okay. that does it for "the cycle." martin, it's all yours. >> thank you, s.e. good afternoon. we begin as rescue crews race against the clock, combing through shredded buildings and shattered homes 24 hours after one of the most destructive tornadoes in u.s. history. entire neighborhoods are in ruins after the massive twister ripped through miles of oklahoma city and the suburb of moore, leveling everything in its path. including a hospital and at least two schools. and severe weather is continuing to challenge first responders with rain and hail this afternoon as they search desperately for any survivors

who may be trapped in the rubble. further weather alerts are troubling the region to the south. with a tornado watch in texas, even as we speak. in oklahoma, emergency managers say more than 100 have been found alive, but the time is of the essence. as rescue workers with thermal imaging equipment and dogs sift through crumpled cars and splintered structures. medical examiners confirm 24 deaths, 9 of them children, and more than 200 injured. those numbers are, of course, fluid as searchers are ongoing. oklahoma governor mary fallin spoke to the emotional impact for those facing their worst fears. >> it has been a very, very hard experience. a heartbreaking experience. especially the loss of children and the schools, themselves, and those who haven't been able to find their loved ones and are stale waiting to hear. we frankly don't even know if

there are still missing people, but there still may be. >> the governor fighting back the tears there. and the federal government is being deployed in the region even as we speak. earlier today, the president declared a federal disaster in five counties, sending his fema chief to the scene, and he vowed the nation's support for the duration. >> as a nation, our full focus right now is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead. the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them, as long as it takes. >> we'll get to our correspondent thomas roberts in a moment, but first, joining us in washington is the former governor of oklahoma, frank keating. good afternoon, sir. >> martin, how are you? >> i'm well. but first, if i might ask, i understand you have family, yourself, in oklahoma city. how are they doing at this time? >> well, you're nice to ask.

of our three children, my wife and i have two that live in oklahoma city and a grandchildren. six of our ten grandchildren in oklahoma city. mercifully they are all safe, and both of them who live in oklahoma city have storm cellars that they installed in their garage, each of them, at a cost of between $4,000 and $6,000. so they took their valuables down to the storm cellar and they were safe and that's certainly good news for all of us. >> that's wonderful news for your immediate family, but, sir, i might begin by asking your reaction to the events there yesterday as it relates to others in the city. >> well, of course, on the west coast you have the reality and the threat of earthquakes. on the east east and the gulf of mexico, hurricanes. and the center part of the country we have tornadoes. these last two that have gone through this particular area, the 1999 most powerful winds ever recorded on the face of the

earth, and this one, hugely devastating. between '99 and today, martin, there's been a lot of development in this area. this community is probably 60,000 people of a metro of about 1.25 million. and it's an urban assault by nature. and, of course, going forward i think all of us want to make sure that people are as prepared as they can be. the meteorologists do a great job of warning people. that's in part the reason the death toll is so low. we need to take another look at schools, for example, as shelters in place, facilities. are those facilities strong enough to withstand very high velocity winds like we've experienced in these two tornadoes? and questions like that will be asked and answered. i think it's a very competent leadership team. quite truthfully, most if not all of them were in place those years ago when we had the 199 9 tornado when i was governor. but it's never nice nor fun to go through something so anguish

stricken as this. >> can i ask you about the psyche of the people there? you mentioned 1999, the horrendous tornado on may the 3rd. of course, there were also the oklahoma city bombing. what is the kind of mentality of the people there and their ability to take this kind of devastating impact and rise again? >> well, you know what's interesting, and i'm not trying to say that only one city or one state -- >> of course not. >> -- have all the virtue. what's interesting, martin, is the oklahoma city bombing, 302 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and there wasn't one act of looting. here in the tornado experiences, i don't know what this has been like, but law enforcement were always marveling that there were no looting. people literally took off their shoes to share. the bombing, the '99 tornadoes. people are totally committed to

volunteerism and servant leadership and service to their fellows. it's a very believing environment in oklahoma. and really a frontier environment of helping your neighbor build their barn, if you will. and it really is remarkable and it's a great compliment to the people. i just wish the heavens wouldn't open up like this. we love moisture, but not like this. >> no, indeed. you are and your family are a great credit to that area. former governor of oklahoma, frank keating. thank you, sir. >> thank you, martin. >> msnbc's thomas robert is on the ground in moore, oklahoma. he joins us now. thomas, first, before we come to the physical devastation, do you have any more details on thefatr there are people unaccounted for? >> reporter: we have confirmation at 24. the number given to us throughout the day. 20 being from moore. the area i'm standing in right now. four from oklahoma city. and out of that ratio, out of that 24, 9 are kids. most of those kids pulled out of

