specifically in a way that many people would think. >> thank you everyone. i appreciate you joining us tonight. that's it for us. i'm don lemon. i'm don lemon. "ac360" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening, everyone. breaking news on a very dangerous night after an especially deadly weekend. new tornado watches and warnings going up. new twisters touching down including this one, a storm as you can see of devastating proportions. a team of forecasters and correspondents keeping you safe. also tonight the growing outrage after tape surface apparently of this man, l.a. clippers owner donald sterling making racist remarks. you'll hear the words and firestorm that they touched off and his ugly history as well. reactions from magic johnson, michael jordan and spike lee joins us to talk about it and look what the nba can do to sterling if these latest accusations prove true. he abandoned ship so fast he left his pants behind.

that's the captain of the south korean ferry in the blue boxers. new video emerging from the sinking ferry of the captain leaving and the announcement telling everyone else to stay in their cabins. many of those died. we begin with breaking news. a new line of violent weather putting 50 million people at risk tonight. already at least one tornado touching down in tupelo, mississippi with reports of very serious damage. these are new pictures just in from the scene. other tornados reported near jackson, mississippi. and one outside the mississippi city of louisville. a deadly night across central and southern states. a quiet season shattered sunday as powerful storms from texas to iowa spawned more than 30 tornadoes in several states. >> my ears are popping. we're in it now. we're in the tornado. >> arkansas fared the worst.

at least 14 people killed there and officials expect the toll to rise as rescue workers continue digging through debris. a powerful twister about a half mile wide cut an 80-mile long path that struck parts of suburban little rock and slammed into towns of mayflower. winds reach 135 miles per hour. >> there's a huge black cloud just right here to the southeast, and, you know, just coming our way. it was already, could you see stuff boiling. >> it popped back up real quick and i ran inside and about a minute it was over and i come outside and what you see is what we have. >> personal possessions were scattered for miles, most of them lost but some of them found. >> my daughter. >> you're so welcome. i'm glad i was able to find a picture for you. actually my photographer found that. >> thank you so much. >> along interstate 40 tractor-trailers were swept off the roads, panicked drivers helped free others from the wreckage.

the devastation in vilonia was especially tough. the town was hit by a tornado three years ago. many homes just recently were rebuilt. >> the downtown is completely leveled. there's a few buildings partially standing but the amount of damage is tremendous. >> in kansas a tornado tore through the town of baxter springs, injuring at least 25 people and destroying more than 100 homes. the twister caused eight miles of damage and surprised many residents. >> the next thing i know my little brother pushing everybody in the bed and getting on top of the mattress. we hear nothing but windows breaking, wood going through the walls. >> the threat isn't over yet. strong storms and possible tornadoes are expected in the southeast for the next few days. it's important to repeat this weather system has not finished doing damage. martin savidge is in tupelo. we are also in mayflower,

arkansas. martin, let's start with you. what's the situation in tupelo right now? >> reporter: well, anderson, tupelo right now they are holding their breath and literally trying to figure out how badly they have been hit. they know they have been hit hard. they just don't know whether it's absolute devastation at this point in a large area or just pockets like this one we are in here. maybe two miles northeast of downtown tupelo itself, vinelli's restaurant, very popular. been here since the '70s this building since the '90s and it's been completely obliterated. six employees, handful of customer when is this storm struck mid afternoon. everybody went to the coolers. they went to the beer cooler and that's where they head. fortunately everyone emerged safe and sound. not a single person injured. one person injured in the parking lot in their vehicle. but that's the situation here. this place destroyed. many other commercial residences or businesses around here have been heavily damaged. but i won't say it's devastation

