until this morning. we're also going to talk about infrastructure needs, the county commissioners will do that, the chief will talk about some of the same information as far as how it relates to the city of el reno. basically, we had a tornado that came through, i understand it's been labeled as an f-3, maybe an f-4. when this tornado came through yesterday, basically, it stayed south of state highway 66 or interstate 40 which run pretty much parallel to each other. most of the damage in the county to the west end is going to be around chiles, which is west of el reno. and then it runs all the way to the east about as far as cimarron. there may be other damage, but this is the major damage that we are talking about. these are the areas that we actually recovered some of the fatality victims out of. basically like a lot of events when these tornadoes happen is it's pretty chaotic. there's a lot of destruction that happens. we know there's going to be injuries and death. a lot of people self-deploy,

we're not only talking about first responders, and firefighters, there's a lot of good citizens that assist with rescues. that's typically what happens in the beginning, rescues. that's some of what occurred last night. we tried to stabilize the area, determine which areas we need to restrict for access. we had flooding, lots of different issues. typically, you go from a response and a rescue into a recovery effort. we did have fatality victims. right now, this is a preliminary number, we're sitting at seven. the medical examiner's office will have to establish the official numbers. we believe we have seven right now. all the individuals came from the area i defined a few minutes ago. we also believe that preliminary information indicates that most of those victims, if not all, came out of vehicles. so having said that, i'd like to say that our hearts and prayers definitely go out to the families of the victims that lost their lives. we also have the injuries. we had 19 reported injuries that

were taken to the hospital in yukon. we have -- we know that there have been a number of people that went to the hospital in el reno. we don't have a confirmed number. through today through law enforcement efforts as well as county commissioners, we've tried to set up some barricades and establish some restricted areas for access. obviously, that's going to be because people have lost homes, lost businesses. they're going to need to get into those areas. we basically don't need sightseers coming in. there will be utility companies that need access. at&t, cox communications and others are in the area. i imagine they'll be here for several days attempting to restore power, utilities and services. we need to make sure that we don't cause problems in those areas of travel so they can access it and then the victims of this event so they can access their properties.

life safety continues to be the most important thing that's going on here. again, like i said, there are power lines that are down. there's some roads that have been affected by this. approaches to bridges have been swept away. so life safety is the most important thing to us. not only for the public but for our responders and the people that are trying to help restore some sort of normality to the people that were affected. right now, a phone number that we have available for the sheriff's office or the emergency operation's center. if somebody needs to contact the sheriff's office is 405-262-3434. and not only the sheriff's office, but several other of the offices within the county but city government. we've also been affected by this event. our phone lines and computers and services have also been affected. so please be patient with us as we attempt to restore those

services. >> at this time what i'd like to do is turn the mike over to the county commissioners, jack stur it and phil carson are both available. >> the district 3 county commissioner. >> right after the storm ended last night, we got ahold of all of our workers, brought them back in, organized them into 12-hour shifts. and basically, what we're doing is to install and repair traffic control signs to block traffic into washed out areas, areas where there's high line wires, electric wires that's down on the ground. we do road and bridge repair because there was a heavy amount of rain with this storm. and a lot of the approaches to the bridges are washed out and

even low places in the mile section line mile roads are washed out. so our crews are out now and they're repairing these washed out places all due to severe flooding from the rainfall. we've got chainsaw crews out, we're removing debris from the roads and trees that have been blown down. we kind of have to do that just to get it ready for the first responders. so they have to be able to get there. very important that they can get to the damaged areas. one concern is the safety of the workers. we try to make it as safe as we can for them even after the storm is over. there's lots of danger. lots of things can happen after the storm. jack? >> i think commissioner carson pretty much covered what the crews are doing. the only thing i might add is thank everyone for the coordinated effort we had last night and continues today.

this place is just amazing to watch everybody com together. the sheriff's office, primarily the emergency management crews, red cross, salvation army was supplying food this morning, as they are the rest of the day today at various locations. commissioner carson and i have each had numerous phone calls from other county commissioners around the state asking what they can do to help. we're trying to get the situation evaluated and determine where we can use the help as we need it. there's a lot of help available out there. and it's just been a great to be a part of it to see this effort come together. like phil said, that's pretty much what the crews are doing. i won't reiterate that. i'm not sure -- wes? turn it over to someone else. >> ken brown, police chief city of el reno. again, all the responders reported, responded initially.

responders out watching the tornadoes heat up. we've been very fortunate in that the majority of the damage that occurred in and around el reno has been to the south of i-40, along that line. we've had rescue crews on site since the beginning of this and continued through it. the fire rescue have been supportive by other outside agencies to include homeland security, weatherford and they'll continue those efforts throughout the day. we have also here to support the sheriff's office and some their efforts of security aspects because of heavy damage that occurred locally in some of our outlying bordering areas. >> i want to reiterate what commissioner stur ij said. i think we're here to help. we're working good together. been a real good team effort to get this thing done. i want to thank all the first responders. el reno, sheriff's department, fire, police department and

mercy, ambulance service. we're trying to get through this. i think it goes back to commissioner carson's initial statements. let these guys do their job. try to get infrastructure back on. we had water issues. we're working through those as we speak now. the police department and the fire department are trying to get in and assess these areas. let them do their job. there will be time to look at the damage later. try to get all the information to us. appreciate you all. >> okay. now we'd like to take an opportunity, you've heard from officials with the city and the county. we're very fortunate to have state officials that support us here in canadian county and we have our senator ron justice that's here this morning. we want to let him know how much we appreciate him and give him an opportunity to make a comment. >> thank you very much. on we behalf of the state of oklahoma, i want to say how much we appreciate the work of those

within the communities. we want to lend our support to this community and i'm just so amazed to watch the coordination of the county officials, the first responders, all those that's involved work together. you know, the city of el reno and county working side by side to accomplish these goals to protect the people. i also want to commend you and the news media. because of your coverage in helping them. that was instrumental as well that more lives were not lost. of course, our hearts go out to those that have lost loved ones in this tragedy. we want to continue to be supportive of those families as well. but you know, i think this exemplifies what oklahoma really is. and that's a team effort working together to accomplish a common

goal and on the part of the state of oklahoma, i just want to say that we want to be there, we want to try to do everything we can to help this community, but i guess above all, i just am so impressed with the coordination, ability to work together that i've seen here in this community among county, city and the other first responders that's been involved. that's just overwhelming to me to be able to see the cooperation that we have. you know, when you come in and see the devastation that we've had overnight and yet first thing this morning and even during the night people working together to start the cleanup process, to protect other people from injury, so they didn't wait to see what could be done. they immediately jumped in and started doing things to protect each other. and i think that's what's

important. of course, we want to remember those who are out there working trying to help others for their safety as well. so again, i just want to commend everyone in this area for their efforts to work together to protect the citizens in this area. thank you. >> ken garcia, the american red cross. central and western oklahoma. first we just want to say our hearts go out to the communities that were hit last night. it's been a very busy two weeks here in oklahoma. the red cross is continuing to work in these communities. last night we opened shelters here in this area. we opened at christ church in yukon. that is at 620 west vand man avenue. we also opened at redlands community college at 1300 south country club road. that's here in -- >> we're learning new details about the aftermath of the tornados. for one, the number of people

killed in these storms, a little higher. seven people were killed. the sheriff came out and said that as far as the intensity of these storms, he said it ranked as an f-3 or f-4 on the fujita scale. it goes up to f-5. these were severe and devastating storms that tore through oklahoma. he went on to talk about how had officials are trying to get the water system, power back on, traffic up and running again. we'll keep listening to the news conference off line. in the meantime, i want to go to nick valencia. he's been in oklahoma all morning surveying the damage. nick, we just heard from officials that seven people died in those storms. most of them were in nair cars. what are you hearing and seeing on the ground there? >> yeah, that's unfortunate, alison. being in your car in a situation like this is probably one of the worst places to be in order to seek shelter.

