for all those who have been affected, we recognize that you face a long road ahead. in some cases, there will be enormous grief that has to be absorbed, but you will not travel that path alone. your country will travel it with you. >> that is president obama last hour, addressing the nation from the white house. talking about the grief that the country is feeling as we bring you our hour live today from moore, oklahoma. i'm thomas roberts, and this is msnbc's continuing live coverage of the oklahoma tragedy. the tornado that ravaged businesses and homes alike. it's a new day in the city and one where people are coming together in a true sense of community but also in a true

sense of grief. daybreak in moore has brought us images that are truly impossible to believe. parts of this town have literally been wiped off the map. take a look back as this monster storm touched down on the ground yesterday afternoon. >> i've never heard a roar like that before. oh, my god. it's going to go just to our north! very large, heading into moore, oklahoma. >> because this was such an immense and ravaging storm, the results of the casualties and fatalities, that's been a fluid number, but the newest numbers have been lowered as we have them right now at this hour, according to the medical examiner, 24 people confirmed killed. other agencies telling us as many as 50 people may have died because of the storm. we expect the numbers to rise. more than 100 people have been

found alive. there is hope, and the search and rescues continue today. tornado was on the ground for an agonizing 40 minutes yesterday. it traveled more than ten miles. by far the most heart breaking story is unfolding at plaza towers elementary school. with every responder on the scene, they're hoping to recover children. seven were confirmed dead from the inside. listen to what a teacher said and what a student said about how a teacher saved their lives. >> i was in a stall with some kids, and it just started coming down. so i laid on top of them. one of my little boys kept saying, i love you, i love you. please don't die with me. please don't die with me. >> we had to sit like this, and the tornado started knocking on the ceilings, going up and down, and a light went down and hit me in the head. and all the other girls were screaming and they were crying. >> it's just heartbreaking when

we hear these stories, and so many that are emerging today. we're awaiting a 1:00 p.m. news conference from mary fallin and others. the governor is saying this of her state and her people. >> this is not the first time we have had to go through something like this, and the one thing i know about the people of oklahoma, they will do whatever it takes to help their fellow citizens. >> well, they certainly will do whatever it takes. as i was talking about first responders who have been out overnight, not giving up the search for those that may still be trapped in any of the rubble, the search does continue for so many, and so many people have wanted to volunteer, there has been a warning from the mayor and also from the governor for volunteers not to funnel their energies so quickly into coming to scenes like we are today because they are still very dangerous. i want to show you, though, exactly where we are. we're in a suburb, this community of moore, where

normally this would be a beautiful neighborhood street, and it is a commercial business area with the hospital across the street and a movie theater right down the way, but this is the street of southwest 6th avenue. as you see now, people have come out in the daylight hours to start going through their things. some people wearing gloves and high boots as they pick through the rubble. the debris of what was their beautiful homes. some other people have shown up today with plywood to start boarding up their homes. you can hear that. that's the rumble of thunder above us. behind the camera, we just had a really, really electric light show going on with the lightning behind us. as i was saying, people are coming out today to try to board up what remains of the homes. on this side of the street, where we are, on the northern side of the street, much more ravaged, much more leveled. as you can see to my left, this home is completely gone. just a concrete slab remains. across the street, that's where some people have hope left with the structure that still stands.

there's major, tremendous damage, but they have come to go through their -- to go through the belongings and also to come and try and repair. as chris jansing had on in the last hour, mayor lewis, who was also the mayor in 1999 when a very similar tornado came through this exact area, killing over 40 people, he said many people now are trying to get out and get tarps so they can cover their properties because of the rain. there is this band of storms that continues to come through the area right now. because of that, it really does hamper the efforts for people to come out and have the opportunity to go through and find their belongings. we had some sun earlier today, but that has changed as of right now. but that could change as we move later into the day. savannah guthrie had an opportunity on the "today" show earlier today to talk to someone from moore. take a look.