just yet. the truth is we can't move because of a gas leak. authorities are keeping us pretty much in place. >> ed, what more do we know about the situation in arkansas, the damage there? >> reporter: well national weather service officials have been going throughout the day with their survey teams trying assess just how strong this storm was. we know tornado was packing winds of 130 to 150 miles per hour. the national weather service said late this afternoon they believed this storm was an ef-3 that measured about half mile wide at one point and this area where we are last night this is exactly where the tornado crossed along interstate 40 in an area that had many cars along the roadway, many were blown into this area that you see here behind me. it was a very powerful storm, anderson, spent about 40 miles on the ground here. >> ed, in terms of options people have tonight in terms of getting out of danger and getting shelter what are their options? >> reporter: well there are a couple of shelters set up in place. what we've seen today a lot of

people going through the rubble and through their belongings. we saw dozens and dozens of homes that are inhabitable at this point. they will relying on friends and family for shelter if not those shelters that have been set up. there's an overnight curfew to keep people and the loitering down and people in these dangerous places at night with all this debris and the power lines down that's a big concern. when the sun goes down here again tonight you don't want people traveling these roads and getting caught up in the debris that's left behind. >> martin as darkness comes to tupelo the response is still ongoing, correct? still trying to assess exactly the scope of the damage? >> reporter: oh, yeah, absolutely. they are. in fact they're still going street to street. they have storms in the area. that's of course a concern. on top of that you have no electricity so that's making the looking more difficult because it's going to be done in the dark. so right now businesses here are trying to board up or protect what they can. not here. there's not much to protect. elsewhere they are still trying

to figure out as we say just how bad it is and whether the worst is past. because they're still worried about what other storms may be headed this way. >> in terms of injuries or anything like that are there any reports? do we know? >> reporter: no. we haven't. i'm hoping that no news is essentially good news. there are reports of injuries, we've seen some ourselves. but as far as fatalities, there have not been and i don't want to jinx it, no reports fatalities so far here. this storm went just to the downtown area -- north of the downtown area of tupelo. could be a blessing but this is a heavily business area and again a lot of damage. >> martin, thanks very much. ed lavandera as well. a quick reminder. set your dvr so you don't miss 360. coming up we'll have more on the tornado threat tonight. we'll look at what other areas are under threat tonight and in the coming days. coming up next also though why the owner of the l.a. clippers

might not be the owner much longer. >> if you don't feel -- don't come to my games, don't bring black people, don't come. >> that's the tape heard around the world allegedly and the team's not denying it of donald sterling make racist remarks. also an exclusive interview with spike lee and the latest on the expanding underwater search for flight 370 now that the air effort is suspended when we continue. hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection? yeah, we help with fraud protection. we monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. wow! you're really looking out for us. we are. and if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, you're never held responsible. just to be clear, you are saying "frog protection" right? yeah, fraud protection. frog protection. fraud protection. frog. fraud. fro-g. frau-d. i think we're on the same page. we're totally on the same page.

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until this weekend unless you follow the nba or live in southern california chances are the name donald sterling didn't mean much to you. tonight the entire country knows the l.a. clipper donald sterling that guy caught on tape telling his girlfriend not to bring african-american friends to

clipper games and saying a lot more as. we the girlfriend, v. stiviano, v. is her legal first name, doesn't want to show her face in public. here she is wearing a visor heading out of her l.a. home. getting to a bentley surrounded by paparazzi. the audiotape surfaced on friday. it won't be the first time sterling has done or said something that smacked of bigotry. it may however be the last straw. over the weekend some of the biggest names in sports, politics and entertainment began unloading on him. last night his players launched a protest on court on national tv. big advertisers took giant steps away from him. tomorrow the league could announce sanctions. first how we got here. take a look. >> reporter: it didn't take long for the audio to explode. listen once and you know why. >> people call you and say i have black people on my instagram and it bothers you. >> yeah, it bothers me a lot.

