expected to start momentarily. our thoughts and prayers are with you. >> they certainly are. thanks for being with us, everybody. >> jon: "america live" starts right now. >> megyn: fox news alert. we are moments away now from a news conference from authorities in moore, oklahoma. where residents are reigle after yesterday's deadly tornado. they are right now under yet another severe weather warning and that's where we begin this hour of "america live." welcome, everyone. i'm megyn kelly. we're expecting to get new information about recovery efforts underwray at the moment. and the situation on the ground in moore, which by all accounts, resembles a war zone. it sounds like a cliche but it is a fact. that briefing is scheduled to start any moment now. we will take it live when it does to get the very latest information, the number killed, the number hurt, the number they are still looking for. earlier reports today were that as many as 24 children were unaccounted for. we have not been able to confirm that and we are waiting until the authorities come to the microphones to update us on all of those numbers.

yesterday's twister cut a path of destruction through the suburbs of oklahoma city some 20 miles long. it was on the ground for 40-plus minutes flattening everything in its path. including two elementary schools and a hospital. this was a school, pladz terrorist elementary there were children inside and twister hit k through 6 but out of this tragedy come incredible stories of heroism and survive including that of a hero teach his or her shielded her fourth great students with her body as the building collapsed around them. they all survived. one little boy saying his teacher saved their lives. and these images of first responders banding together to form a human chain, pulling survivors from the rubble of the school and passing them from person to person to get them out of harm's way. can you imagine what that was like for the children and the rescuers? we have got team coverage for you this hour including the veteran storm chaser who shot the video you see on the left there, right

there. also we're going to check in with maria molina who has the watches and warnings on the severe weather that is right now threatening the area. and john roberts is on the ground in moore, oklahoma. we just lost his satellite feed because of bad weather. is he back up now so we want to go to him while we can jon? -- john? >> the rain is beginning to come down here. it's going to hamper the efforts of the search and rescue teams as they continue to go through the buildings throughout this entire area where that tornado cut such a deadly path yesterday. i'm in front of the moore medical center. let me step out of the shot so you can take a look. it was a three story structure. today it's a two story structure when the top floor was completely ripped off o. thankfully only a handful of people inside at the time. we understand that all of them escaped without serious injury. just a short time ago, a search and rescue team with cadaver dogs made one last sweep through this medical center where they came out they didn't seem to have found anything.

so that's good news all around. now, you mentioned war zone, megyn, in describing this. this area that we're in right now definitely looks like a war zone. when you go to the neighborhoods just west of here, the scene is more apocalyptic and that's where that school, plaza towers is located. it's about a quarter to a half a mile away from me in an area where literally nothing is left. the houses have all been wiped off of their foundations, the trees have been burned down to numbers by that searing wind that came through here yesterday. i talked to it a local fellow who lives in this neighborhood just as you are looking at right now. his name is jim garner. he and his family rode out this tornado in their underground backyard shelter before the tornado hit at 2:15 in the afternoon. his daughter whom he lives with went over to plaza towers elementary. got their two children out of school. that was about 2:15. she said the weather is too bad. i don't want them in the school. i'm going to get them and brought them home.

here is what jim said about what his daughter did. >> i'm so proud of my daughter. i don't know what i would have done if i had lost my grand kids. i'm proud of her for being smart. she did the right thing. and i feel for the families that lost kids and stuff at school. >> jim gardner got his grandchildren out of that school. unfortunately, 20 other families are going through agonizing wait this afternoon as recovery workers are working on that enormous pile of rubble that used to be plaza tower elementary school. i was in that neighborhood taking a look at what was going on there just a little while ago. and let me tell you, megyn, it is one of the saddest, most somber scenes that i have ever seen because underneath that pile of rubble you know what's there. megyn? >> megyn: oh god, john, that's awful.

thank you. you know, one of the questions we are going to explore this hour is what happened. normally these schools are considered safe places, you know, a lot of the mobile homes and so on obviously are not. but sometimes the kids are kept in will -- the school because that's considered the safest place. it depends on how it is built. we will have the superintendent of schools for oklahoma join us with some answers on these schools, why they weren't evacuated. the one that got hardest hit, we're told, evacuated the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders but not the rest. why? we'll ask. not in judgment in any way but just to get information. and we just mentioned, the threat of tornadoes is not over. first alert forecasters warning of severe storms that could move through the town of moore this very hour'. around it, through it, we're watching it you can see it for yourselves there. a severe weather risk is already in place in texas to the great lakes. we are learning now that yesterday's tornado was indeed an ef-4.

look at it. that means it had winds of 200 miles per hour. it is considered, quote: devastating on that scale. the tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes. because warning was not issued until 16 minutes before the funnel clouds developed. meteorologist maria molina is in the fox news weather center. >> that's right. we do have areas of rain rolling through parts of moore. that line of storms has just arrived in that area. we are talking about heavy rain continuing for the next hour or so and also very dangerous lightning that could be impacting that region. not good news. a tornado threat not as high today across parts of oklahoma and really the reason for that, thankfully is that we do have cooler temperatures that have moved in behind the initial line of storms from yesterday across parts of oklahoma, but today we do have that threat very much so in place across the state of texas. and it's actually relatively quiet right now in the city of dallas. that's actually bad news because that allows the sunshine to shine, that

allows the ground to really heat up and provides the instability for many of these thunderstorms to develop. we have that wind shear in place as well. what that means is the winds will be changing direction with height. that provides that rotation for these thunderstorms to potentially produce a tornado touch down. so a tornado watch is in effect right now across the city of dallas and the rest of the region out here across parts of north central texas in effect until 7:00 p.m. central time. so we do have some time to go as these thunderstorms will continue to fire up in the state of texas. otherwise, a severe thunderstorm watch including the city of moore where we could see damaging wind gusts. sizeable hail. we could see some of that occurring until 7:00 p.m. local time. but the risk for severe storms stretching anywhere from parts of texas all the way up into parts of the great lakes. it has been extended as well, megyn across interior sections of the northeast and even into parts of the state of west virginia. so damaging wind gusts, large hail, tornadoes will be possible. the greatest risk area though is shaded right here in red. this has been highlighted

as a moderate risk zone by the storm prediction center and that is similar to the advisory that was issued yesterday across oklahoma, including the city of moore. so we're still seeing that possibility for very violent tornadoes, possibly long track. cities like dallas, cities like waco, tyler and in cleburne, megyn you remember last week an ef-3 was confirmed out here and ef-4 to the west in the city of granbury where we did have fatalities. cleburne could be seeing more tornadoes. >> megyn: do we know why it was just a 16-minute warning? >> that's relatively on average i believe it's a 12-minute warning. we did know that there was a moderate risk for storms throughout the whole day and we also knew that there was that chance for severe storms across parts of oklahoma but, unfortunately, with these tornadoes, they typically only last several minutes, maximum amounts typically maybe an hour or greater than that. it's such a short notice and they develop so quickly it's just very important for everyone to always stay alert when we know that

that risk for possible tornadoes and damaging winds and hail is in place out here. that's what we are talking about today. in texas, into arkansas, so everyone out here remain alert. have a way to get those warnings throughout the day. >> megyn: take the threat of mother nature very seriously. maria molina, thank you. >> thank you. >> megyn: we are hearing some the extreme ways that people tried to hide from the storm. rescue workers say they found a mother and her 7-month-old baby hiding in a giant freezer. we are told they did not survive. meantime, more emotional stories from those who are re-living the moments when the tornado wiped out everything around them. listen here. >> it looked like a war zone. it just looked like bombs had been ignited everywhere. it was -- there is a car part in my bedroom, you know. everything is gone, you know. just in a matter of 30 minutes your whole life is torn upside down. >> oh my god i was praying to god some times. honestly i'm like i'm not going to see tomorrow.

