our jacqui jeras, our meteorologist joins us now. some officials in missouri reporting that there are at least as many as 24 fatalities from this tornado that touched down, and they are saying there's widespread damage across the city's south side. >> that's right, don. it was just an incredible tornado that touched down just before 6:00 local time there. a multi-vortex tornado touched down in downtown joplin and just stripped a path of destruction through the city. there are many buildings which have been damaged. homes have been flattened and trees broken off and stripped from their bark, and, unfortunately, we're concerned that that death toll is up and many more injuries in addition to that. this is a large wedge tornado, as wide as half a mile to three-quarters of a mile wide that we moved through and you think it's likely that there's an ef-3 or other tornado which we would call a major tornado. moved through a very large scale area. search and rescue continues to go on at this hour. reports of people trapped in their homes and

i'm joined by our meteorologists jacqui jeras at cnn world headquarters in atlanta in cnn severe weatheryers joins us by phone. to jacqui first, you've been monitoring these pictures, the scanners. what are you hearing now? >> we're hearing the scene is very horrific. we're hearing, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty as to how many people have been effected. we're hearing block after block of just leveled buildings and homes, trees which have been stripped of their bark, trees that have been cut off, you know, at the base, at the trunk. strong, huge trees that were very healthy. we're hearing of many people who have been injured, triages which have been set up, the hospital there has been damaged by the tornado. there are many gas leaks, emergency crews are having a hard time getting into some of these areas because there's so much destruction. in addition to that, you know, people can't really get around because power lines are down, because trees are covering those roadways. and because of some of these gas leaks we've been talking about as well. this all started before 6:00 centra

we are going to check in with our jacqui jeras in two minutes. what do you got?bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. >>> as if there has not been enough, now more potential severe weather on the horizon. jacqui jeras and the weather center. >> we are watching things in the midwest right now. especially into the state of indiana as well as into michigan where a tornado watch is in effect here for the next several hours. we will show you the area we are most concerned about, a couple of warnings in place. these are doppler radar indicated tornado. you need to be taking it seriously and getting to the lowest level of your home, away from doors and windows. there's one warning just to the west of toledo. we also have warnings for barry, calhoun, as well as kalamazoo counties. those are the areas we are watching. lots of lightning and really heavy downpours. chicago got nasty thunderstorms a few hours ago. you still have a few rumbles of thun

jacqui jeras, stand by. our ireporters and the photographers who were there on the scene and shot these pictures, and we're so grateful that you -- you that sent them here into cnn and that you're joining us. here's what i want to say. the governor of missouri, jay nixon, activated the missouri national guard in response to the tornadoes and the severe weather that moved through the state earlier this evening. there is, there is a statement from senator roy blunt. let me read it in part here. just coming across the wire. roy blunt says our thoughts and prayers go out to the families impacted by this devastating tornado in joplin. while local officials are still assessing the extent of the damages, i am deeply saddened by the tragic reports of loss of life and extensive zrix resulting from this storm. my staff and i will continue to monitor the situation closely and urge everyone to use extra precautions in the region. the first of the statements that come out. you can expect much, much more, especially from

jacqui jeras will be back to report if we get any more information.ui. >>> are your children learning, really, enough in their science and math classes? if not, it could be because many states lie to parents about children's proficiency. soledad o'brien has a preview of her special report on the state of education in america. >> maria, what is the ratios of the 45? >> the one, the one and the radical two. >> reporter: maria wants a career that pays well and is pushing herself and her school to get it. >> i was like, well, why isn't anybody challenging me? i would do a whole week's lesson in a class period. and i was just like, okay, this is too simple to me. it's like, okay, what's next? >> reporter: do you worry that when you go off to college you're not going to be prepared to compete? >> yeah. especially like with this example, english, we're learning things like how to capitalize and when to capitalize. that's things my little sister should be learning, you know? >> reporter: half of the 2200 students at maria's school don't pass statewide tests i

jacqui jeras is joining us from the cnn severe weather center. the system that came through yesterday, my, oh, my, and now again. >> yeah, today it is more widespread. and we have had confirmed tornadoes on the ground, many of which caused damage. these are pictures from our affiliate kart-tv in minneapolis, where a tornado touched down causing quite a bit of damage. 20,000 people are without power. lots of homes did sustain quite a bit of damage. mostly second-story damage and roof damage from what i understand. this was a relatively brief touchdown that lasted six to seven minutes. it moved through north minneapolis over to fridley and pushed up north. some damage there at the airport as well. amazingly at this time, as of right now, no serious injuries. so hopefully that will continue to be the case. now the severe weather threat still stretches some 1,000-plus odd miles with watches in effect from northern wisconsin and minnesota all the way down into parts of texas. most of the rotation has been in minnesota, iowa and wisconsin. but we've go