plaza towers elementary school. martin, i wanted to lead off with this breaking news element i just got in moments ago that i confirmed through our colleague, mike bettes over at the weather channel, that the national weather service which was here today surveying the area for damage most likely will rate this an ef-5 tornado because of the damage that they found in the area. damage where things sustained winds up to 200 miles per hour. so we're still waiting on the firm survey results, but the confirmation i got from mike bettes at the weather channel is it will with rated an ef-5. that is the highest category that can be given to this tornado. in 1999, we've been talking about that a lot, that was an ef-5. to came through moore at the same time. it caused over 40 deaths. about $1 billion in damage at that time. now we have the confirmation of at least 24. martin, you'll recall that number was revised down from earlier reports. it was a lot higher that we had last night. then early into today. but out of an abundance of

caution, they've scaled that number back. we're waiting on more confirmations that will come hopefully later today about where they feel that tally totally stands at this point. but as you can see from the homes behind me, i mean, these are just slabs that remain. we are in the area of southwest 4th and telephone road. you'll hear that intersection discussed a lot in press conferences because this is basically ground zero for where that tornado came through. and this section of the street on southwest 6th where we stand, this side, all the homes are completely leveled. earlier today, many people were out here in the early morning hours when it was a little sunny, before the rains came in, to come and assess the damage and pick up whatever pieces they could salvage. the rains came in. the winds came in. and it drove people away for a long time. just a short time ago, maybe about 45 minutes ago, we finally got the nice weather we have now which is supposed to remain. so we might see more people coming back out and taking advantage of the last afternoon

hours of daylight. we have some homes across the way over here where people did show up today with tarps and some plywood, but these homes are in much, much better shape than what you're seeing behind me right here. i mean, this is just oelt and utter devastation. and there has been a big push from the american red cross as well as the salvation army dispersing themselves and making themselves well known in the area to try to help out for those that have been displaced. i know on andrea mitchell's show they discussed up to 20,000 people might be homeless right now. >> and thomas, final question. i understand that in the total area, something like 38,000 people are still without power. and in the areas of moore and oklahoma city, that's 20,000? >> reporter: i'm seeing right now bucket trucks. i don't know if we can -- guys, if we can switch this around for martin and show him the bucket trucks that are going up, because they're working aggressively on the electricity in this area. you'll see the bucket trucks are going up. that's the hospital area in the background that totally looks like it was bombed out.

but they're working aggressively to try to get some of the power back on in this area. this, again, martin, was the hardest hit area for the storm in and of itself because as you can see, across the street it's much more of a commercial area. we're standing more on the residential side. and we just saw in about an hour ago, too, there was a group, a choreographed group of hazmat workers, fema representatives and first responders that were walking this area with service dogs. they were checking it out. we were told from the very start of our day here, because there is a very strong smell of gas, to be very careful. not be move around a lot. because they just couldn't, you know, they couldn't say, clear our safety, but they still let us in because they know we need to talk about this story and cover this story. but told us to be, you know, cautious. so they came in today with their service dogs and were walking, working through. so there's still so much that people are still trying to

assess. not only from the people that live in and around this area, their loved ones, but just for the, you know, first responders still try ing to do so much wor, so much dangerous work when it comes to making sure that this area completely safe. but we're seeing some of those signs as you point out ask about electricities. they're getting the power trucks out to work on the lines to rectify that as quickly as possible. >> thomas roberts. my colleague. thank you. tom, we really appreciate your reporting. thank you. >> reporter: sure thing, martin. coming up, more on new severe weather in the forecast right now. and patriotism on full display as americans unite to pray for oklahoma. i do a lot of research on angie's list

