor. all the stuff from the houses is on the floor. i pull them through and i could see the printer closet. it was 3/4 covered. i'm banging on the door yelling -- yelling at her. and i could hear them in there. and then pretty soon a guy comes up on top of the wall and he says, hey, i can see them through the top. i'm going to try to lift them out. and about this time the teachers that were in the bathroom, they come out and the kids are just screaming and crying and the teachers, some of them were -- one of them was barefoot and the kids were trying to get out. there was still some electricity. i saw some lights. and i said i'll walk down the hall here. keep your hands on the wall and don't touch any wires.

so they began to filter out one at a time. i said, just help the one in front of you. they were crying so hard. at that time other men started to come out. some more guys were showing up. so they started helping them out. to me, it was amazing. over the 5-minute period that i was there, the number of men and women that were coming from the neighborhoods that had been destroyed to come and try to work our way to pull out the kids. >> you saw her again? >> and janice, when they brought her out of the room, we saw each other. i threw her a jacket and she knew she needed to go find some other people. i went with some other guys to see if we could clear some other rooms. i was just glad she was okay. >> i'm so glad you're all right. >> thank you. >> staying strong. finishing strong.

>> yeah, finish strong. my kids are the ones that reminded me, that's our motto. we did that today. >> you certainly did. janice and mark, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. when the twisters hit home, some generations were reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds. residents, sometimes the safest place to be was underground. this video, we showed it to you at the top of the program. you'll hear from him about what it was like to be inside there. and we'll take you inside another shelter just to show you what they're like and how they saved so many lives. i was having trouble getting out of bed in the i was having trouble morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great!

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an incredible video by paul cafferty capturing the tornado's fury while hunkered down. some people like to ride out the twister reaching the shelter, ultimately difference between life and death. so many homes proved to be a match for this tornado. you can see the entire home is reduced to rubble there. gary tuckman is here and he's outside one of those personal shelters outside somebody's home. show us just what it looks like. >> well, anderson, i can tell you, the people who lived in this destroyed home survived because they were at work. but if they were at home, they also would have survived because it's heavy steel, personal storm

shelter. i want to show you how it works. it slides open. it's important that it slides open because if there's rubble on it, you couldn't lift it up. it only fits one person, so i'm going to take the camera from our photographer and i'm going to become the camera man for a second and show you what happens when you go down the steps and what it looks like. i almost tripped when i went down. you carefully walk down. if you're claustrophobic, i can tell you it's not a big problem because you know you're saving your life. this particular storage unit is like a closet. this could fit five or six people. you bring down a light, you bring down refreshments and wats for the tornado to pass over you. you bring down lights, refreshments, and you wait for the tornado to pass over. once it passes over you, you open up the door. in this case, the house was destroyed, but you are perfectly safe. you walk up the steps and you see the rubble and you see

what's going on. i give the camera man back and i tell you one important thing, if you decide to get a shelter like this, very important investment. it's important. it's several thousand dollars. one thing you have to do, if rubble, a car, a tree falls on top of it, you've got to make sure the fire department, friends or family know you have a shelter so they know to look for you. one other thing i can tell you, anderson, a lot of people asking questions, parents, students, why don't all schools have shelters like this or basements? and the reason is it's not required. it's not a law. and, for many school districts, it's not economically feasible. but to have a shelter like this or basement, the absolute safest place you can be. >> the question is will that be revisited in the wake of all of this. we'll see. as we mentioned, charles gaffert was one of the lucky ones to reach a storm shelter like that. when the twister hit, he grabbed his cam land a gave us a ground

level view from the tornado at the vantage point of the shelleder. i spoke with him earlier. so, first of all, how are you doing, charles? >> i'm doing all right and a little bit shakesen up after everything, of course. myself and fi family and all of my friends made it out all right. >> we're watching the video now. you're seeing all of this debris passing right over the storm shelter. what was going through your mind? what was it like? >> it was so intense. i couldn't begin to describe the feeling that i was feeling myself. i was more worried about where it was really hitting. it was the school that was right in front of us. it was basically just waiting for it to get by so that we could try and help as much as we could. right after we got out of the shelter, we raised over to the briarwood elementary. we tried to help some kids. we got there and immediately there were kids screaming and crying, not knowing what to do,

not knowing where their parents were at. there were some people that were trapped not knowing what to do. it's just crazy. >> thankfully everyone at briarwood was okay. how much warning did you have that the storm was about to hit? >> i'd say we had about 20 minutes. there were rumors all day that we were going to have a tornado. we could see it on the horizon. we had the storm shelter ready. >> we can see a house kind of peeking out part of the shelter. did that house make it? >> the house made it pretty well. there's a lot of damage to the roof. the windows were busted out. further down on the left side of the street there were some that were completely wiped out. "once" y once you go on the back side of their fence, everything is completely flat. >> once the tornado passed, you came out of the shelter, what was that moment like?

what do you see all around you? >> it's like a war zone. it's ridiculous. i mean, it's just hard to believe that something like that could just happen. i mean, that was the first tornado i had ever seen in person and i had been in oklahoma for over ten years. >> well, charles, i'm glad you're doing okay and that the house is okay and you had the presence of mind to seek shelter. appreciate you talking to us. thank you, charles. it's just incredible. up next, dr. sanjay gupta is going to talk to us about the kinds of injuries that the more than 200 people in this community had sustained. we'll also talk to the doctor in the emergency room at moore medical center. no one inside that devastated hospital was hurt. you'll hear from her ahead. if you're seeing spots before your eyes... it's time... for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer.