these people are not. >> let's check in with jacqui jeras right now.everyone is out of the woods just yet. there are still grave concerns all along the mississippi and ohio rivers. >> yeah. we have hundreds of miles to go. when we take a look at where the peak of that water is now, this is where the river is cresting. okay? we've got a long ways to go. when we say "cresting," we're talking about the height of the river. it's already elevated all the way downstream, even into new orleans. so the waters are starting to rise downstream and they're just going to get higher in the upcoming days. what are they going to do about this threat of the rising waters in some of these major metropolitan areas that are right along the mississippi river? one city of concern is new orleans. and right now the river is expected to crest just below about a half a foot below the levee. so if it stays that way, it's good. that takes into account that they're going to open a spillway, similar to what they did in cairo. it's called the bonnet carre spillway. there's a second

jacqui jeras has more on that. >> hey, fredricka, yeah. we've had a number of tornado touchdowns producing damage. and that threat remains out there. this is going to be ongoing throughout most of your night. the purple boxes that you see here, these are all tornado warnings which are in effect. that means a tornado has been spotted or indicated by radar. there's also one right there just to the southwest of green bay. the red boxes are tornado watches. that means conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop. we've had a number of reports of touchdowns with damage in the twin cities mote row area including in minneapolis itself up towards fridayly into brookdale into the shopping center there. that storm continues to track on up to the north and to the east. we're also looking at a very nasty thunderstorm near cedar rapids to the north and east of there, just passed over iowa city. it does produce a little bit of damage from what i'm understanding with that one as well. chicago, you guys are under the watch. severe thunderstorms to yo

jacqui jeras is there.pecting a new updated list on the missing. when will that come our way? >> reporter: that's coming in later this morning, 11:00 eastern time. the 232 missing and unaccounted for is expected to shrink down a little bit. officials are now letting some of the family members into the morgue to help identify these bodies. that has been a very slow process. one of the reasons for that is that some of the bodies are in such poor condition that they are having to use fingerprints, dna testing, medical records and even tattoos to help identify them. the federal government has also taken over that task. they have brought in $2 million worth of equipment to help ex pet di expedite it. they are hoping to identify some of the people and locating the missing. we are hearing a little bit of chatter that maybe the numbers will be going down later today. i also took a look at the list of all the names too, carol, by the way. i noticed there was one name on the list that was on there twice but two diffe

jacqui jeras.ocates will hold a congressional briefing to bring what they hope will be revolutionary reform to the adoption process. they say national policy should move beyond finding families to helping families after the child is theirs. advocates say the case of a tennessee woman returning a boy she adopted to russia is a prime example of the need for post-adoptive services. >> we think of adoption as sort of a win-win, you go into a new family and everything, love conquers all and everything's okay. well, you know, if the kid has been abused, neglected, sexually abused, whatever, they need some work. they need some help. and the parents and the family need to get the services and support in order to help the family succeed. >> some of the groups involved include the child welfare league of america and the adoption institute. >>> if you don't snow who debbie wasserman schulz is, you will know very soon. she's now in charge of the democratic party's entire campaign operation. we'll hear from her

casey wian is there and jacqui jeras has more. dan, let's start with you, the focus here, his message to the people of joplin. >> reporter: the message being that the federal government will be here to assist inny way possible. he'll be delivering the remarks in a short time. he did get a chance to meet them up close, shake their hands. he promised that the federal government would take on this tragedy. that it was not just their tragedy alone but it would be a national response. also promising the federal government will be here long after the cameras lead. so really sort of an upbeat message from the president, a realization it will take yearing to recover but the federal government will help. >> thanks so much from joplin, missouri. appreciate it. >>> also in joplin, casey wian. casey, the president got a chance to see firsthand for himself the devastation there. you also got a chance to talk with people who said it's not six miles that this tornado was on the ground but perhaps double that number. >> reporter: absolutely. it's

