the state of oklahoma in the wake of the massive tornado that ripped through the suburbs today. the latest death toll is 51 killed, at least 20 of them are children. they say the numbers are likely to climb tomorrow. rescue opera will continue through the night, including plauz sa towers elementary, where 75 students and staff are sheltering from the storm. k-4 reporting that the bodies of seven kids have thus far been recovering from the storm site. msnbc's coverage of the aftermath of the storm continues now. >> this is continuing live coverage of the devastating tornado in oklahoma today. right now, rescue workers in moore, oklahoma, are slowly going through neighborhoods, searching for any survivors that carved a 20-mile path of destruction. at least 51 people are dead,

including 20 children, at least seven of those died at plaza tower elementary school. at least completely destroyed. they're using generators and flood lights to continue their search overnight. the tornado was at least a mile wide and created an area of destruction that is 30 square miles. we're hearing some of the harrowing stories of the people who survived. >> we thought we died. we locked the cellar door and it got louder. next thing you know, you see the latch coming undone. it ripped open the door. just glass and deproi started slamming. >> the three other guys, bigger than me, were pulling on the

door to keep it from flying open. >> everything is gone. everything was gon. but the important thing is we're alive. >> and we've also heard from some of the kids who survived when plaza towers elementary school was ripped apart by the tornado. >> we had to walk over piles of -- >> rubble. >> everything. and it was pretty scary. everybody was rushing everybody. and then i came out and i saw the cars and i saw the houses and i just started crying so hard. >> you are never, ever going to go through this again. >> we had to sit like this. >> i had to hold on to the wall to keep myself safe because i didn't want to fly away in the

tornado. >> it was coming. it was heavy. everybody said put your heads up. put your head douj. some people got hurt. we made it out alive. >> we had to pull a car out of the front hallway off a teacher. she had three little kids underneath her. good job, teach. i see it ripped our house up. i still got a little girl buried in there, so i've got to go. >> i'm joined by msnbc's melissa rayburger. melissa, you were a local news anchor in that very town. you were there for that last tornado that no one thought could be out-done until today. >> i think most of us are still speechless about that very fact that it followed almost the same path in 1999 and struck moore. that is just almost impossible to believe. >> joining me now by phone is

the mayor of moore, oklahoma. glen lewis. mr. mayor, what moore developments can we expect to learn of overnight? >> we're not sure. right now. right now, we're in practice mode because we have an outage at the oklahoma city water plant where we get our water. our water treatment is at a trickle right now. we requested help from other agencies around. we've got water from our other fire trucks. but they tell me they're going to have that on by 1:00 in the morning, which is about an hour away. so i'm waiting for that call. we hope that we will find maybe some people alive in some of this rubble. we don't know yet. we're continuing right now. as we speak, we're still going back house-to-house on several of those locations.

hopefully, it will be better in the morning. >> we heard earlier that city buss were seen takiing people ot of the neighborhood. we know traffic was a real problem. we still don't know exactly how many missing persons they have. they haven't given me that information yet. i don't think they really know. at this point, we had five schools hit. briarwood elementary was completely devastated.

fortunately, there was no accidental deaths there or anything like that. and then, all the kids now have been acounted for there. same in highland west, highland east and i believe the original moore high school. all of these schools were in session at the time that this thing actually hit. >> mayor, do you know of anything that residents and people could have done to have reduced the amount of loss of life that we've seen in this? >> well, unfortunately, we didn't have the time opportunity at the warning system as far as we did back in the '99 tornado. i was actually the mayor then. it hit on the very north end of the town. this one actually cut across the middle of the town and was a much wider swath, even though this was an f-4 and the original was an f-5, i think this one may

have done more damage -- it's already killed more people. i can tell you that. >> earlier today, the medical examiner said it is almost positively sure that there will be more. that that death toll will rise. how concerned are you about not even knowing how many people are missing and what they're going to find. >> that's our main concern. trying to find more people that are alive that may be trapped in the debris now. i can tell you, we have some exhausted firefighters and police officers right now. this started at about 3:00. or i'm not sure when it starded. it will continue throughout the night. they won't give up until the last person is accounted for, i can tell you that. >> mr. mayor, we just heard from children who were in the elementary school with the loss of life. it's hard to imagine what you can say to them to make them feel safe again. what do you suggest to them and

these kids that have been dealing with this horrible trauma. >> well, i'm not really sure. i really don't know. i'm sure the school will bring in a lot of counselors. >> mayor glen lewis, thank you very much for joining us again on this very, very difficult night for you. thank you very much. >> sure. thank you. >> we're joined now by oklahoma lieutenant governor todd lamb. lieutenant governor lamb, i want to ask you what i just asked the mayor. we just saw some devastating video of children who were in that school where some of the friends did not survive and they feel like they barely survived themselves. and i'm sitting here trying to figure out, and i haven't been

able to, what i could say to those kids to make them feel safe the next time they go to school. >> i have a sixth grader and a third grader. you know, you shelter your kids. thank god my kids are home tonight. my daughter, my third grader, had crocodile tears. i'm thinking of the kids tonight. we prayed for them, we prayed for their families. we talked to them about the fit in the weather and something that's immovable. we're a people in faith of oklahoma. unfortunately, we get to practice toughness and resiliency from time-to-time all the way back to april 19th to 199.

