. >> the weather channel's mike bettis and his team were caught up in it. everyone is okay. through it all, the rain was relentless. >> we had storms that repeatedly hit the same spot with 2 or 3 inch per hour rainfalls. sometimes for many hours. some places got 9 to 10 inches of rain and floodinging. >> well beyond oklahoma, 11 states have widespread flooding. in paducah, some had to be rescued from their homes. when the area received more rain in a few hours than it usually gets in a month. >> we're checking manholes and clearing debris from inlets and checking our boats, some of the flooded areas to make sure they are okay. >> missouri had both flooding and tornados. will ber shaw hid in his basement. when the storm passed, he discovered that was all he had left. >> to the bottom of the steps, and i looked up and i thought, that's not the color of my ceiling, you know. i shined the flashlight up there and no reflection. and i said, oh, man. i've been hit. >> another hit for an already weary region. >> i'm sure a lot of people, if they're not at their breaking point, they'

hold on. >> it's a moment i'll never forget. >> mike bettis is with us live now.ow are you feeling? >> pretty good, lester. a few scrapes. and the rest of the guys? >> most of our guys, believe it or not, escaped without a scratch. one of our producers is still in the hospital. he has a few broken bones, but is he in pretty good spirits. >> you guys have a lot of experience. you have done this before. tell me how this one got away from you or got -- just the opposite. >> it was a difficult circumstance. we ended up being on the north side of the storm, which is generally a portion of the storm we don't want to be on because there's a lot of rain there. you can get a lot of hail as well and a lot of times your view of the tornado can be obscured, and so it's a dangerous place because usually the tornado can come right at you. at that circumstance we were trying to get south of the storm. we were actually trying to get away from the storm, not closer to it. if can you get on the south side of the storm, it's usually an area where there's no rain, no hail. you can ge

. >> and the eye of the storm, terrifying moments for the weather channel's mike bettis. tragically, elsewhere in the state three other storm chasers did not survive. more on the dangers of the hunt, coming up. >>> and good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington, lawmakers mourning the loss of a fellow senator who made a major contribution during his time on capitol hill. new jersey senator frank lautenberg passed away after complications from pneumonia. his legislative accomplishments span decades and have impacted nearly every american. joining me to take a closer look at the life and legacy of frank lautenberg, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and nbc capitol hill krort, kelly o'donnell and justice correspondent pete williams with major news coming from the supreme court. that in a moment. first to lautenberg, kelly o'donnell, this is a big loss for people on the hill in both parties. >> not only was he accomplished, but he was well-liked. frank lautenberg has been a real gentleman around here. we were commenting what a ki

he talked to mike bettis who is in the car. e okay. >> because the thing's flattened, right? when you look at that it's just flattened. the reason it's flattened is because the tornado picked up this large suv wrapped around the large suv pulled it up about 30 feet, twisted it around the whole crew inside there, there were three people inside the vehicle, it was weightless for a moment. slammed it into the ground then they started rolling. nobody died in that accident. it's amazing to think about that. but there are people who are severely injured, there's one crew member who's severely injured, and he's in the hospital right now being checked out. mike bettis had some cuts along his hand, he may have swallowed some glass. that is the extent of his injuries, it's amazing about let me get you right to the sound so you can hear what mike bettis went through himself. >> our whole convoy is racing south to basically try to get away from it. there just became this moment of realization where our lead car got pulled off the road, into

luckily, mike bettis and their crew are okay today. >>> also, 3,000 people are out of their homes this morning as a wildfire threatens an area north of los angeles, california. 15 homes were damaged when the power house fire tore through 35 miles of dry brush. for some perspective, this is an area that hasn't seen a wildfire since 1929. there are more than 2,000 firefighters working with water-dropping aircraft, as you can see, to attack this fire. the most recent estimates say it is only 20% contained. it's the largest of several wildfires burning in that region, including two the state of new mexico. >>> the court-martial for army private bradley manning begins today for what is considered the largest case of leaked classified materials in u.s. history. manning is accused of passing more than 700,000 government and military files to the website wikileaks. in a pretrial hearing manning admitted to leaking the materials and has offered to plead guilty to ten lesser charges. however, the most severe charge manning faces is aiding the enemy, which could land him in prison for life withou