there are still 44 people unaccounted for after the tornado in from lynn, joplin, and jacqui jeras metan who didn't know if her grandmother was alive for days. jacqui helped track down the answer. >> they had seen an elderly woman digging through the rubble but don't know where she went. i can't locate her either. >> reporter: tab that friedman has been trying for days to locate her 67-year-old grandmother, ellen. here the homes are so demolished and have to be identified by spray paint on the sidewalk. >> that's the bathroom and they always say the safest place to be is in the bathroom. look, it is just -- even if she would have been in there she wouldn't have made it because it is collapsed on itself. >> reporter: tab that drove to joplin from oklahoma hoping to get answers after not being able to contact nearby relatives and trying online services. >> i still have a lot of friends and family in joplin and it is just the not knowing, you know. i know a lot of people are missing loved ones. >> reporter: earlier i met neighbor aaron cole who knows almost everyone on the block. >> yeah,

but when we look back, we always hear the good things that happened as a result. >> and jacqui jeras with me now. so many people were worried about father monaghan because they didn't know where he was. >> reporter: he was in there for about 50 minutes before the first people were there to help him out of the rubble and we were there the day after the tornado and parishioners would come up, running in tears, giving him hugs. he was a huge part of that church because they didn't know if he was oklahoma. the communication is still spotty in the area. >> this area, even though it was hit by this incredible ef-5, they had been through a terrible ride before. >> yeah. back in the late '80s apparently the church was hit by the tornado. quite a bit of damage on the front of the church but the metal crosses with still standing. it's been standing since the 1940s. >> how incredible. how resilient, as are so many of the survivors. >> of course, you know, this afternoon a memorial service taking place in joplin. the joplin community memorial service right here in the next hour. we'll cover it f

thank you so much, jacqui jeras.ppreciate that. >>> also some of historical relevance in a big way, is the capture of osama bin laden, the killing of osama bin laden, and this capture of a large cache of intelligence at this compound. >> more of the new osama bin laden videos here in the cnn news room coming up. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. you think i have allergies? you're sneezing. i'm allergic to you. doubtful, you love me. hey, you can't take allegra with fruit juice. what? yeah, it's on the label. really? here, there's nothing about juice on the zyrtec® label. what? labels are meant to be read. i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me. [ sne

. >>> let's check in with jacqui jeras. it is hard to believe we're talking mid-june, so many weeks away before a lot of this water goes anywhere like out of there. >> takes a long time for the river to get back within its banks and for the water to run off too. this has been setting up for a very long time. unfortunately, there's more rain in the forecast and some of these thunderstorms today, are going to be severe and we're talking about a large area of the country from minnesota down towards texas. we already have some watches which are in place here and this is going to be the region that we're focusing on today. look at that. we popped up a brand new severe thunderstorm watch. gaerping to start out where the tornado watches are in effect and that includes you in minneapolis, st. paul, you across eastern iowa, including the quad cities and expecting things to begin developing in this area very shortly. very moist, very unstable conditions here and we're expecting super cell type thunderstorms that do produce tornadoes.

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we'll check back with jacqui jeras. appreciate it. >>> a suicide bombing attack one man is calling cowardly. the casualties mount after an attack on a military hospital. >>> they were young, they were scared, and yet they rewrote histo history. members of the freedom writers talk about their role in the civil rights movement. >>> and many of you have been asking for information and social media. you can reach out to us on twitter, on facebook, on cnn.com, and on foursquare. we're back in a moment. it might be off a dock or on a boat. upstream or in the middle of nowhere. wherever it may be, casting a line in the clear, fresh waters of michigan lets us leave anything weighing us down back on shore. our perfect spot is calling. our perfect spot is pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. you could get arrested for that you know. it's not what you think. look. there was a time when a company like that would envy us. little outfit. it's almost quaint. all these years we had something they could never have. something

jacqui jeras is also keeping track of the flooding and where it may be heading next. we'll check in with her in about a half an hour from now. >>> on to new jersey now. a frightening end to a commuter train ride. officials say the underground train overshot its stop in hoboken and collided with a bumper block designed to absorb impact of collisions. 38 people suffered minor injuries. >>> and a woman who says libyan soldiers raped her has fled to another country. where is she? and why she fled, next. host: does the buck stop here? sfx: buck's blustery exhale. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: does it take two to tango? ♪ it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit

jacqui jeras here where the latest on the forecast. ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for dog. >>> 1,000 homes in memphis, tennessee have been ordered evacuated because of the rising mississippi river. the water there not expected to crest until wednesday, and it could be historic. cnn david mattingly has the latest as that city braces for the worst. >> reporter: just a little over a day ago i would have been standing here on dry land. but now this area along the mississippi river in memphis, completely under water, as the water continues to rise. memphis now is one big city trying to hold off one very big flood. city parks already flooded and water creeping closer to houses by the day. people in memphis watch the rising mississippi river and wonder. >> how high will the water get? you know, who is most at risk? which land sits lower. >> reporter: the mississippi river floods of 2011 are expected to break records to the north of memphis this weekend. and then. . continue setting high water marks as far south batonr rouge. in 1937 city officials tell me the river rose all t

