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 now. >> hi, i'm thomas roberts.

we're going to continue our live coverage from moore, oklahoma. if you look at the screen, it looks as though a bomb exploded. this is the tornado that went through this afternoon. people are climbing over the debris trying to look for loved ones, anything that they can salvage from the wreckage as we've been covering from our local affiliate there, two different schools in the moore area that they have been trying to as ser stain whether or not the students inside that building were safe. again, they were trapped in the school when a new tornado was reported earlier today and another one reported that we're watching. right now there's a frantic search for survivors as the massive storm came through today disturbing neighborhoods. the town of moore, oklahoma, the worst that we've seen so far. a reporter was at one of the damaged schools and had this report a moment ago. take a look.

wire going to get that sound. these dazed survivors are walking through the rubble hoping to find family and friends. this is an area that had insult to injury after they had tornadoes yesterday. this is truly a horrific scene. you can see straight through the midsection of the country right there. again, oklahoma and the people in and around the state were trying to get through the property and the damage that they had seen from the earlier tornadic activity and roped out live on tv, basically disappearing before people's eyes but not before it did this damage. here's our reporter from k-4 just moments ago. >> tl is our understanding that there are at least 15 children trapped under this debris. >> oh, my gosh. >> there were 75 kids in the classroom.

okay. the number has just been upgraded. 75 kids were in that hallway when this tornado hit. firefighters are standing on what essentially is a large pile of debris trying to find these kids that are hopefully still alive. there's a triage center set up on what looks like it may have been a basketball court at one point. they are using doors and pieces of plywood as stretchers to try to get the victims out. i see one little boy who looks to be probably in third grade, also a woman next to him who is laying flat but she's breathing and moving. i would suspect she may be a school teacher. they are just a host of volunteers, folks 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 these kids. >> that was our reporter talking about the plaza elementary school where 75 kids were in the hallway. we want to go back to our affiliate kfor.

>> they are clearing the debris. you could hear a violent hissing sound. they had a major gas leak. i think they have gotten the gas turned off in this area. total devastation. i came to work here just after may 3rd. so i missed all of that. i personally have never seen anything like this and i've worked in oklahoma for a long time. we're walking through the neighborhood and hearing people's stories as they rode out this storm. >> we're going to check back with lance west to see what the situation is at plaza towers elementary. 75 children were sheltered during the storm. we hope some of the information can be good. >> let's go to lance. what's the latest there from the elementary school? >> reporter: okay. they have just put some yellow tape around the school as they

try to get the folks back who are joining in searches. it's noisy and children that are trying to scream for help. they are trying to get some hysterical parents back. every possible emergency person is doing their best to pull the victims out alive. i did speak to a teacher. her name was rhonda. sixth great teacher. she's nothing short of a hero. she had six kids with her in the bathroom. she laid on top of them. they are all alive, all accounted for. i understand that the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were all accounted for and have been moved to a church and are safe there. still unaccounted for was kindergarten, first, second, and third graders. no word on the kids right now. parents are just now beginning to arrive, kind of weeding

through the rubble. yelling at rescuers asking why they are not doing more. trust me, they are doing everything that they can. i see a tractor 50 yards from me where they can move heavier debris to get to what is underneath. for those who may just be joining us, we know that the third grade class was in a hallway taking refuge from the storm that he part of the building is completely gone. there are no walls standing of this school. it is right to the foundation. there's nothing more than a big pile of debris and like i said before, we can only hope and pray for the best that they can find these kids and these teachers alive. >> >> so we can pass this on, you're sayingle fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students are all

accounted for. >> i will see if i can get the name of that church, i don't know right now, i was told by the teacher that those grades were escorted there before the tornado hit. they were not in the school at the time. they are safe. i just walked up on another triage center. it's a red tarp laid on the concrete. a woman's head is wrapped, a blanket over her. she is breathing. i don't know if she's associated with the school or not. as we mentioned, this school was in the middle of the neighborhood and the neighborhood is gone. there will be victims here at the school and around it as well. >> folks have got to know that the rescue workers have to step gingerly. they want to listen for voices, maybe kids crying for help or

just crying. so that's why they have to move slower than others would like. >> absolutely. there are raw emotions. asking people to get back, he was tearing up as he was confronted by a father who was upset that they were not doing more. it's traumatic for everybody. they are doing everything in their power to get these kids and faculty members out of this debris. >> lance, we hate to deal with numbers but parents who are watching need to hear these numbers. the numbers tell the story. when we talked to you about an hour ago, 30 minutes ago, you said that 75 students were believed to be in the school at the time the twister hit. is that still the case? >> reporter: that is the last count that we have. in this particular part of the school, and the only area of the school that they are searching in right now, the south portion of the school, i was told that there were 75 kids who took refuge in that hallway which has