if you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. do you have to? >> you associate with black people. >> i'm not you and you're not me. you're supposed to be a delicate white or delicate latina girl. >> by now you likely know the male voice is allegedly donald sterling. in a conversation with his girlfriend who is almost a half century his junior named v. stiviano. comments he appeared to not know were recorded. >> i support them. >> do you know you have a whole team that is black that plays for you? >> i don't? i sport them and give them food and clothes and cars and houses. who gives to it them? does someone else give to it them? do i know that i have? who makes the game? do i make the game or do they make the game? is there 30 owners that created the league? >> reporter: this is how the

clippers dealt with all this before the game with the golden gate warriors. they took off their warm up shirts and worn the t-shirts inside out so the team name could not be seen. sterling wasn't at sunday's playoff game. his estranged wife was. she's filed a lawsuit against the mistress accusing her in part of being a gold digger. stiviano and sterling have been seen together during other games. in the recorded tape the discussion returns to magic johnson who stiviano says she admires. >> he happens to be black and i'm sorry. >> i think it's nice you admire him, i've known him well and he should be admired. and i'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately. and during your entire [ bleep ] life, your whole life admire him. bring him here. feed him. [ expletive ] him. i don't care. you can do anything but don't put him on instagram so the world has to seen so the world

has to call me and don't bring him to my games. >> reporter: magic johnson said the comments make him hurt but not just for himself. >> i think that all of us are outraged, we're all upset if we're african-americans because if you're going to be like this, why your owning a team in the nba which is what over 70% african-american basketball players. i think he should step down. >> reporter: head coach of the clippers doc rivers said his boss reached out to him but he declined to speak with sterling. >> i would like to reiterate how disappointed i am in the comments attributed to our owner. and i can't tell you how upset i am, our players are. >> reporter: other nba owners have largely stayed silent but former basketball great and current charlotte bobcat owner michael jordan did speak out. issuing a statement saying in part i'm appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport. what's next is anyone's guess.

the league likely can't force sterling out. but already the advertising community is having its say. five major sponsors pull out today costing the team millions of dollars. the clippers next playoff game is tuesday night. the nba players association has demanded he be barred from that and all remaining playoff games. gary tuchman cnn, atlanta. >> president obama has condemned sterling for making incredibly racist statements. that's a quote. so has michael jordan and lebron james. advertisers are distancing themselves. carmax and version america have cut ties with the team. state farm insurance have put their relationship on hold. filmmaker spike lee has a relationship with the new york knicks not the clippers. he joins us as far more than just a fan of the game. first of all, when you first heard these remarks, what went through your mind? >> i said, why did it take so long? let me tell you a story. i never said this before. my right hand to god on my mother's grave.

in los angeles 2011, the nba all-star game was there. me and my friend were at a restaurant and donald sterling called us over to his table, his wife rochelle was there. he started to say why are they going to go on strike, we should pay all the players $500,000. if they didn't play basketball they wouldn't have a job. i swear to god he said that. baron davis, who played for the clippers. he's my second cousin. so he's told me a whole lot of stuff about sterling. then you look at elgin baylor, the highest settlement in history. >> he was sued for racial discrimination in housing. he settled the largest fine ever in the history of housing discrimination. >> so tomorrow is a big day. the commissioner, the new commissioner, adam silver, they are having a press conference here in new york at 2:00 p.m. i'm going to be there.

>> you're going to go to it. >> i'm going to it. and a whole lot of people. >> you know this new commissioner. >> adam, i've known adam for a long time. he's a good guy. >> what do you think he should do? >> i don't know the bylaws of the league. but he has to go. >> he shouldn't -- this guy, donald sterling should not own a team. >> he has to go. he's tainting all the other 29 partners. he's tainting the league. he's tainting america. and when you hear something like that, that is a mentality of a slave master. he sees his players as slaves. >> he feeds them -- >> yes. what is that? then i want to say -- i want to comment on what magic said. well people say -- not just magic -- well doesn't he know all his players are black? yeah, he knows that. masters know that too when we were out there in the cotton fields and whatnot working. so he has to go.

and i would like to see even though the league is 75% african-american, i think this -- outside of dirk nowitsky i haven't heard from white players. >> you think -- you think the white players should speak out about it not just african-american players? >> everybody. everybody. if you believe in humanity, justice for all whether based on race, sex, whatever, this is an affront to everybody. we all should be outraged as americans. >> what do you think of the reaction of the clippers. you know, taking off their practice jerseys. i mean they're in a tight spot. >> look, i know all those guys. i know doc, chris paul, jamal crawford is here with the knicks. those guys in tough spot and i would have loved to be a fly in the room at that meeting they had.

