CBS Evening News - 1999-05-04 - 1 of 2

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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] Tornado on the ground. Tornado on the

[0:04] ground.

[0:04] >> Power explosions.

[0:06] >> Huge killer tornadoes have struck at the

[0:08] heart of America, blowing everything in

[0:10] their path off the map. Tonight,

[0:13] disaster on the planes.

[0:18] This is the CBS Evening News

[0:22] with Dan Rather reporting from CBS News

[0:25] headquarters in New York.

[0:26] >> Good evening. Devastating tornado hits

[0:29] in the US heartland have left an immense

[0:31] trail of death, injuries, and damage in

[0:34] the past 24 hours. And the danger isn't

[0:36] over yet. Whole neighborhoods

[0:38] disappeared in a matter of minutes. One

[0:41] massive tornado touched ground and

[0:43] stayed there for hours. There were

[0:46] dozens of twisters in all. The strongest

[0:49] system of tornado cells, at least since

[0:51] the 1970s, swept Texas, Kansas, and

[0:54] blasted the Oklahoma City area. Worst of

[0:57] all, CBS's Jim Axelrod is there.

[1:01] >> Unbelievable.

[1:03] A monster came rumbling down Tornado

[1:05] alley. A mile at its widest, 250 mph

[1:09] winds at their fiercest. This was the

[1:11] most violent storm in a generation here.

[1:14] >> This is the first one that really hit

[1:16] home to us in about 30 years we've been

[1:18] living here.

[1:19] >> At least 38 are known dead in Oklahoma,

[1:22] another five in Kansas.

[1:26] Looking at whole neighborhoods smashed

[1:28] to splinters and shreds, what seems

[1:30] toughest to explain is why the number

[1:32] dead isn't higher.

[1:34] >> We had four babies and five adult right

[1:37] here in this hallway. They had the

[1:39] babies underneath the mattress and the

[1:40] adults were laying on top of them. Uh

[1:45] >> nine people survived. This thing is is

[1:47] just a it's a godsend.

[1:50] 2,000 homes were destroyed in Oklahoma

[1:52] and they're still counting. This massive

[1:55] storm system spawned dozens of twisters.

[1:57] Their ferocious winds teased while they

[2:00] killed, blowing walls away, but leaving

[2:02] cans of fruit undisturbed on the

[2:05] shelves.

[2:06] >> I have information here that indicates

[2:07] there were up to 76 tornadoes that we

[2:10] have so far. An indicator between Texas,

[2:12] Oklahoma, Kansas, and a little bit north

[2:14] of that. The biggest and nastiest one

[2:16] sat on the ground for 4 hours, tearing

[2:19] again at this community's soul in

[2:21] Oklahoma City. Scarred once already by a

[2:24] terrorist bomb four years ago. They are

[2:26] measuring this tragedy in their most

[2:29] horrifying terms.

[2:30] >> What you see behind us is is is

[2:32] comparable to the Murray building in in

[2:34] terms of the widespread devastation like

[2:36] we had in downtown Oklahoma City 1995.

[2:38] It's it just makes you wonder uh you

[2:41] know what what we're doing wrong. While

[2:42] the tornado's slow movement allowed the

[2:44] twisters to build their deadly strength,

[2:46] their lumbering pace also gave emergency

[2:48] management officials ample time to issue

[2:51] warnings and save lives. Every minute

[2:54] counted in this, the deadliest tornado

[2:56] in Oklahoma in 52 years. Jim Axelrod,

[3:00] CBS News, Midwest City, Oklahoma. An

[3:03] estimated 76 tornadoes. In the overview,

[3:06] it was clear from the angry red radar

[3:08] blips that Kansas and Oklahoma were

[3:10] square in this tornado alley target zone

[3:13] and remarkable that anyone at ground

[3:15] zero lived to tell about it. CBS's

[3:17] Cynthia Bowers has survivors harrowing

[3:19] stories.

[3:21] Houses just crumbled, caved in, roofs

[3:25] gone, walls gone, lives gone.

[3:28] >> This afternoon, Highland Park residents

[3:31] returned home to suddenly unfamiliar

[3:33] surroundings. What was your feeling when

[3:36] you first saw your house?

[3:37] >> I was sick. It was u

[3:41] pretty devastating

[3:42] >> for many. Expectations weren't high, but

[3:45] disappointments inevitable.

[3:50] >> You've lost everything.

[3:52] >> The memories remain.

[3:53] >> You don't know whether you're going to

[3:54] live or die when the house starts

[3:56] lifting up with you inside it.

[3:59] I come outside.

[4:01] >> Miraculously, many people in this

[4:03] neighborhood were able to crawl from the

[4:04] wreckage.

