another vaguer threat wmd weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. since so many countries have them they know that some country in the middle east having them wouldn't get us into a war but since they got us focused on nuclear weapons being in iraq the bait has been set. bait and switch. look for it next time you see a pitch. from the hawks. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being here. hit again. tornadoes sweep through oklahoma with terrifying and deadly results. right before your eyes dramatic and new pictures of tornadoes forming across the plains -- sudden and random. at this hour breaking news with more violent weather in the midwest. good morning to all of you. this news is almost unthinkable today. another huge tornado roars through parts of oklahoma just 11 days since the last one did both bringing death and untold destruction. the latest one killing at least

two including a mother and her baby with reports of up to five dead. let's go to oklahoma city. nbc's jay gray. all right, jay. i know you rode out the last storm and this one there. >> yes. >> what is the latest on this one? >> reporter: well, alex, thankfully downtown oklahoma city getting a break from the rain which has continued to pour throughout the night and into the morning. as you talk about this area cannot get a break. overnight another round of deadly tornadoes ripping through central oklahoma. the violent conditions were alarming. >> my goodness. >> reporter: even for veteran storm chasers. >> turn the car around! let's get ready! >> reporter: but there is no real way to prepare for this. >> this entire line here has got rotation in it and each one of these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: for more than an hour several funnels dipped in and out of the clouds. >> large tornado right there. >> reporter: at times multiple twisters on the ground chewing

up everything in their path. the tornadoes tossed debris for miles. at one point even through this weather channel chase vehicle about 200 feet. luckily, no one inside was seriously injured. but that was not the case along packed roadways as thousands tried to escape the storms. >> we've got a terrible situation going on along interstate 40 and interstate 35 right now. multiple cars that have crashed. >> reporter: a mother and her young child stuck in the traffic were killed. several cars and trucks were pushed on their sides. across oklahoma into missouri the massive system ripped apart homes, downed traffic lights, trees, and power lines while in other areas it wasn't the wind but the water that caused the most serious problems. some scrambling to save whatever they could. others inching through streets swallowed by rain. during what was another horrific

night across the heartland. alex, again, as we start to see the sun light peeking through which is great news assessment teams are still out trying to figure out exactly the extent of the damage here. we know across four states more than 200,000 people without power. 27 people in the oklahoma city area alone taken to hospitals overnight. ten still being treated this morning. >> you know what is so frightening is people have to take shelter when they see this. i understand there were a lot of people at the oklahoma city airport who had to take shelter. you had to take shelter as well, right? >> yeah. absolutely. we were in the downtown area forced to take shelter as the storm -- it was really a massive wall cloud moving into the downtown area. you talk about the airport. it was interesting. a lot of those people shuffled into an under ground tunnel and forced to stay there until the storm passed. it was 20, maybe 30 minutes they were all in there and told to wait this thing out. some very tense moments there,

here in the downtown area, awnings being ripped away and small trees being uprooted. a lot of people and a lot of concern especially, alex, coming off what they have over the last 11 days. >> well yeah. you know what, at the airport, jay, i don't imagine they have enough hangar space to take all their planes and put them into some semblance of security but then again with certain tornadoes a hangar is not even going to keep a plane safe. that must back up incredibly the traffic, people getting in and out of there. >> it really did. the airport obviously shut down. they lost electricity there. there was debris on the runways. it is expected to open later today. but yeah. yesterday at the time of this storm it was just a very tense at times chaotic scene out there and downtown here. >> pretty unnerving. thank you so much. we are getting new and incredible video of the violent tornadoes ripping across oklahoma. the video you're seeing here was taken near union city and shows these twin twisters.

