what is joplin still in desperate need of at this moment? chris, probably financial need. we have quite a lot of clothe, food, water, donated early on and that continues to come in. last week, we received a donation of 500 new toys to distribute to kids during christmas and that was done last week and this week both. one of my concerns in the long haul, two years, three years down the road, we may have needs that we don't even recognize now and i want to make sure that we have some financing available to take care of those and address those needs and so from my perspective, i think probably a financial need is the greatest thing we have right now. >> mike, what is the scene around joplin now? i don't think people really understand just how much debris her was. to put it in perspective 1.2 million cubic yards more than what needed to be removed from the world trade center site here in new york city. but what does the town look like now? >> we do have a good number of things going back up. we had three of our corporate citizens have rebuilt th

>> this is joplin before. this is the joplin after. are you all okay?s you can see, all around david muir and me here, 360 degrees of destruction. >> about 6'3" -- >> as we drove through joplin. >> 150 pounds. >> descriptions of the missing on the radio. >> the helmet had been sucked away? >> ripped off. i know it saved my son. >> are you sarah? >> sarah! >> six months later, back in joplin to find sarah, too. >> the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> over in 40 minutes. >> s.e.a.l. text six aimed straight for his head to ensure they got him. >> the ten-year war, the longest in america's history. are we winning this war? >> we have had a great deal of success. >> after eight years, the war in iraq is finally ending. american troops coming home. >> welcome home, daddy! >> abc news was the first american network to travel to the scene of one of the biggest human crisis on the grolobe. >> this is it, the end of the long painful journey. >> his wife did not make it. >> she died because of hunger.

. >>> as you can imagine, it's been a tough few months for joplin, missouri. and people have made sure that people are not forgotten. we have gone on two mission trips last summer and field up two 53-foot trailer of donations, just a group us friends who wanted to help in joplin. all of these kids do not have homes or toys or anything, and they are still in need down there. >> the toys will be presented tomorrow during a holiday party for the kids. certainly can't underestimate the value of a present for kids, especially if they are going that you something like that. >> a couple gets a dumb dose of happiness in sunny miami. >> army specialist came home from iraq and before he could give her a hug, he dropped down to one knee and asked. the couple lives in oh, but the he flew to miami to meet her family which soon will be his family. >> that does not just look yes for tv cameras. i think the two love each other. >> i would say so. >>> and dave ross joins us live from the d.c. armory. >>> and army-navy clash in our open backyard. -dad, why are you getting that?

and on the ground in joplin, missouri, 14 hours after the tornado went through there. and i was in tuscaloosa, alabama, smithville. mississippi. northern georgia, all affected by the tornadoes. and up in north dakota from the floods. and when i was flying over and when i was flying over north dakota, had the

and on the ground in joplin, missouri, 14 hours after the tornado went through there. and i was in tuscaloosa, alabama, smithville. mississippi. northern georgia, all affected by the tornadoes. and up in north dakota from the floods. and when i was flying over north dakota, had the opportunity with the general and a couple congressmen. and as we're flying over, and it was just cresting. in looking at the damages, the general is explaining how many homes and businesses were damaged. in sort of a side mentioned we've really done a good job and haven't lost any lives and working hard, and we saved the school and did this and did that. later i went and talked to the mayor and governor and police, fire, e.m.s. folks and chiefs and command staffs and a lot of people that had been working on fighting the flood in north dakota for literally -- much longer, but this part of it for two weeks. and sometimes i think we miss things and we forget things. but for total devastation, they

in joplin, so much of it able to bring together the faith-based community. the southern baptist cooking food for 50,000 people that was then delivered by the red cross to a salvation army shelter that was served by men nice and cleaned up by muslims. with no government involvement. that's whole community. that's what it's going to take to recover from these. a lot of times people start thinking about recovery. people start thinking about it as soon as the response starts happening. some start thinking about it as soon as the response is over. that's not the time to think about the recovery. the time to think about recovery is now. one of the things we have thought about is the national disaster's recovery frame work. we work ackry thems. ackry nelms. with the ndrf. it lays out forward how we need to recover from disasters. we are going to be going around the country. we went around initially. now we're going to go around again laying it out. still i want to get feedback from folks how to best do that. it's not going to take just government but the exact same