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we had to pull a car out of the front hallway off a teacher. i don't know what that lady's name is, but she had three little kids underneath her. good job, teach. >> incredible. as we've seen in the past day and a half, teachers acted heroically. we now know that many others

displayed heroism. take a look at moore medical center which was in the path of the tornado. take a look at the remains. just sheered off, the front of it. they moved everyone inside to a safe place. dr. sanjay gupta caught up with a doctor who was in charge of the emergency room when the disaster struck. listen. >> you were the e.r. doc on call in a hospital that was in the middle of one of the biggest tornadoes in u.s. history. and everybody did well inside your hospital. how do you feel about that today? >> i don't think it's hit me, really. and i still can'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 even imagine. it's very emotional. i'm like, wow, that everybody was -- you know, did get out. but, yeah. words can't even describe, you know, how i feel and i do keep

getting, you know, a lot of thank yous. >> it's amazing that they were able to get everybody out okay. sanjay joins me now. we've been in a lot of different disasters and places and we've seen how long people can survive in wreckage, in rubble. i talked to the mayor and the governor tonight. they said they think the death toll is not going to change from what it is now. most of the air yaus have been searched multiple times. but somebody can stay alive for quite a while? >> yes, the basic supply. some kind of air pocket is the crucial point. it's been raining, there's water. food around. we've heard of people surviving 17, 18 days. i haerd the same thing that you did, they think that they've accounted for everyone, but they think that's a possibility. i think it's part of what keeps the hope and optimism alive

around here. >> there's a wide variety of injuries people have been sustaining. >> you have three waves of injuries when something like this occurs. you've got the primary blast and then the secondary wave of injuries. anything behind here could be shrapn shrapnel. it caused impailments. they saw that at the medical center. they saw crushed bones, that type of thing. something they didn't see that much which was a little bit surprising, the doctors i spoke to were brain or head injuries. the doctor, as you just said, dr. barnhart, they threw mattresses and blankets over them. she said that may be one of the reasons there weren't that many brain injuries. it's the way they were engrained here. she's lived in oklahoma her whole life. that was the reason she thought there weren't that many brain or head injuries. >> and they were able to get the other patients to centers nearby?

>> yes, in the midst of this. they're setting up a triage to try to take care of people. their hospital is gone. and they're also trying to evacuate patients. i'm always struck by this as i'm sure you are in other places around the world. they are trying to, you know, save lives and prevent injury while they, themselves, could be putting themselves in harm's way. it's quite extraordinary. she's only 34 years old. i expected this hardened trauma surgeon. she sort of came up and said, i'm the woman who was in charge last night. it was amazing. >> last night when i talked to the state medical examiner, she said they had confirmed 51 fatalities, 20 of them children. they downgraded that today to 24 fatalities. what do you think happened? just a mix up? >> it's something that i've seen before. certified medical examiner's office is always going to be giving a count. they're always the authority on this. sometimes there is another organization as well which is always counting. what happens is sometimes you get a double count.

this is almost exactly twice the number from 24 to 51. they may have counted twice many of those same people. oftentimes, it goes the other way and they under count. >> just a little bit of good news. sanjay, thank you for reporting. we'll be right back. s never on my radar. >> identity theft can happen to anyone. >> you are vulnerable. >> if you're using one of these, your information is even more vulnerable. >> i thought my credit card company would protect me. >> i was wrong. >> it's a common misperception: people think that credit card companies with their credit card fraud protection protect you from all identity theft. the truth is they don't. credit card fraud protection only protects your individual credit card accounts, not your identity. >> announcer: every time you pull out your wallet, you give thieves a chance to steal your identity. simply buying groceries, eating out or even just shopping online can make you a victim. and identity theft can cost you more than you realize. your bank accounts could be drained, you could lose your ability to get credit, you could

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that does it for this edition of "360," "early start" begins now. lives lost. bodies hurt, but oklahomans vowed to survive. >> it's painful, basically, just the sound you're hearing, it's pain. you think what if that was my family member. what if that was me? >> we now know that the tornado ripped through moore, oklahoma, ranked as the most powerful on the scale. we're talking about 200-mile-an-hour winds. but no storm could keep heroes from crawling out of the woodwork. teachers saving children, neighbors saving neighbors. first responders risking their own lives to save their fellow >>n.