i'm sorry. you say we have the lieutenant governor with us? thank you, i'm sorry. we're going to get to that interview with savannah in a second, but first, let's go to the lieutenant governor who joins us on the phone. you were going to be here, but i understand you can't get here. tell us what the situation is right now and if you can help us with any of the numbers that we had earlier because we know that the fatality count has been lowered to 24. >> right, i have been on site since about 5:50 this morning. i had to leave to conduct some other business. i'm headed to moore right now, in the vehicle, and while i was away, my chief of staff informed me that the number of confirmed fatalities was lowered to 24. good news/bad news, good, it's not as high as 51. it's unfortunate we had misinformation out there in the beginning. that kind of happens with miscommunication, unfortunately, but the death toll now is at 24. kids are still a part of that

number. we continue rescue efforts as we speak. >> sir, as we know, there are 80 members of the national guard that have been deployed to the area, helping with the search and rescue. what more can you tell us about the elementary school, plaza towers, elementary school in particular, and other areas that were collection centers for people where the efforts continue for search and rescue? >> well, plaza towers was completely flattened. the walls were pancakes. it's just a horrific scene all throughout moore. but the fact that there were so many children at the elementary school, that's a great cause of concern, and the rescue efforts continue all throughout the evening at plaza towers elementary as well as other locations. the hospital in moore was also demolished. those walls are still standing. but it's no longer a functioning hospital. it was just destroyed by the tornado.

and the good news is, i'm sure you have covered this some already this morning, but the good news is over the midnight hours, throughout the night, with the volunteers and first responders on the scene, highway patrol and others, 101 survivors were found throughout the night hours. so that's incredibly good news right now. >> it really is a great story of hope, the stories that are emerging. certainly, though, there are the stories of sacrifice and sadness that have come out of this tremendous storm, and so many people, lieutenant governor, talking about 1999 and how reminiscent this storm is because of the trajectory, the size, and also the scope of devastation. how do you put this into context with that storm? what does today's storm remind you of when we look back at what happened in 1999? because the oklahoman had the big headline today, basically saying that it was the monster storm had returned. >> well, the similarities are

just eerie. may 3rd, 1999, and it's not just the community of moore. it's almost the exact same path as the '99 tornado. so that's eerie in and of itself, and then the fact that the enorm aity and severity of this tornado was very similar, now that it's all said and done, it might not have been as exactly strong and as ferocious, but maybe worse. but on a similar path. there were times where this tornado was two miles to 2 1/2 miles wide, and just to make that analogous, that would be like a 2 1/2-mile wide lawn mower blade being lowered on a community. that's basically what a tornado does. neighbors are obliterated. schools flattened. hospitals destroyed. businesses flattened. it's just a horrific scene in moore, but again, the good news is we found some survivors. and oklahomans are out helping

oklahomans. we had some in-state -- out of state folks help, and there's been good news in this very, very dark cloud. >> oklahoma lieutenant governor tom lamb, thanks for joining me. we're going to let you get back to work. i do want to show everybody the enormity of the situation as it's been covered in the headlines. the front page of the oklahoman reads "worse than may 3rd" referring to the storm that happened in 1999 as we have been talking about. the other headlines also talk about exactly -- the other headlines that we have been watching today also talk about the devastation that's happened here. usa today has a huge funnel cloud with the headline "40 minutes of terror" the post reading blown away, with a woman carrying a child from the collapsed plaza tower elementary school. we're getting new pictures of

what was the area, what was swirling in the area before the tornado touched down. right now, we're being a little hampered by our reporting here with the storm that's over me right now. bill karins is standing by to talk to us about what we can expect for this area. bill, what's the forecast? what can people expect throughout the morning here and the afternoon as they're trying to come back out to their homes and try to pick up where they left off before the tornado came through? >> thomas, as you know, all morning long you have been dodging the thunderstorms. for the most part, they have been missing you to the south and not hitting you. just some light showers. we have more disturbed weather to your west. it looks like that has to come through. there's also a cluster of thunderstorms that's going to go through downtown oklahoma city. also a shower, maybe a rrumble thunder. there's been more lightning than rain, and if you look out towards the amarillo area, this is the storm that's going to cause the problems this afternoon in texas. new thunderstorms popping up, heading for wichita falls.

