and welcome back to cnn's continuing coverage of the

tornadoes near oklahoma city. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm victor blackwell. we're with you live every hour, bringing you the latest developments. oklahoma has found itself in the middle of a series of storms. now, flooding threatens that state. george howell is near el reno in canadian county. two twisters touched down, george. what are you seeing there? we won't get a full look until sunrise. what do you see? >> we pulled over because on the road, when you drive out here, and it's dark, you have to keep in mind, you find yourself going through debris fields on interstate 40. that's a major problem. especially when you're on the road. you know, you can tell exactly where this storm came through. you can see where the tornado came over parts of interstate 40. there is one place where we saw these big semi trucks, knocked

over like boxes. you know, again, as you mentioned, very, you know, precisely, when we get light of day, we'll see what happened out here. but tonight, the situation is this. you have a storm system that came over, parked itself over oklahoma city early on and caused a lot of tornadic activity. and now, it's a rain event. this area really under a flood warning. we pulled off the road near el reno. and we saw many of the roads that are under water right now. the standing water is a problem for people on the road. and you also have to keep in mind, if you drive into these different neighborhoods, there is a big concern about the possibility of trees down, power lines down. so, it's something to keep in mind, especially for people who drove away from the storm and are driving back home possibly tonight. >> we're looking at the video of these flooded streets there in central oklahoma we saw a moment ago. flashes of transformers that

have blown. we know some in central oklahoma, still about 4:15 away. as the first responders try to respond to all of the emergencies caused by the twisters that touched down, do you see any of them out on the roads now? are they waiting for the rain to stop? >> we have seen first responders in action, absolutely. they're in action, heading, you know, the different situations. we do know we heard reports of water rescues. when we passed the overturned semis. we found first responders there. making sure the traffic, you know, goes around the semis. it's a mess out here. it will be telling to see how bad the storm was. when we have light of day. we did pass through downtown oklahoma city. all of the lights were on the buildings. that's a good sign. again, you know, what was the damage? the strong winds that came through. that's something we'll be

checking out in the morning. >> one of the greater concerns, aside from the flooding there, and the first responders, trying to get to the emergencies that they're called to. are the people who are driving around earlier, they were trying to get out of the way of the storm. now, some people out to see what they can see. are they still on the roads at this hour? >> it really does seem to be -- anyone on the road, you're a first responder. you're a news reporter, assessing the damage or you're someone who drove away. you know, maybe you decided to venture back into your neighborhood. that's the big thing that i want to bring attention to because if you go down the narrow roads, the streets, you could into the power lines on the ground. that's something you could should think twice about. maybe wait until light of day. the other thing that was striking to me, we took all of the precautions.

we -- chad myers, our meteorologist, was on the backside of the storm. he was with a very capable storm chaser, j.r. henley, that's been doing it for many years from the university of oklahoma. we were on the other side of that storm. we were on the side of the storm where it was coming toward us. we made all of the right moves to get out of the way fast, quickly. but this was a storm that just blossomed and developed and changed and grew. and moved south faster than, you know, many of us could have even imagined. and it really was a night of being a half-mile ahead of the storm. and we got ahead of the traffic. there were a lot of people, hundreds of people, who were doing their best to get out of the way of this thing. tonight, they are heading back. >> turned from a wind event. and now, a rain event. and the dangers still there. george howell in canadian

county. george, thanks. >> some stories he's got there. what a night he's had, along with so many people in that region. the severe weather also stopped a major softball tournment in its tracks. athletes, taking cover, you can see there. six softball teams rode out the storm in an underground parking garage and in tunnels in downtown, oklahoma city. many in from several states for a tournament that got postponed. >> let's get the latest on the u.s. storms. we know that the warnings came early in the afternoon. people knew these were coming. but for some reason, they got into cars and on the road. >> the storm prediction center, victor, released interesting wording. not often they do this. a pds. a particularly dangerous situation.

just 12 days ago, we had tornadoes through oklahoma and moore. the ingredients had been in place for seven to ten hours. this has the possibility of curing. the moisture coming off of the mexican gulf. cool, dry air in the north of this region. 1,000 tornadoes every year in the country. 800 of them happen out of oklahoma, kansas, working towards missouri. the highest density area, the people most used to it were impacted by this. you have so many, 18 reported tornadoes on friday. that many come down in five to six hours. and the majority touching down from 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. in this region. going to catch people off guard. and look at the lightning strikes. tabulating nearly 14,000 lightning strikes in 24 hours across this region. 600 or so in this region.