we've done reports on it over the course of the last couple of weeks, trying to inform our viewers of the safe spots to get underground, take cover. unfortunately, these individuals who died as a result of this latest round of tornadoes, it appears they were all coming from their vehicles. you remember the pictures from last night, the interstate, oklahoma city and surrounding areas, it was a parking lot. very difficult for those who wanted to get -- the undersheriff chris west of canadian county in el reno also said there was 19 people injured. we're still waiting on the extent and severity of those injuries. dealing with the aftermath, alison, it's going to take a lot. he mentioned the cleanup crews trying to get in the roads that are inundated and flooded with heavy rain. a lot of rain fell, more than 8 inches in a few hours. it completely soaked parts of this area. el reno. we were there outside of

technology center. that took the brunt end of the storm, as well as the oil field repair shop just a short time ago. we spoke with residents that hunkered down and took cover there. miraculous miraculously, they say they were able to survive. those fox were aboveground in the oil field. they say they took a direct hit but were somehow able to make it out alive. those in the basement much that technology center we were at, 15 people there unscratched, unscathed by any of this -- these heavy winds and rain that came through here. also, something that sticks out to our crew as we drive around the el reno area, which is about 25 miles west of oklahoma city is that there are spots where it looks like not even a leaf is out of place. then you round the corner and there's a road flooded or a field flooded or trees bent over or structures partially or completely collapsed. it's just incredible.

this community here having such a stroke of bad luck, if you want to call it that, in the last couple of weeks dealing with a handful of tornadoes, very strong tornadoes that ripped through this area. but if you talk to oklahoma residents here, alison, if there's any uplifting note in this entire tragedy or tragedies that have happened, it's the community working together. you heard that highlighted in the press conference by county officials, by the sheriff's office. oklahomans wanting to help each other out. we've seen strangers arrive here. you mentioned other more ben he have lent organizations like red cross, salvation army. it's all hands-on deck in a situation like this. oklahomans have suffered so much in recent history, it seems they're prepared to deal with it. >> nick valencia thanks for that. instead of driving away from a

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we're learning now new information of the number of people killed in the storms in oklahoma. now at nine. two children, seven adults killed in those very intense and very dramatic storms that we've been seeing video of all this morning. a lot of that video that we've been getting from these storms actually comes from storm chasers. those are people who actually go toward the storm. they go into the storm instead of seeking shelter. brandon sullivan is among them. look at what he and his team ran into in union city, oklahoma. >> no, no time now! go south or we're going to die! [ bleep ] duck down, duck down duck down! go forward if you can.

drive! [ bleep ]. >> there was a couple things going through my head at the time. you know, is it safer to abandon the car and seek shelter in the ditch? is it safer to turn a certain direction or continue? so at that time i decided that we were south of the tornado with the flying debris that was going on, i knew that we had to stay in the car, getting out was not an option. we continued to try to get away from the path of the tornado. luckily, there were some other storm chasers were injured or cars were flipped. luckily, we were able to get south even though we still got some damage. >> brandon, what were you thinking not wearing your seatbelt until the final moments of that video? >> you know, originally, in between the video, i had to jump back in the car as we filmed the tornado and i guess it slipped my mind to put my seatbelt on.

i was so focused on getting south. as we started getting really strong winds, i got worried that the car would blow over, i realized i wasn't buckled. that's when imedely buckled up. >> by the way, he says he will go back and do that again. chase those storms. we've seen what the weather has done. now, what is it going to do? let's go ahead to meteorologist karen maginnis in the severe weather center. the system causing this loss of life and destruction, what's it doing now? where is it headed? >> it's headed towards the east. we're seeing some strong thunderstorms. they have produced very heavy rainfall, lots of lightning. but i'll show you the risk area. it's a slight risk that we could see some tornadoes. isolated tornadoes. i think the bulk of what we'll see today will be the heavy downpours. lots of lightning and some wind damage. the swath all the way from around detroit, down through nashville.

nashville, little rock right now, you're seeing some huge storms. extended down towards the dallas-ft. worth area. yesterday the temperatures in oklahoma were blowing up into the triple digits. not that warm today. but that helped fuel those storms. another meteorologist pointed out to me that the damage from the system, we don't see it in a straight line. it's here, it's there. it's a little bit over here. it's wind damage, straight-line wind. it's tornadoes, it's storm damage. hail damage. there's a lot to investigate. all right. we go through the day. here comes the funnel system. by sunday, it moves towards the east. so into the northeast, those temperatures that are in the upper 80s an 90s today, going to be in the 70s by the beginning of the workweek. we'll be back to give you more coming up. karen maginnis, thank you. four firefighters are being mourned. they were killed in a hotel fire. we're going to have a live report.

now to what houston, texas, mayor annise parker is calling the worst day in the history of her city's fire department. four houston firefighters died yesterday after a hotel wall collapsed on them while they fought a major fire. 13 other firefighters are being treated at hospitals. houston's fire department is the third largest in the country. i want to bring in sara ganim in houston, she's been covering this. sara, can you tell us more about the firefighters who lost their lives in this? >> reporter: yes, alison.

sullivan was 24 years old. she graduated from the fire academy just in april. she was one of the four who died when one of the walls collapsed in the building behind me as it was on fire. the firefighters ran in thinking there were people in there that needed to be rescued. along with ann, robert garner, he was 29 years old. robert bee bee, 41 years old and matthew re naught, he was 35. alison? >> do we know at this point what caused the fire that started in the restaurant? >> yeah. this is actually two buildings that are adjacent to each other in one. it was a restaurant and then an inn. early this morning, fire officials were telling me that they believed that the fire, based on where they could see the flames when they arrived, and based on witnesses did start in that restaurant area. but i have to tell you, alison, there's almost nothing left of this building. you can see from some of the

footage this morning, it just completely collapsed in on itself. the fire consumed this building. and it definitely spread and encompassed the entire structure. there's really not much left except rubble this morning. >> all right. sara ganim, thank you. tornadoes hit oklahoma city overnight. now teams are assessing the damage today. we're going to be getting a live report.

