back to nora where she is joined by the mayor of moore, glenn lewis who has seen two terrible tornadoshis town. >> reporter: that's right, charlie. this is the mayor of moore, glenn lewis. mayor, 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 an

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to insure that he's getting everything that he needs. i have met with secretary napolitano this morning. and my homeland security and counterterrorism adviser lisa monaco, to underscore that point that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator, craig fugate is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operation center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday, fema activated urban search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts. and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen. there are parents to console, first responders to comfort, and of course, frightened children who will need our continued love

i also just spoke witt mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma to ensure that he's getting everything that hesecretary napolitano this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism advisor, lisa monaco to underscore that point, that oklahoma needs to gets everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator craig fewgate is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operation center on sunday as the state was facing down the first wave of deadly tornados and yesterday fema activated search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so, the people of moore should not that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, and their parents to console first responders to comfort and of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where

john king toured the ruins with sergeant jeremy lewis of the moore police department, who grew up herewn. take a look. >> this is more classrooms back here. this was the gymnasium here. >> was the gym a separate building or was it attached somehow? >> attached -- separate. >> you go across the driveway? >> correct. >> the classroom building would have ended here? >> correct. >> that's what all this is. wow. >> the school kind of went in a "u." it came out this way right here. it went -- that was the back corner. >> it came out like a "u." >> there was another building separately out there. there were some portables out there, which of course didn't withstand anything. >> that kind of destruction that john king found at plaza towers elementary was also found at briarwood elementary school here in moore. total destruction. amazingly, everyone at briarwood, they got out alive. i'm joined by the superintendent marianne moore. when you look at briarwood, when you look at towers, it's a testament to the preparation and also the teachers and the principals. >> it is absolutely to the credit o

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to ensure he's getting everything that he needs. i've met with secretary napolitano this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, lisa monaco, to underscore that point, that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator, craig fugate, is on his way to oklahoma, as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operations center on sunday, as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday, fema activated urban search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska and tennessee, to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts. and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so, the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, their parents to console, first responders to comfort. and of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and atten

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to insure he is getting everything that he needse met with secretary napolitano this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism advisor lisa monaco, to underscore that point. that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator craig fugate is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operations center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornados. yesterday fema activated urban search-and-rescue teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search-and-rescue efforts. and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, their parents to console first-responders to comfort, and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and. there are empt

i just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma. i met with secretary napolitan owe this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism adviser lisa monaco to underscore the point that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to emergency center on sunday. in the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday, fema activated urban search rescue teams to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts. a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. their country will remain on the ground there for them beside for their homes and their their parents to console first responders to comfort. and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms. and in time, we're going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community. we don't yet know the full extent of the damage from t

. >> on the phone right now we have sergeant jeremy lewis of the moore police department. sergeant lewis, can you give us the latest on the rescue and search efforts, particularly around the elementary school in moore that we've been hearing so much about? >> we actually still have search and rescue teams in the school. it is a fairly large elementary school. and also the neighborhood around is completely destroyed. so things, of course, are on top of the rubble that was the school. so that rescue effort is still ongoing with the school. >> do you have the capacity you need to deal with the magnitude of the disaster that you are facing right now? >> our city has experienced disasters before but nothing to the magnitude of this. we have enormous resources here, literally hundreds, even maybe thousands of police officers who have come from all over the state to help us. so as of right now we are flooding the areas just trying to, you know, locate people who are still trapped either in debris or in their storm cellars but those guys are going to start getting tired so it's go

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to ensure that he's getting everything that he met with secretary napolitano this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism adviser lisa monaco to underscore that point that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator, craig fugate, is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operations center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday fema activated urban search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them, as long as it takes. there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, parents to console, first responders to comfort and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty

of this town. straightaway to brian. >> john, thanks very much. 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

. >> brown: sergeant jeremy lewis of the moore police department. condolences to your community. good luck to you and thanks so much for talking to us. >> thank you. >> brown: joining us live in boulder, colorado, bob henson, a meteorologist for the national center for atmospheric research. even as the rescue continues, what can you tell us about the size and rce of this tornado and what caused it to be so powerful? >> well, it was an extremely powerful tornado, now rated at ef-5 on the enhanced fujitale. that places hit in the top one tenth of one percent of all tornados. the u.s. usually gets about 1,200 or so tornados in a particular year and there's usually only about one on average this reach this is strength. in terms of what caused it to be so strong, there are a few days each year that have the general conditions that lead to strong tornado. warm moist unstable air near the surface, colder air alo, als wind shear, which is when the winds are blowing one direction below and a different direction aloft and that imparts the air with a spin that

i also spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma to ensure that he is getting everything he needs.is morning, and lisa monaco to underscore that point that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema's staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency depreciation center on sunday as the state was already facing down the first wave of deadly tornados. yesterday fema activated urban search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska and tennessee to assist, and a moebl response unit to boost communications and logistic call support. so the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen. their parents to console, first responders to comfort, and of course children who will need our continued love and attention. are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms, bed rooms and classrooms, and in time we're going to need to refill those spaces with love laughter, and community