a very active night. we have tornado watches in effect. those are going to expire in the next two to three hours. that's saying that conditions are conducive for thunderstorms that could produce a tornado. when it becomes a warning, the warning are that tornadoes are imminent or occurring. that's not the concern. but the storms are capable of putting a tornado down for the couple hours, guys. >> is there any way to vaj the probability? >> it's going to be a smaller scale. we're approaching the coolest time of day here. the probability's continue to increase. >> thank you. >> there you have it. pedram talking about the flooding threat. we heard from a correspondent on the ground. a wild and dangerous evening it's been and for storm chasers, used to this type of thing. imagine what rescue officials have been going through. we're going to talk, now, with lieutenant jay barnett. he's the public information officer with the oklahoma city

police department. jay, i am certain that your people have been working so very hard. what can you tell us about the latest with trying to make sure people are safe and what has happened to the region. >> obviously, our emergency services are under strain. but we're continuing to provide and will continue to provide emergency services in the oklahoma city area. we are experiencing continued to experience widespread flooding that's only being exacerbated by the storms that are currently moving through. it is -- the assessments are they are not likely to produce a tornado. but the flooding is severe. and pervasive. >> we'll continue to monitor that. i'm sure we'll be able to see more of the flooding as the sun comes up there in a few hours. we also know that five people died in this storm.

we got reports of at least 70 injured and two tornadoes touching down. what are you hearing about the calls coming in, as far as the injured people and how widespread this is? >> well, the injuries, obviously weeks, getting a lot. we are getting a lot of calls on injuries. we can only confirm one fatality in oklahoma city proper. at this point, we have recovered the body of a 4-year-old child that was apparently seeking shelter with other family members, certainly other children and an adult, in a storm ditch. and was swept away, which

obviously, you know, deepens the severity of the incident exponentially. beyond that, we are receiving a lot of missing persons calls. we don't know how many of those are potential victims messing person reports are not uncommon. and most are cleared after the first 24 hours of an event like this. that said, obviously, the number of casualties would probably go up. we would expect that to go up in the next 24 hours. hopefully, not very much. and hopefully not at all. certainly appears that it may. >> we have also been hearing, jay, that due to the wild nature of these storms, our correspondents and the storm chasers were saying they had a hard time staying ahead of them and figuring out where they were going. that aspect of this storm system, hamper all of the people

you had out on the roads. we hear the horror stories of the traffic jams, as well. >> it's hard to know why there was so much traffic out. i don't know. we're hearing about stories trying to get away from the storms. certainly, we had people out trying to watch the storms. the instructions that if you have grown up in oklahoma, and been in oklahoma for any period of time, when the storms are bearing down, you never want to be in a vehicle. it's one of the worst places you can be when a tornado is approaching. we know the traffic slows down our emergency response. it slows down the restoration of critical utility infrastructure. it was a problem.

a lot of those people themselves became victims as they got caught in the fast rising water. we saw flooding and are continuing to see flooding in areas you would not normally expect it. really, there's no question that the amount of traffic we had on the roads earlier, severely exacerbated the problem. >> that's what we've been hearing. it's been a long night for you. you're kind to let us talk to you, lieutenant jay barnett, public information officer with the oklahoma city police department. as jay told us, they will be waiting to see just how much flooding the city has to deal with. thank you for your time. >> absolutely. have a good morning. >> thank you, jay. we've been seeing the continuous, amazing photographs and video. and these are the type of people that go into the storm when things like this happen. >> most people run from the storm. there are people who go toward the storm. these are the storm chasers who are bringing that amazing video to you, the center of the storm.

