well, we're happy to welcome mayor glenn lewis here with us tonight. mr. mayor, thank you for making time. let's use this house as an example. i found a photograph of two young women on the front yard, but i also know -- i've covered a lot of these. this could be from 12 miles away. >> right. >> this woman is said to have several young children at home. they think she got out. they're not sure. this is one house in your town. where do you begin? >> probably at the very beginning where it started right back over here at plaza towers. that's kind of ground zero. it actually started across the street in oklahoma city. briarwood elementary is in oklahoma city. and it's just as devastated as plaza towers. they actually had more of a safe room. plaza towers is one of the older schools. the older schools don't have them. all the new schools that are built have safe rooms. unfortunately, that one didn't. >> we should probably -- for people who don't know moore, oklahoma, we should probably emphasize in plain english, not a whole lot of people getting rich here. th

this is the mayor of moore, glenn lewis.or, we were just talking -- i said i've never seen anything like this. but you say -- >> it gets worse. >> it gets worse? >> it gets worse. a couple areas are worse than this. >> where? >> the plaza tower school is where ground zero is. that's where the kids were. the the other place -- it jumped the interstate, as you can see. this was our new hospital. it has gone across the interstate. there's about five actual schools that were hit. so we're assessing damage now. >> have you been over to plaza towers? >> no, i have not. they tell me that the lines have been cut now so we can get over there. before it was power lines were down, so we couldn't get access to it. it's been pretty overwhelming. so we have about six neighborhoods just like this one, nothing but slabs. >> six neighborhoods, nothing but slabs in. >> right. part of that is in oklahoma city. but it's the moore communities, west moore and south moore. >> the president spoke with you. >> yes, he did. >> what did he say? >> he

>> in an off camera interview the mayor of moore spoke to us exclusively, glenn lewis told us as soons the cleanup process is complete, he plans to propose an ordinance that would require all new housing developments to have either a safe room or a shelter. coincidentally, anderson, glenn lewis was also the mayor of moore in 1999 when the devastated tornado shredded the community. he posed similar ordinances back then. because of that there were housing complexes here that survived the brunt of the damage. because of the neighborhood that we saw leveled by this tornado because it was an older community, it didn't have the same housing codes. so that could explain exactly why we saw the devastation we saw there. anderson. >> a lot of old houses weren't required to put in storm shelters. tornado was made worse when the only hospital in moore took a direct hit. this is what's left of the moore medical center. about 30 patients and staffers were inside when the tornado hit as well as a couple hundred people ran in the building and came apart around them. it's incredible that no one was hu

. >> joining me by phone, the mayor of moore, glenn lewis. mr.thank you very much for joining us again tonight. >> thank you, appreciate you guys getting our story out. >> and mr. mayor, what does moore need most now? >> right now we actually need people to get out of the way. we've got so many people coming from out of town to look at it that they're hampering our recovery efforts at this point. >> and in terms of help from the state or federal assistance, are you getting everything you need? >> absolutely. i got a call from president obama, he's offered all the resources that we can use, anything we need basically is what he told us. the fema director himself came into the city this morning, bright and early. they have over 200 boots on the ground now. the governor has been here the whole time, she just went home. she was here last night. i mean, she has been phenomenal to work with. everyone tried to help their best. when you see this disaster it is immense. we just appreciate all of the help. >> i just had a conversation with the governor her

mayor glenn lewis who has been the mayor here before when there is a disaster. because of his strong spirit and community he has been able to lead us through this. representative tom cole. not only is this his congressional district but this is his hometown. it is very special of a sadness but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore, oklahoma bounces back. we appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here. we are proud of the work that he and his fema team have done. susie pierce, thank you for your leadership. amy simpson, i want to especially command the plaza towers elementary school principal teacher. they were on the ground when this happened. because of their quick response, their keeping a level head, it saved a lot of people. they are still going through some tough times. i can only imagine their husbands who were here and the panic they were feeling when the tornado first struck. i know that they could not be prouder of their wives for the outstanding work they did in this amazing situation. i want to thank the chief of po