reinforced cinder block walls. obviously a tornado of this magnitude. >> the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were taken out of the school before it hit. you're talking about 30 that were relocated at a church? >> that's correct. i spoke to a parent that early on initially there were 30 children taken out of this particular area of the school, the south portion. now, i don't know that those include the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. i believe they were gone before the tornado hit. they were evacuated and taken to a church to our south. i'm still trying to get the details of the name of that church. that's a rally point for the parents as they look for the kids. >> just to clarify one more time, it's the third grade class that appeared to be in the hallway that searchers are

looking for now. is that correct? >> that's correct. this was the area where the third grade kids took refuge from the storm. i would say the age is third grade, 8, 9 years old. the prayers continue tonight and we're not going anywhere. >> lance, thank you very much. we hope that every one of those children are alive and well. we'll continue to pray. our hearts go out for you. absolutely. >> we'll try to get you as much information as we can and accurately as we can. >> speaking of new information, we need to get new information on the storm center from mike morgan. >> the tornado watch continues until 10:00 tonight. there are really just about

three main storms in oklahoma that are a potential threat to life in terms of tornadic activity. one is up here in creek county, garvin county, and the third one is in love county to the southwest of ardmore. we have a storm up here moving into creek county which just had a confirmed tornado on it. this storm coming out of garvin county is going to clip into southeastern patawamie county and then jefferson county into love county at tornado warning has been lifted into carter county because that storm has lifted up to the north. that puts ardmore in a dangerous pass. you folks getting us on cable, tornado warning for carter county. that's a dangerous situation.

let's zoom in and take a look at the storm over to the southeast. there is a the hook near stratford now, southeast of buyers, then it will cross the river, and then head up towards southeastern potowamie county and there's the time of arrival for that potential tornadic activity there and it's moving to the east-northeast putting these towns in dangerous, especially red line center line for stratford. it's moving out of garvin county. the storm up here had a tornado on it just a few moments ago south of welfty that is heading for bristo and 5:38. begs is a suburbs in southwestern tulsa. it's going to head from creek

county and then southern tulsa county and then one more this storm down here to the south which is in love county and jefferson county trying to head in to carter county for you folks in ardmore. you can clearly see the little notch there and hook. that came out of the corner and it's heading for ardmore and we would want to express to you that these are organized super cells down here, very, very large. we want to give you a head's up in lone grove with the conditions that are over us, obviously a lot of destruction is certainly possible with these storms. you need to pay attention very carefully and go to your safe spot because this storm is -- >> we are watching live coverage there in moore, oklahoma, our affiliate of kfor, plaza towers

where students have taken refuge in the hallways. they were able to confirm that the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were taken to a local church. the biggest concern is for the k through 3. sobbing parents have been seen coming to the site of the school searching for their loved ones. the reporter on the scene said that a teacher, a sixth grade teacher had taken some students into the bathroom and jumped over top of them as the storm went across. all those students are okay. right now the south portion of the school, where they believe some of the students had taken refuge from the storm, is where the main concentration of the storm goes on, to look for those students and safely return those students. this could be the worst tornado in history, certainly for the state of oklahoma. joining me by phone is a red

cross spokesperson, nige nigel holderby. what is the first plan of action for the red cross? >> first, we are very devastated that this is such a bad situation. but we are responding and we are providing relief with an emergency shelter, with food, the emotional comfort that is going to be needed at this time and we are making sure that we are doing everything that we can at this time to provide people with a place to be and there's so many people who have been displaced. we want to make sure that they are safe. >> we know that the white house has been watching this and they have put out a stakes talking about fema closely monitoring this storm, getting updates from the president. the governor of oklahoma tweeted, please keep those impacted by today's storm in your thoughts and prayers. nigel, this is adding insult to injury because the area saw a

tornado yesterday. based on that and what we're seeing with these absolute images of devastation truly looking like a bomb went off, how quickly can you get in there to help those that need shelter and safety? >> you know, we wait for that call. as soon as it's told that it's safe to send our volunteers in, we are making that happen as quickly as possible. so we are responding. we have already set up three shelters from these storms that hit yesterday. we are on the ground and have our volunteers ready to go and we're making sure that there's a safe descendent into those areas. >> so were you watching the storm predictions closely based on what we saw yesterday, knowing that you were most likely going to respond to something of that nature yesterday but need to pivot based on the fact that we could have seen something like this and now we have? >> absolutely. we are continually watching and