and, as the mayor said, as horrible as 1999 was, that tornado was the most devastating tornado of record in the history of the planet, 1999. this tornado has already taken more lives and i hope not, i pray not, but i think, as you've mentioned, the medical examiner said the death toll is climbing higher, possible le. >> lieutenant governor, you were just mentioning the resiliency of the people in oklahoma. i've witnessed it myself. and it is a powerful thing. the president has announced some help. we know that government help is on the way. i know the people of oklahoma aren't ones to sit around and wait for government help. the last time i saw this kind of thing in 1999, you saw area businesses pitching in and bringing by hot meals and water and supplies.

one of the fire chiefs said listen, all the volunteers, thank you for wanting to help. thank you for your desire to assist. we have all of the volunteers we can possibly handle at this time. and that goes to back to what you said firsthand and what you just said. we're good at helping each other. we're going to get a lot of practice at it. but whether it's the professional first responders, medical personnel, military with boots on the ground, where people will be up all night zernling and rescuing those that are in the rubble. >> lieutenant governor, todd lamb, thank you for being so generous with your time on this very difficult night. i know you have some difficult days ahead. thank you very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> melissa, you make a point that this community has been through this before. you've seen the way they respond.

what do you think we're going to be seeing over the next few day sns. >> we're going to be seeing horrible stories and heartwarming stories. you'll hear harrowing stories of survival and terrible loss. you will also see strangers putting up strangers in their homes. you will see the shelter is packed. hopefully, you know, people were able to bring their pets. you'll see them gathering pets and bringing them to shelters because they have been displaced. i actually adopted a cat that was displaced in may of 1999 and i named him "twigster" after ths storm. that's what people did last time. there will be some sort of place where people can go and look and see if any of their personal belongings are out there.

you're going to see a lot of people showing up with food and water and offering to provide shelter. melissa, thank you very much for joining us here. you're our authority here at msnbc. you've been absolutely invaluable to us. thank you very much. a live report from the scene and a view of the path of the tornado. that's going to be next. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant kind. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs like miracle-gro plant food that feeds them for up to six months. you get bigger, healthier plants, guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro?

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running. the active search continues. i don't know if you can hear that, it's just outside of the camera's view here. it's heavy e chemical weaponment. front loaders, dozers all moving in through this area. as i was saying, the governor said that they're going to continue the search for survivors for as long as possible. and, through the night, we've seen a helicopter that circles every 15, 20 minutes with a zej light. the national guard is on the ground here. they have heat-seeking equipment here. and really, anyone with a badge. we're talking about police officers, sheriff's officers, firefighters, they're all on the ground here doing what they can. in some cases, unfortunately, we've seen them walking through with family members and shouting out the names of perhaps some of those who are missing and continuing to walk through these neighborhoods that are dark.

so that's the infrastructure that's wrecked. as for any solid numbers, we had been told that we should expect the number of dead to go up officially from the medical examiner's office. right now, we know it's at 51 with 20 of those victims horrible by as children who were trapped inside an elementary school here. we know that two elementary schools targeted by the twister as it moved through. and the work continues. it's not a rescue there anytime. but we're told a recovery. but they continue to search very victims. we haven't gotten an update. so no clear indication of what may come. yeah, lawrence, that's a long way of saying we do expect more information tloult the night.