joining us from atlanta is weathers channel meteorologist mike bettis. karins. mike, first of all, tell us about your -- it sounds like a pretty traumatic experience covering the tornadoes. >> scariest moment of my life truly being hit by the front end of the tornado on friday in el reno, oklahoma. the car tumbling over and over again until we end up in a field. it was harrowing to say the least but happy that we all ended up walking away from that. we have one of the guys on our team still in the hospital with some broken bones but, for the most part, everyone walked away unscathed. >> unbelievably lucky. >> mike, bill karins. we are glad you're okay and the physical and mental recovery from the traumatic event you went through. we lost three storm chasers, tim samars and his crew. what was it it about this storm? you guys are the best infant business out there. i think on radar 20 storm chasers underneath this storm. what got you caught and everybody else caught in it? >> i think a lot of different circumstances with this one. it was a larger tornado a

the harrowing story from mike bettis. today's a day for taking stock of the damage.e've got up to nine dead now, as you indicated. more than 75 people injured. 80,000 people out of power. but 200,000 across a four-state area, includes arkansas, illinois, missouri. and the scenes like last night looked just like this. >> reporter: from the dashboard of a storm chaser's car, the speed and power of friday's tornado outbreak is undeniable. bales of hay sent flying across the road as the twfter ripped apart buildings. >> pretty nasty right here. >> reporter: earlier from the air, the approaching thunderstorms warned of what was about to be unleashed. >> the entire line here has got rotation in it and each one of these could produce tornadoes. >> reporter: produce, they did. several twisters popping up throughout the oklahoma city area. >> this is a very violent tornado. people that pass this, they need to be underground in the tornado shelters. >> reporter: those unable to take cover were sitting targets for the tornadoes. >> a terrible situation going on in instate 40 an

everyone inside the now mangled suv survived including meteorologist mike bettis who says despite theisk, storm chasers serve a valuable potential life saving role. >> seeing it in person, seeing it for real and giving that realtime information, i think you know really supplementing the warning and helps people -- supplements the the warning and helps people get be safer. >> this latest outbreak is too much far too soon. >> it's been hard to handle this magnitude ofty -- of disasters throughout the state but we'll recover. >> and in its path is this tree and amazingly it's still standing unlike other trees on this property. it was planted in memory of the children killed in the oklahoma city bombings. in el reno oklahoma, i'm rene marsh. >>> three red cross volunteers are heading to oklahoma. brentwood resident eise von schopa. >>> a tree trimming company was at a san jose park today removing a huge oak tree that toppled over yesterday. work crews used a chain saw this morning. the 150-year-old oak tree split in two and crashed into vehicles and at least two people. one side of the tr

meteorologist mike bettis and his crew got caught in the tornado and at one point their truck was liftedhe ground and thrown 600 feet into a field. amazingly and thankfully everyone was able to walk away from the scene. bettis did suffer some minor injuries. here's him talking about what it was like inside that car. >> you were just married six months ago. you thought about your wife. what was it you thought about when you were up there? >> good question, dave. >> it's tough. >> you know, i just saw my wife's face and i thought, you know, that's my life. i don't want to give that up just yet. >> we're going to have a live interview with mike bettes coming up in the 8:00 hour. >>> i want to show you this video in maryland heights, missouri, that's an american flag whipping around on the left side of your screen there. maryland heights is just outside st. louis, which along with the oklahoma city area took the brunt of last week's deadly storms. >>> so, if you ever wondered how is it that a tornado can destroy someone's home turning it into rubble but at the same time leave some unlucky ne

the weather channel's storm chase car tossed like a toy, mike bettis and his team lucky to survive. >hat you thought about when you were up there? >> a near-death experience for him but three other experienced storm chasers lost their lives. tim samaras, his son paul an teammate carl young were all killed near reno, oklahoma. soledad o'brien spoke to tim samaras in 2004. >> how close was too close? >> the tornado was about 100 yards and closing. >> how fast do they close on you? >> this particular tornado is moving about 15 to 20 miles an hour. >> wow. >> yes. in fact, we can see telephone poles being ripped out of the ground and absorbed into the tornado as i did the first drum. >> reporter: brandon sullivan and his storm chasing team also had a close call. >> you okay? >> yeah. they survived not a scratch but there were some very scary moments. in a massive storm spotting, a series of tornadoes most of the nine people killed died in their cars. >> one of the things we think happened this week with all the congestion on the roads is that people were out trying to find other buildings