cnn's meteorologist jacqui jeras is in joplin, missouri. jacqui, we just did the extraordinary interview with this guy whose trailer was tossed in the air. what is happening right now? >> well, all the thunderstorms have moved east of where we are, so that's the good news for the folks here in joplin. but the threat of tornados is still out there tonight. we've had at least 60 tornado reports so far for today. with several confirmed touchdowns. the good news is so far there's been no major damage and no injuries or fatalities today. there are tornado watches which are stacked up basically from cleveland, ohio, stretching all the way southward and parts of louisiana. so the storm system continues to move off to the east with that big threat yet for tonight. however tomorrow we're just looking at a slight risk of severe weather and much fewer tornadoes expected along the east coast. >> jacqui, what do we know about the number of people who may have died in the joplin tornado? because we're still being told up to 1,500 people are unaccounted fo

let's check in with jacqui jeras right now. we're talking about some violent storms in so many different forms across the kunry sfwl yeah. things are really erupting right now, fredricka. the next couple of hours are going to be extremely dangerous for millions of people. we've got watches lined up that cover more than 800 miles here from minnesota stretching down into texas and eastward over here into parts of tennessee. we're most concerned about these rotating thunderstorms. we've got a line of them in eastern iowa spreading up towards the twin cities. there's another line here that could be producing rotation as well. we do have confirmation of a tornado that's been producing some damage in the twin cities metro area. here you can see the area that we're talking about. there were two storms. this one right now near i-35 producing a tornado. likely we've seen a rotating wall cloud in the shore view area. the other tornado caused some damage in north minneapolis. it caused some damage at the brookdale shopping center. some ro

. >> we turn now to jacqui jeras. why is it so bad right now? >> because we have had so much rain.s long time, guys, for all of the water and all of the tiny rivers and streams to flow off and end up ultimately into the mississippi river. we have had rainfall, as much as 20 inches in the month of april. and so that's about 400% to 500% of what they normally would see within that timeframe, so too much water, the stage was setover the winter with the heavy snowpack and all that melting upstream, so ultimately it has to go somewhere. that's what we're watching for. today, the risk of rain is pushing more into the ohio river valley, but of course, the ohio and mississippi, the confluence of them, they come together in this area, so there could be a little bit of a consequence, and a few of these thunderstorms, by the way, could be severe in central parts of illinois and indiana as well. now, how much rain are we talking about on top of what we already have? this is one computer model showing a forecast of 1 to 2 inches coming up in the next five days, and the ground is so saturated th

our meteorologist jacqui jeras tracking it all from the cnn severe weather center.will it all end? >> june sometimes, weeks ahead and that's keeping the gates open, not to mention how long it will take for the river to recede and get navigation back working again. let's go ahead and show you the area ed is talking about where some of the evacuations took place today in st. landry parish. here's the morganza floodgates that were open and some of the cities are spared. they have these little circle levees and you can see how the spillway was designed and how everything was leading its way down to the gulf of mexico. takes time for this to happen. doesn't all happen at once and by tomorrow we're expecting that water to move in towards the grand lake area over towards baldwin and morgan city which is great concern, 12,000 plus people who live in this area. that water should be arriving here on tuesday and some of to forecast bringing maybe as much as five feet of water in this city. it's all about control at this point. this is pictures from the army corps of engineers

jacqui jeras has more on that at the cnn weather center. those plans, when will they be put into place? >> well, one of them tomorrow morning already, so this is a definite on one of these spillways, and it's kind of similar to what they it up in cairo where they exploded one of the levees where they spilled the water out to relieve the pressure. this won't be an explosion. they designed this system and will open up some gates in order to do that. let's talk a little bit about the system as a whole and the river, by the way, is cresting way up here into the boot hill of missouri. we're talking about hundreds of miles still for this thing to go before it empties into the gulf of mexico. so a lot of pressure is still built up here. two spillways we're talking about. first of all, the one opened tomorrow morning is the bonna carrie spillway. nobody lives here. this won't be a problem for anybody, and they are going to push that water through the six-mile area and move it into pontchartrain so it provides a little relief for new orleans. that i

