we don't have the name of the other one just yet, was complete. so we have our fingers crossed that those kids were somehow protected or were already gone from the scene. we do have rescue crews going through the areas right now looking for those who may have survived. >> and we are waiting, i know a lot of you folks out there are wanting to know what the injury figures are or we pray no fatalities. are there any fatalities? we'll let you know as quickly as we find out. we want to let the emergency officials do their jobs. this is a search and they have to get the folks rescued. like yesterday. but on a small scale. >> john, you did a great job yesterday, for the folks who are just now joining us of moving down the tornado path. can you do that one more time so people that are familiar with the moore area can see where

that storm went and what it did? and you are so, so good about this area because you live down there. and i know that you fear for your family right now. thank you so much for staying in the air and helping us out with these pictures because i think it's what our viewers need to see as the storm continues to move. now mike's going to come back in just a moment with other areas that may be of concern to viewers. where this tornado is heading. recycling and heading, again. if you'd take us back to where the tornado -- >> we've been following breaking news this afternoon. a massive tornado in the last hour in oklahoma. near the town of moore near oklahoma city. this storm was ferocious. a massive, powerball system that tore a swath through the whole region. now the first images of devastation have been coming in live from our local affiliate kfor. we've seen the warren theater destroyed. a bank, a post office. a local hospital has been hit. two schools. one a high school.

the other an elementary school. i'm joined by my colleague milissa rehberger who reported back in 1999 on the may 3rd tornado. milissa, this looks as horrendous in terms of its devastation, does it not? >> i can't believe my eyes. i'm shocked. it's the same neighborhood. i mean, these poor people. it's just -- it's shocking. you heard the local news crews talks about it's basically the same exact path and practically the same exact storm. you know, when i covered this, we were walking through these very same neighborhoods, and they're right, you do have to be very, very careful. the danger isn't over. there are gas leaks. there are power lines that are still live. you know, look at that debris. it's entire homes blown apart with everything in it. you have glass and nails and jagged nails everywhere. human nature is to get in there.

if that's your home, to salvage anything you possibly can. even if it's just a picture or something that you can find of what's left of your life. but this is exactly what it looked like. entire homes. it looked like they had just been put fthrough a blender. >> we're seeing now that post-tornadic fire. it looks as though it's over a structure. the last time this happened, as i say, in that infamous may 3rd tornado in 1999, something like 6,000 structures were destroyed back then. 41 people killed. hundreds injured. but there are suggestions from our local affiliate that this may even be more devastating, much worse. >> i think it's entirely possible. that was an epic tornado that we saw move through there. it was absolutely gigantic. and i didn't hear reports of hail. hail, alone, can cause a tremendous amount of damage. but this looks equally as bad, if not more. i mean, we just don't know yet. we may not know for some time. i have to think, martin, i have to think that they evacuated

that school because like i said earlier, they know early in the day that the conditions could be possible for something like this. and you just have to think that they took that precaution. i pray they did. because as i was saying earlier, and as you watch the camera pan around, these buildings, as i said earlier, they don't have basements. so unless they put in a tornado shelter, of which i'm not really seeing anything, you are looking at concrete slabs where homes once stood. so like you heard people saying earlier, you know, take shelter, take shelter. get underground. with a storm of this magnitude, hiding in your innermost portion of the homes, it's simply, i mean, as you can see, it's just not good enough. >> it's not. the oklahoma city police department is still advising people to stay away from these areas of devastation. they're warning about live electricity lines. potential gas leaks. the police department has also got reports of several people trapped and hurt in the area of

moore. we're also hearing that a number of the schools are now able to release children, so parents will be able to find their -- to go back to their children and collect them. obviously this is utterly devastating. it's a biblical scene of devastation. >> it really is. i actually -- i just got a text message from my very dear friend, mick cornette, the mayor of oklahoma city, desperately trying to get home from out of town. he's watching this unfold and he's not in his home. he's calling this just a really bad event. he was my co-anchor at the time back then. when we were covering this together. and neither of us can believe that this hit exactly the same spot. >> there's a local church, oak crest church of christ at 89th and western which has opened its doors as a refuge center. so any local people who are literally currently homeless will be able to get some respite if they go there.

milissa, as we were saying earlier, terribly traumatic recollections of what happened the last time around. this is being described as an f-4 tornado with speeds of up to 260 miles per hour today. it was about a mile wide. it tore through those neighborhoods, that densely populated suburb of moore. and as i said, destroyed a post office, a theater, the warren theater, a bank, two schools. an entire trailer park. several trailer parks, according to local reports. completely devastated. >> yeah. and you know what, it's just a very difficult thing to tell people to stay away. oklahoma is a lovely place to live. people are truly wonderful there. and they do want to help. you'll start hearing stories about people taking, you know, people into their own homes because their homes were spared. and it is just this -- i am always amazed by tornadoes. when you look at this video, some of those houses are just

fine. and across the street, there's nothing left. because they truly -- you know, they hopscotch around and it's hard to even know when you see something coming that way what's going to be hit. they change directions. it's just -- it's just so hard to tell. you know. >> it's indiscriminate and randomized devastation, isn't it? >> it really -- it really is. i mean, just looking back, you know, in all the memories coming back today of 1999, some of the most horrible stories were, you know, people were hiding, you know, under highway overpasses and there was a story of a mother who was holding her son and the tornado was sucking her out and she made the decision to save her child's life and let go. and she was never seen again. and the boy made it. and that -- it hit that highway overpass and changed directions in a heartbeat. >> milissa rehberger using all of her local expertise there. i'm grateful to you, milissa. don't move, though.