. >> reporter: and the e-5 that tore through joplin. 160 people died in joplin on may 22nd, the seventh deadliest tornado in history. >> oh, they just pulled out their dog. that is great. >> reporter: the first five months of 2011 had already proven to be record breakers. it only got worse. >> when you go back and look at the groundhog day blizzard and just pretty much go right through the spring weather, severe weather season and then into the hurricane season, we've had a horrible year. >> reporter: in all, nearly 3,000 monthly weather records have been broken so far this year. with noaa estimating the country sustained 12 weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion or more each. that breaks a record set in 2008 with nine such disasters. >> all that should be under water. >> reporter: first drought, then wildfires ravaged texas, new mexico and arizona. from the dakotas to the gulf coast, massive flooding caused catastrophic damage. then, in august, irene raked the east coast. >> the sand is like a sandblaster. >> reporter: north carolina was hit first, then new jersey, new york, a

and on the ground in joplin, missouri, 14 hours after the tornado went through there. and i was in tuscaloosa, alabama, smithville. mississippi.

i traveled to one of the cities, joplin, missouri, in june.nd firsthand, that damage was incredible. >> yes, chaley, that tornado was devastating. we had lots of tornadoes even across our area. 2011 started with a lot of slipping and sliding. memorial day missed a lot of this but a -- maryland missed a lot of this but a series of ice storms battered the country in the southeast where the communities are not equipped to handle the wrath of winter roads. they went untreated and air passengers went nowhere. the spring brought 200 tornadoes. what we were talking about, over four days in late april. the deadliest single tornado in the u.s. touched down in joplin, missouri, may 22nd and killed 157 people. the hurricane season was quiet until a storm named irene set its sights on the u.s., irene responsible for more than 40 deaths and more than $1 billion in damage over 12 states and in total there were 12 weather stas -- disasters in 2011. >>> one disaster that is causing problems is flagstaff, arizona. in the northern part of the state a storm brou

thousands of americans from around the country came to joplin to pitch in and rebuild. we talked to the mayor about life since that tornado. mayor mike wallston, thank you for being with us. >> you're welcome. >> what do you remember most from that day? >> i guess the thing that i remember most, erin, is the amount of destruction. the event happened before 6:00 on a sunday evening and by the time i was notified and got down to the emergency operations center, i spent the rest of the evening and all night there. and at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning the city manager and the fire chief and i went out to get a visual assessment of the damage and the power was out and you could not see anything other than the headlights of the vehicle. so as you drove down the streets that you had driven down 20 years, you could recognize the house from the corner or maybe the second house from the corner, but you virtually felt like you were in a place that you were not in before, because all of the landmarks were gone. >> and how does it look now? how far have you come? >> it is different. w

thousands of americans from around the country came to j joplin to pitch in and rebuild. we talked to the major about life since that tornado. mayor mike wallston, thanking you for being with us. >> you're welcome. >> what do you remember most from that day? >> i guess the thing that i remember most, erin s the amount of destruction. the event happened before 6:00 on a sunday evening and by the time i was notified and got down to the emergency operations center, i spent the rest of the evening and the all night there and at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning the city manager and the fire chief and i went out to get a visual assessment of the damage and the power was out and you could not see anything other than the headlights of the vehicle, so as you drove down the streets that you had driven down 20 years, you could recognize the house from the corner or maybe the second house from the corner, but you virtually felt like you were in a place that you were not in before, because all of the landmarks were gone. >> and how does it look now? how far have you come? >> it is differen

making the joplin twister the deadliest in decades.ew era of british royalty began when prince william and his publishing bride kate swapped vows. may 1st dramatic late night announcement from the commander and chief a team led by navy seals swooped into this compound in pakistan where they said they found usama bin laden. the seals reportedly shot him in the face and defense officials say the world's most wanted man was later buried at sea. uncle sam maxed out its credit cards. lawmakers spent much of the summer fighting before ultimately increasing the government's ability to borrow more money. who is in and who is out? >> i'm running for president of the united states. >> as a candidate for president of the united states. >> i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> race for the white house began to take shape. >> we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. >> shepard: a jury acquitted cast anthony of charges she killed her2-year-old daughter cailee. >> what abou