welcome back. i'm alison kosik. oklahoma is once again cleaning up after devastating tornadoes. at least five new tornadoes hit the oklahoma city area last night. look at this incredible video taken by some storm chasers. that's just one of the tornadoes forming in el reno about 25 miles outside of oklahoma city. at least nine people are dead, including two children. more than 70 people were hurt. el reno and union city suffered much of the damage and this comes less than two weeks after a huge tornado plowed through moore, oklahoma. now the oklahoma city area is dealing with major flooding. look at the collapsed road in eastern oklahoma county. huge. some areas have seen as much as 11 inches of rain. missouri was hit by storms, too. road closed all over and hundreds of homes were damaged. remarkably, no one was killed. i've got steve patterson on the line, he's a reporter in

missouri. thanks for joining us. what are you seeing there this morning? >> caller: thanks for having me, alison. widespread damage over our st. louis area here. really, if you think about it, the national weather service reporting four tornadoes that had touched down in this area in really three central locations. the worst is to the west of us over in st. charles county. that's where homes were absolutely obliterated. there is a state of emergency declared by the county executive. some homes are just wiped off the map there in small pockets. then to the east of the city over the river in illinois, that was where significant damage from another tornado that touched down reported there. arrived in st. charles county, a pocket of devastation. roofs ripped off, scattered siding and insulation all over the roads. residents wondering what to do next. 85,000 reporting without power. another 25,000 in illinois. and the national weather service

and crews of course working to deal with all of this. if you're looking for good news this saturday morning, no injuries reported, at least in our area. no fatalities reported as well. spoke to one woman who said all this can be cleaned up and fixed, but of course, not the loss of life. thankfully, we have not had that in our area. >> we've been looking at that video from st. charles county. incredible to see that damage. we also saw residents going back into their homes to collect items, personal items. have you talked to anybody doing that? >> caller: no. not at this time. everybody is on the street right now. everybody is just -- there's a lot of trees that collapsed on the roofs. you can actually start seeing inside some of the homes. we've had some of the power lines that have been arcing and sparking overnight. crew rs out kind of taping off those areas, trying to clear back people from their reside e

residenc residences. some of the people have moved out of the area and staying with friends and family. still really early in the cleanup process at this time. would not advise going back to your home if the damage is that bad right now. really that is not happening. but of course, the next phase is for crews to get out here and start cleaning some of this up. >> steve patterson, thanks for your insight there. >> thank you. we got new information about ricin-laced letters sent to president obama and new york city mayor michael bloomberg. we're going to show you one of those letters coming up.

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you think machu picchu and don't they eat hamsters there. we're hearing that peruvian cuisine would be the next big thing. chocolate. it's the perfect stocking stuffer, mother's day gift, valentine's day gift. this is what the aztec kings would bake. it's always fun to travel with eric. >> i can't wait. >> you know, the best thing about this whole trip is eric was identified as me in the newspaper. could prove useful. >> wasn't me. >> repair guy. i was fascinated by the display of pre-colombian erotica at the museum. >> i should have known that. >> i guess there really is nothing new under the sun. invented something -- >> nope. still manages to amaze. and you can see the trip to peru tomorrow night right here on cnn at 9:00 p.m. that's anthony bourdain, parts

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oklahoma city's medical examiner now says nine people were killed in a string of tornadoes last night. two were children. officials now say that of the victims were in their cars. the latest blow for oklahoma who were cleaning up after the major tornado hit two weeks ago.

tornadoes were also reported further north in missouri and other parts of the midwest. homes were reduced to rubble outside st. louis. thankfully, no reports of anyone killed there. new information on the threatening letters sent to president obama, new york mayor michael bloomberg and a gun control group. test results are in and they confirm that the letters did in fact contain the poison ricin. cnn's national correspondent susan candiotti joins me now in new york. susan, you've actually obtained a copy of one of the letters. what does it say? >> alison, the wording in the letters appears to be the same as the ones received by all of the people involved in this investigation. the one that we obtained is a copy of a letter sent to mark glaze. he is the director of mayor bloomberg's gun control group called mayors against illegal guns. and the words sent here are the ones that matched the one to bloomberg. it reads "you will have to kill me and my family before you get

my guns. anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. the right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right and i will exercise that right until the day i die. what's in this letter is nothing compared to what i've got planned for you." now, mark glaze is the only one of the three recipients who actually opened the letter, got his hands-on it. because the other two were intercepted before they reached the president and mayor bloomberg, of course, as far as we know mr. glaze is -- by a social media a few days ago that he seemed to be okay. >> i think i saw markings on the letter in the envelope. any significance to those? >> they are. we're seeing these on the letters as well. the markings, the blotches that you see are clearly where the investigators, according to our sources, looked for any ingredients. for example, the ricin or any other fingerprints or forensic evidence that could be obtained. so all of that, of course, is part of the investigation.

all of these were postmarked may 20th through a postal facility in shreveport, louisiana. >> so where does the investigation go from here, susan? >> well, they're trying to of course, figure out who sent these letters. we do know that a couple in texas is being interviewed. however, we are learning from our sources that there are some credibility issues with the wife who is part of the couple. so they're trying to figure out where, if anywhere, that part of the investigation will go. >> okay. susan candiotti, thanks. >> you're welcome. >> they caught the ire of the president and congress. now you'll never believe what irs employees have been caught on tape doing. we're going to show you next.

oklahoma hit again by a round of deadly weather. just 12 days after an ef-5 tornado hit. the state has been hit by several tornadoes and flooding that caused this road to collapse. amazing. yesterday, at least five

tornadoes touched down in and around oklahoma city killing nine people and injuring more than 70. a local sheriff says most of those killed were in their cars. across the midwest, a total of 17 tornadoes hit yesterday causing more than 212,000 customers to lose power across six states. and now, another embarrassing revelation for the irs. a video made for an irs conference in 2010 has surfaced. it's a dance video starring irs employees. cnn's chief congressional correspondent dana bash is in washington with the tape. >> it's a dance called the cupid shuffle. if you've never heard of it, you don't work for the irs. cnn obtained this video to close out a 2010 irs conference. according to the narrator, those taking part in learning the shuffle are competing to "become the next great dance sensation." >> to become the next great dance sensation. >> cnn is told a new irs

inspector general report coming out next week will detail excess spending at the irs and this video will be spotlighted as an example of ways irs employees wasted taxpayer dollars. the irs is not defending it at all, telling cnn "this video produced for a 2010 irs conference was unacceptable and inappropriate use of government funds. the irs and the government as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately." we're told that cupid dance video cost $1600 to make. doesn't break the bank. but we're also told the irs spent a lot more, $60,000 to make a pair of different videos, spoofs of gill gans island and star trek. you can see the production value is better than the cupid dance. but it doesn't look like they spent much on acting lessons. >> sorry about the uniforms, captain. the dry cleaner gave me the wrong order. star light coffee while you wait. it's better than mcdonald's and

only twice the price. >> no can do. i've already spent my per diem for the day. >> another controversial front for the irs which of course is under fire from both parties for targeting tea party groups applying for tax exempt status. as for the upcoming report on excessive irs spending, the new acting irs commissioner is calling the 2010 conferences that appeared to waste taxpayer dollars "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era saying taxpayers should take comfort that a conference like this would not take place today." dana bash, cnn, washington. i'm thinking what's the point of the videos? hopefully we'll find out soon. chaos at a kindergarten graduation? a fight that erupted into a riot up next. we take our showers with it. we make our coffee with it. but we rarely tap its true potential and just let it be itself. flowing freely into clean lakes, clear streams and along more