we're going to join brian norcross now, who's a meteorologist for the weather channel. bryan, just tell us how this particularly devastating tornado cut itself swath through that area. >> it was incredible to see as it was happening, we were monitoring it here and watching it and broadcasting it here on the weather channel. this was reminiscent of what happened in 1999. the tornado that really reformed moore, oklahoma, there, and obviously you see the damage and you've been showing the damage on the south side of moore. this is a little different part of the city. moore being a suburb of southern oklahoma city. south of downtown oklahoma city. so this was on the south side of moore where the 1999 tornado was a little farther to the north. the conditions coming together perfectly to form this absolutely spectacularly intense kind of a perfect tornado, the kind you just hate to see, you know, when we see these things come together. as you say, winds almost certainly 200 miles per hour.

perhaps if it was an ef-5, we won't know until they go out and actually look at the damage in detail, whether it was an ef-5 tornado where those winds at that maximum end of the scale up in that 250, 260 mile an hour range. i have a map here that i can show you where it tracked exactly in reference to moore, oklahoma. they're going back to 3:20 central time. what we're looking at here this, that's where the debris ball is, as the radar is seeing it. there is downtown moore. oklahoma city is up here at the top. it tracked across moore in a direction like that. very unfortunately it peaked in intensity, martin, as it was going by this populate d suburb moore, oklahoma, and dissipated as it moved past that populated area. here we're seeing the damage and the result. >> i note from the local

affiliate, they're saying this may be worst than the may 3rd, 1999, tornado. i got a note on may 3rd, 1999, the strongest winds recorded on the earth were recorded in oklahoma, 302 miles per hour during that storm. so you were just suggesting the speed of this may be been between 250, 280. the local affiliate is predicting it may have been faster than the record of 302 miles an hour. it's unimaginable the devastation that can be caused at that speed. >> it could be. let me explain how the reading was found. what happened is they had mobile doppler radars. this was very early and ran this thing on a truck up near the tornado. they got readings that had never been taken close up of a massive

tornado before. so it wasn't just that this had never happened before. it was that it had never been measured before. it was, indeed, the strongest winds ever measured because this technology had just come into existence. now unless they were out doing an experiment, we may not have this technology applied to this tornado. we may not know. on the scale, what we call now the enhanced fujita scale, the ef scale, the highest category is this 5, ef-5 level, and the estimate for ef-5 is 260 mile per hour or above. there is no top end to it kind of like category 5 hurricanes are 156 or 157 miles an hour and above. so we don't know. we won't know. just looking at the damage, it's hard to imagine this was not a high end ef-4 or ef-5. remember, in oklahoma, they know about tornadoes and certainly do their best to be ready for them

there. so i other thing i was going to mention, martin, about 1999 -- >> right. >> -- as a result of that tornado, it changed the culture in oklahoma. so when another incredible tornado came along in 2003 that was very similar, just four years later, they had many more saferooms and much better response system. that survives to this day of the 1999 tornado. they are much more ready. i'm not saying we're not going to have horrendous news come out of this event. it's just too big, too many structures hit. it may, and looks like it was a wider path than 1999 and, therefore, will be worse in the sense that more structures were hit. but we hope that that legacy continued here. people were paying attention to the local warnings being issued. the media system in oklahoma city and oklahoma in general is the best in the united states. and that, you know, more people were prepared as they were in 2003. >> we were just watching the devastation there, and, of

course, there are the images moments ago of the tornado hitting buildings and small explosions of fire. what can you tell us at this precise moment, bryan, about this weather system? where is it? where is it going? >> well, it's part of a line that's moving through oklahoma. there's another very active cell well to the north of tulsa. so this extends north and south of kind of right through the middle to the eastern side of oklahoma. it is slowly moving to the east. we have yet another situation going on in the united states, and actually honestly, it's around the world, where the weather pattern is stuck in place. so we saw the tornadoes yesterday in this general part of oklahoma. they've moved ever so slightly to the east. this area barely noticeably to the east, and it will slowly move to the east and kind of lift out to the northeast. but we have a blocked pattern, it's called.

and that's just keeping things occurring in more or less the same place, but we expect that by tomorrow the overall atmospheric pattern and structure will be less favorable for violent tornadoes than we had today. so just the nature of this, it's a slow progression. just inching on off to the east. but conditions generally improving after tonight. not saying we couldn't have tornadoes tomorrow. just saying a lower chance especially of these extremely violent tornadoes. >> bryan norcross, thanks so much, bryan. i'd like to bring in now jamie shelton who's the public information officer for the city of moore. good afternoon, sir. >> hello, how are you? >> what can you tell us about the current state of affairs in your city? >> right now we're just in kind of crisis mode. making sure that our emergency personnel are able to get to areas that have been damaged. we're forming a staging area for outside aid. so we have, you know, emergency personnel coming in from other