eventually, they'll go through lawton, oklahoma city, and more. there will be maybe an hour, hour and a half period of rough weather in the moore area. not thinking tornadoes. that threat is more for the dallas area, texarkana, corsicana, and as we go through the late evening, heading into southern portions of ark arb. let me try to break down what is happening. the culprit for the last four days of severe weather is in northern iowa, southern minnesota. that's what's responsible for the deadly weather. the next storm is coming out of new mexico. already kicking off the thunderstorms i showed you, and that's going to be the culprit for later this afternoon for severe storms. we got our strung out storms, the ones to the north, the ones to the south. the one to the north is weakening. we don't expect it to be too bad. isolated storm, chicago, detroit, indianapolis, st. louis, but that area of red we're most keconcerned with. possibility up to 10 million people could face large hail, damaging winds, and maybe a few strong tornadoes.

if anyone is from dallas/ft. worth all the way to the southwestern corner of arkansas, you need to have your plans together. like we learned yesterday, a lot of lives were saved because people knew what to do when the tornado came their way. that could happen again today. >> bill, thanks so much. and a lot of people are asking, how you can help? and we're going to have a lot of information for you who want to help those people here in and around oklahoma rebound from this tragedy that has struck the town of moore. someone from the salvation army is going to join us about what you can do for them. up next, we'll talk to two storm chasers who rived their lives to catch the story. we're live from moore. stick with us. this is msn bbc's special live coverage. >> a lot of those were in storm shelters. now, we're very hopeful as we continue our search today, we're going to find more people in same or similar situations where they may be under debris in storm shelters. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer sweeper,

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thank you. >> thank you for your wishes, your thoughts, your prayers. understand that we'll rebuild and we in the delegation will work with our fellow oklahomans to make sure they have that ability. >> our hearts and our prayers go out to those in oklahoma who have been victimized by this storm. especially our colleague, tom cole. moore, oklahoma, is his hometown. so obviously, he's there. >> that was house speaker john boehner, members of oklahoma's delegation speaking in the last hour on capitol hill in

reference to the oklahoma tragedy. flags on capitol hill lowered in the last half hour in honor of the victims of moore, oklahoma. we still wait for a firm tally on the number of fatalities that we know. but we have mike bettes who joins us now from the staging area. sorry. we're going to check in with mike bettes in a second, but first we're going to check in with two storm chasers who have been chasing the current weather system we have been watching in tornado alley. we have chris mcbee, who is from central oklahoma storm chasers. also simon brewer who is a storm chaser on the weather channel's series storm riders. thunderstorm chasers caught some very breath taking and terrifying video of what went through the town of moore. take a look. >> listen to the roar. >> oh, my god. >> this is not good. dear god, please keep these people safe. >> all right, so with me now is

chris mcbee from central oklahoma storm chasers. simon brewer is on the television. as i said, he's the weather series storm riders. you were able to document and capture some incredible footage we have been able to utilize and show everybody the power of the storm. at what point did you realize this is something you have never seen before in all the time you have been doing this? >> when we were watching it when it was a couple miles west of moore, the amount of debris in the air, the structural debris everywhere, the storm was a mile wide, we knew this was going to be something very large, destructive, and historic. >> when you were out there, what was going through your mind? because part of you, you know, you're trying to chase the storm, trying to document all this, but there's got to be a part of you that recognizes and an instinct to want to go the other way. >> absolutely. absolutely. we were very close to the tornado. not close enough where we were affected by it ourselves, but it's just a sick feeling seeing all that debris in the air and knowing that people's lives are being affected. >> for you, what can you tell us

about the experience and what you saw yesterday? >> we were north of the tornado, it was very large. it was a wedge-shaped tornado when we were there, and the tornado had so much debris it was hard to see the tornado, just the literal dust cloud of debris around it where the debris was no longer anything recognizable. it was just atomized debris. >> you know, simon, as i understand it, you have been chasing storms since 1999. we have been talking about 1999 specifically for moore, oklahoma, because of the devastating storm, the ef-4 that came through then. they're considering this one to be the same type category storm, but we're waiting to find out the actual verification, but do you think this is the worst storm you have ever seen? >> well, i have seen damage from the f-5 that hit may 3rd of 1999. i saw the damage and was chasing the tornado that came through in