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as oklahoma struggles to find survivors and begins recovery from a horrific tornado monday afternoon, a tornado watch is in effect for a massive swath of texas. where right now forecasters are warning of the greatest risk of damaging storms which may include the dallas-ft. worth area. let's get right to meteorologist chris warren from the weather channel in atlanta. and chris, what can you tell us about these latest severe weather threats? >> well, right now it is starting to ramp up so we're seeing an increase in the storms. i'm going to show you where the storms are right now. first give you an overall look at where the threat is. so this is a look in the red where tornado watches are currently in effect. so that means conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes. and in dallas, that goes until 7:00. and we can see this moves farther to the east with that threat until 10:00. this does include shreveport,

also texarkana. then a chance for some tornadoes also in northern mississippi, parts of western tennessee. and that does include memphis. until 10:00. parts of southeastern oklahoma, severe thunderstorm watch still in effect until 7:00. so now is a look at where the storms are right now. and you can see here in dallas, there's this line. once this gets through, that threat for tornadoes will diminish in a hurry. it will diminish in a big way because cooler air will move in. these green outlined areas is a threat for flash flooding. getting clearing out here in oklahoma city. that's good news for the rescue and recovery efforts going on there in moore. meanwhile, seeing more of the storms firing right now in little rock. putting on the lightning now, regardless of whether or not we get damaging winds or tornadoes, there is a lot of lightning associated with these storms. so that is a big danger you have to watch out for if your plans were to be outside.

parts of northern and eastern dallas under that severe thunderstorm warning right now. that means these conditions, the strong winds, possibly large hail, currently in effect. that is going on right now. but, again, once that gets through, cooler air moves in. and that threat for tornadoes will diminish. again, no tornado warnings right now. just the threat for some of these stronger storms that we're dealing with. and right now we to have some storms that are getting closer to memphis. we're keeping a close eye on that. you can see some stronger storms. this is the threat going forward for tonight. so we still have that threat for dallas. it goes from san antonio all the way up to nashville and cincinnati. and looking ahead to that threat for some of that heavy rain and some flooding. mainly here in arkansas, but notice much drier through thursday here in oklahoma. now, there will, however, still be that threat of seeing a few storms pop up later in the morning on thursday. then again friday and saturday. but for tomorrow, it does look

like temperatures will warm up. so it will be warm for the rescue crews and recovery crews there on wednesday. south of oklahoma city in moore. but, again, that threat for some storms, martin, will return by the middle to the end of the week. but it will be much more isolated and much more of a popup in nature situation. >> weather channel's chris warren there with a comprehensive forecast. thank you, sir. now we want to bring in by phone juston drake, a storm chaser currently featured on the weather channel show "storm riders." juston, can i ask where exactly you are? what are you following? >> right now we're on the leading edge of a squall line. we're in texas. we're getting very heavy rains in our location and very strong winds. >> and how does this storm at this stage compare with what happened at this time yesterday in oklahoma? >> well yesterday in oklahoma it was a super cell thunderstorm that was very discreet. it was by itself and produced a

very violent tornado. what we're chasing right now and what we're under is a squall line. the tornado potential with it right now is nowhere near as high as the super cell that caused that big tornado. right now the main threat in our location is just some very high winds, heavy rain, and maybe some small hail. >> and how close were you or how close are you to this storm? >> well right now we're directly under the squall line. we're getting beat down by very heavy rains. it's hard for simon to drive the car right now because we keep getting thrown around and there's also some very r heavy rain. and the water on the road is starting to cause us to hydroplane a little bit. >> okay, juston, thank you very much. sorry. yeah, thank you very much. >>. no problem. and coming up, more from the ground in oklahoma. an area all too familiar with the rath of mother nature. once again forced to confront her massive power. stay with us. i think farmers care more about the land

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from the moment the devastating tornado touched down in moore, oklahoma, monday afternoon, there were chilling reminders of another storm. time lapse video of yesterday's twister showing a similar path to an ef-5 tornado that ravaged oklahoma and kansas over a decade ago. the date, may 3rd, 1999, lives in infamy for the region. the "oklahomaen" front page tragically suggests this storm was even worse. joining us now, my colleague milissa rehberger who covered the storm in 1999. you were with us yesterday and helpfully covered our breaking news of this storm. 24 hours later, what's your assessment of how yesterday compares with that brutal tornado in 1999? >> well, i think we're going to find the experts talking about, you know, which one was bigger, which one was more powerful? it has now been called an ef-5

