canadian county, oklahoma officials updating us on the twister that did a lot of damage. there are still some threats in that region. >> pretty much parallel to each other. most of the damage in the county to the west is going to be around childs west of el reno and then it runs to the east about as far as cimmaron road. there may be other damage but this is the major damage we're talking about. these are the areas that we actually recovered some of the fatalities victims out of. basically, like a lot of events when these tornadoes happen it's pretty chaotic. there's a lot of destruction that happens. we know there will be injuries and some deaths and a lot of people self-deploy not only

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

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

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

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

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

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

onset of this tornado. we have spotters out. we have been very fortunate in that the majority of the damage that occurred in and around el reno has been to the just south of i-40 tracked along that line. we've had rescue crews on site since the beginning of this and continue through it. the fire rescue have been supported by other outside agencies to including homeland security technical groups and they'll continue those efforts throughout the day. we have also here with the support of the sheriff's office and some of the security aspects because of the heavy damage that occurred locally and some of the outlying bordering areas. mayor? >> i think we're here to help. we're working real good together. we've been a real good team effort to get this thing done. i want to thank all the first responders, el reno sheriff's department for coordinating all this. our fire and police department

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

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

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

important. of course we do want to remember those that are out there working, trying to help others for their safety as well. and so again, i just want to commend everyone in this area for their efforts to work together to protect the citizens in this area. thank you. >> we're going to continue to monitor this. the update from that is -- and we don't mean to confuse you -- but the seven fatalities you're talking about are canadian county, oklahoma that bore the brunt of this tornado and the followups. smaller tornadoes last night. two more outside the area so a total of nine who were killed and more than half of those in their cars. there were two known drownings. but of course the car issue is going to come up again and again. people who were fleeing the state, fleeing the area and then stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic whether that was a wise

move, whether the local government alarmed people to the degree that given the may 20th storm that was the worst type of tornado you could get, ef-5, is anyone's guess and it did lead to a lot of folks scrambling to get in their cars and get out of town. that's when many of the victims ended up dying -- on the road, on the highway, struck in traffic. we'll go to el reno, oklahoma with the very latest from there. michael? >> reporter: the very latest, neil, from the medical examiners of those who perished in these tornadoes, two of them were children. five of them have not been identified yet but of those who have been identified, their names are not being released pending notification of next of kin. while we're here in el reno, let me give you a look around and show you some of the examples of the force of this storm. right behind me is the first really dramatic example, a brick wall knocked right over. all of that from the force of the storm.

as you look past here you can see a storage unit that really catches the wind and that, you know, was completely destroyed there, the force of the storm ripped through the area. i'll show you out here something pretty typical that you'll see. a tree that was knocked over. and then you have the tree, itself. it starts to act like a seive and catches up all of the debris and creates these piles you see all across the landscape. aside from that what we've seen out here a lot of standing water across the road, rivers that are up and over their banks because there was a terrific amount of water that came out of the thunderstorms. one thunderstorm piled up on top of the other. all of them dumping water. also what we saw last night, particularly on the flight into this area, was a dramatic amount of electricity that was in these storms. lightning bolts reaching to the ground and reaching up and over the airplane about 50,000 feet into the arid' hair i'd have to ballpark an estimate. really dramatic the amount of electricity and power in these

storms, neil. >> all right. mike, thank you. you're doing yoman's work on this horrendous tornado and back-to-back storms. as awful as this was i want to put it in perspective. it could have been a lot worse. this is day one of hurricane season. it could be a doozie. in fact they're expecting a far worse hurricane season, joe here to remind us there are reasons why that could be a far more treacherous, forward looking picture than anything we've seen in this neck of the woods regarding tornadoes. joe is next. 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.

welcome back everybody. i'm going to be joined by my friend and i want to put this tornado in some perspective. you'll get a lot of people seizing on this and sort of extrapolating more from this sinister wise than might other be the case. it is the fickleness and maybe the cruelty of mother nature but it is not in the scheme of

things a bad, not as bad as it could have been or has been. this tornado season even with the known deaths thus far around 34 or 35 area, we had twice as many deaths just last year. we had 533 deaths in 2011. of course that was the year of some horrific storms, one of the worst years on record i2010. so 45 deaths. the average for the last three years. this is how they sort of judge a rolling trend of tornadoes. it's been about 222 deaths. any death is bad but in the scheme of things, if you were to touch on this a little more than two weeks ago, there was virtually no serious tornado season to speak of. and then of course we had the ef-5 category storm on may 20th in this neck of the woods followed up by what appears to be an ef-4 storm. the second most severe tornado

hitting the region just now and in the course of that of course more than half of those deaths. but of course that's one thing. now we've got something else to worry about because this is a kick off if you can believe it to the hurricane season. june 1. that's when it starts and when the worries start for much of the east coast and well beyond the caribbean. joe, if memory serves me right you're predicting a pretty bad hurricane season, right? >> what i like to do is reference certain years so people can go and look at those charts and educate themselves a little bit. this reminds me a little bit of the setup in the mid 1950s, '54, '55. most recently '96. 1996, the year of floyd along the eastern seaboard comes to mind, 1999 comes to mind. it shows some similarities to 2004 and 2008 also. we're not thinking it is as extreme as 2005, which was of

