the weather channel's mike bettes is in moore right now.re actually in plaza towers elementary, i'm told. can you give me a sense of what you're seeing around you? we don't have mike? we'll have to get back to him when we get a shot. right now bill karins, if we have him. you and i talked about it a little bit in our last block, about the history. i got my tornados wrong, you corrected me. give us a sense of how this storm compares to the other big tornados. we think of joplin, we think of what happened in 1999. >> in our lifetimes this is right up this. i mean, right up there with joplin which i thought we wouldn't top for a long time. we didn't top -- it was 1947, the tri-state tornados, until joplin. that's how long we went until we had one that was considerably big like that. joplin goes down as the most expensive tornado ever too, $2.8 billion was the insurance estimates on that one. and that's top worldwide all-time. the moore tornado in 1999 is also in the top six. we've only had six billion-dollar tornados in the world history. this

weather channel meteorologist mike bettes made his way to moore, oklahoma. mike, what do you see around you? >> reporter: brian, the scene is as devastating as it gets from a history-making tornado in moore, oklahoma. i can give you a brief update of what we are hearing from the elementary school. at least six children have drowned in the basement. as many now as 30 school children unaccounted for and may have indeed perished in the school as it was directly struck by the tornado. i want to show you the perspective of what has happened here. we believe about a mile-wide tornado has just levelled the communities in moore. this is a neighborhood on the outside of moore. these are well built frame homes, brick homes. there is nothing left. these homes are flattened. cars on top of homes. cars on top of cars. they are mangled beyond belief. search and rescue is ongoing at this point. they are gathering right now, setting up command posts, trying to be orderly in how they respond to this. they are going to need to go home to home to home and make sure everyone is

we'll check in with our mike bettes from the weather channel. we're trying to talk to mike before.e's at the staging area in the target parking lot not too far from here. what's the update there? we await more firm numbers about the fatality and what the injury toll is? >> yeah, and i think what happens when these situations arise, thomas, is they are very well prepared. so we're at a dick's sporting goods. next door is a target, next to that is a home depot. the reason the emergency managers picked these areas is because they're big box stores and they have huge parking lots. one parking lot is for media to set up, media, then a tire hnj changing center for police officers' cars, then behind that, the command post including oklahoma bureau of investigation, u.s. marshals are here setting up their command post, national guard, and feeding stations for the first responders and beyond that at the home depot center, are aid stations for people in need of toiletries or water or food. they can go there and get these items. what we know is it's still ongoing. we have seen a lot of heavy

that's weather channel meteorologist mike bettes standing beneath an enormous cloud bank as part of the approaching front. well, mike is with us live now, having reached a point outside of tulsa, oklahoma. mike, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. another active day of storms right here in tornado alley, and multiple tornado touchdowns. we know large tornadoes have touched down in arkansas and brief tornado touchdowns right here in oklahoma. to say the least, these storms have been menacing. some of these storms that we chased formed these wall clouds that reached almost all the way to the ground. the sky has gone midnight black in some instances. large hail, wind and brief funnel clouds with many of these storms, and the threat is still ongoing this evening and likely will go on for at least the next 24 hours. we think we have a risk that extends now from the central plains, including oklahoma city yet again. it's been an ongoing event for two weeks now. this event tomorrow could extend all the way into the upper midwest. that could include the twin cities, minneapol

the weather channel channel's mike bettes joined us this evening from roughly that same neighborhood you're looking at now to show us the after paying chur in a community that now looking very different. >> reporter: well it's one of those scenes that it's devastating right now. you look at what's going on here in moore and you look behind us here and this town has just been mowed down. it is one of those scenes that we don't see all that often. maybe you see this in joplin, missouri two years ago and we know what the scene was there. this is a neighborhood that has well built homes, brick homes, framed homes. the problem with this is we've got, you know, search and rescue here, city of oklahoma city that has to go through house by house by house and see if they can find any survivors, see if they can find me bodies. this is going to be a grim scene. we know that the medical examiner from oklahoma city just hours into the event has already confirmed 37 fatalities. i'm going to show you something that i thought was quite stunning. look at this moment. this is the driveway. in fact the

joining me now live from moore, oklahoma, is the weather channel's mike bettes. mike, good evening and thank you for being on. >> yeah, rev, good evening to you. just imagine some of the horror these residents went through. and you had to be in one of these. a concrete, reinforced, underground storm shelter to survive this. that's exactly what some of the residents did. then you emerge after the tornado. and you see this. you know, your neighborhood is just wrecked. this is what happened. and we actually talked to a gentleman, a guy that actually lives next door to the folks -- these are neighbors that have this storm shelter. this is where he lives. he was outside. he was trying to get a view of the tornado himself. he loves weather. he loves tornadoes. doesn't have a storm shelter himself. this is his bedroom right here. >> wow. >> this is where he would have gone to bed last night. absolutely amazing. he takes shelter right there in his bathroom that doesn't even exist anymore. the tub is off in that debris. he started throwing a mattress on himself and gone in