i was just like i don't want to die today. >> megyn: and you heard some reports of the little children being sheltered by their teacher saying that, too saying i love you, i love you, i don't want to die together. those who hid in this storm shelter is coming out to a grim reality. one they could never have imagined. you imagine being down there underground hearing, hearing the storm? you heard just on john roberts live shot the rain and how powerful it was. add to that the winds of ef-4 for 40 minutes the storm went through the area. and then coming out to see the entire town, your entire town that you love, that you eat lunch at that work in. that you go to school in has been leveled. everything has been wiped out one family recording the moment they stepped out of their storm cellar for the first time taking a look at it coming out to find their home gone.

dan joins us live now from moore. dan? >> good afternoon, megyn. the search and rescue effort is continuing. hundreds of trained personnel along with volunteers and search dogs are continuing to look for any sign of survivors amidst all of the rubble. and that process really did prove very productive in the overnight hours. officials tell us they were able to find 101 people adults and some children who were trapped inside storm shelters for many, many hours. these are folks who made it through the tornado safely. they were unable to exit the storm shelter there might have been a massive amount of debris blocking the exit of the shelter. so the process continues to find more people and search crews are very optimistic that they will have more good news to report this

afternoon. this tornado, of course, is amazing, an amazing site, even for people accustomed to covering and responding to tornadoes. but the folks here in moore are keeping it in perspective. spoke with a woman this mornings who house was demolished. she was not there at the time nor was her husband or their two boys. their dog was home. they were distraught about losing their pet. the woman told me though eventually they were able to see the dog walking on a sidewalk. she said now that the entire family is reunited, they were feeling that everything would be all right. meg -- megyn? >> megyn: they are one of the lucky ones. heart breaking thing people looking for family members and children but so many pets killed, too. you know how you love your family dog and you love your pets and 100 horses reportedly killed at a horse farm. we are expecting this news conference to guinea moment now and we should learn much more about the search at the school. the effort to free people

who remain trapped to this moment and what the big concern is right now. and if you thought the pictures of the destruction were bad. wait until you see what it is like to drive straight into a storm like this. our storm chaser is next.

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i should have been voted "most likely to travel." ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com hot rate hotels now on sale. save up to 70% on any weekend stay. a storm chaser who has seen his share of twisters could not believe his eyes when he quality up with the tornado that devastated moore yesterday afternoon, almost 24 hours ago exactly. he says the monster that leveled this town was far worse than the ef-5 tornado that took almost the same path in 1999. listen here. >> the debris is unbelievable. violent -- take down numerous homes. there goes another house. >> this thing is on 139th street, right in front of

us. it is tearing -- the sky is absolutely full of debris. >> go, go, now. [horn blowing] >> look at all that stuff? that's a house in the air. >> stay away from doors and windows. >> this is terrible, guys. [emergency alert beeping] >> this is tornado. it is massive. >> megyn: he joins me now by phone. lawrence, one of the amazing things in your video is seeing this sleepy, lovely town and these homes that are still intact moments before the storm would completely ravage the area. when you hear somebody say there is a house in the air, i mean, what kind of debris were you seeing as far away from that storm as you were? >> well, that was actually my chase partner jake chambers. that was the voice you heard.

i was driving. we were about two miles to three miles away from the tornado at that point. it was just off to our west. moore is our hometown. that's where we grew up. so, i mean, we -- i'm 22 years old, so we -- i mean, it was just a loss for words for what we knew was about to happen. and the area that was being hit was just, i mean, it was -- i mean, we were in shock. and debris falling -- when you are three miles away from a tornado, we are talking pieces of wood, insulation, i mean, just about anything you can imagine was falling on us at that point. >> megyn: you are a storm chaser. this is something you have done before. the folks out on the road when you were out on the road. who were they? where were they going if you know? were these people that you grew up with going to find shelter or what? >> kind of the way things go in oklahoma is if you have got a lot of lead time people tend to kind of

leave their house and try to go south of the storm. with this storm the difference between this one and may 3rd is may 3rd we had a lot of warnings. we had almost 30 minutes warning with may 3rd. that wasn't the case with thun with you had about 16 minutes of lead time with this storm there was a lot of traffic out as the tornado was coming through the city. and we have been chasing now for over six years. and we had never came across a tornado like this with that much traffic out that close to the tornado before. >> megyn: what was it about this one that was so vast and, you know, impressive for lack of a better word? >> the track of the tornado that it took. i mean, the area that it hit was south moore, south moore has really developed over the last 10 years. i mean, you go back to may 3rd of 1999, there wasn't hardly this many neighborhoods or anything in south moore.

south moore has really blossomed a lot more than what north moore has. and just -- it going through the south sides of the city, i mean, just -- i mean, it is, again, it is a completely at a loss for words. >> megyn: help us understand as somebody who grew up in moore what -- it seems like the town was functioning close to normal yesterday in the morning. we knew there were going to be storms there were warnings of potentially severe twisters coming through. school was in session and businesses were open. is that normal? do people generally go about their day-to-day lives until they hear those sirens? >> usually it does. there has been one past tornado event where they kind of did like where they released schools a little early i know it wasn't like really early. and they were kind of shutting stuff down and that was the tornado that happened two years ago. but that wasn't the case with this one.

i mean, the chance was not that high yesterday. i mean, there was a moderate risk issued by the storm prediction center. they also, you know, put out their tornado percentage risk on their map. it was only a 10% risk by the storm prediction center. they did have a hatch of significant tornadoes there. it's something you don't normally see. >> megyn: right. you listen -- lawrence, we are glad you are okay and thank you for sharing your video. my apologies for cutting you short. i want to get live to this presser down in oklahoma as we listen to the governor. >> that the state has ever faced, but, yet, in the midst of tragedy and loss of life, we have also seen the resilience and the courage and strength of our people and we will get through this. we will overcome. and we will rebuild and we will regain our strength. our hearts and prayers are certainly with those that have lost their loved ones. it has been a very, very hard experience, a heart breaking experience, especially the loss of

children and the schools themselves and those who haven't been able to find their loved ones and are still waiting to hear. we frankly don't even know yet if there are still missing people. but there still may be. our first and foremost emergency and goal is to have rescue and recovery to make sure that we have uncovered every piece of debris and gone through every building, piece of land itself to see if there might be someone that survived the storm or has experienced some injuries itself. i had the opportunity a few moments ago to take an airline tour to fly along the path of the tornado itself. it is very wide. it is hard to look at. because there is so much debris on the ground itself. many many places homes were absolutely destroyed, taken away. there is just sticks and bricks basically. it's hard to tell if there was a structure there or

not. get into the some of the major neighborhoods you can't tell where the streets were. the street signs are gone. and it's been a big challenge for us being able to determine which area of the community we might be in because the streets are just gone. the signs are just gone. so we have been working very hard to identify various areas of need. the path is very wide of the storm itself. it's about 20 miles long. we estimate it could have been up to two miles in width itself. we flew over the schools and got to see the terrible destruction of the school themselves. certainly the business community and the friends and neighbors that lost their homes that we are very sad about. i want to personally thank administrator fugate who has joined us here with fema. they have done a is superb job in working with our city and state and federal leaders here. we appreciate you, administrator, we appreciate your very prompt response in answering our