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we're getting some of the first images of the damage from last night's tornados in oklahoma. the medical examiner now says nine people were killed including two children. it's the latest blow for oklahoma. a state that was already trying to clean up after a devastating tornado that hit almost two weeks ago. as people try to cope with all of this, they're also dealing

with major flooding. now to ohio, an event that was supposed to be b a sweet ceremony celebrating a kindergarten graduation. instead cleveland police say it erupted into a riot. affiliate wjw has the story. >> yes, city of cleveland, michael r. white school there are adults out here fighting. >> reporter: dozens of police officers surrounded michael r. white school after receiving a call that shots were fired. moments after police arrived, they learned that wasn't true. >> no guns were involved in it. no shots fired. >> reporter: fifth district commander wayne drummond said when officer ars rooifd agent people were involved in a fight outside the building. he said the fight started shortly after the ceremony ended. eight people, including two teenagers, arkansas reor were a. they xas faced a charge of aggravated rioting. no one was injured during the fight. several parents and grandparents showed up at the school to get

their children after they learned police were at the building. >> i came up here to get my granddaughters, you know, because i was concerned, you know, so much stuff going on at schools today. you know, i was really concerned. >> reporter: others including police say fights should never have been at a school. >> it's just a shame. i think it's an absolute shame that something as good as a graduation ceremony or promotion ceremony is marred by the actions of a few. it's a darn shame spop that's why these individuals are going to jail. >> reporter: investigators say the riot began after a fight broke out between two teen girls. "cnn newsroom" starts at the top of the hour. miguel marquez is here with that. you've got a busy show ahead of you. >> you had a busy show yourself. we're going to continue the pace this afternoon. follow up with the deadly storms in the mid west and get to the question of whether or not the end is near, the end of this season of misery for people there. we also wanted to drive more into this woman who was arrested in mexico. we're going to talk to a marine

who was held for months there in mexico. he had a very similar story, much worse story in many ways. >> i remember that. very vaguely. he was there for how long? >> four months. shawn hammer, just out of afghanistan. he was going with a buddy down to, you know, surf, basically. he had a winnebago and his grandfath grandfather's shotgun, had a permit for it, crosses the line and gets arrested. spent four months chained to his bed in mexico. he has a real warn for people crossing into mexico. >> interesting to keep track of the weather today as the day goes on, as things maybe heat up. >> yep. look, we're not expecting terrible weather today, but there's going to be a lot of clean of up and that death toll has gone from seven to nine this morning. we're watch that. the other problem with this weather is rain. we've seen that road wash outs. and a lot of danger out there getting electricity back on as it heats up as well for the elderly and infirmed, it's tough

to survive in those very hot and humid conditions. >> miguel marquez, i'll be watching. are you taking a break from work this summer? if so you're one of the lucky ones. find out why america is no-vacation nation. i'll tell you why next. all business purchases. so you can capture your receipts, and manage them online with jot, the latest app from ink. so you can spend less time doing paperwork. and more time doing paperwork. ink from chase. so you can.

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. it seems like more and more the u.s. is turning into the no-vacation nation. unlike many other countries the u.s. does not require company to offer paid time off.

what? oh, yes. so many americans can't leave their jobs even for a few days. others won't. tom foreman has this week's "american journey." >> reporter: as beaches, resorts, and theme parks brace for the summer rush, they can count a quarter of all americans out of the mix. that's how many receive no paid vacation in a study by the center for economic and policy research. and the lower your wages, the less likely time off is in your plans. according to john schmidt. >> many americans get vacations. >> we do. but we get a lot less than everybody else. the average american gets less than the minimum required vacation in every other country that we looked at. >> reporter: they looked at places like japan with ten days, germany with 24, and france with 30. what's more, a study last year found more than half of americans who do get vacation time don't use all of it. often for fear of appearing lazy

or being laid off. >> i think what it is is that we have a much higher level of job insecurity in this country than in the rest of the world. >> reporter: it has not always been this way. the growth of the car culture in the 1950s fueled the idea that regular folks, not just the rich, should get away from the grind now and then. >> how would you feel if you were me? >> reporter: and for several deca decades, the family vacation was as american as, well, as american. >> a vacation on a farm. will you ever thought of this? >> reporter: certainly some believe the country's work ethic is precisely what made the economy great and now would be the worst time for vacation fever to sweep in. but others -- >> so are you going to take a vacation? >> i am going to take a few weeks off in july. >> reporter: others suggest rebuilding the economy might need to start with more folks recharging their batteries. tom foreman, cnn, washington.

and now an out of this world event, an asteroid called 1998 qe2 passed earth this friday with its own moon in tow. it got 3.6 million miles from our planet and scientists say it won't pass by us again until 2028. and then maybe there's going to be lots more elbow room because thes asteroid is expected to be about 45 million miles away. i'm going to see you back here again tomorrow morning. "cnn newsroom" starts right now "cnn newsroom" starts right now with miguel marquez. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello. i'm miguel marquez. welcome to "cnn newsroom." tornadoeses ripping through the midwest again. oklahoma is getting ready to once again. clean up. officials say that nine people died in last night's twisters. two of them were children and you heard this morning most of the victims were in cars.

it was a chaotic scene as five tornadoes hit the oklahoma city area last night. storm chasers got this incredible video of one forming in el reno. more than 70 people were hurt. el reno and union city suffered most of the damage. this comes less than two weeks after a huge tornado plowed through nearby moore, oklahoma. and that's not the end of it. now oklahoma city is dealing with major flooding. check this out. huge chunk of land washed away. right next to a road. some areas have seen as much as 11 inches of rain. the white house says it is closely monstering the situation in oklahoma. el reno, oklahoma, is littered with debris from the tornado. nick va lenshas been there all . what is the immediate need of people there? >> reporter: right now they need to get their power back on. that's been the most inconvenience for thoses dents in reno and canadian county in

general. you have then tens of thousands throughout the state without power. we're pulling upon a scene here where the house lost half of its roof. surveying and sort of assessing the debris, overturned cars. on our way into reno early this morning, el reno, i should say, miguel, we saw some overturned semi trucks. damage or the magnitude of this storm until the sun came up. what's interesting and we found most interesting is our crew drives around el reno. you will turn a corner and see a section of the neighborhood that is untouched. >> nick, i can stop right there. you're breaking up a little bit. let me ask you one other question before we lose you all together. you are in moore cover that. you've become basically our oklahoma bureau chief at this point. great job that you're doing, but how are people dealing with yet

another round of storms they're facing this daunting clean-up? >> reporter: great question, miguel. there is an underlying anxiety here. you know this from covering tornadoeses. you know this from, you know, time spent here in oklahoma. there is resilience. they've gone through so many natural disasters and, of course, oklahoma city bomb terrorist attack. it's come to a point where they're dealing with calamity. it's more of a put on our gloves and we're going to work and help each other out and help each other clean. if there's any uplifting thing happening here, it's that, neighbors helping neighbors and even strangers helping strangers. >> nick valencia, thank you, stay safe. george how well is in union city, oklahoma, where he's been surveying the damage.