we're going to learn why they do what they do. and what they learn from the storms. çñ

returning to our ongoing coverage of the deadly outbreak of tornados in the midwest. >> officials say at least five people died in and around oklahoma city after a tornado touched down friday evening. that storm system injured 71 other people. those numbers are expected to

fluctuate. the unstoppable force of nature tore through homes. overturned trucks. tossed some vehicles from the road. >> more than 50,000 homes and businesses are without power in the oklahoma city area right now. as is the will rogers world airport. people had to get to the lower floors there to ride out the tornado. six more states have also been hit by the storms, we are told. emergency officials, a total of 212,000 homes and businesses are without power across several states. we'll continue to watch this situation as it develops. dave holder chases storms for a living. he drove right up to this one. i talked with dave when he was in ardmore, oklahoma. >> there were people out on the roads. people going out to try to check

on the storms themselves, who aren't experts in doing this. and didn't quite know what they were doing. and, two, something that i had never seen before. there were people trying to evacuate all over the place. the whole metro -- it was a huge evacuation zone, it seemed like. all of the people in the oklahoma city metro area, were completely jammed up with traffic. bumper-to-bumper traffic, all the way south of the metro. it was kind of a scary situation. if a tornado had formed south, there would have been hundreds and hundreds of cars and people stuck in these huge traffic jams during a very violent tornado. >> as a storm chaser, you're used to being out pretty much by yourself because people aren't

out at these times. i'm certain that caused a lot of chaos. how are the drivers doing at that time? was there -- could you tell if there was panic. people trying to get out of the way? did they realize the danger? >> there was mass panic. it scares me. it's something i haven't seen before. we were south a little ways. and people were driving southbound in the northbound lanes to get out of the way. even though there was no tornado threat, people were really, really panicked. you could tell, by their erratic driving. we almost got in a head-on collision going north and having cars come at us the opposite way. it was almost -- i thought about people evacuating from a hurricane or something, where they open up the other side of the lanes to let people go. but i mean, in such a dynamic changing, evolving situation, with tornadoes forming and the storms coming in, it was really asking for catastrophe.

i'm surprised there wasn't more problems or not hearing reports of injuries from car crashes. >> dave holder talking to us a short time ago. we'll update the latest numbers from the deadly tornadoes, including the massive number of people without power. live continues in a moment.

welcome back to our live,

breaking coverage of the tornado outbreak in oklahoma. the storms killed at least five people in and around oklahoma city. 71 people are injured. these deadly twisters ripped through homes. they tossed cars from the road. pushed over trucks. they also knocked out power to 50,000 homes and businesses in the oklahoma city area. the will rogers airport is in the dark, as well. six more states have also been hit by these storms. and emergency officials say a total of more than 212,000 homes and businesses are without power. chad myers joins us now. he's been in the mix of the weather all day. chad, what are you seeing there? we have a few hours before the sun's up. what are you seeing? what's been the greatest challenge for you covering this tonight? >> the greatest damage is going through the damage without finding flooding. the flooding is coming up and

receding everywhere around that flash flooding is just muddy and swampy. and on dirt roads have turned to mud is a recipe for getting stuck. staying on the black top. finally get out of el reno on 66. and we have quite a bit of damage here. completely looks like ef-2 or ef-3 damage. and just sitting in front of me. and a bit of damage to some of the buildings here. you know what we knew, that el reno had the worst of it towards union city. these were the first places that we chased this afternoon, in the heat of the day. temperatures were in the middle 90s. that's hot, muggy weather. that creates big storms. this is the worst damage all

night. it's unbelievable considering the signatures that we saw on the radar today. yes, there are shingles off and plywood. this is not moore. this is not what we saw in moore, anywhere across the city yet. and we're not getting anymore more scanner reports of massive damage. right now, it's been trying to get around without getting caught in the floodwaters. >> i just got this e-mail from cnn weather center. 23 tornadoes struck over missouri, kansas, iowa and illinois. we see the video from one of those storm chasers now. i'd like to go back, if we can, to those live pictures. if you can tell whomever is holding that camera with you, to pan down. are we looking at a vehicle upside down? in front of a house. describe this for us. >> that's a pickup top on its top, with no place left for an

occupant if anyone was in it. this is the reason we don't want people in vehicles when a large tornado strikes. they will smash the vehicle. the roof has no chance to stay up. and no place left for you in the car when the tornado's done. those are the wheels pointing up. white pickup pointing down. that was in the parking lot when this tornado hit. we knew it was coming across i-40. showed you earlier a couple of the tractor-trailers tipped over. irony with the tractor-trailers, if this happened six hours ago, they're tipped on the side. and their lights are still on. not just the flashers. the headlights are still working. on its side. i would think that the lead acid battery would have leaked out. or the battery would have drained. it's a strange sight. and now, the marshals and all of the guys that are picking the pieces up now, are waiting for daylight. everything's on hold until daylight because it's hard to get around. it's hard to see whether there are nails or power lines down. and everything's on hold until first light. that's when things are going to