may 8th of 2003 on the exact same path. from the images we have been seeing, especially the aerial images showing whole blocks wiped clean to the foundation, it looks like possibly some of the most significant damage ever seen from tornadoes in the past to the present. >> you know, the amazing thing we have been witnessing here is the community support, and chris, one thing i understand from learning about your story is that you actually started to help with the rescue and recovery effort. >> we did. >> and started to transport injured people. >> we did. we were chasing in a 15-passenger van, so we had the extra space in the van and got out on social media and said tell us where we're needed. we came down here to the movie theater where they had a triage center set up, a lot of law enforcement and transferred people from norman who lost their cars in the tornado. >> you grew up in oklahoma? >> northern oklahoma. >> what does this mean to you

when you see this? i know this is part of your business to document this because we want to learn about the storms but this is heart breaking. >> absolutely. it's gundput wrenching to see t, it gives you a sick feeling. it really is reminiscent of may 3rd, 1999. >> simon, what do you think we can learn from this storm? the work you are doing documenting this storm, what can we learn from it? >> we can learn quite a bit from this storm. there's several factors that came into play to create this event. and one would be the incredible amount, absolutely very, very incredible amount of instability that was in place that was discovered just before the storm developed. thanks to the normal national weather service office releasing a weather balloon at 11:00 a.m. that revealed an incredible amount of instability that a lot

of the local models were not forecasting for the area. it was a big sign that something huge was about to happen in the oklahoma city area. and also, all the people that were able to get underground and be protected underground. i'm hoping that more and more people will be able to get storm shelters to get underground for situations just like this. >> we appreciate the work you guys do to bring us these images. they are amazing. chris mcbee, simon brewer, thank you so much. simon will have a show this evening on the weather channel at 9:00. watch that. we'll check in with our mike bettes from the weather channel. we're trying to talk to mike before. he's at the staging area in the target parking lot not too far from here. what's the update there? we await more firm numbers about the fatality and what the injury toll is? >> yeah, and i think what happens when these situations

arise, thomas, is they are very well prepared. so we're at a dick's sporting goods. next door is a target, next to that is a home depot. the reason the emergency managers picked these areas is because they're big box stores and they have huge parking lots. one parking lot is for media to set up, media, then a tire hnj changing center for police officers' cars, then behind that, the command post including oklahoma bureau of investigation, u.s. marshals are here setting up their command post, national guard, and feeding stations for the first responders and beyond that at the home depot center, are aid stations for people in need of toiletries or water or food. they can go there and get these items. what we know is it's still ongoing. we have seen a lot of heavy equipment come out of the parking lots and roll into the hardest hit areas in the briarwood elementary schools, they have front-end loads, dump trucks, firefighters walk in on foot to do search and rescue in there.

we know last night when we were in there, there were many homes they were going door to door to door, very systematically and trying to mark off each individual home. if they found nobody within those homes. when you look at the weather today, it's a real hindrance. very windy right now. it's very rainy. there's been a lot of lightning in the sky. to me, this is very reminiscent of the day after joplin when there were thunderstorms and lightning and it was very difficult for first responders to do their job, and time was of the essence as you know in these type of sit wakzs, so we're hoping for the weather to break in a little bit so the first responders can do their job and do it quickly. >> the weather channel's mike bettes. thanks so much, as mike is talking about it, and the moments we have been talking, the weather really has picked up. not so much with the rain, but with the winds. we're going to continue to monitor that. straight ahead, we'll talk about the storm in the context of the littlest victims, and we're also going to talk about the

classification of this storm. the national weather service has said this tornado was an ef-4. that's the second most severe classification, although that rating could be increased to an ef-5 once a more clear damage assessment is done. we're back after this. marjorie... i can't stand you! you're too perfect. even the inside of your dishwasher sparkles. ok, so i'm the bad guy for being clean? you said it! you know, you... bababababa ladies! let's not fight dirty. hi, cascade kitchen counselor. see, over time... new cascade platinum's triple cleaning formula delivers brilliant shine that finish gel can't beat. it even helps keep your dishwasher sparkling. new cascade platinum is cascade's best.