disaster declaration for our state and giving us approval on that. as you know, administrator not only did we have a storm that passed through yesterday but we also had storms and loss of life and loss of homes and businesses on sunday. when this storm actually began to roll through the state of oklahoma. so thank you for your assistance. i also have a second phone call a few moments ago from president obama. once again, reiterating that fema is here to help bring any resources to bear, to help us with any type of red tape that we might run across and several other cabinet secretaries have called also to it express their thoughts and prayers and offer assistance. we appreciate all that fema is doing. and i want to say a word to all first responders. so many fire, police, emergency personnel, the office of emergency management director albert ash wood and his team that have been coordinating on

the state level. thank you very, very much and job well done to help some people that are in need. this has been a big -- a tragedy for the state. and it's not easy to handle something of this magnitude. i know people have worked around the clock and have put in extremely long hours and very dangerous circumstances helping our fellow oklahomans and we are very grateful for all of you. i want to give you a couple of updates on some things we have unified command led by the moore fire department. they have done a superb job in working with their local officials here and certainly with our state and federal officials. they have a plan. they are immelting the plan and they have since yesterday. i have been to their command headquarters. i have seen them organize their various teams. they have the map of the city itself. both moore and oklahoma

city in which they have been sending out various teams and determining what the most important need is at that particular moment. so, thank you and job well done to the command team itself. at 9:00 a.m. this morning. i brought together all of my cabinet secretaries from my various heads of my agencies for the state of oklahoma. we had a thorough meeting going through each division of our state entities, talking about the current needs and challenges facing the state of oklahoma. we want to encourage anyone that has currently still in need in our state to call 1-800, 621-fema. if you need services. if you need some type of help and if a community needs some help or a department needs some help, we have also set up a state web site that people can go to get current information, to look at current services that are available and be able to respond to the

state government. it is, the web site is ok strong dot ok.gov. and that web site will have will be updated throughout the day and time period until we get through. this there will also be legislation that we are working on right now. and the oklahoma senate and the house that will be a legislative vehicle to be able to tap our state rainy day savings account to set up an emergency fund for the state to be able to match federal dollars and to also help our local communities in need of services. a lot of the communities are tapping their local resources. certainly a lot of personnel working overtime and there are a lot of departments that are having to utilize some of their funding. matching. so individuals who will apply for the federal assistance on the

individual basis that have lost things and to help reimburse the local communities also wave wait limits coming into the state and working within the state on weight and height to help get the power back restored and get other essential utility services flowing again. we have many different areas throughout the state that are without electricity and, of course, we have been without water in this local area of the city itself and water pressure is actually low in oklahoma city, too. because one of our power supplies has affected one of the water plants. am aware that we have some state employees that have been effected by the tornadoes throughout the state. not only this one but the ones in previous days and so for state employees that have lost their homes and i'm not aware if any of them have lost any loved ones, but if they will work through their agency head,

we are going to give our state employees that have been affected 15 days of administrative leave so they won't have to take their vacation leave or their sick leave to be able to get back on their feet and to et take care of their personal needs. i visited with our secretary of health and human services. we have been working with our local hospitals and our nursing association and also the state funeral direction 37 injuries so far that we know of that have shown up at our various facilities. we also are working to set up mental health shelters. establish ago 1-800 number those who need counseling who have lost loved ones or faced some stress from all that's going on. we don't have any firm numbers on the number of deaths that we have

experienced. we know that there are people that have been -- bodies have been taken to the medical examiner's office, but we have also heard that there may be bodies that have been taken to local funeral homes. and so we are working real hard right now to try to get a more accurate count of the loss of life. we hope to have better numbers on that. the department of transportation has pulled together over 400 people t are on stand by to bring in various bulldozers and equipment. when the time comes that we need to begin the process of clear the roads better, certainly to keep those safe and we will be certainly allowing people to do what they need to do to get their valuable possessions through the lost property that they have experienced. but we will also have the resources available to be able to begin clearing at

some point in time in the the future. ogne is working very hard to restore power. we have had 38,000 residents at this point in time that are without power. 20,000 in moore and oklahoma city. and so we're working to get that power back up. one of the other challenges that we have faced throughout this time period has been problems with communications with south service -- cell service and telephone lines. at&t and verizon have set up mobile units to allow better communication for us. the department of agriculture and for rest industry has also brought in heavy equipment to help when the time comes with debris clearing. and i just want to add that for those that are calling and offering help and resources, please make contact with our various charities through the red cross for depositions or volunteer help and also with the salvation army. they are the best source right now to give information to you.

i will turn it over here to administrator fugate. thank you so very much for coming to oklahoma. we appreciate your help. >> thank you, governor. let's be clear, fema's job is to support the team and the team has been working since the tornado struck. local fire, police, volunteers, governor has called out the national guard. the primary response to this disaster is being led by the governor and first officials and first responders. our job is to support. it's unfortunate that we are once geneseeing what tornadoes can do. you are also seeing what the investment in public safety and the commitment to training and exercise does when disaster does strike. to so let's get some practical stuff out here for the public. those people that have been affected, you have had losses due to the storm, go ahead and call 1-800-621-fema. the governor asked last night and the president made the declaration. this was pretty quick turn around but it's because of

the devastation and the evidence of how bad it was that the president concurred and issued that last night. so it's important that people start registering. we know a lot of people are staying with friends and family. some are probably even staying in their cars right now. we can provide some assistance, rental assistance. we want to get people a place to stay. and so the first step is to register so we can start that assistance. 1-800-621-fema. they can go with their mobile device if they have connectivity outside of the heavy hit area go to disaster assistance.gov and register online as well. the second thing is still got a lot of congestion on the cell systems. still have a lot of towers down because of power outages. unless it's an emergency, use text messaging, stay off the phone to allow people that need to get through to get through. can you relieve a lot of congestion just by using text messaging. if it's nottage emergency stay off the phones until the system comes back

be looking for. as the governor points out, they are going through that debris and we are going to keep looking until everybody is found. you can help just by letting people know you are okay. red cross does have a safe and wellness site where you can check in. you can also check on people. let people know you are okay. the last thing as the governor said, if you are not in the area and you want to help, the best way to help is to give generously to the volunteer organizations that are active in disaster. there is a variety of folks from red cross, salvation, army, southern baptist, that do great work. they can definitely use your contributions. but, if you are not in the area the best way to help is to send your help through those organizations. and that's -- that is our -- that's the lesson we he have learned time and time again, stuff isn't as great as cash when it comes to the longer term needs for a lot of folks who have

lost everything. thank you. >> my name is albert ashwood the state director of emergency management. i would like to reiterate what craig said. whether it's the federal government or the state government, we have a very simple job. that's to support our local jurisdictions to make sure that they have everything that we have to offer to help them get through this emergency phase of this disaster. and to help to effectively respond. we will also begin recovery as has already been stated. we are looking at setting up assistant centers or area that we can have many assistant centers to help out with various individuals and where they can go to. some of the challenges that we are facing have to do especially with getting the message out. communication. it's very easy for us to stand up here and talk about mobile apps that we have or talk about 1-800-621-fema or talk about going to web sites. but if you have lost your electricity and your phone is dead and you don't know where to go or what to do we have to go to little old school method. we are going to be looking

at fliers and things like that that we can get the message out to people who are in the debris and trying to stay with their property and trying to get back into their property so we can get that message to them. we'll be working on that throughout the day. supporting the local jurisdictions. and making sure that they have everything they need. i would like to introduce at this time fire chief of moore. please come on, sir. >> hi my name is gary burt. i'm a fire chief for the city of moore. just some updated information. we kept over 200 responders out in the field last night. we stayed at the school overnight. going through the school. and we stayed in several different locations back and forth changing men out. and we had to pull off several times because of the weather, the lightning. then we went back out. we are out. we started with a primary search yesterday and the secondary search. we made it through, i will say, most of the structures, mosof the vehicles, most of the homes. but the ones that we didn't make it through yesterday, we will make it through today, for sure. and a second and third