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma to ensure he's getting everything he needs. i met with secretary this morning and the homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, lee is monaco to underscore the point. oklahoma needs to get everything it needs right away. the fema administrator, craig fugate is on the way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was deployed on sunday as the rating was facing down the first waive of deadly tornado. yesterday -- -- [no audio] to boost communications and logistical support. the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, besides them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, and parents to console, first responders to comfort, and fightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living room and bedroom and -- class rooms. we need to rebuild them with love, laughter and community. we don't know the full extend of the damage from this week's storm. we don't know the

. >> joining me now by phone is the mayor of moore, oklahoma. glen lewis. mr. mayor, what moore developments can we expect to learn of overnight? >> we're not sure. right now. right now, we're in practice mode because we have an outage at the oklahoma city water plant where we get our water. our water treatment is at a trickle right now. we requested help from other agencies around. we've got water from our other fire trucks. but they tell me they're going to have that on by 1:00 in the morning, which is about an hour away. so i'm waiting for that call. we hope that we will find maybe some people alive in some of this rubble. we don't know yet. we're continuing right now. as we speak, we're still going back house-to-house on several of those locations. hopefully, it will be better in the morning. >> we heard earlier that city buss were seen takiing people ot of the neighborhood. we know traffic was a real problem. >>> we still don't know exactly how many missing persons they have. they haven't given me that information yet. i don't think they really know. at thi

first of all, governor mary fallin, thank you so much for your quick response and your outstanding work. mayor glen lewis, the mayor of moorefore when there was a disaster. and because of his strong spirit and sense of community, has been able to help lead the community through the disaster. we very much appreciate your work. representative tom cole. not only is this his congress n congressional district, but more importantly, this is his home town. for him, this care es a special sadness, but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore bounces back. mayor mick cornett, oklahoma city, neighboring friend. we appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here. and obviously, we're very proud of the work he and his fema team have done. suzy pierce, superintendent of schools here, thank you for your leadership. amy simpson, i want to especially commend. plaza towers elementary school principal as well as shelly mcmillan of the briarwood elementary school principal. they were on the ground when this happened, and because of their quick response, their keeping a level head, their putting kids first, saved a

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to ensure that he's getting everything that heand my homeland security and counter terrorism adviser lisa monaco to underscore that point that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator craig fugate is on his bway toec oklahoma as we speak. as the state was already facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday fema activated urban search and rescue teams from texas, nebraska and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search and rescue efforts and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support. so the people of moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them as long as it takes for there are homes and schools to rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen. their earns to console, first responders to tom fort and of course, frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms and in time we're going to feed to refill tho

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to ensure that he gets everything he needs. i met with secretary napolitano this ordering, and i homeland security and counterterrorism adviser lisa monaco to underscore that point, that oklahoma needs to get everything it needs right away. the fema administrator craig to speak. on his way as we fema staff was first appointed to the operations center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday fema activated teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing searching and rescue efforts, and a unit to boost communications and logistical support. the people of moore, oklahoma, should know their country will forin on the ground there them beside them as long as it takes. tore are homes and schools rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen, parents to console, first responders and comforts, and frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms, and in time we ar

i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to insure he is getting everything he needs. i have met with secretary napolitano this morning and my homeland security and counterterrorism advisor lisa monaco, to underscore that point. that oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away. the fema administrator, craig fugate, is on his way to oklahoma as we speak. fema staff was first deployed to oklahoma's emergency operations center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornados. yesterday, fema activated urban search-and-rescue teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing search-and-rescue efforts and a mobile response unit to boost communications and logistical support so the people of more should know that their country will remain on the ground, there for them, beside them as long as it takes. for there are homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen. there are parents to console, first-responders to comfort, and of course frighted children who will need our continued love and attenti

