live affiliate reporters from our affiliate koco in oklahoma. get now to our chief meteorologist chad myers on the phone. chad, a huge super cell and it has been whipping its way across oklahoma. you saw the live pictures on the air. described by the chopper pilot as a half-mile wide. >> reporter: right. you also heard that local meteorologist from coco, my home affiliate when i worked oklahoma. he talked about debris field. being the doppler radar, seeing things other than rain drops and hail in the clouds. seeing tree, seeing limbs. seeing parts of homes and shingles that the radar says, hey, wait. this is not a regular rain drop. it's much larger. what we call debris. it can be insulation, anything out in the clouds. the storm has been on the ground for an amount of time. it is a stove pipe large tornado. if you are in carney, carney. now this is north of wellston and, don, wellston did not take a direct hit. it was a fuel miles north of the city. let me tell you, when you live in oklahoma, a few miles makes a tremendous difference. because e

you're looking at live footage from cnn affiliate koco outside oklahoma city. there are major storms and, in fact, several funnels have touched down. several tornadoes. multiple vortices tornado. probably a category ef 1 or 2 at this point spotted near el reno. chad myers who tracks the storms for us, chad, where are you? what are you seeing where you are? >> i would say we're five miles southeast of el reno. we're directly behind us. we watched it spin up. i watched it as my driver drove as straight as he could in the wind that was 80 to 90 miles per hour. watching the tornado spin up in a wheat field. i saw dirt and debris being sucked up along with the roots of the wheat crop. so we stopped at the corner. we took a couple pictures. now the storm redeveloped. it's just a funnel cloud. i don't believe it's on the ground. i'm looking straight north at it. i have great definition. we're in no danger whatsoever. it looks like it's going to recycle. it's going to lose power for a while and then all of this moisture, still 80 degrees outside, 85 degrees where we ar

meantime we're also watching the live coverage of our affiliate koco.een talking about the tornadic activity right there in oklahoma an all that's taking place. you see their live images right there. >> they appear to be thinning very, very fast. >> absolutely there. and you're probably going to see more debris coming through. a lot of us know as you go east of i-35 the amount of tree density begins to increase. you'll probably see trees get kick up there. again you can see right along, looks like there's going to be a creek there known as deep fork. that's going to be just north of route 66, north luther road. right around peebley road there. >> these are the cities we are talking about. talking about edmond, oklahoma. arcadia and luther, oklahoma. all in the paths of this activity where we've seen these ominous clouds. they've gone from dark gray to near black and then a formation of twisters. as you see right there, that kicking you can see power lines snapping there. let's take a look and a listen to what's taking place. >> man, look at all of that

kofr, koco. it's a tremendous storm here on the ground, power flashes. these are the lines. these are the power lines that are attached to the power poles being ripped from the power poles and in sparks you'll see a blue one once in a while. that will be the transformer blowing as well. if you are in the more, oklahoma, area from h.e. bailey to more, please take cover now. 171,000 people right now within this tornado warning polygon or square, if you will, jake. >> we should make sure our viewers know the picture on the right of the funnel, that is from earlier today. what we're looking at right now is the live picture, on the left of your screen. >> much bigger. >> that is a bigger tornado, and it is live. the other footage was from earlier today. we're going to go to a storm chaser on the phone, spencer. he sees the tornado on the ground. spencer, describe what you see to us. >> live tornado on the ground. we are just west of i-35 on -- road. you're on i-35 outside of oklahoma city. what do you see? what's in the tornado's path? spencer, can you hear me? all right, we'll g

everything appears to be ruined. >> thanks to katy blakey of our affiliate koco for that report. >>>e jodi arias trial and this crucial question, will she get life or death? the jurors deciding her fate get back into a phoenix courtroom this hour. but we have a little preview of what arias herself might prefer. in an interview she gave to a local tv station in phoenix right after being convicted of first-degree murder, she also talked about whether the jury will consider what are called mitigating factors when making their decision. listen to this. >> do you know what your mitigating factors are going to be and how you're going to play that? >> well, i've been told i don't have any mitigating factors. >> by who? >> my attorney. >> said to you there are no mitigating factors for you in terms of arguing against the death penalty? >> nothing that is what you typically see in a case like this. i said years ago that i would rather get death than life and that still is true today. i believe death is the ultimate freedom. so i would rather just have my freedom as soon as i can get it. >> it