time. we will be through every damaged piece of property in this city at least three times before we're done. and we hope to be done by dark tonight. and i want to thank everyone that has come in to help from all over oklahoma and all over the nation to help the city of moore. thank you. >> jerry stilings, chief of police here in moore, again, i want to thank the other agencies, we just could not have done this without them and continued to do this without them. we have 75 static posts that we have officers stationed at and we obviously couldn't do that on our own without these other agencies. the one thing i just want to emphasize is that we have to have people out of those affected areas so we can do our work and get it done sooner so that we can shrink that perimeter and let people back in. and the other issue is

please try to stay away from forrest industry and 19th street when you are driving. it's bogging us down. we have got traffic jams. if you don't belong in the area, please stay away from those areas. santa fay the same way, telephone. telephone road. so, those are -- have cause some big issues for us. if we could just get the public to cooperate, if there is not -- there isn't anything that you can do there at this time. and there are a lot of safety issues there. so, if you will give us time, let the search and rescue take place, we can get new there a lot quicker. thank you. >> i'm major general miles. i want to say first of all it's an honor to support the first responders. that's what we are here for is to support the first responders and fill gaps in the capabilities that they have with either our resources or the resources

we can reach out and gather to support this effort. and it's just been a phenomenal effort thus far and but it's going to be a long time before we totally heal from this and recover. but, we're here to support. >> mr. thompson? >> i'm mike thompson. i'm governor fallon's cabinet secretary for safety and security. for the sake of brevity. i would echo what the police chief said. if you don't have a reason to be in the affected area, please avoid it we want to be sensitive to the people who are looking for their lost ones and loved ones and trying to look at the area here. but, still, it just slows down the recovery efforts. if you don't need to be here, please avoid this area. and let us do our work. we're going to be here as long as we need to get this community back and got to be very sensitive to the people affected by this loss but we do know collectively we have got a tough job ahead of us and we're going to be here to help the community as long

as it takes. >> mayor lewis. >> first of all, i would like to say thank you for everyone who is here today. i apologize the air conditioner is not working. we are on generator power. just bear with us. i have a lot of thank yous to say. first and foremost is the president of the united states who sent me a fema director. i couldn't do without him. the governor who has been here on site ever since this happened. and i just appreciate her and her staff. all the city employees. all the other agencies that have come from all over. we appreciate their support and assistance. i want to say thank you to the city of oklahoma city, the city of norman, without them we couldn't do it. and this has been quite an experience. i was the actual mayor here on may 3rd, 199. this is not my first rodeo with this. but it doesn't get any easier. especially with the loss of life.

and with that, i will turn it over to mayor cornet who will answer questions in a little bit. thank you. >> first, i want to commend the city of moore and the resources that they have put into this. this could easily have overwhelmed an ordinary group of public safety officials and they have been up to the task. there are a number of organizations that probably deserve some level of mention today. according to the media whose technology provided excellent warnings and no doubt saved hundreds of lives. i was able to tour the site this morning. and, you know, one of the take aways that a person receives in that situation is that no one could possibly have survived this. and yet we know they did. we know people crawled out of that rubble. and we're talking levels of debris that's four foot high as far as you can see. we're talking about cars that are upside down and school books and children's

toys and trees without bark. this was the storm of storms. and the fact that some lives have been spared, i think, is a great testament to the technology, the media, and the public safety officials whom have been mentioned largely from the city of moore and oklahoma city but larger other municipalities and county officials as well. i do have one bit of new information to pass along. it appears that we have the power restored to the water treatment plant. if not by now, in the next few minutes. it takes a little bit of while for the pressure to build up in the system, so residents should expect water power to increase throughout the afternoon. we could be at full usage later on today. wouldn't be a bad idea for him to use less water than is necessary for the next few minutes or next few hours. but the system should be back up and running very very soon. and, again, i want to spread my thanks to

governor fallon and her staff and, of course, to the federal officials who have come here in our hour of need and been with us. thank you all. >> oklahoma city police department, as usual, the response has been overwhelming by all the partner agencies. public safety, all the volunteer agencies. from the state, local, federal, just overwhelming as we have come to expect. obviously we have dealt with this in the past. right now, oklahoma city itself, which has a smaller smaller task than moore has. the area has he been affected is only about an eighth square mile. that's is with moderate to really extreme damage. there is about four square miles now that we actually have cordoned off. that mile only people right now. homeowners to go into those

areas at luce go into those homes to salvage some things. those are the only ones allowed in those areas. we will be in those areas, securing those areas for quite some time. probably for a week to two weeks. just to protect property and make sure everybody has the opportunity to get back to their property. in oklahoma city we have had a confirmed four deaths. i think overall the medical examiner has actually confirmed 24 deaths. four of those are in oklahoma city. the remainder would be in moore. obviously as the governor spoke, there could be obviously others in coming days that are still going on. heavily in moore because they have such a larger area to cover we could expect more possibly. 24 right now. there could be more. all the people that have been reported missing.

additionally last night about 48 all of those have been actually found excepts for i think there is a few left in moore that they are working on to try to locate that have not. if there is still somebody out there, if there is anybody out there citizens that have not found loved ones, we would ask them if they would go ahead and call us at 297-1129 and lead us report and this a maybe have the opportunity to locate them again i want to thank the media and local state agencies that have worked together to really make such a tragic asnt probably handled as well as possible so thank you. keith brian fire chief oklahoma city fire department. just to add to what chief city just explained to you about the operations in oklahoma city, as the storm was forming yesterday afternoon, we activated the

state urban search and rescue task force. we actually had those assets and those personnel assembling as the storm was approaching oklahoma city so therefore, when the storm did strike, we could have those personnel and assets in place very, very quickly to start beginning search and rescue operations. as of last night about midnight, we had completed a primary and secondary search of the affected areas in oklahoma city. the task force set up a base of operations next to briar wood elementary school and they still continue to operate out of there. currently. what we are doing is going through the list of registered storm shelters in the affected area in oklahoma city and double-checking those to make sure that anybody that may have been in the storm shelter and wasn't able it to get out. other than that, we have oklahoma city fire

department task force that is dedicated to the affected area. so if fires were to break out. any emergency medical needs arose, we are there so we can respond very quickly to that area working with the state task force in that area to make sure we thoroughly search the area. and, again, be able to respond quickly to anything that may arise since the storm occurred last night. >> good afternoon, i'm cleveland county commissioner gary stacy and county commissioner rod cleveland. first of all, i want you to know we grieve with our fellow residents of cleveland county for the loss of life and those that were injured. absolutely devastating. we have -- it's been a rough few days for cleveland county. as you know we started on sunday. storms and tornadoes at the east side of our county.