for sure. thomas roberts reporting that earlier. it looks exactly the same as what i saw then. the difference that i really see is that, unfortunately, it hit that hospital. thank god the patients were safe, but they were put in imminent danger. and the two schools. last time around i recall seeing more residences. and i think the devastation i'm seeing her is exactly the same, but i think just more of it. >> and at this stage, there appear to be fewer fatalities when compared with 1999. yet the physical devastation, that seems somehow worse. >> you know, it does. let's hope those numbers hold up. i mean, i certainly do. martin, the thing that i'm thinking is -- >> well, just to let you know, milissa, we're hearing from fire chief gary byrd. he's saying he's 98% sure that there are no more survivors or bodies under the rubble. 98% sure. >> well, i tell you what, that is wonderful news. and here is a possible reason why. in may 3rd of 1999, it happened in the evening, and this is a residential area for the most

part. you can see that that's a sprawling suburb. it's a subdivision. it happened in the evening when people were typically at home. this happened in the afternoon where a lot of those people had computed to work in places like oklahoma city which fortunately did not get hit and fortunately hose people were hopefully out of harm's way during their work day. yesterday as you recall, we saw that huge line of traffic that police were desperately trying to get them to turn around. it's probably those people who lived there and was trying to get home and see what was left. >> also governor keating, the former governor of oklahoma who i was describing to moments ago was describing the outlook of the people of that area and described bro ed -- >> it's the whole state. yes, they're very strong resilient people. we keep using the word resilient. it's very, very true. these are hardworking people who value family, god and community. they're a community already. they don't need a tragedy to

pull them together. they treat each other well in general. and in general, the state, you know, when i was living there, they asked me where do i worship? would you like to come? they enjoy getting to know people. it's a very tight community. and i know that we say that in times of trouble, but this is true of oklahoma. basically all the time. the governor was absolutely right. my, what i witnessed in the past, i agree with him. i didn't see one instant of looting. i saw completely the opposite. as i mentioned yesterday, you had local businesses, you know, keeping their doors open, feeding people, literally driving around in cars with hot meals for the rescuers, the volunteers. and the people who live there and were picking through the rubble of their houses trying to find something and may not have had a warm meal to eat or water to drink. the shelters remained open. one thing i think that we can look forward to is, you know, right now the phones are probably still clogged up. a lot of people might be considered missing because their relatives know they live in that area and haven't heard from them.

so hopefully we'll get some good news in the next couple of days as they get back in touch with their friends and loved ones. >> as you mentioned, the life church, one of the largest evangelical congregations in the country is taking in supplies for the purpose of donating them to anybody who needs them. milissa rehberger, thank you. coming up, too many heroes to count. now an outpouring of support for the residents of oklahoma. it is are much the american way. stay with us. for your loss.

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>> it is a giant barrel with a massive debris cloud. >> major, major, major wedge on the ground. >> over one mile wide at its base. >> it's still grinding. still on the ground. >> this storm is seen as either an e-4 or e-5. likely an e-5. >> all the memories coming back today of 1999. >> certainly hundreds of people that have lost their homes or are trapped. >> i don't know how to explain it, how to describe it. >> an enormous, perhaps historic path of destruction. >> today's track is basically about 20 miles long. >> total devastation out here. >> of course the unfortunate part is that there's so much more population since there was in 1999. >> this is about the worst damage i've ever seen. >> including two elementary schools. >> can only pray for the families as they search for these kids. >> a sixth grade teacher had taken some students into the bathroom and jumped over top of them as the storm went across. >> it is a chaotic scene. >> just a trail of destruction. >> this is the worst tornado

damage-wise in the history of the world. >> let's get right to chris jansing, host of "jansing and company" and my colleague on msnbc. chris, a local reporter speaking on our air described the scene as something akin to a war zone. can you give us a sense of what it's like as you walk around such devastation? >> reporter: i think that's an apt description. i thought it looked like the set for an apocalyptic movie. it's the vastness of it in addition to the absolute destruction. look, just look behind me. i mean, there's nothing. this was a garage. it was a house. this was a whole subdivision here. and it's just wiped out. it's gone. and we just saw a second pass of crews going through just making absolute sure, as the governor promised they would, that there was absolutely no signs of life. the houses across the street from here, although they're completely un lly uninhabitable