course multiple hits on the united states coast but i do think that the drought if you want to call it that of major hurricanes is going to end this year. i considered ike and gustav in 2008 major hurricanes. here is why. the pacific is in a cooling mode. so the onus for global tropical activity relative to out of the pacific seems to be atlantic. in addition we are seeing patterns similar to years, the systems that come off africa -- >> what do you predict for the hurricane season? spell it out. >> well, i think what noaa puttous the what we put out in late in may. >> which is what? >> 16 storms, well above normal in energy and a lot of activity into the united states that originates off the african coast and a lot more activity this year in the caribbean islands than we've seen in the past couple of years. >> so you're in florida, south

carolina, north carolina, the southern united states particularly prone to these hurricanes and they worry about these hurricanes? and they've gotten off lightly in the last couple years. what are you telling us? >> that area and up the east coast is particularly accessible and our first tropical trouble maker of the year may be in the caribbean, and in the gulf. folks in florida bankrupt to ar get an unwelcomed reminder the tropical season is about to start. keep your eye on the caribbean and southeast gulf, folks, because that may be an app ties tower what is coming later. >> amazing. joe, you've been prescient on all of these developments. good to talk to you and sorry for the rush on time. i want to update you on the latest out of oklahoma and the area. nine known fatalities.

60 known injuries. the damage is piling up. the flood waters still piling up. a lot of concerns here because storms are the big issue here. flooding a big issue right now. they're not out of the woods on tornado watches right now. ♪ if loving you is wrong

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all right. this is what tornadoes can do. they can do a lot of damage. that is probably an under statement. the aerial scenes right now, bridgeton, missouri among six states buffeted by this series of tornadoes including what we're now told was probably an ef-4 storm, the second most powerful. nothing like the ef-5 storm with winds in excess of 200 miles an hour that hit oklahoma, largely oklahoma about ten days ago on may 20th. that was then. this is now. a lot of damage right now. nine deaths reported right now.

up to 60 injured. we'll go to the fox news weather center on just how sweeping this was. every time you look at these images, janice and gosh knows how many times we have, you always wonder why the count wasn't higher. everyone counts their lucky stars that the count wasn't higher but the fact is it could have been much higher. >> it really could have. had we seen an ef-5 like we saw in moore move over oklahoma city it would have been devastating. we were possibly seeing an ef-3, ef-4 that moved through this area. with all those folks on the highways at the time. i want to show you the satellite about 24 hours ago. really these storms just erupted within a matter of hours. you can see this is the satellite imagery. there is oklahoma city, just some scattered clouds here. as we get into the 5:00 p.m. hour there is the dry line. that's the trigger that triggered some of these explosive storms and we likened

this to a pot of boiling water that has the lid on it. the lid just flew off and the steam just came arising from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. really within a matter of hours, explosive storms not only in the oklahoma area but all the way up to missouri and illinois where we have also tornado reports, 12 reports of tornadoes, over six states confirmed tornadoes. the risk continues today, unfortunately, across portions of southeastern oklahoma through arkansas up toward illinois and indiana looking at the potential for some very gusty winds right now. over 60 miles per hour. and the flooding, the flooding is incredible. some of the images coming out of oklahoma in toward arkansas. flash flood warnings in effect here where we could see several inches of rain. in some cases we saw over a foot of rain. in just a matter of hours. that is going to take some time for some of those streams and rivers to start to subside. that's going to be the main threat. as well as the risk for strong to severe storms all along the

frontal boundary from the great lakes to texas we're dealing with the potential of hail and damaging winds. isolated tornadoes as well. then into sunday some very heavily populated areas across the northeast. very warm, sticky day here across the northeast and that's going to help fuel some of the storms as we head into sunday. it is very possible, neil, we could see tornadoes in some of these heavily populated areas that don't typically see tornadoes. back to you. >> it is weird how random it all is. especially when you look at the live shots of various tornadoes including the one last night which was very, very wide. a mile wide or whatever. and you see these neighborhoods again and again. you're the expert. i'm just like a watcher but i'm thinking, boy, one side of the neighborhood is demolished and the other side perfectly fine. it is so bizarre. >> you know, they always say it is not an exact science and in this case we do the best we can to give you the -- as much of an

area as we think it is going to happen in but it can be very random in that it can be a corn field or a heavily populated area as we saw in moore, oklahoma. something that doesn't happen very often, ef-5 with winds of over 200 miles per hour. again, just fortunate we didn't see a storm of that magnitude moving over oklahoma city yesterday. >> yeah. like you said, a much more populous region. thank you very much as always. you're going to hear a lot back and forth about whether people should have been on the road. as many oklahomans have reminded me in e-mails a lot of them were just coming home from work. it was rush hour. they were getting back home. it wasn't until much later we were told that many more flooded the interstate 40 and 35 to get out of town. by and large this was just rush hour traffic, people returning home, when all of this hit. to the former fema director back with us, michael, these folks in

this area, god bless them, he are hearty souls and maybe used to this sort of thing and they hear the warnings and then they hear the follow-ups after the watches and they know the storms. so i'm not saying they get blase about it but i think many of them even have e-mailed me to the effect they thought they could beat it and be home and be safe before it hit. in the case of nine individuals that was not the case, was it? >> it wasn't the case. having grown up in oklahoma and watched -- the way janice just described the way the dry line forms and those storms pop up, i don't think most people outside tornado alley realize those thunder heads pop up to 55, 65, 70,000 feet. anywhere along that dry line is where those tornadoes can spawn. any number of them can spawn at any time, which i get that people are -- it's rush hour. they're trying to go home.