cities to help and assist with search and rescue. and try to find people if they're stuck in debris or in their homes. just really it's all coming in, you know, 1,000 miles a minute. >> now, i was hearing earlier from the police that they were warning members of the public not to go to the assistance of anyone because they were clogging up some of the major routes which were preventing emergency vehicles from accessing the devastated areas. is that right? >> that is true. if you are not in a damaged area, just stay at home. stay out of the areas that have been affected. let our emergency personnel have the streets to be able to get in and give aid if needed. >> jamie, we were watching these devastating pictures just now. particularly difficult to look at were the school structures that were destroyed. can you give us any detailed information about what's happened there? are the staff and children safe at these schools? >> some of the schools are

located in a different city. they're actually in south oklahoma city. so we're seeing what's coming in over the news. at this point i do not know if any schools in the city limits of moore have been hit or affected. what we're seeing is coming in, you know, what we're seeing on the news stations. >> okay. and buildings in your immediate area, the warren theater, described as having been hit. the post office. >> yeah, we're seeing that from helicopters, from some of the news stations' helicopters. warren theater appears to have been hit. there's a bowling alley next to that that appears to be hit. part of the hospital was damaged. i read they were evacuating or moving the patients and people at the hospital out. so it's a large part of the community has been affected. >> were you working in this position when that horrendous tornado of may 3rd occurred in 1999? >> i was not. i was actually just a high school kid and watched that one on tv at home just like most

everyone else probably watched this one. so, i mean, this one was not as wide as that one from, you know, first reports and from the news stations, but there's definitely damage and there's definitely areas that we're having concerns with. >> okay. jamie shelton of the public affairs office of the city of moore, oklahoma. thank you so much, sir. >> thank you, have a good day. >> thank you, sir. we're going to go back now to the local affiliate, kfor, in oklahoma. >> and then some schools like morgan, she has to go and she stays until, like, i think 3:40. they're adjusting it every year. so, because of the inflow of the students. so i'm not for sure -- we're really getting blown around here. i'm not for sure about times of release for these schools here. so they could have been out for the day. >> john, thank you very much. we're going to go to michael quickly. but let me invite any parents who may have children in those

schools, if your children are safe and you know for a fact that they weren't being sheltered in those schools, please call our newsroom and let us know that so we can pass that information along. we've been unable to confirm whether the children were being sheltered in the schools or whether they had already been released. so help us to know that information. mike? >> linda, i think it's shockingly clear that what we're looking at is tragically the biggest destructive tornado in the history of the world. because this destruction is dwarfing may 3rd which was a $1.2 billion damage storm with 8 8 8,000 homes and 1,000-plus apartment complexes destroyed. this destruction wise is two to three times the magnitude of may 3rd, 1999. this is the worst tornado damage wise in the history of the world. i think that is completely and shockingly clear with our pictures from bob moore chopper 4 and our crews. now, we have important information to pass along. lincoln county, southern lincoln county, intensifying storm. could be a tornado on the ground

right now. we are in exacontact with everye of our storm trackers with every storm that's a threat to life right now. those are the tornado warned storms. let's two to the storm tracker. this appears to be a tornado on the ground or rapidly developing tornado. it is heading directly for meeker, direct path. south side of jack town, down highway 62. over toward prag. you folks in maker, below ground, interior closet or bathroom isn't going to do it. you have to be below ground are out of the way. storm cellar, basement, or saferoom. meeker. let's go to mark. he is on the storm right now. it is rapidly intensifying. >> yes, we're north of shawnee on 177 and we have a large what i'm going to call a large bowl-shaped tornado on the ground i believe. it's dark ahead of me. it is basically from my vantage point it's about a mile wide. that would pretty much put it in that perspective for what just went through the oklahoma city

and moore areas. this thing has probably recycled and it is now a very, very large tornado. i've got some damage paths from yesterday's storm. we're trying to negotiate some of that right now a lot of turning on the east side of this large wedge, which you can see on my screen hopefully. we have emergency crews along 177. as we're heading north, we're going to try to get into it as far as we can to see the damage it has been doing, if it's still on the ground. it's probably still in contact with the ground. the darkness, the turning that's going on in front of us right now. folks in the meeker area, heads-up. same location as yesterday. just be ready to go if you have. we urge you if you're in the path of the storm, probably going to want to get below ground or to a safe spot as soon as possible. mike, back to you.

>> mark, again, you're right there. the important thing we have to pass along to you for you folks in meeker, this very much appears to b a large tornado. i don't take that statement likely. this is the same storm that produced the destruction in the moore and south metro. it is the same storm. it cycled. the wind crovelocities we're showing are large and violent. you saw mike diller's stream. that was it. in the middle of the darkened area, that could be debris. it's headed directly for the town of meeker and it's only five miles west of meeker right now. you folks in meeker, protect your life. be out of the way. below ground. interior closet or bathroom is not enough. storm cellar, basement, saferoom. if you're in a mobile home, evacuate the mobile home. this is a large tornado. see the hook spinning around. it's over jack town right now on highway 62 and heading directly toward meeker. i want to go back to mark dillard. this is, again, live. we're talking about continued

threat to life and limb in the jack town/meeker area right now. let's go back to mark dillard. mark, how far south of 62 are you right now ? >> mike, i think we're just about full south here. i still have drafting rain coming in on me. it's difficult to tell if it's rain wrapped and still in contact with the ground. it's so dark in there. clearly that's what we're dealing with. it's so dark. in the very middle of the tornadic super cell that you can almost guarantee -- i do have some definition optimized. north and east. i can almost see all the way underneath it, i think, mike. i'm not for sure that we've got a funnel all the way in contact with the ground, but the winds pick up just a little bit here. we get closer to the circulation. i to hado have a lot of wrappinn with this. so bottom line is, folks, it created lots of damage. it's been a long-track system so far. >> let's go to the north doppler control room.

