CBS Evening News open - 1999-05-05

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] revealing new pictures and new

[0:04] information about the Great Plains

[0:06] tornadoes as thousands of survivors find

[0:09] they have no home. The center of their

[0:12] lives reduced to splinters on the trail

[0:14] of a killer. We'll take you along as

[0:16] modern-day cowboys ride the range

[0:18] chasing tornadoes.

[0:19] >> Oh my goodness, that thing is huge.

[0:22] >> An Apache helicopter crash claims the

[0:24] first American lives in the war against

[0:26] Yugoslavia.

[0:30] This is the CBS Evening News

[0:34] with Dan Rather reporting from CBS News

[0:37] headquarters in New York.

[0:39] >> Good evening. The full heartbreaking

[0:41] scope of the tornado disaster on the

[0:43] Plains is still unfolding tonight. US

[0:46] weather experts confirm at least one

[0:49] Oklahoma City area tornado was a rare

[0:52] force five on a five scale. That's the

[0:55] deadliest category. They officially call

[0:57] that twister quote incredible. You would

[1:00] get no argument with that description

[1:02] from the thousands of people who were

[1:04] allowed back into what used to be their

[1:06] neighborhoods today for the first time

[1:08] since the plague of twisters hit. CBS's

[1:11] Jim Axelrod is on the scene.

[1:13] >> 2 days later, the site still startles.

[1:16] The worst tornado in Oklahoma in half a

[1:18] century. 38 are now known dead here. As

[1:22] many as 3,000 homes have been

[1:23] demolished. Insurance agents estimate at

[1:26] least $225 million in damage.

[1:29] >> If there were no warning, the death toll

[1:31] would have been absolutely calamitous.

[1:33] >> In Oklahoma, they are thanking God and

[1:36] crediting radar.

[1:37] >> You need to be below ground level.

[1:39] >> Local weathermen were able to give some

[1:41] viewers 2 and 12 hours of warning.

[1:43] >> I knew it was a massive tornado and a

[1:45] time or two. I called it a killer

[1:46] tornado. I've never done that before.

[1:48] >> On the ground today, the footprints of a

[1:50] killer were plain to see. a force 5

[1:53] tornado, the most powerful with winds

[1:56] clocked at more than 260 mph.

[1:59] >> Have you ever seen anything like this?

[2:02] Not to this degree. No. We've uh been

[2:05] flying around for the last 11 years here

[2:07] in Oklahoma City, uh going after

[2:09] tornadoes and and then going back to see

[2:12] the damage afterwards. But it's never

[2:14] been this bad. In many ways, it is day

[2:17] two that is often more difficult

[2:19] emotionally for anyone who's been

[2:20] through anything like this. The

[2:22] adrenaline that propels people through

[2:24] the first stages of trauma is gone,

[2:26] replaced by the debilitating reality of

[2:29] homes and lives in shreds.

[2:31] >> And I just prayed, "Oh, Lord, protect

[2:34] me." And he just told me to hold his

[2:36] hand. And I did.

[2:37] >> Whole neighborhoods are now scrap heaps

[2:39] here. They're hoping simply to salvage a

[2:42] memory. My kids, their pictures, they're

[2:44] all everywhere. You know, you'll never

[2:46] find it. You'll never get it back.

[2:49] >> For so many in Oklahoma, all they've got

[2:51] left is each other. And they're not

[2:53] about to let go. Jim Axelrod, CBS News,

[2:56] Dell City, Oklahoma. Late today, the

[2:59] Oklahoma Medical Examiner said efforts

[3:01] are underway to locate 100 people

[3:03] reported missing after the tornado. That

[3:06] number may include 15 known victims

[3:08] whose bodies so far have not been

[3:11] identified. To even begin to get a

[3:13] handle on a disaster of such huge

[3:15] proportions, you have to see it home by

[3:17] home, family by family. As CBS's Cynthia

[3:20] Bowers reports,

[3:22] you

[3:23] >> know, I didn't really I didn't start

[3:24] crying till last night. Like many

[3:26] Oklahomaans, Gwen Adams is sifting

[3:29] through what mother nature left behind.