>> trying to figure out -- >> i would like to know how -- was it really a reality that they might have boycotted that game. but right now it's symbolism. and symbolism can being a great. we saw symbolism with tommie smith and john carl with the black fist in the olympics at mexico. and the other players last night, the late game, portland and houston wore black socks. but we need something stronger and i think this is a moment in history where, particularly pizza african-american athletes have to step up. >> they got to do more. >> in my opinion. of course, i'm not in their shoes. but, i know what doc is saying, they work all their lives. they had this dream since they were a kid. of winning an nba championship. >> the coach also said if they keep winning this will keep more in the public eye than in the public conscience. >> i mean doc -- i know doc. he's in a tough space. and i watched the game

yesterday. and even though doc and the players won't admit it, that thing has affected them. they are behind 20 points in the first quarter. came back. but they're shook. it's not their fault. >> it's interesting because this is an incident -- we heard from michael jordan, who in the past, has not been the most outspoken. >> michael stepped up. people will wait for michael. he's on -- i know you might say will or some other people have little, little pieces of their nba teams. michael owns the bobcats and people waiting on mike and he came through. he came through. that was a huge for michael jordan to make the statement he did. >> i've heard from a lot of people that said under the bylaws maybe there's anything the commissioner can directly do but that the other owners, you know, can basically go to this guy and say look, you got to cash in. you bought this team for $12 million, sell it, you'll make hundreds of millions of dollars.

>> he could make a huge profit. i know people in line up now, i wouldn't personally but i would assume people are lining up now to buy that franchise in the second biggest market. the team is great on the verge of winning nba championship. but could i just say this. >> yeah, yeah. >> there -- kobe said it. he wouldn't play for them. they are not the only -- who is going to want to play for this guy? >> why would a free agent go to that team? >> who's going to want to play for this guy? >> does anything matter? i mean is there any -- some people commented well, maybe the tape is edited or maybe the woman has ulterior motives? >> and why has he not denied it? i'm a film maker. nobody acts that good. that was -- >> that was not acting?

>> that was not malarkey. that was -- that was no okie doke. that was the real. she set him up. it looks like that. but no one cares about that. that was him unfiltered and he got caught. he's been saying this stuff for years, for 30 years. >> always fascinated me nobody says i'm a racist. even the people that say the most outrageous thing never say, yeah this is what i feel. they always say no, i love black people or whatever. but then they come out and say -- >> running up and down the court dunking with me. making me money. >> i don't want you to be photographed with him or seen with him or bring him to my games. >> racism is an illness. and as you know, being who you are, it's always bubbling under the surface so it takes an o.j., or trayvon martin and then it

explodes but it's always under the surface. >> it's also when you hear somebody saying this stuff, it's easy to identify. there's structural forms of racism in this country where it's -- >> institutional racism. you can't vote and you can't do this or that. >> that's harder for people to see and point to and bet -- get behind. look what this guy said is reprehensible. >> i'm glad that even though i don't really care for how the thing was obtained, who is trying to make money, he got outed. this is who he is. he's been like this for 30 years. and for people to say well, alleged and this stuff, we have to have a picture on him with a rope and a hood and holding a burning cross is that what it's going to take to make people understand who this vile individual is? he got to go.