i do believe this is on the ground. it's up in those rotating rain curtains. there's jack town right there. here's highway 62. this is meeker. this is the pottawattamie county line right here. this is lincoln county right here. all lincoln county. jack town right there. meeker right here. it's only four miles west of meeker. and i'm showing vortex circulation here. in the past sweep, just the past sweep, it has come down a notch. it's probably spinning out right now or at least spinning down. it has been on the ground back in through here. a tight vortex signature. there is a tornado warning firmly in effect with this storm. let's go to the storm tracker. and you folks from jack town, it's over jack town right now, over to meeker, and meeker in particular, could go as far north as sparks. you folks need to protect your life as this heads your way. you want to be someplace below ground out of the way. storm cellar, basement or saferoom if you're fortunate enough to have one of those. this is a dangerous storm. the tornado warning is in effect. it is north of shawnee. there's obu right there. and there's i-40 right there.

let's briefly check back with marc dillard. we're going to move to one more storm that reid timmer is on. go, marc. briefly. >> very rapid rotation. i don't believe we saw the funnel in contact with the ground, though we may still have -- there's wrapping rain curtains as far in front of this thing as about a quarter to half mile in front of the main circulation center here. or maybe even up to three quarters of a mile. wrapping down. it's beginning to form another base to it it looks like. put down another funnel at any time. if not, there's already one down in the center of that darkness off to our north and east from 177 here. we're just southwest of meeker about 4 1/2 to 5 miles. it's right on top of meeker right now. take the tornado recautiprecaut you're in the area. rain wrapped and not being able to see it, mike. >> let's go up to the storm tracker, talk about this storm

further south heading for pauls valley. again, has to be a balance between continued threat to life and what we had happen in the south metro. this is what's happening right now. ongoing super cells with tornado warnings and likely tornadic activity. this is to the west-southwest of pauls valley. just on the northern stids sides of elmore city. there's circulation close to elmore city right now. it's traveling toward pauls valley. pauls valley, 4:45. st stratford at 2:17. if you're in the math of either one of these, you need to be in a safe location as these move through. there are tornadoes on the ground down at the red river. that's out of our viewing area. there are also tornadoes on the ground north of tulsa up in washington county. that is also out of our viewing area. thunderstorms do continue in the south metro. the primary threat with these is hail up to about quarter size. these are not especially severe based on what we've had earlier today. but that lead storm, kevin and linda, you see that between jack town and meeker.

that is an tornado i think likely still on the ground on highway 62, maybe the northern sides of town heading directly for meeker. >> thank you, mike. we have new information. midell schools released students on buses. some are walking right now. kids from one damaged school gathering at 156th and becky in the stones meadows neighborhood. there's been flooding at the airport. the flooding is the least of the damage when we have the kind of damage we do in moore. >> we're wait to hear officially from the moore school system to find out if children were being sheltered in place at the two schools that were destroyed. briarwood elementary and plaza towers elementary. we is received a phone call from a parent only. let me emphasize that. this is a parent who said they had received phone calls earlier in the day to say moore public schools were on lockdown until the tornado passed. that is not official word. that's simply our first indication from a parent in moore about what may have happened. but we have our fingers crossed

that those children are all safe. this was taken by bob moore chopper 4 earlier. >> this was earlier video. as, when the clouds cleared and john welsh could see what was happening, and john lives in this area. he lives just a little bit north of there. his home was not affected by this, but his wife and kids, of course, took shelter. they're okay. they texted him. but just a little bit to the south of him, you saw what the damage was. a lot of his friends and neighbors there. and we are just hoping for the best on these casualty reports that should be coming in soon. >> we feel your frustration as well. cell phones aren't working in that area. it's impossible to get information from individual families right now. and we know how -- >> we've been listening to the brilliant coverage of kfor in oklahoma to the events today in that area. the city of moore flattened. buildings on fire.

devastati devastation wrought across the region by this incredible tornado. i want to bring in dr. irwin director of disaster preparedness at columbia university. good afternoon, sir. >> hi, martin. >> how does anyone prepare for something like this? >> well, this is a monster of a disaster, and unfortunately, tornadoes really, you often do not get very much warning at all, although there are some ways of predicting whether you're in a tornado, obviously, proned area, and whether officials can determine if it looks like such a storm is actually forming. but the fact of the matter is that for individuals who live in these areas, it often comes without much warning. that is why it's absolutely mandatory that people have a saferoom and safe space that they cannot only get to but practice going to. this really has to happen in terms of where people live, where the children go to school, where people work and so forth. a very well-rehearsed,

well-understood plan in advance must be in place because, you know, there's virtually nothing that could be done to really protect property and buildings and so forth especially with the monster size of this kind of a tornado. but what we can hope for is everyone will understand where they can be as safe as possible given the severity of this storm. that usually means a saferoom in a storm cellar that has been created really to protect people who live in these communities where a tornado is coming. one thing is that once you see the tornado coming and the funnel and so forth, it's really, you can't outrun it. you have to get sheltered and that's, and hopefully the tornado passes over. may destroy the building that you're in, but hopefully lives will be saved. injuries avoided. the whole other phase, of course, right after the tornado where there's quite a bit of danger to people coming out of