our crews have been out 24/7 since that time and we have been involved in absolutely every aspect of that from clean up to search and rescue. we are actually opening up in cleveland county at our fairgrounds so that we can take livestock there. but, every kind of aspect that you can think of we are trying to be involved and help the residents. we are going to be in this until the very end. this is our county we will heal together. as you heard this is a very resilient county and the citizens here in moore and norman has been through this before and they know what to do. >> one the main concerns we have is sheltering the shelter people that lost their homes. >> megyn: sheltering people lost their homes. you heard one of the authorities saying earlier a lot of folks are in their cars right now which is the only possession they still have that they can find that is somewhat identifiable and in one

piece. you saw federal and state officials on the ground there asking people to register for assistance should they need it. and the governor, mary fallon saying we will rebuild and we will regain our strength. as far as the news headlines go an untold number still missing. they can't put a number on that now. the governor had no update on the number of deaths. thankfully the number went down from the numbers that were being thrown around last night between auto and 80 as high as 90. the latest numbers before this presser and she did not update them were that 24 people had died. nine of whom are children. although everyone expects that number is going to rise. the governor explaining that some of the bodies may have gone right to funeral homes. may have been right to funeral homes as opposed to into the medical examiner's office. and so it's going to take a while to get the full measure of the toll. and you heard the mayor there of moore, oklahoma, who was the mayor back on may 3rd of '99 when the

last huge huge twister went through there. another one in 2003. a huge one just referred to as the may 3rd twister. he was mayor then. is he mayor now. he said, quote: it doesn't get any easier. one person you did not hear from there because she is not in town right now but she is going to join us live in moments is the superintendent of schools, and there are real questions about what happened at plaza towers elementary, the devastation there. just unspeakable. so she has agreed to join us, and we are very thankful for that and we will ask what happened at plaza towers. why the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth graders were evacuated but not the rest of the students and what is happening now with respect to search and rescue efforts there as we do believe some children remain missing or unaccounted for. stay with us. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! >> megyn: live radar showing severe storms moving across oklahoma city at this moment including in moore, oklahoma. the very spot where that powerful twister struck yesterday. that is the last thing they need yesterday's storm followed almost the exact same path as the killer twister that slammed the region back in may of 1999. i mentioned it before the break. this map shows the chilling similarity in the paths between the two powerful tornadoes. 14 years apart. nearly identical in speed, width, and strength. trace gallagher has that piece of the story, trace? >> and you remember, the mayor saying that he has been through this rodeo before, megyn. they remembered this as do

we vividly. we just spent two weeks covering columbine and no one had seen the extent we saw in oklahoma city. 74 tornadoes hit kansas and oklahoma that day. this one you are seeing on the left-hand side was the monster. it was an e-5. that is the strongest tornado still ever roar recorded, 318 mile-per-hour winds at the top of the vortex. the one on the right is the one that happened yesterday. that one e-4. it was wider and moving more slowly. again, talk about the path. this is highly unusual experts say it's very, very strange to have two tornadoes much less in 14 years. in 1999, 8,000 homes across oklahoma were destroyed. $1.1 billion in damage. 44 people died during that storm. 800 others were injured. the tornado stayed on the ground for one and a half

hours. 60 miles of damage. here is a rescue worker at the time. listen. >> oklahoma city bombing thing. digging, digging, looking for -- -- looking for survivors. >> one of the great stories was a 10-month-old baby who was pulled out of the mud. she had never ever to this day, megyn, 14 years later met the police officer that saved her life on that day. >> megyn: wow. just when you think how could they possibly rebuild the governor says we will and they have done it before. trace, thanks. some of the hardest hit spots in that tornado, the schools. update from the superintendent coming up. t. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me? and you hear your voice? oh, it's exciting! [ man ] touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ]

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>> megyn: fox news alert on another serious threat taking aim right now at the very same area shattered by yesterday's killer tornado. welcome to a brand new hour of "america live," everyone. i'm megyn kelly. the weather radar showing oklahoma once again in the crosshairs of severe, severe weather. heavy rain now falling as rescue crews continue a search for survivors trapped under piles of rubble. some pay be in the very storm shelters they went into yesterday before the storm but trapped by debris love. firefighters and the national guard scouring heaps of debris. you heard the authorities say it was 4 feet high in some instances. listening and watching for any signs of life. one of the main recovery efforts is at an elementary school that suffered a

direct hit. seven children at least were killed inside that building. pushing the death toll to at least 24 total killed, at least for now. although they say that number will change. for the first time today children sitting in a school room when the twister hit. >> tornado went in and i was so afraid i was hanging on to one of the desks and then i fell back and all the dirt started getting in high eyes and on my clothes. >> megyn: casey stegall is live in moore, oklahoma. he has been there doing great work for us overnight. the rain continues to come down now as we can hear it in his live shot. casey? >> yeah, megyn. thank you for that you know, these people just can't catch a break. not only is it pouring rain right now, but we have also seen a lot of thunder and a

lot of lightning there you might hear that crack of thunder. i don't know if it came across the microphone but, you know, when you have so much of a large scale search and rescue operation underway and then you have storms that are now sitting over this area you can imagine the difficulty that it is adding to this whole nightmare of a situation that started just after 3:00 in the afternoon on a typical monday afternoon here in oklahoma, just 10 miles south of oklahoma city. we keep saying moore, oklahoma, moore, oklahoma. that is the name of this city. but it's the suburb of oklahoma city, a very congested, a very densely populated area and that was the worst case scenario for this storm. because that is why we have seen so much destruction and also the number of casualties. megyn, we talked about those heaps of rubble being so high. i am 6'2", and if i stand next to that you can see that it towers over me.

so that really paints the picture of the arduous task that these first responders have. we just learned in one of those press conferences that happened not long ago from the fire chief that all of the homes and all of the businesses have been swept at least one time, but they say that they are going to sweep each one of them at least three times. so that could go well on into even tomorrow because they want to double-check and triple check that there is not someone alive trapped, that may be unconscious, that may not be able to call out for help. i have had a chance to speak to ha lot of people as they have slowly been allowed to come back in this neighborhood and this one woman we talked to didn't live here. she lives blocks away. her home untouched. she came up to one of her friends 7 house that was blown apart. listen to what she told me. >> this is my home. this is everything i know. i rode my street through --

my bike through all of these streets. i have watched it form like it was nothing when i got here know everything is just gone. these are my friends houses. i used to take the bus route around here and now, i don't know, it is just really sad and scary and take so long to rebuild. >> >> but we know that these communities can rebuild. i was in joplin missouri. this city rebuilt after 1999 devastating tornado. we know it's possible. it's hard to see it now. and it's hard to understand it now, megyn. but we know it's possible. it's just going to take some time. >> megyn: we saw the same thing after new orleans and katrina. some, including our own shepard smith who is going to join us shortly wondered allowed how they could ever rebuild after such devastation and yet, they do. that's the spirit of the people. >> right. >> megyn: who live in this country in these american towns. casey, i want to ask you some times when she see these twisters hit and they are not as wide and as vast

and lengthy as this one, when you see the aerial, you see it sort of went like a serpentine through the town. you see a house that's completely intact right next to a house that's completely devastated and son o all the shots we see of you and the ariels from overhead make it look like the entire town has been wiped out. what is your experience on the ground? >> well, it's not the entire town. it does seem that way. and obviously, you know, all of the news reports and the pictures that we're showing you are of the hardest hit areas. there are parts of moore that are still intact. like i said, oklahoma city, that's where we overnighted when we went up there and after we cleared the area, that's when cell phone reception immediately opened up. it is a relatively isolated spot. though you talk about the tornado's path cut some 20 miles long. we saw it when it first started coming down out of the sky. it started as just one of those small little needle tornadoes, megyn. we watched it on live tv. it sort of descended down

out of the clouds and touched the ground. that was in a relatively rural area from here. as it it got on the ground and stayed on the ground it got wider and wider and stronger. we saw the debris balls referred to at the bottom of that funnel cloud. that's when the meteorologists started saying oh dear god, oh my when that was -- when we saw the debris balls because we knew that the debris balls was this. it was neighborhoods, it was people's lives, megyn. >> megyn: how is it that anyone is still alive? you heard the authorities say a moment ago at the presser. you look at it and think no one could have survived this and people did. obviously folks who were in shelters were in the best position to survive the storm. but, we have heard a lot of accounts of people who did ride out the storm in their homes and that there is nothing left of the homes and you know, being you look at and it you wonder how did theyhave talked to any? has anybody taken through that experience?