almost triple there as you see one forming to the right of your screen over an open field. officials say at least two people were killed in union city. here is a bit more of the video we saw in jay's report. it shows a tornado touching down in the city of el reno where a mother and baby were killed as that storm was moving toward oklahoma city. well, this is what's left of the weather channel vehicle that got caught up in one of the tornadoes. it was a pretty frightening situation for reporter mike bettes and his two photographers. we heard them shouting on jay's report. that twister threw their vehicle a couple hundred yards off the highway and into a field. >> i don't know what to say. i'm speechless. that was the serious moment of my life. i've never been through anything like it before. my life flashed before my eyes. it was like we were exploding and then tumbling i don't know how many times. i would count at least six, eight times we tumbled and then we were airborne and at one point just floating and we weren't tumbling anymore and then we came down hard. >> incredible. mike says he and his crew suffered some minor injuries but he says they'll all be okay.

the storms in oklahoma that produced those tornadoes also caused widespread flooding and power outages across oklahoma city. more than 100,000 are without power in oklahoma as well as into missouri. we're also getting more new video of damage from a tornado that touched down in missouri. that twister tore the roof off this home in weldon spring. missouri's governor has declared a state of emergency. let's go to nbc meteorologist bill karins keeping a very close eye on the situation for us. bill, you got to wonder, what is behind this intense outbreak of tornadoes that we're seeing. >> everyone keeps saying that, alex. this is the peak of the season. we expect these storms like this. of course you don't expect them to cluster around oklahoma city like they have been for the last week and a half. i tell you what, it was a widespread outbreak. st. louis it was very scary times around st. charles right after we got done with the oklahoma city one last night. we knew for a fact at least we had that one out there near oklahoma city. we didn't have confirmation on the ground around st. charles just to the northwest suburbs of st. louis but we had numerous

reports and that tornado actually traveled across the mississippi river into areas of illinois. you see all the storm reports from yesterday. it was a very violent day. let me start your saturday and let you know who is at risk today. so you can make your plan. let you know who is safe and who is not. we're shifting the severe weather threat a little further to the south and a little further to the east. happy to say that oklahoma city, much of central oklahoma, you get your break today. you may have some showers out there and maybe a weak storm but the tornado threat is done for you. same for the st. louis area and chicago it looks like the worst of your severe weather storm over the last three days are over with. indianapolis, lexington, louisville, the nashville area, memphis all the way down through little rock, shreveport, dallas, ft. worth as we shift to the south almost down to san antonio you could see isolated, strong storms today with maybe a few tornadoes. who has it the worst this morning? that storm complex from last night has produced tremendous flash flooding overnight from oklahoma city all the way through southern missouri. the ozarks are a mess right now and areas south of st. louis and you head down there to the boot there of missouri. as far as the flood threat goes,

remember, all of these storms that are producing this tremendous amount of water have to flow into the mississippi river eventually. we already have major flooding on the mississippi and now we're expecting that crest around st. louis on tuesday. close to 41 feet. that's a major flood. of course they have the flood wall to protect the city but the more rural areas are at jeopardy for flooding. a lot of farmers' fields and small towns and homes. this would be a top six all time. these records in st. louis go back over a hundred, 150 years. this is going to be a big flood event there on the mississippi river as all of this water begins to collect and head downstream. how do we look today? overall the forecast, west coast you're fine. east coast you're fine. the middle of the country we have our severe threat and then this storm shifts to the east coast for sunday. we will have a few strong storms, pennsylvania, west virginia, areas of upstate new york. you could see some isolated, damaging winds. i don't think we'll see too many tornadoes but for everyone on the east coast you have to keep an eye on the sky as we go throughout sunday. alex, to recap what happened in

oklahoma city last night, for about 15 mints we knew we had a very violent tornado on the ground. it was due west of oklahoma city heading east. it was a very scary period of time. we know now that it lifted and weakened and didn't turn out to be a moore, oklahoma situation. we didn't know. that's why it was so dire for about a good half hour last night. we just didn't know what was going to happen as it rolled through on the city. what you have been looking at on tv was a multiple vortex tornado. it wasn't like your classic one tornado coming down from the sky and on the ground. it was multiple tornadoes spinning around each other. they formed, they dissipate, they form again. you know, we did lose some lives last night. we had many injuries, alex. but over all we were very lucky. this was in mostly a rural area. >> absolutely. okay, bill. thanks for being on the job. we'll talk to you at the bottom of the hour again. we've been talking about moore, oklahoma for a couple weeks now. they took some direct hits when these new twisters tore through the state late on friday and were still picking up after the ef-5 which is the most powerful