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disaster aid. saying that the country will stand by this community and see it through to the very end. meanwhile, police, firefighters, and volunteers are digging through the wreckage. they're looking for any sign of survivors in the rubble. the rubble that is just littered from lane to lane, from doorway to doorway here. it is absolutely amazing. it is an area ravaged as far as the eye can see, and the latest grim numbers from the medical examiner, at least 24 people are confirmed dead. many of them are children who were trapped in one of the elementary schools, plaza towers elementary. other officials are telling nbc news as many as 51 people may be dead. we're still waiting on a firm confirmation on the numbers right now, but from the medical examiner, they will only confirm at least 24 deaths, and just within the last hour, though, as i said, the president addressed the nation. >> the people of moore should know that their country will

remain on the ground, there for them, beside them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen. there are parents to console, first responders to comfort, and of course, frightened children who will need our continues love and attention. >> nbc's peter alexander is live at the white house. we know the president has already reached out to the governor of oklahoma, and as i learned earlier today, he's also spoken with the mayor of moore. >> yeah, that's right, thomas. he spoke to the mayor of moore. mayor lewis, a short time ago. just before he came out and spoke here at the white house. he spoke with governor mary fallin as well. also spoke to one of the representatives, tom cole, from the state of oklahoma as well. i wanted to try to give you a better understanding of what it means with the president approves a major disaster declaration. it breaks down in two simple forms. one is what they call ia,

individual assistance, which means once you sign up for this, you are eligible for money, up to $30,000 per household to pay for immediate needs like housing, which as you witnessed there, is so critical at this time. the other is what they call p.a., or public assistance. it helps pay the state, the city, and the county bills to cover things like one of the most important, and as you have witnessed, most necessary right now, is debris removal. it covers the national search and rescue teams coming in from states. i believe texas, nebraska, and tennessee are now being represented right now. it also pays for the repairs going forward to the infrastructure. sewers, schools, and to try to help rebuild the roads. will the president travel to oklahoma? a good question. we don't know the answer yet, although we have reached out to the white house for some context on that. in 1999 on that infamous day, may 3rd, when moore, oak ec, was tragically hit by the last tornado, president clinton waited five days before traveling, if that gives us any

sense of when president obama might travel if in fact he plans to do that as well. and one final element to consider, and i'm sure you'll see this in the field. there's an organization called disaster survivor assessment team. and these are the individuals that sign people up for the necessary grants, the money they need. they are carrying i pads right now to try to show how technology can help expedite this process of getting relief to those who need it most. thomas. >> peter alexander at the white house for us. peter, thanks so much. stay with us. we'll be back with much more on our special live coverage from moore, oklahoma. stick around. >> our prayers are with the people of oklahoma today, and we will back up those prayers with deeds for as long as it takes. hd superheroes, and some superheroes need complete and balanced meals with 23 vitamins and minerals.

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we walked over piles of like -- >> rubble. >> and 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. >> 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 hitting. and everybody said put your head down, put your head down, but some people got hurt, but we made it alive. >> just some of the stories from some of the youngest survivors telling and recounting what they lived through as the tornado came through moore, oklahoma, yesterday. hi, everybody. welcome back to our special coverage, continuing coverage on msnbc, and we now can tell more about the fatalities. the medical examiner has broken down some details about the 24 fatalities they have confirmed. now saying that nine of those fatalities are children. we know that the plaza towers

elementary school was the worst hit elementary school in the area. of five different schools that were hit, and they had the highest count of children lost because of the storm. janet shamlian had an opportunity to go around and meet with those people who are now surviving and comforting those and their families. >> i was here when it went through, over at the school. >> tony saw the tornado coming, he went to the school to save his own life. he wound up saving many others. >> we got the kids out of the gym here, and then i heard people screaming over here, and we got one guy out right here. and he said, he had two neighbors over there, we went over and got them out. >> for the kids huddling together in that school, like jessica and crystal, it was a nightmare. 50 of them in one classroom, scared to death. jessica hid under a table. >> you could like feel it coming through. it was -- it was terrifying. >> even more terrifying for the younger kids. >> i had to hold on to the wall to keep myself safe because i

didn't want to fly away in the tornado. >> elizabeth raced home when the weather turned bad, worried about her dog ginger. the two rode it out in the bathtub. >> the twister was right there, i could hear it. i said, you're not going to get me. i can't believe we actually survived this thing. >> many people like june bentley, survived because they had shelters. >> with a storm shelter, you feel more secure. best $2,000 i think we have ever spent. >> while shelters may keep out the raging storm, they can't keep out terror. >> we locked this door once we saw it coming, and it got louder. the next thing you know, you see the lights coming undone. we couldn't reach for it. and it ripped open the door. we thought we were dead. >> that was janet shamlian reporting. here on site with me now is steve morris of the salvation army. we have been talking a lot about how people want to be a part of this and get out and help those