start to get picked up. >> chad myers with us. stay save, chad. chad will be with us all night, as we continue to cover the damaging tornados in oklahoma. now, the destructive power of the tornadoes in oklahoma, really an incredible sight. we'll have the latest from the ground and from the cnn weather center as they tell us as many as 23 tornadoes hit across a huge swath of the country. stay with us. çñ

it continues to be a long night for people of oklahoma city and in the midwest region. welcome back. our continuing coverage of the tornadoes near oklahoma city now. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm victor blackwell. we'll bring you the latest developments every hour here on cnn. here's what we know so far. >> we are getting updates every few minutes. oklahoma getting hit by many twisters this evening. the massive storm system, that rumbled east into missouri, kansas, arkansas and illinois. >> as many as 23 tornadoes touched down across the notice. these are amazing images of a tornado that touched down in

el reno, oklahoma. five people were killed. more than 70 others were injured. the oklahoma city police department, public information officer tells us, unfortunately, the number of those killed will possibly increase. but he hopes not so high. everyone does. footage is coming our way from parts of missouri there were hammered by this storm. >> right now, you're looking at new video we're getting in. this is what is left of a home in st. charles, just on the outskirts of st. louis. look what a tornado obviously did to this house. there in missouri. >> thousands of people are in the dark. hundreds of thousands in the middle united states. power is out for 200,000 homes and businesses. missouri has 89,846 customers without power. in oklahoma that number is 86,204. illinois has more than 31,000 without power. 3,000 without power in arkansas.

and more than 1,000 outages in kansas. about 500 in indiana. let's head back out into the field, now. we're going to take you to just south of el reno, oklahoma. that's where george howell is. he has been traveling around the oklahoma city area, central oklahoma, all night. george, we know in a the rain has become a major factor. the flooding. is it pouring there? and what has changed about the elements and the conditions in that area. >> we ventured here south of dell reno. we're south of 81. i'm looking at a gentleman's home. the front end of that home is destroyed. certainly by the tornado that came through here. he's too distraught to talk to us about what he's seeing right now, with what's left of his home. down the street, it's dark. but his home is one of the lucky

ones. it seems like the home next to his is gone. and the home next to that is gone. down the street, there are downed power lines. we've stopped. we're not going any further. we're setting up a live signal to show you what we're seeing. on the way here, let me tell you. on internet 35, driving north, we were hit by heavy rain. we drove into oklahoma city. made that interchange. got into 40 heading west. as we got near yukon we got to the trucks that were tossed by boxes. on i-40, you see the debris field where the storm or perhaps this tornado came over. that part of the highway. it will be telling to see the extent of the damage when we get

light of day. but this is a storm system that blossomed late this afternoon. a few hours ago. blossomed, caused tornadic activity. now, it's a rain event. in oklahoma city, there's a lot of heavy rain that's falling. seeing officials respond to calls. it's a crazy night out here. and we're waiting to see how bad this storm was when we have some light out here. >> i want to talk about the damage. it's going to be difficult to get the full scope before sunrise. what we saw in moore was complete communities just devastated. down to the foundation in some areas. what i saw the week before in granbury, texas. a complete community swept away. is the damage similar to that where you are?

or more sporadic where a tornado would touch a few houses and go farther down the block? >> i'm seeing a little premature to say it's sporadic. what i can tell tonight, it seems sporadic. these tornados will be on the ground for a long time. did they cause extensive damage? right now, it's hard to tell. it looks like it was sporadic. we're out here in a rural area. this is a neighborhood that was hit badly. you can find that in different spots. it didn't really cause major damage in the metropolitan area of oklahoma city. that's still unclear. the story is playing out right now is the flooding. that's what we're concerned about because a lot of people are driving back into oklahoma city tonight. there were shows of people who made their way out of the path of this storm. and still making their way back.

they're running into heavy rain. running into standing water. it continues to be a major problem out here. >> george howell, reporting for us just south of el reno, where we know two twisters touched down friday afternoon. george, thank you. >> we're just hearing new information about the airport there in oklahoma city. we told you earlier, 1,000 travelers had to go to lower ground and take shelter as the tornado came in that vicinity. the airport did not take a direct hit. but there is some debris in the field. however, we are just told that the airport will reopen. that's the will rogers world airport in the next hour. so, people that have been waiting to see when they're going to leave will be able to check in and see when their flights will take off. it is opening, despite the fact that we're also told, part of the terminal roof is gone.