ranking for a tornado. that smashed into the town 11 days ago. joining me by phone oklahoma congressman tom cole a native of moore, oklahoma. representative cole, many thanks for joining us. this is a tough thing to be talking about. second time in less than two weeks that moore has been up ended by tornadoes. is this unprecedented for you? >> well, unfortunately, at this scale it is. and the whole weather complex around us just almost biblical in proportions last night. it was -- we had a tornado immediately to the east and a little bit northeast i should say. another one that popped up again to the west and then one to the south that formed and quickly dissipated. but throughout we had extraordinary rain. i mean just sheets of rain, inches after inches. we have to deal with that this morning. high winds. lots of lightning. power outage. i'm in my home now, absolutely no power. and then tomorrow or today, you

know, we've got debris everywhere already and this on top of it will have scattered that debris a great deal. of course just the recovery from the tornado of may 20th is a great deal more difficult for people on the ground what goes through your mind when you hear reports or look out your window and you see something heading your way or certainly you can see it in the distance? i mean, again, is it incredulous for you? >> yeah, well it is a little bit. you know, i just kind of put my eyes to heaven and why a second time? last night of course these were tornadoes in the rain. the rain wraps around them. you can't see them in the way that you could see the classic one on may 5th. and so you know it's out there but you don't have much sense of exactly where it's at. you're trying to juggle around. you have no power. trying to sort of watch things or print or calling on your blackberry or pulling up what you can on that.

it's difficult. and of course you go to the middle of the house. in my case we have a reinforced room in the middle. my wife was in the shelter next door because i actual haden been out doing an event and literally arrived home as this was starting. she had wisely gone to the neighbor's shelter. i just sort of rode it out here. >> despite the repeated warnings for people to stay indoors thousands of people were still out on the roads. why is it that you think so many motorists stayed out on the roads where there isn't shelter? >> well, i think some of them literally think you can get away. quite often you can but if you get caught in traffic you're moving at 5 miles an hour you're not getting away. that happened i think to a lot of people last night. some folks, again, just would rather trust themselves while they're moving and they think they can see although in the dark you really can't, than they would take shelter. that's unfortunate and of course i-40 is a major interstate

highway. i-35. they both intersect in the middle of the city. you constantly had a great deal of traffic on those roads from people that aren't around here so you put those two things together and you really got a traffic snarl in the middle of really severe weather where everyone would be better off someplace off that road. >> absolutely. representative tom cole, we're very glad that you're safe, sir despite your lack of power and thank you for your time. best of luck to you and your fellow oklahomans through all this. >> thank you so much, alex. riding out the storm you'll hear from one person about what she did to protect herself from the tornado outbreak. [ jackie ] it's just so frustrating... ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. ♪ i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz.

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at quarter past the hour if you're just joining us breaking news out of oklahoma again. another tornado at least two dead despite warnings leading up to the outbreak. some chose to ride it out.

nbc's janet shamlian is in oklahoma city. good morning to you. what are the residents telling you about why they took such a huge chance? >> alex, you know what? they've been dealing with this day after day and really for the most part i have to say people did seek shelter but the tornadoes are generally predicted for a certain area. people who live here know it's a way of life for spring months but that said the community is emotionally ripped apart at this point. they've been going through this drill day after day. it is always the same thing. late afternoon, storm clouds, warnings, sirens. what do you do? where do you go? while we can't really assess the physical damage yet because it is just too soon, we know that this is taking a toll on people here after some of the scenes they saw last night. from the dash board of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable.