he's got to go. >> spike lee, it's good to have you on. >> if i was a season ticketholder of the clippers -- >> you wouldn't go. >> i'm not saying i would turn my tickets in but i wouldn't be at that game tomorrow night in the staple center. >> you think it's important to send a message. >> very important. i mean, this stuff, again, i think -- i know you got to go. i know you got time. we're never is going to be the great country we can be until we deal with racism. we got to deal with it. honestly. even though it may hurt people we have to deal with this and we can move on and be the great -- already greatest country in the world but -- you know what i'm talking about. >> even better. good to have you always. and always you can find more on the story and others on cnn.com. more on donald sterling's tarnished history and what he has said in the past, what he allegedly said now and what he's

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not so with internet from the phone company. i would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. but that would require wifi. switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. more on the donald sterling story. until the bomb shell tape surfaced sterling was set to receive an award from the naacp. at the same time he's also a man who once paid out a record $2.7 million to settle a federal housing discrimination lawsuit which was neither the first such lawsuit nor the first or last allegation of blatantly racist remarks. randy kaye investigations.

>> reporter: this is how clippers owner, donald sterling tried to show he cares about minorities. an ad in the "los angeles times" from 2011 celebrating black history month. trouble is the event is slated for march 2nd, black history month is february. the event was destined raise funds for underprivileged children. >> nobody ever quite figure out how the clippers were going to screen kids who were coming to the games for privilege level unless everybody who showed up was black was supposed to be underprivileged. >> reporter: sterling's strained relationship with minorities started long before that. in 2003 when 19 tenants sued sterling for discrimination, he was quoted by an employee explaining why a housing unit sterling owned had an odor. his explanation according to espn was quote that's because of all the blacks in this building. they smell. they are not clean. later in 2006 the u.s. department of justice sued the clippers owner for housing discrimination at his rental apartments. according to the lawsuit

sterling and his wife made statements indicating that african-americans and hispanics were not desirable tenants. >> we alleged they did not receive the apartments that they applied for because of their racial background. >> reporter: in 2009 sterling settled the lawsuit, agreeing to pay victims nearly $3 million. that same year, all-star basketball legend elgin baylor took his former boss to court claiming he was fired as clippers general manager because of his age and his race. baylor not only accused sterling of paying him significantly less because he's black, but also claims sterling wanted the team to be composed of poor black kids from the south and a white head coach. similar to a southern plantation. he said sterling told him repeatedly he was quote giving these poor black kids an opportunity to make a lot of money. in court baylor also claims sterling brought women into the locker room while players were

showering, allegedly commenting, "look at those beautiful black bodies". a jury later rejected baylor's lawsuit. in 2009 the naacp in los angeles honored sterling with a lifetime achievement award, the president of the l.a. chapter of the civil rights group tried to justify it by revealing that sterling gives as many as 3,000 tickets to youth groups for nearly every clippers home game. next month sterling was set to receive another lifetime achievement award from the naacp. but the group now says it will no longer give him that award. sterling likes awards so much so he takes out big newspaper ads congratulating himself. in one such ad published in 2006 in the "l.a. times," sterling also pledged $50 million towards a state-of-the-art homeless project for families. eight years later it has yet to be built.

randy kaye, cnn, new york. >> the question now is what can the nba do about all this? what will the league announce tomorrow. tnt sports kenny smith won two nba championships with the houston rockets. he joins us along with senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. when you heard the tape over the weekend what went through your mind? were you surprised? >> i was surprised. i was shocked. i was appalled. i was angered. all of those emotion went through. i always say that racism is a refuge for ignorance. it was able to see the ignorance that at times you think have gone away in modern day society that is still apparent and prevalent. >> is there anything that can happen other than him being suspended. he has to be suspended. >> i think you know, the first thing is due process, to make sure that was him. i think the nba is making sure all of those things it wasn't edited no transcript way to make him in a different light. if that's the case then second thing is yes you can be suspended.