>> from the powerful storm that came through. this is the area where we know that a tornado touched ground. we know it caused a lot of damage in the nearby neighborhood and destroyed some homes. and overturned vehicles. i want to show you this. it was part of a vehicle. that's a vehicle that it belonged to right over there. the sign says tornado-con on the door. apparently a storm chaser. the residents around here tell me that the driver did get out okay. but they say that the sheer force of the winds the other night was strong enough to pick that vehicle up and push t it over into that field. you do really get a sense of just how strong this storm was as it developed over the union city area. then moved into oklahoma city, dumped a lot of rain, flooding was the issue in oklahoma city.

and with light of day we can tell that these tornadoes did cause damage. george howell, cnn, union city, oklahoma. at latest count, more than 212,000 customers in the midwest have lost power. you can see how the extreme weather toppled lines. missouri and oklahoma right now are facing the most blackouts with more than 160,000 in those two states without power. illinois and arkansas and kansas also have thousands in the dark. flooding is making it impossible to get around in many parts of missouri. the missouri department of transportation reports portions of nearly 250 road s are closed because of flooding. they have prompted missouri's governor to declare a state of emergency. from the tornadoes to the floods we're tracking a lot of severe weather right now. meteorologist karen maginnis is here. karen, what should folks be looking out for today? >> it is another round of severe

weather. it does not look like it's going to be to the extent that we saw yesterday. when i say that i mean, ef3, ef4, 5 tornados like we have already seen. the damage was just all over the place with hail, wind, trees down, homes destroyed, because of the tornadoes. and you heard about the nine fatalities. that is so far. but they're sending out survey crews from the national weather service to evaluate just how strong those tornadoes were. right now oklahoma city, you're looking good. however, dallas, you're right on the line, starting to see some of that weather develop. and in memphis, tennessee, we are expecting those thunderstorms. they are knocking on your door as we speak. paducah, kentucky, over five inches of rainfall. in st. louis, beginning to clear out as that moves into the ohio river valley, tennessee valley, and across the arklatex region, the rain is expected to be a big

factor. what happens for today. we go into yesterday. look at this. may 31st, the line of storms, tonights across oklahoma soared into the triple digits. that fueled the fire that eventually spawned some of the tornadoes, that flow coming in from the gulf of mexico, that cooler air coming in behind it. you get some low level rotation and this is what happened. this just escalated. the activity that we saw. the crews now are saying that el reno, also the union city tornadoes, they are investigating it and ef4 -- 3 or 4. and we saw that moore on may 20th just 11, 12 days ago now, that was an ef5, just to give you some idea of how intense these are. well, may is the key tornado month. june falls right behind with only minimally less tornado activity. and yesterday we had 269 severe weather reports. of those, 23 were tornadoes.

so we'll keep you updated on that. we'll bring you another update in about 30 minutes. miguel? >> thank you very much. let's hope the worse of it is behind us. while we'll be bringing you all the latest in the tornadoes in oklahoma we also will talk about hurricanes. that's right. that's because hurricane season starts today. we'll go to florida and hear why some people are concerned about how bad it could be this year. and the irs in hot water again. this time for spending your money to make a star trek spoof. but not many people are laughing. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go,

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i doubt anyone will even notice. leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive. call or click today. aarrggh! it's yet another embarrassing revelation for the irs. a video from a 2010 conference has surfaced. it's a dance video starring irs employees paid for with your taxpayer dollars. we're expecting a report from the inspector general on this and other excessive spending. when is it coming out and how damaging might it be? >> good afternoon, miguel. this is, of course, not good news for the irs. this dance video that was played at a 2010 conference in anaheim. we know this report is coming out next week. we also know that on thursday the house oversight and government reform committee is holding a hearing on just this

issue. wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars at irs conferences. it's being called collected and wasted. we know that the irs has responded to this cupid dance shuffle video coming out was unacceptable and is inappropriate use of government funds. the irs and the government as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately. so we expect that hearing on thursday to get a lot of attention. as you mention going into the break, this cupid dance shuffle video isn't the only video that's in question here. that one we've learned cost about $1600. but that's just a fraction of the $60,000 that was spent on two other videos. one was a "star trek" themed spoof training video and the other was a "gilligan island" themed video. those are two more videos that just add to this embarrassment. at least potentially.

miguel? >> athena jones, something tells me those cupid shuffle videos will not be going viral. new information on the threatening t letters sent to president obama for a new york mayor michael bloomberg and a gun control group. test results are in and they confirm the letters did, in fact, contain the poison ricin. cnn national correspondent suzanne candiotti joins me now from new york. suzanne, you've obtained a copy of one of the letters. what does it say? >> all right. this is a letter and they all -- all the wording seems to match precisely. this one that we obtained was one of the three letters. it was sent to mark glaze. now, he is the director of mayor bloomberg's group called mayors against illegal guns. and the wording goes like this. you will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. the right to bear arms is my constitutional god-given right and i will exercise that right tell the day i die. what's in this letter is nothing compared to what i've got planned for you.

now, glaze, miguel, is the only one of the three that actually touched the letter, opened the letter, was exposed to what was on the letter or inside the letter because, of course, mayor bloomberg and president obama never touched it, obviously. those letters were intercepted at another postal facility where their mail is checked out. >> sounds like he's doing all right. >> he is. he put out a note on social media a few days ago saying that he was fine. >> and the markings that we see on both the letter and on the envelope looked like they were rolling something over that. >> it looks like those are the marks made by investigators as they were collecting evidence. be it fingerprints, obviously testing for rice iin, any other clues that could help lead them to whoever is behind this. >> investigation, whether where does it stand? there's a couple until texas that authorities have been interviewing, right? >> yeah. they were interviewing a couple until texas. however, our sources are telling us that there's a credibility issue with at least one member

of the couple, the wife, as a matter of fact. so they're still trying to sort things out saying they're using due diligence to do that. but the fact remains, at least as far as we know, there is nothing to indicate so far who is behind these letters. it's not just this one, there have been a few of them in the past several weeks. still trying to get to the bottom of it. >> thank you very much, suzanne candiotti for us in new york. now, some major rulings this week in the case against georgia zimmerman. the florida man accused of killing unharmed teen trayvon martin. our legal guys will tell us what the evidence won't be at trial. spokesman i have to look my so bbest on camera.sing whether i'm telling people about how they could save money on car insurance with geico... yeah, a little bit more of the lime green love yeah... or letting them know they can reach geico 24/7 using the latest technology. go on, slather it all over. don't hold back, go on...