bales of hay sent flying across the road as a twister ripped apart buildings. debris thrown into the path. >> getting pretty nasty. >> earlier from the air the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> this entire line here has got rotation in it and each one of these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: and produce they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city area. >> this is a very violent tornado. people that pass this thing need to be underground in their tornado shelters. >> reporter: those unable to take cover were sitting targets for the tornadoes. >> we've got a terrible situation that's going on on interstate 40 and 35 right now. more cars have crashed. >> reporter: a mother and her young daughter were killed when their vehicle was tossed from the interstate. at least three others were killed including one person in el reno, oklahoma where this twister tore across the

landscape. the storms knocked out power to more than 80,000 customers and turned city streets into rushing rivers. drivers forced to abandon their cars in the rising waters. >> down in the middle of the road it flooded up to your waist. it's all bad. >> a lot of trees down. just destruction everywhere. >> reporter: the powerful storm that moved into missouri spawning even more tornadoes knocking power out to thousands and ripping the roof off this home in a st. louis suburb. damage and destruction as tornado alley once again lived up to its name. alex, we were in the oklahoma city airport last night after "nightly news with brian williams" when the sirens went off. we've been getting a couple e-mails saying it looks like the airport may be in the path of the storm and we took shelter with perhaps more than a thousand other people in a tunnel that runs from the terminals to the parking garages. it was a very anxious time down

there but it was handled very calmly and we even saw people come to that airport who didn't have other shelter. they knew that facility was there. they stayed and rode out the storm there. we did leave very soon after the tornadoes had passed. i've got to say that is almost as dangerous a time because there's so much flood water then and still now. and i think that is going to be the real story over the next few days. this is a flood event more than a damage event here in oklahoma city. >> janet, can i ask you when you were in that tunnel can you hear the winds? can you hear what is going on outside? or was it that protected that you didn't know? >> reporter: when it came over us, in whatever form that was, you could feel like a gust of air really and see there were some small windows and it looked like hurricane type water splashing against the windows. it looked like a pool was filling up. and you saw that water coming down on top of you. of course everyone is there trying to get to the windows because that is where you can get a little bit of a cell phone reception and yet that is

probably the most dangerous place to be in the tunnel. generally people heeded the warnings and, yeah. we could definitely tell when it was coming over us. there was a secondary system so they said don't leave yet. we got another one coming. i don't recommend it generally. >> i imagine not. not something i want to experience. i'm glad you're okay though my friend. thank you so much, janet. >> reporter: okay. more survival stories from storm chasers but first a new report on social security. what year might it go bankrupt? but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% testosterone gel. the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or signs in a woman,

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taxpayer money. >> at an undisclosed location world famous dance instructor -- brought together a rag tag group of executives. their dream? to become the next great dance sensation. >> well, this is an interrible video made for employees before a conference back in 2010. the treasury inspector general released a report on that conference tuesday and the irs acting commissioner admitted yesterday there was inappropriate spending for that event. meanwhile this morning in his weekly address president obama is citing an improving economy and calling on congress to take action and encourage growth in a number of areas. >> we just have to keep going because we have more good jobs to create, more kids to educate. we've got more doors of opportunity to open for anyone who is willing to work hard enough to walk through those doors. >> president obama also said congress should put more americans to work rebuilding our crumbling bridges just like the one you see there which

collapsed last week in washington state. well, joining me now staff writer for the hill alyssa brebeck and ed o'keefe. good morning to both of you. ed, we look at the president's remarks first up here. he wants measures on infrastructure, jobs, immigration. any chance of congress taking any action on anything over the next month? >> immigration for sure. the senate is expected not this coming week but the next week to get to that bipartisan immigration bill that was approved by the senate judiciary committee two weeks ago. a lot of eagerness on both sides of the aisle to get started on that and it is expected they'll spend most of june working their way through it and passing it and then of course the badebate will switch over to the house where things are less certain but there is also eagerness there to take it up. when it comes to transportation or infrastructure spending that's when the pipe dream for the president, for democrats, even for some republicans really for quite sometime but this is a

congress that hasn't been able to pass a new highway bill of any note in recent years. be concerned of course over how you spend that money, where it goes, how you would control it. so that is a less likely issue that would be considered in the coming months. >> gee, kind of a problem that is a pipe dream for many americans as we approach those bridges every time in the back of our head. come on. anyway, in his address the president touted these five items on the economy. 7 million new jobs. a booming auto industry. shrinking deficit. slowing health care costs. stronger housing market. you know, my colleague chris matthews speculated that this is an obama boom economy. is there any consensus on that? >> certainly not on capitol hill where, you know, republican critics of the president are as vehement and excited as ever. they really see these new scandals as a way to hammer obama. he won re-election but now they see him as very weak. so i would say that on capitol hill at least among reporters we aren't writing the woe is the economy stories anymore.