you can be removed from your daily operations. i mean, we have labor laws in the united states that people have to follow. >> jeff, for you, is it simple that the guy has got to go? >> he's not just going get suspended and fined. he's gone. he's not going to be the owner of this team in the immediately foreseeable future. it's true that adam silver, the commissioner, doesn't have the explicit power to force him to sell. but this is a league, thanks to david stern with a very powerful commissioner. there are other owners involved. he cannot stay the owner of this team and he will be gone sooner rather than later. >> if they can't force him out then how can he be so sure he'll be gone. >> he's 80 years old. he's going to be suspended. he can't own -- he can't show up at his own games presumably after he's suspended. he'll have a significant fine. not necessarily from the commissioner but his fellow owners will go to him and say look do you want to fight this in court for your remaining days

or take your $12 million investment, sell it for $600 and live the rest of your life happily? i just think -- >> $600 million. >> $600 million. yeah, i mean, there is no way that this league is going to sit still for a guy like this still owning the team. it just can't happen. >> kenny, what do you make of the players' decision of how they handled this to continued to playing. >> well, i think that there's a lot of different ways you can handle it. i wish it would have been more strongly in terms of their input. i would love to hear what each of the players represent the clippers think the chris pauls, blake griffin. when you think of the clippers you don't think of donald sterling you think of those players. so having them voice their opinion -- and i think you have an obligation when you're in this position to speak out and to let us know what you're thinking and to make a change and i think they can do that. >> jeff, does any of the back

story to this tape matter? i mean the motives of the woman involved whether or not there was some sort of editing involved. is the bottom line as long as it was his voice that's all that matters? >> you mentioned editing. if somehow this tape has been edited to distort the meaning that could have -- that could have an impact. remember, the clippers have already made a statement and the statement was not that's not me on the tape. and as long as that's him on the tape, and they have also not said it was edited in some misleading way it doesn't matter if she potentially broke some law about wiretapping. it doesn't matter she's not a good person or if they are in litigation. all that matters is what he said and what it means to the larger community. and there's just no excuse. you can't have an owner of any professional sports team much less one with predominantly african-american players who express his views like this.

it will not be tolerated. by the way they are already losing sponsors. can you imagine a free agent at this point choosing to go to the clippers if sterling is still owning the team? it just can't happen. >> kenny, the picture that reportedly sparked this racist tirade by this guy from donald sterling or allegedly from donald sterling is this picture with his girlfriend with magic johnson. have you talked to magic? >> i haven't talked to magic and it doesn't matter. the one thing you see in this whole transgression is that you have a person who has been in power for 30 years and made billions of dollars off the people of the state of california, basically, through real estate and through basketball. who have operated in a prejudicial manner. so, of course, he needs to be out of power in terms of where he is. there's no other way around it. there's been smoke but now fire has come.

>> i know magic johnson over the weekend talked about it and said he would never go to another clippers game as long as sterling is the team's owner. do you think people should boycott the games? >> that's your personal preference. there are people that support that i wouldn't support. that's your own prerogative. you have the right to protest you have the right to picket. you have the right to not go to a game. that's your individual morality. for me i would never be in a clipper game if i -- as long as he is the owner, as kenny smith, i would never go to a clipper game, no. >> kenny great to have you on the program. jeff, you as well. let's see what the league does. coming up the video that has south korean as outraged. the captain of the sinking ferry scrambling to safety as hundreds of people, mostly students, remain trapped inside. also ahead a big change in the search for missing malaysia jan airlines flight 370.

i'm don lemon with breaking weather news to tell you about. a confirmed tornado in alabama at this hour. the twister is near shelton state community college about seven miles south of tuscaloosa and heading northeast at 35 miles an hour. jennifer gray has more. >> this is a dangerous storm. it came very close to the university of alabama, went right over cottondale. we have reports of damage there. it is following this line along i-20. a very dangerous storm. this is tuscaloosa county. you need to be on the look out for this. we have another very dangerous storm right outside of birmingham. just to the north and east of this particular storm we have another one. it is on its heels. it is going to cross over 635. the sirens have been going off in birmingham over the last hour or so.