monitoring that and i'm based in springfield, missouri, working with the national communications team and our team here is even -- we sent out our availability request. so we are already amped up ready to send volunteers to help support our oklahoma neighbors should that call come in and they need our assistance. >> we're looking at the imax movie theater, a local mall there. a kfor chopper in the area. people caught off guard by this, going about their normal day. some people at the mall, some people in the movie theaters. we were telling you about these two local grade schools that are a concern for rescuers trying to account for these kids. schools with k through sixth graders inside. you can see the path of the attorney itself and how it just took a beeline through the town there of moore, oklahoma. it's just absolutely amazing to see these images and you have to

think -- nigel, you have to think the whole area itself, people are going to be seeking safety, warmth, and shelter, and not knowing where to turn. >> absolutely. that's whereas the american red cross we are reaching out to these communities, this community specifically and letting people know where to seek shelter, so we will be making sure that as soon as this is prepared and on its feet and it's ready to go, people are aware of where they can get the emergency assistance. >> i want to bring into the conversation the mayor of oklahoma city. explain from oklahoma city, the vantage point that you have. are you going to be sending in rescue crews and trying to facilitate what needs to happen in moore? >> we are helping the search and rescue in moore. we have damage in oklahoma city

and we are working on that. we're all very much in a search and rescue mode right now trying to determine how bad the situation is. obviously it's really, really bad. >> when it comes to oklahoma city, a lot of dramatic images. tell me what you see in oklahoma city. what's the condition there? >> it's very reminiscent to 10 14r years ago. this one hit the southern end of our city limits before dropping down and doing a lot of the devastating work that yur yoour pictures are demonstrating. it was an extremely wide tornado. perhaps even more broad than that. when they hit during the daytime like this, which is a little bit unusual, then you have kids in

school and that's -- i think that's the situation that is the highest concern right now. we have search and rescue going on in that corridor and the school is obviously one of the focus points but there are others as well. >> sir, just to point out, the meteorologist is saying that it could be an e-4, e-5 damage. most likely e-5. they are saying that this track is about 20 miles long. my colleague is here with me on this breaking news and had a couple of questions for you, sir. >> you know, honestly, i'm looking at this devastation and it's de ja vu. this is the story that we covered years ago. it looks exactly the same, if not worse, and the bitter irony, i cannot believe that it's exactly the same neighborhood. >> yeah, it is very close. this is just south of that tract of the 1999 tornado that you covered personally.

i remember you in the city of moore and talking with the mayor and that same may juror is still in charge and working this effort as well. it is erie to think that the tornadoes now have tracked this very similar line three times over the last 15 years. the second time it seemed like a coincidence. now we're all asking maybe it's not. >> can you explain when you live in tornado alley, all of these homes, if any of them at all don't have basements or tornado shelters and, as you said, this is a path for tornados that often happens, why is it that people don't have underground shelter in many of these newer neighborhoods? >> well, homes are built to withstand very high levels of wind. i think that's the first answer to the question. and the technology is such that for the most part people are able to avoid tornado damage.

if you think about it, if you have large public shelters and people were trying to evacuate and get to a shelter all at the same time within a few minutes t. would create a larger chaos than not. people generally take cover very late and people in oklahoma are relatively we had-educated on where in their house would be the safest part of the house to hunker down and keep in mind these tornadoes are gone in seconds. and then -- and in the worst case scenarios, people generally come out of this relatively safe environment from inside the house. when you get hit, though, with an e-4 tornado, e-5, only one has touched down and that was in 1999, the one that milissa was referring to. if this was an e-5, it will be the second in our city's history.

>> i just want to remind everyone as they are watching the rescuers go through the town of moore, it's our understanding that third graders have been trapped in a hallway. rescuers are trying to get to survivals in this rubble. mick, i know you are out of town today which must be hard. i know that you are trying to get home. i want to ask you one more question quick leechly. what are the first things that the city of moore is doing today and in the days to come? >> well, the first thing is the rescue. you want to make sure that people are accounted for. that's the situation going on right now. usually news media is looking for some sort of running tally, how many individuals, fatalities, and from a city