the shelters in the communities where the tornado's been. there's a lot to think about here. the main thing is saving lives and getting out of harm's way as soon as possible. >> compared to 1999, that may 3rd tornado, 46 people killed, hundreds injured. 8,000 structures were destroyed then. $1.5 billion in damages. but a local affiliate meteorologist who's been reporting for us today said he believes this is the worst tornado in the history of the planet. >> yeah. it could be. they're reporting winds up to 300 miles-plus per hour which is just unbelievable. it's simply almost -- i mean, there's virtually -- there's nothing you can do about the force that wind. and also the actual size of this tornado being a mile across is like mind-boggling. and, you know, this may or may not be the largest ever in recorded history, but it's going to go down in the record books as one of the worst natural

disasters in our lifetimes we're absolutely sure. and we're just going to have to hope that most people, or everybody, has found shelter, although we know there's going to be some loss of life here, unfortunately. >> and remarkably, it appears to have been some form of accidental history because the path of this storm, 2013, virtually mirrored the path from 1999. >> yeah. yeah. so it's the whole -- i don't understand why that would happen other than the fact that local conditions may have created a situation where these kind of storms will track in a particular way. but i think we're going to see a highly really unusual coincidence of track for this storm versus that storm in '99. but we'll just have to see. the main thing now is that people are staying safe and really, as i say, staying safe

after the storm passes. >> right. dr. irwin redlener, thank you so much, sir. and let's bring in dr. harold brooks, research meteorologist at the noaa's national severe storms laboratory. sir, i guess you are -- profoundly only as recently as 1999 then to see a repetition. >> i mean, these do happen occasionally. the fact it's so close to the path in '99 is, adds more memories to it, because i'm ten miles away from the path and still trying to find out about friends who might be in the path. so we know what it was like before the '99 tornado. we know it was rebuilt and we know what it's like now. it's a little rough. >> people appear on this occasion to have heeded the

warnings to the majority, and people appear to have taken the advice of the police and the emergency services. is that a fair assessment? >> well, i mean, obviously we can't tell for sure how well that happened but for the most part it did. i mean, the fact that today had the potential to be a significant tornado outbreak has been being talked about for several days. so there was lots of information available for people and certainly the events that happened yesterday with the nearby violent tornadoes i think sort of heightened awareness of the possibility. >> meteorologists are describing the path of this and say that it's moving toward the town of meeker in lincoln county. and that the system is regathering its speed. what kind of assessment can we make about how long this tornado is going to continue its path of destruction? >> well, sometimes super cell

thunderstorms can produce tornadoes for several hours, so it's possible this thing may continue to produce multiple tornadoes through most of the evening. and there are a number of other thunderstorms in oklahoma and surrounding areas that are if not producing tornadoes right now have or will in the near future. >> and so your assessment at this moment would be what? i mean, do you think this, the power of this is going to dissipate? because we've been on air for an hour and 34 minutes, and we came on air as the funnel was beginning to hit the ground. >> well, my guess would be that probably the storms will continue on through the evening. there's no reason to particularly think they're going to dissipate until probably well after dark. and so eastern oklahoma and southern oklahoma still have major problems that they potentially face. >> okay. thank you very much, indeed. let's go back to the local affiliate coverage that we've been following all afternoon from kfor in oklahoma. >> racing over there as quickly

as i can. >> all right. >> got a lot of people trying to help. >> all right. lance, they're pulling third graders out. we hope that -- of course, they were in their tornado positions. hopefully some of them are going to be okay. lance is on his way over there right now. you have to understand when you go down to these scenes and see this firsthand, not just through the prism of the television, but when you're there living it, it is extremely emotional event for reporters as well as all those involved. and lance is one of our best reporters, emmy award winning reporter, and he's going to get that information for us. but he's human just like the rest of us and it's a devastating sight to see these kind of things. >> mike morgan, we're looking at earlier video of the storm that moved into moore. it is not finished yet. >> it is not. it's over by meeker. our storm tracker marc dillard has a tornado on the ground. with this tornado warning now

for garvin county, this is a rapidly developing tornado that could be significant in size. there is a tornado warning in effect for pauls valley. it is heading directly for pauls valley. and we do have reid timmer, reid timmer is on that storm right now. we'll be checking back with him. if you're in pauls valley, it is heading directly into town. as you can see, right now. 4:42 or before. then from there it's going to head on up toward stratford at 5:11. that is an intensifying super cell circulation which appears to be a tornado either on the ground or developing to the ground right now. reid timmer is on it. it is heading directly for pauls valley. that is an immediate tornado warning for you in pauls valley. let's go to the north doppler radar. look at meeker. marc dillard still has a tornado on the ground here. this is on the northern side of meeker. it went to the north of meeker. that is good news. it is in rural countryside to the north-northeast of meeker right now. it will likely go just south of sparks. there's a tornado warning for lincoln county. let's go to weather show. here are the tornado warnings

that are in effect right now. they are southern lincoln county. pauls valley. pauls valley. pauls valley. all of garvin county. and southern jefferson county. right now the most immediate threat to life is in pauls valley. kevin and linda, we'll check in with reid timmer and with back with you. >> we're doing our best to get information from moore and parents down there. we received reliable information at this point that many of the students were sheltered at the school at moore high. we are told they have not yet been released. the kids are scared but we're told the teachers are doing their best to keep them safe and calm. so that's good news. at least for some parents in moore. >> that, and moore high school. there are several high schools in moore. west moore and noble public schools are releasing schools right now, but moore is not. >> and, begagain, to tell you, again, plaza tower elementary, apparently some of the kids are being sheltered there. there are injuries. we hope that's where it's limited. lance west, we're going to check back with him first. ed doney is on the scene as well. ed?