ordinance that would require all new city housing developments in the city of moore to have a safe room or shelter. glenn lewis999 when that ef-5 tornado devastated the community. he put new codes into place in 1999. 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 wh

joining us tonight. >> thank you very much for having me on. >> we are joined by phone by glen lewis, the mayor of moore, oklahoma. can you hear me, mr. mayor? >> yes, sir, i can. >> tell me what your needs are in moore right now. >> right now we need power. what we have is a lot of onlookers and stuff, we have a lot of volunteers. we're still going through debris, still looking for people, doing search and rescue. right now, the power service for the telephones are kind of intermittent, come and go. right now, we're still looking for victims. our heart goes out to families of the victims and all of those injured. still finding people in the rubble that are okay. we have some fatalities and we just are not real sure how many yet, so i can't confirm that. anyway, it is quite a mess. we have been through this before. i was mayor in the may 3rd tornado in '99, so we have been through this before. we have a really good team here that can basically work through this. the town is basically a total debris field. it looks like it was bombed. most of our major businesses are still intact. two or three of the hou

>> 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

this is just one of the devastated neighborhoods in moore, oklahoma. the mayor, glen lewis, showed us some of the hardest hit areas. he is trying to get a handle on the scope of the destruction in the town he has lived in all his life. >> how overwhelmed do you feel right now with all of this? >> pretty overwhelmed. it's going to be a mess to clean this up. we'll do it. >> reporter: mayor lewis took us to the ruins of the moore medical center where a pregnant woman went into labor when the storm hit. a local councilman told us what happened next. >> the doctor and nurse stayed with her and she completed the birthing process. >> while this was going on. >> mm-hmm. >> wow. >> and then did they successfully get her and her child out of there? yeah, yeah. as a matter of fact, they said there was absolutely no injuries to any of the patnts or the staff. >> rescue and recovery teams have completed a sweep of the medical center and the parking lot that looks like a junk yard now. city officials say the xs on vehicles and other things mark the fact that there are no live bodies ins

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

of moore. >> yeah, that's right, thomas. he spoke to the mayor of moore. mayor lewis, a short time ago.t before he came out and spoke here at the white house. he spoke with governor mary fallin as well. also spoke to one of the representatives, tom cole, from the state of oklahoma as well. i wanted to try to give you a better understanding of what it means with the president approves a major disaster declaration. it breaks down in two simple forms. one is what they call ia, individual assistance, which means once you sign up for this, you are eligible for money, up to $30,000 per household to pay for immediate needs like housing, which as you witnessed there, is so critical at this time. the other is what they call p.a., or public assistance. it helps pay the state, the city, and the county bills to cover things like one of the most important, and as you have witnessed, most necessary right now, is debris removal. it covers the national search and rescue teams coming in from states. i believe texas, nebraska, and tennessee are now being represented right now. it also pays for the repair

first of all, governor, thank you so much for your quick response and your outstanding work. mayor glen lewis, the mayor of mooree before when there was a disaster and because of his strong spirit and sense of community has been able to help lead the community through this disaster. we very much appreciate your work. representative tom cole. not only his congressional district but more importantly this is his hometown. and so, for him this care relationships a special sadness but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore bounces back. mayor mccornett of oklahoma city. a neighbor and friend. we he appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here and we are proud of the work he and his fema team have done. susie pearce superintendent of schools. thank you for your leadership. amy simpson i want to commend, the plaza towers elementary school principal and the briarwood elementary school principal. they were on the ground when this happened and because of their quick response and their keeping a level head and their putting kids first saved a lot of people. and they are still going through

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

i want to bring in now the mayor of moore, oklahoma. 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 debr

. >> reporter: major mark murdoch of the moore fire department and jeremy lewis of the moore police department were among the first on the scene. >> we had several civilians that were waving at us, telling us that they had some trapped children in here in the hallway. >> reporter: both men faced with the immediate aftermath of the ef-5 tornado that transformed plaza towers elementary from this to this. >> reporter: so this whole structure was several stories high? and it just pancaked down on itself. >> correct. >> reporter: so how many feet of debris would you say we've got there? >> over here we've got close to 50 foot of debris that still has to be gone through. >> is there a fear that there are still people in there? >> that's why they're picking it apart very carefully, to make 100% that they're not on top of someone. but the dogs have gone through it, but as you can see, the dogs are 20, 30 foot up in the air. >> so it's hard to get a sense of something. >> correct. >> came from the west and moved in this direction. so it kind of had a free run through this community here by the time it