[4:06] >> Anyone back here?

[4:08] >> Calling for family and friends and

[4:10] clutching what matters most. And then

[4:13] there was Vicky Bloviaak who struggled

[4:15] to save herself and her two teenage

[4:17] sons. Physically exhausted, she had to

[4:20] be pulled from her place of refuge. You

[4:23] were in a small closet and we just laid

[4:26] there and we could hear the shingles

[4:27] coming off. My sons are pretty light and

[4:30] it started it seemed like they were

[4:32] being sucked up. I mean, we knew that

[4:34] the house was gone.

[4:35] >> The boys are okay, but what's left of a

[4:38] lifetime can fit in a garbage bag or two

[4:40] and just the thought of picking up the

[4:42] pieces is overwhelming.

[4:44] >> I have no idea, absolutely no idea what

[4:47] I'm going to do. Uh I don't know how to

[4:50] start over.

[4:51] Even so, she and many of the others here

[4:54] feel they are the lucky ones. They may

[4:56] have lost everything they have, but they

[4:58] still have everything they hold dear.

[5:00] Dan

[5:01] >> Cynthia and more Oklahoma. One of the

[5:04] most popular and booming of Oklahoma

[5:06] City's close-knit suburbs took an

[5:08] especially heavy tornado hit. CBS's

[5:10] Byron Pitts shows you the aftermath of a

[5:13] monster in a small town.

[5:15] >> How you doing?

[5:16] >> Good.

[5:16] >> You all right?

[5:17] >> Yeah. Today, between tears, the pastor

[5:20] and parishioners at Rich Crest Baptist

[5:22] Church look long and hard for memories

[5:24] and miracles.

[5:25] >> My secretary just found this. It is a uh

[5:28] Bible that was completely untouched and

[5:30] she said, "Now, there is our first

[5:31] dollar for rebuilding fun."

[5:33] >> The twister was a mile wide when it

[5:35] demolished the sanctuary on its way to

[5:37] Oklahoma City.

[5:39] >> Is the most massive thing I've ever seen

[5:41] in my life. It just covered the horizon.

[5:42] The whole sky was spinning.

[5:44] >> This was our daycare center. Diana

[5:46] Cooner says she's just grateful the 60

[5:48] children she looks after were sent home

[5:50] a half hour before the tornado hit.

[5:52] >> It does not happen without a reason and

[5:54] that there is a reason that he has

[5:57] caused this to happen and we don't know

[5:59] what's in store for us but we know that

[6:01] the Lord's in control.

[6:02] >> Richest Baptist was the biggest church

[6:04] in what was the fastest growing suburb

[6:07] south of Oklahoma City. Everybody wanted

[6:09] to live here, one man told us and it's

[6:11] here in Bridge Creek where 11 people

[6:13] died. Uh, they took the bodies last

[6:16] night about 3:30.

[6:18] >> Okay.

[6:19] >> Some I recognize and some I didn't, Tom.

[6:22] >> Today, this small community seemed like

[6:24] one giant congregation.

[6:26] >> I do not know why all of these things

[6:28] happen, but I do know that he'll meet us

[6:29] in the middle of it. And he will walk us

[6:32] through it.

[6:32] >> And it's a walk that won't end soon.

[6:35] Byron Pittz, CBS News, Bridge Creek,

[6:38] Oklahoma.

[6:39] >> Late today, more tornadoes touched down

[6:41] in Texas. At least one death is reported

[6:43] in Titus County and extensive damage in

[6:45] Buoie County, Texas. Coming up next here

[6:48] on the CBS Evening News, we'll give you

[6:50] the measure of tornadoes. These were

[6:52] some of the strongest on record. Also

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[8:26] Those

[8:42] multiple and massive tornado cells that

[8:44] ravaged the planes included several that

[8:47] were among some of the fiercest and most

[8:50] devastating on record. These funnels of

[8:53] death are measured on a scale that goes

[8:54] only from one to five at the worst. One

[8:57] of these twisters may have been a five.

[9:00] In human terms, the death and

[9:02] destruction may seem to go beyond any

[9:04] scale of comprehension, but weather

[9:06] experts can learn from and better

[9:08] understand tornadoes by categorizing

[9:11] their levels of deadly force. CBS's Bob

[9:14] Oric reports.

[9:16] >> We rarely see destruction like this.

[9:19] Scientists now say the dozens of

[9:20] tornadoes that ripped through the planes

[9:22] were storms of historic proportions. And

[9:25] from the devastation, meteorologists say

[9:26] the tornadoes may have been so-called

[9:28] F5s, among the strongest on record.

[9:31] >> And indeed, F5 tornadoes have

[9:34] catastrophic total damage associated

[9:36] with