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>> there's probably going to be a tornado. pull off the side of the road right here. yeah, this is our view of it. there's your wall cloud here. look at that wall cloud, dude. >> we've all seen the devastation and loss of life from tornadoes in oklahoma alone. at least seven tornadoes hit in the month of may alone. kansas also looked into the sky and saw frightening images like this one. out here in new mexico and california, on tinder dry conditions are fueling wildfires. experts say the fire season started early this year. ifs that's not enough earthquaketrack.com documented 400 aerd quakes across the u.s. from maine to california in the last seven days.

of course, we haven't even mentioned hurricane season yet. it begins today. experts say it will be an active season in the atlantic with as many as 11 hurricanes. but any look forward is haunted by looking back at hurricane sandy. we learned a lot from that catastrophic storm. here's john zarrella. >> miguel, with the start of hurricane season, forecasters are warning people all the way from texas to maine to be prepared. last season's hurricane sandy certainly re-enforced that point. from florida to maine, super storm sandy's long reach touched every state along the eastern seaboard. hardest hit, new jersey and new york, cities and towns swallowed up as sandy's catastrophic storm surge swept ashore. many of the 117 people who didn't survive drowned. in the aftermath, federal and local emergency managers are trying to understand why some

people simply didn't get the message, get out. from all the disasters we deal with hurricanes are the ones that we map and spend a lot of time trying to figure out who is at risk and then get the messages out there for them to evacuate with time to leave and then there are still people that remain behind for all kinds of reasons. and that's what we see unfortunately the greatest loss of life. >> reporter: one reason may have been because of what sandy wasn't. rick nabb is the director. >> it's more attention getting. >> reporter: but there wasn't a hurricane warning because sandy, while a super storm with hurricane force winds, wasn't a hurricane technically when it made landfall in new jersey on october 29dth. >> we had a difficult dilemma on our hands. >> reporter: to avoid what he felt would be corn fusion in misrepresenting the storm, they decided to go with high wind and flood warnings. it's impossible to say whether some lives would have been saved

with the attention getting hurricane warning was in place. if there's a next time, forecasters say there won't be an issue, policy has been changed. >> the weather service can issue or keep up hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings even if something isn't technically a tropical storm or hurricane anymore. >> reporter: emergency managers argue no matter what you call it people aren't necessarily prepared for the storm's threat they're most vulnerable to. >> someplaces are vulnerable to storm surge, some aren't. don't focus on the skinny black line. don't focus on the number. focus on the impacts, what you need to do to protect your family. >> reporter: and do it now. it's too late to figure out a plan when the storm is at your doorstep. this is expected to be an active hurricane season, which doesn't necessarily mean a hurricane will hit the united states. but it certainly increases the odds. miguel? >> thank you, john zarrella. in our next hour of "cnn newsroom" we'll talk live with an atmospheric signist from

rutgers university on what could be causing all of this wild weather. coming up, we go live to oklahoma for the third time in less than a month for the state tornadoes have shredded through neighborhoods but now people there are facing a new problem, flooding. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms and pilots and stadiums. but, of course, it's a good listener too. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everything works like never before. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support,

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welcome back to the "cnn newsroom." i'm miguel marquez. if you're just tuning in, thanks for joining us. it has been another bad night of severe weather in oklahoma. all morning we've been showing you pictures and video of the destruction in that state. it's been hit once again by a hard hit by deadly tornadoes, so what's the best way to survive one? do you run? do you hide? god forbid you're in one, but our chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta breaks down your options if you are. >> very large tornado in oklahoma. >> reporter: 13 minutes. that's the average lead time you would have if a tornado was headed your way. there's obviously no completely safe option during a tornado. your best bet is to get into the basement, somewhere below ground level. but keep in mind that if you are there you want to see what's on the floor above you as well. rf or piece of heavy furniture could come crashing near the floor. in moore, oklahoma, there aren't a lot of basements.

studies have actually shown that there is another very good option. take a look over here. interior room or a closet like that can be the best place to be, as well. the house is gone here, but that closet preserved, even the clothes inside of that. remember, just got 13 minutes. so find that safe place. maybe grab a helmet or bike helmet, throw mattresses or a blanket over you to try to protect your head. one place you can't hide from a tornado is in your car. tornado strength winds can pick up a one- to two-ton vehicle like this one and toss it around like you or i would a basketball. you don't want to be driving toward a tornado but it's also a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. it's hard to gauge the distance. if you must be driving and the weather is clear, try driving at right angles to the tornado, perpendicular, to get out of the path of the storm. there's another misconception as well is that you should get out of your car and run underneath an overpass. what happens in a situation like this is the wind is funneled. even more powerful than the

storm and a lot of debris. that debris can injure you. if you are stuck outside as the tornado approaches, find a ditch or any place far away from potentially dangerous objects and vehicles and stay low. >> now, coming up, what the jury will not hear in the upcoming murder trial of george zimmerman. find out why the judge is blocking certain testimony. coming up. (girl) what does that say? (guy) dive shop. (girl) diving lessons. (guy) we should totally do that. (girl ) yeah, right. (guy) i wannna catch a falcon! (girl) we should do that. (guy) i caught a falcon. (guy) you could eat a bug. let's do that. (guy) you know you're eating a bug. (girl) because of the legs. (guy vo) we got a subaru to take us new places. (girl) yeah, it's a hot spring. (guy) we should do that. (guy vo) it did. (man) how's that feel? (guy) fine. (girl) we shouldn't have done that. (guy) no. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. [ mom ] for big girl jobs there's bounty select-a-size.

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we have big decisions handed down earlier this week in the george zimmerman case. his attorney cannot use parts of trayvon martin's past in their defense. specifically, drug use. familiarity with guns, and possible past fights. shortly after those decisions victor blackwell had a chance to talk with his defense attorney.

>> mark, your argument is that trayvon martin was the aggressor in this situation during the six to seven minutes of what happened last february. without the information about the familiarity with guns and the drug history and fighting, how do you prove that trayvon was the aggressor? >> george's injuries. george has significant injuries including a smashed nose, and then injuries the back of his head. trayvon, but for the fatal gunshot, trayvon didn't have any injuries whatsoever. the forensic evidence itself supports that trayvon was attacking or hitting at the very least the determination of who did what first is going to be up for the jury to decide. >> how will you make that argument? how will you convince them that trayvon it was first to act? >> becauses there's no evidence to contradict george's evidence that he was heading back to the car when trayvon approached him and there's no evidence to conflict that george's testimony

was he got hit by trayvon. so i guess the state would have to show something to say that tlvs there's something intervening event where george did something that nobody has any evidence of that gave trayvon the right to strike out. there's no evidence of that. >> you said that there was no guarantee you were going to use any of the information from the cellphone. >> correct. >> much of it will not be used in opening statement. >> correct. >> not in the presence of the jury. if the state goes after the character of george zimmerman, do you think this emboldens them to do so? >> we do a couple of things. they put his character in evidence we get to put on his character, as well. his character evidence of everything that we had that's so good about george. everyone the fbi talked about who said he's non-violent, says he's a good guy, nonracist. potentially but not necessarily, trayvon's history may become irrelevant, particularly how the state handles hip. it's not if they're going after george, we're going after