. >> at local station koco they were also tracking the tornado's path. >> you can see right here with the high resolution mapping we have paren plenty of neighborhood develops here, lots of high density neighborhoods, this is moving into a dense part of moore. >> tens of thousands of people directly in the path of disaster. >> kevin be, get the pictures man, get the video. >> colt and i, he was getting video, i was taking photos, just running around everywhere. lauren was waiting in the car so we would have an immediate exit. >> i've never heard roar like that before. >> it's going just tu north. >> there's a certain point in the chase where you know you have to stop the chase. >> this thing is violent. >> coming up, the race to safety. >> no! >> get in the car. >> we need to go! we need to go! my god. [ ice freezing ] [ wind howling ] [ engine revving ] ♪ [ electricity crackling ] [ engine revving ] [ electricity crackling ] ♪ [ electricity crackling ] at university of phoenix we kis where it can take you.cation (now arriving: city hospital) which is why we're proud to help connect o

. >> we'll listen in now on our affiliate koco. >> that is one of the more impressive shots and storms we have seen so far this afternoon and again this is a storm that is well east of i-35. the amount of wind shear is very high. winds are just screaming across oklahoma east of i-35 so you have that storm has all the right ingredients it needs to produce a tornado and again as it continues to move east that wind shear is going to increase and that jet stream right now is right over oklahoma. that storm right there is one we are going to watch very, very closely. on the right-hand side of your television screen you can see the rotation right now moving over the town of perkins. it is moving over the town of perkins but the rain is going to pick back up and you'll probably get heavy rainfall and it is going to come down pretty quickly. probably starting to get light rain coming in but it is going to pick up and looking at your shot right now, mark, that's probably more impressive. let's go to doppler 3. they use it to put a storm track on with the rotation and this is going to moving int

. >> reporter: at local station koco, they were also tracking the tornado's path. >> okay. you can see right here with our high resolution mapping, we have plenty of neighborhood developments right eahere. lots of high density neighborshoods. this is moving in a very dense part now of moore. >> reporter: tens of thousands of people directly in the path of disaster. >> kevin, get the pictures, man. get the video. >> colt and i, he was getting video. i was taking photos. just running around everywhere. lauren was waiting in the car so we would have an immediate exit. >> i've never heard a roar like that before. [ tornado sirens ] oh my god, it's going just to our north. >> there's a certain point in the choice where you know you have to stop the chase. >> this thing is violent. >>> coming up, the race to safety. >> dear, god, people stay safe. >> get in the car. >> yeah, we need to go. we need to go. oh, my god. [ musick ] i knew there were a lot of tech jobs available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs min

. >> the live pictures from our affiliate koco in oklahoma city.oks like those clouds, those dark clouds, chad, i don't know if you can see what we're seeing, it looks pretty ominous right now. the pictures on the right are coming in from el reno, oklahoma, from the left they're coming in from oklahoma as well. i think they are right where you are, chad. it looks pretty ominous to me. >> it truly is. the updraft we have going is very, very strong. we just had a brand-new, what we call a cloud-to-ground lightning strike. the more lightning we get, the more shear is going on in the storm. the more pale being generated by the storm. we'll see this continue for much of the night. >> chad, stand b for a moment. our meteorologist, samantha moore, is watching what's going on. even as bad as the situation is, samantha, in oklahoma right now, there are new warnings being released in nearby kansas. what's the latest? >> yeah, into kansas, we've also had our severe thunderstorm warnings extending into missouri today. but of course, we are very concerned about

earlier, i spoke to michael from koco.was at the scene of that medical center. >> moore medical center, we're told at least 12 people were transferred to other metro hospitals with undisclosed injuries. we're not sure if they're critical or just minor injuries. as far as death or injuries go, in the entire city of moore, i know that the medical examiner in oklahoma says she believes that at least 91 people have been passed away. 91, 20 of them are children. i want to show you, take a look right here, this is moore medical center, if you look right there, that is just rubble, that is an administrator building. you can see it is a mess. really what i want to show you some of the most stunning video. if you take a look over here, it honestly looks like a junkyard. you can see vehicles stacked on top of each other. the tornadoes sucked the cars up and tossed them all over here. if you notice on some of the doors, you'll see that orange "x" that was during the search and rescue. investigators going in there, the x meaning they