weather channel's mike bettes is live. mike. >> we're expecting an outbreak through tornado valley. nebraska, kansas, down through oklahoma. all of the atmospheric conditions coming together. it's not just tornadoes but winds that could gust well over 70 miles an hour and baseball size to softball size hail that could pummel this area. it could be a very violent day in what's been truly a very violent two weeks of weather culminating last week with the deadly tornadoes across the area. we believe citieses like oklahoma city once again and in wichita, even oklahoma, nebraska, are under the risk of violent tornados that could last through nighttime hours. nearly 3 1/2 million people are at risk. it doesn't end here. there's a severe risk across the northeast as well. that includes hartford, buffalo, and new york city. what that means is across the country, 60 million people are at risk. underground is always the best place you can be to shelter from tornadoes. in wish that, kiss. back to you. >> thanks so much. mike bettes reporting from kansas. >>> here's a look at some stories toppi

i want to go to mike bettes who is in moore right now.i know you've been moving all over the place here. can you give us a sense of the vibe on the ground and what you've seen and any color you can give us. >> you know, we arrived on the scene yesterday, brian, maybe three hours or so after the tornado struck. it was still a pretty chaotic scene. it was mountains of rubble. homes truly flattened, cars had been tossed on top of each other, on top of homes. and we were right next to the other elementary school that was hit. it was about a mile away where we know a tragic scene unfolded there. we talked to a schoolteacher there and he said you know, at the time the tornado was coming, they put all the kids and teachers into the center of that school in a hallway and they just -- they just hunkered down as that torpnado hit the school. i can't believe anybody survived inside this school, but every single student, every single teacher made it out okay. what's happening this morning is more search and rescue. more efforts coming in from outside

the weather channel's mike bettes is keeping a close eye on it from his truck in wichita.le or one of our vehicles. tell me more about what you're seeing and where the threat is highest. >> we are moving a bit west of wichita, the bloom mobile, named after david bloom. we are definitely watching for a very violent weather this afternoon, maybe as violent as what we saw yesterday, maybe even worse today. we already have a tornado watch. what we're looking at right now, as we drive done the road, wide open countryside, not a lot of buildings to hit, mostly crops out here. this is proverbial tornado alley. it could be an active day here. violent tornadoes, long-track tornadoes, meaning tornadoes that stay on the ground for 20, 30, 40 miles at a time. eventually when it stays on the ground so long, it will hit something. we don't want a repeat of last week, so as long as everyone's aware today and they know where to go when that warn is issued, i think they'll be in a good shape. underground would not be a bad appears whatsoever. we're just waiting for it. probably another cou

so we're still waiting on the firm survey results, but the confirmation i got from mike bettes at the weather channel is it will with rated an ef-5. that is the highest category that can be given to this tornado. in 1999, we've been talking about that a lot, that was an ef-5. to came through moore at the same time. it caused over 40 deaths. about $1 billion in damage at that time. now we have the confirmation of at least 24. martin, you'll recall that number was revised down from earlier reports. it was a lot higher that we had last night. then early into today. but out of an abundance of caution, they've scaled that number back. we're waiting on more confirmations that will come hopefully later today about where they feel that tally totally stands at this point. but as you can see from the homes behind me, i mean, these are just slabs that remain. we are in the area of southwest 4th and telephone road. you'll hear that intersection discussed a lot in press conferences because this is basically ground zero for where that tornado came through. and this section of the street on southwes

i want it check in with weather channel's mike bettes. mike is with storm chasers in wichita, kansas. mike, what are you seeing right now? >> craig, we have moved further west of wichita. going to chase for some storms in western kansas. and western oklahoma as well. right now storms are firing up you a along the dry line. what you can see about this area, it is wide open countryside here. not a lot of homes to hit. that is good news. if there were a tornado to form out here in basically a wheat land, it is a great place for it to be. but we do think we have a very high risk of tornadoes for this afternoon. we want to make sure everyone is staying safe. we will be out here, keeping you updated, but storm shelter is a great place for you to be on lookout. some of these tornadoes could be long, violent tornadoes, long track tornado as we call them. meaning, they could stay on the ground for 20, 30, 40, 50 miles at a time. when they are on the ground for that amount of time, they are likely to hit something. but we will keep an eye on it for