trayvon. absolute absolutely not. that would not be appropriate. if that information becomes relevant we look into it. >> they have said a lot about how this is is a landmark in justice as it relates to african-americans. >> right. >> and racial injustice. how do you keep this trial limited to a few minutes on one night in february? >> well, let me ask you this. if they acquit george because the jury says trayvon was the aggressor, if they make that decision, is that going to be a loss for civil rights? is it? set george aside, acquitted because trayvon was the aggressor, is that a civil rights event? i would suggest not. if they convict george because they think he's the aggressor, is that a benefit to civil rights? some might say maybe because at least a young black male victim of a homicide was justified or his loss was not in vain. you might say if you get the

conviction then at least he wasn't a lost life, maybe. but the real decision is going to be who was the aggressor and whether or not george acted reasonably. those two decisions had nothing to do with rights. had the case never gone to trial, maybe. had they said we're not going to prosecute this guy because he killed a black kid, then, okay, maybe that's a civil rights issue. but the jury decides what they're going to decide, i don't see the civil rights connotation to it. i know civil rights, not as well as many copatriots but i get a feel for this stuff and i don't see civil rights in this day today. >> was today a loss for you? >> no, i like the idea that they're limiting the evidence to what it should be, five to six minutes before the time of the emergency call, the gunshot, and afterwards with the emergency call. if we limit it on that whatever

that jury decides has to be the proper verdict as long as they follow the evidence in the law and then we're done. >> well, so now we know what evidence won't be allowed at trial. let's bring our legal guys in, civil rights attorney and law professor is in cleveland and richard herman and law professor joins us from las vegas. avery, judge did leave some wiggle room here, didn't she, zimmerman's attorney says if he can show relevancy he can still maybe bring in this stuff. he says he doesn't need it though. >> how much damage does do to his case? >> first of all, miguel, it's a mere preliminary ruling. if the state is foolish enough to bring in the character of trayvon martin, believe me, o'mara is going to bring that evidence in. that's why he released it to the public. we understand what he's doing here. the prosecutors can't do it. the defense is letting out all this evidence, i include ag monk other things that trayvon martin had two goelld caps on his teet.

how would that be relevant? and the judge correctly said, you don't even whisper that. but i think what o'mara has done has keyed the case up. we start the trial on the 10th of june. a lot of motions have to be resolved. so what's going to happen at this point is is we're going to see this coming week what other evidence will be barred. and that will give us a pretty good idea of how this case starts off. >> you seem to have a different take on all this. >> yeah, miguel. everybody is jumping to conclusions here. and there's false information being spread to everyone. these are preliminary rulings as avery just said. this is not the ruling of the case. this evidence, i believe, is going to come in during the course of the trial. these are mini battles in the war. these little battles are really meaningless until the trial begins. once the trial begins the defense theory is that trayvon was the aggressor. now, we know when he -- when the

autopsy was done, he had cannabis in his system. he's going to tell the judge at the time of trial what that impact of that had on him, would that make him aggressive or not, would that make him paranoid, would he be more likely to be an aggressor. if the judge buys that evidence that's coming in at trial. i'm telling you, people got it wrong. don't think this is not coming in. a lot of this is going to be highly relevant. >> can we speak about mr. zimmerman for a second? he has physically changed appearance. 100 pounds he put on since all of this began. avery, what is going through this guy's head right now? >> well, he's eating a lot of food, i guess. i don't know. it's got nothing to do with the defense. to me, whether or not he's gained a lot of weight, whether he's changed his appearance, i don't see that as particularly significant because, remember, the burden, miguel, is on the prosecution to prove this second degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. and you know what? i think this is a very, very tough burden for the prosecution

so whether george zimmerman is 100 pounds haeavier or not i don't think is going to make any difference in this trial. >> miguel, no one knows -- miguel, unless you've walked the walk, nobody knows what's going threw zimmerman right now. he's probably pretty fid, freaking out, eating. when you're a criminal defendant facing substantial criminal time, loss of liberty, you get nervous. this is not a derogatory thing. this is just reality. this is real. this is not tv. this is real. we're going to move on to the pistorius case now, he is out on bail and awaiting trial. he's got a court appearance next week. pictures of the blood covered bath where she was shot. defense is howling, saying this

is the first time they've seen these pictures even though they asked for them all along. you see bullet holes in the door and the panel missing below the handle indicate tag pistorius may have been on his stumps, as he claimed. blood spatters on the stairs. avery, these pictures seem to support pistorius' claims. do they help and what could their release mean? >> well, you know, there's a benefit of consistency in this respect, miguel. he said he fired four shots into the bathroom. well, what you see in the photos are two shots. so you've got an inconsistency there. it's really difficult to sort out at least in my judgment whose advantage these photographs will serve. will it be the defense because it basically consistent with his story or the prosecution that there was some evidence that he did it and now they have to tie in a motive. i think that's the hardest part of this case. >> richard, you know, claims pistorius' watch was stolen by investigators, footprints in the

blood from the lead investigators who walked through the crime scene. he's been removed. this does not look good for the prosecution at the note, yes? >> no. miguel, when we watch "law and order" and all these shows you see the yellow tape that goes up on crime scenes. that's to preserve the integrity of the crime scene. in this particular case, the integrity webnt of the window a long time ago. these pictures, some of the walls have been reconstructed, who knows when the bullet holes were put in there. we don't know. the lead prosecutor has been removed, charged in attempted murder in another case. this case is going nowhere. they are not going to be able to prove based on the xwurd den of proof they have that this guy did this and, you know, he very well may have done it, he very well may be getting away with it because ask police work here is yo beyond shoddy. it's horrific. they dropped the ball. >> it's a tough case. >> it's going to be a very tough case and fascinating one to

watch. richard, avery, thank you for joining us this weekend. >> thank you. as people try to wrap their heads around the damage of an ef5 tornado more twisters hit. homes in oklahoma are leveled and more lives lost. will that area finally get a break? we'll have the forecast next. oh, he's a fighter alright. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at ducktherapy.com. [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes ♪

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killer tornadoes are forming with a speed and vengeance. last night el reno, oak oeklahos caught right in the path of the tornado. nick valencia is there. what have you been seeing? >> we're on the second floor of what once was a house and we're surrounded by volunteers who came to this residence. they had no idea who the owners were but decided to lend a helping hand. in fact, i want b to bring in one of the volunteers. she came here from houston. >> hi. >> what brought you here? >> i saw on the news that grand bury had a tornado, headed there for a few days to moore. and then today our leads are assessing damage from one of our churches so i drove out and asked if i could help. >> what was the response like? a lot love times people just want their privacy in a situation like this. how do you approach a family in oklahoma, so self reliant? >> the mother of the house here is an american red cross volunteer and she also works with some of the communities and she just seemed glad for the