we saw great numbers this week for consumer confidence, great housing prices going up. the stock market is reaching new highs. so i would say that in a certain sense yeah the economy really isn't the story anymore. >> let's move to another topic, though. the irs controversy. there is a bit more trouble for them as the hill, your website point out. it's about the expenses for the irs conferences. can you tell us what is behind all that? >> sure. we're realizing that a couple years ago the irs was spending quite lavishly on conferences for its employees which is something that, you know, neither side of the aisle wants to see right now for the embattled agency. that's something that, you know, americans just won't want to see. they don't like lavish government spending. we're talking about hotels and resorts and meals and that video that you mentioned. and so that's going to come up on capitol hill this week as lawmakers hold hearings on the irs controversy. house oversight committee chairman darrell issa has promised a report that will really delve into this spending and that can't be good for the

irs. >> we should say in your article they quote the acting commissioner who says this has become a personal priority to get this straightened out. we should know that's coming. >> true. >> ed, let's shift to the michele bachmann saga. she has announced not running for re-election in 2014. then yesterday jim graves who just almost beat her in 2012 officially dropped out of the race. why? >> yeah. i mean, well, you know, he just -- it says he wants to focus more on his family and business there in minnesota. incredible. the thinking was he would be able now to sweep in and win the seat and part of the reason she was dropping out is because she knew she would face a very difficult rematch. so it's now completely wide open in that seat. no reason to believe that bachmann will reconsider. she's going to leave. and democrats will have to find somebody new. but they still see that as a swing district, as one they could potentially pick up in their hopes of somehow recapturing the house majority. but certainly not a development people were expecting let alone bachmann's departure. >> we were all saying, what? how did that happen?

anyway. thank you so much. >> thank you. the unthinkable in oklahoma. another huge and deadly tornado. you might be surprised for all the people killed where they were when it struck. a cautionary tale, next. we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs.

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and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ welcome back everyone to weekends with alex witt. we have breaking news of multiple tornadoes which have killed at least five people and injured dozens more in the oklahoma city area just a few miles from where a monster tornado left 24 dead last week. the twister struck late yesterday as many commuters were heading home from work. oklahoma highway patrol says a woman and baby were killed when the suv they were in overturned. it happened on interstate 40 between the western suburbs of el reno and yukon. these tornadoes are part of a midwestern storm system that spun off twisters as far as north dakota and tennessee. parts of missouri also faced the storms' wrath. the national weather service says life threatening flash floods are threatening parts of oklahoma. there are warnings in place in

five other states right now. we've certainly seen plenty of video of people on the roads as a tornado approached despite pleas from authorities to stay off the roads. the oklahoma city mayor told rachel maddow he was surprised to see so many people on the streets in his city. >> see people in cars and the interstates kind of got packed. people were trying to move. that's fairly new. i wonder if it's not a repercussion of the moore tornado a couple weeks ago. people were so frightened they just wanted to get out of the way. when you have, you know, tens of thousands of people getting into their cars that is the worst place to be. >> of course in addition to the threat of tornado motorists also run the risk of encountering the dangerous flooding. as we bring you in, bill karins, talk quickly about the weather today. >> we still have life threatening weather at this moment. we'll talk about that first and then get into the discussion of what to do when the storms are heading your way. finally oklahoma city has cleared up but still major flash flooding under way and still going on there in eastern oklahoma. these storms are still really firing up.