>> well, linda, we're on the road. we're on southwest 119th heading east from i-44. and the rain has finally stopped. we were getting pelted with hail right south of where i-40 meets 44. the hail was about, you know, nickel size, quarter size in diameter. but that has sub sisided. it's now not raining. we're on southwest 119th trying to head toward the area where the tornado went through moore. no traffic right now on southwest 119th, but it is backed up for miles on i-44 if you're heading southbound near the will rogers airport. just know the traffic is basically a parking lot in that area. >> yeah, we can understand that, ed. we know a lot of people want to go down there and help, but please don't do that right now. the emergency crews need to get in there and it's tough enough sledding as you heard from ed who's on the road right now getting through the traffic the way it is at this point. >> search and rescue continues in moore. that storm continues to churn through parts of oklahoma. let's go right now immediately to mike morgan. >> linda, we are tracking two

areas that we're concerned with most of all. north of meeker which is in rural countryside. in southern lincoln county. the storm heading into pauls valley, we should have reid timmer on the gentner coming up momentarily. we're talking about pauls valley. this is significant circulation now with a tornado warning coming into pauls valley. reid, what do you have? >> we're looking northeast toward pauls valley. we can definitely see the right side of a wall cloud with rain wrapping around the left side. i would not be surprised there's a rain-wrapped tornado in there. we're trying to budge through the hook here, trying to maintain focus. a lot of our friends are in the math of that tornado. our thoughts and prayers go out to those people. we got to get to pauls valley. the tornadic activity continues in oklahoma. and i can definitely see the right side of the wall cloud, and it's a very low wall cloud on the right side. the rain is concealing left side where the tornado would be.

so we're heading that direction. wouldn't be surprised if there's a tornado in there. we'll find out here pretty soon. >> okay. there's two main areas. let's go to the north doppler. we're going to stay with reid here and get through past i-35. right here by white bead, crossing i-35 to the north-northwest of pauls valley by four miles. by white bead. that's a strong circulation right there. also on the west side of pauls valley, a strong vicirculation. you're looking at the wind velocities inside the storm. this is tornado circulation right here. let's go to the storm tracker. it is going to be tracking across i-35. see the hook. watch how the hook swings around the hook is swinging around right now. i'd say it's either on the ground or coming to the ground right now. as reid timmer was indicating as well. this is from pauls valley, white bead, south of paoli. this could be hail around golf ball size from paoli to buyers. the tornado warning has been extended for

pottawattamie county, you're under a tornado warning ahead of the track of this super cell with what i believe is a likely tornado cell. let's check back with reid with a live update. >> we're about to clear the trees and gain better vision. yep. there's definitely a wall cloud. it looks like very low wall cloud right now that we can see. and that circulation probably west-southwest of pauls valley right now. very low wall cloud. i don't know if you see it on the screen there. zoom in. it looks like it's probably if there is a tornado, another tornado to the left. there's a well-defined part of this storm, too, which means you can see the white, clear air that's wrapping around the circulation. just to the north of that is where the tornado would be. so pauls valley should definitely be taking cover. tornadic storm. you can see the feeder band feeding into it. very low wall cloud. >> thank you, reid. appreciate that. now, the important thing to know about this, this is a dangerous

storm and the way the velocities are looking, the way the hook is swinging around, it could produce a significant tornado if it isn't doing so already from pauls valley up to white bead. paoli southbound. from there, up toward byars in mcclain county. there's your time for arrival. byars at 5:06. stratford, 1:11. also up toward pottawattamie county. southern pottawattamie county. could click the northwestern corner of panatawk county as well. this has earmark signs of producing a tornado if it's not on the ground already. pauls valley, pauls valley right now. there's also a strong circulation just up the road from pauls valley between pauls valley and white bead. please don't take this lightly. conditions are still prime for additional tornadic activity. kevin and linda, we'll get back with you as conditions warrant. back to you. >> all right. if you were with us within the past 30 minutes you heard lance west as he approached plaza

towers elementary school. let's join him again on the phone. lance, i know this is a very emotional, devastating scene that you're looking at. >> yeah, certainly is. we are here just five feet away from the school right now. what was apparently the gymnasium, there are firefighters and other emergency personnel doing their best to save -- those are classrooms right there? okay. those are classrooms and hallways i'm told. i stand corrected from some of the parents out here waiting to get word. it is our understanding right now there are at least 15 children trapped under this debris. >> oh my gosh. >> there were 75 kids in the classroom? okay. i'm told the number has just been upgraded. 75 kids were in that hallway and classroom when this tornado hit. firefighters are standing on what is essentially a large pile of debris trying to find these kids that are hopefully still alive. there's a triage center that's set up on what looks like it may have been a basketball court at one point and they are using doors and pieces of plywood as