within their community. steve, you have probably been seeing this firsthand, certainly over the last 24 hours, so many people wanting to get out and be involved. what have you seeb? and has it been heartening, inspiring, to know that so many people want to help out their friends and loved ones. >> it is inspiring. frankly, it's dangerous. we have been here since the storm hit, frankly. we're feeding -- we fed over 1,000 emergency workers, frankly. and we had one of our units set up right in front of the school you were talking about, the plaza towers school, all through the night, helping those doing the rescue efforts as best as they could. it's just incredibly dangerous. as you can see here, houses are just gone off the foundations. and the debris is unbelievable. and this is just a part of it. we were just canvassing another area we hadn't been in until today, and it's equally as bad, and it's just unbelievable. >> when you talk about being in plaza towers overnight, what was

the scene for the rescue crews, for the first responders there? >> the first -- the first set was literally hundreds of rescue workers. dismantling the school piece by piece, frankly. looking for living victims. and later on in the effort, they did a grid process where they searched the land all around the school. in looking for victims as well. so we were there throughout that time, and as they would take their breaks, they would come to us. one of the things the salvation army can offer is spiritual and emotional care for them as well. >> how do you think you have been equipped? i mean, in hind sisight of a st like this, how do you think you have been able to handle this? this is certainly a huge task, a huge burden on the resources of the salvation army. >> it is. we have a generous community. and people understand and appreciate what the salvation army does. i was in tuscaloosa two years ago, i was in katrina, so you

never are prepared for it, the breadth of it, but it is an individual disaster for every person that's concerned. and we deal with that specifically as individuals. >> you mentioned katrina. i was in katrina covering that story. this eerily reminds me of katrina. the stillness this morning, and coming in and it was just so eerie. and now today, it's this frenetic energy we're dealing with with the storm system overhead and people trying to come out. do you feel that way? is it reminiscent for you of katrina? >> it is. we were in shawnee, serving not too far from here when we got the word about this moore disaster, so we came this direction. >> shawnee is the area just 40 miles to the north where there were two deaths because of the storm system that passed through there on sunday. an epic amount of superstorms that have been charging through tornado alley right now. major steve morris, thanks so much for what you do at the

salvation army and the hard work and helping hand you're lending to this community and so many others. as we talked about, there are so many people out there who want to do something to help. they feel a need to be a part of this story and to help those within this community that certainly do need it. so here's some numbers for you to call for the american red cross and the salvation army. if you want to get involved, reach out. the boys used double miles from their capital one venture card to fly home for the big family reunion. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ i win! what's in your wallet? i win!

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and didn't know where to start. used a contractor before at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey. we've brynn watching a very temperamental weather pattern continue here through moore, oklahoma. the rain has just stopped, the sun has come out a bit. i want to go back and check with bill karins to see what we're seeing to the south. there's severe weather in texas to talk about? >> soon, already a few strong storms, but the big news is the storm prediction center in

norman, oklahoma, which is close to moore, oklahoma, has now issued a tornado watch. it's a huge tornado watch box. this means anyone in this area has a chance of seeing a tornado as we go through about the next nine hours. it's all the way until 7:00 p.m. central daylight time. we have a severe thunderstorm watch box, and up where we have been dealing with the storms on and off all morning long, pretty much to the south of moore, and that may barely include the moore area, those are the storms trekking north of the red river, and then the tornado watch. there's not a lot of storms right now. yes, the tornado watch box went out about two to three hours before the tornado formed. they need to try to give people a two-hour notice. that means they think the storms will start to form around 1:00 local time. the area of greatest concern is the area of red. they're going to form and push across the map as we go through the morning hours. it looks like the strongest of the storms will be near