government perspective, that information comes late in the process. what we're trying to do right now -- that's going to take place house by house, business by business, and in this case school by school. tomorrow when the sun comes up, there will be a further accounting of the damage. i think the aerial pictures will give with fresh daylight compare ra ability to see the physical devastation and the dollar amount and the insurance and all of those aspects of it. >> mick cornett, thank you for being on the air with us. i know you're eager to get back to your city. >> thank you, milissa. >> milissa, thank you so much. both milissa and the mayor talking about the fact that if

this is an e-5, they have only seen that in 1999. today's track was 20 miles long and the tornado itself a mile wide. we're joined by todd and jennifer tabor who were evacuated from their home in moore, oklahoma, and cannot get back to their neighborhood. thank you for being with me. explain where you are in proximity to your house. what do you know about your home or your neighborhood? >> we don't know anything right now. they've got the road blocked off behind us. we are trying to get to whatever power lines that are down and gas fixed so we can get back into our neighborhood to see what damage there is and if we can help out in any way. >> jennifer, at what point or time did you and todd know that you needed to get out? was it based on tv reports? someone calling you? how did you know to get out in time? >> well, i was watching the tv

reports and i was watching out the window, i could see it coming towards our house as we were evacuating and as we get out into the main road, it was right behind us, as wide as the whole street was. we got out just in time because it was like within a couple of blocks behind us when we started to try to evacuate. >> so where did you go and were you in a mad rush with the rest of your neighbors trying to get out of the way of the storm? >> yes. it was a mad rush. there was so much con gegestion the main road, people were trying to stop for the stoplights, blaring their horns wasn'ting to go on through it. i ended up going south where i live at because i knew that it was supposed to be going east or northeast. so once we got about two miles south we stopped and tried to see what was going on but the debris that was blowing all throughout the neighborhood and on the road was unbelievable. i mean, there was big pieces,

little pieces. >> in context to what you guys have seen before and we know that oklahoma was just hit yesterday with storms, todd, have you ever seen anything like this in your life? >> may 3rd was the worst i've ever seen. i don't know how this is going to compare. it looks pretty close, though. >> may 3rd of 1999, you were in moore at that time? >> yes. >> how have you seen the city rebound in that time and now what do you think that this does to the future of your town? >> moore is a strong town. we're going to rebuild. it's going to be better than ever, get everything redone. this has happened. this is the third time now. it's something we'll bounce back from pretty quickly. >> were you guys on extra heightened alert based on what happened yesterday and the fact that there were things like this that could be coming today?

>> yes. >> yeah, you could tell even this morning when i got up, you could just feel the humidity and just the way it was feeling i knew it was going to be a bad day. >> jennifer, have you guy had a chance to reach out to loved ones? have you been able to account for loved ones and neighbors? >> no, we haven't been able to contact anyone. we haven't been able to have cell service. the people that does have phones that we've asked, they haven't been able to get cell service. no, we haven't been able to reach out to loved ones or let loved ones know that we are okay. >> i think all of the cell phones are down. >> right now -- and this is a highly sensitive question because you haven't been able to get back -- but god willing, your house will still be there, what are your biggest concerns when you are allowed to go back into your neighborhood? >> that all of our neighbors are okay and everything's fine. >> yeah. >> do you pretty much think jennifer --

>> a house can be replaced. >> jennifer, you said that tornado was barrelling down on your home. do you think that your home is still standing? >> i have no idea right now. i tried to go -- the whole blockage around where my house is, i tried to go up 19th. i went all the way down to tower road. there was just not -- they weren't letting anyone into the neighborhoods and i saw right there over the interstate just east of i-35 between 19th and fourth street, i saw a neighborhood that was just wiped out. my children has friends that live in that area, you know, and the debris was in the road and then when we went east on fourth street towards eastern, all of the powers lines were down and i could see he at least four or five power lines down.

they wouldn't let us go through. it just looks like there's a lot of damage but just not knowing is -- it's terrible. >> todd, what are your plans for tonight? where will you and jennifer go if you are not allowed to go back into your neighborhood? >> just whatever we have to do, we'll find a place to stay. it's about a year and a half ago we lost another home to a fire so -- i mean, we've gotten used to the hotel life at times when we need to. >> probably get a motel room or something. >> we wish you nothing but the best and glad you have each other and we hope you find your loved ones and friends and neighbors as well. thank you very much. weapon want to take you back to our coverage, kfor, focusing on these two elementary schools were students were trying to take safe harbor inside one of the school's plaza towers, the k