>> megyn, yeah. essentially the answer is, there is no rhyme or reason to it. there really isn't. some people came out of storm shelters. some people were not able to even get to shelter, but they managed to get away without a scrape on them. it is so random, and that's what makes it so frightening. you know, hurricanes, they are very widespread, and you see damage for so large -- across such a large area with these tornadoes, it's so isolated, it's so random, terrifying. >> megyn: wow, casey, thank you. we'll be back to you in a bit. as i mentioned our own shepard smith is the an or of "studio b" and a fox reporter. is he live in moore, oklahoma. shepard, we watched you last night rivetted to the television as you got your first look the way i'm looking at it now through the camera at the devastation there, very different picture i imagine when you are live in moore. >> it really is, megyn. we flew in from the airport, a team of about 10 of us, maybe two hours ago.

we're 12 miles from the airport in oklahoma city. and as you drive in, you know things are whack because there are stop signs where traffic lights used to be, all the stores and businesses are closed down, but there is no damage. if you look at the video from above, you see the path that this storm cut, it often looks like a brown area surrounded by green. and you can't really tell from the video what's going on beyond that well, now we can. there are people walking into these neighborhoods lined up to try to go in to speak with the fbi this morning. some trying to go in to get min medicine from their homes. there is no power for miles in all directions. their there are water stands set up. concession areas for some. the salvation army is handing out food and blankets. as you approach that area that you see from the airlines in brown, you realize, quickly, that this storm cut a razor side.

street signs down other side of the street where the tornado actually came barreling through and there are just piles and piles of wood and metal and kids' shoes and everything you can imagine. and it goes as far as you can see. there is not a place where i can stand or an area through which i can drive that will give me the full perspective of what has happened here. you can only nibble around the edges of this storm. everything is blocked off. the fbi is patrolling. the national guard is out. a massive elongated 1 to 2-mile wide swath of devastation. you were talking a moment ago with casey about the rebuilding after new orleans and after hurricane katrina there. completely different setup. there everything was under water. the buildings going to have to be removed. here, everying is just rubble as far as can you see. every bit of infrastructure is going to have to reason placed. the power lines, the water system, the buildings are

going to have to be ripped down and rebuilt. the streets are a disaster. everything you can imagine is ripped to sheds. and people walking in and out of these neighborhoods as the rains poor and the lightning has come again. trying to figure out if there is anything left for them to salvage. and then others, if there is anyone they can help. it is a sad and cold and dreary day here, but as i experienced after the oklahoma bombing, after tim mcveigh took down the federal building, we were here for weeks on end, the spirit of these people is as inspiring as anything i ever seen or experienced. if anyone in this country can pick themselves up by their bootstrap, dust themselves off and help their neighbors back to life, it's the people of the oklahoma city region. i anticipate that they will come back strong. >> megyn: they did it before. you have to believe they are going to do it again. people grow up in these communities. they have ties to them. they love their towns. they have family in and

around the area. it's rare to just say okay i'm going to go live in new york city now. they, like us, have connections to these areas that lead them to it live there and want to rebuild there no matter how many times ef 5 or ef 4 come through. you wonder, shepard, how they are going to get through this as they talk about setting up mental health counseling centers around moore when you have a storm ripping cinder blocks off the foundation. ripping bark off the trees and now people just heaping through the rubble, forget finding nil of your belongings, you know, looking for their loved ones, looking for their pets, looking for any semblance of their lives as they knew it 24 hours ago. >> shepard: and insult to injury, megyn. so often when the storms come through, the next day is one for cleanup. but today we're listening to news nine, one of the local stations which is broadcasting on terrestrial radio here. so everybody can hear the television signals. they are warning this

neighborhood could get hit by golf ball size hail in the next three minutes, this one in the next five minutes. expect torrential rains, 502055 mile-per-hour winds as this storm, today's storm comes through 50 miles per hour. the meteorologist warning it's not as if this is tornadic activity but the storms on the way again and tomorrow again, megan. it's incredible. >> megyn: they do not need that shepard, thanks so much and the great work you did last night as well. see you 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on fnc. >> shepard: okay. >> megyn: as shepard mentioned line of storms moving through the region again. janice dean is ahead on that. we got this video from storm chaser thousands rode out this tornado in storm shelters there are reports that some of those storm shelters did not hold up. coming up, we will speak with an expert about those claims about how these shelters are supposed to work and about what happened in this very town after that may 3rd, 1999 twister. that may have saved a whole lot of lives yesterday.

getting in my eyes and on my clothes. >> megyn: that poor little girl. one of the most heart breaking parts from the story out of moore, oklahoma, is students like that little girl caught in their classrooms when the twister hit. crews are still searching, we believe for anyone that may still be in the rubble at those schools. at least seven children are dead. there had within reports of nine children total. but more than 75 students were in that school when the tornado struck and we're told as many as 30 make rescued. trying to get our arms

around the numbers as they say they're very fluid. joining us now by phone is janet barici haven't plaintiff schools for oklahoma. ma'am, thank you so much for taking time of your busy day to join us on the fox news channel. can i ask you about that? is it the case that search and rescue efforts are still underway in particular the plaza towers elementary school? >> megyn, that's correct. there is a great deal of effort to make a thorough search of all of the buildings. in addition, if parents had picked up children prior to the storm hitting, some of those children may have been hurt. the district is also working on reconciling their attendance numbers with the number of kids that might have left, might have been dismissed early. we're trying to get reports from surrounding hospitals to see who has been admitted. and so, just still working very, very hard to reconcile our numbers to

give an accurate number. >> megyn: our hearts go out to you and your whole community. as a superintendent of these schools, i'm sure you are just devastated by these reports of the children who were killed. the latest information that we have is that the seven may have drowned in a basement when a water main burst and perhaps the ceiling caved in. is that your information? >> that's the information that i received initially. and, of course, we are awaiting further confirmation of that. that was the impression when the children were recovered is that that was the condition that apparently the roof had collapsed in on them and a water main burst or a water pipe burst and the children couldn't get out from underneath the debris and they drowned. >> megyn: can you give us the ages of those children? was it all like one class? >> they were third graders. >> megyn: oh, just awful. >> yeah. >> megyn: questions today about for those of us who are, you know, not living

in tornado zones, so bear with me. please forgive me for the question. why was school in session on a day where, you know, twisters were expected? >> sure. this is a time of year where you could be under a tornado watch and have blue skies and nothing develop. we have, of course, as you know, the severe storm lab in norman. and we have some very sophisticated weather first alert forecasters, meteorologists working for our television station. oklahomans have become very adept at watching them. and so, this was a storm literally at the rate at which it grew, it grew so quickly many times when we know a storm is coming, many of us have as much as 30 minutes, and sometimes even more to prepare. this grew so quickly and such a fast rate that the school only had 16 minutes of warning. >> megyn: it just wasn't

enough time. and, now, some are wondering why in a city like moore, obviously, you guys have had more than your share in oklahoma in general, never mind more of these devastating twisters. why therey no tornado resistant shelters bit on campus? >> megyn that is the decision for individual school districts. now, i will tell you that tower plaza elementary ask one of the older buildings in the school district. it was built in the 1960s. >> megyn: 57 years old. moore is a district that is growing very, very quickly and they're bonding capacity is always at its maximum as they are continually building new buildings to deal with the growth in their district. so this was the school that could possibly have been slated for renovation or to be replaced by a new school or larger school. we don't have that information right now. but it was indeed one of the oldest billings in the

district. newer facilities that are being built are containing safe rooms within them. i know in the norman school district, i have just got the tour a school a couple of months ago where there are safe rooms in every one of the pods. and they estimate that they can build a room up with children from that pod in less than three to four minutes and seal the room off. and so, we are seeing more and more of these throughout the state. indeed i have received contacts from many individuals, private citizens and other individuals across the state about why aren't we requiring safe rooms in every elementary school. i believe right now our legislature literally right now are discussing that about passing a bond issue to provide the safe rooms to elementary schools in the state. >> megyn: it costs money. you can't just wish it. you need to actually pay for it if you wouldn't mind staying with me.

i would love to ask you about some of the stories of heroism coming out. teachers using their bodies to shield the little children and if you are available, we will pick that up right after the break, ma'am. >> sure. hey, look! a shooting star!