jacqui jeras is joining us from joplin.oing on. >> well, the first good news that we've heard all day, is that seven people were rescued. so the search and rescue efforts are bringing in survivors. we don't know the conditions of those people but we do know that some of them were found at various residents and some of them were found at the home depot which was destroyed as well. we have local officials, state officials, federal officials all here working together in joplin to try to continue with the rescue efforts. but as you can probably hear the rain and see it falling behind me, this has been the biggest issue that they are dealing with today. there was two-inch hail and winds from threatening thunderstorm and now it's moving through with lightning as well. despite that, they are continuing to go through the rubble. fema says that they will be here for the long haul. >> it's really the citizens helping citizens and neighbor helping neighbor, going around and talking to a lot of the first responders, the heroic work tha

jacqui jeras is on the ground still in joplin, missouri, and the frustration continues to grow there for those families who don't know where their missing relatives are, jacqui. >> yeah, it really does, ali. finding the missing and identifying the bodies continues to be the big focus on day five in the devastated town of joplin, missouri. the federal government has stepped in to take over that process of i depds fiing the bodies some of which are in poor condition they're having to use things like dna testing, fingerprints, tattoos and medical records to help to be able to identify them. they've flown in $2 million worth of equipment to help expedite that process. still like you said, many of those families say not knowing is among the hardest part. i'm standing right now in front of the home of tabitha freeman. her grandmother lives in this house behind me and was inside at the time. she was unable to contact her after the storm. she drove in from oklahoma yesterday to show up here to see if she could find any information. i knew a neighbor down the street that i had met earlier in t

that means jacqui jeras in atlanta. good morning, jacqui. >> good morning, guys. going to be necessary not just today but through the middle to latter part of the week across the mid-atlantic and northeast. we have this area of low pressure that's going to sit here and spin for a couple days, bringing in some gusty winds and heavy showers. we're talking two to four inches easy and concerned about flooding in some of the smaller rivers and streams. in addition to coastal flooding when those winds push that water combined with high tides out of the coastal areas. we've got problems in terms of the roadways, it's going to be slow going for you and the airways having issues as well. laguardia, an hour delay. that's to arrive into laguardia airport. and philadelphia about 15 minutes. but we expect these to get lengthier throughout the day. we'll probably throw in boston and washington, d.c., as well. some of the thunderstorms could be severe later in the day. so keep that in mind as well. strong gusty winds in addition to some large hail could be a factor. isolated tor

that means jacqui jeras in the weather center. >> good morning, guys.ross the northeast and mid-atlantic states. once again, kind of a broken record, you're looking forward to some sunshine, that's going to take place by the weekend so hang in there. in the meantime we're going to continue to see the heavy rains as they stream on in. you can see it across long island into western parts of connecticut and we could see as much as an additional one to three on top of what you have. big-time problems at the airports yesterday. we expect a repeat of that today. over an hour for new york's metros as well as boston, d.c., philadelphia, maybe 30 to 60, detroit as well as cleveland are going to see delays. due to low clouds and wind. phoenix is going to be windy there today as well and wet weather out west causing over an hour delay possible in san francisco. stormy conditions across the nation's midsection. this will be late this afternoon. isolated tornadoes along with damaging winds will be possible and that cool weather remains out west and getting more snow

. >> jacqui jeras is in the weather center with more on the flooding along the mississippi river. >>the people -- with the rooting situation going on, people are out of their homes for a long period of time. many of these areas are going to have high water for weeks and this crest could take as money as seven to ten days to continue to make its way down river. we talked a lot about the confluence of the ohio river and the mississippi river last week. now we're going to focus on what's going to be happening downstream and we're talking about vicksburg. they're telling people they need to be ready. so you need to have all your supplies ready to go. let's take a look at how long this will take to expand. nearly 14, 14 1/2 feet above flood stage. na nach, baton rouge, 12.5 feet. we're talking about opening new spillways to protect that city which we all know happens to be below sea level. we evening had as much as 500% of the average rainfall. we had additional rain moving through the area today. any little drop here, fredricka. runs right off. we're talking 40% of the water drains off.