through third graders are still unaccounted for. >> a lot of the focus is right now because simply they know that people were in that building when it was destroyed. if you saw earlier shots of moore, oklahoma, as our coverage has continued since about 2:30 this afternoon, you know that there are areas throughout this city that look exactly the same and folks right now, first responders, are simply trying to find people that may be trapped and they are doing it by listening with their ears, trying to hear calls of help and pain to know where to start digging. >> you know where to start. you start at the elementary schools and that's where they are. they are going to start going door to door, what used to be homes, piles of rubble up and down the street there. as john said earlier, he lives near there. he doesn't even recognize that area. i know it's hard to get your

bearings straight when you are from that area and you know where most things were. >> john, can you hear us? what i was saying is that it's hard for you, as you have seen other choppers go by, it's hard for you to get your bearings right in an area that you know like the back of your hand because you live not far from there. >> i think he's having trouble talking to us. the chopper that moved through there was a police chopper. >> let's go to jesse back on the ground. tell us what you are seeing. >> kevin, the words do not do this scene justice. it's hard to describe what we are seeing out here. absolute and total devastation. right now i'm standing basically right next to the moore cemetery, corner of ridgeway and southwest eighth. this is just to the north of where the plaza towers

elementary school is. we walked down two or three blocks to where that school is and got a look at the scene down there. right now we're standing on the north edge of the absolute worst of the damage. here you can see a number of homes are still standing, somewhat obviously significant damage on all of these homes but the walls for many of these homes are still standing. you go a block or two to the south and completely different story. homes are down on their foundation. i walked down to tower plaza elementary. we talked to a couple of kids actually on our way down and they said they were inside the school when the tornado hit. they were being told to hang on to the walls on the interior of the school. very, very sad story. obviously one of the people we talked to said that a teacher was actually on top, laying on top of three elementary school

kids. that teacher was in very, very bad shape. personally, he didn't think that this person was going to make it through the storm but one teacher laying on top of three kids, trying to protect them from the debris. i can tell you plaza towers elementary, as you can see from the air, is basically gone. most of the walls are destroyed. there are cars that were tossed into the front of that where the office building is. there's now a car, a dodge durango sitting in the front of that school where the office is. again, right now we can not get our live truck back into that scene. hopefully in the next few minutes we will be able to. the streets have cleared up a little bit as people have come into that area. right now again, search and rescue operations are continuing over at the school building. i don't know for sure how many kids have been taken out of that school. i can tell you a number of kids were taken out although when we were out there, there were still rescue crews out on the scene

attempting to get kids. the last information i heard, just about five minutes ago, there may have been kids trapped towards the back of the school in the basement area. again, right now i don't know how many kids were still in that school, how many got out of the school. we know some of the kids got out of that school because we talked to a couple of them, said that some of those kids were safe, escaped injuries, some of the teachers doing their very best to protect the kids may have been severely injured, maybe even killed. you do a 360 degrees everywhere you look, we'll try to have more. >> jesse, tough talk to us about those kids that got out. where were they that they possibly could have gotten out of that debris? >> reporter: kids said that they were actually told to go into the hallways, outside of their classrooms and they were

hitter literally hugging the sides of the walls. they were in the hallways outside the classrooms hugging the walls. again, teachers laying on top of some of those kids as debris was coming into that school. indescribable scene. i can't imagine what it was like for those kids, young kids, second, third, fourth graders. some of them have gotten out but there were rescue crews asking us if we knew if there were kids still inside. i didn't know. they were asking people that were in that area. they said -- they thought they were in the back in the basement area. rescue crews going in there and digging at the back of that school. there is not much left on that school. it's mazing that anybody got out but appears some have. i don't know how many haven't. >> jesse wells reporting live. we're going to go back to lance west in a moment. we indicated before that they needed first responders to come down to that area. we're being told that they ask that you delay that right now.

they've got more than they can handle in terms of trying to coordinate the people that are there. if you're watching and had planned to go to moore, don't go there at this time. don't go to moore at this time to try to help. they are asking that you not come into that area. >> let me give you an update real quickly. some students, at least 15 from briarwood elementary, at least 15 of those students are at 15613 vicky drive. 15613 vicky drive. at least 15 of those students from briarwood school are at that location. if you have students or roughlo ones, if you can get there. >> of course, the problem is unless you're in the moore area