it was blown off. right now, let's head over to pedram at the weather center and talk about where this storm is headed. the flooding that we're hearing. and victor telling us some reports of 23 tornadoes. >> 23 across the region in the last few seconds. getting word that preliminary reports of at least five tornadoes across oklahoma on friday. the number is concentrated to be five in and around oklahoma city. and three of them being reported in the last couple hours. look at the rainfall blossom across this region. from 3:00 in the afternoon, where hardly a drop was falling out of the skies in oklahoma. to 7:00, 8:00, 11:00 p.m., a month's worth of rainfall, five to six inches have come down. and the tornado threat across these areas, high precip thunderstorms make it hard to see thunderstorms. you're driving down the road, it's coming down one to two inches an hour, it makes it difficult to see your surrounding. and if you have a tornado, a lot

of times we see the video, we see a defined funnel. good bet with the amount of rainfall we saw, very difficult to see any of the tornados that perhaps people may have been very close to. and just have the stats here on how many tornados we see across the country from 1981 until 2010. 80 in march. look what happens in april. you know may being the heaviest of tornado activity across the u.s. in june, certainly, one of the highest, as well. 243. we've been talking about a tornado drought. go back to early in march. the yellow numbers indicate the confirmed or reported tornadoes in march. 18, that was the quietest march in 35 years for tornados. then, the next month. only 83 tornados. the quietest month, april, in 21 years. in the past five days, 111 tornadoes, bringing up around to the average mark of 276 and 207, being the number we're sitting on. an active pattern, certainly.

the next month or so, it could continue. we're starting to see ingredients come into play. still seeing a lot of lightning strikes. if you're traveling across i-40, eventually i-70, they're driving up with you on the highways and making it dangerous. this is what george howell was talking about. out of oklahoma city, they're scattered. they're beginning to break apart, as opposed to the one organized complex they were early in the evening. we're seeing signs of improvement and heavy rains, as well. >> very good to hear, pedram. a lot of people glued this their tv sets across the region right now. we've been getting amazing images from the storm chasers. there's an old expression, you can run but you can't hide. and live to tell about it when a tornado's coming.

>> you have to know where to go. if you're in a car, in a home, walking on the street, where should you go. dr. sanjay gupta has potentially life-saiing tips. >> 13 minutes. that's the average lead time you'd have if a tornado was headed your way. there's no completely safe option during a tornado. your best bet is to get into the basement, somewhere below ground level. keep in mind, if you are there, you want to see what's on the floor above you, as well. a refrigerator or piece of heavy furniture could come crashing through the floor. here in moore, oklahoma, there's not a lot of basements. studies have shown there's another good option. an interior room or a closet could be a good place to be. the house the gone. but that closet preserved. just got 13 minutes.

find that safe place. maybe grab a helmet. one place you can't hide from a tornado, is in your car. tornado-strength winds can take a vehicle and toss it around, like you or i would a basketball. >> you don't want to be driving toward a tornado. but it's a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. it's hard to danger the distance. if you must be driving, try driving at right angles to get out of the path of the storm. there's another disconception, as well, which is that you should get out of your car and run into an overpass. the wind is funnels. it's more powerful than the storm. and there's a lot of debris. that debris can injure you. if you're stuck outside as a tornado approaches, find a ditch or any place away from objects and vehicles and stay low. >> good advice.

a lot of people doing just that throughout the midwest this morning, i should say. >> this morning. >> it's hard to believe. oklahoma city once again, pummeled by deadly tornadoes. we'll follow it as we push on. >> we'll have more on the other top stories coming up. eligible for medicare?e a] that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about. and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit

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11 minutes until 4:00 a.m. here on the east coast. the national weather service tells us that five tornadoes hit in and around oklahoma city. that's preliminary number. it could change of course. >> friday night's twisters killed five people. injured more than 70 others. the storm sent spooked residents running for cover. the tornado-spawning storm system has moved across oklahoma now, which remains under a state of emergency. lots of flooding in the area. it remains under a state of emergency following the may 20th tornado. right now, the storm system is menacing missouri. we have pictures from what looked like a tornado in missouri. also, illinois. the governor of missouri,

declaring a state of emergency there, after several days of heavy rain. flooding is a real danger. missouri has been drenched by heavy rain. >> forecasters are warning illinois to brace itself for strong winds and hail. the storms have knocked out power to 212 homes and businesses, in oklahoma i missouri, illinois, arkansas and indiana. four firefighters died fighting a fire in houston friday. it happened in a hotel fire. other firefighters tried to save their colleagues. >> going down in the history of the houston fire department, as the worst day in the history of the houston fire department. the greatest loss of lives. in the proud tradition of the

houston fire department. >> the dead firefighters include three men and one woman. the fbi found, quote, very low concentrations of ricin on letters sent to president obama and michael bloomberg. authorities in texas have searched the home of a man possibly connected with the letters. ten letters have been sent to government officials in recent weeks. a small plane crashed into an apartment building in herndon, virginia, friday. amazingly, no one died. two people in the plane and one person on the ground were injured and went to a hospital. authorities say, the plane just ran out of gas. and the pilot was attempting to land at a nearby airport when he hit the apartment. clashes went well into the night in istanbul, turkey, in an

effort to clear demonstrators from the central part of the city. the protesters were rallying against a plan to build a shopping mall. but some say it's grown into something bigger now. >> we don't want this place to turn into a shopping mall. it's turned into something else because the prime minister is controlling the media, the police. and we have no control about what gets out, in terms of news, from turkey. >> this isn't about a shopping mall anymore is it? >> not anymore. it's something political. and suppression has come to a certain level where people are fed up with this. so, we're going to try to change this. >> late friday, a court agreed to hear the argument. the suspect in the brutal slaying of a british soldier is out of the hospital. he is shown here in a 2011 photo and is in police custody. the other suspect has been charged with murder. and two other men linked to the

case also were arrested friday. a preliminary report says mistakes in a routine maintenance are to blame for last week's emergency landing at heathrow. the report found two coverings of the engines were left unlatched after maintenance. look at this. imagine looking out your window on a plane and seeing that. they detached from the engines during takeoff, puncturing a fuel pump on the right side. 74 years after she disappeared while flying over the pacific ocean, amelia earhart is in the news again. >> possible new evidence suggests that one man know where's earhart's plane is. and he's working to raise the funds to find out for sure. >> reporter: a man who has been chasing the mystery of amelia earhart for a quarter-century, says this grainy, almost pixilated-looking image from the ocean floor may bring us closer

to finding her. >> it's unlike anything else on that whole reef that showed up in the sonar imagery. >> reporter: rick gillespie. his team captured this, a sonar image. he says this anomaly on a shelf, could be the remnants of earhart's plane. on july 2nd, 1937, amelia earhart, attempting to become the first person to fly around the globe at the equator, vanished off heland island. not a trace of her or her plane have been found. for years, gillespie and his team believe her plane went down around nikamoraro. why do you think the anomaly matches the fuselage of earhart's plane? >> we know how a lockheed locks

up in a crash. we know that the center section of the airplane is the strongest part, the part that holds together. the engines tend to come off. the outer wings come off. the fuselage breaks behind the wing. so, the size of it hangs together the best. >> reporter: gillespied admits there's a chance this isn't her plane. but there are plenty of skeptics of the latest theory and of his work overall. skeptics believe he's attached himself to the idea that the remains of earhart's plane are there. and they believe he's wrong. one skeptic, dorothy cochran, curator of the national air and space museum in nothing. >> there's nothing that has a number. there's nothing that can only be

traced to amelia earhart. >> reporter: gillespie's launched other expeditions that have dug up human bones, items common to that era. but never found proof that amelia earhart's there. historians believe her remains are near the island. she was circles close when she disappeared. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> never stop trying to figure that one out. >> the search continues. stay with us, as we continue to bring you developments with the storms going across the u.s. >> oklahoma and missouri are in a state of emergency tonight. don't go away.

this is cnn breaking news. welcome back to cnn's continuing coverage of the tornadoes near oklahoma city. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm victor black well. 3:00 a.m. in oklahoma city and we'll be live all morning long on cnn bringing you the very latest developments. we're getting developments every few minutes. the tornado danger has lessened for oklahoma city. but the metropolitan area is not out of harm's way. >> the national weather service tells us five tornadoes hit in and around oklahoma city. that is a preliminary number. so it could change. also, f