. >> reporter: other chasers were in harm's way including meteorologist mike bettis and his crew as seen here on the weather channel. >> eventually the camera was ejected. this is the camera. it never stopped recording. watch it here as you can actually see bettis' truck rolling over and over in the field. >> i just saw my wife's face and i thought, you know, that's, you know, that's my life. i don't want to give that up just yet. and thankfully i don't have to. >> reporter: a fortunate fate bettis' photographer shared as well. he escaped the storm with broken back bones, a broken rib and breast plate, but says he's not done storm chasing. >> there's a lot more to learn about tornadoes and getting out there and seeing them up close firsthand is important because it's -- i think i feel like i'm helping people learn about tornados. >> reporter: a mission he shared with storm chasers tim samaras, paul samaras and carl young, their lifelong passion cut short by a ferocious twister's unpredictable force. >> i just could never think it would happen to him because of his level of expertise, yea

. >> reporter: including mike bettis and his crew as seen here on the weather channel. >> eventuallys is the camera. it never stopped recording. watch it here as you can actually see bettis' truck rolling over and over in the field. >> i just saw my wife's face and i thought, you know, that's, you know, that's my life. i don't want to give that up just yet. and thankfully i don't have to. >> reporter: a fortunate fate bettis' photographer shared as well. he escaped the storm with broken back bones, a broken rib and breast plate but says he's not done storm chasing. >> there's a lot more to learn about tornadoes and getting out there and seeing them up close firsthand is important because it's -- i think i feel like i'm helping people learn about tornados. >> reporter: a mission he shared with storm chasers tim samaras, paul samaras and carl young, their lifelong passion cut short by a ferocious twister's unpredictable force. >> i never would think white happen to him because of his level of expertise, years of doing this. if i had to have a way for my brother to die, it would be doin

betty randolph. thank you very much. we will come back to you for more reports later. >> mike? >> here is the latest. things have not changed. still a tornado on the ground near the gm plant right now. i guarantee it. no doubt about it. that is northern sides of draper. that is midwest boulevard. it went across dell city. the mall. still on the ground. we have -- how big is that tree? a foot diameter tree snapped at 104th west and western. that's oklahoma city address. for simplicity far, far west moore. but oklahoma city address. there a still a circulation right there. tornado for norman -- say that again. this one still likely on the ground. likely on the ground of newcastle. this likely has a tornado on the ground. and it is a large circulation out on the western side of union city. and you see that curlily cue there near tuttle as well. that is the one emily had a weak tornado with. also a weak tornado near tuttle. and cogar, a strong central location there as well. so one, two, three and four. all four are dangerous and have tornado warnings with them. you can clearly see the hook by the gm pla

betty robison. go to lifetoday.org. >> we want ten 20 second belly laughs a day. i'm telling you, it is better than any medicine i've ever prescribed. announcer: dr. colbert tomorrow! mike, we're the etchart family from ojai, california. my wife vicki, my daughter eryn, my daughter julia, and this is our dog leo. all: welcome to "dog tales"! [barks] chorus: ♪ dog tales alex paen: "dog tales!" [barks] chorus: ♪ dog tales alex: america's premier dog lover's magazine show. [captioning made possible by telco productions, inc.] [barking] [barking] chorus: ♪ dog tales [barking] alex: all the latest news from the dog world... [barking] chorus: ♪ dog tales alex: right now on this edition of "dog tales." [barks] man: ♪ i love my dog, love my dog... ♪ alex: meet the etchart family from ojai, california. proud owners of a joyful boxer named leo. mike: we got him from the boxer rescue in los angeles. and you can actually see the dogs online. and he had been hit by a car. so they had nicknamed him bumper at the dog shelter. eryn: we looked at three different dogs, counting leo, and the other two freaked my sister out and she didn't like 'em. and he was all calm and he was giving jul