he was living with his sister and her young son across the state line in joplin, missouri, but every time their stepfather came to town, the boy was being physically abused. j.t. said he sometimes slept on the church bus to escape the beatings. pastor jones started leaving the bus unlocked so j.t. could sleep there any time he needed to. >> i bought him a coat and some clothes that he didn't have and said, you keep this 50 cents. if you get scared, call me at my home. here's my number at my house. he would call me every day and talk and say, i'm a little scared. can i talk to you? >> and he talked to forest, pastor jones' 14-year-old son. >> my heart cried out for this kid. because i wanted to give him some of what i had, because i had it much better than he did at the time. >> after several weeks, j.t. confessed he had not been completely honest. he'd given the pastor a fake name in order to protect himself. said his name was really chris gomez. >> father, we thank you for this food. >> soon the pastor was bringing chris home after church to share sunday dinners with his family. >>

the figure i heard that day in joplin was there were 1,800 acres of debris and debris hardly begins tocribe it, businesses and homes and a large first-class hospital were little more than toothpicks. fabulous large trees with trunk diameters up to 18, 24 inches were maybe 10 or 12 foot tall shrubs with not a shred of bark. amazing the power and fury that ripped through that community in such a brief period of time. so you think about rebuilding a house but, you know, first debris, it's a massive undertaking. then to deal with the administrative mechanics of whatever you might have, insurance, a builder. and for it to be that pervasive over that large of a swath of a community just means it will take such a long time to come back. small business is affected, larger major storms affected. major building damage. fire houses, schools, and one of the primary hospitals all destroyed. so the fabric of the community is really affected in an experience like this and that also makes it harder for the community itself and its citizens to rebound. so very long train of consequences well beyond the

the deadliest single tornado in the u-s touched down in joplin, missouri on may 22nd.the e-5 killed at least 157 people and decimated the midwest town. the hurricane season was quiet until a storm named irene set its sights on the u-s. irene made landfall as a category one hurricane near cape lookout, north carolina in late october. some of the worst flooding from irene was much farther north.. in land-locked vermont. irene was responsible for more the 40 deaths and more than one billion dollars inndamage over 12 states. hurricane season wasn't over yet and pprts of the northeast were facing an october snowstorm. upwards of 2 feet of snow fell in some areas. in parts of connecticut, power was out for more than a week."we've been without heat since saturday. the house is cold and where are the trucks? where are they?" leaving frustrated residents anxiouss about what's ahead in 2012. don't forget the sweltering heat over the summer. weather expertt say it was the hottest summer in 75 years. coming up in our 6 o'clock hour... peta is launching a new billboard campaign...

joplin tornado. i want to show you the before and after. it's the same street., joplin, missouri, homes, lovely garden community, big trees and shade trees. the picture down below taken from about 20 feet in front of where the picture on top was taken, just tremendous damage, nothing left. that's what an f-5 tornado will do. we're also talking tuscaloosa and those other tornadoes. i reen, we knew it wasn't going to be a big wind maker and it made a flood from new hampshire and vermont and pennsylvania. vermont was a big story for north carolina. this is coastal north carolina there was a home, cottage built in 1903. survived every other storm so far. there are the owners sitting on the steps of what was their cottage on the sound there in north carolina. damage there, even took out the land mass, some of the island doesn't exist anymore. >> why was it such a crazy year? do you know? >> there's no way to know. it's not a random event. the earth is getting more violent. with the warmth of the global warming event, just you're going to get more humidity in the air