we have in the family the weather channel, we get to hang out with those guys, like jim cantore, mike bettesstephanie abrams, all three were here today hanging out with us. we asked them and they said, no, this area would be okay. they didn't see anything popping up severe weatherwise. however, this area just, and s.e., you make a great point, that sirius weather cell that had come through. it takes a lot of attention, we started off earlier in the week, on monday, talking about the tornado that went through shawnee, just 40 miles to the north. there, two people lost their lives. certainly not as serious in terms of the storm capacity, the energy of it, damaging that area. but we started out the week talking about that. by monday, we had this. but yeah, you're absolutely right. this is a tough tense time for this area in the country where tornadoes can pop up and weather can be bad at a turn after dime. but no, the weather channel team told me it would be good here for a while. that's good for the people of moore, so they can get back to their places, we build and hopefully have time to acce

let's go to mike bettes of the weather channel who is on the scene in moore, oklahoma and mike, what are you seeing? >> well, it's just one of those scenes that it is devastating right now. you know, you look at what's going on. here in moore and you look behind us here, and this town has just been mowed down. it is one of those scenes that we don't see all that often. maybe you see this in something like joplin, missouri two years ago and we know what the scene was there. this is a neighborhood that has well built homes, these are brick homes, framed homes, and the problem with this is we have search and rescue here, that have to go through house by house by house and see if they can find any survivor. see if they can find anybody. this is going to be a grim scene we believe. we know this the medical examiner from oklahoma city has already confirmed 37 fatalities. and i'm going to show you that i thought was quite stunning, look another this home, this is the driveway, this home does not even exist anymore. there's a car on top of the home. there's an i beam that came accouple of pl

we pulled mike bettes out much his car. there was a direct hit from his tornado. he was okay. and now we've got -- injured back there, providing emergency first aid. there was a house destroyed with a propane leak. >> but reid, hang on. what do you see going on at reno and the county line? this is going to be north northeast of mustang just northwest of will rogers. what do you see right there? >> reporter: yeah, i see a huge base with rapidly rising and too much dust on the ground. right now, tornado is imminent. there's a huge base. huge cloud and no rain wrapped around the back side. just a lot of dust. hold on one second, you should be able to see it. >> folks, let me tell you something. in south oklahoma city, if things don't change, a tornado will form in southwest oklahoma city. every 50 second when our beam goes around, it is evolving incredibly fast, right here. this is for south oklahoma city. i'm talking about crossroads. downtown. i'm talking about state fair park. i'm talking about whitewater bay. also, south west in teg ris, the airport, all in through there. thi

the weather channel's mike betts in oklahoma yesterday night. look at this thing.orm system moving into the region again. what's your thought? can we expect an above-active tornado season in front of us? >> well, again, these tornado seasons, we're in the middle of what we would normally expect to be the maximum tornado season, in the middle part of the country, especially in the oklahoma/kansas region. and the patterns are set up for, again, an active tornado period, now into the immediate future. i do need to remind everyone that several weeks ago, we were looking at a pattern that was not conducive to tornado outbreaks. we had the fewest number of tornadoes over an extended period of time. now the pattern is there. the warm, moist air that you need to fuel these tornado systems is well entrenched into the middle part of the country. and we have a very dynamical pattern in the upper atmospheres, which is also conducive to these major outbreaks. so we have to watch these systems very carefully, we have another moderate risk out for the oklahoma region today, and,

our colleague mike bettes from the weather channel was visiting with me earlier, talking about the fact weather is going to stick through for a while and there are chances for hail as well as more of this wind whipped wind that's going to make everybody really wet and miserable. and it also really precludes many from coming back out, but it doesn't dampen what is the continued search and rescue mission at so many different locations in and around moore, oklahoma. i think earlier on the network, we had the press conference where we heard how regional, local, state, federal, how everyone has coordinated in trying to make sure those who have suffered through this storm, those who may be remain missing are going to be found. so there's a lot of hopeful stories. real quickly, we had this morning a really beautiful reunion. i know you are a pet lover. and a lot of people have been talking about different stories with pets, and there were two dogs that were reunited with their owner. so some hopeful stories really emerging out of this, but some very, very sad ones as well, as we know they have

mike bettes of the weather channel took a visit to one of them. >> reporter: i want to you look down jammed six people down in there. >> wow. >> reporter: their animals and all made it out okay. >> wow. >> reporter: stunning. you had to be underground in order to you know survive this tornado. and a gentleman that was actually in that storm shelter joining us your name again, sir? >> gerald mobley. >> reporter: thanks for talking with us this evening. what was that moment like when this tornado came through? >> you can't describe it. all the wind just got sucked out. the trees became still, and then it was just, it was chaos when the tornado hit it pushed the door in the position the chain was jammed so we were able to slide it forward and get it undone and able to get our hands up to push stuff off. >> reporter: gerald when you came out of the shelter and saw all of this, what is going through your mind? >> where to begin. it's like the beginning of the end. my wife and i, we worked hard for everything we have, and we just now paid off our house. we were debt free h no house payment