you're not going to be able to get in because they have shut off the traffic. let's go back to lance west. >> reporter: i'm outside the yellow tape. i can tell you that they brought a dog in, getting ready to do some search and rescue operations. it does look like they have taken some back boards up to the mountain of metal and cinder blocks and it looks, from my perspective, like they may be communicating with someone. if there is a victim undhear rubble, they haven't been able to reach them yet but it looks like they may be talking to someone trapped under the debris. it's an encouraging sign. it's right under that wall that jesse wells reported that the kids took refuge from the storm. this may be some encouraging news. i can also mention that right across the street there's a home where about 15 minutes ago some

folks heard some cries for help and there are probably 50 people right now on hands and knees pulling away boards and debris in hopes of finding that person alive. it was about 15 minutes ago and we were over there checking out the situation. they say they heard some cries for help. we don't have an update on that but it came from that direction. it looks like they are still there. they are still picking away boards. that's an encouraging sign. that's the status. since i arrived here about an hour, hour and a half ago, they have not pulled anyone out from the school. there was a little boy, probably 8 years old, i spoke to two other teachers inside the school. they are okay other than some bumps and bruises. we know that fourth, give, this and sixth graders have been accounted for.

they are doing a head count to find out how many may be trapped. >> of course, there are relatives around the nation watching live coverage wondering about loved ones. >> listening to the coverage there of our affiliate at kfor, parents are worried about the two elementary schools in the area. again, the plaza towers elementary school they are trying to find the k through third graders, fourth through sixth, all of those kids have been accounted for. we're going to take an eye on that. we are taking a break to talk with congressman james langford. you are in the area in. >> i am actually in washington, d.c., i was in the area shawnee 20 miles to the east of that and got on the plane midday today and came up to washington, d.c. >> i'm looking at your facebook page and seeing the images of you in the area so i thought

that maybe you might have stayed in the area because of the weather not being able to get out. you've been on the ground, and now you're back in d.c. watching these images. this has got to be devastating for you and your constituents. >> it is. obviously we're watching what is traumatic for us. you talk about oklahomans talk about may 1999. and it is a significant long trek tornado similar to that and a lot of injuries. this is different in that it hit right at 3:00 in the afternoon. obviously it hit schools. we haven't had that happen before. schools have a safe place to go but we haven't had a situation where we've had a direct hit on a school like this. >> explain for some of us that may not have grown up in a tornado alley situation, what is the plan for these schools, how

they are designed modern day so the kids can find those safe hallways and teachers can get them to safe areas. >> this is not a typical tornado. but you would get into the center of the building where there are no windows around and put as many walls between you and the tornado. in a typical tornado, it will not collapse roof. when you see the images of whole houses that are gone, that is not a typical tornado. so in a situation like this, you've got to have people underground to be able to survive it or have as many walls that are stabilized. so every school, including this school, will have a disaster plan, if a tornado comes in, they have a place that they can go, a safe room built into the building or a secured location where they can protect their children. >> for those just watching, we're watching two different images. on the right hand side we have images of the tornado that

ripped through moore, oklahoma. the estimate is that it was a mile wide and 200 mile-an-hour winds and the track of this storm could have gone down touching down roughly 20 miles. on the left of your screen, you can see kfor talking about the search and rescue operations under way. certainly, sir, the collection centers, where people collect, malls, the schools, churches, i know there was a casino in the area, those are the areas right now of biggest concern for the rescue operators to get in there and seek out, especially for those little kids. >> right. it's every location that you try to get to the spot where people are the most vulnerable. that would be child care areas, schools, the warren theater was hit very hard as well. we're trying to go house to house as well. all of the neighbor's homes were

hit as well. you can't get through the streets because there's so much debris in the streets. they have to turn off the electrical lines because there's hot electrical lines across the roads and hanging in trees. so all of those things prohibit you getting quickly help into these resources. sometimes you'll see there's only a few people helping because no one can physically actually get to the location yet. streets are covered in debris and electric power lines are down. >> at least 29 people have been taken to the hospital, seven listed in critical contindition. just to put this in context for our viewers, the storm in 1999 was so powerful killed 41 people and it cost billions of dollars. as we look at these images right now, what is your biggest fear

for the potential loss of life? >> well, we can't guess on either one of those right now. we're looking for the protected lives, rather than the lost lives. we'll continue to focus on those that we can go in and save. we have just unbelievably good disaster relief folks and salt of the earth neighbors that will go after each other and protect each other. that's going to be our focus. >> i know. we are seeing the first responders go in, we saw the local anchors there talking about the people in the community asking people to stay at home, at least for now. we know the first impulse is to get out there and help others. it might put them at harm's way. things are so fresh. electric wires and all of that could then put those people in unsafe situations. sir, i want to ask you to stand by as i bring in my colleague,