. >> the mayor of moore, oklahoma, glen lewis, joins me now. is issue of safe houses and cellars, you have breaking news about the six individuals unaccounted for. >> yes, we do. i just learned that six people that were missing have now been accounted for. all six -- >> specifically five -- five were found alive. one is at the medical examiner's office which we presume is probably dead otherwise he wouldn't be at the medical examiner's office. >> of the six people, five are okay. >> yes. >> the sixth person we don't know if they were double counted in the original 24. >> exactly. >> death count or if there is a 25th body. we'll hear from the medical examiner. there are no longer six people missing you guys have an exclusive on that. we just found it out. >> just important that the information is out there. let's talk about the issue of safe homes and cellars. you are proposing new legislation. what are you proposing? >> actually, what i said was basically we would discuss it in a council meeting and what we will do is get the stakeholders here i

. >> 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

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

first of all, governor mary fallin, thank you so much for your quick response and your outstanding work. mayor glen lewis, the mayor of mooreuse of his strong spirit and sense of community has been able to help lead the community through this disaster. we very much appreciate your work. representative tom cole, not only is this his congressional district, but more importantly, this is his hometown. and so for him, this carries a special sadness but also a resolve in terms of trying to make sure that the city of moore bounces back. mayor nick cornett, oklahoma city, a neighbor and friend. we appreciate him being here. craig fugate is here, and obviously we're very proud of the work that he and his fema team have done. suzie pierce, superintendent of schools here, thank you for your leadership. amy simpson, i want to especially commend plaza towers elementary school principal as well as shelly mcmillan of the briarwood elementary school principal. they were on the ground when this happened, and because of their quick response, their keeping a level head, their putting kids first, saved a lot of people. and they're still going

this is just one of the devastated neighborhoods in moore, oklahoma. the mayor, glen lewis shows us some of the hardest hit areas. he's trying to get a handle on the scope of the destruction in the town he's lived in all his life. >> how overwhelmed do you feel right now? >> pretty overwhelmed. it's going to be a mess to clean this up. but we'll do it. >> reporter: a local councilman told us what happened next. >> the doctor and nurse stayed with her, she completed the birthing process. >> while this was going on? >> yes. >> did they successful get her child out? >> as a matter of fact, they said there was absolutely no injuries to any of the patients or staff. >> reporter: rescue and recovery teams have completed a sweep of the medical center and the parking lot that looks like a junkyard now. the x's mark the fact there are no live bodies in the structures. but that doesn't mean there aren't bodies underneath. so they're still out combing the wreckage for bodies. there are still some places too dangerous to get close to. officials are urging residents to stay away from th

this is just one of the devastated neighborhoods in moore, oklahoma. the mayor, glen lewis of the hardest hit areas. he's trying to get a handle on the scope of the destruction on the town he's lived in all his life. how overwhelmed do you feel? >> pretty overwhelmed. it's going to be a mess to clean this up. so -- but we'll do it. >> reporter: the mayor took us to the ruins of the moore medical center where a pregnant woman went in to labor as the storm hit. >> the doctors and nurse stayed with her and she completed the birthing process. >> reporter: while this was going on? >> uh-huh. >> wow. >> reporter: did they successfully get her and her child out of there? >> yep. as a matter of fact, they said there was no injuries any of the patients or staff. >> reporter: rescue and recovery teams have completed a sweep of the medical center and the parking lot that looks like a junkyard now. officials say the "xs" mark the fact there's no live bodies inside the structure and the mayor says that doesn't mean there aren't any bodies and that's why they have the canine teams out co

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 here in moore, oklahoma. >>> now, let's talk about the weather event that caused all this. we're standing in front of the wreckage of just one of these residential homes. weather channel meteorologist our old friend jim cantore is here with us. jim, you and i were talking before about a statistic that's starting to surface today that the sheer energy, the output of this storm equaled the bomb ignited in hiroshima. >> when you think about that blast, certainly that is an amazing analogy. i mean you just have tons of debris everywhere. brian, unrecognizable. it's hard to imagine anyone could survive in this. >> now, safe rooms. let's talk about it and let's talk about what this region needs to do. >> they do. i mean, if we're going to put our kids in a hall and teach them how to crouch and hold their hands over their head, we have to have a place that's not going to be blown apart. we have to have buildings that can sustain the type of damage that they're used to here, obviously. we're talking about 200-mile-per-hour winds. that's the first thing and obviously a big thing they need to address. people's

. >>> the painstaking search for survivors of the deadly tornado in moore, oklahoma may be nearing its end. 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 some

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