a very dangerous situation there. we have possibly two, maybe three confirmed tornados on the ground between tuscaloosa and just to the north of birmingham. this is also an area we need to watch closely around gardendale. we have reports of tornados on the ground heading in your direction. so a very, very volatile situation right here. it is going to be fluid for the next couple hours. tornado warnings from south of huntsville south of tuscaloosa. if you are on the south side of tuscaloosa all the way up to birmingham be on the lookout. get in your safe spot. these tornados, it's nighttime. you won't be able to see them and they are rain wrapped as well. heed the warnings and get in your safe spot. >> we saw what happened overnight. a number of people died because of these tornados. it is indeed a priority to get

to safety. >> the scariest part about it. the folks are in their bed and some people don't have weather radios and have no warnings. it's time to get in your safe spot now. >> i'm don lemon in new york. now back to "ac360." ♪ [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen.

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the missing malaysia flight 370 enters a new phase. the search from the air has now been suspended. the underwater search will go on and be intensified. the new search area so big it could take months according to australia's prime minister and could cost about $56 million. we have the latest from perth. let's talk about the next phase of the search. what do we know about it? >> reporter: the australia prime minister calling this probably the most difficult search in human history, easy to see why as we move to this next phase, anderson, of searching the ocean floor over a much bigger area. we're talking 60,000 kilometers. that's 23,000 square miles. that's the likely broad impact area and they say they are going to look at all of it. we heard angus houston saying it could take eight months or more do that once assets are in place. tony abbott making it clear

yesterday that australia is in the search for the long haul. >> do we know how quickly new underwater vehicles can be brought in to the search? >> it's not a quick process. it could take weeks. get the equipment here and deploy it. the ships needed to run it, as you said it doesn't come cheap this new phase, nearly 60 million australian dollars. the advantage of vehicles like these towed sonars, ones like torian. they cover more ground. they tow behind the ships. real-time data sent back unlike the bluefin-21 which has to be lifted out of the water and data downloaded, ore on -- orion can go deeper, covers more ground,

it goes faster. the only disadvantage is if you want to turnaround it takes a half a day to turn the ship around. the grief and outrage over south korean's disaster because of the behavior of some crew members. 193 people now confirmed dead in the sinking of the ferry. many of them high school students. 109 still missing as divers don't retrieve bodies from the vessel. there are new perspectives on the disaster with release of the audio. and video of the ship's captain being rescued by the coast guard. nic robertson reports. >> reporter: this is the video that has south koreans outraged. the captain of the sinking ferry scrambling off his stricken vessel in his underwear. and these are the men who rescued him. speaking about it for the first time, explaining they had no idea who he was. >> translator: no, absolutely not. i didn't find out until later. >> reporter: the real thrust of the questions for all these korean reporters, why was the captain helped off so quickly. why were more of the students not helped off the boat. the answers falling short of expectations. >> translator: during the rescue

operation people were just dropping in the sea. everyone was wearing a life vest. so we couldn't tell who was passenger and who was crew. >> reporter: the ground swell of anger over the mishandling of the rescue began with the families. at first critical of journalists for reporting all aboard were saved. now seeking their help, one father of a student who died aboard the ferry handing a korean broadcaster audio from his son's cell phone. he explains why. to tell you exactly he says 300 lives one ferry lost, i provided this wanting to release some truth to the public but it seems to reveal about the sinking not just heartbreaking for this parent but also shocking for the nation. his son and other students repeatedly told to stay below deck.

>> the coast guard officers said they knew 4 to 500 passengers were on board. when they arrived the ship was sinking so rapidly they sounded the alarm. >> translator: when we got there we used our speak towers tell everybody to get off the boat and into the water. >> reporter: the captain and not most of the students responded. still the subject of investigation. nic robertson, cnn, jindo, south korea. >> so hard to believe they were told to stay where they are. up next, a powerful deadly storm system hitting the south. tornadoes touching down in mississippi and alabama tonight after leaving a trail of destruction in arkansas. the latest ahead. than the reviews said.itely captain obvious: this is a creepy room. man: oh hey, captain obvious. captain obvious: you should have used hotels.com.