. >> reporter: in moore, mayor glenn lewis says he plans to push for new houses to have shelters or safe rooms. because what's the requirement right now? >> we don't have one and it's been a free market society. >> reporter: the mayor says 2,000 shelters were built in private homes but he didn't believe it was necessary to require them until now. >> who thought that you would have an f-5 tornado-- which are such a rare occurrence-- happen in the same place twice? and we just hope it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: alabama is the only state that requires safe spaces to be built in new schools. according to the national storm shelter association. scott, that law was passed after a tornado in 2007 that killed eight children. >> pelley: elaine, thank you very much. shelters did save lives at homes and so did the sirens that sounded 16 minutes before the tornado hit, giving residents the time that they needed to leave their homes and find a safer place. today some of those residents began returning to see what the tornado did, and anna werner has that. >> reporter: residents of southwest t

the mayor glenn lewis says that he will propose an ordinance to require all new homes to have storm shelters. president obama will travel to and moore on sunday. the powerful twister killed 24 people, including 10 children, and tore through as many as 13,000 homes, schools and hospitals. >> the tremendous task of cleaning up the damage left behind by monday's tornado in oklahoma has begun. the city of moore called for volunteers to help clean up a cemetery at a local church. community members showed up in droves, raking garbage and cleaning debris by hand. dump trucks lined up ready to take the debris away. oklahoma city mayor says that early estimates muspull losses at 1.5 and $2 billion. the oklahoma insurance the armistice took the loss could be much more. >> new information just come in then on the deadly attack on british soldiers and london. both suspects in the attack or part of earlier security services process. the british government's emergency committee will meet today after two attackers butchered a british soldier on a london street. prime minister david cameron says that there

glenn lewis was also the mayor of moore in 1999 when that ef-5 tornado devastated the community.999. those homes, they weathered the storm this time around. but the community that was ravaged on monday. it was too old. it had already been built. there were no new housing codes. so that's why it explains why those homes were flattened and leveled, carol. >> nick valencia, reporting live, thanks so much. >>> we want to talk a little bit more about briarwood elementary school, we know that school's leveled. you heard nick mention that it didn't have one of those safe rooms. amazingly, no one was killed in that school. and one of the big reasons why, those brave teachers and how they protected their students. ed lavandera has one teacher's incredible story. >> reporter: some of the pictures we've seen just after the tornado struck briarwood elementary school are some of the most poignant and powerful images we've seen coming out of the storm. now, one of the teachers who survived that hit tells us what was like. >> hey! >> oh, my god! >> reporter: these are the frantic moments after

we're joined by mayor glenn lewis. the mayor of moore.from on the ground in the hardest hit areas. the status of the rescue effort? >> the rescue effort is continuing. we are optimistic we might find one or two people. that's our main concern is for the victims that are still out there. we want to find those people. we want to take the opportunity to say thank you to the med why for all of the good coverage we've had, especially when the storm was coming in, a lot of people took shelter to that, and, you know, fortunate they did. we had a major loss of life here, 51 people, 20 of them kids and if it hadn't had been for the media coverage, we probably would have been in 1,000 or more. >> what are you told about the death toll and overall casualties? expected to go up significantly? >> they tell me it's possible, of course, we're very optimistic. hope that most of it has already passed on that part. and our hearts go out to the families and it's just a devastating day i'm sorry. i haven't had much sleep. haven't had any sleep since yesterda

joining me is mayor glenn lewis also fire chief gary burg. welcome to you both. mayor, let me start with you. what is the status of the city of moore tonight? >> what is the what, i'm sorry? >> what is the status. are we in a situation now where you believe everybody is accounted for? >> yes, sir, i do believe that. i think most everybody's been accounted for. right now we're going to go into the cleanup process. we'll still be looking but i think we've gone past that now and we've already started the cleanup process and a lot of the city, we've got the traffic lights on on the south end of town and we're working on the rest of the city getting the power back on so we've got our water situation and our sewer back online. so we're in pretty good shape as far as that goes. >> i had a very moving interview with a woman called cassandra jenkins a little earlier, who her grandparents have disappeared, were last seen about 2:30 yesterday, believed to be heading back into moore. is it possible that they could still be somewhere just not found, trapped or whatever? >> it

