CBS Evening News open - 1999-05-04

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] Tornado on the ground. Tornado on the

[0:04] ground. Power explosions.

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

[0:09] heart of America, blowing everything in

[0:11] their path off the map. Tonight,

[0:14] 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.

[0:27] >> Good evening. Devastating tornado hits

[0:30] in the US heartland have left an immense

[0:32] trail of death, injuries, and damage in

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

[0:37] over yet. Whole neighborhoods

[0:39] disappeared in a matter of minutes. One

[0:42] massive tornado touched ground and

[0:44] stayed there 4 hours. There were dozens

[0:47] of twisters in all. The strongest system

[0:50] of tornado cells, at least since the

[0:52] 1970s, swept Texas, Kansas, and blasted

[0:56] the Oklahoma City area. Worst of all,

[0:58] CBS's Jim Axelrod is there.

[1:01] >> Unbelievable.

[1:03] >> A monster came rumbling down tornado

[1:06] alley. A mile at its widest, 250 mph

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

[1:12] most violent storm in a generation here.

[1:15] >> This is the first one that really hit

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

[1:19] living here.

[1:20] >> 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

[1:33] dead isn't higher.

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

[1:38] here in this hallway. They had the

[1:39] babies underneath the mattress and the

[1:41] adults were laying on top of them. Uh

[1:45] >> nine people survived this thing. Is it's

[1:48] just a it's a godsend.

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

[1:53] and they're still counting. This massive

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

[1:58] Their ferocious winds teased while they

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

[2:03] cans of fruit undisturbed on the

[2:05] shelves.

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

[2:08] there were up to 76 tornadoes that we

[2:11] have so far. An indicator between Texas,

[2:13] Oklahoma, Kansas, and a little bit north

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

[2:17] sat on the ground for 4 hours, tearing

[2:20] again at this community's soul in

[2:22] Oklahoma City, scarred once already by a

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

[2:27] measuring this tragedy in their most

[2:29] horrifying terms.

[2:31] >> What you see behind us is is is

[2:33] comparable to the Mur building in in

[2:34] terms of the widespread devastation like

[2:37] we had downtown Oklahoma City 1995. It's

[2:39] it just makes you wonder uh you know

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

[2:43] tornado's slow movement allowed the

[2:45] twisters to build their deadly strength,

[2:47] their lumbering pace also gave emergency

[2:49] management officials ample time to issue

[2:52] warnings and save lives. Every minute

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

[2:57] in Oklahoma in 52 years. Jim Axelrod,

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

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

[3:07] it was clear from the angry red radar

[3:09] blips that Kansas and Oklahoma were

[3:11] 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

[3:20] stories.

[3:22] Houses just crumbled, caved in, roofs

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

[3:29] >> This afternoon, Highland Park residents

[3:31] returned home to suddenly unfamiliar

[3:34] surroundings. What was your feeling when

[3:36] you first saw your house?

[3:38] >> I was sick.