. >>> i'm cnn meteorologist jacqui jeras.in moshgs month, is horrific after a tornado touched down just before 6:00 local time causing damage to buildings, leveling homes and damaging the area hospital. there are many reports of casualties at the scene. we hope to have a live report and more details as they became available. also reports of tornado damage in minneapolis-st. paul earlier this evening. picture to show you of the scene in north minneapolis and the fridley area where a tornado touched down just taking out blocks of homes here and taking down many trees, thousands of people remain without power. one person was killed here and 22 people were injured. the threat of tornadoes remains tonight across parts of minnesota, wisconsin and is stretching down into texas. we'll continue to monitor the situation and break in as necessary. now back to "cnn presents." >>> in 2004, at the height of fame and fortune, mel gibson was ready to risk it all for a movie that could woo take hollywood by surprise. "the passion of the chris

let's check in with jacqui jeras. >> this is the worst we have seen it in our lifetimes and in history as well. as long as it continues to operate as it's designed, we are good. any kink in the system and it changes the ball game. let's talk about what's going on with the spillway. they opened up the gates yesterday. they are going to continue to open up more gates in the days and weeks ahead as necessary to maintain the flow of water from the spillway southward from the mississippi river to stay the same. it's going to take awhile for the water to move from the spillway extending toward the gulf of mexico. today, we have been watching that progression as it heads southward. we are looking at the area around i-10 and southward. that's where the highest water levels could be because of the low land, the low area here. we'll take you southward and show you this is monday, graham lake. it's where the water is expected to be tomorrow. as we head into tuesday, we go toward morgan city. it's a huge concern. this is a population of around 12,000 plus people who live here. they may have to be

jacqui jeras in the weather center. frightening stuff.acting commerce on so many different levels beyond other lifestyles and livelihood of people. >> absolutely. you have the fishermen, the farmers, people that ship stuff up and down the mississippi river. lots of different levels we're talking about. the good news is the river for the most part has crested or is cresting. so i think we've seen the peak now or we're in the very tail end of that peak. we need the levees to hold for another couple weeks because so many places are still in flood. one of the other things we're concerned about is the threat for more rain, right? this is something we're going to be watching in the upcoming days. not a lot of heavy stuff today. in the coming days, we'll see this more active weather pattern that's going to bring in showers and thundershowers and some of these individual storms could bring as much as two inches per hour. we're focusing especially, right up here, talking about the middle mississippi river valley into the ohio river valley. the nex

thanks for bringing us this very, very good story, jacqui jeras. thank you.n, missouri, there are others that are filled with grief and tears. and desperate searches yielding the crushing news that a loved one did not survive. they are so, so many sad stories out there. as of this afternoon, at least 125 people in joplin are confirmed dead. that number likely to go up. this dates this tornado, joplin, missouri, alone. the single deadliest tornado to touchdown in any u.s. city since the modern record keeping system began back in 1950. 232 people are still missing. brian todd is following what's going on for us and has been since -- since the early days since this tornado struck. first reporters to get there. brian, we are looking at a lot of positive stories. but -- there's some sad stories as well. >> reporter: there are. too many sad stories really. we have one to report about a family we have been featuring on the situation room for the last four days. we have been reporting on a lady from here named michelle who was looking for her 16-year-old son, lance,

jacqui jeras is in joplin for us with more. tional story, obviously, jacqui. >> it's an amazing story of survival and providing a lot of hope for people in this devastated community who so desperately need to hear some good news out of this, and that's that 70-year-old pastor was able to get out of there without a scratch. this was the building you were in? >> yes. >> there's almost nothing left but rubble of father justin monahan's rectory behind st. mary's catholic church where he served for the past 15 years. he survived the tornado by seeking haven in what he had always heard was the safest place, the bathroom. >> i got in the bathtub face down. tried to cover my head. and i heard this noise. and i thought, oh. what is happening? i lay there. i just prayed and said thy will be done. and i decide to wait till the end of the noise and then i opened that door. and everything was blocking it. it was all covered there. >> he wait there had, trapped for nearly an hour after the tornado had passed before his parishioners managed to

let's go live now to jacqui jeras who has an amazing story. >> we talked about survival stories of peopled had to be pulled out underneath the debris but there have been a lot of people who were in cars at the time as well. it's flipped up against the tree. some of these vehicles you can't even recognize anymore. i want to take you over here and show you this car and tell you a story about 18-year-old ashley, she was driving home on her way from her high school graduation when she was driving down the street. the tornado picked her up about a block and a half away, flipped her car up into the air. it landed on all four straight up. this is a convertible. she and her best friend page survived this tornado. take a note how all this paint is coming off. the debris that was in the tornado just stripped off all this paint and all that debris hit her back. it had to be surgically removed. she also broke her shoulder but she's okay. her best friend page next to her broke both of her hands but the girls managed to get out of this car, holding hands, ran over to st. john's medical center to get he

jacqui jeras back with us in the weather center. did opening the morganza spillway help?do what they want it to do? >> it did exactly what they want it to do, but it still needs to be monitored because it's not over yet. you mentioned vicksburg has crested. pretty much all of the lower gauges in the lower mississippi valley have crested or are cresting. you can see vicksburg. it's crested but it's still almost 14 feet above flood stage, so we still have lot of high water making its way downstream. we're cresting in baton rouge and new orleans. new orleans is at 17 feet and that's because they're opralting the spillway, diverting the water, down through the atchafalaya, and that's why things are steady there. that's a manmade thing because of what they did by opening up the gates. we had record volume of water moving through the areas late last week. the crest has happened. i thing this is the peak. we're starting to wane off now, but we're not out of the woods just yet. why is that? a couple different things. one of which is we're still looking at flooding going on into t