now they have shifted more to arkansas. big flash flood threat throughout the ozarks. notice little rock in the bottom middle of your screen okay for now but you will deal with some of the storms as we go through the later portions of the morning. we're hearing about really nasty flooding conditions south of st. louis especially down around paducah, kentucky hearing about one of the worst flash floods that you've dealt with in many, many years if not decades. again, further to the south there is the paducah area to the upper left, nashville to the bottom right. you're clear for now but nashville is one of those areas that has to deal with these storms a little later this morning too. these storms aren't moving fast. flash flooding can be, kills more people in this country per year than tornadoes do. >> okay. you can understand people's reactions. they want to get out of there, get in their car and go but you have a cushion to that. >> it was a reaction to the moore, oklahoma. it's not just that. it wasn't just the human reaction to what happened in moore. the local media was telling people if you can't get under ground or in a shelter get in your car and get out of the way. there are 600,000 people in oklahoma city. none of them could go north

because of the hail and the heavy rain there so they all had to go south. there was a parking lot on the roads. now people are getting conflicting advice. it used to be get under ground if you can. if you can't get to a basement. if you can't get a basement get to an interior room, get in the bath tub with a mattress and lay on top of your kids. now after moore some people are thinking that isn't going to save me. i'll get in my car. it is still good advice if you live in a rural area in a mobile or manufactured home because you probably won't survive it no matter what but even some people in moore, oklahoma survived staying in an interior room or bathroom or closet. you can't evacuate a metropolitan city in 20 minutes. if you're in your car you have a better chance of dying from the tornado or flash flooding than inside your house. people are getting conflicting advice. as far as meteorologists and public officials we need to get on the same page because we're going to kill people. >> you are making a very serious point there and i think a discussion will have to be held after all this.

>> look at this map. we showed you the pictures of the weather channel people and unfortunately storm chasers got caught in the storm. each of the red dots was a storm chaser. >> that's incredible. we'll be talking with a couple in a second. sit tight. thanks for your extra coverage with us. as he was mentioning the flash flooding in places like el reno is now hampering efforts by officials and residents to start taking stock of the damage. joining me on the phone from oklahoma city is matt white, mayor of el reno. mayor white, first let's talk about what the last few hours has been like for town officials trying to get out and assess what's happened. >> we're just trying to get out and get the lights coming up and to aswhaes damage we have and where we need to concentrate our forces. >> let's talk, sir, about the fatalities. you can confirm how many? >> well, i'm not going to confirm any fatalities. i think it was said two.

here in el reno we have damage south of us to union city and had damage on i-40 quite a bit from el reno east to yukon. >> okay. you heard our meteorologist bill karins talking about flash flooding. is that a problem in your area as well? >> yeah. bill is exactly right. what happened is oklahoma is flat anyway but the rain just kind of kept going over us and there's just another series or two with the tornado that laid down and started in el reno. the problem is we had a lot of rain. 6, 7 inches within a matter of about an hour, hour and a half. you know, we've been pretty wet the last two months. yeah. we got a lot of moisture and water and then people trying to get out. it was really hampering our ability to get all of the first responders out and then around as people were looking around. i was surprised by that also. >> yeah. tell me what kind of advice was

being given to your residents. you probably heard bill and my discussion about people not getting out on the roads but yet they were told to flee and get out of the way. i mean, it's a call you got to make. >> yeah. and i agree. i think it's like bill said. some people need to get on the same page. really what we were hearing h e here, get underground. stay put. our meteorologists, all the weather people here in oklahoma are well aware. we knew earlier that day it was going to be bad and we should get under ground. >> all right. well, mayor white, best of luck to you. we're keeping a close eye on things for you and certainly our thoughts are with you. good luck, sir. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. let's go to the storm chasers. take a listen to them dodging the flying debris in order to survive. >> let's go!

go! just go! we're going to die! >> well, joining me from oklahoma city are those two very brave gentlemen. we have brandon sullivan who was in the driver's seat and brett wright who you heard screaming those orders to his buddy. all right. hi, guys. i got to talk about your raw emotions in your voice and your face. i got scared looking at you and listening to you. you do this for a living but what was going through your head this time? >> well, i was just trying to get us to safety as quick as i can, you know. i was very nervous. we were in a bad spot. but as we were heading south, i was getting a better feeling in my stomach we were going to be okay. >> okay. i think i had you guys flipped. brandon, i'm sure it was your face that i saw there in the passenger side and screaming those orders just to get out of the way. you see these massive objects heading your way. what is that like?