but the hardest hit city was joplin, missouri. a powerful ef-5 tornado left 157 people dead making the joplin twister the deadliest in decades. a new era of british royalty began when prince william and his blushing bride, kate, swapped vows. may 1st, a dramatic late night announcement from the commander in chief. a team led by navy seals swooped into this come pound in pakistan where they said they found osama bin laden. the seals reportedly shot him in the face and defense officials say the world's most wanted man was later buried at sea. urchle sam maxed out his credit cards. lawmakers spent much of the summer fighting before ultimately increasing the government's ability to borrow more money. who's in and who's out? >> i'm running for president of united states. >> as a candidate for president of the united states. >> i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> reporter: the race for the white house began to take shape. >> we the jury find the defendant not gu

joplin twitter the deadliest in decades. a new era of british royalty began when prince william and his blushing bride kate swapped vows. may 1st, a dramatic late night announcement from the commander in chief, a team led by navy seals swooped into this compound in pakistan where they said they found osama bin laden, the seals reportedly shot him in the face and defense officials say the world's most wanted man was later buried at sea. uncle sam maxed out his credit cards. lawmakers spent much of the summer fighting before ultimately increasing the government's ability to borrow more money. who is in and who is out? >> i'm running for president of the united states. >> as a candidate for president of the united states. >> i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> race for the white house began to take shape. >> we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> a jury acquitted casey anthony of charges she killed her 2-year-old daughter caylee. >> what about ca

it was shot in the town of joplin, missouri. >> they have helped so many people over all those seasonsefinitely. >> 57 degrees. >> the winner rick perry is not the only one sitting in on the tim tebow

the hardest-hit city was joplin missouri a powerful ef- 5 tornado left 155 people dead, making the john the deadliest in decades -- joplin twister the deadliest in decades. >>> a new era of royalty began when prince william and kate wed. a team led by navy seals swooped into this compound in pakistan where they said they found osama bin laden. the seals reportedly shot him in the face and he was buried at sea. uncle sam maxed out his credit cards. lawmakers spent much of the summer fighting before openly increasing the government's ability to borrow more money. cruise in and cruise out. >> i'm running for president of the united states. >> as a candidate for president of the united states -- . >> and i am announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> reporter: rates for the white house began to take shape. >> we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> reporter: a jury acquitted casey anthony of charges she killed her two-year-old daughter caylee. >> what about a lie? >> reporter: -- cayley? >> reporter: one juror said it w

touched down in joplin, missouri, on may 22nd.he ef-5 killed at least 157 people and decimated the midwest town. they are still cleaning up from this mess. the hurricane season was quiet until a storm named irene, set its sights on the united states, and made landfall as a category 1 hurricane near cape lookout, north carolina. some of the worst flooding from irene was much farther north in landlocked vermont. irene was responsible for more than 40 deaths and more than $1 billion in damage over 12 states. in total there were 12 weather disasters in 2011. the price tags estimated at $52 billion, the third costliest weather year ever. wow, justin? that was a mouthful. you know what? i wonder what 2012 is going to bring. but give us the weather for today. >> think about it, the year prior we had the blizzards. not an obscene winter but we had some around here. i remember that april 28th morning we had tornado warning after tornado warning in the morning. that was a unique event. no doubt of course we've had our flooding. it's been ra

the most memorable the tornadoes of tuscaloosa alabama and joplin missouri and also the massive floodinghe south and midwest. the price tag is around $52 billion and that is a third costliest weather year ever. number one, hurricane katrina. justin. >> no argument there. severe weather yesterday, in southeast virginia, with the same storm. you mentioned main street. here main street in bel air. charm city runners look at wet weather yesterday. it snowed for a few hours and didn't stick and waking up this morning, the sun trying to come up over dry streets. that's an any. you were disappointed -- irony. you were disappointed the snowflakes didn't overtake the warm, wet ground. but at 35 we are looking at what we expected to have a dry morning. if you didn't do your homework it's your fault. we told you we will have school today regardless of whatever fell or stuck or didn't. storms out of here but cold lan at 33. down into the 30s and near freezing near pensacola florida it's low 40s in orlando. that is deep cold air mass. storm is pulling out and the cold front is clear the coast in flor