>> jay, an awful lot of displaced people there. where are they going to be able to spend the night? >> there are 14e89ers that continue to open here. more than a dozen city buss have picked up people and taken them away at least to safe areas where they can meet up with family mem we arings and friends. that's happening a lot. that's what a lot of displaced people are doing. they understand what they're going through. they know the dangers here in tornado alley. they know it could have been them. >> nbc news, jay grey, thank you very much for joining us again tonight, grey. >> in addition to the incredible footage from helicopters and

other things that we've seen to the local news crews there, there are amateur footage sholt on shot on a camera phone and up loaded to youtube. >> joining me now, the man who shot and up loaded that footage, 24-year-old michael welsh. michael, where were you when you were shooting that? >> i was standing in new castle, oklahoma. >> why did you stay there aiming

your camera at that? well, i've seen a lot of these. i got hit in 2011. at the end of the video, i actually had to take off because there was falling debris and i had to get out of the way. after that passed, what did you then do of that? >> i instantly said a prayer that are getting ready and had been affected by that strong, strong tornado. >> so, michael, you had strong tornado experience in these kinds of situations? >> yeah, from oklahoma, there's quite a few of them. >> so when did you realize just how bad this one was going to

be? >> the fact that it grew as fast as it did, it was incredible. and did you watch that whole thing? did you watch it go from nothing to that? and that's a much faster-pace than some of the other tornadoes you've seen? yes, i was scared. were you alone when you were shooting this? >>. >> i had a look in the first video. >> how did you get it uploaded to youtube? >> when i came home, i got on my phone and just uploaded it.

michael welsh, thank you very much for capturing the drama of this incredible, horrifying tornado. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you so much, sir. please keep oklahoma in you're prayers. >> wrer going to do exactly that. we'll have more of our live kov ramg as our msnbc coverage continues here tonight. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking.

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this is definitely some of the worst damage i've seen in my life. it's hard to see all of this. these houses are just gone. the foundation, there's trees, there's just nothing. it's just bare ground. it's ripped the grass up, even. we talked to some people who were behind our house here and it took three people to hold it down.

>> those are witnesses of the death and destruction. those were the journalists who were covering the story. alonzo adams is a freelance photographer and a storm chaser. he also took these pictures that you're seeing earlier today. and he joins me now by phone. alonzo adams, where are you now? >> is it totally different from what happened nort of the city? >> yeah u it's been white showers throughout the bay. and you go south, oklahoma city and moore, oklahoma, it's just completely obliterated, chaos down there. >> and given all of your experience with tornadoes and storm chasing going toward them,

what was today like for you? >> well, i started my chase with my chase partner, richard rowe and, myself, headed south. we got halve way down and realized that the storm was going to go tornadic really quick. it's when we actually saw the tornado coming through the western sides of moore, oklahoma. and we snapped a few pictures and made some reports and headed on further north closer to the tornado. that's when we could see that it was ablg chully doing major damage. we could see on the eye in the sky. massive tornado, you know, going through the land, more oklahoma. and it was just devastating to

know that it was destroying homes and families lives. it was just chaos. people walking around everywhere. you could smell natural gas, you could hear the hiss of natural gas, it was a strong smell of natural gas. it was just unbelievable damage. all the houses were levelled, cars mangled. it was just chaos. everyone is walking around, trying to figure out what to do. >> alonzo, it seems that the problem is, obviously, exactly where this tornado touched down and there's such vast tracks of under-pop ewe lated and un-pop ewe lated areas in the state of oklahoma, that it seems as though it went in just about the worst place that it could.

>> yeah, it formed just to the southwest of oklahoma city, the moore area and that is the worst place for a storm to form because it's a very populated area in that area. and if a storm goes tornadic, like this one did almost immediately, there's no getting around damage and loss of life. >> oorks lonzo, i think a lot of viewers around the country are wondering what you were doing and what is the point of storm chasing when so many people are trying to get away from this kind of thing. >> well, i've taken meteorology classes and i feel getting the word out to people in a safe spot and underground, getting if wo the word out to them helps.

train people to give them help and to guide them through this deadly situation is what is needed. >> so it's a pursuit of information that you believe can be helpful in terms of tracking it and warning people. >> yes, correct. we need trained people. i know everybody wants to see a tornado. but trained people are out there with their lives on the line to keep everyone safe in situations like this. >> and it sounds to me that you made a decision at a certain point today to turn around from where you were going because it looked too dangerous? >> yes, i realized this tornado was a massive tornado. i haven't seen anything like that since 1999. i realized you need to back up and let mother nature do what

she has to do. and you know, we'll see what can be done for the people that were affected by it. >> alonzo adams, thank you for your photographs and officer joining us tonight. >> thank you very much. >> just after the tornado struck oklahoma, kfr tv's john welsh threw a helicopter over the tornado's path of destruction. here is what he and the anchors saw. >> there's veteran's memorial park right there. that is gone. everything in it is gone. the housing edition to the left is going to be like wimberl creeks. it's completely gone. a gymnasium building, that is completely trashed. the track from here went just southwest of fourth street.