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a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more.. low and no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know... exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks... with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories... america's beverage companies are delivering. and that was possibly part of the plan. but i haven't been able to confirm that with -- >> megyn: would there be a reason to evacuating a few of the grades? i think this is a k through 6 school. >> i think it's because they look for interior walls and interior rooms. and lacking that, they then look for other structures that do have interior rooms. many of our schools have windows all in their classrooms and so these kids went into a hallway. so perhaps an existing children filled up the hallway at its capacity and then they had to remove the other kids as was their

plan to another building that had interior rooms. >> megyn: wow. on the subject of that, i mean, these students and these teachers are well-trained. i mean, this is not something that is totally unexpected, something of this size and strength, yes. but they know what to do when a twister comes. it's just, you know, whether the facility is strong enough to withstand it is a different story. >> that's correct. this is a drill that they are at minimum as i said many districts do it much more than once a semester. and it is taken very, very seriously by both the students and the teachers. >> megyn: and on that subject, there is a teacher named rhonda crosswhite. she spoke with the today show on tuesday, today, she spoke of the terror on the little ones as they huddled together in the bathroom stalls and the hallways as the building was crumbling around them. and a little boy named damion klein said that

ms. crossway saved his life and the lives of others and she used her body to shield them from the storm and the debris as it came down around them. i mean, i can't help when i hear that story but to think of newtown, connecticut. and the teachers there who found the children in grave danger and without much of a thought for themselves, put their own lives on the line and some were killed. your thoughts on the actions of the teachers as we are hearing them retold by the students today? >> i must say i'm absolutely not surprised by that behavior. that is the nature of teachers. these are individuals that work for very little money. face all types of obstacles all year long. children, many of them coming from poverty, some that come from broken homes. these teachers every day show courage and bravery in meeting those challenges and doing the best for the children. they do, in many ways give

their lives to these children. i'm not at all surprised that that woman committed that act of bravery as she did. and they are all angels. and we're all, thank god every day for. they we see miracles every day in this state. >> megyn: absolutely. one terrified child cried out to her "i love you. i love you. please don't die with me." i can't imagine what they all went through. ms. baressi thank you very much. all the best to you as you recovery effort and all the days and weeks to come. >> thank you, megyn, i appreciate it. >> megyn: wow, that's just one area of the devastation in moore. i mean, it's just. [ applause ] towers elementary is one school. there are other schools and there is so much, so much that's just gonna was there. 24 hours ago the storm hit at about 4:00 p.m. eastern time. and it's just gone. it looks vaporized. well, some folks managed to avoid the worst result by

taking shelter in these storm shelters. they're credited with saving a lot of lives yesterday in oklahoma. but now there are some reports that some of those shelters did not hold up and way, way, way too many reports of folks not having them all together. you know, folks who live in tornado alley. and we have gotten some answers today on why that may be. you heard the superintendent talk about why that is at some of the schools. but we are hearing more and more about why there aren't more in the towns. why the homes don't have them in all cases. and we're going to bring that piece of the story to you ahead. the government first alert forecasters just released a dramatic new look at the storm. it is the time laps video of how it hit and what it looked like and janice dean has got that for us right after the break. when you have diabetes...

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>> megyn: rain and thunder on top of heart break on the town of moore, oklahoma right now. storms are moving through the region as some 53 million people from the texas to the great lakes remain at risk for severe weather. including more tornadoes. our meteorologist janice dean live in the fox weather center where she was very late last night as well. janice? >> yeah. we are still watching the potential for strong storms to move through that vulnerable area of moore, oklahoma as wells we have a tornado watch for north texas. we are going to talk about that we have new information that has just come in from the storm prediction center from the national weather service. so, now we see that the

estimated tornado was at one point 2 miles wide. 40 miles up. 40 minutes rather on the ground with a 17-mile pass. they had 16 minute warning when the tornado warning went but for the moore residence, they had a 30 to 40 minute time span to get into their shelters. and now the preliminary survey says 190 mile-per-hour winds. that is a strong ef 4 but they are still doing is you i have a damage and those speeds could go up. if you look at job minute palestinian, missouri, preliminary reports when they went out there was ef 4 and they bumped it to ef 5. that's a possibility the damage is just incredible. when we talk about the enhanced fujita scale high end of ef-4 here and ef-5 and that's above 200 miles per hour. so in comparison the joplin missouri was 225 miles per hour. and then looking at the damage, we're talking about devastating to incredible damage on that enhance the fujita scale what they look for when they go out and

and investigate the damage. also, megyn, just in to us from the national weather service is satellite imagery of when the worst of the storms really exploded. if you just take a look at your screen, you will really see the last couple of hours see that explosion across the central u.s. if you look at the atmosphere like a giant pressure cooker, okay, so the thunderstorms, they typically bubble and you see large hail damaging winds. if you look at the atmosphere kind of a pressure cooker that topped the pressure cooker came off. okay? it just -- the explosion of storms the energy values on monday, which is what we look as as meteorologist was double what we see in a typical severe weather event. it was really astronomical off the charts when this tornado hit. >> megyn: that is where it happens. you know, tornado alley, it happened there yesterday and it happened so -- you know, some years ago in 1999 and it looked almost exactly the same j.d. >> we are still watching

the potential for storms. tornado watch in effect for parts of texas and oklahoma and several severe thunderstorm warnings. we are certainly going to watch this. megyn, if i can just talk a little bit about yesterday when we watched that tornado go through moore when we saw the devastation. i was talking to neil cavuto. i mentioned the fact that, you know, when you see the video coming out of oklahoma. one of the biggest cities that sees destructive tornadoes, you sometimes wonder, you know, why do people live here? we can say the sapg same thing for people who live in earthquake zones. people who live in areas that get hurricanes across the gulf coast. the reason they live there is because it's home. it's community. it's people coming together. and i have been to oklahoma city. they give you the shirt off their back. i know they are good folks. they will rebuild. you know, but they live in one of these areas little children have to storm shelter is fact of life for those folks out there. our hearts and prayers go out there today.