it will be the 200 series and the crews will built 7 homes from the joplin missouri. >>> senate and houseead verse a plan to avert another government shutdown. we were here weren't we? it will be a trillion dollar government funding bill for today. democrats reportedly dropped the insistence of a congressional extension to the payroll tax cut. >>> and today is free shipping day. more than 2,000 online retailers are including best buy and toys r us are sending purchases made in the u.s. for no charge by christmas eve. >>> and today allow a free treat. it's the holidays. burger king giving away free fries. all to get your opinion for the new recipe. they changed the recipe for the fries and go to facebook and let them know what you think free fries again no purchase necessary. test the new burger king frenp fries and now the forecast. lynette, yesterday it was cupcakes and today it's free fries. >> i am loving it. it's a great week and the wind are really gusty this morning. priers coming in right around 5 -- temperatures coming in right around 51. it's make it feel like we are at 46 we are

in may, ef 5 multiple tornado, in joplin, missouri. and the imams absolutely heart breaking and 160 people lost their lives. in july. a 32-year-old. norwegian, set off a car bomb in oslo. and 69 people were killed. most of them children. but one tragedy that got the most coverage, the mass shooting near tucson. arizona eight days into 2011. 6 people were killed. 13 injured. including congress woman gabrielle giffords. the shooter, 22-year-old jared love ner, i still so clearly, judy, remember that day. npr reported that the congresswoman was dead and a number of media outlets. >> you don't-- cnn reuters, many many news organizations got it wrong and i think, john, this heaighlights the danger and pressure in social, media, journalism. you're out there ahead of the story and seconds ahead and it doesn't matter you whether or not you get it right. it's hard to resist and wow, i'm going to check this out. >> and npr says they confirmed it with two sources which usually would be enough. so, you know, i don't know if the other organizations

reason i say it is a public safety feature -- all you have to do is go to tuscaloosa, alabama, or joplin, missouri, or washington, d.c. after an earthquake to recognize that the first thing to get jim -- there is never going to be enough spectrum to handle a crisis by broadband. the one constant is broadcasting. an fm check in a cell phone provide life-saving confirmation in a time of natural or human-caused emergency, like a terrorist attack. it is approaching because of all of these -- this constant emergency. it ought to be considered. we hope that instead of streaming music, more and more of the manufacturers of cell phones and so phone carriers will permit the liking upper of the radio chips that are currently in most models of cell phones. they are there already. the want to stream music and not have the consumer have the ability to get music for free. >> in november, the fcc and stakeholders offered the first national test of the system. there were issues with some cable systems. what lessons were learned, and how you plan to work through difficulties? >> there were difficulties i

the crew will build 7 homes through 7 days from the tornadoes victims in joplin, missouri.it will air here on abc2 on january 13th. and abc says they will air a special episode of the series following cancellation but didn't announce any specific dates. >>> a silent movie made the most noise in the golden globe nomination. the artists snagged 6 nominations. the help about black servants tied with family drammate desendents for five knobs. the small screen leading contender boardwalk empire 30 rock and glee. before a superbowl performance madonna will release a single that's going to be ahead of the first new record since 2008. she signed a 3 album deal with interscope records and first is due out in late march. >>> well, it's new trend that has lazy shores and late shoppers happen -- shoppers and late shoppers happy. what's the deal with e gift how it can make your life better or easier. >> reporter: after nearly 9 years, american officials formally ended the u.s. military mission in iraq. i am sherrie johnson, a look at that ceremony coming up. look what denny's left for m

when the joplin tornado happened, of course we had a similar experience. >> this year, kids against hunger volunteers will pack some 50 million ready-to-mix meals to be sent to needy regions around the world. lloyd says the response to the crisis in east africa has been much smaller. >> situations like we see in the horn of africa are long term, they are political, at least partly political, they're somewhat related to the drought situation but it's been a long term political struggle in those areas and that has not excited the packers and the donors in the same way. >> it's not so much about compassion fatigue. i think people are as compassionate today as they ever have been. for us, it's actually more a belief fatigue. >> daniel wordsworth heads another minnesota-based group, the american refugee committee. arc also saw a huge response to the haiti earthquake. but support for pakistan, hit by massive floods a few months later, was far weaker. initially, wordsworth says, there also was indifference toward the horn of africa. >> i think what we see in both pakistan, and we're seeing it ver