>> it hit the bowling alley, the bank, the post office. right there on the corner is the homt. it's right there on fourth and telethon road. again, i'm between 19th street and fourth street in moore. we're still headed west. look at that school, guys. oh, my god. right there. this is terrible. this is war zone terrible. whatever school that is, it is going to be completely destroyed, as you see.

this whole area right here is completely destroyed. the houses are destroyed. it's completely levelled. that one looks harder. ask it looks harder hit than any of them before. these pictures tell you everything. >> we're trying to find out if the kids are being sheltered there or someplace else. our thoughts and prayers are with everyone there. >> and, again, we're trying to figure out right now, were the kids there? of course, they're looking right now. >> second of two schools

destroyed in moore, oklahoma. along with a huchblg section of residential housing. you'll see that the ground is literally nothing but mud. >> i'm being told that is the plaza towers elementary school. i'm unforsure of this other school here. those two-mile sections right there, guys, everything is levelled for almost the whole mile. we're just -- travis is kind of showing you some wide shots here. this is unbelievable. this is reminiscent of the 1999 storm. >> that school was the school where seven children have been decliared a among the dead in

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there's an i beam right there that came from a couple of blocks away at a storm zone. this is their storm shelter. they jammed 16 people down there. and they all made it out okay. i mean stunning. you had to be underground in order to, you know, survive this tornado. >> what was that moment like when this tornado kaccame throu? >> you can't describe it. the trees became still and it was just -- it was mass chaos. the water was basically being, you know, sucked through the seems of the shelter. most of the mud on me is from there. >> how long were you in there before that tornado hit? >> we saw the debris cloud as it was probably hitting in that area.

i'm not sure if both were there yet. >> so a matter of minutes. >> within probably two minutes after we got in there. the lid was shaking and everything just felt like it was being sucked in. >> after the tornado passes, you literal literally have to suck yourself in. >> you saw all of this. what's going through your mind? >> where to begin? i mean, it's like the beginning of the end. my wife and i worked hard for everything wed had. we were debt-free. now we're in a position of which direction do we go? >> do you have a place to stay

tonight? >> my daughter is flying back in from florida right now. plus, we're filtering through the top of the pile that she just had fixed last week from hail damage. >> how long have you lived here? >> i lived in this edition for 11 years. >> we know this city, in particular, has had a history of violent tornadoes. folks here are very cognizant of weather. but when you see something like this, does it give you perspective on certain things? >> may 3rd, of '99, in is what i'm going back to, the f5, we were affected by it, also. the center of it missed our house by three quarters of a mile. decided to make a left-hand turn. but we saw the devastation from it. i was hoping that i would never personally have to be in this position. and, unfortunately, this is where we're at. >> everyone in your family is okay? >> everyone is fine. we did lose three animals. human lives, everybody is here. >> we really appreciate you. take some time to talk to us.

>> thank you. >> coming up, we'll show you how this devastating tornado developed. i have never encountered such a burning sensation... until i had the shingles. it was like a red rash. like somebody had set a bag of hot charcoal on my neck. i had no idea it came from chickenpox. it's something you never want to encounter. for more of the inside story, visit shinglesinfo.com ok s o i' more of the inside story, visit shinglesinfo.com 've been having with greek nonfat yogurt, loaded with protein 0% fat that thick creamy texture, i was in trouble. look i'm in a committed relationship with activia and i've been happy and so has my digestive system. now i'm even happier since activia greek showed up because now i get to have my first love and my greek passion together, what i call a healthy marriage.

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this is may third all over again. something is going to have to change fast or it's going to be close to a may 30 event. never want to say that, but it's where it's at right now. there it is, mike. there it is on the ground. there might be two of them. definitely be in your tornado shelter. be aware. be under ground. like mike said, just get out of there. this thing is on the glound. >> folks, if you're listening to us, you need to be -- and we're talking about these areas. don't lose your life. go, get away from it or go below ground. storm cellar, basement or safe room. that's the only options you have.

>> we're getting right there south there at moore high school. you need to see our video. it's absolutely massive. viole violent, violent motion. huge debris cloud around it. it looks, mike, like it may be a little bit more north than east. >> i would just venture to say it's an ef-4, looks like an ef-5. storm cellar, basement or safe room below ground of any kind. do not be in your car. drive away from it. abandon where you are if you cannot get below ground.

it's getting mr violent. we're problemly at least ef-4 status here, as violent as this is. it's a huge chunk of debris floating in the air. we are about a mile east, southeast of it mow. >> you can't think, you can't delay. you've got to act. you can't think or delay, you've got to act. and act. act to save your lives or loved ones lives. a violent tornado going through south oklahoma city metro. it is in central moore right now, exactly at western avenue

and santa fe avenue on 19th street. it is over those neighborhoods right now. and it is going for the warren theater in i-35. folks, you are literally out of time. you need to be where you are with your mobile device watching us on line in an area that is of substantial safety. car won't do it. interior closet or bathroom will not do it. >> the inflow of this thing, the feeder band is lowered. this thing is sucking us in at about 47, 50 miles an hour. it's pulling it right to us. this thing is on the ground, grinding, ripping everything up. get in your tornado shelter area right now. u you can see those very intense pattern flashes. we're starting to hear some noise over the helicopter.