>> reporter: yeah, i spoke to mayor glenn lewis, he told me off camera in an interview just after this is done here, he plans to propose a plan for moore that they have a safe room or shelter back in 1999, he did the same thing then. for the houses that went through that 1999 tornado, john, they suffered the brunt of the damage and their still standing. the community that was shredded and devastated on monday was an older community. it didn't have the same housing standards and that could explain why it was flattened and leveled by the severe and intense winds, john. >> nick valencia, thank you so much. nick just mentioned the other tornadoes that have blown through here, infamous, may 3rd, 19 1999. people still talking about it. some some ways that hardened this community, they know how to recover from situations like this. there's a steely resolve from people here. stephanie elam in a hard hit area. what are you seeing, stephanie? >> john, that is so true. in fact, i talked to one resident. out there with me, we were walking around, we see these homes and they just look like they wer

local authorities, in fact the mayor specifically of moore, glenn lewis, wolf, has said that there's no one unaccounted for. but that's very different from what i'm hearing. i've spoken to at least three family members who say that they have yet to be able to get in touch with their loved ones. of course, as you know from being here on the ground, cell phone communication in some parts of the area is spotty at best. the cell phone towers in that neighborhood ravaged and shredded by the ef-5 tornado that tore through here on monday has made it very difficult for some people to get in touch with their loved ones. it's quite possible, wolf, that their loved ones are just in shelters by the american red cross. there's also personal shelters, makeshift shelters if you will, where people are staying the night. there's a lot of questions that are going to be posed at this press conference. that's one that we're interested in. so we're waiting and standing by. so far no word yet on when it will begin. it was scheduled to start at the top of the hour. but as i mentioned, secretary napolitano

glenn lewis, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. appreciate it. >>> we will be back with more breaking news coverage of this horrible devastation in oklahoma. hey! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. introducing the versatile, all-new subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. an intense burning sensation i woke up with this horrible rash on my right side. like somebody had set it on fire. and the doctor said, cindie, you have shingles. he said, you had chickenpox when you were a little girl... i said, yes, i did. i don't think anybody ever thinks they're going to get shingles. but it happened to me. for more of the inside story, visit shinglesinfo.com are proven to be effective pain relievers tylenol works by blocking pain signals to your brain bayer back & body's dual action formula includes aspirin, which blocks pain at the site. try the power of bayer back & body. try the power i wa s ha try the power ving an affair with gre

moore mayor glenn lewis said today he plans to build one. >> if you ask most people out there, they'reng to rebuild and they're probably going to get a storm shelter. >> ifill: in the meantime, rescue crews were winding down their search of the wreckage. and white house officials announced president obama plans to visit moore on sunday to survey the damage and meet with victims. >> woodruff: as of this afternoon, officials said six adults remain unaccounted for. for more about the recovery efforts in the area and questions arising from this disaster, i spoke with oklahoma governor mary fallin a short time ago. governor mary fallin, thank you for talking with us. tell us, how is the recovery going so far now after two days? >> the recovery is moving right along. we have begun some of the recovery process of cleaning up the debris itself, and when i came in early this morning, i could see a change, and the ground condition, from the standpoint that debris was pushed off the side of the road, was being piled up in different areas alongside the road itself. so we're making good progress. a