almost destroyed, they have walls standing. we've seen people going through them. as i was down the block, martin, talking to a young man and his father about their home, it wasn't even surprising they were able to find a few photographs. what is surprising was they found anything that was theirs. i mean, stuff just traveled so far, and in fact, right across the street is the medical center, and there's a car on the roof. it's hard for me to judge. it's maybe five stories high. and there have been some -- well, there's a helicopter going up there now. but anyway, a car that actually made its way to the roof. oh, that's the military chopper. of the medical center. so, yeah, i think a war zone very much describes it. and for a lot of people, as horrifying as this loss of life is, they know from experience here it could have been a lot worse, frankly, martin. >> right. chris, rescuers have pulled over 100 people from the wreckage. are they still pulling people out right now?

because there was some suggestion earlier today that there may have been some children who are unaccounted for at this time. >> reporter: well, i think there's always a chaotic situation in the hours after something like this. and, you know, they put lists together of people who are reported to be missing. sometimes it doesn't get reported that either someone was found or they're being looked for by someone who simply doesn't know where they are. there is a general feeling that they have sort of looked everywhere they're going to look. they've checked the list. and they feel pretty confident that where they are is where they're going to be. having said that, they also know that in situations like this, and when you're looking at the breadth of destruction we see here, it is possible that someone might still be trapped. it is possible that they could still recover a body. so the governor has promised she will leave no piece of debris unturned which is why they're making three passes. not one or two. but there will be a third pass

of these experts, these rescue experts going through and looking through these neighborhoods and making sure they've seen everything they can see. i can tell you at that house down the block, they found a dog who was hovering in a car buried somewhat under a load of bricks. and some buddies of the guy who lived there who was too upset to go back and look, himself, were able to find the dog. so not exactly the same thing as a recovering someone who is buried, but they know that those possibilities are there. so that's why they're making sure, triple sure, that they've checked everything, martin. >> yeah. that's an encouraging story, regardless. according to the "associated press," firefighters from more than a dozen fire departments have come to lend their hand to the people of moore. and tonight they're expecting a team of rescuers to arrive from joplin, missouri. is that right? >> reporter: that's right. as you know, that was the site of another devastating tornado. and these are people who are extremely ex pepert at what the

do. one of the things that has really given, had heartened people and also amazed people who have covered many of these, or who have, unfortunately, been volunteers in many of these is the response. in the first hours, the number of people who came, the crews who came in to search and rescue, the various organizations that come in to help people. even we're starting to see the influx of insurance companies and other organizations to help the people who have lost so much, have come so quickly and so well prepared. part of it is technology. part of it is we've seen fema people going around with ipads getting paperwork started for people. part of it is technology. also i think it is something that is so uniquely american in many ways, the way people respond in times of tragedy. they do it quickly, they do it selflessly. often as it was last night when they rescue the 100-plus people, they do it at great risks to themselves, martin.

>> my colleague, chris jansing. thank you for your reporting. let's turn now to dr. irwin redlener, pediatrician and director at columbia university. sir, we saw yesterday that the two schools were hit and we now know nine children have died there amongst the total of 24. so far. what about those children who survived such an incident? >> well, we're going to have quite a few problems that have to do with children in the aftermath of a disaster like this. there's a tremendous need right now for something we call psychological first aid to help these children cope with this extraordinary trauma. this won't end in days or weeks or probably months, and maybe for some children we're talking about years of memories and of tragedy and of absolute destruction. and it is really important that we have the mechanisms and the organizations in place to really help these children and families get through what they're going to need to get through now. part of it is having a resilient

family and one adult who's really helping to buffer some of this trauma the kids have gone through. parent of it is to try to get these children back to some sense of normalcy as quickly as possible. and obviously under circumstances like we're seeing in moore, it's going to take a long time for people to get back to a recovery phase where it will look anything like the normal that they had been used to. so lots of challenges now going forward. >> craig fugate, the head of fema, who's down there, traveled immediately, dispatched by the president, he remarked about how effective the public service advice had been taken, deployed and taken onboard by people in the locality. and, of course, this area suffered on may 3rd, 1999, a similar event. how well prepared can any area of the nation be for something like this? >> well, first of all, the force of this particular tornado was beyond anything that most people have ever experienced. >> it's just been upgraded to an