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remind those just tuning in, these are live pictures from koco.t sends these live pictures out during a live and active tornado warning. just as we were speaking, that funnel cloud formed and dropped down. i also want to give you a flash that's coming across our wire services here. a confirmed tornado on the ground on the north side of new castle, chad just as you said in metropolitan oklahoma city, this according to the national weather service. they're sending that out as our live cameras are witnessing that spot right out of the sky and hitting the ground. chad, if you'll stand by, i'll turn over the coverage of our live work as we watch what's happening in oklahoma city to my colleague jake tapper from washington, d.c., watching this story and others develop. jake tapper? >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >oo afternoon, everyone. it's jake tapper breaking news, a tornado just touched down in new castle, oklahoma. we are watching live footage of a tornado touching down in new castle, oklahoma. we've been monitoring this. there was a torn

that's a picture from one of our affiliates out of oklahoma city, koco.o tornado has been spotted, but i can tell you as we've been talking to our own meteorologists that this tornado warning, this could be encroa encroaching upon moore, oklahoma. you know the story in moore, the ef-5 tornado that leveled much of moore just last week. and also heading toward oklahoma city. we have samantha mohr in the cnn severe weather center and chad myers on the phone watching all of this from oklahoma. chad, let me begin with you. tell me exactly what you know. >> we are now traveling on i-35 south. now we're on highway 9 moving to the west towards chickashae, oklahoma. as the storm moves off towards the north and northeast, that is right in line, at least at this point, it is right in line with an impact of the oklahoma city metro area. now we can't tell you whether it's going to be mustang or el reno, moore, or norman, we can't tell you that just yet because the storm can turn left and turn right. they do turn left and right, depending on their circulation and rotat

so this is a live feed we're going to get from the--this is koco in oklahoma city.'s go to that live feed now from the local news. >> so he's okay. he was directly in the tornado. his teacher was right next to him. >> i know you said a second ago that she was a hero. >> she is. >> they had the kids in one hallway, and she said it sounded like a train coming. she said that they had to move. so they went into an interior closet. there were only six kids. they got down. they were telling stories and apparently they got in position, and the teacher held their heads and bricks were falling all over the kids. she got her arm injured. one of the boys had a big gash in his head, but he's okay. he was the last one to be reunited with the family members. we got him, and she said he was helping people, pulling stuff off of kids, you know, we're just glad that he's safe. >> i can see it in your eyes at this moment, you can't really put words on it. >> no, i was on the highway. we were being slammed with hail and rain again. i should have pulled off to the side of the road but a

it's really sad. >> let's break away from koco and go to kfor, our other affiliate. they have an update on the destruction of this school. >> they try to get back, a lot of the folks, who have been joining in the search efforts. quite frankly, it is noisy and if there are children trying to scream for help, they can't get to them, so they are trying to get some hysterical parents back. every possible emergency personnel is here doing their best to pull the victims out alive. i did speak to a teacher, her name was rhonda, sixth grade teacher here, she is nothing short a hero. she had six kids with her in the bathroom. she laid on top of them as the storm passed through, they are all alive. i understand the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were all accounted for and have been moved to a church that is in the area. and they are safe there. right now, still unaccounted for, i suppose, kindergarten, first, second, third graders. still no word on those kids right now. parents are just now beginning to arrive. as you can expect, they want to help. they are yelling at

we also have live pictures coming in from the other affiliate in oklahoma city, koco, both of these affiliatesover these days to show the viewers in the united states and around the world what's going on. and when i say this looks like a war zone, i really do mean it. it looks like a war zone, especially if you look behind me. you see what used to be a bowling alley. it is in complete destruction. joining us now, one family, the berge family, melanie and their son, billy jr. and their daughter mercedes. thank you very much for coming in. >> thank you. >> you guys went through hell yesterday. >> yes, we did. >> i want to bring you all of you into this conversation. >> she was at school. he was over at a friend. >> what grade are you in? >> 6th grade. >> you were in school, at the plaza elementary school. >> the tornado came down the block, me and her went in the closet. and the whole house started shaking and rocking. and shaking for two, three minutes. after that, everything was calm. went out, everything was just destroyed. and just apart. >> what was going through your mind as you were in th

cheerios ♪ the one and only, cheerios >>> you're looking at live pictures right now from our affiliate kocom looking at this right now. it's lightning in the sky here. it gives you a sense that this severe weather pattern that brought so much destruction to where i'm standing in moore, oklahoma, it is not over yet. there are concerns. it is an eerie vision to be standing in this debris and see the skies above you sort of on fire like this with the lights flashing. again, welcome back. we're live in moore, oklahoma, where this massive tornado touched down monday afternoon, leaving dozens killed and a path of destruction in its wake. these are the latest developments here. the official death toll now stands at 51. 20 children are among the dead. but those numbers are expected to rise sharply. we're told about 40 more bodies have been taken to the medical examiner's office overnight. president obama has signed a disaster declaration for all of oklahoma. federal emergency aid is on the way and is badly needed. and texas is sending its search and rescue team to assist first responders here. ther