milissa. >> i hate to leave but i've got to be able to step here and get on the house floor and continue to take care of some stuff here. thank you for your coverage. american red cross does a great job for those that want to help, can give and participate in that and then obviously people across the area can donate blood and be a part of this process. glad to have americans' prayers in this time. >> congressman langford who was in shawnee touring the devastation and now is back in washington. milissa, you had an opportunity to speak with the mayor of oklahoma. this is an area that you know well from your earlier coverage. it looks like a bomb went off. >> you know, i remember back

then describing it as an entire neighborhood being put in a blender because that's what it looked like to me. i was absolutely in awe of not just were these homes destroyed, there was nothing left recognizable. what you were just asking the congressman is a really good point. as i sit here and watch these brave men and women, first responders going in there, words cannot express how dangerous it is what they are doing right now. i would imagine that the first thing they did was shut down power. i am certainly hoping that they have done that. the scary part is, they probably only have two more hours of light as they try to search through this very dangerous situation and they want to move as quickly as they can to find those children but i think that they are facing the real possibility that night is going to fall, that it's going to get cold and they will have to search under those conditions. >> and that's a great point, right now as we were talking

about the american red cross earlier about the fact that everybody in this area that's been displaced is now going to try to seek shelter and warm, dry clothes if they don't have any right now or have access to any. >> the fear is night because we're watching the helicopter fly over the trauma center. the sheets laid out and puts them in order for injuries. there wasn't anybody on them, which means that people are buried in there. tough hope that people who commute to oklahoma city for work weren't anywhere near it and they weren't in their homes but those children are definitely the priority right now. it's going to be a long time until we know if people are trapped in flare homes. as you can you saw earlier, people don't even know where their homes are anymore. street signs are down. nothing looks like it used to be

people checking on neighbors is impossible right now. >> the movie centers, schools, theaters, malls, loek ka casino in the area, they are concentrating on those now and again they are going to have to go door to door. we're going to take you back to kfor's chopper coverage from moore, oklahoma. >> what happened is everything has been blown and put right there. stuff heavy. we have some big i-beams and this thing has a ton of -- a ton of weight on there. the problem is that they could put an excavator and actually pick and start moving that rubble up and then you're going to start disrupting how everything is laying and you could possibly hurt more people that might even be in there. this is going to be a slow going process and thoughts and prayers go to these people affected by

this. but it's just going to be a slow, tedious process. we're going to have to take a little bit at a time. like we talked about yesterday, they are going to have to start looking with their ears, kevin. >> john -- >> we're listening to the live chopper coverage there from our affiliate in the area. i want to bring in now the mayor of moore, oklahoma. glenn lewis. mayor lewis, thank you for joining us. first off, we're watching this certainly our hearts and prayers go out to all of the people of moore, oklahoma. what can you tell us about what your people on the ground have been telling you about the neighborhoods and the center where is they are concentrating right now, elementary schools, two different ones? >> well, thanks for the call. i'd like to say that. right now we are in the process of assessing the damage, the injuries. i can't confirm the fatalities or how many houses were destroyed. i took a tour in a fire truck

and most of the areas throughout the city there's a lot of power lines down so a lot of areas we couldn't go in to. i can tell that you i was told by the fire department that briarwood school was cleared, all of the kids were accounted for there. plaza towers is and we basically lost some businesses. we lost our hospital and it looked like our post office. but there was quite a bit of debris. the whole city looks like a debris field. >> sir, can you confirm any fatalities that you have heard or have you heard of any fatalities from the crews that you have on the ground? >> we've heard all kind of rumors but i can't confirm fatalities right now. >> sir, what can you tell us about the schools. plaza tower, were they able to account for the fourth, sixth

graders? >> like i said, they have completed both of their search at both of the schools and they've done quite a bit of recovery over there and they were just finishing up. i can't figure out what it's been. most of the electricity is out here in city hall and we're running on generator power. >> sir, as we look at these images from earlier and some of these pictures are just devastating, it happened in such a small period of time, the tornado from 1999, did you live in moore, oklahoma, at that time and if you did, how does today compare with what you lived through back then? >> actually, i was the mayor back then and this storm is very similar and one of the things that i can tell you is that we

have a first-class thing here in the city hall and their experience in dealing with tornadoes and the devastation is quite similar. it was more concentrated in 1999. it covered mostly on the far north into the city. that was not quite as inhabited. this actually went through the city and like i said we're still assessing damage. the electric lines. >> sir, i just wanted to pass this along to our viewers. our affiliate kfor has just tweeted that they have confirmed four dead in moore. they are saying near fourth street and telephone road. a mom and baby were included in that account. they tried to hide in the freezer. >> they would probably be in the hospital. that was where the hospital was located. and it is a -- it's a small hospital. it's a part of norman regional.