dallas/ft. worth around 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon. that will be the key time to watch for the population centers if they're going to get hit and how badly by the storms. >> and bill, real quickly, one thing here in moore, anyway, people are i guess -- the mystery is how cold it is. all of a sudden. because everybody is bundled up. the rain is coming in that's made us cold, but the wind and temperatures are very good. >> that's good. that means you're finally out of the soupy, warm, energized air mass that brought you the severe weather, now you're on the backside, and that's a good thing because you're writing off your chances of getting severe weather. maybe it will be cold and rainy, if someone was still trapped in the rubble and it was cold and wet, not the best situation for them, but as far as more severe weather, that pretty much crosses you off the lish. >> thanks so much. >> and a lot of people have become amateur videographers

trying to capture different images of this massive storm on tape, and many have been successful. take a look at what michael got. >> that was michael's video he shot in a parking lot of a restaurant. michael joins me now by telephone. michael, what were you thinking when you saw this storm? and why did you immediately go to want to capture it on tape? >> well, i could tell it was going -- beside the storm, i knew i wasn't in the path. i knew it was very scary being that close, especially with flying debris in the air. and the fact of how fast it grew. it went from nothing to a very large tornado within minutes.

and i mean, it was incredible. i was just very worried for the people in the path of the storm. >> what's your history with living in a tornado-prone area? i mean, is this something you have lived through there befor? >> i actually was hit in 2011. may 24th. >> in comparison, to what happened in 2011 to what we just saw yesterday, how does the storm compare? >> well obviously the tornado we had yesterday was, it went through a heavily-populated area and it was casualties and things of that nature. so i mean it's kind of hard to compare the two. but i would say they were both, they're pretty decent and very, very powerful. >> michael, what was the instinct, though, for a lot of people, their instinct might not be to stop and try to capture this. it would be to get out of the way. get somewhere safe what made you stop and start to film?

>> i would, i don't know. i saw it and it was just amazing and i wanted to capture it. >> and michael, what do you think of the attention that you've gotten from just taking that moment in time to do this. >> oh, my gosh, it blows my mind. dy not expect the turn-out that i've got. >> you've certainly given all of us something to watch. and it's a huge impressive image that you captured. michael welch thanks so much for joining me today, i appreciate it. >> we'll be back with more from oklahoma after this. [ phil ] when you have joint pain and stiffness... accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders,

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as we've seen time and time again in recent years, americans are at their best when called upon to help each other in tragic circumstances. and this could circumstance could hardly be more tragic. so we in the senate offer our heartfelt prayers to those

affected by this terrible storm. >> we'll stand vigilant today and tomorrow, ready to help as more storms threaten the region. every resource will be made available. every federal resource will be made available to help the communities affected by this tragedy. >> senators mitch mcconnell and harry reid expressing support for those living in and around moore, oklahoma today after the damaging, devastating e-4 tornado came through and tore this part of this state of oklahoma apart. a state that's well aware of tornado damage having suffered through a very similar storm like this back in 1999, and as we close out this hour, the sun is starting to peek out. the rain has stopped. th winds have calmed. you can see more people as they try to come back home and see what's left. some people have more than others. what is abundant here is a

resilient spirit and certainly a community that's willing to help one another. we're going to continue our coverage. we'll be live here throughout the day. to bring you the stories of moore, oklahoma. the stories as we find them. we'll bring them to you. don't go anywhere, "now" with alex wagner comes your way next. [ female announcer ] crest + scope gives you the ultimate in fresh breath. so you have the courage to jump in... ♪ or make sparks fly. it's the only toothpaste that combines the freshness of scope with the cleaning power of crest. life opens up when you do. with the cleaning power of crest. what that's great. it won't take long, will it? nah. okay. this, won't take long will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. didn't take very long, did it? summer's here, so are the savings. that's nice. post it.

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damage. the twister currently classified as a category 4 tornado, that still could be upgraded was one mile wide and 20 miles long with windspeeds of up to 200 miles per hour. for 40 minutes it tore through block after block of homes and businesses, leveling everything in its path. including two schools and a hospital. the massive funnel was captured on video by one resident as it tore through nearby newcastle. in the tragedy's wake. some fortunate survivors described the experience. >> when you see a tornado that big, you find a place you know, have no choice. it's either find cover or -- die. >> i was in a stall with some kids and it just started coming down, so i laid on top of one of my little boys, he just kept saying, i love you, i love you, please don't die with me, please don't die with me. >> we saw the glass breaking and things crashing and