i'm joined by oklahoma governor mary fallin and glenn lewis, the mayor of moore.r, thank you so much for being here. really appreciate it. mr. mayor as well, thank you so much for being here. as you look at what's happened today, the recovery efforts, the rescue efforts, how are things going? >> things are going well. under the circumstances, we feel good about our efforts. we're very appreciative of the people who have worked very long hours under very stressful circumstances and we have a great ground game basically, and we have a command unit and they are communicating very well. they're very highly organized. we've been through a couple of these disasters before and that's the key to it is having communication, having collaboration not only with the local people but the state and the federal and certainly with the charities themselves. >> at this point, mr. mayor, do you feel -- are there still people missing? where do things stand? >> as far as we know there's not. we checked the areas with thermal imagers as well as gone door-to-door. we feel like we're fixi

glenn lewis. mayor lewis, thank you for joining us. first off, we're watching this certainly our hearts and prayers go out to all of the people of moore, oklahoma. what can you tell us about what your people on the ground have been telling you about the neighborhoods and the center where is they are concentrating right now, elementary schools, two different ones? >> well, thanks for the call. i'd like to say that. right now we are in the process of assessing the damage, the injuries. i can't confirm the fatalities or how many houses were destroyed. i took a tour in a fire truck and most of the areas throughout the city there's a lot of power lines down so a lot of areas we couldn't go in to. i can tell that you i was told by the fire department that briarwood school was cleared, all of the kids were accounted for there. plaza towers is and we basically lost some businesses. we lost our hospital and it looked like our post office. but there was quite a bit of debris. the whole city looks like a debris field. >> sir, can you confirm any

the mayor of moore, glenn lewis, is working with companies to remove debris.also working with federal and state agencies to ensure aid flows in quickly. last monday's tornado was the strongest and deadliest to strike oklahoma in years. >> catherine: parts of the country are experiencing some unusual weather on this memorial day holiday weekend. the start of summer looks nothing like it is supposed to. torrential rain and flooding blamed for at least three deaths in the san antonio. the body of an 18 year-old was recovered from floodwaters sunday night. >> and in 2013, these powerful force of water comes in. it takes out homes. and in this case takes the life of a young man. >> drivers have to be rescued after 9 in. of rain. no match with the hatch and the roof as an escape route. flooding washed away any outdoor plans and the central plains and i what people broke out to their shovels. to make sandbags. the final week of may looks like a winter wonderland in parts of the northeast. this storm brought chilly temperatures and in nearly 3 ft. of snowfall on a new

mayor glenn lewis q has been the mayor here before when there is a disaster. because of his strong spirit and community he has been able to lead us through this. representative tom cole. not only is this his congressional district but this is his hometown. it is very special of a sadness but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore, oklahoma bounces back. we appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here. we are proud of the work that he and his fema team have done. susie pierce, thank you for your leadership. amy simpson, i want to especially command the plaza towers elementary school principal teacher. they were on the ground when this happened. because of their quick response, their keeping a level head, it saved a lot of people. they are still going through some tough times. i can only imagine their husbands who were here and the panic they were feeling when the tornado first struck. i know that they could not be prouder of their wives for the outstanding work they did in this amazing situation. i want to thank the chief of po

but glenn lewis, the mayor of moore says he wants to at least with other building being built make surehere is a tornado shelter. he doesn't know if he will be able to get that through the city council. martha: you would think there would be the momentum for it. in the pouring rain to add insult to injury. we'll see you later. bill: the family goes back and looking for pictures. you come back and see that storm. president obama is set to try and make good on one of his biggest campaign promises. >> to overcome extremism we must be vigilant in upholding the values our troop defend. there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of america. that's why i ordered the closure of the detention center at guantanamo bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists. bill: that was february of twin. is closing gitmo going to keep us safer? [ crowd cheering ] [ male announcer ] for sensitive skin, there's fusion proglide. our micro thin blades are thinner than a surgeon's scalpel for our gentlest shave. switch to fusion proglide. gillte. the best a man can get. th