like i said, i haven't seen any reports. but it wouldn't surprise me. >> mayor lewis, we're going to let you get back to work. thank you, sir, for joining us. >> thank you for your call and thank you for your concern. i appreciate it. >> absolutely. we're going to go back to kfor who continues to focus on plaza towe towe towers elementary school. >> the search and rescue crews continuing to treat the kids that were in this school that search -- search for kids that may still have kids inside and honestly it's not just the school that got hit as we pan around a little further, you're able to see all around, 360 degrees and people are just trying to have loved ones, friends and if their family

members are still alive, it's really indescribable and there's nowhere that you don't see damage and destruction. again right now we're in the front of the corner of plaza towers elementary. we've been talking about that school. total devastation out here. absolutely -- there's no other way to say it that i can think of, total devastation out here and, of course, we'll try to find out the information again, very sparse as far as kids that were rescued, kids that may still be trapped. we really don't know. we'll try to find out that information. plaza towers elementary right here behind me. absolutely took a direct hit from this tornado and there just is not a lot left standing on that school. we'll try to get you more information here as soon as possible. back to you guys. >> jesse and linda, teachers are special people, as you know -- >> we've been listening to local

coverage of plaza towers elementary. several children have been pulled out of the rubble alive. students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade were accounted for. it was the k through third grade classes where the most concern has been on the search and rescue mission. parents on the scene as well. jim cantore is on the scene because of the shawnee storm yesterday. this must be a first for you? >> well, i had this feeling in my gut before, unfortunately, once we arrived on the scene, it's pretty much, you know, pretty much -- it's everything i imagined and heard on the radio coming up here. you have three to -- right now i'm in new castle, about six

plus miles to the southwest of moore. this is where the tornado traveled a very long path on the east side of moore and continued to do damage. even here in new castle with the initial touchtown, i'm looking at 3, 5,000 square foot homes that have been completely leveled. trees have been debarked. in other words, all of the bark has been stripped off the trees. even this initial hit right here in new castle, one can say we had at least 150 to 180 mile-per-hour winds if not greater, the same kind of damage as in shawnee, perhaps even worse from what i'm looking at. your coverage that people are asking via social media for help to be dug out. so there is still very many people we understand trapped in rubble from new castle up to moore because the population gets thicker and thicker as you go. i've never heard of so many

schools that have been hit as hard and the sad part is, this was at the time when school was -- just before school was going to be let out. i-35 was supposed to be closed. it was typical getting in here. obviously our hearts go out to these people because this is complete and utter devastation. this is a tuscaloosa, potentially a joplin situation. not certainly saying we're going to see as many losses of life but in terms of the devastation. we're way up there on the e-f scale, winds up towards 200 miles an hour. almost identical path that happened on may 3rd in 1999. of course, the unfortunate part is there's so much more population. >> the weather channel jim cantore. we're going to let you get back to work. thank you. if you're just joining us, we're continuing to follow the

breaking news in moore, oklahoma. rescue crews are on the scene there searching for the missing. k through third grade classes, a.p. reporting that kids have been pulled from the rubble. you've been hearing lots of references to the may 3rd, 1999, storms, a very similar tornado went through the same area at that time it killed 41 people, injured hundreds, and caused about $1 billion in damages. there are four dead. this was in a tweet from our affiliate, kfor, in an area of fourth street and telephone road. the mayor was saying that might be near the hospital. a mom and a baby was included in that count. again, the main population areas, movie theater, the casino, elementary schools, those are the biggest concern for rescue crews right now as they are on the scene at plaza towers elementary school. we have a young couple on here talking before how they were

evacuated from their neighborhood in moore. they are not able to go home. that's the story for so many people around oklahoma city tonight. we're continuing from msnbc with chris matthews. good evening. i'm chris matthews up in boston. it's utter destruction. tonight the community of moore, a suburb southeast of oklahoma city has been leveled after a mile-wide tornado tore through the area this afternoon. at least two elementary schools were in the path of the storm. the local affiliate reports that children may be trapped in one of those schools. people are digging through the rubble searching for survivors. the associated press reported that several children have been pulled out of the rubble alive. our affiliate kfor report four dead so far, including a mother and a baby.