>> guest: downtown wellston, it is really calm. >>heather: to the north of you, you do know it is headed your way, though, although it has not touched down? >> guest: there are multiple storms. i am not releasing people until i know... >> >>heather: how many are in the shelter with you now? >> guest: probably 150. >>heather: you are telling everyone to get inside if they do not have shelter, come to where you are. where are you? >> guest: there is a public shelter at the wellston middle school at this point. we do not -- if you have shelter at home we prefer that. >>gregg: is it an underground shelter or above ground shelter in a strong structure? >> guest: it is below ground. >>gregg: that is good because it is always recommended you go to a predesigned shelter such as a basement and that is always best. that is the best source rather than above ground. can you describe how people are reacting to this in what is their mental state? >> guest: in typical oklahoma fashion, they want to watch and i appear trying to gather them up. i n

in wellston, oklahoma. also tornadoes in other parts of oklahoma, and this system is a humongous system from minnesota to texas, and anyone in any of those areas should be on the lookout right knew. look at this thing. this is unprecedented that we get to see something like this. and you can see the lightning and as this tornado went through and started hitting homes, you could see the sparks from electricity and from just debris on the ground there. we have reporters who are in the area who are trying to make their way. we also have affiliate coverage from our affiliate kfor, these live chopper pictures you're looking at now. again, fascinating to see this. very scary for the people who are facing this, who have to be in this path. and as we've been telling you, or fredricka whitfield, jennifer delgado, they've both been telling you, you need to get to a place of safety, if you're in this particular area. cnn's jennifer delgado, meteorologist, has been following this. jennifer, unprecedented to see. a huge

this in wellston, oklahoma.r we've been watching for the last 30 minutes or so live activity. thanks to our affiliate and this chopper shot kfor. we've seen tornadoes, at least one tornado touch down in each of the cities of edmond in arcadia, in luther and now in wellston, oklahoma, and an extraordinary sight, not only were we seeing the flashing from power lines that were being hit, but, according to this chopper reporter, he counted about two to three houses that were simply decimated by this tornado, and, again, now you're seeing a more defined view of this funnel cloud, and you see the sparks there, power line, and it hitting anything in its path. this is a monster of the storm system. we've boon hearing from jennifer delgado who said millionless be affected by this storm system, because it is spanning from texas all wait to minnesota. over the next set of hours. up until at least 11:00 p.m. tonight and possibly overnight. folks in nearby kansas are warning residents there to expect a lot more severe weathe

it is just devastating there in the wellston area. also near edmond as well. arcadia, luther, carney. just obliterated many homes there. we're going to update you on the situation there. don't go anywhere. we're going to keep an eye on all things weather for you and keep you updated on the newest information as it comes in on cnn. >>> also we're going to talk a little bit of politics as well. no, we won't. we'll be right back. that's what i'm hearing. don't go anywhere. ill sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. 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 our students with leading employers across the nation. (next stop: financial center) let's get to work. hey hun, remember you only need a few sheets. hmph! [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft is made with extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. plus you c

he's north of the turner turnpike, north of wellston.nfortunately, folks, we see the damage now from the tornado that we suspected was an f-4 tornado. it looks like it's of that category. let's just hope everybody here is okay. there's going to be a lot of heavy damage here, and this is such a bad deal. a lot of this damage is quite severe. john, how many structures -- we're looking alt this live from john welsh and bob moore chopper 4. how many structures have you seen so far? >> a dozen, mike. and a lot of these, travis, could you pan around to the right? it's right out your door, another one. i'm trying to bring up this house. we have a lot of people out here in the yard and on the roadway. i want to make sure that everybody is okay. but probably a dozen. a lot of these houses are on at least ten-acre tracks, so they're not here, but over county road 870 is a blacktop east-west road, and they have taken a major hit here. there's some brick structure houses, frame over brick. roofs are completely gone. and almost all the roofs are gone

this is wellston, oklahoma.moments ago we saw destruction in shawnee where they had at least one person die in all of this. it has been obliterated. look at your screen. we knew it was bad. we knew you it was coming. the prediction center told us this would happen. meteorologist janice dean is standing by. janice, the first look now at what you saw, the rain wrapped tornadoes dropping stuff from the sky. we didn't know what it would leave behind and now we know. this is one of the first tornado reports we got this afternoon, heharris, in wellstn and the damage is devastating. we hope that all those folks took shelter but we are hearing reports in oklahoma as well as kansas that neighborhoods have been devastated unfortunately. so we he are going to continue to see these reports and the warnings will continue throughout the evening. we are just hoping people are heeding the warnings. we will quick, watches in effect, for parts of oklahoma all the way up to the western great lakes. we have joe ongoing tornado warn

paul wellstone had a great definition for politics. he used to say in the last analysis, politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. politics is what we do. politics is what we do. politics is what we create. by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine. paul wellstone was right. that's politics at its finest. that's the kind of public service sara neimeyer has performed for me, my staff and la nearly six years, and i am deeply grateful for all of her effort. i want to thank joe, will and harry, first of all, for sharing sara with me, and i want to thank sara for helping to protect and preserve some of my state and our nation's greatest natural treasures. i wish sara continued joy and success as she gets back on the green bus to begin her next professional challenge. madam president, i ask this statement be placed separate in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i rise to talk about the continuing toll of gun violence on america and my home state of illinois. for se

to offer this amendment after hearing from the minnesota coalition for battered women, the sheila wellstone institute, other advocacy groups in minnesota. they shared with me several heartbreaking stories of legal immigrants who had experienced domestic violence and had to choose either to stay with an abuser so that she and her children would have a roof over their heads or leave her abuser and risk homelessness. nobody should have to make that choice. my amendment would hope -- help guarantee that these women won't have to do so any more. the reason these women face a terrible choice was because of an unresolved and unintended ambiguity between two laws. in 1996, the personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act, that's the welfare reform law that was passed in 1996, it provided that certain battered women who were here lawfully under vawa were, quote, qualified aliens, end quote, meaning that they were not disqualified from receiving public and assisted housing. unfortunately, congress never went back to update h.u.d.'s statute which dates back to 1980 to reflect this c