people who live there are going to have to be strong in the days and weeks to come. >> you bet. >> roughly a 16 minute warning before this thing hit. you heard janice mention that nate, medical assistant working in the orthopedic clinic of the hospital in shawnee oklahoma when the power went out. that was the first warning. when he later got to where his house had been, the only thing standing was a bathroom wall and a kitchen wall. and his dog sugar was nowhere to be found. joining me now miami by phone nate, who lost his new home in the storm. nate, thank you so much for being here. i'm so sorry to hear about your dog as well. sugar. let's hope that she turns up. but tell us, i know that you have only lived in the area for 10 months. >> yes, ma'am, that's correct. >> megyn: is this your first twister you have been through. >> my wife and i are originally from southeast kansas. we are no strangers to tornadoes. first one of this magnitude, of course, that

we have been around. >> so you were working and you get back home to your house around what time yesterday? >> i was working. i got several text messages probably 35 to 40 through my alarm system saying that my motion sensors, thigh doors, my windows, everything, there was a breach somewhere. so i figured that our house had been hit. i didn't know to what extent. it took me probably two hours to get back to the house. my wife beat me there probably about an hour, hour and a half. when i got back there like you said earlier three, four walls at the most and a bunch of debris describe the feeling that you had. >> it's a helpless feeling everything that you had. now it's not. >> is there anything left? when you look from the remnants of clothes and family pictures and the things that you have on your walls that make your home -- that make your house a home, is anything

left? we were fortunate. closets. a lot of our wedding pictures were still okay because they were in one of the closets. so, we were a lot -- we were more fortunate than a lot of people in the neighborhood in the community. home stands now before and after on the screen. and, you know, like most people, when you go to work. your dog stays at home, and you see your dog and you come back home at the end of the day. and i know you have not -- you have not found sugar. how do you engage in that search effort? what do you do? because we have heard some inspiring and hopeful stories when this comes to search for pets today. >> there are several different places on facebook that we have been searching the home depot down on 19th command center. they are letting us know about dogs there. there is a 24 hour clinic not far from where our house was that we're checking on her a few hours

to see if they get new dogs that had been brought in. one of our neighbors said that 15, 20 minutes after the tornado came through there was people going house to house and some of them had dogs and leashes and they saved what they could. and they knocked out their window and two of their dogs ran off. we're hoping somebody did that in our neighborhood and found sugar and took her and is keeping her safe for us right now. >> megyn: we hope it works out. nate, thank you so much. good luck to you as you rebuild your home and your life in moore, oklahoma. >> thank you very much. >> megyn: all the best. wow. i mean, just you can imagine your home is gone, your belongings are gone. your dog is gone. you know, where do you start? where do you start? a lot of folks who managed to survive the storm were in storm shelters. and, yet, a lot of folks who were in storm shelters are believed to be trapped in them right now beneath the rubble.

what is the deal with these storm shelters? how safe are they? why are we being told some did not hold up in the force of this storm? we'll get into it right after the break. mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

... ... ... much. >> oklahoma, these are common in the homes. they are just a little space and you have luggage in here. some bottled water, weather

radio and maybe a flashlight. look at this. this is the garage. you can see that's what's left of the home. >> megyn: that was our casey stegall earlier demonstrating one of the storm shelters crediting with saving lives in moore, oklahoma yesterday. there are reports some of these structures did not hold up. joining me now to discuss these structures rick rod, the vice president the housers incorporated, the largest pro-virtd of storm shelters in oklahoma and dr.erman red letter disaster preparedness at columbia. gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. are these shelters common in places like moore, oklahoma? >> yes, ma'am. >> and are they expensive because one wonders if you live in tornado alley why not everybody would have one. >> it depends upon the type of manufacturing involved as far as the cost. concrete structures are typically a little cheaper than the metal structures just to the cost involved

in the transportation. >> megyn: give us a range. what are you talking? >> probably in the moore area anywhere from 2500 to $4,000. >> megyn: okay. so they are pricey. i mean, that's a pricey expense. and, yet, obviously a necessary one. doctor, i want to ask you about the school because we had the superintendent of schools on a little while ago and i asked her why these schools, the plaza towers elementary one that got so hard hit didn't have the tornado resistant storm shelter on campus she essentially said money, they didn't have the dough. >> this is obviously going to be a very important question in the days and weeks and months to come. the reality is that children are very vulnerable to traumatic injuries like this. and the thing that we have to think about is that this is a town and a community that has, of course, experienced major disasters from tornadoes like this in the past. so, one would have thought they would have been aggressively seeking ways to make sure that every child in every school there was protected. and, you know, we don't

want to second guess that. there are a lot of issues there. but, i know it's costly. but one would hope that in an area of extreme risk from this particular kind of thing or where you are living in the gulf you worry about hurricanes that appropriate measures will be taken to make sure that citizens in general are protected but in particular, areas that are congregant facilities for children, day care centers and schools and so forth really need to be absolutely ultra certain that if a big disaster happens like this one, that we can provide as much protection and safety for kids as we possibly can. >> megyn: they can't protect themselves. they need us to do it. >> they do. in the aftermath of something like this. i'm sure the parents are all wishing that there had been shelters in place. rick, why some of the shelters we're getting some reports that they did not hold up. is that just because the shear size and force of this storm was too much? >> i have not heard any

reports that shelters had failed. i'm really not qualified to comment on that. there are several different types of manufacturing and age of the shelter is also something that you have to take into account as well as how the maintenance was done on it by the homeowner. most shelters require some maintenance to keep them in top shape. >> megyn: is there anything that would help somebody who is trapped in the shelter right now, in a home where the debris is now piled on top of the shelter, that's one of the things they are looking into as they go door to door and try do rescue efforts. is there any way of making, you know, communication with the above ground world easier for folks? >> well, there are several things that have come into play since the '99 tornado that went through moore. one of which most municipalities are requiring a permit to put the shelters in. this allows them to track where the shelters are going within their community and give them a database from which they can go from. one of the complications

with that is much like you have seen at the moore tornado, a lot of the land marks are gone. g.p.s. coordinants are going to come more into play in the future, i would think. >> megyn: dr. redletter a question for you, if you don't have a shelter, is it true that you should be in the hallway, you should be in the bathroom? it sounds like some of these kids were in the hallway at the school and it did them very little good. >> right. you know, in large buildings where the roofs can come off easily, the structures are just generally weak. but that said, if there is not an appropriate shelter in a large building and including a school, you need to get to the safest interior space and hopefully a space without windows and then clinging on to whatever might be stable. people held on to everything from toilets to crouching in the hallways with coverings over their heads. but if i can just say one quick word about what people can do, if they are in a shelter in their home, is to have a whistle, to have a way of communicating with the outside world so

that you have a chance of communicating with rescuers. something to do in a terrible situation like this. >> megyn: in addition to stocking up on the water and the other goods. gentlemen, i have got to run hard break. thank you all so much and we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] citibank's app for ipad

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>> megyn: alert on jodi aira, moments ago the woman of convicted of fatally stabbing, shooting, and nearly decapitating her boyfriend, took the stand in the penalty phase of her murder trial. when she was convicted, she suggested to a local reporter she would prefer the death penalty over life in prison. seems she has had a change of heart. >> i didn't know then that if i got life instead of death i could become employed, self-reliant. i didn't know if i not life

there are many things i can do to effect positive change. and contribute in a meaningful way. in prison there are programs i can start and people i can help, and programs i can participate in. >> megyn: adam housely has a live update for us. >> the moment everybody has been waiting for since the conviction, what would jodi arias say? she spent 20 minutes talking directly to the jury, showing pictures of her childhood, her family, her oil paintings, saying she didn't have a proper perspective when she told some people in interviews she would ref heart -- rather have death. she felt she could do something for society, though she never did admit to killing travis alex. in the said she immediate a horrible mistake and apologized to his family, and still

insinuated domestic abuse. so if you didn't know she lied so many times in the past you might think it was pretty good statement. but all that is up next now is lunch and closing arguments and then instructions from the judge, and then they'll decide whether she gets life or death. >> megyn: what a different story she is telling now. more live team coverage from oklahoma as search and rescue teams comb through the wreckage in a race to find survivors, shepard smith live. [ male announcer ] this is kevin.

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>> megyn: thanks for watching, "studio b" starts now. >> shepard: it's 2:00 p.m. in the heartland of americament i'm shepard smith in moore, oklahoma, and this is fox news channel continuing coverage of the considered damage across oklahoma city and beyond. we're in the middle of a parking lot, and what i'm going to do is show you what this storm can do. not in a wide picture but one small area. this is the moore amf bowling lanes, or it was. i'll show you around in here in just a minute. back over here, fast food restaurant, and look here. see what the storm did to the cars? some are overturned.