definitely, this thing has a lot of energy. it has definitely not decreased any at all, as you can see, from our shots, this thing is a movnser. it's so big. >> it kind of goes and funnels out. it's got a pretty big lowering. we can almost make out a little v-shape where that tornado is physically on the ground. as you can see, this is fixing in a bad area because we're coming right back in the housing conditions and more of the residential part of town here. look at that upon the far right of your screen. take a look at that. it's way out there. so the wind, in front of this thing, has got to be just whipping. so this thing is definitely something not to play with.

look at all of that debris in the air. it's 500, 600 feet up in the air and it's going. it's still grinding. still on the ground. it's -- man, it is really ripping. this thing hasn't decreased in size any. i'm actually kind of getting a little closer than i want to be to it right now. but this thing is sucking us in at 50-60 miles an hour right now. i'm tracking it. the inflow is still huge. it's sucking all of that energy. it's still continuing, tracking straight east. it's lighting it up. it's become more of a barrel shaped. >> the wedge has decreased a little bit. it almost looks like it's turned to the southeast. i'm breaking away as fast as i can. it's definitely changed shape. it's barlged. it's gotten a little hired. the bases rise, the base is probably 1300, 1400 feet above the ground. it's just 300 feet below me. as you can see, it's got a

definite cone shape on it. it appears it's turned to the southeast. it looks like we've decreased a little bit. we've lost a lot of the debris. so it changed the shape of it. it gave it more of a barrel shape. so you can actually see the shape of the tornado now. the only thing it's got to rip up is trees. we're not getting all the construction debris that we had earlier. it's continuing to rip. it's kind of got a big, like a trump down. and then it has a little default right there tracking straight for 149th street right towards the water treatment plant at this time. it's really fizzling out. i'm getting kind of far away. it looks like it's roping out a little bit. this is over like 149th street and just the east side of the road. there it is. it's gone, mike. we're going to stay right here and see if it recycles. but it's completely roped out. it's continuing to rope out as

we speak right now. it looks like it's roping out and i'm going to say 134 thd street. man, look at that rope on that thing. >> msnbc's live breaking news coverage of the oklahoma tornado continues. we'll be right back. he land than probably anyone else. rm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations. people should make up their own mind what's best for them. all i can say is it has worked well for us.

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ginning me now, bill karens. >> we are going to have more severe weather. and another out dbreak as we go throughout tomorrow afternoon. we'd like to stop having these daily deadly tornadoes. yesterday, we dealt with an ef-4 tornado. today, where moore got hit, shawnee, oklahoma were very close.

and then we had this event here today. so let me show you the west side of moore, oklahoma. the grey shows you the northern fringe of the path of destruction in the south ern fringe of the path of destruction. the red line is where the middle went through. and this is where that plaza tower's elementary school is located. the one we heard about the fatalities. it looks like this was possibly at about 200 miles an hour. it went right over the top. and then we've already seen the cars piled up at the top of the medic medic medical center. here's a picture of that

elementary school. the last shot we had was being lit by generators and the firefighters. i also heard the search and rescue teams from joplin, missouri. now they're returning the favor this evening as they go through. so let's compare. that green line there that went through the northern portions of moore, oklahoma. and, today, the red line shows you what is the damage. they actually chris cross each other just to the west side of moore.

the one that we saw today wempbt through the southern portions. so within 15 years, the north side was destroyed and now the south side was destroyed. how is this looking as far as deadliest tornadoes in our country's history? look at the date on a lot of these. it's before we had tv. mostly before we had radio, in some cases. they were talking before 1950 when they had very little warning. but in the modern era, the joplin one, two years ago, was 158 in fatalities. so here's how we are tonight.

seve severe weather through texas. but it's that one little red triangle that made this a historic night that we'll never forget. >> msnbc's live coverage of the oklahoma tornado continues now. hi, we've continuing coverage of the devastating tornado in moore, oklahoma. 21 of those killed were which i shall. children. the death toll is expected to climb further. at least 145 are injured, about 70 of those hurt are also children. as we've seen throughout the evening, entire neighborhoods have been completely levelled, and that includes two schools that were crushed. one of the schools is the plaza towers elementary school.