>> jacqui jeras on the scene live. we'll take in touch with jacqui and the others throughout the evening. 49,000 people, southwest missouri just inside the borders of kansas and oklahoma. it's in the bible belt. the tornado demolished a catholic church. it's also near a major interstate highway. isa isaac duncans heard the sounds but not the sight the moment the tornado hit. >> we're good. >> we're okay. [ screaming and crying ] >> jesus! jesus! >> another camera, this one on a storm chaser's car dashboard caught the moment the tornado dipped down out of the clouds, you can see the storm chaser trying to warn the police. >> hey, guys. the tornado's trying to come down right here. the winds are to the north and it's kind of back around, the tornado's right here, it's coming on the ground right here, get the sirens going. get the sirens going, i'm telling you. >> roughly a quarter of the city has severe damage, the local electric company says 18,000 customers were out of power late this afternoon. i want to join us to ge

our meteorologist jacqui jeras is tracking it all in the cnn severe weather center. it just breaks your heart, doesn't it? >> they are going through a lot of misery in the upcoming weeks, too. and sometimes not knowing is one of the hardest parts. and it will be weeks that those spill gates are going to be open, not to mention, after all the gates close back up and the water finally begins to recede. we put this together on google earth for you to give you a better idea of where st. landry parish is. there you can see this is the morganza flood gates here and in the st. landry. that moves right along the river there. that's where the water is spilling into. they opened the gates here and it spills down this way and heads on towards the south and towards the west. a couple of these communities, by the way, didn't have to heed the evacuations. they have the little circle levees as they call them including the town of melville. if people live within the levee walls, they will told they don't have to evacuate at this time. it takes a while for the water to make its way d

. >>> cnn meteorologist jack cafferty jacqui jeras is joining me now.n flashes of lightning when i spoke to anderson cooper. what are you sensing there? are you sensing tornado tonight? >> reporter: probably not tonight but conditions tomorrow will be another story. there's a good probability that severe weather will break out and that includes southwestern missouri including folks here in joplin. the thought of another tornado potentially is extremely frightening for these people and so many people that are just hanging on by a thread and sustained so much damage that, you know, it's a very dangerous situation even with some strong winds. the weather today has been a huge story not just because of the tornado but because the weather today is impacting the search and rescue efforts. it's literally been raining all day long. you talked about those lightning flashes. there was hail this morning. we had wind gusts of 60 miles per hour. they had to stop the rescue efforts for a while but they've been back into it and you can imagine with all of this rain co

day holiday and a lot of peep want to know what the weather is going to be like for the holiday, jacqui jerast severe weather in many parts of the country including a dangious situation in texas. >> talking about the amarillo area right now. let's get right to the video and tell you about a situation where three homes have burned down and 150 to 300 more are being threatened. this is on the northwest side of amarillo, and this is the second major wildfire to break out this week. about 600 acres have been burned. and we'll continue to follow this situation as it develops, but critical fire conditions across much of west texas. no rain in the forecast. an exceptional drought conditions are persisting. showers and thunderstorms have been rumbling across parts of the plains here as well as into parts of the upper midwest. can you see a couple of watches in effect across parts of kansas and into nebraska, as well as into parts of pennsylvania, and into upstate new york. now, she is storms did cause quite a bit of damage in lower parts of michigan. about 100,000 people are without power at this hou

jacqui jeras is live at the cnn weather center. what is this plan? what are people bracing themselves for in this part of the u.s.? >> well, they are trying to avoid, basically, a catastrophe in new orleans. if they don't open some of the levees, kind of similar to what they did in cairo, but they don't have to explode it. they have a spillway system in place where they can just move gates and do a variety of things to help to protect that city. we'll talk a little bit about how long we still have to go and wear some of the crests. memphis, we are looking at tuesday for a crest. 14 feet above flood stage. we'll be watching vicksburg and baton rouge on the 23rd. then after that it will be new orleans. right now the official forecast for new orleans showing the river already rising expected to be flooding out of its banks potentially by tuesday and then cresting into next week. but it is expected to crest just below the levee by about a half of a foot. and the reason why it is going to stay below is because they have this system in place. the river is