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the tornado that hit tupelo, mississippi late today causing heavy damage, so far no fatalities. the death toll however rising across region after the second straight night of tornadoes, two people killed in alabama. on top of 16 in arkansas, iowa and oklahoma over the weekend. bears repeating if you're nearly one of 50 million people in harm's way tonight, this is not over. jennifer grey is tracking the storm system and joins us now from our "weather center". obviously fluid situation. what's the latest? >> fluid. these are fierce. they have been deadly. we have tornado warnings as we speak. still a lot in mississippi. a lot of focus on jackson, mississippi. we still have that line of storms producing tornado warnings in effect for newton and scott counties. newton and union the cities are in the path of this. so if you are in these areas you definitely need to get to your safe place. this is just to the east of jackson. this storm, the past couple of minutes had a confirmed tornado on the ground and it is hovering right around the i-20 and

highway 80 running parallel to it. so this is a very dangerous cell that we want to be on the lookout for. also a line of tornado warnings just outside of birmingham, all of these are pulling to the east and northeast at 45 miles per hour. still very dangerous. double springs all the way through jasper and down the south just to the north of tuscaloosa, you all need to be on the lookout as well. anywhere from huntsville all the way down through jackson, all these hot pink boxes, these are tornado warnings. active tornado warnings. so this line will push to the east as we go through the overnight hours. scary part is we're losing daylight. the sun is setting and that's when folks can be in real danger because they won't be able to see these storms coming. and so that's where a lot of times we lose the most lives, unfortunately. so make sure you have your weather radio, this is still that area that we're going to be watching the closest, mississippi through alabama,

even portions of tennessee. one quick look at that severe weather map the storm prediction center highlighted this area including tupelo and jackson, the hot pink shaded area that is a high-risk of severe weather throughout the rest of this evening and into tonight very large tornadoes possible with very long tracks just like we saw in arkansas, anderson we're seeing that play out again in mississippi and also alabama tonight, unfortunately. >> jennifer grey thanks for that update. george howell joins me now from vilonia. george spoke to resident who survived the storms. what did she tell you? >> reporter: what was it like to be in a storm shelter. she said she heard the storm basically passing over. she saw all of this. what you see here, going over her head, she was down in this basement. when you look around here you see how strong the winds were, strong enough to knock over this heavy equipment, to push trucks and, you know, all this debris everywhere and when you look back there, you see a community

that really has been levelled. in fact, you know, it happened just about this time yesterday, about 7:00. that's when the tornado came through. we know that at least ten people were killed in this county alone, anderson, within three states, arkansas, iowa and oklahoma, a total of 16 people were killed. >> just looks incredible. how large a swath of destruction is that? >> reporter: well, when you look at this, you know, if we can just kind of pan around and show this seems to be the path the tornado took. in fact going across the road over there, crossing through this community, leveling those homes and it goes for at least -- from what we can tell, maybe half a mile. you see all the trees where the branches have been stripped. the power of this storm, it's always so amazing to see. and for the people who went through it, they tell me it was a scary experience, obviously. when they came out a lot of folks here they saw everything just turned upside down, homes

destroyed, property everywhere. >> it's incredible. only a couple of trees left standing. is there more danger in that area now or is the worst past? >> the worst is past here. but you know, as you heard jennifer say just a few minutes ago. it's to our east now. you see folks in mississippi who are dealing with it. the big concern here tonight is obviously to make sure there's no loitering, people going through, you know, taking things, looting. so, that's what we know there's a curfew here from 7:00 to 7:00. 7:00 a.m. so officials are out watching the roads. also, you know, the clean up will continue tomorrow. clean up that could take at least two months to get all the debris out of here and several years, you know, before they can get back to where things were. >> a lot of hard days ahead. appreciate it. thanks very much. we'll continue to monitor developments throughout night. we'll be right back. ne. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for...

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that does it for us. thanks for watching. we have reported damage outside the university of alabama racing through tuscaloosa and it