i want to bring in frank keating who was governor of oklahoma in 1999 when this city was devastated by another powerful tornado that killed 46 people and damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 homes. governor, good morning to you. >> good morning, chris, and thank you very much for being in oklahoma. this means a lot to us. two of my three children live in the greater oklahoma city area. my son chip is there with the salvation army volunteering throughout the week. you may bump into him and he'll give you a free cup of coffee. >> it's been nice because we've taken advantage of some of those offers over the last couple of days. the outpouring has been remarkable. how does monday's tragedy compare with what you dealt with in '99?

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

frank keating served two terms as governor of oklahoma during both the oklahoma city bombing disasternd the may 3rd, 1999 record-shattering tornado that also hit moore and he joins me here in our studio. governor thank you very much. and you know many of the officials there, mary fallon was your lieutenant governor and emergency rescue, the mayor of moore was also the mayor in 1999 you saw this in 1999. what is this community going through? and as the chief executive, mary fallon is about to address us. what procedures is she taking now? >> well, it's agony, fear, real concern and alarm about what tomorrow might bring. but all of that will filter down. people are happy if their children survive if their husbands or wives survive. now it's a rescue operation still under way, as chris said. a recovery operation in terms of your own home and personal property that will be a challenge. because here you're talking about potentially according to some of the sources i have, in the salvation army, the red cross, there could be as many as 20,000 families displaced. the land around this site, i

. >> that was former oklahoma governor frank keating, talking to msnbc's andrea mitchell, talking aboutanitarian crisis this deadly tornado has left in its wake, up to 20,000 families with nowhere to live. the red cross has opened four different shelters in the area, and university of oklahoma has opened up student housing in norman for those who have been displaced. churches are also running their own emergency shelters, more than 170 members of the oklahoma national guard are here tonight helping police, fire cruise and rescue workers with the massive recovery effort. i am joined now by msnbc's thomas roberts who has been on the ground here in moore all day. thomas, the red cross effort here has really geared up quickly. >> it really has geared up quickly. as you brought out top of the show how people turned out today, trying to pick through their homes, to find anything they could take away for so many that lost so much, american red cross has been here, they set up quickly as you pointed out, four different shelters. i spoke to somebody before coming on that said they don't have exa

i was a public official with frank keating during the oklahoma city bombing. when you go through these things, you begin to figure out how lucky you are to be an american even in the midst of tragedy, extraordinary resources and capability of the country are immediately available in a situation like this. president wanted to make sure he knew it was my hometown, that that was going to be the case again. i didn't have any doubt, but it was very, very thoughtful of him to make the call. >> congressman cole, we are going to be joined by the mayor of moore. i want you two to be able to speak to make sure moore is getting everything it needs. we are joined now, we just had mayor glen lewis on the phone and just lost him. so much for the phone connections there. congressman, what is your sense of what is needed? >> first thing is what we don't need. that was mentioned earlier in your program, too. we don't need people that are not trained first responders and not been called to the scene. really it is better if you're not there. you're going to get in the way. it is

also in the last hour, the former governor of oklahoma, frank keating, said he's been told as many as0,000 families could be displaced from the oklahoma tornado. so those are some of the updates that i have for you. and churches around oklahoma have opened their doors to victims who lost their homes in the tornado, including a church just south of moore, in norman, oklahoma. we'll talk with the state representative from the area about the help coming in to her district from people all around the country. >> we had to sit like this. and the tornado started knocking all the ceilings 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. >> i had to hold on to the wall to keep myself safe because i didn't want to fly away in the tornado. eaders to support hispanicize, and the adelante movement. teaching tools for success, and fostering creativity. these programs are empowering people to lead positive change, and helping them discover how great a little balance can feel. through initiatives like these, our goal is to inspire

frank keating was the governor of oklahoma when the ef-5 twister struck the area.have been through this before. what lessons have you learned that would be most helpful. >> thank you and john for being there. i am in the wrong city. you are in the right city. we are grateful that you are there. the most important thing is to make sure that the emergency management folks know each other, coordinate, are speaking on the same frequency and can respond to a man made or natural disaster. you have a multitude of jurisdictions. other communities around to coordinate with fema as the governor has done, to partner with the national guard and the local police. very important because people want a sense of security. we have no looting after the oklahoma city bombing. we had to my knowledge no looting after the 1999 level 5 tornado. i would hope this would be the same. people pitch in to help one another but you need coordinated professionals to help them, hold hands with them and make sure they can see the light at the end of the tunnel, something i'm sure is going on right n

lesson the hard way in the oklahoma city bombing when i was secretary of state and working with frank keatingded the help then and got it massively. we're getting great help now. we'll try to be prudent around it. people don't waste money here, but they need to help. >>gretchen: congressman, if you could talk about the human spirit of the people in oklahoma as we close the interview. you just brought up the oklahoma city bombing. just the massive storms and the destruction, the oklahoma city, what's it going to take to rebuild your hometown of moore? >> well, we'll figure out the costs. you rebuild with people, not with money. we've got the best people in the world. they're tough, they're tenacious, they're compassionate. they help one another. oklahomaans do that. but honestly, so do americans. we get trillion -- we get tremendous help from around the country when we're in a situation like this. frankly, i think when other americans are in the same boat, we try to be helpful back. again, i think we've got the spirit. there's no talk of not rebuilding and not putting this town back together.

the former governor of oklahoma, frank keating, telling my colleague, andrea mitchell on msnbc, couldll. for now, i'm david gregory in washington. have a good afternoon. >>> our girl sara ventured around manhattan for a little star-gazing. >> we heard you hit all the celebrity hot spots. >> you probably heard about all of those hollywood bus tours in california. well new york city has a tour of its own, launched by none other than the celebrity outlet, tmz. and my host was harvey levin from tmz. >> we're glad you could join us! >> people can't get enough of tmz. what is this obsession in our culture right now with celebrities? >> i think the reason that they're interested in what we put up is, it's not the publicity machine of hollywood that's putting all the stuff out. it's real. >> are we going to see lindsay lohan. >> this is going to be my first time on the bus and the guys said every time they drive around they see stars. they see pete r dinklige all th time. >> i love him. >> i will bang on the window. >> let's do it. >> so exciting. >> as the bus takes off, our official guide,