>> yeah. you know, it got really intense. even though the tornado actually passed behind us, the inflow into the tornado ripped apart barn right in front of us and threw debris from that barn right at our car. we really, you know, had nowhere to go. we weren't really in danger of getting hit by the tornado, itself, but we had nowhere to escape from the debris being thrown at us so we decided to stop and bunker down and prepare. >> okay. this is something that you guys have or have not experienced before? i mean, brandon, brett, pardon me, when you're out in something like this, do you think oh, wow just like last time or is it every time new and different and equally frightening? >> yeah. this was definitely the most frightening experience of my career chasing. it was very nerve-racking to say the least. having debris flying at you while you're driving is not a good feeling. >> brandon, you hear about if

you're out on the road like you guys were that you're supposed to pull over and find a ditch or something and let the storm pass over. was there any thought like that that went through your mind? was there anything like a ditch where you could potentially seek shelter? >> you know, that thought did actually go through my mind. the two problems we had with going into a ditch, first off, like i said, we weren't really in danger of being flipped by the tornado or picked up by the tornado. there wasn't really a substantial ditch on either side of us but the main concern i had with getting out of the car was the flying debris. that posed -- those are flying objects that could easily, you know, kill somebody. so being in our car without the danger really of being flipped by the tornado is the safest spot to be. >> real quick, are you guys going to go out and do this again? >> yeah. we'll be back out there. you know, we're humbled. mother nature is still the king but we will be back out there.

>> best of luck to you guys. glad you're safe. your video is extraordinary. take care. anxious moments at one huge gallery after tornadoes began touching in the midwest. we'll have more on that next. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help.

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guts. glory. ram. the new ram 1500. motor trend's 2013 truck of the year. if you're just joining us this morning this breaking news from oklahoma where five people are dead after a tornado outbreak in the suburbs of oklahoma city. several tornadoes touched down right during rush hour friday. the severe weather also struck missouri where the giants/cardinals game was postponed due to dangerous conditions in st. louis. instead of statistics and ads the big screens in center field showed tornado watch messages and pretty ominous looking radar map. let's go straight to nbc's mark potter standing by for us in oklahoma city. mark, with a good saturday to you, you have flash floods, big concern there now. how are officials and residents coping with this just hours after the tornadoes? >> well, they seem to be coping fairly well. the best news is that the light

has come up again. and after a long night, and so they can use that time to sort of assess the damage. the main thing that they're going to be looking for i'm told is damage to the west of oklahoma city where the tornadoes first hit. they first came up yesterday afternoon into the evening and hit in rural areas, largely unpopulated but then hit small towns and then made their way to the suburbs of oklahoma city and the airport and then on into other states. those little towns, union city, yukon, el reno, are of particular concern. officials will be going out there to see how bad the damage is. we're told that there is some. there is a school that got -- a technical school building that got hit and some farm house damage and things like that. so they'll be out there looking at that to see just how bad it is and what needs to be done to repair it. also with the lines down here leaving 100,000 or more people without power they've got to deal with that. that problem crept into arkansas and missouri and illinois.

so they've got a lot to deal with. one bit of good news we've heard from the mayor here in oklahoma city where i'm standing now is that in this big city they don't think they had much of a problem. certainly not in terms of building damage or anything like that. there is some of that flooding you talked about at the outset here but not very much that we've been able to see. i drove up last night late at night from dallas from the south and i saw nothing in that area along the road that would suggest that the storm had gone through except water on the road. so they've got a lot to deal with but they seem to be -- they've been through this and seen this movie before, unfortunately, and are back out there today, you know, doing it again trying to clean up. >> yeah. just listening to you say you were driving up from dallas i don't envy that. it must have been real eye opening. thank you very much for your time from oklahoma city. time is running short for social security and medicare. what will congress do to make sure they're both around when you want to retire? one answer next. your smile. like other precious things that start off white,