moore may air glenn lewis says he will propose an ordinance to require all new homes at storm shelters. president obama will travel to moore on sunday. the powerful twister killed 24 people, including 10 children and tore through as many as 13,000 homes and schools and hospitals. >> oklahoma city mayor says early estimate of losses at between 1.705032706 billion. but the oklahoma interest apart is that the loss could be much more. >> it is amazing how many people come together to help. >> the losses estimated at between $1.5 million and $2 billion. >> new informations is coming in on the deadly attack on british soldier in london. both suspects in the attack or part of an earlier security service probe. the british government's emergency committee will meet today after to attackers butchered a british soldier on a london street in broad daylight. prime minister david cameron says there are strong indications it was an act of terrorism and his top advisers will examine the potential security threats. the soldier was hit by a car driven by the assailants, that hacked to death with a knif

i want to bring in mayor glenn lewis of moore, oklahoma. >> thank you for being with us and our condolences for all that is lost here. >> we appreciate that. >> the death toll stands at 51. do you expect that number rise today? >> hopefully not. right now we're is doing search and rescue and optimistic we might find a couple people under the debris, we don't know yet. we're going to be optimistic today. >> what kind of resources are being brought to bear to find people? we heard reports yesterday that heat sensors searching through the rubble. >> our fire department has heat sensors and we've gone door to door, we'll start the process, this will be our third pass this morning and we've gone door to door looking for survivors and the thermal imagers are one of the best things we've purchased in a long time, we're using them all today. >> one of the things breaking everybody's heart is the fact that two schools were in the direct path of this storm. with regard to plaza towers, there have been reports that some of the older kids, the fourth g

moore mayor glenn lewis says he will propose an ordinance to require all new homes to have storm sheltersma will travel to mooe on sunday. the powerful twister killed to of the four people including 10 children, a torturer as many as 13,000 homes, schools and a hospital. >> and the tremendous task of cleaning up the damage left behind by monday's tornado in oklahoma has begun. the city called for volunteers to help clean up the cemetery and a local church. community members showed up in droves regard to clearing debris by hand. and dump trucks lined up ready to take the the real way. oklahoma city mayor says early estimate of losses at between 1.5 million and $2 billion. but the oklahoma insurance department says the loss could be much more. >> new informations on the deadly attack on british soldier in london. both suspects in the attack or part of an earlier securities service program. the british government emerges the committee will meet today after two attackers but a result of a london street in broad daylight. prime minister david cameron says they're strong in the cases it was an

coming up on "morning joe," we're going to have the mayor of moore, oklahoma, glenn lewis is going tos. he certainly has insight in this town's history. >> the long-time mayor in moore, oklahoma, he was here in 1999 for what they call the may 3rd storm. >> we'll talk about to the mayor. more live coverage when we come back. [ female announcer ] love. it's the most powerful thing on the planet. love holds us in the beginning. comforts us as we grow old. love is the reason you care. for all the things in your life... that make life worth living. ♪ ♪ sweet love of mine [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs like miracle-gro plant food that feeds them for up to six months. you get bigger, healthier plants, guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? ah, this gal. boom! with the right soil, everyone grows with miracle-gro. 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 engineer

mayor glenn lewis q has been the mayor here before when there is a disaster. because of his strong spirit and community he has been able to lead us through this. representative tom cole. not only is this his congressional district but this is his hometown. it is very special of a sadness but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore, oklahoma bounces back. we appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here. we are proud of the work that he and his fema team have done. susie pierce, thank you for your leadership. amy simpson, i want to especially command the plaza towers elementary school principal teacher. they were on the ground when this happened. because of their quick response, their keeping a level head, it saved a lot of people. they are still going through some tough times. i can only imagine their husbands who were here and the panic they were feeling when the tornado first struck. i know that they could not be prouder of their wives for the outstanding work they did in this amazing situation. i want to thank the chief of po