help. immigra'm grateful to be here. >> thank you for taking the time with cnn. and miguel, this is a residence. this is families. this is a place where childhood memorys we remain. now this is what's left here. in is what's left. in fact, this is the man that grew up here for 18 years. just had to go break up a fight between his llamas over there. just can't make this stuff up. what's it like look at all this stuff, man? >> it's a sombering, you know, feeling, just to see all of your stuff, your memories from your childhood, just scattered around. you know, stuff is ruined, trash, you know. but you know, it's just a reminder to know that no one was hurt here. that's the main thing really, you know. >> that's, miguel, a lot of people are focusing on the positive. they've really got no choice. and for so many in the state of oklahoma with all this rounds of

new tornadoes a lot of people's lives will forever be divided by what happened before the storm and how they carry on afterwards. >> this is also a deadly storm. you don't want to down play the severity of it. what's the immediate need for people in the area and across this long line of storms, nick? >> well, they're just cliing to clean up right now. this is -- for some more good news, this is a very rural community. there's not a lot of subdivisions around here. there's not a lot of businesses around here. this tornado when it came through it hit a lot of empty land. it did, of course, leave nine people dead. you're right. it was another deadly round of tornados. for a community that's so, as i mentioned, self-reliant and really able to stand on their own two feet almost immediately after being knocked down by, you know, just vicious, severe weather. it's incredible to see and l. it's just -- get right to work. you're witnessing it live in action right now. people just picking up the pieces trying to clean up and trying to take the next step in their lives. miguel? >> nick, you've within -- you've covered more for us.

you're now -- you were in el reno this morning and in union city now. the breadth of it. it's hard for people to imagine how people can make their way through this. how are people coping? i though they're tough out dl but this is a lot to take on. >> you know, when you look a the damage in moore and not to downplay any of this damage out here but moore was a lot more densely populated, miguel. there was a lot more people right in the middle of that tornado, that ef5 and it was a stronger wind stream that went through there. more people were at risk. people are really, you know, anxious. there is an underlying sentiment of anxiety. when the tornado sirens go off and the thought of, gosh, we just can't get any luck here, can we? new round after new round. talking to local affiliates today. they were saying that there could be possibly more severe weather next week. so it just seems that tornado alley, this place that they call tornado alley in the united states, is really living up to its name. miguel? >> sounds like ptsd all around

there. thank you very much from union city, oklahoma. thank you. from oklahoma to indiana, more potentially dangerous thunderstorms with flash floods and battering winds. they are still a major threat. let's go to cnn's severe weather center and meteorologist karen maginnis. karen, what conditions right now like and what is the forecast? >> well, we've got some pretty nasty weather that's moving in. let me show you what's happening in memphis. right now, we were looking at this about 30 minutes ago and you saw some puffy clouds but now the visibility is near zero. they are under a severe thunderstorm warning as we speak. the temperature was 82. and you can barely see this towercam has got rain all over it. well, here's the reason why. we knew it was knocking on your door. and here it goes. two severe thunderstorm warnings out so that means you could see high winds, heavy downpours, lots of frequent lightning and extending up to paducah, kentucky, they've seen over five inches of rainfall there. there is that severe

thunderstorm warning out. for memphis you might expect three to five inches of rainfall certainly not out of the question. and in this northwestern and north central quadrant of arkansas, heavy downpours here. little rock saw a severe thunderstorm in the past couple of hours and st. louis, st. louis county, st. charles county, they are sending national weather service survey crews out to see just what kind of tornado the intensity of the tornado there. and, by the way, the el reno tornado just to the west of oklahoma city, that has been evaluated as an ef3. the moore tornado, back on may 20th, was an ef5. at the top of the scales. now, some of these thunderstorms that popped up during the evening hours yesterday in central oklahoma, around oklahoma city, some of those thunderstorm tops around 60,000 feet. but somebody very astutely pointed out that we saw tornadoes here, tornadoes in

missouri, maybe some tornadoes in indiana, one in tennessee. they were all over the place. and it wasn't just tornadoes. we saw wind damage, hail. now the storm waters. the rivers are stilling up. the mississippi river. and st. louis, we think about tuesday or wednesday, we could see this maybe come within record-setting levels. we'll have to continue to monitor that. but miguel, staying on top of the weather, it is very busy in the weather department right now. but we'll continue to update you through the afternoon. >> karen maginnis, you're the hardest working person in tell vig right now. let's hope the worse is behind us. the housing market is making a comeback and you need to know how to cash in on it. our christine romans will show you how. ♪ (annoucer) new beneful medley's, in tuscan, romana,

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it's no secret the housing market is coming back and people are eager to invest. in this week's "smart is the new rich" christine romans shows you how to cash in on both at the same time. >> reporter: demand is back but it's not just home buyers and sellers who are cashing in. when you buy a house or build a house you're fueling an entire industry and creating opportunities for investing. and not just in the real estate itself. >> consumers feeling better. balance sheets are getting better. home equity lines, can take out more money. what are they going to do with that money? >> reporter: shares of home depot, lowe's, williams-sonoma what and sherwin williams up 20% this year. when stock charts look like this is it too late to get in? maybe. there are other places to cash in. >> if you own a home it's a near certainty that you have a car.

when people buy houses they buy cars. the car industry has been doing well lately. but there's still room for further growth. >> reporter: making stocks like ford, gm, honda and foye oat a more attractive. there are also tiny components in your house. >> companies that make the chips, the microcontrollers that go into dishwashers, into washing machines, into garage door openers, like a microchip which makes those has 4% yield has global exposure and especially when housing improves they're going to start doing better. >> reporter: also ripe for the picking, supermarkets. >> as home ownership becomes bigger and more pref haven't and grows, i think you will see people eating in more. any grocery chain is likely to benefit. >> reporter: lee likes walmart and whole foods. updated kitchen, spacious dining room, it entices homeowners to

eat at home. if you don't want to buy a house but you want to bye into housing, that's how. christine romans, cnn, new york. >> and now an out of this world event. an asteroid called 1998 qe, there it went, just flew by, whiz bithe earth on friday with its own moon in tow, it got within 3.6 million miles op off planet. too close to call really. scientists say it won't pass by us again until 2028 and then there will be lots more elbow room. thes a sfro the asteroid is expected to be 45 million miles away. coming up on kren "newsroom" we'll have every development from the midwest where tornadoes are wreaking havoc and the latest controversy at theist. it's out of this world, the tax service boldly takes your money aboard the starship enterprise. more "star trek" spoof and other antics caught on tape that you paid for. the intensified search for killer or killers for a person

who gunned down a police officer in a cold-blooded ambush. two sports legends direct from the newsroom, joe thnamath and phil jackson about the playoff game between the heat and the pacers. those stories and much more beginning at the top of the hour. don't miss it. we'll be right back. everyone's retirement dream is different; how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan. ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. to help you retire your way, with confidence. ♪ that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach.

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hello, i'm miguel mar kes in for fredericka whitfield. a state already suffering is torn apart yet by more tornadoes. five new twisters slammed oklahoma claiming more lives. an update coming from oklahoma next. we try to answer the question that hits all of us after seeing these images. why all this bad weather? an atmospheric scientist weighs in. acting out a "star trek" spoof in full costume on the bridge of the enterprise and learn hoing how to do the cupid shuffle? irs workers are having fun and doing it with your money. oklahoma is getting ready once again to clean up after