stretchers to try to get the victims out. i see one little boy. he looks to be probably third grade. also a woman next to him who's laying flat but she is breathing and moving. i would suspect she may be a schoolteacher. there are just a host of volunteers, folks here doing everything they can. but this is about the worst damage i've ever seen. and you can only pray for the families as they search for those kids who may still be trapped under debris. >> absolutely. those parents waiting to hear word. my goodness. that's plaza towers correct, lance? >> that is correct. plaza towers. everything within a square mile of this school has just been decimated by this storm. >> lance, are parents being kept back or are they working to look for their children? >> day are not allowing the parents to get on to debris pile. obviously way too dangerous. there are downed power lines. debris everywhere with nails. gas leaks. things like that. there are parents who are trying

to make it in here. we fortunately were able to follow emergency vehicles and get access. most of the folks have been stopped about a mile back from the destruction zone. >> so you seen children removed from the debris who have been transported? >> we just saw one child and he -- he's standing now. looks like he's hugging someone. maybe his parent. we have only seen one child that has been transported. we spr sehave seen other peopler victims transported in the back of pickup trucks. there are four wheel drives maneuvering in. i'm looking at a jeep that seems to have clearance and was able to make it into this area. for the most part it's very limited access for the average citizen to get in here. they're going door to door searching homes, searching storm shelters. we met a family as they were coming out of their shelter. they were just devastated. they said their neighbors were pounding on the door to come in as the tornado came in and didn't have strength to open the door because the wind was so devastating. they don't know what happened to

their neighbors. >> and lance, we want to verify this, again, you're telling us that 75 children were yet in class when that storm hit plaza towers, and that they believe those 75, they're searching for all of them right now? is that correct? >> that is what i'm being told by one of the rescuers on the scene. there were 75 people inside that building in hallway which was the secure place, the safe environment, the tornado shelter, if you will. but the walls are gone. cinderblock walls that are eight inches thick and the roof is completely gone. it basically looks like it collapsed in on itself. there are search and rescue personnel on top of this ten foot -- >> we've been following the local coverage from kfor, oklahoma, to this devastating tornado that ripped through the city of moore. and is headed toward the town of meeker in lincoln county. we were hearing just now about a

scho school, plaza towers elementary school where 75 children were in class. firefighters are there now. one child was observed by a local reporter being lifted out and hugged and was standing. didn't appear to be too severely injured. we'll bring you more details as we get them. i want to bring in miguel holderby with the american red cross who joins us now on the phone. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. thank you for having me. >> i imagine that you will be sending and dispatching teams of people to this location almost imminently. >> yes. we are waiting to make sure as soon as it is safe for us to start ramping up that response, we will be doing so. by opening shelter and making sure that people have relief supplies, emotional support and food, to make sure that everyone who's been displaced this evening will have a place to be this evening. >> it's a wonderful provision. we've been comparing the events of today to that devastating tornado may 3rd, 1999, where

something like 8,000 homes were destroyed. $1.5 billion worth of damage. 46 people killed. but from our local reporters on the ground, they're suggesting that this may be worse. >> and that is a terrible thing to be trying to make that comparison. >> well, they were just -- i guess they were, you know, looking at the impact of the tornado in '99 and comparing. but what will you be providing there as soon as you can move in? >> as soon as we're able to get our response to happen, we do have volunteers, and any time there is severe weather, as i'm in missouri right now, we are watching and making sure our volunteers are on standby if we are asked to support our oklahoma neighbors and we will be sending people from missouri to help with that as well. but what we do is we make sure that everything is prepositioned. so we know where our shelters will be opening. as soon as it's safe for us to get those volunteers out there

to open those shelters. i think that's the most important thing at this point is to get people a safe, dry place to be. to be out of this devastation and to have that comfort of the emotional support that the red cross can provide at this time. >> indeed. a number of our viewers have been tweeting us and commenting on our facebook page and on our show page asking if they can help in some way. what would you -- what would you invite members of public to do if they are minded to help? >> i would ask that people would really understand that these responses, when the american red cross comes in and we open those shelters and we work to make sure that people have emergency relief, that that does cost money. and it's very easy to make a quick donation. $10 to donate that by tekxting red cross to the number 90999. >> thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thanks for having me, again. >> and we're going to dip back into the local coverage from our

affiliate kfor. >> the shed row there, and approximately about 100 yards, just down to cement here. >> was it just you in there? >> it was just me as far as ime. as far as i know, i was the only one here. so far, it seems to be one person unaccounted for from in this barn. everybody else was either gone for the day or stayed over in a different barn. i stay here all the time. i'm a caretaker for mark lee. >> you were telling me that this right here is basically where you lived. >> yes. >> you not only worked here, this is where you lived? >> yes. they used to have saddles and everything over here. these were tac rooms. this tac room is where i used to

live at. as you can see, my belongings. and then a couple fans for in the shed room. lost everything. >> what's going through your mind right now? you just survived something that a lot of people wouldn't. you were outside when this happened. you've lost everything. like i said, has it even set in yet? how are people doing? >> the main thing is the horses. these horses are how we survive. you know, it's -- these horses are what bring us our meals every day, bring us our place to sleep. and we might have one horse left out of all of them. >> reporter: that's the thing, when you look out here, describe for people what it looked like before. i mean, what would we have been looking at here? >> well, basically, if you take