mississippi and louisiana have yet to feel the full brunt of the flooding, and jacqui jeras is checkingher. first, why is this swelling going on with this river? >> well, a lot of different reasons. it started in the winter with the really heavy snowpack. so everything melting up up north of the river, then we had a ton of rainfall that fell on top of that in the month of april. in fact, somewhere between 400% to 500% of what they normally would see at that time of the year. so too much rain in a short period of time, and everything just runs off into the mississippi river. and it takes a while for it to do it. in fact, about 40% of the united states vereventually, all of th watershed goes into the mississippi and goes downstream. this is the area we have seen the cresting going on in the river. we have to go all the way down to the gulf of mexico. it's going to be days before we get to that level. now, we are expecting more rain to add into the picture in the next five days. we're talking 1 to 2 inches. every drop of rain that falls is going on top of already saturated ground, so all o

for that, we want to turn to our meteorologist, jacqui jeras. , tell us what folks are talking about. >> it's amazing imagery, they'll combine infrared images with visible images to feed the path of the tornado. as you take a look at this, you see nothing but red and blue. but to a trained eye that red is vegetation answer the blue is urban areas. all of this blue area, this is tuscaloosa, this is birmingham right here. guess what that line in the middle is -- this tornado was so powerful, an ef-4 that it basically stripped all the vegetation with its path. it churned up the ground. there you see can see the path on a closer view. here's the river. all the red stuff are trees and brushes in the area. this is also very useful information, suzanne, because they can take a look at how wide the path was and why it was on the ground. and also help with insurance claims. >> jacqui, thank you. >>> it is time to go cross country for cnn affiliates. first stop, california, wet weather in the san francisco bay area has made its way to the sierra mountains

i want to bring in jacqui jeras, cnn's jacqui jeras, she was there, watching what was going on.the scene for us. what happened, jacqui? >> if you've seen some of the pictures, i think we have some we can roll them for you and see the home depot. it's flattened, nothing left. it's amazing that some people actually survived during this situation. we talk about safe places to be during tornadoes and a building like that, these home improvement stores, have these long span roofs and so it's actually a very dangerous place to be during a tornado. seven people were rescued yesterday. a couple of them were from that home depot. out of the 17 total that we were talking about rescued out of home depot some of those people were in there for, you know, a good 12 hours or so. and you also mentioned if you remember in alabama, the tornado that touched down there, some people took refuge into the home depot and those survived. it's amazing to think a similar type of intensity tornado, some people it worked out for them in alabama and this time, you know, there some fatalities in that store as

. >> thanks, jacqui jeras, reporting live from joplin. >>> of all the jaw-dropping video, this may be among the most memorable. watch as it buzzsaws into a semi head-on. it virtually disintegrates into a cloud of metal and debris. the driver survived. he actually talked to piers morgan. listen. >> i believe very strongly that if it is your time to go, it is your time to go and there is nothing to do. i held on to what i could. my words were, here we go. >> more son says when he first saw the tape, he was sure it was someone else's truck. only after getting a better look at the video, he realized just how lucky he is to be alive. amazing. >>> today, there is a new measure of the high stakes and high emotions over one of the nation's most popular social programs. i'm talking about medicare. in a bit of political theater, the senate voted on congressman paul ryan's plan to privatetize medicare. it failed. five republican senators crossed the aisle and voted against it. it impassioned fierce of older americaned and how they may reshape the political landscape up to the presidential electi

jacqui jeras is outside of what was a catholic church, and it is amazing the stories there. the priest sought refuge in the bathtub of the rectmy and pulled out. . >> it is so hard, brooke, because one wall is standing and everything else is rubble. you cannot make out a pew really inside of that building, and you know, notice the cross. that is what is still standing. it is providing a lot of hope for people around town. if you can pan off to the left, you can see that everything is levelled in the area. you can see the hospital and the cross. and the community here says that they are a faith-based community and seeing that cross still standing is a sign of hope that they will recover. now, we are also hearing the stories about survival, and you mentioned how the priest here is a pastor and his name is father justin monaghan who has been here for 15 years helping the community, and this time they had to help him out. when the tornado approached he did what he has always heard to do for safety and that is to get himself to the bathroom. >> i decided to wait until the end of