ef-5. >> right. there's nothing really you can do to protect the actual physical structures in the homes and so forth. i think one of the questions, though, that will be asked is, was there enough done to make sure that people, not the structures, but people had safe places to go? and i particularly am interested in what the analysis is going to show about the level of preparedness in the schools, martin. because these areas where there are lots of children, children are very different than adults. they need different kinds of responses. they can't think or act for themselves. they need adults around them. they really need the safety of safe rooms that i don't think were necessarily in place in the schools that were affected. this is, you know, potentially something of great interest because the community, as you pointed out, has been through this before and you would think that those wake-up calls in '93, in 2003, would at the very least compel communities and governments to make sure that the schools, daycare centers and

so forth where there are lots of children have very safe places that allow children to survive. even a tornado like this. so we're going to be asking those questions in the days and weeks to come now. >> in terms of the construction of buildings, is there some suggestion that many of these buildings were inappropriate in an area where such aggressive tornadoes have come and were expected to come? >> you know, so many parts of the country are living under some kind of risk. if you're in the gulf, you're worried about hurricanes. if you're in the northeast, you're worried about hurricanes as we found out with superstorm sandy. there are people living on seismically active zones in the middle of the country, the west coast, and so forth. and i think the responsible thing that we need to do is to understand what needs to be done to make sure whatever risks you are facing can be mitigated. but that requires investments, and you know, lately we're not very good at making investments. whether it's the infrastructure, dealing with climate change or whatever, or disaster preparedness. the fact is we've actually seen

about a 50% to 60% cutback in disaster preparedness funding for communities and states from dollars that are coming from the federal government. so we have a lot of work to do. this is, again, a wake-up call. i hope it doesn't turn into a snooze alarm. you know, where we're excited and obviously concerned about the high drama of this event and that we don't just fall back into a state of complacency in the next weeks. but we really have to stay with this and make sure that never again will we leave schoolchildren in environments that are not as fully and completely protective of them as possible. >> dr. irwin redlener of columbia university, sir, thank you so much. >> you're welcome. let's turn now to dan halliburton, a spokesman -- sorry, no. i'm so sorry. he will be with us in a moment. so do stay with us. we'll have someone from the red cross in a moment. 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, fueled by our faith in the almighty and our faith in one another. so our prayers are with the people of oklahoma today. and we will back up those prayers with deeds for as long as it takes. thank you very much. the day my doctor told me i had diabetes,

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that appears on your screen. now to the white house and the president, accompanied by the vice president and his secretary of homeland security, assured those hardest hit by this devastation that their country would stand with them in their time of need. >> 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 re-open. there are parents to console. first responders to comfort. and, of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. >> for more now, let's bring in nbc's kristen welker who's at the white house. kristen, you were there at the white house as the president offered those words of comfort and support. is there any suggestion that he may travel, himself, to oklahoma, to witness the devastation for himself? >> reporter: well, martin, the white house is being mum on that point right now, but i would be surprised if president obama doesn't travel to oklahoma. we have, of course, seen him take that course in the past in the wake of such tragedies. particularly after the boston bombings. also recently after the plant fire in west, texas.

the newtown shooting. this is when president obama really takes on the role of comforter in chief. we heard him really strike that tone during those comments that you just played. and he's doing that behind the scenes by reaching out to state and local officials. he called the mayor of moore. he also called the governor of oklahoma, mary fallin, last night, to offer his condolences, his prayers, but also to make it clear that the federal government plans to put its full weight behind helping in the assistance and recovery efforts. so i would be surprised if he doesn't make that trip. >> now, kristen, the president dispatched fema chief craig fugate almost immediately, but there's also been some talk of whether oklahoma's disaster relief should be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. i'm sorry to raise this issue on a day like this, but is the white house expecting a similar fight to that which occurred following hurricane sandy? >> reporter: well, they got questions about this today during the briefing.