a look at this here barn, there was four of them, one here, one down there, one right here and another one right there. >> so what we're looking at is what the barns used to look like. there were six of those out here? >> yes. yes. and then this was the racetrack and there was approximately 80 head of horses or so stabled at this facility. >> reporter: so where we're standing now would have been one of those stalls there? >> yes. as you look right here, each little spot from here to that -- where there used to be a stall door, there were two stalls. on either side were stalls all the way down on every barn. >> reporter: i do appreciate your time. and certainly if you need anything, we'll be out here. just holler. again, when you look at this, there really is nothing much

left out here. like i said, the orr family said they were able to get inside their house, a three-level house with the basement. they were able to get down there. they ran out of these stalls. they don't know how many people may have been out here at the time that the tornado came through here. people kind of come and go as they please. again, people like this, he works out here, lives out here, honestly had no idea that this tornado was coming. it was a sixth sense where he noticed that everything got quiet and immediately reacted to that and linda and kevin t. may have saved his life. >> we've been on the air since 2:30 giving live progress of the storm. if you know someone in one of these areas affected, please call them and let them know. for some reason they may not be watching television. it's critical that people have

this information and seek cover. obviously he did but many others did not. >> 75 to 100 horses killed out there on that form. >> we need to update the plaza towers elementary as well. a focus on the two elementary schools in moore, oklahoma, sheltering children when the tornado hit. lance west is at plaza towers elementary. he has confirmed that 75 souls, children and teachers, were being sheltered there when the twister hit. there is nothing left of that school it is just devastated. lance did say, one child came out of the debris, was being hugged by someone lance presumed was a relative. one teacher was being transported. we know of at least two survivors. we are desperately awaiting word on the rest of them. >> absolutely. let's go to betsy randolph.

trooper randolph, thank you for joining us on this terrible situation. tell us what you folks are doing right now, how we can help you and the situation on the highways and the moore area. >> thank you for asking. we can use your help right now. we are desperate to let people know we're having a terrible time getting our first responders down to the scene in moore. we've put an all call for all agencies statewide to arrive in moore to assist us as we try to get people we know that are trapped they are all over the city of moore. they are tieing up the interstate. if you could ask your viewers to get off i-35, south of the dallas junction, which would be the i-40 and i-35, we have standstill traffic. we have people out taking pictures in the moore area. the debris field that we have, just the debris filed itself

pose as health hazard to you and your vehicle. stay off the roadway. don't be taking pictures of people that are injured. we've got a lot of people just taking pictures and these folks are getting in the way of our first responders. >> betsy, can you close i-35 north of moore and prevent people from entering that area? >> yes, we are trying to do that. but to shut the interstate down, while we're doing that, we're depriving people who have trapped in rubble. >> i-35 is closed between i-240 and south highway 9. that should help a little bit. >> that is correct. we have that shut down. we've got a lot of debris out on the road so we're not going to want people to drive on that anyway right now. be patient.

send your prayers to those that are trapped right now. we are having difficulty getting to different areas. we know people are trapped. we see people walking with wounds and we're taking them to the triage center set up there at the warren theater. we have a command post set up at the moore communities that are at i-35 on the east side of the interstate. so we ask folks to please stay off the roadway, don't get out and take pictures. do what you can to help neighbors in the time of need. >> betsy, one other question, we need some hope for this area. do you know how many survivors have been triaged? do you have any idea of numbers? >> i would say a couple hundred are there. minor injuries. some are a lot more grotesque, if you will. when you have the debris flying around, if people are out where it can hit their bodies, we've

got a lot of bad injuries out here. so there is hope because we are seeing people that are crawling out of vehicles, that are crawling out of the debris out of the different buildings and so we do have quite a few people, a lot of first responders are there at the warren theater treating minor injuries, transporting people that need further treatment from the scene. so we do have hope and we ask people to pay attention, be aware, not be out causing more trouble, being in the roadway where first responders can't get through. >> betty, any confirmed fatalities? >> linda, i don't have any numbers of confirmed fatalities yet. i hope that that doesn't happen but just being down here and seeing the rubble and the devastation, i can't imagine that we won't have any but i pray to god we don't. >> betty randolph, thank you for your information. we'll be checking back with you throughout the evening here on newschannel 4. we want you to know, too, that

bob chopper 4 is in the saddle again heading back to that area which is near his home, that devastated moore. he's going to give us more live pictures of that, particularly in that search and rescue at that school. we've talking about the school there, plaza -- >> plaza tower. >> -- elementary school. >> john, are you in position yet? maybe not yet. he was working his way there. we do know that they are being limited to a five-mile radius of the destructive area. anyone that can do the situation to make it better, needs to head there. get off i-35. let rescue crews and rescuers get into that area. they are needed immediately. lives are at stake. >> let's go back to mike morgan for an update on where the storm is now and some of the damage

assessment. >> the storm that hit moore is over in southeast lincoln county. there's a tornado warning for southern creek county. that's where that storm is right now. it's still dangerous, another storm between asher -- >> we have been following breaking news from oklahoma for two hours now, a situation that is still developing at this moment. a massive tornado in oklahoma. moore, oklahoma, near oklahoma city. the storm was ferocious, a powerful system that went through the region. images of devastation that are backing clearer by the minute the place for politics dominated by the worst tornado in the history of the planet. my colleague, thomas roberts, picks up our live coverage right