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bigger, meaner, scarier fences, by people suggesting electrified alligator moats to prevent them to come in. by the language we want to use to talk about these people who want to be here. those people who want to be here are us.

that's what this country is made off. it is now 51 past the hour. time for your fast five headlines. authorities in houston still trying to determine the cause of yesterday's hotel fire that killed four fire fighters when a roof collapsed on them. firefighters took great risk because they felt people were trapped in a building. in phoenix four people are dead after two small planes collided in air. overseas, police in turkey used tear gas on people angry about response for a sit-in over plans for a park. chuck hagel issued warnings to china over cyberattacks and that long anticipate astroid made its close call yesterday. it will come again in 15 year. (. a now report shows social

security will run out of money 20 gears now and medicare sooner. what does it mean for people at home? joining me now, kentucky congressman, john yarmouth. good to see you. let's talk about social security in 2033 and medicare, even sooner. what does this mean for folks at home? >> when talking about medicare, we were talking about good news. the projection is medicare will be insolvent in 2016. the affordable care act because of the revenues generated and savings was extended to 2023 and now two, three years longer. so, actually the prospects for medicare are getting better and better. just this year, they extended two years, found that we've actually reduced costs by $600 billion over the next ten years and when we -- some of the other reforms in the affordable care

act start to roll out when we start replacing what we call fee for service where providers are paid for every service rather than an overall treatment plan, i think we can actually extend the life of medicare even longer. so, there's good news on the medicare front and social security is something that we've been living with the prospects of the baby boomers causing this problem in social security for a long time. one of the proposals which i don't support is raising -- is the so-called changed cpi, the way we calculate increases but there are other things we can do to extend the life of social security. one of the things we could consider doing is raising the cap on how much -- what degree of wages or tox for social security. i don't want to remove the cap. because i don't think we need to do that. raising it a little bit could change the picture. again, as been propose slowly raising receipt tiermt age up to 70 years old over the next 50

years can do it, too. we just need to look at those options. it's never going to be easy politically to change such a program that has such strong political support. but i don't think the fixes are that dramatic. >> okay. that's good to know for those of us who plan to be around in 2026 and '33 and access what we need to. let's talk about the ongoing controversies with the irs. you're on the ways and means committee. what about the report that highlights the spending at the 2010 conference? >> that's actually not news, there's these situations essentially management issues and poor judgment. they don't help people have confidence in their government. that's a big concern of all of us at this point. we need to make sure we have a government that's smart, that's efficient and that makes good choices. that is not a good choice. >> no. and i 0 know they do want to correct that. what about their constituents.

what are they saying to you about all this. >> actually, i'm not hearing an awful lot about the irs or the department of justice controversies right now. a little bit about irs. i think everybody has concerns when irs doesn't seem to play fair. the deal j. issue seems to be more restricted to people who care about journalism. i'm a former junalist. i'm very concerned about the actions taken by doj. i'm not hearing it about constituents. they seem to be more concerned about the fact that under sequestration, 87 million kentuckiens are going to leez income. that's more of a concern than other issues, but to be honest. for every comment i get about a

substantive issue, i get ten comments about getting rid of mitch mcconnell. that's what my constituents care about most. >> okay. there you have it. the fact that you're a former journalist, that's what makes you such a great interview. thank you very much. >> thank you. that is a wrap this hour of "weekends with alex witt" straight ahead more smart political talk on "up with steve korna kornaki." our severe weather threat has shifted on this saturday. it's finally moving out of areas like oklahoma city, kansas city up into omaha and is now shifting to the east. areas that need to be alert and possibility of strong damaging winds, hail, tornado, include areas like dallas, little rock, memphis. up to kentucky, tennessee and indianapolis. have a safe saturday. [ both ] ugh! when it came to our plants... we were so confused. how much is too much water?

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about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your family's future? we'll help you get there. morning from new york. i'm steve kornaki. a reno oklahoma mayor matt while told nbc news that five people are confirmed dead after tornadoes ripped through oklahoma last night. the storm is moving east expected to stretch from little rock to chicago this afternoon. heavy rainfall expected in indianapolis with possible isolated t