white house press secretary asked if he has an opinion about this. his response was, look, fema has enough funding in the immediate future, so he wouldn't weigh in on that debate looking forward. but we are already hearing from some republicans, tom coburn of oklahoma, or rather of -- tom coburn, rather, who said he does think those types of funds should be offset. so this is a debate and this is a discussion that has already started. that has already been set in motion, martin. so i would be surprised if we didn't see this, and, of course, that was the debate during the issue over whether or not there should be sandy funding approved. >> of course. nbc's kristen welker at the white house. thank you, kristen. >> reporter: thank you. now to the task for the red cross leading the recovery efforts in moore, oklahoma, and this critical work comes on an anniversary for this invaluable group. let's turn now to dan hall bu halliburton, spokesperson for

the american red cross who joins us from oklahoma. the red cross, as you know, sir, was actually founded on this very day may the 21st back in 1881. it is somewhat fitting, i guess, that you face the task that you do on this day. >> it is. and i checked my call tendar fo lot of things today but missed that one. thanks for pointing it out. it is a source of pride for all of us involved in the red cross. >> indeed. now, there was a knphoto tweete out today of the oklahoma city office of the red cross. and, of course, there's a massive crowd of people showing up. there it is. to lend their hand to help. how long to ydo you think the rd cross will remain in moore? how long do you anticipate it will take for this community to be whole again? >> well, we're early on when communities like this need help, and that's really the first line that the red cross is responsible for. so you see us early, but we stay here for a good long time.

we start out with our sheltering operations. then we work to take care of first responders as they first come into the neighborhoods. later we work with our partners and come into the neighborhoods and start feeding and providing supplies and services to the people who are here to clean up their neighborhood. and then we work a lot of other partners for that longer term recovery. and it really is a great mesh of many organizations and the red cross is proud to take an important lead in it. >> now, there's been an incredible outpouring of support from many people. that includes, of course, a check for $1 million to the american red cross. written out by nba star kevin dura durant. we have information -- >> wow. >> -- on how viewers can also contribute to the red cross. what's your message for people, ordinary citizens of this nation who may want to partner and assist those in great need in oklahoma? >> well, you may not have $1 million in your checking account, but a lot of folks have a cell phone and a really easy way to make just a $10 donation

is to text the word "red cross" to 90999. just a $10 donation. super easy. really fast. and you know that that money is going to work right away to help out the people here in moore and all over the united states. we've had a lot of tough challenges whether-wise and otherwise around the state, and the red cross has been at all of them. >> indeed it has. and do you share the view of craig fugate that even though people may be well intentioned, may want to provide any kind of help, that actually driving to the area is not the most helpful thing to do? bringing food and supplies also not the most helpful thing to do? >> yeah, one of the great things about the way the red cross works, those donations we get allow us to buy the materials we need right here in moore or in other cities and they're all a little bit different. and we know people want to do something right away. you know, i've seen people come in with a trailer of water and, you know, soft drinks and milk

and orange juice. what do we do with that? how you have to store it and do other things. it really helps if you can make the financial donations. there are certainly other organizations around the community that are in touch with unique needs of the community. so you pay attention to those. we'll let people know about them. everybody's in this together. we're all working hard for the people here in moore, oklahoma. >> dan halliburton of the american red cross. happy birthday, sir. and thank you so much. >> thank you very much. >> stay with us. we'll have much more just ahead. [ female announcer ] doctors trust calcium plus vitamin d to support strong bones. and the brand most recommended by... my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. doctors trust citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. i am an american i'm a teacher. i'm a firefighter. i'm a carpenter. i'm an accountant. a mechanical engineer. and i shop at walmart. truth is, over sixty percent of america shops at walmart every month.

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but to those on the ground, it would prove absolutely devastating. >> oh my god. >> soon the vicious character of this historic tornado a mile wide and almost 20 miles long would do its worst. lifting houses from their foundations. throwing cars across the fields. and sparking fires that lit up the darkening sky. as the minutes passed, storm chasers and ordinary members of the public would capture winds in excess of 200 miles an hour. >> oh my god. >> oh my god. it's damage. >> as the cone of destruction shifted its epicenter, we were able to see an entire landscape demolished, homes, shopping malls, banks, a movie theater, and then, as if to deepen our grief beyond redemption, elementary schools crushed and

flattened. after 90 minutes of being battered by a tornado, it was perfectly obvious that the city of moore no longer resembled a proud residential suburb. instead, it was like a scene from the book of revelation. where the sun became dark, and the sky was split apart. "hardball" is next. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. rescue efforts in the oklahoma city suburb of moore are still under way. more than 24 hours after a devastating tornado ripped through the region. here's what we know right now. at least 24 people were killed. that number includes at least nine children. seven of whom died at al elementary school stuck in the storm's